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A few of the Essay and Assignment tackled on Internet
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| | Assignment on SWOT Analysis and Marketing strategy of Amazon.com | | | Amazon.com was started by a man named Jeffrey Bezos, former Vice President of investment banker D.E. Shaw and Company. Rebecca (2002) has stated that Bezos was looking for a good internet company to invest and got a company where the number of visitors was increasing by 2300% every month. He thought of selling books and music on the Internet, but finally narrowed down to books as there was no major online book seller in the market and the competition was much less. Rebecca (2002) mentions that in 1995, Amazon started selling books online and by the year 1998, their annual revenue reached the target of $1640 million. Their customer base increased dramatically from 180,000 in 1996 to 12 million in 160 countries by mid 1999. It was in the year 1999 that the company decided to increase its line of products. Besides books, the company at present sells toys and video games, electronics and software, electronic greeting cards, home improvement supplies, online auctions, DVD’s and an online mall called zShops.
The company’s mission is to provide the customers the best shopping experience on the Internet with the help of technology and expertise of its invaluable employees. With this mission, the company plans to move ahead in the future. Going by the reports published by the company, their sales was best ever during the holiday season of 2008. Kathie Kroll (2008) has mentioned that the peak day was December 15th, when more than 6.3 million items were ordered and 5.6 million units shipped. To any retailer, holiday sales account for 30 to 50 percent of their annual sales and during the last season, there was supposed to be less economic activity in spite of the economic recession. Let us have a SWOT analysis of the current business situation of Amazon.com.
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| | Comparison of the websites of Amazon and W H Smith on the criteria of Core Identity, Extended Identity, Value Proposition and Relationship | | | Brand identity is the promise given by the company to the consumer about the value addition of the product to the consumer’s well being and life in general (Olins, 1989). Brand identity is a set of associations that the company wishes that the customer identifies with (Aaker, 1995). These associations represent as to what the brand stands for from the perspective of the customer. In other words, brand identity is the promise given by not just the company but also the members of the brand to the customer about its use in customer’s life. To create or maintain brand identity is to define core values of the brand, what the brand stands for, how the brand wishes to be perceived by the customers, what personality traits the brand represents and finally the relationship of the brand with the customer (Holt, 2004). For example, a brand such as toothpaste has a regular daily relationship with the customer. The toothpaste is so interwoven in a person’s life that it becomes an identity for the customer himself of herself. We all know that we prefer only a certain brands or brand of toothpaste to be precise, to use everyday. The brand can also be of emotional value to the customer. So the brand identity of toothpaste is the freshness of breath, taste, packaging and the health benefits of using it such as healthy gums and sparkling teeth. Brand strategists normally plan as to what the brand needs to stand for. Some of the brands might project a specific life style, health, well being benefits, while some other brands might project cost benefits and other value additions to the user’s life. Amazon UK and WH Smith are two of the largest books, CDs, electronics and other consumer items stores in the UK. Both have online as well ad brick and mortar stores. The functionality and the product catalogue of both the brands are similar. However, the brand identity planned for these two stores by their brand strategists could be different. This report analyses the web sites or online stores of both the brands to study the brand identity projected by the two companies and on how they differ in core identity, extended identity, value proposition and relationships. The paper analyses the strength and weaknesses of the two brands with the help of these criteria. The paper finally recommends this brand to improvise upon the areas that need to be improved. | | |
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| | Critical examination of the impacts of Virtual Communication Environments on our communication practices in relation to social networking sites | | | This essay will critically examine the impacts and impediments of virtual communication in our lives. It will through light on various spheres of present virtual communication scenario. There is an in depth analysis of various means that mediates virtual communication. This essay will also develop further ideas of scope of communication and demonstrate it through examples. | | |
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| | Design of Manufacturing strategy for Aylesford Newsprint, UK | | | The success of a manufacturing industry depends mainly on the external environment such as the demand for goods in the industry and the availability of raw materials required manufacturing the good. A manufacturing facility with the latest technology, equipment, expertise, is prerequisite for any manufacturing activity. There are too many factors that determine the success or otherwise of a manufacturing firm. A production process unit involves several operations such as purchase management, production management, quality management, facilities management, logistics, distribution channels, configuration management etc.. Manufacturing is quite an involved process that needs the coordination among all these departments. The manufacturing process starts from procurement of raw materials and processing the raw material to make a finished good. It is the technology that is of importance in the production process. If all other operations of a company are characterized by management skills and require highly managerial skills to carry out the tasks efficiently such as logistics management, the production process requires high degree of technical and engineering skills than mere management skills. Production is in the area of production process that all the engineering and scientific skills are applied to practice. If all other sections of a manufacturing industry can be thought of as purely managerial activities, production and quality control involve a lot of engineering and scientific activities than mere managerial activities. Aylesford has an efficient distributor system, but an online ordering system using payment gateways over the phone or emails. No doubt the company website has exhaustive information of the company and its products, online ordering system would add more brand value to the company. Therefore the paper recommends Aylesford to have an online transaction system to add more value to its already efficient offline ordering process.. The company can enhance the quality of all its operations by installing ERP or Enterprise Resource Planning software that enables integration of all the processes of the organization and brings them into a central database and central control system. The company can invest in such value addition which greatly integrates all the operations that were hitherto functioning individually. A software application such as ERP would greatly improve monitoring and control of processes thereby ensuring efficient operations. | | |
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| | Designing a business model and web strategy assignment on InfoInc | | | The report aims to design a strategy for InfoInc, an entrepreneurial initiative aimed at providing information in specialized fields. The first field it is targeting is that of accounts and taxation. For the same it is targeting general public and professionals in the field. To device a business strategy for the same, research has been done on the strategy followed by various other dotcoms, expert opinion on it.
Not only have success stories been researched, effort has been made to identify reasons of failure to steer clear of them. For this interviews of marketing and internet Gurus like Kotler and Tapscott have been referred to. The report dwells on the various aspects of a business and takes examples from other successful sites to derive its winning strategy.
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| | Dissertation on the Use of Internet Return on Investment (ROI) as a tool to measure their internet marketing effectiveness | | | Online marketing is the latest tool in the marketing efforts of an organization. Online applications are aimed at achieving marketing goals of organizations. Online marketing is becoming one of the most effective marketing channels in the recent years. While some companies realize the importance of having online presence to the growth of their business, there are many companies that invest in online infrastructure just not be left behind without realizing what the online presence can do to achieve the overall objectives of the company. It is a common belief that online marketing allows for easier measurement of outcomes of marketing efforts due to data intensive methods that normally constitute the online infrastructure. However, if the data thus obtained is not used effectively with the help of online marketing measurement tools then the data in itself cannot produce meaningful derivations on the performance of the website or online transactional application. One of the marketing measurement techniques used in measuring effectiveness of online marketing is marketing ROI or internet ROI. Online marketing ROI along with an efficient performance of the website should provide fairly accurate measurement of online marketing effectiveness. However, not many organizations are keen in measuring website effectiveness although, they might be using internet ROI as the sole measurement criteria to ascertain the success or otherwise of the online presence. Marketing audit using internet ROI serves the purpose of knowing the realization of tangible benefits of the online marketing efforts but they fail to measure intangible benefits such as creation and enhancement of brand value. Internet marketing ROI is single dimensional and does not take into account intangible benefits of the marketing efforts such as creation and enhancement of brand value, purchase intent etc. Banking is one of the first few industries that experimented with online marketing. Traditional banking system of late, has made way for online banking in a big way. The technological developments in E-banking or E-commerce have grown to such an extent in the past couple of decades that the banks might lose the customer base to competitors if they do not have an efficient and effective online presence. These days the customers expect efficiency of an online merchandising of the bank and the safety of online transactions devoid of any fraudulent activities. This dissertation discusses the operations of the three banks viz., Barclays Bank UK, Bank of Scotland and Triodos Bank and their online banking systems. While Barclays Bank and the Bank of Scotland have efficient online presence in the form of a neatly designed websites and transaction systems, the Triodos bank needs to improve on its online presence on the web. It is easy for the banks to use internet ROI to measure their online marketing effectiveness. However, marketing ROI provides measurement of just the tangible outcomes of the online operations. This dissertation makes a few recommendations to the banks to improvise upon their website performances and provides them framework for measuring intangible benefits such as creation and sustenance of brand value, creation of awareness, creation of sales inquiries for possible future business. The paper recommends all the three banks to incorporate the methodologies presented in this paper to measure the intangible benefits of their online marketing efforts and to make changes to their online marketing approaches.
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| | Dissertation on theoretical aspects of segmentation and then discussing segmented market focus of Amazon | | | Market segmentation is about dividing a market into different homogeneous groups of consumers. Market segmentation makes it possible for organizations to customize the marketing mix for specific target markets rather than offer the generic marketing mix to vastly different customers, in order to satisfy customer needs. Marketing segmentation is not about having a completely different marketing mix for each of the market segments. Promotional campaigns too differ among segments as needs of each segment would be different. A market segment has to be measurable, accessible by communication channels and needs to be different in its response to marketing mix, durable and substantial enough to be profitable, A market can be segmented based on multiple actors. Business markets are segmented differently from consumer markets as the purchasing behaviors of both are different. The purpose of segmenting the market is to allow the marketing programs to focus on specific subsets of prospective buyers that are most likely to purchase the products or services. If segmentation is done in an effective way it will result in the highest possible returns for the marketing expenses. Depending on whether the company is selling its products or services to individual consumers or businesses, there would be distinct characteristics among segments in what the company considers when defining market segments. Marketing segmentation also enables brands to customize their products and services to match the needs of different consumer groups. Segmentation of the market has the advantages of being able to target and cater to customers that have similar consumption patterns. At the same time too much of segmentation might be efforts intensive and could result in loss of focus on the overall market scenario. Furthermore, too much of segmentation can result in increased costs, which may not justify the earnings from individual segments. Amazon UK is one of the most successful retail firms. It combines two channels successfully, retailing and online business. While it implements segmentation into its marketing efforts, this study reveals that the approach of Amazon UK to consumer market is over segmented. This paper recommends Amazon UK to minimize on its segmentation efforts and benefit from increased profits and reduced costs. | | |
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| | Essay discussing the Telstra’s recently released policy regarding staff use of social media such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Flickr and YouTube reference to human resource management and the legal context | | | Emergence of internet and its usage brought about many changes in our society as well as life and one amongst them are the way we socialize today. The contemporary world is fast and complex. People thrive on success in life from both status as well as financial point of view. Twenty-four hours of the day flies to make the statement truer “time flies”. At the same time, people need to be connected with each other as these relationships get utilized someway or the other, socialistic or professional form. As a part of this change from the traditional format of socializing, the social networking sites were discovered one day and today, we do not live without them. It began with just one or two and in the current stage, every large companies have ventured into making these social networking sites interesting and interactive in their best way. As a part of the modernization techniques, we have adopted yet another format of change in the form of social networking sites however, many parts of the world and especially the corporate world, could still not change completely to this contemporary method of socializing. Mr. Ricardo Semler’s Seven Day Weekend was published mid year 2000 and social networking sites other than normal chat machines like Yahoo.com etc., started gaining popularity much later than that. However, adequate application of Semler’s strategy has still not happened. These cannot be a system failure always; rather these are human failure many a times. Therefore, whether use of social networking sites should be unrestricted or not really, have many factors to decide and most important of such are self sense of responsibility on the part of employees themselves. We have evaluated the same idea and concluded that some policy is always better to implement to put some restrictions in place but at the same time, the facility should not be stopped completely or restricted by time, rather let technology play it safe.
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| | Essay on Direct mail is more effective than Online marketing for a new product | | | – The launch of new product requires consumer awareness about the product, its salient features, benefits to the customer on using the new product etc. There are many ways or themes a new product might adopt to appeal to the consumers. Some of these could be the use of the new product as a style statement, as a youth icon, as a product promoting health and well being etc. There are ways to create awareness among consumers about the launch of the new product in the market, the benefits of using it. Some of the awareness creation methods could include promotion campaigns, advertisements in the print and electronic media, billboards and flash displays at key locations in the city and so on. Another age old method of creating consumer awareness about a new product is direct mailing. Direct mailing involves collecting addresses of the target customers or customer groups, drafting a letter with attractive content and to format the letter in such a way that it carries a personal touch. This creates a feeling among the recipients of direct mails that they have received mails that have been specifically sent for them. The internet boom added another dimension to mailing promotional campaign i.e. sending emails to the target customers. This is easier and less time and resource consuming than direct mailing via postal systems. However, there are still many who feel that the age old postal mailing campaign is still more effective than internet marketing using emails. This essay discusses advantages and disadvantages of direct mailing campaign vis-à-vis emailing campaign. The product that is being launched is a new beer brand. The essay finally concludes citing reasons as to why direct mailing is still effective in this age of online and internet marketing.
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| | Evaluation and comparison of the websites of Amazon and W H Smith on the criteria of Core Identity, Extended Identity, Value Proposition and Relationship | | | The companies need to establish brand identity in the market if they are to sustain amid changing marketing forces for a long time. Brand identities can be thought of as promise statements by the companies and their members to consumers about the benefits of the use of their products (Schmidt & Ludlow, 2002). Brand identity is the projected value addition to the customer’s life (Balmer & Grey, 2000). Brand identity is a set of associations that the customer identifies with the product or the company (Kotler et al, 2006). In order to create brand identity the company has to define core values of the brand, its associations, perceptions by the customers about the brand, the personality traits the customer associates with the brand and relationship of the brand with the customer (Holt, 2004). For example, a jeans trousers brand may project a macho image of the wearer. The customer identifies with the brand’s ruggedness, toughness of character, and macho man image. The brand can have psychological and emotional bearing on the minds of customers too. A person wearing the particular brand of jeans may actually think and behave like a macho man. Thus the brand identity of the particular jeans brand can be that of macho image. These projections are not the results of how the products were perceived by larger sections of customers. But they are carefully thought out strategies by the brands themselves. Before launching a new product in the market the companies normally strategize and plan as to what the brand image of the product is. The branding strategy depends upon the target customers, their demography, salient features of the product, life cycle of the product etc (Stuart, 1999). Amazon UK and WH Smith are two of the largest book sellers and retail merchants of the UK. Both the companies have online as well as physical stores. Both the companies started as book selling stores and later expanded their business to retail sector. The products range showcased on their web sites are similar. The brand identities of thee two stores as planned by their brand strategists are different. The report analyses the web sites of both Amazon UK and W H Smith Plc to study the brand identity of the two companies. The report also analyses the four components of brand identity viz., core identity, extended identity, value proposition and relationships as applied to both the brands. The report makes recommendations to both W H Smith and Amazon UK to improve upon in areas that fall short of optimum performance. | | |
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| | Evaluation and Recommendations of E-business strategies for ‘I want one of those’ | | | ‘I Want One of Those’ is an innovative business brand marketing a wide range of products, especially luxury and fun items. Its products are quite popular as gifts. The brand line of ‘I Want One of Those’ reads- “stuff you don’t need…but you really, really want”. Since the range of items is wide, it caters to a large market comprising of varied customers. Unique products and innovative gift ideas on ‘I Want One of Those’ are its selling points.
E-business has expanded rapidly and many companies are turning to internet to provide a bigger base to their brand and products. Internet ensures a larger market and therefore, more sales. Hence, to move with the changing times and changing demands of its customers, ‘I Want One of Those’ is also marketing its items online. The web portal of ‘I Want One of Those’ is www.iwantoneofthose.com’.
The web site www.iwantoneofthose.com is attracting customers because of its fresh approach. The items are systematically displayed and the services are appealing to the customers. However, there are certain flaws within the site. Further, there is scope for improvement of this e-business through other means. Various aspects like segmentation, branding, elation building, transactions etc have been discussed.
This Report has been constructed to suggest measure to improve the e-operations of “I Want One of Those’. The Report has been outlined as- Introduction (2.1 E-business, 2.2 About ‘I Want One of Those’), Performance Evaluation and Improvement of E-business, Assessment of ‘I Want One of Those’ (4.1 Home Page, 4.2 Link Pages, 4.3 Other Services), Recommendations and Conclusion.
Application of the recommendations made is expected to improve the e-operations of ‘I Want One of Those’ significantly.
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| | Evaluation of E-commerce and E-business practices of Bank of Scotland | | | E-commerce and E-business have become integral part of banking system of the 21st century. Integrating E-commerce in banking has become a specialized field itself. The success of the overall banking system includes the efficiency with which these E-commerce applications function in the banking environment. The success of E-commerce also depends upon customers’ participation. There are many potential hazards though linked to E-business such as security threats, data integrity issues, performance of the hardware and software applications in view of heightened transaction traffic. Success of E-business depends upon the ease with which transactions are done. The report deals with evaluation of The Bank of Scotland in the backdrop of its E-commerce applications in areas such as branding, customer segmentation, transactional facilities and degree of integration of online and offline operations. The report makes recommendations in those areas for improved performance and efficiency. | | |
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| | Evaluation of e-commerce strategies of Bharti Airtel | | | Any business that has a huge customer base and that deals with customers on a day to day basis requires E-commerce and E-business applications. To have an official web site for a business has become mandatory since 1990s. Customers browse the web site of a company to ascertain its credentials. Other business entities that deal with large number of customers use the web site with e-commerce applications to cater to customers’ needs such as answering their queries through online customer support, allowing them to purchase products and services online, allowing customers to update their personal and contact information etc.. So the efficient use of E-business or E-commerce is vital to the success of a retail business that has huge customer base. In turn the success of E-commerce depends upon customers’ participation. If more and more customers are able to use E-commerce applications of the company in an efficient way, the company can cut down costs of managing retail brick and mortar outlets. Success of a company that is involved in large scale retail industry directly depends upon the success and efficiency of its online business. There are many pitfalls linked to E-commerce though such as security threats, data integrity issues, performance of the hardware and software applications, the speed with which web pages open etc. The report does an evaluation of Bharti Airtel, one of Asia’s leading telecom service provider, with respect to its E-commerce applications in areas such as branding, customer segmentation, transactional facilities and degree of integration of online and offline operations. The report then makes recommendations to improve performance and efficiency of their E-commerce applications. | | |
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| | Evaluation of Marketing Mix Strategy of Air Asia in the online context | | | This project has been prepared to review, analyse and evaluate how Air Asia is executing its Marketing Mix Strategy in the online context. Air Asia is the leading low cost airline for domestic travel within Asia. A study of the marketing mix of the chosen enterprise, its expansion of online execution, key issues and basic principles of online marketing has been undertaken. The flaws in the application have been dealt with and suitable recommendations made. | | |
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| | Internet Business Strategy for Aerospace Alloys | | | Aerospace Metal Alloys are a distributor of exotic steel, aluminium and titanium alloys to the aerospace industry and other speciality industries. Aerospace is based in United States of America. Aerospace metals has a unique offering to its customers by offering them all kinds of metal solutions like service centre, forge facility, melt operation, customer bar producer, value added service producer and an information service producer all under one roof. (All metals and forge, 2008)
Aerospace provides various types of alloys in all mill forms as well as customer hand rolled bars which are not commercially available.
The forging operation of Aerospace provides forged materials in various sizes like discs, hubs, blocks, shafts etc. The value added services include hot and cold forming, heat treating, cutting, machining and extrusions, rolling and welding operations. (All metals and forge, 2008)
The unique custom operations include hand rolled bars in many shapes and sizes. Customized melting process can produce metals with custom chemistry, controlled chemistry, an out of date or an obsolete alloy, or a vacuum melt of a common grade and provide ingots or mill forms. (All metals and forge, 2008)
Aerospace has been consistently meeting customer expectations through its extensive logistic network which has been expediting materials to customers whenever they want to meet critical deadlines, or respond to an emergency material needs, shutdowns, rush orders, critical item list and other critical services. Logistics of Aerospace also provides JIT inventory fulfilment for its clients. (All metals and forge, 2008)
Aerospace is having strict quality control measures since all the materials become parts in aircrafts and other high performance products. Aerospace primarily sells raw materials formed in the shape of bars, sheets, rings and forgings. (All metals and forge, 2008)
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| | Internet Business Strategy for All metals and Forge | | | They are distributors of exotic steel, aluminium, titanium, super and special alloys as well as carbon to aerospace industry, also to many other speciality industries. An US based company with specialised offerings of various kinds of metal solutions like service centre facility, forging, melting operation, customised bar producer, value added service producers as well as information base and use it as a new service that could be provided under one roof. It also provides alloys in different forms for different types of demands in the market both from industries as well customer’s point of view and its unique selling proposition is that this customised delivery is not usually available in the market. The third major offering is forging and they provide steel for forging in various size and shapes. Forging is a complex set of activity and hence this firm also provides value added service (VAS) such as rolling and welding operations, heat treating, cutting, machining and extrusions etc. These activities forms a larger part of work for the industry it serves i.e. Aerospace industry. (All metals and forge, 2009) Apart from the standard product and services, a customized operation is also offered which include hand-rolled bars, which are made available in many shapes and sizes. Through a customized melting process All Metals & Forge produce metals in export variety (All metals and forge, 2009). It has an extensive logistic network which has been rushing up materials to customers whenever there is a demand to meet critical deadlines, or may be responding to an emergency needs, shutdowns emergency, rush orders and many other critical services to name a few. A just-in-time (JIT) method is followed for order fulfilment process (All metals and forge, 2009)
Security of materials used, hence high quality of materials required, could easy be understood by any supplier as aerospace would have strict quality control measures, All metals, and all parts form a part of the aircraft and other high performance products. Aerospace primarily sells raw materials formed in the shape of bars, sheets, rings and forgings. (All metals and forge, 2009).
The model of business followed is business-to-business (B2B). Large corporates or aircraft fabricators produce the final aircraft from these materials. These customers could even be a middleman, between the All Metals and Forge company and the aircraft manufacturers like Boeing or Airbus. A sales staff is maintained to sell metals to companies. The inventory storage system is spread across United States and the sourcing is done from various steel and metal manufacturers across North America. They have a system or mechanism to place special orders received from its customers to other companies on their behalf and this happens All Metals doe not have stock of that particular product. The company has a unique combination of a steel service center, forge facility, customised vacuum melt operation, customised bar producing mechanism, value-added services as well as knowledge management for its customers. It is a quality certified company having ISO-9001:2000/AS9100/EN9100 registration (All metals and forge, 2009)
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| | Project management plan by Infosys | | | Infosys Technologies Limited, an Indian software development company has bagged order to develop user interface software for an American capital investment company ACIC Inc. ACIC is in need of a software application for its web site to enable internet users to create a brokerage account, view history of the account, to manage transactions etc.. It also requires a second part of the application, which enables authorized representative to open brokerage accounts on behalf of the customers after receiving filled in paper application forms. The application is an enhancement of the existing application, which was also developed by Infosys. The Project Management Plan developed by Infosys is aimed to serve two purposes viz., to show the client objectives, deliverables and process details and to use as a guideline for the team management and members to execute the project. Financial budgeting is excluded for third party reviews due to confidentiality issues. The objective of this academic report is to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the Project Management Plan developed by Infosys. The report uses a theoretical framework comprising of standard PMP modules such as Introduction, Missions and Objectives, Work Scope, Planning Basis, Work Breakdown Structure, Organization Development Plan, Resource Plan, Procurement and Logistics Plan, Logic and Schedules, Financial Management and Budgeting, Risk Analysis and Contingency Plan, Quality and Productivity Plan, Environmental and Safety Plan, Security Plan, Project Control and Administration Plan and Documentation and Configuration Management Plan. The framework also consists of the use of graphical tools such as MS Office Project, WBS charts, Gantt charts, flow charts etc.
The paper finds the PMP concise and to the point. The PMP is rich in information but poor in presentation. The PMP includes all the technicalities of the software development environment. The PMP is scientifically designed and developed. The PMP uses statistical weightings to analyze the impact of defects on the overall progress and success of the project. But it lacks good presentation. The PMP lacks the use of the project development tools such as MS Office Project, WBS charts, flowcharts, Gantt charts etc. It is a complete project plan with all the details required for the concerned people to know the project objectives, deliverables and project stages. However, since it lacks graphical tools the understanding of the project processes takes longer time. The PMP is technically and logically sound but poor in presentation. The paper recommends Infosys to make good use of MS Office Project, WBS, flowcharts using SmartDraw and Gantt charts in its future Project Management Plans.
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| | Report analysing Infosys project to study legal aspects of project management such as stakeholder analysis, duty of care, legal issues in tendering etc | | | Project managers need to work within legal frameworks while discharging their duties or while executing projects. Some of the legal aspects of the projects are vendor contracts, customer agreements, employee contracts, property ownership issues, international trade agreements for overseas contracts, adherence governmental and environmental policies etc.. It is important that project managers know their legal responsibilities; else a small negligence could result in serious collateral damage. Business contracts bind concerned parties legally with one another. When the contracts are done by taking all the legal aspects into account, they protect the interests of the parties engaged by the contract. This report analyzes Infosys project to study legal aspects of project management such as stakeholder analysis, duty of care, legal issues in tendering etc. The sample project of web application development initiated by ACIC executed by Infosys does not require adherence to too much of safety and environmental concerns. However, software application development activities need to conform to violation norms such as intellectual property violation norms, copyright violation norms and the use of authorized software. Non-adherence to the time of delivery or developing an erroneous web application causing financial losses to ACIC could also land Infosys in legal trouble. The report recommends Infosys to explicitly mention in its project management plan, its adherence to copyright violation norms, intellectual property violation norms etc... The report also recommends Infosys to compensate their employees proportionately with the earnings from the project as a fair business practice. | | |
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| | Report analysing the Business branding and Internet Marketing strategy of Triodos Bank | | | E-commerce and E-business are slowly becoming integral parts of banking system since the last couple of decades. According to Crane and Bodie (1996), banking and financial industry is growing rapidly in unpredictable ways (Wu, Hsia & Heng, 2006). Some of the technology enhanced products and services are multi-function ATMs, tele-banking, online banking and trading of stocks and shares etc. (Wu, Hsia & Heng, 2006). Integrating E-commerce in banking system is probably the most challenging task since huge money rides the operations of E-commerce and a small bug or lapse in the application could lead to serious repercussions (Chaffey, 2002). E-commerce differs from traditional banking to a great extent. While traditional banking at the branches is slow and time consuming, internet banking allows transactions to be done with the touch of fingertips in no time. The flip side of the internet banking is that it is prone to hacking, data theft and even malicious transactions costing the bank and customers to a great extent. Nonetheless, E-commerce in banking system is inevitable feature in today’s fast paced world. The banks use their web site and internet banking facilities to build brand value and to attract more customers. Since traditional banking at branches is slowly giving way to online banking, customers judge the performance of the banks not by the helpfulness or lack of it of desk clerks but the facilities and the ease of operations of their online banking systems. Since these days the web sites and online banking systems are the face of the bank to the customer, utmost care is taken to project the image of the bank to the customers as well as to show their concern to the customers’ needs (Wu, Hsia & Heng, 2006). The Triodos Bank known as the ethical bank since it funds mostly to organizationas involved in green, iconological or socially beneficial causes (Triodos Bank, 2009). The bank is based in Netherlands and has branches in UK, Belgium, Germany and Spain (Triodos Bank, 2009). It uses E-commerce applications to enable its customers transact online. The Triodos Bank has a web site that allows online banking and uses highly segmented approach. This report analyses the online banking system and the web site design and presentation of Triodos Bank, UK. The report uses evaluation criteria such as content quality, performance of web site infrastructure, customer support and customer privacy and security to analyze the impact of the efforts of the bank on branding and internet marketing strategy. The report finally makes recommendations to the bank to improve their online banking system in those areas.
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| | Report analysing the legal aspects of Business agreement between Infosys and ACIC | | | A business agreement in essence is a set of promises made by all the parties involved in the agreement. Business agreements spell out the terms of business operation for which all the concerned parties are coming together. Business agreements between companies need to be protected under the law of the nation. Agreements made under legal frameworks of legislation would protect interests of one party against the acts of another party or parties that are breaching the contract. Any disputes arising among the companies that are part of the agreement are normally arbitrated in the jurisdiction of the principal company (HG.org, 2009). The business agreement protects the interests of all the companies that are part of the agreement in an unpleasant scenario of one of the parties violating the agreed terms. Even governments, multinational companies, small and medium sized businesses and industries and even individuals such as employees of a firm or consultants to the firm work under the umbrella of legal bindings. There are other set of legal bindings to work within, between companies operating from different nations. The legislations of nations vary to a great extent. In the sample case of Infosys and ACIC project, there are no major legal issues such as ownership of property. However, since the agreement is between companies headquartered in different nations, international trade policies between the two countries apply. It is also important for the client to study the laws of the country it is outsourcing the project. The paper recommends Infosys and ACIC to engage in fair business practices and settle any disputes in the legal framework amicably fostering a long term relationship | | |
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| | Report on Advantages of Online shopping using several real-life examples | | | The purpose of this essay is to explain the advantages of shopping online compared to shopping offline. These advantages are considered in regard to convenience advantages, product selection, and price knowledge. It is argued that shopping online provides substantial advantages compared to traditional offline shopping. | | |
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| | Report suggesting the strategies to improve e-business operations of Accent Clothing | | | The world of e-business is expanding rapidly. Accent Clothing has also adopted this approach to keep in step with the modern times by working through its website www.accentclothing.com. The website endeavours to be consonant with the policies of its business- warm relationship with and convenience to its customers.
The website is designed to meet the requirements of a large number and varied groups of customers. It does so by segmenting the website according to the projected needs of the browsers. Also, Accent Clothing has set up a whole system to provide shopping facilities of transaction and delivery to its buyers.
There are a few flaws relating to the design of the website. They have been evaluated and recommendations made for the improvement of the site and consequently, of the e-business of Accent Clothing.
The Report for evaluating and suggesting measures for improvement of the website has been divided along three basic heads- Design, Content and Customer Interface. These are the three main things to look out for in a website. Under each head, three sections have been constructed- Importance and Guidelines (detailing the importance of each element and the guidelines generally prescribed for it), Evaluation of www.accentclothing.com (in comparison with the guidelines prescribed) and finally, the Recommendations.
These recommendations can help improve the e-business of Accent Clothing and make it a large and well established business on the internet.
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| | Report suggesting the strategies to improve e-business operations of SixT | | | Sixt is a car rental and leasing company which originated in Munich, Germany in 1912. Today, Sixt provides service to their consumers through their company website and 3,500 service stations worldwide (Sixt AG, 2009).
The company’s branding strategy is one of the factors that made Sixt successful. Differentiating from their competitors, Sixt established themselves as “the spirit of mobility,” which conveys a meaning of providing smooth service to their customers. Concentrating on the comfort and satisfaction of their consumers, the process of renting or leasing a car is fast, easy and convenient. The establishment of Sixt’s website supported this positioning. For customers, they can easily select and rent a car at the comforts of their home, office or anywhere.
Sixt’s core brand identities include:
• Provides top-quality services and cars at low prices
• Smooth, hassle-free mobility approach
• Innovative mobility service provider
• A positive image
• A service and customer-oriented range (customer-centred and tailor-made mobility solutions) (Sixt AG, 2009).
According to the company’s website, Sixt’s goal is to “operate as a global player on the world's fastest-growing future market of mobility,” which can further assist the improvement of their market position. By having an electronic base service provider equipped with a unique infrastructure to link services easily, the company has a special competitive advantage. (Sixt AG, 2009) Through the availability of Sixt’s website, customers can easily contact Sixt and avail their services. Furthermore, the company can provide a faster way of dealing with their customers’ needs and demands.
The company’s offline brand image, identity, value proposition and operations need to correspond consistently and provide continuity in their website to compete in the fast-paced marketplace (Rowley, 2004, p.136). Thus, brand building online is necessary and plays a significant role to communicate brand values and build a stronger relationship with its customers.
This report evaluates the online branding and operations of Sixt car rental and leasing company using related framework for branding and operations for websites. It aims to demonstrate the consistency of the offline and online branding and operations by analyzing the Sixt’s website. This report is divided into several parts which includes:
- Online Branding
- Online Operations
- Recommendations
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| | Review of Academic Journal ‘Development and Testing of an E-Commerce Web Site Evaluation Model’ by Joia and de Oliveira (2008) | | | The purpose of this essay is to critically analyse the article of Joia and de Oliveira (2008) titled ‘Development and Testing of an E-Commerce Web Site Evaluation Model.’ The article is focused on the use of the internet in marketing in that it seeks to explain how marketing on the internet (the focus is on electronic retailing) can influence purchasing attitudes and intention. By developing a model of consumer purchasing and technological acceptance, the article finds that, in the case of CD music, “ease of use, trust, pleasure, and attractiveness as perceived by visitors to CD e-retailing Web sites are key issues for understanding customer attitude and purchasing” (Joia and de Oliveira 2008: 37). While this finding is based on a relatively robust empirical model, the article nevertheless has its problems and limitations. The implication is that the findings of the article need to be treated with a degree of caution by marketing practitioners.
The essay is structured as follows. The first section outlines the key contention of the article and its relationship to the marketing literatures. This is followed by a discussion that identifies and outlines the practical implications of the research. The final section provides a critique of the article’s limitations.
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| | Review of the paper “Changing Channels: The Impact of the Internet on the Distribution Strategy” | | | The emergence of new technologies has created a revolutionary phase for economy and market forces in different industries. Due to the globalization of businesses, companies have started adopting the concept of supply chain integration to stay ahead in competition. Information technology and in particular, the Internet presents many opportunities for companies to improve their production, communication and distribution channels. In the context of distribution channels, the Internet has totally transformed the channel structure. As Pitt, Berthon and Berthon discuss in their paper, the Internet has brought a remarkable makeover to the existing structure of how distribution channels work. In the beginning of the paper, they provide a brief introduction of distribution channels and their essential purposes,
To support economies of scope
To routinize transactions
To search for information essential to both producer and consumer
Further, the paper provides a substantial account on the significant changes brought by the Internet and World Wide Web to the distribution channel structure. The paper summarizes the following points,
Brief background of the traditional distribution channels including conventional intermediaries
New technological changes in the distribution structure revolutionized by the Internet and World Wide Web
Detailed discussion of the changes brought by the Internet-enabled distribution strategy along with its long-term effects
Pitt, Berthon and Berthon suggest that an Internet Distribution Matrix model can be developed in order to identify which traditional channels will undergo required transformation or die out and where new channels will emerge. The objective of the matrix model is to bring more efficiency to the functioning of distribution channels by existing firms and entrepreneurs. Besides, the matrix model enables companies to stay ahead of competitors while changing the rules of the marketplace.
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| | Strategic analysis of a contemporary business leader – William Henry Gates, Cofounder of Microsoft | | | William Henry Gates III is the Microsoft Cofounder, a famous philanthropist and also a renowned businessman. He laid the foundation of Microsoft and is better known as the architect of this successful company. It’s because of his dynamic leadership skills and management strategies, he has been able to establish the company in more than 85 countries with a maximum reach of 55, 000 employees, all over the world. In spite of several challenges and competitions thriving in the world market, Gates remains to be one of the richest men in the world, has used his leadership skills and visions to the best possible dimensions and has proved to be the greatest entrepreneur of the world. Lowe (1998) in his book “Bill Gates Speaks: Insight from the World’s greatest Entrepreneur” writes that his pioneering work in the field of computers has altered the lives of people who use it, forever. He also calls Gates as an innovator, full time genius and also a part time salesman.
Taking into consideration the statement “Leaders create vision, the meaning within which others work and live. Managers, by contrast, act completely within a vision” by Adler Nancy from International Dimensions of Organisational Behaviour, it reflects that the vision of the leaders is different, nascent, innovative and also appealing. They take the road less travelled and have their own followers. Though, as managers, the individuals are much more into managing the entire process through which the ideas have been generated by the leaders and account to the fact that these ideas are followed through flawless execution. Gold (2006), in his book “Entrepreneurs notebook” reveals how challenging and very gratifying the entire journey of being a leader is. A leader needs to be convincing, confident and very principled, knowing the tricks in the trade.
A person who has the right sense of thought process, idea generation and can make people believe in him can actually manage to stay in this business field. There are millions of others who will take inspiration from him. On the other hand, the managers prove to be methodological and more flawless in terms of the management aspect of the entire vocation they are employed and involved into. Though, it does not, by any means, compare the mental or intellectual appeal of both of them. But the fact remains to be true, that its comparatively easier to be a manager, a profession which can be learnt with time and pace, rather than being a leader because it is in built and cannot be influenced by the external surrounding, until and unless the leadership trait is there in them, from birth For example, Bill Gates, declined the mandatory and customary trends which the mere graduates followed in Harvard but rather he gave more interest and time to polish his skills in programming and building his own empire, his own establishment, which could not be compared or defeated by any other. Geist (2000) in his book “Monopolies in America” States clearly the kind of enemies and empire building tactics which the prominent leaders from the time of Jay Gould to Bill Gates have used, for their own success and progress in the world of cut throat competition.
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| | Strategic assignment on Internet market in Australia | | | Broadband is becoming vital for both the economy and community of Australia. It is estimated that the Australian Internet access market will add over $100 billion to the Australian economy over the next five to ten years by organizations that will use broadband as a crucial element in their business models and distribution of services and as e-marketing and production tool. Australian Internet market is still lagging 2 years behind those in Europe and Asia. This further means that Australia is losing out on competitive advantage. While technology has already made essential as well as innovative improvements in the subcontinent, Australian people find it too expensive to afford broadband Internet in their households. | | |
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| | The report analysing the implementation of components such as project communication, project management information system, project integration and project life cycle using a real life example of Infosys and ACIC project | | | Project communication, human resources planning, project management information system is all project components that contribute to the success of a project implementation. It is not sufficient if the project plan just included technicalities of execution and budgeting but it becomes important to bring together all the components of a project plan in a cohesive way. This calls for project integration. Project integration management is a group of processes that are required to effectively link various components of the project together. The various components of the projects could be developing project charter, developing initial scope of the project, developing project management plan, project execution, project control, change control etc. The report aims at understanding all these components of project by analyzing a commercial project management plan. The report tries to analyze the implementation of components such as project communication, project management information system, project integration and project life cycle of the sample project plan. The paper also tries to compare theoretical aspects of the above said project components with respect to the actual methods used in the project plan and tries to identify as to why certain components are omitted or included. Not all the project management plans require all the project components. The choice of the inclusion of project components varies depending upon the nature, duration and impact of the execution of the project on the organization. Another factor that determines as to whether or not all the components of a project plan are included or not is the complexity and hence the cost of the project. More the complexity of the project greater is the need for inclusion of all the available components of the project. The project under study is a web based application for an investment and real estate company to manage user accounts. The project was awarded to an Indian multinational company. The report finds the project plan developed by the Indian company Infosys for the development of a software application for an American company ACIC scoring well in the aspects of human resource planning, stakeholder communication plan, project integration and change plans. However, the report finds the need to ensure effective project monitoring by incorporating Project Management Information System or PMIS. The report recommends Infosys to incorporate Project Management Information System in its future projects. | | |
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