The Fashion Channel Essay Example

The Fashion Channel Essay After analyzing the proposed scenarios it is recommend TFH adopting Scenario-3: Focuses on both Factionists and Shoppers/Planners segments. 2. The recommendation is based on the scenarios analysis and the decision matrix outcome. The main reason for this selection would be Its superior projected net profit over the other scenarios margin) as well as Its source. For this approach, revenue increases from both premiership and CPM. A diversified revenue source reduces risk of meeting revenue projection and risk of losing cable striation support due to ratings decrease. Another Important aspect Is that Its a well balanced solution between two desired phenomena: differentiation from competitors and creating a loyal customer base which are less likely to shift to competitors programs. Targeting shows to a narrow (and profitable) segment of viewers would brand the network as a premium fashion provider, a channel that Is focused only on delivering high quality and do not intends to satisfies all. A positive by product of this approach would be higher customer retention which has higher monetary value than the casual viewer (acquiring a new costumer is estimated to cost about 5 time more than retaining one). Note that although scenario-2 as well delivers these values it incurs higher risk due to its aggressive and narrow market Finally, although the channel is still generating a healthy profit segmentation. And therefore one would be reluctant to changes, this suggested graduate, less drastic change would help management to stand behind it from other business aspects such finance, accounting, operation and shareholder value. We will write a custom essay sample on The Fashion Channel specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The Fashion Channel specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The Fashion Channel specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer

The Mob

The Mob Organized crime exists in many countries today, and has for many years. The word "mafia" is symbolic of organized crime and is a familiar word throughout the world. In Italy, however, the Sicilian Mafia is such an extensive and socially imbedded organization that it practically exists as a separate state. The sociologist Max Weber has studied the Sicilian Mafia extensively, as have many other sociologists. Three areas where Weber and the other sociologists have studied extensively have been the authority within the organization, the necessity of violence within the organization, and justification of violence within the Sicilian organization ("Verstehen: Max Weber's Home Page").The Mafia is rooted deeply in the feudal past of Sicily. Throughout its history, Sicily has been invaded many times. The Arabs invaded it in the ninth century, the Normans in the eleventh century, the French in the twelfth century, the Germans, Spanish, Austrians, and Greeks in the fifteenth century.LA MAFIA E' UNA MONTAGNA DI MERDASecret societies developed in the hills of Sicily to resist foreign rulers. Sicily's Mafia grew strong in the nineteenth century as a system of administration and justice when the government was providing little administration or justice. When the Allied forces freed Italy in World War II, they freed the anti-Mussolini prisoners, many of who were members of the Mafia. Some of these Mafioso were given positions of power in the Italian government. In this way the Mafia began to combine politics and organized crime in Italy. The Mafia moved out of the hills and into the Sicilian cities (Nicaso and Lamothe 32).Today the Mafia has three main sources for its vast income: public contracts, drug dealing, and extortion. It relies on fear and violence as its tools (Gambetta).The origin of the word "mafia" is not known for certain. There is one story that...

Entrepreneurship Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 7

Entrepreneurship - Essay Example Therefore, for an entrepreneur to succeed in combining innovations to revolutionize the patterns of production, he has to carry out new combinations in productions, through a process that requires a work force. In addition, entrepreneurs require professional management skills, since their obsession becomes a liability in managing the growth of a business. 2. On the other hand, feasibility analysis before venturing in a business is necessary, since the analysis enables an entrepreneur to understand the business process and identify the factors that will facilitate success s of the business venture. Therefore, venturing in to a business without conducting a feasibility test can lead to an over estimation or underestimation of factors that will facilitate the continuation of the business. For example, an entrepreneur may have an idea of starting a business, which requires acquisition of a certain machine for production. If the entrepreneur fails to conduct a technical feasibility analysis, a technical problem on the machine can cause a downfall of the business. Therefore, if the entrepreneur had decided to conduct a technical feasibility analysis, he would have had the chance of identifying availability of technical expertise to correct the problem if it occurs, hence sustaining productivity in the Entrepreneurship Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 2 Entrepreneurship - Essay Example on creating positive outcome for new products and services as well as in the operational processes of that particular business or start up that engages in it. The managerial processes, the market segment and the organizational structure of the business may also experience the positive impact of innovation when it is clearly and properly implemented and integrated into the business. Different businesses and startup companies engage in innovation for different reasons. The ultimate goal of innovation is to improve the businesses (Lee et al., 2000). The changes that are associated with innovation are intended to improve the efficiency, profitability and the viability of that particular business. There are several aspects of a business that are known to benefit from innovation both in an existing businesses or a new entrepreneurial start up. Some of these aspects and areas include finance, research and development, sales, human resources and marketing. Acs and Szerb (2009) state that innovation does not need to be new or revolutionary for it to be of benefit to the business or entrepreneurial start up. The aim of this paper is to explore the role that is played by innovation in entrepreneurial startups and in the growth of businesses. This is done through a reviewed of existing literature in peer reviewed journals. In order to unravel and explore the role of innovation in entrepreneurial startups and in the growth of businesses, this paper relies on secondary data that exist in journals. To explore and understand how innovation impacts on entrepreneurial startups and the role that it plays in the growth of existing businesses, the paper will use peer reviewed journals. The journals that will be used in this paper are those that deal with innovation, entrepreneurship and growth of businesses. In selecting the journals to be used in the paper, an analysis of various journals that deal with the topic was done. After this, the journals that contain data and information

What are the key internal factors and external factors to be Essay

What are the key internal factors and external factors to be considered in price decision making - Essay Example he equilibrium point where demand curve intersects with supply curve is the deciding point at which price is determined. When price is considered in terms of demand and supply, it can be said that price has inverse relationship with demand and positive relationship with supply. In other words, when price increases demand decreases and vice versa, while price increases supply also increases. This is because, when price increases, the customers would like to reduce its consumption as the product seems to be more expensive. Likewise, when price increases, the firms will be encouraged to produce or supply more, as they expect more for their products. In another words, price has the tendency to be increased by the increased demand and to be decreased by the increased supply. But in a real market, price is not solely determined by the equilibrium position of supply and demand, but some other factors also play crucial role in deciding the price of the products. Pricing is a more a complex a nd complicated process than a simple determination of demand and supply. Hence, pricing policies which are deliberately taken by the firm is the most important deciding factor which decides the price of a particular product. These pricing policies of the firm are influenced, in general, by two sets of factors- internal and external. Both the internal as well as external factors influence the pricing decisions of any enterprise or firm. These factors may be psychological, economical, quantitative or qualitative. (Sawyer, 1981 and Kotler, 1997). 2. Internal Factors Pricing decisions are influenced by a number of internal factors which consist of profit margin, cost of production and other expenses, brand image and expectations of the company, suppliers’ and employees’ efficiency and responsiveness of the product to the price changes (Kotler, 1997). . These factors can broadly categorized under the following heads: 2.1 Corporate and marketing objectives of the firm. Corpo rate and marketing objectives of the firm mainly seek to recover the cost elements of all types, to make target returns and to maximize the profit. Coverage of the corporate cost of production as well as marketing should be an influential factor of pricing policy of the firm. Corporate objective of making specific return rates on the basis of internal cost factors is another important internal factor which play crucial role in an organization’s pricing strategy. Some important examples of other market objectives are survival of the firm in a high competitive atmosphere, current profit maximization, market share leadership and product quality leadership (Munroe, 1990). 2.2. Image sought by the firm through the price By setting a particular price or implementing a pricing policy, the firms seek a particular public image and this image plays a crucial role in the pricing policy. For example, premium prices are usually being charged for global brand. Likewise, a plant keep going by setting a low price in the hope that in future, the plant can increase the demand. In this case, survival is more important than price or profit maximization (Forman, 1998). 2.2 The Stage of the Production in its life cycle The stage of the production under which the firm goes through is an important factor in the price setting strategy. Whether the firm is going through increasing, decreasing or stagnant returns of scale and where the position of its average and marginal product curves stand, are the important things which decisively play role in the pricing policy of the firm. 2.3. Capacity Utilization and Market Contribution rates Capacity utilization has a positive influence on cost-based pricing strategies. Organizations operating at full capacity are capable of spreading the fixed cost to various units and

Doing Business Abroad Essay Example for Free

Doing Business Abroad Essay Companies around the world are expanding in order to meet a larger market. However, this is no easy task even for people who have been doing business for decades for there is always this thing called cultural diversity. This thing is put into consideration not only of companies and managers that establish businesses in other countries but also of those who engage into joint ventures and alliances. Setting a company globally requires not only good managers but thorough study as well. A market research would be very helpful especially to determine the needs and wants of the people in the locality. A bunch of factors affect the preference of people like religion, beliefs and environment. Should the product be modified to fit the desires of the people? For instance, burgers with beef patty are modified in order to be accepted and sold in Hindu-dominated countries. There are also cross-cultural trainings for managers that would be sent abroad. These are usually conducted by business schools with the aim of providing global managers who have the ability to cope with different challenges that they may encounter, especially those that are brought about by diversity in culture. However, as much as these trainings would help, they are not yet enough to suffice for the thorough understanding and settlement of cultural differences that might yield success to a business that spread its wings. Problems still remain due to this cultural diversity. Even with the repute of English in conducting business globally, language remains a problem. Language, as defined in the Merriam Webster Dictionary, is words with their pronunciation and the methods of combining them to be used and understood by a community. Words are not enough. Pronunciation and accent are essential, and at this part is where problem usually occurs. As Edward Burman cited in his article entitled Managing Cultural Diversity in a Global World, linguistic confidence can be perceived as quasi-colonial arrogance and this may eventually lead to conflicts. Similarly, jokes and stories which are essential in building harmonious relationship among workers are affected, not just because of the way they were delivered but more importantly by the context that they were formulated. Some humorous acts might be insulting to others, which again might lead to discord. Another problem that may arise due to cultural diversity is the way the human resource personnel determines the appropriate candidate for a job. Whether be it an expatriate or a native of the location of the headquarter, the measure to the achievements of an applicant varies from the school where he acquired his degree and skill to the society where he belong. These qualities may not be well-reflected in his application forms or the result of his examination or interview. Although it may be known to the resource manager that different cultures respond differently to various situations, the challenge is still to determine the best person whose culture and skill perfectly fits the job. Also, developing the trust with people from other culture opens another difficulty especially if a company will merge or ally with a local company of other country. Research can be done to be able to identify possible reasons to trust but it remains a thorny job for the managers in the negotiation table. Everything will matter, from the physical appearance to the gestures. Aside from these problems cited by Edward Burman, the way to designate a manager to a place is something to be thoroughly thought of. According to an interview with Robert J. Freeman, Americans are a bit resistant to exotic destinations. The question then is how these Americans would be assigned to a location beyond his desire. Or since there are expatriates of more than sixty nationalities, which should be chosen and what type of compromise would the company give to convince the manager. Nevertheless, these problems can be addressed if global managers have several skills as discussed by Josephine Song in her article Transcending Borders. The first is technical skills. Aside from the field that he is expected to master in order to efficiently perform his task, he must also be able to utilize the means that globalization brings for the betterment of doing things. He must be able to maximize opportunities and resources that might be useful for the accomplishment of his job. Likewise, he must also have good communication skills which comprise not only of knowledge of words but their proper pronunciation and usage as well, most especially English which is the basic medium for conducting business globally. Communication is not only via speaking, but also via reading, writing or listening. More importantly, global managers must take caution in their words and actions so that misunderstandings would be avoided. They must also be innovative and resourceful to improve their businesses according to the locality. With increase in expatriates all over the globe, I think it would be unfair to say that they or the locals could better cope with the changes. They might have an advantage with regards to having dealt with different cultures already that they might not find it anymore difficult to relate with another set of people. Their presence in the top management could also bring global perspective. But, their knowledge of the culture of the country where the company is located might be very limited as compared to the locals. Yes, they may be able to learn and adapt but still, the culture instilled in them would always be a part of them and their decisions and reservations. I think, it would be better to have a mix of expatriate and local managers in a global business for as Burman concluded, management remains culture-bound, be it local or expatriate.

Access to Information - The Widening Gap Essay -- Exploratory Essays R

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The Comparison Between Psychodynamic and Humanistic Theory

The Comparison between Psychodynamic and Humanistic Theory There are very distinct differences between Psychodynamic and Humanistic Counselling but both ultimately offer the help and guidance to discover why we act the way we do and why we make certain choices in our lives. Throughout this essay, I will endeavour to explain those major differences and you will see that despite these completely different methods of therapy, depending on what the problem maybe, they can both work very effectively in their own way. Carl Rogers, born in 1902, was the originator of the Person Centred Approach or Humanistic Theory.His work was influenced by his experience of being a client and a counsellor (Casemore, 2006) and he believed a trusting relationship was essential in helping the client to grow and develop in order that they could cope with difficulties in a more effective manner and to function more effectively. There is a strong emphasis of the need for counsellors to think of their clients as people rather than impersonal bodies. Characteristics important for effectiveness in the counsellor/client relationship are congruence, where the counsellor must be genuinely themselves, a complete and whole person.Empathic, which is the ability to understand and appreciate the clients perspective. To ‘live’ in their world and accept who they are unconditionally and unconditional positive regard which involves accepting the client completely and in a non-judgemental way. Rogers believed that all humans have a natural desire for personal growth and potential so that they can take responsibility for their own actions and the way they live their lives. This view is called the Actualising Tendency. He believed that everybody had an inner need to wholeness.The self-concept is also important in Person Centred Counselling. This relates to the individuals perception or the way in which they see themselves based on life experiences and attitudes from those important people arou nd them when they were young. Abraham Maslow is another theorist whose contribution to the Person Centred Approach is very significant. He proposed a hierarchy of needs which he believed were responsible for human motivation and drive. They are as follows: Physiological Needs – These are biological needs.They consist of needs for oxygen, food, and water. They are the strongest needs because if a person were deprived of all needs, the physiological ones would come first in the person's search for satisfaction. Safety Needs – When all physiological needs are satisfied and are no longer controlling thoughts and behaviors, the needs for security can become active. Needs of Love, Affection and Belongingness – When the needs for safety and for physiological well-being are satisfied, the next class of needs for love, affection and belongingness can emerge.Needs for Esteem – When the first three classes of needs are satisfied, the needs for esteem can become domi nant. These involve needs for both self-esteem and for the esteem a person gets from others. Needs for Self-Actualization – When all of the foregoing needs are satisfied, then and only then are the needs for self-actualization activated. Maslow describes self-actualization as a person's need to be and do that which the person was â€Å"born to do. † According to Maslow it is possible for people to work towards self-actualisation by practising behaviours which encourage the development of confidence and openness.These include; trying new experiences and to challenge oneself, to assume responsibility, strive to be honest and to develop a capacity to trust onself, Both Maslow and Rogers had very similar views. Maslow believed that the most basic drive was to become the person that one is capable of becoming and Rogers believed that the basic drive was to become the person that one truly is. Gestalt Therapy is a psychotherapy, based on the experiential ideal of â€Å"here and now†, and relationships with others and the world, and was co-founded by Fritz Perls, Laura Perls and Paul Goodman in the 1940s-1950s (Wikipidia 2004).Perls did not belive in a single particular theory. He thought you should always just go with the flow and work with what you have and what is happening in the now. He placed great importance on the client becoming self aware and thus developed the Gestalt theory. This therapy focuses more on process (what is happening) than content (what is being discussed). The emphasis is on what is being done, thought and felt at the moment rather than on what was, might be, could be, or should be.Perls believed in minipulating the client, bringing them out of their comfort zone and challenging them. To own what you say and do and to be aware of unconscious actions/words. In the 1950's Eric Berne began to develop his theories of Transactional Analysis. He said that verbal communication, particularly face to face, is at the centre of hum an social relationships and psychoanalysis. His starting-point was that when two people encounter each other, one of them will speak to the other. This he called the Transaction Stimulus.The reaction from the other person he called the Transaction Response. The person sending the Stimulus is called the Agent. The person who responds is called the Respondent. Transactional Analysis became the method of examining the transaction wherein: ‘I do something to you, and you do something back'. Berne also said that each person is made up of three alter ego states: Parent – This is our ingrained voice of authority, absorbed conditioning, learning and attitudes from when we were young. Child – Our internal reaction and feelings to external events form the ‘Child'.This is the seeing, hearing, feeling, and emotional body of data within each of us. When anger or despair dominates reason, the Child is in control. Adult – Our ‘Adult' is our ability to think a nd determine action for ourselves, based on received data. The adult in us begins to form at around ten months old, and is the means by which we keep our Parent and Child under control. If we are to change our Parent or Child we must do so through our adult. Transactional Analysis is effectively a language within a language; a language of true meaning, feeling and motive.It can help you in every situation, firstly through being able to understand more clearly what is going on, and secondly, by virtue of this knowledge, we give ourselves choices of what ego states to adopt, which signals to send, and where to send them. This enables us to make the most of all our communications and therefore create, develop and maintain better relationships (Businessballs. com) Looking at the Psychodynamic side, Freud took the view that human beings are never free from their behaviours, thoughts and feelings.That we are governed by past events and reinact them in our present. Sigmund Freud is the fat her of the Psychodynamic Theory. This focuses on the unconscious aspects of personality. According to Freud the human mind is like an iceberg. It is mostly hidden in the unconscious. He believed that the conscious level of the mind was similar to the tip of the iceberg which could be seen, but the unconscious was mysterious and was hidden. The unconscious also consists of aspects of personality of which a person is unaware. The conscious on the other hand is that which is within our awareness.The preconscious consists of that which is not in immediate awareness but is easily accessible (Himmat Rana 1997) Freud believed the personality is made up of three parts. They are: Id – the oldest part and present from birth and necessary for survival. The Ego – realistic awareness of self and of the world. Has evolved through contact with the external world and is determined by the individuals own experiences. Acts as mediator between the id and the superego and the Superego â⠂¬â€œ parental and social influences. Moral judgement and conscience.Main function is to curb he demands of the id. When anxiety occurs, the mind first responds by an increase in problem-solving thinking, seeking rational ways of escaping the situation. If this is not fruitful, a range of defence mechanisms may be triggered. In Freud's language, these are tactics which the Ego develops to help deal with the Id and the Super Ego. Freud's Defence Mechanisms include:  ·Denial: claiming/believing that what is true to be actually false.  ·Displacement: redirecting emotions to a substitute target. Intellectualization: taking an objective viewpoint.  ·Projection: attributing uncomfortable feelings to others.  ·Rationalization: creating false but credible justifications.  ·Reaction Formation: overacting in the opposite way to the fear.  ·Regression: going back to acting as a child.  ·Repression: pushing uncomfortable thoughts into the subconscious.  ·Sublimation: redirecting ‘wrong' urges into socially acceptable actions. Carl Jung was an associate of Freud who disagreed on a number of issues and finally broke away from Freud with his own ideas.He developed Analytical Psychology and it consists of the following; The collective unconscious – This is the deepest part of the psyche which contains all experiences that are inherited. The Personal Unconscious – This is material that was once conscious but has become forgotton or suppressed. Jung referred to the universal ideas and images of the collective unconscious as archetypes. These are original forms which all human beings in all societies recognise. Archetypes can also appear in shared emotional experience and these unconscious ideas and patterns of thought are likely to surface during momentous events such as birth and death.This shared psychological experience was regarded by Jung as evidence of a collective unconscious. There are four major archetypes of the collective unconscio us: The word â€Å"persona† means a mask and refers to the outward appearance which people use in everyday life. The word â€Å"anima† refers to the unconscious female quality in the male and the word â€Å"animus† refers to the unconscious male quality in the female. The shadow is the inferior being within us which is primitive and animal. It is also the personal unconscious is similar to Freuds concept of the id.The term â€Å"self† describes a state of complete integration of all the separate elements of personality (Hough 1994) Alfred Adler broke away from Freuds school and set up his own called individual psychology. He believed that personality developed through sibling order and placed emphasis on the social development of man. He viewed people as mostly conscious rather than unconscious. For Adler, it was useless to focus on drives and impulses without giving attention to how the person creatively directs the drives. Adler believed that inferiorit y feelings are the source of all human striving.All individual progress, growth and development result from the attempt to compensate for one's inferiorities. Feeling unattractive, or don't belong somewhere. Not strong enough or smart enough. So everyone is trying to overcome something that is hampering them from becoming what they want to become. The meaning of superiority is like self-realization. The striving for perfections is innate in the sense that it is a part of life. Throughout a person's life, Adler believed, he or she is motivated by the need to overcome the sense of inferiority and strive for ever higher levels of development.Everything Adler says ties into the lifestyle. For Adler, meanings are not determined by situation, but we are self-determined by the meaning we attribute to a situation. Melanie Klein had a significant impact on child psychology and contemporary psychoanalysis. She was a leading innovator in theorizing object relations theory. According to Klein, the infant's world was threatened from the beginning by intolerable anxieties, whose source she believed to be the infant's own death instinct.These â€Å"persecutory† anxieties, which were felt in the infant's own bodily needs as well as from the external frustrations to those needs, were overwhelming to the infant, and in order to combat them the infant resorted to defenses whose aim was to isolate her from them. Through these primitive defenses—projection, denial, splitting, withdrawal, and â€Å"omnipotent control† of these objects—the infant put threatening, â€Å"bad† objects, outside herself and into the external world; simultaneously, she preserved the â€Å"good† objects, both within herself and externally, by splitting them off from their malevolent counterparts.Perhaps the most fundamental of these processes were projection and introjection, which described the infant's first, primitive attempts to differentiate himself from the w orld, inside from outside, self from other, based on the prototype of oral incorporation (and spitting out) and the infant's relation to his first, nurturing/frustrating object, the mother's breast. In Bowlby's approach, the child is considered to have a need for a secure relationship with adult caregivers, without which normal social and emotional development will not occur.However, different relationship experiences can lead to different developmental outcomes. A number of attachment styles in infants with distinct characteristics have been identified known as secure attachment, avoidant attachment, anxious attachment and disorganized attachment. These can be measured in both infants and adults Attachment is an affectional tie that one person forms between him/herself and another specific one (usually the parent) — a tie that binds them together in space and endures over time.Attachment theory states that attachment is a developmental process based on the evolved adaptive t endency for young children to maintain proximity to a familiar person, called the attachment figure. Four different attachment styles have been identified in children: secure, anxious-ambivalent, anxious-avoidant, and disorganized. Secure Attachment – The child protests the mother's departure and quiets promptly on the mother's return, accepting comfort from her and returning to exploration.Avoidant Attachment – The child shows little to no signs of distress at the mother's departure, a willingness to explore the toys, and little to no visible response to the mother's return. Ambivalent Attachment – The child shows sadness on the mother's departure, ability to be picked up by the stranger and even ‘warm' to the stranger, and on the mother's return, some ambivalence, signs of anger, reluctance to ‘warm' to her and return to play. Disorganized Attachment – The child presents stereotypes upon the mother's return after separation, such as freezing for several seconds or rocking.This appears to indicate the child's lack of coherent coping strategy. Children who are classified as disorganized are also given a classification as secure, ambivalent or avoidant based on their overall reunion behavior. â€Å"The main differences between the two therapies are that the Psychodynamic Theory centres on the past experiences of the client. By using dream interpretation, free association and others, it concentrates on looking at childhood experiences and normal or abnormal development. Humanistic is based on the clients interpretation of what is happening in the here and now.It allows the client to express himself without having to look in the past†. (Wiki. answers. com) Rogers believed that the counselling relationship was based on mutuality, in which both the client and the counsellor are of equal importance whereas in Psychodynamic Counselling the Counsellor is regarded as the expert. Bibliography Person Centred Counselling by R oger Casemore, 2006, Sage Publications A Practical Approach to Counselling by Margaret Hough, 1994, Pittman Publishing Sigmund Freud by Himmat Rana 1997 www. Wikipedia/Fritz_Perls Businessballs. com