German Expressions for Well-Wishes

What’s the right wording for a birthday card? What will you tell your friend before her performance? Below are several German expressions of well-wishing: Ich halte/drà ¼cke (dir) die Daumen. - I’ll cross my fingers (for you).Hals- und Beinbruch! - Good luck! Break a leg!(Ich wà ¼nsche) guten Appetit/gesegnete Mahlzeit. - (I hope you) enjoy your meal.Prost!/ Auf Ihr Wohl!/ Zum Wohl! - Cheers!/ To your health!Ich wà ¼nsche Ihnen gute Reise!/ Gute Reise! - Have a nice trip!Herzlichen Glà ¼ckwunsch! - Congratulations!Herzlichen Glà ¼ckwunsch zum Geburtstag! - Happy birthday!Gesundheit! - Bless you!Gute Besserung. - Get well soon.Alles Gute! - All the best! Best wishes!Viel Glà ¼ck! - Good luck!Viel Spaß/Vergnà ¼gen! - Have fun!

Review of The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, conducted by...

Review of The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, conducted by Bernard Haitink in 2009 The Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op. 68 was composed by Beethoven and was completed in 1808. It is also referred to as â€Å"Pastoral Symphony.† In 2009, Bernard Haitink conducted the performance of the symphony by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. From Haitink’s concert on Beethoven’s sixth symphony, I was expecting to see the original work of composer. The symphony has qualities of both the classical and romantic periods and illustrates composer’s radical ideas as well as highlighting his classical influences. Its programmatic nature is the main romantic feature though the dramatic dynamic changes, as well as the use of percussion and brass, are also†¦show more content†¦Programmatic symphonies occurred primarily in the late- Romantic and Classical period. The repetition of the different subjects is a feature is a programmatic symphony and, therefore, a romantic trait. For example, the ‘bird calls’ produced by the strings in bar 151 are programmatic. Haitink’s traversal of the ‘Pastoral’ is a fine achievement, established on tempi that strike the viewers. On the first movement, he takes it at a flowing, warm tempo. The Orchestra plays radiantly for him. The played symphony has a nice, firm bass line, revealingly enriched at intervals by the horns, and its attention to dynamics is meticulous throughout the whole symphony. The first movement ends in such a way that, the symphony can be heard as a wonderfully civilized and wise account of the performance. The second movement is designed beautifully. Once again the tempo is skillfully chosen. The woodwinds and the strings afford Haitink some fine playing and there are several lovely woodwind solos for the audience to enjoy. The third movement is lithe and light – this is a joyful and well-sprung dance. The subsequent storm is exciting, featuring some thrilling strikes on the timpani. The finale brings an excellent summary of the performance. In Haitink’s experienced hands, the symphony is serene, displaying an inner radiance and warmth. The style is demonstrative and completely natural. The pacing is perfect and the playing is glowing. Even though Haitink shapes

Integrated Marketing Communication Program †Free Sample & Example

Question: Discuss about the Integrated Marketing Communication Program. Answer: Introduction: Over the past few decades, Apple has been dominating the world through its effective innovation in technology. Steve Jobs, Wozniak and Ronald Wayne established the particular organizations on 1st April 1976 (Apple.com. 2016). By analyzing the integrated marketing process of Apple, it can be assessed that the company focuses on delivering high quality product to the customers for enhancing their brand value in the market. One of the major products of the company is I-phone, which indeed facilitates the organization to retain their brand position across the global market (Parente and Strausbaugh-Hutchinson 2014). The CEO of the company has discussed that they are focusing on satisfying the personal consumer demand. However, they are less interested in fulfilling the demographic requirements. On the other hand, the management of the organization has already discussed that they have been trying to improve the performance and stability of the existing product rather than introducing new f eatures of the products. In this context, the integrated marketing plan for I-phone has been provided. The current market situation of the organization has been provided along with the integrated marketing communication objectives. On the other hand, the establishment of the promotional budget has been highlighted in the particular research assignment. The organization needs to implement the effective monitoring process after including the integrated communication program in the business. Hence, the monitoring system of the business has also been highlighted in the assignment. Current market situation: By analyzing the current market situation, it can be assessed that the organizations have been focusing on different aspects of the business including political situation, economic situation, and socio-culture situation, technological situation, competition situation, environmental situation and sales situation (Cornelissen 2014). The company has introduced a new line of successfully marketed i-phone. I-phone has several features including mobile phone, music player, portable computing, small and personal organizer. By analyzing the current market share of Apple, it can be assessed that the organizations had faced challenges in earlier years for retaining their market share. The competitors of i-phone are blackberry, windows, and android. During 2006 to 2008, Blackberry had high market share, and it was dominating over i-phone (Blakeman 2014). However, the organization had focused on their marketing planning for enhancing the business opportunities in an effective manner. Although the organization has several competitors in the market, it only focuses on targeting in enhancing their product quality rather introducing new products within a short timeframe. Figure 1: Current market share of Blackberry, Palm and Apple (Source: Newman 2014) By analyzing the below diagram, it can be assessed that the particular product has been successfully retaining its market share. The latest I-phone 6 model continues to be the most popular handset among the apple users. The I-Phone 6 has captured the market share of 30% (Kim and Ko 2012). However, I-phone users have been facing issues in using some of the popular mobile application. Figure 2: Current I-Phone device Market share (Source: Burgess 2012) In recent years, Android is the biggest competitor of Apple operating system. The prime focus of Google Android is to capture highest market share within a short span of time. By analyzing the both market share, it can be assessed that the Android has successfully increased its market share to 50%, whereas apples market share is below 30% after the completion of third quarter (De Mooij 2013). Although the management has discussed that they are trying to focus on their pricing policy so that they could engage more customers in the business, they are rather busy in delivering the enhanced quality products to the customers. Consequently, their product cost increases. Figure 3: Market shares of Android and iOS (Source: Dobyns 2012) Integrated marketing communication objectives: The prime marketing objective of the company is to deliver the excellent quality products to the customers across the globe. They are less interested in fulfilling demographic needs. According to the management of the organization, the target customers of the organization are teenagers, entrepreneurs, corporate executives, etc (Kotler et al. 2015). Apple focuses on satisfying the existing customers demands by providing high-class products and services. The i-Phone targets the customers, who need flawless services and have adequate interest to spend high investment for obtaining that particular service. Most of the corporate clients have been utilizing the particular products due to its flawless performance. Currently, the market segment for a smartphone is very small compared to the general phone market. The smartphone market has been dominated by few companies including Samsung, Apple, Sony, etc (Strauss 2016). There is a huge competition in the budget range devices. Samsung often a cquires higher market share than the Apple due to using the worlds most popular operating system named as Android. However, the organization has been trying to improve their pricing strategy, as they are aware of the fact that the smartphone market will robustly increase within few years due to lower prices and higher power (Alon and Eugene 2012). The marketing communication is based on different promotional activities including digital media, printing media, social media and other online platforms. Without involving the promotional activity, marketing communication would not be completed in an effective manner. Over the past few years, the organization has been focusing on targeting the corporate clients for enhancing the sales activities within a short timeframe. By analyzing the promotional activity of the organization, it can be assessed that the organization has been standing by their decision to produce groundbreaking products for its premium customers (Romero 2012). The organization has set a proper brand image in both domestic and international market. The management has clearly discussed that the organization will be producing premium products at premium prices. However, this business attitude has also facilitated them in upholding large market share and high-profit margins. Besides, another communication objective of the organization is to highlight the fact that the particular organization will be focusing on their future innovative technology (Kilambi, Laroche and Richard 2013). The marketing team of the organization has agreed with the fact that they are unable to enhance the sales margin in the Asian market due to low promotional activities. Hence, Apple has been trying to implement several strategic approaches for improving the business opportunities in the Asian market. Establishment and allocation of the promotional budget: By analyzing the annual report of the organization, it can be assessed that the company has increased its advertisement or the promotional budget since 2009. In the fiscal year 2012, the promotional budget hitting $1 billion. Over the past few years, the organization has been trying to improve its promotional activity for enhancing the sales revenues in the business. In the recent years, the organization has been facing tough competition from its rival, Samsung. Since 2009, the organization has been trying to enhance its promotion through engaging different marketing platforms. By analyzing the annual report, it can be identified that the company spent approximately $501 million in 2009, whereas the organization had spent $1 billion dollars in 2012 (Shimp and Andrews 2012). Hence, it clearly indicates the fact that the organization has been eagerly trying to improve its sales through making effective promotional activities. It has been reported that the prime reason for enhancing the promotional budget is the advertisement cost of I-Phone. During 2007 to 2010, Apples promotional budget had risen to $467 million due to the advertisement of I-Phone and I-Pad (Mackert 2012). The advertisements of the product are created by the ad agency TBWA or Media Arts Lab. The proportion of expenses including general and admin costs have declined to 6% of revenue in 2012, from 7% in 2011, as the sales of I-Phone has been exorbitant (Jankovic 2012). The advertising budget indicates the subset of the larger sales budget. In the fiscal year 2010, Apple increased the promotional activities in an effective manner. However, the companys revenues growth was dropped from its overall ratio of its earning which spends on the advertising purposes. The company had reported that they spent nearly $691 million dollars on advertising in the year when both iPad and iPhone 4 were launched (Persuit 2013). The management has discussed that they have been trying to improve their business effectiveness through their promotional activities. If we analysis the below diagram, it can be assessed that the company has been increasing their promotional budget since 2007. It clearly indicates that the sales revenues of the company have been increasing every year. In 2012, the advertisement budget of the company went to the highest margin. Through the engagement of the effective promotional budget, the organization has been trying to spread their product in formation across the globe. However, the organization has been focusing on advertising its products to the Asian countries where the sales margin has decreased. For enhancing the sales margin on that particular area, the particular organization has included several strategic approaches in the business. Figure 4: Apple Ad Budget by Year (Source: Schivinski and Dabrowski 2016) Although the organization has increased its sales promotion in recent years, it is unable to compete with other competitors in advertising budget. By analyzing the below chart, it can be assessed that Microsoft and Dell have spent more financial resources on the advertising. For instance, in the financial year 2009, Microsoft spent $1.4 billion, whereas Dell spent $811 million on advertising purpose (Strauss 2016). Hence, it can be assessed that Apple should have been focused on their promotional activities to improve their sales revenue. Ad expenses % of revenue Microsoft $1.4 billion 2.1% Dell $811 million 1.30% Apple $501 million 1.37% RIM (BlackBerry) $337 million 3.60% Figure 5: Revenue analysis (Source: Dobyns 2012) Development of the integrated marketing communication program: Advertising: The particular organization promotes their products through engaging a particular series promotional activity. The advertisement of the organization includes several marketing tools including SEO, PPC, offline promotion, online promotion, social media promotion, digital marketing, printing media and direct promotion, etc. Apple has shown their tremendous promotional planning, as the mobile operators mostly conduct the advertisements of I-Phone product. Different network operators do some I-phone ads for enhancing their product selling. The prime competitor of the organization is Samsung, who is indeed dominating the mobile market. Although Apple does not use the Android OS, they have been trying to beat the selling performance of Samsung. As discussed earlier that the advertising of the I-Phone depends on some factors including demographics, target marketing, etc. Apple mainly targets a group of people in the society such as a corporate person, students, teenagers, business owners, e tc. according to a market survey, 25% of all i-phone users belong to the under 25 age group, whereas 46% are under the age of 35 (Cornelissen 2014). Hence, it clearly indicates that most of the I-phone users belong to the young age group. Although the organization has been focusing on advertising tools including social media, printing media, digital media, it also has included the direct promotional activities. For instance, Apple employs the iAds program for placing the advertisement directly in I-Phone application. With the involvement of this particular service, the organization could conduct the mobile advertising. Besides iAds, the business has also included additional options for conducting the advertisement on the mobile device. Digital marketing: The digital marketing is one of the important business tools that facilitate the organization in enhancing the business opportunities in an effective manner. Without involving the digital marketing tools, Apple would not be able to improve the sales revenues of the business. Digital marketing activities include several tools such as search engine optimization (SEO), content marketing, search engine marketing (SEM), content automation, e-commerce marketing, social media optimization, display marketing, etc (Blakeman 2014). However, the particular organizations involve some selected marketing tools for improving the business opportunities in an effective manner. One of the important tools of the digital marketing is social media. Nowadays, the social media facilitates the organizations in enhancing the sales advertisement in an effective manner. Although Apple has been spending a huge amount of financial resources on advertising, social media engagement indeed facilitates them in promoting their products to the large demographic areas as well as in the foreign market. The advertising strategy of i-phone depends on different factors including demographics, devices, iAds, and advertising with Apps. Nowadays, the social media applications like FaceBook, Twitter, Instagram have been facilitating the particular organization in expanding the business promotion in an effectual manner (Kim and Ko 2012). On the other hand, Apple has been focusing on advertising their products to those regions where the sales revenue had decreased. With the involvement of the FaceBook promotional activity, the organization would be able to provide products related inf ormation to the customers. Besides, the organization could obtain feedbacks about their existing products through their Facebook promotional page. On the other hand, the Twitter also facilitates the organization to provide the adequate information about the launching date of the products. Moreover, the customer could submit their query on the social media. Hence, it would facilitate them in enhancing the business promotion in an effectual manner. Explanation of the monitoring process: For monitoring the sales performance of the business, the particular organization has applied different strategies. Without monitoring the business process, the organization would not be able to identify the key development areas in the commerce. For measuring the sales performance, the organization needs to consider some factors including the establishment of achieving goals, measure retention business, review up selling figures, and survey customer experiences. The prime objective of the organization is to deliver premium quality device at a premium price. The organization has been focusing on accumulating the feedbacks from the customer so that they could understand the key issues facing the existing consumers. On the other hand, the feedback accumulation process not only facilitates the organization in identifying the key development areas but also contributes in obtaining suggestion from their loyal customers (Burgess 2012). Apple sales their I-phone device through several platforms, including e-commerce sites, offline sales, store sales, etc. Hence, the organization accumulates the sales information from each platform quarterly. It would facilitate them in understanding the progress of the business, and it highlights the current market situation. The control program centralized on their product quality. The particular organization ensures that they would not compromise with the product quality for enhancing the sales revenues across the globe. According to the management, the highest priority of the organization is to control the product quality and enhance the stability of the existing device rather than introducing new devices frequently. The particular organization involves those suppliers into their control program, who meet the highest standards for all goods and services (Dobyns 2012). By providing rigorous quality assurance, Apple has been successfully upholding the brand reputation on the global platform. Conclusion: It can be concluded that the integrated market communication program has been facilitating Apple to enhance their sales performance gradually. Over the past few years, the organization has been improving their advertising activities in an effective manner. In this context, it has been discussed that how the particular organization has increased their advertisement budget in recent years for obtaining high sales revenues from the domestic and international market. Besides, the current market situation of the I-Phone devices has been discussed in this assignment. Moreover, the allocation of the promotional budget has been discussed which would facilitate in understanding the marketing communication objectives of Apple. Hence, the particular assignment would facilitate in identifying the current marketing position of the organization in an effectual manner. References Alon, I. and Eugene, J., 2012.Global marketing. Mcgraw Hill Higher Educat. Apple.com. (2016).Apple Info - Apple. [online] Available at: https://www.apple.com/about/ [Accessed 14 Sep. 2016]. Blakeman, R., 2014.Integrated marketing communication: creative strategy from idea to implementation. Rowman Littlefield. Burgess, J., 2012.The iPhone moment, the Apple brand and the creative consumer: From hackability and usability to cultural generativity(pp. 28-42). Routledge. Cornelissen, J., 2014.Corporate communication: A guide to theory and practice. Sage. De Mooij, M., 2013.Global marketing and advertising: Understanding cultural paradoxes. Sage Publications. Dobyns, D.H., 2012.Techniques For Wireless Communication Of Proximity Based Marketing. U.S. Patent Application 13/198,550. Jankovic, M., 2012. Integrated Marketing Communications and Brand Identity Development.Management (1820-0222), (63). Kilambi, A., Laroche, M. and Richard, M.O., 2013. Constitutive marketing: Towards understanding brand community formation.International Journal of Advertising,32(1), pp.45-64. Kim, A.J. and Ko, E., 2012. Do social media marketing activities enhance customer equity? An empirical study of luxury fashion brand.Journal of Business Research,65(10), pp.1480-1486. Kotler, P., Burton, S., Deans, K., Brown, L. and Armstrong, G., 2015.Marketing. Pearson Higher Education AU. Mackert, M., 2012. Account planning: applying an advertising discipline to health communication and social marketing.Health marketing quarterly,29(3), pp.270-282. Newman, N., 2014. Apple iBeacon technology briefing.Journal of Direct, Data and Digital Marketing Practice,15(3), pp.222-225. Parente, D. and Strausbaugh-Hutchinson, K., 2014.Advertising campaign strategy: A guide to marketing communication plans. Cengage Learning. Persuit, J.M., 2013.Social Media and Integrated Marketing Communication: A Rhetorical Approach. Lexington Books. Romero, N., 2012. Social reading and the creation of customer loyalty clubs or communities to improve communication with our users and reduce costs in marketing and advertising.The Bottom Line,25(2), pp.63-67. Schivinski, B. and Dabrowski, D., 2016. The effect of social media communication on consumer perceptions of brands.Journal of Marketing Communications,22(2), pp.189-214. Shimp, T.A. and Andrews, J.C., 2012.Advertising promotion and other aspects of integrated marketing communications. Cengage Learning. Strauss, J., 2016.E-marketing. Routledge.

Why Catholics Believe in Purgatory Essay Example

Why Catholics Believe in Purgatory? Paper Is there any truth about purgatory? Does it actually exist? These are the questions that bother the mind of ordinary Catholics who are not yet enlightened concerning the thought. The Catholic Christian would tell us that it does exist. However as ordinary as our being humans persist on reasoning, what the church have said is not enough. We are bound to challenge beliefs before accepting them. We need rational and logical answers, not mere statements. What do we mean by purgatory in the first place? It is a noun or a name that pertains to a state of being or a place wherein the souls of the people who have died would be tested purified in able to eliminate the marks of â€Å"venial sins†. Additionally, the church profess that this is needed in able for one to enter the heavens and dwell with the God and his angles. Also, Catholicism further believes that the purification was needed in able to make the soul â€Å"holy†. Consequently some of the most powerful arguments in favor of the existence of purgatory were the ancients’ inscription on epitaphs of tombs and catacombs that withhold prayers for the salvation of the soul, the scriptures of the Church Fathers, the ceremonies done in the past the also addresses giving prayers for the salvation of the souls in the purgatory and the declaration of the Councils in Trent and Florence. Accordingly, purgatory is not hell or heaven and is not a judgment if one will go to heaven or hell. We will write a custom essay sample on Why Catholics Believe in Purgatory? specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Why Catholics Believe in Purgatory? specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Why Catholics Believe in Purgatory? specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer It is merely a stage wherein those who are bound to go to the heavens have to undertake in order for them to be qualified to enter the heaven. Although the souls who are in hell experience pain that is much more excruciating than any of the pain ever experience on earth, it is just a temporary instance; it is not the same as the never ending suffering that a mortal sinner would experience in hell. Is It Merely An Invention? However it may puzzle some of the believers and non-believers alike for there was no mention of the word â€Å"purgatory† in any text found in the bible. Does this imply or reflect that the term along with the concept behind it was just invented by the Catholic Church, if yes, why? Well, several anti-Christians and some of the other denomination of Christianity have argued against the existence of purgatory, most argued that it was just a technique or a bogus made by the Catholic Church in able to generate its own source of income and resources. In fact, the word does not really exist in the Bible. However, as argued by Catholic Answers found in their Website at www. catholic. com, purgatory was sublimely implied in the different passages in the bible. The Proofs The words purgatory, trinity and incarnation were nowhere to be found in the bible, but were implied in the several writings Such as in Matt. 12:32 wherein Christ has proclaim that â€Å"there will be those who were not forgiven, during the current time or for the years to come†, suggesting the possibility that anyone that there are those who â€Å"can be unchained from the marks of their sins after death†. As Paul have also told us in another book in the bible, â€Å"that upon judgment, what we have done in our life would be tried. Those who fails the test would go through purification through fire† (1 Cor. 3:15). The suffrage that one will undergo through purification by means of fire could not be the sufferings in hell since accordingly; there was no one who would be saved in hell.

Indian Foreign Policy free essay sample

India’s Foreign Policy Indian Foreign policy pre-dates India’s Independence. This Policy has come a long way from the pre-independence period ‘copy the west’ and ‘don’t copy the west ideology’ to the post-independence turning point decisions like restarting dialog with Pakistan. It lays its emphasis on principles like fostering cordial relations, solving conflicts by peaceful means, Sovereignty and equality of nations and Independence of thought and action. As a member of the Non-align Movement or NAM, it strongly advocates general and complete disarmament (nuclear disarmament is topmost priority). This Policy defines the foundation of India’s relationship with countries like the United States and China with the help of five main principles: Conventional Security, Economic Growth, Energy Security, Prestige Security and Nuclear Capability and Nonproliferation. Over the years India’s relationship with China has improved owing to the joint efforts of both the countries. China has strived to ensure that the border conflicts do not hamper the trade interests of the both the countries equally. We will write a custom essay sample on Indian Foreign Policy or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page India’s relationship with the United States however spells out a completely different story. The relationship has moved from hostile at the time when India chose to tilt towards the Soviet Union as a reaction to the United States’ affection towards Pakistan. This scenario completely changed after President Bill Clinton’s visit to India in 2000. The major limitation of the Indian Foreign Policy is that the central government often excludes the views of the general public considering they are poorly informed about foreign issues. Although they do take into account the public reaction to the policy while framing it. Even the state institutions have limited say while framing the policy. The business class and the media have a considerable impact on the Foreign policies formed. The rise of China as a business rival acted as a catalyst in increasing the engagement of the business class in the drafting of this policy. The media impacts this policy by shaping public opinion on foreign policy issues in a democracy. The latest Foreign Trade Policy for the yr 2009-14 focuses on initiatives like Market Diversification, Technological Upgradation, Support to status holders, Agriculture, Village Industry, Marine Sector, Green products and technologies and other such areas. The goal of this new policy is to reverse the downward trend of exports along with providing additional support to the sectors hit badly by recession. The Indian Foreign Policy has adapted itself to benefit from the changing worldwide economic conditions. The policy has ensured the protection of Indian business houses and small scale industries guarantee a broader and diverse economic growth. Bibliography 1. Foreign Trade Policy 2. http://www. indianembassy. org 3. http://belfercenter. ksg. harvard. edu 4. Makers of Indias Foreign Policy: Raja Ram Mohun Roy to Yashwant Sinha by J. N. Dixit 5. India Review; Jul-Sep2009, Vol. 8 Issue 3 6. Brown Journal of World Affairs; Spring2009, Vol. 15 Issue 2. 7. http://belfercenter. ksg. harvard. edu/publication/17778/indias_foreign_policy. html

Promotion Distribution Strategies

Promotion Distribution Strategies One of the most recent concerns of the modern global market, stealth ads play quite a big role in the world of marketing. Making people pay their attention to the specific products or companies, they enhance the selling rates in the given enterprise and thus create a specific trend. Because of their camouflage and the subtle influence, they produce the effect which is far stronger than any powerful ad can create.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Promotion Distribution Strategies specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More There is no doubt that stealth ads are times more efficient than the usual ways of advertisement. One of the explanations is that a song is something that one can listen to for a number of times, which can be compared to hypnosis. In spite of the fact that the impact of such hypnosis is less tragic and traumatic than that of the traditional one, the ethical aspect of such means of advertising is seriously doub ted. According to the official data, the use of stealth ads has increased the sales volume almost fourteen times (Blair). On the one hand, such practice looks most innocent and suggests a breakthrough in the scale of the global market, which is, no doubts, very aspiring. Yet on the other hand is the controversal nature of such ads and the way they influence people’s actions. According to Blair, the key idea of the stealth ads success is the fact that â€Å"they do not look like ads†. In terms of protection of consumers, this looks quite like the violation of consumers’ rights and even foisting certain goods on people. With the disguise of a free-willed choice, this new invention of marketing can bring colossal benefit to millions of entrepreneurs, which will probably make the stealth ads one of the most popular means to advertise goods in the nearest future. However, to be fair, it would be necessary to mention some advantages of the new invention. One of the mo st obvious pluses is that customers will be able to find out bout the novelties of the market just listening to music or watching a movie. Nevertheless, the aesthetic pleasure of such pastime could become questionable; it is only now that the fans of the singers have to be â€Å"sharp-eared† enough to be able to read between the lines of the favourite songs (Smith). And, in addition, relying on such tricky psychological issues can be rather risky (Blair).Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Another idea which can give a lot of food for thoughts is the chain management which is becoming increasingly widespread. Worked out in practice, this system has proved to be quite worthwhile. With help of this system, entrepreneurs will be able to satisfy the demand on the company products in a better way, reducing the costs spent on logistics and custom. Because of its high dynamics and unceasing circulation of information, products and money supply between various stages, chain management proves efficient in the modern world of global marketing and the float of data. A good example of chain management is Microsoft Corporation. Being the company whose product is spread literally all over the world, Microsoft Corporation uses the system of the chain management to provide the product supply anywhere in the world. Combined with well-developed system of relationship management, it provides splendid results: millions of people choose exactly Microsoft Corporation when selecting the right software shell for their computers. Despite the fact that Microsoft has worthy competitors, it still holds the unquestionable leadership in the sphere of computers and everything that goes with them. Thus, it is obvious that well-calculated chain management system combined with relationship management is bound to bring fruitful results. Although this approach has not been time-tested yet, it shows good potential. According to the world market prognoses, such scheme is going to be applied to every single enterprise soon. Blair, Elizabeth. Stealth Ads: They’re Effective – and Priced to Move. NPR, 5 May 2005. Web. Smith, Ethan, and Julie Jargon. Chew on This: Hit Song Is a Gum Jingle. The  Wall Street Journal. n.d. Web.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Promotion Distribution Strategies specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More

Summer Camp Vacation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Summer Camp Vacation - Essay Example But when it comes to children living in foster care, having no real families to bond with they feel isolated and ignored. Therefore, we have programmed a three months free summer vacations camp for 50 children, to support foster parents who cannot afford to plan such involving activities for their adopted children that aim to keep them connected, busy and thus happy, by the help of our volunteer sponsors. Imagine that one day a stranger come and drag you out of your own home, separating you from your family, your room, your pets and your belongings, throw you into the car’s back seat and drives you to some strange place. Now it’s not been more than a day and you are again taken by another stranger to another new place†¦and you are only 5 years old!!! The foster care society helps such disturbed and misplaced children to accept, adjust and feel comfortable by giving them yet not another â€Å"stranger† to add into their lives but a â€Å"family† to bind with, parents to love and siblings to relate to. It also provides the support to the foster parents to â€Å"own† these kids and not only â€Å"adopt† them. We have been working since many years to provide such kids not only a shelter but a place that they call â€Å"home†. Our majority finances are provided by the government under its donations policy and from generous people like you who are ready to provide little comfort and contribute a small smile in the lives of others. You have a chance to be that special someone who could make a little change to the lives of these innocent souls. You could be that magic which brings smiles to their face, contribute a little towards giving them a better life and ultimately to give this society civilized individuals, the society that you, we and our children lives in! Let’s make this society a better place for our coming generations to live and let’s join hands in this noble mission and be a light of hope for them. Let’s make them better humans and not

The Crossrail railway project-Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Crossrail railway project-Report - Essay Example ing connections between the city of London and those in the East and the West thought direct linkages, employment of thousands of workers and creation of business opportunities, significant reduction of time taken by commuters while travelling, and most importantly eases perennial congestion of commuters through increased capacity of existing railways and the construction of others (House of Lords, 2005:62). Easing up of congestion has been highlighted as the most important benefit the Crossrail project will deliver. It is envisaged that over 20 trains will operate every hour when the project is officially opened in the year 2014, with each train having a capacity to ferry about 1400 commuters. As such, it is estimated that annually, over 200 million passengers will use the Crossrail (Pagan, 2011:54). The Crossrail is without doubt a very ambitious project which will have significant impact to the economy of Europe once completed. In this paper, we will look at the factors that are contributing to its success across the stages of presentation of the bill to parliament, building, and being ready to commence operations. We will also look at the practices employed, both bad and good, in its management and development against skill and managerial primary elements usually used in the management of such projects. Factors that have contributed to the success of the development of the Crossrail development project include political good will, especially in funding, identification of reliable sponsors, and time tracking to ensure completion of project is on schedule. The Crossrail bill was introduced to parliament in the year 2005 for discussion, deliberations and possible approvals (Colville, 2008:34). The support accorded to it has been very positive so far, with the bill being granted a royal assent in 2008, effectively making it an act of parliament, that is, the Crossrail Act of 2008 (Bernand, 2008:29). One of the good practices employed in the management and

Diversification Strategy Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Diversification Strategy - Assignment Example With the help of ski patrol, ski guides, and ski teams from Dartmouth University, the school properly utilizes the almost ideal slopes of Ragged Mountains. I was also not surprised to learn that SNHU hosts and caters events through www.uniquevenues.com because of the campus’ convenient location on the border between Manchester and Hooksett (SNHU, n.d.). 3M offers products that balance the work and personal lives of the American public. For instance, 3M Command Strips are all-purpose hangers that users can use in bathrooms for towels, in the bedroom for jewelry, belts, photos, and accessories (3M, 2015). This makes 3M’s command strips ideal for users who rent houses since property owners do not allow them to drill into walls or shelves. However, in February 2014, products made by 3M and aimed at industrial and consumers were recorded to be underperforming (Govindarajan and Srinivas, 2013). One 3M business is Display and Graphics, particularly its Architectural Solutions in the United States. 3M’s diversification approaches in its Architectural Solutions form groundbreaking assets for individual and corporate clients. These approaches form the structure, methods, and tradition that allow clients to think and carry out tasks in different ways in an effort to accomplish exceptional success (Govindarajan and Srinivas,

Vodafone India Evaluation and Entry Strategy

Vodafone India Evaluation and Entry Strategy The Indian telecom industry is the worlds fastest growing telecommunications industry. The total number of subscribers was 225.21 Million with a teledensity of 19.86 %. It was expected that the mobile subscriber base will grow to 500 Million by 2010 i.e. more than one mobile phone per household and 1.159 Billion mobile subscribers exceeding total subscriber count in China by 2013. The average addition of new subscribers per month was 7.34 Million and it was increasing. The annual growth rate (2006-2007) of the new mobile subscribers was 46.82%.The average revenue per user (ARPU) for GSM was US$ 6.6 per month. There were more number of mobile users than fixed line subscribers.The Indian telecom industry witnessed a CAGR of approximately 22 per cent from 2002-03 to 2006-07. The CAGR from 2006-07 to 2009-10 is expected to stabilise at 21 per cent. In addition, the telecom equipment market had grown to US$ 17,100 Million and the handset market had gone up to US$ 4,750 Million. In 2006-2007, Indian telecom industry generated revenues of approximately US $ 20 Billion. The market witnessed a CAGR of 22% in the period 2002-2003 to 2006-2007 with last years growth rate of 33%. The high growth rate resulted in doubling the revenues of the Indian telecom industry in the past 3 years. The industrys revenue is expected to grow up to $ 43 Billion by 2009-2010. The Indian telecom industry can be divided broadly into Basic, Mobile and Internet services. Basic services cover Fixed Wire Line and Wireless in Local Loop (WLL-fixed) services. This segment is dominated by BSNL and MTNL. MTNL operates in Delhi and Mumbai, whereas BSNL dominates the rest of the country. A few private service providers like Bharati and Reliance have done well lately in this segment but government owned BSNL and MTNL continue to dominate in terms of number of subscribers. In 2006, the total number of basic service subscribers exceeded 50 million. Fixed wire line users made up a large share of this, with a contribution of 83 per cent. Mobile Services The prime reason of the spectacular growth in the Indian telecom industry is the rise of Mobile Services. The total number of mobile services subscribers has increased to 185.13 Million with an addition of more than 6 Million subscribers every month. India is one of the few countries where there are more number of subscribers than the number of fixed line users. GSM dominate this segment with a share of 73% whereas CDMA has a share on only 27%. Currently there are 12 active players in this segment. All the service providers provide services predominantly under two categories Voice Service and Value Added Services (VAS). Voice service comprise of only basic calling services whereas Value Added Services comprise of SMS, mobile internet services, email, chatting, conferencing, video conferencing, GPRS services etc. The revenues from Value Added Services are growing by 30-40% annually. This growth is laying foundations for the introduction of 3G services in India. All the service providers have constantly indulged in price wars which have led to a reduction in the ARPU constantly. However, the reduction in ARPU has been backed by the increasing number of subscribers. The ARPU of GSM service in India has been much higher as compared to CDMA. In spite of a constant decline in ARPU and with the help of constant tariff reduction, the mobile usage in India has been increasing constantly. Currently, India stands at 2nd position in the world after China in terms of Minutes of Usage (MoU). Another inference of reduced tariffs, reduced ARPU and increasing number of subscribers is that the service providers is successfully tapping the bottom of the pyramid by increasing affordability, which has a huge market potential. Internet Services In 2002, the government of India opened internet telephony and issued licences in this domain. In 2004, the government of India implemented the Broadband Policy which sent out signals of governments positive intent of increasing the penetration of internet in India. Currently, there are 2.25 Million internet connections in India. There are nearly 400 Internet Service providers which are operating in India currently. Though the penetration rate is low, but this segment holds a huge growth potential in India. Government owned BSNL is the largest player in this segment. The total number of Internet subscribers increased at a CAGR of approximately 60 per cent from 1997-98 to 2006-07. An emergence of private players and superior technologies, internet broadband segments have shown impressive potential for growth. With the significant undergoing improvement in telecom infrastructure, the quality and penetration of internet broadband services have undergone significant improvements. Though the private ISPs are catching up fast, the government owned ISPs BSNL and MTNL still hold nearly two third share of the total internet services market India. Telecom Subscriber Base and Tele-density Due to the phenomenal growth rate in the Indian telecom industry, India is likely to reach second position in the global telecommunications market by 2010. The total subscriber base in India is likely to reach 500 Million by 2010. The telecom subscriber base is expanding phenomenally and the soaring industry revenues are a clear proof of it. The additions in subscriber base in 2007 registered a growth of approximately 47 per cent over the previous year. The CAGR witnessed by the subscriber base for the period 2002-03 to 2006-07 stood at 40.4 per cent. The superbly increasingly subscriber base has also played its part in increasing the tele-density in the country. Currently, the tele-density is India is low as compared to other markets, which is an Indication of a huge untapped market and a huge business opportunity. In 2006-07, India had a tele-density of 18.31%, depicting a growth of 43%. From 2002-03 to 2006-07, the tele-density in India registered a CAGR at 40.4 per cent and 37.6%. Telecom Service Providers The Wireless Industry crossed 165.11 million-subscribers mark in 2007 comprising of 120.47 million GSM and 44.64 million CDMA subscribers registering an annual growth of 83.17%. Bharati leads the Indian telecom market with a total share of 22.49% followed by BSNL, Reliance and Hutch. Despite stiff competition, Bharti has been successful in retaining its position of leadership. 75% of the total GSM segment is occupied by the private players, Bharti and Hutch being the top two players. Reliance and Tata Teleservices dominate the CDMA segment with a combined market share of 91%. Vodafone Vodafone Group is the worlds leading mobile telecommunications company. It is a British multinational  mobile network operator  headquartered in  Newbury, England. It has a significant presence in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific and the United States. It currently has operations in 31 countries and partner networks in a further 40 countries. The company has made its presence felt through the Companys global strategies of subsidiary undertakings, joint ventures, associated undertakings and investments. Based on subscribers, it is the  worlds second largest mobile phone operator  behind  China Mobile  and over  Telefà ³nica. The name Vodafone comes from  voice  data  fone, chosen by the company to reflect the provision of voice and data services over mobile phones Vodafone was formed in 1984 as a subsidiary of Racal Electronics Plc. Then known as Racal Telecom Limited, approximately 20% of the companys capital was offered to the public in October 1988. It was fully demerged from Racal Electronics Plc and became an independent company in September 1991, at which time it changed its name to Vodafone Group Plc. Following its merger with AirTouch Communications, Inc. (AirTouch), the company changed its name to Vodafone AirTouchPlc on 29 June 1999 and, following approval by the shareholders in General Meeting, reverted to  its former name, Vodafone Group Plc, on 28 July 2000. Country evaluation We evaluate India from the perspective of Vodafone during the period before its entry into India. We look at the various opportunities it could have foreseen in terms of sales revenue, ease of entry and operations and also look at some of the hurdles it could have predicted. Country opportunities We begin with an analysis of the opportunities it could have seen in a large country like India. Market size With the second largest population in the world (Fig 1), the Indian market looked very promising. But one hurdle it faced was low mobile penetration (Fig 2) and low tariff (Fig 3) which kept profit margins low. But the penetration was expected to increase over 40% in the next 5 years  [1]  (Fig 4). The population growth and the GDP growth both were in the positive indicating larger future potential( As shown below).  ­ Economic Environment Since 1991 when the Indian economy opened up, the gradual economic reforms have delivered major cumulative change. These have greatly been in favour of a foreign party entering and doing business in India. The ease of operations has greatly increased. As the bureaucracy has been reduced and the state influence over business decision also reduced, it is easier for companies to quickly formulate and implement business policies. The government has been promoting competition and de-licensing key sectors giving great boost to positive market dynamics. Foreign investment is also being encouraged into many sectors of the economy. Various capital market reforms have been undertaken and the foreign exchange rules have been relaxed. Overall the economy growth rate increased, the balance of payments is stabilized and the economy overall looked very promising. Regulatory status TRAI The regulatory institutions were very well developed among emerging market peers. The following is the mission of TRAI which is very encouraging for a foreign entrant: TRAIs mission is to create and nurture conditions for the growth of telecommunications including broadcasting and cable services in the country in a manner and at a pace which will enable India to play a leading role in the emerging global information society. The goals and objectives, as taken from its annual report 2006-07, clearly indicated the creation of a booming market for telecom operators. Following are some goals of TRIA particularly favourable to a foreign mobile operator entering India: Increasing tele-density and access to telecommunications in the country at affordable prices, Providing a fair and transparent policy environment which promotes a level playing field and facilitates fair competition Re-balancing tariffs so that the objectives of affordability and operator viability are met in a consistent manner Preparing the grounds for smooth transition to an era of convergence of services and technologies, Various recent dynamic consultations were done on 3G licensing, roaming and infrastructure sharing. The government had clear targets for teledensity such as: 500m telecoms connections by 2010 (implies significant rural coverage) 20m broadband subscribers by 2010 The high levels of fees and taxes had been reduced to promote affordability and increase teledensity further increasing scope for higher revenue. The sharing of passive infrastructure (sites, towers) was permitted and encouraged by the government of India. TRAI was evaluating active network infrastructure sharing to underpin teledensity targets. Other factors India has a very well developed and written legal system in place making the legal aspects easy to comprehend and therefore easier for a foreign company to enter. With the IT boom in place, there was a large educated workforce available for a foreign company to exploit. Although language barriers existed, they could be overcome in a phased manner. Major Competitors We can classify players in telecom industry in three major category: Government: MTNL, BSNL Indian Owned companies: Reliance Infocomm, Tata Teleservices Foreign Invested companies: Escotel, Idea Cellular, BPL Mobile, Spice Communication, Bharti Tele-Venture, Hutchinson-Essar Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) BSNL is a one of the biggest player in telecommunication industry throughout the globe. It was established in year 2000. It stands 7th in the world in term of its size. It provides diverse range of tele-services which encompasses wired phone, GSM Mobile, CDMA, Internet, VoIP, broadband, VPN etc. It is one of the largest Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) in India. It has a turnover of $ 8 billion. It covers 45 million lines covering 35 million connections across 5000 towns in India. It is a Government of India Undertaking. It plans to increase its customer base up to threefold to 125 million and invest Rs. 733 crores in coming three years. Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) MTNL is a Government of India undertaking. It has about 13% market share and covers 5.92 million consumers. GoI holds 56.25% stake in the company. It has revenue about $ 2.47 Billion. Recently it has formed a JV with Telecom Consultants India Limited (TCIL) under name of United Telecom Ltd in Nepal. It has also setup its subsidiary in Mauritius. It has also formed two joint ventures with Software Technology Park of India and BSNL. With estimation of growth in telecom sector it is try to enter M-commerce. Bharti It was formed in 1985 and was incorporated with name of Bharti Tele-Venture Limited on July 7, 1995. It has mainly two groups: Mobility Group and Infotel Group which handles operation. It has turnover of $ 1.37 billion. It provides fixed and wireless telecommunication services across India, also offering broadband services across 94 cities. It has formed a joint venture with British Telecom for Internet services, in 1998. It is trying to found join venture for various sector like, submarine cable landing station in Chennai, infrastructure projects. It is ready to focus on semi-urban and rural areas and to do this is has aggressively to setup more than 3000 towers. Reliance Communication It was established in 1999 and is available in more than 340 towns across eight telecom circle. It has been offering first of its kind mobile data service in India. It is present in CDMA 1X network. It offers complete package of services ranging from fixed telephones to broadband, long distance call and also data services. It has revenue of $ 767 million. It has very strong infrastructure of about 150 thousand kilometres of optic fibre spanning India, Middle East, Asia Pacific as well as Europe. It is also a wholesale service provider for various tele-services across the world. It has a strategy to give more focus on mobile content provider rather than it voice services. It also plans to double its coverage area in next three years. Tata Teleservices It was established in 1996 and is a part of Tata Group. The range of tele-services it provides are mobile services, public booth, wireless desktop phones, wireline etc. It also has services spanning internet, Wi-Fi, USB modem, calling cards, and enterprise services. It has it presence in 19 telecom circles. It has also acquired Tele.com in Maharashtra in 2002. It has very aggressive and has paid DoT for 11 new licenses. Idea It was founded in 1995 as a part of Aditya Birla Group which is Indias first multinational corporation. Stakes of Idea are distributed among various sister companies of Aditya Birla Group. It has a sales turnover of Rs 24,005.50 million. It has a customer base of over 17 million which are present in 12 telecom circles. It has merged or acquired various players in the different circles to become a service provider. It plans to enter rural and less developed cities to gain subscriber form first mover advantage. It also plays a pro-active CSR role Mode of Entry There are basically five major different modes of entry for a company to enter a foreign market. They are: Exporting Licensing Franchising Strategic Alliance or Joint Venture Wholly owned subsidiary Choice of entry for a company depends and varies from company to company and also on county of investment. We can see from the figure risk associated with various modes of entries. We can also compare various pro and cons of different entry modes in the table. Level of Control High Low Low High Level of Risk Mode Description Advantages Disadvantages Exporting Transfer of goods or services across national boundaries Ability to realize location and experience-curve economies Avoids the cost of establishing manufacturing operations Low risk High transport costs Unpredictability of trade barriers Problems with local marketing agents Licensing Foreign licensee buys the rights to produce a companys product in the licensees country Low developmental cost Quick growth possible Difficult to have control over technology Franchising Selling of limited rights to its brand name and business model Low costs of development and risk Quick growth possible Difficult to engage in global strategic coordination Difficult to control quality Strategic alliance/ Joint Venture Sharing of ownership and control by parent companies Access to partners knowledge Shared development cost and risk Transfer of complementary skills Difficult to engage in global strategic Risk of knowledge sharing Wholly owned subsidiary Parent company owns 100% of the subsidiarys stock Protection of technology Ability to engage in global strategic coordination High costs and risks Mode of Entry Acquisition of Hutchison Essar In February 2007, Vodafone Group, one of the leading global telecommunication companies entered into Indian market by acquiring the 67% stakes in Hutchison Essar, one of the leading telecom operators in India, which provided its services under the brand name, Hutch. When Vodafone acquired Hutch the later had already earned a huge brand success in Indian mobile communication sector. Rational Behind the Acquisition Below sections will describe about the rational of why Vodafone chose acquisition as its mode of entry in India rather than going alone or other mode of entries. Leveraged up-on existing infrastructure built by Hutch One of the objectives of Vodafone was to bring the product and services at the lowest possible cost for the Indian consumers. Existing infrastructure such as, towers, power supply, distribution channels etc. could help Vodafone to reduce its operating costs and investment requirements. After five years of acquisition Vodafone was able to save more than one billion dollar by leveraging upon the ready-made and shared infrastructure. Quick entry to the new market- Acquisition also helped Vodafone to make a quick entry to the Indian market. Other mode of entry could have been time consuming or at least could take years to build the communications channels and network if Vodafone decided to enter by own. Also taking the approval/license from the government could have been the time consuming. Minimizing the risk due to cultural differences- Since Hutch was already operating in Indian market before the Vodafone came; it had a good understanding of consumers behavior towards selecting a product or services. Also Indian consumers are diversified in term of product choices, likes and dislikes, social and cultural influences, so managing the risk arises out of this divers consumers could have been difficult if Vodafone entered alone. Growth opportunity India is the worlds 2nd most populated country and the fastest growing mobile market in the world. So entering to India could help Vodafone to accelerate its business growth Building a Strong Brand Acquisition would result in forming a strong brand name Vodafone Essar in India, enabling them to make nationwide presence with strong financial position. Better competition to competitors One notable point regarding the Indian telecom market is that, this sector is highly competitive as there are many strong players, like Airtel, Reliance and BSNL operating in the market. So, it could have been difficult for Vodafone to counter the threat posed by those competitors. However, Vodafone along with Hutch could give them better competition. This further support the Vodafones strategy to acquire Hutch. Win- Win situation for both Vodafone and Hutch-Vodafone-Hutch acquisition was an strategic movement for both the companies. Although Hutch had done well in the Indian market, its penetration of total Indian population was only 40%. So, in order to expand its business to other parts of the country, Hutch needed money for investment. At the same time Vodafone was ready to make the investment in India market. So, Hutch decided to sell its 67% stake to Vodafone to meet its financial needs. Other motive toward acquisitions was that through the acquisition, Hutch would get the global platform for its business as Vodafone was an international player in telecommunication. According to Vodafone Essar director as saying that the objective is to leverage Vodafone Groups global scale in bringing millions of low-cost handsets from across-the-world into India. Sound economic environment After the economic reform Indian foreign policy has been very friendly to the foreign companies who want to come to Indian market. There is relaxation in taxation and foreign exchange rules. Also there is least intervention by the bureaucracy in the management of the foreign companies in India. Tax Purposes The corporate effective tax rate in India is 33.22% for a local company and 42.23 % for a foreign company. However joint venture companies are taxed same as domestic companies with some minor differences. According to Indian FDI policy, Foreign companies are free to open branch offices in India. However, a branch of a foreign company attracts a higher rate of tax than a subsidiary or a joint venture company. The liability of the parent company is also greater in case of a branch office. Implementation After the acquisition, Vodafone brought many improvements to the existing business model of Hutch. It also made a huge investment to expand its network and distribution channels. The story doesnt stop here; it also made a substantial spending in the branding and advertisement. Its zoo-zoo ad was one of the most successful ads ever made for Indian market. Due to its eye-catching design and features, the ad contributed a lot in branding the Vodafone products- especially value added products and services. Over all Vodafone adopted an aggressive strategy towards expanding its business in Indian market. Below is the elaborated view of the Implementation strategies adopted by Vodafone India Re-branding Before acquisition, Company was named as Hutchison Essar, which was the name of the previous owner, Hutchison. However brand was marketed as Hutch, just because its simple to remember After the government approval to Vodafone Group to acquire majority of stake, the company name was changed to Vodafone Essar. The marketing brand was again changed to Vodafone on September, 2007 Escalating the Distribution Channels Investment to increase the number of exclusive showrooms and retail outlets -Hutch management was such that it relied on no subsidy (Only SIM) and low cost strategy. Vodafone continued with the same strategy. However it made a huge investment to increase the current level of exclusive shops and retail outlets. Then there were around 1800 exclusive shops and more than 300,000 retail outlets across India. Accelerate distribution roll-out in-line the network roll-out plans Vodafone took a holistic approach for improving its supply-chain network. Vodafone had correctly realized the escalation of the channels for of product delivery is as important as developing its network channels. Escalating the Network Coverage MOU with BharatiAirtel on extensive level of sites s Adding up more mobile circles India is divided into 23 license territories, also called Circles for the purpose of mobile services. Out of 23 circles, Hutch was operating into only 16 circles, which covers only 40% of the Indian total population. After the acquisition Vodafone expanded it coverage and now captures all 23 circles in India. Sharing of active infrastructure- MOU with Airtel In order to achieve its long term strategy to become the cheapest mobile operator in India, Vodafone actively shared its infrastructures with other telecommunication operators in India Currently about 2/3 of Vodafone sites are shared with other mobile operators. haring including, sharing of towers, shelters, civil works and power supply Easily penetration to rural segments Achieved low cost services Significant capital expenditure and operating expenses savings for the Vodafone-more than one billion dollarsavings was achieved due to infrastructure sharing Developing consumer and business propositions More consumer focused strategy One of the most important drivers who contributed towards the success of Vodafone in India is that its more consumers centric. It offers a blend of product and services that suits to individuals needs. Consumers can choose the kind of products that they think best cater to their individual needs. Following are the major steps taken in order to make Vodafone the most preferred mobile service provider: Introduced low cost handsets Brought Vodafone live to India Payments through Mobile A range of product schemes targeted towards the customers with different needs First mover advantage to become the only operator in India integrated into an International mobile company International voice and data roaming Strong brand presence improved the credibility of the company and hence made the consumers to become more dependent on the Vodafone Strong Management team Vodafone took the control of management from Hutch. It formed a hierarchy of management team to ensure that the business objective is achieved at each and every level of the business Strong and efficient customer care services Emphasized on providing 247 customers care services Efficient customer feed-back mechanism- It also brought a customer feedback mechanism at place

Reflection Discussion

What do you wish you would have learned? The Africa Map project was an extremely enjoyable and educational experience. I learned a lot about my country relation to the U. S. , African countries, and other continents. It was also eye-opening and altered my once stereo-typical view of Africa. African countries have functional governments and economic systems similar to the United States.Of course some governments are more â€Å"dictating† than others, but it is important to remember that Africa is not a completely disease filled, desert/jungle like land. I learned a lot about the central region of Africa and how African regions can generally be identified by the European powers that ran them during the time of colonialism. The amount of land that the Europeans ruled over is somewhat ridiculous, but I guess It all shapes Africa Into what It Is today. I also learned that colonial rule has had a big Influence on culture.National languages of the countries are many times that of the European power that once ruled It. For example In the central region, common languages are Spanish and French. Spain, France, and Portugal ruled many of the countries in this region. Current government and economic standings were fun to research. I feel more confident on my knowledge of Africa and feel that I can speak more politically correct about the continent. I do wish I could have learned more about the other regions of Africa.It understand we have to know some general things about all the countries by reading the interactive map, but f there were more assignments that blended region relations I'd be very interested. Important to remember that Africa is not a completely disease filled, desert/Jungle important to remember that Africa is not a completely disease filled, desert/]Engle ridiculous, but I guess it all shapes Africa into what it is today. I also learned that colonial rule has had a big influence on culture. National languages of the countries are many times that of the European power that once ruled it. For example in the

Tax Evasion & the Black Economy

TAX EVASION It is the general term for efforts by individuals, corporations, trusts and other entities to evade taxes by illegal means. Tax evasion usually entails taxpayers deliberately misrepresenting or concealing the true state of their affairs to the tax authorities to reduce their tax liability and includes in particular dishonest tax reporting, such as declaring less income, profits or gains than actually earned or overstating deductions.Tax evasion is an activity commonly associated with the informal economy and one measure of the extent of tax evasion is the amount of unreported income, namely the difference between the amount of income that should legally be reported to the tax authorities and the actual amount reported, which is also sometimes referred to as the tax gap. Tax avoidance, on the other hand, is the legal utilization of the tax regime to one's own advantage to reduce the amount of tax that is payable by means that are within the law.Both tax evasion and avoidan ce can be viewed as forms of tax noncompliance, as they describe a range of activities that are unfavorable to a state's tax system, though such characterization of tax avoidance is suspect, given that avoidance operates lawfully, within self-creating systems Smuggling Smuggling is importation or exportation of foreign products by unauthorized means. Smuggling is resorted to for total evasion of customs duties, as well as for the importation of contraband items.A smuggler does not have to pay any customs duty since the products are not routed through an authorized customs port, and therefore are not subjected to declaration and payment of duties and taxes. Ten countries with the largest absolute levels of tax evasion per year. It is estimated that global tax evasion amounts to 5 percent of the global economy. During the latter half of the twentieth century, value added tax (VAT) has emerged as a modern form of consumption tax through the world, with the notable exception of the Unit ed States.Producers who collect VAT from the consumers may evade tax by under-reporting the amount of sales. The US has no broad-based consumption tax at the federal level, and no state currently collects VAT; the overwhelming majority of states instead collect sales taxes. Canada uses both a VAT at the federal level (the Goods and Services Tax) and sales taxes at the provincial level; some provinces have a single tax combining both forms. In addition, most jurisdictions which levy a VAT or sales tax also legally require their residents to report and pay the tax on items purchased in another jurisdiction.This means that those consumers who purchase something in a lower-taxed or untaxed jurisdiction with the intention of avoiding VAT or sales tax in their home jurisdiction are in fact breaking the law in most cases. Such evasion is, especially, prevalent in federal states like the Nigeria, US and Canada where sub-national jurisdictions have the constitutional power to charge varying rates of VAT or sales tax. In Nigeria for example, some local states enforce VAT on each goods sold by trader. The price must be clearly stated and the VAT distinct from the price of the good purchased.Any act by the trader contrary to this (like including VAT in the price of the goods) is punishable as attempting to syphoning the VAT. Borders between tax districts in the same nation usually lack the resources to enforce tax collection on goods carried in private vehicles from one district to another, so states only pursue sales and use tax collection on high-value items such as cars. Government response The level of evasion depends on a number of factors, one of them being fiscal equation.People's tendency to evade income tax declines when the return for due payment of taxes is not obvious. Evasion also depends on the efficiency of the tax administration. Corruption by the tax officials often render control of evasion difficult. Tax administrations resort to various means for plugg ing in scope of evasion and increasing the level of enforcement. Corruption by tax officials Corrupt tax officials cooperate with the tax payers who intend to evade taxes. When they detect an instance of evasion, they refrain from reporting in return for illegal gratification or bribe.Corruption by tax officials is a serious problem for the tax administration in a huge number of underdeveloped and southern European countries. Level of evasion and punishment Tax evasion is a crime in almost all developed countries and subjects the guilty party to fines and/or imprisonment. In Switzerland, many acts that would amount to criminal tax evasion in other countries are treated as civil matters. Dishonestly misreporting income in a tax return is not necessarily considered a crime. Such matters are handled in the Swiss tax courts, not the criminal courts. In Switzerland, however, some tax misconduct is criminal, for example, deliberate falsification of records. Moreover, civil tax transgressi ons may give rise to penalties. It is often considered that extent of evasion depends on the severity of punishment for evasion. Normally, the higher the evaded amount, the higher the degree of punishment. BLACK ECONOMY / BLACK MARKET Is the economy in which illegal goods are traded. Due to the nature of the goods traded, the economy itself is forced to operate outside the formal economy, supported by the established state power.Typically the totality of such activity is referred to with the definite article as a complement to the official economies, by market for such goods and services, e. g. â€Å"the black market in bush meat†. The black market is distinct from the grey market, in which commodities are distributed through channels which, while legal, are unofficial, unauthorized, or unintended by the original manufacturer, and the white market, the legal market for goods and services. Worldwide, the underground economy is estimated to have provided 1. 8 billion jobs. Back groundThe literature on the black market has avoided a common usage and has instead offered a plethora of appellations including: subterranean; hidden; grey; shadow; informal; clandestine; illegal; unobserved; unreported; unrecorded; second; parallel and black. This profusion of vague labels attests to the confusion of a literature attempting to explore a largely uncharted area of economic activity. There is no single black economy; there are many. These black economies are omnipresent, existing in market oriented as well as in centrally planned nations, be they developed or developing.Those engaged in underground activities circumvent, escape or are excluded from the institutional system of rules, rights, regulations and enforcement penalties that govern formal agents engaged in production and exchange. Different types of underground activities are distinguished according to the particular institutional rules that they violate. Five specific underground economies can be identified: 1. Illegal Economy 2. Unreported Economy 3. Unrecorded Economy 4. Informal Economy 5. Criminal Acts 1. ILLEGAL ECONOMYThe â€Å"illegal economy† consists of the income produced by those economic activities pursued in violation of legal statutes defining the scope of legitimate forms of commerce. Illegal economy participants engage in the production and distribution of prohibited goods and services, such as drug trafficking, arms trafficking, and prostitution. 2. UNREPORTED ECONOMY The â€Å"unreported economy† consists of those economic activities that circumvent or evade the institutionally established fiscal rules as codified in the tax code.A summary measure of the unreported economy is the amount of income that should be reported to the tax authority but is not so reported. A complementary measure of the unreported economy is the â€Å"tax gap†, namely the difference between the amount of tax revenues due the fiscal authority and the amount of tax revenue a ctually collected. 3. UNRECORDED ECONOMY The â€Å"unrecorded economy† consists of those economic activities that circumvent the institutional rules that define the reporting requirements of government statistical agencies.A summary measure of the unrecorded economy is the amount of unrecorded income, namely the amount of income that should (under existing rules and conventions) be recorded in national accounting systems (e. g. National Income and Product Accounts) but is not. Unrecorded income is a particular problem in transition countries that switched from a socialist accounting system to UN standard national accounting. New methods have been proposed for estimating the size of the unrecorded (non-observed) economy. But there is still little consensus concerning the size of the unreported economies of transition countries. 4.INFORMAL ECONOMY The â€Å"informal economy† comprises those economic activities that circumvent the costs and are excluded from the benefits and rights incorporated in the laws and administrative rules covering property relationships, commercial licensing, labor contracts, torts, financial credit and social security systems. A summary measure of the informal economy is the income generated by economic agents that operate informally. The informal sector is defined as the part of an economy that is not taxed, monitored by any form of government, or included in any gross national product (GNP), unlike the formal economy.In developed countries the informal sector is characterized by unreported employment. This is hidden from the state for tax, social security or labor law purposes but is legal in all other aspects. On the other hand, the term black market can be used in reference to a specific part of the economy in which contraband is traded. Pricing Goods acquired illegally take one of two price levels: They may be cheaper than legal market prices. The supplier does not have to pay for production costs or taxes. This is us ually the case in the black economy.Criminals steal goods and sell them below the legal market price, but there is no receipt, guarantee, and so forth. They may be more expensive than legal market prices. The product is difficult to acquire or produce, dangerous to handle or not easily available legally, if at all. If goods are illegal, such as some drugs, their prices can be vastly inflated over the costs of production. Black market can form part of border trade near the borders of neighboring jurisdictions with little or no border control if there are substantially different tax rates, or where goods are legal on one side of the border but not on the other.Products that are commonly smuggled like this include alcohol and tobacco. However, not all border trade is illegal. Prostitution Prostitution is illegal or highly regulated in most countries across the world. These places form a classic study of the black economy, because of consistent high demand from customers, relatively hig h pay, but labor intensive and low skilled work, which attracts a continual supply of workers. While prostitution exists in every country, studies show that it tends to flourish more in poorer countries, and in areas with large numbers of unattached men, such as around military bases.Prostitutes in the black market generally operate with some degree of secrecy, sometimes negotiating prices and activities through codewords and subtle gestures. In countries such as the Netherlands, where prostitution is legal but regulated, illegal prostitutes exist whose services are offered cheaper without regard for the legal requirements or procedures— health checks, standards of accommodation, and so on. In other countries such as Nicaragua where legal prostitution is regulated, hotels may require both parties to identify themselves, to prevent the rise of child prostitution. WeaponsFire Arms trafficking The legislatures of many countries forbid or restrict the personal ownership of weapon s. These restrictions can range from small knives to firearms, either altogether or by classification (e. g. caliber, automation, etc. ), and explosives. The black market supplies the demands for weaponry that cannot be obtained legally, or may only be obtained legally after obtaining permits and paying fees. This may be by smuggling the arms from countries where they were bought legally or stolen, or by stealing from arms manufacturers within the country itself, using insiders.In cases where the underground economy is unable to smuggle firearms, they can also satisfy requests by gunsmithing their own firearms. Those who may buy this way include criminals to use for illegal activities, gun collectors, and otherwise law abiding citizens interested in protecting their dwellings, families or businesses. Illegally logged timber Illegally logged timber is a huge problem. According to interpol, the illegal logging industry is worth almost as much as drug production industry, in some count ries. Animals and animal productsIvory trade / Wildlife trade In many developing countries, living animals are captured in the wild and sold as pets. Wild animals are also hunted and killed for their meat, hide, organs, †¦ Organs and other animal parts are sold for use in traditional medicine. Alcohol / Tobacco It has been reported that smuggling one truckload of cigarettes from a low-tax US state to a high-tax state can lead to a profit of up to $2 million. The low-tax states are generally the major tobacco producers, and have come under enormous criticism for their reluctance to increase taxes.Biological Organs Trade Organ trade is the trade involving inner organs (heart, liver, kidneys, etc. ) of a human for transplantation. There is a worldwide shortage of organs available for transplantation, yet trade in human organs is illegal in all countries except Iran. The problem of organ trafficking is widespread, although data on the exact scale of the organ market is difficult to obtain. Whether or not to legalize the organ trade, and the appropriate way to combat illegal trafficking, is a subject of much debate. Software piracyStreet vendors in countries where there is scant enforcement of copyright law, particularly in Asia and Latin America, often sell deeply discounted copies of films, music CDs, and computer software such as video games, sometimes even before the official release of the title. A determined counterfeiter with a few hundred dollars can make copies that are digitally identical to an original and suffer no loss in quality; innovations in consumer DVD and CD writers and the widespread availability of cracks on the Internet for most forms of copy protection technology make this cheap and easy to do.

Irish Potato Famine essays

Irish Potato Famine essays There have been many enormous tragedies throughout the history of this world, and its staggering to think about how many people lost their lives because of these events. There are some such events, such as the Holocaust, where it is easy to pin the blame down on someone or a certain group, in this case being Hitler and the Nazis. There are however tragic events in history without such a clear single party to blame. One such event is the Irish potato famine where from 1845-1860 one million people died and two million people emigrated from Ireland. (Lecture 11/10) In this paper I hope to give an unbiased view of the human element involved in creating this enormous loss of life and displacement of millions. I will examine such factors as the social conditions of the time, behaviors of the peasants, behaviors of the English landlords and hopefully create an accurate picture of how such a horrific event could and did take place. In order to understand the social situation of the Irish people during and leading up to the famine we must understand their past. The most important thing to understand is that Ireland had been fighting for its independence from Englands rule for the entire duration of its existence. So basically there was a lot of fighting going on during the 17th and 18th centuries leading up to the famine, which did not allow a significant population of Irish to be established in order to resist the English. In 1801 The Act of Union, annulled the semi-independent Irish Parliament and transferred political power definitively from Ireland to London. This meant that the English owned and distributed the Irish land amongst the wealthy Englishmen of their country leaving the Irish with no control in their own country. These landowners then hired farmers to manage their land meanwhile they could live back in England reaping the benefits without any effort. The farmers then rented tiny individua l plots of lan...

19 Eye-Catching Graphic Design Trends for 2018

19 Eye-Catching Graphic Design Trends for 2018 Graphic design seems to be a skillset that will never go out of demand and is increasingly becoming a learnable field by the technically untrained designer. From small business owners to authors, more and more entrepreneurs are turning to graphic design as a way of learning a new skill for their personal edification, or to save costs in their business. Here are 19 trends that were huge this year, and show no signs of stopping going into 2019:Creative typographyWhen it comes to branding or titling, one of the first things to meet the eye is the message. What is a brand, a title, or an advertisement saying? This year, graphic designers took this to a new level by getting creative with typography and fonts. Some trends showed creative effects, like pouring paint over letters, words that look like bent silverware, dual color schemes, and more. Additionally, cropped typography, where certain parts of letters are erased but the word remains readable and clear, remained popular. Book covers seemed to favor chaotic typography, where letters were misaligned or manipulated into arcs or curves or other strange shapes.Negative spaceThis is a popular trend that shows no signs of slowing down. Simply, an empty space in a design that forms a certain shape is considered a negative space design. Designs of a wide variety utilize this popular graphic design technique, as its versatile, endlessly creative, and frankly, super cool to look at. Along with negative space designs, an emerging and increasingly popular trend is negative space typography. Reference the covers for A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald or Mamita by Inez van Oort and Mirjam Bleeker.Double exposureWhats better than one awesome image? How about two? Double exposure is not a new technique in photography, film, or graphic design, but has ebbed and flowed in popularity over the years. Luckily, its flowing again, and designers are creating ultra-cool images using this technique, which is simply combining two exposures of a n image or images, and creating a single image from them. Check out this example.DuotoneAn easy way to brush up a photo or logo is the relatively simple technique of duotone, where the image has just two predominant colors. A red or blue color is overlaid on a grayscale image to produce this effect.Double exposure duotoneCombining the two aforementioned techniques into one produces an uber-modern, futuristic effect. Two images, either the same one doubled or two different images are layered in monochrome colors. The resulting effects are striking, especially when combined with one of the typography trends mentioned above. The poster for the film Flatliners makes excellent use of this.Double lightIn the same vein as double the pleasure, double the fun, double light has been trending heavily. Color channels are split around a single image and layered together to create a modern, trendy, retro feel to a photo. This lends itself well to fashion. Band photos are known to make use of this technique, also. With the right color scheme, it works well to create an interesting sci-fi feel to an image, too.Glitch effectDo you remember back in the day when TV sets (yeah, sets) had little antennas on them, and when they got disturbed or so much as one drop of rain fell from the sky, the picture would go glitchy and weird? That has translated into some of the most interesting graphic design effects on this trends list. With the advent of digital images, this effect is no longer an annoyance, but something that can create a truly interesting piece of art.Ruined effectAnother effect that creates a disturbance in an image is the ruined effect. This particular technique creates some of the most interesting and unique images you can find today. Splashing, tearing, slashing, breaking, layering- its all fair game with this technique. And if you can layer in different textures, colors, and patterns, even better. Photos can look like cut-out collages of the nineties. You remember you r dream board, dont you?One-color 3D designWhat good is design technology without making use of 3D effects? The one-color 3D design technique uses the same color as the featured image in the background. Sounds plain, but it actually helps enhance the featured image and makes it pop. Dimension, shadow, and texture all help to create the separation of the image from the background, and done masterfully, creates a pleasing, eye-catching image that works well with advertisement.Colorful 3D substanceOne of the top crazes in the graphic design field is combining bright colors and textures in a 3D environment. Images take on new dimension, texture, and shape in unique and utterly beautiful ways. This technique lends itself well to just about any feasible concept- movie posters, book covers, science imagery, food, and especially art.Digital handworkThis seems like a step backward as far as design advancements go, but combining digital graphic design technology is actually an on-the-rise tre nd. Where Photoshop paintbrushes once took center stage, hand drawings can now be converted to a digital space, where unique effects- such as the ones on this list- can be added for extra artistic enhancements.Illustrations and digital drawingSpecifically, layering an illustration over or under an image. Remember that 1980s music video Take On Me by A-Ha, where the animated guy followed the real woman? Back then, everyones minds were blown at the combination of the real and the animated, but now, the two worlds are meeting more often than ever, and in far more lush colors and settings than just black and white.Bright color gradientColor gradients arent necessarily anything new, but they remain a popular technique used widely in graphic design. Depending on the color scheme, different moods can be created- dark, childlike, ethereal. Two-tone gradients are also growing increasingly popular.Metallic elementsNothing says luxe like a bit of gold! Or silver, or bronze, or rose gold. When added to regular photos or images, metallic elements add a certain pop that results in, at least, a beautiful image, or, at best, a stunning, jaw-dropping visual. The light-reflective metallic adds dimension to any image. This technique can be used in successful combination with most of the other techniques on this list to create a unique image.MinimalismThe adage less is more applies here. Though trends tend to favor fancy graphics, clever design tricks, and eye-popping colors, its rare that anything beats good, old-fashioned minimalism. This is especially useful with sales- advertisements, book covers, posters. Minimal designs get the message across quickly, with stark colors, clean lines, plenty of white space and a minimum of text. Clean, concise, and clear will always rise above complex graphics and loud colors.Movement/animationThere was a time when words werent enough to convey feelings- we needed emoticons. Then emoticons evolved into emojis. Then the advent of memes explode d, combining image and text for a variety of situations and moments. Then, the moving meme, or GIF, emerged. GIFs, or rather, the concept behind them, can lend itself in a fresh and innovative way to logos, branding, and other design concepts to be used on a variety of platforms like websites, social media, newsletters, and more. Check out this site on how to animate the Google logo.BrutalismIf the name of this design technique sounds imposing, its images are, too. Its basically exactly what it sounds like- bold, simple colors, straightforward typeface, low effects, in-your-face messaging. Its the antithesis to the artistry that automatically accompanies the phrase graphic design, but that doesnt mean its any less effect. Like minimalism, the less is more ideal applies here, too, and while a bit riskier than minimalism- some viewers and consumers may be turned off by the colors and typeface- its no less effective. Its been called the punk rock of the web, and it might just be the pu nk rock of graphic design, too.3D still lifesThe use of 3D has grown over the last few years, and designers are finding new and innovative ways to harness this effect. One such way also happens to be one of the coolest graphic design trends, and it shows no sign of slowing down. Textures, effects, and depth all contribute to incredible images that make the viewer think it had to be a photo taken in real life. The possibilities with this technique are endless, and can be used for a variety of concepts. It seems to work especially well with fashion and home dà ©cor/design. It can also make for a stunning visual piece for your apartment wall, too. Have a look at some awesome renditions here.Isometric projectionFor super-cool, futuristic effects, isometric projection is a technique quickly growing in popularity. It presents 3D objects in 2D, and when combined with gradient colors, bright colors, and different uses of filters and hue/saturation to create depth, the results are often bre athtaking. Used across photography, digital design, illustration, and more, the effect of the images can vary, but the results are the same- evocative and awesome to look at.

Rotana Hotels Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Rotana Hotels - Essay Example By understanding the direction the business is to take long-term, it can make decisions that always lead to goal attainment. Rotana’s stated goals of increasing the number of Hotels to 100 within a specific time period shows that the business understands how to develop strategy properly. The goals as they are written give Rotana focus and give the chain a sense of purpose about what direction to take moving forward. By setting two to three years as the basis of expansion, it gives the organization a very clear time-frame regarding what efforts need to be undertaken to get there. In some ways, this can be considered part of the vision as it gives everyone in the organization a sense of direction and know where the business is trying to head. As to whether they meet the criteria of well-written goals, the answer would have to be no. Well-written goals have specific accomplishments listed about the long-term strategy. They should include objectives on how the business intends to succeed all the way through the entire management process from planning, to organizing, to leading and controlling. This is just a broad goal without specific strategies listed. â€Å"To be the Leading Hospitality Management Company within the Middle East and Africa operating a comprehensive range of products and brands that aim to meet all the requirements of our guests† (Rotana, 2011, p.1). organization is actually in business and what is it trying to achieve as well as where it wants to go in the long-term. It tells that it is a customer-focused business that devotes most of its efforts into marketing and guest services. Like most visions should, it should motivate Rotana workers to achieve the goals of providing these guest services and inspire innovators in the company to develop new product variety. Rotana’s values are founded on its LIFE principles, which are long-term, innovation, friendly and ethical.

Toxicant Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Toxicant - Research Paper Example With such a profile, one would expect that there would be no intake of the metal in humans. However, the metal that is a common pollutant in soil, water and air is exposed to humans through these agents as well as food and consumer products (Kacew & Lee, 2013). The greatest exposure occurs through breathing it in or swallowing. Exposure through the air is mainly as a result of motor vehicle exhaust resulting from the use of leaded gasoline (Who. int, 2014). The exhaust avails the lead in air, which is then taken into the body through breathing. Then there are the industrial sources such as lead manufacturing and recycling industries as well as smelters that result in the release of the metal into the air in the process of workings (National Research Council (U.S.), 2013). At home lead paints act as the main source of exposure through the air. The paint chips from the walls or movable objects, creating lead dust. Naturally, lead occurs in small amounts in source water. However, the use of lead plumbing materials has made the metal available in drinking water in large amounts. The pipes leach the metal slowly into the water. Depending on the temperature, acidity and standing time on the water, large concentrations of lead may result from the plumbing with the low detectability of the metal making it prone to consumption (Who.int, 2014). The high cost of removing the old piping propagates this method of exposure. However, the contamination and therefore exposure to lead through water may be the result of secondary pollution of water by industrial effluents (National Research Council (U.S.), 2013). Exposure through foods results from the consumption of foods handled using lead based containers. Lead cans and ceramics provide chippings that are consumed with the food. The presence of lead in the body may be detected by studying blood cells using a microscope for changes or using X-rays with the metal appearing as dense

Serving High-Tech and Internet Companies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Serving High-Tech and Internet Companies - Essay Example An analysis of case data will follow as will a section on alternatives. The final section will conclude with recommendations and a summation of the information studied in this concise brief. Furthermore, we will conclude with answers to the questions found in the â€Å"CHECK IT OUT† and â€Å"A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE† articles. We now turn to a brief introduction to the Forrester Research Company.   In today’s competitive high-tech world, Forrester Research (www.forrester.com)has staked out a claim for itself as a leader in market research provision and market data analysis. With offices in places as diverse as Australia and Dubai, Israel and South Africa, Forrester Research is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Accordingly, this company has more than 1,800 clients around the world in the fields of marketing and informational technology, Forrester Research is presently traded on the US stock market (Nasdaq: FORR) and is a company which has exhibited tremendous potential and incredible growth in a short span of time. Forrester Research promotes what it calls the â€Å"Forrester Difference† and aims to be on the cusp of industry change. Thus, the solutions provided by Forrester are targeted toward marketing executives, strategic planners, and IT professionals to be at the forefront of technological change.   The major issues facing Forrester Research today include continued competitiveness in a changing market and the ability of this company to maintain its significance in the provision of market research to information technology companies. Can Forrester compete with the recent plethora of online survey companies which provide cash and a whole host of other incentives to get respondents? Does Forrester Research have an organizational strategy for revitalization?