Public transportation vs driving a car Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Public transportation vs driving a car - Essay Example car owner pay a lot of money for such things as fuel, car taxes, vehicle inspection, insurance, washes, maintenance, fines, repairs, and parking (Automobile Association). Two out of ten unintentional injury deaths take place while transportation. The risk of passenger’s death varies greatly depending on the means a person chooses to travel. In this regard, public transport is safer. For example, during 2006-2008, more than 14,000 of car passengers died in car accidents while the number of deaths of passengers who took buses is about fifty (National Safety Council). Finally, public transport does less harm to the environment than private transport. Overall, transportation in the United States accounts for about 28% of greenhouse gases emissions. Of this, buses, trains, and ships emit only 7% while 34% is generated by private cars (Pubtrantravel). Automobile Association. "Car Running Costs."Â  The AA. Automobile Association Development Ltd, 7 Jul 2014. Web. 21 Oct 2014. .

The Correlation between Psycho-Reactive Drugs and Music Culture in the Research Paper

The Correlation between Psycho-Reactive Drugs and Music Culture in the 1960s - Research Paper Example These musical styles and cultural trance dances comprise the far eastern religious groups’ mantra chanting, those of the spinning dervishes of Turkey, as well as Morocco’s joujouka players (Landry & Landry 92). This paper delves into the correlation between psycho-reactive drugs and music culture in the 1960s. Introduction Psychoactive drugs refer to substances that have an impact on somebody’s mood, thinking, perception as well as feeling. These drugs activate the brain’s pleasure centers thus increasing the potential of engaging in drug abuse continually. People have always ingested psychoactive drug (Goode 1). The 1960s are however notorious for the celebration of abuse of these drugs, especially among the young people. Moreover, the growth of the music scene of this period was interconnected to the augmented use of hallucinogens as well as marijuana by the culture of the youths. A study conducted on the same revealed that in the year 1962, only twenty- five thousand Americans had even tried using LSD. However, after a period of only four years (towards the end of the year 1965), this number had increased to approximately four million users. Three quarters of the users were college or high school age students (Shapiro 139). In 1960s, there was the emergence of a spirited subculture of drugs, with some social groups viewing the use of drugs positively, assessing persons on the basis of whether they made use of illegal drugs, and believing that ‘turning on’ an individual who was not a drug abuser was a virtue. This subculture became a strong force in engaging young people into the habit of abusing illegal psychoactive substances. Drug abuse had never before gotten to such a great number of youths. (Lyman & Potter 51). As a way of rebellion and a means asserting insubordination of community norms, young people in America used drugs. In the year 1964, those who opposed mainstream ideals and American culture made San Franci sco’s Haight-Ashbury district their meeting place, rock music being the basis for this counter-cultural stance. Following his encounter of a world of love and peace during a psilocybin mushroom trip, Allen Ginsberg, a beatnik poet, made up the term ‘flower power’ to cover this thought. Soon, the term came to be a symbol of 1960s counter-culture all together (Brewer 25). LSD became increasingly readily available as years went on. In the mid 1960s, Owsley Stanley (commonly known as the ‘king of acid’) became top-grade acid’s key vendor, and built very close bonds with the world of music (Shapiro 134-137 & Wong 3). The greatest number of the musicians heavily used heroin, and some were even dealers of this drug. Moreover, marijuana played a great role in their music as well as in their daily lives. The 1960s also saw a shift in drugs of choice in the drug scene of the Unites States of America. The use of such psychedelic substances as marijuana, heroin, methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA), Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), and N-diethyltryptamine (DMT) became more popular in the 1960s and their popularity increased through the beginning of 1970s (Lyman & Potter 51). LSD users often acclaim the drug arguing that it helps them attain a heightened sensation of understanding of the world. They also believe that the drug is a stimulator of creativity. In users, many of the drug’s effects are evident through the kind music that they produce when they are high on the drug (Shapiro 137). Continuous chanting or drumbeats accompanies cultural

Improvement of Warranty Management Using Logistics

Improvement of Warranty Management Using Logistics Improvement of WARRANTY MANAGEMENT using logistics Abstract The purpose for the paper is to build up a calculated system that incorporates the innovation and business issues ahead of schedule at the outline stage to limit warranty costs in the most compelling and effective way. These days, giving a decent post-buy benefit has turned out to be critical then the effectiveness of warranty administration programs is by all accounts urgent. On warranty administration programs through calculated bolster arranging. Beginning from a reference structure for warranty administration, the paper traces the part that the calculated support can play in expanding process productivity. Specifically, extraordinary angles are tended to, such as order of framework segments, meaning of repair levels and support errands. The introduced structure is alluded to the military business in which calculated methodologies are broadly connected. Regardless of this, proposed technique can be considered all around substantial and effortlessly pertinent to various setting. INTRODUCTION of Articles Because of the increasing customer expectations, item exhibitions and qualities are no longer the sole perspectives to consider in a focused worldwide market. For buyers satisfaction product, must perform to their fullest. To achieve this performance, the part of post-deal administrations, especially amid warranty period becomes crucial so that an efficient warranty program represents a competitive asset. The administration of warranty is not simple task as it includes various parameters like technical terms, managerial issue and administration. During the warranty period, things must be kept up or reestablished to a state in which it can play out the required capacity, expected to give a given administration (Gonzalez Diaz et al. 2009). There are distinctive sorts of warrantys every one suited an alternate sort of item (purchaser, business and modern, standard versus custom-constructed, and so forth.) (Lyons and Murthy 2001, Menezes and Quelch 1990). A writing survey uncovers vital collaborations amongst  warranty and different order (Gonzalez Diaz et al. 2009, Murthy and Djamaludin 2002, Murthy and Blishke 2005, Gonzalez Diaz and Crespo Marquez 2010, Murthy et al. 2004) affecting warranty effectiveness. Among every one of them, especially essential are the followings: Outsourcing: warranty benefit or by and large, the after-deals branch of an organization, is generally one of the most defenseless to be  outsourced because of its okay and due likewise to the way that, among other highlights, outsourcing gives lawful protection to such help administrations (Gomez et al. 2009). Quality: a reliability and quality improvement of the product has not only an advantageous and favorable impact in front of the client; it also highly reduces the expected warranty cost (Chukova Hayakawa 2004, Lutz Padmanabhan 1998). Maintenance: In some cases, amid the warranty  period the maker still has a solid control over its item and its conduct. Furthermore, the normal warranty costs depend  regularly not just on warranty necessities, yet, likewise on the related upkeep plan of the item (Yeh and Lo 2001, Dimitrov et al. 2004, Kim et al. 2004, Wu and Li 2007). Costs: about cost estimation, there are nowadays methods to estimate accurately the final cost of a specific acquisition contract as, for instance, the Estimate at Completion (EAC) method  (Christensen 1993), a management technique that can be used in a project for the control of the costs progress. The paper addresses the problem of warranty management efficiency, for complex system such as a custom-built product where huge number segments and conditions must be considered. The paper is sorted out as takes after. In segment 2 a system for warranty administration is proposed, suggesting the utilization of settled strategies, coming from different disciplines, to improve process efficiency. In section 3 the main issues of warranty logistics are presented, whereas in section 4 the proposed methodology for the application of logistic support to warranty management is illustrated. Finally, conclusions and hints for further research are presented. THE WARRANTY MANAGEMENT The proposed process for warranty management consists of four steps, following the PDCA cycle and principles of Quality Management Systems as per 9001:2008. The initial step of a warranty administration handle comprises in the meaning of nonspecific and destinations. This choice is central for the key detailing of warranty arrangements and it must consider alternate point of view. To stay away from inconsistencies between the warranty program and the general business system the utilization of the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) in this stage is suggested. Other useful methods to use during the planning phase are Criticality Analysis (CA) and Root Cause Failure Analysis (RCFA) to focus actions on those high impact specific failures showing rare and high failure frequency (Gonzà ¡lez Dà ­az et al. 2011 a). study on reliability based design of a series-parallel system and used GA to obtain optimal values of system design, burn-in period for different lengths of warranty, PM intervals and rep lacement time. Deb (1999, 2001) and Hu et al. (2007) used multi-objective GA to solve the goal programming problems. Some of the literature also focused on achieving customer satisfaction through improvements in the warranty parameters by making changes in the design. Manna et al. (2006) and Maronick (2007) focused on maximization of customers utility in terms of warranty duration for the different warranty policies. The last stride of the procedure is warranty program change. Considering the extensive number of conceivable approach, the selection of Customer Relationship Administration and Six Sigma appear to be especially viable. Different devices that can be utilized for the change are identified with the usage of new innovations, for example, e-warranty methodologies, where e-warranty can be characterized as a warranty program bolster which incorporates the assets, administrations and administration important to empower  proactive choice. This support not just incorporates e-i nnovations, additionally e-warranty exercises such as e-checking, e-conclusion, e-visualization, and so forth. WARRANTY LOGISTIC AND SUPPORT Warranty and logistics literature is vast, the problem of logistics of warranty servicing has not been deeply analyzed (Murthy et al. 2004). Murthy proposes the following classification of strategic, tactical and operational issues concerning warranty servicing. (Table 1). Strategic Tactical and operational Location of material Spare part inventory stocking points Location of service centers Material transportation Location of warehouses Replace versus repair Demand for spares Scheduling of jobs, repairs Service channels repairs and travelling repairman problem In facing these issues, product characteristics are fundamental as for warranty polices. In this field, literature contributions are mainly related to commercial products, dealing with specific problems. For example, Considering the replace or repair issue, there are numerous approaches to support this decision (Murthy Nguyen, Jack Vander Duyn Schouten 2000, Jack Murthy 2001, Zuo  et al. 2000). On these considerations, in this paper some of the above mentioned tactical and operational logistics issues are discussed, focusing the attention on complex products which need to be maintained over their life. For these systems, such as military aircrafts, logistic support becomes a crucial part of the warranty management policy, considering characteristics of products and existent constraints, especially in the military field. Logistic support deals with provisioning, procurement, materials handling, transportation, distribution and warehousing of items and the support  infrastructure needed for carrying out these activities over the life of the product (Murthy et al. 2004). According to this definition, it becomes clear how many aspects of a product logistic support  influence the efficiency of a warranty management policy. Moreover, to this, an underlying support arrange, connected to the warranty time skyline, can give a first way to deal with warranty  scope quantification, save parts provisioning, warranty assignmen t timetable, professionals aptitude levels and so on. Arranging and booking change connected to a warranty program can obviously improve the adequacy and proficiency of program approaches. Such change will rely on upon the time skyline of the examination. classification of critical components of the product which, due to their significance per several factors, deserve to be specially analyzed for the warranty management; choice of repair levels, which are those maintenance levels that are more effective to take the proper actions during the development of a warranty program; tasks definition which refers to those methods that define the maintenance and warranty tasks when a component, in a specific product, fails; required spare parts and allocation. Above are the aspects which are concerned in this section reference models to guide the decision-making process. 3.1 Classification of components: In the definition of logistic support strategy particularly important is the identification of candidates, which are elements to be considered for the logistic support process. According to MIL-STD- 1388-2B logistic support candidates can be defined as follows: Logistic Support Full Candidate: components requiring that their logistic support is analyzed. The knowledge about the logistic support of crucial elements or parts of the product is highly relevant in order to plan, schedule, and organize a proper maintenance and warranty program. Logistic Support Administrative Candidate: these are components that do not require a complete analysis of their logistic support, but they are necessary to be taken into consideration to perform the complete analysis of full candidates. In other words, an administrative candidate is the one which must be manipulated in order to access other candidates of the product. 3.2 Repair Levels: Table 2. Repair levels (MIL-STD-1390D). Repair level Echelon 1 Echelon 2 Echelon 3 Echelon 4 Code C (crew) O(Organizational) F(Intermediate-Forward) H(Intermediate Rear) Significance Developed by the user. Preventive maintenance tasks by the operator General changes for parts and adjustments. Preventive tasks and correction (e.g. durationà ¯Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¬4 man/hour) In-place repair. Change of damaged assemblies. Preventive tasks and correction. (e.g. 4 man à ¯Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¼Ãƒ ¯Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  h. duration General repair of damaged sets and subsets. Preventive tasks and correction, determined by maintenance manuals when duration à ¯Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¾Ãƒ ¯Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  50 man/hours. Cost C1 C2 C3 C4 Table 3. Comparison between alternatives. A B C MTBF1 1000 1,000 1,000 MTBF2 1000 8,000 800 L (cost unit) 100 20 40 M (cost unit) 100 40 80 P (cost unit) 200 500 200 N 60% 60% 50% The proposed system recommends an approach to assess whats more, decide how and where a support or, then again warranty errand ought to be executed, to bear the cost of the most minimal cost. Utilizing the officially created documentation for the military part (Table 1), it is conceivable to characterize the levels or echelons at which different costs (direct labour, material, handling.) for the different maintenance echelon. Then, it is possible to minimize an objective function to determine which echelon is the most recommendable to face a repair. A fifth echelon related to reconstructions and major changes performed by the own industrial maintenance (overhaul)is sometimes considered we will analyse if it would be more economical to discard the faulty Camera, rather than repair it. For that intention. we will compare the relative value of a repaired Camera with the cost to buy a replacement (for this generic case, the possibilities in the market will be denominated as A, B and C): Condition applied by the manager to take a  decision: If (MTBF2/MTBF1) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ N Nomenclature MTBF1 = MTBF of a new Camera MTBF2 = MTBF of a repaired Camera N = Predetermined acceptance level (set by the company or contractor) L = Labor required to repair the Camera M = Material required to repair the Camera P = Unit price of a new Camera Possibilities: Computations Results: A: 0.60 B: 0.48 > 0.12 C: 0.30 Decision: A: Discard B: Repair C: Discard Basically, this simplified example shows that if the cost for the repair exceeds a given percentage of the cost of a new item, the decision should be to discard the failed item. A similar way can be followed  to decide between the other repair levels 3.3 Task Definition: In writing, numerous techniques are portrayed to characterize upkeep and warranty task when part of particular item come up short. Considering the military industry, one possible approach is certainly the use of Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) (MIL-STD-1629 6A). In a warranty management context, RCM becomes a trustworthiness examination for the meaning of those undertakings to be performed amid the warranty time frame. The utilization of RCM procedure to characterize the warranty program can be effortlessly clarified considering a common RCM prepare which comprises of the  taking after strides: Selecting systems and collecting information System boundary definition System description and functional block diagram System functions and functional failure Criticality analysis Task definition. Within RCM, the criticality of a failure mode can be assessed by using the Safety Hazard Severity Code (SHSC) as catastrophic, critical, marginal and minor failure (already mentioned in section 3.1) or through a more quantitative assessment (MIL-STD-882): Where, -Cm (modal criticality number): it is calculated for each failure mode of each logistic support item. -Cr (item criticality number): it is calculated for each logistic support item. -ÃŽÂ »P (failure rate): it is usually obtained from fail-ure rate predictions (MIL-HDBK-217, RIAC 217 Plus). -ÃŽÂ ± (failure mode rate): It is usually obtained from failure modes database sources such as (RAC FMD-97). -ÃŽÂ ² (conditional probability): It is the analysts best judgment that the failure will occur, based on the item severity classification. -t (mission phase duration): in military or aero-space sectors, it is an average data of the usual system functioning. After the maintenance task, have been determined which is to be applies during warranty period next task comes which is to define task frequency. Where: TF = Task Frequency MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure) = It indicates system reliability which is calculated using known faikure rate. MTBM (Mean time between maintenance) = One of the categories of maintenance events contributing to the mean time between maintenance actions (MTBMA) value. MTBMnd = (Mean Time Between Maintenance No Defect): One of the categories of maintenance events contributing to the mean time between maintenance actions (MTBMA AOR= Annual Operating Requirements. Once got the recurrence for a particular task, it is possible to decide the required extra parts. For that reason, it is important to know previ-ously the accompanying parameters: Task Frequency every Year and Product Unit (TF) Spares Quantity per Task (QT) With these information, it is conceivable to acquire the Spare Parts Frequency every Year and Product Unit. Considering an exceptionally complex framework, similar to the military flying corps or naval force, this information permits the definition of extra parts assignment in distribution centers of various echelons. In some cases, the whole logistic support process is outsourced to the manufacturer. In this context warranty program efficiency is sensibly affected by logistic decisions such as spare quantity and allocation. In fact, logistic support for military systems is usually carried out in strong collaboration with the manufacturer during the warranty period and longer. . An example of spare parts allocation and inventory management for military aircraft components can be found (Costantino et al. 2010). Summary All through the paper different parts of proficiency identified with the change of the warranty management have been examined. After introducing most critical issues of warranty administration and proposing a system for its administration, it has been analyzed the logistic support applied to complex products and how this support can be focused to facilitate and improve the decision-making process. Furthermore, it has been indicated how segments ought to be repaired, deciding ideas as assignment recurrence and recognizing different levels of repair. Upgrades in warranty administration effectiveness, and in addition the ensuing increment in consumer loyalty, may speak to a key angle in a worldwide rivalry. About the logistic support applied to the warranty management, further research in this field should be focused on the calculation of different costs, combining warranty assistance and maintenance tasks once the warranty period has been expired (to possibly extend the warranty contra ct). Another fascinating improvement could be the blend of RCM with CRM (Customer Relationship Management), considering this as a phase incorporated into the reference system proposed for the warranty administration. Moreover, the incorporation of RCM arrangements with an ERP framework (Enterprise Resource Planning) can enhance not just the meaning of new maintenance and warranty methodologies, additionally the development of constant change. References Blischke, W.R. Murthy, DNP, 2002. Case Studies in Reli-ability and Maintenance. Wiley, New York, (661 xxiii). Chattopadhyay G.N, Murthy D.N.P. 2000. Warranty cost analysis for second-hand products. Math Comput Modelling; 31(10-12):81-88. Chattopadhyay, G. Rahman A., 2008. Development of lifetime warranty policies and models for estimat-ing costs. Reliability Engineering and System Safety 93:522-529. Christensen, D., 1993. Determining an accurate Esti-mate At Completion. National Contract Management Journal ­ 25, 17-25. Chukova, S. Hayakawa, Y. 2004. Warranty cost analysis: non-renewing warranty with repair time. John Wiley Sons, Ltd. Appl. Stochastic Models Bus. Ind. 20:59-71. Gonzà ¡lez Dà ­az V., Parra, C., Gà ³mez J.F. Crespo A. 2010. Reference framework proposal for the manage-ment of a warranty program. Proc. of EURENSEAM, Congress Euromaintenance 2010, Verona, Italy.Gonzà ¡lez Dà ­az, V. Crespo Mà ¡rquez, A. 2010. Book Review: Reliability Engineering. Warranty Manage-ment and Product Manufacture (By Murthy D.N.P. . Blischke W.R). Production Planning Control: The Management of Operations, 1366-5871, Volume 21, Issue 7, 2010, Pages 720-721. Gonzà ¡lez Dà ­az, V., Gà ³mez Fernà ¡ndez, J.F., Crespo Mà ¡r-quez,. A. 2011. Practical Applications of AHP for the Improvement of Waranty Management, Journal of Quality in Maintenance Engineering (JQME), Emerald Wagner, Stephan M.; Jà ¶nke, Ruben; Eisingerich, Andreas B. California Management Review. Summer2012, Vol. 54 Issue 4, p69-92. 24p. 3 Diagrams, 5 Charts. DOI: 10.1525/cmr.2012.54.4.69.

Illegal Immigrants Threaten the American Economy Essay -- Illegal Immi

The subject of illegal migration into the United States is a very controversial and challenging issue; but overall America’s systematic approach for regulating illegal immigrants entering our country has failed. It pertains to millions of individuals and families journeying to the bulls-eye country of America without proper documentation; but it also consists of people entering the country legally, but they violate the terms of their approved visas and passports by permanently residing here, rather than the allotted time frame they’re given. Amazing enough, The Federation For American Immigration Reform or better known as FAIR, estimated that in 2007, â€Å"the illegal immigrant population seated well above 13 million people.† Also considering this massive number grows roughly by â€Å"as many as 500,000 people every year,† across the United States; therefore a more efficient way of controlling our population needs to be effectively put into action. But wh y would these aliens risk so much to inhabit and live in the United States? It doesn’t involve too much cognitive ability to understand that under the unsatisfactory circumstances of poverty, economic deficiencies, and high unemployment rates, many will do whatever it takes to pursue the American Dream. Despite the dangers and risks that could potentially arise from crossing the border, to these illegals, the benefits of successfully migrating outweigh the costs. (www.fairus.org/site/news2) An interesting law has passed merely a few weeks ago within the state of Arizona. With our government cracking down on the illegal flow by increasing more stadium lights, fences, and man power throughout Southern California, and Texas, it has â€Å"forced a shift in the flow of illegal immigrants that ... ...ection rates than that of the United States. To make matters worse, an emergence of a Multi-Drug-Resistant strain of Tuberculosis formed three years ago (MDR-TB) and can leave a patient with over a million dollars in medical fee’s, while only a fity percent of patients going under specified treatment survive. It’s rather unfortunate, but America cannot withstand the burden of financial bills for treating the world’s diseased, ill, sick, and infected population. The government should make protecting its citizens from the catastrophic diseases brought in from illegal immigrants around the globe. How many more school children will have to be infected from catching TB before something is done? What’s the purpose of screening legal aliens for diseases that are contagious if the illegals can roam our country and infect our fellow citizens? www.fairus.org/site/news2

Brand Elements

STUDY ON THE IMPORTANCE,ROLE,CONSUMER IMPACT & BUDGET OF VISUAL MERCHANDISING Dissertation Submitted to the Padmashree Dr. D. Y. Patil University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the Degree of MASTERS IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Submitted by: DIVYA. P. KUMAR (Roll No. MBA-RET-0801010) Research Guide: PROF. KRISHNA SHETTY Department of Business Management Padmashree Dr. D. Y. Patil University CBD Belapur, Navi Mumbai. March 2010 1 INDEX TOPICPAGE NO 1Declaration4 2Certificate5 3Acknowledgement6 Objective of the project7 5Definition of the problem8 6Literature Review10 7Executive Summary15 INTRODUCTION TO VISUAL MERCHANDISING 8Introduction to Retailing17 9Introduction to Visual Merchandising63 10Role Of Visual Merchandising87 11Effect of the colour, line etc on Visual Merchandising152 12Impact Of Visual Merchandising on Consumer Behaviour167 13Budget in Visual Merchandising175 14Questionnaire185 15Data Analysis187 16Research Methodology191 17Recommendations192 18Limitations of study193 2 19Conclusion194 20Bibliography198 3 DECLARATION:I Divya P Kumar hereby declare that the dissertation, VISUAL MERCHANDISING – Importance, Role, Impact on Consumer & Budget submitted for the degree of Masters of Business Administration at Padmashree Dr. D. Y. Patil University’s Department Of Business management is my original work and the dissertation has not formed the basis for the award of any degree, associate ship, fellowship or any other similar titles Place: Navi MumbaiSignature of the student: Date: 4 CERTIFICATEThis is a certify that the dissertation titled Visual Merchandising is the bonafide research work carried out by Ms. Divya P Kumar of M. B. A at Padmashree Dr. D. Y. Patil University’s, Department Of Business Management during the year 2008-2010, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of degree of Master In Business Administration and that the dissertation has not formed the basis for the award previous ly of any degree, diploma, associate ship, Fellowship or any other similar title.Place: Navi MumbaiSignature of the Guide Date: 5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I express my sincere gratitude to Prof. Krishna Shetty for providing me valuable guidance for the project on ? Visual Merchandising?. I also express my deep sense of gratitude to all the staff members for providing valuable guidance, information and facilities required for my project work. Last but not the least I am thankful to DR. D. Y. PATIL UNIVERSITY’S DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENT for giving me this wonderful opportunity of final project. Dr. R. Gopal Director, Department of Business Mgt,Padmashree Dr. D. Y. Patil University. 6 OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT: 1. To know the fundamentals and factors effecting visual merchandising. 2. To understand the problems of visual merchandising in retail industry. 3. To know the budgeting constraints of visual merchandising 4. To suggest solutions to problems of visual merchandising. 7 DEF INITION OF PROBLEM: Visual Merchandising (VM) is the art of presentation, which puts the merchandise in focus and in perspective too. It educates the customers, creates desire and finally augments the selling process.This is a nascent area of the Indian retail industry. Visual Merchandising achieves the following: †¢ Educates the customers about the products and services offered creatively and effectively. †¢ Enables a successful selling process, from browsing to buying. †¢ Establishes a creative medium to present merchandise in a lifelike 3-D environment, thus creating a strong impact and recall value. †¢ Sets the context of the merchandise. †¢ Establishes the linkage between fashions, product design and marketing by keeping the focus on the product. Draws the attention of the customers and help them match their needs with the visually merchandised product. 8 Every company in India keeps a specific amount apart for visual merchandising as it has a great imp act on its sales. The budget set up by most of the companies are very low thereby proving to set up a challenge for the visual merchandiser to utilize all the concepts and tools of visual merchandising to profit the company. The visual merchandiser has to come up with plans to make the maximum utilization of the money provided. It is his/her creativity that comes into play at this time. Literature Review 1. ) Retail Management(Text & Cases) – Second Edition Author – Swapna Pradhan This book seeks to expand the coverage in important topical areas of merchandise management, customer service retail marketing communicant and financial planning among others. The focus of this book has been on explaining the concepts n practices in retail mngt, particularly in the Indian/Asian setting. The author has taken a practical approach to make the treatment sound and interesting. Consequently the book is dotted with ? retail snapshots? which are boxed exhibits that illustrate a parti cular retail activity or situation-and 8 case studies including those on start bucks, shoppers stop, gili, big bazaar and titan. 2. )Retail Management – An Introduction Edited by V. V Gopal This book is based on relevant authoritative and thought provoking articles written by experts and published in leading professional magazines and research journals. The articles are organized in a sequential and logical way that makes reading cont and helps the reader acquire a holistic view of the subject.This helps in strengthening the understanding of the subject better and also enables the reader stretch their thoughts beyond the content of the book. The series is designed to meet the requirements of executive, research scholars, academicians and students of professional programs. 10 3. ) Visual Merchandising Advertisement Express—Magazine, Dec 2008 IFAI University Press In this issue v have articles listed fewer than 5 sections and a case study . The cover story of the issue i s visual merchandising. Marketers adopt various promotional strategies for the purpose of increasing sales volume.Visual merchandising is to organize the retail store such that the visual impact thus created is capable of attracting customers and making their shopping experience a real pleasure. The article discusses some aspects of visual merchandising in the current competitive scenario. The retail section has 1 article, ? consumer relation mngt in retail sector.? The descriptive article investigates the relationship mngt issues and the policies formulated for the same in the retail industry. 4. ) Marketing Master mind -Magazine Feb 2010Visual Merchandising – A silent salesman of retailers. Modern retailing formats in particular r making increased and innovative use of visual merchandising for promoting sales. With the growing presence of organized retailing in India, the use of visual merchandising concepts and tools is on the upswing. The cover story of the issue outlines the importance of visual merchandising and its role in today‘s scenario in the Indian retail industry. A special feature of this issue is the conclusions of an interview section .We have an interview with Obopay, A company that provides a solution for effective payments through mobile phones, A novel service which is now on offer in India too. 11 This issue also carries articles on other interesting topics such as consumer behaviour, tourism marketing and customer relationship mngt. 5. ) Retail Management Dunne Lusch-India Editioon This edition of retail mngt gives u gr8 insight into all aspects of retailing in a well thought out methodical approach that is sensitive to the constant changes within the industry.Professors Dunne & Lusch have continued the highest level of research to stay current with the industry and this enables the reader to engage in a well rounded dialogue about the retail industry. This book covers all major disciplines for retailing including human resou rces, operations , marketing ,multichannel retailing, finance & other areas as well, which will help u gain the best possible understanding about the retail industry. 6. ) Retailing Mngt 6th Edition 2007 Michael Levy& Barton A WeitzKnown for its strategic look at retailing and current coverage , this 6th edition cont,. to be orgaised around a model of strategic decision making. One of the major advantages of Levy/ Weits approach is the text readability, Organisation ,and its emphasis on how students can come to grips with real retailing issues and be able to solve problems . The text logical organization around a decision making process allows readers to learn about the process of strategic decision first b4 moving onto decision implementation.The implementation decisions are broken down into merchandise mngt decisions and store mngt decisions just as they would be in a real retailing sector. 12 The text provides a balanced treatment of strategic, ? how to ? and conceptual material ,in a highly readable and interesting format. The 6th edition cont. its cutting edge coverage on the latest topics and developments in retailing including globalization ,customer relationship mngt program , multichannel retailing,scm and the use of internet to improve operating efficiencies and customer service. 7. Fashion Retailing Author – Priyanka Ramgopal Well written, great photography & illustration. The text is approached logically with clear explanation of practical, real information that can be applied immediately. A must have for anyone entering the fashion retailing field or for retailers needing to up their game or train staff. Gave me a good understanding of how the fashion merchandising fiel is structured, who does what, how to merchandise a retail availability correctly and guidelines and approaches for creating effective displays. 8. ) India retail report 2009By Image Group A guest introduction for retail students, this book offer a user-friendly references gu ide to all aspects of fashion, merchandising and covers both images, dressing and in-store areas. Using examples from a range of store from fashion emporia to supermarkets, the book offers practical advice on the subject, supported by hints and tips from established fashion merchandiser. It reveals the secrets of their tool kit, and information on the use of mannequins, the latest technology, how to construct and source props and explains the psychology behind shopping and buyer. 13 9. VMSD: Visual Merchandising Magazine: If you are looking for the primary magazine used by visual communicators, store display artists, and retail desigers, then VMSD is the answer. Since 1922,VMSD has been the prominent publication that reports on visual merchandising news and events, the latest in retail display, visual design, merchandising strategies, and new products. 10. ) Visual Merchandising Author – Tony Morgan A guest introduction for retail students, this book offer a user-friendly ref erences guide to all aspects of visual merchandising and covers both window dressing and in-store areas.Using examples from a range of store from fashion emporia to supermarkets, the book offers practical advice on the subject, supported by hints and tips from established visual merchandiser. It reveals the secrets of their tool kit, and information on the use of mannequins, the latest technology, how to construct and source props and explains the psychology behind shopping and buyer 14 Executive Summary Indian Retail Industry is ranked among the ten largest retail markets in the world.The attitudinal shift of the Indian consumer in terms of â€Å"Choice Preference†, â€Å"Value for Money† and the emergence of organized retail formats have transformed the face of Retailing in India. The Indian retail industry is currently estimated to be a US$ 200 billion industry and organized Retailing comprises of 3 per cent (or) US$6. 4 Billion of the retail industry. With a growth over 20 percent per annum over the last 5 years, organized retailing is projected to reach US$ 32 Billion by 2014.The Indian retail industry though predominantly fragmented through the owner -run † Mom and Pop outlets† has been witnessing the emergence of a few medium sized Indian Retail chains, namely Pantaloon Retail, RPG Retail, Shoppers Stop, Westside (Tata Group) and Lifestyle International. In the last few years, Indians have gone through a dramatic transformation in lifestyle by moving from traditional spending on food, groceries and clothing to lifestyle categories that deliver better quality and taste.Modern retailing satisfies rising demand for such goods and services with many players entering the bandwagon in an attempt to tap greater opportunities. According to the report of American Management Consulting Firm A. T. Kearney's 2006 Global Retail Development Index (GRDI), India is on the first position , continuing for two years (2005 and 2006), among 30 coun tries as the 15 world's most attractive market for mass merchant and food retailers seeking overseas growth.On the other hand, China is losing its attractiveness and making the way to India GRDI helps retailers to prioritize their global development strategies by ranking emerging countries based on a set of 25 variables including economic and political risk, retail market alternatives, retail saturation level, and the difference between gross domestic product growth and retail growth. The study quotes : â€Å"The Indian retail market is gradually but surely opening up, while China's market becomes increasingly saturated. visually merchandised product. Visual Merchandising is the art of displaying merchandise in a manner that is appealing to the eyes of the customer. It sets the context of the merchandise in an aesthetically pleasing fashion, presenting them in a way that would convert the window shoppers into prospects and ultimately buyers of the product. A creative and talented r etailer can use this upcoming art to breathe in new life into his store products. Passion for design and creativity are essential to be a good visual merchandiserA perfect design process and the ability to create ideas that are different are required. Awareness of happenings in fashion world is needed so as to keep up-to-date with the dynamics of the market constantly. Visual merchandising includes window displays, signs, interior displays, cosmetic promotions and any other special sales promotions taking place. 16 Introduction to Retailing 17 The Global Retail Industry Retail has played a major role world over in increasing productivity across a wide range of consumer goods and services.The impact can be best seen in countries like U. S. A. , U. K. , Mexico, Thailand and more recently China. Economies of countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka and Dubai are also heavily assisted by the retail sector. Retail is the second-largest industry in the United States both i n number of establishments and number of employees. It is also one of the largest worldwide. The retail industry employs more than 22 million Americans and generates more than $3 trillion in retail sale annually. Retailing is a U. S. $7 trillion sector.Wal-Mart is the world‘s largest retailer. Already the world‘s largest employer with over 1million associates, Wal-Mart displaced oil giant Exxon Mobil as the world‘s largest company when it posted $219 billion in sales for fiscal 2001. Wal-Mart has become the most successful retail brand in the world due its ability to leverage size, market clout, and efficiency to create market dominance. 18 Wal-Mart heads Fortune magazine list of top 500 companies in the world. Forbes Annual List of Billionaires has the largest number (45/497) from the retail business.Top Retailers Worldwide 1 Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. U. S. A. 2 Carrefour Group France 3 The Kroger Co. U. S. A. 4 The Home Depot, Inc. U. S. A. 5 Metro Germany Retail Sce nario in India: Touching Meteoric Scales As the corporates – the Piramals, the Tatas, the Rahejas, ITC, S. Kumar‘s, RPG Enterprises, and mega retailers- Crosswords, Shopper‘s Stop, and Pantaloons race to revolutionize the retailing sector, retail as an industry in India is coming alive. Retail sales in India amounted to about Rs. 400 billion in 2002, expanded at an average annual rate of 7% during 1999-2002. With the upturn in economic growth during 2003, retail sales are also expected to expand at a higher pace of nearly 10%. Across the country, retail sales in real terms are predicted to rise more rapidly than consumer expenditure during 2003-08. 19 The forecast growth in real retail sales during 2003- 2008 is 8. 3% per year, compared with 7. 1% for consumer expenditure. Modernization of the Indian retail sector will be reflected in rapid growth in sales of supermarkets, departmental stores and hyper marts.Sales from these large-format stores are to expand at gr owth rates ranging from 24% to 49% per year during 2003-2008, according to a latest report by Euro monitor International, a leading provider of global consumer-market intelligence. A. T. Kearney Inc. places India 6th on a global retail development index. The country has the highest per capita outlets in the world – 5. 5 outlets per 1000 population. Around 7% of the population in India is engaged in retailing, as compared to 20% in the USA.In a developing country like India, a large chunk of consumer expenditure is on basic necessities, especially food-related items. Hence, it is not surprising that food, beverages and tobacco accounted for as much as 71% of retail sales in 2002. The share of food related items had, however, declined over the review period, down from 73% in 1999. This is not unexpected, because with income growth, Indians, like consumers elsewhere, have started spending more on non-food items compared with food products. 20 Sales through supermarkets and depar tment stores are small compared with overall retail sales.Nevertheless, their sales have grown much more rapidly, at almost a triple rate (about 30% per year during the review period). This high acceleration in sales through modern retail formats is expected to continue during the next few years, with the rapid growth in numbers of such outlets due to consumer demand and business potential. The factors responsible for the development of the retail sector in India can be broadly summarized as follows: †¢ Rising incomes and improvements in infrastructure are enlarging consumer markets and accelerating the convergence of consumer tastes.Looking at income classification, the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) classified approximately 50% of the Indian population as low income in 1994-95; this is expected to decline to 17. 8% by 2006-07. †¢ Liberalization of the Indian economy which has led to the opening up of the market for consumer goods has helped the MNC brands like Kellogg‘s, Unilever, Nestle, etc. 21 To make significant inroads into the vast consumer market by offering a wide range of choices to the Indian consumers. †¢ Shift in consumer demand to foreign brands like McDonalds, Sony, Panasonic, etc. The internet revolution is making the Indian consumer more accessible to the growing influences of domestic and foreign retail chains Reach of satellite T. V. channels is helping in creating awareness about global products for local markets. About 47% of India‘s population is under the age of 20; and this will increase to 55% by 2015. This young population, which is technology-savvy, watch more than 50 TV satellite channels, and display the highest propensity to spend, will immensely contribute to the growth of the retail sector in the country.As India continues to get strongly integrated with the world economy riding the waves of globalization, the retail sector is bound to take big leaps in the years to come. The In dian retail sector is estimated to have a market size of about $ 180 billion; but the organised sector represents only 2% share of this market. 22 Most of the organised retailing in the country has just started recently, and has been concentrated mainly in the metro cities. India is the last large Asian economy to liberalize its retail sector.In Thailand, more than 40% of all consumer goods are sold through the super markets and departmental stores. A similar phenomenon has swept through all other Asian countries. Organised retailing in India has a huge scope because of the vast market and the growing consciousness of the consumer about product quality and services. A study conducted by Fitch, expects the organized retail industry to continue to grow rapidly, especially through increased levels of penetration in larger towns and metros and also as it begins to spread to smaller cities and B class towns.Fuelling this growth is the growth in development of the retail-specific properti es and malls. According to the estimates available with Fitch, close to 25mn sq. ft. of retail space is being developed and will be available for occupation over the next 36- 48 months. Fitch expects organized retail to capture 15%-20% market share by 2010. A McKinsey report on India says organised retailing would increase the efficiency and productivity of entire gamut of economic activities, and would help in achieving higher GDP growth.At 6%, the share of employment of retail in India is low, even when compared to Brazil (14%), and Poland (12%). 23 PRESENT INDIAN SCENARIO * Unorganized market: Rs. 583,000 crores * Organized market: Rs. 5, 000 crores * 5X growth in organized retailing between 2000-2005 * Over 4,000 new modern Outlets in the last 3 years * Over 5,000,000 sq. ft. of mall space under development * The top 3 modern retailers control over 750,000 sq. ft. of retail space * Over 400,000 shoppers walk through their doors every week * Growth in organized retailing on par w ith expectations and projections of the last 5 Years: on course to touch Rs. 5,000 crores (US$ 7 Billion) or more by 2005-06 TRADITIONAL RETAIL SCENE IN INDIA India is the country having the most unorganized retail market. Traditionally the retail business is run by Mom & Pop having Shop in the front & house at the back. More than 99% retailers function in less than 500Sq. Ft of area. All the merchandise was purchased as per the test & vim and fancies of the proprietor also the pricing was done on ad hock basis or by seeing at the face of customer. Generally the accounts of trading & home are not maintained separately.Profits were accumulated in slow moving & non-moving stocks which were to become redundant or consumed in-house. Thus profits were vanished without their knowledge. 24 The Manufactures were to distribute goods through C & F agents to Distributors & Wholesalers. Retailers happen to source the merchandise from Wholesalers & reach to end-users. The merchandise price used to get inflated to a great extent till it reaches from Manufacturer to End-user. Selling prices were largely not controlled by Manufacturers. Branding was not an issue for majority of customers.More than 99% customers are price sensitive & not quality or Brand Sensitive at the same time they are Brand conscious also. Weekly Bazaar in many small tows was held & almost all the commodities were on the scene including livestock. Bargaining was the unwritten law of market. Educational qualification level of these retailers was always low. Hence market was controlled by handful of distributors &/or Wholesalers. Virtually there was only one format of retailing & that was mass retail. Retailer to consumer ratio was very low, for all the categories without exception.Varity in terms of quality, Styles were on regional basis, community based & truly very low range was available at any given single place. Almost all the purchases / (buying) by mass population was need oriented & next turn may b e on festivals, Marriages, Birthdays & some specific occasions. 25 Impulsive buying or consumption is restricted to food or vegetables etc. Having extra pair of trousers or Shirts or Casuals & Formals & leisure wear & sports wear & different pair of shoes for occasions is till date is a luxury for majority population except for those living in Metros.Purchasing power of Indian urban consumer is very low and that of Branded merchandise in categories like Apparels, Cosmetics, Shoes, Watches, Beverages, Food, Jewellery, are slowly seeping into the lifeline of Indian City folks. However electronic & electrical home appliances do hold appropriate image into the minds of consumers. Brand name does matter in these white goods categories. In the coming times also majority of organized retailers will find it difficult to keep balance with rest of the unbranded retail market which is very huge.Different Forms of Retailing : Emergence of new formats of retailing in India Popular Formats †¢ Hyper marts 26 †¢ Supermarkets †¢ Departmental Stores †¢ Speciality Stores 27 †¢ Discount/shopping list grocer †¢ Traditional retailers trying to reinvent by introducing self- service formats as well as value- added services such as credit, free home delivery etc. RetailerOriginal formats RPG Retail Supermarket (Food world)Piramal'sDepartment Store (Pyramid Megastore) Pantaloon Small format outlets (Shoppe) RetailDepartment Store (Pantaloon) K RahejaDepartment Store (shopper's Groupstop) Specialty Store (Crossword) Tata/ Trent Department Store (Westside) Landmark Department Store (Lifestyle) Group Later Formats Hypermarket (Spencer's)Specialty Store (Health and Glow) Discount Store (TruMart) Supermarket (Food Bazaar) Hypermarket (Big Bazaar) Mall (Central) Supermarket (TBA) Hypermarket (TBA) Hypermarket (Star India Bazaar) Hypermarket (TBA) Others Discount Store (Subhiksha, Margin Free, Apna Bazaar), Supermarket Nilgiri's), Specialty Electronics 28 Plans o f Large Retailers * Reliance Retail: investing Rs. 30,000 crore ($6. 67 billion) in setting up multiple retail formats with expected sales of Rs. 90,000 crore plus ($20 billion) by 2009-10. * Pantaloon Retail: Will occupy 10 mn sq. ft retail space and achieve Rs. 9,000 crore-plus ($2 bn) sales by 2008. * RPG: Planning IPO will have 450-plus Music World, 50-plus Spencer's Hyper covering 4 mn sq. ft by 2010. * LIFESTYLE: Investing Rs. 400 crore-plus ($90 mn) in next five years on Max Hypermarkets & value retail stores, home and lifestyle centres. Rahejas: Operates Shoppers' Stop, Crossword, Inorbit Mall, and ‘Home Stop' formats. Will operate 55 â€Å"Hyper city† hypermarkets with US$100 million sales across India by 2015. * Pyramids Retail: Aiming to occupy 1. 75 million sq. ft retail spaces through 150 stores in next five years. * TATA (Trent Ltd. ): Trent to open 27 more stores across its retail formats adding 1 mn sq. ft of space in the next 12 DLF malls. Titan industr ies to add 50-plus Titan and Tanishq stores in 2006. 29 Small is big for Indian retail: It's raining malls in small-town India.Whether it's Kanpur, Ahmadabad, Indore, Agra, Baroda or Surat, the mall and multiplex culture has caught on in the country's smaller cities, powered by the burgeoning purchasing power of India's middle-class. From a handful of malls in the mid '90s, India today has nearly 200 malls spread across large and small cities. And 700 new malls are coming up all over India40% of them concentrated in the smaller cities. Small-town India is the next big thing in the retail business. Consider these numbers: in 2005, the contribution of smaller cities to total organized retailing sales was 15%.By the end of this year, that proportion is expected to grow to 25%. Organized retailing in small-town India is growing at a staggering 50-60% a year compared to 35%-40% in the large cities. The striking point is that it is the big names in the organized retail business that are e yeing these new opportunities. The Kishore Biyani-owned Future Group, India's largest retailer, plans to invest Rs 3,600 crore in 100 stores in 30 cities, increasing its retail space from 3. 5 million square feet to 30 million sq feet. The RPG group plans to open malls in all cities with a population of over 8 lakh.Similarly, Wills Lifestyle, the garments and accessories retailing division of ITC Ltd, plans to increase its footprint by doubling the number of stores from 50 to around 100 in the next two to three years, mostly in smaller cities. 30 Even Sunil Mittal's Bharti group has announced plans to get into food and farm products retailing. All these plans, however, are dwarfed by Mukesh Ambani's ambitions to do a Wal-Mart in India by investing $5. 60 billion (Rs 25,000 crore) and covering 1,500 cities and towns. The small-town retail boom could be considered a show-case of India's freemarket prosperity.It is being powered by healthy economic growth that is making more Indians mo re prosperous. Organized retailers have understood this and are hoping to ride the wave, exploit the first-mover advantage and establish strong brand loyalties in these relatively under-served markets. Indeed, this is probably the most compelling example of the trickle-down impact of liberalization in India. Looking ahead, retail analysts suggest that the sustained success of the IT and industries in small towns is expected to create more jobs and enhance spending power.Typically, small cities offer a 15% to 30% cost advantage over larger cities, not just in terms of employee costs but real estate costs as well, not to speak of the gains that accrue from reduced staff attrition rates. This gap is expected to widen over the next few years, creating a pull for smaller towns that will, in turn, power the small-town retail revolution. At present, real estate costs present a major incentive for India's organized retailers. Average rental values for ground-floor space are Rs 50-60 per squ are foot a month, against Rs 100-120 per sq foot a month in the bigger cities. 1 However, a strong demand for retail space has more than doubled rentals in cities like Jaipur, Chandigarh, Surat and Lucknow. While in the metros, retailers are filling gaps by increasing more stores, in small towns, these malls are way beyond the expectations of the consumers. These cities are untapped markets and retailers find it important to establish their brands there. Smaller cities are seeing plenty of action. For instance, Ludhiana can already boast worldwide restaurant chains like KFC, McDonald's, Pizza Hut, Domino's Pizza, Ruby Tuesday and Subway.A new world-class, 25-acre commercial centre and some seven new shopping malls-cum-entertainment centres are under construction. The Indian retail market is estimated at $350 billion. But organized retail is estimated at only $8 billion. However, the opportunity is huge—by 2010, organized retail is expected to grow to $22 billion. With the gro wth of organized retailing estimated at 40% (CAGR) over the next few years, Indian retailing is clearly at a tipping point. India is currently the ninth largest retail market in the world. It is names like Dehradun, Vijayawada, Lucknow and Nasik that will power India up the rankings soon.The Indian retail sector can be broadly classified into: a) FOOD RETAILERS There are large number and variety of retailers in the food-retailing sector. 32 Traditional types of retailers, who operate small single-outlet businesses mainly using family labour, dominate this sector. In comparison, super markets account for a small proportion of food sales in India. However the growth rate of super market sales has being significant in recent years because greater numbers of higher income. Indians prefer to shop at super markets due to higher standards of hygiene and attractive ambience. b) HEALTH & BEAUTY PRODUCTSWith growth in income levels, Indians have started spending more on health and beauty Prod ucts Here also small, single- outlet retailers dominate the market. However in recent years, a few retail chains specializing in these products have come into the market. Although these retail chains account for only a small share of the total market , their business is expected to grow significantly in the future due to the growing quality consciousness of buyers for these products . 33 c) CLOTHING & FOOTWEAR Numerous clothing and footwear shops in shopping centres and markets operate all over India.Traditional outlets stock a limited range of cheap and popular items; in contrast, modern clothing and footwear stores have modern products and attractive displays to lure customers. However, with rapid urbanization, and changing patterns of consumer tastes and preferences, it is unlikely that the traditional outlets will survive the test of time. d) HOME FURNITURE & HOUSEHOLD GOODS Small retailers again dominate this sector. Despite the large size of this market, very few large and mod ern retailers have established specialized stores for these products.However there is considerable potential for the entry or expansion of specialized retail chains in the country. e) DURABLE GOODS 34 The Indian durable goods sector has seen the entry of a large number of foreign companies during the post liberalization period. A greater variety of consumer electronic items and household appliances became available to the Indian customer. Intense competition among companies to sell their brands provided a strong impetus to the growth for retailers doing business in this sector. f) LEISURE & PERSONAL GOODS Increasing household incomes due to better economic opportunities have ncouraged consumer expenditure on leisure and personal goods in the country. There are specialized retailers for each category of products (books, music products, etc. ) in this sector. Another prominent feature of this sector is popularity of franchising agreements between established manufacturers and retailer s. 35 INDIAN RETAIL IS MOVING INTO SECOND GEAR 1) FIRST GEAR: (Create awareness) * New retailers driving awareness * High degree of fragmentation * Real estate groups starting retail chains * Consumer expecting ‘value for money' as core value 2) SECOND GEAR: (Meet customer expectations) Consumer-driven * Emergence of pure retailers * Retailers getting multi-location and multi-format * Global retailers evincing interest in India 3) THIRD GEAR: (Back end management) * Category management * Vendor partnership * Stock turns * Channel synchronization * Consumer acquisition * Customer relation's management 4) FOURTH GEAR: (Consolidation) * Aggressive rollout 36 * Organized retail acquitting significant share * Beginning of cross-border movement * Mergers and acquisitions For a start, these retailers need to invest much more in capturing more specific market.Intelligence as well as almost real-time customer purchase behaviour information. The retailers also need to make substantial i nvestment in understanding/acquiring some advanced expertise in developing more accurate and scientific demand forecasting models. Re-engineering of product sourcing philosophies-aligned more towards collaborative planning and replenishment should then be next on their agenda. The message, therefore for the existing small and medium independent retailers is to closely examine what changes are taking place in their immediate vicinity, and analyze.Whether their current market offers a potential redevelopment of the area into a more modern multi-option destination. If it does, and most commercial areas in India do have this potential, it would be very useful to form a consortium of other such small retailers in that vicinity and take a pro-active approach to pool in resources and improve the overall infrastructure. 37 The next effort should be to encourage retailers to make some investments in improving the interiors of their respective establishments to make shopping an enjoyable expe rience for the customer.As the retail marketplace changes shape and competition increases, the potential for improving retail productivity and cutting costs is likely to decrease. Therefore, it will become important for retailers to secure a distinctive position in the marketplace based on value, relationships or experience. Finally, it is important to note that these strategies are not strictly independent of each other; value is function of not just price, quality and service but can also be enhanced by Personalization and offering a memorable experience.In fact, building relationships with customers can by itself increase the quality of overall customer experience and thus the perceived value. But most importantly for winning in this intensely competitive marketplace, it is critical to understand the target customer's definition of value and make an offer, which not only delights the customers but also is also difficult for competitors to replicate. Challenges of Retailing in Ind ia Retailing as an industry in India has still a long way to go. To become a truly flourishing industry, retailing needs to cross the following hurdles: Automatic approval is not allowed for foreign investment in retail. †¢ Regulations restricting real estate purchases, and cumbersome local laws. †¢ Taxation, which favours small retail businesses. †¢ Absence of developed supply chain and integrated IT management. 38 †¢ Lack of trained work force. †¢ Low skill level for retailing management. †¢ Intrinsic complexity of retailing – rapid price changes, constant threat of product obsolescence and low margins. The retailers in India have to learn both the art and science of retailing by closely following how retailers in other parts of the world are organizing, anaging, and coping up with new challenges in an ever-changing marketplace. Indian retailers must use innovative retail formats to enhance shopping experience, and try to understand the regiona l variations in consumer attitudes to retailing. Retail marketing efforts have to improve in the country – advertising, promotions, and campaigns to attract customers; building loyalty by identifying regular shoppers and offering benefits to them; efficiently managing high-value customers and monitoring customer needs constantly, are some of the aspects which Indian retailers need to focus upon on a more pro-active basis.Despite the presence of the basic ingredients required for growth of the retail industry in India, it still faces substantial hurdles that will retard and inhibit its growth in the future. One of the key impediments is the lack of FDI status. This has largely limited capital investments in supply chain infrastructure, which is a key for development and growth of food retailing and has also constrained access to world-class retail practices. 39 Multiplicity and complexity of taxes, lack of proper infrastructure and relatively high cost of real estate are the o ther impediments to the growth of retailing.While the industry and the government are trying to remove many of these hurdles, some of the roadblocks will remain and will continue to affect the smooth growth of this industry. Fitch believes that while the market share of organised retail will grow and become significant in the next decade, this growth would, however, not be at the same rapid pace as in other emerging markets. Organised retailing in India is gaining wider acceptance. The development of the organised retail sector, during the last decade, has begun to change the face of retailing, especially, in the major metros of the country.Experiences in the developed and developing countries prove that performance of organised retail is strongly linked to the performance of the economy as a whole. This is mainly on account of the reach and penetration of this business and its scientific approach in dealing with customers and their needs. In spite of the positive prospects of this industry, Indian retailing faces some major hurdles (see Table 1), which have stymied its growth. Early signs of organized retail were visible even in the 1970s when Nilgiris food), Viveks (consumer durables) and Nallis (sarees) started their operations. 40 However, as a result of the roadblocks (mentioned in Table 1), the industry remained in a rudimentary stage. While these retailers gave the necessary ambience to customers, little effort was made to introduce world-class customer care practices and improve operating efficiencies. Moreover, most of these modern developments were restricted to south India, which is still regarded as a ? Mecca of Indian Retail‘ KEY CHALLENGES: 1) LOCATION: â€Å"Right Place, Right choice†Location is the most important ingredient for any business that relies on customers, and is typically the prime consideration in a customers store choice. Locations decisions are harder to change because retailers have to either make sustainable investm ents to buy and develop real estate or commit to long term lease with developers. When formulating decision about where to locate, the retailer must refer to the strategic plan: * Investigate alternative trading areas. * Determine the type of desirable store location * Evaluate alternative specific store sites 2) MERCHANDISE:The primary goal of the most retailers is to sell the right kind of merchandise and nothing is more central to the strategic thrust of the retailing firm. 41 Merchandising consists of activities involved in acquiring particular goods and services and making them available at a place, time and quantity that enable the retailer to reach its goals. Merchandising is perhaps, the most important function for any retail organization, as it decides what finally goes on shelf of the store. 3) PRICING: Pricing is a crucial strategic variable due to its direct relationship with a firm's goal and its interaction with other retailing elements.The importance of pricing decisi ons is growing because today's customers are looking for good value when they buy merchandise and services. Price is the easiest and quickest variable to change. 4) TARGET AUDIENCE: â€Å"Consumer the prime mover† â€Å"Consumer Pull†, however, seems to be the most important driving factor behind the sustenance of the industry. The purchasing power of the customers has increased to a great extent, with the influencing the retail industry to a great extent, a variety of other factors also seem to fuel the retailing boom. 5) SCALE OF OPERATIONS:Scale of operations includes all the supply chain activities, which are carried out in the business. It is one of the challenges that the Indian retailers are facing. The cost of business operations is very high in India. 42 FactorsDescriptionImplications Barriers to FDIFDI not permitted in pureAbsence of global retailingplayers Franchisee arrangementLimited exposure to best allowedpractices Lack of IndustryGovernment does notRest ricted availability of Statusrecognize the industryfinance Restricts growth and scaling up StructuralLack of urbanizationLack of awareness of ImpedimentsPoor transportation nfrastructure Consumer habit of buying fresh foods Administered pricing Indian consumers Restricted retail growth Growth of small, one- store formats, with unmatchable cost structure Wastage of almost 20%- 25% of farm produce High Cost of RealPro-tenant rent laws EstateNon-availability of government land, zoning restrictions Lack of clear ownership titles, high stamp duty (10%) Supply ChainSeveral segments like food Bottlenecksand apparel reserved for Difficult to find good real estate in terms of location and size High land cost owing to constrained supply Disorganized nature of transactionsLimited product range Makes scaling up 43 SSIs Distribution, logistics constraints – restrictions of purchase and movement of food grains, absence of cold chain infrastructure Long intermediation chain difficult High c ost and complexity of sourcing & planning Lack of value addition and increase in costs by almost 15% Complex TaxationDifferential sales tax ratesAdded cost and Systemacross statescomplexity of Multi-point octroidistribution Sales tax avoidance byCost advantage for smaller storessmaller stores through ax evasion Multiple Legislations Stringent labour law governing hours of work, minimum wage payments Multiple licenses/clearances required CustomerLocal consumption habits PreferencesNeed for variety Cultural issues Limits flexibility in operations Irritant value in establishing chain operations; adds to overall costs Leads to product proliferation Need to stock larger number of SKUs at store level Increases complexity in sourcing & planning Increases the cost of 44 store management Availability of Talent Highly educated class does not consider retailing a rofession of choice Lack of proper training ManufacturersNo increase in margins Backlash Lack of trained personnel Higher trial and error in managing retail operations Increase in personnel costs Manufacturers refuse to dis-intermediate and pass on intermediary margins to retailers ORGANISED RETAILING IN INDIA: Organized retailing is spreading and making its presence felt in different parts of the country. The trend in grocery retailing, however, has been slightly different with a growth concentration in the South. However, the Mecca of retailing is undoubtedly Chennai.What was considered a `traditional', conservative' and `cost-conscious' market, proved to be the home ground for most of the successful retail names – Food World, Music World, Health and Glow, Titan, Big Bazaar and Tanishq -to name a few. 45 The choice of Chennai as the `retail capital' has surprised many, but a variety of factors acted in its favour. Chennai, in spite of being a rapidly growing metropolis offers reasonable real estate prices, one of the most critical elements for the industry. Chennai has been witnessing a high industrial growth and ncreasing presence of the MNCs, both in the IT sector as well as outside it. The industrial boom has led to the emergence of new residential areas with aggregation of professionals as well as a rapid increase in the number of `double-income' households and growth of the nouveau riche/upper middle class with increased purchasing power. These have been combined with the increasing need for touch and feel shopping (especially for the large migrant population). All the factors have acted favourably in nurturing the industry. Consumer- the prime mover: A variety of factors seem to influence the growth in the retailing industry. Consumer Pull', however, seems to be the most important driving factor behind the sustenance of the industry. In this context, A. F. Ferguson & Co. had carried out a brief survey among consumers across income segments to understand their spending pattern. An analysis of the `monthly purchase basket of the consumers surveyed indicated that the average mo nthly household spends on food and grocery related items varied across income segments. 46 For instance, in the case of upper income households, the average spend was around Rs 4,200 per month.As against this, the average spend in the case of a middle income household was around Rs. 2,850 and lower income households Rs. 1,250 per month. (This is computed from a sample of 100 customers having an average family size of four. ) Based on the distribution of the more than 15 lakh households in Chennai across income segments and the average spend, a conservative estimate of the grocery retailing potential at Chennai will be around Rs. 300 crores. Besides increasing purchasing power, a variety of other factors also seem to fuel the retailing boom.With increase in double-income households and working women, there is an increasing pressure on time with very little time being available for leisure. In this scenario, consumers are seeking the convenience of one-stop shopping, whereby they coul d have better utility of time. They are also seeking speed and efficiency in processing, as a result. 4 Being more aware, consumers are on the look-out for more information, better quality and hygiene as well as increased customer service. These changes in consumer behaviour also augur well for the retailing industry.However, in India there are no uniform trends with respect to consumer buying behaviour. There are visible differences in the shopping pattern of consumers across income segments as shown in the table. Organized retailing has definitely made headway in the upper class. However, even in this segment, items such as milk, fruits, vegetables and a significant portion of `through-the-month' purchases seem to be done at traditional outlets. The middle income class prefers shopping for processed food and personal care in supermarkets and fall back on traditional outlets for bulk shopping.Organized retail outlets seem to be associated with branded items/special purchases. Organ ized retailing does not seem to have made an impact on the lower class, except for `curiosity' shopping. The biggest question before organized retailers therefore, is whether this really means a huge untapped potential for the organized retailers and whether the conversion in mindset going to be easy. Emerging trends: 48 The single most important evolution that took place along with the retailing revolution was the rise and fall of the dotcom companies.A sudden concept of `non-store' shopping emerged, which threatened to take away the potential of the store. More importantly, the very nature of the customer segment being addressed was almost the same. The computer-savvy individual was also a sub-segment of the `store' frequenting traffic. Internationally, the concept of net shopping is yet to be proven. And the poor financial performance of most of the companies offering virtual shopping has resulted in store-based retailing regaining the upper hand. Other forms of non-store shoppin g including various formats such as catalogue/mail order shopping, direct elling, and so on are growing rapidly However, the size of the direct market industry is too limited to deter the retailers. For all the convenes. Once that it offers, electronic retailing does not suit products where `look and see' attributes are of importance, as in apparel, or where the value is very high, such as jewellery, or where the performance has to be tested, as of consumer durables. 49 The most critical issue in electronic retailing, especially in a country such as ours, relates to payments and the various security issues involved.Retail management skills: It is a fact that the retailing industry is in its starting phase in our country. The benefits of organized retailing will only be felt once an equitable scale is achieved. This to a large extent depends on the store size, the walkthroughs, and bills per customer per year, average bill size and the revenue earned per sq. ft. But besides resources and bottom line, a variety of other aspects need to be in place for tasting success. The need for qualified and trained manpower is of utmost importance.The need for specialized skills is increasingly felt in the areas of: Strategic management – strategizing, targeting and positioning, marketing and site selection, among others Merchandise management – Vendor selection, inventory management, pricing and so on Store management – Layout, display, customer relationship, inventory management, etc. Administrative Management – Human resources, finance, marketing and so on 50 With the need for specialized skill set, retailing has become a specialized area of knowledge and training.The RPG School of Retailing and the introduction of specialized retailing courses at various business schools, including the IIMs, stand testimony to this. Technology impact: The other important aspect of retailing relates to technology. It is widely felt that the key differentiator b etween the successful and not so successful retailers is primarily in the area of technology. Simultaneously, it will be technology that will help the organized retailer score over the unorganized players, giving both cost and service advantages. Retailing is a `technology-intensive' industry.It is quoted that everyday at least 500 gigabytes of data are transmitted via satellite from the 1,200 point-of-sales counters of JC Penney to its corporate headquarters. Successful retailers today work closely with their vendors to predict consumer demand, shorten lead times, reduce inventory holding and thereby, save cost. Wal-Mart pioneered the concept of building a competitive advantage through distribution and information systems in the retailing industry. They introduced two innovative logistics techniques – cross-docking and electronic data interchange.Today, online systems link point-of-sales terminals to the main office where detailed analyses on sales by item, classification, s tores or vendor are carried out online. 51 Besides vendors, the focus of the retailing sector is to develop the link with the consumer. `Data Warehousing' is an established concept in the advanced nations. With the help of `database retailing', information on existing and potential customers is tracked. Besides knowing what was purchased and by whom, information on softer issues such as demographics and psychographics is captured.Retailing, as discussed before, is at a nascent stage in our country. Most organized players have managed to put the front ends in place, but these are relatively easy to copy. The relatively complicated information systems and underlying technologies are in the process of being established. Most grocery retailers such as Food World have started tracking consumer purchases through CRM. The lifestyle retailers through their `affinity clubs' and `reward clubs' are establishing their processes.The traditional retailers will always continue to exist but organiz ed retailers are working towards revamping their business to obtain strategic advantages at various levels – market, cost, knowledge and customer. 52 With differentiating strategies – value for money, shopping experience, variety, quality, discounts and advanced systems and technology in the back-end, change in the equilibrium with manufacturers and a thorough understanding of the consumer behaviour, the ground is all set for the organized retailers.The bottom line could look brighter, after all! It would be important to note, however, that the retailing industry in India is still a `protected industry'. It is one of the few sectors which still have restrictions on FDI. Given the current trend in liberalization, it will not be long before the retailing sector is also thrown open to international competition. This will see a further segregation of the international retailing brands and the domestic retailers, thereby injecting much greater dynamism into the market. That will be when the real action will begin.In the second article on retailing, we uncover a model for retailers to handle the emerging scenario. India's retail sector is going to transform and with a three-year compounded annual growth rate of 46. 64 per cent, retail sector is the fastest growing sector in the Indian economy. Traditional markets are transforming themselves in new formats such as departmental stores, hypermarkets, supermarkets and specialty stores. Western-style malls have begun appearing in metros and near metro cities, introducing the Indian consumer to a new shopping experience.

Implementing a New CSR Strategy for New Balance Essay

Introduction New Balance is a large company specialized in manufacturing footwear products at a global level. The case study reveals that New Balance is currently committed to formulating an integrated Cooperate Social Responsibility (CSR), which will enable it to place itself in a good position in a highly competitive market (Veleva, 2010). In 2009, the company was still struggling to build a CSR, which would create a reputable name for its products in the global market. However, as Veleva (2010) illustrates, the firm faced various challenges such as lack of a CSR department, which would foresee the implementation of an integrated CSR. This calls for the analysis of the various strengths and weaknesses of the company and lay out the steps it should follow in implementing an integrated CSR strategy. New Balance Strengths and Weaknesses Overall Governance According to Veleva (2010), even before the word CSR became a common word in the global industries. New Balance always insisted on being responsible for all its employees and the communities in which it was operational. Luo and Bhattacharya (2006) support this argument by explaining that for a company to have an effective CRS, it should start internally before going external. New Balance has strong values and governance system that ensures a commitment to responsibility both for internal and external components of its operations. Despite the fact that New Balance was so much committed to CSR, it left out important segments of corporate responsibility such as openness and accountability (Veleva, 2010). The company’s framework did not provide a basis for its leaders to analyze the risks and opportunities of CSR, and this explains clearly, why it was affected by the economic recession of the year 2007-2009. Products and Services From the case study, New Balance had many consumers in the global market. One of its main strengths was the designing and marketing of products. The company ensured that its products met customers’ expectation, and the same time ensured that these products were produced in an  environmentally-friendly manner. According to Sen, Bhattacharya, and Korschun (2006), a company should focus on ensuring that its production does not compromise the capability of future generation to get such a product or even a better one. New Balance looked for materials and ensured that its production was socially and environmentally acceptable in order to increase the social benefits of its production. The case study shows that New Balance decided to take a different approach from other footwear companies by concentrating on recycling. This is one of its weaknesses in its production. Veleva argues that the company did not have a framework in place for accessing the impacts of recycled products. Som e of the environmentally-friendly materials that the company used for its production did not produce quality and durable products, hence did not attract customers. Operations New Balance has various strengths in its CSR strategy in terms of its operations (Veleva, 2010). One of the values of this company was to ensure that the working environment was safe for all its employees. By reducing the number of suppliers almost by half, New Balance was able to gain control over all its production, cut down on costs and hence improve efficiency. Another approach employed by New Balance was by getting rid of materials and production methods, which are harmful to the environment. This company focused on recycling most of its waste products. Therefore, it cuts down on waste, hence reducing cost on disposal and at the same time protected the environment from pollution. In 2008, a time when US focused on ensuring nil pollution to its environment, New Balance was among the first companies that adopted the green chemicals to replace the cleaners, which were used in previous years to ensure compliance with the set environmental standards. However, the company experienced a challenge in controlling its suppliers, especially those oversea. Another challenge for the company was to manage its CSR activities overseas and hence, there was a gap between its domestic CSR and oversees CSR. Community Support According to Veleva (2010), New Balance is a company that always supported the communities in which it had operations. New Balance employees took pride in volunteering and helped the surrounding communities. According  to Engardio et al. (2007), charity and volunteering are one of the major factors that enable a company to retain and satisfy its employees. Volunteering as a value was steered by the CEOs of the company Anne and Jim Davis, who embraced it and ensured that all their employees were active and valued community work. Volunteering and charity work is a value that improves public relations of an organization, its corporate image, trade name, employee teamwork and skill building (Margolis, Elfenbein & Walsh, 2007. However, despite the great involvement in community support, New Balance community support strategy was not in line with its business strategy. The company mainly focused on the US communities and lacked a proper communication plan to communicate both to its inter nal and external stakeholders. Analysis From the strengths and weaknesses identified, New Balance should focus on three of the main areas identified with great risks: effective leadership, a structure for recognizing CSR risks and opportunities that are of great importance to the business and aligning of CSR strategy with business strategy. With clear and effective leadership and a CSR that is aligned with a business strategy any company can reach its highest level of production and innovation (Luo & Bhattacharya, 2006). Steps for implementing an integrated CSR strategy Who should be involved? According to Sen, Bhattacharya and Korschun (2006), for any CSR to be implemented successfully, all stakeholders both internally and externally should be involved. While CSR is mainly steered by leaders, New Balance should at all stages involve its employees. Various studies have shown that employees play a vital role in CSR implementation and making it a success. Suppliers as part of the external stakeholders should also be involved in CSR implementation in order to give their views on whether it is aligned with business strategy or not. What should the Communication Plan consist of? New Balance should adopt a comprehensive communication plan that will effectively communicate its CSR activities internally and externally. Internally, the company can focus on newsletters, meetings, Internet communication, to ensure that employees are always aware of CSR activities and their progress. According to Engardio et al. (2007), frequent and clear communication on CSR to employees enables them to know that CSR is a priority and hence commits themselves to make it a success. Externally, the company should come up with a communication plan that will identify all external individuals and groups that need to be made aware of the CSR activities and how to reach out to them. External CSR communication channels can consist of awareness campaigns, advertise, speeches, and even sending hard copies of CSR report to the most important external stakeholders (Luo & Bhattacharya, 2006) What resources are needed? New Balance mainly requires human resources in order to implement its new CSR strategy effectively. It should focus on effective leadership apart from Anne and Jim Davis, who are the CEOs. Therefore, it should invest in searching for new and effective leaders internally or externally, who will support the two CEOs in effectively running the business. The company should also focus on coming up with a CSR department consisting of intellectuals who understand what CSR entails in order to effectively identify risks and opportunities and align the CSR activities with the company’s business. According to Margolis, Elfenbein and Walsh (2007), finances are needed in CSR implementation. Therefore, New Balance should form a committee, which will strategize on how the company will get the funds required to finance its CSR implementation. What is the Timeline? For any CSR implementation to be successful, it must be time bound (Engardio et al. 2007). The CSR steering team should come up with a timetable clearly showing all the stages of CSR implementation and their time limits. Each stage should be given a time limit and periodically monitored in order to ensure that it is completed within the allocated time. An effective CSR implementation is done during the shortest time possible to cut down on wastage in terms of human resources and finances and hence save cost. What are the measures of success? New Balance should come with an approach of measuring its CSR implementation performance. Primarily, it should identify the objectives, fundamental to its CSR commitment and come up with performance indicators, which should be used to measure the results of CSR activities. When the objective has been achieved, it means that the CSR is a success while it is a failure when an objective has not been achieved. What are other important items to include? According to Luo and Bhattacharya (2006), a company should ensure that their employees are adequately trained on CSR in order to make its implementation a success. New Balance employees should be properly trained on the importance of CSR and its implementation to ensure it becomes a success. Margolis, Elfenbein and Walsh (2007) point out that in any CSR implementation, there are obstacles such as resistance by some employees and stakeholders. Therefore, it is important that New Balance puts in place mechanisms and strategies of dealing with problematic behavior and resistance to its CSR implementation. Conclusion From the analysis, it is clear that New Balance is a company that is devoted to community support and volunteering. Its two CEOs are devoted to ensuring that the company creates a good reputation and markets its brand by embracing CSR. However, various loopholes that have been identified, prevented the company from achieving its CSR objectives and goals. Such loopholes are the lack of an effective leadership body, Lack of aligning CSR with the company’s business among others. Therefore, despite much involved in community support, the company did not achieve the benefits that come along with CSR such as reputation, good corporate image, and good public relations among others. Implementing an effective CSR will call for New Balance to bring together both human resources and finances. Effective leadership and CSR personnel are needed in order to analyze the various risks and opportunities related to CSR. The company also needs to align its CSR strategy with its business in order to rip all the benefits that come along with it. Every stakeholder, both internal and external should be involved in CSR implementation in order  to ensure maximum support and hence make it a success. References Engardio, P., Capell, K., Carey, J., & Hall, K. 2007. Beyond The Green Corporation. Retrieved from http://static.twoday.net/foehrenbergkreis/files/bw-january-29-2007-beyond-the-green-corporation.pdf Luo, X., & Bhattacharya, C.T. (2006). Corporate social responsibility, customer satisfaction, and market value. Journal of Marketing, 70(4), 1–18; Margolis,J.D., Elfenbein,H.A, & Walsh, J.P (2007). Does pay to be good? A meta-analysis and redirection of research on corporate social and financial performance. Working Paper, University of California at Berkeley. Sen S., Bhattacharya, C.T., & Korschun, D. (2006). The role of corporate social responsibility in strengthening multiple stakeholder relationships: A field experiment. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 34(2), 158-166. Veleva V. (2010). New Balance: Developing an integrated CSR strategy. Richard Ivey School of  Business.

What the founders meant by the first Amendment

What the founders meant by the first Amendment Introduction United States is a country with rich culture and history. Worth noting is the fact that, throughout American history, religion and in particular Church has played an integral part in development of the State. Values such as democracy and freedom were brought by Christians who fled from British Monarch.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on What the founders meant by the first Amendment specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More However, when the first amendment was entrenched into the bill of rights, the State gradually moved away from Church values and instead strengthened secularism. The Church feels cheated as they made a great contribution to the foundation of State. This paper will try to explore what the founders of the first amendment meant, when they wrote the bill (Holcomb 23). What the founders meant by the first Amendment The first amendment was written over 200 years ago by the founders who wanted to protect both the State and religion from interfering in each others tasks. However, its interpretation has raised concern as courts insist it is not absolute while the congress believes that it is. This has led to confusion over its exact meaning and relevance to the State and Church. Its meaning has always varied with each side taking to their interpretations. Even though it was written more than 200 years ago, it has endured any significant alteration. It states the congress is not to respect any established religion when making laws This was ideally meant to protect them from executing each other’s duties, and did not mean Church could not advice the State (Holcomb 12). The founders wanted openness as well as democracy in United States. They were tired of tyranny and control of information which had restricted people from airing their grievances. They had the purpose of ending this form of life forever, and therefore wrote this amendment in the bill of rights. They believed that the population needed to share information so as to live in unity and harmony. They also hoped to protect the state from a stronger religion which could begin dictatorship as was in the days of Rome. The founders feared tyranny, which they had witnessed under British monarchy and wanted a better future for the American population. However, this was interpreted in many ways to an extent that currently, the State is completely separated from Church. Instead, secularism has encroached in government, and the society at large. All religions are treated equally, even though others impact on more people than the rest. Though the founders of the bill had good intentions for the country, it is not clear why they did not seal the loopholes (Holcomb 113).Advertising Looking for essay on constitutional law? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Conclusion When the first amendment was written, its aims ware established by the founders, they were intended to protect both State and Church. However, this took a twist as each side interpreted the bill to befit their conditions. This only confirms the bill was not complete in its description of relationship between Church and State. Courts have made it clear that the bill is not absolute, however the State insists on its other meaning, which keeps religion at bay. American populations, majority of which are Christians, cannot have their way, both in schools and institutions, these are the severity of such conflicts between Church and State (Holcomb 23). Work Cited Holcomb, David. â€Å"Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land: a History of Church and State in America†. USA: Oxford University Press, 2003

Strategic Analysis of Nokia Corporation The WritePass Journal

Strategic Analysis of Nokia Corporation INTRODUCTION Strategic Analysis of Nokia Corporation INTRODUCTIONMICRO AND MACRO ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS:THE COMPETITORS OF NOKIA:Social factorsBusiness environmentWHY CHANGE?ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE IN NOKIAIMPORTANCE OF CHANGE MANAGEMENE IN GENERALCAUSES OF CHANGEDECREASE IN PROFITS OF NOKIA RESULT IN CHANGECHANGE MANAGEMENT PROCESSANALYSIS OF STAKEHOLDERSCONCLUSION:Related INTRODUCTION Nokia is a well known brand in the world of mobile communication and it is the world leader in the industry because of its history, name, reliability and unique products and provision of protected solutions. It is one of the most well-known companies and it has offices all over the world. The main product of Nokia is mobile phones and it also deals in household items. Nokia recognizes its corporate responsibility and states that â€Å"in all parts of business it makes corporate responsibility a part of decision making’’. Mission statement: Nokia is â€Å"CONNECTING PEOPLE† Goal: The goal of Nokia   Ã¢â‚¬Å"In every business place where WE operate to be a good corporate citizen and be an accountable and causative member of society and serve young people to structure their own place in the world†. Target market: The target market of Nokia is spread widely. The demand of Nokia products is worldwide and it has given first choice on other cellular companies of the world.   If we compare the rates of Nokia with other similar companies then it come to know that Nokia has low rates compared to others, and the performance of Nokia products is very good and have many interesting features so most people prefer Nokia. Nokia products have big market place in Asia, America and the Middle East. Due to manufacturing of Nokia products in GSM and AMPS technologies, it meets requirement of every kind of customers. MICRO AND MACRO ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS: Marketing environment: The factors outside the market which affect the capability of marketing management in developing and continuing successful transactions within target customers. Categories of marketing environment: 1.   Micro environment 2. Micro environment Micro environment: The following factors are micro environmental and affect the organization: Dealers Consumers Competitor Marketing rules General public Macro environment: The following factors are macro environmental and affect the organization: Trade and industry environment Political environment Cultural environment Technological environment Demographic environment THE COMPETITORS OF NOKIA: Nokia has huge market and demand, but we can consider some companies as competitors of Nokia which include the following: Samsung Motorola Ericson Sony Siemens When we analyze these companies separately, we can conclude that these companies have also big market but when we compare it with Nokia we can conclude that these companies do not have same level of market. Social factors Every employee of Nokia is influenced by Nokia performance and status which result in problems such as problems of physical condition, protection, safety, relationship among employees, human rights and corporate citizenship. Business environment Nokia competes in both general and particular level.   It competes generally in global telecommunication and particularly in mobile industry and all its products have fast growth, change and union. WHY CHANGE? Why organizations need to make change or changes? Prior to deciding about the change, all organizations must recognize the causes for change. The organization is the place where different people working together to arrive at the expansion for the business. Therefore, an organization is the brain of business. The collective aim of all employees is the success of the business and they collectively think for some possibilities on how to bring success in life. The organization is main part of the business. It consists of different inventive brains and if the ideas are not sufficient, the organization starts the brainstorming sessions. Some changes are bad for the organizations and some changes are good for the business. Changes invite the employees to share new ideas. ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE IN NOKIA Some organizations make change regularly to keep in business and competitive. Nokia started its business by producing tools and equipments which were used to cut down woods in Finland. Then it changed its business paper, from paper change itself into paperless office related to IT and from there it changed its business into mobile telephone. Nowadays as a world leader of the mobiles, Nokia is going to drive the transformation and playing main role in joining the internet and communication industries. The Nokia manufactures lot of devices which contain services and software from which people can play music, watch videos, TV, make photos, play games, business transaction by using mobile and much more. They focus on providing the consumer internet services and company solution. It is observed that the company consider the change and rearrange the management every year. THE AIMS OF NOKIA: 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Nokia intends to start Nokia research centre (NCR), which concentrate on long-term research activities and focus on stronger research areas. 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The company is planning to change its place for their activities on more suitable areas. 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   For operations in all over world, company is also planning workers change. ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE APPROACH: In strategic planning model there are two change approaches that are normally used by Nokia in creating their efforts. There are many kinds of models but we have taken two models for suspicious assessment. 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Alignment model 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Scenario planning model 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Alignment model The strong position among the mission of the company and its resources for effectively running the organization can be ensured by this alignment model. This model is helpful for those companies that want to amend their planning regularly and discover the causes for not working. This approach can also be applied by organizations facing huge number of problems in domestic efficiencies. This model may include the following steps: 1.1.  Ã‚   The organization’s mission, programs, resources and support needed by the organizations is summarized by the planning group. 1.2.  Ã‚   Recognition of procedures working well and those needing modification 1.3.  Ã‚   Recognize how the modifications can be made. 1.4.  Ã‚   Strategies should also be included in the strategic planning for modification. 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Scenario planning model This approach is not necessary to use separately, it can be used in combination of other models. The purpose of this model is to ensure that the deliberate thoughts are carried out by planners for classification of planned problems and goals. This is an effective model and consists of the following steps. 2.1.  Ã‚   Many external factors causes change and these changes affect the whole organization. 2.2.  Ã‚   Describe unusual potential organizational situations which occur in organization due to modification. The analysis of unfavorable scenario may annoy motivation to make modification in the organization. 2.3.  Ã‚   From the description of the situations to respond the modification, the change management team may develop suggestion for what the company may do. 2.4.  Ã‚   Change management team shall identify approaches for addressing the response to modification from exterior factors. 2.5.  Ã‚   Identify the external factors that cause the modification which affected the company, and describe the approaches that the organization can use to respond to the change. IMPORTANCE OF CHANGE MANAGEMENE IN GENERAL Change management is a very important issue in information technology, and it’s very essential for mobile companies like Nokia because the needs of the mobile users are changing day by day and there is lot of increase in technology. Change management is part of the business of the Nokia but due to increase in technology this issue has become serious. Information technology includes all the components which are essential for effective functioning of the business approaches which may be prevented by the technological issues and other problems. For meeting the needs and choices of the customers it is very important to make the modification and some interval of time. The rule of the change is first of all its very important for businessmen to change their attitude towards change management. The sign of good change management system is that the management always takes up new ways for success in business. For making modification in the organization when we use change management syst em. This system is not only to implement new approaches to make changes in organization but it is the rules and regulation of the information technology infrastructure management in which changes are carried out with more organized, consistent, accurate and discipline approach. CAUSES OF CHANGE The basic reason for the change management is some occurrences or customer requirements or technological advancement. When the demand of the products becomes low, then the profits start to reduce and also results in reduction of market. Other reason is when the company reduces its costs and marketing budgets then the opportunity cost for bringing capital and resources presents other favorable opportunity. This will result in two options, one is selling the current operations and the other is stopping the production. This is the result of increase in new products in market which will fulfill the same need, or there may be change in the habits of the customers purchasing style, the investment and labor has been utilized at new business activities. This is the common cause of the organizational change. Amalgamation and acquisition: the amalgamation is the process of combining or merging two companies and both companies centralize their system for efficiency in decision making. By doing this the departments and processes of both companies can be merged, decline in cost, use of accessible resources. It can result in big organizational change. Change in structure: The modification also comes from new administrative approaches. When company introduces technology system in organization, replace old system with new system, old software and hardware updated in new version, manual system converted in automated system, these all will result in training the employees for operating new system. Procedure dependency: if any organization redesigns its procedures for its operations, it also results in change management. When Nokia changed its policies and procedures, it caused in huge changes in company and result in big resistance. DECREASE IN PROFITS OF NOKIA RESULT IN CHANGE When the profits of the Nokia have started to decrease from the third quarter 2009, the management of the company decided to restructure the organizational ranks of the management. Nokia separated its entities which are mobile phone division and the division for smart phone. In this division the chief financial officer (CFO) of Motorola Rick Simonson was appointed. He has good knowledge about business and finance. The CEO of Nokia Olli-Pekka allasvuo said that from 2001 to 2004, Rick Simonson has remained as CFO. Now as a Head of Mobile Phones division, Rick will work hard with full responsibility for carrying out the products out side the division.   In the third quarter of 2009, Nokia reported in their quarterly financial statement a decline in profits. If we compare the profits for this quarter and same quarter of last year, it shows that the profit of Nokia falls to 391 million pounds, but in the same quarter last year it was about to 1.3 billion pounds. And the sales also decr ease by 20 percent to 9 billion pounds. CHANGE MANAGEMENT PROCESS This change management is good in implementing the change with low resistance. There are many other approaches but results of this approach are satisfactory as compare to others. It is divided in three parts. First one is prepare for change, second is managing change, third and last one is reinforcing change. Prepare for change: This step is designed to get ready for change before implementing change. This part provides the solution of at what level the project requires the change. This helps in obtaining knowledge for implementing change effectively. The results of this step are change in profile of individuals, obtain profile for organization characteristics, prepare change management plan, select members for change management team and assign them roles for change. Managing change: This part of the change management process help in forming policy for project actions. The results of this step are to make plan for communication, arrangement for training, arrangement for coaching, and the main function of this step is to plan the policy for resistance management. Reinforcing change: This part of the change management process assists the project team in making policies for confirming that the process of modification is continued. This step also helps project teams in making actions and methods for verifying that the change has taken place, and observing that the employees are working in new way and celebrating effective implementation of the change. The results of this step are reinforcing methods, remedial act policy, individual and organizations approaches for respect, celebration on effective implementation, review work after implementation of the change. Through change management process, you can supervise the factors for change within our organization. Through use of this change management process, the examination and direction would be easy in identifying what level of change can take place in organization. It may also help in how change can be implemented by use of approvals and reviews of stake holders. The phases for supervising change are also included in change management process. Through the use of change management process, you can recognize the factors that require change, authenticate the possibility of each change, help in controlling the change, and also supervise in modification approval. ANALYSIS OF STAKEHOLDERS Stakeholders are those who have an interest in the organization’s activities and are affected by the events and judgment, actions and decisions of the company. These peoples have interest in the organization and extensively affected by the activities of the organization. The company should consider the interest of the stakeholders, what they want, there choices, how they can be facilitated etc. for effective implementation of the change the company should discuss the factors of the change and about the implementation of the change with the stakeholders. Obtain suggestions and decide accordingly. In deciding about the change the organization should take into consideration both the factors and the suggestions of the stakeholders.   If the stakeholders resist the proposal for change, let them know about the benefits of the change and what the stakeholders can get after the effective implementation of the change. RECOMMENDATIONS: Nokia is the world’s largest mobile phone company. It has competent features and services but after consideration of this report some of the recommendations would help the company in achieving targets of the company. The prices of the sets should be decreased so that everyone can easily purchase the sets. This may result in market raise and profits may also increase. The availability of spare parts should be in every country so customers can purchase without any difficulty. Warranty should also be provided for defects. For saving the huge amount of entertainment material, the amount of capacity of the memory should be raised. Training should be provided to employees when there is any change in technology and company want to make use that technology. Customer care centers should be open at main areas of the country in order to provide good services and facilities to customers. The terms and conditions for claiming warranty should be consumer oriented. There should be increase in advertisement. Open franchise at those places where the products of competitors are not available. CONCLUSION: Nokia is the leader of all the companies which deal in similar products, because of its experience, innovation; it provides easy and protected solutions. The main product of Nokia is mobile phone and its offices are located all over the world. The mission statement of the Nokia is very attractive â€Å"CONNECTING PEOPLE†. The demand of the Nokia products is high as compared to same products of other companies and its products are highly preferable all over the world. There is also effect of the market environment on the company. Market environment can be classified in two categories. One is microenvironment and other is macro environment. Both categories effect the organization. Some of the factors of both categories are such as customers, suppliers, political environment, technical environment, social environment etc. The competitors of Nokia may include Samsung, Motorola, Ericson and so forth. The employees of an organization are influenced by social as well as environmental factors. Change is very essential in organization. Change is unavoidable everything continuously need changes. Prior to making any changes, the organization should identify the causes for change and plan accordingly. Some of the changes are not good for the organization and some are good. The good change is one which pressurizes the employees for sharing new ideas. Nokia started its business by producing tools and equipment which can be used to cut down woods in Finland. Then it changed its business paper, from paper change itself into paperless office related to IT and from there it changed its business into mobile telephone. Today it’s the leader of all the mobiles. Nokia is going to drive the transformation and playing main role in joining the internet and communication industries. For modification in the organization the Nokia uses two approaches, one is Alignment model and other is Scenario planning model. By alignment approach the strong position among the mission of the company and its resources for effectively running the organization can be ensured. And by scenario planning approach the deliberate thoughts that are carried out by planners can be ensured. The scenario planning approach is also useful for classification of planned problems and goals. Nokia also made analysis of its stakeholders. Before making any change the company should discuss the matter under consideration with stakeholders, collect information, analyze factors for change and then make decision after taking careful consideration of these factors. The phases included in change management process are preparing for change, managing change and reinforcing change. For increasing the market share and profit and increasing the demand of its products Nokia should decrease the cost f its products, make available its spare parts in every market, increase memory capacity of its products, training should be provided to employees, customer care centers should be opened at main areas of the country, terms and conditions should be customer friendly, franchise should be opened and increase the advertisement for competition. The business of Nokia is mainly related to technology so changes must be made at regular level to satisfy the customer’s needs and requirement.