Strategy and Transformation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Strategy and Transformation - Essay Example The company has been listed on the New York Stock Exchange, listed on the Dow Jones Industrial Average on April 8, 2004 and appears on the S&P 500 Component. Pfizer revenue for the year ending 2011 amounted to $67.425 billion, while the operating income was $8.739 billion in the same fiscal year. During the same year, the company’s net income amounted to $10.009 billion while the total assets and equity amounted to $188.002 and $82.190 billion respectively. The company employs a great number of employees who totaled to 103,700 by the year 2011. Pfizer Company also has a number of subsidiaries, which include, Agouron Pharmaceuticals,  G. D. Searle & Company, Greenstone,  Parke-Davis, Pharmacia,  Upjohn, Warner Lambert,  and Wyeth. However, this giant firm has faced a number of challenges in the last few years. In the year 2009, the company pleaded guilty of health care fraud that was the largest fraud case ever to be heard in the US. It also received the largest crimina l penalty ever levied because of illegal marketing of four of its drugs, which included Bextra,  Geodon, Zyvox, and  Lyrica. The company was called a repeat offender since it was its fourth such settlement with the US department of Justice in the last decade. That year, the company agreed to purchase Wyeth, a large pharmaceutical company, for $US$ 68billion. Cash, shares, and loans financed this deal. The completion of this purchase was finalized in October 15, 2009. These challenges have forced the company to think of strategic decisions that will enable the company achieve its vision, mission, objectives, short-term, and long-term goals. Strategic Uncertainties Facing Pfizer Pfizer Company faces a number of uncertainties, which are also facing various pharmaceutical firms. The modern pharmaceutical market place is characterized by change and uncertainty. Pfizer is facing a tough road ahead in its future markets with some of its major products facing patent rights expiration. A dditionally, its new drugs are not replacing the ageing products. The approval by NMEs is declining and the development and commercialization cost continues to increase at a high rate. There is an increasing pressure in the pharmaceutical industry due to the increasing competitive pressure and cutthroat rate of spending. This rate of spending cannot continue at infinitum. Pharmaceutical will linger on being the most cost effective health care intervention initiative and the market for its products will always continue to exist and expand as people and animals increases. Emerging trends in the pharmaceutical industry will persist and others will need to be transformed in order to cope with the modern changes. Some of the strategic uncertainties that the Pfizer are the changing landscape of the pharmaceutical industry. This is happening because the contemporary state of pharmaceutical industry is not good. A recent research has indicated that the current US prescription drug sales ind icate growth of only 4% whereas the wholesale grew by only 3.8%. This is low increase compared to the previous years since 1961. It shows a slow growth rate that means, with the increase in the number of pharmaceutical firm, the market will increase more division and therefore, minimal sales. Pfizer has shown these trends by making changes, which will respond to the unfolding pressure in the industry. Pfizer has been forced by this circumstance by resting off workers in order to focus on the therapeutic areas and respond

Effect of video games on Kids Essay Example for Free

Effect of video games on Kids Essay Growing up, playing outside was what I did for fun. Whether it was riding my bike, playing with friends, or swimming, I was outside for hours at a time every day. Today, kids have access to things like Xboxes, Playstations, and Nintendo DS. In a study conducted by Gentile, Lynch, Linder Walsh (2004) adolescent girls played video games for an average of 5 hours a week, whereas boys averaged 13 hours a week. A survey done by Harris Interactive shows that 23 percent of youth have felt â€Å"addicted to video games. † Studies have shown that teenagers who play violent video games for extended periods of time tend to be more aggressive, are more prone to engage in fights and confrontations, and see a decline in academic success. (Gentile et al) In 2010, Robert Weis and Brittany Cerankosky conducted a study to see how video games affect academic success. They selected a group of boys who didn’t own video games and assigned them to one of two conditions: the â€Å"video games now† group got a game system immediately, and the â€Å"video games later† group didn’t receive their systems until months later. The researchers tracked the boys’ academic success at school. They found that the boys who got their game systems immediately spent less time on schoolwork and, 4 months later, they got lower reading and writing scores. This makes sense, since more time spent playing video games means less time studying. Also, the distraction of video games can cause kids to lose interest in their studies and cause them to fall behind. These results line up with another survey done by Cummings and Vandewater in 2007, which concluded that kids aged 10-19 who played video games spent 30% less time reading and 34% less time doing homework. (Cummings Vandewater) A 2009 Brigham Young University study found that as video game usage increased, the quality of relationships with others, including family, friends, and other peers, decreased. The BYU Study found that daily video game users were twice as likely to use drugs. They were three times as likely to use drugs over those who never played games. This doesn’t mean that all kids who play video games are going to go out and do drugs, but it certainly doesn’t help anything. If a child spends hours at a time playing video games, they will have no time to form relationships and socialize, not giving them the social skills they may need to succeed in the future. This can set them up for failure in job interviews, school, and in building solid relationships that are crucial to every teenager’s life. However, there are also many positive elements of video games. According to Chacha Tumbokon, a psychologist at De La Salle University, video games can give kids betters skills in areas such as following directions, problem solving and logic, and hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills. Often times the player is asked to follow commands or prompts in a video game in order to gain rewards or status, which aids with following directions. Also, when there is a challenge in a game, it doesn’t get solved easily; the player is often forced to work through many riddles or obstacles in order to succeed—another important life lesson for a child to learn. And lastly, video games require a great deal of hand-eye coordination. Often times games require the player to change viewpoints with one control, move with another control, and do actions (shooting, jumping, etc. ) with another control. This builds up hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills, which is a good workout for the brain. Another common aspect of games is resource management. There are often a limited number of resources (such as lives, power-ups, money, etc. ) that has to be managed in order to succeed in a game. This is another valuable lesson that many kids should learn in their lifetime. James Paul Gee, professor of education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, says that playing a video game is similar to working through a science problem. There is a lot of trial and error involved, which teaches a child inductive reasoning and hypothesis testing, something that can be used in many areas of life. In conclusion, there are many positive and negative effects of video games. Psychologists suggest that parents monitor the games that are being played by their children and make sure the games aren’t affecting the child’s behavior.

Marketing Plan Of Coca Cola Company Marketing Essay

Marketing Plan Of Coca Cola Company Marketing Essay Introduction: Coca Colas path to nearly universal recognition as a consumer product began by means of a peddler of patent medicines in Atlanta, Georgia in the year 1886. This individual one John Stith Pemberton had an ingenious idea. Why sell 75 pennies or Pound medicine bottles? This was a marketing strategy limited to the sick. Why not sell a single serving for a nickel? In the Deep South of the U.S. everyone might afford 5 ¢ for a cold invigorating soft drink. The nickel Coke was born. At the time, no one might have predicted that it would be almost 1960 before the nickel Coke was finally gone. (Allen, 1994) Today, if one scans the economic literature on price rigidity, he/she will find documented cases on how a number of prices seem to be sticky for significant periods of time. For example, Bergen, 2002 examines data on magazine prices plus finds that their prices transform regarding every 3-6 years. Using the Bergen, 2002 transaction price data, Bergen, 2002 finds that, It is not unusual in a number of industries for prices to individual buyers to remain untransformed for several years Bergen, 2002 studies catalogue prices of 12 retail goods over a 35-year period plus reports that the average time flanked by price transforms is regarding fifteen months. Blinder, et al. (1998), presenting detailed survey evidence as of U.S. firms, concludes that the average lag of price adjustments following supply or demand transforms is 3 months. Bergen, 2002 studies apartment rental prices in the U.S. using the Annual Housing Survey data, plus finds that over the period of 1974-1981, flanked by 23 as well as 34 percent of the apartments had no transform in nominal rent as of one year to the next. The study by Bergen, 2002 examines the frequency of price transforms for 350 categories of goods as well as services covering regarding 70% of consumer spending in addition to documents frequent prices transforms, by means of half of prices lasting less than 4.3 months. (Bergen, 2002) On the other hand, the price of a serving of Coca-Cola did not adjust to supply or demand transforms for over 60 years, plus the nickel Coke did not entirely disappear as of U.S. markets until 1959 Over 70 years! The contrast is of an order of magnitude to say the least! Our goal in this paper is to study this unusual episode of price rigidity in detail as well as try to explain it. Understanding what appears to be one of the most long-lasting nominal price rigidity phenomena of the 20th century is valuable for several reasons. First, the Coca-Cola Business is one of the most successful in addition to documented producers of a consumer good in the world. Second, over most of the time period covered in this study, the soft drink industry was a non-negligible part of the U.S. economy. For example, as of 1945, the bottled non-alcoholic carbonated beverage industry had a nominal production value of  £579 million, or 0.26 percent of the  £222 billion Nominal GDP.4 The Coca-Cola Busine ss had a 50 percent plus market share of the industry, making its contribution alone economically significant, regarding 0.13 percent of the GDP. (Zbaracki, 2002) Marketing Strategy: Coca Colas spends loads on advertising however; the theme should be how to use it more effectively so the advertising program is simple.   Coca Colas should do direct mail, banner ads, and inserts, by means of inserts in the Register Guard likely to be the most successful of the campaigns.   Mission Coca Colas mission is to provide the customer the finest drinks as well as dining experience.   We exist to attract and maintain customers.   When we adhere to this maxim, everything else should fall into place.   The services should exceed the expectations of the customers.   Marketing Objectives Maintain positive, steady, growth each month. Generate maximum sales target each month. Experience an increase in novel customers who are turned into long-term customers. Realize a growth strategy of one store per year. Financial Objectives A double-digit growth rate for each future year. Reduce the overhead per store through disciplined growth. Continue to decrease the variable costs associated by means of food production. Target Marketing The souk can be segmented into two target populations: Individuals: sportsmen Families: during dinners as a popular fizzy drink, ceremonies and other family functions. Combining several key demographic factors, Coca Colas arrives at a profile of the primary customer as follows: Sophisticated markets all over the globe. Meant for all ages. All stores and supermarkets to keep the Coca Cola products on their shelves. Positioning Coca Colas should position itself as a reasonably priced, upscale, drink.   Consumers who appreciate high-quality fizzy drinks should recognize the value and unique offerings of Coca Colas drinks and its different promotions.   Coca Cola positioning should leverage their competitive edge: Product. The product should have the freshest ingredients including fizzy drinks, and might be smoothies and shakes can also be introduced.   The product should in addition be developed to enhance presentation, everything should be aesthetically pleasing. Service. Customer service should be the priority.   All employees should ensure that the customers are having the most pleasant delivery experience (by customer it is meant to mention the retailers and wholesalers).   All employees should go through an extensive training program and only experienced people should be hired. By offering a superior product, coupled by means of superior service, Coca Colas should excel relative to the competition. Strategy Pyramids The single objective is to position Coca Colas as the premier drinks , OR area, commanding a majority of the souk share inside five years.   The marketing strategy should seek to first create customer awareness regarding their services offered, develop that customer base, plus work toward building customer loyalty and referrals. The message that Coca Colas should seek to communicate is that Coca Colas offers the freshest, most creative, health conscious, reasonably priced, drinks.   This message should be communicated through a variety of methods.   The first should be direct mail.   The direct mail campaign should be a manner to communicate directly by means of the consumer.   Coca Colas should in addition employ  banner ads as well as inserts in the Register Guard.   This should be particularly effective for the reason that the Register Guard is a popular local paper that is consulted when people are looking for things to do in the global markets.   The last method for communicating Coca Colas message is through a grassroots PR campaign.   This campaign should leverage personal relationships by means of people on staff of the Register Guard to get a couple of articles written regarding Coca Colas.   One should be as of the trade point of view, talking regarding the opening of the restaurant and the people behind the venture.   This is likely to be run in the trade section.   The second article should be a food review that is what are the different foods a customer feels a fizzy drink is a must, this will help the company to make sure that its products and all the drinks range is available on such occasions which augments its sales;  In speaking by means of several dissimilar retailers plus restaurateurs, significant increases of traffic followed articles in the Register Guard.   For the reason that of this level of effectiveness and low/zero cost, Coca Colas should work hard to get press in the Register Guard. Marketing Mix Coca Colas marketing mix is comprised of these following approaches to pricing, distribution, advertising and promotion, and customer service. Pricing. Coca Colas pricing scheme is that the product cost is 45% of the total retail price. Distribution. Coca Colas food should be distributed through a take out  model where customers can call in their order plus come to the  restaurant to pick it up, come into any restaurant free coke campaign will enable the , place the take out  order as well as wait for it to be completed, or come in and dine at the restaurant. Advertising and Promotion. The most successful advertising should be  banner ads and inserts in the Register Guard as well as a PR campaign of  informational articles plus reviews  in addition inside the Register Guard. Customer Service. Obsessive customer attention is the mantra.   Coca Colas philosophy is that whatever needs to be done to make the customer happy have to occur, even at the expense of short-term profits.   In the long term, this investment should pay off by means of a fiercely loyal customer base that is extremely vocal to their friends by means of referrals. Marketing Research During the initial phases of the  marketing plan development, several focus groups were held to gain insight into a variety of patrons of drinks.   These focus groups provided useful insight into the decisions, as well as decision making processes, of consumers. An additional source of souk research that is dynamic is a feedback mechanism based on a suggestion card system.   The suggestion card system has several statements that patrons are asked to rate in terms of a given scale.   There are in addition several open ended questions that allow the customer to freely offer constructive criticism or praise.   Coca Colas should work hard to implement reasonable suggestions in order to improve their service offerings as well as show their commitment to the customer that their suggestions are valued. The last source of souk research is competitive analysis/appreciation.   Coca Colas should continually patronize local drinks for two reasons.   The first is for competitive analysis, providing Coca Colas by means of timely information regarding other drinks service offering.   The second reason is that local trade owners particularly drink owners, are often part of an informal fraternal organization where they support each others trade. Financials, Budgets, and Forecasts This section should offer a financial overview of Coca Colas as it relates to the marketing activities.   Coca Colas should address Break-even Analysis, sales forecasts, expense forecasts, and how those link to the marketing strategy. Break-even Analysis The Break-even Analysis indicates that  Ã‚ £40,000 should be needed in monthly revenue to reach the break-even point. Sales Forecast The first two months should be worn to get the company up and running.   By month three things should get busier.   Sales  should gradually increase by means of profitability being reached by the beginning of year two. Expense Forecast Marketing expenses are to be budgeted so that they are ramped up for months two through four plus then lower as well as plateau as of month five to month 10. Companys typically have increased trade in the fall.   This generally occurs for the reason that during the summer, when the weather is nice and it does not get dark until late, people tend to eat out less but due to hot weather drinks sell well.   As of months 10-12, the marketing costs should increase again. Controls The purpose of Coca Colas marketing plan is to serve as a guide  for the organization.     Implementation Milestones The following milestones identify the key marketing programs.   It is significant to accomplish each one on time, and on budget. Marketing Organization Kevin Lewis, the owner, is primarily responsible for marketing activities.   This is in addition to his other responsibilities, plus does depend on some outside resources for graphic design work, and creativity. Contingency Planning Difficulties and risks: Problems generating visibility. Overly aggressive as well as debilitating actions by competitors. An entry into the Eugene  souk  of an already existing,  company. Worst case risks might include: Determining that the trade cannot support itself on an ongoing basis. Having to liquidate equipment or intellectual property  to cover liabilities. The concept and product image of Coca Cola should attract 3 dissimilar customer profiles; The student further and further young people have developed healthy eating and fizzy drinking habits. Some in addition go through a health food phase while in college. The health conscious person of any age or sex this includes anyone on a restricted or prescribed diet or those who have committed to a healthy diet. Curious and open-minded if one tries it, one should like it. Through marketing, publicity, plus word-of-mouth, people should seek out a novel experience and learn that nutritious food can be tasty, fun, convenient, as well as inexpensive. The Competition There are over four dozen companies in the global markets that offer drinks at similar prices. Even though this presents an obvious challenge in terms of souk share, it in addition indicates the presence of a large, strong potential. The newest competitors have made their successful entry based on an innovative concept or novelty. Coca Cola should offer an innovative product in a familiar style at a competitive price. The aggressive plans of take-out and delivery should in addition give us an advantage to create a good souk share before the competition can adjust or similar concepts appear. Competitors Profile Competing by means of Coca Cola for the target souk are these categories of food providers: Independent table service companies of similar range and price structure. Chain Commercial foodservice companies serving students directly. Competitive Strategy There are three major manners in which we should create an advantage over the competitors; product identity, quality, plus novelty high employee motivation and good sales attitude Innovative as well as aggressive service options. Marketing Plan Sales Strategy Souk Penetration Entry into the souk has to not be a problem. The store has high visibility by means of heavy foot traffic all day long. The local residents and students always support novel flavours plus the tourists do not have fixed preferences. In addition,  £10,000 has been budgeted for a pre-opening advertising and public relations campaign. Marketing Strategy Focusing on the unique aspect of the product theme (quality fizzy drinks) a mix of marketing vehicles should be created to convey the presence, the image, as well as the message. Print media local newspapers, magazines and student publications Broadcast media local programming and special interest shows Hotel guides, concierge relations, Chamber of Commerce brochures Direct mail subscriber lists, offices for delivery Misc. yellow pages, charity events A public relations firm has been retained to create special events and solicit print and broadcast coverage, especially at the start-up. The marketing effort should be split into 3 phases; 1) Opening An advanced notice (press packet) sent out by the PR firm to all media plus printed announcement ads in key places. Budget  £10,000 2) Ongoing A flexible campaign (using the above media), assessed regularly for effectiveness. Budget  £10,000 3) Point of sale A well-trained staff can increase the average check as well as enhancing the customers overall experience. Word-of-mouth referral is extremely significant in building a customer base. Future plans and Strategic Opportunities Catering to offices (even outside of the local area) might turn out to be a large part of gross sales. At that point sales agent would be hired to directly souk the products for daily delivery or catered functions. Operations Compensation Incentives Coca Cola should offer competitive wages and salaries to all employees by means of benefit packages available to key personnel only. Board of Directors An impressive board of directors should be assembled that represents some top professional as of the area. They should be a great asset to the development of the company. Consultants Professional Support Resources At the present, no outside consults have been retained, excepting the design department at Best Equipment. Management to be Added We are presently searching for a general manager plus executive chef. These key employees should be well chosen and given incentives for performance and growth. Ownership The stockholders should retain ownership by means of the possibility of offering stock to key employees if deemed appropriate. Long-Term Development Exit Plan Goals Coca Cola is an innovative concept that targets a novel, growing souk. We assume that the souk should respond, plus grow quickly in the next 5 years. The goals are to create a reputation of quality, consistency and security (safety of food) that should make us the leader of a novel style of dining. Strategies The marketing efforts should be concentrated on take-out and delivery, the areas of most promising growth. As the souk changes, novel products might be added to maintain sales. Risk Evaluation By means of any novel venture, there is risk involved. The success of the project hinges on the strength plus acceptance of a fairly novel souk. After year 1, we expect some copycat competition in the form of other independent units. Chain competition should be much later. Exit Plan Ideally, Coca Cola should expand to more units with increased supply of drinks in the next 10 years.

Work and Revolution in France Essay -- History, French Labor Movement

William H. Sewell, Jr.’s Work and Revolution in France: The Language of Labor from the Old Regime to 1848 (1980) is a qualitative analysis of the French labor movement, sweeping three radical revolutionary eras: 1790’s, 1830’s, and 1850’s. Sewell’s strategy encompasses â€Å"aggregating and analyzing† (1980: 5) events that would generally be considered the banal factional struggles and encounters of individual French workers. He amasses these facts into a macro-history of the workers’ plight to class-consciousness from the ancien regime to the repressive post-revolutionary era of 1850’s. Sewell frames his historical analysis within the context of the way the workers’ movement utilized the evolving rhetoric to advocate their pro-rights agenda. He performs a stringent investigation on the progression and determination of the use of specific terminology, focusing his lens on how concepts of culture (i.e., ideas, beliefs, and behaviors) aid in shifts of existing structures. Sewell’s theoretical perspective is admittedly self-constructed. He â€Å"borrowed shamelessly from such sources as ‘the new history,’ intellectual history, cultural anthropology, and certain new strains of Marxism† (1980: 5). I find borrowing from cultural anthropology to be the most influential of these theoretical viewpoints, and Sewell highlights the importance of ethnographic field methods in his work. However, he is quick to acknowledge that, from a historical perspective, conventional ethnography, as we understand it, is not suffice in this context. While traditional ethnography tends to focus on non-Western, â€Å"relatively small-scale and homogeneous societies† (Sewell 1980: 12), Sewell’s initiative is to â€Å"analyze the complex society that was rent by all sorts of co... ...mes widening his scope could strengthen his argument further. He does this in the conclusion of chapter 11 to display how and why the movement was at times, and ultimately, unsuccessful. Additionally, as he suggests the reasons why the bourgeois never really accepted and the peasantry never felt validated by the movement, he could strengthen his argument by further displaying other elements of cultural value outside of language, i.e. symbolic gestures used by the movement. In addition to symbols, I also feel that Sewell could have provided more definition surrounding the artisan â€Å"culture† (Hanagan 1981). Given the magnitude of the numerous trades, and the variety of societies, clubs, associations within each: where and what are the cultural margins between the different trade corporations? Is there one united culture, or a multitude within the varying factions?

The Tourism Product- Components of the Tourism Industry

Introduction to Tourism BEM1012 James Ince 620021716 number one tutorial question- Describe how the components of the tourism industry interact together in order to provide tourists with their holiday experience. Please state whether you agree, or disagree with the view of some academics that there is no such thing as the ‘Tourism Product’. In the industry of tourism, there are a number of components that link together, to provide a family, couple or a group with a vacation. These components are more like steps. These steps include, how you get to your destination, where you stay, what activities you do and who organizes all of these things.The formal names for these components are: accommodation sector, attraction sector, transport sector, travel organisers sector, destination sector. They all play a vital role in any vacation. The accommodation sector deals with where they are going to stay, for example, hotel, hostel and bed and breakfast. The attraction sector involv es what activities the guest will do, while vacating. For example, Amusement parks, museums, beaches. The transport sector deals with how the tourist will get to their destination. Whether it is bus, train, plane or cruise ship.The travel organizers are the people that market and sell you the trips. For example, travel agents, tour guides, cruise lines. Destination sector is where the government assist a business. For example, Government may guarantee revenue, tax incentives to build hotels or attractions. All of these segments need to be balanced and coordinated properly to complete a successful industry. If anyone of these steps is not completed to a certain standard, it could impact on the overall industry. In the industry, there is something called the tourism product.This is what a destination collectively does, that either influences the tourist in a positive or negative way. At the end of the trip, it is the tourist perception of the destination, which is the tourism product. It is all the physical and non-physical components grouped together. For example, some of the physical components would be transportation and attractions. The non-physical components would be things like the weather and safety. The tourism product is providing the whole experience to the costumer, giving them the non-bias opinions for their vacation.Some academics have said that they don’t believe there is such thing as a tourism product. I disagree with this statement, because I believe you could have a successful business that provides all of these things to the costumer. My idea of the tourism product is having all of the components and steps needed to make the perfect vacation, added into one big step. This would save the customer, a lot of effort researching on their destination, which they know nothing about. They would get the insights, and secrets on their destination. Without all of the bias and marketing strategies.This business would be successful and reliable bec ause, it is not their product to sell, they are just putting it together for the costumer. The business would have to put the whole trip together for the costumer. To achieve this the business would have to get an insight on what the costumer’s interests were, to therefore plan activities that they would enjoy. To complete this process, they would have to put together all of the components together. Starting with the accommodation sector. A good example of a tourism product is, in my country Barbados, there are many different kinds of vacations you could have.If you are of the wealthy class in England, you can come to Barbados and stay in a five star resort. You can take the expensive chartered yachts out for the day as attractions. There are BBW’s you can rent to drive around for you transportation, this way; you can have all the things you have at home. If this life style does not suit you and you are more of a middle class citizen in England. You could buy a cheap a irplane ticket, from a travel agent on your street. Arrive on virgin or British airways. Stay in a three star hotel, rent a small car. Choose attractions that suit you, going to the beach, spending days in rum shops.Both of these examples give a brief explanation about what the tourism product is. The first component that the tourist must deal with while planning their vacation is, accommodation sector. This sector deals with where the tourists stay when they are vacating. This sector really depends on who is it is staying, whether it is a family, young couple, honeymooners or elderly. It depends on this because; they will want to be close to attractions that they enjoy. For example, young people will want to be close to the club street, while elderly would like to be close to museums or spas.This links to other components because, for transportation. They would like to fly in near to their hotel; therefore they wouldn’t have to pay so much to get from the airport to their ho tel. This reasoning also applies to the attraction sector also, because the tourist vacating, would prefer to be close to the attractions, that they have chosen to participate in. This sector is vital in planning for a vacation, because it determines where you are going to stay. The two factors that help people decide where they are going to stay are price and quality.These two factors usually come hand in hand. Although if you do enough research and enough asking around. You will find a cheap place to stay, with standard quality. The main challenges that occur when dealing with these components are: safety, quality, how central it is, fake marketing and how busy it will be. The second component that is dealt with when planning a vacation is the transportation sector. This sector deals with how the tourist will get from their home to their destination. When tourist plans this stage, they look for the cheapest, safest and best quality flight.This links to the previous component becau se, when you are traveling you want to get near to where you are staying. Therefore you wont have to travel far to get to your accommodation, and save money on extra traveling expenses. This component also depends on what kind of group is going on this vacation. If you have young ones that you are traveling with you won’t book first class because they would probably be too loud. It also depends on how wealthy you are. For example if you can’t afford first class, it is unnecessary to book it because it is a luxury need, not a necessity.The third component of the tourism industry is the attraction sector. This sector deals with what the tourist will do while on vacation. To plan this, you must first look at who is traveling. For example, if it is a young group of friends, then attractions that suit them are nightclubs or amusement parks. If elderly are traveling, then museums or restaurants will attract them. This links to transport because; you need a way to get there. If it is nearby, then taxi will be adequate, but if the journey is far, then a train or bus may be necessary.It also links to the component accommodation because of the same reason; you want to search for attractions near to your hotel. You want to do this because; you don’t have to pay that extra for distance transportation. The fourth component is the travel organizer. This sector is about who markets, sells and organizes your trip. This is the sector that is advertised in the television and radio; these people put together your trip, and try to make it as cost affected as they can. Examples of travel organizers would be cruise lines. Cruise lines are all in one package deals, you pay for everything upfront, and the whole trip is planned for you.This is a sensible trip, because you know how much you are spending upfront. The fifth and last component is the destination sector. This sector deals with government assisting and helping the tourism industry. The government does t his, because they want to economy to be competitive, and each industry to strive. Examples of government assisting the industry would be, government pay for infrastructure, incentives to build hotels or other attractions, training course for staff and allowing a business to do something, in order to attract people.This component links to the others, because some businesses cannot afford to do all of these things without help from government. To conclude, each of these components assist each other, in order for people to have a balanced trip. These components include, accommodations, attractions, transportation, travel organizers and destination sector. Each of these is needed for a tourist to have an enjoyable trip. If one of these components is not completed, the whole trip could be impacted majorly, there needs to be a balance among all of the steps.In the industry there is something called the tourism product, this product is the perception of the destination, from the touristâ⠂¬â„¢s point of view. Whether the perception is negative or positive. It is how all of the components have come together, and how well they complemented, and worked with each other. Many academics think that there is no such thing as a tourism product; I disagree with this opinion, because I believe you can have a successful business, which provides all of these components to a customer.

Killer applications in Government offices: Discussion

Over the last five years almost everybody has fallen victim of technology proliferation in government offices. It is common to find PCs, voice mail applications, answering machines, fax machines, and other related hardware on many desks. Technology is indeed reversing the way people do things. Whether the reversed and dynamic way is increasing individual productivity is a mystery that is often unnoticeable. Advent of enhanced technology in non-white collar jobs has truly led to high productivity. However, this is not true for white collar jobs.Basically, it appears that technology has not brought same goodies in office setting as it has in other fields. This may be partly due to absence of adequate measurement. It is not easy to ascertain productivity in non manufacturing jobs. On the other hand, it is the case that human beings are not good at realizing potential embedded in technology. In itself, technology is not capable of producing enhanced services. If one is working in an offi ce that has increased its access to computers and computer applications, it is vital that one understand why increased productivity does not follow automatically.A necessary and or desirable computer program that when applied increases productivity or sales of an already existing computer application can be referred as a killer application. Currently many governments have set up telecentres by embracing information and communication Technology (ICT) throughout the country. This is part of technology based e-center application to monitor service delivery in government offices. It provides public with affordable and meaningful information on service delivery. The e-center applications have increased the productivity of both public service providers and government officers.Being aware that somebody somewhere is monitoring and keeping record over internet of where, when, and how one delivers his or her service to entire public is challenging. This explains why the application has gone u nnoticed for many years. In conclusion, besides increasing productivity, e-center applications can enhance accountability and effectiveness in government operations and services, improve government service to businesses and industry, and more significantly, modernize and enable efficient service delivery to the public. References Harris, K. (2005) ICT for service delivery, e-center for Society & policy making, UNDP: Task Force.

Ws Cabinet essays

W's Cabinet essays Over the last couple of weeks George W. Bush has made his cabinet selections. For Secretary of Agriculture he appointed Ann Veneman, a former California agriculture director. For his attorney General he chose Senator John Ashcroft from Missouri. For his Commerce Secretary he chose Don Evens who was Bushes campaign chairman. As Defense Secretary Bush chose previous defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld. The Secretary of Education he chose was Rod Paige the superintendent of the Huston Independent School District. His Environmental Protection Agency Director is New Jersey governor Christie Whitman. The Feral Communication Commission Chairman he chose is Michael Powell a FCC commissioner. Health and Human Services Secretary appointed by Bush was good old Tommy Thompson from Wisconsin, who has been governor of our state for about 14 years and has been very active in welfare reform. The only controversy surrounding our Tommy so far is his political ties with the tobacco conglomerates ; he has received campaign funds and has taken trips with tobacco lobbyists. His Housing Secretary is Mel Martinez who was the head of Orange County, FL. Bushs Interior Secretary is former Colorado attorney general Gale Norton. The Labor Secretary Bush appointed is Former Peace Crops director Elaine Chao who was nominated after Linda Chavez withdrew. Mrs. Chavez did so because of controversy about an illegal immigrant who she had as a servant. Bushs NASA Administer is Harrison Schmitt an Apollo 17 astronaut. The person who Bush appointed to National Security Adviser is Stanford University scholar Condoleezza Rice. The Navy Secretary is Tillie Fowler a Navy Veteran. As the Office of Management and Budget Bush appointed Mitch Douglas who is senior vice president of the pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Co. The Transportation Secretary Bush chose is Secretary of Commerce Norman Y. Mineta. Paul ONeill, who is a ...

How Important Is Vocabulary for the New SAT

How Important Is Vocabulary for the New SAT SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Studying hundreds of fancy words from big lists has long been a mainstay of SAT prep. But with the redesigned SAT focusing on medium-level words in the context of passages, do you still need to drill yourself on little-used vocab words? Before you expend superfluous energy to bolster your cognizance of recondite terminology (or waste time learning lots of obscure words), read this guide to learn whatvocabulary you need for the new SAT. First, what changes are being made to the SAT in terms of vocabulary? Changes in the New 2016 SAT The first and most apparent change in the redesigned SAT is the elimination of sentence completion questions. Gone are the stand-alone sentences with one or two blanks asking you to "choose the word or set of words that, when inserted in the sentence, best fits the meaning of the sentence as a whole." Instead, the new vocabulary questions are passage-based. They refer to a line within a passage and ask what a word or idiom meansin context.This is a big difference from sentence completion-style questions, so what does this change mean in terms of the skills being tested? With sentence completions, you pretty much had to know the straight definition of complex wordsin order to answer them correctly. The sentence indicated a definition, so you either had to know which word it was referring to or be able to eliminate the other four answer choices. You couldn't rely on too many context clues to figure it out. This is where your studying of SAT Word of the Day and vocabulary lists would kick in and help you fill in the blanks. With the new passage-based questions, you're asked to interpret the meaning of a medium-level word in context. The word may be familiar to you, but it can have different meanings or connotations depending on how it's used. On these types of questions, all of the answers may be correct as definitions of the term being considered. Only one answer choice, though, will be correct for the term as it's being used in that particular context. As you can tell, this is a big departure from sentence completions. It calls upon different skills and a different approach to studying vocabulary. Before discussing how you can adjust your test prep, let's look at a couple examples that illustrate these changes. Does all this change make cents? Old SAT Vocabulary Questions The old SAT had 19 sentence completion questions which tested traditional SAT vocabulary terms. The following is a typical example. There is no doubt that Larry is a genuine -: he excels at telling stories that fascinate his listeners. (A) braggart(B) dilettante(C)pilferer(D) prevaricator(E) raconteur This sentence indicates the definition of the vocabulary word: a person who excels at telling fascinating stories. You either have to know that "raconteur" means just that, or you have to know thatthe other choices don't fit that definition and use process of elimination to get to (E). If you don't know these words and their definitions, you're left having to make a wild guess. The new SAT, on the other hand, usually doesn't feature such difficult words. Let's take a look. Redesigned SAT Vocabulary Questions The new SAT asks about words as they occur within the context of the passage. You probably don't use "prevaricator" and "raconteur" all that often in daily conversation. The words on the new SAT are meant to have broader utility in college and professional life. According to College Board, the new SAT emphasizes "the meaning of words in extended contexts and on how word choice shapes meaning, tone, and impact." They give the following example (this is an excerpt from a longer passage): "...The coming decades will likely see more intense clustering of jobs, innovation, and productivity in a smaller number of bigger cities and city-regions. Some regions could end up bloated beyond the capacity of their infrastructure, while others struggle, their promise stymied by inadequate human or other resources." As used in line 55, "intense" most nearly means... (A) emotional(B) concentrated(C) brilliant(D) determined Based on this example, you can immediately see the difference in the vocabulary's level of difficulty. You can also see how all of those answer choices could be correct interpretations of "intense"- depending on its context, it could mean emotional, concentrated, brilliant, or determined. Only (B) concentrated, however, works within this passage, as intense is being used to describe the "clustering of jobs...in a smaller number of bigger cities and city-regions." Rather than calling upon your knowledge of a word's definition, this question asks you to glean meaning and connotation from the context of a passage. Did you notice any other differences in this question? It only has four answer choices, instead of five. These improved odds, plus the fact that the new SAT has no penalty for wrong answers, means you should always make your most informed guess on all the questions. Some other medium-level difficulty words that might be tested on the new SAT include "alleviate, consistent, synthesis, empirical, coincide, congenial, indelible, discord, occur, mention, emerge, admit, perform, fortunate, require, and maintain." Even if you think you know all these words, is there a way you can study them to be better prepared for SAT vocab questions? What Do These Changes Mean for Your Studying? Given these changes, do you still need to study vocabulary for the new SAT in 2016? I would still highly recommend studying vocabulary, but in a different way. You can forget about those lists of "2,000 SAT vocabulary words" (phew!) and focus on "multiple-meaning" words of medium-level difficulty. The key thing to remember is that these words might have different meanings in different contexts, so you want to ensure that you understand each word in all of its dimensions and applications. You can do this by finding a word used in several example sentences, rather than just one, as well as noting how vocabulary words are used when you readbooks, articles, and the news. The New York Times Word of the Day Learning Blog has a useful tool that lets you find all the articles in which a term shows up. While many of the words they feature apply better to the old SAT, you can use that idea of finding terms in many different sources to enhance your understanding of it. There are also several other sites that are helpful for studying these words in various contexts, like Quizlet and ProfessorWord. Plus, incorporating them into your own writing is the best way to fully grasp how their meaning is affected by word choice and usage. Since these changes closely resemble the ACT, you can also check PrepScholar's list of the 150 most commonly tested ACT words. College Board and Khan Academy have sample practice questions for the new SAT. Finally, when using older practice materials, I would recommend focusing on the passage-based questions, especially the ones that point to a specific word or phrase. Generally speaking, you can forget about the sentence completions. Overall, what are the most important takeaways from the changes that were made to the SAT? The Gist of Vocabulary Changes The following are the most important points to remember about vocabulary questions on the new SAT: Sentence completions are gone. New questions focus on moderate-level words that may have different meanings in different contexts, like "intense." To prepare, you should focus on learning how words are used in different contexts, along with how you can gather context clues to determine the meaning of a word. Check out sample questions for the new SAT and make sure you understand the changes that are being made. This will help you adjust your studying and not waste time focusing on material that's no longer relevant. Plus, studying vocabulary based on context will help you improve your overall writing, reading, and communication skills, which will be extremely helpful for high school, college, and beyond. What's Next? Besides vocabulary questions, what else is changed on the new SAT? Read about all the changes and what it means for your test prep in our full guide to the redesigned SAT in 2016. In addition to learning about the changes, figure out what these changes mean for your studying. Read all about how to study for the new SAT here. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points?We've written a guide about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

5 Strategies for Tackling SAT Subject Tests

You’ve probably heard plenty about the SAT. But SAT subject tests may be less familiar. What exactly are they? Should you take them? Want tips on how to prepare? Read on to learn what you can expect from the tests and our advice for how to do achieve high scores. Formerly known as the SAT II, an SAT subject test covers your specific knowledge of a given subject area, as opposed to the SAT, which covers general knowledge of only English and math. There are 20 individual subject tests across math, science, English, history, and foreign languages, and you may choose whichever tests you wish to take based on your individual strengths and knowledge areas. However, do keep in mind that if you are applying for certain majors or programs at some schools, you may be required to submit results from specific subject tests. SAT subject tests are administered six times per year, but not all subjects are offered in each sitting. Visit the CollegeBoard’s website to find out when a given subject is offered. You may take 1-3 subjects in a single test sitting, and can add or opt out of tests on the day of with some limitations . However, you may not take subject tests on the same day you take the SAT. The most important reason why you should take SAT subject tests is that many colleges require them as part of the admissions process. To find out which schools do, check out our list . Even colleges that don’t require them may still consider your results if you choose to take them, so they could give you an edge if you perform well. This is a good opportunity to demonstrate your strengths, since you’re able to choose your subjects, and could even compensate for weaker SAT scores, since you can show your aptitude in your strongest areas. If you’re self-taught or have studied certain subjects independently, SAT subjects tests can demonstrate that you’re a natural learner and seek out opportunities outside the classroom. Plus, your results can be used to determine placement or can be applied for credit at some colleges. Our students see an average increase of 250 points on their SAT scores. Remember: this is a chance to demonstrate your strengths in a particular area. Unlike the SAT, subject tests are more closely linked to the content you’ve studied in school. Therefore, if you’ve studied and done well in a particular subject, then chances are good that you’ll also do well on that particular SAT subject test. Of course, make sure to choose the subjects in which you perform best. For example if you’re a math whiz, opt for Math II. If you want another chance to prove your English prowess, take Literature. Also be sure to look into any requirements for the colleges to which you’re applying, since some programs may require specific tests. Make note of when specific tests are offered before you plan your schedule, and remember that you can’t take subject tests on the same day as the SAT. It’s a good idea to take the subject test around the same time as the AP for a given subject, since you’ll effectively be studying for both tests at the same time and will only have to do it once. That way, the material will still be fresh in your mind. You should also visit the CollegeBoard page for each test and consult the recommended preparation section. For instance, for Math II , CollegeBoard recommends â€Å"more than three years of college-preparatory mathematics, including two years of algebra, one year of geometry, and elementary functions (precalculus) or trigonometry or both.† You will also see a list of topics covered and anticipated skills you will need on this page, so make sure you’re familiar with these before you sit for the test. The good news is that there are plenty of resources available for practicing. It’s important to make use of them, because these tests are based on your knowledge of given subjects as opposed to rote skills. Here are a few resources: For every standardized test you take, you should come prepared with certain materials, such as pencils and your ID. But some SAT subject tests require additional materials. For instance, if you take a language with listening test, you will need a CD player. You are also allowed to use a calculator for both math tests, but be sure to make sure your brand and type is permitted. Also pay attention to materials you’re not allowed to bring. For example, you can’t use a calculator for Physics. Like the SAT, subject tests are scored on a 200-800 scale, with your percentile corresponding to a score between 200-800. You will also see your subscores, which are scaled between 20-80, for language with listening tests. All questions are multiple choice, and you lose a portion of a point for an incorrect answer. You do not lose credit for questions you do not answer. To learn more about scoring protocols, read CollegeBoard’s page, How SAT Subject Tests Are Scored . SAT subject tests are a great way to demonstrate your knowledge of certain areas and your strengths in the classroom. Even if the schools to which you are applying don’t require subject tests, they can still strengthen your application, and may help you receive credit or higher placement at some colleges. If you choose to take SAT subject tests, make sure to do your research and become familiar with the materials you need to know beforehand. Be sure to use the resources available to you to ensure you do your best. Looking for some more help for acing the SAT? The SAT Tutoring Program will help you achieve top scores on your test. We’ll pair you with two private tutors, one for reading, English, and writing, and one for math. All of our tutors have scored in the 99th percentile on the section they are teaching and are chosen based on teaching skills and ability to relate to their students.

Sarbanes Oxley and its Influence on the Finance and Information Coursework

Sarbanes Oxley and its Influence on the Finance and Information Technology - Coursework Example One reason for its significance is its scope along with the material shift it signifies in the balance of federal and state regulation of corporations. Historically, substantive regulation of corporate procedure and governance has been primarily the province of state regulation, while the federal securities laws have regulated disclosure. (Klimko, May 2004) The second reason is that SOX seeks to improve investor confidence by tightening government regulation of the accounting, reporting, and corporate governance practices of public companies. Many of the Act's provisions require the SEC to adopt implementing rules, and many rules have been adopted since the Act became law. (Klimko, May 2004) In this respect, positive changes are recorded in corporate auditing controls and compliance procedures. The Act also established the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board to regulate accounting firms who perform audits on the financial statements of publicly held companies. The board's mission is clear: to tighten accounting standards and restore confidence in the profession. Subject to direct SEC supervision, this body also is responsible for disciplinary action--everything from investigation to significant fines--against any company found in noncompliance with the Act. (Longnecker, 2004)As is generally the case with governmental intervention in the affairs of business, Sarbanes-Oxley has triggered many unintended side effects. Most experts agree that it has changed several facets of business, including the concept of the executive seat; the way honest, hard-working CEOs interpret their roles; and the methods scandal-weary boards use to operate and make decisions moving forward. (Longnecker, 2004) Further, the uncertainty surrounding the legislation's impact on auditing, financial reporting, executive loans, etc. has had a chilling effect on operations in boardrooms across the U.S. Leading decision makers at companies are, in many cases, so intently focused on legislative issues that they have been distracted from fully focusing efforts on their business' primary operations and creating shareholder value. Additionally, it is not just the CEO and CFO who are being asked to certify financial records and take on additional risks and responsibilities. Although not specifically mandated by Sarbanes-Oxley, many companies are r equiring certifications of financial results by their division presidents, department heads, and other senior management in an effort to comply with corporate governance and controls. As the process continues to filter down through the ranks, simply conforming with these laws could end up costing shareholders more than they ever thought possible. In essence, the ripple effect of Sarbanes-Oxley very easily could take businesses from a place of under regulation to one of overregulation, which can be just as dangerous for a variety of reasons.

Empathy Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Empathy - Assignment Example In modern society, the Child Protection Services can easily remove endangered children from unsuitable homes and place them with more deserving families. Allowing a national government to be able to rule over the decisions that women make about their own bodies is a direct violation of their human and civil rights as citizens. Anti-abortionists oppose the practice of abortion because they believe that it is murder as there is a human being killed. Anti-abortionists believe that abortions destroy women’s bodies. Pro- abortionists also believe this; however, for pro-abortionists, there is no alternative for abortion. It is a known fact that abortion is extremely physically as well as emotionally painful. This means that there is hardly any woman who would choose to opt for an abortion without reflecting on the personal cost to her body and mind. According to Thapa and Neupane (2013) there are also anti-abortionists who have claimed that the legalization of abortion could have other unforeseen effects in regards to the practice of the law. Pro-abortionists also recognize this fact. If abortion was only allowed for women who had been forced to experience rape or incest, there is a very real possibility that desperate women would resort to claiming that they were molested in order to be permitted to pro cure an abortion. This would also result in the side effect of falsely accused targets who would be unjustly imprisoned. Many anti-abortionists believe that women who are denied abortions can somehow find the physical and emotional means to love and accept their children once they are born. This is not reality but unsupported idealism. When women choose to subject their bodies to an abortion, it is because they have few if any options. Children deeply affect the lives of their parents. There are many women who do not realize the extent of responsibility that will fall on them once they have a child. They may not be able to cope

International Economics Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

International Economics - Research Paper Example Capital regulation ensures that banks internalize losses. This helps guard deposit insurance fund reducing chances of losses by the deposit insurer. The recent economic crisis, which was associate with credit crunch started with the melt down of subprime mortgage, which is directly dependent on how banks are regulated. In the United States, the move by Clinton and Republican congress to deregulate the banking sector is liable for igniting the 2008 crisis. This paper focuses on the pros and cons of bank regulation and how it relates with global economics. The paper will also address the pros and cons of deregulation in the banking sector as well as how it relates with global economics. Additionally, the paper will analyze the effects of bank regulation and deregulation on and the financial crisis of 2008. Pros and Cons of Regulation in the Banking Sector The regulation process in US is such that a bank is supposed to take immediate moves to reinstate its capital ratio in case Losses o ccur. In case of losses, banks restore their capital by raising fresh capital or shrinking their asset base. The regulators force the banks to take either of the steps, which prevents instances of failure (Roubini 1-3; Delaney Web). Since United States resulted from confederation of states, there exist dual regulatory systems where banks are regulated by both the state as well as the federal government (Barthy, Liy and Lu 1-5). The 2008 economic crisis triggered numerous changes in bank regulation within United States. The bank regulators increased their inspection on banks particularly on capital and reserves. Additionally, the congress is expected to implement reforms aimed at increasing regulation and make changes on the regulatory systems (Pellerin, Walter and Wescott 1-4). Bank regulation entails chartering and authorizing banks to start business and examination of the activities of the banks through frequent auditing. The banks regulators in United States include Comptroller o f the currency, State Banking Authority, Federal Reserve, and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) (Pellerin, Walter and Wescott 6-7; Roubini 6-8). Pros of Bank Regulation Like mentioned above, banks regulate their capital by asset shrinkage or raising fresh capital. Each of these moves has its pros and cons. In case of asset shrinkage, the effect could be either credit crunch or fire sale. Shrinking of assets through reducing lending, the interest rate increases, which make it hard for firms to borrow money for investments. This results in eventual decrease in employment, which is detriment to the economy (Pellerin, Walter and Wescott 10). Bank regulation helps in protection customers and the taxpayer. The government agencies concerned with regulation of banks supervise the operations of financial institutions preventing them from abusing taxpayers. They ensure that taxpayers are not denied access to deposit insurance as well as loans (Roubini 7). The Federal Reserve ensure s that the central bank provides loans to banks. In case of financial crisis, the Federal Reserve inflates the safety net or increases the ease with which banks can access loans from the central bank. Therefore, safety net help to safeguard banks from bank runs reduces systemic risk in addition to reducing the cost of evaluating the health of financial institutions (Pellerin, Walter and Wescott 11-13). Another importance of bank regulation is to ensure safety and soundness regulation. The regulation agencies ensure

Destination Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Destination Management - Essay Example Destination management has therefore become a recommendable system to any destination that expects to remain relevant in the world market. A good plan for any destination is very important based on various reasons that are highlighted herein. One of the best reasons is been able to predict and regulate some of the changes that come with hosting visitors in a destination ( Khraisheh & Jawahir, 2011, p. 154).The ability to predict lies on the dynamics of the industry as well as the seasonality. Tourists flow in a particular destination depends on seasonality in year. Visitors will tend to develop interest in visiting destinations during particular seasons. This may be during cold seasons or certain times in a year when specific attractions can be witnessed. Another importance of destination management is to promote optimal development and orderliness. A destination manager should consider factors that may cause overflow of visitors in a destination and regulate such incidences by enfor cing policies that control the flow of tourist. This promotes development of the destination and prevents straining of basic amenities and degradation of the attractions (Mazane, 1999, p.214). The ability to have order in a destination promotes environmental conservation and prevents hostility from the host communities. In order to achieve the defined goals of destination management, the ability to demonstrate clearly defined objectives is vital. Objectives of a destination should be more elaborate and driven towards the achievement of a certain goal. Destinations are managed in order to realize profits while at the same time satisfying the visitor’s expectations (Robinson, 2011, p.68). Through the application of objectives and goals a destination is able to come with a strategic plan that is meant to boost the economy of a destination. Strategic plan may be by providing incentives to visitors, having political stability, good road network and infrastructure, ruling out any t ransmittable disease and so forth. A destination should be safe and secure so as to attract visitors. A strategic plan reduces loses while at the same time optimizing the benefits depending on a destinations carrying capacity. If a manager is able have an organized and a well-planned way of controlling and maintaining a constant flow of visitors in a destination, it becomes easier to optimize and plan on how to realize profits and reduces loses (Lis, 2010, p.77). This is possible only if a manager is able to research on the market dynamics and the chances of receiving visitors. Therefore proper planning requires the ability to optimize benefits while at the same time reducing loses. A good destination manager takes into consideration the needs of key players and stakeholders in the industry. The needs of stakeholders vary depending on the factors that influence the tourism markets (Das Gupta, 2011, p.239). Stakeholders include the tour operators, travel agents, transport systems, ac commodation facilities and recreation centers. The integration of all these stakeholders makes a destination complete through having a larger participation. Therefore it is important to put other stakeholder interests into consideration since they play part in some key roles in the industry. Figure 1.1 Integration in the industry Tour operators Tourism organizations Transport Travel Agents A place can only be referred to as a destination depending on the fact that it has all the necessities that are required. This includes

Concretely, colonial policies in Africa were driven by economic Essay

Concretely, colonial policies in Africa were driven by economic factors and not by concerns about the type of society colonial rule would bring about. Discuss - Essay Example This is what came to be known as the "Scramble for Africa". Many historians debate on the reasons as to why European nations rushed to establish colonies and territories in Africa, finding it hard to agree upon a single cause. One thing is very clear though; the colonial policies in Africa were driven by economic factors and not by concerns about the type of society colonial rule would bring about. Colonialism, whether it was by the Belgian, British, German, French or any power was not supposed to be a kind enterprise. The reason behind colonialism was one: exploitation of human labor and economic surplus accumulation. Consequently, capitalism did not spare labor exploitation even if it took spilling blood so as to fulfill the agenda. Britain developed and became a post-industrial nation with financial services increasingly becoming important in its economy. The financial exports kept Britain going, especially its capital investments based outside Europe. The surplus capital was profitably invested not in Britain but overseas, where abundant raw materials, limited competition, and cheap labor made bigger premiums possible. Imperialism inducement arose due to raw materials demand, unavailable in Britain and Europe. These included rubber, copper, tea, cotton, and tin. In Africa, the European’s capital investment was relatively little compared to the other continents. The companies which were involved in commerce were not relatively big, apart from De Beers Mining Company owned by Cecil Rhodes, who carved out north and south Rhodesia for himself and his company, as did King Là ©opold II with the Congo Free State and later Belgian Congo. Europe was experiencing an economic depression during the late 1800’s.as a result, the colonial governments did not have enough for spending on economic development, political administration, and social programs in their new colonies. A policy was formulated for the colonies to â€Å"pay for themselves.† In

International Economics Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

International Economics - Research Paper Example Capital regulation ensures that banks internalize losses. This helps guard deposit insurance fund reducing chances of losses by the deposit insurer. The recent economic crisis, which was associate with credit crunch started with the melt down of subprime mortgage, which is directly dependent on how banks are regulated. In the United States, the move by Clinton and Republican congress to deregulate the banking sector is liable for igniting the 2008 crisis. This paper focuses on the pros and cons of bank regulation and how it relates with global economics. The paper will also address the pros and cons of deregulation in the banking sector as well as how it relates with global economics. Additionally, the paper will analyze the effects of bank regulation and deregulation on and the financial crisis of 2008. Pros and Cons of Regulation in the Banking Sector The regulation process in US is such that a bank is supposed to take immediate moves to reinstate its capital ratio in case Losses o ccur. In case of losses, banks restore their capital by raising fresh capital or shrinking their asset base. The regulators force the banks to take either of the steps, which prevents instances of failure (Roubini 1-3; Delaney Web). Since United States resulted from confederation of states, there exist dual regulatory systems where banks are regulated by both the state as well as the federal government (Barthy, Liy and Lu 1-5). The 2008 economic crisis triggered numerous changes in bank regulation within United States. The bank regulators increased their inspection on banks particularly on capital and reserves. Additionally, the congress is expected to implement reforms aimed at increasing regulation and make changes on the regulatory systems (Pellerin, Walter and Wescott 1-4). Bank regulation entails chartering and authorizing banks to start business and examination of the activities of the banks through frequent auditing. The banks regulators in United States include Comptroller o f the currency, State Banking Authority, Federal Reserve, and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) (Pellerin, Walter and Wescott 6-7; Roubini 6-8). Pros of Bank Regulation Like mentioned above, banks regulate their capital by asset shrinkage or raising fresh capital. Each of these moves has its pros and cons. In case of asset shrinkage, the effect could be either credit crunch or fire sale. Shrinking of assets through reducing lending, the interest rate increases, which make it hard for firms to borrow money for investments. This results in eventual decrease in employment, which is detriment to the economy (Pellerin, Walter and Wescott 10). Bank regulation helps in protection customers and the taxpayer. The government agencies concerned with regulation of banks supervise the operations of financial institutions preventing them from abusing taxpayers. They ensure that taxpayers are not denied access to deposit insurance as well as loans (Roubini 7). The Federal Reserve ensure s that the central bank provides loans to banks. In case of financial crisis, the Federal Reserve inflates the safety net or increases the ease with which banks can access loans from the central bank. Therefore, safety net help to safeguard banks from bank runs reduces systemic risk in addition to reducing the cost of evaluating the health of financial institutions (Pellerin, Walter and Wescott 11-13). Another importance of bank regulation is to ensure safety and soundness regulation. The regulation agencies ensure

Concretely, colonial policies in Africa were driven by economic Essay

Concretely, colonial policies in Africa were driven by economic factors and not by concerns about the type of society colonial rule would bring about. Discuss - Essay Example This is what came to be known as the "Scramble for Africa". Many historians debate on the reasons as to why European nations rushed to establish colonies and territories in Africa, finding it hard to agree upon a single cause. One thing is very clear though; the colonial policies in Africa were driven by economic factors and not by concerns about the type of society colonial rule would bring about. Colonialism, whether it was by the Belgian, British, German, French or any power was not supposed to be a kind enterprise. The reason behind colonialism was one: exploitation of human labor and economic surplus accumulation. Consequently, capitalism did not spare labor exploitation even if it took spilling blood so as to fulfill the agenda. Britain developed and became a post-industrial nation with financial services increasingly becoming important in its economy. The financial exports kept Britain going, especially its capital investments based outside Europe. The surplus capital was profitably invested not in Britain but overseas, where abundant raw materials, limited competition, and cheap labor made bigger premiums possible. Imperialism inducement arose due to raw materials demand, unavailable in Britain and Europe. These included rubber, copper, tea, cotton, and tin. In Africa, the European’s capital investment was relatively little compared to the other continents. The companies which were involved in commerce were not relatively big, apart from De Beers Mining Company owned by Cecil Rhodes, who carved out north and south Rhodesia for himself and his company, as did King Là ©opold II with the Congo Free State and later Belgian Congo. Europe was experiencing an economic depression during the late 1800’s.as a result, the colonial governments did not have enough for spending on economic development, political administration, and social programs in their new colonies. A policy was formulated for the colonies to â€Å"pay for themselves.† In

Zaras Fast Fashion Essay Example for Free

Zaras Fast Fashion Essay Absrtact This paper was written for the purpose of researching and illustrating fast fashion strategies which include strategic integrated supply chain, manufacturing and sourcing methods. Fast fashion is explained as a system that involves more control over operations and customer â€Å"strategic behavior† by using the combined benefits of both the â€Å"quick response production capabilities† or â€Å"short production and distribution lead times†, which minimizes clearance items by finding more reasonable balances between supply and demand, and the â€Å"enhanced product design capabilities† or â€Å"highly fashionable product designs†, which plays homage to customer values. This paper also analyzes methods used by fast fashion leader, the Spanish, Inditex owned Zara. A closer look at Zara’s supply chain, market responsiveness, flexibility, technology, pricing and costs strategies and methods are examined and compared to other fast fashion retailers that can appropriately be deemed as competition for Zara. Also, globalization and other operational strategies are discussed that all come together to show the remarkable success of the Spanish company. When thinking of the term fast fashion, one may think of the change in fashion trends and how quickly certain styles can be deemed as in, and the next second, those same styles are no longer looked at as having any resemblance of being fashionable. That would be the definition of a trend or fad in itself; â€Å"an intense but short-lived fashion; craze† (Dictionary.com 2012) . However, â€Å"the phrase ‘fast fashion’ refers to low-cost clothing collections that mimic current luxury fashion trends† (Joy, Sherry, Venkatesh, Wang, Chan, 2012) . It is a system that enables young, trendy customers to quickly attain and keep up with the ever changing latest fashions and trends from the runway, celebrity styles and other trendy inspirations for reasonable prices. Fast fashion is a system that involves more control over customer â€Å"strategic behavior† by using the combined benefits of both the â€Å"quick response production capabilities† or â€Å"short production and distribution lead times†, which minimizes clearance items by finding more reasonable balances between supply and demand, and the â€Å"enhanced product design capabilities† or â€Å"highly fashionable product designs†, which plays homage to customer values, which in-turn persuades customers to purchase full priced items rather than shopping around or waiting for items to go on-sale (Cachon Swinney, 2011, p. 778) . Globalization, Manufacturing and Sourcing Strategies for Fast Fashion Firms According to Mihm (2010) , supply chain, market responsiveness, flexibility, technology, pricing and labor costs are all factors in globalization and manufacturing and sourcing strategies. For instance, firms that are mainly involved with outsourcing and other third parties have less control of their supply chain and hands control to those third parties. On the other hand, firms that predominantly sell their own brands and designs are generally more vertically integrated and have minimal involvement with third parties. These firms can have control over all aspects of their supply chain and are also capable of controlling their sourcing. Fast fashion firms are generally vertically integrated. Mihm (2010) also states that â€Å"fast fashion and market responsiveness seem to be inseparable† and stresses the importance of supplying correct quantities in order to support demand for each individual store. In terms of fast fashion, market responsiveness refers to the speed of respond ing to consumer demand and accurately distributing and supplying appropriate quantities and styles in each store at the right times (p. 56) . Firms can achieve this by research and development (R D), technology, and forecasting. R D normally is in charge of coming up with new products and innovations and an alternative to research is â€Å"imitation† or copying outside products and ideas (Meredith Shafer, 2010) . The imitations strategy is one that mirrors the strategies of fast fashion firms in that ideas and designs for new merchandise often come from runway designs, celebrity fashions and customer input and ideas. Furthermore, fast fashion firms often allow individual stores and locations to have control over store merchandise by using a pull system rather than a push system. The pull system uses the just-in-time (JIT) concept mentioned by Meredith Shafer (2010) . The JIT system lowers lead times and merchandise orders by allowing quick and instant deliveries of exact order quantities, which eradicates having over stock and the need for â€Å"safety stocks† (p. 258) . With many fast fashion firms implementing major globalization initiatives, technology is a key factor in communication, efficient logistics, and business success. Information technology (IT) systems provide the ability to collect and share important information, such as trends, orders, â€Å"production and shipping data†, using constant transfer and communication throughout the entire supply chain. IT systems help mitigate â€Å"real-time† communication from consumers to store managers to market specialists and designers, to suppliers and to manufacturing and production facilities, then to distributors, and back to stores and the customers (Mihm, 2010, p. 56) . Moreover, IT systems product lifecycle management (PLM) software, and sourcing programs can keep track of all sourcing and development activities and are designed to react to and handle change and conflict, which helps with flexible suppliers and positively effects production. These technologies speeds up production time, placing communication and processes in real time and allows an ease to the supply chain (Speer, 2006) . Mihm (2010) states that firms in the fashion industry use a technology known as computer-aided design (CAD), which includes laser cutting machines and automated sewing machines that ultimately â€Å"eliminates wasted fabric† and cuts production time; allowing companies to be more efficient by saving time and money. Another way fast fashion firms make use of flexibility â€Å"also includes changes in the construction and coloring processes used to make garments.† â€Å"For example, garments are often dyed after they are constructed thus allowing the manufacturer to produce the best selling colors quickly† (Mihm, 2010, p. 56) . Furthermore, â€Å"improved logistical programs including air freight and expedited customs clearance for imports also fall within the technology factor.† Many fast fashion companies are leaning towards globalization and have highly vertically integrated supply chains and therefore provide their own world-wide souring, and manage their own design, manufacturing, and logistics models. â€Å"All of these influences have dramatically changed the way the apparel business operates in the age of globalization, making the fashion industry appear borderless† (Mihm, 2010, p. 56) . Mihm (2010) states that â€Å"lower labor costs are a major contributing factor to fast fashion since cutting, sewing and fitting are labor intensive, and are integral parts in constructing need high levels of education† and therefore do not require salary or high wages. For example, in China, labor rates are only around 60 cents per hour. â€Å"Additionally, capital equipment costs are very low, making it easy to open an apparel plant almost anywhere† (p. 56) . Along with lower labor costs, it is also important to manage labor times to further mi nimize labor costs and increase efficiency and profitability (Desai, Nasar, Chertow, 2012, pp. 71- 72) . Lastly, a major factor influencing fast fashion and fast fashion retail strategies has to do with keeping merchandise prices at least moderately low. Mihm (2010) mentions that a key factor in keeping prices low is by maintaining low labor costs (p. 56) . Additionally, Desai et al. (2012) discusses the impacts and importance of maintaining control over all costs including; production, materials, labor, transportation, manufacturing and overhead and other costs. Maintaining control over all costs is essential to efficiency, maintaining low product costs and business success. However, many items that may be considered basic and require less production costs, and labor costs and time may still be sold for premium price points do to customer perceived value and brand value (pp. 64-72) . All about Zara Zara, the Spanish fast-fashion retailer belonging to â€Å"Inditex, one of the world’s largest distribution groups†, is one of the leading international fashion companies in the world (Zara, 2012). In 1975, Chairman and founder of Inditex, Amancio Ortega, opened the first Zara shop in Spain and he came up with a philosophy for business success which states, â€Å"‘you need to have five fingers touching the factory and five touching the customer’† (Ferdows, Lewis, Machuca, 2004, p. 106). The philosophy can be said to be the basis for Zara’s business model and retail strategy that successfully runs a fully vertically integrated supply chain by vertically integrating all features of the sourcing and manufacturing process (Mihm, 2010) including, design, production, distribution and sales. By providing constant information about consumer’s demands and desires, customer actions and feedback are the soul of the Zara model (Inditex, 2012), whi ch ultimately allows the company to maintain control of its products from the design stage until the customer purchase stage. Zara has taken retail globalization by storm and now has 1,721 stores all in prime locations in great cities spread across eighty-seven countries. A Closer Look into the Zara Model Because Zara has full control over its supply chain, their sourcing strategy differs from the strategies normally used by companies in the industry (Mihm, 2010). For instance, Zara purchases many of its fabrics and other supplies from Inditex owned companies. The company also owns its own manufacturing and production facilities, which allows the majority of profits stay within Zara and the Inditex group; it also boosts overall company flexibility and allows the full control over the supply chain system that would otherwise be unattainable if the firm did not embody the fast fashion method and mainly outsourced to third parties (Ferdows, 2004, p. 109) . Moreover, only basic items like T-shirts and common woolens are out sourced to, or bought from, manufactures in low- cost areas like Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe (Capell, 2008); the rest of Zara’s products, which are more fashion sensitive, are designed by the 300 in-house designers and are manufactured in Zara manufacturing facilities. â€Å"All finished products pass through the five-story, 500,000-square-meter distribution center in La Corufia, which ships approximately 2.5 million items per week† (Ferdows, 2004, p. 109). Furthermore, Zara production facilities maintain stock piles of neutral fabrics that can be dyed, printed on, or altered for the purpose of speed and convenience to help mitigate design and production times (Mihm, 2010). In terms of production and labor times and costs, Zara has the ability to easily adjust production to the change in demand. The company is able to do this because many of their facilities are highly innovated and specialized, and normally run one single shift per day (Ferdows, 2004, p.109) . It seems that Zara operates its manufacturing facilities using a combination of transformation systems to maximize efficiency. For instance, job shops would be used for smaller facilities that produce more basic and/or custom items. Cellular production systems, that also utilizes JIT, would largely be used for a fast fashion firm like Zara because the system allows the facility to reduce production time and costs, reduce labor time and costs and increase flexibility and market responsiveness and minimizes waste and excess stock. For instance, Meredith Shafer (2010) state that the advantages of cellular production include; reduced setup times, increased equipment capacity that results in lower eq uipment and maintenance costs, and increased floor space. The system also allows increased efficiency to produce small batches of varieties, which ultimately increases flexibility to respond to customer demand, reduces over stock and excess inventory that can take up space, and minimizes lead times and increases throughput times, which improves forecasting and market responsiveness and enhances revenues. Other advantages include greater operational control, lower overall costs and an exclusivity value sense from customers that discourages purchase postponement (pp. 71-72) . Furthermore, like other fast fashion firms, Zara utilizes innovation and IT systems to communicate information through every part of the organization. These IT communication systems are especially important to Zara because their products go from the design stage to store shelves in as little as two weeks. To make this happen, store managers record selling trends, determine customer desires and quickly sends the information to the design headquarters where ideas, innovations and designs for new fashions are created and more appropriate forecasting can be made. The speed and this system automatically gives â€Å"Zara a competitive advantage† (Capell, 2008) . Competition and Competitive Advantage The term competitive advantage refers to any factor that will give a firm a lead on its competitors. This can mean anything ranging from new innovations, ideas and products, costs and pricing, locations and market share, to marketing and operational strategies, and so on. Zara is recognized as being a leader in the fast fashion retail industry and has steam rolled ahead of competitors such as Gap, Express, Uniqlo, and H M. Compared to its competitors, Zara is completely vertically integrated and uses sophisticated IT communication systems for constant and speedy communication, whereas competitors are less involved in ease of communication and still heavily outsource to third parties, which significantly reduces their control over process, time and quality (Desai, 2012 ). This is where Zara gains their biggest competitive advantages, which are speed, quality and customer value. Customer value is a huge advantage for Zara wherein the receive customer support, repeat, satisfied custome rs, and increase revenue. The fact that Zara often produces trends at super speeds, even before they show up in luxury shops, induces Zara as an innovative firm which further attracts â€Å"early adopters† who desire the freshest looks and don’t mind paying higher prices for items that they may value as exclusive (Meredith Shafer, 2010, pp. 14-15). Additionally, Inditex and Zara factory workers are paid more that the industry average (Capell, 2008) . Also, with the smaller quantities of vast varieties of the freshest trends, Zara gains â€Å"85% of the full ticket price on its retail clothing, while the industry average is 60% to 70%.† Because of this, Zara is also able to gain â€Å"higher net margins on sales than its competitors†. For instance, in 2001, Inditexs net margin was 10.5%, Benettons was only 7%, HMs was 9.5%, and Gaps near zero (Ferdows, 2004, p. 106) . Conclusion and Recommendations Overall, Zara is the perfect example for fast fashion retailing. The company truly has taken a step forward in strategies for successful operations, management, globalization and supplying and selling the latest trends at lightning fast speeds with minimal costs and wastes. The only negative that I find with Zara is with their pricing strategy in nations outside of Spain. According to Kumar Linguri (2006) , Zara is considered a low-cost retailer, whereas in countries such as the US, Japan and Mexico, Zara is considered more of a luxury retailer due to pricing differences (p. 82) . Even though pricing differences are based on individual country economics, there still should not be such a disparity in pricing and perceived value between countries. One final suggestion is for Inditex to consider investing in opening distribution centers and/or manufacturing facilities in other market areas to continue the speed in supply chain and lead times in all markets throughout the world. References Capell, K. (2008). Zara Thrives By Breaking All the Rules. Businessweek, (4104), 066. Cachon, G. P., Swinney, R. (2011). The Value of Fast Fashion: Quick Response, Enhanced Design, and Strategic Consumer Behavior. Management Science, 57(4), 778-795. Desai, A., Nassar, N., Chertow, M. (2012). American Seams: An Exploration of Hybrid Fast Fashion and Domestic Manufacturing Models in Relocalised Apparel Production. Journal Of Corporate Citizenship, (45), 53-78. Dictionary.com. (2012). Retrieved from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/fad Ferdows, K., Lewis, M.A., Machuca, J.A.D. (November 2004). Rapid-fire fulfillment. Harvard Business Review, 82(11), 104-110 Inditex. (2012). Investors. Retrieved from http://www.inditex.com/en Joy, A., Sherry Jr, J.F., Venkatesh, A., Wang, J., Chan, R. (2012). Fast fashion, sustainability, and the ethical appeal of luxury brands. Fashion Theory: The Journal of Dress, Body Culture, 16(3), 273-295. doi:10.2752/175174112X13340749707123 Meredith, J.R., Shafer, S. M., (2010). Operations management for mbas, 4. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley Sons, Inc. Mihm, B., (2010). Fast fashion in a flat world: Gl obal Sourcing Strategies. International Business Economics Research Journal, 9(6), 55-63 Speer, J. K., (2006). Top 5 sourcing strategies. Apparel Magazine , 47(12), 32-35. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.limcollege.edu:2357/ehost/detail?sid=4b23db26-6002-4704-9709-23540fa18525%40sessionmgr111vid=1hid=127bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=bthAN=22112593 Zara. (2012). Investors. Retrieved from http://www.zara.com

Air Asia Marketing Analysis

Air Asia Marketing Analysis Airlines offer air transport services for passengers or cargo, normally with a recognized operating license. Airlines have leased or owned aircraft with which to supply these services. Airlines may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for common benefit. Airlines differ from those with a single aircraft carrying mail or freight, through full-service international airlines operating hundreds of aircraft. Airlines can be classified as being intercontinental, intra continental, domestic, or international and may be operated as planned services or charters. Many countries have national airlines that are owned and operated by the government. Private airlines are under government regulation for economic, political, and safety issues. For example, governments often interfere to stop airline labor actions in order to guard the free flow of people, communications, and goods between different regions without compromising safety. Some countries have deregulated or start deregulating their Airlines, for example The United States, Australia, and to a smaller extent Brazil, Mexico, the United Kingdom and Japan. Because of deregulation, airlines have been largely free to negotiate their own operating arrangements with different airports, enter and exit routes easily, and to levy airfares and supply flights according to market demand. In a deregulated market, the entry barriers for new airlines are lower, so it creates greater competition and average fares tend to drop 20% or more. The competition, together with pricing freedom, means that new entrants often take market share with highly cheap rates that, to a limited degree, full service airlines must match. This is a main limitation on profitability for established carriers, which tend to have a higher cost base. Consequently profitability in a deregulated market is irregular for most airlines. These factors have caused some key airlines to go out of business, in addition to most of the poorly established new entrants. INTRODUCTION TO AIRASIA The world leading low fare airline in the Asia, Air Asia has been growing rapidly since 2001, to become an award winning and the major low cost carrier in Asia. AirAsia was founded by a government-owned conglomerate DRB-Hicom in 1993. On 2 December 2001, former Time Warner executive Tony Fernandess company Tune Air Sdn Bhd purchased the heavily-indebted airline for the token sum of one ringgit. Fernandes advanced to engineer an outstanding spin, turning a profit in 2002 and introducing new routes from its hub in Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Air Asia believes in the no-frills, hassle-free, low fare business idea and feels that keeping costs low needs high efficiency in every part of the business. Efficiency generates savings which are then passed on to customers so that inexpensive air travel can become a reality. Through its idea of Now Everyone Can Fly, Air Asia has introduced a revolution in air travel with more and more people around the region choosing Air Asia as their preferred choice of transport. The total AirAsia fleet (including Thai AirAsia, AirAsia X and Indonesia AirAsia) consists of the following aircraft as of 14 July 2010 STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENTS AirAsia opened a 2nd hub in 2003 at Senai International Airport in Johor Bahru near Singapore and started its 1st international flight to Bangkok . In January 2004, airasia began its first international service from KL to Phuket in Thailand. In 2006 A new budget terminals, the 1st of its kind in Asia was opened in Kuala Lumpur International Airport. AirAsia is presently the largest customer of the Airbus A320.[4] The company has placed an order of 175 units of the Airbus A320 plane to service its routes and at least 50 of these will be ready by 2013. Tony Fernandes (CEO) announced a five-year plan on 27 December 2006, to further improve its existence in Asia.[5] In the plan, AirAsia will build up and improve its route network by linking all the existing cities in the region and expanding further into Indochina, Indonesia, Southern China (Kun Ming, Xiamen, Shenzen) and India. AirAsia declared a three-year partnership on 5 April 2007, with the British Formula One team ATT Williams. The airline brand is displayed on the helmets of Nico Rosberg and Alexander Wurz, and on the bargeboards and nose of the cars.[6] On 27 September 2008, AirAsia has on its list 106 new routes to be added to its current list of 60 over the next few years [7] SUBSIDIARIES Notes Thai AirAsia Established on 8 December 2003 as joint venture with Shin Corporation Indonesia AirAsia AirAsia acquired the then Non-operational Awair in 2004 with a 49% stake in the airline. Full rebranding to Indonesia AirAsia was completed on 1 December 2005. VietJet AirAsia AirAsia announced On February 2010 that it has purchased a 30% stake in VietJet and changed the name to VietJet AirAsia. AirAsia RetTix AirAsia launched their new event ticketing system called AirAsia RedTix On March 20, 2010, targeting on non-airline flight tickets such as events, sports, and music. Associate Companies AirAsia X: It is a service operated by AirAsia X Sdn. Bhd. as a franchise of AirAsia. It offers long-haul services from Kuala Lumpur to Australia and China using an Airbus A330-300. Tune Hotels: Tune Hotels.com is a hotel chain established by AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes. Presently it has hotels in operation in Kuala Lumpur, Kota Kinabalu, Kuching, Penang, Sepang and Bali. Tune Money: It is Asias first no-frills online financial services portal. Same as Virgin Money, it includes life, home and motor vehicle insurance as well as prepaid credit cards. PORTERS FIVE FORCES To asses the attractiveness and identifying the sources of competition for Airline industry we use porters five forces model. 1. Threat of new Entrants in Airline Industry The extent of barriers to entry depends on following factors:- Deregulation: Some countries have deregulated or start deregulating their Airlines, for example The United States, Australia, and to a smaller extent Brazil, Mexico, the United Kingdom and Japan. In a deregulated market the entry barriers for new entrants are lower. Capital Requirement: Setting up airline business requires huge investment. The cost of setting up of offices, leasing or buying aircraft, hiring pilots and other staffs incur a high cost. Thus, the threat is low for the industry. Switching costs: In airline industry customers do not need to spend more on switching to another airline. The price would not be extremely significant in differences, which it depends on the accessibility of competitors services and suitability of the flight time that prompts them to switch. So low switching cost attracts new entrants. 2. Rivalry among existing firms Fixed cost: In airline industry fixed cost are high, for example finance cost, lease cost, and staff costs. To cover these fixed costs airline companies have to gain more market share. In doing that, constant price reduction is done by them to compete with others. Thus, the rivalry is strong. Customers easily switch: In airline industry customers priority is to look at price and flight schedule that suits them the best when buying air tickets. The main purpose of using the services is to get to the destination planned. Customers can switch to other airline easily that makes the industry competitive. Similar Products: As discussed earlier, the main purpose of using airline services is to reach the destination. Every airline is providing similar services to customers. So it makes the industry highly competitive. Excess Capacity: presently there has been excess capacity on many routes; as a result, airlines have to participate in price wars in order to attract customers at all costs. 3. Threat of Substitute products No doubt Airline is the fastest way to travel from one destination to another thus there is no Perfect Substitute available. However, taking into consideration Domestic Airlines, there are options available to the customers like by-road and train arrangements but again time consumption and convenience are the reasons which discourage customers to adopt any one of these two options. Price of Air Travel however is a hurdle which let customers to think to take other available options. International Airlines have a very less or no threat regarding other options. 4. Bargaining power of buyers Internet technology resulted in increasing the bargaining power of buyer. Because the buyers are now able to compare the prices more easily and in view of no switching costs, they could choose whichever airline offers a low price. Thus the buyers may be able to influence the airlines to reduce their prices. 5. Bargaining Power of Suppliers Number of suppliers: The suppliers for airlines are fuel suppliers, foods suppliers, merchandise suppliers, and aircraft suppliers. There are few suppliers in the market for aircrafts; the companies are either Airbus or Boeing. So the power of supplier is strong. High switching costs: AirAsia use Airbus models aircraft. In the past it was using Boeing models, which they lease it and later they replaced Boeing models with Airbus. If Airasia change to Boeing again, then the cost will be high, because training cost for staff to go well with the aircraft features must be offered. Other than that, the technology used by Airbus is the most advanced, so Airasia have to rely on the Airbus model. Thus, bargaining power of suppliers is strong. SWOT ANALYSIS The purpose of this analysis is identifying external factors (opportunities and threats) and internal factors (strengths and weakness) that AirAsia needs to consider in achieving its goals and objectives to be low cost carrier in the airline industry. The strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats for AirAsia are as follow: Strengths Single aircraft type: AirAsia operates a single type of aircraft, the airbus model. (It switched from Boeing 737s in 2005) A single aircraft type offers economies in purchasing, pilot training, maintenance and aircraft utilization. Direct Sales: AirAsia engages in direct sales through its web site and call center. As a result it avoids paying commissions to middlemen. A direct sale has reduced AirAsias dependency on outside resources for its revenue. Direct contact with customers provides an opportunity to keep up to date of their expectations and solve their problems on time. Strong management team: This is the strength of AirAsia that it has a very strong management team that consists of industry experts and ex-government officials. For example, Shin Corporation (formerly owned by the family of former Thai Prime Minister- Thaksin Shinawatra) holds a 50% stake in Thai AirAsia. This has facilitated AirAsia to start up and capture significant market share in Thailand. Well established Brand: AirAsias partnership with other service providers such as hotels, hospitals (medical tourism), car rental firms, Citibank (AirAsia Citibank card) has created a very unique picture among travelers. AirAsias local presence in countries such as Indonesia (Indonesia AirAsia) and Thailand (Thai AirAsia) has effectively elevated the brand to become a regional brand. Their links with ATT Williams Formula One team and Manchester United (one of the worlds most famous football teams) have further improved their image to a greater extend beyond just Asia. Weaknesses At start, it may be a good strategy for AirAsia not to have its own maintenance, repair and overhaul facilities. But now with hubs in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia and 97 planes currently owned and over 100 planes to be received in the next few years, AirAsia have to make sure proper and continuous maintenance of the planes which will also help to keep the overall costs low. It is becoming disadvantage not to have its own repair maintenance facilities. Opportunities Increase in oil price: Increase in oil price may become an opportunity for AirAsia, being a low cost carrier; AirAsia has an upper hand because its cost will be still the lowest among others. Thus it has a great opportunity to capture some of the existing customers of full service and other low cost airlines customers. Partnership with other LCC: AirAsia can partnership with other low cost operators such as virgin to tap into their existing strengths or competitive advantages like brand name, landing rights and landing slots. Population: Population of Asian middle class is increasing. It will be 700 million by the end of 2010. This creates an excellent opportunity and huge market for all low cost carriers in this region including AirAsia. New destinations: AirAsia has strong presence in Asian region. Currently they are operating from three countries Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and covering several destinations in China, India, Sri-lanka etc. but still most parts of these countries are under served. So AirAsia can add more destinations. Threats Uncontrollable costs: Certain charges like landing charges, security charges and departure charges are beyond the control of airline operators. This is a threat to all airlines especially low cost airlines that tries to keep their cost as low as possible. New entrants: AirAsias profit margin has attracted many competitors. A good number of the full service airlines have or planning to create a low cost subsidiary to compete with AirAsia and other low cost carriers. For example, Singapore Airlines has created a low cost carrier Tiger Airways. Terrorism: Terrorism is affecting tourism and confidence in the airlines. It might happen in many ways of terrorism either in certain countries or it might happen in the plane itself. If there is terrorism happen in the area where AirAsia operates, it results in stopping their flights to ensure safety of passengers as well as the plane. Negative perceptions: Passengers have some negative perception about low cost carriers. One common perception is that they may compromise safety to keep costs low. AVAILABLE STRATEGIES FOR AIRASIA There are three strategies that Air Asia can follow in order to be a major player in the Low Cost Carrier market. These strategies are Diversification (substantive growth strategy), market penetration and market development (limited growth strategies). Diversification There are kinds of diversification such as horizontal, vertical integration, and conglomeration. Ansoff Matrix source: wikipedia.com In horizontal diversification, the company developed activities that are directly complementary to a companys present activities. AirAsia has done horizontal diversification when entering into Indonesian market by partnering with Awair, which is an Indonesian airline. The partnering with Awair helps AirAsia to understand the condition of local market, so the company will have direction on how to enter and survive in the market by the help of an experienced partner (Awair). AirAsia has done vertical diversification as well, for example it is selling flight tickets without the help of agents through its own website and call centre. Through unrelated diversification (conglomeration), AirAsia might spread risk if suddenly airline industry is having difficulties and have elevated profit opportunity from the new business. But, to establish new business, open up a new company, strong management and financial ability is required to make it successful, but if it is not successful, it might create unbalanced circumstances for Air Asia because of loss of money and resources. Market Penetration In Market Penetration company will not introduce new products. It will go with the same products in the same market. The way to gain more market share with the same product is to attract competitors customers and get more loyal customers by marketing. Market Penetration will not cost as much as Diversification. AirAsia can peruse this strategy by using marketing budget and using the existing marketing department. Market Development Another strategy that AirAsia can pursue is Market Development. Market development is the strategy to sell the same product in new market. For example Air Asia can open up new routes to other places than the existing routes. Opening up more routes is going to be advantages, but it costs more than doing market penetration because more aircrafts and pilots will be needed. AIRASIA RESOURCES EVALUATION In order to implement a strategy AirAsia has to evaluate the resources because if the resources are not enough, the implementation will not be maximized and there will be possibility that the strategy will fail. There are resources to be evaluated before choosing a strategy, such as budgets, human resources, and network analysis. For diversification huge investment is required, because the company might have to build a factory or buy/rent new premises. The company might have to recruit new employees who have knowledge about the new business. Market penetration and market development strategies require less money as compared to diversification strategy. Market penetration and market development strategies only grow existing resources to get more profit or bigger market share, and usually the budget for these strategies are mostly taken from marketing budget. Now a days LCC market is becoming very competitive. Its profit margins attract many new competitors. As I discussed above, a good number of the full service airlines have or planning to create a low cost subsidiary to compete with Air Asia. In this situation AirAsia should not think about diversification. It should only focus on airline business. So strategies like market development and market penetration will be preferred at the moment. POSSIBLE FUTURE STRATEGIES FOR AIRASIA AirAsia have to pursue limited growth strategies such as market penetration and market development in the future. These strategies work a lot for AirAsia in order stay competitive in LCC market. Many new competitors like Tiger Airways directly threatening its market share. So at present AirAsia needs to increase its brand image and get more loyal customers. Air Asia can increase its brand image by promoting low-priced, on time and safe traveling experience campaign. As I discussed above people have negative perception about LCC. People think that LCC may compromise safety to keep cost low. So in promotions AirAsia should try to change these negative perceptions. Advertisements on television are expensive but effective to increase the brand image, so Air Asia may advertise on the television. Ads on Channels like BBC, National Geographic will work a lot. To help reduce the cost, advertisement time may be made shorter and advertisements may not be aired very frequently. The best time for AirAsia Ads is during holidays when people are thinking to go on traveling. There are upcoming sports events like 2011 Cricket World Cup in India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and 2012 Olympics in London. By sponsoring these events AirAsia can further improve its image. AirAsia has strong presence in Asian region as compared to other low cost carriers. Currently they are operating from three countries Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia and covering several destinations in China, India, Sri-Lanka etc. but still most parts of these countries are under served. AirAsia alone dont have capacity to cover this whole region. So partnership with some other airlines is required at this stage. Partnership with Virgin Airline will provide great opportunity to expand its business in Asia as well as in other parts of the world. RECOMMENATIONS AirAsia has strong position in Asian market. Now a day Asian low cost carrier market is becoming very competitive. To keep stronger position in the market AirAsia has to adopt combination of market penetration and market development strategies. As we know AirAsia has strong management team, which will surly make these strategies successful. AirAsia has some weaknesses but these do not seem to be very dangerous. Rising fuel prices have made operational costs high for the whole industry. However these high operational costs means companies with fewer profit margins than AirAsia may become unneeded in the future thus, opening up customer bases previously not available to AirAsia. Middle income earners are increasing specially in china and India; there is much talent for AirAsia to expand its routes. AirAsia engages in direct sale through web site and call center. It should be very careful that problems with internet can seriously damage their business. REFERENCES Orders, Deliveries and Operational Asia Pacific. January 2010. http://www.airbus.com/fileadmin/backstage/documents/od/January_2010.xls. Retrieved 9 February 2010. http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/7/9/business/4284964sec=business http://www.airbus.com/en/presscentre/pressreleases/pressreleases_items/09_06_16_a350xwb_airasiax.html http://www.tiags.com.vn:8080/?idx=newsdetailmod=newsact=detailid=92type=2 Leong Hung Yee (27 December 2006). AirAsia embarks on 2nd chapter. The Star. http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2006/12/27/business/16419327sec=business AirAsia sponsors the Formula One team Williams AirAsia unleashes its X-factor