Pricing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Pricing - Essay Example Center of discussion in this paper is pricing that can be approached at three distinct levels such as industry level, market level, and transaction level. Industry level pricing process considers overall economics of the industry including changes in customer needs and supplier prices. Zuponcic states that Market level pricing takes into account market trends and competitors’ strategies; whereas, transaction level pricing specifically focuses on the discounts management. Modern marketers practice a range of pricing strategies mainly including cost plus pricing, skimming pricing, market oriented pricing, penetration pricing, premium pricing, price leadership, target pricing, absorption pricing, and value based pricing. A set of economic factors is to be considered before recommending a pricing strategy for a particular product since pricing is the most effective profit lever. As Sloman points out, it is necessary to evaluate market demand and price elasticity of the product. Fo r instance, if there is high market demand for a product, the marketer can fix a relatively higher price whereas he will be forced to lower product prices when market demand declines. Some products including jewelleries and automobiles are very sensitive to price; and hence, even a small increase in price will lead to a noticeable decline in their market demand. As Clausen indicates, economic theories do not encourage the setting of higher prices for such price sensitive products. In addition, production costs and expected profit margin have to be analyzed while choosing a pricing strategy.... In addition, production costs and expected profit margin have to be analyzed while choosing a pricing strategy (ibid). When a product’s cost of production is high, firms generally charge higher prices in order to ensure adequate return on the huge investments. In the view of Senior (1852, p. 102), organizations need to consider huge profit margins if the cost production is high and fix a low profit margin if production costs incurred are near to the ground. Shaw (2001, pp.58-59) points out that market structure also plays a crucial role in ensuring successful pricing since market demand is the key driver behind product movement. To illustrate, a skimming pricing policy would probably fail to attract customers in a market where competition is intense, because a set of other product choices are available to customers. Therefore, it is better to adopt a cost plus pricing policy or penetration pricing policy while operating in a highly competitive market environment. Similarly, pr ice discrimination strategy would be advisable in a market which contains diverse population. This strategy seems to be potential for mobile phone industry, particularly to Aslan. According to George, Joll, and Lynk (1992, pp.181-185), in an oligopolistic market environment, a small number of sellers dominate the market; and hence economic theories advise firms to compete in such market segments with relatively low prices and high production. If a marketer increases his product prices in an oligopolistic market environment, customers will certainly switch their demand to other sellers who market their products more affordably. Marketers must give specific focus on the pricing of simple configurable products. Economic approaches direct that price

Thomas Cook PESTEL Analysis

Thomas Cook PESTEL Analysis This report is going to analyse and evaluate the strategic fit of Thomas Cook plc and its critical success factors using analytical tools. The PESTEL Analysis is used to evaluate conditions in the Travel and Tourism market environment and how these conditions affect Thomas Cook plc and its competitors now and in the future. A porters five forces analysis will also be used to determine the competitive intensity and therefore attractiveness of the travel and tourism industry. Introduction Thomas Cook Travel Company was first started by its namesake in June of 1841 and has since become the worlds most recognisable name in the travel industry. The merger of Thomas Cook AG and My Travel Group plc on June 19th of 2007 produced Thomas Cook plc, making Thomas Cook the second largest leisure travel group in the UK behind TUI Travel plc its major competitor. Thomas Cook specialises in providing a wide range of package holidays to destinations. (Thomascook.com) INDUSTRY ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS (Task A) PESTEL ANALYSIS The PESTEL frame work categorises environmental influences into six main types which are political, economical, social, technological, environmental and legal (see appendix A). The PESTEL framework helps managers understand the key drivers of change and also the differential impact of these external influences and drivers on the industry, markets and individual organisations. (Johnson, Gerry, 2005). Political factors According to CIPD, coalition governments spending cuts are going to result in 0.7million job losses in the public sector. The travel and tourism industry is in the public sector; therefore their employees are faced with fears of redundancy. Announcement of redundancies will invariably have an adverse impact on morale, motivation and productivity of remaining employees. The negative effects can be reduced by sensitive handling of redundant employees and those remaining and to be as honest as possible with the remaining staff to gain back their trust and confidence. (cipd.co.uk) Economic factors are of concern to travel and tourism, because they may influence demand, costs, prices and profits. Package holidays are an income elastic business, as income decreases or rises; it can have a significant effect on the demand. Therefore looking ahead, public sector cuts are likely to have a major consequence on the travel and tourism industry. Social Factors Redundancies and other government cuts will potentially result in limited disposable income for consumers. According to Mintel, some 12% of consumers are spending nothing on non-essentials, with 35% describing themselves as very cautious, 30% as quite cautious, and only 5% as not at all cautious. This is because of the decrease in disposable income. If income decreases, then spending will become more cautious, especially on income elastic items such as package holidays, therefore reducing profit  margins for the travel industry. With all the package holidays in the UK, supply will remain very high as demand decreases forcing companies to reduce their prices. The spending cuts will mean that business executives will have to cut their budgets and most likely use low-cost travel planes such as Easy Jet and Rynair. Video conferencing is improving all the time, and the price has fallen to zero using online systems such as yahoo messenger, business may be forced to use this method to communicate to reduce their costs. This going to affect the travel industry a lot, executives provide business anytime of the year whilst holidays are seasonal. This will reduce customers. If classy seats are either vacant or earning less revenue, this means less departures or soaring economy class fares. Companies will also be forced to provide bargains for leisure travelers willing to upgrade to business class. Technological Factors The most powerful example technology is the emergence and improvement of the internet, which led to reduced costs and increased operational efficiency within the tourism agencies and airports. Because the internet is becoming better every day, its causing intimacy between tour operators and clients and improving contentment for both parties. Aside the internet, other major technologies that support the continuous growth of the tourism industry are those implemented by transportation, which is becoming safer, quicker and more pleasing. The technological implementations within tourism operations have led to changes in working behaviour and will also result an increase of demand for labour force, implying as such that educational institutions place more emphasis on teaching tourism. Environmental Factors Protecting the environment is one of the most talked about and sensitive matters today, making environmental responsibility part of the factors that determine a tour operators success. According to global warming 2020, aviation which ferries hundreds of thousands of tourists across the globe is of great concern to those seeking to protect the environment. A major concern for the industry is  greenhouse  gas  emissions and their implication for climate change. Aviation produces at least two percent of emissions. One way the aviation industry is working on this problem is by rolling out newer planes that have fuel efficient engines which means less carbon emissions. However not all airlines especially in the poorer countries can afford buying new aircraft. PORTERS FIVE FORCES ANALYSIS Porters five forces analysis (see appendix B) was developed to as a way of assessing the attractiveness of different industries. The five forces constitute an industrys structure. (Johnson, Gerry, 2008) Threats of substitutes The lack of disposable income and the effect of coalition government spending cuts are likely to change consumer spending habits, as a result with a significant shift in demand from luxury goods to inferior goods which are much more affordable, consumers are likely to shift to local and cheaper holidays and may choose to use trains (eurostar) or their cars to local holidays. Terrorism has affected the mentality of travellers and has made travelling more difficult and uncomfortable. People have to think about security issues from when they start packing to when they reach their destination, this will convince more travellers to use trains or holiday locally. This is however a moderate threat because customers usually prefer airlines because they are much quicker. Competitive Rivalry The Travel and tourism industry occupies a big segment of the business market and therefore provides many opportunities for tour operators; however its a very competitive industry. To be successful a package holiday company needs to discover the best fit between their individual skills, competencies and resources and external market characteristics to make sure that they stay on top of their game. Brand recognition and strength also determine the success of a company against its competitors, especially if times are tough in the economy. Negotiating powers of buyers Demand in package holiday industry is extremely elastic; this means that buyers will not just accept a given price by a package holiday company. Customers will use any information sources available to them such as the internet to look for better and exclusive deals available around, and with so many package holidays available in the UK, they are likely to find one and use a different company. As discussed above about the effect of economy on the travel industry, the powers of buyers are that they have a huge influence on the setting of prices in accordance with the prices which are around in the market. CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS Critical success factors are used to identify key factors that a business needs to focus on to ensure that their business is successful. To survive and prosper, all industry participants must use an emergent strategy. Emergent strategy is a way of action that develops over time in an industry without a specific mission, goals or long-term plans. Emergent approaches should be thoroughly analysed in the context of an increasingly active, highly competitive and global business market. Influential external forces mentioned in the PESTEL analysis are pushing companies to reduce costs, improve processes and identify new opportunities for growth and an emergent strategy will help companies cope with these factors. An emergent approach leads to more creative and responsive strategy making which is well suited to the hyper-competitive and unpredictable environments such as the package holiday industry. It is more suited to instigating positive, transformational organisational change such as diversification or restructuring. It also has the added benefit of helping to reduce resistance to change as it allows time to build employee support while the strategy is taking shape. (powerfulwords.co.uk)

LSD :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The book I chose is titled, â€Å"The LSD Controversy.† The author is Maurice S. Trashes, Ph.D. The call number is 615.78 and I read pages 1-50.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The first section of the book I read about deals with terminology. The other section I read about involves the general chemical characteristics of LSD. LSD’s complete name is D-lysergic acid diethylamide tartrate. Its abbreviation comes from the German Lyserg Sà ¤ure Diethylamid. The author goes on to define numerous terms for LSD such as hallucinogen, illusinogen, and fantastica. He then attempts to find the proper term for it. He believes that the term hallucinogen is inappropriate because real hallucinations are very rare. Although it is very widely used, he prefers illusinogen because according to S. Cohen, â€Å"hallucinations† are actually illusion.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As for the general characteristics of LSD, the author asks the question, â€Å"What is LSD?† From a chemical standpoint, LSD is a semisynthetic diethylamide that is prepared from lysergic acid. This is a naturally occurring chemical of the parasitic fungus called ergot. This grows in the seeds of rye and other grasses. Stoll and Hoffman were the first to synthesize it in 1938. Hoffman discovered its effects in 1943 when he accidentally sniffed a few micrograms; he thought he was going nuts.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  LSD in a pure form is an odorless, colorless, and tasteless powder that is soluble in water and alcohol. Though it may be hard to detect, it is known as one of the most potent psychedelic drugs in existence. Roughly two pounds of the drug in powder form can supply ten million doses of 100 micrograms each which is sufficient for just about anyone. 100 micrograms is barely even visible!   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Once it is has been taken by an individual, it is absorbed rapidly and distributed throughout the body. It has no problem passing through the blood-brain barrier and is almost completely metabolized by the body. It is excreted by the liver in the form of 2-oxy-LSD.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The case of whether or not LSD is addictive is argued in the book next. The reason it is so hard to determine if LSD is addictive or not is because there is no settled definition of addiction. Psychologists speak of psychic or emotional dependence while doctors talk about physical dependence. Then there’s a distinction to be made on whether it’s the drug or the person that is addictive or addicted. To make it easier, the World Health Organization has recognized the ambiguity of the word â€Å"addiction† and came up with the term â€Å"drug dependence in 1965.

Case Study Proposal for Coca Cola Amatil Sydney †Blowfill Technology Essay

Subject: Case Study on Coca- Cola Amatil (Australia) I am pleased to submit â€Å"A proposal for the Blow fill technology Packaging Project†. The material described in the attached proposal used the most relative and advance data on implementation of blow fill technology by Coca Cola Amatil. Of the particular interest are the state of the art technologies that are used by the organization to improve the supply chain and make environment friendly. The proposal explains the need to work on analyzing the crucial issues faced by the organization while implementing this technology. Please have a look at the case study proposal and in case you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact. Yours truly, Niranjan R Balikai Project summary The case study would work on analysing, the implementation of blow fill technology at Coca Cola Amatil. Based on the current information, implementation of this technology will reduce the risks associated with quality. The contamination of bottle can be avoided. The use of blow- fill technology at CCA lead to cost reductions along with reduction in carbon footprint at CCA by eliminating the empty bottle storage, transport costs and raw material rise PET resin which was previously used to manufacture bottles. The most important point of focus in this case is to analyse the benefits that CCA derives from implementation of blow fill technology and to examine the extent to which this technology could be used as a means to stay ahead in these competitive times. Therefore, a comprehensive analysis of the costs and benefits of blow fill technology at Coca Cola Amatil and extensive insight on management at CCA would be required for this project. INTRODUCTION Introduction to Company Coca- Cola Amatlil (CCA) is known as one of the largest bottlers of the various non-alcoholic, ready to drink beverages in the region of Asia Pacific. CCA is one of the world’s top five bottlers of Coca- Cola. The organization has an employee base of more than 15,000 people and maintained access to around 265 million customers among which 700,000 are active customers. CCA is known to have operations in five major countries and these countries include Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Fiji and Papua New Guinea. The company works on manufacturing as well as selling and distribution of a well-diversified product portfolio. This portfolio includes water, coffee, carbonated soft drinks, fruit juice, energy drinks, flavoured milk and even ready to eat fruits and vegetable products are packaged by CCA (CCA, 2013). Coca- Cola Amatil is involved in the selling and distribution of some of the premium spirits portfolio of the Beam Global Spirits along with premium wines, which takes into account products like Makers Mark and Canadian Club. Coca- Cola Company owns around 30% share of CCA and there are two directors sitting among the eight member board of directors at CCA (CCA, 2013). Coca Cola Amatil head office is located in Sydney. CCA is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. The company has a market capitalization of more than $8 billion and the company is among one of the top 50 Australian listed companies (CCA, 2013). Coca Cola Amatil reported a net profit after tax of almost 558$ million in the year 2012 before significant items. This profit observed an increase of around 5% from 2012 (Annual repo rt, 2012). Introduction to Technology CCA decided to open two new â€Å"blow fill† technology lines for production facility in the year 2011. The â€Å" blow fill† technology represented around 35$ million investment in the Coca Cola Amatil South Australian operations which in turn enables the organization to design and manufacture their own PET beverage bottle by utilizing less raw material. Blow fill technology was considered as one of the single largest capital investment made in the history of CCA and this new technology was analyzed to bring change into the entire nature of the manufacturing in the business of CCA (Coca-Cola Amatil, 2011). The attached file in the appendix Coca-Cola Amatil (Aust) Pty Ltd  Australian Packaging Covenant Action Plan provides the benefits and time associated with the implementation of blow fill technology at Coca Cola Amatil. CCA views that by introducing this technology, the organization was enabled to redesign the entire small carbonated soft drink and the water PET bo ttle range. This technological innovation brought some major benefits to the organization, which are very good for Coca Cola Amatil, the customers of the company, and the communities in which they operate. Some of the major benefits include significant savings in cost, production efficiency gains and the increase in shelf life of the product and the product stacking ability (Coca-Cola Amatil, 2011). BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY & PURPOSE OF PROPOSAL Coca Cola Amatil vertically integrated their manufacturing operation in order to enable the PET bottle self-manufacture and to manufacture the preforms and PET caps. There are various investments made in warehouses and production facilities by CCA. However, the largest piece from the Project Zero which is known as the largest of the capital project undertaken by Coca Cola Amatil is on the 450$ million investment on PET bottle manufacture also known as blow fill which is likely to get functional in all the major manufacturing operations of the group most likely in 2015 (Trevor, 2012). This investment made by CCA meant to reduce the PET resin in the environment equal to around fifty thousand trucks off the road and the truck loading reduced to almost 7 minutes which was actually 25 minutes leading to stock accountancy from 80% to now 98% (Trevor, 2012). Coca Cola Amatil works on continuing high levels of automation in their supply chain like including various automated guided vehicles along with artificial intelligence, advanced robotics and various other technologies to provide benefits in the future. The investments in technology made by CCA in their supply chain shows that these investments were instrumental in turning the company in the 90’s characterized at that time as a low technological organization to now as a profitable and customer centric consumer goods business. The question here is to understand that whether investment in blow fill technology would enable Coca Cola Amatil to achieve competitive advantage in these challenging times. If not then is this technology only makes contribution to the business in terms of cost saving and supply chain improvement. Statement of the problem in company Coca Cola Amatil sees packaging of their products as one of the most valuable resource and not as waste. One of the examples is that every single PET bottle is considered as a resource and they are recycled to make other products. Coca Cola Amatil recognizes that they are required to work on sustainable packaging and responsible recycling making an important contribution to the environment. That is one reason that the company main a huge investment in Blow Fill Technology that allows them to product light weighting PET bottles. Making an investment in a technology to this extent enables the organization to reap major benefits including cost saving and production efficiency. However, the point of concern is that whether investing in blow fill technology enabled Coca Cola Amatil to stay ahead of the competition. This case would explore the entire implementation of blow fill technology to identify the critical issues faced by Coca Cola Amatil during the implementation of this technology . Along with that, this case would analyze the benefits that Coca Cola Amatil achieved by implementation of Blow Fill technology and whether blow fill technology would enable the firm to remain competitive in these challenging economic times where the competition is tough and investment of this scale need to deliver significant outcomes. Proposed solutions Coca Cola Amatil aims to implement blow fill technology in all the major manufacturing plants. For this reason, it is extremely for the organization to work on utilizing this technological innovation in a manner that would enable them to achieve a competitive edge and at the same time provide business with benefits like costs saving and reduction in raw material. Therefore, the case would enable CCA to discover the path that they can work on in order to use this technology as a means to stay competitive ACTIVITIES OF IMPLEMENTATION The following flow chart provides a clear picture of the list of activities that are to be performed in a systematic order to complete the case study within the identified period. Activity/ Week| Week 1| Week 2| Week 3| Week 4| Week 5| Week 6| Week 7| Week 8| Week 9| Research background on company | | | | | | | | | | Literature search & Developing Questionnaire| | | | | | | | | | Visit to the Plant| | | | | | | | | | Conducting Interview| | | | | | | | | | Analysis of Primary and Secondary Data| | | | | | | | | | Conclusion | | | | | | | | | | Writing Case Study| | | | | | | | | | Final editing, formatting, and compiling| | | | | | | | | | CONCLUSION This case study would examine the implementation of blow fill technology in one of the significant technological firms Coca Cola Amatil. The case in itself provides the reader with a thorough insight into the implementation of one of the most important technologies and the critical issues faced by Coca Cola Amatil while implementing the blow fill technology. Along with that while analyzing the blow fill technology as a means to achieve a competitive edge, this offers the reader with an understanding as to how an organization can utilize their existing resources to remain competitive in these extremely challenging times. BIBLIOGRAPHY * Annual report (2012). Available at : http://ccamatil.com/InvestorRelations/AnnualReports/2012/CO27_CCA%20Annual%20Report%20-%20A4_220313_FIN_LR_single.pdf[ Accessed 1st April 2013] * Coca-Cola Amatil (2011) . Coca-Cola Amatil Unveils $35 Million Investment In Bottle Self manufacture. Available at : http://ccamatil.com/InvestorRelations/md/2011/Coca-Cola%20Amatil%20unveils%20$35m%20investment%20in%20bottle%20self-manufacture.pdf[ Accessed 31st March 2013] * CCA (2013). Company Overview. (online). Available at : http://ccamatil.com/AboutCCA/Pages/CompanyOverview.aspx [ Accessed 3rd April 2013] * Clarke, T. (2012) Big companies count on technology for supply chain future ( Sydney morning herald). Available at :

Importance of College Education

Student Name: Student Identification Number: Course Number and Title: ENG110. 6. 3 Achieving Academic Excellence Assignment Number and Title: Writhing Assessment 5_06 Date of Submission: April 10, 2013 The importance of a college education to me will allow me grow professionally as well personally. Obtaining my degree will benefit me by helping me get the proper education to help further my career I chose in Human Resources. It will open a whole new world for me and allow me to grow. I can obtain my degree which is very important because I want to be financially stable and have a career in Human Resources.College will open doors and provide me with better opportunities than just having a high school diploma. Having a college degree for me would help me achieve what I want and where I want to go. That is to have a stable job and have a decent income coming in so I can live comfortable. One of my reasons for me to go back to college is my only son. He is thirteen now and I am hoping to get my degree before he graduates out of high school. I want him to have a positive role model to look up to. I want him to understand what a college education can provide to him if that’s the path he chooses after high school graduation.My lifelong goals sent me back to school so I can better my life and show my son what a college degree can take you. I’m hoping it will help me get a better job so that I will be able to provide for myself and my son. According to Mr. Scott Reed â€Å"with a definite, step-by-step – ah, what a difference it makes! You cannot fail, because each step carries you along to the next, like a track†. One can be more competitive in the growing job market. Having a college degree is going to help me pursue what I want and will help me grow personally and professionally.I chose to further my education at Ashworth because of the flexibility of taking classes online and being a full time mom and having a full time job, Ashworth made it possible to go back to school. In this day and age it’s hard to get a good paying job or having a career without obtaining a college education. By achieving a college degree I will have improved my chances of acquiring a great paying job in Human Resources. Bibliography Successstories. com 2011 http://www. successories. com/iquote/author/4072/scott-reed-quotes/1

The Victims of Rape essays

The Victims of Rape essays Rape is a crime that not only takes hurts someone for the moment, but it shatters their entire life. Most women never fully recover from being a victim of rape. There are all different types of women who are raped each day, yet there tends to be a specific profile for the most frequent rape victims. There are many factors that come into play when dealing with rape, such as: the victim-offender relationship, alcohol consumption, and a prior record. Also there are many myths about the rape victim. Rape is an extremely sensitive issue for women, victims and non-victims alike. The Uniform Crime Reports and the National Crime Victimization Survey indicate that Black and Hispanic women are at a higher risk for being a victim of rape than White women. Women from ages 20-24 are the most likely to experience rape crime. Women with less education and lower income are also at a higher risk of becoming a victim of rape. Those women that are in the lowest family income category experience the highest rate of rape. Also the women who reside in the city are twice vulnerable to rapes than that of women who live in suburban or rural areas. Finally, unmarried women tend to be victimized more than married women. Thus, the model rape victim would be a black, unmarried female with little to no education, ranging from ages 20- 24, who lives in a central city, obtaining a low income. Fifty-five percent of women are victimized by someone whom they know; the remaining are raped by a stranger according to The National Crime Victimization Survey Report. A stranger injures sixty percent of women in some way during a rape. Regardless of the relationship between the victim and offender, most women report their victimization. More females who know their offender do not report the rape, than those whose offenders are strangers. Women are more likely to report a rape victimization if she sustained a serious injury, she required any type of im...

History of Exxon-Mobil Oil Company

History of Exxon-Mobil Oil Company To trace the history of Exxon-Mobil Oil Corporation, we first need to go back to the formation of Standard Oil Company. John D. Rockefeller incorporated this company with Henry Flagler in 1870, and until it was broken up Standard oil was the largest, most profitable business in the world. However, in 1911, Standard Oil was forced to break up into 34 separate, unrelated companies by the Supreme Court.Mobil Chemical Company was not formed until 1960 from Socony-Vacuum Corporation, which was made up of two separate companies in the first half of the 20th century. In 1976, Mobil Oil Corporation became the official name for Socony-Vacuum Corporation. From there Mobil went on to be the most influential Oil company in the entire world, along with Exxon. In 1984, Exxon Oil company topped the $100 billion mark for revenues for the first time. Exxon went on expanding until The Valdez Oil spill in 1989 off the small port city of Valdez, Alaska.Exxon gas pumps have issuesFinally, in 1999, Exxon and Mobil joined to form Exxon Mobil corporation. The merger shaved off approximately $4.6 billion every year in costs.The merging of these two companies combined not only two enormous oil companies, but two entirely separate corporate cultures as well. Exxon had always been much stronger in finance and engineering than Mobil, and Mobil had always been, historically, a marketing giant and one of the best deal-cutting businesses of the late 20th century. Exxon was by far the more rigid of the two corporate cultures, being led by Lee Raymond to this point. Lucio A. Noto, the head of Mobil, was known for his charm and energy more than anything else, became the figurehead for the much more relaxed culture of Mobil.In general, the Mobil executives were serving under the Exxon executives,

Effective Rhetorical Strategies of Repetition

Effective Rhetorical Strategies of Repetition Care to know how to bore your readers to tears? Repeat yourself. Carelessly, excessively, needlessly, endlessly, repeat yourself. (That tedious strategy is called battology.) Would you like to know how to keep your readers interested? Repeat yourself. Imaginatively, forcefully, thoughtfully, amusingly, repeat yourself. Needless repetition is deadly- no two ways about it. Its the kind of clutter that can put to sleep a circus full of hyperactive children. But not all repetition is bad. Used strategically, repetition can wake our readers up and help them to focus on a key idea- or, at times, even raise a smile. When it came to practicing effective strategies of repetition, rhetoricians in ancient Greece and Rome had a big bag full of tricks, each with a fancy name. Many of these devices appear in our Grammar Rhetoric Glossary. Here are seven common strategies- with some fairly up-to-date examples. Anaphora (pronounced ah-NAF-oh-rah)Repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses or verses.This memorable device appears most famously throughout Dr. Kings I Have a Dream speech. Early in World War II, Winston Churchill relied on anaphora to inspire the British people: We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender. Commoratio (pronounced ko mo RAHT see oh)Repetition of an idea several times in different words.If youre a fan of Monty Pythons Flying Circus, you probably recall how John Cleese used commoratio beyond the point of absurdity in the Dead Parrot Sketch: Hes passed on! This parrot is no more! He has ceased to be! Hes expired and gone to meet his maker! Hes a stiff! Bereft of life, he rests in peace! If you hadnt nailed him to the perch hed be pushing up the daisies! His metabolic processes are now history! Hes off the twig! Hes kicked the bucket, hes shuffled off his mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin choir invisible! THIS IS AN EX-PARROT! Diacope (pronounced dee-AK-o-pee)Repetition that is broken up by one or more intervening words.Shel Silverstein used diacope in a delightfully dreadful childrens poem called, naturally, Dreadful: Someone ate the baby,Its rather sad to say.Someone ate the babySo she wont be out to play.Well never hear her whiny cryOr have to feel if she is dry.Well never hear her asking, Why?Someone ate the baby. Epimone (pronounced eh-PIM-o-nee)Frequent repetition of a phrase or question; dwelling on a point.One of the best-known examples of epimone is Travis Bickles self-interrogation in the film Taxi Driver (1976): You talkin to me? You talkin to me? You talkin to me? Then who the hell else are you talking . . . you talking to me? Well, Im the only one here. Who . . . do you think youre talking to? Oh yeah? Okay. Epiphora (pronounced ep-i-FOR-ah)Repetition of a word or phrase at the end of several clauses.A week after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast late in the summer of 2005, the president of Jefferson Parish, Aaron Broussard, employed epiphora in an emotional interview with CBS News: Take whatever idiot they have at the top of whatever agency and give me a better idiot. Give me a caring idiot. Give me a sensitive idiot. Just don’t give me the same idiot. Epizeuxis (pronounced ep-uh-ZOOX-sis)Repetition of a word for emphasis (usually with no words in between).This device appears often in song lyrics, as in these opening lines from Ani DiFrancos Back, Back, Back: Back back back in the back of your mindare you learning an angry language,tell me boy boy boy are you tending to your joyor are you just letting it vanquish?Back back back in the dark of your mindwhere the eyes of your demons are gleamingare you mad mad madabout the life you never hadeven when you are dreaming?( from the album To the Teeth , 1999) Polyptoton (pronounced, po-LIP-ti-tun)Repetition of words derived from the same root but with different endings. The poet Robert Frost employed polyptoton in a memorable definition. Love, he wrote, is an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired. So, if you simply want to bore your readers, go right ahead and repeat yourself needlessly. But if, instead, you want to write something memorable, to inspire your readers or perhaps entertain them, well then, repeat yourself- imaginatively, forcefully, thoughtfully, and strategically.

Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 8

Business - Essay Example erences and justifications are provided to suggest that the work at the end of the day was completed without any hiccups, no matter how interested or disinterested the employee indeed was during that very day. The emphasis is on understanding the aspect of emotional intelligence which could work wonders for the employees and thus leave a lasting impression on their individual performances. The complaints which are made within an office could range from top to bottom, bottom to top or between peers. (West, 2003) What this means is the fact that at a certain point in time, grudges do arise between employees and they complain about the lack of camaraderie between them. At times, there are complaints of the bosses being too harsh, however the same are backed up with no names at the ends of the complaints to suggest anonymity. The top management has a complaint against the subordinates that they are always lazy and dissatisfied with work, no matter how organized and productive they are at the end of the day. There seems to be a market going on of complaints shooting from one corner to another. Thus the aspect of emotionally stable individuals within the workplace environment suggests that they understand the task at hand that needs to be completed rather than remaining susceptible to emotionally charged provocations, grudges and hatred creeping in within the realms of the workplace. At times, the top management takes notice of these problems which arise in the wake of a lack of generally low level of emotionally stable environment but the shortcomings are not plugged immediately and there is a lot to be desired of the same. (Schultz, 2003) One starts to wonder what it will all lead up to and thus the occasion arises when the top management offers a solution – the employee is asked to mend his ways or leave for good. This leads to an interesting workplace dilemma since these problems create a sense of animosity amongst team members and there is a lot of hue and cry

Iranian Nuclear Program and its implications for the stability and Essay

Iranian Nuclear Program and its implications for the stability and security of the Region - Essay Example Iran’s nuclear program began in the 1950s when the United States assisted the Shah to build 20 nuclear power reactors as part of the state’s modernization efforts. In addition to this, research and development efforts were conducted during the Shah’s tenure on fissile material production. But, in the aftermath of the Iranian Revolution in 1979, all nuclear activity was halted. Research and further nuclear development activity resumed in recent years. The Iran-Iraq War was responsible for the re-emergence of an intensified effort to develop nuclear capability. Instead of the benign objectives of the Shah previously, the purpose of the current Iranian nuclear program is in line with the military and defence aims of the state. And, after the Iraqi threat, the nuclear weapons development would later came to be publicly aimed at Israel and the United States. A more sober and conservative analysis of the Iranian objective was laid down by Charles Mayer (2004): As a small status quo state, Iran has no overt military ambitions beyond its borders. Its grand strategy is to foster a Gulf leadership role while providing a credible deterrent to any future attack.

Globalization and Poverty Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Globalization and Poverty - Essay Example Consensus is there regarding the mission plan of these strategies for the eradication of poverty however the various different actors in the scenario do not agree on the framework and the methodologies in which these strategies have to be implemented for achieving the goal. According to Kanbur the reason behind this trend is the fact that the people who are at the forefront of this cause are themselves not sincere to it and are more concerned about their own interests (1093). There exists an evident difference of opinion between the two parties involved in the process of eradication of poverty in various regions of the world. The various institutions involved in the process of eradicating poverty have been divided into two groups by Kanbur, one who control the policies and play the decision making part in the process include the IFI’s, banks and financial ministries. ... itely the most pivotal in the whole scenario and must be addressed if a consensus has to be developed, so Kanbur’s analysis can be utilized to find out the root cause of the whole situation. Milanovic however argues that the ideology behind the whole process has been shaped by the IFI’s and the banks and there is nothing wrong with the whole idea of eradicating poverty but the only issue is the correct implementation of this idea which is not being done at present. Milanovic has very effectively pointed out the deficiencies of the current approach with the help of facts and figures which show that despite the continued involvement of IMF and other International Financial Institutions the results are not very encouraging. Not a single African country has managed to increase its GDP while working under the IMF and other international bodies, while some of the countries have hit new lows in their history since 1960’s. Milanovic has also mentioned the other factors w hich are responsible for the poverty of various communities living in rich economies. Europe made economic progress when it managed to attain roughly a uniform culture in all the countries and that’s why we cannot find the native culture of various regions anywhere. But the various communities like the Chinese and the Muslims who migrated to the European countries were never accepted by the native communities and were not allowed to prosper well (669). With the popularity of the concept of globalization, the international financial organizations (IFOs) are increasingly involved in determining the economic policies of countries. The International Monetary Fund, World Bank and other bodies of the United Nations (UNDP etc.) have their own poverty reduction plans for different countries according to the

Korean Art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Korean Art - Essay Example One of the leaders in the Monochrome Art Movement, Ha Chong-Hyun (1935) used landscaping techniques in his works so to express the way he saw man as not being separable to nature (Art World of Ha Chong-Hyun). Kwon Young woo (1926) on the other hand, used simple composition out of paper by tearing, sticking, perforating, and coloring paper to create abstract modern paintings. His purpose was to break down the gap between Korean painting and the Western painting - This was obviously what the Minjung Art Movement was against (The 11 Great Korean Artists). Minjung artists, on the other hand, used a more revolutionized technique in painting. This is one of the biggest differences between the two movements. They used different vivid colors and facial expressions in their works to show their feelings toward capitalists and imperialists. Their techniques though were adopted from Buddhist paintings and narrative art. In this image ECRITURE NO. 000105, Park Seo-bo used one color pattern only although it dramatically shows the lights and shades, as well as for image 2 - Ecriture 000105 2000. ... Both paintings resemble nature. They show movement and harmony. Although the works of Minjung Art painters were quite different from those of Monochrome Art Movement because of their use of colors, they are similar in the use of patterns. Both painting techniques use patterns in design and color as well. In the next images, you can see vibrant colors in the Minjung Art paintings, but still, they follow a certain pattern as to the color of the clothes used, accessories, and background. The next images represent the Minjung Art Movement: (SoRi-MoRi Philadelphia Korean Cultural Troupe www.sorimori.org/eng/aboutus/mission.php) ("The Kabo Peasants' War" koreaweb.ws/minjungart) Both paintings used different colors and detailed faces. It is also similar in some way to the Monochromatic Art technique because it also follows a certain pattern in direction. Both have symmetry and balance. Works Cited Jung, Jun-mo. The 11 Great Korean Artists. Kim, Yong-na. 20th Century Korean Art. NJ: Laurence King Publishing, 2005 Seo-bo, Park. "Ecriture 000105" Online image. "Ecriture 000105 2000" Online image. Park Ryu Sook Gallery. Path: Galleries; Asian Artists Smith, Edward Lucie. Art World of Ha Chong-Hyun. 2007/08/02Path: Criticism; Art World of Ha Chong-Hyun-Edward Lucie-Smith l Art Critic "SoRi-MoRi Philadelphia Korean Cultural Troupe" Online image. Yon'guso, Kyore Misul. "The Kabo Peasants' War" Online image. Our People's Art

Environmental Factors That Affect the Mode of Dispersal in Plants Essay

Environmental Factors That Affect the Mode of Dispersal in Plants - Essay Example As a matter of fact, the degree with which dispersal influences community composition, holding other processes constant, remains an open question to be explored in the realms of academia. In an attempt to address this question, this paper examines the extent to which environmental conditions impacts on the variation in community composition, with reference to plants, visa viz spatial patterns found in the different habitats. Noteworthy from the onset, spatial distribution patterns of both plants and animal species are oftentimes attributed to dispersal limitation (Tuomisto, Ruokolainen and Yli-Halla 242; Cottenie 1177). By definition, dispersal refers to an ecological process resulting into a shift of location by an individual away from the population/location of origin, with the eventual effect of setting forth a new reproduction lineage distant apart from the mother organism. In plants, ‘dispersal’’ generally mean the process of seed relocation from a mother pla nt to a destination site. It represents the first step of plant colonization, which also encompasses establishment processes; that is, germination survival and plant growth (Vittoz, and Engler 112). The most common forms of dispersal include natal dispersal-initial movement of given species from the original location (birth site) to new locations; Adult dispersal-this entails shifting from the location of birth after attaining reproductive maturity, and usually involves species’ movement from one habitat to another; and gamete dispersal, which is mostly a common dispersal mode for adult individuals with non-motile characteristics, such as plants. New site relocation is almost a usual event in the life cycle of many plants and considered an aspect of adaption traits to certain habitats. Given the distinguishing characteristic of limited mobility, plants basically rely upon a number of dispersal vectors, both abiotic and biotic, to transport their propagules, from one location to the next (Carr, Robertson, Platt and Peet 1606). These propagules can either be dispersed away from their birth site individually or collectively in both space and time. The patterns of plant dispersal modes, by and large, depend on the dispersal mechanism, which in turn has important implications on the ultimate demographic and genetic distribution of plant populations within a particular habitat. There are quite a number of environmental factors that play crucial roles in the process of plant propagules dispersal processes. An important fact to note is the fact that some plants are utterly serotinous and only respond to certain environmental stimuli to shed off some of their offspring for a new beginning. Plants disseminules, in particular, comprise of seeds, fruits, and spores, all of which bear distinct modifications for relocation away from the parent plants by means of the ever available environmental kinetic energy. In fact, the distance traveled by a single disseminule is determined by the velocity as well as direction of movement taken by the agent causing the dispersion. Flying animals, water currents, and winds fall into the category of successful agents capable of carrying out long-distance passive dispersal. Light hairy seeds and fruits are easily and efficiently carried by the wind. Good examples are the Hypochaeris radicata (Asteraceae) seeds, which possess unique modifications allowing its

Enrolling at the Florida State College at Jacsonville Essay

Enrolling at the Florida State College at Jacsonville - Essay Example According to the research findings, it can, therefore, be said that   FSCJ takes advising and counseling as a serious commitment. Curriculum advising is done to assist students in achieving their academic goals, whereas counseling works to guide students in their personal concerns such as dealing with traumas or crises, coping with stress and problems, and surviving difficulties brought about by unplanned pregnancy, family conflict, and so on. Students may avail of advising and counseling support by calling in the Counseling/Advising office and securing an appointment. To ensure taking the right steps in their studies, students should are assigned to an academic advisor who will advise them what classes to take especially for the first term. Students should know their advisor’s name and schedule and should visit their advisors not only during enrollment. A strong rapport is encouraged between advisors and advisees especially for those who are working because they need to inf orm their advisor of their own work schedules. In addition, when talking with the advisor, students should note down the important information they are given. It is also preferable to jot down questions one needs to ask before attending the advising session to facilitate addressing the issues that need to be addressed. On the aspect of counseling, professors may also refer students for counseling if they feel the need to. Further counseling, which may need the help of out-of-school professionals, may likewise be provided to students who demonstrate such need. Providers of counseling service may include the members of the community such as churches, youth centers, and health clinics. Students who are looking for lodging houses and laundry services may likewise seek help from the counseling office because the latter maintains contact with some establishments within Jacksonville. However, such referrals may cost more than what a friend can provide.

Environmental Factors That Affect the Mode of Dispersal in Plants Essay

Environmental Factors That Affect the Mode of Dispersal in Plants - Essay Example As a matter of fact, the degree with which dispersal influences community composition, holding other processes constant, remains an open question to be explored in the realms of academia. In an attempt to address this question, this paper examines the extent to which environmental conditions impacts on the variation in community composition, with reference to plants, visa viz spatial patterns found in the different habitats. Noteworthy from the onset, spatial distribution patterns of both plants and animal species are oftentimes attributed to dispersal limitation (Tuomisto, Ruokolainen and Yli-Halla 242; Cottenie 1177). By definition, dispersal refers to an ecological process resulting into a shift of location by an individual away from the population/location of origin, with the eventual effect of setting forth a new reproduction lineage distant apart from the mother organism. In plants, ‘dispersal’’ generally mean the process of seed relocation from a mother pla nt to a destination site. It represents the first step of plant colonization, which also encompasses establishment processes; that is, germination survival and plant growth (Vittoz, and Engler 112). The most common forms of dispersal include natal dispersal-initial movement of given species from the original location (birth site) to new locations; Adult dispersal-this entails shifting from the location of birth after attaining reproductive maturity, and usually involves species’ movement from one habitat to another; and gamete dispersal, which is mostly a common dispersal mode for adult individuals with non-motile characteristics, such as plants. New site relocation is almost a usual event in the life cycle of many plants and considered an aspect of adaption traits to certain habitats. Given the distinguishing characteristic of limited mobility, plants basically rely upon a number of dispersal vectors, both abiotic and biotic, to transport their propagules, from one location to the next (Carr, Robertson, Platt and Peet 1606). These propagules can either be dispersed away from their birth site individually or collectively in both space and time. The patterns of plant dispersal modes, by and large, depend on the dispersal mechanism, which in turn has important implications on the ultimate demographic and genetic distribution of plant populations within a particular habitat. There are quite a number of environmental factors that play crucial roles in the process of plant propagules dispersal processes. An important fact to note is the fact that some plants are utterly serotinous and only respond to certain environmental stimuli to shed off some of their offspring for a new beginning. Plants disseminules, in particular, comprise of seeds, fruits, and spores, all of which bear distinct modifications for relocation away from the parent plants by means of the ever available environmental kinetic energy. In fact, the distance traveled by a single disseminule is determined by the velocity as well as direction of movement taken by the agent causing the dispersion. Flying animals, water currents, and winds fall into the category of successful agents capable of carrying out long-distance passive dispersal. Light hairy seeds and fruits are easily and efficiently carried by the wind. Good examples are the Hypochaeris radicata (Asteraceae) seeds, which possess unique modifications allowing its

English-language learning experience Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

English-language learning experience - Essay Example For instance, beginning at the junior high-level students were required to wear school uniforms that consisted of navy blue slacks and a button-down shirt with an emblem of my school’s name Iwaki Koukou on the front. Other regulations consisted of restricting hair length and how much money you could spend on snacks. I even recall having a teacher confront me because my socks weren’t regulation colors. The school week ran from Monday-Saturday and only included a month off for summer break. The large emphasis on regulation and education, with students attending school nearly year round, and the popularity of after-school lessons, resulted in many of my classmates losing interests in lessons and a notable majority skipping school altogether. The strict guidelines weren’t confined to only student conduct but also permeated the nature of lessons and the ultimate goals for education. Differing from the United States, entrance to Japanese high schools are determined on an acceptable basis and it seemed that many of my courses in middle school were geared towards cramming in as much information as possible so students would pass their entrance examinations. The English-language textbook we used was called New Horizon and it focused on grammar and vocabulary lessons, with different characters from around the world – there was a Canadian and an Australian in the book who would converse with Japanese learners. It contained a different lesson for each of the three years of chugakko.

The Problems in International Marketing Communication

The Problems in International Marketing Communication Whether its a manufacturing company or service company,Communication is a very crucial element its marketing process. This is clear in the definition of Marketing: the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large [1]. Marketing communication is also considered as one of the four most important elements in every marketing process, the 4 Ps of the Marketing Mix. The 4 Ps are: Product, place, price, promotion. . Every company specifies the product or service it wants to sell product, where these products are delivered place , how to set a price price, and how to promote its products promotion. Marketing Communication falls under the promotion category. Three vitals roles fall under it: providing needed information and elaboration on a product, persuading target customers of a specific brand, and encouraging them to take actions and buy their products. It serves both types of customers: existing customers, and prospective (potential) customers. It serves the existing customers by maintaining relationships with them. This can be done by database systems for customers and direct selling. Marketing communication serves the prospective customer by communicating the information and advice this customer needs. Such information are like: cost of the product or service, specific features, benefits and functions [4]. Elements of the communication mix: Below are some ways to communicate information: Medium Explanation Advertising A paid insertion of a message in a medium Public relations the planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain goodwill and mutual understanding between the organization and its publics( users, potential users, and employees) Sales Promotions Activities done to attract customers and boost temporary sales. Examples: the buy one get one offer, distribution of free samples. Personal Selling Face-to-face communications between buyers and sellers Telemarketing Taking orders by phone (inbound), Selling through phone or teleselling (outbound) Ambient Advertising Messages places on items such as bus tickets, stamp franking, till receipts, petrol pumps, and so forth. Any message that forms part of the environment Press Advertising Any paid message that appears in a newspaper or magazine TV Advertising Commercial messages shown in breaks during and between TV programs Database Marketing Profiling customers on to a database and sending out personalized mailings or other communications to them. Example: Sukar.com sends emails with pictures of products and price offers. E commerce Use of websites to promote and sell products Corporate Identity The overall image that the company projects; the companys personality Branding The mechanism by which marketing communications are coordinated Off-the-screen selling Using TV adverts linked to inbound telephone operations (taking orders by phone). Also, home shopping channels such as QVC. Figure 1 Source: Blythe J. (2006) Essentials of Marketing Communications, 3rd edition Figure 2 Message channel Advertising media and/or personal sales force Encoding: Message translated into Appropriate meaning Noise Competitive activities, other salespeople, confusion, and so on Decoding Encoded message interpreted into meaning Information source Marketer with a product Feedback Evaluation of communications process and measure of action by receiver Receiver Action by consumer responding to decoded message The senders culture (A) The receivers culture (B) Source:Cateora P, Graham J. (2008) International Marketing [ 3 ] The Challenges of International Marketing: Cultural Diversity: Marketers need to develop understanding and empathy with their target audiences. Marketers need to assure that customers receive their messages without any altering of the meaning intended in the first place. Meanings of words can be denotative or connotative. Denotative means: having the same meaning for everybody. Connotative means: having a meaning which is unique to the individuals. The customers opinion of the advertisement is subjective. Strawberries mean the red small fruits. For some people, which are allergic to strawberries, it means allergy and disease. This is easy when the marketer and audience share the same background and outlook. [2]. In international marketing, , the audience customers are diverse, the same message can be understood differently from one to another. So, the message has to be clear enough to be understood by almost all types of receivers. Only 30% of communication used words. Examples are: numbers, space, artifacts, and kinetics. If the company is international, then their audiences are from diverse cultures. A message might resemble a meaning in a country and a very different meaning in another country. For example: the sign of the thumb and index finger circle means OK in America. In Brazil, on the other hand, it is considered a rude gesture. So, if a marketer is targeting Brazil and America at the same time, he/she should use unique advertisements for each country. Toyota introduced the Prado SUV in China. The names sounded the Chinese word for Rule by Force. It reminded the Chinese people of invasion by Japan 1937. It was not a nice memory at all. [3] Production and Cost Limitation: A challenge that faces international marketers is that they have to be as creative as possible, especially when there are severe production limitations. Some magazine papers in some countries are made of severely poor quality. A product like a shampoo might have to depart from the print media if it is of low quality. In Egypt, the poor quality billboards and poor-quality televisions have led big companies like Coca-Cola to advertise their products on boats that sail along the river. Direct Mail In Southeast Asia, printed press is not widely used. Thus, Direct mailing databases form a basis mean of advertising. Any international company that wants to market in Southeast Asia needs to use the Direct Mailing pattern. The problem about it is that the sender has to pay only a part of the mailing fee. The receiver has to pay the rest. The Challenges on the Marketing Message: An information source an international marketing executive that has a product message to communicate. Encoding converting the message from the source to the receiver. The message is transmitted to effective clear symbols. Themessage channel the sales force and/or the media that transfers the coded message to the intended receiver. Decoding The interpretation and understanding by the receiver. Receiver The targeted customers. Feedback The customers opinion on the message. He gives it back to the information source. Noise any external obstacles that hinder the communication process: physical and non-physical competitors, other salespeople, and confusion) What is obvious from the above figure is that the message starts from a point and ends in it. The message is produced by the information source the sender. Then it is encoded into an appropriate meaning. After that, it goes through a message channel: advertising media, personal sales force. Later, it is interpreted into meaning. Then, the receiver responds to it. Afterwards, the receiver evaluates the communication process feedback. Finally, the feedback is transferred to the information source. This is the flow of the international communication process. The noise is any external obstacles that come in the way of any of these steps. It hinders the transfer of the message. Any problem that affects any of these steps will affect the correct understanding of a message. A problem with the information source: The marketer is supposed to know the needs of the international target market ex: The whole world , and not limit them to the needs of the national market ex: USA. A good example is the mobile phone industry. If a company is doing well with selling luxurious mobile phones, it doesnt necessarily mean that it has to do well in selling the same phones in another country. The first countrys market need is luxury Ex: Qatar, while in the other country is it only communication Ex: Syria. Such problem can happen if the information source or the marketer relies on the self-reliance criterion (SRC). The information source might depend onhis own markets success and assumes it will succeed in marketing to other countries. If it sells well in one country, it will sell in another [3].Clearly, this assumption is definitely wrong. Also, general lack of knowledge of the target markets need will result in sending a wrong message through media or personal selling to the existing of prospect consumers. Encoding A marketer for certain relaxing drug chooses the white color for an advertisement, assuming that it has a relaxing effect. Patients might relate it to hospitals this will have a negative effect on buying the medicine. Thus, to transfer the correct message, all factors relating to the target market have to be taken into consideration. In the United States and Canada, Toothpaste is important because healthy teeth are perceived as important. In European countries, on the other hand, it is mainly used for breath control. So, an advertisement of toothpaste for European citizens has to stress breath control instead of healthy teeth. 3-Â ­The Message Channel The channel has to be carefully chosen to assure the message is delivered and understood by customers. Sending messages through internet means, there has to be a reading role from the receivers side. If the medium internet is used for an intended market in which there is a lot of illiteracy, the message will certainly not be understoodby those intended customers. The language For advertising for a product on TV for instance, the language of the audience have to be considered. If the advertisement reaches countries in the Middle East, they have to be translated to the Arabic language to assure proper understanding. This is not applicable on all products. For instance, Arabic is the spoken language in the Middle East in a lot of industries. At the same time, English is used in the technical industries in the Middle Eastern countries. So an advertisement in the technical field requires using the English language, even if it is intended for Middle-Eastern customers. Decoding Chevrolet launched a brand name for a car model called Nova. It means New Star. According to the Spanish language, on the other hand, Nova means It doesnt go. Another similar example is Coca Colas Come alive slogan being decoded as Come out of the grave. [3] Although Europeans and American speak the same language, but their perception and way of thinking is different. An ad transferred from the United States with an American Celebrity standing atop a mountain with a Lipton teas mug didnt make sense for East Europe citizens. [3] So, Errors at the receivers side are mainly due to: Improper message because of improper knowledge of use patterns Poor encoding (building a messages meaning) Poor media selection. The wrong mean for the wrong message. Poor decoding by the receiver Least possible bad luck Ex: When The Paris government didnt get along with the attack in Iraq in 2003. A lot of French products were boycotted. Frenchs Mustard was mistaken for being French, while it was named so after its founder Robert French. It was accidently boycotted along the other French products. Feedback As much as delivering the message correctly is important, acquiring feedback is important. Companies have to do surveys and research on how effective was the responding to its marketing messages to decide whether to carry on with them or not. If the feedback of receivers was not taken into consideration, this will allow the same mistakes to be carried on again and again. A detailed research with causes and effects of factors regarding the marketing messages on the customers is very essential and important. It will assure success in the future messages. Media Limitations and Personal Selling: An international marketer might be forced to use other promotional means if he/she is exposed to media limitation. In Italy, a television commercial for instance is limited only to 10 showings a year, and with no exposures closer than 10 days. [3] This will definitely hinder the use of advertising and the marketer is forced to look for other promotional means. In Latin America because of media limitations, Coca Cola and Pepsi-Cola shifted to carnival trucks. Carnival truck make frequent trips to rural villages to promote their products. The carnival truck stops in a village, gives a TV show about them for a low admission price. The price is an unopened bottle that is exchanged for a cold bottle and also for a coupon for another bottle! These kinds of promotions attract customers widely, and are considered aw ways to deal with media limitations. Studying of the behavioral habits of an intended market produces positive results. This strategy was done by Nestle in France. A lot of French take off for a long vacation in the summer time, taking all their family members in the car heading to campgrounds. Nestle, as a result, provided rest stops along highway for changing and feeding babies. This strategy allowed the French people to be aware of the samples of Nestle diapers and food products. By that, it branded its name by sampling and promotion. Local Laws: -May not permit premiums or free gifts be distributed. Some countries may control the amount of discount given at retails -Permits for all sales promotions. A waste of all the promotional strategies that are undertaken in other countries in which it is legal it will affect personal selling negatively Challenges for international emailing marketing: Message form: The amount of message that works in one country doesnt necessarily work in another. In USA, it is common to post main headlines of articles with the links to the full article. In other countries, like the Middle East, customers expect to see the full article. This depends on how the consumer is used to receive knowledge. -Personalization and salutations: Examples: Dear John, Dear Saraetc. In US, the use of salutations has a positive effect on the recipients. On the contrary, other countries consider it as invasion of privacy and people of this country dont feel comfortable receiving emails with salutation. -Local norms: There are many norms that cant be predicted if you are unaware of local norms. For example, in the U.S. its quite common to post prices exclusive of tax. In some other countries, this is simply not done and may even be not allowed by local law. In France, its common to ask recipients to print out a form and fax it back, whereas in many other countries this would be considered absurd. -Local laws: The most obvious laws that apply to international e-mail are anti-spam requirements, some countries may have additional laws and requirements for doing business electronically, especially related to privacy and use of personal information. -Send time: When to send is another important question. Countries have different time zones depending on their geographical location. While 3 pm Canada timing is an appropriate time to send emails for customers, it is a very inappropriate time in countries on the other side of the world. [4] -Stereotypes and marketing communication: First to define stereotypes: It is a commonly held popular belief about specific social groups or types of individuals. The concepts of stereotype and prejudice are often confused with many other different meanings. Stereotypes are standardized and simplified conceptions of groups based on some prior assumptions. Sometimes, there are certain perceptions or ideas people relate to a specific country, and these ideas might be wrong. For example: If an Egyptian company is advertising for a perfume with a drawing of the Egyptian flag. Egypt is not considered as a leading country in producing perfumes. France, on the other hands is considered so. So, European citizens might assume that this perfume is not worth buying. Hence, they will not respond positively to the commercials of perfume from USA. [5] Country of Origin Effect The issue about international marketing products, whether by personal selling, TV Advertising, or even off the screen selling, is that marketing the product outside its home country is not as easy as marketing it inside it. This is due to the many factors that need to be known about the consumers in countries the company is intended to export to. Such factors are like consumer behavior. [5] Consumer behavior dictates when, why, what, and where a consumer buys or doesnt buy a product. Conclusion If any company doesnt last for three years, this means the company is a failure. To assure success for a company, the marketing mix have to be well designed whether its a service or a manufacturer company. A very important and crucial aspect of the marketing mix is promotion, which is understated under Marketing Communication. To Assure proper communication of a message, all the above factors have to be taken into strict consideration: The message, the means, the market, the external legal and local factors. The message have to well-designed before it is sent. Thus, being aware of legal and local restrictions of countries is essential for giving green and red lights to marketing communication strategies. The marketing strategies have to be tested on the various markets, to prospect the outputs. Then, proper knowledge of the market needs is studied. Then, the right routes of communication are chosen to assure transferring of the message. The message has to be matched with the receiver s point of views. The major problem facing international advertisers is designing the best messages for each market served.[3] Taking some factors in consideration and neglecting some cause big problems, because in international marketing everything is related to one another.Since the sales amount depend largely on Marketing Communication, the sales department depend largely on the marketing department. Thus, The effective Marketing Communication is one of the keys to success of two departments in a company. Hence, no one in a company can deny the effective outcomes of effective commination.

King Lear Essay -- essays research papers

King Lear Summary   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The play, â€Å"King Lear† by William Shakespeare, starts with noblemen Kent and Gloucester having a conversation and the audience finds out that Gloucester has two sons. Edgar who is his heir, and Edmund his unimportant son. This info. leads to the mini-plot. Then, Lear enters to say that he is going to end his life’s tasks and problems. He then points to the map, he tells the people there that he will split his land into three parts. They are going to be given to his three daughters. The two oldest, Goneril and Regan, tell their father that their love for him goes beyond expectations. The youngest one, Cordelia, tells him that she loves him, but only as she should love her father. He is then angered and disappointed at the lack of love by her. Then splits his land evenly between Goneril and Regan, and then banishes Cordelia. Then France decides to marry the now banished Cordelia. When Kent tries to defend Cordelia, he banishes him too.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Meanwhile, Goneril and Regan decide that if Lear becomes too much of a nuisance, they will have to decide what disciplinary actions to take. In the developing subplot, Edmund complains of his unhappiness at being an illegitimate—and thus, disinherited—son. As part of his plot to claim what is not his, Edmund gives a false letter to his father, Gloucester, declaring that Edgar is proposing that they kill their father and split the wealth between them. The cunning Edmu...

Tsunamis Essay -- Tsunamis Natural Disasters Nature Essays

Tsunamis Table of Contents  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  1 Introduction:  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  2 Impact to human life:  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  3 Impact to Non-human life:  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  4 Impact to the Environment:  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  7 Impact to the Economy:  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  8 American Red Cross Assistance:  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  9 Conclusion:  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  13 Bibliography:  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  14 Introduction: A massive Tsunami (Japanese for â€Å"Harbor wave†) had hit southern Asia the day after Christmas 2004. The cause of the Tsunami was an offshore earthquake that results in the tectonic plates being displaced and the creation of a vertical shift in the ocean floor. This vertical shift lead to a large volume of water being uplifted and turned to create a huge wave that traveled up to 300 miles per hour, gradually slowing as it reached the shore. At that time, people in the coastal areas were not aware of the terror that they were about to endure. They received no warnings of the tsunami. Unfortunately, 10 meters of the wave caught many people by surprise, as they looked dumfounded when the ocean engulfed them whole. To date this disaster is believed to have killed over three hundred thousand people, marking itself as one of the most devastating Tsunamis ever. The waves from the Tsunami destroyed everything in their path and drowned most innocent living things with it. It has now been concluded that the earthquake, which caused this Tsunami, was probably twice as strong as originally estimated - a magnitude 9.15 instead of 9.0. Much of the slippage along the fault is believed to have taken place as much as a half an hour after the initial quake and continued up to three hours afterward. Additionally, it is feared that earthquake could continue to affect the region for many years and could trigger more large quakes (Eric P H Yap, 2005).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It is believed that some areas were harder hit, by the Tsunami’s strength, than others due to coastal commercial development. The development of coastal areas damages or totally destroys much of the surrounding coral reefs. Certain areas, such as in the Maldives, still have a network of coral reefs and intact mangroves that may have protected the island from the open sea. "Poorly planned coastal development has compounded the impact of the tsunami," said Mubariq Ahmad, Head of WWF Indonesia. "It is vital that we don't make the mistakes of the past. We need to rebuild in a sustainable and safe way (Le Tourneau Gore, 2005).† Impact to human life: Th... ... MESBAHI of Share The World s Resource s (STWR). "The tsunami and Brandt Report :[1 Edition]. " Papua - New Guinea Post - Courier 7 February 2005. ProQuest Newsstand. ProQuest. "UN: Rehabilitation of severely affected mangroves would help speed recovery from tsunami, says food and agriculture organization. " M2 Presswire 20 January 2005. ProQuest Newsstand. ProQuest. Rinne, Pasi et al. After the Tsunami: Rapid Environmental Assessment. United Nations Environment Programme. 2005. Eric Bellman in Lake Hikkaduwa, Sri Lanka, and Timothy Mapes in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. "Tsunami Aftermath: Scarred Earth: Will Nature Bounce Back?; Salt Water and Debris Alter Ecosystems Threatening Fields, Reefs and Forests. " Asian Wall Street Journal [New York, N.Y.] 17 Jan. 2005,A.5. ProQuest Newsstand. ProQuest. Animal Planet News. Slow Recovery for Seal Life. 12 Jan.2005. 30 May 2005. Animal Friends Croatia. Tsunamis killed animals, too! 30 May 2005. Animal Planet News. Tsunamis Destroy Sea Life. 3 Jan. 2005. Animal Planet News. Sri Lankan Wildlife Avoided the Tsunamis. 4 Jan 2005. 30 May 2005. Donaldson-Evans, Catherine. Tsunami Animals: A Sixth Sense? 9 Jan. 2005. 30 May 2005.

Project Management Regency Plaza

Table of ContentsPage 1. Executive Summary (207 words) 2. Introduction (280 words) 3. Project Definition Phase (949 words) 3. 1Problems Encountered during the Project 4. The Project Manager (790 words) 4. 1Assessment of Kris Hodgkins 5. Risk Management (938 words) 5. 1Evaluating Risk Management 6. Miller’s Dilemma (821 words) 7. Final Discussion (398 words) 8. Conclusion (142 words) 9. Appendix 10. References 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Being a successful hotel operator, the Regency Hotel Group (RHG) has the experience, the resources as well as the capability of managing the Regency Plaza Project. So the question is, why has the project been dogged by various problems? From slow sales growth, unhappy customers to increasing costs, internal conflict as well as work delays, the list is extensive. One major reason for this appears to be poor planning. With proper planning and project management in place, scheduling and coordination is made much easier. Any arising problems could be identified and resolved which would lead to less time and money spent on rectification. This would in turn enable more time and resources to be spent on the refinement of the works which would result in the completion and success of the project. The RHG has established a reputation and a brand name associated with good service, luxury and an extensive range of amenities. Failure or even further delays on this project would be detrimental to their reputation. This goes to show the importance of project management in relation to the organization’s strategic mission. This report will assess how the Regency Plaza project was managed and implications for future project managers to take note of. 2. Introduction Lewis (2005; P23) mentioned that haste makes waste and it is very true. But in the â€Å"hurry up and get it done world†, there is little patience with â€Å"wasting time† on all that planning. The result? Rework and rectification, which is 100 percent waste. Experts estimated that one-third of the cost of the average project goes to correcting errors through reworks. Having said the above, there is still no flawless project process. Why is that so? This is because we are all human beings, and human beings tend to make mistakes. In situations where time, cost and resources are of special concern, project anagers tend to make more irrational decisions, resulting in more re-work. The Regency Plaza case study is a key example. So how can these errors be minimized? What projects managers can do to minimize these errors is to ensure that there is proper planning, project design and project management. Projects are stepping stones of corporate strategy and its success is the lifeblood of every organization RHG is well known for her luxurious fitt ings and high service quality in the hotel industry. The Regency Plaza project was formulated using this strategy in the challenging market environment. The role of the project manager (which in this case is Hodgkins), is to take responsibility for the overall success of the project. However, this is not seen in the Regency Plaza project. As indicated, this project has been racked with many uncertainties. This essay will evaluate the following: 1) The Project Definition Phase of Regency Plaza, 2) The Role of the Project Manager, 3) The Overall Risk Assessment, and lastly 4) The Implications for the Project Manager facilitating the pace of the project. 3. Project Definition Phase The overall project definition phrase goes according to the following cycle diagram which shows the interrelationship between the 3 stages of project definition. Goals RHG had a clear goal in mind of what they wanted to achieve in this project development; that is, to develop Regency Plaza. This is their first attempt venturing into building luxury condominiums units together with hotel rooms. The financial aim was to earn projected gross profits of $134. 4 million and net profits of $26 million. In the development of Regency Plaza Project, luxury condominium units are also included. The management failed to take into account the fact that they are venturing into a new business territory involving long-term residential condominium units. Hotel guests and condominium residents have different levels of expectations not to mention the fact that the Regency Plaza is a luxury development. While being established and successful in their main business is good, perhaps this has also contributed to the over-confidence of the management and their failure to set appropriate realistic goals. A project priority matrix was first developed to identify the various levels of project priorities in terms of time, performance and cost which interelate to the goals set. Project Priority Matrix | | | | | | | | | | | | This would signify the following for the Regency Plaza Project: ? If the project is behind schedule, there will be a reduction in the completion time in order to successfully market the product ? If the project is behind schedule, cost budget will be increased to speed up work ? The original specifications fixed cannot be compromised Specifications When the project management team under the leadership of project manager Hodgkins was set-up by RHG management, plentiful amounts of information/data/specifications was provided. It was a tough period for Hodgkins as she needed to undertake many decisions of deciding on the project’s main specifications. For instance; she had to decide on the number of units that would be offered when the project was completed. From RHG’s perspective, obtaining the maximum profit from the 96 units would be deemed as a wise decision, whereas considering the duration and deadline of the project, choosing to build more units would be tedious not only in terms of planning and meeting deadlines but also with regards to cost in terms of materials. At the same time, one of the key strategies of the development was allowing buyers the option of customising their units. As such, the decision to opt for more units is a core decision which would greatly affect the project’s main specifications whereby the rest of the specifications that follow would be affected as well. Tasks and Responsibilities As ambitious as RHG may be, following the concept development, they not only left key decisions but also the majority of the project responsibilities and decision-making power to Hodgkins. However, this fact was not communicated to the rest of the project participants, resulting in many individuals influencing the project manager’s decision. RHG management had failed to organize the task and responsibilities in a systematic manner where there is proper information dissemination and a tight chain of command. The management also failed to supervise and maintain a series of checks and control for the entire project. It was also noted that the management had a different project team working on the hotel but the same contractor. It is essential that both teams work closely as any delay by either party would impact on the other as could be seen when construction slowed down on the hotel nearing the completion date due to issues with the condominium units. Conflict and unhappiness with the contractor and vice-versa also impacted the other. Decision making process hindered by too many parties pic] 1. Problems Encountered during the Regency Plaza Project Unable To Complete Before Scheduled Time In the case of the Regency Plaza Project, the hiccup encountered by the project manager was behind schedule If a clear and sufficient time frame was pre-planned in the project definition phrase, the possibility of such a problem occurring would be greatly reduced. The project manager had failed to allocat e and include an amount of time/duration into the entire project duration as a contingency plan to rely on in the event of phrase failure or delays.. In the initial tender stage with the contractor, the lowest bid selected and the selected contractor was persuaded to cut off 3 months from their target date. This was agreed with the understanding that the timeline was tight but with minimal changes and disruptions, the time line could still be met. With this in mind, the project manager should note that no disruptions or delays could be tolerated. There also appears to be a lack of proper checks and progress updates, as if this was present, the problem would be flagged earlier on and measures to resolve this could be established. Decision making hindered by multiple stake holders The decision-making process, right from the conceptualisation stage had to go through tedious discussions with the stakeholders. The nature of the project itself, with two separate project teams (hotel and condo) as well as the customisation element, meant that while the responsibility laid with Hodgkins and she was tasked to make major decisions, she had difficulty doing so as she needed to accommodate and take the various stakeholders into consideration while trying to obtain the optimum profit/benefits. If the major decision maker has been determined during the project definition phrase, a systematic flow utilising the decision making matrix should be used to avoid the problem of too many decision-makers. 4. the Project Manager The role of the project manager involves integrating, planning, organizing, controlling and leading. Hodgkins needs to be able to properly communicate and combine the crossing points of functional departments, the subcontractors and other stakeholders. In the initial planning stage, Hodgkins needs to identify the task each stakeholder is involved in and the targeted completion deadline. This will provide a better picture of the resources availabile at each stage of the project. Hodgkins is required to manage and organize the project team that was put together for her by Regency. This controlling role requires the project manager to plan out the objectives and processes required to reach the end goal. Following which, the assigned processes need to be implemented and at various stages, the results need to be tracked and tallied to ensure that the expected outcomes are reached. Lastly, project manager must be flexible and react decisively. There is a eed to constantly keep track and analyze the cause of any differences and re-evaluate the whole process and make the necessary changes. A project manager should lead by example as it is a highly visible management style that will build and sustain cooperative relationships. The skills required as a project manager would be as follow; 1. Good communication ensures that valuable information related to the project status is provided in a timely and effective manner. 2. Ability to work as a team will allow team members to understand their roles and responsibilities on the project and work collaboratively. 3. Listening skills is important because good listening skills is needed to truly hear and try to understand what others on the project are trying to say 4. Planning skills will help the project manager provide each functional department a clearing schedule of their work. 5. Persuasion techniques – influencing without direct authority and obtaining win-win situations 4. 1Assessment of Kris Hodgkins Hodgkins dismissed Farley’s, a renowned condominium marketing consultant, suggestion on building larger but less units. Her focus was to hit the projected sales targets and failed to consider the merits of Fraley’s suggestion. She also realized that customization had disrupted the completion of the project, but did not try to persuade the management on giving up the idea. If she had done so with the evidence of the increase in cost, wastage of materials and potential complaints from customers that may likely lead to damages to the company’s reputation, the management may have reconsidered their commitment. Hodgkins choose not to discuss with the buyers about the option on customizing individual units, as she felt that most of the customizing could only be done after the building was completed. This resulted in the wasting of materials and resources as the base design that was constructed had to be ripped out and rebuilt according to the buyers’ changes. This has also resulted in a delay in the work flow because with incomplete drawings the main contractors are not able to get accurate quotes from the subcontractors. By not processing and disseminating vital information promptly, miscommunication occurs, the work process is lengthened and the pressure is placed on the final recipient. A key example of this is the situation where Hodgkins only delivers sketches from the interior designer to O’Brian and Sinclair when she had the time. An instance where miscommunication results is when Hodgkins never explains to Helen Miller that the reason why the bills she received are so expensive is because of the complexity of the work and the incomplete design provided by Susan Randolph. Incomplete control and bad planning where there is no proper task breakdown structure in place resulted in continual changes to design even while the opening date is closing in. This causes the already tight timeline to be stretched even further, not to mention the fluctuation in manpower, increasing costs and subsequent further delay to the project. As mentioned earlier, the two project managers from Regency are working as different entities although the main objective is for the building to be completed sooner. Furthermore when Hodgkins realize that sales was not doing very well, she did not discuss with Farley and the sales staff on ways to improve sales figure. It can be concluded that Hodgkins is not a good project manager. She failed to communicate vital information to the stakeholders. She was given a team to help on the sales but did not make good use of it. It was only till things were getting out of hand that she called for a meeting. If she had done so earlier, this would have reduced the amount of time and resources wasted. There is also evidence of poor control and checks, bad planning and a refusal to address issues and update management of problems. 5. Risk Management The Risk Management Process consists of four stages which are elaborated below; 5. 1Stage 1: Identify – Risk Identification Identification ensures that actions and contingencies are focused upon specific risks. Actions may then be developed to specifically target this risk and attempt to reduce its impact. Risk Breakdown Structure i. Complexity – The strategy of customisation of condominium units resulted in the delay of the project’s completion. Hodgkins did not identify and assess such risks when she took on this project. If she had done so, it would have allowed her to factor this in when assessing the contractors and costs and would also have given her ample time to develop choices of strategy to tackle the problem. ii. Subcontractors – Time was an issue during the designing process when making alterations to the condominium. This would have been acceptable if the issue had been addressed at the beginning and contingency plans were made. But Hodgkins preferred to take the chance of hoping customers would settle for what was given instead. This was a curious decision that she made in view of the fact that customisation was a selling point for the condos and the target market consisted of wealthy couples who were likely to have higher expectations and would want something personalised and unique. It would not be surprising and would in fact be expected that they would opt for customisation despite the additional cost to them. This judgement error by Hodgkins resulted in problems with regards to work schedules and budgets. Once alterations were required, the process of designing these changes would take weeks. This placed a lot of pressure on the contractors. iii. Construction Management – Due to the customization option available to the buyers, Hodgkins was required to ensure proper management of the overall construction of the project. Any delay on any aspect of the project, eg the delay in completing floors would have a chain effect and cause delays to other parts of the project (i. . the Millers’ case) and result in additional costs. While the buyers are willing to pay for the cost of alterations that they have made, the extra costs associated with the delaying of the entire project would not be their responsibility. Due to the fact that the contract between RHG and the contractors was a fixed sum contract, as such the contractors would be extremely cautious of committing to anything. 2. Stage 2: Analyse – Risk Assessments Rank risks according to the likelihood that the risk will occur and also the severity of its occurrence. The ranking is usually done using words such as ‘Severe’ or ‘Highly/Likely’ which are then linked to numerical values that can be multiplied together. The results can then be ranked, with the highest number the one which most requires attention. For Regency Plaza Project, the major potential risks are plotted below Risk Management Assessment Matrix | | | |Contractors- Time Length | | | | |Complexity |Construction Management | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 5 4 Likelihood 3 2 1 1 2 3 4 5 Impact Red zone–Major Risk Yellow zone-Moderate risk Green zone–Minor risk 5. 3Stage 3: Planning – Risk Response Development Risks cannot be ignored. They may be tolerated, treated, transferred to another party or terminated. Below are some plans that can be used to tackle the major risks: i. Complexity – Solutions of strategy to reduce possible risk damage will be accepting the recommendation offered by Farley on building larger units. If Farley’s recommendation had been taken up, the risk of complexity will be reduced due as there will be lesser buyers and conversely less complications and liaison required. This will result in lesser probability of alterations and the progress of the project can be increased tremendously, while additional cost due to delays is avoided. In terms of the consideration of revenue, bigger units can be priced higher thereby making up for the lesser units. Another alternative will be as mentioned before, if Hodgkins had identified the risk of complexity upon taking up this project, she will then have the necessary time to plan out and tackle the source of this risk. Other than factoring in sufficient contingency time, she would also be able to appeal to management and stakeholder to lengthen the time scheduled for completion. This additional time would enable additional marketing of the units and possible recommendations from satisfied buyers which would assist in the slow sales. ii. Subcontractors – If the issue had been tackled earlier then a visible framework could have been set up with adequate and fixed deadlines that would cause little or no problems to the contractors and allow the changes to be made before critical areas of the condominiums were constructed. This difference would also help avoid the majority of complaints from customers regarding delays and slow service. iii. Construction Management – This again could have been planned more effectively if the scope of change had been correctly defined and agreed at an earlier date, allowing for more efficient use of resources and better planning. 5. 4Step 4: Management – Risk Response Control Hodgkins should monitor the project progression, do an extensive risk assessment, anticipate possible risks and handle unforeseen new risks. All these should be updated to project team members and stakeholders during regular meetings. Problems should be embraced and resolved and not concealed and denied. All the team members should be encouraged to identify problems, mistakes and new risks, and ensure that constant communication and information flow amongst the project members. Hodgkins should also make an effort to communicate and highlight issues specifically to the hotel project team who will be directly affected by any problems on the condominium project. 6. Miller’s Dilemma In view of the Millers’ predicament, Hodgkins was found to be trapped in a tight spot with only five options to consider. Option 1: The first option of telling the Millers that it was too late to customize the unit would have a disastrous impact. The buyer-seller relationship and reputation of Regency Plaza and its management would be put at stake if the Millers, who are active and influential members of the Boston social circles, were to spread the information amongst their social circle (who are the potential target market of this project). Even if the Millers decide to undertake this option, extra time and coordination would be required as changes to the unit might involve shutting down the entire floor, hindering construction on other units and causing further delay to work schedules. At the same time, the positive effect of this option might not be beneficial to Hodgkins either as it may make no significant impact on the already delayed work schedule. Option 2: The second option would involve pushing through the changes. This would reduce the amount of demolition work required and keep the Millers satisfied. However, on a macro view, putting the unit on hold would delay schedules and have impact on both direct and indirect costs, eg delaying the hotel project and thereby the loss of possible income from occupancy. Should the Millers decide to draw out this option and the changes take a longer time, the cost liability during the holding phase would be a grey area which would add on to the complexity of the problem. Option 3: The third option to hire a small general contractor to finish the unit before closing may not resolve the Millers’ problems. Extra overhead expenses would be extremely expensive and it would be tedious for Hodgkins to handle two general contractors. The possibility of conflicts and disagreements on roles and responsibilities might arise between the different groups of contractors, adding complexity and delay to the project. This may also impact the morale of worker in Kelly Construction thereby impacting quality of work. But the advantage of hiring small contractors could be beneficial looking at it from a microscopic view. Changes to the Millers’ unit could be accomplished while works on other units could be carried out concurrently. This would allow works to be completed and costs would not be borne by Kelly Construction which would minimise any other inconvenience. On hindsight, this option might be appealing to the Millers as well as they could get their unit on time. But, the price of satisfying the Millers by increasing management expenses significantly may be too great for Hodgkins to justify paying for. Option 4: The fourth option involves stopping work and handing over an empty unit. The advantage of this approach will be that the Millers could finish the unit at their own convenience while works on other units could be done concurrently. However, Hodgkins could still be trapped in the dilemma if she were to execute this approach. On top of the fact that the costs have already been incurred and work would need to be undone, the bank’s unwillingness to lend money could add on to the Millers’ frustration, which could be extremely unfavorable to the reputation of RHG. Regency would also lose control over the project and may be forced to deal with other occupants who want this option. In a construction sense, there may be future issues with works to units done by external contractors. Option 5: In general, the last option of moving the Millers to a different unit on a higher floor would be a more feasible and win-win alternative. It would generate the least negative impact on both time and cost. Most importantly, all parties – the Millers, Kelly Construction, Susan Randolph, Hodgkins and even the RHG, could benefit from this approach. A higher floor unit is of a higher value. Offering to move the Millers there (it is of course recommended that RHG absorbs the price difference), would help to â€Å"compensate† the Millers for any inconvenience caused. This move would be a positive long-term investment in exchange for the satisfaction of the Millers and sustainability of the positive impression for RHG. Likewise, moving the Millers to a higher floor in which interior work had not yet started would buy additional time for the contractors as no demolition work is required. There would be no wastage of materials and significant cost savings would be anticipated. Susan Randolph would also have a larger time frame to make changes to the designs while cost assessment and approval could be done concurrently without affecting the schedule. In view of the fact that sales figures are not high, there would not be any significant inconvenience caused to RHG and in fact this move may assist in sales if the Millers are positive about the Regency Plaza Project and this is circulated in their social circle. 7. Final discussion The above evaluation has revealed that the Regency Plaza was not very well managed. A major factor contributing to the failure is poor planning. The project seems to be in a mess as roles and responsibilities are not properly defined and allocated, the decision- making process is muddled and is not well communicated. there are no proper checks. These problems could be easily overcome if delegation of roles and responsibilities was communicated clearly (refer to appendix on RAM). Every modification introduced within the project phase can have certain impact on the level of achievement of the project (Lock 1992). Each modification could take several weeks so that quotes could be gathered and reviewed. In t he case of the modification of the Millers’ unit, this caused the delay of the scheduled completion of the twelfth floor and has also affected the safety and infrastructure of the building. As such the risk management aspect was not well taken care of. If the issues had been addressed earlier through constructing a project network, this would cause little or no problems to the contractor as it allows changes to be made before critical areas of the condominium were constructed Newell (2002) suggested that assumptions must be made for the purpose of project planning. However in Hodgkins’ case, her assumptions are flawed and not thought through properly. She assumed that most buyers would not customize their units and would settle easily for what was given. By assuming such scenarios, she had overlooked the target market for the project, ie the wealthy. This error in judgement disrupted the completion of the project, raised overall budgets and caused much dissatisfaction among the project group. To make matters worst, the marketing strategy adopted by Hodgkins was that of word of mouth. With complaints of delay, cted the sales performance of the project was affected and a poor image of Regency was projected. Hodgkins would have done better to have done research on the buying patterns of her target market or spoken to her contacts, market specialists or even to have discussed with her team. If the above problem was to be addressed or realized earlier, the impact would have been minimized. While assumptions may not be a bad thing and in fact are encouraged, they must be made with a contingency plan and for Hodgkins case, she does not seem to have any. 8. conclusion The Regency Plaza project was a race against time and time means money. This situation put Hodgkins in a tight spot and many decisions needed to be made immediately to avoid any delays. Many irrational decisions were thus made which affected the overall progress of the project. As a project manager, success of the project should be the first priority. Coming up with possible alternatives to tackle the tough situation is critical. Although many possible solutions were provided, however Hogkins did not appear to have used many of them to resolve the current issues related to the project. Lock (1992) mentioned that to achieve the project objectives, People, Communication, Jobs and Resources must be properly organized. Planning and coordination is essential. To summarise, Project Managers are key to the success of any project and are worth their weight in gold. . Appendix Responsibility Assignment Matrix(RAM) Task/Resource |PM: Hodgkins |KDS |O’Brian and Sinclair |Kelly Construction |Millers Designer: Randolph |Consultant: Farley |Sales Team | |Sales and Marketing |R | | | | |C |R | |Building Architectural |A |R |R |C | |C | | |Customization |I | |C |R | | | | | Managing the subcontractors | |I |I |R | | | | |Miller’s interior design |I |I |C |C | R | | | |Construction invoices |R | |R |R | | | | | R = Responsible (People who do the work) A = Accountable (People who make sure the work gets done) C = Consulted (People who provide input before and during the work) I = Informed (People who are kept informed of progress) Blue boxes refers to the stakeholders 10. REFERENCES 1. Ballard G & Whelton M, 2002, Wicked Problems in Project Definition, Retrieved on 14th September 2009, from http://www. leanconstruction. org/pdf/WickedProblemsinProjectDefinitionIGLC10. pdf 2. Gray C. F & Larson E. W, 2008, Project Management: the managerial process, 4th Edition, McGraw-Hill/Irwin, America. 3. Juan R. S, 2009, Good Project Manager, Retrieved on 27th September 2009, from http://www. gaebler. om/Good-Project-Manager. htm 4. Lewis J. P, 2005, Project Planning, Scheduling & Control 4th Edition, McGraw Hill, America 5. Lock D, 1994, Project Management 5th Edition, Gower Publishing Company Limited, America 6. Meredith J. R & Mantel S. J, 2003, Project Management; A Managerial Approach 5th Edition, John Wiley & Sons, America 7. Newell M. W, 2002, Preparing for the Project Management Professional P MP 2nd Edition, Amacom, America 8. The Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM), 2009, Retrieved on 20th September 2009, from http://www. mindtools. com/pages/article/newPPM_RAM. htm 9. Weiss J. W & Wysocki R. K, 1992, 5-Phase Project Management, Perseus Books Publishing, America 10. Yagiz O, 2008, Project Planning, Retrieved on 14th September 2009, from http://www. emu. edu. tr/~oyagiz/MGMT409/MGMT409-05-BW. pdf BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Berkun S, 2005, The Art of Project Management, O’Reilly Media, Inc. , America 2. Bruce A & Langdon K, 2007, Manage Projects Dorling Kindersley Limited, London 3. Burke R, 2003, Project Management Planning and Control Techniques 4th Edition, John Wiley & Son, UK 4. Egeland B, 2009, Project Management Tips, Retrieved on 27th September 2009 from http://pmtips. et/ 5. Lewis J. P, 2007, Fundamentals of Project Management 3rd Edition, Amacon, America 6. Lockyer K, 1985, Critical Path Analysis 4th Edition, The Bath Press, Great Britain 7. Lovegrove H, 2008, Good Project Managers are hard to find! , Retrieved on 23th September 2009 from http://www. pmhut. com/good-project-managers-are-hard-to-find 8. Randolph W. A, 1988, Effective Project Planning and Management; Getting the Job Done, Prentice Hall, UK 9. Reh F. J, 2009, Project Management 101, Retrieved on 16th September from http://management. about. om/cs/projectmanagement/a/PM101. htm 10. Shackleton E, 2005, Managing your people; real life lessons from top business leaders, BBC Books, London 11. Tusler R, 1996, An Overview of Project Risk Management, Retrieved on 22th September 2009 from http://www. netcomuk. co. uk/~rtusler/project/riskprin. html ———————– Performance Cost Time Constrain Enhance Accept Marking Consultant (Farley) Clients Vocal Neighbourhood Groups Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) KDS Associates Regency Hotel Management Project Manager Hodgkins Decision Making Process