Examine some of the issues raised by Domer in this statment Do so with Essay

Examine some of the issues raised by Domer in this statment Do so with reference to specific practitioners - Essay Example Several philosophies and thoughts have emerged over the years. In his book The New Ceramics: Trends and Traditions, Author Peter Domer (1994) asserted that: With hindsight it is discernable that in the 1980's ceramics existed in a middle house between craft and art rather than design and art. In the 1990's this situation has become strongly apparent. The contemporary fine art world is centred on the galleries and the museums.......ceramicists want to join this enclosed, increasingly private realm of art...an art that has successfully disconnected itself from the responsibilities of the outside world and where practitioners deny any role to do with design, function or common meaning. But in artists, curators and other priests of art I'm not keen to embrace clay workers. (p.196) In examining the issues raised by Domer we must not forget our world is constantly evolving and developing new ways of doing things. We will take a look at the his assertions, searching for common ground or difference(s) in opinions or beliefs under the following headings; The notion thatCeramics as Craft and Art;The notion that craft is art has generated numerous comments; in describing the differences between craft and art against their functionality or usefulness, Kevin A. Hluch (1990), Professor of Art, quotes from Octavia Paz book In Praise of Hands that "there was a constant shifting ....between usefulness and beauty. This continual exchange has a name: pleasure. Things are pleasing because they are useful and beautiful. This copulative conjunction defines craftwork, just as the disjunctive conjunction defines art and technology: usefulness or beauty" (1). To buttress this point Kevin Hlutch (1990) stated that fine art is defined by contemporary art orthodoxy as that type of human expression that is at its core functionally useless (1). Hlutch further contends that to "equate craft as art and crafts people as artist" misses the point because craft and art have different aesthetics (1990, 1) He somewhat concludes that "as the original definition of craft looses credence in the craft world, the ceramic form that signifies that definition, utilitarian pottery has lost its 'market share' in that world" (Hluch, 1990). Ceramics as Design and Art If defining a place for ceramics in Arts and craft posited debates, as Domer himself pointed out, ceramics should have been seen as design and art, not as craft and art. Kevin Murray (2003) a ceramicist believes that the terms 'craft' and 'design' rest on a continuum and the continuum is understood as the degree of responsibility by the individual for the physical construction of a work. In the case of craft, it is assumed that an individual has made the work him- or herself, whether by hand or machine [while] design in contrast is often executed by others (9). He claims that "the design aura is an obvious advantage to those wanting to give their products extra value and protect their intellectual capital" explaining that "It is reasonable for designers to develop their 'brand identity' as much as their 'product'" (Murray,

An Analysis Of The Tui Group Tourism Essay

An Analysis Of The Tui Group Tourism Essay TUI a leading international leisure travel group which has over 200 different tourism brands around the world. The business activities of the TUI Group were attributed to the tourism, logistics and the former industry divisions. Objective of this report is to analyse the strategic position of TUI by applying various tools such as PESTLE, Five forces framework, SWOT and analyse and predict the future implications of its strategic capabilities using Generic strategy and Ansoffs matrix to the case study. Limitations of the tool applied are discussed with the analysis. 2.0 BACKGROUND TUI group earlier known as Hapag Touristik Union of Preussag launched itself in tourism market at the end of 1997 with the purchase of Hapag-Lloyd AG. TUI expended its business using the expansion strategy through acquisition, mergers, and investment through joint ventures all over Europe. TUI AG was spread in three sectors TUI Travel (tour operating, airlines and incoming agencies),  TUI Hotels Resorts  and the cruise ship business form the World of TUI. TUI AG holds, in addition, a financial investment in the container shipping industry. TUI in 2005 was the tour leaders with 3500 travel agencies in 17 countries with 37 incoming agencies. TUI owned more than 100 aircrafts and was the largest Hotelier in Europe with 285 hotels (Case study). Currently, the group owns 43,3 percent stake in Hapag-Lloyd AG. In  the 2008 financial year  TUI AG returned a revenue of à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬24.9 billion with total earnings (underlying EBITA) of à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬759 million. As at 31 December 2008 the Group had 70,200 employees (TUI group, company profile). 3.0 ENVIRONEMNTAL ANALYSIS: To understand and apply the Environmental analysis on TUI it is essential to perform an internal and an external analysis. External analysis on an industry is further sub-divided in two environment macro-environment and micro-environment. In order to understand the likely impact of these environments on the tourism industry PESTEL analysis and Porters five forces is under taken for possible impacts on the industry competitive strength and advantage over competitors. 3.1 PESTLE ANALYSIS 3.1(a) POLITICAL Political factors have a moderate impact on the performance and the growth on tourism industry. Where Political instability generates negative publicity and the risk perception influences the tourists decisions which results in an unavoidable decrease in tourist arrivals (Hall and O Sullivan, 1996). On the other side Terrorism has led serious tourism crisis, and has been affecting the financial condition significantly in recent periods (Sonmez et al 1999). Terrorist attacks, the Iraq war has reflected a decline of approximately 6.6% in TUIs tourism turnover from the first six months of 2002 to the first six months of 2003 (excluding turnover contributed by Nouvelles Frontiers, which we acquired later in 2002). Health Crisis like SARS in 2003 has also had a traumatic effect on international travel (Case study). 3.1(b) ECONOMICAL Tourism is one of the growing industries, fuelling the growth and employment and has become a critical component of the world of economy. Due to Recession, a downward momentum was seen because most of the tourism operators were handicapped by the high level of fixed assets and less able to manage their airlines and hotel industry(case study). Fluctuations in fuel costs, Exchange rates and currency fluctuations, The Growth of low cost airlines has lead to economic risk in tourism industry. 3.1(c) SOCIO-CULTURE: Change in lifestyle has changed the demands of consumer; they have become more price sensitive and has increased its demand for new experiences. Consumer has developed a new attitude of WAIT AND SEE ATTITUDE (Reisinger 2009) facilitated by last minute purchase resulting in late bookings. As tourism involve movement of people to different locations which calls for cultural clashes. Tourism has also Led to commercialization of local culture, standardization of destinations and adaptation to tourist demands (coastlearn.org) 3.1(d) TECHNOLOGY Use of information technology gave a boost to tourism business for reservations and administrative operations. With the advent of the internet, tour operators can now spread out their activities and make available appropriate information, conquering new customers (Wyner, 2000). With launch of touropa.com in Germany, TUI captured a top position in European market in 2005 with a turnover of 2.6bn euro (Case study). Similarly in Island locations high-tech venue networking was adopted to attract new visitors and to communicate to tourists (The Daily Business Buzz, Nov. 2/09) 3.1(f) LEGAL Air Travel Organizers License ATOL Regulations were imposed on any person who advertises or sells air-inclusive holidays in the United Kingdom,granted by the Civil Aviation Authority. A number of TUIs businesses operating in the United Kingdom, including Thomson Holidays and Lunn Poly, hold ATOLs. There were many European and national restrictions on airline ownership which could loss of airline operating and route licenses and cause other adverse effects on tourism business. TUIs hotels and destination agencies are subject to a variety of laws and regulations in the countries in which they operate and, on a periodic basis, must obtain various licenses and permits. They are subject to a broad range of labour, environmental and health and safety regulations in each jurisdiction in which they operate (Listing Memorandum, TUI group). 3.1(g) ENVIRONMENTAL: International tourism can play the role of both victim and villain when it comes to climate change(Holmes 2007 BBC news). To attain sustainability TUI is continuously improving on environmental performance, TUI focuses on ISO 14001 environmental standards. Hence TUI strongly supports the environmental protection policies like, species protection, nature protection and landscape protection. TUIs main area of concern is the efficient use of energy and climate protection. (TUI Group, environment management) 3.2 PORTERS FIVE FORCES FRAMEWORK: A firm needs to neutralise as many as possible of the five forcers in order to create competitive advantage.(Porter 1998) Porter defines five forces impacting a firms competitiveness- threat of substitutes, threat of new entrants in the industry, bargaining power of suppliers, bargaining power of customers, and the intensity of competition within the industry. Understanding the nature of each of these forces gives organizations the necessary insights to enable them to create the appropriate  strategies  to be successful in their market (Thurlby, 1998) . 3.2(a) Threat of New Entrants (Medium) For a new company to launch itself in the tourism industry needs a high investment and innovative ideas to sustain its presence in the highly competitive tourism market. The existing company have the capabilities of providing tailored deals on cheap prices because of their established brands and long chains of tour operator. TUI being the market leaders of tourism industry does not have much effect of threats developed by new entrants. 3.2(b) Bargaining Power of Buyers (High)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Tourism industry fluctuates with the buyers changing needs. With increase in competition, buyers have a wider range of services to choose from hence the tourism industry are forced to comply with changing demands and needs of customers. As the switching cost is not too high Brand loyalty is low and with increase in purchasing power of a buyer the likelihood of travelling also increases. Buyers even eliminate the tour operators and prefer make a direct sale from suppliers (hotels, airlines ect). 3.3(c) Bargaining Power of Suppliers (Low)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   TUI uses backward integration which means it has its own suppliers; in fact TUI itself acts as its own suppliers. 3.3(d) Threat of Substitutes (High)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   With the growing world of tourism there is a demand for strategic differentiation. Customers are looking for new experiences, diversified attractions around the world. The wide spread of TUI in Europe increases the threat of substitute due to growth of tourism industry in other parts of world. 3.3(e) Competitive Rivalry (medium) Tourism industry involves many competitors with an approach of performing better than the other. The competition level increases because of distribution of market based on the regional operators, privately owned, highly fragmented, and geographically marketed. Even though there was a moderate level of service differentiation, TUI has sustained the competition because of its brand and leadership in market 4.0 TUIS CURRENT POSITION AND STRATEGY: TUIs strategic goal is to create superior shareholder value by being a global leading leisure travel group providing customers with a wide choice of differentiated and flexible travel experiences to meet their changing needs. TUIs five strategic priorities for sustainable development are Embedding, Climate Change, Destinations, Our People and Our Customers (TUI Travel PLC, Strategy) . Since 1998 to 2005 main focus of TUI was on achieving cost control and differentiating its product in market. This was achieved by adopting Hybrid strategy which is a combination of differentiation, price and cost control (Campbell 2002) refer to Appendix (A). TUI creates enhancing margin quality through product differentiation by creating unique travel experiences for its customers which helps them achieve brand loyalty and competitive advantage. With controlled distribution process the cost of acquisition can be reduced and flexibility is achieved. The five key elements of TUI strategy: Expand our core tourism business Exploit synergies and cost efficiencies across our markets and products Leverage the benefits of our vertically integrated tourism model and our wide distribution network Identify new trends and exploit developments in the tourism industry Continue to grow our container shipping business Over the years TUI has maintained its position as the market leaders of tourism industry by covering all the stages of tourism value chain by owning its own travel agencies, hotels, incoming agencies, airlines and cruises (Business week 2009). It has positioned itself to be its own supplies, buyers and travel services and had become a strong example of vertical integration. Vertical growth can be accomplished by forward and backward integration. Though the vertical integration does not give 100 percent success guarantee in complete value chain, TUI has successfully build its business with selection of travel agencies in European market by having Thomas cook airlines with 100 aircrafts and owning more than 3000 travel agencies (case study). Vertical integration also helps in attracting more customers, differentiate its product and gain more power in market and gain economies of scale by reducing the coordination cost and reducing the profit margins of intermediaries (Enz 2009). Other advantages and disadvantages can be referred in Appendix (B). Major strengths on which TUI had built its leadership and its weaknesses which empowered them to overcome and maintain its position. 4.1 STRENGTHS: TUIs greatest strength is its brand recognition and fully integrated business model with wide spread distribution network to provide operational advantages. TUIs confidence is based on (i) ability to recover increases in input costs, (ii) flexible business model, (iii) delivery of merger synergies, and (iv) diversity of the Groups businesses(TUI Travel Plc, third quarter report). Appropriate strategic choices with the diverse work force and economic of scale in competitive marketing and efficient distribution has proved to be its core competence. TUIs global presence provides wide variety of holiday services and has successful container shipping business. 4.2WEAKNESS TUI Travels existing shareholder loan amounts to approximately  £900 million is the major drawback for TUI (financial times 2009). The consumers are increasingly holding off on booking holidays in order to save money in recession. Whereas limited bookings transparency (growing trend toward short-term travel bookings; uncertain earnings performance) has also effected the revenue growth of TUI. Another factor is the impact of seasonality on sustained growth and performance of nature based tourism. 5.0 CHANGING TRENDS AND TUIs FUTURE: 5.1 Key Drivers of change Beside PESTLE (Appendix (C)) it is important to identify the number of key drivers of changes which are forces likely to affect the structure of a business (Johnson et al 2005). To understand the drivers of changes in tourism industry it is required to analyse the change in consumers behaviour, lifestyle and priorities. In years to come the demographic shifts (ageing population), technology penetration, changes in work pattern, time pressure and changing modes of consumption (further destinations, greater expectations, more specialization) will make heavy impact on travel and tourism industry(Lockwood and Medlik 2002). According to Peter Long, chief executive of TUI Travel (sustainable development report 2008), Sustainability is one of the four key drivers for growth in TUI, the four main drivers for a sustainability programme for TUI Travel: Aviation and climate change Protecting destinations from the impact of climate change Protecting destinations from the impact of tourism Shifting demographics and consumer trends These aspects will analyse progress of TUI which is made towards providing holidays that cause minimal environmental impact, respect the culture and people of destinations, and offer real economic benefit to local communities. 5.2 Ansoffs Matrix According to Johnson et al. (2008) Ansoff Product/market growth can be used to analyse the implications of corporate strategy applied to look for the opportunities open to the industry. This matrix consists of four quadrants which are used to evaluate four types of strategic decision(Appendix (D)). It allows marketers to consider ways to develop the business via existing and/or new products, in existing and/or new markets. With an initial start in tourism business from end of 1997 to 1999 TUI saw a real scope of penetration of its business in German market with its existing products and aim to increase its market share. With a vision of new opportunities TUI expanded its horizons by stepping into European market in 2000 with complete dominance and strong market share with existing products in new markets by taking over Thomson travel group, Nouvelles Frontieres(France) and Fritidsresor(Scandinavia) developing its market. With time TUI focused on Product development and introduced low-cost travel airlines in 2003, setting up TUI china and then increased its cash flow by signing joint ventures in Russia. In 2005 with launch of a virtual tour operator, TUI captured the top position in tourism industry and was able to develop a successful brand Image. In 2005 TUI penetrated in most of the Europe, tourism division was subdivided into the five sectors Central Europe, Northern Europe, Western Europe, destinat ions and other tourism activities. TUI was diversifying geographically and that has helped to compensate the ups and downs of individual countries, which can be due to any macroeconomic factor. TUI has diversified geographically in Europe, India and China. They have also diversified in their business segments in logistics of container shipping department in order to achieve economies of scale. TUI opted consolidation for long term growth and global brand development to ensure cash flow from developed market in economic downturn hence TUI considered consolidation has one of their product and market strategy suggested by Johnson et al.(2008). 5.3 EXTERNAL OPPORTUNITIES AND THREATS OPPOURTUNITES Changes in emerging and fragmented markets provide greater opportunity for growth in TUI, acquisition and joint ventures can provide a platform to build stronger product portfolio. Improving TUIs local business, improving in marketing, sales and distribution can support growing demands for specialist holidays. Tour operators still have scope for consolidation by easing geopolitical tensions. Refer to Appendix (E) for more information about the opportunities and TUIs approach towards it. THREATS Protracted economic downturn has been a major threat to the tourism industry. Geopolitical uncertainties (terrorist attacks and natural calamities), operators relatively high debts, limited earning transparency of some companies and seasonal-led volatile earnings performances are some other setbacks for tourism industry. Less attention towards environment and global warming may cause a devastating impact on travel business. 6.0 LIMITATIONS OF TOOLS 6.1 PESTEL FACTORS PESTLE analysis is done to simplify the decision making process while following a strategy. PESTLE factors helps in identifying the past trend of an organisation on which future trends are identified. Practically PESTLE analysis makes it difficult for a company to analyse the entire macro-economic factor as it can be very time consuming and costly. In this fast changing environment, capturing adequate data might be difficult and capturing too much of data can cause Paralysis by analysis this predicted data might not be accurate. PESTLE does not help is finding out the level of uncertainty in an organisation. For effective results this process needs to be undertaken on regular basis. (Cipd, 2008). 6.2 PORTERS FIVE FORCE Porters five forces model works on relatively static market structure because of which it cannot explain or analyze todays dynamic changes (Recklies 2001). This model equally imply to all the competitors in an industry and this model cannot be applied in isolation where porter accepted that outcome by applying his framework were only relevant while the macro environment remained constant (Campbell et al., 2002). Five force analyses takes into consideration industry as a whole but it does not segregate different segments. The individual analysis of each of the segment can be of much assistance than industry as a whole. It even assumes that relationships with competitors, buyers and suppliers are adversarial. It oversimplifies industry value chains (Grundy, 2006) and It ignores the human resource aspect of the strategy 6.3 SWOT The SWOT analysis gives an overview of the subject but doesnt help to get the details. The categorization of some aspects as strengths or weaknesses, or as opportunities and threats is to some extent subjective. From the case study numerous strength and weaknesses were identified, but those all were a snapshot of the success and failure on TUI over all business performance. According to Mintzberg (1990) the assessment of strengths and weaknesses may be unreliable, being bound up with aspirations, biases and hopes. Moreover, Frost (2003) describes SWOTs downsides from a managers point of view as it would be difficult for a manager to identify strengths than things they see as wrong with the organization and managers tend to describe an effect as a weakness and do not get to the causes. (Zarkos et al., 2007) states, an opportunity can also be a threat for a company; hence the same problem appears in the distinction of strengths and weaknesses. 6.4 ANSOFFS MATRIX Ansoffs matrix is only focussed on growth of a company it focuses on the tangible aspects of products and services and very little attention is paid to intangible aspect like brand. Another weakness of the Ansoff Matrix approach is that it doesnt really address the issue of brand elasticity as a part of the strategic decision-making process.( pringle and field, 2008). the use of Ansoff matrix as a marketing tool may not be really useful as the matrix is critical for analysing the strategic path that the brand may be following, and does not essentially identify marketing options(Macmillan et al., 2000). 7.0 CONCLUSION In this report the strategic analysis is carried out on TUI tourism industry using various tools. Firstly, macro-environment was analysed to understand the possible impacts on the industry competitive strength and advantage over competitors and develop an appropriate strategy. On a corporate level hybrid strategy and vertical integration was discussed in support to TUIs success. Next segment of internal analysis described TUIs core competences and focussed on future trends of TUI. The analysis of this case study concluded high level of sustainable development which is inimitable. 8.0 REFERENCE LIST Campbell, D., Stonehouse, G. and Houston, B. (2002), Business Strategy: an introduction, 2nd Edition, Butterworth-Heinemann publication, Oxford, UK. Enz, A. C., (2009), Hospitality Strategic Management: Concept and Cases, 2nd Edition,    Haboken, New Jersey. Frost, A. (2003), The Use of Strategic Tools by Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises: an Australasian study, Strategic Change, Volume. 12, Page: 49-62. Grundy, T. (2006), Rethinking and reinventing Michael Porters five forces model, Strategic Change, Volume. 15, Page: 213-229. Hall, C. And OSullivan, V. (1996), Tourism political stability and violence in Wahab, S. and Christopher P. C.,(2001), Tourism in the age of globalization , pp-234, Routledge. Johnsons, G., Scholes, K. and Whittington, R. (2005), Exploring Corporate Strategy, 7th Edition, Prentice Hall, UK. Johnsons, G., Scholes, K. and Whittington, R. (2008), Exploring Corporate Strategy, 8th Edition, Prentice Hall, UK. Lockwood, A. and Medlik, S., (2002), Tourism and Hospitality in the 21st Century, Butterworth Heinemann Macmillan, H. and Tampoe, M. (2000), Strategic Management, Oxford University Press. Available at: http://www.coursework4you.co.uk/ansoff.htm, Access on: 21st Oct 2009, 17.23pm. Mintzberg, H. (1990), The Design School: Reconsidering the Basic Premises of Strategic Management, Strategic Management Journal, Volume. 11, Page: 171-195. Porter, M. E,. (1985), Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance. The Free Press Pringle, H. And Field, P., (2008), Brand immorality how brands can live long and prosper, Kogan page, IPA Recklies, D. (2001), Five Competitive Force (porter), Available at http://www.12manage.com/methods_porter_five_forces.html, Assessed on: 28th Oct 2009, 8.45pm. Reisinger, Y., (2009),International Tourism: Cultures and Behaviour Elsevire Ltd. Sà ¶nmez, F. S., Tarlow, P.,(1999) Tourism in Crisis: Managing the Effects of Terrorism Journal of Travel Research, Vol. 38, No. 1, 13-18 Thurlby, B., (1998), Competitive forces are also subject to change, Management Decision London Zarkos, S., Morgan, R. E. and Kouropalatis, Y. (2007), Real Options and Real Strategies, Strategic Change, Volume: 16, Page: 315-325. http://www.cipd.co.uk, (2008), PESTLE analysis, CIPD, Accessed on 3rd Nov 2009 at 15.56pm http://www.tui-group.com/uuid/68045be7dc26a80404db1d381be42f4b TUI Group Listing Memorandum, Accessed on 1st Nov 2009 at 19.24pm http://www.scribd.com/doc/17015152/TUI-Environmental-ReportTUI TUI Group Environmental report, Accessed on 5th Nov 2009 at 12.03am http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/snapshot/snapshot_article.asp?ric=TUIGn.DE Business week 2009 , TUI AG(Consumer Directory sector, hotels restaurants and leisure) Accessed on 8th Nov 2009 at 13.33pm http://www.dailybusinessbuzz.ca/2009/11/02/pe-cutting-edge-technology-to-boost-tourism/ Daily business buzz, Cutting -edge technology to boost tourism 8th Nov 2009 at 22.54pm http://www.coastlearn.org/tourism/why_socioimpacts.html Coast learn, Sustainable Tourism : Socio-Culture Impact, Accessed on 6th Nov 2009 at 16.22 pm http://www.tui-group.com/en/sustainability/env_management TUI Group , Environment management and ecological sustainability, Accessed on 29th Oct 2009 at 16.16pm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/7094559.stm Holmes, S., 2007 How to make tourism greener , BBC news, Accessed on 8th Nov 2009 at 23.08pm http://www.tui-group.com/en/company/profile TUI Group, company profile Accessed on 30th Oct 2009 at 09.52am www.tuitravelplc.com/tui/uploads//TUITravelQ3Results.pdf TUI Travel Plc, third quarter report 2008, Accessed on 25th Nov 2009 at 11.52am http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/258da2ca-acd0-11de-91dc-00144feabdc0.html Yuk, K. P., 2009 TUI Travel takes steps to refinance loan, Accessed on 7th Nov 2009 at 22.14pm http://sd2008.tuitravelplc.com/tui-sd/pages/aboutthisreport/datamaterialityTUI Group, sustainability report 2008, Accessed on 28th Oct 2009 at 20.22pm 9.0 APPENDIX: APPENDIX (A) Market price responsiveness Price insensitivity Price sensitivity Cost-based Strategy Differentiation Strategy Stuck in the middle strategy Hybrid strategies Appropriate strategic approach Adopted form David Campbell, George Stonehouse andBill Houuston , Business Strategy (2000), 2nd edition. APPENDIX (B) Advantages and Disadvantages of vertical Integration Advantages Disadvantages Can eliminate steps and reduce duplication 1)need for overheads to coordinate vertical integration Avoid time consuming tasks and negotiate contracts Burden of excess capacity if not at all output is used. Improve marketing or technological intelligence Obsolete process may be penetrated Can create differentiation through coordination process Reduce strategic flexibility due to being locked in a business Provide superior control of firms market environment May link to an unprofitable adjacent business Offers an increased ability to create credibility for new products. May not be potential for synergy Adopted from Enz, A. C., (2009), Hospitality Strategic Management: Concept and Cases, 2nd Edition. Appendix (C) FACTORS REASONS POLITICAL/LEGAL Political instability of developing countries Government regulations and regulatory reforms. High taxation policies of developed countries. labour, environmental and health and safety regulations ECONOMICAL Rise in disposable income in developing countries Currency fluctuation. Rise in fuel cost Emerging market. SOCIAL Changing priorities of consumers Health and safety concerns Urbanisation. Disposal income in consumer level TECHNOLOGY Use of information technologies systems for reservations Use of internet Implementation of new sales and distribution channels Enhanced flexibility ENVIRONMENT Natural calamities Global warming limitation on carbon emission Appendix D STRATEGIC DIRECTION ANSOFF MATRIX Existing Product New Product A Market Penetration Consolidation B Product Development C Market Development D Diversification Existing Market New Market Adapted from H. Ansoff, Corporate Strategy, Penguin, 1988, Chapter 6 Appendix (E) Opportunity Our goal Embedding into our core business Ensure our business decisions take into account sustainable development principles Operational impacts Minimise the negative sustainability impacts (particularly on climate change) of our day-to-day operations Supply chain management Support our supply chain in managing their sustainability impacts Choice editing Edit out the holiday options that do not meet our minimum sustainability standards Choice influencing Make it easy for customers to choose a more sustainable holiday Awareness raising Help customers appreciate the sustainability impacts of tourism, driving demand for more sustainable holidays Changing behaviour   Encourage customers to change their actions in a way that maximises the positive and minimises the negative impacts of their holiday Innovation and product development   Develop new, more sustainable experiences in response to demand   Collaborating with our industry   Share best practice with others in the tourism industry where our competitiveness is not affected   Advocacy   Use our influence responsibly and in line with our commitment to sustainable development   Putting something back   Put something back into the environment or community wherever we cannot avoid a negative impact   http://sd2008.tuitravelplc.com/tui-sd/pages/ourapproach/ourstrategy?whoareyou=addstudent=truesubmit=Submit Threat of new Entrant Innovative ideas Wide range of holiday packages Threat of substitute Worldwide tourism attractions

We Must Reform College Sports Essay -- Argumentative Persuasive Argume

The current athletics systems in many large colleges are no longer beneficial to student-athletes or the academic premise the schools were founded under and are in need of intensive restructuring. Ernest Boyer, former president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching said, "I believe that the college sports system is one of the most corrupting and destructive influences on higher education" (1999). In fact, it is widely acknowledged that there is corruption by many college coaches in the areas of recruiting, eligibility, degree progress, and academic integrity of athletes. The NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association), the national governing and accrediting agency for college athletics, possesses the duty of policing such offenses, but it is currently in a position to make huge profits off big-time sports, despite their continued claims of a non-profit status. The NCAA’s inconsistent enforcement of violations, seemingly based on the size of a progr am, has fueled many questions regarding the appropriateness of their role as a rules enforcement organization. The corruption by coaches and administrators, and academic ineligibility of many athletes has led people to wonder whether the amateur status of Division I athletes is still appropriate. The original intention of college athletics was to enhance the academic experience, and the NCAA came about due to the need to impose a set of regulations that would make college football safer. However, the big-time college sports of football and men’s basketball have become a multi-million dollar entertainment enterprise, and it appears that the NCAA has lost all concept of it’s mission: "to maintain intercollegiate athletics as an integral part of the educ... ...ronicle of Higher Education, 47, A51-A52. Suggs, W. (2000). A professor’s challenge to sports at Tennessee. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 46, A37-A38. Suggs, W. (2000). 10 years later, another look at big-time college sports. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 47, A69-A70. Suggs, W. (2000). A decade later, sports-reform panel plans another look at big-time athletics. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 46, A45-A46. Suggs, W. (2000). Knight commission gets an earful from critics of big-time college sports. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 47, A54. Suggs, W. (2000). NCAA adopts rules changes aimed at curbing abuses in men’s basketball. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 46, A54. Wyatt, J.B. (1999). Our moral duty to clean up college athletics. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 45, A56. http://www.NCAA.org/

Developing the Marketing Plan Case: Gillette Indonesia Essay

I. BACKGROUND In October 1995, Chester Allan, Gillette’s country manager in Indonesia, was developing his unit’s 1996 marketing plan. Once completed, it would be forwarded to Rigoberto Effio, business director in Gillete’s Asia-Pacific group based in Singapore. Each year Effio received and approved marketing plans for the 12 countries in his region, which reached from Australia to China. Once approved by Ian Jackson, Asia-Pacific group vice president, the overall marketing plan-for the region would be reviewed subsequently, along with other regional plans, by Robert King, executive vice president of Gillette’s International Group. Allan’s plan projected a 19% increase in blade sales in Indonesia in 1996 from 115 million to 136 million. This seemed reasonable given a 17% increase in 1995 over the previous year. With a population of almost 200 million, Indonesia represented an important country in the portfolio of markets for which Effio and Jackson were responsible. Effio wondered whether investment spending in marketing beyond the 1995 level of 12% of sales might further accelerate market development. Given the growth rates of Gillette’s business in other Asia-Pacific countries, Effio believed that a 25% to 30% increase in blade sales could be achieved in Indonesia in 1996. II. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM How rapidly the Indonesian market for blades and razors could or would expand. Should the Indonesian market be allowed to just move along at its own pace? If so, what would that pace be? III. OBJECTIVE Gillette’s mission was to achieve worldwide leadership in its core product categories by developing marketing plan. SWOT ANALYSIS STRENGTH| WEAKNESSES| * The company emphasized geographic expansion along with research and development, advertising, and capital spending as drivers of growth. * Upgrade the market to higher value products and shaving systems.| * The poorer rural shavers cannot afford Gillette products and buy low-price, low-quality brands such as Tiger and Tatra. * Problems with customs clearances could impact the entire manufacturing cycle. * Shaving was still underdeveloped in Indonesia, but the incidence of shaving was increasing. OPPORTUNITIES| THREATS| * New-product activity and entry into and development of new markets were considered essential. * Research showed that higher-income, urban consumers were increasingly shopping in supermarkets. Most sales of Gillette’s higher priced shaving products were through these outlets.| * The production team carefully planned the timing of materials inputs. Because of distribution and transportation inefficiencies, the need for buffer inventories was substantial. * with rising incomes and improved Gillette distribution and display, consumers are moving to Gillette.| IV. ALTERNATIVE COURSES OF ACTION 1. There was increasing awareness of Western grooming practices, especially in urban areas, as a result of exposure to foreign media and the increasing presence of multinational companies and their overseas personnel. 2. The liberalization of foreign investment policy had increased private sector involvement in the economy; the central government focused on developing infrastructure in the poorer regions and on human resources. V. RECOMMENDATIONS 3. Improving education system ensured that foreign companies would be attracted to the major urban areas, fueling further growth. 4. Gillette headquarters developed television advertisements for use worldwide, with the intent that local voiceovers and local package shots would be superimposed.

Passion for College Students Essay

College students traditionally show pride towards their respective school. What makes students so enthusiastic for their school? In Laura Randall’s â€Å"Things You Only Do in College† and David Berreby’s â€Å"It Takes a Tribe† both writers explore college culture but come up with decidedly different results. Randall argues that college students’ traditions are embarrassing to the university, and students should be focusing on schoolwork not traditions; but Berreby suggests traditions are for the pride which students have for their school. In this essay I argue that students are passionate for their school, and the traditions they participate in are for the pride they have for the school. Randall discusses the traditions at various universities, or the hazing rituals for the fraternities and sororities on the many campuses. In her writing she looks disgusted that colleges are not trying to stop these â€Å"stupid traditions† in Randall’s mind. She states â€Å"Today’s traditions are more likely to involve nudity, fire, and intoxicants and be closely monitored by publicity-wary administrators† (Randall, 211). This quote shows the disappointment for college students and their traditions. Randall is saying there are not any traditions which are good for the university, or the people that participate. Randall implies that these traditions are embarrassing to the universities. In Randall’s writing â€Å"Things You Only Do In College† she discusses tradition students participate in, which she finds embarrassing. Randall believes there should be more money pumped into schools academic fields, because that is the reason the students are there in the first place. She believes the universities should crack down on the traditions which get students in trouble. However, most of these traditions were started over school pride. For example, students will go streaking to break out of their â€Å"shell† and show their school spirit. However, Randall believes these traditions are pointless, and they have no meaning of school pride. Randall writes â€Å"Like their zanier predecessors, they are a long-remembered part of the college experience if occasionally rowdy, childish, illegal, or all three† (Randall, 211). In this quote, a zanier predecessor means the crazy people who did this before them. This passage states that traditions are a part of the college experience, even though they are mostly rambunctious. Traditions might be outlawed, or looked down upon them by the administrators of the university, but the students do these rowdy acts for the pride they have for the university. Sure students will go streaking, and jump into a lake, but they do it for fun, and for their pride of the university. If the students do not care for the university they would not do something so odd for the fun of it. The athletics are what make students passionate for the university. Most weird traditions are started in support for the athletics. The athletics are supported by the student body, and it brings everyone together to do these traditions. In David Berreby’s essay â€Å"It Takes a Tribe† he talks about school pride, and how most college students view it’s us vs. them. David Berreby talks about many rivalries between colleges, and the majority of them are started by athletics. There are academic rivalries between many universities around the country; for example Harvard/Yale, or Princeton/Penn. However, most people when speaking of a rivalry think of some kind of athletics competition. There are students however, who do not know all of the traditions when they first go to their school. They pick them up as they go along. Berreby writes â€Å"They’ll be singing their school songs and cherishing the traditions (just as soon as they learn what they are† (Berreby, 207). In this quote he is saying there are many students who apply to colleges for name recognition. However, when they get to the university or college they will participate in the traditions. Not every student at Penn State knows the fight song or the alma mater. However, when they go to a football game or any other sporting event they will be standing proudly singing that same fight song or alma mater. Berreby states that â€Å"They’ll learn contempt for that rival university, Oklahoma to their Texas, Sacramento State to their U. C. Davis, Annapolis to their West Point† (Berreby, 207). This quote is saying the students will also learn who the rival university is, and they will build a hatred for them, and root against them every chance they get. He also talks about some of the bigger rivalries between colleges. Oklahoma and Texas have been rivals for years, but in the public eye society view this rivalry for sports. No one thinks about whose graduates succeed more after college. Society’s views on rivalries deal with sports, and college students live off their sports teams. If the teams do well then the campus is always more lively, but if the teams lose there is a down feeling all throughout the campus. For example, before Penn State played Michigan in football this year there was a huge anticipation for the game. Most of my friends and me would torture the people who drove from Michigan to the game. Then, after Penn State lost there was a huge negativity all throughout main campus, and I could tell especially from talking to people even a couple days or weeks afterwards. David Berreby in his essay â€Å"It Takes a Tribe† discusses college rivalries, and how students are passionate for their schools for the rivalries. David Berreby and Laura Randall both write about college traditions, and the students that participate in them. However, they both have very different opinions on the traditions. Randall believes the universities are tired of the traditions that students take a part in. She also implies that there needs to be more focus in the classroom. However, Berreby writes about how students are doing these traditions because of the pride they have for the university. He implies that students also love the rivalry between colleges. In colleges around the world students have different opinions on the universities they attend. In my college experience I have found nothing that makes me more excited than sporting events. Of course I go to class because that is the reason why any student goes to college. However, my passion for this university goes beyond the sporting events. The pride I have is different than what others have. Although, I do participate in all the traditions at Penn State, whether it’s going to the football game, and singing the alma mater, or singing Hey Baby in between the third and fourth quarter of a football game. They are all traditions which students that are enthusiastic for this university participate in. Students everywhere have some type of school pride, but all express it differently. Whether it’s streaking, or hazing they all have a meaning. The traditions that students participate in are out of the pride they have in their school, and there is nothing that will stop students from doing these traditions in the future.