Criticize of Marketing Myopia article Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Criticize of Marketing Myopia article - Essay Example He argued that there is no such thing as a growth industry, what is there is growth opportunities that one should take advantage of to enhance their welfare. Levitt also gives people a better understanding of misconceptions like the belief that growth is guaranteed by an expanding population. Instead, the commodities released should target a certain gender or age. He also shows that mass production does not always yield as expected due to imbalances in the scale of production. Mass production results to low cost per unit as the output increases. In production, one should focus on the quality of produce rather than the marketing. Good quality output markets itself as compared to poor quality ones that have to be pushed into the market. Since most enterprises needs lie on maximizing profits than it is more appropriate to focus on the company’s needs rather than customers’ needs. A brilliant marketer creates products that suit the consumer and are affordable. Good quality products in the market gain popularity faster when compared to poor quality ones by competitors. This gives the market true illusion of what your products are like. Theodore Levitt gives companies a clue on how to maintain efficiency with its rising popularity. An increase in output quantity tends to reduce unit cost, and if not monitored it pulls down the business. Through maintaining efficiency, companies are likely to enjoy larger profits and experience growth. He discards the belief that no competitive substitutes of outstanding products exists in the market. This is an entirely irrational belief. Every product in the market have their substitutes, it is only that you have not done the research on more products in the market. He mentions that, we should not focus on short-term benefits. The long run benefits, which most of the firms are not ready to wait. With changing times, people tend to change on preferences and tastes and therefore this prepares the business firms for these changes in the future. The short focus is what the author refers to as myopia. He gives examples of the railroad and oil industries that can be taken over by other close competitors. He adds that there is no guarantee on product obsolesce and gives an example of petroleum products which were used since time immemorial up to date but has never been exhausted. Technology improvement cause this and the discovery where other sources of energy have been resolved to hence the decline on use of petroleum products. The most salient thing on Levitt’s article is on maintaining the business in the market for the longest time and enjoying maximum profits. Business firms should set long-term goals to help them serve their customer needs in a more appropriate and reliable manner. This helps the products get established and therefore with time It dominates the markets. However, what Levitt has missed out is that he only talks of myopia back then not putting into consideration the present t imes whereby myopia has taken a different turn. There exists new forms of myopia especially where entrepreneurs’ get single minded instead of venturing into different fields in the market. Maybe accommodating other stakeholders in the market would help enhance venturing into the diverse existing opportunities. Another problem comes in when the firm misinterprets the true definition of a customer and satisfying their needs. With the changing times consumer

Texting While Driving Essay Example for Free

Texting While Driving Essay About 41% of teen reported that they had texted or emailed while driving. This is true even though there are horrifying commercials and campaigns aimed at keeping teen drivers’ eyes on the road and hands on the wheel. Also, the bulk of teen deaths are due to motor vehicle crashes. But texting and driving isn’t the only risky business teens are engaging in. About 41.3% of teens said they’re using computers for more than 3 hours daily. About 14.8% of students said that they had been bullied online. Another risk that is that sexually active teens are having more unprotected sex that in the past: around 41% of sexually active teens. The annual survey of 9th through 12th graders examines the unhealthy behaviors of teens over the past 12 months is what is used to gage the leads to unintentional injury, obesity, and unplanned pregnancies. About 13,500 surveys, which were administered at public and private high schools, were examined to determine results. It is sad to see the number of teens partaking in risky behaviors rise even though statistics show how many teens are ruining their lives. Schools are now even showing videos of the consequences of partaking in these behaviors and videos of people that tell how the consequences aren’t worth the short term enjoyment. I want to know the mentality of teens that text while driving because judging by their actions, it seems like they value replying to a text more than their own lives. It’s unbelievable how teens still text and drive even though they know that they could die at any moment. Either teens need to change their ways or parents need to start intervening to save their children from becoming victims to risky behaviors.

Project Team Roles And Responsibilities Information Technology Essay

Project Team Roles And Responsibilities Information Technology Essay The project Steering Committee includes management and other executive level stakeholders that will be directly impacted by the success or outcome of the CRM project. During the implementation, the Steering Committee will reach consensus or influence the most strategic objectives for CRM adoption as well as approve the implementation scope, approach, time frame and budget. Due to the relatively short duration of the actual software CRM implementation, the Steering Committee will incur more time and emphasis on CRM adoption, utilization, measurement and refinement. Post software implementation activities will include: Verifying the users are actually using, benefiting by and endorsing the system The information is being correctly organized and processed for operational support and analysis, Information is accurate, available and in proper format or structure so that customers are better served, are spoken to with uniformity across the organization (a consistent message regardless of whos speaking) and customer service consistent These individuals will include the executive level stakeholders, Project Leader, Project Manager, Lead Consultant, Finance and MIS management and sometime key users. These individuals are responsible for reviewing the progress of the implementation, understanding the current issues, resolving critical issues, providing vision of future business opportunities and direction, and supporting the efforts through moral support of the entire project team. Steering Committee responsibilities include the following: Corporate-wide data sharing: Clearly sponsoring the organizations customer information and data sharing strategy, which states that customer information is to be centralized and available throughout the organization (based on need and security pending) for sharing in order to promote effectiveness and better service the customer. This information strategy further prohibits individuals or groups from operating silo systems, shadow systems or other disconnected or standalone systems or systems which do not result in customer information being put in the designated CRM system. Provide interpretation of company or project vision, direction and execution of objectives. Provide project oversight and guidance on strategic issues and direction. Make decisions which can change project organization, project scope, or allocation of project funding. Ensure that the direction of the project continues to be in line with the original mission and goals set forth at the beginning of the project. Support the project team in the resolution of cross-functional areas. Keep informed of project status; ask questions to ensure accurate understanding. Deliver regular feedback to the project team on performance and expectations. Provide input for Project Leader and Project Manager periodic appraisal. Executive Sponsor The Executive Sponsor can be a liaison from the Project Team to the Steering Committee for a large project or can act as a substitute for a formal Steering Committee for a small project. The Executive Sponsor (often the VP of Sales, Director of Sales, President or Operations Manager) monitors the activities and progress of the Project Leader and Project Team. This individual is responsible for communicating project status to the Steering Committee, ensuring milestones are completed in a timely fashion, and providing the overall supervision of the employees assigned to the project. Additional responsibilities include being the primary contact for issues and questions from the Project Team as well as review and monitoring of the project plan milestones. Other specific responsibilities may include: Liaison to Steering Committee; Keep Steering Committee and project stakeholders updated as to project status, progress and/or any deviations. Identify and secure all required project team members for the project (e.g. Functional Champions, Key Uses, System Administrator.) Verify the dedicated participation of each required project team client representative (available to commit full-time during peak periods or coverage and backfill of team members particular areas). Regularly review project status and emerging risks and select/approve potential solutions from those presented. Provide direction on prioritization of emerging issues and risks. Provide advice and council on major project and policy decisions. Ensure the appropriate project team members and key decision makers are identified and available to fulfill their project responsibilities. Identify and secure access to additional end user staff as needed to support specific areas of expertise not represented by the project team. Provide informal project status and communications to project team members and various user communities. Project Leader This role will require an individual with strong management and communication skills who understands the operation and objectives of the CRM implementation. It is possible to have an outside consultant or vendor consultant and internal person that share the Project Leader responsibilities, however, advance planning must dictate specific roles and responsibilities. The Project Leader is the person responsible for the overall project planning and progress toward the implementation. This individual is responsible for monitoring, maintaining, and adjusting the project plan (based on the input and deliverables of team members), providing implementation experienced leadership strategies to the Executive Sponsor, and ensuring the effectiveness of the application consultants assigned to the project. Other responsibilities include reviewing and assisting in issue resolution, coordinating task dependencies, and establishing milestone project goals that keep the project on time and within budge t. Other specific responsibilities may include: Conduct or facilitate the Implementation Project Kick-off and Status meetings. Manage the customer relationship with the vendor. Confirm solid understanding of corporate objectives and expectations; if necessary, reset objectives and expectations. Approve the implementation schedule and project plan. Measurement of plan vs. actual with variance analysis. Continually monitor scope, time frame, budget and risk. Manage project resources to assure maximum efficiency, effectiveness and resource utilization. Manage consultants on project. Periodic risk management project risks and people risks and development of mitigating strategies. Significant or high impact risks should be addressed with the Executive Sponsor. Recognize change management issues and risks; develop recommendations and mitigating strategies. Periodically measure and confirm stakeholder, Executive Sponsor, Champion, Key User and System Administrator satisfaction. Functional Champions / Team Leads Functional Champions or Team Leads spearhead an individual functional area (such as SFA, Marketing, Customer Service, or a particular line of business). These individuals are stakeholders from the department or line of business most affected by the module (e.g., SFA), have complete domain area knowledge and are dedicated to the project (and generally relieved of traditional day-to-day responsibilities for departmental operations while participating on their area of the project) for the project duration. Functional Champions must be empowered to make decisions for their domain area and their user community. They lead the configuration efforts and decisions during the Conference Room Pilot (CRP) phase with each software module. They further determine the current and anticipated transaction flows within the software module. Their primary objective is to gather process and configuration information from the key users and define the business system based on that information. These individ uals may develop process flowcharts for the existing and new system processes, develop methods of resolving process gaps, identify report and data requirements for the respective modules to support the end users, and identify data conversion requirements to support their modules. Functional Champions are responsible for module testing, coordinating and facilitating key user meetings, scheduling key users for system tests, preparing process documents, approving training documentation, and ultimate training of the end users. Some of the major responsibilities for this role are as follows: Understand the as is environment and provide functional expertise and knowledge of the existing business practices. Responsible for the successful configuration, processing and implementation of functional area software modules. Reconciliation of user requirements to the new system capabilities. Liaison between user community and project team; Act as a mentor and liaison to other users of that functional area. Represent the user interests in system design and software configuration decisions. Design and configuration of software parameters for each module. Identify and implement business process improvements and changes. System Administrator (SA) In order to take and maintain ownership of CRM utilization and long term success, the client must appoint an internal System Administrator (SA). Although technical experience is not required, the SA is a more technical resource to the project team and actively involved throughout the implementation project and post production processing. The SA will utilize tools built in to the Aplicor CRM system for all or almost all SA functions. All CRM applications that operate on a relational database management system (RDBMS) require skilled SAs for steady operation. Configuration Setup: Data importing: Validate cleanliness of data, scrub data and perform imports of accounts, contacts and/or opportunities into the CRM system (e.g. uploading users data from prior systems (such as ACT)). Reconcile and verify import results. Web site configuration options: Selecting available option for system-wide utilization; such as system logo upload, splash page selection or updating of cascading style sheet (CSS). Portal User Interface (UI) management: Assist management or users with the customization or modification of Menus and menu navigation. Implementation: User and role management: The creation, modification and removal of all users and roles within the CRM system. Resetting user passwords when necessary. Security administration: Assigning and managing overall system security, user security and account-level security. Field level data list management and UDF configuration: Assist management or Functional Champions with determining or modifying acceptable values from all data list fields throughout the CRM application and assigning or utilizing User-Defined Fields (UDFs) at each page. Document Library configuration. System training: Provide initial training to staff, and new-hires on an ongoing basis, for system usage. Query management: Provide users training to create or modify queries throughout the system (using Query Manager and Query Builder). Management Administration: Troubleshooting: Provide first level response to user issues or problems. Most issues or problems that are user-oriented will be resolved by SA, all other issues and problems may be escalated to the Aplicor Helpdesk. User view management: Assist users with creation or modification of individual CRM views. Monitor system usage: Verify utilization and enterprise-wide access (subject to business need and security) and viewing of customer information. Continued user and role Management: Updating memberships and deleting outdated users and roles. Resetting user passwords. CRM Application Consultants CRM consultants require thorough software product suite skills along with a detailed understanding of the particular software modules assigned. The application consultants are expected to provide functionality information and guide the implementation of the assigned modules. Their experience with the modules provides options of configuration, process designs, options for gap and issue resolution, training to the Functional Champions, hands on task completion support and troubleshooting support for software issues. The application consultants will also provide for knowledge transfer to the key users during the User Training phase and prior to reaching a production environment. Some of the major responsibilities for this role are as follows: Provide input on task status and estimates to complete to the Team Leader Spearhead the Conference Room Pilot configuration for each module(s) Conduct analysis of business, transaction and individual user requirements Conduct Business Process Analysis for the assigned module(s) Resolve how the software will apply to the customers needs Performing Functional Champion training; conduct software training for the module(s) assigned Offer suggestions for process improvement Outline new business procedures or processes Confirm application test case scenarios, lead the process testing and analyze the test results Guide conversion efforts and strategies Lead the cut-over preparation, testing and verification Report software bugs and aggressively follow-up on fixes Provide post implementation support Identify and resolve open issues All Project Team Members Every project team member has a fiduciary duty to make a proactive and positive contribution to the project. All team members are owners of the project and the new system and are personally accountable for taking charge of their respective areas and promoting the project to their user communities and colleagues. Project Team member duties include the following: Provide input to process improvement ideas Review circulated correspondence; provide feedback as required Identify high impact / high return opportunities within respective areas Proactively ask questions and offer input Attend every Project Team status meeting; recognize the importance of this project to the organization Keep Project Stakeholders updated Act as liaison and constituent for represented user community: Keep user community informed of project status and progress, provide a mechanism for users to contribute to project and voice suggestions for improvement Contribute to the solution: never offer criticism without suggestion. Team members must be contributors, not listeners Project Office Provide day to day project management and oversight of the project. Track project status and provide status reporting Promote adherence to the project schedule Track issues and manage the resolution process Define change and risk management strategies to assure early identification and complete, expeditious resolution; Provide a framework for developing fundamental project management skills in the project team to ensure effective tracking of project status; Lead Application Consultant This role will require an individual with strong communication skills, technical skills, application expertise and business experience. The role of the Lead Application Consultant is to manage the project implementation to meet the agreed upon requirements and timeframe. In order to be successful in this role, the role will have the following responsibilities: Approve all application consultants to be placed on the project team Provide overall and daily management and support to all application consultants assigned to the project Review and verify each consultants time and expense report for accuracy Define roles and responsibilities for each application consultant Work with the Project Leader and Project Manager to learn and manage the implementation to meet the agreed upon project objectives Work with the users and other software publisher resources as required, and resolve queries and issues on an ad hoc basis Notify management of requirements for resources in order to provide sufficient lead times for resources to be made available Make timely decisions regarding the project priorities in order to minimize disruption on the project Overall responsibility for assuring the quality of work conducted by their representative consultants Attend all Implementation Project Status meetings Technical Analysts Ideally, there is one Technical Application Analyst for each module. These individuals generally come from the MIS area, are dedicated to the project and relieved of day-to-day responsibilities for departmental operations: Assist with reconciliation of user requirements to system capabilities Identification / design / development of required system interfaces Identification /design /development of required data conversion routines Modification of software applications forms/reports using publisher tools Development of working knowledge of the software application table structures/data base functionality System test planning and assistance to users in the execution of the system testing process Support for User Application Analyst tasks as necessary Focus Groups Support the project team by actively participating in the research and resolution of project issues Support the project team by actively participating in the assessment of configuration alternatives during the realization phase Engage actively in the generation of business case scenarios and the development of test scripts Participate, as required, in the execution and validation of test scripts

Our Economic Future :: essays papers

Our Economic Future When I first decided to take this class I felt there was not much that when into the predictions of stock prices and the future of your economy. It is clear now that there are at least six different factors that contribute to the movement of our capital markets. At the present time our market is in what the experts call a correction period which means that it has fallen at least ten percent from a record setting date. Our economy is mist of a record boom of a one hundred and seven months. Experts a predicting the worst like they have the last twenty-four months or so. So I am going to make a prediction that the economy will continue to grow at a rate of 3.5% maybe not at the same rate as last year. The Federal Reserve is trying to slow the growth by raising rates by a quarter of a point. The rational for this is that the economy is growing at a rate that can spark inflation soon. So far the prior four times the Federal Reserve has raised rates not much has happened. I am predicting that if the current rate hike does not effect the market, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan will raise rates again in March and May to slow our prosperous economy. The reason why a rate hike will slow down the economy is by raising the overnight rate to 5.75, the highest since 1995, it has made borrowing less attractive. In turn, corporation will have less money to invest then productivity will go down, hence supply will go down and demand will soon follow. Right now though productivity numbers released in January showed that it is on the rise, which has keep inflation in check. As productivity is on the rise, corporations are going to require more labors. Unemployment is at an all time low of 4% and is not expected to increase much this year, levels are predicted to be between 4.0-4.25%. The rise in labor productivity will lead to less unemployment, which leads to a higher economic capacity and more money circulating in the market. With a rise in capacity there will be a rise in supply. Corresponding with this rise in supply there will be more money circulating there will be a rise in private domestic demand.

Fresh Food vs Canned Food Essay

Eating is an activity that we as humans do at least two times a day. We live in a world where the variety of food is immense, and we are responsible for what we eat. We decide what we are about to eat and how it will affect our bodies. However, each food differs from one to another. For example are the fresh food and the canned food. Fresh foods and canned foods are two kinds of different types of food that have their own benefits and disadvantages. The most notable difference between these two kinds of foods is their flavor. Fresh food have great flavor because they keep their natural conditions. Canned foods however, lack a lot of its flavor characteristic because there are some other chemical products added to the natural foods. Comparing both types of foods we can notice another difference. That is the health factor that affects our bodies. While the fresh food keep their original freshness and flavor, canned foods lose some of the original fresh food nutrients when stored, and also it has chemical ingredient when consumed too much will become toxin in our bodies. Another difference between these two types of food is the cost. Canned foods are much more expensive than the fresh foods. In contrast to the cost, canned foods are easier to find, they also require less work to prepare than fresh food. As we can see there are three main differences between the fresh foods and the canned foods. However, the main reason we chose our foods lies on our personal choice, based on time each person has, the money and the importance we give to our nutrition and health. Therefore it is important that you consider your possibilities and choose the best type of food for your convenience and life style.

Steel & Mills essays

Steel & Mills essays The market had also seen an increase in steel service centers, which essentially are distribution centers for the mills. What these centers would do is buy large quantities of steel from the mills, cut the large chunks up and distribute them to customers. This added value to the industry because it allowed the end user the ability to buy a quantity of steel that was more efficient for them instead of having to buy from the mills where they were required to buy larger quantities and waste was high. The only concern to end-users was the efficiency of delivery. Since the advent of Just-in-Time inventory systems, which significantly cut inventory costs to companies, the service centers had to slow inventory as well to cut down on their increasing inventory costs. Since the cut to both inventories was relatively high, but the demand for the steel was increasing it sometimes caused bumps in the road as far as efficiency of delivery. This in turn caused the mills to strike back and th ey started creating price structures that were more favorable to the end-user rather than the service centers. Competition is increasing because of the higher demand for the steel service centers. The increase in demand for steel products has also caused competition to rise. SOS has three service centers and is tops in most of there divisions which is about a 200 mile radius around each service center. SOS seems to have such a good reputation because of their friendly service and their price structure. They remain very competitive in relation to other service centers, and they also are very loyal to customers especially long time customers. ...

Black Students’ Sit-In Protests in Public Spaces Examples from the 30s -40s essay

Black Students’ Sits from the 30s -40s essay Black Students’ Sits from the 30s -40s essay Black Students’ Sits from the 30s -40s essayBlack students’ sit-ins have direct relation to the beginnings of the so-called student-phase of Civil Rights Movement after February 1960. Taking into consideration the presented materials, it is possible to explore the role of student activism in achieving the established goals, namely establishing the civil rights, which prohibit racial discrimination. The sit-in tactic used before 1960 is relative to the famous Greensboro event. Such tactic was aimed at challenging the rules, established by white people. Public demonstrations organized by black people became the following stage of the struggle for the civil rights.My thoughts as I read about these events are based on historical evidence. The following sit-ins and strikes: Alexandria Sit-In of 1939, NAACP sponsored sit-ins by Howard University Students in Washington, D.C., as well as Morgan State Sit Down strike of 1959, reflected the role of student activism in the civil r ights movement. The sit-ins evoked support of the black community and promoted national unity in the struggle for social justice and racial equality (Brown 274).I believe that black students’ sit-in protests in public spaces played a significant role in the development of the civil rights movement. As discrimination and segregation acts were prevalent in many places across the United States, the civil rights movement contributed to the changing attitudes of black students through these protests. 1939 Library Sit-In was one of the protests against racial segregation.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Thus, the increased incidence of protests resulted in the government’s decision to pass two acts: the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Due to the adoption of the Civil Rights Act, segregation in public places and schools was prohibited. Due to the Voting Rights Act, black people were allowed to vote in elections.