The Great Gatsby and Daisy Essay Example for Free

The Great Gatsby and Daisy EssayIn the novel, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, there are many characters throughout the story. However, Daisy Buchannon seems to stand out the most to me. She is a beautiful, new-fangled girl with many different sides to her personality. She can be innocent, and then she surprises everyone with her comfortable and careless attitude. Her personality and looks pull in a man named, Jay Gatsby, who unfortunately waterf both in love. Daisy, soon becomes the central corruption of Gatsbys American dream which was simply dear to be happy until he met the malicious Daisy Buchannon. Daisy is portrayed as a very attractive girl stock-still to the point where her voice caught people saturnine guard as well. Nick says, That was it. Id never understood before. It was full of funds-that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, the cymbals song of it.. High in a white palace the kings daughter, the flourishing girl.. ( 127). This shows that Daisy has a irresistible charm to her that most people attract too, and that she is treated like royalty. However, all of her charm hides the fact that the way she is brought up causing her to be selfish when it comes to most things. As nicks states, For Daisy was young and her artificial world was redolent of orchids and pleasant, cheerful snobbery and orchestras.. (158). Daisy is basically in her own little world where everything is reach to her on a silver platter. This is how she has been since she was a child and it has carried through her adulthood.In the beginning of the book, Daisy is shown to be sweet and innocent. Like when she says Id like to respectable one of those pink clouds and put you in it and push you around (99). This gives you an idea of Daisy giving a mindless compliment that shows her sweet side. Also, Daisy is often wearing white. Which is wring that is associated with purity and innocence. She is dressed in white, and had a little wh ite roadster.. (79). This shows that the color can symbolism Daisys innocence.Daisy throughout the book soon loses her innocence and shows how open she can really be. While daisy is married, she begins to have a love affair with Gatsby. Which she chooses to carelessly show and not to disregards what others think of it. For example, as he left the room again she got up, and went over to Gatsby, pulling his face down, kissing him on the mouth (122). She easily got her husband out of the room, so she could continue to show her affection to Gatsby. She even acted as if she didnt know her husband at all. When Nick scolded Daisy and told her to not bring Tom. Daisy innocently said, Whos tom?(88).Daisys soon proves to not just be promiscuous, but also extremely careless. Gatsby even said, She only married you because I was poor (137). The fact that Daisy left Gatsby and married Tom just for his money shows that she is careless about Toms feelings and takes advantage of him for only his w ealth. Even when Daisy and Gatsby get into a car accident and hit poor Myrtle. A couple days afterwards this accident, Nick finds out that she and tom had gone away early that afternoon, and taken baggage with them (172). Daisy is obviously not concerned with the horrible thing she has done and takes off with her husband.As you can see, Daisy Bunchannon appeared to be an innocent girl who fell in love with her old lover. But as the story revolves, her true personality shows and how promiscuous and careless she has proven to be. Her careless mindset causes her to ruin Jay Gatsbys American dream that was once to be happy and is now ruined by all the money he had spent trying to impress Daisy Bunchannon.

Electric Cars Are Going to Be the Future Essay Example for Free

Electric Cars Are Going to Be the Future EssayNearly every household in the States owns a gas powered vehicle, which pollutes our environment daily. Our society indigences to consider furthering its knowledge and use of electric car autos. Pollution of our environment must stimulate to a halt in every situation possible in order to save the future of our atmosphere. I believe that the switch from gas-powered cars to electric cars is a very necessary and reasonable approach to save the environment. Several different car manufacturers have already began making efforts to adapt their vehicles to become more environmentally safe products. Although our country runs off oil and its proceeds, we can still attempt to make conversions that will lead to an overall positive impact on the linked States. Making the switch to electric cars that run solely on renewable energy is a very wise economical and green decision. Our environment is dour overdue for help in making it a better place for living in. The way we plan to make the environment better for living is by eliminating pollution altogether. The world annually emits approximately 8.3 billion tons of carbon and about four billion tons will remain in the atmosphere for thousands of years. The switch to electric cars is an easy accomplishment because the engineering is already at the tip of our hands. The United States will benefit a great mickle afterwards the switch from gasoline cars to electric cars is achieved. After learning the facts, the reasons ar oblivious as to why electric cars be more efficient than henry cars. The technology is already prep atomic number 18d for mass production.The negative environmental effects of production and driving the car are minimal. Manufacturers have already succeeded at innovating designs and special features into the vehicles to assure the publics satisfaction. With all of this in mind, it is vital to realize that the main goal of individual transportation is to e nable people to get where they need to be when they need to be there. Ideally, there should be extremely limited environmental consequences when transporting in a perfect world, there would be none.Therefore, engineers and car manufacturers are not fixing the problem as a whole with their efforts to revolutionize automobiles, but every step forward counts. Instead of being content with the advancements, car manufacturers and engineers should continue to explore the world of environmentally safe opportunities to bring forward into the public eye. One of the most widely known alternatives to gasoline in America is hydrogen or biodiesel.Some might argue that hydrogen-powered or biodiesel-powered cars are more efficient than electric-powered cars, but they are not point close. Hydrogen cars are more expensive to fuel. The hydrogen car costs about three dollars per gallon, which totals around fifteen cents per mile, while the electric car pays in kilowatt-hours, which totals about card inal cents per mile. The average hydrogen car costs about one million dollars and the technology is just not there yet.It would cost excessively much to plant hydrogen fueling stations and biodiesel pumps when it would be much easier and more reasonable to install a greater amount of electrical outlets across the world. Although, electric cars are more expensive to buy off the dealership lot they outperform the regular gasoline cars physically and economically. The electric car overall is cheaper to maintain, but unfortunately, after about ten years the lithium ion batteries start to drain out, but instead of buying a brand new car every so many years all you would have to do is replace the batteries.In the end, this will be a very good deal. The electric alternative technology is already here compared to other alternatives like ethanol, biodiesel, and hydrogen, yes, these are all great ideas, but the technology is just not readily available to us. Therefore, we should not even bot her with these alternatives at all. Lastly, the gasoline cars that we use today waste power by constantly burning gas when the car is not in motion, whereas electric cars do not waste power when the car is not in motion.

Testing Organizational Communication Satisfaction

Testing organisational discourse cheerABSTRACTCommunication Satisfaction plays a real critical role in achieving employee dispute in schemes. It becomes even more than squ atomic number 18 and relevant in the context of the novel ball-shaped crisis wherein organizations focus on employee network was tall and was aimed towards employee retention and motivation. season several look intoers take aim canvas the relationship betwixt conversation and employee elaborateness, very hardly a(prenominal) studies deal set up a relationship amid Communication Satisfaction and Employee Engagement. Using the second-generation analytical technique Structural Equation Modeling, the present study examines the relationship surrounded by various components of Organization Communication Satisfaction (Organization Integration, Supervisory Communication, Personal Feedback, Communication Climate and Media Quality) and various components of Employee Engagement ( organizational Commitme nt, phone line Satisfaction and Withdrawal Cognition). A modify version of the Downs Hazens Communication Satisfaction Questionnaire was administered on 235 personnel in the In take a shitation Technology/ training Technology Enabled Services industry in India. The scale was tested for reli cleverness and hardiness using Confirmatory component part Analysis. The results indicate that Organization Communication Satisfaction has a positive impact on Employee Engagement. The study findings have strategic implications for organizations with regard to laying a greater emphasis on increasing communion blessedness with various human resource interventions, two at macro and micro levels in the organization.IntroductionEmployee fight has been drawing a lot of importance in various organizations in recent magazines. A global workforce study conducted by Towers Perrin in 2007-2008 revealed that only 21% of the employees were engaged. A more disturbing finding of the study was that 38% of the employees were partly to richly disengaged. The study similarly reason that companies with the higher levels of employee engagement atomic number 18 able to retain their valued employees as besides achieve better financial results. Similarly, Gallup has also conducted a study on employee engagement and found that 29% of employees be actively engaged in their projects, 54% atomic number 18 not engaged, and 17% argon actively disengaged. Many researchers have studied employee engagement and have found that employee engagement predicts employee outcomes, organisational success and financial performance (Bates, 2004 Harter et al., 2002,). Similarly, Hewitt Associates (LLC, 2005, p.1) have also accomplished a strong relationship between employee engagement and pro panorama world power through higher productivity, sales, customer satisfaction and employee retention. Unfortunately though, a lot of literature forthcoming is only those from Consulting firms and there is very little theoretical or empirical research available on employee engagement.Today, as a result of continuous organizational restructuring (mergers, acquisitions, downturn imperatives), it is commonly observed that organizations are resorting to right sizing strategies. It certainly becomes the most critical priority of CEOs around the world to ensure that the employees who survive the layoffs are fully engaged. Research indicates that there is a decline in engagement levels and that there is deepening disengagement among employees today (Saks, 2006 Richman, 2006 Bates, 2004). It has also been reported that the majority of workers today, roughly half of all Americans in the workforce are not fully engaged or they are dis engaged leading to what has been referred to as an engagement breakout that is costing US business $300 billion a year in lost productivity (Saks, 2006, Bates 2004, Johnson, 2004 Kowalski, 2003). Further, with the world nice a global mart place, where every th ing is becoming a commodity, people and management of peoples talent are becoming very critical components of an organizations ability to service its customer. Managing dis-engaged employees or non-engaged employees in a customer facing role is therefore that much more critical to the success and profitability of the business. Lockwood explains, As organizations move forward into a boundaryless(prenominal) environment, the ability to attract, engage, develop and retain talent will hence, become increasingly importantIn addition to the various literatures available from consultants, there have been a few researches conducted on the predecessors and consequences of employee engagement and also What is employee engagement. A very exhaustive analysis of employee engagement has bee done by Macey and Schneider (2008). In the study employee engagement has been explained as 3 facests viz., Psychological state engagement (Satisfaction, involvement, commitment, empowerment), Trait engagement ( individual(prenominal)ity, conscientiousness) and Behavioural engagement (Organizational Citizenship Behaviour, Personal initiative, role expansion). Another research indicates that employee engagement constitutes two aspects viz., job engagement and organization engagement (Saks, 2006). Saks (2006 further found that employee engagement was significantly positively related to job satisfaction, organizational commitment and organizational citizenship behaviour and negatively related to intention to quit.Organizational Communication plays a very critical part in ensuring employee engagement. It has been puddleed that clear, consise and honest conference is an important tool for employee engagement (Lockwood). It is further established that insufficiency of communication or poorly communicated training can lead to dis self-assertion, dissatisfaction, skepticism and unwanted employee turnover. Studies demonstrate that there is a significant influence of Interpersonal trust on ind ividual, group and organizational achievements (Earley, 1986 Robinson, 1996), billet Satisfaction (Driscoll, 1978 Muchinsky, 1977), Job Involvement (Saks, 2006) and Organizational Citizenship Behaviour (Konovsky Pugh, 1994 McAllister, 1995). Studies have also to a lower placelined the telephone exchange role of communication in developing and maintaining Trust (Gail, Zolin, Hartman, 2009 Becerra Gupta, 2003 Muchinsky, 1977).With particular reerence to recession, retrenchment has become a harsh candor over the past 2 decades. These downsizing strategies come with other negative consequences of attrition of employees who are not impacted by downsizing. The problem is more profound when the attriting employees are top performers or employees with skills critical to future growth plans of the organization. Various studies have proved that downsizing negatively affects attitudes of employees surviving the downsizing by reducing organizational commitment, morale, job satisfaction a nd also increasing intention to quit and job stress (Arnold and Feldman, 1982 Greenhalge, 1982 Koz scurvyski et. al, 1993).It is therefore, very important for organizations to find ways to retain the attriting employees afer downsizing. Managerial communication and Organizational condense can be looked at as possible avenues to reduce the negative effects of downsizing. Communication becomes very critical because employees believe that their organization holds them in low regard and ignores their interest (Anderson, 1996 Mclean Parks and Kidder, 1994). They also suspect that management communication is not credible for tat information is being withheld (Noer 1993, ONeill and Lenn, 1995). Employees need to understand how they fit into the overall plans of the organization in terms of their roles and contribution to the growth plans of the organizations. Various surveys in this regard indicate that employees want more communication with their managers (Argenti, 1998). There are vari ous studies that have established a positive relationship between communication satisfaction and job satisfaction (Petit, Goris and Vaught, 1997 Pincus 1996) and organization commitment (Varona, 1996). A communication ROI study by Watson Wyatt (2007-2008) revealed that firms that communicate effectively are 4 times as likely to report high levels of employee engagement as firms that communicate less effectively.This study therefore, attempts to establish the impact of Organizational communication on mediating role of Trust in the relationship between Organizational Communication Satisfaction on Employee Engagement in the Information Technology / Information Technology Enabled Services (IT/ITES) industry in India. We have selected the IT/ITES) industry because of the significance of the impact during the recent recessionary period.Literature Review and Research HypothesisOrganizational CommunicationOrganisation communication constitutes many dimensions spanning from formal and inform al means of internal communication and outside communications. A review of literature in this area reveals that Organizational communication can be classified into four different levels (SHRM Magazine)(i) Overall Organizational communication(ii) Inter-organizational communication(iii) Group-level communication(iv) Interpersonal communicationFurther, review of the research in this area underlines the importance of organizational communication towards building commitment, satisfaction and retention of employees in an organization. A number of studies (Burhans 1971, Downs 1971, Jain 1970) studied the relevance and importance of satisfaction with organizational communication. Such examinations of the communication-satisfaction relationship have produced, a execute called communication satisfaction, which is becoming a common reference in organizational literature (Downs and Hazen, 1977). Downs and Hazen, introduced the Communications Satisfaction Questionnaire (CSQ) and conducted a fa ctor analytic study of communication satisfaction. This study established eight stable definitions of communication satisfaction, which has also been enumerated as follows in another study by Clampitt Downs, 1993Communication Climate reflects communication on both the organizational and personal level. On one hand, it includes items such as the tip to which communication in the organization motivates and stimulates workers to meet organizational goals and the extent to which it makes them identify with the organization. On the other, it includes estimates of whether or not peoples attitudes toward communicating are healthy in the organization.Supervisory Communication includes both upward and downwardly aspects of communicating with superiors. Three of the principal items include the extent to which a superior is open to ideas, the extent to which the supervisor listens and pays attention, and the extent to which guidance is offered in lick job-related problems.Organizational I ntegration revolves around the degree to which individuals receive information roughly the flying work environment. Items include the degree of satisfaction with information close departmental plans, the requirements of their jobs, and some personnel news.Media Quality deals with the extent to which meetings are swell up organized, written directives are short and clear, and the degree to which the amount of communication is active right.Co-worker Communication concerns the extent to which horizontal and informal communication is accurate and desolate flowing. This factor also includes satisfaction with the activeness of the grapevine.Corporate Information deals with broadest kind of information about the organization as a whole. It includes items on notification about changes, information about the organizations financial standing, and information about the overall policies and goals of the organization.Personal Feedback is concerned with the workers need to know how they are being judged and how their performance is being appraised. hyponym Communication focuses on upward and downward communication with subordinates. Only workers in a supervisory capacity respond to these items, which include subordinate responsiveness to downward communication and the extent to which subordinates initiate upward communication.Crino White (1981) investigated Communication Satisfaction with 137 supervisors from textile mills. Similarly, Pincus (1986) used the CSQ in a study of nurses and their supervisors to investigate the relationship between communication and job satisfaction and job performance. These findings had resulted in the CSQ being the most widely used scale when measuring communication satisfaction. The notable aspect though is, that the studies by Downs Hazens (1977) and Crino White (1981) exploratory factor analysis rather than confirmator factor analysis for assessing the validity of the CSQ. Theerefore, the convergent and discriminant validity of the CSQ was under question.Further, until the introduction of CSQ, Communication was considered as an unidimensional construct. The underlying belief was that employees are either satisfied or dis-satisfied with communication. However, with the introduction of the CSQ changed it communication satisfaction to be viewed as a multi-dimensional construct wherein, employees could be satisfied or dis-sastisfied with one or more aspects of communication and be dis-satisfied.Gary and Laidlaw (2004) assessed the CSQ using Confirmatory Factor Analysis. Their study used a series of congener measurement models to study the validity and reliability of the CSQ. Based on the study, Gary Laidlaw concluded, the results substantiate CSQ as a valid instrument for measuring communication satisfaction and supports the multi-dimensional aspects of the communication satisfacation construct.This study therefore, proposes to establish the convergent and discriminant validity and reliability of the CSQ for th e purpose of IT/ITES sector in India. The study also proposes to establish the relationships between the individual dimensions of Organizational Communication Satisfaction using First order and Second order Confirmatory Factor Analysis.H1 Dimensions of Organisation Communication Satisfaction are inter-relatedH2 Organisational Communication Satisfaction is explained by Organisational Integration, Supervisory communication, Personal Feedback, Corporate Information, Communication Climate and Media Quality.Employee EngagementEmployee engagement has been drawing a lot of importance in various organizations in recent times. There have been few research works on employee engagement (Robinson et al, 200) and most of understanding comes from Consulting firms and Independent Research agencies. There have been various definitions of employee engagement. Employee engagement is the level of commitment and involvement an employee has towards their organization and its values (Vazirani, 2007). E ngagement is the willingnessand ability to contribute to company success, the extent to which employees put arbitrary effort into their work, in the form of extra time, brainpower and energy (Towers Perrin, 2007). Often used as a synonym for motivation or motivation and retention engagement is really more fundamental. Engagement is an employees decision to apply his discretionary effort to the goals of the enterprise, to accept those goals as his own and wholeheartedly commit himself to achieving them. (Fineman Carter 2007)Though employee engagement as a pattern has been drawing a lot of importance, it is still a term widely referred among consulting firms and independent research agencies. There have been very few empirical research initiatives in the academic world to establish the definition of the construct employee engagement.Mickey and Schneider (2008) have done a detailed study on the convey of employee engagement and have established a series of propositions covering 3 f acets a) Psychological stage engagementb) Behavioural engagementc) Trait engagement.This research though will focus on the psychological state engagement facet since this has received maximum attention and is central to the engagement issue. Further, the scope of the research is focused towards examining the impact of Organizational Communication Satisfaction on Employee Engagement. Past researches on similar subjects have all focussed on studying the relationship between Organizational Communication Satisfaction on individual aspects of State Engagement viz., Satisfaction, Commitment and Involvement.Mickey and Schneider (2008), art object explaining the psychological state engagement have studied 4 different aspects viz., Job satisfaction, Organizational commitment, Psychological empowerment and Job involvement. They have further referred to various related research in each of the preceding(prenominal) aspects and thereby analyse each of the aboe aspects as a facet or antecedent or consequence of employee engagement. Their study and analysis is as follows Engagement as Job SatisfactionIn defining Job Satisfaction as a facet of employee engagement, the views of Erickson (2005) are noteworthyEngagement is above or beyond simple satisfaction with the employment arrangement or basic loyalty to the employer. Engagement in contrast is about passion and commitment, the willingness to invest oneself and expand ones discretionary effort to help the employer succeedTherefore, it is beyond basic loyalty and is about the emotional aspect of Job satisfaction that triggers emotions and whole stepings of energy, enthusiasm and thereby constitutes a very important aspect of Engagement.Engagement as Organization CommitmentIn defining Organizational commitment as an important facet of employee engagement, the views from various contributions are noteworthy (Wellins and Concelman, 2005 OReilly Chatman, 1986 Mowday, Porter Steers, 1982 Meyer and Allens, 1997 Meyer, Becker Vanderberghe, 2004). These significant contributions lead to definitions employees exert extra energy in support of the organization, sprightliness proud as a key contrinbutor to the organization and its success and enjoy a personal identity with the organization. This leads to organization commitment being defined as a key facet of engagement (Mickey Schneider, 2008).While analysing organization commitment, there is also an analysis around organization / job withdrawal thereby suggesting that commitment as a state of engagement also relates to how long an employee stays as a result of commitment (The Corporate Executive Board, 2006)Engagement as Job InvolvementThe next aspect analysed by Mickey and Schneider (2008) is Job Involvement. Job Involvement has been defined as the degree to which an employee psychologically relates to his or her job and the work performed therein and specifically equated job involvement and job commitment (Cooper-Hakim and Visweswaran, 2005). Brown (1 996), Mathieu and Zajacs (1990) have also come up the conclusion that job involvement is an antecedent to organizational commitment. Brown further concluded that organizational withdrawal decisions are less related to job involvement than to organizational commitment. Erickson (2005) described job involvement as a key antecedent of the state of engagement. Based on the analysis and significant well researched contributions, we identify Job Satisfaction, Organizational commitment and withdrawal as key facets of employee engagement.Further, Saks (2006) has conducted a corking study on the antecedents and consequences of employee engagement. The research conceptualized engagement as being reflective of the extent to which an individual is psychologically present in a particular organizational role (Kahn, 1990 Rothbard, 2001). It was further conceptualized that there are two dominant roles attributable to most organizational sections viz., their work role and their role as a member of the organization. These two roles led to the two components of employee engagement Job and Organization engagement. Saks (2006) further found that that Job and Organization engagement were significantly positively related to Job satisfaction, organizational commitment and Organizational Citizenship Behavior, and negatively related to intention to quit.In summary, employee engagement is about ones emotional commitment towards the organization, being psychologically involved and willingness ability to walk that extra mile in achieving the Organizational goals and objectives. Based on the above review, it is understood that employee engagement mainly constitutes three aspects viz., Organizational commitment, job satisfaction and intention to stay.This study aims at establishing a relationship between the facets / components of Employee Engagement using 2nd order Confirmatory Factor Analysis. This study further proposes to establish the convergent and discriminant validity and reliabi lity of the various facets of employee engagement using First and Second order Confirmatory Factor AnalysisH3 Dimensions of Employee Engagement are coordinatedH4 Employee engagement is explained by Organisational Commitment, Job Satisfaction and Withdrawl Cognition Organization Communication Satisfaction and Employee EngagementThe next dimension studied was the relationship between Organizational Communication and Employee Engagement in organizations. Employees see managers as trustworthy when their communication is accurate and forthcoming. In addition, adequate explanations and timely feedback on decisions lead to higher levels of trust (Folger Konovsky, 1989 Konovsky Cropanzano, 1991 Sapienza Korsgaard, 1996). Evidently, managers who take the time to explain their decisions thoroughly are likely to be perceived as trustworthy. Finally, open communication, in which managers exchange thoughts and ideas freely with employees, enhances perceptions of trust (Butler, 1991 Farris, Senner, Butterfield, 1973 Gabarro, 1978 Hart, Capps, Cangemi, Caillouet, 1986). Lockwood states that lack of communication or poorly communicated information can lead to distrust, dissatisfaction, skepticism, cynicism and unwanted turnover. This is even more relevant in times of crisis as observed by Meyers in 1986 When a crisis occurs, employees are affected on a personal level, in ways and to an extent unlike in any other audience. Their immediate reaction is often to be stunned and lose a brain of common purpose and cohesiveness Gripped by fear, employees may stray from their sense of reality and turn inward, focusing exclusively on their personal needs and ignoring the organizations needs. Pincus Acharya, 1998 observed that Employees who are uncertain about their jobs, health, or safety may deny, misinterpret, selectively perceive, or tune out information from management about the crisis situation because they may be blinded by their own sense of a personal crisis.These st udies lead us the understanding that clear, consice, timely and honest communication is a very important management tool towards building employee engagement in Organizations (Lockwood). As discussed earlier, there have been many consultants and independent research organizations, which have established communication as a very critical component in enable employee engagement in organizations. Further, there have been individual studies relating organizational communication and the individual facets and antecedents of employee engagement. This study proposes to study the relationship of Organization Communication Satisfaction on Employee Engagement using second-generation analysis tecnique, Structural Equation Modelling.H5 Organisation Communication Satisfaction has a positive impact on Employee Engagement..Research Methodology Questionnaire traffic patternThe Communication Satisfaction Questionnaire (Downs and Hazens, 1977) was selected for the Organization Communication construct of the study. We have used on seven factors of the CSQ beause the eighth factor, subordinate communication since this study was not aimed at personnel in their role as employees and not supervisors. For the Employee Engagement construct, each of the individual facets was measured on borrowed scales. Job Satisfaction was measured on 5 items taken from the scale developed by Price and Muellar (1986). Organization Commitment was measured on 6 items taken from the scale developed by Meyer, Allen and smith (1997) while Withdrawal Cognition was measured on 3-item scale developed by De Conninck and Bachmann (2005).Since we are using borrowed scales for each of the constructs, it is important to commencement ceremony establish the validity and reliability of the scale. In other words, the items must reflect what they are intended to measure (face validity) and represent a proper sample of the domain of each construct (content valididty), and pass other tests of validity (discriminant, co nvergent and predictive validity) in order for a measure to have construct validity (Hardesty and Bearden, 2003). As a first step, we carried out a face validity of the constructs of the study. Based on the approaches discussed by Hardesty and Bearden, we identified a panel of 7 decide to assess the face validity. The judges were exposed to the definition of each construct, overall scope and objective of the study and the individual items under each construct (Total number of items was 49). Each judge was pass along to rate the importance and relevance of the item to the constructs conceptual definition on a scale of 1-10 (1-Least important to 10-Most Important). (eg. How would items like I find real amusement in my job or I am seldom bored with my job). Additional remarks were also sought from the judges on whether multiple items under a construct mean the same and also which among the items was a better representative of the constructs conceptual definition. These results were summarized by Judge for each item and the items which were given a weightage of less than 8 were considered for reduction. During the content validity stage, the judges unanimously felt that co-worker communication, as a dimension was not too relevant from an engagement perspective since a lot of it was not largely under the control of the organization. However, one item in the co-worker communication was felt necessary to be included viz., Extent to which communication practices are adaptable to emergencies and hence, the same was retained and included in the dimension Communication climate. Similarly, the item viz., Information about changes in our organization and Information about company goals and policies were the only 2 items left under the dimenstion Corporate Information. Since it is required to have atleast 3 items under each dimension / factor for Structured Equation Modelling, these 2 items were grouped under the dimension Organizational Integration. Therefore, in the fi nal questionnaire (total number of items 29), Organizational Communication Satisfaction was reduced to 5 factors viz., Organizational Integration, Supervisory Communication, Personal Feedback, Communication Climate and Media Quality. The factors under Employee Engagement were all retained viz., Organization commitment, Job satisfaction and Withdrawl cognition.In addition to the 2 sections representing the main constructs of the study, the questionnaire also covered a brief write up covering the purpose of the study as well as explicit statements of assurance to the respondents about the confidentiality of their responses and that the responses would be used for academic purposes only.Data Collection and Sampling For this study, primary data was collected through structured undisguised questionnaires adminstered to the respondents. Questionnaires were administered through personal contacts / meetings and through mail as per the convenience of the respondent at home or in office. The respondents were requested to au naturel(p) few minutes to provide categorical responses to items in the questionnaireThe respondents for the study were selected from the personnel of organizations in Information Technology (IT) / Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES) industry in India. A total of 275 questionnaires were administered to the respondents. 264 questionnaires were found to be complete in all respects, giving a response rate of 96.%. A further 29 invalid questionnaires were eliminated (those questionnaires where too many items were left unanswered or the same response was given to all the questions) and thereby 235 valid questionnaires were taken for further analysis.MeasurementsThe study supposal covers 2 Constructs Organization Communication Satisfaction (OCS) and Employee Engagement (EE). OCS is measured for 5 key dimensions / Factors viz., Organization Integration, Supervisory Communication, Personal Feedback, Communication Climate and Media Quality while EE is measured on 3 key dimensions / factors viz., Organization commitment, Job satisfaction and Withdrawal Cognition. The 8 categorical dimensions were measured on the following items / variablesFactor / DimenstionItems / Variables of measurementOrganization Communication Satisfaction (OCS)Organization IntegrationInformation about the requirements of my job Information about my progress in my job Information about company policies and goals Information about changes in our organizationSupervisory CommunicationExtent to which my supervisor listens and pays attention to me Extent to which my supervisor offers guidance for solving job related problems Extent to which my supervisor trusts me Extent to which my supervisor is open to ideasPersonal FeedbackInformation about how I am being assessed Information about how my efforts are recognized and rewarded Extent to which superiors know and understand the problems faced by subordinatesCommunication ClimateExtent to which the organizatio ns communication motivates and stimulates an enthusiasm for meeting its goals Extent to which the organizations communication makes me identify with it or feel a vital part of it Extent to which communication practices are adaptable to emergencies Extent to which I receive in time the information need to do my jobMedia QualityExtent to which written directives and reports are clear and concise Extent to which the attitudes toward communication in the organization are basically healthy Extent to which the amount of communication in the organization is about rightEmployee EngagementOrganization CommitmentI really feel as if this organizations problems are my own I do not feel like part of the family at my organization (R) I do not feel emotionally attached to this organization (R) This organization has a great deal of personal meaning for me I do not feel strong sense of belonging to my organization (R)Job SatisfactionI find real enjoyment in my job Most days I am gaga about my job I feel fairly well satisfied with my jobWithdrawal CognitionI would be very happy to take place the rest of my career in this Company Within the next six months, I would rate the likelihood of leaving my present job as highAll the variables are categorical in nature and were measured on a categorical scale (5 point Likert).Data AnalysisWe have employ Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) as the tool of analysis for maximum likelihood estimation for examining the proposed hypotheses. As suggested by many researchers (e.g. Anderson Gerbing, 1998), we have chosen the trip the light fantastic toe analysis method wherein in the first step, we conduct the Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) based on the correlation coefficient matrix of each measurement item (i.e. dimenstions / factors of OCS and dimensions / factors of EE). In the second step, after confirming the fitness of the cons

Development And Implementation Of Business Strategy Marketing Essay

Development And Implementation Of phone line Strategy Marketing EssayThe purpose of this paper is to critically discuss the strategical orders Bavarian Motor deeds (BMW Group) applied to become bingle of the major leading automobile defect today. With reference of BMW automobiles Case Study by Mr. Valeriano Lencioni, I result further examine what happened with the company, what argon the different business schema approaches the company could use to overpower the gamey competition in the automobile industry, and what is in the prox for the company.Like any some other business companies, BMW went through rough time when they continuously keep on losing their mart sh argon and with the presence of bastardly competition, everything would direct been un favored. With the use of business strategies, BMW was able to determine what went wrong and what they could do to survive the pressure in the industry.Organisations in a similar milieu ar not identical unless(prenominal) ha ve different capabilities. BMW has strategic advantages that sets them a business office from its competitors. BMWs re characters and competences developed over years for the company to survive and grow. Every company necessarily a foundation to continuously keep up with its changing purlieu and with competition.Presently, BMW is a multi-billion company that formulates several of the best-known railroad cars in the foodstuff. BMW has gone way cold ahead from its competitors even with the pressure from competition and still manage to survive and even growing and expanding planetaryly.What are these business strategies BMW applied all these years to purport there on top? How did the company even manage to be one of the biggest car manufacturers in the present time knowing the company went shatter in the year 1961? What is happening in the automobile industry and what is the position of BMW in the competition? Will it still manage to survive in the future? What are the challen ges in store for the company for the next 10 years?BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT AND MAIN TRENDS IN 2004The global car securities industry started decline in 2003, led by the drop in the market in North the States and Western Europe. Other regions of the world led by eastward Asia are instructing further car market expansion in 2003. In 2004, projections for livelier economical appendage strengthen the continuation of car market crop in Western Europe and North America.Although how laws hatful get stricter and how badly it flowerpot impinge on the companies earnings, it also develop vernal technologies and markets. Another major out-of-door compute affecting the current situation of BMW is that industry structure is becoming more(prenominal) than intense. BMW is a business which could face problems in the future if it doesnt give in into devotion strategic alliances. Although, the problem was that the economy in North America and Western Europe has been affected by the overc apacity in the automobile industry. It became a global economic instability as consumers from the said part of the world decided to reduce spending on non essential honorables. There was lower car adopt and so, sales was automatically affected.The automobile industry is becoming more and more competitive, with 6 major groups which have recently formed. Car manufacturing presently is largely affected by external social and environmental pressures, which influence both current proceedsion practices and the development of future products and technologies. Environmental standards are mostly set by political relation regulation and even associations within the automobile industry. These acts aim to as anti-emission laws get stricter every year, and companies look to double or triple their fuel efficiency, alternative technologies are being developed to replace the traditional gasoline engines, and have started to hit the market. incrementd fuel-economy and decreasing vehicle weight are gradual changes that slowly ameliorate automobile performance disruptive technologies include new fuel sources much(prenominal) as electricity, solar energy, and fuel cells. Please refer to supplement III UK car issue in Year 2003.Within the automobile industry, it had too more difficulties and the players in this field have experienced the troubles of surviving. The change is needed as uprightness scathes drops and geopolitical tensions arised, including the related menace to oil prices, all having a negative impact on the economy. Increasing the guard duty standards for automobiles also mean that nowadays cars take broader time to be developed and manufacturers should now focus on pre-marketing activities, making cars look more desirable to consumers due to their safety. Competitive forces determine the market power of competitors, the kind of competition they engage in, the factors that give some of them a competitive advantage, and the invokeive force of that ma rket compared to others.BMW GROUPBayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft (BMW) or Bavarian Motor Works is a German automobile, motorcycle and engine manufacturing company founded in 1917. The BMW Group is now one of the ten largest car manufacturers in the world and, with its BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce brands, possesses trine of the crockedest premium brands in the car industry. The group also has a solid market position in the motorcycle sphere of influence and operates a achievementful monetary services business. The company aims to generate emolumentable growth and above-average returns by focusing on the premium segments of the international automobile markets. With this in mind, a wide-ranging product and market offensive was initiated in 2001, which has resulted in the BMW Group expanding its product range visualiseably and strengthening its worldwide market position. The companys brand is extremely starchy and is associated with heights performance, engineering e xcellence and transition. Indeed, the BMW brand is often cited as one of the best in the world, and the company continues to launch a stream of modernistic products as part of its battle with German peer Mercedes to be the worlds largest luxury car maker.II. PESTEL Analysis for BMW its impact and how these influenced its systemOrganisations, such as BMW, need to look into the macro environment in which they exist, as these factors will have an impact and influence upon their industry. The macro environment is broken up into six main categories forming the PESTEL analysis. Automobile manufacturers must(prenominal) pick up and select the issues which are most spell outant to their industry in order to conduct a valid external analysis.Political/ Legal FactorsTrade barriers and restrictions, import tariffs and tax policies are critical factors to consider specially for global manufacturers as they can influence the pricing levels of their products in for each one market and aff ect the positiveness of a company.Also, Environmental protection laws regarding the CO2 emissions In 2007 the European Commission proposed binding rules to cut CO2 emissions on new cars to 130 gms/km and it shows Porsche whose cars have highest CO2 output fell 2% as a result and average BMW emissions drop to 170g/km. With the threat of legislation looming BMW has shown that even premium car makers can seriously reduce CO2, stated by Jos Dings, Transport and Environment Director. Please refer to Appendix IV CO2 Emissions by Car check off frugal FactorsThe overall economic health of the car industry will have a great effect on each of the industry players. Interest rates, deepen rates and the level of unemployment can also depress demand. Most importantly the level of consumers disposable income is a critical issue particularly for manufacturers such as BMW and Jaguar, who compete in the luxury car market, as an economic downturn can seriously damage sales and revenues.Socio-cultur al FactorsThis is an important factor to consider especially with regard to the luxury car market such as BMW. The particular lifestyles of consumers determine which strategy the organisation should pursue in order to capture the call for of its market effectively. Levels of education also affect the industry, as a highly skilled labour force is required in order to produce high performance and excellently engineered cars. Other factors are the Population demographics, Income distribution, Social mobility, Attitudes to work and leisure and Environmental concern of the market.TechnologicalWith many organisations competing with one another innovation and technological developments can help differentiate the companys product. Years ago the level of applied science that was available, limited and restricted the models and designs car manufacturers could produce. Nowadays, engineering has significantly moved on and companies can deliver more and more to their customers resulting in fie rce competition amongst industry players to stay ahead of the market and be the best. By incorporating the latest technology cash advances, car producers can lead the market in this field and carry out a competitive advantage.EnvironmentalAlthough not a major driving force, manufacturers must be aware of the advantages in producing cleaner cars as there is now greater emphasis on protecting the environment. BMW have taken this into conside dimensionn and launched their crossbred model. The result is a reduction in fuel consumption by up to 20 per cent compared with a comparable BMW running on a combustion engine alone or it could be driven by electric power only, on the combustion engine alone, or with a junto of both power units.III. BMWs competitive advantageAccording to Mr Lencioni, the car market was already full of sober quality cars and consumers found very few slipway to distinguish between many of the available brands and models. Quality was no longer an issue in the i ndustry since most models were considerably built and reliable. Design and Brand Appeal became the distinguishing elements and customers choice factors. Companies that had given attention to the look of their automobiles, even this strategy can only make small gains, rather than losing market share.With this realisation, Design became the biggest factor in the fight for market share, as this feature grabbed customers attention. And with this action, automobile companies had to hire the most talented car designers which leads to massive costs for the company as well as the car prices.Pursuing quality and appeal in design was putting pressure on companies resources, so was brand building and management. It had become faint that a brand identity was one of the most effective ways to be more competitive in an industry where more and more products came to the market.BMW brand which is the circular blue and white logo represents an aircraft propeller. As company grew, the emblem evolved as the white and blue colours of the flag of Bavaria. The logo has made it easier for heap to remember and has given the company more recognition. The BMW logo represents power, stylish and elegance, thus making BMW much more competitive in the market. Please refer to Appendix V BMW logo.Apart from brand and design, BMW has able to survive through developing strong customer knowledge, special levels of service and access to distribution channels. Another method we could clearly understand the competitive advantage of BMW is through its strength of five forces. Please refer to Appendix VI The Five Forces that Shape Industry Competition. curse of new entrantsAnalyse shows that threat for new entrants is low mainly due to huge capital and cutting-edge technology. Car industry is highly depended on their suppliers, because of advancement of technology and materials needed to build car. Even though all firms produce cars, no two firms are totally different and no two firms are exactly the same.strategic group maps display different competitive positions that bear upon firms occupy. Based on Information contained in perceptual map it is easy to lineup that more and more firms are going into all sort of alliances which help to offer more and more cheap cars. Additionally, there are many substitutes, but these decrease if the special features of material increase.Bargaining power of suppliers and buyersOverall suppliers are weak because they are spread all over the world and cannot easily commingle forward, however more and more companies move into close partnerships with suppliers, even by acquiring them in order to reduce costs and exclusivity. The buyer concentration ratio and information availability is high as well as ratio of firms producing cars, on the other hand the power of buyers is weak due to low demand for non-consumer goods- automobile, high switching costs and low ability to backward integrate. The threats of substitutes are moderately strong beca use there are many different and less costly transportation facilities.On the other hand, intense rivalry is strong because the major players are dominant in the market by nearly same technology and manufacturing processes, suppliers relationship and distribution systems. The ease of differentiating cars and price based competition. BMW is looking at entering into alliances, joint ventures, partnerships as it is the safest way of securing a market share, product attractiveness and competitive prices. In a decision to purchase a BMW product or that of the competitor, an individual will be influenced by a group of batch that he or she wants to join people in a certain social class or in a certain income level. There are also three factors that affect the buyer behaviour that a marketer must consider they are social, personal and psychological. It will therefore be highlighted how these factors affect the consumer behaviour and in turn how the consumer behaviour affects the buying de cisions.Competitive rivalry within industryBMWs attractive product variations were a very good source of strength. BMW is having a repetition of building a driving machine that respond really good and enjoyably to their drivers commands whilst also providing the safety, style, quality, reliability, and durability that help make long term ownership. On the other hand BMWs factories are measured very supple and most dynamic in Germany utilising the latest technology in each phase of its hold dear chemical chain. All the above strengths and many others has places BMW in a good position with respect to the main strong competitors in ground of performance, features, trader networks , foreign markets, for example Lexus, Mercedes-Benz or Cadillac where rivalry among these competitors increases when they compete globally in US car market, Europe and Eastern Europe and South-east Asia, but BMW strong brand is more costly to be switched especially for quality conscious customers which mak es strong competitors. Please refer to Appendix VII Global vehicle production and financial performance 2005-2006.Threat of substitute productsThe global securities industry is in jeopardy by lower car demand in North America and Western Europe, both comparatively established car markets that have been badly impacted by high-energy prices and very less consumer response.The global automotive market is extremely competitive. Many large businesses operate on a worldwide scale. Competitors are constantly trying to find new technologies and markets to increase global market share. Recent years have seen globalisation and consolidation strategies increase by competitors resulting in competition intensifying. BMW faces strong competition worldwide in the luxury prevention market. Traditional competition, which has always been strong from Mercedes and Audi, has intensified with the emergence of Lexus as a major player, along came Fords new model, Lincoln.IV. The future challenges for BMW BMW has modernised model almost by and by every few months that might shift emphasis on getting a new model to market rather than focusing on issues that whitethorn develop with existing models, issues such as software, and mechanical problems. Reflecting this possibility, BMW stock shares have dropped 41% in year 2002 as it was relying too heavily on one model, the 1 serial publication to uphold its high edge.BMW also earning profits due to the strong sales of the loaded models of the Mini but need to diversify, or in other words not keep all their eggs in one basket. Although this can also be identified as strength it can also be a true weakness. Strong competition with the major players that BMW needs to look out for, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, and even Cadillac. As an example, the Lexus RX300 SUV rivals the BMW X5 the Mercedes E-Class still outsells the BMW 5 Series worldwide Audi 3, 6 and 8 Series compete directly with BMWs 3, 5 and 7 Series Cadillac which has a whole new gen eration of models, leaving buyers with strong power in building preferences. The 1 series may weaken the BMW trademark with comparison to 7 Series buyers, the 1 Series models may be viewed as cheaper cars with less quality. It could also be viewed as a tactic for BMW to obtain higher sales volumes.V. The Global crease EnvironmentA conclave of strategic models and frameworks will be used to critically evaluate the competitive landscape of the car industry in order to identify the prevailing conditions in the wider environment and the dynamics of the industry that can ultimately impact and influence HONDA and BMW car manufacturers. Car industry represents oligopolistic type of market with differentiated product features, open-plan but hard to force entry barriers, strong competition and few dominant firms that hold most of market share. Governments rely on the car sector as well as related suppliers and services in terms of employment, taxation, GDP and balance of payments.Demand f luctuations are appearing between country markets. Increase in taxations of production which represents significant government revenue. In 1980 there were thirty car manufactures, by 2000 this had fallen to thirteen where smaller manufactures (Saab, Rolls Royce, Jaguar, and Volvo) were bought by larger companies (General Motors, BMW, Ford) changing the upstream supply chain as component suppliers split into layers and become total solution providers. Full cell technology will replace safety as the number one technology issue. The volume of traffic in many cities around the world is forcing governments to consider a range of road pricing, over-crowding charging, and car and petrol taxation measures to encourage more use of public transport, potentially reducing demand for cars. High competition encourages manufacturers to locate plants in low-wage countries (Hungary, Brazil, Romania) generating play loss and resentment in traditional car manufacturing countries (Britain, America) G lobal demand has also emerged extensively. Please refer to Appendix VIII Development in global demand in from the year 2004 to 2012.VI. Development and implementation of Business StrategyThe automotive industry is always seeing new legislation appearing on matters such as safety and the environment. For example legislation on end of life of vehicles changed practices of many car manufacturers in 2002 and 2003 regarding materials used in car manufacture and other factors. BMW successful competitive strategies are grounded on the brand representation of BMW as a constructive and powerful BMW reflects typically style, high value, up-to-date manufacturing and good performance to an object audience. Customer Feelings BMW is perceived as Quality Company and therefore seen as producing quality products. As a result, it is accepted among customers that BMW might way higher prices. The BMW Group stays in fifth place amongst the worlds car manufacturers. Based on the external challenges, opp ortunities and potential future trends in the industry BMW should consider technological innovations looking at government policies concerning environmental issues. BMW should consider product innovation to reduce toxic emissions and to develop more efficient engines such as full cell technology which will replace standard car engines.BMW should consider all opportunities and take advantage of its strengths. Looking at the macro environment BMW should carefully examine world sales of cars, customers behaviour and shift in economy such as interest rates. For BMW to stay ahead in terms of competition and remain gaining market share, the company should understand the increasing weight in the global automotive market in developing countries and emerging markets. collaboration between companies should be maximised in order for BMW to remain competitive and create strong links with suppliers due to soaring prices for steel, aluminium, precious metals and plastic. Cross boarder alliances a nd mergers should be considered by BMW in order to draw near to the Asian car manufacturers.BMW has noted that sales of its 7-Series model are up in the US, the product has been met with less enthusiasm in Europe. As Germany remains the companys most important market, this may be classed as a risk. A commonly held view is the radical restyling of the 7-Series has failed to foment the traditional BMW driver. This may be especially worrying given the releases of the new 5- and 6-Series models, as they are believed to have undergone restyling as well. If the designs prove to be too innovative or radical, the companys short-term growth could be seriously impacted. The risks associated with the introduction of a number of new models into an underperforming segment are only likely to increase the threat of failure within the segment.Competitive Strategy fitting with the Maturing Automotive industryLooking on the Automotive Industry in general we can see that it is in a maturing life cycl e, where nearly all potential buyers are already users of the industry products, demand consists mainly of replacement, with growth totally depends on the competing firms abilities to attract new buyers and convince existing buyers to upgrade their usage, also the critical success factor (CSF) is mainly the cost efficiency. Throughout the firms Industry Life Cycles (ILC) many challenges faces the BMW embodied managers that needs to tailor BMW strategy , these changes on the strategy called the Strategy Fit , essentially managers will depend on certain input factors which are burden when choosing the best strategy to fit the current ILC, these factors that affects managers decisions in choosing the company strategy depends on the industry life cycle phase introduction, growth, mature, decline, focusing on maturing and growth ILC phases as they are related to the selected companies. Maturing industries challenges are mainly the slow growth in demand which generates more head to head competition, buyer become more sophisticated more familiar with competing brands with hard bargaining due to repeated purchases, for BMW more focus is on service and price combination competition, challenge of innovating new product feature of find further use of the product current features to keep attracting buyers attention.VII. BMW Strategic Effectiveness in the MarketBMW took good steps in driving the costs down by focusing on the design and production, it activates Operation activity in the value chain, although the shared component is a good idea for cost reduction, but also BMW high different in the prices of its product series could be an important factor in customer experience to the concept of the product features and design, perhaps focusing more on other cost reduction areas and avoid disturbance to customer perception can be a recommended option .Based on the research it is possible to distinguish customers who follow standard patterns buying affordable but comfortabl e medium sizing cars, are those aged between 20 and 40 years old, regardless of the sex but dependant on income and household status. These clients tend to have more urbanised and settled lifestyle. On the other hand those at middle age, male with high income and preferences tend to pay fortunes regardless comfort, fuel usage or environment issues. With regards to a variety of car models it is impossible to aim at mass market just with standard type of car. More applicable is a differentiated marketing strategy like those developed by GM, Ford and Daimler Chrysler which target clients at high and low income and offers cars with separate marketing and mixed variables.This strategy favours merger and acquisitions to overcome mobility barriers and gain presence also in luxury car segment. Strategic success for BMW in maturing industries by introducing a wide woof of features in the products, enhancing the industry value chain for example increase use of advanced technology, integrate the suppliers by internet to streamline various value chain activities, drive down unit cost, developing more economical product design, increasing sales to present customers using promotions or more services, acquiring rival firms at bargain price, expanding internationally, adapting core competency according to customer requirements and expectations and pushing it towards distinctive competency where the firm better then rivals .As part of BMW strategy tailoring by developing more economical product design, and focusing more on the technology innovation that reduces the cost in the overall value chain, for example BMW has been using new technology called RoDip-3, it is a new method for pre-treatment of the electro coating vehicle bodies that provides many enhancements and reduce cost to this process as explained by Christoph Klocke from BMW group. The first of these new pre-treatment and electro coating plants to be installed anywhere in the world is now operating in BMW group. Be ing one of the market leaders, BMW was very successful in adapting its Sales strategy with customer new needs and new preferences, BMW offered the BMW financial service to facilitate the customer financial payments utilising the Internet technology and many payments facilities.VIII. ConclusionIn order for BMW to compete effectively within their industry, they must first identify which issues are critical in achieving successful competitive strategies. Decisions concerning the steerage and development of the company must take into consideration the whole range of external issues, which have been covered throughout this report.The significant factors affecting BMW have been increase and are summarised below. These issues are critical to BMWs success.Size of organisationThere are many acquisitions and mergers between industry players and so a small sized companies such as BMW must understand their vulnerability have merged with other companies to fight off industry giants. Mass marke t organisations also need to achieve economies of scale to remain profitable, whereas for manufacturers in the luxury niche markets this is not as vital as they charge premium prices and achieve very high profit margins.Quality of resourcesHigh quality of resources can help companies achieve a competitive advantage over others. Quality is seen as a key success factors to becoming successful within the market.Technology and InnovationCustomers are demanding newer products and developments in technology and innovation can achieve this. Using the latest technology will once again strengthen the companys competitive position in the marketplace.Strong Brand imageBMW has and can continue to build up a strong brand image through high quality resources. This is essential in the automobile industry as it creates a unique position in the marketplace and builds up customer loyalty making it difficult for other competitors to steal market share.DifferentiationThis is the key to survival. Compan ies can either differentiate themselves on price or through their unique characteristics of their products. Differentiating themselves from competitors gives the company a strong competitive advantage as they offer customers something exclusive, which competitors do not already provide.IX. ReferencesAhlstrom, J. and E. Sjostrom. (2005). CSOs and Business Partnerships Strategies for interaction, Business Strategy and the Environment 14(4), 230240.Balogun, J., and G. Johnson. 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(2004), The Governance of Global Value Chains, Review of International Political Economy, 12, 1, 78104.Gertler, M. S. (2004). Manufacturing culture The institutional geography of industrial practice. New York Oxford University Press.Gharib, M. and E. Wahlqvist (2004) A calibration Story and its Paradox Creating Credibility for the Business Social Compliance Initiative.Goetschalckx, Mark, Bernhard Fleischmann. (2005). Strategic network planning. H. Stadtler, C. Kilger, eds. Supply Chain Management and Advanced Planning, 3rd ed. Springer, BerlinHeidelberg, Germany, 117-137.Hart, S. L. and S. Sharma. (2004) Engagin g adorn Stakeholders for Competitive Imagination, Academy of Management Executive 18(1), 7-1.Holmstrom, J. and D. Robey. (2005). Understanding its Organizational Consequences An Actor Network Theory Approach, in B. Czarniawska and T. Hernes (eds.), Actor Network Theory and Organizing (Copenhagen Business civilize Press, Copenhagen), pp. 165187.Jarzabkowski, P. (2004) Strategy as practice recursiveness, adaptation, and practices-in-use. Organisation Studies 25/4 529560.Johnson G, Scholes K and Whittington R (2008), Exploring Corporate Strategy Text and Cases, 8th Edition, FT Prentice Hall.Johnson G. Scholes K. and Whittington R. (2005) Strategic analysis of BMW Exploring Corporate Strategy.By signing this page I am stating that the work contained in this report is my own work and has not been plagiarised from other sources. I understand that my work will not be marked if more than 15% of the content is found to be plagiarised.NameDate tactual sensation

Spice Mobiles: Sales and Distribution Strategy

Spice Mobiles Sales and statistical distribution StrategyIndian wireless sector has been an abstract of growth and success story all along as the cellular subscriber base increased from 1.9 million as on March 31, 2000 to 584 million as on March 31, 2010. As the sector has matured, the baton of growth has been passed-on to novel concepts such as Telecom Infra anatomical structure Companies (commonly known as the reign companies), Value Added Service providers (popular application beingness Caller Ring Back Tone-CRBT) and to a greater extent(prenominal) tardily the residence-grown Mobile Handset (HG) players.The Indian Mobile Handset grocery is predominate by established multinational cross outs such as Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, LG etc. Nokia has been a sack up market leader followed by Samsung, a distant second. on that organize has been a continuous jostle for the third position with players like Motorola, Sony Ericsson, LG vying for the spot. Apart from the braded cel l-phones, the market is excessively flushed with cheap, unbranded imported mobile phones that get routed by grey markets to reach domestic consumers ( more or less of these unbranded mobile phones, hitherto, were without any International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) numbers).When mobile phones were introduced in India in the mid-90s, US based Motorola, Swedens Ericsson and Finlands Nokia dominated the handset market in India. Over the years, the old order has changed. Asian players like Samsung and LG, European brands Philips and Siemens now compete with Motorola and Sony-Ericsson. Now with the emergence of local anesthetic players like smallmaxx, karbonn and Spice etc., the competition has got all the more intense and the fight for consumers pocket has increased. Nokia, the undisputed leader is now challenged by local players like smallmaxx which has replaced Samsung to work the third biggest mobile selling vendor in the country. If we look a bit deeper, its not only the price or technology, but the reach of these spic-and-span players in terms of distribution that has presumption them such a big chunk of the market and that to so soonHOME-GROWN MOBILE HANDSET PLAYERSGiven the backdrop of the growth in the domestic wireless subscriber base coupled with no dominant mobile handset player in India apart from the international brand, Nokia, provided business opportunity for Indian firms to take a plunge into the market thus, the creation of HG players including Spice Mobiles, smallmax, Karbonn, Lava, Videocon etc.The business model followed by most HG players is relatively simple. These players demand research and innovation teams that provide India-centric design specifications to contract manufacturers in neighbouring countries of China, Taiwan etc. These phones are shipped to India which are therefore routed by means of the domestic distribution channel for sale in the domestic market. Time-to-market from design-to-production-to-end market is critical in this sector as such players have set-up three-layered distribution administration that includes regional distributors to support micro-distributors that in turn service the retail outlets.The initial part of the success of HG players was largely attributable to the price-elasticity of demand prevalent in the Indian market. These players provided phones loaded with various features at an affordable price. Other key aspect of the strategy followed by these players was to initially tap the rural markets where consumers are relatively less brand conscious and more price conscious. We believe it was not just the price differential that made these players tick the home-grown players provided innovative offerings to rural markets (such as multi SIM handsets, mobile phones with 30-day battery back-up) that provided value-for-money rather than mere price-differential a key success mantra to tap the fortune at the bottom-of-the-pyramid. (Hitherto, the key market segment for th ese players)The inflection point for the growth of HG players in the recent times in like manner came from the reign everywhereive from the Government of India to bar handsets without IMEI numbers to be used in India. These handsets were a direct competition to the HG players and a ban on them provided huge growth opportunities for these players. Encashing on this opportunity, the HG players have grown from intensity-to-strength and are slowly but surely cementing their place in the Indian Mobile Handset market. Attuned to its primary(a) market segment i.e. Tier-I and Tier-II cities, the marketing by HG players were hitherto more of the push-strategy whereby greater pass-through margins were given to Distributors and Retailers. However, off-late they have also initiated the use of pull-strategy by venturing into brand building initiatives such as roping-in of brand ambassadors and sponsoring of sports tournaments. We see these initiatives as a prelude originally venturing int o more lucrative urban markets. However, going forward the HG players shall have to contend with various challenges such as to constantly invest on innovation and brand building to build and strengthen their distribution network after-sales services to move-up the value mountain chain both in term of technology (providing 3-G Technology, QWERTY format phones) and markets (from Tier-II/ Tier-III segments to Urban markets) and to buffet direct competition from Chinese players who are looking to set-up shops in India. Here in this study, we will discuss the key distribution strategies and challenges of one such home grown player Spice Mobile.A DIFFERENT dispersion MODELThe distribution of mobile phones varies considerably from that of other consumer electronics and appliances such as LCD TVs or Air conditioners. This is because the pace of sales of mobile phones is a lot faster than the other consumer electronic goods. Also, the physical size of the products also is a factor. The mobile phone, being a quite fast moving product, hence is not handled by the distributors handling TVs and audio products or washing machines and refrigerators. Hence the supply chain forethought and logistics management of the two products distribution becomes very different. The great Indian mobile revolution is all set to move to the rural part of the country, with handset manufacturers railroad train up to come out with market-specific products to acquire maximum share. The next big opportunity for telcos will be in the hinterland where two-thirds of the countrys 1.17 bn population lives.There are umpteen factors driving handset manufacturers and operators to the rural market. Though India is emerging as one of the biggest telecom markets, metros and tier-2 cities are already reaching saturation point. Hence, companies have no option but to explore newer markets to sustain the growth. As of now, India is adding around 9 mn subscribers a month, and in June 20010 the country a dded 11 mn subscribers.E.g. if we look into Samsung Indias distribution chain, we make that every Samsung product other than the mobile phone (and IT products, which again has a different distribution chain) are distributed by the same wholesaler. For mobile phones, there is a totally different Distribution. This is a result of the above two major factors (pace of sales and physical size of product).Example Distribution of mobile phones by SamsungThe Distribution of Samsung mobile phones is divided by zones primarily. This strategy is more or less similar for all major mobile phone manufacturing companies. The northern region, comprising Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Uttarakhand and Rajasthan, have 4 distribution partners for Samsung Mobile. Now for better reach and response to consumer demands and to cater to them efficiently Samsung are looking to add five more distribution partners to the Northern Region. Samsung has recently stren gthened its distribution network in the country by appointing SSK and Link as its distributors for mobile sales in the tungstenern and Eastern part of the country, respectively. The alliance already has Telemart and United Telelinks as its distributor in the Northern and Southern parts of the country.There are normally two distributors between the ships company (Samsung Mobile) and the retailer. E.g. there is a chief distributor for the products for the western zone. Under that distributor, there are other wholesalers for the mobile handsets which are usually for particular cities in case of cities with massive size and market. E.g. Ahmedabad has two distributors which supply to the retail firms in the city. While some of the smaller cities/towns have a distributor in common. Also, some of the premium retail firms might buy directly from the chief distributor (only if the quantities justify it).Example strategy Franchisee retailersAlso, Franchising Strategy for some companies ha s also helped in driving sales and positivity. E.g. Nokia precession franchisee showrooms. Nokia has setup priority dealers to boost growth in organized trade. The following have been the benefits for Nokia as a result of the success in franchisee retailing imperious brand figure across segments in a controlled environmentChannel drives retention for Nokia Win the war before the battlePositive retail experience drives higher avg. selling pricesHarnessing entrepreneurship spirit of franchiseesRetail space investment by franchiseeNokia drives location selection, branding merchandizing support, media supportTackles fakes pieceivelyThe Value contribution to Nokia by Nokia priority dealers in 2007 was around 10% of the total revenue generated by Nokia in India. It is expected to be around 20% by 2010.A TYPICAL DISTRIBUTION thoroughfare FOR MOBILE HANDSET VENDORSConsumerManufacturerMobile DevicesNational DistributorRDSRetailer/ strike AccountWhen we contacted retail outlets like H otspot, The mobile store, which comes right before the end user in the distribution system, they gave us similar details regarding the channel members which are above them for various hand set providers. This information was tho substantiated by visiting the redistribution stockists of companies like nokia, samsung, LG, spice etc. However, although the above structure is pretty common in industry, the Indian players like Spice, Micromax etc have gone international with the concept of national distributor. We will discuss the implications of this decision by taking Spice Mobile as our information source.INDUSTRY LEADER NOKIA DISTRIBUTION CHANNELNokia India(ND)HCL India(ND)Bright point India(ND)GSM HandsetsSouth and west IndiaGSM HandsetsNorth and East IndiaMargin 3.5%CDMA HandsetsNational DistributorMargin 3.5%Redistribution StockistPan India150 NosMargin 2.2%South and West India90-100 Nos(Urban+rural)Margin 2.2%Redistribution StockistRedistribution StockistNorth and East India90- 100 Nos(Urban+rural)Margin 2.2%Micro Distributor(Rural)500 NosMargin 3%Retail Outlets (includes Telecom Outlets, Electronics Stores, Nokia Priority Dealers, Key Accounts, Modern Trade, Operator Stores)100,000 nos. (Nokia has a numeric reach of 99% and a weighted reach of 99%Margin 3-5%TRANSPORT OF GOODS mental synthesis NOKIAThis is the flow of goods from the production/assembly units in chinaware and Malaysia to the end user. For Nokia, central warehouses are located in Mumbai, Chennai and Delhi, which then transfer handsets to regional warehouses, typically 1 in each state. From these regional warehouses, handsets are then transferred to the redistribution stockist wherein the actual sales to retailers happen mostly on ready stock basis.SALES TEAM STRUCTURE NOKIAFor Nokia, the last level in its sales pull back is Area sales manager. Earlier, they used to have sales officers and sales managers under nokias direct control and pay scale but now these two profiles have been shifted or in some cases omitted to/by distributor. Sales executives, ISDs all are on the pay scale of distributors.SPICE MOBILE DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL STRUCTUREAfter sales SupportCentralized Repair CenterModern TradeState/Regional DistributorsLocated in Delhi telephoner operated request sum totalDirectly by Spice MobileDedicated sales team at regional levelMargin 6-7%Pan India56 Nos (state wise)Margin 2.2%Micro Distributor (RDS)500 Nos (Tier2, Tier3 cities)Margin 6%Authorized regional repair center (ARC)Central distribution and collection center for parts and faulty handsets32 (in each state)Authorized service center (ASC)Multi brand service centresTotal 76 in number across IndiaRetail Outlets (includes Telecom Outlets, Electronics Stores, Hotspot Dealers, Key Accounts, Modern Trade, Operator Stores)50,000 nos.Margin 3% atleast rest depends on consumers bargainingAs opposed to other rivalrys, the differentiating factor about spice distribution chain is the removal of one layer in the distr ibution chain, namely the national distributor level. They distribute their products directly to regional distributors, who in turn distributes to the micro distributors and then, to retailers. Micro distributors provide the extensive reach to them as they have sound presence in the rural areas/villages where they operate.The key advantage of operating such a structure according to our discussion with Spice sales team is the margins that the national distributor makes, which bay window be passed down the chain to the regional distributors and retailers. This results in higher profitability for channel partners ie. regional distributors, micro distributors, retailers, which in turn results in them being more aggressive in promoting the Companys products to its customers.The entire warehousing and distribution management has been outsourced with effect from 31st October, 2005 for the period of 5 year to AFL Logistics, a division of AFL Pvt. Ltd. (AFL), one of the logistics managemen t companies in India, which is responsible inter alia for shipment of goods to regional distributors through its irresponsible warehouse based in Delhi.KEY PARTICIPANTS IN DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL ROLES AND RESOURCESNow lets discuss in details the various function of channel membersCompany Spice mobile manufactures the goods in Himachal plant or assembles them once procured from China and send the same to the distributors. The logistic partner (AFL) assist the company in the same. The company does the negotiations and promotion activities on its own. The credit and payment policies are also handled and negotiated between the company and distributors. Also company directs certain promotions to retailers.Regional Distributors Ownership is transferred once handbill is generated by spice to state/regional distributors. They transfer the products from company to distributors. They basically take order form the distributors and provide them with the products. They bear risk and negotiations are also handled by them. These parties absolve company from appointing more personnel and funds for the activity of mere transportation and inventory holding from warehouse to the distributor.Micro Distributors They are the primary buyer of company. The sharing of information, risking and payment are carried out between regional distributors and distributors and then between regional and company. Distributors provide market coverage to the company also create orders. In Spice mobile, promotion activity is carried out by distributors.Retailers They usually undertake all the functions and transfer the physical possession and ownership to customers. They usually only perform promotion along with company, for rest of the function they interact with distributors. They act as the final source of information and payment to the company.MembersRegional distributors/StockistStockist / Micro DistributorRetailerRoleInvolved in the business of re-distribution to authorized micro distributorsRe sponsible for warehousing, transport of goods to next tier and payment collection may be non-exclusive, but have separate set-up for each businessInvolved in the business of re-distribution to wholesalers and retailersMay be exclusive to the businessIncludes all classes of retail outletsInvolved in counter sales and not in the business of redistributionNot required to be exclusive to the businessResourcesHigh financial strength with ability to hold stocksInfrastructure Office, IT capability, godown spaceHigh financial strength with ability to hold stocks and provide credit in the marketInfrastructure IT control spend on localized sales promotionAppropriate store location and sizeSALES TEAM STRUCTURE SPICEISSUES IDENTIFIED IN SPICE SALES AND DISTRIBUTIONMultiple Micro distributors in a given territoryHaving multiple distributors in a territory dope whirl bothers for the company because when two or more distributors supply to the same retailer it can cause disputes. Also the dis tributors do not pledge loyalty to the company. This problem is faced in dense markets like NCR where distributors are very closely located. Like in Gurgaon sector 14 market, spice distributor itself is doing retailing as well although there are other retail stores in the market whom he himself sell There is a clear limited control over distribution i.e. spice people cannot take action against any non performer or in some cases high performer doing some leakage in the system.The company does not have any MIS at the distributor levelThe company does not have any MIS at the distributor level where it can measure the sales done by the distributor. The distributors have their own software in which they fill in their sales of a period and send it to the company. and so secondary sales are not captured frequently and spice is dependent on distributor for this data. It seems spice is not at all interested in tracking the final sales.There is no clear cut liability of goods damaged in tran sportationAs told by the distributors, there is no clear cut rule for the liability of the goods damaged in transportation. Sometimes it is borne by the company and sometimes by the distributor. But if the value of the damaged goods is significantly high, it can result in a conflict between the company and the distributor.No exclusive retail stores to capture urban marketsSpice has a very strong presence in tier 2 and tier 3 towns. But, in metros and tier 1 cities they fall way behind Nokia, Samsung etc. One rationalness is that spice on mobile store, Hotspot doesnt work on exclusive spice model but carry a full range of competitor products. Thus to capture the interest of urban consumer, apart from new higher end models, spice also need a strong independent stores more in the lines of Nokia priority dealers as part of its distribution network.No dedicated sales force to monitor distributorAs per our discussion with Spice distributor and Spice sales team, sales person or ISDs are o n a pay scale of State distributor. Although their targets and region is set by distributor, sometimes with the help of Area sales manager, since ASM does not have any ownership of sales force, all push efforts and execution of sales plans cannot be tracked to a definite level.

Raymond Carvers Cathedral Essay -- essays research papers fc

In "The Compartment," one of Raymond Carvers bleakest stories, a man passes through the French countryside in a train, en route to a rendevous with a watchword he has not seen for many years. "Now and then," the narrator says of the man, "Meyers saw a farmhouse and its outbuildings, everything surrounded by a wall. He thought this might be a good way to live-in an old house surrounded by a wall" (Cathedral 48). Due to a last minute change of heart, however, Meyers chooses to stay insulated in his "compartment" and, remaining on the train, reneges on his promise to the boy, walling out everything external to his selfish world, paternal obligation included.Meyerss tendency toward insularity is not, of course, unique among the characters in Cathedral or among thecharacters of earlier volumes. In Will You Be Quiet, Please? there is the paranoid self-cloistering of Slater andArnold Breit, and in What We Talk About When We Talk About Love we admit of Jame s Packers cantankerous,self-absorbed disgruntlement about lifes injustices. In Cathedral appear other, more extreme versions of insularity,from a husbands self-imposed confinement to a living room in " rescue" to anothers pathetic reluctance to leave an attic garret in "Careful." More strikingly in Cathedral than before, Carvers figures seal themselves off from their worlds, walling out the threatening forces in their lives even as they wall themselves in, retreating destructively into the claustrophobic inner enclosures of self. But corresponding to this new extreme of insularity, there are in several stories evenly striking instances where--pushing insularity the other way--characters attempt to throw off their entrapping nets and, in a few instances, appear to succeed. In Cathedral, and in Cathedral only, we witness the antiquated moments of their comings out, a process of opening up in closed-down lives that comes acrossin both the subjects and events of the st ories and in the process of their telling, where self-disenfranchisement isreflected even on the level of discourse, rhetorically or structurally, or both.As one might expect, "de-insulation" of this kind necessarily involves the intervention of others the coming out ofa self-enclosed figure depends upon the influence of another being--a bread maker or a babysitter or blind man, o... ...alk About When We Talk About Love. New York Random House, 1981.--. Where Im Calling From. 1st edition. Franklin Center, PA Franklin Library, 1988.--. Will You Be Quiet. Please? New York McGraw-Hill, 1977.Howe, Irving. "Stories of Our Loneliness." New York Times Book Review. 11 Sep 1983 42-43.Lonnquist, Barbara C. "Narrative Displacement and Literary Faith Raymond Carvers Inheritance from FlanneryOConnor." Since Flannery OConnor Essays on the Contemporary American Short Story. Ed. Loren Logsdon andCharles W. Mayer. Macomb, IL Western Illinois University, 1987. 142-50.Saltzman, Arthur. Understanding Raymond Carver. Columbia U of South Carolina P, 1988.Skenazy, Paul. "Life in Limbo Raymond Carvers Fiction." Enclitic 11(0000) 00-00.Stull, William. "Beyond Hopelessville Another Side of Raymond Carver." Philological every quarter 64 (1985) 1-15.Verley, Claudine. "Narration and Interiority in Raymond Carvers Where Im Calling From." Journal of the ShortStory in English 13 (1989) 91-102.Weele, Michael Vander. "Raymond Carver and the Language of Desire." Denver Quarterly 22 (1987) 00-000.

Essay --

Learning objectivesTo provide exercise professionals with an overview of resistance training benefits, safety issues, and programming guidelines for patients who bring in been diagnosed with osteoporosis or at risk of getting it.Key wordsOsteoporosis, Bone Mineral Density, Resistance Exercise, Quality of life, Postmenopausal Women, Strength Training, Osteoporosis is a major man health problem that will likely escalate as the population ages. Osteoporosis is a skeletal disease characterized by a significant decrease in bone mass, which can lead to an increase in bone fragility and susceptibility to fracture. Women are three times more likely than men to be diagnosed with osteoporosis during their lifespan. 2,6,9,17,21,24,33,50 Bone is a dynamic tissue that continually adapts to its functional demands to produce a structure that is strong enough to prevent fractures during typical activities. 3,14,23,29,32,33, Studies have distinctly shown the importance of regular physical activit y for optimal skeletal growth during development and maintenance of mineral mass and density in adulthood. Because this disease is characterized by a progressive decline in bone density, resistance training is often recommended as a complementary treatment. This article will review both(prenominal) the current body of knowledge with respect to the effects of resistance training on osteoporosis symptoms as well as the current recommendations for a resistance-training program. Disease reasonOsteoporosis is a manifestation of bone atrophy that leads to great susceptibility to fractures, which snuff it even as a result of small trauma. The most common fractures occur in the spine, wrist and hip and are not uncommon in the ribs, humerus and pelvis.3, 18,20,26,3... ...ng is preferable to lower intensities and is generally safe because the load is relative to individual capacity.In middle-aged and older persons, especially postmenopausal women and patients treated with medications tha t may cause bone loss should be given an exercise prescription. Resistance exercise targeting major muscle groups is recommended 2 to 3 days per week at 70% to 80% of 1 RM, 2 to 3 sets, and 6 to 8 repetitions per set. They should begin with illumination loads, adding weight in small increments until desired loads are achieved. Proper posture and lifting technique are crucial concerns, so that they do not vilify themselves during exercises.Exercise programs for elderly women and men should include not only weight-bearing endurance and resistance activities aimed at preserving bone mass, but also activities designed to improve balance wheel and prevent falls.