Disney Summer Internship Training Program Evaluation Essay

Disney Summer Internship Training Program Evaluation - Essay Example Response †This is the means by which the students responded to the learning procedure. The response for this situation may be sure or negative. 2. Learning †This progression attempts to check the level at which the students obtain information and aptitudes. 3. Conduct †This progression tries to discover what changes in the activity execution were because of the learning procedure. 4. Results †this progression worries about discovering the outcomes that emerge from the learning procedure regarding expanded proficiency of activities and improved creation and quality. (Kirkpatrick, 1959) This model is moderately significant as it gives an important apparatus during the time spent arranging, inconvenience shooting and assessment. Be that as it may, however this level is utilized for preparing purposes, the model can likewise be utilized for different applications in the learning procedures, for example, casual learning, instruction and advancement (Nadler, 1984). Kirk patrick composed that his destinations would be identified with the customary homeroom programs, the most broad type of preparing. He further expressed that huge numbers of the methods and standards can be applied to all way of preparing exercises that remembers interest for outside projects, execution survey, arranged guidance, and the perception of chose books (Craig, 1996). This paper would look to assess the Disney Internship preparing program plan. In the paper, the arrangement will be gauged by Kirkpatrick's model to discover what changes ought to be made to the arrangement, if the goals of the arrangement were accomplished, the quality and shortcomings of the arrangement, to recognize the individuals that ought to take part in future projects, what members profited the most and what changes, assuming any, ought to be made to the program to improve it. The target of this preparation plan is to build the nature of administration gave by understudies through the scattering of in formation to them that they can utilize and apply to their work environment to improve their proficiency and profitability. Another goal of the arrangement is increment the quantity of understudies who might return to the association to fill in as full time representatives. This is on the grounds that, after the understudy preparing program, they would have been brought into the working scene and prepared as full level representatives. Further, the arrangement will present a workshop course to empower the assistants to partake in the way of life of Disney. This is whereby the assistants will be acquainted with the different exercises that go on in the association. This will quick track their admission into the work power of the association, boosting their individual certainty and the general execution of the association. The arrangement would likewise empower the understudies to connect with the chiefs and elevated level workers of Disney and this will open up much more open doors f or them. The preparation strategies in this preparation plan will remember the utilization of the standard for class preparing nearby different methods of preparing including the utilization of recreations, conduct displaying, coaching, hands on preparing and employment revolution. These different strategies for preparing will help the understudy in acing the essential aptitudes required for the activity. These strategies for preparing will direct an individual all the more completely as it tries to give the information required, yet in addition to give a hand on way to deal with handling the activity. Utilizing this arrangement will improve the proficiency of the understudy in holding the abilities granted. Employment

Imaginative landscape Essay Example for Free

Inventive scene Essay Melbourne is the assembled countries of Australia, the ethnic mosaic that goes about as a terminal between numerous universes. Growing from the core of the city, Russel Street flaunts Greek bars adjoining Italian pizza shops sandwiched between sushi bars. Diverting left from Russel Street we arrive at another door at the terminal, little burke road as though a cut of China had been evacuated and planted right in the center of Melbourne city. We have social concerts where the drums of Africa and the didgeridoos of the indigenous channel into the lanes, a melodic concordance that gladly shows our ethnic assorted variety Visiting Federation Square during the Indian food and wine function, the orange, green and white banner was raised high while the smell of coriander and cardamom filled the air. Rising up out of the shadows of the boulevards a wrinkled and denied older man wearing a bindii on his brow moved toward a youthful high school young lady tasting on a major bowl of yellow curry. Arguing for any extra change, the young lady basically pivots and mumbles faintly, â€Å"dirty taxi drivers†. The incoherency of that image will consistently be carved into my brain. This young lady holds understanding into the overwhelming truth of our age. Our recreational enthusiasm for societies acts just as a veil to hole up behind when blamed for racial shamefulness. This food and wine attitude has developed the notorious â€Å"I’m not supremacist I have a dark best friend† to the now increasingly regular â€Å"I’m not bigot I love Japanese hand rolls†. We are starting to devour societies similarly as we expend items. With a narrow minded and prideful motivation, we plunge into multiculturalism on a shallow level. On the off chance that we are ever going to handle this racial partition, we should burrow further than performances and miso soups and produce a real regard for their people’s advantages. This year we have had an all in all a going up against and crude knowledge into Australia’s racial narrow mindedness confirming you don’t need to burrow profound to reveal the underbelly of bigotry in this nation. In March, a youthful 13-year-old young lady was examined and chastised for calling native player Adam Goodes a â€Å"ape† at any game, however the dreamtime native compromise game-the incongruity is tragicomical. Regardless of how much attempt to make this young lady chargeable for her activities; she is tragically only a result of ages of shrouded bigotry in this country†¦and it’s time we point the finger of fault toâ the reflect. We hear it all the time in the city, with our companions and it sporadically sneaks out while we are with our families. The â€Å"joke† as we attempt and spread it up , the â€Å"joke† that was innocuous fun and was not importance to annoy. Be that as it may, in Cronulla 2005, these jokes immediately turned into the vehicle for 26 wounds and 42 captures in what might be known as one of Australia’s most exceedingly awful racial driven uproars. More than 5000 local people consolidated to challenge late assaults by Lebanese posses. These fights before long become a cleanse for local people to release their internal bigotry. SMSs, for example, Just an update that Cronullas first wog slamming day is still on this Sunday† coursed around the town, accepting to have impelled the groups. Our social performances and ethnic festivals will unfortunately no longer cover this terrible imperfection with which Australia appears to have broken out. Last November regarded Aboriginal pioneer and previous Labor up-and-comer Tauto Sansbury left the ALP since he lost confidence in the gathering, which he says is pretentious of indigenous issues and has in it a major component of prejudice. Ceaselessly derailing ventures Sansbury challenges that the â€Å"ALP just give empty talk to the Aboriginal community†. We can no longer boldly exhibit our social occasions without at the same time supporting them away from plain view. Anyway with each new issue, regardless of how troublesome, comes an answer. Perhaps Rachel Perkins had it directly with her melodic dramatization that portrays native tracker, Albert endeavoring to help a hesitant white family in finding their little girl, Emily. Perkins utilizes Emily as the image for immaculateness, going through the blossoms and guiltlessly waving at Albert’s family. Be that as it may, with a family like the Ryan’s there is no uncertainty Emily would have grown up to be much the same as the multi year old young lady at the dreamtime coordinate. Perkins stresses the affection and energy of youngsters, demonstrating to our age that they are our possibly trust on the off chance that we are to support a genuinely lenient nation. We can no longer depend on our celebrations and common terminals to help us through racial equity. We should effectively have resilience and a general enthusiasm for the requirements of our Australian people group. We have multi year old’s calling Adam Goodes a primate, and national big names making bigot jokes on air. Furthermore, regardless of how often McGuire argues it was a â€Å"slip ofâ the tongue† I’m hesitant to state that this ‘slip’ has gotten an endemic in Australian culture.

Dorm Areas Ikenberry Commons

Dorm Areas Ikenberry Commons Hi folks! Today Ill be continuing my dorm series with Ikenberry Commons! With 9 separate halls to cover, lets get started! Overview:  Ikenberry Commons, aka the Ike or Six Pack, is known as the most social of the areas for several reasons: Its the dorm area with the most buildings, meaning it has the most people in one area compared to areas like ISR or FAR. Its located right by a lot of activity areas, including the Activities and Recreation Center (ARC), tennis courts, and soccer fields. Its just south of the main hub of a lot of Greek fraternities and sororities. In fact, theres a house right across from the Ike bus stop that sometimes blasts music on a nice sunny day. Its closest to Memorial Stadium, so if youre a big sports fan, its a plus to be right by the roaring crowds of football games. The Ike is generally a bustling area. Whether people are going to a nearby get-together,  going to 57 North (the in-dorm convenience store  you can spend credits at) for late-night munchies, or just coming back from the ARC after a good workout, youll see people at all times of day. Cautions: A couple halls still dont have air-conditioning or wireless internet. Make sure to check the Special Features section of any hall you might be interested in to see whats included, like the page for Nugent here. Speaking of Nugent, you shouldnt try applying for any newly constructed residence halls like Nugent or Bousfield. Why? Theyre the nicest halls, so upperclassmen will probably have grabbed all the open rooms. The second reason is that, even if by some miraculous luck you get a room in the new hall (were talking lottery luck hereâ€"virtually no chances), youll be surrounded by upperclassmen who already have established friend circles. Its much easier to make friends with fellow freshmen who are looking for friends like yourself, rather than upperclassmen who already have an established social routine. Not to say there wont be friendly peopleâ€"you just have to know yourself as a person and what kind of environment will make you feel comfortable. If youre someone who needs peace and quiet, the Ike  definitely isnt for you. Its hard to find small, personal areas where people arent present, and the Ike attracts all sorts of social butterflies. Its also the most crowded, which means long lines during peak hours at the dining hall. Perks:  The Ikes  dining hall serves some of the best food, despite how crowded it gets. For instance, there are avocados at the salad bar and multiple options for entrees like fried chicken or steak, and you can even order a customized milkshake. The gym (ARC) is right across the street, and if thats still far enough for you to make an excuse, theres another  small gym right inside the Ike next to the dining hall. The Ike also comes equipped with  music practice rooms which have upright pianos,  57 North is the most diversely stocked convenience store out of any of the other dorm a  la carte locations, and there are limitless lounges and tables to study at. Although you might sometimes find yourself shaking your head at a group of screaming people coming back from a night out, if youre a social person, you wont find another place more suited for making friends, finding a study buddy, or finding a group you can call your own to start living college with. Although Ive never lived at the Ike, I can say that like every other dorm, people have loved it or hated it, and I can see reasons for both sides. Hope this helps! ?? P.S. Heres a video tour of Taft Van Doren. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eP4KEdHQ0VI For more video tours, go to this page and click on the dorm youre interested in! A good resource to find out more is also to Google responses from real students, like on talk.collegeconfidential.com or the UIUC reddit. I dont link these pages directly, because its usually easier to find a specific response by Googling your question and the website, e.g. college confidential should I live at six pack uiuc? Or, you can also come and take a tour! James Class of 2016 I’m an Advertising major also pursuing a minor in Anthropology. I’m heavily involved with the American Advertising Federation on campus. I'm from Naperville, Illinois.

JD Salinger Research Paper - 1671 Words

Jerome David Salinger, also known as J. D. Salinger, is a fascinating author best known for his novel, Catcher in the Rye. Although Salinger only published one novel, he wrote several short stories for magazines like The New Yorker and Story. A large number of these stories went on to be compiled into books such as Nine Stories, Franny and Zooey, and Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction. Despite the fact Salinger has not published any stories in over 45 years, his reputation is still quite popular. Salingers stories are studied in high schools and colleges, introducing thousands of individuals to his writing and ultimately increasing his fan base. Catcher in the Rye continues to sale 250,000 copies a year†¦show more content†¦He instead took a course in short story writing at Columbia University taught by Whit Burnett. Burnett became Salingers mentor and eventually helped him publish his first short story, The Young Folks. Salinger continued to p ublish short stories in various magazines. In 1942, Salinger was drafted into the army and was a member of the Counter Intelligence Corps. After World War II, he was hospitalized in Germany for psychiatric treatment. In 1951, Salingers only novel was published, Catcher in the Rye. His collection of short stories: Nine Stories, Franny and Zooey, and Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction were published in 1953, 1961, and 1963 respectively. In 1953, he moved to Cornish, New Hampshire to escape publicity. On February 17, 1955, J. D. married Claire Douglas and had two children, Matthew and Margaret. The couple divorced in 1967. Since the late 80s Salinger has been married to Colleen ONeill. Little is known about his life after the late 1950s. Salinger died of natural causes on January 27, 2010. Salingers Influence Salingers writing has influenced several generations. So many could relate to the main character in Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield, an antihero who spoke like a real teenager and rebelled against conformity. As a staff writer for Spinner.com points outs, Caulfield was punk rock long before punk rock existed. (Spinner.com). This is the reason why so manyShow MoreRelatedCatcher in the Rye4413 Words   |  18 Pagespresent day. The essay investigates how the author, Jerome David Salinger (J.D.) develops a mixture of themes throughout the novel such as: the fall of innocence, sexuality, culture exposure, depression and more to portrayal Holden Caulfields relationship to society. The investigation is made through looking at the narrator-based story, also evaluating the step between adolescence and adulthood. With this information, investigation and research from a mixture of resources an analysis is made and parallels

Argos Was an Important Greek Polis

Located by the Gulf of Argolis, Argos (á ¼Å'Ï ÃŽ ³ÃŽ ¿Ãâ€š) is an important polis of Greece in the southern section, the Peloponnese, specifically, in the area called the Argolid. It has been inhabited since prehistoric times. The inhabitants were known as á ¼Ë†Ã ÃŽ ³ÃŽ µÃ¡ ¿â€"ÃŽ ¿ÃŽ ¹ (Argives), a term that is sometimes used for all the Greeks. Argos competed with Sparta for prominence in the Peloponnese but lost. The Gods and Heros of Argos Argos was named for an eponymous hero. The more familiar Greek heroes Perseus and Bellerophon are also connected with the city. In the Dorian invasion, when the descendants of Heracles, known as the Heraclidae, invaded the Peloponnese, Temenus received Argos for his lot. Temenos is one of the ancestors of the Macedonian royal house from which came Alexander the Great. Argives worshiped the goddess Hera in particular. They honored her with an Heraion and annual festival. There were also sanctuaries of Apollo Pythaeus, Athena Oxyderces, Athena Polias, and Zeus Larissaeus (located on the Argive acropolis known as Larissa). The Nemean Games were held in Argos from the end of the fifth century BCE to the late fourth because the sanctuary of Zeus at Nemea had been destroyed; then, in 271 BCE, Argos became their permanent home. Telesilla of Argos was a female Greek poet who wrote around the turn of the fifth century BCE.  She is best known for rallying the women of Argos against the attacking Spartans under Cleomenes I, in about 494 BCE. Argos in Literature In the period of the Trojan War, Diomedes ruled Argos, but Agamemnon was his overlord, and so the whole Peloponnese is sometimes referred to as Argos. The Iliad Book VI mentions Argos in connection with mythological figures Sisyphus and Bellerophon: There is a city in the heart of Argos, pasture land of horses, called Ephyra, where Sisyphus lived, who was the craftiest of all mankind. He was the son of Aeolus, and had a son named Glaucus, who was father to Bellerophon, whom heaven endowed with the most surpassing comeliness and beauty. But Proetus devised his ruin, and being stronger than he, drove him from the land of the Argives, over which Jove had made him ruler. Some Apollodorus references to Argos: 2.1 Ocean and Tethys had a son Inachus, after whom a river in Argos is called Inachus....But Argus received the kingdom and called the Peloponnese after himself Argos; and having married Evadne, daughter of Strymon and Neaera, he begat Ecbasus, Piras, Epidaurus, and Criasus, who also succeeded to the kingdom. Ecbasus had a son Agenor, and Agenor had a son Argus, the one who is called the All-seeing. He had eyes in the whole of his body, and being exceedingly strong he killed the bull that ravaged Arcadia and clad himself in its hide; and when a satyr wronged the Arcadians and robbed them of their cattle, Argus withstood and killed him.Thence [Danaus] came to Argos and the reigning king Gelanor surrendered the kingdom to him; and having made himself master of the country he named the inhabitants Danai after himself. 2.2 Lynceus reigned over Argos after Danaus and begat a son Abas by Hypermnestra; and Abas had twin sons Acrisius and Proetus by Aglaia, daughter of Mantineus.... They divided the whole of the Argive territory between them and settled in it, Acrisius reigning over Argos and Proetus over Tiryns. Sources Howatson, MC, and Ian Chilvers. Argos.  The Concise Oxford Companion to Classical Literature. Oxford: Oxford Univ. P, 1996.Schachter, Albert Argos, Cults The Oxford Classical Dictionary. Ed. Simon Hornblower and Anthony Spawforth. Oxford University Press, 2009.Kelly, Thomas. â€Å"The Traditional Enmity Between Sparta and Argos: The Birth and Development of a Myth.†Ã‚  The American Historical Review, vol. 75, no. 4, 1970, pp. 971–1003.Rose, Mark. Reviving Nemeas Games. Archaeology, Apr. 6, 2004.

Organizational Behaviour †Case Study Free Essays

string(100) " which can further results into more people leaving their jobs and increased number of absenteeism\." Consider the case: â€Å"Job satisfaction at Omega Technical Services Ltd† by D. Adam-Smith and L. Littlewood. We will write a custom essay sample on Organizational Behaviour – Case Study or any similar topic only for you Order Now In Adam-Smith, D. and Peacock, A. (Eds), Cases in organisational behaviour (pp. 151-162). London: Pitman and Prepare a report that addresses (i. e. , explains) the situation in the case (i. e. , high job turnover among professional staff) taking the perspective of work motivation and employee attitudes. Word count: 3000 Module: Organizational Behavior Introduction to Omega Technical Services Ltd. A labor intensive medium sized firm â€Å"Omega Technical Services Ltd† was established in mid 1950s. The main focus of Omega was to provide technical services to the different clients mostly from engineering sector. Omega consists of 180 full time staff which is dispersed in eight different regional offices. Main services provided by Omega were to provide documentation service in the form of manuals for operations and maintenance. In 1984 as a result of increased competition and falling profit margins in the field the company planned a cost reduction plan and changes to its management style to improve the efficiency of the organisation and to remain competitive in the business sector. But at the same time board of directors were concerned about the low morale of the employees and its impact over the performance of the company. There were increased incidences of low quality work followed by high turnover i. e. 33% over the last full year. After going through the provided case study and the relevant study materials, it is established that Directors of the Omega was trying to find out the main reason for low morale within the organisation and to find the recommendation which will improve the job satisfaction of employees which will ultimately improve the productivity of the staff and create new knowledge. To full fill this objective a formal attitude survey was conducted by the personnel manager of the Omega ltd. with the help of anonymous questionnaire. The questionnaire was designed by using both open ended questions and closed questions. The final questionnaire was consists of 83 questions, out of which 68 were closed questions and 12 were open ended. Closed questionnaires were conducted to address five main areas including, general satisfaction, communication, fairness/supervision, and involvement/identification. Matters relating to other jobs and companies which included some pay issues. KEY CURRENT AND FUTURE CHALLENGES The overall response rate of the survey was 42%. Based on that analysis of the result of the questionnaire and supportive reading from the available literature, now we will look at some of the most important current and future challenges which Omega is facing, and which can affect the overall performance of the group in the near future in the strong competitive and innovative market. The key challenges facing Omega can be summarized as follows: 1. Understanding Culture and Employees Management Relationship 2. Lack of Communication within the Organisation 3. Creating Organizational Knowledge ( lack of investment in Research and Development) 4. Attracting, Motivating and Retaining workers in Omega 5. Rewards system Creating a Knowledge Sharing Culture Gordon (1996) defines an organisation’s culture as the part of its interior atmosphere that includes a set of postulations, values and principles that organisational associates share and use to direct their execution. Omega also has the need to create a strong culture to build relationship among organizational levels. Hence one key challenge for Omega is the need to build a knowledge culture that facilitates and inspires people to generate, split, and exploit knowledge for the advantages and lasting accomplishment of the organization (Oliver and Kandadi, as cited in King, 2007). Organisational culture is argued as powerful input for effective and efficient management and organizational learning (Janz and Prasamphanich, as cited in King, 2007). In Omega the idea of knowledge sharing needs to be implemented into its organizational culture. The following facts highlighted in Table 1 below by Gurteen, (1999) illustrate why sharing knowledge is important. Table 1: Why knowledge sharing is essential to the survival of almost all businesses Intangible products| Ideas, processes, information are taking a growing share of global trade from the traditional, tangible goods of the manufacturing economy. | Sustainable competitive advantage| Increasingly the only sustainable competitive advantage is continuous innovation is the application of new knowledge| Increasing turnover of staff| People don’t take a job for life any more. When someone leaves an organization their knowledge walks out of the door with them. | Accelerating change| Technology, business and social. As things change so does our knowledge base erode – in some businesses, as much of 50% of what you knew 5 years ago is probably obsolete today| Source: adapted from Gurteen, G, (Feb 1999) Creating a Knowledge Sharing Culture, Knowledge Management Magazine, 2(5), www. gurteen. com/gurteen/gurteen. nsf/id/ksculture Culture is important in shaping assumptions about what knowledge is worth exchanging; when we are creating an environment for the knowledge sharing in Omega, making it means that knowledge sharing the norm and it also motivates the people to work in the team, provides such sort of knowledge which will be fruitful for the organization and employees. Hansen and Oetinger (2001) explain a new T shaped management where a new kind of executives operates breaking away from the conventional chain of command to split knowledge without stinting across the organization. While the systems are good at transferring explicit knowledge direct personal contact is needed for effective transfer of implicit knowledge which is needed for business solutions and is crucial for innovation. Hence implementing a open structure in Omega the company can apprehend the reimbursement of multi department learning and teamwork without having to establishment top down looms that could undermine the liberty and answerability needed to create exceptional entity unit performance. Trust As the result of the questionnaire concluded that employees have very little trust on their leaders as they feel that favoritism play a significant role for the growth in the company. Lack of trust on the upper management also plays a vital role on the motivation and commitment of the employees towards organization, which can further results into more people leaving their jobs and increased number of absenteeism. You read "Organizational Behaviour – Case Study" in category "Free Case study samples" For a sharing culture Omega need to build an environment of trust so that it will establish customs about cross-functional associations and communication. For example, Gold et al. as cited in King 2007) concluded that organizations with open and supportive value orientations are predisposed toward constructive knowledge behaviors. Interpersonal trust in the workplace has been shown to have a strong and robust influence on a variety of organizational phenomena including job satisfact ion, stress, organizational commitment, productivity and mostly to knowledge sharing (Mooradian, et al, 2006). Hence Omega needs to create a culture that facilitates the willingness of people to participate meaningfully in its development and trust of the organisation. Attracting, Motivating and Retaining knowledge workers in Omega In Omega the turnover for the company is 33% over the last full year which means roughly one out of every three employees. Omega faces the vital challenge of retaining and motivating their knowledge worker. From the results of questionnaire we can establish that inequality and favoritism at the work place is one of the main reasons for high turnover, as approximately 70% of the respondents mentioned that they have applied for other jobs with in the last year time period. The main reason for this because employees at Omega feels that they were not treated fairly and their was lack of respect from their managers. Employees also mentioned that they feel that due to the current economic situation they felt underpaid as compared to the skills, knowledge and value they are generating for the company It is evident from the case that the traditional employment contracts may no longer be effective in bonding knowledge workers and retain their loyalty. Furthermore, still practicing de-centralized management system, clearly there is lack of any formal communication policy with in the Omega Technical Services ltd. According to Thompson and Heron as cited in (Horwitz, at al 2003) the employment relationship between the worker has changed to a new psychological contract where individuals are seeking market sustainable employability and organization require high work commitment rather than job security and loyalty. Research carried by Horwitz, et al( 2003) supports that that turnover is usually higher in knowledge workers than non knowledge workers as they try to seek new challenges from more progressive companies. Motivation is argued to be a very individual phenomenon where what motives one doesn’t necessarily motivate the other worker. Understanding individual needs at work helps management to better match rewards with motivation. Much of the motivation theories try to explain what (needs) and how (process) to motivate employees (Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs, Hertzberg Two factor theory, Equity theory and Goal theory). And most of these theories identify generally that extrinsic (satisfied externally, physical objects) and intrinsic reward (satisfied internally like status and recognition) as the basis of motivating employees. Hertzberg’s two factor theory of motivation in the year (1959) distinguishes between hygienic factors and motivators; the hygienic factors have only the potential to eliminate dissatisfaction, while only motivators have the potential to increase satisfaction. In the case of Omega they were lacking both the hygiene factors and motivators. For example, employee of the Omega were not very satisfied with the working condition with in the company and also reported that they were not treated fairly on work place and showing their concerns about lack of respect from their managers at work. Horwitz et al (2003) proposes a diagram for attracting; inspiring and keeping of personnel which can be a useful framework that Omega (refer to diagram 2 in Appendix). Most favored retention strategies are those that are focused on portfolio of practices where top management support and leadership is important. While to motivation includes providing more extrinsic rewards like challenging work, creative working culture with autonomy, celebration of success and developing intelligence of purpose, course and enthusiasm. To attract workers the cultural fit is seen as important in Horwitz et al’s schema. Selective employing put into practicing have constructive effects on learning and in relative to organizational learning is the staffing and preservation of esteemed employees (Davenport, as cited in Lopez, et al, 2006). Omega is a service industry business that runs on the ideas, knowledge and knows how of the people who are working in it. Because of the people focused business this is the demand for the Omega that every individual working in the company should be educated, well motivated and inspire to deliver high performance. But due to the limiting budget for research and development and freeze on the benefits package at Omega, there was very limited opportunities for managers to invest in the research and development and to creat new knowledge for the organisation. Davenport et al. have acknowledged eight data management success features such as (1) technology infrastructure; (2) organizational infrastructure; (3) balance of lexibility, evolution and ease-of-accessibility to knowledge; (4) shared knowledge; (5) knowledge-friendly culture; (6) motivated workers who develop, share and use knowledge; (7) means of knowledge transfer using various information technology infrastructure; and (8) senior management support and commitment (Davenport et al. (1998) sited by Chong (2005) Overall knowledge management has become a people-centric because it is the network of the competent peoples which makes an organization successful. So, now the question is, what are the sources of motivation for these individuals within the company and also outside of the organization, and is individual motivation is aligned with the overall organizational goals and objectives? Omega needs to develop a reward system which is based on the performance and quality contribution of the employees. First, company has to identify that what are the motivation factors which effect different levels of their employees with in the company. The motivation factor that attracts and engages the young employees, For example, moving to the top of the hierarchy level was very important for the previous years but this is not the case today, and definitely there will be some resistance to these motivational factors from the different levels of the company. But it does not mean that it shows the absence of motivation in that particular level, but rather the presence of inappropriate will or motivation (Smith and McLaughlin, 2003). Every organization has some sources from where employee motivation sprouts (Amar and Hall, 2004). So, now it depends upon the management of the Omega that how they loads these sources with the factors that motivate, energize and direct the employees towards the achievement of the organizational goals. These factors may be intrinsic and extrinsic and in contrast to aiming at fulfillment of employees cognitive needs, these factors connect with their psyches (Amar and Hall, 2004). Reward and Recognition System Omega must design a reward and recognition system in such a way that it encourages and motivate the workers to the sharing of vision and task. The purpose of this system should be made very clear and visible to employees. In addition it is important for Omega to involve and encourage employee participation into the reward system and must measure the level of employee satisfaction with the system in order to design the correct program. Hence one of the key challenges for managers in Omega is to understand what actually motivates individuals to excel in their work and more importantly how to influence what others are motivated to do. According to Kerr (1995) it is of utmost importance that managers or the senior management recognize the type of activity they are rewarding because the reward and recognition scheme may be ineffective if they are rewarding an activity that they are trying to discourage. Also Cameron and Pierce (1997 cited by Milne, P. , 2007) suggested that verbal and tangible rewards do help in increasing efficiency among the employees, higher level of job satisfaction and overall enhancing motivation. Praising people personally and sincerely for their hard work can actually help create a sense of belongingness. Employees would feel that their work is being recognized, valued and appreciated. This way employee’s maybe intrinsically motivated to perform and be admired by other colleagues for their contribution. I believe that the partners or the senior management in Omega should not only praise perfection but also praise employees who are showing signs of improvement in their work. Moss Kanter (1987) pointed out that these reward systems can actually motivate individuals to perform effectively only for themselves and not for the organisation. According to Moss Kanter the amount of reward one gets depends on the position or status in the organisation. Higher the status, higher the rewards. Hence individuals will try their level best to get promoted quickly in order to get higher rewards. Omega must try to develop a reward programme were the reward itself is not the main driver for contributing and sharing knowledge but could be used as a tool for giving directions and purpose to what employees do. Money is normally considered to be the major motivation factor in the organizations, but this is not the only case in the Omega. In management industry money can be a good source of motivation if it is designed properly and establish a clear linkage what management wants and what its employees can do in their jobs that is with in their control (CEO Sounds-off, 1997) As Omega is facing problems in motivation of employees from different level of employees, it should announce certain goals and targets for the improvement of performance and then relate it with the different rewards for completing these goals and target. This kind of rewards will give the employees a sense of achievement. Incentives As we discussed above that money is not the only motivating factor in the firms, so the rewards should be expanded to the non-financial incentives, like introduction of some work benefits, promotion and further training opportunities for the personal development. In Omega, these kinds of incentive will be helpful for the future growth of the company, because in case of further training and personal development, it will leads towards the better and improved performance from that employee in the future and will keep him /her motivated to play his/her part. This behavior is supported by the Maslows theory of â€Å"hierarchy of Needs† in which Maslow talks about the need of the self actualization. According to Maslow, if all of these needs are satisfied, we can still expect that there will be development of another need, â€Å"unless the individual is doing, what he, individually fitted for† (Mahesh 1993 sited by Amar and Hall 2004). Training Strategic training is a fundamental tool that facilitates communication among employees, by providing a common language and shared vision and is argued to be one of the most significant HR practices for the organizational learning process (Nonaka and Takeuchi 1995, Ulrich et al 1993 as cited in Lopez et al, 2006). In the case of Omega, questionnaire results shows a clear amount of respondents shows their interest in learning new knowledge and shows their willingness for further training by which they can improve their effiecincy. A clear understanding of Omega’s missions and values will help to ensure the right direction for the learning processes. Training should be orientation towards developing culture of commitment to learning and should demonstrate to employees and management framework link to the company strategy. Training should be practical support for organizational goals and work related technologies (Bassi and McMurrer, 2007). The training programs should also favour the sharing of ideas and best practices improving the level of openness to new ideas thus promoting flexibility in acquiring critical skills needed for effectively responding to competitive challenges ( Lopez, et al 2006). There is empirical evidence to indicate (DiBella et al, 1996; McGill and Slocum, 1993 Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995; Ulrich et al 1993 as cited in Lopez) the idea that training plays a critical role in maintaining and developing the capabilities both individual and rganizational and also substantially contributes toward the process of organizational change. Job Description In Omega, it is recommended that job should be the first motivating factor for the employees. Company need to redesign the job descriptions of the employees, so that they can attract and retain the best people. While designing a job responsibility, company can include the factors that attract and motivate the employee’s interest and mind and glue them t o put effort in their respective jobs towards the achievement of the organizational objectives. This will leads towards the improved loyalty with the firm and motivate people to do their best and it will also reduce the loss of knowledge by people leaving the Omega. In case of young employees this approach frees their minds, which allows them to engage them in the activities which brings innovations to the company, which is very important for the Omega. According to Amar and Hall, companies should allow the people to think innovative ideas while managers patrolling the boundaries (Amar and Hall, 2004). Another important point which also needs to be considered is family-friendly working schedule. Employees prefer those jobs and job schedules, where they can adjust their family and social life with out any significant impact on their job responsibilities. CONCLUSION In this assignment we discuss about the different challenges to Omega and what are the possible recommendations to address those challenges both for the current and future time. Clearly there is struggle by Omega management to keep staff motivated and there is no actual implementation of motivational theories. Due to the shortage of funds as 80% of the company’s funds are already allocated to employee’s wages, management needs to consider non-monetary incentives and rewards as we discussed in the main body of the assignment. It is concluded that in a knowledge intensive service firm, individuals are the most valuable asset and technology can only provide the relevant support for the creation and management of the business. So it is the peoples who need to be motivated to give maximum output for the company. We have looked at the different motivation factors and how to create the work environment that’s helps to achieve the rganizational goal. Based on the observations and the supported study material it is recognized that there are different sources for the motivation for the Omega employee, like how to define the job description, rewards, incentives and use of the technology to support individuals. So the combination of these factors will result in the working environ ment where every individual is performing his duties up to the best of his potential with the sense of responsibility and putting his/her share in the progress of the company. REFERANCES: Alton C, Ngee A, Polytechnic, (20001), â€Å"Relationship between the Types of Knowledge Shared and Types of Communication Channels Used†, Journal of Knowledge Management Practice, October 2001 Amar A. D, Hall S, (2004)† Motivating knowledge workers to innovate: a model integrating motivation dynamics and antecedents† European journal of Innovation Management, Volume 7 Number 2 (2004) pp. 89-101 Bassi, L. and McMurrer, D (2007) Maximising Return on People, Harvard Business Review, 85(3), pp 115-123 Bhatt, G. D, (2002), â€Å"Management strategies for individual knowledge and organizational knowledge†, Journal of Knowledge Management, Vol. No. 1, pp. 31-39 Bhatt, G. D. (2002), â€Å"Management strategies for individual knowledge and organizational knowledge†, Journal of Knowledge Management, Vol. 6 No. 1, pp. 31-39. Bill Martin, (2000),† Knowledge Based Organizations: Emerging Trends in Local Government in Australia†, Journal of Knowledge M anagement Practice, October, 2000 Brian J, (2006),† Improving knowledge for agents and self-service for customers, Customer experience management â€Å" contact centre in Europe IBM global Business Services IBM. com/bcs, IBM Customer services brochures. ej. v24 2006 Brooke, M. and Nathaniel, F. (1996), Harvest your workers Knowledge, Datamation, 42(13) pp 78-90 Clegg, S. , Kornberger, M. and Pitsis, T. (2006) â€Å"Managing and Organizations† An introduction to theory and Practice, Sage Publications Cook, S. D and Brown, J. S. (1999) Bridging epistemologies: the generative dance between organizational knowledge, Organizational Science, 10 (4) pp 381-400 Davenport, Thomas H. , and Prusak L, (1998),†Working Knowledge: How Organizations Manage What They Know†, Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Press Fjeldstad, O. Andersen, E. 2003), â€Å"Casting off the chains: value shops and value networks†, European Business Forum, Vol. 14 pp. 47-53. Gooderham, P. N. and Nordhaug, O. (eds) International Management: Cross-Boundary Challenges, Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 234-255 Gurteen, G, (Feb 1999) Creating a Knowledge Sharing Culture, Knowledge Management Magazine, 2(5), www. gurteen. com/gurteen/gurteen. nsf/id/ksculture retrieved a t 10/12/2006 Hansen, M. T. and Oetinger, B. O. (2001), Introducing T shaped Managers Knowledge Management Next Generation, Harvard Business Review, 79(3), pp106-116 Hansen, M. T. , Nohria, N. and Tierney, T. (1999) what’s Your Strategy For Managing Knowledge, Harvard Business Review, 77(2) pp106-116 Herman J. P, (2001), â€Å"The IC/KM Movement and Human System Well-Being†, Journal of Knowledge Management Practice, February 2001 Horwitz, F. M. , Heng, C. T and Quazi, A. (2003) Finders Keepers? Attracting, motivating and retaining knowledge workers, Human Resource Management Journal, 13(4), pp 23-44 Huzynski, , A. A. and Buchanan, D. A. (2007) Organisational Behaviour, 6th Edition, Prentice Hall, London Jansen J. P, Van Der Bosch A. J, Volberda W. H, (2004), †Exploratory Innovation , Exploitative Innovation, and Performance: Effects of Organizational Antecedents and Environmental Moderators†,Management Sciences, Volume 52,No. 11, November 2006,pp. 1661-1674 King, W. R. (2007) A Research Agenda for the Relationships between Culture and Knowledge Management, Knowledge and Process Management 14(13) pp 226-236 Kogut, B. and Zander, U. (1992), â€Å"Knowledge of the firm, combative capability and the replication of technology†, Organization Science, Vol. pp. 383-97. Leigh P. Donoghue, Jeanne G. Harris and Bruce A. Weitzman (1999) Knowledge Management Strategies That Creates Value, Outlook 1999 No. 1 Lopez, S. P. ,Peon, J. M. M. and Ordas, C. J. V. , (2006) Human Resource Management as a Determining Factor in Organizational Learning, Management Learning, 37 (2); pp 215-234 Meister D. Davenport (2005),† Knowledge Management at Accenture†, Richard Ivey School of Busine ss, The University of western Ontario, Ivey Management Services, 905E18 Mooradian, T. , Renzl, B. and Matzler, K. (2006) Who Trusts? Personality, Trust and Knowledge Sharing, Management Learning, 37(4) pp 523-540 Sarabia, M. (2007) Knowledge leadership cycles: an approach from Nonaka’s viewpoint, Journal of Knowledge Management, 11(3) pp 6-15 Smith P. A. C, McLaughlin M, January 15-17, 2003,†Succeeding With Knowledge Management: Getting the People Factor Right†, 6th World Congress on Intellectual Capital Innovation at McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada Tsai, W, (2002),† Social structure of â€Å"co-operation† within a multi-unit organization: Coordination, competition, and intra-organizational knowledge sharing†, Organization Science, 13(2): 179–190 Four ways of conversion or interaction of tacit and explicit knowledge which is: socialization, externalization, internalization, and combination Source adapted from Sarabia, M. ( 2007) Knowledge leadership cycles: an approach from Nonaka’s viewpoint, Journal of Knowledge Management , 11(3) pp 6-15 Proposed Schema for Attracting, Motivating and Retaining worker Questionnaire Survey Results How to cite Organizational Behaviour – Case Study, Free Case study samples

Business Strategy Chapter free essay sample

In the specific instance of the car industry in the 1960s and 1970s, Western producers were operating with a relatively high cost base compared with Japanese entrants from what was then a low-cost producer nation. The result was that the Japanese did not face markedly higher quality competition, but they could readily compete on price. Trading up through routes 2 and 3, as the Japanese did, is an interesting phenomenon. Why did the market leaders not respond? Was this solely a function of the Japanese cost structure? Was it to do with the speed of innovation in Japanese firms? Or the inertia of existing market leaders? Entering through route 5 and moving elsewhere is discussed explicitly at the end of section 5. 3. 4. As is pointed out there, this entails a lowering of price, and therefore cost, while maintaining differentiating features. It also means moving from a focused approach to a less focused approach. Neither of these moves is easy, usually because the competences of the firm have become attuned to more focus and less emphasis on cost; but also because the market may well regard such a firm as segment specific and therefore be wary of such a move. Nissan was driven into position 8 from which it needed to re-position.. For example, if it tried to move to the hybrid position – differentiated but at lower prices (and, therefore, lower costs) – this requires the organisation to be very clear about the critical success factors with consumers, and the competences required to deliver these features. †¢ †¢ †¢ Illustration 5. 2 The ‘no frills’ strategy easyJet is a good example of a no frills strategy. The questions require students to consider the basis of such a strategy and also the extent to which it is imitable. Many of these are laid out in the illustration. Clearly easyJet’s strategy is not based on its being 78  © Pearson Education Limited 2005 Instructor’s Manual lowest cost in the marketplace if this is dependent on market share in the overall market for air travel. There are obviously other bigger players. The more relevant comparison, however, is by market segment. To what extent is the early entry of easyJet into the budget travel segment and its establishing of a substantial market share sufficient basis, in itself, to achieve lowest cost? Could actual and potential competitors, seeing the success of easyJet, imitate and overtake it in delivering such services? Does easyJet’s experience in all this, and its undoubted entrepreneurial culture, provide lasting advantage? Certainly British Airways found it uncomfortable to compete with its GO Operation, and decided this was better sold off. But other competitors such as Ryanair and BMIBaby had entered the market and engaged in fierce price competition on some routes. So the keys to success were skilful pricing between routes, when people book and capacity fill. And what if the most experienced low-cost operator of all, South West Airlines in the US, decided to enter Europe? Illustration 5. 3 Questionable bases of differentiation Question 1 challenges students to consider what would be appropriate bases of differentiation in the biscuit business. The principles outlined in (a), (b) and (c) may be applied: (a) Who is the most important customer in strategic terms? Of course the end consumer is important, but strategically the retailer is vital. (b) The question then becomes: What do retailers especially value in manufacturers of fast-moving consumer goods? Students may suggest, for example, branding, reliable and fast delivery of goods, advertising support, sharing of market and customer information, etc. If this is the case, then the differentiation strategy needs to be based around fulfilling such expectations. (c) The question then becomes whether there are bases of sustainability here. Again this would take the discussion into issues of underlying competences and resources. For example, a strong brand image is difficult to imitate, but a logistics system may be much easier. Advertising support is common amongst fastmoving consumer goods companies, but it may be more difficult to establish close and trusting working relationships between the retailer and the manufacturer. Question 2 asks students whether the Australian wine illustration (5. 5) overcomes the shortcomings illustrated here. Arguably: †¢ Value-for-money (a) has been correctly assessed in terms of the appropriate customers, since both the retailers and end users appreciate the benefits of Australian wine. 79  © Pearson Education Limited 2005 Instructor’s Manual †¢ †¢ We know little about the research (b) undertaken that the benefits seem to be real enough. The real question is whether the bases of advantage are sustainable (c). Comments on illustration 5. 5 address this. Illustration 5. 4 The hybrid strategy The IKEA illustration shows how this business has successfully followed a hybrid strategy, not only by keeping its costs down but also by finding a different way of operating from other retailers. Students may point out that this is a more likely way of being able to follow a hybrid strategy than simply cutting costs. They might point to other examples to make the point. For example: †¢ Historically, supermarket retailing offered lower prices and a differentiated customer experience, but it was a fundamentally different way of retailing from that of traditional smaller high street shops. Arguably the more recent trend towards direct marketing of, for example, banking, insurance and travel (at least when it is done well) offers more convenience for customers, often at lower prices: but again this is a different way of trading than would have been traditional in such fields. †¢ Ask students to think of other examples of changes in ways of operating that allow for a hybrid strategy. A successful hybrid strategy also requires organisations to be clear about the competences underpinning their basis of differentiation, and then to reduce the costs in areas that do not critically underpin that basis of differentiation. By so doing they may be able to reduce cost below that of competitors without jeopardising their basis of differentiation. Illustration 5. 5 Differentiation This illustration provides the opportunity to bring together three different perspectives on differentiation: a customer-based perspective, a market gap perspective, and a competence/resource-based perspective. The illustration tends to emphasise the first two. It suggests that Australian wines are successful because customers are looking for simplicity and consistency, and find French wine, for example, neither simple to understand nor consistent in quality. Moreover, the traditional approach of French wine producers has exacerbated the problem and therefore provided a market gap. 80  © Pearson Education Limited 2005 Instructor’s Manual The example should promote discussion about whether there are any other reasons for the success of Australian wine. Arguably there are if a resource-based view is taken – a reason for success might be the application of more advanced scientific techniques in the Australian wine industry as a means of catching up with old world wine producers. The success of this is indicated by the fact that French producers are now trying to imitate Australian wine-producing techniques. Arguably this is capable of being copied or imitated by the French, therefore. However, the French industry remains very fragmented with traditional ways of doing things: so the question is to what extent new ways of wine production are likely to be adopted within such a traditional approach. Illustration 5. 6 Lock-in Using the criteria in sections 5. 4. 2 and 5. 4. 3, the table below summarises the ways in which Dolby and Visa attempt to sustain competitive advantage. Basis of sustainability †¢ Difficulties of imitation – Complexity – Causal ambiguity – Culturally embedded †¢ Imperfect mobility – Intangible assets – Switching costs – Co-specialisation †¢ Lock-in – Dominance – Early setting of standards – Self re-inforcing escalation – Rigorous preservation Dolby has a dominant position Set standards early Showed that this was possible Visa share dominant position with MasterCard Standards were set early Dominance built this way historically Dolby has well-established brand and reputation Dolby has established a reliance by users in its systems Brand is still strong Large penalties for retailer exit Complex bases of licensing and No longer complex patent protection Basis of relationship building in Most competitors have now networks imitated Dolby has long-established ‘ways of Possibly still an advantage doing things’ Dolby Visa Joint development with licences Joint development part of the system Rigorous policy of conformity to Large penalties for change in standards brand by retailer 81  © Pearson Education Limited 2005 Instructor’s Manual The comparison is a stark one. It should lead students to conclude that Visa is protecting its dominant position at any costs – the ‘market-based’ advantages are actually being eroded. In contrast Dolby’s dominant position is probably still based on a truly differentiated position from competitors. Illustration 5. 7 Competition and collaboration This illustration allows students to test out the issues from section 5. 6 and exhibit 5. 5. This uses the five-forces model to classify the various ways in which collaboration might improve competitiveness. This can be done for each of the stakeholders involved in a collaborative arrangement. For example, in illustration 5. 7 the potential benefits of collaboration to an individual (small) creative sector business are: †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Knowledge sharing with other businesses Knowledge transfer from universities Infrastructure, services and ‘business know-how’ support Funding Swapping/sharing professional/creative staff Against this needs to be weighed the risks: †¢ †¢ Commercial exclusivity (patents, copyright) Stifled creative process (conformity to get money/help ) Illustration 5. 8 Key Debate: To be different or the same? The emphasis on conformity in institutional theory (see also section 4. 5. 2) provides a useful counter to the perspectives favouring differentiation, as in this chapter and in the resource based view, introduced in chapter 3. It is worth pushing students to consider just how much ‘real’ differentiation companies actually use. Students may well vary in responding to the questions. With regard to universities, in the UK at least but to a large extent internationally as well, there does seem to be increasing homogeneity. Universities are converging in terms of degree length, subject matter, teaching methods and accommodation and student support. In the UK, this is attributable to government funding and regulation, but also relates both to students’ risk averseness with regard to a large, uncertain and hard-to-reverse investment and to their 82  © Pearson Education Limited 2005 Instructor’s Manual desire for international mobility during degrees and portability of qualifications afterwards (note European Union pressures). In the MBA market, the EQUIS and AMBA standards, and the Financial Times rankings, also provide strong pressures for conformity. All this conforms to institutionalist expectations. Car manufacturers do appear to be more differentiated, with a wide variety in brands and images. However, under the surface there are strong pressure too for conformity. These come from government safety and environmental regulators and suppliers of key components, as well as from the desire to reap economies of scale through sharing platforms. Assignment 5. 1 Understanding competitive strategies Assignment 5. 1 requires students to give examples of organisations according to the routes identified in exhibit 5. 2 in the text, and to explain reasons for doing this. For example: †¢ Route 1, the low price, low added value route is often overlooked. There are successful organisations following such a strategy. For example, the grocery retail outlet Netto is cited in the text, and easyJet is provided as an illustration of a no frills, low price service. As markets open up, new entrants may choose to follow this strategic route. Route 2 is the low price strategy. It is often followed by small businesses competing against larger companies. They use their lower cost base to provide products or services that are very similar to those of the large organisations, but at a lower price. Route 3: The Japanese in the car industry (illustration 5. 1) had used their cost advantages not only to deliver low price but also to re-invest in high quality and reliability. In many respects they were following route 3 or much of the 1980s and early 1990s. IKEA is another example (see illustration 5. 4) of an organisation successfully combining both low prices and perceived added value to the customer. Route 4 is a broad differentiation strategy: the sort of strategy followed by a company such as Kellogg’ s in seeking to provide quality in terms of product, delivery, service, brand image, market support and product development superior to those of competitors. Other organisations claim to be following a differentiation strategy, but the bases of differentiation in terms of added value to the customer may not be clear. Firms may claim to be different but on a spurious basis (see illustration 5. ), for example. Route 5 is focused differentiation: examples of this might be a focus on clear demographic groups. For example, Saga specialises in insurance and holidays for the over-50s (see illustration 2. 8); fashion retailers and manufacturers seek to 83  © Pearson Education Limited 2005 †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Instructor’s Manual identify customers with particular tastes in fashion; industrial product companies may focus on particular industries or particular process needs. Assignment 5. 2 Clarity of competitive strategy Assignment 5. 2 may raise questions about t he clarity of competitive strategies. The sort of issues which may be surfaced are these. For most of its existence MS was successful because it provided a clearly differentiated offering for a mass market; and arguably this was also the basis of Barclaycard’s success. But both organisations now face competition that has eroded such advantages, and they are finding it difficult to recover a position of differentiation across a broad market. The difficulty they face is how they might reposition themselves in a more focused way (focused differentiation) without reducing their market potential. They are also reluctant to be associated with a strategy of reduced prices, not necessarily because of their inability to drive down costs but more, perhaps, because of their concern that it might damage their market image. This raises questions about the viability of hybrid strategy. Arguably it is easier to move to a hybrid strategy from a low price strategy than it is from a non-price-based differentiation strategy; the latter may be perceived as a reduction in quality. There may also be a useful debate here about whether cost reduction is a viable competitive strategy. Recall that this is a strategy advocated by Michael Porter. Many organisations claim to concentrate on cost reduction as a strategy. The problem is that cost levels are not, in themselves, visible in the marketplace. What matters is whether the cost base allows delivery of lower prices (which are visible) or the maintenance of higher profit margins than those of competitors. To do either, cost advantages have to be sustainable and sufficient to ensure that competitors cannot match them. This is no easy matter. It would not be for Marks Spencer or for Barclaycard, for example. †¢ †¢ Assignment 5. 3 Differentiation The purpose of this assignment is to establish whether students are able to explain the concept of differentiation, not only in terms of ‘being different’ or by citing the importance of route 4 in exhibit 5. 2, but rather in terms of, for example: †¢ That differentiation means both providing products or services valued by customers/users, and doing this in ways that are difficult to imitate. 84  © Pearson Education Limited 2005 Instructor’s Manual †¢ This is likely to be achieved by building on core competences of the organisation. However, the more perceptive students may point out that this is difficult to achieve and difficult to manage. So organisations may not be able to create bases of nonimitability readily. For other organisations differentiation may be achieved by being flexible or faster to respond in markets than competitors, but that this, too, is a function of the culture of the organisation. Students should therefore be able to make linkages between the concepts and differentiation explained in chapter 5 and linkages in the value chain (chapter 4) and organisational culture (chapter 5). Overall, however, perhaps the most important basis of successful differentiation is the ability of an organisation to understand customer needs and what is valued by the customer better than competitors: that there is a danger that differentiation is driven on technical grounds rather than by an awareness of customer needs. †¢ Assignment 5. 4 Competitive strategies in the public sector Care needs to be taken around terminology here, particularly because an explicit price mechanism may not exist in some public services. So, referring to exhibit 5. 2 in the text, in public services price may equate to unit cost since performance will be judged against the input of resources to supply the service. Bearing this in mind, the routes can be described as follows: †¢ Route 1, low cost/low value: this is the outcome that many claim has been inevitable with public spending cuts leading to the unattractive positioning of many public services as a service of last resort. Route 2: this is the real challenge for many public services, i. e. the need to maintain quality while achieving progressive efficiency gains and lower unit costs. It is what governments expect public sector services to achieve: hence ‘best value’ initiatives and the extensive use of benchmarking. Routes 4 and 5 are an alternative for some parts of public services, and would be described as a centre of excellence strategy. Indeed in some parts of the NHS (e. g. specialist units in hospitals or some hospitals themselves) it is the strategy pursued by managers and clinicians as a way of retaining talent and increasing their resource base in the face of cuts in unit costs from government. †¢ †¢ Of course there is an argument from some critics that the reason why route 1 occurs rather than route 2 in mainstream public services is because routes 4 and 5 take away resources and funding to elite parts (or geographical locations) of the service and jeopardise the resource base of more standard services. This has been called the ‘twotier’ public service. 85  © Pearson Education Limited 2005 Instructor’s Manual Assignment 5. 5 Sustainability The students should be encouraged to use the same principles of sustainability as were described in the commentary on illustration 5. 6. To take the examples of the organisations cited here students may be able to identify the following: †¢ Ryanair is following a low price strategy: the extent to which this is sustainable is very dependent on the way in which the low cost base is culturally embedded and maintained over time through a complex set of cost minimisation programmes and strategies. In fact, on the face of it, this may not be difficult to understand; but the experience gained in so doing may make it difficult to imitate. Ryanair has also built a reputation amongst a loyal set of customers, and this may also be a sustainable benefit, provided it is nurtured and not eroded. Thorntons has followed a differentiation strategy based on product features (ingredients, recipes, freshness), strong branding and packaging and control of its own outlets. Students should be asked to rate these features against the criteria for sustainability applied in illustration 5. 6. For example, can consumers really discern and measure ‘freshness’? †¢ Students should be encouraged to search for other examples in which they can provide explanations of sustainability, but also to question whether what they identify are truly sustainable bases. Assignment 5. 6 The limits of hypercompetitive strategies This assignment invites students to consider the extent to which the principles described in section 5. 5 on hypercompetition are relevant to only a few industries, or not at all. The conventional argument would be that sustainable competitive advantage is achievable provided the sort of factors that determine sustainability can be met. So, again, students may wish to refer back to section 5. 4 for a discussion of the basis of sustainability. Students may readily identify some markets in which these factors do not appear to pertain. However, they may also identify others in which such factors apparently should pertain, yet in which hypercompetition seems to prevail. For example, presumably hightechnology companies could claim the benefits of complexity, perhaps causal ambiguity, and potentially embedded competences as intangible assets and cospecialisation. Yet the evidence is that hypercompetition prevails in such industries. Students may therefore recognise that the explanations given in section 5. 5 – i. e. that firms are able to overcome traditional bases of competitive advantage – seem to hold true even when there may be apparent bases of sustainability. If this is so, to what extent 86  © Pearson Education Limited 2005 Instructor’s Manual does it potentially apply to all industries? This is the claim made by Richard D’Aveni: that we are moving into hypercompetitive times, and that the old principles of sustainability may not hold. Assignment 5. 7 Hypercompetition in context This assignment invites students to examine a particular industry that might not normally be associated with hypercompetition, to consider the extent to which the conditions of hypercompetition may be becoming more and more evident. Banking is given as an example here. Others could be accountancy, car manufacturing, insurance, etc. The main points that might be drawn out could include: †¢ †¢ †¢ the extent to which cycles of competition seem to be speeding up, with shorter and shorter life cycles of products and services the difficulties of sustaining bases of advantage on price or differentiation the difficulties of sustaining first mover advantage or first entry into new markets as competitors find ways of overcoming or circumventing scale and experience curve benefits the difficulties of holding on to strongholds or reliance ‘deep pockets’ in the face of strategies and tactics of erosion by competition the deliberate search by companies to attack the competitive position of competitors in markets that were once too ‘gentlemanly’ to do so. †¢ †¢ Assignment 5. 8 Cooperation rather than competition Students should draw on the general principles explained in section 5. , which point to the circumstances in which cooperative strategies make sense. For example: â⠂¬ ¢ †¢ †¢ Buyer-seller collaboration is a key element of Formula 1, where manufacturers see motor racing as a way of developing their own technologies. Collaboration of buyers of pharmaceutical goods to increase buying power. There are many examples of competitors who collaborate to increase their market or competitive power. Not least is this the case in lobbying governments for changes 87  © Pearson Education Limited 2005 Instructor’s Manual that facilitate entry and power in markets. This would be applicable within both the pharmaceutical and Formula 1 industries. Co-production with customers is beginning to happen in markets such as pharmaceuticals, where pharmaceutical firms faced with increased buying power are finding ways of working with government buying agencies and doctors to increase efficiency or reduce cost of treatment. Collaboration in Formula 1 also includes one team providing services for another (e. g. McLaren providing marketing services for T yrrell); collaboration over shared suppliers (Jaguar, Benetton and Williams all use Michelin tyres and share data); and engineers and mechanics all know each other and informally help each other out in particular circumstances. †¢ Assignment 5. 9 Game theory The purpose of this assignment is to encourage students to read more extensively on the principles of game theory (e. g. by reading Dixit and Nalebuff in the key readings). Students should be encouraged to think through how some of the examples and situations discussed in that book (or other books on game theory) could be applied to issues of competitive strategy of organisations. Specific references are made to sections of the Dixit and Nalebuff book in exhibits 5. 6 and 5. 7. Integrative assignment 5. 10 This assignment is designed to ensure that students see the connection between the issues of sustainable competitive advantage (sections 5. 4. 1 and 5. 4. 2) and the concept of core competences (section 3. 2. 3). It also makes a further connection with the impact of IT on core competences, and hence on sustainable competitive advantage, as discussed in section 9. 3. 1. For example: †¢ A low price strategy might be sustained by core competences in managing cost efficiency in the distribution chain. But this advantage could be destroyed by competitors who develop new IT-based business models selling directly to final consumers over the internet at much reduced prices (made possible by considerably lower costs). Similarly a differentiation strategy might be underpinned by core competences such as professional knowledge. But this is undermined as customers start to gain this knowledge themselves from the internet. So a new relationship needs to be forged with customers to take advantage of the professional knowledge. The relationship needs to ‘move up a gear’ so that the more knowledgeable customer starts to seek advice rather than just information. †¢ 88 Pearson Education Limited 2005 Instructor’s Manual Integrative assignment 5. 11 This assignment requires students to apply the key requirements for lock-in (exhibit 5. 3) to an international development strategy (section 6. 3). Specifically students need to understand how that particular basis for an inte rnational strategy would be achieved in terms of both directions and methods of development (sections 7. 2 and 7. 3). Here are some points against the four bullet points of exhibit 5. 3: †¢ Size and market dominance. If this is to be achieved internationally it is necessary to understand the nature of the market in terms of the degree of globalisation that exists. So for globalised markets (like computer software) Microsoft has had to create coverage in all major markets of the world. In contrast, in less globalised markets lock-in could be achieved region-by-region. In these circumstances decisions on the sequence of market entry would need to be guided by the issues discussed in section 6. 3. A requirement for dominance would favour internal development of new markets and/or ruthless acquisition of competitors to gain sufficient market share. First mover advantages. This clearly dictates the need for product development internally to be ahead of competitors. Alternatively if partners are used the relationships will need to be exclusive – to deny competitors access. Reinforcement. The creation of an industry standard needs conditions to be created where it is in the interests of all competitors to adopt the standard rather than compete with it. Strategies of heavily funded product development may do this as competitors become unable to match the RD spend. For international development it is clearly important to establish an international standard – undermining regional differences. So the development method must reinforce the standard – for example by creating ‘registered users’. Rigorous enforcement. This would have a strong influence on the choice of markets – favouring those where legal protections of intellectual property are strong and respected. Similarly choice of partners is absolutely crucial – again the idea of ‘registered users’ might apply. †¢ †¢ †¢ Case example Madonna: The reign of the queen of pop (notes prepared by Phyl Johnson, University of Strathclyde) This case study was chosen as a way of getting students to explore the principles of both sustainability and hypercompetition. It is useful to focus initially on the question of her sustained high profile and success as a performer over so many years. However, her recent success is questionable; this allows for a focus on the long-term sustainability of strategies themselves and a debate as to viability hypercompetitive strategies. 89  © Pearson Education Limited 2005 Instructor’s Manual The main points that might be emphasised are these in terms of the questions asked: Question 1 The strategy pursued by Madonna can be explained both in terms of a generic competitive strategy and in terms of principles of hypercompetitive strategies. Clearly she has sought to differentiate herself throughout her career. This has taken different forms, as the case explains, but there has been an underlying theme of the ‘independent woman’ throughout. What has varied has been the different personas within this. Students could debate whether or not these have been pitched at particular ‘market segments’ and in this sense represent focused differentiation; or the extent to which they are simply tactical bases of differentiating herself from imitators and followers. Another interpretation would fit with explanations of hypercompetitive strategies. Many of the principles outlined in section 5. 5. 4 seem to apply. Each persona is temporary; each one is very different from the last; she seems to move on to a different image even while being successful in her last one; they are not predictable changes; they can be surprising, even shocking. Her latest persona as children’s author and spiritual follower challenges this in that it has in fact been sustained over a period and is far from shocking. At one stage in the press (June 2004) it was even reported she was changing her name to Esther as part of her Kabbalah faith. †¢ The Madonna case therefore illustrates that the idea of hypercompetition is not necessarily contradictory to the idea of generic basis of competition. It might be possible to be differentiated in a hypercompetitive way. Think about links to questions 2 and 3 here, that is, the most recent events allow for the questioning of the long-term sustainability of hypercompetition itself. Question 2 This question invites students to consider the basis of sustainability in this context. Students might wish to ask which principles of sustainability hold. They should see that a number do: †¢ †¢ Madonna appears to have capabilities and competences (intangible assets) of innovation and flexibility. The pop industry has learned to work with her, and in this sense they have developed a mutual co-specialised dependence; so it looks to promote her interests given her track record. Certainly it is difficult to predict where she will move next, or how she is successful (causal ambiguity). †¢ 90  © Pearson Education Limited 2005 Instructor’s Manual Question 3 This question invites students to question these bases of sustainability. The strategy does not seem to be vulnerable to others imitating it since it is difficult for them to understand or predict what they would be imitating. But students might argue that it is surely a risky strategy as she seeks to second-guess the nature of the market and make so many changes to her image. They are likely to argue that the risk is market acceptance. If so, how would they explain the continued success given so many changes over so many years? Has the formula for success run out of steam? And if so why? 91  © Pearson Education Limited 2005

4 Things NOW Lets You Do With Content

4 Things NOW Lets You Do With Content News on the Web (NOW) is a free public service, showcasing the opportunities dynamic semantic publishing opens up before media publishing companies. It is based on the Ontotext Platform, which links text and Knowledge Graphs to deliver actionable insights.NOW lets you go beyond conventional publishing and get a real feel of the world where Semantic Technology is already shaping the way we search, discover and consume content.Semantic publishing has the potential to improve content creation and consumption. With the help of semantic technologies, readers are served the content they most need, and publishers are given the tools to manage content in an efficient, future-proof manner.In this blog post, you will find 4 things that dynamic semantic publishing (what NOW is) lets you do with content. Smarter Content with a Dynamic Semantic Publishing Platform!">1. Go beyond free-flowing texts to take advantage of structured metadataSearching for, presenting and grouping information is burdensome when done manually. NOW makes these processes easier, being able to automatically:Aggregate content related to a specific conceptRecommend contentServe contentFor example, when news about Samsung gets on the Ontotext Platform, it automatically enters a number of various relationships, based on the recognized concepts, mentioned in the text. Semantic annotation suggesting that Samsung and Huawei are competitors.These concepts can be further related to each other, depending on the reader’s information needs and interests. We now know that Chung works as an analyst in Nomura. And what he said about the smartphone market.The above-described capabilities stem from a process, key to the Ontotext Platform, and that is the process of concept extraction. This process is about identifying specific concepts, named entities, numbers, datasets and similar objects. In plain English, this means automated adding of additional information to free-flowing text thus making the content easy to reuse and repurpose. The extracted concept itself is defined by a number of relationships.Concept Extraction BenefitsThe structured metadata, extracted from free-flowing texts, enables you to present and group information in a number of ways. The most trivial one is to highlight and hyperlink concepts.On NOW, you can also see topic pages, which aggregate content related to specific concepts and at the same time show recommended content based on semantic fingerprints (i.e., automatic enrichment of content with tags, concepts, relationships and topics).2. Let the machines do the heavy-lifting of content collectionWith NOW, you can experience what dynamic semantic publishing has to offer in terms of content aggregation, collection, recommendation and extraction.Explore NOW and you will be able to:Follow how concepts trend in the newsGet recent articles about chosen conceptsSee the concepts that usually co-occur with other conceptsEasily reach extracted information such as what people were quoted as saying i n the news.NOW has around 150 000 topic pages with People, Locations and Organizations. These pages present concept descriptions, how concepts trend in the news, recent articles about the concepts, what concepts they usually co-occur with, as well as other extracted information such as what people were quoted saying in the news. For example, the topic page on Vladimir Putin shows a lot about who he is, what his religion is, when he was born, who his parents are, and so on.On this particular topic page, you can also see the recent news about him and at which points in time he peaked in the news. The topic page contains a section of entities associated with one another. This section lets you see the usual context in which Vladimir Putin is mentioned. As the picture shows, there are 323 news articles on NOW that mention both Putin and the crisis in Ukraine. Angela Merkel is represented as an associated entity. Her circle is smaller, as she is mentioned less frequently together with Putin.All of these bubbles are clickable, so if somebody is interested in the topic page of the United Nations, they could easily find their way around.Content Aggregation BenefitsOne of the greatest pluses of clustering content around various concepts is the rich navigation. The new, interrelated ways of navigating through content substantially improve the experience of content consumption for the end-user.From a publisher’s point of view, content aggregation enables journalists to summarize, research and discover related facts, various statistics, etc. with less effort and more space for creativity and critical thinking.3. Filter relevant and recent contentThe Ont otext Platform includes a recommendations engine, which can be used to serve relevant content and ads, either based solely on context, or on user behavior, or on both.This version of NOW can:Give recommendations for contentServe relevant contentConsider the following example an article about the slight increase in US consumer prices is matched with relevant articles using the most relevant terms. Thus, you get the following result: The recommendations engine opens the door for the creation of custom content streams for each user, or dashboards, showing what the different trending topics are along with what’s happening with the things users are interested in.Relevant and Recent Content BenefitsServing relevant and recent content results in two of the most wanted things for a publisher: a sticky website and content users.In the examples below, a user can find everything related to Serena Williams, following the generated links in the news for the tennis player, the associated sections on the aggregated Topic page for her and finally her recent quotes. All the related content is one or two clicks away. Gathered recent quotations by Serena Williams4. Expand the opportunities you have when reaching content via searchThe ability to perform complex searches that go beyond keywords is vital for efficient content creation and management. The Ontotext Platform lets you perform faceted, hybrid and complex searches.With NOW you can perform:Complex queriesFull-text searchesSearches for a person’s opinion (not included in the current version of NOW)For example, if you wonder what Albert Einstein, New Jersey and Neil Armstrong have in common, NOW has the answer. What they have in common is Nike. Why?Apparently, Nike was sponsoring an  event where the two celebrities were honored. Finally, you can do much more complex queries when there is rich metadata associated with the free text. For example, you can query a person’s opinion about a particular topic within a given time range. There are no examples in NOW, however, as it is far from trivial to expose this functionality in a generic way. Still, the potential for such searches is there. They just require the implementation of custom (micro) services to do the job.The Benefits of Faceted, Hybrid and Complex SearchesThese types of searches allow users to access content not only via keywords but also via phrases, facets and full-text search. Thus readers can easily get to the most important and relevant content, which in turn improves substantially their experience.Powerful searches are also invaluable when conducting journalistic fact drills or researching into new, unknown relationships and insights.What else can you do with NOW?On an ever more interconnected web, readers want to be not only informed bu t also interested and intrigued. Relevant content is key to providing these experiences: interest and engagement are earned with relevancy and recency, and depth and breadth of information are what satiates readers’ needs best.Some of the other publishing usages of NOW as a dynamic semantic publishing platform include:An authoring tool which extracts the concepts from the currently written text and sends requests to get recommendations for similar materials as the author types.A tagging tool which produces all the tags for an article (the most relevant) which are edited manually by exception (as opposed to what is the current widespread practice to tag everything manually, which usually results in inconsistent tagging).A commercial service, which allows people to get content based only on their preference (for less than the one-subscription-read-all price).A marketing service, which helps sell the above-mentioned people more content they might like.A tool that aggregates hist orical content on a set of topics and is used to create magazines or even textbooks.A Brand New Land to be ExploredNOW is not a mere showcase of a technology. It is also a sneak peek into the future of publishing where you need to create and curate content efficiently for better engagement.As online publishing is a brand new territory that is to be further explored and cultivated, the application of Semantic Technology and the use of metadata opens new possibilities.Meanwhile, check out NOW or learn more about Semantic Publishing!

Why Some Student Cheat Essays - Misconduct, Cheating, Morality

Why Some Student Cheat Essays - Misconduct, Cheating, Morality Why Some Student Cheat Why Some Students Cheat Nowadays, there are many popular ways for students to cheat in exams. Some students take their notes into the examination rooms. Some students ask their friends the answers by whispering while taking the exams. And some students just try to copy the answers of students who sit in front of them without caring how similar to giraffes they are. It is interesting to focus on the question that why some students still keep cheating in exams even though they know that the punishments of university are getting so tougher and tougher that every single semester many students have to drop their education. There are three main reasons why some students cheat in exams; being afraid of failure, having no ability, and wanting to take risks. Being afraid of failure is the most important reason for some students to cheat in exams. Some students think that if they fail the exams, they will have a lot of the following problems. For example, their parents will complain them about bad grades, their friends will look down and laugh at them, and they guess that the light of their educational futures will be darker too. They will get stressed if they cannot do the exams as well as they hope. And those factors will lead them to cheat in exams. In short, some students are afraid that they will have many problems if they fail the exams, so they start to cheat. Having no ability to do exams is the next reason that causes some students cheating. There are a few cases for this reason. Some students do not have their own self-confidences. Some students cannot do the exams because they are too difficult. And some students unreasonably judge themselves that they are not smart enough to pass the exams. Instead of studying hard, paying attention to classes, reviewing lessons, and doing exercises, they try to cheat in exams. In fine, some students do not try hard enough to pass the exams and it is terrible that their solution is cheating. The final reason why some students cheat the exams is because they want to take risks. It sounds unbelievable and crazy but it truly happens. Some students just want to show-off to their friends. To show their abilities is looked like fun activity for teenagers. Without thinking thoroughly, they try to show their dishonest tricks in the examination rooms. These students probably think that cheating the exams is challenging and makes them cooler. Besides, they will get incredibly good grades if they succeed their cheating plans too. Therefore, to dare the punishments, some students cheat in exams for their pleasures. In conclusion, there are many reasons for students to cheat in exams, being afraid of failure, having no ability, and wanting to take risks, including the reasons which I did not state. And until today, we still cannot guarantee that there are ways to help students stop cheating. However, to those who are thinking to cheat the exams, you should think about the punishments. No matter what your reason is. Does it worth for being caught and got punished from both university and society? You all know the answer. Although you are not smart enough to have excellent grades, you should be proud of yourself that you try to get good grades by your own abilities, not cheating.

Planner R US Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Planner R US - Case Study Example This leisurely event is created for the entertainment of the targeted audience which includes the music fans of the region, local residents and students. A meeting was made with the officials of city and the school for planning and organization of the event and the activities about the administration, operations, marketing and risk management of the project were discussed in length. The framework provided by EMBOK which is quite close to the Event Management International Competency Standard is given in Appendix 1. (Silvers, 2003) To manage this project there are four very important facets which are expected to be well understood. The first aspect is the Phases which highlight the significance of time for the sequential nature of managing event. The Phases aspect begins with the initiation of the project, followed by its planning. Once the plan is finalized, the Implementation phase begins which ultimately leads to the event. The last phase for the management is the closure of the ev ent. The rate and rhythm of the work is determined by the time as illustrated in Figure 1. (Silvers, 2003) Figure 1: Phases The second important aspect is the Processes which are required for the success of the event. These processes are sequential as well as iterative and are applied according to the progress and occurrence of changes. First process is that of assessment followed by selection. It includes people, materials and many other resources needed for implementation of the project. Once selection is made the third process is that of monitoring the plan whether it is followed according to the specifications prescribed. The fourth process is that of communication amongst the workers, audience and the market. The last of the process is documentation. All these widely-accepted five process systems begin with Communication, iterate through Assessment, Selection and Monitoring and ends up with the Documentation as illustrated in Figure 2 (Silvers, 2003) Figure 2: Processes The thi rd important aspect is the Core Values which are the rules that must be followed in each and every decision making and infused in all the phases and processes. As illustrated in Figure 3, aim for continuous improvement, creativity in the work, understanding and practising ethics, unity of work through integration amongst all the sections and thinking strategically are fundamental values for the management of the event. All these values are equally important. (Silvers, 2003) Figure 3: Core Values The fourth important aspect is the Domain which defines the region and scope of required functions and activities for managing the event. It also describes the responsibilities and organizational structure needed to manage the project. Administration is one of the domains, designing is another domain. Marketing of the event, its operations and the potential hazards or risk are the other three domains. All the five domains as illustrated in Figure 4 are equally important and none of them have any implied hierarchy. Figure 4: Domains Section II – Work Breakdown Structure There are twelve activities that were drafted out from the meeting with the school and city officials. The work breakdown for each one of these activities is produced below:- A. Contract Negotiation with selected music group 1. Defining of event goals and objectives to the music group 2. Finalizing pricing structure of hiring music group 3. Finalizing benefits like accommodation, transport and travel

Has the emergence of social enterprise provided an alternative to Literature review

Has the emergence of social enterprise provided an alternative to local governments role of providing social well-being - Literature review Example dings of private conversations within the community of social enterprises and discussion of their role within the society, which might undermine the role and need for a local government enterprise in some areas as well. The literature is organised in a manner to facilitate a step-wise understanding of the role of social enterprise in relation to that of the government in provision of social well-being. The paper begins with exploration of the origin of a social enterprise and then putting forth an argument that states that social enterprises can work without much intervention from the government. The review then organises itself for identifying the role of social enterprises and local government in these societal existence and explores various categories that gather instances to depict how social enterprises and the local government act as complements and supplements. It then goes on to discuss why social enterprises can replace local government’s role and concludes in highlighting the similar view. The resource dependency theory states that there exist exchange relationships between firms and their external environment. To make sure that such firms survive long, social enterprises source resources that are the key to attain objectives. The resource dependency theory is relevant in the context of a social enterprise because the board member want to sources resources from all possible places beyond the social economy. Companies tend to rely on scare financial resources and therefore devise strategies to recruit directors who have the ability to influence the world with a view to get the desired resources. The stewardship theory states that corporate governance and the board can influence the behaviour of other people within the organization by performing the role of an advisor and strategy maker. The manager here plays the role of a steward rather than a profit seeker. In case of social enterprises, the stewardship theory is being extensively used because of

Skins as a Form of Branding Opportunity

Skins as a Form of Branding Opportunity EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This study makes an attempt to understand the business of ‘skins and the various ways it can be made a part of Ambient Media to offer more branding opportunities to advertisers. This involves various forms of skins, its multiple applications, and the ways in which it can provide branding opportunities. Skins are the 2nd generation products that can be applied to any external surface and are printed and used for personalizing or branding devices or surfaces. The concept of skinning was introduced in the US 5 years ago. Since then the product has found its way in Europe and South East Asia. The business of skins is at a very nascent stage in India. The scope of this dissertation is to analyze the use of ‘skins, where every surface is brought to surface quite literally, as a medium to interest and engage consumers. With ‘skins, no space is left mundane and dull as long as there is an opportunity to style it and brand it. The research undertaken for this purpose was exploratory in nature. It was broadly executed in 2 Phases. The first phase was the stage of Secondary Data analysis wherein extensive review of existing companies and practices in the domain of skins was conducted. This is to investigate various business models around skins. The first phase also included Primary Research by interviewing consumers through a qualitative, depth interviews. This facilitated a grasp on what the consumers think about brands and their innovations in branding. It is primarily to check how different mediums affect them, and what affects them the most. Phase 2 of the Research Design involved in-depth qualitative interviews of 5 Brand Managers and 5 Industry Professionals (mix of Media | Advertising | Retail | Industry Veterans). The Phase 1 Primary Research results will be used to provide better insight into the interaction with B2B respondents. These interviews were helpful in getting insights to substantiate the secondary research and the consumer surveys. Once the data had been collected, it was analyzed to facilitate opportunities and make generalizations. The factors that companies would take into consideration were Licensing of brands, Personalization through Brand Designs and various Manufacturing processes that enable production of high-quality skins. Also, new technological innovations that can aid skins to be developed as more functional and engaging for the customers were necessary. Based on the findings, certain models were identified and conclusions were drawn. With the media industry growing, new forms of media are sought after regularly. This study enables one such potential form of Ambient Media to make its way into the advertising plan of Brand Managers. Although a lot of international companies have made their contributions to the medium of skins, its time India opened up to this phenomenon. INTRODUCTION The need to be different, which stems from the need to be noticed leads to multiple changes in the environment. Some of these changes are fads, the others determine the future. Seen from a brand managers perspective, some of these basic human desires can lead to a plethora of opportunities for them. One of these opportunities is discussed below. It deals with the domain of modified aesthetics. As more and more portable gadgets and other forms of electronic and technological means are consumed by us every moment, their usefulness continues to expand. But just carrying the latest gadget which looks like everyone elses version of that latest gadget is not enough anymore. So why not personalise it. Better still why not use the investment as a branding opportunity. Not only gadgets, there are innumerable surfaces available today that are waiting to be utilised. Advertisers have the opportunity to brand all surfaces through skins. These surfaces can be identified as: Wall skins: walls, cupboards, mirrors, drawers, doors, etc Fleet skins: cars, cabs, biked, aircrafts, trams, buses, trains, etc. Devices skins: laptops, mobiles, music players, all appliances, etc. The idea of making electronics or any other product more personal is that the real world can also start acting more like the online world. Similar to how one can change their online profile anytime they want, so can they have their most loved brands or their favourite images on their phone or car! These products known as ‘skins, not only make your common device look stylised, but also protect it. These skins that can be pasted on any exterior surface are soon becoming extremely popular within a very short period of time. They are a dream come true in the ‘customization arena. This application has created waves worldwide and is now revolutionising the way mundane products are being presented to the world. Apart from this key use, there is the Branding Opportunity that ‘skins bring along. While personalisation is fast becoming popular, it is not the key issue here. What the scope of this dissertation is to analyse this innovation as a new format for Brand Managers. It will not only open up new branding prospects, but also be included in the fast and upcoming category of Ambient Media. Ambient Media is the name given to a new breed of out-of-home products and services determined by some as Non-Traditional or Alternative Media. Ambient media advertising is a way of overcoming traditional method of advertising to get the attention of the consumers. Ambient media in a larger scale define the media environment and the communication of information in ubiquitous and pervasive environments. The reasons why Ambient Media has grown are: Decline in the power of traditional media Greater demand for point-of-sale communication Ability to offer precise audience targeting General versatility While some see it is a fiendish way of getting an ad message into every nook and corner of our lives and on to anything that moved, yet it was the sector that was growing outrageously through the 90s. It was argued that ambient alone never made any brand famous, and marketers would soon get tired of this faddish and whimsical medium. However, such judgements were not possible as ad revenues were unstable and fast changing. Also, as media proliferation made it harder to get attention, advertisers look for other ways to place their brands before people. This can be via all sorts of locations and methods and often close to the point of sale. This is where ‘skins can come in and enable brand managers to make their brands be seen. As it is put over everyday use products, the opportunities will be numerous. In todays day, when one travels, it can be seen that all around, commuters work and play away on laptops, PDAs, iPods, mobiles, blackberries, sometimes all at once. Mobiles and pervasive media have truly reshaped the practices of travel. This provides tremendous potential for a business like Skins to enter the market. Apart from public spaces to use ambient medium, individuals personal surfaces can also be used as a fresh medium of branding. Laptops, iPods, Mobiles, etc. all are new opportunities in the ambient media world which can be used for branding through skins. While it is true that Media images change the way we see and experience a city, why not make it aesthetic and meaningful. Until now, out-of-home activities that engage the consumer like hot air balloons with slogans, digital out-of-home, and life size mascots for brands, etc. are considered the norm for Ambient Media. However, formats go out of fashion very soon, and newer ways to brand and reach consumers are sought by marketers. In earlier times, brand positioning and promotions through mass media did the trick for marketers. Customers flocked to buy the brand that was advertised and thats how many successful brands were created. However, increasing media clutter and reducing customer attention spans have resulted in decreasing effectiveness of traditional practices. Therefore modern brand managers have started using techniques like Brand Inclusiveness and Brand Engagement to conquer customer hearts. Brand Inclusiveness: The brand can become a part of the customers lives through a planned presence. For example: a mobile phone or a laptop is personal belonging of a customer that is highly significant in todays world. What better way of brand inclusiveness than to Brand these gadgets itself. Skins as a medium can be used by companies to as a branding opportunity by sending the loyal customers a skin each for these gadgets. These skins can be customised as per the customers gadget model and can then be used as both a branding and well as a style statement. The loyal group of customers would be proud to sport their favourite brands skins on their phones or laptops. This is a high level of brand inclusiveness for companies, where they can manage to convince their loyal customers themselves to become their brand champions, and hence, brand managers. Brand Presence: Customers live busy lives and the brand needs to touch their lives in relevant ways. This requires the brand to be present at places frequented by customers. This can be done through a number of ways: Skinning cabs in urban cities with the branding of various products of services that are targeted to the cab-using population of the society Skinning Public Buses with the branding of various products and services that are targeted to the us-using population of the society Skinning tables at coffee shops with brands that compliment a coffee or such an environment Skinning conveyor belts at airports Skinning Elevators at public spaces like Corporate Offices, Government Buildings, Residential Societies, etc. Skinning PCO booths, etc. Brand Engagement: Brands have realised the importance of the interactive approach t engage customers. This can be done through various co-creation ideas. So while, interaction can exist individually, a mix of skins (visual) and interaction can do wonders for a lot of brands. While skinning the vehicles or other such ambient forms can be a standalone practice, brand engagement would take this idea further. For example- If the cabs are skinned by a Credit Card brand, then the cab driver can offer pamphlets of the passengers. If the cab is skinned by a Chips brand, then free trials can be offered in the cab to the passengers (in case of a new product). Also, the passengers of a skinned cab can send an SMS to receive further information about the brand, to receive a catalogue, free trial, etc. A lot of ways to engage the customer are possible after the initial visual of the brand through Skins. Concern for Customers: Customers want their favourite brand to show concern for them. In this regard, there is a special kind of Skin called ‘Gripper. A gripper has two parts. The small skin sticks to the back of the mobile phone, while the big skin sticks on any surface which has an angle. Mobile Phone brands or Telecom providers can use this product with a social message. The gripper helps hold the phone to the surface on the bigger skin. This will help highlight the use of mobile phones while driving, as the driver can stick the phone on the angled surface which provides holding the phone while driving. The phone often slips from the cars dashboard, which now will be held in place by the gripper and enable the driver to take some calls on loudspeaker. Also, Wall Skins can be used at key public places by brands in order to give out social service messages to the public at large. These wall skins can come in all sizes and will create large scale awareness if put at strategic places. Hence, the inclusive brand image focuses on touching customer lives in a relevant manner. The brand needs to engage customers and the use of interactive media comes handy for this initiative. Hence a brand can conquer the hearts of consumers by showing concern and being available at all times, all places. The scope of this dissertation is to analyse the use of ‘skins, where every surface is brought to surface quite literally, as a medium to interest and engage consumers. With ‘skins, no space is left mundane and dull as long as there is an opportunity to style it and brand it. As we see that Media is evolving from Digital to Pervasive to Interactive, every brand needs to speak to the consumer at different touch points, so as to keep the consumer engaged, yet not be disliked. One example of ‘skins in the form of Auto wraps that is seen in the recent times in India is the branding on Cabs and other vehicles. For example: Meru cabs run campaigns of different brands for different periods of time. Here the Brand Alliance between Meru and the advertising brand leads to recognition in the marketplace. Clever messages can be put up for different target markets, giving brand managers an innovative medium to engage the consumer. It generated street level advertising. What are skins? Skins are the 2nd generation products that can be applied to any external surface and are printed and used for personalising or branding devices or surfaces. The concept of skinning was introduced in the US 5 years ago. Since then the product has found its way in Europe and South East Asia. Following are the basic features of skins: Currently, the Skins are made up of vinyl that is digitally printed and post printing it is cut either as per general dimensions or cut as per the device. However, this manufacturing process can change a per technology used or requirements Skins are available for mobiles, laptops, portable music players, gaming devices, cars, and any other external surface Skins are available in general sizes and custom made, where the skins are per-cut based on the device However, the concept of skins is fast changing as per various different manufacturing processes used. There are new hard cover skins also introduced in the market A combination of fixed designs and the option of personalised designs is made available The complete product range will be: Skins made up of Vinyl Skins made up of different textures such as Leather, Canvas, Jute, etc. Skins made up of Gel Grippers used to hold a certain product kept on a surface at an angle Wall skins Hard Cover skins Electro-statically charged skins More and more technological innovations are leading to different types of skins being launched. However, all of these can be used as an Ambient Medium by companies for Branding. The major manufacturers of vinyl skins are: 3M, Avery, Kodak, Mactech. However, there are other numerous vinyl manufacturers present in the market. More and more technological innovations are leading to different types of skins being launched. However, all of these can be used as an Ambient Medium by companies for Branding. Cell phones, laptops, MP3 players, iPods, Blackberries all these personal electronic devices have changed the way we go about our everyday lives dramatically. Millions of people around the globe have embraced these changes and are sure of staying at the receiving end of cutting edge technology. Because technology inspires passion, people who are passionate about their gadgets are more often than not passionate about other areas of their lives such as music, sports, movies, art, fashion, etc. Skins result from this passion. People get a chance to express themselves and personalise their electronics which helps them reflect their favourite interests. School children can skin their laptops to display their school colors or logo, cell phones can be skinned with their favourite design, Music Players can be skinned with their favourite artist, etc. The opportunities are tremendous. A large variety of skins are available for a wide range of electronic devices and new technology. They can be either individually designed or branded. Branded skins are a new way of companies to reach out to the customers. Brands such as Disney, NFL, Star Wars, Superman, etc. can be bought through licenses and sold to interested customers through multiple sales nodes. Some articles have been reviewed to understand the Ambient Media market, gauge trends in the same, and determine need gaps for a product like ‘skins. â€Å"India will overtake China next year to become the fastest growing advertising nation†, Jones, S. (2009) LITERATURE REVIEW Skin Care: The Sensual Surfaces of Objects â€Å"Aesthetic modification of product form is common practice in industrial design. Designers are trained to create beautiful products, which not only provide an aesthetic experience to users, but also lead to enhanced profitability†, Boradkar, P. (2004). In fact, the desire to increase sales in a market that was flooded with too many goods is what led to the practice of industrial design. This practice of alteration of the basic form of a product is often referred to at the ‘stigma of styling by industrialists and designers. However, according to this article, these changes undertaken by the designers are limited to the external surface of the object. The term used here for external surfaces or shells of objects is ‘skins. These skins can have multiple meanings that are created by the designer, user, critic, etc. Virginia Postrel, in her book The Substance of Style, has argued that aesthetics has become a significant and an omnipresent component of everyday life in the US. She has gone on to say that it is clearly visible that we are increasingly becoming fond of beautiful surfaces in case of objects, environments, interiors, and our own bodies. There are multiple proofs to this theory of dependence on aesthetics the popular profession of image-making, the makeover shows on television, innovations for the perfect product, the perfect look, etc. Style has seeped into our lives. This according to her is skin care. Human Skin It provides sensation and protection from the external environment. It is constantly in a process of change and regenerates itself on a regular basis. Object Skin The five major categories that signify the primary functions of object skins are: Protective Skins, Informational Skins, Sensorial Skins, Technological/Intelligent Skins, and Mythical/Fetishist Skins. My topic of study here is the ‘Sensorial Skin which includes Visual Skins. These skins arouse admiration, fear, curiosity, contempt, etc. Social meanings of these graphics and designs can be traced back to the context, object, user, etc. Hence, the article concludes that the process of styling or creating new skins is often practised in design consultancies and corporations, where the products only change appearance without any added utility or other value. Creative operations are performed on the skin to stimulate desire, but these are often justified as attempts to satisfy a wider range of user needs. This is said to be the role of commodity aesthetics to the ‘sexing-up of the object. As ‘skins is the prime area of study, this article gave insights on the concept of a skin. Now, we move on to the next few articles on what is happening in the Media World and where it is headed, to understand the broader aspect of the use of ‘skins. The Future is Ambient â€Å"Ambient Intelligence deals with the embedment of media in the natural environment on people†, Lugmayr, A. (2006). Embedding media into peoples environment indicates the need for the creation of a new form of media. The article explains ambient media to create a mix of real-world objects in the natural environment of the consumer and also digital objects which are of any arbitrary form. The key feature of ambient is distribution rather than storage. There are 5 principles of ambient media mentioned: Ambience media object is a service oriented asset space Intelligence smart technology for content aggregation Distribution distributed across a wide area of networks Self-organisation aggregated either automatically or collaboratively Pervasiveness accessible anytime, anyhow. Anywhere The conclusion here is that: Ambient media is the future of multimedia which allows natural interaction and easy access to content anytime, anywhere, and anyhow. How Ambient Media Ambient Marketing is now making its way into the brand managers mind and fast becoming the new marketing communication discipline. Companies are looking at more and more ways to connect with the consumers, not only in private spaces, but also out-of-home. The article says that this sort of marketing can be called anything, but the challenge lies in taking it to the street level. Greg Aithurton, Nintendos marketing manager says ambient exists in non-traditional media formats without direct interaction, whereas experiential goes a step further and actually interacts with the consumer engaging them directly. â€Å"Just slapping your logo on a pavement and hoping people will think you are cool wont do very much. But if you can touch someone in a clever and relevant way, it can be really effective.† The article says that ambient is not only about advertising in an unexpected environment, but the environment has to be relevant to what you are doing, and the unexpected has to fit well with the brand. Another issue mentioned is that such marketing is good only for a couple of months, then it becomes passà © and the consumers become aware of it, hence it blends into the mix. The end note here is that ambient, experiential, or any of these sorts of marketing is not about measurement. Its more about who you target. Its not necessarily in a position to need to be measured. Brands are accepting of ambients limitations, along with its unique capabilities. The key selling point is that an ambient campaign can deliver what many other mediums cannot a closer touch point to consumers. Ambient Media How the World is Changing Over the years, the competitive environment has multiplied and technology is on fast rise. However, only the media arena has changed, while communication planning remains the same. We are in a world of outstanding media possibilities, where non-traditional marketing has kicked in, and brands do not fail to surprise/shock us with their expert forms of presenting the message. From using light-reactive inks, lenticular prints, 3D holographic images to Bluetooth and infrared technology, and PR stunts, ambient media has not failed to make itself noticed. Whether this is a Gimmick or a Strategy is discussed widely amongst media owners, as they get more and more clients and agencies that not only want gimmicks to work in their favour, but are also desperate to produce substantial campaigns that create long-term appeal. An analysis of approximately 4500 case studies from 1997 to 2007 including ambient media show, that very few brands had a strategic approach while majority of cases are one-offs and some look like festive scams. Whether these new formats are called ambient media, non-traditional media, branded utility, or experiential media, the effort should be part of a strategy that is based on a right idea. However, this ambient media should be part of the future communications strategy in order to make sure that these challenging efforts adapt to current trends and in turn to peoples lifestyles. Otherwise, any violation from the trend will lead to the advertisers worst nightmare ignorance! Reaching the right Consumer Over the past decade, ambient advertising has become ubiquitous. Brands are seen jumping at the chance to experiment with novel media as fresh ways of promoting their messages to specific groups in appropriate environment. As wrap around ads on Taxis and posters inside changing rooms are delivering on marketers goals, the common principle is that brands have less money to work with, so it is vital that money works harder. The article mentions three important routes to success for an ambient medium: Timing is vital. This means reaching someone just before they are about to do something else The mindset of the consumer when they receive the message. This means that brand message placement is crucial Lastly, it is important to match the environment with the brand message Brands that advertise on niche media should be able to surprise, excite, and engage. Hence, advertisers should be wary of reaching the saturation point and thus losing effectiveness. Centre of Attention This is a time when TV audiences are fragmenting and new technologies are being launched, which enables us to avoid traditional advertisements, there is Ambient that can deliver captive audiences. Just when the consumers are poised to make a purchase, ambient cites its flexibility and capacity to be highly targeted, and delivers. Apart from that, there is little evidence to show that ambient media irritates consumers. According to this article, some of the most successful examples of ambient activity are seen in trains, stations, step and escalator advertising, train wraps, tickets, etc. In supermarkets, there is trolley and basket advertising, floor ads, etc., all of which can influence shoppers at point of purchase. While todays ambient sector includes products such as mirror stickers, ATM receipts, carrier bags, etc., there is also an opportunity to market brands on tabletops at restaurants, bars, etc. The strength of the medium is that it converts a static message into an interactive one. Hence the need to develop newer formats every year, as marketers want the novelty for their brand, and not be the second or third to use an idea. KNOWLEDGE GAP The literature reviewed here analyses in detail the different ways, in which Media is evolving, the growth of Ambient Media and varied practices. There are studies on the growth of Ambient Media in different countries, its acceptance by Brand Managers, and the successes of certain brands. However, what is not mentioned is how to make this ambient medium more consumer friendly by way of interactivity. My area of study being skins, the gap I wish to fill in with the help of this dissertation is how would a product like skins fit in the â€Å"Ambient† domain, and what are the possible ways of making this product more functional and more interactive for the consumer as well as the brand. RESEARCH PROBLEM To understand how Skins as an Ambient Media can be made more interactive and functional for brands and customers RESEARCH OBJECTIVES To study how far ‘skins will be considered as a branding tool by brand managers To find ways to convert ‘skins into an engaging and interactive medium for advertisers To analyse the trends of Ambient Media and if ‘skins as a format can be included within its ambit RESEARCH DESIGN My study is primarily for the B2B customers. The customer base is divided into: * Brand Managers who will use ‘skins as a branding tool * Agencies o Media Agencies They will sell ‘skins as a new Ambient Media format o Advertising Agencies They will buy ‘skins as a new Ambient Media format for their clients To do the above study, the following methodology is chosen: Phase 1 1. Secondary Research The research will be primarily focused on investigating the various business models around â€Å"skins†. This will give me a better understanding of the following: a. Different applications of â€Å"Skins† b. Different manufacturing process c. Various features of the product 2. Primary Research It will be qualitative in nature, using depth interviews. This is to get a grasp on what the consumers think about brands and their innovations in branding. It is primarily to check how different mediums affect them, and what affects them the most. 10 men and women in the age group of 16-30 10 men and women in the age group of 30-60 Phase 2 1. Primary Research This involves in-depth qualitative interviews. The Phase 1 Primary Research results will be used to provide better insight into the interaction with B2B respondents. 5 Brand Managers 5 Industry Professionals (Mix of Media | Advertising | Retail | Industry veterans) Discussion Guide for Consumers Objective: To understand what consumers perceive of branding and how different medium affects them Lifestyle and Pattern Where do you live? What do you do? What is your typical day like? What personal gadgets do you own? Brands Which are your 3 favourite brands? Why do you like them? Do you buy them yourself? Would you endorse these brands to others? Communication Do you like seeing advertisements? Do you pay attention to a new form of advertising? What medium affects your purchase of a brand the most? Do too much media and too much branding bother you? Skins Have you heard of Skins? What are the different kinds of skins that you know of? Would you notice branding through Skins, like, car skins, walls skins, laptop skins, etc? Would you purchase a skin yourself? Would you use a skin branded by your favourite brand? DATA ANALYSIS/RESULTS Phase 1 (a) Secondary Research Current International Practices in the domain of Skins AMBER MEDIA GMBH[1] This is a Germany based agency that specialises in innovative ambient concepts. It was founded in 2002, and has since then established itself in the out-of-home segment. Amber Stix enables the advertising slogan to be placed directly in the desired target groups immediate environment. It provides a surprise effect without disturbing the target. It offers a wide range of innovative possibilities and reaches whoever one wishes to reach with their advertising slogan. It ensures that the brand stands out from the crowd by trying out an innovative and an unusual approach. Its product Amber STIX Amber STIX are adhesive skins that have an extra strong electrostatic charge. These Stix adhere due to their static charge alone. Hence they are different from the conventional adhesive skins. They dont have to be pressed to the surface. They can remain in place for more than 6 months and can be recharged when needed. AMBERMEDIA_amberSTIX_4 amber 3 Aldo Branding in front of the store Blood Diamond outdoor branding Some of the features are: Adhere to most surfaces No residue left Bubble free Can be repositioned Removed and attached several times Can be recharged with Amber STIX charger Can be perforated 100% recyclable SKINIT[2] Skinit, Inc. provides a large product line of branded vinyl skins for personal electronic devices. It is based out of San Diego, California. Skinit branded products can be offered by OEMs, global retailers, distributors, Internet portals, online shopping sites, etc. It is made with premium 3M material. Skinit is the global leader in business-to-consumer and business-to-business personalisation technology platforms and on-demand manufacturing for corporate clients. Skinit has hundreds of designs, famous brand names in sports, entertainment, art,