Angelas ashes essay Essays

Angelas ashes essay Essays Angelas ashes essay Essay Angelas ashes essay Essay Among those who the family looks to for help in Aunt Aggie, the miserly sister of Franks mother, Angela. Aunt Aggie, like many of the family members and neighbors we meet in the book, becomes a parent-like figure to young Frankie and his even younger siblings, but a habitually cruel and unsympathetic one at that. Upon meeting Aggie we quickly realize that she is resentful of the McClure children, and even more so their father, Malay, for being an irresponsible father and husbands who fails to provide for his family and puts their troubles in her hands. When the Monocots move to Limerick to be close to Emily in Ireland, Aggie barks and complains about how inconvenient it is for her to have her sisters family so close by and always asking for favors (e. G. Sleeping at Grandmas for the night and having some of her porridge). At one point, when Angela becomes very ill, Frankie even says that he is afraid to ask his aunt whether or not his mother would die like his baby sister because she would bite his head off (Page 62). While in these first few chapters Aunt Aggie seems cold hearted, it doesnt take long to realize that in reality, she is jealous of Angels family, even with all their troubles. All she wants is to be blew to call these children her own, though she hardly shows it through her actions towards them. When she sees her husband, pa Keating, holding Frankers baby brother, Eugene, on his lap and playing with him Aggie begins to sob, To see Pa there with a child on his lap an me with no hope of having my own Angela with five born an one just gone an her so useless she couldnt scrub a floor an me with none an I can scrub an clean with the best and make any class of a stew or a fry (Page 73). Though Aggie never gives up her rude and unpleasant disposition, she proves her loyalty to the family by helping them through tough times. Further, while Aunt Aggie obviously never assumes the role as the mother of Frank and his siblings, inhabit maternal qualities and roles. When Eugene and Oliver, Franks younger twin brothers, die of pneumonia she is there to help prepare for the funerals. On a separate occasion, Aunt Aggie takes the McClure children under her roof and cares for them while their mother was being hospitalized for pneumonia. Prior to living with Aunt Aggie, the McClure boys and their mother were so plagued with poverty and hunger that the children had been forced to steal bread, lemonade, marmalade, and fuel from wealthier families just to survive. Aunt Aegiss house was a place where they could always be fed, though they were not indulging in the ham sandwiches and tomatoes, those were only for Aggie and Uncle Pa; instead, Frankie and his younger brothers were given thinly sliced bread and tea. Though Aunt Aggie took her sisters sons under her wing- housing them, feeding them, clothing them- in a desperate time of need, the way she treated these boys was at times traumatic. Aggie often abuses the children both verbally and physically. She losses her temper and ends up screaming at them, tormenting them, calling Frankie Scabby eyes and telling him [Youre] he spitting image of your father, [you have] the odd manner And so on (Page 247). She often beats them, forces them to stand outside naked, cold, and wet, makes them to scrub their bodies until their skin is raw. At one point, Frankie becomes so miserable that he tries to give himself pneumonia so that he can escape Aunt Aggie and live in the hospital. Malay runs away after being beaten for asking for bread, to which Aggie responded Well, I suppose he ran away. Good riddance. If he was hungry hed be here. Let him find comfort in a ditch. (Page 248). In a shocking turn of events, Aunt Aggie begins to show a real soft side award Frankie when he asks to move back in with her so that could better maintain a job as a telegram boy. He says he wants the job so that he can get on his feet and find a decent place for his family to live where he can care for his mother and brothers. Aggie responds by saying Well, thats more than your father would do. (Page 308). Aggie then proceeds to accompany Frank on his walk to the job interview, she buys him new and more presentable clothes that he can wear for the job, and gives him money for a birthday snack. Believe that Aunt Aegiss change of heart comes from the fact that he realized Frankers determination at such a young age to do better than his father; Frank wished to work and provide for his family rather than spend the money selfishly and rely on others to take care of his family for him. Frank Monocots Angels Ashes sheds a light on family values through multiple lenses, however believe the relationship between Aunt Aggie, Frank, and the other Monocots exemplifies the idea that family, at times, is truly all you have to count on, especially in times of hardship. Aunt Aggie, who seemed cold-hearted throughout almost the entire book, was really just tired f being taken advantage of by fault of Malay Sir. Who habitually dragged his family deeper and deeper into poverty, and forced them to live off the resources of Aunt Aggie, along with other family members and neighbors. While her resentment of Malay does not in any way justify the way she treated the children prior to their ability to work and at least partially provide for themselves, her cruel attitude Stems not from hatred Of the children, but jealousy for having a big family, bitterness that she has to take care of children who she cannot call her own, and fear of being taken advantage of.

Free Essays on Madhab

The ummah's greatest achievement over the past millennium has undoubtedly been its internal intellectual cohesion. From the fifth century of the Hijra almost to the present day, and despite the outward drama of the clash of dynasties, the Sunni Muslims have maintained an almost unfailing attitude of religious respect and brotherhood among themselves. It is a striking fact that virtually no religious wars, riots or persecutions divided them during this extended period, so difficult in other ways. The history of religious movements suggests that this is an unusual outcome. The normal sociological view, as expounded by Max Weber and his disciples, is that religions enjoy an initial period of unity, and then descend into an increasingly bitter factionalism led by rival hierarchies. Christianity has furnished the most obvious example of this; but one could add many others, including secular faiths such as Marxism. On the face of it, Islam's ability to avoid this fate is astonishing, and demands careful analysis. There is, of course, a straightforwardly religious explanation. Islam is the final religion, the last bus home, and as such has been divinely secured from the more terminal forms of decay. It is true that what Abdul Wadod Shalabi has termed spiritual entropy has been at work ever since Islam's inauguration, a fact which is well-supported by a number of hadiths. Nonetheless, Providence has not neglected the ummah. Earlier religions slide gently or painfully into schism and irrelevance; but Islamic piety, while fading in quality, has been given mechanisms which allow it to retain much of the sense of unity emphasised in its glory days. Wherever the antics of the emirs and politicians might lead, the brotherhood of believers, a reality in the initial career of Christianity and some other faiths, continues, fourteen hundred years on, to be a compelling principle for most members of the final and ... Free Essays on Madhab Free Essays on Madhab The ummah's greatest achievement over the past millennium has undoubtedly been its internal intellectual cohesion. From the fifth century of the Hijra almost to the present day, and despite the outward drama of the clash of dynasties, the Sunni Muslims have maintained an almost unfailing attitude of religious respect and brotherhood among themselves. It is a striking fact that virtually no religious wars, riots or persecutions divided them during this extended period, so difficult in other ways. The history of religious movements suggests that this is an unusual outcome. The normal sociological view, as expounded by Max Weber and his disciples, is that religions enjoy an initial period of unity, and then descend into an increasingly bitter factionalism led by rival hierarchies. Christianity has furnished the most obvious example of this; but one could add many others, including secular faiths such as Marxism. On the face of it, Islam's ability to avoid this fate is astonishing, and demands careful analysis. There is, of course, a straightforwardly religious explanation. Islam is the final religion, the last bus home, and as such has been divinely secured from the more terminal forms of decay. It is true that what Abdul Wadod Shalabi has termed spiritual entropy has been at work ever since Islam's inauguration, a fact which is well-supported by a number of hadiths. Nonetheless, Providence has not neglected the ummah. Earlier religions slide gently or painfully into schism and irrelevance; but Islamic piety, while fading in quality, has been given mechanisms which allow it to retain much of the sense of unity emphasised in its glory days. Wherever the antics of the emirs and politicians might lead, the brotherhood of believers, a reality in the initial career of Christianity and some other faiths, continues, fourteen hundred years on, to be a compelling principle for most members of the final and ...

Financial Information Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Financial Information - Essay Example Financial accounting information provide the reporting of transactions that take place in the company, and managerial accounting use this information to develop required reports for the management of the company. Accurate and reliable financial accounting information can greatly influence the way businesses are carried out. Managers can use this information to strategically steer the business direction as per the forecasted financial data. Financial information provides the basis on which a company bases its future direction, goals and objectives. In addition, true and reliable financial accounting information is required by regulators so that stakeholders can obtain verifiable information to safeguard their investments in the company. National Center for Education Statistics. (2003). Financial Accounting for Local and State School Systems [Online]. Available from: http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2004/h2r2/ch_2.asp [Accessed September 10,

Competitive position and performance of Soft Drinks Industry 03082 Essay

Competitive position and performance of Soft Drinks Industry 03082 - Essay Example The discussion has provided a clear image about the organisations and their last five years financial performances. It has evaluated the non-financial performances to assess the future performance of the organisations. The study has provided essential recommendations for the organisations to improve their future performance. The soft drink market is the highly growing industry sectors of the UK with 44.8% market share. In comparison to 2013, the overall consumption of different soft drink brands within the UK has witnessed a modest increase of 0.9%. Approximately 48% of consumers in the UK prefer different brands of carbonated soft drink rather than other beverages. Over 37% of the household of the UK are replacing alcoholic beverages with the carbonated soft drink during their meal time (Ford, 2014). The UK soft drink market consists of wide range of product options such as carbonated drinks, flavoured juices, ready-to-drink beverages, packaged drinking water and energy drinks (British Soft Drink Association. 2014). The carbonated soft drink (CDS) market possesses the largest portion, i.e. 50.3%, of the UK soft drink industry. The major players of the UK CDS sector include Britvic Plc., Nichols Plc. and A. G. Barr Plc. which own respectively 43%, 2% and 3% of the overall market share by revenue (Britis h Soft Drink Association. 2013). Though the market consists of a huge number of local organisations, it is still dominated by different international players such as Coca-Cola Company and PepsiCo Inc (Steen and Ashurst, 2008). The range of soft drinks on the shelves of retail outlets is rapidly growing which is giving people a wider choice than ever. Therefore, this situation has fuelled fierce competition within the local brands to secure a competitive position within the UK market. The strong competition in the market is also influencing the major local players to indulge in different research

Dove case Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Dove case - Assignment Example Trademark is used by the companies for protecting its brand from others. Unilever wants few of the brands because it requires huge amount of time for developing a brand and make it popular among the mass. A company needs to spend resources and energies for managing its different brands. When a firm has more brands then it can offer different types of products and services to its customers which will help the company to generate more profit. For making its brand portfolio wide, Unilever is trying to acquire more brands (Mooij 91). This will facilitate the company to increase its product lines and customer base. In 1950’s Dove brand positioned itself in the market by focusing on the benefits and function of its beauty bar. Dove highlighted that unlike other soap the beauty bar of Dove does not make the skin dry. Moisturizing cream is present in the beauty bar of Dove which makes the skin healthy and smooth (Williams 56). From the time of 1950s Dove refused to call its product as soap. The brand wants to create its unique image by this. In 2007, Dove positioned its brand as a lifestyle brand with different types of beauty products. The brands developed an emotional attachment with the customers and created a strong connection with them. Dove launched new products and tries to gather maximum information about its target customers for understanding their attitude towards the brand. Dove positioned its brand in fulfilling the expectation of its customers (Weiser 46). Decentralized structure was followed in Unilever before 2000. The company has many brands operating in different market but selling same category of products. During that time managing different brands throughout the world became difficult for the company. Unilever faced lack of co-ordination among its different marketing divisions. Brand management was not so effective for the company. Excessive decentralization increased the cost of the company. In 2000 the condition of Unilever was bad in

Business Essays Literature Customer Retention

Business Essays Literature Customer Retention Literature Customer Retention Introduction In compiling this literature review, the author has deliberately cast a wide net. This has not only included both major and less prestigious journals, but also practitioner magazines and self-help websites. Customer retention is clearly marketing topic of considerable current and practical interest. Whilst some of what has been written is of dubious value, and some isnt actually even about customer retention at all, it is felt that ideas put forward should be allowed to stand on their merits. Insights by practitioners can often provide useful illumination of academic theory, and it is only by bringing them together that the full picture can be appreciated. The Rise of Customer Retention The sole purpose of a business Peter Drucker (1973) once famously claimed was â€Å"to create a customer†. Marketing has traditionally focused on market share and customer acquisition rather than on retaining existing customers and on building long-lasting relationships with them (Kotler, 2003). However, keeping the customer has become regarded as equally, if not more important, since (Badgett et al., 2004) reported that a 5 per cent increase in customer retention generated an increase in customer net present value of between 25 per cent and 95 per cent across a wide range of business environments. Research done by Gupta et al. (2004) found that a 1 per cent increase in customer retention had almost five times more impact on firm value than a 1 per cent change in discount rate or cost of capital. As a result of these researches, the business case for marketers to focus on the management of customer retention became more clearly established. Because of this, there is a growing recognition now that customers, like products, have a life-cycle that companies can attempt to manage and they can be acquired, retained and grown in value over time. Freeland (2003) points out that customers climb a value staircase or value ladder from suspect, prospect and first-time customer, to majority customer and ultimately to partner or advocate status. In response to these changes there has been a new emphasis on defensive marketing, which focuses on holding on to existing customers and getting more custom from them (higher â€Å"share of customer†), in contrast to activities which focus on winning new customers. One of the reasons for the great popularity of customer retention is the recognition that losing a customer means in fact more than a single sale: It means losing the entire stream of purchases that this particular customer would make over a lifetime of patronage (Kotler and Keller,2006). More recently, market share has been gradually losing its importance as marketing’s wisdom of focusing solely on customer acquisition (hoping that this effort will compensate for high levels of defection) is now being seriously questioned and considered as very high risk since ever more players enter an increasingly crowded marketplace (Baker,2000). Todays banks find themselves more and more in a situation in which they have to build professional customer retention management systems. There are two main reasons for doing so; on the one hand, the costs of gaining new customers in highly competitive markets are increasing considerably. On the other hand, the profitability of an individual customer grows permanently with the duration of the business-relationship (Liu Lai, 2004 ; pg 398). Customer retention attempts to win a slightly larger share of the customer’s spend than would otherwise be the case (McAlexander,2006). In spite of this, according to Weinstein (2002, p. 259), most companies spend a majority of their time, energy and resources chasing new business. 80% or more of marketing budgets are often earmarked for getting new business† (Weinstein, 2002, p. 260). This is in line with Payne and Frow’s (1999) finding that only 23 per cent of marketing budgets in UK organizations is spent on customer retention. Aspinall et al. (2001), in contrast, found that 54 per cent of companies reported that customer retention was more important than customer acquisition. Support for retaining customers in the marketing literature (e.g. Ahmad and Buttle, 2002) is extensive. The benefits of retaining customers to the organisation are higher margins and faster growth, derived from the notion that the longer a customer stays with an organisation, generally the higher the profit. The significance of retaining customers is not new to marketing, as Drucker (1963) believed that marketing is as much concerned with retaining as well as acquiring customers. However, as competition has intensified and markets become saturated, an awareness of the benefits of retention has grown, particularly in the retailing of financial services. Benefits of Customer Retention Dawes and Swailes (1999) explain that successful customer retention circumvents the costs of seeking new and potentially risky customers, and allows organizations to focus more accurately on the needs of their existing customers by building relationships (p36). Researchers have also pointed out that customer retention has a significant impact on profitability and positive customer satisfaction and leads to superior financial performance. This is because firms with high customer retention rates tend to have lower costs, maintain more profitable long-term relationships, and enjoy substantial word-of-mouth advertising (p92). Reynolds (2002) suggests that once a company acquires a group of customers, it can retain that group by making them feel special through customer recognition. Reichheld (2006) in his article ‘Learning from Customer Defections’ identified that longer a customer stays with a company, the more they are worth as in the long-term customers buy more, take less of a company’s time, are less sensitive to price, and bring in new customers. If a customer is retained in a business there is certainly a steady flow of revenue to the business, moreover, there are chances to increase the existing revenue by cross selling or up-selling activities. In addition to this, acquiring a new customer can be a much more onerous and expensive task than keeping an existing one. When banks focus on individual customers by establishing a relationship and encouraging satisfaction and loyalty they have more chances to increase and retain their customer base. Relation banking can be seen as a vehicle to increase single-brand loyalty, decrease price sensitivity, induce greater consumer resistance to counter bank offers or counter arguments (from advertising or bank sales-people), dampen the desire to consider alternative banks, encourage word-of-mouth support and endorsement, attract a larger pool of customers, and/or increase the amount of product bought. It can lead to more purchases more often, give the ability to mass customize communication, minimize waste, helps promote trust and attempts to win a slightly larger share of the customer’s spend (Ongena, S., and Smith,2000). Relationship leads to loyalty, and loyal customers are supposed to buy more, pay higher prices and bring in new customers through word-of-mouth support (Morgan et al.,2000). However, some of these â€Å"profitability-arguments† related to relationship banking have been challenged by Reinartz and Kumar (2002), who compared the behaviour, revenue, and profitability of more than 16,000 individual and corporate customers over a four-year period, concluding that they discovered little or no evidence to suggest that customers who buy on a steady basis are necessarily cheaper to serve, less price sensitive, or particularly effective at bringing in new business. They also found that a considerable amount of loyal customers were only marginally profitable, while a large percentage of short-term customers were very profitable. Woolf (1996) argues that greater success comes from a strategy based firmly on understanding customer economics and only secondarily on customer loyalty and building relationships. However, despite their criticism, even critics themselves have suggested that customer loyalty (relationship) is a worthy contributor to the shareholder value of a company(Houston, 1999;pg33), and that â€Å"firms are encouraged to study their position and options in the pursuit of this goal†(Oliver,1999; pg37). The Lifetime Value Concept Customer retention has also given rise to the concept of Customer lifetime value (CLV or LTV) which represents the net present value of profits, coming from the individual customer from a flow of transactions over time. Novo (2006) describes Customer lifetime value (LTV) as the present value of the stream of future profits expected over the customers’ lifetime purchases. Companies can look at their investments in terms of cost per sale, rate of customer retention and also conversion of prospects. LTV is also used as a convenient yardstick of performance, however, it has tended to become a bit too much of a holy grail for corporate, marketing and sales executives, to the extent that entire conferences and seminars are often devoted to helping optimize it (Romano Fjermesta, 2003; pg 233). It is important to retain customers, but not at the cost of other essential marketing activities. Putting customers into key categories helps to clarify analysis and acts as the basis for marketing activities designed to improve customer lifetime value. While the importance of calculating the Customer Lifetime value in deciding the retention strategies cannot be questioned, some writers are of the view that measuring the lifetime value can sometimes be complicated as it involves a lot of analytical forecasting. Knox et al (2003; pg 207) argue that ‘calculating Customer lifetime value is problematic because it involves forecasting what amounts of what products customers will buy in the future years, and what the sales, administration and logistics costs will be. Because profits in future years are progressively less valuable (because of inflation) and less certain, a discount rate has to be applied. The higher the discount rate, the less valuable future profits will be’. Customer Retention and the rise of relationship banking (RM) The objectives of relationship marketing is to identify and establish, maintain and enhance and, when necessary terminate relationships with customers and other stakeholders, at a profit so that the objective of all parties involved are met. This is done by a mutual exchange and fulfillment of promises. Kabiraj et al. (2004) in their study of relationship practices in India noted that the Indian banking sector can only stay competitive by building lifelong partnerships with their customers. Relationship banking techniques can be employed to develop an ongoing dialog with customers, integrated across all contact points. Knox et al. (2003, p. 19) addressed that RM is a strategic approach designed to improve stakeholder value through developing appropriate relationships with key customers and customer segments and involves an enterprise-wide marketing strategy and technology platform. If done correctly, it enables organizations to retain the loyalty of their customers. It is about managing and monitoring customer behavior and has the potential to change a customers relationship with the banking organization and increase revenue (Dyche, 2002, pg.4). In todays economic condition, relationship banking can help to provide a sense of personal service without an actual person (Seybold, 2007). They allow banking organizations to integrate customer interaction channels and provide consistency in their interactions with customers, generate better customer intelligence, customize their offerings and communications to customers, manage customer interactions and relationships more effectively, and manage the customer portfolio by assessing the lifetime value of customers (Ely, 2006). Relationship Marketing/banking is not a new concept, its roots lie in the marketing basics of repeat purchase, customer retention and customer loyalty. Traditionally followed by retailers, the concept is slowly spilling over to the banking and financial services industry. Berger (2005) describes relationship banking as an attempt to advance the sales culture in bank marketing beyond order taking to a more pro-active form of direct selling which includes knowing more about the customer needs and tailoring products and services to suit individual requirements. Its goal is to establish a long term, intimate and relatively open relationship between banks and its customers. Eg Commercial banks and other financial institutions attempt to apply the concept of relationship banking through Personal Banker and Private Banking programs (Stauss Schoeler, 2004; pg 147). In this way, they are able to understand their customer, give personal advice and develop proximity with the customer. Customer retention has been shown to be a primary goal in firms that practice relationship marketing (Coviello et al., 2002). While the precise meaning and measurement of customer retention can vary between industries and firms (Aspinall et al., 2001) there appears to be a general consensus that focusing on customer retention can yield several economic benefits (Buttle, 2004). As customer tenure lengthens, the volumes purchased grow and customer referrals increase. Simultaneously, relationship maintenance costs fall as both customer and supplier learn more about each other. Because fewer customers churn, customer replacement costs fall. Finally, retained customers may pay higher prices than newly acquired customers, and are less likely to receive discounted offers that are often made to acquire new customers. All of these conditions combine to increase the net present value of retained customers. Lindgreen et al. (2000, p. 295), computed that it can be up to ten times more expensive to win a customer than to retain a customer and the cost of bringing a new customer to the same level of profitability as the lost one is up to 16 times more. Although a number of authorities have suggested that relationship marketing represents a paradigm shift (Christopher et al., 1991; Sheth and Parvatiyar, 1995) from a longer established transactional orientation to customer management, Gronroos (2000, p. 23) noted that the relational perspective on marketing is in fact â€Å"older than the transaction perspective in marketing† and is â€Å"probably as old as the history of trade and commerce†. There has been growing interest in relational aspects of customer management. Relationship banking permits businesses to leverage information from their databases to achieve customer retention and to cross-sell new products and services to existing customers which is why they are synonymous to existing customer promotion. It is believed that companies that implement relationship banking practices make better relationships with their customers, achieve loyal customers and a substantial payback, increased revenue and reduced cost (Blery Michalakopoulos, 2006). Relationship banking when successfully deployed can have a dramatic effect on bottom-line performance. There are two main aims of relationship banking. One is to increase revenue by raising purchase levels and/or increasing the range of products. A second aim is more defensive, by building a closer bond between the banking organization and current customer banks hope to maintain their customer base (retention). The whole idea of relationship banking is based on the argument that profits can be increased significantly by achieving either of these two aims. In todays economic climate building relationships can help banks to do more with less by providing a sense of personal service without an actual person. (Roberts, 2004) Relationship banking seeks to identify and talk to individual customers on a massive scale and this torrential flow of live transactional data offers the possibility to transform how banks manage their business. While it is not important to retain customers, it is important to retain the right customers in the business. Overtime, choices must be made as to which customers to acquire, which ones to develop and which ones to retain. It is true that not all customers are worth retaining, since from a long-term perspective not everyone is equally profitable. It is important to know if a currently unprofitable customer would generate a future profit stream, if an investment were made in enhancing the customers’ satisfaction. These problems can be addressed by profiling customers and making investments in those who offer the desirable growth and profit potential. (Subhash C. Jain 2005, p278) Relational Exchange and Customer Loyalty RM forms the bridge between the banking organisation and the customer, by means of reinforcing linkages, responding to customer needs and serving micro-segments (Berry, 2002; Hennig-Thurau, 2000). Freeland (2003) who has observed and contributed to this body of literature, comments: ‘Marketing practice has increasingly turned towards alliances, partnerships and other forms of relationship marketing, whose success requires effective co-operation. Interpretations of RM vary (Brodie et al., 1997), but common themes are that relationships are based on power being distributed equally between partners (Liu Lai, 2004) and that both the buyer and the seller are active in a rich, multi-dimensional exchange. Further elements that mediate successful relationships are trust and commitment (Garbarino and Johnson, 2006) in which trust is conceptualised as a belief that the partner in the exchange will fulfil the perceived obligations of a relationship. Where the focus is on individual customers, loyalty and retention initiatives can be seen as vehicles to increase single-brand loyalty, decrease price sensitivity, induce greater consumer resistance to counter offers or counter arguments (from advertising or sales-people), dampen the desire to consider alternative brands, encourage word-of-mouth support and endorsement, attract a larger pool of customers, and/or increase the amount of product bought( Bolton et al., 2000) Two aims of customer retention programs stand out, one is to increase sales revenues by raising purchase/usage levels, and/or increasing the range of products bought from the supplier. A second aim is more defensive, by building a closer bond between the brand and current customers it is hoped to maintain the current customer base. Loyalty and retention initiatives can lead to more purchases more often, give the ability to mass customize marketing communication, minimize waste and help promote trust. It attempts to win a slightly larger share of the customer’s spend than would otherwise be the case if the additional value of the scheme were not offered (McAlexander,2002). Research will analyze in greater detail the ways in which retention initiatives can transform the bank’s business and help make strategic business decisions, which is the purpose of the research (to evaluate retention as a key marketing strategy). One of the reasons for the great popularity of customer retention is the recognition that losing a customer means in fact more than a single sale: It means losing the entire stream of purchases that this particular customer would make over a lifetime of patronage – also known as the â€Å"customer lifetime value†(Kotler and Armstrong,2001). Role of Employees Within the Retention Process Another area of research would be the employee involvement in the customer retention process. In the Journal of Marketing Management, Buttle (2004) stresses on the importance of the front line employees. He argues that employees have the power to take actions which provide immediate customer satisfaction and thereby reinforce customer retention. This necessitates actively managing interactions between customer and staff and instigating improvements to the external quality of service by increasing the levels of internal service which staffs receive from within the organization from support departments and technology. (p153) Robert Heller (2005; og 117) insists that the most vital statistic for retaining a customer in any business is its employees. He quotes â€Å"that a satisfied worker creates a satisfied customer and higher financial returns: and that, by the same token, disgruntled staff lead to customer dissatisfaction†. A research by staff at Sears, the US retailing giant in 2006, established a convincing and clear correlation between employee attitudes, customer attitudes and financial results. The research showed that for every 5 units of improvement in employee attitudes, there were 1.3 units of gain on the customer impression index. Moreover, the latter added up to a 0.5% increase in sales over what they would otherwise have been.This outlines the obvious linkage between employee attitudes and customer retention. Therefore, if a business wants to retain its customers, along with devising strategies for customer satisfaction, it has to bear in mind that, employee satisfaction is equally important. The reseserch will analyze the role played by employees in Citibank in promoting customer retention. Researchers have argued that both customer facing and back office staff have a role to play in customer retention. The study will examine the ways in which the staff in Citibank performs their role and the effect it has on customer retention. Customer Clubs Some banks make the use of customer clubs as a strategic instrument for creating customer retention. Customer clubs are communities of current customers that are initiated and organized by companies (Diller, 1997; Butscher, 1997; Butscher and MuÈller, 1999). The current customers are approached for a potential membership to enable a steady direct communication and to intensify the relationship during the total time of business relation (Tomzcak and Dittrich, 1999). As an institutionalized form of added-value services, they aim at offering club members a wide range of benefits and increase customer satisfaction and loyalty. The goal of customer club is to improve the general operational profitability by customer retention. A customer club is regarded as a suitable platform to increase the interaction frequency between the bank and the customer (customer interaction effect) by creating contact and feedback opportunities. By doing so, a close contact is built around the client throughout the entire customer life cycle (Coviello et al., 2002; pg 8). A central objective of customer clubs is the augmentation of organizational knowledge about the customer (customer knowledge effect). With each customer contact starting from account opening the organization receives detailed information about the personal situation, interests and demand structures of the account holders. These insights are collected in a global member data base and linked with further customer data, which form the basis for individualized marketing measures (Ganesh et al., 2006; pg 65). However, some argue that it has to be considered that the set up and development of a customer club requires considerable investments. Whereas the cost effects of these investments are obvious and can be calculated rather easily, there is no certainty with respect to the existence and degree of the expected loyalty effects. Also, the customers willingness for a membership depends on the fact whether a distinct advantage is offered to them as customers are only willing to supply data and participate actively in the club membership, if their individual cost-benefit-calculation leads to a positive result (Gupta et al., 2005; pg 7). Therefore the customer club must offer a bundle of exclusive services, which are attractive for the target group from either a financial, material or communicative perspective. Retention measures and process Banking organizations in the vanguard are making several proactive changes in their service capabilities. They are developing diagnostics to understand what their customers need and value. They are examining what they need to do to retain customers and then train their people accordingly and are reinforcing service-oriented behaviours. Banks are exploring how to anticipate and respond successfully to differences in customer requirements between geographies. They are leveraging the intimate product knowledge of technical people and other staff and teaching them about the critical role they play in customer retention. Some financial service organizations are also teaming up sales, service and technical experts much farther upstream in a customer relationship in ways that are cost-effective and value added (Johnston, 2005; pg 211). It is also worth pointing out that the service component of forward thinking banking organizations is no longer relegated to one department containing the lowest-paid people. Major Banks use technology to accomplish menial tasks quickly, allowing everyone in the organization the time to enhance their skills as salespeople, research and development contacts and potential consultants on complex jobs (Morrman et al., 2002; pg 314). Research done by Nyer (2007) showed that everyone who interacts with customers must become an active agent for customer retention. A number of organizational processes can be associated with customer retention, including customer satisfaction measurement process, customer retention planning process, quality assurance process, win-back processes and the complaints-handling process. The notion that companies should engage in planning if they want to achieve desired business outcomes is deeply embedded in modernist management literature. Retention metrics Despite the scarcity of research into customer retention planning, investigators and commentators have begun to report on a number of related questions, such as how to define and measure customer retention, how to segment customers for customer retention efforts, and what strategies to employ to recover at-risk or lost customers. Aspinall et al. (2001) investigated the issue of definition and measurement of customer retention. They found that customer retention was particularly an issue in larger banking organizations but absence of measurable indicators makes it harder to gauge the impact of strategy implementation on customer retention. Buttle (2004) found that banks can employ one or more of several types of retention-related KPIs – raw, sales-adjusted, or profit-adjusted customer retention metrics. Banks that adopt raw customer retention metrics focus on the retention of a given percentage or number of customers, regardless of value. Banks that use sales or profit-adjusted retention metrics will focus their efforts on customers that generate higher levels of sales or profit. Coyles and Gorkey’s (2002) research also notes the significance of focusing on the retention of profitable customers, rather than all customers. They suggest that it may be more important for banks to focus on managing the overall downward migration of customer spending than customer retention in its own right. They note that many more customers change their behaviour than defect, so the former typically account for larger changes in value (Coyles and Gorkey, 2002, p. 80). They report the case of one bank that lost 3 per cent of its total balances when 5 per cent of checking account customers defected in a year, but lost 24 per cent of its total balances when 35 per cent of customers reduced the amounts deposited in their checking accounts. Another question that researchers have attempted to answer concerns the focus of companies’ customer retention efforts (Koch, 1998; Ganesh et al., 2000). Should retention of every customer be the goal, or should retention efforts be focused on subsets or even individuals? A report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (2002) observes that poor management of customer churn is a major value destroyer and that the key to prevention is to predict and avert attrition of the â€Å"right customers†. The â€Å"right customers† are those that contribute most significantly to the achievement of the company’s objectives. The implication of there being â€Å"right† and â€Å"wrong† customers to retain is that companies are advised to segment their customer base for retention efforts in much the same way that they would segment the market for acquisition efforts (Weinstein, 2002). Evans (2002) suggests that the right customers are those with the highest residual lifetime value. Although there has been little investigation of customer retention planning processes, there has been considerable attention paid to assessing the role and effectiveness of retention strategies and tactics directed towards valued, at-risk or lost customers. For example, a number of researchers have examined the contribution of relationship marketing instruments such as loyalty programs and customer clubs to customer retention outcomes (O’Brien and Jones, 1995; Dowling and Uncles, 1997; Stauss et al., 2001; Verhoef, 2003). Others have examined the development of customer attachment to organizations (Moorman et al., 1992; Oliver, 1999; Hofmeyr and Rice, 2000). The research will look into the retention KPIs of Citibank and assess whether the KPIs accurately measure retention. Type of banking relationships Banking relationships can be economic and social. Economic content deals with the economic benefits and costs of participating in the relationship. Customers are only willing to participate actively in a relationship if their individual cost-benefit calculation leads to a positive result (Stauss Seidel, 2005). Social content suggests that although economics may indicate a prosperous relationship, no relationship can be successful in the long-term without a social environment that nurtures communication, honesty, fair play and an awareness of mutual interests and therefore relationships should accommodate opportunities for interactions so that friendships may be developed. Building a customer retention strategy Setting up a strategy around customer retention requires careful planning and should include detailed plans and methods for customer identification and registration, segmentation and reward design. In order to be a source of sustainable competitive advantage, the banking organization developing the strategy must always take into account what its loyal customers value, since loyalty and retention is inextricably linked to the creation of value (Morgan et al, 2000). The strategy should make sure that it directly supports the value proposition. A value proposition is â€Å"the full positioning of a brand , the full mix of benefits upon which it is positioned† and the answer to the customer’s question â€Å"Why should I buy your brand?†(Kotler Armstrong,2001). Moreover, in order to be viable, a retention strategy must build and sustain noticeable differences in its offerings that are difficult to copy, since a lack of differentiation removes any potential of competitive advantage – which is anything but easy in banking., where first movers are quickly imitated (Morgan,2001). It must be considered that the retention strategy do not exist in a vacuum, but should be a coherent element of the bank’s overall strategy and capabilities. The strategy should take into account the nature of the business, its market position, goals, and the competitive landscape. There is still some confusion regarding the nature, scope, role and influence of customer retention initiatives. From a functional perspective, many marketers believe

Dalai Lama :: Essays Papers

Dalai Lama His Holiness, the XIVth Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso was born in a small village called Takster in northeastern Tibet. Born to a peasant family, His Holiness was recognized at the age of two, in accordance with Tibetan tradition, as the reincarnation of his predecessor the 13th Dalai Lama. His enthronement ceremony took place on February 22, 1940 in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet. The Dalai Lamas are the manifestations of the Bodhisattva of Compassion, who chose to reincarnate to serve the people. Dalai Lama means Ocean of Wisdom. Tibetans normally refer to His Holiness as Yeshin Norbu, the Wish-fulfilling Gem, or simply, Kundun, meaning The Presence. Born Lhamo Dhondrub, he was, as Dalai Lama, renemaed Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso - Holy Lord, Gentle Glory, Compassionate, Defender of the Faith, Ocean of Wisdom. He began his education at the age of six and completed the Geshe Lharampa Degree (Doctorate of Buddhist Philosophy) when he was 25. At 24, he took the preliminary examination at each of the three monastic universities: Drepung, Sera and Ganden. The final examination was held in the Jokhang, Lhasa, during the annual Monlam Festival of Prayer, held in the first month of every year. In the morning he was examined by 30 scholars on logic. In the afternoon, he debated with 15 scholars on the subject of the Middle Path, and in the evening, 35 scholars tested his knowledge of the canon of monastic discipline and the study of metaphysics. His Holiness passed the examinations with honors, conducted before a vast audience of monk scholars. In 1950, at age 16, His Holiness was called upon to assume full political power as head of State and Government when Tibet was threatened by the might of China. In 1954 he went to Peking to talk with Mao Tse-Tung and other Chinese leaders, including Chou En-Lai and Deng Xiaoping. In 1956, while visiting India to attend the 2500th Buddha Jayanti, he had a series of meetings with Prime Minister Nehru and Premier Chou about deteriorating conditions in Tibet. In 1959 he was forced into exile in India after the Chinese military occupation of Tibet. Since 1960 he has resided in Dharamsala, aptly known as "Little Lhasa", the seat of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile. In the early years of exile, His Holiness appealed to the United Nations on the question of Tibet, resulting in three resolutions adopted by the General Assembly in 1959, 1961 and 1965.

Investing in Futures and Options Essay

INTRODUCTION Of late, investors who are in the stock and commodity are focusing their attention towards risk management especially due to high volatility nature. Since these volatility movements are uncertain, it has become foremost cause of vagueness for such investors. Since the globalization of trade and free trade between major countries has become the order of the day, all most all the investors have to be under mercy of the exchange rate fluctuations which results in volatility   .The notion that exchange rates , profitability and other factors   influence a firm’s value and therefore the price of its stock is widely held by financial analyst ,economists and corporate managers . The liberalization of economic policies and investment policies due to world trade organization’s (WTO) free flow of investments and trade between member countries and bilateral free trade agreements between countries have augmented internationalization of economic activity and exceptional era of world wide currency and interest rates instability. To counter these financial risks, new pioneering concept commodity and stock market hedging techniques have nurtured at a rapid speed. The main feature of the using derivatives through hedging is to have control over the financial risk and minimizing the effect of uncertain cash flows. Financial institutions have come to rescue to these corporations who have exposure to financial risk with the range of products to assist in risk management. By far the most significant event in finance during the past decade has been the extraordinary development and expansion of financial derivatives. These instruments enhance the ability to differentiate risk and allocate it to the investors most able and   willing to take it – a process that has undoubtedly improved national productivity growth and standards of living .’ Allen Green Span, Chairman, Board of Governors of the US Federal Reserve System. The structural advantage of derivatives i.e. leverage or gearing   makes them suitable for managing risk can also result in the generation of leveraged profits or in the event of adverse market movement , a significant losses. The main advantage of gearing is that the buyer or seller need only to cough up a small proportion of total price at the time of deal is executed. It may be 1% and 8% depending upon the volatility of the underlying commodity or instrument. In the case of exchange traded transactions, this deposit is recognized as â€Å"initial margin† and is expected to reflect the amount by which the price of a contract may vary in one day’s trading. At the day end, all contracts will be valued and if the price has been found to move against the position, the losing party will have to pay further â€Å"variation margin† calls. In contrary, if the price movement is positive, credit will be given to the party .It is this element of gearing that provides the opportunity to make large gains or losses. Prudent handling of this leverage will result in considerable profit maximization and if it handled inexpertly, may generate losses .In some cases , these losses though high but they are few in number when measured against volume of business and number of participants in derivative business .The contributory factors for sustaining loss includes excessive position taking ( in relation to capital) , fraudulent activity , unexpected market moves, ineffective risk management, insufficient product understanding and inadequacies in corporate policy governing their use. What is a derivative? Derivative is a mathematical word which refers to a variable, which has been derived from another variable and they have no values of their own. Derivatives derive their value from the value of some other asset, which is referred as the underlying. For instance, a derivative of the shares of AT & T Corporation (underlying), will derive its value from the share price (value) of AT & T Corporation. Likewise, a derivative contract on wheat depends upon the price of wheat. An agreement or an option to buy or sell the underlying asset of the derivative up to a certain time in the future at a predetermined price i.e. the exercise price by way of special contract is known as derivative contract. The contract also has a flat expiry period mostly in the range of 3 to 12 months from the date of origination of the contract. The price of the underlying asset and the expiry period of the contract determine the value of the contract. Financial derivatives comprises of underlying financial asset like currency, debt instruments, equity shares, share price index etc.Exchange-traded derivatives are derivative contracts that has been standardized and traded on the stock exchanges. Over-the –counter derivatives is one which has been customized as per the requirements of the user by negotiating with the other party involved. Some of the common forms of derivatives are Futures, Forwards and Options. Futures: Futures are the derivative contracts that give the holder the chance to buy or sell the underlying asset at a pre-specified price some time in the near future and usually thy come with standardized form like contract size, fixed expiry time and price. The future market is one where continues auction market and exchanges presenting the recent information about the supply and demand as regards to individual commodities or financial instruments like stocks . In other words, future market is one where buyers and sellers of variety of commodities, financial instruments get together to trade. The main aim of the future market is to manage price risk. The future price risk is averted by buying or selling futures contract, with a price level arrived at now, for items to be delivered in future. This is achieved by hedging which helps to shield against the risk of an adverse price change in the near future or use of futures to lock in an acceptable margin between their purchase and their selling price. In futures, bankers, farmers, traders, manufacturers will arrange for the purchase or sale of a futures contract. In future market, commodities are broken down into five categories namely agriculture, metallurgical, interest bearingassets, jndexes and foreign currency. Agricultural futures market includes oats, corn , wheat , soybeans , soy meal ,soyoil,sunflower oil ,cattles , live hogs   and pork bellies, lumber , plywood ,cotton, coffee, cocoa, rice, orange juice and sugar. For every one of these commodities, different contract months are available and it depends upon the harvest cycle. More aggressively traded commodities usually have more contract months available and a new type of contract is available almost every month to meet the growing institutional and corporate market. Futures on Metallurgical Products: Petroleum products and metals is being covered under this group and it includes platinum, gold, silver, palladium, copper, gasoline, crude oil, propane and heating oil. Every month a new type of contract emerges to cater the needs of ever increasing institutional and corporate market. Assets which bears interest: This has its origin during 1975 and products in these categories include treasury bonds, Treasury Bills, Municipal Bonds, Treasury Notes and Eurodollar deposits. It is also possible to trade contracts with the same maturity but different expected interest rate differentials. Futures on Indexes: Now futures are available on most chief indexes such as New York Stock Exchange Composite, S&P 500, New York Stock Exchange Utility index, Russell 2000, Commodity Research Bureau (CRB), S&P 400 Midcap, FT-Se 100 Index (London) and Value line. These stock index features are settled in cash and there is no delivery of goods is involved in this method. A trader has to settle his positions by buying or selling an offsetting position or in cash at expiration. Foreign Currency Futures: During the post war period, the exchange rates and interest rates were stable and the mechanism of fixed exchange rates of the Bretton Woods era enabled the corporations to know in advance their foreign exchange liabilities for their imports. But the collapse of Bretton Woods’s system after the war resulted in the introduction of general floating exchange rates replacing the earlier fixed system. The introduction of floating exchange rates have resulted in large unexpected movements in exchange rates that too in unforeseen directions and magnitudes which affected interest rate movements as the monetary establishment tried to influence the exchange rates by movements in interest rates. It is to be noted that the forward market in currencies is much bigger than the foreign exchange futures market. Further, there are cross currency futures that are being traded and these includes Deutsch mark / yen, Deutsch mark / French franc. Forwards & Options: Forward is another form of a derivative contract but tailored to the needs of the user in terms of expiry date, contract size, and price. These contracts confer the holder the option to buy or sell the under lying at a pre-determined price some time in the future .Call option is one where the buyer has given his option to buy the underlying at the near future .Where as an option to sell the underlying at a specified price in the future is called as Put Option. As regards to the option contract, the buyer is not obliged to exercise the option contract. Generally, options can be traded on the stock exchange or on the OTC. In option, the participants may assume a position in an underlying futures contract at a certain price which is known as exercise or strike price within a particular period of time. The price or premium of the option is determined through action market trading. Swaps: Swaps contract was introduced in 1981 and can be considered as one of the latest financial innovations to manage financial risks. The contracting parties are obliged to exchange specified cash flows at specified intervals under a swap contract. In a nutshell, a swap contract can be defined as a series of forward contracts put together. If the exchange of interest rate payments in one currency for payments in another currency is devised, then it amounts to a currency swap. If the exchange between two parties of interest obligations or receipts in the same currency on an agreed amount of notional principal for an agreed period of time is devised, then it is known as interest rate swap. An interest rate swap is an agreement between two parties to exchange interest payments calculated on different bases over a period of time. Under interest rate swap, one party to the contract makes fixed –rate payments while the other party’s payments are based on a floating rate such as LIBOR. For instance, if a company which has borrowed from a bank at a floating rate (7 m LIBOR) may want to swap that for a fixed rate (7m LIBOR) so that they can cover the risk if the interest rates go up. On one side, they pay 7% (of the agreed notional principal) and receive 7m LIBOR and on the other side they pay 7m LIBOR straight out to repay their loan. Thus they have converted a floating rate loan into a fixed rate loan. The said bank may manages its own risk from the above swap transaction by backing it out with another swap , say by paying 6.95% for 7m LIBOR and thus they earn a profit of 0.5% difference thus avoiding the risk in the interest rate changes . The other different types of interest rate swap are: Basis swap: For instance, swapping 2m LIBOR for 4m LIBOR. Basic swaps are mostly used by mortgage companies because the get the mortgage payments on monthly basis. Both fixed Currency Swap : Both fixed and say fixed $ for fixed  £ Both floating currency swap: 2m $ LIBOR for 4 m Yen LIBOR. Cross Currency Swap: fixed  £ for 2m CHF LIBOR. Companies derive more flexibility to exploit their comparative advantage in their respective borrowing markets under currency swaps. Under interest rate swap, corporations try to focus on their comparative advantage in borrowing in a single currency in the short end of the maturity spectrum vs. the long –end of the maturity spectrum. USES OF DERIVATIVES: Derivatives are mainly used for speculation or hedging. For speculation, derivatives offer us leverage. For instance, instead of buying  £ 5Million bond in the anticipation that its price will rise up, one can buy an option on that bond, which might only cost  £ 2000. The profit chances or opportunities are the same less the price of the option but the risk is much less as the most we can loose in this deal is the option price ( £ 2000). For hedging, derivatives let you to seal the price now for a trade in future or at least limits the rise or fall of that price. An UK company holding a US bond which is on the verge of its maturity could buy an interest rate option to guarantee the dollar / sterling rate did not diminish the value of its bond. Volatility is regarded as the most precise measure of risk and its return. The greater the volatility, the greater the risk and the reward as it is evidenced in the transaction from bull to bear markets. It is to be observed in the bearish market, volatility and risk augment while returns disappear including short –selling returns. History: The very first exchange for trading derivatives started by Royal Exchange in London, which allowed forward contract. Likewise, the first future contract was introduced to Yodoya rice market in Osaka, Japan in 1650. Then in 1848, Chicago Board of Trade was started to handle futures market of US. Russell Sage, a famous New York financier introduced synthetic loans using the principle of put-call parity. Sage could able to create a synthetic loan by fixing the put, call and strike prices with interest rate poignantly higher than the US usury law permitted. Chicago Mercantile Exchange started International Monetary Market in 1972 which permitted trading in currency futures. The Chicago Board of Trade started first interest rate futures in 1975.Treasury bill futures contract was introduced in 1975 by Merc. The Chicago Board Options Exchange was started in 1973 and there were publications for the first time option pricing model of Fischer Black and Myron Scholes. Chicago Board Options Exchange created an option on an index of stocks which was originally known as CBOE 100 index which later known as S&P 100. During 1980, Swaps and other over-the –counter derivatives were introduced. It was in 1994, the derivative trade witnessed a series of huge losses and this affected experienced trading firms like Metallgesellschaft and Procter and Gamble. Orange country, California which is the America’s wealthiest city was declared as bankruptcy due to derivative trading and use of leverage in a portfolio of short -term Treasury securities. DERIVATIVES OR DESTRUCTIVE? A CASE STUDY OF BARINGS, UK. Baring Brothers, a British merchant bank went to bankruptcy in 1995 after incurring a whooping loss of  £ 860 million occurred on the Singapore and Osaka derivative exchanges. Nick Leeson, the bank’s star trader and absence of management controls to monitor his activities were the main reasons for this debacle. During the period between 1992 and 1995, Lesson built up positions in futures and options contracts on the Nikkei 225 stock exchange index, which proved highly profitable in the early years. Futures positions were bought by Lesson on the Nikkei index and financed cash calls on them as they fell in value by selling put options on the contract, thereby producing a straddle and thus betting against volatility of the market. Simex derivative exchange in Singapore were used to book the contracts and he run a hedged position on Nikkei index futures and make money by arbitraging between Singapore and Osaka markets. However he ceased hedging on the purchases made in Singapore and took on risk. Due to unexpected volatility in the market, losses were incurred and these losses in fact exceeded the net worth of Baring Bank .Lesson was later imprisoned for the falsification of records in an attempt to cover up his activities. The rationale of this case law is to elucidate how a bank can face bankruptcy if there is no proper risk management system is in force. The case also establishes the concept of ‘value at risk ‘(VAR) which is a simple method to express the risk of a portfolio. Because of the recent derivatives disasters, end-users, regulators, financial institutions and central bankers are now resorting to VAR as a method to foster stability in financial markets .The case illustrates how VAR could have been utilized to Baring Bank case to warn its management of the risk they were facing in advance. VOLATILITY: Volatility has its effect on administered market and it is high when both supply and demand are inelastic and liable to random shocks. According to Rudiger Dornbusch, market always overshoots in reaction to unexpected changes in economic variables. Volatility is a type of market incompetence and it is a reaction to uncertainty and excessive volatility is unreasonable. Volatility in stock and commodity market is represented by sharp changes in prices and inventory levels and level of volatility itself has fluctuated over the time. Changes in future prices, spot prices and inventories are influenced by changes in volatility Volatility is a determinant of changes in price expressed in percentage terms without regard to direction especially in stock price and stock index levels , commodities and in financial intermediaries .For example , an increase from 200 to 201 in one index is as same as the volatility terms to an increase in 100 to 101 in another index , because both changes are 1% and as this 1% increase is equal to volatility terms to a 1 % price decline .There are four ways to explain the volatility or movement and they are historical volatility , future volatility , expected volatility and implied volatility . Historical volatility is an appraiser of actual price variation during a particular period in the past. Future volatility refers annualized standard deviation of daily returns during particular future period basically between current and an option expiration. Expected volatility is an investor’s forecast of volatility utilized in an option method to gauge the theoretical value of an option. Implied volatility is the volatility percentage that illustrates the current market price of an option and it is the indicator of an option’s price. Volatility is described as standard deviation of the yield of an asset and the value of an option always increases with volatility. The greater the volatility, the higher the option chance during its life and convertible to the underlying asset at a marginal profit and this methodology has been proved in the Black-Scholes formula. Black-scholes formula yield results during trends and unsuccessful when the market change sign. â€Å" The implied volatilities are efficient forecasts of future volatility since varying market conditions cause volatilities to change through time stochastically and traditional volatilities   can not correct itself to varying market conditions as ghastly .Stochastic volatility contradicts the assumption required by the Black-Scholes model –if volatilities do modify stochastically through moment in time, the Black-Scholes method is no longer the correct pricing method and an implied volatility derived from the Black-Scholes formula provides no fresh information. Black-Scholes formula is lacking on certain issues like the oblique volatilities of various options on the identical stock tend to differ disregarding the formulas hypothesize that a single stock can be correlated with only one value of implied volatility. The Black-Scholes formula mainly ignores the distribution of stock prices in US market.   Some studies have revealed severe deviation from the price process fundamental to Black-Scholes formula like excess kurtosis, skewness, time varying volatilities and serial correlation. Further Black –scholes deals with stochastic volatility poorly and it relies on impractical assumption that market dickers endlessly thereby ignoring institutional constraints and transaction costs. Stock Charting: Stock charting is the process of a graphical sequence record enables it easier to dapple the effect of cardinal happenings on authoritarian security’s price., its functioning over a period of time and whether it’s trading its higher or its lower or in between these. Traders are very particular in daily, intraday data to forecast short-term price movements.   Investors rely on weekly and monthly charts to mark long term trends and movements. Line chart, Bar chart, Candlestick Chart and point and figure chart are some of the examples of stock charting method.   Arithmetic and semi-log arithmetic scales are two methods of price scaling used in the stock charting method. When the price range is hemmed within a tight range and used in general for short-term charts and trading. Semi-log scales are useful for long term charts to estimate the percentage movements over a foresighted period of time including large movements. Stock and other securities are estimated in relative terms through tools lime PE, Price/Revenues and Price/Book and as such it will be more useful to analyse in percentage terms. Ocillator: This is an indicator which is calculated by taking 10 day moving average of the difference between the numbers of advancing and defining issues for authoritarian given index. An indicator will reflect whether an index is gaining or losing impetus, so the size of the moves is more significant than the level of the current reading. The level of the reading is influenced by how the oscillator changes each day thereby dropping a value ten days ago and adding today’s value. The scale in moves is also helpful when it is compared with the divergence from the index price. If the Dow climaxes at the same time, the oscillator peaks in overbought area and suggests a top. Divergence is said to be negative and momentum is declining when index makes a new high but the oscillator fails to make a higher .One can buy if the index declines at this point but oscillator moves into oversold territory. If the oscillator rises above a previous overbought level though the index rises but does not make new heights, it is said to be upside momentum exists to continue the rally. Support: A support level is the price at which buyers are anticipated to enter the market in considerable numbers to take control from sellers. As the market has its track record, when price falls to a new low and then soars, the buyers who ignored on the first low will be persuaded to buy if price returns to that level back .Fearing of missing out the opportunity for the second time, these traders may enter into market in adequate numbers to take control from sellers. As the result, there is a rally strengthening sensitivity that price is unlikely to fall further thereby creating a support level. Resistance: The price level at which the sellers are anticipated to enter the market in sizeable numbers to take control from buyers is known as resistance level. If price makes a new High and then move back, sellers who ignored the previous High will be predisposed to sell when price returns to that level back. Fearing of missing the opportunity for the second time, these sellers may enter the market in large numbers to overwhelm buyers. As the result, market perception will be reinforced that price is unlikely to increase higher and form a resistance level. CANDLE CHARTING: It is a price chart that shows the open, low, the high and close for a stock each day over a specified period of time .It is known as Japanese candles because they used to analyse the price of rice contracts. When the close is higher than the open , the same is represented by an white empty box in the candle charting .When the close is lower than the open , then it is represented by a solid black candle ,Colored candles are used to reflect the day’s volume. Investment strategies in stock and options Following is the most of common investment strategies for keeping investment objectives, financial means and risk tolerance. Despite of market crash in 1929, market break in 1987, market correction in 1989 and though the prices of all securities fell down drastically but broad movement of the market has seen their value steadily increased. One of the strategies is to buy and hold for long the high quality stocks or futures of stock or commodities .The buy –and-hold strategy offers one to profit from this long term forward trend of the stock market. Further, dividend investment plan offers small investors a painless method of building wealth. Dollar –Cost Averaging: This is also a long term strategy and one has to invest in a stock or mutual fund or futures at regular intervals monthly, quarterly or semiannually. The success of dollar-cost averaging relies on consistency of amount invested and the regularity of the payments so as to minimize pricing and timing risk. The success of the Dollar cost averaging depends upon the following factors. The plan for the investment should be for a long period i.e. from 7 years to 10 years .In the last 100 years, there were about 40 recessions or market corrections or a downturn about every 3 years and If one carry on to invest through about three of these corrections, the profits of dollar-cost averaging tend to be maximized. 2 .Investment at regular intervals is most preferred. Investment should be made regularly regardless of the price of the stock. Give preference to high quality of stocks or mutual funds and a company or fund with history of habitual dividend payments and possible for capital appreciation is a better choice. One has to make sure that he has enough strength so that he can adhere to the plan through highs and lows and sell out at the peak and thus the money allocated for dollar-cost averaging result in wealth-building funds, not committed funds.[i] Going Short: An investor who prefers short i.e. enters into futures contract by agreeing to sell and deliver the underlying at a price and wishes to make profit from declining price levels and thereby selling high now , the contract can be repurchased in the future at a lesser price thus creating a profit for the investor. 16.Spreads: It involve taking benefit of the price difference between two different contracts of the same commodity and spreading is believed to be the most conventional forms of trading in the futures market because it is much safer than the trading long / short futures contract. There are different types of spread namely calendar spread, inter-exchange spread and inter-market spread. Swing Trading: It denotes a technique of placing emphasis on playing the swings in the PPS, selling on the highs and buying on the lows rather than the swiftness of the trade. To complete the swing trade, it may need more than a day, a week or authoritarian month or longer period and channeling stock is pursued by the some swing traders. Flipping: It refers the process of trading a stock very quickly with in minutes or hours etc as past as possible may be on the same day. It is often used to explain a buy and sell with a share that is running and where the trader buys the stock as it is moving up and sells the same on even a higher point in a short period of time. A flipper aim is to maximize his profits by emphasizing on fast trades to earn quick profits. The risk is also less downside as the trader sits in a stock for a less time. [i] Hall, Alvin D., and Carolyn M. Brown. â€Å"Investment Strategies Made Easy: Here’s How to Overcome Your Fears of the Market and Invest like a Pro.† Black Enterprise Mar. 1994: 66+. 2.Fisher, Black and Myron Scholes, â€Å"The pricing of Options and Corporate Liabilities â€Å"The Journal of Political Economy, 81,637-654. 3.Mackay, Charles. Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds: New York, Harmony Books (1980). 4.Chance .Don M.† A Chronology of Derivatives† Derivative Quarterly, 2 (winter, 1955) 53-60. 5.Thomas L. Friedman ,The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century Stephen Leeb, Glen Strathy ,The Coming Economic Collapse: How You Can Thrive When Oil Costs $200 a Barrel 7.George A. Fontanills, Tom Gentile The Volatility Course 8.George Soros, Paul A. Volcker The Alchemy of Finance (Wiley Investment Classics) 9.John C. Hull Options, Futures and Other Derivatives (6th Edition) 10.Marc Allaire ,The Options Strategist 11. George Kleinman, Trading Commodities and Financial Future: A Step by Step Guide to Mastering the Markets (3rd Edition). 12. Sheldon Natenberg ,Option Volatility & Pricing: Advanced Trading Strategies and Techniques Jeffrey M. Christian, Commodities Rising: The Reality Behind the Hype and How To Really Profit in the Commodities Market. John J. Murphy ,Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets: A Comprehensive Guide to Trading Methods and Applications (New York Institute of Finance John F. Carter, Mastering the Trade (McGraw-Hill Trader’s Edge) 16. Joseph Kellogg, Trading From the Inside 17. Thomas N. Bulkowski ,Encyclopedia of Chart Patterns (Wiley Trading) 18.Stephen W. Bigalow, Profitable Candlestick Trading: Pinpointing Market Opportunities to Maximize Profits   

Printable Metric Conversion Quiz

Printable Metric Conversion Quiz Do you feel confident about your ability to make metric to metric unit conversions? Heres a quick little quiz you can take to test your knowledge. You can take the quiz online or print it out. You may wish to review metric conversions before taking this quiz. An online version of this quiz is available if you prefer to be scored as you take the quiz. TIP:To view this exercise without ads, click on print this page. There are ___ in 2000 mm?(a) 200 m(b) 2 m(c) 0.002 m(d) 0.02 mThere are ____ in 0.05 ml?(a) 0.00005 liters(b) 5 liters(c) 50 liters(d) 0.0005 liters30 mg is the same mass as:(a) 300 decigrams(b) 0.3 grams(c) 0.0003 kg(d) 0.03 gThere are ____ in 0.101 mm?(a) 1.01 cm(b) 0.0101 cm(c) 0.00101 cm(d) 10.10 cm20 m/s is the same as:(a) 0.02 km/s(b) 2000 mm/s(c) 200 cm/s(d) 0.002 mm/s30 microliters is the same as:(a) 30000000 liters(b) 30000 deciliters(c) 0.000003 liters(d) 0.03 milliliters20 grams is the same as:(a) 2000 mg(b) 20000 mg(c) 200000 mg(d) 200 mg15 km is:(a) 0.015 m(b) 1.5 m(c) 150 m(d) 15000 m30.4 cm is:(a) 0.304 mm(b) 3.04 mm(c) 304 mm(d) 3040 mmThere are ____ in 12.0 ml?(a) 0.12 l(b) 0.012 1(c) 120 l(d) 12000 l Answers:1 b, 2 a, 3 d, 4 b, 5 a, 6 d, 7 b, 8 d, 9 c, 10 b

The Availability of Tescos Fresh Vegetables Supply Chain Essays

The Availability of Tescos Fresh Vegetables Supply Chain Essays The Availability of Tescos Fresh Vegetables Supply Chain Essay The Availability of Tescos Fresh Vegetables Supply Chain Essay 1. Introduction Supply concatenation which now is recognized as a typical complicated web is formed by a huge figure of providers and subcontractors ( Derek L. Waller, 2003 ) . They transport merchandise to consumer through value-add procedures in effort to make superior client value ( Martin Christopher, 2005 ) . There are three mutualist flow watercourses ( Derek L. Waller, 2003 ) involved in supply concatenation to vouch its maps running good. Material flow watercourse which stars from the upstream provider to concluding consumer takes a duty of conveying finished goods from natural stuffs to complete goods. Therefore, it is the most important component in supply concatenation. Another one is information flow watercourse which is a bipartisan flow watercourse. High efficient supply concatenation is based on the fluid interchange of information. The better communicating, the better coaction and the faster responses supply concatenation has. For illustration, providers could fulfill their mutable c lients rapidly with the aid of timely and accurate information about demand. The 3rd one is fiscal flow watercourse of which way is opposite to material flow. It plays like a bearer of net income to excite everyone in supply concatenation performs better. Besides, a well-run fiscal flow reduces the hazards in history receivable, accordingly, addition reliable in relationship between provider and subcontractor. ( Warren H. Hausman, no day of the month ) . Supply concatenation topographic point a important place in developing organisation itself and enhanced its market repute. It helps company supply right merchandise at right clip in right topographic point and response alteration rapidly. Tesco and Marks A ; Spenser, who have 2282 ( 2009 ) and over 600 shops ( 2009 ) severally around UK are two of the most popular retail merchants. They compete well on field of fresh veggies sector through supplying convenient, safety and low monetary value goods. Traditional farm markets and vegetable shops which can be found everyplace in past clip now have about been replaced by assorted supermarkets. Tesco, the British retail giant, occupies an important function in food market market in the UK. It was the 56th in luck 500 list of 2009, harmonizing to 94,300.4 million gross ( Fortune, 2009 ) . Taylor Nelson Sofres World Panel market portion informations ( 2009 ) stated that Tesco’s market portion in food market increasing to 30.7 % in November, 2009.Fresh nutrient, such as veggies, meat, fruit, because of it’s extremely sum of ingestion every twenty-four hours plays an increasing part in supermarket net income. Discoursing the premier grounds what cause fresh nutrie nt deficit on shelves is valuable because retail merchants merely can make net income when their merchandise are consumed by clients ( Ronald H. Ballou, 2004 ) . What’s more, it is easy to be annoyed that a client come into a supermarket and found what he/she wants is empty. Whatever the client choose to purchase another replaceable merchandise ( supermarket still earn net income ) or to travel to another store which can run into their demand good ( supermarket lost net income ) , his/her trueness would be damaged. Such lessening of trueness is a great uncountable loss for supermarket. 2. Datas aggregation This research was carried out on the 07, November, 2009 by sing Tesco. Data was recorded at two different times during that twenty-four hours. What are organized in the undermentioned tabular arraies are the running-out points we collected at half past one and at a one-fourth to four in Tesco. It aims to analyze the on-shelf inaccessibility every bit good as the efficiency of refilling on sector of vegetable in Tesco. Table 1 collected at half past one Item name monetary value position publicity Asparagus Large Bundle ?3 Contemporary out of stock Nitrogen T. Organic Asparagus Bundle 200g ?1.99 Contemporary out of stock Nitrogen Tesco Casserole Vegetables 450g ?1.5 Contemporary out of stock Nitrogen Tesco Spinach 260g ?1 Contemporary out of stock Nitrogen Market Value Broccoli catchweight ?1.48/kg unavailable Nitrogen Leeks Loose Class II ?1.98/kg unavailable Nitrogen Runner Beans 225g ?1 Contemporary out of stock Salvage 50p Tesco Hand Shelled Garden Peas 120g ?1 Contemporary out of stock 3 for?2.5 Tesco Butternut Wedges 150g ?1 Contemporary out of stock 3 for?2.5 Table 2 collected at a one-fourth to four Item name monetary value Status publicity Celery Each ?0.78 unavailable Nitrogen Tesco Lancashire Round Lettuce ?0.50 unavailable Nitrogen Broccoli 335g ?0.50 unavailable Nitrogen Market Value Broccoli Catchweight ?1.48/kg Contemporary out of stock Nitrogen Tesco Spinach 260g ?1 Contemporary out of stock Nitrogen Tesco Winter Vegetable 250g ?1.5 Contemporary out of stock Nitrogen Tesco casserole Vegetables 450g ?1.5 Contemporary out of stock Nitrogen T.Organic Asparagus Bundle 200g ?1.99 Contemporary out of stock Nitrogen Asparagus Large Bundle ?3 Contemporary out of stock Nitrogen Runner Beans 225g ?1 unavailable Salvage 50p Tesco Bean Sprouts 335g ?0.48 unavailable Nitrogen Tesco Finest Tender root Broccoli 200g ?1.25 unavailable Nitrogen Tesco Butternut Wedges 150g ?1 Contemporary out of stock 3 for?2.5 Tesco Hand Shelled Garden Peas 120g ?1 Contemporary out of stock 3 for?2.5 Chicory 180g ?1 unavailable Nitrogen Harmonizing to these two tabular arraies, it can be seen clearly that position of modern-day on-shelf unavailable points are classified as ‘unavailable’ and ‘contemporary out of stock’ . Such categorization is on the footing of fact found in Tesco. In Tesco, some of the labels of empty shelves are informed ‘contemporary out of stock’ with a small ruddy card while the remainder which are represented as ‘unavailable’ in tabular arraies are without any account. Compared these two tabular arraies, except Market Value Broccoli Catchweight and Runner Beans ( 225g ) , points are shown ‘unavailable’ in table one disappear in table two. That refers to they were replenished during two hours. Market Value Broccoli Catchweight was checked the stock list and labeled signal of stock-out after 2 hours. The most standing out points in tabular arraies 2 is Runner Beans ( 225g ) which is still as the same ‘unavailable’ posit ion as in table 1. Without considered human’s mistake, it might be attributed to that these points sold out once more after it was replenished.Because these informations was non recorded for a series clip, they may be limited for appreciating the efficiency of on-shelf refilling in Tesco. It is possible that Tesco look into its stock list one time five hours and we merely record for the last two hours by opportunity. However, the Runner Beans empty once more and there was no material working for refilling when we were roll uping informations grounds to a certain extent that Tesco does non recognize up-to-date on-shelf refilling. 3. Comparisons with Marks A ; Spenser Marks A ; Spencer ( M A ; S ) , which has been grown for more than 100 old ages, performs good to fulfill the British in-between category with high quality service every bit good as sensible monetary value. Because of dependable repute in market place, M A ; S asserts as one of the stronger rivals to Tesco. The undermentioned information is what collected on the same twenty-four hours at 2.02 in effort to compare what are differences in on-shelf handiness between Tesco and M A ; S. Table 3 collected at two o’clock Item name monetary value position publicity Chopped Tomatoes 400g ?0.59 unavailable Nitrogen Miniature New Potatoes 500g ?1.99 unavailable Nitrogen Chopin Jacket Potatoes 700g ?1.69 unavailable Nitrogen 4 Jacket murphies 800g ?1.49 unavailable Nitrogen Peas 400g ?1.99 unavailable 3 for?5 Young Garden Peas 170g ?1.69 unavailable Nitrogen Peas sweet maize and Brassica oleracea italica bed 360g ?1.69 unavailable 2 for?3 Authoritative Layered Vegetables 320g ?1.99 unavailable 2 for?3 Carrot, Cauliflower and sprouts 400g ?1 unavailable Half monetary value Sweetheart Cabbage A ; Chard Medley 160g ?1.8 unavailable 2 for?3 Sea salt and peper new potatoes385g ?o.89 unavailable Nitrogen As what was seen in M A ; S, all the on-shelf unavailable points were non be labeled out of stock Markss. It is hard to place if they are out of stock or merely modern-day unavailable. Based on the public presentations on shelves, M A ; S had serious deficit in murphy while there was sufficient storage in Tesco. However, those modern-day out of stock points in Tesco such as Asparagus officinales, Brassica oleracea italica, and smuggler beans are available in M A ; S. The obvious difference between Tesco and M A ; S is that there are staffs to refill to shelves continually when I was entering informations in M A ; S. Something in table 3 was available merely after entering clip 10 proceedingss, which refers to a certain extent that shelf refilling in M A ; S is better than Tesco. 4. Problems in supply concatenation The direct grounds which take history of deficit represented on shelves can be divided merely into two types. One owes to the out-of-time bringing between warehouse and shelves. Another 1 is because of the out of stock in warehouse. Customers lone purchase goods which are displayed on shelves but which stay in warehouse or are out of stock. Whatever which ground, it consequences to a loss of supermarket’s repute and gross revenues.It is necessary to analyze the jobs bing in supply concatenation, which cause on-shelf inaccessibility in Tesco. Supply concatenation is responsible significantly to turn to stockouts. Not merely does an efficient supply concatenation aid Tesco to cut down costs of warehouse and of buying through faster goods turnover but besides attract clients by supplying high quality service through fulfilling them at any given clip. In angle of supply concatenation, these jobs might be found in retail merchant ( Tesco ) itself, in providers every bit good as bet ween them. 4.1. Tesco sections Specifically, the jobs which influence handiness on shelves when there are goods in shop are perchance attributed to ill-defined division of labour or deficiency of shelves direction even inefficient stock list control within supermarket. Indeed, advanced stock control engineering like Point of Sale ( POS ) and modem direction package enable to follow existent clip selling measure and maintain stock degree automatically. However, if the up-to-date information is generated without originating notice and being responded rapidly, it is still useless. Take an illustration to explicate affairs of coaction between sections. Supposed one type of point on shelves are running out and computing machine system reminder to refill. Definitely it is clip to bringing goods to shelves at one time. However, selling section does non notice inaccessibility of goods on shelf or even merely play Ping-Pong ( Richard Bell, 2004 ) with stock section when it received the reconstructing demand. Selling staff carry out nil except waiting for the stock section to work out the job while the ulterior one are sing that selling section should take duty of refilling. As the clip base on balls, because of on-shelf deficit, client lose.In add-on, deficiency of shelf direction besides causes ‘stockouts’ . What is common to be seen in TESCO is that different points on shelves are assorted together or that one type of point is displayed at different topographic points. Customers are hard to happen what they want precisely in such upset show. It is rather frequently that goods considered unavailable is really hidden by other goods or is exhibited at another topographic point. In add-on, the unbalancing allotment of on-shelf infinite is another typical ground of emptying shelf in Tesco. On the same shelf, some are running out easy while others are extra. Inadequate shelf infinite of fast Sellerss increases the frequence of refilling and hazard of empty shelf. 4.2. Inventory direction 4.2.1. Inventory control The job may be in Tesco stock list control if stockouts happens in warehouse. There is no uncertainty that shelf clip of fresh veggie is highly shorter than other regular merchandise. Fresh veggies attract clients to buy on the footing of high quality physical visual aspects and short best-used day of the month because these two factors can reassign information that nutrients are fresh and without any unreal additives ( Derek L. Waller, 2003 ) . These two safety signals are what clients concern when they are buying. In the instance of that, supermarkets try to maintain the minimal stock list of fresh nutrient as possible. Both provider and retail merchant tend to do this type of goods turnover through the supply concatenation rapidly. On one manus, minimal stock list degree is helpful to diminish the wastage costs because it reduces the hazard of diing. The less fresh nutrient are storied in the warehouse, the more possible to sell them out before the best show twenty-four hours. On the other manus, minimal stock list is likely to increase the rate of modern-day out of stock. Steering by minimal stock list direction, retail merchant tend to cut down the sum of reorder point. It means lessen the goods which are used to keep gross revenues during bringing lead clip. When market demand exceeds what is forecasted, the chance of stockouts additions. Goods are easy to be sold out during a short clip if there is non adequate storage available in warehouse. For illustration, supposed Tesco decreased the reorder point from 7 to 4 and safety stock list maintain 3. The bringing lead clip is 3 yearss. Both these two degrees of stock can afford if the existent gross revenues figure is 2 per twenty-four hours on norm during bringing period. However, if the market demand addition to 3 per twenty-four hours really, the lower stock degree will take to out of stock. 4.2.2. Inventory order 4.2.2.1. Forecasting An inaccurate prognosis consequence into a incorrect ordering demand straight. It is another possible ground of stockouts. Because of impossible to capture future existent merchandising informations, all the stock list order are estimated on the footing of calculating future market demand. Undoubtedly, a pessimistic prognosis rather likely consequences in stockouts. This mainly causes by that prediction pessimistically is likely lower than what occurs really. As the retail merchant seeks to minimise cost in a forecasted hard market conditions, they try to cut down stock list order measure. While the existent demand is much higher than what ordered even stock can non afford during bringing lead clip, stockouts occurs.What’s more, calculating stock list order point is a sophisticated agency which requires taking into history market demand tendency, fiscal flow, lead clip, and storage turnover etc. Under certain course of studies, it is trouble to do certain that every component involved is as expected. For illustration, before Christmas twenty-four hours, an optimistic prediction market demand of tomato gross revenues in Tesco during that period is 300per twenty-four hours, and a pessimistic predicted market demand is 150 per twenty-four hours. However, the existent demand is 500 per twenty-four hours which is much higher than what forecasted both optimistically and pessimistically. Supposed the bringing lead clip is one twenty-four hours, reorder point is 300 and safety stock list is 100. Tomato is traveling to be out of stock whatever it is optimistic or pessimistic prognosis. 4.2.2.2. Information transit Roland Vaxelaire, the president and CEO of Carrefour Belgium maitained that about 80 per centum of these jobs are driven from the affairs in transit of information such as delayed, inaccurate, and irrelevant, ( Richard Bell, 2004 ) which besides could do goods out of stock. Take information transmutation delayed as an illustration. An extra order demand for publicity was send from retail merchant to its provider excessively tardily. It is likely that provider could non fix adequate goods at given clip. If customers’ demand exceed the entire that rest in warehouse, goods will be modern-day out to bop. 4.3. Supplier The following ground of stockouts that bear in head is supplier’s ain jobs such as presenting delayed or presenting less than what ordered or even presenting incorrect goods. These errors might be driven from accident like work stoppage or veggies sick or hapless direction in supplier’s organisation such as inefficient working and despatching order to a incorrect object. All of these could go forth supermarkets empty because retail merchants have non plenty good to refill for go oning sale.In add-on, what make empty in warehouse may owe to the discordant relationship between retail merchant and provider. It is common that a company plays as a provider to several retail merchants like TESCO and ASDA at the same clip. If the fresh nutrient is limited, provider is likely to carry through it client ( assumed it is ASDA ) who is more of import and closer at first. In that instance, Tesco will be out of stock. Additionally, Grocery is a sort of price-sensitive goods ( Marshal l L. Fisher, 1997 ) which is normally applied monetary value publicity to excite gross revenues by retail merchant. In effort to guarantee the net income and develop market at a lower monetary value, retail merchant ever tries to cut down the purchase monetary value of fresh nutrients. What they do like that is inauspicious to corporation with provider. If the dissension is excessively serious to be overcome, supplier will halt to turn outing goods. That is why hapless relationship with provider is hazardous to be out of stock. 5. Solution 5.1. Optimize internal direction On-shelf handiness is a important criterion of measuring client service and working efficiency of a supermarket. Harmonizing to transition of stockouts causes walkouts ( 2004 ) , 21 % to 43 % clients turn to other stores for buying when they are confronting stockouts ( Daniel Corsten A ; Thomas Gruen, 2004 ) . Tesco will lose net income because of their client go forthing with empty manus. In food markets sector, TESCO has been witnessed its deficiency of supply concatenation efficiency and response. The possible jobs what mentioned above perfectly consequence in obvious on-shelf inaccessibility of fresh veggies. For crushing these drawback, there are a huge of steps must be carried out by TSCO to incorporate its supply concatenation so that minimize costs and measure up services. It is necessary for TESCO to clear division of labour between sections to avoid confusing of duty. It must be made clearly that if the merchandise is in shop but out of stock on the shelves, which flat and who should take duty on it. If possible, TESCO had better to name person who might be the director of selling section or of shop section to pull off presenting goods to shelves. In add-on, Tesco should reorganise the allotment of shelf. Fast selling points which are easy to be running out should apportion more infinite than unpopular goods. In that instance, fast Sellerss do non necessitate to refill on shelves often. This attack is utile to salvage the cost of refilling staff and better the on-shelf ability of popular fresh nutrients. 5.2. Reorganize stock list control Along with turning attending to freshness and healthy of nutrient, retail merchants are confronting challenges to implement smaller order, faster stock list turnover and increasing bringing frequences on fresh nutrient stock list control ( Derek L. Waller, 2003 ) .For lessen stock out in warehouse every bit good as satisfy new attitude tendency to fresh nutrient, Tesco must rearrange its fresh nutrient storage and optimise stock list control computing machine system. What demand to make chiefly is to understand what clients want most. Assistant with the point of sale system, up-to-date gross revenues informations is accessible. It enables to capture customers’ penchant. For the demand of faster stock list turnover, better sophisticated stock list informations collect system is necessary. This system is use to cipher the stock degree and refilling position at any given clip. Second, it is to reclassify stock list harmonizing to ABC analysis. ABC categorization is an attack which is footing on the 80/20 regulation. It was developed by H Ford Dickey in 1951. ( ( Derek L. Waller, 2003 ) Customer’s penchant alterations from period to period. Tesco should update its stock list control policy harmonizing to these alterations. Guided by ABC analysis, category A which take history into 80 % value of stock list is treated as the most noteworthy portion to pull off, although it merely occupy 20 % of sum of stock list. Both fast Sellerss and category A demand to use telling method as fixed telling measure ( Economic Order Quantity ) . While their stock list measure cut downing to an estimated degree ( reorder point ) , stock list control system will direct the order demand to supplier automatically. The remainder stock list which are classified as category B and category C are the less of import 1s. Most of them could implement telling method name Economic O rder Period ( EOP ) . This attack orders at fixed clip period. This method requires look intoing inventory measure during a fixed clip and so bring forthing order to refill stock list to an estimated fixed max stock degree. ABC categorization ensures Tesco stress on keeping stock list degree of points which are the most important and valuable. Tesco could cut down the cost every bit good as resources by cutting unneeded stock list down. Besides, this attack focuses on minimise the hazard of empty in biggest part goods and of what clients concern. It is utile to avoid wastage costs and better client service. 5.3. Making forecast precise Because of the point of sale system, roll uping of real-time update merchandising informations is realized. What Tesco demand to make is to calculate market demand on the footing of existent merchandising tendencies more accurate. To develop an algorithm computing machine system make an exacter prognosis possible. In add-on, in order to take into account influence of particular state of affairs, before the orders being sent to supplier, stock director have the right to modify it harmonizing to publicity determination and other excess information like particular demand for specific vacation. 5.4. Integration of information and of providers It is suggested that Tesco develop a type of dependable win-win relationship theoretical account with providers. Tesco could contract a long-run relationship with several dependable providers to take duty of different veggies. Under such long-run spouse ship, providers benefit from consistent orders and exact market analysis. They do non necessitate to worry about gross revenues of their goods and publicity of pending outdated goods because of capturing exact selling informations from their long-run customer-Tesco. With the aid of EDI system and standard barcode ( Penelope Ody and Sue Newman, 1991 ) , Tesco could pass on its providers with networking their computing machine. All of dependable providers allow accessing to Tesco’s stock list control system freely. To develop a Vendor Manage Inventory system ( VMI ) stimulate providers replenish initiatively and often so that realize uninterrupted refilling. However, Tesco need to pay attending on cut downing costs of uninterrupt ed logistics. It is practical to implement that transporting veggies together with other ordered points so that Tesco besides could obtain economic systems of graduated table while frequence of transit additions. 6. Decision Customers ever expect to purchase whatever whenever. Every subdivisions involved in supply concatenation is take a duty of optimising it. Stockouts of veggies in Tesco can be caused due to jobs of Tesco itself like out of clip on-shelf bringing, incorrect calculating future market demand and delayed or unequal ordination. Otherwise it could be attributed to providers such as excessively late and excessively small presenting or an undependable relationship between provider and Tesco. It is possible to minimise these jobs through incorporating supply concatenation. Tesco need to unclutter its departments’ ain duty, reorder goods displayer and optimise the use of shelf infinite. What’s more, based on the POS system, it should better platform of sharing selling information and up-to-date alterations of stock list with its providers so that provider could look after the stock list degree and program to replenishment initiatively. Together with Tesco and supplier’s att empt, the whole supply concatenation could response alterations rapidly and expeditiously. It enables to recognize Continuous Replenishment Practice ( CRP ) to carry through the customers’ day-to-day demand of fresh veggies. Because increasing logistics cost of uninterrupted refilling could be offset by the cut downing storage cost, Tesco could increase its handiness every bit good as client service at a lower costs. Mentions Ballou, R. H. ( 2004 ) . Business Logistics/ Supply Chain Management. America: Pearson Education, Inc.Bell, R. ( 2004 ) . Retailer Strategy. Burlington: Templeton College.Corsten, D. A ; Gruen, T. ( 2004 ) . Stock-Outs Cause Walkouts. [ Website ] . Available from: lt ; hypertext transfer protocol: //hbr.harvardbusiness.org/2004/05/stock-outs-cause-walkouts/ar/1 gt ; [ Accessed:10 November 2009 ]Cristopher, Martin. ( 2005 ) . Logistics and Supply Chain Management. Pearson Education Limited.Fisher, M. L. ( 1997 ) . What Is the Right Supply Chain for Your Merchandises? Harvard Business Review. March-April. 97205.Fortune ( 2009 ) . Global 500 Our one-year ranking of the universe s largest corporations. [ Website ] . Available from: lt ; hypertext transfer protocol: //money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/global500/2009/snapshots/7930.html gt ; [ Accessed: 18 November 2009 ]Hausman, W. H. ( no day of the month ) Financial Flow A ; Supply Chain Efficiency [ Website ] Available from: lt ; hypertext transfer protocol: //www.visa-asia.com/ap/sea/commercial/corporates/includes/uploads/Supply_Chain_Management_Visa.pdf gt ; [ Accessed: 10 November 2009 ]Marksandspencer.com. ( 2009 ) . [ Website ] . Available from: lt ; hypertext transfer protocol: //corporate.marksandspencer.com/aboutus/where/uk_stores gt ; [ Accessed:18November 2009 ]Ody, P. and Newman, S. ( 1991 ) . Rushing up the supply concatenation, International Journal of Retail A ; Distribution Management, 19 ( 5 ) , 4.Tesco.com. ( 2009 ) . [ Website ] . Available from: lt ; hypertext transfer protocol: //www.tescocorporate.com/plc/media/qf/ gt ; [ Accessed: 18 November 2009 ]TNS Global web site ( 2009 ) . Worldpanel Grocery store Market Share November 09 ( UK ) [ Website ] . Available from: lt ; hypertext transfer protocol: //www.tnsglobal.com/news/video-insights/video-216F07E2715C498F81E75BC3A7CA97AB.aspx? c=5 gt ; [ Accessed:18November 2009 ]Waller, D. L. ( 2003 ) . Operation Management. Italy: Cengag e Learning Business Press Other Essaies on Tesco Other essays available on the Tesco administrations are: Tesco Changing Business Environment Tesco is one of the taking supermarkets Tesco Strategy analysis Tesco SWOT analysis Tesco Business analysis