Apollo Group SWOT Analysis Essay Example

Apollo Group: SWOT Analysis Essay What each company can do is focus on program quality and national recognition through accredited course work, facilitators, and material. This way the Apollo Group can make the University of Phoenix, a subsidiary of GAG, more appealing to adult students and recognized by employers, which may prefer education from a more traditional brick and mortar style university. Technology electronic plays a large part In A TTY to offer adult students online coeducation programs. Providing online course, often referred to as e-learning, has become more common then it was in the past. Online education has the potential of changing most demographic views of higher education over the next several years because of its scalability and ability to reach students who may not have access to a physical campus or course at local colleges. E-learning is cost affective and practical for many individuals that do not have the flexibility or time to devote to in classroom teachings. GAG and University of Phoenix will need to ensure that their technologies in the online environment are capable and reliable for students. Many working students, traditional and online believe his or her time is valuable. One of Sagas strength is the commitment to students and ensuring resources are available. Given the growth of the online education market GAG and I-COOP will have to invest in new technologies and frequently find new ways to provide resources to students. Most notably, GAG offers several technologies to students for student resources. University of Phoenix dents have access to several e-resources including online search databases, writing tutorials, plagiarism, among others. We will write a custom essay sample on Apollo Group: SWOT Analysis specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Apollo Group: SWOT Analysis specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Apollo Group: SWOT Analysis specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Sagas greatest technology strength is also its weakest. Frequently students have problems posting assignments, loading the class site, and even logging into the main COOP site. This creates several levels of frustration for students as they are not able to post assignments and sometimes prevented from posting assignments on time. I-COOP has an opportunity to improve the online classroom stability. Though it does not go down frequently, it does appear to happen at the most important times, when assignments are due. COOP does post comments in certain resource pages that some days are busier then others and delays may occur; however most students do not accept this. Integrating additional redundancies for online resources will assist COOP and students by maintaining stability and lowering the impact on students. Innovation In order for GAG and the University of Phoenix to remain competitive in the growing market of online education they continually have to find ways to reach new potential students. One way that GAG has began to address this is in their classes. GAG now offers courses in English and Spanish. This allows GAG to reach a larger community of online students. Offering classes in multiple languages will be a top strength of GAG because of the growing variation in dialects throughout the world and United States. Sagas primary strength most notably is course material being offered in electronic format. Students attending traditional colleges typically spend hundreds of dollars every year to purchase hard copy books and other lab materials. GAG targeted text material in an effort to move all text and materials into electronic format. This is a avian grace for many working class students, which may not have the additional money for traditional text and materials on top of tuition. One of the difficulties that students wall run Into Ana seen as a weakness Ana pilot AT Translator Trot students is the accessibility of electronic material. Often students deal with e-text that wont download, open, or unlock. Obstacles of this nature often warrant no relief from facilitators when issues do occur. Additionally, many students find e-text difficult to read on his or her computer and typically spend hours printing the material at home n his or her personal printers. E-text is a great way for students to access information, however, GAG and the University of Phoenix will need to maintain materials locally on internal systems and ensure that all material is accessible by students at all times. If a student is unable to access the material it can be a point of frustration and create poor quality papers. One major weakness in Sagas innovation moving all materials to e-text is the listed computer requirements. When students sign up for a course it asks if they have access to either a Mac or PC and provides specific system requirements for both. Notably Windows is predominant in educational and professional environments but for those using Mac SO operating systems there have been issues with material provided in classes being Windows specific. This can be very frustrating for Mac users and prevent him or her from accessing material necessary for the course. GAG needs to enhance their cross platform functionality in order to reach both audiences so that those with Mac SO computer do not have incidences where material is inaccessible. Conclusion GAG and the University of Phoenix have over come many obstacles during the development and deployment of online education.

Gray Seal Facts (Halichoerus grypus)

Gray Seal Facts (Halichoerus grypus) The gray seal (Halichoerus grypus) is an earless or true seal found along North Atlantic coasts. It is called the gray seal in the United States and the grey seal elsewhere. It is also called the Atlantic seal or the horsehead seal, for the males distinctive arched nose. Fast Facts: Gray Seal Scientific Name: Halichoerus grypusCommon Names: Gray seal, grey seal, Atlantic seal, horsehead sealBasic Animal Group: MammalSize: 5 feet 3 inches - 8 feet 10 inchesWeight: 220-880 poundsLifespan: 25-35 yearsDiet: CarnivoreHabitat: North Atlantic coastal watersPopulation: 600,000Conservation Status: Least Concern Description Like other earless seals (family Phocidae), the gray seal has short flippers and lacks external ear flaps. Mature males are much larger than females and have a different coat color. Males average around 8 feet long, but may grow to over 10 feet in length. They weigh up to 880 pounds. Males are dark gray or brownish gray with silver spots. The species scientific name, Halichoerus grypus, means hook-nosed sea pig, and refers to the males long arched nose. Females range from around 5 feet 3 inches to 7 feet 6 inches in length and weigh between 220 and 550 pounds. They have silver-gray fur with dark scattered spots. Pups are born with white fur. The gray seal bull has a distinctive horsehead face. Noemi De La Ville / 500px / Getty Images Habitat and Distribution Gray seals live in the North Atlantic Ocean. There are three large gray seal populations and numerous smaller colonies. The species occurs in great numbers in the coastal waters of Canada south to Massachusetts (with sightings in Cape Hatteras, North Carolina), the Baltic Sea, and the United Kingdom and Ireland. The seals are most often seen when they haul out in winter. They frequent rocky coasts, icebergs, sandbars, and islands. Gray seal distribution. Darekk2 using IUCN Red List data /  Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license Diet Seals are carnivores. Gray seals eat fish, squid, octopuses, crustaceans, porpoises, harbor seals, and seabirds. Mature males (bulls) will kill and cannibalize pups of its own species. Gray seals can dive for as long as an hour at depths up to 1,560 feet. They use sight and sound to hunt their prey. Behavior For most of the year, gray seals are solitary or live in small groups. During this time, they rest in open water with only their head and neck exposed to air. They gather on land for mating, pupping, and molting. Reproduction and Offspring Males may breed with several females during the mating season. Gestation lasts 11 months, resulting in the birth of a single pup. Females give birth in March in the Baltic, from December to February in the western Atlantic, and from September to November in the eastern Atlantic. Newborn pups have white fur and weigh around 25 pounds. For 3 weeks, the female nurses her pup and does not hunt. Males do not participate in pup care but may defend females from threats. After this time, the pups molt into their adult coats and head to the sea to learn to hunt. Pup survival rate ranges from 50-85%, depending on weather conditions and prey availability. Females become sexually mature at 4 years of age. Gray seals live between 25 and 35 years. Conservation Status The IUCN classifies the gray seal conservation status as least concern. Although the species was nearly extirpated in the mid-20th century, it began to recover in the 1980s following the passage of the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act in the United States and the Conservation of Seals Act 1970 in the United Kingdom (which does not apply to Northern Ireland). Gray seal population size has continued to increase. As of 2016, the population was estimated to be 632,000 gray seals. Some fishermen have called for a cull, believing high seal numbers are at least partly responsible for low fish stocks. Threats Gray seals are legally hunted in Sweden, Finland, and the Baltic Sea. Risks to the seals include entanglement in fishing gear, by-catch, collision with ships, pollution (especially PCBs and DDT), and oil spills. Climate change and severe weather also affect the seals and their prey. Gray Seals and Humans Gray seals do well in captivity and are commonly seen in zoos. They were traditionally popular in circus acts. According to Scottish scholar David Thomson, they gray seal was the basis of the Celtic seal legend of the selchie, a creature that could assume human and seal form. While gray seals frequent inhabited areas, people are advised to avoid feeding or harassing them, as this alters seal behavior and ultimately endangers them. Sources Ailsa j, Hall; Bernie j, Mcconnell; Richard j, Barker. Factors affecting first-year survival in grey seals and their implications for life history strategy. Journal of Animal Ecology. 70: 138–149, 2008. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2656.2001.00468.xBjrvall, A. and S. Ullstrà ¶m. The Mammals of Britain and Europe. London: Croom Helm, 1986.Bowen, D. Halichoerus grypus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T9660A45226042. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-1.RLTS.T9660A45226042.enBowen, W.D. and D.B. Siniff. Distribution, population biology, and feeding ecology of marine mammals. In: J.E., Reynolds, III and S.A. Rommel (eds), Biology of Marine Mammals, pp. 423-484. Smithsonian Press, Washington, D.C.. 1999.Wozencraft, W.C. Order Carnivora. In Wilson, D.E.; Reeder, D.M (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0.

Business Plan - Strategic Phase Marketing Assignment

Business Plan - Strategic Phase Marketing - Assignment Example The IT consulting firms deal with so many products in different fields from professional services to security firms. The Morab consulting firm is meant to deal with staffing. The staffing industry needs to be up to date with the current technology in order to stay ahead of the complex industry, where good quality and high production is the basis of selling your product or service (Seaby, 2010). The major categories of the products are: The company will focus mainly on linking businesses with experts or qualified technologists for short periods of time for firms that are in urgent need of technologists due to unavoidable circumstances like employee absenteeism due to sickness or other reasons. In other cases where companies need skills and it is a temporary fix, so they need experts to deal with the situation. The software needed for making the staffing possible is based on the hosting the software. In hosting the software, there are two options, either use direct calls to gain access to the software from where it was developed or purchase it since it has limited negotiation deals. In due time be able to develop the software internally (Marks, 2013). Akken cloud is a low rate software engineering company that sells recruiting and staffing software. The delivery policy is based on the type of use and in our case it is going to be self-hosted which means that the software company is going to install the software in our company systems and in return they are going to charge 15% more from the initial buying price. If there are going to be hardware costs the company will decide on the ground on the way forward. The profit margins for the advisory sector is going to be close to 5% in the first month due to the fact the fact that the input in the first month is more and there is a limited number of clients. In the outsourcing department where we are

Earnings Management In Corporate Entities Dissertation

Earnings Management In Corporate Entities - Dissertation Example It would enable the researcher to apply important ideas and concepts in solving a real-life problem and this would inevitably add up to the knowledge base of the topic and subject of earnings management.The research would build on important ideas and research that was carried out on the topic in the past. It would enable the research to undertake a fresh inquiry into the matter of earnings management and get new perspectives and ideas into the topic.Finally, the research is in partial fulfillment of the researcher's Masters Degree. This is a mandatory element and structure for the completion of the Master's Degree program. It is, therefore, being turned in to meet the mandatory requirements of the course.Literature Review This section would undertake a basic inquiry into the fundamental concepts that are going to be discussed and analyzed in the actual research. The section would look at the important variables and elements and what they mean prior to the commencement of the study an d the definition of the methodology to be used.Definition of Earning Management "Earning management occurs when managers use judgment in financial reporting and in structuring transactions to alter financial reports either to mislead some stakeholders about underlying economic performance of the company or to influence contractual outcomes that are based on reported accounting numbers" (Ronen and Yaari, 2011: p26).Basically, a company has targets and that it needs to meet.

Impact of Marketing Mix on Customer Buying Decision

Impact of Marketing Mix on Customer Buying Decision Impact of Marketing Mix on Customer Buying Decision of Luxury Housing Industry in UKChapter 01 01. Introduction (Research proposal) 01.1 Industry background of the study 01.1.1 Industrial review Property development industry can be classified into several sectors, the largest being middle income land and property market which is increasingly being dominated by property developers selling ready build houses and plot of land. This sector is largely depended on the domestic economy and the housing loans market, which is driven by prevailing rate of interest. The demand for houses, condominiums, commercial property and office space, leisure property segments is also a significant contributor to the property market luxury segment generates lucrative profits. 1.1.2 International overview International property development industry; especially luxury housing industry shows same industry conditions worldwide. The Luxury Home Council (Authority for world luxury houses based in USA) has presented lot of findings on this industry with their primary collected information. Their findings are very interesting and show some cross functional relationships towards the industry and customer behavior and trends. Professionals in the real estate industry says luxury homes are more optimistic industry and majority (around 55%) is willing to get growth in the industry. These predictions based on the trends will appear in next twelve months. Based on the Forbes magazine (USA) shown better world growth of 25% in the year 2006. This trend really affected to the luxury housing industry worldwide. But existing recession conditions shows pure hit to the luxury housing industry. People try to fulfill their basic requirements. As per the survey conducted by American Affluence research center shows richest 10% will invest in real estate industry. Survey realized that portion 49% for new constructions and 11% for pre own home market. Balance invests in land sales market. 1.1.3 Market trends in the UK Based on the UK government, housing and planning statistics there are many trends find around 22 million in year 2007 contributed for the dwellings. From this market in the England 82% are bungalows, but in the London around 43% dwellings are flats. There are some secondary information released in the year 2008 and showing many rational findings. 68% are living in their own houses. Around 18% people are social tenant and private renters are around 14%. (Source:http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/corporate/statistics/housingplanningstatistics2009) The global economic crisis has adversely affected the UK property market In the wake of the collapse of the sub-prime mortgage market in the United States, the global financial system has changed significantly. Long-established UK financial organizations have had to change their working practices with particular focus on management and containment of further lending and exposure to higher risk activities such as property investment. As a result the UK Construction industry has suffered The UK Construction industry has been hit particularly hard as the rate of investment into property-based activity slows significantly. The appetite for new private development has reduced dramatically as the economic crisis affects the financial performance of businesses. Equally the UK banks, which are already heavily exposed to property investment, are reluctant to fund new projects. There are also significant concerns that the UK Governments spending plans for large scale public projects will be cut to help balance the books. Falling workloads are changing market behavior UK Construction workloads are currently falling at a rate faster than any time since the late 1980s. As workloads fall customers are clearly taking advantage of increased competition amongst contractors and driving prices down accordingly. Contractors margins are reducing and businesses face a fight for survival. The competitive arena is changing as contractors seek new work As the market place changes and reliable opportunities in familiar sectors dwindle, contractors are widening their interest in projects previously outside of their regular scope and size. This is changing the nature of the competitive arena and is forcing firms to re-consider their approach to marketing strategies and their existing customers. Long-term strategies must be adopted by contractors Forward predictions indicate that the downturn in workload has years, not months, to run. As such, contractors have to develop new strategies to develop their markets and protect existing customer relationships or history tells us that they may not survive. 1.1.4 Segmentation according to UK context All Taxpayers Top 10% to 1% (adults) Top 1 % to 0.1% (adults) Top 0.1 % (or the very, very rich) Number 29.5 Million 4.21 Million 421,000 42,000 Entry level for group  £5,093  £35,345  £99,727  £351,137 Mean Value for group  £24,769  £49,960  £155,832  £780,043 Average Income tax paid  £4,415  £10,550  £49,477  £274,482 Percentage of personal income tax revenue 27.6% 8.6% 4.2% (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_in_the_United_Kingdom 08/12/2009) Worth of each segment can range as follows, (lower income earners not create value to the luxury housing industry.) Source: Introduced by the researcher 1.2 Research Problem Even though number of players trying to capture or maintain, UK Luxury Housing industry has very limited opportunity of the total market. Because of niche situation it is difficult to find potential customers to sell premium houses for GBP millions. Industry rivalry has doubled this limited prospect. Because of stagnant conditions, many companies cant sell their luxury hoses and making losses due to loan interests construction cost increases. Customers will take time, check other options and need total solution for their requirement with strong confident. To build customer confident should focus on customer decision making and buying behaviour. Thereafter developers can provide perfect solutions for customers requisitions. United Kingdom context based on the http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/ there are lot of possibilities can arise. Developers brand positioning promises should be supported by the quality of houses, attributes, customer service, staff responsiveness, technical services, engineering, architecture, after sales, inter departmental relationships etc. All these divisions have to set the highest standards in order to deliver what they promise. The number of customer dissatisfaction is on the increase. Sometimes the customer- developer conflict has intensified with a large number of customers unhappy with many issues such as quality of the houses, legal issues, product faultiness, after sales service, etc. The number of competitors tying to position themselves at the level of existing market leaders. A large number of luxury housing projects are being launched in London suburbs which signifies the rising competition in the niche property market. There is no truthful information based on Accurate Market research is essential for decision making implementation of the correct management process. Dont have proper understanding about market trends, opportunities and further developments in the industry. Especially house features are expecting by customers, suitable and matching price, location and place, effective promotional methods. 1.3 Research Objectives Key Objective To identify that what extent Marketing Mix impact on Customer Buying Decision of Luxury housing industry in UK. Through the research want to identify that what are the forfeiting factors will affect to the consumer buying behaviour and how major marketing elements / marketing mix affect to the buying decision making process. Will discuss major 4 elements and extended mix to gain clear understanding about Therefore, through this research will identify the â€Å"impact of marketing mix on customer behavior of Luxury housing industry.† Specific Objectives * To measure the impact on product on consumer buying behavior of Luxury housing industry. * Ensure the impact on price. * Understand the impact on location. * Quantify the impact on promotional methods. * To measure the impact on extended marketing mix (People, Process, and Physical Evidence). 1.4 Research Questions What extent Marketing Mix impact on Customer Buying Decision of Luxury housing industry in the United Kingdom? How product features (luxury house) impact on buying decision? How house design, plinth area architectural design specifications influence? How fittings, using materials additional features engineering solutions on house will impact? How Brand image impact? To what extent impact additional services (total solution package)? How impact price factor to customer buying decision? How selling price, land value, construction cost persuade? How legal stamp fee, bank loans, special discounts for cash payments, interests on delay payments convince? How payment structure encourage? How other costs involve? How location influence to buying decision? How convenience, easy access, security force? How neighborhood, community number of houses change the decision? How area recognition, name of the district, provincial council or urban council concern? How view, higher elevation, nature beauty concern? How promotional methods communication influence to buying decision? How promotional method, media selection media schedule success? How selling and marketing strategies should use? How advertising, personnel selling, direct marketing, public relation, word of mouth, sales promotions effective? How use internet promotions, event organizing and foreign promotions effectively? How extended marketing mix (People, Process, and Physical Evidence) influence to buying decision? People How sales and marketing staff, architectures, engineers, supervisors, maintenance team members, labours involve? Process How time period to build the house, bank loan arrangement, payment arrangement, realize customer requirement, legal framework, after sales service cause? Physical Evidence How company image, dress code of officers, traveling method (vehicle), equipments (laptop, etc), office location and layout, stationeries, language affect to first impression? 1.5 Theoretical Background 1.5.1 Marketing Mix Jerome McCarthy has suggested the 4Ps via major tools as product, price, place and promotions as the marketing mix. But in recent practices has introduced another basic three parts as people, proceed and physical evidence. Through controlling major four variables can any organization to achieve their objectives. These variables are currently practicing with modern trends. After McCarthys introduction Bernard Booms and Mary Bitner built an extended theory model and modernized the marketing mix and named as 7Ps. (Booms,B. and Bitner, M. 1981). * Product Philip Kotler (1988) suggest that three distinct elements should be considered as the products attributes, its benefits, and the nature of the support service. * Price More important element for some industries is the price potentially the most controllable and flexible element of the marketing mix. Price is also in many cases one of the most important elements and, together with the product as a key component of an organizations marketing strategy. (Source: D. Mercer, ‘Marketing (Blackwell, 1996) * Place / Location Neil H.Bordens clarifying the Marketing Mix is named the distribution as Place. There are lot of definitions as channel, intermediary methods, distribution and etc to the same task. The majour task is delivering goods from the manufacturer to the final end user. * Promotion Marketing mix has its own identical ‘promotions mix. The basic elements of the promotion mix are advertising, sales promotion, direct marketing, public relations and personal selling. The final outcome is determined as how to handle these tools. * People According to the Kotler, People are the most important element of any service or experience. Services are produced and consumed at same time. Services are combined with individuals who deliver the services and according to the personality, experience and personal qualities of the service provider the quality of services are altered. * Process this is another important element of the extended marketing mix. The process is determining the efficiency. Emending automated systems can increase the efficiency of processes. There are a number of perceptions of pro buying process or luxury housing. * Physical evidence this is the tangible aspect of the service. As services are intangible, people rely on tangible items to build their perception on services. In the case of luxury houses, the tangible aspect and appearance of houses play a mojor role in building customer perception. 1.5.2 Consumer behavior According to the Belch and Belch consumer behavior is â€Å" The process and activities people engage in when searching for, selecting, purchasing, using, evaluating, and disposing of products and services so as to satisfy their needs and desires† To understand consumer behavior we need to examine how an individual interact with the marketing mix elements. According to Cohen (1991), the 4Ps should be adapted according to the psychology needs of each individual. The Psychological requirements are based on consumers own culture, attitude, learning and experience. Based on these values consumers decide whether or not to purchase. If the product or service match with their own values consumers decide to buy it. 1.6 Research Methodology Research has given priority to primary data to take impartial result through the study. Both of qualitative and quantitative techniques have being used to collect primary data from the target audience. Also has being used effective secondary sources to develop the research and to have a sophisticated output (Broadly discussed under the research methodology part). There are few methods has being applied by the researcher to get perfect solution. Survey method, interview method, internal data collections of property developers published secondary data has used as data collection method. 1.6.1 Survey Method Given the priority and research analysis based on the collected data through the survey. Questioner focused on customers who already bought luxury house. 1.6.2 Interview Method Researcher not given more priority to this method, but has added more findings through industry expert ideas. 1.6.3 Published Secondary data Internet, Industry Magazines, Government Institutions, News paper articles added more findings to the research. 1.6.4 Internal data of Property Developers Internal data collections as existing customer researches, competitor analysis, marketing and communication plans and other important and relevant data captured. 1.7 Limitations of the Study Sample size not enough For 100% accurate conclusion should cover 50% of the total market. Because of difficulties to find particular target market researcher have selected small sample size. (Limited number of people can afford for luxury house and they having busy scheduled life pattern). Limited secondary data there are no more information on luxury housing industry. Also cant find updated records through any government institute related to the housing industry and having only outdated records. Also researcher has concerned only the London and suburbs, but in some others cities other suburb areas should include to island wide result. For convenience has selected grater London and suburbs and it is difficult to based on these data to get overall picture. Didntt put more weight on other macro factors as governmental influences as regulations, legal issues economic changes. Political stability, foreign forces, employments and wages, etc. Not consider other luxury alternative can invest or spend. Through comprehensive research should pay attention on alternatives. Chapter 02 02. Literature Review 2.1 Theoretical background of Marketing Mix Meaning of the Marketing Mix The meaning of the Marketing Mix is a mixture of core factors which affecting to marketing strategies as well as consumer purchasing decision. Basic marketing mix comprises four elements as product, price, place promotion. When provide a service it should be an extended mix with people, process and physical evidence. According to McCarthy. J marketers should work with all marketing mix variables. Also he described that even change all variables it is difficult to change the product and distribution channel. Kotler, P. K. (2005). What is Marketing Mix. In P. K. Kotler, Marketing Management. Prentice Hall. Product Kotler (1988) suggest that three distinct elements need to be considered; the products attributes, its benefits, and the nature of the support service. * Product attributes are associated with the core product and include such elements as features, styling, quality, brand name, packaging, and size and color variants. * Product benefits are the elements that consumer perceive as meeting their needs. This is some time refers to as the â€Å"bundle of potential satisfactions† that the product represents. * The marketing support services comprise of all the elements that the organization provides in addition to the basic product. These typically include delivery, installation, guaranties, after sales service and reputation. (Source: Strategic Marketing Management by Richard M.S. Wilson Colin Gilligan) (Source: researcher developed based on www.wikipedia.org , 15/01/2010) Core Product this is the basic output of the product. Even you cannot touch it crates the vale to the entire product. The house example, the benefit is shelter, place to live with basic facilities. Actual product This is the tangible product of the output / physical product. As an example, it is the house with modern featured, quality construction, serenity appeal etc. Augmented Product This is the value additions can add to the particular product. Most of the time augmented value use to delight the customer. Structural warranty, customer support service from maintenance team, after sales service etc can show as examples. Price For many industries price is the potentially the most controllable and flexible element of the marketing mix. It is also in many cases one of the most important elements and, together with the product, a key component of an organizations marketing strategy. When buying a luxury house will consider selling price, easy payment structure, discount and other cost as legal stamp fee. Mercer, D. (1996). Pricing. In D. Mercer, ‘Marketing . Blackwell. Premium Price Premium pricing strategy is the best and normal payment method which is applicable to the luxury housing strategy. Location Channel of distribution comprises a set of organizations which perform all of the activities utilized to make difference in the process up to the consumption. (Bucklin Theory of Distribution method Structure, 1966). Neil H.Bordens has introduced location factor as more important variable in the Marketing Mix. Location is most crucial factor in luxury housing industry. Because of easy access, neighborhood, serenity, reputation of the area will consider according to the above facts. Promotion Another step of the 4Ps is promotion. This consists all of the tools available to the marketer for marketing communication. As with Neil H.Bordens marketing mix, effective marketing communications has its own promotions mix. Think of it like a cake mix, the fundamental ingredients are always the same. However if you vary the sum of one of the ingredients, the final outcome is different. It is the similar with promotions. The functions of the promotions mix are integrated to form a coherent campaign. * Advertising is a paid for effective communication. It is used to develop attitudes, add awareness, and transmit information in order to gain a response from the particular market. There are many advertising media as newspapers (local, national, free, trade), trade magazines and journals, television (local, national, terrestrial, satellite) cinema, outdoor advertising (such as posters, bus sides) * Personal Selling is an effective way to control personal customer relationships. The sales person acts on behalf of the organization. They tend to be well experienced in the approaches and techniques of personal selling. However sales people are too expensive and should only be used where there is a decent return on investment. For example salesmen are generally used to sell cars or home improvements where the margin is high * Sales promotion this tends to be thought of as being all promotions vary from advertising, personal selling, and public relations. As an example the BOGOF promotion, or Buy One Get One Free. Others include couponing, money-off promotions, competitions or free accessories (such as free blades for a new razor), introductory offers (such as when buy digital TV and get free installation), and so on. All sales promotion should be carefully cost and compared with the next best alternative * Public Relation This is defined as the deliberate, planned and sustained effort to be established and maintain mutual understanding between an organization as well as its publics (Institute of Public Relations). It is relatively cheaper, but certainly not cheap. Successful strategies tend to be long run and plan for all eventualities. * Direct mail Thi is very highly focused upon targeting consumers based upon a database. As with all marketing, the potential consumer is named based upon a series of attributes and similarities. Creative agencies are working with marketers to design a highly focused communication in the form of a mailing. The mail is sent out to the relevant consumers and responses are carefully monitored. For example, if you are marketing medical text books, you would be used a database of doctors surgeries as the basis of your mail shot. * Trade fair Exhibitions Such methods are very good for making new contacts and renewing old ones. Companies will individually sell much at such events. The purpose is to develop awareness and to encourage trial. They offer the opportunity for companies to meet with both the business and the consumer. Expo has recently finished in Germany with the next one planned for Japan, despite a recent decline in interest in such events. * Sponsorship this is where an organization pays to be associated with a relevant event, cause or image. Companies will sponsor to sports events such as the Olympics or Formula One. The attributes of the all event are then associated with the sponsoring organization. Gilligan, R. M. (1995). Strategic Marketing Management. In R. M. Gilligan, Strategic Marketing Management. Business Economics People People are the more important element of any service or experience. Services tend to be produced and consumed at the same time, and aspects of the customer experience are options to meet the individual needs of the person consuming it. Most of us can think of a condition where the personal service offered by individuals has made or tainted a tour, vacation or restaurant food. Remember, people buy from people that they more like, so the attitude, skills and appearance of all staff need to be first class. Here are some ways in ways of people add value to an experience, as part of the marketing mix training, personal selling and customer service. Eg: Marketing staff, architect, engineers and financial officers will participate to buying process of luxury housing. Process Process is another constituent of the extended marketing mix, or 7Ps.There are a of perceptions of the concept of process within the big business and marketing literature. Some see processes as a means to attain an outcome, for example to achieve 30% market share company equipment a marketing planning process. One more view is that marketing has a number of procedures that integrate together to create an in general marketing process Physical Evidence This is the material fraction of a service. Strictly speaking there are no corporeal attributes to a service, so a customer tends to rely on fabric cues. There are many examples of physical evidence, including Packaging, Internet/web pages, Paperwork (such as invoices, tickets and dispatch notes), Brochures, Furnishings, Signage (such as those on aircraft and vehicles), Uniforms, Business cards, The building itself (such as prestigious offices or scenic headquarters) and etc. www.marketingteacher.com. (2010, January 12). lesson_marketing_mix. Retrieved from www.marketingteacher.com: http://www.marketingteacher.com/Lessons/lesson_marketing_mix.htm 2.2 Theoretical background of the Consumer behavior Consumer behavior is the findings of how people buy, what they buy, when they buy and why they buy. It blends factors from psychology, sociology, psychology, anthropology and economics. It attempts to realize the buyer decision making process, both individually and in groups. It examines characteristics of individual consumers such as demographics, psychographics, and behavioral variables in an effort to understand peoples wants. It also tries to assess affect on the consumer from groups such as family, friends, reference groups, and society in general. Belch and Belch defined consumer behavior as â€Å"The process and activities people work in when searching for, selecting, purchasing, using, evaluating, and disposing of products and services so as to make their needs and desires†. Consumer decision making process Consumer decision making process is the best as well as crucial factor to change and influence to the buying decision. Number of philosophers had been introduced their own idea about the buying decision process. But all of them accepted the normal buying decision process. Consumer decision making process can shows as following model. With few changes in this model can apply in to luxury house buying decision process. Wikipedia-encyclopedia explains consumer decision making process according to number of researches and consumer behavior books. This common process can identify in each buying decision (consumer). In organizational buying behavior will be change the process with few rational approaches). In luxury housing industry also can apply normal buying process. But customers will be more rational than other buying products as FMCG or low valued product or service. Standard buying process will explain that to what extent it will affecting to the buying decision making. Stage Brief description Problem Recognition The consumer perceives a need and normally motivated to solve the problem. Information Search The consumer searches for data required to make a purchase decision Perception Alternative Evaluation The consumer comparing various brands and products Attitude formation Purchase Decision The consumer decides which brand should purchase Integration Post-purchase Evaluation The consumer is evaluates their purchase decision Learning Howard, J. S. (1968). Theory of Buyer Behavior. In J. S. Source: Howard, Theory of Buyer Behavior. J. Wiley Sons, New York, NY. * Problem recognition Problem recognition shows when there is a difference between ones desired state and ones actual state. Consumers are form to address this discrepancy and therefore they commence the buying process. Sources of problem recognition exists: o An item is out of the stock o Dissatisfaction with a existing product or service o Consumer needs wants o Related products purchases o Marketer-induced o New products The relevant internal psychological activity that is associated with problem identification is motivation. A motive is a element that compels action. Belch and Belch (2007) give an explanation of motivation based on Maslows hierarchy of needs Freuds psychoanalytic theory. * Information Search Once the consumer has realized a problem, they search for information on products and services that can solve that problem. Belch and Belch (2007) introduced that consumers undertake both an internal (memory) and an external search. Sources of datainclude: o Personal sources o Commercial sources o Public sources o Personal experience The correct internal psychological process that is associated with information search is perception. Perception is recognized as the process by which an individual receives, selects, organizes, and interprets information to develop a meaningful picture of the world The selective perception process step Description Selective exposure consumers choose which promotional messages they will expose themselves to. Selective action consumers select which promotional messages they will put attention to Selective comprehension consumer communicate messages in line with their beliefs, attitudes, motives and experiences Selective retention clients remember messages that are more meaningful or important to them * Alternative Evaluation At this time the consumer compares the existing brands and products that are in their evoked set. How can the marketing organization develop the likelihood that their brand is part of the consumers evoked (consideration) set? Consumers find alternatives in terms of the functional and psychological benefits that they offer. The marketing organization should understand what benefits consumers are seeking and therefore which attributes are most significant in terms of making a decision. The relevant internal psychological process that is merged with the alternative evaluation step is attitude formation. Note that attitudes are learned predispositions in an object. Attitudes comprise both inner cognitive and affective elements that is both what you think and how you feel the something. The multi-attribute attitude model shows how consumers evaluate alternatives on a range of attributes. Belch and Belch (2007) identify a number of ways that can be used to influence the process (attitude change strategies). * Purchase Decision Once the alternatives have been analyzed, the consumer is ready to make a purchase decision. Sometimes purchase intention does not show in an actual purchase. The marketing organization must give the consumer to act on their purchase intention. The provision of credit or payment terms may motivate purchase, or a sales promotion such as the opportunity to get a premium or enter a competition may provide an incentive to buy now. The relevant internal psychological process that is goes with purchase decision is integration. * Post Purchase Evaluation Once the consumer has bought and used the product, they will eva

Villainous Iago of Shakespeares Othello Essay -- Othello essays

Villainous Iago of Othello  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚        Ã‚  Ã‚   Who can compare in depth of evil to the villainous Iago in William Shakespeare’s tragic drama Othello? His villainy is incomparably destructive on all of those around him.    Iago’s very language reveals the level at which his evil mind works. Francis Ferguson in â€Å"Two Worldviews Echo Each Other† describes the types of base, loathsome imagery used by the antagonist Iago when he â€Å"slips his mask aside† while awakening Brabantio:    Iago is letting loose the wicked passion inside him, as he does from time to time throughout the play, when he slips his mask aside. At such moments he always resorts to this imagery of money-bags, treachery, and animal lust and violence. So he expresses his own faithless, envious spirit, and, by the same token, his vision of the populous city of Venice – Iago’s â€Å"world,† as it has been called. . . .(132)    Iago is the â€Å"perfect† bad guy in the sense that his type is just what the audience of 400 years ago expected. Louis B. Wright and Virginia A. LaMar in â€Å"The Engaging Qualities of Othello† comment on how the character of Iago is the wholly expected type of villain for an Elizabethan audience:      Iago at once captures the attention of the spectator. He is the personification of the villain that Elizabethans had come to expect from Italian short stories and from Machiavellian commentary. Villains of this type, as well as those of domestic origin, had long been popular on the stage. From the days of the mystery and morality plays, the characters personifying evil invariably had gripped the attention of audiences, for iniquity always stirs more popular excitement than virtue. (127)    First of all, Iago’s very words paint him for ... ...racter Revealed Through Dialogue.† Readings on The Tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1996. Reprint from Literature. N. p.: Random House, 1986.    Ferguson, Francis. â€Å"Two Worldviews Echo Each Other.† Readings on The Tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1996. Reprint from Shakespeare: The Pattern in His Carpet. N.p.: n.p., 1970.    Shakespeare, William. Othello. In The Electric Shakespeare. Princeton University. 1996. http://www.eiu.edu/~multilit/studyabroad/othello/othello_all.html No line nos.    Wright, Louis B. and Virginia A. LaMar. â€Å"The Engaging Qualities of Othello.† Readings on The Tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1996. Reprint from Introduction to The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice by William Shakespeare. N. p.: Simon and Schuster, Inc., 1957.      

Patrick Henry Essay

What do you think started the spark for the American Revolution? In the state of Virginia where all the great minds of the time met. Our forefathers where at a convention when a speaker of the name Patrick Henry speaks to the great patriots about what they should do about the war against Great Britain. The audience was full of patriots just like Henry that would die for their country in a heartbeat if it was needed to save their freedom and liberty. In a way to persuade the members of the Virginia convention to go to war with Britain Henry uses logical and emotional appeals. Why do you think Henry begins his speech with the statement â€Å"Mr. President: No man thinks more highly than I do of the patriotism, as well as abilities of the very worthy gentlemen who have just addressed the house. But different men often see the same subject in different lights† (101). Here, Patrick Henry is showing that he is true patriot just like the patriots that are opposing the same views. This could be regarded as a concession to the opposing view that patriotism is important, but also a rejection to the opposing side who may say that only those who are not patriots would fight the British. He is also show respect for those who hold opposite views that he has. The time that the speech took place was when the revolution was coming for the Americans. They knew that war was coming so Henry uses emotional appeal to the convention so that he can get there side on to go to war instead of waiting around and Henry says â€Å"Their changing may be hear on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable and let it come I repeat, sir, let it come† (103). Henry is showing emotional appeal by wanting war to come so they can fight for their freedom. As a patriot he wants what is best for his country and he knows that war is coming. He embraces the war by telling the convention let it come because why wait for a war to happen and for their future generations to fight the war for them when it at their door step and as patriots they need react now or never. The Britain’s are the world power and they controlled the colonies, and the patriots of the 13 original colonies wanted the freedom now, but they were told they are weak. Henry states this to get the hopes up of his fellow patriots. â€Å"They tell us that we are weak- unable to cope with formidable an adversary but when be strong it will be next month or next year† (102). He raises the hopes using emotional appeal that they will the war easily because they are patriots and patriots stand up in what they believe in that they needed to be free from Britain’s Kings, taxes and rules so they could to become stronger. By using emotional and logical appeals Patrick Henry speech to the Virginia Convention he persuades them to go to war with Great Britain. He does this by making then patriots think about going to war for good reason. He also uses emotional appeals to get on the Convention side in the speech which influence their decision made by the forefathers. If not for this speech we could have all still been ruled by Great Britain.