Confucius ( type of essay is for Literature) Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Confucius ( type of is for Literature) - Essay Example This also coincides with showing actual change and not merely claiming. To talk is one thing but be that change that you are aiming for is another. Actions always speak louder than words. I have come to realize that people are more akin to trusting you if they see that you are working. When one has the gift of gab, people are immediately drawn to him. But sooner or later if words are not accompanied with actions then they will see right through you. Contemplation is imperative in everything that we do. â€Å"When one cultivates to the utmost the principles of his nature, and exercises them on the principle of reciprocity, he is not far from the path. What you do not like when done to yourself, do not do to others† (Confucius, The Doctrine of the Mean, par. 29). This is no less than the golden rule. There is no doubt that this proves true in our lives. The penchant for empathy is an integral human nature that must not be dispensed with. I do not steal because I do not want to be stolen from. I know how valuable possession is for a person as I especially value my own. Even for things as simple as getting in line this is true. We all have been victims of others who have no regard and cut through a line which is why I do not do the same. â€Å"It never has been the case that what was of great importance has been slightly cared for, and, at the same time, that what was of slight importance has been greatly cared for† (Confucius, The Great Learning, par. 7). If you truly value one thing then you will pay much attention to nurture it. The same reins true for our endeavors. At the moment, the most important part of my life is my studies. I work hard to attend to all of my subjects so that I will not receive a failing grade. Although there are times that I falter, I am not easily deterred and I continue on. Because I know that this will be something of great importance

Preparing to Conduct Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Preparing to Conduct Business - Essay Example ductivity as the cost of laying-off the tenured employees, as well as coping for the remaining or new managers in the newly-built structure of the company. Possible research questions for the scenario are: 1) Should the functions for each job description be adjusted to suit the new organizational structure? 2) How many tenured employees must be retained in order to keep the company working smoothly as before, and at the same time within the new structure’s limits? And 3) Would the gap between costs and profits after restructuring increase or decrease, as compared to the old structure, and by how much? Possible hypotheses, which can be either a null hypothesis (no difference between X and Y) or alternative hypothesis (X is better than Y, or vice versa) for the given scenario can be deduced using the example research questions stated above: 1) Ho: The old job descriptions can still be used for the new structure of the company. Ha: Job descriptions must be updated to suit the new organizational structure. 2) Ho: No need to hire more than 3% of the original employees since this is enough to both train the new hires and keep the organization going. Ha: Hiring at least 50% of the original employees would be enough to train the new hires and keep the organization sailing. 3) Ho: The gap between cost and profits would be the same as in the old structure. Ha: Gap between cost and profit can either be: cost is greater than profits, or profits are greater than cost. While business restructuring is a strategy usually undertaken by many companies to cut costs, there are many things to be considered before undertaking such a task (Zilka 13). In order to be able to maximize profits as well as the cuts in costs, the business must have a solid program as its foundation. There must be sufficient data, analytics as well as benchmarking in order to gauge the new program’s effectiveness (14). This would ensure that the new organizational structure would be able to save more and

Individual Reflective Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Individual Reflective Report - Essay Example They came to this conclusion after one of the group members stated how the government imposes heavy excise duty on imported products. Members discussed conclusively and found out that the cost manufacturing these top cards is low due to availability of raw materials. Some of the members had the idea that, it was cheaper to import the top up cards but majority of the members rejected this idea arguing that it was time consuming. Recent statistics shows that the number of Chinese playing these online games has increased drastically. Chinese online games have improved the economy due to taxes imposed on such games. This company decided to sell these cards at a reasonable price to the Chinese players simply because internet-banking services in china are expensive (Jensen, 2012 p.12-37). The group also drafted the strategies on how to raise capital in order to venture in this business. Some argued that the business plan would help in getting loans either from the government or from non-go vernmental organizations. Although many ideas came up, no body discussed the negative impacts of this company to the society. This company will influence the local residents to play this games. This might bring negative impact to the local residents who do not have an idea on how to play these games. Process of Idea Initiation The teamwork in the business plan researched on several mechanisms that need review and thorough understanding of their behaviors. A group of the members took the responsibility of attending various seminars in the corporate world. Others decided to start reading journals and other relevant materials on how to make this company market its cards without problems. After thorough market research, the team realized that some of the ideas gathered are invalid and have no place in the corporate world of business. A section of the group lead by a renowned researcher deduced that internet and personal interviews gave immediate and timely response. Another collection o f experts gave their recommendations that customers should get informed information so that they can make informed choices. Generally, the whole idea rose at large and further steps taken to ensure that the best ideas take the day. Chinese internet games are becoming part of lifestyle in many parts of the country. This group business plan came up with financial estimates on how to make this happen. It is important to note that the team saw it important to present this in terms of a business plan so that sense in the whole idea can reveal itself. This balance sheet gives the real estimates on the utilization of resources. . All this ideas appears in a well compiled in book, which has a table of contents giving direction on how to go about it. This book has references, which are up to date depending on the research (Green, 2010, p.110-126). It has also given guidelines on how several ideas will come into effect with time and the impact it will have in the entire market. A business pla n that has some references act as a tool to monitor the activities and progress of the business. In my own understanding, a business plan can help this company to raise funds for its expansion hence serving many customers. This business plan will also help the company make future decisions comparing what is happening at the present. The business plan can act as a future reference to review the positive

The significance of the crucifixion to Anglicans today Essay

The significance of the crucifixion to Anglicans today - Essay Example The doctrines that are directly derived from the events covered in the crucifixion include the salvation of man and the atonement of sin. All the events of the crucifixion play a symbolic role in the life of an Anglican Church believer, and the crucifixion of Jesus holds a lot of meaning and significance for the Anglican believer of today (Williams, 2007). Areas of significance and the meaning of the crucifixion include that the death of Jesus, which paid the price required for redemption from sin. Secondly, the crucifixion unites Christians with the life of Jesus – who took the burden of setting men free – and offers them the commands and the ways to live in the world. Discussion The importance of the crucifixion to the modern Anglican believer is modelled through the context of the crucifixion of Jesus, though his subjection to a Roman capital punishment, which was ordinarily used to punish offenders that committed seditious or political crimes (Williams, 2007). The s ignificance of the punishment was that the offender would be subjected to a cruel form of punishment – but more importantly – the punishment was a publicly displayed type, which sought to spite the offender before other people. From this context of the crucifixion as well as the other events that transpired during the crucifixion, the Anglicans of today view it as the ultimate sacrifice offered to save the human race. The significance of the events can be derived from the fact that God, the father allowed Jesus, the son to go through all the humiliating experiences, so that the prophesy about the redemption of man would be fulfilled. Through the events of the crucifixion, Anglican believers are expected and taught to understand that the experiences of Jesus were supposed to show the pain of sins – which all humans would need to go through – unless Jesus the son of God wiped them away through his death (Wright, 2007). Therefore, the crucifixion is not just a series of events to the Anglican believer of today; it is a symbolic representation of the cost of salvation, which was paid by God – using his son – so that all humans would live free and remain free and covered by God’s grace. The second significance of the crucifixion of Jesus today is that of making the insistence of God’s forgiveness to men. The sacrifice of Jesus was used to signify God’s actions, and not only the repayment of the punishment that men were supposed to bear, due to the sinfulness inherited from Adam’s fall. This is the case because from the early days that preceded the death of Jesus, no one would take the sins of others; therefore, Jesus would literally not take the punishment and the guilt of sinners. The bible says that â€Å"the soul who sins is the one who will die† (Ezekiel 18:1). However, the true meaning of the crucifixion to the modern-day Christian is to show that God can forgive the sins of humanity and fail to impose the penalty of death. This area of significance is very important to the Christian, mainly because it serves as a reassurance that irrespective of their many sins, they will always have a place in the house of God, where they can commune with him as their father (McGrath, 2011). The crucifixion demonstrates the extent of God’s mercy, which was not limited to the Jews, the people that were living during the crucifixion, but also all those that accept Jesus and return to him for forgiveness (Williams, 2007). The wholesome meaning of this significance of the crucifixion is that God is a loving father to all his children, who will welcome the penitent –

Macbook Pro Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Macbook Pro - Essay Example Flash is the most fastest and reliable storage technology and it provides the capability and the much needed power to the different models, particularly the compact 13-inch and the super slim 15-inch models. Users can rely on the flash architecture since it is reliable, durable and battery efficient. Those who love games, Mac book pro has the latest Intel processors and next generation graphics which are built for speed and clear vision. With the Mac book pro, individuals can be able to easily find, share and organize their own personal information (Miser, 2012). Regulations and policies for the Mac book pro range can be categorized into legislation, company and government. The company that manufactures the Mac book pro computers, Apple (Linzmayer, 2004), has its own rules and regulation are to be agreed on by those in need of using the product. Personal information of any person purchasing the Mac book pro is collected as it helps identify the buyer, or contact the owner in case of an issue. Personal information collected includes; ‘name’, ‘mailing addresses, ‘phone number’, ‘email addresses, and ‘credit card information’ (Miser, 2012). In America, the social security number may be collected, but this can be in the case where one is setting up a wireless account (Miser, 2012). Government policies and legislations have standards that are set and they regulate the manufacturing of the Mac book pros’, distribution, marketing and the use of the Mac book pro. Different countries have diff erent regulations for the use and distribution of the Mac book pro. Importation and exportation is regulated and there is certain authority that the government is granted in order to regulate such. There is no specific age group who are allowed to use the Mac book pro, though there are specific acts and rules to regulate and monitor its use (Miser, 2012). The Mac book pro consists of various models, with some having a tapered design which has a

Communication and conflict Essay Example for Free

Communication and conflict Essay Communication is important, as it is the medium of conveying message, forming the first interface in method of conflict resolution. Communication is almost always within the context of culture, and culture determines the significance of words as well as gestures and non-verbal expressions, affording people with choices of high context or low context communication, depending upon their cultural maturity and ability to handle multi-culturalism and accommodate a range of opinions and ideas other than those familiar to them (Grosse, 2002). During the initial phase of cultural familiarity, communication takes place at low context, meaning that people rely more on direct verbal communication, which is more or less literal in nature. As the cultural relationship progresses, communication interaction moves ahead on continuum to become high context, and it becomes more interpersonal and contextual, minimizing chances of misunderstanding and confusion. However, in cases where the entire cultural paradigms are set in low context or high context communication patterns, cultural crossover becomes a difficult barrier for all the involved parties. Effective cross cultural communication is centered upon knowledge, empathy and intercultural sensitivity (ibid). The correct approach in such cases is be flexible, adaptable and receptive to all views, no matter how contrary or incongruous they appear. A successful cross cultural communication situation demands coming over these contradictions and differences in opinion to form a harmonious vision. A positive and patient listening attitude is also valuable as it allows people to fathom emotions of others and makes them perceptible to alternate view points. Finally, the most important attribute in cross cultural communication is recognition that every culture is correct in its own context and each has to yield some ground to reach a harmonious consensus (ibid). Discussion on mediation and skills in conflict resolution Effective communication strategies are keys to resolve conflict by providing channels that provide expression of grievances and bring conflicting parties together. In the field of conflict management, communication strategies help through the channels of 1. Negotiation: Negotiation has emerged as an important form of conflict management within organizational and social setups. As such research in communication theory in conflict management has started to pay close attention to communication behaviors, types and strategies towards successful negotiation. Negotiation, as a part of managing conflict, requires interested parties to trade proposals for settlement that include, out of court settlements, business contracts, collective bargaining contract etc (Womack, 1990, 32). As Womack further elaborates, generally the process of negotiation proceeds through motives that are both competitive and cooperative. The approach of communication in the entire process of negotiation is concerned with the messages that are transferred among negotiators and the concerned parties. Communication intervenes in the process of negotiation through its both verbal and nonverbal forms and constitutes the entire base on which the goals and terms of the bargain are negotiated. Communication plays the central role in not only developing the relationship among the parties in conflict, but also in determining its direction. It is also central in every form of bargaining process, whether the bargaining is done for organizational form of conflict management, involves conflict resolution, negotiation on legal agreements or for negotiation in inter-group an intra group conflict. The entire role of communication in negotiation processes and strategies is quite vast and it ranges from defining the conflict issues, selection and implementation of strategies to presenting and defending the viable alternatives and finally helping in reaching on a solution (Womack, 1990, 35). 2. Third party intervention: Third party intervention in conflict situation is a tricky and challenging situation. It is considered as one of those areas that offers real test to the communication skills of the intervening person. Although mediation requires a neutral and third party to bring the disputants on the resolving chairs and solve the conflict, the mediator per se, has no authority and commanding power to force the parties into acquiescing to an agreement. At the best, the mediator can use persuasive and convincing dialogues through which the involved parties voluntarily agree to reach at accord through advises, admonishments, ideas, and views of the mediator and break into meaningful dialogue with each other (Burrel, 1990, 54). Its easy to see that this entire procedure requires very high level of communication skills on the part of the mediator to successfully negotiate agreement among the conflicting parties. According to Burrel, one of the important communication skills in third party intervention is the ability to collect as much information as possible on the cause, background, and nature of conflict as well as on all the parties and individuals that are involved in the conflict. Burrel informs that an effective communication strategy to gather information is question-asking within a variety of communication approaches, some for example being, employment interviews, initial interactions and parent-child discourses, although there has been insignificant research on role of particular types of questions in mediation itself. However, it is established beyond question that the questioning abilities of a third party mediator are very important in striking a collaborative approach to the entire process of conflict management.

Marketing plan Essay Example for Free

Marketing plan Essay Marketing Plan How to sell Vrd’s Executive Summary: Compact is a company that wants to be well known by marketing a new Voice Recognition Device (VRD). This company will be able to create, develop, and sell the product to many different customers. The product is used and operated by performing tasks without using keyboards, a mouse, or any buttons. Compact wants to serve as many customers as possible. We are flexible and are willing to work with any customer that comes our way. Our target market is essentially everyone. Specifically groups including mangers, assistants, creators, students, home users, and parents are the market segments. All of these customers will be able to take our business to the next level as we sell our products to them. †¢Managers need a product with many special commands and high error protection. The managers need the VRD product to do their work. †¢Assistants defiantly need a product that has a high ease of learning. The product will give them time to multitask with many projects at one time. †¢Creators need a product that is quick and able to get the job done. They don’t really need ease of learning or error protection. These people know how to fix a lot of things. Students want the best product at the cheapest price. The product will allow students to do homework on the go and communicate with teachers. †¢Home users can include everybody from kids to the elderly. For these people this product needs a high ease of learning. In addition, the special commands can be low for the home users because they are just getting started with technology. †¢The parents are caring and buying the product for their kids. They care about the education of their child and want them to be ahead of the game. They just want a product with a high ease of learning for their children. Our company is trying to serve everyone from the broke students to the high end mangers. We feel like our customers/consumers were willing to shop online and at stores. The major retail store will have the product like Wal-Mart and Target. Online shopping will be convenient for the managers, assistants, and creators. Most of these people are very good with computers. To support our decision with choosing this market, we were able to focus heavily on customer service, advertising, and special commands. Also, we felt since we were targeting everyone in the market that error protection, and ease of learning. This will give the ability for our company to sell more and maximize our profit. Our company was able to compete against three other companies selling Voice Recognition Device. And we were able to compete against one other company for the second item DVC. These companies were; Vocley, Voyz, and Echo. The other companies made us take a look at how we can improve our business. The company we competed against for DVC was Echo. We were able to use other companies’ choices to figure out some good business decisions. Also, we used other companies to see what mistakes that we shouldn’t make. To increase our profit we had to change and adjust things to fit the customers. The Compact Company was about profit but at the same time we wanted to sell a great amount of goods. This helped us to determine if our company should change advertising, or customer service, or decrease the price of the product. As the game went on we had to change our market to the higher market in order to make a better profit. This was allowed by watching and understanding the market. The two huge this to make profit was advertising and customer service. The advertising allowed us to promote the product. So with the more promotion we wanted to make sure was had good customer service. This would allow customers to depend on the company anytime they needed us. There were four types of advertising to choose from and they were; Direct, Indirect, Pioneering, and Reminder. For our company we were Direct for the first eight weeks. The dealers were able to target most of their sales face to face with people. But we soon realized that not everyone works like this and wants to buy. Changing to Reminder would inform the customer but give them the chance to come to us. We didn’t want to force their hand into buying something they didn’t want. For Compact this was the best decision we soon upped the profit and price. This had a major effect on the sales of the product for us. We found that the right type of advertising is vital. The distribution intensity is the percentage of time that the dealer is selling your product in each of the channels. You want to have the dealers working but don’t want to over work them. Compact’s dealer intensity was 50% in each channel. The dealers in each channel would have a great amount of time to work and personal time as well. They don’t want to go through a lot of steps to learn how to use the product. Home users are mainly using VRD for online shopping or communicating with other people. This is more of something for them to do while they are laid back. B. Preferences The home users want a good price not as low as students. Also, they want a product that is easy to learn and pick up on. C. Differences from other segments This category could include with a lot people like kids, adults, and elderly. As long as the product is user friendly with the home user anyone is able to use it. They just use the product for fun and games. It is nothing serious like the managers or creators use VRD for. D. Trends We as a group would say the trend of this market is many put into one. A lot more people are using throughout this market so it is offered to many. More people are working and planning on the go so this would be much help to them. Also, the kids doing homework they are forming groups also with the product. Assistants: A. Needs and wants Assistants need something that they can depend on all the time and VRD is that product. While at work they are always asked to do many tasks. VRD is the product that they are able to use with excellent software. Also, has a great ease of learning to pick up on things easier. This device will make the assistant work look better than it really is. B. Preferences The product needs to have to have a high ease of learning. Basically, the ease of learning needs to be on a kid’s level to use. You want the assistants to be able to do their jobs with low amount of stress. C. Differences from other segments The major difference with the assistants is most do not purchase they project. They are mostly purchased by the company that they work for because of the ease of learning. The VRD will be able to keep the assistants on task with their job. And be able to keep their bosses happy with them. D. Trends Once the major and high end companies started purchasing the VRD, they will need less and less assistants. The reason our group thinks this is because the ease of learning will allow less workers, to do more jobs effectively. Creators: A. Needs and wants These are the Market testers, designers, and Writers. This can also include some businessman and professional living. These people want the high speed and want things to want as fast as possible. They don’t worry much about the ease of learning. B. Preferences They just want the speed and high special commands. Price is not really a problem with this group of people. C. Differences from other segments The Creators use the VRD product for professional work. The creators are people who need a product and do not care how much it cost as long as it gets the job done. This group is willing to spend as much money as needed. D. Trends As long as this product works for the creators it will grow. Managers: A. Needs and wants Managers always in charge of other people they need a product that is able to multitask and help others. They need something that is high speed and functions well. Most managers are businessman who has special documents to send out and this product is a huge advantage. B. Preferences These people do not care how much the product is. They just want something that functions very well. Also, this group has the highest special commands at 15. 3. Also, this group wants a lot of error protection too. C. Differences from other segments The managers are people that are very knowledgeable and know a lot about computers and laptops. They do not need any instructions or label how to work VRD. They have been working with them long enough in their field that they will be able to figure it out easily.  D. Trends For this product to stay trending with the managers it will need to have updates all the time. The managers always will want the best product on the market and VRD is it. Parents: A. Needs and wants This group is getting the VRD product for either their kids or grandkids. This will have to have a great ease of learning for the kids. The special com mands don’t have to be high at all. Parents can use this as a teaching tool for their kids. B. Preferences The parents just need a product with a high ease of learning for their kids. C. Differences from other segments Vocley’s strengths seem to be their unit sales, which has led the industry. Other strengths are higher commission percentage for their sale representatives, which give more incentives to create business. Weaknesses can be found in the retail price in distribution channel 1, which is one of the highest of the four companies. With all their success they have maintained a low customer service budget as well as advertising dollars. The data shows that they are trying to promote more business in channel 2 with five more sales representatives than in channel 1. Voyz is targeting the market segments of assistants and managers. It appears that there is a large difference in preferences from the different market segments which makes it hard try and clump a group together. In channel 1 Voyz is carrying the lowest retail price which is good for those that shop in that distribution. Voyz strengths are that they offer low prices in both channels and have great advertising. A weakness would be their budget for sale promotions. Voyz had a big jump from week four to week five, with more than 2. 5 million dollars in sales. This could be caused by an increase in advertising as well as higher commission. In the later weeks they made an emphasis on increasing their sale promotions. Echo led the four companies in special commands as well as overall profit for the first couple of weeks. They are targeting high-end, well to do users that shop in distribution channel 1. Echo is looking to sell to managers, creators, and assistants. Echo has been profiting the most because of the higher prices. Channel 2 is higher than industry average as well, but with good promotional money and advertising they are getting customers to buy into the company. Technologically this product is evolving very quickly and new opportunities are readily available to try and compete with other competitors that are defining the industry. To be on top we need to predict the future of what the customer wants long term, ultimately being the key to success. If better opportunities arise to make our product in another country for less cost and the same technology is available that decision will be made by the head of the company and could put us at a strategic advantage, possibly opening new paths for consumers that didn’t even know about our product. A potentially global market will once again change the game and the product will see a phenomenal rate of growth. To introduce a product to other countries can be an enormous task with major spending but in doing so it will allow for greater profit in the future. Furthermore, producing our product in another country might bring down cost and ultimately lead to more profit. Production can occur in a country where there are low wages and lower cost for parts to make the end product. In addition, another country might have better tax incentives and other government funding to help the production of the VRD to become a more profitable product. Producing the VRD in another country will expand sales internationally as well because there will be more brand awareness in those markets. 2. Marketing Objectives: Compact’s marketing objectives focused on market segments that haven’t been utilized yet and customer satisfaction to retain as many customers as possible. If we can keep our customers happy and attract other consumers from different companies or market places we will gain an advantage. Our marketing type was direct for most of the game but to try and secure those other customers plus retain ours we switched to a reminder strategy. Ultimately, this didn’t turn out as well as we would have liked it to. In fact, in week 10 we had a major decline in profit. To gain an advantage our company needed to focus on high quality customer service and smart advertising to make the customer feel like they’re getting the knowledge and the most innovated type of product, with the company always supporting their product. Our budget for many weeks only allowed for a certain amount of money to be spent which cut into our customer service budget and our advertising. We also had to adjust our research and development since our company could not buy market reports. This was tough to do, but for a couple of weeks we saw a steady growth rate in profits, nothing compared to the leaders though. Our company was still producing profit, but in order to be at the top of our industry we decided on an approach to flood the customers with sales reps and create more advertising hopefully attracting customers that either didn’t know about our product or steal customers from our competitors. 3. Marketing Strategies: 3. 1 Target Market: After playing the game, we encountered different problems with our marketing strategy. Initially our group was doing well and we understood the features of the VRD. After receiving the reports in the first couple of weeks we realized that we had more special commands, ease of learning and the error protection then needed. We got different results from both channels so our strategy was to focus on one channel and put more of an emphasis to sell from that channel. We focused on channel 2 at first, and then gradually brought channel 1 into our strategy since our group was not doing well. Our group had some good competitors and they were doing really well in the business. In order to compete with them we had to change our strategy each week we gave our inputs. We analyzed our competitors and received as much information as we could. With a low budget we were unable to produce reports to determine where we needed to focus our dollars on. This hurt our overall plan because our group had to play a guessing game in order to try and figure out what the customers wanted. Initially we saw that students and the home users were more interested in our products. So we were giving our inputs accordingly. In order to make this an equal amongst all, we had to change some plans so that assistants and managers didn’t fall behind in buying our product. We tried incorporating a strategy to include these types of users and make them aware of our brand, but the other brands already established themselves which led us to have a hard time in the marketing mix. Our main focus was to make sure the customer was getting the special commands, error protection, and ease of learning that they wanted. Throughout the game we adjusted this several times. During one week we adjusted the commands down to better suit the customer’s needs, which we thought would possibly give us an advantage. 3. 2 Product Strategies: As we analyzed the market, we knew exactly what customers needed and what their field of interest was. We knew that we could extend the special commands to 20, ease of learning to 15 and error protection to 15. We could have increased our special commands very quickly but we knew that it’s a long run game and if we had increased our special commands rapidly we will not have any options in the future. We thought our plan was working very smoothly, but, our competitor’s strategy ended up becoming suitable for the market and dominating the industry. We decided to increase our special commands to try an put a product on the market comparable to the one of our competitors. Our biggest competitor ended up being ECHO because they also included the second device in their strategy. Another reason why we were competing with them was because we were the bottom two companies in our industry fighting for those last dollars whereas Vocley and Voyz both secured the top two spots and were fighting for the overall postiton. Initially we were making $800,000 but now we are making 1. 2m. As we changed the strategy and focused on different fields, we were back into business. We cut our cost in most of the things in order to concentrate more on customer support and advertisement. And the results were good enough. we were also spending a lot on our sales agents. We are gradually increasing our special commands, ease of learning and error protection and this was giving us leverage with the other companies but we couldn’t receive as much profit as them which led us to have an overall lower budget. As we said, there were lots of ups and dows in the business and that’s a reality. In real world we have these kinds of issues and its very normal because as time passes, lots of good companies and businesses come into picture and we have to think outside the box in order to compete with them. 3. 3 Promotion Strategies: Product promotion is important to target your segmented market. We strategized to develop the best method to promote our product. We needed to reach our consumers as effectively as possible. We saw different outcomes when we allocated our resources in different areas. Starting in period four we were allowed to determine how much money was going into our promotions. When we had more money to spend we were able to put more money into our promotions for both products. In turn we saw an increase in our units sold. Promotional dollars spent was direct correlated to the units sold, but with less revenue, we had less money to put into our promotion. 3. 3. 1 Customer Service: Customer service is essential to keep your customers happy. Customer service is the level of ease a customer can contact and reach the company. The customer should be able to contact the company in order ask for assistance in the product usage, discuss complaints that they may have, or re-order damaged or under warranty products. Customer service is very important to the customers and the more money that a company can set aside for customer service, the higher the levels of customer satisfaction with the company can be. This was difficult for our team to think how much to put into customer service, at first we spent less money on customer service and were still able to keep our customers satisfied. What our team found strikingly odd was that our customer service could continue to increase, but our customer service, was still not near the industry average. In the first three games we did not think that customer service levels would have the impact that they did on our sales. So we did not put high amounts of money into serving the customer’s needs. Then we realized the more our competitors spent in customer service, the more our customers where unsatisfied with the service levels that they were receiving. Our percentage was steadily decreasing and we needed to increase our percentage in respect to the industry average. On the y axis was the number of units sold and the x-axis the game period. In our findings we found that if you increased the customer service budget, you have happy returning customers. Our strategy was to stay with the industry average after finding the correlation between customer service and units sold. However, it is difficult to stay with the industry average, when sales are decreasing and revenue is dropping. 3. 3. 2 Advertising: Advertising is essential when targeting your market. A company can have the best idea in the world but without customer knowledge the product may never reach the market. Our team understood the importance of advertising our product and initially spent $280,000 in advertising alone. We knew that we had to reach our markets in order to sell our product, this strategy seemed to work very well for us and for the remainder of the game we contributed at the least $200,000 to advertising. In week four we were allowed to choose the type of advertising to market our product more effectively. In week four we went with the reminder, we choose reminder because we had the highest brand recognition out of all four of the competitors. Unfortunately, this did not work out in our favor, as our sales dropped dramatically. In week five we decided to choose pioneering, to show our market that we were the best in the market, if they wanted to quality and the most advanced product in the market. In week five this worked in our favor as our sales increased as well as our revenues. We typically kept with the direct market approach throughout the game except in period 5. We saw that we needed to have large amounts of money in each of the product advertising budgets in order to appeal to our target customers. We spent less money in advertising with product one, and did find that sales impact total units sold. With less and less money to spend in each product segment it was difficult to allocate which product should have the most advertising dollars to spend. In the long run we choose to try to compete with our competitors in the first product market. 3. 3. 3. Personal Selling: Understanding the significance of personal selling in marketing can help a company target their market. Personal selling is the most expensive form of advertisement, but it is the most effective. Selling at the personal level is a more direct approach in contacting your consumer. A person can better target a potential buy. Our team had to choose the appropriate amount of sales people and determine their commission to better influence the sale people to sale to the final consumer. Sales people are an incredibly important part of advertising, a sales person can influence the consumers to purchase the product. However a sales person needs the proper incentive to work their hardest to sell to the consumer. Initially we could only choose the number of sales representatives in each channel. First we equally divided them between the channels and found that the channels had different selling rates so we distrusted the sales representatives from then on. We put higher numbers of sales representatives in the channel that was in need of better sales. Later on in the game we were able to determine the work load of the sales representative and the commission that they could make. Initially, we thought that the higher we make the commission the harder the sales representative would work so in week four we increased the commission to a higher percent. We were also allowed to determine how much time the sales representative was supposed to have customer contact. We thought it was essential for the sales representative to send the most amount of time possible with the customers, without hindering their work performance. So we only made the sales representatives spend small amounts of time doing paper work and clerical duties. Although we were allowed to alter the sales person’s duties and commission so far the push percentage has been steady at of an average rate of . 38. We no longer purchase the reports to determine how well our sales representatives are pushing our products in each channel. Since the beginning we have increased our sales force, although it is the most expensive marketing tool, it is typically the most effective. The chart below shows that we have increased our sales force in each channel; additionally we have continued to raise their commission on the products they are selling. Keeping the number of sales representatives and their commission in mind we thought it would allow for a bigger push in each channel if we steadily increased both. † These methods can attract the consumer to use these products, sometimes it’s the consumers first time using the product and can affect their future purchases. If a customer is satisfied with a sample they can decide how much better the product is than the rest of your competitors and create brand loyalty to your product. We kept the sales promotion amounts pretty constant until period six and did not see an increase in the amount of sales. We did see an increase in our sales in period 7 as we spent almost double are typical spending on promotions but only had an increase of sales of about 5,000 units. Well the product was doing we were then able to order the appropriate amount of manufactured product for the next week. During the game we were able to keep manufacturing at similar levels as our sales were not increasing drastically. We did increase our production when our sales were increasing. 3. 5. Pricing Strategies: Consumers have always been very sensitive with price, and will be. Products that are priced incredibly high are sometimes seen as high quality or part of the social elite market. On the other hand products that are priced lower can been seen as high value or affordable. Price is one of the essential variables to reach your target market. Our team was able to understand our distribution channels and was able to determine that the people that tend to purchase our product in channel 2 were more price sensitive than those in channel 1. It didn’t occur to us that we should change the prices in the different channels until week four. After changing the prices in each channel we were able to target the different markets in each channel more effectively. Throughout the game we allocated our money different according to the resources that we had and what we needed to improve upon. Most of our money was allocated to our sales force in the first product segment. Combined from both product sectors and adding their salary and commission they were almost 75% of our total expenses. This does show that person to person selling is the most costly. Our next largest expense was advertising as we spent about 1/3 of our funds to advertise our product. The rest were very small amounts of our expenses throughout the game, we decided to spend less money in these areas as they had a smaller impact on our unit sales. Controls For the controls we wanted to see what worked best within our plan. We wanted to take a look at the controls every week and be able to monitor it. This would depend on want the customers’ wants and needs were. We knew and understood that we were here to serve them. Within the first three weeks we were able to reach our goal to serve the customers. We focused on ease of learning and special commands. We also were able to level off at error protection on the fourth week. But this was not enough as the weeks progressed we were always able to add more. During the fourth week we were able to purchase two more of each. That was ease of learning and special commands. The main reason that we raised those was because we seen other groups doing it to better serve their customers. We wanted to serve them as best as we could. Toward the end with extra money coming in we were able to increase all of them by two during the seventh week. Throughout the weeks we had to decide whether or not to buy the reports. We bought the reports in a later week to see if our preferences were in line with our target market. We made adjustments to our strategy and preferences so that we could meet the needs of our target market. Our objective for the remaining weeks was to make sure that overall we still had a profit and we were not losing money. This was attained and our objective was completed. In a real environment though, the company would have to consider strategic moves in order to stay competitive and survive in the long run. Our product was on a path towards the decline stage, if not already there. In the end, we still completed the game with a profit and had a product that certain groups of consumers relied upon.