Pink Mustache Delivers! Essays - Transportation Network Companies

Pink Mustache Delivers! Essays - Transportation Network Companies Anthony P. Moreno MKT/421 Instructor: Fritz Beiermeister December 21st, 2015 Pink Mustache Delivers! The company that I previously used was, Lyft, a ride within minutes. The new product that I would add to Lyft would be to branch out and become a delivery service. Within the Lyft app there would be another area that rather than asking for a lift, you can order anything you want and the Lyft driver would deliver it to wherever you needed it. The target market for this product would be adults ranging from 18 years old and older. The target market would need a smart phone; just like our normal Lyft consumers would use and would have to have a credit/debit card already inputted within the app. I think that this would appeal greatly to our market because you can have anything you want at anytime you want. We greatly encourage our target market to not drive when they are unable to, so this would branch off and help to keep unsafe drivers off the road even more. The first target market that we would aim towards would be adults 21-40 years old. We would target more of the late night after h ours groups of customers. This way we are still promoting safe driving while being able to enjoy themselves. Our drivers would still have our logo, the pink mustache, on their cars to let the customer know that it is our business who is delivering their products that they ordered. Geographically, how far of a distance would our consumer be able to order a product from? We would allow our consumer to only be able to choose from various stores, shops, restaurants, office buildings and other locations within a 15-mile radius from the driver to the consumer. Demographically, will my 15-year-old daughter be able to order alcohol? Anyone over the age of 18, with their credit/debit card inputted in the app and has a smart phone with our app on it. We will have restrictions through our app on certain items, such as alcohol, cigarettes and other items that have age restrictions. Psychographically, what if I dont want the driver to know where I live? The consumer is the person who lets the driver know where to meet. Our drivers can stand outside of their car and wait for you or if you prefer the drop off at doorstep option you choose how you want to receive your delivery. Will they be able to deliver on holidays? Yes, our drivers choose when they want to work, so we wil l always have drivers ready to work any day at anytime. Behaviorally, once I order the same thing over and over again, can I just get a personal driver to get me exactly what I want every time? No, we do not set anyone up with the same people on purpose every time. That doesnt give our other drivers opportunities at certain jobs. The methods we would conduct for our marketing research would be surveys and observation. We would conduct surveys after every Lyft ride to see if our consumers that are already using Lyft would use the delivery service. We would also have surveys on privacy and what would be appropriate for the consumer and driver interaction. We could send out surveys to our current e-mail lists with coupons on both of our services, if they complete the survey. The other method is observation, since there are already delivery service companies out there, we would conduct some observations about them. We would observe their prices, fees, delivery times, what areas are most populated and what has failed within their business. I choose these two methods because I feel that we have a large amount of available audience and a survey would be a quick and inexpensive way to get fast feedback. Observing other companies is a also a way to see what the competition is like in this field and what makes our comp any stick out from the rest. Observing the other delivery companies would help us start from a basis on where we should start from and then branch out to make our company unique and give it the Lyft touch. Once we have received feedback through our surveys

Response to "Is the American Dream Over" Essay

Response to "Is the American Dream Over" - Essay Example The primary question is â€Å"is the American Dream Over?† Whereas this question has been asked over and over by different scholars, there seems to lack a definite answer to this question. This is because different authors and scholars seem to have a different definition of the topic â€Å"The American Dream.† However, Cal goes on to explain define what American Dream is. He argues that American Dream simply means fulfilling one’s life objectives. However, he goes on to claim that the institutional frameworks of the American government have been so corrupted that it is impossible for the common American person to achieve the American Dream. The question â€Å"Is American Dream Over† is arguably a debatable question at issue. This is because the question brings about the room for debate on both sides of the issue. For example, in his work Cal actually points to the possibility of old and new definitions of American dream and then takes on the modern definition. He however goes on to explain why he believes that the American dream died long time ago because of the challenges facing the modern American citizen. This opens up room for debate because, a significant number of Americans are actually living a life of their dreams. Indeed, it can be debated that American dream has been achieved to some extent. However, the question at issue also overlaps as a controversial issue because it opens wide the room for criticizing the government for the failure of Americans to achieve the American dream The issue of American dream is a question at issue because it provides a good and fair basis in which both proponents and opponents can exchange intellectual fists. Indeed, the question of whether American dream is alive or dead has received equal measure of debate from both sides. In his side, Cal gives reason such as lack of â€Å"employment, overspending, overtaxing, and overregulating government† as some of the reasons why American

Man for All Seasons by Robert Bolt Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Man for All Seasons by Robert Bolt - Essay Example This play revolves around the Common Man as he struggles for exploitation, dishonesty, adultery, treachery, and also his wakefulness and feverish nature in the characters of Steward Matthew, the Jailer and the Boatman. The Jailer is always trying to safeguard his own self but also takes no account of the well being of other people around him. The Common Man displays itself in the form of Steward, Boatman and Jailer as the voices of dishonesty, exploitation, and wakefulness and sometimes make a fool of himself in front of other people to protect his own self from distress and buries himself under his own umbrella where assisting others is a myth. (Bolt|1996) The dishonesty is embarked in his role of House Steward Matthew where he plots against his Master Sir Thomas and in this conspiracy reveals information about him. He believed his master to be a great one but also forefronts adultery with him. When Sir Thomas renounced his title, he asked Matthew if he will stay on the course with him with a little deduction in pay considering him to be loyal with him; but Matthew refused and proved his master otherwise. He back stabbed Sir Thomas regardless of the symphony he has done for him, and the trust Sir Thomas puts in him. Sir Thomas was tilted towards Matthew and even confronted in front of him that he will miss him but Matthew had other things on mind. Matthew was too busy being selfish that he did not care a bit about being unfaithful to his employer, his master who praised and liked him. Matthew was just greedy submersed by his own pity intentions that he could have cared less for his master, he could have live on a meager wage as he had no family and little expenses but he choose otherwise. This Common Man in the role of Steward is a disloyal employee, who like all servants of his own cluster, worries about his own self and pays no heed about loyalty or the affection others around him have for him. (Bolt|1996) As a boatman, his

Britton Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Britton - Essay Example On the other hand, developed countries are defined as ‘technologically and ecologically advanced, enjoy relatively high standards of living and have modern social and political institutions and structures’ (Huybers, 2007, p. 28). Britton expresses his own view on underdeveloped countries by quoting ‘third word countries are seen to suffer from a series of common structural distortions in their economic and social organization. Britton makes emphasizes that third world countries are characterized by forms of dependent development. Britton claims that dependency is conceptualized as the process of historical conditioning that alters the internal functioning of social and economic sub-system within an underdeveloped country. He further outlines that foreign parties have a legacy of political, ideological and economic transformation in the third world countries (Britton, 1982, p. 333). He elaborates that dependency entails the subordination of the national economic ind ependence, which has to meet the requirements of foreign individuals and upper class society as a substitute of political priorities. According to his analysis, Britton believes that structural alterations include lack of fundamental infrastructure like air space, roads and proper knowledge of the tourism industry are the main cause of the underdevelopment. Telfer and Sharpley also attributes this underdevelopment to gender issues like lack of human safety, rights and security (Sharpley & Telfer, 2008, p.4). Britton through his journal draws the fact that colonialism is a major key in how much development takes place in a certain country. Colonization is defined as the invasion and control of other people’s resources and land. During colonization, the original population is kicked out of large plots of land and settlers from another country occupying their land (Mowforth & Munt, 2003, p. 73). Britton also argues that, colonial and imperial domination has largely contributed t o the downfall of many underdeveloped countries especially during the post-colonial period. Many post-colonized countries have close ties with the government of the countries that colonized them. However, according to Britton, this benefits the underdeveloped countries and offers them a chance to flourish due to these benefits since members of the ruling class bear the power required in dealing with the foreign government representatives and officials of the industry itself. According to Britton, many underdeveloped nations use tourism in generating foreign exchange as well as increasing employment opportunities that attract development capital. Therefore, these underdeveloped countries mainly target tourists from these developed countries since they are seen as higher valued in terms of tourism (Kunkel, 2008, p. 37). In order for the underdeveloped nations, to develop a strong tourist economy they have to be rely on the developed nations since capital from foreign tourism is necess ary and beneficial to any developing nation. Therefore, post-colonial countries always seek overseas investments in order to aid them in developing tourism plans. Due to this, many underdeveloped nations have developed business ties with developed countries that are their major tourists since they largely assist them in raising revenue (Lea, 1988, p. 27). Additionally, Briton states the fact that third world countries do not have a choice but to accept the high degree

Inderstanding Consumer Behaviour Towards Luxury Products Essay Example for Free

Inderstanding Consumer Behaviour Towards Luxury Products Essay Studying consumer behaviour enables marketing researchers to predict how consumers will react to promotional messages and to understand why they make the purchase decision they do. Marketers realized that if they know more about the consumer decision making criteria, they can design marketing strategies and promotional messages that will influence consumers more effectively. The importance of consumer behaviour made marketers to think of a separate branch in marketing research Consumer research, to deal exclusively for consumer related issues. The current focus of this report is on study of underlying needs and motives in taking purchase decisions, consumer learning process and attitude formation process. The study has been initiated for Club Mahindra Holidays. The purpose of this study is to analyze consumer perceptions of luxury products and the factors that influence his purchase decisions. The objective is to understand consumer behaviour towards luxury products and the steps followed while purchasing it. To achieve the above objectives, we first look at how luxury goods are different from regular goods and then go on to explore some facets and trends of the luxury goods as well as their market and consumers. We will understand the definition of luxury products through secondary research. Post secondary research we will develop few hypotheses which will give us the direction for our next step ie Qualitative Research. We will use interview method in qualitative research which will give an insight into the mindset of the consumers and their purchase steps involved and then follow it up with quantitative research (survey method). Through this we will quantify our findings for the Indian luxury consumer and their buying behaviour. We will analyze the factors that influence the consumers in buying the luxury products. Jitesh Sanghvi MMS -137, Marketing Page 4 Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products Research Abstract Scope: This project is a part of a job assigned to the planning department. This project is an initiative taken to understand the behaviour of consumers towards luxury products. Purchase of a luxury product involves lot of planning and research before taking any decision. There are number of factors that affect an individual?s decision making process as well as his choice about the product. These factors are different for different types of luxury product. A research into these aspects will give us an insight into the mindset of the consumer and will help to study the consumer better. Method: Primary research was done in two steps. ? Qualitative Research – Depth Interview Method ? Quantitative Research – Survey Method 1) Qualitative Research: For qualitative research, few high income people were asked open ended questions which were formulated based on the secondary research and in line with the hypothesis. Depth interview of 10 people were taken which gave an insight into their purchase behavior and their decision making process for a luxury good. Based on this interviews and a further review of the secondary research reports, a final survey questionnaire was prepared. 2) Quantitative Research: For quantitative research, after making the initial questionnaire it was pretested with 5 participants and was improvised. The final sample was 30 with target group being A and A+ socio-economic class people. In June 2009, the survey was conducted to observe the behavior pattern of consumers in buying luxury products. This allowed us to find out about the behaviour of the consumer towards luxury products across various income groups. Also we asked them about what all factors Jitesh Sanghvi MMS -137, Marketing Page 5 Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products influence them to buy such products and which brand of products do they feel are luxurious. We also understood the price range that they feel makes the product luxurious. Thus in future while designing any interactive campaign the output of this survey would be of great use for positioning the product as a luxury product. Also some secondary data was mined regarding what exactly influences an individual? s decision. Conclusion: Luxury products are high involvement products which require high thinking and are defined by their exclusivity and brand. They are mostly bought as a symbol of status. People have high emotional attachment with luxury products and are mostly influenced by their family members in decision making as most of the products are bought for family use. These products are also used as a means to gift their closed ones. Endorsing a film star or sport personality does not affect the image of a luxury product to a great extent. Luxury products give a feeling of pride and most of the purchase decision making is influenced by family members especially spouse. This entire initiative was one of its kinds and will help the INTERFACE COMMUNICATION to design its campaigns for Club Mahindra Holidays in a way to advertise them as a luxury club. Jitesh Sanghvi MMS -137, Marketing Page 6. Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products Acknowledgement I would like to give my sincere thanks to my Industry Project Guide Mr. Nilesh Talreja, Senior Executive, Strategic Planning, Interface Communications and Ms. Nahid Elavia, Account Planner, Strategic Planning for their kind support and guidance during my project and also for providing me with a great opportunity to work with such a valuable organization. I would also like to thank Mrs. Shamla Sathe, Account Planning Head for giving me this great opportunity to work with Account Planning Department. It is her visionary thinking, which has been the guiding force for whole of the division and my report. I would also like to thank Mr. Amit Dhokai, my colleague, who has provided me with the necessary information and his valuable suggestion and comments on bringing out this project in the best possible way. I would also like to thank all the faculties at SIMSR who have helped me directly or indirectly in the completion of this project. I thank Interface Communications (A part of Draft FCB+Ulka) for such a valuable learning experience. Thank you Jitesh A Sanghvi MMS – 137 (2008-2010) K. J. Somaiya Institute of Management Studies Research Jitesh Sanghvi MMS -137, Marketing Page 7 Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products Sr. No. 1 2 2. 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS Company Overview Secondary Research Luxury Products: Getting to know luxury 2. 2 2. 3 Difference between regular luxury goods Consumer Behavior: What is Consumer Buying Behaviour 2. 4 2. 5 2. 6 Stages of Consumer Buying Behaviour Types of Consumer Buying Behaviour Consumer Involvement: Causes of Consumer Involvement 2. 7 3 4 4. 1 4. 2 5 6 Models of Consumer Involvement Research Method Primary Research Qualitative Analysis Quantitative Analysis Recommendations Appendix 23 26 28 30 35 59 60 17 19 21 15 16 Page No. 9 12 14 Jitesh Sanghvi MMS -137, Marketing Page 8 Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products LIST OF FIGURES CHARTS Sr. No 1. 1 1. 2 1. 3 Particulars Difference between regular and Luxury goods Stages of Consumer Buying Behavior Consumer Involvement Page No. 15 18 20 Jitesh Sanghvi MMS -137, Marketing Page 9 Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products COMPANY OVERVIEW. Jitesh Sanghvi MMS -137, Marketing Page 10 Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products About Interface Communications History Interface Communications is the second agency of the Draft FCB Ulka group. The Draft FCB Ulka group has a 125 year heritage of pioneering concepts which define advertising and a 40 year heritage in India. Interface has grown from a single office to 5 offices in India and is one of the 1st few Indian agencies to boast of a pan Asia network. We are a team of 115 professionals across Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata and Mumbai. Interface is the first Indian agency brand that has gone beyond India. Interface has opened offices in Malaysia, Hong Kong, China. In 2003 we launched operations in Taiwan, Singapore. Work with some of the best known brands in each country. Business Interface is a second agency that is created to handle large scale clients. We work with some of the biggest brands across sectors from FMCG to automobiles, from real estate to finance companies, from consumer durables to holidays and many more. Majority of our clients are industry leaders and we are proud to be their strategic partners. Our clients have stuck by us as we are a process driven company. We have our share of global proprietary tools to provide a strategic edge to the clients we work with. Some of the more often used tools include: ? ? ? Mind and Mood and Moments The Wheel VIP and ICON Inspite of being process driven we are still a very people oriented organization. Our teams work together like a family and there is at all times a casual and jovial Jitesh Sanghvi MMS -137, Marketing Page 11 Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products. work environment maintained. We believe in an open door policy where any employee can express himself/ herself freely. As an organization we believe in constant learning and thus stress on training and development at all times. The Draft FCB Ulka group is one of the only advertising agencies in India to run a 2 month long training program for fresh recruits. This program called ‘The Star One training’ is a rigorous training ground for the future advertising biggies. This program is an annual feature and has been going strong for more than a decade. Draft FCB Ulka and Interface are some of the few agencies to have a very low attrition rate and most of the senior level management have been with the company on an average for more than 15 years which is a long time in advertising which sees constant churn. We at Interface live the values we believe in and for us our mantra is : We provide strategic communications partnership to our clients to help sell their brands today, and build brand value over time Jitesh Sanghvi MMS -137, Marketing Page 12 Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products Secondary Research on luxury products Jitesh Sanghvi MMS -137, Marketing. Page 13 Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products Secondary Research: Luxury Products Getting to know luxury Luxury brands have often been associated with the core competences of creativity, exclusivity, craftsmanship, precision, high quality, innovation and premium pricing. These product attributes give the consumers the satisfaction of not only owning expensive items but the extra-added psychological benefits like esteem, prestige and a sense of a high status that reminds them and others that they belong to an exclusive group of only a select few, who can afford these pricey items. The luxury sector targets its products and services at consumers on the top-end of the wealth spectrum. These self-selected elite are more or less price insensitive and choose to spend their time and money on objects that are plainly opulence rather than necessities. For these reasons, luxury and prestige brands have for centuries commanded an unwavering and often illogical customer loyalty. Luxury has never been something easy to define, yet this mystery concept is something highly desired by one and all alike. We look at delving deeper into this mystery and aura of luxury goods by way of comparing them against „regular goods? as well as highlighting the characteristics of the luxury industry. But before beginning with that, lets first attempt to understand some common terms associated in the world of high-end goods : ? Luxury and prestige brands such as Rolex, Louis Vuitton and Cartier represent the highest form of craftsmanship and command a staunch consumer loyalty that is not affected by trends. These brands create and set the seasonal trends and are also capable to pulling all of their consumers with them wherever they go. ? Premium brands are those brands like Polo Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger that aspire to be luxury and prestige brands but their marketing mix strategies are more attuned to a mass market, albeit a luxury mass market. They are also termed as mass-premium brands or mass-luxury brands. ? Fashion brands on the other hand are those that address the masses. Jitesh Sanghvi MMS -137, Marketing Page 14 Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products Difference between regular luxury goods Fig 1. 1 Differences between Regular and Luxury Goods Jitesh Sanghvi MMS -137, Marketing Page 15. Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products Consumer Behaviour What is Consumer Behaviour Buying Behaviour is the decision processes and acts of people involved in buying and using products. Consumer Buying Behaviour refers to the buying behaviour of the ultimate consumer. A firm needs to analyze buying behaviour for: ? Buyers reactions to a firms marketing strategy has a great impact on the firms success. ? The marketing concept stresses that a firm should create a Marketing Mix (MM) that satisfies (gives utility to) customers, therefore need to analyze the what, where, when and how consumers buy. Jitesh Sanghvi MMS -137, Marketing Page 16 Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products Stages of Consumer Buying Behaviour Fig 1. 2 Stages of Consumer Buying Behaviour The above figure shows Six Stages to the Consumer Buying Decision Process (For complex decisions). Actual purchasing is only one stage of the process. Not all decision processes lead to a purchase. All consumer decisions do not always include all 6 stages, determined by the degree of complexity discussed next. The 6 stages are: 1. Problem Recognition (awareness of need)difference between the desired state and the actual condition. Deficit in assortment of products. Hunger-Food. Hunger stimulates your need to eat. Can be stimulated by the marketer through product informationdid not know you were deficient? i. e. you see a commercial for a new pair of shoes, stimulates your recognition that you need a new pair of shoes. 2. Information search-o Internal search, memory. Page 17 Jitesh Sanghvi MMS -137, Marketing Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products o External search if you need more information. Friends and relatives (word of mouth). Marketer dominated sources; comparison shopping; public sources etc. A successful information search leaves a buyer with possible alternatives, the evoked set. Hungry, want to go out and eat, evoked set is o o o o Chinese food Indian food Burger king Klondike kates etc 3. Evaluation of Alternativesneed to establish criteria for evaluation, features the buyer wants or does not want. Rank/weight alternatives or resume search. May decide that you want to eat something spicy, Indian gets highest rank etc. If not satisfied with your choice then returns to the search phase. Can you think of another restaurant? Look in the yellow pages etc. Information from different sources may be treated differently. Marketers try to influence by framing alternatives. 4. Purchase decisionChoose buying alternative, includes product, package, store, method of purchase etc. 5. PurchaseMay differ from decision, time lapse between 4 5, product availability. 6. Post-Purchase Evaluationoutcome: Satisfaction or Dissatisfaction. Cognitive Dissonance, have you made the right decision. This can be reduced by warranties, after sales communication etc. After eating an Indian meal, you may think that you really wanted a Chinese meal instead. Jitesh Sanghvi MMS -137, Marketing Page 18 Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products Types of Consumer Buying Behaviour There are four types of consumer buying behaviour which are as follows: ? Routine Response/Programmed Behaviourbuying low involvement frequently purchased low cost items; need very little search and decision effort; purchased almost automatically. Examples include soft drinks, snack foods, milk etc. ? Limited Decision Makingbuying product occasionally. When you need to obtain information about unfamiliar brand in a familiar product category, perhaps. Requires a moderate amount of time for information gathering. Examples include Clothesknow product class but not the brand. ? Extensive Decision Making/Complex high involvement, unfamiliar, expensive and / or infrequently bought products (Luxury Products). High degree of economic / performance / psychological risk. Examples include cars, homes, computers, education. Spend a lot of time seeking information and deciding. Information from the companies MM; friends and relatives, store personnel etc. Go through all six stages of the buying process. ? Impulse buying, no conscious planning. Jitesh Sanghvi MMS -137, Marketing. Page 19 Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products Consumer Involvement Some consumers are characterized as being more involved in products and shopping than others. A consumer who is highly involved with a product would be interested in knowing a lot about it before purchasing. Hence he reads brochures thoroughly, compares brands and models available at different outlets, asks questions, and looks for recommendations. Thus consumer involvement can be defined as heightened state of awareness that motivates consumers to seek out, attend to, and think about product information prior to purchase. Jitesh Sanghvi MMS -137, Marketing Page 20 Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products Causes of consumer involvement The factors that influences consumer involvement include personal, product and situational. ? Personal Factors Self-concept, needs and values are the three personal factors that influence the extent of consumer involvement in a product or service. The more product image, the value symbolism inherent in it and the needs it serves are fitting together with the consumer self- image, values and needs, the more likely the consumer is to feel involved in it. Celebrities for example share a certain self image, certain values, and certain needs. They tend to use products and services that reflect their life style. They get highly involved in purchasing prestigious products like designer wear, imported cars, health care products etc. ? Product Factors The consumer involvement grows as the level of perceived risk in the purchase of a good or service increases. It is likely that consumers will feel more involved in the purchase of their house than in the purchase of tooth paste, it is a much riskier purchase. Product differentiation affects involvement. The involvement increases as the number of alternatives that they have to choose from increases. This may be due to the fact that consumers feel variety which means greater risk. The pleasure one gets by using a product or service can also influence involvement. Some products are a greater source of pleasure to the consumer than others. Tea and coffee have a high level of hedonic (pleasure) value compared to, say household cleaners. Hence the involvement is high. Involvement increases when a product gains public attention. Any product, that is socially visible or that is consumed in public, demands high involvement. For example, involvement in the purchase of car is more than the purchase of household items. Jitesh Sanghvi MMS -137, Marketing Page 21 Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products ? Situational Factors The situation in which the product is brought or used can generate emotional involvement. The reason for purchase or purchase occasion affects involvement. For example, buying a pair of socks for yourself is far less involved than buying a gift for a close friend. Social pressure can significantly increase involvement. One is likely to be more self conscious about the products and brands one looks at when shopping with friends than when shopping alone. The need to make a fast decision also influences involvement. A consumer who needs a new refrigerator and sees a „one- day- only sale? at an appliances retailer does not have the time to shop around and compare different brands and prices. The eminence of the decision heightens involvement. The involvement is high when the decision is irrevocable, for example when the retailer does not accept return or exchange on the sale items. Thus involvement may be from outside the individual, as with situational involvement or from within the individual as with enduring involvement. It can be induced by a host of personal-product-and situation related factors, many of which can be controlled by the marketer. It affects the ways in which consumers see, process, and send information to others. Jitesh Sanghvi MMS -137, Marketing Page 22 Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products Models of consumer involvement Learn-Feel-Do Hierarchy Model Buying decisions vary according to the way there are taken. Some decisions are taken with lot of thinking; others are taken with great feelings. Some are made through force of habit and others are made consciously. The learn-feel-do hierarchy is simple matrix that attributes consumer choice to information (learn), attitude (feel), and behaviour (do) issues. The matrix has four quadrants, each specifying a major marketing communication goal to be informative, to be effective, to be habit forming, or promote self-satisfaction. Thinking and feeling are shown as a continuum some decisions involve one or the other and many involve elements of both. High and low importance is also represented as a continuum. Fig 1. 3 Consumer Involvement ? High Involvement / High Thinking Purchases in first quadrant require more information, both because of the importance of the product to the consumer and thinking issues related to the purchases. Major purchases such as cars, houses and other expensive and infrequently buying items come under this category. The strategy model is learn-feel-do. Marketers have to furnish full information to get consumer acceptance of the product. Luxury products fall in this category. Jitesh Sanghvi MMS -137, Marketing Page 23. Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products ? High Involvement / High Feeling The purchase decisions in second quadrant involve less of information than feeling. Typical purchases tied to self-esteem- jewellery, apparel, cosmetics and accessories come under this category. The strategy model is feel-learndo. To encourage purchases marketers must approach customers with emotion and appeal. ? Low Involvement / Low Feeling The purchases in this quadrant are motivated primarily by the need to satisfy personal tastes, many of which are influenced by self-image. Products like news paper, soft drinks, Liquor etc., fall under this category. Group influences often lead to the purchase of these items. The strategy model is do-feel-learn. It helps marketers to promote products through reference groups and other social factors. ? Low Involvement / Low Thinking It involves less in thinking and more of habitual buying. Products like stationery, groceries, food etc. , fall under this category. Over a period of time any product can fall in this segment. The role of information is to differentiate any „point of difference? from competitors. Brand loyalty may result simply from the habit. The strategy model is do-learn-feel. It suggests that marketers induce trial through various sales promotion techniques. Jitesh Sanghvi MMS -137, Marketing Page 24 Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products Research Method: The study is classified based on the consumer buying preferences and factors that influence purchase decisions. The research method adopted is exploratory as the research is still in its initial stage and the preliminary information that will be gathered will help in defining the problems and suggest hypotheses. We are set to learn about consumer behaviour across various product categories of luxury. We intend to understand the influence of various factors including family members and friends on purchase decision, emotional attachment with the product, purchase of counterfeit products and endorsing a film or sports personality for luxury product. We also want to understand purchase behaviour for car, planning of holidays and perception of holiday clubs. Jitesh Sanghvi MMS -137, Marketing Page 25 Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products PRIMARY RESEARCH Jitesh Sanghvi MMS -137, Marketing Page 26 Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products Primary Research: Methods Primary research was done in two steps. ? Qualitative Research – Depth Interview Method ? Quantitative Research – Survey Method 1) Qualitative Research: For qualitative research, few high income people were asked open ended questions which were formulated based on the secondary research and in line with the hypothesis. Depth interview of 10 people were taken which gave an insight into their purchase behavior and their decision making process for a luxury good. Based on this interviews and a further review of the secondary research reports, a final survey questionnaire was prepared. 2) Quantitative Research: For quantitative research, after making the initial questionnaire it was pretested with 5 participants and was improvised. The final sample was 30 with target group being A and A+ socio-economic class people. In June 2009, the survey was conducted to observe the behavior pattern of consumers in buying luxury products. Purpose Based on the existing data and the findings of the survey, it can be understood what influences a consumer to buy a luxury product and how to reach a consumer. The different perspectives of luxury products from a consumer?s point of view can be understood giving a detailed insight as to how to position a product as luxury product. Consumer? s expectations from a luxury product will help us to understand the modifications needed in a product to be categorized as luxurious product. Jitesh Sanghvi MMS -137, Marketing Page 27 Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products Sampling Sampling procedure: The sample is selected in a random way, but those having a car with nearly worth more than 5lakhs. It was collected through mails and personal visits to the known persons, by formal and informal talks and through filling up the questionnaire prepared. The data has been analyzed by using the graphical method prepared in Microsoft Excel. Sample size: The sample size of my project is limited to 30 only. This is limited due to time constraints. Sample design: Data has been presented with the help of bar graph, pie charts, stacked graphs etc. Limitation: ? Time limitation ? Research has been done only at Mumbai ? Some of the persons were not so responsive ? Possibility of error in data collection ? Possibility of error in analysis of data due to small sample size Jitesh Sanghvi MMS -137, Marketing Page 28. Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products Analysis: In qualitative research, a personal interview was conducted of 10 people to understand the perception of luxury products and their purchase decision making process. The layout of the interview was: Warm up General details about the person, his family background, his interests and his lifestyle Luxury Product To understand their perception of luxury products and steps involved in purchasing a luxury product. Car, Holiday Club To understand his perception of a luxurious holiday and his planning process while going on a holiday. To understand his attitude towards clubs and decision making of a car Factors influencing To understand various factors that influence his decision for buying a particular luxury product. For qualitative questionnaire see appendix 1 For quantitative questionnaire see appendix 2 Jitesh Sanghvi MMS -137, Marketing Page 29 Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products Qualitative Analysis: The Depth Interviews conducted gave some valuable insights into the mindset of the consumer? s perception about luxury products and their decision making process during purchase. Some of the interesting responses based on which quantitative questionnaire was made are as follows: 1) What is your opinion about luxury products? â€Å"Depends, it may be different for different people. DVD, TV and other stuffs would be luxury for me. † â€Å"They are good for show off† â€Å"Luxury products are created by seller. They are not necessities for a buyer but a need has been created by the seller. The way the products are advertised, branded and presented, a need is created to buy it. † â€Å"First and foremost it gives you a satisfaction in life, satisfaction that you are making use of the dreams that are available in the market. It can also be used as a status symbol. † â€Å"If you can afford it one must consider luxury products. What is the point if you can earn so much money and still don’t spend on luxury products? † Jitesh Sanghvi MMS -137, Marketing Page 30 Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products Observation: Luxury Products have different perceptions with different people. Some think it is a need created by buyer where as some feel these are products good for show-off. Some consider it as a status symbol. 2) Is luxury a necessity? â€Å"Today a four vehicle has become a necessity. Though a four wheeler is a luxury still it becomes a necessity. Second example is the latest technology mobile phones. We use mobile phones even while travelling, before sleeping, after getting up, checking emails. So whatever you say about these products they have become a necessity. â€Å"It is all in the minds of the people. If they get attracted to the promotions of the product and offers, it becomes a necessity for them. As said earlier, the need is created by the seller. † 3) Name a few luxury products? Expensive Car/Bike Jewellery Club Membership Branded Perfumes Travel Holidays Expensive Car/Bike Big House Jewellery Trendy Mobile Club Membership Travel Holidays. Club Membership Travel Holidays Electronic Gadgets Branded Perfumes Branded Apparels Club Membership Electronic Gadgets Travel Holidays Branded Perfumes Branded Apparels Observation: Club Membership, Travel Holidays and Expensive Car/Bike are considered Luxury products whereas other products like Jewellery, Electronic Gadgets, Branded Perfumes and Branded Apparels are considered semi-luxury products. Jitesh Sanghvi MMS -137, Marketing Page 31 Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products 4) Can you take us through the entire process of buying this product right from the wish to buy – actual purchase? â€Å"My process to buy a new house started 10-12 years back. I saw an advertisement in the newspaper and then went and saw the house. Once finalised, I took a loan, sold the old house and bought this new house. † â€Å"My old car was giving me lot of problem. So I decided to buy this new car. I wished to buy this a year back. I didn’t want to take loan, so saved money for a year and finally bought this. In this period, the prices went down, so it helped me. † â€Å"I had a car before I bought this new one. It took me 2 years to buy this. It was the European car of the year. I saw the ad in the newspaper and decided I wanted to buy this. Observation: Purchase of a luxury product requires lot of planning and it takes many months to buy such high value products. Proper research and information needs to be obtained about the product before finalising the product. 5) What is your opinion of holiday clubs? Would you consider them as a luxury holiday club? â€Å"If you travel around a lot, than it is worth. It is not a luxury holiday because they have different offers which are affordable by most of the people. † I would consider it as a luxury. Most of these packages are designed in such a manner that you can get discount during weekdays. Weekends are expensive. So those are the times when you have time. † â€Å"They are good and give you the necessary relaxation. I don? t consider them entirely luxury because nowadays most of the people can afford it. † Observation: Opinions about holiday clubs are varied as there is not clear understanding of necessity. There are number of clubs providing cheap holidays and hence clubs seem to be losing on the title of luxury club. Jitesh Sanghvi MMS -137, Marketing Page 32 Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products 6) Would you buy a counterfeit Rolex watch for a cheaper price? â€Å"I am not a watch person so I would definitely go for a counterfeit. But for.

Important Role In Job Design Management

Important Role In Job Design Management The topic which I choose for my research is the impact of job enrichment and enlargement on employee motivation and performance. I intend to find the factors which play an important role in Job design which is constituted of job enrichment and job enlargement so that they could best motivate employees and in turn enables them give their best performance. Organization is the strength of any business. The more organized and efficient the different components in the business are, the better it functions and produces. Therefore jobs must be enlarged and enriched keeping in mind what is best in the interest of an organization. I would like to mention here what is job enrichment and job enlargement. What are their Pros and Cons, and their effectiveness? Job enrichment basically refers to the concept of improvement in job or an increase with the help of upgrading and development. For example if you are a typist by job enrichment you will have to type and proof read as well. It also stresses upon the concept of employee satisfaction in respect to their position and personal growth potential. Job enrichment involves organizing and planning in orderÂÂ  to gain more control over their duties and work as a manager. The execution of plans and evaluationÂÂ  of results motivates workers and relieves boredom. Job enlargement on the other hand means adding more duties or increasing the workload to the same job. It provides the chance of enhancement and more productivity for employees. For example if you are a typist and you type 20 pages per day by job enlargement you will have to type 30 pages per day. Job enlargement is a vehicle employers use to put additional workload on employees, perhaps in economical downtime. By adding or inc reasing the responsibilities employees are also getting a chance of enhancement and more productivity. In literary terms job enlargement is the expansion of job context to include a wider variety of tasks and to increase the workers freedom of pace, responsibility for checking quality and discretion for method. Therefore to summarize the major differences between the two we can state that job enrichment, when compared to job enlargement, not only includes more duties and responsibilities, but also gives the right of decision making and control. Apart from that job enlargement is horizontal where as job enrichment is vertical expansion of work. But both the forces Job enlargement and job enrichment are useful for motivating workers to perform their tasks enthusiastically. It is through job design organizations try to raise productivity levels by offering non monetary rewards such as greater satisfaction. Job enrichment and job enlargement are such techniques used in job design exerci se. Statement of problem Job design is the intentionally planned structuring of work effort performed by an individual. There is increasing evidence that poorly designed jobs now a days is a persistent social problem affecting the performance of employees. Justification for the topic The reason I choose this topic was because of the fact to identify factors which play important role in job design so that it could best motivate the employees and in return they give best performance. Scope of study The scope of the study is focus on the impact of job enrichment and job enlargement and how employees respond to it in terms of their performance and how motivated they get. Back ground Information Job design with the concept of job enrichment and job enlargement came about with rapid technological advancements at the turn of the 20th century when mass production and assembly line operations emerged. As jobs continue to become more sophisticated and specialized, the need for an educated and motivated workforce has become indispensable. The nature of work and its organization has interested managers, economists and social scientists for as long as people have been employed by others to engage in productive activity. Managers have largely been interested in maximizing output from available resources. Economists and social scientists have raised questions about the organization of work in relation to issues of the individual and society in general. It is also important for the HR departments of organizations to understand the importance of job design. As Well-designed jobs help to accomplish two important goals: getting the necessary work done in a timely and competent manner, and motivating and challenging employees. According to Hackman and Lawler (1971) a job will be motivating and intrinsically only if it high on all five of the core dimensions which are skill, variety, autonomy, task identify and feedback. It is only then that an employee would perform better than expected. Related definitions Job design: It refers to the process of determining exactly what an employee does on the job: the tasks, duties, responsibilities, decision-making and the level of authority. Job enrichment: Job enrichment adds newÂÂ  sourcesÂÂ  ofÂÂ  job satisfactionÂÂ  by increasing the level ofÂÂ  responsibilityÂÂ  of theÂÂ  employee. It is also calledÂÂ  job enhancementÂÂ  orÂÂ  vertical job expansion. Job enlargement: Job designÂÂ  techniqueÂÂ  in which the number ofÂÂ  tasksÂÂ  associatedÂÂ  with aÂÂ  job is increased and appropriateÂÂ  trainingÂÂ  provided to add greater variety toÂÂ  activities, thus reducing monotony. It is a horizontalÂÂ  restructuringÂÂ  methodÂÂ  in that the job is enlarged by adding related tasks. Job enlargement may alsoÂÂ  resultÂÂ  in greaterÂÂ  workforce flexibility. Job involvement: The degree, to which an employee identifies with his job, actively participates in it, and considers his job performance important to his self-worth. Internal motivation: Learners are motivated from within by personal needs or wants that are positive in nature such as a desire to succeed or love of learning. High morale: High morale is a concept that states high emotional or mental condition with respect to cheerfulness and confidence. Job performance: Job performance is a commonly used, yet poorly defined concept in industrial and organizational psychology, the branch of psychology that deals with the workplace. It most commonly refers to whether a person performs their job well. Despite the confusion over how it should be exactly defined, performance is an extremely important criterion that relates to organizational outcomes and success. Problem development The reason why I am conducting this research is to judge the impact of job enrichment and job enlargement on employee performance. As we know that the concepts of job design that include enrichment and enlargement are not widely used in Pakistan, therefore this research will give a proper perspective on how job enrichment and enlargement impacts employee performance. Secondly because of the fact that whether these concepts of job design will be helpful to motivate employees, increase employee performance and productivity. Literature review Job design and its approaches are usually considered to have begun with scientific management in the year 1900. Pioneering scientific managers such as Taylor (1947), Gilbreth (1911), and Gilbreth and Gilbreth (1917) systematically examined jobs with various techniques. They suggested that task design might be the most prominent element in scientific management. Robert A. Karasek (1971) described some implications of job redesign. He explained that job enrichment and job enlargement helps employees to develop new skills and face new challenges. Job enrichment specially is the major driving force for the employees that motivate them to perform much better. It was also observed that well designed jobs have a positive impact on employee satisfaction and quality performance. Another important factor stressed upon by Robert A. Karasek was that some employees do not have the motivation that is repetitive to the enriched job. This results in less satisfaction and lower work output. According to Argyris (1964) and Blauner (1964) simple, routine, non challenging often produce dissatisfaction and demoralization of workers. They suggested that for optimal worker motivation tasks should be enlarged rather than simplified. In a no. of different experiments it has been showed job enlargement has a positive impact on motivation and performance. With respect to the design of individual jobs, the first major theory was that of Herzberg and his colleagues (Herzberg 1959). Their two-factor theory distinguished between two types of factors, namely motivators, which are intrinsic to the work itself (e.g. achievement, recognition, and responsibility), and hygiene factors, which are extrinsic to the work (e.g. work conditions, pay, and supervision). The proposition was that the hygiene factors are absolutely necessary to maintain the human resources of an organization. According to Hertzbergs theory, only a challenging job has the opportunity for achievement, recognition, advancement and growth that will motivate personnel. According to Hackman and Lawler (1971) a job will be motivating and essentially satisfying only if it is high in all 5 core dimensions. The core dimensions are autonomy, task identity, feedback, variety and skill. It is only then a person finds that performing well leads to important intrinsic rewards such as feeling of heightened self-esteem, personal growth and worth wile accomplishments. Finally it was proposed that only people who have strong desire for higher order need satisfaction will respond to jobs that are high on all core dimensions. That is unless workers value feeling of accomplishment and growth; they will be unlikely to respond positively to a job which is structured to provide opportunities for their attainment through hard work. It was found that when jobs were high on all core dimensions employees who were desirous of higher order need satisfaction tended to have high morale, high work motivation, few absences from work and be rated by their supervisors doing high quality work. Thus this theory emphasized a job high on all core dimensions will result in higher motivation and better results in terms of performance. According to Podsakoff (1996) enriched jobs have been found to provide fundamentally satisfying tasks and job enrichment is positively related to a wide variety of employee attitites and performance. As stated by John R. Cook (1997) the objective of good job design is to design jobs which allow people to perform tasks in a safe, efficient and economical manner which facilitate the realization of various organizational goals such as profit and increased production. The goal of job enrichment is to improve employee satisfaction and performance by increasing job scope vertically allowing opportunities for personal achievement, recognition and growth. Job enrichment principles were largely associated with the phenomena that enriching a job is proposed to increase positive work outcomes that is motivation and performance and decrease negative outcomes which included stress and boredom. Problem definition The impact of job enrichment and job enlargement on employee motivation and performance. Statement of study objectives Hypothesis H0: Job enrichment does not have a positive impact on employee performance. H1: Job enrichment has a positive impact on employee performance. H0: Job enlargement does not have a positive impact on employee performance. H1: Job enlargement has a positive impact on employee performance. Theoretical framework Job enrichment Robert A. Karasek, Jr (1979) J.Lee (2004) Boredom Strain Job dissatisfaction Physiological distress Intellectual stimulation Diversified workforce Employee performance Employee motivation Innovation Job enlargement Edward E Lawler (1973), John R cook (1997), J.Lee (2004) More opportunities Develop new skills High morale High work motivation Variable reference list Robert A. Karasek, Jr.(1979) Job Demands, Job Decision Latitude, and Mental Strain: Implications for Job Redesign. Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 24, No. 2 (Jun., 1979), pp. 285-308. Edward E Lawler , J Richard Hackman (1973) Effects of Job Redesign: A Field Experiment. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 1973, 3, 1, pp. 49-62. J.Lee Whittington, Viki L Goodwin (2004) Transformational leadership, goal difficulty, and job design: Independent and interactive effects of employee outcome. Leadership quarterly 15 (2004) 593-606 John R. Cook (1997) Job enrichment and mental workload in computer based work: implications for adaptive job design. International journal of industrial Ergonomics 24 (1999) 13-23. Christopher Orpen (2001) Effect of job Enrichment on employee satisfaction, motivation, involvement and performance. A field experiment. Department of Psychology, University of the Witwatersrand, 1, Jan Smuts Avenue, Johannesburg 2001, South Africa. Michael J. Smith, Pascal C. Sainfort (1989) A balance theory of Job design for stress reduction. Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706 U.S.A. Received 17 October 1988;ÂÂ  accepted 5 January 1989.ÂÂ   Available online 27 February 2003. Theoretical justification As I have stated earlier that job enrichment and job enlargement are the most important aspects of job design in order to motivate employees so that they give better performance. The variables mentioned in the framework basically represent that why job enrichment and job enlargement is there and what are their implications. All variables are directed towards increasing employee motivation and performance. The framework shows that through job enrichment and job enlargement according to the variables (Boredom, Strain, Job dissatisfaction, Physiological distress, and Intellectual stimulation) a job can be made more interesting with reduced levels of boredom and repetitive movements which will in turn motivate employees to perform exceedingly well than anticipated. Job enrichment also intellectually stimulates employees as think out of the box, thus motivating them towards better performance. Apart from that diversified workforce and innovation are two such variables that are positively related to employee performance. The more diversified and specialized a job the better is the performance as all specialist ar put to work. Lastly through innovation as well employees tend to perform really well. Elements of research design Type of research: Applied Study setting: Natural Nature of data: primary data Unit of analysis: organizations Reference period: (Jan- Aprill 2011) Survey research: working population Statement of analytical approach: qualitative and quantitative questionnaires if required statistical modeling Limitations Respondents bias Time constraints (less sample size) Complete access to different departments of an organization References used www.jstor.com www.sceincedirect.com www.google.scholar.com www.businessdictionary.com http://www.allbusiness.com/human-resources/employee-development/100470-1.html

McCarthyism in Film Essay -- Film Analysis

Two films, The Day the Earth Stood Still and Good Night and Good Luck, are produced over five decades apart and illustrated similar anti-communist sentiment. The first film, The Day the Earth Stood Still, was produced in 1951 during the height of the anti-communist movement or in other words McCarthyism. Good Night and Good Luck, which George Clooney directed and starred in, was produced in 2005 as a black and white docudrama film. These two films portray the mood felt by society during the 1950s through two complementary perspectives. The first film shows an overt view by the media toward Senator McCarthy while transmitting a hidden message to the United States government. The second film does the same only five decades earlier. As stated, both films share a hidden agenda which is disgust and distrust toward Washington D.C. from Hollywood. The media and entertainment industry felt hatred toward Washington D.C. and expressed their feelings through cleaver movie scripts and metaphors. Two films in particular, The Day the Earth Stood Still and Good Night and Good Luck carried the message loud and clear. Good Night and Good Luck chose to illustrate the unjust and biased actions of Senator Joe McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). Because of his outspoken negative slander McCarthy was considered the high-status target. McCarthy led the charge against Soviet infiltration and in general did not hide his negative feelings toward Communist activity. While Good Night and Good Luck showed a retrospective chronological view of the early 1950s The Day the Earth Stood Still was actually a product of this era with the writers choosing to use fictional characters. The characters helped illustrate their viewpoi... ...2012. Doherty T. Good Night, and Good Luck. Cineaste [serial online]. Winter2005 2005;31(1):53-56. Available from: Academic Search Premier, Ipswich, MA. Accessed April 22, 2012. Pardon J. Revisiting a Science Fiction Classic: Interpreting The Day the Earth Stood Still for Contemporary Film Audiences. Journal Of Popular Film & Television [serial online]. Fall2008 2008;36(3):141-149. Available from: Academic Search Premier, Ipswich, MA. Accessed April 22, 2012. Briley, Ron, and Robert Brent Toplin. "Good Night, And Good Luck." Journal Of American History 93.3 (2006): 985-986. Academic Search Premier. Web. 25 Apr. 2012. "George Clooney: 'Good Night, And Good Luck' Came Out Of Anger." Huffington Post. Huff Post Entertainment, 23 Jan. 2012. Web. 26 Apr. 2012. .