Persian Society: 1673-1677 Essay

Jean Chardin was a well-educated son of a French jeweler. Chardin was a well-known European traveler of Persia in 17th century who produced substantial literature on Persian society. In his book Travel to Persia, Chardin describes the Persians as those who spend their money without care as soon they get it with no thought spared to their future needs. As soon as they lay their hands on some money, they either buy slaves, hire wives, set up a well-equipped carriage, furnish a house extravagantly and/or dress sumptuously (185). The Persians are characterized as kind, generous, and helpful to strangers, abhor fighting and worship Gods name. They are vigilant about the education of their children, they send their children twice a day to school and after school they keep them involved in their business and profession. They keep eunuchs to monitor their children strictly, not allowing them to go out on streets and to meet the relatives only with a eunuch serving as chaperone. At the age of sixteen, they marry their children off and do not allow them travel before they turn twenty (188-189). Chardin further elaborates that Persian men visit young women if their wives are over thirty and their wives, if they become pregnant early, get their fetus’ aborted because of fear of waning interest of their husbands. This situation did result in a decrease in their population. They are very civilized people but their behavior also encompasses negative characteristics too such as use of coarse and vulgar language, cheating, lying and frequently breaking promises (129-130). According to Chardin, â€Å"They are not to be trusted in service, nor in all other engagements† (187). Thus Chardin has depicted the conflicting character of Persian society in his book by stating that, â€Å"Whoever sees them only passing by, or in a visit, will always give them the best character in the world, but he that deals with them and pries into their affairs will find that there is little honesty in them† (188).

Chick Fil a – Performance Management

MGT 760 Chick-fil-A – Performance Management and Key Business Factors Performance Management is a process for establishing a shared understanding about what is to be achieved and how it is to be achieved. It is an approach to managing people that increases the probability of achieving success. In regards to the definition, Chick-Fil-A has a consistent and calibrated performance management process. They have been focusing on how to develop enough leaders, fast enough to create healthy growth. Leadership is the main part of the company’s success formula.They have a do-it-yourself leadership development culture. First of all they defined leadership at Chick-fil-A. They interviewed leaders within the company. After discussions they realized they needed more information. They decided to supplement their internal interviews with a survey of global best practices. As final part of process they read 200 books on leadership. They had a picture of leadership definition which is s imilar to iceberg. According to this model, like iceberg’s 90 percent is underwater, leadership character is hard to see. 0 percent is represents the skills of leaders. And they want to combine leadership and characteristic skills. They have seen character is 90 percent of what makes a leader. They want to do their best to select men and women of character and focus on helping them develop their skills as leaders. After that, they identified best leader skills. These are; 1- See the future: It is the vision skill, ability to improve business for future. 2- Engage and developed others: They want managers reach and develop their employee’s potential. – Reinvent continuously: It means that the leader is the catalyst for continuous improvement and innovation. It involves the leader’s continued growth and development. 4- Value result and relationship: They agree the idea that results are critical. But also they believe that results alone not sufficient. They w ant to maintain tension between results and relationship. 5- Embody the values: The leaders that know their values, share their values and live their values earn the trust of people. Their actions become an important shaping tool in the culture.As a result of definition of leadership and defining the skills that a leader should has, their goal is to select the right people, provide them the skills they need, and challenge them to guard their motives. In addition to performance management process, Chick-fil-A has successful business practices. They escaped the effects of recession well. One of the key factors that they were not affected by recession is the ability to absorb and pollinate great ideas. They could find very useful but cost nothing ideas. They have been always trying new things and experiments.As an example, he mentions the idea of inviting the first 100 customers who come in when they opened a new store to eat at Chick-fil-A for a year. That created millions and million s of dollars worth of publicity for Chick-fil-A. Besides that, they have a very rigorous hiring process. They are looking for competence, character, and chemistry. Competence is the knowledge and skills to do the job. As mentioned before, in the evaluation of character, moral choices and decisions are very important. In chemistry, they are looking for the ability to inspire, excite, and motivate other people.The company has a 97 percent retention rate. They have free food, free fitness center with hot showers, towels and child care center. When an employee has a problem, they try to help and got him or her into a rehab program. They influence on people’s life. They do a review annually with their executives committee. Everyone has a performance assessment. They look at fast trackers and people who need extra mentoring to be sure that they are developing them at the right rate. They change with changes. They saw a big shift in 1990s and they simulated what the whole operation would be like. It helps them to be ready for changes.Innovation is a very important topic for them. They are getting ready to open an innovation laboratory. They want everyone to be a part of the innovation process. To improve customer service, they had conversations with people outside their industry. When customers pay them $6, they get what they really want and they feel good about the transaction. And relationship follows the service. Also they see social media as leveraging influence. In conclusion, their corporate purpose is glorifying God by being a faithful steward. The long view and the purpose of this whole enterprise is to positively impact people’s lives.

Beer Company Segmentation Essay

Demographic: From the market analysis portion of the paper we already established that internationally, Anheuser is expanding both into the Asian and Latin American markets. But typically what segment of the market do they target specifically? Well currently, the company is making an attempt to target the female population. Michelob Ultra is being marketed in women’s magazines like cosmopolitan and other AB brands are placed on woman-focused channels such as Oxygen and Lifetime. Women however aren’t the only focus. With the recent focus being on FMB’s, the most consistent and continuous market has been the 21-27-age bracket, mostly college students. It’s Bacardi line of flavored malt beverages and the latest additions, Tilt and B-to-the-E agree with the lifestyle of the contemporary adult looking for innovative drinks that is suitable for a variety of occasions and is an alternative to beer. For the more traditional and patriotic consumer, Anheuser markets towards its US customers by boasting on the fact that it is the only American made beer. Geographic: Currently, Anheuser is a global enterprise with distribution centers in the U. K, Japan, Canada, and Spain. It holds a 50% market share in the U. S beer market and a 50% market share in Grupo Modelo, Mexico’s leading brewer. Anheuser Busch owns 27% stake in China’s number one brewer Tsingato and is pursuing Harbin brewery Group in China. Psychographics: The trend today is for people to lead healthier lifestyles and be more conscientious in the activities and interests that they partake in. This is ever so visible in the diet plans and low-carb phase that has emerged and has become dominant. To capitalize off of this Anheuser promotes its low-calorie beer to these individuals. Anheuser also places more emphasis on it flavored malt beers to appeal to its wine and spirit consumers and to compete in a changing environment where people lead highly social lifestyles by going to bars/clubs, shows, sporting events, etc. Sponsorships of the 2006 Fifa world cup, MLB and its 26 domestic teams and the Mexican national soccer team are an attempt to capture this segment of the market. Behavioral: â€Å"18-34 year old Hispanics are consuming Spanish and English broadcast media at nearly equal rates with Spanish-language television and radio outpacing English-language television and radio; * A greater percentage of young Hispanics shop at more store types than do young non-Hispanic adults; * Young Hispanics are more likely to be impulsive shoppers. They like to keep up with styles and will spend what they have to look younger — more so than non-Hispanics young adults; * Young Hispanic adults are heavy readers of magazines with lifestyle, entertainment, automotive and sports-focused titles taking the lead; * 18-34 year old Hispanic consumers are more persuaded by advertising in Spanish and are more loyal to companies with ads in Spanish. † (Hispanic business) The trend is for Hispanics to be trendsetters and innovators instead of followers/laggards so the pattern has been to market on a personal portfolio basis instead of brand-loyalty aspect. The younger generations tend not to be brand loyal but adoptive of the newest and trendiest innovations. The behavior marketing of Anheuser Busch is tailored to the Hispanic with events, in magazines, television stations and sporting events. It sponsors the 2006 Fifa World Cup, MLB and its 26 domestic teams and the Mexican national soccer team. Not only is the behavior of Hispanics evaluated but all of diverse nations. Anheuser promotes diversity in the workforce at distribution centers across the world to be familiar with the consumer behavior of all groups. Positioning strategies: Beer is always associated with negative stereotypes of death, drunken behavior, a male activity and many other bad connotations. The fun image of Anheuser Busch (more commonly known as Busch Gardens) land looks to change the appearance as a fun image for the family. Children at a young age will be familiar with the product and see it as user friendly because it is positioned as healthy and acceptable for everyone. The addition of the low carb line of beer also helps to suggest that the beer is also healthy and socially suitable. Product strategies: Anheuser Busch product strategy includes the eye catching 7ounce shrink-wrap bottle that comes in six colorful festive designs. Bud Light, one of the brands of AB, is including the addition of flavorful beer with Bud light Oranguatang and Bud light berry. It also introduced two new one of kind brews, Celebrate by Michelob and Brews Masters Private Reserve by Budweiser. Pricing strategies: To better target the Hispanic market, AB increase the Latino budget to more than 60 million dollars, which is 66% more than last year. The increase of national media spending will also increase by three times more than last year topping 3 million dollars. â€Å"While the domestic beer company has increased tactical price promotions this year on a specific market, brand and package basis to reduce price premiums versus competition, company executives confirmed that the company’s long-term pricing strategy continues to target increases at or slightly below the consumer price index. â€Å"(Forbes) Promotion strategies: As stated before the company is promoting its product to attract woman through woman-focused channels like Oxygen and Lifetime. In addition to becoming familiar through sponsorships of major sporting events, it promotes its products through marketing messages as the only American brewery that is still American owned with profits staying in the states. Miller Brewing Company Demographic: Many breweries realize the potential of the growing Hispanic market and Miller is no different. Especially important, 75% of the Hispanic population is under 45 years old- a prime age group for beer consumption. Hispanics are the most brand-loyal demographic among beer consumers. However this is not the only segment that it targets. Miller is tailored to the contemporary drinker minimum age 24. Commercials for products such as Miller Light show the masculine image of men in masculine environments. Most of Miller products are marketed in a way where they will attract the high-end buyer that will pay a little more and conscientious of high quality. While Anheuser Busch’s Bud Light targets the younger generation, Miller Light’s targets the older demographic with the minimum age being 24. A segment that has been omitted in the marketing strategies of many products not just the beer industry has been the homosexual population. Miller hopes to capitalize off this market to regain its position as No. 1 in the industry by targeting all areas of the market. Geographic: In July 2002 Miller Brewing Company merged with South African Breweries plc, making Miller a subsidiary of the #2 brewer in the world. It became the first international brewery to establish a presence in Central America. As its top competitor, Anheuser Busch, it is expanding into the Latin and Asian markets. Unlike most breweries, it doesn’t concede to a particular geographic segment of the market but intends to account for every beer drinker in every market. Psychographics: To further appeal to their No. 1 consumer the Hispanic market, Miller Brewing Company, promotes most of their products through Hispanic events such as sponsorship of Cinco de Mayo and sponsorships of World Cups. The Hispanic market is seen as the most brand-loyal and therefore is targeted so aggressively. The advertising has an effect on the psychology of consumer behavior through the emphasis of stating that their products are of higher quality. Males are attracted to the idea of a beer that places emphasis on the bravado of a product and their behavior is altered through male marketing. Behavioral: In a male-marketed item such as the high life products, you must target the behavior and activities of the typical man. Miller is the official sponsor of the National Football League. Most of the products are marketed on a brand loyalty basis so it sponsors everyday products to gain the familiarity with consumers (ex: Kraft, Frito-Lay, Gillette, etc). Positioning strategies: Miller positions its products for the loyal consumer to the more rebellious and daring drinker. The homosexual segment is seen as a daring segment because they do not adhere to the norm of today’s society. Miller Genuine Draft Light is seen targeted on the gay and lesbian network LOGO. Miller is big on letting it’s great taste speak for itself, as seen with it’s No. 1 product Great taste-less filling ads, and has been successful. Miller with Food: Taste for yourself summer campaign was used and was instrumental in increasing sales. Product strategies: As a company, you want to be seen as one of the top in your industry. Miller guarantees this by strategically placing Genuine Draft Light next to the number one competitive low-calorie brand. The confidence of the taste and quality of its products are so high that it implements the technique of sampling to capture new beer drinkers and convert them into loyal consumers. Another technique used for their products is space management which achieves more cooler and shelf space through long-neck N-R’s in 6-pack baskets and loose case, 6 and 12 pack cans, and 6-pack N-R’s represents the package mix consumers demand. The selling of recyclable plastic bottles which made Miller the first making it the first brewer to offer widespread distribution in plastic in the United States. The plastic bottles allow for a more transportable product that remains cold for the same length as aluminum. The only downside may come from recycling officials that argue that the brown plastic bottles do not recycle well with regular soda and water bottles and the cost for accommodation of these brown bottles would be unfeasible. Pricing strategies: To further place emphasis on the higher quality of products, it does not discount its products. It believes in a motto of â€Å"No Compromise,† to get a superior product you must be prepared to pay for it. Most of its pricing strategies are given towards the advertising efforts. Last year alone it spent 40. 1 million on Hispanic-targeted print and television advertising, more than any other advertiser in the alcoholic-beverage category. Promotion strategies: Promotion of Miller products is heavily dependent upon the ever-growing population. SAB Miller signed a 100 million deal with Univision Communications, the largest Spanish language broadcaster in the U. S. It includes sponsorship of programs, product placement and commercial time on Univision’s radio, cable and broadcast networking properties. Miller realizes that all marketing efforts can be targeted at the older segment so it looks to work with major record labels and will sponsor preview parties for new album releases for popular artists. Comical commercial advertisements for Miller Light’s (Good Call) also attract the younger market. Promotion also comes from its virtual online game â€Å"Miller beer runner. † â€Å"The introduction of the Miller game came within days of Anheuser-Busch, the colossal corporation who brought the famous slogan â€Å"king of all beers† to Budweiser and its Bud family, pulling their funding for a game called â€Å"Bud pong. † After discovering that many people, especially young adults, were using beer during the game instead of water, as directions specified, they axed the marketing ads and funding for the game. â€Å"(FordhamObserver) In no way is the company promoting under-age drinking/misconduct and stands by its slogan â€Å"Live Responsibly† to promote drinking in moderation. Molson Coors Brewing Company. Demographic: Coors Brewing company has 40 different brands which appeal to consumers all over the world, specifically in United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and Brazil. In the U. S Coors light is its number one brand which is targeted more towards the young adult drinkers. Molson Dry is a substitute for Coors light in Quebec, the company is spending more money in advertising this product in order to make it as appealing as Coors Light is in United States. In the United Kingdom lager holds most of the market share with beer brands such as Carlin and the introduction of the new Coor’s fine lite beer. As most beer companies recognize the potential in the Hispanic community, Coors thrives to gain market share within the community by offering donations and scholarships to the Hispanic Association of Colleges and University. Molson Coors objective is to get the â€Å"Hispanic Community to adopt the brand, not just try it. † Geographic: On February 9th, 2005 Coors joined forces with Canada’s leading brewery Molson making them the 5th largest brewery by volume. This merge has presence in seven of the top either beer markets which include U. S, U. K, China, Mexico, Russia, Brazil, and Japan. Molson Coor’s holds 18. 5% market share in the United States and 21% market share in the United Kingdom. Currently it’s continuing to grow Coors light in China and other Asian markets. Psychographic: Molson Coors is always looking for new ways to attract consumers, and one of the most efficient markets is to attract people who watch their carbohydrates. In the U. S and other markets Molson Coors has No. 2 low carb beer to attract these consumers. As the craze for lite beer and low-carb beer increases, Molson Coors will keep bringing out new products for their consumers. Molson Coors also targets consumer through activities such as sports. In the U. S Coors light has the biggest sponsorship with NFL in order to promote their product. Also in the U. K whenever a consumer thinks about soccer they associate it with Carling, United Kingdom’s No. 1 lager. Behavioral: In order to make consumers familiar with their products, Molson Coors targets them through their everyday habits for example Coors light portrays the image to young adults that drinking Coors light is cool and socially acceptable. Because of this Coors light has a dominant market share amongst college students rather than Miller and Budweiser. In order to gain customer brand loyalty from most consumers Coor’s light always promotes or sponsor’s programs which are liked by consumers with different taste. Place (Distribution) Strategy: Molson Coors is always looking for new ways to communicate with its distribution channel. Recently in an attempt to increase sales Molson Coors has added more staff and applied more resources across the three largest channels Grocery Stores, Liquor Stores, and Convenience stores. Molson Coors also created a channel marketing team to develop customized promotions aimed at addressing each customer’s unique needs. Product Strategy: Molson Coors strategy as a whole is to provide high quality products using high-quality ingredients. In order to compete in the market a company has to always keep coming out with new products to evolve with the taste of the consumer. Molson Coors not only does that but also promises its consumers that the product is kept cold from packaging to delivery to retail. In the U. K the company introduced two new products called the Kasteel Cru, which is a fine imported lager brewed in Alsace France and C2 which is Carling’s new 2 percent alcohol by volume lager. In the U. S Molson Coors introduced its new low-carb beer called Aspen Edge and to make Coor’s light more attractive now consumers can buy it in new 8 oz cans. Pricing Strategy: Molson Coors is trying to cut cost and provide more value to its share holders by planning on cutting down the advertising budget. Last year alone Molson Coors spend 300 million dollars on advertising. Another method which Molson Coors used to cut costs is by reducing the number of suppliers, and building more strategic value added relationship with their vendor-partners. Promotion Strategy: In order for a company to come out on top it has to attract it’s consumers through promotions and discounts. Molson Coors promotes its products by being involved in many charities as well as Non-Profitable programs such as the Deaf Awareness program, Alcohol program and policies such as â€Å"21 means 21. † In Canada the company was involved in promoting an event called the Coors Light â€Å"Trauma Tour† which included music and action sports. In Puerto Rico the company is trying promote its product by being more involved in community programs. Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer Demographic: Pabst is one of the very few brewing companies that does not own a brewery. Instead it negotiates deals with other breweries such as Miller to brew its products while maintaining ownership and marketing rights of its brands. Pabst has a 3. 6% of the market share. Pabst Blue Ribbon is mostly popular amongst urban hipsters and this brand is being adopted by older generation X, and younger generation Y in Portland. In the U. S Pabst is starting to become more popular amongst professional and semi-professional snowboarders. Pabst is also being used by people who do gallery shows in order to portray and image that its time to get back to the basics. Overall Pabst uses a strategy which doesn’t involve cash but it involves customer use of the product. Geographic: Pabst has about 3. 6% market share in the U. S and about 2. 5% market share in Portland. Amongst many brands Pabst Rainier beer is more successful in the northwest. Overall in the Unites States Pabst grew 25% more in 20 different states. Psychographic: Pabst which has history associated with its name is beer for older people. The beer is acquired more with taste and consumers who use to drink Pabst in the old days have started to drink it again making them bran-loyal. Behavioral: Pabst is also considered a blue-collared beer and is targeted towards blue-collared workers. Since Pabst is the oldest brand there is customer loyalty from the older baby boomers that drank it. Place (Distribution) Strategy: Now that Pabst is trying to increase its sales in the United States as well other countries it has created highly customized retailer specific programs. Pabst Blue Ribbon has also convinced a lot of important chain grocery stores to carry their product.. Product Strategy: Pabst let’s its customer decide how they want their beer served. They haven’t done a package redesign in the last 10 years. The only change they have made in their product strategy is that they serve Pabst in bottles now. Pricing Strategy: Pabst was always known as the low cost beer. They keep their prices low by not spending money on advertisement; instead they let word of mouth do the job. Promotion Strategy: Pabst does very little promotions in order to cut cost and save money. Among the few promotions which they do have, they offer cash payments to rowdy bike messengers to drink their beer. Pabst is also trying to come out with new promotions in Portland because they see a substantial growth market there. Another way Pabst promotes is by giving away their beer free to those who use it as a advertising for their own retail shops. References http://www. usatoday. com/money/industries/food/2005-08-08-bud-tilt_x. htm http://www. hispanicbusiness. com/news/newsbyid. asp? id=12515 http://www. forbes. com/execpicks/prnewswire/feeds/prnewswire/2005/05/25/prnewswire200505250915. PR_NEWS_B_MWT_CG_CGW010. html http://www. anheuser-busch. com http://www. rocketink. com/Miller%20speech. pdf http://www. themorningsun.com/stories/041005/bus_beer. shtml http://www. duluthsuperior. com/mld/duluthsuperior/12213156. htm http://www. realbeer. com/news/articles/news-000738. php http://www. fordhamobserver.com/media/paper827/news/2005/11/10/Features/Weighing. In. On. eer. Games. Marketing. Strategies. And. Their. Effects-1051629. shtml? page=2 http://www. coors. com/2004_AnnRpt/uklager. asp http://www. adamsbevgroup. com/bd/2005/0510_bd/0510ber. asp http://www. molsoncoors. com/webcast/documents/Q1_2005_Webcast_Transcript. pdf http://sixmile. clemson. edu/pbr. htm http://www. fastcompany. com/fast50_04/winners/stewart. html.

Marketing str for import American Hot dog into UK Essay

Marketing str for import American Hot dog into UK - Essay Example The business has been recommended to follow cost leadership strategy in order to implement the growth strategy of market extension. Finally a proper marketing mix has been suggested to the company in order to achieve competitive advantage in UK fast food industry. Introduction The project deals with the introduction of the American Hot Dog Cart in the United Kingdom. It will also reflect the plans for implementing the strategies, promoting the products in the new market and driving the sales. The American hot dog carts provide quality hot dogs in the most reasonable prices. The carts are good quality gastronomic equipments designed in the best way to attract and serve the customers with best hot dogs. These light weight carts are easy to be moved from one place to another and facilitate serving multiple locations in a short period of time. These carts supply food to a large number of people every day. The high demand of hot dog in America drives this business due to the attractive pr ice offerings. Porter’s Five Forces Analysis United Kingdom is the country having the highest consumption of fast food in the world. The country possesses different cultures which has a huge impact on the success of the fast food industry there. Porter’s five forces analysis will help to analyse the structure of this industry. (Source: Larsen, 2009) Bargaining power of buyers There is a popularity of hot dog among maximum consumers in the country. There are many companies offering hot dog in the fast food industry. These companies make huge investments for the promotion of their brands. The availability of this product by a large number of companies has strengthened the bargaining power of the buyers. The buying power is also strengthened because of the insignificant switching costs. Thus the bargaining power of the buyers is high. Bargaining power of suppliers The supplier of a business is an important element of its ability (Ahlstorm and Bruton, 2009). An important i nput required in the fast food industry is the supply of food. The food supply market in UK is concentrated. The suppliers of raw meat, farmers etc. are the main suppliers in this industry. These suppliers have reduced their dependency on the fast food companies because of the availability of other kinds of profit seeking food service customers. It is very significant for the fast food companies offering hot dogs to maintain their existing suppliers as they offer good quality marketable food at low cost. This increases the supplier power in UK market. Thus the bargaining power of suppliers is very high. Threat of new entrants The legal framework in the UK provides barrier to the new entry to some extent. However, this kind of barrier to the new entrants is limited to a particular extent. It becomes very difficult for a new entrant to make profit in the fast food industry and perform well initially because of low consumer loyalty and the barriers to the entry in the industry. The cos t related to the setting up of a new chain the market is low and in the recent years there have been many new entrants. This is a serious threat to the existing players in the industry. Thus the threat of new entrant is high. Threat of substitutes The substitutes of fast food products like hot

Circumstances and causes around language death and if its changed over Research Paper

Circumstances and causes around language death and if its changed over the years - Research Paper Example 2). This paper discusses the phenomenon of language death, and examines what causes it. Using the example of Canada, the circumstances which help and hinder this process are discussed. It has been noted that language is a very big factor in the formation and sustaining of identity, and that there is therefore a link between the survival of aboriginal languages and the general wellbeing of individuals and of the aboriginal community as a whole. This finding has been substantiated by a recent empirical studies in Canada, where there are some communities which have preserved indigenous languages alongside other communities where the indigenous language has is no longer spoken: â€Å"The common theme that cuts across all of the research efforts is that any threat to the persistence of personal or cultural identity poses a counterpart threat to individual and community wellbeing.† (Hallet et al., 2007, p. 393). Specific analysis of suicide rates in young people found that there is a correlation between the death of the original language in the local community, and suicide among young people. The reason why this should be the case appears to be the fact that there is a strong connection between language, culture and identity. Young people who grow up without being able to speak the language of their ancestors, or even that of their grandparents, experience alienation from their own culture, and this causes a rise in public health problems. Using the analogy of a â€Å"coalminer’s canary† Hallet et al. show how youth suicide can be a marker of cultural distress, and how this is related to language death. In communities where the indigenous language is not being passed on to the young, suicide rates are higher. The case of Canada is an interesting one, because there is still today a large variety of experience occurring in terms of the way indigenous languages have prospered or died off within a country that operates predominantly in English and Fr ench at the national level. In an article from the mid 1980s the examples of North American/Canadian Indian languages Micmac and Maliseet are used to illustrate the way that a whole world view is built into the very structure of the language, including concepts of time, the physical environment, the weather and personal relations. (Leavitt, 1985, p. 266) The indigenous culture embraces time as a continuous process, rather than fixed blocks, while the physical environment is perceived in relation to the speaker, and not to arbitrary compass directions. Weather is spoken of in terms of on-going actions, while relationships are ordered in complex subject/object interactional forms. These structural forms are closely connected with the landscape and lifestyle of the indigenous nomadic societies of previous centuries. The death of such a language causes a dislocation of the community from its traditional understanding of all these key areas, and this, it seems, is why language death caus es so much cultural stress. One proposed cause of language death is the â€Å"killer language† theory. It is proposed that a language which is attached to powerful national or international forces can sweep over an area and wipe out all other languages in its path. Examples such as the imposition of European

Business in Action written assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Business in Action written assignment - Essay Example 1. Introduction A successful business model can be defined as the way an organization creates; delivers incarcerate value to the customers. Experts believe that a successful business model must contain nine building blocks. Those blocks provide thee much required strong base to the business. Those nine blocks include customer segments, channels, and relationships with customer, value proposition, revenue streams, main resources, main activities, main partnerships and cost structure. The study has been conducted to analyze the business model of a company and understand the contribution of the nine blocks to the success of the business. The company to be discussed in this study happens to be Tesco PLC. Tesco PLC is an English multinational retailer. It is believed to be top retail outlet in the UK. The Headquarters of the company is Chesnutt, UK. It is also the third largest retailer in the country, after Walmart and Carrefour. The company has stores in fourteen countries across Europe , Asia, and North America (Chesbrough, 2007, p.45). 1.1. Value Proposition Value proposition block describes the products or services offered by the company. The offerings of the company creates value proposition for Tesco. Both through online and retail stores the company seeks to deliver value by providing a great shopping trip to the customers. One of the core values of the company is that no one tries harder for the customers than Tesco. This is very much visible in the way the company strives to improve the shopping experience. This includes all the key elements including product range, quality, availability, price and even company loyalty schemes. Irrespective of the country the modus operand of the company keeping the customers and their needs into focus remains same when it comes to delivering value (Buttle, 2012, p.107). 1.2. Customer Segments Market Segmentation can be defined as dividing a market in to different parts or group. Market segmentation can be classified as mas s segmentation, niche segmentation, segmented marketing, and differentiated segmentation. After analyzing the product mix of Tesco; it can be summed up that the company goes for differentiated segmentation as it offers a wide range of products to the customers. The product mix of the company includes Jewelleries, Sports accessories, Food and groceries, technology and gaming related products, clothing, Baby and Toddler, etc. So, the technology or gaming related products may attract the people belonging to the age group of 18 to 25 (male). The baby and toddlers are targeted towards kids, where as Jewelleries could be targeted towards the female population. Such market segmentation strategy helps the company to reach to different market segments (McDonald, 2012, p.54). 1.3. Customer relationships Managing customer relationships is all about the game of acquiring, satisfying and retaining the customers. Studies have shown that it is five times more difficult to acquire a new customer ra ther than holding on to an existing one. Studies have also revealed that companies round the globe make 65% of their revenues from existing customers. Tesco seems to be a firm believer of this philosophy. Best way to make customers happy is to listen to them well act accordingly, so that their problems can be solved enhancing the customer experience.

Growth of Islamic banking in UK Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Growth of Islamic banking in UK - Case Study Example An important part of the paper is the approach of main regulator in UK to supervision and regulation of Islamic banking. Paper also specifically focuses on specific Islamic mortgage products and their development in UK market. Global size of Islamic finance has been long estimated between $200 and $500 billion with an estimated growth rate of 10-15% annually.A precise estimate escapes though.In comparison the sterling assets of UK banking sector alone amount to 2.5 trillion (around $4 trillion).Thus Islamic banking has some distance to cover . But that is just another way of emphasising the scale of the opportunity(Howard,2003). In the UK, with the exception of one purely Islamic bank there are only Islamic products on offer by Islamic arms of commercial banks(HSBC, Llyods TSB,UBS for example).A large and well-developed Islamic financial structure has not come about thus far. But there is already a significant amount of business of various kinds focussed around relatively wealthy individuals or large institutions. Some London banks use the London Metal Exchange for Murabaha. The customer buys and sells forward a metal on the London Metal Exchange and earns a profit(Howard,2003).The first service provider for islamic banking products Halal Financial Services has been set up in 2005 as full fledged company. This is first in Islamic banking space. It is actively marketing products of Ahli Bank and HSBC Amanah and propagating the concept of halal mortgage. Its Chief Executive Officer reported," At the moment it is halal mortgages but we are only looking at a matter of weeks before we see Takaful coming to the market in the UK in the middle of July(2005). Of course HSBC Amanah has also launched the UK's first Sharia compliant pension plan as well. In the same context we tend to get involved in halal commercial finance, Murabaha based commodity benchmarked transactions and so on. We will continue to diversify our product range as and when we can" (Paul, 2005).Thus a vibrant Islamic banking products' market is round the corner in UK financial markets. However strategic conditionalities as stated below must be met before this happens. Competition with conventional banks Warren Edwardes says that "Given a choice between a pure Islamic bank and a highly rated reputable international bank providing the same service, a client would rather go to the one that has a brand name than the one that provides Islamic-only services, without the brand name - so special purpose Islamic Banks will just have to keep innovating to stay in business just like the old British Merchant Banks"(Warren, 2002). To begin with renaming the Arabic terminology, such as "Ijara" with "leasing" or "Musharakah" with "equity participation", will lead to a greater understanding of the Islamic banking system. If products are structured in islamically acceptable way then Islamic banks would address a niche market. In a system where both parties to a contract have to have their Sharia compliance status verified, and where a fault at any subsequent stage of the deal can void it entirely, having a standardized set of Sharia

U.S. housing market-boom or bust Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

U.S. housing market-boom or bust - Essay Example The US housing market, once on its boom has witnessed a sharp decline in recent time which in effect has contributed to credit crunch for banks, pressure on currency or value of dollar in US, falling stock market, job cuts and global economic slowdown.But such was not the situation a few years back when the US housing market was at a BOOM.Looking back at the period of boom for the housing market in US we see that the interest rates were low according to the policies of Alan Greenspan, chairman Federal Reserve. In addition to prime loans, a lot of banks gave sub-primes loans to a great number of people. As the sub-prime loans increased, more people invested in property, bought houses to live in or rented them out. This was the time when the property prices were increasing. As the property prices increased, the value of the mortgage also increased, hence this lead to more borrowing and more sub-prime loans while the prices of property continued to increase.All that was happening till n ow was happening for good. But then the housing market took a different direction. The prices of property which was steeply increasing started to look more stable or flatter. This induced speculative buying and attracted a lot of sellers to the market. As the number of sellers increased due to speculation, the prices started to come down. This had a spiral effect and further decreased the prices with more people on the selling side. As the prices reduced, the value of mortgages also decreased often coming to a point lower than the loan provided. With buyers unable to pay back and value of mortgages lowered, the number of defaulters increased. With increased defaulters, the banks also came to the markets to sell the property against which the loans were taken. With more buyers, the sharp decline in housing markets was further ignited bringing the housing market of United States from a boom -to a bust. "Housing sales and prices in 2007 were much weaker than in 2006. The US housing industry in 2007 is in the deepest decline in 16 years." (Victor Sula, 2007) Some people blame the government and the policies for such a meltdown of the housing industry. They think the policies were not right to begin with and now nothing can be done to fix the damage already done. Also they blame the policies for the increased gap between the rich and the poor. This was not the end of the story. The decline of the housing market had further repercussions. With the housing market crashing, the credit worthiness of banks decreased. Increased number of defaulters meant more bad debts. This caused the decline of the stock market which of course affected other sectors as well. Investment was the main target. With the stock market in the home country in not such a good shape, investors started taking their investment outside the United States and foreign investment into United States also declined. This had an immediate effect on the value of dollar. This creates a problem with two solutions but both solutions present a loss to Americans. On the one hand, investors can be attracted by increased interest rates but housing market will go down faster. With lower rates investment will be lower. Also another factor with respect to investment that is taking place is that investors with the lowering price of dollar are investing in commodities like oil and petrol which in their view are safe and as a result the oil prices further increase. "Foreign investment is drying up and the world is no longer eager to purchase America's lavish debt. The only thing the Federal Reserve can do is raise interest rates to attract foreign capital or let the dollar fall in value. (Mike Whitney, 2007) Another effect was felt on the job market. With banks facing a credit crunch, there were a lot of job cuts putting a lot of people on the streets and curtailing their purchasing power. Job cuts were also taking place from other sectors such as automobile which contributed to the slowing down of economy and the houses now are selling much

Review Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Review Paper - Essay Example Based on image representation, the P’Zolo should have been comparable to a submarine sandwich, with a pizza innovation. Upon arrival, the P’Zolo was considerably different than what was advertised. It arrived in a cardboard box, which was saturated with grease to the degree that the drainage was visible on the bottom of the delivery box. Over-cooked until it was dark brown and maintaining several thick slits on the top, which was not advertised in promotional photographs, the product allowed for seepage of interior contents during the consumption process. Having been an aficionado of Pizza Hut for nearly a decade, with a preference for the company’s quality ingredients in its many pizza products, the reviewer was flabbergasted by what arrived in delivery. Upon close examination, the product was approximately between five and six inches long, in a rather misshapen, oblong pizza wrap that looked as though it had been assembled by a half-blind six year old in elementary art class. The P’Zolo maintains zero ability to meet the emotional satisfaction needs of the consumer with its gro ss promotional misrepresentation and should be immediately removed from the Pizza Hut menu for its bland and unfulfilling contents. After taking the first bite of the product, it became perfectly clear that the volume of stuffing inside the product failed to meet promotional expectations. Despite its larger-than-average size compared to competing frozen pizza wraps, the P’Zolo was outperformed by many low-cost competition commonly found in the local grocery store. In the first bite, the runny cheese began pouring down the reviewer’s arm, requiring a significant volume of clean-up during the consumption process. Production problems during the cooking process had caused the water content in the sauce to separate from the corn syrup, providing a complicated and disappointing eating experience. The entire product was consumed in five large mouthfuls, in a mad rush to

Different Aspects of Life of International Students Essay - 2

Different Aspects of Life of International Students - Essay Example There are a few numbers of students who do not suffer the cultural issues, while on the other hand there are many other people who have to face many hurdles just because of the lack of understanding with the host cultures (Luget 2014; Mason 2002). In addition to the cultural aspects, there are many other issues, which can create a problem for the settlement of the student in the international environment, which is not at all his homeland. In this paper, the topic of the research is the concerns of life of an international postgraduate student. By the end of the paper, we will be able to highlight major issues just because of the research based on an actual interview of a postgraduate student. There are many categories of the qualitative interviews as described by the research. The three most common types of such interviews are structured, semi-structured and unstructured interviews. The structured interviews more frequently fallout from incisive quantitative data and therefore the format of this research study would be on either semi-structured or unstructured interview, preferably semi-structured (Robert 2013; Saunders 2006). The unstructured interviews usually refer towards the collection of observational data while on the other hand, semi-structured interviews are the one and only reliable source for qualitative research. Semi-structured interviews are concerned about the around already constructed open-ended questions, or we can say free opinion-based questions. One question direct the interview session towards the next question. More questions could follow relating to the previous one, and the whole perspective could be brought into light (Robert 2013; Saunders 2006) . The most suitable type of interview for the study is semi-structured format just because of the nature of questions. As the topic is ‘Different aspects of a life of an international postgraduate student,’ it would always be a better idea to gain a deep insight about the perceptions and the actual difficulties, which a student may face in a foreign culture.

What Is the Best Motivational Package for Philadelphia Co. to Enhance Research Paper

What Is the Best Motivational Package for Philadelphia Co. to Enhance Employee Productivity - Research Paper Example The present study would analyze the case of Philadelphia Company with regards t addressing the issue of lack of motivation among the employees of the organization. The study would mainly be based on a primary research that would try to collect primary data from the customers, employee as well as the managers of the organization in order to understand the underlying reasons behind the lack of motivation among the employees of the organization. The results of the survey would be used to suggest plausible recommendations for the organization. Implication of strategies like a 360 degree appraisal and initiating free and fair appraisal apart from career development programs like training and development can help in restoring and enhancing the motivation levels of the employees of the organization. Introduction The age of competition has necessitated an urgent need for business organizations to go beyond analyzing the sales figures and business strategies but also ensure organization excel lence. In this regard the role of human resource management becomes utmost important as human resources are the most valuable assets for any organization. It has also been stated in numerous researches that an efficient human resource base should be essentially motivated so as to ensure job satisfaction.These aspects involve considerable importance as de-motivated and unsatisfied employees’ leads to high turnover rates and also lead to inefficiencies in the organization. In order to ensure greater productivity it is necessary to ensure that workers and employees are consistently rewarded. It is also very necessary to ensure that there is career development of the employees. The present study would analyze the reasons behind the de-motivation of the employees of Philadelphia Co that is a housekeeping company and has a small employee base of which most of the workers are from other nations like Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Philippines. The study would try to analyze the reasons beh ind their de-motivation and would also suggest plausible recommendations in order to ensure better productivity and increased motivation among the workers. Research Question The research question for the present study is stated below: To analyze the effects of motivation of workers on organization’s productivity To analyze the reasons behind the de motivation of workers at Philadelphia Co To find possible solutions towards ensuring motivation of employees at Philadelphia Co The three research questions would try to first analyze the effects of employee motivation on the levels of productivity of the employees. It would also try to analyze the possible reasons for the de-motivation of the employees by conducting an in depth analysis of the research question and finally the research would also try to find possible solutions for imparting greater motivation among the employees of the organization so as to help generate competitive advantage. Procedure and Methodology The researc h methodology would be a mix of primary and secondary research techniques that would help in analyzing the research questions and also enable in the formulation of plausible recommendations that would help in ensuring organizational excellence. The secondary research would try to analyze the research question as to the effects of employee de-motivation on the job satisfaction levels and the impact on the overall

Paying less for fashion Essay Example for Free

Paying less for fashion Essay Mr. Rubel, a director of SUPERVALU since 2010, serves as a Senior Advisor with TPG Capital, a leading global private investment firm with $49 billion of capital under management. Until 2011 Mr. Rubel was the Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Collective Brands, Inc., the holding company for Payless ShoeSource, Collective Brands Performance Lifestyle Group and Collective Licensing International and a leader in lifestyle, fashion and performance brands for footwear and related accessories. Mr. Rubel joined Collective Brands in 2005 as Chief Executive Officer and President. Among many qualifications, Mr. Rubel brings significant retail and branding experience and experience as a chief executive officer of a large public company, including managing a significant business transformation. Mr. Rubel is a Director and serves as Chairman of the Governance Committee for The Hudson Bay Company. From 2005 until 2011, Mr. Rubel was a director of Collective Brands, Inc., and from 2006 to 2008, Mr. Rubel was a director of Furniture Brands International, Inc., a company that designs, manufactures, sources and sells home furnishings. It is perhaps one of the most representatives CEO of the last years in the fashion world. Her task as leader of Payless has made this company become one of the largest distributors of shoes worldwide. He has managed to position it as one of the most attractive companies to work by the most renowned designers. His work in difficult times was very good and is redeemable know how tackle these big problems could redesign and rethink a new strategy in order to give it another go to Payless. Lela Rose After graduating from Parsons School of Design in 1993, she went to work with two esteemed designers, Richard Tyler and Christian Francis Roth. There she honed her love of couture fabric as well as fanatic attention to detail. In 1998, Lelas vision and passion compelled her to create her signature collection, Lela Rose. Through intricately designed and finely detailed separates, dresses and jackets, Lela has established herself as a renowned designer. The Lela Rose collection is built on a design philosophy of creating hand finished clothes that exude a casual luxury and refinement. The beautiful embellished fabrics are the foundation of this innovative collection and speak to the elegance of its personality with a nod to the era of glamour. Lela Roses collection has garnered her a following of trendsetters across the country. Lelas ready to wear apparel under the Lela Rose label is sold in more than 75 specialty stores nationwide, as well as Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, Bloomingdales and internationally in Canada, Europe, Russia, the Middle East, Taiwan and Japan. In Fall 2006, Lela Rose launched the Lela Rose Wedding collection. The collection is a pairing of unconventional fabrics and techniques that are trademarks of the designer. The impeccable quality and couture sensibility of these gowns make them one of a kind. The Lela Rose Wedding collection can be found in bridal boutiques nationwide as well as internationally. With the success of both collections, the Lela Rose brand expanded into footwear in the Fall of 2007. Rose partnered with Payless Shoesource to create the Lela Rose for Payless brand of fashion forward shoes at an extremely affordable price. This collection was followed up by Unforgettable Moments by Lela Rose, a collection of dyeable special occasion shoes that launched late in 2008. Both collections can be found in Payless stores nationwide. In 2009, Lela Rose announced she was launching Lela Rose Bridesmaid, a partnership with the Dessy Group. The Lela Rose Bridesmaid collection can be found in over 200 bridesmaid stores nationwide as well as in Canada and in the United Kingdom. Stacey Bendet. Stacey â€Å"Staceypants† Bendet was born Stacey Wiener in Chappaqua, New York. She graduated from Horace Greeley High School and went on to the University of Penn where she was a member of the gymnastics team. Stacey turned to a life of fashion after an interview on Wall Street. She rollerbladed to the interview in â€Å"orange pants and a fur bomber jacket† only to leave immediately after seeing her competition. Stacey then turned to the internet where she designed web sites for fashion houses. That designing led her and a friend to start â€Å"Alice + Olivia† with their first show involving models wearing â€Å"pants with Partridge Family–style vertical stripes and not much else besides some strategically placed bouquets.† The show was a success with requests from celebrities and stores like Fred Segal and Barneys, where she went on to be a pants designer, came pouring in. As with all of New York’s elite, rumors fly, but Bendet herself is responsible for the one about attending her yoga classes drunk. Also, some say she is reaping the benefits of her parents money and her partner is actually the talented one, while Bendet yells, makes people cry, and takes laxatives all day. Oh, the price one pays for being rich and famous. On the good side, Bendet reportedly does charity work for organizations like the New York Pubilc Library and Wyclef Jean’s Yele Haiti Organization. Designer Stacey Bendet, designs the Alice + Olivia womens and kids collections in addition to a shoe collection for Payless. She has been on the Vanity Fair Best Dressed list for two years in a row. Last year, she was married to Eric Eisner, and the couple had their first child, Eloise Breckenridge Eisner, on November 24, 2008. Cristhian Siriano Designer old Christian Siriano hails from Annapolis, Maryland, and was educated at Baltimore School for the Arts and The American Intercontinental University, London. Inspired by McQueen and Westwood, he is a freelance designer who travels from New York City to Los Angeles to work with designer Rosetta Getty. Siriano’s career in design began when he was 13 years old, as he worked for a local salon where he created costumes for the yearly hair show competition. Upon graduating from the Baltimore School for the Arts, he moved on to study at the American Intercontinental University in London and consequently showcased his small collection on 2005’s London Fashion Week in Fall. He was then given the opportunity to work with Vivienne Westwood, and was consequently given a position at Alexander McQueen. Christian Siriano was one of fifteen hopefuls on season 4 of Bravo’s reality fashion competition, Project Runway. He won three challenges throughout the season: What are The Skinny, En Garde, and The Art of Fashion. At the reunion show, Christian won $10,000 as this seasons Fan Favorite. On the final episode, Christian was named the winner of Project Runway and guest judge Victoria Beckham asked him to design an outfit for her. They have since worked together and he has designed several outfits for her. He has been incredibly successful after the show, teaming up with Puma, Gaia Online, Payless Shoesource and Victoria’s Secret. Aside from launching his own make-up line, he has also penned a book called Fierce Style: How to Be Your Most Fabulous Self. He later appeared on even more shows, including Make Me a Supermodel and Ugly Betty. In 2010, he starred in his own Bravo special called Christian Siriano: Having a Moment, which chronicled the time he spent preparing his collection for Fashion Week. Maxine Clark Maxine Clark is one of the true innovators in the retail industry. During her successful retail career, her ability to spot emerging retail and merchandising trends and her insight into the desires of the American consumer have generated growth for retail leaders, including department store, discount and specialty stores. In 1997, she founded Build-A-Bear Workshop ®, a teddy-bear themed retail-entertainment experience. Maxine was the Chief Executive Bear until June, 2013. Today there are more than 400 Build-A-Bear Workshop stores worldwide, including company-owned stores in the U.S., Puerto Rico, Canada, the United Kingdom and Ireland, and franchise stores in Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, Mexico and the Middle East. The company extends its in-store interactive experience online with its award winning virtual world atbuildabearville.com. Isaac Mizrahi Isaac Mizrahi holds the distinction of being one of todays best-known American fashion designers. His fame comes from far more than his runway creations, however: Mizrahi is a bona fide celebrity who has applied his abundant energy to a number of diverse projects. In 1995, early in his career as a designer, he was the subject of a widely praised film documentary titled Unzipped. During 1997 he published a collection of three comic books under the title Isaac Mizrahi Presents the Adventures of Sandee the Supermodel. Two years after the 1998 closing of his high-priced clothing design business, Mizrahi explored his love of theater by crafting and starring in a one-man Off-Broadway cabaret show called Les Mizrahi. The following year he began hosting his own offbeat talk show, fittingly called The Isaac Mizrahi Show, on the cable network Oxygen. During 2004 Mizrahi returned to his fashion-design origins with the launch of two new ventures appealing to very different members of the buying public: an affordable yet fashionable line of clothing for discount retailer Target, and Isaac Mizrahi to Order, a company creating high-end custom-made clothing for consumers willing to spend $20,000 on a single dress. Through all of his various projects, Mizrahi has displayed a fun-loving, humorous, and adventurous style, proving that even high fashion need not take itself too seriously. Karl Lagerfield Is a German fashion designer, artist and photographer based in Paris. He is the head designer and creative director for the fashion house Chanel as well as the Italian house Fendi, in addition to having his own label fashion house. Over the decades he has collaborated on a variety of fashion and art related projects. He is well recognized around the world for his trademark white hair, black glasses, and high starched collars. Isabel Toledo Isabel Toledo was born in Cuba and moved to New Jersey where she attended high school and met her future husband and collaborator, Ruben Toledo. She attended the Fashion Institute of Technology (NY) and Parsons School of Design (NY) where she studied painting, ceramics, and fashion design. An avid seamstress from a young age, Toledos work reflects not only a distinct design sense but a keen understanding of garment construction and appreciation for the geometric intricacies of pattern shapes. In 1985, Toledo presented her first collection. In 1998, she stopped presenting biannual collections, instead choosing to create on her own schedule. Toledo was named creative director of Anne Klein in 2006 after more than twenty years of working solely under her own name. Toledo made her debut with Anne Klein at New York Fashion Week in February 2007.[1] Toledo and Anne Klein parted ways later in 2007. ORGANIZATION INVOLVED COMPETITIVE COMPANIES Walmart: Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., branded as Walmart, is an American multinational retail corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the worlds second largest public corporation, according to the Fortune Global 500 list in 2013, the biggest private employer in the world with over two million employees, and is the largest retailer in the world. Walmart remains a family-owned business, as the company is controlled by the Walton family, who own a 48 percent stake in Walmart.[5][6] It is also one of the worlds most valuable companies. â€Å"Shoes Cost Less at Walmart From womens shoes, mens shoes to athletic shoes for the whole family, youll find all the shoes youre looking for at Walmart.com. Whether youre checking out the seasons hottest womens sandals or trying to find new kids shoes for their ever-growing feet, our selection of shoes has got it all covered. You can shop our shoes by category to discover everyday low prices on sneakers, styles under $10, work shoes and more. You can also shop our list of best-selling shoes to see the most popular trends of the season. So shop shoes at Walmart.com — and save† Target The Target Corporation, originally the Dayton Dry Goods Company and later the Dayton Hudson Corporation, is an American retailing company, founded in 1902 and headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the second-largest discount retailer in the United States, Walmart being the largest. The company is ranked 36th on the Fortune 500 as of 2013 and is a component of the Standard Poors 500 index. Its bullseye trademark is licensed to Wesfarmers, owners of the separate Target Australia chain which is unrelated to Target Corporation. The first Target store was opened in 1962 in Roseville, Minnesota. Target grew and eventually became the largest division of Dayton Hudson Corporation, culminating in the company being renamed as Target Corporation in August 2000. In 2013, Target expanded into Canada and now operates over 100 locations through its Canadian subsidiary. â€Å"if you’re looking for the latest styles in women’s shoes, Target has you covered. It’s a shoe–in! Pump it up with our wide selection of peep toes,slingbacks, heels and pumps that come in a variety of heights. Indulge in cool neutrals, or select styles in colors designed to pop. Want toshow off that kickin’ pedicure? A pair of strappy sandals will definitely give it the attention it deserves. Sandals with multi–tone designs, glamaccents or uber–cool prints–you name it, we have it. If you have a serious case of FLAT–itude, we also have a large collection of ballet shoes,moccasins, flats, boat shoes and more. Execute a perfect cha-cha or samba in footwear that screams endurance and comfort.† Kohls Kohls Corporation is an American department store chain headquartered in the Milwaukee suburb of Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, operating 1,146 stores in 49 states as of February 2013. In 1998, it entered the SP 500 list, and is also listed in the Fortune 500 (#146 in 2012). The chain was the 20th-largest retailer in the United States in 2013 in terms of revenue I.n 2011, Kohls was the second largest U.S. store company by retail sales. ASSOCIATED BRANDS Keds: Is an American brand of plimsoll-style canvas shoe with rubber soles. Keds were introduced in 1916 by U.S. Rubber (later known as Uniroyal, then Uniroyal Goodrich, and finally acquired by Michelin). The shoe brand was later acquired by Stride Rite Corporation and is currently owned byWolverine World Wide. When choosing a name, the initial choice was Peds, from the Latin meaning foot, but that name was already a trademark. Keds were first mass-marketed as canvas-top sneakers in 1960. They became known as sneakers because the rubber soles allowed sneaking around silently. In the 1960s and 1970s, Keds added to its range of casual shoes a line of athletic shoes called Pro-Keds for more serious use, specifically forbasketball. Keds have been used by many athletes. In countries like India or Soviet Union, Keds has been transformed into a generic brand and until recently any athletic shoe was customarily called a Keds. Keds are a staple at physical training classes in the school curriculum, and usually the students are needed to compulsorily wear the basic white Keds for their classes. â€Å"today, Keds is a head-to-toe fashion lifestyle brand fueled by a passion for imagination, inspiring a new generation of girls to stay authentic, optimistic and brave.† Sperry Top-Sider On an icy winters day in 1935, Paul Sperry watched in amazement as his cocker spaniel Prince ran across the icy New England landscape without slipping. Sperry, a former naval officer, avid sailor and part-time inventor, had been trying to design a proper shoe to safely navigate the slippery deck of his sloop, Sirocco. Nature and Princes paws provided the ultimate answer. Tooling a pattern in a rubber outsole similar to the wave-like grooves on Princes paws, Paul Sperry created a truly sea-worthy boat shoe. The first Sperry Top-Sider Authentic Original was officially launched and the worlds first boat shoe was born. Over 75 Years later, Sperry remains the vanguard of the nautical lifestyle. From the worlds first boat shoe to todays product collections featuring iconic design details, enduring style and the latest performance technologies, Sperry Top-Sider embodies a passion for the sea and the good life it represents. Tommy Hilfiger As one of the world’s leading lifestyle brands, Tommy Hilfiger delivers superior styling, quality and value to consumers worldwide. The band celebrates the essence of classic American cool and provides a refreshing twist to the preppy fashion genre. Since its debut in 1985, the Tommy Hilfiger Group has become a US$ 4.6 billon apparel and retail company by offering consumers a breadth of beautifully designed, high quality products including men’s women’s and children’s apparel, sportswear, denim, and range of licensed products such as accessories, fragrances and home furnishings. Kenneth Cole: Kenneth Cole Productions, Inc. (NYSE: KCP) is an American fashion house founded in 1982 by Kenneth Cole. He originally named the company Kenneth Cole Incorporated in September 1982 and planned to showcase his new line of shoes during market week at the Hilton New York Hotel. Finding that he could not afford to purchase a hotel room or showroom to exhibit his line, he borrowed a truck and asked the mayor’s office for permission to park two blocks away from the Hilton Hotel in front of a fancy shoe building. Upon learning that permits were only granted to utility companies and production companies shooting full-length motion pictures, Cole changed the name of the company to Kenneth Cole Productions, Inc. and applied for a permit to shoot a full-length motion picture entitled â€Å"The Birth of a Shoe Company†. With Kenneth Cole Productions painted on the side of the truck, they opened for business on December 2, 1982, in front of 1370 Avenue of the Americas. They had a fully furnished forty-foot trailer, klieg lights, a director, a rolling camera, models as actresses, and two NYPD policemen as doormen. A velvet rope allowed a limited number of people into the trailers and in two and a half days they sold forty thousand pairs of shoes. The company remains Kenneth Cole Productions, Inc. to this day to honor this unusual beginning In 1985, Kenneth Cole opened his first store on Columbus Avenue in Manhattan, followed shortly thereafter by another store on Union Street in San Francisco. Kenneth Cole retail and Company Stores can now be found worldwide in countries such as Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, Colombia, Israel,United, UnitedKingdom, Philippines, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, Australia and South Africa. Michael Kors Michael Kors (USA), Inc. designs and produces luxury accessories and sportswear for men and women in North America. The company offers dresses, tops, jeans and pants, skirts and shorts, outerwear, special sizes, swimming products, spring trends, and Michaels picks for women; handbags and small leather goods; shoes, including sandals, pumps, wedges, flats, and boots and booties; watches and jewelry; and accessories, such as belts and fragrance, and gifts. It also provides apparels, sunglasses, underwear, loungewear and sleepwear, and cologne for men. Michael Kors (USA), Inc. was founded in 1981 and is based in New York, New York with lifestyle stores in Edison, New Jersey; Paris, France; Vancouver, Canada; San Antonio, Texas; Boston, Massachusetts; and Valencia, California. MAGAZINE ELLE Is a worldwide lifestyle magazine of French origin that focuses on fashion, beauty, health, and entertainment. Elle is also the worlds bestselling fashion magazine. It was founded by Pierre Lazareff and his wife Hà ©là ¨ne Gordon in 1945. The title, in French, means she. Today, it is the world’s largest fashion magazine, with 43 international editions in over 60 countries. Technologically speaking, the Elle brand is a global network encompassing over 33 websites. Subscriptions account for 73 percent of readers. There are 33 Elle websites globally, which collectively attract over 25 million unique visitors and 370 million page views per month[4] Elle reaches over 21 million readers. The vast majority (82 percent) of Elles audience are women between the ages of 18 and 49. Elle readers have a median age of 34.7 years. Forty percent of readers are single, and the median household income is $69,973. Our readers are young enough to think about life as an adventure and old enough to have the means to live it, said Robbie Myers, editor in chief. Elle owes its graphic signature to Art director Peter Knapp. Vogue Magazine is a fashion and lifestyle, which is published in many countries. It is a monthly publication aimed primarily at audiences interested in both fashion trends as lifestyle. It is considered the worlds most influential post that is published in 14 countries. The distributed Condà © Nast Publications, based in the U.S. city of New York. The first issue appeared on December 17, 1892. He began as a weekly, then biweekly, and monthly now. W magazine W is a monthly American fashion magazine published by Condà © Nast Publications, who purchased original owner Fairchild Publications in 1999. It was created in 1972 by the publisher of sister magazine Womens Wear Daily, James Brady. The magazine is an oversize format – ten inches wide and thirteen inches tall. Stefano Tonchi is the editor of W; Nina Lawrence is the vice president and publisher. W magazine has a reader base of nearly half a million, 469,000 of which are annual subscribers. 80 percent of the magazines readers are female and have an average household income of $135,840. STRATEGY First, the company should focus on better understanding the customer and their needs. More research is needed regarding what the customer experience in stores and what else do they expect the company to deliver them , as the management of fashion products , can become boring for customers at some point and in some way go out of style to them , which will lead to other products in the competition. This as the company is focused on customers between 20 and 30 years who purchase a larger quantity of shoes, but also change their minds more often and is more difficult to retain segment. On this issue, it is important that the company generates strategies that allow customer loyalty so that they seek only Payless shoes and accessories in decreasing the risk of direct competition, the above is feasible to achieve to track the companys participation in fashion shows of the major cities , advertising in magazines and also a coupon , preferred customer cards and other attractions that help customers generate a high recall brand . On the other hand , it is important that the company also locate a focus on new segments and improved product offerings for men, older women, children and in general for the whole family . The company currently has an image of offering products for young people and their strategies focus on delivering products to other segments the sales of the company can significantly increase and improve margins for partners. The renewal of collections should go together a wide range of products throughout the time in which the collection is current , otherwise , customers come to the stores at the beginning of the collection and will be for them a novelty, but after half the time of the collection or the end of the sales may be affected because customers will not find novelty in products, then to keep sales constant is important that the company has a good assortment innovative shoes and accessories in the duration of each collection. This can be tricky to achieve particularly in relation to the management of production costs and also in terms of the distribution chain, in order to minimize these risks is of great importance generates a strict planning and control each of both design processes, such as production and distribution throughout the supply chain, which will have or maintain its current competitive advantage. Furthermore, the company must generate sound policy management of its human resources not only in their stores but also in the factories that produce as this can generate greater prestige to the business and attract more customers by empathy policy development on human resources and social responsibility. Question for Discussion 1. Which of the different product mix pricing strategies discussed in the text applies best to payless new strategy? Payless For two handled ways of pricing strategy. The first is the competitive pricing strategy, because the large surface chains were entering the business, had to maintain low costs with the mood of even remain competitive and thats when entering the second pricing strategy is the strategy. The psychological price was instrumental in the development of the new corporate strategy. The stores became much more comfortable and much more brands hired additional recognized and trusted, which generated a positive perception approaching clients. The company is returned much more competitive and achievement to establish a business model focused on the distribution of brands and innovative shoes thanks to the hiring of renowned designers worldwide. 2. How do concepts such as psychological pricing and reference pricing apply to the Payless Strategy? In what ways does the strategy deviate from these concepts? Customers know that when arriving at Payless can find brands and models of shoes from famous designers at prices much lower than in the normal market, but not only that determined the success of the company. Trust, responsibility, environment model shops and sell their shoes which have made ​​people detect a unique and innovative model to its most direct competition. The strategy can deviate from these concepts through customer care. People often need greater customer care and the fact that a model which provides the self does start losing attention to the wishes of the client. On the other hand need to have a large amount of supply. People seek innovation and variability Payless therefore has the obligation to renew its product portfolio much faster than the competition or their dealers themselves in order not to lose the appeal against their clients. http://www.fashionmodeldirectory.com/designers/stacey-bendet/ http://www.forbes.com/profile/matthew-rubel/ http://www.buddytv.com/info/christian-siriano-info.aspx http://www.notablebiographies.com/news/Li-Ou/Mizrahi-Isaac.html http://www.walmart.com/cp/Shoes/1045804 http://www.target.com/c/women-s-shoes/-/N-5xtd2 http://www.keds.com/store/SiteController/keds/us_keds http://www.sperrytopsider.com/store/SiteController/sperry/History_sperry http://global.tommy.com/int/en/About/overview http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Cole_Productions http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=1007367 http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vogue_(revista

Differentation strategies and its use by organizations

Differentation strategies and its use by organizations An organization that adopts a differentiation strategy seeks to distinguish itself from competitors through the quality of its products or services. Organizations that successfully implement a differentiation strategy are able to charge more than competitors because customers are willing to pay more to obtain the extra value they perceive. For example in case of Rolex they pursue a differentiation strategy, Rolex watches are handmade precious metals like gold or platinum and stainless steel and are subject to strenuous tests of quality and reliability. The firms reputation enables it to charge thousands of dollars for its watches. (à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦..) Firms use differentiation strategy to achieve a competitive advantage by providing unique products and these products attributes high quality and innovations. Differentiation is not just limited to the product but it also covers the delivery system and many other factors. Firms provide additional services to its customers with these differentiation characteristics which brings more profit with a premium price. Porter (1985), further suggests that these two generic strategies are fundamentally contradictory to each other and its important for the business to choose one of them. Cost leader can only gain the high performance if the business offer a satisfactory level of value to its customers which fulfilling the demand of their customers. Similarly differentiation strategy will only be successfully if the premium price of the product charged to customers characterized with some valuable features and customers are satisfied with that (Porter, 1985). There are many factors which results in differentiation. some of them are, To have a competitive edge on its rivals. To facilitates the entry restrictions for newcomers by building a new product To minimize the threats from its substitutes. To create a differentiation advantage  [1]   Different areas of differentiation While Porter bases his work on manufacturer, Walters Knee (1989) suggest a similar conceptual model for retailers with productivity led (e.g. effective cost management and economies of scales) and marketing led differentiation (e.g. product range, range characteristics or customer services). This model is similar to Porters generic strategies. Only one empirical study focus on differentiation analyses within the retailing. Morschett, Swoboda Schramm-Klein (2006) surveyed managers of food retailers and customers in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. Hypermarkets, supermarket, convenience stores, discounters and other were analyzed based on a pool of items derived by marketing mix elements. It provides evidence of three differentiation strategies: Price, quality (goods and services) and convenience. Reilly (2002) suggests that differentiation is one the key business strategy of Porter. Bauer and Colgan (2001) said that when a company use differentiation strategy, it focus on providing a product or service with unique features. Product differentiation satisfies the specific needs of customer and it allows the company to charge a premium price which helps the organization to capture the market share. The differentiation strategy only gets implemented effectively if the business provides product of superior quality and after sale support. Organizations charge higher prices to its customers when they follow the differentiation strategy based on the product features, their customer service and the delivery system business use. The quality it offers to its customer can be real or distinguished based on the fashion or brand name. The differentiation strategy fulfills the specific or complicated customers interest in a unique and higher quality product and for which he is ready to pay a higher price. When organization use the differentiation strategy then it must be ready to add a premium to the cost but it is not to recommend that costs and prices are not be considered but is not the main focus of the organization. However as the customers likes the product because of its uniqueness and higher quality so they become loyal to the business and do not mind in paying the higher price for the products (Hlavacka et al., 2001) Sources of Differentiation Its not only the low prices of products that can create the differentiation of company from other but offering a unique product to its customer can create a differentiation to its competitors. That unique product should be more valuable to its customers. Differentiation also happened that how a company perform its function and what impacts does it have on its buyers. For example differentiation enables the company to meets the demands of its customers anywhere. It should have uniqueness and must have superior quality of its product as compared to its competitors. Factors/ Drivers for Differentiation Location- This is a very important for an organization to have a uniqueness in respect to its competitors. If the organization have its branch at a location which is easily accessible to its customers as compared to the others companys stores then the store will defiantly will have a competitive edge on the others organizations. Integration- An organization will be considered to have uniqueness its level of integration is high, its mean its level of coordination of value activities is high then it will create differentiation. Timing- An organization can effectively adopt a differentiation strategy if its timing of enchasing the opportunities is well on time. It will create uniqueness in the organization. Interrelationships- Customers can be offered better services by using effectively the different activities in the company. Scale- If the goods are produced at a small scale then the uniqueness of the products will be lost over a long period of time. Larger the scale of goods and services then there will more uniqueness. Differentiation of the organization depends on the volume of uniqueness. Learning- In order to perform well in the market a continuous learning process should be adopted. Institutional factors- If the management will have good relation with its staff that mean company will be having a good impact on its sale. This will also create uniqueness. Waitrose Quality Differentiation Strategy Waitrose has a differentiation strategy of quality product and services to its customers. It has a strategy in providing quality goods which are unique in the market to customers which helps Waitrose to differentiate itself with its competitors. Waitrose also pays too much attention in providing the goods with its own brand name and its specifically target a elite class of the market who dont care paying little bit much for best quality product. Focus Strategy A firm pursuing focus strategy concentrates on a specific regional markets, product line, or group of buyers. This strategy may have either a differentiation focus, whereby the firms differentiate its products in the focus market, or an overall cost leadership focus, whereby the firm manufactures and sell its products at a low cost in a focus market  [2]   Focus strategy is different from other strategies of a business as it remains a segment based and has a comparatively narrow scope in any business. In the focus strategy a organization target a specific segment of the market (Porter, 1979 pp.137-140). So what kind of market to be targeted, McCracken (2002), suggests that a organization can select a specific group of customers, a specific range of product, specific areas or some specific services for the customers. For example some European firm specifically concentrates on the European markets for its products. Aims of adopting a Focus strategy according to Porter (1980), is to achieve a narrow competitive advantage in the market. Focus aims is to concentrate on a niche market with its product that has been ignored by other larger competitors in the market. A specific geography, buyers purchasing behavior, different ethnic peoples demand and product features all makes niches for a organization. David (2000), Focus strategy of a organization can only be successful if the target segment have the potential to make good growth and it does not carry any importance to other competitors. Market penetration and market development can make an important focus strategy. Larger or medium organization use focus strategies but only with the combination of differentiation and cost leadership strategies in some segment of the market. The successfulness of the focus strategies depend only if the people have some specific demands and when there is not competition for other rivals.(David, 2000) Organization which adopts focus strategy in the business concentrates more on niche market and by understanding the dynamics of that particular market and work on the particular needs of the market and then try to produce unique product which fulfill the needs of that particular market. As that organization serves well to their customers in uniqueness, so they create a brand name in the mind of the people and create loyalty brand amongst the customers as well. This makes that particular market segment less attractive to its competitors. As with broad market strategies, it will be essential to decide whether organization pursue Cost leadership strategy or Differentiation strategy once a company have selected a focus strategy as a main approach. Firms that manage to adopt a focus strategy are able to tailor a large number of product developments strengths to relatively narrow market segment that they know very well. Focus strategy has two variants, which are; Cost focus is a variant where the organization looks for a cost advantage in a target segment. This is niche low cost strategy where the organization gets cost advantage in the focusers target segment. According to Porters Cost focus exploits differences in behavior in some segments Differentiation focus is where an organization looks for differentiation in the target segment. In this strategy the organization offers to its customers something different to its customers from rivals. Following are the situations where a focus strategy is efficient; Market segment has to be large enough to be profitable; more customers will bring more profit for the organization. Market segment has good growth potentials. High costs are difficult for the rivals to fulfill the demands of the niche. Focuser has to be able to choose from different segment of the market  [3]   Tesco Express Stores Tesco express stores are neighbor hood convenience shops, stocking mainly food with an emphasis on higher margin products alongside everyday essentials. These are found in busy city centers and small shopping mall in residential areas and on petrol station forecourts. There are more than 700 stores all over UK. Tesco Express is gaining a competitive edge in the small scale grocery market as it is providing additional gasoline facility as well. Cost Leadership Strategy A strategy in which an organization attempt to gain a competitive advantage by reducing its cost below the costs of competing firm. By keeping costs low, the organization is able to sell its products at low prices and still make a profit. Timex uses an overall cost leadership strategy. For decades, this firm has specialized in manufacturing relatively simple low cost watches for the mass market. The prices of the Timex watches starting around 39.95 dollars are low because company has an efficient high volume manufacturing capacity.  [4]   The firms operating in this highly competitive are always desires to be more and more successful. To stay in this competitive environment the company should have an competitive edge on its rivals. In order to have a competitive edge on its rivals the company should be selling its goods to its customers at lowest price with best quality as compared to its competitors. Porter (1980), suggest that in order to achieve the competitive advantage there are fundamentally two different approaches and those two approaches are cost leadership and differentiation strategies. In cost leadership strategy the business look for gaining the above average sale over its competitors with reducing the prices of all the elements of activities. To achieve the cost advantage of this nature, the organizations will employ the considerable efforts to reduce the cost of operating and production and will try hard to use all the available resources to their maximum level, including increasing the utilization of R D and advertising.(Porter, 1980) According to Malburg (2000), there is another strategy of Porters generic strategies which is cost leadership strategy. This strategy is about achieving a competitive advantage in the market by reducing the prices of products. In order to have a competitive advantage, business must focus on the low cost leadership strategy, low cost production and labor which committed to the low cost strategy. The business must be ready to stop all the production activities in which they dont have any cost advantage and must outsourcing all the operations to other businesses which have the cost advantage in the market. He further suggest that there are many areas in which cost leadership can be attained such as production on large scale, mass distribution, innovation of technology, improved product design, access to the raw materials and full utilization of available resources. Porter (1985), purports that only one business in a market can be the cost leader. Porter (1985), stressed there is incompatibility in between cost leadership and differentiation strategy, for instance he believe that differentiation is costly as compared to differentiation. He also used the sentence struck in the middle to put more stress that by combining the cost leadership and differentiation strategy will not results into a prolong competitive advantage. But Hill (1988) and Miller (1992), argued that that it is not only possible to combine both strategies but the combination of these two strategies will produce a competitive advantage for the business. Businesses which adopt differentiation strategy target a specific segment of the market and this strategy also has a broad scope. In the both lower cost strategy and differentiation strategy the businesses concentrates on larger segment of the market. An organization which adopt the lowest cost strategy or differentiation strategy that has a aim to focus on one target segment of the market or few defined segments of the market carry out focus strategy. There are two parts of the focus strategy one is lowest costs focus and the other one is differentiation focus7. (Bas P. Singer, 2007) Product Portfolio Strategy, BCG Matrix The notion of portfolio exists in many areas of life, not just for products. A broad portfolio means that business has a presence in a wide range of products and market sectors. A narrow portfolio implies that the organization operates in only a few or even in one product or market sector. A broad portfolio offers the advantage of robustness in that a downturn in one market will not threaten the whole company. The Boston consulting group matrix offers a way of examining and making a sense of a companys portfolio of product and market interests. It is a way of examining a whole product range to see a companys product as a collection of items in similar way that a holder of shares in several companies might the consider the decision on what to do with the shares. One of looking at the products in a portfolio is to considers each product in its position in the product life cycle and aims to have a balance of products in each stage. A more sophisticated approach is based on the idea that the market share in mature markets is highly correlated with profitability and that is relatively less expensive and less risky to attempt to win a share in the growth stage of the market when there will be many new customers making their first purchase. This is the approach taken by BCG matrix. It is use to analyze the product range with a view to aiding decision on how the products should be treated in an internal strategic analysis. BCG Growth Share Matrix BCG, it is a management tool which helps for four distinct purposes. Product portfolio can be classified into four business types by using BCG matrix based on Stars, Cash Cows, Question Marks and Dogs. In order to determine that what priorities can be given to a companys product portfolio. It can also be use to classify an organization product portfolio according to that how much cash is generation and how much is usage and it helps the management to adopt different available strategies to handle different product lines. Companies like Apple, Semen, Nokia, Sony, Samsung are engaged in diversify the product lines7. According to Boston consulting there are five different types of businesses which require the cash flow in different ratios. First types of businesses require more cash than they generate the cash and these types of businesses are very common. The second type require less cash to invest in but these businesses generate more cash than actually invested in and these are very few in the market. The third types of businesses is self sufficient in cash flow and with the passage of time it generate large amount of cash and the fourth type generate less cash but also requires less cash to invest in. The fifth one is stays in unstable condition. Figure 1: Stars: Stars are the leaders in the high growth market. These products generates large amount of cash but also requires a large amount of money to invest in as well. As time passes on the Stars becomes Cash Cows if these maintain there financial position but if they become unable to maintain their positions in the market, they becomes Dogs. Cash Cow: Cash cows are the products that require low investment but these products generate high amount of cash. These are the market leaders in the low growth market. the cash cows funds themselves for their own growth. They supply the investment funds for other products. These help to justify the debt capacity for the whole company. Dogs: Dogs often have a unsecure future are they are the drainer on the company as they generate very low amount of cash as they have a low market share in a high growth market. Question Marks: Question marks have not achieved a dominant position in the market hence they produce low amount of cash. They require a lot of cash because of the growth market conditions. Tesco has a very good portfolio in the market. Tesco is considered as Cash Cows in the market as it has a fine record of distributing the fine and quality goods and services to its customers. At the same time it is also considered as Stars because they are investing and making a lot of efforts to its customers in creating awareness about the e-commerce and retailing. Many of Tesco stores stocks more than 40000 product lines and express sores stock more than 2000 product line which helps the customers to choose from different product lines and according to their financial positions. Waitrose on the other hands have a different Portfolio as it has a different strategy as compare to Tesco. Waitrose use quality differentiation strategy and concentrate on specific portion of the market and offers them high quality products at a high prices because of this it is not attracting a large number of customers as compared to the Tesco. So this thing makes most of the products of the Waitrose Dogs of the market. Market Growth Strategy, Ansoff Matrix: Ansoff matrix is a strategic tool use to measure or define the strategic future direction of the business. The model categorizes the options into four generic alternatives to simplify the process. Market penetration: existing market/existing product Product development: existing market/existing product Market development: new market/existing market The Ansoff Matrix is used with the strategic objective to determine the future direction of the business. A company might be faced with declining sales of its products in the domestic market and will use the Ansoff Matrix to evaluate the four generic alternatives for the future. e.g company would evaluate strategies to penetrate the existing market through pricing or increased brand loyalty. Another option is to develop the product or change the design, increase the length of the product life cycle and increase the sales. A third option is to export the existing product into other countries or finally stop and completely diversify with new products into new markets.(Diana, 2009) Figure 2: Ansoff Matrix model Market Penetration Ansoff matrix explains that a business attempts to penetrate in a market by using its existing products. Tesco has a history which indicates that it always penetrate in a market with its existing products. It always get benefited from its customers to penetrate into a market. In order to achieve its goals Tesco always uses its strategy in three ways. Tesco attract customers from its competitors then it provides its customers good quality product and then Tesco retains customers as customers feels that it is best provider of goods and services. And thirdly it attract more non user of its products and services by advertising and other promotional strategies. Market Penetration is very important for the Tesco as retaining customers are more important for the Tesco than attracting the new ones. Tesco international expansion strategy has responded to meet the maximum needs of its customers. It is hard to enter into a new country market so Tesco had a strategy to join the local businesses by joint ventures. So this helps Tesco to know that market that what are the demands of the people, their purchasing behavior to foreign goods. Product Development Product development is another strategic approach in which new product has been introduced in the market. Tesco always work on the product development by introducing new products in the market in order to satisfy the needs of the customers. Tesco always maximize its profitability by introducing this strategy into the market. Tesco has produce many products and as a market retailer it distribute into the market. Brand loyalty is very important for the Tesco to develop new product. As Tesco has a good reputation of its brand so it does not have to do more advertising in order to attract more customer to buy any new product. Brand loyalty must be conserved in pricing, quality and uniqueness. Market Development: Market Development happened when a company moves into different countries with its existing products. This strategy is used to find new international markets. Tesco has developed many stores in countries like China, Poland, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Slovakia, South Korea, Turkey and United States. For penetrating into international market, Tesco has adopted a joint venture strategy which helps the company to control its cost and help to know the market. Diversification Tesco is not only sticking to the food items but it also maximizing its profit by selling non food items. Tesco has introduced its own mortgage services, banking and credit card services. It has started to sell the mobiles phones and many other electronic products. The other diversification seen in Tesco is fuel. Tesco has also entered into bio fuel and diesel and bio-diesel and investing more in green energy resources which will help to improve its image as compared to other fuel supplying companies like Shell. B.P8.