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MARKETING IN SOCIETY

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AbstractMarketing today is a universal human activity that has greatly permeated all facets of people’s daily lives. For-profit firms employ marketing to convince consumers to buy their offerings. Non-profit enterprises leverage marketing tools to promote their motives and purposes. Political establishments motivate and encourage the electorate to vote for their candidates using marketing tools. The collective aspect of all these examples is that marketing is imperative to all societal institutions. While marketing practices have shown themselves as crucial and valuable to modern-day society, they have received significant criticism from multiple perspectives.

Despite this criticism, marketing, practiced by countless individuals and all legal businesses, plays an indispensable role in contemporary society. Precisely, critics of marketing overlook the fact that ethical marketing provides the principal tool for creating and sustaining healthy competition, brand demand, corporate reputation, business relevance, and other aspects that render it a positive force in today’s society. In this paper, the author takes a protagonist stance in answering the question: is marketing a positive force in contemporary society? Particularly, the author adopts marketing theories and constructs to account for the positive societal aspects and effects of the marketing practice.

Table of Contents

TOC o “1-3” h z u HYPERLINK l “_Toc35452058” Abstract PAGEREF _Toc35452058 h 2

HYPERLINK l “_Toc35452059” 1.0 Introduction PAGEREF _Toc35452059 h 4

HYPERLINK l “_Toc35452060” 2.0 Marketing as a Positive Force in Society PAGEREF _Toc35452060 h 4

HYPERLINK l “_Toc35452061” 2.1 Creation of New Jobs PAGEREF _Toc35452061 h 5

HYPERLINK l “_Toc35452062” 2.2. Acceleration of Economic Development PAGEREF _Toc35452062 h 6

HYPERLINK l “_Toc35452063” 2.3 Customer Information and Education PAGEREF _Toc35452063 h 6

HYPERLINK l “_Toc35452064” 2.4 Contribution to SME Development PAGEREF _Toc35452064 h 7

HYPERLINK l “_Toc35452065” 2.5 Consumer Behavior Modeling PAGEREF _Toc35452065 h 7

HYPERLINK l “_Toc35452066” 2.6 Customers’ Choice Enhancement PAGEREF _Toc35452066 h 8

HYPERLINK l “_Toc35452067” 2.7 Progressive Social Change PAGEREF _Toc35452067 h 9

HYPERLINK l “_Toc35452068” 2.8 Consumer Expectation Management PAGEREF _Toc35452068 h 9

HYPERLINK l “_Toc35452069” 2.9 National Revenue Augmentation PAGEREF _Toc35452069 h 11

HYPERLINK l “_Toc35452070” 3.0 Conclusion PAGEREF _Toc35452070 h 11

HYPERLINK l “_Toc35452071” Reference List PAGEREF _Toc35452071 h 13

1.0 IntroductionIrrespective of the forms it takes, marketing encompasses the actions and processes by which organizations promote themselves and their offerings by communicating with relevant audiences. The concept of marketing includes communication channels, tools, and tactics such as advertising, digital and social media, public relations, and others used to reach target audiences with the intended brand messages (Fill 2006; Jain and Yadav 2017). Marketing practices have been in existence for decades and have continued to evolve to respond to changing socio-economic and socio-political conditions.

Following this evolution, mixed perceptions and arguments have emerged regarding the social effects of marketing. Some scholars have criticized marketing arguing that it ignores the primary intent of sensing, serving, and satisfying the needs of consumers and enhancing the quality of their lives (Gandhi 2017). The principal premise of critics’ arguments is that the marketing function advocates high-pressure selling and materialisms, harms consumers via prices, encourages deceptive pricing practices, promotes substandard and unsafe products, limits the social good, supports planned obsolescence, causes cultural pollution, and drives poor services to disadvantaged consumers (Kaur 2018; Kotler et al. 2014; Rome Business School 2013).

However, these critics forget that only unethical marketing practices cause these problems in society. What this means is that ethical marketing practices culminate in helpful effects on individuals, businesses, and non-business institutions, making it a positive force in contemporary society. Such positive effects include job creation, economic development spurt, enhanced customer choices, constructive social change, consumer behavior modeling, and customer education, among others. The current individual assessment paper focuses on providing detailed accounts of these and other positive effects that illuminate marketing as a positive force in contemporary society.

2.0 Marketing as a Positive Force in SocietyThe correct understanding of the positive effects of the marketing concept is central to studying modern marketing as a positive force in contemporary society. Ethical marketing has a broad gamut of beneficial effects on today’s society, which include the following:

2.1 Creation of New JobsMarketing in modern society increases employment opportunities. Wilkie and Moore (2012) suggest that marketing is a system in which employment and other processes such as capital investment, planning, production, financing, risk-taking, and others occur. These processes occur with the expectations that transactional exchanges involving them will continue to happen to fuel the continuing operations of this system. So, marketing or the marketing industry itself creates direct and indirect employment and new job opportunities as organizations seek new and innovative ways of promoting themselves and their offerings. These direct and indirect jobs and employment opportunities empower the society with assured income (Anbumani 2007). Also, the creation of new jobs improves the quality of life and the living standards of the people in society as they have access to new sources of household income. An example here is the marketing of dairy products. This will culminate in an increased demand for these products, which will necessitate more hiring in dairy plants, hence creating new jobs. Also, it will encourage more breeding of milk animals and more milk production, which would directly induce employment in dairy farms.

Majumder (2008) affirmatively contends that marketing comprises of activities such as advertising, distributions, sales, branding, and others that create a climate for more services and additional production. These additional activities emanating from marketing developments automatically generate a need for more people to work in various marketing areas. This way, new employment and job opportunities are generated to benefit society. Furthermore, effective marketing operations require the input, services, and multidisciplinary collaboration of enterprises in different sectors and industries such as transportation, warehousing, insurance, finance, retail facilities, communication, and training and technical institutions. All these services require more manpower, which is derived from society, thereby creating employment while augmenting avenues of new employment. So, marketing is a multifaceted mechanism of activities that involve numerous functions and sub-functions that necessitates the collaborative functioning of different specialized and unspecialized personnel, creating employment in these areas. By estimate, 30-40% of the total population of a country engages in marketing activities either directly or indirectly (Pachori 2019).

2.2. Acceleration of Economic DevelopmentEthical marketing also impacts society positively by accelerating economic development. Several researchers have indicated that marketing drives economic growth and development. For instance, Kotler et al. (2014) stress that marketing is central to economic development because it stimulates demand and consumption. In another study, Sheth and Sisodia (2005) concluded that when marketing is practiced with control and wisdom, it stimulates economic growth while aligning corporate activities with customers’ needs in mutually beneficial ways. Further, Gandhi (2017) argues that marketing enhances economic efficiency and economic performance, which are factor prerequisites of economic advancement. In a different research effort, Jocz and Quelch (2008) associated marketing with augmented consumer sovereignty and democracy, which are essential elements underlying economic growth.

The clear consensus amongst these researchers is that successful and ethical marketing practices propel economic development to the society’s benefit. This is by driving a customer economy characterized by job creation, growing demand and consumption, augmented tax revenues for the government, sectorial expansion, and wealth creation, all culminating in economic growth. Marketing also bridges the gap between producers and consumers (Jocz and Quelch 2008; Kotler et al. 2014). This means that it serves as the link between two essential wheels of an economy: production and consumption (Sherlekar, Prasad, and Victor 2010). By linking and balancing these two wheels, marketing stabilizes employment and prices while ensuring steady economic conditions. This ensures a stable and robust economy that benefits the entire society. Using an example, the marketing of cellphones increases the production and global consumption of cellphones. Consequently, this creates new employment, generates government revenues, and expands the telecommunications sector, leading to further economic growth and expansion.

2.3 Customer Information and Education

Marketing also influences the society positively by informing and educating consumers, a fact that Fill (2006) confirms. Essentially, marketing is the effective connection between businesses and society that educates people, eliminates barriers to knowledge, and provides information that cultivates values and characters in their minds. This does not only lure them towards buying whatever is being offered to them but also maximizes their satisfaction, producing a better community of consumers. Anbumani (2007) agrees with this assertion by suggesting that through aggressive marketing, businesses get consumers to participate in business operations, which augments the feeling of patronage and corporate citizenship. This benefits both businesses and society.

Besides augmenting consumer satisfaction and engagement, marketing also provides practical customer education and information that can assist in guiding consumers in making smart purchasing decisions, get updates about brand offerings, and knowing the value of products and their usage (Heath and Chatzidakis 2012; Kaur 2018). This form of brand awareness does not only boost a firm’s competitive edge and reputation through amplified brand prominence but also stimulates more and more consumer engagement with the organization as marketing keeps the conversation going. Consequently, this gives customers a sense of belonging which increases their satisfaction by adding value to their lives to the betterment of society. Lastly, ethical marketing observes consumers’ right to be well-informed and educated as per customer protection legislation. This assures them of the quality expectations, approved prices, and their safety upon consumption of particular products (Gandhi 2017; Kotler et al. 2014). Such customer education and information add value to their lives and society overall.

2.4 Contribution to SME Development

In contemporary society, marketing is the mainstay of boosting the popularity of small- and medium-sized enterprises, which are an essential source of livelihood for the society, hence their development. According to Mokgoatlheng (2013) and Walsh and Lipinski (2009), marketing supports the ability of owners of SMEs to think strategically towards fueling the success of their businesses. Also, marketing activities and strategies augment the business performance of SMEs by ensuring that microenterprises obtained optimum performance that ought to be identified, advanced, and implemented in a planned way (Mokgoatlheng 2013). Furthermore, marketing, coupled with strategic positioning, and an entrepreneurial focus, enables SMEs to attain and maintain a competitive advantage that is key to their growth and survival amidst large competitors (Walsh and Lipinski 2009). The success and thriving of SMEs enhance the well-being and quality of life of people in these businesses, which essentially contributes positively to contemporary society.

2.5 Consumer Behavior Modeling

Proper and ethical marketing contributes positively to modern society by allowing for consumer behavior modeling. Jocz and Quelch (2008) concur with this point by stating that marketing that prioritizes consumer interests play a vital role in shaping and changing consumer behavior. Consumer behavior entails understating marketing stimuli (the economic, cultural, political, and technological force and events) that work within the consumer’s environment to influence observable buyer responses (Kotler et al. 2014). Marketing involves working towards comprehending customer behaviors to produce promotional messages that influence this behavior.

Such understanding provides the basic framework for economic analysts and researchers to model consumer behaviors. Specifically, these analysts and researchers use marketing data and how it correlates with consumer behaviors to discover what guides consumer purchasing decisions. This way, they learn ways of crafting awareness campaigns regarding major social and public issues affecting society. Also, modeling consumer behavior provides a paradigm for comprehending consumers’ loyalty, wellbeing, interpersonal relationships, and other brand-related measures of consumer satisfaction (Appel et al 2020). This way, marketing contributes positively to contemporary society

2.6 Customers’ Choice EnhancementAnother way in which marketing influences society positively, hence being a positive force, is by allowing for the enhancement of customer choices. Besides educating consumers, aiding the modeling of their behaviors, and offering practical information relating to brand offerings, ethical and sustainable marketing assists in facilitating the choices made by customers (Kotler et al. 2014). According to Sahin, Zehir, and Kitapçı (2011), consumers are inclined to relying on trusted brands, along with the consistency emanating from brand loyalty. Also, they use the information generated by consumer advocacy groups as the basis for learning the most reliable brands that offer the premium value for them to choose. With this knowledge, businesses leverage the power of marketing to raise customers’ awareness regarding major market changes that influence offerings and their quality. Ethical marketing provides this type of information in a way that abides by government regulations that bar marketers from providing misleading and false information (Kotler et al. 2014; Nuseir 2018; Wilkie and Moore 2012). Consequently, customers end up making informed decisions and choices without being exposed to many risks that they would otherwise encounter if they engaged in purchasing without benefits of the marketing function. This way, marketing enriches customer choices and purchasing decisions, making contemporary society better.

2.7 Progressive Social ChangeMarketing is an agent of social change that makes society a better place. Scheyban (2015) attests to this fact by stating that marketing paints a particular picture of society, thereby shaping how people see and understand things, think, act, view themselves, and also what they aspire. Biehl-Missal and Saren (2012) agree with this fact by acknowledging that marketing systems play a role in enhancing both cultural and social change. Heath and Chatzidakis (2012) and Kotler et al. (2014) echo the same belief by suggesting that transformative marketing inspires positive social change that enriches or expands consumer well-being. So, ethical marketing can be pivotal in unlocking positive social change. This statement means that while marketing itself does not change social behavior that causes social change, it provides a set of instruments and practices for influencing behavioral change that culminates in social change, thereby serving as an imperative agent of positive social change (Andreasen 2002; Lauri 2015).

Critics would argue that marketing can bring negative social change by promoting unhealthy behaviors. For instance, marketing of tobacco, alcohol, and unhealthy food products can hurt children by augmenting smoking, drinking, and obesity respectively as Scheyban (2015) submits. With such claims, they forget that marketing that translates to such outcomes is unethical, deceptive, and improper. So, ethical, appropriate, and truthful marketing characterized by positive messages is an imperative agent of positive social change because it creates an environment in which inclusions of societal portrayal are reflected towards benefiting both the society and the firm’s bottom line. Such an environment encourages the overlap between ‘for-profit’ and ‘for the good’, and such an overlap is an integrated framework that helps to unlock the powerful engines for positive social change (Scheyban 2015). Also, ethical, correct, and honest marketing stimulates positive social change that brings sustainability to markets while ensuring marketing ethics, effective social marketing, and marketplace initiative (Wilkie and Moore 2012). Furthermore, such marketing empowers groups in society by giving a voice to the marginalized people outside the mainstream system, hence achieving even greater social change.

2.8 Consumer Expectation ManagementAngelova and Zekiri (2011) acknowledge that marketing should principally be grounded on customer expectations. This implies that marketing is all about communicating or conveying messages about the qualities of service or product offerings that attract the targeted audience. Customer expectations are the wants and needs of the target audiences that are attracted to buy product or service offerings through the marketing function. These expectations reflect an understanding of customer service on the marketers’ side and typical actions valued as imperative on the consumers’ side as they interact with organizations. What this means is that customer expectations draw a clear picture of what constitutes consumer satisfaction and customer loyalty of the targeted audience (Khadka and Maharjan 2017).

Thus, ethical and sustainable marketing offers the platform for setting and managing customers’ expectations as Kotler et al. (2014) and Majumder (2008) submit. Such marketing achieves this in three ways. Firstly, marketing enables the corporation to customize and personalize its offerings in a way that reflects an understanding of consumers’ usage of these offerings towards meeting their needs and wants (Appel et al 2020; Kotler et al. 2014; Mokgoatlheng 2013). This allows the marketers to refine their engagement with the consumers relative to their past shopping experiences, thereby making them feel more cared for and understood. A good example of a company that has succeeded in tailoring and personalizing its offerings to meet customer expectations is Amazon. It does so by offering and recommending extra features after customers make purchases, and this is for customers who have shopped at Amazon earlier (Chaffey 2018; MerchantWords, Inc. 2018). This meets one of the most significant consumer expectations: the desire to be treated rightfully as individual human beings, not as a part of homogenous groups.

Secondly, ethical and appropriate marketing enhances customer service by adopting customer service approaches and techniques such as convenience, reliability, marketing ethics, efficiency, and competency (Appel et al 2020; Kaur 2018; Kotler et al. 2014). This facilitates a pleasant and harmonious purchasing experience that meets customer service expectations. Met service expectations help in building immediate consumer goodwill and augmenting customer loyalty (Angelova and Zekiri 2011), leading to greater customer satisfaction. Thirdly, marketing provides the channel for communicating their offerings’ differentiation to customers. An important customer expectation in the digital era relates to how organizations differentiate their offerings to make them unique, innovative, and trendy. Marketing fulfills this expectation by informing consumers how particular offerings are differentiated for uniqueness and trendiness and the technological breakthroughs underlying the offerings’ innovativeness. By meeting and managing these and other consumer expectations, marketing augments value for consumers and enhances their satisfaction, which is an indication of the beneficial impacts of marketing on contemporary society.

2.9 National Revenue Augmentation

Marketing is also an influential, positive force in modern-day society because it increases national revenue collected in each independent economy. Kotler et al. (2014) subscribe to this point by stating that effectively conducted marketing and a properly developed marketing mix culminate in worthwhile and adequate relationship marketing in which relationship revenues exceed relationship costs. National revenue refers to the sum of services and goods a country possesses. Marketing contributes to this revenue in four ways. The first is that the net effect of all marketing activities and effort is an increase in production in different sectors and industries. This creates new investment options and the provision of more offerings. Secondly, marketing techniques create demand for existing and new offerings, which culminates in an increase in production and wealth. Thirdly, marketing attracts new consumers, which augments revenue options available for companies that eventually increase national income through revenue taxation. Lastly, marketing enhances brand value, which generates revenues through increased brand generation (Ökten et al. 2019).

The increase in production and wealth courtesy of marketing makes a nation richer, augmenting national income, which leads to a rise in per capita income. The increase in and growth of national income benefits society in several ways. For example, national revenues are what the government use for spending on infrastructure development, healthcare provision, and financing other economic development stimuli. Sirgy et al. (2012) concur with this observation by acknowledging that tax revenues emanating from marketing are used in providing efficient public services that eventually contribute positively to the nation’s overall quality of life and peopled long-term well-being. From this perspective, marketing is a valuable technique that accelerates the development process and stimulates economic activity that augments national income. This income is used in bettering life’s quality and wellbeing, hence influencing the society positively to depict marketing as a positive force in contemporary society.

3.0 ConclusionThe discussion in this individual assessment paper has highlighted nine items that help in the broader comprehension of marketing as a positive force in present-day society. Specifically, it has established that marketing influences society positively by creating new jobs, spurring economic development, enhancing customer choices, and enabling the modeling of consumer behavior. Marketing also provides customer education and information, facilitates the management of customer expectations, contributes to SME Development, augments national revenue, and serves as an agent of positive social change. These nine positive effects are associated with a broad range of beneficial outcomes for society, providing sufficient and evidence-centered proof that marketing is a positive force in today’s society. Even so, these positive effects are only realized when marketing is conducted appropriately, ethically, and truthfully. Otherwise, the outcomes would portray marketing as a negative force in contemporary society.

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Gandhi, MB, 2017, ‘Changing marketing environment and consumer attributes in India,’ Biz and Bytes, vol. 8, issue 1, pp. 149-157.

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Mokgoatlheng, S 2013, The perceptions and understanding of the importance and the use of marketing communications by microenterprises in South Africa (Doctoral Dissertation, University of Pretoria).

Nuseir, MT 2018, ‘Impact of misleading/false advertisement to consumer behaviour’, Int. J. Econ. Bus. Res, vol. 16, pp. 453-465.

Ökten, NZ, Okan, EY, Arslan, Ü, and Güngör, MÖ 2019, ‘The effect of brand value on economic growth: A multinational analysis,’ European Research on Management and Business Economics, vol. 25, no. 1, pp.1-7.

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Sahin, A, Zehir, C, and Kitapçı, H 2011, ‘The effects of brand experiences, trust and satisfaction on building brand loyalty; an empirical research on global brands,’ Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, vol. 24, pp.1288-1301.

Scheyban, O 2015, ‘How advertising has become an agent of social change,’ The Medium, viewed March 17, 2020 <https://medium.com/@moonstorming/how-advertising-has-become-an-agent-of-social-change-148aa0ef303a>.

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Sirgy, MJ, Grace, BY, Lee, DJ, Wei, S, and Huang, MW, 2012, ‘Does marketing activity contribute to a society’s well-being? The role of economic efficiency,’ Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 107, no. 2, pp. 91-102.

Walsh, MF, and Lipinski, J 2009, ‘The role of the marketing function in small and medium sized enterprises,’ Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 569-585.

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Table of Contents

TOC o “1-3” h z u Introduction PAGEREF _Toc316742280 h 3The service profit chain PAGEREF _Toc316742281 h 4Discretionary Effort and Employee Engagement PAGEREF _Toc316742282 h 9How to achieve it PAGEREF _Toc316742283 h 11Recommendations PAGEREF _Toc316742284 h 12References PAGEREF _Toc316742285 h 16

IntroductionOrganizations should focus on people issues that impact upon its service-profit-chain with the intention of instigating change for the better. This paper investigates what Citibank ought to do in order to realize authentic competitive advantage through employee attitudes and skills. This paper will also seek to establish the relationship between indisputably engaged employees and beyond average profits. With the contemporary business milieu becoming expansive and consumers being offered greater choices, the present day’s clientele demand superior value and will only continue being loyal if they are wholly satisfied. In today’s dynamic business environment, where the Internet has considerably minimized the barriers to entry for numerous industries, the capability to build and maintain a competitive advantage becomes increasingly intricate for organizations. In view of extremely competitive markets as well as shifting buyer behaviors, brought about by increased utilization of Internet media, organizations require recognizing that it is no longer adequate to have barely satisfied clientele.

Extensive research has demonstrated that, in markets where the competition is severe, there is a remarkable difference amid the loyalty of barely satisfied and wholly satisfied clientele in terms of monetary gains. In view of a high degree of competition in the American retail sector, organizations ought to raise the degree of client satisfaction from barely satisfied to wholly satisfied in order to secure the requisite customer loyalty and create greater long-term economic performance. Consumer procurement behavior reveals that barely satisfying clientele who hold the freedom of preference is not sufficient to secure their loyalty. Wholly satisfied clientele are the only truthfully loyal customers (Woodruffe 2006, p. 6).

Realizing this competitive advantage by means of better-quality customer responsiveness, however, is not simply an issue of deliverance of the same value or through differentiating founded on price (Brooks 2005, p. 50). Securing loyal and wholly satisfied customers by means of delivering better-quality customer service necessitates engaged employees that are both intellectually and emotionally loyal to the organization. Only engaged human resources exert the requisite levels of discretionary endeavor that achieves loyal customers.

Generating and managing a milieu where employees display high levels of discretionary endeavor in their jobs pose numerous managerial implications. Discretionary endeavor implies the extra effort that engaged employees are enthusiastic to provide. Up to 40% of employee endeavor is discretionary. This however depends on the degree of engagement. This paper outlines and discusses service-profit-chain whereby, a strong and direct relationship between financial performance and employee engagement instigates change for the better. In order to bring the subject matter into perspective, this paper will discuss the challenges and issues that surround employee engagement and discretionary endeavor at the same time as it highlights on the best practices.

According to Cross and Silvestro (2000, p.36), engagement has a significant influence on employees’ objectives to continue working in an organization. Research has sustained the reality that employee turnover is a credible indicator of employee satisfaction. Therefore, organizations require paying substantial interest to managing turnover by means of engaging their employees, with the intention of managing customer satisfaction.

The service profit chainThe service-profit chain (SPC) is a structure for connecting service operations, customer assessments, and employee assessments, and to an organization’s profitability. The SPC offers an integrative structure for understanding how an organization’s operational investments into the service operations are correlated to customer behaviors and perceptions, and how these convert into profits. For an organization, it offers much needed direction about the intricate interrelationships between customer perceptions, operational investments, as well as the bottom line (Brooks 2005, p. 41).

According to Pritchard and Silvestro’s (2005, p. 125), putting into practice the SPC is a persistent problem amongst the majority of service firms, and numerous efforts have been made to mold various facets of the SPC. The service-profit-chain is a widely acknowledged model that explains the sustainable competitiveness realized by organizations which possess an engaged workforce. This model suggests that profitability and growth are anchored in loyal customers who are wholly satisfied with the perceived worth of the service they obtain. The service value is approximately at all times only generated by engaged employees that demonstrate a high degree of discretionary effort since they benefit from the quality of work life that the organization provides (Hostage 2001, p. 81).

Quality of work life may be defined by the favorable environments and conditions of a workplace that promote and support employee satisfaction through guaranteeing that rewards, including meaningful work, promotion, compensation, development, and recognition meet or surpass their expectations. According to Heskett et al (1997, p. 25) high quality of work life should produce committed, satisfied, as well as productive employees who in turn should ignite a chain effect that leads to an organizations profitability and growth. Fundamentally, the service-profit chain hypothesizes that the loyalty and satisfaction of engaged employees transforms into customer loyalty and satisfaction, which sequentially creates enhanced business performance. Figure 1. The service profit chain

Heskett et al. (1997) carried out studies that gathered empirical evidence from twenty large organizations. The studies gave support and credibility to several of the relationships in the chain, particularly the link between customer and employee satisfaction. Nevertheless, it was not until the investigative study carried out by Cross and Silvestro (2000) that focused on the strength of the linkages, that organizations were subjected to an investigation of all of the relationships in the service-profit chain. The whole model was applied to a leading grocery retailer in the UK’s in order to question the fundamental postulation of the service-profit chain. This was that engaged employees sequentially create customer loyalty and satisfaction. The results revealed definite and real correlations between customer loyalty, customer satisfaction, service value, productivity, internal service quality, profit, and output quality.

Another independent study carried out by Lau (2002) investigated a section of the Heskett et al.’s model. The Lau’s research did not endeavor to present any statistical evidence for the purposes of validating every individual linkage; but instead it investigated the direct linkage connecting quality of work life, and performance in growth as well as profitability. This is a surrogate for engaged employees in regard to the service-profit chain model. The research conducted by Lau specified that, engaged employees, and quality of work life had a momentous influence on profitability and growth. The research contrasted the performance of organizations with a repute of high quality of work life against a control cluster of S&P 500 companies. The research outcomes demonstrated that the organizations with a repute of high quality of work life indeed experienced higher growth rates in comparison to the control cluster of S&P 500 companies. The results also revealed that, these disparities are statistically important. Generally, the organizations that have engaged employees experience an average growth rate in sales in the range of 23.1%, while control cluster companies experienced merely 14.5%. The discrepancies suggested that the organizations with repute of high quality of work life were growing close to 60% faster in comparison to the control cluster of S&P500 companies (Lau 2002, p. 23). Additionally, the organizations with repute of high quality of work life experienced 7.9% growth per annum for their Return on Assets (ROA), while the control cluster of S&P500 companies experienced only a 3.7% growth. This discrepancy indicated that profitability in organizations with quality work life was growing more 200% above the companies in the control cluster of S&P500 companies. This research provides great support to Heskett et al.’s concept that postulates that quality of work life, that develops engaged human resources, generates a chain effect that brings about increased profitability and growth.

A research carried out by Pritchard and Silvestro’s (2005) investigating the service-profit chain endeavored to test the relationship between customer perceptions and behavior, employee perceptions and performance, as well as financial performance. The research was based on a home improvement store chain in the UK. Measures on the linkages between every one of the variables in the service-profit chain were gathered and scrutinized through the use of the Pearson’s correlation coefficient. According to Pritchard and Silvestro’s (2005, p. 130), the outcomes indicated that, service quality and value were positively correlated with employee satisfaction. This finding suggested that, human resources that are loyal and committed demonstrate higher degree of discretionary effort, considering that engaged employees generate higher degree of service value.

It is essential to note that, the research found that service value was robustly positively correlated with customer loyalty and satisfaction. In addition, stores that demonstrated highest levels of loyalty were found also to generate the greatest perceived service value. The finding supports and validates the central postulation of the model. This means that, quality of work life produces engaged employees, which sequentially promotes loyal and satisfied customer. Consequently, this translates into profitability and growth. The most noteworthy finding of the research was the strong positive relationship between growth and employee satisfaction. This suggests that empowerment of employees and the establishment of a positive working milieu will produce financial benefits (Pritchard & Silvestro 2005, p. 135).

In wrapping up, it would be deficient of any argument in regard to the service-profit chain to disregard some potential cautions to Heskett et al.’s (1997) research as well as findings. Of primary consideration would be the danger that a full focus on the service-profit chain to the omission of all else may hamper managements understanding of every complexity of performance. Any generic model requires being adapted to take into consideration company size, trading conditions, and industry (Valarie 2003, p. 65)

Nevertheless, what is evident is that studies have demonstrated numerous important performance linkages connecting variables in the service-profit chain model by Heskett et al (1997). The studies have also sensitized on the significance of promoting the cooperative initiatives between employers and employees. These partnership interactions have been depicted as having dramatic influence in improving competitiveness and financial performance. This demonstrates the value fostering partnership linkages between employees and the organization’s management.

Discretionary Effort and Employee EngagementThe employee-customer profit chain theory was initially developed in the 1990s. This theory continues being a standard for evaluating organizational performance in modern day management. The theory postulates that employee attitudes bear direct impact the company’s bottom line. The theory specifically focuses on the chain reaction in regard to employee behavior and its impact on customer behavior, which consequently impacts financial performance. According to Norman and Ramirez (2000, p. 61), a meta-analysis carried out by the Gallup Organization found out that that the most lucrative divisions in organizations are those which have the human resources doing what they are best at, with persons they like, as well as with a well-built sense of psychological possession for the results of their work. Employee engagement, meaning where human resources are intellectually and emotionally dedicated to the organization, is a noteworthy predictor of desirable organizational outcomes. These desirable outcomes include customer satisfaction, retention, profitability, and productivity. With vast empirical verification of employee engagement that leads to desirable organizational results, organizations require to recognize the value of generating and sustaining employee engagement.

Corporate Executive Board (2004) carried out a survey of approximately 50,000 employees in 59 organizations globally. The study revealed that, employee engagement plays a considerable role in the degree of discretionary effort demonstrated by employees as well as their intention to stay with their organization. As depicted in figures 3 and 4 below, the engaged employees exhibit up to 57% increased discretionary effort as well as up to 87% decrease in the desire to depart from the company.

Figure 3. Influence of engagement on the likelihood of departure

Source: Corporate Executive Board, 2004

Figure 4. Influence of engagement on the discretionary effort

Source: Corporate Executive Board, 2004

According to Lau (2000, p.22), with the remarkable influence that engaged employees have on the financial performance and growth, clearly established by the service-profit chain, it is evident why employees and the manner by which they are managed deserve increased consideration. Particularly, American retailers who are experiencing progressively more competitive markets should start investing critically in their foundational assets. These foundational assets are human resources. Human resources play a fundamental role in an organization’s transformation. Motivating the human resources to put in their best knowledge and ability to work requires nurturing and clear policies. However, usually the management fails to provide adequate quality work life.

Organizations should understand that the involvement and development they provide to their human resources will make them extra valuable, and also a powerful inducement for them to remain in the organization (Woodruffe 2006, p. 3). Evidently there is constantly the risk that employees may leave, and hence take with them the new skills. However, management needs to recognize that human resources are increasingly inclined to leave the organization if they are denied development. Finding ways for employees to want to do on working at an organization is fundamental to generating an engaged human resource. Engaging talented human resources should be of highest value since they are the people who will keep the customers completely loyal and satisfied. How to achieve itMonetary benefits are characteristically not the most important contributing aspect to employee loyalty or satisfaction. However, it plays a considerable role in realizing the same. Woodruffe, (2006, p. 4), suggests that the principal factors for employee engagement and commitment are normally non-financial. A synopsis of best practice for engaging and retaining employees stipulates that, the key is the ability to implement an all-inclusive strategy, and capability to measure and correct every component in terms of its contribution towards improved profitability (Silvestro 2001, p. 240). The five points below provide the most appropriate way in which the organization would achieve this.

Providing the employees with the feeling of executing challenging and useful tasks. Employees who that experience worthlessness or meaninglessness in their jobs are increasingly more probable to leave an organization.

Offering genuine commitment and trust to employees. Affective commitment and trust is imperative in building relationships. Human resources that sense trust from the management are increasingly liable to feel helpful and are increasingly probable to bestow loyalty to an organization.

Offering development opportunities as well as good training. Human resources that are undeveloped are increasingly probable to leave an organization.

Rewarding and recognizing. Human resources like to be recognized and valued.

Implementing strategies that encourage positive workplace relationships. Human resources that have good relationships amongst themselves as well with the management are increasingly loyal than those who do not.

Lau (2000, p.63) posits that while these are effective foundations for engaging employees, these resolutions are only a start. Realizing an engaged workface is usually not an easy charge. It necessitates the efforts and commitment of management, and a legitimate passion for their staff as well as customers (Valarie 2003, p. 90)

RecommendationsThe foundation is an obligation on behalf of management to put into practice a long-term strategy whose core focus is on its customers and staff. According to Norman and Ramirez (2000, p. 67), what is requisite is a genuine enthusiasm for both customers and staff, which is sustained by specific practices.

Figure 5. Retail Linkages

In figure 5, the interrelationships between customers, employees, and management are marked A, B and C. Conventionally organizations usually place their focus on the relationships A and B. Relationship C is normally ignored as organizations fail to identify the significance of involving and developing their staff. However, according to Lau (2000, p.75) as research has demonstrated, fostering a partnership linkage between employees and management produces momentous benefits in terms of financial growth and performance. In my opinion, experience shows that so as to be at π and realize increased growth and profits, the organization needs to compute, manage and continuously improve these interactions. There is an intelligent chain to the correct practices and events. Everything begins with diagnosis, whereby a process is designed to figure out where the organization is with a clear view in terms of where the organization needs to be. Subsequently, specific recommendations in relation to recruitment solutions, procedural and policy structures, auditing and measuring tools, service and sales models, as well as feedback mechanisms may be prepared in order to develop a comprehensive program design (Silvestro 2001, p. 251).

Planning of the process of implementation follows after the recommendations. The beliefs, vision, as well as practices of management should be appraised and realigned, to be employee and customer centric. The best performing employees are acknowledged and nominated, once a customized procedure is developed, a launching strategy is established. In order for the implementation phase to be effective, it is critical that communication is available throughout the entire process. In this regard, it is essential to understand and develop the attitude of the employees. Attitude reviews are used constantly to provide comparisons and append valuable insight (Hostage 2001, p. 90).

The s rollout strategy’s performance needs to be constantly evaluated and reviewed to detect which areas require modification and what may not be working. The management as well as the staff requires being involved in the process to identify which components of the process require improvement. According to (Woodruffe 2006, p. 9), external and internal marketing requires to be evaluated to guarantee that the two are congruent. The human resources need to be suitably recognized and awarded. To sustain this strategy the management and employees should be fully dedicated. The power of this dedication is ultimately demonstrated when the organization uses its employee linkages as a powerful public relations tool and a focal point for its executives’ contact with the media.

Figure 6. The employee-customer-profit chain

Source: Cross and Silvestro (2000, p.45).

As shown in figure 6, the organization ought to implement the service-profit chain concept and adapt it to generate a range of measures, tools, training interventions, as well as management practices that would give it an intelligent implementation approach. The parts in grey represent the areas that would be statistically computed and are utilized as the fundamental drivers of growth. The parts in white represent the areas that would be developed and evaluated by means of other forms of data capture.

Citibank ought to recognize that it requires generating a compelling workplace, prior to any of the mentioned initiatives driving service levels that generate above average profitability and growth in the industry. It is essential to mention that in order for Citibank to benefit from the people issues that impact upon its service-profit-chain, it must implement the recommendation of this paper.

ReferencesBrooks, P 2005, “Why Loyal Customers and Employees Enhance the Bottom Line”, Journal of Quality and Participation, vol. 3, no.2, pp. 41-50.

Corporate Executive Board Company, 2004, Performance and Retention through Employee Engagement, Corporate Executive Board, Melbourne.

Cross, T & Silvestro, P 2000, ‘Application of service profit chain in a retail environment”, International Journal of Service Industry Management, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 36- 45.

Heskett, J, Sasser Jr, W & Schlesinger, L 1997, The Service Profit Chain: How Leading Companies Link Profit & Growth to Loyalty, Satisfaction & Value, Free Press, NY.

Hostage, R 2001, “Quality Control in Service Businesses”, Harvard Business Review, vol. 21, no. 4, pp. 81-90.

Lau, S 2002, ‘Performance & Quality of work life’, International Journal of Service Industry Management, vol. 11, no. 5, pp. 22-75.

Norman, F, & Ramirez, T 2000, “Designing an Interactive Strategy”, Harvard Business Review vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 61-67.

Pritchard, A & Silvestro, R 2005, ‘Applying service profit chain to analyze retail performance”, International Journal of Service Industry Management, vol. 15, no. 4, pp. 125- 134.

Silvestro, R 2001, “Applying Service Profit Chain in Retail Environments”, International Journal of Service Industry Management, vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 240-251.

Valarie, A 2003, Integrating Customer Focus, Across Organizations, McGraw-Hill, N.Y.

Woodruffe, C 2006, ‘The crucial importance of employee engagement’, Human Resource Management International Digest, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 6-9.

Abstract

The Savannah State Softball program has recently experienced many shortcomings. This research examines possible factors of those shortcomings. The purpose of the research project is to examine the ethical gap within the Savannah State Softball program. Finally, the research paper suggest recommendations on how to address ethical issues based on quantitative research of best practices used within other successful organizations. As a future coach it is important to understand the guidance needs of every athlete encountered.

Introduction

The Savannah State Softball program is one of the strongest and competitive women’s sport. The Savannah State softball program was originally started in 2001 by Stephanie Anderson. The program has competed in a few different conferences which include the Southeastern Athletic Conference, Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, Division II Independent and Division I-AA Independent.

Presently, Savannah State Athletics resides within the Middle Eastern Athletic Conference. Competing in the MEAC, Savannah State softball has many accomplishments. In the past five years the program has won the Southern Division three times, had the Player of the Year three years in a row. The program has also been awarded Coach of the Year, and many Rookie of the Year players. This program was selected as a topic due to the recent lack of performance on the field during the 2017 season. This program is important to revive because it has the opportunity to be one of the strongest women’s teams in the Middle Eastern Athletic Conference.

Obviously, the program has been very successful since entering the MEAC in 2010. However, the programs short comings have nothing to do with talent or skill. Unfortunately, the issues of the program deal with leadership and ethics. To address this gap we must understand that there is no written code of ethics within the Savannah State softball program.

As a future coach it is important to understand the personnel within the program and their needs for guidance. It is the coach’s job to build student athletes into effective individuals for the work force by using tools such as a code of ethics. The purpose of this project is to examine the ethical gap within the program; and provide a recommendation based on quantitative research of other athletic programs and best practices. Highlighting ethics in a program is important for several reasons such as: it builds integrity and holds athletes accountable for their actions. In order to be successful as a coach a clear and definite code of ethics is essential.

Background/ Literature Review

Ethics are an essential part to any organization. According to the Merriam- Webster, ethics are defined as “a set of rules about good and bad behavior”. Ethical codes are standards used to guide decision making within an organization. Ethical codes or standards add the moral value to the rules of the team. According to Waegenerr, Sompele, and Willem “ethical codes have gained prestige and authority in the sports sector” (Willem, 2016). As collegiate athletes it is important for student athletes to understand their role as student leaders and should be held accountable for making ethical decisions.

An ethical code is generally a formal written document outlining what is considered appropriate behavior. Kaptien and Schwartz described a code of ethics as ‘‘a distinct and formal document containing a set of prescriptions developed by and for a company to guide present and future behavior on multiple issues for at least its managers and employees toward one another, the company, external stakeholders, and/or society in general’’ (Kaptien & Schwartz, 2008). Ethical codes are guidelines for every member of the organization. Coaches are not only sports technicians but also behavioral models of those prescriptions.

Although there are various ways to explore

Enforcing the code of ethics starts with the head of the program. The head coach should be the model of what the organization stands for. Ethics are visible from every form of perception.

Business Contingency Planning

Name

Institution

Business Contingency Planning

Question 1

Question 1.1

Cybersecurity risks are likely to increase due to a projected increase in service requests from various remote points. Vulnerabilities in the remote access points are expected to impact the security and privacy of information within the UC information systems. Home networks could be used as an entry point for hackers and penetration activities to gain permissive access to sensitive information system resources and data. The implementation of remote access services will impact the confidentiality and integrity of information in cases where the users do not comply with security measures in deploying their connections. Establishing remote access services to facilitate the learning activities by the UC system will require the integration on new applications which re likely to have backdoors for malicious activities and exploitation.

The provision of services to facilitate learning will depend strictly on remote support systems which pose a risk of increased load and limitations on the bandwidth. The services provided by the information system are likely to be unreliable, resulting from poor connection and access to resources. An increased load of services requests is expected to cause congestion when the capacity is overwhelmed thus interruptions and distractions.

The UC information systems face the threat of staffing due to unreliable information dissemination and management of system resources. The measure of employee productivity through the virtual environment is unpredictable and can not conclude accurate metrics on services ordered. The supervision of output for each staff in the university is a challenge and impacts the ability to track progress and efficiency in ensuring business continuity.

The reliability of the UC information system services will depend on individual network infrastructure, which is likely to impact productivity in cases of weak internet connection or poor access platforms.

Question 1.2

The review process will start with the development of a contingency planning policy framework to define the objectives for the exercise. Roles and responsibilities will be specified in the policy statements to provide guidelines for contingency planning.

The second step will involve conducting a business impact analysis to effectively identify possible operation interruptions as a result of risks impacting business processes (Moturi, 2014). This phase will prioritise UC information systems components to support the business functions and objectives (Moeller, 2013). Business process and IT governance plan documents will be used to support information gathering for comprehensive impact analysis process. The business stakeholders will also be interviewed to obtain useful first-hand information which will impact decision making in designing response plan (Bechor et al., 2010). Students and department staff will be interviewed through questionnaires regarding the services using the UC information systems (Moeller, 2013). The top management will also be involved in the information gathering process to gain authority and support in conducting the contingency planning process. Identified business processes will be used to obtain useful data on the requirements for operation, including the resources supporting the process (Swanson et al., 2010). The information collected will be reviewed through the evaluation process to create prioritised documentation of the business processes and functions (Moturi, 2014). The requirements for each process will also be identified. A business impact analysis report will be documented based on the findings of the study to aid in decision making (Bechor et al., 2010).

The third phase will involve the identification of possible preventive control to address the vulnerabilities facing defined business processes (Moturi, 2014). All the control measure will be evaluated to determine the most effective and reliable measures to compact the identified risks. The selected measures must be reliable and effective in addressing security and privacy information concerns (Bechor et al., 2010).

The fourth step of the review process will develop recovery approaches to address the risks of deploying remote access services using the UC information system. During this phase, the critical business process will be identified and prioritised based on impact metrics on business continuity. All dependencies of the identified business processes will be labelled and outlined. A Recovery Point Objectives (RPO) is defined in this stage to highlight the priority of information dependencies to enable replication of data through backup to meet and align to business process requirements (Swanson et al., 2010). The Recovery Time Objectives (RTO) will be defined in this phase to act as a guideline in the time taken for a full recovery of information during risk occurrence (Bechor et al., 2010). The Maximum Tolerable Downtime (MTD) will also depict the length of time a business process can be unavailable when risks occur (Swanson et al., 2010). Possible risks that can impact the disaster response plan (DRP) will be evaluated and assessed to create awareness and impact the priority ranking of the business processes. A response team will also be developed and roles and responsibilities assigned to team members, including a communication structure for easy information dissemination. The response team will oversee the overall recovery process and will, therefore, undergo training to ensure they are informed and prepared for risk handling.

In the fifth step, a contingency plan will be developed and will include a guidance framework for addressing and mitigating identified risks. Procedures for addressing each business process will be documented and will include the response teams and communication structures.

The sixth phase will ensure that all the system contingency plan is tested and all stakeholders given training for preparedness in case a risk occurs (Moturi, 2014). The system will be tested to ensure it works correctly and that it gives expected results.

The last phase will detail the plan for maintaining the system through updates and patches. All procedures and update requirements will be documented for reference and will guide the patching process of future versions of the system (Moturi, 2014).

Summary

The major threats facing the UC following the implications of COVID-19 outbreak include cybersecurity threats which arise as a result of the integration of virtual networks which are entry points for hacking activities (Moeller, 2013). Unreliable infrastructure is also another threat caused by increased traffic which overwhelms the remote access support systems. The information system is limited to integrity risks resulting from limitations to track productivity of staff services, making it unreliable in accomplishing the business process.

The development of the contingency plan will involve the formulation of contingency policy to act as a guideline in developing the contingency plan (Moturi, 2014). The business impact analysis phase will involve the gathering of useful information from stakeholders and other supporting documents for detailed risk evaluation.

Risks obtained from business processes will be used in the third phase to develop response controls (Moeller, 2013). The disaster recovery plan will be planned in the fourth phase and will include the assignment of a response plan to each process and will include the assignment of response teams, each with members assigned roles and responsibilities. The formulated disaster response plan will undergo testing to ensure it is effective and that the team members have training and skills in handling such real-time risks. The last step of the contingency planning process involves the creation of a maintenance strategy detailing the procedures of patching systems and the release of new versions of the application (Moeller, 2013).

Question 2

Question 2.1

System failures are a major availability threat impacting information access from the remote locations. System breakdowns have been evidenced in recent times where services are limited due to bugs in remote access systems. The incompatibility of remote platforms with the institution’s remote access systems also poses availability risk causing access limitations. Bandwidth overload is also impacting the availability of information which is caused by congestion of traffic, resulting in slow services or no services. Penetration of communication channels by hackers also is a key threat to service access which is caused by virus and malware malicious activities (Teo & King, 2012). The service requests get redirected to inappropriate links causing limitations to access information from the UC information system.

Question 2.2

The backup strategy will be a key element to consider to ensure a reflective and continuous backing up of data to the current working state. This will enable restoration of information with minimised or no damage, thus ensuring continuity of the process. The backup strategy ensures data to be backed up is identified including the monitoring functions to always allow a regular restoration process to update information using the defined frequency (Moeller, 2013).

The maximum tolerance downtime for the process will be a key element to consider to ensure that the recovery of the information is finished in time to meet the submission key requirement. Interrupted services should be assigned the response time to allow for a defined timeline estimation aimed at meeting submission key requirement. The maximum tolerance downtime for the affected service process should not exceed the timeline for submission of the assignments. The element will focus on flexibility in completion of the tasks based on the remaining deadlines.

Summary

System failure is a major risk affecting the availability of information on the UC system based on remote access deployment. Platform limitations have also contributed to the lack of services from the institution caused by incompatibility issues.

The backup strategy and response time elements are the top key elements to consider in a personal disaster response plan. The backup strategy ensures a regular restoration and backup of data changes, thus providing continuity security to meet the completion and submission of services (Moturi, 2014). Response time for the process is a key element to consider in personal disaster response plan due to the need to track task completion and submission requirements.

References

Bechor, T., Neumann, S., Zviran, M., & Glezer, C. (2010). A contingency model for estimating the success of strategic information systems planning. Information & Management, 47(1), 17-29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.im.2009.09.004Moeller, R. R. (2013). Novel approaches to contingency planning and security. Information Systems Security, 2(3), 34-37. https://doi.org/10.1080/19393559308551365Moturi, C. (2014). Embracing contingency planning for University information resources. British Journal of Applied Science & Technology, 4(3), 492-509. https://doi.org/10.9734/bjast/2014/6356Swanson, M., Bowen, P., Phillips, A. W., Gallup, D., & Lynes, D. (2010). Contingency planning guide for federal information systems. https://doi.org/10.6028/nist.sp.800-34r1Teo, T. S., & King, W. R. (2012). Integration between business planning and information systems planning: An evolutionary-contingency perspective. Journal of Management Information Systems, 14(1), 185-214. https://doi.org/10.1080/07421222.1997.11518158

ABSTRACTION IN BAYEUX TAPESTRY AND TRAJAN’S COLUMN

Student’s name

Instructor

Department of affiliation

Course

Date

Abstraction in Bayeux Tapestry and Trajan’s Column

All art is abstract at some point and this concept has always existed even in the beginning of the use of art. It is this same concept that McCloud extends and expounds for the reader to be able to understand it fully and from his perspective. Mccloud explains how comics work but also defines abstraction through his writing. On page 31 of the book, we can try to understand the abstraction from humans to more of the cartoon. This is because on this page the first photo looks more like a human being and as the comics continue discussing film critics and abstraction though the literal word is not mentioned here. Therefore they discuss the idea which abstraction is generally about. Therefore a definition can be derived from here and state that McCloud defines abstraction as the focus on an idea and not something real or tangible just like it is cartoons as stated in the understanding comic’s book. This makes life more interesting and as stated calls for further investigation. Therefore the definition of abstraction by McCloud can be said to be a concept that focuses on ideas just like it is in cartoons and does not focus on reality. Therefore from this book, I choose symbols that represent what is being talked about and which generally are ideas and no tangible evidence of what is being talked about. Therefore in this case we can say that symbols are what represent abstractions because they are not tangible items that can have a definite shape. And this is clear in the understanding of comics as McCloud uses cartoons to show how this is.

In Trajan’s column, we learn about time and its relation to abstraction. This is because even though it might be true that emperor Trajan at the age of 19 lead people to war to conquer a kingdom by the name Dacians it is not fully comprehensible at this period and it makes it even harder to understand because there is no evidence towards that. The remains of the evidence have been watered down by acid rain and the long period of destruction which have occurred and therefore in these recent times this dies not to act as just history with evidence but rather it becomes abstraction which we have to try and understand because we cannot fully grasp how that time was like. We cannot fully understand the aspect of having a king who is 19 years old and we also cannot fully understand what the remains mean. Furthermore, there is a little more abstraction in the issue of having the Dacians being understood. In this, it is pure abstraction since we can’t fathom what kind of kingdom it was and what how their kingdom, as well as their leadership, looked like since it was cleared from existence and consumed by the roman kingdom at that ancient time. Therefore this helps us to understand abstraction even in a more clear and complex manner.

Even though the column still exists it has suffered a lot from the history of civilization and it remains a place of history and a place of abstraction because no matter how a person tries to understand this time in age it remains an idea in their mind and it does not exist anywhere in the current sphere of reality. Therefore this is the basic idea about abstraction that ideas exist in our minds and they do not exist in reality and therefore we have to represent them either in writing them or drawing them using symbols like McCloud does in his book understanding comics. He also dissects the idea very well not only in word but also in vision whereby as the cartoons and drawings talk about the abstraction he draws them looking more like human in the first photos but at the end of the page he makes sure they look more like cartoons and symbols rather than human drawings.

In Bayeux Tapestry we also learn of how ancient times and color affect our understanding and creation of images due to the abstraction of a concept. This is an embroidered clothe almost 70 meters long and 50 centimeters wide. Its main depictions are the Norman conquest of England and it dates back to the 11th century. Its main characters include; William, Harold, Wessex, and many more who were involved in the activities of the norman kingdom at that period in time. The cloth has seventy scenes and all these talks of that period when England was conquered. It is embroidered and not woven and therefore it can be said to not be typically tapestry but embroidery. This, therefore, helps us to understand abstraction even in a clearer manner because we have to feed our minds with the idea that this kind of thing and vent took place especially when it is supported by evidence which does not give us the real situation but only gives us symbols to help us make the mental images. Color also plays a great role in the whole of this because we get to see which colors they liked most and in the creation of mental images as we understand abstraction we are likely to make colored images.

Therefore in conclusion we can say that understanding comics is an essential part of understanding abstraction. However, abstraction can be understood better when there is a combination with other artworks like I have discussed above the Bayeux Tapestry and the defeat of the Dacians by the emperor of the ancient roman kingdom Trajan. These two give us insights and the ability to understand abstraction more clearly.

References

Gameson, R. (Ed.). (1997). The study of the Bayeux tapestry. Boydell & Brewer Ltd.

Lancaster, L. (1999). Building Trajan’s column. American Journal of Archaeology, 419-439.

McCloud, S. (1993). Understanding comics: The invisible art. Northampton, Mass.

Musset, L. (2005). The Bayeux Tapestry. Boydell Press.

Richmond, I. A. (1935). Trajan’s army on Trajan’s Column. Papers of the British School at Rome, 1-40.

Marketing to the Bottom of the Pyramid

Name:

Professor

Institution

Course:

Date:

Marketing to the Bottom of the Pyramid

Some authorities believe that when people with little disposable income are squeezed with profits, it is not exploitation, which is capitalist in nature. On the other hand, other authorities believe that it leads to economic growth. In this case, the latter is true as from the evidence, which has been provided. When one is marketing products to people who have low incomes, they are making profits. At the same time, the people with low disposable incomes are profiting from the products, which are on offer. This means that both the seller and buyer are gaining from the transaction, which takes place. An example of how this is possible is in India, where Unilever products are available to the rural people (Prahalad, 2004). The latter can easily obtain Unilever products, which are sold in small portions. At the same time, the company profits, as it has made its products become available to people who would not have afforded. In turn, the economy of a country grows as people are buying products, thus a rise in the Gross Domestic Product.

Most times, the authority may be a government, which has the responsibility of taking care of citizens. This is regardless to how much people earn, even those who have low disposable incomes. Governments come up with fiscal policies, which are meant to ensure that the economy grows. The disposable income of households is lowered by taxes, making it possible for people to purchase products. Governments usually work with large companies, so that the taxes of certain products can be reduced. For example, a company, which sells laptops, can agree with the government to lower the taxes of the products. This means that consumption and spending levels will be increased. An economy’s growth rate is often calculated according to the amount, which people spend (Kotler, & Lee, 2009).

Those with little disposable income thus stimulate the growth of the economy since they feel that they have the ability to spend. According to a publication by Professor Prahalad, those people who are the pyramid’s bottom do have a lot of profitability (Prahalad, 2004). The target group in this population is estimated to be people totaling four billion in number. Furthermore, they earn at least two dollars a day or less, thus known as people with little disposable income. Moreover, their purchasing power is at fourteen billion dollars. This means that their needs should be known, so that marketing products to them will be easy. In turn, the large corporations will offer them products of high standards, but at affordable prices. This is often known as a ‘win win situation’ all the parties gain.

When there are many products in an economy, it means that people with little disposable income can purchase products. Manufacturers of products will ensure that the products that they produce are affordable. For example, most phones are normally high priced, and the poor cannot afford. In turn, Motorola took advantage of this in order to gain profit from the people at the bottom of the pyramid. They made phones, which have features, which are suitable for people with little disposable income. In this case, Motorola targeted people living in rural areas whereby, supply of electricity is minimal (Prahalad, 2004). The phone could stay for long periods of time, as the cells were made to have this needed feature. In turn, people who have this phone and are living in the rural areas can communicate with others. The latter is especially beneficial for farmers and business people living in the rural areas. It makes it easy to order for products and even sell farm products easily. When such activities take place, the economy of a country improves as it earns a lot of revenue from the dealings.

It is not proper to claim that when companies are making profits they are squeezing off the poor people. The aim of any business venture is meant to make profits if it does not do so then it loses its purpose. People at the bottom of the pyramid are consumers who need products just like those with high disposable income (Kotler, & Lee, 2009). In order for any economy to be successful, everyone should be able to offer products. Demand is a contributing factor towards improvement and economic growth prosperity. Companies often know what consumers with little disposable income earn, and thus create services and products, which suit them. An example is whereby Nestle introduced new ice cream flavors in China. It included flavors such as green tea and red bean, which are common flavors in the country’s cuisine. Nestle knew what its lower bracket income earners needed and took advantage and made the products available. In turn, the introduction of new products into a market stimulates the growth of the economy (Prahalad, 2004).

In conclusion, in order for a company to be successful while marketing to people at the bottom of the pyramid, some issues must be addressed. Chose a target market and find out what they need most. Afterwards, develop a product, which can be afforded by them and market the product through easily accessible channels. The government should be involved in this matter so that it can cut down taxes. This will be a sure way of ensuring that people with little disposable income buy affordable products. At the same, the economy of a country grows significantly.

Work Cited

Prahalad, C.K. (2004). The fortune at the bottom of the pyramid. Philadelphia: Wharton School Publishing.

Kotler, Philip. & Lee, Nancy. (2009). Up and Out of Poverty: The Social Marketing Solution. New York: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Student’s name

Professor’s name

Course

Date

Misconception about immigrants

Introduction

Immigration to the US has been occurring from the before Columbus visited America. The period following the discovery of the new world led to a huge influx of Europeans to America. Africans were involuntarily brought to America to work in plantations. Over the centuries, the immigration rules were altered to achieve particular goals. At one time the Chinese were excluded from migrating to the US. The number of migrants moving to the US has dwindled over time due to the increasing restrictions to migrants. The concepts about immigrants have varied. The immigrants may sometimes be strongly opposed for various reasons while on other occasions they are warmly welcomed.

Thesis statement: this paper will focus on elaborating on the misconcepts about immigrants and immigration. The paper will point out the various myths and also the discuss the facts. Hence, the reader will understand and separate facts from myths.

Review of myths

Most immigrants are in the country illegally.

There is no argument that there is a significant number of undocumented immigrants in the country. this has created the notion that most immigrants are in the country illegally. However, of the more than 43 million forgeiners in the country about 44% of them were naturalized citizens. A further number were lawful permanent citizens. Thus only a small number of persons were in the country illegally. On the other hand, Canada has the highest number of persons that do not leave the country once their visas expire.

Immigrants take jobs meant for US citizens

Across all occupations and industries naturally born Americans hugely outnumber naturalized citizens as well as permanent citizens. Hence, native Americans get the lion share of the jobs available in the country. native Americans get best education hence avoid low-paying jobs which are targeted by immigrants.

Low-skilled jobs often hire undocumented immigrants and exploit them for cheap labour. The Americans reap the benefits by buying cheap food that is produced from immigrant labor.

The wickedest persons from many countries come to the country and are guilty for the crimes and violence.

Immigrants have to pass the rigorous process of recruiting. The process filters out potential criminals. Immigrants come to the country to work, unite with household members or to escape a unsafe condition. Immigrants are less probable to do grave wrongdoings than native-born residents.

Immigrants do not pay taxes and burden the economy.

There are various ways through which residents pay taxes. Immigrants must use taxable good such as gas and hence pay their taxes. The contribution is significant. Immigrants give a projected $11.74 billion in national and local taxes every year. Yet, the immigrants cannot be able to reap all the benefits of the taxes they pay until they become full-fledged citizens.

Prohibiting immigrants and refugees from common Muslim nations will safeguard the US from terrorists.

President Trump issued an executive order in 2017 that blocked the entry of muslims from entering the country for 90 days. However, the country has majorly been safe from extremists for a long time. Furthermore, citizens from such countries go through thorough screening before getting a chance to enter the country.

Recommendations

Immigrants should leave the country immediately when their visas expire.

The public should be educated about the reaps brought by immigration.

The immigration officials should keep stringent details of all immigrants and follow them up.

Conclusion

There are several misconceptions that have developed in the country over the years. The country should develop policies to accommodate foreigners. The naturalization process should be made easy and smooth to decrease the number of illegal immigrants in the US.

References

Chomsky, A. (2018). ” They take our jobs!”: and 20 other myths about immigration. Beacon Press.

Cole, D. (2019). Five myths about immigration. Race And Ethnic Conflict: Contending Views On Prejudice, Discrimination, And Ethnoviolence, 257.

Fairlie, R. W., & Lofstrom, M. (2015). Immigration and entrepreneurship. In Handbook of the economics of international migration (Vol. 1, pp. 877-911). North-Holland.

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Miriam Zoila Pérez: How racism harms pregnant women and what can help

Miriam Zoila Pérez, a woman from San Francisco, California, speaks about stress and its effects on a growing fetus. Her anxiety was immediately apparent; she said that her heart was pounding, her hands were clammy, she was sweating, and her breath was slightly shallow (Pérez). Although all of her nerve and stress symptoms are natural, she went on to say that prolonged exposure to them would make you sick. I was completely taken aback after seeing the Ted Talk. I had no idea that stress could cause so many complications during pregnancy. ‘Stress during pregnancy can prematurely cause the body to begin working, as stress demonstrates that the womb is not a healthy place for the fetus,’ according to Pérez. “Pain during pregnancy is linked to a variety of other health conditions, including high blood pressure which low birth weight, and may cause a number of health complications, making birth significantly riskier for both parents and infants,” she continues.

Data suggests that individuals with more prejudicial conditions are more likely to have poor health, according to Pérez. It’s tearing my heart apart. Discrimination against an individual for any cause is never acceptable. Every woman is entitled to happiness and safety, as well as the opportunity to give birth to a happy and healthy child. Unfortunately, as shown by the Ted Talk, this is not the case. “Black women are four times more likely than white women to die during pregnancy and childbirth,” according to Perez. “Black women are twice as likely as white women to die within their first year of life, and they are twice as likely to be born too small two to three times as frequently, both indicators of poor development,” she said.

Works Cited

Pérez, Miriam Z. “How Racism Harms Pregnant Women — and What Can Help.” TED: Ideas Worth Spreading, www.ted.com/talks/miriam_zoila_perez_how_racism_harms_pregnant_women_and_what_can_help.

Misleading News Source

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Institution

Date

Misleading News Source

News networks are the closest and easiest way that the public often gets access to information. It is through the news network that we are able to know what is happening around the globe, the government projects. Aside from reporting what is happening, the media is an important tool in helping keep the check and balances of the government. When people news articles 90% of the population will often believe in the news piece. This is because most have put their trust to the journalist to get all the information out there, verify it before printing it. However, in the recent years especially in the 21st century there has been an increase in the number of news that are not entirely true. The sad part is some of these news sources come from reliable news networks such as the CNN or the Network times. When such mistakes are made, the public is left wondering how could such news article undergo approval from the editorial team to printing.

ABC News fell victim of reporting false news. In 2017, one of the ABC reporters reported that Michael Flynn who was a former White House official who had pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI officials would testify against president Trump on the issue of Russia. NBC wrote a news article that cited a single anonymous source saying that Flynn would testify that he had made offers to the Russian ambassador to Trump while the presidential campaigns were underway. However, the network would later backtrack stating that Flynn worked on Trump’s orders to approach the Russians but it was after the election and the meeting was to repair the United States and Russian ties as well as to come up with ways in which the two countries would be able to fight ISIS (David, 2017). By the time the correction was being made, the damage had already been done. There was scare that the stock would crash and people were also getting worked up that President Trump had colluded with Russian government to sabotage the election.

During the 2016 presidential election, there were unfounded reports that were going around on President trump and coalition with the Russians. The CNN run a story that linked one close ally to President Trump Anthony Scaramucci who was a Wall Street Financier had met with people who were close to the President of Russia Vladimir Putin. The publication had been made from a single anonymous source. However, later CNN retracted this news piece stating that it had not gone through the right triad before it was published thus they could not stand by it and they also did offer a public apology to Scaramucci. What shocked many was that the three news journalist who have a good track record on doing investigative piece resigned. The damage had already been done and the information was out there to the public (Farhi, 2017).

Daily Mail which was once a reputable news source in the recent past has been found offering apologies for misleading news articles. In 2019, Daily Mail was forced to ask for an apology for his misleading news on a town in France. According to Daily Mail they claimed that there were 300,000 illegal immigrants that were living in Saint-Denis which was a neighborhood in Paris (Shortlist Team, 2019). The article attributed the increase in crime in the area to the illegal immigrants. The population of the entire area was 110, 000 thus when Daily Mail stated 300,000 Muslim immigrants it was already wrong. The article also talked of Sharia laws yet no Sharia or religious courts exist in France. For getting these facts wrong, the Mail offered an apology.

When it comes to reporting of news stories that are false, the public do not seem to judge harshly these news centers and that is why most continue giving out information that is half-baked. Most people often do not really want to substantiate the information that they have been given if it is right or wrong. This however can be explained with Plato’s view oh half-truth. According to Plato, the citizens needed to only know what would be necessary for their lives. During the presidential campaign, what the two parties did would matter so much to the voters and this is why any information that was related to an election campaign would be picked up so fast and when the people realize that the information they had was wrong, most did not take any action against the news network despite the irresponsibility.

Martha Stewart had built a name for herself as a reputable businesswoman. However, in 2001, she sold her stock for a Biotechnology company and immediately after selling her stock the next day the stock value of the company came crumbling down. With this incident she was accused of insider trading although this became hard for the law enforcers to establish. Martha Stewart eventually was charged for lying to the police officers and obstruction of justice into the case. Many tabloids ran the story of how a once loved face of America was now facing trial with others actually stating that her show may never pick up which eventually afterwards picked up and got good ratings despite the case. Standards are held high for celebrities. When most of this celebrities make mistake even before they are found guilty most already conclude that they are guilty. Most forget that most of these celebrities are humans and at times to error is human. The same way we are unforgiving to most celebrities we should also be unforgiving to news networks for feeding us information that is half-truth.

In conclusion, news network often seems to get away with reporting of information that may not be accurate. Back in the days, the standards of journalism were not as they were now. The journalist did their research and before a news piece was published or reported all the facts had to be checked to ensure that they were correct. Nowadays this does not seem the case and the sad part is with technology even misleading news information can be picked up and information spread like wildfire.

References

David, J. E. (2017, December 2). ABC News clarifies, then corrects its bombshell report of Michael Flynn’s discussions with Russia. Retrieved from https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/01/abc-news-issues-corrects-bombshell-michael-flynn-report.htmlFarhi, P. (2017, June 27). CNN’s Russia story debacle came at the worst possible time for the network. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/cnns-russia-story-debacle-came-at-the-worst-possible-time-for-the-network/2017/06/27/8eb23616-5b3d-11e7-a9f6-7c3296387341_story.htmlShortlist Team. (2019, February 6). The Daily Mail forced to issue humiliating apology for misleading Paris article. Retrieved from https://www.shortlist.com/news/daily-mail-apology-misleading-paris-article

Khilauna Inspirations: Marketing Plan

© Texas Southern University

2011

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Khilauna Inspirations is a start-up company with intentions to bring diversity, self-confidence and achievement into young girls’ lives. Our focus is to design an Indian Barbie doll, in accordance with the Indian culture, but a doll that will add significant symbolizing attributes to bring empowerment to young girls. Khilauna Inspirations targets local Indian markets in cities such as Bombay and Calcutta. A recognizable, Indian-designed Barbie doll for children is an unmet need in this country===HANSEN COMMENT, NOT QUITE —WHAT WAS THE UNMET NEED?. SELF-ESTEEM? Currently the American Barbie doll is not popular in India because of parent’s lack of recognition with the tradition of Barbie. Hence creating an Indian Barbie doll that embodies Indian culture will become a must-have for little girls.

Factors that affect the purchase decision would be availability and consumer perceptions on whether the doll is a respectful resemblance of a traditional Indian woman. Currently these types of products are increasingly becoming important and the attitudes toward them are positive. Higher disposable incomes, the development of modern urban lifestyles and an increase in consumer awareness have affected buyer behavior in cities, towns and even rural areas.

The Indian toy industry is estimated at about 850 million US dollars and until now has generated only 0.5% of the global market. The growth of around 15% promises to raise this figure rapidly, especially in the context of the growing middle class and the increasing willingness to spend money on luxury goods. India itself has more than 800 toy manufacturers, exporters, and suppliers, which means that 60% of the market is handled by Indian manufacturers and foreign companies with subsidiaries in India.

(HANSEN COMMENT: THEY NEED TO PUT SOMETHING IN HERE ABOUT THEIR EXPECTED SALES AND PROFITS)

Brief Table of Contents

I. Environmental Analysis: General External Conditions4

2.0 Market Analysis6

3.0 S.W.O.T. Analysis9

4.0 Marketing Objectives10

5.0 Marketing Strategies11

6.0 Sales and Distribution Strategy12

7.0. Marketing Implementation13

8.0 Evaluation and Control14

9.0 Financials 15

10.0 Selected References16

1.0 ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS: GENERAL EXTERNAL CONDITIONS

Economic Factors

The Indian market is very large with its one and a half billion plus population. It presents lucrative and diverse opportunities for U.S. exporters with the right products, services, and commitment.  India’s requirements for equipment and services for major sectors such as energy, environmental, healthcare, high-tech, infrastructure, transportation, and defense will exceed tens of billions of dollars in the mid-term as the Indian economy further globalizes and expands.  India’s GDP, growing at 6.7% (for 2008-09), makes it one of the fastest growing economies in the world and the second fastest in Asia.  India has potential for a sustained growth of 8-10% for the next couple of years. India has a large pool of skilled workers, a rapidly growing middle class with a desire to consume. The country also has a rich natural resource base, which includes coal, iron, water, limestone, and granite. Now is the time for U.S. companies to enter the rising Indian market. The type of economy is a former socialist economy; India is now a free-market economy since circa 1990. International competition and foreign investment were key factors leading to the demise of the socialist economy, and growth of the free market it is today.

Trade Factors

India’s top 10 major trading partners not included in a PTA consist of China, USA, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Singapore, UK, Belgium, Hong Kong, and Netherland. India does most of their trade within the Commonwealth. SAFTA is the primary PTA with India. India being an agriculturally rich company have a high export volume with the following resources/products; meat and fish products, rock salt, chemicals, leather, wool, newsprint paper, oils, and wood. Naturally they import many technologically advance goods including machinery, and electronics.

Cultural Factors

India is a high context culture where less information is contained in the verbal part of a message. A person’s word is his or her bond. Trust is ranked above statistics and empirical data when making business deals. There is less need to anticipate contingencies and provide for external legal sanctions; this is because the culture emphasizes obligations and trust as important values. As far as family relations, Indians are very family oriented; they respect family values and commit to family above their individual needs. As far as work ethic, the main reason Indians go to work is to meet and support the needs of their family (they are not money hungry). Education in India is very expensive; a public grade school, with a system that is not so good, is about $658.690 to $1, 536.94 per annum. A more exclusive school has a tuition fee of $1,976.07 to $4,391.27 a year.

1.4 Legal Factors

The Indian government has come to realize that a strong legal framework coupled with an effective implementation structure will help the country have a strong system of intellectual property protection. There are laws but the protection is limited, which may be a problem for our product. Particular for our intended product-market, this will pose substantial concern and we must assume the projected liability and risk going into this sector. Corruption practice affects India’s regulatory concerns, which has prompted a global economic slowdown. This relates to foreign business on a large scale, because if they can bypass official paperwork and taxation laws through bribery, it makes it unfair for other business entering the market, as well as consumers of the products they offer.

2.0 MARKET ANALYSIS

Description of Customer Needs:

India 1 (Consumers) – Largest Value Consumer baseConsumers living in the top 30 cities of the country, with household income exceeding Rs. 35,000 per month ($700). Post-graduates or professional graduates, businessmen, self-employed (CAs, doctors, architects etc.), and executives own major white goods like refrigerator, washing machines, TV and a Car. They are at par with the developed world’s consumers in terms of tastes, preferences and propensity to spend.

India 2 (Climbers) – Largest Volume Consumer baseConsumers living in Indian towns having a population of 20,000 and above; with a household income between Rs. 15000 and Rs. 35000 per month ($200 to 600); This includes graduates, white/blue collared workers, small businessmen, traders, and self- employed. They would own any two of the three major white goods – refrigerator, washing machine and TV. The major competing firm for us would be Mattel who currently has operations in India but lack the proper marketing and creative channels to make their Barbie a success.

Competitive Analysis:Some of the competitors our company faces are with popular Mattel Inc. products such as the Princess line from Disney, Mattel Inc., is the world’s biggest toymaker; and inventor of the Barbie Doll. The name of our company is Khilauna Inspiration’s (toy inspirations). We are located in Houston Texas and our business it to create toys that inspire. Kanya Mira is our core product; she is a young Indian woman who was recently engaged and is planning her extravagant wedding. Her detailed “story” (childhood-now) is written on the back of every box sold. This way children will be able to relate to her on a more realistic basis. She can become not only a figment of one’s imagination; but also a new family member with a past, present, and future.

Current customers and target market segmentsBarbie’s target market measurement of a Mattel’s marketing strategy is its ability to impact and improve upon each feature of that strategy. Mattel’s hope is to achieve a long and prosperous relationship with its customer. They must identify certain customers using a marketing mix and implementing the strategies and goals outlined.

Rank competitors by market share in relevant target segmentsLeading the pack Mattel Inc. Barbie’s share of the fashion doll market has shrunk from 75% in 2000 to roughly 60% today. Worldwide sales of Bratz reached $700 million last year—growing more than 45% over the previous 12 months, while sales of Barbie have stagnated.

Based on Nasdaq Mattel’s current stock price is MAT 25.37-0.27 -1.05%

Another competitor that our company faces is the new found BRATZ market share. It rose to 38.2%, up dramatically from 14.6% for the same period last year. The nearest competitor to BRATZ lost significant ground with their market share dropping to 46.1%, down from 69.9% for the same period last year.

Discuss each competitor’s strengths

One of Mattel’s most important strengths is the history that it has behind their company 60 years of rapport with consumers.

Mattel is at the forefront of the toy industry.

Mattel has staying power when facing new competition.

The brand remains very popular among customers.

Weaknesses

Not been able to penetrate the Indian market well

Keep the same product line when selling Internationally (standardization)

Core product (Barbie) had a significant drop in popularity. (No longer listed in the top 5 selling dolls)

Future competitive threatsThe most notable threat in the domestic market is the systematic movement away from tangible toys, which account for a majority of Mattel’s core products, at an earlier age. Children are adopting more interactive and electronic toys earlier in age today, eroding Mattel’s primary market of children under the age of 10. This has already forced Mattel to enter, and may force Mattel to further their involvement in the technological realm, a product category in which the firm has performed very poorly.

The final issue Mattel must address is that of selling in foreign markets. An important aspect of going global is being able to adapt to different cultures and to break down cultural barriers. Mattel has done a little bit of this with the changing of the product packaging, and some of their Barbie lines. However, there are still some countries that are boycotting Mattel because they are offended by some of their products that are being sold.

Supplier and Distributor Network/Situation:Our product will be sold in India’s most popular toy store Hamley’s, which will be via an indirect distributor. Also, to ensure that Kanya Mira is available to every child that dreams of owning her, she will be sold online so that she is available directly to the customer.

Our product, The Princess Bride “Kanya” will be positioned as a role model for young girls who desire to go beyond the expectations others have set for her. She wants to be successful, educated and powerful while being an example to other young girls. This is what differentiates Kanya from any other “Barbie’s” being sold in India. There is a lack of inspiration for tweens in India and our goal as a company is to fill that void while remaining in the boundaries of India’s culture and religion. We also feel that remaining in these boundaries will help maintain good relationships with our distributor as well as the retailer.

The purchase processThe distributor’s purchase will be based solely on the demand of Kanya in India. We anticipate that our doll, The Princess Bride will be sold heavily in the toy store, therefore creating a large demand. India has the youngest demographic profile among the world’s large nations. More than half the population is younger than25. The number of young people younger than 14 is greater than the entire US population. 42% of India’s population is below the international poverty line of U.S $1.25 per day, leaving 58% of the population above the poverty line. That is our primary target demographic.

Market Demand:

Overall market

The current size of the overall foreign toy market in India is (833 million) dollars per year, roughly 35 billion R’s.

Individual Market

The current size of our market is children living in tier 1 and tier 2 cities in India that range from ages 3-12; whose family make over 40,000 R’s per year. Based on our research, there are 38 million people living in these two tiers, and an average of 3.1 children per family. This data makes our target market approximately 2.4 million.

The potential size of our market is greater than 2.4 million, because although tier 1 and tier 2 cities have majority of the nation’s wealth, there are families located outside of the aforementioned tiers that make well over 40,000 R’s per year. For this reason we have estimated our potential market size to be around 4 million.

The actual penetration of current products within our market is as follows; Mattel owns a 26% Market share, and Funskool has a 30% market share. They produce dolls sold to young Indian girls, but they are all the same dolls sold to young American girls. This makes our penetration of current product zero, because no American doll is comparable to Kanya Mira.

Usage Rates

The average Indian child spends only $5 US dollars on a toy in India, while the average American child spends $281 dollars on a toy in the US. This tells us that based on the family incomes in India the purchase of toys is very infrequent. By an estimate less than 5 times a year.

3.0 SWOT ANALYSIS

Strengths:

At this time, our company does not have any recordable strength; other than the talents we have acquired through employees internally.

Weaknesses:

The first weakness is the high barriers to entry, as you can see from our research dolls are expensive. The U.S. created “Barbie” sells anywhere from $17.00- to 25.00. The average Indian child only spends $5.00 on any toy. This poses another weakness; our company will be forced to do business with manufacturers in China to reduce our retail costs.

Opportunities:

That may arise for our company includes expansion; we plan to manufacture several different versions of Kanya if she is successful. If we combat the odds and acquire a large market share, we may be offered a partnership with a large toy company already present in India.

Threat:

The main threat posed is that our competitors copy our “product” and takeover our market share.

We may not meet the required cultural requirements to entice the parents to purchase the doll.

4.0 MARKETING OBJECTIVES

Khilauna Inspirations plans to use the word of mouth strategy as our main marketing vehicle through the use of online toy stores, our website traffic, and being sold at local Indian toy store Beachland. We want to place billboards in the neighborhoods of our target market.

5.0 MARKETING STRATEGIES

5.1 Mission Statement

Khilauna Inspirations mission is to create a product that reflects uplifting leadership, poise, achievement, and triumph giving the female youth inspiration allowing them to rise to the occasion not allowing failure to outweigh their futures.

5.2 Target Markets

Primary

Middle class Indian families that comprise 30% of the overall country; Catering to the ages (3-12)

Secondary

Secondary market will constitute of the upper middle income throughout Indian that make up 15% of the overall country.

5.3 Product-Market Positioning

Kanya Mira will be a quality product that will provide quality results. Inspiring the middle youth teach values that will be instilled even as an adult. The dependability and benefits of the product should be enough to create demand within Indian. With inspirational values being our main focus, the youth of India will support the product. This will lead to a rise in the demand of dolls and thus more sales creating a popular following.

5.4 Marketing Mix

Product: Our product is a (n) inspirational doll geared to the young woman of the Indian people. Place: Our company is located in America catering to the youth of India.

Promotion: marketing to parents with young daughters embedding the idea to purchase a unique product that meets the traditional standards they want for their daughters Price: Kanya Mira will be sold for 55.28 rupees

6.0 SALES AND DISTRIBTION STRATEGY

6.1 Overview

Khilauna Inspirations will render services from Mulia Company Ltd. in Indonesia. Mulia has over 20 years expertise in their field. The company recently added plastic toys to their everyday manufacturing. By using Mulia, we will save a large percentage in our budget for manufacturing costs and using the remainder of the money set aside to have the product shipped to India. It will cost on average, $0.27 to make each doll. Each doll will be sold for $1.25 in US dollars and 55.28 in rupees.

6.2 Priority Actions

Control the safety quality of every toy batch; ensuring every child can have a safe toy for knowledge and joy while playing with Kanya Mira.

6.3 First Step

We will export the product by sea from Indonesia to India. The distance between the two countries is 3,391 miles.

6.4 Second Step

Mulia Company Ltd. will be the distributor to Beachland Toys, which is a local toy store in India. Our product, Kanya Mira will be available for everyday purchase at all Beachland toy stores in New Delhi, India. Also, in the near future, India will have several Hamley’s toy stores opening and we also plan for Kanya Mira to be available there as well.

7.0 MARKETING IMPLEMENTATION

7.1 Marketing Organization

The primary objective of our company is to develop and manage a cost-effective marketing, sales, and distribution Barbie doll in India. As stated earlier, our primary target will be middle class Indian households who have children between the ages 3-12. Cities like New Delhi has become a strategic investment destination in the region because its economy is one the growing economies in India. With consumer products such as toys being in demand in the New Delhi area our marketing plan for our product will lead to a successful venture.

7.2 Activities and Responsibilities

Khilauna Inspirations marketing implementation will be based on the following steps:

We will first conduct personal interviews with local Indian school children to get proper feedback concerning our ideas and attributes for the doll.

Develop a strategic partnership with Disney for exclusive licensing.

Assume all responsibility for marketing research information that will be communicated to all buyers based on production feedback from consumer use.

Advertise in local areas to support the community newspapers and utilize local distributors in product movement.

Establish and maintain a partnership with local Indian toy store Beachland to serve as the “Kanya” headquarters.

Establish new and build on existing contracts to improve the overall marketing strategies by feedback methods of products use through surveys and marketing analysis.

Remain competitive in market by reasonable sale price of product.

Train and educate distributors and maintain a commission structure that is comparable to ongoing markets.

8.0 EVALUATIONS AND CONTROL

8.1 Performance Standards

Sales averaging over 309,580 – 353,806 rupees the median income rate will indicate that Kanya Mira is willing not only generate profit but set the tone for the toy industry in Indian actually generating profits. It is estimated that the Indian toy industry volume is US $ 1 billion in the organized sector and about US$ 1.50 billion in the unorganized sector This standard is set forth in order to be realistic enough and allow room for error. With the generation of profits, will be able to keep supplying the product at a standard price with a guaranteed return. This will also mean that the strategies that the company is planning to implement are working in our favor.

8.2 Monitoring Procedures (Audits)

Khilauna Industries will employ Malik Wright; a CPA graduate from Howard University to audit our company, to make sure that our marketing money as well as advertising is being spent efficiently. Our company will also keep up with the sales of the Kanya Mira brand and make sure that Indonesian Manufacturer Company isn’t marketing its own brands throughout Indonesia. The results will be measured with the performance standards to evaluate the effectiveness of the strategies implemented.

9.0 FINANCIALS

We found that the average price spent on any toy in India is $1.00. We know that Kanya Mira will serve her purpose in uplifting and inspiring the young Indian girls. We believe that the quality of the product we are offering is very high. Unlike several toys offered in India, Kanya Mira has wardrobe changes that cost us a base of $0.25. We will charge the children/families $0.75 for a brand new wardrobe for their doll. Kanya Mira will be sold for $1.25 in US dollars and 55.28 in rupees. If they pay the initial cost of $0.25 above average for the doll, it will be like they are getting a new toy every time they purchase a new wardrobe for her, and this will be less than the average toy cost. Kanya Mira will cost on average $0.27 per doll to make leaving us with a profit of $0.98 for each doll. A 20-foot container exports from Indonesia to India for approximately 500 U.S dollars. We can ship 1,156 dolls in each crate. To ship 20,000 dolls it will cost 10 million dollars, which exceeds our starting budget of 3 million. We will have to have a joint venture to share our cost.

10.0 References

The World Factbook: India. Last updated January 20, 2011

Heritage Foundation: 2011 Index of Economic Freedom. Promoting Economic Opportunity & Prosperity.

HYPERLINK “http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/post-pta-india-mercosur-trade-to-touch-10-bn/360072/”http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/post-pta-india-mercosur-trade-to-touch-10-bn/360072/

HYPERLINK “http://blogs.worldbank.org/eastasiapacific/papua-new-guinea-coffee-farmers-face-challenges-as-demand-for-crop-continues”http://blogs.worldbank.org/eastasiapacific/papua-new-guinea-coffee-farmers-face-challenges-as-demand-for-crop-continues

HYPERLINK “http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3454.htm”http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3454.htmHYPERLINK “http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3454.htm”http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3454.html

HYPERLINK “http://www.differencebetween.net/miscellaneous/difference-between-american-and-indian-culture/#ixzz1FEORQvtu” http://www.differencebetween.net/miscellaneous/difference-between-american-and-indian-culture/#ixzz1FEORQvtu

http://www.indiahorizonz.com/business-etiquette-for-india-a-primer/

http://www.suite101.com/content/india-imports-exports-2007-a60728#

http://www.economywatch.com/indianeconomy/export-import.html