Marketing Analysis of Tesco

Marketing Analysis of Tesco 1.ORGANIZATIONS ORIENTATION An organization orientation depends upon the marketing concept and the market orientations, which are the foundations of strategic marketing. Marketing concept exists on the fusion of all marketing activities. When they are combined, the company can achieve higher profitability (Hooley 2008: 6, 7). Tesco has developed a strategic customer relationship management which builds and keeps a valued customer awareness and powerful brand engagement. Its position in UK is strengthened by overtaking Sainsbury in 1995 and by its online home grocery service (Jobber 2010:583). 2. MARKET SEGMENTATION, POSITIONING, TARGET MARKETING Market segmentation is the process of understanding the characteristics and demand of different individuals. Tesco gather customer information from the loyalty card scheme and identifies their purchasing habits and behaviour patterns, which are used for segmenting customers based on their needs. Customers are grouped based on their similarities. With this information, Tesco introduced different clubs like the kids club, the food club, the baby and toddler club, Healthy living Club. Market segments are chosen for targeting and a marketing mix strategy is selected for that target market (Jobber 2010:262,584).To develop an effective strategic marketing there should be an upstanding positioning of product and services in the market. Positioning is an iterative and vital process in retail marketing. The main goal of positioning is to develop and maintain a remarkable place in the market for the company and its product. Positioning starts with the product (Kalafatis 2000).Nevertheless, Tes co has a brand image and they are proud of its brand value ( Martenson 2007).Keys to successful positioning is clarity, consistency, competitiveness and credibility. Repositioning is carried out when customer needs or target market changes. Repositioning strategies include image repositioning, product repositioning, intangible repositioning, tangible repositioning (Jobber 2010:285,288). 3. MARKET ORIENTATION Marketing orientation is achieved by marketing concept (Blois 2000: 21). It is defined as all the departments working together to develop and understand customers current and future needs and to meet them to keep the customers satisfied (Hooley 2008: 8). The elements of market orientation include Customer orientation, Competitor orientation, and inter functional orientation. 4. CUSTOMER ORIENTATION Marketing oriented companies are primarily focused on customers. They get the needs and problems of their customers and find a better solution for them (Blois 2000: 22). Tesco strategy is based on loyalty card scheme and gets information about individual customers and their different needs. The club card helps the customers to save their money when they accumulate points in the card. Club card can be used at any Tescos partners (Jobber 2010:583). Tescos objectives and guidelines are aimed directly at customer satisfaction and it is assessed regularly (Hooley 2008: 11). Customer orientation depends on the employee performance. It results in positive outcomes of the company. It determines the relationship quality of the organization and relationship quality highly depends upon the company loyalty (Macintosh 2007). 5. COMPETITOR ORIENTATION The organization should identify the short-term and a long-term capability of the competitors. A deep understanding of the competition is needed. For Tesco the competitive positioning applies at the level of the companies. In UK the leading grocery retailing competitors include Tesco, Sainsburys and Asda (Hooley 2008: 208).We need to understand the competitors profit sources, position in the market, marketing strategies (Best 2004: 7).Tesco collects information about the activities and conduct regular benchmarking against the competitor offerings (Hooley 2008: 12). 6. LONG-TERM PROFIT FOCUS This is the ultimate objective of all the business. The main objectives of Tesco are to be a successful international retailer, to be strong in non-food as in the food business, to open more stores across the world. The International strategy of Tesco requires a long-term approach (Tesco PLC 2009).The decisions of Tesco are guided by long- term plans rather than short -term benefits (Hooley 2008: 12). 7. INTERFUNCTIONAL COORDINATION Interfunctional coordination concerns with the coordination of all company resources to create a value for target customers. To create an impenetrable competitive position, we have to rely on the coordinated efforts of various functions and people within the organizations. Cross-functional relationship plays a decisive role (Hooley 2008: 12). Tesco has a dedicated team approach to develop and deliver market-based customer solutions (Best 2004: 48).They work together and support each other to serve customer .The financial and management department work closely with the operators of the retailer world. Commercial departments make decisions to deliver best products at best possible prices. Corporate purchasing departments work with suppliers. The graduates in Tesco strive to generate revenue. Distribution team works to deliver products in the right time to different stores. The effective systems IT department improve online shopping for customers and they raise the contacts between vari ous business areas to streamline the entire processes. The marketing team of Tesco works with customers to understand their needs and current trends. The property and engineering department do all the support works of the stores (Hooley 2008: 12). 8. ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE Marketing orientation can be described as a variety of organizational culture that places the highest priority to establish and maintain the best customer value while considering the interests of stakeholders like investors, employees, suppliers (Blois 2000: 21). The core purpose of Tesco is to create value for customers to earn their lifetime loyalty (Tesco PLC 2009). All the staffs work like a team .They gives respect each other and treat customers in a way they feel satisfied. Face to face meetings, trips are conducted and Staffs are rewarded for their work they do. They offer discounts and benefits for the staffs also provide more salaries, training, flexible working hours and health and safety measures are observed as compared to other retailers. Tesco welcomes all people regardless of age, sex, ethnicity etc. Human rights policies are applied to all members (Tesco PLC 2009). Store Loyalty is the output of customer satisfaction and customers will visit the store regularly. All e mployees understand their responsibilities to create satisfied customers (Martenson 2007). 9. TESCO STRATEGIES Tesco has a well-established strategy for their business success. About 70% of the trading and profit is from UK. They are the market leaders in markets outside UK. They have four different store formats like Express, Metro, Superstore, Extra and one trial format Home plus, for non-food and clothing. As an international retailer, they mainly focus on the local customer needs and understand them. They make sure the board appeal. They have various own brands of superior quality to customers to compliment their style of living. Tesco looks after the people working with them (Tesco PLC 2009). Market Corporate responsibility is an opening for growth. The values are the no one tries harder for customers and treat people how they want to be treated (Tesco PLC 2009). The Tesco steering wheel represents performance and is a strategy-driving tool. (Tesco PLC 2009). A sale in non-food is a key part of the strategy. They provide with the best quality and price. Tescos non-food includes electrical, home entertainment, clothing, health and beauty, stationery, bookshop and soft furnishings, seasonal goods, opticians and pharmacies (Tesco PLC 2009). In retailing services, Tesco offers more to the customers. Tesco personal finance has products from credit cards to insurance. Online grocery shopping is made effortless with Tesco.com. Tesco Telecoms offers a wide range of services from mobile network, home phone service, internet access and an internet phone service (Tesco PLC 2009). The Success of Tesco depends on trust and satisfaction of the customers. Overall, Tesco has a strong marketing orientation and compelling marketing strategies which results in the customer satisfaction and the higher levels of profitability. Every Little Helps Tesco to be a market leader (Tesco PLC 2009). 10. COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE As Armstrong (2005) defined, competitive advantage is the advantage over competitors obtained by providing better value to customer. It is important to company who wants to win the customers and establish a profitable relationship with them (Armstrong Kotler, 2005). Before the organisation is choosing the right competitive advantage on which to build up its competitive strategies it must analyze the industry environment normally by using the porters 5 forces analysis. 11. Porters Five Forces Analysis Introduced by Michael Porter in 1979, Porters 5 Forces is a powerful tool to analyse the attractiveness of an industry. This framework involves a relationship between competitors within an industry, potential competitors, suppliers, buyers. It helps management to understand both the strength of the current competitive position, and the strength of a position organization want to be. (Michael Porter, 2008) A diagram below shows the Porters 5 forces clearly. 12. Threat of New Entry: As porter said the ability of people who newly enter your market might affect your power. If the barrier to entry the market is low and your have little protection for current position, then the new competitors can easily enter the market and weaken your position. (Michael Porter, 2008). In terms of new entrants Tesco does not have much threat because of the high barriers for new comer to entry into the supermarket industry. According to the TNS (Taylor Nelson Sofres, the leading market research group) data Tesco occupies over one third of grocery market share in UK, and is along with Asda, Saintsburys, Morrisons become the big four which has hold over 68% of UK overall grocery market. This strong solid position makes Tesco the market leader and giant in UK supermarket industry. Due to the massive market share has been hold by the big four, the barriers for new entrants are obviously quite high. It is hard for new retailer to obtain the market share and challenge the existing powerfu l player such as Tesco. In addition, another high barrier for new entrants is the supermarket industry needs huge capital and personnel involved but needs long time to get the return. Therefore, there are high barrier for new retailers entry into the existing supermarket industry dominated by big four. Thus, if Tesco sustains its strong position in the market it will have less threat from new entrants. 13. The power of buyer: According to Porter the buyers have the power to drive price down. Small number of buyers and powerful buyers for a company can likely having greater power on driving the price (Michael Porter, 2008). Generally say, in supermarket industry there is little bargain power for buyers with supermarket because all the prices are fixed price. Moreover, the bigger number of consumers will reduce the power of buyers. Therefore, it is little power of buyers to Tesco due to huge number of customers and little bargain power of buyers in this industry. However, customers can still switch buying from one supermarket to another by many factors. First, the price is the primary factor determinates customers buying activities. In this respect, Tescos strategy is based on its cost advantages. The organization aims to be the best value retailer. Tesco stated its price has been cut by 17% between 2000 and 2006; even facing the higher energy price challenge during the recent recession Tescos price has bee n dropped down by 1.8% last year. Second, due to the differentiation of product is little in the supermarket industry; customers can switch buying easily, thus, to attract and keep customers is relying on their loyalty to the store. Tescos report claims it has the UK number one loyalty card scheme and it has over 13 millions active Clubcard holders. Overall, the power of buyer is little to Tesco and Tesco has big advantages on low price and customer loyalty. 14. Power of suppliers Porter said the suppliers also have power to drive up the price. The power of driven is determined by the number and the strength of suppliers. To the Britain biggest grocery supermarket Tesco, the power of supplier is very little because Tesco has vast numbers of supplier across overall markets. The overwhelming market power of Tesco makes suppliers have no bargain power to it; instead, some of suppliers rely on Tesco. As a buyer Tesco has huge demand and great power to the supplier. However, Tesco also relys on their suppliers to achieve its objectives, without those suppliers Tesco could not deliver best value goods to the customers. Therefore, Tesco has established the long term constructive partnership with suppliers. According to Tescos report, it has over 1,500 suppliers who have been working with Tesco for five years or more. Based on a survey taken in 2008 by Tesco, there were over 90% of UK suppliers thought Tesco was trustworthy. Moreover, Tesco also provide the opportunit ies to small producers and local suppliers. For example, Tesco has opened five new regional buying offices around Britain and hosted regional road shows to attract and increase the number of local suppliers for selling their goods through Tesco. As the result, the small suppliers get more business opportunities meanwhile they help Tesco getting hundreds of new lines into stores. In sum, Tesco has little threat from power of supplier and company achieved its objectives by establishing the trustable partnership with suppliers. 15. The Threat of substitutes Porter introduced this threat as the other industry or business has the ability to substitute you and attract your customers. Although Tesco has head position in the supermarket industry, somehow, the substitutes still exist. For example, eating-out is a substitute to buying food from supermarket. However, a recent survey by analyst Buckingham Research has found that 75% of British families will stay at home during the recession rather than eating out. Under recession, the threat of eating-out to supermarket is less than ever. Another substitute worth to be considered is the online shopping. Nowadays, as the technology growing fast the online shopping becomes easy and trendy. However, it can not completely substitute the real life shopping especially for the food purchase. The technical problem, delivery problem and communication problem may bother people to buy online. Moreover, the real life shopping is also a part of social life to most of people, which would be simply substitute by clicking screen. In sum, the threat of substitute to Tesco is higher than buyer, supplier and new entrant. 16. The Threat of Competitive Rivalry: This threat comes from the competitors and also is affected by the new entry, substitute, power of buyer and supplier. The threat of competitive rivalry to Tesco is high although it is the largest grocery supermarket in UK. Asda, Sainsburys and Morrison are the three main competitors of Tesco. These three companies also have big portion of market share and compete with Tesco through price, product and promotions. The competition between the main grocery supermarkets remains fierce. Tesco has been reported that the market share has been losing and dipping in UK market since 2009 by many main Medias such as Times, BBC news and Guardian. Reports said according to the last figures of 2009 Tescos market share dropped from 31.3% to 30.7% of UK grocery sales. Meanwhile, Asdas market share rose to 17 % from 16.7 % and Morrisons went up to 12.1% from 11.7 %. TNS reported against the UK grocery sales rise 6%, Tescos sales rose 4% which below the market growth. However, Morrisons and Asda were all found beyond the growth of the market, seeing sales rise 9.7% and 7.2%. Moreover, the discounter supermarkets Aldi and Lidl also compete with Tesco as consumer cut back on spending during the recession. In addition, TNS also claimed that Waitrose, the John Lewis-own supermarket as the up-market grocer is fast growing in grocery market. On the other hand, because Tesco also set foot in non-food industry there are so many competitors such as Shell, BP, Amazon, O2, etc. To sum up, Tesco has highly threat from many competitors in both food and non-food industry. Therefore, Tesco must take its competitive advantages to prevent from threats of competitors. 17. Competitive Advantage of Tesco Through the porters 5 forces analysis the competitive advantages of Tesco can be outlined. First, the significant market power is the big advantage of Tesco. The great market power makes Tesco is able to put up barrier to new entrants and weaken the power of buyer and supplier; it also gives Tesco ability to beat the competitors. Second, namely cost advantage, the big economic scale enables Tesco to reduce the cost at extremely low level and thereby providing the low price to customers. Third, diversification makes Tesco has a further advantage to win the market because Tesco expands the broad markets such as financing, telecom and retail service rather than just food market and spread its business worldwide. To sum up, if Tesco follows its competitive strategy by aware of the threats and competitive advantages, it will keep the strong position in the industry and beat its competitors. 18. MARKETING MIX Firstly, the term Marketing Mix was widely adopted after Neil H. Boren published his article The Concept of the Marketing Mix in 1964, where he described marketing managers as a mixer of ingredients. The ingredients in Borens marketing mix included product, planning, pricing, packaging, branding, distribution channels, personal selling, advertising, promotions, display, servicing, physical handling, fact finding and analysis. Which was later grouped into four categories by E. Jerome McCarthy, today know as the 4Ps of marketing, shown below However, some people argue that along with the Marketing Mix 4 Ps concept, we should add another 2 Ps, which are people and packaging. 19. PRODUCT It is rare to discuss price without the presence of a product and to enable us understand the link between Price and Product. Kotler Armstrong (2006) define a product as anything that can be presented to a consumer for attention, acquisition, use, or consumption that might satisfy a want or need. They further define a consumer product as the product bought by the final consumer for personal consumption. According to Ferrell (2005), the product is the core of the marketing mix strategy in which retailers can offer consumers symbolic and experiential attributes to differentiate products from competitors. However, it is also concerned with what the product means to the consumer. Product is about quality, design, features, brand name and sizes (Borden, 1984). Wulf et.al. (2005) found that private label products could offer even better quality than national brands but at a lower price. The domestic competitor reacts to the intensifying price competition by engaging in selective price cha nges. A product is a physical good, service, idea, person, or place that is capable of offering tangible and intangible attributes that individuals or organizations regard as so necessary, worthwhile or satisfying that they are prepared to exchange money, patronage or some other unit of value to acquire it. (Blythe 2007) Core products: Core Products are the core benefit that is being sought by the consumer by buying the product, like the cheaper call rates and ease of recharge top up available to Tesco Mobile customers. Actual /Tangible products: Actual Products are all the tangible features/benefits that are associated with the core product such as its features or design, level of quality, packaging, size. There is no clear distinction between a pure tangible product and a service. The Tescos give away deals for the new 3G i-phone deal Augmented products: are the intangible features/benefits associated with the core actual product such as the branding, warrantees, delivery, guarantee, and after sales service. Tesco mobile, for example, is a tangible product, but it often comes with a warranty and software updates. A firmsproduct line refers to the variety of similar commodities that the firm holds, Tesco for example, makes a large range of inter-related goods, Many of Tesco stores stock over 40,000 product lines. Even a Tesco Express stores stock a choice of well over 2,000 lines. ProductDepthrefers to the variety of commodities offered within each product line. Tesco stores stock : Healthy Living products, Free From products for people with food allergies and intolerances, Special healthy Kids snacks and Organic product lines and the recent announcement by the Tescobank CEO Benny Higgins of plans to launch an assault on the mortgage market by the end of 2010, hoping to take advantage of the current problems in the sector. Targeted at providingTescocustomers with financial advice, car and home insurance credit cards, mortgages and current accounts.(MINTEL 2009). Products often go through alife cycle.Initially, at the introduction stage a product is launched. Since the product is not well known and is usually expensive (e.g. the , as). Eventually, many products reach agrowthphase where sales increases dramatically. More firms enter with their models of the product, sometimes with added innovations. Unfortunately, the product reaches amaturitystage where little growth is sighted. For example, in the UK, almost every household has at least one stereo sound system. Some products may also reach adeclinestage, usually because the product is swapped for something better. For example, CDplayers experienced declining sales as more consumers switched to MP3 players and i-pods. Ansoff Theory is a series of suggested growth strategies that set the direction for the business plan. illustrated below Market Penetration: here the business strategy focuses on selling existing products in existing markets.This strategy aims at four major objectives: Maintaining the market share of current products Securing growth market Dominance Drive out competitors with support of an aggressive promotional campaign and favorable price strategy Increase product usage by existing customers e.g. With the Tesco Loyalty Club card scheme. Market Development: here the business strategy seeks to sell its existing product into a new market. The various approaches to this include: New geographical markets e.g.- exporting Tesco UK products to the Express shops in Ireland and Malaysia New Product Dimension or Packaging New Distributional channel Implementing different pricing policies for different markets segments Product Development: refers to a growth strategy where new products are initiated in existing markets. This often requires development of new competencies in the case of Tesco Bank and its new job vacancies for competencies in the financial sector. Diversification points to the growth strategy where a business markets a new commodity in a new market. Unfortunately, for this strategy to be adopted a clear objective of its advantages should be explored and risk assessments carried out seeing as the business may have little or no experience in the new area. Roughly one quarter of Tescos sales, was own label. Many leading retailing companies have substantial grocery interests. Of the top 25 companies in 1978, 22 were involved in groceries retailing, of which 10 can be considered leading firms in the groceries sector [Akehurst, 1983: 169, Table 5] 20. Price : Price refers to the value assigned to something by the seller to something purchased, offered for sale, to a buyer as their willingness to pay for the product and services delivered (Gilbert 1999). Price is the only element in the marketing mix that is revenue generating- all of the others are costs. It should therefore, be used as an active instrument of strategy in the major areas of marketing decision making. Pricing in the international setting is more complicated than in the domestic market, because of factors such as government influence and additional costs (Becker and Thorelli 1980). The price of an item is an important influence on the value of sales made. In theory, price is really determined by the discovery of what customers perceive is the value of the item on sale. Recent research has shown that demand-based pricing is associated with higher retailer gross margins; whereas past price dependence is associated with, lower retailer gross margins (Nijs, Srinivasan, and Pau wels 2007). There are a number of pricing policies used by Tesco today, which include: 21. Market-led Pricing: also known as competitive pricing, this simply accepts the price which competitors are charging for a product and then price its product at the same level or slightly lower in order to gain some advantage over competitors. Significantly found in markets where there is close competitors. For a company like TESCO it is important to monitor other competitors and in order to maintain customer loyalty against discounters, the adoption of a more aggressive pricing strategy was launch by the advent of budget private label ranges and backed up by advertising focusing on price comparisons. Despite challenges due to rising energy prices, but with innovations such as the reusable plastic trays, which was introduced in the fresh food areas have helped make savings these savings are pass on to customers. According to the OFT this led to a fall in real food price between 2000-2005.as shown below 22. Cost-Based Pricing: also known as cost plus Pricing, involves working out the businesss total fixed and variable costs and then adding a percentage of profit. Here the business has to consider the total number of items that it plans to produce and sell. The big advantage of cost-based pricing for TESCO is that the company is guaranteed to make a profit on its sales since it has covered its costs. However, in operating cost-based pricing it is very important to be aware of competitors price. However, this poses a threat when businesses are unable to sell the expected quantity of the product, perhaps because competitors are offering the same goods at a lower price. 23. Price wars In a competitive market such as grocery market, businesses sometimes engage in price wars in which prices of some goods are slashed to a very low price in order to secure sales. Price wars swamped grocery retailers, as the switch to private labels from branded packaged food continued to gather pace. For instance, Tesco and ASDA propose freezing of tax on some products at 15% despite an increase in rates to 17.5%(MMR 2010) This is risky because advantages gained are short-lived and rival, businesses tend to respond by slashing prices even further. If pursued long enough, price wars would cut profits seriously and in the end, only customers benefits by the low prices. 24. PENETRATION PRICING 25. ECONOMY PRICING: Stores such as TESCO, which allegedly charge the lowest prices, attract many consumers based on this conception alone (Peter Donnely, 2007). Among retail stores, the pricing strategy has become the fundamental point, as they need to compete in terms of pricing to lure more customers. Berman (1996) added that among the pricing policies which are of major concern to retail store outlets are the High-Low Pricing and Every Day Low Pricing (EDLP) strategies. This is sighted in operators who have significant economies of scale and buying power (Gilbert 1999). 26. VALUE PRICING This ensues where external factors such as the recession or increased competition forces companies to provide VALUE product and services to retain sales, they are especially important to families on a budget and have made a significant contribution to making healthy food accessible to all. Tesco now has in store 95 fresh fruit and vegetable value lines, and are working with the Pre-School Learning Alliance to help parents and children in some of the UKs most deprived areas make healthier choices. Value pricing may have a negative impact on the profit margin of the company (tesco.com N.D). 27. GEOGRAPHICAL PRICING This is evident where there are variations in price and demand in different parts of the world. TESCOs prices are a little higher in some town centre and neighbourhood stores because of higher overhead costs (mainly rents and rates). These costs are spread over a smaller volume of sales, and can only be recovered by charging prices that are, on average, higher. Example was when Tesco first moved into Ireland the products it sold was more expensive than they were in their UK stores (Irish Times 1998). This was because the UK suppliers were charging the Ireland stores more than they were charging the UK stores. This triggered some conspiracies and allegiances between key stakeholders in the industry resulting in a widespread anti-Tesco campaign (Poole and Clark 2002). In Conclusion Pricing a product too high or too low could mean a loss of sales for the organization. Therefore, appropriate pricing strategies and policies should be put in place for the various market segments, to ensure 28. PROMOTION Significant P in Marketing Mix 4P (Product, Price, Promotion and Place). Although the 4P characterization has led to widespread use of the term promotion for describing communications with prospects and customers, the term marketing communications is preferred by most marketing practitioners as well as by many educators. Consider that we may want to use marketing communications to refer to the collection of advertising, sales promotions, public relations, event marketing, and other communication devices. Promotion is considered as Sales Promotion (Shimp 2007). Marketing Communication is used by organisations to communicate with customers with respect to their product offerings. In this sense, Marketing Communication is one side of the communication process with customers. Market research, in which suppliers seek to elicit information on consumer requirements from consumers, is the complementary component of the communication process. The following summarises this very simply: (Rowley 1998). According to Rowley (1998) producer should communicate to reach the customers and in turn should listen to the customers needs and requirements to enhance the product and service. Tesco proudly announced that one of the reasons to its Success is listening to their Customers and its suppliers. Tesco has adopted multiple qualitative research techniques to reach their customers such as focus groups, accompanied shops, home visits to collect the feedback and respond quickly with corrective measures. Modestly they say, Its simple we listen and respond, providing customers with Marketing Analysis of Tesco Marketing Analysis of Tesco 1.ORGANIZATIONS ORIENTATION An organization orientation depends upon the marketing concept and the market orientations, which are the foundations of strategic marketing. Marketing concept exists on the fusion of all marketing activities. When they are combined, the company can achieve higher profitability (Hooley 2008: 6, 7). Tesco has developed a strategic customer relationship management which builds and keeps a valued customer awareness and powerful brand engagement. Its position in UK is strengthened by overtaking Sainsbury in 1995 and by its online home grocery service (Jobber 2010:583). 2. MARKET SEGMENTATION, POSITIONING, TARGET MARKETING Market segmentation is the process of understanding the characteristics and demand of different individuals. Tesco gather customer information from the loyalty card scheme and identifies their purchasing habits and behaviour patterns, which are used for segmenting customers based on their needs. Customers are grouped based on their similarities. With this information, Tesco introduced different clubs like the kids club, the food club, the baby and toddler club, Healthy living Club. Market segments are chosen for targeting and a marketing mix strategy is selected for that target market (Jobber 2010:262,584).To develop an effective strategic marketing there should be an upstanding positioning of product and services in the market. Positioning is an iterative and vital process in retail marketing. The main goal of positioning is to develop and maintain a remarkable place in the market for the company and its product. Positioning starts with the product (Kalafatis 2000).Nevertheless, Tes co has a brand image and they are proud of its brand value ( Martenson 2007).Keys to successful positioning is clarity, consistency, competitiveness and credibility. Repositioning is carried out when customer needs or target market changes. Repositioning strategies include image repositioning, product repositioning, intangible repositioning, tangible repositioning (Jobber 2010:285,288). 3. MARKET ORIENTATION Marketing orientation is achieved by marketing concept (Blois 2000: 21). It is defined as all the departments working together to develop and understand customers current and future needs and to meet them to keep the customers satisfied (Hooley 2008: 8). The elements of market orientation include Customer orientation, Competitor orientation, and inter functional orientation. 4. CUSTOMER ORIENTATION Marketing oriented companies are primarily focused on customers. They get the needs and problems of their customers and find a better solution for them (Blois 2000: 22). Tesco strategy is based on loyalty card scheme and gets information about individual customers and their different needs. The club card helps the customers to save their money when they accumulate points in the card. Club card can be used at any Tescos partners (Jobber 2010:583). Tescos objectives and guidelines are aimed directly at customer satisfaction and it is assessed regularly (Hooley 2008: 11). Customer orientation depends on the employee performance. It results in positive outcomes of the company. It determines the relationship quality of the organization and relationship quality highly depends upon the company loyalty (Macintosh 2007). 5. COMPETITOR ORIENTATION The organization should identify the short-term and a long-term capability of the competitors. A deep understanding of the competition is needed. For Tesco the competitive positioning applies at the level of the companies. In UK the leading grocery retailing competitors include Tesco, Sainsburys and Asda (Hooley 2008: 208).We need to understand the competitors profit sources, position in the market, marketing strategies (Best 2004: 7).Tesco collects information about the activities and conduct regular benchmarking against the competitor offerings (Hooley 2008: 12). 6. LONG-TERM PROFIT FOCUS This is the ultimate objective of all the business. The main objectives of Tesco are to be a successful international retailer, to be strong in non-food as in the food business, to open more stores across the world. The International strategy of Tesco requires a long-term approach (Tesco PLC 2009).The decisions of Tesco are guided by long- term plans rather than short -term benefits (Hooley 2008: 12). 7. INTERFUNCTIONAL COORDINATION Interfunctional coordination concerns with the coordination of all company resources to create a value for target customers. To create an impenetrable competitive position, we have to rely on the coordinated efforts of various functions and people within the organizations. Cross-functional relationship plays a decisive role (Hooley 2008: 12). Tesco has a dedicated team approach to develop and deliver market-based customer solutions (Best 2004: 48).They work together and support each other to serve customer .The financial and management department work closely with the operators of the retailer world. Commercial departments make decisions to deliver best products at best possible prices. Corporate purchasing departments work with suppliers. The graduates in Tesco strive to generate revenue. Distribution team works to deliver products in the right time to different stores. The effective systems IT department improve online shopping for customers and they raise the contacts between vari ous business areas to streamline the entire processes. The marketing team of Tesco works with customers to understand their needs and current trends. The property and engineering department do all the support works of the stores (Hooley 2008: 12). 8. ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE Marketing orientation can be described as a variety of organizational culture that places the highest priority to establish and maintain the best customer value while considering the interests of stakeholders like investors, employees, suppliers (Blois 2000: 21). The core purpose of Tesco is to create value for customers to earn their lifetime loyalty (Tesco PLC 2009). All the staffs work like a team .They gives respect each other and treat customers in a way they feel satisfied. Face to face meetings, trips are conducted and Staffs are rewarded for their work they do. They offer discounts and benefits for the staffs also provide more salaries, training, flexible working hours and health and safety measures are observed as compared to other retailers. Tesco welcomes all people regardless of age, sex, ethnicity etc. Human rights policies are applied to all members (Tesco PLC 2009). Store Loyalty is the output of customer satisfaction and customers will visit the store regularly. All e mployees understand their responsibilities to create satisfied customers (Martenson 2007). 9. TESCO STRATEGIES Tesco has a well-established strategy for their business success. About 70% of the trading and profit is from UK. They are the market leaders in markets outside UK. They have four different store formats like Express, Metro, Superstore, Extra and one trial format Home plus, for non-food and clothing. As an international retailer, they mainly focus on the local customer needs and understand them. They make sure the board appeal. They have various own brands of superior quality to customers to compliment their style of living. Tesco looks after the people working with them (Tesco PLC 2009). Market Corporate responsibility is an opening for growth. The values are the no one tries harder for customers and treat people how they want to be treated (Tesco PLC 2009). The Tesco steering wheel represents performance and is a strategy-driving tool. (Tesco PLC 2009). A sale in non-food is a key part of the strategy. They provide with the best quality and price. Tescos non-food includes electrical, home entertainment, clothing, health and beauty, stationery, bookshop and soft furnishings, seasonal goods, opticians and pharmacies (Tesco PLC 2009). In retailing services, Tesco offers more to the customers. Tesco personal finance has products from credit cards to insurance. Online grocery shopping is made effortless with Tesco.com. Tesco Telecoms offers a wide range of services from mobile network, home phone service, internet access and an internet phone service (Tesco PLC 2009). The Success of Tesco depends on trust and satisfaction of the customers. Overall, Tesco has a strong marketing orientation and compelling marketing strategies which results in the customer satisfaction and the higher levels of profitability. Every Little Helps Tesco to be a market leader (Tesco PLC 2009). 10. COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE As Armstrong (2005) defined, competitive advantage is the advantage over competitors obtained by providing better value to customer. It is important to company who wants to win the customers and establish a profitable relationship with them (Armstrong Kotler, 2005). Before the organisation is choosing the right competitive advantage on which to build up its competitive strategies it must analyze the industry environment normally by using the porters 5 forces analysis. 11. Porters Five Forces Analysis Introduced by Michael Porter in 1979, Porters 5 Forces is a powerful tool to analyse the attractiveness of an industry. This framework involves a relationship between competitors within an industry, potential competitors, suppliers, buyers. It helps management to understand both the strength of the current competitive position, and the strength of a position organization want to be. (Michael Porter, 2008) A diagram below shows the Porters 5 forces clearly. 12. Threat of New Entry: As porter said the ability of people who newly enter your market might affect your power. If the barrier to entry the market is low and your have little protection for current position, then the new competitors can easily enter the market and weaken your position. (Michael Porter, 2008). In terms of new entrants Tesco does not have much threat because of the high barriers for new comer to entry into the supermarket industry. According to the TNS (Taylor Nelson Sofres, the leading market research group) data Tesco occupies over one third of grocery market share in UK, and is along with Asda, Saintsburys, Morrisons become the big four which has hold over 68% of UK overall grocery market. This strong solid position makes Tesco the market leader and giant in UK supermarket industry. Due to the massive market share has been hold by the big four, the barriers for new entrants are obviously quite high. It is hard for new retailer to obtain the market share and challenge the existing powerfu l player such as Tesco. In addition, another high barrier for new entrants is the supermarket industry needs huge capital and personnel involved but needs long time to get the return. Therefore, there are high barrier for new retailers entry into the existing supermarket industry dominated by big four. Thus, if Tesco sustains its strong position in the market it will have less threat from new entrants. 13. The power of buyer: According to Porter the buyers have the power to drive price down. Small number of buyers and powerful buyers for a company can likely having greater power on driving the price (Michael Porter, 2008). Generally say, in supermarket industry there is little bargain power for buyers with supermarket because all the prices are fixed price. Moreover, the bigger number of consumers will reduce the power of buyers. Therefore, it is little power of buyers to Tesco due to huge number of customers and little bargain power of buyers in this industry. However, customers can still switch buying from one supermarket to another by many factors. First, the price is the primary factor determinates customers buying activities. In this respect, Tescos strategy is based on its cost advantages. The organization aims to be the best value retailer. Tesco stated its price has been cut by 17% between 2000 and 2006; even facing the higher energy price challenge during the recent recession Tescos price has bee n dropped down by 1.8% last year. Second, due to the differentiation of product is little in the supermarket industry; customers can switch buying easily, thus, to attract and keep customers is relying on their loyalty to the store. Tescos report claims it has the UK number one loyalty card scheme and it has over 13 millions active Clubcard holders. Overall, the power of buyer is little to Tesco and Tesco has big advantages on low price and customer loyalty. 14. Power of suppliers Porter said the suppliers also have power to drive up the price. The power of driven is determined by the number and the strength of suppliers. To the Britain biggest grocery supermarket Tesco, the power of supplier is very little because Tesco has vast numbers of supplier across overall markets. The overwhelming market power of Tesco makes suppliers have no bargain power to it; instead, some of suppliers rely on Tesco. As a buyer Tesco has huge demand and great power to the supplier. However, Tesco also relys on their suppliers to achieve its objectives, without those suppliers Tesco could not deliver best value goods to the customers. Therefore, Tesco has established the long term constructive partnership with suppliers. According to Tescos report, it has over 1,500 suppliers who have been working with Tesco for five years or more. Based on a survey taken in 2008 by Tesco, there were over 90% of UK suppliers thought Tesco was trustworthy. Moreover, Tesco also provide the opportunit ies to small producers and local suppliers. For example, Tesco has opened five new regional buying offices around Britain and hosted regional road shows to attract and increase the number of local suppliers for selling their goods through Tesco. As the result, the small suppliers get more business opportunities meanwhile they help Tesco getting hundreds of new lines into stores. In sum, Tesco has little threat from power of supplier and company achieved its objectives by establishing the trustable partnership with suppliers. 15. The Threat of substitutes Porter introduced this threat as the other industry or business has the ability to substitute you and attract your customers. Although Tesco has head position in the supermarket industry, somehow, the substitutes still exist. For example, eating-out is a substitute to buying food from supermarket. However, a recent survey by analyst Buckingham Research has found that 75% of British families will stay at home during the recession rather than eating out. Under recession, the threat of eating-out to supermarket is less than ever. Another substitute worth to be considered is the online shopping. Nowadays, as the technology growing fast the online shopping becomes easy and trendy. However, it can not completely substitute the real life shopping especially for the food purchase. The technical problem, delivery problem and communication problem may bother people to buy online. Moreover, the real life shopping is also a part of social life to most of people, which would be simply substitute by clicking screen. In sum, the threat of substitute to Tesco is higher than buyer, supplier and new entrant. 16. The Threat of Competitive Rivalry: This threat comes from the competitors and also is affected by the new entry, substitute, power of buyer and supplier. The threat of competitive rivalry to Tesco is high although it is the largest grocery supermarket in UK. Asda, Sainsburys and Morrison are the three main competitors of Tesco. These three companies also have big portion of market share and compete with Tesco through price, product and promotions. The competition between the main grocery supermarkets remains fierce. Tesco has been reported that the market share has been losing and dipping in UK market since 2009 by many main Medias such as Times, BBC news and Guardian. Reports said according to the last figures of 2009 Tescos market share dropped from 31.3% to 30.7% of UK grocery sales. Meanwhile, Asdas market share rose to 17 % from 16.7 % and Morrisons went up to 12.1% from 11.7 %. TNS reported against the UK grocery sales rise 6%, Tescos sales rose 4% which below the market growth. However, Morrisons and Asda were all found beyond the growth of the market, seeing sales rise 9.7% and 7.2%. Moreover, the discounter supermarkets Aldi and Lidl also compete with Tesco as consumer cut back on spending during the recession. In addition, TNS also claimed that Waitrose, the John Lewis-own supermarket as the up-market grocer is fast growing in grocery market. On the other hand, because Tesco also set foot in non-food industry there are so many competitors such as Shell, BP, Amazon, O2, etc. To sum up, Tesco has highly threat from many competitors in both food and non-food industry. Therefore, Tesco must take its competitive advantages to prevent from threats of competitors. 17. Competitive Advantage of Tesco Through the porters 5 forces analysis the competitive advantages of Tesco can be outlined. First, the significant market power is the big advantage of Tesco. The great market power makes Tesco is able to put up barrier to new entrants and weaken the power of buyer and supplier; it also gives Tesco ability to beat the competitors. Second, namely cost advantage, the big economic scale enables Tesco to reduce the cost at extremely low level and thereby providing the low price to customers. Third, diversification makes Tesco has a further advantage to win the market because Tesco expands the broad markets such as financing, telecom and retail service rather than just food market and spread its business worldwide. To sum up, if Tesco follows its competitive strategy by aware of the threats and competitive advantages, it will keep the strong position in the industry and beat its competitors. 18. MARKETING MIX Firstly, the term Marketing Mix was widely adopted after Neil H. Boren published his article The Concept of the Marketing Mix in 1964, where he described marketing managers as a mixer of ingredients. The ingredients in Borens marketing mix included product, planning, pricing, packaging, branding, distribution channels, personal selling, advertising, promotions, display, servicing, physical handling, fact finding and analysis. Which was later grouped into four categories by E. Jerome McCarthy, today know as the 4Ps of marketing, shown below However, some people argue that along with the Marketing Mix 4 Ps concept, we should add another 2 Ps, which are people and packaging. 19. PRODUCT It is rare to discuss price without the presence of a product and to enable us understand the link between Price and Product. Kotler Armstrong (2006) define a product as anything that can be presented to a consumer for attention, acquisition, use, or consumption that might satisfy a want or need. They further define a consumer product as the product bought by the final consumer for personal consumption. According to Ferrell (2005), the product is the core of the marketing mix strategy in which retailers can offer consumers symbolic and experiential attributes to differentiate products from competitors. However, it is also concerned with what the product means to the consumer. Product is about quality, design, features, brand name and sizes (Borden, 1984). Wulf et.al. (2005) found that private label products could offer even better quality than national brands but at a lower price. The domestic competitor reacts to the intensifying price competition by engaging in selective price cha nges. A product is a physical good, service, idea, person, or place that is capable of offering tangible and intangible attributes that individuals or organizations regard as so necessary, worthwhile or satisfying that they are prepared to exchange money, patronage or some other unit of value to acquire it. (Blythe 2007) Core products: Core Products are the core benefit that is being sought by the consumer by buying the product, like the cheaper call rates and ease of recharge top up available to Tesco Mobile customers. Actual /Tangible products: Actual Products are all the tangible features/benefits that are associated with the core product such as its features or design, level of quality, packaging, size. There is no clear distinction between a pure tangible product and a service. The Tescos give away deals for the new 3G i-phone deal Augmented products: are the intangible features/benefits associated with the core actual product such as the branding, warrantees, delivery, guarantee, and after sales service. Tesco mobile, for example, is a tangible product, but it often comes with a warranty and software updates. A firmsproduct line refers to the variety of similar commodities that the firm holds, Tesco for example, makes a large range of inter-related goods, Many of Tesco stores stock over 40,000 product lines. Even a Tesco Express stores stock a choice of well over 2,000 lines. ProductDepthrefers to the variety of commodities offered within each product line. Tesco stores stock : Healthy Living products, Free From products for people with food allergies and intolerances, Special healthy Kids snacks and Organic product lines and the recent announcement by the Tescobank CEO Benny Higgins of plans to launch an assault on the mortgage market by the end of 2010, hoping to take advantage of the current problems in the sector. Targeted at providingTescocustomers with financial advice, car and home insurance credit cards, mortgages and current accounts.(MINTEL 2009). Products often go through alife cycle.Initially, at the introduction stage a product is launched. Since the product is not well known and is usually expensive (e.g. the , as). Eventually, many products reach agrowthphase where sales increases dramatically. More firms enter with their models of the product, sometimes with added innovations. Unfortunately, the product reaches amaturitystage where little growth is sighted. For example, in the UK, almost every household has at least one stereo sound system. Some products may also reach adeclinestage, usually because the product is swapped for something better. For example, CDplayers experienced declining sales as more consumers switched to MP3 players and i-pods. Ansoff Theory is a series of suggested growth strategies that set the direction for the business plan. illustrated below Market Penetration: here the business strategy focuses on selling existing products in existing markets.This strategy aims at four major objectives: Maintaining the market share of current products Securing growth market Dominance Drive out competitors with support of an aggressive promotional campaign and favorable price strategy Increase product usage by existing customers e.g. With the Tesco Loyalty Club card scheme. Market Development: here the business strategy seeks to sell its existing product into a new market. The various approaches to this include: New geographical markets e.g.- exporting Tesco UK products to the Express shops in Ireland and Malaysia New Product Dimension or Packaging New Distributional channel Implementing different pricing policies for different markets segments Product Development: refers to a growth strategy where new products are initiated in existing markets. This often requires development of new competencies in the case of Tesco Bank and its new job vacancies for competencies in the financial sector. Diversification points to the growth strategy where a business markets a new commodity in a new market. Unfortunately, for this strategy to be adopted a clear objective of its advantages should be explored and risk assessments carried out seeing as the business may have little or no experience in the new area. Roughly one quarter of Tescos sales, was own label. Many leading retailing companies have substantial grocery interests. Of the top 25 companies in 1978, 22 were involved in groceries retailing, of which 10 can be considered leading firms in the groceries sector [Akehurst, 1983: 169, Table 5] 20. Price : Price refers to the value assigned to something by the seller to something purchased, offered for sale, to a buyer as their willingness to pay for the product and services delivered (Gilbert 1999). Price is the only element in the marketing mix that is revenue generating- all of the others are costs. It should therefore, be used as an active instrument of strategy in the major areas of marketing decision making. Pricing in the international setting is more complicated than in the domestic market, because of factors such as government influence and additional costs (Becker and Thorelli 1980). The price of an item is an important influence on the value of sales made. In theory, price is really determined by the discovery of what customers perceive is the value of the item on sale. Recent research has shown that demand-based pricing is associated with higher retailer gross margins; whereas past price dependence is associated with, lower retailer gross margins (Nijs, Srinivasan, and Pau wels 2007). There are a number of pricing policies used by Tesco today, which include: 21. Market-led Pricing: also known as competitive pricing, this simply accepts the price which competitors are charging for a product and then price its product at the same level or slightly lower in order to gain some advantage over competitors. Significantly found in markets where there is close competitors. For a company like TESCO it is important to monitor other competitors and in order to maintain customer loyalty against discounters, the adoption of a more aggressive pricing strategy was launch by the advent of budget private label ranges and backed up by advertising focusing on price comparisons. Despite challenges due to rising energy prices, but with innovations such as the reusable plastic trays, which was introduced in the fresh food areas have helped make savings these savings are pass on to customers. According to the OFT this led to a fall in real food price between 2000-2005.as shown below 22. Cost-Based Pricing: also known as cost plus Pricing, involves working out the businesss total fixed and variable costs and then adding a percentage of profit. Here the business has to consider the total number of items that it plans to produce and sell. The big advantage of cost-based pricing for TESCO is that the company is guaranteed to make a profit on its sales since it has covered its costs. However, in operating cost-based pricing it is very important to be aware of competitors price. However, this poses a threat when businesses are unable to sell the expected quantity of the product, perhaps because competitors are offering the same goods at a lower price. 23. Price wars In a competitive market such as grocery market, businesses sometimes engage in price wars in which prices of some goods are slashed to a very low price in order to secure sales. Price wars swamped grocery retailers, as the switch to private labels from branded packaged food continued to gather pace. For instance, Tesco and ASDA propose freezing of tax on some products at 15% despite an increase in rates to 17.5%(MMR 2010) This is risky because advantages gained are short-lived and rival, businesses tend to respond by slashing prices even further. If pursued long enough, price wars would cut profits seriously and in the end, only customers benefits by the low prices. 24. PENETRATION PRICING 25. ECONOMY PRICING: Stores such as TESCO, which allegedly charge the lowest prices, attract many consumers based on this conception alone (Peter Donnely, 2007). Among retail stores, the pricing strategy has become the fundamental point, as they need to compete in terms of pricing to lure more customers. Berman (1996) added that among the pricing policies which are of major concern to retail store outlets are the High-Low Pricing and Every Day Low Pricing (EDLP) strategies. This is sighted in operators who have significant economies of scale and buying power (Gilbert 1999). 26. VALUE PRICING This ensues where external factors such as the recession or increased competition forces companies to provide VALUE product and services to retain sales, they are especially important to families on a budget and have made a significant contribution to making healthy food accessible to all. Tesco now has in store 95 fresh fruit and vegetable value lines, and are working with the Pre-School Learning Alliance to help parents and children in some of the UKs most deprived areas make healthier choices. Value pricing may have a negative impact on the profit margin of the company (tesco.com N.D). 27. GEOGRAPHICAL PRICING This is evident where there are variations in price and demand in different parts of the world. TESCOs prices are a little higher in some town centre and neighbourhood stores because of higher overhead costs (mainly rents and rates). These costs are spread over a smaller volume of sales, and can only be recovered by charging prices that are, on average, higher. Example was when Tesco first moved into Ireland the products it sold was more expensive than they were in their UK stores (Irish Times 1998). This was because the UK suppliers were charging the Ireland stores more than they were charging the UK stores. This triggered some conspiracies and allegiances between key stakeholders in the industry resulting in a widespread anti-Tesco campaign (Poole and Clark 2002). In Conclusion Pricing a product too high or too low could mean a loss of sales for the organization. Therefore, appropriate pricing strategies and policies should be put in place for the various market segments, to ensure 28. PROMOTION Significant P in Marketing Mix 4P (Product, Price, Promotion and Place). Although the 4P characterization has led to widespread use of the term promotion for describing communications with prospects and customers, the term marketing communications is preferred by most marketing practitioners as well as by many educators. Consider that we may want to use marketing communications to refer to the collection of advertising, sales promotions, public relations, event marketing, and other communication devices. Promotion is considered as Sales Promotion (Shimp 2007). Marketing Communication is used by organisations to communicate with customers with respect to their product offerings. In this sense, Marketing Communication is one side of the communication process with customers. Market research, in which suppliers seek to elicit information on consumer requirements from consumers, is the complementary component of the communication process. The following summarises this very simply: (Rowley 1998). According to Rowley (1998) producer should communicate to reach the customers and in turn should listen to the customers needs and requirements to enhance the product and service. Tesco proudly announced that one of the reasons to its Success is listening to their Customers and its suppliers. Tesco has adopted multiple qualitative research techniques to reach their customers such as focus groups, accompanied shops, home visits to collect the feedback and respond quickly with corrective measures. Modestly they say, Its simple we listen and respond, providing customers with

Chinese Moon Festival Essay

Oh my gosh! The Chinese Moon Festival is coming up and I totally cannot wait! Just think of the moon cakes, chestnuts, sweet potatoes, rice balls and the big feast (with lobster, shrimp and ect. ) when our relatives come over makes me drool. Oh, and walking with the toy lanterns at night (I guess I’m too old for that) I’m sorry, and I think I’m just too excited because the Chinese Moon Festival is my 2nd favorite holiday in Chinese custom and it’s coming up on September 22nd (this year)! It’s just 2 more weeks! In order to celebrate and have the spirit of the Moon Festival, you’ll need to know the story behind it. There are lots of legends about it, but the one that my grandma tells me and my siblings each year has happened in Chinese history. Ok, so long, long ago when the Chinese was in war with the Mongols for rebellion, the Chinese was banned to have to discuss things together. This made it almost impossible to make plans and overthrow the Mongols. Knowing that the Mongols eat anything but moon cakes, this person called Zhu Luanzhang had an idea. He timed the plot to overthrow the Mongols. Then he asked permission to give out thousands of moon cakes to the Chinese residents of the city to bless the Mongol king with longevity. However inside the moon cake had a paper that read:†kill the Mongols on the 15th day of the 8th month. † So that night on the Moon Festival the Chinese successfully attacked and overthrow the Mongols. And this is why we celebrate the Moon Festival and eat moon cakes. Now that you know the story it’s time to learn how my family and I celebrate the Moon Festival. Every year BEFORE the Moon Festival we would have to visit our relatives and people that close to us with a box of moon cakes or money enough to buy a box of moon cakes if you forgot to get one. This shows that you respect them and bless them (expesscially to the elder ones). Then a day before the Moon Festival my mom, little brother, little sister and I would go to China town and do some shopping. We would buy some food for the big dinner (last year we made lobster). Then we would buy moon cakes, chestnuts, peanuts, fruits, rice cakes, and rice balls. Then our mom would let us pick a toy lantern we like, for the night walk on the day of the Moon Festival (quick reference: lanterns symbolize good luck) On the big day, my sister and I have a really large chore, we would have to clean up and decorate almost the whole house and the yard. After cleaning up I would help my grandma cook. Her dishes are always the best! This year my grandma plans to make crab, the soup, the rice and her famous fruit tart for desert. After cooking I would help my dad and grandpa to set up the tables at the yard. Later we would wait for the relatives to come and greet them. The relatives would bring in yummy dishes for the dinner or boxes of moon cakes. Then they would hug each other, talk, and ask really boring questions and comments (like Wow look how tall you grew). I would talk to my cousins around my age and the little kids will play together. After all the gibberish we would set all the dishes on the food tables in the yard. Then we feast! And talk. For desert my grandma would serve moon cakes and fruit tart (for this year). After desert we would have a performance and every year our grandma would always hold a puppet show about the story of the Moon Festival (I have to admit my grandma is pretty cool). During the year my cousins, friends and I have been emailing each other to plan the performance. This year my sister and I are going to play a song called â€Å"The Moon Symbolizes My Heart† on the violin. When the performance is done, it’s time for everyone to go home. After everyone leaves, my dad will bring my siblings and me for a walk with our lanterns and admire the beautiful full moon. Then we would clean up some of the things and leave the rest for tomorrow. I have to tell you, it’s really tiring. But it’s worth it. It’s nice to see my relatives for so long. And I love the food. And it’s great to get to know more about my relatives. I think it is really fun playing with my cousins. Oh yes, since I’m the teacher, you will have a homework assignment. I would want you to do something for the Moon Festival like try some moon cakes, have a family dinner, buy or make a lantern and have a stroll at night, or tell about the moon festival to other people. Like I told you, that the moon festival is 14 days later and I can’t wait!

Details of Personal Growth Essay Samples

Details of Personal Growth Essay Samples Top Personal Growth Essay Samples Choices Increased personal growth and development is the target of a wide variety of women and men. You will use your entire capacity to benefit yourself and others. It is a good idea to look for the one which has an excellent reputation and offers high-quality papers at inexpensive prices. Never permit your hobbies to take control of your life. You've got to Dream significant dreams she always says. 1 effective way which I decided to attain this goal was getting involved in extra-curricular pursuits. The purpose is to attend a minumum of one social event every fourteen days. Indeed, some goals might never be achieved, resulting in disappointment and frustration. Because this essay is extremely important to me! Don't forget that any argumentative essay sample you'll discover on the internet will require a full rewriting in order to prevent plagiarism. Click each link, and you will discover a list of articles related to every topic. There are several free examples of appropriate formatting. I was dwelling in Geneva, Switzerland for four decades, during which time I'd attended a worldwide school comprising over 96 distinct nationalities. Life goals will get possible. Other goals include the demonstration of terrific research abilities and deep understanding of the subject. Set a collection small attainable objecti ves. Among the strengths of this essay is the fact that it is well organized. Before writing any form of academic paper, it is crucial to choose the subject, and the persuasive essay isn't the exception. The principal aspect which creates a persuasive essay in English stand out from the remainder of assignments is the use of reasoning. Be aware you do not need to have solved the issue, and a few of the greatest essays will explore problems that ought to be solved later on. The improvement of interaction with different people was one of the primary goals of my PDP. Your objective should emphasize your capacity to make people feel comfortable, even in the surface of delicate or tense scenarios. Positive attitude is called for in your private development plan also. As soon as it's powerful and useful to observe that another individual's inappropriate behavior could possibly be on account of their personality type, we can't use the identical reasoning on ourselves. The cost of an essay rides on the quantity of effort the writer has to exert. A strong essay should showcase your capacity to learn more about the importance of the event you've chosen. In the remainder of the essay, the author demonstrates how he becomes an observer. A great illustration of the way in which a talented writer can earn a typical topic appealing'' was the overall consensus. This question was reworded for 2017-18, and the present language is an enormous improvement. This statement doesn't enable you to stick out in the list of candidates. In your introduction paragraph, it is sufficient to introduce the topic and supply meaningful background info. It may be an intellectual challenge, a research query, an ethical dilemma--anything that's of personal significance, regardless of the scale.

The New U.s. Shipping Act Of 1984 - 1544 Words

The new U.S. Shipping Act, signed into law by President Reagan on March 10, 1984. The Shipping Act of 1984 altered and replaced what was in the previous Shipping Act of 1916. Some of the things which the Shipping Act of 1984 were different were that markets, industry, microeconomics, law, and regulations were all different since the Act of 1916. The Shipping Act of 1916 made all conference agreements subject to approval by the Federal Maritime Commission, or FMC for short. On August 3, 1981, Senator Gorton introduced a bill (S. 1593) to revise U.S. regulation of international liner shipping. This bill was the forerunner of the current Shipping Act of 1984. Where the Shipping Act of 1916 left unclear as to whether the FMC had ultimate†¦show more content†¦Although U.S. law has acknowledged the constructive role of conferences in the liner trades since the Shipping Act of 1916, the American commitment to free trade and competition has led Congress to disallow many features of international conferences. Most importantly, the Shipping Act of 1916 required shipping conferences transporting the foreign commerce of the United States to offer membership to any liner carrier capable of engaging in such service. U.S. conferences are therefore termed open conferences. A conference agreement had to meet a strict antitrust standard in order to be approved. Deferred rebates were illegal and the freedom of carriers to tie. S. 1593 provided for the following: (1) Legalization of closed conferences. (2) A broad scope of conference activities to enable carriers to discuss and fix prices and conditions of service, pool earnings and traffic, allot ports, regulate sailings, limit the volume and character of cargo carried, engage in exclusive working arrangements, enter into agreements to regulate and prevent competition among themselves, and bring intermodal cargo transportation under the ambit of permissible conference agreements. (3) Use of loyalty contracts, except deferred rebates. (4) Absolute antitrust immunity for ocean common carriers engaging in any activities described in (1), (2), or (3), above. (5) A limited right

The Relation Between Prostitution and Human Trafficking Essay

Although the world is made up of a variety of people, every person is entitled to basic rights. According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, all human beings are born free and equal. These rights apply to everyone throughout the world regardless of gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, or age. However, although we are born with these rights, there have been many cases throughout the world where people’s human rights have been violated. The analysis of this essay will focus on the sexual exploitation of women through trafficking and prostitution within Ireland, the Netherlands, and the United States of America. In 2006 it has been reported that out of the amount of people involved in global trafficking, 87 percent are sex†¦show more content†¦These women shared their personal stories of the ‘pimps’ who controlled them and the abuse they encountered. One woman even talks about her involvement of being raped. Another woman in this documentary state, â€Å"sex isn’t as sacred as it once was.† Ireland is familiar with prostitution. During the nineteenth century, in well-known populated cities, prostitution was apparent. According to William Logan, a mission worker visiting Ireland claimed that the city of Cork had approximately eighty-five brothels, which contained about 356 prostitutes collectively in the year of 1945. Logan also mentioned how young girls were sold by family members for money. In 1870 the Garda (Ireland’s police officials) instigated 11,864 women because they were assumed to be prostitutes. During the 1800’s Magdalene asylums were also very common. In Dublin specifically there were at least eleven workhouses, similar to the Magdalene asylums, attempting to transform prostitutes into proper ladies (Luddy, 1997). The Dublin Metropolitan Police (DMP) was not proactive during this time either. The DMP were only involved in prostitution cases if it disrupted the public. 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According to Encyclopaedia Britannica, â€Å"Prostitution is the practice of engaging in relatively indiscriminate sexual activity in exchange for immediate payment in money or other valuables† (prostitution in Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica Online, 2015). There is little evidence of humans selling sex for payment inRead MoreWhy Prostitution Should Remain Illegal in the United States1494 Words   |  6 PagesResearch Paper 20 April 2012 Why Prostitution Should Remain Illegal in the United States Prostitution is said to be â€Å"the world’s oldest profession† (Ramchandran par. 1). The Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines prostitution as â€Å"the act or practice of engaging in promiscuous sexual relations especially for money† (â€Å"Prostitution† par. 1). Many people argue that prostitution should be legalized, but it hurts people more than it helps. Legalization of prostitution condones sexual behavior for profitRead MoreThe Ongoing Trial of Human Trafficking Essay1467 Words   |  6 Pages Human trafficking is not just a part of our history; it is continuously growing around the world today because of traffickers who are using it as an easy way to make a profit. Victims of human trafficking feel as if they have no way to escape because they have limited ways to survive or make a good enough living to support themselves along with their families outside of the sex industry. Women, children and even men are taken from time to time befor e they get the opportunity to receive little ifRead MoreSex Trafficking As A Crime And The Legalizing Of Prostitution1389 Words   |  6 Pages Sex Trafficking as a crime and the legalizing of prostitution Sex trafficking is defined as forced labor or human slavery. Prostitution is defined as the act of offering one s self for hire to engage in sexual relations. Sex trafficking is a severe problem globally, even right here in the United States. While any form of slavery is unjustifiable, human trafficking has been going on for centuries. However, increased awareness of this issue has brought more mindfulness to the situation andRead MoreProstitution, Drugs And Money Laundering922 Words   |  4 Pages Prostitution, drugs and money laundering are all tied together in the underground world of the public crimes arena. In fact, acts are all influenced by the political, economic, and social relations intertwined with organized crime resulting in violence, public health issues, and money laundering schemes. Markets can be found online, on the streets, and through legitimate and illegitimate practices. The very nature of prostitution and drug crimes are considered victimless crimes, res ulting in collateral

How to Overcome a Challenging Obstacle Free Essays

How to Overcome a Challenging Obstacle in Your Everyday Living. Amethyst K. Oliver Baker College of Clinton Township Composition I Andrea Nienstedt How to Overcome a Challenging Obstacle in Your Everyday Living. We will write a custom essay sample on How to Overcome a Challenging Obstacle or any similar topic only for you Order Now Overcoming a struggle is normal for everyone. People should not be ashamed of what they are not good at; we have to look at the fact that each individual is not going to become good at anything so easily like we want it to be. It is always good for a person that wants to really learn something they believe they will be become stronger at. It takes take time and patience. I personally believe for the individuals that are the ones that can’t accept the fact when someone makes a mistake they are not understandable. Dealing with difficult people is very common in life, sometimes we have to figure out and understand the ones who tries to criticize others-what makes them behave the way they do. I think being assertive is always the right thing to do. I’m going to discuss what Sedaris’s obstacles in this essay were and also discuss more about my few obstacles that was related to Sedaris, personally. Reading what David Sedaris was going through in the essay he wrote, called â€Å"Me Talk Pretty One Day,† the one thing I can relate to that is that I know how it definitely feels to think that you are so alone in a new environment redundant. Personally, I went to two different high schools and I was afraid of meeting new people at first; I was never used to switching schools. I had always stayed at the same school, but I had realized in the near future I would had to face up my fears and socialize with different individuals, different ethnicities. At my last high school, I felt so alone. Everyone at the school had their own â€Å"cliques;† I was always to myself, from the time I started there until the time I was finished. I would try to socialize with some of the people, but I would have this thought that they probably weren’t going to like me. Honestly, there were some people that I kind of wanted to hang around with but they were too stuck-up. I told myself I would never try to please other people if they don’t want to become my â€Å"friend. † Sedaris went to a school in France just to learn and experience a new language: French. When he arrived, he was sadly stuck with a teacher who was abusive and said nasty things to him and other individuals. All of the things that she was saying were frustrating him; he tried to not let her vicious words get to him. He thought he was all alone, in this crazy teacher’s world, when one day he came in to see everyone huddled together talking a language to each other. In addition to that, close to the end of the essay he was finally able about to speak their language just because of the contention that happened in the classroom between his teacher and one of his classmates. I’ve learned from the Golden Rule: â€Å"Treat others the way you want to be treated, respect is earned not given. † Basically what this verse in my own personal experience that I’ve dealt with in my life as I am going to explain about is if there was something that I did not know how to do but another individual doesn’t respect nor understand you are learning something for the first time and they judge you so bad just because my learning skills were different than theirs, they don’t understand the true meaning of fairness. The importance of everyone is not always going to be talented at every single thing, which that does not make them a bad person. Whenever I start learning something that is new to me I always ask someone to help me get through it most will always give back and help me with what they need to do, and majority may not. For the people that would criticize I will not be able to succeed and make it out here in this life. I’ve learned that sometimes it can be hard not letting things get into you, but in order to become stronger you have to believe in yourself and think about the outcomes into figuring out, â€Å"What If? Most importantly, collaboration is very important. The more you and that individual collaborate the better you will be as far as reaching for success. Generally speaking, learning a whole new different language is not easy; there are so many concepts to learning a new language for many individuals to understand. Although, learning how to speak a foreign language tha t interests you is extremely important. You do not have to pay money or travel just to learn a foreign language, where if you go to school and they have a teacher who teaches one of the many foreign languages for free. When practicing on becoming better at learning a foreign language, there are different aspects into learning a whole new language, which includes with the grammar and pronunciation (the two important ones in composition. ) The pronunciation can become the bigger problem; it can be so hard to pronounce something that is new to you. â€Å"You exhaust with your foolishness and reward my efforts with nothing but pain; do you understand me (Sedaris, 2000)? † What Sedaris meant by that is he was tired of what this rude teacher had said to him, it was time for him defend what was right and let it continue. I know the thing that you speak exact now. Talk me more, you, plus, please, plus (Sedaris, 2000). † Two of the quotes in Sedaris’s essay, he meant was that he finally understood the language from after all the chaos and commotion that was going in the classroom and he told that teacher if she has something to say to him say it again. He wasn’t afraid to speak wh at was on his mind. Those were the two major quotes in Sedaris essay that really moved me and it made me realized with he was emotionally suffering with his deceiving teacher. He was proving his fact toward the teacher and he wasn’t going have her believe that he couldn’t speak out his â€Å"true feelings. † In this essay I’ve read, I believed that Sedaris is a hard worker that is trying his best to accomplish what he was trying to do. I believe that this teacher wanted everyone to get better at the language she was teaching but in my opinion she has to understand that everyone’s person learning skills are way different than others. Similarly, Sedaris and I had one issue in common and that was feeling like you are all alone in this world but really it does feel that way whenever you are at a new environment. Differences are not good or bad, but it is good to accept the fact that people do things differently is the first step to understanding what how they learn differently and with whom they truly are. Be willing to try new things and avoid criticizing others and not let him or her underestimate your abilities. Reference: Sedaris, D (2000) Me Talk Pretty One Day. Me Talk Pretty One Day (pp. 166-173) New York: Little, Brown. How to cite How to Overcome a Challenging Obstacle, Papers

LOVE’S LABOR’S LOST Analysis Essay Example For Students

LOVE’S LABOR’S LOST Analysis Essay A monologue from the play by William ShakespeareBEROWNE: Have at you, then, affections men-at-arms!Consider what you first did swear unto:To fast, to study, and to see no womanFlat treason gainst the kingly state of youth.Say, can you fast? Your stomachs are too young,And abstinence engenders maladies.O, we have made a vow to study, lords,And in that vow we have forsworn our books;For when would you, my liege, or you, or you,In leaden contemplation have found outSuch fiery numbers as the prompting eyesOf beautys tutors have enriched you with?Others slow arts entirely keep the brain,And therefore, finding the barren practisers,Scarce show a harvest of their heavy toil;But love, first learned in a ladys eyes,Lives not alone immured in the brain,But, with the motion of all elements,Courses as swift as thought in every power,And gives to every power a double power,Above their functions and their offices.It adds a precious seeing to the eye:A lovers eyes will gaze an eagle blind.A lovers ear will hear the lowest sound,When the suspicious head of theft is stopped.Loves feeling is more soft and sensibleThan are the tender horns of cockled snails.Loves tongue proves dainty Bacchus gross in taste.For valor, is not Love a Hercules,Still climbing trees in the Hesperides?Subtle as Sphinx; as sweet and musicalAs bright Apollos lute, strung with his hair.And when Love speaks, the voice of all the godsMake heaven drowsy with the harmony.Never durst poet touch a pen to writeUntil his ink were tempred with Loves sighs;O, then his lines would ravish savage earsAnd plant in tyrants mild humility.From womens eyes this doctrine I derive.They sparkle still the right Promethean fire;They are the books, the arts, the academes,That show, contain, and nourish all the world;Else none at all in aught proves excellent.Then fools you were these women to forswear,Or, keeping what is sworn, you will prove fools.For wisdoms sake, a word that all men love,Or for loves sake, a word that loves al l men,Or for mens sake, the authors of these women,Or womens sake, by whom we men are men,Let us once lose our oaths to find ourselves,Or else we lose ourselves to keep our oaths.It is religion to be thus forsworn,For charity itself fulfils the lawAnd who can sever love from charity?