HEALTH INSURANCE SECTOR IN INDIA: CURRENT SCENARIO Essay

1.1 Introduction: Health and health care need to be distinguished from each other for no better reason than that the former is often incorrectly seen as a direct function of the latter. Heath is clearly not the mere absence of disease. Good Health confers on a person or groups freedom from illness – and the ability to realize one’s potential. Health is therefore best understood as the indispensable basis for defining a person’s sense of well being. The health of populations is a distinct key issue in public policy discourse in every mature society often determining the deployment of huge society. They include its cultural understanding of ill health and well-being, extent of socio-economic disparities, reach of health services and quality and costs of care. and current bio-mcdical understanding about health and illness. Health care covers not merely medical care but also all aspects pro preventive care too. Nor can it be limited to care rendered by or financed out of public expenditure- within the government sector alone but must  include incentives and disincentives for self care and care paid for by private citizens to get over ill health. Where, as in India, private out-of-pocket expenditure dominates the cost financing health care, the effects are bound t be regressive. Heath care at its essential core is widely recognized to be a public good. Its demand and supply cannot therefore, be left to be regulated solely by the invisible had of the market. Nor can it be established on considerations of utility maximizing conduct alone.1 Health insurance in a narrow sense would be ‘an individual or group purchasing health care coverage in advance by paying a fee called premium.’ In its broader sense, it would be any arrangement that helps to defer, delay, reduce or altogether avoid payment for health care incurred by individuals and households. Given the appropriateness of this definition in the Indian context, this is the definition, we would adopt. The health insurance market in India is very limited covering about 10% of the total population. 1.2 Hypothesis: The Researcher assumes that all projections of health care in India must in the end rest on the overall changes in its political economy – on progress made in poverty mitigation (health care to the poor) in reduction of inequalities (health inequalities affecting access/quality’), in generation of employment /income streams (to facilitate capacity to pay and to accept individual responsibility for one’s health ) in public information and development communication (to promote preventive self care and risk reduction by conducive life styles ) and in personal life style changes. 1.3 Research Methodology: In this endeavour, both primary and secondary sources of data have been used to prepare the present paper. Further, it must be noted that the present paper discusses in detail the Indian position in this regard. 1.4 Object : The purpose of this paper is to study the Situation exists in a scenario where health care is financed through general tax revenue, community financing, out of pocket payment and social and private health insurance schemes. 1.5 Scope : The Scope this Research is limited to the extent of Indian position in this regard, while ignoring the foreign Scope. Chapter-2 Health Insurance: Health insurance in a narrow sense would be ‘an individual or group purchasing health care coverage in advance by paying a fee called premium.’ In its broader sense, it would be any arrangement that helps to defer, delay, reduce or altogether avoid payment for health care incurred by individuals and households. Given the appropriateness of this definition in the Indian context, this is the definition, we would adopt. The health insurance market in India is very limited covering about 10% of the total population2. The existing schemes can be categorized as: (1) Voluntary health insurance schemes or private-for-profit schemes; (2) Employer-based schemes; (3) Insurance offered by NGOs / community based health insurance, and (4) Mandatory health insurance schemes or government run schemes(namely ESIS, CGHS).3 2.1 Voluntary health insurance schemes or private-for-profit schemes: In private insurance, buyers are willing to pay premium to an insurance company that pools people with similar risks and insures them for health expenses. The key distinction is that the premiums are set at a level, which provides a profit to third party and provider institutions. Premiums are based on an assessment of the risk status of the consumer (or of the group of employees) and the level of benefits provided, rather than as a proportion of the consumer’s income. 4 In the public sector, the General Insurance Corporation (GIC) and its four subsidiary companies (National Insurance Corporation, New India Assurance Company, Oriental Insurance Company and United Insurance Company) and the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India provide voluntary insurance  schemes. The Life Insurance Corporation offers Ashadeep Plan II and Jeevan Asha Plan II. The General Insurance Corporation offers Personal Accident policy, Jan Arogya policy, Raj Rajeshwari policy, Mediclaim policy, Overseas Mediclaim policy, Cancer Insurance policy, Bhavishya Arogya policy and Dreaded Disease policy (Srivastava 1999 as quoted in Bhat R & Malvankar D, 2000) Of the various schemes offered, Mediclaim is the main product of the GIC. The Medical Insurance Scheme or Mediclaim was introduced in November 1986 and it covers individuals and groups with persons aged 5 – 80 yrs. Children (3 months – 5 yrs) are covered with their parents. This scheme provides for reimbursement of medical expenses (now offers cashless scheme) by an individual towards hospitalization and domiciliary hospitalization as per the sum insured. There are exclusions and pre-existing disease clauses. Premiums are calculated based on age and the sum insured, which in turn varies from Rs 15 000 to Rs 5 00 000. In 1995/96 about half a million Mediclaim policies were issued with about 1.8 million beneficiaries (Krause Patrick 2000). The coverage for the year 2000-01 was around 7.2 million. Another scheme, namely the Jan Arogya Bima policy specifically targets the poor population groups. It also covers reimbursement of hospitalization costs up to Rs 5 000 annually for an individual premium of Rs 100 a year. The same exclusion mechanisms apply for this scheme as those under the Mediclaim policy. A family discount of 30% is granted, but there is no group discount or agent commission. However, like the Mediclaim, this policy too has had only limited success. The Jan Arogya Bima Scheme had only covered 400 000 individuals by 1997. The year 1999 marked the beginning of a new era for health insurance in the Indian context. With the passing of the Insurance Regulatory Development Authority Bill (IRDA) the insurance sector was opened to private and foreign participation, thereby paving the way for the entry of private health insurance companies. The Bill also facilitated the establishment of an authority to protect the interests of the insurance holders by regulating, promoting and ensuring orderly growth of the insurance industry. The bill allows foreign promoters to hold paid up capital of up to 26 percent in an Indian company and requires them to have a capital of Rs 100 crore along with a business plan to begin its operations.Currently, a few companies such as Bajaj Alliance, ICICI, Royal Sundaram, and Cholamandalam among others are offering health insurance schemes. The nature of schemes offered by these companies is described briefly.5 Bajaj Allianz: Bajaj Allianz offers three health insurance schemes namely, Health Guard, Critical Illness Policy and Hospital Cash Daily Allowance Policy. – The Health Guard scheme is available to those aged 5 to 75 years (not allowing entry for those over 55 years of age), with the sum assured ranging from Rs 100 0000 to 500 000. It offers cashless benefit and medical reimbursement for hospitalization expenses (preand post-hospitalization) at various hospitals across India (subject to exclusions and conditions). In case the member opts for hospitals besides the empanelled ones, the expenses incurred by him are reimbursed within 14 working days from submission of all the documents. While pre-existing diseases are excluded at the time of taking the policy, they are covered from the 5th year onwards if the policy is continuously renewed for four years and the same has been declared while taking the policy for the first time. Other discounts and benefits like tax exemption, health check-up at end of four claims free year, etc. can be availed of by the insured. – The Critical Illness policy pays benefits in case the insured is diagnosed as suffering from any of the listed critical events and survives for minimum of 30 days from the date of diagnosis. The illnesses covered include: first heart attack; Coronary artery disease requiring surgery: stroke; cancer; kidney failure; major organ transplantation; multiple sclerosis; surgery on aorta; primary pulmonary arterial hypertension, and paralysis. While exclusion clauses apply, premium rates are competitive and high-sum insurance can be opted for by the insured. – The Hospital Cash Daily Allowance Policy provides cash benefit for each and every completed day of hospitalization, due to sickness or accident. The amount payable per day is dependant on the selected scheme. Dependant spouse  and children (aged 3 months – 21years) can also be covered under the Policy. The benefits payable to the dependants are linked to that of insured. The Policy pays for a maximum single hospitalization period of 30 days and an overall hospitalization period of 30/60 completed days per policy period per person regardless of the number of confinements to hospital/nursing home per policy period. ICICI Lombard: ICICI Lombard offers Group Health Insurance Policy. This policy is available to those aged 5 – 80 years, (with children being covered with their parents) and is given to corporate bodies, institutions, and associations. The sum insured is minimum Rs 15 000/- and a maximum of Rs 500 000/-. The premium chargeable depends upon the age of the person and the sum insured selected. A slab wise group discount is admissible if the group size exceeds 100. The policy covers reimbursement of hospitalization expenses incurred for diseases contracted or injuries sustained in India. Medical expenses up to 30 days for Pre-hospitalization and up to 60 days for post-hospitalization are also admissible. Exclusion clauses apply. Moreover, favourable claims experience is recognized by discount and conversely, unfavourableclaims experience attracts loading on renewal premium. On payment of additional premium, the policy can be extended to cover maternity benefits, pre-existing diseases, and reimbursement of cost of health check-up after four consecutive claims-free years. Royal Sundaram Group: The Shakthi Health Shield policy offered by the Royal Sundaram group can be availed by members of the women’s group, their spouses and dependent children. No age limits apply. The premium for adults aged up to 45 years is Rs 125 per year, for those aged more than 45 years is Rs 175 per year. Children are covered at Rs 65 per year. Under this policy, hospital benefits up to Rs 7 000 per annum can be availed, with a limit per claim of Rs 5 000. Other benefits include maternity benefit of Rs 3 000 subject to waiting period of nine months after first enrolment and for first two children only. Exclusion clauses apply (Ranson K & Jowett M, 2003) Cholamandalam General Insurance: The benefits offered (in association with the Paramount Health Care, a re-insurer) in case of an illness or accident resulting in hospitalization, are cash-free hospitalization in more than 1  400 hospitals across India, reimbursement of the expenses during pre- hospitalization (60 days prior to hospitalization) and post- hospitalization (90 days after discharge) stages of treatment. Over 130 minor surgeries that require less than 24 hours hospitalization under day care procedure are also covered. Extra health covers like general health and eye examination, local ambulance service, hospital daily allowance, and 24 hours assistance can be availed of. Exclusion clauses apply. Employer-based schemes. Employers in both the public and private sector offers employer-based insurance schemes through their own employer-managed facilities by way of lump sum payments, reimbursement of employee’s health expenditure for outpatient care and hospitalization, fixed medical allowance, monthly or annual irrespective of actual expenses, or covering them under the group health insurance policy. The railways, defence and security forces, plantations sector and mining sector provide medical services and / or benefits to its own employees. The population coverage under these schemes is minimal, about 30-50 million people. 2.2 Insurance offered by NGOs / community-based health insurance: Community-based funds refer to schemes where members prepay a set amount each year for specified services. The premia are usually flat rate (not income-related) and therefore not progressive. Making profit is not the purpose of these funds, but rather improving access to services. Often there is a problem with adverse selection because of a large number of high-risk members, since premiums are not based on assessment of individual risk status. Exemptions may be adopted as a means of assisting the poor, but this will also have adverse effect on the ability of the insurance fund to meet the cost of benefits.6 Community-based schemes are typically targeted at poorer populations living in communities, in which they are involved in defining contribution level and collecting mechanisms, defining the content of the benefit package, and / or allocating the schemes, financial resources (International Labour Office Universities Programme 2002 as quoted in Ranson K & Acharya A, 2003). Such schemes are generally run by trust hospitals or nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). The benefits offered are mainly in terms of preventive care, though ambulatory and in-patient care is also covered. Such schemes tend to be financed through patient collection, government grants and donations. Increasingly in India, CBHI schemes are negotiating with the forprofit insurers for the purchase of custom designed group insurance policies. However, the coverage of such schemes is low, covering about 30-50 million (Bhat, 1999). A review by Bennett, Cresse et al. (as quoted in Ranson K & Acharya A, 2003) indicates that many community-based insurance schemes suffer from poor design and management, fail to include the poorest-of-thepoor, have low membership and require extensive financial support. Other issues relate to sustainability and replication of such schemes. Some examples of community-based health insurance schemes are discussed herein: Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), Gujarat: This scheme established in 1992, provides health, life and assets insurance to women working in the informal sector and their families. The enrolment in the year 2002 was 93 000. This scheme operates in collaboration with the National Insurance Company (NIC). Under SEWA’s most popular policy, a premium of Rs 85 per individual is paid by the woman for life, health and assets insurance. At an additional payment of Rs 55, her husband too can be covered. Rs 20 per member is then paid to the National Insurance Company (NIC) which provides coverage to a maximum of Rs 2 000 per person per year for hospitalization. After being hospitalized at a hospital of one’s choice (public or private), the insurance claim is submitted to SEWA. The responsibility for enrolment of members, for processing and approving of claims rests with SEWA. NIC in turn receives premiums from SEWA annually and pays them a lumpsum on a monthly basis for all claims reimbursed. The Action for Community Organization, Rehabilitation and Development (ACCORD): Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu was established in 1991. Around 13 000 Adivasis (tribals) are covered under a group policy purchased from New India Assurance. Another scheme located in Tamil Nadu is Kadamalai Kalanjia Vattara Sangam (KKVS): Madurai. This was established in 2000 and covers members of women’s self-help groups and their families. Its enrolment in 2002 was around 5 710, with the KKVS functioning as a third party insurer. The Voluntary Health Services (VHS): Chennai, Tamil Nadu was established in 1963. It offers sliding premium with free care to the poorest. The benefits include discounted rates on both outpatient and inpatient care, with the VHS functioning as both insurer and health care provider. In 1995, its membership was 124 715. However, this scheme suffers from low levels of cost recovery due to problems of adverse selection. 2.3 Social Insurance or mandatory health insurance schemes or government run schemes (namely the ESIS, CGHS): Social insurance is an earmarked fund set up by government with explicit benefits in return for payment. It is usually compulsory for certain groups in the population and the premiums are determined by income (and hence ability to pay) rather than related to health risk. The benefit packages are standardized and contributions are earmarked for spending on health services The government-run schemes include the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) and the Employees State Insurance Scheme (ESIS). Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS): Since 1954, all employees of the Central Government (present and retired); some autonomous and semi-government organizations, MPs, judges, freedom fighters and journalists are covered under the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS). This scheme was designed to replace the cumbersome and expensive system of reimbursements (GOI, 1994). It aims at providing comprehensive medical care to the Central Government employees and the benefits offered include all outpatient facilities, and preventive and promotive care in dispensaries. Inpatient facilities in government hospitals and approved private hospitals are also covered. This scheme is mainly funded through Central Government funds, with premiums ranging from Rs 15 to Rs 150 per month based on salary scales. The coverage of this scheme has grown substantially with provision  for the non-allopathic systems of medicine as well as for allopathy. Beneficiaries at this moment are around 432 000, spread across 22 cities. The CGHS has been criticized from the point of view of quality and accessibility. Subscribers have complained of high out-of-pocket expenses due to slow reimbursement and incomplete coverage for private health care (as only 80% of cost is reimbursed if referral is made to private facility when such facilities are not available with the CGHS).7 Employee and State Insurance Scheme (ESIS): The enactment of the Employees State Insurance Act in 1948 led to formulation of the Employees State Insurance Scheme. This scheme provides protection to employees against loss of wages due to inability to work due to sickness, maternity, disability and death due to employment injury. It offers medical and cash benefits, preventive and promotive care and health education. Medical care is also provided to employees and their family members without fee for service. Originally, the ESIS scheme covered all power-using non-seasonal factories employing 10 or more people. Later, it was extended to cover employees working in all non-power using factories with 20 or more persons. While persons working in mines and plantations, or an organization offering health benefits as good as or better than ESIS, are specifically excluded. Service establishments like shops, hotels, restaurants, cinema houses, road transport and news papers printing are now covered. The monthly wage limit for enrolment in the ESIS is Rs. 6 500, with a prepayment contribution in the form of a payroll tax of 1.75% by employees, 4.75% of employees’ wages to be paid by the employers, and 12.5% of the total expenses are borne by the state governments. The number of beneficiaries is over 33 million spread over 620 ESI centres across states. Under the ESIS, there were 125 hospitals, 42 annexes and 1 450 dispensaries with over 23 000 beds facilities. The scheme is managed and financed by the Employees State Insurance Corporation (a public undertaking) through the state governments, with total expenditure of Rs 3 300 million or Rs 400/- per capita insured person. The ESIS programme has attracted considerable criticism. A report based on patient surveys conducted in Gujarat (Shariff, 1994 as quoted in Ellis R et a, 2000) found that over half of those covered did not seek care from ESIS facilities. Unsatisfactory nature of ESIS services, low quality drugs, long waiting periods, impudent behaviour of personnel, lack of interest or low interest  on part of employees and low awareness of ESI procedures, were some of the reasons cited.8 Chapter-3 Conclusion: The challenge for the Indian policy-makers is to find ways to improve upon the existing situation in the health sector and to make equitable, affordable and quality health care accessible to the population, especially the poor and the vulnerable sections of the society. It is in a way inevitable that the state reforms its public health delivery system and explores other social security options like health insurance. Implementing regulations would be one, but by no means the best mechanism to contain provider behaviour and costs. This can only be done by developing mechanisms where government and households can together pool their funds. This could be one way of controlling provider behaviour. There is an urgent need to document global and Indian experiences in social health insurance. Different financing options would need to be developed for different target groups. The wide differentials in the demographic, epidemiological status and the delivery capacity of health systems are a serious constraint to a nationally mandated health insurance system. Given the heterogeneity of different regions in India and the regional specifications, one would need to undertake pilot projects to gather more information about the population to be targeted under an insurance scheme and develop options for different population groups. Health policy-makers and health systems research institutions, in collaboration with economic policy study institutes, need to gather information about the prevailing disease burden at various geographical regions; to develop standard treatment guidelines, to undertake costing of health services for evolving benefit packages to determine the premium to be levied and subsidies to be given; and to map health care facilities available and the institutional mechanisms which need to be in place, for implementing health insurance schemes. Skillbuilding for the personnel involved, and capacity-building of  all the stakeholders involved, would be a critical component for ensuring the success of any health insurance programme. The success of any social insurance scheme would depend on its design, the implementation and monitoring mechanisms which would be set in place and it would also call for restructuring and reforming the health system, and developing the necessary prerequisites to ensure its success.

Irobot Company

g 1. 0| Executive summary| 2| 2. 0| Situational Analysis2. 1. Political factors2. 2. Economic factors2. 3. Social factors2. 4. Technological factors| 3-6| 3. 0| SWOT Analysis3. 1. Strengths3. 2. Weaknesses3. 3. Opportunities3. 4. Threats| 7-9| 4. 0| Marketing Objectives| 10| 5. 0| Targeting and Positioning5. 1. Targeting5. 2. Positioning| 11-14| 6. 0| Marketing Strategies6. 1. Product 6. 2. Price6. 3. Place6. 4. Promotion| 15-19| 7. 0| Implementation and Control| 20-21| 8. 0| Conclusion| 22| 9. 0| References| 23| 10. 0| Appendix| 24-27| TABLE OF CONTENT 1. 0. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Robot Corporation designs, manufactures, and sells a variety of robots include floor vacuuming robots, pool and gutter cleaning robots. Our marketing objectives are to continue to strengthen our brand, which is to continue having advertisement to increase band awareness in the market, to have high market shares of 20% rather than 11. 67% by December 2012, which we believe this product Cleany will very much cont ribute to the increase in market shares, and to have market expansion in different parts of the world. Our new product is the robotic dirt eating machine. It is called Cleany.It is served as a vacuum cleaner, as well as a scrubber. When the floor, sofa or bed has dirt, Cleany will help clean them up. It is round in shape and it has no sharp ends. This product is very convenient to be used. It ensures safety and cleanliness. Moreover, this product is environmental friendly, it uses solar energy to charge its battery. Our packaging focuses on the protection of the product. We use thick polystyrene to wrap our product. We want to make sure it reaches our customers doorstep without any damages. Cleany is a good quality product. It performs well and it’s durable.Irobot plans to use price skimming as our pricing strategy. From time to time, discounts of 15-20% will be given so that customers with lesser income distributions can also purchase Cleany. The budget allocated to advertis e Cleany through television, radio, magazines, and newspaper, to give sponsorship and to create event to create brand awareness in the market is RM 662,000. 2. 0. SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS 2. 1. Political Factors Tax Tax charged by government to irobot varies from different countries. The standard corporate tax rate in Malaysia is  25% since 2009, while resident small and medium-sized companies (i. . companies capitalised at MYR 2. 5 million or less and not part of a group having a company exceeding the above capitalisation threshold) are taxed at 20% on the first MYR 500,000, with the balance taxed at the 25% corporate tax rate. (TaxRate. cc, 2009-2012) But according to our financial position, tax does not very much affect our company. Employment law The legal/political aspect is very important in global marketing. â€Å"International law† can be defined as rules and principles that states and nations consider binding upon themselves. FAO Corporate Document Repository, 2009) Th ere are employment laws that we need to abide to. For example, we are not allowed to hire child labour in our workplace, we are supposed to grant our employees leave and benefits. Our employees have the right to take sick leave when they are not feeling well, we need to pay our employees extra if they are working overtime. This law has widely opened the eyes of our company. It somehow affects our company because now we know how the employment law works and how to make decisions accurately. 2. 2. Economic Factors Economic growth MIER downgrades 2011 GDP growth rate to 4. percent year-on-year. For 2012, MIER revises the GDP growth forecast to 5. 0 percent. (Suzy, 13 October 2011) Malaysia economic grows from year to year and in 2012, It will probably grow up till 5. 0 percent. During economic growth, customer’s disposable income will increase, and therefore, they have more money to spend now. This factor will most probably increase our company’s sale and cause irobot Com pany’s profit margin to increase. Inflation From time to time, there will be inflation around the world. From our pass experiences, each time there’s inflation, it will somehow affect our company.Customers may consider to not purchase our product first until their income is stable. Below is a graph on Malaysia’s inflation rate (International Monetary Fund – 2011 World Economic Outlook) In year 2010 the inflation rate in Malaysia has increase to 1. 7% from 0. 6% in 2009. Irobot is hoping the inflation to decrease in 2011 and 2012. Increased fuel price The current increased price in fuel since 2 years causes irobot Company to have a slightly lower profit margin as now we have to increase our fuel expenses. For every litre of RON 95, the actual price is RM2. 5, and the price of RM1. 90 at the pump translates to a subsidy of 85 sen, or 31% of the actual price. (Anthony, 6 October 2011) Therefore, starting from 2012, the decrease price of fuel will allow our c ompany to spend lesser on fuel which will be an advantage to the company. 2. 3. Social Factors Attitudes to work and leisure In the 21 centuary, people are all so busy with their studies, works and daily activities. This affect out company sales, as more people now purchase our products as our products are all robotic products that will assure our customers convenience. DemographicsWith the population of 27, 467, 837 residents in Malaysia, some of them have very high income distribution and it will positively affect the irobot Company. We will be able to reach higher sales revenue because the chances of them buying our products will be higher. However, we also have customers that have low income distribution. Therefore, we provide discounts at times, so that this group of customers can purchase our product when our products are on discount. 2. 4. Technological Factors Internet The ability to access to the internet grants our company a lot of advantages.We target to increase the comp any’s sale by 4% through internet sales. Earlier a person had to go to the mall to purchase a product. This is not necessary now. The products for sale can be displayed on your website and the customer can order them from home itself. The only thing that you as a seller have to do is confirm the financial transaction and deliver the goods at the place specified by the buyer. This saves a lot of expenditure both on the part of seller as well as the buyer. 2. 5. SWOT Analysis 2. 5. 1. Strength The company receives a lot of positive images and feedbacks from the consumers.The consumers are more than satisfied to work with us. These are some of the company’s strength. Customer service We make sure all of our staffs work effectively and efficiently, and make sure they are accountable of their work. Besides, we provide customers with extremely good services. The workers are given training to be nice and friendly to all consumers. We connect with and laugh with our customers, even if just for few moments. We always believe that being nice has its own rewards. With positive customer’s service, we will be able to make our customers come back.Strong financial position Our company has a strong financial position in the market. The irobot profit margin is 11. 67% this year. Our target is to reach 20% of the market share by December 2012. To achieve that target, we will have more promotions and advertisements to create stronger brand awareness in the market to attract customers to us. Above is the graph of the profit margin of irobot Corporation from year 2007-2011 (irobot Corporation (irbt), 14 November) 2. 5. 2. Weakness Apart from just strength, every company has its own weakness. The irobot Company is weak in these few ways.Realizing our weakness, we promise to improve in the near future. Product pricing The prices of irobot products are higher as compared to its competitors. Although our products qualities are up to the standard, customers might w ant to try something cheaper when there is inflation or when they have other extra expenses to spend that moment. High operating cost The operating cost of irobot is somehow quite high. This includes salaries and wages to the employees, advertising, and cost of raw material, rent, fuel cost for transportation and also all kinds of taxes. . 5. 3. Opportunities Advanced technology With the availability of wifi, Irobot manages to attract more customers. Customers can now buy our product online. It would be very convenient for our customers as they do not have to come all the way to our retail stores to purchase the product. Growth in robotic industry Study shows that the robotics industry will grow from its present $11 Billion status to upwards of $70 Billion by 2025. Therefore, in future, the demand for robot industries will rapidly increase in demand. 2. 5. 4. ThreatLower cost competitors The company has faced tremendous competitive pressure. There will be price wars existing from ti me to time where our competitors lower down the price of their products, causing us to have a lower profit margin if we also reduce the price of our products. For example, if LG vacuum cleaner decreases their price, our competitors will go to them to try their product and this will cause us to make lesser sales. Competitors Even though irobot is a well known brand but they also have threat that they need to consider.They have many competitors in the market such as LG, iClabo, and also Vbot. So we have to be ready with all kinds of technologies updates in order to stay in front of the competitors. 3. 0. MARKETING OBJECTIVES Continue to Strengthen Our Brand. We intend to continue to enhance our brand image and corporate identity. The iRobot brand is designed to communicate innovation, reliability, safety and value. Our robots’ performance and uniqueness have enabled us to obtain strong word-of-mouth that leads to increasing brand awareness.We intend to continue to invest in our marketing programs to strengthen our brand recognition and reinforce our message of innovation, reliability, safety and value. Higher market shares The irobot Corporation currently holds 11. 67% of the profit margin in the market. Its aim is to achieve a higher market share of 20% by December 2012. Market expansion Our objective is to expand our leadership not only in Australia, but in more countries such as the US, Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Africa and many other countries in designing and building practical robots and in developing robotic technology. . 0. TARGETING AND POSITIONING 4. 1. Targeting Targeting strategies Instead of going after a small share of a large market, irobot Company chose to go after large share of few submarkets. The submarkets that we chose are the busy working people and also upper class families. We plan to focus only on two segments because we know that through concentrated marketing, firm will possibly achieve strong market position in the segment that it serve because it has greater knowledge of the segments. In this way, there will also be specialization in production, distribution and promotion.Instead of going after a small share of a large market, our company chose to go after large share of few submarkets. The submarkets that we have chosen are people who are always busy working and the upper class families. We plan to focus only two segments because we know that through concentrated marketing firm will possibly achieve strong market position in the segment that it serve because it has greater knowledge about what two three segments need and want. In this way, there will also be specialization in production, distribution and promotion. Below are few segments that we are targeting.Demographic Segmentation This product is made for both genders, female and male. It is made for all group ages, right from young working adults, to adults, to middle aged people and finally, senior citizen. Both male and female eat chocolate. And peop le with different age groups eat chocolate as well. This product is made for any religion as all religion can eat chocolate. It is also made for people with occupation that are busy working and has high income. Psychographic Segmentation Market is divided into different groups based on social class. We are targeting those upper class families.Looking into the personality characteristic, Cleany is mainly made for busy people. Geographical Segmentation This product is basically marketed to all busy states, regions, and cities in Malaysia where there are more people living in For example, Kuala Lumpur and Malacca. This product is also marketed to different western countries such as Spanish, United States, Australia and New Zealand and also to the Asian countries like Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Korea. Behavioral Segmentation When this product is launched, we would expect people to have certain significant knowledge about our product.We also want customer to have good attitude towards our pr oduct. When they use our product, they will have a good perception about our product. They will give good response to our product. Once they have tried our chocolate, they will introduce our product to their families, friends and colleague and will even think of purchasing it again in the future. This product will grant them ease when they have no time to vacuum their house. Benefits Segmentation Customers nowadays want to look for things that can lighten their burden. Cleanny can absolutely lighten their burden by just needing them to press a button.And the floor, bed and sofa will be all cleaned. 4. 2. Position We want customers to have a perception that our product is a high quality product, a product that can be trusted, and a product that is of reasonable price. We want to be above our competitors in the mind of all our consumers and we want them to be more than satisfied when they use our product and to come back to us and buy them. Besides, they will also recommend our produc t to their friends. In order to be different in the market, we make sure that we position our product in three different ways.Product differentiation, service differentiation and also channel differentiation. Product Differentiation Our product is different than our competitors. It serves as a vacuum cleaner and also a scrubber. When there are dirt on the floor, Cleany will suck up all dirt and when there are small unwanted particle that is sticked to the floor, Cleany will help scrub them off until it is clean again. Apart from that, Cleany does not require electricity. It uses solar energy as a power resource. Service Differentiation Our company produces delivery service.We always believe that the more services we offer, the more satisfied the consumers, the more consumers we will get. After all, all we want to do is to satisfy our consumers’ needs and wants. Whenever consumers want to place an order they can just give our company a call, and we will send them the product t hrough speedy, careful and convenient delivery. Consumers can also place their order online. This will be so much easier for them. They can purchase the product anytime they want. Channel Differentiation In business point of view, we have to be different in order to win our onsumer over our competitors, we tried our very best to be different and to be outstanding, so that we will be win the hearts of our consumers and have good relationship with them. We employ expertise to advertise our product to the market to create brand awareness, to make sure most of the people in the market have heard of our product. We make sure our product will work well and consumers will be satisfied using them. Other than that, we do carry out cause-related marketing (Charity). We give food to the homeless. We sometimes send our people to visit the old folk’s home. Positioning strategiesThe irobot has chosen two positioning strategies to follow. Product attributes Cleany offers several benefits to the user. first of all, this product is so unique. It works as a machine that helps to clean. With just a button, house works are now so much easier. Customers do not need to sweep and mop the floor. When the side of this product touches any hard surfaces, it will automatically change direction. Away from competitors Our product is made away from the competitors. Normally vacuum cleaner works manually where someone has to hold it and move it to places that need to be cleaned.Normally, someone has to scrub the floor using brush. With the existence of this product, customers do not have to worry about cleaning the floor, the sofa, and the bed. 5. 0. MARKETING STRATEGIES 5. 1. Product 5. 1. 1. Product Features The robotic dirt eating machine (Cleany) looks like this. It is round and it has no sharp ends. 5. 1. 2. Product Benefits Convenience Cleany works as a vacuum cleaner as well as a scrubber. This product makes it very convenient for the customers as the customers do not have to v acuum or to mop the floor themselves. By just pressing a button, this product does it all for them.This product can be used on the floor, on the bed also also on the sofa. Customers that have busy schedule will really fall in love with this product. Cleanliness This product will ensures floor, beds and sofas to be clean, shiny and makes dirty stains to leave. When liquid are spilled on the floor, the dirt eating machine will help wipe it clean. When there are small unwanted particles that are sticked on the floor, this product will help to scrub it out. Safety When we produce this product, we make sure that it is not dangerous and it will not hurt people.That is why this product does not have any sharp ends. It is made round in shape so that it can be safely used. Therefore, customers that have children at home will be able to feel at ease to use our product. Environmental friendly This product is environmental friendly. It works on solar energy. In order to fully charge its battery , customers have to just put this machine under the sun for 30 minutes. This product helps customers to save electricity. Warranty If the dirt eating machine is spoilt within 2 years of purchase, irobot will provide a free machine to our customers.But so far, we have not come across any cases like this for other products irobot produces. 5. 1. 3. Product Labelling and Packaging Product packaging is the activities of designing and producing the container or wrapper for a product. Our product packaging will be based on: Product protection Our packaging concept is to mainly offer product protection. The product will be wrapped with polystyrene and be placed in thick brown recycled boxes to prevent any damages while product is sent to each stores and customers. We are using recycle boxes because we are focusing more on environmental concerns.Using methods Outside of the packaging, there will be instructions on how this product should be used. Customers can always read them first before starting to use this product to ensure they know exactly how this product works. 5. 1. 4. Product Quality Good performance Cleany performs very well and we often have good feedbacks from customers that have purchased some other products from our company. First of all, it works very quickly. Apart from that, it is easily used. Customers have to just press buttons and it will work on its own. Durable Cleany is an extremely durable product.It could last customers for years if taken care in proper way. This product is very hard and tough. This does not break or crack easily. Therefore, customers can feel calm using it. 5. 2. Price Price is the amount of money charged for a product or service. Price skimming We are going to use price skimming as our pricing strategies. This is to establish a quality brand image in the market. We are going to set higher price for this product to attract the least price sensitive market segments. From time to time, discounts will be given to our customers, probably about 15%-20% of the normal price.The reason why we do not use penetration pricing is because we do not want customers to have the perception that our product is a low quality product. Therefore, using price skimming, we have decided to set our product at RM539. Customers can either make their payment by cash or by credit card. Although there is a risk we are taking, as this product might not establish too much profit for the company in the beginning, but we believe as customers start using it, they will see all kinds of benefits the dirt eating machine provides and this good news will be spread by word-of-mouth.Also, by strong promotion and aggressive advertising, our products will be widely sold to the market. 5. 3. Place Distribution channel Most businesses use third parties or  intermediaries  to bring their products to market. irobot Company contains one intermediary. The suppliers will send their products to the retail store, and the retail store then sell the go ods to the final consumers. We do not have wholesale in between so that we could save cost so that the price of our products will not increase. Coverage The type of coverage that the irobot Company is using is the selective distribution characteristics.The dirt eating machine is a shopping good where it can be found in quite a number of outlets in Malaysia. Outlets that are chosen are all of the Jaya Jusco in Malaysia, 9 of the Giants in Malaysia and also 11 of the Tescos’ in Malaysia. Transport Lorries will be used in order for manufacturers to transport their products to all retail shops. And from retails stores to customers, we will post the products to their house using Post Laju. Location Irobot Companies are normally built at places where they know they are going to make profit. Stores that do not meet the requirements are closed down.Therefore, only the most profitable stores survive. 5. 4. Promotion Advertisings We have all kinds of advertising in the market such as T elevision ( Astro, TV8, NTV7 ), Magazines (CLEO, Autoworld Emzime, Chip Malaysia), Newspaper (The Star, Berita Harian, Sin Chew Daily), Radio (Hitz Fm, My FM, Mix Fm, light and easy FM) and also billboard in different places in Malaysia. The irobot company does not mind spending money on advertisement because we believe it’s an investment. We spend money to make more money. Once Cleany is able to create strong brand awareness, that’s when our money comes back.We have spent RM602, 000 through all many kinds of advertising to get our product known. Internet activities We have several internet activities. We have our own irobot website which is irobot. com. We have all the updates of our product in that website. Besides, we also have made a Facebook page that we place the price and our product updates there as well. We know that internet is a very efficient way to reach our customers. Events and sponsors Every year we will lay aside RM20, 000 for events and sponsors. Ever y year, in the month of July, we will carry out social events in colleges, children’s home, and old fox home.We also give out sponsor to companies that needed them. Exhibitions We will carry out exhibitions and our employees take down the names and the email address of people who come to the exhibition because we know that those people that come, they are interested in our product. We will email them about the updates of our products, when will we be launching new products, and also when will we have discounts for our products. To promote our company and also to make our products known to the market, we have spent a total of RM662, 000 in year 2011. 6. 0. IMPLEMENTION AND CONTROLTask| Description| Person in charge| Date to complete| 1. | Meeting on how marketing programme will be carry out. | All marketing department staffs| 20/11/2011| 2. | Advertise the new product on television during peak time on Astro, TV8 and NTV7. | Peter| 21/1012011| 3. | Advertise the dirt eating mac hine (Cleany) on The Star, Berita Harian and Sin Chew Daily newspaper for 2 days per week, which are Friday, Saturday and Sunday. | Derek| 21/10/2011| 4. | Advertise new product on Hit, My, Miz and light and easy FM Radio daily. | Isabella| 23/11/2011| 5. | Advertise on magazines. Paul| 24/11/2011| 6. | Carry out event. | Lucy & Michael| 27/11/2011| 7. | Give out sponsor. | Krystle| 12/12/2011| Irobot Company Marketing Programme irobot Company Budget Activity| Budget (RM)| 1. Advertising CampaignTelevision ( Astro, TV8, NTV7 ) Magazines Newspaper (The Star, Berita Harian, Sin Chew Daily)Radio (Hitz Fm, My FM, Mix Fm, light and easy FM) Billboard | RM 550,000RM 8,000RM 35,000RM 7,000RM 2,000| Public Relation – Events and sponsorship| RM 20,000| Sales Promotion (Discounts, vouchers, rebates, free gifts)| RM 40,000| Total| RM 662,000| 7. 0.CONCLUSION In order to successfully sell our products in the market, marketing plan has to be carried out. Company has to plan and discuss in advance about what they want to achieve, whether is it possible to achieve, how are they going to achieve it, and by when are they going to achieve it. Marketing plan is one of the most important tools that a company can use to be successful in the market. The irobot uses concentrated targeting strategy where we go after a large share of a few submarkets. We are targeting the busy working people and also the uppler class families.We believe that Cleany will make it to the market and will bring brand awareness of the company, will product profit for the company and will increase company sales. 8. 0. REFERENCES 1. irobot corporation (irbt) 7 November 2011. Irobot corperation profit margin Available at URL: http://ycharts. com/companies/IRBT/profit_margin [Accessed 5 November 2011] 2. irobot corporation 2011. Company milestone Available at URL: http://www. irobot. com. my/company-milestones. html [accesed 7 November 2011] 3. Jim Riley September 2009. Distribution – introduction Available at URL: http://tutor2u. net/business/marketing/distribution_introduction. asp [Accessed 5 November 2011] 4. Malaysia Monetory fund 2011, Malaysia inflation rate Adopted from URL : http://www. indexmundi. com/malaysia/inflation_rate_(consumer_prices). html [Accessed 15 November 2011] APPENDIX Through this report, I have learnt several things. I have learned that every single company has factors that will either positively or negatively affect the company such as political, economic, social and technological, environmental and legal factors.As a company, we have to always take notes of these factors as it can sometimes be an opportunity to the company or a threat to the company. This report helps me open my eyes to the SWOT analysis that every company has to know of. As a company, we have to know what are our strengths and weaknesses are, the opportunities around us, also the threats that might bring harm to the company. Once we get to know our strengths, we can be better in what we are good at. For example, the location of our business is good. In future, when we were to open another branch in the market, we would think and make good decisions on better locations.Once we get to know our weaknesses, we can always find ways to improve and to be better in areas that we are weak in. For example, our company is lack of marketing expertise. Then, our company should send our employees for marketing training. When we know what our opportunities are we have to grab hold of it and not let it go. For example, the availability of the internet nowadays, if we are able to make use of it, creating a company’s website or allowing customers to buy products online, then it will help generate profit for the company, at the same time, it helps create stronger brand awareness.As for threats, when we know exactly what the threats that we face are, we can avoid it. For example, the price of raw material in a country increases. We can turn the threats into opportuniti es by purchasing raw materials from countries that are selling them at a cheaper price for example, China. Besides that, i have learned so much more about target marketing and positioning as I look into details every single part of it. Target marketing involves breaking a market into segments and then concentrating your marketing efforts on one or a few key segments. Positioning is how you ifferentiate your product or service from that of your competitors. Positioning helps establish your product's or service's identity within the eyes of the customers. Without the knowledge of targeting and positioning, marketer cannot market their product in the market well. It will bring bad effects to the company. Company will not be able to understand the market. They will not know which segments are measurable, accessible, substantial, differentiable and also actionable. Moreover, they will not know which market segment to target in order to get most of the customers.Without knowing how to pos ition their product, they will lose their place in the market sooner or later. They will lose out in the market. This is because other marketers know what targeting and positioning are and have applied it to their product and company. To have an effective and efficient marketing plan, we have to make marketing strategies that are good. We have to be good and try as much as we could to be different in the 4P’s that are product, price, place and promotion. This is because, when the 4P’s are not good enough, customers will not be attracted to us.Instead, they will turn to our competitors. We have to be different and unique in our products features, we have to make our products provide benefits to our customers, the packaging and the labelling of our products should be interesting to be able to attract our customers over from our competitors, and that the quality of our product should be good so that customers will think that our product is worth the price. Apart from just the product features, the price of the product is another main thing that we should consider. Imagine wanting to buy something that you like, but it’s extremely expensive.You would think of other alternatives rather than really purchasing that particular product. The third P Is the place of the company that sells the product. It should be located at places that have potential customers. Also, the types of intermediaries used. We can choose between one, two, three or four depending of the types of products that we are selling and how many intermediaries that we want to have. As for promotion, we can have various kinds of promotion in order to attract customers to us. We can sometimes give out discount and promotions in ways of vouchers, and free gifts to our customers.This is actually for short term sales. We can also carry out events, charity works, give out sponsors. In order to finish this report, I have read through each and every page of my lecturer’s note so that I would not miss any important thing out. I realized I have learn so much more about marketing plan compared to before. Previously, I had no idea that political, economic, social and technological factor can affect a company. Now I know that all these factors are important for a company to take note of, so that they could avoid harmful factors. Previously, I did not know that being different in the market is so important.Now I know, in order to win customers away from our competitors, we have to stand out in the market. I am really grateful and thankful to my lecturer of her lecturer that she has always wrote extra notes on the whiteboard to make sure we understand what she’s teaching and that she had taught us well. When I’m studying the other marketing modules, I have noticed that what my lecturer teaches me, I have heard of it before, I have studied a bit of it before. I realized that it helped me get better understand of my other marketing modules as well because they are almost about the same.

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Dry Bones - Essay Example It would also seem that this subject may have been a victim of an accident with the hole occurring in the frontal lobe which is just under the browline. This person could also have been a subject of a lobotomy with respect to psychiatric assessment to deal with dementia. The scapular spine differences where the spine supports the acromion process; it divides the posterior surface of the scapula into a supraspinatous fossa and an infraspinatous fossa which may mean that this person was a deformed person through the shoulder bone malformities. Judging from the size of the femur bone, which gives us the approximate height of the person, being adult or child, it would seem that this was of an adolescent and quite possible pre-pubescent based on the narrow pelvis and outlet being small means that this was a female subject prior to any childbirth. Since the bone density is heavy, this subject has not been afflicted with any forms of osteoporosis which generally happens upon the onset of middle age or for women, during menopause.

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Vampire and supernatural power Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

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Qatar was the best choies to host the world cup in 2022 - Essay Example The world cup is the world’s biggest sporting event and the potential of the sport changing its legacy in Qatar is clearly evident. The country boosts 12 venues that can revolutionize the world’s most followed sport. All the stadiums will harness the power of the sun’s rays to provide cool environment for players and fans by converting solar energy into electricity that will be used to cool both fans ad players. In addition, when there will be no matches being played in the stadiums, the solar installations in the stadium will export energy onto the power grid but when the matches are being played, the stadiums will be supplied with energy from the grid. This is the strongest point for the stadiums carbon neutrality (Farah, par 1). The world cup is always held in summer. During this time, the Qatar’s temperature reaches almost 40 degrees Celsius. The high temperatures are the Qatar’s number one selling point. With their riches and technological advancements, Qatar is planning to control the temperatures within the various stadiums. There are also plans to upgrade their sleeves as well (Ballantyne, par 1). Consequently, five stadia had already been proposed as early as March, 2010. The various stadia will employ cooling technology capable of reducing temperatures within the stadium up to 20 degrees Celsius. The cooling technologies will also be used in fan zones, training pitches and walkways between metro stations and the stadiums. Further, Qatar boasts several stadia. Qatar university stadium is capable of hosting about 43,500 persons. The stadium has intricate golden patterns to reflect the true beauty and extravagance of Arabian culture. The stadium is also based on the outskirts of the capital city, Doha. Its modern and world class facilities will be capable of hosting the demands of football’s most elite players (Farah, par 1). Other stadia planned for use in Qatar include Al-Khor Stadium which is located

Social network security is seriously threatened Dissertation

Social network security is seriously threatened - Dissertation Example The paper has gone to an inch to determine the level of importance is given to the privacy setting and its resultant security and safety. The results revealed that users of SNS, though considers that matter significantly important; however, have limited information about the dimensions from where these privacy fences are broken. The paper also concludes that despite understanding of a considerable level about the lacking strength of privacy setting of the SNS, the users still post information as established by Lee, Park, and Kim (2013).Furthermore, users of SNS have dominant view to stop limit the usage of SNS for sharing private information once the understanding of the malware is developed. TABLE OF CONTENTS WOULD SOCIAL NETWORK INTERCONNECTION THREATEN USER’S PRIVACY? 1 ABSTRACT 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS 3 1. INTRODUCTION 5 2. LITERATURE REVIEW 8 2.5. CHALLENGE 14 3. METHODOLOGY 16 4. DATA ANALYSIS 19 6. LIST OF REFERENCES 32 7. APPENDIX 37 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1. Background Social media has taken the driven seat in the current era of technology. ... here users are more deeply connected than ever before without any limitations, in most cases, as depicted below: (Merrill et al., 2011) In addition to the array of benefits that social media offers to range of users including individual, public figures as well as businesses, social media is also complimented with the risks and issues. Kirkpatrick (2011) in the book, The facebook Effect, has noted that social media has changed the entire phenomenon of interaction. The impact of social media has gone to an extent that it is driving the character of political figure as well as the democratic process. For instance, the presidential campaign of Obama employed data mining, analytics and reporting program under the leadership of Rayid Ghani, a Pakistani former employee of Chicago’s Accenture Technology Labs which in turn resulted in Obama wining an election with head to head margin (Imam, 2013). The analytical and data mining tools employed in the campaign for Obama and other individ ual and businesses at one end benefits the user but at the same time it also threatens risk to the privacy of the account holders of social networking sites (SNS). Lee, Park, and Kim (2013) claim that SNS users have awareness of the security, privacy and other types of risks associated with SNS but sharing of contextual information on SNS is more induced by the perceived benefits from these sites. 1.2. Aims and Objectives Having mentioned the risks that are associated with the SNS sites, the paper herein aims to develop the review of the awareness level about the intensity of the risks from SNS interconnection. Therefore, the research has set forth the following objectives for the study: Exploring the types of the risks that are associated with the interconnection of the Social Networking Sites.

Enterprise Technologies and the Value Chain Research Paper

Enterprise Technologies and the Value Chain - Research Paper Example Opportunities to identify these benefits can be realized via examining the organization’s value chain. Enterprise Technology Mobile business refers to electronic business transactions enabled, in part, by mobile technology targeting both consumers and businesses (Hill & Jones, 2011). The mobile business includes mobile commerce activities that represent mobile technology-enabled transactions. Mobile technologies that support mobile businesses are grouped as networks and devices. Mobile devices can range from GPS and RFID chips to tablets and barcode scanners. Mobile networks include RFID, Bluetooth, GPS and mobile telecommunication networks. These are utilized, by organizations, to offer customization and flexibility. Unlike e-commerce, M-business offers value via enabling users to be reachable anytime and be mobile. Therefore, value creation can occur via support to mobile users (employees) or mobile activities such as tracking supplies and raw materials. An industry trend th at is growing is Fixed Mobile Convergence where centralized infrastructure and management support a mobile workforce that provides access to business applications from all locations and network connections (Hill & Jones, 2011). ... The employees may want to interact with fellow employees and may be on the receiving end of interactions with both external and internal information systems. An example of a business application useful here is the wireless notification system using SMS for critical updates. The wireless interactions possible are employee-to-employee, employee to the system, and employee to consumer (Meier & Stormer, 2011). The systems are run by organizations as either a front-end or back-end systems. An example of this is an employee using wireless business’ ERP system, with the potential mobile interactions being a system-to-system, system to the employee, and system to consumer. The final component supported is the consumer, who may interact wirelessly with the organization. The potential interactions include consumer-to-consumer, consumer to the employee and consumer to system. The unique attributes of mobile technology offer support to the organization’s value chain by providing localization, personalization, and connectivity (Meier & Stormer, 2011). A mobile infrastructure enables employees to have full time connectivity anywhere and at any time, coupled with information and communication exchange. A mobile device is assigned to one user, who can then personalize application and interface settings to increase device satisfaction and also effectiveness and efficiency of the system. Finally, mobile devices support localization, which is especially important as it allows reachability from the ability of the internet to reach an IP address to reaching the user or an item.  Ã‚  

Caring for Individuals with Additional Needs Essay Example for Free

Caring for Individuals with Additional Needs Essay In this task the explanation of why individuals may experience additional needs will be provided. There are 4 main categories of disability. I will list them and also give an example of each category and also say if the disability is physical, cognitive or sensory. Physical meaning having problems with strength or co-ordination within caused by having an accident or an inspection. Cognitive meaning a person having problems with learning and understanding everyday things. Sensory – this can be a problem with learning through sight, taste, smell, touch and hearing. Basically this has to do with the five senses. The categories are: Genetic (from a family member through blood) – Sickle cell is contracted through either parent (mother/father) who has the trait. This trait can be passed on to the child or children. If the father has a trait and the mother has a trait, the child can get the full trait. This category is physical. Accidental – accidents can cause disability e. g. a person driving a car and accidentally hits down a person walking in the road; this can cause major damage to this person. The person could be paralyzed for life. This category is physical and could also be cognitive because this person could have hit his/her head and ended up being brain damage. The brain damage can lead to this person losing most of the knowledge he/she had before and have to start learning all over again. Developmental – can be caused be a pregnant woman having difficulty in the womb or during birth. A child can develop disability while growing up for example contracting Meningitis. Possible complications that can be caused are hearing loss, learning disability or problem with co-ordination and balance. This category can be sensory, physical or cognitive. Environmental – can be caused by working in a place where there is lots of dust or even smoking can cause a person to develop asthma or other infections. This category can be physical.

Core Values and Concept at Pals Sudden Service

Core Values and Concept at Pals Sudden Service It sells hamburgers, hot dogs, chipped ham, chicken, French fries, and beverages as theyll as breakfast biscuits with country ham, sausage, and gravy. It can easily distinguish itself from fast-food competitors by delivering competitively priced food of consistently high quality, delivered rapidly, cheerfully, and without error. Pals is the first business in the restaurant industry to receive a Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. The performance excellence goals and criteria for the Malcolm Baldridge Quality Award offer a formalized program that defines, measures, and rewards organizations who exemplify the principles of an organization that is actively taking step and reaping the results of being a high-performing organization. Visionary Leadership Pals Senior Leaders (Chairman and President/ CEO) set their Vision and Values annually as part of their strategic planning process after carefully analyzing the market environment and actively seeking input from all stakeholders. Senior Leaders personally lead, monitor, and coach the Pals Leadership Team in interpreting their Vision and Values. Leadership is sharply in tune with customer preferences and organizational needs. Senior Leaders communicate with employees throughout the organization by: Using the Pals Communication/Feedback Process, frequently being present at the restaurants Employing an open-door policy, providing easy access to all Senior Leaders for the entire staff, reading and responding to employee e-mails, and being easily accessible by phone or e-mail. The impact on Pals organization from this leadership-driven, full stakeholder involvement approach has been rapid improvement actions, standardized processes, ongoing organizational learning, employee development, a proactive culture, and high-value business results. This employee engagement practice creates and reinforces an environment for participation, employment, and innovation. It also drives organizational agility and organizational and employee learning. Besides, the leadership team uses the Strategic Planning Process to set direction and pursue future opportunities for the business while using inputs from all key stakeholders (e.g., customers, store owner/operators, general staff, suppliers/partners), taking into account their needs and expectations. This process is used to define, align, review, and maintain a Corporate Mission Statement, Vision Statement, Key Business Drivers, Values Code of Ethics, and action plans. Through these strategic outputs, Pals Leadership Team maintains clear values, high performance expectations, and a keen focus on all stakeholder needs. Senior leaders and store owner/operators communicate and interpret these at each organizational level to define organizational, store, and individual responsibilities and to identify opportunities for learning and innovation. Innovation is driven through the Product/ Service/ Process Introduction Process. Senior leaders personally lead cross-functional teams through this systematic approach for developing new or modified products, services, or processes. Senior leaders personally lead cross-functional teams through this systematic approach for developing new or modified products, services, or processes. Leadership Team members adopted the On-line Quality Control Process (Figure 4) and routinely review its application of best practices to achieve high performance and excellence in Pals operational and support processes. This ensures consistent adherence to procedures, standards, and targets. Organisational Personal Learning The impact on Pals organization from this leadership driven, full stakeholder involvement approach to deployment has been rapid improvement actions, standardized processes, ongoing organizational learning, employee development, a proactive culture, and high value business results. Leaders create a sustainable organization by: Investing in the future by developing the people to ensure that they will be able to always meet future needs and requirements Employing a progressive capital reinvestment plan Pals brand-building Actively listening and staying tightly aligned with their customers and their needs, Building a strong and healthy supply chain, Helping the communities where they operate to grow and prosper. Pals has a process for everything organizational and operational. There are always new product introductions to hiring decisions to the design of support processes and work systems. Key learnings are captured and shared throughout the organization using the Communication/Feedback Process and the On-line Quality Control Process. Pals market research seeks comparative information relating to key issues such as (1) customers likes or dislikes concerning Pals or specific Pals competitors, and (2) reasons a particular restaurant is selected as a favorite. They analyze the comparative data for trends and shifts in buying patterns to identify needed changes in their business strategy and to target other potential customer groups and future markets. Key customer requirements and drivers of purchase decisions are determined from the application of the following listening and learning methods: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Telephone interviews à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Mall interviews à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Drop-in surveys à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Mail-in surveys à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Marketing By Wandering Around (MkBWA), à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ On-site interviews à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ user-based surveys Pals frontline staff training program includes intense instruction on effective listening skills. These skills are not only critical for high performance on the food preparation line (required for order accuracy, speed, and customization), but are also beneficial for gathering valuable customer information about needs, expectations, and satisfaction (as post transaction feedback). Through the Plan-Do-Study-Act improvement cycle they conduct small-scale pilot efforts to evaluate and improve their processes for listening to and learning from customers and their ability to understand changing customer needs and buying habits. In addition, they measure and evaluate the overall effectiveness of their customer listening and learning approaches by checking the validity of their market research, customer surveys, and results against operational data, industry trends, and competitor information. They also evaluate how they are doing against their customer-focused strategic objectives by benchmarking their Key Business Drivers against competitors. Moreover, Pals staff members (from hourly worker to senior leader) have continual learning ingrained into their basic approach to performing work. They participate regularly on improvement and learning teams where brainstorming and consensus-building sessions enable them to identify problems or opportunities for improvements, analyze processes, and recommend solutions. This experience builds individual confidence, provides skills in problem solving and continual learning, and motivates employees to develop and utilize their full potential. Valuing Employees and Partners Pals aims to provide the quickest, friendliest, most accurate service available. Achieving this objective is a real challenge in an industry with annual employee turnover rates of more than 200 percent. The companys success in reducing turnover among front-line production and service personnel, who are between the ages of 16 and 32, has translated into a competitive advantage. The companys training processes support improvement in operational and business performance with the aid of benchmarking studies. Owner/operators and assistant managers have primary responsibility for staff training. They use a four-step model: show, do it, evaluate, and perform again. Employees must demonstrate 100 percent competence before they are certified to work at a specific work station. Initial training for all employees includes intensive instruction on effective listening skills. In addition, in-store training on processes, health and safety, and organizational Culture is required for new staff at all facilities via computer-based training, flash cards, and one-on-one coaching. Cross-training is required of all store-level staff to ensure their complete understanding of all production and service procedures as well as quality standards. Recognizing that most of its front-line workers are first-time entrants into the labor force, Pals management believes it has responsibility to help its workers develop knowledge and skills that can be applied in future jobs. This approach, along with competitive wages and financial incentives, has made the restaurant chain a desirable place to work for high school and college students. Pals has leveraged its reputation by implementing a statistically controlled, talent-based hiring system that helps managers identify applicants with attributes associated with effective job performance and customer satisfaction. In their work environment, where their staff meets the customer face-to-face, they employ effective job designs and a flexible work organization to encourage cooperation, collaboration, individual initiative, responsibility, and innovation. The staff at each Pals facility is organized into process. They also performed extensive market research to pinpoint customer requirements: convenience; ease of ingress and egress; easy-to-read menu; simple, accurate order system; fast service; wholesome food; and reasonable price. This data has been used to translate their key customer requirements into Key Business Drivers. Customer requirements are linked to clearly define operational processes, procedures, and systems that are continually monitored to ensure that they are meeting customer requirements. They maintain on-going communications links to their customers so that they can listen to how well they think they are meeting their needs. They also listen to learn if customer needs are changing or if new needs have arisen. Pals has three key suppliers/partners who provide the majority of their raw materials. Focusing their supplier/partner base on just three vendors has reduced product variability. It has also allowed them to develop a more positive relationship with each supplier/partner with whom they have established long-term, mutually beneficial partnerships. They work with suppliers to design in quality, value and their unique flavor profile. The Key Business Drivers are mainly: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Quality of products, service, and process à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Service à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Cleanliness à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Value à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ People à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Speed Customer Excellence Customer-driven excellence is a strategic concept imbedded in the Baldrige Award Criteria. Pals uses the industry-proven standard method of segmenting by age, gender, income, and proximity to the store location for analyzing buying patterns and defining expectations. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Age à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Gender à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Income à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Proximity Product quality, hospitality, accuracy, and speed are important factors to their customers. Pals has solidified its already strong market position on product and service performance by realizing improvement in each of these customer-linked critical areas. Pals performance in customer-rated results for food quality, service (hospitality, convenience, ease of access, menu board readability), and accuracy are consistently improving. These product and service outcomes are a direct reflection of Pals ability to understand the voices of customers and the market and to address them with menu design, pricing strategy, sudden service performance, and proactive customer contact standards. Pals order handout speed has improved more than 30 percent since 1995, decreasing from 31 seconds to 20 seconds, almost their times faster than its top competitor. Errors in orders are rare, averaging less than one for every 2,000 transactions. The company aims to reduce its error rate to one in every 5,000 transactions. In addition, Pals has consistently received the highest health inspection scores in its market and in the entire state of Tennessee. Through the Plan-Do-Study-Act improvement cycle, they are able to continually evaluate and improve their processes for listening to and learning from customers by assessing how have understood changing customer needs and buying habits. Through small-scale pilot efforts, the Customer Listening and Learning Process are continually evaluated and improved. Customer complaints are tracked at the store level on an Opportunity Log and then aggregated at the company level to indicate trends. This critical-incidents information is used to understand key service attributes from the point of view of customers and frontline employees. Also, as part of their market research, they ask customers very specific loyalty questions that they translate into key customer loyalty data. Focus on Results and Creating Value Pals begins considering user requirements during the data and information selection stage with predefined user criteria. The data selection, collection, and reporting criteria include: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Meets stakeholder requirements à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Links to our Key Business Drivers à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Provides a balanced scorecard à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Drives action à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Creates reliability à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Provides rapid access à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Allows rapid update à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Supports continual learning/improvement Besides, the rapid acceptance, popularity, and growth of our web site, www.palsweb.com, is another strong indicator of customer loyalty to the Pals brand. The rapid acceptance, popularity, and growth of our web site, www.palsweb.com, is another strong indicator of customer loyalty to the Pals brand. The companys Business Excellence Process which is the key integrating element and a management approach ensures that customer requirements are always met in every transaction. Pals lays emphasis on data which is the basis for sound planning and decision making. Customer, employee, and supplier feedback is central to all processes, and it is gathered in numerous formal and informal ways. For example, Pals owner/operators must devote part of every work day to marketing by wandering around. Views on how a location is performing and to solicit ideas for improvement from employees and customers are noted. Anstheyrs to predesigned questions are recorded, compiled, and later analyzed at the store and corporate levels. Owner/operators also maintain a communications log. The Communication/ Feedback Process is a progressive and rapid means of communication to/from all stakeholders. This process serves as a standard operating mode for Leadership Team members. SysDine, is a key tool, generating store-level and company-wide data on sales, customer count, product mix, ideal food and material cost, and turnover rates. This information supports daily operational decisions. It also is used to update Pals Balanced Scorecard of Core Performance Measures, which links directly to its key business drivers: quality, service, cleanliness, value, people, and speed. Managers regularly review the value of the data collected, and the company employs an outside statistician to evaluate the type of information tracked, how it is used, and how it is collected. Social Responsiblity Pals measures and pursues continual improvement in the areas of ethics violations, labor violations, sexual harassment complaints, and honesty violations. Pals Senior Leaders promote an environment of legally, morally, and ethically correct behaviors by: modeling correct decision making and behaviors, providing training in correct decision making and behaviors testing to verify that the training transferred the desired knowledge holding monthly reviews at leadership meetings, creating a culture of open-book whole-company data sharing communicating openly and honestly Food safety, which is a primary indicator of compliance with sanitation requirements established by federal and state regulations and of Pals ability to serve wholesome food products, is their key measure of industry leadership and social responsibility. Pals consistently receives the highest health inspection scores in their market. Agility Customer and Market Needs/Expectations are evaluated using market research studies and customer complaint data. These data are used to interpret customer needs and requirements, to project market trends, and to establish new strategies that will delight customers and sustain our competitive advantages. Competitive Environment and Capabilities Relative to Competitors are evaluated with data from our benchmarking process, benchmark data exchange, and competitive reviews. They use the data to identify market and industry trends, industry and competitor capabilities and Best Business Practices, competitor strategies, potential competitor reactions to our strategies, and promotional and technological improvement opportunities. Technological Risk is evaluated with data gathered from manufacturers, vendors, and industry trade associations using the following criteria: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ How will the technology help them meet needs? à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Are any of their technologies becoming obsolete? à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Do our existing technologies have new hazards/ risks? Managing by Innovation Operational Capabilities and Needs are considered by evaluating anticipated needs and capabilities for human resources, technology, research and development, innovation, and business processes. Internal capability data are analyzed against industry trends, technology developments, and performance advances, looking for ways to develop dominant positions within our market. They have focused their Human Resources strategies, plans, job/work designs, and HR processes for developing capabilities that support the key competitive performance expectations of their organization (speed, accuracy, quality, and hospitality). In their work environment, where their staff meets the customer face-to-face, they employ effective job designs and a flexible work organization to encourage cooperation, collaboration, individual initiative, responsibility, and innovation. The equipment, facilities, and technologies that Pals uses to meet customer needs are components that serve their manufacturing, service and retail needs through ongoing use of their Benchmarking, Innovation and Product/Service/ Process Introduction processes Innovation is driven through the Product/ Service/ Process Introduction Process. Senior leaders personally lead cross-functional teams through this systematic approach for developing new or modified products, services, or processes. Also, their Business Excellence Process will continue to drive them toward performance improvement over the next two to five years by maintaining their focus on strategies and plans linked directly to Key Business Drivers and derived heavily from customer/market. Pals projected performance will continue to strengthen their position as the market leader versus their leading competitor by generating additional sales, and by developing the required operating capabilities. At this time, they are the regional leader in all major areas of comparative performance (quality, service, speed, food health/safety, customer satisfaction, market share, sales, and profit). Management by Fact Pals Leadership Team has carefully designed a performance measurement and analysis system for the collection, integration, and analysis of information and data that feeds and interacts with their Strategic Planning, Continual Improvement, Benchmarking, and Management Review processes. Pals Management Information System is also used to guide the selection, gathering, integration, management, and effective use of information and data to support our key operational processes, action plans, and performance management system. Pals Management Information System gathers and integrates data and information from multiple sources (e.g., operations, customer listening/learning processes, market research, benchmarking studies, suppliers, regulatory agencies, and industry publications). Much of the data is gathered at its source (in the store) through our automated SysDine data collection, integration, and analysis system. SysDine generates store-level and companywide reports on sales, customer count, product mix, ideal food and material cost, and turnover rates. This data, which is readily available at each store, is reviewed and analyzed for use in support of daily operations. Focus on Future The Pals Strategic Planning Process is used by Senior Leaders working with the Leadership Team to provide a disciplined and structured approach for setting strategic directions to strengthen business performance and competitive position. Strategic planning is performed annually, with primary emphasis on one- and three-year planning horizons. strategic objectives and action plans with a planning horizon of up to five years are also maintained. Pals organizations strengths, weakness, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) are addressed during strategic planning, using the SWOT analysis process and supported by various analyses of key processes, internal capabilities, and Key Business Driver data. Technological changes and risks are evaluated with data gathered primarily from manufacturers, vendors, and industry trade associations. Human resources strategies and plans are developed to recruit, staff, train, and educate personnel to build staff capacity for success; to improve work/job designs and work areas; and to build a better culture for excellence and employee well-being. Employee turnover shows that employee retention levels are clearly superior to the industry average. Pals continues to reduce employee turnover and to set the pace for other QSR operations. Their group of store Owners/Operators and Senior Leaders has experienced near-zero turnover for the past 25 years, which has provided a major advantage in leadership continuity over their competitors. Pals existing strategic objectives, action plans (short term and longer term), and target completion are carefully managed throughout the year. Systems Perspective Pals Business Excellence Process is based on the core concepts of the Malcolm Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence. These principles, which are a pervasive part of our culture, are used to achieve our action plans. They are integrated throughout our training for team skills, performance measurement, standards, continual improvement, problem solving, quality control, and benchmarking. Pals Training Program contains a variety of modules designed to support our strategic objectives, key action plans, and operational capabilities by addressing organizational and employee needs for development, learning, and career progression

Tre Graffiti Paradigm: The Art of the Piece Essay -- Visual Art Artis

Tre Graffity Paradigm: The Art of the Piece It’s 11:00 p.m. on a Tuesday when three young men, barely high school age, slip through a chain-link fence and into a New York City trainyard. Each carries a duffel bag, from which can be heard the rattling and clanking of spray cans. Six hours later, they re-emerge, their hands stained with paint and their bags almost empty. What have they done? Inside the yard now stands a freshly painted mural, sixty feet wide and twelve feet high. The work is the result of weeks of designing and planning, and with luck it might last as long on the train as it already has on paper. What the boys have done, what has taken place inside that trainyard, is a work of art. [Let us begin with a basic assumption. One may object to graffiti on social or moral grounds, but only in the most conservatist terms can it not be considered â€Å"art.† Any idea of art which does not go out of its way to disinclude vandalism will, in fact, contain graffiti. We will, then, put aside social and moral considerations for the duration, and consider graffiti as art.] What does the work consist of? Who authored it, and how? What is it based on, and how does it relate? What is it, and what will become of it? The answers to these questions, collectively, form an important response to a bigger question: What is art? What does it mean to describe a piece as â€Å"a work of art†? AUTHORSHIP The young men have, in the course of this night, authored a â€Å"piece,† a work of graffiti. In the traditional sense, authorship is defined as the creation of the work. In such a sense, one of these young men is the author of the piece. One of the artists claims the piece as his own, and gives credit to the other two for â€Å"assis... ...ach style is in the distance between the previous styles and the style of the existing piece. Here, then, is the nature of art which graffiti exposes. Art is an activity, not an object; it is something which happens when foundations are developed upon and, most importantly, when new reference points are created. Each new reference point is a work of art; each new reference point is art. Works Used/Further References The quotes at the beginning are from New York City graffiti artists Bando and Seco, and came from Subway Art, by Henry Chalfant and Martha Cooper. This book and another, Spraycan Art (by Chalfant and James Prigoff), have been invaluable resources. Another invaluable resource is the ArtCrimes web site, at http://graffiti.org/. The definitions above are taken from that site’s glossary, and I found my way to all the pictures from that site as well.