What Is An Outline For A Research Paper?

What Is An Outline For A Research Paper?If you are working on your research paper, it is important to have an outline. You will need a starting point and direction for your work if you want to know what your paper will consist of and how it will be organized. In addition, you will be able to see the larger context of your research by creating an outline.There are many ways to create an outline. However, there are also some ways that you should avoid. So before you get started, think about whether or not an outline is right for you.Using the outline as a guide means you do not need to tell all of your ideas in detail. The outline will help you decide where to start and will also provide you with a general structure to follow. If you follow the outline, then you can only be limited by your imagination. However, if you start out with a blank page, you can fill in the details.An outline also provides a big picture of your project. You can see the overarching theme and purpose of your wor k, so you will know what areas you need to work on first. It will also help you organize your thoughts and organize your ideas to make them easier to understand.Another benefit of an outline is that it allows you to create the table of contents. The outline also serves as a map for the overall work. It will guide you in your writing, which will mean you get an outline in one hand and your notes in the other. In addition, you can learn what to include and what to leave out of your paper. This will help to make sure that the paper flows smoothly from one section to the next.You can use an outline to help you remember what is expected of you and what is expected of the project. It will also give you a vision of the overall direction of your work. You can also change your writing style according to the flow of the outline. In this way, you can always adapt the direction of your paper to fit the direction of the outline.An outline is important when you are working on a research paper. Yo u can use it to structure your writing and to keep the big picture in mind while you are writing. So start writing and creating your outline today. With this simple tool, you will be well on your way to writing your masterpiece.

The Issue with Traditional Testing Methods Essay - 3581 Words

The Issue with Traditional Testing Methods So what’s the big issue with traditional testing methods? They’ve been instituted for years and no one seemed to have a problem before now. Well, in the past decade, the nation’s citizens have become increasingly compassionate towards students and their individual needs. President George W. Bush has gotten generous praise for his No Child Left Behind Act of 2002 as a result of popular concerns among communities across the country. While the act may still have areas in need of improvement, it illustrates that educators, parents, and students alike have been desirous of reform within school systems. â€Å"The number of calls complaining about high-stakes exams coming from parents...are†¦show more content†¦Many students learn best when a combination of different media is used. â€Å"Teachers should structure the presentation of material in a style which engages all or most of the intelligences. When teachers center lessons on the students needs, it optimizes learning for the whole class† (Nolen, 2003). However, this has been recognized for decades and has been generally regarded as common knowledge. We are now just beginning to accept that learning differences also translate into the assessment realm. Assessment Transition Teachers cater to many students’ common strengths of learning, yet have not begun to accommodate assessment strengths until recently. Many standardized exams are described as being â€Å"high-stakes,† meaning that a single exam has the ability to either significantly assist or destroy the students’ future. â€Å"The results are used for guiding decisions on statewide policy, school reform, and individual students† (More, 2000). 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Southwest Airlines Case Study Strategic Management Free Sample

Question: Discuss about the Report on Fundamentals Of strategic Management for Southwest Airlines? Answer: Strategic Plan Development Mission Statements A] Purpose Southwest wants to connect the world through low cost and high quality service to all its customers. Southwests purpose is to connect people to whats important in their lives through friendly, reliable and low-cost air travel (southwest.com) B] Vision Southwest yearns to be the most flown, loved and profitable airline in history (portions from southwest.com). Southwest is dedicated to provide their customers with the highest quality of customer service while offering low cost flights. Their service is delivered with warmth, friendliness, and individual pride that sets them apart from any other airlines. C] Culture Southwest is a culture that promotes the Southwest way. This is categorized into three segments. The first is having a Warrior Spirit meaning to be fearless in delivering their product. The second is a Servant Heart meaning follow the golden rule and put others first. The last segment is a fun loving attitude which means to be proud and passionate about your work and have fun doing it every day. Many companies have tried to emulate and study Southwests culture, but Gary Kelly (CEO) believes their success is just the simple formula above. Having a purpose and being passionate about what you are doing is the award winning culture Southwest promotes each day. II. Current Performance A] ROCE Figure 01: ROCE of Southwest Airlines for the Years 2010-2014 Interpretation of ROCE (Return on Capital Employed) During its long and sustained stay as a mature corporation in the USA aviation field, Southwest has been successful in maintaining its leadership role by consistently showing a growth pattern amidst competition, economic slow-downs and global financial difficulties. Southwest was able to retain its profitability and stability even during the financial turmoil of 2008-2009 which forced many established companies to shut down their operations. The EBITDA figures for the period 2010-2014 of Southwest Airlines aptly illustrate its growing strength and amply speak about the management capabilities of the directors of the company[1]. In this regard, ample testimony about the robust strength of Southwest Airlines is established by the Return on Capital Employed (ROCE) ratio of the company, the results of which are presented here. We have arrived at the conclusion after taking into consideration some of the essential financial factors of Southwest Airlines. It is not significant to make a comparison of Southwest with any other airline operating in the same regions as Southwest does not have a competitor having matching financial factors and economic strength as that of the leader. Calculation B] EVA Figure 02: EVA Values of Southwest Airlines for the Years 2010-2014 Interpretation of EVA (Economic Value Added) To determine a companys EVA, we use the following formula: NOPAT- (WACC*Capital Invested) Southwest is showing a negative EVA prior to 2014 mostly due because it was in a growth phase, if we look at the ROA for the past 5 years, we can see that the numbers have been steadily increasing: 3.09, 1.06; 2.3; 3.97; 5.75; 8.8, this suggest that early expenses in capital investment started to produce returns on latter years. Its not surprising to see a negative EVA in this case. In the aviation sector, especially for companies such as Southwest Airlines, which are operating on a thin profit margin and are not charging exorbitant fares from the flyers, a change towards negativity on its EVA figure can also be possible because of sudden decline in the tourist inflow. Another reason for decline can be because of the companys need to upgrade its aging fleet of aircrafts[2]. Calculation *Notes on WACC: Cost of equity is determined using capital asset pricing model assuming 6% equity market premium, 10-year risk free rate, and the historical adjusted beta for Southwest. Cost of debt is determined using historical cost of adjusted debt, which includes net present value for aircraft leases. C] FCF Figure 03: FCF Values of Southwest Airlines for the Years 2010-2014 Interpretation of Free Cash Flows (FCF) Free cash flow (FCF) represents the cash that a company is able to generate after laying out the money required to maintain or expand its asset base. Southwest have been generating on average $2,077M operating cash flow for the past 5 years, a grow rate of 29% YoY, with the exception on 2011, were its operating cash flow was -11% YoY, (mostly due to a 96% increase on capital expenditure YoY). Capital expenditures amount an average of 63% of the operating cash flow. Southwest Airlines has experienced negative cash flow during the economic slowdown in 2008 but that was exceptional time. The company has never seen such times after that and has been consistently keeping a healthy Free Cash Flow for its day to day operations as well as for its capital resources[3]. Calculation D] Disaggregated ROCE Figure 04: Turnover Ratio of Southwest Airlines for the Years 2010-2014 Figure 05: Inventory, Receivable PPE Ratio of Southwest Airlines for the Years 2010-2014 Figure 06: COGS, SGA, GM Ratio of Southwest Airlines for the Years 2010-2014 Interpretation The purpose of this factor is demonstrating the financial efficiency of an organisation. Under normal working conditions, a stable economic atmosphere and a dynamic management policy of the organisations Board can make it possible for the organisation to demonstrate positive trends in efficient management of its financial results. In the first nomenclature, analysis of Turnover Ratio is determined by comparing the sales revenue with the capital employed to attain this targeted revenue. In the second nomenclature, the analysis of sales revenue with receivables for service oriented organisations and between sales revenue and inventory for organisations in the manufacturing sector. We shall be conducting both these analyses for Southwest Airlines and make an assessment of the company for the period 2010-2014 from the results obtained[4]. We can also see that the GM ratio have been increasing steadily the last 4 years, while COGS SGA expenses have been flat or declining, the turnover ra tio shows an upward trend, but somewhat slower than the GM. This indicates that early capital investments are generating more revenue year over year. E] FCF Value drivers Interpretation Sales Revenue Growth Revenue growth of Southwest Airlines has been consistent and strong during this period of 2010-2014. Steadily rising every year, this growth shows that the management had good and effective control over its market penetration, over implementation of its policies and over its management capabilities[5]. Operating Profit Margins Except for 2011 and 2012 when Southwest Airlines demonstrated a downward trend in its operating profit margins, the company has been showing a regular trend of increasing operating profit margins. This can be attributed to the companys concentration on expansion, takeover attempts for the growth of its market share and modernisation of its infrastructure for the future operational efficiency[6]. Net Working Capital to Sales This ratio is used for determining how well the organisations working capital has been utilised by the management towards better revenue collection and its improvement amidst markets adverse forces, competitive adversaries and adverse economics of the sector. It is established by the available results that Southwest Airlines has been a successful enterprise in this field also[7]. Fixed Assets to Sales Revenue This ration is used by analysts to determine how well the management has been doing in managing its fixed asset resources for improvising its sales revenue[8]. Long Term Assets to Sales Revenue A constant change in this ratio is indicative of the organisations consistent growth in sales revenue as well as the managements capability of utilising this revenue for building up the capital equipment structure of the organisation. This has been a positive trend in Southwest Airlines in the given period from 2010 to 2014[9]. Graphs Sales Revenue Growth Figure 07: Sales Growth of Southwest Airlines for the Years 2010-2014 Operating Profit Margin Figure 08: Operating Profit of Southwest Airlines for the Years 2010-2014 Net Working Capital to Sales Revenue Figure 09: Working Capital of Southwest Airlines for the Years 2010-2014 Fixed Assets to Sales Revenue Figure 10: Fixed Assets of Southwest Airlines for the Years 2010-2014 III. External Analysis A] Industry Attractiveness Industry ROCE. In order to perform the industry ROCE analysis, here the major players in the US airline industry have been taken into consideration. The calculation considered the time frame from 2010 to 2014. Subsequently the average value was taken into account, which represents the industry average. There were two different tables employed in which one includes the ROCE of Southwest airlines and in other one Southwest Airlines was not considered. During the calculation, American airlines, Alaska Airlines, and Delta airlines were taken into account. While considering the industry average without Southwest Airlines, it can be said that from 2011 onward, the industry ROCE gradually increases. When the ROCE subsequent to 2010 significantly fall down, it again shows an incremental trend till 2014. Figure 11: Industry ROCE [without Southwest Airlines] On the other hand, while considering the industry ROCE with Southwest airlines, then also the same results were evidenced. Hence, it can be argued that the value of the organization operate in this industry gradually increases. Figure 12: Industry ROCE [with Southwest Airlines] 2010 2,011 2012 2013 2014 Southwest Airlines EBIT $ 988.00 $ 693.00 $ 623.00 $ 1,278.00 $ 2,225.00 Capital Employed $ 12,158.00 $ 13,535.00 $ 13,946.00 $ 13,669.00 $ 14,277.00 ROCE 0.08126337 0.05120059 0.04467231 0.093496232 0.15584507 American Airlines EBIT $ 4,304.00 $ (1,054.00) $ 107.00 $ 1,399.00 $ 4,249.00 Capital Employed $ 16,308.00 $ 15,218.00 $ 14,206.00 $ 28,472.00 $ 30,336.00 ROCE 0.26391955 -0.06926009 0.00753203 0.049135993 0.14006461 Alaska Airline EBIT $ 1,215.00 $ 449.00 $ 532.00 $ 838.00 $ 962.00 Capital Employed $ 3,592.00 $ 3,685.00 $ 4,004.00 $ 4,258.00 $ 4,510.00 ROCE 0.33825167 0.12184532 0.13286713 0.196806012 0.21330377 Delta Airlines EBIT $ 2,217.00 $ 1,975.00 $ 2,175.00 $ 3,400.00 $ 2,206.00 Capital Employed $ 31,803.00 $ 30,798.00 $ 31,280.00 $ 38,100.00 $ 37,242.00 ROCE 0.0697104 0.06412754 0.06953325 0.089238845 0.0592342 Industry average [without southwest] ROCE 0.22396054 0.03890426 0.06997747 0.11172695 0.13753419 Industry average ROCE 0.18828625 0.04197834 0.06365118 0.107169271 0.14211191 Table: Industry ROCE Industry ROCE using six forces. The attractiveness of the airlines industry belongs to the determined by the all the available possibilities of generating returns of the total capital amount employed by the organization to cope up the competitiveness in the market place. This industry is more intentionally facing the competition in the market, but able to generate normal returns and long term market sustainability (www.columbia.edu). From the evaluation perspectives of an investors investment, southwest airline company is generating return on capital employed during the operating period of 2010 to 2014 are a reflection of all six market force factors of the company. This six force model is showing a different force which influences the industry competition within a specified period of time. Bargaining power of buyers There are different group of buyers segmented in the airline industry are following like individual buyers and also those buyers who buy tickets for some other people for personal and professional reasons. These airlines customer groups are highly diversified in different countries. The airlines company southwest company is providing most of the discounts and offers to their customers and clients with the premium class facilities and limited differentiation. Threats of new entrants There are huge amount numbers of new airlines companies are entering in the airline industry with huge offers and different attractive travelling packages to attract the existing and potential customers (www.columbia.edu). The company southwest is providing the least fare package airline services to all the passengers but due to new entrants of competition company required to make future contingency plans. Competitive rivalry There is huge competition in the market for southwest airlines with seven other competitors company which is providing similar kind of services to the passengers during time of operation. Delta and united continentals holdings are one of those companies who are highly competitive with southwest airlines in the market to taken over the business activities. Threat of substitute products There are also threats of some another alterative convenience facilities which can be replace the passengers of southwest airlines taste and preferences at the time of journey. The car, train, water way and other bus facilities but when its come to the time saving facilities airlines facilities is not compare with any other facilities at that specified period of time. Suppliers power The software and hardware vendor are required different types of dependency to provide better supplier power towards the southwest airlines. To manage the suppliers power by the southwest airlines to maintained the cost of the operations in the organization. Complementary products There are several complementary products nowadays invented in the market for example like helicopter facilities and private jet which is also providing huge competitive scenarios for the airlines company like Southwest airlines. These complementary products are also motivated the companies to enhance their competitive strategies to make them stable in the airline industry. Potential profits for Southwest Airlines. As per the profit margin analysis of the company Southwest Airlines, it can be said that the budgeting scenarios and financial analysis of the company highly efficient to manage the different financial obligations, and also forecasting about generating overall operating profit margin of the company within mentioned financial period of time. Southwest Airlines has been efficiently reported that they are much efficient enough to manage their cost of goods sold, depreciation and taxes to develop as well as attain desired profit margin in every financial year. The primary aim of the company to manage the profit margin of the company to manage competitiveness with their peer groups in the market. In this context, it is also that the growth phases in the revenue generating activities and profit margin are generated from their operating activities. The firm is tried to initiate some better business strategies like discounts on prior purchase of tickets strategies, which will assure the company attains significant profit margin. This is the one of the most successful strategy which is used by the organization to positive earning abilities during the financial year 2012 to 2015. Southwest Airlines always expanding strategies to enhanced 14% to 28% gross margin in the financial year 2014 and become a one of premium automobile manufacturing company in the market if United States. B] Market Segments Every airline career required established position in the market through target and segmenting activities. The companies are frequently introducing new strategies for its target customers. They also applying these strategies to segment the target group of customers based on the given five aspects (Lorente and Lorente). Southwest airlines are basically positioned both in the low cost and luxury career category as per the consumers desire and preferences. This specific segmentation is creating its own unique identity in the airline industry over this selected timeframe. The airline organization is highly benefited because of proper market segmentation as it helps to avoid the other carriers competition in the market. The organization is one of the most exclusive brands which are providing qualitative segmenting for both type market segments of luxury as well as low cost carriers. Figure 13: Market segments C] Unique Customer Value propositions The top managerial authorities of the Southwest Airlines are efficient enough to manage the customers value proposition in the organization. The company is exclusively offering the luxury prices for selection of their exquisite products. In airline industry, there are plenty numbers of the market players offering mix amount of propositions to evaluate the customers of the organization. The market competitor companies like American airlines, Alaska Airlines, and Delta airlines are also facilitating mass market segment to provide efficient service not in the market of the United States, but also throughout the globe (Financials.morningstar.com). The value propositions by Southwest airlines largely focused on catchy wordings like Love. It has been noted that the organization employed an advertisement with title HOW DO WE LOVE YOU? Here, the ad mainly reflects its flight schedules. At the same time another ad titled WE ARE SPREADING LOVE reflects its customer dedication aspects. D] Differences and Uniqueness of Customer Value Proposition The idea behind the differences and uniqueness of this airline organizations customer value propositions are following in nature: The service provided towards the customers should be affordable; Specific packages related to long fleet should be as per the modern taste and preferences of the customers; The service provided should fulfill the perception of the customer as much as possible; Create long term brand awareness among the customers to maintain the corporate reputation and goodwill in the market. Manage loyalty and references of the existing customers to manage the brand value of the organization. Always required to considered customers feedback to generate product development processes of the organization. In addition to these above mentioned value propositions, the organization also has been started several loyalty programs which is promoting the company effectively in the global market (Financials.morningstar.com). They always concerns about their customer and providing all the safety and comfort demos in front of their potential and existing customers of the organization. E] Analysis of Market Segments In the above section, the market segmentation strategy followed by Southwest Airlines has been demonstrated. However, if all the segments are considered together, then it can be said that the operation of Southwest airlines can be broadly classified under three segments, passengers, frights and other revenue segments. Over the period, revenue from passengers segments provides major contribution towards overall revenue (Financials.morningstar.com). If the last years performance has been taken into consideration, then it can be said that almost 88.68 % of the total revenue were generated from passengers segments. At the same time, the study has also revealed that the contribution from freight segment was 0.83 % of the total revenue and 10.49 % of the total revenue were from other segment. Figure 14: Market segments analysis F] Market Segments Chosen From Attractive Industry Structures The organization has adopted various attractive strategies in order to maintain its exiting position. In order to choose this specific market segment, the organization thinks differently from the other carriers operates in this marketplace. While adopting any strategies, they have focused on more load factors than the average level. At the same time, their low price strategy also supports them to expand the market quickly (Financials.morningstar.com). Further the demand outpaces supply strategy also supports them to consider such specific market segments. G] Key Success Factors of the Airline Industry It has become clear that the airline industry evidenced significant downfall like other industries subsequent to the global financial crisis 2008 (Csimarket.com). However, over the timeframe, the airline industry has evidenced an incremental trend in terms of overall performance. While considering what are the factors that enables airline industry to attain such success, it was found that work culture, competitive environment, successful leadership, trust, open sharing of information and creativity spirit are the major aspects. Figure 15: Key Success factors of the Airline Industry H] Southwest Airlines v/s Delta airline and United Continental Holdings It has been noted that Delta Airlines and United Continental Holdings are the major competitor of Southwest Airlines. While measuring the competitiveness, among these three players, it has been found that Southwest Airlines evidenced poor performance in against other too (Brigham and Houston). However, this has argued based on the revenue generation aspects as shown in the below mentioned table: Amount in million COMPANY NAME REVENUE Passengers SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CO. $ 4,716.00 DELTA AIR LINES, INC. $ 9,595.00 United Continental Holdings, Inc. $ 8,960.00 APROX. MARKET $ 23,271.00 COMPANY NAME REVENUE Freights SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CO. $ 44.00 DELTA AIR LINES, INC. $ 196.00 United Continental Holdings, Inc. $ 235.00 APROX. MARKET $ 475.00 COMPANY NAME REVENUE Other revenue SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CO. $ 558.00 DELTA AIR LINES, INC. $ 565.00 United Continental Holdings, Inc. $ 1,111.00 APROX. MARKET $ 2,234.00 COMPANY NAME REVENUE Total SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CO. $ 5,318.00 DELTA AIR LINES, INC. $ 10,356.00 United Continental Holdings, Inc. $ 10,306.00 APROX. MARKET $ 25,980.00 Table: Revenue generation However, if the segment wise growth rate is taken into account here, then it can be seen that the organization has shown better performance than its competitor. References Brigham, Eugene F, and Joel F Houston. 2013. Fundamentals Of strategic Management. Mason, Ohio: South-Western. Csimarket.com,. 2016. "Southwest Airlines Co. Competition Revenue Growth By Company's Segment - Csimarket". https://csimarket.com/stocks/competitionSEG3.php?code=LUV. Financials.morningstar.com,. 2016. "Balance Sheet For Southwest Airlines Co (LUV) From Morningstar.Com". https://financials.morningstar.com/balance-sheet/bs.html?t=LUVregion=usaculture=en-US. Financials.morningstar.com,. 2016. "Balance Sheet For American Airlines Group Inc (AAL) From Morningstar.Com". https://financials.morningstar.com/balance-sheet/bs.html?t=AALregion=usaculture=en-US. Financials.morningstar.com,. 2016. "Balance Sheet For Alaska Air Group Inc (ALK) From Morningstar.Com". https://financials.morningstar.com/balance-sheet/bs.html?t=ALKregion=usaculture=en-US. Financials.morningstar.com,. 2016. "Balance Sheet For Delta Air Lines Inc (DAL) From Morningstar.Com". https://financials.morningstar.com/balance-sheet/bs.html?t=DALregion=usaculture=en-US. Lorente, Cristina Nicolas, and Laura Nicolas Lorente. 2013. Microsoft Dynamics strategic Management. Birmingham, UK: Packt Pub. www.columbia.edu,. 2016. "Www.Columbia.Edu". https://www.columbia.edu/cu/consultingclub/Resources/Airlines_Eric_Henckels.pdf. [1] Mudra, J. International Financial Management (12th ed). (Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning, 2014), 117. [2] tayloor, M.P. Purchasing Power Parity and Real Exchange Rates. (Oxon: Routledge, 2013), 81. [3] Yona, L. International Finance for Developing Countries. (Keynes: AuthorHouse, 2011), 171. [4] Cichosz, P. Data Mining Algorithms: Explained Using R. (West Sussex: John Wiley Sons, 2014), 216. [5] Taylor, M.P. Purchasing Power Parity and Real Exchange Rates. (Oxon: Routledge, 2013), 108. [6] Keown, A.J., Martin, J.D., Petty, J.W. and Scott, D.F. Financial Management: Principles and Applications (10th ed). (New Delhi: Pearson Education India, 2012), 252. [7] Cichosz, P. Data Mining Algorithms: Explained Using R. (West Sussex: John Wiley Sons, 2014), 261. [8] Mudra, J. International Financial Management (12th ed). (Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning, 2014), 135. [9] Yona, L. International Finance for Developing Countries. (Keynes: AuthorHouse, 2011), 180.

Threat Intelligence Essay Example For Students

Threat Intelligence Essay Menace Intelligence We will write a custom essay on Threat Intelligence specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now Introduction Cyber-attacks have dramatically increased in badness and frequence in recent old ages, taking to major security breaches and 100s of 1000000s of customers’ informations going compromised worldwide. To run within this of all time germinating planetary menace environment, organisations must maturate their traditional security schemes to an Intelligence-Based Security Framework, besides normally referred to as Threat Intelligence. Rather than responding to qui vives of onslaughts, Intelligence-Based Security enables you to proactively place menaces against your organisation and fade out them before an onslaught has been launched. Menace Intelligence are experts in the country of Intelligence-Based Threat and Risk Management, and is backed up by their first security research and huge sum of specialist security experience across a broad scope of industries. Current state of affairs Incidents on advanced relentless menaces and DDOS are rumored virtually every hebdomad and therefore the impact of those onslaughts are huge. These incidents merely evade the traditional margin security. Anti-malware merchandise have evolved that do nt see the better-known signatures nevertheless build usage of alternate manners of sensing to corroborate web end points, application and information will remain secure. Some of the challenges with regard to the germinating landscape that endeavors are confronting are: The gait at which signature-based malware is germinating is non fiting the velocity at which menaces are germinating The big database incorporating the signature inside informations affects the public presentation and doesn’t work good for unpredictable menaces The onslaughts are uninterrupted and are extremely targeted, which makes them hard to observe It has non merely affected the fiscal industry, but a figure of other industries. Menace intelligence Gartner defines menace intelligence as â€Å"Evidence-based cognition, including context, mechanisms, indexs, deductions and actionable advice, about an bing or emerging threat or jeopardy to assets that can be used to inform determinations sing the topic s response to that threat or hazard.† Menace intelligence will move as a figure and furnish correct, seasonably and careful info to security directors. These will ease in early sensing and saloon of onslaughts thereby cut downing losingss. Today, menace intelligence services have matured to tie in extent wherever the information feeds watchful sing the possible menaces. Threat intelligence forms a part of all the exposure direction, security event direction and specialised menace analysis and protection ware. The ecosystem can be divided into three wide units: aggregation and analysis, determination support and response. It involves collection and analysing informations provenders that helps in making choices and to necessitate stairss to extenuate the menaces signaled by the qui vives. Each of those units have to be compelled to add concert so as to carry through or transcend the gait of germinating menaces. This menace intelligence capableness enables organisations to spy and answer to possible menaces and exposures therefore to rarefy the onslaught window and besides the bound the clip to entree. Organizations that adopt this attack is awake to the existent fact that menace intelligence is that the foundation of investings created and risk appraisal. Menace Intelligence Cycle For organisations trusting on manual procedures, the stairss to operationalizing the intelligence gathered are: Gather informations from different beginnings in a assortment of formats. Most of these informations gathered are in signifier of menace indexs The following measure is to analyse the information. The analyst should formalize the information gathered and so construct the context consequently Following measure is to feed the validated information into controls Figure 1: Menace Intelligence Cycle Menace Intelligence Challenges and Measures While the importance of menace intelligence is accepted and is taken into history to be the inspiration piece of cyber-security by many houses, the employment of the information gathered is ad-hoc in many. Persons are trapped in conformity check-boxes and do nt supply specialise menace intelligence services Many organisations accept pattern lucifers and besides the intelligence databases, which became uneffective and disused. New targeted onslaughts and besides the usage viruses benefit of those disused ways and non up-to-date databases. Although several houses do nt portion knowledge attributable to competitory grounds, effectual coaction and crowd-sourcing will ease physique, act rapidly and revoke invasions Operationalizing menace intelligence is the biggest challenge in leveraging menace intelligence. There is deficit of menace beginnings and organisations consider really data gathered to be signifier of intelligence Some organisations can’t trade with incompatibilities that occur due to difference in informations quality. For informations to be utile, it has to be relevant to the organisation Datas received from external parties aren’t validated and all of them is considered as menace intelligence. Most houses accept the informations they receive and do non hold resources to formalize it .ua917a429bfcdcf8e1810275806be6826 , .ua917a429bfcdcf8e1810275806be6826 .postImageUrl , .ua917a429bfcdcf8e1810275806be6826 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .ua917a429bfcdcf8e1810275806be6826 , .ua917a429bfcdcf8e1810275806be6826:hover , .ua917a429bfcdcf8e1810275806be6826:visited , .ua917a429bfcdcf8e1810275806be6826:active { border:0!important; } .ua917a429bfcdcf8e1810275806be6826 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .ua917a429bfcdcf8e1810275806be6826 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .ua917a429bfcdcf8e1810275806be6826:active , .ua917a429bfcdcf8e1810275806be6826:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .ua917a429bfcdcf8e1810275806be6826 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .ua917a429bfcdcf8e1810275806be6826 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .ua917a429bfcdcf8e1810275806be6826 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .ua917a429bfcdcf8e1810275806be6826 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .ua917a429bfcdcf8e1810275806be6826:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .ua917a429bfcdcf8e1810275806be6826 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .ua917a429bfcdcf8e1810275806be6826 .ua917a429bfcdcf8e1810275806be6826-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .ua917a429bfcdcf8e1810275806be6826:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: A Pair Of Silk Stockings EssayDeveloping Actionable Intelligence Develop actionable menace intelligence. Intelligence here doesn’t mean merely mixture of informations and glorious indexs, it s non refering merely menace intelligence provenders. It’s refering deducing important penetrations from assortment of beginnings. These beginnings is internal every bit good as external. The word unfair suggests that one thing that s helpful to an organisation. Organizations need to develop bigger adulthood in information assemblage and processing installations in order that will they ll leverage mechanization to bring on pregnant information. Two elements, expertness based largely larning and situational consciousness will ease organisations to develop and travel to period of clip intelligence based theoretical account. Experience Based Learning Organizations can larn from past experiences – both their experiences and experiences at the industry degree. Some organisations can even take away some lessons from occurrences in other industries like Defense, Retail, and Finance etc. These can assist them deploy new techniques and controls to support against new menaces. These lessons include some of the of import inquiries: Who are the aggressors? What is the motivation behind the onslaught? What is the defect in the system? Is it the attacker’s sophisticated technique or a exposure in the system? Were there any similar onslaughts in the yesteryear? How can the exposure be fixed? How are organisations covering with such sort of onslaughts? What can be the pro-active steps that can be taken for bar from an onslaught? Organizations need to go a learning organisation where learn from their past experiences and learn from others experiences by sharing information to both private and public companies. This will so assist organisations develop capablenesss to forestall and observe and react to cyber-attacks. Constructing a Menace Intelligence Community First, construct a community to portion informations and maintain yourself up-to-date. With a web of people collaboratively bring forthing distributed intelligence, the procedure of fusing, analysing, and leveraging Threat Intelligence can be immensely improved: Physique: Connect with other stakeholders who are sing the same job as you Contribute: Share evaluations, assurance, and attributes around informations and groups of related informations to obtain penetrations that would non be otherwise obvious Leverage: Path and step the menace to efficaciously joint the job to determination shapers. Identify adversary tendencies to preemptively deploy sensing signatures before you are targeted Figure 2: Community Watch Decision Organizations that leverage their menace intelligence capablenesss will be able to develop and transform their cyber security capablenesss to be able to observe and react to cyber-attacks. I conclude the study by stating that organisations should non execute intelligence for merely the interest of it, this should be aligned to the concern results and adjusted based on the alterations made. Menace intelligence providesinsight and context to better determination making.The hazard of bad intelligence is high.Bad determinations can easy be made frompoor intelligence- potentially making more harm than good. Good analytic patterns improve analysis thereby diminishing the hazard of hapless intelligence. You could hold the best package analysis accomplishments in the universe, but if you can non pass on your decisions efficaciously to those who need to move on your information those accomplishments are efficaciously useless in menace intelligence. Mentions hypertext transfer protocol: //www.secureworks.com/cyber-threat-intelligence/CTU_intelligence/ hypertext transfer protocol: //www.darkreading.com/threat-intelligence.asp hypertext transfer protocol: //www.sans.org/event/sans-cyber-threat-intelligence-summit Pankaj Sukhadeve 13030241163 1

Hospitality and Tourism Marketing Strategies The WritePass Journal

Hospitality and Tourism Marketing Strategies 1.0 Introduction Hospitality and Tourism Marketing Strategies 1.0 Introduction 1.1 Porter 5 forces analysis of TravelodgeForce 1:  The  degree  of  rivalryForce2: The threat of entryForce3: The threat of substitutes Force4: Buyers powerForce5: suppliers power1.2  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Porter 3 generic strategies1.3  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Value chain analysis of TravelodgePrimary ActivitiesOperationsOutbound LogisticsMarketing and SalesServiceSupport ActivitiesTechnology DevelopmentHuman Resource Management (HRM)Firm Infrastructure2.1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Boston Box Matrix analysis2.3 Product life cycleProduct life cycleIntroduction StageGrowth StageMaturity StageDecline Stage2.3  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Market segmentationBusiness TravellersLeisure TravellersGroup Meeting TravellersOther Travellers3.1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Creating and Developing Customer loyalty Zone 1: The Zone of IndifferenceZone 2: The Zone of SatisfactionZone 3: The Zone of DelightZone 4: The Zone of Loyalty3.2  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Network and relationship marketing3.3   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Viral and Guerrilla marketingReferencesRelated 1.0 Introduction The original Travel Lodge brand was first established by its founder Scott King, in 1939 by opening the first motels in southern California. During its starting phase, it highlighted itself as a budget motel chain offering functional accommodation at lower rate than other lower chain by providing comfortable beds, free TV and room phones, carpeted floors, in-room coffee pots and pools. Travel Lodge is fastest growing and most recognized budget Hotel Company in the United Kingdom. Travelodge  currently has  466  hotels  and  32,477  rooms  in  the UK, Ireland  and Spain. The  budget  hotel chain  has  one  goal  is  to have  1,100  hotels  in Europe  with more  than 100,000  rooms  in 2025. With  5,714  rooms and  40  hotels in  the  capital, Travelodge,  the fastest  growing hotel chain,  has taken the title  of  being  the  largest brand from the  Hilton  hotel  in London. This company was first lunched as first budget hotel brand in the UK in 1985 and is today one of the major branded hotel companies in the united kingdom with nearly 460 hotels. This chain is employing around six thousands staffs and more than seven million people stayed there in 2010 and more than eight seven booking are being made through online. Room rated start at  £19 per night, which is attracting the huge amoun t of customers. Travelodge is a brand champion of consumers; focus on driving prices in the hotel industry to encourage more people to use the hotels. Low prices of the chain budget delivered by commitment to operational efficiency and low cost business model. Only this year, Travelodge will offer over  £ 2,000,000 rooms at  £ 29 or less. Travelodge Heathrow Central 3 star hotel is situated on the Bath Road where most big Heathrow hotels are located. Its actually in the far east of the airport perimeter which is about 2 miles from terminals 1, 2 and 3 in the central area and terminal 4 in the southeast corner of the airport. This situation is actually quite convenient for the West London / Central London as the right side of the A4 London airport. A normal journey by car / taxi in west London takes about 20 minutes and 30-40 minutes to central areas. This location travel lodge was established in 2008 with the aim of providing budget priced accommodation in the Heathrow area. There is licensed bar cafe where breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner and drinks can be purchased within the hotel. 1.1 Porter 5 forces analysis of Travelodge Michael E. Porter of Harvard Business School developed a five forces framework for industry analysis and business marketing strategy development in 1979, which was aimed to increase the overall industry profitability. As stated by porter (1980) there are five forces that determine industry attractiveness and long-run industry profitability. These five competitive forces are: The threat of entry of new competitors (new entrants) The threat of substitutes The bargaining power of buyers The bargaining power of suppliers The degree of rivalry between existing competitors This forces and their rivalry can be best understood by the following diagram: Source: Porter (1980) Force 1:  The  degree  of  rivalry The  intensity  of  the  rivalry, which is  the  most  obvious  of  the  five  forces  in  an  industry, helps  determine  the extent to  which  the value  created by  an  industry  that  is  dissipated through the head  to  head  competition.  The most valuable contribution  of  Porters  five forces in the  context  of  this  problem  may  be  its suggestion  that  rivalry,  while important, is  just one of  several  forces that  determine  industry attractiveness. The degree of rivalry is very high because Heathrow area is the busiest area where around 50 star hotels are operating among them 16 hotels are 3 stars so, but Travelodge is competing with them with its cheapest budget 3 star hotel with high standard infrastructure and service. Premier inn is the one of the largest competitor having more rooms and facilities more than but Travelodge low price strategy and global largest chain playing the great role. Force2: The threat of entry Potential and existing competitors influence average industry profitability. Unless the entry of new firm is barred, the rate of profit will fall towards its competitive level. The threat of entry rather than actual entry might be sufficient to make sure that established firm constrains their price to the competitive level. By contrast, existing entry barriers whenever difficult or not economical feasible for an outsider to replicate the position of incumbents (Porter, 1980; Sanderson, 1998). Threat of new entry is low as brands  are  very important  in  the hospitality industry.   Travelodge  use  its name  from a  strong brand  to attract new  customers  and  retain  old ones.  Moreover,  an economy  of scale is also  a  very  important  factor  inthis  industry.   The  profitability  of  Travelodge  is  higher  than  the individual operations.  A  new entrant  cannot compete  with established players  in terms  of quality and  price  if  they can  achieve economies  of scale.  Being  Travelodge, a capital  intensive industry  with  a lot  of it, tied  in fixed costs,  makes  entry  to most difficult.  Protection  of the  Government  for the tourism sector  is very  high and  this  in turn  blends  into  the  hotel industry  and it is  thus  attractive  industry  in  general. Force3: The threat of substitutes A threat  of substitutes  exists  if  there are  alternative products with  lower  prices  of  better performance  parameters  for the same purpose.  They could potentially  attract  a significant proportion  of  market volume  and hence  reduce the  potential  sales volume for  existing industries. This  category  also  relates  to  complementary products. The main  substitutes  for the  hotel industry  are camping  and  recreational vehicles  for tourists,  corporate  guest houses  for business travellers  and  other  informal  means  of accommodation  with family  and friends.  Compared to  the  hospitality industry, these are much  cheaper alternatives, so  their prices  very high  values and  switching costs  very low.  This  makes  the  attractiveness of  the industry  in terms of  substitutes,  low. But, Travelodge is the one who is offering the high standard service at cheap price so the threat of substitutes is low. Force4: Buyers power The most important  factors affecting the  purchasing power  are the  size  and concentration  of customers.  Other factors,  the  extent to which  buyers  are informed  and concentration  or diversity of  competitors. Kippenberger  (1998)  states that  it is  often useful  to distinguish  the potential  buyer  in the purchasing power  of  desire  or  incentive to use  that  power, readiness,  which comes  mainly from the  risk of  failure,  associated  with its use. As far as the cheap price accommodation, there is low buyers power in case of Travelodge. Travelodge has numerous customers who are relatively very small in size. Loss of a single customer has little impact on it and finally this drives down the buyers bargaining power. Likewise buyers threat of backward integration is almost impossible and so is the company threat is forward integration. Force5: suppliers power The term suppliers include all the sources for inputs that are needed in order to provide goods or services. Basically the key suppliers of the hotel industries are; labour suppliers and real estate suppliers. All the suppliers in the market are defined as customers suppliers those who supply customers like travel agents, airlines companies, and other organisations where as property owners, infrastructure suppliers and housing and decoration are real state suppliers. Beside that labour suppliers have also key role to the company. Overall, supplier power is low as customers suppliers is low as it is the budget chain hotel and get customers from its chain hotels along that its cheap accommodation is also the main customer attractiveness. About the labour suppliers they have also moderate power because of the huge number of labour suppliers so they is big competition between the suppliers, on the other hand due to the national legal policy, minimum wages has to be paid so unlike other countries, this company cant hire the labour less than minimum wages. The number  of suppliers  for the  hotel  industry  is quite  large and  each supplier  is very  small  compared to  the  leading  players  in the industry.  Few powerful  players are  essential  to the  suppliers.  Substitutability  suppliers  are also  quite  possible  and affordable.  Switching  between  estate agents  is not  going to  affect  significantly  the companys  hotel.  However,  in terms of  quality,  training centres  for  workers  and producers  who provide  ICT  systems  that for  property management  are relatively  difficult to replace.  Therefore,  in terms of  attractiveness of  alternative  suppliers of  the industry  is moderately  high. 1.2  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Porter 3 generic strategies Porters  generic strategy  matrix,  which  emphasise  the  costs leadership,  differentiation and focus  based on  three options for  businesses,  has  dominated  competitive firms strategy since Generic strategies were first presented in two books by Professor Michael Porter of the Harvard Business School (Porter, 1980, 1985).  According to  this  model,  a company  can  choose  how  to compete  on the  basis  of match  between  the  type  of competitive advantage  and objective  market  as  the main  determinants  of  choice. Porter, generic strategy  typology  remains a most  notably  in  the  strategic  management literature. A  business  can maximize performance  either  by  striving  to  be the  low cost producer  in an  industry  or  by  differentiating their line of products  or  services  from other companies; either of these  two  approaches  can  be a ccompanied by  a focus of organizing efforts  in a  particular  segment market. Travelodge business purpose is to provide its service for everyone by delivering low cost and maximum value for money accommodation to all customers and highly attractive, efficient and convenient stop-overs or stay-overs. Its overall strategy is cost leadership, this can be realised by its offer room starting from  £19, where as its more than 80% internet booking playing a key role to minimise its operational cost, as a result it has been possible to become cost leadership. 1.3  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Value chain analysis of Travelodge The value chain is a systematic approach to examining the development of competitive advantage. It was created by M. E. Porter in his book, Competitive Advantage (1980). The chain consists of a series of activities that create and build value. They culminate in the total value delivered by an organisation. The margin depicted in the diagram is the same as added value. The organisation is split into primary activities and support activities. Primary Activities Inbound Logistics Activities related to receiving the materials from the supplier, storing them externally sourced materials and handling them within the firm where goods are received from a companys suppliers and are stored until they are needed on the production/assembly line is called inbound logistics. Travelodge ensures the right components are delivered to the right manufacturing point at the right time and they appoint their right supplier in time with certain terms and conditions, therefore the inbound logistics is good. Operations This section includes all the activities concern with the production of products and services. In case of Travelodge, it has been divided into three sections as reception, room service and food service. Its food service is delivered thorough its restaurant, it has its own business, there is no connection with residence and food like others star hotel. As far as the customers complaints found in blog, most of them are related to cleaning and security, so Travelodge is operation is not so good its just moderate. Outbound Logistics The goods are now finished, and they need to be sent along the supply chain to wholesalers, retailers or the final consumer. These are all the activities related to distributing the final product or service to the customers. Travelodge has its unique outbound logistic system where they get customer from its travel agents, its own branches and its cheapest budget hotel policy. Because of its good outbound logistics system, travel is the one of the hotel chain, which didnt suffer of last economic downturn. Marketing and Sales In true customer orientated fashion, at this stage the organisation prepares the offering to meet the needs of targeted customers. This area focuses strongly upon marketing communications and the promotions mix. In Travelodge, this area essentially analyses the needs and desires of customers and its responsible for creating awareness among the target group about the company products and services. Travelodge is using the marketing communication like advertising, sales promotion and cheapest budget hotel strategy to attract the customers to their products. By analysis its marketing and sales, it seem to be at good position, their e-marketing is excellent because of that Travelodge is saving its huge amount of money in advertising. Travelodge subsidiaries are in throughout the world so it marketing of any part of the world to some extent affects company popularity. Recently, Travelodge has an advertising agreement with Google which is expected to enhance the sales. The new strategy has been created to differentiate Travelodge from competitors in hotel sector and to move its marketing focus beyond its cheap price. New campaign the Sleep Tight will be a collection of cuddly toy animals going under the name Mr Sleep and the Z Squad. The marketing team is doing whatever is necessary to ensure a good night’s sleep and the first advertisement lunched on first may 2010. Travelodge launched a new TV advert in February 2011, featuring its famous Mr Sleep and his pal Big Ted. The 30 second TV ad featured the two teddy bears travelling around the UK, staying at various Travelodge hotels. Service This includes all areas of service such as installation, after-sales service, complaints handling, training and so on. There is often required to provide services like pre-installation or after-sales service before or after the sale of the products or service. Travelodge is mostly focusing on its pre-installation service and less effort on after sales service so they are not handling their customer complaints. Support Activities Procurement This function is responsible for all purchasing of goods, services and materials. The aim is to secure the lowest possible price for purchases of the highest possible quality. They will be responsible for outsourcing and purchasing using IT and web-based technologies to achieve procurement aims. Procurement activities are running through a system, like purchasing goods is being done by the competition between the suppliers and IT infrastructure contact with big IT companies. Technology Development Technology is an important source of competitive advantage in Travelodge by using them to innovate to reduce costs and to protect and sustain competitive advantage. This could include production technology, Internet marketing activities, lean manufacturing, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and many other technological developments. Travelodge is very good for using latest and modern mainly internet technology. Human Resource Management (HRM) Employees are an expensive and vital resource. An organisation would manage recruitment and s election, training and development, and rewards and remuneration. The mission and objectives of the organisation would be driving force behind the HRM strategy. Travelodge has its own HR department where all recruitment selection, training and rewarding system are being done. For cleaning service, Travelodge has a contract with other outside cleaning companies with certain terms and conditions and is supervising their works. Firm Infrastructure This activity includes and is driven by corporate or strategic planning. Travelodge uses the Management Information System (MIS) and other mechanisms for planning and control such as the accounting department, finance and corporate strategy which make Travelodges better company infrastructure. 2.1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Boston Box Matrix analysis The Boston box is a classic tool of strategic planning and was developed in the early 1970s by Bruce Henderson. Matrix provides a useful tool for analysing an organisations portfolio of business units, product lines, offerings or activities. It helps businesses to identify which products to invest in and which not to invest in depending on their relative market share and the growth rate of the markets they serve. Using the BCG Box, a company classifies all its strategic business units according to two dimensions as horizontal axis; relative market share this serves as measure strength in the market this provides a measure of market attractiveness. Residential rooms are the product of Travelodge, by selling them it has been running its business and now it steps to the stage where company is getting a good profit and investing to expand its service. By dividing the matrix into four areas, four types of units can be distinguished: Stars   Stars are high growth businesses or products competing in markets where they are relatively strong compared with the competition. Often they need heavy investment to sustain their growth. Eventually their growth will slow and, assuming they maintain their relative market share, will become cash cows. Cash Cows   Cash cows are low-growth businesses or products with a relatively high market share. These are mature, successful businesses with relatively little need for investment. They need to be managed for continued profit so that they continue to generate the strong cash flows that the company needs for its Stars. Question marks   Question marks are businesses or products with low market share but which operate in higher growth markets. This suggests that they have potential, but may require substantial investment in order to grow market share at the expense of more powerful competitors. Management have to think hard about question marks which ones should they invest in? Which ones should they allow to fail or shrink? Dogs   Unsurprisingly, the term dogs refers to businesses or products that have low relative share in unattractive, low-growth markets. Dogs may generate enough cash to break-even, but they are rarely, if ever, worth investing in. As Travelodge has high market share with a slow-growing industry and these units typically generating cash in excess of the amount of cash needed to maintain the business therefore falls on cash cow business strategic units. This company is running more than 30 years and successful business in UK hotel industry with relatively little need for investment. 2.3 Product life cycle The life of a product is the period over which it appeals to customers. The sales performance of any product rises from nothing when the product is introduced to the market reaches a peak and then declines to nothing again. With respect to the revenues generated by a product over a period of time, there are various stages that are achieved by any product. This is called a product’s life cycle. A product life cycle mainly consists of below mentioned four stages. Product life cycle Source: Graham R. Massey, (1999) Introduction Stage At the Introduction Stage market size and growth is slight. It is possible that substantial research and development costs have been incurred in getting the product to this stage. In addition, marketing costs may be high in order to test the market, undergo launch promotion and set up distribution channels. It is highly unlikely that companies will make profits on products at the Introduction Stage. Products at this stage have to be carefully monitored to ensure that they start to grow. Otherwise, the best option may be to withdraw or end the product. Travelodge created product awareness develop a market for the product. No profits were made when it was at introduction stage as development costs have not yet been covered. It took a substantial amount of time to catch on in the market before they enter their growth phases. Growth Stage The Growth Stage is characterised by rapid growth in sales and profits. Profits arise due to an increase in output economies of scale and possibly better prices. At this stage, it is cheaper for businesses to invest in increasing their market share as well as enjoying the overall growth of the market. Accordingly, significant promotional resources are traditionally invested in products that are firmly in the Growth Stage. After the   year of 2000, Travelodge is considered in growth stage, when it was expanding throughout UK and they were investing their profit to open new hotels. Maturity Stage Currently Travelodge is in maturity stage, maturity Stage is, perhaps, the most common stage for all markets. It is in this stage that competition is most intense as companies fight to maintain their market share. Here, both marketing and finance become key activities. Marketing spend has to be monitored carefully, since any significant moves are likely to be copied by competitors. The Maturity Stage is the time when most profit is earned by the market as a whole. Any expenditure on research and development is likely to be restricted to product modification and improvement and perhaps to improve production efficiency and quality. Decline Stage Travelodge is expected to be in maturity stage after some decades when its market is shrinking, reducing the overall amount of profit that can be shared amongst the remaining competitors. At this stage, great care has to be taken to manage the product carefully. It may be possible to take out some production cost, to transfer production to a cheaper facility, sell the product into other, cheaper markets. Care should be taken to control the amount of stocks of the product. Ultimately, depending on whether the product remains profitable, a company may decide to end the product. As travel was established before more than 25 years and it has more than 460 hotels in United Kingdom, it is making a good profit and one of the established budget hotel therefore it is in the maturity stage in the life cycle. 2.3  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Market segmentation Segmentation is the term given to the grouping of customers with similar needs by a number of different variables. Once this has been done, segments can be targeted by a number of targeting strategies.   Based on Travelodge business goal, competition and customers, they have divided their market into four segments business, leisure, group, and other as described below: Business Travellers Business travellers represent a large portion of lodging demand in many market areas.   Travelodge include people travelling on business representing commercial, industrial and governmental organizations. It is important to understand why business travellers are visiting the market area and how many room nights they generate.   Reasons for visiting a particular area might include conducting business with a company recruiting, training, management meetings calling on multiple businesses and stopping over between destinations. Leisure Travellers Leisure travellers may visit an area for a vacation, to attend sporting or social events, to shop, or to visit friends and relatives.   They might be staying over simply because they are travelling to other destinations. Leisure travellers may be individuals, couples, families, or small groups.   Travellers visiting hospitals and universities are typically included in this market segment. Leisure room demand is often seasonal.   In larger, Travelodge more urban market areas, leisure room demand may be limited to weekends, summer months and holiday periods. Group Meeting Travellers For Travelodge, group market consists of both leisure and business travellers but due to the size of meeting or gathering hall they limited this segment as small group meeting travellers.   Leisure groups include bus tours, school activities, athletic events, etc.   Tour groups are often brought to an area for sightseeing and attending special events.   Local attractions that appeal to leisure tour groups may have records of the numbers and names of tour operators who have visited their attractions. Business group meetings are typically associated with board meetings, training programs, seminars, trade shows, and other gatherings.   Often the sponsoring organization will be from the local area.   Out-of-town organizations may use logical meeting facilities because they often rotate the sites of their regional meetings.   Information on the group meeting market can be obtained through state chapters Other Travellers Various lodging customers cannot be classified under the categories of business, leisure, or group. These travellers may include construction workers, truckers, utility crews and others.   Activity at local truck stops, distribution centres, long term construction projects and other sources of demand could help you estimate the significance of this market segment. 3.1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Creating and Developing Customer loyalty Generally, customer loyalty can be defined making customers feel that they are the companys number one priority. Competitive advantage can be achieved through customer loyalty. This is the way to gain the best kind of customers, repeat customers. Repeat customers tend to spend more money and provide the best personal advertising. Customers feel customer loyalty when they consistently purchase a certain product or brand over an extended period of time. As an example, many customers stick to a certain travel operator due to the positive experiences they have had with their products and services. In Travelodge, customer loyalty is the key objective of customer relationship management and describes the loyalty which is established between a customer and companies, persons, products or brands. This company believes that the individual market segments should be targeted in terms of developing customer loyalty. The Customer Loyalty Grid is helpful to understand customer loyalty better. This grid is divided into four zones, as shown in the diagram below: Zone 1: The Zone of Indifference Zone of indifference includes those services which are unstated but expected. Literally, this includes all those customer needs and wants that are basic to fulfilling the contract between you and them. For example, customers expect to be treated with courtesy and respect, and would probably be puzzled and maybe even insulted if customer asked them if this was a need. It of course is, and if dont meet this need; it will cause dissatisfaction for example sometimes travel lodge cleaning service and infrastructure are criticised by the customer. If you meet this basic and obvious need, the best you can hope for is indifference. Zone 2: The Zone of Satisfaction This is where your customer actually tells what is important to them. Meeting a customers needs here will cause satisfaction, whereas not meeting them will cause huge dissatisfaction. For example, Travelodge advertise that it has offer room for  £19 per night, customer think that if even they don’t book before, it not going to hogh price for the room but sometime it is, this cause a customer dissatisfaction. It is an expectation, simply because other organizations that the customer deals with provide this benefit. Zone 3: The Zone of Delight This is where your customer hopes for something, asks for it, but really does not expect to provide it. This is opportunity to provide something beyond their expectations and by so doing will create delight. For example, a customer might ask for something that is usually available only in a premium priced product. Not providing it will unlikely cause dissatisfaction. Therefore this is an area for particular attention in building a loyal customer base. This area is not seem to be good at Travelodge. Zone 4: The Zone of Loyalty This is an area where hotel expertise in whatever product or service you provide and the customers lack of knowledge can really give back. Providing benefits above and beyond what the customer is even aware of can create a loyal customer. This requires you to be really proactive in suggesting to customers new innovations that they can really benefit from. Many customers will be even willing to pay extra for this. In case of Travelodge, it is very careful about the hidden cost of hotel so tries to offer like welcome drinks, some gift for celebrating birthday customer. At Travelodge, Customer loyalty is the key objective of customer relationship management and describes the loyalty which is established between a customer and companies, persons, products or brands. If this company be careful about all the zone of matrix then of it will create and develop best customer loyalty than currently. 3.2  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Network and relationship marketing Network and Relationship Marketing has evolved as a strategic marketing approach which is oriented towards attaining long-term profitability and value creation by interactions and mutual exchange among customers, suppliers and other stakeholders. It is also can be adopted to enhance the competitiveness and profitability of a value delivery network (supply chain). Better integration and shared mutual values can be developed through relationship marketing across value delivery network. Network marketing is commonly known as multi-level marketing. It is part of the direct selling industry and is run as a business-distribution model that allows a parent company to market its products directly to consumers through a large network of distributors and consumers, thereby bypassing the middleman. Travelodge is mainly focus on relationship marketing, they have a customer record keeping system so they treat regular customer specially. They are promoting relationship marketing by developing the good relationship.    3.3   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Viral and Guerrilla marketing Guerrilla Marketing is an unconventional system of promotions on a very low budget, by relying on time, energy and imagination instead of big marketing budgets. The term has since entered the popular vocabulary to also describe aggressive, unconventional marketing methods generically. Viral marketing and viral advertising refer to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness, through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of pathological and computer viruses. It can be word-of-mouth delivered or enhanced by the network effects of the Internet. Viral marketing is a marketing phenomenon that facilitates and encourages people to pass along a marketing message voluntarily. Viral promotions may take the form of video clips, interactive Flash games, images, or even text messages. As travel is considered itself as a largest budget hotel in UK and investing millions of pound on marketing so Travelodge don’t think about adopting Guerrilla marketing.   But talking about viral marketing Travelodge is to some extent using if we see internet we can see many images and video clips about the service and infrastructures. Viral marketing is the Travelodge authorised company strategy as well but guerrilla marketing is not Travelodge policy.    References Porter, M.E. (1980)  Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors  , Free Press, New York, 1980. Sanderson, S. (1998) New approaches to strategy: new ways of thinking for the millennium, Management Decision, Vol. 36 issue 1, pp.9-13. Graham R. Massey, (1999) Product evolution: a Darwinian or Lamarckian phenomenon?, Journal of Product Brand Management, Vol. 8 Iss: 4, pp.301 318 Howard, Theresa (2005).  USAToday: Viral advertising spreads through marketing plans.  USA Today. Fornell, C. and Wernerfet, B. (1987) Defensive marketing strategy by customer complaint management  : a theoretical analysis,  Journal of Marketing Moloney, Chris X. (2006) Winning Your Customer’s Loyalty: The Best Tools, Techniques and Practices AMA Workshop Event(s). Misc. materials distributed related to event(s). Kotler, Philip, Armstrong, Gary, Saunders, John and Wong, Veronica. (1999). Principles of Marketing 2nd  ed. Prentice Hall Europe McKenna, R. (1991) Marketing is Everything,  Harvard Business Review, Jan-Feb, 1991, pp 65–70

2. What were the greatest achievements of the Italian Renaissance Essay

2. What were the greatest achievements of the Italian Renaissance Explain your answer with reference to at least three works of art or literature - Essay Example Artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, and Michelangelo thrived during this period, their works being considered masterpieces to this day. The works of the trio form the backbone of the Italian Renaissance and some of these shall be considered in this essay. One of the best-known works of the Italian Renaissance, and what can be considered one of its best accomplishments, is the fresco The Triumph of Galatea. This is a masterpiece by Raphael, which he painted for the Villa Farnesina, and is based on Greek mythology (Bruce 346). It is a depiction of how the Nereid Galatea became involved in a love situation with a shepherd. While this fresco is based on the mythology, it depicts a sight where Galatea is surrounded by humanoid sea creatures. This fresco is deemed one of Raphael’s supreme masterpieces whose meaning has been subject to speculation for a long time. The second, and perhaps the most well-known, work of art of this period is Mona Lisa, by Leonardo da Vinci. This painting is not only famous, but many books, songs, and poems have been written concerning it. This is because of the famed mystery, which the painting seems to carry with it. People who have visited it or viewed it have often wondered what da Vinci’s inte ntion for painting it was. While some people believe that it is just a regular painting, others have come up with theories concerning it, including that it holds a revered religious secret. The topic of the painting has an indistinct expression on her face. This expression has kept people interested in the painting for a long time, as each attempt to decipher its true meaning (McMullen). Art scholars continue to study it as ever-increasing theories, and myths develop around it. One of the most renowned pieces of art from the Italian Renaissance is the statue David, a monument by the sculptor Michelangelo, which is a representation of Biblical David, who was a favorite subject of Florentine artists, standing nude

International Marketing Strategies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

International Marketing Strategies - Essay Example A major issue involves the organization structures that are conducive to global marketing strategy implementation (Appelbaum et al, 1998). While centralization vs. decentralization and product division vs. geographical division have received some discussion in the literature, other dimensions of organizational structure have not been investigated adequately. For example, how a firm’s decision to enter into international joint ventures (or any other modes of foreign market entry) affects its ability to implement a global marketing strategy, and how various knowledge management systems relate to a firm’s ability to implement a global marketing strategy are among important issues to be researched (Bellamy and Graham, 1987). Still another major issue in global marketing is the type of organization cultures that facilitates global marketing strategy implementation (Beyers and Lindahl, 1999). Perhaps the strength of the organization culture is an important variable, or the content of the organization culture is more relevant. Researchers need to develop sound classification schemes for organization cultures, and link them to a firm’s ability to implement a global marketing strategy. Empirical research in this area is particularly scarce. In addition to the aforementioned issues that relate to a firm’s internal organizational resources, research is also needed to identify various industry globalization drivers and the specific mechanisms through which a global marketing strategy can lead to competitive advantages for a firm.