Strategic Sourcing and E-Procurement currently is at King Faisal Essay

Strategic Sourcing and E-Procurement currently is at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center - Essay Example Thus, this study was initiated to investigate the application of sourcing and procurement management strategy in Boeing Company. The choice of Boeing is based on its strategic position in the aircraft manufacturing sector and the series of problems it faces of late. Using, appropriate theoretical framework, deduced from the work of previous researchers, the company was diagnosed, and the supply chain and suppliers relationship mapped out. Porters value chain framework also help us develop some feedback and the way forward where some value drivers, core competences and competitive advantage were identified. Our recommendation is for KFSHRC to have suppliers dotted all over the areas and the need to link them through a common data base was emphasized. The report of calls on top management to successfully adjust Porters value chain to suit its need. Our recommendation is for customers and suppliers to be effectively integrated into the value chain, where consumers become Pro-sumers and suppliers are turned into consumers. The existing relationship with partners, suppliers, and customers should be turned in to a long term collaboration relationship. KFSHRC should integrate its logistics, procurement, operations, and marketing functions with other supply chain members so that materials, information, component parts, and finished product flow seamlessly from point of origin to final customer at low unit cost and at high levels of service (Christopher 1992). 1.0 Introduction Sourcing and e-procurement is a strategic tool employed by present day business to efficiently integrate suppliers, manufacturers, warehouses, and customers so that merchandise is produced and distributed at the right quantities, to the right locations, and at the right time in order to minimize system wide costs while satisfying service-level requirements ( Cheng, Lai & Gunasekaran 2006). In the 90s, Sourcing and e-procurement gained momentum and received due attention from practitioners and researchers. It has become present day managerial competitive weapon for improving performance (Ramsay 2000). To minimize wastages and meet up with customers demand. Today, to reduced lead time, goods must be stored in a warehouse at the right quantity and within the right time. Customers and suppliers are important stakeholders. "Stakeholders are those individual or groups who depend on the organisation to fulfill their own goals and on whom, in turn, the organisation depends" (Johnson

Compare and Contrast Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 14

Compare and Contrast - Essay Example As a function of such a comparative analysis, the proceeding analysis will attempt to compare and contrast the ways in which both of these stories attempt to integrate with the reader. With regards to the ultimate allegory that Shirley Jackson is attempting to represent, it is the belief of this author that she has a twofold representation that she attempts to acquaint the reader with. As the topic of her story is concentric upon the sacrificial offering of an individual before what can only be described as an ordered but cold-hearted crowd demanding a sacrifice to be made in order to fulfill some type of a quota, the reader can quickly infer that the allegorical nature of the story adequately represents those of ancient sacrificial rites that were oftentimes conducted in order to secure fertility or a bountiful harvest for early civilizations (Jackson 12). Yet, this is not the only purpose of such a story as it is the belief of this author that the drawing and subsequent lottery that took place was allegorical with regards to the nature of the draft that existed and typified the times that Shirley Jackson lived in. However, what is interesting is the fact that the author also incorporates strong elements of sociological understanding with regards to the current society that Shirley Jackson lived within. At the time the short story was penned, the draft was in effect for all military aged men. As such, the allegory of the drawing and the lottery can be seen as a type of ritualized system of sacrifice in which the nonsensical nature of violence and death continued to permeate modern society long after the absurd nature of a literal sacrifice from ancient cultures died away. Moreover, the author is able to draw a clear line of connection between the two seemingly disjunct understandings of society, human nature, and history. Rather than

Bermuda Triangle Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Bermuda Triangle - Research Paper Example In this essay, we shall explain the mystery by examining the theories that have been postulated then give a conclusion. The Bermuda Triangle, also popularly referred to as the Devil’s Triangle, is an area in the Atlantic Ocean where it is believed several airplanes, ships, and other vessels have vanished without probable cause or explanation. Therefore, the disappearances are believed to be mysterious. The Bermuda Triangle’s specific location is the North western part of the vast Atlantic Ocean (Gibbs, 3). The area covering the triangle is a large area which is between the Puerto Rico, Florida, and Bermuda. It is one of the busiest sea routes frequently used by fishing vessels, cruise ships and other freight vessels destined to sea ports in Europe, North America, South America and the Caribbean Islands. Besides being a busy shipping lane, the triangle is also a busy route for both private and commercial airplanes. In a study conducted by the World Wide Fund for Nature whose main objective was to identify areas at sea that were most dangerous for shipping crew, the Bermuda Triangle was n ot included in the top ten list (McKinnon and Scott-Ireton, 193). The United States Coast Guard also has also distanced itself from the claims and theories offered to explain its mystery. It is prudent that to examine the theories that have been advanced to explain the mystery surrounding the Bermuda Triangle. There are several theories that have been suggested. However, there exist three major ones. The first theory is that the area in the Bermuda Triangle has magnetic properties which deviate from the norm and are thus unusual. This theory claims that compasses in ships plying the shipping lane across the Bermuda fail to indicate the true north and actually go off while within the triangle. This causes the ships to lose direction and disappear. However, the US Coast Guard, while indicating that it is

Lexical Density Informalisation In English Language

Lexical Density Informalisation In English Language Both of these terms within the study of English language are commonly used as markers that help to differentiate between the spoken and written modes of Language. Lexical Density is a measure of how much information there is in a particular piece of language. Lexical words (content words) are words which carry information. Texts which have a high proportion of lexical items compared to function words (grammatical items) are said to have a high lexical density. Written texts are likely to have a higher lexical density than spoken texts which tend to have more grammatical items than content. Scientific texts are also likely to have a very high lexical density due to their educational nature. Halliday defines lexical density as a measure of the density of information in any passage of text, according to how tightly the lexical items (content words) have been packed into the grammatical structure. It is important to consider in this definition however that lexical density can be high in the more formal written texts because of the use of nominalisation (where one syntactic form is replaced by another) which although creating a high Lexical Density count can also lower the level of information content. An example of the differences in Lexical Density between written and spoken language can be shown when i asked my niece what she had learned in school that day: we did electricity in science today.(lexical density count: 3) which when compared to her summary lesson text for that day; Materials that can carry electricity are called conductors they conduct electricity.(lexical density count: 6) primary school text book. Informalisation is the breaking down of divisions between formal public use and informal private use of English. Linguists argue that language used in public and institutional contexts is changing and that styles of private language have crossed borders to be used in public situations in a new form of address. They say that increasingly professional encounters are becoming more conversationalised (Fairclough in Maybin Et Al, pg205). This can be seen frequently on business websites such as Recycle Now (www.recyclenow.com) advertised to us by our local council. They demonstrate informalisation through their use of some of the typical markers of informal English; pronouns, simple English and contractions of negatives; (Maybin et al, pg 207) Keep it simple, Dont worry about removing labels, its as simple to recycle as to throw away However this could also be an example of the use of this marketisation where the informalisation of language is used intentionally by an organisation for a sp ecific marketing reason. Another key marker of informalisation is the term of address. The observation that my doctor, and some of my regular customers now call me Sharon and not Mrs Tyrrell (without being asked) are excellent examples of the informalisation of the English Language within my day to day life. Part 2 Baynham and Maybin (2007, p. 123) assert that electronic means of communication seem to have shifted the relationship between speech and writing. Discuss this statement, using brief examples of your own to illustrate your points. Modern technology has allowed language to explore a new medium;- Electronic Discourse (ED), different in fundamental ways from typical conversational speech and writing found in other situations. The first task therefore is to look at the differences between the two more traditional mediums of speech and writing looking at if, and how, the relationship between them has been changed by ED through analysing its linguistic properties. Written English is most often planned, while spoken English is most often unplanned. This simple distinction results in many notable differences although the main differences lie within their differences in form. Form refers to grammatical, lexical, phonological and graphological aspects of language. I will look at the differences between the two in these respects and then look at the features of ED and how that relates to both written and spoken language. In the grammatical traits for speech, there is a lack of clear sentence boundaries which makes it difficult to know when one has ended and when one can begin. Usually in speech between people who know one another, the boundaries are erased and overlapping occurs. In contrast, in typical written text you are expected to write in full sentences, include paragraphs and have an appropriate structure. When using typical writing in a formal document punctuation is essential and the agreement between nouns and verbs is crucial. Typical speech and typical writing also have a different grammatical intricacy. Typical speech has a simpler grammatical structure because there are fewer clauses, less subordination and often shorter units; whilst typical writing has more grammatical intricacy because it contains subordinate clauses in complex sentences, it also contains pre-modifiers and past modifiers. Typical speech contains looser contraction sentences that are linked with words such as and and lengthy coordinate sentences. Also non-standard subject-verb agreements, ellipsis, non-standard word order, fragmented sentences are all very common. The lexis vocabulary of typical speech is colloquial and slang. It contains taboo language, nonsense words and contracted words. This is in contrast to the much wider vocabulary that is to be typically found in more formal writing. Typical writing also includes words that are never spoken, such as long chemical compounds and also relies on the greater degree of formality. In typical speech, inexplicitness is expected and much repetition occurs whilst in typical writing one must be explicit and repetition is frowned upon. Typical speech is usually unplanned and can be full of non-fluency features and running repairs such as false starts, hesitations, repetitions, discourse particles and fillers, words such as umm and like, and yknow. Another noticeable difference is that the lexical density of spoken discourse is usually much lower than that of written due to the high content of grammatical items used in relation to that of content words. The phonology traits are not able to be used in typical writing. In typical speech however, the intonation is extremely important, the prosody also makes a huge difference and a word or phrase could have a different impact if pronounced with the wrong prosody. Intonation may reveal the boundaries for clauses and is vital in social and emotional conversations, as it helps to explain ones point of view. Prosody is also used to make the conversation more lively and interesting. In typical writing, the tone can only be indicated by the use of question marks (?), exclamation marks (!),underlining, CAPITALS or by describing the tone. In literature, the tone of the poem is achieved in the rhyme and the rhythm. The graphology feature of language is not used in typical speech. Spelling, punctuation and the use of paragraphs are all seen as graphology features. These all appear and play an important part in typical writing. The amount or size of paragraphs and the use of italics, underlining, and emboldening can all give a certain impression. Pictures, emoticons and columns are all graphology features. Paralinguistic features such as the movement of the hands, a shrug or a smile are crucial in Spoken English where the use of more than just words context cues, tone, gestures, eye contact, pace and body language-all play a part in communicating meaning, while written English generally lacks these. Having highlighted some of the main differences and therefore the relationship between spoken and written English it is also important to note that these differences are not absolute and there are a range of forms and genres across both speech and writing- for instance a spoken lecture or a job interview is closer to writing than a pub conversation between friends and a personal letter closer to speech than a page from a textbook-. This is often dependant on the formality of the situation in which the discourse is taking place. Now to look at the notable linguistic features of ED in comparison to the definitions already visited above. It is important to note that the proportion of these features exhibited by a ED text can vary enormously according to criteria such as formality, subject and the personal characteristics of the individual writer (including age, identity, etc.). Grammatically ED tends to use many of the typical spoken traits such as telegraphic language Have forwarded the P the email, Will do, but am not back in office this week'(see appendix A) and also uses interaction features (e.g. questions) ill call then, ok? (ibid) and overall a very un-complex grammatical structure similar to informal speech. However this omission of grammatical words gives the text an extremely high lexical density which is traditionally more a characteristic of writing. The lexical features of ED are also hard to categorise, as in some ways, it is like conversation in that it presents a number of performance features generally characteristic of in process or in situ communicative events and behaviours, such as repetition, direct address, disfluencies, and markers of personal involvement, including syntactic and lexical items (Davis and Brewer, 1997). However, because turn taking occurs differently in ED, the interruptions and overlaps so characteristic of conversation do not occur (see Appendix B). There is also an absence of the fillers so often seen in oral conversations (Brown Yule, 1983) although these are present urrrrrr not sure, think so (appendix B) The vocabulary used in ED is typically very informal and frequently uses abbreviations, auxiliary verbs, colloquialisms and familiar terms of address (see appendix B) much like that associated with speech. Phonologically and graphologicaly ED utilises many techniques to try and imply tone or meaning that previously has been difficult to do in writing. The use of emoticons, :o) , capitalisation, letter repetition, use of graphics, sounds, punctuation and phonetic spelling (see appendix B) to indicate emotions, pauses, emphasis and intonation all demonstrate the fact that ED is a much more multimodal method of communication than was previously possible within typical writing and is often successfully able to create the impression of speech within written form. It is apparent from the examples provided that electronic communication does not fall within the standard definitions of narrative and text (Jones, 1995, p. 5) but in fact appears to embody aspects of each. It is clear that this new and still evolving medium that ED also demonstrates the process of informalisation within the written English language, clearly showing the majority of the markers that are used to define it; casual terms of address, informal vocabulary, intonation and contractions of negatives. It has been suggested that the electronic medium creates a feel of distance between the author I know that i, certainly, am guilty of being too casual in situations when i am contacting people by means of electronic communication and even guilty of using marketisation when corresponding with customers for my online business to make me seem more approachable. So, in conclusion, whilst the medium of electronic communication may not have changed the relationship between speech and wr iting it has certainly blurred it. Perhaps in this technology surrounded age we need to readdress the definitions of speech and writing to reflect the numerous varieties that now exist. WORD COUNT 1642

Miss Wright :: essays research papers

Tuskegee To Voorhees   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the book, â€Å"Tuskegee To Voorhees†, I learned about the life of Elizabeth Evelyn Wright. Elizabeth was born on August 18, 1872 to Virginia and Wesley Wright. She was one of twenty-one children who many within her community thought of her as a child to be of no great promise because she was black and female. Elizabeth proved everyone to be wrong. She had a vision. Elizabeth’s vision was to serve her people where she felt her service was most needed. She wanted to provide an educational training that would enable boys and girls a foundation to obtain an honest and respectable living that would be recognized by all races. Elizabeth had a vision but first she needed to educate herself in order to carry out her vision.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Elizabeth’s education began at the age of seven or eight and because she was an inquisitive child she learned a lot. Her mind was constantly wondering and thirsting for knowledge. While attending school and sitting down on a bench during her break, a gust of wind brought a raggedy piece of paper to Elizabeth’s feet and she picked it up. The piece of paper succinctly told how poor colored boys and girls could get an education by working their way through school. The idea of being able to pay for school intrigued Elizabeth and she kept the paper until it was time for her to attend school for a useful career. The school was Tuskegee Industrial Institute.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It took a lot of convincing and coercion from Elizabeth’s teacher-friend to get permission from her guardians who were her uncle and grandmother to let her attend Tuskegee. They felt that she was too young and innocent to be attending a school so far away from home. They also believed that she was setting herself up for failure. After much consideration, they decide to let Elizabeth go to Tuskegee to further her training.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Upon arrival to Tuskegee, Elizabeth was amazed at what she saw. She saw intelligent young men and women of her race. She quickly decided that she must find her place there and adjust herself to her new surroundings in the best possible way. She began evening classes since her money could not afford her day classes.

Videocon Dth

BRAND AUDIT: VIDEOCON DTH 2011 GROUP 1 MAUNIL RITU ROHAN SHOIB SIDDHARTH VARSHA 10/25/2011 TABLE OF CONTENTS Contents BRAND INVENTORY2 HISTORY2 PORTFOLIO OF VIDEOCON PRODUCTS3 BRAND ELEMENTS FOR DTH4 VIDEOCON DTH PRICING, MARKETING AND DISTRIBUTION6 BRAND EXPLORATORY10 CUSTOMER KNOWLEDGE10 SOURCES OF BRAND EQUITY15 CBBE FOR DTH17 BRAND POSITIONING19 POD AND POP19 THREATS TO BRAND EQUITY21 RECOMMENDATIONS TO SUSTAIN BRAND EQUITY21 BRAND INVENTORY HISTORY Videocon, founded in 1985 by Nandlal Madhavlal Dhoot, is an Indian multinational with business into consumer electronics, mobile phones, oil and gas, colour picture glass tube, telecommunications and DTH. Having interests to expand all over the world, Videocon has not only 17 manufacturing plants in India but also has extended its stake into countries such as China, Italy, Mexico etc. It is also the third largest  picture tube  manufacturer in the world. Videocon started with manufacturing Television sets and washing machines in India and eventually in 1990s forayed into manufacturing other consumer electronics and appliances including glass shells for CRT. Once the biggest moves for Videocon was on July 7, 2005, when it acquired the entire stake of Electrolux India and Thompson CPT. It was in the same year that Videocon took over Hyundai Electronics. As they progressed and expanded into new businesses, Videocon moved into the DTH service in July 2009 under the brand name as Videocon ‘d2h’. DTH services had already started to make its presence in the Indian market with the launch of Dish TV by Essel Group's Zee Entertainment Enterprises back in 2004, that was soon followed by Tata Sky, Airtel Digital Tv and Reliance's BIG TV to name a few. Even though Videocon did not have the first mover advantage, they soon built up the service and in Oct 2009, Videocon d2h was awarded as the 4th most Successful Brand launched in 2009 by Brand Derby Survey done by Business Standard. The offerings soon were differentiated with the introduction of satellite DVDs in Nov 2009 and further the 3D versions of all set top boxes in March 2011. They also offered  LCD  & TVs with built-in  DTH  satellite  receiver, which was relatively a new concept unlike the other players who provided only the set top box. By Feb 2010, they grew big and achieved Pan India Operations. PORTFOLIO OF VIDEOCON PRODUCTS The Group Videocon is worth around US$ 4. billion and its brand portfolio and partners include- AKAI| | Electrolux| | Kelvinator| | Kenstar| | Toshiba| | Sansui| | Hyundai Electronics| | *In the form of Marketing Operation and Distribution agreement signed The Videocon products have been segregated based on the interests of the company and includes- * Consumer electronics and appliances * Mobile phones * Oil and gas * Colour picture tube glass * Telecommunications * DTH services The Videocon d2h products portfolio includes- Satellite HD box| Satellite HD DVR| Satellit e HD box (3D)| Satellite DVD| Satellite LCD| Features| * Mosaic (12 PIP) – Genre wise * Favourites * Multilingual Channel Guide * Preview Screen (Full Guide) * Info Bar * Tickers * Active Services – Direct Active ( Darshan, State, Channel & East)| * Full HD Picture Quality (1080i) * 5 x times Digital Quality Picture * HDD Sound – High Definition Digital Sound * 16:9 Wide Aspect Ratio * Record upto 200 hours * Slow motion feature| * High Definition Satellite Box * Full HD Picture Quality (1080i) * 5 x times Digital Quality Picture * HDD Sound * 16:9 Wide Aspect Ratio * USB Port * Active Music Space * Multiple Tickers * d2h Movies| * Co-axial Digital Audio Output * Smart Power Control * DTH enabled Satellite DVD * USB Port * Multimedia Card Port * DVD / MP3 / VCD / SVCD / ACD / KODAK * DiVX / MPEG-4 compatible * Power Resume| * Inbuilt D2H * UV Glossy Look * HD Ready * 200000:1 Contrast Ratio * MPEG4 & DVB S2 Technology * Tickers * Energy Meter * Capture Logo| Pac kage| Based on zone and channels| Based on zone| Based on zone and channels| Based on channels| -| Offers| Available| -| Available| -| -| Warranty| Life time| Life time| Life time| Life time| -| Price| Rs. 1390/-| Rs. 3990/-| Rs. 1690/-| Rs. 2690/-| Varies with screen size| BRAND ELEMENTS FOR DTH About 3 years ago, the Videocon group, with great fanfare in Los Angeles, launched their new logo to project a more modern look that gave a contemporary feel. The logo was unveiled by none other than Videocon brand ambassador Shahrukh Khan. The new logo is based on the consumer-based approach of the brand and it’s positioning is supposed to be nearer to the consumers heart – both in terms of its ideals and philosophies, as well as its servicing characteristics. The brand make-over is aimed at young consumers who have a new international mind-set. Below are the new and old logos and the launch pictures: Note how the new logo indicates ‘green’ and ‘fluidity’. The message from Videocon is that it is ready to get adapted to the changes in the coming times. The logo was brought to life by the two characters ‘Chouw’ and ‘Mouw’ which represent the 2 parts of the V of the logo. Both the characters have certain personality traits based on their physical attributes. A series of short videos of these two characters was presented to promote the new brand image. Although a good concept, it can be surmised the new mascots failed to connect with the audience and did not generate enough brand recall. Videocon DTH name has the advantage that the brand name is almost the category name of the brand (direct to home). Hence, in that sense, Videocon has played a master stroke in increasing the salience of the brand. The punch line rhymes well ‘Direct Hai, Correct Hai’ and gives a meaning to the brand and should help in building of the brand mantra. The circle of the logo can be interpreted as the button of your TV remote which is further a source of brand association. DTH has chosen Abhishek Bachchan as its brand ambassador, looking at his clean image and family values. Below is the logo and copy of the DTH brand: VIDEOCON DTH PRICING, MARKETING AND DISTRIBUTION Videocon launched its Direct-to-Home services after a lot of other companies had already made their presence in the Indian market however, ever since they launched their services they differentiated themselves by highlighting that they were only one to offer the customers across India the world’s first Satellite LCD, Satellite TV, Satellite DVD as well as the Satellite Box (STB). On one of the occasions Mr. Anil Khera, CEO, Bharat Business Channel Ltd. (BBCL) said, â€Å"We are glad to introduce our satellite range of products and services. We are the latest entrant in the DTH category in India, but surely not the same as others. We are creating a new category of Satellite Products. Our exclusive line of Satellite range of products is sure to catch the eye of today’s consumer, who is looking for technological innovations. At Videocon d2h, we promise to deliver the latest providing value for money to our consumers. The market segmentation for Videocon d2h primarily focu sed on women who are regular viewers and engage in daily soaps. In other cases, they also focus on women intend to learn English as an added feature of DTH service. Videocon also concentrated on children by providing games, dictionary, discovery videos, specially inbuilt Math, Science and Social exercises etc, while older group of customers are offered special services such as videos of deities and programs with cultural and religious content. Hence, this marketing strategy focused on product – the first ‘P’ of marketing mix. Videocon d2h, considered world’s first satellite television product introduced with the most advanced DTH Services, has a pan-India presence. Videocon d2h was first launched in the Punjab market, followed by a phase wise launch across various regions. Today, it is available in almost all cities of India and grown to a position where acquiring a connection is not a deterrent. Thus, Videocon has successfully leveraged the use of place- the second ‘P’ of marketing mix. Videocon d2h employs special marketing strategies for promotion and sales of its product. The steps below outline their strategies- * Advertisements with the brand ambassadors (Secondary associations) The main reason lies in the fact that film stars and celebrities add the quotient of fun and entertainment to these services. Abhishek Bachchan was roped in to become the face of Videocon ‘d2h’ and feature across all Videocon d2h brand and product  communications  including advertisements on TV, print, outdoor, radio. Videocon invested Rs 1billion to promote the brand and with time, Abhishek was instrumental in communicating the benefits to consumers across the country. * Packages form the other component of the promotion and sales that may come as discounts, offers or regional packs to suit the customers. Videocon has performed a customer categorization based on the needs and has customized various packages suit their viewing preferences, location and tenure for which the customers want to buy. In A-La-Carte services, customers are given the option to design their own package either by choosing individual channels or by combining two or more existing packages. The next marketing mix, Price played a part to increase their market share. When Videocon launched the set up boxed for its DTH services, the market already had big players. Thus, it was essential for them to use competitive pricing to enter the market and push volumes, acquire market share and create itself as an option for the customers to buy the service. Therefore, set-top boxes were cheaper than the ones available in the market and pricing became an important strategy with Videocon across all its product lines. With contact to Thomson technology, Videocon d2h has developed a patented hardware and CAS system and this seem to work for them by cutting set-top boxes prices by half. The D2H prices were lower than its competitors such as Airtel and Tata sky as seen in the table. DTH| PACKAGE| NO OF CHANNELS| COST PER MONTH| COST PER CHANNEL| Dish TV| Titanium pack| 193| 332. 5| 1. 722797927| | Child pack| 190| 165| 0. 868421053| | Platinum| Shine Pack+1 free top up190| 312| -| | Gold| 165| 210| 1. 272727273| | Silver| 145| 125| 0. 862068966| | South platinum| 190| 312| 1. 642105263| | South Gold| 155| 190| 1. 225806452| | South Silver| 145| 125| 0. 862068966| D2h| Gold pack| 125| 150| 1. 2| | Diamond pack| 165| 275| 1. 666666667| Airtel| Super value| 110| 127| 1. 154545455| | New value| 118| 160| 1. 355932203| | Economy| 155| 221| 1. 425806452| | Mega| 177| 304| 1. 717514124| | Ultra| 184| 364| 1. 97826087| BIG TV| Value pack| 81| 90+ Taxes| 1. 111111 + Taxes| | Bronze pack| 111| 135+ Taxes| 1. 216216 + Taxes| | Silver pack| 123| 180+Taxes| 1. 463414 + Taxes| | Gold pack| 138| 225+Taxes| 1. 630434 + Taxes| | Diamond pack| 152| 270+Taxes| 1. 776315 + Taxes| | Platinum pack| 156| 315+Taxes| 2. 019230 + Taxes| TATA SKY| Super Hit pack| 63| 160| 2. 53968254| | Super Value pack| 103| 200| 1. 941747573| Super Value Kids pack| 104| 225| 2. 163461538| | Super Saver pack| 124| 275| 2. 217741935| Distribution Companies such as Videocon have a strong distribution and dealer network in India with presence in almost all cities. Moreover, Videocon has leveraged its tie up with channel partners, which are hard to break, in order to better penetrate the market and reach customers. * Videocon connected with Tech Mahindra as their IT partners and IBM to provide an excellent technology infrastructure. * Videocon’s, media arm Bharat Business Channel  and its partners offer scalable Conditional Access system (CAS) that protects content conveyed over cable networks.   With 75,000+ Distributor/Dealer/Sub-dealer base, Videocon provides the best regional content. * Channel partners have enabled Videocon to offer bulk services (value added services/active services/products) and decrease the distribution costs. The above points poses a major threat in front of the new entrant as Videocon d2h already serves with the channels and the new  entrant  will  have  to  persuade  the  channels  to accept its product through high margins, promotional allowances,  better  credit  facilities  and  advertising support, which will reduce the profits. Thus, Videocon d2h experiences a cost advantage as compared to new ent rants. BRAND EXPLORATORY CUSTOMER KNOWLEDGE DTH market in India is growing rapidly. This is estimated to grow at a rapid rate of 24%. With the government of our country deciding on digitizing the whole cable network, the potential for growth is really enormous. To tap this growing market, corporate giants across the country are making their presence felt in this growing DTH segment. While in most countries across the world, only 2 or 3 DTH operators operate, in India there are 6 DTH operators. The competition is really fierce and they are biting off each other’s market share for growth at this moment. But the fact to be noticed here is that the customer is the ultimate beneficiary. Find below the market share of the Indian DTH operators as on July 2011 DTH operator| Launched in | Market Share| Subscribers| Dish TV| Jun-05| 31%| 11000000| Airtel| Nov-08| 17%| 5600000| TATA Sky| Sep-06| 19%| 6000000| Sun Direct| Mar-08| 16%| 5500000| Big TV| Sep-08| 9%| 3600000| Videocon DTH| Apr-09| 8%| 3000000| Videocon was the last player to foray into the market with its Value for Money proposition of its DTH. As already shown in the exhibit before, Videocon DTH provides the best Value for Money across various entry packs. A Summary of the comparison across various DTH operators is shown below (Source: www. indiabroadband. com) VIDEOCON D2H Growth: Videocon D2H is growing rapidly. It is estimated to outpace Big TV in the following year. Videocon D2H is also the most successful brand in the last quarter. The growth of its brand is clearly visible. Videocon d2h acquired 7. 47 lakh subscribers in the first quarter of FY 2011, which is more than its competitors. Rapid advertisement spends is also planned for this purpose. Rs 800million is the allotted budget for ad-spends for 2012-13. They hope to increase their market share to 11% by the end of this year. Videocon’s potential in this emerging market can be tapped by this strategy only. The general BDI/CDI matrix indicates the following | | Category Development| | CDI:0. 027 BDI: 0. 0028| HIGH| MEDIUM| LOW| Brand Development| HIGH|   |   |   | | MEDIUM| Market Leader Positions Stronger base from which to build share|   | | LOW| Position of Videocon Cost of Obtaining Initial awareness and trial is high|   | The ad spending of Videocon is therefore justified as indicated by its BDI/CDI matrix. This is strengthened by the fact that Videocon has very less good will with respect to the total Assets it possess. This contributes to just 0. 0015% of the total assets and has been in a decline as indicated by the graph below. With this at the background, it was also intended to carry out a study to determine what factors influence the purchasing and recommending power of the user. The study was conducted based on reviews obtained from www. mouthshutreview. com. The data indicated the presence of two important variables. The significance of the same was tested. The two variables are: * Price and features(including Service) * Advertisement Based on these factors two hypotheses were formulated. These were subjected to statistical test based upon the data obtained from 30 reviewers. The variables had significant amount of co-relation between them and were identified as two important factors. The hypotheses based on these factors are Hypotheses: H1: Sale of Videocon D2H does not depend upon Price and features offered: Rejected H2: Sale of Videocon D2H is not influenced by advertisement: Accepted Descriptive Statistics| | N| Minimum| Maximum| Mean| Std. Deviation| Movie | 31| 1| 5| 2. 87| 1. 648| Quality of Display| 31| 1| 5| 3. 42| 1. 544| Service| 31| 1| 5| 3. 29| 1. 553| Interactive services| 31| 1| 5| 2. 81| 1. 662| Price| 31| 1| 5| 2. 97| 1. 169| Advertisement| 31| 1| 4| 2. 29| . 902| Valid N (listwise)| 31| | | | | Coefficientsa| Model| Unstandardized Coefficients| Standardized Coefficients| t| Sig. | | B| Std. Error| Beta| | | 1| (Constant)| 3. 065| . 169| | 18. 111| . 000| | REGR factor score 1 for analysis 1| . 911| . 172| . 706| 5. 294| . 000| | REGR factor score 2 for analysis 1| . 070| . 172| . 054| . 404| . 689| a. Dependent Variable: Recommendation| MEASURING BRAND STRENGTH: 1. This project has measured the Brand strength with respect to its overall sales recommendation provided by the users across the country. 2. The Score for recommendation depends on Price and features and does not depend upon advertisement spends. 3. The co-efficient indicate the fact that with a 0. 911 unit increase in price and features provided the brand strength in terms of its recommendation power increases by 1 unit. SOURCES OF BRAND EQUITY Videocon D2H tries to derive its brand equity from the following sources: * Logo * Corporate * Brand * Brand Ambassadors * Brand elements * Revamped Videocon logo * Brand * Characters: Chau and Maou * Punch line * Technology: MPEG-4 The two major sources of brand equity are brand awareness and brand image. Brand awareness further consists of brand recall and brand recognition. Based on our interviews, we found that D2H fares poorly along these dimensions, as respondents failed to confirm prior exposure to the brand. Especially along the brand recall dimension, D2H fares poorly as given the product category of satellite television, respondents failed to recall the brand. It can be thus said that Videocon marketers failed to establish the ‘brand node’ in the memory of the consumers and hence failed to create a brand association. A positive brand image happens when strong, favorable and unique associations are created in the memory. Strong and favorable associations have already been created in the minds, due to the secondary association of the corporate brand Videocon. However, the uniqueness association is still evolving. In an attempt to achieve this, D2H has managed to score a few points when it has tried to offer the LCD TVs with built-in set top boxes. D2H has a number of attributes that it competitors do not. D2H offers a wide range of regional channels. However, it is not cashing in on these brand attributes. It needs to be found out if consumers derive brand benefits out of these attributes. It may be the case that a large no. of regional channels are available but consumers attach no importance to them and hence derive no brand benefit. CBBE FOR DTH Shown above, is the Consumer based brand equity model theorized by branding Guru Kevin Keller. This model says that consumer based brand equity happens when consumers provide a differential response to marketing activities of the brand, and talks about how consumer knowledge affects their response to those marketing activities due to the brand equity. The base of the pyramid model talks about Brand Salience. Salience is the measure of how frequently the brand is evoked under various situations. We believe that the brand has a low salience chiefly due to the fact that it is a young brand has not got enough time to build brand equity. Also, it seems that the marketing spend by competitors is much bigger in terms of above the line communication. Albeit, one can say, that the name Videocon itself is a potent cue for brand recall. Brand performance is what the firm tells customers about the brand in their communications. So this will mean how the brand will perform, what features it will provide, and how the customer can benefit from its use. Brand performance includes dimensions that differentiate the brand. D2H differentiates itself by offering more regional channels, more total channels and bundled services as shown above in the pyramid. Brand imagery includes the way in which the brand attempts to meet the customer’s psychological needs. It is the way people think about the brand abstractly. The different intangibles that are abstract and can be linked to a brand are: user profiles, personality, values, history, heritage and experiences. Videocon has a long history in India as one of the pioneers in consumer electronics and D2H builds on this brand imagery. Also, the corporate brand Videocon stands for fairly reliable product quality for the mass market. The imagery that D2H has built includes entertainment variety, lot of consumer options, easy payment and channel flexibility. Brand judgment is formed by putting together all of the brand images and performance associations. The 4 judgments where D2H rates are as follows: Quality: Consumer may view Videocon as a fairly good quality brand which can bring all the values of its parent brand combined with reliability and efficient service. Credibility: Consumers rate Videocon low in terms of perceived expertise and this can be due to the presence of several international giants. However, in the D2H segment, the perceived quality will approximately be the same for all competitors. Consideration: Customers rate Videocon fairly high in terms of its inclusion in their consideration set. They will consider the brand to be relevant because strong and favorable associations have been created by the brand. Brand feelings are customer’s emotional reactions and responses to the brand. D2H, through its ad campaigns has generated the feelings that it is sort of the pioneer in offering the LCD with the built in set-top-box in India. Also, its campaigns generate a feeling that it is a technology intensive brand using all the latest technologies like MPEG-4 and so on. The ‘Direct Hai, correct Hai’ campaign generates the feeling that direct satellite technology is the best technology for the consumer. BRAND POSITIONING POD AND POP Points of difference are attributes or benefits that customers strongly associate with a brand, positively view it and believe they cannot find to the same extent with a competitive brand (Keller, Parameswaran, Jacob, 2011). D2H has set up a number of schemes and attributes to differentiate itself from its competitors. D2H has the following PODs: * TVs with built in STBs * More regional channels than competitors * More HD channels * Claim to be the first industry player to introduce 3D TV * User friendly payment system * Leverages the brand equity of Videocon and its experience with consumer business The HD DVR offered by D2H is the first in the industry and instantly differentiates it from its competitors. With a lot of hype being created about HDTV, D2H can set up an ideal platform that can be leveraged to extract benefits out of other HD offerings. Young urban consumers love to make transactions online and this will also help D2H in eliminating its fixed costs. The online payment system will further differentiate D2H on the convenience dimension. Points of parity are not unique to one brand but may be shared with other brands. (Keller, Parameswaran, Jacob, 2011). Category points of parity are necessary but not sufficient conditions for positioning. Competitive points of parity negate competitors’ points of differences. Especially, during product line extensions, it is critical that ideal POPs be clearly established to gain customer credibility and trust. Videocon sure has a long drawn consumer electronics background but it needs to create sufficient points of parity to convince the consumer that it is a serious player in the D2H industry. The POPs are as follows: * A generic Direct to home satellite television provider * Satisfies all the basic needs of a DTH provider * Provides options in the form of packages, products, services * Strong network of deals, service personnel and technicians * Call centers to address customer queries THREATS TO BRAND EQUITY RECOMMENDATIONS TO SUSTAIN BRAND EQUITY * Brand Architecture * Brand Hierachy * Brand Growth Strategy Bibliography: 1. http://www. videocond2h. com/wsc/products. aspx 2. http://www. videocond2h. com/wsc/packages. aspx 3. http://indiandth. in/Thread-Big-CBS-Prime-hops-on-to-Videocon-d2h 4. http://www. adgully. com/marketing/abhishek-bachchan-to-endorse-videocons-d2h. html 5.

Identifying Quantifiable goals for the monitor, control and effectiveness of the marketing plan Essay

In order to evaluate, monitor, and control the effectiveness of the marketing plan, identifying quantifiable elements are detrimental to V-Techs financial gains and holdings. Marketing campaigns are the most costly measurement to the company and the launch of V-Techs Virta Window new product line in its marketing practices needs to show financial accountability. The focus of controlling and effectiveness to quantifiable elements reside in the metrics analysis of: 1. Revenue 2. Sales 3. Lead generation 4. Sales feed back 5. Return on investment 6. Customer retention Once the elements of V-Tech’s marketing campaign is identified, quantifiable goals can be set to counter financial loss and actionable measures can be taken to offset the losses for exchange of returnable gain. To begin identifying the elements of concern, V-Tech accounting management will look at: A. Product B. Place C. Price D. Promotion The product is an innovative technological breakthrough, meant to create real time life and learning experiences for its target audience. The product has little competition but may be hard to catch on in the marketplace and cause resistance within consumers. Quantifiable marketing goals that would need to be set: Be flexible to understanding that new products may need a longer campaign run. Placement metrics track the impact of consumer awareness and the impact of individual campaigns ability to reach marketing goals. Calculating metrics for analysis will determine if the whole of the marketing plan is bringing in more profit than it cost to run. Placement of the products marketing geographical and economic stature is an important  quantifiable element. A metric analysis of location placement will measure the buying power and behavior of the consumer by geographic location. If the product is not selling well in placement, location factors may be that the target areas do not have the right selling class. Geographical metrics indicate a target audience income, medium house hold income, pay scale and if the economics of the area are depressed or thriving for businesses and product buying. The goal would then be to move the marketing campaign into better location areas where purchasing is a stronger asset for the product. Measuring the metrics of geographic locations can also help the company keep a competitive advantage as more technology companies advance to offering consumers a similar product. By being better able to understand consumer behavior by geographic V-Tech will have a higher ROI(return on investment) strengthen their marketing campaigns that keep customer retention, loyalty and target a larger audience base. Pricing by far may be the most important aspect in finding quantifiable controlling elements. A new product of technology changes the whole atmosphere of the market place from how it is developed to the price of manufacturing and distribution. The marketing of V-Techs new product is to reach a broad base of a consumer audience over affordability. This may cause a huge financial loss for the company. The campaign of the marketing needs increasing without the extra-added expenditures to cover the cost of loss and turn a profit. The reasoning behind quantifiable control is marketing the product to show value, and to measure financial gains where the product and marketing campaign will exceed profit and generate profit growth. The goals would then be to do a review of past sales to compare to sales of the new product and build on the strengths that previous campaigns have generated. A metrics analysis can be done in order to find out how many people clicked on an ad from online, what the numbers of new sales are and the percentage of new leads generated. From measuring sale metri cs, the company will be able to tweak the marketing campaign, generate a new marketing design, or repeat the campaign until the marketing goals meets its value. The company will also be able to determine the effectiveness of its Public relations effort in relation to its marketing efforts. A cost saving measurement to the company and the marketing campaign would be to get out in front of the face of the audience. Increase web activity, broaden the scope of social media awareness and depth in which marketing the product can help exceeded sales goals. The promotion of V-Techs product quantifiable control elements are to measure consumer awareness and set goals if the product is failing in brand awareness, website traffic, and not generating the sales lead expectations. Taking advantage of sending out Brand Ambassadors to area store locations and increasing trade market showings will promote and target the customer audiences awareness of the new product, how it is designed and will demonstrate why the consumer has a need to purchase the product. Social media marketing is limitless for brand awareness, in where a campaign can go to reach a borde r target buying audience. The quantifiable elemental goals are to take advantage of the use of the internet’s effectiveness of marketing to cost with web videos, direct coupons to the consumer, customer loyalty incentives, package discounts on education and parental sites. Identifying the quantifiable elements that help to control a marketing plan is an invaluable asset to V-Tech technologies and its new product launch. The analyzed metric data sets timely goals to which the company can redefine its control of marketing execution to increase sales and profits. The wealth of information extracted from the identification process takes on a new format that will find strengths and weakness of the consumer target audience, and will help to keep a competitive advantage as new companies move in the territorial locations of the innovative technology that V-Tech Windows will bring to a new market place.