Thursday, December 26, 2019

New Ideas Of Art Warhol, Yoko Ono, And Marina Abramovic

During the 1960s, new ideas in art began to emerge. The art world was introducing new various types of art including, performance art, photography, videography, installation and conceptual ideas. This era of art also pushed the boundaries between the traditional disciplines of art. Three artist that have had a huge impact on art in the time period are, Andy Warhol, Yoko Ono, and Marina Abramovic. Each of these artists embraced the new types of art in several ways. Andy Warhol is an American artist from Pittsburgh Pennsylvania whose work was essential to this era of art. Warhol had a career as a magazine ad illustrator which eventually led him to other disciplines of art such as painting. Warhol is an essential artist in early performance and conceptual art because his artwork created the concept of Pop Art. His early work focuses around commercialized products such as soup cans and coke bottles. Warhol’s art is different from previous artists because his works have the ability to be mass produced, which is a new element within art at this time. His most famous piece is, â€Å"Campbell’s Soup Cans† which is made from Synthetic Polymer and paint on canvas. This piece displays numerous, painted Campbell’s Soup cans side by side in a repeating pattern. I personally love the work of Andy Warhol. I particularly like his use of color and unity in each composition. In addition, I like Warhol because he strays away from tradition art. To this day, Warhol s approaches to art making areShow MoreRelatedRelationship Between The Live Event And The Document Within Performance Practice1588 Words   |  7 Pageswithin performance practice, specifically focus on in relation to body, time and space. Performance art is commonly known as a performance presented to a viewer within a fine art context. Through performance artists emphasize the body’s role in artistic production. Historically, performance archive has been characterized as an unfaithf ul representation of the momentary art experience. Yet, in contemporary art the relationship between live performance practices and documentation has progressed towards reconciliationRead MoreRelationship Between The Live Event And The Document Within Performance Practice1692 Words   |  7 Pagesdocument within performance practice, specifically focus on in relation to body, time and space. Performance art is commonly known as a performance presented to a viewer within a fine art context. Through performance artists emphasize the body’s role in artistic production. Performance archive has been characterized as a false representation of the art performance in the past. Yet, in contemporary art the relationship between live performance practices and documentation has overcome to reconciliation. Whether

Wednesday, December 18, 2019

City Demographics and Crime Profile of Chicago - 666 Words

City Demographics and Crime Profile of Chicago AJS 514 October 19, 2015 James L. Smith City Demographics and Crime Profile of Chicago Chicago is a big and beautiful city in the United States, this paper will discuss the cities demographics and analyze a criminal profile. It will include the characterization of the city in terms of social and intellectual context and identify social factors that contribute to crime. A description of beliefs people living there would accept for explaining criminal behavior by linking of events or attitudes. It will consider the changes in land use, property values, transportation, and retail as one moves away from the city. If there are any changes, it will describe the distances between these†¦show more content†¦(2014). Retrieved from http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/17/1714000.html Crime statistics . (2015). Retrieved from https://portal.chicagopolice.org/portal/page/portal/ClearPath/News/Crime%20Statistics Murder Rates Rising Sharply in Many U.S. Cities. (2015). Retrieved fromShow MoreRelatedMike Brown1282 Words   |  6 PagesLake City, Utah Mr. Dillon Taylor 20 years old white male was exiting a 7-eleven with his brother and cousin when officers arrived into investigate of a person with a gun call in the area. Mr. Taylor whom was unarmed and wearing headphones at the time ignored officer’s command and he was shot by the officer who is African American. Mr. Taylor’s friends and family held protest outside of state and federal offices demanding justice. Mr. Taylor incident occurred 2 days after the high profile caseRead MoreRace, Racism and My Community Essay1461 Words   |  6 Pageslived in the same community of Malibu Groves for the majority of my life. According to the 2000 Census, 93.0% of my community was African American, 4.5% was White, 2.3% was of two or more races, and 1.2% was Hispanic or Latino (Malibu Groves Demographic Profile, 2000). Today this percentage has risen and includes Haitians families. However, the percentage rate of the majority remains African Americans. Presently, surrounding the community are store owners whom race diversities of Chinese, Arabs, andRead MoreCity Demographics and Crime Profile2474 Words   |  10 PagesRunning head: DEMOGRAPHICS CRIME City Demographics and Crime Profile Project CJA/550 Criminology Theory City Demographics and Crime Profile Project Demographics provide the specifics necessary to obtain knowledge pertaining to a city’s inhabitants. Attaining this type of detailed information is vital to the creation of a flourishing municipality. Demographic data can offer crucial material in relation to the particulars, such as the districts residents reside, the districts most preferredRead MoreA Common Agreement Within The World That Deals With Men And Men1273 Words   |  6 Pagesâ€Å"Female Gang Members: A Profile of Aggression and Victimization, analyzes female gang membership. He gets his data from his research through interviews, demographic profiles, family structures, initiation rites, criminal behaviors, and implications on social work practice. Molidor has researched and found that â€Å"Delinquency indicated that teenage girls were more frequently the offenders of status criminal behavior and that teenage boys more often committed more serious crimes† (Molidor). It is veryRead MoreThe New Jim Crow : Mass Incarceration During The Age Of Colorblindness By Michelle Alexander1665 Words   |  7 Pagesextra tough. The main race being incarcerated and targeted is African Americans. For years, poor neighborhoods have been targeted by police, whose main purpose was to find drugs by any means necessary. These ways include searches based on racial profiles. They are unlawfully searched just because they are dressed in a certain way and because of the street that they are on. Some may be pulled over for minor offenses such as, failing to stop at a stop sign, and they next thing you know, the car isRead MoreEssay about Public opinion on Gun Control2591 Words   |  11 Pagestwentieth century the nation endured rising rates of violent crime, with young people frequently involved as victims and perpetrators and often armed with guns. Between July 1992, and June 30, 1999, there were 358 school-associated violent deaths in the United States, including 255 deaths of school- aged children, or about 51 such violent deaths each year. (Schmitt rot, 2003) Time after time, public opinion polls have shown that crime and violence are among the most important concerns troubling AmericansRead MoreRacial Profiling : A Method Of Spotting And Stopping Drug Traffickers2342 Words   |  10 Pages(Data Collection Resource Center). The controversy is over whether or not there are a disproportionate number of blacks and Hispanics involved with law enforcement that reflects police racism or is it merely the outcome of disproportionate minority crime (MacDonald). MacDonald reported the high rates of minority stops and arrests do not accurately reveal racism was the cause. In the past our society has labeled this problem as being prejudice or a racist, but now there is a new term. Minorities referRead MoreDeterminants of Violence in the Greek Football League a Case Study of Paok Fc Supporters13608 Words   |  55 Pagesunveil the opinions, thoughts and perceptions of Greek fans as far as the causes of violent incidents in the Greek football league are concerned. In the first part of this research project some theoretical considerations about determinants of violence, crime and delinquency in general and in sports are being analysed. For the purposes of this study I contacted a small-scale case study research project with 300 PAOK Thessaloniki FC supporters; in an attempt to determine the factors that contributeRead MorePolice and Racial Profiling Essay2724 Words   |  11 PagesCollection Resource Center, n.d., para 3). The controversy is over whether or not there are a disproportionate number of blacks and Hispanics involved with law enforcement that reflects police racism or is it merely the outcome of disproportionate minority crime (MacDonald, 2003, pg. 9). MacDonald (2003, p. 9) reported the high rates of minority stops and arrests do not accurately reveal racism was the cause. In the past our society has labeled this problem as being prejudice or a racist, but now there isRead MoreLegalization of Same Sex Marriage9779 Words   |  40 Pages STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM    This study aims to determine the assessment of CITHM students of Lyceum of the Philippines University on the legalization of Same-Sex Marriage in the Philippines. 1.         What is the demographic profile of the students? 1.1 Age 1.2 Gender 1.3 Religion 1.4 Course 2. How do respondents assessed the legalization of Same-Sex Marriage in the Philippines?

Tuesday, December 10, 2019

Organization Chosen for Conducting the Audits of the Quality

Question: How to Work Organization Chosen for Conducting the Audits of the Quality? Answer: Introduction The report consists of the audit outcome of the restaurant of Adelaide in Australia. The organization chosen for conducting the audits of the quality of the foods and the hygiene of the restaurant is Red Ochre Grill. It is a floating restaurant located in Adelaide, South Australia and is located on the banks of River Torrens in South Australia. It can be said that the restaurant is responsible for providing modern Australian cuisine to the visitors while portraying the areas strongest flavours in the foods. The report is focused on using some quality checklist on the foods served by the company as well as the total service quality so that it can improve its service while attaining more customer satisfaction. The quality checklists along with its outcome will be discussed in the report in details while providing suitable recommendations that meet the regulatory requirements of Australia. Quality checklist In terms of quality standards, there are different types of quality checklists are there that are used by the auditor that can be used by different types of auditors to restaurants for quality check. The quality standards used in the restaurant of Red Ochre Grill in maintaining the quality standards of the company are ISO 9000, Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award, and food safety in food purchasing, etc. The quality checklists are important for measuring the normal hotel operations and the different types of food quality in the organizations. The audit is responsible for the development of the different operations of the hotel both internal and external (Heras?Saizarbitoria and Boiral 2013). It can be said that the hotel is having a good reputation in the different policies of the hotel. It is point that the hotel operations of the organization are responsible for the customer retention as well as customer attraction. The ISO 9000 standards are consisted of eight steps such as customer focus, leadership, involvement of people, process approach, systems approach to the management, continual involvement, factual approach to decision making, mutually beneficial supplier relation, etc. Another checklist of quality maintenance of the hotel operations are Malcom Bridge quality checklist. It consists of different types of activities such as leadership, strategic planning, customer and market focus, analysis measurement and knowledge management, human resource focus, process management, and business results (Goetsch and Davis 2014). The aspects are chosen in a way so that they can cover all the aspects of the hotel operations in providing best services to the hotels. The aspects of both the quality standards not only include the external operations but also it includes strategic planning, leadership, human resource, etc. It will lead to positive business results if followed properly. The audit of the restaurant is done in order to increase the reputation as well as the improvement of the different types of operations. In Australia, it can be said that it is mandatory to follow the regulations of the WHO standards and other safety standards that are essential for doing business in the country (Peri?, Marki? and Peri? 2016). In the next section of the report, it can be said that the details of the outcome of the audit of Red Ochre Grill is described in details so that it can convince the hotel owner to improve their deficiencies in terms of the different aspects of the quality standards of the internal and externa l hotel management operations. Audit outcomes It can be said that the restaurant specialises in serving modern Australian cuisines to the consumers. The ambience of the restaurant is very good that will change the mood of the visitors of the restaurant. The audit has been taken by using mainly three types of quality checker instruments that focus not only on the different types of internal and external restaurant management operations. The results of the Malcom Balridge Quality aspects are discussed in the following. Leadership: In terms of leadership, the senior management of the restaurant is following participative leadership in order to serve a quality service to the visitors of the restaurant as well as maintain the good quality of ambience so that more customers are retained (Peri?, Marki? and Peri? 2016). Strategic Planning: The strategic planning of the hotel operations is strong enough while managing the internal hotel operations. However, the restaurant must have to focus on the current market trends to improve the food quality and change in the menu. Customer Market Focus: It is already mentioned earlier that the market focus and customer focus of the restaurant is not up to the mark. The restaurant is poor in terms of conducting external market research while checking the competitive advantage of the other companies in the market. Knowledge Management: The knowledge management and the measurement of the various types of the different hotel operations of the different types of the utilization of the knowledge of the employees associated with it (Castka et al. 2015). Human Resource focus: The human resource management of the restaurants needs improvement as the employees are not provided much privilege in terms of motivating them while providing remuneration and training in terms of improved technical implementation in the hotel operations. Process Management: Process management of the restaurant is considered as overall good in terms of the overall satisfaction both in terms of customer satisfaction and in terms of the profitability of the company. Business Results: The business results are good because the restaurant is popular in the area due to the unique cuisine provided by it as well as the perfect ambience of the riverside area that is the main USP of the restaurant. Another aspect of quality of the operations of the Red Ochre Grill are described below. The audit outcomes of the ISO 9000 standards are detailed below. Customer focus: it can be said that the customer focus of the restaurant is on average. It can not be stated as an extra ordinary, as the strategies are not related to the demands of the customers. Leadership: Leadership approach of the senior management is good. Participative leadership is followed by the organization but the implementation part is not up to the mark. Hence, strategies are not up to the mark (Kafetzopoulos and Gotzamani 2014). Involvement of people: Involvement of people while strategy building and customer satisfaction is good as it is already mentioned earlier that the form of leadership practiced in the company is participative. Process Approach: The process approach can be recognised as an average standard, as it contains both some positive areas and negative areas of the different types of the management operations of the restaurant. Systems Approach to Management: The approach of management of the officials of the restaurant is not prompt. They are not be able to recognize the internal problems as well as the external competitive advantage of the company (Heras?Saizarbitoria and Boiral 2013). Continual Improvement: As the process of problem identification is slow, hence it can be said that the process of continual improvement is also slow which is a cause of the lag of the company. Approach in Decision-making: The decision making of the strategic management department of the organization is not appropriate as the human resource department is not competent enough to provide the employees proper training. Mutually Beneficial Supplier Relations: The supplier relation of Red Ochre Grill is mutually good. Both the company and the suppliers are being benefitted in terms of business relations and profitability (Terziovski and Guerrero 2014). Recommendations While discussing the audit outcomes of Red Ochre Grill in Adelaide, it can be said that the restaurant is very popular in the region due its amazing location as well as the ambience. The recommendations are mentioned in the following: The restaurant must provide appropriate compensation to the employees so that they can provide their best services to the customers of the restaurant. The laws of Australia regarding the employee protection act, etc (Huo, Han and Prajogo 2014). The process of problem identification must be improved in order to utilize the dearth of technology provided by the government. The quality of the food as well as the hygiene of the restaurant must be improved to a level that can act as a major source of the customer attraction. It must adhere to the food regulation 2002, under the Food Act of 2001 (Kafetzopoulos and Gotzamani 2014). Conclusion It can be concluded that the regulations of Australia are there that controls the quality of foods and services provided by the restaurants of the country to the consumers. However, it can be said that the chosen restaurant is responsible for maintaining these regulations. An audit has been conducted in order to provide the recommendations regarding the current practices. The audit outcome of the report has stated the fact that the restaurant has passed overall all the factors positively, however there are some aspects that the current strategies of the restaurant are not fulfilling as per the benchmark set for measuring the quality and hygiene for foods and services. The current strategies of the company are found to be weaker in some sections that will be formulated for the different types of business operations. The employees of the company are responsible for providing excellent customer service of the company to the customers. References Castka, P. and Corbett, C.J., 2015. Management systems standards: Diffusion, impact and governance of ISO 9000, ISO 14000, and other management standards.Foundations and Trends in Technology, Information and Operations Management,7(34), pp.161-379. Castka, P., Prajogo, D., Sohal, A. and Yeung, A.C., 2015. Understanding firms? selection of their ISO 9000 third-party certifiers.International Journal of Production Economics,162, pp.125-133. Goetsch, D.L. and Davis, S.B., 2014.Quality management for organizational excellence. Upper Saddle River, NJ: pearson. Heras?Saizarbitoria, I. and Boiral, O., 2013. ISO 9001 and ISO 14001: towards a research agenda on management system standards.International Journal of Management Reviews,15(1), pp.47-65. Huo, B., Han, Z. and Prajogo, D., 2014. The effect of ISO 9000 implementation on flow management.International Journal of Production Research,52(21), pp.6467-6481. Kafetzopoulos, D.P. and Gotzamani, K.D., 2014. Critical factors, food quality management and organizational performance.Food Control,40, pp.1-11. Peri?, A., Marki?, M. and Peri?, M., 2016. The impact of socially responsible management standards on the business success of an organisation.Total Quality Management Business Excellence, pp.1-13. Terziovski, M. and Guerrero, J.L., 2014. ISO 9000 quality system certification and its impact on product and process innovation performance.International Journal of Production Economics,158, pp.197-207.

Monday, December 2, 2019

Strategic Marketing Case O F Sa Sa Essay Example For Students

Strategic Marketing Case O F Sa Sa Essay Executive Summary This paper discusses the strategic marketing of Sa Sa International Holdings Limited, a leading beauty retail and service group in Asia by analyzing its competitive advantages, marketing strategies, industry environment, major challenges and followed by some problem solvers. Sa Sa has four major competitive advantages. First, she can offer competitive prices for her long-term relationship with suppliers. Besides, excellent service with number of recognized winning awards accounts for another advantage. In addition, she has long-established network with 80 retail outlets in prime Asian countries and on-line presence. Also, she has well-established branding â€Å"beauty expert† in Hong Kong as well as in Mainland China. Among four of them, her relationship with suppliers and excellent service allow her to gain sustainable competitive advantage over major competitors. Throughout Porter’s Five Forces analysis (Porter, 1980) and SWOT analysis, the industry is still attractive with moderate competitive environment. However, the increasing rental fee and operating cost in major market Hong Kong is a big challenge to Sa Sa. We will write a custom essay on Strategic Marketing Case O F Sa Sa specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now In addition, brand switching is another challenge for her whereas low operation efficiency imposes worries on the organization. As for beauty industry in Sa Sa’s major market, Hong Kong is in the maturity stage in product life cycle, some of the current marketing strategies can synergize while others cannot. The width of her product mix is large but she should continue to build more exclusive brand and put efforts on add-valued services. In pricing, she manages to offer competitive prices with regular promotion offer. And, in promotion, she has TVC and thematic print advertising to support corporate image and two exclusive brands but promotion program to increase brand loyalty, like CRM is lacking currently. For the distribution, she is on the right track to have extensive distribution, like market expansion to China and Korea through on-line platform. Four major problem solvers are suggested based on SWOT matrix. First, CRM, customer relationship management is a way to increase customers’ brand loyalty and also can help prolonging customers’ life-time value in synergy with her beauty service. Then, it is essential to increase her operation efficiencies, so ERP system is suggested to enhance the operation system whilst six sigma project can be introduced to help enhancing operation processes. And, continuous market expansion in potential area, China is another way to lower the overall organization operating cost. Finally, Sa Sa’s global sourcing and purchasing team helps to find high quality products so as to give more competitive edge to the organization. Introduction Sa Sa International Holding Limited, a leading cosmetic retailing and beauty services group in Asia, which was first set up in 1978 and listed on Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 1997 with US 337 million turnover in 05/06. Her scopes of business include retailing and wholesaling of over 400 brands with 83 stores in 5 Asian countries and so in e-commerce platform; brand management of over 50 major brands including both private-labels and sole-distributorship and also beauty services. Retailing and wholesaling business accounts for over 90% of the business, so the marketing analysis will focus on this core business. Throughout the discussion, first of all, Sa Sa’s competitive advantages will be discussed, followed by industry analysis and organization’s internal and external factors. Then, Sa Sa’s opportunity statements and challenges can be visualized. Afterwards, the marketing strategies followed by suggested problem solvers will also be covered. a. Sa Sa’s competitive advantages Schendel (1994) stated that competitive advantage had become a central matter to understand and explain in terms of causality, which indicated that competitive advantage is the crux of one organization’s survival. Sa Sa has managed to have four major competitive advantages over competitors. Firstly, her well-established network and relationship with suppliers give her strong bargaining power, so she can offer competitive prices to consumer. Together with her own global sourcing and purchasing team, the organization manages to have exclusive brands and private labels, it increases the brand selections for consumers and add more exclusivity for Sa Sa. Clear positioning with her â€Å"Beauty Expert† branding, consumers know Sa Sa well as one-stop stores filling with top international brands. South’s (1981) definition on competitive advantage can explain this well, â€Å"†¦. Philosophy of choosing only those competitive arenas where victories are clearly achieveable† And, she has extended the â€Å"Beauty Expert† image with strong association on social responsibilities, like donations, social services and supporting China project. Besides, her excellent service with number of recognized winning awards is crucial to her continued success of its operations and business expansion. Lastly, she has long-established network with 80 retail outlets in prime Asian countries, including Hong Kong, China, Malaysia, Taiwan and Singapore. She also developed her on-line platform in 2000 and currently has 3 languages available, Chinese, English and Korean, which helps to expand her business to more overseas market. Among several competitive advantages, Sa Sa’s ability on global sourcing and excellent relationship with suppliers and excellent service allow her to gain sustainable competitive advantages over major competitors, which means she can lead persistent superior economic performance (Porter, 1985). It can be further proved in 05/06 annual performance, Sa Sa outranged major competitor Bonjour whom recorded negative operating profit for the year. . Analysis of the industry To have a glance at Sa Sa’s current situation, first attention should be paid to the attractiveness of the retail beauty industry in major market, Hong Kong and China. Michael Porter identified five forces that determine the intrinsic long-run profit attractiveness of a market segment (Porter, 1980). There are numerous competitors b ut only a few strong competitors in the market, for instance, Bonjour Holdings Limited, the major competitor of Sa Sa, recorded negative operating profit in last financial year. The market growth in Hong Kong is steady whilst in China is growing. Also, high fixed cost like rental fee in Hong Kong makes rivalry increases as competitors fight for more market share to survive. So, the threat of intense segment rivalry is medium. The threat of substitutes is rather low as beauty products are hardly replaced by others. Meanwhile, the threat of new entrants is medium as the increasing rental fee and limited space in Hong Kong impose certain difficulty to enter. However, the Buyer’s power is significant as they can switch to other brands easily and the power of end users is further enhanced by the Internet as some brands offer direct online purchase for consumers. .ucb59232ae972cb2f0935e063e45778c2 , .ucb59232ae972cb2f0935e063e45778c2 .postImageUrl , .ucb59232ae972cb2f0935e063e45778c2 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .ucb59232ae972cb2f0935e063e45778c2 , .ucb59232ae972cb2f0935e063e45778c2:hover , .ucb59232ae972cb2f0935e063e45778c2:visited , .ucb59232ae972cb2f0935e063e45778c2:active { border:0!important; } .ucb59232ae972cb2f0935e063e45778c2 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .ucb59232ae972cb2f0935e063e45778c2 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .ucb59232ae972cb2f0935e063e45778c2:active , .ucb59232ae972cb2f0935e063e45778c2:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .ucb59232ae972cb2f0935e063e45778c2 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .ucb59232ae972cb2f0935e063e45778c2 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .ucb59232ae972cb2f0935e063e45778c2 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .ucb59232ae972cb2f0935e063e45778c2 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .ucb59232ae972cb2f0935e063e45778c2:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .ucb59232ae972cb2f0935e063e45778c2 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .ucb59232ae972cb2f0935e063e45778c2 .ucb59232ae972cb2f0935e063e45778c2-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .ucb59232ae972cb2f0935e063e45778c2:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Who Is Responsible For Cleanup Under CERCLA? EssayAnd, the threat from the supplier side is only medium as there are many substitutes in the market and the price usually depends on the volume. In short, the industry has moderate competition, which is still attractive. And, it reveals that major competitors will go on expanding the market, like entering China to strike for better economy of scale effect and solve the limited space and high rent problem in Hong Kong. Also, excellent customer service is a must to serve the buyers and value-added service will be a trend to satisfy them. These two indications favor Sa Sa a bit as she has stepped in China market with excellent customer service at the moment. c. Scan of Sa Sa’s internal and external environment Credited to Albert Humphrey’s (Wikipedia, 2006) reseach project, SWOT analysis is a popoular techique to scan one orgranization’s internal strengths and weaknesses and external’s opportunities and threats. The strengths of Sa Sa has been mentioned in the competitive advantages, like good reputation and branding, long-term relationship with suppliers, private global sourcing team, excellent customer service and extensive network in Hong Kong, her major market. As for weaknesses, her IT infrastructure and operations system cannot match with the fast-paced market, which adversely affects her operation efficiency. And, brand switching is severe and Sa Sa does not have any CRM strategy to maintain customers’ loyalty. Also, selective distribution in China limits the potential. There are several opportunities provided by the external environment. Firstly, Hong Kong Government policy favors tourism industry and thus attracts more visitors by establishing more infrastructure and scenery spots, like Hong Kong Disneyland and Ngong Ping 360 Cable Car. And also, high quality beauty products are reckoned as the coming trend in Asia countries (Diagonal, 2006), whereas Sa Sa has private labels and own sourcing team to find high quality skin care products, which can help catching up with the opportunities. Besides, China market is a huge market for the sales volume of China’s beauty business has increased 260 times from 1983 to 2004 (China internet information center, 2006). It further enhances the opportunities as the quality of the local Chinese beauty products fluctuated without quality guarantee. For the threats, high rental fee and limited space for growth in Hong Kong will be the number one threat to Sa Sa whereas competition from other retailers will be another threat to her. d. Opportunities and major challenges of Sa Sa To sum up both industry environment and Sa Sa’s SWOT, there are 3 major opportunities and 3 major challenges for the organizations. For opportunities, China market is an undeniable potential market whilst Hong Kong market is still attractive under Government’s favorable tourism policy. And also, increasing power from buyer favors organization with excellent customer service, together with quality beauty products trend will be great opportunities for Sa Sa. On the other hand, Sa Sa has to face 3 major challenges. Internally, her low operation efficiency because of outdated system is a great challenge to her expansion. Externally, high rental fee and limited space in Hong Kong, together with high brand switching are two other challenges for her. e. 4P’s discussion In order to cope with the captioned opportunities and challenges in the following marketing strategies discussion, let’s define the 3 levels strategies first. For the corporate level, market development is a way out to expand the business to a new market with existing products and competencies. (Ansoff, 1957). In the business unit level, with the use of BCG Matrix, existing products are falling into Cash Cows as it has high market share with low growth. And, in the product level, it is falling into maturity stage as (Linda Gorchels, 2000) strong growth with sales diminishing. The latter part will then discusses on Sa Sa’s current marketing strategies and criticizes on the strategies that are not in line with the above analysis. The current product width is large as she is selling over 15,000 beauty products with international brands, exclusive brands and private labels. However, as staying at maturity stage, efforts should be paid on modifying the product portfolio as to attract more customers, like sourcing more high quality exclusive brands. And also, value-added service is a way to differentiate with others, like providing skin analysis service and facial treatment in her beauty service salon. In addition, the company utilizes the digital world so as to enhance the sourcing efficiencies though it relates to the system support discussed in the latter part. As for the pricing, she manages to offer competitive prices because of leverage on the economy of scale effect and relationship with suppliers. Same as major competitors, Bonjour, Sa Sa has weekly promotion offer. Although staying at maturity stage, penetration pricing strategy is recommended, which is setting a relatively low initial entry price, a price that is often lower than the eventual market price (Levitt, 1965), selected items for adporting this strategy is more preferable to maintain profit for Sa Sa. And also, Sa Sa is now offering high quality product with low price at the moment, she is using superb value strategy (Levitt, 1965). In fact, as a more cost-efficient business, she should try to push to â€Å"high value strategy† or â€Å"premium strategy† with increasing price and high quality products. It can be synergized with product strategy that sourcing more exclusive high quality brands so that consumers do not have price comparison. According to psychological reason, consumers intend to perceive products with higher quality with premium pricing strategy. One highlight for pricing is the influence of e-marketing in the coming future, pricing for the products are reckoned to be further driven down as consumers can directly purchase without visiting the actual shop, so retailers minimize the processes of supply chain and save cost at rental and operation costs. As for distribution, Sa Sa has extensive distribution network at the moment. Her future direction is in line with the stage characteristic, which is market expansion to China with over 100 stores by 2011. .u1a30b0f1d3f84033c3f401e84c1f37ab , .u1a30b0f1d3f84033c3f401e84c1f37ab .postImageUrl , .u1a30b0f1d3f84033c3f401e84c1f37ab .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u1a30b0f1d3f84033c3f401e84c1f37ab , .u1a30b0f1d3f84033c3f401e84c1f37ab:hover , .u1a30b0f1d3f84033c3f401e84c1f37ab:visited , .u1a30b0f1d3f84033c3f401e84c1f37ab:active { border:0!important; } .u1a30b0f1d3f84033c3f401e84c1f37ab .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u1a30b0f1d3f84033c3f401e84c1f37ab { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u1a30b0f1d3f84033c3f401e84c1f37ab:active , .u1a30b0f1d3f84033c3f401e84c1f37ab:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u1a30b0f1d3f84033c3f401e84c1f37ab .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u1a30b0f1d3f84033c3f401e84c1f37ab .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u1a30b0f1d3f84033c3f401e84c1f37ab .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u1a30b0f1d3f84033c3f401e84c1f37ab .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u1a30b0f1d3f84033c3f401e84c1f37ab:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u1a30b0f1d3f84033c3f401e84c1f37ab .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u1a30b0f1d3f84033c3f401e84c1f37ab .u1a30b0f1d3f84033c3f401e84c1f37ab-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u1a30b0f1d3f84033c3f401e84c1f37ab:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: THOMAS JEFFERSON Argumentative EssayAt the same time, the development of online platform with Chinese, English and Korean languages available, it helps to expand overseas market, like Korea and more English and Chinese speaking areas. Lastly, Sa Sa has both pull and push strategies in promotion. As for tackling competitors’ weekly promotion offer, she also has counter weekly special with promotional print advertising to support on this push strategy. Meanwhile, she also has TVC and thematic print advertising to support her corporate image and two exclusive brands. As stated above, brand switching is severe in the market, so relying on promotion offer is not a sustainable strategy as competitors might adopt cut-throat strategy to gain market share. As a result, a sustainable promotion strategy should be adopted, like CRM to increase the brand loyalty and prolong customer’s life-time value. Since setting up a membership system to retain the relationship with customers through DM and newsletter, Sa Sa can have a data pool for upselling to her beauty service and most important can facilitate e-marketing through eDM to the members. . Ethical marketing discussion Ethical marketing means an honest and factual representation of a product, delivered in a framework of cultural and social values for the consumer. (Wkikipedia, 2006). Why is it important for an organization? It is a total corporate image commuicating to the consumers, like Jean Kilbourne mentioned in Killing Us Softly (Alf Nucifora. , 2006), â€Å".. one of the most powerful, socia lizing forces in the culture. Ads sell more products. They sell images, values, goals, concepts of who we are and who we should be hey shape our attitudes and our attitudes shape our behavior. Therefore, as a leader, Sa Sa should build up a clear ethical corporate image. Though it is currently putting some efforts on social responsibilities, like participating Community Chest, supporting social development in China by fund raising activity and different kinds of donations etc. , it fails to link herself to the area concerned which is associated with the category she is in. For instance, Body Shop’s â€Å"Against Animal† image is very significantly passing environmental friendly message to the sociality. Therefore, a more holistic and consistent campaign is recommended to build up a real social responsible image, like long term joint promotion with Breast Cancer to project â€Å"Concern the women, concern the society† image. g. Recommendations on problem solvers After analyzing the industry, the organization’s SWOT, her 4P’s and ethical marketing issue, it is clear on the strengths and opportunities of Sa Sa. In order to have a better strategic fit, SWOT Matrix will be used, that is Strength-Opportunity strategy (S-O), Weakness-Opportunity strategy (W-O), Weakness-Threat strategy (W-T) and Strength-Threat strategy (S-T). For fully fit in company’s strength and opportunity in the market, S-O strategy is necessary. Sa Sa can make use of her global sourcing and purchasing team to find more unique and exclusive high quality beauty products, which can sharpen her competitive edge in the industry and match with the trend of the industry. On the other hand, Sa Sa should put an effort to enhance her weakness on low operation efficiency so as to match with customers’ increasing demand on customer service and well-prepare for the increasing flow of visitors under Government’s policy. For improving the operation system, Enterprise Resource Planning system (ERP) is recommended to enhance the productivity and managerial control in different business processes. Meanwhile, six sigma project can be used to increase the efficiency of the operation process. In improving it’s IT infrastructure, Sa Sa can aggressively expand her e-commerce platform so that she can turn weakness into business opportunity. Besides, S-T strategy helps to identify ways that the firm can use its strength to reduce its vulnerability to external threats. Sa Sa has extensive distribution network through e-commerce platform, which helps to avoid the high rental fee and limited space in Hong Kong. And, with her existing business in China, she can expand the market easier and faster than the competitors. No matter what, W-T strategy is always a must to help establishing defensive plan to prevent the firm’s weakness from making it highly susceptible to external threats. As the external threat in the market is severe brand switching, Sa Sa needs to pay full efforts to increase customer loyalty. Customer relationship management, CRM, is a method and technology to manage customer’s loyalty. By setting up a membership club as well as the system to store useful information, Sa Sa can implement different types of programs, like up-selling different skin care products for a group of members with similar purchasing history. And also, Sa Sa can cross-sell the members with her beauty service in order to prolong customers’ life-time value. h. Conclusion With economic downturn and SARS incident in Asia in the past few years, Sa Sa can still manage to gain positive growth annually and stand at a leading position in the retail beauty and service industry, her sustainable competitive advantage of maintaining excellent relationship with suppliers and own global sourcing and purchasing team is a reason to account for the persistent gaining of superior economic performance over time. (Barney, 1991; Conner 1991) After thorough analysis of Porter’s five forces and SWOT, together with discussion and criticism of current 4P’s and ethical marketing, Sa Sa’s internal and external factors are visualized. They give insights on directions to tackle the existing problems and potential ones, like market expansion to China, operation system set up to improve efficiencies and prepare for strengthening e-commerce platform, global sourcing to seek for quality competitive products and CRM system to increase brand loyalty. With implementing these problem solvers, Sa Sa can step into next level growth and become a stronger leader in retail beauty group.