Bsnl Change Management Strategy

BSNL competitive portfolio & Change Management M Ramesh, [email  protected] com Synopsis: Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. formed on 1st October „2000, is one of the largest & leading public sector units providing comprehensive range of telecom services in India. They operate under 13 different brands. Their customer base as on July 31, 2011 was at 95. 14 Million. BSNL has an installed Network in the country comprising about 43. 74 million line basic telephone capacity, 8. 83 million WLL capacity, 72. 60 million GSM capacity, 37,885 fixed exchanges, 68,162 GSM BTSs, 12,071 CDMA Towers, 197 Satellite Stations, 6,86,644 RKm. f OFC, 50,430 RKm. of microwave network connecting 623 districts, 7330 cities/towns & 5. 8 lakhs villages. However, with such a large base, excellent brand recall, political backing and huge workforce, the company has not been doing well and in fact has reported a loss in the previous financial year. BSNL had reported the highest net profit of over Rs10,000 crore in 2005-06 but since then its profits have been falling. The losses have more than tripled to about Rs. 6,000 crores during 2010-11 mainly due to hefty outgo for employees' salary and expenses borne by the PSU for procuring 3G and BWA spectrum. The company had registered a net loss of Rs. 1,823 crores during 2009-10. The total revenues of the company also declined to Rs 28,876 crore during the current year, down nearly 10% from Rs 32,072 crore in the previous financial year. Recipient of the Golden Eagle award in 2004 & 2005 for the most trusted brand in telecom sector, BSNL is today struggling to retain its identity. This article aims are preparing a competitive strategy for BSNL and select suitable competitive portfolio so that the company can emerge out of the crisis it is in. Further, the change management strategy that has to be adopted in order to implement the changes in the organisation is given in this section. 1. Competitive Strategy and suitable corporate portfolio: Before we embark upon suggesting a suitable corporate portfolio, it is important to analyse the current the functioning and management of BSNL. a) No doubt that its presence and reach across the country is its biggest strength. Established offices in all the metros, A, B & C class cities, and installations and offices in the remotest parts of the nation, especially J, North East is a strength they can easily exploit on their road to recovery. ) Long serving employees and excellent knowledge of the market, customers, tacit knowledge base of BSNL is unique. They are different from the competition since customers view BSNL as a 2|Page state run firm and profit not being the only motive, would be willing to trust them more than other competitors. c) Even today, they rule the land line conne ctions and command a market share of over 65% of the customer base and any of the revival and restructuring plans for BSNL has to pass through this channel. ) BSNL, being a completely government owned organisation, they can use their political affiliations to change the rules of the market, create entry barriers for competition, and lobby for influencing the market to leverage their strengths, policies that give them an edge, and those which do not violate TRAI and other fair trade practices, can be adopted. While we discuss the selection of suitable portfolio from the competitive strategies, apart from the strengths of BSNL highlighted above, it is important that the crucial questions of what can be done that is not being done at BSNL is pondered. Some of the questions that we have to ask and find answers that hold key to developing a competitive strategy and designing a suitable portfolio are: 1. BSNL has a vision ‘To become the largest Telecom Service provider in South East Asia’. For this it is important to understand the parameter for being the largest. Is it revenue, Av. Revenue per User, profit, subscribers, Network (no of exchanges, BTS etc)? Clarity in purpose and vision is essential to developing a suitable competitive strategy. 2. Is the mission aligned with its current position? Has it redefined its mission from a state run entity, interested in nation development to a corporate that has to deliver to its owners and stake holders? 3. What are the investments that have been made or planned to be made, in order to provide world class State-of-art technology telecom services on demand at affordable price and to provide world class telecom infrastructure to develop country's economy. 4. What has been done towards continuous innovation in product and delivery of services with the appropriate pricing is the key strategy for developing the trust in customer so that he keeps his loyalty with BSNL. . BSNL can target to acquire more than 50% of new acquisitions while maintaining existing clientele. How will this be done? 6. Today landline base is reducing across the globe, BSNL, to be a Significant Market Power (SMP), must increase it base to over 80%. 7. Ultimately it is the quality, customer care, and timely availability apart from price, which will matter. What are the actions being taken towards these critical success factors? 8. Can’t there be just one brand i. e. BSNL? Has there ever been an examination of their revenue break-up? Currently there are 13 brands that have to be developed and positioned. |Page 9. There are certain distinctions that BSNL has, like being awarded the most trusted telecom brand in year 2003 & 2004. They received the Golden Peacock award for Best Corporate Social responsibility. How can these be leveraged? 10. There are over one-lakh retailers, 1000 franchisees, 3300 CSCs, 36000 exchanges and still BSNL is not visible like others? Why can’t the space and people be utilized? 11. How to leverage the franchisee and STD-PCO strengths? Can these outlets be their core strength? 12. Why are the recharge coupons, India Telephone Cards are in shortage when there is no capacity constraint? Is it bad inventory & supply chain management, or bad franchisee management? 13. Are there targets for the recharge coupons just like DELs & CellOne? Why can? t the huge network of franchises be leveraged for better customer care and improve collection efficiency? 14. With competition heating up, gone are the days when customers deposited money with BSNL in advance for connections and security money for value added services. There are no fixed deposits; and the working capital and other funds requirements have to be met from operating revenues. What is the plan to improve collections, realize bills early, not on the last day of payment and reduce bad debts? 15. In line with the market needs, does BSNL have a 24X7 culture in their organization, though operation and maintenance are provided on 24X7 basis? What about provisioning customer care and marketing on 24X7 basis? Competitive strategy: Pricing: On the pricing front, BSNL does not have a choice but to follow the market trend. They can only bundle the packages in such a manner that the premium services bring more revenue. Focus must not be on reducing charges, but upgrading each customer by RS 20 – RS 50 by offering them more add on relevant services. It is usually much easier to sell additional things to existing customers than to add new customer, and the customer base of BSNL is quite huge and substantive for this model. Differentiation: In order to differentiate itself from competition, BSNL Business development units have to be given the task to develop and nurture long-term relations with corporate houses. MoUs have to be signed for bulk bills, One-point payments for multiple service locations. Setting up Key Account Manager servicing different corporate and key accounts and offering single window approach to resolve all issues and prevent any unwanted issues. Focus: BSNL has a strong hold on land line telephones, an important requirement for ADSL connections. There are huge benefits of ADSL over Wi-Fi & is very cost effective way to access Internet. BSNL is in a 4|Page unique position to leverage this advantage and its revenues, customer base and profitability can improve multi-fold if it can capitalise on this one aspect alone. Merging government telecom companies ITI and MTNL with state-run BSNL is one of the options. This will give them a great advantage in terms of increased customer base, implementing change management and brining in changes and most importantly economy of scale, power of bargaining. Hybrid: In order to be more competitive in the present market BSNL must not only differentiate itself from competition, give a good and attractive price and have a focussed approach. The competitive strategy recommended is: Focus on improving ADSL services at attractive rates to households and offices, bundle it with land line connections and mobile connections. Offer central point billing PAN India. For e. g. If a corporate company has branch and regional network, they must have the option of consolidated billing when they want and where they want to the level of Head office control they want to implement. BSNL can also offer special rates and Closed User Group (CUG) for government sector and earn huge revenues, since this segment is very price sensitive and is a very high volume user segment. More aggressive media campaign focussed on the strategically selected segments will help BSNL increase its customer base. A change in its staff attitude making them focussed on customers rather than systems and procedures, fast and efficient decision making with empowered employees. Continuity in supply chains, procuring of quality equipment and products must be focussed on. After defence and railways, BSNL is the country’s largest landholder. Its properties span 3,500 towns across India worth thousands of crores, making it the largest state-owned companies in terms of land assets. A turn around policy of BSNL should have this huge source of revenue at its core. 2. Change management strategy to enable it turnaround. No change in BSNL can happen and can be implemented without change of mindset in addition to the skills of marketing & sales. In this regards it is important to note that a research paper submitted by Vishwakarma Institute of Management, Pune in July 2010 after conducting a survey in BSNL concluded 5|Page that â€Å"the introduction of change seems to be managed effectively in the organisation with proper care and commitment and was agreed by the respondent BSNL employees with a mean 1. 022. The change is introduced by the consent of top management. To keep up the pace with the dynamic environment the management encourages change by explaining and ensuring the minimization of adverse effects, and put efforts to convert employee resistance into the acceptance. Employees were found to be change oriented, as they have continuous learning attitude to keep match with the future organizational requirements. Respondents? shows resistance change in some issues due to some security and personal reasons, which can be taken care by proper change management initiatives†. BSNL must focus on improving its quality of employees and skilled manpower? They must focus the organizational setup more suitable for better results? The staff expense to revenue ratio could be a good indicator. Today, more than 47% of the revenue goes to paying salaries to employees and this is the first aspect of change that must be introduced. The decision making process must be based on scientific analysis of the precious customer data they already have such as calling pattern, payment habits, usage profile etc. Increased number of surveys, customer research and systematic and periodical analysis of Net growth in mobile and churn is to be conducted? Steps must be implemented to reduce the churn? Acquisition cost is usually said to be 5-8 times the retention cost, and hence BSNL must focus on retention of customers. Management must not threaten the employees, they have been long serving and loyal and at the same time demanding. The management should involve the employees in strategy and decision making and should help them to open their minds and apply it to improve the quality of service, network, and expansion of network in time; utilising and selling the products before the technology becomes obsolete (like WIMAX). Considering the current scenario a Revolutionary change is required in BSNL and they should modify their competitive strategy quickly in order to survive in the hyper competitive telecom market in India. If one has to apply the McKinsey 7S framework for the change management process in BSNL, it would be as under: 1. Strategic: BSNL has to revisit its mission and evolve competitive strategies that are in line with the market dominant position that they want to be, exploiting their current strength of market leadership in land line connections. All their activities must be reoriented towards this change of positioning. |Page 2. Substance: BSNL needs to revamp its board and its top management, to be more customer and market oriented, dynamic and profit driven. Culturally, it is established that BSNL is employees are open to adopting change and hence management should provide necessary training to ensure that the process of cultural change is deployed quickly across all levels. 3. Scale: Considering the strengths of BSNL presence and reach of BSNL, scale is never an issue. What the organisation needs today is not infusion of new technology or resources; it is reorientation of the employees and a cultural change. Retrenching employees is not the first and only option available. 4. Scope: Undoubtedly the scope of the change must involve all levels of the organisation and across all regions. BSNL is a homogeneous entity and changes at one level or within certain geography is not possible to implement. Certainly, depending upon the local customer bases, working conditions and cultural differences, adaptations can be allowed, but the change itself, must be pan organisation. 5. Speed: Communications, ICT, and internet industry relies on speed and there is no room for laggards in this. BSNL must implement change management as swiftly as possible. . Sequence: Since BSNL s confronted with many an issues to handle, the best place to start would be internal employee attitude and cultural change and external – customer satisfaction focus. If carefully and rapidly implemented, these two will have a cascading effect on other areas such as revenues, cash flows, asset management and so on that will t urn around the organisation. 7. Style: BSNL has the baggage of being a government owned company and attitude of staff cannot be changed overnight. Unions are strong and public opinion can be made and tarnished by the correct or wrong handling of union issues. Change management in BSNL has to carefully crafted and cannot be dictated or thrust upon. The style has to be one of collaborative effort and everyone involved must be clear with what is expected of them and how it impacts others, his / her results and overall company. Conclusion: BSNL is at cross roads of its existence. The need to refine its competitive strategy and implement change management has never been more urgent than it is today. If BSNL has to survive the tough market conditions, the change management process must be initiated immediately and aligned with the competitive strategies that must be reworked. |Page BIBLIOGRAPHY: ? ? ? ? ? Marketing strategies of BSNL by GS Grover, NK Srivastava, & Sunil Kumar http://www. bsnl. in http://www. business-standard. com/india/index2. php http://www. moneycontrol. com/company-article/bharatsancharnigam/news/BSN http://www. moneycontrol. com/news/business/bsnls-loss-triples-to-rs-6000-cr3g-bwaoutgo_588976. html ? ? http://www. cellular -news. com/tags/bsnl/ Organisation Culture- A Case Study of BSNL LIMITED, Mrs. G. Nagamani, Prof. G. Krishna Mohan, http://www. vim. ac. in/UploadImages/Attachments/G. %20Nagamani%20&% 20G. % 20Krishna%20Mohan. pdf 8|Page

Technology and Organizational Structure

Technology and Organizational Structure Wanda Armour University of Phoenix Technology and Organizational Structure This paper represents the research on how technology interacts with organizational structure. Two companies will be identified to compare and contrast their organizational structures. A matrix will be included to summarize the findings. Introduction Organizational structure in today’s complex multi-dimensional organizations is the connection that holds the infrastructure together to achieve the organizations goals.It is the patterns or arrangement of groups of jobs within an organization. It is also a process that requires organizational re-structuring as the company grows. Historically industry has shifted from the job-shop manufacturing to mass production, with innovative pioneers such as Frederick Taylor, Henri Fayol, and Max Weber ((Dristelzweig & Droege, n. d. ). These early pioneers were very different thinkers in terms of their principles to determine how t o structure organizations for maximum productivity.However, they all had a common view that it was like a machine and that power was in the position, not in the individual holding the position; clearly a vertical bureaucratic structural hierarchy ((Dristelzweig & Droege, n. d. ). This ‘one best way’ mindset gradually disappeared as concerns that the traditional organizational structure may hinder, rather than help promote creativity and innovation (Dristelzweig & Droege, n. d. ). Today, pressures in U. S. business structures to compete globally calls for a variety of organization structures.There is no ‘one fit all’ organizational structure that has proven effective in contributing to business success. Organizations operate in different environments with different opportunities, products, tasks, risks, strategies, constraints, strengths and weakness, and different organizational structures to meet those challenges (Reference for Business, n. d. ). There are two types of organizational structures found in business environments; centralized and decentralized. Centralized organizational structures rely on one individual to make decisions and provide direction or the company; decentralized organizations rely on a team environment at different levels of the business (Vitez, n. d. ). Organizational Structure Overview of Two Company’s Two very successful companies have been identified with different organizational structures; Toyota Motor Corporation and The Watson’s Creative Company. These two companies are on the opposite end of the spectrum in terms of organizational structure. Toyota, a Japanese, multinational corporation, has a centralized matrix organizational structure (the combination of two or more different structures-organic/mechanistic) with a bureaucratic infrastructure.The Watson’s Creative Company, a New York based adverting agency, has a small-decentralized organic organizational structure (organizations that are flexible and effectively adapt to change) (Dorf & Byers, 2008). Toyota is considered by some as the world’s largest maker of automobiles, trucks, buses, and robots. Toyota has factories all around the world, that manufacture and assemble vehicles for local markets (Taneja, Pryer, & Sewell, 2012). Toyota has an interesting blend of mechanistic, organic and bureaucracy in a centralized organizational structure, which allows them to accommodate their versatile product line.This structure develops a workforce who believes in the company’s products, image, and vision; along with placing a high value on the welfare of its employees (Taneja et al. , 2012). A recent SWOT analysis shows that intense competition could pose a threat resulting in lower price pressures. A recent massive product recall (10 million worldwide) which could hurt the company’s brand image and sales ((Toyota, 2012). Toyota is a company that has a reputation for reliability; the challenge n ow is rebuilding the emotional ties of customers.A bureaucratic organizational structure could be the flaw as hindered information sharing, miscommunication; along with delayed response time to quality and safety issues have been sighted as the root cause of the recall (Taneja et al. , 2012). One of the disadvantages to a matrix organizational structure is keeping communication channels clear so that potential conflicts do not arise and hinder organizational functioning (Reference for Business, n. d. ). As corporations become worldwide the process of restructuring is inevitable, as they must respond to challenges on a global level.The foundation of Toyota is respect of its people and continuous improvement through the ‘Toyota Way’ which is summarized by five keywords; â€Å"Challenge,† â€Å"Kaizen,† â€Å"Genchi Genbutsu,† â€Å"Respect† and â€Å"Teamwork† (â€Å"The Toyota Way,† n. d). The Watson’s a Creative Company, is an ad agency. They have a decentralized organic organizational structure that is simple and low in formalization. All parts of the organization need each other as an interdependence relationship improves functioning.As an organic organization they need to stay flexible in dealing with customers and in creating concepts for television commercials and print advertisement (Field, n. d. ). I recently visited the Watson’s ad agency and I found a confortable informal environment with a small staff and their dogs. It seemed quite remarkable that a company with such clients as ‘Whole Foods’, ‘Metropolitan Home Magazine’ and many others could work as a community. However it is in line with their mission statement of building lasting relationships between great companies and the audiences they benefit (â€Å"The Watson’s,† n. . ). Their core competency is in their knowledge management and creativity. An organic organization such as The Watsonà ¢â‚¬â„¢s is a knowledge-based organization. Tacit knowledge is exchanged through interaction with other knowledge workers. This interaction facilitates the development of a knowledge culture within the organization, supporting decision making of various knowledge workers through collaboration (Hosnavi & Ramezan, 2011). How Structure Affects the use of Technology and Technology Decisions Technology plays a crucial role in today’s organizational structure.Toyota understood that the traditional understanding of centralization in organizational structure would fail to capture its vision of technological development, and value in the employee in the face of new challenges and demands. Toyota adopted a matrix organizational structure to facilitate technology decisions ((Hosnavi & Ramezan, 2011). The Watson’s on the other hand believe that technology decisions are based the decentralization of power and control and a higher level of informality and a organic organizational st ructure was the best fit for their company.Toyota’s superior technology was not enough in light of the recent recalls. As a result they had to reduce their organizational structure, which is no easy task. My observation is that Toyota could have closed a blind eye but instead decided to restructure and fix the problem without deviating from their core competency and mission. The Watson’s interaction with technology is equally exciting as visual displays of artistic genius are created and displayed through a variety of avenues. Technology gives expression to the endless possibilities of the mind and allows them to make decisions based on whatever idea they can dream of.Working on something they believe in helps them to focus on the effectiveness of their products and services. TECHNOLOGY AND ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE| Inquiry| Toyota Motor Corporation| The Watson’s a Creative Company| Organizational Structure| Centralized Matrix Organizational Structure| Decentraliz ed Organic Organizational Structure| Environment| Stable, highly efficient and orderly. | Constant change, simple, low formalization. | Control| Hierarchic| Network community. | Internal Communication| Vertical, between superior and subordinates. Lateral between people. | Core Competency| Lean Manufacturing Tools, Supply Chain Management, Product Development Technology, Branding| Creative Advertising /Knowledge worker| Core Technology| Conventional and Hybrid Vehicles, Hybrid Systems, Safety and Environmental Technologies. | Web based advertising systems, HTML, XML, SVG and Flash, Communications protocols, Video and audio technology. | Enabling Technologies| Toyota Technology Institute, Toyota InfoTechnology Center, Home Living Assistant Robotics, Personal Mobility. R&D product portfolio. iAd mobile app, Ad tracking, Banner Ads, Rich Media Ads, Tradeshows, Commercial Emails, Poster Ads, Social Media| Organizational Members| Task Oriented| People Oriented| Control-Stability and predi ctability. | High| Low| Flexibility-Quick response to changing conditions| High| High| Knowledge Management| Reinforcement of hierarchy| Anywhere in the company| Technology Interaction with Organizational Structure Based on these comparisons I believe that the interaction of technology must be accompanied with the right fit of the organizations structure to achieve sustainability.Toyota works on a technological scale far beyond that of the Watson’s. It uses manufacturing technology that is the cutting edge of science (Taneja et al. , 2012). It is doing an amazing work with its robotic technology that will help the handicapped, as well as the individual. Taneia et al. , (2012 believes that Toyota’s research and development accomplishments are making groundbreaking strides in the area of defense against energy starvation. The Watson’s Creative Company is using the Internet to extend their market reach far beyond what was once thought possible through conventional channels.According to Behboudi, Hanzaee, Koshksaray, Khirkhani Tabar, & Taheri (2012), â€Å"Creative advertising can provide a competitive edge for a brand, add to its value, and give it an advantage over its rivals in terms of more positive market response†(p. 140). The Watson’s advertising agency has achieved sustainability with their creative and innovative ads through the technology of the Internet. In comparison mechanistic and organic organizational structures are like two musicians, one who plays’ by ear and the other who has to read music; both however deliver a beautiful arrangement of music.Toyota is continuously focused on increasing its technological capabilities, while The Watson’s are continuously looking for more ways to use technology to create ads that are an experience for the consumer. Both are making contributions that will add value to organizational learning, and technological capabilities. References Behboudi, M. , Hanzaee, K. , Ko shksaray, A. , Khirkhani Tabar, M. , & Taheri, Z. (2012). A Review of the Activities of Advertsing Agencies in Online World []. International Journal of Marketing Studies, 4(1), 138-149. Retrieved from Ebscohost Dorf, R.C. , & Byers, T. H. (2008). Technology Ventures (2nd ed. ). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. Dristelzweig, H. , & Droege, S. B. (n. d. ). Organizational Structure. Retrieved from http://law-journals-books. vlex. com/vid/organizational-structure-51758780 Field, R. (n. d. ). Organizational Effectiveness, Structure and Technology. Retrieved from http://apps. business. ualberta. ca/rfield/Organizational%20Effectiveness,%20Structure,%20and%20Technology. h Hosnavi, R. , & Ramezan, M. (2011). Intellectual Capital and Organizational Organic Structure How are these

Gd/Pi Topics

?i every1, these are some the topics for oral presentation at ALLIANCE on 9 July– 1. Talent management is critical in company success. 2. Global warming. 3. Global markets. 4. Online social networking. 5. World is flat. 6. Controversial advertisements should be banned. 7. Employee relationship management. 8. Research and its importance. 9. Right to information act, citizen’s charter. ?1. EFFECTS OF SOCIAL NETWORKING ON YOUTH 1. To survive in the civilized world one definitely needs to be a hypocrite. 2. Do nice guys finish last. 3. Importance of Internet. . Should New Delhi be the Capital of India. 5. Should women engage in Defence Services. 6. There is no right way of doing the wrong thing. 7. Is god male. 8. How is censorship in movies protecting our culture. 9. Crime and Violence should not be shown on Television 10. Classical musical is our Heritage. 11. Cleanliness is a fundamental responsibility. ?1. Talent management is critical in company success. 2. Global warm ing. 3. Global markets. 4. Online social networking. 5. World is flat. 6. Controversial advertisements should be banned. 7. Employee relationship management. 8. Research and its importance. 9. Right to information act, citizen’s charter ?GD/PI Topics:- 1. Remix in music in today’s world a good trend 2. Are primary schools more important than management schools? 3. Should Advertising be banned? 4. Let sleeping dogs lie. 5. Individual Freedom. 6. Is social networking good/bad? , etc 7. separation of state, socialism 8. food first, ethics later 9. It was whether India should spend its resources at space research when its a resource deficient country 10. IS CONSUMER REALLY A KING IN INDIA 1. ‘Advertising Cheats people. Hence, should be banned' 12. Who says MNCs are superior to Indian companies ?Other micro presentations (from Christ Uni) 1 Aadhaar 39 Local community in tourism 2 Airline Business in India 40 Managing Stress at Workplace 3 Anti Corruption Bill 41 Micro finance in Tourism 4 Arab Spring 42 Mind Control 5 ASSOCHAM 43 Mobile Phones 2020 6 Biofuel 44 Molecular Gastronomy 7 Brand IPL 45 National Telecom Policy-India 8 Capital Markets 46 Neuromarketing 9 Celebrity Advertising 47 Non Proliferation Treaty 10 Climate Change 48 NREGS 1 Cognitive Computing 49 Organic Farming 12 Community Radio 50 Personal Aerial Vehicle (PAV) 13 Community Tourism 51 Promise of Nanotechnology 14 Consumer Protection 52 Psycho-Kinesis 15 Convenience Food 53 Public Private Partnerships 16 Couch Potato Generation 54 Quantum Levitation Technology 17 Creative Entrepreneurship 55 Responsible Tourism 18 Cross Cultural Communication 56 Right to Information 19 Cultural Tourism 57 Roles of Trade Unions Today 20 Cyber-Psychology 58 Rural Tourism 21 Digital Marketing 59 Security Laws in India 2 Emotional Quotient 60 Social Accounting 23 Ethics in Business 61 Speech Recognition Technology 24 Fashion Brands 62 Spiritual Tourism 25 FDI Vs Trade in India 63 Sustainable Energy 26 Food Crop Cultivation in India 64 Tourism and Regional development 27 Formula one in India 65 Tourism and Cultural Unders tanding 28 Fringe Benefits in Corporate 66 Tourism for Heritage Conservation 29 Future of Personal Computers 67 Tourism vehicles for communal harmony 30 Global Village 68 Unconscious Motives 31 Harry Potter 69 UNESCO India 32 Holistic Nutrition 70 Value Education – Why?

Deeveloping a Comprehensive Marketing Plan for Emirates Airlines Term Paper

Deeveloping a Comprehensive Marketing Plan for Emirates Airlines - Term Paper Example A marketing-mix to support the alternative strategy for the airline has been provided. Implementation of marketing plan and its importance during emergency have well been described in the report. Table of Content Emirates Airline 6 Emirates Current Marketing Strategy 6 SWOT Analysis 7 Strength 7 Weakness 8 Opportunity 8 Threat 8 Competitive Environment Assessment 9 Porter’s Five Forces Model 9 1.Threat of segment rivalry 9 2.Threat of new entrant 10 3.Threat of substitutes 10 4.Bargaining power of Suppliers 10 5.Bargaining power of consumers 11 Marketing Issues and Alternative Strategy 11 Rationale for the alternative choice 12 Marketing-mix Strategy to support the alternative 13 a)Product: 14 b)Price: 14 c)Promotion 15 d)Place: 15 Marketing Plan 16 Reference 18 Bibliography 20 Emirates Airline Emirates Airline was founded in the year 1985. It started its first flight from Dubai which is also the Headquarter for the Airline Company. The main objective and goal of the Airline h as been delivering service with world class quality and it has succeeded doing so in its journey of more than 25 years. Emirates Airline has emerged as a global Airline with its presence across 6 continents and above 60 countries and 120 destinations. The Airline has over  170 aircrafts in its fleet. Emirates have carried more than 30 million passengers and over 1 million tons of cargo (as per 2010-11) (Emirates, 2012). Emirates Current Marketing Strategy Emirates Airline current marketing strategy is largely based on its positioning itself as a global player with high quality service. Starting as a small airline company Emirates today has become the global leader and is reckoned as the best airline company in the world. Emirates have become innovative, customer-oriented and a modern airline company which provides world class service. Emirates Airlines strategy is based on leadership attribute that makes it a true global player serving the consumers across different continents. Em irates focus have always been customers and their travel experience have made Emirates the winner. The airline has made the travel more affordable and comfortable. The importance of customers is well understood by Emirates and this very reason the company strives hard to provide them value for their travel experience. Sponsorship has played a pivotal role as part of the company’s marketing strategy to establish itself as a global player. Every time Emirates explores new route it promotes itself through various media. Emirates Airline opts for sponsorship events which draws worldwide attraction. Emirates sponsorship features events in football, rugby, cricket, horse racing, etc. The biggest highlight of Emirates sponsorship deal includes the Arsenal Football Club, FIFA World Cup, Rugby World Cup, etc. SWOT Analysis Strength Emirates Airlines offer booking facilities over internet with numerous choice and other value added services. Emirates have been the first airline to offer such facilities to its customers. Apart from this it also offers facilities like self-check at the airports. Emirates are also amongst the airlines which offer long-haul flights to destinations such as Houston, San Francisco, Dallas and Los Angeles. Emirates Airline is amongst the airlines having youngest fleet of aircrafts. Weakness Emirates Airline is known for its luxury which is the reason for middle class families not being a part of the company. High invest in purchasing new aircrafts has increased the

Quantitative business and management journal Essay

Quantitative business and management journal - Essay Example elaborates that the relation of transfer of knowledge and contribution with the motivational level in the different network structures. The involvement of the employees in the knowledge sharing makes them feel their importance in the firm and the decision making of the company and hence increase the motivational level of the employee. The motivational level of the employees is increase as with their involvement in the knowledge sharing along with that when the involvement is done from every employee the contribution is of wide variety and different aspect of knowledge is contributed which is beneficial for the company as a whole. The research of this paper is aimed as to determine the different network structures in which the contribution from different and variety of sources improves the quality of the research and information and how different collaborating sources improve the motivational level of the employees. The knowledge sharing within the organization is seemed to be benefic ial for the company as a whole or not by including the motivational level increase within the employees and the benefits of the contributions as a variety of angles and perspective. Theory The theory in this paper is that the motivational level either intrinsic or extrinsic leads to the connectedness of the employees. There are several factors that lead to intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. The internal satisfactory factors that leads the sharing of knowledge of an individual leads to intrinsic motivation. The internal satisfaction may be of different intensity and thus they have the relative impact upon the sharing of knowledge of the individual. The extrinsic motivation comes along the external satisfactory conditions which are in terms of reward which may not necessarily be quantitative. The theory in this paper has been studied before as to the individual extent only where the motivational level relation with the connectedness of knowledge sharing of the individuals within the social circle. In this paper the research includes the involvement of the employees in the knowledge sharing of the company which shall be beneficial for the company as whole. The connectedness of the employees with the organization comes along with their involvement in the knowledge sharing of the employees as it enhances the motivational level of the employees. the employees’ extrinsic motivational and connectedness is dependent upon the rewards, hence as long as the employee is employee is rewarded then the contribution and the sharing of knowledge continues but as the reward is not awarded then the sharing of knowledge stops. In this paper the implication of the motivational level of the individual within the organization as the sharing of knowledge is dependent upon the network of the organization. Thus the implication of the motivational level and the connectedness within the organization is done. Quantitative Method and Analysis The connectedness of the empl oyee within the organization in terms of sharing of knowledge is related with the intrinsic motivation of the employee. Employees within the organization develop a social circle where the connectedness and sharing of knowledge is enhanced. As the theory elaborated the sharing of knowledge is done when the full innovative transfer of knowledge network is provided to the employee the motivation of the employee enhances. The hypothesis that the intrinsically motivated employees are well connected provided with the network of innovative transfer of knowledge is carried upon and tested with the practical implication within the organization. Hypothesis The hypothesis in this research is the relationship between the connectedness and intrinsic motivat

Unit 6 Case Management Seminar Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Unit 6 Case Management Seminar - Research Paper Example 279), which may be performed by Case Managers. Thus, it is imperative for Case Managers to know how to complete a provisional DSM Diagnosis. A social history is an accurate account of the client’s family and societal background, educational level, whether special assistance was required in the past, information regarding alcohol or drug abuse or any legal problems associated with the client. The Mental Status Examination (MSE) forms an integral part of the social history, capturing subtle visual and verbal attributes of the client. It involves observations based on our client’s general appearance, cognitive functioning, behavior intelligence, thought process and content, reality testing, affect, suicidal or homicidal ideation, impulse control, judgment and insight. As described in the text, it is useful in Case management by helping clinicians understand what has been going on with the client between sessions and to determine the best course to follow with each individual† (Ch. 18, p. 314). Case Managers are required to assess the client’s environment in order to understand their specific needs and goals. Our author mentions, â€Å"Sometimes you will be asked to go to someone’s home to do an assessment or to do an interview. People’s surroundings often hold clues to the way they are currently structuring their lives.† (Ch. 18, p.313). Case Managers need to carefully assess the appropriateness of the surroundings after proper inquiry, to order to judge the client’s needs. Importantly, Case managers must look at the way the person keeps his home. Our author rightly adds that â€Å"this tells something about the person’s capacity to attend to the routine details of living, or it may indicate a debilitating mental illness, such as hoarding† (Ch. 18, p.313). Thus, an ecological perspective helps understand the client’s needs and accordingly define

Pakistan National Conservation Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Pakistan National Conservation Strategy - Essay Example The design of the Institute was initiated by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature-Pakistan (IUCN-P) with significant support from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), gratefully acknowledged as the Institute's key source of institutional support. The committee formulated for the constitution of SDPI consulted government officials, academics, intellectuals, NGOs and journalists while formulating the by-laws and identifying the first Board of Governors. During eleven years of SDPI's existence, there have been six changes in government. SDPI, as a policy-oriented research institute, has had to re-establish relationships with government each time the administration has changed. Despite this relatively unstable political environment, SDPI has, and intends to continue to produce quality policy research and advocate democratic governance and pro-people initiatives. to contribute to strengthening the social and physical infrastructure for research in Pakistan including the construction and dissemination of databases and research indices and the improvement of library systems There has been little amendment to the existing mandate and goals of the Institute. However, there has been a process of clarification and prioritization. We are keen to retain the strengths that have made SDPI the highly respected Institute it is. We are also aware that a process of restructuring and changing priorities is essential to maximize our comparative advantage and ensure we continue to improve our effectiveness. The strategies below reflect these needs and desires: strengthen linkages between policy, research, advocacy and training maintain the transparent, participatory, 'moral

The impact( positive and negative) on the customer relationship Essay

The impact( positive and negative) on the customer relationship management in the hospitality and tourism - Essay Example 221) stated that CRM has many definitions depending on different people and their industry and in most cases it is also referred to as relationship marketing. CRM can be defined as a marketing method that allows a company or an organization to use its available resources to establish a lasting relationship with customers, thus gaining a competitive advantage compared to its competitors (Mohammed & Rashid 2012, p.221). It can also be defined as a method of retaining clients using after sales strategies. CRM, if properly implemented, can be suitable for the hospitality and tourism industry considering that hotels and other industry players get lots of information regarding their clients. An effective CRM programme should ensure that the customers get the best experience, decrease management cost, source new customers and increase profitability (Sotoudeh 2006, p.1). This paper will critically look at  the impact of the customer relationship management in the hospitality and tourism. A dvantages Marketing CRM is an activity that helps to source for customers and retaining them (Ku 2010, p. 1085). CRM focuses more on retaining existing customers for repurchase than recruiting new customers as well as increasing client base through referrals from the existing clients. In most cases, companies use the available resources such as the employees, technologies and their databases to set up this system. These methods are cheaper than advertising and marketing to new customers. It ensures that the company grows their customer from the existing customer base. CRM can also help to indentify the lost customers or those that are almost moving out, to ensure they are won back. Long lasting relationship also helps to minimize the effects of the competition through word of mouth by their customers. They benefit financially due to a lower marketing cost. Ensuring Customer Satisfaction Customers should get value for their money from the services paid for. Repeat customers feel atta ched to the service providers and thus are able to bond with companies’ employees. The existing database can be analysed by the company to improve the services offered. In the hospitality sector, there is direct interaction between the company or its employees and the customers as they deliver their services. Proper interaction helps service providers understand their customers and thus help them develop proper plans that suit the customer’s needs. Having a direct interaction helps to develop trust between the involved parties. According to the study by Hashem (2012, p. 132) in Jordan, most hotels that use CRM has higher customer satisfaction. Relationship marketing together with CRM translates to repeat customers and customer loyalty (Shirazi & Som 2011, p. 82). Increase in Revenue Well designed CRM should help a firm reduce cost and increase revenue by enhancing client loyalty. It helps to put together information from within and without the organization. This inform ation can be used by the company to understand the market trends and specific customers’ needs. CRM helps to ensure customer satisfaction and, therefore, long term relationship. Company’s personnel interact directly with the consumers and their actions impact directly the customers (Kattara et al. 2008, p. 310). Good service by the employees leads to

Balanced Scorecard Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 7000 words

Balanced Scorecard - Dissertation Example If you can't measure something, you can't understand it. If you can't understand it, you can't control it. If you can't control it, you can't improve it† by H. James Harrington is justified in every aspects of a business environment (USACE, 2005). Measuring performance in an organizational perspective is equally important as its business operations. An organization running its operations without having performance measurement tools can be like a CEO functioning without formulating a strategic plan or an aeroplane flying without its compass. Therefore it can be portrayed that the primary intentions behind measuring performance is to get an idea of how the organization is performing and looking after the possibilities of further development. Performance management enables organizations to measure, plan and control activities in accordance with the predefined strategies. In simple words it facilitates organizations to achieve their desired goals (Johnson, 2007, p.1-2). Some of the major performance measurement tools that are being used in current business scenario include Balanced Scorecard, Economic Value Added (EVA), Activity Based Costing and Management, Performance Prism and Quality Management. However among the aforementioned tools, importance and usage of balanced scorecard will be principally highlighted through the entire report. While the saying ‘balanced scorecard was coined in the early 1990s’, the origin of this approach however is believed to be deep, and also embrace radical work of General Electric (GE) during the early 1950s. The work was basically based on reporting of performance measurement. Apart from this French process engineers have also contributed immensely towards the development of performance management tools. There work was during the early 20th century. In this context the engineers literally developed a â€Å"dashboard† in order to monitor performance levels in a simplified and efficient way. Despite of its early conception, it was originally developed at Harvard business school by Dr. David Norton and Dr. Robert Kaplan in the year 1992. During the initial phases after the development of balanced scorecard, it was merely used as the performance measurement tool or a performance measurement agenda. Nevertheless slowly with the passage of time balanced scorecard has been able to gain much more importance in the professional field. A number of companies incorporated balanced scorecard into their system of operation in order to facilitate effective and well-organized performance measurement system. Nowadays balanced scorecard is considered as a valuable strategic planning tool. It helps an organization to transform its strategic plan from

Narrative Structure In 'When I Whistle' By Shusaku Endo Essay

Narrative Structure In 'When I Whistle' By Shusaku Endo - Essay Example In When I Whistle, Shusaku Endo's narrative structure is apprehensive to draw a number of disturbing comparisons between period of war and contemporary Japan. Shusaku narrative structure is the inheritance of the war generation that explores the state of Japan that appeared from the destruction of World War II. This feature of the narrative structure is evident from the standard of living of Eiichi, the hardnosed young doctor of medicine of When I Whistle; unchanged by the disaster of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and incapable to see patients as anything but samples for own tests. Eiichi lengthens the imperialistic desire of prewar Japan by taking no notice of the past and worshipping the present. The accretion of substance belongings is the only source of meaning for the new generation. This striking thematic element of the narrative structure of the novel is made further powerful by its persistent medicinal and hospital imagery. This characteristic of Endo's narrative structure was the result of chronic heart and lung problems that plagued him all through the adult life.

Air Asia Essay Example for Free

Air Asia Essay A. Late Submission A 10% deduction per day of total coursework marks (excluding weekends and public holidays). Late submission between 5 to 10 days, results in a 50% deduction of total coursework marks. Late submission past 10 days results in an automatic 0% for coursework and the student will be barred from the final examination. B. Deliverables Students must submit all materials supporting their coursework listed in the deliverable section. The coursework must be done individually and must be entirely your own work. Please make sure that you are aware of the rules concerning plagiarism. If you are unclear about them, please consult your program coordinator/lecturer. The coursework should exhibit formal research skills i. e. with a table of content, proper citations, references, and appendices. The coursework write up must be able to demonstrate critical analysis and application of both theory and practical issues to the company that you have selected. Student may include additional relevant data/information apart from the proposed guidelines in conjunction to your research. Additional marks will be awarded for such attempt. A CD containing the softcopy version of your coursework should be submitted as well (if required). BACHELOR OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENT (HONS) BACHELOR OF ACCOUNTING (HONS) COURSEWORK QUESTIONS Choose one of the strategic change and management framework highlighted below and critically analyze and evaluate with supporting examples. PEST Analysis Porter’s 5 Forces Porter’s Value Chain Your report should attempt the following tasks: a) Discussion of the principles underlying the framework. b) A critical evaluation on the application of the framework in actual business context. c) Relating the framework to an organization of your choice. Your report should include: Cover Page Grading Scheme Executive Summary Table of Content Questions (a) (c) List of References/Bibliography Appendices (if relevant) BACHELOR OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENT (HONS) Guidelines (1) Your mark in this coursework will carry a 25% weight in the assessment of your overall performance in this module. (2) You will be working on this coursework individually. (3) The assignment will be in a report format of not more than 1,500 words. (4) Appropriate APA referencing system will be employed where applicable. (5) Your assignment should be type written, 1 ? line spaced, font 12 Times New Roman and justify aligned. Please staple and do not comb bind. (6) Please provide an executive summary, table of content, page number, proper heading title for each part answered and references. (7) Use an appropriate cover sheet. (8) Please attach a copy of the grading scheme at the front of your coursework (after the Cover Page) during submission. (9) The assignment will be submitted on 25th October 2012 (Thursday) in class. Assignment of Grades for Written Work Written assignments will be graded according to the following distribution: 70%: Content (thoroughness of preparation, information, and content) 20%: Style (grammar, writing quality, clarity of writing at the sentence level) 10%: Presentation (organization, clarity of writing at the paper level) What this means in practice is that if you do the work, but dont organize your thoughts or write clearly, you will end with at most a B. However, you will not be given full credit for content if the lecturer cannot understand what youre saying, so if you dont write clearly, you will probably end up losing points on content as well. BACHELOR OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENT (HONS) Academic Dishonesty As stated in the faculty Handbook, cheating, including plagiarism will not be tolerated. All written work, including paper summaries, must be your own work. If you wish to quote a source, you must do so explicitly, and with proper attribution. Any work that does not meet the requirements set out above will be treated as a violation of the academic honesty policy for the class, and dealt with accordingly.

Vietnam War - Paper Essay Example for Free

Vietnam War Paper Essay The Vietnam War was a conflict between the communist, North Vietnam and South Vietnam. In the wake of the Second World War western fears of a communist expansion throughout Asia were running high. The United States was concerned that if North Vietnam succeed and turned Vietnam into a communist state, neighboring countries were also likely to follow. As an ally of the United States and Australia’s involvement in South-East Asia Treaty Organization and the Australia New Zealand United States Security Treaty and the belief in forward defence Australia was an enthusiastic supporter of the American policy in Vietnam. The majority of Australians supported the countrys involvement in the Vietnam War in its early years mainly because of the threat of communism. Australia felt that if communism dominated South Vietnam it would be an even bigger risk to Australia because of the domino effect. If Vietnam fell into communism so will its neighboring countries including Australia. Australia did not want to fall into communism and agreeing to the request for help by South Vietnam, Australia supported the war and troops were immediately sent to Vietnam. The decision to send the army to Vietman was also made by the Older Australians which were part of the group called the Returned Servicemens League. These people believed in the idea of the Anzac Spirit and expected the younger generation to do their bit as they had during World War II. The Australian People and Liberal Party rallied behind the leadership of Menzies. Therefore, the Liberal Party was also in agreement with Australias involvement in the Vietnam War. In 1966, Australia warmly welcomed the visit of the American president, Lyndon Baines Johnson. The new prime minister of Australia enthusiastically declared that when it came to Vietnam, Australia was all the way with LBJ, which meant that Australia was willing to support the US in supporting the Vietnam War. The Democratic Labor Party at that time who split from the Labor Party had a very large Catholic membership and was also very anti-communist. It was also determined to oppose any ALP policies so it automatically supported the war. After the first announcement of sending troops there was a general support from the news outlets for the governments policy. This wasn’t the kind of support shown in Australia’s involvement in previous wars. There was little mention of words like heroic and more mention of words like grave  decision’. Many of the papers simply said Australia had no alternative, given its geographical position and its treaty commitments. The support was there, but it was muted and it tended to question the political situation in South Vietnam. Australian Catholics had been encouraged to see South Vietnam as not only the last democracy in South East Asia, but as a Catholic democracy. There was widespread support for the government of the Republic of Vietnam, even after the assassination of the Catholic leader Ngo Dinh Diem. At the same time as the Australian government made the announcement that it was sending troops, the Pope called for negotiations to take place in Vietnam for a peaceful resolution. Many Australian Catholics did not see the Popes announcement as any reason not to support the commitment of troops to South Vietnam and so they were in support. There was even a large section of the community who seemed to take no interest in what was going on in South East Asia. Many people believed Vietnam to be too far away for the average person to care about. They were quite unconcerned about the war and firmly believed it should be left up to the government and the army to sort out. Sending troops off to fight in wars was seen by many ordinary Australians as not only the right thing to do but as a good way of increasing Australias prestige in the world. This caused a lot of people to automatically support the government without really questioning if it was a good idea or not. On the contrary, there were many people and organisations that were against this war. Anti-war protests had been taking place in Australia since 1962 when the first military advisors had been sent in to Vietnam. Since then, protests had taken place for various reasons at various times, but it was not until the P.M.’s announcement in April 1965 to provide an infantry battalion for service in Vietnam for ‘further military assistance’ when protests really began to take shape. This opposition was a result of extensive media coverage, a unequal system of conscription and growing political consciousness. A lot of violent and gruesome footage of the war was broadcasted right into peoples homes every evening. Many protests were the result of this. Conscription introduced in November 1964 had forced young men to fight away from their home country. Many people saw this as unfair and wrong. This too caused a lot of controversy and many arguments were made against the government for  introducing this. The ALP was against the commitment of troops to Vietnam. The Labor leader Arthur Calwell had the unenviable job of responding to the government in parliament. Labor saw the war as essentially a civil one in which Australia should not get involved. Calwell did say that they would back the Australian troops and not deny them the support they would need. Many of the trade unions called the government support of Americas foreign policy in Vietnam diggers for dollars. They believed the Australian government was sacrificing the lives of Australian troops to ensure that America would boost the economy by spending more money in Australia. In response to this belief and the announcement of more troops being sent to Vietnam, unions wanted to hold work stoppages in protest. The Australian Council of Trade Unions followed the Labor Party policy of not supporting the war but not denying the soldiers support. In later years, no other group would be more associated with anti-war activities, but reaction in the universities immediately after the announcement. Educated university students didnt see the point in continuing a futile war. They thought that young men being forced to go to war was unnecessary, it disturbed their lives and the potential to live to their dreams. They also thought that the enormous amount of money used on the war should be spent on helping their own count. The fact that it was an overseas war and that it had nothing to do with us was another reason for opposition. The reason why they were opposing the war is because they considered that Australia is following USA blindly, it is not our war and they also didnt like the idea of young men being forced into war and innocent woman, elders and children being killed due to the war. There was also a large and angry anti-war movement growing. There were public draft-card burnings, student sit ins and large noisy group demonstrations when the American President, Johnson visited Australia. By the late 1960s a much stronger and more violent form of protest appeared. Protesters raided officers and campaigns were launched to persuade young men not to register for conscription. The Labor Party was against the conscription method, calling it unfair, and they had much support from the Australian public. We should stop following US policy blindly The women of SOS â€Å"put on their hats and gloves and carried their blue and white banners high to the army barracks, to court, to Parliament House, to the City Sq uare, and even, in 1969, to Vietnam itself. Most of the SOS members were  ordinary middle-class and working-class women, wives and mothers, who had no connections to the radical youth counter-culture, but they educated themselves and others on the situation in Vietnam and on the laws associated with conscription and conscientious objection. In the process, their politics became increasingly radical. Later, Following the success of the November 1969 Moratorium in the United States, a series of Australian’s groups opposed to the war in Vietnam decided to band together to put on a Moratorium in Australia. The demonstration in Melbourne, led by Member of Parliament Jim Cairns, had over 100,000 people taking to the streets in Melbourne alone. Across Australia, it was estimated that 200,000 people were involved. The second Vietnam Moratorium in September 1970 was smaller after more violence occurred. 50 000 people participated and there were violent incidents between police. Two hundred people were arrested in Sydney. The third moratorium in June 1971 were of nearly 100 000 people. By this time public opinion was beginning to turn assertively against conscription and Australian‘s involvement in the war. The intensity of the conflict in Australia over our involvement in Vietnam, and the issue of conscription, contributed to the election of a Labor government in December 1972. Twenty-three years of conservative Liberal government had ended. The new Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam, immediately abolished National Service and recalled the Australian army. As we see due to the fear of communism in Australia most Australian’s were ready to send troops to fight in Vietnam. However, as the war progressed and the society were starting to see all the pictures on TV and hearing so much soldiers are dying and sent overseas and that this war can’t be won, Australian’s started to do something about this. They went out on streets to protest, fig ht, and hold moratoriums and as a result of these conflicts the troops were called back after 10 years and 60,000 soldiers fighting in the longest war Australia had been part of.

The Concept Of Pricing

The Concept Of Pricing This module introduces the concept of pricing and discusses its importance and significance to organisations. With a view to the relative significance of pricing on organisations profits and sales, appropriate pricing policies needs to be formulated strategically. The various pricing decisions that organisations need to make are price setting, adapting price and managing price change which is dealt in this module. Pricing Strategies Introduction This lesson discusses pricing and its importance to organisations and the various factors to be considered while formulating pricing policies: Define the concept of price Explain the factors influencing pricing decisions. Discuss the process of price setting. Explain how organisations adapt prices. Discuss the price change management policies adopted by organisations. Understanding pricing Price is the amount of money at which a product or service is offered in the market. It is the exchange rate of a product or service in terms of its monetary value. Pricing is an important decision area for an organisation. The pricing and sales volume of the product put together determines the profit for an organisation. The sales volume itself depends on the type of pricing policy adopted by the organisation. Profits too are dependent on the pricing policies. Hence organisations have to formulate pricing policies strategically. Pricing also determines the acceptance of the product in the market, one can say that it determines the products future success in the market. IKEA pricing strategy is to provide quality products at low prices to its customers. Internet advertising through Google ads, Pricing is an important aspect not only for the organization producing the product, but also for the consumers as well as the society. Price represents the value of the market offering to the consumers, it also indicates the quality of the product. Increase in price could be perceived favourably by the consumers by interpreting it as a consequence of improvement of quality. (for reference only) The factors affecting pricing policies of an organisation are: Internal Factors While making pricing policies, marketers need to take into account several factors which are the result of company decisions and actions. To a great extent these factors are controllable and alterable by the company. Internal factors are as follows: Objectives of the organisation Positioning sought by organisation through pricing Nature of product Price elasticity of the product The stage of Product life cycle of the product Usage and repurchase level of the product Cost of production Product distinctiveness and positioning Other ps of the marketing mix and their influence on the pricing Composition of product line of the firm External Factors There are a number of influencing factors which are external to the firm and cannot be controlled by the firm but will impact pricing decisions. External factors are as follows: Market structure Consumer behavior Bargaining power of consumer groups Bargaining power of major suppliers Competitors policies Government controls/regulations Other legal aspects Social considerations cartels Setting the Price The organisation has to think over several factors while setting its pricing policy. The process of setting the price is as follows: Deciding the pricing objectives: The organisation has to first of all analyse its position of offering in the market. If the organisational objectives are clearly set, setting price becomes easier. The major objectives that organisations look to pursue through pricing policy are sustenance, profit maximization, market share maximization, market skimming and quality leadership. Organisations would adopt sustenance policy, if there is too much competition and changing in trends due to changes in customer taste and preferences. Here the organisation would generally be looking to cover some variable and fixed cost of production and a marginal profit. This kind of policy is useful only in the short run, in the long run firms would have to add value to its offer or face extinction. Setting the pricing policy : (for reference only) In case the organisational objective of the firm is profit maximization, the firm will then choose that price which will give it maximum profits, cash flow or maximum rate of return on investments. For such a strategy the firm has also to take demand situation into consideration. In case where the main objective of the organisation is market share maximisation, they would generally set a low price so that market can be penetrated easily. Low pricing or penetration pricing policy is applicable in the following situations: Consumers are price sensitive There is possibility of market penetration with the help of low prices Production and distribution cost fall with higher production level and experience Competition is discouraged due to the low prices in the market Skimming price is adopted by firms to gain higher profits in the short run and is applicable in the following situations: High demand exists in the market due to product being a pioneer product Not much competition exists in the market Consumer perception is that, high price indicates quality (for reference only) Determining demand: The different prices set by organisations will lead to difference in demand for the product in the market. The demand curve shows the different quantities demanded by customers at varying prices. Universally, as demand and price of the products are inversely related, according to the law of demand at a higher price lesser the quantity demanded and at lower price higher the quantity demanded. Only in exceptional cases it can be seen that with increase in price of product, demand too increased, especially seen in cases of prestige goods such as perfumes, diamonds etc. (Fig 1.1 Demand Curve) (For reference) Figure 1.1, in the first case shows elastic demand and the second case it shows inelastic demand. Price Sensitivity: The demand curve shows the markets sensitivity to the changes in prices of the product. It shows the response of customers to changes in prices. Generally customers are more price sensitive to products that cost much such as speciality goods and those goods which are frequently such as staple goods. They are less price sensitive to goods which are brought infrequently or such products, the cost of which is insignificant to the customer. Products which would have less price sensitivity are: Distinctive products Where there very few substitutes to the products or customers are not aware of substitute products Quality comparison of substitute products are not easy The price of product is insignificant to the consumers income It is a complementary good to an earlier purchase The product is assumed to be of higher quality, prestige. It is not possible to store the product. The advent of internet has led to an increased price sensitivity in the society. Internet has made it possible for people to compare prices instantly and go for the lowest prices available. Firms have to understand the price sensitivity of their target market and accordingly formulate pricing policies. Demand estimation and forecasting is an important function to be carried out by organisations for determining the demand for their products. There are various methods that can be used to arrive at demand estimation and forecast. Where different variables of the price are identified statistical analysis can be undertaken, data for these variables collected and then analysis is done by using various statistical methods to arrive at the demand forecast. Experimentation method is another way in which demand can be estimated at various price levels. Here the prices of the products are charged differently in different markets or in the same market different prices are introduced at different times and then the result is analysed to arrive at the demand. Another method is doing customer surveys and interview to gauge the customers response to varying prices. Price elasticity of demand: Elasticity of demand is to extend the responsiveness of demand to the different prices charged. The marketer needs to have an idea of how responsive the market demands are, to various prices set by the firm. If with the change in price the demand for the product changes substantially then we can say that the demand is elastic to price. If with a change in price there in very less or no change in the demand for the product the demand would be said to be inelastic. Demand would usually be less or inelastic in the following situations: There is no competition or substitute products in the market Habits Necessity goods Where the price of product is small or insignificant to the consumer Price elasticity depends on the degree of change in prices. Elasticity would be less in case of low level price change and would be more if the price change is significant. For example consumer durables like television and washing machines, with a slight increase in their prices the demand for these product would not fall significantly but with a substantial increase in their prices the demand can come down considerably. If price elasticity differs according to the time period under consideration, in the short run the elasticity would be different than in the long run. This happens because in the short run certain determinants remain static which can be varied in the long run. For example Habits of people can be changed in the long run, competitive scenario can change in the long run. Cost estimation: Pricing policies of firms significantly depends on the cost of production and other related costs incurred by the organisation for offering the product in the market. Firms generally would charge a price which covers the production cost as well as a fair profit for the firms effort and risk. There are different types of cost related to production of a product : Fixed cost which are fixed in nature and do not vary with the level of production or sales. For example rent, interest on capital invested etc. Variable cost vary directly with the level of production of the firm. For example wages, power consumption etc. Total cost can be said as the sum total of the fixed and variable costs for the total production level. Average Cost: can be said as the total cost divided by the total number of units produced. The firm would want to charge at least a price which would cover the total production cost. To develop adequate pricing policies the management needs to know how cost varies with different levels of production. Cost of production would also change according to its production scale and experience. Over the period of time, the experience gained by organisation leads in making more effective and production scheduling policies leading to lower costs. As well as with the expansion of plant and machinery, i.e large scale production helps organisations to lessen the cost of production considerably. Organisations now a days try to adapt their offering as per the requirements of different buyers. A manufacturer may set different terms and prices for different retail chains according to their requirements. Certain retailer may not want to stock too much inventory of a particular product, in that case the delivery that has to be made to this retailer would be much frequent. On the other hand a retailer who has the stocking facility may want deliveries less frequently, accordingly the pricing and profit levels of the manufacturer would differ too. Some companies adopt target pricing, here first of all through market survey the firm arrives at the product features and design. The next step would be to determine at what price the product will be sold. On the basis of the price, a percentage is deducted as profits and the rest would be the cost of production. Hence the organisation has arrived at the cost at which production should happen and that is the target cost at which production should happen. Competitors pricing policies analysis : Competitors policies have significant effect on the firms own policies and strategies. The firm has to have a good knowledge of the competitors policies and their possible response to the firms pricing policies. In case the firm is offering product features which are exclusive and not provided by its competitors then their price should be set accordingly. If competitor provides additional features then their worth to the customers should be evaluated and subtracted from firms price. Selecting a pricing method : The various pricing methods that organisations can use as follows : Mark up Pricing : The most widely used pricing technique is to add a standard mark up to the products cost. Mark up is expressed in terms of percentage. Here, either the cost price or the sale price is taken as the base for determination of the mark up. Eg. Cost price of travel bag Rupees 2000 Mark up Rupees 400 Therefore selling price Rupees 2400 Mark up based on cost price = 500/2000 = 25% Mark up based on Selling price = 500/2400= 20.8% Mark up pricing: Example : Shopkeeper buys goods for Rupees 300/- at a wholesale rate. His cost based mark-up is 25%. Hence sale mark-up price = 100-30 = 75% or 0.75%. Therefore sales price = 300/ 0.75 = 400 While determining any pricing policy current demand, value of product perceived by customers, competition existing in the market has to be considered. Mark up price would only be useful if it brings in expected sales. Mark up price is quite is popular due to the following reasons : Determining cost is quite easy than estimating demand It is a much simpler way of pricing If all firms in industry use this pricing policy then price would be similar, leading to less intense price competition. It is believed that cost pricing is fair for both customers and producers, where customers are not exploited and producers get a fair enough return. Rate on return pricing The price is determined on the basis of a planned rate of return on investment made by the organisation. The total cost of one financial years standard production is estimated and taken as the standard cost. The mark up percentage of profit is obtained by multiplying capital turnover by estimated rate of return. Perceived value pricing : Here the valuation of the product is done on the basis of how much the customers are willing to pay, instead of considering the production and related costs. (for reference) Value pricing : Here the firm charges a fairly lower price for high quality products thereby winning loyal customer. Tesco, UK is one of the largest retailers in UK. Tescos key competence is its pricing policy. It keep its product prices low so that sales can be maximised. Lot many customers were attracted to its products due to its value added low priced products. Tesco launched the unbeatable value campaign in the 1996, it made massive reductions in its prices during this campaign. Tesco adopted a low daily low price strategy alongside its promotional programs. This stragegy stressed on regularising low prices for its customers on a regular and daily basis. Going rate Prices : Going rate pricing emphasises on market conditions. The firm adjusts its own pricing policy to the price structure existing at the industry level. This kind of pricing is usually seen in oligopolistic market structure, where the prices are mutually decided by the firms. Also in cases where costs are difficult to be determined, firms tend to follow the going rate price because it reflects the entire industries price rate. Examples would be petroleum and oil. Auction pricing or price bidding: This type of pricing methods has emerged in the recent years especially due to the growth of Internet. These kind of pricing strategy is mostly seen in electronic goods market, selling a diverse range of products and services by auctioning them through the bidding process. The important function of auction is to dispose of excess products existing with the firm. There are three major auction type pricing. These types are: Ascending bids, (English auctions) : One seller and many buyers. The seller puts up the product or auction and the buyers bid prices, the highest price is accepted. Descending bids (Dutch auctions) : One seller and many buyers or one buyer and many sellers. In this kind of auction the buyer quotes a higher price and then decreases it gradually till a bidder accepts the price. In the other case the buyers lets know his intention to buy a particular product and then the sellers bids the prices by offering lower prices. Sealed bid auctions: Here the suppliers can submit only one bid and do not know about other bids. From the submitted bids the most feasible bid is selected (for reference only) While selecting the final price, additional factors has to be considered by the firm such as : Psychological pricing : Psychological pricing a marketing practice which is based on the theory that certain kind of prices have psychological influence on customers minds. The prices are expressed as odd prices: e.g. Rs. 299.00 or Rs. 499.00. Gain and Risk sharing pricing : This type of pricing is used for pricing complex, high valued products or services. Many times buyers refrain from accepting sellers proposal due to the high risk if the promised value is not delivered. In order to provide some form of risk sharing or price protection as new drugs are adopted into formularies biopharma companies and payers are entering into agreements. Onyx/Bayers Nexavar (sorafenib) and Pfizers Sutent (sunitinib malate) both anti-cancer drugs; Novartis Aclasta (zoledronic acid), and Sanofi-Aventis/Procter Gambles Actonel (risedronate sodium), both osteoporosis drugs are some of the best known drugs. In Germany,Italy and the US, manufacturers have agreed to provide drugs free of charge if no progress is seen after the first treatment, or to recompense health plans, say for instance if bone fractures occur despite the osteoporosis therapy. While setting the final price, firm has also to consider the brand quality, advertising, company pricing policies. Firms also need to consider the distributors and agents, sales persons, competitors, suppliers response to the prices of the product. Finally, firms also need to consider the legal implications while setting their prices. Adapting the price : Organisations generally set different prices according to variations in geographical demand and costs, market segment requirements, purchase time period, order levels, frequency of delivery, guarantees and various other factors. Various price adaptation strategies are as follows: Geographical pricing: It involves the pricing of products to different customers in different locations and countries. Taking into consideration the transportation costs example shipping / cargo costs for distant customers. Also the firm needs to lower the prices of its product/s from sales promotion point of view to retain or expand its business. Considering the export of products to countries abroad where the payment from buyer becomes crucial, should he lack payment he may offer other items. This practice also recognised as countertrade. Countertrade accounts approximately up to 25 percent of current world trade. Usually this trading is done as Buyback agreements, Barter, offset and Compensation deals. Countertrade deals may become complex for example an A company in Europe sells 50 yachts to Turkey and accepts in exchange 150 Turkish made cars, which it sold to Pakistan for Rice, which in turn sold to America and achieved payment in dollars . Such deals are carried by a separate department within the organisation. Other companies may depend on barter houses or countertrade specialists. Most companies give discounts and allowances in order to receive early payments on volume purchases and off-season buying. This may lead to decreased profits, hence an assumptive price of the products needs to be worked out with planning. Marketing researchers have found that up to 35 percent of buyers in most categories are price sensitive. Higher income people are more interested in buying products with added features, customer service, quality and brand. Hence its essential for a strong brand not to get into price discounting in order to react to low price attacks. A company can gain some concessions, if a customer agrees to sign a contract for a bulk years example 3-5 years or if an order is placed in a larger quantity or if an order is placed online thus saving the company money. It is necessary to maintain and monitor all records regarding discounts such as the quantity of customers receiving discount and average discount, etc. It is essential for higher levels of management to conduct a net price analysis in order to get the real price offered. However the realised price is affected not only by discounts, also but by firms average promotional spendings, advertising spendings to retailers to back the product, thus the listed price of the product and so for the net price of the product are two ends of the same thread with couple of other expenses in between. However companies in an overcapacity tend to offer their branded products at a deep discounted rate. Firms should avoid offering discounts to retailers in the long term which in turn would decrease theirs profits in an effort to meet short term volume goals. In order to stimulate early purchase of a product firms can use several pricing techniques. Examples could be found where branded products are offered at a discounted price in order to stimulate extra purchases of other store products. This pays only if the revenue is generated by selling other products in proportion to the lower margins on the loss -leader product. In certain seasons and occasions of festive periods example every June there are back -to-back school sales and during Diwali, Christmas and New Year special prices will be established on products. In order to clear inventories without affecting the listed price, auto companies and other consumer goods companies offer cash rebates to help purchase of products during a certain period. Some auto companies offer the product with an attractive finance scheme such as zero interest rate or in case of consumer durable goods buy now and start paying after six or nine months instead of cutting its price. Equated monthly instalments may be stretched over a longer period in order to lower them, here the consumer focus is on affording to pay back in instalments rather the rate of interest. This can be in cases of auto companies and consumer durable goods etc. Often auto companies offer an attractive warranty and servicing contract in order to promote their sales. Many a times products price is listed at an artificially high price and then offered with a discount .This creates a psychological discounting in minds of consumers that they have purchased the product at a considerably lower price and have gained but in fact havent. Often in order to accommodate differences in customers, products, locations, etc firms adjust their basic price. Thus price differentiation arises where a product is sold at two or more prices without any proportional difference in costs. Customers are charged depending on their intensity of demand. Buyers would be charged at a lower rate depending on the volume of buying. In case of Museums or places of historic importance there is lower admission fee to children, foreigners, etc. A firm charges 30 Rs for adding 150 gms sugar in a Rasgulla tin pack sweet, however it charges 35 Rs for adding the same quantity of sugar for a Kala Jamun pack sweet. A firm can price the same product at two different levels based on image differences. A detergent manufacturer can put detergent in one packet, name it with an image, and price it at 50 Rs. It can put the same detergent in another packet with a different name and image and price it at 75 Rs. Soft drinks prices often differ in an A grade restaurant, vending machines or when sold in canteens or general stores. Same product is priced differently at different locations even though the cost of offering at each location is the same. A concert audience is charged variably for seating as per their preferences for different locations. Prices differ by season, day or hour etc. Electricity as an important public utility source is charged differently by time of day in United Kingdom. Restaurants and Clubs in United Kingdom charge less during happy hours. Airlines have different fares on same flight for same class for instance its economy class, which also is known as Yield Management / Revenue Management system. They have child fares, adult fares, seasonal fares etc. Extra luggage price by an airline for a single kilo differs from Dubai to London as opposed to travelling the other way back from London to Dubai. Websites have coupled up different sellers product together such as Car Insurance, Consumer durable goods, home insurance, medical insurance etc, which allows buyers to discriminate between sellers by comparing their prices. Responding to price changes : Many time organisations have to go for price cuts and increase as per the situation. Price Cuts : It is a possibility that organisation may go for price cuts due to existence of price cuts, also where even with added effort the sales have not increased or due to declining market share. Price cuts can lead to price wars in the market. Lower price can be used by firms so as to dominate market. Organisations may also have to cut down the prices in case of recession. Price Increase : Price increases are undertaken by organisations when there is cost inflation. With rise in cost of production the organisations profits lessens, hence they need to go for price increase to earn normal profits. Many times organisations increase their prices more than the increase in cost due to anticipation of further cost increase. Price increase can also happen when there is too much demand for the product and the supply is less. Price increase can be done in the following ways : Final price is not set, until the product is delivered to the customer. Generally seen in construction and heavy equipment industries. Here firm wants customers to pay current price and all or part of any cost inflation that can happen before the delivery of the product. Here the price is kept same but some elements are separated from the product and priced individually. Example in case of automobiles, accessories, other additional features come with extra cost. Discount if any, could be reduced to maintain profits. Organisation also can tackle high cost and over demand without raising prices as follows : Reducing the amount offered without increasing the prices By substituting raw materials with less expensive materials wherever possible Lessening the product features to lessen its cost Lessening product services Usage of less cost packaging Creating economy brands Reacting to changes in prices : Price changes can have a reaction from customers, competitors, distributors, suppliers and governments. Customers may perceive and respond to price cuts in different ways. Price cuts may be interpreted as lower quality product or faulty products. Price rise would generally carry some positive indications to customers. The product is considered to be of high quality and having added value when prices increased. Competitors may also respond in various ways to price changes. To contemplate competitors reaction organisations have to access their financial situation, sales scenario, market share and their objectives. In case the competitors objective is to increase market share then they will change their price in response of firms price changes. If its objective is profit motivation then it will increase its promotional activities to maintain its sales. Responding to competitors price changes : It is an important decision on how firm should react to price changes by competitors, the products could go for product augmentation having homogenous characteristics. If product augmentation is not possible then they would have to go for price cuts to counter the competitors price cuts. If price is increased by the competitor in the homogenous market, then other firms may not increase their prices until it is unavoidable. If price change happens in a heterogeneous market then the various aspects needs to be considered before responding to the price change : What is the reason for competitors price cuts is it due to over capacity of production, rise in costs of production or the intention is to increase market share. Is the price change temporary or permanent What will be the scenario if the firm does not respond to competitors price change Are other competitors going to respond to the price change and if yes how? Market leaders many a times have to face price changes from new entrants in the market or smaller competitors. There are many ways in which a market leader can respond to competitors price changes: Maintain price Market leader my decide to maintain its current price and profit due to the belief that : Too much profits will be lost if prices are decreased It would not lose too much market share It is possible to regain market share when required Maintain price and add value to its offering The product could be augmented, its services and communication improved. Reduce price : Leader may go for price cuts to match the competitors price cuts due to following reasons : As the market is price sensitive it would lose market share It would be difficult to build market share once lost Its costs reduces with higher volume in production Increase price and increase quality: The leader may decide to initiate price increase and also increase quality of product and also introduce new brands or innovative products. Introduce low priced product line : It could contemplate adding a low priced product line to

The Handmaid’s Tale Essay -- Literature

Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, like so many other dystopias before it, seeks to warn of disaster to come through the lens of its author’s society. In the breadth of its dystopian brethren, Huxley’s Brave New World and Orwell’s 1984, The Handmaid’s Tale reflects not a society destroyed, but a society reorganized to disastrous effect. The reorganization of Offred’s world is not one of simple misogyny, corruption, or political ideas, instead, as in 1984; the focus of this new world order lies in the destruction of the individual and with that, all concepts of personal gain, satisfaction, and desire. In its place, the new world order thrusts a quasi-communist idea of community. Personal sacrifice is instilled in the populace as the greatest good, and the death or misery of one individual is negligible when compared to the decided ‘good’ of the community. In a true echo of communism, the handmaids bear children fo r those who cannot, truly in the stead of â€Å"from each according to their ability, to each according to their need† (Marx). In this Americanized distortion of communism, the community is placed on a pedestal above all else, and through this emphasis the cross-class destruction of individuality is assured. By echoing the most prominent issue of the time, communism, and detailing it with unique aspects of American society, Atwood creates a realistic nightmare that warns not of the dangers of a particular political ideology, but of the loss of individual identity and the concept of self. The first people to have their individuality stripped away are, perhaps surprisingly, not the women of Offred’s world, but the low ranking men. This destruction of masculine individuality begins long before the events of the book... ...as A Handmaid’s Tale’s most potent warning. With Gilead, the dangers of deifying society at the cost of its people are shown to be damning, dooming the society to eventual collapse and obscurity. In this, Atwood argues against excessive ideas community and for individualism and a reasonable amount of selfishness, as Ayn rand puts it, â€Å"man’s right to exist for his own rational self-interest† (Rand 42). By creating a world of such individual belittlement, Atwood provides a powerful example of the dangers something much like communism, the destruction of the self. Works Cited Atwood, Margaret Eleanor. The Handmaid's Tale. New York: Ballantine, 1985. Print. Marx, Karl Heinrich. Critique of the Gotha Program. Moscow: Progress, 1970. N. pag. Print. Rand, Ayn. The Virtue of Selfishness. New York: Signet, 1970. WorldCat. Web. 7 Feb. 2012.

The Ascent To Fame of Nathaniel Hawthorne :: Biography Biographies Essays

The Ascent To Fame of Nathaniel Hawthorne  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚      The advent of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s recognition by the public as a literary master was long in coming and was not based mainly on the merits of his tales like â€Å"The Minister’s Black Veil.† Henry James in his biography Hawthorne from 1879 testifies in eloquent fashion to the state of Hawthorne’s reputation in the 1830’s as a writer: I have said that in the United States at present authorship is a pedestal, and literature is the fashion; but Hawthorne's history is a proof that it was possible, fifty years ago, to write a great many little masterpieces without becoming known. He begins the preface to the Twice-Told Tales [includes â€Å"The Minister’s Black Veil†] by remarking that he was "for many years the obscurest man of letters in America." (chap. 2) Later James records the difficulty which Hawthorne had to face at times in getting his works published: Mr. Lathrop learned from his surviving sister that after publishing Fanshawe he produced a group of short stories entitled Seven Tales of my Native Land, and that this lady retained a very favourable recollection of the work, which her brother had given her to read. But it never saw the light; his attempts to get it published were unsuccessful, and at last, in a fit of and despair, the young author burned the manuscript. There is probably something autobiographic in the striking little tale of â€Å"The Devil in Manuscript.† "They have been offered to seventeen publishers," says the hero of that sketch in regard to a pile of his own lucubrations (chap. 2) The Norton Anthology: American Literature states that â€Å"he was agonizingly slow in winning acclaim† (547). Edgar Allen Poe, in a review of Hawthorne’s work, said in Godey's Lady's Book, November, 1847, no. 35, pp. 252-6: It was never the fashion (until lately) to speak of him in any summary of our best authors. . . . The "peculiarity" or sameness, or monotone of Hawthorne, would, in its mere character of "peculiarity," and without reference to what is the peculiarity, suffice to deprive him of all chance of popular appreciation. But at his failure to be appreciated, we can, of course, no longer wonder, when we find him monotonous at decidedly the worst of all possible points--at that point which, having the least concern with Nature, is the farthest removed from the popular intellect, from the popular sentiment and from the popular taste.

Andean/Incan People :: essays research papers

The Andean/Incan people The Andean/Incan people lived in the vast majority of the Andean Mountain ranges of Peru. They were mainly polytheistic and believed it was a series of gods who were responsible for providing the rain, maize, sun, etc. that was needed for daily survival.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Viracocha was the main and greatest god. He was held solely responsible for the creation of Earth, animals and man. He made men out of stone, replicated them and destroyed them according to his whim. Viracocha was considered he divine protector of the Incan rulers or â€Å"Incani’s†.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Inti, the Sun god was the head of the state cult whose worship was mandatory. Every year a special festival called Inti-Raymi was held in Inti’s and the suns honor. Animal sacrifices and ritual dances marked and were often the highlight of the celebration.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Daily prayers were addressed to Apu Illapu, the rain giver, who was responsible for sustaining the Incans food sources. His temples were set high on a mountain so in case there was a flood, the temple would not be destroyed. A flood signified Apu Illapu’s anger and meant a pilgrimage with human sacrifice was necessary to appease him.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Human sacrifice was not widely practices in the Incan religion as opposed to the Aztec religion where human sacrifices were the norm. Both the Incan and the Aztec believed that human sacrifice was a necessity to appease the gods. They felt there was no greater gift than giving your life to a god. Therefore, the sacrificial person as well as the god was honored. Festivals and daily prayers were often marked with dancing, singing and special prayers to the particular god of what they desired. Both fasting and feasting marked super special festivals.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Penitential rituals must be observed if a particular god is displeased. Murder as an act of war was not a punishable offense whereas murder as an act of vengeance was the gravest sin to be committed.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Birth, puberty, marriage and death were all times for special rituals and sacrifices. Therefore, the Andean people’s lives mainly revolved around their religion as, without the gods, they would have nothing. The Spaniards The Spanish conquerors and missionaries arrived upon the New World around 1492 but it took a few years for them to get acclimated to the people and area before they started the conversion of the natives. The Spaniards were staunch Christians and mainly Catholics, under the rule of the Spanish Catholic monarchy.