Claytronics Case Essay Example for Free

Claytronics Case Essay Claytronics is an emerging field of engineering concerning reconfigurable nanoscale robots designed to form much larger scale machines or mechanisms. Also known as programmable matter, the catoms will be sub-millimeter computers that will eventually have the ability to move around, communicate with each others, change color, and electrostatically connect to other catoms to form different shapes. The forms made up of catoms could morph into nearly any object, even replicas of human beings for virtual meetings. . Likely spherical in shape, a catom would have no moving parts. Rather, it would be covered with electromagnets to attach itself to other catoms; it would move by using the electromagnets to roll itself over other catoms. The catoms surfaces would have light-emitting diodes to allow them to change color and photo cells to sense light, allowing the collective robot to see. Each would contain a fairly powerful, Pentium-class computer . According to Carnegie Mellons Synthetic Reality Project personnel, claytronics are described as An ensemble of material that contains sufficient localcomputation, actuation, storage, energy, sensing, and communication which can be programmed to form interesting dynamic shapes and configurations. The idea is not to transport objects nor is it to recreate an objects chemicalcomposition, but rather to create a physical artefact,that will mimic the shape, movement, visual appearance,sound, and tactile qualities of the original object INTRODUCTION: Programmable matter one day could transform itself into all kinds of look-alikes The day when doctors routinely made house calls may be past, but that doesnt mean that someday you wont routinely see your doctor in your home with emphasis on see. That is to say, your doctor could physically work out of her office. But a three-dimensional lookalike, assembled from perhaps a billion tiny, BB-like robots, could be her stand-in in your home. She could talk with you, touch you, look at you, all under the control of the real, if distant, doc. After the examination, she could be disassembled, leaving behind a big pile of beads. Or the beads might reassemble into a piece of moving sculpture, or turn into a chair. Not a single such robot yet exists; building the one-millimeter diameter robots that Goldstein envisions is beyond current technology. And he acknowledges it could be decades before a synthetic doctor is possible, much less affordable.But its not too soon to start thinking about it. Its a little like putting a man on the moon, said Todd Mowry.Its not just a problem of building tiny robots, but figuring out how to power them, to get them to stick together and to coordinate and control millions or billions of them. No ones even sure what to call it. Claytronics, synthetic reality and programmable matter have been proposed. Dynamic physical rendering is the label Intel uses. Each of the individual robots comprising these people or shapes would be a claytronic atom, or catom. Likely spherical in shape, a catom would have no moving parts. Rather, it would be covered with electromagnets to attach itself to other catoms; it would move by using the electromagnets to roll itself over other catoms. *The catoms surfaces would have light-emitting diodes to allow them to change color and photo cells to sense light, allowing the collective robot to see. Each would contain a fairly powerful, Pentium-class computer. CLAYTRONICS, A SYNTHETIC REALITY [pic][pic] The big advantage of designing on a computer is the ease of changing things, like color and shape. But, especially for 3D objects, it has some disadvantages. You don’t really get a feel for the object: What does it look like when I walk around it? How does it feel when I hold it in my hands? With Claytronics technology this problem could be solved. What is Claytronics? Claytronics is an emerging field of engineering concerning reconfigurable nanoscale robots (claytronic atoms, or catoms) which can interact with each other to form tangible 3-D objects that a user can interact with.They are designed to form much larger scale machines or mechanisms. Also known as programmable matter, the catoms will be sub-millimeter computers that will eventually have the ability to move around, communicate with each others, change color, and electrostatically connect to other catoms to form different shapes. The forms made up of catoms could morph into nearly any object, even replicas of human beings for virtual meetings. Claytronics technology is currently being researched by Professor Seth Goldstein and Professor Todd C. Mowry at Carnegie Mellon University, which is where the term was coined. . The Carnegie Mellon University together with Intel are currently researching this technology. Though it might seem somewhat futuristic, they are confident that it can be realized and they’ve got Moore’s Law( describes a long-term trend in the history of computing hardware, in which the number of transistors that can be placed inexpensively on an integrated circuit has doubled approximately every two years) to back it up. According to Carnegie Mellons Synthetic Reality Project personnel, claytronics are described as An ensemble of material that contains sufficient local computation, actuation, storage, energy, sensing, and communication which can be programmed to form interesting dynamic shapes and configurations. Claytronics has the potential to greatly affect many areas of daily life, such as telecommunication, human-computer interfaces, and entertainment In other words, programmable matter will allow us to take a (big) step beyond virtual reality, to synthetic reality, an environment in which all the objects in a user’s environment are physically realized. Note that the idea is not to transport objects nor is it to recreate an objects chemical composition, but rather to create a physical artefact that will mimic the shape, movement, visual appearance,sound, and tactile qualities of the original object Claytronics though based upon on concepts of physics and electronics in schoolbooks (and a neat trick), its a technology of 2040 and 2050 due to the technical challenge scientific and engineering community live with. Challenge is to develop and control this material on the scale of nanometers (100 times thinner then human hair, 1 nanometer = 10 -9 meters). Claytronics doesnt end with working together philosophy or networked computing alone. Catoms, basic blocks of claytronics can morph their physical and chemical properties, meaning same material can be of different mechanical, thermal properties, can have different shape or size, different color, fluorescent material can be converted to super reflecting mirror. These highlights and long wait till Year 2040/50. . Our goal is that the system be usable now and scalablefor the future. Thus, the guiding design principle,behind both the hardware and the software, is SCALABILITY.Hardware mechanisms need to scale towards micronsized catoms and million-catom ensembles. Software mechanisms need to be scale invariant. Claytronics will be a test-bed for solving some of the most challenging problems we face today: how to build complex, massively distributed dynamic systems. It is also a step towards truly integrating computers into our lives—by having them integrated into the very artifactsaround us and allowing them to interact with the world. Catoms Programmable matter consists of a collection of individual components, which we call claytronic atoms or catoms. Catoms can †¢ move in three dimensions in relation to other catoms, †¢ adhere to other catoms to main ­tain a 3D shape, communicate with other catoms in an ensemble, and compute state information with possible assistance from other catoms in the ensemble. Each catom is a unit with a CPU, a network device, a single-pixel display, one or more sensors, a means of locomotion, and a mechanism for adhering to other catoms. Although this sounds like a microrobot, we believe that imple ­menting a completely autonomous microrobot is unnecessarily complex. Instead, we take a cue from cellular reconfigurable robotics research to simplify the individual robot modules so that they are easier to manufacture using high-volume methods. Ensemble principle: Realizing this vision requires new ways of thinking about massive num ­bers of cooperating millimeter-scale units. Most importantly, it demands simplifying and redesigning the soft ­ware and hardware used in each catom to reduce complexity and manufactur ­ing cost and increase robustness and reliability. For example, each catom must work cooperatively with others in the ensemble to move, communi ­cate, and obtain power. Consequently, our designs strictly adhere to the ensemble principle: A robot module should include only enough functionality to contribute to the ensemble’s desired functionality. Three early results of our research each highlight a key aspect of the ensemble principle: easy manufacturability, powering million-robot ensem ­bles, and surface contour control with ­out global motion planning. High-Volume Manufacturability Some catom designs will be easier to produce in mass quantity than others. Our present exploration into the design space investigates modules without moving parts, which we see as an inter ­mediate stage to designing catoms suit ­able for high-volume manufacturing. In our present macroscale (44-mm diameter), cylindrical prototypes, shown in Figure 1, each catom is equipped with 24 electromagnets arranged in a pair of stacked rings. To move, a pair of catoms must ï ¬ rst be in contact with another pair. Then, they must appropriately energize the next set of magnets along each of their circumferences. . The current prototypes can only overcome the frictional forces opposing their own horizontal movement, but downscaling will improve the force budget substantially. The resulting force from two similarly energized magnet coils varies roughly with the inverse cube of distance, whereas the ï ¬â€šux due to a given coil varies with the square of the scale factor. Hence, the potential force generated between two catoms varies linearly with scale. Meanwhile, mass varies with the cube of scale. Powering Microbot Ensembles:. Some energy requirements, such as effort to move versus gravity, scale with size. Others, such as communi ­cation and computation, don’t. As microrobots (catoms) are scaled down, the onboard battery’s weight and volume exceed those of the robots themselves. To provide sufï ¬ cient energy to each catom without incurring such a weight and volume penalty, we’re developing methods for routing energy from an external source to all catoms in an ensemble. For example, an ensemble could tap an environmental power source, such as a special table with pos ­itive and negative electrodes, and route that power internally using catom-to ­catom connections. To simplify manufacturing and accelerate movement, we believe it’s necessary to avoid using intercatom connectors that can carry both supply and ground via separate conductors within the connector assembly. Such complex connectors can signiï ¬ cantly increase reconï ¬ guration time. For example, in previously con ­structed modular robotic systems such as the Palo Alto Research Center’s PolyBot and the Dartmouth Robotics Lab’s Molecule it can take tens of seconds or even minutes for a robot module to uncouple from its neighbor, move to another module, and couple with that newly proximal module. In contrast, our present unary-con ­nector-based prototypes can â€Å"dock† in less than 100 ms because no special connector alignment procedure is required. This speed advantage isn’t free, however: A genderless unary con ­nector imposes additional operational complexity in that each catom must obtain a connection to supply from one neighbor and to ground from a dif ­ferent neighbor. Several members of the Claytronic team have recently developed power distribution algorithms that satisfy these criteria. These algorithms require no knowledge of the ensemble conï ¬ g ­uration—lattice spacing, ensemble size, or shape—or power-supply loca ­tion. Further, they require no on-catom power storage. Shape Control Without Global Motion Planning: Classical approaches to creating an arbitrary shape from a group of mod ­ular robots involve motion planning through high-dimensional search or gradient descent methods. However, in the case of a million-robot ensemble, global search is unlikely to be tractable. Even if a method could globally plan for the entire ensemble, the communi ­cations overhead required to transmit individualized directions to each mod ­ule would be very high. In addition, a global plan would break down in the face of individual unit failure. To address these concerns, we’re developing algorithms that can control shape without requiring extensive planning or communication. This approach focuses on the motion of holes rather than that of robots per se. Given a uniform hexag ­onal-packed plane of catoms, a hole is a circular void due to the absence of seven catoms. Such a seven-catom hole can migrate through the ensemble by appropriate local motion of the adja ­cent catoms. Holes migrate through the ensemble as if moving on a frictionless plane, and bounce back at the ensemble’s edges. Just as bouncing gas molecules exert pressure at the edges of a balloon, bouncing holes interact frequently with each edge of the ensemble without the need for global control. As Figure 2 illustrates, edges can contract by con ­suming a hole or expand by creating a hole, purely under local control. We initiate shape formation by â€Å"ï ¬ ll ­ing† the ensemble with holes. Each hole receives an independent, random veloc ­ity and begins to move around. A shape goal speciï ¬ es the amount each edge region must either contract or expand to match a desired target shape. A hole that hits a contracting edge is consumed. In effect, the empty space that constitutes the hole moves to the outside of the ensemble, pulling in the surface at that location. Similarly, expanding edges create holes and inject them into the ensemble, pushing its contour out in the c orresponding local region. [pic] Importantly, all edge contouring and hole motion can be accomplished using local rules, and the overall shape of an ensemble can be programmed purely by communicating with the catoms at the edges. Hence, we use probabilistic methods to achieve a deterministic result. Our initial analyses of the cor ­responding 3D case suggest surface contour control will be possible via a similar algorithm. Ping-Pong to marble size A large, moving shape such as a human replica might contain a billion catoms. A system with a billion computer nodes, he added, is something on the scale of the entire Internet. . . . Unlike the real Internet, our thing is moving. This will require new schemes for quickly organizing and reorganizing such a large computer network. A moving shape will necessarily force catoms to constantly and quickly change positions, breaking connections with one set of catoms and establishing new connections with others. The idea behind self-reconfigurable robots is that a robot could change shape depending on a task perhaps operating as a snake-like robot to wiggle through tight spaces, while taking the form of a spider or a humanoid for other types of exploration. Identifying each catom by a number, like each computer on the Internet, isnt likely to work. Rather, catoms may identify themselves based on function or position a catom replicating a human would need to know if it was part of a pinky finger, or a mouth, or an eye. Power also has been a concern. As we shrink thingswe find that weight and bulk is primarily in the battery.The idea is to eliminate the battery. Instead, the catoms will automatically form themselves into electrical circuits, so delivering power to one catom effectively delivers power to all of the catoms. As the shape moves and the catoms rearrange themselves, connections will be repeatedly made and broken, interupting power. So the catoms will be designed with a capacitor or small battery to hold just enough charge to compensate for the momentary disconnections. The system also will be engineered to maintain its shape even when powered off. proposes covering the sides of the catoms with manmade fibers similar to the microscopic foot hairs of the gecko, a tropical lizard.The millions of hairs on a geckos toes allow it to cling to almost any surface. The hairs arent sticky, but rely on weak electrodynamic forces known as the van der Waals force. If the synthetic hairs can be fashioned out of the microscopic fibers known as carbon nanotubes, the hairs could conduct electricity and might serve as the electrical connections between catoms.. Even if claytronics doesnt immediately yield 3-D motion, it might be useful for producing 3-D shapes in the computer-aided design process, Goldstein said. Claytronics antennas could change shape to improve reception of different radio frequencies. A Claytronics cell phone might grow a full-size keyboard, or expand its video display as needed. [pic] The Concept and the trick Catoms, of which claytronics machines will built upon are kind of rich quantum dot. Quantum dot is basically a semiconducting crystal (material used in ICs for almost any electronic or computing device) on a nanoscale, so we can call it semiconducting nanocrystal. Quantum dots unlike normal semiconducting crystal caters to single or more electrons on a scale small enough that they can be called as artificial atoms without their own nucleus. To make this understand better Quantum dots controls can control almost single electron in its own territory. These territories have different levels, in scientific term called discrete energy levels on the order of De-Broglies wavelength. Trick is really simple in theory; every substance on a atomic level is identified based upon its atomic number and atomic mass number. Atom has three basic atomic particles (no of basic particles discovered is high as of now) electron, proton and neutron. In a balanced atom no of electrons and protons are same, so no of electrons indicates atomic number as well. Here in Quantum dots we can manipulate no of electrons trapped by adjusting the voltage to the metal. Creating lots of such artificial atoms in metal like semiconductor can alter lots of its chemical and electronic properties to make a non transparent metal behave like a transparent mirror maybe. A Modular Robotic System Using Magnetic Force Effectors One of the primary impediments to building ensembles of modular robots is the complexity and number of mechanical mechanisms used to construct the individual modules. As part of the Claytronics project—which aims to build very large ensembles of modular robots— investigation is done on how to simplify each module by eliminating moving parts and reducing the number of mechanical mechanisms on each robot by using force-at-a-distance actuators. Additionally, also investigating the feasibility of using these unary actuators to improve docking performance, implement intermodule adhesion, power transfer, communication, and sensing. Three magnetic 45mm planar catoms. I. Introduction Advances in manufacturing and electronics open up new possibilities for designing modular robotic systems. As the robots become smaller, it becomes possible to use force-at-adistance actuators—e.g., actuators which cause one module to move relative to another via magnetic or electric fields external to the modules themselves. Furthermore, as the cost and power consumption of electronics continue to decrease, it becomes increasingly attractive to use complex electronics rather than complex mechanical systems. In this paper, we explore how a single device that exploits magnetic forces can be harnessed to unify actuation, adhesion, power transfer, communication, and sensing. By combining a single coil with the appropriate electronics we can simplify the robot— reducing both its weigt and size—while increasing its capabilities. Furthermore ,since we are interested in the ensemble as a whole, we do not require that individual units be self-sufficientAs long as individual units can contribute to the overall motion of the ensemble, they do not need the ability to move independently within the greater environment. We call this design principle the ensemble axiom: each unit contains only the minimum abilities necessary to contribute to the aggregate functionality of the ensemble. Choosing the right mechanism for locomotion is a key design decision. In addition to scalability, the size of the unit must also be taken into account. At the macroscale,complex mechanisms such as motors are effective. However, as units scale down in size other approaches become viable, taking advantage of increasing surface-to-volume ratio and decreasing of inertial moments. Our current robots, which we call planar catoms1, are small enough that we can explore a mechanism designed around magnetic field forceat- a-distance actuators. As the units decrease further in size, actuators based upon electric field forces become viable and are appealing because they use less current, produce less heat, and weigh less than magnetic actuators. Even smaller units could harness surface forces such as surface tension or Van der Waals’ forces. The size scale also affects power transfer and storage: because electrical resistance increases as contact size decreases, direct electrical connections between robots become increasingly impractical. II. Related Work Of the many research efforts the most relevant to our work is Fracta Fracta is a two dimensional modular robot which uses a combination of permanent magnets and electromagnets for locomotion and adhesion. As in our planar catoms, to move a module requires communication between the moving module and its neighbors. The two main differences between Fracta and planar catoms are due to changes in underlying technology and the use of permanent magnets. Fracta modules are constrained to be in a hex-lattice whereas the planar catoms have additional actuators and can be arranged in a cubic or hex lattice. Significant advances in VLSI enable us to create smaller, lighter units which do not use permanent magnets. We also harness the magnets for more than locomotion and adhesion, i.e., the magnets also serve as the main mechanism for power transfer, sensing, and communications. Planar catoms are our first step along the path towards realizing three dimensional claytronics. The robots rely on the external forces and move stochastically, adhering to each other under control of the program running on the robot. The ensemble principle is carried even further in the latter project; robots are unpowered until they adhere to a powered robot.

Analysing marketing strategy at Morrisons

Analysing marketing strategy at Morrisons Marketing strategy is a technique of focus on business capabilities and resources toward a defined task which leads the organisation toward sale promotion and target marketing place. Marketing strategies are the combination of product advertising, distribution, pricing, relationship administration and other essentials; identifies the companys marketing objectives, and make clear how they will be accomplished, preferably inside a fixed time. Marketing strategies are concluding the target market division, positioning, marketing mix, and distribution of resources. In recent years, several conceptual frameworks have been developed to better understand the processes of strategy formulation, and for such processes, the term strategic marketing is used to describe the decisions taken to develop long-run strategies for survival and growth About Morrisons We are the UKs fourth biggest food retailer with  403 outlets. Our business is primarily food and grocery. distinctively the company resource and practice most of the fresh food that Morrisons put up for sale through their own manufacturing services, giving us close manage over provenance and quality; and the company have new people preparing extra food in store than any other retailer. Every week nine million customers pass through our doors and 124,000 colleagues across the business work hard each day to deliver great service to them. With competitive prices and hundreds of special offers, we are proud to save our customers money every day. Definition of Strategic Marketing Marketing Strategy is a procedure that can permit an association to give attention to its restricted assets on the greatest opportunity to increase sales and achieve a sound competitive edge. (Baker Michael 2008) Principles of marketing strategies People Oriented Marketing The purpose of marketing strategies is to create the added advantage of the company. The strategies that are supported to the customer orientation is the most important one because the customer is the king of market. The Cost Of Something Is What You Give Up To Get It. Marketing strategies are planned according to the pricing of their products. Company set their pricing that are supported their products and customer are likely to buy it. Reward System Strategies Strategies are prepared to satisfy the customer and employees. Bonus Cards, loyalty cards are the rewards that organisation gives to their customers just to retain them. Competitive Advantages Marketing strategies are prepared according to the competitive advantage of the competitor. Marker Base Assets Marketing strategies are supported to the brand name, brand image, company name and then cash them to gain advantage. Vision of Morrisons food specialist for everyone Food specialist We really understand food we know where it comes from; we pack it and make it in our factories; we make it in our stores; and we employ craft skills in every store. For everyone Great food which is also: great value; and for every day, not just special days. This vision is supported by our brand values and strategic objectives. Brand value Our brand values are important to delivering our strategy and underpin all our strategic objectives. Fresh, Value and Service are discussed in the right-hand box above. SMART Analysis: SMART is an acronym which tells us that when ever we set any companies objectives they should be ,S =Specific M= Measurable A = Actionable or Achievable R = Realistic T = Time Frame Morisons strategy maintenance things trouble-free: Our vision to be the Food Specialist for Everyone is at the presentbecomes superior. Morrisons regular spotlight on freshness, great worth and wonderful service is alluring to more and more people. The company now more closer to the customers. http://www.morrisons.co.uk/Corporate/2010/AnnualReport/_assets/ims/FreshValueChart.jpg Morrisons share of UK grocery marke In 2009/10 the share of morrisons was worth of 90.2bn in the market. Morrisons market share continues to increase as we move from National to Nationwide. Morrisons market share(percentage %) 2007 2008 2009 11.9 12.1 12.3 Morrisons share of grocers UK 2010 (percentage %) http://www.morrisons.co.uk/Corporate/2010/AnnualReport/_assets/ims/graph_shareOfGrocers.gif Morrisons market share intensification was superior than the whole market growth year-on-year and as a outcome we grew market share. The crown four superstore shared accounted for around 76% of the market. (Source: Kantar Worldpanel) Porters five forces New comers Morrisons have also a fear the new entrents in the market because the company is now on growth stage. Competitors Another important issue is the competition in the industry or sector.there are a lot of competitors in the market and this is the big therat for the company. Suppliers Suppliers are also affect the companies strategies.in this industry suppliers are strong and they have a strong bargaining power. Customer The potentional customers have a planty of options to buy the product.the competitors of the morrisons like tesco and asda are market leaders and they are offering the cheap products.the power of customers is also affect the Morrison,s marketing strategy. Substitute products There are many others compnies are offering the same products which are offering the morrisons so this thing is also affecting the morrisons marketing strategy. SWOT Analysis SWOT analysis in the technique to understand the internal and external analysis of the company that tell companies strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threat of the company. STRENGTH Market share growth in 2009/10 http://www.morrisons.co.uk/Corporate/2010/AnnualReport/_assets/ims/graph_marketShareGrowth.gif acquirement of co-operative stores Opening of 34 new stores Food expert expert in food Owen supply chain Own distribution channel Morrison structure for food Owen stuffing factories In store grounding of food Quickest go around time among order and delivery Employees education programme (MBA) WEEKNESSES Lack of the customers trust Very less number of stores Less Advertisement Little bit high pricing OPPORTUNITY Home Delivery extension of small stores to cover the more customers start the new business line as Morrisons pharmacy Move into non-food retailing in the UK. Entry into new retail segments, such as drugstores, department stores, speciality units Increase the number of stores to cover the more population areas THREAT Low pricing of competitors Communication is weak High competition Open market for entering new competitors Purchasing of co-operative store are not maintain Morrisons standard Uncertainty will affect the sale and profitability of the company Competitive Analysis Competitive analysis conducted for the comparison of company to the other different companies/ competitors. It tells the company that where their products are and where the other have, they are in the good position are their competitor. Competitive analysis is tells advantages and the weaknesses of the companies over the competitors. Morrisons have strong competition with Tesco, ASDA, and Sainsbury etc. Boston Consulting Group Matrix Star High growth business or products that competing the market where they have competitive advantage/ edge as compare to the competitor. Normally heavy investments are required to exist in the market. Morrison may not fall in this part of the matrix. Cash Cows Business growth is low or product having relative market share. There is normally low business and little investment is required to retain in the market. Good leadership and strategies are required for growth. Morrisons is in this area of matrix. Question mark Business or product have low market share but exist in the high growth market. Businesses in this area are required high investment but they have potential to grow high. Management have to make some growth strategies that Morrison have done and now in the growth position of the market. Dogs Businesses or products have low market share and unattractive market. Business fall in this area may generate profit to come on breakeven point. MARKETING STRATEGY OPTITIONS Pricing strategies There are number of pricing strategies that companies used in according to their purpose that are fit and matched with objectives and goals. The strategies are: Premium Pricing Economy Pricing Penetration Pricing Psychological Pricing Skimming Pricing Captive Product Pricing Product Bundle Pricing Promotional Pricing Geographical Pricing Morrisons are used various pricing strategies from the above mentioned strategies. Economy Pricing Morrisons are using this strategy in their products that are daily use items. All most all the grocery items are under economy pricing scheme. Psychological Pricing Morrisons are also adopting this pricing technique just for psychological impact on the customers. For example 99P Promotional Pricing Morrisons are using this strategy for promotional items. Example: buy 1 get one free or two item 2 pound etc. STP Strategies STP is another type of marketing strategies that companies kept in mind while formulating its marketing strategies. STP stands for S- Segmentation T- Target P- Positioning Segmentation Demographical Geographical Psychological Behavioural Demographical Uk is a multi culturel country.according to this morrisons set its strategies.company divided its market according to thr race,gender and age etc.for example i many places where Asian people are living they are providing those products which the people like.they are giving a very carefull attention to this strategy becausr when the company fulfil the need of the people then they can attract more and more people. Geographical Company divided its area into different parts than these subareas are also divided into regions. Morrisons have divided its UK market into 4 parts that are the states then these are divided into cities and then cities are divided its sides like central, north, east, west, northwest etc.in this way it is very easy for the company to give proper attention to all sites. Distribution and channel strategies Morrisons have their own distribution channel that is use to deliver its products to the retail stores for the end use of customers. Fresh foods are taken from own forms than they distribute to the concern factory for packing and finally distribute to the retail stores effective and efficient use of the supply chain management.they have also a strong back up if some problem arises.they are paying a lot of attention to its distribution network. DIFFERENT STRATEGY OPTIONS Morrisons have a different strategy options to stay in the market because morrisons is the fourth largest retail store in the uk market.morrisons is now trying to adopting the mixture of three strategies.these are differentitation,cost leadership and focus.morrisons regularly offereing different cheap offeres to attract more and more customers.they are also offereing planty of products for a special age group people.in which they are adopting the focus strategy.morrisons are offering many services to its customer like free eye check up to attract more and more people or customers. Task 3: Implication of changes in the marketing environment for organization The change in marketing: The marketing is the big aspects for any company so the NESTLE making the marketing strategy to attract there customers by there advertisements. Because every one want to see their Childs happy and healthy and the NESTLE is doing that and they are getting the attention of the moms by their baby healthier marketing advertisements. Advertisement marketing of the NESTLE is getting the good business, Every day they want to make moms happy. The effectives areas for the organizations changes: The company cannot bring the change in without their participants and stack holders, directly effected are the big responsible for the organizations change. The employee motivation is most effective way for the organizations step to go to success and the NESTLE has a big motivation for their employees because they are a good motivator for the moms. Customers satisfaction is a need for good company if your customer happy then you will be happy and in the world of competition the NESLTE is providing that satisfaction by their healthier products. Inter departmental collaboration is the big concern of the organizations achievements because they are the all internal factors for the organization. Now we are going to discuss the companys affective areas where the marketing will be effect. The company NESTLE has the big share in the world business because the people like the milk range of this company to make their kids healthy. The company is going to meet his objectives and the customers aspects because it is fulfilling the needs of the peoples. The marketing environment is a marketing term and refers to all of the forces outside of marketing that affect marketing managements ability to build and maintain successful relationships with target customers. The market environment consists of both the macro environment and the microenvironment. These are the factors which can changes the marketing plans by these factors any organization bring the changes in there marketing environments. Micro environmental aspects: The microenvironment refers to the forces that are close to the company and affect its ability to serve its customers. It includes the company itself, its suppliers, marketing intermediaries, customer markets, competitor, and publics. The company aspect of microenvironment refers to the internal environment of the company. This includes all departments, such as management, finance, research, purchasing, operations and accounting. Each of these departments has an impact on marketing decisions. For example, research and development have input as to the features a product can perform and accounting approves the financial side of marketing plans and budgets. The company supplier: The suppliers of a company are also an important aspect of the microenvironment because even the slightest delay in receiving supplies can result in customer dissatisfaction. Marketing managers must watch supply availability and other trends dealing with suppliers to ensure that product will be delivered to customers in the time frame required in order to maintain a strong customer relationship. The people: Marketing intermediaries refers to resellers, physical distribution firms, marketing services agencies, and financial intermediaries. These are the people that help the company promote, sell, and distribute its products to final buyers. Resellers are those that hold and sell the companys product. They match the distribution to the customers and include places such as wall-mart, Target, and Best Buy. Physical distribution firms are places such as warehouses that store and transport the companys product from its origin to its destination. The customer: Another impact of micro environment is the customers. There are different types of customer markets including consumer markets, business markets, government markets, international markets, and reseller markets. The consumer market is made up of individuals who buy goods and services for their own personal use or use in their household. Business markets include those that buy goods and services for use in producing their own products to sell. This is different from the reseller market which includes businesses that purchase goods to resell as is for a profit. These are the same companies mentioned as market intermediaries. The government market consists of government agencies that buy goods to produce public services or transfer goods to others who need them. International markets include buyers in other countries and includes customers from the previous categories. The departmental people: The final aspect of the micro environment is publics, which is any group that has an interest in or impact on the organizations ability to meet its goals. For example, financial publics can hinder a companys ability to obtain funds affecting the level of credit a company has. Media publics include newspapers and magazines that can publish articles of interest regarding the company and editorials that may influence customers opinions and our mostly products are selling on the public advertisement because the people are the too much concision about their health. The macro environmental aspects: The macro environment refers to all forces that are part of the larger culture and affect the microenvironment. It includes concepts such as demography, economy, natural forces, technology, politics, and culture. An other thing in NESTLE refers to studying human populations in terms of size, density, location, age, gender, race, and occupation. This is a very important impact to study for marketers and helps to divide the population into market segment and target markets. Markets: Every market impacts have different characteristics and causes they find important. This can be beneficial to a marketer as they can decide who their product would benefit most and tailor their marketing plan to attract that segment. The market could be made by the company itself because if you are selling your product as much you want then you can drive the market by yourself. Demography covers many aspects that are important to marketers including family dynamics, geographic shifts, work force changes, and levels of diversity in any given area. Another aspect of the macro environment is the economic environment. This refers to the purchasing power of potential customers and the ways in which people spend their money. Natural: The natural environment is another important impact of the macro environment for the organization. This includes the natural resources that a company uses as inputs and affects their marketing activities. The concern in this area is the increased pollution, shortages of raw materials and increased governmental intervention. As raw materials become increasingly scarcer, the ability to create a companys product gets much harder. Also, pollution can go as far as negatively affecting a companys reputation if they are known for damaging the environment. The last concern, government intervention can make it increasingly harder for a company to fulfill their goals as requirements get more stringent. Technical: The technological environment is perhaps one of the fastest changing factors in the macro environment. This includes all developments from antibiotics and surgery to nuclear missiles and chemical weapons to automobiles and credit cards. As these markets develop it can create new markets and new uses for products. It also requires a company to stay ahead of others and update their own technology as it becomes outdated. They must stay informed of trends so they can be part of the next big thing, rather than becoming outdated and suffering the consequences financially. Political: The political environment includes all laws, government agencies, and groups that influence or limit other organizations and individuals within a society. It is important for marketers to be aware of these restrictions as they can be complex. Some products are regulated by both state and federal laws. There are even restrictions for some products as to who the target market may be, for example, cigarettes should not be marketed to younger children. There are also many restrictions on subliminal messages and monopolies. As laws and regulations change often, this is a very important aspect for a marketer to monitor. Culture: The final aspect of the macro environment is the cultural environment, which consists of institutions and basic values and beliefs of a group of people. The values can also be further categorized into core beliefs, which passed on from generation to generation and very difficult to change, and secondary beliefs, which tend to be easier to influence. As a marketer, it is important to know the difference between the two and to focus your marketing campaign to reflect the values of a target audience.

Development of Information Warfare Essay -- Defense Military War

Development of Information Warfare Introduction In his final foreign policy speech, President Bill Clinton listed among the United States’ top five military and security concerns the development of information warfare (Lacey). Given the importance of information technologies to the American economy and the U.S. military’s dependence on this system, any attacks on the information infrastructure could have severe consequences for the economy and for national security. For the U.S.’s best interests, taking the initiative in defining the limits of information warfare would be beneficial. The current U.S. trend toward concerning itself publicly more with computer network defense than computer network attack has prevented an adequate public dialog on the legalities involved with information warfare. The United States must address this issue before development of information warfare technologies goes much further. Resolving this issue at an international level can protect the United States from future informatio n warfare attacks and present opportunities to retaliate against attackers. Definition of Terms Before exploring the implications of information warfare, a working definition of the term must be established. Due either to imprecision regarding information warfare’s specific operations or just that this form of warfare is very young, many definitions are available. The Air Force’s official definition of information warfare, articulated in the â€Å"Cornerstones of Information Warfare† report, is â€Å"any action to deny, exploit, corrupt or destroy the enemy's information and its functions; protecting ourselves against those actions; and exploiting our own military information functions† (Fogleman and Widnall). This def... ...iversity. McCoubrey, Hilaire, and Nigel D. White. International Law and Armed Conflict. Dartmouth: Brookfield, VT, 1992. Molander, Roger C., and Sanyin Siang. â€Å"The Legitimization of Strategic Information Warfare: Ethical Considerations.† Professional Ethics Report, Vol. XI, No.4, Fall 1998. < http://www.aaas.org/spp/dspp/sfrl/per/per15.htm > Roberts, Adam, and Richard Guelff, eds. Documents on the Laws of War. Clarendon Press: Oxford, 1982. Schwartau, Winn. Information Warfare. Thunder’s Mouth Press: New York, 1994. United States Space Command. â€Å"U.S. Space Command Takes Charge of Computer Network Attack.† 29 September 2000. < http://www.spacecom.af.mil/usspace/rel15-00.htm > Waltz, Edward. Information Warfare Principles and Operations. Artech House: Boston, 1998.

King Lear :: essays papers

King Lear In the play King Lear written by William Shakespeare a collection of images are used to express different points Shakespeare is trying to relay to his audience. One reoccurring image that kept popping up was animal images. Shakespeare displays these animal images when King Lear and many of the other characters in the play talk about Goneril and Regan. The animals that Lear and the other characters compare the two sisters to are not very pretty. They are compared to the likes of tigers, serpents, and even monsters. These reoccurring images have an important idea behind them that Shakespeare hopes to communicate his readers. Shakespeare waste no time in comparing Goneril and Regan to animals. When Lear parts from Goneril at the end of Act I, after she has sneered at him and diminished the number of his retainers, he calls her a â€Å"Detested kite† (I. iv. 269.). He also compares her to â€Å"the sea-monster† (I. iv. 268.), by which he possibly means a mythological monster that would betray its own father. King Lear also comments on his daughters ingratitude using animal imagery when he said,† How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child† (I. iv. 295-296.). Lear comments once more on his daughter’s â€Å"monster ingratitude† (I. v. 40.). Lear is showing how he feels about how his daughters are treating him by comparing them to unpleasant animals. Lear in scene IV has a quarrel with his other daughter, Regan, where again he uses animal images to show how his daughters are sinking below manhood to animals. Lear seeks out his daughter, Regan, at Gloucester’s castle, and finds out that her husband has put his faithful friend Kent in the stocks and that both husband and wife have retired to bed and do not wish to see him. When Regan finally comes down, she tells him â€Å"You should be ruled, and led by some discretion that discerns your state better than yourself† (II. iv. 147-149). Lear responds by saying â€Å"struck me with her tongue, most serpentlike, upon the very heart. (II. iv. 159-160). Lear here again is describing Regan to a serpent, which is a large poisonous snake. Both daughters seem to him now like unusually cruel animals. They show this when they shut him out into the stormy night. In the storm scene, Lear’s hurt from his daughters affect his attitude to the mad Tom of Bedlam (Edgar).

Introduction to Marketing Revision Notes

Chapter 1: Marketing Principles and Society Definitions: Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM): The management process of anticipating, identifying and satisfying customer requirements profitably (CIM, 2001) The American Marketing Association: The activity, set of institutions and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large. (AMA, 2007) These definitions stress the importance of considering the customer requirements and to delivering value. The difference between a customer and a consumer, is that the customer physically buys the product, and the consumer actually uses (or eats) it. The Marketing Process Marketing comprises 4 phases of activity, which is a component in the process of creating value for the customer: 1. The design phase. Companies identify customer and consumer needs, and design the product offering around their needs to create value for the customer. 2. The development phase. Companies develop products, services, and ideas, which meet those needs and deliver the intended value. 3. The delivery phase. Companies distribute those products, services and ideas to their customers and consumers and customers receive the product offering and the value created 4. The determination phase. Companies determine whether or not what customers receive really fits their needs or not and it not, redesign the product until it does fit their needs, and provide the customer with real value (or the organisation goes out of business). This process is cyclical, because products usually begin with the determination phase. There is a feedback loop to determine whether this product suits customers’ needs. These processes are influenced and dependent upon society and are regulated by government. Marketing: Ancient or Brand New? Marketing as a coherent approach to business has been around since the early 1920s. 1. Production period, 1890s-1920s: focus on physical production and supply, where demand exceeded supply, there was little competition, and the range of products was limited. This phase took place after the industrial revolution. 2. Sales Period, 1920s-1950s: focus on personal selling supported by market research and advertising. This phase took place after WW1. . Marketing Period, 1950s-1980s: more advanced focus on customer needs. This phase took place after WW2. 4. Societal Marketing Period, 1980s-present: stronger focus on social and ethical concerns in marketing. Marketing as a discipline has developed through the influence of practitioners, and through developments in the areas of industrial economics, psychology, sociology, and anthropology, (see page 9 for theorists): * I ndustrial Economics Influences – our knowledge of matching supply with demand comes from the development of microeconomics. Psychological Influences – our knowledge of consumer behaviour comes principally from psychology, particularly motivational research in relation to consumer attitudes, perceptions, motivations, and information processing. * Sociological Influences – our knowledge of how groups of people behave comes mainly from sociology, with insights into areas, such as how people from similar gender and age groups behave. * Anthropological Influences – our debt to social anthropology increases more as we use qualitative market research approaches such as observation to research consumer behaviour. Differences between Sales and Marketing Selling: Product push Marketing: Product pull Marketing * Tends towards long term satisfaction of customer needs * Tends to greater input into customer design of offering (co-creation) * Tends to high focus on stimulation of demand Sales * Tends towards short-term satisfaction of customer needs. * Tends to lesser input into customer design of offering (co-creation) * Tends to low focus on stimulation of demand, more focused on meeting existing demand What do Marketers Do? . Provide marketing intelligence and customer insight 2. Provide strategic marketing direction for the organisation 3. Develop the customer proposition 4. Manage and provide marketing communications 5. Use and develop marketing and customer information 6. Lead marketing operations and programmes 7. Work with other business functions and 3rd parties 8. Manage and develop teams and individuals Marketers at different levels of organisation will undertake different components of t hese functions at different levels. Generally, senior marketer/marketing director will guide and direct these functions, while the marketing manager will manage them, the marketing executive will undertake the actions necessary to fulfil these functions, and the marketing assistant will support the marketing executive (CIM, 2OO5). The Marketing Mix and the 4 Ps There are some general concepts that help managers frame their actions as they develop their marketing plans and undertake marketing tactics. The marketing manager was a â€Å"mixer of ingredients†, a chef who concocted a unique marketing recipe to fit the requirements of the customers’ needs at any particular time. Eugene McCarthy (1960) simplified and amended the memorable 4ps from previous lists: 1. Product – the offering and how it meets the customers’ needs, packaging and labelling. 2. Place (distribution) – the way in which the product meets customers’ needs. 3. Price – the cost to the customer, and how the cost plus profit to the seller 4. Promotion – how the product’s benefits and features are conveyed to the potential buyer Extended Marketing Mix for Services: the 7Ps American scholars, Boom and Bitner (1981), incorporated a further 3Ps into the marketing mix: 5. Physical evidence – to emphasise that the tangible components of services were strategically important since customers used these to infer what the quality of the service might be e. g. students requesting brochures of different universities, to pick the course most suitable. 6. Process – because service delivery cannot be separated from the customer consumption process. Process is included because of the need to manage customer expectations, interaction and satisfaction. E. g. track and trace delivery services. 7. People – included to emphasise that services are delivered by customer service personnel, sometimes experts and often professionals who interact with the customer sometimes in an intimate manner (e. g. spa treatments). How they interact with customers, and how satisfied customers are as a result, is of strategic importance. Market Orientation * Marketing Orientation: a company that increases the importance of marketing within the organisation, e. g. by appointing a marketing person to its board of directors. * Market Orientation: doesn’t just involve marketing. Involves all aspect of the company, gathering and responding to market intelligence (i. e. customers’ verbalised needs and preferences, market research etc) Developing a market orientation means developing the following: * Customer orientation * Competitor orientation * Interfunctional orientation Organisations that manage to develop a market orientation are better at market sensing (understanding the strategic implications of the market for a particular organisation). Relationship Marketing Organisations must keep relationships with the parties exchanging value. 1. Suppliers 2. Potential employees . Recruiters 4. Referral markets – where they exist (banks rely on professional services i. e. estate agents for mortgage referrals) 5. Influence markets – e. g. government bodies for companies in the public sector 6. Internal markets – e. g. existing employees Relationship marketing concerns the integration of customer service and quality assurance. Customer re tention is more important to companies than customer acquisition. Research proves that retention is more profitable than acquisition: * Customers will increase their purchases over time * Customers cheaper to promote to Customers who are happy with their relationship with a company are happy to refer to others The Consumer Services Perspective Some commentators argue that products and services have significant differences and similarities: Services: * Cannot be protected by a patent * Do not make use of packaging * Lack a physical display * Cannot be demonstrated in the same way However there are major similarities, including the need to: * Work at full capacity * Develop trade and service marks * Use promotional media * Use personal selling techniques The five characteristics of service products Service industries are generally seen to have 5 important differentiating characteristics: 1. Intangibility – enhancing physical environment, producing brochures, leaflets, by obtaining service quality kite marks. 2. Inseparability – production and consumption are inseparable in service markets. There is a need to manage carefully relationships between clients and their customers, managing their expectations of the quality of the service that they receive. 3. Variability – the quality and standard of service products varies depending on the individual customer and the service provider. Can be difficult to monitor and control service production to ensure consistent service standards. 4. Perishability – services cannot be stored and consumed at a later date, unless they are recorded. Service-based businesses must maximise how much their facilities are used through yield management. E. g. offering discounts at specific times. 5. Non-ownership – customers cannot own the service they receive because ownership is not transferred from the seller to the buyer as it is with a tangible good. The Business to Business Perspective The emphasis in b2b markets is strongly focused on the development and building of mutually satisfying relationships based on commitment and trust, to win the contract in the first place. B2b marketers can create a competitive advantage if they develop a linkage between the marketing and logistics functions, developing a strong customer service proposition on the following items: * Reduction in order cycle times * Simple accurate invoicing procedures * Consistent and reliable delivery * Simple and effective claims procedures * Availability of inventory Good condition of goods and effective service delivery * Flexible delivery times * Strong after-sales support What Impact Marketing has on Society It is important to be critical of marketing. As beneficial as it can be, by providing wants and needs of customers and consumers, with higher technology, more ethical products, with it can also come by marketing bad products, such as alcohol. Cigarettes have been banned to be advertised, but it is important to recognise that not all companies market products for the greater good, but because they can make a profit. Chapter 2: The Marketing Environment . External Environment 2. Performance Environment 3. Internal Environment The external environment consists of the political, social, and technological influences, and organisations have relatively little influence on each of these things. The performance environment consists of the competitors, suppliers, and indirect service providers who shape the way an organisation achieves its objectives. Here, organisations have a much stronger level of influence. The internal environment concerns the resources, processes, and polices an organisation manages in order that it can attempt to achieve its goals. These elements can be influences directly by an organisation. Understanding the External Environment The Political Environment The political environment relates to the period of interaction between business, society, and government before those laws are enacted, when they are still being formed, or are in dispute. Political environment analysis is a critical phase in environment scanning because companies can then detect potential legal and regulatory changes in their industries and so they can have a chance to impede, influence, and alter that legislation. The Economic Environment Companies have to develop an understanding of the economic environment in which they operate and trade. The external environment of a firm is affected, but not exclusively, by the following items: * Wage Inflation * Price Inflation * Gross Domestic Product (per capita) – combined output of goods and services in a particular nation and is a useful measure for determining relative wealth between countries * Income, sales, and corporation taxes – taxes run at different levels all around the world, substantially affecting how we market goods and services * Exchange rates Export quota controls and duties All these factors can change the amount a company charges for its products and services. Companies need to understand how prices or labour costs change if we are importing goods and services, or even components, from another country. The difficulty comes in comparing prices from one country to another. Firms usually have little impact on the macroeconomic environment since t hey have little control over macroeconomic variables, e. g. oil prices, which might affect their business. The Socio-Cultural Environment Lifestyles are constantly changing and consumers are constantly shifting their preferences over time. Companies who fail to recognise this will ultimately fail. Companies must consider the nature of households, lifestyles and the family structure, and the changing values in society or in a consumer group as important variables in their scanning process. The Technological Environment The emergence of new technologies can substantially affect not only high-technology businesses but non-technology businesses as well. Examples include those aspects of technology which impact upon productivity and efficiency. New technology is increasingly changing the way that companies go to market through moves towards more email and web-based marketing. The difficulty for most firms is how to determine whether or not to invest in radical new technologies, since the potential benefits are far from clear at the outset. The Legal Environment The legal environment covers every aspect of an organisation’s business. Laws and regulation are enacted in most countries ranging from the transparency of pricing, minimum wages, business taxes, product safety, packaging and labelling, the abuse of a dominant market position. All of these come under the umbrella of the legal environment. The Ecological Environment Concept of sustainability in marketing and corporate (social) responsibility. Increasingly, customers are being worried about the impact of companies on their ecological environments. Consumers are equally concerned with ensuring that products are not sourced from countries with poor and coercive labour policies. Orsato (2006) suggested that a company should adopt one of the following four different green marketing strategies: 1. Eco-efficiency – developing lower costs through resource productivity (e. . energy efficiency). This approach should be adopted by companies which need to focus on reducing the cost and environmental impact of their processes. 2. Beyond compliance leadership – the adoption of a differentiation strategy through organisational processes such as certified schemes to demonstrate their ecological credentials. This approach should be adopted by firms which suppl y industrial markets, such as car manufacturers. 3. Eco-branding – the differentiation of a firm’s products or services to promote environmental responsibility. For example, BP – formerly British petroleum – who changed their logo to make it green and yellow in a flower petal and sun synthesis, which they call the Helios, and slogan to â€Å"beyond petroleum† to reflect their intended shift in meeting the world’s energy requirements to more sustainable sources. 4. Environmental cost leadership – the offering of products and services which give greater environmental benefits at a lower price. This strategy suits firms operating in price-sensitive ecologically sensitive markets, such as the packaging and chemical industries. Chapter 3: Marketing Psychology and Consumer Buying Behaviour Diffusion Process Consumers purchase products at different times in the product life cycle. 1. Innovators: kick starts adoption process 2. Early Adopters: speeds up adoption process. Opinion leaders. 3. Early Majority: more risk averse than other 2 groups. This group requires reassurance. 4. Late Majority: sceptical of new ideas. Only adopt products due to social/economic factors. 5. Laggards: opinions hard to change. Small majority. Lowest income and social status. Suspicious of new ideas Innovators: 2. 5% of population Early adopters: 13. 5% of population Early majority: 34% of population Late majority: 34% of population Laggards: 16% of population It is likely that a promotional campaign should only be targeted at innovators and the early majority. Word of mouth and reputation will get round to the late majority and laggards. People are classified into these groups, but the type of people in the groups can swap and change depending on the type of product. Consumer Product Acquisition Motive Development Information Gathering Product Evaluation Product Selection Acquisition Re-evaluation Motive Development: the model begins when we decide we need to acquire a product. This involves initial recognition that some sort of problem needs solving, i. . need a new dress Information Gathering: the next stage requires us to look for alternative ways of solving our problem. We are open to ways of solving our problem, i. e. looking online Product Evaluation: once we feel we have all the information that we need to make a decision, we evaluate the products, i. e. choose between 2 dresses Product Selection: the pr oduct we eventually select is the one that we evaluate as fitting our needs best beforehand. This is a separate stage because there are times when we must re-evaluate, because what we want may not be right, or not available, i. . pick best dress Acquisition: once selection has taken place, different approaches to product acquisition might exist. It is important for the marketers to ensure that their customer value the product that they receive, i. e. buy online, with chance to return within 14 days, free delivery etc. Re-evaluation: the theory of cognitive dissonance (Festinger, 1957) suggests that we are motivated to re-evaluate our beliefs, attitudes and opinions. To reduce dissonance, we might: * Selectively forget information * Minimize the importance of an issue, decision or act Selectively expose ourselves to information which agrees with our existing view * Reverse a purchase decision (take product pack) Perceptions Consumer understanding very much depends on how effectively the message is both transmitted and perceived. In any one day, consumers receive thousands of messages. AMA, 2007: Based on prior attitudes, beliefs, needs, stimulus factors, and situational determinant, individuals perceive objects, events of people in the world about the. Perception is the cognitive impression that is formed of â€Å"reality† which in turn influences the individual’s actions and behaviour toward that object. The process of screening such meaningful information from the non-meaningful is known as selective exposure (Dubois, 2000). The implication for marketers is the importance of determining what media your customers use, and which they ignore. Perceptual mapping is a useful tool to determine how consumers perceive competing products and services, by comparing labels, brands and products, by rating those using semantic differential questions. Learning Consumers are continually learning about new product characteristics, their performance and new trends. Learning is the process by which we acquire new knowledge and skills, attitudes and values, through the mediums of study, experience, or modelling others’ behaviour. There are numerous theories of human learning, including classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and social learning. Classical Conditioning: Ian Pavlov stated that classical conditioning occurs, because we learn by associating one thing with another, in Pavlov’s case, the sound of the bell and arrival of food made the dogs salivate, so eventually, just by the sound of the bell, the dogs assumed that food would arrive. Operant Conditioning: Skinner (1954) argued that learning was the result of operant conditioning, which is learnt through behaviour reinforcement, through punishment or reward. Social Learning: Bandura (1977) suggested humans are much more thoughtful and less animalistic than the Skinnerian behaviourist school of learning suggested. Also contrasting to operant conditioning, Bandura argued that we can delay gratification and dispense our own rewards our punishment. In other words, we have more choice over how we react to stimuli than Skinner proposed. We can reflect on our own actions and change our future behaviour. In social learning, we learn by observing the behaviour of others. Memory Knowledge develops with familiarity, repetition of marketing messages, and consumers acquisition of product/service information. According to Bettman (1979) our memories are highly complex, there are a variety of memorisation processes which affect consumer choice, some of which include the following: 1. Recognition and recall – less frequently used words in advertising are recognised more. The more unique a campaign’s message, the better it is recognised, but the worse it is recalled. 2. Effects of context – memorisation is strongly associated with the context of the stimulus, and while information may be available in memory it will be inaccessible in the wrong context. 3. Form of coding and storage of objects in memory – subjects may store information in the form it is presented to them, either by object (brand) or dimension (product/service attribute). 4. Effect of processing load – this concept operates from a capacity allocation theory of memory suggesting that we are likely to find it more difficult to process information into our short and long term memories when we are presented with a great deal of info at once. . Effects of input mode – short term recall of auditory input (i. e. sound) is stronger than the short term recall of visual input (sight) where the 2 compete for the consumers attention. 6. Effects of repetition – recall and recognition of marketing messages increase the more times a consumer is exposed to them alth ough there are decreasing increments in memory performance and repetition increases. Personality How and what we buy is also based on our personalities. Personality: the aspect of our psyche that determines the way in which we respond to our environment in a relatively stable way over time. 3 main approaches: . Psychoanalytic approach – stresses self-reported unconscious desires 2. Trait theory – stresses classification of personality types 3. Self concept approach – concerned with how we perceive ourselves as consumers. Psychoanalytic Approach Freud (1927) stated that someone’s personality is determined by their sexual development through the oral, anal, phallic, latent, and genital stages. An adult’s personality is developed according to how well they cope with crises that occur during these 5 phases. ID – instinctual drives and urges Ego – attempts to find outlets for the urges in our id and acts as a planning centre. Moderated by superego. Superego – controls how we motivate ourselves to behave to responds to our instincts and urges, so that we do in a socially acceptable manner, and avoid any feelings of guilt or shame. Social conscience. Trait Approach This approach categorises people into different personality types. There are 20 needs. E. g. autonomy, aggression, and achievement. Maslow (1943) suggested a hierarchical order of human needs: Self-actualisation Needs The need to fulfil our potential Esteem Needs Valued and respected by self and others Belongingness Needs Affection, attachment, friendship Safety Needs A predictable non-threatening environment Physiological Needs Food, water, oxygen, sex, and shelter from the elements The importance of each level ranges from country to country, as some needs are more readily available than others. Chapter 4: Marketing Research and Marketing Information Systems Marketing research is used to obtain information that provides the management of a company with sufficient insight to make more informed decisions on future activities. For a business to be successful, an organisation must understand the motivations, desires and behaviour of its customers and consumers. Marketing research specifies the information required to address certain issues; design methods for manage and implement the data collection process; analyse the results and communicate the findings and their implications. (ESOMAR 1995) Even though marketing research is the foundational element of modern marketing practice, market research is valued by some companies more than others. Commissioning Marketing Research Conducting market research depends largely on the size of the company and the type of product or service being sold. Some large companies employ market research agencies to conduct their research for them. The main advantage of using agencies is that it is relatively cheap compared with undertaking the research in-house and collecting the data independently. The main disadvantages of using agencies are that the agency sometimes cannot achieve the depth of knowledge of the client’s problems or market unless it offers a niche specialism in this area. In many syndicated surveys, (retail audits etc) several rival organisations buy the same data from the agency, so a cost effective survey can be carried out. However the survey could be less specific to each business. The Marketing Research Brief Typical contents might include the following: * Background summary – brief info and details about the company and its products it offers * Management problem – clear statement of why the research should be undertaken and which business decisions are dependent upon its outcome * The marketing research questions – a detailed list of the information necessary in order to make the decisions outlined above * The intended scope of the research – the areas to be covered, which industries, type of consumer etc. Should be provided. Should give an indication of when the info is required and why that date is important * Tendering procedures – the client organisation should outline how agencies are to be selected as a result of the tendering process. Specific info may be required such as CVs from agency personnel to be involved in the study, and referee contact address The Marketing Research Process Stage 1 – define the problem Stage 2 – decide the research plan Stage 3 – undertake the data collection Stage 4 – undertake the data analysis/interpretation Stage 5 – write the report and deliver the presentation See book for detailed descriptions, page 144 Competitive Intelligence and Marketing In formation Systems It’s no good having lots of data unless you know how to use it. Companies are frequently swimming in data but have no means to convert the data into intelligence or no means to store it and provide it to end users. Competitive Intelligence – the organised, professional approach to collection, analysis, and distribution of timely, accurate and useful information as intelligence products – intelligence that contributes materially to the achievement of strategic and tactical business objectives (Nolan, 1999). There are various techniques used which include: * Use remote psychological assessment tools to build profiles of business opponents * Collecting competitive intelligence at conferences and trade shows * Collecting information on rivals from their customers and suppliers using elicitation techniques * Collecting intelligence on rivals from 3rd parties using elicitation techniques Marketing Research and Ethics Many supermarkets adopt loyalty cards. The major value of such schemes is the provision of consumption information. This data is analysed by a 3rd party, and sold to the company. Since marketing research is based on the cooperation of the individuals or organisations that provide the answers or fill in the questionnaires, marketing research should be carried out in an objective, unobtrusive, and honest manner. Researchers have been particularly concerned about the public’s increased unwillingness to take part in market research. Marketing research should neither attempt to induce sales of a product or service, nor influence customer attitudes, or intentions of behaviours. The general public and other parties are entitled to assurances that no information collected in a research survey will be used to identify them, or disclosed to a 3rd party without their consent. In conducting any marketing research, researchers have responsibility for themselves, their clients and the respondents from whom the information is being gathered. International Marketing Research Marketing researchers need to understand how culture operates in international markets and how this impacts upon research design. More variables need to be considered. Difficult to decide whether to use the same sampling frame, or study using different scales, sampling methods and sizing. The key issue faced by international researchers is to ensure comparable data are collected, despite differences in sampling frames, technological development and availability of interviewers. Conceptual Equivalence – when interpretation of behaviour or objects, is similar across countries. Functional Equivalence – a concept has similar functions in different countries Translation Equivalence – words in some languages have no real equivalent in other languages The International Marketing Survey Research Process . The project is discussed at length with the client 2. The fieldwork agencies for each country are selected 3. The questionnaire is developed centrally 4. The questionnaire is translated locally and the translation is checked centrally 5. The questionnaire is piloted locally 6. The questionnaire is finalised centrally 7. The interviewe rs are briefed locally by an executive of the central company 8. A coding and editing plan is provided for the local agencies 9. The edited and coded questionnaires are returned to the head office 10. A coding and editing check is carried out centrally 11. Data processing is carried out centrally Chapter 6 : Market Segmentation and Positioning The STP Process The method by which whole markets are subdivided into different segments is referred to as the STP process. STP refers to the 3 activities that should be undertaken. These are: 1. Segmentation 2. Targeting 3. Positioning Marketers are increasingly segmenting markets and indentifying attractive segments in order to identify new product opportunities, develop suitable positioning, and communicate strategies (i. . what message to communicate), and effectively allocate resources to key marketing activities (i. e. how much should we spend and where? ). Organisations operating in highly dynamic environments seek to conduct segmentation research at regular intervals to keep in touch with changes in the marketplace. Key benefits of STP process include: * Enhancing a company’s competitive position by providing direction and foc us for marketing strategies – such as targeted advertising, new product development and brand differentiation. Examining and identifying growth opportunities in the market through the identification of new customers, growth segments, or new product uses. * More effective and efficient matching of company resources to targeted market segments promises the greatest return on marketing investment. The Concept of Market Segmentation Market segmentation is the division of a market into different groups of customers with distinctly similar needs and product/service requirements. The purpose of market segmentation is to leverage scarce resources, to ensure that the elements of the marketing mix are designed to meet particular needs of different customer groups. With an increasing proliferation of tastes in modern society, consumers have increased in disposable incomes. As a result, marketers have sought to design product and service offerings around the consumer demand (market segmentation) more than around their own production needs (product differentiation) The process of Market Segmentation There are 2 main approaches to segmenting markets. 1. Breakdown Method – this adopts the view that the market is considered to consist of customers which are essentially the same, so the task is to identify groups which share particular differences. 2. Build-up Method – considers a market to consist of customers that are all different, so here the task is to find similarities. The breakdown approach is perhaps the most established and well recognized and is the main method used for segmenting consumer markets. The build up approach seeks to move from the individual level where all customers are different, to a more general level of analysis based on the identification of similarities. The aim of both methods is to identify segments in the market where identifiable differences exist between members within each segment (member homogeneity) The segmentation process varies according to the prevailing conditions in the marketplace and the changing needs of the parties involved, not simply the needs of the selling organisation. Market Segmentation in Consumer Markets To segment the consumer goods and service markets, we use market information we have collected based on certain key customer/product/situation related criteria (variables). These are classified as segmentation bases, they include profile, behavioural, and psychological criteria. The 4th segmentation criteria is contact data. The population can be segmented and analysed through various ways: * Demographics * Lifecycle * Geographics * Geodemographics * Psychographics * Behavioural criteria Transaction and purchase: the development of electronic technologies has facilitated the rapid growth in the collection of consumer purchase and transactional data, providing an additional consumer characteristic upon which to base market segmentation. Segmentation in Business Markets There are 2 main groups of interrelated variables used to segment business-to-business markets: 1. Organisational characteristics: organisational size/location/industry type (SIC codes). 2. Buyer characteristics: Decision-making unit structure/choice criteria/purchase situation. Organisational size: by segmenting organisations by size, it is possible to identify particular buying requirements. Geographic location: particularly useful since it allows sales territories to be drawn up around particular locations which salespersons can easily service. SIC codes: Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes are often used to get an indication of the size of a particular market. Easily accessible and standardised across most western countries. Decision-making unit: a decision making unit may have specific requirements that influence their purchase decisions in a particular market, i. e. policies, purchasing strategies, attitudes towards vendors and towards risk. Choice criteria: business markets can be segmented on the basis of the specifications of product/service that they choose. Purchase Situation: there are 3 factors associated with the purchase situation. 1. The structure of the buying organisation’s purchasing procedures (centralised, flexible etc). 2. What type of buying situation is present (new task, modified re buy, straight re buy) 3. What stage in the purchase decision process have target organisations reached? Target Markets It is important to determine which, if any, of the segments uncovered should be targeted and made the focus of a comprehensive marketing programme. It needs to be judged which markets are selected and exploited, and which markets are ignored. Kotler (1984) suggested that for market segmentation to be effective, all segments must be: * Distinct Accessible * Measurable * Profitable Targeting Approaches Once identified the company needs to select its approach to target marketing it is going to adopt. Four differing approaches can be considered: 1. Undifferentiated marketing e. g. UK post office, targets mass market. 2. Differentiated marketing e. g. Levi’s, targets multiple market segments. 3. Focu sed/concentrated marketing e. g. Jordan cereal targets consumers interested in organic. 4. Customised marketing: B2B markets (e. g. marketing research or advertising services) Market Segmentation: Some Limitations The process involves approximating product/service offering to the needs of customer groups, rather than providing an individual customised offering, there is a chance that our customers’ needs are not being fully met. * There is insufficient consideration of how market segmentation is linked to competitive advantage. Market segmentation has not tended to stress the need to segment on the basis of differentiating from competitors. * It is unclear how valuable segmentation is to the manager. Suitable processes and models to indicate how to measure the effectiveness of market segmentation processes are not yet available. Process issues – lack of experience, guidance and expertise concerning the way in which segmentation is undertaken and managed. Positioning Ha ving segmented the market, determined the size and potential of market segments, and selected specific target markets, the 3rd part of the STP process is to position a brand within the target market. Positioning is important because it is the means by which goods and services can be differentiated from one another and so give consumers a reason to buy. It’s about how customers judge a product’s value relative to competitors and its ability to deliver against the promises made. . Physical attributes – functionality and capability that a brand offers. 2. Communication – the way the brand is communicated and how consumers perceive the brand relative to other competing brands in the marketplace. Perceptual Mapping Perceptual mapping represents a geometric comparison of how competing products are perceived. The further apart the positions, the greater the opportunity for new brands to enter the market, because competition is less intense. Repositioning Strateg ies Markets, consumer tastes, fashions and competitors change. There are four main ways to approach repositioning a product. . Change the tangible attributes and then communicate the new product to the same market. 2. Change the way a product is communicated to the original market. 3. Change the target market and deliver the same product 4. Change both the product attributes and the target market. Chapter 9: Products, Services, and Branding Decisions The 3 levels of a product: 1. The core product – consists of the real core benefit or service. May be a functional benefit in terms of what the product will enable you to do, or an emotional benefit in terms of how it will make you feel. E. g. cars provide transportation and a means of self-expression. 2. The embodied product – consists of the physical good or delivered service that provides the expected benefit. E. g. features, durability, design, packaging, brand name etc. 3. The augmented product – consists of the embodied product plus all other factors necessary to support the purchase. E. g. credit and finance, training, delivery, installation, guarantees. Consumer Products Durable goods: can be used repeatedly and provide benefits each time they are used e. g. ike, Ipod Non-durable goods: limited duration, often only capable of being used once e. g. yoghurt, newspaper Convenience products can be sub-divided into 3 categories: 1. Stable products: bread, milk, petrol 2. Impulse products: chewing gum, chocolate, magazines 3. Emergency products: bandages, umbrella, plumber in the middle of the night when there’s a leak. Unsought products refers to a group of products which people do not normall y anticipate buying or want to buy. For example, insurance sold on the streets, double glazing, and timeshare holiday (mainly products pushed to buy from salespeople). Business Products There are 6 main categories identified according to how organisational customers (business people) use them: 1. Equipment goods 2. Raw materials 3. Semi-finished goods 4. Maintenance repair and operating goods 5. Component parts 6. Business services Product Lifecycles Product lifecycle is the belief that products move through a sequential, predetermined pattern of development. It consists of 5 distinct stages: 1. Development 2. Introduction 3. Growth 4. Maturity 5. Decline Speed of movement through the stages will vary but each product has a limited lifespan. The lifespan can be prolonged and extended, but the majority of products have a finite period. It does not apply to all products in the same way. E. g. some products reach the end of the introduction stage and then die as it becomes clear there is no market to sustain the product. Some products get to decline, and then get recycled back to growth stage by repositioning activities. Usefulness of Product Life Cycle The plc (product life cycle) concept allows marketing managers to adapt strategies and tactics to meet the needs of evolving conditions and product circumstances. It is a well known and popular concept and is a useful means of explaining the path a product or brand has taken. Clear, simple and predictable. However, in practice the PLC is not great use. Difficult to tell when the product has hit each stage in the cycle. Historical sales data does not help managers identify when a product has moved from one stage to another, so it is difficult to forecast sales and determine the future shape of the PLC curve. Great care is required when using the PLC. Idea Generation Idea Generation Screening Business Plans and Market Analysis Product Development and Selection Test Marketing Commercialisation The Process of Adoption The process through which individuals accept and use new products is referred to as the process of adoption (Rogers 1983). The process starts with people gaining awareness of a product and moves through various stages of adaptation before a purchase is eventually made. 1. Knowledge 2. Persuasion 3. Decision 4. Implementation 5. Confirmation Branding Branding is a method through which manufacturers and retailers help customers to differentiate between the various offerings in a market. It enables them to make associations with certain attributes or feelings with a particular brand. Brands are products and services that have added value. This value has been deliberately designed and presented by marketing managers in an attempt to augment their products with values and association that are recognised by and are meaningful to customers. It is customer perception and the brand’s value which is important. AMA definition: a name, term, sign, symbol, design or a combination, intended to identify the goods, or services of one seller or group of sellers, and to differentiate them from those of competitors (2006). There are 2 main types of attributes: 1. Intrinsic – functional characteristics of a product, such as shape, performance etc. 2. Extrinsic – brand name, price, packaging, marketing communications etc. Benefits of branding for consumers: * Assists people to identify their preferred products * Reduces level of perceived risk * Help people gauge the level of product quality * Reduces amount of time spent making product based decisions, decreases shop time. * Provide psychological reassurance or reward, especially for products bought on an occasional basis (e. g. esigner handbag) * Inform consumers about the source of a product (country or company) Benefits of branding for manufacturers and retailers: * Enable premium pricing * Help differentiate the product from competitive offerings * Encourage cross-selling to other brands owned by the manufacturer * Develop customer loyalty/retention and repeat purchase buyer behaviour * Assist the development and use of integrated mark eting communications * Contribute to corporate identity programmes * Provide some legal protection Types of Brands * Manufacturer brands: Persil, Heinz, coca-cola, Cadbury. Promoted heavily. Distributor (own label) brands: Argos, Harvey Nichols, Sainsburys. Sell manufactured and own label. * Generic brands: plain flour. Packaging only displays info required by law. Sold at prices substantially below normal price. Only firms in pharmaceutical sector use this type of brand now, as popularity elsewhere has declined. Brand Policies Individual branding: requires that each product offered by an organisation is branded independently of all the others. E. g. Unilever uses individual branding with Cif, Knorr and Dove. Advantages: * Easy to target specific segments and to enter new markets with separate names. If a brand fails or becomes subject to negative media attention, other brands are not likely to be damaged. Disadvantages * Heavy financial cost as each brand needs to have its own prom otional programme and associated support. Family branding: requires that all the products use the organisations name, either entirely or in part. E. g. Microsoft, Heinz, and Kellogg’s. Advantages: * It is hoped that customer trust will develop across all brands. * Promotional investment need not be as high as there will be a halo effect across all the brands when one is communicated. Disadvantages: * Damage to one product or operational area can cause problems across the organisation. Corporate branding: Single umbrella brand, based on the name of the organisation. Used by major supermarkets, business markets, and financial services. Advantages: * Promotional investments are limited to one brand. Disadvantages: * The risk is similar to family branding where damage to one product or operational area can cause problems across the organisation. Co-branding is where two established brands work together, either on one product or service. Brand Equity is a measure of the value of a brand. It is an assessment of a brand’s wealth, sometimes referred to as goodwill. Brand equity is considered important because of the increasing interest in trying to measure the return on promotional investments and pressure by various stakeholders to value brands for balance sheet purposes. A brand with strong equity is more likely to be able to preserve its customer loyalty and so fend off competitor attacks. There are 3 parts associated with brand equity: 1. Brand value, based on a financial and accounting base 2. Brand strength, measuring the strength of a consumer’s attachment to a brand 3. Brand description, represented by the specific attitudes customers have towards a brand Packaging There is a societal and political pressure to ensure that packaging and the materials used are appropriate and capable of being recycled. Packaging has 2 main roles to be, functional and communicative. * Protection * Preserved * Convenience * Clear messages about content, features, and dangers * Good design (complement physical attributes) * Brand identification and reassurance * Layout Labelling Labels are important. Deliver information about product usage * Help promote a brand * Enable brand owners to comply with various regulations and requirements * Good design Chapter 10: Price Decisions Price: the amount of money expected, required, or given in payment for something Price: something expended or endured in order to achieve an object In marketing terms, we consider price as the amount the customer has to pay or exchange to receive a good or service. Customer Perceptions of Pricing, Quality and Value Quality is defined as the standard of something as measured against other things of a similar kind. Consumers have differing views of the quality of the product they have purchased. Value is defined as the regard that something is held to deserve importance of worth. In marketing terms, perceived value refers to what we get for what we pay. Value = Quality/Price Although products might be perceived as expensive, they can still be perceived as value for money (e. g. Panadol is an expensive drug, but is more effective than own-label aspirin) Reference Prices: when customers have some idea of what they think is a fair price to pay for a certain good or service, or what they would expect to pay. When customers assess prices, they estimate value using pricing cues, because they do not always know the true cost and price of the item that they are purchasing. Odd Number Pricing: also known as psychological pricing. ?1. 99, we think is a lot cheaper than it is. Purchase Context in Pricing: starting off with cheaper prices before adding in extras (easy jet), or gym memberships with a small monthly fee but with a yearly contract. Consumers are drawn in more if they initially see a low price. Price Bundling: bundling other products together, e. g. magazines with free CD’s or DVD’s. This is pure price bundling. Mixed price bundling is when different products can be bundled together through choice, such as mobile phone packages with international call packages, SMS packages, and email, which can also be available independently or with other offers. Price bundles can also include â€Å"cash back† not just offering products. For example banks offer cash back schemes on money spent and inputted in their banks (Halifax pay ? 5 every month is ? 1000 is put into a current account). Pricing Approaches The setting of prices depends on a number of factors, such as demand, sales revenue, costs etc. There are 4 types of pricing approaches which can be used: 1. Cost-oriented approach (prices are set based on costs) 2. Demand –oriented approach (prices are based on price sensitivity and levels of demand) 3. Competitor-oriented approach (where prices are set based on what competitors charge) 4. Value-oriented approach (prices are set based on what customers believe to offer value) Pricing Policies Although there are 4 main types of pricing approaches, there are in fact many different possible pricing policies which could be used: 1. List pricing: unsophisticated approach to pricing. A single price is set for a product or service. 2. Loss leader pricing: the price of a product is set at a lower level than actual cost to product it. This entices customers into stores, and the loss incurred on these items is made up by increasing costs elsewhere on less price-sensitive items. 3. Promotional pricing: when companies temporarily reduce their prices below the standard price for a period of time to raise awareness of the product, to raise brand awareness in the short term. 4. Segmentation pricing: where varying prices are set for different groups of customers, e. g. tesco finest, tesco value, George asda, etc. Economists call this price discrimination. 5. Price skimming: the start of a product’s life cycle, a product is charged a lot higher, to recoup the costs of research and development, and to make the product â€Å"exclusive†. 6. Price penetration: the start of a product’s life cycle, a product is charged a lot lower, to gain market share and generate a large volume of sales to recoup research and development investment. Pricing in the B2B Setting B2B markets exist on the basis that firms sell products and services to one another rather than to end users. From the B2B seller’s perspective, there re numerous approaches to pricing products and services including the following: * Geographical pricing – where customers are located * Negotiated pricing – set according to specific agreements between company and client * Discount pricing – reduce prices on the basis that customer is prepared to bulk buy * Value-in-use pricing – price foc uses attention upon customer perceptions, what they expect to pay * Relationship pricing – understanding of customer’s needs, helps generate relationship * Transfer pricing – large organisations, internal dealing between different divisions of the company and across national boundaries. Economic value to customer – works on basis that a company prices a good according to its value to the client through comparison with a reference or market leading product, taking everything into consideration (start-up and post-purchase costs) Price Elasticity of Demand It allows us to determine how the quantity of a good or service relates to the price at which it is offered. Inelastic goods and services are defined as such, because a change in price has little effect in sales volumes, whereas elastic goods have large effects. We need to understand this concept in order to understand demand-orientated pricing mechanisms. Chapter 11: An Introduction to Marketing Communications Marketing communications or promotion is one of the 4ps of the marketing mix. It is used to communicate elements of an organisation’s offering to a target audience. Communication is the process by which individuals share meaning. There are 3 main models or interpretations, of how communication works. 1. Linear model 2. Two-way model 3. Interactive model Linear Model of Communication – page 434 Regarded as the basic model of mass communications. First developed by Wilbur Schramm (1955). The linear model emphasises that each phase occurs in a particular sequence, to enable to transmission of information, ideas, attitudes and emotion from one person or group to another. The goal is to create a message that is capable of being comprehended easily by the receiver. once encoded, the message must be put in a form that is capable of transmission. Once the receiver has received the message, they decode it, to make sense of it. Once understood, receivers react and provide a response, with feedback. The final component is understanding. The source and receiver understand each other. Increasing numbers of people now engage with interactive based communications, so companies and individuals cannot be involved in real dialogue. The linear model therefore is no longer entirely appropriate. The Two-Step Model of Communication People can have a significant impact on the communication process, and the two-step model goes some way to reflecting their influence. It recognises the importance of personal influences when informing and persuading audiences to think or behave in particular ways. There are 2 main types of influencer: * Opinion leader – ordinary person who has a heightened interest in a particular topic. * Opinion former – involved professionally in the topic of interest. These both have enormous potential to influence audiences. Messages from personal influencers provide reinforcement and message credibility. The Interaction Model of Communications Model is similar to two-step model but contains one important difference. Mass media is not the only source of communication. Interaction model recognises that messages can flow through various channels and that people can influence the direction and impact of a message. Interaction is about actions that lead to a response and much attention is now given to the interaction that occurs between people. The development of digital technologies has been instrumental in enabling organisations to provide increased interaction opportunities with their customers. (e. g. press the red button to get more info). News programmes now encourage viewers to phone or send in their emails and pictures about particular issues. This gets audiences to express their views and in doing so, promoting access to, and interacting with the programme. The Role of Marketing Communications The success of marketing communications depends upon the extent to which messages engage their audiences. These audiences can fall into 3 groups: * Customers * Channel members – suppliers, retailers, wholesalers, value added resellers * Stakeholders – shareholders, employees, local community There are many types of exchange, but 2 of particular importance: 1. Transactional Exchanges: transactions that occur independently of any previous exchanges. Short term orientation. When a consumer buys an mp3 player, a brand they have not bought from before, then a transactional exchange can be identified. . Collaborative Exchanges: longer term orientation. Develops between parties who wish to build long-term supportive relationships. When a consumer buys their 3rd product from the same brand as the mp3 player, perhaps from the same dealer, collaborative exchanges are taking place. Audiences who prefer transactional exchanges will engage better with advertising and mass media-base d communications, as messages are impersonal and product focused. Companies by adding extra touches, can convert a shopping experience from transactional to collaborative, by putting in extra effort to maintain relationships. The Tasks of Marketing Communications There are 3 main aspects associated with marketing communications: 1. Engagement 2. Audience 3. Responses Communications can be used to differentiate brands and companies, to reinforce brand memories and expectations, to inform (make aware and educate audiences), and finally to persuade them to do things or to behave in particular ways. The Marketing Communications Mix The traditional marketing communications mix consists of a set of 5 primary tools: 1. Advertising 2. Sales promotion 3. Direct marketing 4. Public relations 5. Personal selling These 5 primary tools are used in various combinations and with different degrees of intensity in order to achieve different communication goals with target audiences. Word-of-mouth Word-of-mouth communication is â€Å"interpersonal communication regarding products or services where the receiver regards the communicator as impartial†. Integrated Marketing Communications IMC is concerned with harmonising the messages conveyed through each of the promotional tools, so that audiences perceive a consistent set of meanings within the messages they receive. Cultural Aspects of Marketing Communications Culture is important because it provides individuals within a society with a sense of identity and an understanding of what is deemed to be acceptable behaviour. Within businesses various types of culture arises: * National culture * Industry/Business culture * Organisational culture * Individual behaviour Corporate Concentration – a few large organisations own more and more media properties. Chapter 12: Marketing Communications: Tools and Techniques The marketing communications mix is a set of 5 tools that can be used in various combinations to communicate with target audiences: 1. Advertising 2. Sales promotion 3. Public relations 4. Direct marketing 5. Personal selling There are 6 key classes of media: 1. Broadcast 2. Print 3. Outdoor 4. In-store 5. Digital 6. Other (which includes both cinema and ambient media) The Role and Purpose of the Marketing Communications Mix Media fragmentation: the expansion of media where different classes of media have recently been used in different ways and developed. Advertising Advertising is a non-personal form of communication. It reaches large, mass audiences in an impersonal way. * Can be used to influence demand for products Can be used to manage perceptions and understanding about the organisation as a whole. Strong theory of advertisement – Jones (1991) Weak theory of advertisement – Ehrenberg (1997) Other Promotional Methods and Approaches * Sponsorships * Product placement * Branded entertainment * Field marketing * Exhibitions * Viral marketing Chapter 13: Managing Communications: Strategy, Planning, a nd Implementation There are 3 core marketing communication strategies, each based on broad target audiences: * Pull strategies – used to communicate with end user customers. Consumers and organisations within a B2B context. * Push strategies –