Marketing Case Study Levi

Marketing Case Study Levi Levi Strauss Company is one of the worlds leading brand-name apparel marketers with sales across the world. There is no other company with a equivalent worldwide presence in the jeans and casual pants market. Their market-leading apparel merchandise are sold under the Levis, Dockers, and Levis Strauss Signature brands. Today, the Levis trademark is one of the most globally recognized, and is registered in almost over 160 countries. Now, more than ever, constant and meaningful innovation is vital to their commercial success. The global business environment is intensely competitive. Worldwide trade, instantaneous communications and the effortlessness of market entry are among the forces putting greater pressure on merchandise and brand differentiation. To be successful, it is imperative that Levi Strauss continuously change, competing in new and different ways that are relevant to the changing times. What position in the market does Levi occupy (using the strategy clock to characterise its position) A strategy clock is based upon the work of Cliff Bowman. It is another suitable way to examine a companys competitive position by comparing the offerings of competitors The strategy clock allows one to consider competitive advantage in relation to cost advantage or differentiation advantage. (C. Bowman and D. Faulkner Competitive and Corporate Strategy Irwin 1996).There a six core strategic options, one of them are where Levi is positioned and this will be shown below. According to Bowmans Strategy Clock Levis displays Differentiation with price premium. This means that the company has value to its product and the customers to justify high costs. Differentiation is about charging a premium price that more than covers the additional production costs, and about giving customers clear reasons to prefer the product over other, less differentiated products. (Johnson, G Scholes, K 1997) The first indication of Levi been this position is that Levis states that they wanted to avoid price-based competition due to their history of brand recognition and brand loyalty to their customers. Therefore Levi created value to the customers by providing them with customised jeans and accustomed the price according to the Levis brand which carries enough clout to justify a reasonable price premium. Over the years though it seemed that the brand name lost some importance and it was critical for Levi to create valued features to the customers in order to differentiate them from their competitors. The cost structure showed that Levi sold their products through wholesale channels which were then distributed by the retailers. Levi also maintained a chain of Original Levi Stores. These two choices allowed Levis to be closer to the customers and help them satisfy their needs in the search for the perfect fitted jean. The next factor that indicates the position is that Levi emerged with mass production with the use of emerging communication and computer technologies. The concept allowed Levi to find a niche market and help them create a competitive advantage over the competitors by providing customized made jeans. Previously it was thought that highly-customized products were expensive to produce, however with information technology Levi was able to meet the customer needs for flexibility and it created a chance for Levi in becoming more economical. Levi found a way to make a mass production and have services delivered due to the technology. Levi was facing a lot of competitors that provided the low-cost and high volume producers, therefore they had an advantage over the company. The Personal Pair Proposal project allowed a discovery of a niche market and this allowed Levi to create differentiation from its competitors and by adding price premium. Levi wanted to avoid competing against the low-cost volume producers therefore Levi did market research and revealed that only a quarter of women were truly happy with how their jeans fitted them. This project was a jean customisation program that made it possible to approach the customers with having lower distribution costs and unsold inventory. The mass customised program allowed the costs to be lower as well as provide the differentiation advantage due to the reengineering process of new technologies. Therefore the position of differentiation is providing customers with value, medium prices and high perceived value is created for Levi jeans. The fact that there is value added with the service. The proposal of a $15 premium and with focused groups suggested that women would consider the price fair due to them finding a superior fit, which competitors have not done yet. Suggestions have been made that a realistically price would be between $5 and $10. The fact that there is a brand name involved it would not be considered for the premium to be $15 as customers know the quality of the jean that they will be receiving and the knowledge that the jeans are hand sewn. Manufacturing and raw materials will not be affected with the proposal both therefore eliminating unnecessary costs and allowing prices to be reasonable for the customers, which creates more value for differentiation. How confident are you that the Personal Pair project will change the differentiation and low cost trade-off? Levis has a legacy of being very durable and high quality jeans that last at a low cost. Levi is very high quality with a low cost but they somehow are losing favour with their customers. To compete in the always changing market Levis might have to enter into a new market which would be high quality with a high price. Therefore with evidence below I am confident to say that the Personal Pair will change the Low cost trade off. It is almost a must that Levi must change the differentiation and low cost trade-off. This would change Levis motto of high quality for a reasonable price, unless they start a new line to compete in the new market. Levi will move to incorporate a focus differentiation strategy where focus is on the higher end of the jeans market, yielding stronger profit margins due to price premium. The fact that customers expect prices to be higher due to quality the company cannot just reduce the prices even though with mass customisation will be cheaper. The idea of the perceive price has been set in the customers minds and therefore they are willing to pay a higher price for perceived added value to a particular segment, justify a price premium. Therefore it is vital the company prices the jeans correctly because the particulare market segments is not necessarily price sensitive and is willing to pay a higher amount for a jean that they know is going to fit them perfectly and is made of good quality fabrics. The personal pair proposal approach helps the customers who find a array of choices in the market place overwhelming, and to narrow down their specific needs. The Personal Pair Project adds extra value and therefore customers perceive the premium price to be high. These customers are approached and are helped to understand what their needs are, and with the offerings of a customized fitting jean it allowed customers to know that Levi is catering for their need which creates customer loyalty and a strong brand name. The actual manufacture products in a just-in-time fashion respond to specific customer request. What are Levis unique resources and core competence? Resource is any physical or virtual entity of limited availability that needs to be consumed to obtain a benefit from it. (Alexander Osterwalder, 2004) In most cases, commercial or even ethic factors require resource allocation through resource management. (Alexander Osterwalder, 2004) Unique resources are resources that are not easy to copy, incomparable to competitors and create value for the company. A core competency is a specific factor that a business sees as being central to the way it, or its employees, works. (Prahalad, C.K. and Hamel, G. (1990). It provides consumer benefits, it is not easy for competitors to imitate and it can be leveraged widely too many products and markets. (Prahald, C.K. et al (1990). Core competencies are particulare strengths relative to other organizations in the industry which provide the fundamental basis for the provision of added value. Core competencies are the collective learning in organizations, and involve how to coordinate diverse production skills and integrate multiple streams of technologies. (Prahalad, C.K. and Hamel, G. (1990) The core competence of the corporation, Harvard Business Review (v.68, no.3) pp. 79-91). Levis core competencies were found in manufacturing, merchandising and marketing. With regards to manufacturing, Levi has decided to do mass customization for the customers. The mass customization results in them satisfying a number of customers needs and savings cost at the same time by producing in bulk. From a strategic point, the concept is based on finding a niche market. Mass customization uses emerging communication and computer technologies to bypass the limitations of traditional mass production methods. Therefore Levi had a core competency in meeting the customers needs by been more flexible and has greater choice in the market place with the help of manufacturing with the use of technology. In addition, a mass customisation model lowers the costs as well as it provides the differentiation advantage over the competitors, since the re-engineering process is often more efficient once the new technology is applied. Therefore Levi will have this competency of customers loyalty and brand recognition due to their needs been satisfied. The next core competency is merchandising, Merchandising is the methods, practices, and operations used to promote and sustain certain categories of commercial activity. (Kunz, Grace (2005). In the broadest sense, merchandising is any practice which contributes to the sale of products to a retail consumer. Levi is doing this by offering the customers a chance to find the perfect fitting jean. Levi operation equips the store with networked PCs and personal pair kiosks. Customers will be measured and with this technology operation and practice it results in one of 4ÂÂ  224 possible size combinations. The computer generates a code for the number of correspondents. This practice gives Levi a competitive advantage as they would be the first company to offer these unique resources to the customers. Lastly you can see the core competency of Levi in their marketing. Levi is such a well known brand, and is given terms such as authentic, genuine and original. This indicates that they are widely known and considers having customer recognition. Therefore Levi is able to market to their customers that are willing to pay for the quality products. The marketing strategy allowed differentiation to be possible and to offer the customers a new product development of a perfect fitted jean. Levis aspects of the VRIO framework: Valuable: Has a history of Brand Loyalty and Recognition and remains number one internationally in its markets. Rare: Has a strong branding image. Levis is marketed as authentic and genuine and enjoys customer support. Inimitable: Jeans are US made unlike competitors. Levis provides generous packages to employees retention of HR. Organised: Manufacturing is key core competency and is managed to have maximum value for resources (J.F Smith, 06/22/2009). Should Levi go ahead with the joint venture? What would you recommend and why? Yes, Levis should go ahead with the joint venture with Custom Clothing Technology Corporation (CCTC). Levi stands to lose this opportunity to competitors if it decides to not move forward. Market research has shown that more than ÂÂ ¾ of women are not fully satisfied with fit of their jean, this is almost guaranteeing a market segment that will be willing to buy the perfect fit. Low-cost and high value competition makes it necessary to create value features that would differentiate it in the eyes of the consumer. Therefore by joining CCTC, Levi will be able to get the technology expertise on how to create and capture different possible size jeans for different shaped people. Offering this to the customers will allow them to feel that they are been catered for and therefore willing to pay the price in order to feel good. This creates customer loyalty at the end of the day due to customer intimacy, Levi should ensure that the intimacy is marketed and to show the benefits. Levi should at first enter into the proposal cautiously by choosing to enter a test phase before proceeding in joining the full scale project. The result of doing this will ensure that Levi will be making a good decision and know more about what they are getting involved with. Levi will benefit this joint venture in many ways. Firstly with mass customisation and offering the customers a perfect fit can result in Levi to better adapt to the individual needs and wishes. This means that it will result in the customers to less likely switch brands. Levi should also consider the fact that by going into a joint Venture with CCTC and offering mass customisation it will help Levi learn directly from the customers and it will help them identify the new trends and the taste that improves the New Product Development. This is because Levi will be dealing with a variety of customers of different shapes and sizes and needs to understand that they require and look for different styles. Therefore Levi will get a hand full of people to represent the possible sizes and this creates the customer value. This venture can allow more customers needs responded to and therefore by allowing the customers to participate in the New Product Development allows the product to be accepted by the market much faster. Levi will be catering for them and they will respond due to Levi identifying that there is a need for a perfectly fitted jean. Levi must understand that by doing this venture they are responding to the individual needs of the customers. The response of one person will lead to them telling their friends, the word of mouth is a very powerful and very cheap form of communication. Levis Strauss can only benefit from joining the CCTCs approach. At the end of the day it will add value to Levis value chain due to them catering for their customers needs and wants. The fundamental idea in this approach is to gain customers satisfaction and if Levi does not take this opportunity another company will. Creating this system which is driven by the customers demands and specific to the exact needs of their customers CCTC can help Levi ultimately make their business be more aware and learn more about their customers and how to fully achieve customer satisfaction. Without a joint venture with CCTC and outside value chain analysis, Levi might not be able to grasp the actual scope of the opportunities that they were missing out on. This joint venture will help the company adapt to the fast growing industry and competition, it can also help the company differentiation. Due to the fact that the competition is offering lower prices it is vital that Levi offers something unique to the customers. Levi wants to avoid price based competition because they had a history of brand recognition and brand loyalty. Therefore it would be wiser to join this venture with CCTC and create customer value and customer satisfaction. Personal pair was a jeans customisation program which will make the joint venture with Custom Clothing Technology Corporation. Together these companies can enter the mass customisation with the help of technology. CONCLUSION: A valuable lesson that can be taken from this case is how necessary it is to keep up with your brand image and customer loyalty. Being content with one niche in a market such as clothing is never acceptable and is therefore necessary that Levi makes the joint venture successful. Styles, times, and preferences are changing so rapidly, that a clothing line must be able to meet the needs and wants of their customers. While Levis still had a market in the older generations, they were missing out on a huge market that likes to shop and that are looking for the perfectly fitted jean no matter what their size was. The second implication that can be applied to other companies would be their option for strategic alliance. Levis really needs some help in the area of brand image and by collaborating with Customer Clothing Technology Corporation, they will have a whole new consumer market. Levis has learned that they cannot be comfortable in one market for too long because that alienates another market such as the younger generations. Collaborating with CCTC, the company can obtain certain advantages that can only help Levi with the competitive environment. Therefore Levi can improve its customer value chain and achieve maximum customers satisfaction with mass customization. Harvard References: Alexander Osterwalder, 2004 Barney, J.B. and Hesterly, W.S. (2008). Strategic management and Competitive Advantage: Concepts and Cases. 2nd edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall C. Bowman and D. Faulkner Competitive and Corporate Strategy Irwin 1996). Dr Brian Squire, Supply Chain Management Research Group, Manchester Business School, Executive Briefing 2006-04 J.F Smith, 06/22/2009 Johnson, G., Scholes, K, 1997). Phil Dourado, Bart de Boever, Dirk De Vos the annual, organised by ICBI and held in Paris. Prahalad, C.K. and Hamel, G. (1990) The core competence of the corporation, Harvard Business Review (v. 68, no. 3) pp. 79-91. )

Information systems for strategic advantage

Information systems for strategic advantage ABSTRACT Every organization has it strategic ways of managing the information of the company. The strategy used depends on the companys vision and mission. This paper is based on a research on how information systems are used strategically as a source of competitive advantage. The case study is mainly on Emirate Airline as the primary industries being compared to British Airways. The research involves using the porters four generic strategies, SWOT analysis and basic business strategies and formulas based on the research methodology. INTRODUCTION RESEACH METHODOLOGY COMPANIES BACKGROUND Emirate Airline: The airline industry is a subsidiary of the Emirate Group, which was founded in 1959 by Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al-Maktoum. Emirate Group is a public international owned business operating as a travel and tourism company based in Dubai. In 1985 the Emirate Airline industry was established by the investment Corporation Department of the Dubai Government, covered by an agreement with the Pakistan International Airlines as the management company. Before the establishment of Emirate Airline, Gulf Air was the only airline industry that was providing travel services to the Dubai population. During the period Gulf Air begins to reduce and lower it quality of services to the UAE population, which motivate the government to introduce their own Airline. Today emirate airline is the largest, biggest and fastest growing international airline industry in the Middle East. British Airways: British Airways is a public limited company operating as an international airline industry, based in London, United Kingdom. The company starting as a private airline industry, founded in 1935 operating mainly in Europe called Allied British Airways. The merger between imperial Airways and British Airways LTD formed the single name British Airways Corporation in 1939. Later in 1974 when the authority demands that the British Airways Corporation should merge with British European Airways, the name British Airways was returned. Also in 1987 the collaborative merger with British Caledonian made the company being privatized. British Airways is one of the largest and fast growing airline industry not only in United Kingdom but the world, till only these year. INFORMATION SYSTEM Information System: A piece of information always starts with a data, where a data is only knowledgeable and meaningful when it has been processed and transform into information. Every organization has its unique information and each information has it value to the overall success of the organization, Making it vital and important to manage the information strategically. The data, procedure, hardware, software, or even humans that are used to accumulate, collect or assemble to evaluate and analyzed information, is being referred to as information system. Specifically in terms of organization like emirate airline or British airways they are computer-based systems of hardware and software that the companies employees, clients, and customers used to collect, filter, process, create, and distribute or manage information.[ Paul 2003] An information system is a work system whose business process is devoted to capturing, transmitting, storing, retrieving, manipulating, and displaying information, thereby supporting other work system[Steven Alter 2002] Emirates Airline information system: there are several tools, software and hardware used in the Airline industries, and they will be named and briefly discussed. The information systems are used strategically as a source of competitive advantage, how they are use strategically will discuss in dept in the strategy analysis column. Emirates Airlines has a call center, it a centre where customers call and get information regarding the flights, the booking and the offers. The call center provides all the information about the company and employees. The call center also calls customers whenever there is a new product, service or sales as a marketing procedure. The callers information is saved on a database for strategic benefits in the future. The companys website is another information system that is used strategically to manage its customer and client needs. The web-site consists of different databases and content in order to provide its user with information such as the flights details and companys basic details. Emirate Airline also uses the Customer Relationship Manager Information System (CRIS), which is a window-based web-site running as a client/server application. An oracle development tool was used in creating CRIS, requiring a separate development effort to upgrade. These leave the emirate Airline with unconnected application to manage, scale to support increment demand and cut management cost. But still the company doesnt use CRIS as its main customer relationship software instead Mercator software development supplement provide CRIS for sale to other airlines industries. Also requires offering those customers with a scalable solution, with the aim to minimize the cost and time of customizing the solution for e ach deployment. [Article on mercator] Media is another form of information system used by emirate airline as a source of competitive advantage. It is used in from of TV, Radio and billboard to advertise there product such as travel promotions, in order to attract customers. Those advertisements target new customers and help the company to keep old customers. One of the most important tool used by the industry which has play a vital role as a competitive advantage is the skyward program, also known as the frequent flyer program. The skyward is in a form of a credit card looking card which can be applied by any passenger whom has travel over a certain amount of miles with emirate airline. It comes in three different categories of blue, silver and gold, where gold the highest and blue is the lowest. The program was established in May 2000 by the organization so as to improve and tighten their competitive advantage. Skywards operate as a reward obtaining card, where a passenger is given an amount of travel miles depending and according to the distance he or she has travelled. As the miles accumulate and increase with amount of travels, the card is upgraded accordingly. These Miles can then be exchanged for free flights, upgrades and other rewards, also a passenger can transfer his miles to another skyward holding passenger. Using skywards pr ogram is free and customers just have to register online or by calling Emirates Airlines if they wish to become skywards members. It is used by over 5.72 million customers. Skyward is one of our most valuable source of information system tool that we use to attract client [Strategic Manager] Another program is skysurfers. It is a frequent flyer program for young children between the ages of 2-16years. It basically works same as skyward but in this case additional rewards are added to attract children. Exciting Rewards such as books, toys, free trips to Wild Wadi and Atlantis in Dubai or even a free ticket to anywhere in the world. Also children get the opportunity of choosing their travel seat. The information, communication and entertainment (ICE) system is an in-flight entertainment facility that provides passengers with variety of channels to choose from. The system includes movies, video games and music channels. ICE can be accessed in different languages such as English, Spanish, Arabic, Korean, Japanese, French and German. Passengers have the option of pausing, forwarding or rewinding any selected item they are watching. In addition a passenger in business or first class cabin has the privilege of ordering and choosing what they want to watch that is not available in the media list booklet. [journal on ICE] Electronic check in stand is a self check in machine available at the emirate terminal in Dubai airport. Passengers are able to check- in between 2 to 48 hours of their flight departure. Where a passenger get to do the all the processes of checking in his or her luggage by himself, saving the trouble of joining the long queue at the main manual check in counter. Staffs are also available at the Electronic check stand for assistance, for instance if a passenger is having difficulty in printing the boarding pass at the last final process of the procedure. [website link] Emirates airline provides exquisite lounges for first and business class passengers as well as skywards silver and gold member, having about 21 lounges in 18 different cities and are even planning on opening more. In cities and countries where the airline doesnt have a departure lounge, a lounge is provided for first and business class passengers. The lounge has comfortable chairs and television to entertain passengers before their departure. Some lounges have well equipped bathrooms with showers for passengers who want to take a shower after a long day. Food of different variety is also available to choose from. Breakfast, lunch and snacks are served to customer satisfaction. This is available because they have customers from different nationalities speaking different languages, so as to attract customers from every part of the country.[website link] EMIRATE AIRLINE STRATEGY ANALYSIS The strategies, structure and management of those strategies and structure is always a composite and complex process of every organization. Strategy can be defined as the direction, route, possibility or scope of a business over the long-term and short-time goals and vision, which achieves advantage for the organization from the begging to the end of its pattern, design, and management of resources within a challenging and competitive environment, by achieving market scope and to accomplish competitive strategy. [J. Thompson with F. Martin, 2005, p1] For an organization to achieve its goals and vision it need to come up with distinctive and well organized strategies which will include critical and comprehensive study as well as investigations into various areas that will produce information that will be advantageous to the accomplishment of the industry. This is the reason why emirate airline gives consideration in focusing into the overall and general position status of their rivals such as British Airways, also involving in their interior and exterior activities. By knowing their competitors status the organization of the company will be able to analyze the status of the companys approaches, capital, income, strategies and resources in general. Which will able the company to establish how they will be able to manage, and defeats British Airways in competitive advantage in future. This will also give the company the prospect to stature out their potency and how they will maximize their strength and eliminate their weaknesses. In every business there are times and periods of strength, weakness, success and failure. All of these periods apply to both British airways and Emirate airline. The corporate strategy used by emirate airline which involves examining the existing and anticipated factors related with passengers and competitors external situation and the organizations (emirate airline) internal environment itself. Envisioning a successful role for the organization, by creating strategy and aligning policies and resources, such as the use of Media to achieve the airlines goals and vision. Emirate airline is committed with the diversity of their clients; the diversification management approach of the applied by the company enables the firm to guarantee that passengers are given outstanding service provided by zealous and committed staffs and employees, unlike British Airways staff that recently undergo a three day strike against their management. The approach is carried out by adding new product and reso urces to an existing product, an example is the new and improved business class cabin introduce about a month ago by Emirate airline and the mile accelerator services added to the skyward facility. [Paul Finlay, 2000, page 473][] We the Staffs of Emirate Airline are always ready to assist and welcome ideas from passengers, either by Electronic survey or any form of technology that will get us a feedback from our client [strategic Manager] Another competitive strategy used by Emirate Airline is the focus-leadership strategy, which play a vital role in attributing to the success of the company, which is derived from the Generic strategy formula. The organizations business goals is to provide its customers with brilliant, reliable and most of all welcoming services to their esteemed clients, by dedicating to make each journey unforgettable and special. The wellbeing, comfort and convenience are important concerns as they provide value service for their passengers and client through dependable, extremely update technologies and the use of information system. The generic strategy will be illustrated in detail through the Porters Four Generic Business Strategy. The organization expands their industry to attain more customers which enable them to be more advantageous and profitable. Making it possible even with the global economic crisis and the financial status of Dubai, Emirate Airlines are still making profits. While thei r rivals British Airways report a quite amount of loss in the market share price early this year, even though the organization is manage and maintained by a reasonable steady financial country. But both airline industries are strategically introducing new technologies to enhance and achieve both there long and short term goals and vision. So still with the financial crisis of British Airways they still have competitive advantage over Emirate Airline when it comes to handle crisis as they are much older in the aviation industry and have manage crisis in the past. [journal on profit] We are a much longer aviation industry than emirate airline and we have strategies we alone use in managing our crisis which we have implemented in previous crisis in the past. [BA, strategic manager] The Marketing strategy approach of Emirate airline industry I said to be a customer-oriented strategy method. The strategy focus on various different types of customers, by catering the needs of clients individually and uniquely. This is done through the use of technologies such as the skyward customer account and card, where details and specification of the account holder are saved. The industry has been able to apply routes to a variety of destination all over the world. Emirate Airline industrys strategy can be categorized as a powerful strategy and it enables the business to offer entire loyalty and commitment and maintain organizational operations so as achieve full competitive advantage. Through this strategy, Emirates Airlines surpass most of their competitors in the airline industry, and also gaining market share and enhanced the overall demand of their service. Being (Emirate) an international airline industry gives the management an opportunity to expand and develop their industry and services all over the world with no compromise to the importance and value, and level of services they give for their customers in every country. The company has office with customer service help desk and a call centre facility in mostly every constituency they operate to provide for their passengers and customers needs at all time needed. This is carried out through the diversification management strategy mentioned earlier, where by the need and demand of their passenger and client and handled globally. Nevertheless, the threat and fear of the industry upon British Airways is the survival and existence possess by their rival in the past for handle crisis and picking up to provide affordable and quality services just as the Emirate Airlines. Their weak point can also be drawn from their diversified markets. However, with the 24-hour customer service call cent re of the company, an immediate feedback is given to query of their client. The business model of the airline industry has led to their commercial success in the aviation and airline industry. They are able to have a lean workforce that can be compared to low-cost carriers rather than conventional flag-carriers. In addition, the company has also a simple organizational structure which permits the airline to maintain low overhead costs and enables them to pay no income taxes on wages. The organizations strategy model of emirate Airline is what has lead to their business success in the airline industry, giving them a successful business Model. This business model gives them a supportive workforce, making their services low-cost at the same time the successful and most profitable organization. Also the organization has a plain organizational composition which permits the company to sustain small overhead costs and enables them to pay no revenue duty on income and wages.[] Ethical decisions can be made and taken at managerial level in emirate airline industry, which makes the corporation expand capable and successful organizational behavior. The management of emirate airline believes that principles offer the primary basic for deciding whether a specific action or behavior is ethically or morally right or wrong, the organization are able to develop ethical, moral, perspectives, standards and principles. Where as in British Airways only basic ethical aspect are given consideration, for example a BA female cabin crew most not cover her hair while in Emirate she has to cover her hair. The human resources management approach strategy is used by the organization in recruiting and employing the best and required staffs that will suit their passenger and client needs. Generally Emirate airline strategy is a powerful strategy will be very difficult to be beaten. COMPETATITIVE ADVANTAGE Competitive advantage is the ability and manner by which companies, industries and organization manages to maintain its long and short term goals, mission, and vision also keep up its position against its rival or competitors. It is the state which enables a company to perform in a more effective and competent manner, leading the organization to act and operate in a higher-quality approach than its competitors. Competitive advantage could be a long-term or short-term condition and can be managed through various competitive strategies, such as: The Porters Four Generic Business Strategies SWOT Analysis PEST Analysis These strategies will be discussed and analyzed separately, using British Airways as a comparison and competitors against Emirate Airlines. SWOT ANALYSIS The tactical procedure implemented to evaluate an organizations strength, weaknesses, opportunities, and threat is strategically known as SWOT analysis. The analysis method involves enumerating the goal and objective of the organization by determining the internal and external factors that are prosperous and non-amicable to achieving that goals and objective. The analysis can be integrated into the strategic business model of the company. Every organization has it strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, same applies to Emirate Airline. The strength weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the industry will be discussed individually using the SWOT analysis. STRENGTH Emirates Airline grew from successful effectiveness strength resulting from the accurate decisions, planning and the strategy set to its employees by the organization. The determined efforts and excellent services provided by its members of the staff to the passengers and client gave strength to the Airline. The Airline starting the operation with two leased aircrafts from the Pakistan International Airlines, and was able to strengthen its fleet of aircrafts by purchasing long haul aircrafts from the manufacturers of the Boeing Airbus aircrafts. The A380 and B777 were specifically purchased to provide contented and satisfying air travel for its valuable customers. Emirate Airline strength expanded more from when the Airline was selected as the best Airline for the in-flight services for number of years from leading organizations, such as British Airways. The successes and strength of the Emirate Airline leads to an increase in the growth and population the passengers using the Airline, also expands the income, profit and revenue of the organization in whole. On Achieving and winning the award the Airline was mainly recognized globally in the travel industry, where by Inaugurating the Skyward Club memberships for frequent fliers also strengthen the Airline. Its ability to incessantly modify and improve the services in the aviation sectors gave an advantage to the Airline to meet up the targets set by the Management, promoting the industry as the leader in the aviation industry.[paul, 2000] WEAKNESS In every successful strategy there are always weakness, the main weakness of Emirate Airline are Some of the strategies and information system technologies implemented, in order to expand the business approaches have not yet been victorious, which can be considered as weakness. The Airline has been accused for focusing on high-end achievement and diversification, even after knowing such decisions have uncertain and difficult effects on the Airline, making their flight quite unsafe. While British Airways has a History and full safety records established ages ago. OPPORTUNITIES Emirates Airline industry has a wide ranges of opportunities contributing to the competitiveness of the organization. These opportunities are derived from the strategic use of their information system technologies and services, allowing the industry to infiltrate into an untouched new market with no strong competitors like British Airways. The revenue generating profitable income for the organization is from their operating flights to various destination where no un-touched by their rivals, such as available flights from Middle East to India, South East Asia to Africa. Also being able to travel around the prospect to manage code sharing destinations where there are no local flag carriers. THREATS The external environment of the organization is said to be the main source of threat facing the industry. Nevertheless an internal environment issues such as the recent budget formed by the company contribute as a threat to the organization in whole. The fair of the budget increase from the logistic and cost of information system, being introduced and implement so as to achieve the goals and objectives of the company. Examples of these systems are cost management of strategies and technologies like the customer relation manager information system (CRIS). Strong competitive rivals from the European countries like BA leads to an amount of threat jeopardy for the industry in general. The global economic down fall of the Dubai Financial status lead to industry suffering from travel setbacks, making the fairs of Emirate Airline increase from their normal price. The airlines inability to keep up with the innovations or recognized its demand creates a threat for the airline and reduces the load of the passengers. All this is because the political and economical environment in the countries where the airlines operates could potentially affect the business negatively. Where by compliances could be use by their competitors to their advantage and take the industry by surprise and by the time they realize it will be too late that they are not the leaders of the airline industry anymore.

Driving Essay -- essays research papers

One of the greatest things that teenagers look forward to is getting their driver ¡Ã‚ ¦s licence and getting the freedom to do whatever they want. Ever since graduated licensing began five years ago, on April 1,1994, many people have made good and bad comments about it.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The government has recently said that ever since graduated licensing started, there have been fewer accidents involving young drivers. Looking at it another way, it costs consumers less money, beacause fewer cars need to be repair. By having graduated licensing , there are fewer unexperienced young drivers on our roads. Also, insurance companies are a lot happier because they don ¡Ã‚ ¦t suffer too much by having to pay out claims. If there are complications in getting a licence, then fewer people will take the test. They might consider taking public transportation, which is a very good thing to do for our environment.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  On the other hand, ever since graduated licensing began, many teenagers and some parents, have started to complain. The teenagers have said that nowdays getting a licence is too complicated and too strict. They think that it is not fair to them. They thinl graduated licensing is designed to penalize all young drivers, but not every teenagers drives dangerously. Parents also said that fees and driving courses are too expensive, just to get a license. Parents should not complaint about the price of taking driving lessons because those driving le...

Betty Friedans The Feminine Mystique Essay -- Betty Friedan The Femin

Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique The Feminine Mystique is the title of a book written by the late Betty Friedan who also founded The National Organization for Women (NOW) to help US women gain equal rights. She describes the "feminine mystique" as the heightened awareness of the expectations of women and how each woman has to fit a certain role as a little girl, an uneducated and unemployed teenager, and finally as a wife and mother who is happy to clean the house and cook things all day. After World War II, a lot of women's organizations began to appear with the goal of bringing the issues of equal rights into the limelight. The stereotype even came down to the color of a woman's hair. Many women wished that they could be blonde because that was the ideal hair color. In The Feminine Mystique, Friedan writes that "across America, three out of every ten women dyed their hair blonde " (Kerber/DeHart 514). This serves as an example of how there was such a push for women to fit a certain mold which was portrayed as the role of women. Blacks were naturally excluded from the notion of ideal women and they suffered additional discrimination which was even greater than that which the white women suffered from. In addition to hair color, women often went to great lengths to achieve a thin figure. The look that women were striving for was the look of the thin model. Many women wore tight, uncomfortable clothing in order to create the illusion of being thinner and some even took pills that were supposed to make them lose weight. The role of women was to find a husband to support the family that they would raise. Many women dropped out of college or never went in the first place because they we... ... becomes apparent that there have been great advances through history. Lesbian women were forced to repress their sexuality and get married in order to live a "normal" life. Even after homosexuality began it's emergence in the 1970s, lesbianism was often forgotten somewhere among the controversy. In the words of feminist author Kate Millett in her book, Sexual Politics which was written in 1970, "'Lesbianism' would appear to be so little a threat at the moment that it is hardly ever mentioned†¦ Whatever its potentiality in sexual politics, female homosexuality is currently so dead an issue that while male homosexuality gains a grudging tolerance, in women the event is observed in scorn or in silence (pt. 3, ch. 8)." There seems to be no distinction made between homosexual men and homosexual women in the media and this causes another form of separation.

Prions: A Novel Infectious Pathogen Essay -- Medicine Medical Illnesse

Prions: A Novel Infectious Pathogen Prions are novel, transmissible pathogens that differ from viroids, viruses, parasites, fungi, and bacteria, both with respect to the diseases they cause and their structure . They are capable of causing degenerative diseases of the centra1 nervous system both in animals anal in humans. Kuru, Creutzfeldt-Jakob’s disease (CJD) and Gerstmann-Straussler-Sheinker’s (GSS) syndrome illustrate the acquired, sporadic, and genetic manifestation of the -human prion diseases. These transmissible pathogens also cause Scrapie of sheep and goats. Bovine spongiform enphalopathy,(BSE) in cows and transmissible mink encephalopathy, and chronic wasting disease (CWD) of captive mule deer and elk which are thought to result from the ingestion of Scrapie infested animal products (Pruisner, 1991). In addition to these diseases, certain neuropathological changes associated with scrapie disease seem to correlate well with similar changes observed in Alzheimer’s patients (Duguid 1989). T hese similarities have been attributed to similar alterations in gene expression in both of the diseased states (Duguid, 1989). First, in addition to the unique diseases that they cause, prions also exhibit certain novel molecular and structural properties which further differentiate them from other infectious pathogens. The unusual biological properties were first unraveled through experiments performed on scrapie -infested sheep. The isolated scrapie agent from these sheep seem to exhibit certain unusual properties. One such property is the scrapie-agents resistance to nuclease digestion. After being subjected to several rounds of digestion with various nucleases including micrococcal nuclsase, nuclease - P, and deoxyribonucl... ...60-7264.(a) 7. Gabzion, R., McKinley, M. P., Groth, D., Westaway, D., DeArmond, S. J., Carlson, G. A., Prusiner, S. B. (1989) Immunoaffinity purification and neutralization of scrapie prions. Prog. Clin. Biol. Res. 317: 583-600. 8. Hsiao, K., Zeev, M., Kahana, E., Cass, C., Kahana.. I., Avrahemi, D., Scarlato, G.. Abramsky, O., Prusiner, S. B., and Gabizon, R. (1991) Mutation of the Prion Protein in Libyan Jews with Creutzfeldt-Jakob’s disease. N. Engl. J. Med., 324: 1091-1097. 9. Prusiner, S. B. (1991) Molecular Biology of Prion Disease. Science, 252: 1515-1522. 10. Prusiner, S. B. (1982) Novel proteinaceous infectious particles cause scrapie. Science,216: 136-144. 11. Stahl, N. and Pruisner, S. B. (1991) Prions and prion proteins. FASEB J., 5: 2799—2807. 12. Weissmann, C. (1991) A unified theory of prion propagation. Nature., 352: 679-683.

Semiotics of a Magazine

Studying semiotics: When we are looking at the study of semiotics it means we are to analyze the use of signs and symbols that the magazine cover uses. When studying a picture, advertisement or magazine cover you can take almost anything as a sign or symbol, anything can represent anything at the discretion of the writer or editor. It is for us to interpret what each sign or symbol is representing to the best of our knowledge. Semiotics are important in a work as they give us a better insight into the content, the ideology and what to expect within the magazine.After a close analysis of the semiotics of a magazine we can find out more about what it is about and can understand it more. By reading the signs and symbols it gives us a better sense of the type of magazine. â€Å"In Barthian visual semiotics, the key idea is the layering of meaning. The first layer is the layer of denotation, of what, or who, is being depicted here? The second layer is the layer of connotation, of what id eas and values are expressed through what is represented, and through the way in which it is represented? † (Van Leeuwen, 2001) The first step of the semiotic deconstruction of the cover is to â€Å"identify relevant signs and their dominant aspects† (Van Zoonen, 1994, p. 78) From a first glance at the magazine cover we can see that the masthead is in big and bold capitals as to stand out to the audience. People will look at the masthead and automatically recognize the magazine from the colours and font. The tone of orange and pink they use are colours that are represented as stereotypically girly colours. The sell lines on the left and right of the magazine are used to tell the audience what’s included in the magazine or who is in it.It will also give an insight to the genre of the magazine by showing what kind of articles are included and what kind of artists or people they interview or talk about. They include words such as â€Å"World exclusive† to mak e the audience believe they are getting something that nobody else has and that it is a must have. The header on this magazine reads â€Å"Britain’s No. 1 Women’s magazine†. This is to attract attention to the magazine on the shelf for other women to buy it other the understanding that if it is popular with everyone else then you should enjoy it too.The use of the white on the pink also stands out as the top is normally what you will see first on a magazine on the shelf in a shop. The main image used in this magazine is a picture of Angelina Jolie, who Is a popular actor and fashion icon. The image takes up nearly the whole background and is obviously being used as a big selling point of this magazine. She is not wearing any clothes from our view of the image and has her makeup done perfectly. This image is very sexualized by her facial expression and the amount of skin shown.The use of a pull quote with â€Å"I went from Nanny to Prostitute in 24 hours† , is used to draw the audience in to the magazine are want to read why this happened and gain their interest and attention . It shows that the magazine has these kind of gossip stories that some women have great interest in reading. Having isolated the major signs and aspects of the magazine we then must â€Å"continue to examine the paradigmusicatic of signs by asking what their absent opposites are and how they relate to each other syntagmatically†. This is to say that we need to find the assumptions made by a first look at the cover and to see if they have any opposites.The main image used in the cover is of a white western woman. This is the iconography of the western world as she is someone who would be famous throughout. If they had a darker woman of less significance on the page then you would feel that the magazine would not sell as many copies. Her hair is down and her facial expression and lack of clothing is very sexualized whereas if you were to have her uptight w ith hair tied up and in a formal outfit then you may think that people would not buy it as she doesn’t seem as open and laid back and less likely to be giving all her gossip in the interview.You feel that there is a kind of ethnocentrism related to magazines such as these as they often are associated with people associated with your own western culture and not from anywhere else. We can then being to denotate what is on the magazine cover. The colour scheme used is that of pink, orange and white. This is to associate the magazine directly to women as these are stereotypical female colours. The font used is a basic one and is often in bold; it is easy to read and stands out on the page.The cover lines feature â€Å"3 sex secrets that will change everything†, various lines about the celebrities included in the magazine and also â€Å"How to get rid of cellulite or at least hide it†, all the coverlines are related to either sex, image or celebrity lives. On a conno tation level we can see that the connotations gathered by analysis of this cover they are predominantly about femininity and sexuality. Even thought his is a magazine for women we see that the main image used is a picture of, what we are made to believe, Angelina Jolie naked. She has her makeup done up and has a sexualized look in her eyes staring at the camera.This is a confusing decision in these magazines as you would feel that if you are to judge by how male magazines are made, with semi naked pictures of women also, then you would think that they would have a semi naked man on the cover to their magazine. The 21st century has shown a change back to when women have been used as objects in magazines like this in western civilization but is just taken to be the normality in this part of the world. â€Å"The re-sexualisation of women’s bodies, often displayed in public space and in near-soft porn forms, goes comparatively unremarked – except by those from other, less ‘liberated’ cultures†. Branston, 2010) The media has a huge control on how we represent women and men in a western civilisation. From what is read and seen in magazine we get the perceptions of this is how normal people should be and act and that is completely controllable and interchangeable by what the media chooses to do. This is a high power that we should try and move away from as it will control the world and people will always be aiming to be like the celebrities and people shown in these magazines and in the media. Research on media representations of gender has focused on how women are objectified and exploited in a media context and on the gap between social reality and media constructions of femininity and masculinity†( Devereux, 2003) The idea that celebrities mean so much in our society influences on people to be like them. Celebrities are just normal people that have perhaps a talent or a different look, but once the media throws them into the spotlight then it is our turn to idolize them. Magazines such as this one are filled with advertising and fake stories and the cover shows this by showing hidden advertising for a â€Å"? 5 dress that flatters everyone†. This kind of advertising draws people in to read ‘stories’ that are actually just ads for different products. â€Å"The point of publicity and promotion is to turn advertising into news†(Turner, 2004) References: Branston, G. , & Stafford, R. (2010). The media student's book  (5th  ed. ). London: Routledge. Devereux, E. (2003). Understanding the Media. London: SAGE Publications Ltd. Turner, G. (2004). Understanding Celebrity. London: SAGE Publications Ltd. Van, L. T. , ; Jewitt, C. (2001). Handbook of visual analysis. London: SAGE. Zoonen, L. (1994). Feminist media studies. London: Sage.

Financial Accounting Theory Essay

The article â€Å"GM to Take Charge of $20. 8-Billion† here reproduced from The Globe and Mail (February 2, 1993) describes the potential impact of SFAS 106, â€Å"Accounting for Postretirement Benefits Other Than Pensions,† on General Motors and Ford. For example, it appears that General Motors will be required to record a liability of $20. 8 billion, reducing its shareholders’ equity from $27. 8 billion to $7 billion, about a 75% reduction. Describe and explain how you would expect the efficient securities market to react to this information. SFAS 106, Accounting for Postretirement Benefits Other Than Pensions: â€Å"This Statement establishes accounting standards for employers’ accounting for postretirement benefits other than pensions. It will significantly change the prevalent current practice of accounting for postretirement benefits on a pay-as-you-go (cash) basis by requiring accrual, during the years that the employee renders the necessary service, of the expected cost of providing those benefits to an employee and the employee’s beneficiaries and covered dependents. In exchange for the current services provided by the employee, the employer promises to provide, in addition to current wages and other benefits, health and other welfare benefits after the employee retires. It follows from that view that postretirement benefits are not gratuities but are part of an employee’s compensation for services rendered. This Statement relies on a basic premise of generally accepted accounting principles that accrual accounting provides more relevant and useful information than does cash basis accounting. Accrual accounting goes beyond cash transactions and attempts to recognize the financial effects of noncash transactions and events as they occur. Recognition and measurement of the accrued obligation to provide postretirement benefits will provide users of financial statements with the opportunity to assess the financial consequences of employers’ compensation decisions. In applying accrual accounting to postretirement benefits, this Statement adopts three fundamental aspects of pension accounting: delayed recognition of certain events, reporting net cost, and offsetting liabilities and related assets. (FASB, 2012) I would expect the efficient securities market to find this practice acceptable. â€Å"Accrual-based accounting is more effective than cash-based accounting. A few arguments to support this theory are: certain cash receipts and disbursements are â€Å"lumpy,† within operating cash flows receipts and payments can be lumpy, accrual-based accounting is a better predictor of a company’s long-term financial performance. Also all formal statements need to be set up using accrual-based accounting, and publicly traded companies need to use accrual-based accounting to conform to GAAP standards (Keener, 2012). 2. Chapter 4: Problem 12 (Imax) a. To what extent can revenue growth substitute for net income as a predictor of future earning power? Explain. Use efficient securities market concepts in your answer, and consider the requirement under GAAP for immediate writeoff of research and startup costs. â€Å"Both revenue growth and net income are useful in determining the financial strength of a company, but they are not interchangeable. Net income describes how efficient a company is with its spending and operating costs and how effect ively it has been controlling total costs. Revenue, on the other hand, only indicates how effective a company is at generating sales and does not take into consideration operating efficiencies which could have a dramatic impact on net income (Investopedia, 2012). † â€Å"Start-up costs are defined as â€Å"those unusual one-time costs incurred in putting a new plant into operation, opening a new sales outlet, initiating a new process in an existing plant, or otherwise commencing some new operation (FASB, 2012). † †Costs of start-up activities, including organization costs, should be expensed as incurred (FASB, 2012). â€Å"Definition of ‘Revenue Recognition’ An accounting principle under generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) that determines the specific conditions under which income becomes realized as revenue. Generally, revenue is recognized only when a specific critical event has occurred and the amount of revenue is measurable. ‘Revenue Recognition’ explained For mo st businesses, income is recognized as revenue whenever the company delivers or performs its product or service and receives payment for it. However, there are several situations in which exceptions may apply. For example, if a company’s business has a very high rate of product returns, revenue should only be recognized after the return period expires. Companies can sometimes play around with revenue recognition to make their financial figures look better. For example, if XYZ Corp. wants to hide the fact that it is having a bad year in sales, it may choose to recognize income that has not yet been collected as revenue in order to boost its sales revenue for the year (Investopedia, 2012). † b. Use the concept of relevance to defend the revenue recognition policies outlined above. Relevant financial statements give information to investors about the firm’s future economic prospects (Scott, 2009). † c. Use the concept of reliability to criticize the revenue recognition policies outlined above. â€Å"To be reliable, information must have representational faithfulness and it must be verifiable and neutral (Scott, 2009). † d. To the extent that investors are awar e of the possible use of revenue recognition policies that overstate revenues (even though, for a specific firm, they may not know the extent to which that firm is using such policies), what is the effect on the operation of the capital market? Explain. â€Å"Investors have prior beliefs about a firm’s future performance. These prior beliefs will be based on all available information. If net income is high, or higher than expected, this may be good news. If so, investors would revise upward their beliefs about future performance. Other investors, who perhaps had overly high expectations for what current net income should be, might interpret the same net income number as bad news. Investors who have revised their beliefs about future performance upward will be inclined to buy the firm’s shares at their current market price, and vice versa for those who have revised their beliefs downward. We would expect to observe the volume of shares traded to increase when the firm reports its net income. Furthermore, this volume should be greater the greater are the differences in investors’ prior beliefs and in their interpretations of the current financial information (Scott, 2009). †