Marketing channel article Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Marketing channel article - Essay Example Amazon attributes the low sales and profits to market forces of demand and supply, and increased expenditures on operating and investing activities hence resulting to Amazon’s share price falling. Meanwhile, the company expects to exploit the fourth quarter, which is associated with the influx in customers who buy holiday gifts. To manage the expected rise in sales and further fuel growth, Amazon has laid down several strategies. It plans to acquire video game service Twitch interactive Inc. in order to increase its entertainment services. In the previous month, the company launched New Kindle tablets models in a wider scheme to lure more media customers. The company also plans to open pop-up stores in Sacramento and San Francisco to facilitate marketing of its electronics. Further, the company launched its Fire Smartphone in the current summer. Due to competition from Samsung’s galaxy devices and Apple Inc.’s, iPhone the Amazon was forced to reduce the price of the Fire smartphone weeks after the device began selling. Last month, the company obtained a $2 billion credit from the Bank of America to boost its continued investments in areas such as same-day grocer y delivery, which are anticipated to generate profits more for Amazon in the long-run. The company has been in disputes with some book publishers regarding the pricing of digital books. In the current week, Amazon entered into a deal with Simon &Shuster publishers, which the company claims will improve affordability of the books for readers while sharing the gains among the online retailers, authors and publishers. Two marketing channel concepts are seen in the article. The concepts are direct selling and selling through intermediaries. Direct selling entails selling products directly to the consumer; there are no intermediaries. Amazon deals with electronics such as the newly launched Kindle tablets and Fire

Excluding all finance and accounting courses, what has been your Essay

Excluding all finance and accounting courses, what has been your favorite course taken as an undergraduate and why - Essay Example Another aspect of marketing that makes the course my favorite is its broad functionality. Marketing equips one with skills useful to almost any organization that seeks to promote itself and remain competitive. Knowledge of consumer psychology presents a fascinating experience that I view as an opportunity to better my understanding of business processes. Learning the role of psychology in consumer marketing was an important aspect that made me like the course. The course allows students to carry out field research together, and this provides an opportunity for me to develop my research skills. I also like the fact that the course allows me to evaluate commercials for stereotypes and gender identity. Conclusively, marketing as a course has provided me with skills that I feel will serve as a competitive advantage in the job

The Internet and its Impact on Society Essay Example for Free

The Internet and its Impact on Society Essay The internet has its roots in the space program. When the Soviet Union launched the Sputnik satellite, President Eisenhower formed the Advanced Research Projects Agency. (ARPA). The mission of this agency was to assist the dominance of the United States in technology that would assist the military. By 1968, packets had been developed to facilitate data transfer. These packets are hard to intercept and decode, since the total message is split up among many packets. These packets could travel several different routes, so if one route became unavailable, possibly from a nuclear attack, then the message could still reach its destination via another route. This technology was named Packet Switching Networking (Marsh 2007, p. 1). In 1969 the Department of Defense formed ARPANET. The purpose of this network was to research the upcoming possibilities. The first node was located at the University of California – Los Angeles, with nodes installed shortly afterward at Stanford, the University of California – Santa Barbara, and at the University of Utah. Thus in 1969, there were a total of four nodes on this network. This is considered the birth of the internet (Marsh 2007, p. 2). The 1970s was a landmark decade for the internet. Email was first created in 1971. By now, there were 15 nodes and 23 hosts on the ARPANET. In 1973, the first international node was established on ARPANET at the University College of London. Both Ethernet protocols and File Transfer Protocols (FTP) were developed. The commercial version of ARPANET, named Telenet, was placed in operation in 1974 as the first packet service for the public. In 1975, Queen Elizabeth sent her first Email (Marsh 2007, p. 3). By 1984, there were over 1,000 hosts on the internet. The concept of the Domain Server Name (DNS) was introduced, so that instead of a series of numbers, the user could remember a name of the host. The number of hosts exploded in the late 1980s. By 1986, there were 5,000   hosts. The number increased to 280,000 in 1987 and 100,000 in 1989. In 1991 CERN released the World Wide Web (WWW), and by 1993 the number of hosts had increased to 2,000,000 (Marsh 2007, p. 3). Commercialization of the internet began in the mid 1990s. Shopping malls, the US Senate and House of Representatives, and banks had all joined the internet revolution. By 1997 there were 19.5 million hosts and over 1 million WWW sites (Marsh 2007, p. 7). This extremely rapid growth was at times unregulated. Indeed, the growth outpaced society’s ability to deal with the impact that this technology was going to have. For all the benefit that the information age has provided, there are just as many pitfalls. The dominance of this one technological beast in the world today has made the globe much smaller than aviation ever did. The continued expansion of the internet has brought to the forefront many different ethical questions. These can be grouped into some fairly broad categories. First, there is the criminal element that utilizes the internet for criminal profiteering, exploitation, and hacking. Second, the extreme amount of information available makes research both easier and easily subject to dishonesty. Plagiarism has always been an issue in the academic world. Now with virtually millions of academic articles available at a keystroke, it has never been easier. Thirdly, Corporate America has utilized the internet for bulk mailing, unwanted pop-up advertisements, and other basically annoying retail behavior. They also utilize the internet for corporate spying, invasive employee monitoring, and other questionable activities. Lastly, the internet has provided an environment for pornography, intimate contact, and other ethically questionable behavior. The criminal element of our society has latched onto the internet. With thousands of transactions posted through the internet each hour, identity theft is common. In identity theft, the   perpetrator steals the identity in order to commit some other crime. Most often, this new crime is fraud. The criminal either intercepts the information or, more likely, convinces the individual to provide the information through the email. If the criminal is disguised as a legitimate business, then the activity is called Phishing. The criminal will take the personal information he has received and either open new credit card and other transaction accounts or simply steal out of the account numbers he has received from the unsuspecting victim. The victim may not even realize the theft occurred for months (Arnold 2000, p. 1-8). While identity theft is a property crime, other criminals use the internet to prey on children. The will communicate with younger children in chat rooms, often posing as a child themselves. Commonly, these pedophiles will attempt to lure these children into meeting them somewhere, like the mall. When they meet the children, they then have the opportunity to molest, kidnap, or otherwise harm them. Hacking was seen at one time as harmless fun. Now hackers can cause thousands of dollars worth of damage including lost income, cost to fix the damage done, and loss of customers. Infected computers cause havoc all over the network. Hackers are prosecuted when they are caught, but the methods that they use make identification difficult. There are no easy solutions to the criminal use of the internet. The best defense against identity theft is education. Educating the public on why they should not give there password, social security numbers, and addresses to those they do not know is a start. There are already laws against this. Better and more public enforcement may have an effect. Encryption of data being transmitted over the internet is another way to secure it. This is already being done by the financial institutions and the government, but other businesses could improve their security by encrypting all personal data. Protecting children against internet predators is best done through educating the parents on the use and control of the internet. In our society today, children are left to there own devices more than they were a generation ago. Parents must monitor their children’s use of the internet. Blocking software is available that will prevent children from accessing dangerous areas. Hackers will always be a part of the internet scene. Virus software, like Norton, helps. Again, education is the key. Internet users should only download from trusted sources. Better education on email use is also needed. If no one opened email they did not recognize, computer viruses, phishing, and other scams would be severely reduced. The scholastic integrity has suffered because of the amount of downloadable information and misinformation that is available. Plagiarism has been an issue since universities opened. Now, however, it is everywhere. Students can easily download someone else’s work and claim it as their own. Researches can claim ownership of other people’s research. The detection and prevention of plagiarism is a major issue for higher education. Like internet crime, there is no real absolute solution for plagiarism. Universities have instigated severe penalties, including expulsion, for those who are caught. This type of deterrence will have some effect. Web sites such as www.turnitin.com offer plagiarism detection. If students know that their papers will be checked, they are going to be less likely to commit the act. However, nothing is going to prevent some plagiarism. Education, again, would be beneficial to those who commit unintentional plagiarism, but for those who knowingly do it when they know the risks, education is not going to have an effect. Bulk emailing, or spam, is a very large issue. Corporate America spends lots of money both generating and preventing spam emails. These are a problem because they can tie up server resources, Ethernet gateways, and personal computers. Spam can also harbor viruses that can damage computer systems. Pop-up ads are not only intrusive, they can be damaging. Ads from competitors can appear, without the original business owner’s knowledge, on commercial websites. An example would be a Chevy ad popping up while a person was browsing a ford web site. These ads may be displayed hours later. Along with this, these companies will store files on the user’s hard drive, sometimes without their knowledge, to track what web sites they browse. Tighter regulation on corporate behavior is needed. Unfortunately, the individual states have little they can due since the vast majority of internet traffic crosses state boundaries. Therefore, this type of regulation must come from the Federal Government. Regulations requiring business to notify the user before they store a file on their computer, regulating trespassing pop-up ads, and regulating unwanted Spam are either needed or the enforcement must be better. The issue of pornography is an old one. With the internet, porn is easily accessible. With the free speech guarantees that we enjoy, adult pornography is hard to regulate. Even public libraries have had to face the free speech vs. good for society issue. Like other internet issues, there are no sure answers. Software and hardware that regulates what sites are visited is one way to attempt to keep adult sites in the hands of adults only. But just like â€Å"R† rated movies, kids will find a way to â€Å"sneak in†. The internet has changed our society and has shrunk the world. It happened faster than our society was able to cope. Now we stand in awe looking into a world that we indeed created that has to a real extent got out of hand. The only way to control this monster is through education, enforcement of laws, and stiffer penalties for those who violate these laws. References Arnold, Tom. (2000). Internet Identity Theft. Software Industry Association Marsh, David (2007). History of the Internet. Retrieved June 2, 2007 from NetValley Web site: http://www.netvalley.com/archives/mirrors/davemarsh-timeline-1.htm

Leadership And Change Management In Tescos Zero Carbon Supermarket

Leadership And Change Management In Tescos Zero Carbon Supermarket Over the years a lot has been written about the change. Some of which, is not appropriate and then uncontrolled change results in chaos. Why do we or an organisation needs change? There are some points that are here written under. Personally or as groups we need to evolve, equipments has to be replaced, new products need to be developed , business process need to be modified due the threat of opportunities, events, culture etc. In nut shell, he who wants to progress, success, and achievements needs change. Change management means different things to different people and different companies. Why organisations required changing Various things cause companies change. These consist of: Growth challenges, particularly worldwide markets Economic challenges downturns and bitter trading circumstances Strategy changes hi-tech changes economical and competitor pressures, together with mergers and acquisitions client force, mainly changing markets to learn new organisation performance and skills Government law and legislation/initiatives. The big impact of failures to introduce valuable alteration can also be high loss of marketplace situation such as elimination of senior supervision, loss of key employees, loss of stakeholder reliability.   There are new theories regarding assured of these newer models, like effective and project based structures, permit enlarged litheness to react to change. Though such theories are not for all time introduced consistently, and in exercise frequently initiate other issues that also shock upon amend supervision, such as capacity to share information and to run efficiently. These may also impact usefulness of declaration or worker commitment, which themselves have suggestion for change usefulness.   Obstacles in the way of change such as resistance to modify can be defined as a person or collection attractive in acts to block or else interrupt an attempt to commence change. so we can say that resistance itself can take many altered forms from subtle damage of change initiatives or  custody of in order to active resistance,  it can strike. There are two types of resistance in broad sense: That the resistance on the content like introduction of a particular reward system or a specific change in IT. That the resistance in the process of change such as there are executive jobs re structure without prior conference to the effected employees. I am going to select Tesco supermarket as an organisation that has recently implemented a major change project as the Tesco the United Kingdom largest supermarket has opened the worlds largest and first Zero Carbon Supermarket, before I discuss upon Zero Carbon I would like to discuss Tesco as a supermarket. Tesco is the world third largest and the United Kingdom first biggest supermarket having around 2420 stores and employees over the 327000. TESCO is not operating in the UK but also in Asia and Europe. Through its subsidiary, Tesco.com, it provides the services through online. The companys largest and biggest market is UK as here they are operating under four banners such as Superstore, Extra, Express and Metro, Recently the UK largest supermarket has opened the Worlds first Zero Carbon supermarket that big step towards an organisational change. That the store has no net Carbon foot print and exports any further electricity generated back to national grid. This store is located in Ramsey, Cambridgeshire this Zero Carbon superstore boasts, recycle, eco friendly features that are here under: That the store has a combined power and heat plant that runs on bio fuels from renewable sources. There is the timber derived from sustainable source rather that steel its main and chief features is to reduce the carbon footprint of construction. when the daylight increases then interior lighting dims and that time skylight s allow daylight on the sales floor The Led that is the UKs first Led lit parking lot and on the gas stations. That the rainwater collection facilities on the roof that gives water for use of the flush for the store toilets and the car wash. Heating, refrigerant gases in the fridges, air condition systems and ventilation systems that have in effect no impact on the environment. That the crossing signals and solar powered. There is additional energy efficient equipment, such as low energy bakery ovens. The superstore that has been operating in the Ramseys town, Cambridgeshire, framed of timber rather than steel. It uses day lights from the sky and there are sun pipes to reduce the need for artificial lighting. That the store has also characteristics of combined power and heat plant by the renewable bio fuels that can export surplus electricity back to the national grid. That all the refrigerators those are notorious for the balck spots for retailers that are trying to boost their green credentials. Now they have doors to save energy and HFC the harmful hydro fluorocarbon refrigerant gases previously been used. The professional people have significant role in management and development and have vital role to play in the process of change management Tescos HR Involvement in various aspects through CIPD Research It is reported in the research that Human Resources participation in a variety of aspects of the change can create the dissimilarity between successful and less successful project Their contribution at the initial stage of the project team. They can instruct to the project leaders in skill available in the business, recognize any training requirements, skill gaps, new practices new posts etc. They can balance out the short term and narrow goals with the broader strategic need. They assess the impact of change in one or more than one area , site, department of their organisation. With the stakeholders, used to negotiating and engaging, and also concerns to anticipate the problems of the stakeholder. Always helping the people with the change, motivation, and performance management. Always understand the appropriate medium of communication to assess the various groups. Tesco Hr team to face change management challenges after Leahy retirement The HR of Tescos team has to face the important change management challenges following CEOs leaving, according to experts. He has been the wheel of the UKs largest market chain more than 13 years and was the organizer behind its rise to own a 30%of the UK market. He will retire in March 2011 at the age of 55 and be successful by present head of international operation. Philip Clark (Beth Holmes 09 June 2010) Clark will carry his own product of leadership to the 500,000 staff international, with 250,000 in the UK across approximately 25000 stores. Tesco, which made a pre-tax profit of 3.2bn pound in its last financial year. There are various organisation theories and models which all supermarkets are using to make change, their development and performance like TESCO SUPEMERKET big achievement on the first Zero Carbon supermarket that is boasting these changes and it the big step in the organisational change by using these organisational theories such as: The EFQM excellence model EFQM model was initiated at the commencement of the 1992 as the structure for Measure Company for the European Quality Award. This for the all organisations that is regardless of sector, stricter or maturity, size and need to be successful to the establish an appropriate management frame work. Now it is the most broadly used organisational frame work not only in the Europe but also in UK, US, and rest of the countries and we may say like this that it is the foundation for the majority of regional and national Quality Award. In the way to benchmark with other organisations inn change management. It can also use for the self assessment as the Tesco market made a change in the organisation that totally separated from the other organisations. There is complete guide for the areas for the improvement. And the main the structure for the organisations management system as from there all changes starts For the basis of an organisations common vocabulary and their way of thinking. There some valuable aspects that can narrate from the above given model these aspects of the model are very important for not only Tesco super market change but also for any organisation change and performance. Organisational Leadership For any organisational change is depends upon their leadership because its the leader who expands and facilitates the attainment of the mission and vision. They increase the values of the organisation and it s required system for the sustainable achievement and realize these through their activities and behaviours. While the change is in progress they maintain a constancy of aim, such leaders are being able for the change direction of the organisation. Strategy and polices Outstanding organisations put into practice their task and idea by budding a stakeholder purposeful approach that takes explanation of the marketplace, division in which it operates. Strategy, Policies, aims and processes are developed and deployed to convey organisation polices. Empoyees/People Brilliant organisations administer, expand, free the full possible of their people at an person, team-based and organisational level. They support justice and sameness and engage and sanction their persons. They heed for, commune, recompense and discriminate, in a method that motivates employees and construct promise to by earnings of their skills and information for the advantage of the organisation. Resources And Partnership among the Oraginsation or people Superb organisations graph to manage exterior partnership, suppliers and domestic possessions in order to hold up strategy and scheme and the useful operation of process. Through development and though managing partnerships and property, they balance the current and prospect needs of the government, the district, and the surroundings. Execelent Process Admirable organisations plan, run and get better process in instruct to completely suit, and produce rising worth for, consumers and other stakeholders.   Results from the customers Outstanding organisations carefully calculate and attain exceptional grades with respect to their consumers. Results from the people Exceptional organisations carefully determine and get wonderful results with admiration to their people. Result from the society Admirable organisations methodically calculate and attain exceptional result with high opinion to society. Performance result Brilliant organisations methodically determine and attain exceptional results with esteem to the key factor of their plan and policy. Choices for Change The Change Kaleidoscope Design Choices After the significant contextual characteristics are recognized, the design choices have to be set for the change process. Many alternatives are strong-minded by the contextual quality. 1.Change path 2.Change start point 3.Change style 4.Change target 5.Change roles DESIGN CHOICES: Objectives: To identify change choice open to leaders. To identify a range of tools and models that add further Clarity or perspective to the options that faces leaders when planning implementation of their proposed changed. Five Design Choices: Contextual features of the change situation should be considered before a change approach is selected. Change Path: This is driven by the extent of change and the speed of the change that need to be undertaken for the required change outcome to be delivered. the change path option seems to be between Revolutionary or Evolutionary. Leader may have little choice but to enforce may have little choice but to enforce change from the top using whatever tools, incentives are available: The need is pressing and there is no alternative. The cultural web Cultural web elements The Cultural Web recognize six joined basics which help to build up what Johnson and Scholes recognize the paradigm the representation or mould of the job environment. You can start to see the advanced representation of your culture that running and that is not functioning, what needs to be changed. Stories: The earliest times actions and people discussed about inside and external the company. By choosing what and who the business chooses to commemorate says a great arrangement about what it principles and perceives as vast performance.   Rituals and Routines:   Day today performance and activities of people that signal satisfactory actions. This verifies what is going to happen in given conditions, and what is appreciated by management.   Symbols: The company logos, how plush the offices are and the dress codes. Organizational Structure:   This contains both the organisation structure described by the organization chart, and the unwritten lines of authority and power that specify whose assistance are most valued.   Control Systems:   The traditions that the business is controlled. These consist of economic systems, quality systems and rewards. Power Structures:   The people who are holding the real power in the business. This may engage some key senior executives, a whole group of senior managers, or even a section. The main thing is that these people have the most amount of power on decisions, operations, and planned direction. Every business has selected a dissimilar way of achieving competitive advantage in a packed marketplace.   Michael Porter, 1985 in his book  Competitive Advantage, Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance. Says the generic strategies Cost Leadership (no frills), Differentiation and Focus (present a particular service in a niche marketplace). He then subdivided the Focus strategy into two parts: Cost Focus and Differentiation Focus.   The Cost Leadership Strategy, Porters generic strategies are paths of acquisition competitive advantage, in other language, creating the edge that gets you the trade and takes it left from your challengers. There are two main paths of attain this within a Cost Leadership strategy: Rising profits by dropping costs though charging industry-average prices. Growing market share during charging lower prices, at the same time as still making a logical profit on each business because you have decrease costs. For that reason need to be sure that you can attain and uphold the number one place before selecting the Cost Leadership path. Businesses that are victorious in attaining Cost Leadership typically have, Entry to the capital essential to spend in technology that will bring costs down. Well-organized logistics. A small cost base (labour, materials, and facilities) and a way of sustainably reducing costs under those of other competitive businesses. The Differentiation Strategy, This involves making your goods or services diverse from and better-looking those of your challengers. How you going to do this is depends on the nature of your business and of the goods and services themselves, but will characteristically involve durability, features, support, functionality and also image of the brand that your customers worth. To make a achievement of a Differentiation scheme organizations need, High-quality investigates expansion and novelty. The capacity to supply goods or services. Successful trades and promotion therefore the market get to know the advantages obtainable by the differentiated contributions. Big businesses follow a differentiation strategy require continuing with their new product development processes. Or else they risk assault on several fronts by contestant follow Focus Differentiation strategies in diverse market sections. The Focus Strategy, Businesses that use Focus strategies focus on exacting niche marketplaces and by consideration of dynamics of that marketplace and the exclusive needs of buyers within it, expand uniquely reduced value or well-specified goods for the marketplace. Since they treat their buyers in their market exclusively well, they tend to put up tough brand loyalty among their buyers. This creates their exacting market section less attractive to challengers. The porters five forces model Porters five forces analysis suppose that there are five significant forces that decide the power of competition in a business condition. These are, Supplier Bargaining Power:   This force you measure how simple it is for providers to raise up prices. This is handling by the amount of providers of each key input the individuality of their product/service, their power and control above you, the fee of switching from one to a new product and so on. The supplier selections you have and the extra you need providers help, the more authoritative your suppliers are. There are lot of suggestions for Tesco. Than smaller supermarkets Tesco has an advantage like they can dictate the amount the Tesco pay for their suppliers. If that provider did not support for that price they will be left much smaller markets for their goods. 1. Buyers Bargaining Power:   In this force ask from you how simple it is for purchasers to run prices down. Once more, this is carrying by the amount of buyers, the significance of each person to your business, the charge to them of switching from one product and service to another and so on. If you handle with few authoritative purchasers, then they are frequently able to say terms to you. As an example If Tescos beans price is high customers will switched to Sainsbury or Asda Competitive Rivalry:   The importance here is the amount and ability of your challengers. If you comprise with many challengers, and they propose evenly good-looking products and services, then youll mainly like to have little authority in the circumstances, because providers and purchasers will go somewhere else if they do not get a high-quality contract from you. Another thing is if anyone cant do what you do, then you can frequently have marvellous power. Threat of Substitution:   This happens due to the facility of your buyers to find a dissimilar way of undertaking what you do as an example if you deliver a unique software product that computerize an essential procedure persons may replacement by doing the procedure by hand or by outsourcing it. If replacement product is easy and substitution is feasible then these weaken your power. Threat of New Entry:   Here it says authority is also affected by the capability of people to come in your marketplace. If it charge little in time or money to come in to your market and struggle successfully, if there are few financial systems of scale in marketplace, or if you have tiny security for your main technologies, then new challengers can speedily come in to your market and reduce the power of your position. If you have tough and strong barriers to entry then you can protect a favourable location and take reasonable benefit of it. Other supermarkets give good challenge to Tesco plc. Tesco plc might have area the market place for some assured products; the new superstores will not be capable to find low-priced, dependable suppliers. Also Tesco has the benefit of  economies of scale. The sum it pays to providers per-item is a bunch less than the small shop.  

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Smoke a lot. Drink more of what you have been drinking and try some new stuff. Eat real crappy food. Now go and exercise for ten minutes and soon you will be giving Arnold Swartzenegger a run for his money. Life is good when you are a guy in this day and age, especially when it comes to advertising. Recently I picked up an edition of the latest magazine, Maxim and after reading, starring, and goggling I feel like I have just left a bachelor party. Ad campaigns that are directed toward the male species believe it or not are constructed very simple: sex, booze, money, and did I mention sex? These are the very basic infrastructures of the male psyche. It is hard to believe that after a million years of evolution, placing a man on the moon, and constructing mile high buildings the basic ingredients to a successful advertisement to entice men to buy can be reduced down to sex or how to get it. The January edition of MAXIM magazine (Maxim, 1999) that featured the model/actress Shannon Elizabeth in a very skimpy top is very typical of what men want to see. The cover stories included, "Her secret sex fantasy" and "100 women tell you what really turns them on!" Right. I hate to be a skeptic but why would women want to tell me what turn them on especially after they have kept it a secret up until this point, at least that's what my dad says. On the other hand this could be the new Bible for men. The article of course is an advertisement for a book that I can easily purchase for a measly $9.97 plus shipping and handling. The ad instructs me that this is the latest book from Maxim's secret vault and it is so hot that it should be illegal! Illegal? It is also packed with scorching photos that are too hot for them to show! As I read on I am instructed that I will not believe it till I see it! And I must act now to receive a complimentary poster for the first 100 orders. I thought to myself that perhaps they should have offered a free cold shower because that what I needed after I goggled at the ad for a minute or two. This of course is a typical ploy of marketers according to Jeffery Shrank in "Why you buy-how ads persuade"(Shrank, 1994) in which an illustration is made depicting a technique to persuade using buzzwords.

Life without friendship? Is it Possible? Essay -- essays research pape

Life is more rewarding with friendship. Every day is a chance to meet someone new. It does not matter if you're at school, work, or just out running around, people are everywhere. Whether you get along with them or not is your choice. In my experiences, I have found there are three different types of friends that help your life run more smoothly. Many of us meet a good number of friends though work. These would be what we call your â€Å"work friends†. The more friends an individual has at work the better off that individual is. Often times, fellow employees will help when you're falling behind in the work schedule. With their plans permitting, they will cover or trade a shift for you if something comes up and you need the day off. When times get tough and your boss is riding your butt, fellow employees will often back you up. Friends at work, make the load a lot less troublesome and stressful. No one likes to go to a party by themselves. This is where your â€Å"social friends† step in. They are the best solution to having a great time in a strange place. There's no commitment involved; just call them up and go have a good time. Conversation is never a bore with a social friend, because they're only around occasionally so there's a lot to catch up on. Another good thing is that they are always willing to take the wheel when you are a little tipsy. Friends don't let friends drive drunk. For the most part, social friends are there when you need them and out of the way when you don't. ...

Mkt 310 Exam 2 Study Guide

MKT 310 : Exam 2 Study Guide BOOK Ch. 5 : International Trade Theory An Overview of Trade Theory: * The Benefits of Trade – Some international trade is beneficial, exchange products you can produce at a low cost for some products you cannot produce at all * Free Trade – The absence of government barriers to the free flow of goods and services between countries. * International trade allows a country to specialize in the manufacture and export of products it can produce most efficiently while importing products that can be produced more efficiently in other countries. Climate and natural resources explain why Ghana exports cocoa, and Saudi Arabia exports oil * Product Life-Cycle Theory – Early in their life cycles, most new products are produced in and exported from the country in which they were developed. As the product becomes accepted internationally, production begins to start in other countries. Thus suggesting that the product may ultimately be exported bac k to the country of its original innovation. New Trade Theory – Theory that sometimes countries specialize in the production and export of particular products not because of underlying differences in factor endowments, but because in certain industries the world market can support only a limited number of firms. Mercantilism: * Mercantilism – Originated in England, An economic philosophy advocating that countries should simultaneously encourage exports and discourage imports. It was in the countries best interest to maintain a trade surplus, to export more than it imported. Also advocated government intervention to achieve a surplus in the balance of trade. Zero-Sum Game – A situation in which an economic gain by one country results in an economic loss by another. The flaw with Mercantilism is that it is viewed as a Zero-Sum Game. * Critics think China is pursuing a neo-mercantilist society, deliberately keeping its currency value low against the U. S. dollar in order to sell more goods to the U. S. , thus creating a surplus and foreign exchange reserves. Absolute Advantage: * Absolute Advantage – A country has an absolute advantage in the production of a product when it is more efficient than any other country in producing it. According to Smith countries should specialize in the production of goods for which they have an absolute advantage and then trade these for goods produced by other countries. (Countries should never produce goods at home that it can buy at a lower cost from other countries. Comparative Advantage: * Comparative Advantage – It makes sense for a country to specialize in the production of those goods that it produces most efficiently and to buy the goods that it produces less efficiently from other countries, even if this means buying goods from other countries that it could produce more efficiently itself. Basic Message of Comparative Trade – Potential world production is greater with unrestricted free trade than it is with restricted free trade. * Immobile Resources – Resources do not always shift easily from on activity to another, some friction is involved. Belief that a country will produce less of some goods but more of others, however not everyone has the skills and knowledge to produce the greater good, thus some people may lose their jobs. * Diminishing Returns – When more units of a resource are required to produce each additional unit.First not all resources are of the same quality, and different goods use resources in different proportions. * Constant Returns to Specialization – The units of resources required to produce a good are assumed to remain constant no matter where one is on a country’s production possibility frontier. * Dynamic Effects and Economic Growth – Opening an economy to trade, might increase a countries stock of resources as increased suppliers of labor and capital from abroad become available for use within th e country, and free trade might increase the efficiency with which a country uses its resources. When a rich country(U. S. ) enters in free trade with a poor country(China) the lower prices that U. S. consumers pay for goods imported from China may not be enough to produce a net gain for the U. S. economy if the dynamic effect of free trade is to lower real wage rates in the U. S. * Evidence for the Link between Trade and Growth – Countries that adopt a more open stance toward international trade enjoy higher growth rates than those that close their economies to trade. Heckscher-Ohlin Theory: Comparative advantage arises from differences in national factor endowment, and by factor endowment they meant the extent to which a country is endowed with such resources as land, labor, and capital.. The Heckscher-Ohlin Theory predicts that countries will export those goods that make intensive use of factors that are locally abundant, while importing goods that make intensive use of fa ctors that are locally scarce. * The Leontief Paradox – Since U. S. was relatively abundant in capital compared to other nations, the U. S. would export capital intensive goods and import labor-intensive ones. However he found that the U.S. exports were less capital intensive than the imports. The Product Life-Cycle Theory: * Most new products were initially produced in the U. S. and sold in the U. S. markets first, the wealth and size of the U. S. can them strong incentives to develop new consumer products. , in addition the high cost of U. S. labor gave U. S. firms an incentive to develop cost-savings process innovations. These expensive goods are only appealing to the wealthy of other nations, thus there isn’t that much overall global interest, so no other countries feel it is necessary to start producing the product as well. New Trade Theory: The ability of firms to attain economies of scale might have important implications for international trade. * Economies of Scale – Unit cost reductions associated with a large scale of output * New Trade Theory makes 2 important points: * 1) Through its impact on economies of scale, trade can increase the variety of goods available to consumers and decrease the average costs of those goods. * 2) In those industries where the output required to attain economies of scale represents a significant proportion of total world demand, the global market may be able to support only a small number of enterprises. First-Mover’s Advantage are the economic and strategic advantages that accrue to early entrants into an industry. The ability to capture scale economies ahead of later entrants, and thus benefit from a lower cost structure, is an important first mover’s advantage. * Implications of New Trade Theory – generates for government intervention and strategic trade policy, a nation may befit from trade even if they do not differ in resource endowments or technology, trade allows a nati on to specialize in the production of certain products—attaining scales of economy and lowering cost.National Competitive Advantage: Porter’s Diamond * Porter theorizes that 4 broad attributes of a nation shape the environment in which local firms compete, and these attributes promote or impede the creation of competitve advantage. These attributes are†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ * Factor Endowments – A nations’ position in factors of production such as skilled labor or the infrastructure necessary to compete in a given industry (Advanced factors are the most significant competitive advantage. ) * Demand Conditions – the nature of home demand for the indutry’s product or service. Relating and Supporting Industries – the presence or absence of supplier industries and related industries that are internationally competitive. * Firm strategy, Structure, and Rivalry – The conditions governing how companies are created, organized, and managed and the nature of domestic rivalry. * He argues that firms are most likely to succeed in nindustries or industry segments where the diamond is most favorable.. The diamond is a mutually reinforcing system – meaning the effect of one attribute is contingent on the state of others. ———————————————— Ch. 6 : The Political Economy of International Trade Instruments of Trade Policy: * Tariffs – A tariff is a tax levied on imports (or exports. ) In most cases tariffs are placed on imports to protect domestic producers from foreign competition by raising the price of imported goods. Tariffs also produce revenue for the government. The government and the domestic producers gain from having tariffs, whereas the consumers lose. * 2 conclusions can be made about tariffs: First, tariffs are pro-producer and anti-consumer.Second, import tariffs reduce the overall efficiency of the world economy. (Tariffs encourage domestic products to be sold at home when they could be more efficiently sold in the global market. ) * Export tariffs raise money for the government, and they reduce exports from a sector, often for political reasons. * 2 Types of Tariffs: * Specific Tariffs – Levied as a fixed charge for each unit of a good imported (ex. $3 per barrel of oil) * Ad Valorem Tariffs – Levied as a proportion of the value of imported goods. Subsidies – A subsidy is a government payment to a domestic producer. By lowering production costs, subsidies help domestic producers in 2 ways: 1) competing against foreign imports and 2) gaining export markets. * Agriculture is the largest beneficiary of subsidies. * Non-Agriculture subsidy ex. Money given to Boeing and Airbus * The main gains from subsidies accrue to domestic producers, whose international competiveness is increased as a result. * Subsidies protect the inefficient and promote excess prod uction. Import Quotas and Voluntary Export Restraints – An import quota is a direct restriction on the quantity of some good that may be imported into a country * Tariff Rate Quota – The process of applying a lower tariff rate to imports within the quota than those over the quota. * Voluntary Export Restraint – A quota on trade imposed by the exporting country, typically at the request of the importing country’s government. Ex. Limitation on auto exports to the U. S. enforced by the Japanese automobile producers. * Quota Rent – The extra profit producers make when supply is artificially limited by an import quota. Local Content Requirements – A requirement that some specific fraction of a good be produced domestically. Ex. Buy America Act specifies that government agencies must give preference to American products when putting contracts for equipment out to bid unless the foreign products have a significant price advantage. * Administrative Policies * Administrative Trade Policies – Bureaucratic rules designed to make it difficult for imports to enter a country, as it has been argues that the Japanese are masters of this trade barrier. * Antidumping Policies Dumping – Selling goods in a foreign market at below their costs of production or below their â€Å"free† market value. Ex. 2 South Korean manufacturers of semiconductors were accused of selling microchips in the U. S. market at below their cost of production. * Anti-Dumping Policies – Policies designed to punish foreign firms that engage in dumping and thus protect domestic producers from unfair foreign competition. * Countervailing Duties – Antidumping duties. Political Arguments for Intervention: * Protecting Jobs and Industries – Tariffs placed on steel in 2002 by G.W. Bush were supposed to do this. * National Security – Protect the area of technological advancement, and the defense industries. * Retaliation â₠¬â€œ Use threat to intervene in trade policy as a bargaining tool to help open foreign markets and force trading partners to â€Å"play by the rules. † Ex. U. S. has used threat of punitive trade sanctions to try and get the Chinese government to enforce its intellectual property laws – China cost Microsoft hundreds of millions of dollars per year in lost sales revenues. * Protecting Consumers – Ex.Many countries decided to ban imports of American beef after one case of Mad Cow Disease was found. * Furthering Foreign Policies Objectives – Governments sometimes use trade policy to further support their foreign policy objectives. * Helms-Burton Act – This act allows American to sue foreign firms that use property in Cuba confiscated from them after the 1959 revolution. * DAmato Act – Act passed in 1996, similar to the Helms-Burton Act, but this one is aimed at Libya and Iran. * Protecting Human Rights – Ex.Debate over many years on whet her to grant the â€Å"Most Favorable Nation† to China — this is controversial bc many think China doesn’t regard human rights per the Tiananmen Square Massacre. * Protecting the Environment – Strong relation between income levels and environmental pollution/degradation. Ex. Carbon Emissions Tariff, etc. Economic Arguments for Intervention: * The Infant Industry Argument – New industries in developing countries must be temporarily protected from international competition to help them reach a position where they can compete on world markets with the firms of developed nations. Skepticism because protection of manufacturing from foreign competition does no good unless the protection helps make the industry efficient. Second, the infant industry argument relies on an assumption that firms are unable to make efficient long term investments by borrowing money from the domestic or international capital market. * Strategic Trade Policy – A Governme nt policy aimed at improving the competitive position of a domestic industry or domestic firm in the world market. It is argued that by appropriate actions, a government can help raise national income if it can somehow ensure that the firm(s) that gain first-movers advantage within an industry are domestic rather than foreign enterprises. * The second component of the strategic trade policy is that it might pay a government to intervene in an industry by helping domestic firms overcome the barriers to entry created by foreign firms that have already reaped the benefits of first-movers advantage. Development of the World Trading System , GATT, WTO: (Look in PPT slides for this info. )