Analysis of Marks and Spencer :: Retail Company England Marketing Essays

This is a report on Marks and Spencer a well known retail company in the UK. Marks and Spencer has also recently been in the news for falling profit and sales in 1999/2000. So Marks and Spencer is now on its way to recovery. It’s famous for setting the highest of standards in the retail industry, pioneering its own charge card and generating such snob value on its products, yet controlling prices to bring their products within most people's reach. Marks and Spencer has extended its brand overseas where it continues to achieve substantial growth. This is likely to be its main source of growth in the near and long term future as the company develops its franchise business. There are around 628 locations for Marks and Spencer’s. The company makes great weight of how it is run - first class customer service, operating efficiency (through economies of scale), long-term partnership with suppliers, financial services, staff rewards and overall packages the best in the high street. Following a wide-ranging and detailed strategic review of its business, the Board of Marks & Spencer has announced significant changes to the Group strategy and structure. The Board and management team is committed to restoring profitable growth. This will be achieved by total focus on the recovery of the UK Retail business. The organisation has always monitored its performance by first making clear objectives for the business. Without clear objectives it is difficult to evaluate what a marketing plan is trying to achieve or whether the plan has been successful. It is usual to translate marketing objectives into quantifiable â€Å"result areas†, such as market share, market penetration or growth of sales. Some of these may be further broken down into specific sales volumes, value goals or geographical targets. Marketing objectives allow Marks and Spencer to have a basis for evaluation which can then be analysed after a certain period of time. Each department most make sure that the organisational activities are co-ordinated in such a way that marketing objectives are met. Every organisation including Marks and Spencer involved in a marketing activity is faced with a number of constraints which seem to hinder their performances when monitored. Internal constraints relate to the resources available for Marks and Spencer, while External constraints involve a series of factors within the business environment that limit in one way or another, the organisation’s activities. Examples are below: Ø Consumers Ø Competitors Ø Economy Ø The law Marks and Spencer seem to monitor their performance by being market focused as they research all these constraints fully and will try to find solutions that enable it to turn weaknesses into their strengths threats into opportunities.

Poverty Porn Essay

Fundraising is a noble and selfless deed. However, an ethical issue has risen concerning the process of raising funds for poverty-stricken communities. Often, visuals of the harsh lives people in poverty face are portrayed when raising funds. The exploitation of such visuals to increase donations or support a cause is known as poverty pornography (Collin, 2009). Poverty pornography is effective in raising funds but it is incorrect due to the unethical way it is carried out that degrades the poverty-stricken communities. Poverty pornography is widely used by charitable organisations because it is an effective method of collecting donations. Research has shown that negative stimuli which evoke emotion can easily capture an individual’s attention (Murphy, Hill, Ramponi, Calder & Barnard, 2010). Images of children as well as those which bring about negative emotions also tend to generate more donations (Burt & Strongman, 2005). Thus, the disturbing visuals of dying children and women as well as their harsh living conditions portrayed in poverty pornography is effective in grabbing attention and generating feelings of sympathy. These feelings are then converted into actions whereby donations are increased. Therefore, poverty pornography plays a role in helping poverty-stricken communities as it easily grabs people’s attention and encourages them to increase their donations. However, its method of exploiting visuals that degrade the poverty-stricken communities makes poverty pornography unethical. The exploitation of biased visuals depicts poverty-stricken communities in a negative manner. Common examples are severely malnourished African children staring at the camera, waiting to be â€Å"saved† (Osa, 2010). While it is true that there are malnourished children, there are healthier children too. However, poverty pornography is biased as it does not represent this side of poverty-stricken communities. Although taken for a good cause, a distorted image of them is painted (Opoku-Owusu, 2003). This is unethical as the partial representation degrades them, leaving the impression that they are helpless individuals, waiting for their lives to be taken away and unable to do anything. On the other hand, some charitable organisations try to incorporate positive images into their advertisements by showing the after-effects of our donations. For example, they may show visuals of happy, smiling children as a result of our aid. However, such images indirectly degrade the communities as it gives us the impression that without our assistance, they are unable to survive. In 2001, a poll conducted in United Kingdom discovered that 74% thought that â€Å"Developing countries depend on the money and knowledge of the West to progress† (Voluntary Service Overseas, 2002). From this, we can deduce that many have the perception that poverty-stricken communities are weak and vulnerable as they are highly dependent on our help. However, this may not be true because in reality, they are the most â€Å"strongest willed, most tenacious people one could hope to meet† (Cowdroy & Evans, 2010). Thus, the misrepresentation creates a false impression that poverty-stricken communities are weak and cannot survive without our aid. This false impression may also create an environment of self-pity which may lead to self-fulfilling prophecies. The self-fulfilling prophecy, introduced by Merton (1948), refers to circumstances whereby an initial false claim later turns into reality. The exploitation of negative visuals pertaining to the lives of poverty-stricken communities has led to a stereotype that they are â€Å"uneducated, incapable of freeing themselves from poverty, lacking in competence, and miserable† (Clark, 2004). This stereotype may cause people to hold negative expectations on the poverty-stricken communities (Madon, Jussim, Eccles, 1997). Although these negative expectations may not be true initially, the poverty-stricken communities might adhere to them thus leading to a self-fulfilled prophecy. Therefore, the use of poverty pornography to assist them may backfire as incorrect claims can become true. Nevertheless, many organizations unremittingly use poverty pornography. Does this make poverty pornography a necessary evil? Poverty pornography is definitely not a necessary evil. It is unethical to degrade or stereotype the poverty-stricken communities, even if it is for a noble cause. Moreover, poverty pornography can instead contribute to the  poverty cycle as the negative assumptions about the poverty-stricken communities may become self-fulfilling prophecies. Thus, instead of eradicating poverty, it may worsen the conditions of poverty-stricken communities. However what other methods can we adopt to increase awareness on the needs of the poverty-stricken communities without degrading them? Instead of exploiting biased images that generate feelings of sympathy, programmes that create feelings of empathy and responsibility can be created. One such event is the inaugural 30 Hour Famine Camp in Singapore held by World Vision. In this camp, youths are given a feel of life in poverty by taking part in activities that simulates lives of children in poverty. The youths also make a stand to end global poverty by fasting for thirty hours. This camp generates empathy which encourages youths to not only donate but also to think of more ways to assist by allowing them to realise that they have the ability and responsibility to help end poverty. To portray full representation of their lives, some have embarked on projects like ‘Perspectives of Poverty’ which â€Å"expose[s] this bias [poverty pornography] and present people in a light of dignity† (McNiholl, n.d). Even though it may not help in raising funds, by presenting poverty-stricken in a better light, it balances off how degrading poverty pornography has been and slowly alters people’s perception on poverty-stricken communities. This can help remove stereotypes on them thus avoid self-fulfilling prophecies. Poverty pornography has proven to be effective. However, its unethical methods have undermined the usefulness of helping poverty-stricken communities. Instead of assisting, it strips them of their dignity, their ability to help themselves and contribute to the poverty cycle. Even though poverty pornography cannot be eradicated in the near future as it is widely used, the two methods presented above are examples of how we can slowly break away from poverty pornography. People in poverty are human beings too. Thus, in the process of assisting them, we must create a full representation of them and treat them as dignified human beings. To achieve this, poverty pornography must be eradicated. REFERENCES Burt, CDB. & Strongman, K. Use Of Images In Charity Advertising: Improving Donations and Compliance Rates. International Journal of Organisational Behaviour, 8(8) 1, Retrieved from http://www.usq.edu.au/extrafiles/business/journals/HRMJournal/InternationalArticles/Volume%208/Burt%20Vol%208%20no%208.pdf Clark, D. J. (2004). The production of a contemporary famine image: The image economy, indigenous photographers and the case of Mekanic Philipos. Journal of International Development, 16, 693–704. DOI: 10.1002/jid.112 Collin, M. (2009). What is ‘poverty porn’ and why does it matter for development? Retrieved 16 July 2011 from Aid Thoughts website: http://aidthoughts.org/?p=69 Cowdroy, J. & Evans, H. (2005), Poverty Pornography. Retrieved 16 July, 2011 from The Global Poverty Project website: http://www.globalpovertyproject.com/blog/view/238 Madon, S., Jussim, L., Eccles, J. (1997). In search of the powerful self-fulfilling prophecy. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72(4), 791-809. DOI: 10.1037/0022-3514.72.4.791 Merton, R.K. (1948). The self-fulfilling prophecy. The Antioch Review, 8(2), 193-210. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Murphy, F. C., Hill, E. L., Ramponi, C. C., Calder, A. J., & Barnard, P. J. (2010). Paying attention to emotional images with impact. Emotion, 10(5), 605-614. DOI: 10.1037/a0019681 Opoku-Owusu, S. A. S. (2003). What can the African diaspora do to challenge distorted media perceptions about Africa? London: AFFORD. Osa, E. (2010). The starving baby syndrome is hurting Africa’s image. New African, (501), 72-73. Retrieved from EBSCOhost Scale E. (2010), WaterAid UK And Poverty Porn. Retrieved 16 July, 2011 from The Global Poverty Project website http://www.globalpovertyproject.com/blogs/view/262 Voluntary Service Overseas, (2002). The Live Aid legacy: The developing world through British eyes – A research report. London, UK: Voluntary Service Overseas.

Malnutrition Disease Process Essay

Causes: There is a wide variety of causes of malnutrition. An elderly person with dementia may forget to eat or to buy food. Poverty may cause a lack of food or lack of nutritious food. People in third world countries often do not have access to healthy foods. Other causes may be alcoholism, excessive dieting, throat or mouth cancer, decreased mobility, malabsorption, dialysis, fistulas, corticosteroid or oral antibiotic use, hypermetabolism, burns, trauma, or a lack of oral intake for 5-10 days for a variety of reasons. Incidence: Incidence of malnutrition in America is low, thought to be as low as 10% nationwide. Death from malnutrition in our country is extremely rare. Worldwide death from malnutrition among children under age 5 is thought to be as high as 50%. Prognosis: Prognosis is very good for patients with malnutrition in America. Most incidents are temporary and are a result of another condition. The malnutrition is very treatable with food, nutritional supplements such as Ensure, or parental feedings depending on the cause.

Definition and Examples of Sound Bites

Definition and Examples of Sound Bites A sound bite is a brief excerpt from a text or performance (usually ranging from a single word to a sentence or two) that is meant to capture the interest and attention of an audience. Also known as a grab or a clip. In recent presidential elections, said Craig Fehrman  in 2012, the average TV sound bite has dropped to a tick under eight seconds (The Boston Globe). In the 1960s, a 40-second sound bite was the norm. Examples and Observations From Other Writers From the late 1960s to the late 1980s, the place of oratory in U.S. public culture was shrinkingliterally. In 1968, the average sound bite in presidential election news coverage was more than 43 seconds long. In 1972, it dropped to 25 seconds. In 1976, it was 18 seconds; in 1980, 12 seconds; in 1984, just 10 seconds. By the time the 1988 election season rolled around, the size of the average sound bite had been reduced to less than 9 seconds. . . . By the end of the 1980s, . . . the time and space allotted to political oratory in the American mainstream media had already been incrementally eroded.(Megan Foley, Sound Bites: Rethinking the Circulation of Speech From Fragment to Fetish. Rhetoric and Public Affairs, Winter 2012)A day like today is not a day for sound bites, really. But I feel the hand of history upon our shoulders.(Prime Minister Tony Blair on arriving in Belfast, Northern Ireland, for the talks that produced the Good Friday Agreement, April 8, 1998Seeking to prod Congre ss to provide more money to help prevent layoffs from local and state governments, [President] Obama stressed how much better off private companies are doing in terms of hiring.   Ã¢â‚¬Å"The private sector is doing fine, he said, immediately giving Mitt Romney the same kind of bumper-sticker sound bite that Mr. Obama used against Mr. McCain four years ago. (Michael D. Shear, Republicans Take Aim at Obama’s ‘Doing Fine’ Comments. The New York Times, June 8, 2012) Over images of factory employees hard at work and smiling families, an announcer says, when a million jobs were on the line, every Republican candidate turned their back, even said, Let Detroit go Bankrupt.Then the commercial pivots to the president. Not him, says the announcer as a sound bite of the president plays. Don’t bet against the American auto industry, Mr. Obama is shown saying.(Jeremy W. Peters, Obama Goes After Republicans in New Michigan Ad. The New York Times, February 23, 2012)I am even told that you like your reading in short bursts now. Little chunks. Sound bites. Like that. Because you are busy. In a rush. Like to graze. Like cows. A bite here. A bite there. Too much to do. No time to spare. Under pressure. Bollocks. Lazy. Stupid. Finger out. Socks up.It was not always thus. Time was when an Englishman could happily gawp at a single sentence for an hour at a time. The ideal magazine essay took roughly as long to read as it took your umbrella to dry.(Michael B ywater, The Chronicles of Bargepole. Jonathan Cape, 1992) Sound Bites as Compressed Arguments As Peggy Noonan has explained so well, a sound bite is the culmination of good writing and a good argument. Ask not what your country can do ... or The only thing we have to fear ... represented the sharpest point of the speeches behind them. (John Dickerson, Dispatches From the Republican National Convention.Slate, August 30, 2012)The sound-bite should encapsulate the main point of the argument; the strongest opinion or reaction. Again there is a danger of distortion by over-emphasizing the already emphatic and polarizing a point of view, and this danger can only be eliminated by carefully explaining the context in which the remarks were made. (Andrew Boyd, Peter John Stewart, and Ray Alexander, Broadcast Journalism: Techniques of Radio and Television News, 6th ed. Focal Press, 2008) The Sound Bite Culture A sound bite society is one that is flooded with images and slogans, bits of information and abbreviated or symbolic messagesa culture of instant but shallow communication. It is not just a culture of gratification and consumption, but one of immediacy and superficiality, in which the very notion of news erodes in a tide of formulaic mass entertainment. It is a society anesthetized to violence, one that is cynical but uncritical, and indifferent to, if not contemptuous of, the more complex human tasks of cooperation, conceptualization, and serious discourse. . . . The sound bite culture . . . focuses on the immediate and the obvious; the near-term, and the particular; on identity between appearance and reality; and on the self rather than larger communities. Above all, it is a society that thrives on simplicity and disdains complexity.(Jeffrey Scheuer, The Sound Bite Society: How Television Helps the Right and Hurts the Left. Routledge, 2001) Television Journalism and Sound Bites In any campaign reform, it must be acknowledged that television news is an accomplice as well as a victim of the politicos. The sound bite is to television what the fang bite was to Dracula. The office seeker who has a thought that takes more than 30 seconds to express turns producers rabid. (Walter Goodman, Toward a Campaign of Substance in 92.  The New York Times, March 26, 1990)Television is the enemy of complexity. You rarely have time to express the fine points, the caveats, the context of your subject. Youre always being interrupted just as you try to make a larger point. What works best on a talk show is the snappy one-liner, the artful insult, the definitive declaration. What makes you look weak and vacillating is an acknowledgment that your case is not airtight, that the other side may have a valid point. (Howard Kurtz, Hot Air: All Talk, All The Time. Times Books, 1996)If news reporters and cameras are only there to be used by politicians as recording devices for their sc ripted soundbites, at best that is a professional discourtesy. At worst, if we are not allowed to explore and examine a politicians views, then politicians cease to be accountable in the most obvious way. (ITV news reporter Damon Green, quoted by Mark Sweney in Ed Miliband TV Interviewer Reveals Shame Over Absurd Soundbites. The Guardian, July 1, 2011) Sound-Bite Sabotage Sound-bite saboteurs on all sides of the aisle try to move the opinion of publics toward positions that are contrary to the best available data. Rather than communicating with publics to enable more informed decision making, sound-bite sabotage occurs when public and private leaders use the tools of public relations to discredit the importance of using data, engaging in scholarly inquiry, and supporting democratic deliberation.Seeing (hearing, reading, experiencing) sound-bite sabotage draws our attention to the commodification of political discourse rather than to the political spectacles constructed, to distract citizens from the communicative strategies mobilized by public and private elites. (Julie Drew, William Lyons, and Lance Svehla. Sound-Bite Saboteurs: Public Discourse, Education, and the State of Democratic Deliberation. SUNY Press, 2010) Alternate Spellings: sound-bite, soundbite

the advantage and disadvantag essays

the advantage and disadvantag essays In hot summer, come into the market, supermarket, will see the advertising campaign like a raging fire everywhere, And the possibility that often see and not waning for a long time is promoting at a discount. Shelve put to convert into money item are a feast for the eyes, very much showy a lot of, Some have disposed and promote personnel especially. Goods converting into money are mostly the daily articles, for example there is washing powder , the beverage , Paper handkerchief,etc.. Have the promotion at a discounts one ways a lot,such as: " buy X hand over X", favourable to sell at a discount while being heavy, is overbalance to add and send off and wait a moment direct converting into money. " converting into money" that we say, mean that the manufacturer passed the price which reduced the products, Promote and sell by way of giving special consideration to the consumer. One of the mains decisive factor while choosing the goods that because the price is often the consumer, Especially at products homogeneity ization high brand correlated with what time does it cost, the influence power of the price seems heavier by image. So, more and more commercials this kind of way of factory come to carry on popularization and promotion of the Generally speaking, this kind of promotion way can improve consumers to concern degree that retailed some goods to convert into money, Extremely effective in promoting and retail the sale clicked, its promotion to short-term sales volume has result of getting instant result. So, are often used as the smooth solving medicine of sales volume extensively by the enterprise  @ However, some marketing personnel deeply convinced ," converting into money" hasgreat strength of wounding to the brand, It may cause the negative effect to reach the profit of the enterprise and long-term goal. It can really influence consumers to convert into money, attract consumers to go to buy, make the products cause ...

Business Strategy of Emirates Airline

Business Strategy of Emirates Airline In 1974, three years after the independence, the rules of the EAU decided to establish to a joint carrier of flag: Air of Gulf. Nevertheless, a tense relation between the air line and the government of Dubai existed after his beginning, as this one re fading to yield before the demands of the Air of Gulf to leave his politics of open skies. In the reaction, the Air of Gulf reduced frequencies and capacities to and of Dubai for more than two thirds between 1984 and 1985 without the notice previous(Wilson 2005). Since the foreign carriers demonstrated incapable or desinclinados to fill the hollow, Dubai then the rule, recepiente of Sheikh Mohammed Rashid To – Maktoum, summoned a team of experts – headline Maurice Flanagan and later affiliated by Tim Clark and the son then 26-year-old of the rule, Sheikh’s Recepiente Ahmed Saeed Al – Maktoum – to design an emergency plan. The recommendation of the group to establish to a carrier of house for Dubai was rapidly accepted by the rule, but heimposed two conditions: the new air line should find the standards of the highest quality and there would be no additional injections of capital of the government in addition to the financing of starter of 10 millions of reconciled USD. On October 25, 1985, the first flight of the Emirates left to Karachi, using an A300 wet – leasehold of Pakistan International air Line. The air Line of Emirates is the carrier of flag of United Arab Emirates and a principal air line of the Middle East. His key bucket is the International Dubai Airport, which joins it with an extensive network of international routes.The air line is a branch of the group of Emirates, an international public corporation that also supports the honor of making work four of the commercial flights the longest continues – from Dubai to Los Angeles, San Paulo, Houston, and San Francisco. This offers extensive trips of air in the EAU and Middle East. The air line also suppor ts a division of separated load, for the name of Emirates SkyCargo. It is between the most rapid air lines of growth of the world, which gained enormous income for 500 million dollars in 1993. HISTORY OF EMIRATES AIRLINE Air Lines of Emirates support 127 aircraft quickly, consisting of Airbus A330-200, Airbus A340-300, Airbus A340-500, Airbus A380-800, Boeing 777-200, Boeing 777-200ER, Boeing 777-200LR, Boeing 777 -300 and Boeing 777-300ER. The airline investigating its fleet frequently, in accordance with its policy to support a young fleet. In 2008 the Emirates for the second air line to demolish the Airbus 380-800, after Air Lines of Singapore. This has also asked for 58 Airbus A380-800, making it the biggest customer of this Airbus. The use of air line of his plane is the highest in the industry, climbing to 13.7 hours in a day. aviation, value U.S. $ 19 billion, adding 71 new planes. This is now the client as principal cast of two ultra-modern new aircraft – A340-600 HGW and double-decker A380 super-jumbos. DESTINATION COVERED Emirates Airline covers 101 destinations, in 60 countries of the world. It flies to Canada, U.S, Brazil, Australia and New Zealand. In Europe, it serves France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Russia, England, Switzerland, Turkey and Malta. The airline carries passengers to destinations like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Philippines in Asia and Egypt, Morocco, Sudan, Libya, Angola, Kenya, Mauritius, Uganda, Nigeria and Ghana in Africa.

Gillette case study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Gillette - Case Study Example Although Gillette was familiar with and held the patent of the coated stainless steel blades, Gillette was so slow in introducing the same due to its large market share for the uncoated blades at the time. The company was already generating massive revenues from its global market through its existing blades and therefore it Gillette did not foresee the long-term competition for the growing market taken to the coated stainless steel blades as the improved product. The implications for firms faced with making long-term investments in manufacturing and supply chain resources would be to first patent or at least by the licence for the product or services. The second option would be to invest heavily in products and services that would have the long-term appeal to the customers through constant product differentiation and modification (Ingrassia 170). It is not enough for Gillette to simply design a razor that gives the â€Å"best shave possible†. This is because come consumers may have certain preferences and evaluation criteria that may not correspond to Gillette’s specifications. When designing a razor, consumer interests come first and therefore the price tag should play a key role in design besides the quality of the razor. On the other hand, manufacturing help Gillette maintain its market share and profitability through continuous product innovation that ensures Gillette’s razors are at par with the latest design technologies like the production of disposable or double edged razors. During the development stages, it is essential to integrate the services of the operations and supply chains personnel. This is because in addition to connecting production manufacturing department to the consumers, they also convey invaluable information to the production department as regards consumer preferences due to th eir close association with the customers (Ingrassia