ALDI & Australia

The retail industry in Australia is considered as one of pillars of its economy. The industry has improved immensely as the players in the market have increased and the variety of commodities has expanded immensely. At present, the industry is populated by companies that range from multinationals to small and medium scale. Among the players, ALDI Australia is considered as a major player in the industry. The firm has expanded from a single foreign branch to a major retail chain. It operates in the main markets of Australia and in other regions across the country.ALDI was taken from the original name of the company which was Albrecht Discount. Before expanding to Australia, ALDI established its presence in Germany Gradually, the company operations stretched to other locations across the world. ALDI is regarded as one of the biggest supermarket chain worldwide. In Australia, ALDI has approximately 160 retail chains. This number is expected to grow as ALDI continues to be aggressive in the industry. Despite strong competition, ALDI Australia has managed to establish its own identity and has already controlled a significant portion of the market.It is imperative to study the current situation within ALDI Australia. The outside environment of the company is another important aspect to investigate. The succeeding discussion will focus on the capacity of ALDI to dominate the market. This requires evaluation of the capacity of ALDI and the external aspects that can affect its performance. The strategies used by ALDI have been working so far. But there are still rooms for improvements that needed to be manifested. II. The External Environment Porter (1979) introduced the concept of five forces that seeks to analyse the competition in an industry.This serves as an effective tool used in creating a picture of the retail industry. Based on the model, there are four forces that have to be assessed to determine the condition of the fifth force (McGahan, 2004). These interact with other to determine the overall condition of the market. The five forces model is critical especially to retail firms. The level of competition in the industry is high. Hence it is imperative for ALDI Australia to appraise the situation of the industry. The threat of new entrants shows the possible repercussions of the openness of the industry which is high in the industry.The current condition of the industry coupled by the continuous increase in demand justifies the viability of the industry as an investment hub for new entrants. New entrants, however, have to consider the barriers that can affect their success. Australia is a major market and houses consumers with high buying power. This means that the opportunity for retailers to operate is high. In addition, demand for consumer products has remained high. The emergence and threat of substitutes shows the low tendency, but suddenly emerging alternative retail firms.The conventional form of retail includes the shops and stor es located in strategic areas. With the advent of technology, several forms of retailing have flourished. Online retailing has become a threat because most consumers have patronised the online retailing scheme instead of the traditional shopping. The bargaining power of the consumers determines the capacity of the consumers to purchase the goods and price sensitivity. It has to be noted that most products in ALDI are demand inelastic and the income per capita in Australia is one of the highest in the world.This means that price changes will have gradual effect to the buying decision of the consumers. Moreover, the buying capacity of Australian households can satisfy their needs and have spare for luxuries. Buyer preference is also another major consideration. Consumers in Australia are dynamic and susceptible to changes. It is important to weigh company goals with consumer requirements. The bargaining power of the suppliers which is high provides the capabilities of the supplier to meet the demand of the industry. Basically, the agricultural industry of Australia is of quality as evidenced by the fresh food sold in retail stores.In addition, raw material is cheaper making retail products highly affordable for consumers. Australia is also highly accessible some Asian countries. The possibility of importing products is given and savings gained from such strategy are high. ALDI has all the resources to satisfy the demands of the consumers and sustain changes. These factors sum up the rivalry among competitors, which intensify in the industry. The retail industry is highly competitive and can potentially allow investors to succeed. It is evident that ALDI will continually face threats both industry based and substitutes.ALDI Australia is in an environment where it can take advantage of the opportunities. Intense competition leads to quality retailed food and eventually benefits for the customers. III. Internal Aspects Deming (1986) mentioned the need to attain qua lity results in all the process of production. The technical process pertains to the emphasis of quality in the different stages of operations. The rationale behind this strategy is that the continuous inclusion of quality in the process will result to highly competitive and superior products.The social process is provided by Juran (1974) in the assumptions of TQM. The social process includes the provision of suitable tools to boost the tendency of workers to prioritise quality. ALDI Australia has to evaluate its capacity within to achieve sustainable success. One significant observation that can be made is that the company has wide range of quality food sources. This is in references to the responsible food sourcing that the company adopts. At present, ALDI boosts up to 700 different grocery products. The supplies of the company are considered as one of its valuable resources.Because of its outstanding food production materials, the quality of the finished products has improved. Bo osting the food with the finest inputs allow the company to effectively satisfy the needs of the consumers. The quality sources also make the company more cost-effective. Another important resource of the company is its identity. This is established through the brand name of ALDI. The brand has the gained the distinction of being the most trusted retailer in Australia. Over the years, the brand name has been embraced in different areas of the world.The credibility of the company is one of its intangible resources that deserved to be recognised. It is known as one of best stores in finding cheap commodities. ALDI Australia greatly depends on its employees for positive results. Indeed, the performance of the workers will influence the success of the firm. ALDI Australia boasts a workforce loaded with competency and talent. The hiring system of the company ensures that the best are selected at the end of the process. The company provides comprehensive training programs to continuously equip the employees with the skills needed in the industry.At present ALDI have over 2,000 employees across Australia. This manpower is one of the most valuable components of the retail store. It addresses the needs of the consumers and provides top-notch service. The stores are regarded as one of the finest. The stores of ALDI Australia are uniquely designed suit the shopping preference of its customers. All ALDI stores have similar sizes and designs. Unlike conventional retail shops, the stores of the company provide an aesthetic environment for buyers. The company emphasises of proper location which makes the stores effective.The success of the stores is credited on the ability of the firm to match substance and form. It is important to instil in the minds of the consumers that more than quality food, buying at ALDI Australia stores is a wonderful experience. The franchises that the company has established worldwide has helped the company is establishing global market presence. T he supermarkets represent ALDI overseas and such resource has provided huge dividends. Several investors in other countries have noticed the increased attention given to the food products of ALDI. This will translate to better opportunities for the supermarket in the future.IV. Company Strategies Strategies of firms are considered to lean towards the strategic scope focusing on the demand, and the strategic strength concentrating on the supply. Porter (1980) further simplified the method by reducing the strategy to three dimensions that include: cost leadership, differentiation, and segmentation. These aspects will be used to analyse the strategy of ALDI Australia in its objective to remain at the forefront of the competition. ALDI values the cheapness of its products. Low-cost goods available at ALDI stores entice most of its consumers and prospects.The cost leadership strategy values efficiency. ALDI has been providing several programs to improve its efficiency. Specific strategie s involve the establishment of distribution centres. Transportation expenses were reduced because of accessible distribution points. The logistic system has been improved to reduce non-performing components of the distribution process. The differentiation strategy of the company is assigned to the research and development team. ALDI have been working with suppliers. This is the initial process that will eventually lead to better products and innovative solutions.Workforce efficiency is a major issue that the company includes in its strategies. Incentives are also provided to workers based on the quantity and quality of work. The performance of the firm is highly dependent on the manner in which customer service and operational activities are manifested by the employees. The contribution provided by the personnel along with the top-notch products sum up the offering of ALDI Australia to its customers. Porter (1985) identified primary activities and support activities in the process o f value-adding. ALDI Australia has been dedicated in maximising value and minimising cost.The company has provided top-notch inbound logistics with its equipments and machines transferring the raw materials without damaging the freshness. The handling of the food from the farmlands to the processing site is meticulously managed. Moreover, the manner in which the food are packed and processed follows quality procedures. In the processing part, ALDI Australia has devoted all necessary resources to maintain the high value of food taken from the finest farms in Australia. ALDI retails stores are designed to ensure the high quality of its products.After the products have been placed in distributions centres, the sales and marketing team will work (Bonn, 2007). Aside from the television and print advertisements, the company has relied on the Internet to introduce ALDI Australia in the market. In addition, the stores of ALDI Australia are highly accessible ensuring that shoppers will exper ience no problems while purchasing food. The customer service initiative of the company is highly recognised since service is extended after the purchases are completed. The company has been using storage devices that emphasise on the freshness of the products.Products that have long shelf lives are safely stored in areas free from causing damage. The transportation arteries from the company to the distribution sites are improved and results to fast travel. Cost is reduced through efficient storage devises and the consumption for energy is decreased using better delivery systems. The company strictly follows a low price philosophy. In most convenient stores, products are usually priced with high mark-ups. The strategy of ALDI is to sell in high quantity at lower prices. ALDI has created an efficient checkout system (Bonn, 2007).This is implemented to prevent customers from spending time queuing when making payments. Aside from the checkouts, ALDI Australia has a systematised product display. Customer can easily identify the location of the goods needed without hassles. Although company savings are important for ALDI, the retail store understands that customers also need to be provided with ample savings in all forms. ALDI Australia sells a wide variety of products. Some stores are limited, but ALDI caters to the needs of its customers. As stated earlier, ALDI sells at least 700 kinds of products in its stores.These products range from highly perishable to preserved products (Bonn, 2007). Aside from food, ALDI also sells other merchandises used for general purposes. The firm has been using a stringent quality control process. ALDI personnel ensure that damaged products are segregated from the intact goods. The inventory system of ALDI also assures that the fresh stocks are provided to the consumers. Expansion is one of the goals of the company. ALDI targets its store count to be in the 200 level by 2008. This means that ALDI Australia will be established in oth er areas where demand is high.At present the store count of ALDI Australia is at 165 shops. Although the target still huge, it is highly realisable considering the capacity of the company. ALDI Australia remains committed to serve its customers and make the stores closer to households. V. Strategy Analysis In the retail industry, the success of strategies can be measured through operational decisions and marketing decisions (Bonn, 2007). Both are strengths of the ALDI Australia and remain as the fundamental driver of success. Because of its selling philosophy, the most logical method of market segmentation is by income.The social structure of households in Australia is part of the middle to upper levels. Aside from this group, ALDI Australia can control the lower bracket in the society. These groups are the consumers with the lowest income. The cheap products offered by ALDI Australia fits their budget. In theory, positioning refers to the perceptions developed in the minds of the t arget market. It entails the creation of image of the brand and the entire organisation (Trout and Rivkin, 1996). Positioning is purely procedural and relies on the completion of stages before making further improvements.Consumer preference is the most important aspect in this process. In addition, ALDI has to target the specific needs before making its position. It is evident that ALDI has established a niche in the industry. From this position, ALDI can become a strong player in the market. Combining the different aspects associated to marketing is vital to the company. The development of marketing mix entails strategies that are design to ensure consistency in the quality of performance (Culliton, 1948). Price and product quality are the two main components of the mix. Low price is insufficient to attract the consumers.Combining such aspect with high product quality creates better chances of succeeding. Strategic management is one of the staple initiatives being implemented by AL DI. Mintzberg (1989) observed that strategy is linked to plans and the behaviour patterns within organisations. The technical process of realising strategic management is divided into two areas. The first phase regard planning as course for intended strategy and the patterned actions are the realised strategies. The process of strategic planning has allowed ALDI to meticulously evaluate their positions in different markets.In addition, strategies of ALDI have remained generic. But ALDI has realised the need to make the strategies flexible to satisfy various needs of consumers. Lewin (1983) stated that corporate social responsibility highlights the duty of the organisations to their stakeholders. Instead on focusing on corporate activities, firms have decided to undertake endeavours with perceived social relevance. This has been one of the weak spots that ALDI needs to improve. Although financial gains from the process are low, ALDI can further improve its reputation. In the retail i ndustry, perception is an important influence to buyers.Firms that tend to provide aid to community activities are being supported by consumers through purchases. Benchmarking is another aspect that has to be developed by ALDI Australia. McNair and Leibfried (1992) contends that benchmarking is designed to leave the past behind and embrace the future. The benchmarking process has many defining aspects. It has to be purposeful, externally focused, measurement based, information intensive, objective, and action generating. All practices performed according to the needs of the firm. VI. Recommendations ALDI Australia is successful because of the pay less strategies and sound management fundamentals.The company needs to sustain its strengths and slowly eliminate the weaknesses. A foreign venture appears to be logical because the domestic market is starting to become overpopulated. The firm has to boost is project refresh and continue the dedication to provide the best infrastructures an d workforce. Combining these components with effective management and good strategies will ensure the robust growth being enjoyed by ALDI Australia. Expenses for advertisements cover most of the budget allocated for marketing. ALDI Australia has to provide inputs on matters that will improve the advertisements.The firm also needs to provide funds for the airing of the advertisements on televisions and even radios. Advertisements done using newspapers and other prints need to reflect the essence of Marks and Spencer food products. The advertisements in the websites need to be easily viewed and accessed (Drummond and Ensor, 2001). These initiatives have to be combined with traditional processes. It is also important for ALDI Australia to maintain balance between price and quality. There are criticisms made by competitors that ALDI’s initiative to sell goods in low prices is driven by the sub-par quality of goods.Ensuring that prices remain competitive is a must for ALDI. But th e company has to continuously address the need to keep product quality high. Through this strategy, ALDI will go on and improve its performance. References ALDI Australia. (2007). Company Philosophy. Date extracted: 9 November 2007, from: ALDI International. (2007). Date extracted: 9 November 2007, from: < http://www. aldi. com/> Bonn, I. (2007). â€Å"ALDI in Australia†, in Strategic Management: An Integrated Approach. Hill, by Hil, C. W. and Jones, G. Spring, IA: Houghton Mifflin College.Coriolis Research. (2000). ALDI in Australia: Whaty will be the Impact? Auckland: Coriolis Research Limited. Culliton, J. (1948). The Management of Marketing Cost. Boston: Harvard University – Graduate School of Business Administration. Deming, W. Edwards. (1986). Out of Crisis. Cambridge: MIT Centre for Advanced Engineering. Drummond, G and Ensor, J. (2001). Strategic Marketing Planning and Control. London: Butterworth-Heinemann Ltd. Juran, Joseph. (1974). The Quality Control Handb ook 3rd Edition. New York: McGraw Hill. Lewin, T. (1983). The New York Times.â€Å"Business Ethic’s New Appeal. † McGahan, A. (2004). How Industries Evolve – Principles of Achieving and Sustaining Superior Performance. Boston: Harvard Business School Press. McNair and Leibfried. (1992). Benchmarking: A Tool for Continuous Improvement. Oliver Wright Publications. Mintzberg, Henry. (1989). Mintzberg on Management. London: Free Press. Porter, M. (1980). Competitive Advantage: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors. New York: Free Press. Porter, M. (1985). Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance. New York: Free Press.

Crowd Management

Crowd management Preparing for disasters Whenever large numbers of people come together to watch an event, there is potential for major disasters. No-one ever suspects that day watching a sport event is is a major risk to life and health but history proves otherwise. Sport administrators are required to conduct risk auditing for all types of events, large and small. Any failure to do this can result in an law suits for negligence. One important aspect of risk auditing is to examine all possible risks associated with spectators.Risks associated with spectators can arise as a result of the behaviour of spectators and in particular when spectators begin to take ona crowd mentality. Risk associated with physical arrangements, dimensions and layout of the venue must also be examined. Sport administrators really need to know Murphy's Law (anything that can go wrong, will go wrong). Crowd Control There is a necessity to make a careful estimation of the number of staff * Manage entry and exi ts Control / patrol all areas of the ground / facility * Control an evacuation should it prove to be necessary * Raise the alarm and liaise with emergency services * Having sufficient staff to manage an emergency is a â€Å"Duty of Care† It would be therefore prudent to consult appropriate emergency authorities (police, fire service, etc) in this matter. Training in Crowd Control The organization should provide courses that provide the participant with knowledge of the functions and roles of a crowd controller.Such a course might include: * Roles and responsibilities * Communication and clients * Operational procedures * Managing performance * Managing conflict * Emergency first aid * Crowd control operations * Law and practice * Emergency procedures * Access control * Securing premises and property In addition to this training, event managers and venue managers should provide additional training to familiarize their crowd control staff with specific aspects of the facility o r venue.For example, it will be necessary to know the: * Location of exits, stairs and other aspects of buildings * Position of emergency equipment such as fire hoses * Location of communication devices e. g. alarms, public address systems and telephones It will also be necessary to provide training in the venue's or hosting organisation's policies and procedures for event management and control. These policies and procedures should include conducting drills and tests to ensure staff have the knowledge required.

Film Review 12 Years a Slave Essay

Based on a true story, 12 Years a Slave depicts the journey of a free black man in the 1840s that is kidnapped and sold into southern slavery. Aside from the captivating story and tremendous acting, the historical accuracy of slavery during this time is gut retching. The director, Steve McQueen, does a remarkable job executing the transition of Solomon Northup’s autobiography into a live action film, but what makes this movie so captivating? What about the film makes the audience establish a new perspective on America’s dark past? The following analysis will provide some insight to the film and the story and explore why this movie will not only leave you in tears, but cause you to have a new found respect for people that endured a life of slavery. Before I jump into the meat of the discussion and share my thoughts it is important to begin with a clear understanding of the film’s story. In the opening scene we are introduced to Solomon Northup as a slave. The film continues with a series of flashbacks between his present slave life and his previous life as a free man. For the sake of clarity I will summarize the film in historical order. Solomon Northup, played by Chiwetel Ejiofor, grew up as a freeman in upstate New York. His skills consisted of reading and writing, and he was also a very talented violinist. Solomon was a well-respected man among his community and was just like another other family man. Wife to Anne Hampton and father of two, Margaret and Alonzo; Solomon had the life most slaves would never experience. One day Solomon runs into two men who offer him a job opportunity to which he accepts. He tells his family goodbye and believes he is on the road to his new job. Instead they drug Solomon, and sell him to the slave trade. Confused and shocked, Solomon is thrust into the horrors and cruelty of the slave trade. Claiming he was a freeman was not enough to spare his freedom. From the moment he was captured to the scene where he was sold, the film captures the cruel reality of the slave trade and the treatment of people of color. Aside from his journey the film does a great service to exposing the harsh selling methods showing how families were separated; they were put on  display, nude, for a potential buyer to see. The whole process is quite disgusting. Solomon is purchased by Master Ford of a sugar cane planation. Solomon was highly advised against relieving his knowledge and literacy to the white men, but went against this when he revealed himself to his master. Ford was kind hearted and became fond of Solomon, making Ford’s other white overseers angry. They set out to kill Solomon after a few heated encounters, which lead to a good 2-3 minute scene of Solomon dangling from a noose with his toes scraping touching the ground. Close to death, other slaves go about their day in the background as he struggles to breathe. Master Ford saves Solomon just in time but has to sell him off because he has caused him too much trouble and had to settle his debt. Solomon is sold to Master Epps of a cotton plantation. Here is where Solomon endures the most cruelty and sees how devastating life as a slave truly is. He meets Patsey, a young black woman who is admired by Master Epps. His infatuation with her becomes dangerous when Epps’ wife becomes suspicious. Patsey, not wanting anything to do with Epps, plays along to keep her life. Her rape and whip scene are honestly one of the hardest thing to watch. After years of hell on the plantation, a Canadian contractor is hired to work on the planation. Solomon finds trust in the man and seeks help through him. Not long after the contactor leaves, help finds its way to Solomon in the form of an old friend, Mr. Parker, who proves he is a freedman and rescues Solomon from slavery and returns him home to his family after 12 years. Now with a general idea of the plot we can dive deeper into the material. The reason why this film will strike you different from most is because it is all true. It is a harsh reality that most people in society do not like to face. Most Americans have a preconceived idea about slavery because of intermediate and high school history classes. Yes, we have all heard the lecture that slavery was disgusting and a dark time in America’s history, but no matter how in depth your instructor was no one could prepare you for  physically seeing those disgusting events. The film not only captured the struggle that was this man’s life, but also demonstrated what other slaves suffered through as well. Seeing the treatment of these human beings really rallies you up, makes you really hate the society of that time. Seeing people being treated as dogs, no, worse than dogs, objects, boils my blood. Actually seeing everything take place makes it that much more real. People did not realize that pain and suffering slavery caused in our nation, at least not until this film. The acting portrayed by Chiwetel Ejiofor and Lupita Nyong as Patsey, was outstanding. I truly believed their emotion and character. Ejiofor’s best scene is when he is finally reunited with his family. You can see the buildup of overwhelming relief and happiness in his eyes and face. It was pure emotion. That emotion is what really helps captivate the audience. It gets the viewers to feel along with the characters, establishing a bond between the audience and the character. When you create such a deep bond with your viewers, you create compassion and self-awareness. This provokes those preconceived notions of the ideas of slavery and causes viwers to be more respectful to those who have suffered and for people who are still being oppressed today.

Dr. Stephen Hawking Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Dr. Stephen Hawking - Research Paper Example In addition to his great contribution to theoretical physics, applied mathematics and physical cosmology, this research paper will also take a look at his different awards, both national and international. In his life, Dr. Stephen Hawing has also written several books and publications that have shaped and influenced greatly the world of science and the views on how the universe we have came to be. Although stricken with illness that changed his life forever, Stephen Hawking has not allowed it to hinder him from success and is presently still considered as one of the greatest and most prominent man of science. Stephen Hawking Stephen Hawking was born on the eighth of January in 1942 in the county town of Oxford, in England. This date was exactly on the three hundredth death anniversary of Italian scientist and astronomer, Galileo Galilei, a source of pride for the illustrious physicist. Stephen was born into the world in a family of sages. His father was Dr. Frank Hawking, a research biologist who was the head of the parasitological division at the NIMR which stands for National Institute for Medical Research. His mother was Isobel Hawking. When only a small number of women considered earning college degrees, Isobel, a Scottish woman, worked her way into Oxford University in the 1930s, one of, if not the most prominent and prestigious university of all time, making her part of the earliest female student of the institution. Stephen was born in the wrong time as there was a great political crisis and his parents at that time were not earning much money. The residence of his parents was located in north London but Oxford was regarded as a more suitable place for childbirth as this was during World War II and it was deemed safer and more secured in Oxford than in north London. This was due to the fact that London was being attacked by German air forces during the time of his birth. German missiles were striking the streets everywhere. After Frank and Isobel had the ir first baby boy, they moved back to London. Stephen Hawking was the eldest among his siblings. He had a brother who was adopted named Edward and two younger sisters, Mary and Philippa. In 1950, when Hawking was only a boy of eight years, they moved to a nearby town, approximately twenty miles to the north of London, in St. Albans. There, in St. Albans High School for Girls, he was schooled. At that time, it was permitted for boys to study in an exclusive girl’s school until they were ten years old. While not exceptional or extraordinary, Stephen was a bright young student who did well in his studies. Encouraged and motivated by his teacher in mathematics, Stephen always had a keen eye for science. He wanted to pursue mathematics as his field of course for college. However, in view of the fact that his father had wanted him to study medicine instead and in University College in Oxford where his father was an alumnus where they did not offer a mathematics course, he took up N atural Science specializing in Physics there as an alternative, earning a scholarship. He did not give his full and complete time and effort into it since this was not exactly his preference, but nonetheless was awarded a first class honors degree in Natural Science. After, he went to Cambridge University, another best and leading universities in England and in the world. There he spent his time doing a lot of research in Cosmology, the science that looks into the

Why a Human Mind Seeks Attraction to a Beach Essay

Why a Human Mind Seeks Attraction to a Beach - Essay Example Every human mind is related with nature at a certain plane. And not a single person can ignore its mighty existence and unending influence on the mind and life of a man. Some people are attracted to mighty snow–capped mountains, some to green vales. Some minds get lost in the mystery of the woods and some lose their heart at the roaring waves of an ocean which crushes at the beach and to touch their feet. The beauty of a golden beach lying as a stretch on the bank of a sea or an ocean is always attractive for most of the people. It does not captivate the obscurity of woods and hardship of mountains. For a perfect destination to relax, rejuvenate and feel the mirth and warmth of life, beach is the best resort. It does not involve any physical hardship to stay or reach a beach. And the beauty of a beach is always more exploring with the progress in the hour clock. The color scheme of the stretch of land changes with the changing season. This glorifies the aura of the beach attra cting millions of tourist across the world every year. Thesis Statement This essay intends to analyze and explore the reasons why a human mind seeks attraction to a beach and tries to describe the beauty and blessings of nature bestowed upon this physical feature on earth. Beauty of a Beach To many people it might seem at the outset that a stretch of land covered with sand and rock cannot seem actually beautiful. However, to many others who have been attracted, enchanted and mesmerized with the glory, charm and enigma of a beach know that what fascinates them towards the stretch of land in reality. The golden sand dunes and the rocky cliffs situated at the shore of a vast water-body yielding magnificent and gigantic waves is a sight to watch from a considerable distance. The gigantic waves roar like thunder and then crush and efface on the banks. It seems that their mighty existence somewhere fall short, minor and tiny in front of the golden stretch of land (United Nations Education al, Scientific and Cultural Organization, â€Å"When Sand Dunes Have Been Destroyed†). The beach that is rocky or has cliffs is just another beautiful spectacle of nature. The waves evolving from the middle of the ocean, takes a magnificent aura before crushing down to the rocks and cliffs on the beach. It seems that those cliffs are the ring master of a circus taming a lion, making it ready for the show. The beast may roar, deny, show its magnanimity but before the rock-solid existence of the ring master and his agile hunter, the beast is ought to succumb and break down. The same spectacle evolves before the eyes of a person who stands at the rocky beach and watches the waves crushing down before the Rocky Mountains situated at the beach. The crushing of the waves produces beautiful foam which seems like some cluster of stray clouds on a blue sky. The poetic mind which operates above the mundane scientific theories of daily life perceives it as a reflection of the phenomena taking place up in the sky (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, â€Å"When Sand Dunes Have Been Destroyed†). Sunrise and sunset both occur with vivacity and grandeur at the beach. Sun and the sand play all through the day changing mood and color with the passing season. With its first ray the sun turns the beach into a casket of red light. The air gets warm slowly and the waves dance with the rays of the sun

Managerial Finance Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Managerial Finance - Research Paper Example 19964 million. J Sainsbury plc consists of Sainsbury’s - a chain of 547 supermarkets and 343 convenience stores and the Sainsbury’s Bank (Jsainsburys, 2011). One of the most innovative services offered by the company is its online servicing and delivery system. Customers can make their purchases online and Sainsbury will deliver to 90% of the UK households. The system generates over 100,000 orders per week. The firm has a division called Sainsbury Property that has a portfolio that includes 297 freehold and long leasehold properties and 43 joint venture properties (Jsainsburys). The retail operation of the company generates 19 million customers transaction every week. Five Business Ratios (2009-2010) 2009 2010 Net margin 289 / 18911 = 1.53% 585 / 19994 = 2.93% Current ratio 1268 / 4511 = 0.28 1797 / 2793 = 0.64 Return on capital 289 / 4157 = 6.95% 585 / 4966 = 11.78% Debt ratio 9836 / 5679 = 1.73 10855 / 5889 = 1.84 Earnings per share 16.6 32.1 Sainsbury vs. FTSE100 ind ex This part of the paper will demonstrate a comparison between the market price of the Sainsbury common stock and the FTSE 100 index. The graph that show the movement in the price of the stock and the index are illustrated in appendix A and appendix B. In order to evaluate the results further qualitative information based on company news is going to be used to attempt to interpret the results of the graph. The FTSE graph shows many fluctuations in up and down with the steepest downward in July 2011. Overall the general trend of the index prices was that the price of the index went up during the last year. During the first quartile of the graph the trend in prices of the Sainsbury was very similar to the movement in the FTSE 100 graph. The price of the Sainsbury stock peak in September 2010 and it bottom out during April of 2011. A piece of news that always shakes the price of common stocks is the release of quarterly results. The latest quarterly results of the company were release d in March 23, 2011. The graph illustrates that after the release of this piece of news the price of the stock after being the lowest point during the last year it began to steadily go up until May of this year. Analysis of Sainsbury financial performance In order to determine the viability of Sainsbury (J) as possible stock investment alternative this paper will analyze the company’s overall financial performance. The analysis includes their operations and how Sainsbury (J) compares with other similar stocks and its industry sector. By comparing key financial ratios we can visualize the overall financial position of the company and how the company compares to its overall industry sector in order to determine its attractiveness as a stock investment in a personal investment portfolio. Sainsbury (J) has become a leader in the grocery foods sector with a 16.9% market share in the UK. The company has made a number of fundamental changes in recent years in order to enhance overal l competitiveness and fuel future growth. Sainsbury is known to be the world leader in Fair Trade Products with around 25% of all Fair trade Products in the UK. The company was also named Supermarket of the Year at the 2009 Retail Industry Awards for their efforts to innovate and adapt to changing customer needs over the last year. Sainsbury’s operational focus is centered accelerating future growth and sustainability. The five key operational areas the company focuses on in order to further increase its market

CoverGirl Cosmetics Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

CoverGirl Cosmetics - Research Paper Example Since, strong support of P&G is still behind the Cover Girl therefore this brand is still available in the shelves of cosmetics stores and is not seriously exposed to the risk of disappearing from make-up and cosmetics market. Since Cover Girl is among the umbrella of P&G’s billion dollar brands, therefore, the beauty sector of P&G which certainly includes Cover Girl as part of its beauty section. Overall if the beauty section of P &G is observed, this particular section has generated billion dollars brands which are truly the global market leaders in today’s beauty industry. Olay, Pantene, Head & Shoulder and several other brands contribute remarkably well in reflecting a beautiful picture of financial statements of P&G. These famous brands are the core cause behind this sound financial position of P&G. If some of the relevant ratios are taken into account in respect of beauty products of P&G, two ratios are highlighted in the financial statements of P&G for the year 2011. These two ratios are percentage of Net Sales and Percentage of Net Earnings. Coincidently, the value of both these ratios is computed to around 24%. If these ratios are analyzed in a bit detail, then it can be observed that P&G generated the sales of around $82.5 billion in the year 2010-11. Among these sales, 24% is contributed by the beauty products that P&G manufactures, which is the most revenues created by any sub-part of P&G. This shows how highly P&G is dependent on the beauty segment. Another ratio reflects the percentage of profitability that beauty segment earned in the period 2010-11 which is again 24%. This 24% means that among the profits of around $11.2 billion, 24% profit is earned due to the sales of beauty products of P&G. This clearly presents the importance of beauty products in the portfolio o f P&G. Since the Cover Girl is still seeking its place among the billion dollar brands, therefore, further 5 to 10 years might be needed for Cover Girl to grow on a bigger stage

Basketball as Religion in He Got Game Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Basketball as Religion in He Got Game - Essay Example After six years since then, Jesus has worked hard to become a brilliant prospective basketball player just at the age of eighteen. Several colleges are interested in him with lucrative offers of scholarship, and making a career with the NBA also remains an option. However, the Governor wants to sign Jesus with his alma mater, the Big State. With his power and influence, he releases Jake on parole for a week. If Jake is able to convince his son Jesus to play for Big State his sentence would be drastically reduced setting him free. Otherwise, he would be sent back to jail. Now an emotional tug of war begins. Jake seeks to convince his estranged son. Martha (Lonette McKee), who is Jesus’ younger sister, wants a better life and suggests his brother to look for more profitable opportunities. Jesus’ girlfriend, Lala (Rosario Dawson) plays a double dealing role in the complex environment with a ‘not so innocent’ approach. The characters like Jesus’ uncle, a unt, coach, etc. appear as both selfish and empathetic in the course of the drama. As Jake returns to his family, Jesus has to confront him and go through emotional ups and downs. On the other hand, he faces the contradictions, glamour, challenges, and dark realities of the multi-billion dollar basketball sports industry of America. At times, he is at the dilemma of horns, but the young athlete is a good-natured son who ultimately seeks reunion and peace with his lonely and troubled father. Basketball craze is a huge factor in the sports culture of American life. It has emerged as a multi-billion dollar business in the American sports industry. Almost all the resourceful and reputed colleges of the country are rivaling each other in order to leave a mark in the various basketball leagues. This helps them to levy high amounts of profits. On the other hand, there is the celebrated NBA, where several

Choose an internationally operating firm with publicly available Essay

Choose an internationally operating firm with publicly available reporting and download its most recent annual report. Analyse this report and summarize your findings in an executive summary - Essay Example This is probably one of the factors that have contributed to its position as the world’s largest of athletic footwear and apparel (Nike Inc., 2014, p. 47). Perhaps another factor that has contributed to this status is its adoption of technology-based innovation. Nike indicates that one of the channels through which it sells its products is its websites, a marketing venture it refers to as Direct to Consumer (DTC) operations. Indeed, Nike has carved out a niche for itself as the brand to watch in the sports world. Nike’s annual report is now analyzed to understand how and why Nike has managed to attain this achievement. Nike has a wide revenue base. It has a wide range of products from which it develops its product mix. According to its annual report, there are eight key categories of Nike’s product offerings. These are running, basketball, football (Soccer), women’s training, men’s training, sportswear, action sports and golf (Nike Inc., 2014, p. 47). Nike sells its products in a number of markets and geographical segments. It reports the following operating segments: North America, Western Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, Japan, Greater China and Emerging Markets. Moreover, Converse operations, whose results are reported independently, are another of Nike’s segments. In terms of sales revenues, Nike classifies its revenue collection as either local or international. For the 2014 fiscal year, Nike and Converse sales in the US contributed to 46% of total revenues.26 % of these sales came from Nike’s three largest customers (Nike Inc., 2014, p. 48). In retrospect, sales from the international category accounted for 54% of Nike’s total revenues. In this category, its three largest customers accounted for a total of 6% of its international revenues. Financial data is usually an important element for any entity. Such data arises from the accounting process and is usually represented as financial

Writting assessmet Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Writting assessmet - Essay Example He was against the concept of family life that was being developed by the bourgeoisie family whose priority had shifted to wealth from love. This exemplifies the contemporary democratic American family lifestyle as Marx predicted in his Communist Manifesto. 3. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Communist Manifesto sheds light on the different classes created during that period. Clash and exploitation have been the main driving force of the relationship two main classes: The Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat. They both remain at conflict with each other because of their economic disparity as the Bourgeoisie Class is associated with wealth, politics and social power while Proletariat’s only source of power is their ability to work. While there remains a constant strive between the two, the irony was that they could not survive without each other. The Bourgeoisie needed the hard work of the Proletariat while the Proletariat was depended on the money and the work provided by the Bourgeoisie. The Proletariat fought for the power to prevent being exploited. It was perhaps on account of this constant striving that labor unions helped provide some power to the Proletariat during the American Steel Revolution. 4. Schumpeter pointed out that the entire society would be able to take advantage of the upsurge of total output. He further pointed out that it was the lower income status group that would be able to enjoy the most advantage. He attributed this prediction to the fact that as the income increased all over Europe, the buying power would eventually increase and people would be more willing to spend on buying and attaining new products and services. 5. David S. Landes, in his book, points out three principal reasons for increase in the average income of the common man in Europe after the Industrial Revolution. Firstly, machines took over the job of people and skills and mastery was no longer in demand; secondly, the concept of mass production where products were

Literature Cape Essay Example for Free

Literature Cape Essay Many critics attempt to show how the disguise relate to the different parts, and/or different characters of the play. This story explores a cariety of themes and issues, however disguise, deceit, celebration and festivity are the major, more prominent ones. Although the play is a â€Å"silly play† said by Samuel Pepys, who saw the play on three occasions, many critics feel the play’s use of language used to deceive and the failure of characters to communicate properly and effectively and truthfully, made it confusing. The Twelfth Night (January 6th) is actually the Epiphany. During the Epiphany noble households sponsored numerous performances of plays, masques, banquets and kinds of activities. This story opens up to a man, Curio dressing for the plans of that night. While dressing, he confesses how he feels towards a woman named Olivia. Olivia, a well-to-do woman, wants little Analysis of Major Characters Viola Like most of Shakespeare’s heroines, Viola is a tremendously likable figure. She has no serious faults, and we can easily discount the peculiarity of her decision to dress as a man, since it sets the entire plot in motion. She is the character whose love seems the purest. The other characters’ passions are fickle: Orsino jumps from Olivia to Viola, Olivia jumps from Viola to Sebastian, and Sir Toby and Maria’s marriage seems more a matter of whim than an expression of deep and abiding passion. Only Viola seems to be truly, passionately in love as opposed to being self-indulgently lovesick. As she says to Orsino, describing herself and her love for him: She pined in thought, And with a green and yellow melancholy She sat like patience on a monument, Smiling at grief. Was not this love indeed? (II. iv. 111–114) The audience, like Orsino, can only answer with an emphatic yes. Viola’s chief problem throughout the play is one of identity. Because of her disguise, she must be both herself and Cesario. This mounting identity crisis culminates in the final scene, when Viola finds herself surrounded by people who each have a different idea of who she is and are unaware of who she actually is. Were Twelfth Night not a comedy, this pressure might cause Viola to break down. Sebastian’s appearance at this point, however, effectively saves Viola by allowing her to be herself again. Sebastian, who independent of his sister is not much of a character, takes over the aspects f Viola’s disguise that she no longer wishes to maintain. Thus liberated by her brother, Viola is free to shed the roles that she has accumulated throughout the play, and she can return to being Viola, the woman who has loved and won Orsino. Orsino and Olivia Orsino and Olivia are worth discussing together, because they have similar personalities. Both claim to be buffeted by s trong emotions, but both ultimately seem to be self-indulgent individuals who enjoy melodrama and self-involvement more than anything. When we first meet them, Orsino is pining away for love of Olivia, while Olivia pines away for her dead brother. They show no interest in relating to the outside world, preferring to lock themselves up with their sorrows and mope around their homes. Viola’s arrival begins to break both characters out of their self-involved shells, but neither undergoes a clear-cut change. Orsino relates to Viola in a way that he never has to Olivia, diminishing his self-involvement and making him more likable. Yet he persists in his belief that he is in love with Olivia until the final scene, in spite of the fact that he never once speaks to her during the course of the play. Olivia, meanwhile, sets aside her grief when Viola (disguised as Cesario) comes to see her. But Olivia takes up her own fantasy of lovesickness, in which she pines away—with a self-indulgence that mirrors Orsino’s—for a man who is really a woman. Ultimately, Orsino and Olivia seem to be out of touch with real emotion, as demonstrated by the ease with which they shift their affections in the final scene—Orsino from Olivia to Viola, and Olivia from Cesario to Sebastian. The similarity between Orsino and Olivia does not diminish with the end of the play, since the audience realizes that by marrying Viola and Sebastian, respectively, Orsino and Olivia are essentially marrying female and male versions of the same person. Malvolio Malvolio initially seems to be a minor character, and his humiliation seems little more than an amusing subplot to the Viola-Olivia-Orsino- love triangle. But he becomes more interesting as the play progresses, and most critics have judged him one of the most complex and fascinating characters in Twelfth Night. When we first meet Malvolio, he seems to be a simple type—a puritan, a stiff and proper servant who likes nothing better than to spoil other people’s fun. It is this dour, fun-despising side that earns him the enmity of the zany, drunken Sir Toby and the clever Maria, who together engineer his downfall. But they do so by playing on a side of Malvolio that might have otherwise remained hidden—his self-regard and his remarkable ambitions, which extend to marrying Olivia and becoming, as he puts it, â€Å"Count Malvolio† (II. v. 30). When he finds the forged letter from Olivia (actually penned by Maria) that seems to offer hope to his ambitions, Malvolio undergoes his first transformation—from a stiff and wooden embodiment of priggish propriety into an personification of the power of selfdelusion. He is ridiculous in these scenes, as he capers around in the yellow stockings and crossed garters that he thinks will please Olivia, but he also becomes pitiable. He may deserve his come-uppance, but there is an uncomfortable universality to his experience. Malvolio’s misfortune is a cautionary tale of ambition overcoming good sense, and the audience winces at the way he adapts every event—including Olivia’s confused assumption that he must be mad—to fit his rosy picture of his glorious future as a nobleman. Earlier, he embodies stiff joylessness; now he is joyful, but in pursuit of a dream that everyone, except him, knows is false. Our pity for Malvolio only increases when the vindictive Maria and Toby confine him to a dark room in Act IV. As he desperately protests that he is not mad, Malvolio begins to seem more of a victim than a victimizer. It is as if the unfortunate steward, as the embodiment of order and sobriety, must be sacrificed so that the rest of the characters can indulge in the hearty spirit that suffuses Twelfth Night. As he is sacrificed, Malvolio begins to earn our respect. It is too much to call him a tragic figure, however—after all, he is only being asked to endure a single night in darkness, hardly a fate comparable to the sufferings of King Lear or Hamlet. But there is a kind of nobility, however limited, in the way that the deluded steward stubbornly clings to his sanity, even in the face of Feste’s insistence that he is mad. Malvolio remains true to himself, despite everything: he knows that he is sane, and he will not allow anything to destroy this knowledge. Malvolio (and the audience) must be content with this self-knowledge, because the play allows Malvolio no real recompense for his sufferings. At the close of the play, he is brought out of the darkness into a celebration in which he has no part, and where no one seems willing to offer him a real apology. â€Å"I’ll be revenged on the whole pack of you,† he snarls, stalking out of the festivities (V. i. 365). His exit strikes a jarring note in an otherwise joyful comedy. Malvolio has no real place in the anarchic world of Twelfth Night, except to suggest that, even in the best of worlds, someone must suffer while everyone else is happy. I n the kingdom of Illyria, a nobleman named Orsino lies around listening to music, pining away for the love of Lady Olivia. He cannot have her because she is in mourning for her dead brother and refuses to entertain any proposals of marriage. Meanwhile, off the coast, a storm has caused a terrible shipwreck. A young, aristocratic-born woman named Viola is swept onto the Illyrian shore. Finding herself alone in a strange land, she assumes that her twin brother, Sebastian, has been drowned in the wreck, and tries to figure out what sort of work she can do. A friendly sea captain tells her about Orsino’s courtship of Olivia, and Viola says that she wishes she could go to work in Olivia’s home. But since Lady Olivia refuses to talk with any strangers, Viola decides that she cannot look for work with her. Instead, she decides to disguise herself as a man, taking on the name of Cesario, and goes to work in the household of Duke Orsino. Viola (disguised as Cesario) quickly becomes a favorite of Orsino, who makes Cesario his page. Viola finds herself falling in love with Orsino—a difficult love to pursue, as Orsino believes her to be a man. But when Orsino sends Cesario to deliver Orsino’s love messages to the disdainful Olivia, Olivia herself falls for the beautiful young Cesario, believing her to be a man. The love triangle is complete: Viola loves Orsino, Orsino loves Olivia, and Olivia loves Cesario—and everyone is miserable. Meanwhile, we meet the other members of Olivia’s household: her rowdy drunkard of an uncle, Sir Toby; his foolish friend, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, who is trying in his hopeless way to court Olivia; Olivia’s witty and pretty waiting-gentlewoman, Maria; Feste, the clever clown of the house; and Malvolio, the dour, prudish steward of Olivia’s household. When Sir Toby and the others take offense at Malvolio’s constant efforts to spoil their fun, Maria engineers a practical joke to make Malvolio think that Olivia is in love with him. She forges a letter, supposedly from Olivia, addressed to her beloved (whose name is signified by the letters M. O. A. I. ), telling him that if he wants to earn her favor, he should dress in yellow stockings and crossed garters, act haughtily, smile constantly, and refuse to explain himself to anyone. Malvolio finds the letter, assumes that it is addressed to him, and, filled with dreams of marrying Olivia and becoming noble himself, happily follows its commands. He behaves so strangely that Olivia comes to think that he is mad. Meanwhile, Sebastian, who is still alive after all but believes his sister Viola to be dead, arrives in Illyria along with his friend and protector, Antonio. Antonio has cared for Sebastian since the shipwreck and is passionately (and perhaps sexually) attached to the young man—so much so that he follows him to Orsino’s domain, in spite of the fact that he and Orsino are old enemies. Sir Andrew, observing Olivia’s attraction to Cesario (still Viola in disguise), challenges Cesario to a duel. Sir Toby, who sees the prospective duel as entertaining fun, eggs Sir Andrew on. However, when Sebastian—who looks just like the disguised Viola—appears on the scene, Sir Andrew and Sir Toby end up coming to blows with Sebastian, thinking that he is Cesario. Olivia enters amid the confusion. Encountering Sebastian and thinking that he is Cesario, she asks him to marry her. He is baffled, since he has never seen her before. He sees, however, that she is wealthy and beautiful, and he is therefore more than willing to go along with her. Meanwhile, Antonio has been arrested by Orsino’s officers and now begs Cesario for help, mistaking him for Sebastian. Viola denies knowing Antonio, and Antonio is dragged off, crying out that Sebastian has betrayed him. Suddenly, Viola has newfound hope that her brother may be alive. Malvolio’s supposed madness has allowed the gleeful Maria, Toby, and the rest to lock Malvolio into a small, dark room for his treatment, and they torment him at will. Feste dresses up as Sir Topas, a priest, and pretends to examine Malvolio, declaring him definitely insane in spite of his protests. However, Sir Toby begins to think better of the joke, and they allow Malvolio to send a letter to Olivia, in which he asks to be released. Eventually, Viola (still disguised as Cesario) and Orsino make their way to Olivia’s house, where Olivia welcomes Cesario as her new husband, thinking him to be Sebastian, whom she has just married. Orsino is furious, but then Sebastian himself appears on the scene, and all is revealed. The siblings are joyfully reunited, and Orsino realizes that he loves Viola, now that he knows she is a woman, and asks her to marry him. We discover that Sir Toby and Maria have also been married privately. Finally, someone remembers Malvolio and lets him out of the dark room. The trick is revealed in full, and the embittered Malvolio storms off, leaving the happy couples to their celebration. Themes, Motifs amp; Symbols Themes Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary  work. Love as a Cause of Suffering Twelfth Night is a romantic comedy, and romantic love is the play’s main focus. Despite the fact that the play offers a happy ending, in which the various lovers find one another and achieve wedded bliss, Shakespeare shows that love can cause pain. Many of the characters seem to view love as a kind of curse, a feeling that attacks its victims suddenly and disruptively. Various characters claim to suffer painfully from being in love, or, rather, from the pangs of unrequited love. At one point, Orsino depicts love dolefully as an â€Å"appetite† that he wants to satisfy and cannot (I. i. 1–3); at another point, he calls his desires â€Å"fell and cruel hounds† (I. i. 21). Olivia more bluntly  describes love as a â€Å"plague† from which she suffers terribly  (I. v. 265). These metaphors contain an element of violence, further painting the love-struck as victims of some random force in the universe. Even the less melodramatic Viola sighs unhappily that â€Å"My state is desperate for my master’s love† (II. ii. 35). This desperation has the potential to result in violence—as in Act V, scene i, when Orsino threatens to kill Cesario because he thinks that -Cesario has forsaken him to become Olivia’s lover. Love is also exclusionary: some people achieve romantic happiness, while others do not. At the end of the play, as the happy lovers rejoice, both Malvolio and Antonio are prevented from having the objects of their desire. Malvolio, who has pursued Olivia, must ultimately face the realization that he is a fool, socially unworthy of his noble mistress. Antonio is in a more difficult situation, as social norms do not allow for the gratification of his apparently sexual attraction to Sebastian. Love, thus, cannot conquer all obstacles, and those whose desires go unfulfilled remain no less in love but feel the sting of its absence all the more severely. The Uncertainty of Gender Gender is one of the most obvious and much-discussed topics in the play. Twelfth Night is one of Shakespeare’s so-called transvestite comedies, in which a female character—in this case, Viola—disguises herself as a man. This situation creates a sexual mess: Viola falls in love with Orsino but cannot tell him, because he thinks she is a man, while Olivia, the object of Orsino’s affection, falls for Viola in her guise as Cesario. There is a clear homoerotic subtext here: Olivia is in love with a woman, even if she thinks he is a man, and Orsino often remarks on Cesario’s beauty, suggesting that he is attracted to Viola even before her male disguise is removed. This latent homoeroticism finds an explicit echo in the minor character of Antonio, who is clearly in love with his male friend, Sebastian. But Antonio’s desires cannot be satisfied, while Orsino and Olivia both find tidy heterosexual gratification once the sexual ambiguities and deceptions are straightened out. Yet, even at the play’s close, Shakespeare leaves things somewhat murky, especially in the Orsino-Viola relationship. Orsino’s declaration of love to Viola suggests that he enjoys prolonging the pretense of Viola’s masculinity. Even after he knows that Viola is a woman, Orsino says to her, â€Å"Boy, thou hast said to me a thousand times / Thou never should’st love woman like to me† (V. i. 260–261). Similarly, in his last lines, Orsino declares, â€Å"Cesario, come— / For so you shall be while you are a man; / But when in other habits you are seen, / Orsino’s mistress, and his fancy’s queen† (V. i. 372–375). Even once everything is revealed, Orsino continues to address Viola by her male name. We can thus only wonder whether Orsino is truly in love with Viola, or if he is more enamoured of her male persona. The Folly of Ambition The problem of social ambition works itself out largely through the character of Malvolio, the steward, who seems to be a competent servant, if prudish and dour, but proves to be, in fact, a supreme egotist, with tremendous ambitions to rise out of his social class. Maria plays on these ambitions when she forges a letter from Olivia that makes Malvolio believe that Olivia is in love with him and wishes to marry him. Sir Toby and the others find this fantasy hysterically funny, of course—not only because of Malvolio’s unattractive personality but also because Malvolio is not of noble blood. In the class system of Shakespeare’s time, a noblewoman would generally not sully her reputation by marrying a man of lower social status. Yet the atmosphere of the play may render Malvolio’s aspirations less unreasonable than they initially seem. The feast of Twelfth Night, from which the play takes its name, was a time when social hierarchies were turned upside down. That same spirit is alive in Illyria: indeed, Malvolio’s antagonist, Maria, is able to increase her social standing by marrying Sir Toby. But it seems that Maria’s success may be due to her willingness to accept and promote the anarchy that Sir Toby and the others embrace. This Twelfth Night spirit, then, seems to pass by Malvolio, who doesn’t wholeheartedly embrace the upending of order and decorum but rather wants to blur class lines for himself alone. Motifs Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes. Letters, Messages, and Tokens Twelfth Night features a great variety of messages sent from one character to another—sometimes as letters and other times in the form of tokens. Such messages are used both for purposes of communication and miscommunication—sometimes deliberate and sometimes accidental. Maria’s letter to Malvolio, which purports to be from Olivia, is a deliberate (and successful) attempt to trick the steward. Sir Andrew’s letter demanding a duel with Cesario, meanwhile, is meant seriously, but because it is so appallingly stupid, Sir Toby does not deliver it, rendering it extraneous. Malvolio’s missive, sent by way of Feste from the dark room in which he is imprisoned, ultimately works to undo the confusion caused by Maria’s forged letter and to free Malvolio from his imprisonment. But letters are not the only kind of messages that characters employ to communicate with one another. Individuals can be employed in the place of written communication—Orsino repeatedly sends Cesario, for instance, to deliver messages to Olivia. Objects can function as messages between people as well: Olivia sends Malvolio after Cesario with a ring, to tell the page that she loves him, and follows the ring up with further gifts, which symbolize her romantic attachment. Messages can convey important information, but they also create the potential for miscommunication and confusion—especially with characters like Maria and Sir Toby manipulating the information. Madness No one is truly insane in Twelfth Night, yet a number of characters are accused of being mad, and a current of insanity or zaniness runs through the action of the play. After Sir Toby and Maria dupe Malvolio into believing that Olivia loves him, Malvolio behaves so bizarrely that he is assumed to be mad and is locked away in a dark room. Malvolio himself knows that he is sane, and he accuses everyone around him of being mad. Meanwhile, when Antonio encounters Viola (disguised as Cesario), he mistakes her for Sebastian, and his angry insistence that she recognize him leads people to assume that he is mad. All of these incidents feed into the general atmosphere of the play, in which normal life is thrown topsy-turvy, and everyone must confront a reality that is somehow fractured. Disguises Many characters in Twelfth Night assume disguises, beginning with Viola, who puts on male attire and makes everyone else believe that she is a man. By dressing his protagonist in male garments, Shakespeare creates endless sexual confusion with the Olivia-ViolaOrsino love triangle. Other characters in disguise include Malvolio, who puts on crossed garters and yellow stockings in the hope of winning Olivia, and Feste, who dresses up as a priest—Sir Topas—when he speaks to Malvolio after the steward has been locked in a dark room. Feste puts on the disguise even though Malvolio will not be able to see him, since the room is so dark, suggesting that the importance of clothing is not just in the eye of the beholder. For Feste, the disguise completes his assumption of a new identity—in order to be Sir Topas, he must look like Sir Topas. Viola puts on new clothes and changes her gender, while Feste and Malvolio put on new garments either to impersonate a nobleman (Feste) or in the hopes of becoming a nobleman (Malvolio). Through these disguises, the play raises questions about what makes us who we are, compelling the audience to wonder if things like gender and class are set in stone, or if they can be altered with a change of clothing. Mistaken Identity The instances of mistaken identity are related to the prevalence of disguises in the play, as Viola’s male clothing leads to her being mistaken for her brother, Sebastian, and vice versa. Sebastian is mistaken for Viola (or rather, Cesario) by Sir Toby and Sir Andrew, and then by Olivia, who promptly marries him. Meanwhile, Antonio mistakes Viola for Sebastian, and thinks that his friend has betrayed him when Viola claims to not know him. These cases of mistaken identity, common in Shakespeare’s comedies, create the tangled situation that can be resolved only when Viola and Sebastian appear together, helping everyone to understand what has happened. Symbols Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts. Olivia’s Gifts When Olivia wants to let Cesario know that she loves him, she sends him a ring by way of Malvolio. Later, when she mistakes Sebastian for Cesario, she gives him a precious pearl. In each case, the jewel serves as a token of her love—a physical symbol of her romantic attachment to a man who is really a woman. The gifts are more than symbols, though. â€Å"Youth is bought more oft than begged or borrowed,† Olivia says at one point, suggesting that the jewels are intended almost as bribes—that she means to buy Cesario’s love if she cannot win it (III. iv. 3). The Darkness of Malvolio’s Prison When Sir Toby and Maria pretend that Malvolio is mad, they confine him in a pitch-black chamber. Darkness becomes a symbol of his supposed insanity, as they tell him that the room is filled with light and his inability to see is a sign of his madness. Malvolio reverses the symbolism. â€Å"I say this house is as dark as ignorance, though ignorance were as dark as hell; and I say there was never man thus abused† (IV. ii. 40–42). In other words, the darkness—meaning madness—is not in the room with him, but outside, with Sir Toby and Feste and Maria, who have unjustly imprisoned him. Changes of Clothing Clothes are powerful in Twelfth Night. They can symbolize changes in gender—Viola puts on male clothes to be taken for a male— as well as class distinctions. When Malvolio fantasizes about becoming a nobleman, he imagines the new clothes that he will have. When Feste impersonates Sir Topas, he puts on a nobleman’s garb, even though Malvolio, whom he is fooling, cannot see him, suggesting that clothes have a power that transcends their physical function. Twelfth Night Analysis of Fools A fool can be defined in many meanings according to the Oxford English Dictionary On Historical Principles. The word could mean a silly person, or one who professionally counterfeits folly for the entertainment of others, a jester, clown or one who has little or no reason or intellect or one who is made to appear to be a fool (word originated from North Frisian). In english literature, the two main ways which the fool could enter imaginative literature is that He could provide a topic, a theme for mediation, or he could turn into a stock character on the stage, a stylized comic figure. In William Shakespeares comedy, Twelfth Night, Feste the clown is not the only fool who is subject to foolery. He and many other characters combine their silly acts and wits to invade other characters that evade reality or rather realize a dream, while our sympathies go out to those. It is natural that the fool should be a prominent amp; attractive figure and make an important contribution to the action in forming the confusion and the humor in an Elizabethan drama. In Twelfth Night, the clown and the fools are the ones who combine humor ;amp; wit to make the comedy work. Clowns, jesters, and Buffoons are usually regarded as fools. Their differences could be of how they dress, act or portrayed in society. A clown for example, was understood to be a country bumpkin or cloun'. In Elizabethan usage, the word clown is ambiguous meaning both countryman and principal comedian. Another meaning given to it in the 1600 is a fool or jester. As for a buffoon, it is defined as a man whose profession is to make low jests and antics postures; a clown, jester, fool. The buffoon is a fool because although he exploits his own weaknesses instead of being exploited by others. he resembles other comic fools. This is similar to the definition of a Jester who is also known as a buffoon, or a merry andrew. One maintained in a princes court or noblemans household. As you can see, the buffoon, jester and the clown are all depicted as fools and are related ;amp; tied to each other in some sort of way. They relatively have the same objectives in their roles but in appearance wise (clothes, physical features) they may be different. In Shakespeares Twelfth Night, Festes role in this Illyrian comedy is significant because Illyria is a country permeated with the spirit of the Feast of Fools, where identities are confused, uncivil rule applauded and no harm is done. In Illyria therefore the fool is not so much a critic of his environment as a ringleader, a merry-companion, a Lord of Misrule. Being equally welcome above and below stairs.. makes Feste significant as a character. In Twelfth Night, Feste plays the role of a humble clown employed by Olivias father playing the licensed fool of their household. We learn this in Olivias statement stating that Feste is an allowed fool(I. v. 93) meaning he is licensed, privileged critic to speak the truth of the people around him. We also learn in a statement by Curio to the Duke that Feste is employed by Olivias father. Feste the jester a fool that the Lady Olivias father took much pleasure in(II. iv. 11). Feste is more of the comic truth of the comedy. Although he does not make any profound remarks, he seems to be the wisest person within all the characters in the comedy. Viola remarks this by saying This fellows wise enough to play the fool(III. i. 61). Since Feste is a licensed fool, his main role in Twelfth Night is to speak the truth. This is where the humor lies, his truthfulness. In one example he proves Olivia to be a true fool by asking her what she was mourning about. The point

Why are standards so important for NICs, connectors, and media Essay Example for Free

Why are standards so important for NICs, connectors, and media Essay Use your textbook and Internet research to justify your answer. Standards are put in place to make everything work together error free. Because Stability, Consistency, Minimization of packet errors. 4.1.2 The voltage for registering a bit of 1 on Ethernet can be as low as 2.5 volts or even 1 volt. Why is this so low when the capacity for transmitting electricity on the copper wire is so high? Use your textbook and Internet research to support your answer. Because the voltage used to transmit data needs only be high enough for the receiver to detect it. Making the voltage higher would make the receiver electronics more difficult. 4.1.3 The voltage for registering a bit of 1 on Ethernet can be as low as 2.5 volts or even 1 volt. Why is this so low when the capacity for transmitting electricity on the copper wire is so high? Use your textbook and Internet research to support your answer. Hospitals, security systems, PA recording studios. The drawback of STP cables is that they will increase the total cost of an installation. STP cables are more expensive due to the shielding, which is an additional material that goes into every meter of the cable. The shielding also makes the cable heavier and stiffer. Thus, it is more difficult to handle. 4.1.4 Complete the entries in Table 4- 1. Use your textbook and Internet research to compose your answer. The common connector for interfacing UTP wires to a computer for networking is the Registered Jack 45 ( RJ- 45) interface. This uses eight copper wires ( four twisted pairs) to complete the connection between interfaces. The pinout for these wires defines the order in which the individual wires connect to the network interface card and how the wires transition from one end of the cable to the other. A straight cable is used to connect a device to a network hub or switch. This type of cable does not change the wiring order from one end to the other. You can see an example of  this in Figure 4- 1. Cat 310MbpsToken/10 base T Cat 416MbpsToken Cat 5100MbpsEthernet/Token Cat 61000MbpsGigabit Ethernet Cat 6a1GbpsGigabit Ethernet 4.1.5 Another computer. Using Figure 4- 1 and Table 4- 2 as an example, create the diagram and color coding for a crossover cable. Use your textbook and Internet research to compose your answer. Hint: The crossover cable is more complex than simply reversing the entire set of wires. You are wiring the input pins to the output pins and vice versa. 4.1.6 Briefly describe the layered construction of a coaxial cable from the inner core to the outer insulation. Use your textbook and Internet research to compose your answer. Coaxial cable consists of a core of copper wire surrounded by insulation, a braided metal shielding, and an outer cover. 4.1.7 Based solely on the distance limitation of UTP cable, what should you guarantee about any network you plan for UTP cable? Use your textbook and Internet research to justify your answer. 100 meters a signal repeater 4.1.8 What type of cable is necessary for each connection in Figure 4- 2: straight or crossover? You can assume that S1 and S2 do not have the ability to resolve crossovers ( called Auto- MDIX). Use your textbook and Internet research to compose your answer. They both need straight UTP 4.1.9 If all the connections in the network from Figure 4- 2 use UTP cable, will they all be able to communicate correctly? If not, which links will not function and what should be done to resolve the issue? Use your textbook and  Internet research to justify your answer. 4.1.10 Briefly describe the purpose of each of the following network testing devices: Multimeter- an electronic measuring instrument that combines several measurement functions in one unit. Tone generator-electronic audio acoustics and equipment testing and setup, or informational signals, commonly associated with a telephone system Pair scanner- used to locate problems in a LAN system Time domain reflectometer is an electronic instrument used to characterize and locate faults in metallic cablesa.

Consumer Expectations Before and After Purchase

Consumer Expectations Before and After Purchase Introduction: Background to research: Until recently, consumer behaviourists had many theories of satisfaction. Rather, a post decision phenomenon known as cognitive dissonance (Festinger1957) was thought to provide a sufficient framework for understanding post purchase responses. Researchers later expanded the theories more recent theoretical and empirical works (Andreasen 1977; Day 1977; Oliver 1977) generally agree that satisfaction results from a subjective comparison of the expected and received product attribute levels, as originally proposed by (Engel 1968), but that the exact nature of satisfaction process is unknown. In addition psychological concept remains in dispute. Why the customer would seek out one -and only one-branded object or brand set to fulfil his or her needs? This is the pertinent question because the present era of global competition seemingly would enable the customer to move to better alternatives as soon as they materialised. Product improvements, refinements, and innovations are new product introductions are predicted. (See cooper 1993,p.4).Satisfaction research has been â€Å"king† spawned by the widespread adoption of the marketing concept, efforts to align marketing strategy with the goal of maximizing customer satisfaction have been pursued in earnest by the product and service providers (post purchase research 1993 wylie, p.1).( Richard L Oliver journal of marketing; 1999; 63, p. 33) Context of research: The purpose of Research: 1. The purpose of this study is to balance service quality and product quality into an integrated model. 2. The management of the company can make different strategies to make the customers satisfied to full extent. 3. The outcomes of the research helps the top level managers to make their strategies in production and servicing for their products for the new and existing customers. 4. To explore the effects of the three consumer perceptions (product quality, service quality and price fairness) on satisfaction and loyal behaviour. Automobile industry maintenance service is chosen as an examined object because both â€Å"technicians, skills and parts† quality are essential to consumers. Perceived quality: As stated by Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry (1985), quality has been a complex but vague construct which demands further investigation for the industries to highlight product and service quality as satisfaction management. It should be defined as the consumers judgement about a products overall excellence or superiority. Consumer product perceived quality is positively related to consumer loyalty. Perceived service quality: Parsuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry established the five-gap model in 1985, which established the structure and measurement of the methods to measure service quality and consumer satisfaction were basically the same, with both based on comparisons of expectation and performance. Perceived service quality is positively related to customer satisfaction. (Journal of consumer satisfaction, dissatisfaction and complaining behaviour; 2001; 14, p 125) (Parsuraman Zeithaml, and Berry, vol 52 April 1988, p39) they indicate that consumers quality perceptions are influenced by a series of four distinct gaps occurring in organisations. The gaps on service providers side, which can impede delivery of services that consumers perceive to be of high quality, are: 1. Difference between consumer expectations and management perceptions of consumer expectations. 2. Difference between management perceptions of consumer expectations and service quality specifications. 3. Difference between service quality specifications and the service actually delivered. 4. Difference between service delivery and what is communicated about the service to consumers. The mangers of service providers need to know how to measure the service quality, and whether consumers actually purchase from the firms that have the highest level of perceived service quality or from those with which they are most â€Å"satisfied.† (Cronin, j.joseph, jr July 1992.) Expected outcomes: The aim of the proposed research is to: Develop an attractive environment in the dealers service station. Develop a good media and communication in solving the queries of the customers. The actual response of satisfaction from the customers on the company products and services. LITERATURE REVIEW: Executive summary: All marketers need to be aware of the effect of globalization, technology, and deregulation. Rather than try to satisfy everyone, marketers start with market segmentation and develop a market offering that is positioned in the minds of the target market. To satisfy the target markets needs, wants, and demands, marketers create a Product, one of the 10 types of entities (goods, services, experiences, events, persons, places, properties, organizations, information, and ideas). Marketers must search hard for the core need they are trying to satisfy, remembering that their products will be successful only if they deliver value (the ratio of benefits and costs) to customers. Every marketing exchange requires at least two parties—both with something valued by the other party, both capable of communication and delivery, both free to accept or reject the offer, and both finding it appropriate or desirable to deal with the other. One agreement to exchange constitutes a transaction, part of the larger idea of relationship marketing. Through relationship marketing, organizations aim to build enduring, mutually satisfying bonds with customers and other key parties to earn and Retain their long-term business. Reaching out to a target market entails communication channels, distribution channels, and selling channels. The supply chain, which stretches from raw materials to the final products for final buyers, represents a value delivery system. Marketers can capture more of the supply chain value by acquiring competitors or expanding upstream or downstream. In the marketing environment, marketers face brand, industry, form, and generic competition. The marketing environment can be divided into the task environment (the immediate actors in producing, distributing, and promoting the product offering) and the broad environment (forces in the demographic, economic, natural, technological, political-legal, and social-cultural environment). To succeed, marketers must pay close attention to the trends and developments in these environments and make timely adjustments to their marketing strategies. Within these environments, Marketers apply the marketing mix—the set of marketing tools used to pursue marketing objectives in the target market. The marketing mix consists of the four Ps: product, price, place, and promotion. Companies can adopt one of five orientations toward the marketplace. The production concept assumes that consumers want widely available, affordable products; the product concept assumes that consumer want products with the most quality, performance, or innovative features; the selling concept assumes that customers will not buy enough products without an aggressive selling and promotion effort; the marketing concept assumes the firm must be better than competitors in creating, delivering, and communicating customer value to its chosen target markets; and the societal marketing concept assumes that the firm must satisfy customers more effectively and efficiently than competitors while still preserving the consumers and the societys wellbeing. Keeping this concept in mind, smart companies will add â€Å"higher order† image attributes to supplement both rational and emotional benefits. The combination of technology, globalization, and deregulation is influencing customers, brand manufacturers, and store-based retailers in a variety of ways. Responding to the changes and new demands brought on by these forces has caused many companies to make adjustments. In turn, savvy marketers must also alter their marketing activities, tools, and approaches to keep pace with the changes they will face today and tomorrow. Receiving service: The convenience of receiving service is presumably lowest when a customer has to come to the service organisation and must use specific outlet. Offering service through several outlets increases the convenience of access for customers but many start to raise problems of quality control as convenience of access relates to the consistency of the service product delivered. For some type of services the companies come to customer. This is, of course, essential when the target of the service is some immovable physical item (such as a building that needs repairs or pest control treatment, or a garden that needs land-scaping). But since its usually more expensive to take service personnel and equipment to the customer than vice versa, the trend has been away from this approach to delivering consumer services. The key to generating high customer loyalty is to deliver high customer value. A companys value proposition is much more than its positioning on a single attribute. Most of the successful companies are raising expectations and delivering performances to match. These companies are aiming for TCS Total Customer Satisfaction. Customer satisfaction is both a goal and a marketing tool. Companies that achieve high customer satisfaction ratings make sure that their target market is known. After sales support management system is apart of ERP Enterprise Resource Planning solution dealing with the support module after the sales of product. It creates an advanced environment to the organization, which are in to technical support after sales e.g. Companies offering electronic goods and motor vehicles etc. The functional features include: Customer complaints tracking Service engineers information tracking Job scheduling for the complaints Spares management Online support Reports. Customer complaints tracking: Complaint is the starting point of any technical support system. With out a client request the technical support is not initiated. Complaint tracking is done as follows: Client may come down or make a phone call or complaint online The client is validated. The client may have an annual maintenance contract or may have a product in warranty or of warranty. The intensity of the complaint is to be estimated to allocate resources. Expected service type has to be finalized. It may be online assistance indoor or onsite assistance. Service Engineers Information tracking: Information about the engineers is inevitable in job scheduling. Information about the engineers has to be added, deleted or modified in the database. It may contain the following: The name, id of the engineer; the skill set of the engineer; the status of the engineer. Job scheduling for the complaints: Job scheduling means sequencing the request with respect to its intensity, Assignment of a service engineer and creating a job card. It is done to optimize the technical resources and to render the best service to the customer. Minor problem are processed by technicians and complex requests are handled by the expert team. The job card includes the following: The complaint id, the assigned engineer id, the data and time of service, the spare details, no. of man hours required etc. The spare part name and serial number. The available quantity of each spare part. The prize, warranty and other specifications. The suppliers information. Online support: The service is done online also. The client may visit the website to obtain basic support information about the product and FAQ. He can chat with the service engineer on phone or online. Report: The report reflects the current status of the system. The reports that can be generated are as follows: Customer request report and status of the system. Service engineer report provides the information about the skills and strengths of the support team. Job scheduling report states the allotment of the engineers to jobs. Spares report discloses the availability of all the spares in the system. Receipts and payments report gives information about the cash flow in the System, generation of bills: Customer satisfaction tracking: Customer satisfaction is the key concept to dictate the future of the organization. In order to maximize the customer satisfaction along with quick response and efficient service some other activities are to be performed. They may be as follows: Reception of the customer with hospitality. Entertaining environment to the customer. Providing guidance about the usage and maintenance of the product. Offering gift and discounts. Toyota company profile and Feedback and Control: As it implements its strategy, the firm needs to track the results and monitor new developments in the internal and external environments. Some environments are fairly stable from year to year. Other environments evolve slowly in a fairly predictable way. Still other environments change rapidly in significant and unpredictable ways. Nonetheless, the company can count on one thing: The marketplace will change. And when it does, the company will Need to review and revise its implementation, programs, strategies, or even objectives. A companys strategic fit with the environment will inevitably erode because the market environment changes faster than the companys 7-Ss. Thus a company might remain efficient while it loses effectiveness. Peter Drucker pointed out that it is more important to â€Å"do the right thing† (effectiveness) than â€Å"to do things right† (efficiency). The most successful companies excel at both. Once an organization fails to respond to a changed environment, it has difficulty recapturing its lost position. This happened to the once-unassailable Motorola when it was slow to respond to the new digital technology used by Nokia and others, and kept rolling out analogue phones.17 Similarly, Barnes Noble did not immediately recognize the threat posed by Amazon. COMs Internet-based book retailing model; then, as a latecomer to e-commerce, it had more of a struggle establishing itself. Clearly, the key to organizational health is the firms willingness to examine the changing environment and to adopt appropriate new goals and behaviours. High-performance organizations continuously monitor the environment and use flexible strategic planning to maintain a viable fit with the evolving environment. Toyota Motor Corporation, Japans #1 carmaker, has a driving ambition to become greener. The company makes a hybrid-powered (gas and electric) sedan the Prius that isbeing snapped up in US and European markets. Its gas-powered cars, pickups, minivans, and SUVs include such models as Camry,Corolla, 4Runner,Land Cruiser, Sienna, the luxury Lexus line, the new Scion brand, and a full-sized pickup truck, the V-8 Tundra. Toyota also makes forklifts and manufactured housing, and offers consumer financial services. Once a dark horse in the global automotive game, Toyota has begun to close the gap on General Motors and DaimlerChrysler, and has already passed Ford Motor. While most of its North American and European competitors are contracting their operations due to falling demand and overcapacity, Toyota is growing to meet increased global demand. The company has an expressed plan of gaining a global 10% share of the automotive market by the early 2010s. To do this, Toyota feels it must build the cars where, or very near where, they will be bought. To this end Toyota opened new vehicle plants in the Czech Republic in 2005 and is scheduled to open its 11th US plant in San Antonio, Texas in 2006. The greatest focus of Toyotas overseas strategy is currently in China, a country that is expected to become the second-largest car market (behind the US) by 2010. By that year Toyota wants to have a 10% market share in China. Like its competitors, Toyota is beefing up its Chinese operations by joining forces with local automotive players. With its Chinese partner China FAW Group Corporation, Toyota builds Land Cruisers and Corollas in China. Through another agreement with Guangzhou Automobile Group, Toyota began jointly developing engines in 2005. Also in association with Guangzhou Automobile, in 2006 the first Chinese-built Camry rolled off the assembly line in Nansha near Hong Kong. The Camry is the best-selling car in the US and has been a leading import in China. The Chinese-built Camrys are priced to move in an effort to quickly boost Toyotas market share. Late in 2006 Toyota fired a salvo over the deck of GM when it said it aimed to build 9.8 million vehicles by 2008. GM sold 9 .2 million vehicles in 2005 the second-largest volume the company has ever produced in a single year. The announcement came at a time when GM and its equally bedraggled US counterpart Ford are desperately trimming capacity to stay competitive. Toyota out-built Ford back in 2003 and now has GM in its sights. While growing its worldwide production base; Toyota has committed itself to leading the charge toward the development of more efficient, environmentally friendly vehicles, primarily powered by hybrid gasoline-electric technology. Toyotas global production of hybrids in 2005 totalled 151,000 units, or two-and-one-half times production levels of the previous fiscal year. Toyotas hybrid plans going forward are even more ambitious. The company says it wants to build one million hybrids by the early 2010s. In addition to the Prius, Toyota currently offers hybrid versions of the Highlander SUV and the venerable Camry. Late in 2006 Toyota bought a 5.9% stake in Isuzu Motors. The two companies plan to cooperate on engine technologies with Isuzu concentrating on small diesel engines and diesel emission controls while Toyota will focus on environmental improvements for gasoline engines and alternative fuels. The move marks the second time in as many years that Toyota has taken advantage of a broken GM alliance with a Japanese partner. Toyota bought an 8.7% stake in Fuji Heavy Industries from GM in 2005. History In 1926 Sakichi Toyoda founded Toyoda Automatic Loom Works. In 1930 he sold the rights to the loom he invented and gave the proceeds to his son Kiichiro Toyoda to begin an automotive business. Kiichiro opened an auto shop within the loom works in 1933. When protectionist legislation (1936) improved prospects for Japanese automakers, Kiichiro split off the car department, took it public (1937), and changed its name to Toyota. During WWII the company made military trucks, but financial problems after the war caused Toyota to reorganize in 1950. Its post war commitment to RD paid off with the launch of the four-wheel-drive Land Cruiser (1951); full-sized Crown (1955); and the small Corona (1957). Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., debuted the Toyopet Crown in the US in 1957, but it proved underpowered for the US market. Toyota had better luck with the Corona in 1965 and with the Corolla (which became the best-selling car of all time) in 1968. By 1970 Toyota was the worlds fourth-largest carmaker. Toyota expanded rapidly in the US. During the 1970s the oil crisis caused demand for fuel-efficient cars, and Toyota was there to grab market share from US makers. In 1975 Toyota displaced Volkswagen as the USs #1 auto importer. Toyota began auto production in the US in 1984 through NUMMI, its joint venture with GM. The Lexus line was launched in the US in 1989 Because of the European Communitys restrictions on Japanese auto imports until the year 2000, Toyotas European expansion slowed. Toyota responded in 1992 by agreeing to distribute cars in Japan for Volkswagen and also by establishing an engine plant (later moved to full auto production) in the UK. The sport utility vehicle (SUV) mania of the 1990s spurred Toyotas introduction of luxury minivans and light trucks. Hiroshi Okuda, a 40-year veteran with Toyota and the first person from outside the Toyoda family to run the firm, succeeded Tatsuro Toyoda as president in 1995. The next year Toyota consolidated its North American production units into Cincinnati-based Toyota Motor Manufacturing North America. In 1997 Toyota introduced the Prius, a hybrid electric- and gas-powered car. The next year Toyota boosted its stake in affiliate Daihatsu (mini-vehicles) to about 51% and started Toyota Map master (51%owned), to Make map databases for car navigation systems. Okuda became chairman in 1999, replacing Shoichiro Toyota, and Fujio Cho became president. Also that year Toyota agreed to form a joint venture with Isuzu to manufacture buses, and it announced plans to invest $800 million to boost US auto production by 16% (200,000 vehicles) to about 1.45 million. In 2000 Toyota launched the Will VI, a sedan aimed at young people. It announced that it was building an online replacement parts marketplace with i2 Technology and that it had formed a financial services company (Toyota Financial Service) and a brokerage firm (Toyota Financial Services Securities Corp.). Toyota also bought a 5% stake in Yamaha (the worlds #2 motorcycle maker) and raised its stake in truck maker Hino Motors from about 20% to almost 34%. International developments included Toyotas agreement with the Chinese government to produce passenger cars for sale in China. The cars are to be built by Tianjin Toyota Motor Corp., a joint venture between Chinese carmaker Tianjin Automobile Xiali and Toyota. Early in 2001 Toyota opened a new plant in France. Later that year the company formed an agreement with PSA Peugeot Citroà «n to begin joint car production in Europe (production began in 2005). Toyota also increased its stake in Hino Motors to 50% with partners Toyoda Gosei, Ltd. and Horie Metal Co., Ltd., Toyota formed a joint venture in 2002 to manufacture resin fuel tank systems. In 2004 Toyota announced that it would establish 14 Lexus dealerships in China; the dealers were all open by mid-2005. Later in 2004 Toyota forged a joint venture agreement with Guangzhou Automobile Group Co., Ltd. to build engines in China In 2005 Toyota bought just fewer than 9% of General Motors 20% stake in Fuji Heavy Industries the Japanese maker of Subaru passenger vehicles. Satisfaction as defined: The satisfaction was â€Å"the buyers cognitive state of being adequately rewarded for the sacrifice he has undergone† (Howard and Sheth 1969, p.145). Hunt (1997b) summarised the feelings of a number of speakers at the first consumer satisfaction conference among the definitions offered were need fulfilment, pleasure/displeasure, expectation-performance interactions, evaluation of the purchase or Consumption experience, evaluation of the benefits of consumption, comparison of actual with ideal outcomes, and the Attribute â€Å"deficit/ surplus† obtained from the purchase. On the basis of the diverse views, Hunt concluded that satisfaction is an evaluation rendered that the product experience was at least as good as it was supposed to be,† in effect an â€Å"evaluation of an emotion†(pp.459-460). Satisfaction may be best understood as an evaluation of the surprise inherent in a product acquisition and/or consumption experience. In essence, it is the summary psychological state resulting when the emotion surrounding disconfirmed expectations is coupled with the consumers prior feelings about the consumption experience. (Richard L. Oliver.) When you visit your favourite restaurant, you expect to have a nice meal. That positive expectation, in itself, is a form of satisfaction. We call it anticipation-satisfaction. When the host sees you and remembers your name, thats recognition-satisfaction. Of course, once youve had that tasty, filling meal, and you feel a warm glow, that outcome is also a satisfaction. Its called need-satisfaction. What happens when youre so pleased with a restaurant that you go out of your way to rave about it to your friends? Thats referral or recommendation-satisfaction. And when the restaurant manager says, â€Å"Come again,† and you reply, â€Å"You can bet on it!† youve expressed a recommitment, or what we call, pledge-satisfaction. What happens when the owner gives you a free dessert just for being a great patron, and youre surprised and delighted about it? Thats what we refer to as surprise-satisfaction. Seeing and being seen in a trendy eatery confers an additional perk: status -satisfaction. As you can see, dining out can lead to several forms of customer satisfaction, and I havent listed half of them. Whatever our business is, we need to know whether were serving our customers as capably as we can, so which satisfaction definitions and measures should we use? Defining customer satisfaction is a very important undertaking—one that even the most customer-focused companies, fail to do. If we dont define it carefully, how can we monitor and measure it, let alone produce it on a consistent and reliable basis? If you ask most business owners how they define satisfaction, sooner or later theyll mention repeat business. Theyll ask, do customers come back and buy again? This is retention-satisfaction. Retention-satisfaction is especially significant because it can be rather easily monitored, and it can be measured in dollars and cents. But it isnt foolproof. This article entitled, â€Å"Just Because They Buy Again Doesnt Mean Theyre Satisfied.† I pointed out that clients might feel they have no other viable choice than to buy from you. Cable television customers used to fit this profile before they could sign-up for satellite-television. Customer service departments are known to track dissatisfaction more than satisfaction. Theyll carefully note every angry letter that comes in the mail, believing that there are perhaps 50 or 100 people who feel the same way, but who didnt bother to write. Paying attention to letters is fine, but the inferences we make about how many silent customers they represent, is little more than a wild hunch. Moreover, service providers shouldnt infer that the absence of angry letters implies the presence of happy customers. Instead of counting letters, Id rather monitor and interpret customer satisfaction behaviours as they occur. The best time to do this is when service transactions conclude. Why wait days or weeks to receive a letter, which only one-in-ten thousand people might write? When you monitor actual transactions, you can tap into a large, continuous universe of customers that is much more representative of feelings-at-large. For instance, we monitor and measure at least three customer behaviours: (1) Their voice inflections; (2) The language they use to express gratitude; and (3) Their pledges to do additional business after being subtly cued to indicate this intention.(To learn more about this system, please refer to my book, Monitoring, Measuring, Managing Customer Service: Jossey-Bass/JohnWiley:2000). How do you measure customer satisfaction? Is it connected to real customer value? When was the last time you seriously explored alternatives? By taking a fresh look at these questions you can create true breakthroughs. You can systematically deliver todays satisfactions while inventing tomorrow Market Definition: The automotive aftermarket is valued according to the retail selling price (RSP), including taxes, of service parts, wear tear parts, mechanical parts, tires, crash repair and consumables accessories. Service parts include filters, wiper blades, ignition plugs and engine oil components. Wear tear Parts include batteries, emission systems, brake pads discs and ride control. Mechanical parts are defined as those parts which are neither changed as part of a service are considered to be wear tear parts. These include transmission and power train parts. Crash repair includes body parts, lighting, glass, paint and solvents. Consumables include cleaners, waxes, polishes, windscreen washes and antifreeze. Accessories include in-car entertainment, alarms security, alloy wheels, storage, interiors (mats etc.) and exteriors (spoilers etc.). Labour charges and wholesale-related revenues are not included. The data only relates to the market for the repair of light vehicles (cars light commercial vehicles of up to 3.5 tonnes in weight). Any currency conversions used in the creation of this report have been calculated using constant 2004 annual average exchange rates. Market analysis: The European auto aftermarket sector reported disappointing results for 2001-2005.Annual growth remained marginal at the outset of the review period in 2002-2003, before entering a decline that is expected to last until the end of 2010.The European auto aftermarket generated total revenues of $89.7 billion in 2005, representing a compound annual rate of change (CARC) of -0.2% for the five-year period spanning 2001-2005. The slump in the market was primarily driven by decline in the German, UK and French markets. Positive growth was exhibited by the Spanish and Italian markets. Sales of mechanical parts form the leading segment in the market, generating total revenues of $27.9 billion in 2005, equivalent to 31.1% of the overall market value. In comparison, the crash repair sector was worth $19 billion, which represented a 21.1% share of the markets value. Looking forward, the European auto aftermarket is expected to decelerate from its current value growth position. With an anticipate d CARC of -0.5% over the 2005-2010 periods, the market is expected to reach a value of $87.5 billion by the end of 2010. Further decline in the French and German markets will act to undermine total revenue for the region; however, the UK market is expected to recover. Competitive landscape: In 2002, the German-based Volkswagen had the largest market share in Europe, with18.4%of new registrations. However, this was almost half a point lower than in the previous year. The company managed to keep revenues and operating costs stable over the period despite lower sales, due to price increases above inflation as well as cost-cutting measures. PSA Peugeot Citroà «n is close behind Volkswagen, and increased its market share by more than half a point in 2002. Indeed, in 2002 the Peugeot 206 overtook the VW Golf as the best-selling car in Europe. The market is highly competitive at the top end, PSA are only than three points ahead of Ford, a company which could well bounce back if its cost-cutting measures fulfil their initial promise. For all three companies, the necessity is to keep on churning out bright and successful new models, and PSA currently looks like it has the edge in terms of technology and design. Below these three companies, Renault, GM and Fiat have been loosing market share, or in Renaults case hanging on to what they have with only a thread. Fiat has suffered from flooding in one of its main parts factories, which has further set back the already beleaguered Italian car maker, but the company has not yet released details of its long-term recovery plans, if it has any. Despite the openness of European car markets, national loyalty still plays a great influence. In France, PSA and Renault lead, whereas in Germany, Italy and Spain, Volkswagen, Fiat and Seat respectively have strong positions. The smaller count ries in Europe provide an exception to this rule, as Belgium and the Netherlands have no substantial car manufacturers of their own but instead act as distribution hubs for other countries. The UK market is led by the large American companies, which cynics may say illustrates where its loyalties lie. Leadin