Demographic And Socio Economic Changes - 1594 Words

Demographic and socio-economic changes effect cities, its economy and ultimately the country as a whole. Changes in demographics tells us if an area is losing or gaining population and may act accordingly to help it survive. Family patterns change over a period of time as more women go out for jobs rather than stay at home. As medical field advances, the life span of human increases and these changes can show that the median age of the population is growing. Setting up of new industries or business houses in a city might bring in the working population and help in improving the economic condition of the area. This report presents some of the demographic and socio-economic data collected from American Community Survey 1 Year Estimates for the years 2006, 2009 and 2012 w.r.t. 203 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA) in United States of America. These MSA have been selected as the most populated MSA in USA for the year 2012. The most populous MSA in USA included a few MSA from Puerto Rico and Alaska and was removed to focus only on Mainland USA. It was also observed that most of the MSA when plotted on the map of USA are in East USA (155 MSA). Montana and Wyoming did not have any MSA among these 203 MSA. For the purpose of this report, Microsoft Excel and Tableau where used to store, clean and plot the data. Summary Tables for the parameters which were selected to compare these MSA are presented in Table 1. Total Population: Figure 1.1 represents the Total PopulationShow MoreRelatedMacro Economy Elements1258 Words   |  6 Pages1.0 MACRO ENVIRONMENT ELEMENTS There are many factors in the macro-environment that will effect the decisions of the managers of any organization. Tax changes, new laws, trade barriers, demographic change and government policy changes are all examples of macro change. 1.1 Political and Legislation Factors The political-legal dimension of the general environment also affects business activity. The philosophy of the political parties in power influences business practices. The legal environmentRead MoreA Study Area Is The Region Of The U.s. Lake1234 Words   |  5 Pageson managed public lands not only protecting natural resources, but also providing recreational opportunities have been considered as important alternatives for local economic growth. Thus, an investigation of the relative impacts of economic structures on income distribution can broaden our understanding of the role of each economic industry in the distributional aspects of gateway communities. There is no definitive way to define the gateway communities. In this study, I partly follow a method forRead MoreThe Effects Of Heavy Alcohol Consumption On Heart Disease1729 Words   |  7 PagesFactors that influence this biasness include the underrepresentation of alcoholics in the moderate drinker group, the possibility of abstainers forgoing alcohol consumption due to illness and medication, and differing life-style choices and socio-economic demographics. This review analyzes the results of studies that controlled for these factors. Since these controlled studies observed a similar relationship between moderate alcohol consumption and lower risk for heart disease, it remains that moderateRead MoreEssay On Obesity In New Zealand1275 Words   |  6 Pagesobesity may be socio-economic, geographic or ethnic.† (as cited in Kallen Sussman. 1984, p. 21). Therefore, I will be examining obesity in New Zealand specifically identifying analysis on Maori and Pacific-Islanders. Al so taking into consideration the strategic plan that each explanation carries with it. It will be argued that the best explanations are to be found within a socio-economic structure The first point to be addressed for the increase in obesity is focused on the socio-cultural impactRead MoreIct : The Most Important Element Of The Education System Essay826 Words   |  4 Pages1. EMERGENCE OF THE PROBLEM Our world is going through a great change. For preparing students for the demands of today’s world, education has to be delivered in a vastly different way. A real 21st century education must involve something more than information literacy alone. Besides the 3 R’s of education (reading, writing and arithmetic); a new â€Å"4 Cs† - Creativity and innovation, Critical thinking and problem solving, Collaboration and Communication are also required for our students to be ableRead MoreEssay On Extreme Temperature764 Words   |  4 Pagesdependency is statistically important, and thus should not be ignored in the modelling hierarchy, which is often not the case in the literature as we mentioned in Section 1. The spatio-temporal model-based results showed that in addition to the socio-economic and employability factors, the extreme climatic conditions play a role in population flow, in particular in agriculture driven areas. Furthermore, the long-term lagged effects of the extreme temperature (e.g., average number of days exceeds theRead MoreIntroduction of Toyota Motor Corporation1417 Words   |  6 PagesA first and foremost relevant example of the external opportunities with which Toyota is presented includes the very reason which made the company become a leading retailer in the United States, dethroning Ford. This namely refers to a series of changes within the society, which drove the consumers to seek more fuel efficient engines; for instance, the fluctuating price of oil, the increasing costs with automobile maintenance or the growing concerns for pollution and greenhouse gases. The AmericanRead MoreUnemployment Of The Australian Economy1077 Words   |  5 Pagesare a prevailing socio-economic issue. With the labour market central to unemployment and the distribution of jobs, many factors arise as the key influences on unemployment. With an incredible number of industries facing high demand by consumers, it is speculated that employment would feature an increase to compensate. However, many factors of the labour market contradict this and instead increase unemployment. Factors such as the level of economic growth, technological changes, trends in productivityRead MoreThe Potential Market Demand For Amari Kartini1688 Words   |  7 Pagesgroups within countries, segmentation is utilised to classify these groups within certain bands such as economics, culture, media and other factors such as quality of life (Budeva Mullen 2014). Concordantly the U.A.E is home to a diverse range of consumers, therefore the population must be sub-divided into market segments to determine which market profile to target. Given that most of the economic wealth in the U.A.E is centred within its three main cities, Abu Dhabai, Dubai and Sharjah (DepartmentRead MoreAn Analysis Of The Media s Bias871 Words   |  4 Pagesblacks. Exceptions that conflict with this sentiment do exist, of course. As David Niven stated in his 2005 paper, certain powerful individuals are capable of making targeted allegations of bias that serve only to highlight a specific individual or socio-political entity’s style of thinking - in this article instance, sports reporters were criticized by Rush Limbaugh for having more sympathy for black quarterbacks when they performed well. However, in cases like this one, the remark can be depicted

What Is Big Data - 1808 Words

What is Big Data? Big data is often referred to and defined in many different ways.In layman terms, we can interpret it as massive or huge amounts of information which cannot be handled efficiently by the current technologies and softwares. But recent technological advancements like data analytics, and social or media networks allow process, transfer, allocate, measure and represent enormous amounts of data which can also be referred to as Big Data. The way big data is used these days is to gather deep and useful information about people’s behaviour and sentiments. According to Katina Michael and Keith Miller - â€Å"Organizations use various analytical techniques— from crowdsourcing to genetic algorithms to neural networks to sentiment†¦show more content†¦As per our analysis, gathering and processing data/information from online news and social media could give the agencies a lead time for tackling critical health issues. For instance, during a cholera outbreak in Haiti, the government agencies could have got a lead time of two weeks if they had done proper data mining from online media. Another major application could be predictive analytics to flag fraudulent payments. The Fraud detection Systems help in reducing the abuse in real-time and has already prevented over $115 million of fraudulent payments in general. The system deployed by The Center of Medicare and Medicaid Services has already saved three times the actual cost invested for the program’s first year. Big data analytics has always proven useful for defense purposes. According to one of the retrospective analysis, a program called Nexus 7 by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) deployed data scientists to the battlefield during the violent years in Afghanistan War. The data mined through surveillance helped in locating and destroying improvised explosive devices. Another health industry success story was collecting millions of data samples from neonatal intensive care units to determine which newborns were likely to contract potentially fatal infections. Small warnings during analysis detected early signs of infections and thus prevented manyShow MoreRelatedWhat ´s Big Data1297 Words   |  5 PagesBig Data, the term big data is very popular now a days. Big Data, from its name it can implies that it is data which is very large, which is in huge amount. Big Data is little bit a unsuitable name .Big Data only implies that it is talking only about the quantity of data in its only challenge is to handle large amount of data. But it is not like that , term Big Data not only indicate size of data ,but with this problem of handling such a large amount of data also come . Companies have largeRead MoreWhat Is The Use Of Big Data, Data Analytics And Cloud Solutions1874 Words   |  8 PagesThesis Title: Use of big data, data analytics and cloud solutions in accounting Introduction→(150 words)***comeback to this do it @ end There is a dramatic transformation in the 21st century due the increase in technology therefore changing the way we perform accounting. The first to occur in the solution is Big Data, which creates† a collection of data from traditional and digital sources inside and outside your company that represents a source for ongoing discovery and analysis†. (Arthur, 2017)Read MoreWhat Is The Tools And Architecture For Big Data Chapter Summary1391 Words   |  6 PagesBig Data Now : 2016 Edition is a collection of big data and data science blogs and excerpts written by various O’reilly authors. It brings forward the knowledge of executing big data project and creating scalable solutions. The key themes discussed in the book are: 1) tools and architecture being used for powerful storage or processing of high volume streaming data; 2) how companies are moving from traditional warehouses to managed cloud services, building data pipelines and optimizing the hardwareRead MoreProblems Of Using Big Data Help Us Understand What Customers Want?1510 Words   |  7 PagesWhat are the problems in using big data to help us understand what customers want? Introduction Big data, defined as â€Å"a popular term used to describe the exponential growth and availability of data†(What is Big Data? , n. d. ), has attracted considerable interest in many fields as it promises to offer a level of analytic detail that has not been reached so far. Whilst it is often promoted as the solution to many marketing problems, it has some significant disadvantages. Cost, personnel, problemsRead MoreWhat Inclusions And Exclusions Persist From The Days Of Big Data Collection And Analysis704 Words   |  3 PagesGroup 1: Volume of Data Participants Name Aishwarya Patil Jiayang Su Jingxin Wang Nishant Singh Xinni Song Yuchen Xie 1. What inclusions and exclusions persist from the days of traditional data collection and analysis to today’s era of â€Å"big data† collection and analysis? Considering our volume-based view to data, there are two types to describe the data volume, which are Total Volume(TV) and Unit Volume(UV). Recently, machine generated data is more in volume than the traditional data both in Total VolumeRead MoreWhy Do Big Data And Product Design Are All Important Problems?1549 Words   |  7 PagesIntroduction Big data, defined as â€Å"a popular term used to describe the exponential growth and availability of data†(What is Big Data? , n. d. ), has attracted considerable interest in many fields as it promises to offer a level of analytic detail that has not been reached so far. Whilst it is often promoted as the solution to many marketing problems, it has some significant disadvantages. Cost, data selection, problems relating to the interpretation of the data and difficulties deciding how to applyRead MoreBig Data Is Not Always The Defining Factor1046 Words   |  5 PagesAlthough we hear the term ‘big data’ frequently now, the true definition of big data does not seem to have a singular, agreed upon definition. Depending on who you ask, big data can mean many different things. What would seem to be the most intuitive definition of ‘big’ data is not necessarily the correct one. Though the size of the data is an important aspect, it is not always the defini ng factor. According to Dell EMC’s video, Big Ideas: How Big is Big Data, big data is â€Å"any attribute that challengesRead MoreWhat s On The Business World, Information Technology Plays A Major Part Of Companies Success And Growth1499 Words   |  6 Pagespart in companies’ success and growth. Technology is rapidly advancing at an exponential rate and what we can do now with IT is beyond what we could have imagined just a couple decades ago. I am pursuing a degree in marketing and looking into information systems as well, I expect to become a brand manager for a big company one day such as Apple, Proctor and Gamble, or GE, etc. In marketing we utilize data to gather information and knowledge to better understand our customers. I believe I would use ITRead MoreThe Importance of Big Data to Business Essay592 Words   |  3 PagesWhy Big-Data is important Why is Data is important for a company? What are the effects? Competitive advantage: All companies obtain information on their customers or on their product. All these information may help a business to develop new strategies. They can also forge ahead by treating these big data. All companies have in their possession those information, so use it can be very useful. A company can identify for example their weaknesses and can improve their strategy to become theRead MoreA Study On Data Science1618 Words   |  7 PagesExercise 1: Data Science (1 mark) Read the article at http://datascience.berkeley.edu/about/what-is-data-science/ and answer the following: Define Data Science? Answer: Data Science is evolutionary way in some interdisciplinary arenas likewise business analysis which combines statistics, mathematics, modeling, analytics etc. It consists automated methods for extract knowledge. It affects the applied research in various fields which consists robotic, search engines as well as biological science.

Moby Dick Book Report Free Essays

â€Å"Call me Ishmael,† Moby-Dick begins, in one of the most recognizable opening lines in English-language literature. The narrator, an observant young man setting out from Manhattan, has experience in the merchant marine but has recently decided his next voyage will be on a whaling ship. On a cold, gloomy night in December, he arrives at the Spouter-Inn in New Bedford, Massachusetts, and agrees to share a bed with a then-absent stranger. We will write a custom essay sample on Moby Dick Book Report or any similar topic only for you Order Now When his bunk mate, a heavily tattooed Polynesian harpooner named Queequeg, returns very late and discovers Ishmael beneath his covers, both men are alarmed, but the two quickly become close friends and decide to sail together from Nantucket, Massachusetts on a whaling voyage. In Nantucket, the pair signs on with the Pequod, a whaling ship that is soon to leave port. The ship’s captain, Ahab, is nowhere to be seen; nevertheless, they are told of him – a â€Å"grand, ungodly, godlike man,† according to one of the owners, who has â€Å"been in colleges as well as ‘mong the cannibals. The two friends encounter a mysterious man named Elijah on the dock after they sign their papers and he hints at troubles to come with Ahab. The mystery grows on Christmas morning when Ishmael spots dark figures in the mist, apparently boarding the Pequod shortly before it sets sail that day. The ship’s officers direct the early voyage while Ahab stays in his cabin. The c hief mate is Starbuck, a serious, sincere Quaker and fine leader; second mate is Stubb, happy-go-lucky and cheerful and always smoking his pipe; the third mate is Flask, short and stout but thoroughly reliable. Each mate is responsible for a whaling boat, and each whaling boat of the Pequodhas its own pagan harpooneer assigned to it. Some time after sailing, Ahab finally appears on the quarter-deck one morning, an imposing, frightening figure whose haunted visage sends shivers over the narrator. (A white scar, reportedly from a thunderbolt, runs down his face and it is hinted that it continues the length of his body. ) One of his legs is missing from the knee down and has been replaced by a prosthesis fashioned from a sperm whale’s jawbone. Soon gathering the crewmen together, with a rousing speech Ahab secures their support for his single, secret purpose for this voyage: hunting down and killing Moby Dick, an old, very large sperm whale, with a snow-white hump and mottled skin, that crippled Ahab on his last whaling voyage. Only Starbuck shows any sign of resistance to the charismatic but monomaniacal captain. The first mate argues repeatedly that the ship’s purpose should be to hunt whales for their oil, with luck returning home profitably, safely, and quickly, but not to seek out and kill Moby Dick in particular – and especially not for revenge. Eventually even Starbuck acquiesces to Ahab’s will, though harboring misgivings. The mystery of the dark figures seen before the Pequod set sail is explained during the voyage’s first lowering for whales. Ahab has secretly brought along his own boat crew, including a mysterious harpooneer named Fedallah, an inscrutable figure with a sinister influence over Ahab. Later, while watching one night over a captured whale carcass, Fedallah darkly prophecies to Ahab hints regarding their twin deaths. The novel describes numerous â€Å"gams,† social meetings of two ships on the open sea. Crews normally visit each other during a gam, captains on one vessel and chief mates on the other. Mail may be exchanged and the men talk of whale sightings or other news. For Ahab, however, there is but one relevant question to ask of another ship: â€Å"Hast seen the White Whale? † After meeting several other whaling ships, which have their own peculiar stories, the Pequod enters the Pacific Ocean. Queequeg becomes deathly ill and requests that a coffin be built for him by the ship’s carpenter. Just as everyone has given up hope, Queequeg changes his mind, deciding to live after all, and recovers quickly. His coffin becomes his sea chest, and is later caulked and pitched to replace the Pequod’s life buoy. Soon word is heard from other whalers of Moby Dick. The jolly Captain Boomer of the Samuel Enderby has lost an arm to the whale, and is stunned at Ahab’s burning need for revenge. Next they meet the Rachel, which has seen Moby Dick very recently. As a result of the encounter, one of its boats is missing; the captain’s youngest son had been aboard. The Rachel’s captain begs Ahab to aid in the search for the missing boat, but Ahab is resolute. The Pequod’s captain is very near the White Whale now and will not stop to help. Finally the Delight is met, even as its captain buries a sailor who had been killed by Moby Dick. Starbuck begs Ahab one final time to reconsider his thirst for vengeance, but to no avail. The next day, the Pequod meets Moby Dick. For two days, the Pequod’s crew pursues the whale, which wreaks widespread destruction, including the disappearance of Fedallah. On the third day, Moby Dick rises up to reveal Fedallah tied to him by harpoon ropes, clearly dead. Even after the initial battle on the third day, as Moby Dick swims away from the Pequod, Starbuck exhorts Ahab one last time to desist, observing that â€Å"Moby-Dick seeks thee not. It is thou, thou, that madly seekest him! † Ahab ignores this voice of reason and continues with his ill-fated chase. As the three boats sail out to hunt him, Moby Dick damages two of them, forcing them to go back to the ship and leaving only Ahab’s vessel intact. Ahab harpoons the whale, but the harpoon-line breaks. Moby Dick then rams the Pequod itself, which begins to sink. As Ahab harpoons the whale again, the unfolding harpoon-line catches him around his neck and he is dragged into the depths of the sea by the diving Moby Dick. The boat is caught up in the whirlpool of the sinking ship, which takes almost all the crew to their deaths. Only Ishmael survives, clinging to Queequeg’s coffin-turned-life buoy for an entire day and night before the Rachel rescues him. How to cite Moby Dick Book Report, Papers

Lego Essay Example For Students

Lego Essay Executive summary Established in 1933, Bee Cheng Hiang (BCH) has since grown from a mobile stall selling barbecued pork to becoming today’s market leader with 28 retail outlets in Singapore. Barbecued pork is known to many as bakkwa, a festive nibble during the Lunar New Year celebrations. The following report has been divided into stage 1 and 2, each providing a more detailed understanding on the integrated marketing communication (IMC) program to market and position the brand by â€Å"building it into individual’s lifestyle†. In Stage 1, the topics covered are the current situational analysis of BCH and the marketing communication objectives and budget for the implemented IMC plan designed. In the current situational analysis, the issue of repositioning the brand in consumers by advertising and promotion is highlighted and elaborated, followed by the competitive frame of the local bakkwa market, BCH’s market operations and the consumer analysis. The key communication objective for the designed IMC program is A to change the public perception on the brand and its product offering thus helping BCH gain an increase in overall sales by 20%. The total budget for the IMC plan is divided into five portions with allocated percentages for the different costs. In Stage 2, a more comprehensive elaboration on the budgeting, the media types used and the timing for the IMC program are provided. The pulsing scheduling method for the campaign during the intended duration of six months is used for effective communication to the targeted audience. A story board with the portrayal of four different scenes is included with the tagline â€Å" †, meaning love in BCH to illustrate that there is love in BCH’s products. The media plan will focus on the aspects of television commercials, print advertisements, publicity, public relations, Internet marketing and sales promotion. Strategic, efficiency, profitability and annual plan controls are the various evaluation and control methods used for the IMC program. For example, to evaluate on the efficiency of the ommunication, a focus group session will be done comprising of family members of different families with different generations. 1. Problems Bee Cheng Hiang’s Advertising and Promotional Plans To Solve Currently, Bee Cheng Hiang’s (BCH) has established itself as the market leader of the bakkwa trade in Singapore, hence the team has concluded that BCH’s advertising and promotional plans does not intend to solve any problems but rather, continue to market and position the brand and its products by â€Å"building it into individual’s lifestyle†. Based on their television commercials and print ads, observations can be made on how BCH incorporates eating bakkwa into individual’s everyday lifestyle; eating it with family, sharing it with a loved one. These are the numerous ways that the brand intends to develop an understanding amongst consumers of being able to enjoy bakkwa everyday. 2. Bee Cheng Hiang’s Competitive Frame BCH faces tough competition against key players such as Fragrance Foodstuff, Lim Chee Guan and Kim Hock Guan in the market. As mentioned, BCH and its direct competitors operate within the same product category of food, for instance, their famous barbecued pork, floss and Chinese sausages. BCH versus Fragrance | |Bee Cheng Hiang |Fragrance | |Product |Sells mainly barbecued pork, floss, Chinese sausages, |Sells mainly barbecued pork, floss, Chinese sausages, | | |snacks (cuttlefish, prawn roll) and abalone. |mooncakes, snacks and a variety of cuttlefish. |Price |$45/kg (non-peak) |$43/kg (non-peak) | | |$50/kg (during CNY) |$50/kg (during CNY) | |Place |Very accessible, with 28 outlets, including franchises, |Not as accessible to tourists as compared to BCH, but 21 | | |situated all over Singapore, including heartland areas, |outlets across Singapore including franchises in the | | |airport and ferry terminals. heartlands. | |Promotion |Uses celebrity endorsement (Zoe Tay) |Uses celebrity endorsement (Sharon Au) | The obvious similarities in both BCH and Fragrance’s logos have created a baffling e ffect on their customers as these logos are being represented by the word â€Å"? †, a Chinese word that symbolises the fragrance of the barbecued pork (refer to appendix pg 29). Rivalry between BCH and Fragrance has been very intense throughout the years. From the above table, it illustrated that Fragrance and BCH’s marketing plans are comparatively parallel in terms of the marketing mix. BCH has a higher degree of competitive advantage with the number of stores and its location of the outlets in the airport and ferry terminals, being able to reach out to tourists as well as the locals. Additionally, BCH has also sponsored a family movie by Jack Neo named â€Å"The Best Bet† in order to attract attention, stimulate interest, create desire, and bring about action (AIDA) in families in Singapore. BCH and Fragrance also tend to be traditional (which explains why they kept the original sliced pork bakkwa), and innovative (gourmet fusion, which mix minced and sliced pork together) at the same time with the intention of retaining their loyal customers and at the same time, attract new ones. BCH versus Lim Chee Guan (LCG) and Kim Hock Guan(KHG) Both LCG and KHG have been renowned for their long queues during the CNY seasons although they only have a handful of stores. LCG and KHG build their brand mainly with their products that primarily consist of their well-known arbecued pork, floss and Chinese sausages. With regards to accessibility, with only a small number of stores, they are not able to reach out to as many customers in the market as how BCH and Fragrance do. LCG and KHG tend to be very attached to being traditional in their food products and do not offer as much variety. BCH and Fragrance probably made the most of the spill over effect during seasonal periods as customers who do not have the patience to queue for LCG and KHG’s barbecued pork saw BCH and Fragrance’s products as a reasonable alternative. Positioning of BCH As quoted by Overseas Singaporean (2006), â€Å"In the quest for leadership position, Bee Cheng Hiang is fully committed to its value proposition of quality. Only the best quality ingredients are being used, with continuous research and developments done, to ensure that our products exceed customers’ expectations. Bee Cheng Hiang is also the first to incorporate a traditional business with modern retail methods. † BCH (2009) has positioned its own brand as being the only choice of snacks and believes that it can help its customers in enhancing their quality of life. Additionally, it places itself as being the leading brand in the industry and believes in providing quality and value to its customers with a modernised approach while retaining its traditional taste. 3. Bee Cheng Hiang’s Market Operations 3. 1Organisation Structure The chart under appendix pg 28 shows the possible organization structure for BCH. This is a matrix structure according to geographic areas. This structure is suitable as it focuses employees on serving customers and creating products, and at the same time allows each department to be specialized on their knowledge and use resources efficiently. This knowledge and resources will be spread among the operations of BCH in different countries. In this way, consistency of the brand will be ensured in BCH. 3. 2Communication Process Communication is generally being summarized as the transmission of a message from a communicator to a receiver in a coherent manner, either verbally or non-verbally. BCH (the sender) uses an endorser, the Caldecott Queen, Zoe Tay to reach out to its audience, in forms of print advertisement and television advertisement. As Zoe Tay is seen as an individual, as well as a celebrity with a high level of affective source credibility, it helps BCH to transmit the message easily across to the audience. Then, BCH encodes the idea through graphics. For example, pictures of Zoe Tay eating the barbequed pork could be observed. Followed on, in order for BCH to transmit the encoded message, the firm has chosen several channels such as billboards, magazines and television. Television advertisement for BCH is considered to be a rich medium as the message can be conveyed using more than one type of clue, namely visuals and vocal. Subsequently, the intended message is being decoded and delivered to the receiver – the target audience. The target audience is mainly the general Chinese public who buys bakkwa for personal consumption, or as gifts of goodwill. This is the important stage as it determines whether the intended message has been delivered across correctly to the audience. Finally, feedback is the last link in the chain of the communication process. After the message is being delivered, the audience will respond in a certain way. BCH is able to calculate the response rate through their sales amount. It is important for BCH to take into consideration the noise when developing effective marketing communication strategy. Noise can occur from the competitors’ advertisements and the receiver’s frame of mind which causes the message to differ from the intended message of the communications (Armstrong, Kolter Silva 2005). Currently, BCH employs the flighting method of scheduling for it advertising; heavily during the festive periods especially the Lunar New Year. However, noise within the communication process will increase due to the competitive efforts from its other bakkwa competitors. 3. Hierarchy of Marcom Effects Of all the marketing communication tools, BCH has managed to use advertising as one of the major platforms for the firm to gain awareness amongst the general public. They use favourable advertising strategies such as Zoe Tay as an endorsement and sponsorship in Jack Neo’s movie â€Å"I Not Stupid† from MediaCorp to reach out to their audience, because these celebrities are usually of a high source of credibility. As BCH is positioned as being the only choice of snacks and believes that it can help individuals in improving the quality of life, it creates an expectation amongst the audience. Therefore, several programs were carried out to meet the expectations. BCH holds several sales promotions throughout the year, mainly during festive seasons. For example, during Mother’s Day, BCH came up with sales promotions of selling barbecued pork at a lower price. Additionally, heart-shaped bakkwa will be available during Valentines’ Day. Over the counter, free samples of bite-sized bakkwa will be placed on the glass to stimulate and entice trial. After customers tried the products, beliefs and attitudes would then be formed. For BCH, it is the taste of the bakkwa. For instance, if the taste of the product varies from one point to another, consumers will have a higher tendency to lose confidence, as their expectations and satisfactions are not met. Hence, if BCH constantly lives up to their expectations, a strong attitude will be formed. Directly, it will increase brand loyalty amongst the consumers. 3. 4Outline and Rationale for Bee Cheng Hiang’s basic Marketing Strategy Michael Porter’s Generic Strategies model is used to analyze Bee Cheng Hiang’s Marketing Strategy. Bee Cheng Hiang is currently targeting at a broad industry target group with unique products offerings. This shows that they are using differentiation-marketing strategy. BCH has established many stores in Singapore, and they are also operating globally; broadening their access to different markets. Stores of BCH can easily be found in countries like China, Indonesia and Malaysia. In total, BCH owns about 108 stores locally and globally (Chinatownology 2009). Moreover, BCH has been continuously doing research and development in order to develop new products to keep up with the changing market trends and attracting different target segments to increase demand. For example, they introduced the new healthy bakkwa that contains less calories and fat (Buy Singapore 2009). They also have EZ pack bakkwa that can store up to six months for customers like tourists to purchase the products back to their own countries. As BCH had always strived to provide products with the best quality, they had gained a well-developed brand name in the hearts of their customers. Furthermore, since its establishment in 1933, they have been recognized as the most premium brand of bakkwa, especially in Singapore (Bee Cheng Hiang 2009). For this, BCH is able to charge a higher price in their products and customers will still continue to purchase. Although substitutes of BCH’s bakkwa can easily be found, they still cannot be easily replaced, as there are emotional benefits that cannot be substituted. In the future, BCH can still adopt the differentiation strategy. However, BCH should have more promotions in the future, in order to create more awareness for their current products or new products and promotions. More efforts should also be made to build the relationship with their customers. If done successfully, loyal customers can even become their customers’ advocate, who goes around telling their friends or families the benefits of BCH. Thus, BCH can gain free word-of-mouth advertising from their customers. However, if BCH did not put in efforts to build a good relationship with their customers, soon BCH will lose them to their competitors. 3. 5Behaviour Sequence Model |Data Input |Decision stage | | Need arousal |Information search evaluation |Purchase |Usage | |Who (roles) |Initiator to propose |Influencer and decider on the brands and |Family and post |User | | |category need |alternatives |purchase | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Where (location) |(NIL) |Public sources of information: mass media |Telephone order / |Personal consumption at home / | | | | |at outlet |offices as corporate gifts | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |When (time |Brand attitude |(NIL) |Mostly before/ |(NIL) | |timing) |strategy | |during festive | | | | | |season | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |How is it likely |Purchase intention |Personal, commercial and experiential sources of|Sales promotion at |User’s needs recognised and | |to occur |strategy information |outlet |satisfied, repeats | | | | | |purchase/spread positive word of| | | | | |mouth | | | | | | | | | | | | | 3. 6Target Audience BCH’s current primary target market is people of age 30 years old and above. They are mostly married and have a stable family with average or above average income annually. Thus, they have moderate spending power. This group of people view traditional culture importantly, especially during traditional festive season like Lunar Chinese New Year. They feel that brand name is an important aspect when it comes to giving presents or serving their guest. If they feel that a brand is good, they will be loyal towards that brand and will thus, become a habit for them to buy this brand. Therefore, they are relatively not price sensitive customers as long as the brand is able to give them expected benefits. BCH’s current secondary target market is the tourists, especially the Caucasians, living in the Western side of the world. They can be of any age, gender or occupation. They have relatively high educational level and average income, thus have reasonable spending power. They are people who like or treasure the Chinese culture, therefore likes to buy traditional Chinese products. Price sensitivity will not be an issue to them as long as they find a value in the Chinese products. Similar to BCH’s primary target market, as long as the brand can satisfy them with psychological benefits, they will become repeated customers. 4. Communication Objectives A key issue in BCH’s IMC strategy is to change the public perception on the brand and its product offering. The aim of our communications objective is to help BCH gain an increase in overall sales by 20%. Although BCH is already considered as a well-known market leader for its bakkwa and other wide range of food products, we hope to increase its customer base by another 15%, by persuading existing users from competitors’ brands to switch to BCH, as well as improving its brand image and maintain its brand awareness through our IMC program. It is important to take into consideration the worth of marketing costs that would incur when planning the IMC program as returns are expected from our investments of our advertising efforts and make sure our communication objectives are met. Hence, a communications effect sequence has been planned to aid us in tracking our intended returns on the campaign. Using multiple popular communication vehicles allow BCH to reach out to their intended audience wider and successfully within 90% of the geographically dispersed audience of varied media consumption patterns, increasing the market outreach, for example popular TV media and printed publications. The advertisement will appear on a pulsing basis to maintain brand awareness since BCH is the market leader in its industry. Aside from reaching out to 90% of the target audience, our next aim is to get 70% of the selected audience to comprehend the intended message within the advertisement. Slice of life† message execution using the advertising appeals of meaningfulness and believability is utilized. This will allow shaping of BCH’s brand attitude and customer’s perception that its products are not simply a festive nibble but also can be part of their daily life. To capture the interest of the 40% intended audience, a successful message execution style is crucial. Inherent drama will be the approach used for the major selling idea. Using a family-focused theme will enhance the advertising appeal because it is easy for customers to relate to it. It is also inline with BCH’s brand vision â€Å"To be the best at helping others, to experience and share enjoyable moments in everyday life†. How Are Children Of Single Parent Families Affecte EssayWhilst during the peak periods of end September to October, and January to February, the TV commercial would be broadcasted on Channel 8, during the evening prime time slots for a total of 3 times from Mondays to Fridays, i. e. at the start and during and end of the 9’o clock programme. As most Singaporean watch Channel 8’s 9’o clock programme, we feel that we would be able to reach out to most viewers during this time and especially when everyone is home from work and school. Hence the whole family would be able to watch the commercials together. 11. 2Print Advertisements Our main choice of medium for advertising Bee Cheng Hiang’s print advertisements would be in Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) Chinese newspapers – My Paper and Shin Min Daily News. These two newspapers are selected because My Paper is one of Singapore’s free Chinese and English newspaper, hence readership rate on this publication would be high and at the same time, we will also be able to reach out to other potential customers that are English-speaking; and Shin Min Daily News is a another publication that most youths and elderly would read as this newspaper covers popular sections like sports and entertainment. It is also shown that Shin Min Daily News (2009) has an average circulation of 139,600 and My Paper(2009) with an average circulation of 280,000 as of August 2008. Hence we believe that through these two mediums of printed publications would be appropriate to advertise our new campaign and achieving our objective of reaching 90% of our selected audience in Singapore. These insertions would come in two sizes for Shin Min Daily News and My Paper; a half page, full colour advertisement on the third page of the publication for Shin Min daily News and a full page, full colour advertisement on the centrefold of My Paper. As placing the insertions on the inside of the newspapers, the costs to do so would be much cheaper than placing the insertions on the front and back pages of the newspaper. For the insertions of print advertisements, we have decided to follow the pulsing method for TV commercials, applying more weight during peak periods like October, January and February, advertising 4 times a week – Mondays, Thursdays for My Paper, Saturdays and Sundays for Shin Min Daily News. While on non-peak periods like September, November and December, the insertions would be made twice a week – Saturdays and Sundays on Shin Min Daily News as My Paper is only printed from Mondays to Fridays only. The insertions would be scenes from our storyboard, hence serving as a gentle reminder to our target audiences of the brand, its products and our intended message in the advertisements after they have seen the commercials and to maintain their attention towards our advertising. 11. 2Publicity Photo Taking Contest In order for us to attract publicity, we have decided to organize a photo taking contest, whereby everyone is eligible to participate and the only conditions for this contest are to use any BCH products in the photos taken. Since our main message of our advertising efforts is to make BCH’s product an everyday snack or lifestyle product, the theme of the contest would be to how us how people are able to infuse these products into their everyday lifestyle with their loved ones. For example, the picture could be a family enjoying bakkwa together while everyone is happy and having fun watching television. Other examples of these photographic moments can also follow our pr int advertisements and commercials. Creativity is welcomed as long as the specific products are engaged in the photos. The contest would be held at during mid November after the first wave of heavy advertising is completed, and it would also be logical to have the contest away from festive seasons as we are trying to push the message of BCH can be an everyday product in the consumers’ lifestyle. The contest will last till end December and the results would be announced during the second week of January. The contestant with the best photograph will win $4,000 in cash and $200 worth of BCH products or gift vouchers. The second prize would consist of a cash prize of $1000 and $150 worth of BCH’s products or gift vouchers; while the third prize is $500 cash prize with $100 worth of BCH’s products or gift vouchers. With these incentives in place, the contest would be able to attract much participation and interest from the public and it would also be inline with the rest of our commercials and insertions as these comprises of sharing BCH’s products with loved ones in an everyday scenario. To make our contest known to the public, we will post insertions of the contest during the months of November and December twice a week (Saturdays and Sundays) during the slots that we have selected for our print media in the Shin Min Daily News, and also on the BCH website. Pamphlets of the contest will be given out when products are purchased at any outlets to every customer and posters of the contest will be put up by the entrance of every outlet to draw attention to the contest. Hopefully by engaging the public’s participation in this contest, they themselves are also able to learn how to infuse these products into their everyday routine and adapt it as part of their lifestyle. 11. 3Public Relations A Children’s Earthquake Fund will be set up to provide direct assistance to the thousands of children who are suffering in the aftermath of destructive earthquakes in Sichuan Province and Chong Qing China. For every $1 that the consumer spends at any BCH outlets, 10 cents will be contributed to the fund. Hence, it would generate emotions that they are doing their part for charity. Posters and signage will be placed near the counter to spur the consumers on, as well as generating awareness amongst them about the ongoing charity project. Through this program, we aim to instil the thoughts of ‘family’s warmth’ in BCH’s prospects. In addition, the team seeks to effectively build the BCH brand in association with ‘goodwill’ 11. 4Internet Marketing BCH currently has an official website, www. bch. com. g that provides consumers with the company’s information; for example, company’s background, store locator, recipes, products rang e and online shopping for their products. In order for effective Internet marketing, BCH should promote their website frequently in order to create awareness for customers on their website. In this way, resources are utilized, and at the same time it will give customers a feeling that BCH is up to date. Furthermore, customers can get immediate information from BCH directly on the Internet. To advertise their website, we suggest including their website link below their company logo on their paper bags or on any of their advertisements. Advertising on popular websites, for example Yahoo! Singapore, or Google, will also help to gain awareness for BCH. In the meanwhile, word-of-mouth marketing is being publicized by including a â€Å"Tell your friend† function on their products or promotion page on their website. When customers visit their website and find something interesting that they want to tell their friends about, customers can conveniently type their friends’ email addresses onto the function and send them the information right away. In this way, their friends would also be aware of BCH’s updates. 11. 5Sales Promotions Product bundled pricing and promotional pricing are being used to increase consumer demand and excite market demand through the lull period of sales BCH. During festive seasons, bundling of bakkwa with the related festive goodies such as cookies during Lunar New Year or mooncake during the Mid-Autumn festival will be introduced. With every kg of bakkwa purchased, consumers can get 100g of pork floss for free, thus making purchase more valuable to customer. To stimulate market demand, a 15% cash discount on purchase of 2kg bakkwa will also be initiated. 12. Evaluation Control There are 4 types of evaluation and control methods that we can apply to keep sight of and meet our objectives at the end of the day – annual-plan control, profitability control, efficiency control and strategic control. All these control methods make up the control process by reminding us what we want to achieve from our goals, find out what is happening by measuring our performance, understand why is it happening by analysing our performance and lastly to think of corrective solutions if anything goes wrong. As this report revolves mainly around our IMC program, we will focus more on control methods that are relevant to the proposed campaign. 12. 1Strategic Control This control is done by top management and the marketing auditor of BCH to examine whether the company is pursing its best opportunities with respect to markets, products and channels through approaches like marketing-effectiveness rating instruments, marketing audits, marketing excellence review, company ethical and social responsibility review, etc. Hence we have come up with two ways of strategic control to assess the effects of the campaign on BCH. However if the campaign becomes a failure, the correct actions to be taken would be being more â€Å"holistic† and less departmental, constantly developing fresh and new ideas to prosper, gain customer insights and attend to their preferences, build the brand through the performance of promotions first to gain a larger influence on customers. An example of a marketing excellence review would be the annual â€Å"Viewers’ Choice Awards† programme. 12. 1. 1Viewers’ Choice One way of evaluating the effectiveness of our commercials would be through the â€Å"Viewers’ Choice Awards† which is an annual award program whereby viewers get to nominate their favourite or best television commercials. If BCH’s commercials are nominated for this program it would prove that the commercials are effective in leaving a lasting impression and impact on the viewers. This is one way of getting a qualitative evaluation or feedback of our commercials from our audiences. 12. Efficiency Control This control is the prime responsibility of the line and staff management and also the marketing controller of the BCH to evaluate and improve the spending efficiency and impact of the marketing expenditures through the company’s sales force, advertising efforts, sales promotions, distribution, etc. In order to improve our advertising efficiency should any problems or failures arise, we need to adopt a better brand positioning strategy, redefine our objectives, conduct pre-test messages and do post-testing, use computer technology to guide our choice of media selection and look for better media buys. 12. 2. 1Conducting Surveys By engaging a professional consulting agency to help conduct surveys to evaluate if the commercials and insertions have manage to change the intended audiences’ perception of the brand and its products would be useful as our main objectives of the marketing communications program would be to change peoples’ perception and to promote the consumption of BCH’s food products into the daily lives of individuals, instead of being only a festive food products. These surveys can also be conducted before the launch of the campaign as a pre-test measure to test our advertising efforts on a small fraction of the selected audience and get their opinions and feedback before releasing it to the public. This helps to prevent any failures and mistakes from being caused by the campaign. Through the surveys, we would also be able to understand if there were any problems with or if there are any improvements that could be done and getting the consumers’ or audiences’ thoughts and feedback after having seen our commercials and insertions. This would prove to be a very qualitative evaluation method for the company. 12. 2. 2Focus Group Session This evaluation test will be done with a focus group consisting of 3 different families with 3 generations – grandparents, parents and kids. This way we will be able to have a fair amount of feedback from people of the different age groups – youths, adults and the elderly. Likewise to surveys, this focus group can also be done before the start of our integrated marketing campaign as a pre-test measure to prevent problems from arising, allows us to make any improvements before launching the campaign to the public and also to test the effectiveness of the campaign on the audience. During this focus group, the facilitator will be asking the respondents questions like how they feel about the commercials and advertisements; what comes to their mind after seeing the selected advertisements; how they feel about BCH’s products, comparing BCH’s brand and products to its competitors and what other improvements can be made to further improve our current and most probably future marketing communications program, after being exposed to the campaign. After obtaining and analysing the results from the focus group, we will then evaluate the results of our marketing campaign and conclude if it was successful or not. This evaluation method is also considered as another qualitative feedback. 12. 3Profitability Control This control is under the charge of the BCH’s marketing controller to examine where the BCH is making and losing money in areas like the products, territories, customers, market segments, trade channels, order sizes, etc. Listed below is one example of profitability control measure that we can apply after the launch of our campaign. 12. 3. 1Counter Statistics BCH’s website could integrate a counter statistics system to track the number of visitors to the site before the marketing communications activities are executed. Once the commercials and insertions have started, BCH is able to note if there are any changes in the number of hits before and after its marketing communications program has started. Another way of using counter statistics could be applied in the physical shop itself. If BCH placed a counter statistics system at the entrance of every store, the company would also be able to study the number of people that patronize its stores. Same as for the website, this system should be implemented before the marketing communications program starts to study the before and after results of the program. Using counter statistics would be considered as a quantitative evaluation of our marketing efforts, and based on the counter statistics of the frequency of visits to BCH’s stores, we would be able to roughly estimate if our customer base has gone up by 15% as intended by our objectives. 12. 4Annual-plan Control This control is mainly concerned by top and middle managements as they examines whether the planned results are being achieved through conducting sales analysis, market share analysis, sales-to-expenses ratios, financial analysis, market-based scorecard analysis, etc. BCH’s accounts would help to evaluate the results of our campaign by doing BCH’s income statement, profit and loss statement, hence measuring if the campaign has managed to reach our objectives of increasing BCH’s sales 20%. Reference List Asian Perspective, Pearson Prentice Hall, Singapore Appendix BEE CHENG HIANG’S LOGO FRAGRANCE FOODSTUFF’S LOGO Photo Taking Contest October January February Peak Period Peak Period September November December Heavy Advertising Low Advertising May Meeting up with agency to plan for the IMC program of BCH June Start production for commercial and print media July Make any improvement for commercial and print media August Finalize commercial, print media and their planned schedule Production R D Marketing Sales Taiwan Indonesia Malaysia Hong Kong Singapore CEO