Challenges to the LEGO Group

Challenges to the LEGO Group In the recent times worldwide economy has become highly volatile and was vulnerable to a multitude issues. One such example is the latest financial crisis. Such volatility creates a variety of challenges to small and large enterprises around the globe. One of the biggest challenges for manufacturing companies is to deal with rapidly increasing globalization and competition. The solutions require the development of agile and rapid supply networks in order to cut costs and meet demand. Producers are becoming more aware of supply chain management. This awareness shifts the focus from internal logistics efficiency to the external network of relationships between various parties in the supply chain. The well-known Danish toy manufacturer LEGO has not been insusceptible to these changes. LEGO has faced major challenges, which required drastic changes within the organization. This included a transformation of the companys supply chain management system. LEGO Group had to deal with probably the most significant financial crisis since the company was founded in 1932. LEGOs crisis was not clearly visible from the outside. In fact LEGO had maintained brand recognition. This earned them the title Toy of the Century from the British Association of Toy Retailers and Fortune magazine. LEGO was the fourth largest toy manufacturer in the word and had sold US$1.35 billion worth of toys in 2004. In spite of this success, the company was losing money since 1998. LEGO had various internal operational issues. This included a complex and ineffective supply chain, which at one stage consisted of 11,000 contractors. In an attempt to address this problem, in 2004 LEGO board of directors set a goal t o cut 20 percent of logistic costs. This resulted in the risky decision to outsource a major part of the production to Flextronics, a Singaporean electronics manufacturing services provider. LEGO also established a single distribution center in the Czech Republic operated by DHL. (M. M. Larsen, T. Pedersen, D. Slepniov 2010; K. Oliver, E. Samakh, P. Heckmann 2007; J. A. Cooke 2009) Such a risky decision involved a long-term relationship with Flextronics that was not without challenges. In this research paper an overview of challenges and solutions of the case company LEGO Group will be presented. The main focus will be on LEGOs supply chain management system transformation, which was a major step towards success. The following research questions will serve as guidelines for this paper: What challenges did LEGO Group face and what decisions were made to address those problems? How did Supply Chain Management transformation helped to deal with these issues? In this paper we will first explore the Supply Chain Management (SCM) concepts. Next the case company LEGO Group will be introduced. We will then present overview of the challenges that LEGO Group has faced. The focus of this paper will be the SCM decisions that were made to deal with these problems. SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT CONCEPT The globalization is increasing competition and forming new conditions for conducting business. This requires companies worldwide to rapidly respond to their customers demands and develop products. These companies must also apply information technologies in supply chain collaboration (J. S. Arlbjà ¸rn et al. 2006) Such conditions increased the importance of logistics and SCM role within organizations as it can become a major competitive advantage. Commonly, the major improvements in logistical functions may not be needed within the organization itself. It may be more beneficial to analyze the organizations supply chain. This involves various interdependent parties. SCM co-operation is gaining in major strategic importance and usually includes such characteristics: co-operating is based on end user requirements, long term co-operation and high trust between actors in the supply chains or networks, shared risks and benefits, cross coordination on various levels between companies, shared visions and similar company cultures. The advantage of such close co-operation is a more transparent supply chain. This can lead to reduced lead-time, lower uncertainty, optimization of stocks and higher capacity utilization. (T. Skjoett-Larsen 2000) The concept of SCM often represents the broader view of logistics as its main function is to ensure the smooth flow of materials from suppliers to organization and then out to customers through the operations within the organization (D. Waters 2003). The purpose of SCM can be described as to remove redundancies and communication barriers through coordination, monitoring and control functions (D. Power 2005). The supply chain usually consists of different organizations and processes, which are aimed to ensure the smooth flow of materials from the initial supplier to the end customer. In many cases, manufacturers get their materials from a large number of suppliers and sell to different customers, which is the case with LEGO Group. In figure 1, you can see an example of the supply chain around a manufacturer. Materials move from several tiers of suppliers though organization to several tiers of customers, such as wholesalers, retailers and end users. Figure 1: Supply chain of manufacturer (D. Waters 2003, 9) The toy industry is one of the oldest creative industries in the word. However, C. Y. Wong, J. S. Arlbjà ¸rnand J. Johansen in their study named Supply chain management practices in toy supply chains(2005) state that such creative business is very seasonal and volatile with strongly fluctuating demands, very short and specified selling windows as well as short product life cycles. Moreover, the toy industry can be described as intensely competitive on pricing and innovation, where retailers often start competing with their suppliers. The authors conclude that most retailers and manufacturers use a push business model. This model includes low utilization of technology and information sharing as well as slow implementation of supply chain initiatives. INTRODUCTION TO THE CASE COMPANY: LEGO GROUP LEGO can be certainly defined as one of the most famous brands in the toy industry. The Danish companys toys are enjoyed worldwide by children and adults alike, who use thousands of different pieces to construct buildings, robots and other toy. In 1932, Ole Kirk Christiansen, a Danish carpenter founded a company named LEGO (Danish words Leg and Godt, meaning play well). Originally a woodworking business for furniture, LEGO began producing childrens toys in 1934. The company presents itself by stating: It is LEGO philosophy that good play enriches a childs life and its subsequent adulthood. With this in mind, the LEGO Group has developed and marketed a wide range of products, all founded on the same basic philosophy of learning and developing through play. In figure 2 the core building blocks of LEGO Group are presented. (M. M. Larsen et al. 2010; LEGO Group, Corporate Communications 2009) Figure 2: The LEGO Company (LEGO Group 2010) Pursuing such a philosophy, LEGO has grown tremendously since its establishment. By 2009 the company was the worlds fifth largest toy manufacturer in terms of sale with 290 Million US Dollars in revenues and approximately 7000 employees around the globe. The LEGO brick which is possibly the best known toy was first introduced and patented in 1958. It has since then represented the core success and image of this company. With two just bricks there are 24 different combinations and with six there are 915 million possibilities. This enables limitless creativity. As previously stated, before LEGO brick was named as Toy of the century by Fortune magazine and later by British Association of Toy Retailers as well. (M. M. Larsen et al. 2010; J. Tidd, J. Bessant 2009) http://cache.lego.com/r/aboutus/-/media/About%20Us/Media%20Assets%20Library/Logos%20Bricks%20and%20Generic%20images/ts.20120125T101709.2x4brick_red.jpg Picture 1: Lego brick (source lego.com) Segmented product categories include: Pre-school products for the youngest children, who had not started the school yet, includes LEGO DUPLO products. Creative building sets or buckets of LEGO bricks without instructions. Play themes products the products with particular stories, such as airports, racing tracks and hospitals, including LEGO City line and BIONICLE. Licensed products related to movies and books, such Harry Potter, Star Wars and Indiana Jones. MINDSTORM NXT programmable robot kit. LEGO education products that are developed for educational purposes. LEGO Games new product line started in 2009 for board games. LEGO operates in over 130 countries worldwide. The companys largest market in the U.S., with together Australia, New Zealand and UK accounted for 30 percent of revenue in 2007. Despite constant challenges and growing popularity of consumer electronics, LEGO is continuing to expand. (M. M. Larsen et al. 2010) Crisis and solutions In the late 1990s, the company started to have difficulties. This resulted in a major crisis and almost ended in bankruptcy by 2004. LEGO was losing huge sums of money every day, estimated at economic losses of 375.4 thousand U.S. dollars per day since 1998. When sales dropped 40 percent in 2004, it was clear that radical changes had to take place. There are many speculations, why such a well-known and previously successful company started running on tremendous losses. (M. M. Larsen et al. 2010) One possible reason was increasing competition in their main product area. This was disruptive at its nature. One such example is the Canadian company Megabloks. This company offers a wide range of building toys at a highly competitive price. Also, the increasing popularity of computer games reduced the demand for traditional toys. Another possible factor was the over diversification of product line as LEGO moved into more areas like theme parks ,apparel, clothing, television and even computer games. Such diversification was a result of, as the company claims, a loss of confidence in their core product the Lego brick. The increased complexity of product portfolio confused not just the customers, but employees as well. (M. M. Larsen et al. 2010; J. Tidd, J. Bessant 2009; K. Oliver et al. 2007) It was mentioned before that LEGO GROUP had around 11,000 suppliers, which was twice the number that Boeing used to build its aircraft. Such inefficiency and inflexibility was soon recognized and attention was directed to the supply chain, which was 10 years out of date. Moreover, low quality customer service and product availability decreased the value of companys franchise. Jà ¸rgen Vig Knudstorp, newly appointed CEO, stated: From my perspective, the supply chain is a companys circulation system. You have to fix it to keep the blood flowing. (M. M. Larsen et al. 2010; K. Oliver et al. 2007) It was acknowledged that solving problems related to global supply chain could build a strong base for major changes in the organization. This could also be the needed step forward towards cost-effectiveness and an improved business model. However, such big changes are not easy to implement and presented significant challenges for LEGO Group Transformation of supply chain management LEGO Group decided to optimize their supply chain in order to deal with the most significant crisis in the companys history. LEGO realized that it was dragging behind retail giants such as Wal-Mart and Carrefour. These companies had invested huge amounts of recourses into sophisticated and efficient supply chain management systems. LEGO Group started losing the competition to companies, which optimized their costs and provided just-in-time services to its customers (K. Oliver et al. 2007). Transforming such a gigantic and complex supply chain as well as removing the inefficiencies was a very challenging goal. Keep in mind that by 2004 company had around 7000 employees working mainly in two factories and three packaging centers, located in different countries. Further issues and changes within different areas of supply chain management will be discussed, including product development, distribution and manufacturing. Product development Product development and innovation was extremely important for LEGO as it presented the core of what this company was really about. Changes in this field were difficult to implement. This was in part because of its delicate nature and inside resistance from employees. LEGOs development lab called Kitchen was steadily producing new innovative products and ideas. However, management realized that new products were returning less profit and cost more to produce. Developers and designers did not account for production and supply chain issues, in their designs. Consequently, the variety of various components and features as well as product complexity became overwhelming and started to cause major problems in manufacturing and distribution. LEGO bricks and other elements came in more than 100 color tones. LEGO sets became increasingly elaborate with thousands of different figures. (M. M. Larsen et al. 2010; K. Oliver et al. 2007) Such cost ineffective creativity caused problems like large stocks. This was because of seasonal demand fluctuations and short delivery times. Moreover, large amount of components and products required large investments in molds, while just 30 products generated 80 percent of companys sales. Therefore, LEGO decided to drastically cut down the number of components and features. This reduced costs in the supply chain and created a better opportunity for production outsourcing. Management revised a number of daily solutions in order to cut the costs, simplify production and eliminate inefficiencies. The palette was decreased to around 50 colors. A major reduction in variety of pirates, police officers and other figures was recommended as well. Moreover, resin-sourcing analyzes helped to cut its resin costs in half and reduce supplier number by 80 percent. Simultaneously, LEGO Groups operational team created cost matrixes and revised set of rules concerning creation of new colors, compon ents and ordering of new materials. Such step helped product developers to choose more cost-effective solutions and recognize the limitations. (M. M. Larsen et al. 2010; K. Oliver et al. 2007) Distribution Another area of LEGOs supply chain that required major improvements and cost reductions was distribution. At that time LEGO served thousands of smaller stores with a great responsibility. This came at a very high price, although those shops accounted just for one third of its revenue. Company had increasing amount of inventory and lost sales, because of multiple-tier inventory system to serve smaller customers from different distribution centers. The redefined distribution policies had to be developed in order to avoid costly small deliveries and labor costs associated with pick-packing in the distribution centers. (M. M. Larsen et al. 2010; K. Oliver et al. 2007) In order to serve customers in 130 countries around the world, LEGO had 11 warehouses and distribution centers in high-cost countries like Denmark, France, Germany and Switzerland. LEGO also employed 55 transportation providers for inbound and outbound shipments. In order to move its distributions closer to the customer and reduce exploding transportation costs, the company defined clear service policies. This helped to shift the focus to major retail chains. This also provided for more accurate demand forecasts, reduced complexity and certainly the costs of distribution. Furthermore, LEGO Group decided to centralize its distribution by closing five distribution centers in Europe, and creating a single distribution center near Prague in the Check Republic. The country was mainly chosen because of a high availability of skilled low cost labor. LEGO leased large buildings from the commercial realtor ProLogis. LEGO also decided to outsource operations to third-party logistics company D HL supply chain. (M. M. Larsen et al. 2010; K. Oliver et al. 2007; J. A. Cooke 2009) By 2007 a newly consolidated distribution center was serving all of LEGOs markets except the U.S., where Exel Inc. was responsible for distribution operations. Such changes reduced the complexity of supply chain, simplified the inventory optimization and reduced average distances to the market. This lead to increased customer satisfaction and significantly reduced overall logistics costs. Despite the outsourcing, LEGO maintained close collaboration with its carriers and still makes many decisions. The results of such collaboration are reduced negative effects of market seasonality. Moreover, by applying developed Web-based transportation management system LEGO was able to change the shipment scheduling and improve load consolidation. (M. M. Larsen et al. 2010; J. A. Cooke 2009) Manufacturing The improved production in the supply chain was probably the most important and complicated step. The challenges came from the way LEGO organized its production facilities and the complexity of manufacturing operations. In some way chaotic production operations resulted in low 70 percent of overall capacity utilization. There were hundreds of independent production units within the facilities that could place their orders in any manner. This was often without balancing supply capabilities, inventory levels and demand needs. Consequently, such fragmented system did not support long-term planning and resulted in high costs and low efficiency. Moreover, the production sites were located in high-cost countries as Denmark, United States and Switzerland, while just 10 percent of production was outsourced to China. Production sites mainly operated according the branding strategy, where, for example, Swiss factories only manufactured DUPLO and Technic products. (M. M. Larsen et al. 2010; K. Oliver et al. 2007) One of the first steps was to set clear production cycles for machines instead of having them available to produce any element at any time. This approach helped to reduce constant and costly retooling as well as balance production operations. Furthermore, orders were set in the monthly meetings in that way eliminating the number of changeovers (K. Oliver et al. 2007). However, the major decision concerning production operations was to outsource large part of the production to external packaging and manufacturing service providers. One of the reasons was to cut the costs by moving the production from high-cost countries. Another reason was to reduce the number of subcontractors and utilize the economies of scale, having in mind that LEGO was producing about 24 billion bricks per year (M. M. Larsen et al. 2010). Consequently, the production capacity in Denmark was reduced and sites in Korea and Switzerland closed. LEGO Group engaged into cooperation with packaging service suppliers: Sonoco, Greiner, Weldenhammer and 2B Pack. The most risky and complex partnership was made in 2006 with Flextronics, a Singaporean based electronics manufacturer. Several product lines, like Bionicle and Technic was still mainly retained by LEGO, but the higher volume and more simple Duplo and System lines were handed to Flextronics production sites in Hungary, Czech Republic and Mexico. This helped to reduce the distance to customers. However, the relationship was not successful and contract with Flextronics was terminated from January 1, 2009, while LEGO continued with smaller outsourcing contracts. The main reasons for the failure are connected with delicate nature of toy industry and could be described in short (H. B. Dinitzen, D. Bohlbro 2010, 71-72; M. M. Larsen et al. 2010): 65% percent of production had to be done during the third quarter of the year main holiday season. Products have a lifetime of 16-18 month. Sales uncertainty is around 30%. In figure 3, the timeline of LEGO and Flextronics cooperation is presented, including goals and challenges. Despite the failure, LEGO Group has learned a lot from this outsourcing attempt, which had a positive impact in the end. Figure 3: The timeline of LEGO and Flextronics collaboration (M. M. Larsen et al. 2010, 16) In 2008 LEGO started the process of sourcing back the production, while the first factory in the Czech Republic was taken over, followed by Hungarian and Mexican facilities. In Mexico, LEGO Group eventually moved the production to a new plant, which started operating in first quarter of 2009. The final benefits of collaboration were connected mainly with gained experience in various operational fields. It helped to establish new facilities in Mexico and Hungary, while production units were no longer following branded approach, but instead serving its respective markets. Moreover, LEGO significantly improved documentation and standardization of business processes. Standardization resulted in almost halved size of components, from 12,000 in 2004 to 6000 in 2008. This enabled more flexible, efficient and smoothly running supply chain. (M. M. Larsen et al. 2010) CONCLUSIONS In the end it can be stated that by taking clearly defined and harsh restructuring strategy, LEGO Group was able to defeat the crisis and become one of the successful and largest toy producers again. This statement can be backed up by financial figures, which indicate that in 2008 and 2009 company reached profit of DKK 315.6 million and 375 million U.S. Dollars, respectively. This was the highest in LEGO Groups history. (M. M. Larsen et al. 2010) A significantly restructured supply chain helped to increase the efficiency of major business operations as well as increase the overall customer satisfaction. LEGO managed to reach and, in some levels, even pass its competitors, while still cooperating with biggest retailers in such fields as joint forecasting, inventory management and mass customization. However, such transformations required dealing with many challenges, including terminated cooperation with Flextronics. Nevertheless, it gave LEGO valuable knowledge about outsourcing operations and its inner characteristics. In the end, unsuccessful outsourcing practice resulted in factories in Denmark, Czech Republic, Mexico and Hungary, which gave the needed supply chain flexibility in order to meet the global demands. Improved parts of supply chain such as product development, sourcing, distribution and manufacturing creates a well developed business model that serves as a major competitive advantage. Finally, after successful supply chain transformation, LEGO Group can shift more attention to increasing the satisfaction of its customers by developing well-liked toys for children and adults.

Internal and External Constraints Facing Venetian Ices Ltd Essay

Constraints are laws, which the company must abide by. There are two different types of constraints; these are internal and external constraints. Internal constraints are those that the company controls their selves such as: * Availability of finance * Existing company policy * Peoples behaviour External constraints are decisions that are made outside the company’s control such as: * Government and EC legislation * Competitors behaviour * Lack of technology * The economic environment The internal constraints facing Venetian ices include: 1.Equipment Venetian Ices need equipment in order to produce their goods and also keep the ice cream frozen. So obviously they will need equipment such as freezers (to store the ice cream), new ice cream making machines in order to produce the ice cream for the customers. They will also need a mobile van, so that customers could get ice cream in different areas. Another equipment that Venetian Ices could have is packaging, this will be for customers who would want to buy a whole tub of ice cream from them. There are some problems, which may occur when replacement or extra equipment is needed. Venetian ices could in fact find themselves in a position where they are unable to afford the equipment that they would want available to them. In the case of additional equipment there may not be enough room on the sight of enough employees to operate all the machinery. 2. Financing the development of a Franchisee operation Venetian Ices must provide finance to their franchisees in order to get them started and set up in the business world. Venetian Ices can get their finance from a number of places and ways. The first is retained profit, but that can possible prove difficult for them, as small companies such as themselves only tend to make a small profit. They can also get their finance from selling as much ice cream as they possibly can. Venetian ices would have to buy all the equipment and premised that they would require when they are setting up a business up and also paying all of the workers in their franchisee. This means that when a new franchisee joins at first Venetian Ices have to spend a lot of capital and get little back in return. 3. Staffing for Increased Production Output By increasing the number of staff it would increase the output of the company, but this will mean having to pay out more money in order to pay their new employees. Also they may have a problem with the size of the premises. There could be a problem with the amount of people allowed to work in the building, if there isn’t enough room for everyone they would have to employ less people then they would like. Some External constraints that may affect Venetian Ices include: 1.Raising finance How much finance Venetian Ices can raise depends a lot on the public who purchase ice cream from them and also investors who decide to invest money in the company. This could cause a problem though because in winter ice cream is less popular and a whole lot less people would come and purchase ice cream during the cold period. This could therefore mean investors will not want to invest in an ice cream company, which for part of the reason will not raise much finance. 2. Planning Permission If Venetian Ices decided they wanted to expand their premises or decide to build new premises for their company, they would require planning permission from the local council or the government. If Venetian Ices did decide to go ahead with an extension or the building of a new building without a contract from the authorities then they could be taken to court and forced to abandon work on their new premises completely. 3. Franchising Venetian Ices do not have complete control over its franchisees, as the franchiser does not always check them on. This can mean that franchisees may run the business against the company policy and use different and methods. For example if the franchisee trains the staff in how to recruit then the staff must do exactly as they are told to, if they recruit people in a different way or people who Venetian Ices don’t want. This could lead to the company having a bad reputation. 4. Law Venetian Ices must follow and work by all the laws. There has being laws set about methods of employment, training, European regulations and also food which would defiantly apply to Venetian Ices. These laws can be checked often by government inspectors. 5. Tourism Tourism is a big market for Venetian Ices as they make up a large percentage of customers in some areas where there are mobile and ice cream parlours. Tourist also often purchases goods on impulse. However, Venetian Ices cannot insure that the number of tourists in a certain area will remain the same all the time. 6. Foot and Mouth Disease Another outbreak of foot and mouth can cause serious problems for Venetian Ices. Foot and Mouth affect cows, which Venetian ices, depends on for its main ingredient, which is milk. Another foot and mouth epidemic breaking out would make it hard obtaining the milk and also getting it transported as certain areas of the countryside would be shut off, therefore making transportation hard. Foot and mouth can also cause tourism to drop in certain areas and possibly even close. This would lead Venetian Ices in an awful position in them areas affected by foot and mouth. There could possibly be people who would want to stay away from the ice cream due to foot and mouth.

Point of Sales and Inventory System

Communication -from Latin â€Å"communis†, meaning  to share) is the activity of conveying  information  through the exchange of thoughts, messages, or information, as by speech, visuals, signals, writing, or behaviour. Communication requires a sender, a  message, and a recipient, although the receiver need not be present or aware of the sender's intent to communicate at the time of communication; thus communication can occur across vast distances in time and space. Communication requires that the communicating parties share an area of communicative commonality.The communication process is complete once the receiver has understood the message of the sender. Communication is the process where the one person is expressing his or her idea and the other one is listening to the idea being expressed by the one who is talking. That is how you define communication. When this results to have an understanding to both of them, therefore there is already a communication. In other words, when a person is talking, the other person should listen so that he will understand to what the other person is talking about.When a person talks and nobody listens, then there is no communication happening because there is no understanding. The people just heard what the person in front of them is talking but they do not listen to it well that is why they do not understand about the topic. I will give you further examples for you to understand what communication is. Mass Communication -is the academic study of how individuals and entities relay information through  mass media  to large segments of the population at the same time.It is usually understood to relate to  newspaper  and  magazine  publishing,  radio,  television  and  film, as these are used both for disseminating  news  and for  advertising. Mass communication helps provide information, interpret it, create social awareness, and educate the masses. Mass communication research includes m ost of communication media institutions and processes such as diffusion of information, and media effects such as persuasion or manipulation of public opinion. In the United States, for instance, several university  departments were remodelled into schools or colleges of mass communication or â€Å"journalism and mass communication†.Levels of Communication 1) INTRAPERSONAL COMMUNICATION- is language use or thought internal to the communicator. Intrapersonal communication is the active internal involvement of the individual in symbolic processing of messages. The individual becomes his or her own sender and receiver, providing feedback to him or herself in an on-going internal process. It can be useful to envision intrapersonal communication occurring in the mind of the individual in a model which contains a sender, receiver, and feedback loop. 2) INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION-Interpersonal communication  is defined by communication scholars in numerous ways, though most def initions involve participants who are interdependent on one another, have a shared history. Communication channels are the medium chosen to convey the message from sender to receiver. Communication channels can be categorized into two main categories: Direct and Indirect channels of communication. Direct channels  are those that are obvious and can be easily recognized by the receiver. They are also under direct control of the sender. In this category are the verbal and non-verbal channels of communication.Verbal  communication channels are those that use words in some manner, such as written communication or spoken communication. Non-verbal  communication channels are those that do not require silly words, such as certain overt facial expressions, controllable body movements (such as that made by a traffic police to control traffic at an intersection), color (red for danger, green means go etc), sound (sirens, alarms etc. ). Indirect channels  are those channels that are us ually recognized subliminally or subconsciously by the receiver, and not under direct control of the sender.This includes kinesics or body language, that reflects the inner emotions and motivations rather than the actual delivered message. It also includes such vague terms as â€Å"gut feeling†, â€Å"hunches† or â€Å"premonitions†. Channels  means mode of communicating the messages. Participants  is the communicators who are both senders and receivers. Context  refers to the interrelated condition of communication. It consists of such factors as:   Physical Milieu Balance of interpersonal communication 3. ) GROUP COMMUNICATION-  refers to the nature of communication that occurs in groups that are between 3 and 12 individuals.Small group communication generally takes place in a context that mixes interpersonal communication interactions with social clustering. 4. ) PUBLIC COMMUNICATION-  It's at the heart of our economy, society, and politics. Studi os use it to promote their films. Politicians use it to get elected. Businesses use it to burnish their image. Advocates use it to promote social causes. It's a field built on ideas and images, persuasion and information, strategy and tactics. No policy or product can succeed without a smart message targeted to the right audience in creative and innovative ways. Modes of Communication amateurs use a variety of voice, text, image, and data communications modes over radio. Generally new modes can be tested in the amateur radio service, although national regulations may require disclosure of a new mode to permit radio licensing authorities to monitor the transmissions. Encryption, for example, is not generally permitted in the Amateur Radio service except for the special purpose of satellite vehicle control uplinks. The following is a partial list of the modes of communication used, where the mode includes both  modulation  types and operating protocols. History of Communication Da tes back to prehistory, with significant changes in communication technologies (media and appropriate inscription tools) evolving in tandem with shifts in political and economic systems, and by extension, systems of power. [1]  Communication  can range from very subtle processes of exchange, to full  conversations  and  mass communication. Human communication was revolutionized with  speech  approximately 200,000 years ago]. Symbols  were developed about 30,000 years ago,[2]  and writing  about 7,000[On a much shorter scale, there have been major developments in the field of  telecommunication  in the past few centuries. Communication begins with language, the distinctive ability which has made possible the evolution of human society. With language any message, no matter how complex, can be conveyed between people over a limited distance – within a room or place of assembly, or across a short open space. In modern times ‘town criers' hold an annu al contest to discover which of them can shout a comprehensible message over the greatest distance. The world record is less than 100 metres. Already, at that short range, a more practical alternative is to run with the message. Point of Sales and Inventory System Communication -from Latin â€Å"communis†, meaning  to share) is the activity of conveying  information  through the exchange of thoughts, messages, or information, as by speech, visuals, signals, writing, or behaviour. Communication requires a sender, a  message, and a recipient, although the receiver need not be present or aware of the sender's intent to communicate at the time of communication; thus communication can occur across vast distances in time and space. Communication requires that the communicating parties share an area of communicative commonality.The communication process is complete once the receiver has understood the message of the sender. Communication is the process where the one person is expressing his or her idea and the other one is listening to the idea being expressed by the one who is talking. That is how you define communication. When this results to have an understanding to both of them, therefore there is already a communication. In other words, when a person is talking, the other person should listen so that he will understand to what the other person is talking about.When a person talks and nobody listens, then there is no communication happening because there is no understanding. The people just heard what the person in front of them is talking but they do not listen to it well that is why they do not understand about the topic. I will give you further examples for you to understand what communication is. Mass Communication -is the academic study of how individuals and entities relay information through  mass media  to large segments of the population at the same time.It is usually understood to relate to  newspaper  and  magazine  publishing,  radio,  television  and  film, as these are used both for disseminating  news  and for  advertising. Mass communication helps provide information, interpret it, create social awareness, and educate the masses. Mass communication research includes m ost of communication media institutions and processes such as diffusion of information, and media effects such as persuasion or manipulation of public opinion. In the United States, for instance, several university  departments were remodelled into schools or colleges of mass communication or â€Å"journalism and mass communication†.Levels of Communication 1) INTRAPERSONAL COMMUNICATION- is language use or thought internal to the communicator. Intrapersonal communication is the active internal involvement of the individual in symbolic processing of messages. The individual becomes his or her own sender and receiver, providing feedback to him or herself in an on-going internal process. It can be useful to envision intrapersonal communication occurring in the mind of the individual in a model which contains a sender, receiver, and feedback loop. 2) INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION-Interpersonal communication  is defined by communication scholars in numerous ways, though most def initions involve participants who are interdependent on one another, have a shared history. Communication channels are the medium chosen to convey the message from sender to receiver. Communication channels can be categorized into two main categories: Direct and Indirect channels of communication. Direct channels  are those that are obvious and can be easily recognized by the receiver. They are also under direct control of the sender. In this category are the verbal and non-verbal channels of communication.Verbal  communication channels are those that use words in some manner, such as written communication or spoken communication. Non-verbal  communication channels are those that do not require silly words, such as certain overt facial expressions, controllable body movements (such as that made by a traffic police to control traffic at an intersection), color (red for danger, green means go etc), sound (sirens, alarms etc. ). Indirect channels  are those channels that are us ually recognized subliminally or subconsciously by the receiver, and not under direct control of the sender.This includes kinesics or body language, that reflects the inner emotions and motivations rather than the actual delivered message. It also includes such vague terms as â€Å"gut feeling†, â€Å"hunches† or â€Å"premonitions†. Channels  means mode of communicating the messages. Participants  is the communicators who are both senders and receivers. Context  refers to the interrelated condition of communication. It consists of such factors as:   Physical Milieu Balance of interpersonal communication 3. ) GROUP COMMUNICATION-  refers to the nature of communication that occurs in groups that are between 3 and 12 individuals.Small group communication generally takes place in a context that mixes interpersonal communication interactions with social clustering. 4. ) PUBLIC COMMUNICATION-  It's at the heart of our economy, society, and politics. Studi os use it to promote their films. Politicians use it to get elected. Businesses use it to burnish their image. Advocates use it to promote social causes. It's a field built on ideas and images, persuasion and information, strategy and tactics. No policy or product can succeed without a smart message targeted to the right audience in creative and innovative ways. Modes of Communication amateurs use a variety of voice, text, image, and data communications modes over radio. Generally new modes can be tested in the amateur radio service, although national regulations may require disclosure of a new mode to permit radio licensing authorities to monitor the transmissions. Encryption, for example, is not generally permitted in the Amateur Radio service except for the special purpose of satellite vehicle control uplinks. The following is a partial list of the modes of communication used, where the mode includes both  modulation  types and operating protocols. History of Communication Da tes back to prehistory, with significant changes in communication technologies (media and appropriate inscription tools) evolving in tandem with shifts in political and economic systems, and by extension, systems of power. [1]  Communication  can range from very subtle processes of exchange, to full  conversations  and  mass communication. Human communication was revolutionized with  speech  approximately 200,000 years ago]. Symbols  were developed about 30,000 years ago,[2]  and writing  about 7,000[On a much shorter scale, there have been major developments in the field of  telecommunication  in the past few centuries. Communication begins with language, the distinctive ability which has made possible the evolution of human society. With language any message, no matter how complex, can be conveyed between people over a limited distance – within a room or place of assembly, or across a short open space. In modern times ‘town criers' hold an annu al contest to discover which of them can shout a comprehensible message over the greatest distance. The world record is less than 100 metres. Already, at that short range, a more practical alternative is to run with the message.

Are the College Students Who Need Affirmative Action Getting It

Are the college students who need affirmative action most actually benefiting from it during the admissions process? A look at how affirmative action plays out among Asian American and African American students suggests maybe not. The Diversity of Asian America In the educational realm, colleges and universities often exclude Asian Americans from receiving affirmative action benefits. Thats because the racial group is already highly represented on college campuses nationwide. But a closer look at the Asian American population reveals distinct class divides among its ethnic groups. For instance, those with Southeast Asian origins tend to be lower income and less educated than their counterparts from South and East Asia, alike. Given this, is it fair to subject a Vietnamese American college applicant and a Japanese American college applicant to the same affirmative action policy? The African American Dilemma Among African Americans, class divides exist between blacks native to the United States and foreign-born blacks, with the latter achieving higher incomes and levels of education than the former. In fact, census findings indicate that African immigrants to the U.S. are the most highly educated group of people in the country. In Americas most elite colleges and universities, the blacks on campus are often immigrants or the children of immigrants. Does this mean affirmative action is failing to serve the descendants of slaves, the group some scholars argue it was designed to help? Who Was Affirmative Action Meant to Serve? How did affirmative action come about, and who was meant to reap its benefits? In the 1950s, civil rights activists successfully challenged segregation in the education, food and transportation realms, to name a few. Buoyed by the pressures of the civil rights movement, President John Kennedy issued Executive Order 10925 in 1961. The order made reference to affirmative action as a means by which to end discrimination. Thats because affirmative action prioritizes the placement of underrepresented groups in sectors from which they were categorically barred in the past, including the workplace and the academy. Back then, African Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans faced a wide range of barriers because of their racial backgrounds--from being forced to live in segregated neighborhoods to being denied adequate medical care and fair access to employment. Because of the pervasive discrimination such groups faced, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was created. It functions, in part, to eliminate employment discrimination. The year after the act passed, President Lyndon Johnson issued Executive Order 11246, which mandated that federal contractors practice affirmative action to develop diversity in the workplace and end race-based discrimination, among other sorts. By the late 1960s, educational institutions were using affirmative action to diversify the nations colleges. How Deep Are Intra-Racial Divides? Thanks to affirmative action, college campuses have grown more diverse over the years. But is affirmative action reaching the most vulnerable segments of underrepresented groups? Take Harvard, for example. In recent years, the institution has come under fire because such a large number of black students on campus are either immigrants or immigrants children. Its estimated that two-thirds of students there come from families which hail from the Caribbean or Africa, the New York Times reported. Therefore, blacks who have resided in the country for generations, the ones who endured slavery, segregation, and other barriers, arent reaping the benefits of affirmative action en masse. Harvard isnt the only elite institution to see this trend play out.  A study published in the Sociology of Education found that selective colleges enroll just 2.4 percent of native black high school graduates but 9.2 percent of immigrant blacks. And a study published in The American Journal of Education found that 27 percent of black students at selective colleges are first- or second-generation immigrants. However, this group makes up only 13 percent of all black people between the ages of 18 and 19 in the United States, leaving little doubt that immigrant blacks are over-represented in elite academic institutions. A large number of Asian Americans are first- or second-generation immigrants, of course. But even in this population, divides exist among native and foreign-born individuals. According to the census 2007 American Community Survey, just 15 percent of Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders have bachelors degrees, and just 4 percent have graduate degrees. Meanwhile, 50 percent of Asian Americans overall have bachelors degrees and 20 percent have graduate degrees. While Asian Americans generally are highly educated and well represented on the nations college campuses, clearly the indigenous segment of this population is being left behind. Whats the Solution? Colleges seeking multicultural student bodies must treat African Americans and Asian Americans as diverse groups and not as homogeneous entities. Achieving this requires taking into account an applicants specific ethnic background when considering students for admission.

My Internship At Waddell Mariculture Center - 1485 Words

For my internship, I decided to work at Waddell Mariculture Center in Bluffton. It is part of the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources and is one of the largest and most sophisticated facilities for mariculture studies. I was able to experiment and learn about many interesting facets of aquaculture over the 10 hours of working there. At this particular facility, they grow and research all kinds of aquatic species of fish and shrimp. Waddell was built during the years of 1983 and 1984. For the past 30 years Waddell has worked with a variety of different species of fish including Red Drum, Cobia, Black Drum, Spotted Sea Trout, and many more species. I chose to do my internship for a couple of reasons one reason was that my dad†¦show more content†¦Brine Shrimp start out at something called cysts which you can buy all over the world and it takes only one night in water for them to hatch into the Brine Shrimp. At a maximum length, Brine Shrimp only get up to a little o ver 1 centimeter which is perfect size for fish around 10 centimeters. I thought that growing the Brine Shrimp was one of the most interesting things that I did while I was there. Another thing that we did that was really cool was sample some Spotted Sea Trout that were about 2 weeks old. We got samples of fish to look at how much they they were eating. We also took their length and weight to see how much they had grown over 2 weeks and to make sure they were growing at the right pace. We took a net and walked through one corner of the pond and got about 20 samples and put the fish in a cup and took them into the lab. When we got into the lab, I had the sheet and recorded down the weight and length when he told me each one. We then compared it to the average weight, length and weight of 2 week old Sea Trout. Surprisingly they were over average which was not expected because it had been overcast and rainy the past week and that usually makes the fish not want to eat as much. We thou ght they would be under average. One thing that was really remarkable about looking at the fish was that you could actually tell if they were eating or

A Comparison of Protagonists in Flannery OConners A...

A comparison of protagonists in Flannery OConners A Good Man Is Hard To Find and Greenleaf In both his works of fiction, â€Å"A Good Man Is Hard To Find† and â€Å"Greenleaf†, Flannery OConner paints a rather grim picture. The protagonists in both the short stories share several common traits. In the story, â€Å"A Good Man Is Hard To Find†, the Grandmother, who remains unnamed throughout, is a vile woman, who is also selfish and a complete hypocrite. Yet, she continues to judge other people for what she perceives to be their shortcomings. She is a woman who has seen hardships, and just the fact that she got through them, makes her feel morally superior to others. She feels she is a lady which makes her better than the rest. She lacks the†¦show more content†¦As her last dying words, she admits to the Misfit that he was like one of her own children, finally showing the ability to feel compassion. Her last moment alive is also her moment of truth, one where she realizes who she is and understands others. This crucial moment of her life is imme diately followed by her tragic death. In Greenleaf, the author directs a similar protagonist. The protagonist, an elderly lady in this one too, is Mrs. May – the proprietor of a farm. She is a conceited woman who believes that her farm is profitable and sustaining only because of her efforts, discarding the efforts put in by the rest of the family and the farm help. Her rise from penury to the success of her farm makes her oblivious to the fact that she had help. Instead, she sees this as an opportunity to put on airs and tell the world of her prowess in business. She brags about herself being penniless and inexperienced when she first came about the rundown farm, and takes great pride in the fact that the farm is now successful. She not only forgets the contribution of the farm help, but blames them of being against her. She even goes on to the extent of blaming the elements of being against her. So engrossed is she in her own success that she forgets that it is only the el ements of nature that allow the farm to be successful. She also forget the help of Mr. Greenleaf,

Digital and Direct Marketing Plan Samples †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Digital and Direct Marketing Plan. Answer: Introduction This is a report, which will portray thedigital and direct marketing plan for the organization named Zambrero. This report will include the situational analysis that consist of the macro environment analysis and the microenvironment analysis. This will include the pestle analysis in the macro analysis and the internal analysis will include SWOT analysis. The objectives of the organization will be discussed in brief to identify the necessary actions that have to be taken based on the needs of Zambrero. The strategy will be developed based on these objectives and will include thedigital and direct marketing plan of the organization. The report will conclude with the actions and tactics that have to be applied in order to achieve the strategy that has been developed. Zambrero is a chain of restaurants in Australia who serves Mexican food to its consumers. The chain of restaurants started in the year of the 2005 in Braddon and then it expanded nationally and internationally (Zambrero 201 7). The organization consists of 110 outlets all over the world and is one of the leading fast franchises in the world. The organization is involved in many social activities and is aimed at reducing global hunger. Dr Sam Prince is the owner of this chain of restaurants and the chain is available in 145 locations all over the world. Situation analysis The situation analysis will analyze the macro environment and the internal environment of the fast food chain industry to identify the present opportunities, the external and the internal threats the organization will be facing. Macro environment Political The Australian government has recognized the fast food industry as one of the sub sectors of the consumer industry, which is highly competitive in nature. The political environment of the country is stable and this is the sole reason for the rapid growth in the economy of the organization. Various analysts predicted that the fast food industry would contribute 32 % of the total value provided by the consumer service by the end of 2017. The legal system of the country is transparent and this has helped in the reduction of the corruption especially in the service sectors. The government of the country has made efforts to ensure that there is no unbiased in the practices in the industry. The government wants to protect the national economy and in order t do so they are promoting competitive pricing and restraining the unnecessary increase in the price (Hollensen 2015). Moreover, the government are holding the organizations responsible for the pricing policies they have been exercising. The government has facilitated the foreign direct investment so that the growth of the economy is boosted. The government authorities have implemented policies, which will eliminate illegal financing and money laundering in the industry. The taxation of the country is liberal which has grabbed the attention of many foreign investors in the market. Thus, the political environment of Australia is appropriate for the development of Zambrero and they can easily capitalize on this opportunities in the market. Economic There has been rapid growth in the economy of Australia and the gross domestic product of the country has been increasing by almost 2.8% until the global financial crisis. However, the country has been able to recover and is one of the fastest growing economies. Australia has made efforts to digitalize the economy by increasing the direct private investment and the consumption expenditure. The food industry has been one of the major contributors for the development of the economy of Australia. However, even though the economy of the country has been able to recover, the risk of inflation is still eminent in the market. The food service industry is one of the promising sectors in the market, which has the potential of growing at a fast rate. The popularity of the fast food industry is still very prominent as it is one of the aspects of the Australian culture (Pike and Page 2014). Various surveys show that the Australian population is visiting the economy very frequently. The disposabl e income of the population is high and it is one of the major reasons for the growth of the fast food chains. Social The population of the country consists of the diverse cultures and can be considered a cosmopolitan population. The variation in the environment and the immigrant culture has significantly influence the lifestyle of the people as they belong to different cultural background and have difference in their lifestyles. The dominant language in the country is English but still can be considered multi linguistic. The majority of the population of the country is of age 55 or higher; this is one of the concerns for the country as it is difficult to maintain the sustainability of the economy in the future. This composition will increase the dependency of the population on aids from the government. The majority of the population who visits these fast chains are between the ages of 14-29 and comprises 86% of the population (Malhotra and Malhotra 2012). Various surveys have shown that the population in the country is one of the major spenders on the fast food consumer market. However, the obesity level of the people is high and this has given rise to various campaigns regarding the food habits of the people. Thus, the population have become aware of the health issues and willing to pay for healthy food products. This has lead the people to go for healthier options and the population is expecting a balanced diet. Thus, Zambrero will have to provide the consumers in the market with some healthier options. The population of the country searching for healthier option in the market so Zambrero will have to make sure that they are able to cater to this segment. Technological Globalization has led to the technological advancements and provided the organization with many opportunities. This has facilitated the reduction in the cost and high quality connectivity in both national and international market. Australian government have increased the investment in technologies and it has made the nation as one of the most connected in all over the world. Information technology is the major contributor of technological innovation and growth in the economy. Technology is one of the major factor for providing the consumers with a experience that is satisfactory (Solomon 2014). The trends suggest that the majority of the companies in the market will be making use this technological advancement to provide the consumers with a better consumer experience. Ecommerce is one of the booming industry in Australia so Zambrero can utilize this opportunities to use online media to increase their consumer base. This will definitely help in the increase in the growth of the sales of the organization, as the penetration of the online media is more than the conventional form of media. Legal The legal environment has a great impact on the business environment of the organizations in the market. The organization will have o alter their operations from time to time due to the change in the legal rules and regulations in the business environment. However, the Australian legal rules and regulations are liberal and this provides the organizations in the industry to capitalize on the situation in the market. The rules and the regulations for the direct investors in the market are liberal which means that it will facilitate in the growth of the economy (Chaffey, Smith and Smith 2013). Although the business rules and regulations are liberal, the food industry has some strict guideline, which they have to abide by. The legal system of the country is well knitted so that it could protect the organizations from any illegal activities. Environmental The government of Australia are the leaders in maintaining the sustainability of the environment. The government is focused on protecting the rare species of flora and fauna in the country. The government has promoted business which is friendly to he environment and the laws regarding the environment quite strict and can be penalised. These have protected the biodiversity in the continent of Australia (Galizzi and Venturini 2012). Thus, from the pestle analysis of the food industry in Australia suggests that it is a growing market and Zambrero has the opportunity of expanding their business by increasing the number of the consumers. The use of online media and digital market is in trend, which means that the organization can use digital and direct marketing to penetrate further into the market. Internal environment SWOT analysis Strength Weakness Provides high quality of food and services Affordable pricing Fast delivery Corporate social responsibility Good brand image Diversity in the products offered is less Conventional method of marketing Technological development Opportunity Threat Industry growing at a rapid rate High disposable income of the people Technological development Digital and direct marketing High competition in the market segment Market entry barriers are low Population becoming more health conscious Table 1 (Source: created by author) Objective setting The objectives of the organization are as follows: Increasing the digital marketing presence by engaging with the customers Target market for the organization are the consumers varying from the age between 16-38 Highlighting the benefits of having healthy food with an appropriate balance in the diet Highlighting the social conscious Strategy development Segmentation, target consumers and positioning Australian market is highly diverse and have a high disposable income, the organization is choosing the consumer based on their demographics, behaviour and geographic location. The Australian people have a culture of eating outside and recently they have the become aware of the health issues. Thus, a large number of population wants to have healthy food where there is balance diet. However, there are consumers between the age of 14-38 have the maximum affinity for fast food and restaurants (Rothaermel2015). However, based on behaviour it is evident that the majority of the population are outgoing and have the tendency of spending money on eating outside where their food is tasty and healthy. The psychographic segmentation also suggests that the majority of the consumers in the market prefer Mexican food as it is spicy and is different from what the other competitors in the market are serving. Thus, the target consumers for the organizations are the population which is between the age of 14-38. This is because of the fact that from the segmentation of the market it has been identified that the majority of the consumers are from this age group. The cultural diversity of the country is high so it makes easier to cater to the younger generation as they are ready to try something new. The population who are above the age of 40 do not like to experiment which means that it is tough to change the food habits of people who are quite aged. It will be easier to convince the chosen market as they are open to change and wants to try something new that is of good quality (Keegan and Green 2015). Zambrero serves only Mexican food to its consumers and so the organization has positioned the product as healthy, tasty and good quality. The target segment of Zambrero is niche so the organization will have to use their unique selling proposition to convey their message through the conventional and the digital media so that they can further penetrate into the market. The organization has provided free food to the people in need and have been involved in a lot of corporate social responsibility activities. Thus, Zambrero will have to host events so that they are able to convey their positioning to the consumers and their families. Marketing mix There are two types of products in the marketing mix, one is the marketing mix of a product and other is the marketing mix of service. The marketing mix of Zambrero will consist of the four ps of marketing which includes the pricing, promotion, product and place. Product The marketing mix of the product will include the quality that is being offered by Zambrero. The product offered here is different from the other competitors in the market and that is the unique selling proposition. The organization is trying to provide best quality food at affordable which consist of a balanced diet. The organization focuses on take aways more than the other services so this can provide Zambrero with competitive advantage in the market (Gordon 2012). Pricing The products are available at affordable as majority of the consumers vary from the age 14-38. The pricing strategy of the organization is trying to promote that the good quality of food at a price which can be afforded by a variety of consumers (Rettie, Burchell and Riley 2012). Zambrero also provides discounts on a regular basis which is able to attract the majority of the target consumers. Place The location of the restaurant has to be in the prime location so it can grab the attention of the majority of the consumers. Zambrero consist of chain of restaurants os each of the location will have to be apt for the successful business of the organization (Gbadamosi 2013). Promotion The organization will have to use both conventional and the online marketing media so that they are able to reach maximum number of consumers at an affordable price. This will consist of direct and digital marketing so that the organization can gain competitive advantage on its competitors in the market (Huang and Sarigll 2014). Tactics The promotional strategy of the organization will include the direct marketing and digital marketing. This is because of the fact that technological advancement and the online media is necessary for sustainability of most of the companies in this industry. The promotion al strategies that should be used by the organization are as follows: Direct mail marketing is one of the essential needs for the restaurant industry as it helps to acquire more consumers through direct mail. This will include the special offers and coupons which will help to attract the consumers who belong the higher age group. It will also include the link of the website and the mobile that can be used to order food. The cost of this type of promotion is less and can be more effective for some segments of the consumers (Armstrong et al. 2015). Call campaigns is effective if the organization is willing to provide catering services to the other businesses. This will help to capture the local market and build a reputation which will facilitate in gain more business. Billboard advertising is quite expensive and has to be used in an effective way. The billboards will have to be placed in premium location such as airports and city centres so that it grabs the attention of the majority of the population. However, it is difficult to calculate the return on investment on this investment so it essential to track the responses so that the positive impact can be identified (Chikweche and Fletcher 2012). Search engine optimization is one of the most effective way of promoting the restaurant. Zambrero will have to hire SEO experts which is quite inexpensive when compared to the other forms of media. However, social media interaction and website are the best form of SEO that an organization can use in this age of the social media (O'Sullivan and Abela 2013). Local Search optimization is one of the ways in which local media can be used by registering into local directories so that the organization can capture the local market (Lee and Carter 2012). Email marketing is a way of keeping in touch with the present consumers and at the same time has the potential of acquire new consumers in a cost-effective manner. Social media marketing is one of the most influential media which can gain maximum number of consumers and it provides Zambrero with the opportunity of interacting with the consumers in the same platform. Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are the social media and micro blogging websites, which can provide the organization with competitive advantage (Wilson and Gilligan 2012). Mobile marketing is more effective than direct mailing and emails as people are more on their phones and this can produce better results at similar cost. Actions According to the situation of the organization, it can be said that Zambrero has to use digital marketing if they want to sustain in the industry. Digital marketing is cheap and easier to implement so it has to be used for acquiring more consumers in the market. Social media marketing and search engine optimization are the most essential methods that have to be incorporated in to the business model of the organization (Hutt and Speh 2012). This will facilitate the organization to interact with people on the same platform and improve the quality of performance offered by the organization. Controls The monitoring of the strategy is important, as it will help to identify the deviation from the actual strategy. The strategies that have been applied are expensive so return on investment of each method will have to be indentified in order to make sure that there is positive impact on the strategy of the organization. Control will include the evaluation, measurement and monitoring of the processes (Baker 2014). The standards have to be set in order to compare with the actual with the expected to calculate the deviation from the original value. There are various ways of analyzing the control factors such as market share analysis, sales analysis, market information system, market research and performance of the promotional activities. Actionable recommendations It is recommended that the organization should make use of their unique selling proposition to capture the market. Social media marketing and mobile marketing are two of the most cost effective ways of creating more consumer base. Zambrero will have to monitor the plan of action in order to indentify the loopholes so that the marketing plan can be further improved. Conclusion Thus, the conclusion that can be drawn from the report is that Zambrero has a good reputation in the market so it essential that the organization uses this asset to get involved in more corporate social responsibility activities. The marketing environment of the organization is feasible and is appropriate for investment so the organization will have to capitalize on the situation to gain competitive advantage in the market. References Armstrong, G., Kotler, P., Harker, M. and Brennan, R., 2015. Marketing: an introduction. Pearson Education. Baker, M.J., 2014. Marketing strategy and management. Palgrave Macmillan. Chaffey, D., Smith, P.R. and Smith, P.R., 2013. eMarketing eXcellence: Planning and optimizing your digital marketing. Routledge. Chikweche, T. and Fletcher, R., 2012. Revisiting the marketing mix at the bottom of pyramid (BOP): from theoretical considerations to practical realities. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 29(7), pp.507-520. Galizzi, G. and Venturini, L. eds., 2012. Economics of innovation: the case of food industry. Springer Science Business Media. Gbadamosi, A., 2013. Principles of marketing: A value-based approach. Palgrave Macmillan. Gordon, R., 2012. Re-thinking and re-tooling the social marketing mix. Australasian Marketing Journal (AMJ), 20(2), pp.122-126. Hollensen, S., 2015. Marketing management: A relationship approach. Pearson Education. Terpstra, V., Foley, J. and Sarathy, R., 2012. International marketing. Naper Press. Pike, S. and Page, S.J., 2014. Destination Marketing Organizations and destination marketing: A narrative analysis of the literature. Tourism management, 41, pp.202-227. Huang, R. and Sarigll, E., 2014. How brand awareness relates to market outcome, brand equity, and the marketing mix. In Fashion Branding and Consumer Behaviors (pp. 113-132). Springer New York. Hutt, M.D. and Speh, T.W., 2012. Business marketing management: B2B. Cengage Learning. Keegan, W.J. and Green, M.C., 2015. Global marketing. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. Lee, K. and Carter, S., 2012. Global marketing management. Oxford University Press. Malhotra, N.K. and Malhotra, N.K., 2012. Basic marketing research: Integration of social media. Boston: Pearson. O'Sullivan, D. and Abela, A.V., 2013, May. Marketing performance measurement ability and firm performance. American Marketing Association. Rettie, R., Burchell, K. and Riley, D., 2012. Normalising green behaviours: A new approach to sustainability marketing. Journal of Marketing Management, 28(3-4), pp.420-444. Rothaermel, F.T., 2015. Strategic management. McGraw-Hill Education. Solomon, M.R., 2014. Consumer behavior: Buying, having, and being (Vol. 10). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Wilson, R.M. and Gilligan, C., 2012. Strategic marketing management. Routledge. Zambrero 2017. Zambrero. [online] Zambrero.com.au. Available at: https://zambrero.com.au/ [Accessed 12 Oct. 2017].