Teaching Staffs In American Elementary Schools Assignment

Teaching Staffs In American Elementary Schools - Assignment Example According to Schultz & Schultz (2010) and Leithwood, Alma & Hopkins (2008), there have been dismal performances in many schools because of lack of motivation of teachers. Although it is a common knowledge that elementary school marks the foundation of education, it has not been given the attention it rightfully deserves. Similar sentiments are emphasized by Pierce, et al. (2003) who acknowledges that elementary school teachers feel demoralized. This may be a right observation because it is what the research will be focusing on. More studies will be conducted to find out if indeed a demoralized teacher does not deliver as expected. It is in line with the research problem that needs to be resolved by the studies.How to Motivate Elementary School TeachersAs Moos (2008) exclaims, a motivated teacher is more productive than the one who is not. Meaning, performance is directly proportional to the level of motivation one attains. Since education is a very wide sector, Dunham (2001) says tha t the teachers should be motivated through the use of monetary and non-monetary rewards. In his opinion, these include salary increment, promotions, proper job design, participation and recognition of hard working teachers who display a high level of professionalism and commitments in their duties. However, Gomez-Mejia, Luis; David, Balkin and Robert L. Cardy (2008) hold a contrary view because he urges in favor of the provision of a conducive working environment as the best way of boosting teachers’ morale.

Online Shopping Essay Example for Free

Online Shopping Essay Online shopping or online retailing is a form of electronic commerce allowing consumers to directly buy goods or services from a seller over the Internet without an intermediary service. An online shop, e-shop, e-store, Internet shop, web-shop, web-store, online store, or virtual store evokes the physical analogy of buying products or services at a bricks-and-mortar retailer or shopping center. The process is called business-to-consumer (B2C) online shopping. When a business buys from another business it is called business-to-business (B2B) online shopping. The largest online retailing corporations are E-Bay and Amazon.com, both of which are based in the US. History In 1990, Tim Berners-Lee created the first World Wide Web server and browser.[1] It opened for commercial use in 1991. In 1994, other advances took place, such as online banking and the opening of an online pizza shop by Pizza Hut.[1] During that same year, Netscape introduced SSL encryption of data transferred online, which has become essential for secure online shopping. Also in 1994, the German company Intershop introduced its first online shopping system. In 1995, Amazon.com launched its online shopping site, and in 1996 eBay appeared. Customers Online customers must have access to a computer and a method of payment. Generally, higher levels of education, income, and occupation of the head of the household correspond to more favorable perceptions of shopping online. Also, increased exposure to technology increases the probability of developing favorable attitudes towards new shopping channels.[2] In a December 2011 study, Equation Research found that 87% of tablet users made an online transaction with their tablet device during the early holiday shopping season. Logistics Consumers find a product of interest by visiting the website of the retailer directly or by searching among alternative vendors using a shopping search engine. Once a particular product has been found on the website of the seller, most online retailers use shopping cart software to allow the consumer to accumulate multiple items and to adjust quantities, like filling a physical shopping cart or basket in a conventional store. A checkout process follows (continuing the physical-store analogy) in which payment and delivery information is collected, if necessary. Some stores allow consumers to sign up for a permanent online account so that some or all of this information only needs to be entered once. The consumer often receives an e-mail confirmation once the transaction is complete. Less sophisticated stores may rely on consumers to phone or e-mail their orders (though credit card numbers are not accepted by e-mail, for security reasons). Payment Online shoppers commonly use a credit card to make payments. However, some systems enable users to create accounts and pay by alternative means, such as: * Billing to mobile phones and landlines[4][5] * Cash on delivery (C.O.D., offered by very few online stores) * Cheque/ Check * Debit card * Direct debit in some countries * Electronic money of various types * Gift cards * Postal money order * Wire transfer/delivery on payment * Invoice, especially popular in some markets/countries, such as Switzerland Some sites will not accept international credit cards. Some require both the purchasers billing address and shipping address to be in the same country in which the site does its business. Other sites allow customers from any country to send gifts anywhere. The financial part of a transaction might be processed in real time (for example, letting the consumer know their credit card was declined before they log off), or might be done later as part of the fulfillment process. Product delivery Once a payment has been accepted the goods or services can be delivered in the following ways. * Downloading: This is the method often used for digital media products such as software, music, movies, or images. * Drop shipping: The order is passed to the manufacturer or third-party distributor, who ships the item directly to the consumer, bypassing the retailers physical location to save time, money, and space. * In-store pick-up: The customer orders online, finds a local store using locator software and picks the product up at the closest store. This is the method often used in the bricks and clicks business model. * Printing out, provision of a code for, or emailing of such items as admission tickets and scrip (e.g., gift certificates and coupons). The tickets, codes, or coupons may be redeemed at the appropriate physical or online premises and their content reviewed to verify their eligility (e.g., assurances that the right of admission or use is redeemed at the correct time and place, for the correct dollar amount, and for the correct number of uses). * Shipping: The product is shipped to the customers address or that of a customer-designated third party. * Will call, lCOBO (in Care Of Box Office), or at the door pickup: The patron picks up pre-purchased tickets for an event, such as a play, sporting event, or concert, either just before the event or in advance. With the onset of the Internet and e-commerce sites, which allow customers to buy tickets online, the popularity of this service has increased. Shopping cart systems * Simple systems allow the offline administration of products and categories. The shop is then generated as HTML files and graphics that can be uploaded to a webspace.the systems do not use an online database. * A high end solution can be bought or rented as a stand-alone program or as an addition to an enterprise resource planning program. It is usually installed on the companys own webserver and may integrate into the existing supply chain so that ordering, payment, delivery, accounting and warehousing can be automated to a large extent. * Other solutions allow the user to  register and create an online shop on a portal that hosts multiple shops at the same time. * Open source shopping cart packages include advanced platforms such as Interchange, and off the shelf solutions as Avactis, osCommerce, Shopify, Magento, Zen Cart, VirtueMart, Batavi, PrestaShop, E-Junkie, Clickbank, Fetch, DPD, Pulley, BitBuffet, Dbox, PayLoadz, FastSpring, Cerizmo, Digital Content Center, byteCommerce, PHPurchase.[6] * Commercial systems such as BigCommerce can also be tailored to ones needs so the shop does not have to be created from scratch. By using a pre-existing framework, software modules for various functionalities required by a web shop can be adapted and combined. Online shopping Like many online auction websites, many websites allow small businesses to create and maintain online shops (ecommerce online shopping carts), without the complexity that involved in purchasing and developing an expensive stand-alone ecommerce software solutions. Design Customers are attracted to online shopping not only because of the high level of convenience, but also because of the broader selection, competitive pricing, and greater access to information.[7][8] Business organizations seek to offer online shopping because it is much lower cost compared to bricks and mortar stores, offers access to a world wide market, increases customer value and builds sustainable capabilities.[clarification needed] Information load Designers of online shops are concerned with the effects of information load whether consumers can be given too much information in virtual shopping environments. Information load is a product of the spatial and temporal arrangements of stimuli in the webstore.[10] Compared with conventional retail shopping, the information environment of virtual shopping is enhanced by providing additional product information such as comparative products and services as well as various alternatives and attributes of each alternative, etc.[11] Two major dimensions of information load are complexity and novelty.[12] Complexity refers to the number of different elements or features of a site, often the result of increased information diversity. Novelty involves the unexpected, suppressed, new, or unfamiliar aspects of the site. The novelty dimension may keep consumers exploring a shopping site, whereas the complexity dimension may induce impulse purchases. Consumer needs and expectations A successful webstore is not just a good looking website with dynamic technical features, listed in many search engines.[13] In addition to disseminating information, it is about building relationships and making money. Businesses often attempt to adopt online shopping techniques without understanding them and/or without a sound business model, producing webstores that support the organizations culture and brand name without satisfying consumers expectations. User-centered design is critical. Understanding the customers wants and needs and living up to promises gives the customer a reason to come back and meeting their expectations gives them a reason to stay. It is important that the website communicates to the customer that the company cares about them.[13] Customer needs and expectations are not the same for all customers. Age, gender, experience, culture are all important factors. For example, Japanese cultural norms may lead users there to feel privacy is especially critical on shopping sites and emotional involvement is highly important on financial pensions sites.[9] Users with more online experience focus more on the variables that directly influence the task, while novice users focus on understanding the information.[14] To increase online purchases, businesses must expend significant time and money to define, design, develop, test, implement, and maintain the webstore.[13] It is easier to lose a customer than to gain one and even top-rated sites will not succeed if the organization fails to practice common etiquette such as returning e-mails in a timely fashion, notifying  customers of problems, being honest, and being good stewards of the customers data.[13] Because it is important to eliminate mistakes and be more appealing to online shoppers, many webshop designers study research on consumer expectations.[15] User interface An automated online assistant, with potential to enhance user interface on shopping sites. The most important factors determining whether customers return to a site are ease of use and the presence of user-friendly features.[16] Usability testing is important for finding problems and improvements in a web site. Methods for evaluating usability include heuristic evaluation, cognitive walk through, and user testing. Each technique has its own characteristics and emphasizes different aspects of the user experience.[16] Market share E-commerce B2C product sales totaled $142.5 billion,[3] representing about 8% of retail product sales in the United States.[17] The $26 billion worth of clothes sold online represented about 13% of the domestic market,[18] and with 72% of women looking online for apparel, it has become one of the most popular cross-shopping categories.[19] Forrester Research estimates that the United States online retail industry will be worth $279 billion in 2015.[20] There were 242 million people doing online shopping in China in 2012.[21] For developing countries and low-income households in developed countries, adoption of e-commerce in place of or in addition to conventional methods is limited by a lack of affordable Internet access. Advantages Convenience Online stores are usually available 24 hours a day, and many consumers have Internet access both at work and at home. Other establishments such as internet cafes and schools provide access as well. A visit to a conventional retail store requires travel and must take place during business hours. In the event of a problem with the item it is not what the consumer ordered,  or it is not what they expected—consumers are concerned with the ease with which they can return an item for the correct one or for a refund. Consumers may need to contact the retailer, visit the post office and pay return shipping, and then wait for a replacement or refund. Some online companies have more generous return policies to compensate for the traditional advantage of physical stores. For example, the online shoe retailer Zappos.com includes labels for free return shipping, and does not charge a restocking fee, even for returns which are not the result of merchant error. (Note: In the United Kingdom, online shops are prohibited from charging a restocking fee if the consumer cancels their order in accordance with the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Act 2000).[22] Information and reviews Online stores must describe products for sale with text, photos, and multimedia files, whereas in a physical retail store, the actual product and the manufacturers packaging will be available for direct inspection (which might involve a test drive, fitting, or other experimentation). Some online stores provide or link to supplemental product information, such as instructions, safety procedures, demonstrations, or manufacturer specifications. Some provide background information, advice, or how-to guides designed to help consumers decide which product to buy. Some stores even allow customers to comment or rate their items. There are also dedicated review sites that host user reviews for different products. Reviews and now blogs gives customers the option of shopping cheaper organise purchases from all over the world without having to depend on local retailers. In a conventional retail store, clerks are generally available to answer questions. Some online stores have real-time chat features, but most rely on e-mail or phone calls to handle customer questions. Price and selection One advantage of shopping online is being able to quickly seek out deals for items or services with many different vendors (though some local search engines do exist to help consumers locate products for sale in nearby  stores). Search engines, online price comparison services and discovery shopping engines can be used to look up sellers of a particular product or service. Shipping costs (if applicable) reduce the price advantage of online merchandise, though depending on the jurisdiction, a lack of sales tax may compensate for this. Shipping a small number of items, especially from another country, is much more expensive than making the larger shipments bricks-and-mortar retailers order. Some retailers (especially those selling small, high-value items like electronics) offer free shipping on sufficiently large orders. Another major advantage for retailers is the ability to rapidly switch suppliers and vendors without disrupting users shopping experience.. Disadvantages Fraud and security concerns Given the lack of ability to inspect merchandise before purchase, consumers are at higher risk of fraud on the part of the merchant than in a physical store. Merchants also risk fraudulent purchases using stolen credit cards or fraudulent repudiation of the online purchase. With a warehouse instead of a retail storefront, merchants face less risk from physical theft. Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption has generally solved the problem of credit card numbers being intercepted in transit between the consumer and the merchant. However, one must still trust the merchant (and employees) not to use the credit card information subsequently for their own purchases, and not to pass the information to others. Identity theft is still a concern for consumers when hackers break into a merchants web site and steal names, addresses and credit card numbers. A number of high-profile break-ins in the 2000s has prompted some U.S. states to require disclosure to consumers when this happens. Computer security has thus become a major concern for merchants and e-commerce service providers, who deploy countermeasures such as firewalls and anti-virus software to protect their networks. Phishing is another danger, where consumers are fooled into thinking they are dealing with a reputable retailer, when they have actually been manipulated into feeding private information to a system operated by a malicious party. Denial of service attacks are a minor risk for merchants, as are server and network outages. Quality seals can be placed on the Shop web page if it has undergone an independent assessment and meets all requirements of the company issuing the seal. The purpose of these seals is to increase the confidence of the online shoppers; the existence of many different seals, or seals unfamiliar to consumers, may foil this effort to a certain extent. A number of resources offer advice on how consumers can protect themselves when using online retailer services. These include: * Sticking with known stores, or attempting to find independent consumer reviews of their experiences; also ensuring that there is comprehensive contact information on the website before using the service, and noting if the retailer has enrolled in industry oversight programs such as trust mark or trust seal. * Before buying from a new company, evaluate the website by considering issues such as: the professionalism and user-friendliness of the site; whether or not the company lists a telephone number and/or street address along with e-contact information; whether a fair and reasonable refund and return policy is clearly stated; and whether there are hidden price inflators, such as excessive shipping and handling charges. * Ensuring that the retailer has an acceptable privacy policy posted. For example note if the retailer does not explicitly state that it will not share private information with others without consent. * Ensuring that the vendor address is protected with SSL (see above) when entering credit card information. If it does the address on the credit card information entry screen will start with HTTPS. * Using strong passwords, without personal information. Another option is a pass phrase, which might be something along the lines: I shop 4 good a buy!! These are difficult to hack, and provides a variety of upper, lower, and special characters and could be site specific and easy to remember. Although the benefits of online shopping are considerable, when the process goes poorly it can create a thorny situation. A few problems that shoppers potentially face include identity theft, faulty products, and the accumulation of spyware. Whenever you purchase a product, you are going to be required to put in your credit card information and billing/shipping address. If the website is not secure a customers information can be accessible to anyone who knows how to obtain it. Most large online corporations are inventing new ways to make fraud more difficult, however, the criminals are constantly responding to these developments with new ways to manipulate the system. Even though these efforts are making it easier to protect yourself online, it is a constant fight to maintain the lead. It is advisable to be aware of the most current technology and scams out there to fully protect yourself and your finances.[20]. One of the hardest areas to deal with in online shopping is the delivery of the products. Most companies offer shipping insurance in case the product is lost or damaged; however, if the buyer opts not to purchase insurance on their products, they are generally out of luck. Some shipping companies will offer refunds or compensation for the damage, but it is up to their discretion if this will happen. It is important to realize that once the product leaves the hands of the seller, they have no responsibility (provided the product is what the buyer ordered and is in the specified condition). Lack of full cost disclosure The lack of full disclosure with regards to the total cost of purchase is one of the concerns of online shopping. While it may be easy to compare the base price of an item online, it may not be easy to see the total cost up front as additional fees such as shipping are often not be visible until the final step in the checkout process. The problem is especially evident with cross-border purchases, where the cost indicated at the final checkout screen may not include additional fees that must be paid upon delivery such as duties and brokerage. Some services such as the Canadian based Wishabi attempts to include estimates of these additional cost,[23] but nevertheless, the lack of general full cost disclosure remains a concern. Privacy Privacy of personal information is a significant issue for some consumers. Different legal jurisdictions have different laws concerning consumer privacy, and different levels of enforcement. Many consumers wish to avoid spam and telemarketing which could result from supplying contact information to an online merchant. In response, many merchants promise not to use consumer information for these purposes, or provide a mechanism to opt-out of such contacts. Many websites keep track of consumers shopping habits in order to suggest items and other websites to view. Brick-and-mortar stores also collect consumer information. Some ask for address and phone number at checkout, though consumers may refuse to provide it. Many larger stores use the address information encoded on consumers credit cards (often without their knowledge) to add them to a catalog mailing list. This information is obviously not accessible to the merchant when paying in cash. Hands-on inspection Typically, only simple pictures and or descriptions of the item are all a customer can rely on when shopping on online stores. If the customer does not have prior exposure to the items handling qualities, they will not have a full understanding of the item they are buying. However, Written and Video Reviews are readily available from consumers who have purchased similar items in the past. These can be helpful for prospective customers, but these reviews can be sometimes subjective and based on personal preferences that may not reflect end-user satisfaction once the item has been received. Because of this, many consumers have begun going to real-world stores to view a product, before purchasing online, a practice known as showrooming[24] (using the store as a showroom for the online merchant). Brick-and-mortar merchants have responded with various countermeasures. For example, Target has requested distributors give them equally low prices, or alternatively, exclusive products available at their store only.[24] Product suitability This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help  improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2012) Many successful purely virtual companies deal with digital products, (including information storage, retrieval, and modification), music, movies, office supplies, education, communication, software, photography, and financial transactions. Other successful marketers use drop shipping or affiliate marketing techniques to facilitate transactions of tangible goods without maintaining real inventory. Some non-digital products have been more successful than others for online stores. Profitable items often have a high value-to-weight ratio, they may involve embarrassing purchases, they may typically go to people in remote locations, and they may have shut-ins as their typical purchasers. Items which can fit in a standard mailbox—such as music CDs, DVDs and books—are particularly suitable for a virtual marketer. Products such as spare parts, both for consumer items like washing machines and for industrial equipment like centrifugal pumps, also seem good candidates for selling online. Retailers often need to order spare parts specially, since they typically do not stock them at consumer outlets—in such cases, e-commerce solutions in spares do not compete with retail stores, only with other ordering systems. A factor for success in this niche can consist of providing customers with exact, reliable information about which part number their particular version of a product needs, for example by providing parts lists keyed by serial number. Products less suitable for e-commerce include products that have a low value-to-weight ratio, products that have a smell, taste, or touch component, products that need trial fittings—most notably clothing—and products where colour integrity appears important. Nonetheless, some web sites have had success delivering groceries and clothing sold through the internet is big business in the U.S. Aggregation High-volume websites, such as Yahoo!, Amazon.com and eBay, offer hosting  services for online stores to all size retailers. These stores are presented within an integrated navigation framework. Collections of online stores are sometimes known as virtual shopping malls or online marketplaces. Impact of reviews on consumer behaviour One of the great benefits of online shopping is the ability to read others reviews, which could be from experts or simply fellow shoppers on one product and service. The Nielsen Company conducted a survey in March 2010 and polled more than 27,000 Internet users in 55 markets from the Asia-Pacific, Europe, Middle East, North America and South America to look at questions such as How do consumers shop online?, What do they intend to buy?, How do they use various online shopping web pages?, and the impact of social media and other factors that come into play when consumers are trying to decide how to spend their money on which product or service. According to that research,[25] reviews on electronics (57%) such as DVD players, cell phones or PlayStations and so on, reviews on cars (45%), and reviews on software (37%) play an important role and have influence on consumers who tend to make purchases and buy online. In addition to online reviews, peer recommendations on the online shopping pages or social media play a key role[26] for online shoppers while researching future purchases of electronics, cars and travel or concert bookings.[27] On the other hand, according to the same research,[25] 40% of online shoppers indicate that they would not even buy electronics without consulting online reviews first.

Strategies for Entering Foreign Markets

Strategies for Entering Foreign Markets Introduction In todays business world, globalization has a great impact on management decisions, processes and the culture of an organization. The most important external driving forces of an increasing internationalization are the openness to new markets due to liberalization and deregulation, further developments in technologies and logistics, as well as shorter product life cycles, and a homogenous consumer behavior whereas internally the strategic-focused attitude of companies represents an essential factor.  [1]  More and more companies do not only want to stay in a single market but aim to expand into foreign markets as well. Before entering a foreign market, a company has to decide not only on an appropriate entry strategy but also should consider the main steps of the market entry framework presented in the upcoming chapter. The following assignment provides a profound analysis of market entry strategies in the context of international marketing management. First of all, reasons to go international will be presented followed by a market entry framework in chapter 3. Further on, different methods of entry will be discussed stating advantages and disadvantages as well as giving examples of firms which successfully have implemented these strategies. In chapter 5, different timing strategy approaches will be introduced. Finally, a conclusion will be drawn from the preceding findings. Reasons for entering foreign markets There are a variety of reasons why companies decide to go abroad and expand their business operations. Organizations mainly engage in international businesses in order to establish competitive advantages and efficiently adapt to the ever-changing business environment. However, it is rarely the case that firms are just driven by one single factor. In the context of international marketing, proactive and reactive reasons or motivations can be differentiated. While proactive factors are stimulated by internal strategic change, reactive reasons result from environmental shifts.  [2]  Proactive reasons include growth in terms of revenue, sales and customer base, cost savings due to economies of scale or low-cost manufacturing, and reduction of dependency on a single national market as well as alternative sources of labor. Reasons which rather force the firms to expand to foreign countries and markets are described as reactive ones. For instance, domestic markets could be already satur ated or emerging competitors prevent firms from further increase its market shares and therefore, stay competitive.  [3]   Even though most companies highly profit from operating internationally, they are often faced with incalculable risks and challenges. Possible risks are primarily based on a lack of information regarding consumer preferences, unfamiliar business procedures and regulations, as well as human resources management.  [4]   Market Entry Framework A market entry strategy framework serves as a helpful management tool for firms aiming to enter a foreign market. It is highly recommended that companies follow these guidelines to better understand the process of internalization and to specify appropriate action steps for a firm. Generally speaking, the organization has to decide on the following questions: 1) What products or services should be offered abroad? 2) Where (countries, regions) should the market entry take place? 3) What entry strategy should be used to enter the foreign market? 4) How should be operated in the foreign market in terms of marketing programs?  [5]  As it is shown in the figure below, a conceptual framework consists of four main steps. After the decision has been made to enter a new market, a profound market assessment should be conducted. Regarding step 1, the company has to analyze its own resources and capabilities. A SWOT-analysis can help identifying the firms internal and external environment. An other key aspect is to evaluate legal and regulatory considerations as well as existing competitors and to deal with possible political risks and uncertainty. Due to different customer tastes and preferences in other countries and regions potential target groups have to be interviewed and analyzed in order to customize its products to their specific needs and wants. In step 2, the business environment should be closer examined, looking for business partnerships, testing market attractiveness and performing financial and entry barrier analyses to prevent early failure. Not until step 3 an entry mode is selected and implemented and further negotiations with business partners will be continued.  [6]  Critical factor is the entry strategy configuration, defined as the process of deciding on the best possible entry strategy mix.  [7]  Step 4 finally repre-sents the actual operation phase in which strategy and performances are aligned. This means satisfying the international clienteles needs by providing them with the desired products and services and setting adequate prices while remaining competitive. Ultimately, the company has to ensure that performance targets and strategic objectives will be accomplished as planned. Market Entry Strategies In the following the different market entry strategies will be described and advantages and disadvantages will be shown. Exporting Most companies operate within their country; however when they de ­cide to enter foreign territory most of the companies use export as their first approach to go international. Exporting means producing goods in one country and selling them in another country.  [8]  Some companies operate only in one niche market and are successful; however in most cases companies become successful by increasing brand awareness and business stability by entering new markets. Exchanging goods across boarders has grown to be a lot easier throughout the years and therefore exporting has become the simplest and most straightforward way to meet the need of a foreign country. However, when a company chooses exporting as their strategy there are several factors that have to be considered when determining whether to use a direct or indirect strategy. Such factors can be the size of the company, what product the company is going to sell, previous export experience and expertise and business conditi ons in the market the company wants to enter. Companies which have no experience in exporting can reach their foreign customers through intermediaries. This approach is called indirect exporting and is often used by first-time exporters.  [9]  Indirect exporting is when a firms sells its domestically produced goods in a foreign country through an intermediary.  [10]  Intermediaries also called middlemen is usually a firm or person that acts as a link between parties to a business deal. Using indirect exporting belongs to the least risky methods. Companies using this method have the smallest amount of commitment; however on the other hand receive the least profit. Direct exporting is one approach used by companies. A company usually handles its exports on their own and sells its products or services directly to the customers. This method gives the company much more control over their activities. It allows them to start at lower prices, be more competitive on the market as wel l as keep closer contact with clients. Also, using direct exporting gives the company higher returns in investments. The Boeing Company was very successful using this method and is now, not only the worlds largest aerospace company but the number one exporter in the US. On the other hand, the pitfalls for direct exporting are that, it is a lot more risky and they have to invest a lot more time to become familiar with the market.  [11]   Licensing Licensing is another common approach of global marketing. Many companies use this method by offering the right to a trademark, patent, trade secret or other similar valued item of intellectual property in return for a royalty or a fee.  [12]  One example is the company Marvel Entertainment Inc. Marvel has mad millions of dollars in licensing with their superheroes and intellectual property. Marvel has licensing agreements with the film industry, toy industry, computer game industry and many other areas. Spiderman, Hulk and many other characters are famous around the world and can be seen and played with.  [13]  Other specialized forms of licensing are contract manufacturing, management contracting and franchising.  [14]   Contract manufacturing is some sort of outsourcing. A German company for example contracts with the foreign company to produce the products they want to sell in the new market. While the contract manufacturer produces the products, the German company puts the companys brand name on the goods. In the computer and electronic field contract manufacturing is used a lot by companies such as IBM and Dell. Dell and IBM let their products produce by Taiwanese companies. The advantages for using this method are that the capital investment is relatively low; however on the other hand the company will not have full control.  [15]   Management contracting is similar to manufacturing contracting, just that the domestic company is not producing the products in a foreign country, but transfer parts of their management personnel to assist a foreign company for a definite time for a fee.  [16]  Management contracts are especially used in the hotel business. The Marriot or Carnival Hotels and Resorts use this method to enter new foreign markets. This method is also very popular in Asia and many developing countries which need the expertise from professional management. An advantage of managements contracting is the minimum risk for the company, due to low equity investment. Major disadvantages are that the company has to give up a big amount of control as well as flexibility.  [17]   McDonalds, Burger King, Starbucks all have one thing in common; they are world wide companies which use the franchise method in order to be serve people internationally. Franchising is a specialization of licensing and both are the most common used method by small and medium size companies. In a franchising agreement, the franchisor sells limited rights to use its brand name in return for a lump sum and share of the franchisees future profits.  [18]  The franchiser assists the franchisee on a continuing basis, through sale, promotion and training.  [19]  The advantages of franchising are that it is less risky and less costly. Franchising is the fast growing method for a market entry a firm whishing to expand globally. On the contrary, the franchisee has to be careful to make all the adjustments necessary. Issues concerning the transferability of products, brands and services should be considered. McDonalds for example had to make adoptions when entering the Indian market beca use of the different culture and lifestyle.  [20]   Joint Venture Joint venture occurs when an international company enters in to an agreement with a local partner to develop a new entity and assets for a finite time by contributing equity.  [21]  A Joint venture may be classified as majority, minority, or fifty-fifty ventures in regard to the equity share of the international company and may be started from the scratch or by the foreign partners acquisition of a partial ownership interests in an existing local company. In most cases, firms choose joint ventures over sole ventures as a result of the restrictive regulatory measures towards sole venture of the foreign investors by the host governments. In the other hand, a Joint venture can also bring positive benefits to the foreign partner through their local partners, because local partners have better knowledge of the host countrys environment and business practices as well as personal contacts with local suppliers, customers, banks and government officials, management, production and marketi ng skills, local prestige and other resources.  [22]  These benefits are the reason why most firms insist on joint venture in some countries like Japan even when a sole venture is open to them. The advantages of Joint ventures are 1) risk diversification and allocation of risks between the partners 2) sharing of resources 3) can be a means of reducing political and other investment risks 4) access to the distribution network. The disadvantages are 1) lack of management control 2) joint ventures negotiations are time consuming, requires a lot of contractual framework and long period of due-diligence3) lack of trust 4) risk of conflict as a result of cultural differences. Direct Investment Direct Investment can be divided into two parts 1) merger and acquision and 2) wholly owned subsidies. These kinds will be explained in the following. Merger and Acquisition: There are two primary mechanisms by which ownership and control of a corporation can change: Either another corporation or group of individuals can acquire the target firm, or the target firm can merge with another firm.  [23]  According to Brealey et al, a merger can be an added value only if the two companies are worth more together than apart.  [24]  There are three classifications of mergers: 1) Horizontal mergers: This is a type of merger where two firms producing similar goods or offering similar services are combined to form an entity. Examples are Vodafones acquisition of Mannesmann and Commerzbanks acquisition of Dresdner Bank. 2) Vertical Merger: is referred to as a combination of two companies in the same industry whose products are required at different stages of the production cycle. The buyers can integrate backwards. An example of forward integration merger is Walt Disneys acquisition of the ABC television network. In which Disney planne d to use ABC network to show recent movies to huge audiences, and an example of backward integration would be Fords acquisition of Rouge Steel Company to reduce risks associated with  the dependency on steel. 3) Conglomerate merger: occurs when companies in unrelated lines of businesses are combined to become an entity. The reason why companies decide to go into this type of merger is to diversify and reduce their exposure to industry specific risks. However, if a conglomerate becomes too large and diverse through acquisitions, the performance of the entire firm can wither. Quellen? Reasons for Mergers Acquisition Economic of scale and scope: Cost efficiency of high volume production are one of the privileges merged firms enjoy, which small firms can only dream about. Larger firms also tends to benefit from economies of scope, which are savings as a result of synergy effect in the marketing and distribution of different types of related products (e.g. computers and printers). Vertical Integration: As a means to improve its products or services, a company might decide to have the direct control of the inputs required to make its products. Similarly, another company might not be contented with the manner at which distribution of it products is conducted, so it might decide to take direct control of the distribution channels by acquiring a major distributive company. Expertise: In order to compete effectively and efficiently, firms often need expertise in particular fields. A more efficient approach may be to acquire the talents as an already functioning unit in an existing firm. Monopoly Gains: Merging with or acquiring a major competitor might enable a firm to reduce competition within the sphere of its operation. There is greater pricing power from reduced competition and higher market share, which could result in higher margin and operating income. Diversification: This is the very beneficial in the issue with conglomerate merger. These benefits are direct risk reduction and liquidity enhancement. Reasons for Merger and Acquisition are 1) to gain cost efficiency through Economic of scale and scope 2) to improve products or services through Vertical Integration 3) to become more competitive because expertise is required acquire talents 4) to get monopolistic advantages and at the same time reduce competitors  [25]  5) with Diversification reduces an investors exposure to firm-specific risk.  [26]   Wholly owned subsidies: Market entry through a wholly owned subsidiary consist of two distinctive strategies: it can be achieved through a Greenfield investment or through an acquisition. Greenfield investment is a form of direct entry mode whereby a parent firm extends its operation in a host country by constructing a new operational base from the scratch. It is remarkable for the complexity and the high cost of its development and implementation. For example, in order to establish successfully in a foreign market, it is expected of a firm to have an extensive knowledge and expertise of the new market, and for this to be possible, a reasonable help from the third parties such as local independent consultants are required, and their services are usually very expensive. The cost of its implementation makes Greenfield investment in a foreign market a very risky mode of market entrance. Acquisition in the other hand offers the fastest means of achieving market power. As explained above, this strategy requires buying a rival firm, distributor, supplier or a firm which is related or entirely unrelated to the acquiring firms industry, in order to gain access to core competencies and achieve a greater competitive advantage.  [27]  The fact that it is easier and more accurate to estimate the outcomes of an investment through an acquisition makes acquisition a less risky alternative in comparison to Greenfield investment. Timing strategies of market entry In this part timing strategies as a different kind of internationalization will be described. Timing strategies could be divided into two categories 1) strategies for market entry in a specific country, called country-specific timing strategies, and 2) strategies for market entry in more countries synchronous, called cross-border timing strategies.  [28]  Some important factors which should be analyzed before a timing-strategy can be chosen are competition in the market, technology, substitute, customer behavior and the market potential as well as market growth. If this is done a company can decide which timing strategy is useful to reach the companys goals.  [29]   Country-specific Timing Strategies A company has to clarify when they want to enter into a new market. Most times the decision for a strategy depends from the strategies of the competitors in the target market.  [30]  Now the first-mover as well as the follower strategy will be described and benefits and risk of each will be identified. First-mover Strategy: Companies those are first into the industry or nation. The advantages of the first-mover are mainly that the firm has a higher awareness level as well as more time for image building in the market. Additionally, the firm gain more and earlier experience which enables them to adapt itself earlier to changing market environmental. Moreover, the firm can recruit educated employees and build up intensive relationships with market entry. Disadvantages are the free-ride-effect, which described early followers who will benefit from the investments of the first-mover. Additionally, the high costs of exploitation of the target market and the high risk of failure.  [3 1]  As an example for a first mover strategy could be named apple. The iPhone, iPad and most of the other products from apple were innovative and the first products in the target industry or nation. Follower Strategy: Companies which follows the first mover or enter the market after it has become established. The advantages of the follower are mainly that the firm can avoid the mistakes of the first mover, have access to reliable information about the market, can profit from the investments of the first-mover hence, cost reduction for example for infrastructure or education of employees. Disadvantages are market entry barriers created by the first-mover, less experiences over the market situation, finding of suppliers and to gain the loyalty of potential customers.  [32]  As an example for followers Microsoft could be named. Microsoft offers a smart phone after the successful iPhone implementation of Apple. Cross-border timing strategies Cross-border timing strategies are the waterfall or sprinkler strategies.  [33]  The Waterfall strategy described a scenario in which a product or a service is gradually moved into the target market while the sprinkler strategy implements a product or service in several countries at the same time.  [34]  Advantages of the Waterfall strategy are that the expansion can take place in a systematic method. Hence resources are needed one-by-one and not at the same time to enter successful all the target market. Furthermore, the life cycle of some technologies or products can be extended and experience can be used for the next market entry. Additionally, it is a relative less risk strategy. Disadvantages of the waterfall strategy could be the long time period implementation. In fast moving markets this strategy might be too slowly.  [35]  Furthermore, the competitors will be warned so that they can build up more market entry barriers for example.  [36]  Examples for the wate rfall strategy are the metro group, which used the experiences of the last market entry when they open a new subsidiary in a new market  [37]  as well as Dell, Benetton and The Body Shop.  [38]  The Sprinkler strategy is has the contrary strengths and disadvantages as the waterfall strategy. Within a short time period the strategy were implemented in lots of target market. The sprinkler strategy generates first-mover advantage. It is a very functional strategy in hyper and time-based competition markets. Disadvantages are the high amount of resources required for entering and the risk of failure because of less knowledge or experiences of the different countries. Examples for the sprinkler approach are Microsoft with its Windows software and Gillette with its Sensor.  [39]   Conclusion In this assignment, the major importance of a well-thought-through selection of a market entry strategy has been shown and different types of entry modes have been presented and further analyzed. Market entry strategies can have a far-reaching impact on an organizations global strategy. Selecting the best entry strategy is a complex decision-making process and involves various considerations. The importance of which aspects should be taken into closer consideration can vary by the strategic goals of a company, by country, and even by industry. Which entry strategy to choose highly depends on various strategic factors like ease of exit, speed of entry, cultural distance, and competitive intensity. Under all conditions, there will be no ideal option. In all cases, methods of market entry should be adjusted to the organizations long-term strategies and goals and should be based on future ambitions as well as on current resources and capabilities. Companies do not only benefit from the advantages, but will also have to cope with disadvantages of a chosen entry strategy. Therefore, compromises often have to be made when going international. Ultimately, todays organizations will ha ve to remain flexible enough to incorporate the high degree of dynamism in an ever-changing business environment. II. Works Cited A: Books Ahlstrom. D./ Bruton, D.G. [International Management]  International Management Strategy and Culture in the  Emerging World, Student Edition, South-Western CENGAGE Learning, Mason 2010  Berk, J. / DeMarzo, P. [Finance]  Corporate Finance, Pearson, Boston, 2006 Berndt, R. / Altobelli, C. F. / Sander, M. [Marketing]  Internationales Marketing-Management, 4. Auflage, Berlin Heidelberg, 2010 Boone, L./ Kurtz, D./ McKenzie, H./ Snow, K. [Contemporary Marketing]  contemporary Marketing, 2nd Canadian Edition,  Nelson Education Ltd., 2010 Brealey, R. A / Myers, S. C. / Allen, F. [Finance]  Principles of Corporate Finance, 8 Ed. McGraw-Hill / Irwin,  New York, 2006 Damodaran, A. [Finance]  Corporate Finance, Theory and Practice, 2nd Edition; Wiley,  New York 2001 Dony, A.G. C. [Marketing]  Market Entry Strategies for consumer Goods Industry in the PR China: An empirical Study on the Beer and Soft Drink Industry. Difo-Druck GmbH, Bamberg, 1998 Hitt, A. [Strategic Management]  Strategic Management Competitiveness and Globalization,  4th Edition, Nelson, New York, 2009 Kerin, R./Hartley, S./Berkowitz, E./Rudelius, W. [Marketing]  Marketing, 8th Edition, McGraw-Hill/Irwin, New York 2006 Kutschker, M./ Schmid, S. [International Management]  International Management, 6. Auflage, Oldenbourg 2008 Meffert H./ Burmann C./ Kirchgeorg M. [Marketing]  Marketing Grundlagen marktorientierter Unternehmensfà ¼hrung,  10 Auflage, Wiesbaden 2008 Paul,J./ Kapoor, R. [International Marketing]  International MarketingText and Cases, Tata McGraw-Hill Pub  lishing, New Dehli, 2008 Peter, P. / Donnelly, J. [Marketing Management]  Marketing Management Knowledge and skills, 5th Edition,  McGraw-Hill Companies, 1998  Root, F. R. [Marketing] Entry Strategies for International Markets, Lexington books,  New York, 1994 Weitz, B. / Wensley R. [Marketing]  Handbook of Marketing, Paperback Edition, London, New Dehli,  Thousand Oaks, 2006 Yu, L. [The International Hospitality Business]  The International Hospitality Business Management and  Operations, Haworth Hospitality Press, New York, 1999 B: Internet / Website Niti, B./ Nemer, B., [Businessweek.com] Brand Magic in India, http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/may2006/id2006 0508_952455.htm, 2006 III. Affidavit This case analysis is the original work of the authors. It has not been presented elsewhere for grading. All sources have been indicated to the best of the writers ability. Ort, Datum Signature: Anja Chan Ort, Datum Signature: Annika Nienaber Ort, Datum Signature: Emmanuel Ofobeze Ort, Datum Signature: Jana Theresa Germeroth IV. Appendix Appendix 1 Waterfall Strategy  [40]   Appendix 2 Sprinkler Strategy  [41]  

The Beatles :: Essay on The Beatles

The Beatles are even today known as the greatest and most influential act of the rock era. They introduced more innovations into popular music than any other rock band of the 20th century. Moreover, they were among the few artists of any genre that were simultaneously the best at what they did, and the most popular at what they did. They were also the first British rock group to achieve worldwide prominence, launching a British Invasion that made rock truly an international phenomenon. Guitarist and teenage rebel John Lennon got hooked on rock & roll in the mid-'50s, and formed a band, the Quarrymen, at his high school. Around mid-1957, the Quarrymen were joined by another guitarist, Paul McCartney. A bit later they were joined by another guitarist, George Harrison, a friend of McCartney's. As the line up of the Quarrymen grew and depleted, the Quarrymen were eventually reduced to the trio of guitarists: Lennon, McCartney and Harrison. The Quarrymen changed their name to the Silver Beatles in 1960, quickly dropping the "Silver" to become just the Beatles. Lennon's college friend Stuart Sutcliffe joined on bass, but finding a permanent drummer was a problem until Pete Best joined in 1960. Although the Beatles had "artfully combin[ed] the best of American musical influences , the vocal style of black rhythm and blues groups from the 1950s, the primitive excitement of rock 'n' roll, the flair of Elvis, and the slickness of the American "hit parade"" (Assayas, 26) they hadn't fully developed , and some of their early recordings were issued only after the band's rise to fame. Near the end of 1961, the Beatles' exploding local popularity caught the attention of local record store manager Brian Epstein, who was soon managing the band as well. He used his contacts to acquire a January 1, 1962, audition at Decca Records. After weeks of deliberation, Decca turned them down, as did several other British labels. Epstein's perseverance was finally rewarded with an audition for producer George Martin at Parlophone, an EMI subsidiary; Martin signed the Beatles in mid-1962. By this time, Epstein was grooming the band for national success by influencing them to get rid of their leather jackets and throw on a suit and tie.One more major change was kicking Pete Best out of the band. Best was replaced by Ringo Starr. As each of the groups singles sold over a million copies in the U.

Red Bull Case : Digital Marketing

He immediately saw an opportunity to market those functional drinks outside Asia. Mathematics approached the manufacturers of the drink, bought the foreign licensing rights in exchange for a 51 % stake in his company, and launched the drink in Austria. That's how the Red Bull company was founded in 1984. The drink was sold exclusively in Austria for five years and then spread into neighboring countries like Hungary and Slovenia, followed by Germany and Switzerland. It invaded the United States and Canada In 1997, and was authorized in France very recently.A closer look at Red Bulls strategy 2 roof is not really determined by a demographic, but by a â€Å"state of mind†. Red Bull consumers want to be physically and mentally fit and wide awake. It can be young executives who want to face a more and more dynamic and demanding way of life. Or it can be teenagers who want to try new alcoholic mix, and be able to stay awake and to dance all night long. At least, it could be sportsme n who want to improve their performance, increase their physical endurance and boost their energy.These people are very hard to seduce because there are many brands competing on the market. Figure 1 – Examples of competitive products The positioning of Red Bull is : It is the first stimulation drink, for both mind and body, to be used at any time, anywhere, by anyone, not only as a thirst-quencher but also as a cure against tiredness. To build its brand equity, Red Bull developed an eye-catching logo : two bulls and a yellow sun, and an effective,†Red Bull gives you witlings†. Red Bull's brand equity is mainly based on word of mouth, which gives the product a mystical image.Due to this mitosis and the WOOF strategy that build a very strong brand awareness, the reduce has a really strong â€Å"affect† with the customer, which leads to a bunch of rumors, good and bad ones. The strategy Red Bull adopted is totally unusual. They did nod use traditional informat ive or persuasive communications and it restricted the drinks supply. Red Bull used â€Å"buzz marketing† and Moral marketing†. The company has divided the U. S. Into eight decentralized sales units, each of which is handled on a city-by-city basis.Each unit creates distribution, makes sales calls and develops targeted marketing plans. Their mission is to find out where the target nags out and what interests them. It's their Job to get the message out to the right clubs and at the right events. Their entry strategy is to seed happening places such as shops, clubs, bars and stores. They focus initially on opinion leaders who obtain positive direct experience with the brand. Once word of mouth has created a buzz about the product, they then widen distribution to areas surrounding the â€Å"in† spots.Markus Pickier, eve-strategic planning, Red Bull North America said â€Å"We go to on-premise accounts [vs.. Retailers] first, because the product gets a lot of visibi lity and attention. It goes faster to deal with individual accounts, not big chains and their authorization process. Employs teams of â€Å"consumer educators,† who distribute free samples in the street. Bull created and cultivated its brand image by sponsoring extreme and adventure- related sports, such as foreseeing, B. A. S. E Jumping, snowboard, mountain hiking or more recently Formula 1 .The company underwrites a number of extreme sports competitions and sponsors about three dozen athletes from alternative sports. In the antithesis of any major's marketing plan, Red Bull buys traditional advertising sat. Only when a market is deemed mature does the company begin a media push. The idea is to reinforce, not introduce, the brand. â€Å"Media is not a tool that we use to establish the market,† said up-marketing David Rowdy. â€Å"It is a critical part. It's Just later in the development. Red Bull's marketing strategy Contrary to traditional advertising practice, Red bull only advertises after it believes a local market is maturing. Instead of traditional advertising, Red Bull relied on a strategy of word-of-mouth or â€Å"buzz† marketing. Red Bull focused on creating a buzz wrought various stealth marketing techniques, playing on associations with energy, danger and youth culture, carefully cultivating its mystique image. Mathematics invested 35% of turnover in marketing and sponsorship in events.In his words, â€Å"we don't bring the product to the people, we bring people to the product. We make it available and those who love our style come to us,† adding, â€Å"Red Bull isn't a drink, it's a way of life. † The above the line communication: Red Bull gives you wings. The aim of their advertising campaigns is to reflect the brand personality: Cheeky, witty, self-ironic, unpredictable and unique. Opinion leader marketing: Opinion Leaders, especially in the sport and cultural area, are a perfect target group for Red Bull. Red Bull develops relationships with them and treats them like friends.Red Bull worldwide has over 250 agreements with top athletes, but not one written contract. Event marketing: Red Bull's event marketing also covers both areas, sports and culture, through a variety of events like Flag, Crashed Ice, X-Fighters, Creative Contest, Music Academy, and many more. Red Bull doses ‘t sponsor events, Red Bull creates, organizes and supports new, innovative and image. Through its sponsorship of youth culture and extreme sports events, Red Bull developed a cult following among marketing-wary Generation Y-errs, (18- to 29-year olds) who perceived it as an anti- brand.While it was marketed as a sports drink, it was mostly sold in clubs and bars Sampling Sampling is done by highly motivated and well educated employees of Red Bull and not â€Å"professional† promotion teams. Their briefing is simple: Find tired and exhausted people. They do it in a charming, non offensive way. All we g ive them is the product, a free range of clothes and a tiny, but very attractive sampling car. As their core target is very young, Red Bull needed to secure a huge presence on the Internet, which is by far the media that young people use the most.With their word- of-mouth based strategy and their buzz marketing, it was quite obvious that Internet was going to become a very powerful tool for Red Bull. They are aware of the fact that Internet has brought people together and allowed everyone to be connected no matter where they live. Thanks to the new social and digital age, people can share their experiences and knowledge through the building of social networks and communities. Red Bull's online marketing strategy is very cohesive to their overall marketing strategy. It is based on word-of-mouth and creating a buzz around the brand.Whether it be with sport, music or culture, Red Bull offers long-term content that the consumer will enjoy so they can talk about the brand on blobs for ex ample and tell their friends about it. Rather than focusing on selling millions of cans, they just prefer creating a universe that people will love, most of the time through effective storytelling. As I said before, Red Bull's marketing strategy involves a lot of event organization round the world. Red Bull takes the excitement of being in the event and delivering it to people across communication, and most of that is done by digital communication.In fact, 50% of Red Bull's communication budget is dedicated to digital media. Backbone has a presence on many of social platforms, including Backbone, Twitter, Namespace. Yet Red Bull is aware that it is no longer enough to have a fan page on backbone for example, not only because a large majority of companies have one as well, but also because people get bored very easily and their attention is becoming more and more difficult to catch. Red Bull understands this issue and offers a lot more than mere online product promotion. They provide their consumers with meaningful content.Each event organized and sponsored by Red Bull has its own website (for example,www. Redistributable. Com) They offer a number of short pieces of content, such as videos of the previous events, content about the riders, the tricks, behind-the-scenes, parties, etc. Those pieces of content are also displayed in social platforms, Namespace playing generally a role of a hub where all of the content comes together . This is how Red Bull started to build their fan community. It enables Red Bull to create a number of access points that the consumers discover, experience the content and get involved into Red Bull's world.On backbone or Namespace, the one of the most popular pages with over 2 400 000 fans. It is tailored to the consumers' wants and needs. They don't advertise their product directly, they don't even bother giving details about the accompany vision and mission, leaving only a very short description at the bottom of the page. On the othe r hand, they offer some entertaining, simple yet addicting games that consumers enjoy, such as the Red Bull Air Race game. Some others fun applications are available on Backbone, such as Red Bull Roustabout, which is an online version of the old game â€Å"Rock Paper Scissors†.Bart Johnston, Interactive Director of Archival which developed the application said â€Å"We wanted to create a viral application for Backbone Platform that was fun and playful. We think people will ask their friends to install it because it's a really interesting way of saying What's up? To your buddy. † 3 Figure 2 – Red Bull's official fan page on Backbone Video content is a good way to start but it does not necessarily create engagement, which is Red Bull's main objective. Therefore they found other ways to entertain their customers. For instance ‘phone and ‘pod touch users, they developed applications and games.Understanding their consumers is a major concern for Red Bull so they knew about their extensive use of chatting platforms such as mans. They also knew that Mans users tend to be on mans while watching TV, so they are working to get them engaging with it so they could then play, talk, share it with their friends while watching TV programs. Therefore they created a game on mans, that could be shared n backbone as well (that way content remains cohesive). This is a really effective way for Red Bull to get their consumers involved and active in the community.Figure 3 – Red Bull's ‘phone games Taking one step further, Red Bull initiated in 2009 a new project called Red Bull reporter 4. It gives the opportunity to anyone to become a Red Bull reporter, and start working for Red Bull as a writer, photographer, filmmaker or presenter. The consumer has complete control on the creation and sharing of the content. As Red Bull has hundreds of events going on all over the world. It can be huge event that attract over 50000 people on the event site like the Red Bull flagstaffs, but it can also be smaller events like the mascara pit stop in Time Square, or the Donkey cross in Greece.Red Bull is trying to leverage these projects by sending their reporters to these small events so they could write reports, do presentations, videos, and finally come back and submit them on the website. This time it is not Red Bull that creates the content but the consumers themselves and they are in total control of it. They are responsible for sharing it and spreading it. Again for Red Bull it is all about engaging them to greater collaboration.Figure 4 – Red Bull reporter Another example of the content creation process, even more engaging than Red Bull Reporter, would be the Red Bull Bedroom Jam 5, because with this project consumers become the content that is celebrated and discussed. Teen bands submit their music and their peers would vote and Judge which one they think are the best bands. The selected bands get to have a stage set up in their bedrooms by Red Bull, and it gets streamed live across the Internet. A chatting functionality allows people to interact with each other and tell everyone about the bands they like the most for example.The consumer is at the heart of the project. Red Bull steps back and only plays the role of a facilitator. The consumers are the real star, not Red Bull, which is an important point of Red Bull's online marketing strategy. Figure 5 – Red Bull Bedroom Jam Another key point for Red Bull is to cross the boundaries between the digital world and the real world, and treat them both the same way. Red Bull racing for charity was originally created to take Formula 1 from its very exclusive format and make it a more inclusive one, getting people really closer to that world.Red Bull created an inline community where fans could choose a space for their photo on the car that was driven at Siltstone by David Calculator and Mark Webber, chat with people around them, sometimes even celebrities. This resulted in a very unique decoration on the car and raised money for charity. Still trying to get people closer to the world of formula 1, Red Bull created content through Twitter and an Phone application called Redouble Flops, that allows people to have a direct info from the Fl paddock, with little stories and anecdotes that come directly from the inside. Figure 6 – David Calculator's car at Siltstone Creating all those tools, platforms and content allows Red Bull to make the consumer forget that their primary and ultimate goal is to sell energy drink cans. It is all about getting commitment from their customers, trying to engage and excite consumers about the brand by being part of their world and contributing to their world in a way that it does not feel false or fake. Internet could have contributed to harm Red Bull's brand image by spreading all sorts of rumors about the energy drink.One of the rumors that has been circulating for a while says that Re d Bull's secret ingredient is bull's testicles. Another states that it is â€Å"liquid vicarage† and that someone overdosed from the drink because it has drugs in it. Obviously all these rumors are false and they could have been really bad little attention to those rumors, remained silent and let the rumor spread. There is only a FAQ section in the main website confirming that all those rumors are false. This lack of communication contributed to fueling the buzz around the brand, creating Red Bull's mystique and building their fan's community all over the web.Red Bull doesn't really innovate through its products – it doesn't launch new products al the time, instead it innovates through its marketing. Hence, they created Red Bull Media House, which conducts all the media and public relations work, and that is responsible for the launching of other platforms such as Red Bull magazine, Red Bull mobile (which for now is only available in Austria, Switzerland and Germany), or Red Bull TV. As it becomes a bigger part of the consumers lives, Red Bull's marketing actually becomes their product.We saw how Red Bull leverage social media to market their products by provide their customers with meaningful content. Sometimes, they tend to be a little too aggressive by doing what is called ambush marketing. Ambush marketing occurs when a brand pays to become the official sponsor of an event and another brand tries to connect itself to the same event, without paying the sponsorship fee and without breaking any laws. Nikkei used such methods a lot to gain some visibility on sport events that were officially sponsored by their main competitors Rebook and Aids.At the 1992 summer Olympics in Barcelona, Nikkei sponsored press conferences with the US basketball team despite Rebook being the official sponsor. During the last Olympic Ames in Vancouver, Red Bull also did some online ambush marketing. Red Bull posted some items to encourage their athletes on Twitter and Backbone, even though they weren't officially sponsoring the event. By doing that they were violating the Olympic rules, which say that advertiser who don't pay for an official sponsorship cannot associate their names with the games or the athletes during the events or the weeks surrounding them. We're rooting for you @Landslide's @Shawn_White @Greeted and @Dresses in the 2010 Winter #mimics! † Red Bull removed all Olympic-related Twitter posts, but argued that â€Å"the dynamic and nonuser-driven nature† of social media make it tricky to â€Å"stay within guidelines as they are defined. † 9 How can Red Bull do even better? Red Bull's use of Internet and social media is very innovative. It differs from most companies' strategy in the sense that it really involves the customer in the content creation and sharing process.It engages the customer and get them closer to the brand. Red Bull's online marketing strategy is also very cohesive, every tool they used access to content on Twitter, Namespace and Backbone simultaneously. In my opinion, Red Bull is already one of the best examples of successful online racketing strategies, and this is partly why I chose to talk about it in this paper. It also makes it even more difficult to explain how they could get better. Red Bull's strategy has proven more than efficient so they should keep on offering meaningful and entertaining content to their consumers.

A Comparative Tragedy Study of Fatalism and Determinism: Oedipus Rex and Thunderstorm Essay

The Thunderstorm and Oedipus Rex, the representatives of Chinese and Greek play, both tell tragic stories about incest and unexpected destiny. The two masterpieces reveal much about the literature patterns and philosophical implications of the different cultures. The exploration of the two plays could help further understand the oneness of world literature and the tragedy of unlike culture. This paper will compare two famous tragic dramas—Oedipus Rex and The Thunderstorm to analyze the similarities and differences in terms of the tragic themes—fatalism and determinism. The process of textual analysis will be associated with the basic literature theory of tragedy and philosophy. Over the centuries, Oedipus Rex, which is a famous Greek drama written by one of three ancient Greek tragedians Sophocles, has come to be regarded as the Greek tragedy par excellence. It chronicles the story of Oedipus, a man who becomes the king of Thebes and was destined from birth to murder his father Laius and marry his mother Jocasta. The play is an example of a classic tragedy, noticeably containing an emphasis on the power of oracle on human destiny and how Oedipus’s own flaws contribute to the tragic hero’s downfall. The Thunderstorm is written by renowned Chinese playwright Cao Yu, often regarded as China’s most important play of the 20th century. The subject matter of The Thunderstorm is the complex relationships between the members of two households, centering on the Zhou family’s psychological and physical destruction as a result of incest, as perpetrated at the hands of its morally depraved and corrupt patriarch. It is considered to be one of the most mature and popular plays in contemporary China. In this paper, the theory being used and the previous study of the two plays will be first presented in the literature review. In the main part of my analysis, I will compare the two plays from the perspective of the contraction between fatalism and determinism. From the analysis of two dramas, we could examine some similarities and differences in the tragic topics. Both Oedipus Rex and The Thunderstorm concern the fatalism and determinism in the tragedy themes; however, they lay different stress on the two topics. 2. BACKGROUND STUDY AND LITERATURE REVIEW One of the most important studies of tragedy is Aristotle’s Poetics. Aristotle states that â€Å"A tragedy, then, is an artistic imitation of an action that is serious, complete in itself, and of an adequate magnitude.† (2) The magnificence of tragedy can be revealed in different aspects, and the tragic theme that considers fatalism and determinism of protagonists is one of the most important elements. The dispute between fatalism and determinism has been long lasting in the development of tragedy study. Fatalism is one of the most eternal themes of tragedy in general. It is the belief that all events are predetermined and therefore inevitable in person’s life. Determinism is the belief that all actions and events result from other actions, events, or situations, so people cannot in fact choose what to do, which is a creation of Hellenistic thought (Dodds 42). Homeric heroes have their predetermined â€Å"portion of life† and they must die for some predetermined reason, but it never occurs to the poet or his audience that this prevents them from being free agents. As Bernard Knox put it, â€Å"the gods know the future, but they do not order it. (122)† Concerning fatalism and determinism, previous scholars have done many researches on the two plays. Martin Kallich (1966), in his article â€Å"Oedipus: From Man to Archetype,† interprets the philosophical theme of Sophocles’ play as a mild agnosticism or neutral fatalism. Oedipus, he declares, behaves normally, commits an error in ignorance, and brings suffering upon himself. However, he fails to include the religious belief in his essay to give a full view of the tragic spirit of Oedipus Rex. From another perspective, E. Lefà ¨vre and A. Schmitt (2007), in the article â€Å"Interpretation of Oedipus Rex† argues that the old and popular formula that Oedipus is â€Å"guiltlessly guilty† is untenable, and they propose instead that his fall results from his behavior—his wrong behavior—brought about by passion. However, they mainly discuss from their own understanding and fail to employ strong tragedy theory to support their viewpoints. Foreign scholars do not conduct many researches on The Thunderstorm. Nevertheless, Chinese scholars have looked deeply into this drama. Both Xin Xianxi (1981) and Wang Linlin (2009) argue that Cao Yu is strongly influenced by the traditional Greek tragedy and Christianity religious belief so that the play has mystical idea of fate, which adds to the impressiveness of the play. However, they fail to take the social background into account when analyzing the tragic spirit of The Thunderstorm. Wan Ping (2010) classifies the tragic spirit of The Thunderstorm into three different categories: the tragedy of love, fate and personality and all the tree aspects of the play make it an intense plot and dramatic artistic effect. Also, he doesn’t consider the social background, which is important part of the play. From the above, we could see that the two plays are well studied by western and eastern scholars. Yet, not so many researchers discuss the similarities and differences between this specific two plays or even the Greek and Chinese drama in general. 3. ANALYSIS OF TRAGIC THEMES: FATALISM AND DETERMINISM The conflicts between fatalism and determinism are fully presented in the two plays, which can also be called the god-made tragedy and human-made tragedy. However, the two holds different proportion of two elements—Oedipus Rex putting more emphasis on fate, while The Thunderstorm underlining the importance of human factors. 3.1 Analysis on Oedipus Rex 3.1.1 The Voice of Fate Oedipus Rex has been almost universally regarded as the classic example of the â€Å"tragedy of fate.† Sir Maurice Bowra’s idea that the gods force on Oedipus the knowledge of what he has done strongly supports the idea of fatalism (390).Through his priests at Delphi, Apollo told Laius that he would be killed by his own son, and later told Oedipus that he would kill his father and marry his mother. At the beginning of the play Apollo tells Creon that Thebes will be saved from the plague only when the murderer of Laius is found and expelled. Although everyone in this play try to do something to avoid the realization of the oracle, in the end, everything comes true. Its power was based on a widespread, indeed in early time’s universal belief in the efficacy of divine prophecy. Sophocles himself also believes in this point: Unless these prophecies all come true for all mankind to point toward in wonder†¦ They are dying, the old oracles sent to Laius, Now our masters strike them off the rolls. Nowhere Apollo’s golden glory now— The gods, the gods go down. (Sophocles 989-97) When chose as the subject of his story about a man who tried to avoid the fulfillment of a prophecy of Apollo, Oedipus believes he had succeeded and casts scorn on all the oracles, only to find out that he had fulfilled that prophecy long ago. The voice of destiny in the play is the oracle of Apollo and Oedipus, to some extent, is the innocent victim of a doom which he cannot avoid. 3.1.2 Hamartia and Loyalty To the rationalist critics of the eighteenth century and still more to the firm believers in human progress of the nineteenth, this aspect of the play was a historical curiosity, to be discounted; in Oedipus Rex, although the fate is God-made to a great degree, it must be clarified that he has his own free will and he is not mere a puppet in the hands of the gods who pull the strings that make him dance. This is a crucial idea of further development of determinism, on which we could give two varied explanations—hamartia and loyalty. The single Greek word, hamartia, lays the emphasis upon the want of insight within a man. The human frailty which is said to bring sufferings beyond the ordinary lot of men is represented in translation by â€Å"blindness of heart†. The conception in the Poetics of an ideal tragic person with his imperfect insight, proper for tragedy, can be constructed in the personality of Oedipus (39). He turns upon a certain blindness of impulse, which at length is recognized the man himself—whereupon he puts out his own eyes. On the other hand, Oedipus’ loyalty to truth and to Thebes leads him to seek the truth tirelessly. Even though Creon, Jocasta, and the prophet try to stop him all the way, Oedipus, who is struggling in the pursuit of truth, insists on reading the last riddle, the riddle of his own life. The immediate cause of Oedipus’ ruin is not just â€Å"Fate†Ã¢â‚¬â€no oracle said that he must discover the truth—and still less does it lie in his own weakness; sometimes it is suggested that Oedipus would not have avoided his misery by having been a better man, but he could have remained prosperous and happy if he had been a less good man. What cause his ruin are his own strength and courage, his loyalty to Thebes, and his loyalty to truth. 3. 2. Analysis on The Thunderstorm 3.2.1 Destiny or Coincidences Similarly, in traditional Chinese literature, destiny, which often translated into Tian [Ã¥ ¤ ©], also has a deep implication in the formation of tragedy. Famous critic Li Jiangwu said, â€Å"This play has the most potent but invisible power—destiny, which we feel all the time. (48)† And Cao Yu writes in the preface of The Thunderstorm, â€Å"I am a spiritually poor man, but I invited my audiences to be god of my play to look sympathetically on ‘those moving creatures’ on the stage, to look how they argue with each other blindly, how they helplessly struggle in the battle of love. (2)† Two families’ destinies fall into tragedy because of some unexpected coincidences. If Sifeng does not go to the Zhou’s family to work as a servant or if Lu Dahai does not come to visit Zhou Puyuan, or if any detail in the play changes, the whole story may not happen. The fate plays an important part in the development of the plot and contributes much to t he tragic effect. 3.2.2 Social Tragedy Although there is the fate that works in the play, what the characters have done is the main pusher of the plot. Cao Yu also states that this play is not about retribution or karma (3). While, in The Thunderstorm, the determinism presents in a different direction. Zhou Pin cannot endure the suppression of his father, but he does not show it and bear it inside. He feels repent and wants to get out of the secret relationship with his stepmother, but he only chooses to escape the reality, so that he falls in love with Sifeng, which is also a person that he cannot love. Similar as Oedipus, what he tries to avoid finally leads him to destruction. From what the play presents, Zhou Pin is more like a coward escaping the tragic results of his life. His evasion contributes to the tragic ending. Zhou Fanyi, who is also a tragic character in the play, marries Zhou Puyuan, but she is not able to feel love until she loses her heart to Zhou Pin. What is more tragic is that Zhou Pin cannot love her wholeheartedly either. She mistakenly put the happiness of her whole life to a person that cannot company and care for her aboveboard. Her tragedy is the social tragedy, at which time women’s social status is low and they do not have the ability to pursue their felicities on their own. Fanyi’s personal flaws and the social environment lead to the tragedy of herself. While writing this play, Cao Yu underlines the social background, in order to further reveal the social problems, which offer people no freedom of choice. That’s why everyone’s wrong choice results in the destruction of the whole family. 5. Conclusion Different from the previous study, as we could examine from the analysis, this paper regards the tragedy as a combination of fatalism and determinism. What is similar between Oedipus Rex and The Thunderstorm is that they both stress the necessity the factor of destiny in the plot of a tragedy. Destiny is a universal theme of all tragedies in the history and all around the world. What is different about the two plays is that the determinism is presented in distinct way. Oedipus Rex embeds the tragic elements into the â€Å"tragic flaws† of Oedipus. Through building the downfall of Oedipus as a hero but somewhat ignorant person, readers may feel more regret and grieved. While in The Thunderstorm, the social background, in which the story was carried on and which people who are unable to avoid and revolt, contributes more to the happening of tragedy. 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