Analysis of Marketing Techniques used by American Express :: GCSE Business Marketing Coursework

Analysis of Marketing Techniques used by American Express American Express continues to attempt to expand its customer base, while at the same time trying to keep its reputation as a card of status. Its successful marketing tactics in the United States compared to the slow expansion into markets abroad show its lack of consideration of the differences of these markets. By preparing a more decisive plan as to what type of consumers to target and what products to push in each of its market areas, American Express could have a much greater success with foreign expansion. American Express has been known as a commodity to most business travelers. In order to build its customer base, other consumers need to see the card as an indispensable convenience in their lives. American Express offers convenient methods to obtain account information, pay bills, find discounted products, and even make travel plans via the Internet. The Internet site offers these options, as well as other services, such as on- line help and assistance for small businesses. American Express realizes the need for many consumers to save time and money, but to still feel important and respected. The ingenuity and thought put into the services offered on the web site shows that American Express is genuinely concerned with the satisfaction of its customers. American Express has always been known for its benefits to travelers. Some of the new travel discounts; such as the â€Å"Bahamas Getaway† packages offer significant discounts for planning a vacation in the Bahamas through a travel agent. The catch is that one must charge it on the American Express card to get the discounts. Coupon books that offer discounts at many shops, restaurants and attractions are given to those who buy a package. Over $11 million in â€Å"Bahama Getaway† packages were sold in 1999. Other getaway packages are available to consumers all over the world. American Express has successfully used this marketing strategy, as it realized that consumers want an opportunity to enjoy an exotic vacation, while at the same time, getting value for their dollar. Saving money is important to most consumers. Once again, American Express aims to please its customers. With these successful ventures, it is difficult to imagine that American Express is struggling in many parts of the world.

Three Qualities to Succeed.

Everyone have dreams, expectations and goals. Some people dream of being famous singers or actors. Other people want to become doctors, nurses, pilots, teachers o something else, the thing is to succeed, to reach their goals. So what do people need to attain their goals? They need to work hard, to take risks, and they need to have attitude and qualities. There are three qualities necessary for success: passion, perseverance and discipline. Successful people are passionate about what they do, they love what the do and they enjoy at the same time, they feel happy and complete because it’s something that they want to do to being satisfied and meet their expectations. They are creative and hard workers, they try to be original thinking in some many ways to do it as well as they can. It’s important to love what they do to do it well and become a successful person. People should have perseverance to reach their goals, they need practice to improve their abilities, sometimes people feel insecure about what they do, so they might practice to do it better. They should keep going and confront the problems, if something is going wrong just keep trying and face the oppositions. Stay focused on their goals even if some one thinks that they must try to do something else, people need to be persistent enough to stay focused on what they want, they need to be patient and persistent if they want to reach their goals. To succeed people need to be discipline, being responsible of what they do, when they make a mistake they need to be able to fix it. They need to study for attain their goals as much as they can to obtain tools and show confidence about what they are doing. It’s not enough to want to succeed, also people need to wok hard with discipline to meet their goals. People who want to succeed should have perseverance, they need to be discipline to know which way is better to follow their dreams, and the most important quality is the passion. If people enjoy and love what they do, they are going to reach the success.

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner Chapters 15

â€Å"Come with us. Don't make one rash move or I will take you down.† I felt angry again as he glared at me, and a smal part of me wanted to snarl and show my teeth, but I had a feeling he was looking for just that kind of excuse. Jasper paused as if he'd just thought of something. â€Å"Close your eyes,† he commanded. I hesitated. Had he decided to kil me after al ? â€Å"Do it!† I gritted my teeth and shut my eyes. I felt twice as helpless as I had before. â€Å"Fol ow the sound of my voice and don't open your eyes. You look, you lose, got it?† I nodded, wondering what he didn't want me to see. I felt some relief that he was bothering to protect a secret. There was no reason to do so if he was just going to kil me. â€Å"This way.† I walked slowly after him, careful to give him no excuses. He was considerate in the way he led, not walking me into any trees, at least. I could hear the way the sound changed when we were in the open; the feel of the wind was different, too, and the smel of my coven burning was stronger. I could feel the warmth of the sun on my face, and the insides of my eyelids were brighter as I sparkled. He led me closer and closer to the muffled crackle of the flames, so close that I could feel the smoke brush my skin. I knew he could have kil ed me at any time, but the nearness of the fire stil made me nervous. â€Å"Sit here. Eyes closed.† The ground was warm from the sun and the fire. I kept very stil and tried to concentrate on looking harmless, but I could feel his glare on me, and it made me agitated. Though I was not mad at these vampires, who I truly believed had only been defending themselves, I felt the oddest stirrings of fury. It was almost outside myself, as if it were some leftover echo from the battle that had just taken place. The anger didn't make me stupid, though, because I was too sad – miserable to my core. Diego was aways in my mind, and I couldn't help thinking about how he must have died. I was sure there was no way he would have voluntarily told Riley our secrets – secrets that had given me a reason to trust Riley just enough until it was too late. In my head, I saw Riley's face again – that cold, smooth expression that had formed as he'd threatened to punish any of us who wouldn't behave. I heard again his macabre and oddly detailed description – when I take you to her and hold you as she tears off your legs and then slowly, slowly burns off your fingers, ears, lips, tongue, and every other superfluous appendage one by one. I realized now that I'd been hearing the description of Diego's death. That night, I'd been sure that something had changed in Riley. Kil ing Diego was what had changed Riley, had hardened him. I believed only one thing that Riley had ever told me: he had valued Diego more than any of the rest of us. Had even been fond of him. And yet he'd watched our creator hurt him. No doubt he'd helped her. Kil ed Diego with her. I wondered how much pain it would have taken to make me betray Diego. I imagined it would have taken quite a lot. And I was sure it had taken at least that much to make Diego betray me. I felt sick. I wanted the image of Diego screaming in agony out of my head, but it wouldn't leave. And then there was screaming there in the field. My eyelids fluttered, but Jasper snarled furiously and I clenched them together at once. I'd seen nothing but heavy lavender smoke. I heard shouting and a strange, savage howling. It was loud, and there was a lot of it. I couldn't imagine how a face would have to contort to create such a noise, and the not knowing made the sound more frightening. These yel ow-eyed vampires were so different from the rest of us. Or different from me, I guess, since I was the only one left. Riley and our creator were long gone by now. I heard names cal ed, Jacob, Leah, Sam. There were lots of distinct voices, though the howls continued. Of course Riley had lied to us about the number of vampires here, too. The sound of the howling tapered off until it was just one voice, one agonized, inhuman yowling that made me grit my teeth. I could see Diego's face so clearly in my mind, and the sound was like him screaming. I heard Carlisle talking over the other voices and the howling. He was begging to look at something. â€Å"Please let me take a look. Please let me help.† I didn't hear anyone arguing with him, but for some reason his tone made it sound like he was losing the dispute. And then the yowling reached a strident new pitch, and suddenly Carlisle was saying â€Å"thank you† in a fervent voice, and under the yowl there was the sound of a lot of movement by a lot of bodies. Many heavy footsteps coming closer. I listened harder and heard something unexpected and impossible. Along with some heavy breathing – and I've never heard anyone in my coven breathe like that – there were dozens of deep thumping noises. Almost like†¦ heartbeats. But definitely not human hearts. I knew that particular sound wel . I sniffed hard, but the wind was blowing from the other direction, and I could only smel the smoke. Without a warning sound, something touched me, clapped down firmly on either side of my head. My eyes started open in panic as I lurched up, straining to jerk free of this hold, and instantly met Jasper's warning gaze about two inches from my face. â€Å"Stop it,† he snapped, yanking me back down on my butt. I could only just hear him, and I realized that his hands were sealed tight against my head, covering my ears entirely. â€Å"Close your eyes,† he instructed again, probably at a normal volume, but it was hushed for me. I struggled to calm myself and shut my eyes again. There were things they didn't want me to hear, either. I could live with that – if it meant I could live. For a second I saw Fred's face behind my eyelids. He had said he would wait for one day. I wondered if he would keep his word. I wished I could tel him the truth about the yel ow-eyes, and how much more there seemed to be that we didn't know. This whole world that we real y knew nothing about. It would be interesting to explore that world. Particularly with someone who could make me invisible and safe. But Diego was gone. He wouldn't be coming to find Fred with me. That made imagining the future faintly repugnant. I could stil hear some of what was going on, but just the howling and a few voices. Whatever those weird thumping sounds had been, they were too muted now for me to examine them. I did make out the words when, a few minutes later, Carlisle said, â€Å"You have to†¦Ã¢â‚¬  – his voice was too low for a second, and then – â€Å"†¦ from here now. If we could help we would, but we cannot leave.† There was a growl, but it was oddly unmenacing. The yowling became a low whine that disappeared slowly, as if it was moving away from me. It was quiet for a few minutes. I heard some low voices, Carlisle and Esme among them, but also some I didn't know. I wished I could smel something – the blindness combined with the muted sound left me straining for some source of sensory information. But al I could smel was the horribly sweet smoke. There was one voice, higher and clearer than the others, that I could hear most easily. â€Å"Another five minutes,† I heard whoever it was say. I was sure it was a girl who was speaking. â€Å"And Bel a wil open her eyes in thirty-seven seconds. I wouldn't doubt that she can hear us now.† I tried to make sense of this. Was someone else being forced to keep her eyes shut, like me? Or did she think my name was Bel a? I hadn't told anyone my name. I struggled again to smel something. More mumbling. I thought that one voice sounded off – I couldn't hear any ring to it at al . But I couldn't be sure with Jasper's hands so securely over my ears. â€Å"Three minutes,† the high, clear voice said. Jasper's hands left my head. â€Å"You'd better open your eyes now,† he told me from a few steps away. The way he said this frightened me. I looked around myself quickly, searching for the danger hinted at in his tone. One whole field of my vision was obscured by the dark smoke. Close by, Jasper was frowning. His teeth were gritted together and he was looking at me with an expression that was almost†¦ frightened. Not like he was scared of me, but like he was scared because of me. I remembered what he'd said before, about my putting them in danger with something cal ed a Volturi. I wondered what a Volturi was. I couldn't imagine what this scarred-up, dangerous vampire would be afraid of. Behind Jasper, four vampires were spaced out in a loose line with their backs to me. One was Esme. With her were a tal blonde woman, a tiny black-haired girl, and a dark-haired male vampire so big that he was scary just to look at – the one I'd seen kil Kevin. For an instant I imagined that vampire getting a hold on Raoul. It was a strangely pleasant picture. There were three more vampires behind the big one. I couldn't see exactly what they were doing with him in the way. Carlisle was kneeling on the gr ound, and next to him was a male vampire with dark red hair. Lying flat on the ground was another figure, but I couldn't see much of that one, only jeans and smal brown boots. It was either a female or a young male. I wondered if they were putting the vampire back together. So eight yel ow-eyes total, plus al that howling before, whatever strange kind of vampire that had been; there had been at least eight more voices involved. Sixteen, maybe more. More than twice as many as Riley had told us to expect. I found myself fiercely hoping that those black-cloaked vampires would catch up to Riley, and that they would make him suffer. The vampire on the ground started to get slowly to her feet – moving awkwardly, almost like she was some clumsy human. The breeze shifted, blowing the smoke across me and Jasper. For a moment, everything was invisible except for him. Though I was not as blind as before, I suddenly felt much more anxious, for some reason. It was like I could feel the anxiety bleeding out of the vampire next to me. The light wind gusted back in the next second, and I could see and smel everything. Jasper hissed at me furiously and shoved me out of my crouch and back onto the ground. It was her – the human I'd been hunting just a few minutes ago. The scent my whole body had been focused toward. The sweet, wet scent of the most delicious blood I'd ever tracked. My mouth and throat felt like they were on fire. I tried wildly to hold on to my reason – to focus on the fact that Jasper was just waiting for me to jump up again so that he could kil me – but only part of me could do it. I felt like I was about to pul into two halves trying to keep myself here. The human named Bel a stared at me with stunned brown eyes. Looking at her made it worse. I could see the blood flushing through her thin skin. I tried to look anywhere else, but my eyes kept circling back to her. The redhead spoke to her in a low voice. â€Å"She surrendered. That's one I've never seen before. Only Carlisle would think of offering. Jasper doesn't approve.† Carlisle must have explained to that one when my ears were covered. The vampire had both his arms around the human girl, and she had both hands pressed to his chest. Her throat was just inches from his mouth, but she didn't look frightened of him at al . And he didn't look like he was hunting. I had tried to wrap my head around the idea of a coven with a pet human, but this was not close to what I had imagined. If she'd been a vampire, I would have guessed that they were together. â€Å"Is Jasper al right?† the human whispered. â€Å"He's fine. The venom stings,† the vampire said. â€Å"He was bitten?† she asked, sounding shocked by the idea. Who was this girl? Why did the vampires al ow her to be with them? Why hadn't they kil ed her yet? Why did she seem so comfortable with them, like they didn't scare her? She seemed like she was a part of this world, and yet she didn't understand its realities. Of course Jasper was bitten. He'd just fought – and destroyed – my entire coven. Did this girl even know what we were? Ugh, the burn in my throat was impossible! I tried not to think about washing it away with her blood, but the wind was blowing her smel right in my face! It was too late to keep my head – I had scented the prey I was hunting, and nothing could change that now. â€Å"He was trying to be everywhere at once,† the redhead told the human. â€Å"Trying to make sure Alice had nothing to do, actual y.† He shook his head as he looked at the tiny blackhaired girl. â€Å"Alice doesn't need anyone's help.† The vampire named Alice shot a glare at Jasper. â€Å"Overprotective fool,† she said in her clear soprano voice. Jasper met her stare with a half smile, seeming to forget for a second that I existed. I could barely fight the instinct that wanted me to make use of his lapse and spring at the human girl. It would take less than an instant and then her warm blood – blood I could hear pumping through her heart – would quench the burn. She was so close – The vampire with the dark red hair met my eyes with a fierce warning glare, and I knew I would die if I tried for the girl, but the agony in my throat made me feel like I would die if I didn't. It hurt so much that I screamed out loud in frustration. Jasper snarled at me, and I tried to keep myself from moving, but it felt like the scent of her blood was a giant hand yanking me off the ground. I had never tried to stop myself from feeding once I had committed to a hunt. I dug my hands into the ground looking for something to hold on to but finding nothing. Jasper leaned into a crouch, and even knowing I was two seconds from death, I couldn't focus my thirsty thoughts. And then Carlisle was right there, his hand on Jasper's arm. He looked at me with kind, calm eyes. â€Å"Have you changed your mind, young one?† he asked me. â€Å"We don't want to destroy you, but we wil if you can't control yourself.† â€Å"How can you stand it?† I asked him, almost begging. Wasn't he burning, too? â€Å"I want her.† I stared at her, desperately wishing the distance between us was gone. My fingers raked uselessly through the rocky dirt. â€Å"You must stand it,† Carlisle said solemnly. â€Å"You must exercise control. It is possible, and it is the only thing that wil save you now.† If being able to tolerate the human the way these strange vampires did was my only hope for survival, then I was already doomed. I couldn't stand the fire. And I was of two minds about survival anyway. I didn't want to die, I didn't want pain, but what was the point? Everyone else was dead. Diego had been dead for days. His name was right on my lips. I almost whispered it aloud. Instead, I gripped my skul with both hands and tried to think about something that wouldn't hurt. Not the girl, and not Diego. It didn't work very wel . â€Å"Shouldn't we move away from her?† the human whispered roughly, breaking my concentration. My eyes snapped back to her. Her skin was so thin and soft. I could see the pulse in her neck. â€Å"We have to stay here,† said the vampire she was clinging to. â€Å"They are coming to the north end of the clearing now.† They? I glanced to the north, but there was nothing but smoke. Did he mean Riley and my creator? I felt a new thril of panic, fol owed by a little spasm of hope. There was no way she and Riley could stand against these vampires who had kil ed so many of us, was there? Even if the howly ones were gone, Jasper alone looked capable of dealing with the two of them. Or did he mean this mysterious Volturi? The wind teased the girl's scent across my face again, and my thoughts scattered. I glared at her thirstily. The girl met my stare, but her expression was so different from what it should have been. Though I could feel that my lips were curled back from my teeth, though I trembled with the effort to stop myself from springing at her, she did not look afraid of me. Instead she seemed fascinated. It almost looked like she wanted to speak to me – like she had a question she wanted me to answer. Then Carlisle and Jasper began to back away from the fire – and me – closing ranks with the others and the human. They al were staring past me into the smoke, so whatever they were afraid of was closer to me than it was to them. I huddled tighter to the smoke in spite of the nearby flames. Should I make a run for it? Were they distracted enough that I could escape? Where would I go? To Fred? Off on my own? To find Riley and make him pay for what he'd done to Diego? As I hesitated, mesmerized by that last idea, the moment passed. I heard movement to the north and knew I was sandwiched between the yel ow-eyes and whatever was coming. â€Å"Hmm,† a dead voice said from behind the smoke. In that one syl able I knew exactly who it was, and if I hadn't been frozen solid with mindless terror I would have bolted. It was the dark-cloaks. What did this mean? Would a new battle begin now? I knew that the dark-cloaked vampires had wanted my creator to succeed in destroying these yel ow-eyes. My creator had clearly failed. Did that mean they would kil her? Or would they kil Carlisle and Esme and the rest here instead? If it had been my choice, I knew who I would want destroyed, and it wasn't my captors. The dark-cloaks ghosted through the vapor to face the yel ow-eyes. None of them looked in my direction. I held absolutely stil . There were only four of them, like last time. But it didn't make a difference that there were seven of the yel ow-eyes. I could tel that they were as wary of these dark-cloaks as Riley and my creator had been. There was something more to them than I could see, but I could definitely feel it. These were the punishers, and they didn't lose. â€Å"Welcome, Jane,† said the yel ow-eyed one who held the human. They knew each other. But the redhead's voice was not friendly – nor was it weak and eager to please like Riley's had been, or furiously terrified like my creator's. His voice was simply cold and polite and unsurprised. Were the dark-cloaks this Volturi, then? The smal vampire who led the dark-cloaks – Jane, apparently – slowly scanned across the seven yel ow-eyes and the human, and then final y turned her head toward me. I glimpsed her face for the first time. She was younger than me, but much older, too, I guessed. Her eyes were the velvet color of dark red roses. Knowing it was too late to escape notice, I put my head down, covering it with my hands. Maybe if it were clear that I didn't want to fight, Jane would treat me as Carlisle had. I didn't feel much hope of that, though. â€Å"I don't understand.† Jane's dead voice betrayed a hint of annoyance.

Aims and Objectives of a Business Essay

Strategic aims and objectives of two different organisations * Aims are just general statements briefly outlining what a business plans to achieve. * Objectives are much more specific and should clarify the aims in more detail. * A Business Strategy is the conduct of drafting, implementing and evaluating cross-functional decisions that will enable an organization to achieve its long-term objectives. Aims are broken down into individual objectives which are SMART; Specific – the objective will have a purpose Measureable – growth can be measured Achievable – It will not be impossible to achieve Realistic – It Time specific – It will be able to be achieved within a certain time frame Strategic plans enable a business to achieve its Objectives. They are based on what is happening in current marketplace. So a business must do research and find lots of different information about its, customers, competitors, sales, market shares, price, costs and profits. This information is found by doing Market Research. This information can either be Quantitative or Qualitative. Quantitative data – information easily gathered by numbers. Qualitative data – information based on opinion, beliefs, feelings. A strategic plan considers the future of current decisions, overall policy, organizational development, and links to operational plans. . It establishes imperatives, goals, strategies, and performance measures for the organization that can be used as a management and communications tool. Strategies for the Public Sector A hospital may have the aim to provide better customer service. Their objectives; * Make sure all patients in A&E are seen within 15mins * Always having ambulances ready * Answering all phones within ten seconds Plans to achieve this: * Constantly checking the quality of customer service * Buying more ambulances and hiring more ambulance staff * Provide services at cost, below cost or free where appropriate It is then up to the management to ensure that these plans are executed properly so that taxpayers’ money is well spent in providing these health services. There most important stakeholder is us. Strategies of the Private Sector The most important stakeholder in a Private Sector organisation is the owner. They would aim to; * Maximise profit * Increase sales * Cut costs * To survive * To breakeven * To expand To maximise profits the long term strategy would be to; * Increase prices * Reduce costs * Increase sales Sometimes in order to make money you have to lose money first. A business might reduce its prices to gain more sales and customers and in order to do this their profits have to fall. However, a business must make a profit in the long term or it will go bust. A Short term strategy to maximise sales would be to; * Reduce prices * Improve product quality * Add new products * Spend more on advertising * Spend more in market research Cutting costs * Reduce number of employees * Reduce wastage of materials * Conserve energy If a firm decides to get rid of employees it has to be careful not to get rid of staff who might be needed in the future or even be hired by a rival company. It is also important to keep the standard of quality high, if you choose to go to a low cost supplier you might lower your standard of quality and customers might go to a rival store. Survival * In this economic climate the main aim of a business may be to survive. They may have to drop prices drastically and cut costs. Breakeven * All businesses must at the very least cover all their costs in the short term * Their revenue must cover their fixed and variable costs * Fixed costs are those unaffected by sales; e.g. rent, rates, insurance etc. * Breakeven can be measured using a graph, chart or formula Growth * In order to become a market leader a firm has to grow * Growth can be internal or external * There are three ways to measure growth; profit, sales, and market share Private Sector Objectives > Maximising profits – may benefit shareholders and managers but at the expense of employees, customers and suppliers if the business decides to increase prices and/or reduce costs. > Maximising Sales – to maximise sales a business may have to reduce prices, increase quality, or even introduce a new product. Public/Voluntary Sector Businesses in these sectors usualy serve the public in some way. Their aim is to help people. They may have different objectives than a private sector business as a business in the public/voluntary sector does not aim to make a profit. For example a charity may want to increase the amount of aid it gives to a third world country. So they will try to raise more money to be able to send things to them. This will benefit the people of the third world country, however the people that are giving the donations may then have to so without something else because they have gave their money to the charity. P3 Boots mission is to become the world’s leading pharmacy-led health and beauty group. They seek to develop their core business of pharmacy-led health and beauty retailing and pharmaceutical wholesaling across the world and become a significant player in many major international markets. Boots aims to; * Be the place for health and beauty customers. * Secure market leadership in the UK. * Build on their brands’ growing success internationally. * Create shareholder value by investing to become a more modern, efficient and competitive health and beauty retail business. Objectives Their strategy is underpinned by their continued focus on patient/customer needs and service. The key steps Boots are taking in the UK to execute their strategy are: * Making Boots more convenient and accessible for customers. They are re-branding over 1,000 outlets into â€Å"your local Boots pharmacy† and relocating more Boots stores/pharmacies to improved locations. * Improving customers’ in-store shopping experience by consistently providing best in class customer care and service. This being achieved by operating efficient walk-in prescription services staffed by friendly, knowledgeable and accessible pharmacists, and faster till service. * Creating a compelling multi-channel health and wellbeing consumer offering. Initiatives include making shopping at boots.com easier, expanding product ranges available on-line and rolling out their â€Å"order on-line collect-in-store† concept. * Continuing to provide customers with excellent value by providing trusted ranges of Boots branded products, executing strong promotional offers and rewarding customer loyalty with Boots Advantage Card points. The key steps Boots are taking in their International health and beauty markets to execute their strategy are: * Opening new stores in markets where Boots is already well established, including the Republic of Ireland, Norway and Thailand. * Selective franchising of the Boots pharmacy-led health and beauty retail proposition in areas such as the Middle East. Boots aims for Alliance Healthcare to be the world’s leading wholesaler and distributor of pharmaceutical products. To make this possible they have come up with a number of Objectives to make this possible, including; * Ensuring that they continue to deliver an excellent core service to all customers. By delivering prescription medicines to pharmacies at least twice a day on a just-in-time basis to meet patients’ needs. * Differentiating their product offering. They are achieving this through a series of initiatives which include the development of Almus, their exclusive range of generic medicines, and the extension of Alvita, their branded healthcare product range. * Entering new geographical markets where stable regulatory environments, large populations, growing healthcare expenditure, scope for wholesaler consolidation and the right management can be found, such as in Russia and China. Stakeholders Shareholders – an individual or company (including a corporation) that legally owns one or more shares of stock in a joint stock company. Shareholders would have particular interest in the aim ‘Secure market leadership in the UK’, because to secure Market Leadership in the UK would mean the company is expanding and making more capital. A Shareholder in any Business is mainly interested in the company making a profit so that their shares go up in value, therefore they get more money. Customers – someone who pays for goods or services. Customers would have a keen interest in the aim ‘Ensuring that they continue to deliver an excellent core service to all customers’. This is because when a customer goes into a shop they expect there to be great customer service, they are there spending their money on that companies goods so they expect the highest standard of customer service. Otherwise they would take their custom elsewhere. Suppliers- someone whose business is to supply a particular service or commodity. Suppliers would have a keen interest in the aim ‘Differentiating their product offering.’ This is because if Boots want to offer new products to their customers they will have to buy them off their suppliers. This means the Suppliers would be making more money. Making a profit is the Suppliers main aim. Boots order on-line collect in-store strategy would affect the following stakeholders; Customers – would be winners, as it makes shopping more convient for them. They can shop 24/7 and they don’t even have to leave their own homes. Shareholders – would be winners because when shopping is more convienent for customers sales will go up therefore shareholders will make more profit. Older Customers – would be losers, because some older people may not own a computer or even know how to use one. So it would not make shopping more convienent for them at all. Boots strategy of Differentiating their product offering would affect the following stakeholder; Customers – would be winners as they would have a wider and better range of products to choose from. Suppliers – would benefit as they would make more money because boots are buying more of their products. The Environment – may suffer though. Because new products have to be devloped and tested, some may harm the environment. Boots Strategy of Opening new stores in markets where Boots is already well established would affect the following stakeholders; Shareholders – would be winners because if new stores were opened they they would gain more service and customers and therefore make more money. Suppliers – would be winners as they would be gettingg more business as they would have to supply for the new stores. Customers – would be winners and losers. The customers that are getting the new shops in their area would be winners but customers that live in more isolated areas and will not benfit as they would not be able to use the store. Oxfam International is an international group of independent non-governmental organizations dedicated to fighting poverty and related injustice around the world. The Oxfams work together internationally to achieve greater impact by their collective efforts. Oxfam Aims to: * To Aid third world countries in any way they can * To relieve poverty, distress and suffering * To educate people about the nature, causes and effects of poverty * To campaign for a fairer world * To work with others to find lasting solutions to poverty and suffering. * Help people to help themselves, supporting local organisations in poor parts of the world. * Campaign for national and international policy changes that will help the world’s poor. Though Oxfam’s initial concern was the provision of food to relieve famine, over the years Oxfam has developed strategies to combat the causes of famine. In addition to food and medicine Oxfam also provides tools to enable people to become self-supporting and opens markets of international trade where crafts and produce from poorer regions of the world can be sold at a fair price to benefit the producer. Oxfam’s program has three main points of focus: * development work, which tries to lift communities out of poverty with long-term, sustainable solutions based on their needs; * humanitarian work, assisting those immediately affected by conflict and natural disasters (which often leads in to longer-term development work), especially in the field of water and sanitation; * lobbying, advocacy and popular campaigning, trying to affect policy decisions on the causes of conflict at local, national, and international levels. Oxfam works on; * trade justice, * fair trade, * education, * debt and aid, * livelihoods, * health, * HIV/AIDS, * gender equality, * conflict (campaigning for an international arms trade treaty) and natural disasters, * democracy and human rights, * climate change Another of Oxfams Aims is to ensure Women have the same rights as men. Project aims During 2007-8, people from 30 remote districts of Nepal will participate in Oxfams WE CAN campaign. The campaign is based around volunteer Change Makers: men and women who pledge to change their own attitudes and practices and to spread the message that women deserve equal respect and rights in society. Change Makers tell others that violence against women is not socially acceptable. WE CAN’s long-term aim is to challenge and change attitudes. In order to generate support for their campaign and to recruit male and female Change Makers in Nepal, members of local organisations will arrange 60 community-based events and one national event in 2007/08. By the end of the year, 35,000 new Change Makers will be active in Nepal. And because each Change Maker pledges to influence at least ten people, more than 350,000 people in Nepal will have heard the WE CAN message. The aim is to recruit five million Change Makers across South Asia by 2011. Another of Oxfams Aims is to Improve Health Care in Rural Georgia. This project will ensure that 50,000 people in the isolated and impoverished regions of Ajara and Samegrelo can receive local, affordable health care. Project aims The aim of the project is to improve the health of people in Georgia. It will: * Implement community-based health care schemes * Improve health awareness and practice among the wider communities * Help people to know and demand their patient rights and state health benefits * Influence the government to fulfil its commitment to provide basic health services nationwide . Another part of the Oxfam group is Oxfam International Youth Partnerships. Their Mission The Oxfam International Youth Parliament (Oxfam IYP) is an initiative of Oxfam International, managed by Oxfam Community Aid Abroad. IYP mobilises a global network of young leaders and activists to bring about positive and sustainable change. It does this through supporting youth led initiatives, facilitating skills and capacity building programs and supporting young people to advocate for their rights and freedoms and those of their communities. Aims Oxfam IYP encourages and supports young people as leaders in developing positive, sustainable, innovative and community oriented change initiatives. IYP aims to support youth led initiatives that will make a significant contribution to: * An increase in the number of people who have a sustainable livelihood. * An increase in the number of people who have access to social services. * an increase in the number of people who have an effective voice in decisions that affect their lives. * An increase in the number of people who are live free from fear and discrimination, especially those who are currently oppressed or marginalized due to their gender, ethnicity, Indigenous status or cultural identity. * An increase in the number of people who are safe from conflict and disaster. Objectives To achieve these ends IYP has the following objectives: Support youth led initiatives: To support Action Partners in the development, implementation and evaluation of social change initiatives (individual and collective action plans) through the provision of strategic and financial support. Skills development and capacity building To increase the effectiveness of Action Partners as social change leaders through further developing skills and knowledge necessary for implementing positive and sustainable change. Networking and Alliance Building To encourage and support action partners to exchange information and learning, build alliances and partnerships amongst themselves and with others to support their work for change. IYP Sittings To inspire, empower and grow the next generation of young leaders and activists. IYP sittings are international meetings between action partners that are convened every 2-3 years. Through IYP sittings action partners build skills, networks and develop social change initiatives. IYP sittings launch a cycle of activity and programs to be implemented over the next two years. Research and information exchange To establish a significant exchange of learning, information and research relating to the issues that face young people and the actions they have taken for the positive and sustainable change locally, nationally and globally. Youth Participation To actively promote the right of young men and women to meaningful participation in the decision making processes that affect their lives. IYP empowers Action Partners to participate in policy development and decision making at all levels. Oxfam International To facilitate and enhance the work of Oxfam International and its affiliates with young people around the globe. M1 Stakeholders A key Stakeholder in Oxfam would be The Third World Countries that it helps. They are probably the most important stakeholder as their lives often depend on the goodwill and charity Oxfam provides for them. Third World countries would have an interest in all of Oxfams aims, ‘To relieve poverty, distress and suffering’, ‘To campaign for a fairer world’, etc. Another Stakeholder would be the Employees (Volunteers). Oxfam employees do not get a Salary; they work for free (volunteer). This means they will have a keen interest in helping the business provide aid for third world countries. So they will have particular interest in aims such as ‘to recruit five million Change Makers across South Asia by 2011’. The Government would also have a keen interest in the aims of Oxfam. They would in particular be interested in the aim to ‘stop conflict (campaigning for an international arms trade treaty). They would be interested in this as international arms would be very important to the Government.

Organisational Behaviour Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Organisational Behaviour - Assignment Example Organizational behavior theories suggest that managers have to accomplish different organizational tasks through employees. As such motivating employees is one of the key tasks to be performed by the managers to ensure that the will to deliver the work and accomplish the organizational tasks remain high. In order to achieve any level of motivation, managers therefore have to offer certain explicit and intrinsic rewards to the employees to remain motivated. It is important to understand that motivation is not necessarily being related with the rewards of monetary nature but employees can be motivated through different other aspects of overall work too. Managers therefore must have to ensure that they understand the different motivational states of their employees to design and develop appropriate motivational strategies. (Rollinson, 2008.) Motivational States From the facts provided in the case study it could be assessed that the employees of both the organizations felt demotivated an d were unable to cope with the change. The employees of the Costwise specially seem to be at odds with the proposed changes in the culture as well as change in the management of the firm. Firstly, the managers at Costwise were relatively independent in terms of setting up some of the tactical moves for the stores. Hiring, setting up prices as well as managing the overall competition at local level was in the hands of the managers. With the takeover, however, this was not the case as Orton was highly centralized in terms of controlling and setting up each and every aspect of doing the business. This move from the de-centralized culture to a highly centralized... The overall situation described in the case study suggests that takeover has resulted into strong dissatisfaction for the employees. The lack of motivation therefore might have resulted into employee performance issue which could not allow the firm to actually profit from the takeover. It is also important to understand that the overall culture of the organization was highly centralized with most of the decision making taking place at the center. This has however, not been the case with the Costwise where managers were often involved in the decision making at the store level. This change in the way decisions were made therefore has also resulted into the strong motivation issues for the organization. In order to overcome such situation, it is important that Orton must redesign its compensation system to better accommodate the employees. There is an strong resentment within ex-Costwise employees that they are being paid less thus creating dissatisfaction as well as the lack of product ivity. This paper makes a conclusion that empowering the employees is also another important strategic move which can be undertaken to ensure that the employees perform to the best of their capabilities. This could be achieved by allowing more participation from the employees and making them part of the overall decision making process undertaken at the Orton. This could allow the employees to become more responsible and accountable for their work and decision.

Sport and Exercise Psychology 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Sport and Exercise Psychology 2 - Essay Example One of the most consistent findings within this vast research literature is the variability in well-being that people exhibit when they experience stressful life events. Constructs like vulnerability and resiliency reflect attempts to identify social, situational, and individual difference variables that either increase or decrease the likelihood that people will exhibit negative reactions to stressful events (Block & Block, 39–101, 2000; Compas, 393–403, 2000; Garmezy, 196–269, 2003; Kessler & McLeod, 620–631, 2003; Rutter, 389–395, 2000). Research on vulnerability and resiliency factors was stimulated in part by low and inconsistent relations between life events and outcome measures. Although statistically significant relations between negative life events and self-report measures of physical and psychological well-being have frequently been reported, seldom has more than 10–15% of the outcome variance been accounted for in studies using prospective designs. When objective outcome measures of physical well-being have been used, thereby eliminating the potential role of self-report biases, the amount of variance accounted for has shrunk to 1–5% (Rabkin & Streuning 389–395, 2004; Schroeder & Costa 389–395, 2003). Faced with a pattern of weak and inconsistent results, researchers have sought to identify psychosocial moderator variables that might affect the nature and magnitude of relations between life stress and well-being. Many studies have demonstrated that taking into account factors suc h as social support and certain personality variables results in stronger relations between life stress and both psychological and medical outcome measures (e.g., Barrera 389–395, 2002; Sarason, Sarason, Potter, & Antoni 389–395, 2003; Smith, Johnson, & Sarason, 188-235, 2003; Stone, Helder, & Schneider 389–395, 2002; Thoits

Consultancy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Consultancy - Essay Example The need for consultants with specialized skills, expertise and experience would never seize although a more value based approach should be provided with focus on understanding needs of the client, context they work in and measurable deliverables. Critical Review During the past two decades the role of management consultants has increased dramatically in the public domain. These management consultants, once only famous in the competitive private sector became an important supporting element in the public sector but not without attention paid to the outcomes and costly services offered by them (O'Mahoney, 2006). According to the Central Government’s use of Consultants report (2007) presented by the committee of public accounts – house of commons, the expenditure made by the British government on services procured through management consultancies from 1997 to 2006 is totalled at about GBP 20 Billion. The report highlighted many flaws in procuring consultancy practices by public organizations and their outcomes, although it also emphasizes that consultants if used appropriately can result in enormous benefits to a public initiative. After the elections of 2010 in UK, the government has pledged to decrease consultancy spending in major projects. According to Management Consultancies Association (MCA) these measures resulted in a decrease of 33 percent in consultancy revenues. This drop led to consultancies relying heavily on private sector which is itself heavily burdened due to tough economic times. The shrunk business forced many small consultancies to shut down their operations while big consultancies announced job cuts due to tough economic conditions and unreliable market place (MCA, 2013). Both clients whether public or private in nature criticize management consultants for using big words though using the same old management functions. They are also criticized for creating plans that are impossible to execute by the client or not considering lo ng term impacts of the advice given to the client. Some smaller consultancies are also accused of not providing promised deliverables, charge high fees or stating a low fee initially increased later when the project’s timeline are extended. The blame for this extension is often attributed to the client due to non-availability of resources or prerequisites in form of information not fulfilled by the client. Another area of concern is customer services where consultants try to impose pre-determined frameworks on client’s businesses before understanding the context and nature of client’s business. Furthermore once consultancy on a particular project is over, sustainability of results are not guaranteed and customer support is either poor or charged upon separately (Argyris, 2000). Competitor Analysis After the evolution management consultancies saw in 1980s and 1990s the growth started slowing down during 2001 to 2003. In 1980 there were only five consulting firms in the world and by 1990 thirty similar sized firms were established, the growth witnessed by this industry paved way for new consultancies and countless new consultancies were established across the globe (Canback, 1998). Most consultancies work on the eight step model proposed by Harvard