“Write About the Ways Auden Tells the Story in the Poetic Piece ‘Miss Gee’”

â€Å"Write about the ways Auden tells the story in the poetic piece ‘Miss Gee’? † Through the ballad of ‘Miss Gee’ Auden tells the story of the character Miss Edith Gee this is achieved in a variety of ways. The poetic piece is a ballad intended to be read to the tune of ‘St James’ Infirmary’. Auden has created a regular pattern of quatrains as well as a regular rhythm which progresses the general flow of the poem and creates the atmosphere of a story for the reader.The initial exposition is extremely sympathetic towards Miss Gee. â€Å"Now let me tell you a little story about Miss Edith Gee† is a cruel way to open the narrative as Auden instantly belittles her character and makes her seem insignificant, whereas she is actually the main, if not only character we meet in detail. This technique is effectives the reader then feels that she is insignificant, and although it is she who lends her name to the poem, is an outcast a nd a quiet individual.She is continually referred to as small, further lowering the impressions of the character to the reader. Auden establishes the setting of the poem in the introductory stanza, as would be done in a story â€Å"She lived in Clevedon Terrace/ At Number 83†. This is an ordinary address and place for the poem to be set it, this in turn establishes the normality and average attributes of Miss Gee showing her character as one of no complexity.The further repetition of ‘Clevedon Terrace’ in the poem is a constant reminder from Auden to the reader to always bring them back to the fact that the character Miss Gee is intended to be average and ordinary just like any other individual. Miss Gee’s appearance is made apparent by Auden in the third stanza â€Å"She’d a velvet hat with trimmings,/And a dark grey serge costume;† â€Å"purple†¦ green† this description of Miss Gee’s clothing is very ironic as lots of col ours are present but on a colourless character.Auden may have intended this imagery to be seen as symbolism of Miss Gee’s persona how she tries to mask her simplicity in colours but is always unable to mask her unfeminine personality and the fact that she is insecure in her own skin. The is no connection between Auden and herself and the poem has a very impersonal tone to it Auden is very mocking of Miss Gee when describing her clothing as a â€Å"costume† which creates the impression that she almost trying to dress up as somebody else and is seen to some as somewhat of a joke. Auden uses a regular pattern of rhyme throughout the poetic piece

Zara and H&M

We have been given an assignment, where we have been divided into groups. In our group we have analyzed two companies, namely Zara and H&M. These two companies are both very big companies within clothing. The fashion business is very tough, and we will explain to you what we believe the two companies does well in this hard business, and why this is good. We have been giving time to solve the assignment in some of our classes with Gitte and Peter, the rest we have made at home. After we have analyzed the two companies we will compare their 4 P’s and their value chain, likewise we also will make a five forces analysis.Z A R A * Company profile – Zara Zara is a very big clothing chain from Spain. The chain was founded in 1975 by Mr. Ortega, and it now has more than 1. 000 stores in approximately 63 countries – so it is a very big chain. However Zara has its biggest market in Spain, where they have 364 stores in total. They sell fashion clothes of a fairly good q uality to reasonable prices – this also means that they have a broad target group, which we believe to be from kids to adults younger than 50, both men and women.Over the years Zara has expanded their product line heavily, so now they also sell accessories, cosmetics, furniture and perfumes. They have made a whole new store called Zara Home where they are selling furniture’s; we will however focus on their clothing. The founder of Zara is naturally very wealthy, in fact he is the richest man in Spain, and the second richest within the business of fashion. Also Zara’s stores are very big, most of them are between 800 and 1. 000 square meters – which makes room for a lot of fashion clothing.Inditex, the mother company of Zara has many stores under them, but it is worth mentioning that Zara stands for 77 % of Inditex’ overall sales, which is very impressive, and their plan for the future is to continue expanding and growing bigger and bigger. Zara clo thing is sold worldwide, and not long ago the first store opened on Stroget in Copenhagen. * Generic strategies Generic strategies is a marketing tool invented by Michael Porter. It is very popular and many companies use it. The generic strategy tells about the product(s) and its target group(s). Beneath you will see the generic strategies model. Low cost| Unique product / high cost| Broad target group| Overall cost leadership| Differentiation| Narrow target group| Niche – Cost focus| Niche – Differentiation focus| As seen above we believe that Zara uses the overall cost leadership strategy. Zara’s target group is very broad but their prices are also fairly low, this is why they use the overall cost leadership strategy. To a certain extend you could also say that Zara uses the differentiation strategy. This is because they have very beautiful products which are a bit more expensive than their closest competitors.But also because they have so many different produ cts – they have everything from clothes to furniture’s. But mainly we are certain that they use the overall cost leadership strategy. * Growth strategies Ansoffs growth strategy is a well known toll within marketing. The strategy is used by marketers who have objectives for growth, and Ansoffs matrix offers different strategic choices to achieve the goals. The model is shown below this text: | Old product| New product| Old target group| Market penetration| Product development| New target group| Market development| Diversification|We believe that Zara uses two growth strategies, and we will know explain why. The two strategies that Zara in our opinion uses is, market penetration and product development. If we have focus on their clothing line we believe that they have penetrated the market very much, naturally because they use the same products, clothing, and also because they aim for their existing target group. If your growth strategy is market penetration it would be obvious choice to promote your products, but that is not what Zara is doing.They are relaying on good store locations and loyal customers who will talk in nice words about Zara to their friends and family. As mentioned we also believe that Zara uses another strategy, namely product development. We base this on the fact that they have expanded their product line. Now they don’t just sell clothing, now customers also have the opportunity to buy accessories, cosmetics and furniture in Zara stores. Even though Zara is introducing new products, they still relay on their existing target group. Inditex has expanded very heavily, and to put this in perspective we have some facts that show this.In 1995 they had 500 stores worldwide, and in 2004, nine years later they had 2. 250 stores. * PEST analysis The PEST analysis is a marketing tool in the macro environment who tells about the political, environmental, socio- cultural and technological forces that may have an influence on your company. These are uncontrollable forces which we do not have any influence on. Also, it is vital that a company considers its situation before beginning the marketing process. Political factors: Zara has stores in a lot of countries; therefore it is hard to get a good view over the political factors.But if we focus on some countries we know it is easier. In Denmark we don’t see any political obstacles for Zara – we have a stable political environment, and the only thing we see as a â€Å"threat† for Zara is new tax-laws, that could influence our buying possibilities, but on the other hand it could also go the other way around. One important global thing that could affect Zara could be new laws regarding the cheap â€Å"work power† in the east. New laws regarding this area could end up raising their costs. Economic factors: We are right now in the middle of a global financial crisis, and many fear that we will have a recession.This will of course influenc e Zara. If the recession comes, customers of Zara will have less money to spend on their products then they used to. This can be very crucial for Zara, because we might fear that their customers will tend to buy products from their greatest competitor, namely H&M. Hennes & Mauritz products are a bit cheaper then Zara’s, and therefore we fear for Zara that they would lose customers during a recession. Socio- cultural factors: Some people are against the fact that big companies use cheap production in foreign countries, but in this situation Zara has an advantage over its competitors.They produce 80 % of their clothes in Europe which is a lot more than their closest competitors. This subject we will also talk about in the SWOT analysis. Teenagers are also spending a lot of money on clothes, and they often do this without influence from their parents. This creates â€Å"a golden group† for Zara who are willing to buy a lot of fashion clothes, so they can look nice . Technological factors: When we are in the clothing business technological factors does not have a very big influence compared to other businesses.But there are things that are relevant for Zara. Because of all the technology we have today, Zara also has new opportunities to get in touch with their customers. The internet is in this case a brilliant example. Zara can promote on the internet, and they also have a homepage where you can learn more about them, and check their products. * The value chain A value chain is a chain of different activities which aims at creating value for the end user, and leaving the company with a positive margin. The activities culminate in the total value delivered by an organization.The value chain is divided into primary and support activities. UpstreamDownstream Research & Development| Inbound logistics| Production (outsourcing)| Outbound logistics| Sales and marketing| Service (After market)| It’s very important for Zara to create as muc h value in the value chain as possible, because there is a tough competition within the market for relatively cheap, but still good quality clothes. Zara creates value in production. –Their production takes place in some of the countries with a low salary, which minimizes the production cost.But they also produce their products in Spain and Portugal, which we believe many customers will like. In outbound logistics we also believe that Zara creates a lot of value. This is the place where the products are sent to the stores – and at this point Zara creates very good and vital value. We know that Zara are very fast at getting their products sent out to the stores, likewise they also can call them back very easily compared to their competitors, and this of course creates value for Zara. In the sales and marketing Zara does not gain much value.They don’t advertise for their products, and we believe that this would be a good idea, especially in the countries where Zar a still needs to get its big â€Å"break trough†, instead Zara depends on good store location. We believe that they should give advertising a chance. * SWOT analysis A SWOT analysis is another strategic method within marketing. It is used to evaluate a company’s, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Strength and weaknesses are internal factors, while opportunities and threats are external factors. We will start out with the strengths. One of their great strengths is their fast production.When their clothes are designed for the first time, it can be bought in their stores around the world only 2-5 weeks later. This means that they have a very fast production and if something goes wrong or doesn’t sell they can easily call the product back. At the same time they will also have new clothes with a great variety in the stores every second week. The fast production also gives a good control of your stock, which means that they â€Å"only† have 15-2 0 % unsold inventory each year and a good profit margin. In H&M, Zara’s worst competitor, it takes 6-8 months before their designs are in the shops – therefore it is a great strength.Location of Zara stores is also one of their strengths. They are placed where a lot of people walk by, and therefore a lot of people see the store, and they will go in, and eventually end up buying something. Because of their production, they also have a good reputation among their customers. Most of Zara’s production takes plane in Spain and Portugal. This is a good thing because many people don’t like the thought of underpaid workers. When you buy products from Zara you have a lot of different things to choose of, which is also a strength – and the products you buy are of a high quality and a reasonable price.A weakness for Zara we definitely mean to be their homepage. It is very confusing, and it is not easy to browse around. When we looked at it, we were actual ly very disappointed, and we even got a little bit â€Å"frustrated† – because it is so confusing. We also think that despite their good quality and prices they are a bit unknown among the young generation in Scandinavia. Before this assignment we didn’t know too much about Zara. We believe that H&M is more known then Zara in Scandinavia, and this is due to Zara’s lack of advertising.Right now we have a global financial crisis, which influences the customers buying possibilities. This also affects Zara’s customers, and they will think more carefully over the things they choose to buy. If the financial situation became more positive and we were facing a boom, Zara’s customers would have more money to spend on their products – therefore a boom is a possibility for Zara. Of course Zara has their competitors as a threat, especially H&M and Gap. The business which they operate in is very competitive – therefore it is vital t o â€Å"be on the marks† at all times. Zara also has some production in Asia. Therefore new political laws about salaries and â€Å"working hours† is a threat for Zara, which could end up making their production more expensive. * Price / quality grid The price/quality grid is a tool you can use to analyze a product and the company’s strategy with the given product. First it is worth mentioning that a product is anything that can be offered to a market for purchase or use, which might satisfy a want or need. A product consists of three levels, namely the core benefit, the tangible product and the augmented product. Beneath we have shown the model and we will explain which strategy we believe Zara uses. High price| Low price| High quality| Premium strategy| Good value strategy| Low quality| Overcharging strategy| Economy strategy| In our opinion Zara uses the good value strategy. This is of course because they have a high quality, but also a fairly low price. When buying clothes from Zara the customer at least get the same quality as if buying from Armani, but buying clothes from Zara also gives you a low price. This tells us that the customer gets more then he pays for, when talking about the actual product. Others would say that the brand and status other products give them is more important.But when using a good value strategy, the company will get a lot of satisfied customers. It is worth mentioning that Hennes & Mauritz in our opinion uses the same strategy, namely the good value strategy. Hennes & Mauritz * Company profile Hennes and Mauritz is a very big company, it was founded in Sweden, 1947. They started selling clothes to women and at that time their stores was called Hennes. –Later, in 1968, they founded a store that started selling clothes to men, and this store was called Mauritz, and Mauritz also started selling accessories.Later they changed the name to Hennes & Mauritz (H&M), which is the store we know today, who sells their products to both men and women. Since H&M was founded they have expanded heavily, and today you can find them in 24 different countries, with more than 1. 345 retailers worldwide. Hennes & Mauritz has their biggest market in Scandinavia; likewise their target group is very broad. –They sell clothes to small children but also to adults, both men and woman. * Generic strategies Porter’s generic strategies were made in the 1980’s, and since then it has been a very popular marketing tool.Today it is still very used among companies worldwide. | Low cost| Unique product| Broad target group| Overall cost leadership| Differentiation| Narrow target group| Niche – Cost focus| Niche – Differentiation focus| The generic strategy is used to find the company’s competitive advantage, so they will know what to focus on while they are maintaining their core competitive advantages. –H&M has a very broad target group, and their products are also at a relatively low price. Therefore they use the strategy which is called overall cost leadership.They can sell their products at a low price because they produce them in countries such as China and other Asian countries. H&M has used this strategy with great success. * Growth strategies Ansoffs growth strategies were first published in 1957. Today it is still used by many marketers who have objectives for growth. This model offers different choices of how to achieve your goals. | Old product| New product| Old target group| Market penetration| Product development| New target group| Market development| Diversification| H&M operates uses the market penetration strategy, obviously.They have their existing products, mainly their clothes, which they sell to their existing target groups. They have a good brand within clothing which they are trying to make stronger and stronger. You could say that they over the years also have used market development. Because in the beginning they only sold clothes to women, but know they also sell clothes to men. This is why their strategy for many years has been market penetration. * PEST analysis Before a company begins its marketing process it would be wise to consider its environment. This can be done with a PEST analysis.Political forces: In Denmark we don’t believe that the political forces play any role, but in their production countries it can affect them. New laws about salary and working hours can make production more expensive, which won’t be good for H&M. Economic forces: Not long ago we had a boom period in Denmark, therefore people had â€Å"more† money to spend on clothing for example. But now we are slightly heading towards a recession. But actually we don’t mean this has any negative influence on Hennes & Mauritz. People will still have the money to buy their products because they are cheap compared to others.So maybe they will even experience to get more customers, if the population does not feel that they so much money to spend on clothes. Socio- cultural forces: The trends are very important for H&M. We believe that many girls like having clothing from H&M. This we believe to be their biggest target group also. They have lots of different products which can be bought at a good price, and they feel comfortable wearing clothes from H&M. Therefore it is important that H&M keeps them self updated on new trends. A more negative factor could be the fact that some people are against cheap production in foreign countries.This will hurt their image among some people, because they have so much production in the east. Technological forces: On the technological forces H&M is â€Å"up to date† in our opinion. They have cheap production, partly because of good technology. Also they have a very good homepage where you can see their collection, and also shop online. Furthermore you have the opportunity to r ead about the company and get the newsletter via their homepage. * The value chain UpstreamDownstream Research & Development| Inbound logistics| Production (outsourcing)| Outbound logistics| Sales and marketing| Service (After market)|Above we have shown the value chain. Earlier we have mentioned the purpose therefore we will now start with the analysis. When we look at their production we know that many of their products are produced in China. This makes production cheap and therefore also the products that are sold to the end users. This creates value for H&M. Also they have 700 independent suppliers, primarily in Asia and Europe. Hennes & Mauritz only produce 30 percent of their own clothes, the other clothing they get from firms such as L. O. G. G. , which they have a permanent contract with.This way they don’t spend too much money at their own production, while having lots of independent suppliers. And due to all the suppliers they will naturally get a good p rice, because they order a huge amount each time, but also because the suppliers would like to have their products in H&M stores. H&M has a â€Å"top of mind status† when we think of cheap and fashionable clothing. And this is very valuable. Not many company’s has achieved to make the same brand and position as H&M, therefore they gain great value in sales and marketing.Many big designers has designed clothes for H&M such as Stella McCarthy and now also Madonna wants to design clothes for them. She wants to make a series of clothes for women called â€Å"M by Madonna†, which we believe could be a huge success. If Madonna designs clothe for H&M it will be good promotion and great value. * SWOT analysis Strengths| Weaknesses| Good repetition Loyal customers Good quality Reasonable prices| Slow production Some think of H&M as discount label Recall of products| Opportunities| Threats|Economy (recession, to a certain extant) Growth in the Asia n retail sector| Rising salaries for the workersNew political laws regarding productionCompetitors – intense competition| The purpose of a SWOT analysis we have already mentioned. We believe that their strongest strength is their quality and brand compared to their prices. In H&M you get something in return of your money. But as we see it they also have one very big weakness, especially compared to their strongest competitor, Zara. H&M has a very slow production compared to Zara and it takes up to 8 months before the new designs are available in the stores.If something goes wrong it won’t be easy for them to call the products back, so at this point they have to improve. Regarding the economy we believe that they are well prepared for both a boom and a recession. If we experience a boom people will buy even more clothes then they usually do, and if we experience a recession they will maybe get some new customers. The biggest threat we believe to be new laws rega rding their production, this would give them extra costs. Comparison * The 4 P’s The marketing mix, also known as the 4 P’s, is probably the most famous marketing term.The marketing mix is very simple, and it tells us something about the product, place, price and promotion. We can also say that the marketing mix is the company’s offer to its potential customers. We will start out with the most important P – the product. Product: As we know both Zara and H&M primarily sells clothing. Their products are very similar; they both sell fashionable clothes, so at this point we don’t see any big differences. But Zara has expanded their product line. They have made new stores where it is possible for their customers to buy furnitures, so at this point we see a difference.Also Zara offers cosmetics to their customers. Price: At the price there is a little difference, but again these two companies are very similar. H&M is a little bit cheaper then Zar a and this is a result of their cheap production. Zara is also fairly cheap, but H&M, their closest competitor is a bit cheaper. Place: We believe that we roughly can divide their markets into two in Europe. Zara has their biggest market in the Southern Europe, while we believe that H&M has their biggest market in Northern Europe and Scandinavia.This is also naturally because of the firms â€Å"birthplaces†. Furthermore they both operate worldwide in hard competition with each other. They sell their products worldwide, and they both have good locations – especially Zara. Promotion: Zara is against promotion, so they do not advertise for themselves, instead they rely on good store locations and a good repetition among their customers. The case is different for H&M, they advertise for their products, so that they can create attention upon their products. The 4 P’s have been a very good way at comparing these two companies.Overall we can conclude that t hey look alike each other a lot, and they are in a very hard competition against each other. They both have strong sides which they will use, both they also have weak sides which they can improve. But one thing is certain – the competition is very tough. * Porters 5 forces Five Forces Analysis helps the marketer to contrast a competitive environment. It has similarities with other tools for environmental audit, such as PEST analysis, but tends to focus on the single, stand alone, business or SBU (Strategic Business Unit) rather than a single product or range of products.Five forces analysis looks at five key areas namely the threat of entry, the power of buyers, the power of suppliers, the threat of substitutes, and competitive rivalry. Analysis for Zara and H&M There will always be a thread of new comers on the market. In many cases these companies will not become a big threat, because there on the clothing market is such big competition, that they will be ousted within a relatively short period of time. The Power of buyers is if big buyers like Magasin choose how much they want from a certain company like e. . Bruuns Bazar. Then Magasin sets the standard, they can do this because of their good reputation, and because many costumers do their shopping in this mall every day. Therefore they got a big buying power. The threat of Substitute Products will always be there, for example the walkman was substituted be the MP3 player, and the horse-wagon was substituted by the car. There will always be a development, and companies must be sure to be updated at all times.Therefore it’s extremely important to use a big sum of money in the Research and Development Department because that’s the companies â€Å"future†. The suppliers also have a certain power. –They are the ones providing the company with the raw-materials, so that they can produce the products. * The value chain In the value chain we believe that Zara and H&M gain s value at different places. Zara creates value in their production because some of it takes place in â€Å"good production countries†, while some of it also takes lace in Spain and Portugal which also creates value. But at this point they are similar, because also H&M creates value in the production chain. Most of their production takes place in foreign countries, and this makes their products cheap which will give them more customers. The place where there is a big difference is in the inbound logistics where Zara creates a lot of value, and H&M does not. As we have mentioned earlier Zara can send their new designs quickly to their stores, and also call them back again.H&M can also do this, naturally, but for them it takes much longer time. But then Hennes & Mauritz are good at creating value in Sales & Marketing, where Zara is not so good in our opinion. H&M has huge stars like Madonna who wants to design clothes for them, this is very good promotio n and it also creates a lot of attention. Zara, on the other hand doesn’t even promote their products – they are depending on good store locations as mentioned.[ 1 ]. http://www. marketingteacher. com/Lessons/lesson_fivefoces. htm

Influence of Women in The Great Gatsby Essay

Though the Great Gatsby is a male dominated book, there are a few women who have great influences. Daisy Buchannan is the main female character, having romantic relations with both Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby. Myrtle Wilson is a woman who is married to a hardworking man, but she remained unfaithful throughout the length of the novel. Lastly, Jordan Baker is probably the least mentioned woman but had an equally important role as the others. Fitzgerald used the development of the three women to further the plot and theme of the book and show the treatment and role of women in that society at that time. Daisy Buchannan is introduced in the first chapter at a gathering in her home. Nick describes her as a rich and confident wife. She even calls herself â€Å"sophisticated† (Gatsby 17). But she is treated as the lesser of her husband; her face is â€Å"sad and lovely† (Gatsby 9) due to being constantly interrupted and her comments pushed aside. As the evening goes on, Daisy begins to appear more unconfident than she thinks she is, naming places she had been to impress Nick. Even when asked about her daughter she describes that she hopes that she would grow up to be â€Å"a beautiful little fool† (Gatsby 17). Though she acts like this fact was the normal place for a female, her disposition is shown to want this to be different, showing that even in the lives of the rich and wealthy, women are still treated as lesser individuals. She, unlike the other characters, has monumental descriptions, sometimes spanning paragraphs. But instead of focusing on her physical appearance, Fitzgerald draws attention to things such as her voice, calling it â€Å"a wild tonic in the rain†¦following the sound up and down before any words came through† (Gatsby 85). When she goes to wash her face, Nick says â€Å"with humiliation of [his] towels† (Gatsby 89) Even in everyday conversations, Daisy is ignored, not because she is woman but because of her beauty. Fitzgerald puts these things in to show just how deep the trap that women are in; their beauty is mesmerizing but not enough for all of the men’s attention. Myrtle Wilson is the other partner in Tom Buchannan’s affair. She is of a simpler lifestyle living on the â€Å"edge of the wasteland†¦contiguous to absolutely nothing.†(Gatsby 24). Nick describes her â€Å"a thick woman† â€Å"in [her] middle thirties† (Gatsby 25), the average woman in that time. Once she and Tom get off the train, she immediately buys a dog, and then makes a point to buy a rather expensive dog as well. When she arrives to her sister’s house, where a party is taking place, Nick says that she â€Å"changed her costume† (Gatsby 30). Because a costume is also the attire performers wear, Nick is giving us the impression that all of this is a play, a facade to act wealthy when in fact she is not. Nick also says â€Å"with the influence of the dress her personality had also undergone a change. The intense vitality that had been so remarkable in the garage was converted into impressive hauteur† (Gatsby 30), again another indicator of her â€Å"performance† of a wealthy woman. Soon, she and Tom â€Å"discuss in impassioned voices† whether she had any â€Å"right to mention Daisy’s name† (Gatsby 37). Tom punches her after this, but still left the party with her. Myrtle is now a woman with no self-respect, due to her allowing a man, though he may be rich, to physically assault her, instead of having a man who truly cares for her not being well off. Jordan Baker is not talked about much in the book until the third chapter. Nick talks about her â€Å"incurable dishonesty† (Gatsby 58), but then says â€Å"Dishonesty in a woman is thing you never blame deeply† (Gatsby 58), suggesting something has happened in her past causing her to be dishonest. She then shows her roots as one of the outgoing â€Å"West Eggers†, complaining that the party â€Å"is much too polite† for her taste. Fitzgerald uses Jordan to show that not all of the West Egg is elite. Some are just normal people wo happen to be on the wealthier side of things. By bringing these women together, Fitzgerald shows all aspects of life, from the wealthy but mistreat, to the women who think money is everything, and the ladies who simply are themselves. Daisy, Myrtle, and Jordan all display drastically different personalities but share the same

Marketing of Banking Services

Marketing scope in banking sector should be considered under the service marketing framework. Performed marketing strategy is the case which is determination of the place of financial institutions on customers’ mind. Bank marketing does not only include service selling of the bank but also is the function which gets personality and image for bank on its customers’ mind. On the other hand, financial marketing is the function which relates uncongenitalies, differences and non similar applications between financial institutions and judgement standards of their customers.The reasons for marketing scope to have importance in banking and for banks to interest in marketing subject can be arranged as:Change in demographic structure: Differentiation of population in the number and composition affect quality and attribute of customer whom benefits from banking services.Intense competition in financial service sector: The competition became intense due to the growing international banking perceptiveness and recently being non limiting for new enterprises in the sector. Increase in liberalization of interest rates has intensified the competition.Bank’s wish for increasing profit: Banks have to increase their profits to create new markets, to protect and develop their market shares and to survive on the basis of intense competition and demographic chance levels.SERVICERecently, banks are in a period that they earn money in servicing beyond selling money. The prestige is get as they offer their services to the masses. Like other services, banking services are also intangible. Banking services are about the money in different types and attributes like lending, depositing and transferring procedures. These intangible services are shaped in contracts. The structure of banking services affects the success of institution in long term. Besides the basic attributes like speed, security  and ease in banking services, the rights like consultancy for services to be compounded are also preferred.PRICEThe price which is an important component of marketing mix is named differently in the base of transaction exchange that it takes place. Banks have to estimate the prices of their services offered. By performing this, they keep their relations with extant customers and take new ones. The prices in banking have names like interest, commission and expenses. Price is the sole element of marketing variables that create earnings, while others cause expenditure. While marketing mix elements other than price affect sales volume, price affect both profit and sales volume directly.Banks should be very careful in determining their prices and price policies. Because mistakes in pricing cause customers’ shift toward the rivals offering likewise services. Traditionally, banks use three methods called â€Å"cost-plus†, â€Å"transaction volume base† and â€Å"challenging leader† in pricing of their services.DISTRIBUTIONThe complex ity of banking services are resulted from different kinds of them. The most important feature of banking is the persuasion of customers benefiting from services.Most banks’ services are complex in attribute and when this feature joins the intangibility characteristics, offerings take also mental intangibility in addition to physical intangibility. On the other hand, value of service and benefits taken from it mostly depend on knowledge, capability and participation of customers besides features of offerings. This is resulted from the fact that production and consumption have non separable characteristics in those services.Most authors argue that those features of banking services makes personal interaction between customer and bank obligatory and the direct distribution is the sole alternative. Due to this reason, like preceding applications in  recent years, branch offices use traditional method in distribution of banking services.PROMOTIONOne of the most important element of marketing mix of services is promotion which is consist of personal selling, advertising, public relations, and selling promotional tools.PERSONAL SELLINGDue to the characteristics of banking services, personal selling is the way that most banks prefer in expanding selling and use of them.Personal selling occurs in two ways. First occurs in a way that customer and banker perform interaction face to face at branch office. In this case, whole personnel, bank employees, chief and office manager, takes part in selling. Second occurs in a way that customer representatives go to customers’ place. Customer representatives are specialist in banks’ services to be offered and they shape the relationship between bank and customer.ADVERTISING Banks have too many goals which they want to achieve. Those goals are for accomplishing the objectives as follows in a way that banks develop advertising campaigns and use media.1. Conceive customers to examine all kinds of services that banks offer 2. Increase use of services 3. Create well fit image about banks and services 4. Change customers’ attitudes 5. Introduce services of banks 6. Support personal selling 7. Emphasize well serviceAdvertising media and channels that banks prefer are newspaper, magazine, radio, direct posting and outdoor ads and TV commercials. In the selection of media, target market should be determined and the media that reach this target easily and cheaply must be preferred.Banks should care about following criteria for selection of media.1. Which media the target market prefer 2. Characteristics of service 3. Content of message 4. Cost 5. Situation of rivalsAds should be mostly educative, image making and provide the information as follows:1. Activities of banks, results, programs, new services 2. Situation of market, government decisions, future developments 3. The opportunities offered for industry branches whose development meets national benefits.PUBLIC RELATIONS Public relati ons in banking should provide;1. Establishing most effective communication system 2. Creating sympathy about relationship between bank and customer 3. Giving broadest information about activities of bank.SELLING PROMOTIONAL TOOLSAnother element of the promotion mixes of banks is improvement of selling. Mostly used selling improvement tools are layout at selling point, rewarding personnel, seminaries, special gifts, premiums, contests.DEVELOPMENT IN MARKETING SCOPE AT THE ASPECT OF SERVICE MARKETINGMarketing scope develops day to day. These developments carry special significance for service sector in which customer and service producer interact closely.INTERNAL MARKETINGEspecially in service sector like external relations, internal relations also have significance. It requires finding and keeping successful personnel.For personnel of the organization to be considered their own goals and  service situation, values of the organization are sold to them. The communication techniques c arried out for customers are also performed for the personnel in internal marketing and this two techniques go together. For example, the ads that aim creating firm’s image should be prepared with regarding to audience which is composed of firm’s personnel.NETWORK MARKETINGThis approach takes the organization as a sequence which involves producer and customer that market services to each other in the organization. In this structure, the activities of departments that compose organization would be more focused on market. This will also affect the structure of organization.RELATIONSHIP MARKETINGIt was mentioned that close relationship was established between producer and customer in service sector. In addition to this, life cycle of a customer relationship was also mentioned under the product outline.According to the researchers, maintaining the relationship for extant customer increases the profit of firms. It should be emphasized that this fact has an importance for se rvice sector.Life cycle of a customer relationship is composed of three stages. At the first stage, firms try to be well known and to acquire new customers. At the second stage, the connection between customer and firm has been achieved. During the stage, firms intensified their activities on acquired customers and both of them promises mutually. At the third stage, these promises are accomplished and the service is consumed. During the stage, firms face â€Å"Reality Instants† which could possibly achieve satisfaction of customer and continuous relationship. This could be also true for second stage. So, these instants should be managed successfully. Implementation of close relations with customer successively and true applications at reality instants could not be accomplished by responsibilities of a marketing personnel.Besides, it should be remembered that consumption and production of service are closely interrelated. At this context, marketing should have role not  only in production-consumption between instants, but also at points that these intersect. In this case, 4P that was mentioned at second section would be insufficient. So, we could divide service marketing into two parts as specialist function (marketing mix, marketing researches) and marketing function buyerseller interactions)Efforts in first stage in which customers are not so clear, at the customer relationship life cycle could be minimized for lasting customers. This is achieved by successful customer relations. In this approach, marketing may be defined as; â€Å"Marketing is for establishing, keeping, developing relationship with customers in a manner that profit is got (especially in long term). So, objectives of two relevant sides would be achieved. This would be accomplished by shared promises and carrying out the promises.†

3rd Economics Commentry : International Trade Essay

The European Central Bank (ECB) is employing a new system of monetary policy which now it directly purchases government bonds from the Spanish and Italian governments. The objective is to lower interest rates on Spanish and Italian government bonds, which theoretically should show private investors that the two countries are financially able in returning their money thus decreasing the rising pressure on interest rates in the Eurozone, a dilemma threatening to counter the current torpid recovery from the 2008 and 2009 recessions. Monetary policy is a term for the manipulation of the interest rates and money supply by the Central Bank of a country, managed to either decrease interest rates (expansionary monetary policy) or increase them (contractionary monetary policy). In hope of shifting the Eurozone economy closer to its full employment level, the European Central Bank currently is purchasing European government bonds proficiently boosting the money supply of the euro. If effective, the ECB’s â€Å"quantitative easing†[1] should reallocate loanable funds towards Spain and Italy’s private and public sectors as a result of lower interest rates on government bonds. The increase in supply of loanable funds should bring down the interest rates for private investors (households and firms), making private investments more appealing. The purchase of bonds by the European Central Bank makes it inexpensive for Spain and Italy to borrow money, lowering the interest rates on their bonds, returning international investor confidence, who may possibly be more agreeable in saving their money in Spain and Italian banks. The influx of loanable funds into these economies (rise in the supply of loanable funds from to ) should decrease the real interest rate reassuring a greater number of firms to invest in capital goods and households to fund the consumption of a higher number of durable goods, pushing aggregate demand (AD) to the right (increase) returning the economy of the Eurozone to its full level of employment of output (represented as a shift from to in the right hand side graph). Though usually monetary easing like this should result in inflation, it is unlikely given the European’s large gap in output (illustrated as the distance between and the full employment level of output shown as a dotted line). An increase in AD should result in an increase in output however insignificant inflation as a result of the excess capacity of the factors of production within the European economy. An expansionary fiscal policy would prove impractical for Spain and Italy aiming for full employment as the increase in reluctance over their deficits and debts has triggered amassing borrowing charges from the private sector. The ECB as Krugman debates should carry on playing a growing part in the development of credit to cash strapped European governments; with the intention of preserving low interest rates to prevent the crowding-out of private spending’s. The problem of inflation in Europe’s current recessionary atmosphere should be a rather miniscule concern. It is only when the confidence of private sector stakeholders has returned (a circumstance requiring small borrowing cost) will private sector spending recommence and the economies of the euro may begin generating employment and increasing their production again. In the short-term, Italy and Spain should take profit from the ECB’s bond-buying initiative, and make significant, productivity-enhancing funding’s in infrastructure, schooling and job training. The states of the Eurozone must become more competitive with those of Eastern Europe and Asia if they optimise to economically grow. In the medium-term, the Eurozone nations must exhibit a promise to fiscal limitation and more stable budgets. Eradicating loopholes that permit industries and prosperous consumers to evade paying taxes is imperative for example. In addition, rising the age of retirement, economizing on social welfare programs and raising marginal tax rates on the highest income earners should all visibly communicate the message to investors that these countries are indeed dedicated to fiscal restraint. As a result, their dependency on European Central Bank lending’s will deteriorate and private lenders will once more be keen on buying government bonds from the Eurozone at lower interest rates, permitting constant advancement in the private sector.

Strategic cost management case study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Strategic cost management - Case Study Example It is not surprising that the plant manager describe their process as â€Å"better than anyone else† because it is guaranteed with speed and high quality, as well as reduced cost. To compete with such companies, it is important to have enough capital reserves to also engage in strategies like promotion. The paper will therefore look at how with the cost reduction strategy, the company is offered sufficient funds that were cut down from actual production cost to gain competitiveness and profitability. Firm’s competitive strategy Much of the emphasis of competitive strategy for California-Illini (CI) is placed on the ability of the company to produce high quality products at a speed that meet consumer demand and cost that meet consumer pocket. In effect, a consumer determinant strategy on demand and cost reduction is used as competitive strategy. Generally, this is a strategy that identifies the scarcity of consumers on the target market due to the number of competitors a mong which existing consumers may choose from (Bernanke, 2006). Knowing that the consumers are not many in number, a consumer determinant strategy generally aims at presenting the consumer with exactly what the consumer requires from the manufacturers in terms of production and cost. The question of whether the strategy used by CI seems appropriate will be answered from several perspectives. The first is to take a quick competitive analysis, based on which a question of the viability of the strategy against other competitors will be asked. Generally, CI is in the same market as other multinational horticulture companies like Simpson and Simpson Inc, and Garages Ltd. These are companies who base their competitive advantage on brand equity and high inflow of cash from other sectors of their business, making it possible for them to run expensive promotions and publicities. What is more, the strategy to add quality and speed to production is highly appropriate even that when supply from customers does not meet their demand, they would switch to other competitors. It is always important to note that the industry in which CI finds its self is one that is based primarily on seasonal production. In effect, one must not wait for seasons to pass before orders made can be honored (Fairlie, 2009). Cost reduction strategy at CI From the above, the cost reduction strategy can be said to have been generated by the need to be competitive and also increase the revenue of the company through reduced internal speeding. When calculating revenue or profit that companies like CI make, emphasis is not only placed on income but on expenditure as well. The fact that CI has been found to make an average annual sale of $13 million alone cannot be accounted in judging the company as a very profitable one. Rather, it would be important to balance this income with expenditure. Commonly, manufacturing companies like CI spend most of their expenses on the production aspect of the supply chai n (Gartner, 1985). In effect, a cost reduction strategy that will ensure that production takes place at a more reduced cost always becomes beneficial. The need to be customer focused was also another motivation for opting for the cost reduction strategy. This is because when cost of production is lower, manufacturers always have the luxury of pegging the prices of their products lower because of a reduced

Walmart VS. Target Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Walmart VS. Target - Research Paper Example An ancient business analyst, Fernandez, in his publication once depicted that business and humankind are inseparable (98). This shows that the success of business entities and that of humankind are dependant of each other. With the increasing need to sustain human need, numerous business entities have been put in place. The quality and manner of delivery of the products determine the success the organizations realize. It is arguable that human needs are better satisfied when there is free entry and exit into the market. This increases competition, lowering the product’s prices and ensuring better services and service delivery (Chapman 15). In the competition of big box retailers, it is hard for two different firms such as Wal-Mart and Target to achieve the same kind of success in their operation. The first factor that makes Wal Mart to be rated above target is that Wal-Mart provides locally grown products, products that provide energy efficiently, and policies of innovative internal recycling (Kipple, et. al. 174). This has made the company dominate in the market. However, it does not have fair policies for its workers and the wage rate hourly of $10.76 is arguably not impressive. The number of employees at Wal-Mart is around 2.1 million. This proves that the progress of the company is very evident (Murphy 57). Further, the company has expanded to 15 countries with 8,100 retail units. This means that the firm has won a bigger market share than Target. The average revenue recorded by the firm totals $405.6 billion annually. The annual revenue is the commonly used determinant of the company’s success. This means that the firm is successful. From Schwartz Ariel’s article, Sustainability Faceoff: Walmart vs. Target, the number of employees in Target is approximatel y 351,000, which is relatively lower than Wal-Mart. In the entire United States, the firm has initiated stores in 48 states, bringing the retail units to 1,684 stores. This