Advertising and Sales Essay Example for Free

Advertising and Sales Essay Assignment Q1. What is the meaning of advertising? Explain the advertising pyramid with a neat diagram. Advertising is the non-personal communication of information usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature about products, services or ideas by identified sponsors through the various media to reach broad audiences† The five basic element of this pyramid are: attention, interest, desire, action and satisfaction. Attention: The first objective of advertising is to capture attention of the consumer. The job is easy as even shouting or clapping can draw attention. Therefore, the copywriter usually makes the headline very catchy by using the bigger fonts. The other techniques are to use short punch lines in conversational language. Interest: The advertisement’s next objective is to create interest in the readers about the product. After giving a good headline, their interest is retained by elaborating on the key features of the product. This is usually incorporated in the body copy. Desire: In this step, the advertisement creates a situation for the prospective customer to enjoy benefits of the product vicariously. The writer creates a situation that makes the reader feel as though there is a lot that is being missed if one does not use the product. Action: The purpose of this step is to motivate people to do something. No advertisement is successful if it cannot induce any action. This is not a difficult step because if the copy is clear then surely the reader will act. Satisfaction: The tip of the pyramid is satisfaction. After the product is bought, the buyer should have a feel of satisfaction. The customer should always feel that it has got the appropriate returns for the money spent. Q2. What do you understand by integrated marketing communication (IMC)? What are the various roles? â€Å"IMC is a strategic business process used to develop, execute, and evaluate coordinated, measureable, persuasive brand commun ications programs over time with customers, prospects, employees, associates, and other targeted relevant internal and external audiences. The goal is to generate both short-term financial returns and build long-term brand and share-holder value.† Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) is a process involving coordination of various promotional elements and other  marketing activities that communicate with a firm’s customers. It includes managing customer relationships that drive brand value through communication efforts. The role of IMC can be discussed with the following points:  · Identifying the target audience  · Specifying promotion objectives  · Setting the promotion budget  · Selecting the right promotional tools  · Designing the promotion  · Scheduling the promotion Identifying the target audience: IMC’s first function is to identify the right audience. It is very important to deliver the message to the right audience. Specifying promotion objectives:  · Designed for a well-defined target audience  · Measurable  · Cover a specified time period Hierarchy of effects: Sequence of stages a prospective buyer goes through Use as a tool to develop objectives  · Awareness – Ability to recognize and remember the product or brand  · Interest – Increase in desire to learn about the product features  · Evaluation – Consumer’s appraisal of the product on important attributes  · Trial – Consumer’s actual first purchase and use  · Adoption – Repeated purchase and use of the product or brand Setting the promotion budget:  · Percentage of sales: Funds are allocated as a percentage of past or anticipated sales  · Competitive parity: Matching the competitor’s absolute level of spending Selecting the right promotional tools  · Specify the combination of the five basic IMC tools – advertising, Personal selling, sales promotion, public relations and direct marketing  · Promotion mix can vary  · Assess the comparative importance of the various tools Designing the promotion:  · Design of the promotion plays a primary role in determining the message that is communicated to the audience  · Design activity is viewed as the step requiring the most creativity  · Design each promotional activity to communicate the same message Scheduling the promotion:  · Determine the most effective timing  · Promotion schedule describes  · Factors such as seasonality and competitive promotion activity can influence the schedule. Q3. While developing an advertisement, some theories are useful. Discuss the two theories to design an advertisement. In developing an advertisement for an advertising campaign, several theoretical frameworks are useful. The first theory is the hierarchy of effects model. The second is a means to an end chain. Both the hierarchy of effects model and a means to an end chain can be used to develop leverage points. 1. Hierarchy-of-Effects Model Among advertising theories, the hierarchy-of-effects model is predominant. It helps clarify the objectives of an advertising campaign as well as the objective of a particular advertisement. The model suggests that a consumer or a business buyer moves through a series of six steps when becoming convinced to make a purchase. These six steps are as follows: Awareness – If most of the target audience is unaware of the object, the communicator’s task is to build awareness, perhaps just name and recognition with simple messages repeating the product name. Consumers must become aware of the brand. Knowledge – The target audience might have product awareness but may not know much more; hence this stage involves creating brand knowledge. This is where comprehension of the brand name and what it stands for become important. What are the brand’s specific appeals, its benefits? Liking – If target members know the product, how do they feel about it? If the audience looks unfavorably towards the product then the communicator has to find out why. If the unfavorable view is based on real problems, communication campaigns alone cannot do the job of erasing it. Preference – The target audience might like the product but not prefer it to others. In this case, the communicator must try to build consumer preference by promoting quality, value, performance and other features. Conviction – A target audience might  prefer a particular product but not develop the confidence about buying it. The communicator’s job is to build conviction among the target audience. Purchase – Finally, some members of the target audience might have conviction but not quite get around to making the purchase. Th ey may wait for more information or plan to act later. 2. Means-End Theory A second theoretical approach a creative (team) can use to design an advertisement is a means-end-chain. This approach suggests that an advertisement should contain a message or means that lead the consumer to a desired end state. Means – end theory is the basis of a model called the Means-End Conceptualizations of Components for Advertising Strategy (MECCAS). The MECCAS model suggests using five elements in creating advertisements.  · The product’s attributes – delicious and refreshing are the products attribute.  · Consumer benefits – delicious and refreshing are linked with the benefit of freshness and good taste.  · Leverage point – the leverage point in the advertisement is the link between the benefit of delicious drink and the personal value of choosing the right drink of an athlete.  · Personal Values – the value of the consumer, the reason of buying Coca Cola. He could value the ’refreshing’ or the ’delicious’ attributes. The marketers need to understand the personal value so that the message will hit the right target. Q4. What do you mean by public relations(PR)? What are the difference between PR and advertising? â€Å"Public relations† is used to build rapport with employees, customers, investors, voters or the general public. Public Relations (PR) is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual etc. in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers etc. The most comprehensive definition is as follows: â€Å"Public relation is the management function which evaluates public attitudes, identifies the policies and procedures of an organization with the public interest and executes a program of action and communication to earn public understanding and acceptance.† The following are the differences between advertising and public relations. Advertising 1. The company pays for advertising the company. Hence the focus is on getting its products or  services. 2. Since you are paying for the space, you have creative control on what goes into that advertisement. 3. Advertisements can be published or run repeatedly. An advertisement generally has a longer shelf life than one press release. 4. In advertising, you get to exercise your creativity in creating new advertising campaigns and materials. 5. If you are working at an advertising agency, your main contacts are yours-workers and the agencys clients. 6. You are looking out your target audience and advertise accordingly. You would not advertise a kid’s Product in a business magazine. 7. Some industry professionals such as Account Executive have contact with the clients. Others like Copywriters or Graphic Designers in the agency may not meet with the client at all. 8. â€Å"Sales!, 20% discount, Buy this product! Act now! Call today!† These are the things you can say in an advertisement. You want to use those buzz words to motivate people to buy your product. Public relations 1. The objective is to get free publicity for space. You know exactly when that advertisement will on air to be published. 2. You have no control over how the media presents your information, if they decide to use your information at all. They are not obligated to cover your event or publish your press release. 3. You submit a press release about a new product or about a news conference once. The PR exposure you receive is only circulated once and the editor will not publish more than once. 4. In public relations, you have to have a nose for news and be able to generate buzz through that news. You exercise your creativity in the way you search for new news to release to the media. 5. In PR, the main contacts will be people in the area of publications and broadcast media. 6. It is generally not possible to segment, target or position the product or service. 7. In public relations, you are very visible to the media. PR professionals are not always called on for the good news. In an emergency you may have to give a statement or on-camera interview to journalists. You may represent your company as a spokesperson at an event. 8. You are strictly writing in a no-nonsense news format. Any blatant commercial messages in your communications are disregarded by the media. Q5. What are the four types of annalists used to develop a comprehensive model for evaluation of a sales organization? There are mainly four factors or types of analysis that are usually needed to  develop a comprehensive model for evaluation of a sales organization. They are: 1) Sales analysis 2) Cost analysis 3) Profitability analysis 4) Productivity analysis 1) Sales analysis: It is an important factor for evaluating the effectiveness of a sales organization. Sales analysis detects strengths and weaknesses of the organization. Sales analysis is described as a detailed inspection of a company’s sales data, which includes assimilating, classifying, comparing and drawing conclusions. Sales analysis is done based on the following parameters: a) Levels in sales organization: Sales analysis should be done at all levels of the sales organizations. This includes evaluation of sales performance from the company level down to the last level. b) Types of sales: The analysis of different types of sales at different organizational levels definitely increases the sales manager’s ability to detect problem areas in the company’s sales performance. For example, analysis can be done: a. Based on type of products b. By distribution channels types c. By type of customer classifications d. By size of orders 2) Cost analysis: Cost analysis is the analysis of costs that affect sales volume. The purpose of marketing cost analysis is to determine the profitability of sales control units, like market segments, sales territories and products. This is done by subtracting the marketing costs from the sales revenues, associated with the sales control units. 3) Profitability analysis: Profitability analysis of marketing units (that is, regions, branches, channels, products or customer groups) can be developed by preparing profit and loss (or income and expense) statements for marketing units. However, the question arises as to how to allocate indirect or shared expenses to various marketing units. There are two approaches for profitability analysis 4) Productivity analysis: Productivity is usually measured by ratios between outputs and inputs. For example, sales per salesperson are used by many companies as a measure of productivity. There  are other productivity ratios such as selling expenses per salesperson, sales calls per salesperson, and quotations submitted per salesperson. Q6. Describe the meaning and importance of media fix decisions. A media mix is the way various types of media are strategically combined in an advertising plan, such as using newspaper and posters to announce a new product as the iPod managers did, followed by television advertising that shows how to use the product and billboards that reminded people to look for it when they go out to the store. A media vehicle is specific TV program (Comedy Circus, CID), newspapers (The Telegraph, Mumbai Mirror), magazines (The Sport star, Elle). Media planning is the way advertisers identify and select media options based on research into the audience profiles of various media; planning also includes scheduling and budgeting. Media buying is the task of identifying specific vehicles, such as TV channels/programs or websites, negotiating the cost to advertise in them and handling the details of billing and payment. Frequency refers to the number of times a person is exposed to the advertisement. An impression is one person’s opportunity to be exposed one time to an advertisement in a broadcast program, newspapers, magazines or outdoor locations. Circulation means the number of copies sold. In the media industry, there are professionals who do both, sell and buy advertising. Media sales people work for a medium, such as a magazine or television channel and their objective is to build the best possible arguments to convince media planners to use the medium they represent. There are also media reps, who are people or companies that sell space (in print) and time (in broadcast) for a variety of media. The rate base is the real number of copies of a newspaper or magazine that gets printed and sold. Readership is the average number of readers per copy sold.

Achieving Competitive Advantage Essay Example for Free

Achieving Competitive Advantage Essay What roles do traditional process management duties of planning, organizing, and controlling play in project management, if any? Answer: The traditional managerial duties of planning, organizing, and controlling all apply to project management. Project managers must be technically well versed, proficient at administrative functions, willing and able to assume leadership roles, and above-all, goal oriented. The project manager is the person most responsible for keeping track of the big picture Diff: 2 Section: 1. 1 What Is a Project? Skill: Conceptual AACSB Tag. Reflective 4) Why is project management challenging? Answer: Projects present challenges for a number of reasons; by their nature they are often dramatic departures from the routine process-oriented work that employees are accustomed to. Projects face budget, time, and resource constraints and these resources must often be marshaled from across the organization. Diff: 2 Section: 1. 1 What Is a Project? Skill: Conceptual AACSB Tag: Reflective 5) Why are projects important? Answer: Todays businesses face a set of pressures that make projects crucial in helping an organization achieve its strategic goals. These pressures include shortened product life cycles, narrow product launch windows, increasingly complex and technical products, the emergence of global markets, and an economic period marked by low inflation. Diff: 1 Section: 1. 2 Why Are Projects Important? Skill: Definition AACSB Tag: Reflective 6) What changes in the business environment have necessitated a greater use of project management skills? Answer: Todays businesses face a set of pressures that make projects crucial in helping an organization achieve its strategic goals. These pressures include shortened product life cycles, narrow product launch windows, increasingly complex and technical products, the emergence of global markets, and an economic period marked by low inflation. Diff: 2 Section: 1. 2 Why Are Projects Important? Skill: Factual AACSB Tag: Reflective 7) Why is project management considered an excellent training ground for future senior executives in many organizations? Answer: One of the unique aspects of projects is their unique blend of technical and behavioral challenges. The technical side of project management requires managers to become skilled in project selection, budgeting and resource management, planning and scheduling, and tracking their projects. The behavioral side of project management requires project managers to bring together individuals from across the organization, mold them into a team, manage conflict, provide leadership, and engage in negotiation and appropriate political behavior. Diff: 2 Section: 1. 2 Why Are Projects Important? Skill: Conceptual AACSB Tag: Reflective 8) Describe the activities that occur at each stage of a project. Answer: Stages in a projects development are referred to as the project life cycle, which consists of conceptualization, planning, execution, and termination. In the conceptualization stage the scope of the work is determined, necessary resources are identified, and important organizational stakeholders signed on. In the planning stage all detailed specifications, schematics, schedules, and other plans are developed. Individual pieces of the project are broken down, individual assignments are made, and the process for completion is delineated. During the execution phase the system is developed or the product is created and fabricated. Termination occurs when the completed project is transferred to the customer, the projects resources are reassigned, and the project is formally closed out. Diff: 1 Section: 1. 3 Project Life Cycles Skill: Definition AACSB Tag: Reflective 9) Where in the project life cycle are the intensity level of resources and client interest at their highest? Why is this the case? Answer: The intensity level of resources peaks during the execution phase of the project life cycle. The actual work is performed during this phase, so the commitment of financial, human, and technical resources peaks at this time. The level of enthusiasm or concern expressed by the projects intended customer peaks in both the conceptualization and termination phases. The client is initially very interested because they provide input on the goal and specifications of the project. Project work moves out of the conceptual phase to a more internal mode and the clients interest wanes until the project nears delivery. At this point the clients interest peaks again as they prepare to receive the completed project and all the associated benefits. Diff: 2 Section: 1. 3 Project Life Cycles Skill: Conceptual AACSB Tag: Reflective 10) Rank the determinants of project success from most important to least important and justify your rankings. Answer: Answers with regard to ranking may vary since, for example, circumstances may dictate that time is an overriding concern at the expense of quality and cost. The determinants of project success are: conformance to budget, schedule, performance specifications, and client acceptance. Time – Projects are constrained by a specified timeframe during which they must be completed; they are not supposed to continue indefinitely. Cost – Projects must meet budgeted allowances in order to use resources as efficiently as possible. Performance – Projects are developed in order to adhere to some initially determined technical specifications. Performance measurement means determining whether the finished product operates according to specifications. Client acceptance – Projects are developed with customers in mind; their purpose is to satisfy customers needs. If the completed project meets all internal criteria but does not satisfy the customer, then the project has not been a complete success. Diff: 3 Section: 1. 4 Determinants of Project Success Skill: Conceptual AACSB Tag: Reflective 11) Discuss the internal and external measures of project success. Answer: The determinants of project success are the internal measures of time, cost, and performance and the external measure of client acceptance. Time – Projects are constrained by a specified timeframe during which they must be completed; they are not supposed to continue indefinitely. Cost – Projects must meet budgeted allowances in order to use resources as efficiently as possible. Performance – Projects are developed in order to adhere to some initially determined technical specifications. Performance measurement means determining whether the finished product operates according to specifications. Client acceptance – Projects are developed with customers in mind; their purpose is to satisfy customers needs. If the completed project meets all internal criteria but does not satisfy the customer, then the project has not been a complete success. Diff: 1 Section: 1. 4 Determinants of Project Success Skill: Factual AACSB Tag: Reflective 12) Describe the elements of the Atkinson model of project success. Answer: The Atkinson model incorporates the input of all stakeholders in assessing project success. Stakeholders are all groups that are affected by a project, for example, employees, customers, end users, the community, suppliers, etc. The Atkinson model begins with the traditional iron triangle of time, cost, and performance and adds considerations of the benefits accrued by organizational end external stakeholders. Diff: 2 Section: 1. 4 Determinants of Project Success Skill: Factual AACSB Tag: Reflective 13) One model of project success offered in the chapter looks beyond the current project into the future. Comment on the elements of this model and their impact along the timeline from project completion to well beyond this point in time. Answer: This framework was proposed by Shenhar, Levy, and Dvir and contains in chronological order, the elements of project efficiency, impact on the customer, business success, and preparing for the future. The immediate measure of success is efficiency, that is, have the project budget and schedule been achieved? More important, have the customer needs, technical specifications been met? Next, has the project achieved the commercial success that was hoped for? Finally, has the project opened new markets or new product lines, helped develop new technologies, or developed new skills for the organization? Diff: 2 Section: 1. 4 Determinants of Project Success Skill: Factual AACSB Tag: Reflective 14) What are project management maturity models used for? Answer: Project management maturity models are used to allow organizations to benchmark the best practices of successful project management firms. Project maturity models recognize that different organizations are currently at different levels of sophistication in their best practices for managing projects. Diff: 2 Section: 1. 5 Developing Project Management Maturity Skill: Conceptual AACSB Tag: Reflective 15) Describe the spider-web methodology for displaying project management maturity and present any five components of project management practice that can be displayed using this technique. Answer: A spider-web diagram (or radar chart) derives its name from its visual similarity to a spider-web, consisting of some number of spokes connected by concentric rings. The spokes represent the components of project management practice that the organization chooses to measure. The rings represent levels of achievement for each of the components. Diff: 2 Section: 1. 5 Developing Project Management Maturity Skill: Conceptual AACSB Tag: Reflective 16) Describe the project management characteristics of firms that reside at the lowest levels of the ESI, SEI, Center for Business Practice, and Kerzner maturity models and characteristics of firms that reside at the highest levels of these models. Answer: The lowest level of each model is occupied by companies that have no clear sense of project management. There is no common project management language within these companies and management processes, if any exist, are ad hoc. Firms occupying the highest level of project management maturity are project savvy; having progressed beyond simply applying project management to processes. These firms actively explore ways to continuously improve project management techniques and procedures. Diff: 3 Section: 1. 5 Developing Project Management Maturity Skill: Conceptual AACSB Tag: Reflective 17) What are the three levels of the generic project management maturity model and what are the characteristics of a company at each level? Provide examples of organizations at each of these levels and support your choices. Answer: The lowest maturity level of the generic model is reserved for companies that have an ad hoc approach to project management. There is no common language for project management and little support for project workers and the projects. At the moderate maturity level, the organization has defined practices, some training programs for project management and organizational support dedicated to these efforts. At the high maturity level, the process of project management is institutionalized and there are continuous improvement efforts underway from one project to the next. Example organizations will vary. Diff: 3

Crisis And Issues Faced By Toyota Business Essay

Crisis And Issues Faced By Toyota Business Essay This group project analyses the crisis and issues faced by Toyota Motor Corporation in late 2009 due to reports citing sudden unintended acceleration because incorrect floor mat placing and faulty accelerator that saw 9 million of their vehicles recalled worldwide. With these factors, we will look at what started the crisis and how it could have been prevented and solved. We will also put in a few of our recommendations that may help the crisis from happening again. COMPANY INTRODUCTION In 1933, being a division of Toyoda Automatic Loom Works was when Toyota started. The founder of Toyota was Kiichiro Toyoda, the son of Sakichi Toyoda. Under Kiichiro Toyoda, Toyota focused mostly on the production of automobiles. In his travels to Europe and the United States in 1929, Kiichiro Toyoda investigated various automobile production and begun his research on gasoline-powered engines in 1930. With the encouragement of the Japanese government, Toyodo Automatic Loom Works started to research and develop automobile production in hopes to increase sales of domestic cars. Toyota Motor Corporation was established as an independent and separate company in 1937. Toyota was committed to truck production for the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. The trucks had a simple design such has having one headlight in the middle of the hood. Today, Toyota is the seventh largest company in the world with production facilities in 28 nations around the world. Worldwide, it is also the second largest manufacturer of automobiles. In June 2006, Toyota had 52 overseas manufacturing companies in 27 countries outside Japan. Toyota markets vehicles in more than 170 countries and regions. ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE The type of organizational structure adopted by Toyota Motors Corporation is divisional structure. Divisional Structure is made up of separate business units or divisions. Each of the divisions has a division manager who has authority over the unit and is responsible for performance. DESCRIPTION OF THE ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE Toyotas organizational structure is divided into four levels namely the Chairman, President, Executive Vice President and Senior Managing Directors Toyota Motors Corporation is headed by Fujio Cho, the Chairman of the Company. The President, Akio Toyoda, reports directly to the Chairman and has authority over the executive vice president. Each of the Executive Vice Presidents has different areas of responsibilities and has authority over their senior managing directors. These senior managing director report directly to the Executive Vice Presidents. Executive Vice President, Yukitoshi Funo is responsible for the operation in Asia, Oceania, Middle East, Africa and Latin America with the help of Senior Managing Director, Akira Okabe who is the chief officer (division manager). Executive Vice President, Atsushi Nilmi assumes responsibility over strategic production planning, production engineering and manufacturing. He oversees the operation in North America and China with the help of Akira Sasaki, Senior Managing Director, who is the chief officer (division manager) for the China operation group. Yoshimi Inaba is the Chief Officer for the North America operation group. Satoshi Ozawa will assume responsibility over Operation in Europe with the help of Senior Managing director, Yoshimasa Ishii who is the chief officer for the Europe Operation group. The organizational structure adopted by Toyota is relevant to the organization. As Toyota focus is very much on quality, dependability and value, the organizational structure of Toyota has enabled it to focus on both result and quality. The organizational structure also allows the headquarter staff to focus on long term strategic planning and improvement to product. DIAGRAM ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE COMPANY CULTURE One of Toyotas culture is outcome orientation. The organization has â€Å"strong beliefs in quality, dependability and value†which brings about the second culture of attention to detail. The organization depicts attention to detail by adopting â€Å"standardization of work in the manufacturing process. As the manufacturing processes are standardized, Toyota was able to focus their attention on the detail which helps to ensure quality.† 4This is in line with Toyotas culture of outcome orientation. The third culture is team orientation. â€Å"Toyota organized its workforce into teams and each team member is responsible for quality inspection, problem solving and generating ideas†4 for continuous improvement. The last culture of Toyota is innovation and risk taking. Throughout Toyotas history, the company has come out many types of motor vehicle. As the company involves itself in a certain level of risk taking, it has become one of the leading creators of motor vehicle. However, some of the Toyotas culture may be responsible for the crisis that happens in 2009. Because of standardization of work, the process of manufacturing gets repeated over and over again, making the job seem boring. This will cause the worker to lose concentration which resulted in a lapse of quality. The culture of continuous improvement may also have caused the crisis. As the company focuses on continuous improvement, they try out new ideas that have not been fully explored. For example to make a thing a certain way to improve the vehicle further, however, they fail to see that the improvement made to the vehicle might cause a problem. For this instance, the improper installation of the floor mat that result in the accelerator getting stuck and causing tragedy. In conclusion, Toyota still has a strong culture which has enable the company to become one of the most reputable companies for quality. THE CRISIS In late 2009, Toyota Motor Corporation saw 9 million of their vehicles recalled due to reports that several vehicles experienced unintended acceleration. The sudden unintended acceleration (SUA) was the main crisis that Toyota faced; causing a chain of reaction that resulted in a series of other problems. Sudden unintended acceleration (SUA) occurs when the vehicle accelerates from a stationary position without the drivers intention or control. The reasons for it happening vary from driver error to faulty car parts. However, in Toyotas case, it was assumed that due to a trapped accelerator pedal when the drivers floor mat was incorrectly placed that caused the SUA. This assumption initiated the first recall on 2 November 2009. 5.2 million vehicles were affected. It was later found that a mechanical sticking of the accelerator pedal caused the unintended acceleration. Another 2.3 million vehicles were recalled for that problem. 1.8 million vehicles were found to have both the problems and were promptly recalled as well. In February 2010, a recall was also made for the hybrid anti-lock brake software. Although this was a recall different from the initial incorrect placement of the floor mat, it affected Toyotas image and brand name worldwide. With the economic downturn in 2009, Toyota faced a further financial problem with the recalls of the faulty vehicles. This resulted in the numerous jobs lost and shares plummeting in value by 15%. On 28 August 2009, Mark Saylor, an off-duty California Highway Patrol Officer, was driving on the highway with his family when his car, a Lexus ES350 unexpectedly accelerated without control. Upon collision with another car, it descended down an embankment and caught fire. One of the passengers called 911 while the car was speeding at over 100mph, reporting that the car has â€Å"no brakes†. All four were killed in the crash. Reports from Toyota and local authorities showed that the Lexus may have the wrong floor mats installed, causing it to meddle with the gas pedal. (motortrend.com/features/†¦/index.html) Further complaints stated that other several vehicles also experienced the SUA. Reports showed that these vehicles had a defect acceleration pedal. The vehicles affected were the Prius, Prius Plug in, Sei and Lexus HS 250h. Following the reports of faulty vehicles, falling consumer confidence on the Toyota brand and the fact that Toyota was trying to recover from the economic crisis of 2009, the company faced declining sales and decided on the suspension of sales for models of the affected cars and closed down six factories. This resulted in the loss of more than 6000 jobs. PROBLEMS LEADING TO THE CRISIS It has been suggested that due to Toyotas rapid growth and need to be the top between year 2000 and 2009, was the root problem that lead to the faulty vehicles and subsequently, the recall. The rapid growth and building of 17 new production sites as well as the over reliance on technology caused Toyota to forgo quality checks for some of their cars. Managers must aware of fast technology like equipment, tools or operating method that are designed to make work more efficient. Wakatsuki, a former assembly worker related how Toyota tested the safety and quality of only 60% of the cars produced. In the past, every car went through stringent checks and testing. Toyota didnt look into customer complaints and acted too slow when safety complaints came in. There were suspicions that Toyota knew about the faulty vehicles as early as September 2009, however, they only acted on the problems in January 2010. The organization should demonstrate Social Responsible Actions. There are the Social Responsibility, Social Obligation and Social Responsiveness. Social responsibility mean if the corporation must admit the mistake if they done something wrong. Such as milk powder that was sold by China. As it added Melamine in the milk powder. ALTERNATIVESTO RESOLVE CRISIS The main crisis was faulty acceleration pedals. Toyota decided that the best way to rectify the problem was to have the faulty vehicles recalled for repairs and proper checking. However, the decision to recall was not made immediately when there were early reports about the problem. There were reports stating that Toyota knew of the problems in September 2009 although the recall was only initiated on January 2010. While we agree that the recall was a good solution, it would have been better for Toyota to tackle the faulty vehicles the moment complaints started coming in. The company should not have tried to hide the reports in order to save their branding. Rectifying the problem immediately would have definitely prevented further problems and possible accidents. It would have also restored consumer confidence knowing that Toyota was prompt in reporting a problem with the cars and had plans to fix the problem. It was good to know that Toyota suspended sales and productions of the vehicle models that were suspected to be faulty, preventing more complaints and declining consumer confidence. Toyota admitted that for the past few years, they have been expanding its business rapidly and this growth has proven to be too quick for them. They may have over looked the priority of safety, quality and volume. All these according to Toyota have made them become confused. 6 RECOMMENDATIONS Although Toyota were eager to expand their business and grow their production, its critical that they keep their quality and safety in check. To meet the growing demand of their cars, Toyota might choose to open a plant in a country that allows the company to save costs on production and manpower. However, they have to ensure that qualified and skilled technicians are recruited to affirm that the cars produced are of good quality and safe for driving. â€Å"The corporation must adopt Single-use Plan during this critical time. This is a one-time plan which specifically designed to meet the needs of a unique situation.† Toyota may rely on new technology to help with the production of the vehicles. Although it may be cost efficient, it may not always be the best choice. Over reliance on technology was what caused the faulty acceleration pedals as Toyota took for granted the safety of the cars. Technicians would have done proper testing and safety checks have been done prior to the sale of the vehicle. There might have been some oversight by the checks done by machines. Manually checking of the vehicles would ensure that nothing is out of place. As the company is steadily growing, it should not forsake the employees welfare and health. Should employees be overworked, especially those in the production line, human errors may occur that will compromise on the quality of the car. With the recalls, technicians will be kept busy with repairs on the numerous vehicles. Overworked, fatigue will set in causing occasional human errors that may have been avoidable. Managers need to ensure that employees are given the right amount of work load and clearly explain the expectations needed for the work. Managers should also arrange a discussion with the non-managerial employees for their feedback on their work load. Should the work load be too much for the technicians to handle, Toyota can look into employing workers on a contract basis. This allows the work load to be divided equally and when things are under control, the contract staff will be relieved of their duties. Toyota should have Family-Friendly Benefits that provide a wide range of scheduling that allow employees more flexibility at work and accommodation theirs needs for work and life balance. The various teams in Toyota should practice better interaction. This way, problems faced in one team can be shared and discussed to maximize on the plans to face the problems. Toyota should also make it a point not to have any secrets or hidden agenda between teams and realize that the different teams are working towards a common goal: making Toyota a successful company. Manager needs to know the Parochialism. Managers only see things through their own eyes and from their own perspective. Different countries have different values, morals, customs, political and economic systems and laws. All these can affect the managing of the business. If a team faces consumer complaints, they must be quick to address it and not hide from the upper management and other teams. This is to prevent the problem from escalating and turning it to another crisis. This is known as Social Responsibility. When the vehicle model is a success to the consumers, the company should reward the employees for the work done. The rewards can be in monetary forms or organizing activities such as sewing classes, sports activities or a short holiday trip. This not only allows employees to distress, it also enables bonding. The recognition of good work will motivate the employees to strive harder in their job to give their best for the company. This is known as Social Responsiveness. Managers of Toyota should set Goals and develop Plans. The Traditional Goals were set by top managers and flow down through the organization and become sub-goals for each organizational area. And it must be a short-term plan with a time frame of one year to solve the crisis.

Rock And Roll :: Music

When Rock arrived on the music charts in the 1950's, a merging of African-American and White music, it made a huge impact on society. As a general rule I am not heavily into music, but I was drawn to Rock for some inexplicable reason. It is just the music I like. This genre will be difficult to write about because the origin of Rock is unclear; there are traces of Rock's style back into the 19th Century. It is also a very broad subject and I will have to compress a lot of information into as few pages as possible. Be that as it may, Rock is, in my opinion the best music genre on the charts. There is so much information on Rock that I will have to have questions I want to find the answers to about the music. My first question will be, "What instruments are commonly used in a rock band?" This will not be hard to answer as it is a very easy question that has a definite answer. The next question will be, "Who were the first artists to produce Rock music?" This is also an easy question were I will discuss the first Rockers. Continuing on, my next question will ask, "How was the term ‘Rock and Roll' created, and by who?" This may turn out to be a hard question to answer because I am sure there a multiple answers. "Has Rock become more or less popular since its inception?" will be my next question. For this question I will have to look for a survey or poll of some type and present its data. My final question will be, "How has the Music been changed over the years and who changed it?" This will also be an easy question, albeit a long answer. For that question I will be referring to Alternative and Grunge Rock, my preferred form of the music. For my information I will mainly be using the internet. I also may get some of my answers from a dictionary or encyclopedia. My main sources on the internet will be the online encyclopedia at wikipedia.org, and anything I can find at google.com. I will also be asking my father who is more into classic rock, but a fan none the less. He has been listening to rock since the 60's when he was about my age.

Piagets Cognitive Theory Essay -- piaget piagets psychology developme

Psychology Piaget's Cognitive Theory Cognitive development is the development of thought processes, including remembering, problem solving, and decision-making, from childhood through adolescence to adulthood. Historically, the cognitive development of children has been studied in a variety of ways. The oldest is through intelligence tests. An example of this is the Stanford Binet Intelligence Quotient test. IQ scoring is based on the concept of mental age, according to which the scores of a child of average intelligence match his or her age. IQ tests are widely used in the United States, but they have been criticized for defining intelligence too narrowly. In contrast to the emphasis placed on a child ¡Ã‚ ¦s natural abilities by intelligence testing, learning theory grew out of work by behaviorist researchers such as John Broadus Watson and B.F. Skinner, who argued that children are completely malleable. Learning theory focuses on the role of environmental factors in shaping the intelligence of children, especially o n a child ¡Ã‚ ¦s ability to learn by having certain behaviors rewarded and others discouraged. During the 1920s, a biologist named Jean Piaget proposed a theory of cognitive development of children. He caused a new revolution in thinking about how thinking develops. In 1984, Piaget observed that children understand concepts and reason differently at different stages. Piaget stated children's cognitive strategies, which are used to solve problems, reflect an interaction between the child ¡Ã‚ ¦s current developmental stage and experience in the world. Piaget was originally trained in areas of biology and philosophy and considered himself a kinetic epistemologist. He was mainly interested in the biological influences on how we come to know. He believed that what distinguishes human beings from other animals is our ability to do abstract symbolic reasoning. Piaget ¡Ã‚ ¦s theory, first published in 1952, grew out of decades of extensive observation of children, including his own, in their natural environments as opposed to the laboratory experiments of the behaviorists. Although Piaget was interested in how children reacted to their environment, he proposed knowledge as composed of schemas, basic units of knowledge used to organize past experiences and serve as a basis for understanding new ones. Schemas are continually being modified by two complementar... ...ings different from theirs. Furthermore, they can understand situations from the viewpoints of others. Intelligence is characterized by number, length, liquid, mass, weight, area, and volume. They can perform logical operations in relation to concrete external objects. They can now decipher their thinking, or focus on more than one dimension of a stimulus at a single time. They cannot solve abstract or hypothetical problems, however. Piaget ¡Ã‚ ¦s fourth and final stage, the formal operations stage, takes place from 11 or 12 to 18 and beyond. In early adolescent years, the development of the ability to reversibility and conservation to abstract, verbal, and hypothetical situations takes place. They also begin to make speculations about what might happen in the future. Adolescents are also capable of formulating and testing hypotheses, and dealing with abstract concepts like probability, ratio, and proportion. In this stage start the perception of analogies and the use of complex language forms such as metaphors and sarcasm. Teenagers can comprehend philosophy and politics and formulate theories of their own. Abstract concepts and moral values become as important as concrete objects.

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck: Film vs. Novel Essay -- Mice Men Jo

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck: Film vs. Novel The film is severely different from the novel, as the director, Gary Sinise, made deliberate changes to influence the audience's feelings and reactions. He has altered and added scenes as he saw this as necessary to create the right kind of atmosphere and to keep the plot flowing. The whole story is about two men, George and Lennie. These are very two very different characters; the novel describes them as opposites. Lennie is a very large and burly while George is 'small and quick'. In the book they wear exactly the same thing, but as the film has to rely on devices and stereotypes to pass the message across quickly, they dress Lennie in dungarees to show how different they area and to show the childlikeness of Lennie. There is a problem with Lennie; he has a child's mind. This causes many problems for the pair and results in Lennie's unavoidable death. There are two things that cause these many problems- one being the fact that Lennie likes to stroke soft things. When he was young, his aunt Clara had given him a piece of velvet (it only makes you wonder if he hadn't have lost that, his life might have been saved.) Because of his "condition", he likes to keep mice. But once again his strength is a problem. When he's scared he holds onto things, so, when the mice bite him he crushes them to death. These problems echo through the story, Curly's hand, the pup and ultimately Curly's wife. There are three particular differences, the beginning and the end and Curly's wife. In the beginning of the novel, the author sets the scene quite vividly, and explains it in explicit detail. In the beginning of the film there are white credits on a black b... ...r if she deserves it. In the novel she walks in uninvited to join Crooks, Lennie and George in Crook's room. She threatens Crooks with being lynched and the way she does this makes her come across as vile and bitter. In the film she doesn't; she catches the men outside and talks at one point. She says Curley became mad and smashed all her records, this immediately makes you feel sorry for her as she is clearly vulnerable. All doubts are erased as you listen to what she says next and sympathise with her; this is something the novel tries to avoid doing. Her death scene is exactly the same, showing that whatever the character may be like, we all sympathise with her tragic death. Although the novel and film have the same story line, just by altering certain things you get a whole different aspect and create a totally different effect on the audience.

How to Reduce Air Pollution Essay

Air pollution is an issue of concern to the world. Pollution in our environment will undoubtedly affect our quality of life and it can also cause various health problems and other negative effects. As a result, we want to find way out. Three simple solutions to reduce air pollution such as reducing the using of vehicles, cutting down the using of machineries and planting trees. The first necessary way to solve this problem is to cutting down the using of machineries. We should try to use more human labor rather than machines in production or farming activities. For instance, people in our country can use handy craft products and do their farm by the human being like doing farm in a traditional way without using any kind of tractors. Furthermore, for the products which are made by machines, such as paper, bottles, cans, or plastic bags, we should re-use and recycle them as possible as we can instead of producing more products. The machines will rest from production and also rest from dispose CO2 to the air. The second way to solve this problem is to reduce the using of vehicles. People should change from travel by their own car or motorbike to travel by public transportation such as taxies, buses, or trains. When we can cut down the amount of cars or motorbikes on the street, the amount of CO2 also decrease and we can save our air. Moreover, you will save money while you do your segment to reduce air pollution. According to Science Applications International Corporation (2007), â€Å"Public transportation use reduces travel by private vehicles.† (p.2). The third way we have to do is planting trees. Trees convert carbon dioxide into oxygen, cleaning up air pollution every day, so we have to reduce cutting down of it. According to McPherson (2003), â€Å"Leaves of trees absorb or intercept air pollutants, including small particulate matter and the components of smog.† (p.1). In addition, the trees help cool neighborhoods to create less need for air conditioning. In conclusion, we must work together to reduce pollution so that the future generations can live in a healthy, unpolluted environment.