Promotion Strategy and Customers Behaviour Taobao

Introduction Business organisations must understand the behaviour of their consumers to sustain them as the most crucial tools for their success. Attempts to sustain customers involve putting in place appropriate marketing strategies that require a research on the reasons behind motivation of consumers to buy certain products and services.Advertising We will write a custom dissertation sample on Promotion Strategy and Customers’ Behaviour: Taobao specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Developing such capacity is pivotal in ensuring that marketing promotions are developed to target the right audience, which is capable of responding positively to a marketing campaign. The purchasing behaviour of consumers is often segregated in terms of various demographic factors such as age, gender, socio-economic status, and religion among others. This implies that marketing strategies are developed consistently with the characteristics of the t arget audience so that resources including time and money are not channelled to marketing efforts for non-existing markets or a target audience, which is not likely to respond positively. This dissertation paper proposes a research to establish the relationship between promotional strategies and customers’ behaviour within Taobao marketplace. Customers’ behaviour in the context of this dissertation is used to refer to the â€Å"study of individuals, groups, or organisations and the processes they use to select, secure, and dispose of products, services, experiences, or ideas to satisfy needs and the impacts that these processes have on consumers and society† (Blackwell Engel 2006, p.11). To study this aspect within the context of Taobao marketplace, the dissertation appreciates that studying customers’ behaviour is an immense challenge even in the well-defined markets. In fact, according to Armstrong (2001), even experts in the field of consumer behaviou r find it incredibly difficult to study the aspect (p.252). However, this challenge is addressed in the dissertation by attempting to study consumer behaviours among the Taobao marketplace in the context of how consumers respond to specific marketing strategies that are engineered for a specific target audience. Any research must meet specific aims and objectives (Creaswell 2008). For this purpose, the structure of the dissertation paper begins with the discussion of the aims and objectives of the proposed research followed by research questions in the first section. The second section discusses various findings as documented in the past literature on customers’ behaviour and marketing strategies.Advertising Looking for dissertation on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This helps to set a solid foundation to base the analysis of the results of the proposed research in the efforts to determine whether Taobao marketplace differs from other researched market segments. While conducting primary research, it is difficult to study a whole population because of funding constraints together with the difficulties experienced in the analysis of large amounts of data within minimal time constraints. Consequently, in the last section of the dissertation paper, efforts are made to discuss the sampling technique that is deployed to define a sample that is representative of Taobao marketplace and the methodology of data collection and analysis. Discussion of the sample is particularly important to help in the elimination of sampling biasness, which may impede the capacity of the selected sample to be representative of the characteristics of the consumer behaviours of the entire population of Taobao marketplace. Aims and Objectives Taobao marketplace operates in an online environment through interception of B2C (business-to-consumer) and C2C (consumer-to-consumer) strategies. This implies that t he two main functions of business (buying and selling) are conducted via technological intervention of the internet. Therefore, it is anticipated that the target population for Taobao marketplace is characterised by different buying behaviours in comparison with the physical marketplace that embraces the face-to-face interaction strategy with organisational selling agents and consumers. Based on this theoretical hypothesis, the proposed research in this dissertation paper is aimed at reviewing the literature in the field of online consumer behaviour in the effort to set a parameter for comparing and contrasting the findings of the main primary research. In this endeavour, secondary data, as documented in books, journals, magazines, and reliable web resources is pivotal. The objective is to identify the possible effective promotional strategies that would help to yield the success of an organisation that conducts business in an online environment such as Taobao marketplace. Realisati on of this objective is crucial in helping to attain the overall objective of the research: to explore the relationship between online promotional strategy and consumer behaviour.Advertising We will write a custom dissertation sample on Promotion Strategy and Customers’ Behaviour: Taobao specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Another central objective is to develop a model for explaining online consumer behaviour in the context of the Chinese market. This aim is realised through examining the impact of online consumer behaviour in the context of China and its impacts on Taobao marketplace online promotion strategy. Research Questions Two main research questions will be considered in the main research. These are: How do Taobao customers respond to different promotional strategies? Are there ways for ensuring that customers develop similar attitudes together with motivation to purchase in an online environment that is realised th rough B2C and C2C technologies? Overview of Taobao Taobao depends on e-commerce to execute its business functions. E-commerce refers to a commercial activity that is executed electronically. It is enhanced by the internet, which boosts the connectivity between sellers and consumers across the globe (Xiaoni Prybutok 2004). After the industrial revolution of early 20th century, the dawn of e-commerce comprised one the mega episodes that have made economic history of people to revolution. The internet and e-commerce have broken down the geographical demarcations so that businesses require only a single physical location from where all customer procurement and chain supply tasks are executed for the business to operate effectively. Worldwide electronic commerce market is developing at an alarming rate. Lorenzo (2010) estimates this growth as worth â‚ ¬400 billion. Taobao is the largest network of retail and business units. The networks are committed in building a global preferred n etwork of retail and business area. Alibaba Group founded it in 2003. Taobao operates two main e-commerce platforms. These are business across C2C (consumer-to-consumer) and B2C (businesses-to-consumer). During the first quarter of 2008, more than 6200 people joined Taobao. A large number of them covers mostly online shopping population (Taobao Marketplace 2013). During the first quarter of 2008, Taobao’s transactions were in excess of 18.8 billion with an annual turnover in excess of 433 million by 2007. According to a 2007 third-party authority research, Taobao occupies more than 70% of China’s online shopping market share (Taobao Marketplace 2013). For C2C market, Taobao occupies more than 80% in terms of market share. To date, Taobao has emerged a first choice for conducting online business transactions of a majority of internet users and online entrepreneurs together with business society. In October 2005, Taobao announced to create 1 million jobs within a time sp an of five years.Advertising Looking for dissertation on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This was one of the promotional techniques deployed by Taobao to prove that, apart from helping consumers to gain the utility of products and services that are sold through retail and business networks, it also has a responsibility of meeting the needs of the communities, which it serves in terms of provision of employment. The main question is whether such a promotional technique translates to increased sales for an organisation conducting business in an online environment. Literature Review Preference of an organisation’s products and services in comparison to another organisation’s merchandise implies that there is a psychological driving force, which influences the behaviour of consumers. Organisations influence consumers to purchase their products and services through promotion strategies (Maktoba, Ian Sonny 2011: Paco 2008). This suggests there is a relationship between consumer behaviour and promotional or marketing strategies. According to Solomon (2004), cust omers’ behaviour is shaped by interactions of a customer with certain environmental and marketing stimuli. Marketing stimuli comprise price, promotion, place, and product. In an online marketing environment, place is not an important marketing stimulus since a business organisation requires only one physical location to execute all business functions. Environmental stimuli consist of aspects that shape the buying patterns of consumers such as demographic, cultural, technological, and economic components (Kardes et al. 2011). For buyers to make a purchase, decision processes are important. These processes include â€Å"problem recognition, information search, alternative evaluation, purchase decision, and post purchase behaviour† (Solomon 2004, p.67). Decision processes are shaped by myriads of buyer traits among them being attitudes, perceptions, lifestyle, motivations, products knowledge, and personality. While studying consumer behaviour, Foxall (2005) and Kardes et al. (2011) insist that it is crucial for an organisation to develop an adequate knowledge base on factors that influence products choice, dealer selection, and amount of purchase, brand choice decisions, and purchase timing of customers. This model suggests that consumers make certain buying decisions through prior possession of information on a given problem, which is solved by a given product or service on offer. The work of Solomon claims, â€Å"In reality, many decisions are not made in the awareness of a determined problem by the consumer† (2004, p.81). Even though this may be true, it is crucial to note that a product or a service must satisfy a given need that prompts a customer to seek a service or a product in the marketplace. The internet has provided an effective and easy way of accessing information concerning products and services. Hence, it is one the most effective promotional tools, which can help to create various stimuli, which might motivate consumers to pu rchase various goods and services. Foxall (2005) argues that, apart from considering the utility of products or a service, consumers also shape their buying behaviours depending on the easiness through which they have information about products and services (p.45). Khosla (2010) further develops this argument by claiming that a consumer executes both internal and external searches to gain the full information on products that would satisfy his or her needs in the most profound manner. Sources of external information comprise public advertisements, commercial advertisements, and personal information based on products and services experience (Khosla 2010). Currently, people prefer gaining information without hassles. This makes search engines instrumental in effecting the promotion of an organisation seeking to sell to an emerging breed of consumers. Unfortunately, such consumers require to be convinced that the products they buy will satisfy their needs. Recognition of this essential need has prompted many online marketing organisations to deploy social media as a platform for enhancing a two-way communication between consumers and sellers. The need to keep the consumer informed coupled with the provision of the means through which they can post their concerns or areas where they need clarifications to be made has led to the emergence of new technological methods of conducting businesses such as the B2C and C2C criteria (Kalakota Whinston 2008). While this technologies can run on a standard personal computer, the increasing number of people with mobile devices, which support platforms for financial transactions has made it possible for the two technologies to adopt mobile devices. Thus, technology is an essential factor that shapes the buying behaviour of consumers in the 21st century market place. Taobao has recognised this factor and developed technological selling platforms that are guided by the development of B2C and C2C. The question the organisation nee ds to address is how effective the online business model is in enhancing competitive advantage of Taobao in terms of shaping consumers’ behaviour so that they can respond positively to its promotional strategies. Many organisations have recognised the benefits that may result from full exploitation of the new wave of the mobile internet. This wave is making organisations benefit immensely in hiking their value-added services together with enhancing their competitive advantage. From the contexts of the customers that are targeted by these organisations including Taobao, mobile applications provide easy means of facilitating customers to access their information. This information is available right in their pockets and stored within the applications that run from their smart phones. With regard to Zhang and Adipat (2005), â€Å"mobile applications are everywhere in categories of games, social networking, productivity tools, infotainment, data management, and utilities† ( p.293). This availability of mobile applications in a variety of forms makes consumers receive mobile supported contents in a superior way compared to classical channels of mobiles among them being the short message services and mobile browsing. Consistent with this line of argument, consumers may have three significant benefits accruing from having the ability to gain access to their data via mobile applications. These are volume, speed, and ease of accessibility to advertisements. This advantage forms the basis of success of mobile devices in helping to build good relationships with customers. The modern-day consumers live in a world in which they anticipate getting anything at the time they want it. Therefore, the time within which consumers are able to access whatever information they want is an immense concern that organisations need to address if at all they want to capture this population that is incredibly time cautious. Indeed, while attempting to access one’s data t hrough desktops and notebook computers, the patience of consumers is metered since they have to wait until booting is complete followed by the loading of internet via 3G or 4G network and then starting the search process to receive their data, which is essential in helping to make buying decisions. Taobao deploys mobile applications to enhance successful execution of these purchasing processes because they save time. When the application loads on the mobile device, the consumer will have access to all information he or she needs within minimal time. Surprisingly, in case updating of some information is required, it is accomplished in the applications’ background. Consequently, consumers are given an opportunity to access other data while in the mean time waiting the application to finish loading. In appreciation of this benefit, Myers et al. Laments, â€Å"mobile apps are becoming so functional and popular among consumer especially by considering that nearly half of all corp orate-issued devices will be mobile† (2006, p.39). To the consumers, this means that their data will be available right in their pockets. In a nation that is served by the 3G network, consumers have limitations for storing large amounts of their information in the virtual memories of the internet. However, mobile application has the capacity to keep magnificent volumes of data including catalogues and videos. They then use this information to influence other consumers. This implies that the deployment of mobile applications to execute marketing strategies makes it possible for an organisation to use loyal customers to market or promote their products in the absence of inputs of organisations’ resources (Xiaoni Prybutok 2004). An additional benefit is also realised in that the data is kept within the mobile application, thus prompting improvement of experiences of users who are largely the consumers. Although the era of billboards advertising is not yet over, mobile adv ertising is rapidly catching up. Interestingly, this trend is not anticipated to stop any time soon. Opposed to the localised placement of billboards, mobile advertisement enables consumers to have a constant accessibility to advertisement any time they wish. Therefore, for Taobao, there is no need for timing when to place advertisements. In any marketplace, many scholars have found that understanding consumer behaviour plays a variety of roles in influencing the promotional techniques that will best help to win consumers. For instance, Ward and Lee (2006) argue that understanding customers’ behaviour may reveal that consumers are influenced to buy through logical arguments while they are persuaded to make purchases in some situations through emotional messages or through the creation of promotional strategies, which evoke symbolic appeals (p.8). Studies in consumer behaviour contend that behaviours among people arise at an individual or group level and hence the logic behind market segmentation. Consumer behaviour is studied for a variety of reasons. The single most important reason is to help in developing a winning marketing or promotional strategy for an organisation’s products and services (Carmody 2004). This underlines the significance of the need to study whether there is any relationship between promotional techniques and consumer behaviour in an online marketplace. Existence of a positive relationship implies that online selling organisations such as Taobao should engineer applications, which support promotions via mobile devices. Understanding customers’ behaviour means that promotions can be timed precisely (Carmody 2004). For instance, studies in customers’ purchasing patterns may reveal that most consumers buy certain products such as electronic items at the end of the month when they receive their salaries. Consequently, while using social media, advertisements for such products are made aggressively a few days before the end of the month. Understanding customers’ behaviour also gives an indication to a seller on how to prepare financially to successfully place new products and product lines. In this context, Armstrong (2001) argues that few customers mostly embrace new products upon their first placement in the marketplace. For Taobao, this means that adequate funds are required while attempting to place new products online to ensure that the organisation remains afloat before market picks when customers share their experiences about the products or when the organisation manages to convince potential customers about the usefulness of a product. Online consumers have distinctive behaviours compared to consumers who buy products from physical locations of an organisation. Abhamid, McGrath, and Khatibi (2007) support this assertion by claiming, â€Å"Online consumers are demanding different relationships from service providers (p.543). They have more focus on service quality and effectiven ess in exchange of prices (Anderson Srinivasan 2003). They also conduct an evaluation of quality experiences since they consider high-quality services that are rendered by a given organisation to comprise one of the most important service attributes, which are essential in helping to shape their buying behaviour (Abhamid McGrath 2005). This means that, in the context of determining the relationship between customers’ behaviours and promotional strategies in Taobao marketplace, findings on the studies that determine the features of a service, which most of the customers shopping in an online environment look for are important once incorporated in the analysis of the result findings. With the rapid growth in the number of people who are engaged in social media, many people acquire information about a service or a product experience from their friends or followers. Organisations that sell online should then consider perusing postings made by their customers to determine whethe r their service delivery methods satisfy the preconceived needs of customers when they buy a product or a service from an organisation (Abhamid, McGrath Khatibi 2007). From these theoretical arguments, in the effort to create awareness of the existence of an organisation, social media is incredibly helpful. Such a strategy for building positive brand image is opposed to traditional approaches for brand communication in which organisations mainly focused on â€Å"controlling what was said about their products and brands by dominating communication channels with carefully planned messaging† (Anbu Mavuso 2012, p.319). However, in the modern business environment, control of messages is immensely difficult since the ability of customers to access information through online interactions has become incredibly sophisticated. The significance of effecting communication strategies for marketing the service brand through social media is ardent bearing in mind, â€Å"today, customer c ommunication takes the form of bilateral dialogue† (Rust, Zeithaml Lemon 2004, p.117). This often entails online communication through B2C and C2C as evidenced by the case of Taobao. Sample Selection Empirical studies begin with the selection of an appropriate sample size depending on the desired statistical confidence levels. According to Scott, â€Å"sample size is an important feature of any empirical study in which the goal is to make inferences about a population from a sample† (2011, p.87). Therefore, a sample that will yield a powerful tool for making statistical inferences revealing the consumption behaviour of the entire population is necessary. In the determination of this sample size, some parameters must be known. They include â€Å"confidence interval (margin of error), size of the population, confidence level, and standard deviation† (Saunders, Thornhill Lewis 2009). Population size refers to the number of people who fit within the demographics of an empirical study. In the context of this research, the total number of people forming the Taobao market place is necessary. However, although it is not known, it does not make the research impossible to execute since it is common for the population to be unknown in empirical studies (Saunders, Thornhill Lewis 2009). The only important thing here is to determine the most appropriate demographic group to study. According to the data released by a Taobao report, low-income consumption levels are at â€Å"3 percent, 17 percent for lower middle income consumption, 61 percent for middle, and 15 percent for higher middle income consumption† (Taobao Marketplace Index, 2013). High-income consumption level accounts for only 3 percent. According to the same report, white-collar consumer accounts for 41 percent while students account for only 13 percent. In the context of age demographics, 33 percent of the total buyers are in the age gap of between 0-25 years, 35 percent are in the age gap of 25-30 while those in the age gap of 30 to 35 account for 14 percent (Taobao Marketplace Index, 2013). This means that 79 percent of Taobao’s customers are in the age group of between 0 and 35. This group is a sufficient target group to focus on especially by noting that such an age group has probabilities of positively embracing e-commerce as an acceptable mode of business transactions. Therefore, the people targeted by the primary research are from the middle class society, and those who have employment (aged between10-35 years). Having established the target audience of the research, the other mega challenge is to establish the confidence interval. Samples are not perfect (Bryman 2008). Hence, setting the limits of the error that is permissible in the research is necessary. â€Å"The confidence level determines how much higher or lower than the population researchers are willing to let their sample mean to fall† (Scott 2011, p.89). Although a researcher ha s the freedom of determining the range within which a sample mean should fall in, a standard value of +/-5 is chosen for this research. For statistical analysis, it is necessary to choose an appropriate confidence level. For an empirical research, the mostly used confidence levels are 90 percent, 95 percent, and 99 percent (Smithson 2003, p.67). In the proposed research, 95 percent confidence interval will be deployed. Standard deviation is yet another important parameter in the determination of sample size for utilisation in a primary research. It refers to the degree in which the interviewees’ responses should vary. 0.5 is utilised in this research since â€Å"it is the most forgiving number that ensures that a sample is large enough† (Scott 2011, p.89). Choosing a large sample is important since a larger sample attracts representativeness of the population characteristics. A given confidence level corresponds to a given Z score value. For 95 percent confidence, Z sc ore value is 1.96. With this value, it becomes possible to calculate the required sample size using the formula- (Scott 2011). When the chosen values are substituted in this equation, the value of sample size is 385. Methodology Conducting a business in online environments implies that a physical contact between customers and sellers rarely takes place. This means that holding face-to-face interviews with customers of Taobao in the effort to garner information on their motivation for buying is incredibly difficult and an unreliable method of data collection. Indeed, garnering data for this research requires deployment of more than one technique. To enhance transaction through the B2C and C2C criteria, the seller and buyer share contact information including telephone numbers and e-mail contacts. The researcher proposes to utilise contact information of customers of Taobao contained in the organisation’s database to e-mail questionnaires, conduct telephone interviews, and whe re possible to request some of the customers who are successfully incorporated in the sample for a face-to face-interview. The researcher also determines various proportional strategies deployed by Taobao and the impacts of such strategies on the selling capability of the company. Through the questionnaires and the telephone interview, the audience provides information on how they knew about Taobao and their perception about online payments and procurement. This information helps in the determination of correlation and relationship between marketing strategy and consumer behaviours within Taobao marketplace. Conclusion Different customers require different promotional strategies to place products and services of an organisation to them. For online shoppers, it is hypothesised by the dissertation that such shoppers have a particular buying behaviour, which requires specific promotional strategies. The hypothesis suggests that a relationship exists between customers’ behaviour and promotional strategy. While this may be true for organisations selling through physical premises, minimal research has been conducted to determine this relationship for online marketplace especially in China. In the effort to seal this gap, the dissertation proposes a research to determine a relationship between customers’ behaviour and promotional strategies used by Taobao. For Taobao, majority of the online shoppers are middle class and in the age group of between 0 and 35 years. Consequently, the research will be based on this target group by use of e-mailed questionnaires, face-to-face interviews and telephone interviews as the main primary methods of data collections for a sample of 385 Taobao online shoppers. Analysis will then be conducted to determine the correlation and hence the relationship between the two aspects. References Abhamid, N McGrath, M 2005, ‘The Diffusion of Internet’s Interactivity on E-tail Web Sites: A Customer Relationship Modelâ €™, Communications of the International Information Management Association, vol. 2 no.1, pp. 45-70. Abhamid, N, McGrath, M Khatibi, A 2007, ‘Retaining Online Consumers: Evidence from South East Asia’, WSEAS Transactions on Systems, vol. 6 no. 3, pp. 541-548. Anbu, J Mavuso, M 2012, ‘Old Wine in New Wine Skin: Marketing Services Through SMS-Based Alert Services’, Library Hi Tech, vol. 30 no. 2, pp. 310-320. Anderson, E Srinivasan, S 2003, ‘E-satisfaction and e-loyalty: A contingency framework’, Psychology Marketing, vol. 20 no. 3, pp. 123-138. Armstrong, S 2001, ‘Prediction of Consumer Behaviour by Experts and Novices’, Journal of Consumer Research, vol.18 no.6, pp. 251–256. Blackwell, M Engel, C 2006, Consumer Behaviour, Thomson Learning, New York. Bryman, A 2008, Social Research Methods, OUP, Oxford. Carmody, B 2004, Online Promotions: Winning Strategies And Tactics, Black Forest Press, New York. Creaswell, J 2008, Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches, Sage Publications, New York. Foxall, G 2005, Understanding Consumer Choice, Palgrave Macmillian, Baingstoke. Kalakota, R Whinston, A 2008, Frontiers of electronic commerce, Addison Wesley, New Jersey. Kardes, F et al. 2011, Consumer Behaviour, Cengage Learning, Mason, OH. Khosla, S 2010, ‘Consumer Psychology: The Essence of Marketing’, International Journal of Educational Administration, vol. 2 no. 2, pp. 220–225. Lorenzo, C 2010, Consumer Behaviour in an Online Shopping Environment: Effects and interactions, Kinga Po Trebovaniy, Poland. Maktoba, O, Ian, B Sonny, N 2011, ‘Internet marketing and customer satisfaction in emerging markets: the case of Chinese online shoppers, Competitiveness Review’, An International Business Journal incorporating Journal of Global Competitiveness, vol. 21 no. 2, pp. 224-237. Myers, A, Nichols, J, Wobbrock, O Miller, R 2006, ‘Taking hand held devices to the next level’, IEEE Computer Journal, vol. 37 no. 12, pp. 36−43. Paco, U 2008, Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping, UpdRev Publications, New Jersey. Rust, T, Zeithaml, A Lemon, N 2004, ‘Customer centred brand management’, Harvard Business Review, vol. 82 no. 4, pp. 110-118. Saunders, M, Thornhill, A Lewis, P 2009, Research Methods for Business Students, Financial Times, Prentice Hall. Scott, S 2011, ‘Research methodology: Sampling techniques’, Journal of scientific research, vol. 2 no.1, pp. 87-92. Smithson, M 2003, Confidence intervals: Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences, Sage Publications, Belmont, CA. Solomon, M 2004, Consumer Behaviour, Allyn Bacon, London. Taobao Marketplace 2013, Online Promotion Strategy. Web. Taobao Marketplace Index, 2013, Taobao Marketplace user market segmentation. Web. Ward, R Lee, J 2006, ‘Internet shopping, consumer search and product branding’, Journal of Product a nd Brand Management, vol. 9 no. 1, pp. 6-12. Xiaoni, Z Prybutok, V 2004, ‘An empirical study of online shopping: a service perspective’, International Journal of Service Technology and Management, vol. 5 no.1, pp. 1-13. Zhang, D Adipat, B 2005, ‘Challenges, methodologies, and issues in the usability of testing mobile applications’, International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, vol. 18 no. 3, pp. 293-308. This dissertation on Promotion Strategy and Customers’ Behaviour: Taobao was written and submitted by user Hepz1bah to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Toyota Supply Chain Management

Toyota Supply Chain Management Introduction Today, the Toyota Company has the best supply chain management framework many companies in the world use as a model and benchmark to implement their supply chain management practices. The best practices are based on Toyota’s supply chain management‘s lean thinking techniques.Advertising We will write a custom term paper sample on Toyota Supply Chain Management specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The rationale is efficiency and lean thinking to achieve effectiveness and customer satisfaction. The purpose of this paper is to discover how Toyota’s supply chain management approach is implemented, the significance, and negative impact of the supply chain management practices. Toyota’s Supply chain management, Isnt It Obvious It is obvious that the study raises questions on the meaning of supply chain management and how Toyota implements its supply chain management practices to position the company in th e market and be globally competitive. In answer to the questions, supply chain management, in the context of lean thinking, embodies techniques and strategies to improve the operational efficiency and effectiveness in the production, supply, and delivery of products and services to the customers (Ohno, 1988, p.3). Toyota operates on a global scale based on the concept of lean thinking in the steady stream of activities that contribute to the company’s supply chain management processes to optimize the production and delivery of vehicles to the global market (Huntzinger, 2002, p.23). In answer to â€Å"how† Toyota does the supply chain management, it is critical to note here that Toyota’s company executives have all the secrets about the lean thinking techniques the company employs in its supply chain management. The key words â€Å"lean thinking† underlies the efficiency that defines Toyota’s supply chain management framework. Flow system Flow is a concept underlying Toyota operational efficiency and success. Here, the company ensures that any point in the production and supply chain framework that hinders any process is removed from the entire system (Drogosz, 2002, p.4). The underlying model is to ensure that the production of different models of vehicles, the supply of materials required for the production of vehicles and the components needed proceed uninterrupted. In this case, a one-piece-at-a-time production process is facilitated creating a lean manufacturing and supply chain environment (Liker, 2004, p.4).Advertising Looking for term paper on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The way Toyota implements its supply chain management strategies is by facilitating the behavior and principles which facilitate production focused on long term results and not on short term gains (Drogosz, 2002, p.5). From the perspective of Toyota’s sup ply management framework, the flow concept forms the basis for the company’s success and enables the company to eliminate losses from the large inventory of unused equipment, products, and labor (Huntzinger, 2002, p.21). In addition, the company’s cost per piece production system works by assigning specialized tasks to qualified employees and provides a separation of duties and responsibilities within the company framework, which contributes to the success of the company. In this case, the products are made in quantities that are in demand. The benefits include short lead times and the making of specific products to address specific needs of the customer. To be lean, Toyota uses a tool that requires each employee’s commitment in eliminating wastes that leads to errors, injuries, and defects. In addition, the necessary training, knowledge, and motivation are provided to workers by improving the workplace environment (Drogosz, 2002, p.4). The key elements in this approach are management commitment, appropriate training and development, and inculcation of organizational culture that supports the top management commitment and involvement to continuous improvements. In each case, problems could are brought to the surface and solutions to address the problems formulated on time. Pulling from the customer On the other hand, the concept of pulling from the back of the customer is a crucial component in Toyota’s supply chain management strategy. All the lean activities are integrated into the system where products are supplied according to the current need and use. Typically, the products are delivered in the right quantities and at the right time to the right destination. The logistics is crucial because it reduces the lead time and costs (Drogosz, 2002, p.4). A question on the strategy the company uses to implement the pull from the back approach occurs. The answer is obvious. The underlying principle is the just-in-time (JIT). The princip le provides the basis for material replenishment, minimal effort and warehousing inventory, based on what is taken by the customer to make small replenishments and ensuring responsibility in the day-to-day changes in the demand for products. The solution is to integrate computerized information systems for inventory processing purposes (Huntzinger, 2002, p.22). The pull concept is crucial in the entire supply chain management process because the entire workforce uses stable and repeatable methods to ensure regular output, predictability, and timing which form the foundation of the pull and flow concept (Drogosz, 2002, p.5).Advertising We will write a custom term paper sample on Toyota Supply Chain Management specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The question arises then, how is the lean concept realized in the supply chain of the company in the context of the pull and flow approaches? The answer is that the lean concept becomes a success by ensuring that wastes are eliminated in each phase of the supply chain cycle. The company ensures that employees and the entire supply chain system is not overburdened (Huntzinger, 2002, p.17). All production and supply chain schedules are evenly distributed to minimize unnecessary burden on the system so that the work is evenly leveled. Talk time Talk time is one of the concepts that are the foundation of Toyota’s lean concept in the supply chain management exemplified in the way the management talk about the need to eliminate waste. The management ensures non-value adding activities are avoided to eliminate wastes to reduce lead time, excess inventory, and other delays. It enables the company to avoid overburdening people and machinery which leads to quality and safety problems. The people are encouraged to talk with qualified and trained group leaders on the problems and challenges encountered and possible solutions to the problems. Significance of supply chain managemen t One can learn the significance of supply chain management from the above discussion and the way Toyota undertakes the supply chain management process embedded in the lean thinking strategy. Supply chain is critical in the total management of each of the phases involved in the supply chain to eliminate wastes and ensure effectiveness and efficiency (Huntzinger, 2002, p.12). In addition, supply chain is important because the management is able to identify and align effective inventory management, inbound transportation, material handling, warehousing, and transportation service procurement based on Toyota’s supply management lean thinking strategy (Huntzinger, 2002, p.5). Toyota, through an effective supply chain strategy embedded in the company’s lean thinking concept has made the company grow in its revenue base (Bolles, 2003, p.3).Advertising Looking for term paper on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In addition, the company has experienced effective asset utilization, effective cost management and controls, and enhance customer product and service delivery. As discussed above, Toyota’s growth is strongly correlated to its supply chain management because perfect orders are given for the right market, with after sales services easily within reach of the customer (Huntzinger, 2002, p.7). In addition, reduced inventory as stated above leads to working capital reductions where delays in the delivery of products and services are minimal or lacking completely. Investigations show that Toyota’s supply chain management strategy leads to fixed capital efficiency by optimizing the supply network leading to a global tax minimization and cost minimization. However, the negative side of supply chain management exists (Huntzinger, 2002, p.5). Negative impact Studies show the negative impacts include the risks resulting from the macro economic trends which have the possibility of magnifying the problems that arise because of the complex nature of the supply chain methods (Bolles, 2003, p.3). In addition, other problems include margin erosion and changes in consumer behavior and sudden changes in demand, which makes the supply chain management worse, and the lack of new technologies to absorb the sudden changes (Bolles, 2003, p.3). Conclusion In conclusion, Toyota’s supply chain management is embodied in the lean manufacturing concept developed by the company for efficiency and effective delivery of products to the market. The significance of Toyota’s supply chain management is valuable and acts as a tool for efficiency and effectiveness in product and service delivery. The key pillar of the effectiveness of Toyota’s supply chain management is the lean thinking concept which has many benefits despite the negative impact of the supply chain management. References Bolles, R. N. (2003). What Color Is Your Parachute? A Practical Manual for J ob   Hunters and Career-Changers. Revised edition. Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press. Drogosz, J. D. (2002). Applying Lean above the Factory Floor. Journal of Ship  Production, 18 (3), 159-166. Huntzinger, J. (2002). The Roots of Lean: Training Within Industry: The Origin of  Kaizen. Target, 18 (1), 1-20. Liker, J. K. (2004). The Toyota Way: 14 Management Principles from the Worlds  Greatest Manufacturer. New York: McGraw-Hill Ohno, T. (1988). Toyota Production System: Beyond Large-Scale Production. Portland, OR: Productivity Press.

Causes of stress and its solution

The circumstances that cause stress are called stressors. Stressors vary in severity and duration .For example the responsibility of caring for a sick parent may be an ongoing source of major stress , whereas getting stuck in a traffic jam mat cause mild short term stress .Some events such as death of a loved one are stressful for everyone .But in other situations ,individuals may respond differently to the same event. Stressors can be classified into 3 general categories: 1)catastrophic stress 2)Major life changes 3)Daily hassles In addition simply thinking about unpleasant past events or anticipating unpleasant future events can cause stress for many people. 1)Catastrophe: Is a sudden , often, life threatening calamity or disaster that pushes people to do outer limits of their coping capability example earthquakes ,tornadoes ,fires ,floods and hurricanes as well as wars ,torture ,automobile accidents , violent physical attacks and sexual assaults . They often continue to affect the individuals mental health long after the event has taken place. 2)Major life changes: The most stressful events for adults involve major life changes such as death of a spouse ,family member ,divorce , imprisonment ,loosing ones job and major personal disability or illness . The most stressful events for adolescents are death ,imprisonment or divorce of parents ,personal disability or illness .Getting married is a positive experience but planning the wedding ,deciding whom to invite ,and dealing with family  members may be stressful for the couples. 3)Daily hassles: Much of the stress in our lives results from having to deal with daily hassles pertaining to our jobs ,personal relationships and everyday living circumstance .Many people experience the same hassles everyday example living in a noisy neighbourhood ,commuting with heavy traffic ,disliking ones fellow workers ,worrying about money , waiting in a long line and misplacing or losing things .When taken individually , this hassles may feel like minor irritants , but cumulatively , they can cause significant stress . Studies have found that one’s exposure to daily hassles is actually more predictive of illness than is exposure to major life events . SOLUTIONS TO STRESS 1)coping with stress: Coping with stress means using thoughts and actions to deal with stressful situations and lower our stress levels. People who cope well with stress tend to believe that the can personally influence what happens to them .The usually make more positive statements about themselves ,resist frustration ,remain optimistic and persevere even under extremely adverse circumstances. People who cope poorly with stress tend to have somewhat opposite personality characteristic such as low self esteem and a pessimistic outlook on life. Coping strategies: Psychologists distinguish 2 broad types of coping strategies: a)Problem focused coping b)Emotional focused coping The goal of both strategies is to control ones stress level. In problem focused coping people try to short circuit negative emotions by taking some actions to modify ,minimize or avoid the threatening situation . In emotional focused coping people try to directly moderate or eliminate unpleasant situations. Problem focused coping is the most effective coping strategy. 2)Social support: Social support from friends ,family members and others who care for us goes a long way in helping us to get by in times of trouble. Social support system provides us with emotional sustenance ,tangible resource ,aid and information when we are in need .People with social support feel cared about and valued by others and feel a sense of belonging to a larger social network. 3)Bio feedback: Bio feedback is a technique by which people learn voluntary control of stress related physiological response such as skin temperature ,muscle tension ,blood pressure and heart rate .Normally people cannot control these responses voluntarily .Individuals learn to be sensitive to subtle changes inside their body that affect the response system being measured. 4)Relaxation: There are 2 types of relaxation A)Progressive muscular relaxation B)Relaxation We should learn to relax our body. 5)Aerobic exercise: Aerobic exercise such as running , walking ,biking and skiing can help keep stress level down because the increase the endurance of the heart and lungs ,an aerobically fit individual will have a lower heart rate at rest and lower blood pressure ,less reactivity to stressors and quicker recovery from stressors.

Developing leadership challenges and solutions interviewing questions Assignment

Developing leadership challenges and solutions interviewing questions - Assignment Example One thing noted during the initial days after getting into the country that was quite different from UAE is that people stick to their families and do not even know who most of their neighbors are. They just choose to live isolated and do not care about the neighbor across the street unless the neighborhood is of a low-income level or middle-class. Not all middle-class neighborhoods appreciate people who come to knock at their doors but they also choose their favorites with whom they associate with greatly. In the event that the neighborhood is closely knit, the people will be inviting each other for barbeques and parties, and the neighbors always come with drinks and are ready to assist where they can to make the party a big event. The people here care about each other and are mainly divided by class. The level of participation in events in the country imply a great level of understanding that allows them to make good use of their skills as a way of creating the best moment in their lives that will remained etched into their minds until something else happens. In the UAE, the only life people have depends on the family values. Some families will have their extended families stay with them and the sharing of meals and events define their fun moments. In the US, the extended family mainly comes together once a year during thanksgiving and any more visits will be preplanned (Besamusca, 2011). In the UAE, families maintain close links with each other and define the importance of developing their ties further, appreciating what they do together. The children are also raised liberally, and that is different from what is practiced in the UAE. Children in the U.S. have a lot of freedom and some do not even listen to their parents because of the freedom accorded to them. They go to parties without their parents’ presence and some even indulge while at those parties. In the U.A.E., it is quite different. Strict discipline is used to raise children to be

Job Performace Case Study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Job Performace Case Study - Essay Example Yet, the labour objected taking the same job classification out of the bargaining unit. This indicates the inherent suspicion that characterizes labour union-management relations and is partly responsible for the fall in job performance of the job testers. The labour union clearly showed this at the hearing. It blamed the management for not only disciplining the defaulting employees but also offering the same job classification to the same defaulting employees when the job classification was removed from the bargaining unit. This suggest the unions ‘I don’t care’ attitude because the testers handled only a job classification in the production process. Their poor performance would not have been undetected by other salaried employees. But the feeling that the management should be responsible for its ‘experimental’ decision might have informed the ‘I don’t care’ attitude. The testers were not considered part of the labours or other em ployees’ purview. In addition, one of the differences between salaried job under the non-bargaining unit and hourly job under the bargaining unit is the lack of supervision of non-salaried employees. The company management expressed its inability to discipline the testers despite having knowledge of testers’ poor performance. It means that ‘casualized’ employment focuses on cost minimization measured in terms of output of employees at the expense of employees’ conduct. Negotiating the issue of the failure of experimental program would have been the normal (or moral) thing to do. The management informed the union in the first place, when it intended to experiment the program. This gave rise to the side bar agreement. Under this agreement, the movement of the tester job classification to the bargaining unit was based on the condition of program success (quality of product). Given this and the subsequent failure of experimental program, the management ought

Youth Involvement in Sports Essay Example for Free

Youth Involvement in Sports Essay Parents have been involved in youth sport for quite some time now, and they always will. Help from parents is essential, but sometimes parent’s involvement can be a bit too much. Fast growing team sports like hockey and soccer traditionally have a lot of parent involvement because they can be expensive, scholarship opportunities seem to be everywhere, and way too many parents think their little one will be the next big superstar athlete. Violence, controlling behavior and abusive behavior towards officials, athletes, coaches and spectators has a lot of youth organizations second guessing the role of parents in youth sport. Mandatory training classes for parents on sportsmanship and behavioral conduct are becoming more popular, because a lot of parents just do not know how to act. The involvement of parents in youth sport is essential because some one has to get little Johnny to and from games and practices. Plus expensive league fees and equipment do not pay for themselves, but should this be looked at as an investment or a recreational expense. (Especially at the youth level) The parents of today are investing huge amounts of time and money into the development of children, when the children should just be focusing on fun and friends. This over involvement of parents can negatively affect the child’s feelings towards sport because fun and enjoyment is taken out of the equation as business, skill development, and financial return is emphasized. Parents just need to support their child’s involvement in sport as it relates to participation and enjoyment. What happens in a lot of cases is the parents try to live through their kids and when the parents take control the fun goes out the window. So why do children participate in sport? That is the million dollar question. Well a recent study was taken on what the most popular reason for youth sport participation was. The number one reason for youth participating in sport is to have fun. It is not about winning and bring home a huge trophy and having championship medals, kids just want to have fun. New skills, to be with friends and the thrill of competition were the next on the list. (Winning was not one of the most popular reasons) Parents need to focus on emotional and financial support of their children during their sporting experience. Children will experience a lot of ups and downs while participating in sports, wins losses cheaters as long as verbal encouragement is shown and support is given things should go pretty well. When parents get emotionally involved things usually start going down hill and kids tend to lose their interest. The two most visible types of parents in youth sport are excitable and fanatical. Excitable parents are usually supportive, but they tend to get caught up in the moment. They have good intensions, but at the end of the day they probably create more bad then good. Excitable parents can be embarrassing and the children of excitable parents usually do not want their parents involved in competition, or practices. Fanatical parents put a lot of pressure on their kids and are constantly creating scenes with officials and coaches. The kids of these parents do not show a lot of excitement towards games and practices, and chances are they will drop out of sports completely. Fanatical parents are way too focused on winning and losing. The fanatical parents are the parents who are living through their children and who push them way too much on a consistent basis. These parents do not recognize the ability levels of their kids and they believe their kid will become the next superstar athlete. Parent orientation meeting are becoming more popular in youth sports. I believe they are a great way to start off the season. The meetings are planned to create a connection between the coach and the parents. The meeting helps everyone get on the same page, and it gives the coach a chance to lay down the laws and it give parents a chance to answer questions. Coaches will get a chance to introduce themselves and explain their philosophy. Safety procedures, schedules, parent responsibilities and league rules can be explained. Playing time and disciplinary actions will also be covered. I believe if parents let coaches coach, ref’s ref and kids play everything will be alright. At the end of the day everyone just wants to have fun, and the youth sport experience can be improved when everyone is supportive of one another. Winning should never be the priority when it comes to youth sports. Of course winning is fun, but at the end of the day it is not the most important thing in the world. If parents let their kids make the decisions about when, where and why they want to play sports then everything will be alright, but if parents get too involved things will go down hill and youth participation levels will follow.

Essays --

It was a cold and blistering Thursday morning. I had just gotten my cup of coffee and was reading the morning paper and there it was on the front page of the Erie Gazette; â€Å"Mogul Industries moving facility to Mexico†. Mogul Industries is the largest automotive support organization in the United States plus it is the major employer in Erie. As a business owner specializing in retail dry good, this concerns me. My first though was about my 100 employees and the future of my store and business. I started hyperventilating and sweating; my wife looked at me and asked me what I was going to do? My first thought was to run, but I knew that would not work for me. Then I had a flashback to my college days at Ashford University in my Organizational Development class. I started to back off the ledge and calm down. I looked at my wife and told her that I have to analyze the challenges facing your company using Organizational Development (OD) principles. Appling the OD princ iple will ensure my business not only stays alive, but possibly transform it into the largest retailer in town. The first question that came from my wife was â€Å"What is Organizational Development?† Richard Beckhard defined Organization Development as an effort to plan, organize, and manage from the top to increase organization effectiveness and health through planned interventions in the organizations "processes," using behavioral-science knowledge. (Beckhard, 1969). A simpler definition is that OD is the logical application for behavior science to bring about deliberate change in an organization. The intended objectives and outcomes are for organizational survival through improved adaptability, productivity, and effectiveness. These objectives will be accompl... ... they ought to modify, continue or discontinue the activities. The need for the practitioner decreases during this stage and will gradually disengage from the process as it stabilizes. The client system needs to mature the ability to maintain innovation without outside support. It is important to remember that each stage should be monitored to ensure the process is staying on track. If all goes well, our organization will be on track to surviving the change in the community. Organizations wanting to survive and be successful are faced with the continually evaluating and introducing changes to better their organization. Looking at the corporate world, there are two types of companies. You have the ones who continue to change with the times and those who are going out of business. Our organization is going to adapt and implement continual change if needed.

Limited Household Participation in the Stock Market Phenomenon Analysis

LIMITED HOUSEHOLD PARTICIPATION IN THE STOCK MARKET PHENOMENON ANALYSIS TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION3 2. FACTORS THAT DETERMINE STOCKHOLDING DECISION OF HOUSEHOLDS4 2. 1. Wealth4 2. 2. Intelligence quotient (IQ) and cognitive skills4 2. 3. Education4 2. 4. Country4 2. 5. Information availability and ease to trade6 2. 6. Market trust6 2. 7. Age7 2. 8. Marital status7 2. 9. Sociability (social interaction)8 2. 10. Personal values9 2. 11. Life satisfaction9 2. 12. Health10 2. 3. Risk aversion10 3. CONCLUSIONS12 4. REFERENCES13 1. INTRODUCTION There are a lot of researches made to investigate the reasons why households participation in the stock market is relatively low. According to the numbers, only 21% of EU households participate in stockholding (European Survey of Consumer Finances, 2009). This looks irrational because the majority of the society members do not capture their chance to win additional benefits from their wealth in the stock market.The purpose of this exploratory research is to provide general insights about current status of households stock market participation and explain the variables that have effects on stockholding decision by households. Currently, the households investment level can be treated as market inefficiency due to irrational or unconscious households behavior. However, there is a number of external factors that influence the decision making in this field too.The statistics from variuos countries imply differences even among highly developed countries with similar GDP per capita like Italy with 14% and UK with 26% households stockholding level (European Survey of Consumer Finances, 2009). This means that there are externalities that lead to such differences and not just irrational households behavior determine the situation. To draw the full picture, this research focuses on both types of factors – internal and external. The following chapters include short analysis of the main factors that have impact on household st ockholding decision and the summary. . FACTORS THAT DETERMINE STOCKHOLDING DECISION OF HOUSEHOLDS 2. 1. Wealth Wealth refers to accumulated tangible and intangible assets. It is obvious that for stock investing households need to have some tangible assets to buy stocks. Therefore, wealth is one of the main factors that determine whether a household can actually invest, or in other words, convert savings to investment. According to the survey, 31% of respondents in EU state that they have some savings but do not participate in any kind of investing (European Survey of Consumer Finances, 2009).Households starting to invest face a number of costs such as time spent to understand the stock market system, get familiar with markets situation and trading flow. It may seem that the knowledge gain does not cost anything but there are opportunity costs when it comes to time. Other than that, there are also some direct tangible costs like transaction costs, taxes and other fees for the brokera ge. Of course for wealthier households this kind of barriers are less relevant, however, poorer households might be considering if possible benefits outweigh the costs. . 2. Intelligence quotient (IQ) and cognitive skills IQ is probably the most common measure to assess human intelligence. There is no doubt that beneficial stockholding requires appropriate level of intelligence to make good investing decisions. According to recent researches, there is a correlation between IQ and participation in stock market (IQ and Stock Market Participation, 2011). Households’ heads with higher IQ tend to diversify, hold mutual funds, more stocks and eventually bear lower risks with higher returns.In addition to IQ, it is worth to mention cognitive skills that have impact on participation and successfullness of stockholding. Good cognitive skills lead to lower time costs for getting knowledge and higher awareness that are so crucial for investing. 2. 3. Education In general, education prov ides a lot of advantages for societies and its members. Self development is crucial to gain cognitive skills, general knowledge, increase awareness and gain variuos experiences. These are the traits necessary for successful participation in stock markets.It is proven that education has positive correlation with households stockholding participation. More specifically, even one additional year of schooling increases the possibility of participation by 7% – 8% (Stock market participation and household characteristics in Europe, 2010). Moreover, decisions making of educated households’ heads are more rational. 2. 4. Country As it is mentioned in the introduction, different countries have created different environments for stock markets and, therefore, this is one more factor that can influence households stockholding decision.More specifically, governments can influence investment climate by adjusting such variables as taxes, laws, infrastructure, education, general count ry’s stability and even more. The Figure 1 below represents country specific percentage of households having direct and indirect stockholdings between 2006 and 2007 (Stock market participation and household characteristics in Europe, 2010). Figure 1. Stock market participation and household characteristics in Europe, 2010. In order to improve the opportunities for households to participate in tock markets, while at the same time to make it easier to enter the above-mentioned markets to new entrants, and to improve the conditions of participation for existing participants, and finally – to ensure the stability of financial markets, government often takes appropriate actions, whose has a relatively high impact on the further development of stock markets. Government must ensure the macroeconomic stability of financial markets, while at the same time they must ensure the existence of an open economy.A theory of an open economy is very important on the development of stock markets, because only in this case people and companies can freely trade in goods and services with other people and businesses, so that has a major impact on the growth of financial markets. Another neccessary condition for the success of any stock market is its repayment of stock dividends culture – before making any type of investment it must be ensured that stockholders will be allowed to get their dividends at a pre-determined time and at a pre-determined amounts.Talking about ensuring the fair trading process, European Union in 2004 released the EU’s Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) (this directive was implemented three years later, in 2007), in order to open the door to the creation of new trading platforms directly operated by intermediaries, and in 2008, nine major investment banks (BNP Paribas, Citi, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Societe Generale and UBS) has launched new pan-European equities tr ading platform (based in London) called â€Å"Project Turquoise†.Has this directive had an impact on stock markets? Yes. The issuance of this directive led European Union to increase competition and consumer protection in investment services. In order to complete this section about relevant government efforts, we must conclude that the relevant government actions truly has a significant effect on the growth of stock (and bond) markets, promotes fair trade among all countries included in the process of buying / selling stocks, and eventually – influences country's economic level to ncrease. But are these actions sufficient enough in order to ensure the increase of the involvement of households in the stock markets in the future? 2. 5. Information availability and ease to trade Technologies and their development have huge impact on everyday households life. Although nowadays the majority of wealthy households have ability to use the Internet, two decades earlier this was different and households participation in stock market rate was different too.The research of impact of the Internet to stock market participation reveals that there are strong evidences that the Internet penetration contributed to increased amount of households participating in stock market (Stock Market Participation and the Internet, 2008). According to the same research, the usage of the Internet increases the possibility to have stocks by 7%. This is mostly because of ease of stock trading (online trading), lower transaction costs and lower information costs. 2. 6. Market trustTrust is important factor for household’s decision to invest in stock market. Financial markets involve much risk and uncertainty. To tell the truth, the majority of households whose invest in stocks don't fully understand how the capital markets actually function. There needs to be some faith and certainty in this process. If it is known that a certain person or a company is unreliable and untrus tworthy, you, simply, don’t want to have any kind of business and common interests with them. The same is with households.In deciding whether to buy stocks, investors takes into account the risk of being cheated, so those households, whose generally are more trusting, are also more likely to invest in the financial markets, and those who are less trusting are less likely to invest in the market. Collapses of financial markets and its key participants – individual companies’ (when fraud was initiated and tolerated by heads of major companies) not only lowers the distribution of expected payoffs, but at the same time reduces the confidence in the system, which generates these enefits. A great example – company â€Å"Enron†. â€Å"Enron† was one of the biggest U. S. energy companies, however, when it was revealed lots of obscure in accounting procedures (it can be considered as a fraud), performed in 1990 on both â€Å"Enron† and its par tner, accounting company â€Å"Arthur Andersen†, there was a bankruptcy initiated on â€Å"Enron† – it was the largest bankruptcy in U. S. history. Share price fell from $ 90 to a few cents, and since those shares was considered to be very reliable, this bankruptcy was considered as disaster in the financial world.Company’s shareholders lost nearly $11 billion. What do you think, what impact do these examples of companies’ breakdowns have on the growth in confidence in financial markets? 2. 7. Age Another interesting fact in observing limited household stock market participation phenomenon – age. One of the factors that influence household’s decisions about stockholdings is the age’s effect on risk tolerance. There was a research done, in order to identify the risk tolerance level within specified age groups, and it showed that the risk tolerance decreases within the age.According to a research done by Rui Yao, Michael S. Gutte r, and Sherman D. Hanna, where they analyzed the effect of race and ethnicity on subjective financial risk tolerance, measuring age as a continuous variable, found out that each year increase in age decreased a probability of taking any type of risk by almost 2 %. Another factor, having significant impact on household investment decisions according to its age, is income.As this factor was discussed at one of the beginning pages of this research paper, it is worth to remind that different age groups receives different amounts of wages, what has an impact on their ability to act and to invest in financial markets. Finally, it is an interesting fact that interpersonal trust (trust is our previously described factor due to limited household participation in stock market, but this time this factor is viewed from a slightly different perspective) is more important for stock market participation decision within younger age groups and political orientation within older age groups. . 8. Mari tal status It’s not a secret that marital status is another important factor, which has a significant impact on household’s decisions whether to participate in the stock market or not. Married people are more willing to take (and share with each other) a certain level of risk than those, whose are living alone, and those, whose are living together, but are not married at all. There was a research done in order to identify the effects of marriage and divorce on financial investments.According to this research, women are more likely to invest in the stock market after their marriage, and take back their investment after divorce, while at the same time men shows quite different patterns on investment decisions. This suggests that the female gender is more risk averse than men (risk averse is also identified as one of the factors that has an impact on household’s investment decisions in the stock market), but in terms of couples who are married, a degree of risk mor e or less evenly distributes among themselves.It is worth to mention that marriage increases the likelihood of future investments in the financial markets for both men and women. There are lots of household finance literature available both online and in libraries, where it is often highlighted the differences in men and women behaviors while investing (marital status, as one of the factors having impact on households decision whether to participate in stock market or not, can be analyzed in a little bit different way.That’s true – by gender and by risk level each gender has possibility to take on themselves). According to the literature, the differences on investment preferences between men and women are more exposed, when individuals rather than married couples are being analyzed, because as it was mentioned earlier, married investors takes more risk than single investors. A distribution in risk by gender, talking in terms of marital status, is not the only reason fo r limited household participation in stock market. There an be distinguished several different factors, attributable to marital status – it‘s changes in household risk preferences, changes in background risks, and, also, changes in economic resources. 2. 9. Sociability (social interaction) Is it not true that working with a good company of friends involves more fun and at the same time the overall productivity increases? At the same time, don‘t you feel safer when you purchase a good, that was tested by people living in your environment, and it was recommended as a reliable and useful good?Another example would be a participation in any social program, where there previously participated, for example, your neighbours or friends – your decision-making process is very strongly influenced by the people of your environment, and here takes place the so-called phenomenon of word-of-mouth communication. All these examples perfectly suites to define one more factor , which explains limited household participation in stock market phenomenon – it is sociability, or, in other words, household‘s social interaction.Harvard Business School provides us with an opportunity to observe their findings about sociability‘s impact on stockholding decisions. Firstly, according to a research done, social households – those households, that has friendly and warm relations with their neighbours, are more likely to participate in stock markets, than those, whose relations with their neighbours are ruined or there aren‘t any neighbours in their environment. Secondly, as the proof of the first claim about sociability, researchers indicates that the impact of sociability is much more higher in those states with higher stock market participation rates.Quite „unexpectedâ€Å", right? Finally, they found out that differential between social and non-social households appears to have widened since 1990s. We often encounter with wor d-of-mouth communication‘s impact in our everyday‘s life, but when you are trying to assess sociability‘s influence on household decisions whether to participate on stock markets or not, you then realize the true power of a word. Word-of-mouth information sharing is key point in understanding sociability as another factor of limited household stockholding decisions, so we state that there‘s a significant impact of social interaction on such like household decisions. 2. 10. Personal values This research is gradually beginning to analyze not only the superficial factors, that affects household decisions related to stock market participation, but it also tries to look a little bit deeper into personal characteristics of an investor. One of the most important internal factor, having a great impact on investor‘s financial decisions, is personal values of an individual.A technical definition of personal values would be that it‘s the strongest internal p rovisions, having a large impact on our everyday decisions. Those everyday decisions are better know as our consumption decisions, they are also a major driver of our voting decisions and so on. Compared to other internal factors, such as risk aversion or life satisfaction (those are our next two internal factors, whose will be discussed a little bit later in this research), studies about personal values and its impact on our everyday‘s life are more preferable by today‘s researchers.According to their findings, personal values are connected to various demographic variables, i. e. Self-Transcedence and Openness to Change are the values that are proven to become more important when the level of education gets higher. It have also been proven that personal values are associated with social involvement, where, according to researchers, social involvement increases with the level of education. Finally, about two thirds of all studies shows that political orientation has stro ngest association with personal values.As every person has different values, the same is with political orientation – as there are many factors affecting citizens‘ lives, such as the income inequality, national security and so on, it is natural, however, that different values are emphasized in different environments. So what’s a true effect of personal values on investment decisions? Firstly, people with self-enhancement values of power and achievement are more likely to invest in stock markets than the others.And secondly, it is observed that personal values have a significant impact on those groups of people and their decisions, where investing in stock markets is relatively rare. 2. 11. Life satisfaction Isn’t it true that happier, more optimistic and satisfied with their life people embraces better decisions? What are the differences between pessimistic and optimistic people? – Optimists are more likely to believe that future economic conditions will improve. On the other hand, it is observed that optimistic people are working longer hours, they are more likely to remarry after divorce.So, optimism and life satisfaction are other important factors influencing households’ economy-related decisions. There was a research by Cambridge university‘s researchers done, where they found that optimism is highly correlated with stock ownership. People with higher levels of life satisfaction lives longer. Mostly. Therefore they think they are further from retirement, hence they are trying to control financial factors that are known that could affect their lifespan.It‘s a fact, that people, whose are more satisfied with their life, are working more, they are less pre-disposed towards retirement. What is more, it is more likely that one day they‘ll create any kind of business, so they‘ll become self-employed. Finally, optimistic people are more likely to remarry after divorce. All of this suggests that lif e satisfaction and optimism truly is a critical component of economic-decision making, and that those two factors plays an important role both on household decisions related to stock market participation and economic welfare of stockholders. . 12. Health Health risk is increasingly viewed as an important form of background risk that affects household portfolio decisions. According to household‘s level of health (whether it‘s poor or good) there‘s a possibility to detect whether household is willing to participate on the stock market or not – poor health is associated with smaller amount of risky assets and greater amount of safe assets. Researchers are trying to evaluate the links between health, health risk and portfolio selection.Recently it was observed that it does not matter whether households are trying to control their level of income and variety of socio-demographic characteristics, poor health decreases the probability of owning risky assets  œ for example, those households with poor health entails a higher risk of unexpected out-of-pocket medical expenditures, and prefers to own a corporate or government bond instead of holding a stock. Despite the fact that health risk quite often leads to a previously mentioned higher out-of-pocket medical expenditure risk, two possible outcomes can arise from such things.In particular, households may start changing the allocation of their financial resources, that can reduce their exposure to financial risk. On the second case, households can increase their precautionary saving, what reduces their ability to act in stock markets. At this point it is worth to mention that the intervention of government organizations reduces the impact of health risks related to household‘s stockholding decisions. That‘s why – it is observed that countries without adequate health care laws tends not to invest in risky financial assets, so this suggests an important role of such laws in shaping household‘s portfolio decisions. . 13. Risk aversion Finally, last but not least – factor, which had a significant role on this entire research. That’s risk aversion. We’ve emphasized different levels of risks on our study and their impact on household stockholding decisions, such as health risk or the age effect on risk tolerance. It has became clear that risk aversion reduces the probability of household‘s investments on risky assets. As the standard portfolio theory states, the amount of wealth a person wishes o invest in risky assets, depends directly on his degree of risk aversion, so it is logical to assume that if a person is more risk averse, he will hold safer portfolios. There was a research done several years in a row (from 1998 to 2001), where researchers found out that risk aversion has an effect not only on the structure of portfolio, but it also has an impact on the final decision whether an individual wants to become a stoc kholder (you should remember that previously we had a little discussion about that entry costs affects individuals‘ stock market participation decisions, too).Finally, talking about risk aversion‘s relation to other factors affecting stockholding decisions, it is found that risk aversion is negatively correlated with wealth. That‘s true – risk aversion decreases when wealth levels increases, and vice versa. To complete our discussion, another interesting fact – it was identified, that women are more risk averse than men, however, differences between genders, tends to be larger in single households (remember what effect on household‘s decisions on stockholding has marital status). 3. CONCLUSIONSIn general, all present researches about the topic agree that household stock market participation currently is not at the efficient point. There are a lot of complex factors that have impact on household stockholding decision and those have been discussed . However, some researchers observe even more correlations with stockholding decision and such interesting variables as race or living place but due to the limited scope of this exploratory research, these interesting factors are not taken into consideration. Needless to say, there are plenty of not mentioned factors that determine the level of stockholding.Of course, the governments are motivated to encourage investment level of households to make stock markets more efficient. There are some great examples how particular countries managed to increase the level of household stockholding over time. However, the complexity of the factors that lead to higher efficiency in each country are hard to determine and need further analysis to determine what works for each country particularly. Unfortunately, not all factors can be stabilized by the government. The global financial crisis of 2007-2008 showed that trust crisis in stock markets can not be handled so easily.Therefore, the only way to ensure sustainable stockholding growth is to adjust the system itself and add measures that could protect stockholders and decrease the possibility of such recessions. 4. REFERENCES 1. James P. Dow, Jr. , â€Å"Age, investing horizon and asset allocation†, 2008 2. George Korniotis, â€Å"Does Investment Skill Decline due to Cognitive Aging or Improve with Experience? †, 2007 3. Sule Alan, â€Å"Entry Costs and Stock Market Participation Over the Life Cycle†, 2006 4. Janus Capital Group, â€Å"European Survey of Consumer Finances†, 2009 5.Luigi Guiso, Paola Sapienza and Luigi Zingales, â€Å"Trusting the Stock Market†, 2008 6. Vicki Bogan, â€Å"Stock Market Participation and the Internet†, 2008 7. Mark Grinblatt, Matti Keloharju Juhani Linnainmaa, â€Å"IQ and Stock Market Participation†, 2011 8. Charlotte Christiansen, Juanna Cchroter Joensen, Jesper Rangvid, â€Å"Are Economists More Likely to Hold Stocks? †, 2007 9. Elin a Laakso, â€Å"Stock market participation and household characteristics in Europe†, 2010 10. Paul Gerrans, „Gender Differences in Retirement Savings Decisionsâ€Å" 11.Jeffrey R. Brown, Zoran Ivkovic, Paul A. Smith, Scott Weisbenner, „Neighbors Matter:Causal Community Effects and Stock Market Participationâ€Å", 2006 12. Dimitris Georgarakos, Giacomo Pasini, „Trust, Sociability and Stock Market Participationâ€Å", 2009 13. Kaustia, M. , Torstila, S. „Stock market aversion? Political preferences and stock market participation. â€Å", 2010 14. Shawn Cole, Gauri Kartini Shastry, „Smart Money: The Effect of Education, Cognitive Ability, and Financial Literacy on Financial Market Participationâ€Å", 2008 – 2009 15.George Korniotis, „Does Investment Skill Decline due to Cognitive Aging or Improve with Experience? â€Å", 2007 16. Rosen, H. , Wu, S. , „Portfolio choice and health status. Journal of Financial Economics ", 2004. 17. Edwards R. D. , „Health Risk and Portfolio Choiceâ€Å", 2005 18. Christiansen C. , Rangvid J. , Joensen J. S. , â€Å"The Effects of Marriage and Divorce on Financial Investments: Learning to Love or Hate Risk? †, 2010 19. Christiansen C. , Rangvid J. , Joensen J. S. , â€Å"Fiction or Fact: Systematic Gender Differences in Financial Investments? , 2010 20. Niilo Luotonen, „Personal Values and Stock Market Participation – Evidence from Finnish University Studentsâ€Å", 2009 21. Sule Alan, „Entry Costs and Stock Market Participation Over the Life Cycleâ€Å", 2006 22. Yao, R. , Gutter, M. S. , Hanna, S. D. , „The financial risk tolerance of Blacks, Hispanics and Whitesâ€Å", 2005 23. Rui Yao, Deanna L. Sharpe, Feifei Wang, „Decomposing the age effect on risk toleranceâ€Å", 2010 24. Tullio Jappelli, Marco Pagano, „FINANCIAL MARKET INTEGRATION UNDER EMUâ€Å", 2008

Dostoyevsky Notes from the Underground and Nietsche Essay

Nietzsche raised in his philosophy a number of basic concepts that contribute to deeper understanding of the spiritual essence of the person, and the changes taking place in society and in history. One of these concepts is resentment. For the first time this concept was introduced in the paper â€Å"The Genealogy of Morals. â€Å"Study of resentment as a specific manifestation of the ethical-philosophical thought can clarify the causes of conflicts of interest on a personal and social level. Different ways of assessing the validity leads to misunderstanding and conflict of interests between social groups. Resentment (Fr. â€Å"ressentiment†) – a concept that has special meaning for the genealogical method of Nietzsche. In Nietzsche’s phylosophy ressentiment is presented as a driving force in the formation and structuring of moral values. He describes it as a vague atmosphere of hostility, followed by the appearance of hatred and anger, that is ressentiment – a psychological self-poisoning, which manifests itself in rancour and revenge, hatred, rage, envy. However, taken separately, all these factors have not yet formed itself ressentiment, for its existance is required the feeling of powerlessness Accoring to Nietzsche everyone has a type of morality that is most consistent with their nature. From this position, Nietzsche displays the history of morality – first of all Masters morality(powerful people), and then the winning morality,the morality of slaves (won not by force, but by the number). If any morality begins: say â€Å"yes† to life, the morality of slaves says â€Å"No† to everything external. This appeal outside, instead of turning to oneself, is precisely, according to Nietzsche, the expression of ressentiment: for its occurrence slave morality always needs confront and external world, that is, to operate it needs external stimulus, â€Å"its actions are fundamentally reactions† Nietzsche notes that the man of aristocratic morality is full of trust and openness with himself, his happiness is in operation. The man, characterized by ressentiment, is incapable of openness, innocence, honesty with himself. The†man of ressentiment† invents for himself an â€Å"evil enemy† and, on this basis, considers himself â€Å"good. The initial focus of hatred is gradually blurred by the uncertainty of the process of objectification. Ressentiment is more shown in the vengeance that is less focused on any particular object. Thus, ressentiment forms the pure idea of vengeance, it best â€Å"grows† where there is dissatisfaction with the persons position in the hierarchy of values. From here there are two forms of ressentiment: revenge directed at the other, that it is the others fault i that ‘I am not him’,and self-directed, self-poisoning revenge. The first form refers to – the slave revolt in morality Slave morality is presented in a person in kind of a second person, who is constantly unhappy with the first, gives him the consciousness of guilt, and dooms him to constant doubts, indecision, sufferings. Morality cuts the man into two parts so that he identifies himself with one part, loves her more than the other. The slave is doomed to constant digging in himself, to calm, appease, to deceive the beast and then trick himself into attaining peace, â€Å"peace of soul†. All of its basic properties and, most importantly, its total, expressed in impotent rage of ressentiment are express in the spirit and served in the living conditions of the slaves. It is a product of the slave revolt in the sole form on which all slaves are capable of. Only the moralising slave will push forward the qualities that can easy his painful existence – compassion, patience, meekness, etc. Only he will come up with the idea of putting into the category of evil everything powerful, dangerous, threatening, strong and rich. Only a slave will equate the terms â€Å"good† and â€Å"bad,† â€Å"stupid†. Only he will praise the freedom and thirst for pleasure, happiness, combined with a sense of freedom. Only a slave would guess to combine morality with the utility. And only he, of course, can and needs to change everything in such a way that when he is thrown away from the society,and is in the lowest point of his existence, he still finds meanness to perceived that as a source of dignity and hope. In Dostoevsky’s †Notes from underground† we can see the main character as the role of the slave. He feels resentment towards the world, towards himself. He dedicates years of his life planning the perfect revenge. His feeling of resentment is so strong that it is leading,controlling his life,his decisions and actions. Technically he has no actions,only reactions to exterior actions. In the scene with the officer, we see how after the officer doesn’t notice him, he does everything possible to be noticed, and not only noticed but also to be on the same level as the officer. The underground man feels inferior, he feels that nobody acknowledges his intelligence,he feels like nobody,like a slave. He starts feeling resentment after he had not been noticed by the officer,and since that moment revenge becomes his main goal. Rather than challenging the officer,the underground man becomes obsessed with the idea of revenge. But he never gets to have revenge, he only imagines it. One day, he finally succeeds in walking straight into the officer, but the officer does not even seem to notice. The underground man still counts it as revenge, but a revenge only in his imagination,in his own world. Everything that happened to him were in his own imagination, he had an imaginary enemy,and an imaginary revenge,nothing in his life was real and everything was led my resentment. For example the officer was never his enemy,he didn’t even know that the underground man existed,because the underground man had such a strong power of resentment,he thought that everybody around him,especially his oppressors were his enemies.

Financial Statement Valuation of Continental and Southwest Essay Example

Financial Statement Valuation of Continental and Southwest Essay Example Financial Statement Valuation of Continental and Southwest Essay Financial Statement Valuation of Continental and Southwest Essay Although the industry is optimistic about the future and is well positioned to move forward, the reality is that events beyond the airlines control could easily push them off course, for example: Fuel spikes Recessions Exogenous shocks such as terrorism and natural disasters and the sharp rise in oil rises after Hurricane Strain appears to be the general cause of death of many airlines. Strategy Structure: Goals Objectives: Companies articulate their long-term goals and objectives to compete within the market environment. Southwest seems to be outperforming goals even in an ever changing and challenging market environment. This above average growth is due to their low operating structure. This competitive advantage allowed the company to become profitable for its 34th consecutive year (2006). Southwest has the lowest costs adjusted for stage length, on a seat mile basis of all the major airlines (see Generic Strategies section for low cost factors). Continental Airlines, although still a leader in the industry, seem to have a less efficient operating structure than Southwest. Intention l, acknowledging ten Increasing competition Trot low cost carriers as well as large network airlines using bankruptcy laws to dramatically lower their costs, updated their Go Forward Plan to allow the company to compete and operate efficiently and effectively. Continental Airlines returned to profitability in 2006 after suffering losses for the two previous years. Governance: Both Southwest Airlines and Continental Airl ines are subject to the same external industry regulations such as the Aviation Security Act, the International Air Transportation Competition Act and various regulations by the D. : O. T. In the U. S. Both companies comply with U. S. GAP. Each company has its own set of internal controls to ensure that operations are continued in an efficient and legitimate manner. Refer to the other issues section for an analysis of each companys corporate governance structure. Risk Framework: A company can never eliminate all risk and is exposed to a certain amount of UN- diversifier external risk. The best a company can do is to try and reduce its exposure to these risks and have a framework in place so the risk will have a minimum impact. Many factors could affect each firms ability to control its costs including the price and availability of fuel, employee hiring and retention rates, regulatory requirements, competition, security concerns, changes in economic conditions (consumer preferences, disposable income, interest rates etc). Organizational Structure: Each firm has a different route structure. Both firms seem to be steered by good management, Southwest with a very innovative approach, and, the Continental management team who steered the company back to profitability in 2006. Southwest seem to have a superior operating structure which gives them their low cost advantage. Managing For Value: Financial Assets: Southwest Airlines had fuel derivatives in place for over 70% of their expected fuel needs in 2006. In contrast Continental Airlines hedged approximately 30% and 10% of projected fuel requirements for the first and second quarters of 2007 in 2006. Southwest Airlines aggressive hedging strategies is a source of their competitive advantage, however in the current environment of ever rising fuel prices it would appear that this source of competitive advantage may not be sustainable as this strategy may be easily imitated by competitors. Continental Airlines engaged in forward contracts in 2006 to hedge approximately 48% of projected GAP denominated scofflaws for 2007 and 32% of projected Euro denominated scofflaws Tort 200/ I Nils strategy amalgamates ten companys exchange rate rills never Walt current U. S. Trade deficit and a weakening dollar it seems somewhat unnecessary to hedge these stronger currencies. Intangible Assets: Southwest Airlines has various leases with respect to airport owned gates, terminal assenter service facilities at each of the airports it serves and land on a long term basis for its maintenance centers. Similarly Continental has various aircraft leases and other leases in relation to real property, airport and terminal facilities, maintenance facilities, training centers and general offices. The company also has airport routes and operating rights which represent gate spaces and slots and an investment in Coop Holdings worth $mom and an investment in Holdings shares worth $mom. Physical Assets: Southwest Airlines has a fleet of 481 Boeing 737 aircrafts of which 388 are owned. Southwest also owns three of its reservations centers and its maintenance, training centre and corporate headquarters buildings at Dallas Love Field, Houston Hobby, Phoenix Shy Harbor and Chicago Midway. Continental owns a total of 140 mainland jets and 18 regional Jets. Substantially all of the aircrafts and engines owned are subject to mortgages and a significant portion of their spare parts inventory are also encumbered. Innovation: Southwest Airlines were the first major airline to introduce a tickles travel option. The company also extended online check-in facility to 24 hours prior to departure. Furthermore online boarding passes are available through www. Southwest. Com Continental Airlines introduced the Presidents Club which is a private membership club that offers a quiet area where travelers can work or relax. Similarly to Southwest Airlines, Continental Airlines offers online check-in to all passengers up to 24 hours in advance of flight departure. Brand and Intellectual Assets: Southwest Airlines is renowned for its low cost initiative through its point to point systems and various other cost reduction operations, it is a company where low cost fares are guaranteed.