Enterprise Resource Planning Essays

Enterprise Resource Planning Essays Enterprise Resource Planning Essay Enterprise Resource Planning Essay Master of Business Administration MBA Semester 3 OM0011 – Enterprise Resource Planning Assignment Set 1 Q1. What is Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)? What are the advantages of ERP? â€Å"Enterprise Resource Planning:  An accounting oriented information system for identifying and planning the enterprise-wide resources to make, ship and account for customer orders. † Again in Internet encyclopedia, it has defined as: â€Å"An enterprise planning system is an integrated computer based application used to manage internal and external resources, including tangible assets, financial resources, material and human resources†. Basically, an ERP combines several traditional management functions into a logical integrated system and facilitate flow of information across these functions. It is designed to model and automate basic processes across the organization over a centralized database and eliminates the need of disparate systems maintained by various units of the organization. The successful implementation of an ERP system will have many advantages, as indicated below: Business integration and Improved Data Accuracy:  ERP system is composed of various modules/ sub modules where a module represents a particular business component. If data is entered in one module such as receiving, it automatically updates other related modules such as accounts payable and inventory. This updating occurs at real time i. e. at the time a transaction occurs. Since, data needs to be entered only once at the origin of transaction, the need of multiple entries of the same data is eliminated. Likelihood of duplicate/ erroneous data is, therefore, minimized. The centralized structure of the data base also enable better administration and security provisions, which minimizes loss of sensitive data. Planning and MIS:  The various decision support tools like planning engines and simulations functions, form integral part of an ERP system which helps in proper utilization of resources like materials, human resources and tools. Constrained based planning help in drawing appropriate production schedules, thereby improving operation of plant and equipment. As a part of MIS, an ERP system, contains many inbuilt standard reports and also a report writer which produce ad hoc reports, as and when needed. Improved Efficiency and Productivity:  In addition to provision of improved planning, ERP system provides a tremendous boost to the efficiency of day to day and routine transactions such as order fulfillment, on time shipment, vendor performance, quality management, invoice reconciliation, sales realization, and cash management. Cycle time is reduced for sales to cash and procurement to pay sequences. Establishment of Standardized Procedures:  ERP system is based on processes of international best practices, which are adopted by the organizations during implementation. Department silos are purged and maverick practices are done away with. Because of top down view available to management, chances of theft, fraud and obsolescence are minimized. Flexibility and technology:  Due to globalized environment, where production units, distribution centers and corporate offices reside in different countries, organizations need multi currency, multi language and multi accounting modes, in an integrated manner. These provisions are available in most of the ERP systems, particularly in products offered by tier 1 and tier 2 vendors. ERP vendors are also quick to adopt latest technologies, from mainframe to client server to internet. Unlike a bespoke system, Upgrading to latest technology for a running ERP system is uncomplicated, involving mostly adoption of service packs and patches. Q2. What is business modeling? Explain. Business modelling or creating a business model is one of the first activities in any ERP project. As mentioned earlier, the ERP systems should be a replica of the organisation’s business processes. A business model is not a mathematical model, but it is a representation of the business as one large system showing the interconnections and interdependencies of the various subsystems and business processes as shown in Figure. . 4. Figure 2. 4: Real World and the Business Model Based on the organisation’s goals, objectives, and strategic plans, a business model consisting of the business processes is developed. Different individuals in the organisation (the people) control these business processes to achieve common goals. Based on the business model the ERP system is developed with the aim of providing the required information and necessary assistance to the various individuals in an organisation. This helps them perform their business processes more effectively and efficiently. In business modelling, we model the business as an integrated system, taking the processes managing its facilities and materials as resources. Information is a very important resource and is very critical in managing all the other resources. Thus, the business model is a representation of the actual business, the various business functions of the organisation, the relation that exists between them, the manner in which they are interdependent, and so on, to achieve a common goal or objective. The business model is usually represented in the graphical form using flow charts and flow diagrams. The data model of the system is created from the business model. For example, in a small scale automation industry the order bagged by the marketing is passed on to planning department. From here the actual production starts and it has to be cautiously tracked by the planning department. It is the responsibility of the planning department to request the design department to release the drawings and the requirements for the production department. Once the released documents reach the production department, it has to ensure that it allocates man power and a time plan for the manufacturing of the product. Planning has a time schedule of its own for the manufacturing, which has to be planned in accordance to the production department, and has to be informed to the marketing department. Production has to check for the availability of the required items for production from stores and if in case there is any shortage it has to be informed both to the planning and purchase through a proper channel, so that the requirements can be brought in as early as possible. Once the product leaves from production to quality department and then to packing, the information about the status of work and the product description should be available to the planning department. Thus you can see how each department has to work coordinating to each other and the essence of communication between the departments. As important as process planning, market planning is very crucial phase of business modelling. Since, market planning also has an important role when it comes to decision making in large organisation on market strategy. So that it can enable the organisation to successful meet commercialisation requirements according to changing market trend. Its main concern is how decision taken on certain issues can change the company’s revenues and its profit margins. Hence, planning is a crucial element of business model for this to achieve an ERP system is suppose to be capable of handling information not only about the process of various departments but it needs to track the company’s market performance and the company’s product competency compared to its competitors in the market and allow the management to take decision quickly and effectively. Q3. Write short notes on ERP tools and softwares. Before the evolution of ERP model, each department in an enterprise had its own isolated software application that did not interface with any other system. Such isolated framework could not synchronise the inter-department processes and hence hampered the overall productivity, speed, and performance of the organisation. This situation led to issues such as incompatible market standards, lack of synchronisation, incomplete understanding of the complete enterprise functioning, unproductive decisions and so on. For example, the finance department could not coordinate with the procurement team to plan out purchases as per the availability of money. Hence, deploying a comprehensive ERP system across an organisation leads to performance increase, workflow synchronisation, standardised information exchange within departments, complete overview of the enterprise functioning, global decision optimisation, speed enhancement and so on. ERP system is built on a centralised database utilising a common computing platform. It consolidates all business operations into a uniform enterprise wide system environment. An ERP system can either reside on a centralised server or be distributed across modular hardware and software units that provide services and communicate on a local area network. The distributed design allows a business to assemble modules from different vendors without the need for the placement of multiple copies of complex and expensive computer systems in areas which will not use their full capacity. ERP systems integrate all the departments and functions across a company onto a single computer system that can serve all the departments needs. There are two types of ERP software packages. Open Source ERP software and Commercial ERP software. Some of the differences between the two software are as follows. Table 4. 1 shows the differences between commercial and open source ERP. Differences between Commercial and Open Source ERPs ERP Tools There are several ERP software manufacturers. Prominent manufacturers of ERP software are SAP, Oracle Corporation, PeopleSoft, JD Edwards, Lawson, etc. SAP has the major share in the ERP market and next comes the Oracle Corporation. Oracle has acquired JD Edwards, People Soft, and more recently Siebel and competes with SAP in the ERP market. Table 4. 2 lists the popular ERP Tools and their respective vendors. Table 4. 2: ERP Tools and respective vendors Q4. Describe Materials Requirement Planning (MRP). Initially, manufacturing industries viewed Materials Requirement Planning MRP as a better method for ordering components than the independent demand inventory models they had been using during the 1950s and 1960s. However, it has evolved into a comprehensive priority planning system. MRP provides a method that helps keep order due dates valid, even after the orders have been released to the shop floor or outside vendor. MRP systems can detect when is the order due date, the date the order is scheduled to arrive, is out of alignment with its need date, and the date the order is actually required. During the 80s, techniques for helping to plan capacity requirements were tied up with MRP. Tools were developed to assist the planning of aggregate production levels and the development of anticipated production schedules. Systems to aid in executing the plans were incorporated in shop floor control for the  Ã¢â‚¬Ëœin-house factory’  and vendor scheduling for the  Ã¢â‚¬Ëœoutside factories’. The expanded MRP system became known as closed loop MRP. Since, it provided feedback from the execution function to the planning functions, so manufacturers could change plans when necessary. Expanded-closed-loop MRP was practiced to provide the ability to translate the operating plan expressed in manufacturing terms of units (kilograms) into financial terms (rupees). They even have the potential to simulate the effects of various plans in terms of both units and rupees. The new system, which was called Manufacturing Resource Planning (MRP-II), was a comprehensive approach for the effective planning of all the resources of a manufacturing organisation. Materials and production planning is critical to the success of a manufacturing company. A company can have the best and the newest manufacturing facilities, product design, the latest equipment. Along with all the latest production technologies like CAD/CAM, robotics, automated guided vehicles (AGVs), and so on but the company had no ability to compete. MRP has proved to be an effective production and inventory planning system in a wide variety of environments. For a successful MRP system three types of information are very essential and they are:   Master Production Schedule (MPS)  · Bill of Material (BOM)  · Inventory Records (IR) Q5. Briefly explain the features of ERP – Purchase module. Features of Purchase Module The Purchase module helps to improve your purchasing function. This module controls the inventory purchasing side of your business. You can track purchase orders, supplier prices, and quantities on order. With the usage of Purchase module you can increase your inventory efficiency and eliminate costly shortages. Features of the purchase module include:  · Streamlining purchase and process cycles  · Capturing materials requirement  · Creating quotations from various suppliers  · Providing a detailed Supplier/Subcontractor/Service Provider database  · Recording Payment terms in PO Allowing order cancellation and order closing  · Enabling multiple delivery schedules, Quotation validity and multiple indents for multiple items in a single PO  · Enabling quality inspection of goods  · Containing complete import functionality with handling of custom details Purchase Bill for import, excise consideration in imports  · Providing Order tracking reports for complete control o n procurement cycle  · Providing Management Information System (MIS) for vendor evaluation based on quality, price and delivery time Efficient purchase management processes provide uyers with advanced tools for analysing supplier patterns in terms of price and delivery terms. This also enables them to adopt adequate measures once unfavourable circumstances are encountered. It assists in taking informed decisions and maintaining control throughout the procurement cycle. This module can handle all purchasing and subcontracting activities such as inviting quotations, supplier evaluation, placing purchase order, order scheduling, and billing. Q6. What are the benefits and limitations of ERP Inventory Management? Benefits and Limitations of ERP Inventory Management ERP inventory management system has many benefits. Some of them include:  · Tracking of orders from the point the order is received to its release.  · Facilitating appropriate communication between different areas.  · Reducing the threat of loss of information.  · Providing a ‘top down’ summary of the mechanism of a company.  · Setting up an outline of security to protect against theft from external or within a company. Replacing old and primitive paper based systems that improves efficiency. Limitations of ERP Inventory Management ERP inventory management helps an organisation in many ways. However, it also has some limitations. They are:  · Limited customisation  · Expensive  · Not friendly with every type of business like small organisations.  · Harder to fix responsibility as it is a company-wide system that connects all areas  · When all departments in a company are not willing to share informa tion, maintenance of sensitive data can disturb the work flow

List of Indian States and Union Territories

List of Indian States and Union Territories The Republic of India is a country that occupies most of the Indian subcontinent in southern Asia and is the second most populous country in the world. It has a long history but today is considered a developing nation as well as the worlds largest democracy. India is a federal republic that consists of 28 states and seven union territories. These Indian states have their own elected governments for local administration. Delhi A city and union territory in northern India, Delhi is one of the countrys most important areas, in part because it is home to New Delhi, Indias capital. All three branches of Indias government, including Parliament and the judiciary, are based here. Delhi has a population of over 16 million people. The main religions are Hinduism, Islam, and Sikhism, and the primary languages are Hindi, Punjabi, and Urdu. Delhis historic temples include the Hindu Swaminarayan Akshardham complex, the Sikh Gurudwara Bangla Sahib, and the Islamic Jama Masjid. The Lotus Temple, a Bahà ­ House of Worship, is perhaps the most impressive building in the city; it is composed of 27 marble petals enclosing a central hall that seats 1,300. The temple is one of the most visited builds in the world. Uttar Pradesh With a population of over 200 million people, Uttar Pradesh is the most populous state in India. The area is so large that it is divided into 75 administrative districts. The official language of the state is Hindi, though a small portion of the population speaks Urdu. The states economy is based on agriculture, with a focus on the production of wheat and sugarcane. Uttar Pradesh is one of the top tourist destinations in India; its most famous sites include the Taj Mahal and the Agra Fort. The former was built in the early 1600s as a mausoleum for Mumtaz Mahal, the wife of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. The latter was a walled city used by the Mughal emperors in the 1500s and early 1600s. Maharashtra Maharashtra is the second most populous state after Uttar Pradesh. It is home to Mumbai, the most populous city in India, which was settled in the early 1500s. The citys architectural wonders include the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, a railway station built in the Victorian Gothic style in 1888. Maharashtras economy is organized around manufacturing, technology, trade, services, and tourism. The state is also the center of Bollywood film production, which generates billions of dollars each year. Since the 1970s, India has produced more movies per year than even the United States; the films are popular across South Asia and in other parts of the world, including Russia. Bihar Located in northeast India, Bihar was historically a center of power. Out of Magadha, an ancient kingdom in Bihar, arose the religions of Jainism and Buddhism, which are still widely practiced in India today. Bihars economy is primarily service-based, with smaller portions devoted to agriculture and industry. The primary languages are Hindi, Maithili, and Urdu. A unique style of art known as Mithila painting originated in Bihar; works in this style are traditionally painted with simple materials such as fingers and twigs. The artworks feature bright colors and intricate geometric patterns. West Bengal The fourth most populous state in India, West Bengal is home to ethnic Bengalis who make up most of the states population. Bengali culture is known for its rich literary heritage; one Bengali writer, Rabindranath Tagore, was the first Asian to win a Nobel Prize. Notable Bengali art includes the states ancient terra cotta temples and the paintings of Abanindranath Tagore (Rabindranaths nephew). Hinduism is the main religion in West Bengal, and the state is known for its elaborate festivals, including Durga Puja, an annual celebration that lasts five days. Other important celebrations in West Bengal include Pahela Baishakh (the Bengali New Year), Holi (the festival of lights), Ratha Yatra (a Hindu celebration in honor of Jagannath), and Eid al-Fitr (a Muslim celebration that takes place at the end of Ramadan). Vesak, or Buddha Day, is a holiday that marks the birth of Gautama Buddha. Other States Indias other states and union territories include Tamil Nadu, a state known for its historic temples, and Gujarat, the home of the indigenous Gujarati people. State Population Capital Area Andhra Pradesh 76,210,007 Hyderabad 106,195 square miles Tamil Nadu 62,405,679 Chennai 50,216 square miles Madhya Pradesh 60,348,023 Bhopal 119,014 square miles Rajasthan 56,507,188 Jaipur 132,139 square miles Karnataka 52,850,562 Bangalore 74,051 square miles Gujarat 50,671,017 Gandhinagar 75,685 square miles Orissa 36,804,660 Bhubaneswar 60,119 square miles Kerala 31,841,374 Thiruvananthapuram 15,005 square miles Jharkhand 26,945,829 Ranchi 30,778 square miles Assam 26,655,528 Dispur 30,285 square miles Punjab 24,358,999 Chandigarh 19,445 square miles Haryana 21,144,564 Chandigarh 17,070 square miles Chhattisgarh 20,833,803 Raipur 52,197 square miles Jammu and Kashmir 10,143,700 Jammu and Srinagar 85,806 square miles Uttarakhand 8,489,349 Dehradun 20,650 square miles Himachal Pradesh 6,077,900 Shimla 21,495 square miles Tripura 3,199,203 Agartala 4,049 square miles Meghalaya 2,318,822 Shillong 8,660 square miles Manipur 2,166,788 Imphal 8,620 square miles Nagaland 1,990,036 Kohima 6,401 square miles Goa 1,347,668 Panaji 1,430 square miles Arunachal Pradesh 1,097,968 Itanagar 32,333 square miles Mizoram 888,573 Aizawl 8,139 square miles Sikkim 540,851 Gangtok 2,740 square miles

Outline the development of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity from Research Paper

Outline the development of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity from the New Testament Church to the Nicene Creed - Research Paper Example Theological opinions on the foundation of the doctrine of the Trinity vary amongst two extremes. Trinity has no basis in the Bible, in contrast, it states that Trinity is clear in the New Testament. A summary of the tertiary writings validates the latter position, and yet still represented by conventional theologians, is largely submitted from the central point that the doctrine of the Trinity was understood in the scriptures and was made clear by the advances of the church fathers (Humphreys, 20) The conclusion of the historians is that the doctrine was not original. The interconnections between history and theology are of specific importance in view of the doctrine development, but conventionally there has been comparatively little exchange of ideas between the two principles. The second fact considered by the education theologians is that no organized expositions of the doctrine might be observed in the New Testament, Roman Catholic shares this opinion, Protestant, eastern orthodox theologians, and by liberal, moderate and conservative theologians. By saying this, they imply that the new testament does not have formal and official statements of Trinity, does not have passages where the subject of debate is Trinity, does not have refutations of subordination, and tritheism and modalism as Trinitarian errors. Lastly, words such as one, the Trinity or God used as one-and-the-same being collectively did not exist in the New Testament. Christians do claim that it might be prese nted in the bible educates that the God is the father, the son, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, implying that God is one (PARSENIOS, 400) In explaining their claims, the opposers and proponents of the Trinity that is not present in the New Testament have formed two strategies to support their allegations. The first plan was to conduct an exegesis of particular passages in the New Testament. A good example was seen in the essay by Warfield, he validated

Greek and hellenistic religion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Greek and hellenistic religion - Essay Example The introduction of Egyptian deities which included Isis, Serapis, Atargatis and of Hadad afforded new channel for the Greeks who were trying to find contentment and self-actualization in both their current life and life after death. During the Hellenistic period, worships were no longer solely given to deities but also to Hellenistic rulers. Semi-divine rulers who regarded themselves as god-kings inspired pharaonic tradition, thereby, holding them worthy of the peoples exaltation. While Hellenistic religion adapted the idea of offering worship to rulers, rulers had never become gods. The mixture of cultures and religion between Greece and other countries had stimulated the expansive practices of magic, which is still being practiced up to this present time. In the Hellenistic era, Greeks developed a rather spiritual and religious connection to certain magical forms like oracles, prophecies, charms, and trinkets to put off bad luck and other troubles, and to cast incantations. Furthermore, the belief that the future of human life can be determined by the sun, moon, and stars likewise cropped up; hence, the concept of astrology. Perhaps, it was due to the syncretic approach of the Greeks towards religion during the Hellenistic era that ushered in the creation of Hellenistic thinking: Stoicism and Epicureanism. Crucial to the changes in the Hellenistic religion was the introduction of the Olympian gods and goddesses. In fact, the term Olympian Pantheon is therefore called because these deities are believed to have resided on top of Mount Olympus. This had also stirred the foundation of Olympic Games in order to give honor to the deities athleticism. Every deity was venerated with temples, shrines, and sculptures which, while each god is revered with his or her own temple, likewise honor other deities. Fiestas and rites were carried out in different Greek cities that venerate their own patron god. For example, festivals and other forms of celebrations

Matt Cruse Essay Example for Free

Matt Cruse Essay Free essays botnet Free sample essays for human being Skip to content * Home Free Essay on â€Å"Nuclear Weapons And Defense† Free Essay on â€Å"Airborne (Book)† Posted on June 11, 2011 by Essay fuhrer bot Free essay on Free Essay on â€Å"Airborne (Book)† found Airborn Joseph Campbell`s theory is used in this essay to determine that Matt Cruse is the hero in Airborn by Kenneth Oppel. Kenneth Oppel has developed the main character, Matt Cruse, very well using Joseph Campbell`s theory on the archetype of the hero`s journey. The novel`s main character, Matt Cruse, is a hero because of his call to destiny, his journey in the book, and the return, reward and reintegration in to the society. Firstly, the evidence that proves that Matt Cruse is a hero in this book is the fact that he was called to his destiny. There are two evidence that lead up to Matt Cruses` destiny. The two evidence are when he rescued Benjamin Molloy and when Benjamin was about to die, Benjamin Molloy said about magnificent creatures that he saw but Matt passed those predictions as the ravings of a dying man. The second evidence that proves that he was called to his destiny is the fact that Kate De Vries, second female character, comes on board the aurora and tells Matt that the man that Matt saved a year before was her grandfather, Kate trusts Matt enough to let him see her grandfather’s diary. Matt reads about what Kate’s grandfather saw and gets amazed and starts to believe that the creatures really exist. Matt rescues Benjamin Molloy, Kate’s grandfather, in the first chapter where all the characters are introduced and the captain asks matt to go in an arm that is aboard the aurora and rescue the damaged man in the hot air balloon. Hero’s are always brave and so is Matt. â€Å"â€Å"Mr. Cruse, I look at you, and of all the men, you’re the one who shows not the slightest hint of fear. Am I right? â€Å"Yes, sir. I have no fear of heights. † Matt said †

Texas City Disaster :: Industry Economy History Essays

During the war Texas City became a big industrial center. It had seven petrochemical refineries, two oil pipeline companies and the only tin smelter in the US. The city was growing and expanding. Schools operated in two shifts, just like the chemical plants. The demand for industry was high, but safety standards were still low and inexperienced. the year of 1947 became a crucial event in the memories of the city. On April 16 and 17 a major disaster befallen on the whole population that for many years after could not be forgotten. It all started on a bright and clear morning when the ship in the Texas City Harbor, The Grand camp, full of ammonium nitrate fertilizers, destined for war torn Europe, was on fire. Ammonium nitrate is a highly dangerous and explosive material if it is unsafely used, the same material was used in Oklahoma bombing. Since the fires in the port weren't rare, unfortunately people weren't as alarmed as they should have been. On the contrary those who have noticed the reddish-orange and brown smoke were particularly attracted by the colorful fumes. Kids after school and neighboring pedestrians, rushed to the harbor to watch the fireman use their techniques to put out the fire. Even though that policeman blocked the road with two cars it didn't stop a crowd of more that 400 people assembling. In addition two airplanes with spectators circled in the sky. Previously, shortly after Grand camp docked at the port of Texas City there was smoke detected in No.4 hold where 880 tons of ammonium nitrate fertilizers was stocked. Crew members attempted to put out the fire with half filled jug of drinking water and hand-held fire extinguishers. The first call to the fire department was only made half an hour later. The whole situation wasn't taken very seriously in the beginning. One of the officers from the ship that was docked about 200 yards away was even taking pictures of the whole scenario. The fire of Grand camp spread very rapidly and soon it was out of control. Soon 27 out of 50 volunteer fire fighters along with four engines of the Texas City Fire Department arrived at the scene. But there wasn't much they could do, by that time. As soon as the water from the fire hoses hit the hot deck it immediately evaporated. The vice president of the Texas City Terminal Railway phoned a close by chemical plant and asked one of the engineers if it was dangerous to burn ammonium nitrate.

Colligative Properties Essay

Abstract: Several experiments were performed to observe the colligative properties. This includes the freezing point depression, and osmotic pressure. Two ice baths were made, one with pure water, the other with salt water. The lowest temperature was then record for each bath and compared. The salt water had a lower freezing point than the pure water by 2 degrees which supports the hypothesis that solutions have a lower freezing point than pure water. The second property observed was osmosis pressure. This experiment used a 6 inch piece of dialysis tubing that was filled 2/3 full with light Karo syrup and tied off. Then it was completely submerged in a large glass bowl of room temperature distilled water. The dialysis tubing acts as a semi-permeable barrier and water passed through to inside the tube and over the next several hours, this act caused the tube to swell. Osmosis is where water moves from an area of high concentration to low concentration, therefore causing the tube to swell. The last experiment involved placing an egg in a jar of vinegar. After 24 hours, the shell of the egg completely disintegrated. Then the jar was rinsed and refilled with Karo syrup where the egg was submerged for 48 hours. This allows osmosis to take place where the water inside the egg leaves and moves outside where thereis a lower concentration of water. Thus, making the mass of the egg smaller. This series of experiments takes a closer look at the colligative properties, specifically the freezing point depression and the osmotic pressure. Colligative properties is where the concentration of solute particles in a solution is what is important and not necessarily the chemical identity of the solute. The first part of this experiment focuses on the freezing point depression. The freezing point depression is based on the idea that a solution freezes at a lower temperature than the freezing point of pure  water. Finding the freezing point of a substance allows the molar mass of a substance to be calculated. The second part of this experiment observes the colligative property of osmotic pressure. Osmosis is based on the idea that water will go from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration. With this information, we can determine the identity of a substance. Purpose: Determine the freezing point of water Find the freezing point of a solution Observe osmotic pressure. Procedures First, an ice water bath was prepared filling a 100ml beaker halfway with cool tap water and adding a pinch of salt and some crushed ice. Then, the temperature was recorded with a thermometer placed in a test tube until a consistent temperature was observed and recorded. Then the test tube was placed in the ice bath. Then, the thermometer was stirred inside the test tube continuously while the temperature was recorded every 30 seconds until the temperature was consistent again for 5 consecutive readings. The same procedure was repeated a second time, though this time with some salt in the test tube. Another ice bath was prepared in a 100ml beaker filling it halfway with distilled water and a pinch of salt. An 1/8 teaspoon of iodized salt with distilled water filled up another test tube. The initial temperature was recorded until a consistent temperature was observed. Then, the test tube was placed in the ice bath, while the thermometer was stirred inside the test tube recording the temperature at 30 second intervals until a consistent temperature was observed. Initially, the temperature of the salt water mixture did not decrease substantially so another 1/8 teaspoon of iodized salt was added. The second property we observed was osmotic pressure. A 6 inch piece of dialysis tubing was placed in room temperature water for 30 minutes to soak. One end of the tubing was sealed off by tying the end in a knot. Then the tubing was filled 2/3 full with light Karo syrup and the other end was tied shut leaving some space to expand. Then the tubing was placed in distilled water over a period of several hours and recorded and observed. The last experiment also observed osmosis. An ordinary large white egg was placed in a quart size mason jar filled half  way with white vinegar and the lid screwed shut. Then, it soaked for 24 hours and was rinsed off with distilled water. The jar was rinsed out as well and refilled half the mason jar with light Karo syrup. The egg was placed back in the jar with the Karo syrup with the lid shutThe egg’s changes were observed and recorded over several days. Temperatures for the Ice Bath experiment: Answers to Lab Questions Part 1 B. The freezing point of the pure water is -2 degrees while the freezing point of the salt solution is -5 degrees. C. The salt solution has a lower freezing point because water is the only thing that freezes, so the salt is left behind. Molecules must enter and leave the solid phase at the same rate. This occurs at a lower temperature for the solution because of the vapor pressure. D. Some practical applications of cognitive properties include salting the roads in the winter. The salt lowers the freezing point of snow/ice, so it takes a lower temperature for roads to freeze over. Antifreeze in a car can be used to lower the freezing temperature and also it can be used to raise the boiling point so cars will not overheat in the summer months. Freeze drying is an example of vapor pressure lowering. The vapor pressure of the surrounding air is lowered, and it causes the surrounding air to take heat from the substance which then freezes which preserves perishable materials. Part 2 A. The dialysis bag is comparable to a cell membrane. It allows water and small particles through, while stopping large particles from passing through. It is different from a cell membrane because a cell membrane uses many processes to transport materials across the membrane including active transport and passive transport, while the dialysis tubing simply uses diffusion. B. The Karo syrup is hypertonic to the egg. Th concentration is higher outside the egg than inside, so the water moves outside of the egg. C. N=MRT 8.34 mmHg osmotic pressure 23.6 degrees Celcius 0.5 L of solution containing 0.302 grams of antibiotic 8.34 mmHg * 1atm/760 mmHG = 0.01097 atm 0.01097 atm = M (0.0821) (23.6 +273 = 296.6 K) M = 0.01097atm/(0.0821*296.6K) M = 0.01097atm/24.35086 M = 4.505X 10-4 moles of antibiotic Moles = molarity X Volume (4.505 X 10-4 moles/L) X (0.5 L) = 2.2525 X 10-4 moles 0.302g/2.2525 X 10-4 moles = 1340g/mole Results/Analysis: The freezing point of the solution was -5 degrees, while the freezing point of the pure water was -3 degrees, This is a 2 degrees difference in the freezing points. This supports the hypothesis that solutions have lower freezing points. The freezing point depression is a colligative property used to calculate the molar mass of a substance. However, It was not possible to calculate the molar mass of our substance because with a home lab kit there was no weighing involved. We were still able to record and determine the freezing point of both distilled water as well as salt water. Given more tools to properly execute the experiment, we would have come out with more accurate result and complete results. For the Karo syrup experiment, after several hours of observing the Karo syrup in the dialysis tubing. The tubing swelled up some, however too much Karo syrup was placed in the bag and there was not much room left to swell. The egg was placed in vinegar and the shell completely disappeared after about 24 hours. Then, when placed in Karo syrup for a 48 hours, the egg’s mass appeared smaller. The water inside the egg moved out into the surrounding solution, therefore making the egg’s mass smaller. Conclusion: The freezing point depression was observed for pure water as well as salt water. The salt water ice bath had a lower freezing point which supports our original hypothesis. Osmotic pressure was observed both in the egg experiment and in the dialysis tubing experiment. The egg lost its water content and the dialysis tubing swelled up. Even though the basic  colligative properties were demonstrated with these experiments, more accurate results would have been obtained in a more controlled environment. Knowing the weight of the salt would have been helpful in determining the molecular mass.

Freedom Writers Analysis Essay

Freedom Writers is a drama movie based on the book â€Å"The Freedom Writers Diary† written by The Freedom Writers with Erin Gruwell. The movie was first released on January 5th 2007 in the USA, and on May 18th 2007 in Norway. The director of the movie is Richard LaGravenese and the screenwriters are the Freedom Writers, Erin Gruwell and Richard LaGravenese. The Music is made by Mark Isham, will.i.am, Talib Kweli and other various artists. The main actors are Hilary Swank as Erin Gruwell, Patrick Dempsey as Scott Casey, Imelda Staunton as Margaret Campbell, April L. Hernandez as Eva Benitez, Mario as Andre Bryant, Jason Finn as Marcus and Jaclyn Ngan as Sindy. The Freedom Writers is about the young, novice teacher Erin Gruwell and the students in classroom 203 at Woodrow Wilson High School, Long Beach, California. The story takes place from year 1992 to 1995 and it is a true story. Ms Gruwell was very excited for her first day. She had big plans for how she was going to get the students to line up outside the classroom door, instead of not showing up to class or quit before the first semester was finished. This was how the schools’ reputation had turned out to be after the integration program was suggested at Woodrow Wilson. To teach the street kids, was a lot easier said than done. To get the students’ attention, Ms Gruwell had to call them Nazis and count how many of them who had lost friends to gang violence. The students comes from many different societies. In room 203 there are blacks, whites, Latinos and Cambodians. For many of these kids, death, violence, gangs, and fighting for territories, are daily events. They come from broken families and have had a very difficult and challenging childhood. They are happy if they make it to the end of the day. One of the students, Eva, said to Ms Gruwell during class; â€Å"what are you doing in here that makes a god damn difference to my life?† This wakes Ms Gruwell up, and she starts to use unusual methods like playing games, bring the students on trips, and make them write diaries to try to teach, and to help them with their lives and their chance to graduate high school and go to college. The title of the movie and the book are based on these diaries. There are many strong characters in this movie. It is not easy to decide who the main characters are, because we feel like we get to know every one of them, and each character have its own story. Ms Gruwell seemed like an inexperienced, rich man’s daughter, but through the things she did, she showed us some admirable sides of herself. Eva Benitez is a Latino/Spanish- American girl. She has a very strong personality and fights hard for what she thinks is right. But under the unyielding mask, we can sense a hint of uncertainty. Marcus is a black boy, and one of the persons we get to know most about. He seems like a very nice boy, but he also has his dark secrets. Marcus changes his personality and his way of living a lot because he wants to move back home to his mother. Sindy is a Cambodian girl. She was involved in the main conflicts in the movie. She has been in a refugee camp, and after the war in Cambodia her father is not the same anymore. Her character shows no fear and an admirable willpower. There are many positive things to say about the movie. Many of the actors did an excellent job by playing the characters and getting their personality come through. April L. Hernandez is one of them. She did an excellent job playing Eva Benitez. She had very many different emotions like anger, sadness, frustration and relief. I also liked the music they chose. It was not typical film music. It was up to date hip hop and pop music, which could have been exactly the kind of music the students would have listened to. You feel like you are getting very close to them, and that you get to know them. Although it was a very good movie, there are some negative things as well. The movie was quite predictable. After Ms. Gruwell had caught the student’s attention, you could imagine how the movie was going to end. At some points the movie was pretty boring. This movie shows that it is possible for a teacher to inspire a class and to make a difference in someone’s life. There has been made many movies like this before, for example Half Nelson and Music of the Heart. This movie is different from the others because it is based on a true story. Nevertheless, it was a touching and inspiring movie with many funny moments. I would give this movie 4 stars. It is not one of my favorites, but definitely worth to see.

Hospitality and Tourism Marketing Strategies The WritePass Journal

Hospitality and Tourism Marketing Strategies 1.0 Introduction Hospitality and Tourism Marketing Strategies 1.0 Introduction 1.1 Porter 5 forces analysis of TravelodgeForce 1:  The  degree  of  rivalryForce2: The threat of entryForce3: The threat of substitutes Force4: Buyers powerForce5: suppliers power1.2  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Porter 3 generic strategies1.3  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Value chain analysis of TravelodgePrimary ActivitiesOperationsOutbound LogisticsMarketing and SalesServiceSupport ActivitiesTechnology DevelopmentHuman Resource Management (HRM)Firm Infrastructure2.1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Boston Box Matrix analysis2.3 Product life cycleProduct life cycleIntroduction StageGrowth StageMaturity StageDecline Stage2.3  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Market segmentationBusiness TravellersLeisure TravellersGroup Meeting TravellersOther Travellers3.1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Creating and Developing Customer loyalty Zone 1: The Zone of IndifferenceZone 2: The Zone of SatisfactionZone 3: The Zone of DelightZone 4: The Zone of Loyalty3.2  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Network and relationship marketing3.3   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Viral and Guerrilla marketingReferencesRelated 1.0 Introduction The original Travel Lodge brand was first established by its founder Scott King, in 1939 by opening the first motels in southern California. During its starting phase, it highlighted itself as a budget motel chain offering functional accommodation at lower rate than other lower chain by providing comfortable beds, free TV and room phones, carpeted floors, in-room coffee pots and pools. Travel Lodge is fastest growing and most recognized budget Hotel Company in the United Kingdom. Travelodge  currently has  466  hotels  and  32,477  rooms  in  the UK, Ireland  and Spain. The  budget  hotel chain  has  one  goal  is  to have  1,100  hotels  in Europe  with more  than 100,000  rooms  in 2025. With  5,714  rooms and  40  hotels in  the  capital, Travelodge,  the fastest  growing hotel chain,  has taken the title  of  being  the  largest brand from the  Hilton  hotel  in London. This company was first lunched as first budget hotel brand in the UK in 1985 and is today one of the major branded hotel companies in the united kingdom with nearly 460 hotels. This chain is employing around six thousands staffs and more than seven million people stayed there in 2010 and more than eight seven booking are being made through online. Room rated start at  £19 per night, which is attracting the huge amoun t of customers. Travelodge is a brand champion of consumers; focus on driving prices in the hotel industry to encourage more people to use the hotels. Low prices of the chain budget delivered by commitment to operational efficiency and low cost business model. Only this year, Travelodge will offer over  £ 2,000,000 rooms at  £ 29 or less. Travelodge Heathrow Central 3 star hotel is situated on the Bath Road where most big Heathrow hotels are located. Its actually in the far east of the airport perimeter which is about 2 miles from terminals 1, 2 and 3 in the central area and terminal 4 in the southeast corner of the airport. This situation is actually quite convenient for the West London / Central London as the right side of the A4 London airport. A normal journey by car / taxi in west London takes about 20 minutes and 30-40 minutes to central areas. This location travel lodge was established in 2008 with the aim of providing budget priced accommodation in the Heathrow area. There is licensed bar cafe where breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner and drinks can be purchased within the hotel. 1.1 Porter 5 forces analysis of Travelodge Michael E. Porter of Harvard Business School developed a five forces framework for industry analysis and business marketing strategy development in 1979, which was aimed to increase the overall industry profitability. As stated by porter (1980) there are five forces that determine industry attractiveness and long-run industry profitability. These five competitive forces are: The threat of entry of new competitors (new entrants) The threat of substitutes The bargaining power of buyers The bargaining power of suppliers The degree of rivalry between existing competitors This forces and their rivalry can be best understood by the following diagram: Source: Porter (1980) Force 1:  The  degree  of  rivalry The  intensity  of  the  rivalry, which is  the  most  obvious  of  the  five  forces  in  an  industry, helps  determine  the extent to  which  the value  created by  an  industry  that  is  dissipated through the head  to  head  competition.  The most valuable contribution  of  Porters  five forces in the  context  of  this  problem  may  be  its suggestion  that  rivalry,  while important, is  just one of  several  forces that  determine  industry attractiveness. The degree of rivalry is very high because Heathrow area is the busiest area where around 50 star hotels are operating among them 16 hotels are 3 stars so, but Travelodge is competing with them with its cheapest budget 3 star hotel with high standard infrastructure and service. Premier inn is the one of the largest competitor having more rooms and facilities more than but Travelodge low price strategy and global largest chain playing the great role. Force2: The threat of entry Potential and existing competitors influence average industry profitability. Unless the entry of new firm is barred, the rate of profit will fall towards its competitive level. The threat of entry rather than actual entry might be sufficient to make sure that established firm constrains their price to the competitive level. By contrast, existing entry barriers whenever difficult or not economical feasible for an outsider to replicate the position of incumbents (Porter, 1980; Sanderson, 1998). Threat of new entry is low as brands  are  very important  in  the hospitality industry.   Travelodge  use  its name  from a  strong brand  to attract new  customers  and  retain  old ones.  Moreover,  an economy  of scale is also  a  very  important  factor  inthis  industry.   The  profitability  of  Travelodge  is  higher  than  the individual operations.  A  new entrant  cannot compete  with established players  in terms  of quality and  price  if  they can  achieve economies  of scale.  Being  Travelodge, a capital  intensive industry  with  a lot  of it, tied  in fixed costs,  makes  entry  to most difficult.  Protection  of the  Government  for the tourism sector  is very  high and  this  in turn  blends  into  the  hotel industry  and it is  thus  attractive  industry  in  general. Force3: The threat of substitutes A threat  of substitutes  exists  if  there are  alternative products with  lower  prices  of  better performance  parameters  for the same purpose.  They could potentially  attract  a significant proportion  of  market volume  and hence  reduce the  potential  sales volume for  existing industries. This  category  also  relates  to  complementary products. The main  substitutes  for the  hotel industry  are camping  and  recreational vehicles  for tourists,  corporate  guest houses  for business travellers  and  other  informal  means  of accommodation  with family  and friends.  Compared to  the  hospitality industry, these are much  cheaper alternatives, so  their prices  very high  values and  switching costs  very low.  This  makes  the  attractiveness of  the industry  in terms of  substitutes,  low. But, Travelodge is the one who is offering the high standard service at cheap price so the threat of substitutes is low. Force4: Buyers power The most important  factors affecting the  purchasing power  are the  size  and concentration  of customers.  Other factors,  the  extent to which  buyers  are informed  and concentration  or diversity of  competitors. Kippenberger  (1998)  states that  it is  often useful  to distinguish  the potential  buyer  in the purchasing power  of  desire  or  incentive to use  that  power, readiness,  which comes  mainly from the  risk of  failure,  associated  with its use. As far as the cheap price accommodation, there is low buyers power in case of Travelodge. Travelodge has numerous customers who are relatively very small in size. Loss of a single customer has little impact on it and finally this drives down the buyers bargaining power. Likewise buyers threat of backward integration is almost impossible and so is the company threat is forward integration. Force5: suppliers power The term suppliers include all the sources for inputs that are needed in order to provide goods or services. Basically the key suppliers of the hotel industries are; labour suppliers and real estate suppliers. All the suppliers in the market are defined as customers suppliers those who supply customers like travel agents, airlines companies, and other organisations where as property owners, infrastructure suppliers and housing and decoration are real state suppliers. Beside that labour suppliers have also key role to the company. Overall, supplier power is low as customers suppliers is low as it is the budget chain hotel and get customers from its chain hotels along that its cheap accommodation is also the main customer attractiveness. About the labour suppliers they have also moderate power because of the huge number of labour suppliers so they is big competition between the suppliers, on the other hand due to the national legal policy, minimum wages has to be paid so unlike other countries, this company cant hire the labour less than minimum wages. The number  of suppliers  for the  hotel  industry  is quite  large and  each supplier  is very  small  compared to  the  leading  players  in the industry.  Few powerful  players are  essential  to the  suppliers.  Substitutability  suppliers  are also  quite  possible  and affordable.  Switching  between  estate agents  is not  going to  affect  significantly  the companys  hotel.  However,  in terms of  quality,  training centres  for  workers  and producers  who provide  ICT  systems  that for  property management  are relatively  difficult to replace.  Therefore,  in terms of  attractiveness of  alternative  suppliers of  the industry  is moderately  high. 1.2  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Porter 3 generic strategies Porters  generic strategy  matrix,  which  emphasise  the  costs leadership,  differentiation and focus  based on  three options for  businesses,  has  dominated  competitive firms strategy since Generic strategies were first presented in two books by Professor Michael Porter of the Harvard Business School (Porter, 1980, 1985).  According to  this  model,  a company  can  choose  how  to compete  on the  basis  of match  between  the  type  of competitive advantage  and objective  market  as  the main  determinants  of  choice. Porter, generic strategy  typology  remains a most  notably  in  the  strategic  management literature. A  business  can maximize performance  either  by  striving  to  be the  low cost producer  in an  industry  or  by  differentiating their line of products  or  services  from other companies; either of these  two  approaches  can  be a ccompanied by  a focus of organizing efforts  in a  particular  segment market. Travelodge business purpose is to provide its service for everyone by delivering low cost and maximum value for money accommodation to all customers and highly attractive, efficient and convenient stop-overs or stay-overs. Its overall strategy is cost leadership, this can be realised by its offer room starting from  £19, where as its more than 80% internet booking playing a key role to minimise its operational cost, as a result it has been possible to become cost leadership. 1.3  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Value chain analysis of Travelodge The value chain is a systematic approach to examining the development of competitive advantage. It was created by M. E. Porter in his book, Competitive Advantage (1980). The chain consists of a series of activities that create and build value. They culminate in the total value delivered by an organisation. The margin depicted in the diagram is the same as added value. The organisation is split into primary activities and support activities. Primary Activities Inbound Logistics Activities related to receiving the materials from the supplier, storing them externally sourced materials and handling them within the firm where goods are received from a companys suppliers and are stored until they are needed on the production/assembly line is called inbound logistics. Travelodge ensures the right components are delivered to the right manufacturing point at the right time and they appoint their right supplier in time with certain terms and conditions, therefore the inbound logistics is good. Operations This section includes all the activities concern with the production of products and services. In case of Travelodge, it has been divided into three sections as reception, room service and food service. Its food service is delivered thorough its restaurant, it has its own business, there is no connection with residence and food like others star hotel. As far as the customers complaints found in blog, most of them are related to cleaning and security, so Travelodge is operation is not so good its just moderate. Outbound Logistics The goods are now finished, and they need to be sent along the supply chain to wholesalers, retailers or the final consumer. These are all the activities related to distributing the final product or service to the customers. Travelodge has its unique outbound logistic system where they get customer from its travel agents, its own branches and its cheapest budget hotel policy. Because of its good outbound logistics system, travel is the one of the hotel chain, which didnt suffer of last economic downturn. Marketing and Sales In true customer orientated fashion, at this stage the organisation prepares the offering to meet the needs of targeted customers. This area focuses strongly upon marketing communications and the promotions mix. In Travelodge, this area essentially analyses the needs and desires of customers and its responsible for creating awareness among the target group about the company products and services. Travelodge is using the marketing communication like advertising, sales promotion and cheapest budget hotel strategy to attract the customers to their products. By analysis its marketing and sales, it seem to be at good position, their e-marketing is excellent because of that Travelodge is saving its huge amount of money in advertising. Travelodge subsidiaries are in throughout the world so it marketing of any part of the world to some extent affects company popularity. Recently, Travelodge has an advertising agreement with Google which is expected to enhance the sales. The new strategy has been created to differentiate Travelodge from competitors in hotel sector and to move its marketing focus beyond its cheap price. New campaign the Sleep Tight will be a collection of cuddly toy animals going under the name Mr Sleep and the Z Squad. The marketing team is doing whatever is necessary to ensure a good night’s sleep and the first advertisement lunched on first may 2010. Travelodge launched a new TV advert in February 2011, featuring its famous Mr Sleep and his pal Big Ted. The 30 second TV ad featured the two teddy bears travelling around the UK, staying at various Travelodge hotels. Service This includes all areas of service such as installation, after-sales service, complaints handling, training and so on. There is often required to provide services like pre-installation or after-sales service before or after the sale of the products or service. Travelodge is mostly focusing on its pre-installation service and less effort on after sales service so they are not handling their customer complaints. Support Activities Procurement This function is responsible for all purchasing of goods, services and materials. The aim is to secure the lowest possible price for purchases of the highest possible quality. They will be responsible for outsourcing and purchasing using IT and web-based technologies to achieve procurement aims. Procurement activities are running through a system, like purchasing goods is being done by the competition between the suppliers and IT infrastructure contact with big IT companies. Technology Development Technology is an important source of competitive advantage in Travelodge by using them to innovate to reduce costs and to protect and sustain competitive advantage. This could include production technology, Internet marketing activities, lean manufacturing, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and many other technological developments. Travelodge is very good for using latest and modern mainly internet technology. Human Resource Management (HRM) Employees are an expensive and vital resource. An organisation would manage recruitment and s election, training and development, and rewards and remuneration. The mission and objectives of the organisation would be driving force behind the HRM strategy. Travelodge has its own HR department where all recruitment selection, training and rewarding system are being done. For cleaning service, Travelodge has a contract with other outside cleaning companies with certain terms and conditions and is supervising their works. Firm Infrastructure This activity includes and is driven by corporate or strategic planning. Travelodge uses the Management Information System (MIS) and other mechanisms for planning and control such as the accounting department, finance and corporate strategy which make Travelodges better company infrastructure. 2.1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Boston Box Matrix analysis The Boston box is a classic tool of strategic planning and was developed in the early 1970s by Bruce Henderson. Matrix provides a useful tool for analysing an organisations portfolio of business units, product lines, offerings or activities. It helps businesses to identify which products to invest in and which not to invest in depending on their relative market share and the growth rate of the markets they serve. Using the BCG Box, a company classifies all its strategic business units according to two dimensions as horizontal axis; relative market share this serves as measure strength in the market this provides a measure of market attractiveness. Residential rooms are the product of Travelodge, by selling them it has been running its business and now it steps to the stage where company is getting a good profit and investing to expand its service. By dividing the matrix into four areas, four types of units can be distinguished: Stars   Stars are high growth businesses or products competing in markets where they are relatively strong compared with the competition. Often they need heavy investment to sustain their growth. Eventually their growth will slow and, assuming they maintain their relative market share, will become cash cows. Cash Cows   Cash cows are low-growth businesses or products with a relatively high market share. These are mature, successful businesses with relatively little need for investment. They need to be managed for continued profit so that they continue to generate the strong cash flows that the company needs for its Stars. Question marks   Question marks are businesses or products with low market share but which operate in higher growth markets. This suggests that they have potential, but may require substantial investment in order to grow market share at the expense of more powerful competitors. Management have to think hard about question marks which ones should they invest in? Which ones should they allow to fail or shrink? Dogs   Unsurprisingly, the term dogs refers to businesses or products that have low relative share in unattractive, low-growth markets. Dogs may generate enough cash to break-even, but they are rarely, if ever, worth investing in. As Travelodge has high market share with a slow-growing industry and these units typically generating cash in excess of the amount of cash needed to maintain the business therefore falls on cash cow business strategic units. This company is running more than 30 years and successful business in UK hotel industry with relatively little need for investment. 2.3 Product life cycle The life of a product is the period over which it appeals to customers. The sales performance of any product rises from nothing when the product is introduced to the market reaches a peak and then declines to nothing again. With respect to the revenues generated by a product over a period of time, there are various stages that are achieved by any product. This is called a product’s life cycle. A product life cycle mainly consists of below mentioned four stages. Product life cycle Source: Graham R. Massey, (1999) Introduction Stage At the Introduction Stage market size and growth is slight. It is possible that substantial research and development costs have been incurred in getting the product to this stage. In addition, marketing costs may be high in order to test the market, undergo launch promotion and set up distribution channels. It is highly unlikely that companies will make profits on products at the Introduction Stage. Products at this stage have to be carefully monitored to ensure that they start to grow. Otherwise, the best option may be to withdraw or end the product. Travelodge created product awareness develop a market for the product. No profits were made when it was at introduction stage as development costs have not yet been covered. It took a substantial amount of time to catch on in the market before they enter their growth phases. Growth Stage The Growth Stage is characterised by rapid growth in sales and profits. Profits arise due to an increase in output economies of scale and possibly better prices. At this stage, it is cheaper for businesses to invest in increasing their market share as well as enjoying the overall growth of the market. Accordingly, significant promotional resources are traditionally invested in products that are firmly in the Growth Stage. After the   year of 2000, Travelodge is considered in growth stage, when it was expanding throughout UK and they were investing their profit to open new hotels. Maturity Stage Currently Travelodge is in maturity stage, maturity Stage is, perhaps, the most common stage for all markets. It is in this stage that competition is most intense as companies fight to maintain their market share. Here, both marketing and finance become key activities. Marketing spend has to be monitored carefully, since any significant moves are likely to be copied by competitors. The Maturity Stage is the time when most profit is earned by the market as a whole. Any expenditure on research and development is likely to be restricted to product modification and improvement and perhaps to improve production efficiency and quality. Decline Stage Travelodge is expected to be in maturity stage after some decades when its market is shrinking, reducing the overall amount of profit that can be shared amongst the remaining competitors. At this stage, great care has to be taken to manage the product carefully. It may be possible to take out some production cost, to transfer production to a cheaper facility, sell the product into other, cheaper markets. Care should be taken to control the amount of stocks of the product. Ultimately, depending on whether the product remains profitable, a company may decide to end the product. As travel was established before more than 25 years and it has more than 460 hotels in United Kingdom, it is making a good profit and one of the established budget hotel therefore it is in the maturity stage in the life cycle. 2.3  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Market segmentation Segmentation is the term given to the grouping of customers with similar needs by a number of different variables. Once this has been done, segments can be targeted by a number of targeting strategies.   Based on Travelodge business goal, competition and customers, they have divided their market into four segments business, leisure, group, and other as described below: Business Travellers Business travellers represent a large portion of lodging demand in many market areas.   Travelodge include people travelling on business representing commercial, industrial and governmental organizations. It is important to understand why business travellers are visiting the market area and how many room nights they generate.   Reasons for visiting a particular area might include conducting business with a company recruiting, training, management meetings calling on multiple businesses and stopping over between destinations. Leisure Travellers Leisure travellers may visit an area for a vacation, to attend sporting or social events, to shop, or to visit friends and relatives.   They might be staying over simply because they are travelling to other destinations. Leisure travellers may be individuals, couples, families, or small groups.   Travellers visiting hospitals and universities are typically included in this market segment. Leisure room demand is often seasonal.   In larger, Travelodge more urban market areas, leisure room demand may be limited to weekends, summer months and holiday periods. Group Meeting Travellers For Travelodge, group market consists of both leisure and business travellers but due to the size of meeting or gathering hall they limited this segment as small group meeting travellers.   Leisure groups include bus tours, school activities, athletic events, etc.   Tour groups are often brought to an area for sightseeing and attending special events.   Local attractions that appeal to leisure tour groups may have records of the numbers and names of tour operators who have visited their attractions. Business group meetings are typically associated with board meetings, training programs, seminars, trade shows, and other gatherings.   Often the sponsoring organization will be from the local area.   Out-of-town organizations may use logical meeting facilities because they often rotate the sites of their regional meetings.   Information on the group meeting market can be obtained through state chapters Other Travellers Various lodging customers cannot be classified under the categories of business, leisure, or group. These travellers may include construction workers, truckers, utility crews and others.   Activity at local truck stops, distribution centres, long term construction projects and other sources of demand could help you estimate the significance of this market segment. 3.1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Creating and Developing Customer loyalty Generally, customer loyalty can be defined making customers feel that they are the companys number one priority. Competitive advantage can be achieved through customer loyalty. This is the way to gain the best kind of customers, repeat customers. Repeat customers tend to spend more money and provide the best personal advertising. Customers feel customer loyalty when they consistently purchase a certain product or brand over an extended period of time. As an example, many customers stick to a certain travel operator due to the positive experiences they have had with their products and services. In Travelodge, customer loyalty is the key objective of customer relationship management and describes the loyalty which is established between a customer and companies, persons, products or brands. This company believes that the individual market segments should be targeted in terms of developing customer loyalty. The Customer Loyalty Grid is helpful to understand customer loyalty better. This grid is divided into four zones, as shown in the diagram below: Zone 1: The Zone of Indifference Zone of indifference includes those services which are unstated but expected. Literally, this includes all those customer needs and wants that are basic to fulfilling the contract between you and them. For example, customers expect to be treated with courtesy and respect, and would probably be puzzled and maybe even insulted if customer asked them if this was a need. It of course is, and if dont meet this need; it will cause dissatisfaction for example sometimes travel lodge cleaning service and infrastructure are criticised by the customer. If you meet this basic and obvious need, the best you can hope for is indifference. Zone 2: The Zone of Satisfaction This is where your customer actually tells what is important to them. Meeting a customers needs here will cause satisfaction, whereas not meeting them will cause huge dissatisfaction. For example, Travelodge advertise that it has offer room for  £19 per night, customer think that if even they don’t book before, it not going to hogh price for the room but sometime it is, this cause a customer dissatisfaction. It is an expectation, simply because other organizations that the customer deals with provide this benefit. Zone 3: The Zone of Delight This is where your customer hopes for something, asks for it, but really does not expect to provide it. This is opportunity to provide something beyond their expectations and by so doing will create delight. For example, a customer might ask for something that is usually available only in a premium priced product. Not providing it will unlikely cause dissatisfaction. Therefore this is an area for particular attention in building a loyal customer base. This area is not seem to be good at Travelodge. Zone 4: The Zone of Loyalty This is an area where hotel expertise in whatever product or service you provide and the customers lack of knowledge can really give back. Providing benefits above and beyond what the customer is even aware of can create a loyal customer. This requires you to be really proactive in suggesting to customers new innovations that they can really benefit from. Many customers will be even willing to pay extra for this. In case of Travelodge, it is very careful about the hidden cost of hotel so tries to offer like welcome drinks, some gift for celebrating birthday customer. At Travelodge, Customer loyalty is the key objective of customer relationship management and describes the loyalty which is established between a customer and companies, persons, products or brands. If this company be careful about all the zone of matrix then of it will create and develop best customer loyalty than currently. 3.2  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Network and relationship marketing Network and Relationship Marketing has evolved as a strategic marketing approach which is oriented towards attaining long-term profitability and value creation by interactions and mutual exchange among customers, suppliers and other stakeholders. It is also can be adopted to enhance the competitiveness and profitability of a value delivery network (supply chain). Better integration and shared mutual values can be developed through relationship marketing across value delivery network. Network marketing is commonly known as multi-level marketing. It is part of the direct selling industry and is run as a business-distribution model that allows a parent company to market its products directly to consumers through a large network of distributors and consumers, thereby bypassing the middleman. Travelodge is mainly focus on relationship marketing, they have a customer record keeping system so they treat regular customer specially. They are promoting relationship marketing by developing the good relationship.    3.3   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Viral and Guerrilla marketing Guerrilla Marketing is an unconventional system of promotions on a very low budget, by relying on time, energy and imagination instead of big marketing budgets. The term has since entered the popular vocabulary to also describe aggressive, unconventional marketing methods generically. Viral marketing and viral advertising refer to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness, through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of pathological and computer viruses. It can be word-of-mouth delivered or enhanced by the network effects of the Internet. Viral marketing is a marketing phenomenon that facilitates and encourages people to pass along a marketing message voluntarily. Viral promotions may take the form of video clips, interactive Flash games, images, or even text messages. As travel is considered itself as a largest budget hotel in UK and investing millions of pound on marketing so Travelodge don’t think about adopting Guerrilla marketing.   But talking about viral marketing Travelodge is to some extent using if we see internet we can see many images and video clips about the service and infrastructures. Viral marketing is the Travelodge authorised company strategy as well but guerrilla marketing is not Travelodge policy.    References Porter, M.E. (1980)  Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors  , Free Press, New York, 1980. Sanderson, S. (1998) New approaches to strategy: new ways of thinking for the millennium, Management Decision, Vol. 36 issue 1, pp.9-13. Graham R. Massey, (1999) Product evolution: a Darwinian or Lamarckian phenomenon?, Journal of Product Brand Management, Vol. 8 Iss: 4, pp.301 318 Howard, Theresa (2005).  USAToday: Viral advertising spreads through marketing plans.  USA Today. Fornell, C. and Wernerfet, B. (1987) Defensive marketing strategy by customer complaint management  : a theoretical analysis,  Journal of Marketing Moloney, Chris X. (2006) Winning Your Customer’s Loyalty: The Best Tools, Techniques and Practices AMA Workshop Event(s). Misc. materials distributed related to event(s). Kotler, Philip, Armstrong, Gary, Saunders, John and Wong, Veronica. (1999). Principles of Marketing 2nd  ed. Prentice Hall Europe McKenna, R. (1991) Marketing is Everything,  Harvard Business Review, Jan-Feb, 1991, pp 65–70

Grimms Fairy Tales and Other Versions

Grimms Fairy Tales and Other Versions The subject of fairy tales is a fascinating one, particularly Grimms fairy tales. Many of the most popular fairy tales of today developed centuries ago and have evolved over time into stories for children. Thanks to a number of research projects and the resulting online and print resources, we now have the opportunity to learn more. Why were Grimms fairy tales so grim? Are many of todays fairy tales pale imitations of the originals? How many different versions of such popular fairy tales as Cinderella and Snow White are there? How have these stories changed, and how have they remained the same, as they have been interpreted in different cultures and countries? Where can you find information on fairy tales for children from around the world? If this is a subject that interests you, here are some sites that should appeal to you: The Brothers Grimm An article about Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm in National Geographic makes the point that the brothers did not set out to create a childrens collection of fairy tales. Instead, they set out to preserve Germanys oral tradition by collecting stories told to them, in other words, folklore. Not until several editions of their collection were published did the brothers realize that children were to be a major audience. According to the article, Once the Brothers Grimm sighted this new public, they set about refining and softening their tales, which had originated centuries earlier as earthy peasant fare. Some of the most well-known fairy tales can be found in Grimms Fairy Tales, as the English-language version was called. You may have already shared many of them with your child and have several books of fairy tales first found in Grimms Fairy Tales. These include Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Hansel and Gretel, and Rapunzel. For more information about the brothers and the stories they collected, visit: Grimm Brothers Home Page:  Scroll down the sites table of contents. Youll find it provides a chronology of the brothers lives, information on their major publications, and links to articles, electronic texts, and studies of some of their stories.Grimms Fairy Tales:  Here you will find online versions, text only, of about 90 fairy tales. The Story of Cinderella The story of Cinderella has generated hundreds, some say thousands, of versions around the world.  The Cinderella Project is a text and image archives drawn from the deGrummond Childrens Literature Research collection at the University of Southern Mississippi. The dozen versions of the tale that are online come from the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries. Michael N. Salda serves as the editor of the project. If you are interested in more research, check out the following sites: The Cinderella Bibliography:  This site, from Russell Peck, a professor in the Department of English at the University of Rochester, provides a great deal of information about online resources, modern adaptations, basic European texts, and much more.Cinderella Stories:  The Childrens Literature Web Guide at the University of Calgary provides information on Internet resources, reference books, and articles, as well as a bibliography of childrens books.If you are looking for recommended fairy tale books for your child, you will find the resources helpful in the Fairy Tales section of About.com Childrens Books. Are there versions of Grimms and other fairy tales that you and/or your children have particularly enjoyed? Share your recommendations by posting a message on the About Childrens Books Forum.

Qualitative Study Evaluation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Qualitative Study Evaluation - Essay Example The main issue which is discussed by the author is that proper training and preparation is essential for unfamiliar or unexpected teaching assignments. The author used his personal experience in his writing in which he discussed how teachers cope with the situations when they have to teach the subjects in which they are not skilled and qualified properly. The author also investigated how those teachers use their background knowledge and skills. This is a proof of qualitative approach which is done by the author. The author’s action research approach has focused on the effects of action research when the teacher teaches in and out of her fields. In her field means, in which she has a full knowledge while instructing and out of her fields in which her qualification is not applicable as she was given some background knowledge about an action research. There is no different review of the literature. APA style has been used for crediting or reference (Creswell, 2008). Evaluation of the Purpose and Research Questions The author specifies using action research to examine how teachers react, who are asked to instruct out of their fields and how they used their previous knowledge and experience. The main question arises in the mind is that how do that type of teachers prepare their lessons for instruction? The main reason of the research indicates that author is herself a teacher. She has done that action research project with herself and her students are the participants of that research project and the classroom is the foremost site of the research project (Creswell, 2008). Evaluation of Data Collection The author uses several steps of action research for collecting data that are planning, monitoring and reflecting etc. As author was a practicing teacher, the steps to gain assess to the site and students were not listed but would expected be the same steps which are necessary to make qualified in the required field of instructions. The author’s sampling was restricted to the students under her guidance. She did not follow special steps for data sampling; on the contrary she did common methods for data sampling with her students with her students who have their journals for data collection. The data collection does not consist of large scale it only consisted of author herself and her students. For the data collection, she has adopted certain protocols for completing her task like she has taken permission from the guardians of the students and school authorities as well. The data was collected from the four sources that are; her own reflective journal, journals recorded and set aside by the students, consultation from a previous English teacher and the tape recording of the first and last lessons of the studied class period. This is confirmation that from four ways author has collected data which is mentioned above (Dicker, 1990). Evaluation of D