Raising the Ante Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Raising the Ante - Case Study Example The cost of reimbursement of women within the firm needs be analysed in relation to the financial situation of the firm. The suffering of these women in relation to gender discrimination is important to be evaluated (Shaw, 419). As a board member within the firm accommodating the views of Ms. Warren would impact on the performance of the firm. Additionally, is considered as being wise for the firm to compensate the employees in terms of salaries for the present discriminations since the board is not accountable for the past discriminations that were levelled to women by a different board. Hence as a board member my decision would be for the firm to make compensations in terms of salaries for the present discrimination of women in the firm (Shaw, 419). In relation to the case study the board members are facing an ethical dilemma. The ethical dilemma involves a conflict between the mental ethics and moral obligations. Discrimination in terms of gender is morally wrong and not accepted globally. Discrimination within the workplace leads to demotivation thereby affecting the productivity of the firm. The ethical issues in the case study relates to unequal treat of workers within the firm. The theory of egoism by Adam Smith is based upon the premise that the goodness or badness of something is founded upon the satisfaction of the needs of individuals. In this case the actions of Ms. Warren can be considered as being right due to the fact that it would bring benefits to herself and other employees in the firm (Shaw, 420). Ms. Warren presentation to the board was based on the impression that the other employees in the firm supported her proposal. However, in real sense that was not the case as other employees in the firm were of the opinion that the readjustment of salaries was unfair and were willing to forget the past and concentrate on the present. Therefore through her false impression that Ms. Warren presented

the business model of Apples itunes

the business model of Apples itunes Evaluate the business model of Apples itunes. In particular you should address:- 1. To what extent can the itunes business model be described as an ecosystem and what is the role of IT in enabling the collaboration between Apple, its economic partners and consumers? 2. How does itunes compare with competitors? 3. What new technologies could disrupt the current market by enabling a new form of business model? Introduction Business model in a basic sense deals with the method of doing business in order to generate revenues by which a company sustains itself in the competitive market place ( (Rappa, 2009).According to (Amberg Manuela) analysis on music industries, there are lots of media websites and companies following different business models fallen prey to file sharing tools and peer-peer networks which allow consumers to illegally copy and share the content for free. As a consequence , companies like Apple iTunes and Sony Connect have come up with internet based business models based on pay-per-download and dependent on the technology of the supplier for whom long-term customer relations are very crucial and customers are allowed to use the digital media content particularly with regard to technology of the supplier thus getting advantage and benefitting from selling hardware components because the offer of digital media content advances it. These business models replace the traditional business m odels which are generally based on selling physical media.This paper shows the fair understanding of Apple iTunes business model for its dominance over the current music market and tries to describe the business model with respect to ecosystem and compares iTunes with its key competitors in the market. The biological term ecosystem in this paper refers to the IT ecosystem. (Iansiti Richards, 2005) describes IT ecosystem as network of organizations that drives the creation, innovation and delivery of Information Technology products and services. According to (Cusumano, 2008) the term ‘Platform, is defined as â€Å" Foundation product or key technology in a system like the PC or a web enabled cell phone and should have relatively open technical interfaces and easily licensing terms in order to encourage other firms to contribute complementary product and services. So this can be accounted to an ecosystem around the platform and the platform becomes more valuable when the exter nal entities creative more innovations around it. This should cause more users to adopt the platform and more complementors to join the network. iTunes as an ecosystem Online music hit a new milestone after Apple computer,Inc.(Apple) launched the iTunes application in January 2001 follwed by launch of 1st generation iPod and 2 years later online music store in April of 2003.The two businesses, the production of MP3 players and the online music shops were initially considered as different units and after the invention of new hardware iPod these two businesses were merged. iTunes is a software designed with an intuitive and user friendly interface and iPod is an hardware designed with an eye on fashion. These two together helped Apple to enter and succeed in the music player market infact actually cross promoting the iPod hardware device. Because of their service and innovation Apple retained to grow in the online music field in a better way when compared to its key competitors like Dell, Sony and Samsung( (Li Chang). According to (Schonfeld, 2009) statistics, iTunes have now sold 6 billion songs and 10 million different tracks are now available on iTunes. iTunes is software and iPod is hardware as said by (Li Chang) are two different business units and Apple conjucts these two different products into one new business model. Using ecology to analyze this model(iPod and iTunes) it has set a nice example for ecotone between two species to drive the music industry into new ecosystem. A strong platform is apparent from the combination of both the software and the hardware. The below shows the evolution of new ecosystem with combination of two stand-alone ecosystems. ‘Most companies today inhabit ecosystemsloose networks of suppliers, distributors, and outsourcers; makers of related products or services; providers of relevant technology; and other organizations that affect, and are affected by, the creation and delivery of a companys own offering†¦.. as said by (Iansiti Levien, 2004) shows how business industry can be closely compared to biological ecosystem. Like every individual in the biological ecosystem every organization in the business ecosystem shares the fate of the network as a whole regardless of that members apparent strengths. Comparing this with the Apple business, iPod is not really an innovative technology by itself but the company creates a new ecotone for digital music where all the hardware(iPods) and software(iTunes) are related to it enhances its platform. According to (Koster, 2007) There is a continuous decline in the traditional sale of music sources like retail music stores and the on-going music industries ar e restructuring themselves by merging with other partners to face the loss of revenues and to adopt with the new business strategies and models in the music industry to compete with the counterparts. Even in the digital music world today, legitimate music downloading is continuously changing. Initial music sites have very strong limitations on access catalogs of music, on what could be done with the downloaded music, number of copies, time limits, where to copy. Though Apple iTunes works on this model, it is successful in negotiating a very large music catalog from the four labels from its music site. He says that one large advantage and success for Apple is because of its hardware device iPod where normally music is stored and playback. The revenues from iPods sales continue to grow after the introduction of iTunes. Though Apple had gotten permission from four majors to store their music on its website for consumers to download by promising the copyright protection authority DRM, i t is now planning to get away with DRM because they make the downloaded or recorded music very cumbersome for the consumer. This is evident from (Johnson, 2009) article on web which says By the end of the quarter all 10 million songs will be DRM free in iTunes and iTunes plus, said Phil Schiller, Apples senior vice president of worldwide product marketing. The blog witten by (Vitalari, 2009) clearly examines at the 21st century business model adopted by Apple to become successful in the market. He believes that business platforms are the root cause for cumulative business performance. Apples competitive business platforms is the main drive for innovations like community formation, mass collaboration, social networking, ecosystems, real time analytics, transparency etc. The iPhone App store was launched in July 2008 and today iTunes store is a total set of all forms of the digital media including music, games, software application, podcasts and video assets . As his explanation, the driving factors for Apple success and points out that the effective business platforms have few key ingredients:  · iPods, iphones are not just products instead they represent individual business platforms and they create an ecosystem surrounding the product which means they create a common understanding for business transactions, technical specifications, interface standards and requirements. With the iPhone this includes all of the sub-contracted manufacturers, but more importantly it includes iTunes, the app store and app developers.This results in creating a transparency which enables and facilitates hundreds of participants to collaborate asynchronously and independently.  · This leads directly to the second point, which is that the business platform then helps to generate untold business analytics for the platforms owner.This is because of the elements of the business platform are networked and generates valuable information about the product, ecosystem and participants. Apple used this analytics to fix, improve and enhance the product and finally delighting the customers.  · This in turn creates a community of practice surrounding the business platform, as the collaborators learn how to make better things. IT in enabling collaboration with partners and consumers As a cofounder of Apple, Steve Jobss vision was to create new and different products to consumers and his notion of â€Å"one person-one computer became visionary responsible for Apples reputation for innovation and mission became changing the world by bringing the computers to masses (Richard D Vohr, 1998).Apple came back with reinvention of personal computer with Macintosh in 1980 after igniting the computer industry revolution with inventing Apple II and it is commited to bring the best computing experience to all the fields starting from students, educators, professionals and consumers all around the globe with its innovative software hardware and internet offerings. This Apples mission statements indicates it focuses on innovation and personal computing experience( (Pearlson Saunders, 2009). Apple From 1987-1997 the company suffered due to some major internal problems which affected the strategic leadership and its operations but after Steve Jobss second turn as CEO, company fixed operational problems and regains its innovative leadership dramatically. Few changes like manufacturing outsourcing and improving inventory became straight forward matching Dell, the industry leader.It moved to open industry standards rather than proprietary hardware interfaces that it had maintained for 15 years and thus in a minor way Apples product strategy became more open( (West Mace, 2007).As per ( (Apple Computer, 2006) Apple derives its competitive advantage again by its innovation giving iPod as an example. Apple entered the market with iPod in 2001and by end of fourth quarter of fiscal year 2005, iPods sales gained 33% of the total revenues. The factors which are accountable to their success and uniqueness are its computers based on its own operating system, which enabled further area of innovation.Its Mac OS operating system focuses on more simplicity and seen as graphically sophisticated. (West Mace, 2007)Recent trends have seen increasing strategy convergence be tween Apple and Microsoft .For its video game business, similar to its rivals Sony and Nintendo Microsoft buys the processor but designs its own hardware and software without licensing them to others.Meanwhile ‘Zune, Microsofts music players try to compete successfully to attain equality with Apples iPod. This shows Apple pursued a vertically integrated strategy in its music business. Vertical strategy is single firms controlling the entire platform. Apple leveraging its Macintosh installed base to establish iTunes music store and building iPod business on top of that and now iPhone business shows its expansion into adjacent markets and this loyal installed base makes any company easier to branch into a related market and this becomes a lesson for the other companies and Apple aims at satisfying the costumer not just upgrading the costumers what they have today like the other companies do. When ATT decided to make offer to iTunes many other mobile industries criticized it for making too many concessions to Apple. Due to this offer ATT gets benefit from Apple in two ways , one is Apple increases the average monthly bills for the customers who switch from ATT to iPhone and the second one is it causes existing people to switch from existing carriers to ATT as its the exclusive carrier for iPhone( (The Apple iPhone:Successes and Challenges for the Mobile Industry, 2008). Digital Record Management systems are uses to encrypt the data does not allow illegal or non authorization download of music and currently there are two main formats used for protect downloading of music. One is fairplay and the other is WMA. Fairplay is Apples proprietary technology where it secure the data encrypted in AAC( Advanced Audi Coding) format. WMA is Microsofts Windows media audio video encoding platform. iPods can play only those stuff which are secured through fairplay format and Apple has refuse to lincense this fairplay to other retailers and so it is difficult for iPod users to download music from other retailers other than iTunes music store. But recently Realnetworks in US came up with a package which allows iPod users resident in US to play secures music from Realnetworkss music store Rhapsody. Apple got furious with this and accused Realnetworks of ‘Hacker tactics and Ethics and reported to investigating on that for violating the intellectual rights. If apple is capable of putting an end to such violations then the indispensability of fairplay could be established( (The iTunes music store: does competition law hold the key to closed shop?, 2004) According to insights into IDCs lifesciences by (Swenson Golden, 2005) Apple products are getting attracted by the life science researchers who actually migrated from linux and unix platforms because of the dual nature of Mac OS and its estimated historically that the life scientists have been twice or thrice more likely than the average computer user to Apples Mac platform as client computer thus representing attractive market for Apple. It has announced about its collaboration with airlines which includes Air France, Continental, Delta, United and KLM to integrate the in flight entertainment systems with iPod and taking the current entertainment provided in these airlines to a next level for better travel experience( (Apple_Partners_with_Airlines_for_iPod_Integration, 2006). Sets Apple as an interesting example for not being an open source model in its business strategies but is thought b of being a highly proprietary company from its earlier years. Now it has jumped into open sou rce and have started projects both inside and outside its corporate firewalls. Apples OS X was a open source because it was based on Darwin. Its developer website said that Apples open source projects let key developers to customize and enhance Apple software and through this open source models it allows Apple engineers to collaborate with open source community to come up with better and more reliable products (Goldman Gabriel, 2005). On September 2007, Apple and Starbucks announced their collaboration on Apple letting costumers at Starbucks wirelessly browsing, previewing, buying and downloading music from iTunes music stores at Starbucks on their iPods enhancing Starbucks retail coffee experience by helping customers with discovering new music instantly (Rothman, 2007). These examples shows how Apple is spreading the digital media revolution with its technologically profound products. Apple believes in fully integrated and completely digital learning environment which makes conte nts to move from from application to another and easy to collaborate and share ideas. Integration even reduces the burden of technology challenge. So Apples IT team rather than spending time and money on how to get things working feels it worthwhile to dedicate the same on providing capabilities, innovations and resources for its institution (Everything Apple means everything just works). iTunes and Competitors: The majors competitors for Apple are Google and Microsoft Corporation and other competitors include Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Fujitsu, Samsung Electronics, Sony and Toshiba. Apple is designing software and hardware systems that delivers a greater user experience. Google is giving away operating systems to companies that license windows mobile today. Microsoft needs to think about their business models to compete in such a race where it probably has to decide whether it wants to compete in devices or operating systems and doing both is again at a risk which requires business models that are outside its core competencies( (The Apple iPhone:Successes and Challenges for the Mobile Industry, 2008). There is a partial collision between Apple and RIM in smartphone business in which Apples device is a entertainment centric whereas RIMs product is a communication centric.Though each company is growing into each others space Apple is got the advantage because infrastructure establishment would be too large for RIM and beside that RIMs image is all wrong for that instead it is much better to defend and grow its market by adding more features and types of business communications to Blackberry. Comparing it with Nokia, Nokias challenges are more about challenges. They sell hundred of millions handsets every year at low costs. But without it, Nokia will be really hard pressed to match with the iPhones user experiences. Competitors such as Diamond multimedia, with its Rio brand portable media players were successful in the market until Apple displaced them and all the credits for such a domination goes to the business model of the company by offerings users a seamless music experience by combining its iPod devices with iTunes and online iTunes store. Users were taken away by its value proposition and Apple had to negotiate deals with the major record companies to establish the worlds largest online music library, there giving the twist for the company to earn most of its revenue s by selling iPods while using the integration with the on online music store to protect itself from the competitors( (Osterwalder Yves, 2009).Smartphone users are going to increase in number in the next few years increasing in the PC functionalities supporting data services and voice and this is going to drive smartphone markets and Apple launching the iPhone which meets most of the required functionalities made it to third position in the global smartphone market in the third quarter of 2008. As there is rapid change in the technology there is introduction of new products with competitive prices, features and performance characteristics by all the competitors and out of all, mobile communication industry highly competitive with well funded and experienced competitors. For example in 2009, Nokia launched a new online media store in competition to Apple and this has resulted in price erosion which is now threatening to lessen the market share of the company( (DATAMONITOR, 2009). What new technologies could disrupt the current market by enabling a new form of business model. Apple has become the leader in the music world revolution and it justifies for its closed source system, keeping its digital music platform proprietary making it incompatible by other system by saying that it was the main reason in convincing its music labels and artists allowing them to sell their songs through iTunes assuring that those would not be pirated. But many analysts claim that that closed system was the reason for its previous failure in the computer business and Microsoft gained the masses with their open systems and now that is being seen as a gamble in this highly cometetive technology world (Williard, 2005). According to survey done by Rubicon Consulting Inc on the Apple iPhone users shows that about 43 percent of the iPhone users feels that the device would be more elegant if there is a physical change to the iPhone by adding adding a keyboard or a keypad either by making the device smaller or larger and about 40 percent of the users complain about the browser proble ms and the notably with those using Adobe flash and this shows that mobile data devices has always been segmented and its impossible for any single hardware design to please everyone. This could be an opportunity to Apple to increase its share by serving those customers by giving more importance to value propositions for their products which is again a part of business model and at the same time its an opportunity for its competitors to steal that share by addressing segments Apple failed in( (The Apple iPhone:Successes and Challenges for the Mobile Industry, 2008). Apple corporation itself has many problems but loss of competitive differentiation due to its Enterprise sytem is not counted in that because of its strong brand and its distinct operating system. For many of the other computer manufacturers cost and service are more vital for their differentiation than their products but for Apple this seems to be a unusual case says (Davenport, 1998). ‘Disruptive Business Models are emblematic of our generation. Yet they remain poorly understood, even as they transform competitive landscapes across industries (Osterwalder Yves, 2009). Conclusion: According to Sankar Dhinu, Apples senior manager of Emerging Technology, to be competitive in worlds high tech industry, one should make use of the facilities like available economic advantage of the manufacturing and distribution and Apple success goes with its interaction with dozens of trading partners , starting from resellers to distributors and OEM manufacturers which in turn helped it to form a global supply chain. Due to increased competition Apple is also facing many pressures and already working towards less limitation and freer access of digital music. Thus majors themselves are getting involved in those changes and Apples CEO Steve Jobs has called for an end to DRM because they make use of downloaded and recorded music very inconvenient and cumbersome for the consumer.( (Koster, 2007) Biblography: Amberg, M., Manuela, S. ANALYSIS OF E-BUSINESS MODELS FOR DIGITAL MEDIA . (2006). Apple Computer. The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Apple_Partners_with_Airlines_for_iPod_Integration. (2006, November 14). Retrieved December 1, 2009, from www.digg.com: http://digg.com/apple/Apple_Partners_with_Airlines_for_iPod_Integration Cusumano, M. (2008). Technology Strategy and Management, The Puzzle of Apple. DATAMONITOR. (2009). Apple Inc. Company Profile. Davenport, T. H. (1998). Putting the Enterprise into the Enterprise System. Harvard Business Review OnPoint . Everything Apple means everything just works. (n.d.). Retrieved december 1, 2009, from www.images.apple.com: http://images.apple.com/education/leaders-administrators/the-apple-ecosystem.html Goldman, R., Gabriel, R. P. (2005). INNOVATION HAPPENS EVERYWHERE. In R. Goldman, R. P. Gabriel, Open source as business strategy (pp. 3-5). San Francisco: Morgan kaufmann. Iansiti, M., Levien, R. (2004). Strategy as Ecolgy. Harvard Business review. Iansiti, M., Richards, G. L. (2005). Information Technology Ecosystem Health and Performance. Johnson, B. (2009, January 6). Apple drops DRM copy protection from millions of iTunes songs. Retrieved from www.gaurdian.co.uk: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/jan/06/apple-drops-itunes-copy-protection Koster, A. (2007). Music Industry: Toward A New Business Model? Journal of Business and Economic Research . Li, Y.-R., Chang, Y. Is the success of iPod Purely Accidental or Inevitable A Business Ecolgy Perspective. Osterwalder, A., Yves, P. (2009). Business Model Generation. Self Published. Pearlson, k. E., Saunders, C. S. (2009). Strategic management of Information Systems. In k. E. Pearlson, C. S. Saunders, Strategic management of Information Systems (p. 25). John Wiley and sons. Rappa, M. (2009). BUSINESS MODELS ON THE WEB. MANAGNG THE DIGITAL ENTERPRISE . Richard D, F., Vohr, J. (1998). APPLE COMPUTER, INC. Rothman, W. (2007, september 5). Apple partners with Starbucks for free WiFi Access to iTunes Music Store. Retrieved december 1, 2009, from www.gizmodo.com: http://gizmodo.com/296696/apple-partners-with-starbucks-for-free-wi+fi-access-to-itunes-music-store Schonfeld, E. (2009, January 6). iTunes sells 6 billions songs , and other fun stats from the Philnote. Retrieved from www.techcrunch.com: http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/01/06/itunes-sells-6-billion-songs-and-other-fun-stats-from-the-philnote/ Swenson, M., Golden, J. B. (2005). Apple and Life science research : Enabling Technologies. Life Science Insights, an IDC company. (2008). The Apple iPhone:Successes and Challenges for the Mobile Industry. (2004). The iTunes music store: does competition law hold the key to closed shop? Vitalari, N. (2009, August 10). Apple and the Rise of Competitive Business Platforms What Other Companies Must Know. Retrieved from www.wikinomics.com: http://www.wikinomics.com/blog/index.php/2009/08/10/apple-and-the-rise-of-competitive-business-platforms-what-other-companies-must-know/ West, J., Mace, M. (2007). ENTERING A MATURE INDUSTRY THROUGH INNOVATION: APPLES IPHONE STRATEGY. Williard, C. (2005). Apple worms its way into the music industry.

History of Stem Cells Essay -- Medicine

History of Stem Cells Abstract This paper will be discussing the history of stem cells. There are many different ways to collect stem cells. Stem cells can be used for either right or wrong reasons. People can either use them to cure or to cause harm. Most people use stem cells to cure fatal illnesses. The one researcher that put stem cells out in the science world so people could understand it better was Leroy Stevens. His first encounter with stem cells was with a mouse that had a teratoma. Most people don’t understand the need for stem cells. There are many reasons why we research stem cells. Stem cells can be collected form a wide variety of places. The studies of stem cells have been around for many years. There were many people researching stem cells during the early 1900s, but Leroy Stevens had the greatest impact on the future study of stem cells. The people of ancient civilization were curious about the study of stem cells. Hindus from the thirteen and fourteen centuries BC knew that the result of the fetus would come from mixing two seeds of the parents (Kelly 16). They weren't the only people who wondered about the studies of stem cells. Greek philosopher named Aristotle was also interested in the study of stem cells so he discovered two very important theories. The two theories were Perfomation and Epigenesis (Kelly 16). According to the theory of Peromation, the fetus grows over time (Kelly 16). In contrast, Epigenesis means tat the fetus begins as a generic mass and then different parts are added to the fetus (Kelly 16). - 2 - Researching on mice was began in a Laboratory in Bar Harbor in Maine. In the year of 1953, researcher Leroy Stevens began on an experiment with cancerous mice. This laboratory was awa... ... been beneficial to humans by improving the lives of those who have potentially fatal diseases. In the future of stem cells research more and more fatal diseases will be cured because of the technology gained from stem cells research. That’s why we need to keep on researching stem cells. - 5 - Work cited page 1. Kelly , Evelyn. Stem cells . connecticut : greenwood press , 2007. 2. "What are stem cells and what are they used for?." 24 April 2001. HowStuffWorks.com. 22 July 2008. 3. n.d. The University of Utah, Genetic Science Learning Center. 26 July 2008 . 4. n.d. Tiantan Puhua Stem Cell Center. 26 July 2008 . 5. n.d. Tiantan Puhua Stem Cell Center. 27 July 2008 .

Consumer Buying Behavior Essay

Toilet soaps are part of the growing tribe of cleansing and beautifying products available across the country. There are scores of brands and an even greater number of variants making for a bewildering range. The Indian market has over 1100 million people living in more than 4500 towns and cities and in excess of 580,000 villages. Products must cut through several price points and fragrances to satisfy everyone. Toilet soaps are marketed through 5 million retail stores of which 3.75 million are in rural areas, the penetration rate of the toilet soap is around 97 percent in urban areas and 89 percent in rural areas. But, the per capita consumption of toilet / bathing soap in India is very low at 800g whereas it is 6.5kg in the US, 4 kg in China and 2.5 kg in Indonesia. The market size of the Indian soap industry is around Rs.7129 crores. It can be classified into four categories namely premium, popular, economy and carbolic soaps. The â€Å"Premium1 category includes Dove, Mysore Sandal, Pears and some international brands. Brands in the â€Å"Popular’ category include Cinthol, Santoor, Rexona etc. Likewise, Fairglow, Godrej No. 1 etc. come under economy brands. Carbolic brands include Lifebuoy and Nima bath soap. Over the years, the â€Å"popular’ segment has witnessed rapid growth and has been the category driver. Consumers shift from the premium segment as and when they see better value in the popular category. At the same time, consumers upgrade from the economy segment due to increased in tune with the increasing disposable incomes in both urban and rural areas. As a result, the industry has witnessed a fifteen percent growth in premium brands. The market is flooded with several, leading national and global brands and a large number of small brands, which have limited markets. Competition amongst the MNCs has intensified, leading to shrinkage of margins. The leading players in this market are HUL (Dove, Pears, Lux, Lifebuoy, Breeze), Nirma (Nima), Godrej Soaps (Cinthol, FairGlow, Shikakai, Nihar), Wipro (Santoor), and Reckitt and Benckiser (Dettol). The rest of the market is highly fragmented, with companies having strong presence in select segments or regions. In the toilet soap industry, positioning of the product is very important to attract the customers. Review of Literature To have an in depth understanding of Indian consumer, and to analyze the factors influencing his purchase decisions, one has to conduct studies in relation to his environment, his demographic factors, culture, and level of exposure. In this backdrop, some important studies conducted in the areas of consumer behavior and perception in relation to non durable goods and FMCG in India are briefly reviewed. It is seen that positive attitude of consumer towards advertising of a particular brand is very useful in purchasing that brand (Dr Dharam Sukh Dahiya, 1996). Consumers perceived that the information received from WOM sources is reliable and advantageous in making the purchase decisions (Prashant Mishra et al, 1996). At the same time, Indian middle class consumers are willing to pay a premium for better quality products rather than getting satisfied with generic products with inferior quality (Srinivas Shirur, 1999). They tend to define themselves as well as compare with others in terms of symbolic value of their possessions (Shekhar Trivedi et al, 2000). People belonging to different lifestyles have different interests in shopping (D.P.S. Verma et al, 2000). There is a price threshold at which consumers make decisions to stockpile the products for the future (Arindam Banarjee et al, 2001). At the same time, gender of the celebrity significantly influences consumer perception about the product irrespective of consumers’ gender (Prashant Mishra et al, 2001). Similarly, they develop risk reduction strategies to help them act with greater confidence in making product purchase decisions (Debashis Bhattacharya et al, 2002). In the FMCG sector, the major influencing factors in making a purchase decision were quality (D. P. S. Verma et al, 2003), price and availability of products (Dr. Sarwade W. K. 2002), followed by their economic value and attractive packaging (Kuldeep Singh et al, 2003). Rising family income levels permit buyers to exercise more choice in selection of FMCG from the cost perception (Prof. S. A. Telang et al, 2003). However, age and other demographic variables also have their effect on behavioral and cognitive patterns of the consumer (D. P. S. Verma et al, 2003). Urban consumers preferred branded products (P. Antony George, 2007). Brand awareness and brand usage are highly correlated (Dr. A. Vinayaga Moorthy, 2007). Need and Importance of the Study The toilet soaps market is littered over with several, leading national and global brands and a large number of small and local brands. Toilet soaps, despite their divergent brands, are not well differentiated by the consumers. This results in fragmented market and obviously leads to a highly competitive market. In toilet soap market, strong brand equity and a wide distribution network are vital in attracting customers. Brand equities are built over a period of time by technological innovations, consistent high quality, aggressive advertisement and marketing. Availability of the products is another crucial success factor, as products are of small value, frequently purchased daily use items. So, there is always a chance of brand switching due to impulse buying. A deep insight of consumer brand loyalty and satisfaction can help marketers retain the existing customers and entice new ones. In this backdrop, this study is undertaken to examine the consumers’ brand awareness, loyalty, and satisfaction towards toilet soaps. The factors influencing brand selection and brand switching are also assessed. Objectives of the Study The main objective of the paper is to examine the consumers’ buying habits and brand loyalty towards toilet soap products. The following are the specific objectives of the study. * To identify the product attributes that influence the purchasing process * To assess the brand loyalty of consumers with respect to various levels of price increase * To examine the brand switching behavior of respondents * To evaluate the satisfaction level of consumers with regard to their present toilet soap brand * To assess the market share of different toilet soap brands in the market segment taken up for investigation * To offer suggestions to FMCG companies Scope and Limitations of the Study The present study intends to examine the customer satisfaction and perception towards toilet soap and the influence of product attributes on brand preferences and brand loyalty. It also covers customers’ brand loyalty at different levels of price increase/decrease from the present price. The study has the following limitations; * The study is made by taking each attribute as independent of other attributes, hence their interdependence, if any is ignored. * As the study is conducted in only Warangal City of A. P., the findings and suggestions of this empirical study may not be representative of the universe. * There may be a chance of individual’s experience dominating the interpretation of the data. * Some discrepancies may have occurred due to random sample method used. * Respondents may not have given their exact views or hidden some information deliberately. Methodology The study is conducted with the help of primary data collected from 200 respondents; consumers drawn at random in Warangal District (A.P.) The relevant data are collected from the respondents from different demographic and income groups. Appropriate statistical tools such as averages, weighted averages etc. are used in data analysis. For testing the hypotheses, Chi- square test is administered at 5 percent level of significance in order to validate the results of the investigation. Sample Profile Sample profile refers to the demographic characteristics of the respondent consumers covered in the analysis. Demographic factors like age, education, occupation, income, family size have a direct influence on the product/ brand choice. To ascertain the views of both male and female consumers, almost equal numbers of respondents are selected for the study. On the basis of age, the respondents are classified into five categories viz. below 20 years, 21-30 years, 31-40 years, 41-50 years, and above 50 years. Around 39 percent respondents are in the age group of 21-30 years. Another 27 percent are in the age group of 31-40 years. Around 16 percent are in the age group of 41-50 years, followed by above 50 years (13 percent), and below 20 years (5 percent). It is observed that majority of respondents comprising 73 percent are either graduates or post graduates. The remaining 27 percent have below graduation educational background. It is also observed that private employees comprise 38 percent of sample followed by housewives (25 percent), and government employees (18 percent). The remaining are students, businessmen and professionals. It is found that 43 percent respondents are in the middle income group (Rs. 10,001 to 20,000/pm). At the same time, 31 percent belong to low income group (Below Rs. 10,000/ pm). The remaining 26 percent belong to high income category (above Rs. 20,000/pm). It is seen that around 63 percent respondents have 3-4 members in their families. Around 26 percent have more than 4 three members. Another 11 percent have two or less members. It is observed that 62 percent respondents spend below Rs 100/per month on toilet soaps. The remaining 38 percent respondents spend above Rs 100/- per month. This gives occupation wise, income wise, and lifecycle wise distribution of sample consumers of toilet soaps. Data Analysis The behavior of urban respondents towards toilet soaps in terms of influencing factors, buying habits, and brand loyalty is analyzed. For this purpose, a structured questionnaire of five point scale reflecting the attitudes of the sample respondents is used in the investigation. Data collected from the respondents is tabulated, analysed, interpreted and presented in two sections viz. Section A: Buying Habits, Section B: Brand Loyalty. Section–A: Buying Habits Buying habits are analysed in terms of five interrelated variables viz. a. Buying Motives, b. Choice of Retail Store, c. Brand Specification, d. Frequency of Purchase, e. Average Expenditure and consumption. a. Impact of Buying Motives on Purchase Decision Making process Companies advertise their product as a bundle of some attributes. And, customers see the product as a bundle of benefits. They try to assess the benefit of each attribute and assign a level of importance and build perception about the total product. Then, they take the purchase decision. In this backdrop, the study proposes to assess the consumers’ perception on each attribute and importance given to it. In this context, respondents are asked to rank various product attributes in terms of their influence on buying decision. The product attributes such as unique ingredients, impact on skin and complexion, brand name, protection from heat and cold, price, company name, retailer’s advice, advertising, brand ambassador, availability, fragrance, doctor’s advice, TFM of the soap, freshness, protection from pimples etc are identified. The rankings are presented in Table No. 1. It is seen that unique ingredients of a particular soap has been ranked the first major influencing attribute in the purchase process. Impact on skin and complexion and brand name are ranked second and third respectively followed by price and freshness. b. Choice of Retail Store Consumers consider many factors in selecting a particular store to purchase the products. These factors may include availability of a particular brand, availability of information, familiarity and knowledge about the store, proximity of the store, time pressure, store specific promotions, social status etc. By choosing a particular type of store, consumers may get either utilitarian value (obtaining a required product with the least effort) or hedonistic value (the fun and pleasure associated with the buying process). In this context, respondents are asked to name their preferred outlet. Majority of the respondents comprising 40 percent purchased from super bazaars/ organized retail outlets. Another 32 percent bought from wholesale kirana shops. The remaining opted for nearby shops. c. Brand Specification It is observed that Santoor is the most popular brand with 31 percent users, followed by Cinthol with 11 percent users. Approximately 10 percent each are using Mysore Sandal and Pears. Lux is used by 9 percent respondents, while Medimix is used by 7 percent. Dove and Vivel account for 6 percent respondents each. The remaining brands are used by a few respondents. d. Frequency of Purchase Frequency of purchase can be defined as the number of times a consumer purchases during a particular period. It depends on the volume of purchase, economic status, life style, promotion schemes etc. In this study, it is observed that majority of respondents comprising around 45 percent purchase once in a month. Another 33 percent purchase whenever they required the product. Around 15 percent purchased once in a fortnight. The remaining 7 percent purchased weekly once. e. Average Expenditure and Consumption of Toilet Soaps A question was asked with the respondents to know about the average expenditure on toilet soaps and number soaps used in a month. It is observed that 62 percent respondents spend below Rs. 100/- per month on toilet soaps. The remaining 38 percent respondents spend above Rs. 100/- per month. Majority of the respondents have been using around six toilet soaps per month. Section–B: Brand Loyalty Brand loyalty is analysed in terms of seven interrelated variables viz., a. Brand Awareness, b. Brand Image, c. Price Sensitivity, d. Non-availability of Preferred Brand, e. Usage Period of Present Brand, f. Reasons for Brand Switching, g. Brand Performance. a. Brand Awareness Brand knowledge is based on brand awareness and brand image. Brand awareness is defined as Consumers’ recognition of existence and availability of a brand. A consumer’s brand awareness generally depends on his socio-economic background especially on education and income level. Creating brand awareness is an important tool in promoting brands with little differentiation such as toilet soaps. It can play a major role in purchasing decisions. The products with highest brand awareness will usually get more sales. In the urban market segment, it is interesting to note that, higher the level of education level, greater is the brand awareness. About 73 percent of respondent consumers are above graduation. Within this 73 percent, around 32 percent are from professional courses. These 73 percent respondents are aware of more than 7 brands. Majority of them could recall the brand ambassador and punch line of the brands also. The remaining 27 percent of the respondent consumers are with below graduation level of education. Out of which, around 8 percent of the respondent consumers are below the tenth class. These 27 percent of respondent consumers are aware of only 3-5 brands. Majority of them, either they could not recall or are indifferent of brand ambassador and punch line. b. Brand Image Brand image is defined as consumer’s perception of a brand as reflected by the brand associations held in his memory. The strength, favorability and uniqueness of associations help build a superior brand image. A favorable brand image is useful in creating strong brand equity. In this regard, a question was asked with respondents to compare their present brand with other competing brands. Majority of the respondents comprising 64 percent felt that their brand as the best one. Around 25 percent said it gives good value for money. The remaining 11 percent felt it as almost similar with other brands. At the same time, most of the respondents perceived their preferred brand as the market leader in its category. c. Price Sensitivity Price of a product has been a major determinant of a buyer’s choice. Although non price factors have assumed importance of late, price still remains a dominant factor influencing sales of a product. Fluctuation of prices will have an impact on continuity of the same brand, i.e. brand loyalty. In this context, it is proposed to analyse the impact of price changes on brand loyalty income wise. The respondents’ reactions to 10 percent, 20 percent, and 40 percent increase in the price of present soap brand are categorized according to their income levels viz. Low Income, Middle Income and High Income. It is seen that at 10 percent price increase, majority of the respondents across all income levels opted for continuing with the same level of consumption. From among the remaining respondents, many decided to reduce consumption. A few respondents wanted to shift to other brands. Similarly, at 20 percent price increase, 35 percent (Low Income), 35 percent (Middle Income), and 67 percent (High Income) respondents opted for continuing with the same level of consumption. Around 34 percent respondents from low income category chose to reduce their consumption. The corresponding figures for middle income and high income groups are 23 percent and 13 percent respectively. Another 13 percent (Low Income), 30 percent (Middle Income), 10 percent (High Income) respondents decided to shift to other brands, while the remaining preferred to search for other alternatives. At the same time, at 40 percent price increase, 10 percent (Low Income), 23 percent (Middle Income), and 54 percent (High Income) respondents chose to continue with the same level of consumption. Another 1 6 percent (Low Income), 7 percent (Middle Income) and 15 percent (High Income) wanted to reduce their consumption. Further, around 55 percent (Low Income), 51 percent (Middle Income), and 19 percent (High Income) respondents desired to change their brands. The remaining respondents wanted to search for other alternatives. Further, based on the same data, Chi-square test is conducted to identify differences, if any, among the respondents belonging to different income groups in terms of price sensitivity and brand loyalty at various levels of increase in the price of present soap brand. Calculated values are presented in Table II. It is observed from the above table that at 10 percent price increase, the calculated value of chi-square is less than the table value. Hence, it can be concluded that there are no significant differences among the respondents belonging to different income groups at 10 percent price increase of the present toilet soap brand. But, when the price is increased to 20 percent or 40 percent above the current price, respondents belonging to different income groups exhibited altogether different behavior. d. Non-availability of Preferred Brand Store loyalty is regarded as the patronage of customers to a particular outlet.. It is based on the consumers’ positive attitude towards the store. Store loyalty is influenced by the availability of products and brands at the store and the process involved in customers acquiring them. Brand loyalty is also a major factor in shaping the customers opinions towards a particular store. When a preferred brand is not available in a particular store, consumers will have two options; purchasing the same brand in another shop i.e. displaying more brand loyalty than store loyalty, or purchasing another brand in the same shop i.e. exhibiting more store loyalty. In the present study it is seen that 78 percent respondents preferred to purchase the same brand from another shop. The remaining 22 percent purchased other brands available in the same shop. e. Usage Period of Present Brand Brand loyalty also results in using the same brand regularly over a period of time. It is seen that 51 percent respondents have been using the same brand for above 4 years followed by 21 percent for below 1 year. Around 17 percent have been using it for 1-2 years, and the remaining 11 percent for 2-4 years. f. Reasons for Brand Switching Consumers’ satisfaction and brand loyalty can be measured by buyer’s repeat purchase rate over the time. However, sometimes consumers change their regular brands and patronize new brands due to various reasons. In this context, it is proposed to investigate the effect of product attributes, promotion schemes, reference groups’ influence, impact of pricing and advertising on the switching intentions of consumers. For this purpose, respondents are asked to identify the most important reason that for brand switching from earlier brand to present one. It is observed that 54 percent respondents cited better quality of new brand as a major reason for brand switching. Another 13 percent wanted to check the new brand. The relative cheaper price of new brand enticed 10 percent to use the new brand. g. Brand Performance Customer satisfaction is a positive psychological tendency which the customer gets when he is able to meet the perceived need and expectation with the product he experiences. It is a part of customer’s experience. This satisfaction is related to various aspects such as cost, quality, performance and efficiency of the product. Even if the products are identical in competing markets, satisfaction provides high retention rates. Higher the satisfaction level, higher is the sentimental attachment of customers with the specific brand of product. In this backdrop, the study intends to measure the satisfaction level of consumers towards their present soap brands. For this purpose, Respondent consumers are asked to rate the performance of their present brand of toilet soap along some parameters such as price, packaging, durability, color, fragrance, freshness, quality, convenience of usage etc. The responses are classified into three categories namely excellent, above average, and average. It is observed that, respondents are fully satisfied with only premium soaps namely Dove and Pears as they are rated above average or excellent. Cinthol, Mysore Sandal and Superia came next with majority of users rating them excellent or above average, while the remaining rating them average. The remaining brands are rated just average by the respondents. Findings The following are the findings that have emerged from the study. * While making a brand choice decision, respondents gave more importance to unique ingredients of a soap followed by impact on skin and price. * Majority of the respondents purchased toilet soaps from super bazaars/ organized retail outlets followed by wholesale kirana shops. * Santoor is the most preferred brand used by both men and women which comes in the popular category. Cinthol, Mysore Sandal and Pears are the next preferred brands. * It is concluded that that majority of respondents purchased on monthly basis. Another 33 percent purchased when they required the product. * Many respondents are spending Rs 51- 100/- per month on toilet soaps, while a few are spending more. * More than half of the respondents only knew 5-10 brands of toilet soaps. From the remaining ones, approximately equal number of respondents knew less than five and more than ten brands. The education level of the consumers has a positive bearing on the brand awareness. * Most of the consumers have a very positive image and perception about their present brand. They felt that it is the best one and market leader in its category. * In response to a 10 percent price increase of current soap brand, all the respondents across different income groups behaved similarly. Most of them are willing to continue with same level of consumption. The respondents are not bothered with a marginal increase in the price as long as it satisfies their needs. But, when the price is increased to 20 percent or 40 percent above the current price, substantial differences are seen in the behavior of respondents belonging to different areas income groups. The high income group wanted to continue with same level of consumption. The low and middle income groups chose to either reduce consumption or to change the brand. * It is observed that most of the respondents preferred to purchase the same brand from another shop, when it is not available in a particular store. This shows a strong brand loyalty among the respondents. * Most of the respondents have been using the same brand for a longer period of time (more than 5 years) which shows a strong brand loyalty among them. * The reasons cited by respondents for brand switching are mainly better quality and cheaper price of new brand and inferior performance of old brand. Surprisingly, very few respondents are attracted by advertisements of new brands. * Respondents are just satisfied with their present soap as majority of them rated it only average or above average. A few rated it excellent. Conclusion Significant differences were observed among different income groups, especially, when the price of the present brand increases substantially. This can be attributed to the different lifestyles adopted by different income groups. Surprisingly respondents gave least importance to advertisements of toilet soaps. Quality and price of new brands motivated them to brand switching. This has to be carefully studied by the marketers. Another area of concern is that many rated their present soaps as just satisfying although they have been using the same brand for a longer period. In this perspective, FMCG companies need to reformulate their strategies to delight the customers. At the same time, as most of the respondents have been using the same brand for a longer period of time, new entrants have to devise suitable plans to attract the customers of existing brands. Deeper penetration in urban areas also holds the key to unlocking growth potentials especially in the Premium Segment. Thus, product innovation, smart merchandising and distribution will be of key importance for FMCG products to become leaders in the industry. References Antony George P., â€Å"An Empirical Model for Analyzing Consumer Attitude/Perception on Branding, Brand Loyalty, and Brand equity†, Indian Journal of Commerce, Vol. 60, No. 4, pp 39-57, 2007. D. P. S. Verma and Surendar Munjal, â€Å"Brand Loyalty Correlates: Study of FMCG†, Abhigyan, Vol. XXI, No. 2, pp 25-31, 2003. D.P.S. Verma and Savita Hanspal, â€Å"Influence of Lifestyles on Consumers’ Buying Behavior†, Paradigm, Vol. 4, No. 2, pp 52-65, 2000. Debashis Bhattacharya and Sanjay Gopal Sarkar, â€Å"Perceived Risk and Information Seeking Behaviour†, Indian Journal of Marketing, Vol. XXXII, No. 5-6, pp 3-7, 2002. Dr Dharam Sukh Dahiya, â€Å"Psychographic Aspects of Advertising–An Attitudinal Study of Consumers†, Indian Journal of Commerce, Vol. XLIX No 189 Part IV, pp 101-106, 1996. Dr. A. Vinayaga Moorthy, â€Å"An Empirical Study on Shampoo Consumption†, Indian Journal of Marketing, Jan 2007, pp 36-38, 2007. Dr. Sarwade W. K., â€Å"Emerging Dimensions of Buyer Behaviour in Rural Area†, Indian Journal of Marketing, Vol. XXXIII, No. 1-2, pp 13-21, 2002. Kuldeep Singh and Dr. S. C. Varshney, â€Å"Consumer Behaviour and Marketing Trends of Toilet Soaps in Ghaziabad District–A Survey†, Indian Journal of Marketing, Vol. XXXIII, No. 2, pp 14-17, 2003. Prashant Mishra, Upindar Dhar, and Saifuddin Rastiwala, â€Å"Celebrity Endorser and Adolescents: A Study of Gender Influences†, Vikalpa, Vol. 26, No. 4, pp 59-66, 2001. Prashant Mishra, Vasant G. Kondalkar and Ankhit Singh, â€Å"Seeking Word Of Mouth: An Empirical Investigation of Consumer Motivation†, Paradigm, Vol. 3, No 2, pp 49-56, 1996. Prof. S. A. Telang and S. S. Kaptan, â€Å"Attitudes of Women toward Detergents†, Indian Journal of Marketing, Vol. XXXIII, No. 2, pp 24-26, 2003. Shekhar Trivedi, Sudershan Pandiya, and Suneel Gupta, â€Å"Product–Its Association with the Personality†, Paradigm, Vol. 4, No. 2, pp 40-51, 2000. Srinivas Shirur, â€Å"Marketing Strategies of Family Business in FMCG Sector†, Paradigm, Vol. 3, No 1, pp 32-34, 1999. M. S. Sarma Professor, Department of Commerce and. Business Management, Kakatiya University, Warangal. V. Rana Pratap Lecturer, Department of Business Management, Lal Bahadur College, Warangal.

My First Day at Collage

This was one hell of a day. On this day I had times when I felt like going back home. Embarrassing situations were also a part of this good and bad day. Nevertheless hope was still gained and a good laugh from the day that had events which were unexpected. I guess being new at a school is never always a good experience. When I arrived at Limkokwing University I was immediately filled with joy. This is because of design of the school that had a lot of high rising buildings which were encircled by an amazing garden. Also, when I stepped through the gate just as I thought the marvel was close to an end, I saw a shiny black Rolls-Royce Phantom for the first time in the parking lot and the pleasure continued. Then I arrived at the area that is called the Plaza. The Plaza is a place which has most of the school offices, restaurants and other facilities. The area looked nice and it had a lot of people who were from different regions who at the same time were also having different agendas . Some of the people were satisfying themselves with delicious food, others were in the gym burning calories from their bodies and the rest were going to different places. After the great viewing I looked at my watch and saw that I was ten minutes late for my lesson so I rushed out of the Plaza and asked someone where the Foundation in Business class was and that was when the problems began. The person told me that they had just dropped off their son in the foundation class and that the class is the one written number ninety-eight in the last building. This information relieved me and then I went to the exact place that I was told. As soon as I arrived in the class things went up side down, this is because the things that the lecturer was teaching us seemed to be complicated. I began questioning myself if I should carry on with school in my life because I was not grasping on what was being taught. As the lesson continued, despite the complex information that we were being given, I told myself that I am not a quitter and I will be able to manage. It was only when I went to see the timetable after the lesson that I realized that I realized that I was actually in a third year degree class. Being aware of this mistake it boosted my motivation and I was back on track in terms of my goals in life. After the situation I went through I was now hungry and I went to the Plaza. When I got there I saw a sign written Makan Lah! Restoran and it looked like a restaurant so I proceeded there. I got to the counter and told the person ho was attending to the customers that I would like to have quarter chicken with rice, this was understood. The problem came when I wanted to pay for the food and the attendant told me that I was supposed to give him a receipt instead then I was shocked. The lady who was standing beside me then told me that you have to pay for your order at the payment area first which was on the other side then I would receive my order. That issue was cleared, I got my food and began doing what I came there for. When I was done eating I did not know that we were supposed to leave our plates on the table when we were done eating, so I took it back to the restaurant and I felt embarrassed when I was told that we could just simply leave them on the table. So I had to walk back to my table and put it there. This was an interesting first day for me whereby I had to learn with people who were way older than me just because of wrong directions. Also, I got confused when I was ordering lunch. Otherwise the school to me is an interesting place that has interesting people. The environment is great for building peoples futures.

Comparison of the approaches to operations management in Barclays Plc. and Toyota Motor Corporation The WritePass Journal

Comparison of the approaches to operations management in Barclays Plc. and Toyota Motor Corporation Summary Comparison of the approaches to operations management in Barclays Plc. and Toyota Motor Corporation SummaryIntroductionMain BodyIdentifying Different OperationsMarketing Strategy  Ã‚   Capacity PlanningInventory Management  BarclaysToyota  Supply Chain DesignTotal Quality ManagementEmployee InvolvementCustomer SatisfactionEvaluation of the operational concepts of Barclays and TMCa) Capacity Planningb) Inventory ManagementC) Supply Chain designd) Performance Measurese) Total Quality ManagementConclusion  BibliographyRelated Summary This assignment looks at the operations management of the two large organisations in their respective sectors. The organisations discussed are Toyota Motor Corporation, an automaker giant, and Barclays PLC, a financial services giant. I have discussed competitive priorities, marketing strategy, capacity planning, inventory management, supply chain design, performance measures and total quality management. All these help the organisations gain competitive advantage over other competitors as they focus on different ways to lower the cost of operations and making the best use of the resources by ensuring that all the waste is eliminated. The insight has been provided as to how these goals can be met to achieve the competitive advantage and how the innovation and long term sustainability of the companies can be achieved successfully. Introduction The following article discusses and compares the processes, priorities and strategies used in two huge organisations in different sectors. We would be discussing Barclays PLC and Toyota Motor Corporation. The reason for the discussion of these two companies is that they are well renowned in their respective sectors. Barclays is a global financial services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. In the 2010 Forbes magazine’s list of world’s leading companies it was ranked 9th largest banking group and 21st largest company worldwide. Toyota is a multinational automaker headquartered in Toyota City, Japan. In 2010 Forbes magazine’s list of world’s leading companies it was ranked 360th, a steep fall from its 3rd ranking in 2009. This was partly because of a major accelerator problem with its cars which forced Toyota to recall millions of cars worldwide and partly because of decline in sales amid the global crisis in automobile industry. Main Body Identifying Different Operations Barclays Being founded in 1690, it now operates in more than 50 countries and employs over 147,500 people. It has over 48 million customers worldwide. It operates in different sectors which include Credit Cards, Retail Banking, Corporate and Investment Banking and Wealth Management. It has a primary listing on London Stock Exchange and a secondary listing on New York Stock Exchange. We will be discussing the retail banking operations of Barclays in this assignment. (Barclays, 2011) Toyota Motor Corporation It was founded on August 28, 1937 and it employs over 320,590 people. Its main business activities are motor vehicle production and sales. It is the world’s largest automobile manufacturer in terms of sales and production. It is a part of Toyota group which in addition to automobile industry also provides financial services and builds robots. In this assignment we will be dealing with the production aspect of Toyota. Competitive Priorities   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Toyota  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Barclays Low Cost Present Present Quality Present Absent Flexibility Present Present Time Present Present    Competitive priorities are the critical operational dimensions a process or value chain must possess to satisfy both internal and external customers. Toyota’s main competitive priorities are concerned with its cost, quality and flexibility. Toyota’s low cost operations enable it to produce products at low cost. This helps in setting low costs for customers and earning reasonable profit making the cars more attractive to customers and more competitive in the market. It offers flexibility in its products. It offers a wide range of models targeting a wide customer base ranging from Aygo and iQ for low income families to auris, prius and corolla for medium earners to lexus, land cruisers and camry for high earners. The customers can also design their own cars and can choose what specifications they want in their cars which make them unique to others. It gives the freedom to customers and a sense of power. Toyota maintains a high quality of standard in their production. They treat quality with utmost importance and that’s why when quality is mentioned the name of Toyota springs in to the mind of the customers. This gives Toyota the edge over its competitors. Barclays has a competitive advantage of low cost operations. To gain the benefit from low cost operations over its competitors Barclays has moved its back-office jobs and the call centres to India where cheap labour is available. As India is a IT hub so the cost is also saved by not needing to invest in training and hiring of people. Barclays offers flexibility in its bank accounts. It offers 13 different types of current accounts for the customers to choose from which are in addition to the business accounts, premier accounts and the saving accounts. A wide range of these accounts mean that the customer can evaluate what suits best to their circumstances and is more likely to be choosing it over other accounts. (Current Accounts, 2011) Barclays lacks quality in the customer service. As of September 2010 bank complaints ranking recorded by Financial Services Authority (FSA), Barclays was rated 2nd clocking in 259,266 complaints for the six months period with only Lloyds being the worst. (BBC News, 2010) It tries to serve the customers in time. In September 2010 bank complaints survey it was revealed that 91% of the complaint cases were dealt with by Barclays in the given timeframe of eight weeks. Marketing Strategy  Ã‚   Corporate strategy provides a direction that serves as the framework for carrying out all the organisation’s functions. It specifies the aims the company will pursue and identifies the growth objective.                                                                                                                                                ANSOFF MATRIX    Toyota Toyota has a vision of making cleaner and environment friendly cars. It segments the market according to different regions as well as different people. It aims to target each and every person possible. It has got environment friendly cars e.g. prius for those people who are environment conscious. It targets the middle and low income families with the economy cars and the up market customers with luxury cars. It uses differentiated marketing as it has specified cars in specified markets. The models which it produces and provides in one country are not necessarily present in other countries e.g. it only provides two models in Pakistan whereas in America and Europe it provides loads others. It focuses on what the customers in a specific country are concerned about. In the developed countries who are concerned about environment it provides Prius to attract the customers whereas this car is not present in Pakistan as not a large chunk of people are concerned about eco-friendliness there. Throughout its existence Toyota has adopted all four marketing strategies discussed in Ansoff’s matrix to succeed and become the market leader it has been for so long until the recent accelerator problem occurred with its cars which was disastrous for it. Barclays Barclays is one of the financial industries that have invested heavily in the marketing. It keeps on coming out with different ways to keep itself in the public eye. It’s a main sponsor of different sports including football, tennis, golf, individual sponsorships, and the cycling in London. It is the official partner of one of the biggest football leagues followed in the world known as Barclays Premier League. Barclays has achieved its growth by product development, market development and diversification. It diversified into the new business of cycle hire throughout Central London, United Kingdom. It expands its business by market development by investing in new countries with its banking operations and then by product development by increasing its operations in those countries. It is now operating in more than 50 countries and provides a wide range of services. Barclays also indulges in other marketing activities. In June 2010 it launched an online game, 56 Sage Street, to target young people. It was also supported by activities on Facebook which is the largest social networking website. It has also made advertisements that included waterslide and rollercoaster which are not typical for a financial institution. It takes people by surprise. Capacity Planning Capacity planning deals with setting out future capacity requirements after forecasting the future demands for that period. It’s straightforward to determine capacity requirements when demands for products and services can be forecast with a certain degree of precision. Barclays can also use the Theory of Constraints to identify the bottlenecks e.g. the time the mortgage department takes to process the home-loan application. Once the bottleneck is identified the plans can be made to overcome the bottleneck. The personnel could focus on the bottlenecks to make sure that the resources are being fully utilised. The employees would be properly trained to make sure they fully understand and work to overcome the bottlenecks. Once the time issue has been resolved the bank can start looking for more constraints. Toyota can use the capacity management to match the demand in busy periods. It knows the demand would be more at the start of the year as compared to the year end and much more when a new model is being launched. Past analysis can be used to predict the demands at different times of the year. It can arrange the staff in a way which would not cause any hindrance to its operations and would be able to meet the demand if not over do it. If it’s for a short time period the staff can be asked to do overtime. This might require paying more than the original pay rate but it would eliminate the cost of training, hiring and paying additional benefits. The Theory of Constraints can be used to find out the bottlenecks which limit the production. Different ways of overcoming the constraints can be applied and personnel required to focus on removing the constraints. The employees in that department need to be properly trained to make sure they make the best use of the resources. Once the constraints are removed the company can move on towards identifying other constraints before they arise and cause problems. Inventory Management It is an important concern for managers in all types of businesses to plan and control the inventories in order to meet the competitive priorities of the organisation. Poor inventory management can seriously affect those organisations that operate on low profit margins. Like any other bank Barclays’ only inventory is cash. It needs to be very careful with the inventory management to run the business.   The cash that customers deposit is invested by the banks to earn money. The cash flow per day should be anticipated properly and it should be made sure that sufficient amount of cash is kept in the bank to serve the customers when they come for it. This level should be worked out so that they don’t keep so much cash which could have been invested elsewhere instead of keeping in the safe and hence results in lost value. On the other hand it should not be so less that it results in customers being denied money at any stage. Inventory management plays a very important part in the manufacturing organisations e.g. Toyota. As Toyota deals in lean manufacturing so the inventory level for Toyota is almost zero. Less inventory results in savings as there are no inventory holding costs, cost of capital, storage and handling costs and taxes, insurance and shrinkages. While there are so much savings it is not without risks. The products need to be perfect to keep the process going as with TQM there is no inventory to cover up if something goes wrong. Toyota can keep a safety stock inventory just in case any breakage occurs in the production system.   Performance Measures It is important to see how well the organisation is performing both for the manufacturing and service organisations. Key factors responsible for the success or failure should be noted and if possible the factors responsible for success should be exploited and those of failure minimised if not diminished. Both manufacturing and service industries need to see if the performance measures meet the competitive priorities of the organisation. Key Performance indicators could be set up to see if the performance is up to the mark. Barclays can use this to assess the quality of service provided by the staff. It can be noted by assessing the no. of complaints received in a given time period. The customer satisfaction surveys can also be handed out to customers to see where do they feel the lackings are. The steps can then be taken to overcome those problems. The following KPIs can be used to measure the performance of the organistaions.   Barclays No. of accounts opened No. of home loans approved Staff turnover Customer feedback Share price on Stock exchange Investor returns New products offered Toyota No. of cars produced No. of defects occurred No. of injuries New models introduced Customer interest   Supply Chain Design Supply chains permeate the entire organisation. It is hard to envision a process in a firm that is not in some way affected by a supply chain. The supply chains must be managed to co-ordinate the firm’s inputs with its outputs to achieve the competitive priorities of the firm’s enterprise processes. Supply chains are equally important for both the service as well as manufacturing sector organisations. As a firm grows big it can’t perform all its activities by itself and to gain that competitive advantage it needs to evaluate its options and outsource its less profitable activities or manage close relationships with a few reliable suppliers. As the service sector industries like Barclays are concerned they can outsource quite a few of their operations. India being the hub of call centres for the US and the UK, the call centre of Barclays can be moved there which provides with cheap labour and trained staff. The contract could be given to companies and so Barclays would not need to hire the staff which would save it from paying out fortunes in redundancy costs if it ever needs to finish operations. As the staff would be already trained there would be no training costs and no hiring costs. As Barclays deals with the important personal information of millions of clients it can outsource the delivery of documents to a firm that specialises in the handling of documents and provides a good reliable delivery. It would be cost effective as well as a competitive advantage as customers will see it a trustworthy brand who takes the clients’ security very seriously. For a manufacturing organisation like Toyota, it needs to maintain close relationships with a few suppliers who clearly understand the true meaning of the brand and understand what quality the customers exactly expect of that brand. It should not go for a large number of suppliers who barely understand the brand as Toyota did and what was the first brick laid to the devastation of Toyota which saw millions of cars being recalled worldwide. Maintaining close relationships with a few suppliers instead of going in a large supply chains which include tier-2 and tier-3 help create that special bond. It helps achieve the â€Å"Just in Time† which is only possible through Total Quality Management. All the companies involved in the supply chain need to be closely linked to each other and they should be expecting high quality from each supplier as they all rely on one another to provide the best value product to the customer. Both Toyota and Barclays can outsource their payroll system to a specialist financial firm which would be both cost effective and would also be dealt with the experts. By outsourcing these activities they can focus on more important activities which are the basis of their businesses. Total Quality Management Total Quality Management is a philosophy that aims for achieving high level of process performance and quality. To achieve this it stresses on three principles which are related to employee involvement, customer satisfaction and continuous improvement in performance. Employee Involvement TQM plays an important part in both the manufacturing as well as service sector industries. It emphasises that everyone in the organisation must share the view that he is responsible for the quality of the product. TQM gives rise to effective teamwork which is the basis of quality circles, which became popular in the late 1970s after Japanese used them successfully. In Toyota the employee involvement can be achieved by having quality circles and listening to the concerns of each employee in those teams. Every employee should be encouraged to come up with solutions. Every employee should be given the authority to stop production line as soon as quality problem is spotted. Quality in both the manufacturing and service sector organisations is achieved in different ways. Manufacturing Service 1.Reliability Tangible factors 2.Durability Courtesy 3.Performance Timeliness 4.Features Consistency 5.Serviceability Responsiveness to customer needs 6.Conformance to specifications Atmosphere Continuous improvement Customers today demand and expect high level of quality at a reasonable price. For the companies to survive in the long run they need to make quality in their products a top priority. This can be achieved through Six Sigma principle where the level of defects is reduced to approximately 3.4 parts per million. This in turn saves both time and cost and wins customer loyalty. Barclays can achieve the total quality management in their operations in a number of ways. A timeframe can be set up in which a customer needs to be attended at any cost no matter how long the queues are. The customer needs to be greeted happily at his first contact and should be catered to in an efficient and effective way. Toyota can benefit by reducing the waste and making proper use of the resources. The staff can be trained to use the plan-do-check-act cycle for problem solving. This helps to point out all those activities that don’t add any value to the product and new ways can be found to complete the production cycle in less time and eliminating those activities that don’t add any value to the product. Customer Satisfaction Customers are usually satisfied when their expectations regarding a service or product have been met. They often describe the satisfaction as quality. This can be measured by Barclays in terms of how long it takes for a customer to be served after he entered the front door. The time should be set in which a customer needs to be served in the best possible way. The calls should be answered in a given time and staff should be properly trained to answer the queries. The atmosphere of the branch and the appearance of the staff members should be given importance to. Toyota can make sure its customers are satisfied by making the cars of excellent quality in lowest possible cost to the customer. Quality should be inspected at every stage. Any defects would delay the entire process and hence delay the delivery to customer leading to the unsatisfied customer. The good quality would mean less wear n tear resulting in less warranty claims and a satisfied customer. Evaluation of the operational concepts of Barclays and TMC a) Capacity Planning Barclays The capacity planning would help Barclays as it would be able to anticipate demand and make sure it has got the right resources to meet any variations in demand. The demand variations could be studied using the past analysis and extra staff could be made available at busy times of the day or the year. The competitive advantage could be achieved by making sure that all the customers are properly attended and less staff made available at less busier times. The sustainable advantage could also be achieved by making best use of the resources in the most effective way. Toyota The capacity planning would help Toyota anticipate what model’s demand is going to be more as compared to the others. More emphasis could be laid on producing those cars whose demand is more and less production for the cars whose demand is comparatively less. This would help gain competitive advantage as producing the right amount of cars would save costs and no stock would need to stored. Sustainability in the long run can be achieved due to the economies of scale achieved. b) Inventory Management Barclays The inventory management would help Barclays keep sufficient cash to keep its process working and at the same time investing it somewhere else to gain higher returns. The competitive advantage will be achieved by making the best use of the cash and gaining the maximum possible return out of it. This would help in long term sustainability of Barclays. Toyota The inventory management would mean keeping less stock and hence resulting in almost zero stockholding costs, insurance and tax. The space would also be free and hence used for other purposes. Maintaining safety stock would help them if they face problem at any point in time with the inventory or to meet an unexpected increase in demand. This all would result in cost savings and hence provide a competitive advantage. C) Supply Chain design Barclays As Barclays has already outsourced its back office and call centres to India which is a hub of call centres and a greater awareness of IT so it gives it a competitive advantage above those competitors whose call centres are UK based because there is cheap labour available in India. Above that there are no hiring and training costs to be incurred. Innovation can also be achieved because when talent is pooled together from bright people in different parts of the world many new things are discovered which would not have been possible otherwise. This also helps with the long term sustainability. Toyota The supply chain design for Toyota would mean having close contact with a few suppliers who best understand the culture of the company. This would mean a greater understanding of what product is required and what quality is desired. The competitive advantage would be achieved because of close relationship. Discussion between the supplier and enterprise would also lead to innovation. This would also help with the long term sustainability of the company d) Performance Measures Barclays The overall performance of the operations can be measured by KPIs or Balanced Scorecard. It can be found out that equal importance is given to all the four perspectives which are customer, financial, learning growth and internal business process perspective. This would help achieve the competitive advantage and would also help in the long term sustainability. Toyota Toyota can measure the performance of its operations by setting up benchmarks and comparing the actual performance with the benchmarks. Reasons for not matching up with the benchmarks could be looked and proper measures could be put in place to meet up with the standards. This would help achieve competitive advantage and also help in long term sustainability. e) Total Quality Management Barclays Barclays could use TQM to make sure all the resources available to it are properly used and given importance to. All employees work to the full of their potential and customers are given the best service possible. This would help Barclays gain competitive advantage over other competitors and also help in the long term sustainability. It would also help in the innovation. Toyota The lean production system adopted by Toyota eliminates its waste totally and helps achieve low production costs. This gives it a competitive advantage over other competitors. Competitive advantage could be achieved by saving costs and resources and sustainability in the long run can be achieved. Conclusion Operations management is very important for an organisation as operations are at the heart of the overall success or failure of the company. The topics discussed in this assignment for managing operations are capacity planning, inventory management, supply chain design, performance measures and total quality management. The companies under discussion here are Barclays and Toyota. Overall, Toyota is more cost effective and it pays great emphasis on lean manufacturing and JIT which is the key to effective use of the resources and cost reduction.   Bibliography referenceforbusiness.com/management/Bun-Comp/Capacity-Planning.html (accessed on 16-03-11) http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nb20100423a3.html (accessed on 14-03-11) referenceforbusiness.com/history2/55/Barclays-Plc.html (accessed on 15-03-11) wiley.com/college/sc/reid/chap5.pdf (accessed on 12-03-11) industryweek.com/articles/learning_from_toyota__again_11301.aspx (accessed on 13-03-11) msnbc.msn.com/id/33077383/ns/business-autos   (accessed on 13-03-11) economist.com/node/15576506 (accessed on 17-03-11) Banking and the Theory of Constraints(TOC). (January-February 1997). The Bankers Magazine , 53-59. BIBLIOGRAPHY   \l 2057   Barclays. (2011). Retrieved 03 10, 2011, from About us: http://group.barclays.com/About-us Current Accounts. (2011, 03 14). Retrieved 03 14, 2011, from BARCLAYS: barclays.co.uk/Currentaccounts/P1242557963414 Krajewski, L., Ritzman, L. Malhotra, M. (2007). Operations Management: Processes Value Chains, 8th Edition. Prentice Hall.Heizer, J., Render, B. Rajashekhar, J., (2008). Operations Management, 9th Edition. Prentice Hall.

Siege of Acre in the Crusades

Siege of Acre in the Crusades Siege of Acre - Dates Conflict: The Siege of Acre took place August 28, 1189 to July 12, 1191, during the Third Crusade (1189-1192). Commanders Crusaders Guy of LusignanRobert de SableGerard de RidefortRichard the LionheartPhilip Augustus Ayyubids Saladin Siege of Acre - Background: In the wake of his stunning victory at the Battle of Hattin in 1187, Saladin swept through the Holy Land capturing Crusader garrisons. This culminated with the successful Siege of Jerusalem that October. One of the few Crusader cities to withstand Saladins efforts was Tyre which was administered by Conrad of Montferrat. Unable to take Tyre by force, Saladin attempted to obtain it through negotiation and treaties. Among the items he offered was the King of Jerusalem, Guy of Lusignan, who had been captured at Hattin. Conrad resisted these entreaties, though Guy was ultimately released. Approaching Tyre, Guy was refused admission by Conrad as the two had argued over the formers ascension to the throne. Returning with his wife, Queen Sibylla, who held legal title to the kingdom, Guy again was refused entry. Lacking options, Guy established a camp outside of Tyre to await reinforcements from Europe who were responding to the call for a Third Crusade. These arrived in 1188 and 1189 in the form of troops from Sicily and Pisa. Though Guy was able to sway these two groups into his camp, he was unable to come to an accord with Conrad. Requiring a base from which to attack Saladin, he moved south to Acre. Opening Stages: One of the most heavily fortified cities in the region, Acre was located on the Gulf of Haifa and was protected by large double walls and towers. Arriving on August 28, 1189, Guy immediately moved to assault the city despite the fact that the garrison was twice the size of his army while Sicilian ships began a blockade offshore. This attack was easily defeated by the Muslim troops and Guy began a siege of the city. He was soon reinforced by a variety of soldiers arriving from Europe as well as by a Danish and Frisian fleet which relieved the Sicilians. The Battle of Acre: Among the arrivals was Louis of Thuringia who convinced Conrad to provide military aid. This development concerned Saladin and he moved to strike Guys camp on September 15. This attack was repulsed though the Muslim army remained in the area. On October 4, Saladin again approached the city and began the Battle of Acre. In a day of bloody fighting, the strategic situation changed little as he was unable to dislodge the Crusaders from in front of the city. As the autumn passed, word reached Acre that Frederick I Barbarossa was marching to the Holy Land with a large army. The Siege Continues: Seeking to end the standoff, Saladin increased the size of his army and laid siege to the Crusaders. As the double siege ensued, the two sides contested control of the waters off Acre. This saw both sides exert control for period which allowed additional supplies to reach the city and the Crusader camp. On May 5, 1190, the Crusaders attacked the city but achieved little. Responding, Saladin launched a massive eight-day attack on the Crusaders two weeks later. This was thrown back and through the summer additional reinforcements arrived to bolster the Crusader ranks. Though their numbers were increasing, conditions in the Crusader camp were deteriorating as food and clean water were limited. Through 1190, disease ran rampant killing both soldiers and nobles. Among those who died was Queen Sibylla. Her death reignited the succession debate between Guy and Conrad leading to increased dissention in the Crusader ranks. Sealed in on land by Saladins army, the Crusaders suffered through the winter of 1190-1191 as the weather prevented receiving reinforcements and supplies by sea. Attacking the city on December 31 and again on January 6, the Crusaders were again turned back. The Tide Turns: On February 13, Saladin attacked and succeeded in fighting his way through to the city. Though the Crusaders ultimately sealed the breach, the Muslim leader was able to replenish the garrison. As the weather improved, supply ships began reaching the Crusaders at Acre. Along with fresh provisions, they brought additional troops under the command of Duke Leopold V of Austria. They also brought word that King Richard I the Lionheart of England and King Philip II Augustus were en route with two armies. Arriving with a Genoese fleet on April 20, Philip began constructing siege engines for assaulting Acres walls. He was joined on June 8 by Richard who landed with 8,000 men. Richard initially sought a meeting with Saladin, though this was cancelled when the English leader fell ill. Effectively taking control of the siege, Richard pounded away at Acres walls, but attempts to exploit the damage were thwarted by diversionary attacks by Saladin. These allowed the citys defenders to make needed repairs while the Crusaders were otherwise occupied. On July 3, a major breach was created in Acres walls, but the subsequent assault was repulsed. Seeing little alternative, the garrison offered to surrender on July 4. This offer was refused by Richard who rejected the terms offered by the garrison. Additional efforts on Saladins part to relieve the city failed and following a major battle on July 11, the garrison again offered to surrender. This was accepted and the Crusaders entered the city. In victory, Conrad had the banners of Jerusalem, England, France, and Austria raised over the city. Aftermath of the Siege of Acre: In the wake of the citys capture, the Crusaders began quarreling amongst themselves. This saw Leopold return to Austria after Richard and Philip, both kings, refused to treat him as an equal. On July 31, Philip also departed to settle pressing issues in France. As a result, Richard was left in sole command of the Crusader army. Crushed by the citys surrender, Saladin began gathering resources to ransom the garrison and conduct a prisoner exchange. Displeased by the exclusion of certain Christian nobles, Richard refused Saladins first payment on August 11. Further talks were broken off and on August 20, feeling that Saladin was delaying, Richard ordered 2,700 prisoners executed. Saladin retaliated in kind, killing those Christian prisoners in his possession. Departing Acre on August 22 with the army, Richard moved south with the intention of capturing Jaffa. Pursued by Saladin, the two fought the Battle of Arsuf on September 7 with Richard achieving a victory. Selected Sources History of War: Siege of AcreHistoryNet: Siege of Acre Medieval Sourcebook: Siege and Capture of Acre

Voiced vs. Unvoiced Pronunciation

Voiced vs. Unvoiced Pronunciation Voiced vs. Unvoiced Pronunciation Voiced vs. Unvoiced Pronunciation By Maeve Maddox Two terms I often use when writing about pronunciation are voiced and unvoiced. Apparently they are not as familiar in this context as I assumed they were. A reader has asked me to explain my use of them. In one sense, to voice something is the same as to say or speak it: Homeowners voice their concerns about increased earthquake activity. Likewise, in some contexts, unvoiced means unspoken: If people seem tense because of  unvoiced  disagreements, you may have to bring  concerns  out into the open. In the context of pronunciation, however, voiced and unvoiced refer to consonant sounds that are uttered with the lips, tongue and teeth in the same position, but which produce different sounds. Voiced sounds result when the vocal cords are touching and vibrate. Unvoiced sounds are pronounced with the vocal cords apart. For example, both sounds, /d/ and /t/ are uttered with the tongue in the same position, but the sound at the beginning of the word dog is voiced. The sound at the beginning of the word toy is unvoiced. The following English consonant letter pairs represent voiced and unvoiced sounds: b/p = boy, pit d/t = dog, toy v/f = van, fan Note: The usual spelling for the unvoiced sound in this pair is f. An exception is the word of, in which the letter f represents the voiced sound. j/tch = jet, witch Note: The letter g represents two sounds. The â€Å"soft† sound is the same as that of the letter j. The â€Å"hard† sound belongs to the following consonant pair. g/k = girl, kite The letter s and the letter-combination th represent both voiced and unvoiced sounds: s = music [voiced], sing [unvoiced] th = they [voiced], thin [unvoiced] The sound /zh/ is represented by the letter g in a few English words derived from French, such as genre and menagerie, but more often the sound /zh/ is spelled with the letter combination si: invasion, intrusion, vision. The /zh/ sound is also spelled with the letter s followed by u: visual, casual. The unvoiced sound of /zh/ is /sh/, as in ship. The sounds for the letters l, m, n, ng, and r are voiced. They do not have unvoiced equivalents in English. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Spelling category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Math or Maths?"Have" vs "Having" in Certain ExpressionsPreposition Mistakes #1: Accused and Excited

The Ruthlessness in King Harald's Saga Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Ruthlessness in King Harald's Saga - Essay Example Indeed, it would be easiest to show Harold’s ruthlessness and cruelty towards those whom he fought and conquered, as his Viking blood would often boil and he could not resist killing and maiming those whom he beat in battle. But King Harold’s true ruthlessness and inhumanity showed through in his treatment of his own subjects who did not do exactly as he wanted, his unending desire to plunder and terrorize neighboring kingdoms (like that of the Danes to his south), and continuing efforts to own to expand his ruling empire to lands far from his native Norway. King Harold of Norway served as a transitionary figure, wedged between a barbaric Europe which crawled out of the early Middle Ages--filled with Viking plundering and horrific feats of violence against the people of mainland Europe and what is now Great Britain--into a new era away from the senseless and violent plundering of the Nordic tribes into a honor and land-based fealty hierarchy of rule. King Harold would u ltimately meet his doom on the battlefield in his final quest to expand his empire. The last of the feared Scandinavian kings of northern Europe (Sturluson 2005, 9), Harold’s rule was pockmarked by raids against Denmark, iron-fisted rule and intimidation by fear of his own people of Norway, and the attempted expansion of his empire into Britain (Sturuson 2005, 9). Harold was brutal to his enemies and dealt ruthlessly with any opposition to him. His inhumanity to his people was even glorified in poem. In the words of the poet Thjodolf (Sturuson 2005, 161): Resourceful King Harold Punishes pride in his subjects; The king’s guilty men Pay a heavy penalty. The punishment they get Is earned by their misdeeds; Each man gets his due deserts; Harold dispenses justice. Like most rulers of the time, Harold was very generous to those whom he saw as his friends or allies, but ruled his subjects with an iron fist. When King Magnus of Denmark died, Harold had his eye trained on subj ugating all of Denmark to Norwegian rule-- his rule. His actions toward the Danish people best illustrates the ruthlessness that King Harold had in his heart when he wanted to subjugate a people to his rule. As he took his Norwegian army southward into Denmark, raiding and plundering all that he could take, and stealing the wealth of the Danes to take back to Norway with him, without even subjugating Denmark. He continued to plunder Denmark each summer thereafter, in order to terrorize the people of Denmark and to establish his dominance over them (Sturluson 2005, 81). Harold killed hundreds, and the corpses piled upon each other and the Danes trembled each year in anticipation of his plundering and brutality he brought to the people. Of course, there were battles against other Kings of other lands. King Svein of Denmark was constantly at battle with Harold of Norway. But how Harold treated his subjects is more interesting to the causal historian such as this writer. Of course, all rulers were inhumane towards their