Gender Inequality Research Paper Example

Gender Inequality Paper It has been claimed that language plays a key role in sustaining inequality between the sexes (Coates 1993). Inequality between the sexes is a very important issue in society and language plays an important role in sustaining the inequality. Language and identity are very personal topics and are well researched and debated. Speech is an act of identity: when we speak, one of the things we do is identify ourselves as male or female. (Coates, 1986: 161) Inequality between the sexes in society can be seen in the fact that men still have the majority of highly paid jobs. Men are physically stronger but also have more power in terms of employment and politics for example. The male of the species in general still holds a higher position in society, although the situation for women has improved over the past twenty years and this is reflected in the language we have and use. Language is sustaining the inequality and it can be seen as sexist towards women for many reasons. One of the most obvious examples can be seen in the titles we have for people. There is only one title for a man. A male is Mr, whether he is young, old, married or single but there are three titles for a female and these titles give away some personal information. Miss is unmarried and stereotypically young and Mrs is used for married females and is considered to be an older female. A further title for females, Ms, was introduced as a supposedly neutral term like Mr but this did not replace the Miss and Mrs titles so it became a choice not to indicate marital status and quickly had a stigma attached to it. It appeared to say something about your political opinion and carried the assumptions of a being a feminist or divorced. We will write a custom essay sample on Gender Inequality specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Gender Inequality specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Gender Inequality specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer The title Ms had many negative connotations; it was seen as being used by old spinsters, which has negative connotations in itself. These differences of titles for males and females are an example of asymmetrical language. Asymmetrical language highlights the sexism in English. Another asymmetrical factor in English is the fact that there is no neutral generic term for a human being. For example for most animals there is a neutral generic term for the species i. e. bovine is the generic term for a cow/bull but for humans the generic term is man. More recently the use of man has decreased as people have become more sensitive about it. A further inequality in the subject area of names is the titles for women once they are married. The woman takes the mans surname as her own and loses her surname. A married couple are also known as Mr and Mrs (the males first name) and the married surname. The inequality between the sexes can also be seen in language through the many different negative connotations that there are for woman in comparison to the few that there are for men. Examples of this are the words for an unmarried person. For a man the use of bachelor is not seen as negative but spinster or old maid for a woman is negative. Spinster and old maid appear to be rarely used nowadays, perhaps because their associations are so negative. Bachelor, however, usually has positive connotations. (Thomas, L and Wareing, S: 1999, 71) Sexism can also be seen in the use of marked and unmarked terms in English. Most unmarked terms are for males whilst female terms are usually marked. The marked terms are seen as the exception to the norm, with different spellings to the marked term. We can also see the inequality between the sexes highlighted in language use through swear words. There are many more female related swear words in terms of both direct insults to women and swear words that are related to the female genitalia that are used against male and females. For example whore, slag, twat and bitch are all insults about or for women, which are harsher than male related, swear words such as bastard, knob and git. Swear words, connotations and titles all help create social stereotypes, which also help sustain the sexual inequality. In the majority of research into language and gender it is considered that there are two ways in which language is seen as sexist towards women. In the way they are taught to use language, and in the way general language treats them. (Lakoff: 1975, 4) The language differences previously mentioned and the different way men and women use language are part of the way general language treats them and the way they are taught deals with education in school and the influence of parents and society. Men and women use language differently and this can lead to miscommunication between the sexes. Speech between all-female groups is characteristically based on their emotions and relationships and concentrated on one topic for a length of time. All male group discussions will avoid conversations about themselves or their feelings, with no specific topic they concentrate on stories of superiority and competition. Womens language involves the different lexical choices that females use in speech that men would not, it also covers the topic of politeness. There are words that are restricted to womens language such as cute that would not be used by men. It is recently more common for women to cross over and start using language previously used by men, including swearing but there is not the cross over of men starting to use more womens language such as descriptive adjectives for feelings. This reflects the situation in society with women starting to take on jobs that were previously considered to be male but there are not so many men taking jobs considered to be female. The idea of a restricted word choice for womens language highlights the inequality between the sexes. Words restricted to womens language suggest that concepts to which they are applied are not relevant to the real world of (male) influence and power. (Lakoff: 1975, 13) Talk between women is often belittled by the names that it is given. Words such as gossip and chatter would never be used for an all male conversation but it is used for female conversation, which implies that the talk is of little importance but dragged out. Conversation between mixed groups often shows results of male dominance, which contradicts the general opinion that women talk more than men. Men will often interrupt women, but women will offer more back channel support in conversations. It can be considered that men and women seem to have different rules for conversations, which leads to miscommunication. Women are considered to be more polite than men and there is also a general opinion in our society that men need to be more polite in the company of women. This comes from the fact that when children are being taught politeness when they are growing up the rules are mainly enforced by female adults. As a result of this many studies have shown that children are more polite to females. There are many other differences between boys and girls as they are acquiring language and starting to interact with people. Girls are expected to be more polite when they are children; it is accepted for boys to throw temper tantrums but girls are expected to behave better. At an early age swearing is looked down upon by adults but boys are less likely to be criticised than girls. Education is often looked at as a starting point for the differences between male and female language. Research from Stanworth in 1981 and Kelly in 1984 has shown there are behavioural differences between girls and boys in the classroom. Boys are generally more confident and will talk more in class discussions and as a result of this get more attention from the teachers, girls remain quieter as quietness is related to politeness and they believe this is the best way to behave. This quietness could leave girls in a position where they are not actively learning and this is why it is considered that girls are in a disadvantaged position at school when it comes to language and speech. Girls do better in terms of exam results and in the humanities but boys will do better when it comes to technology and science, which is important in modern society especially in terms of employment. Discussion of girls underachievement in the education system and its linguistic correlates assumes that differences in girls and boys language are directly related to girls oppression. Coates: 1986, 161) The way language is taught and the way it is used are the reasons why there is inequality in our language but there are other factors in the sustaining of the inequalities in our language. One major factor is the media. We live in a society that is very much influenced and reliant on the media and so they play an important role in creating, changing and sustaining certain things in language. With the power that a newspaper has they can heavily bias opinion of the public. By using words that have negative connotations they can influence the perception that the public will have. They have the ability to sustain inequality between the sexes by their choice of words when writing about women and men. Women are often portrayed in the media in certain stereotypes, they are either sex object, housewife, or in need of male help as in the classic damsel in distress character. They create these stereotypes by using the language that allows for certain connotations such as mistress, young girl, motherly. It is not just in newspapers that this inequality is sustained; in films and television up until recently women had only their stereotypical characters to play. When looking at inequality, it is beneficial to look at the language to see if there is sexism towards males in the vocabulary. There has only been the introduction of sexist language towards men in recent times and there is only a fraction of words for men than that for women. Society is slowly changing in its treatment of women, and the language will take a long time to change for there to be complete equality in language. There are people that do not believe that there is inequality between the sexes now and so do not think that language plays a role in separating the sexes. I think that there has been a great improvement over the past twenty years in terms of society treating men and women differently. However because language change takes a very long time there is not a complete turn around. Although things have changed in terms of education and employment, there is still the inequality in language so it is holding back further progress. For example there has been a great increase in the number of women taking up powerful and well-paid jobs, which is minimising inequality, language plays a role in undermining this situation. There has always been debate and confusion over terms such as policewoman, the suffix of -ess as in actress, and chairwoman. The introduction of the politically correct terms such as chairperson leads to negative feeling and many politically correct terms are mocked. Words such as actor, which are supposed to be unmarked and replace the marked equivalent, actress, are not always used and are often preceded by lady or female which is highlighting the fact that there is still inequality in language. Linguistic imbalances are worthy of study because they bring into sharper focus real-world imbalances and inequalities. (Lakoff: 1975, 43) The English language has many imbalances that we have seen, such as asymmetry, use of politeness and swearing, men and womens conversational differences and the imbalance of negative connotations for women. This all highlights that there are still some imbalances in some peoples attitudes and it will be a long time before certain things change such as the availability of a neutral term like Ms without a negative stigma being attached to it.

The Basics of Adult Learning

The Basics of Adult Learning Do you remember what it was like to sit in a classroom? Rows of desks and chairs faced the teacher at the front of the room. Your job as a student was to be quiet, listen to the teacher, and do what you were told. This is an example of teacher-centered learning, usually involving children, called pedagogy. Adult Learning Adult learners have a different approach to learning. By the time you reach adulthood, you’re most likely responsible for your own success and you’re perfectly capable of making your own decisions once you have the information you need. Adults learn best when learning is focused on adult students, not on the teacher. This is called andragogy, the process of helping adults learn. The Differences Malcolm Knowles, a pioneer in the study of adult learning, observed that adults learn best when: They understand why something is important to know or do.They have the freedom to learn in their own way.Learning is experiential.​The time is right for them to learn.The process is positive and encouraging. Continuing Education Continuing education is a broad term. In the most general sense, any time you return to a classroom of any kind to learn something new, you are continuing your education. As you can imagine, this encompasses everything from graduate degrees to listening to personal development CDs in your car. Common types of continuing education: Earning a GED, the equivalent of a high school diplomaPost-secondary degrees such as a bachelor’s, or graduate degrees such as a master’s or doctorateProfessional certificationOn-the-job trainingEnglish as a second languagePersonal development Where It All Happens The methods involved in achieving continuing education are just as diverse. Your school can be a traditional classroom or a conference center near a beach. You might start before dawn or study after a day of work. Programs can take months, even years, to complete, or last just a few hours. Your job can depend on completion, and sometimes, your happiness. Continuous learning, no matter how old you are, has clear benefits, from finding and keeping the job of your dreams to remaining fully engaged in life in your later years. It’s never too late. Should You Go Back to School? So what is it you want to learn or achieve? Have you been meaning to go back to school to earn your GED? Your bachelor’s degree? Is your professional certificate in danger of expiring? Do you feel the urge to grow personally, learn a new hobby, or advance in your company? Keeping in mind how adult learning differs from your childhood schooling, ask yourself some questions: Why am I thinking about school lately?What exactly do I want to achieve?Can I afford it?Can I afford not to?Is this the right time in my life?Do I have the discipline and the freedom right now to study?Can I find the right school, the one that will help me learn the way I learn best?How much encouragement will I need and can I get it? It’s a lot to think about, but remember, if you really want something, you’re likely capable of making it happen. And there are a lot of people available to help you.

Australian Media Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Australian Media - Essay Example The media coverage offered a concrete context for a national response to the question whether Australia should become a republic (O'Shaughnessy, pg 185). The contemporary Australian media has diversified into a more intricate operational structure and digressed from its old way of functioning. In the recent epoch, the unrestrained growth of Australian media has made it an important subject of studying if it is performing the dual job of entertaining and educating or has it streamlined its purpose to offering nothing but entertainment Like many other media industries in the world, Australian media industry is also dominated by a group of multi-billion dollar corporations which forces their will and on the various forms of Australian media like, television, radio, internet and newspaper. Television is among the most influential tools of media which forms a quasi-indispensable part of the daily life of an Australian. The cultural mingling and confluence of different external sources have a collective impact on the integrity and reverence of this audio-visual form of media in the country. Ever since mainstream professional television was launched in 1956, the broadcasters had striven to influence the lifestyle of the people. Since television is a part of the media industry, it cannot escape the general trend of this perennially lucrative industry to attract the customer with their uniqueness and fatten their profit margin. In the pursuit of making a name for itself in the media industry, the television channels try to produce shows and programs without considering much about its educative value and the type of message they are conveying. Australia has currently 6 free-to-air networks which include ABC, Seven Network, Nine Network and SBS. Considering the expanse of Australia, each of these channels covers a large region and thus has the potential to influence a bigger audience. From the people's point of view it is expected that every media industry should aim at distributing information that concerns its audience and entertain them with light-hearted shows. Be it the television or any other form of media, it is their onus to maintain the equilibrium in their content so that they do not get inclined on one aspect overlooking the other completely. ABC network has its number of channels operating all over Australia. These main government-owned TV channels seem to understand their social obligation to educate their audience and enrich them culturally. Starting from showing documentaries to critically acclaimed plays, the channels bring before the people the deeper subjects of the world. This widely broadcasted Australian channel has a proper segmentation of shows which are broadly categorized into children's adventure shows, documentaries, and talk shows with the celebrities and political stalwarts. The channels are also consistent in broadcasting religious shows along with the travelogues and wildlife shows. The edifice of success which ABC has built for itself is not based on the foundation of entertaining motive only. Some of the long running programs in Australia like, Mr Squiggle, Play School, Children's media program Behind the News, A Big Country and Music icons Countdown and rage may have the element of entertainment but they also come with an affirmative educative value. The online version of ABC

Adult Development and Family Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Adult Development and Family - Essay Example After learning that her husband died a long time ago, I immediately comforted her with my words and gave her a sense of reassurance. Her husband was a general. He had served in the People’s liberation Army for a long time. She was happy to share her memories of her husband with me and cited how they went to so many places when they were young. Before China’s liberation, she cited how her husband was extremely busy, though they did not have a child at that time. She now has two children, a son and a daughter. After China was liberated, she had the chance of applying for retirement benefits. After her husband’s death due to a heart disease, which is genetic in her family, her daughter now takes care of her, even though the son is the older sibling. In China, it is a tradition for daughters to take care of babies or older adults in the family. I asked if she suffered from any illnesses herself and she was quick to tell me that she had diabetes, a genetic disease in the family, osteoporosis and high blood pressure. While interviewing Laolao, I had to identify the most comfortable way and topic that would interest her. She seemed happy to talk about how to promote healthy aging and wellness in old age. It was quite difficult for her to identify a few strategies that she used to promote healthy aging and wellness. My conversation with her in the beginning was predominantly focused on her feelings of failure when it came to promoting her own wellness. I started by asking her this question: â€Å"Are there specific strategies that you have used to promote healthy aging over the years?† Her response was that she was not â€Å"the best example.† She believed that she could have done more to promote her health. One key theme that relates to gerontology as we learnt in class that emerged during the interview was the issue of nutritional changes that

Do studies of genetic variations in osteoporosis tell us anything Essay

Do studies of genetic variations in osteoporosis tell us anything useful - Essay Example Through the use of various genetic methods, the genes contributing to or responsible in the development of osteoporosis are now identified. It is estimated that the genetic components and variations account for 50 to 90 % of the total BMD variations in the osteoporosis patients (Ferrari and Rizzoli, 2005). Findings in researches show that there are five key regions that are significantly associated with bone mineral density (Styrkarsdottir et al, 2008). These include receptor activator of nuclear factor -B ligand gene or RANKL, the osteoprotegrin gene or OPG, the estrogen receptor 1 gene or the ESR 1, the BTB domain containing 40 gene or ZBTB40 and the major histocompatibility complex region 6p21 respectively (Styrkarsdottir et al, 2008). Polymorphism has been suggested in the areas of VDR or vitamin D receptor, ESR1 or estrogen receptor alpha, type I collagen genes or the COL1A1 etc. (Zmuda, Sheu and Moffet, 2006). VDR gene variants are associated with differences in body height as well as bone size determination (Fang et al, 2007). However, VDR gene mutations have been implicated in many bone disorders including 1,25- dihydroxyvitamin D-resistant rickets, osteoporosis etc. (Uitterlinden et al, 2002). Other genes identified include alpha 2-HS-glycoprotein or AHSG, parathyroid hormones, bone G1a protein (BGP), transforming growth factor beta, PTHR1 and IL-6. the difference in the allele frequencies among Chinese and Caucasian populations were at VDR-ApaI and PTH-BstBI loci respectively. In the case of osteoporosis, IL-6 becomes more active as the key substance that limits its activity, that is the estrogen is reduced in the post menopausal women, which leads to increased breakdown of the bone structure. The genetic loci identified in bone metabolism include COL1A1, TGF beta 1, SOST, VDR, ER alpha,LRBP5, BMP2 and IL-6 respectively. First deciding on the topic of research carried out the research. Currently there are many researches that are

SWOT Analysis of Tesco Express

SWOT Analysis of Tesco Express The organisation which we have taken for the study is Tesco Express the sub brand of Tesco Plc. In our study we are going to identify, describe and evaluate the following management area of Tesco Plc, where we will be involving Marketing Principles to give proper management report on the basis of below strategies: The Organisation Orientation The competitive advantage of the organisation The Impact, positive and negative of the organisations Marketing Mix Management report of Tesco Express- Strength, weakness and improvements that will help to maintain competitive advantage in near future Origin of Tesco Tesco Plc the leading Britain retailer among the top three retailers in the world. They are operating 3700 stores among the world and they have employed around 470,000 employees. They are operating in 14 countries and they are UK, Republic of Ireland, India, China, Japan, Czech Republic, Hungary, Malaysia, Poland, Slovakia, South Korea, Thailand, Turkey, and USA. Tesco Plc was started by Jack Cohen in 1919 and the name Tesco was first appeared in the shop in Edgware in 1929 since the company has grown they were implementing their innovation in different business. Jack Cohen founded Tesco and his first day profit was ÂÂ £1 among his ÂÂ £4 sales on selling a grocery from the stall in East London. In the year 1924 the first in-house brand of Tesco has launched and they named that product as Tesco Tea. The names come from the initial of TE Stockwell, who was a partner in the tea supplies and the CO from Jack Cohens Surname. In the year 1932 Tesco stores limited have changed to Tesco private Limited Company. Tesco the brand which have changed their way they do business so fundamentally in each and every part of its company. Because of this change they have done in to business which also includes the loyalty management. For that they have taken a different expertise among the world as the earliest and that they have that named as Clubcard. Tesco joined with DunnHumby and created a Clubcard to tracks the buying behaviour of their 13 million customers, through recording and tracking consumption data from shopping bills. Tesco and DunnHumby have jointly built, maintain and mine a rich customer database with information derived from all customer touch points. Using this customer database, Tescos marketing department is then able to manage changes in either individual or general consumption patterns and adapt their marketing strategies accordingly. Clubcard is a reflection of the attributes of the business and its commitment: a strong team ethic, a commitment to serving customers, and most of all, top-to-bottom retailers pragmatism. Tesco made customer loyalty marketing work, when every other British supermarket loyalty programme in the late 1990s failed, faltered or never got started. Every year since 1995, headlines have proclaimed the death of loyalty scheme, usually enthusiastically supported by other retailers whose loyalty schemes are distant memories. Yet Clubcard is never questioned as a strategic priority by the management. Instead, Tesco has responded to the critics by measurably building sales through Clubcard, using the relevant knowledge it creates to improve the way it runs its business. The Organisation Orientation: Definition An approach to business that centres its activities on satisfying the needs and wants of its customers. The production department when starts to manufacture the product, it focuses on the promotion, distribution, pricing etc. How Tesco implemented its Market orientation: It overall beats the competition in producing the best quality product to the end users with great customer satisfaction as mentioned below. Flexibility Plan and goal setting Managerial and interpersonal skills Flexibility Tesco Express is widely opened across the cities in UK and gives options to many consumers to shop easily. In total there are around 150 shops which is great benefit to the consumers. They have introduced online trading where customers can place an order and buy it without any hindrance. Self billing has been bought up to avoid queues, saves time and energy, people can use the self bill system and pay by themselves and also introduced Club cards in which they can measure sales and improve accordingly by collecting database. Plan and goal setting Every organisation has its own plans and works only with the setting right goals at right time. Plans are to maximise sales and profits, maintains No 1 retail store in UK. Targets competitors and remains as a market leader, provides goods/services that are cheap and affordable to public. Business plans and modules are followed to achieve respective goal. Each objective has deadlines to meet so they have to meet their set objective within the stipulated period of time. Ex- Point of sale is an important merchandising activity to remind, people to stock up, just in case, a different product in categories has been brought together under Barbecue Theme, and a sale tends to increase. With the exceptions of meat, Tesco Express has brought all its barbecue products together under one category in store in order to promote sales and profits. Managerial and interpersonal skills- Still not yet completed Marketing: Marketing is the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably. (C.I.M, 2001) In this cut throat competition, Tesco innovates and re-innovates the new product as per the marketing environment in comparison with its fellow competitors. Healthy competition gives the best outcome of the product like price and quality. The main aim is to maximize customers value as a source of competitive advantage. Tescos Marketing Concept Meets customer needs, wants and preferences more effectively and more closely than competitors Asda, Sainsbury WM Morrison supermarket. The basic philosophies of the organisation are production and sales, it integrates the various activities like production, selling, distribution promotion, advertisement and human resource management in a profitable way for the service of the customers. Production: Focuses on the goods where quality matters and profit is gained on the volume of sales. Quality should be maintained in all the stages of production Tesco the company which are offering more than 100 products under their own brand Tesco. Comparatively they are quality oriented and price oriented. These products are mainly targeted their customer daily needs. They are following exact market economics to market their products. Sales: Even Tesco has its own products in Tesco express also they sell products from different brands too. While comparing with other products Tesco products is more cost effective and with high quality. Tesco Express is one of emerging sub brand in the UK is offering the customer to minimise their shopping time. New innovation has been brought in the form of advanced technology for the customers to generate and pay their own receipts by them. Goals have been divided into 3 different sets- Once it sets up the plan with the right objective, the next strategy is to maximise sales with customer satisfaction. Let us take through with 3 different sets of goals. The organisation recognises the market movements of its competitors in order to maintain good mindset in peoples mind. It strives hard to satisfy customers needs, preferences and taste which is very big task. The last and foremost goal is carried out in the internal management to increase productivity with great coordination among staff members who works as a team. Let us concentrate on planning aspects with involving planning strategies as discussed below. Marketing Planning: Marketing Planning: Turning strategies into implementable action and it is a detailed written statement where each and everyone in the organisation must follow the principles and guidelines and act accordingly. Planning is decide in advance what to do and what not to do, planning plays a vital role in the supermarket division as it deals with FMCG products, in day todays business the sales increases rapidly when everything goes according to plan. Internal and External Environment Key Aspects- Position of Tesco when compared to other companies. Where are we now? Significant improvement has shown in identical market in UK Marketing Audit Market Research Environment Analysis How did we get there? They got there simply because of good performance which was solid. Where are we heading and where do we want to be? Tesco express has strived to achieve the highest standards to ensure the long-term access to quality products and maintain their position as the UKs number 1 supermarket. Tescos aim is to keep customers happy, to achieve high profit margins, to motivate workers, expand its marketing strategies, and support economic issues and to be friendly towards the environment. Tesco aims to cover every conceivable part of the consumer base with management controls. Review Procedures Management Controls How might we get there? It has good marketing mix strategies and implements successfully. By doing so it has reached heights by giving services to consumers. Tesco Express should make als Marketing Mix Which way is best? Are we on course? How can we ensure arrival? Choice criteria Screening Modelling Company Profile SWOT Once marketing planning is carried out successfully the next step is to concentrate on marketing audit. It can be analysed with the inclusion of Strengths Weakness Opportunities Threats (SWOT). Once the major part is carried out successfully with all the research analysis and datas, it gives us the strategic position. The overall evaluation of a companys strengths, weakness, opportunity and threats is called as SWOT analysis. It is a way of monitoring the external and internal marketing environment. Good marketing is the art of finding, developing and profiting from these opportunities. A marketing opportunity is an area of buyer need and interest that a company has a high profitably of profitably satisfying. There are three main sources of market opportunities are. The first is to supply something that is short supply. This requires little marketing talent, as the need is obvious. The second is to supply an existing product or service in a new or superior way. The last method often leads to a very new product or service by offering lower price with good quality. To evaluate opportunities companies can use Market Opportunity Analysis (MOA) to determine their attractiveness and profitably of asking questions such as Can we focus the target markets and reach them with cost-effective method and trade markets? Can we deliver the benefits better than any actual or potential competitors? Will the financial rate of return meet or exceed our required threshold for investment? Does our company possess or have access to the critical capabilities and resources we need to deliver the customer benefits? Can we articulate the benefits convincingly to a defined target market? Based on the above Kotlers theory we will be giving out SWOT analysis data. Strengths A wider range of products including fresh and healthy food are available. Tesco express has added around 800 new product lines last year. Stores have increased by over 35% since 2000. Quality of products is sold. All classes of people can afford to buy. It has strong Market Leadership. Strong and good brand image. Weakness Range of stores is limited in Tesco Express and price is not as good as main stores. Inventory turnover is weak. Does not respond queries in time. It mainly concentrates and depends only in UK and Europe. Turnover is poor. Opportunities Planning to open retail environment in Euro zone. Tesco Express has been bought up in density area to satisfy customers requirement with ease. Opportunities in India and other international markets and also they have got private labelling schemes. Threats Intense cut throat competition High interest rates in UK. Labour wages are increasingly at a higher rate. Difficult conditions in International markets. Competitive advantage of the organisation Jack Welch, former CEO of GE says, If you dont have competitive advantage, dont compete. (Jobber 2007:773) In the face of global competition and cut throat competition, there are many competitors are growing day by day and the rule of survival for the fittest comes into picture. Companies are forced to survive by increasing the production and sales at a better rate. With todays technology changing day by day oragnisation has to put the best foot forward to stay and compete. As a result they gain enormous experience to handle different sets of consumers and their buying habits Marketing is all about to generate transactions and to generate relationships. No organisation stands alone in the market without competitors; the company cannot develop its products by developing the product range and its features but also faces the competitive environment of the market. The factors which analyses the changing economic environment in the trading community and reacts accordingly. The competitors also influences various factors such as success or failure of a business in any market conditions, this is why it is important to consider systematically a number of aspects of competitive behaviour. Competitive analysis is a systematic approaching in understanding the key factors of the planning strategy in terms of objectives, resource allocation and implementation through the marketing mix. A good understanding of these factors reveals the organisation to be in a stronger arena in building and sustaining foundations for the firm to hold its position to maintain the reputation in the longer run. Once an organisation finds with whom it is competiting and which category of the competition of the emerging market. When competitors are identified, the probability of forming them into clusters, depending on focus and strategy. The outcome of the identified clusters identifies strong and weak competitors in each group which can be considered as the strategic opportunities defined. These are the number of different characteristic that can be used for identifying strategic segments, which in turn provides a useful framework for evolving opportunities in business environment that leads to an order of implementing organisational behaviour techniques of competitors data that relies on financial performance of the segments served in marketing strategies. The arch rival of Tesco express is Costcutter The arch rival of Tesco express is Costcutter because they are the one who have similar marketing policies to overcome its rival. Tesco Express is spread all over the United Kingdom with in and around 1000 outlets but Costcutter is with 1600 outlets. Comparatively Tesco express and Costcutter got the same logic of attracting their customers to sell best quality with reasonable price . However when we analyse the competitive advantage of Tesco to overcome its fellow competitors with new innovation called Auto billing and paying system but Costcutter lacks with that facilities. opening as wel as closing times varies with Costcutter as it is opened 24 hours open and Tesco express opens from 6am in the morning and closes 10pm in the night. So all we can say is that they are the perfect competitors with having leads and falls with each other in different facts. Tesco express is using different segmentations to make the Tesco express successful among their competitors and their segmentations are geographic, usage and loyalty; On geographic segmentation they categorise their shops according to the market. They mostly were concentrating on the region where they can have the more people who are be the bread and butter consumer that means people who wants to buy one or two products at that specific period of time. Theres a brand familiarity that you dont always get from a local store and the concept is familiar through use of the superstore predecessor. On usage segmentation being an express the range are limited and choice or very little and the price is bit higher than its own Tesco extra. On the loyalty segmentation they have just rock the concept called Clubcard. They have track the customers with the card and it make them to analyse to find the exact need of customer and they serving them according to their needs. Mission Every business has its goals/objectives and works on directions set by the management. No firms can succeed without objectives and tagline of Tesco is, Every little Helps. This tagline has created a realistic statement which is motivating and creates intent in the organisation. The realistic purpose is to provide focus and direction through the conduct of the business. Specific Measurable Accurate Realistic Time bound (SMART). SMART comes into picture once SWOT analysis is completed. Strategy> Behaviour standards Tescos Marketing Objectives The main aim is to retain customer satisfaction and maintain number 1 Retail Company in the UK. To maximise sales and profit To provide reasonable price to the consumers. Marketing Environment Marketing environment and its influences. It has been divided into 2 different categories based on 4ps. Micro Environment Macro Environment Micro Environment has been divided into 4 divisions namely Suppliers Distributors Competitors Customers Macro Environment has been divided into 5 divisions namely A) Socio Cultural Environment Factors affecting demographic structure of the population, lifestyles, attitudes, cultures, issues of public and private concerns, tastes and demands. B) Technological Environment Creates new product opportunities and improve production. C) Economic Environment It determines demand and supply chain. D) Political and legal Environment Rules, laws and regulations are operated as per the Government bodies. Ex: Smoking in public places E) Ecological Environment -Factors such as global warming, pollution, recycling, packaging etc. Macro environment with Tescos principles Socio Cultural Environment Brassington and Pettitt has given definition regarding Demographic, where he briefly explains that it is the study of the measurable aspects of population structures and profiles including factors such as age , size, gender, race, occupation and location. Tesco express has widely opened across and also outside UK to satisfy customer needs and preferences. Where in it represents strengths and weakness. There are wide range of products to satisfy all ages and all classes of people. It broadens tastes and demands according to peoples lifestyle and their expectations. If it does not satisfys then customers can lose interest and faith. Technological Environment- When an organisation uses more and more different techniques then flexibility comes into picture. Tesco express operates paperless transactions. It brings out new innovation strategies to market the product as per the existing environment. The recent one which it has introduced new way of billing system call, Till , where customers can pick, pack and invoice themselves.. This new system has given new dimensions to the customers to save an extra time. Market research is carried out on a regular basis where an organisation collects information with the respect to the customer focus Economic Environment- In this Economic environment 2 key words which handles the whole market is demand and supply. When there is a demand in the market supply increases automatically, this will have a huge impact in the business environment. They concentrate on the factors affecting economic business and monitor them in order to overcome. Political and legal Environment- Each and every organisation concentrates on the government laws, rules and regulations. Tesco Express follows strict rules and regulations and gives out warning signals to the customers. It also gives smoking free environment. Ex- Smoking is prohibited Ecological Environment- It aims to set up a greenery environment in the form of waste, packaging, recycling, and also cutting carrier bag use. It converts waste into an energy source and reduces the amount of waste going to landfill by over a third and works on waste targets scheme which are reviewed and reported every week. We have taken examples of 2 like packaging and recycling. If we take packaging with the product name called Eggs. Packaging helps to protect and preserve food for longer duration and promotes the product to reach the customers in the best condition. Recycling facilities are available in all our markets except China and Turkey. Tescos future plans are to implement recycling facilities even in respective countries as mentioned to have a global impact in the marketing environment. In UK we have 600 recycling centres of our larger stores. Last year we helped customers to recycle approximately 200,000 tonnes. Market Segmentation The identification of groups of individuals or organisations with similar characteristics that have significant implications for the determination of marketing strategy. (Jobber 2004) Segments can be defined on the basis of Tesco principles. ? Customer Satisfaction- customers can be pleased all the time because all the products are available under one proof so chances of pleasing them will be on higher note. They dont target individuals indeed they target on the whole. Customers have variety of products to choose and satisfy their preferences. Ex- Products are sold to all age groups with reasonable price and with most importantly good quality Methods of Segmentation Geographic It targets customers as per the location, country and also takes into consideration whether it is Rural and Urban. Before it opens any new branches, it undergoes market survey based on the customers potential within the respective location. It also makes sure that for which county products are produced, plans for the available resources so that can be used up to the fuller extent, different sets of people has different taste and preferences according to their lifestyle. Ex China and UK. In China people have different lifestyle as compared to UK. Demographic Once it does sets up the business by creating a layout of the geographic successfully, now the next part is to introduce product based on the marketing analysis which includes people age, sex, race, income, occupation, socio-economic status. It collects complete database and then goes forward. Surveys are conducted at regular intervals with the interest of not losing customers focus and interest. This reduces the negative impact on the organisation. Geo-Demographic Geo- Demographic is nothing but the combination of geographic and demographic. Organisation works on the purchasing behaviours of the people. Once it gathers the available date by doing research in first and second stage and then works as per the prescribed plan. Postcode systems can assist agencies in the new business development, customer profile and identification. Psychographic Tesco divides the market on the basis of life style and personality of the consumers. It targets people of all ages with their requirements. From grocery, eatables to liquor. Types of Target Marketing Need to include on the basis of Tescos target marketing with the inclusion of 4 ps. Undifferentiated and differentiated marketing. Let us talk about the Positioning of Tesco. In earlier days Tesco did not have the brand name but when sales started picking up and demand was on higher side, it did not compromise quality in order to reduce price and it is very convenient to the customers to purchase products as quality of products are available. Once customers got an idea how good Tesco is then Tesco gained its brand name. With the brand name Tesco started to experiment the products with greater profits and then it is managing the customers with great customer loyalty. Philosophy of entire marketing mix hinges with good positioning and failed to do so creates unsound positioning. Positioning Strategies Reasonable price Good quality More and variety of Products Clearance sales Weekend offers and Festive offers Keys to successful positioning are based on competitiveness, successful positioning, creditability and consistency. Repositioning of product Takes place when positioning of products declines. Change in customer tastes and preferences. New competitors enters the market Marketing Mix An Effective marketing mix Tesco compromises on price and does not compromises on quality More demand and more supply. Customers loyalty Refer http://www.cim.co.uk/filestore/resources/10minguides/marketingmix.pdf The Impact, positive and negative of the Tesco Express marketing mix Marketing mix is divided into 7ps but let us concentrate on 4 ps which as follows. Promotion Place Price Product. We will critically discus 4 ps in the following stages. Promotion Promotion is generally referred as awareness created towards the introduction of new product and also the availability of the existing product by means of selling activities and advertising. The main aim of promotion is to spread awareness of the products, uses and benefits. It helps the organisation to position their products in the market to reach customers. The effective tool of promotion of Tesco Express is in the form of television and email adverts, message should be clear and simple so that it can reach the targeted audience by creating a desired response. There are different types of promotions such as advertising, personal selling, public relations and sales promotions. Promotional strategy- One of the Tescos key strategies in the promotional activity is, Clubcard loyalty scheme where it has been a huge success and in turn their market share has been increased. This change has led them to be a market leader. They were giving best and competitive prices to the market, products like fresh vegetables, fish, chicken , mutton, beef and all sorts of necessary day to day needs which were outsourced from the farmers , fish, mongers , butchers directly. They have opened number of convenience stores in every possible place and therefore have a good appeal to a huge number of customers in the market environment. Therefore had a very huge response when they had introduced the club card plus debit card scheme. They not only target higher classes of people but also different classes of people. Introduction of Tesco finest and also budgeted version called Tesco value which is having very huge impact in all the classes of the people. Now it shows how they promote their market to reach different classes of people. Advertising- It can be defined as any paid form of non-personal promotion transmitted through a mass medium. The sponsor should be clearly identified and the advertisement may relate to an organisation, a product or a service. The key difference, therefore, between advertising and other forms of promotion is that it is impersonal and communicates with large numbers of people through paid media channels. (Ref 1) Each and every organisation will advertise for the products produced, Tesco has always gives ads saying that they sell cheapest product in the whole of UK and it is one of the cheapest selling supermarket, where they claim that the price of the products is at least a penny less than their competiting firm in the advertisement featuring Prunella scales and Jane Horrocks comparing bills between Tesco and other stores. Stringent rules has to be followed when it is giving comparative advertising as per UK governments rule and abides the body for advertising standards, the Committee of Advertising Practice as listed in the rules and regulations act. They also have different advertisement taglines called, Every little helps, We sell for less, 1 billion pounds off, is youre nearest the dearest, Low prices every day because we sell 10000 everyday. There have been many advertisement campaigns stating that their products are cheaper to their direct competitors. Personal selling and sales force- According to fill (2002, p. 16), personal selling can be defined as: An interpersonal communication tool which involves face to face activities under taken by individuals, often representing an organisation, in order to inform, persuade or remind an individual or group to take appropriate action, as required by the sponsors representative. (Ref 2) Tesco has been occupied in all the field of business with a brooder marketing strategy; as far as personal selling is concerned they do not need, since they vastly deal with day today products. The only personal selling that they follow is online shopping which is not related to this category of marketing. Sales Promotion- According to the institute of sales promotion, sales promotion is: According to the institute of sales promotion, sales promotion is: The store offers a wide range of promotional offers in various times, if they open a store they would give away vouchers having a 2 pound discount on every six pounds spent for every passerby, club card members, computer tokens for schools. Below are the examples of New Year sales promotion. Examples of the New Year promotions offers include: Danepak Maple Cure Back Bacon 220g, was ÂÂ £3.00, now ÂÂ £1.50 Extra Large Pineapple, was ÂÂ £3.00, now ÂÂ £1.50 Baking Potatoes 2.5kg, was ÂÂ £1.92, now ÂÂ £1 Dolmio Original Bolognese Pasta Sauce 750g, was ÂÂ £2.12, now ÂÂ £1.06 Princes Tuna Chunks In Brine 4X185g, was ÂÂ £5.39, now ÂÂ £2.69 Maryland Choc Chip Hazelnut Cookies 150g, was 86p, now 43p. Kelloggs Special K Oats and Honey 425g, was ÂÂ £2.87, now ÂÂ £1.40 New Covent Garden Plum Tomato Sweet Basil Soup 600g, was ÂÂ £1.97, now 98 SWOT Analysis of Tesco Express SWOT Analysis of Tesco Express The organisation which we have taken for the study is Tesco Express the sub brand of Tesco Plc. In our study we are going to identify, describe and evaluate the following management area of Tesco Plc, where we will be involving Marketing Principles to give proper management report on the basis of below strategies: The Organisation Orientation The competitive advantage of the organisation The Impact, positive and negative of the organisations Marketing Mix Management report of Tesco Express- Strength, weakness and improvements that will help to maintain competitive advantage in near future Origin of Tesco Tesco Plc the leading Britain retailer among the top three retailers in the world. They are operating 3700 stores among the world and they have employed around 470,000 employees. They are operating in 14 countries and they are UK, Republic of Ireland, India, China, Japan, Czech Republic, Hungary, Malaysia, Poland, Slovakia, South Korea, Thailand, Turkey, and USA. Tesco Plc was started by Jack Cohen in 1919 and the name Tesco was first appeared in the shop in Edgware in 1929 since the company has grown they were implementing their innovation in different business. Jack Cohen founded Tesco and his first day profit was ÂÂ £1 among his ÂÂ £4 sales on selling a grocery from the stall in East London. In the year 1924 the first in-house brand of Tesco has launched and they named that product as Tesco Tea. The names come from the initial of TE Stockwell, who was a partner in the tea supplies and the CO from Jack Cohens Surname. In the year 1932 Tesco stores limited have changed to Tesco private Limited Company. Tesco the brand which have changed their way they do business so fundamentally in each and every part of its company. Because of this change they have done in to business which also includes the loyalty management. For that they have taken a different expertise among the world as the earliest and that they have that named as Clubcard. Tesco joined with DunnHumby and created a Clubcard to tracks the buying behaviour of their 13 million customers, through recording and tracking consumption data from shopping bills. Tesco and DunnHumby have jointly built, maintain and mine a rich customer database with information derived from all customer touch points. Using this customer database, Tescos marketing department is then able to manage changes in either individual or general consumption patterns and adapt their marketing strategies accordingly. Clubcard is a reflection of the attributes of the business and its commitment: a strong team ethic, a commitment to serving customers, and most of all, top-to-bottom retailers pragmatism. Tesco made customer loyalty marketing work, when every other British supermarket loyalty programme in the late 1990s failed, faltered or never got started. Every year since 1995, headlines have proclaimed the death of loyalty scheme, usually enthusiastically supported by other retailers whose loyalty schemes are distant memories. Yet Clubcard is never questioned as a strategic priority by the management. Instead, Tesco has responded to the critics by measurably building sales through Clubcard, using the relevant knowledge it creates to improve the way it runs its business. The Organisation Orientation: Definition An approach to business that centres its activities on satisfying the needs and wants of its customers. The production department when starts to manufacture the product, it focuses on the promotion, distribution, pricing etc. How Tesco implemented its Market orientation: It overall beats the competition in producing the best quality product to the end users with great customer satisfaction as mentioned below. Flexibility Plan and goal setting Managerial and interpersonal skills Flexibility Tesco Express is widely opened across the cities in UK and gives options to many consumers to shop easily. In total there are around 150 shops which is great benefit to the consumers. They have introduced online trading where customers can place an order and buy it without any hindrance. Self billing has been bought up to avoid queues, saves time and energy, people can use the self bill system and pay by themselves and also introduced Club cards in which they can measure sales and improve accordingly by collecting database. Plan and goal setting Every organisation has its own plans and works only with the setting right goals at right time. Plans are to maximise sales and profits, maintains No 1 retail store in UK. Targets competitors and remains as a market leader, provides goods/services that are cheap and affordable to public. Business plans and modules are followed to achieve respective goal. Each objective has deadlines to meet so they have to meet their set objective within the stipulated period of time. Ex- Point of sale is an important merchandising activity to remind, people to stock up, just in case, a different product in categories has been brought together under Barbecue Theme, and a sale tends to increase. With the exceptions of meat, Tesco Express has brought all its barbecue products together under one category in store in order to promote sales and profits. Managerial and interpersonal skills- Still not yet completed Marketing: Marketing is the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably. (C.I.M, 2001) In this cut throat competition, Tesco innovates and re-innovates the new product as per the marketing environment in comparison with its fellow competitors. Healthy competition gives the best outcome of the product like price and quality. The main aim is to maximize customers value as a source of competitive advantage. Tescos Marketing Concept Meets customer needs, wants and preferences more effectively and more closely than competitors Asda, Sainsbury WM Morrison supermarket. The basic philosophies of the organisation are production and sales, it integrates the various activities like production, selling, distribution promotion, advertisement and human resource management in a profitable way for the service of the customers. Production: Focuses on the goods where quality matters and profit is gained on the volume of sales. Quality should be maintained in all the stages of production Tesco the company which are offering more than 100 products under their own brand Tesco. Comparatively they are quality oriented and price oriented. These products are mainly targeted their customer daily needs. They are following exact market economics to market their products. Sales: Even Tesco has its own products in Tesco express also they sell products from different brands too. While comparing with other products Tesco products is more cost effective and with high quality. Tesco Express is one of emerging sub brand in the UK is offering the customer to minimise their shopping time. New innovation has been brought in the form of advanced technology for the customers to generate and pay their own receipts by them. Goals have been divided into 3 different sets- Once it sets up the plan with the right objective, the next strategy is to maximise sales with customer satisfaction. Let us take through with 3 different sets of goals. The organisation recognises the market movements of its competitors in order to maintain good mindset in peoples mind. It strives hard to satisfy customers needs, preferences and taste which is very big task. The last and foremost goal is carried out in the internal management to increase productivity with great coordination among staff members who works as a team. Let us concentrate on planning aspects with involving planning strategies as discussed below. Marketing Planning: Marketing Planning: Turning strategies into implementable action and it is a detailed written statement where each and everyone in the organisation must follow the principles and guidelines and act accordingly. Planning is decide in advance what to do and what not to do, planning plays a vital role in the supermarket division as it deals with FMCG products, in day todays business the sales increases rapidly when everything goes according to plan. Internal and External Environment Key Aspects- Position of Tesco when compared to other companies. Where are we now? Significant improvement has shown in identical market in UK Marketing Audit Market Research Environment Analysis How did we get there? They got there simply because of good performance which was solid. Where are we heading and where do we want to be? Tesco express has strived to achieve the highest standards to ensure the long-term access to quality products and maintain their position as the UKs number 1 supermarket. Tescos aim is to keep customers happy, to achieve high profit margins, to motivate workers, expand its marketing strategies, and support economic issues and to be friendly towards the environment. Tesco aims to cover every conceivable part of the consumer base with management controls. Review Procedures Management Controls How might we get there? It has good marketing mix strategies and implements successfully. By doing so it has reached heights by giving services to consumers. Tesco Express should make als Marketing Mix Which way is best? Are we on course? How can we ensure arrival? Choice criteria Screening Modelling Company Profile SWOT Once marketing planning is carried out successfully the next step is to concentrate on marketing audit. It can be analysed with the inclusion of Strengths Weakness Opportunities Threats (SWOT). Once the major part is carried out successfully with all the research analysis and datas, it gives us the strategic position. The overall evaluation of a companys strengths, weakness, opportunity and threats is called as SWOT analysis. It is a way of monitoring the external and internal marketing environment. Good marketing is the art of finding, developing and profiting from these opportunities. A marketing opportunity is an area of buyer need and interest that a company has a high profitably of profitably satisfying. There are three main sources of market opportunities are. The first is to supply something that is short supply. This requires little marketing talent, as the need is obvious. The second is to supply an existing product or service in a new or superior way. The last method often leads to a very new product or service by offering lower price with good quality. To evaluate opportunities companies can use Market Opportunity Analysis (MOA) to determine their attractiveness and profitably of asking questions such as Can we focus the target markets and reach them with cost-effective method and trade markets? Can we deliver the benefits better than any actual or potential competitors? Will the financial rate of return meet or exceed our required threshold for investment? Does our company possess or have access to the critical capabilities and resources we need to deliver the customer benefits? Can we articulate the benefits convincingly to a defined target market? Based on the above Kotlers theory we will be giving out SWOT analysis data. Strengths A wider range of products including fresh and healthy food are available. Tesco express has added around 800 new product lines last year. Stores have increased by over 35% since 2000. Quality of products is sold. All classes of people can afford to buy. It has strong Market Leadership. Strong and good brand image. Weakness Range of stores is limited in Tesco Express and price is not as good as main stores. Inventory turnover is weak. Does not respond queries in time. It mainly concentrates and depends only in UK and Europe. Turnover is poor. Opportunities Planning to open retail environment in Euro zone. Tesco Express has been bought up in density area to satisfy customers requirement with ease. Opportunities in India and other international markets and also they have got private labelling schemes. Threats Intense cut throat competition High interest rates in UK. Labour wages are increasingly at a higher rate. Difficult conditions in International markets. Competitive advantage of the organisation Jack Welch, former CEO of GE says, If you dont have competitive advantage, dont compete. (Jobber 2007:773) In the face of global competition and cut throat competition, there are many competitors are growing day by day and the rule of survival for the fittest comes into picture. Companies are forced to survive by increasing the production and sales at a better rate. With todays technology changing day by day oragnisation has to put the best foot forward to stay and compete. As a result they gain enormous experience to handle different sets of consumers and their buying habits Marketing is all about to generate transactions and to generate relationships. No organisation stands alone in the market without competitors; the company cannot develop its products by developing the product range and its features but also faces the competitive environment of the market. The factors which analyses the changing economic environment in the trading community and reacts accordingly. The competitors also influences various factors such as success or failure of a business in any market conditions, this is why it is important to consider systematically a number of aspects of competitive behaviour. Competitive analysis is a systematic approaching in understanding the key factors of the planning strategy in terms of objectives, resource allocation and implementation through the marketing mix. A good understanding of these factors reveals the organisation to be in a stronger arena in building and sustaining foundations for the firm to hold its position to maintain the reputation in the longer run. Once an organisation finds with whom it is competiting and which category of the competition of the emerging market. When competitors are identified, the probability of forming them into clusters, depending on focus and strategy. The outcome of the identified clusters identifies strong and weak competitors in each group which can be considered as the strategic opportunities defined. These are the number of different characteristic that can be used for identifying strategic segments, which in turn provides a useful framework for evolving opportunities in business environment that leads to an order of implementing organisational behaviour techniques of competitors data that relies on financial performance of the segments served in marketing strategies. The arch rival of Tesco express is Costcutter The arch rival of Tesco express is Costcutter because they are the one who have similar marketing policies to overcome its rival. Tesco Express is spread all over the United Kingdom with in and around 1000 outlets but Costcutter is with 1600 outlets. Comparatively Tesco express and Costcutter got the same logic of attracting their customers to sell best quality with reasonable price . However when we analyse the competitive advantage of Tesco to overcome its fellow competitors with new innovation called Auto billing and paying system but Costcutter lacks with that facilities. opening as wel as closing times varies with Costcutter as it is opened 24 hours open and Tesco express opens from 6am in the morning and closes 10pm in the night. So all we can say is that they are the perfect competitors with having leads and falls with each other in different facts. Tesco express is using different segmentations to make the Tesco express successful among their competitors and their segmentations are geographic, usage and loyalty; On geographic segmentation they categorise their shops according to the market. They mostly were concentrating on the region where they can have the more people who are be the bread and butter consumer that means people who wants to buy one or two products at that specific period of time. Theres a brand familiarity that you dont always get from a local store and the concept is familiar through use of the superstore predecessor. On usage segmentation being an express the range are limited and choice or very little and the price is bit higher than its own Tesco extra. On the loyalty segmentation they have just rock the concept called Clubcard. They have track the customers with the card and it make them to analyse to find the exact need of customer and they serving them according to their needs. Mission Every business has its goals/objectives and works on directions set by the management. No firms can succeed without objectives and tagline of Tesco is, Every little Helps. This tagline has created a realistic statement which is motivating and creates intent in the organisation. The realistic purpose is to provide focus and direction through the conduct of the business. Specific Measurable Accurate Realistic Time bound (SMART). SMART comes into picture once SWOT analysis is completed. Strategy> Behaviour standards Tescos Marketing Objectives The main aim is to retain customer satisfaction and maintain number 1 Retail Company in the UK. To maximise sales and profit To provide reasonable price to the consumers. Marketing Environment Marketing environment and its influences. It has been divided into 2 different categories based on 4ps. Micro Environment Macro Environment Micro Environment has been divided into 4 divisions namely Suppliers Distributors Competitors Customers Macro Environment has been divided into 5 divisions namely A) Socio Cultural Environment Factors affecting demographic structure of the population, lifestyles, attitudes, cultures, issues of public and private concerns, tastes and demands. B) Technological Environment Creates new product opportunities and improve production. C) Economic Environment It determines demand and supply chain. D) Political and legal Environment Rules, laws and regulations are operated as per the Government bodies. Ex: Smoking in public places E) Ecological Environment -Factors such as global warming, pollution, recycling, packaging etc. Macro environment with Tescos principles Socio Cultural Environment Brassington and Pettitt has given definition regarding Demographic, where he briefly explains that it is the study of the measurable aspects of population structures and profiles including factors such as age , size, gender, race, occupation and location. Tesco express has widely opened across and also outside UK to satisfy customer needs and preferences. Where in it represents strengths and weakness. There are wide range of products to satisfy all ages and all classes of people. It broadens tastes and demands according to peoples lifestyle and their expectations. If it does not satisfys then customers can lose interest and faith. Technological Environment- When an organisation uses more and more different techniques then flexibility comes into picture. Tesco express operates paperless transactions. It brings out new innovation strategies to market the product as per the existing environment. The recent one which it has introduced new way of billing system call, Till , where customers can pick, pack and invoice themselves.. This new system has given new dimensions to the customers to save an extra time. Market research is carried out on a regular basis where an organisation collects information with the respect to the customer focus Economic Environment- In this Economic environment 2 key words which handles the whole market is demand and supply. When there is a demand in the market supply increases automatically, this will have a huge impact in the business environment. They concentrate on the factors affecting economic business and monitor them in order to overcome. Political and legal Environment- Each and every organisation concentrates on the government laws, rules and regulations. Tesco Express follows strict rules and regulations and gives out warning signals to the customers. It also gives smoking free environment. Ex- Smoking is prohibited Ecological Environment- It aims to set up a greenery environment in the form of waste, packaging, recycling, and also cutting carrier bag use. It converts waste into an energy source and reduces the amount of waste going to landfill by over a third and works on waste targets scheme which are reviewed and reported every week. We have taken examples of 2 like packaging and recycling. If we take packaging with the product name called Eggs. Packaging helps to protect and preserve food for longer duration and promotes the product to reach the customers in the best condition. Recycling facilities are available in all our markets except China and Turkey. Tescos future plans are to implement recycling facilities even in respective countries as mentioned to have a global impact in the marketing environment. In UK we have 600 recycling centres of our larger stores. Last year we helped customers to recycle approximately 200,000 tonnes. Market Segmentation The identification of groups of individuals or organisations with similar characteristics that have significant implications for the determination of marketing strategy. (Jobber 2004) Segments can be defined on the basis of Tesco principles. ? Customer Satisfaction- customers can be pleased all the time because all the products are available under one proof so chances of pleasing them will be on higher note. They dont target individuals indeed they target on the whole. Customers have variety of products to choose and satisfy their preferences. Ex- Products are sold to all age groups with reasonable price and with most importantly good quality Methods of Segmentation Geographic It targets customers as per the location, country and also takes into consideration whether it is Rural and Urban. Before it opens any new branches, it undergoes market survey based on the customers potential within the respective location. It also makes sure that for which county products are produced, plans for the available resources so that can be used up to the fuller extent, different sets of people has different taste and preferences according to their lifestyle. Ex China and UK. In China people have different lifestyle as compared to UK. Demographic Once it does sets up the business by creating a layout of the geographic successfully, now the next part is to introduce product based on the marketing analysis which includes people age, sex, race, income, occupation, socio-economic status. It collects complete database and then goes forward. Surveys are conducted at regular intervals with the interest of not losing customers focus and interest. This reduces the negative impact on the organisation. Geo-Demographic Geo- Demographic is nothing but the combination of geographic and demographic. Organisation works on the purchasing behaviours of the people. Once it gathers the available date by doing research in first and second stage and then works as per the prescribed plan. Postcode systems can assist agencies in the new business development, customer profile and identification. Psychographic Tesco divides the market on the basis of life style and personality of the consumers. It targets people of all ages with their requirements. From grocery, eatables to liquor. Types of Target Marketing Need to include on the basis of Tescos target marketing with the inclusion of 4 ps. Undifferentiated and differentiated marketing. Let us talk about the Positioning of Tesco. In earlier days Tesco did not have the brand name but when sales started picking up and demand was on higher side, it did not compromise quality in order to reduce price and it is very convenient to the customers to purchase products as quality of products are available. Once customers got an idea how good Tesco is then Tesco gained its brand name. With the brand name Tesco started to experiment the products with greater profits and then it is managing the customers with great customer loyalty. Philosophy of entire marketing mix hinges with good positioning and failed to do so creates unsound positioning. Positioning Strategies Reasonable price Good quality More and variety of Products Clearance sales Weekend offers and Festive offers Keys to successful positioning are based on competitiveness, successful positioning, creditability and consistency. Repositioning of product Takes place when positioning of products declines. Change in customer tastes and preferences. New competitors enters the market Marketing Mix An Effective marketing mix Tesco compromises on price and does not compromises on quality More demand and more supply. Customers loyalty Refer http://www.cim.co.uk/filestore/resources/10minguides/marketingmix.pdf The Impact, positive and negative of the Tesco Express marketing mix Marketing mix is divided into 7ps but let us concentrate on 4 ps which as follows. Promotion Place Price Product. We will critically discus 4 ps in the following stages. Promotion Promotion is generally referred as awareness created towards the introduction of new product and also the availability of the existing product by means of selling activities and advertising. The main aim of promotion is to spread awareness of the products, uses and benefits. It helps the organisation to position their products in the market to reach customers. The effective tool of promotion of Tesco Express is in the form of television and email adverts, message should be clear and simple so that it can reach the targeted audience by creating a desired response. There are different types of promotions such as advertising, personal selling, public relations and sales promotions. Promotional strategy- One of the Tescos key strategies in the promotional activity is, Clubcard loyalty scheme where it has been a huge success and in turn their market share has been increased. This change has led them to be a market leader. They were giving best and competitive prices to the market, products like fresh vegetables, fish, chicken , mutton, beef and all sorts of necessary day to day needs which were outsourced from the farmers , fish, mongers , butchers directly. They have opened number of convenience stores in every possible place and therefore have a good appeal to a huge number of customers in the market environment. Therefore had a very huge response when they had introduced the club card plus debit card scheme. They not only target higher classes of people but also different classes of people. Introduction of Tesco finest and also budgeted version called Tesco value which is having very huge impact in all the classes of the people. Now it shows how they promote their market to reach different classes of people. Advertising- It can be defined as any paid form of non-personal promotion transmitted through a mass medium. The sponsor should be clearly identified and the advertisement may relate to an organisation, a product or a service. The key difference, therefore, between advertising and other forms of promotion is that it is impersonal and communicates with large numbers of people through paid media channels. (Ref 1) Each and every organisation will advertise for the products produced, Tesco has always gives ads saying that they sell cheapest product in the whole of UK and it is one of the cheapest selling supermarket, where they claim that the price of the products is at least a penny less than their competiting firm in the advertisement featuring Prunella scales and Jane Horrocks comparing bills between Tesco and other stores. Stringent rules has to be followed when it is giving comparative advertising as per UK governments rule and abides the body for advertising standards, the Committee of Advertising Practice as listed in the rules and regulations act. They also have different advertisement taglines called, Every little helps, We sell for less, 1 billion pounds off, is youre nearest the dearest, Low prices every day because we sell 10000 everyday. There have been many advertisement campaigns stating that their products are cheaper to their direct competitors. Personal selling and sales force- According to fill (2002, p. 16), personal selling can be defined as: An interpersonal communication tool which involves face to face activities under taken by individuals, often representing an organisation, in order to inform, persuade or remind an individual or group to take appropriate action, as required by the sponsors representative. (Ref 2) Tesco has been occupied in all the field of business with a brooder marketing strategy; as far as personal selling is concerned they do not need, since they vastly deal with day today products. The only personal selling that they follow is online shopping which is not related to this category of marketing. Sales Promotion- According to the institute of sales promotion, sales promotion is: According to the institute of sales promotion, sales promotion is: The store offers a wide range of promotional offers in various times, if they open a store they would give away vouchers having a 2 pound discount on every six pounds spent for every passerby, club card members, computer tokens for schools. Below are the examples of New Year sales promotion. Examples of the New Year promotions offers include: Danepak Maple Cure Back Bacon 220g, was ÂÂ £3.00, now ÂÂ £1.50 Extra Large Pineapple, was ÂÂ £3.00, now ÂÂ £1.50 Baking Potatoes 2.5kg, was ÂÂ £1.92, now ÂÂ £1 Dolmio Original Bolognese Pasta Sauce 750g, was ÂÂ £2.12, now ÂÂ £1.06 Princes Tuna Chunks In Brine 4X185g, was ÂÂ £5.39, now ÂÂ £2.69 Maryland Choc Chip Hazelnut Cookies 150g, was 86p, now 43p. Kelloggs Special K Oats and Honey 425g, was ÂÂ £2.87, now ÂÂ £1.40 New Covent Garden Plum Tomato Sweet Basil Soup 600g, was ÂÂ £1.97, now 98

Criticism of the Western Genre in Jim Jarmusch’s Film Deadman :: Movie Film Essays

Criticism of the Western Genre in Jim Jarmusch’s Film Deadman Jim Jarmusch’s Deadman is a complex interweaving of the rough and tough world of cowboys mixed with blatant criticism of the Western genre as well as the American lifestyle during those times in history. The separate scenes in the movie seem be collected and stringed together allowing the director to bounce between making fun of the whole Western idea to completely embracing the genre. The movie focused on William Blake (an accountant from Cleveland) and his transformation from being an ordinary man to an outlaw. Most Western movies focus on cowboy outlaws, who live by their own rules and follow their own beliefs on justice, while this film focuses on the transformation rather than the man. Jonny Depp’s character stepped into the role of being an outlaw accidentally. The use of violence is prevalent in the film, which fits the Western genre, yet at the same time, the use of guns and violence is always awkward. It’s as though it’s a foreign concept instead of a display of machismo and pride as in most Westerns. The film also has minimal displays of women and their contribution of adding a dynamic of lust and love in the testosterone driven Western genre. This film does not focus on William Blake having any attachments to family or a fiancà ©. A brief explanation is offered for the lack of femininity in the film, yet it leaves the audience wondering why the director did not deem it necessary to include this attachment in the film. Instead the few times that women are shown in the film, they are there to pleasure the males sexually. In the Western genre, women aren’t regarded as vital elements, yet at the same time their contribution is usually to play damsels in distress and show the humane side of the manly hero. In the Western genre women blatantly display the differences between Eastern and Western cultures. The social commentary in the film is overwhelming, sometimes seeming to drive the slow-paced plot. The director gives the film a dark undertone, to show the violent lifestyle of the people in the West.

Impact of Video Games in Society

A video game is an interactive computer that displays a video signal, allowing you to play thousands of games on your television or handheld video game device. (Wikipedia, Video Game) We have came a very long way since the very first type of video game console was invented by Ralph Baer in 1967. From the very first console, the â€Å"Brown Box† to the more interactive video game consoles such as the Wii, Playstation, XBOX or the handheld Nintendo DS. Regardless of which video game is being used, it has made a huge impact in life's of many children, as well as adults today.In the beginning, the games were user friendly and parents did not have much to worry about if they purchased a video game for their child. Take Pac Man for example, a very simple game where the player â€Å"Pac Man† eats dots and tries to avoid getting touched by an enemy. Now in 2012, we have games such as Call of Duty which focuses on killing members of the opposite team. As we as a society became m ore developed in technology, the video game systems became more and more high tech. For today's generation, playing a 3D interactive video game is normal.The manifest function of video game systems of today is the ability to connect the console to your television and even internet and play virtually with friends online. In 2009, it was reported by the Entertainment Software Association that nearly sixty-eight percent of households told have at least one gaming system. There are many video games aimed at children today that can be used as a learning tool. However, the amount of violent games greatly outweighs the educational ones. There are many sociological impacts from video gaming systems today.Gaming systems are a very popular way of keeping children and teenagers entertained. Teenagers and children are becoming more and more addicted to these gaming systems everyday, which could lead to many issues such as poor school work or childhood obesity. Instead of doing homework or playi ng outside as we did before video games became popular, children are spending hours a day sitting on the couch due to the addictiveness of these games. Many of the games being sold today are full violence and teaching children bad morals such as sexuality, drug trafficking and even rape. According to Dr.Craig Morrison, a professor of psychology at Iowa State University, even if children are playing games without violence, these children are forty percent more likely to show aggressive behavior after playing. The latent functions of these video gaming systems are quite clear. If we continue to allow children to play them it will lead to childhood obesity, violence as they grow older and even lack of motivation to communicate with the real world. In 2007 a sixteen year old boy in Ohio killed his own mother and shot his father simply because they took a game away from him, â€Å"Halo 3. According to the boy's lawyer, he was injured in an accident that did not allow him to go anywhere, so he focused all of his time, energy, and mostly anger on playing this video game. When his parents decided the game was too violent, they took it away, causing the boy to snap. This is just one example of how video games can unintentionally lead to violence, and in this case death. The University of Texas performed a study on the relations of childhood obesity and video games.Results were found to be that video games, due to their addictiveness were the cause of the children's overweight status, and not linked to watching television as some may argue. It was found that children with a high weight status spent more time inside and less time performing outside activities, such as sports or riding bicycles. Perhaps the parents are to blame for allowing their children to do this; however, many parents today are of the working class group, sometimes being forced to leave their children unattended to do whatever they please. Each and every video game is required to have a rating. There are seven total.Early childhood being the most non-violent and inappropriate. The rating Adults Only, requiring the purchaser to be eighteen years or older. Titles in this category usually include scenes of intense violence and or graphic sexual content and nudity. Even with the ratings, these video games are still getting into the hands of children. As our society and technology begins to grow, the problem will continue to worsen.Citations: (Iowa State University Newspaper Article) http://www. public. iastate. edu/~nscentral/news/2007/mar/vvg. shtml (Cleavlead. com Article) http://blog. cleveland. com/metro/2008/12/boy_killed_mom_and_shot_dad_ov. html

Is the Canadian Prime Minister Too Powerful A Critique

Is the Canadian Prime Minister Too Powerful A Critique Introduction Canada has one of the unique forms of governments in the developed nations and the world as a whole. According to the Constitution Act of 1867, the country is described as parliamentary democracy given the fact that the constitution provides for the democratic election of representatives to the parliament (Clark, 2010). The parliament in this country is made up of the Crown, the Senate and the House of Commons (Clark, 2010).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Is the Canadian Prime Minister Too Powerful? A Critique specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In this paper, the researcher is going to critically analyze whether it is a fact that the prime minister holds too much power. To this end, some of the advantages and disadvantages of a powerful prime minister will be looked. The reforms that are needed to give the elected representatives more power relative to the premier will also be viewed. Is the Canadian Prim e Minister Too Powerful? Yes Indeed I believe that the prime minister holds too much power. This is strange especially given the fact that the office is not enshrined in any constitutional document. But this does not stop the prime minister from assuming the role of â€Å"†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦(the) leading minister of the Crown† (Clark, 2010: p. 2). Incumbent Stephen Harper may not agree with me here, but it is evident that the majority of Canadian citizens share my opinion. An opinion poll conducted in 2008 by Nanos Research (and cited in Clark, 2010) is perhaps one of the best indicators of the attitudes of Canadians towards the PMO. The poll may have been conducted four years ago, but the findings are an essential pointer to the place occupied by the premier in the hearts of the Canadians. According to the poll, 42 percent of the citizens are of the view that the powers vested in the Office of the Prime Minister needs to be checked (Clark, 2010). The citizens think that th e office is one of the weakest links in the country’s democracy. Majority of those polled felt that the premier holds more power than other constitution offices such as the federal cabinet, the Supreme Court and House of Commons among others. So, why exactly is the prime minister regarded as one of the most influential public figures in Canada? One of the primary reasons is the fact that the incumbent takes over the constitutional role of the Crown (Jarvis Turnbull, 2012). It can be argued that the incumbent plays the most prominent role in the country’s government operations. Vast resources are at the disposal of the prime minister. For example, the incumbent has the power to appoint and dismiss the cabinet and such other institutions. A case in point is the appointment of Lloyd Axworthy as member of the cabinet by two of most notable premieres in the country’s history. These are former Prime ministers Trudeau and Chretien (Jarvis Turnbull, 2010).Advertising Looking for essay on government? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Another reason why I think the prime minister is too powerful emanates from the treatment accorded to the incumbent by both the national and international media houses. According to Clark (2010), it appears that media houses would instead get direct communication from the incumbent rather than going by what is presented by the office. Canadians also look up to the incumbent in times of crises (Jarvis Turnbull, 2010). A case in point is when the country was faced with the decision of either supporting or not supporting American invasion to Iraq. The country and the media went by the decision made by the premier not to support the Americans. There are those who argue that the prime minister is not as powerful as portrayed in the media. They argue that the incumbent does not hold absolute power given that he is controlled by the parliament and other const itutional bodies such as the Supreme Court. However, these arguments hold no sway given that the prime minister can directly control the supreme court through the appointment of the judges as well as control the parliament through the members of his party. Advantages and Disadvantages of a Powerful Premier One of the significant benefits of a powerful prime minister is the fact that government decisions can be made fast and efficiently. When the prime minister has full control over the legislative arm of the government, government bills brought on the floor of the house can be passed effectively (Clark, 2010). This may spur development especially if the bills are critical to the nation. However, a significant weakness of a powerful premier is the fact that absolute power may corrupt the incumbent. For example, the prime minister may appoint his cronies as Senators. By 2010, the incumbent had appointed 33 Senators most of who were drawn from his party. Conclusion: Reforms Necessary t o Give Other Elected Representatives More Power Relative to the Premier One such reform is making sure that Senators are elected and not appointed by the premier. This will reduce the hold that the premier has over these leaders. Another reform can involve limiting the tenure of the incumbent to two terms in office (Clark, 2010). This would have prevented premiers such as William Mackenzie from ruling for 15 years. The structure of power in the country should also be overhauled. This will ensure that power is not concentrated in the hands of a single individual such as the prime minister. This is given that such concentration makes it hard to balance and check the operations of the incumbents.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Is the Canadian Prime Minister Too Powerful? A Critique specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More References Clark, C. (2010). PMO too powerful, Canadians say. Web. Jarvis, M. D., Turnbull, L. (2012, Ma y 2). Canadian prime ministers have too much power. National Post. Retrieved from https://nationalpost.com/opinion/mark-d-jarvis-lori-turnbull-canadian-prime-ministers-have-too-much-power

Music Piracy, P2P Networks, and File-Sharing †Why It is Wrong

Music Piracy, P2P Networks, and File-Sharing – Why It is Wrong Free Online Research Papers Music piracy, mp3 downloading, p2p, file-sharing; these are many names for the same concept, stealing. Over the past couple of years music downloading has grown to be more and more popular. It has now become an American way of life and widely accepted in our culture. â€Å"Twenty percent of Americans participate in some form of music downloading activity† (Cohen, 2003). This is twenty percent too much. Music piracy has become so popular that some people are not even aware that what they are doing is wrong. It is time we start looking at music piracy for what it really is; an illegal, immoral action that has serious personal and economic consequences. Piracy has been an ongoing battle for the music industry, but hopefully one day this battle will end and music piracy will become an issue of the past. Music is a hobby, a culture, an expression, a form of therapy and a way of worship. Music is also a profession and a way in which some people earn their living. By downloading music illegally we are stealing from these people. It is like hiring people without paying them for their labor. It is as simple as this, â€Å"music lovers end up buying music† (Condry, 2004). Those who truly love and appreciate music will support the artists they love so that they can continue to make it. Most musicians do not have a second job or a second income; they rely on their fans to support them but recently those fans have been coming up short. Some people may have legitimate reasons for downloading music such as to replace already purchased music or to sample music before they purchase it, but artists should have the ultimate decision of whether or not their music gets posted (Condry, 2004). It is their right and copyright laws have been created to protect these rights. There are two copyright laws involved in the recording industry. The first one is The Copyright in the Musical Composition, in other words the ownership rights of the lyrics by either the songwriter or the music publisher. The second law is The Copyright in the Sound Recording. This law has to do with the ownership of the actual recorded song by the record company (RIAA, 2003). Artists and musicians are not the only one with rights. Everyone has the right to get paid for the work he/she does, no matter what he/she does for a living. Artists pour their heart and soul into their work in order to provide society with a source of enjoyment and recreation and they deserve to receive compensation for their work, just like anyone else would. Imagine walking through a jail cell. One side holds two intimidating, tattoo covered men; one convicted of murder and the other convicted of arson. The other side holds two educated, young looking men who do not seem like the type who could commit a heinous crime, but they did. They were both convicted of music piracy. Many people are unaware of the consequences that come with music piracy. Piracy is not just immoral, it is illegal and law enforcers are taking the act of music piracy very seriously. There are two different actions being taken depending on the severity of the piracy. The first is a fine, which can cost up to as much as $250,000. The other is imprisonment, which if convicted can be punishable by up to three years in prison (RIAA, 2003). Although these consequences are usually taken against those who run p2p and file-sharing programs and not the everyday citizens who download a couple of songs here and there, it is not unheard of. In January of 2004 the RIIA, Recording Industry of America, filed 532 lawsuits against illegal file-sharers having no mercy to who the music pirate was. Included in these lawsuits were about twenty teens (RIAA, 2003). This affair caused a big commotion in our society. It not only caused a shock but it caused a great alertness on the subject. People were finally aware of the consequences of participating in music piracy and that anyone can be caught and anyone can pay the penalties. The month of February has always been famous for its unique commercials but in 2004 Pepsi aired a commercial that became more memorable then any other commercial. This ad featured about twenty teens who were recently sued by the RIAA for music piracy. The commercial was a clever way for Pepsi to advertise its product while also supporting buying music online, rather then downloading it illegally. Pepsi along with iTunes used the recent lawsuit to promote legally downloading music off of iTunes using Pepsi products as credit towards a song. According to Mitch Bainwol, the RIAA chairman, This ad shows how everything has changed. Legal downloading is great because fans are supporting the future of creative work in America. Each teen was fined $3,000 for their actions but were able to use their Pepsi commercial fees to help pay it off (Howard, 2004). Some people question whether or not these kids learned their lesson or if being featured in a commercial only reinforced their action s. Annie Leith, one of the many teens sued by the RIAA, claimed that although she is excited to appear in a commercial, she no longer makes unauthorized downloads (Howard, 2004). â€Å"Music piracy is a delinquent form of behavior that has some negative consequences for the recording industry† (D’Astous, Colbert, Montpetit, 2005). The popularity of music downloading has been causing many problems in the music industry. People don’t realize that with every song they download illegally the music industry is hurt financially. The outbreak of music piracy is costing the music industry over 300 million dollars a year (RIAA, 2003). Not only is it costing the music industry money, but it is also costing the United States a lot of jobs. In the past three years alone, more than 900 record stores have been forced to close their doors causing many people to lose their jobs. Among there stores includes the famous Tower Records. In August of 2006, Tower Records was forced to file for bankruptcy causing them to sell their company, shut down all their stores and let go of more than 3,000 workers. This big fiasco was caused by the big decline in music sales due to an increase in downloads of online music and an increase in competition from discount retailers (Schepp, 2006). If piracy continues, it just might have a fatal effect on the music industry. It is up to society to stop piracy now before it becomes too late. Logic says that if music is available for free, no one will pay money for it and if no one is purchasing music, artists and producers will stop creating it (Condry, 2004). While the word piracy has a negative connotation is hasn’t always had negative results. According to Time magazine’s Lev Grossman, â€Å"Sure, O.K., I ripped the audio of the Shins Phantom Limb off a YouTube video. But on the strength of that minor copyright atrocity, I legally bought two complete Shins albums and shelled out for a Shins concert† (2007). Pirated music has benefited the music industry by serving as a means for advertising and promoting. There isn’t that much of a difference between pirated music and music on the radio. Pirated music has also be credited in the rise and popularity of mp3 players. â€Å"Thirty-one percent of those with household incomes over 50,000 (18 percent $75,000+; and 13 percent $50,000 to $75,000) own the devices. In households with annual incomes under $50,000, only 16 percent (9 percent $30,000-$50,000; 7 percent under $30,000) have an MP3/iPod player† (Kerner, 2005). But the question advocates raise is does this make music pirating any more legal or even moral? And the answer is very simple, no. For many years, two opposing sides have been in a continuous battle. The RIAA has been a major part of the fight against music piracy. They are working alongside federal, state and local law-enforcers to stop music pirates and their operations. The RIAA takes their work very seriously and have been very successful, convicting hundreds of music pirates every year. Metallica, a popular rock band, is well known for suing Napster, one of the biggest piracy websites. Their main goal was to put it out of business for good. Other musicians and bands such as Alanis Morisette, Christina Aguilera, Blink-182, Limp Bizkit and Dr. Dre, have also taken a stance against piracy by forming a group called Artists Against Piracy in order to educate their fans and give artists a powerful voice in the debate over technology and music (RIAA, 2003). The Internet offers music lovers virtually limitless possibilities. Digital technology brings music to a wider public, affords niche artists access to their audiences, makes our vast musical heritage widely available, and distributes old, new and unusual music at affordable prices. Unfortunately, the Internet also gives music pirates a new weapon (RIAA, 2003). Music piracy has been an issue that society has been dealing with for many years. Online music piracy, however, is a relatively new phenomenon. Times have changed and we are now living in an era of advanced technology. There has been a boost in the popularity of mp3 players, cell phones and broadband internet and a major decrease in the demand for physical media. Online services are the future of the music industry and may one day replace physical media forever (Cohen, 2003, p1). The RIAA is not only trying to stop music piracy occurring today, but they are also trying to prevent it from happening in the future. Their force of attack is to combine education, innovation, and enforcement. They believe that educating our youth about what is legal and what is illegal will help prevent piracy in the future. The RIAA is also trying to do all this while still embracing digital technology. Legitimate online music is becoming more and more available. Sites, such as iTunes, Rhapsody and Yahoo Music Unlimited, are being set up to offer people digital music at affordable prices. These sites allow people to obtain the music they want while still supporting the artists they love (RIAA, 2003). The opportunities offered by digital technology and the internet are endless. The internet is a powerful source that needs to be used wisely and with caution. The goal is to make the internet a place to nurture and embrace digital technology, and that can’t happen unless artist and record company rights are respected. Piracy is not just an issue that the United States has to deal with. Many countries around the world have been fighting their own battles against piracy too. There is a surplus of pirated music and DVDs circulating around developing countries. This is due mainly to the fact that citizens of those countries can’t afford the regular priced merchandise. In April of 2007, Brazilian police confiscated around 30,000 pirated CDs and DVDs and 200 burners (Cheng, 2007). European countries have also been places known for piracy. In 2004, Europe endured hundreds of lawsuits. But not all countries are against piracy. Japan is known for its promotion of copyright infringement because they feel it is more beneficial then harmful (Condry, 2004). Although the battle is not yet won, the music industry continues to fight for their rights and will never back down. Their goal is simple; to facilitate an environment that uses technology to open up new opportunities, while at the same time protecting the rights of artists and copyright owners (RIAA, 2003). This can only be possible with the help and cooperation of our society. In the end, it is up to society as a whole to come to the realization of what is right and what is wrong. They need to take it upon themselves to respect the rights of the artists by refusing to aid illegal websites. They need to realize that their actions come with consequences and be prepared to face these consequences. With knowledge comes understanding, and with understanding comes the power to make a difference and everyone can make a difference in the fight against music piracy. Research Papers on Music Piracy, P2P Networks, and File-Sharing - Why It is WrongHip-Hop is ArtWhere Wild and West MeetCapital PunishmentThe Effects of Illegal ImmigrationComparison: Letter from Birmingham and CritoRelationship between Media Coverage and Social andAnalysis Of A Cosmetics AdvertisementTwilight of the UAWInfluences of Socio-Economic Status of Married MalesPersonal Experience with Teen Pregnancy