Qualitative research- keyword Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Qualitative research- keyword - Essay Example Data refers to information that has been organized into forms that can be manipulated and processed to produce desirable results (Andrews & Herzberg, 2008). In learning, data processing entails the analysis of the organized values to produce meaningful results. Data sets are usually present in typical scientific research exercises aimed at establishing relationships between different variables. Data is also applicable in the context of arts. In my period as an English student, I encountered various situations where I was required to handle some situations involving data organization and manipulation. Learning, especially the concepts of library skills involved acquisition of data concerning books from the library shelves. English also involves the aspect of interpreting information presented in tables or charts. In these cases, I had to become conversant with the aspects of data processing and presenting research information from literature and other art issues in academics (Andrews & Herzberg, 2008). Based on the qualitative research concept of grounded theory, I developed a theory which says that data organization and interpretation facilitates the learning English language. I developed this hypothesis through the ideal procedures involved in grounded theory of qualitative research (David, 2007). Data enables the employment of mathematical skills and information interpretation skills into developing meanings for situations. Data processing and organization awakens the techniques of information analysis. In this context, I started by appraising the role of data is developing meaningful information. Upon recognition of the importance, I devised a standard of gauging the significance of each role in the learning process. I categorized these significances into related groups and established the relationship between these groups and the efforts

Advertising and promotion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Advertising and promotion - Essay Example This paper aims to explore the role of advertising as part of the integrated approach to marketing communications as well as some relevant models and theories that can help explain the process of communication. This is showed through relevant examples through real-life applications of companies and brand owners of these concepts. Lastly, this paper aims to explore the new trends in the integrated marketing communications industry with changes that are prompted by the onset of new technology. Advertising has a distinct characteristic both as a strong force and a weak force in communicating with consumer (Jones 1990, 233-246). The advertising functions role in the overall marketing communications mix of the company depends on whether the advertising should be used as a strong force, or a weak force. In the older times, advertising has always been viewed as a strong force—it is the main function that is being used by companies to promote products. With advertising, brands are created as they help gain peoples attention, and later on create attitudes toward these brands (Duncan 2005). When advertising is used as a strong force, it is usually aimed to create awareness from the target audience (Jones 1990, 233-246). This is apparent in an advertisement campaign which is developed in the late 1990s for the Meat & Livestock Commission: The advertising developed by BMP DDB, ‘Recipe for love’, first slowed and then reversed the market decline. The ads ‘dramatised the unique pleasures of red meat meals’ and ‘encouraged people to make a little more effort and cook them more frequently (instead of ready meals, chicken and so on)’. There was also a ‘reassurance’ campaign that gave basic information about the nutritional benefits of red meat. Sales of both beef and all red meat grew in 1997 over 1996 (Broadbent 2008, 763). However, other people believe that advertising, in

Strategic Plan For The Chronicle Gazette

Strategic Plan For The Chronicle Gazette The goal of the consultant report is to indicating the problem of steady decline in subscriptions to the paid newspaper not only in metropolitan area and affecting the whole industry. Advertising revenue has also dropped due to advertiser had diverse their ads in different way such as TV broadcast, CNN, CCTV, Internet etc. This report is to offer the management of The Chronicle Gazette a strategic vision of where the newspaper publishing industry stands today and where it is headed over the next decade also propose strategies the newspaper can investigate to survive in the new business environment. State of the newspaper The Chronicle Gazette subscription had been fallen by 35% and also advertising revenues also dropped by 28% in past eight years. Refer to Newspaper Association of Americas, newspaper circulation had start declining from year 1993 and keep go on comparing with the index of 2008, there have around 22 % of circulation was gone. [Total Paid Circulation: Source: Editor and Publisher International Yearbook: http://www.naa.org/TrendsandNumbers/Total-Paid-Circulation.aspx, accessed on 1st Feb, 2010] For the advertising revenue have starting to share progressively with internet publishing during year 1997 and the proportion of the total advertising volume had kept increasing comparing with 1997 and 2005 data, there have around 13 times increase of Internet advertisement in volume. Also from the chart we can see the newspaper advertising revenue keep decreasing and Internet advertising revenue keep increasing simultaneity hence that Internet had absorb part of the lose in newspaper ads. [Advertising Expenditures: http://www.naa.org/TrendsandNumbers/Advertising-Expenditures.aspx, accessed on 1st Feb, 2010] [Online advertisement revenue:- http://www.brianmcdaniel.org/2009/04/06/will-online-ad-revenue-beat-newspapers-in-2011/, accessed on 1st Feb, 2010] According to The New York Times Company reports 2009 Fourth-Quarter and Full-Year Results, although the groups revenues had increased from 21.8% to US$36.3M from US$29.8M but look into the details on the advertising revenues had dropped around 25.3% to 30.2% compare with year 2008. The group major revenues income healthy gains in both Internet cost-per-click and display advertising and also in other form of digital advertising to offset the other lose. [New York Times Press Release: http://www.nytco.com/pdf/4Q_2009_Earnings.pdf, accessed on 13th Feb, 2010] Referring to the Newscorp 2009 annual report, we can indicate that all the media revenue and the operating income had dropped which may lead by Global economic recession reason. The data also showing that the newspaper industry had affected obviously including The Wall Street Journal the worlds leading business publication. The Wall Street Journal had diverse their business in different area such as enhancing their publishing and advertisement in digital ways and providing different type of subscription to attract more reader and also providing specific personalize information for particular group. Improving the quality of contents and report in more in-depth to build up reader loyalty and convenience. [http://www.newscorp.com/Report2009/media/Newscorp_2009_annual_report.pdf, accessed on 15th Feb,2010] Company objective 3.1 External assessment Economic downturn forced newspaper to cut costs due to massive revenues decline as a result of global economic downturn. In October 2008, advertising revenues from New York Times Media Group had dropped 15.3% as compare to the same period in 2007. Social and cultural have no much change recently as people are still willing to pay for newspaper and having circulations. According to the Newspaper Demographic Analysis, the daily and the Sunday readership allocation pattern are mainly focus on Adults over 55 since they can have more leisure time and get used to read newspaper every day. Demographics of American Newspapers pattern can classifieds as below:- The Wall Street Journal is read by the people who run the country. The Washington Post is read by people who think they run the country. The New York Times is read by people who think they should run the country and who are very good at crossword puzzles. USA Today is read by people who think they ought to run the country but dont really understand The New York Times. [http://bitsandpieces.us/2008/07/13/demographics-of-american-newspapers/, accessed on 2nd Feb, 2010] [http://sify.com/finance/economic-downturn-forces-us-newspapers-to-cut-costs-news-default-jeguQJbdihc.html , accessed on 2nd Feb, 2010] [http://www.nnnlp.com/newspaper-demographics/, accessed on 2nd Feb, 2010] Political arena is a large influence upon the regulation of newspaper press freedom of those reported content and the business trading agreements of the region or national or in the state and also for EU, NAFTA, and ASEAN if the newspaper will press outside the state. Economic factors such as the demand and supply or the newspaper industry in both short and long terms, market positioning and the pricing also need to be considered. Social and cultural influence the perception of the newspaper contents and acceptance and what can attract reader to increase the circulation, consider the time will the reader spend on reading that and the layout arrangement of those content and the ordering. Identify the role of men and women within the society and get used to concentrate the aim of selling those people. The main factor affecting newspaper industry is Technological force Internet and other digital media. Being with the digital age, most of the information had been merge or migrate into the virtual world Internet. People can easily found the information they required for simple a click; some of the information can be accessed by free. One of the major revenue incomes for newspaper industry is advertisement which currently affected by the new challenge of Internet advertisement. Advertiser had starting to switch their advertisement from the traditional print out on newspaper to other media like TV, Fall ads, Road show on the public transportation and the Internet web-site. Recently, the pop-up advertisements from the Internet web-site are quite popular and some of the major search engine and newspaper web-site had enrolled as well. At the mean time, that advertisement income revenue had keep increasing rapidly and become the major parts of earning for those companies. The major advantages of the online advertisement is the advertiser can sell their services or product in text mode, colorful graphic mode, animated flash graphic or even can record a short video clips with sound for attracting audiences and enhance their perception and image. Referring to the New York Times president and CEO Janet Robinson said their coming business strategy is to enhance their digital platform and planning to introducing a paid model for NYTimes.com in 2011 to create additional revenue stream. Hence that other competitor in newspaper industry is exploring other publishing media to maintain their robust advertising business and attracting other new business partners. Competitive Force Porter five force analysis:- [Source from: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/66/Porters_five_forces.PNG/800px-Porters_five_forces.PNG] Porters Five-Force model can be use to analysis the newspaper industrial competitive environment. Threat of new entrants of newspaper publishing can be define as low to medium since the scale economies in the production and sales of newspaper had took advantage by the major newspaper distributor. Some famous brand of advertisement will only post on the popular newspaper and never shown in others. Product differentiation cannot take part in it newspaper industry since the product itself is indifferent and non-standard one. The major entry barriers in newspaper industry is the entry capital is relative high although government have no or less barrier to such industry but the equipments such as camera, printing machines, video recorder are expensive. Also the benefits of associated in newspaper industry is low and also the current distribution channel is almost occupied by other major newspaper. The amount of daily copies is high so the cost per copy of the major newspaper is low and its hard to compete with them. Small entrepreneurs have difficulty obtaining supermarket shelf space for their publishing because large retailers charge for space on their shelve and gave priority to the established publishers that can pay for the advertising needed to generate high customer demand. Switching cost is low since the readers had build up loyalty with the current subscribed newspaper and take comfortable of their printing layout and its hard for them to switch to read another newspaper easily. Bargaining power of customer is relative high since there have many other sources to get information from others like Internet, free newspaper which distribute on the street or cafà © and also from train station. Also its un-different and non-standard product which reader can easily found another similar product in the market like NY Times, WSJ, etc. Customer affect an industry through their ability to force down prices and inter-related because they purchases a large proportion of the newspaper and they have potential to integrate backward of the newspaper contents. Alternative vendors of newspaper are plentiful because newspaper is standard or undifferentiated, customer can choose among many newspaper providers and switching to read other newspaper cost is very little or zero. Once the paid newspaper is unimportant to the final quality and customer can be easily substituted it with free newspaper distribute among on the street daily so it make The Chronicle Gazette revenue keep de clining. Bargaining power of suppliers can be classified as medium to high since the important input for issuing newspaper like paper and ink supplier is dominated by a few companies only buy they sells to many. Meanwhile paper, ink and printing factory are unique which had built up a strong relation in between thus switching costs existed. Supplier are able to integrate forward or backward compete directly with their present customers like newspaper company can forward to investee in newspaper or other publishing firm or vise verse. Threat of substitute product can classify as high since we may notice that the up-trend of online publishing a rapidly increase and the cost-performance ratio comparing with traditional print out newspaper are relatively low and also the content update are most in time and interact. According to Michael Porter, Substitute limit the potential returns of an industry by placing a ceiling on the prices firms in the industry can profitably charge. Extent that switching cost is low so substitutes may have strong effect on industry. Customer are switching they platform to read the news from traditional paper printed newspaper to the online version or other free distribute newspaper and sharing the profit in the industry. Rivalry among industry is high since we may note that the newspaper industry wide revenue trend is down and not only in The Chronicle Gazette, it also affects New York Times, WSJ as mentioned. Referring to the New York Times Company 2009 Full-year report, their total revenues were down 11.5% which show that the top U.S. newspaper is also affected by economic recession and also the new internet revolution. Some type of competition such as price cut is typically highly destabilizing are likely to erode the average level of profitability in newspaper industry like Apply Daily firstly launch in HK and just sell at $2 when other traditional selling at $5 which erode the whole industry profitability. [Internet user trend :-http://www.c-i-a.com/internetusersexec.htm, accessed on 15th Feb,2010] 4. Internal assessment 4.1. Organizational processes and structure 4.2. HR capabilities Publisher The publisher is responsible for all of the operations procedure of the newspaper in both editorial team and business team. The main duties and aim of the publisher is to monitor that the newspaper run financially healthy and smoothly. Editor The editor is responsible for all the content of the editorial newspaper and monitoring the budgets and cash spent by the editorial and other supplementary of the newspaper. The publisher and editor usually is the same person. Editorial page editor The editorial page editor is responsible for the editorial page, supplementary page and also the op-ed page for the newspaper. Those pages are the letter printed on the editorial pages like letters to the editor, columns by syndicated columnists and guest columns by local people or oversea senders. Managing editor The managing editor is the person who handle and monitor the day-to-day newspaper production and also for the online version as well. City Editor The city editor also called the metro editor whom is in charge of the news coverage of the metro-area in which the newspaper is located or distributed. This position is the most important staff for collecting and analysis the news happened in that area. The city editor usually got the largest portion of staff and assigns most of the local news reporters within a organization. Chief copy editor The chief copy editor is in charge of the newspapers copydesk. The people on the copydesk read news stories and sometimes stories from other sections like through internet to make sure they are written according to the newspapers industry standards legally. The chief copy editor can make the final decisions about the copy contents and who is in charge of the staffing of the desk. Copy editor The copy editor especially well trained to read the stories that other have written and make sure they conform to the rules of grammar and style. A copy editor also performs headlines writing and performs other duties that help produce the newspaper every day. Photo editor The photo editor is not a photographer although he/she is often the case that the photo editor is a promoted from photographer previsely. Photo editor assign photographers and helps select the most outstanding photos that the newspaper will prints. Photographer The photographer takes pictures of local or oversea news events for the newspaper. Photographer have a variety of assignments each day. Larger newspapers have sports photographers focusing on those event. But in order to cut cost, most newspapers photographer will assigned to shoot not only sports stories and sometime will assign for special event shooting.. Graphics editor The graphics editors is the head of the graphics department sometimes also the art department. This editor is in charge of all of the graphics and illustrations produced for the newspaper and online version. Graphic reporter The graphic reporter perform researches and designs informational graphics that support news stories for the newspaper. A graphic reporter is an expertise in graphic forms as well as 3D flash animated graphic and must be able to associate the information that can be used to build graphics. Reporters Reporters are assigned to all the sections of the newspaper to gather news from anywhere. They gather information about events and subject that the newspaper editors had choose to cover. Reporters must know how to find the useful information, skill for interview people, professional sight for observe events and write the information they gather in a way suitable to the paper. 4.3. Financial position Revenues are down across the board caused by information is now freely available to the public through the internet. Traditionally news and advertisement are mainly publish in newspaper since newspaper is the major source for getting news around the state or worldwide and also including the advertisement. But nowadays, those information can be freely access through internet and to be more up-to-date information can be reach easily in many other interacted presentation like real time camera of the news location, promoting product with movie clip and sound demonstration and also for example mobile phone, manufacturer starting to use Flash 3D to model the real phone with all feature for reader to try out the new feature and functions of the phone in order make purchasing interest. Advertising market had being share with Internet and other media like television pay TV etc 4.4. Marketing/sales capabilities The recent marketing trend switching to publish news and other advertisement through Internet and other interactive media. Sales revenue source had switch from newspaper copy to internet base in recent few years. Referring to the New York Times 2009 annual report, newspaper advertising revenues had dropped dramatically and lucky they had develop an online version and trying to adopt the loses from newspaper advertisement and luckily they had get successful reflected by their annual report. The Chronicle Gazette already had a sales team for handling customer advisement and we only have to restructure those them and make necessary investment on those equipments required for digitalize publishing through Internet or television. Sales capabilities are possible as Chronicle Gazette got strong customer base and both parties had need to keep abreast of the latest technology and also can adopt another segment of customer in order to widen the vision and services base. Also its the only way can make survival in this industry as its the trend of the coming future. 4.5. Operational capabilities Operational capabilities can be viewed by value-chain analysis to determine the competitive advantage of Chronicle Gazette, since Chronicle Gazette is a leading newspaper in a major metropolitan area and reaching paid circulation of 225,000 customers and ranked as first-rate newspaper over the years which mean they had built up a strong loyalty with reader. Considering the outbound logistics which approach the newspaper can be distribute on time to the retailer and also can deliver the internet version simiutainstly for subscriber. Inbound logistics like material- paper and ink can deliver to printing factory on time to reach Just-In-Time production is the aim. Operation can be make more efficient like utilize the use of Internet and E-mail to deliver the reports and photos to central office for press release in order the shorten the time and cost. Quality of the reported contents and advertisement must be reviewed by chief editor before press release, organize a clear workflow for e ach department to avoid any job duplicate and make it work with procedure smoothly. Currently Chronicle Gazette have no online version, IT capability require to implement and fund may require for investage in IT equipments like servers, internet access, web-site designer and cam-recorder etc., security issues may also need to consider since some confidential and privacy content may easily expose through internet and somehow each subscriber got different limits of access authority which related to their payment level or country. 4.6. Strengths and weaknesses Here is the SWOT analysis listed the evaluation of those opportunities and threats in the business environment. Strengths Opportunities Stay at the leading newspaper in major metropolitan area. High circulation rate and won awards for their hard work over the years. Loyalty built up with readers. Traditionally style enjoyed with readers. Setup online version to compete with other newspaper. Providing discount subscription fee for online user to attract customer. Weaknesses Threats No online version of newspaper. No animated graphic and video clip features. Release time restriction due to its printed material. Insufficient on online publishing experience. Online page layout may not be accepted by old customer. High investment for IT equipments. 5.) Marketing Strategy Recently Chronicle Gazette only sold at retail stores, counter and shop which covered in major metropolitan area and being a leading first-rated newspaper in those area. Providing web based newspaper for online subscription with discounted price. Providing some free news headline to attract customer and web-surfer to read in-depth and make them hungry for details thereby to become a subscriber. Also offering classified subscription for subscriber to select what they want to see and removing other unwanted news materials by their account. Setting up a loyalty program for contact base subscription such as subscribe for 2 years will have 20% discount and 1 year with 10% discount offer from Chronicle Gazette. The 24 hours online version of Chronicle Gazette can be update periodically like 2 to 3 hours for the latest news which can have additional photos and video clips for more details. In order to take care of the blind people, vocal news report can be also available in the online version. Customize page layout can be personalize to display what they want in the main page and also welcome for subscriber to provide suggestion and new for the editor. Student subscription in very attractive price and arrange delivery service to their school after the peak hour so that we can utilize the uses of our transportation team and also can maintaining worker have available job to draw the social responsibility out. Additional student supplement post can be attached which those report can be directly related to student or submit by school tutor and student. Q A forum and some education quiz can be containing in the supplement for enhancing the knowledge of student. Meanwhile we can provide the market requirement for specialist and business trend analysis for student to plan their future job direction. Those attractive package offered to student can build up loyalty and attract them for subscription after graduated. Strengthen with the connection with Newspaper Association of America for those domestic and oversea newspapers, commercial radio and television broadcasts which have a great opportunity for corporation. Those representative can share the hardship in their group and other organization may providing suggestion and experience to get survival. All sales strategies through this multi-channel/direction approach with different price strategies can utilize our current asset and production capacity and showing that we have care in all level of people. 6. Steps for The Chronicle Gazette to deal with challenges The step for The Chronicle Gazette might take in order to deal with the challenges can have the following:- Short-term plan which react within one year: Implement the online version of chronicle Gazette and consult with I.T. specialist for setting up the first release. Investigate on those equipments and make necessary funding and financial plan. Strengthen the current Sales Marketing team to adopt the new challenges and providing I.T. training and explanation for all staffs. Reduce the redundant staffs and suggesting early retirement for elderly staff with attractive scheme. Promoting saving of office electricity, paper and other equipments and cut some un-necessary expense from staff which will not affect their normal report activities and operation. Promoting direct sales of the newspaper with delivery service together with the discount price. Attracting more customers for pre-payment to increase the company cash flow for further implementation. Introducing the coming online version and interactive advertisement for old and current advertiser and show them the coming trend and advantage for those advertising media and plan for coming development. Launching a free copy version to increase the customer base and coordinate with advertiser to providing their product discount coupons to achieve win-win situation. Increasing the content of the newspaper such as putting additional recruitment ads, Buy sell, student special column etc to widen the reader base. Distributing the newspaper oversea with localize news and report which seek for a way to develop oversea market. Contact those colleges and university to promoting student version newspaper with supreme discount price with delivery service to increase the reader base and build up the future loyalty. Long-term plan which react for two to five years: Review all the department staff job nature and review their education background and working experience to evaluate their job performance and provide necessary opportunity to increase his/her productivities. Aim to cut down the operating expense by 10% to 30% gradually. Re-structure the organization and management team to work more efficiency and know how to work smart in all level of staff. Increase more customer base through different media like the online version and distribute version. Also trying to sell the newspaper for oversea customer. Special free newspaper distribute in crowd business area like Metro, Headline to attract customer/readers. Advertisement revenue may increase in such distributing channel. Enhancing the online version of Chronicle Gazette with fully graphic base and containing real time video news report. Online translated version can be enjoyed by different country people. Vocal version can be implementing for blind people and showing how we approach to take the social responsibility. Attracting different advertising agent and provide them for continuously advertisement placement with discounted price. New report topic and keep expanding into state-wide and foresee the trend to entry to worldwide market instead of regional newspaper. Employing some young people for form a young group for innovation, brave topic publishing. Closely work with the young people trend in order to think and make creation for sharing with readers. Both short term and long term strategies need to implement together which can help Chronicle Gazette to gain back to lose portion of revenues and develop many other income source. I.T. affect not only in the newspaper industries and it affect the entire world already. Currently we stay with information age which most information can be found easily through internet so we must provide reader a correct way and attitude to analysis that information and to recognize the validity. 7. Conclusion Chronicle Gazette revenue downturn due to the losses of the advertising income. Advertiser switching their advertise media from the traditional newspaper to other broadcasting and Internet. In order to capture the lose market share, Information technology required to implement for online version of newspaper and capture back the advertiser to use or service and wide distribution channel. Both short term and long term strategies plan are helpful to make Chronicle Gazette survive and even getting better than before. Keep an eye for the market trend and innovation is the key point to make the business success. To broaden sources of income and reduce expenditure are already true to make the business more successful.

SOME Help to the Homeless Essay -- Essays Papers

SOME Help to the Homeless Every year approximately 2.3 to 3.5 million people go homeless in the United States of America. Twelve million adults in the US were homeless in the year 2001, or are still currently without a permanent home (â€Å"Homelessness in the U.S.†). How does this happen in â€Å"the land of opportunity?† We think of ourselves as one of the greatest nations in the world, yet citizens are living a life of poverty, often without food, clothing, and shelter. When most people think of fighting homelessness, they think of providing medical assistance, showers, and counseling services for those who suffer mental illness, trauma, and substance abuse. Although these necessities are imperative in helping a significant portion of the homeless, they do not eliminate the problem of homelessness because they fail to focus on the structural obstacles, such as income inequality among different social classes and the lack of low-income housing. These impediments are at the ve ry core of the issue. The Washington D.C. based organization So Others Might Eat (SOME) is a highly successful advocate for the eradication of homelessness in its attention to individual problems, such as illness and abuse; however, the organization fails to provide a permanent solution to the problem of homelessness because it does not fully overcome the structural causes of this social crisis. Homeless scholar Talmadge Wright explains that the homeless are victims of the â€Å"previously established notions† that influential members of society bestow on the less fortunate (5). Persuasive officials, mass media, and people of the upper class have the power to influence the community into accepting certain characteristics as normal... ...March 20, 2002. Kraljic, Matthew A. The Homeless Problem. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1992. Laymon, Kiese. â€Å"What Invisibility Sees.† April 10, 2002. . Moller, Sean. Personal interview. 18 April. 2002. â€Å"Salaries for Selected Occupations.† April 16, 2002. . â€Å"President George W. Bush and HUD Secretary Mel Martinez Visit SOME to Emphasize the Importance of Giving.† SOME News Winter 2002. â€Å"What Causes Homelessness?† March 20, 2002. . Wolf, Stephen M. â€Å"A Vicious Cycle.† US Airways Attachà © Feb. 2002. Wright, Talmadge. Out of Place: Homeless Mobilizations, Subcities, and Contested Landscapes. Albany: State University of New York, 1997.

Middle Range Theory Essay

Cohen’s article (2010) addresses the fact that the transition from adolescence to adulthood no longer occurs at age 21. Starting in the 1970’s the U.S. economy changed from a manufacturing economy to a service-based economy. The results are evident today. This economically driven shift changed how people prepared for careers and life. The traditional timing of becoming an adult, marriage, career, children, and financial independence now occurs almost 10 years later than before. Erickson’s would research and create a new sequence of eight stages including of development from 10 years up until now. For each specific conflict at each stage, which allows an individual to develop successfully. Each conflict would have to be extended as a result of the change in the economy today. The effect of resolved conflicts are more appropriate as the result the change of adolescent to adulthood no longer occurring to prevent the transition to the next stage of development. Erickson The most profound life crisis occurs at the fifth stage of development, which can be characterized by rapid physical growth, sexual maturing, concern about the perception of us by others and search of professional calling. The final stage is also crucial, as people asses their life and their achievements. If a man looks back at his life with few regrets, and feels that it was worth living, it leads to a feeling of satisfaction. If, on the contrary, the person feels hopeless, reflects on his mistakes, it leads to a feeling of despair. According to Erickson, if a person achieves a sense of wholeness and self-identity, he will not be afraid of death, and this means that this person has reached the highest form of achievements. References: Cohen, P. (2010). Long road to adulthood is growing even longer. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/13/us/13generations.html?scp=1&sq=Long%20road%20to%20adulthood&st=cse&_r=0 on September 13, 2014. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/13/us/13generations.html?scp=1&sq=Long%20road%20to%20adulthood&st=cse

Marketing Emotiv

Emotiv Case BACKGROUND: By October 2007, Emotiv Systems Inc. had developed a mind reading device called EPOC, which had the ability to process brain signals in order to measure 30 different mental states. Founded in 2003 (with $1 million in startup money from four partners and $17 million in additional financing mainly from Technology Venture Partners and Epicure Capital Partners), the company's research and development team incorporated existing electroencephalography technologies to introduce a relatively inexpensive and effective cognitive and emotional recognition system.Management at Emotiv believed that video gaming applications represented a solid opportunity for the EPOC technology. EPOC would allow gaming users to move onscreen objects or support secondary features using their thought patterns. With the product ready to launch, the company had to decide how to market EPOC. Emotiv wanted to launch the product in 12 to 14 months, in time for the 2008 holiday season.Although it s new product was generating much interest across the gaming industry, it had yet to secure a partnership for the sale and marketing of EPOC with one of the three major video gaming consoles (Sony PlayStation3, Microsoft Xbox 360, and Nintendo Wii). The Nintendo Wii seemed like a perfect fit. The Wii was established to provide interactive movement games for casual users. Thought games seemed like the next natural step for Nintendo. In addition, Wii had a leading 42. 1% share of the gaming market in the United States. Partnering with the leader would certainly give Emotiv more exposure.However, the Wii was not compatible with the EPOC system because it lacked the computational power the run the advanced EPOC system. It would also have made sense for Sony to jump on board with Emotiv, as it was attempting to turn around plummeting sales. However, poor interorganizational conflict within Sony slowed talks between the two companies. Sony's European division did offer Emotiv a contract f or a dumped down version of EPOC, but that was never really a viable option for Emotiv (it would have hurt Emotiv's image and consumer perceptions of EOPC).Microsoft was highly interested, but did not want to be a first mover on the new technology. It wanted to wait for the EPOC to prove its popularity and worth. To further add to Emotiv's problems, there were no games incorporating EPOC yet. It would be very expensive for Emotiv to produce games internally, and the Electronic Arts (the leading gaming manufacturer) had a wait-and-see approach similar to that of Microsoft. It was now time for Emotiv to make decisions on its marketing strategy. Should it wait until it locked in a major gaming partner to launch EPOC?Or should it launch in the PC gaming market? Emotiv also faced many questions related to the price, distribution, and promotion of EPOC. Their choice and the success of the marketing plan would affect the future profitability of the company. RECOMMENDATION: My recommendatio n would be for Emotiv to initially enter to PC gaming market. Even though it was less lucrative than the console gaming market (only a fifth of the size) and continuing to lose market share, the PC market was easier to enter because games featuring EPOC would be relatively simple to produce.By merely releasing compatibility codes, independent users could easily build EPOC applications into new or existing games, representing a stark difference from the cumbersome game development process in the console market. The wide availability of titles would help promote adoption of the new technology and add to customers' perceived value of the product. Even if the company was able to immediately find a console partner, sales may be low due to a scarcity of games for EPOC. I believe Emotiv should price EPOC at the highest price point advised by retailers, which was $399. Emotiv should create an exclusive product and brand.From its price to its distribution to its positioning statement, the co mpany should portray that EPOC gives users a high customer value. On the distribution front, EPOC should be sold on its own website and at specialty electronics retailers such as Brookstone, which is known for offering the latest and most innovative high-tech gizmos. I think a positing statement that would indicate high value and resonate with consumers is â€Å"Imagine the Unimaginable. † (See Exhibit 1 for the ad containing this positioning statement). The statement conveys that EPOC offers a unique experience.This is important because a distinct user experience is the key point of difference that separates EPOC from other products. Brand value is often created through usage and the customer's overall experience. Thus, I would suggest Emotiv produce one game showcasing the best that EPOC has to offer. The game could be bungled in the sale of the EPOC, giving users an initial application and tutorial for the device. The company had a $2. 5 million offer from Demiurge Studios to develop a PC game to give the user a demonstration of the capabilities of mind-controlled interactivity.The game would feature a martial arts master lifting rocks or walking on water using the user's thoughts. Once the company had its EPOC headset and game ready to launch, it should begin to distribute these items to various influential opinion leaders. Distribution to employees at tech magazines and tech television stations would be ideal. Favorable reviews by sources such as PC Magazine as well as G4 TV and Tech TV would quickly spread word about EPOC. Advertising could also be done using these same mediums. The niche hard-core gamers segment routinely follows these media outlets.Therefore, it would make sense to concentrate on these sources. EPOC also had favorable reviews at industry tradeshows. To gain more exposure, I would advise Emotiv to continue to appear at various tradeshows across the nation, and maybe even host their own conference. The high-profile 2008 Game Devel oper's Conference was five months away. Emotiv should use the event to demonstrate their breakthrough product and create enthusiasm by announcing a launch date. The holiday season would be strategic time to launch, as discretionary consumer spending increases during that time.Management's plan was to release EPOC for the 2008 holiday season, and I would encourage Emotiv to stick with that idea. As the company generates attention and increases awareness for EPOC, it will likely gain a partnership with a major console as they had been seeking. At that time, Emotiv could move from the niche hard-gamers segment to a mass marketing strategy that would also target casual gamers that play for entertainment and fun. The inroads created by their initial strategy can help the company achieve this goal. BASIS FOR RECOMMENDATION: The PC gaming market provides a solid first step or the company. There are significantly fewer barriers to entry in this market. Customers in the PC gaming market tend to be hard-core gamers that spend thousands of dollars upgrading their computers. As such, hard-core gamers would likely be the early adopters of EPOC anyway. In fact, the prospect of a brain computer interface was already creating buzz and generating excitement in online hard-core gamer blogs. I feel that the hard-core gamer segment is a strong target segment, and natural first step for EPOC. Gaming for hard-core users is a lifestyle.They use video games and peripherals for the experience and seek as much reality as possible. EPOC fits this group's needs perfectly, and provides substantial customer value. Thus, a high price tag would be warranted. The price skimming would give Emotiv more flexibility as it eventually moves into the mass market. From a cost benefit standpoint, the move is an optimal strategy. The PC market generates higher margins because the company does not have to pay royalties to console partners. The fee in the console market is usually between 3% and 4% of sa les.Selling the EPOC in Brookstone is a good strategy to target customer looking for the next cool gadget (Brookstone would attract this type of customer), but the company would also be able to negotiate much better terms than the 35% margins that Best Buy demands. Emotiv should be able to exploit hard-core gamers due to the concentrated nature of that market. Adverting costs would be kept minimal, as ads in tech magazines and on television stations command much lower rates than would primetime placements to target the mass market.At a price of $399, the company would need to sell 213,399 units by the end of 2009 in order the breakeven (See Exhibit 2 for a full breakeven analysis). This seems like an attainable sales level for the company. With time, I believe EPOC will become popular enough to move to the mass market. Following the successful launch of EPOC, Microsoft, Sony, and Electronic Arts would be more willing to work with Emotiv. The pace at which the industry adopts EPOC de pends on many factors. An opportunity for the company to accelerate the conversion from niche to mass markets would be a partnership with an influential company like Apple.Their products are widely recognized as being highly innovative. An iPad app that supported the EPOC system could drive sales, making EPOC mainstream quicker. (See Exhibit 3 for a full SWOT analysis for Emotiv). Once the EPOC technology is adopted by the major consoles, I believe its growth can be similar to that of Guitar Hero. Like Guitar Hero, EPOC is an add-on device that creates an interactive experience for the user. The video game industry is rapidly changing, and casual fans are increasingly demanding the kind of games that EPOC can provide.An optimistic sales forecast once the EPOC reaches the mass market could be estimated with an analogy to Guitar Hero (See Exhibit 4 for an optimistic EPOC sales forecast by analogy to Guitar Hero sales). Once EPOC becomes mainstream, sales could quickly increase to more than one million units annually. Although advertising expenses, distribution costs, and royalties paid to console and video game manufacturers would increase, the company would realize a cost savings for manufacturing. After one million units, the incremental cost per unit drops from $110 to $60.ASSUMPTIONS AND UNCERTAINTIES: In the breakeven analysis, I assumed that Brookstone would receive a 20% margin on the sale of EPOC, significantly lower than the 35% margin that Best Buy demands. I am assuming that hard-core gamers will pay an elevated price for a product that provides mainly secondary features, as hard-core gamers usually play fast-paced shooting games that have less of a need for EPOC in the main features of the game. There is also a huge assumption that EPOC will be successful enough to encourage a console maker to adopt the technology.Finally, comparing EPOC to Guitar Hero would be the best case scenario for Emotiv. Casual gamers are harder to reach than hard-core gamers . They could be highly price sensitive (EPOC will be priced at $399 compared to Guitar Hero's $99 price) and expensive to attract (because they are more fragmented and ad space on primetime television would be more costly). EPOC will also have to compete with demand for newer versions of Guitar Hero, which could cut into its sales. ACTION STEPS: Emotiv should immediately contact Demiurge Studios, so it can have the tutorial game ready as soon as possible.Emotiv should showcase EPOC at the 2008 Game Developer's Conference in March 2008. At this point, it should distribute the headset and game to influential opinion leaders across the gaming industry. Hopefully this will create buzz for the release of EPOC. The release should be slighly ahead of the holiday shopping season, in early November 2008. As sales build, the company should continue to target a partnership with a console maker and game producer. By the beginning of 2010, they should have won a contract and be positioned to mas s market EPOC.At this point, their marketing strategy would change. The increased demand facilitated by the console market will give the company higher revenues and profits, giving it more financial flexibility to advertise on primetime television and distribute its products in Best Buy stores. In time, perhaps the company could use its talented research and development team to build even more advanced devices for the gaming market, or even expand the distribution of EPOC for other uses, including applications in the medical, military, market research, and business sectors. See Exhibit 5 for a complete time line for Emotiv). Exhibit 1. Print advertisement for EPOC using its positioning statement. Imagine the Unimaginable Emotiv's EPOC Exhibit 2. Breakeven analysis for years one (2008) and two (2009). Fixed Costs| | | Startup investment | | $1,000,000 | Additional financing used *** | | +$9,500,000 | Cost to produce video martial arts games| | +$2,500,000 | Expected operating expense s for 2008 | | +$11,086,000 | Expected operating expenses for 2009| | +$20,557,000 | Expected total fixed costs| | $44,643,000 | | | Contribution| | | Price | | $399 | Retailers Margins (Price * 20%)| | -$79. 80 | Emotiv's Revenues| | $319. 20 | Cost of Goods Sold| | | (Manufacturing Cost is $110 per unit for the first million units produced)| -$110 | Total contribution per unit | | $209. 20 | | | | | | | Breakeven (fixed costs/contribution)| | 213,399| | | | | | | ***| | | Additional financing raised | $17,000,000 | | Capital still on hand| $7,500,000 | | Additional financing used | $9,500,000 | | Exhibit 3. SWOT analysis for Emotiv.Strengths * Superior quality * Emotiv's EPOC was the best mind- reading device on the market * Technological leader * Its research and development team was highly experienced and innovative, giving the company the ability to continue to improve EPOC and perhaps develop another product in order to move into another gaming category or market segment| Weak nesses * EPOC could be inconsistent * The human mind works differently on different days and times, which can confuse the algorithm behind EPOC * The EPOC is not compatible with the Nintendo Wii, hurting its growth chances since Wii has a leading market share in the console market * No games are currently available for EPOC, which could slow adoption rates by decreasing the value customers receive from the product | Opportunities * Efficiently target hard-core gamers since they are a concentrated group that would likely have an high interest in EPOC and act as early adopters of the technology * Eventually target the mass market once gaming console companies realize the value of the EPOC, allowing the company to experience robust sales similar to those of Guitar Hero * Could increase penetration rate sooner if an innovative leader such as Apple accepts ts technology | Threats * Although EPOC was the most advanced mind-reading device on the market, Emotiv still faced the threat of com petition from other firms * NeuroSky and OCZ Technology were both developing mind-reading devices (although inferior to EPOC) that could be marketing for video gaming applications, which could cut into its market share * Consumers may have unjustifiably high expectations from EPOC (someone once asked if it could move objects in real space), which could lead to customer disappointment and bad reviews| Exhibit 4. Sales Forecast for 2011 once EPOC is mass marketed to all video game players. Under an optimistic scenario, sales of EPOC will mirror sales of Guitar Hero. Exhibit 5. Time line for Emotiv. OCTOBER 2007: Sign a $2. 5 million contract with Demiurge Studios to develop a PC game to be sold with EPOC that demonstrates the capabilities of mind-controlled interactivity. MARCH 2008: Appear at the 2008 Game Developer's Conference. Showcase EPOC and announce that it will be released in November 2008.APRIL 2008: Begin creating buzz for EPOC's launch by sending headsets and the accompany ing PC game to influential opinion leaders at Tech TV and PC magazine. OCTOBER 2008: Create more consumer awareness through advertisements. Target hard-core video game players by running ads on Tech TV and in PC magazine. NOVEMBER 2008: Launch EPOC in time for the start of the 2008 holiday season. Commence its distribution agreement with Brookstone. MARCH 2009: Wait for sales figure for the fourth quarter. Then resume talks with Sony, Microsoft, and Electronic Arts for a partnership to market EPOC. Show them sales statistics for EPOC, which could help demonstrate the success and popularity of the product. JANUARY 2010: Hopefully sign a contract with one of the major console makers.OCTOBER 2010: Prepare to release EPOC for a gaming console. Start advertising on primetime television to capture the mass market. NOVEMBER 2010: Release EPOC for a gaming console in time for the start of the 2010 holiday season. Expand distribution to include Best Buy. MARCH 2011: Conduct research on EPOC upgrades. NOVEMBER 2012: Introduce a new and improved EPOC 2 model. If consumers are satisfied with the first model, repeat sales volume will be high. MARCH 2013: Begin research to expand its product line beyond video games, perhaps for medical, military, market research, or business applications. NOVEMBER 2015: Launch a new product in a new sector. Similar essay: Reed Supermarkets: a New Wave of Competitors