Take home exam Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Take home exam - Assignment Example The attitude of the customers also gets influenced by the promotional activities carried out by the company such as advertisement. Irrespective of the nature of the customers, it is the duty of the marketers to properly understand the needs of the customers. In doing so the marketers would be able to develop goods or services which would meet the need of the customers a lot more precisely than the competitors, The main problem is that the consumer decision making process is a complex on and understanding the mindset of the consumers correctly is quite difficult. The customers do not actually make purchases without thinking carefully about the needs. Wherever there is a presence of the choice, decisions are also usually involved and these decisions are most of the times influenced by changing motives. The organization that can understand why customers make decisions such as who buys the products; how they buy; where they buy; why they buy; would have more chances to become successful. The philosophy that guides all the marketing activities is the core concept of marketing. The idea that an organization should look to try to satisfy the needs of the customers through coordinated activities that allows the marketers to achieve the marketing objectives; The marketing concept states that a business should first understand the needs of the customers and then develop the products accordingly. ... To implement the marketing concept a company must have good information regarding the needs and demands of the customers to develop a customer oriented strategy (Pride and Ferrel 4). As far the topic of forcing the customers to buy products that the customer may not is concerned; it can be said that the core concept of marketing actually puts the customers at the very beginning of the marketing process. Before developing any products the marketers usually go for a market research to understand the need and demand of the customers and then only the products as per the needs of the customers are developed. Any great innovation including the launch of the smart phones is actually a result of the understanding the customer demand through he market research. Addition of mp3 players of cameras are actually augmentation. The core product of a cell phone remains to be the on the go telecommunication facility provided by the phone. But features such as cameras or mps players actually were lov ed by the customers. Hence the marketers realized that the customers are actually looking for total package in a cell phone and hence the marketers such as Apple and Samsung decided to launch smart phones. The same principles can be applied in case of automobile manufactures also, in the initial days, very few automobile manufacturers used to provide financing and hence the customers had to look for other means to go for financing. But now all most all the companies provide the facility of car financing. This again shows the importance of understanding the customer demand. To conclude things it can be said that the marketers do not force the

To Build a Fire and Young Goodman Brown Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

To Build a Fire and Young Goodman Brown - Essay Example Another interesting point is that Hawthorne makes sure to clarify that the journey which Goodman Brown makes into the forest is done at night and not during the day. If any trespasser were asked what comes to his mind with the thought of a dark forest, it can safely be assumed that by and large the first response would be related to the creepy feel that a dark forest exuberates. The dark forest sets the tone of the story and makes it clear to the reader from the start that what he is about to read is not a happily ending romantic novel or a light comedy, rather the dark thought provoking nature of the story comes across instantly. Therefore, the very first role played by the most predominantly used element of nature in the story, the forest, is to highlight the feel of the narrative and set the mood of the story. Time and again references have been made in the novel to the nature of the forest by the use of adjectives such as â€Å"gloomy,† â€Å"dark,† â€Å"silent,â €  â€Å"wilderness,† and so forth. ... As Goodman Brown continues with his journey in the forest he meets an old man, who has not been given a name but it appears to be obvious that Goodman Brown does know that he will be meeting this man and that the meeting was not a coincidence. The conversation between Goodman Brown and the old man revolves around the old man challenging Goodman Brown’s belief in the goodness of the people of the society and his father and grandfather. From this conversation it appears as though the old man represents the devil or the temptation that attracts man towards evil. Hawthorne makes it a point to specify that the â€Å"old† man is sitting under an â€Å"old† tree while waiting for Goodman Brown, so that the reader can instantly make the connection of the old man with evil because there is an inherent eeriness associated with old trees with their sagging roots. Furthermore, the stick which the old man is narrated to be holding is constantly compared to a black serpent as follows, â€Å"But the only thing about him that could be fixed upon as remarkable was his staff, which bore the likeness of a great black snake, so curiously wrought that it might almost be seen to twist and wriggle itself like a living serpent,† (Hawthorne, 8). Here we see another element of nature coming into play, the snake is said to be amongst the most venomous of all animals and the fact that the old man holds this stick with such comfort reflects on his association with evil. An interesting piece of conversation from the story is as follows, "Come, Goodman Brown," cried his fellow-traveler, "this is a dull pace for the beginning of a journey. Take my staff, if you are so soon weary,† (Hawthorne, 9), this suggestion of the old man to Goodman Brown can have

The relationship between HRM and business performance Literature review

The relationship between HRM and business performance - Literature review Example First, the review suggests that human resource practices have synergistic and performance enhancing influences when used in conjunction with empowerment-enhancing practices that boost employee responsibility and autonomy. Secondly, study attempts to explore the link between HRM and firm performance by studying frameworks that link HRM to financial performance despite the various studies that claim there is no link between HRM and Firm performance. The literature offers overview on research regarding HRM and Businesses performance and subsequently shows the relation between HRM and performance in organizations. Business strategy and the integration of HRM practices form an essential factor in organizational effectiveness because the use of business strategy as a contingent factor moderates the relation between human resources practices as el as firm performance. Therefore, business strategies paired together with proper HRM activities have positive influences on the firm’s perf ormance. According to Ahmad and Schroeder(2003) and their counterparts Youndt and Snell(2004), the impact of HRM to organizational outcomes became an essential topic in early 1990s because it attaches significance to motivational aspects of organizational practices in developing and utilizing human capital. HRM involves development of people’s abilities and attitudes in way that the individual can develop personally and contribute toward the organization’s goals. According to Youndt and Snell(2004), other studies consider HRM practices to be pay and reward, recruitment and selection, training and development, health and safety as well as work expansion or reduction. However, various studies suggest that six essential HRM practices that are likely to positively influence a firm’s performance include training and development, teamwork, incentives, HR planning, performance appraisal as well as employment security (Sels, Winne, Delmotte, Maes, Faems and Forrier, 200 6; Seibert,Silver and Randolph, 2004). According to Sels et al (2006), training and development involves the amount of formal training offered to employees, although organizations can offer extensive training, organizations also rely on acquired skills through selection and socialization. Training in businesses influence performance in two key ways the first one being, that training improves on the relevant skills, capabilities, and secondly training compliments employees’ satisfaction in their prevailing job and workplace. Teamwork in businesses contributes to business performance because it results in effective achievement, facilitates flow of ideas resulting in innovative solution and helps in saving administrative costs associated with paying specialists in order to watch people (Sels et al 2006). Incentives in businesses rely on performance and remain one of the usual means for organizations to enhance employee motivation through provision of performance-contingent incen tive in order to align employee and shareholder interests. According to Chiang(2004), although compensation is categorised into financial and non-financial incentives, some incentives like pay incentives in form of bonuses and profit sharing or even indirect compensation like health insurance and vacation all influence the performance of firms. According to Gill and Meyer(2008), HR planning in enterprises involves forecasting

Parenting Today Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Parenting Today - Essay Example These parents know the best way of disciplining their children. This is so because they can watch the activities of the children and thus know them better. Punishment methods such as time outs enable the children to reflect on their behavior. Disciplined children are more likely to do well in academics especially when their parents are available at home to assist them. In addition, their availability helps their children deal effectively with any stressful issue that they may have (Brooks, 2011). There is a variety of factors that influence spillover. Work-family spillover occurs when the activities that take place at work affect an individual at home. On the other side, family-work spillover occurs when activities at home affects an individual at work. Job satisfaction results in to positive spillover and thus an individual go to his family with energy and satisfaction (Brooks, 2011). The sections of the population who experience positive spillover are mostly individuals who are satisfied with their positions at work. In addition, parents who spend time with their children experience positive spillover. Many studies have indicated that families enhance positive spillover. The sections of the population that have families thus experience positive spillover. A family composed of a father, a mother and two children can enhance the performance of the parents at work. One child can be very young and in kindergarten. The other child can be approaching adolescent. This family is likely to have a delightful time together, and activities that members can engage in are numerous. The parents will have to teach the young child how to read and write, and this can be satisfying and enjoyable to the parents. They have to advice the older child too on various issues such as changes occurring in his or her body. Such a family is small and thus easy for each of the parents to manage. The parents can also have spare time to discuss their

“How we discourage creativity” The creative spirit Essay Example for Free

â€Å"How we discourage creativity† The creative spirit Essay Evaluation is the polarization of the learner’s work by a particular set of criteria introduced by the teacher (Goleman, 1992). This can be as simple as commenting on what type of art work is good and what type is ugly to an early learner. While the learner’s work would have to be evaluated sooner or later, doing so too soon might constrict the learner’s ideas of what is â€Å"good† and â€Å"acceptable† as well as what is â€Å"bad† and â€Å"ugly† on as narrow a perception as that provided by the teacher. While this does train the learner to â€Å"do as told†, and conform to generally acceptable measures, it is insensitive to the idea of diversity and freedom of action. When kids are made to worry too much about whether they’re doing things right or not, they become too afraid to try new things that â€Å"might not be right† in their teacher’s eyes. Rewards are positive motivations given to learners in either tangible or intangible means (Goleman, 1992). These can be tangible rewards such as candies or toys or intangible ones such as praises. Giving rewards motivates the learner to continue doing whatever tasks in the same manner as in order to continue getting rewards. The problem is that excessive use of rewards would take away the simple joy of the activity from the child. The child will not wish to experiment with the activity and be more creative since the objective becomes doing exactly as the teacher says in order to receive the rewards. Furthermore, if the learner simply looks forward to the rewards, no attention will be paid on the value of the activity itself which supposed to inculcate lessons that should remain even after the rewards are gone. Competition is placing two or more learners in a situation where some of them could â€Å"win† while others would â€Å"lose† (Goleman, 1992). This makes children step up to the challenge by motivating them with the prospect of outdoing one another. This could train students to answer the teacher’s questions faster if only the first person to answer could win a prize. However, holding competitions as part of learning activities is insensitive to the fact that children learn differently and should be allowed to learn at their own pace. Instead of forcing every learner into a competition where they would have to play by the teacher’s rules, the teacher should find out how each of the learners learn best and provide a proper atmosphere for each to develop creatively in their own time. Restricting choices is limiting the possible activities that a learner could do in order to explore a particular subject matter (Golema, 1992). This could be as simple as disallowing a student from using certain colors when drawing a picture. It is the learner’s curiosity that leads him or her to enjoying activities and learning from them. Limiting the choices that a learner can make limits the places where curiosity could go, thereby limiting creative learning in general. While it is true that this gives focus to the learner, it takes away the possibility of exploring avenues that could also be enriching experiences. Reference Goleman, K. (1992). â€Å"How we discourage creativity† The creative spirit. Vol. 3 No. 2 pp. 61-62.

Kmart and Sears Merger Essay Example for Free

Kmart and Sears Merger Essay Kmart had been established in 1962 by its parent company S. S. Kresge as a discount department store offering the most variety of goods at the lowest prices. Un- like Sears, the company chose not to locate in large shopping malls but to establish its discount stores in highly visible corner locations. During the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s, Kmart prospered. Retail formats in operation Kmart – is a chain of discount stores that are usually free standing or located in a strip malls. Big Kmart – signals a different kind of Kmart. These stores are bigger, brighter and offer big savings, big value, big selection and big convenience. Big Kmart stores are designed to increase store sales by increasing the frequency of customer visits. The format focuses on three distinct businesses – home fashions, children’s apparel and consumables – and features an expanded food area known as the â€Å"Pantry†. Kmart Super Center is a chain of hypermarkets that carry everything a regular Kmart carries, but also have a full grocery section with meat and poultry, baked goods, a delicatessen, garden produce, and fresh seafood. Most Kmart Super Centers operate 24-hours a day and offer special services. In 1999 Kmart began offering a dial-up internet service called BlueLight, which was eventually spun off as an independent company. BlueLight was initially free and supported by banner ads. BlueLight dropped the free service in February 2001 and was reacquired by Kmart in July 2001. In 2002 United Online, which also owns NetZero and Juno, bought the BlueLight service after Kmart filed for bankruptcy. In August 2006, Bluelight dropped the banners. As of August 2006, the service costs $14. 95 a month and has around 165,000 subscribers. Promotional Pricing model Promotional pricing had always been the forte at Kmart. Offering a lower price temporarily in order to enhance the effectiveness of product sales efforts to cost sensitive consumer. In 1990, Wal-Mart overtook Kmart in sales, they tried to wean the company away from this strategy. Kmart cut process on 38,000 items and promoted the with expensive television commercials, which failed to lure younger shoppers. Then Wal-Mart countered by using its greater efficiency and economies of scale to fight back on pricing. The outcome was 1% drop in Kmart’s sales in December and 8% increase in those of Wal-Mart. Financial Analysis Prior to 2001, company was making continues losses, in order to understand scenario; we first analyze the period from 1995 to 1998. Here, Kmart started making some profit. And the second part from the year 1998 to 2002, where they actually went bankrupts. In 1995, the firm suffered a huge loss of $571 million. This was because of the non-performance of 127 international stores. It was in the same year that COGS as a percentage of sales were too high as 78%. Operating expenses as a percentage was in proportion to that of the industry. However due to the low performance of the international stores, stores outside t United States, Kmart had a bad financial year in 1995. It was the same year that the management decided to do away with the non preforming stores and thereby closed all its international stores and started four new stores in the home market. The list of stores by Kmart during the period can be seen as under: In 1999, COGS was 78% of sales as compared to 72 % of sales in the year 1998. Also, COGS increased drastically compared to increase in sales. Sales in 1999 increased by 6. 26%, however COGS increased by 12. 23%. Thus, there was a major decrease in the grow profit from 27% of sales to 21% of sales. This was the beginning of the downfall of Kmart. From here on, COGS kept on increasing. In 2002 COG reached 85%, thus gross margin reduced from 21% in 1999 to 14% in 2002. During the same time, Kmart’s operational efficiency too decreased and it increased from 18% in the year 1999 to 21% in 2002. Thus, increase in the COGS, lowering of the gross margin and increase in the operational costs, all contributes to the fall of Kmart. Competitors within the industry Its primary competitors were Wal-Mart, Sears, Target, Kohl’s, and J.  C. Penney, with secondary competitors in certain categories. Wal-Mart Wal-Mart followed the lower cost competitive strategy of cost leadership. According to our textbook cost leadership aims at the broad mass market and requires efficient scale facilities, cost reductions, cost and overhead control; avoids marginal customers, cost minimization in RD, service, sales force and advertising. Therefore Wal-Mart could get following benefits: this strategy provided defense against competitors, provides a barrier to entry for new competitors and generate increased market share. Wal-Mart managed to maintain â€Å"everyday low prices† and achieve highest sales in the industry. It should be noted that Wal-Mart’s 2005 revenues exceeded that of the next ? ve U. S. retailers combined: these are Home Depot, Kroger, Sears Holding Company (which includes Sears and Kmart), Costco, and Target. Wal-Mart’s technological edge is in its logistics, distribution, and inventory control helped it reduce cost and offer customers product cheaper than its competitors. Moreover it could benefit from economies of scale. Wal-Mart also used differentiation focus strategy by creating a product and service unique to customers, according to ReferenceForBusiness. com. It could be argued that this feature is not real and just in the mind of the customer; customers believed they were being offered something special. Wal-Mart achieved this strategy by offering unique warranties and brand images. Wal-Mart customers believed they were being provided with something that they cannot find at any of the stores competitors. Wall-mart’s value chain worked in following way: Vendors, Wal-Marts suppliers delivered products to Wal-Marts distribution center or directly to one of the stores. Wal-Mart was able to bargain for the lowest possible price because of the high volume of sales. Therefore, Wal-Mart could pass this savings to its customers. After that once the products were delivered to the distribution center, they were sorted and placed on trucks to be delivered to stores. This allows for less than 48 hour deliveries to stores and increased efficiency on trucks with backhauls. After products were delivered to the stores, they were placed on the appropriate shelf location for customers to view. Store locations were located throughout the U. S. in rural and urban towns. Moreover customers could purchase products at very low prices and have the ability to return any item. These were the key elements of Wal-Mart value chain. Overall Wal-Mart’s competitive advantage over its competitors was efficient supply chain management and lower prices achieved through maintaining low costs. Sears Sears, with the second-highest annual sales, had a strong position in hard goods, such as home appliances and tools. Around 40% of all major home appliance sales continued to be controlled by Sears. Nevertheless, Sears was struggling with slumping sales as customers turned from Sears mall stores to stand-alone, big-box retailers, such as Lowe’s and Home Depot, to buy their hard goods. Sears main competitive disadvantage was its store locations. Sears has been too slow to expand away from mall locations, industry analysts said. As Sears Chairman Alan Lacy said: â€Å"Our service and products are as good as our competitors but theyre not where our customers are. † Target Target was third in sales but second in profits, behind Wal-Mart. It used differentiation strategy and tried to offer customers quality products and had distinguished itself as a merchandiser of stylish upscale products. Targets mission statement focused on great guest service, clean stores and speedy checkouts. Along with Wal-Mart, Target had flourished to such an extent that Dayton-Hudson, its parent company, had changed its corporate name to Target. Its main focus was statically higher income consumers and early internet adopters. Target’s main competitive advantage was good customer service and quality product. This is where it creates value for its customers. Kohl’s, and J. C. Penney Both Kohl’s and J. C. Penney emphasized on soft goods, such as clothing and related items. They both chose differentiation strategy. Kohl’s concentrated on selling both private and exclusive brands which were â€Å"only at Kohl’s† as well as national brands like Nike, Adidas, Lee, Levi’s, Jockey, Van Heusen. Private and exclusive brands contributed a lot more to the gross margin as Kohl’s has significant control over the production, manufacturing and marketing expense of these brands. Keeping this in mind, Kohl’s has shifted its merchandise gradually towards this section of merchandise. In 2004, Kohl’s carried 25% in Private and Exclusive Brands, and this figure rose to 50% in 2011. Moreover it tried to provide â€Å"convenience† promise to customers an easy and satisfying shopping experience. Kohl’s organized departments by lifestyle, added signage and graphics depicting key trends, and presented merchandise to suggest how customers can create new looks. They also continued to improve inventory management to deliver more new product more often, to differentiate line mixes according to geographic preferences, and to assure a â€Å"shelf never empty† of products the consumer desires. J. C Penney targeted moderate income customs, mainly women who as company executive said that were with, â€Å"too little time, too little money, and two little kids. † Kmart versus Competitors Kmart’s main problem was that it did not have clearly defined competitive strategy. In 2001, Kmart proclaimed a new retailing strategy that included less advertising, fewer advertised specials, and lower daily prices on many items. In short, Kmart tried to challenge Wal-Mart as the everyday low-price leader. Wal-Mart responded to the Kmart challenge with still lower prices. These new initiatives further weakened the ? nancial position of Kmart Corporation. The Kmart assault on the Wal-Mart image as the low-price leader failed, and Kmart was left with huge volumes of unsold merchandise (Turner 2003, 71–72). Kmart forgot to take into consideration that its capacity to lower prices was limited because of its poor supply chain management, often popular products would be out of stock, in some cases stored in trailors outside of the stores. Kmart was not successful in using differentiation competitive strategy either. While Wal-Mart reigned supreme as the low cost leader, Target was perceived as being a â€Å"higher quality† retailer. There was basically nothing left for Kmart. In attempt to pursue differentiation strategy Kmart updated and enlarged the stores, added name brands, however this was not successful either, acquisitions all performed poorly posting minimal net income or losses and distracted management from core business. Kmart’s main competitive disadvantages were problems in value proposition, poor supply chain/inventory management and poor customer service. It needed to choose competitive strategy suitable for it and concentrate on it.

The Lady of Shalott and The Lady in the Looking Glass :: Lady of Shalott Essays

The Lady of Shalott and The Lady in the Looking Glass Alfred, Lord Tennyson wrote "The Lady of Shalott" around 1830, during what is known as the Victorian Age. Virginia Woolf published "The Lady in the Looking Glass: A Reflection" in 1929, during what is referred to as the Modernist Age. These works of art both deal with women who have important relationships with mirrors. The light in these stories has a great and different effect and meaning for each of these women. The importance and meaning of light are contrasted in these two tales, representing a change in writer's attitudes toward light portrayal. In Tennyson's poem, the woman known as The Lady of Shalott, has been placed in a tower and told if she ever looks directly onto Camelot, she will be cursed. "A curse is on her if she stay / To look down to Camelot"(lines 40-41). She relies upon a mirror to reflect to her what happens outside her tower. Light is very important to her, as without the light there can be no reflections. It is through the use of this mirror that she glimpses Lancelot riding by, in the sunlight, "His broad clear brow in sunlight glow'd;"(line 100). She falls in love with him, and watches him ride away causing her eye to wander from the mirror to the road and on to Camelot. The light, which beforehand had allowed her glimpses of the world, is her undoing and the curse is upon her. Up until the point when the Lady decided to look toward Camelot, the light had been a positive aspect in her life. The light was most often friendly for The Lady of Shalott, but it does not prove to be friendly to Isabella Tyson, the main character in Woolf's "The Lady in the Looking-Glass: A Reflection." After returning from the garden, "At once the looking-glass began to pour over her a light that seemed to fix her; that seemed like some acid to bite off the unessential and superficial and to leave only the truth"(2456).