Marketing and Lego Essay Example

Marketing and Lego Essay Executive Summary Since LEGO Group’s (LEGO) inception in 1932, the world-famous toy maker overcame numerous challenging obstacles to become the leader in the building toy segment. By 2010, LEGO had witnessed all-time high annual sales of over US$3. 7 billion to become the fourth-largest toy manufacturer in the world. Upon analysis of LEGO’s strengths through Resource-Based View, LEGO holds few key competitive advantages attributed to their success: strong brand name and innovative culture. These traits are not imitable or easily substitutable. However, the competitive landscape has drastically increased in the building toy industry as analyzed with Porter’s Five Forces. Essentially, the deteriorating barriers to entry from loss of trademark protection, Disney’s acquisition of Marvel for greater control of entertainment licensing, and increased rivalry among existing firms from little product differentiation are the main drivers of high competition in the observed market. Therefore, in order to uphold the market leader position in the building toy market and ensure financial success in the years ahead, it is strongly believed that the combination of differentiation and first-mover strategy will best allow LEGO to capitalize on the opportunities available in this growing industry while mitigating the threats from the changes in the market. Although several viable alternatives are present in order to address the mentioned concerns, expanding to the adult market with specialized LEGO sets for hobby and professional purposes is the most suitable. We will write a custom essay sample on Marketing and Lego specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Marketing and Lego specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Marketing and Lego specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer By tapping into this huge demographic consisting of many previous LEGO users, LEGO will diversify its product lines, gain a new channel for revenue generation, protect its brand from competitors’ similar products and maintain high brand recognition from wider targets. Problem Statement The LEGO Group (LEGO) is facing new threats emerging in the toy industry from company acquisitions, intensifying competition in the building blocks segment and risk of brand dilution. Representing one of the fastest growing categories in the global toy sales of US$83. billion in 2010, building sets hold a great opportunity despite uncertainty if LEGO is to successfully develop a product expansion strategy that can maintain LEGO’s current market dominance, high brand value and achieve a financial success. Porter’s Five Forces (Appendix A) The threat of the existing toy companies expanding into the building blocks segment is fairly high due to the similar cost structure and operation requirements. LEGO’s biggest competitor MEGA Bloks proved that other companies could carve out a percentage of the building toy market. LEGO is dealing with two kinds of buyers: small retailers and larger chains. With more than two-thirds of LEGO’s revenue coming from the 200 large retailers, these buyers have fairly high bargaining power. The small stores do not have such bargaining power with LEGO considering their order sizes and revenue contribution. The bargaining power of the suppliers is assumed to be weak as the companies in this industry can freely select their suppliers. For instance, LEGO reduced 80% of its suppliers, showing the flexibility of choosing from wide range of suppliers and significant control over supply-related costs. On the other hand, the rivalry level in the industry and the building sets segment is high. The acquisition of Marvel by Disney placed a large amount of entertainment licensing under the control of Disney which indicates that licensing agreements that LEGO relies on to add values to its products will become more difficult to obtain. Lastly, the threat of substitutes for both toys and building blocks products is assumed to be high as parents will often encourage other activities for their children such as playing sports, exercising, or reading books instead of having them play inside. To conclude, it is strongly believed that the combination of differentiation and first-mover strategy will best allow LEGO to capitalize on the opportunities available in the growing industry while mitigating the threats from the changes in the market environment. SWOT Analysis (Appendix B) LEGO is a globally recognized brand with long history of producing creative and educational toys and has established significantly positive image to the consumers. Thus, LEGO can embrace its reputation and knowledge in the industry to further diversify its product offerings. LEGO has many loyal parent customers buying LEGO products for their children. It is important to understand that the consumers are not the buyers of the products. Once the active consumers of LEGO, the parents trust its products and LEGO is deeply rooted in their personal experience. However, new product lines that reflect the current popular children’s culture face the challenge of appealing to the children and answering strict demands of parents. Nonetheless, LEGO has weaknesses as well. Digital Design Program offering customized product offering with delivery can be assumed to be incurring extra costs since LEGO cannot leverage its economies of scale. LEGO’s loss of patent protection is also the weaknesses that other competitors exploit. As competitors introduce plastic brick products that are compatible with the LEGO brick designs, the consumers are misled into buying the products thinking that they are LEGO. As competition and licensing control intensify to threaten LEGO, the organization should avoid expensive/additional marketing and legal campaigns in the building blocks segment, and divert such resources to take advantage of the unexplored segments in the market. Value Chain Resource-Based View Analysis (Appendix C) While LEGO’s business activities create value and competitive advantages for the firm and its customers, they do so with varying degrees. First, among the primary activities, inbound and outbound logistics are assumed to be standard practices across the industry, contributing little towards competitive advantage. The operation systems offer LEGO a high level of competitiveness since LEGO’s corporate governance is rare and difficult for competitors to imitate. Lastly, marketing and sales strategy for LEGO are unique due to the exclusive nature of licensing agreement, its history and long-term effort of brand building. LEGO’s general and human capital management contribute to its competitive advantage by applying the expertise and knowledge accumulated over the decades, making it extremely difficult to imitate. Technology development and procurement activities at LEGO are assumed to be similar to the general and human capital management and they are relatively unique to LEGO due to its organizational culture history. In conclusion, LEGO’s management should continue creating added values in their products through the above activities, with significant focus on marketing and sales to further synergize with their strengths as indicated in SWOT analysis and operations systems, which include product designs, to expand their product lines into new market segments. Alternative 1: Expand product lines targeting girls As indicated in the SWOT analysis, the market coverage for girls in the building blocks is assumed to be fairly low at this point. LEGO can expand its product designs by obtaining the licensing agreements with entertainment companies that girls favor, as well as adopting new product designs for girls. For example, diversifying its Duplo product lines with themes, such as princesses from Disney cartoons that girls will prefer over boys, will allow LEGO to capture the potentially under-served market segment. By increasing their product lines with minimal design expansion, LEGO is effectively ‘creating’ a sub-segment within the industry and challenging other competitors, which are trying to compete in the traditional building sets segment. Essentially, LEGO is positioning itself as a segment leader once again and capturing a large portion of the end-users and customers. Nevertheless, there are several risks associated with the alternative: first is the market uncertainty. In other words, young girls may not be as interested as boys in building blocks products even with appealing themes. Therefore, thorough target segment research involving focus groups and interviews is recommended to mitigate this risk. Secondly, there is low barrier to entry in this sub category of end-users. The competitors are easily able to compete in this market segment, by designing similar products with themes that will be targeting girls instead of boys. This is possible because re-tooling of the equipment is not costly, as the machines are manufactured to be able to handle multiple designs. Lastly, the increased control over licensing agreement is another major concern: with the themes involving Disney characters, it will be very competitive to acquire licensing agreements, given the previous relationship Disney has with Mattel and Hasbro. Fortunately, this risk can be mitigated by creating themes that do not use the characters’ names or key features, thus avoiding any misjudgment or legal conflicts. Alternative 2: Expand product lines targeting adults/previous LEGO users Given LEGO’s long history of being in the toy business, it is correct to assume that the older generation, who are the parents of the children that LEGO targets, have had experience playing LEGO sets. This fact brings up two unique and strong bases for an inimitable business strategy: 1). By targeting the adults LEGO will increase the size of its potential market. Re-attracting the once loyal customers will not involve complicated new marketing strategies as they can be easily connected based on nostalgic elements. While the threat comes from commoditization of LEGO sets due to similar products being produced by LEGO’s competitors, the past user experience of playing with LEGO sets will never be able to be copied. 2). Furthermore, the distinction between children as consumers and parents as customers made it difficult for LEGO to align the interests and expectations of its two stakeholders. Product expansion into the adult market enables LEGO to focus only on the product development as adults will not necessarily look for traditional values (i. e. educational factors) that LEGO toys have. Fortunately, LEGO for adults will not be a pioneer project. Around the world, many LEGO fans have uploaded pictures of items creatively made by the fans themselves with LEGO pieces (APPENDIX D). LEGO for adults will reflect this on-going global trend and design specialized LEGO pieces for adult users. LEGO for adult users will be used for professional and hobby-related purposes. Engineers can use LEGO to design new bridges, buildings and landmarks while general hobbyists can build a new computer case, frame for pictures and small stools. While LEGO sets for children was considered a toy, LEGO for adults will be a whole new category allowing its users to create art, functional items and highly creative masterpieces to attach unique personal experience and irreplaceable values. Recommendation (Appendix D) Ultimately, it is recommended for LEGO management to undertake the second alternative, to redesign the existing LEGO pieces to be more functional and target the adults. Although other strategy is a viable option, in order to address the concern of competition from absence of patents, lack of product differentiation, and higher dependency on popular licensors, the aforementioned solution is the most suitable. By tapping into this huge demographic consisting of many previous LEGO users, LEGO will diversify its product lines, gain a new channel for revenue generation, protect its brand from competitors’ similar products and maintain high brand recognition from wider targets. LEGO building sets for adults will protect LEGO with a new patent and decades of established loyalty. The LEGO sets for adults will be sold online for two main reasons: 1). This new product line is in an unique product category that does not belong in either the traditional toy stores r the home hardware department. 2). Adults have the mean to purchase (i. e. credit cards) things sold online. Furthermore, the unclear future due to Disney’s purchase of Marvel will be neutralized with the concept of the LEGO sets for adults. While the association of popular pop culture in LEGO theme is important to appeal to children, adults will be more concerned with what they can make with the pieces. Therefore, these new LEGO pieces will be bigger, come in greater variety in shapes and allow more complicated technical flexibility and aesthetic brevity. Upon a glance, completed sets made with such pieces will fit well with other furniture and items in a typical household. LEGO can effectively leverage the current usage of LEGO sets by the professionals and hobbyists like the University of Cambridge and Nathan Sawaya to showcase how they use LEGO. Finally, it is highly likely that once the adults start purchasing and manipulating LEGO sets for their own use, they will opt to buy toys and the traditional LEGO sets from LEGO for their own children, establishing stronger and wider customer retention for many years to come. Marketing and Lego Essay Example Marketing and Lego Essay Executive Summary Since LEGO Group’s (LEGO) inception in 1932, the world-famous toy maker overcame numerous challenging obstacles to become the leader in the building toy segment. By 2010, LEGO had witnessed all-time high annual sales of over US$3. 7 billion to become the fourth-largest toy manufacturer in the world. Upon analysis of LEGO’s strengths through Resource-Based View, LEGO holds few key competitive advantages attributed to their success: strong brand name and innovative culture. These traits are not imitable or easily substitutable. However, the competitive landscape has drastically increased in the building toy industry as analyzed with Porter’s Five Forces. Essentially, the deteriorating barriers to entry from loss of trademark protection, Disney’s acquisition of Marvel for greater control of entertainment licensing, and increased rivalry among existing firms from little product differentiation are the main drivers of high competition in the observed market. Therefore, in order to uphold the market leader position in the building toy market and ensure financial success in the years ahead, it is strongly believed that the combination of differentiation and first-mover strategy will best allow LEGO to capitalize on the opportunities available in this growing industry while mitigating the threats from the changes in the market. Although several viable alternatives are present in order to address the mentioned concerns, expanding to the adult market with specialized LEGO sets for hobby and professional purposes is the most suitable. We will write a custom essay sample on Marketing and Lego specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Marketing and Lego specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Marketing and Lego specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer By tapping into this huge demographic consisting of many previous LEGO users, LEGO will diversify its product lines, gain a new channel for revenue generation, protect its brand from competitors’ similar products and maintain high brand recognition from wider targets. Problem Statement The LEGO Group (LEGO) is facing new threats emerging in the toy industry from company acquisitions, intensifying competition in the building blocks segment and risk of brand dilution. Representing one of the fastest growing categories in the global toy sales of US$83. billion in 2010, building sets hold a great opportunity despite uncertainty if LEGO is to successfully develop a product expansion strategy that can maintain LEGO’s current market dominance, high brand value and achieve a financial success. Porter’s Five Forces (Appendix A) The threat of the existing toy companies expanding into the building blocks segment is fairly high due to the similar cost structure and operation requirements. LEGO’s biggest competitor MEGA Bloks proved that other companies could carve out a percentage of the building toy market. LEGO is dealing with two kinds of buyers: small retailers and larger chains. With more than two-thirds of LEGO’s revenue coming from the 200 large retailers, these buyers have fairly high bargaining power. The small stores do not have such bargaining power with LEGO considering their order sizes and revenue contribution. The bargaining power of the suppliers is assumed to be weak as the companies in this industry can freely select their suppliers. For instance, LEGO reduced 80% of its suppliers, showing the flexibility of choosing from wide range of suppliers and significant control over supply-related costs. On the other hand, the rivalry level in the industry and the building sets segment is high. The acquisition of Marvel by Disney placed a large amount of entertainment licensing under the control of Disney which indicates that licensing agreements that LEGO relies on to add values to its products will become more difficult to obtain. Lastly, the threat of substitutes for both toys and building blocks products is assumed to be high as parents will often encourage other activities for their children such as playing sports, exercising, or reading books instead of having them play inside. To conclude, it is strongly believed that the combination of differentiation and first-mover strategy will best allow LEGO to capitalize on the opportunities available in the growing industry while mitigating the threats from the changes in the market environment. SWOT Analysis (Appendix B) LEGO is a globally recognized brand with long history of producing creative and educational toys and has established significantly positive image to the consumers. Thus, LEGO can embrace its reputation and knowledge in the industry to further diversify its product offerings. LEGO has many loyal parent customers buying LEGO products for their children. It is important to understand that the consumers are not the buyers of the products. Once the active consumers of LEGO, the parents trust its products and LEGO is deeply rooted in their personal experience. However, new product lines that reflect the current popular children’s culture face the challenge of appealing to the children and answering strict demands of parents. Nonetheless, LEGO has weaknesses as well. Digital Design Program offering customized product offering with delivery can be assumed to be incurring extra costs since LEGO cannot leverage its economies of scale. LEGO’s loss of patent protection is also the weaknesses that other competitors exploit. As competitors introduce plastic brick products that are compatible with the LEGO brick designs, the consumers are misled into buying the products thinking that they are LEGO. As competition and licensing control intensify to threaten LEGO, the organization should avoid expensive/additional marketing and legal campaigns in the building blocks segment, and divert such resources to take advantage of the unexplored segments in the market. Value Chain Resource-Based View Analysis (Appendix C) While LEGO’s business activities create value and competitive advantages for the firm and its customers, they do so with varying degrees. First, among the primary activities, inbound and outbound logistics are assumed to be standard practices across the industry, contributing little towards competitive advantage. The operation systems offer LEGO a high level of competitiveness since LEGO’s corporate governance is rare and difficult for competitors to imitate. Lastly, marketing and sales strategy for LEGO are unique due to the exclusive nature of licensing agreement, its history and long-term effort of brand building. LEGO’s general and human capital management contribute to its competitive advantage by applying the expertise and knowledge accumulated over the decades, making it extremely difficult to imitate. Technology development and procurement activities at LEGO are assumed to be similar to the general and human capital management and they are relatively unique to LEGO due to its organizational culture history. In conclusion, LEGO’s management should continue creating added values in their products through the above activities, with significant focus on marketing and sales to further synergize with their strengths as indicated in SWOT analysis and operations systems, which include product designs, to expand their product lines into new market segments. Alternative 1: Expand product lines targeting girls As indicated in the SWOT analysis, the market coverage for girls in the building blocks is assumed to be fairly low at this point. LEGO can expand its product designs by obtaining the licensing agreements with entertainment companies that girls favor, as well as adopting new product designs for girls. For example, diversifying its Duplo product lines with themes, such as princesses from Disney cartoons that girls will prefer over boys, will allow LEGO to capture the potentially under-served market segment. By increasing their product lines with minimal design expansion, LEGO is effectively ‘creating’ a sub-segment within the industry and challenging other competitors, which are trying to compete in the traditional building sets segment. Essentially, LEGO is positioning itself as a segment leader once again and capturing a large portion of the end-users and customers. Nevertheless, there are several risks associated with the alternative: first is the market uncertainty. In other words, young girls may not be as interested as boys in building blocks products even with appealing themes. Therefore, thorough target segment research involving focus groups and interviews is recommended to mitigate this risk. Secondly, there is low barrier to entry in this sub category of end-users. The competitors are easily able to compete in this market segment, by designing similar products with themes that will be targeting girls instead of boys. This is possible because re-tooling of the equipment is not costly, as the machines are manufactured to be able to handle multiple designs. Lastly, the increased control over licensing agreement is another major concern: with the themes involving Disney characters, it will be very competitive to acquire licensing agreements, given the previous relationship Disney has with Mattel and Hasbro. Fortunately, this risk can be mitigated by creating themes that do not use the characters’ names or key features, thus avoiding any misjudgment or legal conflicts. Alternative 2: Expand product lines targeting adults/previous LEGO users Given LEGO’s long history of being in the toy business, it is correct to assume that the older generation, who are the parents of the children that LEGO targets, have had experience playing LEGO sets. This fact brings up two unique and strong bases for an inimitable business strategy: 1). By targeting the adults LEGO will increase the size of its potential market. Re-attracting the once loyal customers will not involve complicated new marketing strategies as they can be easily connected based on nostalgic elements. While the threat comes from commoditization of LEGO sets due to similar products being produced by LEGO’s competitors, the past user experience of playing with LEGO sets will never be able to be copied. 2). Furthermore, the distinction between children as consumers and parents as customers made it difficult for LEGO to align the interests and expectations of its two stakeholders. Product expansion into the adult market enables LEGO to focus only on the product development as adults will not necessarily look for traditional values (i. e. educational factors) that LEGO toys have. Fortunately, LEGO for adults will not be a pioneer project. Around the world, many LEGO fans have uploaded pictures of items creatively made by the fans themselves with LEGO pieces (APPENDIX D). LEGO for adults will reflect this on-going global trend and design specialized LEGO pieces for adult users. LEGO for adult users will be used for professional and hobby-related purposes. Engineers can use LEGO to design new bridges, buildings and landmarks while general hobbyists can build a new computer case, frame for pictures and small stools. While LEGO sets for children was considered a toy, LEGO for adults will be a whole new category allowing its users to create art, functional items and highly creative masterpieces to attach unique personal experience and irreplaceable values. Recommendation (Appendix D) Ultimately, it is recommended for LEGO management to undertake the second alternative, to redesign the existing LEGO pieces to be more functional and target the adults. Although other strategy is a viable option, in order to address the concern of competition from absence of patents, lack of product differentiation, and higher dependency on popular licensors, the aforementioned solution is the most suitable. By tapping into this huge demographic consisting of many previous LEGO users, LEGO will diversify its product lines, gain a new channel for revenue generation, protect its brand from competitors’ similar products and maintain high brand recognition from wider targets. LEGO building sets for adults will protect LEGO with a new patent and decades of established loyalty. The LEGO sets for adults will be sold online for two main reasons: 1). This new product line is in an unique product category that does not belong in either the traditional toy stores r the home hardware department. 2). Adults have the mean to purchase (i. e. credit cards) things sold online. Furthermore, the unclear future due to Disney’s purchase of Marvel will be neutralized with the concept of the LEGO sets for adults. While the association of popular pop culture in LEGO theme is important to appeal to children, adults will be more concerned with what they can make with the pieces. Therefore, these new LEGO pieces will be bigger, come in greater variety in shapes and allow more complicated technical flexibility and aesthetic brevity. Upon a glance, completed sets made with such pieces will fit well with other furniture and items in a typical household. LEGO can effectively leverage the current usage of LEGO sets by the professionals and hobbyists like the University of Cambridge and Nathan Sawaya to showcase how they use LEGO. Finally, it is highly likely that once the adults start purchasing and manipulating LEGO sets for their own use, they will opt to buy toys and the traditional LEGO sets from LEGO for their own children, establishing stronger and wider customer retention for many years to come.

Organic Compound Names and Formulas Starting with E

Organic Compound Names and Formulas Starting with E This is a list of organic compound names and formulas with names starting with the letter E. Eburnamenine - C19H22N2Ecstasy (MDMA or Methylenedioxymethamphetamine) - C11H15NO2EDTA (Ethylenediamine-N,N,N,N-tetraacetic acid) - C10H16N2O8Eicosane - C20H42Emetan- C25H32N2Encainide - C22H28N2O2Endosulfan - C9H6Cl6O3SEndrin - C12H8Cl6OEosin B - C20H8Br2N2O9Eosin Y - C20H8Br4O5Ephedrine - C10H15NOEpibromohydrin - C3H5BrOEpinephrine (Adrenaline) - C9H13NO3Ergoline - C14H16NErgotaman - C25H33N5OErgotamine - C33H35N5O5Erucic acid - C22H42OErythrinan - C16H21NErythritol - C4H10O4Esarine - C15H21N3O2Estradiol (estrogen) - C18H24O2Estriol (estrogen) - C18H24O3Estrone (estrogen) - C18H22O2Ethacridine lactate - C18H21N3O4Ethanal (Acetaldehyde) - C2H4OEthane - C2H6Ethane (ball and stick) - C2H6ethane (space-filling model) - C2H6Ethanedioic acid (oxalic acid) - C2H2O41,2-Ethanedithiol - C2H6S2Ethaneperoxoic acid - C2H4O3Ethanoic Acid (Acetic Acid) - C2H4O2Ethanol - C2H6OEthanol (space filling model) - C2H6OEthene - C2H4Ethene (ball and stick model) - C2H4Ethenone - C2H2OEthidium bromide - C2 1H20BrN3Ethyl acetate - C4H8O2Ethyl alcohol - C2H6OEthyl aldehyde - C2H4OEthenyl functional group - C2H3-Ethylamine - C2H7NEthyl 4-aminobenzoate (Benzocaine) - C9H11NO2Ethylbenzene - C8H10Ethyl carbamate - C3H7O2Ethyl chloride - C2H5ClEthylene - C2H4Ethylene dichloride (EDC) - C2H4Cl2Ethylene oxide - C2H4OEthyl formate - C3H6O2Ethyl functional group - C2H5Ethylene glycol - C2H6O2Ethyl glyoxylate - C4H6O32-Ethyl-1-hexanol - C8H18OEthyl hydride - C2H6Ethyl hydride (space-filling model) - C2H6ethyl mandelateEthyl 3-oxohexanoate - C8H14O3Ethyl propiolate - C5H6O2ethyne - C2H2Ethynol - C2H2OEtorphine - C25H33NO4Eugenol - C10H12O2

Benchmarking Sustainability Practices Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Benchmarking Sustainability Practices - Essay Example Benchmarking sustainability practices is an important area for all businesses to focus on strongly. Sustainability issues maintain the level of success and profitability for the organization and allow them to reap further rewards and benefits from the business that they are conducting. The use of benchmarking practices can be successful for all organization in implying those business practices that can derive the optimum level of successful results. The economic benefits, the environmental benefits and the growth of the tourism business can allow it to measure its success with the sustainability benchmarking practice. Tourism business is a very versatile business and to maintain its success level its sustainability elements need to be worked upon closely and made sure that the best benchmarking practices are implemented. The other businesses in which sustainability benchmarking practices can be used are the pharmaceutical sectors. The pharmaceutical business needs to be constantly making sustainable improvements and maintain their level of products. Sustainable benchmarking practices are extremely important to practice in the pharmaceutical industry. The housing sector business can also use the sustainability benchmarking practices for making their business successful and profitable in the industry. The housing sector may be faced with constant change in demands from the customers and therefore they need to maintain their level of quality and price. Sustainability benchmarking practices can be used widely in the housing sector business.

Theoretical Models of Leadership and Personal Reflection Essay

Theoretical Models of Leadership and Personal Reflection - Essay Example However, actual practice in nursing might dictate an incremental trust-building exercise to achieve long-term relationship growth. Starnes, et al. (2010) identifies that legitimate relationships are developed over time, beginning with small-scale acts and evolving into reciprocal acts with both employee and the leader. Trust is developed at the point in relationship where both leader and employee assume responsibility for development and growth in relationship by showing high affection and respect for one another through these acts (Starnes, et al 2010). Transformational leadership utilises collaborative methodologies in order to inspire commitment and motivation toward achievement of organisational goals, an idealized influence of role modelled behaviour that also seeks to inspire creativity and innovation in employees (Bass, et al. 2003). â€Å"Trust and distrust are embodied in the rules, roles and relations which some men impose on, or seek to get accepted by others† (Farr ell and Knight 2003, p.67). Getting nurses and other health care staff (or even patients) to follow the direction of the transformational leader includes not only behaviours, but the systems and structures that guide either autonomous work or rules guiding behaviour by which the transformational leader abides as well to enact idealized influence. Does this mean having more controls to gain trust? Transactional leadership is a significantly different approach to leadership in which the manager creates contingent rewards that are based on individual employee or group performance (Antonakis, et al. 2003). This style includes the development of a psychological contract where the leader promises acknowledgement for proper performance or guarantees of leader non-intervention so long as work... According to the report findings  the ideological goal of transformational style is to build long-term trust with health care employees individually or in groups, using practice in-line with a more people-centred leader. However, actual practice in nursing might dictate an incremental trust-building exercise to achieve long-term relationship growth. Legitimate relationships are developed over time, beginning with small-scale acts and evolving into reciprocal acts with both employee and the leader. Trust is developed at the point in relationship where both leader and employee assume responsibility for development and growth in relationship by showing high affection and respect for one another through these acts.As the paper discusses  transformational leadership utilises collaborative methodologies in order to inspire commitment and motivation toward achievement of organisational goals, an idealized influence of role modelled behaviour that also seeks to inspire creativity and inn ovation in employees.  Transactional leadership is a significantly different approach to leadership in which the manager creates contingent rewards that are based on individual employee or group performance.  This style includes the development of a psychological contract where the leader promises acknowledgement for proper performance or guarantees of leader non-intervention so long as work performance outputs are meeting expected organisational goals. Clear task discussion between leader and health care employee leads to understanding of expected rewards in transactional leadership.

TAM provides Essay Example for Free

TAM provides Essay Online trust is essential in e-commerce as such trait is needed to have a healthy relationship among consumers and electronic marketing firms. Trust governs how the consumer behaves in online transactions and activities. The paper aims to evaluate the understanding of online trust in e-commerce and thus have provided one method and two essential models to be discussed. Dr. Hemphill gave us simple factors which influence the formation of online trust. The study suggested that terms and policies must be presented to the consumer through the website in order for the consumer to understand the process of the firm in the businesses in terms of dealing within transactions. Most online marketers will spend much on their website development for people to acquire their services. Thus, some people argue that gaining online trust is not just mere commitment in giving out service; it is included as a package for consumers to get enticed to ask for the firms services and continue to acquire their services. TAM provides an understanding of how technology affects the formation of trust. A model used by many researchers regarding online trust, the TAM evaluates how the perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness of the technology contributes to the trust and dependency of the individual with the technology. As observed in the society, people sees technology, in particular the computer and the Internet, as easy to use and useful. Everyday transactions can be done through this system which makes the lives of people easier and faster. As the paper specified, e-commerce is greatly influenced with this event. And this realization threatens privacy and security measures. Furthermore, a recent study by Lewis supported the direct positive effects of PIIT on perceived ease of use. If a person is more innovative, he will try out the new system with an increased belief about his ability with technology and ease of use perception. (Lewis, 2003) There is great use of the determinants mentioned in the study of Cockcroft (2005) in evaluation the cultural dimensions of gaining trust in e-commerce. The determinants are able to explain online consumer behavior and how cultural and social norms affect the process of gaining online trust. Trust, being one immeasurable trait, is a result of several factors. Several factors affect the formation of trust between consumers and online market firms. Although, the study concluded that only the determinant group collectivism contributes to the effect of cultural aspect in online trust. Another significant conclusion in the study is that trust is not attributed to the mediation between IUIPC and behavioral intention (Cockcroft, 2005). The individual may strongly be motivated to trust an online marketing firm but the intention to involve in the transactions with the firms may be lessened with privacy concerns- Cockcroft (2005). This essay included just the significant determinants to discuss the main objectives of the paper. Limitations on this essay and further improvements for future research First, The Technology Acceptance Model has its set limitations with the technology existed during the time the model was created. Future research regarding the model should define technology in a new perspective. Since technology nowadays is more sophisticated and complex, its revision should consider the situation of employing more refined technologies. TAM should involve more conflict in the models’ perceive ease of use. As researched, the revision for TAM should emphasize the perceive usefulness factor and add analysis on the factor perceive enjoyment. Second, Cockcroft (2005) suggests that future research should include an evaluation regarding the diversity of culture in the society as this can affect the formation of online trust. I would agree and suggests this point well taken by the author. The paper, due to its limitations, have included only the significant determinants in the social and cultural determinants model in line with its objectives, thus there is a need to study several determinants such as institutional collectivism and human interaction. Third, attributed to the limitation of word counting, the essay focused on two research models only. As this is realized, there is a need to discuss more models and provide concrete analysis regarding how different models explains and discern the formation and evolution of online trust in e-commerce. Fourth, the concept of online trust can not be summed or generalized into one formal and concrete model. Thus, to effectively lay a foundation of theories or ideas regarding online trust in e-commerce, future research must be done to accomplish this objective. BIBLIOGRAPHY: 1. ) Merriam Webster Online Dictionary, Definition of Trust, Google search engine, November 4, 2006 2. ) AUGUR, D. (2006) Internet Business Strategy: Internet Business Facts and Statistics Web Development by My Web Gal.

Life of Octopus Dofleini :: essays research papers

Life of Octopus Dofleini Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This is a research report on octopuses in general, however will focus in on a particular species of octopus, the North Pacific Giant or octopus dofleini , which is a bottom dwelling octopus that lives on coasts of the pacific ocean, from California to north Japan. This report will cover the habitat, and lifestyle of this amazing mollusk, that is so often misunderstood. The octopus is a very intelligent, and resourceful invertebrate whose natural abilities should make this a fairly interesting reading. REPRODUCTION OF O. DOFLEINI   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The spawning of the giant pacific may occur at any time of the year, however the mating of the octopus peaks in the winter months, with the peak of egg laying in April and may. Octopuses reproduce sexually, and have both male and female octopuses. Reproduction takes place as follows: The male octopus uses his tentacle to take a mass of spermatophore from within his mantle cavity, he then inserts it into the oviduct, in the mantle cavity of the female. This process occurs at depths from 20-100m and, lasts hours. With female octopuses receiving spermatophore up to 1m long.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Female octopus seem to prefer larger males as mates and male octopus may mate with more than one female in their life span, however the male octopus only lives a few months after breeding, and the female will die shortly after the eggs hatch.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Incubation can take from 150 days to seven or more months. The female may produce any where from 20,000 to 100,000 eggs over a period of several days. During incubation the female octopus will take to cleaning and aerating the eggs. This takes place at a depth of less than 50 meters LIFE SPAN OF O.DOFLEINI   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  After hatching, the baby octopus (or larvae) take on the role of plankton, drifting around the ocean feeding on neuston (dead food) as opposed to hunting live prey. This stage on an average lasts for 30-90 days.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Without mating the octopus may survive up to five years, and Giant Pacific octopus have been found to reach a weight of 600 pounds, and an estimated width of over 31 feet, But the average size is only 100 pounds and 3m, still weighing in as the largest species of octopus.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  During their life span, many octopus fall victim to fatal, and non-fatal predation. Therefore a high percentage of octopus are mutilated or missing arms, this percentage increases in octopus that live in deep water, perhaps this is because older octopus tend to occupy deeper waters and would naturally have more battle scars. However larger octopus are less prone to these injuries.

Operation Management Essay

To be able produce specialized managers capable of fulfilling strategic tasks within business and government enterprises the need for the practice of operations management cannot be forgone. Operations management is very significant in business operations since it forms the heart of the organisation by controlling the system of operation. Operations management deals with the design, operation, and enhancement of the systems that generate and deliver a firm’s primary products and services. Like marketing and finance, operations management is a well-designed field of business with clear management responsibilities. Panasonic Corp. is a company in which produces various electronic components such as Audio, Video, Televisions, Information and Communication, Semi-conductors and other Electronic Components. In a business entity like Panasonic Corp. the use of operations management is very essential in every framework of the company’s activities. Panasonic Corp. uses operations management to ensure and maintain competence and effectiveness in the organisation. Efficiency in Panasonic Corp. s concerned with how well resources such as individual expertise and inputs are put in use irrespective of the reason for which they were deployed in the organization. The company through its performance ensures that the main objective for its establishment to generate profits and maximize shareholders value is realized. The company reduces its cost of production by ensuring that tangible and intangible possessions are not over stretched or wasted in the organisation. This is a situation where the company carries out effectively its goals to be the market leader using minimum resources to attain maximum output. The methods of effectiveness and competence in Panasonic Corp. leads to labour efficiency, yield, and capability fill working capital utilization and the efficiency of production systems. Panasonic Corp. also makes fine use of its products and services management through operations management. Product (or service) management includes a broad range of management activities, ranging from the time that there’s a new idea for a product to ultimately provide ongoing support to consumers who have purchased the fresh and innovative product. Every organization conducts product supervision, whether it’s done deliberately or not deliberately. Panasonic Corp. through this module provides a wide idea of considerations in producing and managing its goods. Panasonic Corp. uses it hub competences in the areas of manufacturing, branding, promoting through wholesale and retail outlets to achieve competitive benefits in the market place. Quality management is also a very essential aspect of operations management in every organisation. Panasonic Corp. s very crucial about its products developed for the consumer in the market place. Quality management is vital to effective operations management, particularly ongoing perfection to match the consumers taste and preference at all times. Management Control and Coordinating Function cannot be forgone in operations management particularly in a company like Panasonic Corp. Management control and coordination includes a wide series of activities to make certain that the company’s objectives are consistently being met in an effective and efficient style. Key approaches to the company’s organizational control and coordination contain product assessment, product allocation, marketing and promotion, sales and service and product advancement. The company also uses advertisements as a major tool to reach the customer. In this increasingly expanding and competitive marketplace, the company make sure its products and services are notably in the minds of their customers and clients. This occurs as a consequence of ongoing promotion and advertising by the company. Facilities management is also an essential task and its importance on operations management for Panasonic Corp. s required. Effective operations management in the company’s activities depends on a big deal of effective management of facilities, such as buildings, computer system, plants and machinery etc. Facilities management in Panasonic corp. is very important since the company may be busy in a batch or mass production depending on the demand conditions on the market. In this case facilities need to be managed in producing large quantities of products which must be consistent to meet the market demand at definite period. Well managed facilities help in production speed, lower per unit cost, manage and control the efficiency in the company’s production process. Inventory control and management is one important factor of operations management that Panasonic Corp. uses in its operations. Managing and controlling the inventory of the company is very critical and essential. Innovative methods, such as Just-in-Time inventory control, are some of the most important instruments used by the company to cut costs and move products and services to consumers more rapidly. Generally the significance of operations management on business is urrounded in every aspect of the organizations activities and therefore has vital role to play in ensuring that organizations attain their objectives and goals. Every organization, whether it produces goods or provides services furnishes customers with worthy products. Thus, to compete with other organizations, a company must transform resources (materials, labour, money, information) into goods or services as efficiently as possible. The upper-level manager who directs this transformation process is called an operations manager. The job of operations management (OM) is to transform resources into products which consist of all the activities involved in transforming a product idea into finished and final products. In other words, operations managers manage the process that transforms inputs into outputs. Like Panasonic Corp. all manufacturers set out to execute the same basic roles: to transform resources into finished goods. To perform this function in today’s business surroundings, manufacturers must constantly struggle to improve operational effectiveness. They must focus on quality, the costs of materials and labour and all costs that add no value to the finished product. Making the decisions in the effort to achieve these objectives is the job of the operations manager. That person’s responsibilities can be grouped as follows: * Production planning. During production planning, managers determine how goods will be produced, where production will be carried out, and how manufacturing facilities will be done. * Production control. Once the production process is started, managers must repetitively schedule and monitor the activities that make up that process. They must respond to feedback and make adjustments where required. At this stage, they also supervise the purchasing of raw materials and the usage of inventories. * Quality control. Finally, the operations manager is directly concerned in efforts to make sure that goods are produced according to terms and that quality values are maintained. Planning the Production Process Managers in Panasonic Corp. believe that the decisions made in the planning phase have long-range implications and are vital to a firm’s achievement. Before making decisions about the operations process, managers must consider the goals set by marketing managers. Does the company aim to be a low-cost producer and to struggle on the basis of price? Or does it plan to focus on quality and go after the high end of the market? Perhaps it wants to build a standard of consistency. What if it intends to offer a wide range of products? To make things even more complicated, all these decisions involve trade-offs. Upholding a reputation for reliability isn’t necessarily compatible with offering a wide range of products. Low cost doesn’t normally go hand in hand with high quality. With these factors in mind, let’s look at the specific types of decisions that have to be made in the production planning process. We’ve divided these decisions into those dealing with production methods, site selection, facility layout, and components and materials management. Production-Method Decisions The first step in production planning is deciding which type of production process is best for making the goods that your company intends to manufacture. In reaching this decision, you should answer such questions as the following: * How much input do I receive from a particular customer before producing my goods? * Am I making a one-of-a-kind good based solely on customer specifications, or am I producing high-volume standardized goods to be sold later? * Do I offer customers the option of â€Å"customizing† an otherwise standardized good to meet their specific needs? One way to appreciate the nature of this decision is by comparing three basic types of processes or methods: make-to-order, mass production, and mass customization. The task of the operations manager is to work with other managers, particularly marketers, to select the process that best serves the needs of the company’s customers. Make-to-Order At one time, most consumer goods, such as furniture and clothing, were made by individuals practicing various crafts. By their very nature, products were customized to meet the needs of the buyers who ordered them. This process, which is called a make-to-order strategymake-to-order strategyProduction method in which products are made to customer specification. is still commonly used by such businesses as print or sign shops that produce low-volume, high-variety goods according to customer specifications. Mass Production Automakers produce a high volume of cars in anticipation of future demand. By the early twentieth century, however, a new concept of producing goods had been introduced: mass production (or make-to-stock strategy)mass production (or make-to-stock strategy)Production method in which high volumes of products are made at low cost and held in inventory in anticipation of future demand. s the practice of producing high volumes of identical goods at a cost low enough to price them for large numbers of customers. Goods are made in anticipation of future demand (based on forecasts) and kept in inventory for later sale. This approach is particularly appropriate for standardized goods ranging from processed foods to electronic appliances. Mass Customization But there’s a disadvantage to mass production: customers, as one contemporary advertising slogan puts it, can’t â€Å"have it their way. They have to accept standardized products as they come off assembly lines. Increasingly, however, customers are looking for products that are designed to accommodate individual tastes or needs but can still be bought at reasonable prices. To meet the demands of these consumers, many companies have turned to an approach called mass customizationmass customizationProduction method in which fairly high volumes of customized products are made at fairly low prices. , which (as the term suggests) combines the advantages of customized products with those of mass production. This approach requires that a company interact with the customer to find out exactly what the customer wants and then manufacture the good, using efficient production methods to hold down costs. One efficient method is to mass-produce a product up to a certain cut-off point and then to customize it to satisfy different customers. The list of companies devoting at least a portion of their operations to mass customization is growing steadily. Perhaps the best-known mass customizer is Dell, which has achieved phenomenal success by allowing customers to configure their own personal computers. The Web has a lot to do with the growth of mass customization. Nike, for instance, now lets customers design their own athletic shoes on the firm’s Web site. Procter & Gamble offers made-to-order, personal-care products, such as shampoos and fragrances, while Mars, Inc. can make M&M’s in any color the customer wants (say, school colors). Naturally, mass customization doesn’t work for all types of goods. Most people don’t care about customized detergents or paper products. And while many of us like the idea of customized clothes from Levi’s or Lands’ End, we often aren’t willing to pay the higher prices they command.