Personal Expectations Essay

For many years I have set goals for myself, but did not totally accomplish all of them. So this time I decided to make up a philosophy that will motivate me. My philosophy is: Never sell myself short. If I make an effort I can achieve my goals. Success is not going to knock on my door. I have to go out and get it. Especially since I was raised in a family that has so much ambitions and talents. I’m constantly being advise that I need to follow the family traits that have lead them to an road of being financially stable. That’s another theory that also helped motivate my return to higher education at the University of Phoenix. Since I have made such a tremendous step to learn online. I must now focus on what types of expectations/achievements that I want for myself, that will guide me to the end of my undergraduate degree at University of Phoenix. Well my first expectation is to find a way to adapt to my everyday routines including school. It’s been so easy in the past when I first attended college because I didn’t have so much on my plate. But now since I been joggling work, school, and most importantly my son, in a twenty-four hour day, it’s been very hard. Considering how hard it is, I must say I’m very blessed to have the strength to go through each day. I definitely think I am a well-rounded person who has the prudential to achieve the courses that will better my knowledge for a better future. I think if I start analyzing a daily schedule I will have the time to be more relaxed and focus when it comes to school time. I want to be able to concentrate on my assignments, by making sure they are always decent and deadlines are meant. I also want to be able to understand and take heed on what I’ve learn when the course is over, because that will allow me to applied all area’s of study together which will result in how much I have learn. I also want to be able to look back at my results ten years from now and see if all my goals were achieved. My second expectation is to go beyond and above my expectations, by producing a high GPA at University of Phoenix and to achieve those goals I need to be able to find a style of studying. I know this is the most difficult issue I have stumbled with in previous times. I never actually took the time to sit down and sort out what my weaknesses were. But I now have to be stern with  myself and realized that time and money is at hand. The first step I think I need to take is what is the best time of the day for me to study? And how can I make myself understand the concept of the material in the course? Thanks to GEN101 discussions assignments I found the best time for me to study was in the evening, when I can forget about all the papers on my desk and put my son to sleep. For my second answer, which I gained from GEN 101, is that I can learn to understand a lecture by relating my own issues. These concepts will be a tremendous help with my further courses that I look forward to overpow er. The third expectation is to graduate from the University of Phoenix and sell my potential’s to Corporate America. I want to be able to stand out and be seen as one of University of Phoenix global achiever’s. I want to know that I am well qualified to make an educated decision in my future company. I also want my educated background to have a significant impact on others that are willing to learn. Finally, if I follow the milestone that I set for myself I will be a successful woman. I will not be excluded from job promotions and raises. Never the less settle for less than I’m worth. I can then look back at these expectations/achievements and wonder how life would have been if I didn’t go back to college. Also I can save these examples for my children to reflect upon and in courage them on what education has to offer. My family will also be content and excited with my accomplishments. They will then realize that I am ready to encounter what life has to offer.

Internet Marketing Saves Time and Cost

Term paper â€Å"Internet marketing saves time and cost† Nowadays because of technological changes it becomes very easy for every marketer to market the product or business through internet. The growth of Internet technology has enormous potential as it reduces the costs of product and service delivery and extends geographical boundaries in bringing buyers and sellers together. The Internet provides opportunities for an organization to enhance its business in a cost-effective and practical manner.It became easy to do marketing research, reach markets serve customers better, distribute products faster, solve customer problems, and communicate more efficiently with business partners. It saves the time and cost as well that could be the cost of market research, advertising, reaching the customers etc. E-commerce also creates value for customers in many ways. Customers are considered as a market of one. They can access a greater variety of products, often at lower prices.Using the internet and related technologies to complete significant marketing activities is known as e-marketing or electronic marketing. The ways that some marketing activities are performed have changed as businesses have turned to e-commerce. Customers are like lifeblood of an organization. They are also considered as a KING of the market because a customer decides whether he is going to buy anything from you or anybody else that anybody could be your business rival as well. It is your duty to satisfy your customer and let him stick with you forever.And will convince their family and friends too to be your customer if they are satisfied with your product and services. Mostly online customers are innovators or risk takers who do not hesitate to try new and unique products and check the services of different organizations. If a business person want to sell products online it should turn its marketing efforts towards the early adopters. Internet marketing also has greater impact on marketing mix especially on promotion of the products. There is a broad range of products marketed on the Internet that range from consumable goods to durable goods.Services marketed on the Internet also range from online newspapers to business-wide consultation. In digital services business-support services are the activities that support businesses in developing and delivering digital products and services. Business-support services include web design, web site hosting. Consumer services are the activities that support consumer access to and use of internet resources and digital information. New and innovative products are now developed because of the change in technology. The demands of the customers are also increasing because of it.It became easy for marketer to set price online and earn more profit because it reduces the cost of the advertising and marketing like billboards, newspapers and TV ads etc. Businesses use a promotional mix to reach their objectives. A promotional mix include s advertising, personal selling, sales promotions, and hypermedia. Today, most e-commerce promotional campaigns require a combination of traditional methods. Each element of the promotional mix has strengths for reaching specific communication goals. Promotional placement in a medium is known as advertising.The internet is the fastest-growing advertising Medium. Telemarketing and direct mail were attempts to personalize advertisement in order to make it more effective. These direct marketing approaches worked fairly well but were expensive and slow and seldom truly one-to-one interactive. The Internet introduces the concept of interactive marketing, which has enabled advertisers to interact directly with customers. Banner ads act like placement ads in print media. To catch a viewer's eye, banner ads are now using animation, java programming, and multimedia.Banner ads are useful in creating awareness of products and in communicating information about them. Distribution is an importan t part of any marketing transaction. Many businesses aim to gain competitive advantage by using E-Systems to de-layer the distribution chain. For example, Dell supplies customers directly, rather than through distributors, wholesalers or retailers. It is cheap but risky if u fail to deliver on time you can lose a valuable customer. It is significant for managers to understand what value is, how it is created and how it could be added.The internet provides many opportunities for companies to increase economic utility and, therefore, customer satisfaction. As time is money, through internet marketing there is no need to WAIT, for a revised version, updating is quick, automatic, and prompt as required. Adding more pages to a document online involves virtually no expense compared to the additional cost. One can provide more information to the customers. One can reach more customers than ever before and it does not cost a penny more. Internet marketing allows the customers to research an d purchase products and services at their wn leisure. Through internet marketing the marketer access to valuable information which determines which messages and offerings are more important and effective with the consumer. This method equates to faster results because online marketing intiaties usually requires the user to click on an ad, visit a website, and or perform a target action. Internet marketing is a smooth and hassle-free media of promotion, advertisement. It saves time and is cost effective than the traditional marketing style. Millions of homebuyers hit the internet for information.Internet homebuyers make better clients. References: Scott F. Geld (2003) Marketing is whatever you do to promote and grow your business including market research, advertising, publicity, sales, merchandising and distribution. Internet marketing uses the sources of online business networks and interactive media to reach marketing objectives†¦no paper, no telephone, no call, no in person appearances. Electro versions of catalogs, brochures, white papers, data sheets etc don’t have to print, store or shipped to your customer. A question arises?What about the manpower/lady power cost? You no longer require as many people to handle mailing and distribution of your marketing collateral more savings! Wrent Nest (2010) If one takes the advantage of the web for promoting and advertising purposes, businesses not just reach their target viewers but they can track the achievements of a campaign since the figures and success rates of the campaign is really an easy task to trace. This provides the businesses with strong statistics on whether or not their marketing strategies are profitable or if they want enhancement.Julie Rotter (www. jrotter. biz) In addition to the huge audience of an excellent prospective client, the internet offers both convenience and cost effectiveness than that traditional media; websites are more engaging and informative than even the best broch ures. Emails make it easier and cheaper to keep in touch with existing clients. One does not need to have a four or five-figure marketing budget to create a professional online presence. Julie Hume (2012) A website is like an expensive box of chocolates.The outer carton may have a satin finish, the letters embossed in copper foil, the edges die-cut love hearts and the whole wrapped in a purple satin ribbon. Gorgeous! Who cares? Let me at the chocolate say that pretty box its job and enticed the browser to buy. How happy will be the purchase if its contents are past the sell by date, the chocolates covered in mold and the sweet centre fermented and rotten. EEEW. she put hell emphasis on creating a website not only saves the time and cost but act as an influencer to make a purchase or experience it!For examples Wikipedia and Craigslist now a good visual sites but still a center an attraction for gaining the information. Website link (www. urbanroute. com) Improve your Competitive Edge Expand Customer Base and target Audience Increase referrals and word of mouth Boost sales, repeat business and customer loyalty Save time and money by reducing marketing costs Build customer trust / Protect your customers privacy Rashad Yazdanifard1, Melissa Venpin2, Wan Fadzilah Wan Yusoff 3, Mohammad Rabiul Islam4([email  protected] om) Internet marketing (IM) is also known as digital marketing, web marketing, online marketing, or e-marketing. As the name states, it is the advertising of products or services over the Internet. However, it also implies marketing through the wireless media and through e-mail. It helps us in creating good relationships with our customers and makes our life easy. Initially internet was used by fresh graduates and the bigger organizations for smooth working but now it became a trend to use internet and people that do not have internet at their home or offices are considered as backward.Now being trendy means that you are using internet and finding s olutions of your problems on it instead of going to a consultant personally. Because Internet grew in only five years and there are no barriers for time or location, marketing online has become the new era in E-commerce with petty variable cost per customer. Now internet is considered as the easy and somehow necessary tool of marketing for that reason website designers are hired who make the websites interesting and attractive for the customers.A well designed Web site can lead to an interesting, low cost means for sales promotion to worldwide customers. Shopping on the Internet is convenient as there is no time restriction, it is comfortable since it is in a user friendly environment and there is also an instant satisfaction of ordering, paying and delivering. Enhancing brand image, creating awareness and providing customer service are more important than just selling the products or entertaining customers. David C.Gilbert, Jan Powell-Perry and Santander Widijoso (1999), â€Å"App roaches by hotels to the use of the Internet as a relationship marketing tool†, Journal of Marketing Practice: Applied Marketing Science, Vol. 5 Internet marketing will become even more important in the future. As more companies will have access to the Internet, they will start doing business over the Internet. China’s economy will be in another dimension with E-commerce where customer focus, responsible business practices and innovation are the determinants of success and not customer relationship.With a decrease in communication prices, more customers will shift to the Internet as well. Customers will look for a business on the Web since there are unique opportunities for marketing a company’s service, selling products and gathering information on the Net. The marketing mix plays an important role in IM in E-commerce; deciding what type of advertising best suit customers through the Web. This is the new era of innovation; where everyone will be interacting on t he Web. Conclusion:We’ve concluded from the articles of above mentioned authors that the Internet network is a marketing network use by advertisers, marketers, and society to find the right combination of marketing mix to best suit customer’s needs. It is important for a company of this era to have access to the Internet to be more successful. Internet marketing does not only target consumers, but also Internet advertisements client marketers from companies. Internet brings new issues that must be considered and may require a rethinking of the existing marketing mix. The internet allows companies to mass customize a wide range of products.Internet makes pricing and competitor information faster and more transparent, meaning that market forces also tend to act faster and perhaps more efficiently. People do not have much time now to be spent on shopping so in this era of fast technology internet plays vital role because now people rely mostly on online shopping than goin g personally to the shops. For this companies hire web designers who make the websites attractive and innovative for the customers. The most effective online shopping appeal for consumers is not to â€Å"save time† but to do more or to get more done!

Computer Laboratory Management System

Purpose It is the project about Computer-shop management System. It automates the Systems records, their Selling and Maintenance, Balance evaluation, due to calculation other functions. In other words you can say it a complete computer-shop management System. In this project we can easily maintain systems sales details. It gives information’s of Annual Transaction of products, its services, daily sales, daily Receipt & Balance. We can see the Systems details before selling the particular items & view for our requirement-satisfying item detail. Project ScopeThe scope of project ‘Computer-shop management system’ is to Develop Visual Basic based software to support for daily sale, receipt & Balance of products and maintain the all information of System related items. This software will be very useful for the Big Computer Shop as well as the customer. It will perform as the required task of Automation of product by itself in a systematic way. 8 It will also save lots of time, as system will perform all tasks in quick time profiting customer and shop owner as well, so it will prove very economical in every respect. Product PerspectiveThe Computer-shop Management System is the new, self-contained product. The Computer-shop management system is using vb6. 0 platform. All components follow Model-View-Controller pattern. The user can retrieve information of their shop progress. All pages of the system are following a consistent theme and clear structure. The occurrence of errors should be minimized through the use of checkboxes and scroll down in order to reduce the amount of text input from user. Error message should be located beside the error input which clearly highlight and tell user how to solve it. If system error, it should provide the contact methods.The page should display the project process in different color to clearly reflect the various states. Each level of user will have its own interface and privilege to mange and modify the project information. User interface elements are easy to understand. Part of user interface is wellorganized on screen and the parts are concatenated right. When users look at the interface, they understand which pane is used for which purpose. Each task of an interface is specified clearly and users use them correctly. For example, when users press to any button on interface, they can know which operations are done by pressing this button.The user interface is easy to learn. When users use the user interface, they can know which element is used to which operations. The interface actions and elements is consistent. When users press any button, required actions is done by the system. The screen layout and color of the user interface is appealing. When users look at the screen, it will have a nice vision. Colors will be selected clearly, thus eyes of users won’t be tired. To inhance the graphical user interface I use xp button, lv button and vk frame. Since the application must run on the PC, all the hardware shall require to

Evaluation of Safety-Critical Software Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Evaluation of Safety-Critical Software - Essay Example To that end, there were several attempts to measure the dependability of safety-critical software. Similarly, Harlan Mills and his colleagues had developed a process called â€Å"clean room† that utilized independent testing groups to act as end users of programmable devices and were said to generate reliable results than the common practice of software professionals who performed a series of carefully planned tests to measure the reliability of their owned inventions. All things considered, an exhaustive mathematical test, not only based on intuitive reasoning, must be conducted to ensure the trustworthiness of safety-critical software. Programmable computers are tools that provide convenience to the end users, however, devices that are controlled by safety-critical software can threaten lives of people, as well. To that end, an extreme discipline in design in the making is needed. Data and related information should be laid out in a way that it could be easily comprehended by an independent group of testers. That is to say that â€Å"clean room† as developed by Harlan Mills and company must be applied to prevent unbiased results. Human errors often occurred, especially when software professionals would try to self-assist their own works. With this in mind, why engineers had chosen software instead of hardware? In the first place, software components were less expensive than hard-wired logic. These components were massed produced. Secondly, logic, in theory, that was implemented on software could be easily changed than of the one implemented on the hard-wired device. Lastly, software is more flexible than of non-computerized system. For instance, the modern computer technology could provide more information to the end users in a more convenient manner. Less space and power were needed to produce this information.

HISTORY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 5

HISTORY - Essay Example The aim of Grady was to develop a dynamic and prosperous country. After the fire accident in the year 1864, the city of Atlanta raised to a much beautiful and bold city. Since then, leaders like Grady wanted America to be one among the best countries in the world. He wished the New South to be a united and democratic place. The main aim of Grady was to bring a nation where people had the freedom to express their views. He wanted to bring about a change in the history of America. This was made possible since southern nation changed to a nation with more freedom. Grady aspired to make New South a place with diversity. Since agriculture was the only form of occupation, it did not yield much of an income. Then Grady wanted the people to work in all the fields like the people of Northern nations. (Grady 1890).He wanted to indulge people in all sorts of industries and improve their standard of living. Grady encouraged the public to invest in capital funds which will improve the financial status of the country. Another aim of Grady was to improve the industries so that job opportunities would increase. Grady wished to abolish labor unions and slavery. This was ruining the people of America. Another major aim of Grady was to remove racism and treat everyone as same. He strived hard to put an end to racism. Due to racism, many Americans and African-Americans found it difficult to work in the industries. A high rate of difference was prevailing in the industries which led Grady to abolish racism. African-Americans were not given opportunity to work in the industries were Americans were working. After a struggle Grady managed to change this situation. Blacks were also treated as other Americans. His dream of bringing blacks into â€Å"New South† came true. This gradually led to the improvement in the lives of slaves. Many people were living in the South as slaves’ pre and post war. (Grady 1890).Grady freed the slaves from the Southern job market. He initiated a

Consent theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Consent theory - Essay Example Searching consent implies first of all the ability to communicate about the most advantageous results of their discussion. Deliberate behaviour by consent with coercion is a contradictoriness in its roots, since nobody can make a consent compulsory or obligatory. Each action should by controlled by moral principles (which have naturally come from Rousseau's philosophy of 'kind' human nature). Thus, theory of consent is related to some kind of convergence among people as well as inner consent, which leads to creation of stable moral obligations (Lennartz, 2005). Rawls, who is an outstanding scholar, speaks about the obligations that people identify as "self-imposed," as if each person her or himself really participates in the creation of the principles of righteousness. In addition, Samuel Freeman, who defends Rawl's concepts, writes: "In committing themselves to these principles, free and equal citizens willingly impose upon themselves certain constraints on future decision-making . . . This precommitment is general, because it is made by and applies to everyone" (Freeman, 1993). Consent theory was expected to offer a concept of political autonomy, such that one can state that their obligation to a state was to some extent consequent from their free action as a personality among politically equal personalities. Such self-sufficiency demands that the philosophy one follows be the product of their deliberative development. "It is not enough simply for it to be the deliberative process that someone exactly like me would use, in other words, i ndicative of my unique experiences and faculties, because this would allow the deliberation of someone who knew me incredibly well to count as mine. It must be the deliberation that I actually intentionally undergo" (Cushing, 2001). In order to exemplify the awareness of making choice, let's imagine the following two 'methods' of shopping. The first way is common: a person picks the goods out him/herself and pays the bill at the end of shopping, as this person has gained an obligation by one's deliberate action. The second way is more complicated: one's robot double, programmed with all experiences and tastes of this person, goes shopping, chooses exactly what the human would choose in similar conditions and picks the goods out for this person. In the latter case, it is clear that the person has no obligation to pay for the goods, since he/she does not choose them. The person would have chosen, but in fact the person did not make a choice. Similarly, the consent theory required actual act of consent or choice, which is followed by entire awareness of one's actions.The most important limitation of consent theory (which probably rubs out the most part of its significance) is its conceptual utopicity. The level of public political culture in our society is quite low, and people follow rules and legislative obligations due to the fear of being punished. People could not rely on the way others adopt common consent, as based on the principle of personal freedom, the theory rejects law enforcement of the consent. As Cushing correctly notes, "there would be a similar assurance problem with Rawls's duty-based account because citizens will not believe that others will comply simply because the relevant institutions "apply" to them" (Cushing, 2001). Thus, an essential perception of our society's political culture

Investigate whether Financial Conservative Policies Depend on Dissertation

Investigate whether Financial Conservative Policies Depend on Financial Distress - Dissertation Example New York, USA: McGraw-Hill. 23 Gravetter, F. J. & Wallnau, L. B. (2009) Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences. USA: Cengage. 23 Healey, J. F. (2009) The Essentials of Statistics: A Tool for Social Research. USA: Cengage. 23 A. Appendix 25 Abstract Financial conservatism is one of the most important reflectors of the financial state of a company. Ordinarily, such an attitude is adopted by companies which are either in financial distress or operate in a rather risky environment. Financial conservatism could be decomposed into cash conservatism and leverage conservatism each of which are again decided after taking into consideration a number of parameters. There typically is a debate about the degree of accuracy with which a financially distressed company is found to adopt financially conservative policies. The present paper takes up this subject and attempts to empirically analyze the same on the basis of around 950 USA firms, with data collected between 1998 and 2006. A panel data lo git regression model had been set up firstly to assess cash conservatism, then leverage conservatism and finally financial conservatism. ... These policies typically, reflect an environment where the companies are endowed with large cash balances and low leverage. While high cash balance indicates the presence of huge fund reserves to the company while, low leveraged financial structure implies that the concerned firm prefers turning towards equity financing over debt financing when they need funds for investment. However, maintaining such a stance might not necessarily mean that the concerned company is operating in a financially distressful environment. When firms find it difficult to meet their financial obligations to their creditors or fail to meet the same, they are considered as traversing through a phase of financial distress. But, financial conservatism might not imply that the firm in question is in a distressful phase of time; it might even mean that the entity is trying to shield itself against too much openness, which could land it up in a mess. However, one important factor which could be cited at this point is that financially conservative policies are highly transitory in nature. The present paper is targeted towards an examination of the extent to which financial conservatism is a suitable reflector of whether the company in question is literally amidst financially distressful phase or not. 1.1 Research Aims and Objectives The present paper attempts to assess whether firms which maintain a financially conservative policy are actually victims of financial distress or not. There is a high possibility of detecting a company’s financial situation through examining its financial policies. Empirically it had been found that in situations where a particular company is found to align to financially conservative policies over a considerable period of time, it generates some useful

You can decide Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

You can decide - Essay Example fected the atmosphere surrounding the hoax, as with the discovery of fossils found in countries like Germany and France, and the recent publishing of Darwin’s theory of evolution kept scientists very curious to see what new fossil regarding man’s existence would suffice. 8. Woodward was an eminent geologist who accompanied Dawson to Piltdown town in order to visit the site where the fossil skull was found. They dug the site where the skull was found and found the remains of prehistoric animals, stone age tools and an ape-like jaw bone with human-like teeth that seemed to link to the skull that was initially found at the site. 11. The significance of the canine tooth that was found was to eliminate all forms of doubt that came with the reconstruction of the ancient skull by Woodward. If the canine matched its size in accordance with the jaw that was found, Smith would be able to endorse his predictions. 12. The second Piltdown man was found just two miles from where the first Piltdown man was found and was discovered by Dawson. The second find was very significant as it acted as proof of the first finding and also helped enforce how genuine the first find was. 13. Kenneth Oakley was a scientist working at London’s Natural History Museum. Kenneth was the man who applied chemical tests on the fossils so as to help authenticate and date the fossils and whose test rendered the fossils as fake as they were much younger than was expected. 14. The jaw and the canine tooth were believed to have been forged. The jaw was believed to have maybe been an orangutan’s and the teeth had simply been filed flat so as to disguise them, and the canine tooth appeared to have been crudely filed in a hurry and colored with paint. 15. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle passed by the digging site where the fossils were discovered while on his golfing rounds, and the possibility of him planting some of the fossils that were found acted as evidence of his involvement in

Double negative gravitational renderer Research Paper

Double negative gravitational renderer - Research Paper Example The simulation was done as part of the making of Christopher Nolan’s Oscar-winning movie Interstellar. The images were a result of the spinning black hole which was dragging bits of the universe along with it and causing the caustics around it to be stretched severally around the spinning black hole: These multiple images are caused by the black hole dragging space into a whirling motion and stretching the caustics around itself many times. It is the first time that the effects of caustics have been computed for a camera near a black hole, and the resulting images give some idea of what a person would see if they were orbiting around a hole. To create the simulation of the spinning black hole, DNGR maps the paths of millions of light beams along their respective cross-sections (that are evolving in real time) as they come into the black holes warped space-time continuum. DNGR created clear and very smooth images of a wormhole and with a glowing accretion disk that had parts th at swung over and under the wormhole’s shadow and even infront of the shadow’s equator thus resulting to an image of a split shadow. This phenomena was a result of gravitational lensing, which is a process where light beams from several locations on the disk or even from distant stars are bent before arrival at the simulated camera; thus resulting to the mind-blowing surreal images of the celestial body.

The Importance of Socialization Essay Example for Free

The Importance of Socialization Essay The Importance of Socialization In my research I used Down to Earth Sociology as well as the video on Genie. Socialization is important for children weather they are retarded or â€Å"normal†. These three stories of Genie, Anna, and Isabelle I think show just how important socialization is, and how a lack of socialization can affect a child. All three areas of language, intelligence, and emotion are affected when a child does not receive socialization. There are some similarities and differences in each of these three cases. Genie was in isolation until the age of ten, whereas Anna and Isabelle were in isolation until the age of six. All three girls were able to gain physical motions and learn to walk. Language however was different. Genie was only able to say words and associate their meanings, but never able to properly form sentences. Also, her progress was like the progress a normal child would have in a year, but she was behind ten years from her isolation. Anna could carry on a conversation through phrases, but not sentences. Isabelle was able to form sentences and ask complicated questions and even attended junior high. I do think that the age in which the girls were found was a factor in their language abilities. It is hard to say either way considering no tests can be done, but Anna came from a family with very low IQ’s and appears to have achieved more than Genie in a shorter time period. It appears to me that Genie may have been able to broaden her vocabulary, had she been found at six rather than ten. It is suggested in the text and movie that all three girls may have had some retardation even without their extreme isolation. This of course is next to impossible to state for a fact for any of the girls, but from my readings I would conclude that Genie and especially Anna may have had some retardation and Isabelle most likely would not have. The reason I believe Genie may have had some retardation is because of the readings they found on her when she was sleeping. Even if a child was in extreme isolation, I don’t think those readings would have been found, unless she was predisposed to retardation. The one psychologist that tried to say that Genie was not retarded said so because Genie was improving every year. While she was improving every year she did hit a point where she no longer achieved any higher forms of intelligence. Also, she reached these levels at a much slower rate than both Anna and Isabelle. Anna I believe to be predisposed to retardation because both her mother and her father had very low IQ’s. The age old dispute between nature vs. nurture has been concluded that both are important for a child’s development. In Anna’s case, both were poor to say the least. In Isabelle’s case she only had a poor nurture setting and considering Isabelle achieved more than Anna in the same time period at the same age is why I believe Anna was most likely predisposed to retardation. Another factor is the girl’s emotional states. Genie was abused when she made noise and was in a lot of different homes and settings after she was found. Anna was left in dirty clothes and was also put in many homes, before and after she was discovered. Isabelle was left in a dark room with her mother who was both deaf and mute. People that are put in consolatory confinement as punishment as adults suffer many psychological issues, so it is no surprise that these girls would suffer even more as children. Also, children that are in many different foster homes, or abused also have many emotional difficulties. Then you add to that Genie and Anna’s isolation and I am sure that affected their emotional state in who they became. Another area that may have affected Genie is all the tests that were done and how hard she was pushed. Any child in a home where the parents push them to be something are stressed out and I think Genie may have been from the way she reacted in tantrums. I believe these stories prove the importance of socialization. In all three cases the girls never reached the capacity to communicate on a level past junior high. Although it is questioned why some of the girls reached a further level then the others, there is no doubt that had the girls been socialized to begin with, they would have reached a higher level of intelligence regardless of any predisposed retardation. The emotional struggles these girls had to go through most adults would struggle with, so it is no shock to me that all three girls died before their time. Something that I think could have been done differently is for a child that is found in this type of situation should be given a loving environment and not foster homes. If a child has an environment that is like a home, but is monitored by a therapist I think the child can thrive more. Isabelle had a therapist who worked with her one on one and was not tossed from home to home and she turned out the best of the three girls. If one person had genuinely cared for Anna or Genie their situations may have had a happier ending. How can you be that one person that makes a difference in someone’s life to give them a happier ending?

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Accounting Standards Accounting Essay

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Accounting Standards Accounting Essay Introduction: In accounting, for every basis, identification and measurement of the elements of financial statement and the impact of the circumstances and financial status and work results should be defined in a form of standards. These standards are like the rules for accounting in any country. That is why they denote what should be mentioned in any companys accounts. Moreover, they guarantee that certain cases, approaches and requirements are taken into account normally. In addition, they help people who are interested in investment to make decisions by ensuring that they get appropriate information needed. This is the idea behind accounting standards. When we talk about accounting standards, the main thing that comes under them is the accounting report. According to the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC), accounting reports are documents filled out by brokers that give details and facts about a new clients financial circumstances and investment objectives. The report may be updated if there are material changes in a client financial position. Based on the report, a client may or may not be deemed eligible for certain types of risky investments such as commodity trading or highly leveraged limited partnership deals. The second main thing is the framework. According to the Financial Accounting Standards Board in the US, the conceptual framework is the system of fundamentals and objectives that make consistent standards by knowing that the accounting report does not mean the rules but the guidelines. Actually, rules are set in the accounting standards which we can formulate from the framework. But when we face an interpretation conflict, it takes some requirements over the framework. International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC), http://www.iasb.org Accounting Standards, Advantages and Disadvantages: Having said that accounting standards are the provider of the rules, conditions and consistency, they may hold some pros and cons while they are being implemented and taken in any company. Efficiency and effectiveness can be gotten through consistency if different organizations apply them than other organizations in their financial transactions. If we ask ourselves about the main reason behind bookkeeping practices, the answer would be that companies with different forms and a wide range of data to be maintained are better than those that have the same data categorized less in the same shape and will face a very big problem in trying to do business together. Hence, the justice and court have standard operations and businesses in fact, should denote all of its operations and transactions. According to Elliot (2009) companies should organize their operations with standard clients, competitors, customers, and suppliers. If we want to issue clear standards of financial accounting, we hav e to take into account the direction of the economy to establish joint stock companies with large capital. Its necessary to expand the vision of accounting standards according to communication and delivery of accounting information to lead to the need for that information to let them assess the performance of businesses to make good decisions with regards to their investment. Accounting standards are a very significant practice as it leads to effective corporate governance programs. They also provide a useful mechanism to rebuild the corporate values. Schipper, K. (2003). Principles-Based Accounting Standards. Accounting Horizons, 17(1), 61-72 The Need for Accounting Standards: The need for accounting standards has been a very important aspect to ensure that comparability, accuracy and transparency are needed for the integration of European financial markets, which is according to the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC). We need accounting standards to develop the measures of performance in any form of life, whether it is in financial reporting, returns and funds, or even playing a game. Actually, high quality financial reporting is connected with efficient capital markets so as to lead for investment to be well done. If we want the economy to function efficiently, we should have accounting standards because they help us reach our destiny. With accounting standards and good financial reporting, customers can get a clear image about business activities and financial conditions. To make it very clear, I will just mention a small example created by me that will really denote and clarify the real need for accounting standards in any business ent erprise. With known and organized accounting standards, when the amount of the net income of Fathiya Company and Abeer Company is 2 million Omani Rials, we are sure that we can make a meaningful comparison. According to Schipper (2003) says that without standards, we cannot get the core aspect of assurance, for instance, whether Fathiya Company is considering the orders of the future as current sales or releasing a big amount of its expenses. Financial Accounting Standards Board, http://www.fasb.org Business without Accounting Standards: It was clear that accounting standards are very important to any business. Businesses can do whatever they want to reach certain goals without the need for accounting standards, but not as well as businesses that take accounting standards into account. Without accounting standards, businesses cannot guarantee that they will consider their future list of objectives or will leave some expenses. Furthermore, businesses cannot organize operations with their customers, suppliers and even competitors without applying at least some accounting standards. Moreover, if businesses do not apply accounting standards, they definitely will not be able to structure their business well and will lead to the corporate values to be missed. Elliot, B. and Elliot, E. Financial Accounting and Reporting 13th edition, 2009 Chapters 5 and7 Accounting Standards in Oman and abroad: Oman has prepared the financial statements in accordance with International Accounting standards (IAS), the interpretations which are prepared by the Standing Interpretation Committee of the IASC and the requirements of the Commercial Companies Law of the Sultanate of Oman and the requirements set out in the rules for disclosure issued by the Capital Market Authority of the Sultanate of Oman, the disclosure is inadequate and is a negative phenomenon to a country which wishes to be strengthened further a good economy. Accounting standards in Oman may be somehow related to the accounting standards outside Oman, because, in some extent, they all come under the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC). International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC), http://www.iasb.org Recommendations and Conclusion: As an accounting student, I recommend all companies in Oman to have a set of accounting standards and reports in order to build a reliable business that can rank them in the top of the list of good companies. To conclude, we should think of accounting standards as the key of success for different business enterprises. In addition, if companies apply accounting standards well, other companies will look up to them to do business strategies as well as they do.

Employer Obligations Under The Equality Act 2010

Employer Obligations Under The Equality Act 2010 Gavin Moore PO4 Question 1 The employer’s main obligations under the Employment Equality Act are to: Provide a safe, healthy work environment with the required facilities. When hiring employees they must abide by the nine grounds and must not discriminate based on: Race The employer cannot say no to hiring someone based on the fact they are Chinese, Indian, African or even white. Gender An employer cannot base his decision on whether the candidate is a man or a woman when recruiting as this can be sexist and discrimination. Marital status Just because the person looking for work is married or not the employer can’t say no based on this status. Family status The employer can’t look at whether the person is a family man with a wife and kids or if he has no wife and kids and lives alone when hiring. Sexual orientation If the candidate is gay, bisexual or even a lesbian the employer can’t base his decision on this. Disability If a person has a disability they should not feel that they will not get the job because of this unless it involves something which requires skill that they don’t have, otherwise, the employer must treat them equal. Religion The employees should not be treated differently based on their religious beliefs. Age The position should be available for anyone who is between the age of 18 to 65 as long as they are well able to complete the tasks which have to be done. Member of the travelling community. If a member of the travelling community is looking for work and is fully qualified he should not be discriminated against just because of his background. The two main legal acts which underpin it are: The Employment Equality Act 1998 (amended 2004) This covers advertising, equal pay, access to employment, promotion or demotion and dismissal and other issues. This also promotes equality, prohibits discrimination and sexual harassment or harassment, and gives access to people with disabilities participation and training. The Act gives protection to employees in the public and private sector. The Equal Status Act 2000 (as amended by the equality act 2004) The Equal Status Act promotes equality, prohibits certain kinds of discrimination (with some exceptions), prohibits sexual harassment and harassment (on the discriminatory grounds). This covers people who buy goods, use services and facilities and attend educational establishments. The Act also prohibits victimisation and provides that clubs which discriminate may lose their licence to sell alcohol. (www.asti.ie) PO4 Question 2 The employee’s main obligations under the employment equality act are to: Be available for work and provide a good service. you must be willing to do the work given to you at any time and you must do it to the best of your ability. Obey orders from employers Whatever tasks your employer gives to you must be completed and you must do what they tell you to do without any negativity Maintain confidentiality regarding company information Any information given to you about clients or the business must not be shared outside the workplace as it is company policy that everything remains private. Be willing to compensate the employer for any damage caused or wrongful act committed. If you manage to break something or do something wrong you must confront the manager as soon as possible because if you don’t tell the manager you will come across as being unreliable and not honest which can give you a bad reputation within the workplace. The two main legal acts which underpin this is: The Employment Equality Act 1998 (amended 2004) This covers advertising, equal pay, access to employment, promotion or demotion and dismissal and other issues. This also promotes equality, prohibits discrimination and sexual harassment or harassment, and gives access to people with disabilities participation and training. The Act gives protection to employees in the public and private sector. The Equal Status Act 2000 (as amended by the equality act 2004). The Equal Status Act promotes equality, prohibits certain kinds of discrimination (with some exceptions), prohibits sexual harassment and harassment (on the discriminatory grounds). This covers people who buy goods, use services and facilities and attend educational establishments. The Act also prohibits victimisation and provides that clubs which discriminate may lose their licence to sell alcohol. (www.asti.ie) PO4 Question 3 An example of workplace discrimination would be racial discrimination. This can take place when an employee of a certain race is paid less than the other employees or if they receive unfavourable treatment within the workplace. The problem can be noticed through unfair policies and dismissal without a certain reason. The employer can take positive action by coming to the person who is being discriminated against and find the people responsible for this and fire them immediately. These acts should be discussed with candidates before hiring them and let them know that their company will not tolerate any discrimination of any kind. Another example would be if a woman was being harassed by the men within the workplace to a serious extent. The manager would be in the hot seat if he didn’t get to the bottom of it. He would have to arrange a meeting with the woman in being harassed and find out who is behind it and fire them immediately. This would be one of the major problems that t he employer would face within the workplace and if not dealt with immediately could result in them losing their job. PO4 Question 4 Five pieces of current legislation relating to employment to cover the following issues are: Health, safety and welfare at work (Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005) This Act clarifies and enhances the responsibilities of employer‘s, the self-employed, employees and various other parties in relation to safety and health at work. The Act also details the role and functions of the Health and Safety Authority, provides for a range of enforcement measures that may be applied and specifies penalties that may be applied for breach of occupational safety and health (www.hsa.ie) Equality (Equality Act 2004 and Employment Equality Act 1998) Their main aim is to promote equality by forbidding discrimination within employment. (www.ahead.ie) Union Representation (Industrial Relations Act 1990) The definition of trade dispute no longer includes worker v. worker disputes, disputes about an individuals employment must first go through statutory or collectively agreed resolution procedures, private residences can no longer be picketed, secondary action is restricted, and trade unions must have rules providing for secret ballots before industrial action is taken. On the other hand, the ability of employers to get labour injunctions is restricted where there has been a secret ballot and strike notice has been given. (www.eurofound.europa.eu) Regulations Relating to Pay: National Minimum Wage Act 2000 The National Minimum Wage Act, 2000 provides that the minimum wage rate for an experienced adult employee from 1 May, 2005 is 7.65 euro per hour. Before then, the minimum wage rate was 7 euro per hour. The national minimum wage is reviewed at regular intervals (www.disability.ie) And the Payment Of Wage Act 1991 The employer is obliged to provide a written statement of wages and deductions at the time of payment. It is worth noting that in the case of schools in Ireland for the purposes of the Payment of Wages act, 1991 the Department of Education and Skills is deemed to the employer. (www.employmentrightsinireland.com) References Online at http://www.hsa.ie/eng/Topics/Managing_Health_and_Safety/Safety,_Health_and_Welfare_at_Work_Act_2005/ (accessed 12/02/14) Online at  http://www.disability.ie/disability-ie-information-portal/site-sections/rights-legislation/183-legislation-bills-and-act-s-from-ireland-and-uk/534-national-minimum-wage-act (accessed 12/02/14) Online at  http://www.asti.ie/?id=281 (accessed 12/02/14) Online at  http://employmentrightsireland.com/payment-of-wages-act-1991-payment-of-wages-in-irish-employment-law/ (accessed 12/02/14) Online at  http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/emire/IRELAND/INDUSTRIALRELATIONSACT1990-IR.htm (accessed 13/02/14) Online at  http://www.ahead.ie/inclusiveeducation_legislation_19982004acts (accessed 13/02/14)

The Singles’ Scene Essay -- Essays Papers

The Singles’ Scene "[W]e are all often complicit in the silencing of students. The victims often silence themselves as well†¦"(Hall 7). Is my hair ok? How does my makeup look? Am I going to look like a geek if I answer another question? Do I have to play sports to impress the girls? These kinds of insecurities flood an adolescents mind when placed into a coed education. Instead of focusing on the task put forth by the teacher, the task that should be the most important thing on his or her mind, adolescents are distracted by others around them, especially the opposite sex. Preteens have "a lot on their plates". New schoolwork, new bodies, and new feelings are just part of their every day lives. On top of all of this they are required to navigate through a coed school. Many may argue that the coed factor is just a part of life and the faster a child learns how to cope with it the better off they will be. However, one must learn how to crawl before being able to walk. Perhaps the issue is not learning the fastest way to walk but instead learning the most proficient way to walk. With this idea in mind the way to learn wi th the most dexterity would be by following the path of single sex education from the fourth grade to the eighth grade or during the age of adolescence. As a product of four years of single sex education I can attest first hand that it is the path to take for one’s adolescent years. Leon Podles and Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, journalists for the American Enterprise, agree with my argument for same sex education through the adolescent years. They state: "The point of separating boys and girls during adolescence is to separate the training of good citizens from the vicissitudes of mating and dating, which notor... ...o be in single-sex education. They are not taught to be intolerant of the opposite sex but rather to be able to learn in a way that caters specifically to their needs at that age. Distraction is the underlying and most crucial problem. When an adolescent is in a situation where the opposite sex is a around, learning about Paul Revere is the furthest thing from their mind. The stress of impressing others is a learning impediment that a preteen must face everyday. In stress management courses one is taught to locate the stress factor and then work to remove it to create a less stressful environment. In this case the added stress and distraction stems directly from the opposite sex. Thus, the removal of the stress (the opposite sex) would break through the barrier that is inhibiting the learning process in adolescents and lead to new paths of knowledge and confidence.

Hurston :: essays research papers

Zora Neal Hurston was the daughter of a Baptist Preacher born in Alabama on January 7, 1891 only 26 years after slavery was abolished. When she was three her father moved their family to Eatonville Florida. Eatonville was the first incorporated black community in America, a place that Zora held as the black utopia. Zora was able to receive an education and earned her B.A. in Anthropology from Columbia University in 1928 (Zora). Her father was the mayor of Eatonville which allotted her opportunities that many other blacks did not have, but that is not to say that being the daughter of a black mayor from a black town made things easy for her. Zora eventually became an accomplished novelist and folklorist as well as an authority on black culture from the Harlem Renaissance (Zora). Her greatest novel was that of Their Eyes Are Watching God, however when the book was released in 1937 it was criticized by the black community as downplaying the hardships that blacks of that time had to end ure at the hands of whites; subsequently the book was shelved and forgotten until the 1970’s. Today because of a revival of her novel it is considered to be a modern literary canon (Verma). The town that Zora grew up in was a rural black community. Because her interaction with whites was very limited she did not have the constant contrast or knowledge of being a minority. As far as she was concerned she was no different, or at least she held the same value as everyone else. It was not until she was sent to school in Jacksonville Florida that she actually realized her diversity, or as she put in her short story â€Å"To be Colored Me†, â€Å"the very day that I became colored â€Å"(Hurston). When she arrived in Jacksonville it was the first time that she had such a great contrast of her color to that of the larger of society. â€Å"I was not Zora of Orange County any more; I was now a little colored girl. I found it out in certain ways, in my heart as well as in the mirror† (Hurston). Zora was lucky however to have grown up in an all black community where she was not harassed for her color and looked down upon by others. As stated above she was not even aware of her color until she went to a major city where the majority of the population was white.

Nok Air

Furthermore, the main objective of the airline its self is to capture and gain a larger market share from a targeted market that comprises of both normal Low cost carrier travelers, whether from existing users of the airlines or from competitive airlines, and potential from alternative transportation modes such as trains, buses, and vans that are common mearns form commuting to other parts of Thailand. Sales and marketing strategies especially relating to price offers are key factors in capturing additional passengers. In addition, promotion and advertising are important factors in push strategies to motivate prospects to the airline.Nok Air’s campaigns involve mobile marketing, online marketing, billboards, print media advertising as well as Television Advertising. These multi-channels of media usage allow Nok Air to reach a large number of audiences in order to capture attention to its promotions on offer and leave an impression that salience to the mind. Creating loyalty to the Nok Air brand is based on the airline’s special service to the customers who frequently travel on the airline is a way to retain existing customers as well as attract new customers by word of mouth from existing and loyal customers.Usage rate is also another reason of purchase intention. For those individuals who are required to travel frequently on company’s business or government official business will need a reliable airline that can accommodate to their needs and offer a fare that will save them cost and time. This market survey has been also conducted by secondary data analysis, focus group interview, and questionnaire survey in order to find consumers insights regarding purchasing, consuming and attitude towards airlines. Main highlights of the survey iincluded : ? What are attitudes toward low-cost carriers and full-service carriers? What would be the important factors to increase customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, and customer engagement? ? What shou ld be brand positioning of Nok Air in customers’ minds? ? What are the value-added things that customers looking for when they fly domestically? ? Is the domestic flight service price sensitive? ? Which channels do customers usually go when shopping for domestic flight? ? How would you recommend promotional mix for Nok Air? ? What should be the communication message and marketing campaign for Nok Air to create customer engagement? ? What are the promotional tools to be used for generating more sales?SITUATION ANALYSIS The changing demographics of travel have greatly dictated the target customers for Low-cost air carrier industry. After almost a decade of its initiation, Nok Air has observed some dramatic changes in the perception of Loc-cost air carriers and the fierce competition that exist in becoming the market leader in this industry. This section will detail the potential Target Market Characteristics of Nok Air with the focus on the market size, segment, share, growth, and trend. MARKET ANALYSIS Market Size: Thai domestic air travel market reached 13. million passengers in 2010 and expects an annual growth of approximately 5% over the next six years. This equivocates to approximately 17. 4 million passengers by the year 2017. In 2011, Nok Air projected that it had served about 4 million passengers or approximately 26% from the estimated 13. 8 million annual domestic air travelers for the year1. Market Segment: In order to determine the best market segment to describe individuals who fits the profile of LCC (Low-cost carrier) passengers, a build-up approach would be a suitable method of classification. This approach seeks to identify ssimilarities or common customer needs2.Key factors in defining consumer criteria for Nok Air are Profile, Psychological, and Bbehavioral. Segmentation of Nok Air passengers are individuals of both sex with the age range divisible in the range of 15-24, 25-34, 35-44, 44-54, and 55+. Occupation and level of income chara cteristics are generally individuals who are professionals, government officials, businessmen, sstudents, and employees in low-to-medium income group. These would be individuals who are motivated by benefits from travelling on Nok Air or the perceived valued attained, whether it is based on ticketing prices or overall value for money.Touch points and media used would be internet users as well as travel agents and ticketing counters and centers. Market Share The phenomenon of Low-cost carrier industry has changed the dimensions of air travel. The ticket price war was the key marketing strategy for these carriers and focusing on the basic elements or â€Å"no frills† was the cost-cutting model to capture the segment whose primary objective was to commute from one destination to another safely. This swing in trend shifted the market share from the legacy carriers, as leisure passengers looked for cheaper alternatives.Despite the growing market of domestic air travel, FSC (full-s ervice carriers) are seeking ways to compete with its new rivals, by letting the free market economic model of price discrimination by demand and supply to dictate the ticket prices, along with sales promotion strategies that remind consumers of its brand and presence. Figure: 1 [pic] An analysis of The LCC Capacity Share (%) of total seats in Thailand indicates an increase year-on-year from 2010 – 2012, despite a decline from 2007-2009. These figures are encouraging indicators for those who seek to rofit by becoming a player in this market as there has been a rapid increase as well as the steady eating into the market shares of the FSCs. Currently, the two FSCs players are Thai Airways and Bangkok Airways, while Air Asia, Nok Air and Orient Thai are the three main LCCs in domestic travel. Figure: 2 – Thailand Domestic Air Market Share as of October 2011 [pic] Market Growth and Trends There has been a rapid expansion in the LCC and the trend shows no signs of a slow do wn as airlines are placing orders for new aircraft at an alarming rate.Within the Thai domestic airlines, two new players are emerging in the market. Thai Smile, a subsidiary of Thai Airways has launched services since July 2011 with four 174-seat A320 with an objective to operate a fleet of 11 A320 by end of 2015 3, and Thai Tiger Airways an alliance with Thai Airways and Tiger Airways, are expected to take a share of the lucrative Bangkok – Chieng Mai – Phuket routes will be announcing their launch soon. Current players such as Air Asia have nearly 300 aircraft on order and Bangkok Airways a fleet of 18 aircrafts that are renewed every five years.The key SES among Thai domestic tourists is the growing middle-class who has time, mearns and the inclination to travel. Domestic tourism has become an increasingly important component of the overall tourism mix and is an important role socially, economically, environmentally and culturally. The Tourism Authority of Thailand ’s ppolicy of encouraging and motivating domestic tourism by providing incentives has been a key factor in the market. The TAT has also designed strategies to maintain the brand image and take advantage of emerging opportunities.Thailand has recorded an increase of 31% in tourism receipts in 2011 over 2010 with a total earning of 776 billion baht. The country recorded 19. 23 million international visitors in 2011. Figure 4 indicates the various regions of tourist arrivals to Thailand. Figure 4: International Tourist Arrival to Thailand Jan-Dec 2010 [pic] International tourist arrival does not specifically dictates the mearns of transport to other domestic destinations are commuted by LCCs, but it does provide a prospective on the target population sampling frame that Nok Air can serve.Strategies can be designed on destinations that an inbound tourist would most likely visit by understanding cultural and ethnic diversities, socio-economic status and purpose of visit to Thailan d of these tourists. Market Needs The primary purpose of an airline is to serve transportation needs. However, airlines cater to travelers’ need by fling domestic routes, short-haul services with conneactivity and transfers to other carriers via a network of hubs. Nok Air being a LCC does not provide frills and therefore only basic needs are fulfilled. However, this does not mean that quality and efficiency are neglected.Environmental Analysis The nature of the market is where a product and service offer from a supplier is subjected to evaluation and price valuation from the consumer such that fluctuations in demand and supply are adjusted to a point of equilibrium. With the LCC market, the key issue is how the airlines can keep to a low operating margin while maintaining itself over equilibrium to strive and grow. Economically, this is generally measured in the ability to keep itself in the â€Å"black† while trying to become the market leader. Technology plays an imp ortant role in transforming this concept into a reality.Welfare maximization is the trend of this decade and the emergence of LCCs has had an impact on the socio-economic spending behavior. There are many factors in the macro-environment that Nok Air has to take into consideration when making decisions. A social and cultural, demographic, economic, technological, political, legal, regulatory, and ethical issue needs to be defined to understand the effect on the brand’s performance. Political factors: Earlier in 2011, the government had set up policies in developing the tourism industry. These involved development of infrastructure, safety, and hygiene.Restoration and development of natural, cultural, and historical sites while seeking to encourage investment by the private sector and local administration. The aim is to improve standards to make Thailand a world-class destination in the area of personnel standards and quality of service. Proactive marketing strategies in targe ting various groups both domestic and inbound with focus on quality tourist are pursued in the field of medical tourism, international meetings, and exhibitions. Waiving visa fees for visitors from Thailand’s FTA partners or those with trade and investment relations is one method of promoting this industry.Other government value adding policies are the promotion of tourism activities include nation’s bid to host international events and filming location support. Some laws and regulations have been revised to improve the effectiveness in safety and tourists’ exploitation counter-measures. In summary, the objective is to premote tourism including domestic by developing tourism and tourist destinations and ensuring travelers’ safety; support ecotourism, cultural tourism, medical tourism and spas with high quality and value addition.Economic factors: Although the Commercial Bank’s MLR interest rates have been steady between 7% – 7. 85% per annum , the foreign exchange rate has undermined the progress of tourism in Thailand. As compared to the USD to THB in the past five years, there has been an average gradual appreciation of the Thai currency than others in the region. Economically, it is difficult to raise prices fin terms of foreign currency, and therefore somewhat uncompetitive in some areas of the tourism industry, for example hotel rates. Figure 5: For-ex [pic] The recent increase in minimum labor wages has resulted in higher inflation.Many smaller firms have opted to lay-off some employees that they believed possessed lower qualifications than others. However, the recent flooding was a major cause of economic slowdown and the government has implemented low financing and corporate tax holidays for SMEs that were affected by the disaster Social factors: Changing social trends can have an effect on the tourism industry. This is however predominant in the aspirations and expectations of travelers to and within Thailand. Thai society shares the perception that domestic tourism development is steadily improving, but hampered by red-tape management and bureaucratic problems.They perceive culture as a tourism product and environmental impact as a problem in which tourism industry has a social responsibility to decrease pollution. Economically, tourism is viewed positively in terms of national revenues and job creation, and modernizing society, but viewed inversely as a mearns of fostering a materialistic society5. Technological factors: Technology plays a vital role in promoting tourism worldwide. It is an efficient and effective way to reduce cost and improve quality via internet and social media network for the purpose of promotion and recruitment of potential clients.Accurate information about tour destinations, resources, and image can be â€Å"pushed† into cyberspace and provide a channel for attractive marketing mix strategies. Customer can then gain experience and information of the trip through planning and virtual tour at their convenience. Environmental factors: Environmental factors play an important part of Thailand’s tourism industry. Change in weather pattern has a sthrong impact especially during the rainy seasons. The effect of this was clearly visible during October’s flooding disaster, which had one of the highest levels of tour cancellation in the nation’s history.Global warming has made it difficult to predict or forecast a peak-season for domestic tour and operators are well conscious and concerned about environmental issues. To enforce practices, the government has placed taxes on air travel and encourages the use of NGV/LPG as â€Å"clean† fuel alternative on buses. Environmentally friendly products and processes are affecting demand patterns and creating business opportunities in the industry. Legal factors: Thailand’s Department of Civil Aviation is the government agency that has the obligations to premote, develo p, and regulate the nation’s civil aviation.The aims are to comply with international aviation standards and fulfill demands resulting in tourism promotion and national economic growth while promoting Thailand as the aviation hub of Southeast Asia. The roles and responsibilities include 1. Implementing Air Navigation Act 2. Promoting and Developing National Civil Aviation 3. Executing orderly civil aviation 4. Making airports under jurisdiction available for public 5. Coordination and cooperating with domestic and international organization. COMPETITION ANALYSISThe key competitors of Nok Air in the Domestic air travel market are Thai Airways (FSC), Bangkok Airways (FSC), Air Asia (LCC), and Orient Thai (LCC). There are other airlines that fly domestically such as Happy Air, Solar Air, and Thai Regional Air, but they are at an infancy stage of the competitive market of this industry. It is too optimistic to say that these new airlines are not of an immediate threat to Nok air, but their presence dictates the growing need for travel to more unexplored and unfamiliar destinations prove to be a selling point for some airlines and pose a potential competitive threat in the future.Thai Airways International Public Company Limited (TG) – Address: 89 Vibhavadi Rangsit Road, Bangkok 10900, Thailand. Phone: 66-2-545-1000 Fax: 66-2-512-2182 Website: www. thaiairways. com. Established in 1960 Thai Airways International Public Company Limited is Thailand’s national airline with both domestic and international routes including Asia, Europe, North America, Africa and South West Pacific. The airline provides transport as well as freight and mail services on all its destined flights. The company is a state owned enterprise which is controlled by the government and partly owned by the public7.Its key competitors in the domestic airline market are ranked as follows: 1. Thai Air Asia 2. Nok Air 3. Bangkok Airways 4. Orient Thai Airways Competitive Advantages: Thai Airways ranked as the low cost leadership with a huge customer base uses resources to innovate design operation which enable it to control its cost. Online growth has allowed Thai Airways to cater to a separate class of clients. Its intensive fleet of aircraft gives it an option to find the best value-to-cost in operating aircraft with relations to airport configurations. A sthrong management team keeps the operations running smoothly.A well trained and managed Cabin Staff that caters to meet customer satisfaction is a key advantage of the airline. Being the national carrier, Thai Airways enjoys the largest market share and therefore a sthrong loyal customer base8. Bangkok Airways Company Limited (PG) – Address: 99 Mu 14, Vibhavadirangsit Rd. , Chom Phon, Chatuchak, Bangkok 10900, Thailand. Phone 66-2- 2655678 Fax: 66-2-265-5522. Website: www. bangkokair. com . Established in 1968 Bangkok Airways was Thailand’s first private aviation company operated under the na me â€Å"Sahakol Air†.Initially, the airline provided charter services using a two engine 9-seater plane catering only to multinational corporations in Thailand. With the rapid growth of tourism and business investment, air transportation became an important mearns of transport. Bangkok Airways realized the potential and in 1986 began its operations as the country’s first privately-owned domestic airlines to limited destinations such as Krabi, Korat, and Surin. Presently, it flies to 20 major routes covering nearly all major resort destinations in Thailand along with 8 international destinations.The airline has invested in building and maintaining its own privately-operated airports at Samui, Sukhothai, and Trat; providing Thailand with additional hubs and fulfilling the increasing demand of air traffic volume. 9 Its key competitors in the domestic airline market are ranked as follows: 1. Thai Airway 2. Thai Air Asia 3. Nok Air 4. Orient Thai Airways Competitive Advant ages: Bangkok Airways has great regional service including its own privately owned airports in various domestic destinations.Comparatively, it offers cheap fares on promotions with routes to popular vacation destinations in Thailand. Some routes of these routes are exclusive to Bangkok Airways, such as Samui. Bangkok Airways is also renowned for its unique boutique style in-flight service and have been awarded â€Å"Best Regional Airline† five consecutive years. This is a good brand image for the airline. Thai Air Asia Company Limited (FD) Address: 89/170, 19th Floor Juthamard Boulevard, Vibhawadee Road, Talad Bangkhen, Laksi, Bangkok, Thailand. Phone: 662 315 9800 Fax: 662 315 9801. Website: www. irasia. com. Established in 2004 Thai Air Asia is a joint venture between Malaysian LCC Air Asia and Thailand’s Asia Aviation. It is truly a Low-Cost Carrier airline with a network of domestic and regional service tthroughout Thailand and Asia. It is known to be one of the mo st aggressive airlines with its marketing strategies based on online promotions to target price conscious consumers. Air Asia places a lot of importance on branding and its association with various and popular footballs teams in both domestic and international arena has proven to be a successful campaign.Its key competitors in the domestic airline market are ranked as follows: 1. Thai Airways 2. Nok Air 3. Bangkok Airways 4. Orient Thai Airway Competitive Advantages: Thai Air Asia has been able to keep a low cost in its operations based on the same principles and model of the mother flagship Air Asia. The marketing strategies are targeted at mass customers with one of the lowest air fares to any of its numerous destinations within this region. The efficiency of its workforce and multi-skilled staff has been a benchmark for other airlines to follow.This ranges from aircrew and ground staff, to the maintenance, operations and administrative staff. The single type fleet to service the customer has made it easier for Air Asia to maintain its aircraft. Online promotions and website maintenance with secure and direct access are key factors in keeping customer satisfied and loyal to the airline. Orient Thai Airways (PG) Address: 18 Ratchadapisek Road, Klongtoey, Bangkok 10110, Thailand Phone: 66-2-229 4260 Fax: 662-229-4278-9. Website: www. flyorientthai. om. Established in 1993 Based in Bangkok, Orient Thai Airlines operates scheduled International and Domestic flights and specializes in International charter flight around the worlds. It operates domestic flights with a fleet of McDonnell Douglas and Boeing 737 aircraft type with its regular destination from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Phuket and Had Yai. Its key competitors in the domestic airline market are ranked as follows: 1. Thai Airways 2. Thai Air Asia 3. Nok Air 4. Bangkok Airway 5.Competitive Advantages: Orient Thai has very few competitive advantages other than the fact that it is one of the cheape st airlines to fly with and the routes that it flies to are relevant. PRODUCT OFFERING Nok Air offers air travel to various destinations around Thailand with ground support transportation â€Å"Fly-and-ride† to bordering countries as well as â€Å"Fly-and-ferry† to many seaside resorts. Most flights to major city destinations are flown by its regular Boeing 737 jets and ATR 72 turboprop aircraft.Nok-mini is a commuter airline that is a Sub-brand of Nok Air, but is owned and operated by Siam General Aviation, independent from Nok Air. It is however, a partnership and code sharing that has been beneficial to both companies where Nok-mini acts as a feeder route to beautiful small towns and low traffic routes. The land transport coach Service operated by Udon Keaw Tour (Thailand) and Trans Express Co Ltd. (Laos). Hi-speed Catamaran services are operated by Lomprayah High Speed Ferries Co. , Ltd. n Nakhon Si Thammarat and Surat Thani, while Coach and Hi-Speed Ferry Service operated by Tigerline Travel Co. ,Ltd in Trang. Nok Air not only provides air transportation and commuter service, but also a travel experience. Its affiliations with various hotels, resorts, entertainment venues, and financial institutions give Nok Air its Brand Value. Memberships and Fan Clubs provide a touch-point for existing and potential customers to be in contact with promotions, offers, and activities. One of the most popular media used is its website that offers and informs all current and forthcoming campaigns.Members also receive information via mobile phone SMS and MMS messages as a more personal and direct sales push marketing strategy. What Nok Air can add to its product offering is that it can change its aircraft interior to make the seats more comfortable with new configurations for better leg space. In-flight entertainment can be introduced along with a sense of â€Å"Thailand† by using traditional aromatic scent to create a pleasant environment in the cabin. Natural aromatic freshening scent has been internationally proven to have a relaxing effect.In-flight amenities can also add intrinsic value to the product where a passenger can take along the earphone (which is rather inexpensive) that has Nok Air’s logo on it as a present for themselves or for their loved ones. Route Map Figure 6: Nok Air [pic] SWOT ANALYSIS – NOK AIR A SWOT analysis—is a review of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats–is a core requirement of any organization and essential to understand any industry. The volatile airline industry is no exception especially in the highly competitive Low-cost carriers (LCC) industry.The objective of each airline is to maximize their strengths and opportunities while minimizing their weaknesses despite ssimilarities of the business. Strengths – Internal origin helping to achieve organizational objectives 1. Higher number of distribution channels 2. Sthrong backup on financial, capital, and human resources 3. High level of employee quality available to the organization 4. Increasing geographical coverage in both domestic and international routes 5. Improving operational capabilities (in terms of efficiency) 6. Improving service quality 7.Brand Awareness 8. Effective in-flight space management Weakness – Internal origin harmful to achieve organizational objectives 1. Price on product offering 2. Bad cash flow problem arising from cost management 3. Poor financial performance / profitability 4. Low customer loyalty 5. USP (Unique Selling Proposition) – ssimilar for all LCC airlines 6. High degree of competition 7. High cost of capital 8. Low experience of management team – company is 8 years old 9. Low level of advertising Opportunities – External origin helping to achieve organizational objectives 1.Growth rate increasing by traveler with high number of booking rate 2. Government support open sky ppolicy 3. Higher Demand 4. Convenience a nd faster 5. Joint promotion 6. Government supports on TAT (Tourism Authority of Thailand) Threats – External origin harmful to achieve organizational objectives 1. Other governments support low cost airline in the country 2. Large number of competitors in the Market 3. Price war with promotion war 4. Long time booking (behavior change) – Pre-booked tickets on pricing tiers 5. Payment Ppolicy 6. Confirmation Process 7. Fuel cost increasing . Time to time increase in airline taxes 9. New domestic hub with less convenient flight connections (International and Domestic) MARKETING STRATEGY Mission To be the number one low-fare, high-value budget airline in both Thailand and Asia by being perceived by all who travel in Southeast Asia as affordable, yet offering with the best of Thai hospitality. To provide travelers with a point-to-point regional air service that is safe, reliable, convenient and true value-for-money through cost-effective operations with highest possible r eturns to shareholders.Develop and motivate our people to have initiative and be highly productive. Marketing Objectives Seeing potential in the international market, Nok Air’s marketing objectives for first quarter of 2013 is based on a business plan to launch flights from Bangkok Don Mueang Airport to China, as well as several other routes that are within three to four hour range from Bangkok. Having a significantly lower cost structure than competing airlines, Nok Air has aimed to compete more effectively against Thai Air Asia and other LCCs.Being Thai Airway’s domestic LCC subsidiary, Nok Air has been able to fill the critical void in the Thai Airway’s portfolio for the fast growing budget end of Thailand’s international market. This move will enable Nok Air to capture a sizable market share within the region, especially with the high demand for travel from China. Route extensions along with increase flight frequencies will enable the company to grow in the market as well as create a level of brand awareness in both the domestic and international market. In anticipation of this growth, Nok Air has procured new aircraft to its already existing fleet.Hiring only â€Å"beautiful girls with nice personalities† in their early 20s, budget airline Nok Air seeks to â€Å"rejuvenate brand image† & â€Å"improve service efficiency. † With the current cabin crew age averaging only 26 years old, Nok Air is keeping with other airlines trend of recruiting fresh, young and good-looking faces to do the job. The objective is to cash in on the energy, enthusiasm and deducation that are normally associated with youth in order to drive service efficiency and project a better impression on passenger (Bangkok Post 8/9/2011).The impression is a dynamic lifestyle image that meets passenger’s expectations of being served by fresh, friendly, efficient staff. Financial Objectives Since its launch with an initial capital of THB5 00 million, Nok Air has not required any additional capital since its launch in 2004. Currently, it has approximately THB1. 5 billion in the bank. The airline has been profitable every year except for 2007 and 2008 massive fuel price hikes and falling domestic demand. However, the following year, it bounced back into surplus as conditions improved.In 2010, it turned a net profit of more than THB600 million and over the first three quarters of 2011 a profit of THB230 million despite continuing tribulations in the oil markets. The devastating floods that closed its home base at Don Mueang Airport in the last quarter of 2011 did have an impact on Nok Air, but it managed to reach a profit of THB400 million and projected revenue of THB6 billion, carrying about 4 million passengers by the year’s end. Target Market There are various variables that a market research can assist in defining the right market segment or more likely a possible target customer of Nok Air.A classification s ystem of Demographic, Geographic, Psychographic, and Bbehavioral will enable the airline to narrow the scope and focus its resources to its target market satisfying their needs. DEMOGRAPHIC SEGMENTATION Demographic defines the population into groups with common variables, and targeting each of these groups to enhance the airline’s performance. This can be further divided into: Gender- Nok Air has focused its marketing to both genders since it is difficult to segregate which one gender represent a larger share of the company’s target market and hence both should be considered equally.Income Level- In developing pricing strategies for fares, Nok Air has to keep to its strategy of being a LCC (Low-cost carrier). This would serve best for those in the SES of C1, C2 and D classification of Social class. A strategic move to improve and provide convenient flight timing and routes to SES B could result in an increase of market share from FSC in terms of value-for-money. The cl assifications are based on the occupation of the head of the household. Grade |Social Class |Chief Income Earner's Occupation | |A |Upper Middle |Higher Managerial, Administrative Or Professional | |B |Middle |Intermediate Managerial, Administrative Or Professional | |C1 |Lower Middle |Supervisory Or Clerical And Junior Managerial, Administrative Or Professional | |C2 |Skilled Working |Skilled Manual Workers | |D |Working |Semi And Unskilled Manual Workers | |E |Those At The Lowest Levels Of |Casual Or Lowest Grade Workers, Pensioners And Others Who Depend On The Welfare | | |Subsistence |State For Their Income | Age- Based on the terms and conditions indicated for the purchase of an air ticket, the permissible age for passengers travelling chaperoned on a domestic flight on Nok air must be 16 years of age. It can be assumed that the age range of 15-55 would be best target market to focus the airline’s promotional campaign on. Occupation- Nok Air’s passengers would gen erally be individuals who are professionals, government officials, businessmen, sstudents, and employees of a firm. However, the purpose of travel does not have a direct relationship with the occupation of these passengers.They may be travelling on a vacation, visiting relatives, making a pilgrimage, and other personal reasons rather than on a business or government reasons. Flight schedules and destinations would be the reason these passengers would seek importance in selecting the airline that they travel on. With Nok Air frequency and multi-destinations available, passengers have the options to select the Marital Status- The concept that Nok Air can market in this category is of the Honeymooning couples, or just married as well as for those who are married and do wish to enjoy a romantic getaway. As for those who are single, Nok Air can focus on adventure or functional aspects. The strategies would be to seek a market in eco-tourism, and sight-seeing.However, whether single or ma rried, the objective is to create a positive perception of Nok Air for all segments as this factor is linked to the psychological aspects and income status of an individual. GEOGRAPHIC SEGMENTATION Viewing from its extensive network of 20 destinations available on Nok Air’s routes, it has access to a population where other airlines in the same category do not. Availability and frequency to destinations allows Nok Air to hold a competitive advantage over other airlines. Since Nok Air is involved in the business of transporting passengers from one geographical location to another, this segmentation plays a vital role in its marketing strategies. Passenger’s dependency and demand for Nok Air’s service is critical to its development. Its success in strategically locating its hubs t various domestic destinations in Thailand has motivated Nok Air to expand to other areas in Asia. PSYCHOGRAPHIC SEGMENTATION Targeting a certain group within a population base on their li festyle, activities and interest is the focus of this segment. The importance is in understanding consumer buying behavior by referring to their AIO (Activities, interest, and opinion). Nok Air’s website is one of the medium use in gathering views and information to analyze consumer behaviors of its consumers. Some factors that help define the population on psychographic segmentation where Nok Air has emphasized their resources on are: Lifestyle –  The â€Å"Check-in of Your Choice† program allows passengers a check in process that best fits their lifestyle.The options available are: Airport Check-in: Passengers can check-in their baggage and get their boarding pass at the airport counters. Telephone Check-in: Passengers can call in on a hotline 1318 and collect their boarding pass at the counter. This allows them to arrive just 30 minutes before departure therefore suitable for those who are pressed on time. However, the drawback is that they cannot check-in their baggage. Web Check-in: A personalized method of allowing the passengers who are Nok Fan Club members to log in and select their choice of seats and options offered on the airline’s website. Boarding pass can be collected at the airline’s counter in the airportMobile Check-in: Ssimilar to the online format where the passenger can use an application on their mobile phone to select a preferred seat and check-in. Boarding pass can be collected at the airport. Check and Shop: Is a unique format only available at Chiang Mai. The process allows you to collect your boarding pass at Chiang Mai Central Airport Plaza, 1 hour (2 hours maximum) prior to the departure. Nok Air will provide transfer service between Chiang Mai Central Airport Plaza and Chiang Mai International Airport 30 minutes prior to the departure for boarding. Activities interests and opinions (AIO) –  A subset of lifestyle, activities interests and opinions also affect consumer buying behavior.Nok Air Fan Club Privilege is a holistic approach to understand the consumer’s AIO by offering a link to Nok Community through social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as on mobile link via Apple Apps and Android. Here loyal customers can be involved in the activities and share common interest and opinions in the community. Values attitudes and lifestyle –  Another concept which is a subset of the lifestyle segment is values attitudes and lifestyles classifying individual into the VALS framework. Nok Air can understand individual passenger profile by determining what these individuals do with the resources they had at their disposal as well as the amount of primary innovation they could accept or create.Information collected by research on passengers can help the airline design and implement new strategies in the future. BEHAVIORAL SEGMENTATION Bbehavioral segmentation divides a population based on their behavior, the way the population respond to, use or know of a product. Consumers’ decision making are base on factors they take into consideration before purchasing a ticket, thus these decisions are affected by their behaviors. The reasons for purchasing a ticket can be buying for occasions such as travelling during Songkran, and New Year’s holidays. Another reason can be for benefit sought such as travelling for the purpose of commuting from one location to another.The selection may be based on the marketing mix being offered or a hedonic one. Loyalty to the Nok Air brand is based on the airline’s special service to the customers who frequently travel on the airline is a way to retain existing customers as well as attract new customers by word of mouth from existing and loyal customers. Usage rate is also another reason of purchase intention. For those individuals who are required to travel frequently on company’s business or government official business will need a reliable airline that can accom modate to their needs and offer a fare that will save them cost and time. This is more in line with wholesale purchasing and diverging efforts to meet customer’s demand.In line with this, Nok Air offers a Corporate customer service whereby the benefits includes fixed fares, change fee waived for change in name or date, no service fees, payment after booking is made, and a dedicated corporate hotline. The objective is to gain a larger market share from a targeted market that comprises of both normal LCC travelers, whether from existing users of the airlines or from competitive airlines, and potential from alternative transportation modes such as trains, buses, and vans that are common mearns form commuting to other parts of Thailand. Sales and marketing strategies especially relating to price offers are key factors in capturing additional passengers. POSITIONINGIn the term positioning for Nok Air, it refers to the customer’s perception of a service in relation to its co mpetitors in the domestic airline market. Current market position of Nok Air is that it is a no frills airline providing air transportation of passenger to various destinations within Thailand. In this respect the terms of â€Å"No-frills† is largely interpreted as an airline offers low fares but eliminate all non – essential services, such as complimentary drinks snacks, in – flight entertainment systems, and different class of seating. They operate by using limited or ssimilar types of aircrafts to keep maintenance low and fly out of remote airports to cut overheads.The interior of these aircrafts are fitted with minimum comfort and generally carry advertising inside the cabin to generate revenues. Additional fees are imposed for luggage and other amenities. In order to understand passenger’s perception of Nok Air in relation to its competitors, a perceptual mapping of perceive value analysis between service quality and price relationship is modeled. Th ere are three major competitors of Nok Air, namely Thai Airways, Thai Air Asia, and Orient Thai Airways. Thai Airways – Service quality is superior to that of Nok Air because of its status of being a national carrier of Thailand and is actually a FSC (Full service carrier) airline. However, they are non-competitive in terms of pricing.Thai Air Asia – There are some distinctive advantage in service offered to passengers by Thai Air Asia in terms of optimizing call centers, touch points, and efficient online websites. The influence from the Air Asia core brand adds on to value in terms of human resource management and operational management. However, the pricing strategies are unpredictable and ambiguous at times. Orient Thai – The airline’s safety and service records are inferior among all. Despite their efforts to improve their image, the airline struggles to maintain its operations and have access to limited routes. However, their commitment to improveme nt has been a key factor sustaining its presence in the market coupled with one of the lowest airfares on domestic routes offered to major destinations.Nok Air’s direct competitors are faced with the same elements in keeping cost low and generate enough profit by management and planning strategies. By analyzing its value chain, Nok Air can increase its margins on fares by managing its primary and support activities. [pic] Support Activities †¢ Firm Infrastructure: Focus on improving Accounting, Finance, Legal, and General Management within the firm. †¢ Human Resource Management: Recruitment, Pilot Training, and Cabin Crew Training. †¢ Technology Improvement: E-commerce ticketing sites having more international languages, In-flight system operating service with infomercials and music. An improvement at the airport ground base with touch points flight scheduling system to inform passengers of the flights departures and arrival. Procurement of Resources: Aircraft acquisition that would best serve the client’s needs while maintaining operational cost. Primary Activities Inbound logistics: This involves aircraft scheduling to depart and arrive at prime time where passengers can conveniently optimize their stay at a destination. Seats on any particular flight are perishable resource. Yield management allows the airline to sell its seats on flight to consumers optimizing it to a full load capacity on all flights. Route selection is another factor that will allow Nok Air to capitalize on a â€Å"first mover advantage† and become the market leader in that geographical area. Operations – The ground staff at various hubs are vital to Nok Air’s operations.Aircraft operations, ticketing, gate operations, and baggage handling efficiencies can give the airline a competitive advantage in turning the aircraft around on its next scheduled flight. One aspect observed is the disembarkation of passengers, most of who are generally in a hurry to get off the flight once the plane stops. Managing the plane’s exit doors to disembark passengers are some ways to gain valuable customer satisfaction. While onboard, the flight attendant’s positive attitude and behavior can add value to the brand as they are brand ambassadors of the airline. Outbound Logistics: Flight connection to destination via its network of alliances such as Nok Mini and other modes of transport such as land and sea, can add and impression in service value.Also an effective baggage system of loading and off-loading displays effectiveness in operations of the airline. Marketing and Sales: Promotion and advertising are key factors in push strategies to motivate prospects to the airline. Nok Air’s campaigns involve mobile marketing, online marketing, billboards, print media advertising as well as Television Advertising. These multi-channels of media usage allow Nok Air to reach a large number of audiences in order to capture atte ntion to its promotions on offer and leave an impression that salience to the mind. Service: Extended service beyond arrival at the airport hub of Nok Air such as affiliations with car rentals and hotel accommodations.The airline can work in conjunction with these firms on barter case basis, whereby car rental rates and hotel room rates discounts offered for passengers can be offset by airfares discounts for executives and staff of these affiliated firms. Credits can be accumulated on â€Å"points† system and exchange for transactions such as transportation and stay-over for air crew and airline staff. A perceptual mapping illustrates the position of Nok Air in comparison to its competitors. [pic] MARKETING MIX PRODUCT / SERVICE – Nok Air provides air transportation services to 20 domestic destinations in Thailand. The main airport hub is at Don Mueang Bangkok Airport. Its destinations are: Bangkok (Don Mueang) – Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Hat Yai, Loei *, Mae Sot *,Nakhon Phanom, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Nan *, Phitsanulok, Phrae *, Phuket, Roi Et *, Sakon Nakhon, Surat Thani, Trang, Ubon Ratchathani, and Udon Thani Chiang Mai – Phitsanulok, Mae Hong Son, Udon Thani**, and Mae Sot* * Operated with aircraft chartered from Siam General Aviation (Nok Mini) ** Code shared flights operated by Siam General Aviation (Nok Mini) Tangible Clues – since service is intangible and difficult to sell, marketers can at best convey reassurance and quality to its customers. For Nok Air, transportation is its core product. The service it provides that serves as tangible clues are the airline’s physical facilities and the demeanor of its staff.To distinguish itself from its competitors, the airline can provided several tangible clues such as food/beverage, magazines, staff uniforms, logos, color and design of the aircraft, and flight bookings. Service – there are two types of services involved in Nok Air’s operations being ground services and in-flight services. Convenient airport with car parking facilities, transport to the airport, efficient baggage checking, and efficient service at reservation counters are some of the factors that defines on-the-ground services. These attributes are primary touch points where passenger’s initial perception of the airlines are conceived and relates back to the brand equity of Nok Air. Once inside the aircraft, the airhostesses are the brand ambassadors of the airline.Nok Air’s well trained flight attendants have the responsibility of providing polite, warm and courteous service to its passengers. This momentum is transitioned to the representatives at the baggage counter, and Nok Air’s passenger assistance counters as an augmented product/service to develop customer loyalty towards the brand. PRICING – Based on the SES of the passengers, pricing plays a vital role of Nok Air’s marketing strategy, since the airline bases its image by cla ssification of being a â€Å"Low-cost carrier† and is judged whether the product/service offered is fairly priced. Thai Airways band image alone is sufficient to justify its premium pricing base on seating â€Å"class† on the air fares.Whereas, other airlines like Thai Air Asia, Orient Thai, and Nok Air all identify themselves as Cheap-value pricing or even Low-cost pricing, but rather project themselves as Value-for-money pricing airlines. The intention of value for money pricing is to charge an average price for the fare and emphasize excellent value for money on the fare. This establishes a reputation and enables the airline to achieve good levels of profit margin. However, during a certain period, the intrinsic concept is to undercut the competition and prices are used as a tool to attract passengers to purchase based on seasons. The current world economic crisis and the recent flooding in 2011 have had an impact on the local economy.All airlines are competing to s et prices at competitively low levels to attract customers. Nok Air’s strategies are in line with the basic pricing models of LCC. These cost cutting measures comprises of: High aircraft utilization – Keep aircraft flying commercially as much as possible and at the fastest turnaround time as possible. Airline makes money when its aircraft is flying and not parked on the ground. No frills – Any and all luxury items and services are considered frills and that the airlines by rendering a fee to the airline, the passenger will only then have access to these items. They range from food and beverage, seating, paperless ticketing, non-refundable ppolicy, and no loyalty program.Streamline operations – includes limited types of aircraft used so that there is specialization in the pilot, crew, and ground operations. Single class seating on all flights and Standard operating procedures are ensured to create homogeneity of service. Most of the prices offered by Nok A ir are based on the pricing tiers structure. This structure is a time value relationship for seats. The first few tiers are target to value conscious passengers looking for extremely cheap tickets by booking early. The mid-tier passengers are those who book moderately early but pay a higher price and the top tiers are the passengers who pay the most because they purchase the ticket at the last minute.PLACE – There are four method of distributing airline tickets: Consolidation – sales of ticket at airline counters Tour Operators/Travel Agents – customers approach their travel agents to book tickets for them. The tour operators take a commission from the airline. Affiliated with companies – Airlines gets affiliated with companies on corporate fares and provides a discount on the bulk buying Direct Sales – through home lease systems which are telephone, fax, emails and online booking. LCC Airlines keep their distribution system simple as possible and this is possible with the use of internet technology which can be remotely operated even at the most deprived of locations.PROMOTIONAL MIX – Since consumers have become aware of the competition among LCCs, they anticipate and appreciate the vvariety of marketing efforts that are in place to entice them to use the specific airline’s service. In the times of credit crunches, the airlines seek ways to be most efficient in saving cost while eliciting the most from the IMC programs they have to optimize outcomes. There are numerous ways that Nok Air can reach these consumers, and some of the most common ways are: Advertising – Creative advertising campaigns are the most common way to get the message and promotions out to a large audience. Telecast and print media are important channels for promoting the air business.Since advertising is expensive, the marketer needs to be mindful of the timing and opportunities when it arrives. Adverting during peak seasons can attra ct potential client to switch to Nok Air, and the airline have to select appropriate theme for the advertisement; for example beach getaway destinations for the summer season. Publicity – This process of persuasive communication where the public relations officer provide the media people with information of the airline’s promotion and set up a press conference, dinners, meetings, and get together, to gain wide spread telecasting through news and promotional channels. The objective is to get favorable news of the airline.Sales promotion – By proving additional incentives to travel agents and tour operators who are the front line of Nok Air’s sales promotional effort, the airline’s campaigns are focused and on target with the right segment. This direct communication allows the consumer to interact with the premoters and get valuable information about the offers to these individuals to persuade in decision making process. The air ticketing counter is another channel where the airline’s own personal can motivate the consumer to pick up on the offer before purchase. The value added promotion can be in the form of alliance with Nok Mini, Hotels, Banks, Credit Card Firms, and Car Rentals. Word of Mouth – Satisfied customers are the best premoters of the brand. They act as opinion leaders and inform the merits of the airlines to their peers and associates.Nok Air’s best and most reliable promotional strategy would be to keep customers loyal to the airline and should design ways to reward them for their referrals. PEOPLE – In this industry, the airline staff comes in contact with the customers in the course of production and consumption of service. The duties of the Human Resource department of Nok Air to select, provide training, and motivate its employees since these employees are ambassadors of the airline. Their initiative, competence, responsiveness, problem solving ability, caring attitude, and goodwi ll are the impressions that create customer satisfaction to the airline. The air stewards are the people who are in contact with the customers.Their physical presence reflects the airline image to the customers although it varies in degrees and the nature of service. The passengers expect a pleasant and polite service from these individuals who are in high contact with them and therefore their appearance plays a tangible dimension of quality. The air-crew such as the pilots possesses technical attributes in operating the aircraft and safe journey. Another ancillary service are the travel agents, tour operators, and sales counter personnel who help create the service of exchange but not in direct part of the service. There are without a doubt other employees and staff of the airline that makes the operation and management efficient and effective. It is essential to have the right people on the right job.Inspiration and motivation for these employees are critical for the organization to operate in this highly competitive environment and they their loyalty to Nok Air is an asset to the airline. PROCESS – Is the flow of service from the decision makers to the ultimate buyers. This is the involvement of channels, front line staff, travel agency offices, and tour operators. The process begins from the reservation of seats by mearns available to consumers such as telephone, internet, or personal booking till the minute they depart the airport. In some instance, the post-purchase service is involved. The process starts with information in the reservation system and managed via a large network of computers that allows the reservation to be instantaneously monitored and confirmed as required in the system.The terms of the booking is also indicated so that the passengers are aware of the limitations and conditions of the ticket as well as options and benefits iincluded in the purchase such as exemptions of cancellation fee and changes in seat reserved. Facilities at the airport such as check-in counters, flight information, and baggage handling helps to contribute perceived value in quality serviced that transfers to customer satisfaction. While in the aircraft, satisfying meals and entertainment along with amenities distributed are part of the total process in delivering quality service and increasing brand equity. PHYSICAL EVIDENCE – Is the point where service is delivered and interactions occur.The aircraft itself as well as the in-flight food are physical evidence of the airline service. This is experienced in the ways the airline configures the seats so that passengers can experience a comfortable flight although the category of the airline is that of LCC. While on the ground, booking office, ticketing counters and even the aircraft when parked, can create a good impression as a physical evidence of Nok Air. The overall designing of the booking office, the check-in counter, the domestic lounge, and the aircraft exterior appearanc e is used to trigger the customer’s experience of Nok Air. If the experience is a favorable one, the brand benefits by association to these physical environment.Don Mueang Airport is the base airport of Nok Air despite the fact that its Bangkok’s secondary airport. However, Don Mueang airport is cheaper than the main airport at Suwarnabhumi and are generally less congested therefore making the turnaround time lots shorter. Flight transfer service is not offered at Don Mueang and Nok Air can only offer advice to passengers seeking to board a connecting flight to board a shuttle bus, catch a taxi, or have someone pick them and drop off at Suwarnabhumi International Airport. Nok Air also has acquired an area in Don Mueang Airport for a playground for â€Å"Kids† as a place to entertain them before boarding the aircraft.