Wal-Mart Current Market Conditions Essay Example for Free

Wal-Mart Current Market Conditions Essay Market trends in the retail market are not difficult to track. â€Å"Any major initiative Wal-Mart undertakes has enormous supply chain implications worldwide† (ThomasNet News, 2010). The analysis for this paper is to look at the approach of Wal-Mart in a very competitive industry and examine how Wal-Mart is so successful. Some of the areas that will be examined are the Market Structure, the impact of new companies entering the market, prices, productivity, and cost structure, price elasticity of demand, competitors, supply and demand analysis, and impact of government regulations. When locating new stores, Wal-Mart tends to first look at more rural areas where there is less population, a higher income and where consumers are less likely to travel to larger cities. This may be due to the economics of the region or the size of city in which they propose to occupy. The company’s market is the same market as Target and K-Mart. The company’s growth will in all likelihood cause other smaller retail businesses to fail. New firms entering the market will continue to drive Wal-Mart’s prices lower. The impact of new companies entering this market would affect pricing indifference between companies. â€Å"Wal-Mart is the worlds largest retailer and second largest corporation. It is the largest private employer in the United States and Mexico. Wal-Mart is the largest grocery retailer in the United States, with an estimated 20% of the retail grocery and consumables business, and the largest toy seller in the United States, with an estimated 45% of the retail toy business, having surpassed Toys R Us in the late 1990s. Wal-Mart has 1,929 stores which as of 2005 sales figures totaled about $155 bilion in sales. Wal-Mart’s revenue as of 2006 was an estimated $315 billion USD, net income $11. 231billion USD, and employs more than 1. 8 million employees† (Information Food Source, 2006). Wal-Mart’s major competitors in the grocery market are the Kroger co. #2 in annual sales, Albertsons Inc. #3, Safeway, Inc. #4, and Costco Wholesale Group #5. Now even though Wal-Mart is leading the way in total sales the #2 and #3 businesses lead the way with total # of stores. The Kroger Co. has 3,302 with Albertsons at 2,476 stores nationwide. Wal-Mart’s total sales for that year alone were beating its 2nd place competition alone by more than 80 billion dollars. Wal-Mart’s major competitors in low-end general merchandise department would include Sears Holding Corporation, the slowly diminishing K-Mart chain, and Target whose trying different approaches including building Super Target stores to compete with the Super Wal-Mart. With Wal-Mart moving into the grocery business it has put a strain on grocery retailers also including: H-E-B, Kroger, Albertsons, Publix, Giant Eagle, Safeway, Winn Dixie, Food Lion and Save-A-Lot. Wal-Mart’s CEO Lee Scott in 2005 embarked on an energetic campaign to revive the company’s image. He installed Eduardo Castro-Wright to overhaul operations in America. Who remodeled 1,300 shops, modified merchandise and cut prices. Wal-Mart has had a number of suits filed against if for unfairly paying the female employee’s, not promoting the female employee’s fairly, placing them into positions where they can not advance, and paying them less than their male counterparts. Wal-Mart, Wally World or what ever the public wants to call wants to call it does not change what it is: A corporate machine that has made a major and horrific impact on the global economy. Wal-Mart has been accused of denying benefits, working employees off the clock, and denying them rightly earned over time pay. They also have exploited suppliers and been associated with monopolies. These are reasons that Wal-Mart, the corporate machine, the menace to the global community, must be stopped. Wal-Mart capitalizes on the use of the good value strategy when pricing their products. If Wal-Mart were to increase the price of their products then the demand for them would likely decrease and the demand for the competitor’s merchandise would likely increase, where if the price of the products drops at Wal-Mart then the demand will likely increase at Wal-Mart and decrease at the competitor’s stores. If Wal-Mart increased to match the prices then the demand would be perfectly elastic. Competition for Wal-Mart encompasses many different areas such as retail, electronics, club stores, and gasoline sales to name a few. In the US, Wal-Mart’s main competitors are department stores such as Target, K-Mart, nd ShopKo. When considering Wal-Mart’s Club store competitors one must look at Costco and BJ’s Wholesale Club in the eastern part of the US. Wal-Mart’s main US retail competitor is Target and seems to be doing very well considering the current market conditions. With Wal-Mart’s push to add greater sustainability and eco-friendly techniques to its repertoire, it becomes that much more difficult for the competition to stay with the industry leader. In 2009 Target’s EBIT (Earnings before Interest and Taxes) were 4. 74 Billion with a net income of 2. 49 Billion (Daily Finance an AOL Money and Finance Site, 2010). Target Inc. operates in the United States exclusively which keeps the Wal-Mart competitor in a distant second place. Although economic conditions in recent months have been difficult overall, firms operating in the consumer staples sector, and especially the food and staples retailing industry, have enjoyed a certain amount of stability, and even growth, which exceeded performance in other sectors of the market. This is especially true for those firms that have diversified into international markets. Access to a range of markets stabilizes earnings by reducing risk across a range of differing economic cycles. Although demand in the United States, Wal-Mart’s primary market, has been modest, it has continued on a general growth trend over the years. There have been months where demand fell; however, the overall trend has continued to rise. There are two major economic conditions that have worked in concert to contribute to moderate, but continued growth. First, income has generally suffered in Wal-Mart’s home market. Stagnant and declining wages, combined with rising unemployment have reduced the buying power of retail consumers. The sales of many consumer goods declined, and have only recently begun to recover (U.  S. Census Bureau, 2009; U. S. Census Bureau, 2010). This reduction in demand would cause a shift to the left in the demand curve for many of the products sold by Wal-Mart. On a global scale, Wal-Mart experienced a range of economic growth rates affecting demand in the markets where it has operations (United Nations Statistics Division, 2010). Overall, demand on a global scale was influenced by two primary mechanisms. Of greatest importance is an increasing customer base. As the firm reaches more consumers through new outlets and new markets, generally demand would increase across all products. Since many of Wal-Mart’s international markets are growth markets, incomes are increasing alongside the expanded consumer base. Although the company strives to bring value to all of its customers, since many of its products in growth markets are new to the market, income increases result in the reduction of demand for existing inferior goods in the market. In many ways, the items sold by Wal-Mart in growth markets are considered normal goods. Thus, increasing incomes actually increase for most of Wal-Mart’s products in these markets (Colander, 2008). Wal-Mart’s expansion into international growth markets may have helped the firm’s bottom line, but not without some upfront costs to overcome barriers to entry. At home, the firm must adhere to a range of labor, product safety, and reporting and audit requirements to do business. Similar regulations will likely be encountered in each of the markets where business is done. Some markets may actually have more rigid requirements than what the company has to deal with at home. The most important types of regulation the company will need to be responsive to deal with corruption and foreign direct investment. To combat corruption in both business dealings and interaction with governments, the United States requires its businesses to adhere to the Foreign Corruption Practices Act (FCPA). Along with other unscrupulous practices, the law aims to prevent bribery as a business practice while improving transparency in business dealings. There may be similar regulation in some of the markets where Wal-Mart does business. In terms of Foreign Direct Investment, Wal-Mart must deal with a complex patchwork of laws that differ from each of the other countries in which it has operations. Some countries, such as Canada and Mexico, allow Wal-Mart to directly operate its stores as long as it maintains certain capital and operational conditions. Other countries, however, require the company to undertake operations through or in collaboration with a native firm. Likewise, regulation may restrict the types of business operations a firm may undertake or the area of the market in which it may operate. Both China and India have restrictions along these lines, requiring Wal-Mart to partner with existing retailers to do business (U.  S. Commercial Service, 2008). Trends in the world’s retail markets may not be difficult to track, but due to the complexity of handling such a wide variety of goods and the wide range of competitors they can be difficult to understand and successfully do business in. To be successful in understanding the retail marketplace an entity must be dedicated to comprehensive research of the landscape. Additionally, an understanding of economic principles is critical to putting the extensive amount of available information into context.

A Case Study Of Jennys Restaurant Marketing Essay

A Case Study Of Jennys Restaurant Marketing Essay Jeenys Restaurant is a national chain cafe restaurant with a dedicated customer base, which is known for its best service, good quality food and family dining flair. But in the past year, the company has seen a manifest decline in its sales. The decline in sales is increasing as every fiscal quarter passes by. The reason behind decline in sales is totally unknown to the company. The restaurant has not changed layout or menu options within the past several years. The hypothesized root cause of the problem is poor customer satisfaction. This research will help to analysis the main root cause of sales decline. The objective of this research is to find out whether or not customer satisfaction and experience is the issue, and if so how customer satisfaction can be enhanced. Research Objectives As impact of global recession is still affecting large number of household in United Kingdom with their buying behaviour, it is important to find out if customer satisfaction with particular restaurant is the main cause or there are other factors. This research is going to use primary data by developing questionnaire to the restaurant customers, which helps to find out actual problem and weakness of current situation of the restaurant. The purpose of the literature review is to analyse past experience relating to customer satisfaction elements of the food and dining industry while emphasising on the sales increment. As I am working as a Manager in this restaurant, this research with help of primary data will analyse the customers attitude towards its service and experience, which will help to find out main reason behind downward sales line. The main objectives of this proposal is as follows: To analyze Customer satisfaction and its relative importance (debate) and evidence about key factors influencing peoples choice of fast food restaurant. To identify the best suitable model to measure customer satisfaction for my primary research. To review exiting complains and comments submitted by customers over the past 6 months in order to find out the area of subject where most of the customer did raised the issue. To arrange the questionnaire to the existing customers in order to explore their attitude towards Jennys Restaurant, why they like to dine at Jennys Restaurant, their experiences of and attitude towards current management process and their views on possible changes that the company could make for better satisfaction. To make recommendation to the management at Jennys Restaurant about cost-effective and management strategy that could be implemented in order to increase customer satisfaction. Literature Review Realisation of customer satisfaction in order to get success in the business is essential elements. is How the customers get the satisfaction and how we can measure the different between service provided and customer expectation ? Researcher is going to look different theories, journals and articles to establish an analytical concept about customer satisfaction elements. According to Kotler (2000) a persons feelings of pleasure or disappointment resulting from comparing a products perceived performance in relation to his or her expectations. Also Hoyer and MacInnis (2001) said that satisfaction can be associated with fellings of acceptance, happiness, relief, excitement and delight. It is very important to understand the expectations of the consumers to make them satisfied. According to Hokanson (1995), these factors include friendly employee, courteous employee, accurancy of billing, billing timeliness, competitive pricing, service quality, good value, billing clarity and quick service. Additionaly, (Labarbera and Mazursky,1983) state that By fulfilling the customers needs and wants will helps to achieve customer satisfaction. So that it should be notice by researcher that the customer satisfaction can be occurred by understanding their expectation. After having idea about customer satisfaction, researcher want to know how it can be implement in fast food sectors. According to Farrel (2007) The quick service restaurant responds to the universal desire for inexpensive and reliable fare that is feshly prepared, portable and ready on demand. It explains that the quick service, freshly prepared and economic factors motivate the customers to shop in fast food restaurants. Also according to (Schroder and McEachern, 2005) Brand value, nutritional value, ethical value and food quality determine the customer satisfaction towards fast food restaurant. There are other factors,according to (Jang and Maltila, 2005) Monetary gratification and intangible benefits such as quality and convenience also received high rating in customer satisfaction. Researcher should give attention to the intangible things such as service quality, serving time, internal environment of the company along with the development of core product in order to get maximum customer satisfaction. According to (Katz and Martin 1985) If the firms can improve customers perceptions of the time they spend waiting to be served, then customers will experience less frustration and may feel more satisfied with the service encounter. Also (Ho and Zheng 2004) clarify that A firm might choose a delivery time commitment to influence its customer expectation. However, there are debates and discussion about the influencing factors which are affecting to less shop in fast food industries. According to (Goyal, Singh 2007), The young generation in India likely to go to Fast food restaurant for fun and changes. But they like house food much better than food served at fast food outlets because they have the highest value for taste and quality followed by hygiene. Adding with that (Bose, 2011) stated The most evident advantage of Fast food is that it save time and money for a busy life people, but fast food is unhealthy than home cooked meals, as they contain higher amount of salts, fats and calories . Most of the people today are usually aware that fast food is not the healthiest food to eat. People eat fast food because it is convieneient, cheap and taste good. Fast food is not just less healthy food, but sometime it can be dangerous for your health as well. Stacel (2009). So it is clear that despite of good service provided by the company, th ere is other factors such as health consiousness which affect the customer satisfaction level. Along with that there is hygienic factor which also affect the customer revisit in the particular restaurant. A survey shows, one in three people is worried about the level of food hygiene when buying fast foods. Cleanliness of staff and premises top the list of concerns, followed by the way food is cooked and handled. (Consumer question fast food hygiene, 2003). As a result it can affect the customer to discontinue or decrease there buying behaviour in fast food sectors. According to Hoyer and MacInnis (2001) dissatisfied customers can decide to: discontinue purchasing the goods or service, complain to the company or to a third party and perhaps return the item or engage in negative word of mouth communication. The above study based on previous research explains the reasons for choosing and avoiding the fast food sectors and the importance of customer satisfaction which can be fit or not in the problem statement of the Jennys restaurant. To get the more evidence and support, researcher is going to develop questionnaire survey by using SERVQUAL tools. According to (Stevens, Knutson and Patton, 1995) SERVQUAL method helps to produce a sequence of questionnaire appliance for measuring hospitality service quality in DINESERV. John and Tyas (1996) have also use the tool SERVQUAL for measuring the satisfaction of consumer in restaurant. According to (Lee and Hing 1999) SERVQUAL is an instrument which helps to measure and compare the service quality of the fine dinning sectors which is easy and inexpensive to occur. It showing that the researcher will get help to accumulate the findings and reasons of gap between customer expectation and experience they have had in their last visit. This tools also helps to find out the correlation between service quality, customer satisfaction and purchase intentions. According to (Cronin, Jr and Taylor 1992) There is correlation between service quality, customer satisfaction, and purchase intentions. Service quality is an antecedent of customer satisfaction and consumer satisfaction has a significant effect on purchase intension. Although the popularity of the SERVQUAL tools to measure the service quality level, there are some debate over the use of SERVQUAL instrument. Detractors argue that the difference score leads to unreliable measure and that the dimensionality and validity is erratic. Jiang etl, (2002). However, SERVQUAL measuring method is adopting by thousands of business to know the actual demand and expectation of current customers. Because it helps to explain many factors such as tangible, reliability, responsiveness, competence, courtesy, credibility, security, access, communication and understanding the customers. Parasuraman et. al. (1990). Besides of some disadvantages, SERVQUAL is good tools to understand the customer satisfaction elements. Fedoroff (2011). Methodology Method Approaches (Bryman and Bell 2007) Quantitative research is that research strategy which gives and relates to the quantification in the collection and analysis the data. This method is relates to the deductive approach in testing the theory and research. It takes the positivism epistemological orientation and natural scientific model. It focuses on the objectivism of the social reality Researcher intends to implement all quantitative research methods in a way to trace the best results out of the research. The entire research approach and methodology will be ethical and best at its level. Research will be conducted by keeping in mind the Research Question. The research will be performed using questionnaires. Justification Explanation Conducting survey/interview Analysing data 1. Justification: The advantage of choosing quantitative research method questionnaire Low cost in time and money: As my questionnaire is designed to take just 5 minutes and can be done by making photo copy of 35-40 questionnaire, will help to make it economic and time saving. Respondents can complete the questionnaire when it suits them: As I am going to conduct the survey by requesting them to complete the questionnaire with the time avaibility of the customers. Respondents anonymity: There is no personal identifying information is going to ask to protect the anonymity. Lack of interviewer bias: The disadvantage of choosing quantitative research method questionnaire The need for brevity and relatively simple questions: The most of the part of my questionnaire is going to be closed question rather than open question. Questionnaire development is often poor:. Poor design and concept of questionnaire will not help to find out the actual problem and track to the solution. Lack of control over order and context of answering questions: not to specific Question wording can have a major effect on answers. : one question ask twice with different format to check exact answers. 2. Explanation Preparing for the survey interviews. As I am the manager of the Jennys restaurant I have access to secondary data such as sales figures for the past two years and complain and comments made by the customers in the restaurant and can organise a survey by collecting primary data from a questionnaire given to the existing customers. I am going to choose random sample survey with help of SERVQUAL Questionaire and dineserv method to collect primary data from a questionnaire taking 35-40 customers from Monday to Saturday 9:00am to 9:00 pm. My sample size is going to be small. Requested participants of this study will ask if they are over 18 and willing to complete survey upon exiting the restaurant. Willing participants will be ask to read the informed consent before completing the SERVQUAL Questionnaire survey instrument. Developing the questionnaire. To collect the primary data from the customer, my questionnaire key themes will be to analysis their current experience, expectation and attitude towards the existing setup and behaviour of the organisation. In above literature review, I was trying to analyse and understand customer behaviour and expectation towards food and dinning service, which help me to link and study the existing customer of the Jennys Resturants behaviour and also help me to think analytically about whether customer satisfaction is only the key point in the success of business development or there are other important factors. 3. Conducting Survey/interview The questionnaire survey is going to held on the Jennys Restaurant premises from Monday to Saturday between 9:00am to 9:00 pm. The survey will be conducted by requesting existing customer with detail pre information about the reason of the survey while their visit in the restaurant to fill up the answers of the given questionnaire which will take 5 minutes . The maximise the response rate of questionnaire survey; I am going to use following techniques. Brief Questionnaire: The questionnaire is going to use not more than 20 words to make it less time taking for the respondents. Make the return time not to short and not to long: The questionnaire can be fill during their visit in the restaurant or can take with them by requesting them to return it within 2 weeks time in given address. Easy to read (clear language, good print): The questionnaire is going to use simple language which can be understandable and use of quality printing. Easy to answer: The questionnaire is going to use tick box to place their attitude towards the restaurant. Be clear about what the respondent should do to answer the question: The questionnaire is going to use likert scale format, which is going to clear to click their answer just one for one question in the top of the page. Easy to respond (return envelop): The questionnaire which has been taken by the customer to fill it in their home will be provided a free post return envelop with them. Do not offend the respondents: The questionnaire is not going to include any subjects which will offend the respondents. Trustworthy: The questionnaire will start from explaining about the purpose of research by not taking personal information of respondents and is just for the academic use by showing college identity card to them. Analysing data Statement of service provided (Independent Variable) Very Dissatisfied (Dependent Variable) 1 Dissatisfied (Dependent Variable) 2 Neither Satisfied nor Dissatisfied (Dependent Variable) 3 Satisfied (Dependent Variable) 4 Very Satisfied (Dependent Variable) 5 Food Quality Service Food Hygiene Price of product Survey: Survey allows the collection of large amount of data from a sizeable population in a highly economical way (Saunders et al, 2008).It was done by explaining questionnaires and handing out and collected during session The research is going to find out the correlation between two variables. One is dependent which is customer satisfaction and another one is independent which is service provided by the company. The changes in the independent variable are going to affect the dependent variable. There are some other moderate variables which influence the relationship between independent and dependent variables. Such as Age, Gender, Marital status etc. As the above questionnaire sample can be broken down to subgroups such as age, gender, marital status to analyse differences. And data can also analysed by looking at average scores for each category (eg. Food quality, service, food hygiene and cleaniness and product price) as categorized in questionnaire to see if there are noticeable difference in their averages. The formula to calculate average score is Average score= Sum of Valued dependent variable which has been ticked divided by No.of dependent variable allocated For example by taking above Table Average score= Food quality (3) + Service (3) + Food Hygine (4) + Price of product (5) divided by 5 =3 It can be broken down into subgroups for food quality, service, food hygiene and price of product to noticeable difference in their averages Checking the forms Spreadsheet Graph/table: Graph are going to allocate to explain and analyse the data. As taken example of above sample, the graph is going to be like. Analytical qs Statistics Ethical issue The questionnaire will start with explaining the purpose of the research which is only for the academic requirement by showing the college Identification card. And also questionnaire will start with explaining the subject matter of the questionnaire up-front. The questionnaire is not going to take any sensitive data, like personal details, history and background to protect there anonymity. The researcher does not use force and hard request to get response from the customers and the research confidentiality should be maintained in term of collecting the data. Timescales and Resources S.No. Phase/Milestone Start Date End Date Notes 1 Literature Review 2 Development of research instrument- final survey/interview Question Schedule 3 Data Collection-completion of survey 4 Data analysis- results of primary data analysis written up 5. Report Writing- finalisation of dissertation. Conclusion Appendix A Quantitative Survey (Questionnaire) Customer Satisfaction Survey: Academic Survey to fulfilment of Master Degree Program(Cavendish College and University of Wales) This survey is being carried out to find out the customer attitude towards the Jennys Restaurant. Please answer the questions freely. You cannot be identified from the information you provide, and all the information provided will be treated in the strictest confidence. The questionnaire should take you about five minutes to complete. Please answer the questions in the space provided. Try to complete the questions at a time when you are unlikely to be disturbed. Also, do not spend too much time on any one question. Your first thoughts are usually your best! Please tick one box for every question. When you have finished the questionnaire please return in to me in the enclosed freepost envelope. Nameà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. What is your age range (Please tick where appropriate) Gender(Please tick where appropriate) 18-30à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Maleà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.. 31-50à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Femaleà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ 51+à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Othersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.. Question Very Dissatisfied Dissatisfied Neither Satisfied nor Dissatisfied Satisfied Very Satisfied Food Quality The food is served hot and fresh The menu has a good variety of item The quality of food is excellent The food is tasty and flavourful The food portion is enough The food provide balance nutrition Restaurant Service My food order was correct and complete Employees are patient when taking my order I was served promptly The menu board was easy to read Employee speak clearly Employee are friendly and courteous The service is excellent Value of price paid Quality of food Food hygiene and cleanliness The handling of food is good Restaurant Premises are clean Toilets are clean Product Price Food is good value for the price paid Prices are competitive If have any comments with the service of our restaurant please share with us. Thank you for taking the time to help us. If you have any queries or would like further information about this project, please call me on 07828857702. Thank you for your help. Activities Appendix B Gant Chart of Time ScaleMay 2011 June 2011 July 2011 August 2011 1st Week 2nd Week 3rd Week 4th Week 1st Week 2nd Week 3rd Week 4th Week 1st Week 2nd Week 3rd Week 4th Week 1st Week 2nd Week 3rd Week 4th Week Collection of literature review Critically review of the literature Meeting supervisor Review of project aims and objectives Questionnaire Process Interview the customer Accounting calculation of the breakeven point Meeting supervisor Analysis the accounting data Analysis and interpret qualitative data Analysis and interpret quantitative data Meeting supervisor Final report writing, Amendments, Binding of the project Referencing John. N., and Tyas (1996). Use of service quality gap theory to differentiate between foodservice outlets. Service Industries Journal, 16(3), 321-346. Stevens, P., Knutson, B., and Patton, M. (1995). DINESERVE. A tool for measuring service quality in Restaurants. Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, 36(2), 56-60. Alan Bryman and Emma Bell, 2007, Business Research Methods-2nd Edition, Oxford University Press Kotler, P., (2000), Marketing Management. 10th ed. New jersey, prentice-Hall. Hoyer, W.D. MacInnis, D.J., 2001, Consumer Behaviour. 2nd Ed., Boston, Houghton Mifflin Co. Hokanson, S., (1995). The deeper you analyze, the more you satisfy customers, Marketing News, p. 16. Labarbera, P.A. and Mazursky, D. 1983, A longitudinal Assessment of consumer satisfaction, Dissatisfaction: the dynamic aspect of cognitive process: Journal of marketing research, vol. 20, Nov, p.p. 393-404. Farrell, JP.,(2007). A management consultant @ large. The evolution of the quick service restaurant. [Online] 25th April 2008. [Cited] 1st of April 2011. Retrived from http://jpfarrell.blogspot.com//2007/11/evolution-of-quick-service-restaurant.html. Goyal, A. Singh, N.P. (2007). Consumer perception about fast food in India: an exploratory study. British food Journal. Vol. 109: Issue:2, 2007. Schroder, Monika J.A. McEachern, Morven G. (2005). Fast foods and ethical consumer value: a focus on Mc Donalds and KFC. British food Journal. Vol 107. Issue:4. 2005. Jang, Dongsuk. Mattila, Anna S. (2005). An examination of restaurant loyalty programs: what kinds of rewards do customer prefers? International Journal of contemporary hospitality management. Vol. 1. Issue:5. 2005. Katz, Karen L. Martin, Blaire R. (1985). Improving customer satisfaction through the management of perceptions of waiting. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Bose, Debopriya. (2011). Advantage and Dissadvantage of Fast food. [Online] 2011. [Cited] 7th of April 2011. Retrieved from http://www.buzzle.com/articles/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-fast-food.html. Khilawala, Rashida. (2010). Unhealthy Fast Food. [Online] 2010. [Cited] 7th of April 2011. http://www.buzzle.com/articles/unhealthy-fast-food.html. Stacel, Richard. (2009). Why you should avoid fast food at all cost. [Online] 2009 [Cited] 6th of April 2011. Retrieved from http://www.naturalnews.com/025241-food-fast-food-foods.html. BBC News in U.K. Consumer question fast food hygiene. [Online] 17th Feb 2003. [Cited] 5th of April 2011. Retrieved from http://news.bbc.co.uk/l/hi/uk/2769907.stm. Lee, Yun Lok. Hing, Nevilee. (1999). Centre for Tourisim, Southern Cross University. Vol. 14, Issue:3-4, Pg:293-310. Cronin, J. Joseph., Jr. Taylor, Steven A. (1992). Journal of Marketing: Measuring service quality: A reexamination and extension. Vol: 56, No. 3, Pg: 55-68. Ho, Teck H. Zheng, Yu-Sheng. (2004). Management Science. Setting Customer Expectation in Service Delivery: An Integrated Marketing-Operations Perspective. Vol: 50, No. 4, Pg: 479-488. Jiang, James. J., Klein, Gary. Carr, Christopher L. (2002). Management Information Systems Research center. Measuring information system service quality: Servqual from the other side. Vol:26, No. 2, Pg: 145-166. Fedoroff, Paul. (2011). Comparing service quality performance with customer service quality needs. 12 Manage the executive fast track. [Online] 2011. [Cited] 7th of April 2011. Retrieved from http://www.12manage.com/methods-zeithaml-servqual.html. Parasuraman A., Zeithaml V. Berry L. (1990). Delivering Quality Service, Balancing Customer Perceptions and Expectations.

Medea - the conception of drama within theatrical production :: essays research papers fc

â€Å"The Conception of Drama within Theatrical Production†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In Euripides’ tragic play, Medea, the playwright creates an undercurrent of chaos in the play upon asserting that, â€Å"the world’s great order [is being] reversed.† (Lawall, 651, line 408). The manipulation of the spectators’ emotions, which instills in them a sentiment of drama, is relative to this undertone of disorder, as opposed to being absolute. The central thesis suggests drama in the play as relative to the method of theatrical production. The three concepts of set, costumes, and acting, are tools which accentuate the drama of the play. Respectively, these three notions represent the appearance of drama on political, social, and moral levels. This essay will compare three different productions of Euripides’ melodrama, namely, the play as presented by the Jazzart Dance Theatre ¹; the Culver City (California) Public Theatre ²; and finally, the original ancient Greek production of the play, as it was scripted by Euripi des.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The two contemporary productions of Medea were selected for this essay in an effort to contrast the ancient Greek version of the play with two modernized versions, which would demonstrate a wide distinction between the styles of production. Furthermore, both modernized versions of the play add their own innovation to the production, making for an even broader dissimilarity among the plays. Moreover, both recent productions are fashioned within cultures which have borrowed their political, social, and moral ways of life from Ancient Greek society, specifically, South Africa ¹ (British Colonies), and The United States ².   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Based in Cape Town, South Africa, Jazzart Dance Theatre is known today for its distinctive style and ingenuity in extending the boundaries of South African dance. Contrarily to the original production of Medea, Jazzart’s unique approach uses dance (as opposed to music) to articulate emotion to the viewers. The dancers reinvent Greek tragedy, harbouring no artistic safety net.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The set plays a central role in dramatizing the theatrical experience of this particular production. As you can see in both figures 1 and 2, the set is purposely designed to resemble a metropolitan alleyway. This dramatic ambiance is created in an effort to parallel the harshness of the unforgiving streets of any particular conurbation. Normally, the audience would tend to construe this setting as a symbol of turmoil in the kingdom of Corinth. Thus, the set itself works as a device in developing a sense of political drama.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The costumes which are used for this particular production are also essential in dramatizing the on-stage action.

ALI :: essays research papers

American boxer, one of the greatest fighters in the history of the sport. Colorful, talented, and sometimes controversial, Ali entertained fans and intimidated opponents. His boxing style involved graceful footwork and powerful jabs. He also became famous for bragging about himself. For example, he once described his skills by saying that he could "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee," In 1978 Ali became the first boxer to win the world heavyweight championship title three different times. Ali was born in Louisville, Kentucky. His original name was Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr. He began boxing at the age of 12, after his bicycle was stolen and a police officer suggested that the young Clay should learn how to box. By age 18 Clay had amassed a record of 108 wins and 8 losses in amateur competition. This included six Kentucky Golden Gloves titles, the 1959 International Golden Gloves heavyweight title, and a gold medal as the light heavyweight champion at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, Italy. After returning from the Olympics, Clay turned professional. He fought his first professional bout on October 29, 1960, and defeated Tunney Hunsaker. As Clay continued to win over the next few years, he became more vocal about his successes, and he was given the nicknames "Louisville Lip" and "Mighty Mouth." By 1964 Clay had recorded 19 professional wins and had earned a chance to challenge heavyweight champion Sonny Liston. At 22 years of age, he was considered a serious underdog. Nonetheless, he predicted that he would knock out Liston in the eighth round. Clay needed even less time to make good on his claim. His jab-and-dance technique tired Liston, who failed to come out of his corner at the start of the seventh round. Clay was crowned the new world heavyweight champion and proclaimed himself "The Greatest." In 1964 Clay converted to Islam, joined the Nation of Islam (see Black Muslims), and assumed the name Muhammad Ali. In 1965 he defended his title in a rematch against Liston. The bout lasted only 2 minutes 12 seconds. During the first round Ali caught Liston with a hard blow, so quick that it was dubbed the "phantom punch" because few fans saw it.

Assassination Of JFK :: John F Kennedy

(A) Make a list of the evidence that suggests that Oswald was preparing to kill President Kennedy. October 14, 1963-Oswald moves to Dallas October 16, 1963-Oswald starts work at the Texas School Book Depository November 6, 1963-Oswald delivers a letter to James Hosty at the Dallas FBI office. Gordon Shanklin later orders this letter to be destroyed. August 12, 1963-Oswald appears in court and is fined $10. (B) Make a list of the evidence that suggests that Oswald was being setup as a patsy. November 1, 1963-FBI agent James Hosty visits the home of Ruth Paine where Marina Oswald is living and asks questions about Oswald. August 27, 1963-A man claiming to be Oswald visits the Cuban Consulate in Mexico City. (C) Study these two lists and explain whether you think Oswald was planning to kill Kennedy. Personally, I think that Oswald assisted in killing JFK. I do think that the government agencies were in on this and that the two evidence text was plotted to cause a feeling of not being positive about who killed JFK. But I also do think that the two pieces of evidence serves as a distraction. To confuse the evidence. It’s very humorous. lol Study the sources B2-B4 of the Assassination of JFK. Who was involved in the planning of the trip to Texas and the presidential motorcade in Dallas? Do all three sources agree on this subject? Advance preparations for President Kennedy's visit to Dallas were primarily the responsibility of two Secret Service agents: Special Agent Winston G. Lawson, a member of the White House detail who acted as the advance agent, and Forrest V. Sorrels, special agent in charge of the Dallas office. Both agents were advised of the trip on November 4. Study sources B4-B12. What evidence is there that there were gunmen firing at President Kennedy from behind and in front of the presidential limousine. (Behind the limo shots) Since I was facing the building where the shots were coming from (Texas Book Depository), I just glanced up and saw two colored men in a window straining to look at a window up above them. As I looked up to the window above, I saw a rifle being pulled back in the window. It might have been resting on the windowsill. I didn't see a man. I didn't even see if it had a scope (telescopic sight) on it. (Behind the limo shots) I think I got out on the street about 12:15 or 12:20 - something along there.

A Child of Sorrow Essay

It is such a very wonderful love story that tickles your bones and tells you that it is a nice feeling to be in love. Though, its title suggests its tragic ending, but still I on my part like the simple yet elegant story crafted in this novel by Zoilo Galang. Considering the fact that this is the first Filipino novel written in English, it follows suit that it lacks sophistication. The characterization, plot and setting of the said novel are simple. However, behind this simplicity, it is still a good try and a nice start for the future of novels being the youngest literary genre in the Philippines. The story is very well sequenced. It refrains the use of flashbacks as possible in order to avoid baffling the minds of the readers. Thus, somewhere in the part of the novel, we could somehow surmise and predict the flow of events, which is very typical to a Filipino author. Each chapter has its own theme developed and united in one thought. With regards to characterization, Galang made it by having memorable characters as Rosa and Julio. They are very ordinary characters but their love story is unique. I could somehow identify myself with Julio. Like him, I am living in illusion with reading too many books. Sometimes I detached from reality as I try to imagine things which are very fiction in nature. The story of the novel revolves around love as its theme. Love is such a very powerful feeling that could not be prevented by anything else. But inasmuch as love is a feeling, it also demands sacrifice. True love is tested by trials that come along in a relationship. It may come in the form of a third part, rumors and etc. Our cherished lovers in the novel also encountered such things. It is also stressed that inspiration brings change. When we are inspired brought about by being in love, we could have the zest to do things better and could change for the best that we can be. Failures in life must not be considered curses. Failures are sometimes blessings in disguise. If we only have the proper attitude towards life, thus counting the trials that come along our way as another challenge for us to grow, then life is worth living. The novel teaches us a lot of things. It teaches us the reality in life that we fall in love even in an unexpected time. Love buds everywhere and no one is exempted to fall in love. As long as we live, it is inevitable for us to fall in love.

Assignment of Work Base Learning Essay

1. Introduction. This assignment is to evaluate my role in the job I’m currently doing and upto what extent its been helpful in my personal development. As I ‘m currently working in fright forwarding industry (Shipping), I have chosen this job to finish my assignment of work base learning. It would be easier for me to choose this job to finish my educational assignment instead of going volunteering job somewhere else. This will also affect my attendance in current work place. 1.1 Company Profile- Reisa Freight Ltd. is a U.K. based company engaged in import and export activities. As a company we supply our services to buyers, exporters and importers for their international transportation needs. Reisa freight Ltd. acts as a middle man / agent working globally with agents in several countries. We handles export from shippers or manufacturers warehouse to buyer’s warehouse not end users. 1.2 Job Profile- The main purpose of my role is to coordinate with customers, prepare relevant docs and coordination with back office or operations for smooth activity. This job role requires efficiency, accuracy and completion in given time frame. My job is also involved with coordination with airlines to ensure pre-booked space for upcoming cargo during the week. This avoids last minute problem. In short this work required a solid planning and in-time execution. Also it requires understanding People at Work, including understanding others’ interests, motivations and competence. In short, Developing and reviewing relationships with others (manager, colleagues, team members, customers and suppliers etc) including agreeing respective roles, responsibilities, rights and expectations booking cargo space on ship, airplane, train, or any other form of goods/cargo transportation, route planning, various documentation, export packing, insurance, warehouse, collection and delivery consignment. 2. Main Body- During my seven months of tenure I have learned how to gain necessary skills and what I needed most. There are certain skills which I need to improve and some others I have achieved while working with Reisa freight Ltd. I have discussed all these in following paragraphs. 2.1 Skills that need some developments. à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Communication- Major hurdle with me here the language. Being English as my second language I find it as biggest hurdle to improve my communication skill. There is a lot more development since I started but there is still lot more to do to bring it upto a level where it is acceptable as high standard. à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Decision-making- I find my self uncomfortable while making important decision which requires my independency. I have only spent 7 months in total as working person. I would need to have more experience of work to gain my confident in decision making. Some education in learning skill would definitely help me which I’m planning to intake after finishing my graduation. à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Leadership- Being an un-experienced in past and total 7 months of work experience I see a lot more to do with leadership skill. Leadership skills require work experience and a standard of education which I will gain after my studies. à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Analysing- Being a new employee in the field I see a lack of analysing skill to analyse the situation and plan things accordingly. This makes me to be depended on my seniors and old employees. I personally think that this would be developed while the time spent with work and putting my efforts to plan it from the beginning and executing it upto the end. In my job profile I have been given chance to analyse each shipment from the beginning and act as necessary and accordingly. à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Problem Solving- Due to the lack of decision making, it directly affects my problem solving skills. As a new employee I haven’t been given chance to make decisions of my own which will be given to me after a specific time spent with in the company. Now because I cannot make decisions I will have to rely on my seniors to give me instructions in these types of situation which will lead to problem solving directly from decision makers at above post not me. 2.2 Skills scored highest with. à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Planning- My job profile requires a pre-planned activity which is a base of service commitment to customers. First w learn in this business is to plan things and then execute. The planning doesn’t give a hundred percent surety of desired results but it leads to a way to execute right thing and a right time. I personally feel that my job responsibilities made me well enough to deal with planning skill. It’s adding something extra everyday to my skill. à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Monitoring- Once the planning has been made and executed second step comes to monitor it on each and every step. A break any where in the planning chain may fail the whole assignment. The purpose of my monitoring is to take care of assignment and rectify problems as soon as and wherever they come up. à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Reviewing- Reviewing the work everyday gives me efficiency and proficiency in my work. A skilled reviewing gives an idea what needs to be done. During the work I have learned that reviewing all our daily deeds gives us experience and probable outcomes of next day and future. This also shows the performance improvement. à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Prioritising- As a worker I learned how to priorities my work. It’s a way of placing an order of priorities what needs doing and when. This can be achieved by Setting objectivise and goals. Its an important aspect of decision making. In my work priorities has importance as we will have to make decisions depend on the situations. For examples in a situation where buyer needs all his order with several suppliers in once, but due to problem with space allocation we may have to make own decision sometime to priorities to particular orders or shipments. à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Reporting- My job profile is to work as an executive. I have responsibilities and direct reporting to my seniors. I need to report all my day to day activities that its understandable and most important is acceptable. An acceptable standard of work has been gained through the work experience. à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Motivating- Motivation is necessity in every success. De-motivation will lead to failure in the job and work assignment. I have learned that how to challenge my negative thoughts. It helps me to realise possibilities of my future. 3. Monitoring my self- level achieved. Presentation Skills – Competent Speaker- able to talk to small groups of my peers albeit a little nervously. Written Skills- Good Creative- able to use comparison, example, similes, metaphors, vocabulary and other tools. Organisational/Planning Skills- Limited- can plan and organise my own time to achieve targets. Team-working Skills- Good- Able to work well in a team of people and to perform a number of â€Å"team roles†. 4. Conclusion – There is Overall performance satisfaction within the organisation and as recognised by senior level. Seven months of tenure within the firm was spent just as a trainee. This helped me to gain a lot. But still there is a long way to go and far more to achieve what I thought before. There is lot more confidence required while taking the necessary decisions. An uncomfortable situation always leads to lose either big or small. Currently I’m working with the help of other experienced staff which also de motivates me to take my own initiative. But in nearer future I hope for responsibilities with an independent role. That will surely help me to gain improved skills and goals. For sometime I have had a loose idea of the goals I would like to achieve in the short to medium term. Now that I have set my self a deadline I’m confident and assured to achieve that. However I would like to improve my self confidence increase my motivation to achieve the most out of my work. I would like to eliminate the attitude that holds me back and cause hassles to it and finally unhappiness. I would like to increase my pride and satisfaction in my achievements advantages of goal settings. I would like to increase my self confidence from the current level and perform better in all areas of my works.