Analysis Of Environmental Conditions Marketing Essay

Analysis Of Environmental Conditions Marketing Essay Analysis of environmental conditions is based on the framework put forward by Lynch (2009) that assesses the general degree of turbulence in the environment. This can be done by using the two measures of ‘Changeability’ and ‘predictability’ (Lynch, 2009, p80), which can be subdivided into complexity and novelty (changeability), and rate of change and visibility (predictability). Establishing a level of turbulence in the environment allows us to know with how much confidence we can predict the future (Lynch, 2009). In the fourth quarter of 2009 the UK GDP rose by 0.1% (www.statistics.gov.uk, 2010) which means Britain is officially out of recession. While this means recovery is under way, many analysts remain sceptical of the extent of recovery. Andrew Sentance of the Monetary Policy Committee has claimed that ‘pace of recovery would remain uncertain’ (Sentence in the Telegraph Newspaper, 2010). So, as far as predictability and visibility go, it appears very difficult to predict with confidence the extent to which the UK economy will recover in 2010, with many anticipating a slow process because ‘the economy remains weighed down by a still fragile banking sector and high consumer and government debt levels’ (Seager, 2010). With regards to Changeability and complexity, there is a general election expected in May this year and there is a strong possibility of a change of Government (www.yougov.co.uk, www.ipsos-mori.com, 2010), which will bring about a change in Government policy towards businesses, for example, the Conservative Party are pledging a cut in corporation tax. (www.conservatives.com, 2010). Adding to the complexity is the recent return to a 17.5% VAT rate that adds more financial pressure to consumers in an already struggling market. The recession may have ended but analysts are not expecting too much change in spending as ‘economic downturn is squeezing spending power and that pressure will con tinue into 2010’ (Mintel, Oct 2009). Given the reasonably turbulent conditions, organisations must change its strategies, and possibly its beliefs if it is to maintain its ability to handle changes in the environment (Thompson, 2005). So strategy cannot be made for years into the future because of the uncertain nature of the environment. Strategy should focus on the upcoming year until the turbulence reduces. 4.2 PEST Analysis PEST Analysis is a focus on the macro environment and which factors will change the external environment in the years to come. Johnson et al (p.54) states â€Å"The environment is what gives organisations their means of survival. However the environment is also a source of threats.† â€Å"The macro environment is the highest-level layer. This consists of broad environmental factors that impact to a greater or lesser extent on almost all organisations.† Therefore a good analysis of the macro environment is critical to success but should als o be as general and non-specific as possible, this leads to one of the down falls of PEST that it can be a very useful tool when analysing the macro environment but also its general nature can be its downfall if it becomes little more than a huge list of factors in a shopping list fashion.

Psychology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 3

Psychology - Essay Example Discrimination among the African American can not be ignored. This is because among them there are people of different ethnic groups and stereotyping is common. In western psychology problems are addressed at individual level. They focus on addressing such issues at individual level rather than in a collective form. In African American culture this is not suitable as one should include others in addressing these problems. Individualistic nature is also found among the African Americans. These individualistic traits are value for individual confidentiality, competition and uniqueness. According to (Belgrave and Allison, 2009), for someone to offer better services to the African Americans you must convince them collectively but not as individuals. There is more power in convincing a group rather than an individual. Western psychology emphasizes more on prediction and control. For them time is an article of trade to be bought and sold (Akbar. 1991a). Time for them is vital to predict and control what they are doing. Emphasis on prediction and control has brought misunderstanding of cultures that do not exercise prediction and control. This in contrast among Africans where time is not very important and it only exists to fulfill the needs of the people. African Americans have been labeled as people with no orientation for time and future. In western psychology this is viewed as a negative trait. Arriving late for an African American is acceptable and there is no problem with that (Belgrave and Allison, 2009). The western psychology is valid to say that African Americans do not have a proper orientation towards prediction and control. Although they may take this negatively, proper prediction and control is necessary for personal and communal wellbeing. Too much emphasis on the same will look disc riminatory to the African Americans. The western people assume

Final Paper Proposal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Final Paper Proposal - Essay Example ss try to argue what each of these individual thinkers would have thought about the rights of gay marriage – the fact that they all lived more than a century ago probably means that they would all have been against it simply due to bias. Rather, it will argue what positions are internally coherent with their stated philosophies, and whether the philosophical traditions they belong to would support or oppose gay marriage. I believe that, even though Karl Marx had spoken out publicly against gay rights, all three of these thinkers propose philosophies that fundamentally support the right of gay marriage. John Stuart Mill’s liberalism might be the most friendly to the idea. Firstly, he championed the fight against the tyranny of the majority (Mill 24), where majority opinion, bias and hatred controls other parts of the population. The fight against gay marriage is obviously a case of tyranny of the majority. Secondly, he founded the â€Å"harm principle† where actions that do not harm others should not be negated by the government. Though some have argued that gay marriage can harm society, the lack of evidence of specific harm would mean it would be protected by the harm principle. Kant, likewise, would probably support the right of gay people to marriage. One of his foundational works, Groundwork on the Metaphysics of Morals proposes the categorical imperative: that one should behave as one would if behavior became a universal maxim. This will be harder to prove in an essay, but there are many ways of framing the banning of gay marriage that, universalized, would be harmful, such as: relationships not recognized by a particular religion should not be recognized by law or law should be based on religious morality. Finally, based on Marx’s Communist Manifesto, I believe that he would be against the current fight against gay marriage, on purely pragmatic grounds. Marx was a thinker who focused on class, and noted and fought against attempts by the

Daughter from Danang Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Daughter from Danang - Essay Example Significantly, the film effectively deals with cross-cultural conflicts through the protagonist who returns to Vietnam as an adult to meet her birth mother, where she is able to discover the fundamental elements of the cross-cultural conflicts. One important component of the cross-cultural conflicts is revealed by â€Å"Operation Babylift†, the Ford administration plan by which Hiep is sent to the U.S. The documentary film convincingly unfolds cultural differences and cultural shock in the reunion of a mother and daughter after 22 years. In this riveting film, the cultural differences and the impact of culture on family structure and dynamics become evident through the experience of the protagonist who undertakes a vital journey from the Vietnam War to Pulaski, Tennessee, and back to Vietnam. It is fundamental to maintain that the protagonist lacks a thorough understanding of the cultural differences, cross-cultural conflicts, family structure and dynamics, etc. and this is at the center of the issues cropping up in the reunion of Heidi and Kim. Most essentially, the reunion between Heidi and Kim rapidly develops tension and misunderstanding, in place of their hopes and expectations.

To what extent did miliarism contribute to the origins of the First Research Paper

To what extent did miliarism contribute to the origins of the First World War (1914-1918) and the Second world war (1939-1945) - Research Paper Example Introduction of new weapons and the arms race geared the culture of militarism that was gaining popularity in the Europe countries leading to the start of World War 1 in 1914 (Llewellyn, Southey and Thompson para 3-4). The governments officials were after Great power and their influence was dominated by military elites and they pushed for the government increasing its spending in the military. The government officials in most countries in Europe contributed to the mood for World War I by promoting military solutions for political problems a situation that threatened the relationship among countries and in response to this, each country developed is army more. The militaristic culture was mostly experienced in Germany as they build the Prussian army before 1850 that underwent rigorous training regimes and incorporated new weaponry and communication technologies. Other countries copied this and started modernizing their forces and equipping them with new technologies and improvements such as increasing weapon range, accuracy and portability. Machines guns that had been developed in 1881 were made lighter and accurate with a capability of shooting 600 bullets in one minute. New weapons such as the dreadnought battleship were developed and gas weapons began being produced. These activities made the countries fear each other and the competition on who is more powerful resulted into the World War I. Each country believed that going into war was a test of the countries’ military power and a chance to showcase their military superiority prompted the start of the war. Military spending increased highly increased between 1900 and 1914 with the six great European powers doubling their spending and trying to outdo each other (Llewellyn, Southey and Thompson para4). Militarism was strongest in Germany due to political involvement

Response Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 8

Response Paper - Essay Example In addition, the context that the author uses is more persuading as compared to Frye’s article. This is because Brady uses a more personal perspective when putting across her points. Here, Brady uses herself as the main point of reference, which makes the argument livelier and convinces more because it is written from a personal perspective. The choice of words in Brady’s article is also strategic in that the article is easy to comprehend by almost any individual in the society. This implies that it was written for the general audience. It also incorporates an interesting theme, which any person would like to read. On the other hand, Frye’s article argues using a second individual as the point of reference. This makes the article less convincing as compared to one that is written from a personal perspective. In addition, the choice of words by Frye is carefully done for a specific group of the population; the highly literate. Frye is also judging when he gives a general perspective on how most people think and misuse the word ‘think’. This article is not only less convincing because of the judgmental style used but also because of difficult word choice application. The title of the article is also negative and discouraging. The author also uses colloquially especially in the title. The main theme that the author adopts, which is that thinking takes place when an individual puts down ideas using the right words is confusing. This is because this theme does not specify what is meant by ‘right words’. This is in contrast to Brady’s theme, which is straightf orward requiring less effort in understanding. Brady’s theme gives the reader an immediate idea that the article would encompass certain reasons as to why the wife is needed. Frye’s article is confusing. This is one of the main reasons why I view this article as least

Importance-Performance Evaluation Essay Example for Free

Importance-Performance Evaluation Essay 1. 0 Introduction Patronage of any product or service is a function of the satisfaction a consumer derives from its usage. In the case of hotels, patrons tend to equate good service to the facilities and amenities which make their stay as pleasurable and comfortable as can be desired for their money’s worth. It is, therefore, imperative that the hotel management carefully considers customer feedback in addressing hotel improvement initiatives. The purpose of this report is to undertake an Importance-Performance Evaluation of the City Hotel as commissioned by the Griffith University Hotel based from the ratings given by selected business and pleasure travelers on how important the existing hotel facilities were to them and the performance of these facilities in meeting their needs. Preliminary calculations were performed to find the means and standard deviations for each facility which aided in the identification of the five highest and five least most important facilities, as well as the facilities which garnered the five highest and five lowest performance ratings. A scatter plot was then drawn with benchmarks set to indicate acceptable levels of importance and performance. Statistical analysis using the t-test was also conducted to identify significant differences on the respondents’ perceived importance of each hotel facility. Findings revealed that the over-all mean of the importance and performance rating are 2. 83 and 3. 15, respectively. Facilities with the highest importance and performance ratings are in-room cable television and family restaurant, respectively. The two types of travelers differed significantly in their perception of the importance in eight of the 17 facilities evaluated. 2. 0 Research methods This paper made use of Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) to identify hotel facilities which are performing well and those that need particular attention from management for improvement and to detect significant differences in the perceived importance of each facility. Utility of the IPA for use in this paper stems from the fact that results may be graphically displayed and interpreted on a two-dimensional grid, simultaneously indicating importance and performance dimensions of the hotel facilities being evaluated. The IPA method of assessment makes use of four sets of data, namely the means, standard deviations, scatter plot and the t-statistic. The t-test was performed using a 0. 05 level of significance. 3. 0 Results Figure 1. Importance – Performance Mean and SD and t-test Results Figure 1 displays the mean and standard deviation of each of the 17 facilities of the City Hotel as evaluated by its patrons, as well as the results of the t-test performed on the importance ratings given by the two types of travellers. As shown in Figure 1, the five most important hotel facilities are the in-room cable television, in-room broadband connection, a-la-carte restaurant, express check-out and the free daily newspaper; while the five least important facilities are the express check-in, valet parking, wireless broadband connection throughout hotel, mini-bar, and tennis courts. The over-all mean of the importance ratings is 2. 83. The facilities with the five highest performance ratings are the family restaurant, express check-out, tennis court, in-room broadband, and in-room pay movies. The five lowest performance ratings were given on the following facilities : wireless broadband connection throughout hotel, valet parking, in-room cable television, mini-bar and tour booking service. The over-all mean of the performance ratings is 3. 15. As expected of an IPA, the scatter plot in Figure 2 presents a visual of the importance and performance ratings. The plot also shows established benchmark standards indicative of acceptable levels of importance and performance. The sector defined by the quadrant at the top right indicates high importance and performance, where facilities are said to be performing well. Hotel facilities identified to be performing well include in-room broad connection, a-la-carte restaurant, swimming pool, express check-out, free daily newspaper and games room. On the other hand, the area covered by the quadrant at the top left portion of the plot signifies facilities of low importance but high performance, and are probably facilities which are being over-resourced like room service, family restaurant, tennis courts and in-room pay movies. Meanwhile, the quadrant at the bottom right portion represents facilities which are of high importance but were given low performance ratings. Such facilities are those that need attention from the management, namely the gymnasium and the in-room cable television. Finally, the quadrant at the bottom left portion of the plot contains the facilities with low importance and performance such as the wireless broadband connection throughout the hotel, mini-bar, express check-in, valet parking and tour booking service. These are the facilities with no real issue to focus attention on. Figure 2. Importance-Performance Scatter Plot Figure 3 next page represents the results of the t-test performed between business travelers and pleasure travelers to ascertain any significant differences in the means of their ratings on the perceived importance of each facility at 0. 05 level of significance. Results of the t-test revealed that there were significant differences in the importance ratings between the business and pleasure travelers in terms of the following facilities: in-room broadband connection, family restaurant, gymnasium, in-room pay movies, express check-in, free daily newspaper, games room and tour booking service. Variable Group P-value Significance (P0. 05) Business Pleasure in-room broadband connection 3. 29 3. 21 0. 01 Yes wireless broadband connection throughout hotel 2. 26 2. 23 0. 09 No room service 2. 64 2. 61 0. 07 No a-la-carte restaurant 2. 97 2. 93 0. 1 No family restaurant 2. 86 2. 88 0 Yes mini-bar 2. 2 2. 18 0. 42 No swimming pool 2. 92 2. 91 0. 22 No gymnasium 3. 01 2. 99 0. 02 Yes tennis courts 1. 94 1. 94 0. 15 No in-room pay movies 2. 95 2. 98 0 Yes in-room cable television (foxtel) 3. 8 3. 8 0. 46 No express check-in 2. 8 2. 84 0. 01 Yes express check-out 2. 86 2. 81 0. 05 No valet parking 2. 53 2. 49 0. 19 No free daily newspaper 2. 74 2. 69 0 Yes games room 2. 95 2. 99 0 Yes tour booking service 2. 84 2. 9 0. 02 Yes 4. 0 Conclusions In summary, the evaluation of the facilities of the City Hotel using IPA indicated that the three facilities with the highest importance and performance ratings and are considered as the strongest areas of service in the hotel are in-room broadband connection, a-la-carte restaurant and express-check-out. Management should see to it that these strengths should be well maintained and upgraded whenever possible. Meanwhile the weakest areas are the tour booking service and valet parking. Future improvement plans should include strategies to revitalize the said facilities in order to ensure continued patronage and possibly improve City Hotel’s share of the market. 5. 0 Recommendations Based from the findings and conclusions, the following recommendations are being forwarded : (1) Institute a check-out survey among the hotel guests on how the hotel can be of better service to its patrons particularly in the areas of tour booking service and valet parking. This way, management will be appraised of what measures to undertake to enhance customer satisfaction; (2) Review how the other hotels are delivering their tour booking and valet-parking services and take on initiatives which will make City Hotel’s facilities comparable or the best among its class; (3) Undertake an environmental scan on all facilities being offered by the City Hotel in order to single out problem areas, apply potent solutions and improve service on all facilities, prioritizing areas that need attention like the gymnasium and the in-room cable.