Autocratic Leadership Style Essay

Can an authoritarian/autocratic/directive leadership style be appropriate in American companies currently? If yes/no, why? It is first important to clarify what the term leadership means. According to Kinicki & Fugate (2012), â€Å"leadership is defined as ‘a social influence process in which the leader seeks the voluntary participation of subordinates in an effort to reach organizational goals’† (p. 364). This means leadership involves exercising authority at individual, group, and organizational levels. Bass (2008) identifies positive leadership traits to include task competence, interpersonal competence, intuition, traits of character, biophysical traits, and personal traits. With this basic understanding of leadership, it can be said that the appropriateness of an autocratic leadership style depends on the type of company and situation at hand—the idea of situational leadership (Kinicki & Fugate, 2012, p. 370). Even though the United States is a democratic country, an autocratic leadership style fits some but not all companies, depending on what the company wants to accomplish and what the company’s circumstances are. A manager with an autocratic style of leadership typically does all the decision-making without getting input from his/her subordinates (Rao, 2010, para. 3). Therefore, the manager is the authoritarian while all the subordinates are to simply follow instructions without giving their own thoughts or concerns about the task given to them. A benefit of this style is it can help provide structure and discipline to an otherwise inexperienced team, and also help a team stay on top of strict deadlines. Since the manager makes all the decisions, there is no time â€Å"wasted† on decision-making if there’s a time constraint. This type of leadership is also helpful when the manager has the highest amount of knowledge and could therefore specifically guide the subordinates on how to complete a task (Cherry), or when a type of industry simply does not require much communication or creativity relative to other industries. However, an autocratic style of leadership would be ill-fitting for many other types of companies, especially if the autocratic style is taken to extremes. As the textbook Organizational Behavior mentions, a bad leader would possess traits like being incompetent, rigid, or callous (Kinicki & Fugate, 2012, p. 366). Since a manager taking up an autocratic style of leadership is enforcing rigid rules, it could be potentially easy to become rigid as a person as well, which could lead to loss of respect from subordinates and ruin morale of the team. Cherry states that abuse of the style can make a person seem â€Å"controlling, bossy, and dictatorial,† and that this autocratic style of leadership prevents subordinates from producing creative solutions to problems. Giving employees such a lack of influence in the company could cause them to feel resentful since their opinions are never heard (â€Å"Leadership Styles,† 2008, para. 3-4), which means valuable relationships cannot be developed, thus straining human and social capital. An example of where an autocratic style of leadership would not be appropriate is if all the subordinates are just as knowledgeable or skilled as the manager. It would make more sense to use a democratic style of leadership so that everyone can participate and have a sense of importance in the decision-making, and because of their contribution, would feel more committed and enthusiastic about the company’s goals. Situational leadership theories suggest that â€Å"the effectiveness of a particular style of leader behavior depends on the situation.† This applies to how the appropriateness of the autocratic style of leadership depends on the company at hand. It is important to fully analyze the employee characteristics (locus of control, experience, task ability, etc.) and environmental factors (task structure and work-group dynamics) to decide whether or not an autocratic style of leadership would produce the most desirable results for the company (Kinicki & Fugate, 2012, p. 370-372). References Bass, B.M., & Bass, R. (2008). The Bass handbook of leadership. New York: Free Press. Cherry, K. Lewin’s leadership styles. About.com: Psychology. Retrieved from http://psychology.about.com/od/leadership Cherry, K. What is autocratic leadership?. About.com: Psychology. Retrieved from http://psychology.about.com/od/leadership Kinicki, A., & Fugate M. (2012). Organizational behavior: Key concepts, skills, and best practices. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Leadership styles: Autocratic leadership. (2008). Leadership-toolbox.com, pp. 3-4. Retrieved from http://www.leadership-toolbox.com/autocratic-leadership.html Rao, M.S. (2010). Is autocratic leadership relevant today?. Chief Learning Officer: Solutions for Enterprise Activity. Retrieved from http://clomedia.com/articles

academic communication

IntroductionThis is about academic communicating procedure theoretical account and its constituents ; how they would breakdown into three different phases and stairss to avoid them. Communication is the most of import portion of our life. We begin to larn some of the accomplishments of communicating before we are born, and most of us will go on to utilize them until the twenty-four hours we die. We communicate with friends, household, workplace ; we may pass on indirectly: we watch films, and listen to music. These are all communicating procedure in different phases. We will discourse about it in this assignment. Harmonizing to Weick and Browning ( 1986 ) , communicating is the procedure of conveying information from one individual to another. Gerbner ( 1967 ) adds that communicating may be defined as societal interaction through messages. Another bookman Theodorson ( 1969 ) defines communicating as the transmittal of information, thoughts, attitudes, or emotion from one individual or group to another chiefly through symbols. Osgood et Al ( 1957 ) besides remarks that we have communication wherever one system, a beginning, influences another, the finish, by use of alternate symbols, which can be transmitted over the channel linking them. On the footing of above definitions, communicating is the sharing information between two or more people to make a common apprehension. However, making a common apprehension does non intend that people have to hold with each other. They should hold an accurate thought of what a individual or group is seeking to state them. Communication is besides a procedure, and like most procedures it can be usefully modelled. Gathering a theoretical account frequently helps in believing about and understanding procedures and systems. The basic communicating procedure starts when the transmitter formulates an thought or thinks of something to state. The thought is so encoded or transformed into meaningful symbols. Turning the formulated ideas into spoken or written words constitutes encoding. Thought and thoughts have to be in some signifier of codification to organize catching messages. These encoded messages are so transmitted via voice, missive, electronic mail, telephone or some other channel to the receiving system. Geting the message from the transmitter to the receiving system is really of import, unless the communicating goes from one individual to another there is no communicating. Messages transmit via a channel. Channel refers to the peculiar engineering or method used to acquire the message to the receiving system. Major communicating channels are letters, e-mail, face-to-face conversation, telephone, facsimile, newspapers, booklets, movie, picture, wireless, telecasting, web sites and postings. Then the receiving system decodes the message – interprets the message, and gives feedback to the transmitter. Feedback helps both transmitter and receiving system determine the lucidity of the message. Feedback is a response from the receiving system. With feedback, the procedure becomes a conversation or bipartisan communicating.Beginning: adapted from Himstreet, Baty and Lehman ( 1993 ) .However, a major progress in communicating theory came with Claude Shannon ‘s 1949 publication of his mathematical theory of communicating. He and other information theoreticians at the Bell Telephone Laboratories were concerned with the procedure of reassigning signals accurately from transmitter to receiver. Their concern was non with words or word significances but with coded stuff sent from one machine to another – from a orbiter to earth or from one computing machine to another. Shannon ‘s communicating theoretical account was critical for communicating research as Johnson and Klare ( 1961 ) say in their reappraisal of communicating theoretical accounts: â€Å"Of all individual parts to the widespread involvement in theoretical accounts today, Shannon ‘s is the most of import. For the proficient side of communicating research, Shannon ‘s mathematical preparations were the stimulation to much of the ulterior attempt in this area.†Beginning: adopted from Shannon and Weaver ( 1949 ) .Shannon and Weaver ‘s ‘mathematical theoretical account ‘ describes communicating as a additive, one-way procedure. Harmonizing to Shannon ( 1949 ) , communicating procedure consists of basically five constituents: 1. An information beginning which produces a message or sequences of messages to be communicated to the having terminus. The message may be assorted types such as a sequence of letters as in a telegraph or teletype system ; a individual map of clip. A message is composed of a set of symbols. These symbols can be verbal or gestural. Verbal symbols are words used when talking or composing. Letterss, memorandas, studies, booklets, catalogues, manuals, and one-year studies are composed of verbal symbols. These symbols are besides used when talking face-to-face or on the telephone, take parting in a conference or meeting, or presenting a address. Gestural symbols such as gestures, position, facial looks, visual aspect, and clip, tone of voice, oculus contact, and infinite ever accompany verbal symbols. All messages contain gestural symbols that help the receiving system interpret verbal symbols. If verbal and gestural symbols struggle, receiving systems by and large believe the gestural symbols over the verbal symbols. For illustration, a gross revenues representative may state that your history is really of import but so keeps you waiting. The representative ‘s gestural communicating may do you to oppugn the representative ‘s earnestness, and you may make up one's mind to take your concern elsewhere. 2. A sender which operates on the message in order to bring forth a signal suita ble for transmittal over the channel. 3. The channel is simply the medium used to convey the signal from sender to receiver. The manner a transmitter selects to direct a message is called the channel. Letterss, memorandas, and studies are the most common channels for written messages. One-to-one conversations, telephone conversations, and meetings are common channels of unwritten messages. Electronic mail, videoconferences and voice mail are common channels of electronic messages. Choosing the appropriate channel is important. 4. The receiving system normally performs the reverse operation of that done by the sender, retracing the message from the signal. 5. The finish is the individual for whom the message is intended. Here the finish is the receiver. A individual or things to whom a message is sent is the receiver. The receiver is responsible to give significance to the verbal and gestural symbols used by the transmitter. The significance receiving systems give to message depends on their several educational backgrounds, experiences, involvements, sentiments, and emotional provinces. Miscommunication consequences if the receiving system gives the message a different significance than the transmitter intended. As it is seen from the diagram, Shannon did non include feedback which is truly critical for effectual communicating. Shannon ‘s communicating procedure theoretical account was stimulus phase for other behavioral scientists ; because they developed his theoretical account more advanced and included feedback as an of import phase. Feedback is a message or portion of a message that the receiver returns to the transmitter so that the message may be modified or adjusted to do it clearer to the receiver. When one individual responds to another ‘s message, the response is called feedback. Feedback is the reaction of the receiving system to the message received. It may besides be gestural ( a smiling, a scowl, a intermission, etc. ) or it may be verbal ( a telephone call or a missive ) . Feedback is a critical constituent of effectual communicating because it helps find whether the receiving system has understood the message. These communicating procedure constituents may breakdown at different phases. First of wholly, we will specify the significance of dislocation or barrier. Breakdown to communication include anything that prevents a message from being received or understood. Barriers/breakdowns are, hence, synonymous in many ways with noise though technological noise ( e.g. inactive on telephone lines ) is less of a barrier and more of an obstruction. A technological job does non normally stop communicating, though it may barricade it temporarily. Technological jobs are besides possibly the easiest jobs to work out. When equipment fails, is unsuited to the undertaking for which it is used, or when the job is every bit simple as an wrong telephone figure, this can normally be rapidly identified and remedied. Technological jobs are, hence, a signifier of noise but they are an obstruction instead than a barrier to communicating. Barriers are normally of homo instead than technological beginning. Human barriers are frequently less seeable but by and large more eventful. These three barriers are: Socio-cultural barriers ; Psychological barriers ; Organisational barriers. Socio-cultural barriers. Communication ever involves other people. An person can be a bearer of civilization but one individual can non make civilization. Culture is a group or societal phenomenon. Culture is powerful. The linguistic communication we use, the nutrient we eat and how we eat it, how we dress, what we believe and so on, are all powerful cultural traits. We accept them as if they were non-confrontable and non-debatable. Culture occurs at national, cultural, regional and even organizational degree can be a barrier to communicating exactly because civilization is both powerful and shaping of groups. The cardinal socio-cultural elements that may be barriers are: Groupthink is the societal phenomenon which occurs when group behaviour dominates and stifles the decision-making procedure ( Janis 1982 ) . It occurs when societal norms or a group ‘s desire for consensus overwhelms its desire to make determinations that are in its best involvement. It is what happens when shared values and conformance get out of control. Group think is a major job in concern, where people work extensively in groups and squads. For case, group members over-communicate or emphasize their similarities in beliefs and values while, at the same clip, concealing or under-communicating their differences. This consequences in the visual aspect of tight similarity within the group. Another illustration, the group develops and maintains strong shared beliefs without oppugning their truth or their implicit in premises. Rather than acknowledging some direction or strategic mistake to explicate failure, the group will apologize or fault external forces. Conflicting values and belief. Culture is based on shared beliefs and values. When communicating occurs across cultural boundaries, the potency for misinterpretation is magnified. Cultural and societal norms are so deep-rooted that people act upon them without being consciously cognizant of making so. When cross-cultural concern ventures fail, the participants are frequently unable to understand why. It is normally a communicating failure stemming from a deficiency of cognition about each other ‘s basic values and norms. Administrations need to guarantee they are familiar with possible cultural differences before trying to make concern across civilizations. Languages and slang. Even when we ‘re pass oning in the same linguistic communication, words mean different things to different people. Age and context are two of the biggest factors that influence the linguistic communication a individual uses and the definitions he/she gives to words. When Michael Schiller, a concern adviser, was speaking with his 15-year-old girl about where she was traveling with her friends, he told her, â€Å"You need to acknowledge your ARAs and step against them.† His girl â€Å"looked at him like he was from outer space.† ARA stands for answerability, duty, and authorization. This point is that although we all can talk the same linguistic communication, but the usage of that linguistic communication is far from unvarying. If we knew how each of us modified the linguistic communication, communicating troubles would be minimized.Psychological Barriers are those associating to the person and the person ‘s mental and emotional province. Key psychological barriers are:Filtering. Peoples tend to hear what they want to hear and see what they want to see. For illustration, at Beacon Research Associates, a mid-sized, societal study company, leaders of each research squad were informed by missive of their budget allotments twice a twelvemonth. When the undertaking director received his allotment, he scanned the missive, took note of the sum of his budget and quickly filed the missive. What he did non notice was the paragraph which stated that the research allowance had to be used up in this budget period within six months. Any excess sum could non be carried frontward into the following period. The director selected from all of the information in the missive merely the informations in which he was interested – his budget allotment – and filtered out the remainder. The consequence was that six months subsequently he was really surprised to larn that the balance of his budget financess was recalled, which pu t terrible force per unit area on some undertakings. Often our consequences and prejudices are a consequence of personal value systems or our cultural backgrounds. The key to avoiding filtrating jobs is to listen carefully, to read carefully and to be cognizant that we all have a inclination to be selective about the information and information with which we are confronted. Percepts are how we view the universe. We choose our friends because they tend to believe like us, act like us, believe the things in which we believe and do the sorts of things we do. We frequently are non even cognizant that our perceptual experiences influence so many countries of our life. We have perceptual experiences of world that we trust and we behave harmonizing to those beliefs which, in bend, act upon our behavior. Our perceptual experiences can be barriers to communicating. We can decline to admit or go to to what is being communicated because we have preconceived thoughts about its relevancy to our lives. Faulty memory. Sometimes we do n't retrieve what has been communicated to us ; this will take to incomplete or uneffective communicating. Good memory accomplishments can be learnt and should be practised in order to go an effectual communicator. Poor listening accomplishments. Inadequate memory accomplishments can besides be attributed to hapless hearing. Day-dreaming, reading, listening to another conversation instead than the 1 in which we are engaged, looking around the room and merely by and large non concentrating on listening represent hapless listening accomplishments. Emotional intervention. Emotions can be a barrier to communication both in sending and receiving messages. When people are angry, fearful or sad their communicating accomplishments can be impaired. We can non command person ‘s emotions ; nevertheless we can command our ain emotions to a grade. How the receiving system feels at the clip of reception of a communicating influences how he/she interprets it. The same message received when we ‘re angry or distraught is frequently interpreted otherwise than it is when we ‘re happy. Extreme emotions such as exultation or depression are most likely to impede effectual communicating.Organizational barriers chiefly relate to the administration ‘s construction, civilization, forms of work and communicating flows. The most common organizational barriers are:Information overload. Persons have a finite capacity for treating informations. When the information we have to work with exceeds our processing capacity, the consequen ce is information overload. And with electronic mails, IM, phone calls, facsimiles, meetings, and the demand to maintain current in one ‘s field, the potency for today ‘s directors and professionals to endure from information overload is high. Message competition. Information overload leads to message competition. The sum of information we deal with every twenty-four hours forces us to do picks about what is of import and what can be ignored. A director can have a 100s of messages a twenty-four hours in different signifiers. Directors are put under more emphasis by the possible danger of losing or disregarding of import messages and therefore endanger their effectivity. Information deformation. A potentially bigger cost can be paid by administrations that suffer from information deformation. Taller structures mean that information has to go through through more sections and people before acquiring to its finish. This may do the information to be distorted due to misconstruing. Message filtrating. Directors select the communications to which they pay attending by filtrating or testing them. When go throughing on information directors one time once more filter information or reproduce it in brief signifier for the ingestion of others. This procedure happens at many degrees in administrations. Status differences. Directors tend to listen less carefully to subsidiaries. This will take dislocation of communicating. Structural jobs. Administrations can be structured with many beds and directors in the top would hold less communicating with the below employees of the hierarchal construction. The greater the distance – physical, societal or cultural, between two points, the longer it will take to acquire information from one point to the other. George Eliot says: â€Å"The people of the universe are islands shouting at each other across a sea of misunderstanding.† It is really critical to hold effectual communicating in order to be successful. It can be achieved by avoiding communicating dislocation. These stairss are: directing clear messages to the receiving system, and finish the message adequate to enable both the transmitter and the receiving system to make a common apprehension ; transmitter should avoid the specialized linguistic communication such as slang when composing to an foreigner ; message should be in platitude linguistic communication non cliches or local expressions that mean nil to a non-native talker ; the receiving system should besides be a good hearer by halt speaking, put the talker at easiness, keeping oculus contact, being open-minded, inquiring inquiry or giving a feedback. A communicator should digest bad wonts in order to set up good resonance sometimes ; should avoid accusals ; should concentrate on behavior non a individual ; should be specific instead than general ; should avoid defensiveness ; should portion in formation instead than giving advice ; should propose more acceptable options ; should give positive feedback. Deep external respiration, remaining entirely for a piece will assist get the better of emotional barriers. Administrations should concentrate on jobs and issues ; they should listen and promote subsidiaries efficaciously despite of their position. Employers should pay attending to the words and feelings of the employees that are being expressed. If an administration receives many messages from the clients, they should use excess staff for specifically looking after the messages and facsimiles. Communication is good or effectual when members of an administration portion information with each other and all parties involved are comparatively clear about what this information means.DecisionWe have discussed about communicating, Shannon ‘s mathematical communicating procedure and its constituents ; the barriers to communicating and steps how to avoid them. As discussed earlier we communicate because of a demand: a demand to acquire our thoughts across to others. Like animate beings, we communicate with sounds, although unlike animate beings, we have evolved address, which can convey complex thoughts. Unlike animate beings, excessively, we can encode these sounds into symbols, therefore giving the thoughts their ain extended and independent life crossing the coevalss. Communication can be seen as a round procedure. Person has an thought they wish to go through on. They determine who is to have the thought, and how it is to be recorded and transmitted. The chosen receiver becomes a transmitter when they deliver feedback to the conceiver of the thought to demo that is has been received and understood. Peoples engaged in communicating encode and decode messages while at the same time functioning as both transmitter and receiving systems. In the communicating procedure, feedback helps people resolve possible misinterpretations and therefore better communicating effectivity. Communication takes two signifiers – verbal and non-verbal. Although non-verbal is of import, verbal communicating is the manner that we communicate the thoughts, ideas or instructions we need to go through on. We do this in two ways: spoken and written. For a communicating to be effectual it has to be received and understood. There are two peculiar accomplishments concerned with apprehension: hearing efficaciously and reading attentively. Communication is one of the most of import procedures that takes topographic point in administrations. Effective communicating allows persons, groups, and administrations to accomplish their ends and execute at high degrees, and it affects virtually every facet of organizational behavior.Bibliographic MentionsForsyth, P. and Madden, D. 2005, Business Communications, ICSA Publishing Ltd, Norfolk. George, J. M and Jones, G. R. 2008, Understanding and Managing Organizational Behavior, Pearson Prentice Hall, 5th ed. , US. Himstreet and Bary 1965, Business Communications, 2nd ed. , Wadsworth Publishing Company, California. Himstreet, Baty and Lehman 1993, Business communications, 10th ed. , Wadsworth Publishing Company, California. Judge, R. 2009, Organizational Behavior, 13th ed. , Pearson Prentice Hall, New Jersey. McQuail, D. and Windahl, S. 1982, Communication Models for the Study of Mass Communication, 2nd ed. , Longman Publishing, New York. Rouse, M. J. and Rouse, S. 2002, Business Communications, Thomson Learning, Cornwall. Shannon, C. E. and Weaver, W. 1949, the Mathematical Theory of Communication, the University of Illinois Press, Urbana. Steil K. Lyman 1983, Effective Listening: Key to your success, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Canada. hypertext transfer protocol: //patchwork-st.blogspot.com/2007/03/how-to-avoid-communication-breakdown.html ( 13.04.2009 ) hypertext transfer protocol: //www.coachingachievement.co.uk/overcoming_communication_barriers.htm ( 13.04.2009 )

Promotional and Advertising Strategies Essay

The author comes from Iran, with an ideological and religious fanatic government which owns and controls all of economical and industrial activities with an armed to teeth minority. In such countries they can produce and sell any low quality with any prices that they want, and actually customers have not many choices, and almost all of promotional techniques and strategies are meaningless! So here we are talking about free trade and free market countries like US. This paper review and scrutiny the circumstances surrounding the promotional and advertising Strategies for two automotive companies: TOYATA and HUNDAI. The author is very curious about those companies, because HUNDAI (1967) began car production almost 32 years after TOYOTA (1935)! But now, in all aspects both companies are equal in quality, branding, marketing, price and customer service, even HUNDAI is further! HMC (Hyundai Motor Company) was unknown brand with low quality and cheap price cars, but after it came in the US market converted its products to high quality and luxury quickly and stealing loyal customers away from many industry pioneers! But how was this late-moving car maker able to gain an advantage in this extremely competitive market? (Graf B, 2013) Introduction Definition of Advertising: The term â€Å"Advertising† first appeared in the 17th century. It has its root in the Latin word â€Å"advertere,† which means, â€Å"to  make people notice or know.† It can be roughly explained as â€Å"to extensively notify the public.† According to the Dictionary of Chinese Etymology, the Chinese definition of advertising means, â€Å"openly announce to the public,† with the annotation of â€Å"such as putting up notices or publishing advertisements in newspapers.† (Yan Boqin, 1978) Definition of Marketing: â€Å"Marketing† is an economic term meaning promotion and distribution. Originally applied in agriculture, it drew more and more attention after the 19th century and spread rapidly. From economic, social, business and customers’ angles, the property of its definition can be determined (Li Zongru, 2004). For highlighting the brand in the eyes of public and attracting new customers, product promotion is one of the essentials. There are many channels to promote a product or service. Successful promotions strongly depends on believe and culture of people, style of living, income level, government policies and economical and industrial infrastructures. Some firms use multiple methods, while others may use different methods for various marketing purposes. Irrespective of the type of service or product, a strong group of promotional strategies can help position the company in a favorable light with not only current customers but new ones as well. The following are top ten promotional strategies: â€Å"1- Contests, 2-Social Media, 3-Mail Order Marketing 4-Product Giveaways, 5-Point-of-Sale Promotion and End-Cap Marketing, 6-Customer Referral Incentive Program, 7-Causes and Charity, 8-Branded Promotional Gifts, 9-Customer Appreciation Events, 10-After-Sale Customer Surveys† (Carl Hose. 2014; Small businesses; Retrieved December 2, 2014 from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/top-ten-promotional-strategies-10193.html) Comparing the promotional strategies used by Toyota and Hyundai for a similar product Today almost all of carmakers have a lot of experiences and they have access to modern and new technologies. So they can produce good quality and good design cars and also offer good services to customers, especially in US, there is no way to sell any products with low quality and low customer  service. In result the best promotional strategies are those that involve culture, attitudes and beliefs of the people. The following are some examples of such strategies. Green Environment: Increasing public awareness about environmental protection, governments forced to implement hard regulation and criteria for automobile firms. Toyota published on its website: 1. Diversifying energy sources: â€Å"Toyota is developing various new technologies from the perspective of energy saving and diversifying energy sources. Environment has been first and most important issue in priorities of Toyota and working toward creating a prosperous society and clean world.† 2. Fuel Cell: â€Å"By generating electricity from hydrogen, Toyota’s fuel cell vehicles are not only environmentally friendly they’re also highly energy efficient. With such eco-friendly characteristics, Fuel Cell Vehicles are the next step toward achieving sustainable mobility.† 3. Plug-In Hybrid: â€Å"Introducing the next step for eco-friendly cars; a combination of the proven engineering of current hybrids with home recharging. It has an increased electric range and produces lower emissions.† 4. Measuring environmental issues surrounding vehicles: â€Å"For more improvements in efficiency, Toyota proactively manages power train efficiency, reduces vehicle load, and controls energy management by integration of fuel-saving technologies such as charge control, idling stop, etc.† 5. Various vehicles: â€Å"Along with our emphasis of conventional vehicles and hybrid vehicles as fundamental core technology while pursuing further advancement.† 6. Alternative fuels: â€Å"Based on these core technologies, Toyota will develop next-generation vehicles utilizing alternative fuels such as gas fuel, electricity and hydrogen.† (Retrieved December 2, 2014 from http://www.toyota-global.com/innovation/environmental _technology/) Hyundai published on its website: 1. Blue Drive: Our Blue Drive ® technology gives you lower pollution and higher performance. Blue Drive is a philosophy that guides Hyundai in its effort to become the automotive leader in sustainability. It’s helped focus our engineers and designers on creating lighter vehicles, developing more efficient power trains and even inventing proprietary hybrid technologies.  2. Plug-in and zero-emission: In the future, Blue Drive will expand to include plug-in hybrid vehicles, zero-emission electric vehicles and fuel-cell vehicles that run entirely on hydrogen. Their only emission is water. 3. Electric hybrid: Hyundai introduced the first electric hybrid with electrifying performance. Our engineers have invented the industry’s most advanced hybrid vehicle. 4. New battery: Unlike other hybrids on the market, ours uses a patented Lithium Polymer battery. It has 40% less volume; it’s 25% lighter and 10% more efficient. T he battery also has a longer life-span-it comes with a lifetime warranty guarantee. So you can feel good about preserving the environment for the life of your vehicle. (Retrieved December 2, 2014 from https://www.hyundaiusa.com/new-thinking/environment.aspx) Slogan: â€Å"An advertising slogan is usually a short tagline – less than five words — that tells potential customers the benefits they can expect when choosing your product or service, or establishes your company brand.† (Kristen Hamlin, 2014; Retrieved December 2, 2014 from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/ importance-ad-slogans-31343.html) 1. Toyota’s ownership slogans: marketing efforts in North America have focused on emphasizing the positive experiences of ownership and vehicle quality. The ownership experience has been targeted in slogans such as â€Å"You asked for it! You got it!† (1975–1979); â€Å"Oh, what a feeling!† (1979 – September 1985, in the US); â€Å"Who could ask for anything more?† (September 1985 – 1989); â€Å"I love what you do for me, Toyota!† (1989–1997); â€Å"Everyday† (1997–2001); â€Å"Get the feeling!† (2001–2004); â€Å"Moving Forward† (2004–2012); and â€Å"Let’s Go Places† (2012–present). 2. Hyundai’s Brand slogan: â€Å"NEW THINKING. NEW POSSIBILITIES.†; reflects the will of Hyundai Motor Company to create new possibilities to benefit the world and its people by encouraging and developing new thinking. All members of Hyundai have the brand slogan deeply engraved in their hearts as they move forward in their effort to provide new values and experiences desired by today’s customers through innovative ways that are unique to the brand, driven by new thinking about customers and cars.( Retrieved December 3, 2014 from http://worldwide .hyundai.com/WW/Corporate/Corporate Information/BrandSlogan/index.html) New Compact Vehicle Strategy: According to the Ford India President, compact car sales are expected to double by 2018 from around one million units in  2013. This surge in demand in expected to be fueled by rising disposable incomes in the second most populous country in the world, and also owing to the increasing demand for fuel-efficient smaller cars due to rising fuel prices.( Trefis Team ,2014. Retrieved December 3, 2014 from http://www.forbes.com/sites /greatspeculations/2014/06/13/tata-motors-looks-to-improve-passenger-car-sales-by-penetrating-the-compact-segment/) 1. Toyota: The automobile market in emerging markets is growing each year in tandem with the economic growth of each country. Within those markets, there has been marked growth in the sales of compact vehicles, so Toyota is promoting a new compact vehicle strategy that emphasizes the compact vehicle lineup and seeks to meet the needs of consumers in emerging markets. 2. Hyundai: The South Korean automaker ranked seventh among mass-market brands in the this year’s U.S. Initial Quality Study by J.D. Power and Associates, topping such brands as Toyota, Infiniti, Audi and Lincoln. Hyundai’s Accent compact and Elantra small car were named among the top three cars in their segments.(Hans Greimel, 2011. Retrieved December 2, 2014 from http://www.autonews.com/article /20101206/RETAIL03/ 312069982/hyundai-plans-new-brand-strategy) Financial Services Strategy: Every year, millions of people around the world transition out of poverty in any number of ways—by adopting new farming technologies, investing in new business opportunities, or finding new jobs, for example. Effective tools for saving, sending, and borrowing money and mitigating financial risks can help people weather setbacks and achieve greater financial stability over the long term. (Retrieved December 4, 2014 from http://www. gatesfoundation.org/What-We-Do/Global-Development /Financial-Services-for-the-Poor) 1. Toyota: Toyota Financial Services has constructed a global network that covers approximately 90% of the markets in which Toyota sells its vehicles. Mainly concentrated on auto loans, leases and Toyota dealer floor plan requirements, TFS provides auto sales financing to approximately 5.4 million customers. Thus effectively helping them in making their own cars more affordable to their potential consumers all around the world. Again being a strategy that helps them a stronger competitor in the market. 2. Hyundai: Through our service brands, Hyundai Motor Finance and Kia Motors Finance, we provide financial products tailored to meet the needs of Hyundai  and Kia dealerships nationwide, including dealer inventory and facility financing. And, through these dealerships, we provide indirect vehicle financing and leasing solutions to over 1 million retail customers. Our subsidiary, Hyundai Protection Plan, Inc. offers vehicle service contracts and other vehicle protection products under the Hyundai Protection Plan and Power Protect brands. (Retrieved December 2, 2014 from http://www. Hyundaicapital america.com/hca.aspx) Two uses for consumer-oriented promotions that could assist a company in both the short and long term for the carmaker companies What are consumer-oriented sales promotions? There are two points of view: 1- Retail Promotions consist of inducements offered by retailers to consumers includes retail coupons, price discounts, double coupons, special displays, features etc. 2- Consumer Promotions consist of inducements offered by manufacturers to consumers includes manufacturer’s premiums, bonus packs, coupons, samples, rebates, etc. There are some reasons for the importance of the sales promotion. First, the growth of retailer power in distribution channels has led to an excess in consumer promotions. Sometimes, manufacturers make special offers to consumers because a powerful retailer insisted that they do so. Another time, as a way of neutralizing retailer power by intensification the bonds of loyalty consumers may feel toward the brand. Either way, retailers frequently serve as the driving force behind consumer promotions. Second, the type of competition has converted significantly during recent years resulting in ever greater consumer price sensitivity. The growing of brands and brand extensions, intensity segmented consumer markets, and lower brand loyalty have combined to make consumers much more aware of price given that many product categories are populated by several competitors. Third, price deals have become the rule rather than the exception for many products. Rebates on certain brands of automobiles, department store sales, and coupons on many grocery items are only a few areas where consumers have  grown to expect price breaks. Indeed, the expectation is more than, when possible, many consumers will wait for promotional offers rather than buy with no deal. Fourth, advertising clutter has forced marketers to find new ways of getting consumer attention. Product benefits alone frequently prove insufficient to prompt consumer action much less get their attention. Thus, marketers increasingly look to sales promotion to find ways of breaking through to customers who face a constant bombardment of promotional messages. Eventually increasing of consumer promotion can also be attributed to more pressure on marketing management for short-term results. Investors want to immediate bottom-line results rather than the long-term health or stability of the companies in which they invest. Sales promotions are tools to increase near term sales. However, as their use becomes more common, their costs become regular and recurring and therefore potentially self-defeating. (Retrieved December 5, 2014 from www.udayton.edu/†¦/Consumer%2520Promotion.p) The strategic manner in which the leading car company has made its pricing decisions by using one or more of the four pricing objectives â€Å"The four Ps of marketing is the combination of product, price, place (distribution), and promotion. Marketers develop strategies around these four areas in marketing to enhance branding, sales, and profitability. â€Å" (Ross Gittell, 2014, Retrieved December 5, 2014 from http://catalog.flatworldknowledge.com/bookhub/reader/3157?e=gittell_1.0-ch06_s02#) Price is the only revenue generating element amongst the 4ps, the rest being cost centers. Pricing objectives or goals give the company direction to the whole pricing process and consider the following: 1- Survival; 2- Get competitive advantage; 3- Financial, marketing, and strategic objectives of the company; 4- Enhance image of the firm, product or brand; 5- Hold price leadership; 6- Increase market share; 7- Consumer price point and elasticity; 8- Available resources; 9- Catch target of return of investment  and sales; 10- Prevent new entrants; 11- Match competitors prices. Toyota gets credit for being the most known brand on the market; however the Corolla comes up nowhere in the competitor charts in terms of price, model distinction, or performance (TrueTrends, 2012). Providing a competitive advantage for the Corolla requires differentiating the car in pricing, quality, service, innovation, brand, convenience, and anywhere else that makes it more desirable over its competition (McCrimmon, 2008). How Toyota as a leading company can offer lowest prices? i.e. $89 a month for lease! The answer is: by maintaining its lowest costs. Along with differentiation Toyota also uses low cost to try and gain a competitive advantage in the automotive industry. â€Å"Toyota is (or was at the time) the low cost producer in the industry. Toyota achieves its cost leadership strategy by adopting lean production, careful choice and control of suppliers, efficient distribution, and low servicing costs from a quality product.†(Michael E. Porter, 2013) This quote from Michael Porter sums up how Toyota achieves this low cost strategy. Through research, it is evident that Toyota is still the low cost leader in the automotive industry. Societal trends have moved away from an individualistic culture—which identified social status and hierarchy based on material possessions—to an environmentally aware society (Grewal & Levy, 2012). With consumers’ minds wrapped around things like fuel mileage, cleaner emissions, and hybrid technology we find them moving further away from SUVs and trucks (Farooq, 2012). However, the 2013 Corolla is foreshadowed to be outshined by the Dodge Dart, as it loses some of its competitive edge in pricing and other award winning features (TrueTrends, 2012). By 2012 Toyota is planning to have more than 20 models that use batteries to extend fuel economy just like their Prius (Krolicki). Although they have not been as aggressive in the electric car market recently, like their competitors, they are planning to release a rechargeable version of their Prius by June 2012 (Krolicki). This re-chargeable version will position Toyota to attempt to take over as a low cost leader of hybrid technologies  within the market, which supports Toyota’s overall strategy of low cost (Krolicki). Two actions that other car companies may take in order to differentiate themselves and gain a competitive advantage  Hyundai rightly understood the consumer motivations to create magnetic products, price them strategically, position them sharply and keep making the magnetism more potent. Having understood the finer differences in consumer motivations, it opted for sharp arrow ‘reasons-to-buy’ differentiation over the ‘blanket-all approach’ taken by most of the other players. It is an aggressive marketer. It focuses on medium and low price products. Hyundai has also started premium products range to capture the growing market. (Anshuman goyal, pricing strategy of Hyundai, 2007; Retrieved December 9, 2014 from www.hyundai.com) The segments are based on type of customer like age group, attitude, end use of product, demographic behavior and purchasing power, status of the people of the region. Each competitor has its own strong point and value and position there product so as to attract maximum number of customers. (Kottler, Keller, Jha, Koshy, 2007, Marketing Management) Hyundai brand continues to dominate the market for premium cars, despite increasing competition. The firm should first consider the competitors price. If the company i.e. Hyundai contains features not offered by the nearest competitor, it should evaluate their worth to the customer and that value to the competitor price. Competitors are more likely to react when there is high competition. In case of Hyundai, many products are there such as Sonata, Santro, Hyundai i10, Accent etc. Hyundai continues to provide stiff competition to Honda in all the segments and poses an even bigger threat to expansion plans of Hyundai. (Anshuman goyal, pricing strategy of Hyundai, 2007; Retrieved December 9, 2014 from www.honda.com) Two examples of the most effective advertising medium for a Car company The TV advertising have been having the largest audiences in all ages, but car buyers are specific ages who have not enough time to watching TV even less than one hour per day, because they are too busy in today competitive era. Instead the internet via smart phones and computers is like a ghost became as a inseparable part of their life, at any time more than 15 hours a day, and even when they are eating, showering, walking, sporting, biking, swimming, and in any place even in high mountains and deep forests, roads and villages! Another reason for effectiveness of internet rather than TV is: new intelligence algorithms via data mining analyze the behavior of customers and put proper Ads to the web pages related to the target customers with very lower advertising costs. As a most important subject which advertisers should also pay attention to it is cultural differences, they have to be careful since cultures vary in different countries, they must understand the local audience culture before releasing new commercials, in order to avoid any misunderstanding. Another internet related way for advertising can be the online promotional games, such as Toyota’s use of MSN commercial games to promote its products, for instance. There are two interactive contents focusing on entertainment: fun activities and downloads. Both of them were found in about one third of the 100 web sites, respectively. Fun activities were also utilized to promote the brand in the sites and they are not related to scores or performance. Activities for fun included virtual test drive (www.gmc.com), virtual plant tour (www.cocacola .com), virtual auto show (www.lexus.com), e-cards (www.saturn.com), a coloring sheet (www.wendys.com), a virtual skin beauty analysis (www.neutrogena.com), and so forth. Downloads promoting and affiliated with the company’s brand were also analyzed. Desktop images such as wallpaper and icons were the most offered downloads, followed by music (Seounmi Youn, 2001, Retrieved December 9, 2014 from http://list.msu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A3=ind0209c&L=AEJMC&E =0&P=3326464&B=†¦_&T=text%2Fplain;%20charset=us-ascii) For the carmakers, another impressive promotion method is â€Å"complete test ride†. The buyers are very keen to getting experience to drive with a brand new car and having the opportunity to really feel its advantages and disadvantages. For encouraging the customers to more participating in test drive activities, offering some gifts can always increase the interest and  willingness of then. Getting the best result always does not correspond with the cost of the advertising. So carmakers should choose their advertising media in accordance with today era. However as always, inviting stars to speak for different models with different appeals will have so effectiveness to increasing the public awareness. Conclusion Some observers suspect that Hyundai’s recent successes may be anomalies, abetted by the difficulties that the company’s U.S. and Japanese competitors faced after the global economic crisis, the rise in the yen’s value, Toyota’s wave of recalls, and the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan and Fukushima nuclear disaster. Others say that the company’s highly protected home market has enabled its growth, allowing Hyundai to establish a global presence while its domestic competitors restrict themselves to tiny slivers of the Korean market. But the single factor that has made the most difference is the company’s own interest in building world-class capabilities. Starting in 1998, Hyundai’s leaders set out to develop the kind of prowess the company would need to become a global automobile powerhouse, able to hold its own in the United States and other fiercely competitive markets. Early on, that meant offering a comprehensive warranty and taking specific steps to dramatically improve its quality ratings. Once customers were convinced of the brand’s reliability, Hyundai added other capabilities, such as design, which led to a more diversified product line and more stylish features. Meanwhile, it developed a knack for getting the word out through clever, consistent marketing. The result is a coherent mix of quality improvement, design, and marketing that gives Hyundai a clear advantage over its industry competitors. Although these are required capabilities at all automakers, Hyundai has excelled at combining them over the past decade, and its sales numbers reflect this success. The company’s effort to become a world-class automaker is beginning to pay off, and it’s far enough along that its story can be credibly told. (Source: Strategy & Business. February 26, 2013. Retrieved December 2, 2014  from http://www.strategy-business.com/article/00162?pg=all) References Anshuman goyal, pricing strategy of Hyundai, 2007; www.honda.com Anshuman goyal, pricing strategy of Hyundai, 2007; www.hyundai.com Carl Hose. 2014; Small businesses; http://smallbusiness.chron.com/top-ten-promotional-strategies-10193.html Hans Greimel, 2011. http://www.autonews.com/article /20101206/RETAIL03/ 312069982/hyundai-plans-new-brand-strategy Kottler, Keller, Jha, Koshy, 2007, Marketing Management Kristen Hamlin, 2014; http://smallbusiness.chron.com/ importance-ad-slogans-31343.html http://www. gatesfoundation.org/What-We-Do/Global-Development/Financial-Services-for-the-Poor Ross Gittell, 2014, http://catalog.flatworldknowledge.com/bookhub/reader/3157?e=gittell_1.0-ch06_s02# Trefis Team, 2014. http://www.forbes.com/sites /greatspeculations/2014/06/13/tata-motors-looks-to-improve-passenger-car-sales-by-penetrating-the-compact-segment/ Seounmi Youn, 2001, http://list.msu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A3=ind0209c&L=AEJMC&E =0&P=3326464&B=†¦_&T=text%2Fplain;%20charset=us-ascii Strategy & Business. February 26, 2013. http://www.strategy-business.com/article/00162?pg=all

System Development Process and System Initiation Assignment - 32

System Development Process and System Initiation - Assignment Example One of the major problems with Carrefour’s current inventory system as depicted by its consumers is the occurrence of out-of-stock. This is due to high demand for its products as well as theft of goods by some employees. The major implication of out-of-stock to consumers is lack of trust and confidence in the firm. It is vital to note that consumer’s loyalty and trust is significantly generated by ensuring their favorite brands are available and that consumers do not have to wait for a long time for their delivery. The second problem faced by Carrefour retail stores in the long queue at the checkpoint. This does not only demotivate the current consumers but also it reduces the purchasing time that the customers need in order to appropriately select their goods. The key factor that causes long queue is lack of adequate employees as a result of high absenteeism. Thirdly, the store is faced with a problem of theft from its employees due to low salaries as compared to their counterparts in other stores. As a result of theft, Carrefour stock in more than 23 hypermarkets located in the Middle East diminishes making it hard to meet the high demand of its customers in different regions. As a result of the problem of out-of-stock, Carrefour’s inventory control system will maintain inventory at no more than three days-on-hand stock. This will ensure that the cost of maintaining stock is reduced as well as reducing the time of stock-taking by the auditors. Additionally, the store will easily identify the products that are running out of stock thus maintaining the loyalty of the existing consumers. To ensure that long queue is avoided at the checkpoint, 10-15 employees will be allocated for every employee. Additionally, Carrefour will establish 3 more checkpoints that consumers can use to enter and leave the store an aspect that will reduce the congestion at the checkpoint (West 11). As mentioned earlier, Carrefour out-of-stock  problem is also brought about by employees theft, in this regard, the firm will employ two security officers who will undertake a physical check of all the employees including those who are directly involved in stock taking and products arrangement on the stores.  

Compare Chinese law and African laws Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Compare Chinese law and African laws - Essay Example However, there are those who believe that such marked similarities in terms of laws and norms are not only a product of contacts between races. Their argument is that there is a kind of universal bond borne out of humankind’s common understanding of what is right or wrong, which makes rewards and retributions a common scenario. I am inclined to take the side of those who feel that a universal understanding of what is right or wrong is behind the spirit of the laws that governs the human society. To illustrate this point, let us take into considerations the Chinese and the African setting, taking into specific considerations the origin and foundations of such laws. China and Africa are almost at the opposing poles if we talk about cultures, civilizations and the evolution of their legal systems. Since time immemorial, Chinese have been known as traders traversing the high seas to trade goods. In the olden times, Chinese dynasties were known to be one of the most organized structures of government and have codified their laws as early as the 221 BC (Gray. Gregor. 1878) By contrast, Africa was a mystery to the rest of the world up until now and most of its laws are still unwritten to this day. Unlike China where the codes are easy accessible to those who would care to read them, African laws, owing to its unwritten nature, are not readily accessible by outsiders. In order to gain knowledge of African law, one must closely observe and learn from experiential accounts of its subjects. However, what is interesting to note is that even though one laws is already codified and the other unwritten, by looking into the origins and the spirits of the law s of these countries, there are similarities in them that is worth looking into. By taking a closer look into the very foundations of these laws, one will find that both are more or less built on similar foundations. Studies conduct on Chinese and African laws noted that both laws are essentially based

William Shakespeare's Influence on his Period Research Paper

William Shakespeare's Influence on his Period - Research Paper Example Queen Elizabeth had strong foreign policies and tactical diplomacy, and this encouraged migration of from the two power states France and Spain. About the same period of Shakespeare’s career, religious reformations were taking place, and England was in the middle of the reformations as Queen Elizabeth reign gave freedom of religion between the Catholic and the Protestants. The Queen’s ambiguity on the issue of religion gave Shakespeare a good environment for his play. Shakespeare’s religion remains uncertain but some people believe he was Catholic, as were his parents (Huxley). However, Shakespeare brought up he daughter as a Protestant. Those who say he was Catholic base their arguments on his works saying that the scripts depict Catholic beliefs. Characters in his plays show their devotion to the saints. This is true, but we should remember that a playwright’s work does not necessarily represent his or her beliefs. The society in the Elizabethan times be lieved in a universal order of things, or the Great Chain of Being. All the things in the universe had their rightful place, from the angel to the plants and elements. The human race was above the animals and the plants, but the human soul and God were higher up the hierarchy. The plays by Shakespeare incorporated these beliefs (Hylton). Characters in the play follow this hierarchy, and they are punished if they do not align with the order. The serious relationships in his play follow this order of being, and commonly carry the plot of the play. An instance is in the play A Midsummer’s Night Dream where Titania is under a love spell. She is destined to fall in love with the creatures that she sets her eyes on first, which turns out to be Nick bottom, a weaver. This relationship highlights the violation of the order of being. At the end of the play, the mistakes are rectified and the Queen and king of the Fairies reunite. The other couple also reunites and they live happily ev er after. All the serious relationship that Shakespeare creates complies with the Great Chain of Being (Ackroyd 321). Hence, Shakespeare seems to be advocating to the hierarchy in the society. The English Renaissance period had interests in Greek and Latin classics. Some of his plays have classical characters and settings, like Venus and Adonis, Rape of Lucrece, and Julius Caesar. Some of the critics have analyzed the use of classical setting as effects of school study of works from Ovid, Plutarch, and Livy (AbsoluteShakespeare). Nevertheless, Shakespeare also used the tragic hero, a persona described by Socrates in classical literature. This is notable in the plays King Lear, and Macbeth. Still in the plays Macbeth and King Lear, Shakespeare reflects the issue of independent in women. Lady Macbeth mock and manipulates his husbands, in contrast to what The Courtier had stipulated. The Courtier was a handbook for the society in the Renaissance era, and stipulated that a woman’ s duty was to please a man. In King Lear, the daughters of the king influence their husbands and are not subservient to their father. The illustration of independent women in his play might have had an influence from the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, but might as well be reflecting Shakespeare’s idea of gender equality (McEvoy 230). Female characters in plays by Shakespeare violate the regulations observed by the society and succeed in their own ways. In conclusion, Shakespeare’s works import settings from outside the Elizabethan era. An analysis of his works reflects that

Strategic management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Strategic management - Assignment Example It will be noted that competitive advantage is created when a company is able to make its products and services the preferred option for customers within a market where competitors are offering products and services of the same nature or kind (Carter, Daniel and Betty, 2006). For competitive advantage to be achieved, the need for a critical understanding and appreciation of what the customer wants is very important. This is because the customer is always the end user of the product and service that the company offers. With the immediate direction and scope where the company wants to prioritize the interest of customers in product and service innovation, there is every hope that competitive advantage will be created because the company will offer precisely what the customer wants from the hospitality and tourism industry that it is not getting from other competitors. QUESTION TWO The business approach to strategic management is selected as the most suitable framework for Thomas Cook G roup to maximize its strategic impact with key stakeholders. This business approach to strategic management framework is however made up of a number of strategic options that makes it very important for the company to be highly critical in its selection of an appropriate strategic. Generally, two strategic approaches namely sociological approach and industrial organizational approach will be identified. Though each of these two approaches will at any point in time help a company in achieving some level of strategic success with its stakeholders, the use of industrial organizational approach is opined as the optimum strategy among the suitable framework that can bring about strategic development with stakeholders. The reason for this point is that in the use of industrial organizational approach, companies are admonished to take up the combined use economic theory and assumptions. Under economic theory, considerations are base for key economic factors such as resource allocation, com petitive rivalry and economies of scale. Meanwhile, in the current global economic crunch, these economic factors are very important for the achievement of economic growth and development. This is because based on economic theory, the company will be offered the opportunity to naming its competitive rivalry and know how to rightly allocate its scarce resources in a manner that presents a better competition against the competitor. With reference to assumptions also, Thomas Cook Group will be allowed the use of rationality, profit maximization and self discipline principles to compete (Carter, Daniel and Betty, 2006). QUESTION THREE In the current state of global economic recession within which Thomas Cook Group is forced to compete and growth as a leader in the hospitality and tourism industry, the effective management of resources and competences would be the only remedy to ensure that the company survives the recession. This is because world economic crunch is generally associated with cut downs and limitations in resources and competences. This situation is created because the input into resource availability of companies hardly synchronize with the resource output that the company undertakes (Breiman et al, 2009). With the scarcity therefore, effective