A Small Group Report of a Market Investigation Essay

A Small Group Report of a Market Investigation - Essay Example The investigation will thus aim at determining the factors that have led to rapid expansion of smartphone industry in Australia. Additionally, the investigating the smartphone market in Australia is crucial in establishing the branding, product offering, and effects of increased smartphone usage on the growth of the mobile industry. By establishing the smartphone market situation, it is possible to come up with, marketing strategies that can help in increasing the growth of the market (Witter, 2011, Web; TechSci Research, 2012, Web). Investigation of the smartphone market in Australia should aim at determining the production concepts, aspects regarding the smartphones features, the marketing strategies, and factors affecting the market. Production concepts worth investigating include the methodologies used in manufacture and the length of period that smartphones have been in production and how they differ from other phones. On marketing, aspects such as selling methods, holistic marketing strategies, and the needs of customers are worth exploring. Focusing on the above aspects is important since they can help determine the status on smartphone market in Australia and predict the future of the Smartphone App development (IBISWorld, 2012, Web). Smartphones are increasingly becoming popular in Australia where they are replacing feature pones such as Nokia. A large percentage of mobile users in Australia are turning to smartphones due to its multiple useful applications. Smartphone App Developer’s industry in Australia is expected to continue growing rapidly in next decade. The rapid growth of Smartphone App development industry is due to the great demand for smartphones in Australia, which has resulted in increased allocation of resources to expand the technology hence quality of smartphones. Additionally it is important to consider the demand for the different types of

Assignment (Microeconomics) Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 3

(Microeconomics) - Assignment Example It also assists government to take advantages of expenses associated with clerical works. Moreover, government can effectively avert unhealthy market competitions. 3. Utilities such as water, gas, and electricity are some of the examples of natural monopolies. Government must set price ceilings in national monopoly markets since products and services under this category are necessities that people may buy at any higher prices. 4. In both the cases, profit must be zero in long run equilibrium. Firms are affected by changes in demand conditions under both cases. A major similarity between monopolistic competition and perfect competition is that competition in pursuit of profit encourages efficient resource movements. 5. In the case of a monopolistically competitive firm, demand will increase and average cost will increase in the long run. Under such circumstance, monopolistically competitive firms end up making zero economic profits. 6. A monopolistically competitive firm chooses the level of output where marginal cost equals marginal revenue. The firm maximizes its profits so as to achieve this situation; and it is called short run equilibrium of the firm. This condition adds to the price fixation flexibility of the firm. Moreover, it enables the firm to rapidly adjust with unexpected market fluctuations. b. Availability of different varieties of breakfast cereals gives an opportunity for consumers to distinguish them on the ground of their quality and price. It also gives consumers chance to buy their most preferred

The Shooting An Elephant

The Shooting An Elephant The narrator, the autobiographical author, at once faces reality the most but also acts as a puppet within the script that is his life. He sees the manipulation of each side of the native people and the conquerors of Burma, himself being a police officer, someone who should be clear cut right and wrong and the law and yet the murkiness of what is the real truth. The largest irony being the elephant in the room being that he sees he should not kill the elephant and yet feels has to and vacillates in his logic to this conclusion and even once a decision made can see the several interpretations of what is the truth and yet he knows the truth and the truth is that the native people used the eiron, the elephant, to manipulate him to kill the elephant which was really based on him not wanting them to laugh at him or humiliation. He deceives himself into believing this when at any time he could take control of the situation. The townspeople believe they are manipulating the narrator but the narrators sees that he is being manipulated and yet allows it to happen anyway being carried away with mob rule. The townspeople feel a lack of control of their own destiny similar to the fate of the elephant and yet also feed upon the elephant which is the British control in a enabling situation for all. But is it not really the police officer who manipulates them by asking for elephant rifle knowing that they will assume he wishes to shoot the elephant. So the police officer narrator has created his own conflict by lack of control of a situation because he feels he has no control. The audience I assume to be the reader and the reader is fooled to think this is a story merely about an incident of a wild elephant yet foreshadowing of the narrator leads to believe is a story about the fall of the British Empire yet is really the fall of an individual and his beliefs about the greater good and lack of control of his own life. The death of the elephant is brought on by even the audience of the reader as once the elephant falls his suffering is unbearable and instead of wishing a recovery for the elephant even the audience wishes a more peaceful death. The story is about the individual and yet still about the whole of the circumstances of British rule but also really about us all as audience. Audience assumes an outside witness, an outside entity that has no control, just as the native townspeople feel they have no control, and just as the British rulers with the police officer representing that in this story feels he also has no control. So are we all audience? To make any decision even no decision is a decision and the feeling of lack of control or will seems the overriding feeling of all involved in the story, yet the purpose of the story is to instigate change and to right wrongs, yet why was a wrong done at all. The audience is helpless but only helpless because of being an audience instead of a participant. I believe that to be the real theme of the story. Overcoming a sense of helplessness while following what is believed a preset of ideas and codes of conduct and seeing that no decision is a decision. Things do not merely happen on their own. We are all players in the play that is our life and that of all people. The greatest irony of Orwells Shooting an Elephant is that the many have no control or that there is control. It is the collapse of truth, a collapse of justification, and a self examination of motivation that will overcome the irony of the entire sad sad situation. Central to Orwells short story is the elephant in the room, so large, so unspoken, yet still there no matter what happens. In Shooting an Elephant Orwell brilliantly writes a story rich in irony and symbolism like a crystal or kernel of information sparkling with many facets depending on the viewpoint of who is looking at it. To the narrator, the autobiographical George Orwell as is obvious from the beginning, the elephant symbolizes the British Empire and right in paragraph two he foreshadows with stuck between hatred of empire served and rage against evil spirited little beasts who tried to make my job impossible which identifies the inner rage and conflicting ideas within the thoughts of the narrator made physical by the elephant. The elephant represents his feelings towards the British Empire, toward the feeling that he is merely a puppet. So at an individual level of feelings of doing what is expected of him to save face always and a greater level as a part of the machine that a s a whole is the British Empire. As the narrator approaches the elephant his feelings vacillates between feeling he should not shoot the elephant and that he has to shoot the elephant and is really shown by the weather of the day for weather is always symbolic in a story. The muddy land that takes over and the cloud, stuffy morning at the beginning of the rains which also symbolizes the elephant apparently content and silent eating the grasses yet caught in the mud beneath his feet. The narrator believing he does not need to kill the elephant and the mud making his choice or blaming his choice on the mud and the will of the mob. It is as if stepping in mud where you step to go forward and are pulled in as if by no choice and you break free as you step forward and yet are drawn right back into the mud. It is the mud that is the narrators reason for not going closer to elephant and testing its temperament. It is the mud that the native townsperson sunk into a hole of mud. As the time to shoot the elephant and just after the narrator shoots the elephant the parallel of the symbol of the elephant to the British Empire becomes more apparent and more direct after several change in logic patterns of no he does not have to kill the elephant and yes he does have to kill the elephant. In paragraph Orwell writes, And it was at this moment, as I stood there with the rifle in my hands, that I first grasped the hollowness, the guilty of the white mans dominion in the East. Here was I, the white man with his gun, standing in front of the unarmed native crowd seemingly the leading actor of the piece; but in reality I was only an absurd puppet pushed to and fro by the will of those yellow faces behind. I perceived in this moment that when the white man turns tyrant it is his own freedom that he destroys. He becomes a sort of hollow, posing dummy, the conventionalized figure of a sahib. For it is the condition of his rule that he shall spend his life in trying to impress the natives, and so in every crisis he has got to do what the natives expect of him. He wears a mask, and his face grows to fit it. I had got to shoot the elephant. To the townspeople the elephant also symbolizes the British Empire but in an immediate way it symbolizes their hunger and the elephant was food but also a symbol of their hunger to have freedom, freedom that the elephant in the room symbolized the British Empire. The attitudes of accepting what is seems prevalent of the townspeople in an ambivalence as to where the elephant went, where he was, and where he was going, and what he did, and yet, once the elephant rifle was sent for, a new sense of importance and destiny and change took over the townspeople as they followed the narrator and crowds grew to see the shooting of the elephant as seen in paragraph five: They had not shown much interest in the elephant when he was merely ravaging their homes, but it was different now that he was going to be shot. It was a bit of fun to them, as it would be to an English crowd; besides they wanted the meet. In paragraph 11 when the first shot is fired at the elephant, head the devilish roar of glee that went up from the crowd. In paragraph twelve it was obvious that the elephant would never rise again, but he was not dead. Yet the Burmans were already racing past the narrator across the mud to the elephant and in paragraph 13 it state Burmans were bringing dash and baskets even before I left, and I was told they had stripped his body almost to the bones by the afternoon. Showing the hunger of the people, the restlessness, the interest when the empire is toppled. So the immediate symbolism of the elephant to the people is food and hunger but the real symbolism is power and self determination and that makes the elephant the British Empire. Vivid imagery of all the senses paint a picture in the mind of the reader of George Orwells A Hanging in a way that appears effortless detailed description of what was perhaps a half hour of time filled with imagery that is symbolic in nature and analysis. The opening description of the morning layered with the imagery of the dog running around the yard and the puddle the prisoner had stepped around The first sentence of the story opens with a vivid picture of the morning, It was Burma, a sodden morning of the rains. A sickly light like yellow tin foil, was slanting over the high walls into the jail yard. This foreshadows sickly human condition of the second sentence, We were waiting outside the condemned cells, a row of sheds fronted with double bars, like small animal cages. And continuing on to give dimensions and sparse furnishing of plank bed and pot of drinking water of death row. The totality of the picture of degradation like a zoo with prisoners on display out in the open stripped down of their humanity and treated like animals. What appears interesting is that no one is given a name so it is a timeless tale of any man and anyones reaction. The only one given a name was Francis who is the head jailer whom the superintendent of the jail prodding gravel with a stick, the army doctor telling Francis that the prisoner ought to have been dead by this time and complain that not ready yet. Quite early in the story the dog appears and is throughout the story. The imagery of the dog so full of life and running around full of love and friendship, acceptance and noise runs around all the proceedings full of glee. It sees all humans and loves them and goes for the prisoner to lick his face. As a reader and as the narrator transfers feeling and emotion to the dog of living in that moment happy to be alive. But the dog runs futilely around during the execution symbolizing life and human connection. Only the dog appears to whimper and answer the call or chant of the prisoner in his last moments which the author describes not as a religious plea to the gods, not as a please help me, but simply as the tolling of a bell as if only the dog hears the bell and responds like Pavlovs dogs instinct and ritual have made the humans desensitized to the killings and only the dog can admit feelings. The dog is contained before the execution and when set free afterwards goes to the hung man to sniff him and is the somber shock stillness and whimpering of the shock and horror of killing another life full of life for what reason the dog knows not just as the reader and the narrator knows not. So we can not feel , so feelings are transferred upon the dog. An important imagery foreshadowed with the description of the morning of rains was the puddle. The puddle also seemed a transferring of mood of the entire story to self analysis of what am I really doing here and why from the narrator. The puddle yes is from the rain of the morning but perhaps a reflection of life, a puddle in the life of an ocean of a man, the waters of life, representing perhaps the shortness of a life so a puddle. The puddle is noticed because the condemned man steps around the puddle and the narrator sees that as such a truly human and alive moment but til that moment I had never realized what it means to destroy a healthy, conscious man. When I saw the prisoner step aside to avoid the puddle, I saw the mystery, the unspeakable wrongness, of cutting a life short when it is in full tide.(note again water imagery) So the rational act of thinking and living and analyzing to avoid the puddle stood for the struggling for freedom, a time to react and avoid something si mple, a conscious awareness of surroundings and the futility of it all. That in two minutes, with a sudden snap, one of us would be gone one mind less, one world less which seems a play on words one mind less mindless, one world less worthless/worldless so the mindless making of a worldless with one life less and no one is noticing. After the execution the dog sobered and conscious of having misbehaved itself, slipped after them. And the prisoners ate their breakfast like any other morning. And a Eurasian boy approaches the narrator stating do you know, sir, our friend, when he heard his appeal had been dismissed, he pissed on the floor of his cell. From fright. As an opening line to make people laugh followed by the statement take one of my cigarettes, sir, do you not admire my new silver case and states its price as if beauty and enjoyment of life can be sold. As if to reinforce the imagery in case the reader did not get the sickening return to normal and laugh at anothers grief and death, the only one with a name, Francis, the jailer, tells of horrific cases where the doctor was obliged to go beneath the gallows and pull the prisoners legs to ensure decease. Most disagreeable. Would not want to do any dirty work since it was noted that the executioner was actually another convict so again distancing themselves from the taking of the life of another human being and making it dehumanized. And again as if we did not get the dehumanizing nature of the environment laughing and whisky all within one hundred yards of the hung man A powerful letter in response to an age old excuse of give it time meaning never done in a way that answers each and every accusation of the white religious leaders of the south. The central idea seems to be that the time is NOW and in the words of Martin Luther King Jr., Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. And the belief that we are all one people caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. It is a letter of good and of good and justice for all to live as one with steps of non violence towards this stated clearly and honestly and statements backed up by historic leaders of faith and American presidents throughout history as well as going over the history of the suppression of people of African descent throughout the history of the United States and put with detailed empathy of how do you tell a small child she can not go to an amusement park or answer a small boy the quest ion of why do white people hate black people and the simple facts that as a black man travelling across the country denied a place to sleep, denied a place to drink, to eat and makes a very human picture of the realities of this discrimination and moral arguments of why this is wrong. Several religious leaders throughout time were quoted and several presidents reinforcing Kings statements that justice too long delayed is justice denied. And the truth that individuals may see the moral light and give up unjust posture but as Reinhold Niebuhr reminded us, groups are more immoral than individuals and the only way to fight injustice is with love and passive resistance. The condescending views of the middle of the roaders with shallow acceptance of people of good will is almost worse for their lukewarm acceptance only lacks conviction in a shallow way. Socrates search for truth and saying what was right and early Christians and Jews in their trials for truth and acceptance allies his work with those of early prophets. Martin Luther King Jr. tells of his own struggles within his own people as he struggles to be the peacemaker between though who have cowed down through centuries of abuse to a quiet acceptance that that is the way things are and the militant black power movement of Elijah Muhammads Muslim movement calling for violence and race wars and to show all his brown, yellow, black, red and white brothers that we are all one and what hurts one, hurts us all. His persuasive essay is flawlessly crafted and brilliant. The tone is precise, neither angry nor bitter nor demanding but simply factual, yet very firm and brilliantly written. It is shown that his patience, faith and love of all humankind will not be broken. No violence on the part of his movement which shows the violent nature of those whose hearts he is trying to change, to force to change to follow laws of the constitution and the supreme court guaranteeing equal rights for all and invariable rights to pursue life and happiness. His an swer to being called an extremist is Was Jesus an extremist? and quoted the bible of Jesus words Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, pray for them that despitefully use you. Showing how the persecution of those in his movement is like persecuting Christ. The hypocrisy and conformity of the religious leaders and people of the south is shown in black and white. The judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If the church of today does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authentic ring, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century Telling how the youth of the country are dishearten with disgust and disappointment of the church But even if the church does not come to the aid of justice, I have no despair about the future. We will reach the goal of freedom in Birmingham and all over the nation, because the goal of America is freedom. Abused and scorned tho ugh we may be, our destiny is tied up with the destiny of America. The decisive hour is now for the Church to be truly Godly or to live in hollowness. Martin Luther King Jr. even answers the praise of the peaceful nature of the Birmingham police and detailed listings of brutalities and anything but peaceful but notes that publicly when there are others they go through the appearances of appearing peaceful. The use of language easily understood by the simplest man makes his arguments easy to follow., The structure of the letter addressing one by one the points of the letter of religious white southern leaders makes it easy for them to follow each of his answers to their premises. The style of writing is that of an enlightened and deeply religious and loving man who desires to leave in peace with all his brothers as one. The tone is very professional and factual, trying not to be inflammatory or exaggerated but simply the truth with moments of windows into the despair and injustices his people have faced for centuries. His statements that those in power never want to give up power willingly that it is up to the oppressed to show the inequalities that exist and demand to be treated with justice and dignity. The human quality of emotion backing in faith and history and morality all played a role in determining that the time is now, that waiting for the right time is never. Kings control of rhetoric and emotion is that of a master deeply intellectual and deeply right making it quite easy to follow his premises. King persuasive at all times even when appearing to merely state the facts. He is a master at the craft of the persuasive essay by bringing the reader to the conclusions himself of what King wants the reader to see. King is scientific by sticking to the facts like a lawyer setting precedent throughout the sands of time about similar injustices of a people. It was inspiring and powerful and left the reader feeling that they would be a complete idiot not to agree with King. The three texts of Orwells Shooting an Elephant and The Hanging along with Martin Luther King Jr.s Letter from Birmingham Jail are three powerful and disturbing pieces of literature documenting the injustice, the pain and the conflicting emotions of a time of civil unrest and change. Orwell appears to write essays that may be taking as fiction but really are autobiographical. King of course is not making any metaphors except to explain his cause in a simple direct and persuasive essay way. The fight is his own and he is an active participant in the fight. Orwell is more of an outsider, an audience, someone who is in the drama but feels no control beyond observations but feels drawn to speak of injustice. So both authors are trying to write to right a wrong, King being far more clear in what he wants and how he sees the world tracing it back throughout time in the history of religion and the history of the United States and great evils and injustices overcome throughout time. He is de finitely a man of action and leadership fearless, clear headed and in complete control of his emotions and his logic in his judgement and in his quest for what is right. He is definitely a black and white argument and one can clearly see the great wrong being enacted in society in that time and place. Orwell is far more grey and overlapping viewpoints and agendas that in reality is what life is a series of grey that is not always so clear until looked back at. He also seems driven to write about the wrongs he witnesses in society but also writes in a more literary way of literature that sometimes is unclear whether based on historical fiction or true autobiographical writing of events. I believe they were based on experiences he lived through and the guilt he felt of these incidents, the part he played in an injustice, the guilt he felt of not being strong enough to stand sure and say what he meant either by the mass mentality of the crowd and what he felt they wanted to avoid humiliation or laughter or just to have that moment of being powerful and important in the case of Shooting an Elephant. The Hanging was more of a true dispair of seeing an equally as docile small man hung as he was of the peacefully eating grass elephant he shot that had a long and labored death of sufferi ng. In Shooting an Elephant he was the authority in charge and he could have changed the destiny of that helpless animal and felt great guilt at doing what he had done. In The Hanging there was nothing he could have done except question the way things were and why. He did not have information on why the small peaceful man should be hung but he did have observations of the nature of life and the clinging to life and a life ripped out and cut short right in the prime of life and did any man have that right to do that to another man. All three essays are civil injustices of oppressed people of a people with a master who were objectified and treated second best or unimportant and of a people not content to be served injustice any more. Orwell saw his part in their oppression and felt tremendous guilt and lack of control as a puppet on a string who does the will of the people and he even states how tyranny of the white man does nothing but lose freedom. The iron fist is so rigid it has no choice and the fear of a united uprising made those in power there to do the will of what the native people wanted to keep the peace. The guilt Orwell felt is clear and murky at the same time a conflicting of memory and remembered feelings of the time and the hindsight that maturity can give that you realize you did not really know things as clearly as you thought you did and the sadness that the dying elephant is the sadness of the dying British empire and the order and infrastructure was quite high with British control and now he can see perhaps they were not initially better off, but still he knew the people of Burma needed to be self determined, needed freedom. In The Hanging the issue is more of does anyone have the right to take the life of another, does anyone have the right to take the waters of life of a man and make him a puddle cut short his life in his prime and that argument could be applicable to many times and places. In this essay Orwell allows himself to question more clearly and to allow emotion which he transfers upon the dog in the essay as the dog is full of life and sees all people as people, prisoner and guard alike as men and perhaps what Orwell really wants is to have all men be equal and not be in place to judge another or pass the judgment of others for something he had no information about any wrong. Again a very grey argument but clearly more black and white than Shooting an Elephant

Migrant Workers in China Essay -- Chinese Migrant Workers

Chen Hong Xia is one of the 250 million migrants in China’s growing economy. These migrant workers are the people who support China’s whole economy, without them China will not be where it is now. Although they are crucial in China’s growth, migrant workers are treated with disrespect. Chen Hong Xia is one of the ‘luckier’ migrant workers. She was able to work her way out of poverty into a better future. There are many similarities between Chen Hong Xia and most migrants in China, but there are also many differences. These include their expectations, working environment, living environment and children. Like many of the migrant workers in China, Chen Hong Xia wanted a better future in the city and find a job with good working conditions and high wages. Chen Hong Xia comes from a small town in Shandong province, she grew up on a farm producing rice and corn. Although there were many job opportunities in Shan Dong province, all the jobs were agricultural jobs that offered low pay and required lots of physical activity. In the movie Last Train Home directed by Lixin Fan, Qin left Sichuan Province and went to Dong Guan city because she wanted more money and be able to pursue her dreams. Many of China’s younger generation of migrant workers are abandoning agricultural production and moving permanently to the city. (Zhou Jing, China’s New Generation Of Migrant Workers) They are refusing to work under hard conditions. Unlike the previous generation they never experienced the â€Å"bitterness of life†. In the past migrant workers were thankful to just have food, todayâ €™s migrants start being picky, expecting high salary, less physical jobs, basic benefits and better working conditions. (Michelle Loyalka, Chinese Labor, Cheap No More) Zhou Ji... .... 2014. Chang, Leslie T. "US Misses Full Truth On China Factory Workers." CNN.com. Cable News Network, 1 Oct. 2012. Web. 15 Mar. 2014. Connor, Neil. "Beijing's 'Rat Tribe' Scurry From High Costs Underground." Yahoo.com. Yahoo.com, 21 Jan. 2014. Web. 15 Mar. 2014. Fan, Lixin, dir. Last Train Home. EyeSteelFilm, 2009. Film. Gapper, John. "China's Migrant Workers Expect More." Ft.com. Financial Times, 7 Sept. 2011. Web. 15 Mar. 2014. Grindley, Sally. Spilled Water. New York: Bloomsbury, 2004. Print. Hays, Jeffery. "Migrant Workers in China." Factsanddetails.com. Factsanddetails.com, Mar. 2012. Web. 15 Mar. 2014 Jing, Zhou. "China's New Generation of Migrant Workers." China.org.cn. China.org.cn, 26 Oct. 2009. Web. 15 Mar. 2014. Loyalka, Michelle D. "Chinese Labor, Cheap No More." Nytimes.com. The New York Times, 17 Feb. 2012. Web. 15 Mar. 2014.

Current Developments and Trends in Social

An Internship Report on: |†The Cash Management Process of ACI LIMITED† | Submitted By: |MD. NOOR-UDDIN | |ID NO-08091201027 | |MBA Intake – 14th | |Bangladesh University of Business & Technology (BUBT). | Submitted to: |prof. M. hakim | |program director, ( mba ) | |Bangladesh University of | |Business & Technology (BUBT). | Acknowledgement At first, offer my sincere gratitude and thanks to my internal supervisor of internship program, Prof. M. A Hakim, Program Director, (MBA) for giving me the necessary instructions, suggestions and guidelines for preparing this report.Next, I would like to convey my heartiest gratitude and greetings to my host organization supervisor Syed Hasrat Zafar, Sr. Executive in Finance department who provided me the guidance and support whenever necessary. During my internship and preparing this internship report I received a very much friendly and wholehearted cooperation attitude from all the staffs and members of ACI Limited. I would like to thank them for their cooperation that helped me to complete internship and prepare the report. Company Background ACI was established as the subsidiary of Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) in the then East Pakistan in 1968.After independence the company has been incorporated in Bangladesh on the 24th of January 1973 as ICI Bangladesh Manufacturers Limited and also as Public Limited Company. This Company also obtained listing with Dhaka Stock Exchange on 28 December, 1976 and its first trading of shares took place on 9 March, 1994. Later on 5 May, 1992, ICI plc divested 70% of its shareholding to local management. Subsequently the company was registered in the name of Advanced Chemical Industries Limited. Listing with Chittagong Stock Exchange was made on 22 October 1995.Advanced Chemical Industries (ACI) Limited is one of the leading conglomerates in Bangladesh, with a multinational heritage. ACI SRAMIK KARMACHARI UNION established on October, 1972. This union based on ACI Pharma Production. At present there worked 154 workers in factory and in head office & distribution there work 11 people. They treated as non-management staff. They have different salary structures, leave & benefit packages and other packages like provident fund, gratuity, ex-gratia and leave encasement Mission |ACI’s mission is to enrich the quality of life of people through responsible application of knowledge, skills and technology. |ACI is committed to the pursuit of excellence through world-class products, innovative processes and empowered employees to | |provide the highest level of satisfaction to its customers. | | Vision | |To realize the mission ACI will: | |Endeavor to attain a position of leadership in each category of its businesses. |Attain a high level of productivity in all its operations through effective and efficient use of resources, adoption of | |appropriate technology and alignment with our core competencies. | |Develop its employees by encouraging e mpowerment and rewarding innovation. | |Promote an environment for learning and personal growth of its employees. | |Provide products and services of high and consistent quality, ensuring value for money to its customers. | |Encourage and assist in the qualitative improvement of the services of its suppliers and distributors. |Establish harmonious relationship with the community and promote greater environmental responsibility within its sphere of | |influence. | |Values | |Quality: no compromise with the quality would be made. | |Customer Focus: customer satisfaction and requirements would be given the highest priority. | |Fairness: equal preference for all the respected clients. | |Transparency: no hidden agenda. | |Continuous Improvement: would always seek improvement. |Innovation: try to provide customers with innovative products and ideas. | Objectives of the Report The purpose of the study is to find out the effectiveness of Non Management agreement between ACI Limited & Trade Union by using different financial analysis techniques. Methodology Adopted to complete the Internship Report Research Methodology: In this study, exploratory research was undertaken to gain insights company procedures and practices. Then the gathered data was analyzed and compared with the accepted practices according to the standard accounting principles.Both the primary as well as the secondary form of information was used to prepare the report. The details of these sources are highlighted below: Primary Sources: †¢ Oral interview with various officers of the company. †¢ Accounting records- vouchers, journal, ledgers etc; both in electronic and paper †¢ Company manuals Secondary Sources: †¢ Various accounting related books and periodicals. †¢ Bangladesh Accounting Standard guide. †¢ Website information. Limitations to Prepare the Report †¢ Time frame for the research is limited.The adoption to the organization takes a lot of time. †¢ Detai led research was not possible due to constraints and restrictions posed by the organization. †¢ The report was written from an individual’s perception. So, all the findings might not be objective. †¢ Getting relevant papers and documents have been extremely difficult. †¢ To protect the organizational confidentiality, some parts of the report will be edited. †¢ Most examples have been provided with imaginary figures to keep with the organizational rules. The management seems to get woks out of the intern rather than helping in the academic pursuit. |3. Scope of the Project |19 | |4. Topic analysis and discussion |19 | |4. 1 Cash management |19 | |4. 2 Bank Reconciliation |22 |4. 3 Working Capital |26 | |4. 4 Petty Cash |28 | |4. 5 Overdraft |33 | |4. 6 Journal |35 | |4. Risk Management |37 | | | | |5. Findings & Analysis |44 | | | | |6.Recommendation |48 | | | | |7. Conclusion |50 | Bibliography * Accounting records- vouchers, journal, ledgers etc; bot h in electronic and paper. * Company manuals. * Web Site of ACI Limited, * Web pages of www. aci-bd. com.. * http://info. aci-bd. com/knowledgeshare. php

A Killer Marketing Plan Essay

If you are the founder of a new startup or an existing business it’s highly recommended that you develop a roadmap that will get you from where you are today to where you want to be tomorrow, six months from now, or a year or longer down the road. The roadmap is a guide to help you overcome roadblocks, prevent costly mistakes and eliminate time-consuming detours that can prevent you from attaining your goals, and reaching your ultimate destination. We typically refer to this roadmap as a marketing plan. A marketing plan should be a formal written document, not recalled from memory or something scribbled on a napkin. To take your business to the next level requires preparing a written marketing action plan. There are 12 recognized marketing planning models in use today. The Top 5 most popular marketing planning models include: * 7 P’s Marketing Matrix – The seven elements of the marketing mix: Product, Price, Place, Promotion, People, Process and Physical evidence , form the core tactical components (see below) of the marketing plan. * Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning – This three stage process involves analysing which distinct customer groups exist and which segment the product best suits before implementing the communications strategy tailored for the chosen target group. * SOSTAC ® – This acronym stands for Situation, Objectives, Strategy, Tactics, Actions and Control and is a very popular classic marketing planning framework for creating marketing plans. SOSTAC is more comprehensive and borrows elements of several of the other popular marketing planning models. * Ansoff’s Growth Strategy Matrix – Ansoff’s Growth Strategy Matrix identifies alternative growth strategies by looking at present and potential products in current and future markets. The four growth strategies include: market penetration, market development, product development and diversification. * Porter’s Five Forces – In a blog post dated November 21, 2011, I covered Michael E. Porter’s Five Forces marketing planning model. The Five Forces are Rivalry, Supplier Power, Threat of Substitutes, Buyer Power and Barriers to Entry and are used to analyse the industry context in which the organisation operates. Porter’s Five Forces are required reading in any graduate course on Marketing or Strategic Planning. For my money, the SOSTAC ® marketing planning model is the model I use the most when developing marketing plans. First, let’s begin by defining what SOSTAC is: What is SOSTAC ®? SOSTAC ® is a marketing planning model, originally developed in the 1990s to help with marketing planning by PR Smith, who together with Dave Chaffey co-authored Emarketing Excellence. SOSTAC ® stands for: * Situation – where are we now? * Objectives – where do we want to be? * Strategy – how do we get there? * Tactics – how exactly do we get there? * Action – what is our plan? * Control – did we get there? SOSTAC has been used to develop marketing plans for a broad range of industries. Here’s how SOSTAC is used to summarise the main issues to consider within a digital marketing strategy: You can see it gives a logical order for tackling your plan (with iterations) and a great way to summarise the main elements of each. Why is SOSTAC ® useful? SOSTAC ® has become very popular since it’s simple, easy to remember and covers all the main issues which you need in a marketing plan or business plan. Tips for using SOSTAC ®Ã‚  Here are some tips on how to use SOSTAC ® based on Chaffey’s experience applying the model in companies and in academia. 1. Use SOSTAC ® to review your process – Before looking at how you apply SOSTAC ® at each step to create a marketing plan, use it to review your planning process and how you manage your marketing. Ask yourself what you and your organisation are good at. Maybe you spend too much or too little time reviewing the situation. Perhaps you’re not so good at setting SMART objectives, or developing strategies to support them or the control stage of assessing how effective your strategies and tactics are and adjusting them? 2. Get the balance right across SOSTAC ® – Oftentimes, there is too much time spent on analysis within a plan and not enough on setting the strategies. So as a rule of  thumb, this is how your balance of content could look: Situation Analysis (20%), Objectives (5%), Strategy (45%) and Tactics (30%) = 100% 3. Summarise your Situation in a SWOT Analysis – To give focus to your situation analysis it is recommended that you utilize this form of SWOT analysis. This helps integrate SWOT with strategy. I also recommend that you read my blog post dated November 29, 2011 on how to prepare a SWOT analysis to plan for the future of your company. 4. Make your goals SMART and link them to your analytics/control process – Since digital marketing is so measurable, it makes sense to be specific as possible about your goals by developing a funnel conversion model. You should also setup specific goals in Google Analytics. But it’s worth thinking about the full range of goals indicated by the 5Ss. 5. Integrate the different elements of your SWOT Analysis – Oftentimes in a plan or report there isn’t good flow relating sections. To help this I recommend summarising your entire SOSTAC ® plan within a table. It’s important to note that a marketing plan can be for a product (the iPhone), a series of similar products (e.g. mobile devices) or an all-encompasing plan for a company. General Rules For Creating A Killer Marketing Plan There is no shortage of general rules for developing marketing plans, but if you want to create a killer marketing plan I have found that the following general rules work the best: * Stay focused – Don’t try to â€Å"boil the ocean† by going overboard or overstate the case with too many ideas, products or services. Know what your core business is going to be. Focus on one product or service at a time. * Where Are You Today – You must know where you are today in order to develop a roadmap to where you want to be in the future. * Keep Things Simple – Less is better. Avoid long sentences. Be brief. Avoid geeky tech terminology and acronyms. Use bullet points. Embellish with graphs, charts and images. * Be Realistic – Set realistic and measurable goals. Don’t try to conquer the world. Set goals that you can reasonably accomplish. * Know Your Strengths and Weaknesses – Take an inventory of your individual and management teams strengt hs and weaknesses. * Do Your Homework – Before you do anything do your research. Know your market, your ideal customers, market niches, your competitors, latest trends,  barriers-to-entry, methods of opeation, distribution channels, pricing models, and promotions and advertising methods used in the industry. The Key Steps To Develop A Killer Marketing Plan Using SOSTAC ® For large corporations it is not too unusual to see 100 page marketing plans. For a small startup, a marketing plan should be between 10-15 pages in length including graphs, charts and tables. The Apple iPhone launch marketing strategy provided above is a great example. Before you start preparing your marketing plan make sure that you have completed sufficient market research to determine if your idea, product or service is viable given all that you know about the marketplace you are entering. Situational Analysis – Where are we now? This is where you take inventory of where you are right now. I recommend that you conduct your market research before you prepare your marketing plan. The Situational Analysis should include the following: * Product or Service – Describe the product or service in simple terms. Describe the market need filled or problem your product or service solves. Identify the total value proposition your produce or service offers customers. * Market and Competition – Describe the type, size and geographic location of the market in which your product or service will compete, competitive landscape including the number of competitors, major competitors, direct competitors, market shares, market niches, stage of development and market trends. * Target Customers – Identify the individuals or organizations (â€Å"target market†) and customer segments you are targeting. In some cases, you may have more than one target market. Determine the following: * Who needs your product or service and why? * What is the profile of your ideal customer and what are their attributes? * How many potential customers are there? * How many different customer niches are there? * Is the target market or market niches underserved? * Describe your customers by their shared characteristics for individuals and organizations. * Individuals – Describe them by demographics: age, income, geographic location, and lifestyle. * Organizations – Describe them by number of employees, sales, geographic location,  and industry. * SWOT Analysis – Identify your competitive strengths and weaknesses, business opportunities and potential threats. Arrange your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats into a four-quadrant grid like the one below: The purpose of a SWOT Analysis is to help you build on your business’ strengths, minimize and correct the weaknesses, and take the greatest possible advantage of potential opportunities while formulating a plan to deal with potential threats. Think of a SWOT Analysis as a checkup for your business. Be honest with yourself, if you lack a strong marketing and sales team, list it as a weakness. I also recommend that you read my blog post datedNovember 29, 2011 on how to prepare a SWOT analysis to plan for the future of your company. * Management Team – List the key members of your present management team and very brief description of their business and industry experience and education. If you believe you will need to add key individuals to the management team list their position, title and duties. * Milestones Accomplished – Elaborate on significant milestones that have accomplished to date. Include major new customers, revenues, no of unique visitors, downloads, new patents, major personnel additions and awards. Objectives – Where do you want to be? * Goals and Objectives – Set realistic goals and objectives. Make sure your goals and objectives are measureable and achievable. Measure them against your own efforts and abilities, not your competitors. There are two types of goals and objectives: * Quantitative – Those with specific, measurable results and numbers. * Qualitative – Those that increase value, like improving image or visibility. Strategy – How do we get there? Your marketing strategies answer the big question: HOW do you get from where you are today to where you want to be tomorrow? Be creative and brainstorm with your team. Don’t think in terms of what other organizations or individuals have done, but how you are going to get it done. Your marketing strategies should include the following: * Core Marketing Message – Your core marketing message is a short description of your business, products and services, employees, core values, business philosophy, mission and value proposition you bring to the customer  relationship. Your core message should project what makes you unique and be conveyed in a manner that instantly connects with your ideal customers. * Define Your Brand – Your brand isn’t just your corporate identity like your logo, tag line, motto or its visual associations such as unique design, colors or packaging, but the relationship you have with your customers. Your brand’s value proposition in cludes everything you have promised your customers: quality products, great prices, better selection, great service, more locations, moneyback guarantee, free delivery, etc. * Positioning Statement – How you intend to position your company in the marketplace. Will you compete on the basis of differentiation (e.g. technology leader, quality, durability, broad selection, etc.), target a specific market niche (e.g. Affluent, professionals, SMB’s, management, etc) or compete on the basis of price (e.g. luxury, premium, medium, bargain or low price). Explain why you have chosen this particular market position. * Business Model – According to Peter Drucker, the late Harvard management guru, â€Å"A business model is nothing else than a representation of how an organization makes (or intends to make) money.† But, a business model is far more than this. Mark W. Johnson, the Harvard professor and author of â€Å"Seizing The White Space,† says that a business model consists of three components: 1) It identifies an important job a customer needs to get done and then proposing an offering that fulfills that job better than any alternative the customer can turn to–in short, the customer value proposition (CVP), 2) A pricing model and profit formula that shows quantitatively that you can make a profit delivering on the CVP, and 3) You can identify which company resources and which processes are essential to delivering the CVP. To develop your business model I highly recommend that you read my blog post dated November 5, 2011, January 26, 2012, and February 26, 2012. * Pricing Model – Describe the methodology you will use to set prices for your products and services. Prices should reflect competitive factors, economic conditions, nature of the market and how you intend to position yourself in the marketplace. Pricing should take into account fixed and variable costs associated with each product or service, so that you can generate a sufficient gross profit. Prices and profit margins should be determined by distribution channel. Describe if you will use different price levels depending on quantities ordered and type of customer. * Launch Strategy  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Describe your go-to-market strategy for your product or service. Describe when, the method used to announce your market entry, and how you will manage your market entry during the first 30-to-90 days. * Distribution Strategy – Describe the distribution channels you will utilize to get your product or service to your target market (e.g. direct-to-consumer, ecommerce, retail stores, dealers and distributors, infomercials, mail order catalog, direct mail, email, etc.) and specific reasons you are using each channel. * Sales Strategy – Describe who is actually going to sell your product or service. Will you be using inside sales personnel, inbound or outbound sales personnel, outside sales personnel, manufacturer’s representatives, independent salespeople or network marketing personnel. * Advertising and Promotions Strategy – Determine what media channels you will use to market and promote your products and services to your target market (e.g. print ads, television, radio, direct marketing, ecommerce, social media and events). The types of media channels you will use will depend on your unique requirements, budget constraints, and practices within your industry. * Public Relations Strategy – Describe the methods you will utilize to inform, communicate and educate your public (e.g. customers, media, vendors, academia) about your company and its products and services. * Strategic Alliances – Describe the nature and type of third-party alliances you anticipated will be needed in order to compete effectively in the marketplace. * Word-of-Mouth – Describe how and the methods you will utilize to create word-of-mouth. A few final pointers about developing marketing strategies: * Think strategic first – Too many individuals believe that the marketing tactics — the newsletters, press kits, trade shows, banners, 800-numbers, display advertisements, logos and giveaways — comes before the marketing strategies. Those promotional, publicity and advertising tactics should be contained within a well-orchestrated marketing action plan. But first create your marketing strategy items that will generate leads, build awareness and enhance credibility. * Make the first the last. The executive summary consists of a one-page, top-level summary of the entire marketing plan. It’s placed at the front of the document, but it’s the last thing you’ll write. Its purpose is to convey the gist of the plan to stakeholders,  investors and anyone else who needs to know these facts in a hurry: * The scope of the plan in an outlined paragraph. * The product or service being marketed. * For whom the plan is being prepared. * The time period the plan covers. * The geographic area where the implementation occurs. * The strategic messages and the tactics to get them to the target markets. Tactics – How exactly do we get there This is where you list the specific action steps or programs to achieve each marketing strategy (see above). If you are going to use billboards to advertise your product, indicate the name of the outdoor advertising company, the number of billboards, their geographic locations, cost per billboard and total amount. If you will be conducting focus groups to conduct market research and get feedback about your product, indicate the name of the research firm, dates focus groups will be conducted, cost per focus group and total amount. You should include deadlines and key dates for executing all of your marketing activities. * Media Tactics – If you will invest in different types of media to communicate your core marketing message and product or service offering divide your media into paid, non-paid and non-traditional media. * Paid media: direct mail, newspaper, radio, TV, billboards, direct sales. * Non-paid media – Referred to as public relations because it is exposure through traditional media without paying for advertising in that media. * Non-traditional media: includes everything else — sponsorships, ad specialties,shows/events, electronic media and the Internet. Action – What is our plan? Your business model is the one piece of the marketing plan that puts it all together for you. In a blog post dated February 6. 2012, Floodgate Fund co-founder Ann Muira-Ko says, â€Å"Its the business model that matters the most, rather than the business plan.† According to Miura-Ko, business models do a better job of unearthing assumptions about a company’s users, customers, pricing, demand creation, sales channels, supply chain, and overall logistics – all critical components to building a successful business. A business model answers all the 4 W’s (Who, What, Where and  Why) and the all important How you are going to do it as it relates to the following: * Core marketing message. * Components of your brand identity. * Customer value proposition (CVP). * Industry or market. * Target customers. * Competitive landscape. * Industry life cycles. * Pricing model. * Value chain. * Operations. According to Peter Drucker, the late Harvard management guru said. â€Å"A business model is nothing else than a representation of how an organization makes (or intends to make) money.† But, a business model is far more than this. Mark W. Johnson, the Harvard professor and author of â€Å"Seizing The White Space,† says that a business model consists of three components: 1. It identifies an important job a customer needs to get done and then proposes an offering that fulfills that job better than any alternative the customer can turn to–in short, the customer value proposition (CVP). 2. A pricing model and profit formula that shows quantitatively that you can make a profit delivering on the CVP. 3. identifying which company resources and which processes are essential to delivering the CVP. Use the Business Model Canvas (see below) to guide you in the preparation of your business model provides the answers to the four W’s and the How. The business model canv as is divided into nine grids: * Strategic partners. * Key activities. * Value proposition. * Customer relationship. * Customer segment. * Key resources. * Distribution channels. * Costs. * Revenues. The Business Model Canvas (Click Image To Enlarge) To develop your business model I highly recommend that you read my previous blog posts dated November 5, 2011, January 26, 2012, and February 26, 2012. Control – Did we get there? Establishing a marketing budget allows you to establish quantitative goal and measure actual performance against those goals. Here’s how a marketing budget can help assist you manage, control and measure the return-on-investment (ROI) from the execution of your marketing plan: * Marketing budgets allow you to put a quantitative value to every strategy, tactic or program built into your marketing plan. * Marketing budgets allow you to establish specific budget line items, including sales and related marketing expenses. * Marketing budgets allow you to evaluate and make the best marketing decisions. * Marketing budgets place a cap on every budget line item forcing you to work within those budget constraints. Having a marketing budget in place allows you to evaluate marketing decisions such as advertising in the yellow pages, hiring sales reps or conducting a PR program based on the amount of business a particular initiative generates. Track each initiative and evaluate what worked, what didn’t. Marketing budgets should be established by month, quarter and year so that you can gauge your performance and make adjustments to insure you are within budget. This allows you to determine if you are meeting your stated quantitative goals monthly, quarterly and yearly. Sample Marketing Plan Budget Here’s an excellent of an annual marketing plan budget for a software business: Click Image To Enlarge Apple’s iPhone Launch Marketing Strategy Analysis Example Here’s a great example of the Apple iPhone launch marketing strategy by Borislav Kilprin: Apple’s iPhone Launch Marketing Strategy Analysis View more documents from Borislav Kiprin I often use Steve Jobs’ â€Å"Digital Hub Strategy† (see my blog posts dated August 31, 2011 and January 20, 2012) for inspiration and as a great  example of a grand vision and all-encompasing marketing strategy for a company. On January 9, 2001, Steve Jobs gave a great presentation at MacWorld where he introduced the public to the concept of the Digital Hub, when he said that the PC was not dead, but was evolving. Steve Jobs declared that the Mac would become â€Å"the digital hub for the digital lifestyle,† an emerging digital trend driven by the internet and an explosion in digital devices: digital camera’s, videocam’s, portable music players, PDA’s and DVD video players. Steve’s idea was to use the Mac as a way to add value to those devices by making them more useful by allowing users to share digital files and be able to combine text, images, video and sound to heighten the overal digital experience. Steve Jobs’ 7 Success Principles When you stop and analyze the Digital Hub Strategy you will discover that Steve Jobs’ 7 Success Principles are evident everywhere: * Do what you love. Steve Jobs once told a group of employees, â€Å"People with passion can change the world for the better.† Jobs has followed his heart his entire life and that passion, he says, has made all the difference. It’s very difficult to come up with new, creative, and novel ideas unless you are passionate about moving society forward. * Put a dent in the universe. Passion fuels the rocket, but vision directs the rocket to its ultimate destination. In 1976, when Jobs and Steve Wozniak co-founded Apple, Jobs’ vision was to put a computer in the hands of everyday people. In 1979, Jobs saw an early and crude graphical user interface being demonstrated at the Xerox research facility in Palo Alto, California. He knew immediately that the technology would make computers appealing to â€Å"everyday people.† That tec hnology eventually became The Macintosh, which changed everything about the way we interact with computers. Xerox scientists didn’t realize its potential because their â€Å"vision† was limited to making new copiers. Two people can see the exactly the same thing, but perceive it differently based on their vision. * Kick start your brain. Steve Jobs once said â€Å"Creativity is connecting things.† Connecting things means seeking inspiration from other industries. At various times, Jobs has found inspiration in a phone book, Zen meditation, visiting India, a food processor at Macy’s, or The Four Seasons hotel chain. Jobs doesn’t â€Å"steal† ideas as much as he uses ideas from other industries to inspire his  own creativity. * Sell dreams, not products. To Steve Jobs, people who buy Apple products are not â€Å"consumers.† They are people with hopes, dreams and ambitions. He builds products to help people achieve their dreams. He once said, â€Å"some people think you’ve got to be crazy to buy a Mac, but in that craziness we see gen ius.† How do you see your customers? Help them unleash their inner genius and you’ll win over their hearts and minds. * Say no to 1,000 things. Steve Jobs once said, â€Å"I’m as proud of what we don’t do as I am of what we do.† He is committed to building products with simple, uncluttered design. And that commitment extends beyond products. From the design of the iPod to the iPad, from the packaging of Apple’s products, to the functionality of the Web site, in Apple’s world, innovation means eliminating the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak. * Create insanely great experiences. The Apple store has become the world’s best retailer by introducing simple innovations any business can adopt to create deeper, more emotional connections with their customers. For example, there are no cashiers in an Apple store. There are experts, consultants, even geniuses, but no cashiers. Why? Because Apple is not in the business of moving boxes; they are in the business of enriching lives. Big difference. * Master the message. Steve Jobs is the world’s greatest corporate storyteller, turning product launches into an art form. You can have the most innovative idea in the world, but if you can’t get people excited about it, it doesn’t matter. Apple’s Five Key Pillars For Product Success When you dig down into the roots of the Digital Hub Strategy it is all about the product. I have identified five key elements or pillars of strength that have been important in Apple’s product successes: * Creating products that disrupt existing industry paradigms. * Creating products that Apple engineers themselves would love to use. * Creating products that customers don’t know they need yet. * Creating elegant, simple and minimalist products that â€Å"people will lust for.† * Controlling every aspect of the product, including the design, engineering, intellectual property, components, operating systems, applications software, manufacturing, distribution, customer service, advertising and pricing. The Digital Hub Strategy has endured the test of time and every new product  launched by Apple represents a â€Å"spoke† in the Digital Hub. In essence, the Digital Hub Strategy has not only become Apple’s core business strategy, but also its grand vi sion.