E-Business Paper

E-Business Paper Jim Jones ACC/340 Joyce Williams December 3, 2012 ? Barnes & Noble has functioned well as a brick and mortar store since its inception. The company has developed over the years by adopting new products and keeping up with e-commerce as it has started develop. The company has been able to keep up with changes in the economy due to the development of the internet and e-commerce. We will examine how e-commerce has affected how the world around has changed. E-commerce has taken affect on how supply and demand functions in markets. Price is a bigger point on an online purchase than it is in brick and mortar stores.It is much easier for customers to search for a product and the cost of them doing their research is greatly decreased. A customer is able to see all or most of the products that are available and are easily able to compare them side-by-side. Many retailers do not have brand recognition. This is due to the somewhat high turn around in the internet business along with newer existence of e-commerce. Online stores may not be able to exist in markets that have high demand products where the consumers want the product now. For this reason, there are not many online markets for perishable products.This is due to the delay because of shipping needs to occur and the high cost of immediate shipping. There is a lower cost for e-commerce because you have less overhead and you do not need to go through a middle man to get your product. Many internet stores will sell to customers that live nowhere near their physical location. This allows a company to break into a whole new audience that they would not have been able to develop with just one physical store. A deterrent for using an online store is the time it takes to get a product after it has been ordered.Most physical items that can be delivered through an online store are also available at a brick and mortar store. Consumers will weigh the opportunity cost of waiting to determine if it is worth the wait. For this reason, some brick and mortar stores can justify higher prices for high demand products. A risk that some businesses run into is their consumers’ personal information. There is an extra cost the secure their consumers’ information. Information like an address or a consumer’s social security number may be stored in the online system so it is important to protect this information.A large benefit from using a business through e-commerce is that there is a lower distribution cost. This often occurs because certain areas of the supply chain have been removed. The development of the internet has made it much easier to track trends. This means that there are fewer inventories that need to be maintained because we can easily determine when certain products will be bought. Since there is already a delay because of shipping times, it is less of a problem when something is out of stock versus a brick and mortar store. (Lieber, 2011)Barnes & Noble has been a ble to keep up with its main competitors Amazon and Google by investing in its Nook e-business and developing an online store for physical books and e-books. Over the second quarter in 2012, Barnes & Nobles’ â€Å"digital content revenue grew 38 percent during the second quarter, but that was down from a 46 percent increase in the fiscal first quarter. † (Anderson, 2012) Despite the shortcomings of the most recent fiscal quarter, the overall stock for Barnes & Noble has increased by 11 percent throughout the past year.Barnes & Nobles’ e-business continues to be challenged by the further development of Apple’s iPad Mini, new Amazon Kindles and Google’s Nexus tablet. Barnes & Noble has done fairly well to keep up with the e-business competition and has only lost 3 percent in revenue from brick and mortar stores. (Anderson, 2012) Where Barnes & Noble falls short is their lack of apps for their tablets. Some of the other tablets are selling better beca use they are multi-functional whereas the Nook primarily functions to read books and magazines.Barnes & Noble has done well to keep up with the competition and maintain a viable stronghold in the bookstore industry. ? References Anderson, M. (2012). Barnes & Noble reports net income for 2Q. Retrieved from http://www. miamiherald. com/2012/11/29/3118537/barnes-noble-reports-net- income. html#storylink=cpy Lieber, E. , Syverson, C. (2011). Onlive vs. Offline Competition: Prepared for the Oxford Handbook of the Digital Economy. Retrieved from http://home. uchicago. edu/syverson/onlinevsoffline. pdf

Sour Grapes

During the problem solving process, Quality Ice Cream Company will need to have a structured approach to determining a solution. There are seven tools that Quality can use to improve their processes during production of the ice cream. These tools are: flow charts, run charts, process-control charts, check sheets, Parent diagrams, cause-and-effect diagrams, and scatter diagrams (Shower, p. 182). Each of these will help the identification of the variation that is happening and will also aid in the analysis, documentation ND organization of the information.This will help with process improvement. â€Å"They are simple but powerful tools that can be of significant value throughout the problem-solving and continuous-improvement processes (Shower, p. 183). † The first place for Quality to start is with a flow chart. The flow chart can show the relationship between the activities and tasks for each process, and give a better idea of how the rejections are happening. Next, a scatter d iagram can be run from the data collected.This will show the link between he run time and viscosity of the ice cream. This type of tool can also determine how long the ice cream should be mixed to avoid soapiness and stiffness. From the ten days of data collected, it seems as though the run time is too short resulting in a too soupy mixture (Shower, p. 201-202). After a more suitable run time is determined Quality can then look into the other problems causing the rejects. Aside from the soapiness causing most of the rejects, there are other problems.

Customer relationship management Essay

Abstract Purpose – This paper aims to provide insights into the development and management of a customer community, informing product innovation and engaging customers in co-creation of a consumption experience. Design/methodology/approach – A review of the state of current knowledge about co-production, co-creation and customer communities is followed by discussion of the case study methodology. The case history of a leading player in the UK and international â€Å"sportkiting† market focuses on product innovation and customer-community development. Discussion re? ects in more detail on the lessons from the case for application of the principles in practice. Findings – The case company’s innovative product development strategy provides the catalyst for co-creation of a customer experience. Its marketing actions extend beyond product development and innovation to actively co-creating experiences with customers, fostering a sense of community among users, facilitating communication within that community, acting on the feedback, and continuously developing and maintaining the community relationship. Research limitations/implications – The company’s marketing strategy can be summed up as â€Å"customer community leadership†. This paradigm proposes a new role for businesses in sectors where there is a potential to develop and engage communities. It provides a context for the effective facilitation of customer knowledge management, within which marketing intelligence plays a signi? cant role. The ? ndings offer scope for further research into the nature of this phenomenon and its relevance to co-creation in other industry sectors, and into numerous aspects of the processes and impacts associated with customer communities. Originality/value – The case contributes to the literature of co-creation, demonstrating how it has been achieved through a marketing strategy and marketing mix in a particular customer community. Keywords Customer relations, Innovation, Relationship marketing, Leadership Paper type Case study Marketing Intelligence & Planning Vol. 25 No. 2, 2007 pp. 136-146 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0263-4503 DOI 10. 1108/02634500710737924 Introduction. The increased complexity, globalization and knowledge-intensity of marketplaces require all businesses to make better use of their technological, organizational and marketing competences in order to survive. Contemporary organizations in highly competitive and highly innovative markets must be able to build market share quickly, by delivering fast, high quality, innovative solutions. The changing organisational environment has driven interest in organisational learning and knowledge management (Drucker, 1993; Prusak, 1997). Many studies have con? rmed customer knowledge as one of the most important knowledge bases for an organisation (Bennett and Gabriel, 1999; Chase, 1997), and there is a considerable interest in the potential of â€Å"co-production† and â€Å"co-creation† either individually or in community contexts, to enhance innovation and business performance (Gibbert et al. , 2002). Focus on the engagement of customers in organizational learning, innovation and knowledge processes heralds the dawn of a new paradigm of marketing intelligence in  which data and information are not simply gathered into databases and distilled to inform management decision making, but rather marketing intelligence is embedded in dynamic co-creation processes that involve customers as partners rather than subjects. Through a case study analysis and critique of a leading manufacturer of kiteboarding equipment, this paper seeks to provide insights into the engagement and management of a customer community, to inform product innovation and to engage customers in co-creation of a sporting experience. The case contributes to the literature of co-creation and speci?cally to the way in which communities can be enlisted in the co-creation of experiences. It begins with a literature review, outlining the state of current knowledge on co-production and co-creation and on customer communities, followed by a description of the case study methodology. A pro? le of the company, with particular reference to its product development and community development follows leads to re? ection in detail on the contribution from this case. Finally, conclusions and recommendations provide a summary of the issues. The concept of â€Å"customer community leadership† is proposed, and agendas for further research identi? ed. Literature review This section draws together current knowledge on two key themes: co-creation, or co-production, and customer communities. Research on both of these themes ? ts broadly within the paradigm or philosophy of relationship marketing. As the main plank of a marketing strategy, relationship marketing aims to build long term, mutually satisfying relations with customers, suppliers and distributors with the key objective of earning and retaining their long-term preference, loyalty and business (Foss and Stone, 2001; Peck et al., 1999; Buttle, 1996; Massey et al. , 2001). In discussing the absence of a consensus on the term relationship marketing, and on the appropriateness of the term, other authors have suggested that a focus on interactions and networks of interactions between businesses and their customers might be more meaningful (Healy et al. , 2001; Zoliewski, 2004). The concepts of co-production and customer communities both focus on interactions. Communities, in particular, involve networks of interactions. The theme of interaction between customers and organizations in product and service innovation is developed in the literature on co-production. Prahalad and Ramaswamy (2000) suggest that companies have to recognise that the customer is becoming a partner in creating value, and need to learn how to harness customer competences. One aspect of this will be the engagement of customers in co-creating personal experiences. The body of work on co-creation and co-production has grown in recent years. Kristensson et al. (2004) have examined the bene? Ts of involving users in suggesting new product ideas, ? nding that ordinary users created signi? cantly more original and valuable ideas than professional developers, whilst professional developers and advanced users created more easily reliable ideas. At a more modest level of customer engagement, Salomo et al. (2003) found that customer orientation in innovation projects (not necessarily, in this case, customer engagement) had a positive in? uence on NPD success and that the impact increased with the degree of product innovativeness. Similarly, Hsieh and Chen (2005) showed that new product development performance can be enhanced by interacting with users, and capitalising on user-knowledge management competences. Matthing et al. (2004) suggest that the Customer community and co-creation 137 MIP 25,2 138 value of customer involvement in new service development resides in the opportunity to facilitate proactive learning about the customer, and to understand and anticipate latent customer needs. Lilien et al. (2002) suggest that user contribution to the idea generation process is optimised through the careful selection of â€Å"lead users† to participate in the process. Dahlsten (2004) discusses customer involvement in the case of a product development project at Volvo Cars, which allowed the project management team to acquire an understanding of the customer through â€Å"customer presence†. A study comparing the sources of product and process innovation in large and small technology-based ? rms found that product developers in SMEs valued customers, co-workers, marketing and journals more highly, whilst suppliers were particularly valued by large ? rms (Bommer and Jalajas, 2004). Co-creation might be viewed as an aspect of customer-knowledge competence, the processes that generate knowledge about speci? c customers (Campbell, 2003). Gibbert et al. (2002, p. 460) describe customer knowledge management as a process in which organisations seek to â€Å"know what their customers know† and de? ne it as: . . . the strategic process by which cutting-edge companies emancipate their customers from passive recipients of products and services, to empowerment as knowledge partners. CKM is about gaining, sharing, and expanding the knowledge residing in customers, to both customer and corporate bene? It is thus concerned with an understanding of how to elicit and leverage knowledge from customers. Their emphasis on interacting with customers and co-production, extending to co-learning, lifts the focus from collecting data and information in order to learn about customers to learn with customers. They discuss ? ve different styles of customer knowledge management, including â€Å"prosumerism† where the customer acts as co-producer, and â€Å"communities of creation† in which groups of people work together, have shared interests, and want to jointly create and share knowledge. The focus of co-production research is often on product innovation and new product development, with some contributions relating to service development (Matthing et al. , 2004). However, Prahalad and Ramaswamy (2003), suggest a future in which the locus of innovation and co-production will shift from products and services to â€Å"experience environments†. This suggestion aligns with other proposals that the â€Å"experience marketing† era is on the horizon, and that it is becoming increasingly important for businesses to respond to the needs of the experience consumer (Li and Wei, 2004). Co-creation may take place in the context of customer communities. There is a considerable literature on customer clubs (Butscher, 2002; Gustafsson et al. , 2004; Stauss et al. , 2001) and loyalty schemes (Bolton et al. , 2000; Mauri, 2003; Passingham, 1998; Worthington, 2000). Only a small sub-group of such clubs and schemes can properly be described as customer communities, however, which should at the very least exhibit C2C interaction. To convincingly justify the use of â€Å"community† they should furthermore share a culture with norms, values and identity, and mutual interests and objectives. Fan clubs, interest clubs, and software user groups may constitute customer communities. Butscher (2002) identi? es the Kawasaki Riders Club, The Volkswagen Club, and Swatch The Club as examples which might be described as customer communities. On the other hand, loyalty schemes such as Tesco Clubcard, American Express, Airmiles, and Marriot Rewards are focussed on the B2C dimension of relationship marketing, and do little to cultivate or in? uence C2C interactions. Therefore, whilst they may be able to identify a relatively stable group of users, they have not created a community. One context in which there has been more discussion of customer communities is the virtual environment (Armstrong and Hagel, 1996). Some loyalty schemes use this channel to support C2C interaction. Virtual customer communities enable organizations to establish distributed innovation models that involve varied customer roles in new product development (Nambisan, 2002; Pitta and Fowler, 2005). Nambisan (2002) suggests that the design of virtual customer environments needs to consider interaction patterns, knowledge creation, customer motivation, and integration of the virtual customer community with the new product development team. Dholakia et al. (2004) explore the impact of group norms and social identity on participation in consumer communities. The wider literature on virtual communities and their role in learning and knowledge creation is also substantial, and may have perspectives to offer on the role of virtual communities in innovation (Hall and Graham, 2004; Davenport and Hall, 2002; Wenger, 2000). In conclusion, the themes of co-creation and customer communities have been identi? ed as important in the literature, but there remains a scope for considerable further work, speci?  cally relating to: . co-creation of experiences; Customer communities that exist in both physical and virtual space; and . the mechanisms and processes through which organizations can engage customer communities, as opposed to individual members of those communities, in co-creation. Methodology Case studies are a valuable way of looking at the world around us, and asking how or why questions (Yin, 1994). The case study design adopted in this paper may be described as a holistic single case design. Typically, single case designs are appropriate when the exercise has something special to reveal that might act as a point of departure for challenging received wisdom, prior theoretical perspectives and untested assumptions. A specialist in sporting kite technology was chosen as the basis for the case analysis in this paper for four reasons in particular, as follows: (1) The stated mission of Flexifoil International is to: â€Å"provide our customers with the ultimate Kitesports experience† (www.? exifoil. com/company). (2) Flexifoil has been consistently committed to product innovation. (3) Flexifoil works with customers and proactively builds customer communities to support customer engagement in co-creation of the kiting experience. (4) The active and extensive participation of one of the authors in the kiting community formed the basis for an in-depth understanding of the community building and co-creation processes observed. Company pro? le: Flexifoil International Through product innovation, the company seeks to design and develop the highest performance products, with new designs and products that support new kite-based Customer community and co-creation 139 MIP. 25,2 sporting experiences and events. Flexifoil build both their own customer community and the kite boarding community in general through customer service, distribution networks, sponsorship and promotion of the sports for which their products are used. They provide opportunities for the kite sporting community to interact, online and in other ways. Their community is thus built through B2B, C2B and C2C relationships and channels. 140 Product development Until the early 1970s, a kite had for hundreds of years been a piece of fabric controlled with one or two lines, designed to be hand-?own in windy conditions. What is now Flexifoil International started when two English university students effectively â€Å"invented† the two-line power kite by producing the ? rst to be sold commercially. Two larger kites with the evocative names â€Å"Pro Team 8† and â€Å"Super 10† established Flexifoil’s market position, and enabled the company to enter upon a period of innovation and experimentation that explored a range of different potential applications for power kites. Some of their innovations were successful, others less so, such as three-wheeled buggies designed to be pulled by a power kite or traction kite. The successful developments in materials and design technology by Flexifoil and its followers allowed this basic product to support today such diverse activities as kite boarding (water-based), snow kiting, kite land boarding, buggying, recreational power kiting, and sportkiting (â€Å"traditional† kiting). The company’s own product range now comprises: power kites, recreational kites, traction kites, and water re-launchable kites; buggies and boards; lines and control gear; and miscellaneous accessories such as clothing. Following the launch of a web site, with associated forums in which enthusiasts could meet and exchange ideas, Flexifoil’s sales increased by around 25 per cent each year between 1999 and 2004. Innovation continued, with the development of water-based kiting or kitesur? ng, and later kites for land boarding and snow kiting. Over the last thirty years, the company had thus effectively created a market, and maintained leadership in its particular niche, by means not only of product innovation but also engagement with and cultivation of a power-boarding community. Community development Distribution. The community development process begins with the company’s distribution network of authorised retail outlets. Initially, those were mainly windsur? ng and sur? ng shops, but more recently specialised kiting shops have entered the market. Signi? cantly for Flexifoil, some of those have developed into â€Å"kitesports centres† where customers can â€Å"? y before they buy†. At three Premier Kite Sports Centres, the most comprehensive Flexifoil range is available for trial in an environment characterised by knowledgeable staff and extensive facilities in a good location; activity training is also on offer. A smaller range of Flexifoil kites is sold through high street shops. The company also moves the product to market through training schools, academies and university kite clubs, to whom equipment is available at discounted rates or even free of charge if the outlet becomes an of? cial Flexifoil training centre. In addition to these bricks-and-mortar outlets, the company transacts a signi? cant proportion of its retail sales through internet distributors. It also sells spare parts,  branded clothing and a selection of promotional merchandise via Flexifoildirect. com, but restricts distribution of core products to distributors who can offer a full after-sales service. The objective of the company’s distribution strategy is to build, support and maintain an effective customer community. Promotion and marketing communication. The main platform of Flexifoil’s promotional programme is to communicate their commitment to after-sales support, and their ambition to maintain good relationships with both customers and dealer outlets. This strategy, in turn, generates positive word-of-mouth communication, and often act as a channel for customer feedback that can inform future product innovation and development. In pursuit of that objective, Flexifoil make extensive use of specialised advertising media, including every kite magazine in circulation, often running double-page spreads. A branded display stand for Flexifoil product catalogues is distributed to every dealer. To keep the brand at the centre of the kitesporting world, the company sponsors a team of kite boarders who compete around the world. The promotional mix thus embraces advertising, publicity, sales promotion and point-of-sale. Flexifoil furthermore use their web site and its forums proactively to develop the UK kiting community, especially pre-launch. Previews of new kites provoke discussion in the forums, and a level of interest that builds up over months of anticipation and typically generates high sales volumes immediately on the release of the product. This online communication channel brings customers together to exchange experiences, and sell equipment to each other. The company lays claim to the largest online kiting community, of nearly 7,000 members. The variety of forums available to its members specialise in the full range of sportkiting activities. The clear aim of the marketing communications strategy is, like the distribution strategy, to create a community of interest rather than one based simply on transaction. Discussion This discussion will draw out two themes from the case study analysis: co-creation, and customer communities. The study contributes a perspective on the co-creation of experiences, which  is a central element in the emerging paradigm of experience marketing. By continuing engagement with their customer community, the subject company has been able not only to gather feedback on the experiences associated with the use of its products, but also to add to them by offering opportunities, in both the real and virtual environments for customer to enjoy interactions with others who share their interests. It monitors and enhances the experience through the same channels. Whilst product innovation is stepwise, the dialogue and interaction with customers on which that innovation is based is continuous. This is not â€Å"co-production† in the sense that the term is used in new product development contexts, but rather in the service context, where the term refers to the fact that customers have a hand in the development of their own service experience. Nevertheless, experience â€Å"co-creation† in this case, embeds product innovation. The impact of this approach to co-creation is dif? cult to disentangle from the impact of other business and marketing actions. The signi? cant increase in sales in the years since the launch of the web site could be taken as one indicator, but it  Customer community and co-creation 141 MIP 25,2 142 is important to acknowledge the spiral nature of the community creation process. This increase in sales will have expanded the community, and probably also have intensi? ed customers’ engagement with the experiences that community members co-create with the company. The case also contributes some insights on the nature of customer communities. Though the company does ask customers to register their product and thereby collects personal contact details, it does not operate a customer community, club or loyalty scheme. Rather, the innovative and interesting products act as a catalyst for community creation through the medium of the â€Å"experiences† they deliver. The customer community comprises those who have participated in those experiences, enjoyed them, and wish to develop the interaction. Customers work in partnership with the company to build excitement and develop skill, and by sharing the experiences with others, add to the totality of the customer community. The company has taken a number of actions to facilitate this process, including working with distributors, sponsorship, engagement in events, training courses, and an interactive web site. Speci? cally, their approach to communication with their customers is sophisticated. The common view of marketing communications as a one-way transmission is replaced by a marketing communications strategy designed to build and reinforce the company’s position as a leader of a community. Traditional channels such as advertising, sponsorship, and even brand building are only elements in a complex web or network of marketing communications activities, involving C2C and B2B as well as B2C relationships. The company communicates directly with its customers, but also provides contexts which encourage them to â€Å"talk† among themselves. In addition, the marketing communications effort is â€Å"pushed† through distributors, not just in terms of the traditional advertising and branding, but also through the selection of distributors that can offer appropriate support and advice. These actors in the system have a role in welcoming new members into the community. They are supported in doing so by the existing on-line community, and various company-sponsored events at which members are encouraged to gather. The customer community has built gradually as the business has grown. As new products have been added to the product range to support new sports, new sub-communities have formed around them. The process of community development goes hand in hand with product development. Conclusions and recommendations The entrepreneurs behind Flexifoil International have simultaneously created a sport, and an associated sporting community. The company is clear that its mission as not simply to develop and distribute the best products but rather to deliver the most exciting kiting experience. This case study has demonstrates that the entire marketing mix is focussed not on transactions, or even relationship building, but rather on community creation. That community includes both consumers and dealers. Product innovation, distribution and promotion are tightly coupled with community creation. Community building is not just about increasing membership, or even about the engagement of members with the community, but focuses on the creation of a level of mutuality in which there is ongoing dialogue between community members and the company. Flexifoil has neither annexed an existing community, nor do they â€Å"own† one, although they do manage a virtual space through which the community can interact. Rather, their product innovation and the experiences that their product range provides have the potential to act as the catalyst for the community, whilst sponsorship, engagement in events, and the virtual space all facilitate the enhancement of the experience for community members. Other companies compete with Flexifoil for leadership of the power kiting community, both rival manufacturers and others keen to enhance the sportkiting experience. Many of these have web sites through which they seek to capture an online community. For example, one casts itself as â€Å"the kite ? yer’s portal to the internet† offering links to kite manufacturers and kite stores in the USA and Canada, to other power kiting web sites, to other kite ? yer sites, kite teams and clubs, and to magazines and newsgroups. Another claims to be â€Å"the online community that brings ? yers together† and a third promotes itself as â€Å"the internet magazine for kiters†. All offer different services and bene? ts to their customers, but for some, their engagement with the sport kiting community will be restricted to virtual space. Though Flexifoil has a strong brand presence as a manufacturer, it needs to encourage members to participate with it in â€Å"co-creation† if it is to deliver on its mission of providing customers with the ultimate kite sports experience. The approach to marketing strategy described in this case study can aptly be described as customer community leadership. By leading the sport kiting community, but not owning it, Flexifoil has created a community that will buy their products, co-create kiting experiences, provide insights that can inform innovation in the product, the experience and the community innovation, look forward to the next product release, and mutually enhance community members’ experiences of the company’s products and services. Embedded in this approach to community leadership are a number of more traditional marketing actions, such as new product development, advertising, and commitment to after-sales support. The distribution channels are designed to offer the support and training that is likely to enhance sport kiting experiences, but also to build relationships with dealers, and to bring sports kiters together. This is supplemented by opportunities for interaction in virtual space. Community development is achieved through a network of relationship-building actions, at the heart of which are enjoyable and shareable sports kiting experiences. Through community leadership, the company has created a context in which customers are thus from being passive recipients of products and services, and empowered as knowledge partners (Gibbert et al., 2002). In other words, it has thereby created a context that facilitates the processes of customer knowledge management. This is an approach to marketing intelligence and decision making embedded in dynamic co-creation processes that involve customers as partners. It is worth noting that the term â€Å"customer community leadership† can have two different meanings in practice. First, it may mean leadership of a community, in the sense of making it work, setting its direction, and participating in the shaping of experiences of community members. In this context, the focus is on factors such as member engagement, culture, norms, identity and community viability, in terms of the value delivered to all parties. Second, it can describe an avenue to market leadership, in which the business performance of an organisation over the longer term is de? ned and determined by the extent to which its leadership of a community of potential customers, or its power and capacity to lead, is greater than that of its competitors. Customer community and co-creation 143 MIP 25,2 144 In taking the development of the concept of customer community leadership forward, it will be important to explore the different styles and approaches that are and can be adopted by different ? rms and organizations. Given that another essential of successful leadership is followers, an important phenomenon for further study is the nature of â€Å"followership† in this context. This case study has focussed on the actions and strategies adopted by one business to build and bene? t from a customer community and to engage customers in the co-creation of an experience. In addition, it has demonstrated how both online and real-world communities can be enlisted to contribute to building the experience. There is a scope for considerable further study of the processes associated with the co-creation of the experience, and the details of how communities operate. Such research needs both to cover a wider range of organizations and business sectors, and to examine in more detail aspects of communities, co-creation and customer knowledge management. Some potential areas of investigation are: . Perceptions and views of different stakeholders as to the impact of the community and the contributions of different parties in the co-creation of the experience. . The pro? le of such customer communities in terms of loyalty, retention and customer lifetime value, including comparisons between online and real-world communities. . Community processes, including models of key processes of in? uence, knowledge and learning, identi? cation and role of â€Å"node† members, and the role of celebrity voices and endorsement. . The marketing actions that contribute to the cultivation of effective co-creation communities. References Armstrong, A. G. and Hagel, J. (1996), â€Å"The real value of online communities†, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 74, pp. 134-40. Bennett, R. and Gabriel, H. I. (1999), â€Å"Organisational factors and knowledge management within large marketing departments: an empirical study†, Journal of Knowledge Management, Vol. 3 No. 3, pp. 212-25. Bolton, R. N. , Kannan, P. K. and Bramlett, M. D. (2000), â€Å"Implications of loyalty program membership and services experience for customer retention and value†, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 28 No. 1, pp. 95-108. Bommer, M. and Jalajas, D. S. (2004), â€Å"Innovation sources of large and small technology-based ? rms†, IEEE Transactions of Engineering Management, Vol. 51 No. 1, pp. 13-18. Butscher, S. A. (2002), Customer Loyalty Programmes and Clubs, 2nd ed. , Gower, Aldershot. Buttle, F. (1996), Relationship Marketing: Theory and Practice, Paul Chapman, London. Campbell, A. J. (2003), â€Å"Creating customer knowledge competence: managing customer relationship management programs strategically†, Industrial Marketing Management, Vol. 32 No. 5, pp. 375-83. Chase, R. L. (1997), â€Å"The knowledge-based organization: an international survey†, Journal of Knowledge Management, Vol. 1 No. 1, pp. 38-49. Dahlsten, F. (2004), â€Å"Hollywood wives revisited: a study of customer involvement in the XC90 project at Volvo Cars†, European Journal of Management, Vol. 7 No. 2, pp. 141-9. Davenport, E. and Hall, H. (2002), â€Å"Organizational knowledge and communities of practice†, Annual Review of Information Science and Technology, Vol. 36, pp. 171-227. Dholakia, U. M. , Bagozzi, R. P. and Pearo, L. K. (2004), â€Å"A social in? uence model of consumer participation in network- and small-group-based virtual communities†, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Vol. 21, pp.241-63. Drucker, P. F. (1993), Post-capitalist Society, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford. Foss, B. and Stone, M. (2001), Successful Customer Relationship Marketing, Kogan Page, London. Gibbert, M. , Leibold, M. and Probst, G. (2002), â€Å"Five styles of customer knowledge management, and how smart companies use them to create value†, European Management Journal, Vol. 20 No. 5, pp. 459-69. Gustafsson, A. , Roos, I. and Edvardsson, B. (2004), â€Å"Customer clubs in a relationship perspective: a telecom case†, Managing Service Quality, Vol. 14 Nos 2/3, pp. 157-68. Hall, H. and Graham, D.(2004), â€Å"Creation and recreation: motivating collaboration to generate knowledge capital in online communities†, International Journal of Information Management, Vol. 24, pp. 235-46. Healy, M. , Hastings, K. , Brown, L. and Gardiner, M. (2001), â€Å"The old, the new and the complicated – a trilogy of marketing relationships†, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 35 Nos 1/2, pp. 182-93. Hsieh, L. F. and Chen, S. K. (2005), â€Å"Incorporating voice of the consumer: does it really work? †, Industrial Management & Data Systems, Vol. 105 Nos 5/6, pp. 769-85. Kristensson, P. , Gustafsson, A. and Archer, T. (2004), â€Å"Harnessing the creative.

Corporation and interpersonal Communication training exercise Essay

Corporation and interpersonal Communication training exercise - Essay Example (McGill, 2009) Interpersonal communication is the exchange of ideas, knowledge, information and opinion between two or more individuals, and it is quite an art to do it correctly. An organization has multiple stakeholders at one point in time which it has to cater to. And the manager of such an organization thus has the huge responsibility of communicating with these various stakeholders. From hiring someone to firing someone, from managing a team to arbitrating during a conflict, from being the change agent to giving someone constructive criticism – it all falls in the job of a manager, and it has to be done well if the manager has to experience the right level of self confidence and success for the organization. Therefore, communication is one of the aspects which should really be focused upon in all organizations. (Volkert, 2009) Training exercises and training programs which last for weeks should be built according to the demographics of the employees, and then given to the employees. I f the communication of the employee gets improved, it will take the organization a long way. Role plays, which is the training exercise selected for this report, is one of the most effective methods of showing a person the right way to do something. This is because when a person is asked to do a role play, he can easily assume that he is playing the role of someone else, and that no one can judge him for who he really is. This human psyche helps in getting role plays successful, and in getting across the message. (Windsor, 2006) The training exercise that will be developed to instill effective interpersonal communication in managers will be that of a role play. Role modeling, as it is also known, is an effective way of showing the situations that occur in daily life. The effectiveness of the role modeling method of training exercise lies in the fact that even though an employee might

Summarize the article Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Summarize the article - Essay Example The results were then analyzed to determine the factors that affect the development of false belief understanding in children. Overall, the results suggest that false belief understanding develops as age increases. Also, it has a strong relation with general language ability. These relationships can be explained in several ways. One possible explanation is that the children need to have linguistic ability to understand and respond to the tasks given to them. Complexity of the language in which the task is presented may make the child unable to respond to it, however simple the task is for him. The level of understanding of a child can also affect his ability to perform equally difficult tasks. He may fully understand and interpret one aspect of the task, but may prove incompetent to carry out another equally difficult task. The findings suggest that there is no role of children’s memory in solving false belief tasks. However, family size is positively related to false belief u nderstanding. The presence of one or more siblings increases interactions like tricking and teasing etc. that fosters false belief understanding. Children may observe their siblings and develop an understanding of false belief even when their linguistic ability is poor suggesting that competence is not entirely dependent on language. Hence, family size and linguistic ability both play a role in false belief understanding.

Porter's Five Forces Model to the American automotive industry Research Paper

Porter's Five Forces Model to the American automotive industry - Research Paper Example Introduction In the automotive industry or any similar business field, an essential step is to identify the critical paths and limiting factors involved in profitability. Where does the power reside in a business situation? Based on the forces of supply and demand which party can command the most advantageous bargaining position? A number of business tools and theoretical models address these and other questions; the Five Forces model is among them. When the manager has a clearer understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of all parties involved in a potential transaction, it permits him or her to leverage the situation to maximum advantage, and prepare for the most likely responses from the other party (Samuelson & Marks, 2012) Overall, it is beneficial to acquire data allowing the manager to take a longer view of holistic market forces in order to define costs and risks in terms of doing business. In any competitive environment, an inevitable hierarchy will develop, likely throu gh a combination of simple random forces as well as actual merit. These forces are influenced by social and legal factors in a civilized environment, but within the competitive framework certain fundamental rules will remain universal. This analysis will focus upon Porter's Five Forces model as an explanatory tool to put these factors in perspective relative to the automotive industry. By 2009, the global recession crisis sent ripples through the banking sector, credit markets and then most productive industries across the industrialized world. The American automotive industry was no exception. Chrysler and General Motors were on the financial precipice, and Ford faced an uncertain future. 2008 automotive sales had plummeted to historic lows, with sharp declines in the disposable income and available lines of credit for the purchase of new vehicles. A loan process was deemed necessary in order to rescue these and other industries from total collapse, at the likelihood of further dam age to the American – and potentially the global economy. Industry Definition For the purposes of this analysis, the automobile industry will be defined as the American corporations involved in the direct manufacture of automobiles, and the challenges they have faced in light of the current financial crisis. The scope of this analysis will include the interests of car production as well as sale, and the companies in the United States that perform both functions. Specifically, this will focus on what are termed 'The Detroit Three', generally understood as Ford, Chrysler, and General Motors. Industry Profile With the immediate danger of total collapse averted as a result of the federal loans, it is necessary to take stock of the situation using sound theoretical planning in order to plot the next move forward for the automotive industry. Theoretical models to identify forces and threats must be given careful consideration during the planning process. The planning process must i nclude the prospects and profile of the 'big three' automakers as described above, specifically the damage to the economy that might ensue if they were allowed to go bankrupt and fail entirely. Structured bankruptcy agreements for General Motors and Chrysler were considered during the spring of 2009, with considerable national debate regarding the possible ripple effects from their collapse (McAlinden et al., 2009) Ultimately there were two approaches by which

A Substance Misuse Patient, Either Drug or Alcohol Use Essay

A Substance Misuse Patient, Either Drug or Alcohol Use - Essay Example Unfortunately for the patient in question, his situation has been so bad that it has resulted into an addiction (Furniss et al., 2000). Basically, the situation deteriorated because the patient did not have access to effective counselling to win him out of the misuse of drugs when the situation was first started. This makes the patient an ideal subject for a case study because it goes a long way to outline the basic responsibilities of substance misuse nurses on drugs and alcohol that have been neglected (British Medical Association & Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, 2002). It is unfortunate that most substance misuse nurses pay so much attention to treatment and cure instead of prevention. Once this happens, a lot of people whose level of understanding on drug use is low will be affected in the long run. What is even more disturbing is the fact that once the effects of substance abuse become deteriorated, it becomes difficult to reverse them. Should nurses be proactive in their duties, it would go a long way to educating the masses on the need to resist from certain drugs, the need to take drugs within prescribed quantities, the need to avoid the use of drugs that are not prescribed (Fought, Shorr, & Ray, 2010). The situation of the current patient is so bad that he is currently exhibiting greater percentage of the side effects associated with the misuse of chlordiazepoxide. For instance the patient constantly shows signs of confusion and forgetfulness (Chan, Lunn, & Donoghue, 2007). When the patient is listening to given instructions, he finds it very difficult to follow up to its logical conclusion. For this reason, it is common to see that the patient will start executing a particular command but after a short while will divert into doing something else that was not within the instruction. Once a while also, the patient reports of drowsiness and there have been times that the patient has actually collapsed as an effect of the chemical reaction s that the drug undertakes in him. During some of these occasions however, the patient is able to quickly gain consciousness. Quite recently also, it has been discovered that the patient has started developing skin eruptions, yellow eyes and nausea (Keene, et al. 2007). Clinical diagnosis indicates that the patient’s situation has come to such a level because the patient actually has acute intoxication with alcohol. Medically, this condition arises as a result of excessive alcohol content in the body of the patient. This condition of acute intoxication with alcohol is not ideal for the intake of chlordiazepoxide but due to the low level of education on the part of the patient, he kept combining these two situations till it has grown this worse (Tully, et al., 2012). This again explains the neglected roles of substance misuse nurses and the need to use the present paper to review the national and local framework for medicine in the United Kingdom context and understudy the eff ect of these frameworks on the healthcare delivery system in United Kingdom. Overview of National and Local Frameworks for Medicine Use As a nation, the United Kingdom has strict regulations that guide the use of medicines. These regulations come in two major forms, which are national and local frameworks for medicine use. The national frameworks serve as the constitutional

Inventory Management at Southern Toro Distributorship Essay

Inventory Management at Southern Toro Distributorship - Essay Example From the case, two topics can be derived. The first topic takes into account the specific problems affecting the distributorship and involves the development of an effective system for managing independent demand inventory. This focuses on analyzing how the distributorship determines the quantities of irrigation products it orders in keeping up with a demand that shifts erratically. The second topic that arises from the case is the vital aspect that is inventory management as a policy variable. Southern Toro is a distributorship and thus its profitability is heavily reliant on inventory management. In the event that Joe Jr. does assume control of the distributorship, a financial analysis of the company would become imperative. The exhibit TN-1 provides some of the common financial ratios for the fiscal years from 2007-2009 (Schroeder, Goldstein & Rungtunasatham, 2010). The ratios indicate that the distributorship has been increasing its net worth steadily over the years; however, the return on its invested capital has been low. The distributorship’s projected future financial outlook is also alarming. The exhibit TN-1 reveals that Toro is highly leveraged and a sharp increase occurred in 2009 (Schroeder, Goldstein & Rungtunasatham, 2010). This implies that any future financing will come at increased cost. The distributorship’s liquidity is also decreasing, which further implies that Toro would become forced to look for additional financing unless other steps become undertaken. The inventory turnover also indicates that the distributorship’s activity is also decreasing. The exhibit also reveals the distributorship’s Return on Assets- ROA is not high and has been declining steadily over the years. The ROA can become improved with better management (Jones & George, 2007). However, it may probably never hit the extreme highs.  It is upon Joe Jr. to decide if or not the ROA can be enough to satisfy his ambitions.  

Recruiting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Recruiting - Essay Example These three criteria are pivotal in the selection process. Wal-Mart is the leading public corporation and one of the largest retailers worldwide. The pivotal vision of the company which made then a successful retail company in the world is solely due to striving for excellence, satisfying the needs of customers and effective selection process. The mission of the company is to provide quality product to the customers at lower price. Tesco is another one of the largest retail company in the world. The core business activities of the company are to provide effective service, quality products and enhanced value to its customers. A first criterion is job analysis. Job analysis is the process of determining the number of force required and task to be performed. This tool enables to identify the skill, abilities and knowledge require at every job of a company. Wal-Mart require skilled and talented workforce. Job description is part of job analysis. Wal-Mart provides job description to the employees before the start of a formal job. Line manager, s upervisor and other managers guides employees during the process of training. Physical function of a job can notified with the help of job analysis. This resembles the fact that it is quite problematic to eliminate the hazards and ergonomic injury due to unavailability of job analysis. The process of job analysis enables to conduction selection and recruitment of employees. It can also help to manage compensation and performance appraisal. Validation process is another criterion. The evidence which is acquired after work behavior and score on job analysis is evaluated. This process is implemented by organization like Wal-Mart and Tesco to evaluate the selection procedure. The process of validation can also be executed in the existing job description for updating. Third criterion is to establish measure for job

The Stanford Prison Experiment Essay Example for Free

The Stanford Prison Experiment Essay In August of 1971, Phillip Zimbardo constructed a mock correctional facility. Placing an ad in a local newspaper, and with over 70 responses, he conducted interviews with 70 male candidates across the U. S. and out of those 70 candidates 24 of them were sorted out through mental diseases, drug abuse, and psychological issues. With a pay of $15/a day, he divided the candidates, 9 guards and 9 prisoners. He constructed the basement floor at Stanford into a correctional facility taking the doors off hinges and replacing them with steel door with bars and cell numbers. Each prisoner was stripped and searched and sprayed, the same way as if they were going to a real prison. Each prisoner was given robes to wear with their own prisoner number on the back and on the front, and they could only go by prisoner numbers not by name. They also were given rubber slippers and chains wrapped around their ankles and hair nets as opposed to shaving their heads. There were three cells will three cots each, enough for the 9 prisoners. Each 8 hour shift had three guards each and even some on call for back up. The first day went well with no incident, the second day however the prisoners began to riot by taking off their hairnets, pulling off their numbers off their robes. Being outrages and infuriated the guards went into each cell stripped the prisoners, took their cots, and sprayed them with the fire extinguisher. The ringleader of the riot was put into solitary confinement by the guards. After only 36 hours, one prisoner #8612 then began to act crazy, to scream, to curse, to go into a rage that seemed out of control. It took quite a while before they became convinced that he was really suffering and that they had to release him. Guards forced the prisoners to repeat their assigned numbers in order to reinforce the idea that this was their new identity. Guards soon used these prisoner counts to harass the prisoners, using physical punishment such as protracted exercise for errors in the prisoner count. Sanitary conditions declined rapidly, exacerbated by the guards refusal to allow some prisoners to urinate or defecate anywhere but in a bucket placed in their cell. As punishment, the guards would not let the prisoners empty the sanitation bucket. Mattresses were a valued item in the prison, so the guards would punish prisoners by removing their mattresses, leaving them to sleep on concrete. Some prisoners were forced to be naked as a method of degradation. Several guards became increasingly cruel as the experiment continued; experimenters reported that approximately one-third of the guards exhibited genuine sadistic tendencies. Most of the guards were upset when the experiment ended after only 6 days. The experiment ended when Zimbardo’s girlfriend, Christina Masalach, a graduate student there to conduct interviews, saw how bad the prisoners were being treated and how the conditions were. It was also said that some prisoners had experienced more abuse during the middle of the night as well as pornographic abuse from the guards. So, therefore the 2 week experiment ended in only 6 days.

The Role Of The Probation Officer Criminology Essay

The Role Of The Probation Officer Criminology Essay Probation started in 1841 with John Augustus with supervising offenders (Purkiss, 2003). These offenders were either on temporary suspension or postponing of a sentence. Purkiss also states that Augustus helped the offenders getting homes, finding employment, and family difficulties if any. Augustus helped the offender with anything they needed to get their normal life back on track. In 1880 probation when statewide in Massachusetts, and the following years it expanded over several states, the juvenile system, and the federal government. By 1956, every state had applied probation. Severe criticism hit probation around the early 1970s about the rehabilitation model of criminal justice. The criticism resulted in the get tough response to the crime that embraced retribution, deterrence, and incapacitation, as the proper goals of corrections (Purkiss, 2003). Purkiss also stated that in the 1990s, Benekos detected as part of the get tough, community corrections was created in return from the get tough response and the community protection and the offender control became the primary goal. With overcrowding prison becoming a problem, probation has taken a bigger leap. The prisons being overcrowded there was only solution for rehabilitation that seemed to work. So probation helped the offenders get out and do their community service while being supervised and still protecting the community at the same time. They learned how to give back without everyone looking at them in a bad way. In result from all of this made an overcrowded population of offenders on probation which in turn made a very heavy workload for the probation officers. So the probation officers have to work harder and longer to make sure their jobs are done right and to make sure everything is alright while they have the offenders out. According to Purkiss (2003) regular probation is seen as meaningless and ineffective to some researchers, policymakers, and to the public. I think this is because the researchers, policymakers, and the public think the offender got off the hook for the crime they committed. The actual punishment is not hard enough for some and some think that the punishment should be harder than community service. It takes a lot to be a probation officer, and there is a lot that you have to handle during your time at the job. The qualities you need to have to be a good probationer officer are the following: communication skills, critical-thinking skills, decision-making skills, emotional stability, organizational skills, and writing skills (Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2012-2013). These skills are essential for the role as a probation officer in any state in the United States of America. In order to become a probation officer you have to have some education beyond the typical high school diploma. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics a bachelors degree in social work, criminal justice, psychology, or a related field. Some employers want a masters degree in a related field for people who do not have former work experience. The median annual wage of probation officers and correctional treatment specialists was $47,200 in May 2010. The median wage is the wage at which half of the workers in an occupation earned more than that amount and half earned less. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $30,920, and the top 10 percent earned more than $80,750 (Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2012-2013). The typical job of a probation officer is overseeing the offender and making sure the offender is not a danger to the neighborhood and to ensure the rehabilitation of the offender. Probation officers and correctional treatment specialists typically do the following: evaluate offenders to determine the best course of treatment, provide offenders with resources to aid in rehabilitation, discuss treatment options with offenders, arrange treatment programs, supervise offenders and monitor their progress, conduct meetings with offenders as well as their family and friends, write reports on the progress of offenders (Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2012-2013). According to Occupational Outlook Handbook (2012-2013) most of the probation officers work full time, and the schedule can be a little hectic. The craziness of the job requires a lot of strength from the probation officer and requires more out of the officer than the typical 40 hours a week. There are a lot of things as a probation of ficer you do, as you have to do home and employment checks, and property searches. There are also a lot of things that might frustrate a probation officer so being emotional stable is a must. The officer has to deal with the offender if the offender violates the terms of the release. Even though there is a high stress level associated with this career there is some moments that are rewarding experience for the probation officer making it worthwhile. Probation also helps the offender learn who he/she is and supports them get their old life back and make it better. This is rehabilitation at its best if it works. Probation has often been called the prison without walls. This is a bad description, for probation and the prison stand in violent contrast at almost every point. This contrast indicates some of the reasons why I believe that the former is the more effective way of turning offenders from crime. In prison, the offender is place in an abnormal situation which by its very nature is destructive of moral and very often of character. Probation leaves him in a normal situation and surrounds him with influences calculated to improve his morale and strengthen his character. The prison takes away from his the necessity of thinking, of deciding for himself, of facing economic problems. Probation makes him stand on his own feet and requires him to face daily the usual problems of the work-a-day world. The prison, with rare exceptions, subjects him to mass treatment. Probation treats him as an individual. The prison shuts out the free community and places a high wall between its inmates and socie ty. Probation seeks to break down every wall between the offender and the rest of the society and brings to bear on him all the available social resources of the community. (MacCormik, 1935, p.400 Â ¶ 4) Probation handles almost every crime that is committed. Mostly probation is for first-time offenders who the judge presiding over that case feels that the offender could be rehabilitated. Two crimes that I found to be to my interest are the drug and alcohol abusers and the sex offenders. Many offenders who end up with probation instead of prison time are usually drug and alcohol abusers. The substance abusers are one of the most common of the offenders on probation, and these offenders tend to be not first time offenders. There has been recognized links to connecting criminal activity and drugs and alcohol together (Cunningham, A. J., Herie, M., Martin, G., Turner, J.B., 1998). With the connection being made between criminal activity and drugs and alcohol this has been an issue of concern for criminal justice. Treatment facilities have been shown to work and criminal justice needs to establish of an enlargement of addiction services to allow for the treatment of offenders with a history of substance abuse concerns. According to Cunningham, A.J. (1998, p.169) a field test study was designed to evaluate the appropriateness and utility of an outpatient, addiction intervention for probation and parole officers in Ontario, Canada. The treatment level was for people with a moderate to severe addiction. If these were more readily available to the offenders, I think the crime rate would come down. This program, the meetings were regularly scheduled, every two to three months. The meetings were documented to k eep track of their progress and to let others know how it was working. The outcome was that almost every single person that went to the meeting said they would refer this to a friend and be willing to come to every single meeting. The drug and alcohol problem is worldwide. Law enforcement and the criminal justice system as a whole has tried everything they can think of to enforce the consumption of excessive amounts, but nothing is working. Maybe if we combat it in the lower level directly it would not be so bad. The second crime I want to talk about that probably is not that well known that probation handles is sex offenders. Most of the public think that when the sex offender is caught that he is sent to prison, but this is not necessarily true only a fraction of those who commit sexual assault are apprehended and convicted for their crimes; most convicted sex offender eventually are released to the community under probation or parole supervision (Baerga-Buffler, M., Johnson, J. L., 2006, p.13). These offenders need the intensive supervision to keep the neighborhoods they live in safe. These officers need to have an extensive knowledge about sex offender characteristics and types (Baerga-Buffler, M., Johnson, J. L., 2006, p.13). This crime practically involves your entire time as a probationer officer. The officer has to know each sex offender as well. The officer has to know the patterns of the victim selection and the interest of the offender; this allows the officer to be able to view th e risk that is right in front of them. According to Baerga-Buffler, M., and Johnson, J.L. (2006) the key to being a good probation officer for sex offenders is the specialized training. Training is the most important concept that these officers could have. They have to know what to look for when they are watching them or when they check in on them. If they do not have the training that is required something could go very wrong and the offender could commit the crime again. These offenders have to be properly trained and qualified to be able to be a probation officer for a sex offender. To be a probation officer you have to be very prepared, education wise and emotionally, for what you are getting into. I think school gets you somewhat prepared, but nothing like being in the real world will prepare you enough. When I decided to become a probation officer, I just thought I would be handling this druggie kid or adult or the alcoholic. Never in my mind was I thinking a sex offender and I think most of the public does not think of that either. Probation officers do more than we think they do. I think the rational choice theory would be a good choice for a theory to choose for this agency to combat the crimes. I think the rational choice theory because in probation the offender has to follow a set of rules and if they do not they violate their terms and they will most likely be sent to prison. They have to make the choices to be good and not to violate the terms so they can stay on probation this is why I think the rational choice theory is a good pair for probation.