Friday, December 27, 2019

Loving The Leviath Thomas Hobbes And The Foundations Of...

Loving the Leviathan: Thomas Hobbes and the Foundations of Civic Nationalism Supporting the premise of individual rights is the radical concept that liberalism was founded on. As a result, liberals found it quite difficult to embrace and accommodate any strong idea of any form of community. The only exception they accept is the national community where individuals are expected to forsake their personal comfort space and sacrifice when the difficult times arise. The paper ‘’Loving the Leviathan: Thomas Hobbes and the Foundations of Civic Nationalism,’’ argues that the connection between liberalism and nationalism is not only a  «historical marriage of convenience » where liberalisms’s function is oriented more for the internal politics,†¦show more content†¦The author also insists saying that civic nationalism does not seem to be a native or fundamental liberal concept. Kane argues that the connection between liberalism and civic national ism is not a theoretically accidental as it first seems. To support his view, he chose to return to the work of one of the most influential political theorist, Thomas Hobbes, in order to come to an understanding of the debated issue. Hobbes reputation can not be described as a nationalist the way this term is understood in our present days. Kane, will argue that Hobbes very sternest of his naturalistic and individualist premises created a ‘‘theoretical dilemma that pointed toward the inculcation of nationalistic sentiment.’’ However, according to the author, naturalistic, implies love of one’s nation. On the other hand, we know of Hobbes being quite contemptuous of the passion of love. Therefore, the complex attitude that Hobbes expressed on this subject, is the issue the author proposed for examination. Kane quotes Patapan and Sikkenga stating that Hobbes was aware of the philosophical tradition that started with Plato in which love as Eros served a s a central element. He aimed to totally reject this hypothesis and instead insisted on placing political theory on

Thursday, December 19, 2019

Marketing Analysis Customer Satisfaction Essay

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION Customer satisfaction, a business term, is a measure of how products and services supplied by a company meet or surpass customer expectation. It is seen as a key performance indicator within business and is part of the four perspectives of a Balanced Scorecard. In a competitive marketplace where businesses compete for customers, customer satisfaction is seen as a key differentiator and increasingly has become a key element of business strategy. There is a substantial body of empirical literature that establishes the benefits of customer satisfaction for firms. BASICS Basically, you might look at marketing as the wide range of activities involved in making sure that you re continuing to meet the needs of your customers and are getting value in return. Marketing analysis includes finding out what groups of potential customers (or markets) exist, what groups of customers you prefer to serve (target markets), what their needs are, what products or services you might develop to meet their needs, how the customers might prefer to use the products and services, what your competitors are doing, what pricing you should use and how you should distribute products and services to your target markets. Various methods of market research are used to find out information about markets, target markets and their needs, competitors, etc. Marketing also includes ongoing promotions, which can include advertising, public relations, sales andShow MoreRelatedData Analysis And Interpretation Of The Marketing Strategies Essay793 Words   |  4 PagesChapter - 4 DATA ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION This chapter gives the analysis and interpretation of the data collected for the study. Opinions of both customers as well as the employees and insurance agents of the fiveinsurance companies are taken for the study. This chapter brings out the criteria for selection of sample respondents and framework of statistical analysis of the marketing strategies in the selected firms in nine sections as follows: PART I-customer perspective In this section dataRead MoreStarbucks s Customer Service Performance1622 Words   |  7 Pagesplace† through exceptional customer service and inviting environments that provide an experience that becomes part of the customer’s daily life. In 1992 the company completed its initial public offering and by 2002 Starbucks had rapidly expanded from a local Seattle company to an international corporation with 5,886 retail stores on four continents posting its highest net earnings in its history despite the economic downturn during the 1990s. Starbucks’ compiles extensive customer service performance dataRead MoreCompetitive Advantage Analysis of a Marketing Information Services Provider776 Words   |  3 PagesCompetitive Advantage Analysis Competitive Advantage Analysis Product Market Matrix Products Market Banking industry Food and Beverages industry Automotive industry FMCG industry Hospitality services industry Telecommunications industry Customer satisfaction yes yes yes yes yes yes Online panel yes yes yes yes Ad tracking yes yes yes yes yes yes Brand equity yes yes yes yes Concept testing yes yes yes yes The marketing research services provided by the companyRead MoreMulticollinearity in Customer Satisfaction: Design and Production1223 Words   |  5 PagesWhitePaper Multicollinearity in Customer Satisfaction Research Jay L.Weiner, Ph.D. Senior Vice President, Director of Marketing Sciences Jane Tang Vice President, Marketing Sciences Editorial Board Leigh Admirand Julie Busch Tim Keiningham Design and Production Roland Clifford Barbara Day About Ipsos Loyalty Ipsos Loyalty is a global, specialized practice dedicated to helping companies improve business performance through customer satisfaction management, customer relationship management,Read MoreIntegrated Marketing Communications (Imc) and Customer Satisfaction Strategy1244 Words   |  5 PagesIntegrated Marketing Communications (IMC) and Customer Satisfaction Strategy For The Alpha Omega Medical Company MKT 500 Marketing Management Week 8 Assignment # 4 By Read MoreTASK1 Marketing Concept and Process 1.1: Marketing and Various Elements of Marketing700 Words   |  3 PagesTASK1 Marketing Concept and Process 1.1: Marketing and Various Elements of Marketing Process Several authors are explained about marking in a different ways. According to Kotler and Armstrong â€Å"Marketing is the social process by which individuals and groups obtain what they need and want through creating and exchanging products and value with others† and Marketing is the process of analyzing marketing opportunities, selecting target markets, developing the marketing mix and managing the marketing effortRead MoreGreen Marketing : Customer Satisfaction And Environmental Safety1651 Words   |  7 PagesGreen Marketing : Customer satisfaction Rohit Berwal Lecturer Bus. Adm. Govt Commerce College Sikar Abstract. Green revolution, going green, environmental protection, sustainable life style, sustainable development, protecting our earth and many more has become a natural phenomenon in our everyday life. Green marketing is a tool used by many companies in various industries to follow this trend. There has been a lot of literature review on green marketing over the years, this paper analysis the impactRead MoreAn Australian Based National Private Health Insurance1499 Words   |  6 Pages â€Æ' Table of Contents 1. Background summary 2 2. Products and services 2 3. Pricing 3 4. Place and Distribution 4 5. Promotional mix 4 6. Conclusion and Implications for Marketing Strategy 5 References 5 1. Background summary Established by the Whitlam Government in 1975 Medibank is an Australian based national private health insurer. Within Australia, Medibank it is the largest health insurance with 3.8 million members. Previously an Australian government business enterprise, in 2014 MedibankRead MoreEssay on Starbucks : Delivering Customer Service1476 Words   |  6 PagesStarbucks: Delivering Customer Service Starbucks: Delivering Customer Service The elusive goal of customer satisfaction has long provided companies with endless headaches and difficult decisions. In the end, associating specific customer satisfaction metrics to company profit and loss would provide the undeniable proof needed to make changes, and then invest the required capital to address any concerns. Starbucks, not unlike the rest of the business world, has found itself in the same situationRead MoreMarketing Plan For The Pet Food Industry Essay1030 Words   |  5 PagesMarketing Plan for Caninantics Caninantics is a company that has developed a dog food-dispensing product that offers busy pet owners with the capability of feeding dog during their absences. This product is developed because of the wide recognition of Americans love for their dogs and animals. Caninantics had developed a device known as â€Å"Pooch Pantry,† that automatically opens dog food cans and empties the contents into a dog food bowl. The device carries out this process either through a timed

Wednesday, December 11, 2019

Biology work requirement 3 biology work requiremen Essay Example For Students

Biology work requirement 3 biology work requiremen Essay t 3AEcological issue: Deforestation, logging Issues:Effects wildlife habitats biodiversityIncreases soil degradation erosion. Carbon storage leads to more Carbon dioxide in atmosphere leads to global warming Social- technological:Can lead to global warmingLess use of timber to stop Essay. The ecological issue that I have been researching is the Deforestation. This is a major issue in Australia and the world. Forests provide the world with a range of resources the main one being timber. Timber is used in many products but mainly for building the framework of most homes. It has been accepted for years that to get the timber we need to cut down the forests, most of us lead our daily lives not knowing the implications that deforestation can have on the environment and society. In this eassy I will point out these implication and the causes and disadvantages of deforestation and prove that it is wrong to cut down forests. Deforestation is the large-scale removal of forests. Why does deforestation occur?There are a many answers to that question but the main ones are:For agricultural purposes eg space for building. (overpopulation)Trees are logged for the purpose of space. In this day and age the human race is multiplying and therefore we require more space to expand cites and build more houses. To do this world government cut down any forests in their way. Industrial commercial purposesBig industries also contribute to deforestation. EG Macdonalds uses 800 square miles of trees just for the paper packaging of their products. That is an appalling amount of trees that are used just for burger wrappers. A conservation group has found that 11 million acres a year are being logged for use by commercial and property industries. If that rate keeps on going we will have no forests left by the year 2010. This is perhaps the major cause of deforestation because forests provide the world with timber, which is one of the most widely used resources in the world. Industries and governments try to make more efficient timber production so they clear existing forests and use that land to make forests plantations. In Australia 400,000 hectares of Old-growth forests are being chopped down for the production of more valuable sawlog timber. Farming purposes. Farmers need land to grow food and crops, they also need land for their cattle to eat. To get this land some farmers especially in the poorer countries need to chop down the trees in the forest that lie directly in their land or just land they want. These farmers often use a method called Slash and Burn deforestation. This is what its name suggests the slashing (logging) of trees, these trees are then burnt and the ash is retained for fertiliser. Forests chopped down just for cattle grazing number 15,000 square kilometres. These statistics were from 1989 that was a decade ago. No doubt the amount of land used for cattle grazing has increased in the last 10 years. All these causes have adverse effect on the world and the environment this will be explored later in the essay.

Tuesday, December 3, 2019

Pestel Analysis, Adidas Essay Example

Pestel Analysis, Adidas Essay Pestel Analysis Political Adidas need to be aware of the political state of the UK, the same for the all other countries where they have bases. As if the government is unstable, or there are any controversial policies, they may have a bad affect on Adidas. There is a stable political situation in the UK, as it has a democratic government, a democratic government is one that is decided, by people voting on who they want to run the country. This means that if a dictatorship was to emerge and started making decisions that the public didn’t agree with they would simply be voted out at the next election. This is good for Adidas when operating in the UK, as it is fairly unlikely that the government would suddenly introduce any controversial policies. This will be good for my product as it gives it firm ground to work on. There are elections every four years in the UK, with the next one in May 2005. This keeps everything functioning properly within the UK, as the government aren’t very likely to introduce any controversial policies, as they would be voted out at the next election. This is good for Adidas, as it means that the government aren’t very likely to introduce any drastic policies, which may affect them. The government also offers subsidies if organisations set up factories in areas of high unemployment, such as the north east of England and south Wales. An example of this is Sony setting up a factory in Cardiff. However, I don’t feel this would benefit Adidas, as there aren’t any advanced skills required for manufacturing football boots, and would therefore be a lot cheaper for Adidas to manufacture their products in countries outside of the UK, where there is no minimum wage. We will write a custom essay sample on Pestel Analysis, Adidas specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Pestel Analysis, Adidas specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Pestel Analysis, Adidas specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer The minimum wage is quite a major constraint for Adidas in the UK, as this means they can acquire labour at nowhere near the cost they could in countries where there is no minimum wage. If Adidas could acquire labour at the same cost as they do in other countries, this would allows Adidas to cut out the transport costs of moving the produce to the UK, and could be spent on funding new products such as my own. If the UK government were to put a quota on Adidas products imported, only allowing a certain amount of Adidas products to be brought into the country each year. Adidas could overcome this by situating a factory in the UK, eliminating the quota, as if the products were being produced in the UK, there would be no need for produce to be imported from other countries. This wouldn’t be good for Adidas as they would either have to sacrifice their cheap labour, or sacrifice sales by abiding to the quota, either way losing money. This would have a bad affect on my product as Adidas would have less money to promote it. If the UK government were to assume a more market economy, where producers make goods in order to make a profit, and the state intervenes very little, meaning no state benefits, doctors’ fees and dentist fees. This would have a mixed affect on Adidas, as the working class would have less money to spend on products like football boots, as they wouldn’t have previously being paying high taxes, and these relatively low taxes will be replaced with large fees, as nothing is provided free by the state; this would have a bad affect on Adidas as they would lose sales from this area of the market. However, the more upper class people would have more money to spend, as fees they have to pay would not be as much as the taxes they are used to paying and therefore would have more money to spend on products like football boot, meaning Adidas would receive a greater profit intake form this area of the market. Overall, I feel this odes not affect Adidas too much as the decrease in sales from the working class would be balanced out by the increase in sales from the higher class. Economic Adidas are also affected by the state of the economy in the UK. The interest rate in the UK is currently 4. 25%, however it was 3. 75% around 6 months ago, and is probably rising to 4. 5% in the near future. This shows that the interest rate is not very stable and will make it hard for Adidas to plan ahead in terms of budget. Also, if the interest rate is too high and keeps rising, then the demand for products will fall, as it makes saving more attractive, and borrowing more expensive. Whereas if the interest rate is too low, people are encouraged to spend, as saving isn’t attractive. This means that there is more money going round in the economy and makes goods seem cheaper, this is bad for the economy as it causes inflation to increase. This is why it is important that the interest rate is stable. The UK’s interest rate isn’t very stable at the moment because it is quickly increasing, meaning that it may affect Adidas in regards to their sales. This helped me decide on my pricing strategy of competitive pricing, where I set my price in line with my competitors’, as if their products are selling, then there must be people willing to pay that amount for a similar product. However, if the interest rates continue to rise, this will make saving more attractive and spending less attractive, therefore I may have to reduce the price of my product to encourage more sales. If sales drop there will be two options for me in terms of promoting my product; I could cut down the amount of promotions used to sell my product, to maximise my profits; or I could invest more money to promote my product more and hopefully gain more sales. Before the interest rates rise even more I will research into new, cheaper materials to use on my product, which will function the same as the current materials used. Therefore, if interest rates rise and there are less sales made at the current price, I can make a larger number of sales by lowering the price of my product, and with the cheaper materials, it will allow me to make the same profits. Due to high interest rates, sales may drop, so I will be making my product widely available to maximise sales, these places including high street sports shops, the Internet and mail order catalogues. This will allow the product to be available to a large amount of people and anyone that wants the product, will be able to buy it easily with no hassle. Due to the UK’s interest rate rising quickly, there isn’t much inflation of prices within the UK, meaning that Adidas will be able to purchase their goods at a cheap price. However, sales will drop, as customers will be tempted to save rather than spend. Also, other counties from which Adidas get their raw materials may have prices that fluctuate a lot. Therefore, this would mean that Adidas’s prices might also fluctuate and would make planning ahead hard. To add to this there will be exchange rates that may change a lot, and on top of this there is commission to pay exchanging money from one currency to another, making selling and buying products overseas more expensive for Adidas. Another economic factor to be considered by Adidas is taxation. Taxation comes in two forms, direct and indirect. Direct tax is tax that can’t be avoided, an example of this is PAYE (income tax), where a percentage of everyone’s earnings are taken from them, this affects people’s PDI (explained below). Indirect tax is tax that can be avoided. E. g. VAT on a product, as this can be avoided by not buying the product. Another influence that the economy may have on Adidas is unemployment. As, if unemployment is high, then there would be less demand for their goods, this is because if lots of people are unemployed, then they aren’t going to have much money to spend on luxury items. Whereas, if unemployment was low then there would be a higher demand as people have got more spare money to spend on luxury items. Personal disposable income (PDI) is also a factor, which could affect Adidas. Personal disposable income is the money that someone has left to spend after deductions (tax, bills, food etc. ) have been taken off their net income. PDI is affected by things such as interest rates, taxation and inflation, which I have explained above. Basically, if people have more PDI then the demand for Adidas’s products should increase, and decrease if people’s PDIs are lower, due to the same reason as unemployment. Social As the UK has a wide selection of people from different social backgrounds, Adidas need to be aware of things like people’s religion, race, culture, ducation levels, population, gender, age distribution, buying habits and lifestyle. Therefore, I need to promote my product so that it appeals to the different social backgrounds of the UK, as this will maximise my sales and enable my product to fulfil its potential market share. The UK is becoming more and more dependant on the Internet, this means that the methods in which people buy goods are changing. Rather than using the traditional method of going to shops and buying products, more and more people are buying goods from the Internet. This is because people have less time on their hands and the Internet is the quickest and easiest method in which to buy goods. Adidas need to recognise this fact and I will be selling my product online. Another method commonly used in the UK to buy goods is mail order; I will also be using this method of sale so that my product is widely available to people with different kinds of buying habits. Adidas also need to recognise the frequency, or how often people tend to buy certain goods. For example most people would buy 1 or 2 pairs of football boots per season. Taking this into consideration, I will be investing money into promoting my product in the pre-season stage, as this is the time in which most people buy their football boots. Also, I will be updating my product at this stage (pre-season) each year for the same reason as above. I feel Adidas have already noticed the times at which they receive the most sales, as they use lots of advertising campaigns in the pre-season stage and also before and during large international football competitions such as the World Cup and the European Championships. Religion and culture are also considerations within the social section. In the UK there are a variety of religions and cultures including Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Jews and many more. I need to be aware of this and try and make my product cater for all these different religions. In the UK, generally there is a high education level, meaning that people will be more demanding. Therefore, Adidas won’t be able to get away with things in the UK, which they possibly could in other countries with lower education standards, so I will be promoting my product in a way which is not cheesy’ and in a way which customers cannot tell that the promotion isn’t just about getting customers to buy it. Adidas need to be aware of the areas within the UK with the highest populations, such as London (and the south east), the Midlands and the northwest to name a few. With this information Adidas know the best places to sell their goods as the more people there are, the more potential customers there are to Adidas. When situating my product, in terms of where it will be sold, I will be situating my product in areas such as London, Birmingham, Manchester and other large cities in the UK, as there are the highest amounts of customers in these places, in comparison to the countryside, and therefore will receive higher numbers of sales in these areas. The age distribution of the UK is getting higher all the time, as life expectancy in the UK is ever-increasing due to advances in medical facilities and living standards. However, this wouldn’t be much of an issue to Adidas, this is because Adidas is a sports company, and the majority of the market for sportswear is in the younger end of the market. Therefore, this issue shouldn’t affect me too much, as I will be targeting younger age groups. Leisure time is another consideration for Adidas, as people are becoming busier and are not having much leisure time. Adidas is a sportswear company and most people play sport in their leisure time, and if people’s leisure time is decreasing they aren’t going to have as much time to play sports. Therefore, if people haven’t got as much time to play sports then the demand for sportswear will go down. I can combat this issue by intensive promotions of my product aimed at the younger end of the market as these people have the most spare time and are more likely to buy the product especially if the promotions appeal to them. The final point is the fast food culture, which is arising in the UK. More people are becoming obese from a young age and many of these people then do not play sport, this is going to have an affect on Adidas as there isn’t oing to be much demand from the increasing amount of obese people in the sportswear industry. This could also have the opposite affect; as people that are obese or overweight may take up sport to try and lose weight, this would be good for Adidas, as these people may buy Adidas products to perform sports in. Technological Technological advances in things like machinery will have an affect on Adidas. Therefore Adidas need to be tuned in to new technology, which can speed up production, save energy or cut down labour required. If they weren’t aware of new technology in machinery they may ultimately go out of business due to other firms becoming more efficient and gaining more of the market. I will be staying up to date with technological advances by investing money into research in these areas. However, if Adidas were to fall behind the latest technology, this would have a bad affect on all products produced by Adidas as it means competitors would be producing more, and if they are all being sold, making a higher profit and achieving a higher market share. Technological advances in the actual sportswear is always getting better, such as t-shirts that move sweat away from the body, football boots that allow you to kick the ball with more power, swerve and precision etc. Adidas must make sure they keep up to date with all these advances. Also, I need to include all the latest technologies and features on my product to keep up with the market. If I wasn’t to do this, my product wouldn’t receive nowhere near the profits that could be achieved if these new technologies were included, therefore my product would benefit by including the latest technologies. The Internet is becoming more widespread within the UK, with millions of people using it every day within the UK alone. Therefore, Adidas need to make sure that they keep up to date with the Internet all the time. Also, I will be utilising the Internet by selling my product via this channel. Again, if Adidas don’t keep up to date, competitors will go ahead of Adidas, making catching up even harder, and ultimately a loss in sales. Environmental Adidas’s raw materials for football boots are taken from animals. This source is not very likely to run out because animals keep on reproducing. However, this could lead to problems with environmental campaigners. Adidas need to research different materials that aren’t taken from animals to cut costs and reduce harm to animals. If they didn’t then it would cause people like environmental campaigners to stop buying Adidas products, meaning Adidas and specifically my product would lose sales. To add to this are the factories where Adidas produce their products, these are generally in less economically developed countries, such as Indonesia, China and Vietnam, and have very poor working conditions for employees and very low pay. This isn’t good for Adidas as they get bad publicity for this and then people stop buying their products. It is debatable in this situation, as if they continue to exploit workers, they will get cheaper labour but a slightly smaller amount of customers, or they could maximise the number of customers by paying workers higher wages, but then they would not get cheap production costs, either way Adidas are going to slightly lose some money. This would have a bad affect on my product, as Adidas would have less money available t fund my product. Legal Adidas need to beware of all legal aspects that may be linked to the sportswear industry, as Adidas could get hefty fines if they do not comply with the law, legal constraints to be considered include: †¢ Press Complaints Commission (PCC) †¢ Trade Descriptions Act †¢ Sales and Supply of Goods Act †¢ Competition Commission †¢ Radio Authority †¢ Independent Television Commission (ITC) Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) In order to follow rules and laws set by the Press Complaints Commission, Trade Descriptions Act and Sales and Supply of Goods Act, Adidas have to ensure their products are of a high quality by ensuring it is produced with high quality materials and by well trained personnel. If they weren’t to do this, less people would buy the products as they would be of a lower quality and also Adidas would get fined due to breaking th e rules of the above laws and commissions. This would have a bad affect on my product, as there would be less money available to fund my product and any promotions I wish to initiate. When Adidas are advertising over the TV, they need to acquire a broadcasting license for the advertisement, to stay in line with rules set by the Independent Television Commission. To acquiring this license Adidas need to make sure that the advertisement had no verbally or sexually explicit content otherwise the advert wouldn’t have had a license granted, meaning that the advert wouldn’t be seen by anyone and this may be reflected in a drop in sales. Also, Adidas need to make sure all their promotions give a true representation the products being advertised, as to not break the laws of the Trade Descriptions Act. Adidas need to make sure all of their retailers have sufficient knowledge of Adidas products in order to obey the Trade Descriptions Act, as if Adidas give the retailers sufficient information and they give customers incorrect information about the product, then it is the retailer breaking the Trade Descriptions Act rather than the manufacturer. Finally, the Equal Opportunities Act needs to be considered by Adidas, this stops Adidas from discriminating against things like gender, race, disability and criminal records. As if Adidas didn’t do this a large number of people wouldn’t buy their products if Adidas were prejudice to their gender, race, disabilities etc, therefore, they would lose money, which could have been spent on funding my product.

Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Beware... National ID cards are Coming essays

Beware... National ID cards are Coming essays In many countries all over the world governments keep track of everything their citizens do from what they watch on television to where they shop and for whom. And in some cases who they marry and how many children they can have. These kinds of governments are called communists. I was outraged by the terrorist attacks on 9/11 but, how many personal freedoms must we lose for the sake of national security? Phyllis Schlafly writes that a national ID wouldnt have prevented the attacks since all 19 hijackers had visas issued by the government, most had social security numbers, and several had legally issued licenses. Alan Dershowitz writes that a national ID card could enhance civil liberties. How? By having anyone have to produce a card and then have his name ran through some computer. What about ex-cons who have already payed their debt to society? Will they be harassed solely for that purpose? Wouldnt that be a form of profiling? A national ID card is a bad idea. Hari Heath writes the silent coup of administrative tyranny relies on gradualism and societal conditioning. It brings us that much closer to having bar codes on our neck all in the name of national security. From the perspective of someone who has been profiled I would much rather have a government that has little or nothing to do with the privacy of its citizens. We are a nation founded on freedom: a national ID card would only make us that much less free. ...

Saturday, November 23, 2019

buy custom The Strategic Alliance essay

buy custom The Strategic Alliance essay These section seeks to clarify on how a strategic alliance should be undertaken in this case the answers will be based on the case study of the companies plan toys and Brio whereby plan toys wishes to form an alliance with the Brioo company in order to utilize the market demand of Brio. This will take place in the form of answerig four questions: Basically plan toys wishes to get engaged in this alliance for one big reason of utilizing the market presence of the Brio company. It is reported that brio is a large company with links which are far and wide. The criteria therefore for forming an alliance with such a company is clearly to get assistance in market establishment. Plan toys are planning and are in actually trying to get global through the assistance of Brio company. Plan toys should therefore view the alliance as a method of giong global as such should ensure that all the benefit that accrues from a company going global. The two companies stand a chance of gaining much experience from the alliance which will be formed. The alliance will form an organization which has a competitive advantage over the other companies which will be dealing in the same line of production. Competition among the two companies will be relatively reduced especially for the case of plan toys which is less established as it will be exposed to new markets by the established company. Other benefits which plan toys stands to gain from alliance include the conomies of scale which result from economies of scale since resources will be pooled together by the two companies. Again plan toys are standing a chance of gaining more from this joint since Brio probably has more experience being a big company with a large market presence. Such an alliance will also make it possible for the plan toys company to access the complementary assets of Brio Company, knowledge and skills. Plan toys should take precaution to ensure that some critical issues concerning the alliance are taken care of. The first important issue to be taken care of is the No Partnership provision. It should be understood that a strategic alliance is quite different from a partnership; this is especially in the purpose of the alliance. Plan toys should ensure that the agreement reflects this in the agreement between the two companies. Another key issue that plan toys ought to look out for is the agreement for the two companies to ensure that all the confidential information is kept confident by the two companies and that there will not be any leaking of information to third party companies. This can be done by the two companies promising each other that there will be no leaking of confidential information to outsiders. There are other factors on which agreements have to be made, for instance, the contribution to be made by the two companies in relation to the capital, intellectual contributions, market access and generally the transfer of resources (Kuglin Hook, 2002). The third important key issue that should not be overlooked in the alliance should be the setting of a mechanism on how internal dispute should be solved. In most cases the mechanism of solving internal disputes involves the setting up of some dispute committee which is made up of members from the two companies: in this case it will be plan toys and Brio. Plan toys should also negotiate well for the sharing of the risks and rewards which are involved in the alliance. Though Plan toys is young as compared to Brio there should be a fair sharing of the rewards as well as the risks involved (Kuglin and Hook 2002). A personal opinion on the issue of the above alliance will be for the plan toys to do their best to ensure that the alliance agreement does not undermine the position of Plan toys being the lesser company. This is likely to happen since Brio Company, being an established company, is more likely dominate in the negotiation of the alliance terms. It is important that before Plan toys commits to this venture, it must review its business strategy. This will help it define what to expect. It can also study what similar businesses are doing, particularly those that operate in similar markets, this can help it decide on the best approach. It should be realistic about its strengths and weaknesses-consider performing strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats analysis to identify whether the two businesses are compatible (Wassmer, Dussauge Planellas 2010). Buy custom The Strategic Alliance essay

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Evaluating Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Evaluating - Essay Example As of December 2009, it had about not less than 2,200 retail branches in the United Kingdom through its subsidiaries, not less than 220 branches and network of business banking offices in Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland and not less than 1500 retail banking offices in the United States (Reuters.com, 2009a). This paper seeks to evaluate RBS using relevant valuation models based on the company’s annual reports and other external information. This paper will analyze first the historical performance of the RBS for the past five years. This will be followed by a forecast of the short-term performance of RBS by constructing different scenarios for various competitive positions taking into consideration the current industry and company’s strategic position. This will then value cash flows beyond the forecast horizon using a continuing value by discounting cash flows to their present value using an estimated cost of capital by CAPM model. Calculation and interpretation of the results will come afterward within the strategic changes (Pearce II, Jr. and Robinson, 2004) envisioned for the firm and the required decisions that need to be taken to maximize the value of the company. Analysis of historical performance of RBS is accomplished by studying its revenue growth for the past five years or from 2005 to 2009 by understanding its profitability and efficiency, connecting the results with its liquidity and financial and financial advantage (Helfert, 2001). The same information need to be related further to other external information including that of its competitors from the financial services industry and other macroeconomic variables. The summary of the historical performance of RBS can be found in Appendix A. RBS revenues, in the form of interest income because of its nature business, showed an average annual growth of 13% for the past five years