The trail of Tears Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The trail of Tears - Essay Example Over 15,000 of our members, led by Chief John Ross, have signed a petition in protest of this false treaty. Despite this, the United States Supreme Court dismissed our concerns and this year ratified the treaty. We have now been given two years to migrate voluntarily to the west, away from our own country, to unfamiliar territory beyond the Mississippi. Forcible removal has been threatened if we do not leave on our own. Citizens of the United States, we do not wish to leave our lands, nor should we be forced to do so. Such a move would not be in our best interests; indeed it would be fatal to us as a nation. Firstly, it is an area completely unknown to us, and in addition is already occupied by other Indian nations who would not take kindly to encroachers upon their territory. We would be forced into close proximity with neighbors with whom we do not share a language or customs. The territory is also inadequately supplied with wood and water, making it much harder for us to survive. We appeal to the sense of fairness in the citizens of the United States, because previous to the false treaty, all agreements upheld our sovereign rights. Those treaties explicitly acknowledged us to be a separate people, in a separate territory comprising our own country, and were supposed to be secured and protected by your government. In the 1832 Supreme Court case Worcester v. Georgia, the majority opinion written by Chief Justice John Marshall rendered a judgment firmly upholding our rights. It stated, in part, that Indian nations should be regarded as distinct political communities, with their own territorial boundaries in which exclusive authority is exercised, as guaranteed by the United States. Although the case specifically addressed the legal question of whether the State of Georgia could forcibly seize any person residing within our nation with our permission, it forthrightly addresses our territorial and sovereign rights.

Macbeth, Macduff and the Witches Essay Example for Free

Macbeth, Macduff and the Witches Essay Macduff has just told me that he was not born naturally; he actually turned to me and said Macduff was from his mothers womb untimely ripped. For me, that is the end, I think about the witchs predictions. Then, I think back to when it all started. We were on our way home, Banquo and I when we meet the witches who told us that I would be Thane of Glamis, well I knew that already. Then they told me that I would be Thane of Cawdor, This surprised me as the Thane of Cawdor was very well and living. Then the final witch said to me All hail Macbeth that shalt be king hereafter. When I heard this I wanted to here more but they wouldnt speak to me. Then my friend Banquo asked them about him, what will happen to him? They said to Banquo that he will be lesser than Macbeth but greater. Which at first didnt make sense but then it came to me that he would not be king but his children would succeed to the throne. I turned to question them and suddenly they disappeared. I saw Ross riding towards us he told us that the king has heard of our success against the Norwegians. Then he said that the Thane of Cawdor has been relieved from his command and the king has given me the job of being Thane of Cawdor. I couldnt believe it the witches were right, their predictions came true and if that prediction came true than so should the rest. I wrote a letter to my wife telling her about the witches and their predictions I also told her that I had become the Thane of Cawdor. When I got home my wife told me that the king will be coming to stay at our castle for the night. I was really surprised about this visit and then my wife explained the plans she made. It was all too difficult as Duncan had been really good to me; he made me Thane of Cawdor which was very generous. But now I have to kill him, I was afraid but my wife convinced me that when it is done everything would be fine. Her plan was to drug the kings personal bodyguards, wait till they fall asleep, then steal their daggers and use them to murder Duncan. After I kill Duncan I was to leave the bloody daggers in the hands of the bodyguards. I really didnt want to do this but I couldnt let my wife down. So went up to Duncans room and I saw a dagger before my eyes, I tried to grab it but my hand just went through it. It started floating towards Duncans room and then it just disappeared. I picked up the sleeping guards daggers and walked into Duncans chambers. When it was done I came out of Duncans chambers and went to my wife who was ringing the bell gently. She saw me with the daggers dripping in blood and she said to me why did I bring the daggers with you, you was supposed to leave them with the guards I told her I was afraid and I just ran out of the room and forgot everything. She took the daggers away from me and put them in the hands of the guards. Then I heard a very loud knocking, I looked at my hands and they were stained red so I quickly ran to the well and washed them, my wife cane back and her hands were also red so she washed them as well. The knocking continued so we got changed and laid in bed. The porter opened the door. It was Macduff and Lennox, who came in ringing the bell so that everyone would wake up. I went to them and showed them to Duncans room. Everyone was shocked at what they saw, and I had to play along too. Malcolm and Dolabain Duncans two sons fled. One went to England and the other to Ireland. This was good because it makes everyone suspicious of them. Now they were gone, I was crowned king, but I still had one more problem. Banquo was with me when the witches told us of their predictions. He was also there when Ross told me the king has given me the job of being Thame of Cawdor, so then Banquo would be suspicious of me because one of the witches predictions was that I would be king, and now that the king is dead, he will accuse me of killing him. I had killed once, and it seemed easy to kill again. I arranged for Banquo, my friend, to be killed. I hired these hit men. I was not sure how it would all turn out. I told the hit men to make sure they kill Fleance, his son as well because I didnt want any of his children to reign as well. I prepared a banquet for all my friends. Lords and nobleman we all sat around the table and began to eat: You know your own degrees, sit down. At first it was going all quite well, me and my wife was enjoying ourselves which was a relief from thinking about Duncan and what happened in the past. Then just as it was getting better, I spotted one of the hit men that I had hired earlier. I went to him and made sure no one could see or hear us. I asked him is he dispatched? He replied with good news my lord, his throat is cut; that I did for him. I asked him what he had done with Fleance. He hung his head and said that he had escaped. I was furious I knew the nightmares would come back to me. I returned to my seat. Then Ross asked me to sit at his table, but I told him it was full. He said there was a free seat next to him. I looked at the seat next to him and saw the ghost of Banquo looking at me. I began to panic, but my wife Lady Macbeth said to everyone that I was getting into a fit and that they should leave now. When they had gone, she calmed me down saying its just the very painting of my fear. After that day I felt strange, different, uneasy, so I went back to the witches because I was so worried. When I got there they were all around a black cauldron, they said to me that they will summon their master the Apparitions. I looked into the cauldron I saw the first apparition an armed head. It said beware Macduff, beware the Thane of fife. I thought hmm well Macduff wont be a problem I can just have him killed like Banquo. The second apparition appeared which was a bloody child it said Be bloody, bold and resolute, laugh to scorn the power of man, for none of woman shall harm Macbeth. Ha! I was impressed with this, everyman and woman is born from a woman so no one can harm me. The next apparition appeared it was a child crowned, with a tree in his hand. Be loin-mettled, proud and take no care that chafes, who frets, or where conspirers are, Macbeth shall never vanquish be, until Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill shall come against him. Well to me this was just wrong how can a wood move all the way up Dunsinane hill? I went home feeling very confident and the very next day I found out that Macduff had gone to England to get an army together lead by Malcom. I told my mercenaries to go to his castle and kill everyone and everything in there. Mean while when all this was going on my wife had been sleepwalking and the lady-in had called in a doctor to observe her actions. He watched her while she was sleepwalking. My wife was carrying out the actions we did when we murdered Duncan! So now the doctor and the lady-in knew about us. I noticed all my friends had left me and gone to England with Malcom, even Ross had left me and I knew he was going to tell Macduff that I had killed his family. I didnt care actually no born of a man could harm me. I bet Macduff was furious but I had nothing to fear. So as I was getting ready to fight Macduff and Malcom I still felt safe about it all because of what the apparitions told me. I knew my wife had died somehow she should have died hereafter I felt cold about everything except defeating Macduff. A messenger came later saying that Birnam wood was moving Liar and Slave I said to him but he begged me to take a look, so I did and realized what the apparitions were talking about. Malcoms army was using the branches and wood as camouflage. When everyone found out that Macduff was coming they all ran away those cowards. A few English soldiers came to me and tried to attack me but they were no problem, I walked outside the castle full of confidence and pride. I faced Macduff and said to him I bear a charmed life, which must not yield to any of woman born. Then thats when he told me that he was born untimely ripped. Looking back now I see where it had gone all wrong, but when I think about the future, me kneeling before Malcoms feet I couldnt let it happen. I raised my sword and attempted to kill Malcom but Macduff got in the way trying to defend him, I fought as hard as I could but he was just too fast. I felt something cold and sharp go through my chest, my sword fell from my hand and then I saw a blur in front of me soon I could see nothing everything had just gone black.

Antigone Essay examples -- English Literature Essays

Antigone â€Å"Make these excuses, I will heap/ The earth over my brother’s body† (63). Although no one would help her, Antigone took a stand against injustice and honored her brother by burying him, even though Creon said this act would be punishable by death if anyone committed this act of insubordination. Especially in the age that Antigone lived in, it was considered foolish to simply go against a man’s orders, let alone the Kings. Not to mention that Antigone was related to the King, making the situation even worse. She committed a supremely precarious action, especially for a woman. Not only does she bravely follow her morals, but she does a great job of justifying them in her arguments. Antigone was a civil disobedient by disobeying Creon’s orders and accepting the consequences, but she did a great job of justifying them through her arguments throughout Antigone. One of the reasons that Antigone is able to have the best argument is because of her great use of pathos. In the begging of the play, she starts using pathos with Ismene when she tries to convince her to help bury Polyneices. She says that if she does not bury her brother’s body, the dogs and birds will pick away at his body. Also, she says that she will not dishonor him and that it is actually her â€Å"duty† to bury her brother. Antigone refuses to â€Å"betray† him and will defend his honor by doing what is right and burying his body. Antigone then challenges Ismene by asking her if she is willing to defile the gods by ...

Marks & Spencer PESTLE Analysis Essay

Major Firms cannot survive and continue to prosper without analyzing their general environment and acting upon the trends identified. Scanning and monitoring the general environment are activities they cannot afford to ignore. Discuss this statement with reference to the performance of the UK retailer Marks & Spencer over the last 10 years. Introduction Marks and Spencer is a major British multinational retailer headquartered in Westminster, London. It has a network of 766 stores in the United Kingdom and 418 stores spread across more than 40 countries. It was founded in 1884 by Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer in Leeds. It specializes in the selling of clothing and luxury food products. Michael Marks was from Russia and Thomas Spencer was a cashier from Yorkshire. In 1884, Michael Marks started his own business in Kirkgate Market, Leeds by opening a penny bazaar stall. Then to develop his business he opened a shop at Manchester with the partnership of Thomas Spencer. Initially, the company used to be known as Marks & Sparks but over the years, the company decided to settle down for Marks & Spencer. In 1998, it became the first British retailer to make a pre-tax profit of over ?1 billion. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. PESTLE Analysis An organization’s environment is made up of: The Internal Environment: Staff, office technology, wages, finance, etc. The Micro Environment: External customers, agents, distributors, suppliers, etc. The Macro Environment: Political, economic, social, technological, legal, environmental etc. This is also known as the PESTLE environment. PESTLE analysis describes a framework of macro-environmental factors used in the environmental scanning component of strategic management. It is a part of the external analysis which gives an overview of the different macro-environmental factors that the company has to take into consideration in order to achieve its goals. Let’s talk about the different factors of the PESTLE environment for Marks & Spencer in depth. Political Political factors are those factors that are made, run and changed by the government. These factors show the level of anticipation by the government in different trades and businesses. Specifically the sectors in which government’s anticipation is the most are trade policy, labor law, trade restrictions, tariffs, and political stability. These factors also include goods and services needed or provided by the government. This is decided by the government what kind and quantity of goods and services can enter or go out of the country. These policies are directly worked by government and can only be changed by them. Other than these political factors government have a large anticipation in health, education, infrastructure and defense of the country. The government has its own sets of rules and regulations which every company has to abide such as health & safety, planning for hazard identification, risk management and risk control. If somehow a company doesn’t follow these rules and regulations, the companies will have to face strict consequences and outcomes, which include heavy fines or even closure of the company. Marks and Spencer was accused of not abiding the standards for and was charged for neglecting the safety regulation after a door fell on an employee. Marks and Spencer was not pled guilty of this trial. Marks and Spencer was the first company to achieve fair trade policy route which is cut salt and fat in M&S food. Marks and Spencer’s believes that it is very important to interact and work with the government to protect an  organization’s legitimate interests and to develop policies which addresses wider public objectives. Marks and Spencer’s respond to the government queries which are available publically on their sites. The company has full support from the government because of its rich historic values and fair means of trade practice. Because Marks & Spencer has become a very powerful organization in the retail world, new competitors find it very difficult to keep up with the quality of products and services that Marks & Spencer provide. The two political f actors that affect the company are political stability and VAT. Political stability is the government works their way whereas Marks and Spencer’s wants things differently. VAT is the terms known as value added tax which is set by the government and paid by the companies. It definitely affects Marks and Spencer’s because if the government increases VAT, M&S also has to increase their prices or else it would decrease the firm’s income. Economic Economic factors are determinants of an economy’s performance that directly impacts a company and have long term effects. For example, a rise in the inflation rate of any economy would affect the way companies’ price their products and services. It would also affect the purchasing power of a consumer and change demand/supply models for that economy. Economic factors include inflation rate, interest rates, foreign exchange rates, economic growth patterns etc. It also accounts for the FDI (foreign direct investment) depending on certain specific industries who’re undergoing this analysis. The United Kingdom has an open economy and ranks among the fourth largest in the world. Fiscal and monetary policies are properly managed because of that there is low inflation and strong government finances in the country. Marks & Spencer needs to organize a complete economic analysis. It is essential to consider the state of economy in the short- and long-terms. Issues such as i nterest rates, inflation, GDP, employment levels, etc. need to have hold in the marketing plan so that the strategies adopted encounter all such issues and ensure sustainability of competitive position. Current economic situation in the UK is favorable with low-to-moderate interest rates which signal a healthy economy. A healthy economy is a sign of increasing disposable income which, in turn, is good for the business. Marks & Spencer needs to concentrate more in the fashion arena as younger  generation spends most of their disposable incomes on clothing. Social Social factors are fundamentals that one cannot directly control but they definitely affect your business and marketing strategies. Basically, to know your social environment and to deal with it, you have to think about ‘people’ here. The aspects that we need to consider in order to understand people are cultural aspects, age distribution and emphasis on environment concerns. Trends in social factors affect the demand for a company’s products and how that company operates. Marks & Spencer has modified itself a lot according to its consumer’s wants. M&S core shops typically feature a selection of the company’s clothing ranges and a food hall. In UK, people are seen to live longer now, which means now they can spend more during their lifetime. As Marks & Spencer’s most of the customer were people aged over 40, with a large proportion of them over 55, this is why the clothing range offered by M&S is of a conservative nature. Now, as peopleâ€℠¢s choices of attire have been changing since last ten years, Marks & Spencer is improvising its clothing line in accordance with the customers changing tastes. The clothing line sold and the space given to it basically depends on the locality and customer demographic. Say for example, some shops located in London do not stock the Classic Collection, instead they go with the stock Limited Collection and a full Autograph range. The latest recession had played an important role in increasing the level of unemployment. This caused a decrease in Marks & Spencer’s sales as people’s purchasing power declined. Eventually, Marks & Spencer lowered its price for customer’s convenience. As it was estimated there will be rise again in the level of employment, people would have money to spend, eventually a rise in sales was seen. Now a days, people want to feel unique, up to date and convenient. Therefore, people have started using credit cards to satisfy their desires. Another factor is that since credit card came into action, an increase of more than 10% happened in all trade (BBC News, 2000). Since 18 April 2000, Marks & Spencer allowed its customers to pay with credit cards. They did so because they wanted to compete with its competitors who had started accepting credit cards a long time back. Another significant social effect that took place in the recent years is the environmental. Marks &  Spencer have recognized an increase in the number of their customers who say they will tak e environmental action. It is not only the usual buying concerns such as price, quality and style which attracts their customers but also making sure all these things are underpinned by sustainability. This sets Marks & Spencer apart from its opponents and assures its customers that they can trust them to do the right thing. Marks & Spencer are continuing to drive hard to reduce, reuse, recycle and reinvent to become more capable across their operations. In UK, stores have been set as â€Å"Simply Food† that cater to customer’s demand in convenient locality. In 2009 the company also began selling a limited range of other brands such as Coca-Cola and Stella Artois without dropping the number of Marks & Spencer goods they sold. Technology Constant evolution in technology has helped businesses operate efficiently in competitive markets such as retail as modern IT systems help increase productivity & lower costs. Furthermore, consumers across the globe are harnessing the power of internet to purchase items online & get them delivered straight to their homes. Online shopping has enabled M&S to automate & accelerate purchases & reduce the supply cycle for products sold online. M&S has already invested ?100m on new technologies and ?150m on a new model for its website that will be completed by 2014. This clearly shows that M&S is investing heavily in technology to increase its efficiency. Analysts expect sales figures to be somewhere between ?800 million to ?1 billion once the website is fully revamped. Recently, M&S stores in UK were equipped with free Wi-Fi. M&S hopes that customers will use the Wi-Fi to explore other products the company has to offer. Additionally, customer assistants in stores have been given iPads to help shoppers by providing them with more information about different products. This move has helped M&S to integrate its internet & high street offerings. Other tactics involve installing big screens in stores which promote clothing & interactive screens placed strategically which enables customers to browse through the products & place orders. M&S believes that their â€Å"hospitality offer† is an advanced way to get more business. Probably the biggest advancement in M&S’s books would be the opening of M&S’s distribution centre in Castle Donington. The reason for its remarkableness is that it’s a 900,000 sq. ft. by 25 metre  high centre that has been exclusively made to serve as a warehouse for online orders. Because of its tremendous size, it is arguably the biggest distribution centre in UK. The centre is capable of processing 1 million products per day & hold 16 million products as inventory. The centre is fully automated & fitted with world class warehousing technology which involves automated storage & retrieval systems. More than 150,000 different variety products are stored in the warehouse. Work g oes inside 24Ãâ€"7 & 50 vehicles are uses every day for inventory management. As for employees, 1,200 people are employed during peak seasons. Lastly, the site has been built with an eco-friendly outlook. The centre has solar panels installed on its outside to harness solar energy & use it to heat the centre during cold weather. Legal Like any other firm, Marks & Spencer has also had to deal with some legal issues. In September last year, BBC news reported that M&S was fined 1 million GBP over asbestos risk. It failed to protect the staff and customers from the risk of asbestos which is a highly heat resistant silicate mineral. The judge, Christopher Harvey claimed that the company was more interested in making profits rather than planning for asbestos removal .However the company claimed that it acted responsibly and was disappointed. On 8th august 2010, M&S was accused for sweatshop scandal where Indian workers were paid just 25p per hour and forced to work overtime. Some workers have even claimed that they were paid half the amount for the overtime they worked and those who refused to work were asked to leave and find new jobs. M&S admitted that the suppliers had worked excessive overtime and that their own audits found a number of other violations which was described as high risk issues in documentations and conditions .The observer found that the company was using workers hired through middlemen and were being forced to work for 7 days a week, a practice that is condemned by their union as, â€Å"slave labor† but the company again refused all these claims and said that they were ethical in their working and they would not tolerate anything in their supply chain. On 19th May 2013, it was found out that M&S was involved in a tax fraud like that of Amazon. Moreover, earlier M&S claimed to be doing the same business as Amazon whereas it wasn’t. The sales revenue that was supposed to go to the UK was sent to Ireland because of the tax rate being  26% in the United Kingdom and 20% in Ireland. Even though Marks and Spencer claimed to do the same business as Amazon, it was rather saving up on its sales revenue. M&S was actually engaging in unethical practices such as evading tax. Environmental It is to be noted that M&S is one of the most sustainable brands out there in the market. Infact, they launched an initiative called â€Å"Plan A† in January 2007. They set out 100 commitments that were to be achieved in a time frame of 5 years. Currently, they’ve extended their Plan A to achieve 180 commitments by 2015 & with that they are aiming at becoming the â€Å"world’s most sustainable retailer.† One of M&S’s Plan A programs is â€Å"shwopping.† The idea of shwopping is simple. You donate your old clothes. Your old clothes are sold to Oxfam. Oxfam either recycles your clothes or re-sells them to third world markets where there is demand for clothes but consumers do not have enough money to pay for them. Over the four years, shwopping has seen more than 11 million clothing items get donated which comes out at around 8 million GBP of charity in the form of recycled clothes. By engaging in sustainable practices, the company has improved energy efficiency in stores by 10% & reduced packaging by 15%. Another thing is that the distribution centre M&S has in Castle Donington, it’s been equipped with Europe’s largest solar-wall. The walls of the centre are equipped with solar panels which helps heat the building. The project is carbon neutral & half of the structure has been built from concrete that was from a former power station. Currently, M&S charges 5p per plastic bag that a consumer needs for carrying items. All profits generated from selling plastic bags are forwarded to Groundwork which invests in projects that improve parks, play areas & public gardens in and around UK. One time, when concerns were raised by customers about the production of Angora Wool, M&S took action and conducted additional visits to the farms. On 12th December 2013 it announced that it would stop selling products containing Angora Wool and that it has updated its animal welfare policy to remove all Angora from its supply chain. By engaging in sustainable practices, M&S has been able to cut down on carbon dioxide emissions by almost 40%. The company also has been accredited with efficient electricity usage, reduced gas leaks & better waste recycling levels. They also encourage their suppliers to practice eco-friendly techniques & helped them go green & achieve higher efficiency. Conclusion With the help of PESTLE analysis, we were able to gain insight into Marks & Spencer’s business environment. Although there are a lot of factors which affect every business, we think were able to highlight the important factors that affect M&S on a macro level. No doubt, M&S has been very successful & highly competitive in their drive to provide unparalleled high quality goods & services for decades. Economic slowdowns have compelled to compete against cheaper, younger & more fashion conscious clothing lines. The sustainable approach that M&S has adopted definitely deserves another mention. Firms like M&S actually make younger & smaller firms think about their practices & inspires them to undertake a similar approach to business. Agreed, there are some initial costs that have to be incurred while going green, but in the long run, there is a lot you get back, both from customers & Mother Nature. References 1. Marks & Spencer. 2014. Marks & Spencer. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.marksandspencer.com/. [Accessed 01 March 14]. 2. HubPages. 2014. Marks & Spencer’s PEST Analysis. [ONLINE] Available at: http://mr-gadget.hubpages.com/hub/Analyse-your-own-organisation-or-division-in-organisation. [Accessed 02 March 14]. 3. Tripod. 2002. A Marketing Analysis of Marks and Spencer. [ONLINE] Available at: http://betty-sung.tripod.com/marks_&_spencer.htm#_Toc23588767. [Accessed 02 March 14]. 4. issuu. 2010. A case study analysis report of Marks and Spencer Plc. [ONLINE] Available at:http://issuu.com/emmabunce/docs/m_s_case_study. [Accessed 01 March 14]. 5. The Telegraph. 2012. Marks & Spencer installs wi-fi in e-commerce push. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/9504384/Marks-and-Spencer-installs-wi-fi-in-e-commerce-push.html. [Accessed 02 March 14]. 6. Marks & Spencer. 2013. Marks & Spencer. [ONLINE] Available at:http://corporate.marksa ndspencer.com/investors/press_releases/mands-opens-new-distribution-centre-in-castle-donington. [Accessed 02 March 14].

Case: 7-Eleven Japan Co. Essay

Question 1: A convenience store chain attempts to be responsive and provide customers what they need, when they need it, where they need it. What are some different ways that a convenience store supply chain can be responsive? What are some risks in each case? A convenience store can be more responsive by doing exactly what Seven-Eleven Japan is doing; many locations, rapid replenishment, appropriate technology deployment, and an equally responsive supplier (vertical integration for many of their SKUs). The risks associated with this system are the costs coupled with demand uncertainty. If demand patterns change dramatically, or the customer base changes, then Seven-Eleven is left with an operation that is not needed. Offering variety of services in the case of this case study Seven Eleven offered attractive services to customers such as ski lift voucher pass, payment of mail order purchases, internet shopping, a meal service delivery, automatic teller machines installation in each store, pick up online services, electronic money service that allow customers to prepay and use a card or cell phone to make payments etc. on the other hand, a short coming might result due to the failure of one or more information system due to failure or break down. Question 2: Seven-Eleven’s supply chain strategy in Japan can be described as attempting to micro-match supply and demand using rapid replenishment. What are some risks associated with this choice? Question 3: What has 7-Eleven done in its choice of facility location, inventory management, transportation, and information infrastructure to develop capabilities that support its supply chain strategy in Japan? Information infrastructure: 7-Eleven implemented a Total Information System through which the company could efficiently share its information thus making its supply chain responsive. The system was installed within each store, headquarters, suppliers and vendors. And also the system linked all the stores with each other. The Total Information System comprises of POS registers, Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN), Graphic order terminal, scanner terminal and store computers. The data related to the sales as well as the purchaser is collected through the POS register for analysis. For efficient management of the inventory, the graphic order terminal, scanner terminal and store computers are used thus assists in improving both the efficiency and responsiveness. Inventory management: The store owner or the manager makes use of the graphic order terminal to place orders so as to replenish inventory in order of their arrangement on the store shelf. The owner had access to analysis of waste, 10 day and 10 week sales trends SKU, sales trends of new products, sales analysis by day and time etc that help him in forecasting demand. On the other hand, the Scanner terminal receives products from a distribution center and therefore monitors inventory by checking whether the order received matches with the original order placed. The store computer helps in tracking store inventory. Transportation: Trucks are used to transport goods to the stores. 7-Eleven makes use of a flexible distribution system which means that it can alter the delivery schedules according to the varying customer demand. Also, the suppliers send orders via trucks to the distribution centers. The latter cross docks inventory from supplier truck to distribution trucks. Moreover, to maintain the quality of the products, the distribution trucks are temperature controlled of four categories for different types of products such as frozen/ chilled foods, processed foods etc. Facility location: The facility location of 7-Eleven comprises of two types namely, the distribution centers and retail stores. 7-Eleven follows a market or area dominance strategy through which it forms clusters of stores in the area where already a 7- eleven store exists rather than having a handful of stores dispersed over a wide geographical area. Among the clusters there’s a distribution center which is surrounded by 7-Eleven stores. Approximately, there are 50-60 stores in each cluster. Question 4: 7-Eleven does not allow direct store delivery in Japan but has all products flow through its distribution center. What benefit does 7-Eleven derive from this policy? When is direct store delivery more appropriate? 7-Eleven has the policy of delivering its products to the retail stores via the distribution centers. Through these distribution centers, the replenishment cycles are reduced and a proper sales record can be maintained and monitored. Through the Point of Sale registers, signals can be transmitted to both the distribution centre and the supplier hence orders can be organized accordingly. Also, orders are sent directly to the distribution centre so that they can be allotted to the appropriate vehicle. A combined delivery system is used by 7- Eleven, in which four groups of temperature-controlled trucks are used to send fresh products. The trucks are sent several times a day during peak hours in order to avoid delays. Also, confidence is maintained between the supply chain partners and an additional person is not needed while the load is being received and checked. The process reduces delivery time. However this system might require a number of daily deliveries, but the number of trucks needed is much lesser therefore it reduces the delivery cost and facilitates a more prompt fresh food delivery. And hence the stock is continuously replenished. This network process ensures flexibility in the sense that it can alter the delivery schedules due to any demand fluctuations. There is a twelve-hour limit upon the restocking of food items. The disadvantages however include that the retail stores will have little control when the restocking takes place. Also, a number of stores rely on just one combined distribution centre. Also, if the system goes down while the delivery is at CDC, then all the stores can be affected and timely deliveries might not be possible. Hence accurate forecasts are needed. Direct delivery system might be a useful technique as the stores follow variant patterns. If the demand increases and a store require a greater number of deliveries then the demand can be met more efficiently as the deliveries can be made directly to the stores. Question 5: What do you think about the 7dream concept for 7-Eleven Japan? From a supply chain perspective, is it likely to be more successful in Japan or the United States? Why? In February 2000, 7-Eleven established 7dream.com, an ecommerce company, the goal of which was to exploit the existing distribution system and the fact that stores were easily accessible to most Japanese Stores served as drop-off and collection points for the customers and proved successful as 92% of their customers preferred to just pick up their goods from the local convenience store which they ordered online rather than have them delivered to their homes. This was understandable given the frequency with which Japanese customers visit their local convenience store. 7dream hoped to build on this preference along with the synergies from the existing distribution system as the company required an effective and efficient supply chain to cater to the demand of the customers who ordered online and provide the company with a time frame for delivery. From a supply chain perspective, it is believed that the 7dream concept is likely to be more successful in Japan than in the United States. The reason for saying so is that, the Japanese market is much smaller as compared to that of United State. In 2008, there were 12,071 stores in Japan where as the stores were nearly half the number in U.S that is 6,262. The density of stores in Japan was hence greater as the area of Japan is much smaller as compared to that of the U.S. and therefore, in Japan the company had a greater customer reach as 7–Eleven stores are easily accessible throughout Japan. The ecommerce company itself could probably be a greater success in U.S. however; it would be a better idea if the orders are directly sent home rather than have them delivered to the nearest 7-Eleven store. In this way, the company can tap in to a bigger market that is the U.S. market but get the goods delivered to the customer’s doorstep would be a better idea. Also, the stores in the U.S. were replenished using direct store delivery (DSD) by some manufacturers, with the remaining products delivered by wholesalers. DSD accounted for about half the total volume, with the rest coming from the wholesalers. This meant that direct delivery is a more popular concept in the U.S. Keeping into consideration the current strategy of the 7dream concept, it is more likely to be successful in Japan than in the United States. However, if the strategy is molded according to the U.S. market, it can become a greater success. Question 6: 7-Eleven is attempting to duplicate the supply chain structure that has succeeded in Japan in the United States with the introduction of CDC’s. What are the pros and cons of this approach? Keep in mind that stores are also replenished by wholesalers and DSD by manufacturers. After 7 Eleven acquired Southland Corporation they tried to improve their operations in America. The main improvement was an introduction of a new component in the supply chain completely novel to the US market. This component, the Combined Distribution Centers (CDCs), was however used in Japan at that time. Initially the stores in US used the Direct Store Delivery (DSD) in which stores were replenished by manufacturers accounting for half of the goods volume and the rest half was done by whole sellers. CDC delivered perishable products like bread, sandwiches and the rest of the bakery products. Pros Using CDC all perishable -food items would be delivered by a single distributor which would increase overall efficiency. Having fresh-food items at 7-Eleven convenience stores helped in users getting variety of fresh food from convenient locations. Uncertainty of delivery times was minimized by systematic delivery system. The inventory costs were low as fresh food items cannot be inventoried. With daily replenishment of fresh-food items, the stock would be fresh and it reduced consumer concerns of stale items to a large extent. Centralization gave a greater control to the management and more processes were now under the supervision of the company hence improving efficiency. Cons There could have been a difference in quality delivered through CDC and DSD. DSD was a tested system so company might be unwilling to shift to the new system as there is always a reluctance to change. In US stores fresh products may not sell very well. Training would be required for all the supply chain members as the new system tends to be more time sensitive. Manufacturers might not be willing to go with the idea of CDC’s as they might lose on their relative dollar revenues and with the loss in revenues they might also reduce control. As the new system would be very time specific, the supply chain might not be very responsive and if updates are required the company might lose on its sales. Question 7: The United States has food service distributors that also replenish convenience stores. What are the pros and cons to having a distributor replenish convenience stores versus a company like 7-Eleven managing its own distribution function? With the outsourcing decision in mind an organization always tries to outsource activities that lie beyond their core competencies and their scarce resources are wasted in performing tasks that they are not specialized at. With outsourcing the organization tries to focus on activities that they can do best. The advantage is that managing the distribution is the sole headache of the distributor and with his specialized expertise it might be more cost effective. However outsourcing does have its repercussions as well. The control over the quality of items and the replenishment time might not be as effective as doing the distribution yourself. With the outsourcing of distribution the communication gap can affect the replenishment distribution. However taking the advancements in communication and technology this statement may be rendered void. Convenience stores are successfully communicating with their distributors and make uninterrupted storage of data and information transmission from 3PL WMS to internal systems for real-time visibility of stock in hand and customer service. Moreover outsourcing decisions affect both the efficiency and responsiveness of the supply chain. A retail store can achieve improved efficiency by having a distributor replenish its stock, but he does not put his heart and effect they can have on their long term aims.

Painters of the Renaissance essays

Painters of the Renaissance essays The 1920s were the most explosive 10 years of the century. It was a time of change for everyone and everything. New types of music were being developed and composers were trying their best to make advances to become known. Also many cultural changes occurred during this time, one known as the flapper. This unique style was a drastic switch from conservative, to risky and outrageous. The flapper represented a youthful, playful woman that disobeyed all rules and dressed how she wanted. In architecture, the style was romantic and homey. Houses were built in grand style, ranging from colonial to modern art deco. This decade was a collaboration of many new ideas that took off quite well into the future. The music and attitude of the 20s proved to be so strong that it has made a great impact on everyone. A new tradition of music began to form in the United States as it moved away from ancient and medieval sources. This African American tradition know as jazz, drew on two other African American musical forms-ragtime, which was instrumental, and the blues, which was vocal art (Matthews, 537). During this time, music became sort of a spiritual outlet for many people. Blues and jazz are both very powerful and expressive forms of music. By combining African American rhythms and Western harmony, it can create songs that capture the essence of love, poverty, and hard work (Matthews, 537). Some famous musicians of the era were Louis Armstrong, George Olsen, and Nora Bayes. The flapper is portrayed as a young, spontaneous woman who loves to be daring and shocking at the same time. These women wore lots of make-up, had a bobbed haircut, and wore provocative clothing. They did what they wanted, and ignored the traditional way of doing things. This therefore earned them a reputation, which, in turn, made many elderly people dislike them. Some accessories that a flapper would own would be the cloche hat, colored scarves, ...

Assess the role of religion and festivals in Spartan society essays

Assess the role of religion and festivals in Spartan society essays "Based on a study of both ancient and modern sources, assess the role of religion and festivals in Spartan society" In Spartan society, religion and festivals played a pivotal part of everyday life for both men and women. The very system by which they lived, decreed in the Great Rhetra, was "Delphic-oracle-given", delivered by the celebrated Lycurgus. The Spartans, famed for their military-based lifestyle, were in fact dependant on military divination to advise them whether or not to go into war - if the signs were not right then even an essential military engagement may be delayed or abandoned totally. Similarly, they sometimes missed or did not fully participate in certain battles if there was a religious festival on at the same time. Another significant element of Spartan life - unions between young Spartan boys still in training and adult Spartan warriors - has been attributed to the relationship between the mythological Apollo and the adolescent boy Hyacinthus. Religion and festivals were also noteworthy aspects when it came to the lives of women; they relied upon the gods for fertility, bea uty and health. Thus, we can deduce that religion and festivals played a very important role in Spartan society, affecting their society politically, militarily and even shaping their values, attitudes and outlooks on life. The ancient Spartans life was governed by the oracle brought from Delphi, by Lycurgus. This oracle, known as the "Great Rhetra" detailed the laws of Sparta, in a place where there were no written laws. Paul Cartledge, in his book, The Spartans ¹, states that, "myth, religion and politics coalesced to produce the first glimmerings of a political history ... of the Spartan polis or state". He is saying that religion and politics in ancient Sparta are so tightly linked that it is impossible to consider one aspect without addressing the other at the same time. In fact, the very founder of the Spartan way of life, Lycurgus, ...

How To Crush A $300,000 Launch With Smart Passive Income

How To Crush A $300,000 Launch With Smart Passive Income Garrett Moon’s 10X-Marketing Formula features interviews with top marketing professionals to uncover uncommon marketing mindsets, methods, and growth strategies. There’s so much you can learn from them to help your business! Today, we’re talking to Pat Flynn, the founder of Smart Passive Income, about how to crush a $300,000 launch and keep up with publishing so much valuable content. Besides starting his own software and app businesses and Websites, Pat also helps thousands grow their online businesses by sharing his process of what goes well and what doesn’t. Some of the highlights of the show include: Initially, Pat did everything on his own. However, his team has grown over the past few years to support his mission. Now, most tasks are handled by his team. Pat handles the big ideas, not the busy work. Pat has been able to output more content and not fall behind as a result, including through online courses, books, and speaking engagements. Plan ahead when it comes to your content. Develop a top-down view using an editorial calendar to maintain efficiency and consistency. What topics do you want to cover? What are customers talking about? Develop lead magnets associated with topics or themes. What potential incentive can you offer to customers? Incentives could include an affiliate product or offer for an online course or Webinar. Thinking ahead of time gives you opportunities to be more strategic with your content. An editorial calendar makes sure all team members are onboard with the same goals and tasks. It’s about content and what teams are doing related to it. Then, they know what’s coming and what they can look forward to. Pat’s team meets every two weeks to review goals and accomplishments of the past two weeks, as well as items they want to achieve in the next two weeks. It ensures that they are working on what they need to truly be working on. If everything goes as planned, that’s a bonus. Fire drills are things that happen and blow everything up. So, you need to have flexibility built into your editorial calendar for unexpected issues and to put out fires. As a manager, Pat is comforted to know what needs to be done and that his team members are handling tasks. It is motivational, too, because he knows his team is holding up their responsibilities, which makes him more likely to do what he is responsible for completing. It’s a cohesive unit that supports each other. An editorial calendar equals freedom, flexibility, and breathing room for you. It takes the weight off your shoulders because goals and structure are developed and in place. A little time upfront means less time spent later on. When implementing an editorial calendar, there are some best practices to follow. It takes iteration, experimentation, and communication. makes it simple. Links 10X-Marketing Formula by Garrett Moon Will it Fly and Let Go by Pat Flynn Smart Passive Income AskPat podcast Power-Up Podcasting course Write and send a review to receive a care package If you liked today’s show, please subscribe on iTunes to The Actionable Content Marketing Podcast! The podcast is also available on SoundCloud, Stitcher, and Google Play. Quotes by Pat: â€Å"I’m only now doing what only I can do. Everything else is being taken care of by the team, and it’s so essential.† â€Å"Have your own content, support your own content.† â€Å"Podcast was on everyone’s mind because we planned ahead, we utilized the editorial calendar, and we hit a home run.† â€Å"Stop, start, and continue has become an important thing for us.†

LBSMK 2004 SERVICES MARKETING personal evaluation project (PEP) Literature review

LBSMK 2004 SERVICES MARKETING personal evaluation project (PEP) - Literature review Example Yet, the causes of such dissatisfaction are varied and extensive. The concept of â€Å"satisfaction gaps† emerged from marketing research, which is the difference between customer expectations and their corresponding experience. This paper will attempt to propose a solution to such gap in a marketing-related problem of a service establishment. 2.0. Critical Analysis of the Issue and Literature Review 2.1. The Problem For the purpose of anonymity and confidentiality dictated by research ethics, the business establishment which will be discussed in this paper will be called simply as Company X (Bryman and Bell 2007). Company X is a technology service company whose specialisation is laptop, desktop and cellular phone repair. It was established in 2000 and is located in Eastern-Central Britain. The establishment showed good performance in its first three years of operation. This was mainly the reason why Company X was sub-contracted by a Northern European mobile phone company in 2 004 to serve its clientele in the geographic area covered by Company X, for repair and replacement of parts, if necessary. Subcontracting with the mobile phone company lifted the spirits of both management and technicians. The technicians performed well and helped generate both revenue and more patrons for Company X. Mobile phones which were already off-guarantee period were still being brought by former customers mainly because of their prompt service and technical know-how. Things went well for Company X that its sub-contracting functions with the mobile company was renewed for three-consecutive years. In 2008, a laptop and desktop manufacturer based in the North America commissioned Company X as one of its official service centres. Management was ecstatic. Its 10 best technicians were offered training packages to further hone their skills while the remaining 22 technicians were left to attend to the service needs of their growing clientele. Management promised that the rest of th e technicians will also attend training in two batches after the 10 have returned to resume their tasks. While the company operated for only 12 hours each day, technicians worked in three eight-hour shifts, or seven technicians per shift. When job orders increased to levels where the technicians can no longer put-up with the deadlines they set for completion of the service requests, management opted for overtime with pay instead of hiring new technicians. The rationale volunteered by management is that hiring new technicians will not ensure that deadlines will be met since they would not be sure if the applicants can deliver up to management expectations by simply looking at their resumes. With an additional sub-contracting project and fewer technicians to work on repair orders, problems started to surface. To date, absenteeism became rampant. Patrons are starting to be dissatisfied with the service jobs they requested. Technicians who used to be accommodating and interacted with cu stomers with a smile have turned grumpy. Customers have aired their complaints with customer service. The mobile company had threatened not to renew their contract if the customer service issues will not be addressed. In the operation manager’s latest quarterly report, revenue for the last month dropped by 40% of the previous six

Social determinants of health Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Social determinants of health - Essay Example The reason for such a step was to annul the mounting disparities that were arising in the health status of people all over the world. The Commission observed that these disparities were primarily due to the differences in the living conditions of the people as well as the resources they had access to. According to the Commission, inequity is recognized as unfair or unjust disparities that exist in health status that can be averted and so can be solved (Who Regional Office for the Eastern Medi, 2008). The WHO defines social determinants of health as the social conditions in which people live and can have an impact on their health. The factors that influence the possibility of people living a healthy life include poverty, food insecurity, social exclusion, education, poor housing and poor employment (Farrell, McAvoy, Wilde, & Agency, 2008). Structural determinants trace their origin to the socioeconomic and political conditions at both the national and international scale. Such determinants are connected to elements that are governed by sheer power and authority with respect to the ownership and distribution of resources as well as the status and reputation associated with it. These relationships are required to promote health and prosperity in the area. The economic conditions of the country as well as the political, historical and environmental conditions are some of the determinants of health. These determinants are mirrored in the social determinants, which are defined as the living conditions of the people which may influence their lives (Who Regional Office for the Eastern Medi, 2008). Health inequities arise as a result of the marginalization, paucity and bigotry that a certain class of people is subject to. The situation does not exist in developing countries solely. In relatively advanced countries such as Australia, where people have access to, and a greater

The professional accountant Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The professional accountant - Essay Example At present, the company has eight major institutional investors that hold a large share in the company. It is noted that the company follows faithfully the Code of Governance in UK that provides balance representation of executive directors non executive directors in the Board. Non executive Directors are supposed to control and monitor performance of management to protect its shareholders. However, in doing so, conflicts in management arise. My Personal view is presented at end of the topic saying that the Code of Governance should have sanctions or penalties to strengthen compliance. Table of Contents Executive Summary 2 Section 1. Introduction 4 Corporate governance 4 Institutional investors 5 Section 2. Roles of financial investors in the financial system and in the business 5 Section 3. Major potential conflicts of interest that affect non-executive directors 6 How they are addressed by the corporate governance code. 6 Section 4. Comments on fulfillment of duties of non-executiv e directors 7 Bibliography 8 The Roles of Institutional Investors of ACM Shipping Group, Plc. 1. Background information. ACM Shipping Group Plc is a company incorporated in UK in 1982. Since then, it has grown to be one of the world’s leading international shipbrokers that provide full range of integrated ship brokering services for the global market. It is a publicly listed company and has complied with Rule 26 of AIM Rules. It has a reported profit of ?2.1 million as of half year of 2012. As per report, it pays a steady dividend of 3.15 pence per share ( ACM .Company Profile . 2012). Corporate governance. The company maintains three executives and three non-executive directors; a composition that the company believes is enough to accomplish its missions and objectives. As a company policy, it is imposing a series of Board changes as part of succession planning to ensure that the future of the management remains forceful. For example, in 2012, a movement and change of execut ive positions took place (ACM Financial.2012). The Board is in charge of setting up a strategic direction of the company and the monitoring of its performance against its plan. The Board also reviews and approves company proposals, formulates budget and decides on other major items on the operations of the company. An example of major policy decision is: In 2012 interim report, the Board said it continues to expand its brokerage business in new areas like Dubai and to continue with its present strategies of sale and purchase of assets. An important duty of the board is to maintain good relations with shareholders. This is done thru annual meetings where questions are discussed. Website information is also maintained as a way of establishing Communication to its shareholders. Institutional investors As defined, institutional investors are non-bank organization that pool large sums of money and invest them in securities, real property, or investment assets. (Investopedia n.d.) As such , they provide large capital to the company and become significant stakeholders. 2. Role of institutional investors in the financial system and in the business. The role of institutional investors in the financial system is to act as specialized investors in behalf of others. For example, ACM, As of December 12, 2012 has 8 institutional investors that hold more than 3% of its share capital. These are GFI Holdings Ltd, 7.3%; William Stanley Middleton, 6.3%; James Christopher Ducher Gundy, 6.3%; Michael Amyas

Essey Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Essey - Essay Example Management is the dynamic, life-giving element in every business. Without it the resources of production remain resources and never become production." (Sharma, 2004 11) This definition emphasizes that the managers achieve organizational objectives getting things done through the employees. Human resource Management is very essential for successful running of an enterprise. It ensures proper use of physical and human resources by deriving the best results. It leads to efficient performance and higher productivity. Human Resource Management is very essential for every organization to make productive use of human physical and financial resources or the achievement of the organizational goals. It helps in determination of objectives. No organization can succeed in tits mission unless its objectives an identified and well denied. Management helps in achieving these objectives by the efficient use of resources. The entry of multinationals has also brought in fundamental changes in the work culture, work ethics and remunerating patterns in many countries, all of which have a clear bearing on the career growth path of individuals. Added to this are the rapid changes taking place on the technological front, flattening hierarchies and making people come together more than ever before. Amidst all this change, the high ethical standards of an individual, be it a workman on the shop floor or the Chief Executive Officer, matter more now than ever. The dual ethical standards often maintained by people front-often the exact opposite when it comes of the way they conduct business are counterproductive in the long run. The new authority is emerging and organizations are member led, officer driven, customer focused; a team environment where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts; a flat management structure where employees and managers are learning rather than blame; a clear since of direction and purpose. A firm commitment to delivering high quality public services through a combination of direct-provision and effective partnerships. 2. ROLE OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT Human Resource Management plays a very important role in managing the mode in business organizations, which are complex and complicated. The role of management is summarized below. 1. Role in success. Human Resource Management plays a very important role the success of an organization. It helps in achieving group goals. Human Resource Management assembles and organizes the available recourses for the accomplishment of the goals of enterprise. It adds effectiveness to the efforts of group persons organized to achieve the given objectives. 2. Role in efficiency. Human Resource Management utilizes the available physical and human resources productively. It eliminates all types of wastage and leads to efficiency in all business operations. Thus it results in effective running of business activities. To secure efficiency of operations, management is concerned with reducing the cost of production and increasing the output. Through better planning, organizing and control, and the use of various cost-reduction techniques, efficient management leads to reduced costs and increased output. (Sharma, 2004 13) 3. Role in soundness of organization. Human Resource Management lays down a pattern of authority- responsibility relationship. The structure so formed

Contract terms as conditions or warranties Term Paper

Contract terms as conditions or warranties - Term Paper Example Therefore, the court conclude that the defendants had a right to end the contract because the plaintiff breached a condition of the contract Poussard v. Spiers & Poland, 1876).However, in a similar case, Bettin v. Gye (1876); a singer was contracted to perform and sing for 3 whole months with six rehearsal days. The singer, however, fell ill and thus missed the six days of rehearsals, which resulted in the defendant replacing him with another singer. However, in this case the court held that the termination of the contract was uncalled for because the failure to attend the rehearsals only amounted to a breach of warranty and not a condition and thus the singer was entitled to the contract because the breach did not go to the contract’s very root (Bettin v. Gye, 1876). Thus, based on this case contracts can be categorised as conditions if the breach of the terms of the contract significantly or materially affects the performance of a contract and, therefore, becomes unenforceab le to the innocent party’s favour (Smith and Atiyah, 2006).  Ã‚     Another example of categorizing contracts terms as conditions or warranties was best articulated in the case of British Crane vs. Ipswich Plant Hire (1974) in which both companies were engaged in contracting out earth-moving equipment. In this case the plaintiffs provided the defendants with the equipment over the phone contract promptly without articulating the contract terms. However, the claimants later sent their conditions to the defendants but before signing them.

Essey Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Essey - Essay Example Management is the dynamic, life-giving element in every business. Without it the resources of production remain resources and never become production." (Sharma, 2004 11) This definition emphasizes that the managers achieve organizational objectives getting things done through the employees. Human resource Management is very essential for successful running of an enterprise. It ensures proper use of physical and human resources by deriving the best results. It leads to efficient performance and higher productivity. Human Resource Management is very essential for every organization to make productive use of human physical and financial resources or the achievement of the organizational goals. It helps in determination of objectives. No organization can succeed in tits mission unless its objectives an identified and well denied. Management helps in achieving these objectives by the efficient use of resources. The entry of multinationals has also brought in fundamental changes in the work culture, work ethics and remunerating patterns in many countries, all of which have a clear bearing on the career growth path of individuals. Added to this are the rapid changes taking place on the technological front, flattening hierarchies and making people come together more than ever before. Amidst all this change, the high ethical standards of an individual, be it a workman on the shop floor or the Chief Executive Officer, matter more now than ever. The dual ethical standards often maintained by people front-often the exact opposite when it comes of the way they conduct business are counterproductive in the long run. The new authority is emerging and organizations are member led, officer driven, customer focused; a team environment where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts; a flat management structure where employees and managers are learning rather than blame; a clear since of direction and purpose. A firm commitment to delivering high quality public services through a combination of direct-provision and effective partnerships. 2. ROLE OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT Human Resource Management plays a very important role in managing the mode in business organizations, which are complex and complicated. The role of management is summarized below. 1. Role in success. Human Resource Management plays a very important role the success of an organization. It helps in achieving group goals. Human Resource Management assembles and organizes the available recourses for the accomplishment of the goals of enterprise. It adds effectiveness to the efforts of group persons organized to achieve the given objectives. 2. Role in efficiency. Human Resource Management utilizes the available physical and human resources productively. It eliminates all types of wastage and leads to efficiency in all business operations. Thus it results in effective running of business activities. To secure efficiency of operations, management is concerned with reducing the cost of production and increasing the output. Through better planning, organizing and control, and the use of various cost-reduction techniques, efficient management leads to reduced costs and increased output. (Sharma, 2004 13) 3. Role in soundness of organization. Human Resource Management lays down a pattern of authority- responsibility relationship. The structure so formed

Assignment (Continued De Stijl) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Assignment (Continued De Stijl) - Essay Example I am designing architecture of a small house deriving from the features of the surface. The reduction of pure form is a figurative translation of cultural ideals for the practitioners of De Stijl (Helfand). The design adheres to the principles of De Stijl in a sense that it includes the use of straight horizontal and vertical lines to create a universal form of design. I am using three primary colors in the project’s design, which include blue, red, and green along with a non-color, which is Gray. I am trying to accomplish the essence of a real De Stijl art through creating a masterpiece, which should adhere to the principles of De Stijl. The concept behind the artwork is that a house is never small or big according to its structural design; rather the design or model of the house makes it look small or big. Therefore, I am designing a small house in a way that it should reflect a true art instead of its area. I am using Blob Brush tool to draw the vectors and oil paints to pa int the areas. The basic idea behind development of this project is to demonstrate the applicability of De Stijl principles in designing attractive painting and other artworks. Works Cited Helfand, Jessica. â€Å"De Stijl, New Media, and the Lessons of Geometry.† Typotheque.com, n.d. Web. 08 May 2011. .

Quality Assessment Essay Example for Free

Quality Assessment Essay â€Å"Assessment practises have a powerful impact on learning and teaching† (Curriculum Council of Western Australia, 2004, p. 37). For teachers the focus is on the use of assessment results; how they use those results to inform instructional decision making and whether they provide results that verify students have indeed met the learning targets originally set. Thus, judgements are made about the quality of assessments after the students’ performance. ‘High-quality’ assessments encompass a number of criteria’s and involve a great deal more than simply measuring knowledge (McMillan, 2011) and are outlined below in seven key areas. 1. Clear Purpose – The first decision is clarify the purpose for the assessment. Why is the assessment taking place? What is to be gained from it? Will the teacher be using formative techniques to monitor student progress or will the teacher use summative techniques to establish grades (Chappuis, Chappuis, Stiggins, 2009)? â€Å"Knowing the reason for the assessment is crucial because this will determine what the assessment should look like, how it is administered and scored, and how the results will be used (McMillan, 2011, p.10)†. 2. Defined Learning Targets –Are they reasonable and do they ‘align’ with the state standards, student characteristics and overall goals (McMillan, 2011)? Learning targets need to be clear and understandable to everyone (Chappuis, Chappuis, Stiggins, 2009). Learning targets are important as they define expectations. 3. Assessment Methods – The assessment methods, using either selected or constructed responses, need to align with the chosen learning targets (McMillan, 2011). â€Å"Selecting an assessment method that is incapable of reflecting the intended learning will compromise the accuracy of the results† (Chappuis, Chappuis, Stiggins, 2009). These also need to practical and efficient so as not to be too time consuming on lessons. 4. Fairness – Fair assessments are unbiased without the influence of discrimination or subjective factors (McMillan, 2011). â€Å"All students should have an equal opportunity to demonstrate their achievement† (Curriculum Council of Western Australia, 2004, p. 38). 5.Validity Reliability – Judgements should be based on all information and multiple measures that authenticate the conclusion (Curriculum Council of Western Australia, 2004). The assessment is useless unless the inference is appropriate, useful, reasonable and consistent (McMillan, 2011). 6. Criteria – Outlining criteria contributes to students’ learning by making clear the outcomes or goals they are striving for (Curriculum Council of Western Australia, 2004). â€Å"The issue of how student responses will be evaluated lies at the heart of any type of assessment† (McMillan, 2011, p.35). 7. Feedback – Feedback should be clear and constructive. Feedback by both by the teacher and self-assessment allows students to take responsibility for their learning and helps students â€Å"identify how they can improve their learning† (Killen, 2005, p. 98) and ensure motivation is high through positive consequences. By ensuring the lessons have a clear purpose, are well planned and allow all students’ to demonstrate their achievements through a fair, valid and reliable process, learning and teaching is improved and achievement is enhanced. â€Å"High quality assessments have consequences that will be positive for both students and yourself† (McMillan, 2011, p. 86). References Chappuis, S. , Chappuis, J. , Stiggins, R. (2009). The Quest for Quality. Multiple Measures , 67 (3), 14-19. Curriculum Council of Western Australia. (2004). Curriculum Framework. Osborne Park: W. A. Killen, R. (2005). Programming and assessment for quality teaching and learning. South Thompson: Cengage. McMillan, J. H. (2011). Classroom Assessment: Principles and Practice for Effective Standards Based Instruction (Fifth ed. ). Boston: Pearson.

The Outsiders Movie Review Essay

The Outsiders Movie Review Essay The Outsiders movie is based on a book written by S.E Hinton. The story takes place in Oklahoma in the 1960s. It is about two gangs or social classes named the greasers and the socs. The greasers are the poor ones who live on the east side of town and the socs are the rich ones living on the west side of town. The socs enjoy going to the east side to beat up greasers. The main character is Ponyboy Curtis, an orphan living with his two older brothers. One night, after a fight at home Ponyboy and his friend Johnny Cade who also has problems at home, run away. Rising action of the movie is when the two boys spend the night at the park and get in a fight with some of the socs. The socs wanted to teach the boys a lesson because earlier that night they allowed themselves to go out with two soc girls. One of them was Sherry Valance goes to the same school as Ponyboy and is Bob Sheldons girlfriend. Johnny stabs Bob to death as he was trying to drown Ponyboy in a fountain. They run away and h ide in an old church away from town. Climax of the story is when the church sets on fire during a school visit and some children become trapped inside. Ponyboy, Johnny and Dallas Winston (Dally), a friend who came visit the two boys, run into the church to save the children. They in turn become heroes with their pictures spread all over the newspapers. Falling action of the story involves Johnny staying in the hospital because of his broken spine and severe burns. Also, after juvenile trials Ponyboy and Johnny are declared as not guilty of the crime and Ponyboy is allowed to stay in custody of his oldest brother Darry Curtis. However, the two gangs didnt want to let their arguments rest until they fought a fair fight. So they arranged for a rumble which the greasers won. In the denouement, Ponyboy and Dally go to the hospital to inform Johnny of the good news. Apparently Johnny dies during the visit. Out of anger and grief Dally robs a store and forces the police to shoot him down w hen he refuses to turn himself in. Ponyboy finds a note that Johnny wrote him before his death. The most obvious conflict in The Outsiders is the conflict between the two different social groups, a class versus class conflict. Greasers are poor and many of them have to drop out of school to help financing their families. Whereas the socs are rich kids with expensive cars and receive education with no worries. The gap between the two classes makes the socs look at the greasers as trash of the society. The class versus class conflict gives rise to a physical conflict between the socs and the greasers. Throughout the story there are physical fights between the two groups. Socs mainly do it for fun and also to prove to themselves that they are better and stronger than the greasers. There are two other conflicts in the story both in which Ponyboy is involved. Ponyboy appears to be in conflict with himself. At the beginning of the story Ponyboy is on his way home from the movies. He is spotted by a group of socs who chase him and beat him up. Ponyboy is well aware of the conflicts be tween the greasers and the socs and knows the danger of walking home on his own, but he still does so because he struggling to accept the hard life he is forced to live. He thinks it is unfair that he has to worry about simple things like going home from the movie when the socs can live their life the way they want to without any restrictions or worries. Moreover, Ponyboy likes literature and nature which is odd for a normal greaser. He struggles to reveal himself in front of others, because he knows they wouldnt understand him. The other conflict would be Ponyboy versus life or circumstances. Ponyboys parents passed away in a car crash. Since then he has been in custody of his oldest brother Darry. He always compared Darrys actions with those of his parents. He thought if his parents were alive he would be better off with them because Darry was too strict. Ponyboy also interpreted Darrys strictness as hate. He felt it was unfair for him to have a brother who only yells at him and tells him what to do. He also felt life was unfair towards his other brother Sodapop who had dropped out of school to work at a gas station in order to help financing their family. The Outsiders discusses a variety of themes. The first and major theme is the gap between the different social classes, particularly the gap between the rich and the poor. The story shows that the rich take advantage of their authority. They look down to greasers and see no value in them. They look at themselves as the better part of the society, hence they allow themselves to do whatever they want. But greasers have limitations. They can only defend themselves, they could never allow themselves to start a fight with the socs because they would not get away with it like the socs do. When Ponyboy and Johnny were having a walk with Sherry and her friend, Bob and his friend Randy show up and demand that the girls leave with them instantly. Sherry asks Ponyboy not to take it personal if she does not say hello at school. This incident, on the other hand, implies that socs may also have restricted actions due to the large gap between them and the greasers. Sherry fears of losing respect of other socs if she talks to a greaser at school. The restriction or limitation that the gap has placed on Sherry might appear not be as significant as the one placed on the greasers. Still, it is of great matter because it shows that problems between the socs and the greasers have an effect on both groups. The second theme is about bravery. The Outsiders makes a valued point with this theme, which is that bravery is not about what class you belong to. Bravery is more about individualism. After the fire, when Ponyboy was in the ambulance car and told the teacher accompanying him to the hospital that he was a greaser, the man was surprised and wouldnt really believe him. This emphasizes that the society judges the greasers and views them as uncivilized people. The society would have never expected such brave action from a greaser. Another vey important theme would be the appreciation of family. Before the death of Bob, there was not much harmony between Ponyboy and his brothers. Darry was nearly always giving Ponyboy orders or shouting at him, which upset Ponyboy. Sodapop was torn between the two sides. When Ponyboy ran away with Johnny, the brothers learned to appreciate each other, especially Darry and Ponyboy. Ponyboy finally understood that Darry loves him and Darry learned that he should just change the way he treats Ponyboy so they could have a better life. The last theme would be the changes one undergoes during adolescence. Ponyboy matured throughout the story becoming more wise, understanding and less judging. After recollecting his conversation with Sherry and her actions, Bobs death and a conversation with Randy, Ponyboy realizes that socs have different sides too. They could be good people too. Ponyboy is the narrator and the main character of the story. He is a dynamic character and develops in a number of ways. Ponyboy is a greaser like his brothers and his friends, but also differs from them in many ways. Ponyboy is dreamy and innocent when compared to most greasers. He is not as tough and experienced as the others. Despite the fact that he is poor and the environment he lives in is quite uncivilized, Ponyboy is a good student and also interested in literature, nature and movies. Ponyboy knows that this isnt normal for a greaser, so he keeps his thoughts mainly to himself. Sometimes however he shares them with his brother Sodapop because he does not judge him and tries to be understanding of Ponyboys different side. When Ponyboy ran away with Johnny to hide at the church, he used to read to Johnny Gone with the wind. Also, once while watching a sunrise with Johnny, Ponyboy cited a few lines from the poem Nothing Gold can stay by Robert Frost. Johnny was amazed by the lin es and Ponyboy learned that Johnny had a different side too. He could understand literature and was appreciative of the beauty of nature like Ponyboy was. This encouraged him to open up and reveal himself to Johnny. Throughout the story Ponyboy becomes more experienced, mature and understanding. He learns too look at the full picture and not take things only from his point of view. When Dallas went to visit Ponyboy and Johnny in the church, his brothers send him a note telling him how much they miss him and that they want him back home. It is then when Ponyboy realizes that Darrys strictness comes out of love. He learns to understand that Darry loves him and that he fears that through any mistakes or misbehavior Ponyboy is might taken away from him and put into boys home. Ponyboy learns also not to be one-sided and not to judge people by what group they belong to. When Ponyboy goes back to town, he gets in a conversation with Randy. Randy tells him that he thinks his actions are brave and heroic and that he wouldnt have saved the children in the burning church. Ponyboy also gets to know from Randy that he grieves over Bobs death and that he regrets what happened, and that he is tired of the on-g oing conflict between socs and greasers. For the fist time Ponyboy looks at Randy as a normal guy and not as a soc. Ponyboy realizes that socs are not just sophisticated and materialistic people, they too have problems in their lives that seem almost perfect. When Sherri testified in the trials saying that Bob was the one looking for a fight with Ponyboy and Johnny, and decided work as a spy for the greasers bringing them information about the socs plans for the rumble, Ponyboy comes to understand that not all socs are the same, not all socs are for injustice. Ponyboy also realizes, with the help of Johnny, that he has other options than the rest of the greasers. Johnny left Ponyboy a note, in which he told him to stay gold, like in Robert Frosts poem. Johnny wanted Ponyboy to realize that there is much more to life than just the conflict between the greasers and the socs. By telling Ponyboy to stay gold, Johnny wanted Ponyboy to stay innocent and pure, and not let the problems with the socs make him tough, aggressive, and careless like most of the greasers. This made Ponyboy accept himself and the fact that he is different from others. To conclude, the story of The Outsiders has good content, even though it is an older one. I think its themes and conflicts are highly valuable as they still address many of the issues in todays world. It would be a good movie for the young people to watch because there are definitely things they could learn from the movie.

History and Global Impact Vibrio Cholerae and Cholera :: Diarrhea Bacteria Disease

Vibrio Cholerae and Cholera - The History and Global Impact Abstract Cholera is a diarrhea disease caused by the bacteria, Vibrio Cholera. For centuries, cholera has terrorized the world. There have been seven pandemics since 1817 and many lives have been lost. Even to this day, cholera runs rampant in many areas of the world. The impact cholera has had on the world is enormous. Cholera has caused immense amount of human suffering and economic/social loss since its beginning. But, as time goes on, discoveries are made and ideas are created on treatments that save many lives and some places are now cholera free. In those regions, Cholera is a thing of the past; while in other parts of the world, it is very much still a threatening disease of the present and future. ______________________________________________________________________________ Cholera, the massive watery diarrhea disease, has struck the earth with its angry fists since the beginnings of civilization. From the start, Vibrio cholerea has infested the world and Cholera has especially terrorized the world in a series of pandemics. Without a doubt, Cholera has traveled throughout the whole world, stopping to pillage multitudes of cities of many of its inhabitants. It knows no boundaries. The only place it hasn’t ruthlessly invaded is the barren ice desert of Antarctica. Even to this day, cholera still robs places of lives. The first Cholera pandemic broke out in 1817. Cholera outbreaks continued to spread across Europe, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and parts of Africa until 1823 (Barua Pg.8). Where the pandemic began is controversial, but cholera was definitely present in multiple places prior to and during 1817. India was an area that was affected by cholera in 1822. The fatality rates among the native and English troops in India were 21 for every 100 for the natives and 10 per 100 for the English (Barua Pg.8). Six years after the first Cholera pandemic, another pandemic sprang up. The second pandemic flew through Asia, Europe, the Middle East, some parts of Africa and the United States from 1829 to 1851. There were many â€Å"violent epidemics† sprinkled throughout the pandemic. One particularly violent epidemic took place on a pilgrimage to Mecca, where many died, including the Mecca and Jeddah governors and the Pasha (Barua Pg.9). Another outbreak that took place near Mecca was in 1846 where 15,000 people died (Barua Pg.10). However, as more cases of cholera appeared more new ideas for treatments did too. History and Global Impact Vibrio Cholerae and Cholera :: Diarrhea Bacteria Disease Vibrio Cholerae and Cholera - The History and Global Impact Abstract Cholera is a diarrhea disease caused by the bacteria, Vibrio Cholera. For centuries, cholera has terrorized the world. There have been seven pandemics since 1817 and many lives have been lost. Even to this day, cholera runs rampant in many areas of the world. The impact cholera has had on the world is enormous. Cholera has caused immense amount of human suffering and economic/social loss since its beginning. But, as time goes on, discoveries are made and ideas are created on treatments that save many lives and some places are now cholera free. In those regions, Cholera is a thing of the past; while in other parts of the world, it is very much still a threatening disease of the present and future. ______________________________________________________________________________ Cholera, the massive watery diarrhea disease, has struck the earth with its angry fists since the beginnings of civilization. From the start, Vibrio cholerea has infested the world and Cholera has especially terrorized the world in a series of pandemics. Without a doubt, Cholera has traveled throughout the whole world, stopping to pillage multitudes of cities of many of its inhabitants. It knows no boundaries. The only place it hasn’t ruthlessly invaded is the barren ice desert of Antarctica. Even to this day, cholera still robs places of lives. The first Cholera pandemic broke out in 1817. Cholera outbreaks continued to spread across Europe, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and parts of Africa until 1823 (Barua Pg.8). Where the pandemic began is controversial, but cholera was definitely present in multiple places prior to and during 1817. India was an area that was affected by cholera in 1822. The fatality rates among the native and English troops in India were 21 for every 100 for the natives and 10 per 100 for the English (Barua Pg.8). Six years after the first Cholera pandemic, another pandemic sprang up. The second pandemic flew through Asia, Europe, the Middle East, some parts of Africa and the United States from 1829 to 1851. There were many â€Å"violent epidemics† sprinkled throughout the pandemic. One particularly violent epidemic took place on a pilgrimage to Mecca, where many died, including the Mecca and Jeddah governors and the Pasha (Barua Pg.9). Another outbreak that took place near Mecca was in 1846 where 15,000 people died (Barua Pg.10). However, as more cases of cholera appeared more new ideas for treatments did too.

Marketing Is Everything

HER JANUARY-FEBRUARY 1991 Marketing Is Everything by Regis McKenna he 1990s will belong to the customer. And that is great news for the marketer. Technology is transforming choice, and choice is transforming the marketplace. As a result, we are witnessing the emergence of a new marketing paradigm – not a â€Å"do more† marketing that simply turns up the volume on the sales spiels of the past but a knowledge- and experience-based marketing that represents tbe once-and-for-all death of the salesman. Marketing's transformation is driven by tbe enormous power and ubiquitous spread of tecbnology.So pervasive is technology today tbat it is virtually meaningless to make distinctions between technology and nontecbnology businesses and industries: tbere arc only tecbnology companies. Tecbnology has moved into products, the workplace, and the marketplace with astonishing speed and thorougbness. Seventy years after tbey were invented, fractional borsepower motors are in some IS to 20 bousebold products in tbe average American home today. In less than 20 years, the microprocessor has achieved a similar penetration. TWenty years ago, there Regis McKenna is chairman of Regis McKenna Inc. a Palo Alto-headquartered marketing consulting firm that advises some of America's leading high-tech companies. He is also a general partner of Kleiner Perkins Caufield &) Byers, a technology venture-capital company. He is the author of Who's Afraid of Big Blue? (Addison-Wesley, 1989) and The Regis Touch (Addison-Wesley, 1985]. DRAWING BY TIMOTHY BLECK T 65 MARKETING IS EVERYTHING were fewer than 50,000 computers in use,- today more than . 50,000 computers are purchased every day. The defining characteristic of this new technological push is programmahility.In a computer chip, programmability means the capability to alter a command, so that one chip can perform a variety of prescribed functions and produce a variety of prescribed outcomes. On the factory floor, programmability transforms the production operation, enabling one machine to produce a wide variety of models and products. More broadly, programmability is the new corporate capability to produce more and more varieties and choices for customers – even to offer each individual customer the chance to design and implement the â€Å"program† that will yield the precise product, service, or variety that is right for him or her.The technological promise of programmahility has exploded into the reality of almost unlimited choice. Take the world of drugstores and supermarkets. According to Gorman's New Product News, which tracks new product introductions in these two eonsumer-products arenas, between 1985 and 1989 the number of new products grew by an astonishing 60% to an all-time annual high of 12,055. As venerable a brand as Tide illustrates this multiplication of brand variety. In 1946, Procter & Gamble introduced the laundry detergent, the first ever. For 38 years, one version of Tide served the entire market.Then, in the mid-1980s, Procter & Gamble began to bring out a succession of new Tides: Unscented Tide and Liquid Tide in 1984, Tide with Bleach in 1988, and the concentrated Ultra Tide in 1990. To some marketers, the creation of almost unlimited customer choice represents a threat – particularly when choice is accompanied by new competitors. TVenty years ago, IBM had only 20 competitors,- today it faces more than 5,000, when you count any company that is in the â€Å"computer† business. Twenty years ago, there were fewer than 90 semiconductor companies; today there are almost 300 in the United States alone.And not only are the competitors new, bringing with them new products and new strategies, but the customers also are new: 90% of the people who used a computer in 1990 were not using one in 1980. These new customers don't know ahout the old rules, the old understandings, or the old ways of doing business – and they don't care. What the y do care about is a company that is willing to adapt its products or services to fit their strategies. This represents the evolution of marketing to the market-driven company. Several decades ago, there were sales-driven companies.These organizations focused their energies on changing customers' minds to fit the product – praeticing the â€Å"any color as long as it's black† school of marketing. As teehnology developed and competition increased, some companies shifted their approach and became eustomer driven. These companies expressed a new willingness to change their product to fit customers' requests – practicing the â€Å"tell us what color you want† school of marketing. In the 1990s, successful companies are becoming market driven, adapting their products to fit their customers' strategies.These companies will practice â€Å"let's figure out together whether and how color matters to your larger goal† marketing. It is marketing that is oriente d toward creating rather than controlling a market; it is 66 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW January-February 1991 based on developmental education, incicmcntul improvement, and ongoing process rather than on simple market-share tactics, raw sales, and one-time events. Most important, it draws on the base of knowledge and experience that exists in the organization. T ese two fundamentals, knowledge-based and experiencebased marketing, will increasingly define the capabilities of a successful marketing organization. They will supplant the old approach to marketing and new product development. The old approach – getting an idea, conducting traditional market research, developing a product, testing the market, and finally going to market – is slow, unresponsive, and turf-ridden. Moreover, given the fast-changing marketplace, there is less and less reason to believe that this traditional approach can keep up with real customer wishes and demands or with the rigors of competition.C onsider the mueh-publieized 1988 lawsuit that Beecham, the international consumer products group, filed against advertising giant Saatchi ; Saatchi. The suit, which sought more than $24 million in damages, argued that Yankelovich Clancy Shulman, at that time Saatchi's U. S. market-research subsidiary, had â€Å"vastly overstated† the projected market share of a new detergent that Beecham launched. Yankelovich forecast that Beecham's product, Delicare, a cold-water detergent, would win between 45. 4% and 52. 3% of the U. S. arket if Beecham backed it with $18 million of advertising. According to Beeeham, however, Delicare's highest market share was 25%; the product generally achieved a market share of between 15% and 20%. The lawsuit was settled out of court, with no clear winner or loser. Regardless of the outcome, however, the issue it illustrates is widespread and fundamental: forecasts, by their very nature, must be unreliable, particularly with technology, competitors, cu stomers, and markets all shifting ground so often, so rapidly, and so radically.The alternative to this old approach is know ledge-based and experience-based marketing. Knowledge-based marketing requires a company to master a scale of knowledge: of the technology in which it competes; of its competition; of its customers; of new sources of technology that can alter its competitive environment; and of its own organization, capabilities, plans, and way of doing business.Armed with this mastery, companies can put knowledge-based marketing to work in three essential ways: integrating tbe customer into tbe design process to guarantee a product tbat is tailored not only to the customers' needs and desires but also to the customers' strategies; generating nicbe thinking to use tbe company's knowledge of cbannels and markets to identify segments of tbe market tbe company can own; and developing the infrastructure of suppliers, vendors, partners, and users wbose relationships will help susta in and support tbe company's reputation and technological edge.The otber balf of this new marketing paradigm is experiencebased marketing, wbicb empbasizes interactivity, connectivity, and creativity. With tbis approacb, companies spend time with tbeir customers, constantly monitor tbeir competitors, and develop a feedback-analysis system tbat turns this information about the market and the competition into important new product intelligence. At the same time, tbese companies botb evaluate their own )anuary February 1991 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW 67 MARKETING IS EVERYTHING echnology to assess its currency and cooperate with other companies to create mutually advantageous systems and solutions. These close encounters – with customers, competitors, and internal and external technologies – give companies the firsthand experience they need to invest in market development and to take intelligent, calculated risks. In a time of exploding choice and unpredictable change, market ing – the new marketing – is the answer. With so much choice for customers, companies face the end of loyalty.To combat that threat, they can add sales and marketing people, throwing costly resources at the market as a way to retain customers. But the real solution, of course, is not more marketing but better marketing. And that means marketing that finds a way to integrate the customer into the company, to create and sustain a relationship between the company and the customer. The marketer must he the integrator, both internally – synthesizing technological capability with market needs – and externally bringing the customer into the company as a participant in the development and adaptation of goods and services.It is a fundamental shift in the role and purpose of marketing: from manipulation of the customer to genuine customer involvement; from telling and selling to communicating and sharing knowledge; from last-in-line function to corporate-credibilit y champion. Playing the integrator requires the marketer to command credibility. In a marketplace characterized by rapid change and potentially paralyzing choice, credibility becomes the company's sustaining value.The character of its management, the strength of its financials, the quality of its innovations, the congeniality of its customer references, the capabilities of its alliances – these are the measures of a company's credibility. They are measures that, in turn, directly affect its capacity to attract quality people, generate new ideas, and form quality relationships. The relationships are the key, the hasis of customer choice and company adaptation. After all, what is a successful brand hut a special relationship?And who hetter than a company's marketing people to create, sustain, and interpret the relationship between the company, its suppliers, and its customers? That is why, as the demands on the company have shifted from controlling costs to competing on product s to serving customers, the center of gravity in the company has shifted from finance to engineering-and now to marketing. In the 1990s, marketing will do more than sell. It will define the way a company does business. The old notion of marketing -was epitomized hy Marketing Is Everythins, and Everything T A/T / +' IS IViarKCting he ritual phone call from the CEO to the corporate headhunter saying, â€Å"Find me a good marketing per- ^†Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ^ ^† ‘^†^ ^^ marketing operation! † What the Q^Q wanted, of course, was someone who could take on a discrete set of textbook functions that were generally associated with run-of-the-mill marketing. That person would immediately go to Madison Avenue to hire an advertising agency, change the ad campaign, redesign the company logo, redo the brochures, train the sales force, retain a high-powered public relations firm, and alter or otherwise reposition the company's image.HARVARD BUSINESS REVTEW lanuary-February 1991 68 Behind the CEO's call for â€Å"a good marketing person† were a number of assumptions and attitudes about marketing: that it is a distinct function in the company, separate from and usually subordinate to the core functions; that its job is to identify groups of potential customers and find ways to convince them to buy the company's product or service; and that at the heart of it is image making – creating and projecting a false sense of the company and its offerings to lure the customer into the company's grasp.If those assumptions ever were warranted in the past, however, all three are totally unsupportable and obsolete today. Marketing today is not a function; it is a way of doing business. Marketing is not a new ad campaign or this month's promotion. Marketing has to be all-pervasive, part of everyone's job description, from the receptionists to the board of directors. Its job is neither to fool the customer nor to falsify the company's image. It is to integrate the customer into the design of the product and to design a ystematic process for interaction that will create substance in the relationship. To understand the difference between the old and tbe new marketing, compare how two bigb-tech medical instrument companies recently bandied similar customer telepbone calls requesting tbe repair and replacement of their equipment. Tbe first eompany – call it Gluco – delivered tbe replacement instrument to tbe customer witbin 24 hours of tbe request, no questions asked. Tbe box in wbich it arrived contained instructions for sending back tbe broken instrument, a mailing label, and even tape to reseal tbe box.Tbe pbone call and tbe excbange of instruments were handled conveniently, professionally, and witb maximum consideration for and minimum disruption to tbe customer. The second company – call it Pumpco – bandied tbings quite differently. Tbe person wbo took the customer's telepbone call bad never been asked about repairing a piece of equipment; sbe tbougbtlessly sent tbe customer into tbe limbo of bold. Finally, sbe came back on the line to say tbat tbe customer would have to pay for tbe equipment repair and tbat a temporary replacement would cost an additional $ 15.Several days later, tbe customer received tbe replacement witb no instructions, no information, no directions. Several weeks after the customer returned tbe broken equipment, it reappeared, repaired but witb no instructions concerning tbe temporary replacement. Finally, tbe customer got a demand letter from Pumpco, indicating tbat someone at Pumpco bad made the mistake of not sending tbe equipment C. O. D. To Pumpco, marketing means selling tbings and collecting money; to Gluco, marketing means building relationsbips witb its custotners.The way tbe two eompanies bandied two simple eustomer requests refleets tbe questions tbat customers increasingly ask in interactions witb all kinds of businesses, from airlines to software makers : Wbicb company is competent, responsive, and well organized? Wbicb company do I trust to get it rigbt- Wbicb company would I ratber do business witb? Successful companies realize tbat marketing is like quality integral to tbe organization. Like quality, marketing is an intangible tbat tbe customer must experience to appreciate.And like quality – wbicb in tbe United States bas developed from early ideas like HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW )anuary-February 1991 69 MARKETING IS EVERYTHING planned obsolescence and inspecting quality in to more ambitious concepts like the systemization of quality in every aspect of tbe organization – marketing bas been evolutionary. Marketing bas shifted from tricking tbe customer to blaming the customer to satisfying the customer – and now to integrating tbe customer systematically.As its next move, marketing must permanently shed its reputation for hucksterism and image making and create an award for marketing much like tbe Malcolm Baldr ige National Quality Award. In fact, companies tbat continue to see marketing as a bag of tricks will lose out in sbort order to companies tbat stress substance and real performance. Marketing's ultimate assignment is to serve customers' real needs and to communicate tbe substance of tbe company – not to introduce tbe kinds of cosmetics tbat used to typify tbe auto industry's annual model cbanges.And because marketing in tbe 1990s is an expression of tbe company's cbaracter, it necessarily is a responsibility tbat belongs to the whole company. The Goal ofMarketing Is to Own the Market, Not fust U. S. companies typically make two kinds of mistakes. Some get caught up in the excitement and drive of making things, particularly new creto Sell the ations. Others become absorbed in the competiPwduct ^^^^  °^ selling things, particularly to increase their market share in a given product line. Both approaches could prove fatal to a business.Tbe problem witb tbe first is tbat it lea ds to an internal focus. Companies can become so fixated on pursuing tbeir R&D agendas that they forget about tbe customer, tbe market, tbe competition. They end up winning recognition as R&D pioneers but lack the more important capability – sustaining their performance and, sometimes, maintaining their independence. Genentech, for example, clearly emerged as the R&D pioneer in biotechnology, only to be acquired by Rocbe. Tbe problem with the second approach is that it leads to a market-sbare mentality, which inevitably translates into undershooting the market.A market-share mentality leads a company to think of its customers as â€Å"share points† and to use gimmicks, spiffs, and promotions to eke out a percentage-point gain. It pusbes a company to look for incremental, sometimes even minuscule, growtb out of existing products or to spend lavishly to launch a new product in a market where competitors enjoy a fat, dominant position. It turns marketing into an expensive fight over crumbs rather than a smart effort to own the whole pie. Tbe real goal of marketing is to own the market – not just to make or sell products. Smart marketing means defining what wbole pie is yours.It means thinking of your company, your technology, your product in a fresh way, a way that begins by defining what you can lead. Because in marketing, what you lead, you own. Leadership is ownership. When you own the market, you do different things and you do tbings differently, as do your suppliers and your customers. When you own tbe market, you develop your products to serve tbat market specifically; you define tbe standards in that market; you bring into your camp third parties who want to develop their own compatible products or offer you new features or add-ons to aug- 70 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW January-February 19yi ent your product; you get the first look at new ideas that others are testing in that market; you attract the most talented people because of your ack nowledged leadership position. Owning a market can become a self-reinforcing spiral. Beeause you own the market, you become the dominant force in the field; beeause you dominate the field, you deepen your ownership of the market. Ultimately, you deepen your relationship with your customers as well, as they attribute more and more leadership qualities to a company that exhibits such an integrated performance. To own the market, a eompany starts by thinking of a new way to define a market.Take, for instance, the case of Convex Computer. In 1984, Convex was looking to put a new computer on the market. Because of tbe existing market segmentation. Convex could have seen its only choice as competing for market sbare in the predefined markets: in supercomputers where Cray dominated or in minicomputers where Digital led. Determined to define a market it could own. Convex created the â€Å"mini-supercomputer† market by offering a product with a priee/performance ratio between Cray's $ 5 million to $15 million supercomputers and Digital's $300,000 to $750,000 minieomputers.Convex's product, priced between $500,000 and $800,000, offered teehnological performance less than that of a full supercomputer and more than that of a minicomputer. Within this new market. Convex established itself as the leader. Intel did the same thing with its microprocessor. The company defined its early products and market more as computers than semiconductors. Intel offered, in essence, a computer on a chip, creating a new category of products that it could own and lead. Sometimes owning a market means broadening it; other times, narrowing it. Apple has managed to do both in efforts to create and own a market.Apple first broadened the category of small computers to achieve a leadership position. The market definition started out as hobby computers and had many small players. The next step was the home computer – a market that was also crowded and limiting. Tb own a market, Apple i dentified the personal computer, which expanded the market concept and made Apple the undeniable market leader. In a later move, Apple did the opposite, redefining a market by narrowing its definition. Unquestionably, IBM owned the business market; for Apple, a market-share mentality in that arena would have been pointless.Instead, with technology alliances and marketing eorreetly defined, Apple created – and owned – a whole new market: desktop publishing. Once inside the corporate world with desktop publishing, Apple could deepen and broaden its relationships with the business customer. Paradoxically, two important outcomes of owning a market are substantial earnings, which can replenish the company's R&D coffers, and a powerful market position, a beachhead from wbich a company can grow additional market share by expanding both its teehnological capabilities and its definition of the market.The greatest praetitioners of this marketing approach are Japanese companies i n industries like autos, commercial electronics, semiconductors, and computers and communications. Their primary goal is ownership of certain target markets. The keiretsv industrial! structure allows them to use all of the market's infrastructure to achieve HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW January-February 1991 * r ^ MARKETING IS EVERYTHING this; relationships in technology, information, politics, and distribution help tbe company assert its leadership. Tbe Japanese strategy is consistent.Tbese companies begin by using basic research from tbe United States to jump-start new product development. From 1950 to 1978, for example, Japanese companies entered into 32,000 licensing arrangements to acquire foreign technology at an estimated cost of $9 billion. But the United States spent at least 50 times tbat much to do the original R&D. Next, these Japanese companies pusb out a variety of products to engage the market and to learn and then focus on dominating tbe market to force foreign competitors to retreat – leaving them to barvest substantial returns.Tbese buge profits are recycled into a new spiral of R&J3, innovation, market creation, and market dominance. Tbat model of competing, which links R&D, technology, innovation, production, and finance – integrated through marketing's drive to own a market – is the approacb tbat all competitors will take to succeed in the 1990s. In a world of mass manufacturing, the counterpart was mass marketing. In a world of flexible Technolo2V n^^nufacturing, the counterpart is flexible market7-. 7 ine. The technology comes first, the ability to marJZ VUI Vt^Ci j^gj follows.The tecbnology embodies adaptability, programmability, and customizability; now comes marketing that delivers on those qualities. Today tecbnology has created tbe promise of â€Å"any thing, any way, any time. † Customers can have their own version of virtually any product, including one that appeals to mass identification rather than individu ality, if tbey so desire. Think of a product or an industry where customization is not predominant. The telephone? Originally, Bell Telephone's goal was to place a simple, all-black pbone in every home. Today there are more than 1,000 permutations and combinations available, ith options running the gamut from different colors and portahility to answering machines and programmability – as well as services. Tbere is the further promise of optical fiber and the convergence of computers and communications into a unified industry with even greater technological choice. How about a venerable product like the bicycle, which appeared originally as a sketch in Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks? According to a recent article in the Washington Post, tbe National Bicycle Industrial Company in Kokubu, Japan builds made-to-order bicycles on an assembly line.The bicycles, fitted to each customer's measurements, are delivered within two weeks of the order – and the company offers 11,231,8 62 variations on its models, at prices only 10% higher than ready-made models. Even newspapers tbat report on this technology-led move to customization are themselves increasingly customized. Faced witb stagnant circulation, the urban daily newspapers have begun to customize their news, advertising, and even editorial and sports pages to appeal to local suburban readers. The Los Angeles Times, for example, has seven zoned editions targeting each of tbe city's surrounding communities.What is at work here is the predominant matbematical formula of today's marketing: variety plus service equals customization. For 72 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW January-February all of its handying about as a marketing buzzword, customization is a remarkably direct concept – it is the capacity to deal with a customer in a unique way. Technology makes it increasingly possible to do that, but interestingly, marketing's version of the laws of physics makes it increasingly difficult. According to quantum physics, things act differently at the micro level Light is the classic example.When subjected to certain kinds of tests, light behaves like a wave, moving in much the way an ocean wave moves. But in other tests, light behaves more like a particle, moving as a single ball. So, scientists ask, is it a wave or a particle? And when is it which? Markets and customers operate like light and energy. In fact, like light, the customer is more than one thing at the same time. Sometimes consumers behave as part of a group, fitting neatly into social and psychographic classifications. Other times, the consumer breaks loose and is iconoclastic.Customers make and break patterns: the senior citizen market is filled with older people who intensely wish to act youthful, and the upscale market must contend with wealthy people who hide their money behind the most utilitarian purchases. Markets are subject to laws similar to those of quantum physics. Different markets have different levels of consumer energy, stages in the market's development where a product surges, is absorbed, dissipates, and dies. A fad, after all, is nothing more than a wave that dissipates and then becomes a particle.Take the much-discussed Yuppie market and its association with certain branded consumer products, like BMWs. After a stage of bigh customer energy and close identification, the wave has broken. Having been saturated and absorbed by the marketplace, the Yuppie association has faded, just as energy does in the physical world. Sensing the change, BMW no longer sells to the Yuppie lifestyle but now focuses on the technological capabilities of its machines. And Yuppies are no longer the wave they once were; as a market, they are more like particles as they look for more individualistic and personal expressions of their consumer energy.Of course, since particles can also behave like waves again, it is likely that smart marketers will tap some new energy source, such as values, to recoalesce the youn g, affluent market into a wave. And technology gives marketers the tools they need, such as database marketing, to discern waves and particles and even to design programs that combine enough particles to form a powerful wave. The lesson for marketers is much the same as that voiced by Buckminster Fuller for scientists: â€Å"Don't fight forces,- use them. Marketers who follow and use technology, rather than oppose it, will discover that it creates and leads directly to new market forms and opportunities. Take audiocassettes, tapes, and compact discs. For years, record and tape companies jealously guarded their property. Knowing that home hackers pirated tapes and created their own composite cassettes, the music companies steadfastly resisted the forces of technology – until the Personics System realized that technology was making a legitimate market for authorized, high-quality customized composite cassettes and CDs.Rather than treating the customer as a criminal, Personics saw a market. Today consumers can design personalized music tapes from the Personics System, a rewed-up jukebox with a library of HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW (anuary R-bmary 1991 73 MARKETING IS EVERYTHING over 5,000 songs. For $1. 10 per song, consumers tell tbe macbine wbat to record. In about ten minutes, tbe system makes a customized tape and prints out a laser-quality label of tbe selections, complete witb tbe customer's name and a personalized title for tbe tape. Launcbed in 1988, tbe system bas already spread to more tban 250 stores.Smart marketers bave, once again, allowed tecbnology to create the customizing relationship witb tbe customer. We are witnessing tbe obsoleseence of advertisg-1^ tbe old model of marketing, it made sense as oveS fTOm ^^^ wbole formula: you sell mass-produced tn lU Q 3 j^ygg market tbrougb mass media. Marketing's job was to use advertising to deliver a message to tbe consumer in a one-way communication: â€Å"Buy tbis! † Tbat message no longer w orks, and advertising is sbowing tbe effects. In 1989, newspaper advertising grew only 4%, compared witb 6% in 1988and9% in 1987.According to a study by Syracuse University's Jobn Pbilip Jones, ad spending in tbe major media bas been stalled at 1. 5% of GNP since 1984. Ad agency staffing, researcb, and profitability bave been affected. Three related factors explain tbe decline of advertising. First, advertising overkill bas started to ricocbet back on advertising itself. Tbe proliferation of products has yielded a proliferation of messages: U. S. customers are hit witb up to 3,000 marketing messages a day. In an effort to bombard the customer with yet one more advertisement, marketers are squeezing as many voices as they can into tbe space allotted to tbem.In 1988, for example, 38% of primetime and 47% of weekday daytime television commercials were only 15 seconds in duration; in 1984, those figures were 6% and 11 % respeetively. As a result of the shift to 15-second commercials, th e number of television commercials bas skyrocketed; between 1984 and 1988, prime-time commercials increased by 25%, weekday daytime by 24%. Predictably, bowever, a greater number of voices translates into a smaller impact. Customers simply are unable to remember wbich advertisement pitcbes wbich product, much less wbat qualities or attributes might differentiate one product from anotber.Very simply, it's a jumble out tbere. Take tbe enormously clever and critically acclaimed series of advertisements for Eveready batteries, featuring a tireless marching rabbit. Tbe ad was so successful tbat a survey conducted by Video Storyboard Tests Inc. named it one of tbe top commercials in 1990 for Duracell, Eveready's top competitor. In fact, a full 40% of tbose wbo selected tbe ad as an outstanding commercial attributed it to Duracell. Partly as a consequence of tbis confusion, reports indicate that Duracell's market share has grown, while Eveready's may have sbrunk sligbtly.Batteries are not the only market in whicb more advertising succeeds in spreading more confusion. The same thing bas happened in markets like athletic footwear and soda pop, where competing companies have signed up so many celebrity sponsors that consumers can no longer keep straight who is pitcbing wbat for whom. In 1989, for example. Coke, Diet Coke, Pepsi, and Diet Pepsi used nearly three dozen movie stars, athletes, musicians, and television personalities to tell consumers to buy more cola. But wben tbe 74 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW January-February 1991 moke and mirrors bad cleared, most consumers couldn't remember wbetber foe Montana and Don Jobnson drank Coke or Pepsi – or botb. Or wby it really mattered. Tbe second development in advertising's decline is an outgrowth of the first: as advertising has proliferated and become more obnoxiously insistent, consumers bave gotten fed up. Tbe more advertising seeks to intrude, tbe more people try to shut it out. Last year, Disney won the applause of commercial-weary customers when the company announced tbat it would not screen its films in tbeaters that showed commercials before the feature.A Disney executive was quoted as saying, â€Å"Movie theaters should he preserved as environments where consumers can escape from the pervasive onslaught of advertising. † Buttressing its position, tbe company cited survey data obtained from moviegoers, 90% of wbom said tbey did not want commercials sbown in movie tbeaters and 95% of wbom said tbey did want to see previews of coming attractions. More recently, after a number of failed attempts, the U. S. Congress responded to the growing concerns of parents and educators over the eommercial content of children's television.A new law limits tbe number of minutes of commercials and directs tbe Federal Communications Commission botb to examine â€Å"programlength commercials† – cartoon shows linked to commercial product lines – and to make each television station' s contribution to cbildren's educational needs a condition for license renewal. Tbis concern over advertising is mirrored in a variety of arenas from public outcry over cigarette marketing plans targeted at blacks and women to calls for more environmentally sensitive packaging and products.The underlying reason bebind botb of these factors is advertising's dirty little secret: it serves no useful purpose. In today's market, advertising simply misses the fundamental point of marketing – adaptability, flexibility, and responsiveness. Tbe new marketing requires a feedback loop; it is tbis element tbat is missing from tbe monologue of advertising but that is built into the dialogue of marketing. Tbe feedback loop, connecting company and customer, is central to tbe operating definition of a truly market-driven company: a company that adapts in a timely way to the changing needs of tbe customer.Apple is one such company. Its Macintosh computer is regarded as a machine that launched a revolution. At its birth in 1984, industry analysts received it with praise and acclaim. But in retrospect, the first Macintosh had many weaknesses: it had limited, nonexpandable memory, virtually no applications software, and a blackand-wbite screen. For all tbose deficiencies, bowever, tbe Mac bad two strengtbs tbat more than compensated: it was incredibly easy to use, and it bad a user group tbat was prepared to praise Mac publicly at its launeb and to advise Apple privately on bow to improve it.In other words, it had a feedback loop. It was tbis feedback loop tbat brougbt about change in tbe Mac, wbicb ultimately became an open, adaptable, and colorful computer. And it was changing the Mac that saved it. Months before launebing tbe Mac, Apple gave a sample of tbe product to 100 influential Americans to use and comment on. It signed up 100 tbird-party software suppliers wbo began to envision applications that could take advantage of the Mac's simplicity. It HARVARD BUSINESS RE VIEW (anuary-February 1991 75MARKETING IS EVERYTHING trained over 4,000 dealer salespeople and gave full-day, hands-on demonstrations of the Mac to industry insiders and analysts. Apple got two benefits from this network: educated Mac supporters who could legitimately praise the product to the press and invested consumers who could tell the company what the Mac needed. The dialogue witb customers cmd media praise were worth more than any notice advertising could buy. Apple's approach represents the new marketing model, a shift from monologue to dialogue.It is accomplished through experience-based marketing, where companies create opportunities for customers and potential customers to sample their products and then provide feedback. It is accomplished through beta sites, where a company can install a prelaunch product and study its use and needed refinements. Experienced-based marketing allows a company to work closely with a client to change a product, to adapt the technology â€⠀œ recognizing that no product is perfect wben it comes from engineering. This interaction was precisely the approach taken by Xerox in developing its recently announced Docutech System.Seven months before launeh, Xerox established 25 beta sites. From its prelaunch eustomers, Xerox learned what adjustments it should make, what service and support it should supply, and what enhancements and related new products it might next introduce. The goal is adaptive marketing, marketing that stresses sensitivity, flexibility, and resiliency. Sensitivity comes from having a variety of modes and channels through which companies can read the environment, from user groups that offer live feedback to sophisticated consumer scanners that provide data on customer choice in real time.Flexibility comes from creating an organizational structure and operating style that permits the company to take advantage of new opportunities presented by customer feedback. Resiliency comes from learning from mistakes – marketing that listens and responds. The line between products and services is fast Marketing a Product d Service Is Is iVl(irK6tll2g Q. 1 rOuUCt gj-jjj ]viotors makes more money from lending its eroding, what once appeared to be a rigid polarity ^^^ ^^^ become a hybrid: the servicization of prod^^^^ ^^^ ^^ productization of services. When Gen- ustomers money to buy its cars than it makes from manufacturing the cars, is it marketing its products or its services? When IBM announces to all the world that it is now in the systems-integration business – the customer can buy any box from any vendor and IBM will supply the systems know-how to make the whole thing work together – is it marketing its products or its services? In fact, the computer business today is 75% services; it consists overwhelmingly of applications knowledge, systems analysis, systems engineering, systems integration, networking solutions, security, and maintenance.The point applies just as well to less grandiose eompanies and to less expensive consumer products. Take the large corner drugstore that stocks thousands of products, from cosmetics to wristwatches. The products are for sale, but the store is actually marketing a service – the convenience of having so much variety collected and arrayed in one location. Or take any of the ordinary products found in the home, from boxes of cereal to table lamps to VCRs. All of 76 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW January-February 1991 hem come with some form of information designed to perform a service: nutritional information to indicate tbe actual food value of the cereal to tbe health-conscious consumer; a United Laboratories label on tbe lamp as an assurance of testing; an operating manual to belp tbe nontecbnical VCR customer rig up tbe new unit. Tbere is ample room to improve tbe quality of this information – to make it more useful, more convenient, or even more entertaining – hut in almost every case, the service information is a critical component of the product.On the other side of tbe hybrid, service providers are acknowledging tbe productization of services. Service providers, such as banks, insurance companies, consulting firms, even airlines and radio stations, are creating tangible events, repetitive and predictable exercises, standard and customizable packages tbat are product services. A frequent-flier or a frequent-listener club is a product service, as are regular audits performed by consulting firms or new loan packages assembled by banks to respond to cbanging economic conditions.As products and services merge, it is critical for marketers to understand clearly what marketing the new hybrid is not. Tbe serviee component is not satisfied by repairing a product if it breaks. Nor is it satisfied by an 800 number, a warranty, or a customer survey form. Wbat customers want most from a product is often qualitative and intangible; it is tbe service tbat is integral to the product. Ser vice is not an event; it is the process of creating a customer environment of information, assurance, and comfort. Consider an experienee that by now must have become commonplace for all of us as consumers.You go to an electronics store and buy an expensive piece of audio or video equipment, say, a CD player, a VCR, or a video camera. You take it bome, and a few days later, you accidentally drop it. It breaks. It won't work. Now, as a customer, you have a decision to make. When you take it back to the store, do you say it was broken wben you took it out of the box? Or do you tell the truth? The answer, honestly, depends on how you think the store will respond. But just as honestly, most customers appreciate a store that encourages them to tell the truth by making good on all customer problems.Service is, ultimately, an environment that encourages honesty. The company that adopts a â€Å"we'll make good on it, no questions asked† policy in the face of adversity may win a custo mer for life. Marketers who ignore the service component of their products focus on competitive differentiation and tools to penetrate markets. Marketers who appreciate the importance of the product-service hybrid focus on building loyal customer relationships. Technology and marketing once may bave Technology looked like opposites.The cold, impersonal sameness of technology and the high-touch, human Technology uniqueness of marketing seemed eternally at odds, Computers would only make marketing less personal; marketing could never leam to appreciate the look and feel of computers, datahases, and the rest of the high-tech paraphernalia. On the grounds of cost, a truce was eventually arranged. Very simply, marketers discovered that real savings could be gained hy KARVAKD BUSINESS REVIEW lanuary-February 1991 Markets 77 MARKETING IS EVERYTHING using technology to do what previously had required expensive, intensive, and often risky, people-directed field operations.For example, market ers learned that by matching a database with a marketing plan to simulate a new product launch on a computer, they could accomplish in 90 days and for $50,000 what otherwise would take as long as a year and cost at least several hundred thousand dollars. But having moved beyond the simple automation-for-cost-saving stage, technology and marketing have now not only fused but also begun to feed hack to each other. The result is the transformation of both technology and the product and the reshaping of both the customer and tbe company.Technology permits information to flow in both directions between the customer and the company. It creates the feedback loop that integrates the customer into the company, allows tbe company to own a market, permits customization, creates a dialogue, and turns a product into a service and a service into a product. T he direction in which Genentech has moved in its use of laptop and hand-held computers illustrates the transforming power of technology as i t merges with marketing. Originally, the biotechnology company planned to have salespeople use laptops on their sales calls as a way to automate the sales function.Sales reps, working solely out of their homes, would use laptops to get and send electronic mail, file reports on computerized â€Å"templates,† place orders, and receive company press releases and information updates. In addition, the laptops would enable sales reps to keep databases that would track customers' buying histories and company performance. That was the initial level of expectations – very low. In fact, the technology-marketing marriage has dramatically altered the customer-company relationship and the joh of the sales rep. Sales reps have emerged as marketing consultants.Armed with technical information generated and gathered by Genentech, sales reps can provide a valuable educational service to their customers, who are primarily pharmacists and physicians. For example, analysis of the largest study of children with a disease called short stature is available only through Genentech and its representatives. With this analysis, which is hased on clinical studies of 6,000 patients between the ages of one month and 30 years, and with the help of an on-line â€Å"growth calculator,† doctors can better judge when to use the growth hormone Protropin.Genentecb's system also includes a general educational component. Sales reps can use their laptops to access the latest articles or technical reports from medical conferences to help doctors keep up to date. The laptops also make it possible for doctors to use sales reps as research associates: Genentech has a staff of medical specialists who can answer highly technical questions posed through an on-line question-and-answer template.When sales reps enter a question on the template, the e-mail function immediately routes it to the appropriate specialist. For relatively simple questions, online answers come back to the sales rep within a day. In the 1990s, Genentech's laptop system – and the hundreds of similar applications that sprang up in tbe 1980s to automate sales, marketing, service, and distribution – will seem like a rather obviHARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW January-February 1991 78 ous and primitive way to meld tecbnology and marketing.The marketer will bave available not only existing tecbnologies but also tbeir converging capabilities: personal computers, databases, CD-ROMs, grapbic displays, multimedia, color terminals, computer-video tecbnology, networking, a custom processor tbat can be built into anytbing anywhere to create intelligence on a countertop or a dasbboard, seanners that read text, and networks tbat instantaneously create and distribute vast reacbes of information. As design and manufacturing tecbnologies advance into â€Å"real time† processes, marketing will move to eliminate tbe gap between production and consumption.Tbe result will be marketing workstations †“ the marketers' counterpart to CAD/CAM systems for engineers and product designers. Tbe marketing workstation will draw on grapbic, video, audio, and numeric information from a network of databases. The marketer will be able to look tbrougb windows on tbe workstation and manipulate data, simulate markets and products, bounce concepts off otbers in distant cities, write production orders for product designs and packaging concepts, and obtain costs, timetables, and distribution scbedules.Just as computer-comfortable cbildren today tbink notbing of manipulating figures and playing fantastic games on tbe same color screens, marketers will use the workstation to play botb designer and eonsumer. Tbe workstation will allow marketers to integrate data on historic sales and cost figures, competitive trends, and consumer patterns. At tbe same time, marketers will be able to create and test advertisements and promotions, evaluate media options, and analyze viewer and readersbip data. And fi nally, marketers will be able to obtain instant feedbaek on concepts and plans and to move marketing plans rapidly into production.Tbe marriage of technology and marketing should bring witb it a renaissance of marketing RikD – a new capability to explore new ideas, to test tbem against tbe reactions of real eustomers in real time, and to advance to experience-based leaps of faith. It should be the vehicle for bringing tbe customer inside the company and for putting marketing in tbe eenter of tbe company. In tbe 1990s, tbe critical dimensions of tbe company – including all of tbe attributes tbat togetber define how the company does business – are ultimately tbe functions of marketing.That is wby marketing is everyone's job, wby marketing is everytbing and everytbing is marketing. ^ Reprint 91108 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW liinuary-February 1991 79 Harvard Business Review Notice of Use Restrictions, May 2009 Harvard Business Review and Harvard Business Publishing New sletter content on EBSCOhost is licensed for the private individual use of authorized EBSCOhost users. It is not intended for use as assigned course material in academic institutions nor as corporate learning or training materials in businesses.Academic licensees may not use this content in electronic reserves, electronic course packs, persistent linking from syllabi or by any other means of incorporating the content into course resources. 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