Philosophy - Social Justice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Philosophy - Social Justice - Essay Example This is because the definitions vary basing on a variety of factors, like political factors, religion, and the social philosophy. From a postmodernist point of view, one can get a definition that is only a concept that may never be practical anywhere in life. In general, Boylan (p. 91) writes that social justice is more of equal justice, not only in the judicial system, but in all other aspects of the society. From this concept, we can say that social justice demands equal rights and opportunities for everyone regardless of the social status. Therefore, we can sum up by saying that social justice is an idea which involves fashioning a society or an institution basing on the principles of equality and solidarity. This system understands the values of human rights with recognition of every individual’s dignity. Generally, social justice bases on the concepts of human rights and equality. It also involves economic egalitarianism. This is through progressive taxation, and redistri bution of property and income. Through such policies, it is easier to attain equality in opportunity, hence creation of outcome equality. In order to create a just society from the perceptive ‘privileged society’, where not every individual has equal opportunity to enjoy the freedom that people share, one must be ready to learn more about the issues of social justice like tolerance, equity and diversity promotion, and fighting hatred, among others. It is easier to act after educating oneself about the issues of social justice. Secondly, it is not easy to achieve the social justice that on desires without incorporation from the general society. It is, therefore, imperative to get help from the general people in the society. Joining a social justice group, which will stand up to hatred in all forms, will engage the community in a process that will build the society towards respectful, safe and fair environment. With this, one will get the support that will help in creatin g a firm foundation towards achievement of the just society (Boylan, p. 93). One must understand that they can not come up with a just society without learning from others. This is because a just social system recognizes all forms of diversity, be it cultural, economic or any other form. Therefore, it is important for one to learn to leverage the benefits of diversity surrounding them. One can expose themselves to other cultures, eat and intermingle with other people in the society, read about different cultures, subscribe to other cultures and open ones mind to diverse perspectives around them. Through this, one will learn about the challenges that they will have to overcome in order to justify all the social needs in the diversity among the people in the society. It is also important for one to take challenges, like asking oneself if the immediate friends reflect what a just society is. One can ask themselves if friends around portray the diversity of genders, races, cultures, age s, political affiliations, and any other relevant aspects of diversity. In order to achieve a perfect framework of social justice, one must open the mind and heart to experience people with other perspectives and insights that will or may be challenging, while some may be interesting. Such diversification will eradicate issues of discrimination and will ensure achievement of a liberal society. A perfect view of a just society will have socially responsible

International finanicial manager (slp 5 bus) Essay

International finanicial manager (slp 5 bus) - Essay Example transnational corporation acquire, organize and manage those assets is of critical importance, not only to the success of those corporations, but also to the development and industrial restructuring of nation states. The task of international financial manager is to make the best possible tactical decision that the market has to offer on liabilities, within the strategic funding constraints set by currency denomination, maturity, and capital structure Almost every firm, government agency, and other type of organizations have one or more financial managers. Financial managers oversee the preparation of financial reports, direct investment activities, and implement cash management strategies. Managers also develop strategies and implement the long-term goals of their organization. The role of the financial manager, particularly in business, is changing in response to technological advances that have significantly reduced the amount of time it takes to produce financial reports. Financial managers now perform more data analysis and use it to offer senior managers ideas on how to maximize profits. They often work on teams, acting as business advisors to top management. Financial managers need to keep abreast of the latest computer technology to increase the efficiency of their firm’s financial operations. Controllers direct the preparation of financial reports, such as income statements, balance sheets, and analyses of future earnings or expenses. Controllers also are in charge of preparing special reports required by regulatory authorities. Often, controllers oversee the accounting, audit, and budget departments. Treasurers and finance officers direct the organization’s budgets to meet its financial goals. They oversee the investment of funds, manage associated risks, supervise cash management activities, execute capital-raising strategies to support a firm’s expansion, and deal with mergers and acquisitions. Cash managers monitor and control the flow of

Controllability Principle in Responsibility Accounting

Controllability Principle in Responsibility Accounting One underlying concept of the traditional management control system is the responsibility accounting. It is viewed as an important feature because it permits the ease of decentralization in M-form organizations. It distributes accountability and provides accounting reports on these distributed accountabilities. It provides a way for large unmanageable organizations to be managed such that all subsystems have similar goals. It can be defined as a system where managers are held responsible for activities under their leadership. Built on responsibility accounting is the principle of controllability. This principle has been viewed as the cornerstone of responsibility accounting (S. Modell and A. Lee, 2001). The principle states that managers should only be evaluated on elements that are within their control. Research literatures on responsibility accounting point to the fact that responsibility accounting and the controllability principle cannot be made independent of one another. The re lationship becomes obvious when both are looked at together; responsibility accounting holds the manager responsible for a particular division but the controllability principle ensures that the managers are held responsible only for factors that they can control. For this reason, Ferrara (1964) called responsibility accounting a communication system with the sole purpose of helping the organization achieve its goals. The controllability principle, therefore, serves to make this communication channel clearer and understandable. The role played by the controllability principle makes it an appealing notion. However, much research articles have argued for the observance of controllability principle as well as against its observance in responsibility accounting. This paper seeks to evaluate the arguments for and against the observance of the principle of controllability. Arguments For and Against the Observance of Controllability Principle Recent research concludes that there are two types of uncontrollable factors within the borders of controllability; internal uncontrollable and external uncontrollable factors. Studies also show that when it comes to controllability, managers consider responsibility accounting fair when the effects of internal uncontrollable factors on their performance is negated in appraisal. The concept of fairness was given in McNally G. (1980) as one of the rationales for observing the principle of controllability. He stated this using the expectancy theory of motivation. The notion of fairness makes the observance of controllability desirable when performance evaluations are carried out on the managers. The controllability principle makes the appraisal a fair one. This is as a result of the appraisal done in consideration of the controllable factors and uncontrollable factors. The result of the appraisal would be a satisfied and possibly motivated manager. Choudhury N. (1986) goes further to sa y that this conforms to the commonly held principle of justice. The equity theory of motivation also helps to explain it further the theory says a fair days work for a fair days pay. In the case of the manager and controllability, this would be a fair assessment for a fair periods work. Achieving organizational goals are very important for any firm and the means of doing that is through the managers of the decentralized firms but if the managers perception of the performance appraisal is unfair, he is demotivated and unsatisfied. He also loses focus and possibly direction. Going by McGregors Y theory of motivation, this could damage the managers perception of his work. He wants to work and put in his best but if his best is judged against things out of his control, this could lead him to learned helplessness or to leave the firm (Nandan C, 1986). For such an organization whose appraisal system is deemed to be unfair, they would have a high turnover rate. The implications of this are far reaching as harmful managerial behaviour might crop up. With fairness in place, observing the principle of controllability helps managers to pay attention to uncontrollable factors. The responsibility accounting holds them accountable for what goes on in their divisions; controllability principle makes the uncontrollable factors obvious. Managers will direct corrective efforts to these uncontrollable factors (McNally G., 1980). This in turn would help to influence the managers behaviour such that it aligns with organizational goals. The knowledge that his appraisal is a fair one would motivate him to try to exert some influence over these uncontrollable factors. If the influence pays off, then he is one step closer to achieving organizational goals. This also induces him/her to pay more attention to factors previously perceived as uncontrollable but now influenceable because of the effort he has applied (F. Giraud, P. Langevin and C. Mendoza, 2008). In the agency theory framework of management control where all information is used to appr aise the managers performance in line with the controllability principle, the appraisal report highlights the controllable and uncontrollable factors. Senior management can attach rewards to these seemingly uncontrollable factors to ensure that managers do their best to attain them without neglecting other duties necessary for the organizational goal attainment. S. Modell and A. Lee (2001) refer to the influence over seemingly uncontrollable factors when they noted that reliance on controllability principle helps to enhance managerial control of powerful institutional actors such as managers. The empirical study carried out by Frow N, Marginson D, and Odgen S. (2005) at Astoria PLC also points out the fact that factors that cannot be controlled can be influenced with some effort; they found out that the firm uses the AIP (Astoria Improvement Process) to reinforce influenceablity. They noted that the AIP helps the manager retain some form of control where they have only partial contr ollability but the AIP also imposes expectation on the managers. This would ensure that the managers make extra effort to influence these factors to meet the expectation laid up on them. Controllability principle helps to neutralize the effects of uncontrollable factors on a managers performance, thus giving a true picture of the managers efforts. This is another appealing notion of the controllability principle. It has been argued that the organization is a social system that grows in complexity like the biological systems. This complexity brings with it constant changes and in the organizational context, this would mean unforeseen changes that can have positive or negative effects on the efforts of the manager. One of such complexity is the competitive and economic elements. Both of these can affect the managers effort in a positive or negative way. An appropriate example is the financial crisis of 2007-2010 which has caused a downturn in stock prices. This in turn affects the profit and investment levels but the controllability principle neutralizes the effects of the financial crisis on the managers performance. Giraud et al (2008) noted that neutralization of un controllable factors can take two forms; ex-ante neutralization and ex-post neutralization, both of which have the same the same result, neutralizing the effects of uncontrollable factors on the performance of the managers. The Controllability principle provides a reliable assessment of the managers performance. When all uncontrollable factors have been neutralized, the assessment will be based on the efforts of the manager in improving the division under his control. Choudhury (1986) notes this when he says that the results of the division under the mangers control is a combination of the managers efforts and the uncontrollable factors. Separating managers effort from uncontrollable factors provides a better basis for assessment. In the principal agent framework, this would be a very necessary basis for rewards, the principal uses everything in his disposal to appraise the manager but when controllability principle removes the uncontrollable factors, the managers efforts are clearly seen. The rewards can then be based on the managers efforts at controlling the factors that he could to achieve organizational objectives. Ferrara (1964) argues that the controllability principle in responsibility accounting helps the organization to grow in that it helps to locate the errors and mistakes of the organizational members. He argues that errors and mistakes are the stuff of which progress is made . He also argues that controllability is a means of locating those activities and people in the organization in need of help so that assistance can be rendered and scarce resources of the organization would be more utilized. This would mean that controllability principle works in line with the organizational goals and where a positive attitude about it is inculcated in managers, the organization should move at the targeted pace. The responsibility accounting reports will make clear the controllable factors and the uncontrollable factors but amidst the controllable factors, a well prepared report will reveal where there might be problems. These problems can be considered and worked on or used as a base for future st rategic plans. When all errors and mistakes are corrected, they make room for improvement. In spite of these appealing advantages for controllability principle, there have been arguments against its observance in the responsibility accounting. Choudhury (1986) argues that controllability principle is not sacrosanct. Considering the size of big firms, a lot of factors hinder the practicality of the controllability principle. The interdependencies of the divisions within these firms create an unclear line with respect to divisional boundaries and places difficulty on the responsibility accounting process. One such factor is the task complexity of some divisions. If a particular manager works with another divisional manager to accomplish a difficult task, it becomes difficult to appraise the managers efforts because supposedly, the manager with the task had control over the particular task but performance appraisal with controllability principle makes this difficult. The manager had the task under his control but the other manager that helped had no control over the task but had ideas and participated in accomplishing the task. In this aspect Amey (1979) compares organizations to biological systems that grow in complexity. The complex growth makes controllability impossible. Observing the controllability principle in complex organizations is limiting on the innovativeness and the creativity of managers in the organizations. When managers are aware that they are being assessed on controllable factors, they would not be willing to take on risky ventures that have potential benefits for the organization. In their examination of the limitations of controllability principle, Antle and Demski (1988) conclude that the limitations of controllability on organizational growth can be modified through the information content notion. The limitation of the controllability principle is a hindrance on the positive results of team work. M-form organizations require team work to succeed, however, the observance of the controllability principle in the principal-agent framework breeds competition and this affect team work negatively thus a sales manager might have a good idea on how to achieve the tasks of the marketing manager but because he does not want the marketing man ager to do better that him in their performance appraisal, he would not assist or offer advice. Team work is therefore placed at the bottom of the list of useful organizational ethics. On the contrary where both managers would work together without neglecting their divisional duties, they could achieve desired results and if possible, meet their separate targets. The study carried out by Frow et al (2006) supports this fact; their findings revolve around accountability without controllability and the results also shows that the Astoria Plc. encouraged more co-operations because of organizational promotion of greater interdependencies. Another aspect where the observance of controllability principle is limiting is the area of performance evaluation. It limits the use of market measures in evaluating the managers performance. The use of market measures is one of the ways of evaluating senior management employees and the limiting effect of the controllability principle weakens the effe ctiveness of these measures (Merchant, 2006). The limitations of the controllability principle lead to rigidity in organizations. The controllability principle does not allow room for organizational flexibility. It limits the organization to growth based on only controllable factors. Modern day organizations are very dynamic and this constant change is not compatible with the concept of controllability. If controllability principle is been observed in an organization, the organization would not allow change such that it is flexible and easily adaptable to changes in its environment. Amey (1979) argued that businesses needed to maintain flexibility in internal arrangements such that adjustment would not be impeded and its links with its environment would grow stronger. Observing controllability principle in responsibility accounting involves some elements of subjectivity. This occurs when the basis for establishing controllable and uncontrollable factor are unclear. The performance evaluation team will have to set a criterion to use when carrying out an appraisal; this criterion would be based on what they think and probably not what they are aware of. In doing this, they become subjective in the appraisal. This would be perceived by the manager as unfair appraisal. He would view himself as being unfairly treated without consideration of factors contingent upon his performance. As a result of this perception of the performance appraisal, the manager could behave in a dysfunctional way. Such actions would be detrimental to the organizational goals. A manager who perceives an unfair system would also be demotivated. The findings of the research done by Giraud et al (2008) concluded that managers do not want uncontrollable external factors neutralized because of the level of subjectivity involved in it. Similarly, drawing from the study carried out by Modell and Lee (2001) institutional factors affect the controllability principle, in turn these factors affect the efficiency of the responsibility accounting system. The controllability principle is also expensive to maintain in an organization. I would argue that the process involved in ensuring the observance of responsibility principle is not cost efficient. The process would require constant research into the market forces so as to distinguish controllable factors from uncontrollable factors; where it is not possible to make such a distinction, the organization would have to incur more costs to ensure that the performance appraisal system is perceived as fair by its managers. The energies and costs that would be consumed by such a process would be effectively used in another part of the organization where it would be beneficial. Giraud et al (2008) also argues on the difficulty of evaluating uncontrollable factors, they specifically note the difficulty as regards the impact of economic recession. Thus, I would also argue that payment for the services of qualified experts on the distinction between controllable and uncontrollable factors for p erformance evaluation is an unnecessary cost to the organization. Research has also shown that observing the controllability principle leads to dysfunctional behaviour of managers. Hirst (1983) noted that reliance on performance measures that capture uncontrollable factors promote dysfunctional behaviour. This as a result of the managers perception of the performance evaluation system; he wants to avoid the effects of uncontrollable factors and he does that by engaging in activities that do not promote organizational objectives. Giraud et al (2008) mention such activities to include data manipulation, creating slack and developing an excuse culture. He narrows his focus to just the factors that he knows he would be appraised by and where he fails, his self-efficacy is reduced. Observing controllability principle in responsibility accounting can have consequences for organizational goals. It can lead to short termism on the part of manager. In narrowing their focus, managers focus on the components of the performance evaluation system and not on the organizational goals. This would lead to the neglecting of organizational long term goals. Thus, a manager with a long term goal of improved return on investment but with a sales division short term goal of number of user complaints per month and percentage variation from budgets will focus only on reducing the percentage variation from budgets thereby maligning the chances of improving the ROI. This might mean inferior sales strategies that would result in a drop in sales figures which have negative effects on the ROI. Conclusion Theoretically, observing the controllability principle in responsibility accounting has been perceived to have its advantages and disadvantages to the organization. The definition of the controllability principle indicates that there is a clear distinction between controllable and uncontrollable factors. This distinction supposedly makes it easy to observe in responsibility accounting. However, empirical studies reveal that organizations do not fully observe the controllability principle. Findings indicate that there is some sort of continuum that has controllable factors on one end and uncontrollable factors on the other end with varying degrees of control in between. Studies also show that some managers do not see themselves on either end of the continuum but somewhere in the middle. This means that strict observance of the controllability principle is impractical. Choudhury (1986) argues that the responsibility accounting concept should not be hindered by controllability and that it should be interpreted independently of controllability. Moreover, controllability should be defined contingent upon the contexts of the organization. McNally (1980) also argues that controllability can be applied in a modified version. Recent literature also indicates that organizations tend to hold managers for factors that they can influence rather than factors that they can control. This lies somewhere between controllable factors and uncontrollable factors on the controllability continuum. Giraud et al (2008) refer to this as the influencable factors. In addition, the interdependencies of organizations blur the lines separating controllability and other sub-systems in the responsibility accounting system (Hirst, 1983) as well as the uncertainties of the organizational environment. Consequently, I would argue that strict observance of the controllability principle is unrealistic. The modification and the re-definition of the controllability principle is a gradual shift away from the premise of the controllability principle. The difference between controllable and uncontrollable factors is lacking in clarity as regards modern organizations. It also does not align well with the structure of modern day organizations. Similarly, factors that can be influenced today might not be influenced the next day or next operating period because of the unpredictability of the environments of the organizations. Besides, can the ability to influence an event be measured and to what extent can it be measured?

Catal Huyuk was a Civilization Essay examples -- essays research paper

Catal Huyuk was a Civilization According to archaeologist in order to be defined as a civilization certain criteria must be met. Early archaeologists believed in order to be considered a civilization a society must have cultural superiority, which meant they must have the ability to read and write. If this was the sole criteria used to judge if a society was labeled a civilization, then you could say the Inca of South America, who constructed cities on top of mountains and had a complex system of irrigation canals, were not one because they did not have a system for reading or writing. Modern archaeologists now think of civilization as not better but different. The modern definition of civilization consists of the development of cities, or urbanization, the existence of a centralized political unit, a dense population in the thousands and a degree of organizational complexity. After reading and listening to class lecture I believe that Catal Huyuk should be considered a civilization. As you read on I will discuss point by point why I feel Catal Huyuk was a civilization.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Signs of craft specialization are very apparent at Catal Huyuk. There are a variety tools and weapons made from obsidian, flint, stone and bone. A process called flint knapping, or chipping, was used to shape a stone, like flint, into a sharp tool which could be used in arrowheads. Another process that was used in making tools was called grounding. This involved using two ston...

Cybercrime Definition Essay

What is this Cyber crime? We read about it in newspapers very often. Let’s look at the dictionary definition of Cybercrime: â€Å"It is a criminal activity committed on the internet. This is a broad term that describes everything from electronic cracking to denial of service attacks that cause electronic commerce sites to lose money†. Mr. Pavan Duggal, who is the President of www.cyberlaws.net and consultant, in a report has clearly defined the various categories and types of cybercrimes. Cybercrimes can be basically divided into 3 major categories: 1. Cybercrimes against persons. 2. Cybercrimes against property. 3. Cybercrimes against government. Cybercrimes against persons: Cybercrimes committed against persons include various crimes like transmission of child-pornography, harassment of any one with the use of a computer such as e-mail. The trafficking, distribution, posting, and dissemination of obscene material including pornography and indecent exposure, constitutes one of the most important Cybercrimes known today. The potential harm of such a crime to humanity can hardly be amplified. This is one Cybercrime which threatens to undermine the growth of the younger generation as also leave irreparable scars and injury on the younger generation, if not controlled. A minor girl in Ahmedabad was lured to a private place through cyberchat by a man, who, along with his friends, attempted to gangrape her. As some passersby heard her cry, she was rescued. Another example wherein the damage was not done to a person but to the masses is the case of the Melissa virus. The Melissa virus first appeared on the internet in March of 1999. It spread rapidly throughout computer systems in the United States and Europe. It is estimated that the virus caused 80 million dollars in damages to computers worldwide. In the United States alone, the virus made its way through 1.2 million computers in one-fifth of the country’s largest businesses. David Smith pleaded guilty on Dec. 9, 1999 to state and federal charges associated with his creation of the Melissa virus. There are numerous examples of such computer viruses few of them being â€Å"Melissa† and â€Å"love bug†. Cyberharassment is a distinct Cybercrime. Various kinds of harassment can and do occur in cyberspace, or through the use of cyberspace. Harassment can be sexual, racial, religious, or other.

Company G 3 Year Marketing Plan Essay

Company G develops products that improve the lives of consumers with innovative electronic technology and reliable build quality. We believe that our new Radio CD recorder does just that, it improves the lives of our consumers and gives them a product they can rely on because of our product build quality. Our product is a solution for consumers who would enjoy the convenience of having their favorite radio programming at their disposal. This sample-marketing plan demonstrates the strategies employed to place our new product in position to reach our profit potential. Company G provides consumers with not only reliable appliances but appliances that are cutting edge in design. Our company keeps an eco-friendly attitude in mind during the process of producing our products so that waste is eliminated. Solutions have been utilized to reduce maintenance costs, equipment costs and other costs associated with producing our products. Mission Statement â€Å"We enable consumers to improve the quality and convenience of their lives by providing innovative electronics solution.† The Product The features of the Radio CD recorder include a CD player, radio, CD quality radio recording, small to medium build design for portability, strong light weight construction for portability, timer radio recording for use while away from home, a quality antenna for radio signal strength, five hour rechargeable lithium ion batteries for ease of portability, power cord for home use, a USB outlet for all mp3 device compatibility, and easy to operate controls that can all be done from a wireless remote control. These features give consumers the freedom and convenience to use our product in a variety of ways. Build quality of our product surpasses all that is currently in the market and improves the overall radio experience for consumers. Consumer Product Classification Our consumer product classification falls under a shopping product. Consumers will buy our product only after comparing other radio products price, quality, color, and style. Consumers have limited information as it relates to our product and will gather information during the buying process. Our product can also be seen as homogenous, as there is an array of other radios on the market. Target Market Our focus is on Caucasian female college students between the ages of 18 to 25. Majority of our consumers will be working part time jobs and have incomes ranging of $15 to $25K annually. Most of our consumers will be living on a college campus or apartment, and room mating with friends and or living at home with parents. We will market to tech savvy female college students that look for value in their limited amount of spending on electronic products. Also, our consumers will be music lovers that enjoy listening to the radio during studying and leisure time. The consumers purchasing our product will have a limited amount of space for many different products and will be looking for a product that can combine many of their other products all in one. Competitive Situation Analysis Analysis of Competition using Porter’s 5 Forces Model Competitive Rivalry: According to the amount of products available, rivalry intensity is high. What makes for a high intensity of rivalry includes competitors aggressively targeting each other’s markets and aggressively pricing products. Also, competitors are of equal size and market share and industry growth is slow. Lastly, industries fixed costs are high which creates intense competitive rivalry. Threat from New Entrants: Threats from new entrants are low. Reason being is because of significant upfront capital investments required to start this kind of business. Low barriers of entry are also evident by limited access to proprietary technology and proprietary production material inputs. Furthermore, distribution channels are difficult to access, which also causes low barriers to entry. The Internet has very little impact because of high technology development cost and high manufacturing costs. Threat from Buyers: In researching, buyer power has shown to be low with our product because buyer bargaining power is low. Sellers are concentrated compared to buyers and there are few sellers with many buyers, which makes buyer power low. Furthermore, consumer switching costs are relatively high and buyers would not easily be able to produce our products themselves, further supporting that the threat from buyers is low. The Internet can have an impact should buyers ban together on social networking sites to demand discounts. Threat from Suppliers: Threats from suppliers are high. The new technology that has gone in to producing our new product has been developed and is not mass-produced. Suppliers are few and buyers are many. Suppliers can also forward integrate and begin to produce our product themselves. This will impact how our company will be able to continue delivering our product at a reasonable price because suppliers can use the Internet to sell directly to online shoppers. This will have an impact not only on product price but also our distribution and marketing process. Threat from Substitutes: The threat of substitute products in the market is high. Consumers have the option of purchasing similar radios that record on cassette tapes with low switching costs. Also, the cassette radio recorders are cheaper than our product, which also makes a high threat substitute. But, when it comes to quality of both our product and the substitute product the threat of the substitute is low because our product is of higher quality. Before our product, consumers’ only option to record their radio shows or songs would have been to manually record on cassette radios. The Internet allows fewer barriers for substitute cassette radios to be sold online for less money than our product. SWOT Analysis SWOT is useful technique for understanding Company G’s strengths and weaknesses, and for identifying both opportunities open to the company and threats the company faces. What makes SWOT so important is that it can help bring to light opportunities that can be utilized as an advantage. Also, by understanding the weaknesses of our company, we can be ready to take care of and fix potential problems before they happen. Strengths – Our engineers and designers who develop our innovative products is our first strength. This is one of our core competency’s that gives our company a unique advantage over other companies. We can market how we employ the best and most qualified workers, which brings value and quality to the consumer. – An excellent relationship with current suppliers is our second core competency strength. These relationships have been built over time and are difficult to replicate. This gives us an advantage in that we can make our products available with few delays. – Efficient production process is our last strength that allows us to minimize waste in producing our products. We can market our product as being eco-friendly by minimizing waste in the environment. Furthermore, our products are readily available for restock as needed at any time should demand increase. With our products having an efficient production process they can be made with high quality, fr ee of defects. Weaknesses – Target market consists of college students that don’t typically have much money. Our typical target market will be part time working college students. This target market has yet to start their professional career and have a myriad of costs as they try to earn their degrees. Their costs may just be too high to warrant another electronic purchase. – Consumers may be reluctant to change from their lower priced radio cassette recorders to our new higher priced radio CD recorders. Consumers don’t like change, and if they have a radio that have some of the features our product has, they may elect to save money and stay with their old product. – There are a multitude of substitutes in the market that do very similar things to our product. Having consumers understand and feel a need to have an all in one product that has a combination of features that other substitute products have will prove to be difficult. Opportunities – Our product will be the first on the market that offers a CD recorder and recorder timer in an all in one system. There is no other small appliance exactly like our product and we may have an opportunity to change the way we all use radios. – The music related electronic device market is currently a hot trend. Many other electronics that combine phones with music players are dominating the market. Our product has an opportunity to capture a big piece of the market share by combining radios with new CD recording technology. – We can make radios relevant again in the twenty first century. Radios have been around for decades and have become somewhat obsolete to newer alternatives like mp3 devices. Their is an opportunity to offer a product that we all have utilized and make it a viable option for today’s tech savvy consumer and change the way they live. Threats – A potential lawsuit from music companies and artists for copyright infringement is a major threat. Our product will allow consumers to easily record copyrighted music to CD where they can than distribute the music online. This could potentially bring legal trouble to Company G. – Other established companies could not only develop similar products but also even better technology in the future. Competing companies can allow us to take all the risk in bringing our new product to market and if it does well, they can than reproduce something very similar and threaten our market share. – Copyright laws in the future may change, no longer allowing radio recording. The laws are constantly evolving, especially when it comes to the area of music recording. There is a lot of grey area when it comes to recording from the radio and our product could be the catalyst used to bring tougher restrictions on radio recording, making our product illegal to produce or own. Market Objectives Product Objective – Inform target audience about the value our product brings with the list of features and benefits that lead to a 10 percent gain in the small appliance radio market in one year. Price objective – Pricing range will be $79.99 to start for the first six months in order to attract consumers and gain market share. After six months price will move to $99.99. Place objective – Distribution channel length will be short. Distribution will move from producer to wholesaler to retailer to consumer. Wholesaler will warehouse products in various locations, to keep up with supply and demand as needed. Orders will be palletized and ready for shipment with in 30 minutes of each order placed. All products will be out fitted with radio-frequency identification for tracking and monitoring of our products every six months. Promotion objective – Increase product sales and new product awareness among target audience by 25 percent in the first year of product release. Bringing together this marketing mix gives our product the best possible chance to be successful. Showing our target audience the value in our products through price and features will be key in our consumers purchasing our product. Furthermore, by utilizing our introductory low price and taking advantage of short channel length will insure that our product not only attracts the attention of our target market but also allows our consumer to have easy access to our products. Lastly, the objectives we have set to increase sales and product awareness will insure that our product is known among the market and is a success. Marketing Strategies Company G’s market strategy will include the four elements of the marketing mix which includes product, price, place and promotion strategies. Each element will include three strategies each with a brief description. Product Strategies – Quality as a product strategy will be used in order to win repeat customers in the future. Consumers are frustrated with products that simply do not work or last. By giving our target market an item that is made with quality, our consumers will be more willing to purchase another item in the future and it will overall improve their life. – Development of product lines is our second strategy. The purpose of including a product line strategy is to grow the company’s position in the market place. Also, it allows for even more opportunities for more consumers to purchase our products by having specific needs met for different consumers. – Product design is our third and final strategy. Shopping products are an important factor in that they need to appeal to a consumer’s image. This will allow the product to be more attractive to the consumer and easier to purchase. Having an item aesthetically pleasing will likely be used more and noticed more amongst other products in the department store and at home. Price Strategies – Cost plus pricing strategy will be used to insure that products are sold with a profit. That way no matter whether we mark up or mark down our prices we will make sure to prevent financial losses on our products. – Penetration pricing strategy will be utilized in order to attract customers and gain market share. Penetration pricing will be in affect for the first six months of our initial product offering. – Psychological pricing will be used to have a positive psychological impact on consumers when purchasing. Consumers are more willing to purchase when they feel they are getting a good deal or value for their purchase. Place Strategies – Producer to wholesaler to retailer to consumer will be how we bring our product to consumers. This traditional channel is a simple but cost effective way of providing goods to our consumer in a quick and efficient manner. – Using a wholesaler is the second strategy. This would allow wholesalers to take responsibility of distributing goods to retailers and distributors. By placing multiple wholesalers in strategic areas we will be able to have our product available should demand rise at any time. – Intensive distribution is our third and final place strategy. Using an intensive distribution strategy will allow us to distribute our products through all available channels in order for consumers to purchase our products anywhere. This makes it convenient for consumers to purchase our products.