TBM case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

TBM - Case Study Example ence we are able to determine total production per unit as follows: Product (Valves) Explanation Cost Manufacturing overhead (4.39% X 4) 17.548 Materials    $16 Direct labor based on run labor (16% X 0.25) 4 Total standard cost    $38 Pumps       Manufacturing overhead (4.39% X 8) 35.096 Materials    $20 Direct labor based on run labor (16 X 0.50) 8 Total standard cost    $63 Flow Controllers       Direct labor based on run labor (16 X 0.40) 6.4 Materials    $22 Manufacturing overhead (4.39% X 6.4) 28.0768 Total standard cost    $56 2. No change Contribution margin = Sales - variable cost Since Mary Ford stipulated that, â€Å"In our situation, the only short-run variable cost is direct material" then the material cost can be considered to be the variable cost 3. This is using Mary Ford’s comments on a â€Å"more modern view† that uses material related overhead as well as additional overhead allocations. All products should have Per Unit Costs calcu lated and show all overhead computations Overhead cost = Materials handling + receiving cost MOC= $ (20,000+ 200,000) = $220000 Overhead rate based on materials cost= $ {220,000/458,000} Overhead rate based on materials cost= 0.480 (48%) Other overhead costs include Engineering = $100,000 Machine depreciation = $ 270,000 Main = $30,000 Packing and shipping = $60,000 Total overhead = $ 460,000 Overhead rate based on machine hours= ($460,000/ 10,800 hours) One machine =$ 42.59/hr Setup labor cost= [(Labor hour x Set-up Labor)/total units] = [ ($16 X8)/7500] = $0.02 Pumps = ($16 X 8)/12,500 = $0.01 Flow Controllers= ($16 X12)/4000 = $0.048 As a result, the product costs per unit is as shown in the table below: Product Explanation Cost Valves       Direct labor (16 X 0.25) 4 Setup labor    $0.02 Materials    $16 Other overhead ($42.59 X 0.5) 21.30 Materials overhead (0.480 X 16) $7.68 Total cost    49.00          Pumps       Setup labor    0.01 Materials overhead ( 0.480 X 20) 9.6 Other overhead ($42.59 X 0.5) 21.30 Direct labor (16X 0.50) 8 Materials    $20 Total cost    58.91 Flow Controllers       Direct labor (16 X 0.40) 6.4 Materials overhead (0.480 X 22) 10.56 Other overhead ($42.59 X 0.2) 8.52 Materials    $22 Setup labor (439% X 6.4) = 0.048 Total cost    $48 4. ABC method – show Per Unit and Total costs for all three products 5. No change 6. Prepare table that compares the results for the 3 products. You should show the Standard Cost, Gross Margin, and Gross Margin percentage-- Per Unit— for each product. Describe which system you favor and briefly explain your reasoning. You will be doing a more thorough analysis of your recommendations in Question 8 PUMPS Activity Rate Activity ABC Cost Materials 20 12,500 250,000 Labor 8 12,500 100,000 Overhead: Setup Labor 0.05 640 Receiving 0.3 3,800 Material Handling 3.04 38,000 Pack/Ship 1.11 13,800 Engineering "2.40" 30,000 Maintenance "1.39" 17,400 Machine Deprec "12 .5" 156,250 Total Overhead "20.79" 259,890 Total Cost "$48.79" $609,890.00 FLOW CONTROLLER FLOW CONTROLLER Activity Rate Act

Marks and spencer Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Marks and spencer - Essay Example One of foremost steps in creating a successful marketing strategy is that of Market Segmentation, which refers to the division of a whole market for a product into smaller segments based upon the characteristics or aspects that are shared by the groups. By conducting market segmentation, a business is able to understand and evaluate various aspects of each division, group or segment in order to target a group or several groups that are then catered to with different marketing mixes (Vieceli & Valos 1998). As buyers become more diversified and unique, market segmentation acts as a key tool in designing the marketing strategies of successful organizations who understand that the diverse characteristics of customer needs, wants and preferences make it a requirement for any business’ success that the nature of its customer’s needs and wants is precisely defined and then handled accordingly (Lamb, Hair & McDaniel 2011). Market Segmentation can be conducted on the basis of fo ur primary variables that are Geographic, Demographic, Psychographic and Behavioral and will be discussed individually based on their relevance and applicability to Marks and Spencer. Geographic Segmentation: World region or country: The primary market for the retailer is still the United Kingdom; moreover, it has also expanded into Asia, Africa and other European nations. City or metro size: The location of Marks and Spencer shops is primarily Major cities with population crossing 4 million and mainstream cities with population above 1 million. Density: Urban and suburban population. Demographic Segmentation: Age: Middle-aged. The average age of a customer can range from 35-55. Gender: The existence of product categories such as women’s clothing, lingerie, beauty, kids, home furniture, food and gifts seems to attract a largely female audience but that does not mean that men are not M&S buyers. Family life cycle: Customers are usually single, married, married couples with chi ldren, unmarried couples and older people who are family oriented. Income: ?30,000 and above per annum Psychographic Segmentation: Social Class: Usually middle class and upper middle class buyers looking for products that are of a decent quality but also economical and suitably priced at the same time. This suggests that customers of M&S seek good value for money. Personality: Customers are not generally perceived as trendy, fashionable or imaginative when it comes to choices related to clothing. Older customers are not considered to be ambitious or achievers who wish to shop at the retailer to project a sense of success and affluence (Business World). Behavioral Segmentation: Occasions: The M&S shopping experience is not limited to special occasions; buyers may shop at M&S for regular commodities and go to other high-end retailers for special occasion shopping such as Christmas. This was reflected in a drop in sales of M&S by 3.8% for general commodities during the holiday season o f 2012 (Ruddick 2013). Benefits Sought: Users seek economy and convenience when shopping at M&S as much of the commodities are affordable and not high-priced. Loyalty Status: Customer’s buying behavior for regular and basic commodities such as grocery and basic clothing is low involvement, habitual buying behavior. Therefore,

E-business Literature Review

E-business Literature Review Recent advances in the technology have created a surge in â€Å"technology-based self service† (Dabhokar et al. 2003). Such developments are changing the way that service firms and consumers interact and are raising a host of research and practice issues relating to the delivery of e-service. Further, Information technology (IT) made a tremendous impact on the business world. Business processes and operations that used to take days or weeks can now be done in a matter of seconds with the help of IT. This makes individuals and customers to be better served than in the past (Rodgers et al. 2002). Different people have different understanding for the purpose as in order to have a common uniform understanding author will like to define the terminology of e-business, e-service and e-commerce, the following section will discuss about definition, distinction and the differences between these three in order to have a better understanding. E-BUSINESS E-business probably began with electronic data interchange in the 1960s (Zwass, 1996; Wigang, 1997). However, it was only in the 1990s, primarily via the internet, that e-business has emerged as a core feature of many organisations (Melao, 2009). E-business has become an inescapable fact of life, nearly as essential to commerce as the telephone (Waters, 2000). With the technological advancement e-business has a huge impact on day to day operation of the businesses. Furthermore, e-business expands the connectivity of the organization to include its suppliers, employees, and the business partners. E-business is the next wave in the technological revolution created by the Internet (Biggs, 2000). E-business is defined as ‘The use of electronic networks for business (usually with web technology’ by Deloitte and Touchà © Consulting Group further IBM defined e-business as the transformation of key business through the use of Internet technologies (Chaffey and Smith, 2008). According to Turban et al. (2006), E-business refers to a broader definition of e-commerce, not just the buying and selling of goods and services, but also servicing customers, collaborating with business partners, and conducting electronic transactions within an organisation. E-business provides a global platform where individuals and organizations interact, communicate, collaborate and obtain information. Further, Currie and Parikh, (2006) stated that e-business web based systems increasingly represent a competitive advantage for companies and have undergone great organizational changes. Businesses online provide an information-rich environment by which competitors can identify, match and impro ve product innovation (singh, 2002)B2C E-business is growing at an explosive rate. As a means of growing existing market share, entering new markets, forging alliances with business partners and taking the all important customer relationship to a new and unprecedented level, e-business is an unparalleled tool (Deise et al.2000).E-business is revolutionizing the way business is conducted. Similarly it does more than e-commerce as it interconnects the whole and extended organization thus allowing for improved communication among suppliers, employees and customers. In addition to this e-business allows for the extended organization to be connected which means that all the employees, customers or clients, suppliers, and other stakeholders, regardless of the geographic region are interconnected ( Rodgers et al. 2002) . It involves attracting and retaining the right customers and business partners and it includes digital communication, e-commerce, online research and it is used by every business discipline (Strauss and Frost, 2 001, p: 6). E-business allows service providers to interact with their suppliers and customers as this improved relationship causes and potentially could lead to loyalty and then results in increased profits and competitive advantage for the firm (Follit, 2000). E-COMMERCE The immense popularity of the internet in recent years has been fuelled largely by the prospect of performing business online. With the rapid global growth in electronic commerce, businesses are attempting to gain a competitive advantage by using e-commerce to interact with customers (Lee and Lin, 2005). E-commerce refers primarily to the buying and selling activities over the Internet, which includes transactions such as placing orders, making payments, and tracking delivery of orders on the Internet (Rodgers, 2002). The e-commerce is defined as buying and selling of product service or information through computer networks mainly the internet (Wen et al., 2001) and people immediately think of consumer retail purchases from companies such as Amazon (Chaffey et al, 2006). However, e-commerce refers to both financial and informational electronically mediated transactions between an organization and any third party it deals with (Chaffey, 2006). Further, Singh (2001) supported the defin ition by referring e-commerce to an online service offered to customer to support their shopping experience over the internet. E-commerce is exponentially increasing the availability of information, giving customers access to more knowledge, of better quality and faster than before. Technological advancement led an explosive development in electronic commerce, the causes of that are the internet end the World Wide Web (WWW), which are making electronic commerce much more accessible. Internet e-commerce includes electronic trading of physical goods and of intangibles such as information. This encompasses all the trading steps such as online marketing, ordering, payment and support for delivery (Trimmers, 2000.p.4). E-commerce is used everywhere in everyday life. Now a days it is utilized for everything from credit card authorization, travel reservation over a network, wire fund transfers across the world, point of sale (POS) transactions in retailing, electronic banking. It helps in generate demand for the products and services and improves order management, payment and other support functions (Awad, 2004.p.2). Similarly, e-commerce decreases the cost of creating, processing, distributing and retrieving paper based information. Further facilitates the benefits which include improved image, improved customer service, simplified processes, compressed cycle and delivery time, eliminating paper work and increased flexibility (Turban et al, 1999, pp.15). Moreover, e-commerce is not just about buying and selling as it is also about electronically communicating, collaborating and discovering information (Turban et al, 2004). It can involve the Internet, groupware programs, public e-mail networks (Adms,1994), technologies such as electronic data interchange (EDI) and electronic funds transfer (EFT) and more recently , services associated with mobile telephones and digital television (Voss, 1999). E –commerce has become very popular because of the benefits and convenience it brings along as it is no longer an alternative, it is an imperative (Wen et al, 2001).E-commerce is generally based on monetary transaction and e-services are the part of electronic commerce. E-SERVICE E-services are important in B2C e-commerce for managing customer relations and enhancing sales. Rapidly advancement of technology such as wireless, broadband, smart cards, data warehousing, data mining and agent technologies, are contribute toward the effective accessibility and servicing of the correctly targeted customers for business while providing more choices, options and ultimately power to customers in their transactions with business (Rust and Kannan, 2003). Further e-service provides a new business paradigm for the organizations operating in the electronic environment. Below figure show a paradigm shift from traditional e-commerce to e-service. SOURCE: Rust, R, T and Kannan, P, k., 2003 There are three primary reasons for firms to develop e-services. Firstly, Shapiro and Varian (1999) argued that on margin, consumer acquisition and service costs are generally much lower in an online medium versus that in an offline medium. Secondly, e-service inexpensively and effectively delivers high-quality, timely and in-depth product information desired by consumers (Iqbal et al. 2003). E-services also provide consumers with benefits such as better price quality comparisons (Evans and Wurster, 1999) and customized search processes based on criteria of importance (Lynch and Ariely, 1999). Finally, the use of e-services enables firms to develop a deep understanding of consumer behaviour (Iqbal et al, 2003). The view of e-service is much broader than the concepts of IT services, web services or infrastructure service as it e-service includes all these services further it also encompasses the service product, service environment and service delivery that comprise any business model, whether it belongs to a goods manufacturer or a pure service provider ( Rust et al, 1996). The customer’s interaction or contact with the organization is through the information and communication technology (ICT) in e-service. This remote service encounter subsequently has developed into a self-service experience (Dabholkar, 2000; Sara, 2000). However, experience of self service and e-service are quite different. In self service operations, a customer has to go to the information and communication technology centre while, in e-service, a customer can conveniently receive the service through the internet at home or other places. In other words, self service is less flexible than e-service due to constrai nts of location (Surjadjaja et al., 2003). Similarly customer’s interaction or contact with the organization in the e-service is through the technology, such as web site. During an e-service encounter customer have to rely entirely on sight and sound while the traditional service experience can use all senses. In addition to this e-service unlike traditional service is not constrained by distance and opening hours, thus delivered delivers convenience. Linked with convenience is customer control. As customer can choose the channel through which they will acquire a product, the mode of delivery for the product, the extent of customization of the product and the extent to which they are involved in the design and delivery of the product (Rowley, 2006). Advancement of technology led the transformation of physical products to pure e-service components and has significant implications for building customer relationships. Below chart shows the e-commerce path to profitability as how the traditional path and e-service path flow increase profit of the firm. SOURCE: Rust, R, T and Kannan, P, k., 2003 Above chart shows traditional path services laid emphasis on automated service or self service operation, firms used to focus on increased efficiency and productivity of business and reduce the cost of the product or service in order to increase profit. On the other hand on e-service path firms are focus on enhanced service operations, provides greater conveniences and support services to customers. Further improved customer satisfaction and retention by providing best quality service for example grocery chains are looking to use loyalty cards and focus on one-to-one promotion and marketing efforts based on the information gathered using these cards allow the grocery chains to develop relationships with their customers. Moreover, they provide value to customers through focused information provision, reduced search time and increased convenience for the customers (Rust and Kannan, 2003). As in the electronic world the customer and the merchant do not meet face to face and the clients are more sensitive with increased options and solutions available to them online (Singh, 2002). Many companies are adopting Internet-based e-services for conducting business transactions and sharing business information with their customers and business partners (Torre and Moxon, 2001). E-service has been defined as web-based service or interactive service that is delivered on the internet (Reynolds, 2000). According to Rowley (2006) e-service is deeds, efforts or performances whose delivery is mediated by information technology that include the Web, information kiosks and mobile devices. Such e-service includes the service element of e-tailing, customer support and service and service delivery. Further, E-service is defined as the provision of service over electronic networks. This concept includes services provided by a typical service organization as well as the services provided by t he goods manufacturers where the quality of customer care plays an important role (Rust and Kannan, 2002). According to Ruyter et al. (2001, p. 186), â€Å" an e-service is an interactive, content-centred and Internet-based customer service, driven by the customer and integrated with related organizational customer support processes and technologies with the goal of strengthening the customer-service provider relationship†. Further (Sahai and Machiraju, 2001) defined e-service as it is a service available via the internet that provides information, completes tasks or conducts transactions. It can be any electrically provided services offered directly or indirectly to customers, including direct as well as after sales services (Van Riel et al.,2001; Lagrosen, 2005). In addition to this e-service can deliver high quality, timely and extensive product information to consumer inexpensively and effectively. They can provide better price and quality comparisons (Shapiro and Varian, 1999). Furthermore, a company that can respond to the needs of the customer accommodate their requests prom ptly and support their buying decisions creates value and wins customer patronage and loyalty (Singh et al.2001). E-service operation include all the customer centric activities starting from pre-transaction, transaction and post transaction interactions through the internet in delivering products or services within service level agreement ( Surjadjaja et al., 2003). Clearly, although the aforementioned author agree that providing personalized and accurate customer information with better tracking, delivery and payment details is an online service in B2C e-commerce generally appreciated by customers. Similarly e-service functions incorporated on e-commerce sites that can quickly provide online shoppers with decision-making support win e-customers and get them to make a purchase (Singh, 2002). Furthermore, e-service is becoming increasingly important not only in determining the success of failure of electronic commerce (Yang et al., 2001), but also in providing consumers with superior experience with respect to the interactive flow of information (Santos, 2003). E-service can be usefully conceptualised as an interactive information service. Such as information provided by or collected from and about the customers can be gathered and analysed by the e-service provider and used as the basis for the customization of the service that organization offe rs to the customers (Rowley, 2006). Examples of e-services are computer-related services such as personal, cultural, recreational, communication and financial services. E-service concept is not simply a combination of words electric and service. As in true e-service operation part or all the interaction between the service provider and the customer is conducted through the Internet. Thus an automatic teller machine (ATM) transaction is an example of a simple electronic plus service experience, while buying a ticket on the Net is an example of e-service experience (Surjadjaja et al., 2003). E-service may be considered to be relatively new channel of service provision as well as new way of conducting business; research on e-service is still developing (Hung and Wong, 2009). E-Service as self-service There is an important conceptual relationship is that between e-service and self-service. As most authors have described the e-service experience as a self service experience (Dabholkar, 2000; Meuter et al., 2000; Zhu et al., 2002) although Surjadaja et al, (2003) differentiate between e-service and self service. Further they argue that in self-service operation customer has to go to the technology such as ATM to receive a service, while in e-service customer can receive the service through the Internet at home or in other places. Self-service technologies are often used to enhance the overall service experience delivered to the customer by focussing human service agent intervention at the point at which intervention can make the most impact. As e-service firstly, reduce marginal consumer acquisition and service cost, due to the reduction in human intervention and ease of e-service scalability (Binter et al., 2002; Iqbal et al., 2003). Secondly, e-services deliver consumers high quality, anytime and in-depth product information, which reduce the consumer price sensitivity and finally e-services support the capture of information relating to the search, evaluation and purchasing activities of consumers (Iqbal et al., 2003). Having discussed the concept of e-business, e-commerce and e-services, it can be said that the above three has a significant influence in today’s any e-business activity. Further, in order to understand the relationship between these three terms; the following section will provide the brief discussion on relationship and similarities between each other. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN E-BUSINESS, E-CCOMMERCE and E-SERVICE E-business is a broad term used to express the conduct of business such as buying and selling, servicing customers and collaborating with partners through the internet ( whatis.com, cited in Chen, 2001), under which e-service and e-commerce can be established as its two underlying dimensions (Surjadjaja et al., 2003). The scope of e-business is much broader than that of e-commerce. Extensive e-business embraces physical products and the distribution of the goods as an integral part of the overall transaction process (Greenstein and Feinman, 2000). Similarly, e-commerce mainly focus on the buying and selling of physical goods or products that results in monetary exchange whereas e-service refers to delivery of services through the internet either paid or free (Voss, 1999), For example, in the case of free e-mail subscription s and free online newspapers.These examples are actually part of e-business called e-service (Amor, 2000). However, (Voss, 1999) made the distinction between e-co mmerce and e-service, as being two ends of a continuum, pure e-commerce is the basic buying and selling of products, where as , at the other end pure e-service is offering service either unconditionally or with a service contract. E-business and e-commerce are two separate concepts such as e-commerce uses the web to connect customers with firms whereas e-business includes the web as well as other means necessary to interconnect information systems and data streams, both internal and external further e-commerce requires human interaction for form filling during purchasing process however, e-business allows many processes to be fully automated thus improving the efficiency of business processes and removing the error of human interfaces (Chou et al, 2002). There are some similarities between the two. As e-business and e-commerce solutions include newly developed web technology into organizational and business processes. The use of web technology results in improved efficiency. Moreover, e-commerce is generally less complex than any e-business solution as firm must start with e-commerce initiatives before creating e-business tasks. Once a firm has successfully implemented its e-commerce functions, then it may beg in to work on e-business with the e-commerce infrastructure, with out e-commerce infrastructure first, it will be difficult for firms to integrate all the e-business functions. (Rodgers et al, 2002). Moreover if a firm decide to skip the e-commerce part and jump directly to e-business, the project or work would be much more costly and time consuming. Therefore, it is necessary for a firm to create an e-commerce capability before it pursues e-business solutions. E-SERVICE EXPERIENCE The previous section sought to explore the inherent or pervasive characteristics of e-business, e-commerce and e-service. The following section explores the aspect of e-service experience that defined the elements, scope and context of e-service experience. As the nature of the service experience is likely to vary depending upon the activities or task being finished through the e-service engagement. Further users may be expected to take on different roles and exhibit different competences. The extent of customer customization or co-production varies between applications; this variation could have a significant effect on how customers engage with and evaluate the service interaction (Barnes and Vidgen, 2000). In addition to this a related approach is to regard the service experience as consisting of a number of different partial performances or service components each of which can be evaluated separately by the web site visitors (Santos, 2003; Zeithaml et al; 2002). Using this approach, Bauer et al. (2005) identifies three service categories that are core services, additional services and problem solving services. Further, Chen and Chang (2003) identify three components in the online shopping experience that are interactivity (connection quality, web site design), transaction (value, convenience, assurance, entertainment and evaluation) and fulfilment (order processing, delivery, post sales service. The need to identify the scope and elements in the service experience is also acknowledged by Parasuraman et al. (2005) in their work in E-S-QUAL in which they distinguish between core service and recovery service. On the contrary a number of authors discuss the web service experience in terms of its elements, but different authors have different notions of web elements and some elements are important of factors identified elsewhere as dimensions in e-service quality models. For example, Constantinides (2004) finds that the web experience and specifically the significance of the web experience elements depend on the buying situation, type of the customer and client’s intentions in visiting a site. He identifies the following web experience elements that influence consumer behaviour such as functionally factors (usability, interactivity), psychological factors (trust) and content factors (aesthetics and marketing mix). Later Zhang and Prybutok (2005) develop an e-service model in which web site service quality is one variable; the others are individual differences, e-service convenience, risk, e-satisfaction and intention. On the basis of above statements it can be argued that the modelling and evaluation of e-service experience can undertaken at three different levels such as web site experience, online service experience and total multi-channel experience. As important contributing factor to the e-service experience is the ability of the organization to organize its supply and value chain to support the delivery of good quality goods and services (Rowley, 2006). Further, Voss (2003) reports on a study across retail banking, retailing, travel, utilities, content providers and computer hardware sectors that suggest that performance on responsiveness was substantially below customer expectation. Problem occurring in the e-service system can result in a failure of service (Zhang and Prybutok, 2005) and this may lead to the loss valuable opportunities to build loyalty (Watcher, 2002). In order to have a holistic e-service experience one has to examine specific areas of service marketing, service design and service delivery. In the following section author will discuss these specific areas. SERVICE MARKETING Services marketing deals with expected quality of services and involves matching market needs with a firm’s resources (Meredith, 1992). Since services cannot be produced without interaction with the customer, marketing activities need to manage the timing of demand rather than just build demand. As most services are experiences delivered by human performers, anything that a service organization does in relation to the customer becomes a marketing activity, for example bank teller’s smile, the waitperson’s courtesy or the physician’s bed side manner are all marketing activities (Fisk et al., 2000). Furthermore, marketing focuses on determining the marketing mix of product and service features such as price, brand image and accessibility of service (Palmer, 2001). Service marketing concepts and strategies have developed in response to the tremendous growth of services industries, resulting in their increased importance to the world economy (Wilson et al., 20 08). Service marketing evolves on the front-end operation while service design focus on the back- end support of service operation (Surjadjaja et al, 2004). SERVICE DESIGN Service design refers to the design of facilities, servers, equipment and other resources needed to produce services which includes a blue print of the service system, specifications, procedures and policies (Meredith, 1992). The design of services with a view to creating memorable and satisfying customer experiences is not new. However, the deliberate design and execution of service experiences as a distinctive management discipline with its own principles, tools, and techniques can be said to be a new approach. In easy terms service design considers services as product that need to be systematically developed with a clear focus on the customer value (Zehrer, 2009).Service design considers services as products that need to be systematically developed with a clear focus on customer value. In more precise terms Gummesson (1994) described service design as service design covers the hand-on activities to describe and detail a service, the service system and the service delivery process. Further, A major task of service design is to create, in line with service strategy, material evidence of a sensually perceivable service reality for the customer, which materializes the non-material message sent by the service provider (Zehrer, 2009). However inadequate service design will cause continuous problems with service delivery. As to avoid such inadequacy, service design must be consistent with the service orientation and overall strategic orientation of the organization (Johnston, 1999; Doyle and Broadbridge, 1999). Similarly, service-design should be consistent with transparent service strategies, however, Mager (2004) has noted that many firms lack of such a defined service strategy. If one element of the service design is inconsistent with the overall strategy and service orientation of the provider therefore it is unlikely to be successful in providing satisfaction to the customer (Zehrer, 2009). As Doyle and Broadbridge (1999) noted that the importance of design as a composite in the strategic mix is often undervalued or ignored, the holistic nature of design and its informed status can achieve a more coherent offer to the customer. In recent years, technology has plays an increasingly major role in service design to ensure memorable service experiences. Many service offerings have evolved to become multi-interface systems that create several opportunities for developing new offerings. However to take full advantage of these capabilities, the technology must be fully integrated into service design and management with an overarching customer orientation (Curran et al., 2003). As PatrÄ ±Ã‚ ´cio et al. (2008, p.319) observed that In designing modern service offerings firms have to define their service interface mix, the technologies that support front-stage customer interactions and backstage support processes, and the service clues necessary to enable a satisfying customer experience. SERVICE DELIVERY Service delivery is concerned with delivery of the core products and services to the customers (Slack et al, 2001), including digital products. In addition, for e-service experience the introduction of e-service delivery has been associated with an increase in the number of channels through which businesses interact with their customer. Further, in such a multi channel contexts it is important not only to understand how consumers experience and evaluate the e-service delivery, but also how the delivery contributes to the total service experience and its evaluation (Rowley, 2006). Moreover, Muller-Lankenau and Wehmeyer (2005) indicate that self-service and e-service is often part of a wider service delivery. There is growing number of traditional companies use the Internet to enhance, support or by-pass their traditional marketing and sales channels and adopting multi-channel strategies. Thus it will be important to consider e-service alongside other channels through which service can be delivered, which includes the ground that has attracted most attention, face- to- face but also extends to telephone, postal and other remote services (Rowley,2006). Having discussed the overview of service marketing, service design and service delivery in the following section author will look into specific factors that will influence each of them. These factors are discussed in more detail below. Trusted Service Trusted service can be defined as exact delivery of promised service. In e-business operations trusted service is considered to very important (Baker et al., 2006). Online trust concerns are especially challenging to the companies wanting to move to e-business (Luo, 2002). Lack of trust is one of the most often reasons for the consumers’ unwillingness to make online purchases as a result it hinders the formation of an online exchange relationship for many businesses and organization (Baker et al., 2006). Further, Gefen and Straub (2004) assert that trust is more important to e-commerce than traditional service since online environment offers limited opportunities to regulate rules and customs. For example, online transactions do not usually afford the same kind of tangible assurances that are present in traditional commerce. Since consumer are concerned about the level of security when surrendering personal or sensitive information online, Warrington and Caldwell (2000) sugges t that e-business find a way to offer customers cues to encourage trust in their company. As trusted service can be designed and implemented within the service delivery process. Service providers therefore seek to achieve exact delivery of promised service and thus achieve customer satisfaction. Responsiveness Responsiveness could refer to the speed of the company’s response to the customers (Zehrer, 2009). Sending timely response to e-mail requests or complaint and confirmations of orders has been recognized as an important factor when online customers evaluate a Web site (Long and McMellon, 2004; Zeithml, Parsuraman and Malhotra, 2002). To improve responsiveness a web based customer support interface requires special attention as to whether the interface is prompt, always available and provides information regarding the timeliness of service. Further many companies request customers to direct their queries to a particular person who has the best competence in answering that particular query. Electronic forms are designed to direct queries to the appropriate department.The responsiveness dimension can be defined as the willingness or readiness of customer support to provide timely service to the customer in a Web context (Park et al., 2007). Personalization Personalization involves individualized attention, personal thank you from online stores and the availability of a message area for customer questions or comments (yang, 2001). Further personalization is refer as customer perception of the degree to which an online store provides differentiated service to satisfy specific individual needs (Lee, 2005). Most companies are building personalized web pages. Such web pages provide all the products and service, along with the navigation buttons for ease of access t

Geoffrey of Monmouths Life of Merlin Essay -- Geoffrey Monmouth Life

Geoffrey of Monmouth's Life of Merlin Geoffrey of Monmouth’s â€Å"Life of Merlin† is a text that makes its readers struggle with finding criteria for madness. What does it even mean to be â€Å"mad?† Madness seems to define a person only when he or she does something to stray from the normality of any given group of people. Breaking societal norms often leaves people open to criticism and suspicion. In order to be sane and mentally healthy, one has to abide by all explicit and implicit rules of society. â€Å"Life of Merlin† is about a man that abandons feudal society, and all of its rules, in hopes of finding a better place to live. A better place to live, for him, is one that is purely good. Violent and deceitful people are ultimately the factors that drive him away, causing him to be termed as â€Å"mad.† I argue that Merlin is a character with extreme extra worldly perception. Many would think extra worldly perception to be a privilege, but this essay serves to contradict the positive effects that extra worldly perception can have. I will show why he is perceptive, rather than mad, as well as explain why this type of perception can be detrimental to one’s life. When a person has too much perception he can often live in a world of fear and discontent, one that is only curable by the restructuring of an entire society. To begin, Merlin’s reasons for leaving feudal society are too logical to call him â€Å"mad.† One place where logic can be heard is where Merlin says, â€Å"Surely a malignant fate cannot have been so vindictive as to take from me all these my companions, men such that many a king and many a distant kingdom have stood in fear of them till now† (55). What Merlin is addressing is the fact that someone is to blame fo... ...s left with after reading the text. While Merlin seems to have a good start towards creating a more peaceful society, it does not seem that it will prove to be completely peaceful. Of course anything is better to him than living in the city, and it only seems to get better when he is encountered with people much like himself. A text like â€Å"Life of Merlin† makes me question whether a peaceful society is within grasp. Even in current times, countries are at war and people lie to and cheat one another. Have we become more violent and deceptive with time? In order to create a peaceful environment, the idea of competition might have to be removed. Competition, one thing that is instinctive in all creatures, is a driving force of all human action. Merlin seems to strive towards the ideal, but it remains questionable as to whether or not his ideal is within grasp.

Various Views of Knowledge

Knowledge can be interpreted in many different ways. Some may see knowledge as learned education. Others may see education as intelligence. None of these perspectives of knowledge are right or wrong. Every person is entitled to their own definition, source, and use of knowledge in their lives. I view knowledge as the wisdom and insight that one may acquire over time, by personal experiences and influences in life. Most of the basic knowledge acquired by people starting at a young age is in school. As young children, we learn elementary facts such as our numbers and the alphabet. The older we become, the more facts we are taught, and the more complex these facts become. The knowledge one may learn in school is what I think of as worldly knowledge that will get people into the colleges and jobs that they may desire. The people that are abundant in educational knowledge are the people who dominate our economy and run our country. Certainly, this is one of the more important types of knowledge there are and definitely one that we could not do without, but it is not quite as important as some of the others. Education is vital in life, but mere facts cannot aid in the solution to all problems. Another source of knowledge is entertainment, such as in television, movies, books, or even music. Certain types of entertainment can even be education. For example, television shows such as â€Å"20/20† or â€Å"DateLine† are both very informative shows, but interesting enough to entertain the public. Entertainment can be tricky, though. The media can convince us, even brainwash us, to believe certain truths that may not be accurate. The television shows we watch and the music that we listen to are huge daily influences on our lives. They help shape the way we think, what we know, and what we feel. We follow the trends that television tells us are â€Å"in† and say the things that everyone says. We tend to try to model ourselves after the people on the big screen. The enormous impact that the media and entertainment industry has on the public grows daily with increasing technology. The internet is one of the newer sources of both education and entertainment. It is also fairly harmful. Many things that are banned from television and movies are easily accessible on the World Wide Web, to everyone, including children. The relationships that we have with people, whether it is co-workers, family, or friends, directly influence us with every interaction. In the workplace, the people that one may work with affect our work habits. If a person works in a busy, fast-paced office, he will be used to that type of lifestyle. But if that same person were to move to a slow-paced, lazy office, he would feel unproductive and lazy. At home, the people that we live with, our family, are our first teachers. Home is where we learn the morals and values that we, as adults, pass on to our children. Our manners and etiquette that are learned at home are what we bring into the outside world and portray to others. The knowledge and insight that we acquire from our family members are never forgotten and stay in our hearts and minds for a lifetime. I believe that the relationships one has with friends and lovers are important in shaping a person†s thoughts and actions. These are the people that we turn to in good times and bad, troubles and joys. They are the ones we turn to for advice and consolment. They are the ones that are with us in difficult situations. For example, if there is a group of friends and a few start smoking, it is high likely for all of them to begin smoking. Boy/Girlfriends, however, are a different, more intimate type of influence. Personally, every guy that I have ever dated has changed me in some way, whether it is significant or not. Through the different experiences and emotions one may feel through falling in and out of love, one learns some of the most important lessons of life. Just from falling in love once, one can learn so many things through mistakes and good choices. Love is knowing. My father is an extremely knowledgeable person. He may not be educated with diplomas and degrees, but he is educated with insight. His is a deeper knowledge that goes beyond the outside surface of people and into their hearts and souls. My father never passed high school education. The knowledge that he has acquired over the years has been purely from his own personal endeavors. I complemented him on his wisdom and he responded with this (in Korean): â€Å"I never thought I was smart. I hated school and always played tricks on fellow students and my teachers. I was a class clown. But as I grew older, I wished that I had paid more attention in my classes. It†s such a waste.† My father is a perfect example of wisdom without academic excellence. Don†t get me wrong. He is a very smart and clever man. His knowledge just was not learned by the books. â€Å"I†ve had a hard life. I think I have. There have been so many hard times. Things always go wrong. But when something goes wrong, at least you learn and can keep it from happening again. I†m smart. With old age comes wisdom, you know? With every little thing that happens in your life, you learn. As long as you keep learning, you†re okay.† I believe that knowledge is a gift. It is something that one can never have enough of. It is special and different in it†s own way in every individual. There is no bad or useless knowledge. Every type of knowledge has value, whether the knowledge is about math, cars, or even trash. Each piece of knowledge that we acquire make us into the people that we are. Knowledge is acquired not only through sights and sounds, but feelings and emotions. It is the key to life. As they say, â€Å"knowledge is power.†

Example of Term Paper Outline

Example for Outlining a Research/Term Paper Before you start writing get your ideas down in a logical sequence that you can then use to expand while actually writing the paper. This is only meant to be an example and a guide; pay attention to your teacher’s instructions for the assignment and format instructions for their class. Know what style format your instructor wants you to use – APA or MLA. Thesis statement: Example: The cost of medical care in the United States is causing the poor to receive substandard care. Key points: Examples of possible key points for the above thesis statement: 1.Paying for medical care is beyond the reach of the poor. 2. Paying for medical insurance is beyond the reach of the poor if not offered by their employers. 3. The poor are forced to use over-extended and under-staffed medical facilities if they cannot afford care. 4. Are we ethically responsible for caring for the poor? 5. What would possible alternatives be to supplying medical c are for the poor? You can use the thesis statement and key points to create an introductory paragraph; then you will expand in the rest of the paper on the thesis and key points. Examples of expanding on key points: Key point 1.Paying for medical care is beyond the reach of the poor. < Expand your ideas for this topic – this could be one or more paragraphs. > Demonstrate why and how medical care is beyond the poor. Average cost of medical care as opposed to average salaries. The poor have to use clinics and other free care. Key point 2. Paying for medical insurance is beyond the reach of the poor if not offered by their employers. Can the average worker afford health care costs even if they have them. Average costs of health care plans. If an employer does not supply health care benefits how can employees get it. Key point 3.The poor are forced to use over-extended and under-staffed medical facilities if they cannot afford care. What kind of facilities are available to people who can’t afford health care. What are limitations for using those facilities (income, etc. ). Are these facilities adequately staffed and funded. Pros and cons for these facilities – i. e. better than no health care at all, don’t see the same doctor, etc. Key point 4. Are we ethically responsible for caring for the poor? Does a society have an ethical responsibility to take care of its poor? Moral & ethical foundations – religious, ethical, philosophical.Economic / political reasons for providing or not providing health care. Key point 5. What would possible alternatives be to supplying medical care for the poor? What models exist in other countries? Do they seem to work? What alternative models are available in this country? i. e. Faith based, private foundations like The Shriners, etc. What factors / institutions would fight against change in health care? i. e. Pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies, non-flexible thinking, etc. Summary / Conclu sion: Create a key summary sentence/paragraph that declares a wrap-up of concepts you have covered in the paper.You may want to quickly summarize your main ideas. This should transition into a Conclusion of your ideas on the topic. The conclusion could be a separate paragraph or this section could be more than one paragraph. Reference / Works Cited: List of the sources you used in writing the paper. Follow your teacher’s instructions for number required and format. Glossary: Thesis statement – a brief sentence presenting the main point of a persuasive writing, usually in the introductory paragraph. Key points – those ideas that you will use to support your thesis and expand on in the text of the paper.Summary – a brief statement that presents or recaps the main points in a concise form. Conclusion – bring to a close in a logical, reasoned way the ideas that you have supported in your paper. References / Works Cited: Citation – a short note r ecognizing a source of information or of a quoted passage. Works cited – a page at the end of a research composition that lists all the resources that you used. Parenthetical citation – a citation style in which in-text citations must be enclosed within parentheses and embedded in the paragraph, as opposed to the footnote style.Footnote – A brief note at the bottom of a page, or on a separate page at the end of a paper (then usually called an Endnote), explaining or expanding upon a point in the text or indicating the source of a quotation or idea. Research / Term Paper Outline Worksheet Thesis statement: Where will I find information on this topic? Print – Internet – Journals – Interviews – etc. Has the instructor specified where you are to look for information? What resources you are not to use? How many sources you are to use? Key Points – list the key points to investigate based on your thesis statement: 1. . 3. 4. 5. On se parate sheets of paper expand on each of your key points – jotting down additional ideas or beginning to actually write. Summary / Conclusion: On a separate sheet of paper summarize and come to a conclusion on your topic. This is where you are bringing it home and wrapping up the paper. Works cited: List the resources that you have used. Remember to use the style your instructor specified – APA or MLA. Use this outline to begin writing your paper. When you have completed a draft – read, edit and rewrite.