CHILDREN BULLING Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

CHILDREN BULLING - Essay Example Most of the times, especially in schools, cyber bullying is done with the intention of socially alienating the victim from the rest of the peers (Li, 372). Cyber bullying goes one step further and also involves the use and distribution of text messages and pictures of a sexual nature. The social media is often used to publicize such images and subsequently, request sexual favours (Varjas et al., 270). Cyber bullying has increased to such an extent that and become so menacing that formal laws were passed in various countries to put a stop to this activity. Cyber bullying not only makes life uncomfortable for the victims, but also causes psychological problems, especially for school kids, teenagers and even for adults at times. Numerous researches have been conducted to study cyber bullying and to understand how it affects individuals. As a result of these studies, it was found that cyber bullying victimization rates were 28.7% in November 2009 (Donegan, 35). The popularity of social media has led to the rise of websites like Facebook and Twitter. According to a 2010 study, the most commonly used technologies by teenagers are cell phones and internet. This shows that these two technologies are the primary mediums which are used for cyber bullying. The research analyzed in this paper is a study conducted by Mishna et al., published in 2010. The research studies the phenomenon of cyber bullying in 2186 middle and high schools. Following numerous researches conducted on this topic, this research was conducted to study how the students, especially the victims, react to cyber bullying, which technologies are most commonly used for cyber bullying and what psychological impact do events like these have on the victims and the witnesses. Even though the phenomenon of cyberbullying is relatively new, various researches are being conducted on this topic and laws are being passed making cyberbullying illegal. This goes to show

Letter of Intent Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Letter of Intent - Essay Example ience provided me with a detailed insight into construction and architectural drawings and visual and mechanical inspection of various building elements. I observed the importance of having good leadership and managerial skills in order to excel in the field as an executive. While I explored and polished my leadership and managerial skills in this job, I realized that the importance of being formally qualified in the same cannot be overemphasized. This experience spurred an interest in me to specialize in education and leadership. Five years from now, I want to see myself among the top management executives in my company. I need to have thorough understanding and knowledge of the critical knowledge areas of management band leadership in order to realize my plans. My goal is to establish a strong business model wherein I lead responsibly and effectively. I am positive that getting a Master degree in Education and Leadership from Thompson Rivers University will open new doors of opportunity for me and speak for my competencies and skills as a learned leader before the prospective

The Negotiation Strategies In International Business Commerce Essay

The Negotiation Strategies In International Business Commerce Essay In business relationships, parties negotiate because they think they can influence the process in such a way that they can get a better deal than simply accepting or rejecting what the other party is offering. Ghauri (2003) says business negotiation is a voluntary process of give and take where both parties modify their offers and expectations in order to come closer to each other. In literature, sometimes bargaining and negotiation are used interchangeably. Negotiation, also called integrative bargaining, refers to win-win negotiation where both or all parties involved can end up with equally beneficial or attractive outcomes. In other words, everyone can win. It is more related to a problem-solving approach, where both parties involved perceive the process of negotiation as a process to find a solution to a common problem. In integrative bargaining however, if negotiations are not properly handled, both parties can end up with a jointly inferior deal. With negotiation, it is possible for both parties to achieve their objectives and one partys gain is not dependent upon the other partys concession. Business negotiation is considered by many authors as being this type of negotiation. The power/dependence relation is another basic characteristic of all negotiation processes. It is closely related to the actual power relation, which is influenced by the value of the relationship to the parties and their available alternatives. Background factors for example the market position can influence the power/dependence relation. The ability to control a relationship is related to the perceived power of two parties, their relative expertise and access to information. This power is a property of the relationship and not an attribute of the actor; in fact, it is closely related to dependence. Therefore, the power relationship is in balance if both parties perceive equal power. The power relationship is unbalanced if one of the parties perceives more power, or if one party is dependent on the other. The dramatic growth of international trade over the last five decades has been not only in terms of volume but in complexity as well. International marketers are now more and more business negotiators, who constantly discuss deals across borders with a variety of people, ranging from consumers to intermediaries and even competitors. Technology often plays a major role in such deals and this could mislead people into believing that the whole negotiation process is principally an engineers discussion based on rational and scientific facts. In fact, technical complexity intermingles with human complexity to render such negotiation processes difficult to manage. A considerable amount of literature is available on negotiations, some of it also on business negotiations but the field of international business negotiations is quite neglected. Strategic Negotiations. Richard Walton etal,1994 identify three primary negotiations strategies. These are forcing, fostering, and escape. Each represents an overarching pattern of interaction that characterizes the negotiations. A strategy does not emerge all at once, but over time as a result of consistent patterns of interaction. A forcing strategy generally involves taking a distributive or win/lose approach to the negotiations, combined with a divide and conquer approach to internal relations in the other side, and an attitudinal approach that emphasizes uncertainty and distrust. By contrast, a fostering strategy generally involves taking an integrative or win/win approach to the negotiations, combined with a consensus approach to internal relations in both sides, and an attitudinal approach that emphasizes openness and understanding. Escape is a non-negotiations strategy in which one or more parties seek to end or undercut the relationship. Dietmeyer and Kaplan (2004) use a res earch-based approach to negotiation that assists sales professionals in reaching their own business goals, while ensuring that their customers meet budget and professional objectives as well-going beyond win-win to achieve true, measurable business value for all parties at the negotiating table. Power and Diplomacy Power. Susan Strange (1998) brings out that power accrues to those who can offer or deny security; those who manage the creation of wealth by production; those who create credit to allow or deny other people to spend today and pay back tomorrow; those who (mis)manage the currency in which credit is denominated; those who have knowledge (advanced technology) which provides military superiority and dominance in other power structures. John De La Mothe (2002), argues that science, technology and innovation have long been key factors in the competitive advantage of nations. Today, however, the new international political economy is being increasingly driven by science and technology in new ways. Integration, globalization and internationalization have all become watchwords for a series of dynamic processes in which science and technology are deeply implicated. As a result, not only are the policies of national governments being exposed in terms of the limits of their sovereignty, but sci ence and technology are being increasingly implicated in a wide array of public issues ranging from security, privacy, development and economic growth to employment, environment, foreign policy and geopolitics. Clearly, in todays emerging world, the ways in which governments organize their science and technology policy, their science and technology intelligence, and their research advisory structures and resources matter more today than ever before. Diplomacy. James Rosenau was one of the first to suggest that the domestic and international are somehow linked and elaborated upon what he termed linkage politics (1969). Scholars focusing on the regional impact of domestic politics are Karl Deutsch (1957) and Ernst Haas (1958). Haas highlights two types of spillover. The first type, functional spillover, occurs when cooperation in certain sectors of the economy (or society) creates technocratic pressure for cooperation in adjoining sectors, thereby propelling integration forward. The second type, political spillover, occurs when ongoing cooperation in certain areas empowers supranational officials to act as informal political entrepreneurs in other areas. In order to manage complex technocratic issues more effectively, rational governments must delegate discretion to experts, judges and bureaucrats, thereby creating powerful new supranational actors with an interest in cooperation. Graham Allison in Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis (1971) too, speaks of an overlap between international and domestic politics. In State Power and the Structure of International Trade, Krasner argues that that openness in the world economy is most likely to occur during periods when a hegemonic state is in its ascendancy. As long as the states technological lead is increasing, its leadership will perceive economic advantages to openness, since openness will expand markets for the products of its technologically sophisticated industries. The hegemon will also gain politically, since the opportunity costs of closure will be low, relative to those facing smaller and poorer states. Conversely, when several large, unequally developed states coexist, Krasner predicts that the more backward states will find openness economically and politically costly and will therefore resist it. Greater trade closure will, therefore, result (Keohane 1997). Like Gilpin before him, Krasner too stresses on the influence of the strength of the state on international trade. The crucial point is the correlation between what occurs withi n a state is related to what occurs beyond state boundaries. Robert Putnam in Diplomacy and Domestic Politics: The Logic of Two Level Games (1988) argues that domestic structures and diplomacy are interminably entangled and says that the negotiator is under pressure to reconcile domestic and international conflicts. Putnams work challenges the level of analysis approach to studying international relations which stresses the importance of classifying data under three clusters: the systemic, national and the individual (Singer 1961). Mayer (1991) develops a model to explore the implications of domestic political divisions for international strategic engagement in international trade. He explores the subject by treating international trade as a game and identifying the players and examining how they play. The observation that there are several overlapping games being played, a few of them being strategic and others not, is significant. Policies such as tariff, quotas, and export and production subsidies are the tools used by the players to gain a n advantage in the international strategic trade game (Krugman 1986). Work on strategic trade policy builds on game theoretical models which analyse how states use trade policies to leverage their economic performance. India and Nanotechnology (The literature survey included, amongst others, a perusal of annual reports of GOI MOD, DST, CSIR, TIFAC, CII; back issues (app 3years) of Business world, New Scientist, Hindu Businessline and Business Today. ) GOI initiatives include DST launched Nano Science and Technology Initiative (NSTI) with an allocation of Rs. 1000 crore, Government has spent approximately Rs. 250 crore, over the past five years to promote RD in the area of nanotechnology. 100 research projects on the synthesis and assembly of ceramic nanoparticles, nano tubes, nano wires, nanoporous solids, and DNA chips have been supported by the Government. CII Initiatives have resulted in; India-UK Joint Economic and Trade Cooperation, Indo-US High Technology Cooperation Group (HTCG), Nanotechnology partnership with Taiwan, a number of Nanotechnology Conclaves, Nanotechnology Cluster-CMTI, Jharkhand Nanotechnology Initiative, West Bengal Nano Park etc. CII is working closely with the Government of India on US India High-Technology Cooperation Group (HTCG) formed on November 2002. The HTCG acts to facilitate and promote bilateral high-technology trade. The focus areas of the core group include Information Technology, Defense, Life Sciences and Nanotechnology. Realising the potential of nanotechnology, HTCG working group on Nanotechnology is formed to facilitate seamless flow of knowledge between both the countries and joint development projects involving industries. The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has put together a 10-point action plan to empower Indian industry to come out with commercial nanotechnology products, which it believes will drive the future of industry worldwide. The action plan includes awareness creation, training and skills development, technology facilitation and networking and facilitating collaborative projects. The Nano Science and Technology Consortium works to create a platform conducive for the growth, promotion and partnering in the field of Nano Science and Technology taking together industries, academics and government through consultative, advisory and educative processes which will provide growth platform for organizations, academics and governments for harnessing the Nano potential at Global level. Companies like Samsung have already entered the Indian market with a range of products using nanotechnology such as refrigerator, washing machine and air-cooler. Samsung uses nano-silver in various compositions in its product range. Further, companies like Tata Steel, Tata Chemicals, Mahindra Mahindra, Nicholas Piramal and Intel have invested around $250 million in the domestic market towards this end. Yash Nanotech has inked agreements with IIT Mumbai, NCL Pune and the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre of Advanced Research, Bangalore, to undertake global contract research and set up nanotech manufacturing facilities. Civil Applications. These can be grouped under four heads, namely, detection, including imaging, sensors and sensor networks for the detection of pathogens and chemicals; protection, including decontamination equipment and filters, and personal protection; identification, including anti-counterfeiting and authentication, forensics, quantum cryptography and the market for counterfeit and grey goods; societal impacts, including current regulatory and ethical frameworks, potential impacts on ethics and human rights, and public perception. Application in the field of medicine is one of the most fascinating areas that include new cancer therapies, drug delivery systems, and biomaterials for implants or prosthesis or diagnostic tools, which are under development or already in market. An important area of application of nanotechnology includes novel drug delivery techniques, which are quicker less risky, compared to the costs of developing new drugs. Military Applications. These also flow out from civil applications in areas like; higher performance platforms (aircraft, ships, subs, boats and satellites), enhanced sensing through more sensitive and selective sensors, enhanced human performance, information dominance through enhanced information technology, improved battlefield casualty management, lower life cycle costs with improved materials, coatings, and condition-based maintenance etc. Stake holders. The various stake holders include; governments, Industry, Entrepreneurs, RD, Institutions, Academic Research Institutions, and Society. Case Studies. These can be subdivided into those which pertain to PSUs, RD establishments and Defense and the private sector enterprises. The private sector industries which can be studied for negotiations resulting in various types of partnerships/JVs/MOUs/TOTs etc. are listed below:- Measuring devices equipments: Bharat Heavy Electrical Ltd, Icon Analytical equipment. Ltd., Veeco .Health Care: Dabur Research Foundation, Bharat Biotech International Ltd., Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. Materials processing: Tata Chemicals, Pune. Reliance India Limited. Automobile: Mahindra Mahindra, Tata Motors, United Nanotechnologies Pvt. Ltd. Electronics: Bharat Electronics Ltd, SemIndia Systems, Samtel India.

Communism :: Communism Essays

The lure of easy women almost made me a spy and traitor to my country "Sex Lead Me To Communism" from Man to Man Vol. 2, No. 2, 1951 SEX, woman's most resistless weapon through the ages for the domination of the male, has proven one of the most successful and insidious devices in the secret arsenal of the Communists to recruit their unsavory army of spies, saboteurs and disruptionists in the grimly declared war on the United States and all decent mankind. In the relentless effort of the Kremlin to turn the whole world into faceless slaves in order that "The International Soviet shall be the human race," as their official song, The Internationale, declares, there is no honor or conscience, and promiscuity is the rule, not the exception. The only vice the Reds frown, upon is drinking! I know, because I was one of those witless persons who fell into the mantrap set by the modern Delilabs who follow the Party line. They stopped at nothing--absolutely nothing--in order to enlist their fellow Americans into the great conspiracy to subjugate, and later to liquidate, every human being who does not deify the unholy trinity of Marx, Lenin and Stalin. First came Sonia, with her full, cherry lips and her brown, limpid eyes. She was a secretary, a graduate of a woman's college and as unscrupulous a little witch as ever shook her clenched fist at a passing flag of her country or stuck a pin into a patrolman's horse. Next came Margie, a full-bosomed redhead, a new comer from England and an expert dress designer. She had made it her life work to lure men into Communism. Then Mildred, a honey blonde with a Vassar degree. She was the gay and sophisticated type on the surface, but underneath she was deadly serious about her radical beliefs. She had a cozy apartment and seemingly plenty of money. She liked to discuss the social significance of Shakespeare over cocktails and make converts to the "cause." Then Terry, Betty and several others whose names I have forgotten. And lastly, Gladys, a banker's daughter who had run away from home, landed in New York's Greenwich Village and become the most radical of all the Communist girls I met. Talk about free love! This was really something. You tired of one, and there was always another at your beck and call. No Turk could boast a more variegated harem.

Marketing Management Assignment-Smu Essay

Q.1 A. Explain the six criteria for effective market segmentation * Identity – The marketing manager must have some means of identifying members of the segment i.e., some basis for classifying an individual as being or not being a member of the segment. There must be clear differences between segments. Members of such segments can be readily identified by common characteristics as they display similar behavior. * Accessibility – It must be possible to reach the different segments in regard to both promotion and distribution. ln other words, the organisation must be able to focus its marketing efforts on the chosen segment. Segments must be accessible in two senses. First, firms must be able to make segmented customers aware of products or services. Second, they must get products to them through the distribution system at a reasonable cost. * Responsiveness — A clearly defined segment must react to changes in any of the elements of the marketing mix. For example. if a particular segment is defined as being cost-conscious, it should react negatively to price rises. If it does not, this is an indication that the segment needs to be redefined. * Size – The segment must be reasonably large to be a profitable target. Lt depends upon the number of people in it and their purchasing power. For example, makers of luxury goods may appeal to small but wealthy target markets whereas makers of cheap consumption goods may sell to a large but relatively poor target markets. * Nature of demand — lt refers to the different quantities demanded by various segments. Segmentation is required only if there are market differentiation in terms of demand. The marketing manager should not only be able to find out the total demand and the differences in demand patterns in each of these segments. * Measurability — The purpose of segmentation is to measure the changing behavioural pattern of consumers. For example, the segment of a market for a car is determined by a number of considerations, such as economy, status, quality, safety, comforts, etc. B. Discuss the types of target marketing strategies. * Undifferentiated marketing strategy or mass marketing strategy In the absence of a proper mechanism to classify the market into a number of markets segments and analyse their potential, many firms decide on the mass marketing strategy. In this case, the marketer goes against the idea of a differentiated market and decides to sell the product to the whole market. Here the marketing manager ignores the idea of segment characteristics and differences, and develops a unified marketing programme for the entire market. This strategy keeps the overall marketing costs low and makes it easier to manage and track the market forces uniformly. The marketer tries to find out commonalities across various segments rather than focusing on the differences between segments. * Concentrated marketing strategy In the second alternative strategy, the marketing manager decides to enter into a selected market segment instead of all the available market segments. When resources and market access are limited and the company has to face intense competition, the marketing manager has to stretch the budget for market coverage. In this case, the company is likely to follow the concentrated marketing strategy. * Differentiated marketing strategy Many marketers choose to target several segments or niches with a differentiated marketing offer to suit each market segment. Maruti is the leading automobile company, which has the distinction of having different products for different market segments. Q.2 Explain the consumer buying decision process. * Problem recognition A buying process starts when a consumer recognizes that there is a substantial discrepancy between his/her current state of satisfaction and expectations in a consumption situation. A need can be activated through internal or external stimuli. The basic needs of common men rise to a particular level and become a drive. From their previous experiences, they know how to satisfy these needs like hunger, thirst, sex, etc. This is a case of internal stimulus. A need can also be aroused by an external stimulus such as sighting a new product in a shop while purchasing other usual products. * Information search After need arousal, the behaviour of the consumer leads towards collection of available information about various stimuli. ln this case, information about products and services are gathered from various sources for further processing and decision-making. The first source of consumer information is the internal source. This means the consumer first search the information regarding the relevant product from his/her inner memory. If the information is not available from internal source for making a purchase decision he or she may collect information from external sources. A External sources for desired information can be grouped into four categories. * Personal sources (family, friends, neighbors, and peer group) * Commercial sources or market dominated sources (advertisements, salesmen, dealers, and company owned sales force) * Public sources (mass media, consumer rating organisations, and trade association publications) * Experiential sources (handling, examining, and using the product) The marketer will find it worthwhile to study the consumers’ information sources when: * A substantial percentage of the target market engages in the search * The target market shows some stable patterns of using the respective information sources. * Alternative evaluation Once interest in a product(s) is aroused, a consumer enters the subsequent stage of evaluation of alternatives. Evaluation leads to formation of buying intention that can be to either purchase or reject the product/brand. The final purchase will however depend on the strength of the positive-intention, which is the intention to buy. * Purchase decision Finally the consumer arrives at a purchase decision. Purchase decisions can be any one of the three – no buying, buying later, and buy now. No buying takes the consumers to the problem recognition stage as their consumption problem is not solved and they may again get involved in the process as we have explained. A postponement of buying can be due to a lesser motivation or evolving personal and economic situation that forces the consumer not to buy now or postponement of purchase for future period of time. If positive attitudes are formed towards the decided alternative, the consumer will make a purchase. * Post-purchase behaviour Post-purchase behaviour refers to the behaviour of consumers after their commitment to a product has been made. It originates out of consumers’ experience regarding the use of the product and is indicated in terms of satisfaction. This behaviour is reflected in repeated purchases or abstinence from further purchase. A satisfied product-use experience leads to repeated purchase, referrals from satisfied customers to new customers, higher usage rate, and also brand advocacy. Q.3 A. Discuss the Henry Assael model on buying decision behaviour. Henry Assael has come up with an explanation to analyse why consumers buy the goods they buy. He explained the relationship between the level of involvement by the consumers in the purchase of goods and services and the level at which diverse goods or services differ from one another. High involvement Low Involvement Signiï ¬ cant differences Complex Variety Seeking between brands Buying Behaviour Buying Behaviour Few differences Dissonance Reducing Habitual Buying between brands Buying Behaviour * Complex buying behaviour — Consumers are highly involved in a purchase and aware of significant differences among brands. This is usually the case when the product is expensive, bought infrequently, risky, and highly self-expressive. Typically the consumers don’t know much about the product category and have more to learn. Example: personal computer. * Dissonance-reducing — sometimes, the consumer is highly involved in a purchase but sees little differences in the brands. The high involvement is based on the fact that the purchase is expensive, infrequent, and risky. Example: carpet. After purchasing the carpet, consumers might experience dissonance that stems from noticing certain disquieting features of the carpet or hearing favorable things about other carpets. * Habitual buying behaviour – Many products are bought under conditions flow consumer involvement and the absence of significant brand differences. Considering salt, consumers have little involvement in this product category. They go to the store and reach for a brand. If they keep reaching for the same brand, it is out of habit and not strong brand loyalty. * Variety-seeking buying – Some buying situations are characterized by low consumer involvement but significant brand differences. Here consumers often do a lot of brand switching. Consumers do the brand switching for the sake of variety rather than dissatisfaction. Example: wafer potato chips. B. Explain the five stages of Adoption Process. * Awareness – During the first stage of adoption process, the product innovation is explained to the consumers. This process gives information about the new product or service. * Interest – When consumers develop an interest in the product or product category, they search for information about how the innovation can benefit them. * Evaluation – The evaluation stage represents a kind of ‘mental trial’ of the product innovation. Only if the consumers’ evaluation of the innovation is satisfactory, they will actually try the product. In case the evaluation is unsatisfactory, the product is automatically rejected. * TriaI- ln this stage- consumers use the product on a limited basis. Their experience with the product provides them with the critical information that they need to adopt or reject it. * Adoption -In this stage, consumers decide to make full and regular use of the product. Q.4 Describe the components of the micro environment of marketing * The company Some company factors that affect the marketing decisions are: Culture and value system — Organizational culture can be viewed as the system of shared values and beliefs that shape a company’s behavioural norms. A value. is an enduring preference as a mode of conduct or an end state. The value system of the founders of the organisation has a lasting impact on it. The value system not only influences the working of the company and the attitude of its people but also the choice of its business. 1. Mission and objectives — The mission and objectives of the company guide the priorities, direction of development, business philosophy, and business policy. 2. Management structure and nature – Structure is the manner in which the tasks and sub-tasks of the organisation are related. Structure is concerned with the hierarchical relationship and the relationship between the management of different functional areas like the structure of the top management and the pattern of share holding. 3. Human resource – This concerns factors like manpower planning, recruitment and selection, compensation, communication, and appraisal. * Intermediaries intermediaries are independent business units and they carry the company’s products and services to the customers. Prominent intermediaries include wholesalers, retailers, merchants, selling agents, brokers, etc. Their objective of being in business is different than being in a firm, so the intermediaries will be interested in maximizing their profits. Any trade promotion scheme will motivate them to push competitors’ product deeper and faster. * Public Positive and favorable public opinion is crucial to marketing success since the public is the authority that permits the existence and operation of competitive marketing systems. This environmental factor includes the general public, its support, the government, and the set of public who have a direct bearing on business. These public can be classified as welcome public, sought public, and unsought public. As a marketer, one must understand that the general public grants the license for conducting business with an expectation that the company will practice fair play. Lack of this supportive framework as evidenced by declining sales or adverse public opinion can lead to eventual failure of the firm as well as the marketing system. * Competitors Success or failure of an offer largely depends on how competitors react to the company‘s offer. Godrej was a successful refrigerator manufacturer. Once competition intensified, the company started losing market share. Today, though there is a growth in refrigerator industry, Godrej as a brand is not growing as fast as its competitors. Through the years, marketing systems have become increasingly competitive. Traditional economic analysis, views competition as a battle between companies in the same industry or between substitutable products. Marketers, however, tend to accept the argument that all firms are competing for a limited discretionary buying power. Though we can say that Maruti as a car manufacturing-company is facing competition from other car manufacturers, ultimately it is the consumer’s disposable income for which shampoos, soaps, and scooters are also competing with Maruti. A customer is expected to allocate his disposable income optimally and in the process a category also competes with another category to be in the active consideration set of customers for such an allocation. Industry has found numerous new uses for existing products, with the whole arena of competition being expanded. While this forces business to reassess long-established marketing practices, it also opens new avenues of business opportunity. Emergence of computers with multimedia as a tool of infotainment and knowledge sharing device has challenged traditional products in the entertainment market. * Suppliers Increase in the price of raw materials will have a bang on effect on the marketing mix strategy of an organisation. As a result, the prices may be forced up. This is the impact that the suppliers can have. Closer relationship with suppliers is one way of ensuring competitive and quality products for an organisation. * Customers Organisations exist because of customers. No customer means, no business. Organizations on how they meet the needs and wants of the customers and provide them with maximum benefits. Failure to do so will result in a failed business strategy. Q.5 A. Explain the types of Marketing Information systems MIS supplies three types of information, which are: * Monitoring information – Monitoring information is the information obtained from scanning external sources which include newspapers, trade publications, technical journals, magazines, directories, balance sheets of companies, and syndicated and published research reports. Data are captured to monitor changes and trends related to marketing situation. Some of these data can be purchased at a price from commercial sources such as market research agencies or from government sources. * Recurrent information — Recurrent information is the information that is generated at regular intervals like monthly sales reports; the stock statements, the trial balance, etc. ln MlS, recurrent information is the data that MIS supplies at a weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annual interval, which are made available regularly. It can also provide information on customer awareness of company’s brands, advertising campaigns, and similar data on close competitors. * Customized information — Customized information is also called problem-related, which is developed in response to some speciï ¬ c requirements related to a marketing problem or any particular data requested by a manager. B. Discuss the different components of MIS The overall Objective of an Ml IS to provide inputs from marketing environmental factors like target markets, marketing channels, competitors, consumers, and other forces for creating, changing, and modifying marketing decisions in the formulation of relevant and competitive marketing strategies. * Internal record systems — Internal record systems are available within the company across various departments and provide relevant, routine information for making marketing decisions. The most evident internal record system is the purchase and payment cycle systems. It records the timing and size of orders placed by consumers, the payment cycles followed by consumers, and the time taken to fulfill the orders in the shortest possible time. * Marketing intelligence system – A marketing intelligence system is the system of collecting and collating data. This system tries to capture relevant data from the external environment. It collects and manages data from the external enviro nment about the competitors’ moves, government regulations, and other relevant information having a direct impact on the marketing environment of the firm. *Analytical marketing systems – Analytical marketing systems are also known as Marketing Decision Support Systems (MDSS). A MDSS is a coordinated collection of data, systems, tools, and techniques with supporting software and hardware. Using this collection, an organisation gathers and interprets relevant information from business and environment and turns it into a basis for marketing action. lt involves problem-solving technology consisting of people, knowledge, software, and hardware integrated through the information technology platform into the sales management process of the organisation. * Marketing research systems – Marketing research systems are based on systems and processes that help marketing managers to design, collect, analyse, and report data and ï ¬ ndings relevant to a specific marketing situation facing the company. It also involves analysis of information, which includes a coordinated collection of data, systems, tools, and techniques with supporting software, and hardware by which an organisation gathers and interprets the relevant data and turns it into a basis for marketing action and tactics. Q.6 Describe the factors to be considered while developing an Effective marketing mix. To develop an effective marketing mix the company should consider the following factors and then choose the most appropriate mix of elements (7Ps) to target the customers: * Company’s resources – These are one of the prime factors affecting the company’s marketing mix. The financial, human, and technological resources available with the company affect the composition of the marketing mix. The firm needs to conduct a Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat (SWOT) analysis for the business unit. * Demographics — It implies to the changes in the composition of the market, the demand of the population, the opportunities in the country, etc. that affect the marketing mix. Current and projected economic conditions – It connotes the economic factors like inflation, employment, taxes, and other economic factors that influence marketing mix decisions. * Market potential – Analysis of market potential for new products considers market growth, prospect’s need for your offering, the beneï ¬ ts of the offering the number of barriers to immediate use, the credibility of the offering and the impact on the customer’s daily operations. * Competitors – They are important considerations that affect the marketing mix of a firm as the potential for competitive retaliation is based on the competitor’s resources, commitment to the industry, cash position, predictability, and status of the market. Porter’s Five Forces Model * Supplier power- The power of suppliers to drive up the prices of inputs. – * Buyer power- The power of customers to drive ‘down products’ prices. * Competitive rivalry — The strength of competition in the industry. * Threat of substitution – The extent to which different products and services can be used in place of a particular product. * Threat of new entry — The ease with which new competitors can enter the market if they see that a product is making good proï ¬ t and then drive your prices down. By thinking about how each force affects a product and by identifying the strength and direction of each force, you can quickly assess the strength of a product’s position and ability to make a sustained proï ¬ t in the industry.

Discuss Somerset’s global supply chain Essay

Somerset Furniture Company (SFC) was founded in 1957 in Randolph County, Virginia. Traditionally, SFC manufactured large, medium-priced, ornate residential home wood furniture such as bedroom cabinets and chests of draws, and dining and living room cabinets, tables, and chairs. Somerset prides itself on customer service. They believe that late deliveries to its customers would harm its credibility and result in loss of customers and excessive inventories. Somerset has recently set up new strategies and tactics to meet goals and improve global supply chain. They first found their problems were, and focused on its core capacities that will improve productivities and reduce inefficiency to win in the global market. In the mid-1990s, SFC was faced with increasing foreign competition, high labor rates, and diminishing profits. SFC decided to outsource several of its furniture product lines to manufacturers in China. This reduced the size of its own domestic manufacturing facility and labor source. SFC considered quality and time as its core competences. SFC planned to implement and strengthen its core by adopting EDI, RFID, and RTA (ready to assembly) to acquire more competitiveness on time by reducing time, improving the delivery of economic value to customers. Because of supply chain variability, shipments can be off schedule or delayed. Since 9/11, random security checks delay shipments. SFC’s global supply chain was getting lose its competitive edge and even faced shipment delays by as much as 40%. SFC was initially successful in their idea to outsource their business on a limited basis. SFC has since then discovered that as many companies do this same thing, out sourcing can result in a host of supply chain problems. Discuss possible remedies for its supply chain problems. Reduce Variability: Somerset should implement processes and tools that will reduce variability. The current process orders furniture on a weekly and bi-weekly basis. The process takes between 12 and 25 days to develop a purchase order which is then released to the Chinese suppliers. With these kinds of gaps in order creation, it makes it extremely difficult to forecast demand. The supply chain can easily be improved by implementing a real-time internet driven system that allows for direct communication between the retail operations and the supplier. Suppliers then can begin manufacturing  new furniture as orders come in. Additionally, implementing such a system will help ensure that once an order is received, that there is an urgency to deliver that order to the store, versus the current process where it may take from one day to a month before furniture is delivered to a store. Somerset wants as much of the order delivered to a store as possible in order to improve their on hand inventory levels and reduce variability. Improved Transportation: Somerset should also leverage technology with its transportation companies. Technologies such as RFID can be used to provide real-time updates to the transportation company. With improved forecasting, thresholds can be established, so that once reached, a truck is pre-ordered with the expectation that a complete order will be reached once the truck reaches the manufacturing facility. With improved forecasting and the use of technology, the trucking company can better estimate its consumer needs, thus improving their preparedness. Shipping Partnerships: In order to improve the probability of securing shipping containers and to reduce the delays caused by security checks, Somerset should leverage partnerships with companies that have similar shipping needs. By increasing the scale of their shipping needs, Somerset and t heir partners can compete with larger companies like â€Å"Big W†, by placing advanced orders. Additionally, Somerset, will experience cost savings, because of the shared container costs. The company will have fewer concerns with partially filled containers. Lastly, due to the increased scalability, the company (along with the business partners) may be able to leverage their size and avoid delays caused by security checks. Alternative Suppliers: Somerset should begin exploring opportunities with different global suppliers. Given quality concerns with production facilities and the difficulties with improving transportation and shipping resources, China may not be the best supplier for Somerset. By securing a different supplier, Somerset can not only improve its quality (thus securing its reputation), but also improve the expedience with receiving its ordered goods. These improvements can result in cost savings and improved customer service for Somerset. Discuss strategic and tactical changes that might improve the company’s supply chain performance. Collaborative Data Collection: Somerset needs to partner with the stores they deliver furniture to in order to gat her sales and other data customer facing attributes like delivery performance, fill rate and order  fulfillment. They could use this data to address supply chain response time and make their production more flexible. This entire process should be automated and accessible over to all of the stakeholders. By evaluating this data and comparing it with data about their competitors Somerset can develop a more accurate model for forecasting future sales and returns by reducing the variability due to a shorter lead time. Optimizing the customer facing fulfillment system will provide insight into how to adjust their internal supply chain process. For example, Somerset will be able to shorten the time it takes to develop and release their purchase order to their Chinese manufacturers. However, this process needs to be automated and accessible to their Chinese manufacturer so they are better able to prepare to fulfill the orders in a timely manner. This purchase order process should be combined with a plan that incentivizes their manufacturer to process their orders quicker. They also need to penalize th e manufacture for faulty products and late delivery. Although they currently have a Quality Control process they should have their own representative participate in the QC the process in China. Since Somerset has the machinery to make the custom furniture, part of the agreement should include requiring their Chinese manufacturers to use them. They also need to find other manufacturers so that they can mitigate the risk if their primary manufacturer experiences a problem meeting the deadline or there is a problem with the shipping deadlines. New Product Release: Somerset should re-evaluate how they introduce new products and phase out old product lines. For example, instead of replacing the entire product line at the same time they could introduce new products that replace the products are beginning to experience a drop off in demand. They should also examine the cost of replacement parts. They should look for ways to replace the faulty parts at a minimal cost. Standardized Parts: Somerset should identify parts that can be made interchangeable. The use of standardized parts would cut down on the time and skill required to make the furniture without affecting their customized features. Another option would be for Somerset to incorporate the manufacture of replacement parts into the facility where new products are developed. That could reduce the cost and time it currently takes to get replacement parts from China. In order to address the partially filled container problem and the creaking issue Somerset should ship the parts in standardized boxes that stack better an  fill the containers. Then establish an assembly plant in the US. That also provides them with a final control over the quality of the finished product. Somerset should also add a distribution center in China where the products are delivered prior to being shipped to the US and another distribution center in the US near the port of entry. This would help address the delays in delivery to the ports. Furthermore, Somerset should purchase their own trucks and coordinate delivery of finished product s with the pickup of raw materials. Additionally they could ship these standardized containers via airplane verses relying exclusively on ships. Although they can’t shorten the time it takes their containers to clear customs Somerset could reduce the time it takes to deliver them by purchasing their own delivery trucks to pick up the delivery from the dock. They can still contract with larger delivery services pick up from the distribution centers. Please note that these distribution centers could act as warehouses where additional inventory is stored. Product Visibility: In order to further remove uncertainty the individual boxes should be bar coded and the containers should have RFID capabilities. As a result of using technology, Somerset will have visibility to status of their products and shipments at all times. The information derived from the enhanced process would enable Somerset to reduce the supply chain cost and continue optimize their supply chain efficiency ultimately cutting cost and increasing revenue. Discuss strategic and tactical changes that might reduce system variability. Somerset Furniture faces the challenge of trying to alleviate delayed shipments in their supply chain process from their current 40% variability rate. The dilemma with shipment lead time is that the determining factor is processed orders from the past. Somerset’s management team would evaluate their past orders to determine how much lead time was reasonable in order to forecast future furniture shipments. As we learned from the case, Somerset’s variability issues stem from many factors. Some of the factors are beyond Somerset’s control due to the strict compliance factors in International shipping. For example, the size of Somerset’s business causes them to generate more security checks than larger companies because of the smaller and infrequent number of shipments. These security checks can lead to a three week delay in the shipping process. Also there is a 3-6 day lead time for containers to be loaded at the docks. There really isn’t much that  Somerset can do about this lag time because ports have their own employees and contract labor group to handle loading and off-loading duties. Furthermore, ports order containers according to bulk demand and availability which makes it hard for companies like Somerset to control the 1-7 day wait time that it takes to empty and transport available containers to the port loading docks. Another issue facing Somerset and other retail companies is that companies like SunKist and SeaLand, who own containers, only wish to order and manufacture enough containers that can be loaded and off-loaded on a continuous basis. This maximizes the fleet inventory of SunKist and SeaLand so that they can generate the most profits from their assets. Container Purchase: One way that Somerset can alleviate this problem is to purchase or lease their own fleet of containers from container manufacturers. This would allow them to reduce the 1-7 day variability wait period for empty containers. Somerset Furniture could own or lease this inventory and contract with companies like SunKist or SeaLand to store the empty containers at their docks for rental fees. By purchasing or leasing their own fleet of containers and contracting with available container owners, Somerset would also be reducing the excess space problem that they are having due to the dimensions of the containers. By ordering th eir own fleet of containers, Somerset could customize the orders to better accommodate their furniture shipments thus maximizing container space. Regulatory Compliance: Another challenge facing Somerset is that the inventory trip from China to Somerset’s Norfolk warehouse takes 29 days. There really isn’t much that Somerset can do about this timeframe. In addition to the above waiting period, the stringent process that International shipments undergo during the Customs inspections is also beyond Somerset’s control. The only thing Somerset can do to alleviate this problem is to comply with every aspect of Customs to not cause a further delay in the process. Trucks can only be loaded with furniture when the containers past inspections at the docks. One would think that the common sense thing to do is to have trucks waiting on the containers to pass Customs to prevent further delays; however, 3rd Party trucking companies charge for hold over time. The reason behind the downtime charge is that they lose money if their vehicle fleet is not on the road carrying a load. The 1-3 day trip that it takes for trucks to get from Customs to Somerset’s  warehouse is a minor issue compared to the potential 30 day period that it takes for the trucks to be unlo aded at Somerset’s warehouse docks. Supplier Incentives: The variability issues for Somerset that are within their control exist on the front end of the process beginning with the work order and purchase order process. For starters, one of the things that Somerset can do to eliminate wait time is to offer incentives to its Chinese suppliers to search for ways to process purchase orders faster. If the Chinese suppliers can accurately and efficiently reduce the 10-20 day wait period it takes to process purchase orders on the front end, then Somerset Furniture Company can reduce the potential 30 day wait period that it takes to unload trucks on the backend at their warehouse. This would help Somerset Furniture to be able to reduce excess storage fees that they have to pay to 3rd Party trucking companies for having their trailers occupied for many days at Somerset’s docking stations. Another tactical strategy that Somerset can employ is to seek ways to reduce the 60 day wait time that it takes for their suppliers in China to begin the manufacturing process. Questions need to be asked. What kind of incentives can be offered to their suppliers to start the manufacturing process earlier? Are there other suppliers in China that Somerset can employ as sole supplier manufacturers? Employing sole suppliers would help to cut down on variability because there would be no other customers hindering the manufacturing process since Somerset would be the only customer. Lastly, rather than use low-cost suppliers in China, Somerset should do the math and see if it makes sense to become their own low-cost supplier in China. By searching for ways to reduce the 60 day manufacturing cycle ¸ Somerset could reduce excess inventory and increase Just-In-Time (JIT) shipments. Also by searching for a sole supplier in China, Somerset could enjoy a streamlined manufacturing process with little or no lag time. This in turn would help to alleviate the quality issues that Somerset was having because there would be one supplier to hold accountable for their product. Discuss strategic and tactical changes that might improve quality and customer service. We have listed multiple strategic and tactical changes that Somerset could potentially make to their organization that would not only improve the overall quality of their product, but would certainly improve their customer service. If Somerset made a deliberate effort to improve its transportation via technology, engage in strategic  shipping partnerships, standardize some of its key parts, and offer supplier incentives, it would undoubtedly improve its quality and its customer service. Inspections: In addition to the above listed items, Somerset should acquire the services of an independent auditor or inspector. By placing an independent inspector in the facilities of its Chinese suppliers, Somerset could greatly increase the quality of its products and would likely reduce the amount of customer complaints. Proactive Customer Service: Somerset could greatly increase its customer service by committing to a proactive customer service team. Somerset could increase the size of its customer service support function that would allow its customer service team more time to place courtesy calls, follow up calls, emails, and texts to customers that may have had a bad experience. A dissatisfied customer could likely become a lost customer if there is not a proactive customer service team to follow up on each issue. Customer Service Score Cards and Online Surveys: Lastly, Somerset should make every attempt to listen to the voice of its customers. Somerset could provide its customers with customer service score cards and/or online surveys so that they could stay in tune with the changing demands of their customers. The exceptions such as late deliveries or damaged products should be addressed as expeditiously as possible, however, it is in the organization’s best interest to know and understand what their customers like, dislike, want, and need. Customer service score cards and online surveys would give Somerset priceless feedback and it would open lines of communication between the organization and its customers.