Boo Hoo free essay sample

Question 1. Which strategic marketing assumptions and decisions arguably made Boo. com’s failure inevitable? Contrast these with other dot-com era survivors that are still in business, for example lastminute. com, Egg. com and Firebox. com. Boo. com was started by 3 Swedish entrepreneurs as they wanted to launch a world wide online retail website selling major sports brands clothing like Adidas, Nike, Fila, Lacoste, Polo and Ralph Lauren etc. here were major decisions and assumptions were made, taking for an example the currency conversion rate offered in US and Europe was far lower than the normal currency conversion rate in the market this lead to negative impact on the Boo. com and its sales. Initially it was though that world wide launching and making it a successful online store within month by injecting huge amount of money would lead to brand recognition in the market. Company invested $135 Million in the first 6 months in order to make it popular website all over the w orld (Tillett 2000). We will write a custom essay sample on Boo Hoo or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Author Verma Verma (2003) explains that website retailing is least expensive as maintaining website and uploading pictures and graphics and using creative 7 Ps of the marketing mix leads to positive result. Boo. com spend $6milion in 1999-2000 on web developing and adding pictures of the products which coasted them $200 per picture was a huge expense created by the company management, due to those reasons they couldn’t generate $20 million in 2000 and on 18th May 2000 company got bankrupt. The assumption of being a global brand within months by injecting unnecessary money in the technology and it operation was a wrong decision made by the Boo. com management which actually led to disaster and company needed urgent finances in 2000 which eventually lead them to bankruptcy. Another major assumption went wrong was the selection of the target market. Company started targeting males and females aged 18 years to 24 years old as it was believed they are more fashion conscious people. But critics and according to media pointed out the fact that these people are fashion conscious but how many 18 to 24 male and females go online and do shopping using their credit cards. This is what we are talking about in 1990 where online frauds and dial internet were common comparing to now. In contrast there were other online retailers like egg. com and Firebox. com and they survived and still running business. As money or profits generated and wise and realistic strategies and tactics were used by these companies. According to a travel Trade Gazette (2007) clearly stated in their article that Boo. om blew their money and wasted on so many unnecessary technologies. Article also presented that boo. com is linked with one of the biggest failures of the first dot. com era. It materialised at around the same time as lastminute. com and was Swedish-owned UK-based site selling lifestyle apparel. Extravagant marketing and development costs meant it burned through money which impacted i n 2000 when investors gave up and $20 million was not raised by the company on 18th May 2000 and was declared bankrupt. Where as other online companies used less financial sources and tried best to attract customers and satisfy their needs and wants. So basically above arguments and facts clearly shows various wrong decisions were made by the Boo. com management and by the company itself which led them to failure. Question 2. Using the framework of the marketing mix, appraise the marketing tactics of Boo. com in the areas of Product, Pricing, Place, Promotion, Process, People and Physical Evidence. For online retailers it is vital to create their marketing mix very effective as it is not mere limited to the Place, Price, Product and promotion (Rix Stanton 1998).

Tesco Understanding the economy and its effects on the business Essays

Tesco Understanding the economy and its effects on the business Essays Tesco Understanding the economy and its effects on the business Essay Tesco Understanding the economy and its effects on the business Essay During the recession, the demands for Tesco’s food and groceries has decreased because customers believed the price of these groceries to beyond their reach. Because of that, customer turned to more affordable retailers’ stores like the 99 pence shop or pondland. Tesco lost about 22 million customers to their groceries competitors which caused them to lose 2 to 3 per cent of their UK sales figures. They claimed that this lost was due to discounter brands. Tesco is also set to be cutting back on their electrical services to make space for other things †¦ this was due to a decrease in demand in that area of the business. This was due to the fact that people didn’t trust their brand enough to spend their money compared to other electrical brad like Sonny. The price of their electronic products was also a put off for customers who felt the pinch during the recession. The sales of their electrical products like CDs and DVDs went down because of the competition to companies like Amazon who are specialised in this area of electronics. This again was down to the trust of customers and the value for money offered. Amazon is a much more trusted brands for electronics like CDs and DVDs compared to Tesco so it makes more sense that most customers would shift to them for these kind of products Supply at Tesco PLC Supplies from Tesco diminished during the recession, Tesco supplied various produce and services from petrol services to things like stationaries for school. The supplies obviously changed during the recession compared to the way it was before. Tesco’s Supplies suffered Because of their prices, customers during the recession were after products that offered good value for money, cheap in a way. But because Tesco’s produces and services weren’t the at the price customer wanted, they switched to other suppliers Also another way these supplies changes was that Tesco only provided their supplies on demands because of the recession. Customers could not afford luxurious products or things they might not use a lot. Suppliers such as Tesco couldn’t produce too much or they were going to lose out on because of the lack of sales so suppliers would only produce according their demands How families might have been affected by the recession and fiscal and monetary policy measures put in place by the government during and after the recession (sheet 7) During the recession typical families have been affected by not being able to enjoy the luxury and things that are deemed not important enough. So instead of enjoying expensive holidays to other countries now and then people just stayed in the UK and go on family trips to places like haven. Some people starting cutting back on luxury stuff like expensive cars and switching to cheaper and stable cars in order to spend less Also most people during the recession were shopping around and to find the cheapest products and the one that offered good value for money. This cased businesses like Tesco to lose out to competitor such as Aldi who offered much cheaper products which fitted the pockets of customers The government took measures such as monetary and fiscal policies, the aims of these policies were to keep inflation levels as low as possible, maintain the positive growth of the economy (this is close to 2.5%). Also these policies aimed to provide full employment and reduce cyclical fluctuations in the economic cycle One of the key factors leading to the recession was increasing unemployment, as know unemployment is bad for the economy because it causes the government to spend more and reduces fund for other important things. In order to reduce unemployment in the future, the government raised the school leaving age from 16 years old to 18 years old. This was done because researches showed that people staying in school till 18 had more chance to earn money Global interaction and Tesco Tesco has benefited from international supply chains by expanding and dealing with many countries across the globe, the benefits of these trades is that it helped them provide their customers with varied range goods and good quality of food from various countries. For example benefits from their international supply chain by obtaining thing such as exotic products like mango, guava etc These are some of the product that consumers demand but be grown in the UK. Tesco and its customers can access these products thanks to the international supply chains and relationship they have with other countries. Tesco benefits from national supply chains by being able to access most a lot of brand within the UK such as â€Å"walker† and others. These are the type of food customer demands from Tesco and because of their national supply chain they can afford to satisfy these customers’ demands. From local supply chain Tesco has been able to provide quality fundamental food such as milk, meat and bread from local farms. Tesco uses this supply chains to provide quality local food that customers are expecting from them. Tesco being the biggest food retail in UK has expanded geographically in several new markets around the globe. Currently Tesco operates in 11 different countries in some of which they have obtained full ownership of business which means that they were fully allowed to establish themselves in these countries. In others not so much, Tesco wasn’t given full ownership in some of the countries where the currently operate but instead they were allowed to cooperate with other companies within these countries. For example in India, Tesco was given only part of an ownership which means they had to cooperate with another company if they wanted to stay and operate in India. Because growth of businesses in the UK are regulated is always regulated by the (CMA) for the benefits of consumers, other businesses and the economy, businesses like Tesco can’t go any bigger than they already are even if they wanted to. Du to this, businesses are forced to go compete in other countries where they can actually expand further and achieve their aims. By operating abroad, Tesco reduces the ability of the government to regulate them in ways like building more partnership to expand. Reference dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1091079/Recession-hits-Tesco-Grocery-giants-sales-fall-lowest-figure-16-years-shoppers-turn-budget-supermarkets.html

Gibraltar Territory History and Facts

Gibraltar Territory History and Facts Geography of Gibraltar Gibraltar is a British overseas territory that is located to the south of Spain on the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula. Gibraltar is a peninsula in the Mediterranean Sea with an area of just 2.6 square miles (6.8 sq km) and throughout its history, the Strait of Gibraltar (the narrow strip of water between it and Morocco) has been an important chokepoint. This is because the narrow channel is easy to cut off from other areas thereby having the ability to choke off transit in times of conflict. Because of this, there have often been disagreements about who controls Gibraltar. The United Kingdom has controlled the area since 1713 but Spain also claims sovereignty over the area. 10 Geographic Facts You Should Know About Gibraltar Archaeological evidence shows that Neanderthal humans may have inhabited Gibraltar as early as 128,000 and 24,000 B.C.E. In terms of its modern recorded history, Gibraltar was first inhabited by the Phoenicians around 950 B.C.E. The Carthaginians and Romans also established settlements in the area and after the fall of the Roman Empire it was controlled by the Vandals. In 711 C.E. the Islamic conquest of the Iberian Peninsula began and Gibraltar became controlled by the Moors.Gibraltar was controlled by the Moors until 1462 when the Duke of Medina Sidonia took over the region during the Spanish Reconquista. Shortly after this time, King Henry IV became King of Gibraltar and made it a city within the Campo Llano de Gibraltar. In 1474 it was sold to a Jewish group that built a fort in the town and stayed until 1476. At that time they were forced out of the region during the Spanish Inquisition and in 1501 it fell under Spains control.In 1704, Gibraltar was taken over by a British-Dutch force during the War of Spanish Succession and in 1713 it was ceded to Great Britain with the Treaty of Utrecht. From 1779 to 1783 attempted to take Gibraltar back during the Great Siege of Gibraltar. It failed and Gibraltar eventually became an important base for the British Royal Navy in conflicts like the Battle of Trafalgar, the Crimean War and World War II. In the 1950s Spain again began trying to claim Gibraltar and movement between that region and Spain was restricted. In 1967 the citizens of Gibraltar passed a referendum to remain a part of the United Kingdom and as a result, Spain closed off its border with the region and ended all foreign relationships with Gibraltar. In 1985, however, Spain reopened its borders to Gibraltar. In 2002 a referendum was held to establish shared control of Gibraltar between Spain and the UK but Gibraltars citizens rejected it and the area remains a British overseas territory to this day.Today Gibraltar is a self-governing territory of the United Kingdom and as such its citizens are considered British citizens. Gibraltars government, however, is democratic and separate from that of the UK. Queen Elizabeth II is the chief of state of Gibraltar, but it has its own chief minister as head of government, as well as its own unicameral Parliament and Supreme Court and Court of Appeal.Gibraltar has a total popu lation of 28,750 people and with an area of 2.25 square miles (5.8 sq km) it is one of the most densely populated territories in the world. The population density of Gibraltar is 12,777 people per square mile or 4,957 people per square kilometer. Despite its small size, Gibraltar has a strong, independent economy that is based mainly on finance, shipping and trading, offshore banking and tourism. Ship repair and tobacco are also major industries in Gibraltar but there is no agriculture.Gibraltar is located in southwestern Europe along the Strait of Gibraltar (a narrow strip of water connecting the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea), the Bay of Gibraltar and the Alboran Sea. It is made up of a limestone outcropping on the southern part of the Iberian Peninsula. The Rock of Gibraltar takes up the majority of the areas land and Gibraltars settlements are built along the narrow coastal lowland bordering it.Gibraltars main settlements are on either the east or west side of the Rock of Gibraltar. The East Side is home to Sandy Bay and Catalan Bay, while the western area is home to Westside, where most of the population lives. In addition, Gibraltar has many military areas and tunnelled roads to make getting around the Rock o f Gibraltar easier. Gibraltar has very few natural resources and little freshwater. As such, seawater desalination is one way its citizens get their water. Gibraltar has a Mediterranean  climate with mild winters and warm summers. The average July high temperature for the area is 81ËšF (27ËšC) and the average January low temperature is 50ËšF (10ËšC). Most of Gibraltars precipitation falls during its winter months and the average yearly precipitation is 30.2 inches (767 mm). To learn more about Gibraltar, visit the official website of the Government of Gibraltar.ReferencesBritish Broadcasting Company. (17 June 2011). BBC News - Gibraltar Profile. Retrieved from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/country_profiles/3851047.stmCentral Intelligence Agency. (25 May 2011). CIA - The World Factbook - Gibraltar. Retrieved from: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/gi.htmlWikipedia.org. (21 June 2011). Gibraltar - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibraltar

Abiotic and Biotic Stresses

Abiotic and Biotic Stresses What causes a plant to be stressed? As with humans, stresses can originate from the surrounding environment or, they can come from living organisms that can cause disease or damage. Water Stress One of the most important abiotic stresses affecting plants is water stress. A plant requires a certain amount of water for its optimal survival; too much water (flooding stress) can cause plant cells to swell and burst; whereas drought stress (too little water) can cause the plant to dry up, a condition called desiccation. Either condition can be deadly to the plant. Temperature Stress Temperature stresses can also wreak havoc on a plant. As with any living organism, a plant has an optimal temperature range at which it grows and performs best. If the temperature is too cold for the plant, it can lead to cold stress, also called chilling stress. Extreme forms of cold stress can lead to freezing stress. Cold temperatures can affect the amount and rate of uptake of water and nutrients, leading to cell desiccation and starvation. Under extremely cold conditions, the cell liquids can freeze outright, causing plant death. Hot weather can affect plants adversely, too. Intense heat can cause plant cell proteins to break down, a process called denaturation. Cell walls and membranes can also melt under extremely high temperatures, and the permeability of the membranes is affected. Other Abiotic Stresses Other abiotic stresses are less obvious but can be equally as lethal. In the end, most abiotic stresses affect the plant cells in the same manner as do water stress and temperature stress. Wind stress can either directly damage the plant through sheer force; or, the wind can affect the transpiration of water through the leaf stomata and cause desiccation. Direct burning of plants through wildfires will cause the cell structure to break down through melting or denaturation. In farming systems, the addition of agrochemicals such as fertilizers and pesticides, either in excess or in deficit, can also cause abiotic stress to the plant. The plant is affected by an imbalance of nutrition or via toxicity. High amounts of salt taken up by a plant can lead to cell desiccation, as elevated levels of salt outside a plant cell will cause water to leave the cell, a process called osmosis. Plant uptake of heavy metals can occur when plants grow in soils fertilized with improperly composted sewage sludge. High heavy metal content in plants can lead to complications with basic physiological and biochemical activities such as photosynthesis. Biotic Stresses Biotic stresses cause damage to plants via living organisms, including fungi, bacteria, insects, and weeds. Viruses, although they are not considered to be living organisms, also cause biotic stress to plants. Fungi cause more diseases in plants than any other biotic stress factor. Over 8,000 fungal species are known to cause plant disease. On the other hand, only about 14 bacterial genera cause economically important diseases in plants, according to an Ohio State University Extension publication. Not many plant pathogenic viruses exist, but they are serious enough to cause nearly as much crop damage worldwide as fungi, according to published estimates. Microorganisms can cause plant wilt, leaf spots, root rot, or seed damage. Insects can cause severe physical damage to plants, including the leaves, stem, bark, and flowers. Insects can also act as a vector of viruses and bacteria from infected plants to healthy plants. The method by which weeds, considered as unwanted and unprofitable plants, inhibit the growth of desirable plants such as crops or flowers is not by direct damage, but by competing with the desirable plants for space and nutrients. Because weeds grow quickly and produce an abundance of viable seed, they are often able to dominate environments more quickly than some desirable plants.

Employee Engagement Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Employee Engagement - Dissertation Example ss the organization. These issues should be addressed early in order to avoid the deterioration of employees-employer relationship in the specific organization. From another point of view, the identification of the reasons of the low response of employees to the specific survey would help managers to identify the measures required for the increase of employee satisfaction – an increase that could lead to the improvement of their performance. 3. What is its relevance to the â€Å"client† organisation? The subject of this study is directly related to the strategic framework of the chosen organization. In fact, it is in the context of this framework/ policies that the quarterly employee engagement survey is developed. From this point of view, the review and the evaluation of the performance of the above survey could help to identify any potential gaps in the implementation of the firm’s strategies. 4. Research Objectives The research objectives implied from the stud y’s research question could be described as follows: a. Which is the role of employee engagement in modern organizations. b. Which are the most common factors/ elements that can influence employee engagement in firms of different industries? c. Which methods are likely to be used by managers in order to measure the level of employee engagement within their organization? d. Which is the value of quarterly employee engagement survey for measuring the level of employee engagement in modern firms? e. Which strategies would be developed by the firm’s managers in order for the response rate of employees to be increased to 95% - from its current rate of 77% - in the next two quarterly surveys? 5. Texts/journal articles which were used to identify the key themes within the academic and practitioner literature related to the research question and objectives. Axelrod, R. (2010) Terms of Engagement: New Ways of Leading and Changing Organizations. Berrett-Koehler Publishers Erez, M., Kleinbeck, U., Thierry, H. (2001) Work motivation in the context of a globalizing economy. Routledge Federman, b. (2009) Employee Engagement: A Roadmap for Creating Profits, Optimizing Performance, and Increasing Loyalty. John Wiley and Sons

Luncheon on the Grass and Pastoral Symphony Essay

Luncheon on the Grass and Pastoral Symphony - Essay Example â€Å"The style of the painting breaks with the academic traditions of the time. He did not try to hide the brush strokes: indeed, the painting looks unfinished in some parts of the scene† (Shronda, Art: story in a medium). The active, live independence spirit in impressionism could be viewed as excellent from popular pieces of work, which could have been rejected in 1863 by the salon and might have been exhibited within the Le Bain title, meaning The Bath at the Salon des Refuses within the same year. In accordance with Antonia Proust, the picture’s notion might be said to have depicted itself to Edouard Manet at the time when piece they had been watching Argenteuil’s bathers. Edouard Manet had been reminded of the concert Champetre of Giorgione, but instead of trying to bring substantial painting back to life, he opted to redo the theme within modern personnel and in a clearer color than the previous. There might have been the technique of Old Master within the formal arrangement element with regards to the characters. Although Manet may be said to have ostensibly opted to set his stage in an open ground, there might be a couple of suggestions and clues of the fresh possibilities’ color and light within this open air painting. We might have had knowledge that the artist of this piece of work might have kept Titian’s Pastoral Symphony in consideration as his primary source to Le Dejeuner Sur l’herbe (Shronda, Art: story in  the medium).

Managing in Multinational Companies Research Paper

Managing in Multinational Companies - Research Paper Example Culture refers to a set of gained knowledge that some individuals may employ to make meaning of experiences towards generating a unique set of behavior. Different business establishments engage diverse cultures in their setups. These cultures are necessary for guiding the entire organization towards a common objective, by promoting a uniform way of thinking and acting. In other words, an organization prevents the subjectivity of decisions and behaviors in an organization, which promotes uniformity and team working spirit. On the other hand, countries will have different cultures that organizations have to respect, which are inherent in the views and values of such a country. A multinational company setting its operations in the US will need to observe a relatively diverse organizational culture compared to one setting operations in Mexico. An organization has to respect and observe a country’s culture while designing its organizational culture. This report investigates the dif fering views and beliefs surrounding overtimes and how the issue differs across the two countries. In this investigation, the report will illustrate that national cultures have a role to play in shaping organizational cultures.  A common aspect in both countries is that a company will consider other types of employment other than permanent employment to save on labor costs, to achieve flexibility and to benefit from workers for a short period (JILPT, 2009). Such an approach is common in short-term specialized jobs. In addition, there is a major variation in hourly pay rates between permanent and part-time workers in Japan compared to Germany (Smith 2000). Part-time employees have fewer benefits in bonuses offered compared to their full-time colleagues in Japan than in Germany where bonuses are not of much importance. Germany has more part-time employees than in Japan due to the working time variation. There are two reasons to explain the prevalence of part-time working in Germany than in Japan. One, such part-time workers are found in the tertiary sector, which bore the brunt of economic crises than the manufacturing sector, which has motivated employers to source more part-time workers (Smith, 2000). Part-time working in both countries has mainly improved because of structural changes in the economy towards a service economy. In Japan, non-regular employees get much fewer salaries with the difference increasing when the bonuses and one-off payments are considered in permanent employment (Ishiguro 2008). In Germany, on the other hand, part-time employees and regular employees have fewer differences in their wages; a part-time worker earns almost like a regular worker (Smith, 2000), with part-time workers taking advantage of overtime payments to bridge this salary gap. These are some of the factors differentiating working patterns between the two countries.