Technology management Blog Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Technology management Blog - Essay Example Money has a time value. This means the holder of the money has to make timely considerations when making financial decisions. This is used in our information technology sector. The information technology sector is a business and has to take into considerations the importance of making investment decisions. The time value of money is the fundamental mathematics that revolves around investing and it forms the basis of the financial calculations. Most significantly, it expounds on the concept of compound returns, which is the basic driving force of the investments growth overtime. There are several indicators of the time value of money. They include, net present value, present value, and future value. The present value is the current worth of future sum of money or cash inflows that are attained at a specific rate of return. Future cash flows are discounted at a certain discount rate. This means that the higher the discount rate, the lower the net present value of the future cash flows. The present value of an annuity is the sequence of equivalent payments that are paid at equal time intervals. An example of this is the lease and the rental payments made to house owners. Thirdly, there is the present value of perpetuity. This is an endless and a constant stream of identical cash flows. The last feature of time value of money is the future value. This is the future value of an asset or cash at a specified date that is to occur in the future that should be equal to the value of money at a specified sum now. This includes the future value of an annuity. This is the future value of a sequence of payments known as annuities that assumes the payments are invested at a given rate of interest (ROI). The importance of time value of money is that they provide an insight on the information on the risk of an investment. This helps the investor in being able to assess his business risks that faces him. Secondly, it provides a crude

Managing Profitable Customer Relationship Marketing Essay

Managing Profitable Customer Relationship Marketing Essay According to (Kotler, 2006) marketing is Managing profitable customer relationship, the aim of marketing is to create value for the customer and to capture value in return. Marketing is all about dealing with customers and that is what TESCO plc believes in. Marketing strategy indicates the specific target markets and the types of competitive advantages to be developed (Dibb, Simkin, Pride and Ferrell, 1997). Tesco  plc  is a British international grocery and general merchandising retail chain. It is the largest British retailer  by both global sales and domestic market share. Tescos management places an emphasis on customer needs through Tesco values philosophy, expressed as two values -no one tries harder for customers; treat people how we like to be treated. Marketing business is about how one position their business, in order to satisfy your markets needs. Marketing mix is the collaboration of elements that we use to market our product. There are four Ps in marketing mix; they are Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. Tescos management first understands what their local customers want and what their needs are. On the bases of this, they produce and market their products. Management takes proper care in fixing their product prices, during which they mainly consider their customers satisfaction and then their profits. They make sure that their products sold, and are suitable for their local customer needs before they launch their products. Tesco is very skillful in promoting their products. The promotional offers that they give whenever their new products are launched and their advertisings in papers and magazine will prove this. These four Ps are extended to seven Ps in later stages; the extended Ps include People, Process, and Physical evidence. 2.2 TESCO IN INTERNATIONAL MARKET. International marketing is the process of planning and conducting transactions across nation borders to create exchanges that satisfy the objective of individuals and organizations Tesco operates in 18 countries all over the world. Tescos deep understanding of its customers in each market has led to many small changes in way Tesco operates its loyalty programs in each country. This manifests itself in even the simplest way, with the South Korean version named family card and the China program named member card. In such a manner, Tesco is making the local people of different countries feel much closer to them. The main difference between domestic marketing and international marketing will be that, in international marketing process behavioral aspects of marketing, such as mainly culture, societal, and social circumstances that will be re-flecked, so should be taken in to consideration. Where in domestic marketing these above aspects could mostly ignored. Tesco understands the countries culture, social responsibility and other key factors before it enters in to that country. It will make sure that it is capable of taking the necessary changes pre orderly. 2.3 SWOT ANALYSIS OF TESCO. SWOT analysis is a strategic planning method used to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats involved in a business venture. Strengths Weaknesses Leading market position Customization of products and services on bases of its local market requirements Low quality products produced in during 2009 in Ireland lease towards its loss of brand name Opportunities Threats New stores in different new regions Enter in to Indian market Growing population of tesco.com Recession effects in 2009 Heavy competition in UK grocery market 2.3.1 TOWS MATRIX TOWS matrix analyses the external environment (threats and opportunities), and internal environment (weakness and strengths). An organization can use this technique to think about the strategy of the whole organization. Strengths. Weaknesses Opportunities SO Brand awareness growing globally WO Innovation and alliances Threats ST Strong financial situation WT M table.1 The above matrix is the tows matrix. This tows matrix is helpful to explain the SWOT analysis more clearly. The below described pie diagram will give the details of the top ten food retailers in United Kingdom in year 2003. Country GROUP SALES ACROSS INTERNATIONAL MARKET (2009) in  £ bn UK 41.5 REST OF EUROPE 10.1 ASIA 7.6 US 0.2 GROUP SALES ACROSS INTERNATIONAL MARKET M Pie chart.1 SOURCE: http://www.investis.com/tesco/pdf/review2009.pdf (2010) 2.4 CULTURE IN TESCO. Understanding the culture in a country or region in which you are doing business is a critical skill for the international businessperson or organization. Without this knowledge, a successful outcome of the business venture can be in jeopardy. Gareth Morgan defines an organizational culture as The set of the beliefs, values, and norms, together with a symbol like dramatized events and personalities, which represent the unique character of an organization, and provide the context for action in it and by it. Tesco trusts that every employees job in the company is to help their customers, however they can and wherever they are needed. They treat their employees with trust and respect, and that is the major reason why so many of their employees are with them for more than 25 years. 2.5 COMPLEXITY ICEDRIPS MODEL. ICEDRIPS model will explain few major aspects of an organization. I Innovations: Tesco has being entering in to new markets every year. Tesco had recently interred in to India. It gives a chance to all their employees to give new ideas so that they can service their customers in a better way. C Competitors: Tesco has a heavy competition in its market. Asda, Sainsbury, and Morrison are the top competitors of Tesco. E Economic: Tescos major backup is its strong economic background. Its group sales in 2009 were  £ 59,426m. It has a very efficient money rotation process. D Demographic COUNTRIES POPULATION LANGUAGE GDP TURNOVER (2009) GDP PER CAPITA (PPP) UNITED KINGDOM 61,113,205 ENGLISH $2.224 trillion $38,191 $35,200 USA 307,212,123 ENGLISH $14.43 trillion $206 $46,400 ASIA 3,879,000,000 MANY $18.511 trillion $7,068 $20,800 EUROPE 731,000,000 ENGLISH $16.18 trillion $8,862 $32,500 R Regulatory: Before entering in to a countrys market, Tesco will first understand all its countrys rules and political influences of the country. I Infrastructure: Tescos management makes sure that they have the best infrastructure which will fulfil all their needs. P Partners: Partners of Tesco are Electra Entertainment, HP S Socio culture: Tesco understands that every different region will have a different culture and is trying to change itself to set in to it. 2.6 CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY OF TESCO. In the World Business council for sustainable development, Lord Holme and Richard Watts (1.1.2000) defined corporate social responsibility, as It is the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as the local community and society at large. Tescos Corporate Social Responsibility policy objective is to earn the trust or their customers by acting responsibly in the community they serve. Their core purpose of business is to create value for customers to earn their lifetime loyalty. Tescos aims: Is to offer value through competitive prices , high quality food Be helpful through customer service , customer communication To be innovative by their new products development, retail service through technology. As Tesco is a customer based company, which means service is heart of its business. It can provide more new services to its customers such as round the clock service, by setting up more new branches, taking proper care of existing branches which includes frequent checking of products availability, and staff availability, providing more offers and marketing the offers available. 2.7 BOSTON CONSULTING GROUP (BCG) MATRIX OF TESCO. The BCG Growth-share matrix is a portfolio-planning model developed by Bruce Henderson of Boston consulting group in the early 1970s. This matrix is based on the companys business unit and will classify into four categories based on combinations of market growth and market share. Tesco had kept its footprint in Ireland in the year 1998. It was hard for Tesco to reach the Irish customers, as they were extremely sensitive in regard to the foreign brands. Tesco strongly believes and understand that international differences will be taking place. So keeping this in mind, they have taking every small step in such a way that their customers are completely satisfied with their service. Let us consider an example: Tesco understands its customers in such a way that, in many Asian counties customers come in bikes and scooters as they prefer shopping in small quantities. So Tesco had taken steps in providing more bike and scooter parking when compared to car parking. They also take care in their prices, as they understand that they have wide range of competitors around them. 2.8 CHANNEL DECISIONS. According to Warren J. Keegan (1989) Channel decisions is defined as The structure of intercompany organization units and extra company agents and dealers, wholesale and retail, through which a commodity, product, or service is marketed. In this there will be two key elements: internal distribution and external distribution. These utilities are the basic source of competitive advantage and production value so should be considered as the key factor of an organization. How these internal distribution and external distribution are implemented in Tesco is explained below: Internal distribution KEY FACTORS IN TESCO Cost Lost cost brand growth. Strong cash flow position. Control Have in place both finance control (profits targets, capital bids and performance appraisal), and strategic control (overall strategic balance, agreed business plan, optional services and infrastructure). Customer service Customer service center open 24 hrs. Customer based company Motivation( employees) Allowance Friendly team leaders Order handling Outsourced transportation Outsourced External distribution KEY FACTORS IN TESCO Customer characteristics Understands customer requirements globally Nature of product Diverse range of products available Nature of demand Local need are understood Competition Wide range of competitors in different locations ( Asda, Sainsbury, and Morrison) Legal regulations It undergoes all the different regulations which are in all the countries 2.8 PROMOTION. According to Edward W. Cundiff and Marye Tharp Hilger (1988) Promotion is the communication function of marketing. Generally, promotion is communication with the public in an attempt to influence then toward buying your products and /or services. Tesco promotes its products in a wide range. It advertises their products through post, news paper, and television. Tesco understands the local customers interests and behavior and does its promotion such that they reach them. Tesco standardizes its product quality where ever it is. It also standardizes its customer service and its employees behavior towards their customers and also their co employees all over the world. Tesco needs to adopt new services and products, such as considering the local customers their requirements and needs. Tesco need to adopt the nature of providing products with high standards. Tesco believes that marketing is a process thought which they can reach their customers in the right direction and to satisfy their need, service is the only way. And Tesco is successful in most of the situations but it is not completely able to reach its international customers. It does not understand what their international customers as they dont supply all the local need to their customers. Tesco as so believes in marketing but fails in their promotion at some times. Tesco supplies its quality products but fails in some situation, because of which it had to withdraw from France and Taiwan.

Social Criticism in Literature :: A Tale of Two Cities Animal Farm Essays

Social Criticism in Literature Many authors receive their inspiration for writing their literature from outside sources. The idea for a story could come from family, personal experiences, history, or even their own creativity. For authors that choose to write a book based on historical events, the inspiration might come from their particular viewpoint on the event that they want to dramatize. George Orwell and Charles Dickens wrote Animal Farm and A Tale of Two Cities, respectively, to express their disillusionment with society and human nature. Animal Farm, written in 1944, is a book that tells the animal fable of a farm in which the farm animals revolt against their human masters. It is an example of social criticism in literature in which Orwell satirized the events in Russia after the Bolshevik Revolution. He anthropomorphises the animals, and alludes each one to a counterpart in Russian history. A Tale of Two Cities also typifies this kind of literature. Besides the central theme of love, is another prevalent theme, that of a revolution gone bad. He shows us that, unfortunately, human nature causes us to be vengeful and, for some of us, overly ambitious. Both these books are similar in that both describe how, even with the best of intentions, our ambitions get the best of us. Both authors also demonstrate that violence and the Machiavellian attitude of "the ends justifying the means" are deplorable. George Orwell wrote Animal Farm, ". . . to discredit the Soviet system by showing its inhumanity and its back-sliding from ideals [he] valued . . ."(Gardner, 106) Orwell noted that " there exists in England almost no literature of disillusionment with the Soviet Union .' Instead, that country is viewed either with ignorant disapproval' or with uncritical admiration.'"(Gardner, 96) The basic synopsis is this: Old Major, an old boar in Manor Farm, tells the other animals of his dream of "animalism": " . . . Only get rid of Man, and the produce of our labour would be our own. Almost overnight we would become rich and free.'" (Orwell, 10) The other animals take this utopian idea to heart, and one day actually do revolt and drive the humans out. Two pigs emerge as leaders: Napoleon and Snowball. They constantly argued, but one day, due to a difference over plans to build a windmill, Napoleon exiled Snowball. Almost immediately, Napoleon established a totalitarian government. Soon, the pigs began to get special favours, until finally, they were indistinguishable from humans to the other animals. Immediately the reader can begin to draw parallels between the book's characters and the government in 1917-44 Russia. For example, Old Major, who invented Social Criticism in Literature :: A Tale of Two Cities Animal Farm Essays Social Criticism in Literature Many authors receive their inspiration for writing their literature from outside sources. The idea for a story could come from family, personal experiences, history, or even their own creativity. For authors that choose to write a book based on historical events, the inspiration might come from their particular viewpoint on the event that they want to dramatize. George Orwell and Charles Dickens wrote Animal Farm and A Tale of Two Cities, respectively, to express their disillusionment with society and human nature. Animal Farm, written in 1944, is a book that tells the animal fable of a farm in which the farm animals revolt against their human masters. It is an example of social criticism in literature in which Orwell satirized the events in Russia after the Bolshevik Revolution. He anthropomorphises the animals, and alludes each one to a counterpart in Russian history. A Tale of Two Cities also typifies this kind of literature. Besides the central theme of love, is another prevalent theme, that of a revolution gone bad. He shows us that, unfortunately, human nature causes us to be vengeful and, for some of us, overly ambitious. Both these books are similar in that both describe how, even with the best of intentions, our ambitions get the best of us. Both authors also demonstrate that violence and the Machiavellian attitude of "the ends justifying the means" are deplorable. George Orwell wrote Animal Farm, ". . . to discredit the Soviet system by showing its inhumanity and its back-sliding from ideals [he] valued . . ."(Gardner, 106) Orwell noted that " there exists in England almost no literature of disillusionment with the Soviet Union .' Instead, that country is viewed either with ignorant disapproval' or with uncritical admiration.'"(Gardner, 96) The basic synopsis is this: Old Major, an old boar in Manor Farm, tells the other animals of his dream of "animalism": " . . . Only get rid of Man, and the produce of our labour would be our own. Almost overnight we would become rich and free.'" (Orwell, 10) The other animals take this utopian idea to heart, and one day actually do revolt and drive the humans out. Two pigs emerge as leaders: Napoleon and Snowball. They constantly argued, but one day, due to a difference over plans to build a windmill, Napoleon exiled Snowball. Almost immediately, Napoleon established a totalitarian government. Soon, the pigs began to get special favours, until finally, they were indistinguishable from humans to the other animals. Immediately the reader can begin to draw parallels between the book's characters and the government in 1917-44 Russia. For example, Old Major, who invented

The Early English Colonies In America

Early English colonies in America hardly resembled the union of men and women that would later fight against England and build a new country. In fact, until the mid-eighteenth century, most English colonists had very little, if anything to do with the settlers in neighboring colonies. They heard news of Indian wars and other noteworthy events, not from the colony itself, but from England. The colonies in the New World appeared completely different and the prospect of any unity between them seemed impossible. The colonies in New England and the Chesapeake exemplify the many differences in the culture and lifestyles of the settlers, created mainly because of the fact that their founding fathers had held separate intentions when they came to the New World. The New England and Chesapeake colonies were both settled by immigrants from England, the New England colonies being founded by the English from East Anglia, an area in eastern England. Though this was an area thriving with small towns that they had generally liked, they decided to flee England due to religious persecution. Hundreds of families, men, women and their children, came in search of a New World where they could practice their beliefs freely. They founded colonies such as Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island as model Christian societies. Their cities upon the hills were guides, the lanterns, for those lost in the darkness of humanity, as John Winthrop meant by his famous statement. They formed a society of strict religious participation, actually very much resembling their homeland. In the beginning, many called themselves Puritans, and kept things very simple and plain, concentrating on what was important to them. They used the community to achieve their goals, building new towns and enjoying the social aspect of their religion. At the same time, they were committed to remain working hard to keep their community productive. They believed the â€Å"idle hands† were the devil†s workshops. An issue that really defined a split between the societies was the slavery conflict. The northerners in New England held true to their belief that every man shall be equal and no one should be enslaved, while the southerners in the Chesapeake area strongly believed in the use of slavery. At the same time the New Englanders worked to help end slavery by preaching to others about the injustices, they worked diligently to make education in their society strong. Most people in the towns were literate so that they could read their Bibles and study them in detail with their friends and family. Some colonists were artisans or merchants. Others were small-town farmers, making sure that every member of the community had a reasonable share of God†s land. The northern colonies were renowned for being rich in furs, timber and fish. They were especially noted for developing into a very successful trading region. The New England colonies made up the middle class society whose focal points were family, education and religion. The society remained non-capitalistic, yet still buzzed with much activity. On the other hand, the Chesapeake region had a â€Å"cash crop† get rich quickly mentality. This aristocratic region consisted of Virginia and Maryland, two colonies that seemed to be exceedingly materialistic. Evidently, their lives were based more on their liquid assets than on God or family. The Englanders who saw the opportunity to take advantage of the popularity of a brand new crop they had discovered settled the Chesapeake area. These â€Å"gold diggers† were mainly upper-class men of wealthy families aspiring towards coming to the New World to create a large profit for themselves. These colonists were not fleeing England seeking religious or social freedom, but clearly only to add more wealth to their names. Tobacco soon became the primary crop seen growing on almost every one of these wealthy men†s plantations, which created tremendous amounts of money to add to their fortunes. Of course almost every plantation had African slaves working on the land. These colossal estates cam! e to depend on their slaves to run their farms and slavery became a common, yet feared, way of life for many Africans. Unfortunately for these Chesapeake colonies, due to swampy land in much of the area, towns were not part of the landscape or lifestyle as they were in the north. This area was a place of fierce competition with a very minute sense of community, as opposed to the thriving northern colonies surrounded with warm and inviting community towns. The strong focus on family, education or religion was not a main highlight in the lives of Chesapeake colonists, except in Maryland, where the Calvert family did indeed form a haven for Catholics. These two regions of the New England colonies and the Chesapeake colonies did in truth share the common fact that their settlers were all of English origin. Of course when they first set sail, even before they reached the New World, they began to separate into two distinctly different societies already. The clearly evident reason is because these â€Å"pilgrims† came to the New World each pursuing something different. The New England settlers were longing to find a more suitable land of opportunity where they could better their lives and gain religious freedom. They wanted very much to create a society where they could focus on their family, religion and education. Where as the Chesapeake settlers, they were clearly hoping to â€Å"strike gold† in the New World. Many hoped they could improve their social status even more by gaining large profits from growing and selling such items as tobacco. The New England colonists came and made a quite simple society and the Chesapeake colonists created a more aristocratic society. Their society seemed to care more about their wealth and power more than anything, where as the New England society grew to be one with important focus†. These two regions may have shared that same origin and spoken the same English language, but they rarely â€Å"spoke of similar things. † Because of this culture barrier, a separated north and south was created, causing two distinctly different societies to evolve.

Functions of Management Essay

United Health group is a major insurance company that provides medical and mental health coverage to its consumers. The organization manages Medicaid and Medicare accounts as well as commercial accounts from employers. Providing healthcare insurance is a competitive job, therefore, the management of the organization has to use the four functions of management to remain in the competition. The four function of management are planning, organizing, leading and controlling. In this paper, we will discuss the four functions of management and how it relates to the organization. The four functions of management is planning, organizing, leading and, controlling. Planning is for the goals of the organization, planning sets the stage for action and major achievements. Organizing is assembling and coordinating human, financial resources needed to achieve the goals. This could be organizing activities such as grouping jobs into work units, marshaling and allocating resources and creating conditions so that people and things work together to achieve maximum success. Leading is stimulating people to be high performers. Leading can take place in departments, teams as well as divisions. By encouraging high performers, you are increasing their inner moral, making them feel and believe they can complete their goals rather it is individual goals that coincide with the organization’s goals. Another management function is controlling, managers make sure the organization’s resources are being used as planned and that the organization is meeting its goals for quality and safety. The four functions of management have in common is to achieve the goals for the organization. The four functions all work together. There are three different levels in management; top level managers, middle level managers and, front line managers. Top level managers are typically the CEO, COO or CIO. Middle level managers are under the top level managers and, frontline managers are considered operational managers. The top level manager determines and identifies the goals that are needed for the entire organization. Once the CEO has identified the goals and what steps that are  needed to achieve the goal, the information is conveyed to middle management. Middle management takes those goals and determines what’s needed to achieve the goals such as organizing workloads, teams or units. Then convey to frontline managers. Front line management does most of the leading, their more hands on with employees or teams. Front line managers assist with establishing individual goals that will benefit the company and coincide with the company’s goals. Front line managers also use controlling by making sure the e mployees utilize company resources if needed. Also by making sure the company goals are being met. The organization uses all four of the management functions. There have been many cases of increased health issues within call center environments such as; obesity, high blood pressure, depression and anxiety issues. The organization created incentives to make the idea more appealing to the employees. The organization has decided to inspire and motivate their employees to take better care of their health. By creating the goals of decreasing the health issues within the office setting the organization set their stage for action so they could achieve these goals. Now that the goal has been established the organization needs to assemble humans, physical information to coordinate ways to achieve the goals. The organization started providing bonus incentives such has decrease in insurance if you’re passed a bio metric screening. The organization also begin to partner with Weight Watchers providing employee discounts, LA Fitness (discounted membership), provide stress management classes along, with providing ways to exercise in the office. There are different teams within the company with a goal of losing the most weight. The teams encourage one another and provide support during their weight loss journey. All teams support and encourage with the expectations of dropping the weight and defeating the other team. The teams have weekly check-ins where the members have to weigh in, report their meal plans. By utilizing the four functions of management, the organization has been able to lower their premiums for their employees, and increase better health within the organization. The organization identified the issue of health  concerns within the office setting, set the goals of prevention and reduction. With those plans of prevention and reduction the organization was able to organize employees and coordinate ways to achieve the goals. The staff coordinated and provided information to their employees to educate and prevent. The leaders promoted the resources and encouraged those to be active and participate in all the resources the organization has to offer. Reference Page: Bateman Thomas S., Snell Scott A. 8th edition, 2009 McGraw-Management: Leading and Collaborating in a Competitive World, Retrieved from The University of Phoenix eBook Collection database. Sedentary jobs helping to drive obesity epidemic. (2011). Retrieved from http:// health.usnews.com/health-news/diet-fitness/fitness/articles/2011/05/26/sedentary-jobs-helping-to-drive-obesity-epidemic.