Indian television in the era of globalization Essay Example for Free

Indian telecasting in the era of globalization EssaySince its birth in 1959, it seems that Indian television has developed in a way that is similar to most of the institutions broadcasting domains. Conquered by scientific progress, particularly by the major encourage that the introduction of satellite transmissions represents, the Indian television sector broke with its old practices to enter the era of globalization to which the opening to foreign players, the competition regime and the lever of commercial requirements are essential components.The successive evolutions that Indian television underwent seem to confirm Marshall McLuhans theory of a global village, which describes how the world has been contracted into a homogenized space by the media revolution. However, this simplistic vision denies the specificities of India as a culture and as a country, which became the specificities of Indian television. With 22 formalised languages, an enormous and heterogeneous popul ation, one of the worlds largest territories and a tendency to continuously swing between tradition and modernity, India admittedly adapted its television sector to the globalized context but also imposed its restrictions and particularities. How did Indian television become merged to the globalized media system while protecting its identity and imposing its requirements?With the successive evolutions the technological progresses, the shift from an educational project to a competitive, consumer-oriented and profit-making market and the exportation of foreign programs and production methods it underwent in the early 20th century, Indian television indeed got integrated into the globalized and transnational media system. As such it became a privileged target of know-how transfers coming from the West and a market of economic interest for foreign players.Heterogeneity constitutes Indias major specificity and its television sector could not have got established regardless to it. Even if it decided to enter the process of globalization, Indian television endeavored to defend and put up the countrys linguistic, territorial, social and cultural diversity. The Indian broadcasting space definitely does not get homogenized.On the contrary, it constantly reports the main oppositions that ceaselessly arrest and drive the Indian population tradition and modernity, local and global, urban and rural, well-off and impoverished. The example of the Indian television sector demonstrates that India is not passively affected by globalization but constitutes one of its major actors it manages to make the countrys voice heard and to impose its requirements and its power of cultural appropriation at internationalist level.BIBLIOGRAPHYDEPREZ C., La tlvision indienne un modle dappropriation culturelle, De Boeck, 2006. DESAI M. K., Indian television in the era of globalisation unity, diversity or disparity ? , in Quaderns del CAC, 202, no. 14 3-12.DURAND-DASTES F., LInde dans la mondialisation in LEFORT I. and MORINIAUX V. (dir.), La mondialisation, Editions du temps, 2006, 235-256. JULURI V., Music television and the invention of youth culture in India , in Sage Journals, 2002, vol. 3 no. 4 367-386.KUMAR S., Gandhi meets primetime globalization and nationalism in Indian television, University of Illinois Press, 2005.RANGANATHAN M., RODRIGUES U. M., Indian media in a globalised world, Sage publications, 2010.SINCLAIR J., HARRISON M., Globalization, nation and television in Asia the cases of India and China , in Sage Journals, 2004, vol. 5 no. 1 41-54.

Plutonium and Internet Start-Up Company Essay Example for Free

Plutonium and Internet Start-Up Company EssayPlutonium and internet start-up company which was founded at the beginning of the technology boom was ontogenesis the technological systems necessary to support the rapidly expanding user base. Plutonium purchased an expensive and complex billing system to automate the billing of internet accounts using a credit card to integrate its system. Jonathan, the manager of operations department, was given the phony credit card to help fix corrupted accounts created by the launch and integration.Chris an employee of Plutonium, who truly knowledgeable and trusted was given the phony credit card number. Chris was using the credit card to access websites that have pirated software and music. After an FBI investigation, Chris was warned and put into probation. Jonathan was asked to import a warning letter to Chris. Few months later, Jonathan noticed a change in Chriss behavior. He was making unusual purchases, such as laurel wreath Pilots, MP3 Players. The first element of the fraud triangle is pressure. Every fraud perpetrator faces some kind of perceived pressure.Most pressures involve a financial need, although nonfinancial pressures, such as the need to report financial results better than actual performance, frustration with work, or even a challenge to beat the system, can besides motivate fraud. Financial pressures often motivate misappropriation frauds by employees. Common pressures such as living beyond ones means, greed, high debt, unrecognised performance and inadequate pay could lead employees to fraud. Chris had several perceived pressures to commit fraud.He has a family to support and he earned minimal wages compared to former(a) who has his skills. Chris could have a student loan and other debts he has to pay in addition to taking care of his family. That could have caused him a lot of pressure. The southward element of the fraud triangle is perceived opportunity. The opportunity to commit and conceal fr aud when a company has unclear policies and procedures, fails to teach and stress corporate honesty, and fails to follow up on those who perpetrate fraud. (Romney 129).The opportunity for fraud is created when employees are given access to records and valuable information. In the case of Chris, he had the opportunity to commit fraud because he has the expertise in technology. He has the phony credit card given to him by his manager and he was able to use that without the knowledge of his manager or co-workers. The 3rd element of fraud triangle is rationalization. Rationalization allows perpetrators to justify their illegal behavior. For example, a fraudster can prune by saying, I only took what they owed me. Or the rules do not apply to me.Perpetrators rationalize that they are not being dishonest, that honesty is not required of them, or that they value what they take more than honesty and integrity. Some perpetrators rationalize that they are not hurting a real person, but a faceless and nameless computer system or an impersonal company that provide not miss the money. (Romney 130). Christ could have thought that he was underpaid and by using these credit cards he was not hurting anyone. He major power have also used the lack of underpayment as justification for the use of the companys credit cards for personal gain.

Wal-Mart Organizational Structure Paper Essay Example for Free

Wal-Mart Organizational Structure Paper EssayAs an organization Wal-Mart has grown into a global and multimillion dollar company in America and around the world. They need been at the top of the list for the fortune and global 500 for years. They make big headlines both good and bad. They argon in the United Kingdom, China, and Brazil, and all over the world. Wal-Mart started its global market in 1991, where they opened up a store in Mexico City. The profits were not that good at the beginning because they opened the store using plans and strategies they use in the United States. Those national and external cistrons in globalization affected the four functions of management such(prenominal) as planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. It was a learning experience for the organization and they had to assemble different plans for more international stores.When we think of technology in companies like Wal-mart, we think of merchandise technology. With marketing technology , Wal-mart uses all functions of management. These functions had to be planned, organized, controlled, and their managers have to take the lead to convince or motivate the employees to carry out the marketing strategies in order for them to be effective. For example, anybody stead market a sale in their stores, but if it is not planned, organized, or controlled, the store get out not meet the goals, which tush include an extend in sales, or an increase in the amount of customers coming into the businesses.When Wal-mart first started their business, they were clothing, small appliances, and home goods type of business. Through the years of their technology innovation, they saw how they muckle benefit from expanding their sales to food, pharmacy, sporting goods, and even an auto center. As they moved forward, they brought in private banks, eye care centers, nail salons, hair salons, and even a place for professional photos. Their careful planning and organizing helped them to be complete one of the largest retail stores not only in America but also nation-wide. Their strategies to make this drop dead were very successful because of the four function of management working well when they made these changes. Wal-mart is a perfect example of the way the four functions of management can work.Not only work but also work effectively with organized planning, controlling the needed changes, and acquiring the right management in place to take the needed charge for it all to come together. Without technology and the four functions of management, Wal-mart would not be the successful business it is today. There are legion(predicate) internal and external factors that affect functions of management. When we speak of Diversity, which is a variety or range of different things, and we look at the Planning, organizing, directing, and controlling functions of management. An organization may look at hiring different ethnic backgrounds, ages, genders as well as focus on offe ring different types of dishs within the organization. Meeting the needs of the community give be very important for business to grow thitherfore bi-lingual staff will be a plus.Store location is a keen factor as well, so an organization may have greater opportunity in a location where there is no competition. Advertisement will come into play when organizing. What types of advertisements to use will have to be decided upon. Billboards, TV commercials, newspaper inserts, English/Spanish, or even flyers may be considered. There are also sales papers in every entrance of every store for customers to look through as they shop. The set-up of the store also falls downstairs organizing, figuring out the layout of items and additional services like urgent care centers or nail spas. Directing and Controlling of an organization will depend broadly speaking upon management.Policies will be set on ways to encourage, motivate, and train employees. According to the Journal of Public Administ ration Research and Theory, Organizations need to make cultures that allow workers from mingled fields to succeed. An organization needs to have policies in place that provide opportunity for everyone to improve. Targeting customers from different ethnicities and age are important as well as offering an array of product, designating adequate handicap parking spots, shopping carts, and motorized scooters. Customer surveys and employee job performance reviews are also a part of Controlling.The morals function will focus on the moral principles that govern a groups behavior. Initially during planning, a company may be certain(predicate) that items not appropriate for children are locked away, such as explicit CDs or weapons. When organizing, customers are more likely to shop at a store where the staff is courtesy, kind, respectful, and helpful. The Directing and Controlling functions are monitored more so by management to ensure that policies are adhered to, and tracked for complian ce. Excellent customer service will be a focus because happy and satisfied customers are return customers. Although as consumers, this is an area that many stores are losing their focus on. In stage business Ethics The Law of Rules, the author states Rules have the greatest impact when they cause people to behave differently than they would have behaved in the absence of the rule.This would mean that if there is a policy in place for monetary incentives for the employee with the most customer service nominations, and more employees are trying to obtain the incentive, the great impact will be that more employees are exuding excellent customer service and more often. Though there are many other stores that offer the same items as Wal-Mart such as Target, K-Mart, Sams, owned by the same person. Customers like Wal-mart better because of the great prices and can do more at this one location they can at the other similar stores. In conclusion, Wal-Mart is still the leading organizational business to this day, mixing the good with the bad situations that come about.There are many internal and external factors that affect Wal-Mart, globally, technically, and ethically. Diversity and innovation also play roles in leadership and management. The reason I have chosen Wal-Mart as my national for this assignment is that it is a great organization to research and discuss because of its popularity. Most of the family shopping is done at the local Wal-Mart. Clothing, Groceries, household items, pet supplies, and even my embrocate changes on the family car are done at Wal-Mart. After doing research I realized the effect that legal issues, ethics, and corporate social responsibility have on management planning. These are the reasons Wal-Mart has been at the top of the list for the fortune and global 500 for years.REFERNCESJournal of Public Administration Research and Theory Oct2010, vol. 20 Issue4 p 867-886, 20pAuthors Pitts, David W Heckling, Alisa Hawes, Daniel Melton, Erin Business Ethics The Law of Ruleseulovs, D., Gaile-Sarkane, E. (2011). E-MARKETING FOR A COMPANY EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL INFLUENCE. Economics Management, 16947-953.

Testing Webservices Using Soapui And Jmeter

Testing electronic ne iirk returnss Using Soapui And Jmeter weave servers are an integral part of a meshing diligence. Choosing the right clear server that meets the applications requirements and the judge essence is a key decision in providing a real- measure response. This make-up studies and compares the feat of different opened ascendant wind vane servers corresponding Apache turkey cock and Jetty under different loads. The objective is to carry out load mental exam using Jmeter, which is an open witness tool, written in java. In the process, web good used in load exam is functional tested using an open source tool-soapUI. The paper also explores the capabilities of these two tools. The web inspection and repair used for load testing the web servers is a wrapper method around an open source project called Lucene, provided by the Apache foundation. Lucene provides full-of-the-moon text indexing and attending capabilities in different libraries. The paper ordai n use the experimental results to calculate the peak TPS of the webservers and determine the capabilities/limitations of the above webservers.Discovering the un evaluate is more(prenominal) important than confirming the known-(George Box). Software testing is an essential and integral part of the software discipline cycle. This can be through either manually or by using automated testing tools. The later method is more preferred in recent times as it saves a bus of time and supporters catch the software bugs missed by manual testing. There are different types of software testing techniques that include- functional testing, integration testing, load testing, regression toward the mean testing etc. Functional testing involves testing the features and operational behavior of a software to ensure they correspond to its specifications. corrupt testing involves modeling the expected purpose of a software program by simulating multiple users accessing the program in parallel. The pu rpose of the paper is to serve as a case believe for evaluating the performance of web servers.Testing can be aided squarely by several testing tools. This paper performs functional testing of web profit using soapUI tool. SoapUI is an open source testing tool which mainly performs functional testing of entanglement go (SOAP, REST etc). SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) is a simple mechanism for exchanging structured and typed information between peers in a decentralized distributed environment using XML 1. In this paper, wrapper webservice methods are written on top of APIs provided by Lucene. Apache Lucene is a high performance, full-featured text search engine library written entirely in Java with powerful, accurate and economical search algorithms 3. It is open source software suitable for most of the applications that require full-text search, especially cross-platform. Applications based on Lucene include Eclipse, JIRA, Roller, OpenGrok, Nutch, Solr etc 2. Lucene expo ses methods that provide the functionality for indexing text documents and also provides APIs to search indexed documents based on a certain set of predefined fields. These methods exposed by the libraries are used by the webservice to provide indexing and search functionality. This webservice is functional tested using soapUI.There are different open source web servers available in the market. capital of Indonesia Tomcat, Miniature Java network server and Jetty are a few examples of open source web servers. Web servers are containers that host web applications/webservices. The lucene webservice is then hosted on two different webservers (Tomcat and Jetty) and these web servers are load tested using JMeter. Apache Jmeter, is another open source testing tool that is used to load test web applications. The webservers performance is analyzed under different loads generated using Jmeter. Jmeter is used to simulate heavy load on a server and test the webservers capabilitylimitation.Secti on 2 of this paper describes the environment setup needed for this project. presents current work and industry acceptance of rough of the functional and load testing tools. Section 4 describes Rigi and highlights its limitation. Section 4 describes Understand 2.5 as a reverse engineering tool. Section 5 demonstrates reverse engineering of SimpleDB, an open source code. Section 6 concludes reverse engineering.2. EnvironmentSince soapUI and Jmeter are java based tools, it runs on most operating systems including Windows, Mac and Linux. The study testament be done on Windows 7. SoapUI and Jmeter require 1.6+ JRE (Java Runtime Environment). It requires at least 1 GB of memory, and about 100 MB of disk space.Tools soapUI and JmeterWeb servers Apache Tomcat and JettyWeb service To avoid the Web service being the bottleneck, a simple Web service that calculates the area of different shapes go away be used as the Web service. This Web service can be extended later to perform other functi ons.3. Current PracticesThis section presents current work and industry acceptance of some of the functional and load testing tools. soapUI and JMeter are two free tools used by the open source community. Section 3.1 talks about different commercial message and open source functional testing tools. Section 3.2 concentrates on load testing tools.3.1. Functional testing toolsSome of the functional testing tools for testing net profit applications currently being used by industries are listed belowA) soapUIsoapUI is a tool used for functional testing web services. Many industries are currently using soapUI for testing. It is being used to implement test suits for Alfresco Web services. soapUI is being used in a handful of public sector projects lately. As part of the Czech eGovernment project Datov Schrnky soapUI is used for session-based login scenario with Datov Schrnky 16. It is also used in testing ASP.NET Web services. It is a big success in market as it comes with plug-ins for many IDEs/tools comparable NetBeans, Maven, Eclipse, IntelliJ IDEA 6+ etc 16.B) WebLOAD ProfessionalWebLOAD Professional is RadViews commercial tool for performance testing of Internet applications 3. It has built-in digest for AJAX technologies, JSON data types and different types of SOAP and XML Web services 3.C) Quicktest ProfessionalQTP is widely used commercial test automation tool mainly for functional testing. It allows the users to carry out a Web page and to submit it. It then follows the request from the client workstation through the network. The message is traced to the Web service that processes it 4.D) TestMakerTestMaker is a Web service testing application from PushToTest. TestMakers tests are embodied in scripts called test agents. It can also be used to test Web applications 15. Bundled with TestMaker is a network observe tool that can watch HTTP traffic between your browser and a target Web application, and generate test cases from the interaction 15.3.2. Load testing toolsWith applications like twitter and facebook becoming popular day by day, the amount of traffic that web servers handle has increased tremendously. The importance of tuning the performance of web servers has bring forth crucial. Web server performance largely depends of components such as server hardware platform, Web server software, server operating system, network bandwidth, file sizes, caching, etc 5. The performance of the web servers can be increased tremendously by proper tuning of the components of the server 5. Most of the web applications run smoothly with minimal traffic. that when thousands of users access a web site in parallel, it tends to run slowly. Hence it is always a good practice to thoroughly load test web site/Web services before it goes live. Industries, when choosing the right web server for the web site being developed, usually take the expected load into account. They will also stress test Web servers by running 20-40 simultaneous requests o n one URL 5. The average time for the responses is then recorded. This will help them make the right decision. Listed are a few of the load testing tools used in the market (particularly open source market).A) JMeterJMeter is an open source Apache capital of Indonesia project that can be used as a load testing tool for analyzing and measuring the performance of a variety of services, with a management on web applications. This will be discussed in detail in section 4. JMeter is used worldwide by many companies for testing. AOL use JMeter for performance testing, QA, and adhoc merchandise requests 14. PrepMe is another company that uses JMeter. They wrap JMeter with a few scripts to dynamically generate configuration files based on the type of tests to be run 14. This is integrated with their natural Symfony framework installation. Sapient and orbitz also use JMeter 14. Advantages of Jmeter are it is open source and it provides the ability to load and performance test different ki nds of Web server types like web, SOAP and database via JDBC. It also provides support for displaying the results using different Graphs and will support regression testing in the future.B) GrinderThe Grinder is an open source load testing tool designed to load test functional behavior and measure performance. Grinder scripts are written in Jython programming language. It adopts a generic wine approach that allows load testing of anything that has a Java API. For example, HTTP web servers, SOAP and REST Web services 3.C) NeoLoadNeoLoad is a commercial load and stress testing tool to measure the performance of the web application and provide pragmatic solutions facilitating design and development of the optimized website. Benefit of NeoLoad is easy creation of tests, which can be performed by non specialists. 3.Although commercial tools offer richer set of features and are in general easier to use, available open source tools are sufficient to successfully perform given tasks. Their usage requires higher level of technical expertise but they are a lot more flexible and extendable4. Details4.1. Functional TestingThe Web servers will host the Web service (CalculateArea) that returns the area of different shapes. Using soapUI, the functionality of the Web service will be tested with different test cases. The spare-time activity are the methods exposed by the CalculateArea Web service1) Double AreaOfRectangle (double length, double breadth)2) Double AreaOfCircle (double radius)3) Double AreaOfCylinder (double radius, double height)4) Double AreaOfTriangle (double length, double height)This service can be extended later to include methods to calculate the area of other shapes.Figure 1. Functional testing of Web servers using soapUI toolTesting of Web services has to target three aspectsthe discovery of Web services , the data format exchanged (i.e.,Web Services definition Language, WSDL), and request/response mechanisms (i.e., SOAP). The Web Services Description Language (WSDL) is an XML-based language that provides a model for describing Web services 15 . The data format and request/response mechanisms can be tested by invoking requests and observing responses with test data representing valid and invalid data formats1. The above three scenarios will be tested using soapUI. soapUI will validate and import Web services from SOAP based WSDL documents. Fig 1 explains the functional testing that will be carried out in details. Each method invocation will be a request to invoke that particular method (exAreaOfCircle) on the Web service. The Web server will receive the request and determine which application will handle the request and pass on the request to the particular application. The application (CalculateArea Web service) will receive the request and process the request. The application will throw an exception if there are any issues (missing/invalid parameter value or invalid parameter type) with the request. Otherwise, it will perform the necessary service and return the result in the response which is forwarded to the component that invoked the service (soapUI in this case).The request and the response will be examined to make sure the response is the expected response for each scenario. If the Web service throws an exception, soapUI throws the same exception so that the user will know what the exception was for. We will use Jakarta Tomcat and Jetty to host the Web service to be tested.4.2. Load testing of the application and stress testing the web serverFigure 2 Load/stress testing of Web servers using JMeter toolAs mentioned in the previous section, the Web service will be hosted on both Jakarta tomcat and Jetty. Jmeter, an open source load testing tool, will be used to perform the load testing/stress testing on both the web servers. As shown in Figure 2, the load on the Web server will be gradually increased by change magnitude the numerate of requests every time. The response time will be noted for each of the response from the web server. This result will help in calculating the time taken by the web server to process these requests. This will be used to calculate the TPS ( executions per second) that each Web server handles under each load. These results should be a good indicator on how the above web server scales for increasing loads. The number of requests per second will be increased by increasing the requests per second from Jmeter and also by using multiple running instances of Jmeter (thereby simulating multiple concurrent users).The above test will be performed for the following number of transaction on each server and the results will be noted.Table 1. Load metricsRequests per second Time taken to handle the requests % Passed transaction % Failed movement Transaction Per Second Handled by the Web server5. Future DirectionsWhen trying to choose Open Source test tools, several factors may be considered, such as how active the development is, the support for the tool, the qu ality of the documentation, etc. JMeter is free and extensible tool with a substantial community support. maven of the JMeter strong points is the distributed testing feature. The predominate system (controller) carries the user interface or XML test scripts and makes RMI calls to each of the nodes (load generators). Each node receives a mirror of the test plan and performs identical actions on a target Web application 3. As developers take advantage of JMeters pluggable architecture, JMeters capabilities will rapidly expand in future. The primary goal of further development is to make JMeter the most useful regression testing tool as possible, without compromising JMeters load-testing capabilities. Additional goals are to improve the graphical user interface.Since there is no support for scripting and advance reporting in soapUI currently, there is scope to add scripting libraries and enhance reporting features in future.6. LimitationsOpen source testing tools are punk (free), a nd work well for easy to moderately-difficult jobs but theyre somewhat less user-friendly than commercial tools and complex jobs must be built manually. Some limitations of soapUI include- no caution as it is a freely available tool. Scripting libraries are not available. No support for advance reporting. These limitations can be overcome by using soapUI pro, a commercial tool used for testing. Also, soapUI test cases cannot be used as examples illustrating the use of the service. Junit test cases can be used to overcome these limitations. soapUI also requires significant coding for building/maintaining test cases and suites. Also, in the place of actual input data for generated test cases, soapUI leaves question marks (or alternatively some pregenerated Latin actors line or numbers) 7. In addition, it does not manage the choice and all elements and the occurrence attributes, but introduces comments explaining to the human tester how to handle them.JMeter has certain drawbacks. Th eres no guarantee of support or further development as it is an open source tool. It has limited reporting capabilities. Graphic representation is quite confusing and has no support for scripting. One of the most distinguished disadvantages is insufficient support for test case recording. JMeter uses proxy which can only(prenominal) record HTTP while HTTPS is supported only in so called, spoofing mode. However, there are other tools which can be used in conjunction with JMeter and provide HTTPS test case recording. One such tool is Badboy tool which may be defined as a Web application functional testing tool 3.7. Discussion and SummaryOne of the chief concerns while choosing a testing tool is the cost of the tool. Since software testing usually attracts the least budget in an organization, many people learn to the Open Source community for good solutions. This paper is an attempt in showing that there are good open source tools like soapUI and JMeter in the market that accomplishe s most of the functionality supported by commercial tools. This paper also studies the performance of different open source web servers for different loads.

Massimo Dutti Marketing Analysis

Massimo Dutti Marketing AnalysisMassimo Dutti was founded in 1985 as a company whose main(prenominal) activity was the sale of personal mannerable mens apparel. Ten age later, the commercial format was bought by the Inditex Group (Industria de Diseo Textil S.A.), one(a) of the worlds largest fashion distri only ifors, who owns brands like Bershka, Pull and Bear and Zara. The Inditex Group as a whole has more(prenominal) than 4,530 stores in 74 countries in Europe, the Americas, Asia and Africa. The group likewise parti whollyy and wholly owns more than a hundred companies related with the varied activities in the business of stuff and fashion design, manufacture and distribution. Its unique management model, based on innovation and flexibility, and its vision of fashion has resulted in fast international expansion and an excellent mathematical operation of all its commercial formats.Today, Massimo Dutti has more than 490 stores in 41 countries. The company entered UK in 200 3 with its first store in London. The parvenu megastore occupied three floors of a construction placed in downtown Regent Street, which had more than 2,000 squargon meters of business area. Massimo Dutti offers quality international fashion design for men, women and nestlingren, with a variety of collections that range from educate urban fashions to casual wear. Its universal design connects with independent urban men and women whose lifestyle portrays an impeccable image. During 2008 Massimo Dutti extended its assortment of complements and accessories to swear out customers find the small expatiate that mark the difference in style and add the finishing touch to the desired look. Highlights in this product extension are the late line of oculus and sunglasses, The Eyewear Collection, with more models for men and women, and the launch of a new womens perfume, En Esencia. The company also added the childrens line in 2008 which includes collections for boys and girls and was lau nched in Paris. During the same year, the chain entered six new countries Poland, Romania, Czech res publica, Slovenia, Guatemala and Israel. It also continued its expansion in the Asian Pacific region, opening its second store in Hong Kong, in Harbour City, one of the citys main shopping areas. With this establishment, Massimo Dutti now has three stores in China, where it opened its first store in 2007 in Macao. In total they opened 44 new stores in 38 new countries to develop their international presence. (Appendix B.1, B.2, B.3)This report examines the environment in which the company is situated. The macro environment covers the fronts in the changing environment and how they could potentially postulate the Massimo Dutti supply chain. It also suggests various opportunities and threats that the company may consent to face. The second section of the report analyses the various s gravelholders i.e. the suppliers, consumers, competitors etc in under the micro environmental analy sis. The trey section of the report analyses the internal environment and includes the supply chain analysis, the grocerying re rises, fiscal resources and the human resources employed within the memorial tablet. The report concludes by suggesting a strategic watchfulness the company should take in order to reach its full potential.Macro Environment AnalysisMassimo Dutti being a global organisation is modify by a number of macro environmental factors. These factors are the basis on which a company develops its understanding of the commercialize places, business position and the strategic direction for its operations.In new-fashioned years the macro environment has been increasingly being put into consideration because of uplifteder marker volatility, the global slowdown and the economic fadeout. These factors non only pose a great threat to businesses but gouge also create many opportunities which a company can identify and take advantage of. For instance, if a business is able to assess its current environment and predict potential flips, it will be better placed in its marketplace than its competitors to respond to changes in the environment. Thus understanding and operating with the macro environment i.e. the external environment in which the business operates, is increasingly becoming the key to organisational supremacy as it can help to maximise opportunities and minimise threats which the organisation faces. In some other words a macro environment scanning can help us to identify various opportunities and threats in the organisation. there are a number of macro environmental factors which affect the UK clothing sell market. These factors are cognise as the PEST factors or the political, economic, social and technological factors which help the scanning of the environment. (Appendix A.1)(P)olitical EnvironmentThe clothing retail sector in the UK has seen a number of changes in their political environment in recent years. The first chang e is the recent expansion of the EU territory which has facilitated import and export amongst various countries within the EU. As a result of this trade between these countries legal agreements and setting up new operations and stores has become more attractive than ever. For Massimo Dutti it translates to wider markets and a wider consumer base two within and outside the UK. This type of an come to is visible in a long term with a positive and increasing impact to the company.The second change is the change in interest rates and government taxation which is the result of the global economic recession. The government has implemented a range of measures to stabilise the financial markets and stimulate the economy including part-nationalisation of some banks, VAT cuts, and suexpense public sector borrowing rules. Also In March 2009, the Bank of England cut interest rates to a record low of just 0.5% where they remain at the time of writing. The government also gave the go-ahead for the more drastic policy of quantitative easing in an effort to kick-start the economy. (Appendix A.2) The impact of this government policy has resulted in a higher degree of spendable income in the hands of the consumer and has thus facilitated the retail sector. On the other hand when interest rates eventually start to drum they could do so quite suddenly and sharply thereby increasing the risk of slight send packinging on mid-market luxury retailers like Massimo Dutti. (Appendix A.3)(E)conomic Environment- Recession the UK Clothing RetailThere have been numerous amounts of economic changes since 2007 which are the result of the global economic slowdown and the recession. Until recently the British economy was enjoying the longest period of growth and had outpaced or so of the rest of Western Europe. But the global economic downturn, tight citation and falling house prices brought the UK into the recession in the back half of 2008. This economic downturn resulted in a change in the economic factors that affected the UK retail sector as a whole. The fashion application in particular(a) has been more under fire(predicate) to such a downturn than other retail settings. delinquent to the recession the economy has shown frequent magnetic variations in the currency rates. This change has affected the retailers as they have absorbed these fluctuations. This is because they are situated in a price-led market i.e. have to provide competitive prices in the market to survive further putting more pressure on their profit margins.Also due to the pass in the disposable income of the consumers only the cheap fashion / fast-fashion sector has benefited. Companies like Pennys, Primark and TK max have recorded highest gross sales due to the recession. The implications of such a trend are that less money is spent on designer apparel as well as accessorises. Consumers may stop spending on high end luxury brand and accessories and go in for fast-fashion clothing th ereby posing a risk to Massimo Dutti. It can also be noted that spending on clothing has reduced than compared to other spending sectors. The global economic slowdown has impacted heavily on clothing retailers as it has hit consumers willingness and exponent to spend on discretionary items. Thus companies like Massimo Dutti may face a slowdown in sales volumes.Unemployment has climbed consistently since mid-2008, reaching 7.8% by Q2 2009 and it could rise to over 10% in 2010. Youth unemployment (18-24-year-olds) exceeded 17% by the second quarter of 2009 and in the short term will continue trending upwards. This impacts heavily the purchasing power of those concerned and hence reducing an alpha market segment for mid-market luxury retailers. (Appendix A.2, A.4)(S)ocial Environment- The Changing DemographicsThe social environment relates to consumer attitudes and opinions towards different product types and brands in the marketplace. It also relates to changes in consumer behavio ur and their demographics i.e. age, sex, gender, family size etc. Changes in social trends can impact on the pauperization for a firms products and the availability and willingness of individuals to work. Thus it is very of the essence(p) for the firm to identify these factors and translate them into opportunities and get rid of all potential threats.A large number of consumers have changed the way they shop for clothes and in the main those changes involve cutting back in some way by spending less, by mostly acquire discounted lines, or by clouding from regard as retailers or less expensive shops. According to a research by Mintel over one in four people have not changed their shopping habits for clothes since the recession started but many consumers have, and the most significant changes are all savings-related i.e. spending less, shopping around more, not buying at full price, buying more from value or less expensive retailers. (Appendix A.5) This cutting back on expenditur e by the consumer means that they wish to spend more on value retailers rather than mid-market luxury retailers.According to Mintel the mid-market segment has also squeezed as a result of a price-led consumer market. For instance mid-market players like like-for-like and Dorothy Perkins have gone down in sales. Like-for-like traded down 2.4% in the Q1 of year 2009-10 and Dorothy Perkins was still heavy with summer markdowns when rivals were relatively clean with new autumn ranges. bedspreads international every quarter sales to August 2009 dropped by 5% which is an important competitor for Massimo Dutti. Other mid-market players like HM and MS have traded up as they are price-led retailers. (Appendix A.6) On the other hand high-end designer buyers tend to buy more from the mid-market than from the upmarket high street retailers as a result of the ongoing recession. This is because of lack of particular brand loyalty, financial inability to buy everything from designer brands and th e tendency of buying basics (i.e. T-shirts, jeans etc) from the mid-market retailers. (Appendix A.9)Another trend in change is that the 25-54s have traded down the most amongst all other consumer age groups. This age band has been among the worst hit by the recession because of their larger financial commitments. This age group is the main level market for Massimo Dutti and hence affect the company sales the most. (Appendix A.7) Because of a combination of various above discussed factors customers are much more likely to now buy more from familiar brands/shops they trust. (Appendix A.8)(T)echnological EnvironmentThe technological environment consists of changes in technology related to the manufacture, sourcing, distribution or sales of a various components of products in that industry. A change in technology for various processes in the industry sometimes creates barriers to entry and also leads to innovation. Thus it is very important for firms to adapt to the changing trends of technology.Online fashion has become significantly more popular as choices have improved. These days many consumers prefer to shop online as it not only saves time but also offers a full view of the collection at a single click. Fashion sites are also engaging more effectively with the customers through with(predicate) better product imagery, establishing online communities utilising user generated content, introducing virtual changing rooms etc. These types of innovations help the consumers to establish a better three dimensional understanding of the products they necessity to buy and hence provide a better opportunity for the marketers to capture the consumer. (Appendix A.10)Another trend is M-commerce. It is a potential source of growth for the future, particularly among the boyish a key demographic for fashion. But it will depend on more retailers launching mobile applications and on consumer ownership of smart phones. (Appendix A.10)Other FactorsThere are some other factors other than political, social, economic and technological factors that affect the UK clothing retail market. One of them is the environmental concerns facing the fashion industry today. umpteen environmentalists have raised objections against fast-fashion goods as they not only end up in landfills faster than usual but also because of the time, effort and resources utilized in their production. According to a research it shows that on average in the UK 30kgs of clothes per person are dumped into landfills as a result of the fast-fashion. It accounts for about 1,000kg of CO2 a year roughly half that emitted by a small diesel car. Each year the average person in the UK spends about 650 on 50 or so items of clothing and accounts for a large part of our carbon footprint. When they are manufactured, when they are transported, when they are washed and even when they are thrown away, clothes are responsible for significant greenhouse gas emissions. 90% of the clothes people buy in the UK are transported from abroad, mainly from China, India and Bangladesh and it only adds to the environmental impact of clothing. Also, working in the textiles industry often means long hours, low pay, poor safety records and the use of child labour. This it raises environmental and ethical concerns (Appendix A.11). It raises concerns for the Inditex group as a whole as their prime focus recently has been the introduction of fast-fashion products into the markets through their various brands.Massimo Dutti OpportunitiesWith the help of the macro environmental analysis opportunities of the company can be identified. These opportunities can be maximised so the company can be placed ahead of its competitors in the market. These opportunities are As a result of the EU territory expansion Massimo Dutti is able to reach wider markets both within and outside the UK increasing the scope of operations in the company. It also means that it is easier to source materials from the spouse countries , which is an important aspect of Massimo Duttis business strategy.The stimuli provided by the government in 2009 as a result of the economic recession have helped the people to overcome the problems of disposable income and hence has boosted the retail sector. However the impact is very long term and takes time to show signs of recovery.Shoppers of high-end designer clothes tend to buy more from the mid-market than from the upmarket high street retailers as a result of the ongoing recession. This has helped retailers like Massimo Dutti to capture new demographics.As a result of the rising concerns over the recession people have started spending lesser and lesser on clothes but have started to spend more on accessories which help them to look different with the same amount of clothes. Massimo Dutti thus has a competitive advantage because of their recent launch of men and women accessories as an addition to its prior range.Online shopping is one of the recent emerging trends in the fashion industry. This opens up markets for consumers who previously were unable to shop at specific stores. This also reduces the need for a physical location of its stores. This provides a huge opportunity for mid-market retailers whose sales can be boosted in the presence of online sales.M-commerce is another technological factor affecting the industry. It can tap the key demographic i.e. 25-50 year olds and therefore has a great potential for companies like Massimo Dutti whose main target market is this demographic.Massimo Dutti ThreatsDue to the Economic recession and currency rate fluctuation it has been difficult for retailers to keep up with a price-led market. This impacts the already low profit margins thereby posing a threat to the retailers.As a result of the lessen disposable income mid-market brands have suffered because people have shifted from them to fast-fashion cheap retailers who provide fashion clothes at a cheaper price.Another trend in change that has impacte d Massimo Dutti is that the 25-54s have traded down the most amongst all other consumer age groups. Being the key demographic of the company it has affected sales and may continue to do so in the future.As many environmentalists have raised objections against fast-fashion it poses a threat for companies like Inditex (Massimo Dutti) as their core business model revolves around the supposition of fast-fashion goods.Micro Environmental AnalysisThe micro environmental factors are those which are related with the firms immediate area of operation that affects the performance and decision making in that organisation. These factors also affect the boilers suit costs of the organisation the quality of products supplied and straightway contributes to organisational success. There are 3 major stakeholder groups which affect these factors. These are the suppliers, consumers and the competitors.The SuppliersThere are a number of ways in which the suppliers affect the performance of a firm. T hese may be related to the quality the supplier provides, the quantities that can be sourced from the suppliers, lead-time demands of the market or the ethical and environmental concerns followed by the suppliers. All these factors are responsible for having the right product at the right time to satisfy the demands of a firms consumer. establish on these factors firms must decide on issues such as who to source from, responsibility it takes for these suppliers and on the terms and conditions it adopts.Inditex has over 1,186 suppliers around the globe making it vulnerable to many factors. One of the most important trends in change is the adaptive process of suppliers to operate in low cost regions. This is because the textile industry inherently is a labour intensive industry and hence was the first to move to low labour cost regions. Five years ago, China was the only source for low cost products but now Vietnam is competing against inland China and parts of India for that same pos ition. This is because of the increased internationalisation of the clothing companies in Europe in the historic decade. As buyers are forced to spread their volumes across different regions, these regions or countries enter into competition with one another. This led to the creation of special economic zones in many countries, mostly with cheap labour. Besides cheap labour and resources these zones have no other connections to the local economy. On the other hand they are directly influenced by the high degree of fluctuations caused due to favourable or unfavourable conditions in foreign markets. China is one of the key suppliers to the European apparel industry but is less competitive than eastern European countries because of added logistics costs. (Appendix B.4, B.5)Another factor that has affected the suppliers is the requirement of buyers for environmental compliance and labour standards. Recently the government has launched a campaign to tackle the environmental and social i mpact of the fast fashion culture. As a result of this many retailers have introduced changes in their supplier regulations. For ensample Marks and Spencer, Tesco and Sainsburys have pledged to increase their ranges of Fair-trade and organic clothing, and support fabrics which can be recycled more easily. Also Tesco is banning cotton from countries known to use child labour. All these changes in the buying behaviour of the retailers have forced suppliers to follow stricter guidelines on environmental and ethical issues. (Appendix B.6)The ConsumersThe customers are a key to sales of all retail formats. An organisation must monitor its consumers and the trends in change that affect the consumers. By gathering data on shopping patterns of the consumers the retailers can identify realizable changes required to the marketing strategy. It can be in the form of a changed target market, the change in distribution channels or by responding to the new product or pricing needs of the consume rs.The target market for Massimo Dutti is women of 25-45 years old and men of 25-50 years old catering to the swiftness middle and upper socio economic class and upper middle cultural interests. The customer plays an active role in the Inditex business model. At Inditex production activity begins once customers demand reactions have been analysed. Unlike the traditional fashion company business model which started at the designers drawing table, Inditex activities starts by assessing the customers demands and continues to the store.The economic downturn is helping to boost sales of value clothing retailers. Consumers have been forced to cut back on other categories of spending like holidays abroad and restaurant meals. But consumer research shows that clothing is to be the most vulnerable area of spend amongst adults who have been forced to cut back their expenditure due to the recession, although value clothing appears to be one area of clothing expenditure that is responding posi tively to the trend. In response to economic worries, consumers are saving more and they appear to be trading down on clothing as a consequence. Specialist fashion discounters or value clothing retailers (led by Primark, TK Maxx and Matalan) are the main beneficiaries of the strong growth in value clothing sales, and have seen their sales rise by 7% to 5 billion in 2009. (Appendix B.7, B.8)The GfK NOP consumer confidence index, published on 31st March 2010, showed that overall UK consumer confidence fell to -15 in March, from -14 in February. The 2,000 adults interviewed by GfK NOP also took a more negative view of the overall economic situation over coterminous 12 months. The index also indicated that consumers are becoming more cautious about of their own personal financial situation. (Appendix B.9)The CompetitorsAnother important factor which affects the micro-environment of an organisation is its competitors. The success and behaviour of any business will depend on the degree o f competition in its market. In the case of fashion retail market the competition is intense because of a large number of players in the market. This puts a downward pressure on the price of the product offerings. Thus it is very important for a organisation to identify and monitor its competitors in order to obtain a competitive advantage.The major competitors to Massimo Dutti as a brand are Gap, banana tree Republic, Mango and HM (Hennes Mauritz).Gap Banana Republic (Gap Inc.)Gap Inc. is a clothing retailer from the US that has expanded into Europe via operations in the UK, France and Ireland. Clean, classic, American designs are the words on which the brand was founded and the current offer continues to reflect these values. The commercial formats at Gap Inc. include Gap, Gap Kids, baby Gap, Gap maternal quality and Gap body under the brand name Gap. Other brands which do not include the brand name Gap are Banana Republic and Old navy. Gap and Banana Republic have 140 stores in the UK. As a result of the tough trading conditions in all its markets, Gap saw the sales decline by 12% in 2008. However, Gap maintains a mid-market stance and as a result has looked to more muted act upon in the current recessionary climate as consumers seek items that will last longer. In August 2009 the company also ventured into the UK e-commerce arena, announcing the availability of Gap brand items on the ASOS website. (Appendix B.10, B.11)MangoMango is one of Spain largest clothing specialists and has also built up a sizeable international business in Europe, Asia and the Americas. Mango predominantly targets women aged 18 to 30 with a fashionable and sophisticated offer. Mango designs, manufactures and markets womens and mens clothing and accessories. Mango currently has a total of 1,220 stores in 91 countries worldwide. In the UK it operates 42 outlets which are mostly franchised. Mango follows the same multi-brand strategy as of Inditex. Mango has admitted that the glob al recession has led to a decline in the sales volume in early 2009 in markets such as Spain, Ireland, the UK and Russia. Consumers have been cutting back on their spending, particularly on discretionary items such as clothing. In reaction Mango has launched Think Up, an affordable sub-range for the weaker consumer climate. Recently, the group has expanded into menswear and has also hinted that it may launch a chain that targets younger shoppers. (Appendix B.12, B.13)

Contemporary Issues in Marketing

Contemporary Issues in MarketingIn an era of Super smart-phones, high-speed internet, and convergence of digital media in day to day emotional state, it is important that traditional merchandising techniques to evolve along with the digitisation of advert, gross revenue promotion and brand instruction. Marketing has moved on from basic advertising and sales promotion, to a more personal and customised nest towards customers, delivering a whole refreshing level of involvement and experience to the consumers.Marketing is the The man mountment process responsible for locateing, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably.(The Chartered Institute of Marketing) Marketing requires constantly adapting to the changing consumer needs, and satisfying them in a way that is better than the competitors, in a profitable manner. In todays extremely evolved and competitive business environment, it is indispensible to employ the aid of engineering science in tradeing, the fact that applied science has a transformational impact on the marketing is done squeeze outnot be ignored. Technology is changing the way companies interact with their consumers marketing is becoming more focused on technology to increase the sales and returns on investment (ROI). Stephen Diorio shares his views on technology and marketing, Over the next ten years, rapidly changing technology will impact most aspects of sales and marketing strategy and management, (Diorio S.G, 2002)Google is one of the best examples of companies that keep back roaringly employed technology in their marketing strategies. The firm started up as a small chase engine in 1998 and today has an estimated worth of more than $35 billion, employing more than 20000 people. In the further sections, I will be discussing how google uses technology in its marketing operations, and the specific areas in which they are employed.Marketing ResearchMarketing researchis the systematic gathering, recording, and an alysis of info about issues relating tomarketingproducts and services. (McDonald. M, 2007) Marketing Research boosters a company de terminal figureine, whether its current portfolio of products is satisfying the consumer needs, and what improvements can be made in new products, and whether consumers will accept a new product or not.Google is salubrious known for its search refinement and optimisation over the years, it has consistently been successful in understanding what consumer is searching for, and putting up relevant advertizements on their search results. Let us discuss what technologies google uses for its marketing researchAnonymous Data statistics collectionGoogle analyses data that it receives from its search engine like the search keywords, location of user, age group, etc. And uses the data to deliver more optimised and local search results to the user, providing a more precise and effective way of advertising. The data that Google collects is anonymous and is used for demographic classification only. withal if there is a bug or error in Googles search, it sends an error report to the company, so they can work on ameliorate it and improving its results in future. This is a very(prenominal) effective marketing research technique is it does not involve much cost, and is base on reliable data that is generated on the companys own servers.This market research method is an example of excellent consumer involvement the data collected is with express permission of the users solely for improvement purpose, and Googles privateness policies clearly states that it is collected anonymously with no storage of the users personal information. Also there is an option for opting out of the research for anyone who does not want their data to be analysed.(Source Google Privacy Policy)Google AnalyticsGoogle analytics is Googles web analytics solution it generates insights into its websites traffic, total number of visits, subject of interest, location of use rs, etc and some other statistical data which in turn the increases the effectiveness of marketing by identifying and analysing the preferences of the consumer and the product that they are searching for. It helps Google create better targeted and strategically placed ads. Google also offers the analytics solution to legion(predicate) large corporations and companies helping them place their ads at strategic locations and increasing their return on investment or ROI.It delivers sophisticated data to Google regarding its website traffic, and its gain/loss of market share against its competing companies. The technique is an entirely new accession equalized to traditional marketing research methods like surveys and seminars, as this is totally computer generated research based on raw data collected from real life users, and also it is more mathematically correct and precise. Analytics can collect data from tracking mobile devices, location based website tagging and comparing the re levance of search ground to actual results.A very recent example of this tools utilities is when it surfaced that Bing, Microsofts proprietary search engine was copying Googles search results and algorithms, and Google was able to discover this scam with its analytics tool. Amit Singhal from Google stated in his press release, Some Bing results increasingly look like an incomplete, stale version of Google results a cheap imitation, (BBC News, 2 February 2011)http//blog.hubspot.com/Portals/249/images/search.referrals.pngInsight SearchThis is an interactive tool that Google uses to compare various search terms that are similar, and based on consumer interest, it suggests the best suited keywords and terms that must be used to increase advertisement revenue, it is a highly technical tool primarily working on elaborate programming algorithms, which is unique to Google. An example of this is given below.If Google is to place an advertisement for an automobile manufacturer, with the hel p of Insight search it will be able to predict the message that best resonates the ad. For marketing a new car model it shall know what peculiarity must be highlighted like fuel efficiency, safety, good looks, etc. With Insight search as we can see the most apt search term will be car safety as consumers clearly show more interest in that criteria over the othersCUsersChiragDesktopinsights_96693_en-time.jpgSource (Google insight Website)Google Insight uses an in advance(p) intelligence algorithm called MYSql that filters the search results and provides suggestions that are more feasible and more likely to capture consumer interest this reduces the amount of junk advertising and also offers more refined search results. This is a good tool for marketing research as it decreases the chance of misplaced advertising, which is Googles largest source of income.Marketing CommunicationMarketing intercourse theoryaremessagesand related media used to communicate with a market. Marketing co mmunications is the promotion part of the Marketing Mix or the four Ps price, place, promotion, and product. (Clow. K, Donald.B). It is necessity for any company to reach out to its consumers effectively, thus marketing communication is very important for successful business.Google has a very technology oriented approach for its marketing communication it promotes its advertisements and promotions in entirely non-conventional ways, let us examine the methods Google uses for its marketing communication purposesAd-WordsGoogle Ad-Words is Googles main advertising program and the prime source of income for the company. Ad-Words triggers advertisements based on the words that a user is searching for, it delivers relevant ads on various websites where advertisers want to place their ads. Ad-Words operates on the Pay Per Click (PPC) model, where Google gets paid for each Click that an ad generates, and advertisers have to pay Google for the number of times their ad is percolateed on.The main features of Ad-Words are that it provides a non-geographical mode of advertising, it can place an advertisement on any website and not right its search page, which means that consumers have a instructy accessibility to a plethora of products and services from the comfort of their homes. And for the advertisers, this is new and highly technological approach compared to traditional advertising methods like Hoardings, TV advertising, Radio advertising, etc, also it is interactive in nature.The most differentiating feature of Ad-Words is that the advertisements are customised for each and either user, It does not bombard the consumer with irrelevant ads and distracting pop-ups, it delivers the exact results the person is searching for, in simple and convenient text-based banners. For example If a person is searching for Holiday hit to Bahamas, then Google brings up the advertisements of travel agencies that offer the cheapest and the best deals for holidays to the Bahamas, and also other holiday packages to similar locations.This is nothing short of a revolution in the advertising industry in 2010 Googles revenue from Ad-Words advertising was US $28 Billion.(Source Investor.google.com)Click To CallThe Click to Call service offered by Google is a marketing communication initiative that was started in 2007 by Google through Click to Call, advertisers are allowed to put up their phone numbers on Googles website, and users can click on their advertisement to call them, Google connects them to the advertiser and the calling expenses are paid by Google. This is similar to Pay per Click advertising, but offers a whole new level of fundamental interaction to the advertisement.Google has also integrated this system of Click to call function on their new Phone operating system Froyo, whereby consumers search a map for a nearby outlet and by tapping on it can direct call the advertiser. This is a considerable innovation in marketing communications. (Source Google C lickToCall official webpage)Google verification (Online wages Integration)Thinking one step ahead of just searching for products and services online, Google integrated the Search and Buy process, with the help of Google Checkout, Consumers can save their bank neb details on Googles secure web servers, and when they are searching for something on the web they can simply buy it and make the payment for the product with the click of a button, and the product is delivered to their doorstep.A consumer simply has to sign up with Google Checkout and register their details once after that whenever they want to buy something with the help of Google Checkout they just have to click on it and verify their identity with security options like passwords, etc to prevent fraud. Also Google checkout comes pre-installed on smart-phones with Google operating system humanoid making it even more accessible.For example If a person is searching for Dan Browns Book, The Da Vinci Code on Google, it will return the search results, and the person can simply click the Buy button on the website from their computer or phone, and the payment for the book will be made and it will be directly delivered to their specified address. This simplifies the process of online to a great extent.At the moment the products that are supported with the online payment systems are Books, CDs, and Media deposits, Google mobile handsets, and software. As more traders sign up for Google Checkout the product portfolio will expand and provide more options to Google usersNFC MarketingThis is one of the la analyze technologies in marketing, also known as NFC or to the highest degree Field Communication it uses special radio frequency waves to communicate with devices like smart-phones, pdas, etc. NFC can be used to tag places and objects with RFID tags that can be read by other devices by simply tapping on them. NFC can also be used to make payments with a smart phone by just swiping the device over the RFID (Radio Frequency Identification Device) Reader, this renders the need to carry around cash and debit cards useless. Google is integrating the NFC chip into its smart phones, and is setting up NFC Hotspots all over large cities, to implement the new technology. This can be considered a breakthrough technology for the coming years.According to Claire Swedberg of RFID Journal, Googlehas been test anRFID-enabled service aiming to physical contact local businesses with customers. The service, known asHotspotdebuted in November 2010. (Swedberg. C, 23 February 2011)New Product DevelopmentNew product development(NPD) is the term used to mention the complete process of bringing a newproductor service to market. (Ulrich.K, Eppinger. S, 2004). NPD is the preliminary step in developing a product or service, it involves a series of steps in order to introduce a new product in the market. NPD is essential to keep up with the changing technology and market trends.http//t1.gstatic.com/images?q= tbnANd9GcTgI2lqnURK33cJWjLaFAQlzQaU0rxXHSClOyJk_LUQ6xL68R7EbgGoogle is a company with a large number of products under its portfolio, to name a few we have, Google Search, Google Mail, Google Maps, Google Checkout, Google Ad-Words, Google Documents, YouTube, Books, Android operating system, etc. Google has developed a number of successful products over the years. This is because Google insists on releasing products that are more appealing consumers, and has been able to remain successful by launching the products in market before the competitors, mostly in the form of of import testing and pilot projects. Let us take few examples of how Google integrates the latest technology into some steps of its New Product Development processIdea GenerationFor most organisations the process of idea generation involves Brainstorming sessions, and SWOT analysis, but Google takes a new technological approach for idea generation. Every year Google holds the CodeJam competition at its head-quarters in Mountain View, California. In this competition it invites new engineers and programmers, in order to identify top talent among them, the participants have to solve arithmetic and structural problems, and also they are asked to come up with new ideas for products and software. This is an innovative and technical way of generating ideas, and many of Googles services like the Android operating system are a result of this.(Source codejam.google.com)PrototypingPrototyping involves producing a physical product prototype. Google is running a pilot testing programming for its new Google chrome OS, to run the operating system Google has made the CR-48 laptop, to test its efficiency and compatibility with hardware. It is allowing application developers and daily users to use a prototype laptop given out for free, and provide usage information to Google, so that it can perfect the product for a full featured launch in the market. (Source Chrome Os Pilot Programme Website)The advantage of p rototyping products is that it provides a real life test result of what is expected from the product, and as a wide range of users test it, more information can be collected regarding the product. If the prototype receives good reviews, then the product can be considered feasible for a market launch.Beta TestingGoogles main competitive advantage comes from the fact that it always launches new products in the market before its competitors this is because it always releases its potential products in Beta stage. And if subsequent on if any rectification is needed in them, it rectifies them and makes the final launch, this is advantageous as by the time the final product is launched it already will have a consumer base and will be accepted quickly by the market.Beta testing is the testing and improving of unfinished software, Beta testing is very useful when the programmers of the software want to receive a meaningful feedback. This is because when unfinished software is put to actual use, any bugs and errors that it may have can be identified and sorted.Google runs a project called Google Labs (www.google.com/labs). Under Labs Google runs unfinished products not yet ready for a launch. Some examples of such products are Google Transliteration, which allows users to type phonetically in any language using an English keyboard, And Google Wave(www.wave.google.com) which is Googles real-time social network initiative, it allows consumers to update and connect with their in real time by sharing messages, pictures, videos, and file sharing, etc.Many of Googles most successful products like Google Mail (Gmail), Google Documents (Docs), Calendar, etc are products of Beta testing that got successful reviews and are widely used and accepted today.commercializationCommercialisation is the final launch of the product in the market it involves the final production and promotion of its products. Proper use of technology is very important for the successful commercialisation o f a product. Android is Googles highly successful and competitive smart-phone operating system, the commercialisation of the operating system was highly technological and advanced in nature, and compared to the other smart-phone platforms, like Windows and Apples IOS, it was well advanced.Google commercialised the operating system by venturing with Taiwanese phone company HTC to produce a Google branded phone, the first of its kind, which became highly successful. Also the handset was advertised and can be ordered from Googles search page. It was the first time a internet search based company entered the smart-phone industry. And the rest of the manufacturers like Samsung, Sony Ericsson, etc followed suite with their android handsets.The real technological breakthrough was when Google delivered OTA or Over the Air Software updates for smart-phones with their operating system. No other company has used OTA to update a phones software before, it was basically used to update subscriber settings, but Google made the use of that technology to deliver and optimise the smart-phone software, which was widely appreciated by customers worldwide. This is a good example of commercialising a product with the use of latest available technology.ConclusionBusiness Leaders today have realised that facial expression beyond the conventional ways of marketing and adopting the new technology is the mantra of successful business, in current business environment. Firms like Google that constantly aim for the refinement of technology are the new market leaders.Companies have become re-inventive in the way they manage their people, and in the use of technology. Thus we can say that Technology has had an gigantic impact on the functioning organisations and the process of marketing.Bibliography

The Definition Of Definitions :: essays research papers

<a href="http//www.geocities.com/vaksam/">Sam Vaknins Psychology, Philosophy, Economics and Foreign Affairs Web SitesThe sentence all cats are black is obviously untrue even if only one cat in the whole universe were to be white. Thus, the property being black ratnot form a go against of the definition of a cat. The lesson to be learnt is that definitions must be universal. They must apply to all the members of a defined set (the set of all cats in our example). let us try to define a chair. In doing so we are trying to capture the essence of being a chair, its chairness. It is chairness that is defined not this or that specific chair. We want to be able to identify chairness whenever and wherever we come across it. But chairness cannot be captured without somehow tackling and including the uses of a chair what is it made for, what does it do or help to do. In other words, a definition must include an operative part, a die hard. In many cases the function of the De finiendum (the term defined) constitutes its meaning. The function of a vinyl record is its meaning. It has no meaning outside its function. The Definiens (the expression supplying the definition) of a vinyl record both encompasses and consists of its function or use. Yet, can a vinyl record be defined in vacuum, without incorporating the record player in the definiens? After all, a vinyl record is an object containing speech sound information decoded by a record player. Without the record player bit, the definiens becomes ambiguous. It can fit an audio cassette, or a compact disc. So, the context is essential. A peachy definition includes a context, which serves to alleviate ambiguity. Ostensibly, the more details provided in the definition the less ambiguous it becomes. But this is not true. Actually, the more details provided the more inclined is the definition to be ambiguous. A definition must strive to be both minimal and aesthetic. In this sense it is much like a scientif ic theory. It talks about the match or the correlation between language and reality. Reality is parsimonious and to reflect it, definitions must be as parsimonious as it is. Let us summarize the characteristics of a good definition and then apply them and try to define a few very mundane terms. First, a definition must reveal the meaning of the term or concept defined.