Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Adulthood and agıng Free Essays

The mental and emotional condition of old people with Alzheuimer’s disease can become a major issue in designing programs for their welfare.. They may feel depressed most of the time or have low self-esteem and worst, forget who they are. We will write a custom essay sample on Adulthood and agÄ ±ng or any similar topic only for you Order Now It becomes apparent that the program for their welfare be designed so that they can always recount their past. A program could be done on a daily basis, to make these people have fun while they are trying to recall memories of their past. The staff can help them as they try to remember and list down the names of their loved ones. This will make their minds active even up to their later years. The intervention plan shall incorporate cognitive, mental activities such as memory work, with pictures to enhance and make the activity fun for the elderly. There would be a program designed with the elder person and his/her family to be with her on a regular basis. To address the health needs of the aging population, the American Dietetic Association (ADA 2000) promoted the provision of â€Å"a broad array of culturally appropriate food and nutrition services, physical activities, and health and supportive care customized to accommodate the variations within this expanding population of older adults†. The association also asserted that â€Å"medical and supportive services, including culturally sensitive food and nutrition services that are appropriate to levels of independence, diseases, conditions, and functional ability, are key components of the continuum of care. Families of these elderly people must be mobilized so that even if there are hired caregivers for the senior, they are still there as a familiar face. Family caregivers need all the help they can get to provide care, including purchasing modifications to the home, purchasing labor-enhancing and labor-saving technologies, and figuring out how best to integrate caregivers in the atmosphere where she stays.   (Number of Elder-Physicians Declines as Elderly Population Explodes). The mental and emotional condition of old people is also a major issue in designing for the welfare of the elderly. Often, aging is associated with increased depression, loneliness and lower self-esteem as old people begin to be unable to do the usual activities they do while they were still young and strong. The need to move out of one’s home also adds to the emotional issues that the senior may be facing. It becomes apparent that facilities and environments created specifically for the elderly should promote mental and emotional well-being, aside from addressing the general health and medical needs of these people. For neglected elders, there are policies in place to strengthen legitimate place for elders to stay out of the depressive mood. Games can be played with the person being prodded to start the game and give the instructions to the group.    It is the responsibility of this family care center to ensure that they support the interests of the elderly under their care by providing them the kind of care and protection against all kinds of abuse or exploitation, thereby ensuring them of having quality of life even at an advance age. Institutions, whether government owned or privately owned, must be available and made known to elders so they have options available to stay in such institutions.   Social Security and Medical Care must be operational to assume their purposes for that the older population can avail of such benefits without need to depend upon their families for support. PROGRAM FOR NURSING HOME FACILITIES   The Nursing Home Facility that I envision will have a program for those who are battling with loneliness and depression. The staff will be alerted to individual eccentricities and these will be properly logged. If the staff notices changes or a person going into his/her depression, the staff will alert the management and that particular person will be made to do a task which she/he likes the most. This can run the gamut of leading the group in prayer or doing something like setting the table. An increased health care utilization must be done to address the recurring illnesses. Treatment of geriatric depression must be by medication combined with lots of psychotherapy â€Å"to cause not only transient symptom remission but also to maintain continuous wellness† (Sousa, 2005). The geriatric depression can be treated in 3 phases: (a) Acute, (b) continuation, and (c) maintenance phases.   â€Å"Acute phase is to achieve symptom remission; the continuation phase is to prevent relapse into the same episode with the same symptoms; (c) and the aim of maintenance treatment is sustaining the recovery and preventing recurrences† (De Sousa, 2005) There wil be regular morning exerices that shall be part of the daily routine of the elderly in this facility. There will be assigned leaders who will think of the specific exercise that will be done. The facility is responsible to the Department of Health and Human Services and to the federal state government which have set abuse and neglect provisions in medical and health services to the aging community. There are several alerts issued to facilities of this kind such as potential violations and the highlighting of illegal practices that it may uncover during the investigation of the incident. Other larger health organizations must again increase its scrutiny of home health expenditures to assure the public that the funds are properly administered. There are already provisions about Medicare to hold health agencies more accountable for inappropriate bills. There are available Senior Services Network Government Agencies that will hold this facility accountable for this misdeed.   In order to alleviate obstacles to a just resolution of patient suits, government agencies have also developed links to pertinent sections of the federal codes, relevant cases and helpful sites and musings on theories of liability. Most oversight functions rest with the states so that for example, this facility would be responsible to the Social Security Administration which have sections on enforcing standards for any category of group living arrangement. â€Å"In general, states’ regulations tend to focus on three main areas:   requirements for the living unit; admission and retention criteria; and the types and levels of services that may be provided. However, states vary widely on what they require.   For example, state regulations differ in their (1) licensing standards concerning admission and discharge criteria, staffing ratios, and training requirements; (2) inspection procedures that specify frequency, notification requirements, and inspector training; and (3) the range of enforcement mechanisms that are available and used.† (Long-Term Care and Consumer Protection). MEMORY INTERVENTION FOR OLDER ADULTS Family is said to be the primary caregiver of the elderly population and an elder’s tendency to depend upon their family for support, help and care are likely recognized, practiced and observed. Inadequate resources may cause problems in the way elders are treated hence they need to have support groups to address the inadequacies. The ongoing problems and concerns raised by the elderly population is a legitimate and eye opening, worldwide issue that needs immediate solutions before they get into   deeper and serious problems. If one cares for the young children who are the hope of the future, one must also give serious regard for the elders who once have contributed to what we have become today. By following the natural law, man is created by God to care for mankind and for all the natural creations in store in this world.   Let the caring for the elders be a serious commitment by both individuals and society. Let love for each other, no matter what age, race, ethnicity, status or gender we may belong, be our guiding principle to care for each other, so that love and justice will truly reign in our hearts. Administrators of this facility center must have appropriate Administrative and technical staff which will monitor the progress of the disease.   Alzheimer’s disease patients definitely needed a more personal care by a private nurse inside that facility even if social workers are around. A personal private nurse will be assigned to the elderly and which is needed including the scheduling of the appointment to the doctor. However, leaving it to the social workers in the facility is not advisable at all because they are not accountable to the Administrator all the time. The shifting of social workers and staff would make no one person accountable to what was happening to the people there with Alzheimer’s disease. To illustrate, let us take one person in this. Talking with her involves an interactive process based on certain fundamental principles in counseling and communication. The interactive process with this elderly with a slowly creeping Alzheimer’s disease can be very helpful in making her not lose grip of her memory. During the Stage 1 of a session with her, I can encourage self-exploration by offering a helping relationship characterized by emphatic understanding, genuineness and respect (Rogers, 1965). These are â€Å"receiving skills† and they are undergirded by concreteness—a focus on real happenings and their consequences. While offering these conditions, I begin to look diagnostically for the salient issues of elderly condition that relate to the patient’s concerns. While engaging her in an active verbal conversation, she describes her past life. I help her differentiate conditions of the past from conditions of the present so that a clearer understanding of attitudes and behaviors emerge. In the case of Grandma, as I may fondly call her in this papers, try to manipulate me into parental kinds of behavior. Displaying either hostility or dependency (seeking solutions from me). During the first stage of counseling, I was able to build the trust needed in this kind of session, and at the same time help the client focus on concrete concerns about which she personally must make decisions. Then, I use that trust that has been built to get involved more potently in helping her understand herself. I now respond not just to what she says but also to what she implies. I help her â€Å"reclaim† a part of herself that had been left behind at an earlier period in life. Such reclaimed qualities can lead to additions of fulfilling activities.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   REFERENCES De Sousa, Avinash. (2005) Geriatic Depression: A Clinical Update. Indian Journal of Gerontology, Volume 19, No. 1 pp. 23-36 How Soon is too soon to screen people for Alzheimer’s Disease http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB119794558308135759.html Memory Improvement: Exercise keeps your mind sharp http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/memory-improvement/HA00085 Nursing Homes Struggle to Kick Drug Habits    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119811286789841083.html Nursing Homes Struggle to Kick Drug Habits http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119811286789841083.html    How to cite Adulthood and agÄ ±ng, Papers

Monday, May 4, 2020

Evaluating Marketing Strategy and Recommendations †Free Samples

Question: Discuss about the Evaluating Marketing Strategy and Recommendations. Answer: Introduction Marketingstrategies in different organizations persists as the process of setting the correct product in the appropriate place, in due course, and at the proper price for its customers. The use of differentmarketing mixes forms the best way to assist in ensuring that an organization put its products in the proper place. Therefore promotion mix continues to be a critical device. It helps in considering the kind of product or service to give. It also assists on how to prepare for the flourishing product contribution. Eight promotion mix concepts have evolved to create a comprehensive framework for marketing services (Haskova, 2015). This paper examines the eight marketing combination of the Starbucks organization that deals with production and sales of coffee and its products to the global population. The ideas presented in this paper describe the eight marketing mix concepts theoretically by applying to the distribution and sales of coffee products by Starbucks Organizations. Besides, the views examine how Starbuckss eight selling mix maintains the organization stands as the leading coffee house globally. Eight combinations of marketing of Starbucks Coffee Organization Starbuck organization is the principal organization in global society and offers the supreme experience to its clients. It incorporates the use of eight marketing mix to arrive at its major mission that lies in Fair Trade. The marketing mix has allowed the organization to sign their permit agreements together with their coffee purchase in the publicly responsible and ethical approach (Dominici, 2011). The principal purpose of focusing on the marketing mix is to enable the organization to offer their consumers with vast experience not just the cup of coffee. The eight marketing mix facilitates the identification the major components of the marketing plan used by Starbucks Organization. According to Boer (2013), the use of eight marketing mix allows Starbucks to continue to innovate its product mix. The aim of the innovation is to enable the organization to capture more of the market in a competitive environment.The constituent of the promotion mix concentrations on what the firm gives to consumers. The eight marketing mix in the Starbucks consist of every activity that the organization does to influence the demand for its coffee products. There are eight major market combinations that the team follows to remain as the leading coffee brand producer and seller. The eight variables consist of product, price, promotion, distribution, partnership, people, process, along with physical evidence (Allan, 2013). All these variables refer to the 8ps of marketing in the business sector. Product relates to the products and service arrangement that organization gives to the objective marketplace. Price applies to some money clients have to pay to obtain coffee products. As reported by Shin Lee (2015), promotion remains to be actions that share the advantages of the coffee product while persuading target consumers to buy a given products. Place within the marketing mix includes activities of the company that makes the coffee products available to target customers. The people in the market mi x refer to the workforce essential in the production and sales of the coffee product in the market. The process focuses on the standard operating procedures on how to deliver coffee services (Yelkur, 2012). Furthermore, the marketing mix of positioning tends to explain where the organization wants to fit in its industry with the strategy of marketing as its principal determinant. The performance also refers to productivity examines how well the service of the organization compete in the global marketplaces. Product Starbuck Organization focuses on the provision of premium coffee products to its customer to hold its market position. It provides coffee products that help its clients to have an unforgettable experience. The organization stands its operation in the marketplace by always aiming to develop their coffee products along with releasing inferior coffee products to its esteemed customers. Phillips Rippins (2012) accounts that the organization has always been able to set its operations to monitor every step involved in the production of coffee and their products. The organization has been able to buy the whole bean as well as dark roast coffee from different places that grow coffee like Kenya, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, and Sumatra. They then roast coffees grains in their factory before selling in stores distributed all over the developed countries. The product as a marketing mix helps the Starbuck to deal with various activities that affect its operations like the sale of coffee products, the competition in marketplaces, and substitute for the coffee products. It aims at the provision of several tangential coffee products that are essential in the market (Slater et al., 2013). The consideration of product as a marketing mix affects other decisions on how the organization should market its coffee products. Starbucks organization always focus on having the clear grasp of exactly what their coffee products are and what makes these products unique before they lucky make it and release them for sales in their stores. All the products produced during the operation of the company focus on the satisfaction of the consumers wants. For example, Starbucks organization uses cream milk in India rather than skim milk. The organization arrived at such an idea because resides in India always prefer more cream added in their coffee, but not ski m milk. Vorhies Morgan (2013) accounts that if the coffee beverages have skim milk, Indians will fell like deceived. Therefore, for the organization to fulfill the requirement and satisfaction of their clients, they organization has created some exclusive product with several flavors and taste to suit the various type of consumers. Price Starbuck organization has the clear vision that is to have the personal together with direct relations with its esteemed clients. Therefore, the relationship allows the organization to have the direct supply chain for the coffee producers to the loyal customers. According to Bharadway (2013), the organization has their chains all over the global marketplaces. For instance, In the United States of America, Starbucks organizations is the household title, and one can find its stores that deal with coffee sales in almost all neighborhoods states (Engelen, 2011). The organization caters to customers interchange by ideas of establishing bars that deal with sales of coffee to clients. Srivastava (2015) laments that Starbucks organization aims to limit their operations by developing other stores like stealth channels. The outlet is the avenue titles instead of Starbucks to attract more clients in the ever-changing coffee market due to competition from their chief rivals like MacDonald Stores who also deals with the sales of coffee products (Irwin et al., 2013). The organization has been able to channel a lot of their revenues from the sales of coffee products in the guidance of their workforce to ensure that clients have the much needed pleasant experience of coffee products. Consequently, the concept of pricing on coffee products and brands may require being in a position that varies on price points.The price elasticity of the Starbucks organization affects its activities for distribution, partnership, people, and process in the strategies used in marketing its coffee products. Moreover, the value of coffee product relies greatly on the price and quality of the coffee product (Susanty Kenny, 2015). To distinguish Starbucks Organization from its competitors, it uses premium price as one of the major factors to boost the sales of its coffee products. Therefore, the price of coffee products offered by Starbucks tends to be slightly higher than competitors. Their customers are always willing to spend the budget for their coffee products just because the organization provides the products of excellent quality compared to their competitors (Haskova, 2015). The company also provides the comfortable environment, different tables together with conveniences for t he customer to take the break in their busy life. Promotion The availability of coffee goods and the price tag on each product enables the organization to focus on efficient promotion process. Promotion of coffee products in Starbucks focuses on several ways that marketing agencies disseminate relevant information of their coffee products to consumers while differentiating the particular product or service. The promotion strategies that applies to Starbucks organization comprises of advertisement, the use of standard media platforms, email marketing, commercialization by the use of engine search, and video marketing among other strategies (Slater et al., 2013). Every policy of promotion always receives support from a well-positioned brand to truly maximize return on investment. However, Starbucks does not focus on investing a huge sum of money on advertisement. Starbucks focuses on ideas of using the additional earnings for discovery along with the acquisition of ultimate settings for their outlet stores. The company has several other promotional activities that consist of printing information to tee shirts and mugs to help in advertising their services to consumers. The organization has also been able to come out with the idea of smart partnership. The smart company strategies focus on appointing local representatives as their ambassadors to assist them in endorsing their brands. The company promotes its coffee products by the process of giving out gift cards to their loyal customer (Midgley Venaik, 2015). The idea aid in the promotion of their products to their loyal clients but it also attracts other clients. The idea helps in the provision of free advertisement. The company also provides coffee to several offices without any size restrictions. The official mission of the company allows it to promote its products to different clients. Distribution The distribution of coffee products is an essential task in operation of Starbucks. It involves ideas of locating the correct products in appropriate place at the proper time with the appropriate price. It is critical for the organization to evaluate what the ideal processes need to be conductible to help in converting potential clients into real customers during the distribution process. Starbucks coffee organization embraces the use of more than one channel for distribution of their coffee products (Shin Lee, 2015). The organization sells their coffee products through the organization owned stores or through the direct retail system. The organization also embraces the use of importing beans of coffee from the best garden before they process as well as sell the coffee using their product description. From Taecharunrojs (2016) report, Starbucks Organizations collaborates with hotels, airlines, and office coffee suppliers. The idea assists the organization to cater to the need of the consumers in the wider marketplaces in the global communities. As reported by Luca Suggs (2013), in recent times Starbucks have their coffee along with tea products available in more than forty grocery stores out of which three thousand operates in the United States. Partnership The collaboration of management of the organization to its employees and customers remains to be an essential factor in improving how the company operates. The partnership enables the improvement of productivity as it improves the ability to deliver to consumers the best and quality coffee products. Moreover, Starbucks uses it set marketing mix of partnership as an approach to developing its brand image along with popularity in the competitive global marketplaces (The marketing mix: a review, 20140. With the production of strongest coffee brands in the industry, the organization tends to show how the effective marketing mix supports the development of the brand and growth of business. The Starbuck organization also changes its marketing mix over time (Mayer et al., 2012). The change of marketing mix thereby emphasizes the need for the industry to evolve its several aspects to maintain competitiveness. People The company focus on the ideas of selecting hiring, recruiting, as well as retention of people who will be assignable to do the job that needs to boost operations of the company. The position assigned to people are always the cost necessary parts of the coffee business.The people within the functioning of the store include the chief executive officer, interim vice president, nonexecutive board, and president of global consumer products for other people. In most cases, many consumer rates their service experience on the person that delivered it to them during their visits to the coffee stores. According to Johnson Sohi (2017), professionalism along with courtesy goes a long way in any service business to achieve maximum profits. Besides, other attributes become critical depending on offered services. Process Starbucks Organization functions firmly following the joint mission along with certified actions with the partnership among consumer. The organization focuses on global specialty measures that consist of coffee stores in over forty nations and accounts for foodservice in places like the United Kingdom and Canada. To maintain the momentum as well as satisfying their clients, Starbucks expands its coffee and food categories that were seven and eight initially. According to the report by Engelen (2011), Starbucks stores have developed their coffee products continuously, and they have been able to launch different products. They have launched a product from coffee like Tazo Tea that helps in attracting all consumers who love tea in regions like India. As Dominici (2011) report, the globally, Starbucks stores have over one thousand various variants available to their clients. Along with such idea, Starbuck also offers different products to their customers from season to season. The offere d coffee products comprise of Frappuccino, Strawberry cream in summer and various letters like gingerbread latte during Chrismas seasons. As reported by Allan (2013), in Starbucks Organization one can find coffee makers and Starbucks cappuccino that most people love. The company designs their operational processes to maximize the enjoyment of consumers throughout their visit to coffee stores. Physical evidence The company provides the necessary data on its products of coffee, business corporations, as well as career prospects on its Web platforms. The use of such strategies helps the company to reach a range of consumers in a short period. Besides, the company uses its known logo that is green while featuring the moderately nude sites. The use of logo helps the organization to stay mostly changed since it focuses on primitive operations (Slater et al., 2013). However, the logo has undergone some adjustments to fit global awareness. Moreover, Starbucks organization closed the use of pre-ground coffee beans in its retails. The idea has allowed the organization to avoid the issue of grinding the whole grain of coffee that might bring aroma, romance, and the threat to American stores. These markets mix in Starbuck Organization present all the visible together with tangible traces that their customers encounter before buying coffee products (Haskova, 2015). The parts of physical evidence in Sta rbucks Organization include advertisements, reception areas, corporate brochure, and uniform of staffs. Evaluation The coffee marketing field continues to experience various challenges that need the transformation in the ability and charge of Starbucks Stores. Another danger that Starbuck faces in its operation in the growing economy is distress for an organization that enables it to be surpassable in completion. The challenge can result in both costs and on the quality of coffee products (Everything but the coffee: learning about America from Starbucks, 2013). Additionally, coffee stores competitors pose a threat to Starbucks organization in an attempt to offer the best excellence, service, along with understanding to its clients while the cafe entrants to the industry aid in promoting their specialty products of coffee on the cost saving platforms (Muhammad et al., 2011). Overall marketing strategies as presented by the eight market mix focus on the effective targeting high-value sources of growth of the organization. With the advanced fascination that arises to marketing concepts, new tactics and digital technologies continue to be proven to have the disproportionate impact on the value of created business plan. The establishment of a detailed understanding of coffee product enables the organization to start making some decisions concerning pricing of their coffee products (Midgley Venaik, 2015). From Boer (2013) study, the price of commodities and its determinations impacts profit margins, demand, and supply, along with a strategy to be applicable in marketing. The marketing mix in Starbucks Coffe Organization remains to form the set of handy along with planned marketing devices that the business combines to create the response vital in marketplaces. The organization significantly uses alliances to expand market reach, improving the image of their coffee products, and developing greater profit to the company. Starbuck organization due to their stance along with quality in marketplaces relates to the use of eight marketing mix to ensure that they work by their business plan. The company utilizes the marketing mix strategies by the use of focus differentiation in marketing and advertising directions. The company embraces the stance as product excellence organizer and industry section leader (Vorhies Morgan, 2013). Besides, the organization fails to involve advertising of coffee products using ancient approaches, but it instead focuses on excellence marketing and marks of essential alliances and collaborations. Therefore, Starbucks organization uses marketing mix to avoid promoting its activities. According River-Cannino (2017), Starbucks organizations do not forcefully market the organization or coffee products. Besides, the set s trategies are motivating the retailing of the organization through the companys image. Moreover, outcomes of organizations interest to describe and customers experience, hard work, the exemplary process of arriving at decisions, together with employees training are some of the most values that make its brands to be a global brand. Therefore, utilization of alliances remains to be the cornerstone of the corporation of Starbucks organization marketing strategy. Recommendation and Conclusion The Starbucks organization continues to be lucrative with the segregation focus plan owing to the application of the eight markets mix. The prospect of the organization might be in some danger because of the growing competition with no adequate transforms in operations. It is ideal for the organization to uphold the secure watch on coffee firm and competitors on the market, special creations of other coffee stores along with the cafe company competitors to the subject marketplaces for coffee (Dorn et al., 2016). With the availability of competitors in the market, it is important for Starbucks stores to acquire approaches to remain cost aggressive while they provide excellence coffee products. Moreover, Starbuck organization should consider the idea of implementing the policy for marketing despite the associations that do not exclusively relies on awareness of the brand, status, and rumors. It is also recommendable that the organization to widen the concentration from merely high valu es due to the current economy by providing the financial wrap or economy donation during the desperate crisis in the financial sector. The strategy should not necessarily be lasting, but it should clarify the endurance of the organization because of the more terrible financial times (Phillips Rippins, 2012). The approach can help in maintaining the base of the customer of the company through the growing wallet of consumers. In conclusion, operations for the provision of coffee products by the Starbucks organization continues to be in developing phase and with little proposals that follow the eight marketing mix for improvement. The improvement can focus in Starbucks operations to persist as the product chief position presently assumed in the specialty industry of coffee in the prospect marketplaces. References Allah Pitchay, A. (2013). Marketing Mix from Islamic Marketing Perspective. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2017488 Bharadwaj, A. (2013). Privatization of Security: The Mercenary-Market Mix. Defence Studies, 3(2), 64-82. https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1470243032000214278 Boer, K. (2013). Interaktivitas sebagai Strategi Mediated Communication pada Fans Pages Starbucks Coffee Indonesia. Jurnal ILMU KOMUNIKASI, 10(2). https://dx.doi.org/10.24002/jik.v10i2.348 Dominici, G. (2011). From Marketing Mix to e-Marketing Mix: a literature overview and classification. International Journal Of Business And Management, 4(9). https://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ijbm.v4n9p17 Dorn, M., Messner, C., Wnke, M. (2016). Partitioning the Choice Task Makes Starbucks Coffee Taste Better. Journal Of Marketing Behavior, 1(3-4), 363-384. https://dx.doi.org/10.1561/107.00000023 Engelen, A. (2011). Which department should have more influence on organization-level decisions? A strategy-dependent analysis. Journal Of Strategic Marketing, 19(3), 229-254. https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0965254x.2011.557739 Everything but the coffee: learning about America from Starbucks. (2013). Choice Reviews Online, 47(08), 47-4511-47-4511. https://dx.doi.org/10.5860/choice.47-4511 Haskova, K. (2015). Starbucks Marketing Analysis. CRIS - Bulletin Of The Centre For Research And Interdisciplinary Study, 2015(1). https://dx.doi.org/10.1515/cris-2015-0002 Irwin, R., Lachowetz, T., Clark, J. (2013). Cause-related sport marketing: Can this marketing strategy affect company decision-makers?. Journal Of Management Organization, 16(04), 550-556. https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1833367200001929 Johnson, J., Sohi, R. (2017). Getting business-to-business salespeople to implement strategies associated with introducing new products and services. Industrial Marketing Management, 62, 137-149. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2016.08.006 Luca, N., Suggs, L. (2013). Strategies for the Social Marketing Mix: A Systematic Review. Social Marketing Quarterly, 16(4), 122-149. https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15245004.2010.522767 Mayer, T., Melitz, M., Ottaviano, G. (2012). Market Size, Competition, and the Product Mix of Exporters. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1992530 Midgley, D., Venaik, S. (2015). Marketing Management in MNC Subsidiaries: An Archetypal Analysis of Heterogeneity in Strategy and Organization. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2120554 Muhammad, L., Choi, S., Kim, H. (2011). Interfacial characterization of coffee mix using dynamic surface tensiometer. Journal Of Food Process Engineering, 36(2), 173-178. https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-4530.2011.00666.x Phillips, M., Rippin, A. (2012). Howard and the mermaid: abjection and the Starbucks' Foundation memoir. Organization, 17(4), 481-499. https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1350508409350721 Rivera?Camino, J. (2017). Re?evaluating green marketing strategy: a stakeholder perspective. European Journal Of Marketing, 41(11/12), 1328-1358. https://dx.doi.org/10.1108/03090560710821206 Shin, S., Lee, S. (2015). Effects of Business Environmental Factors on 4P Mix of Eco-friendly Textile in Textile Fashion Firms. Fashion Business, 19(2), 36-52. https://dx.doi.org/10.12940/jfb.2015.19.2.36 Slater, S., Olson, E., Finnegan, C. (2013). Business strategy, marketing organization culture, and performance. Marketing Letters, 22(3), 227-242. https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11002-010-9122-1 Srivastava, R. (2015). Shift of Marketing Mix to E-Marketing Mix: The Birth to New Era. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1992936 Susanty, A., Kenny, E. (2015). The Relationship between Brand Equity, Customer Satisfaction, and Brand Loyalty on Coffee Shop: Study of Excelso and Starbucks. ASEAN Marketing Journal, 7(1). https://dx.doi.org/10.21002/amj.v7i1.4481 Taecharungroj, V. (2016). Starbucks marketing communications strategy on Twitter. Journal Of Marketing Communications, 1-19. https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13527266.2016.1138139 The marketing mix: a review. (2014). ELK Asia Pacific Journal Of Marketing And Retail Management. https://dx.doi.org/10.16962/eapjmrm/issn.2349-2317/2014/v5i4-03 Vorhies, D., Morgan, N. (2013). A Configuration Theory Assessment of Marketing Organization Fit with Business Strategy and Its Relationship with Marketing Performance. Journal Of Marketing, 67(1), 100-115. https://dx.doi.org/10.1509/jmkg.67.1.100.18588 Yelkur, R. (2012). Customer satisfaction and the services marketing mix. Services Marketing Quarterly, 21(1), 105-115. https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15332969.2000.9985409

Friday, March 27, 2020

The role of Community in modern World an Example of the Topic Psychology Essays by

The role of Community in modern World The society is never static and this attributes to the the fact that the changes are there in the society. These change are brought about by the natural and individual sources. That is why this call for the systematic and well structured approach to deal with these projected adversities in the society where we human beings leave. Through the study of emergency management it enables the society to be prepared in the avoidance of risks and develop good structures to be able to mitigate the severity of the outcomes from a possible risk. The community is the core of the global society which faces various forces that are coming together to shift the community dynamics in a dramatic way, in the aspect as the widening gap between the rich and the poor in both developed and developing nations. There's population influx in relation to consumption and the environment ability to support and sustain the community. Need essay sample on "The role of Community in modern World" topic? We will write a custom essay sample specifically for you Proceed Environmental crisis evident in the global warming resulting into floods, climatic instability, hydrological and atmospheric challenges and the socio-economical issues that faces our today community. And as those challenges persists to become unbearable the urge for change in the social life to acquire and leave a more stress life so that we can have constructive and positive impact in the world today than destructive. Therefore this dissertation looks at these unfolding challenges to humanity in their environment and how to integrate and build a healthy relationship between the various systems of the community to have resilient and sustainable community by the use of emergency management techniques. The ideas are being incoperated with the case study of Singapore in in the year 1960 when they withdrew from the Malaysian federation and were faced with economic recession and communist subdivisions. Community is a group of organisms who are interacting and shares a common environment. The more advanced approach to community concept is to mean persons that shares common characteristics their location and the extend of their interaction not withstanding (Graham John 2003) . In this sense however, resilient community uses a combination of live satellite, video conferencing, articles, locally organized community based articles for discussion and the web based resumes (Delvant 2003). The community also encompasses the international community which includes the coverage of such terms as ecovillages, communities, student cooperation's, residential land trusts where persons work together to achieve a common vision that is beneficial to all regardless of their geographical environment (Charles 2003) . Community also can mean a group of individuals living together in a large society who are linked with a common policy. Sustainability is the characterized process that can be maintained at a definite level therefore, sustainability of community will focus on the community development that will last and be well maintained which focuses on the values, purposes and outcomes of the community factors which includes the prescriptive values of economic, political, religion and philosophical systems that should be networked and interlinked to yield better results the community (Walker David 2006). In order for the community to succeed in its sustainable community development it should employ the principle of transparent handling of the risk, appropriately valued nature restoration, integration of all sectors of community such as ecological, social, economical and humanistic in its policies, Equality in community opportunities and participation, continuous improvement through innovative and inventive to existing structures ofter assessing and evaluating and the supervisory functionality of good and cooperate governance (Charles 2003) . Resiliency is the ability of an individual or group of individual or society to manage the adversity in a way that is effective and which has the ability to respond to future adversity (Gupta 2003) . The most community today in the challenging world have resiliency in the adversity of poverty, war conflicts and both climatic and parental illness resiliency is characterized by two major concepts, such concepts are risk factor which is in terms of adversity or stress life events characterizing the individual and his/her environment (Charles 2003). The second one is the protective factors that includes skills or formality and essential aspects which act as buffer and base of resumes to deal with adversities effectively. Therefore, resiliency is the balance between the risks in the environment and the capability to manage them using the available support. Therefore, in the community resiliency builds around the issue of community structure seen from infancy to entrance to school then to adolescence to adulthood by detachment from the parents to becoming responsible adults. In community resiliency is an important concept during society transition when adversity tend to accumulate (Delvant 2003). The issue of whether the adversity will be successful managed it should be compartmentalized into separate sub-units and dealt with separately as entities in the society. These sub units includes physical and change or emotional resiliency that should be tackled well at present and the future. If that is due it yields the process of sustainable community development. Therefore, resiliency in the context of community development will be used as mechanism which the community used due to their capabilities to cope up with stress successfully and that it should have the aspect of dynamism which will contribute to community enhancement and maintenan ce of the key sectors of the community. The community is composed of individuals therefore, in order to build a resilience community individuals are key factor. Individuals characteristics puts them at risks, such characters as low self-esteem (Delvant 2003). The environmental characteristics plan a threat to pose an individual to risks as poverty, neighborhood, crowding, parental psychopathology and deviated peer group. Individuals protective factor that contributes to resiliency in includes cognitive skills, ability to plan independently, competency in ones history that lead to success in life and being optimistic and positive in life perceptions. Resiliency in individuals trickles down to familial protective factors where the individual is natured and influenced in most aspects of his life. These factors may include positive parent to child attachment and interaction, effective parenting constituted by the structure of rules and regulation within household (Graham John 2003). Then one resiliency has been established from individuals for families then can be looked as in terms of community. Community is seen to be resilient when it responds to adversity in a manner that strengthens the community resources and the ability to manage stress in future. The factors that contribute to the community resiliency is the mutual support characterized by high level of community participation and the community collective expectations excelling and sailing through the challenges that faces it. The community responds to crisis such as environmental, economic, working hard and voluntary, equal treatment of members of community. The key to community resiliency is empowerment factor which has direct bearing to the level of community empowerment in relation to policies and policy choices in the community (Gupta 2003) . These leads to establishment of community based programs directed to individuals resiliency such as experiential outdoor education. In order to achieve the resilient community it calls for procedures, process and principles to be involved. This key tools includes: there are a number of reasons for a resilient community is clearly seen through positive of harmonious partnership and cohesiveness between the grassroots, natural and regional level of communism which leads to potential stability, security, social and economic prosperity and progress. Impotent measure to controlling internal conflicts which can result into external hazards for outside which created sustainable livelihood of the people in a given region. Through construction of a resilient community in operations and functions it gives support to the inter community lend for instance national political and socio-economic. In construction resilient community key step is network connections in that, communities are built on connections which should be good to give better opportunities (Thomas 2001). This is achieved through improving the interaction of community internally and externally. Connectivity which is improved is created through interactive procedures by knowing and mending the network which starts with a network map that shows the complexity of human system the resilient community is to be built in. the network will provide the connections and relationship between the community ecosystems in business, political, socio-economic which helps answer key questions that can be based on when building resilient community (Gupta 2003) . The networking process touches the fundamental concepts of leadership roles in the community, preparedness of the community and whether right connections are in place. the effective network should reflect the common objective attainment in the subsystem of governance, should embrace the diversity factor so that it can cluster and nodes to maximize innovation in the network. The network should have an average path length since long path length usually distorts the message when it travels for long between the two nodes. However the average path length is convenient to measure networks global efficiency (Charles 2003) . The network for the community resiliency and sustainability undergoes four main phases to build. All these phases are inter linked to each other with bridging and facilitation by the subsistence of the leadership and the society preparedness to undergo the whole process in order to achieve the common goal. Each phase apart from the first one is built on a more adaptive and resilient structured network than the previous one so that it can be effective in tracing and tracking the community progress through the use of these phases. These phases are interconnected through evolving in the an effect that one phase should lead gradually to the next but systematical (Thomas 2001) . The first phase is usually at the individuals level that organizes them selves which is the initial stage referred to as the scattered cluster (Gupta 2003) . Clusters are with individuals ranging from one to five a group which gives the insight of the underdeveloped communities. Persons always isolate from each other and therefore lack of interactive learning and exchange of ideas that leads to underproduction sand low rate of development which makes the community structure to remain weak. At the stage there is a vital requirement to transform the system to be able to attain higher achievements. Tis the point where the role the leadership comes in and in this regard is refereed to as the weaver (Charles 2003) . The weaver makes the critical role of establishing new interactions to coordinate the activities within these groups leading to the emergency of strong groups. After a series of coordinated events the network weaver connects the small groups to come up with the spoke and him o r herself becomes the hub. The make the second system referred to as single hub and spoke. The weaver is expected to have energy, vision and necessary skills to connect the diverse of individuals by inducing the information flow ]from and to the groups. Weaver has to establish external links to bring a bout innovation and resources in the community (Walker David 2006) . Empowerment of the groups is key to achieving the informative relationship establishment and attain the collaboration and link up with member groups (Charles 2003) . Members of the community unless they cooperate the system may not blossom into a successful relationship to have a constructive development. These can be attained by proper of the society training which will help to identify and come up with other emerging weavers so that they can be equipped with necessary skills to run the community (Gupta 2003) . The weaver also starts to receive and develop a comprehensive data bank for the single hub and spoke network in the community, and starts to link them up with common goals and objectives and handles similar operations. The connection and linking up of the single hub and spoke will make the weaver to be the facilitator amongst the groups of the society (Walker David 2006). Once the process of the linking of the groups is successfully achieved the second phase is upgraded to the next phase resilient and sustainable community building and development which will be formed by the various single hub and spoke system. Thus in Singapore the young, energetic and visionary prime minister Mr. Lee Kuan Yew established a grassroots based movement, referred to as Peoples Association (PA). T he main objective was to have all people residing in the neighborhood are proactive members involved in the activities as sports, religious affairs, vocational training. The resulting level will be the multi hub small world network where the relationship between the the divide should be built. So that the information and innovation will be accessed by the community. The community groups can organized, collaborate and cooperate within the network. The original weaver engages in the activities and planing which model new weavers to take care of the network building and maintenance processes (Thomas 2001) . this is significant because the original leader will have deviated in its role play from the direct to indirect leader or weaver. Where he will be performing supervisory roles in the whole process and will be responsible of detecting the weaknesses of the system and strength through evaluating the performance of the current system its ope rationality and productivity outcomes to the society. Once the multi system has been will coordinated it should gradually lead to the end and ultimate goal of the structure system. By the year 1970 Singapore establi shed 150 community centers who were managed by 1500 managers helped by 450 volunteers. Management supervised by 2000 management committees. As a result it collected total of $20.9 million community funds which was used to support this centers to promote and prevent other related risk a part from containing the two major threats of communism and recession of economy (Graham John 2003). These system will be referred to as the periphery and core phase that comes as a result of strong and well established that have the capacity and characteristics to link up with other regional networks and perform well. The phase is characterized by the factors such as those organizations that are new to the network and work hard to get to the core, it act as the bridging to diverse the community and lastly usually have the unique resources that operates outside the community (Delvant 2003). The periphery allows the reaching out of the ideas and informations that leads to desirable innovations and development of the community that are not prevalent in that society (Gupta 2003) . While the core offers the community systems with effect of acting and implementing those ideas and informations availed by the periphery to attain practical outcomes. Thus the periphery acts as the evaluation and monitoring tool to the system henceforth resulting data analyzed and statistical in formation obt ained will be used in the weaving or reweaving to match the present environment requirements. The challenge is in the aspect of updating and maintenance of the structured system so as to yield a resilient sustainable community. In conclusion theres an need for construction of the resilient and sustainable community in the todays world as its evident with psychological, physical and socio-economical adversities. By the use of the expanded scope of disaster management it can be done through the identification of the current network, assessed and then embark on the making it effective to suit the community. These will be achieved through the explication of the conceptual link between the community aspects, resilient and the mechanisms which foster resiliency with the proper tools put in place to create the enabling and supportive environment to the processes of resilient community building. As a result will develop community which will have a good capacity and capabilities to meet the community needs without compromising the future ability of the community. Therefore its important for the community to be stable status, coexist and be cooperative to attain the objective of a resilient and sustainable community to have a viable livelihood for the community. All in all resiliency has a great promising future for the sustainable community if its based on the sound theory and comprehensi9ve research. Reference: Delvant Gerard, 2003, Community; alienation, Routledge. Vougha Antony, 1982, Studies of library management; Cline brngley, New York. Burton Philip, 2003, Towards sustainable management of boreal forest; NRC research press, United States. Capaldo Guiharia, 2002, Global community; Abebooks, Philadelphia. Walker Brian, David Salt, 2006, Resilient thinking; island press, Michigan. Huber Diane, 2005, Leadership and nursing care management; nursing services, United States. Parker Dennis, 2001, Floods; Francis and Taylor, New York. Taylor, 2008, Disaster management handbook; CRC prt lic. New York.

Saturday, March 7, 2020

summary of people of gilded age essays

summary of people of gilded age essays After the Civil War had ended, several soldiers had returned home to find their places of living destroyed. Most of these people returned to practically nothing. The United States had to rebuild itself, and this rebuilding was called Reconstruction. Today historians refer to this era of reconstruction as the part of the Gilded Age. Many people had to pickup and start all over again, while others continued their quests of expanding. Expanding by taking control over the land or by expanding their beliefs, either way lives of these people reflected the social tensions of the Gilded Age. Philip H. Sheridan, who was one of the heroes of the Civil War, was a soldier who had started his career on the frontier and would return there after the war to help the United States in expanding its territory by having to combat many Native Americans in doing so. Sheridan was an extremely important person who helped conquer the frontier. Sheridan believed in the freeing of black slaves, and decided that he would help protect the blacks now that they were free. He expresses his opinion about what is done to black people in Texas by commenting that the black codes are a policy of gross injustice toward the colored people on the part of the courts, and a reign of lawlessness and disorder ensued.(10) Sheridans defense of the black cause much tension in his life, in Texas, that he was later reassigned to command the Department of the Missouri. (11) In 1869 when Grant had became President; he appointed Sheridan lieutenant governor and command of the Division of Missouri. Sheridans past on tactics for attacking the Indians made him the best man for the job in defending the western frontier. Much of Sheridans life involved being enrolled in the army and defending the frontier. He is also known for the quote The only good Indian is a dead Indian, which he became synonymous with. (13) Sheridans life practically ...

Wednesday, February 19, 2020

The Impact of Advertisement on Children Research Paper

The Impact of Advertisement on Children - Research Paper Example This essay "The Impact of Advertisement on Children" describes the negative effects of TV advertisement on children health and behavioral patterns as well as the family economy. According to the recent research children are most influenced by food promotion. Moreover, food companies have the most powerful advertising campaigns. One of the major negative impacts of advertising on children is eating habits change due to numerous junk food commercials (Quereshi et al., 2). Most companies advertise food with increased amount of fats, calories, and salt. Numerous sugared drinks, unhealthy snacks, chips, and sweets are promoted products on TV and the Internet. Even cereals which are advertised as useful have increased amount of sugar (Quereshi et al., 2). Kids who are influenced by TV commercials have wrong perception of healthy portion sizes because people on the screen often eat enormous portions. That is why children who watch TV advertisements regularly have distorted eating habits. Te enagers are also affected by TV commercials, although they know the difference between healthy and unhealthy food they usually choose products that are more desirable. It is problematic that eating habits formed in early childhood most likely to remain for the rest of life. Nevertheless, family eating patterns and dietary preferences are estimated to have more influence on children that TV commercials (Quereshi et al., 4). TV is proved to be connected to increase of obesity and overweight in children.

Tuesday, February 4, 2020

Theoretical Causes of Rape Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5750 words

Theoretical Causes of Rape - Essay Example The 16 questions shall be sub-grouped to represent the four theories as causes of rape identified in Hyde's text (1996). With the goal of raising the school board's consciousness in recognizing the lack of education and awareness of the topic, this research aims to take future action towards preventive measures for an inevitable sexual assault. In a civilized society, human behavior is governed by acceptable norms and punishment is often sought as an alternative course to correct a deviant behavior. With increasing highlight on sexual violence as a punishable crime in the civilized world, rape stands among one of the heinous crimes by an individual or group of individuals against an individual for the life altering consequences that is brought about by the experience to the victim. However society's idea on equal protection of laws brings out the need to understand the core of such errant behavior. The need to discover any adaptation techniques that would help limit the incidence of this sexual perversion common even to highly-educated individuals is seen as an effective approach to the problem of rape in particular would gear everyone on the knowledge that "no means no" and using the "point of no return" excuse will eventually tarnish the perpetrator's ideas that leads to an aberrant behavior. Knowledge is therefore consi dered as the most effective approach to combat rape as a form of sexual deviation that helps society understand and formulate an well-founded approach to this problem. Rape as a form of sexual assault is common in most societies. It is the most prevalent issue in the world that represents violence against women in common and as a sexual assault on the victim(s) itself. Throughout time, rape has had many meanings that prior to the 1970s under the common law definition predominantly defined rape as an unlawful act of carnal knowledge of a female without her consent (Reid, 1989). Where copulation is resisted to the best of the victim's ability (Thornhill and Palmer; 2000, p. 1); Searles and Berger (1987) defined rape as a non-consensual sexual penetration of an adolescent or adult obtained by physical force, by threat of bodily harm, or when the victim is incapable of giving consent by virtue of mental illness, mental retardation, or intoxication. More specifically all of the above definition has been simplified by the Minnesota State Law (section 609.342) that considers rape as simply a sexual contact achieved without consent; through physical force , coercion, deception, threat; that includes the victim's mental or physical impairment. In the broader legal term it indicates a sexual activity with another person who cannot or does not consent (RAINN, 2001). For the purpose of this study, the researcher shall utilize Hyde's (1996), definition of rape, which states, "nonconsensual oral, anal, or vaginal penetration, obtained by force, by threat of bodily harm, or when the victim is incapable of giving consent" (p. 344). Koss et al. (1987) found that more than 15% of the women claimed being raped, and 12.1% indicated that they had been victims of attempted rape in the United States. An additional 14.4% reported that they had experienced lesser forms of sexual assault. Such reports according to the US Department of Justice (RAINN, 2001) warns that a woman is sexually assaulted every two minutes in America, and a woman has a one in

Monday, January 27, 2020

The Frugal Innovation In Africa Economics Essay

The Frugal Innovation In Africa Economics Essay Failure by conventional theories such as the product life cycle and closed innovation to explain recent trends in innovation, have laid a foundation for the emergence of different approaches to innovation management. One such approach is frugal innovation which has, in the recent past, been given recognition both by practitioners and academics. Frugal innovation aims at offering goods and services that are affordable, robust and of acceptable quality in a volume-driven market. So far academic attention on frugal innovation has been paid to countries outside Africa. The review of extant literature found only one academic paper on frugal innovation in Africa. This paper was based on a single case study and just focused on the service industry. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to identify examples of successful frugal innovation in Africa and categorize them based on local conditions. Using an analogical method, six successful cases of frugal innovation were identified in differ ent countries. Frugal innovations were categorized into basic needs and luxury frugal solutions respectively. Further from the six cases, five success factors were identified. These are; needs conceptualization, passion, local networks, investing in local RD and a flexible and well defined rolling out process. These cases suggest that companies wishing to develop frugal solutions aimed at specifically addressing the needs of customers in Africa must be receptive to the above factors. This study highlights the existence of frugal innovation in Africa and the critical factors vital for creating new, affordable and robust products and services for what we call unthawed markets in Africa. The study has also shown that despite frugal innovation attracting academic attention in the last decade, it has existed in Africa for a considerable period of time. For the future, studies should be focused on identifying more cases of frugal innovation in Africa. In addition, such cases should be sub jected to in-depth analysis. We also encourage comprehensive studies aimed at developing new theories and testing the proposed ones. Keywords: Frugal Innovation, Africa, product life cycle, unthawed markets, success factors 1. INTRODUCTION The ongoing shift in the global innovation landscape has presented numerous challenges (Magnusson 2000; Chesbrough 2003). These challenges have brought conventional theories such as the product life cycle and closed innovation into the spot light. As a result many countries and firms are developing new ways and means of conducting business. For example, multinationals from developed countries are increasingly globalizing their RD activities. Firms from emerging economies such as India and Brazil, which traditionally played a secondary role in global innovation, have now begun to catch up with developing their own innovative capabilities (Mathews, 2002). Some of these firms have emerged as major players in certain sectors like information technology and mobile communications. In this shift, particular attention has been paid to emerging concepts of innovation. Recent research has identified five distinctive but interrelated innovation concepts for the years ahead (Eagar et al., 2011). These concepts are: customer-based innovation; proactive business model innovation; integrated innovation; high speed/low risk innovation and frugal innovation. The literature on all the five concepts is scant because they are in their infancy phase. Frugal innovation also known as reverse innovation is about minimizing the use of material and financial resources in the complete value chain with the objective of reducing the cost of ownership while fulfilling even exceeding certain predefined criteria of acceptable quality standards (Tiwari and Herstatt, 2012). From the organizations point of view, a frugal solution is designed, produced, delivered and maintained to achieve the needs of underserved consumers in constrained environments (Bhatti, 2012). For the consumers, frugal products and services extend from simply costs to functioning with few resources, and lack of necessary infrastructure. Examples of successful frugal innovation include the Tata Nano car in India that costs less than US$3000, a low-cost battery powered refrigerator in India (called Chotukool) created by Godrej Company and a mini-handheld electrocardiogram (ECG) machine called Mac 400 created by GE at its Bangalore laboratory (Howard, 2011). Based on evidence from frugal solutions in and outside Asia, it is clear that frugal innovation is a cutting edge initiative that has challenged conventional ways of innovation management. It is destined to address the needs of both the lower and middle income groups all over the world. Despite these impressive strides, the initiative has received little academic attention particularly in Africa. Scholarly works that have attempted to deal with this subject have mainly concentrated on emerging economies in Asia (Tiwari and Herstatt 2011, 2012; SAGPA 2011; Tood and Lawson 2003; Fukuda and Watanabe 2011; Kohlbacher and Hang 2011; Pinelli 2011; Eagar et al., 2011). Africa is in desparate need of frugal innovation given the higher levels of poverty in comparison to other continents. For instance in 2011, 35 out of 45 nations identified as having Low Human Development on the United Nations Human Development Index were located in Africa (UNDP, 2011). The implications of these facts are tha t the gap between the rich and the poor in most African countries is quite high and the population of the lower and middle income groups is higher than those in the high income group. This means that there are fewer people who are able to enjoy certain things in life because of the low purchasing power. More often than note, people in the lower income group would like to enjoy the same goods and services as those at the top of the economic pyramid but are not able to. Therefore there is a seemingly dormant and non-consuming market for which frugal products can take advantage. We call this market unthawed market because it is not fully exploited and seems frozen. The limited research so far carried out on frugal innovation has not addressed emerging issues in this field in Africa. To our knowledge there has only been one study conducted on frugal innovation in Africa. It was a single case study that focused on service innovation in Kenya (Wooder and Baker, 2012). There is need to cas t the net wide and look at Africa as a whole in order to identify other cases of frugal innovation. This will give us a clearer picture of both product and service innovations for mass markets in Africa. As populations in Africa grow and demand for unique and reasonably cheap goods and services go up, frugal innovation is a must for this continent. Given the foregoing, it is imperative that a preliminary study to find examples of frugal innovation in Africa is conducted. Hence the purpose of this study is to address this gap. More specifically our study aims to identify cases of frugal innovation in African, categorize them and bring out success factors of such innovations. Identifying cases of frugal innovation will provide important insights that will stimulate further research not only in Africa but in other parts of the world. 2. FRUGAL INNOVATION: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND In this era that is increasingly being defined by the globalization of competition as well as major fiscal and demographic challenges, the task of managing innovation is vital for companies of every size in every industry (Tidd, 2006). Although innovation is a very difficult process to manage, it is critical in sustaining businesses and ensures competitive advantage. The way organizations bring out new ideas and take them to the market has undergone fundamental change. There is a paradigm shift in how companies commercialize industrial knowledge. In the following we have shown how two conventional theories of innovation and product development are no longer sustainable. Subsequently, frugal innovation is becoming relevant. 2.1 The Product Life Cycle cannot explain recent trends in innovation Historically there were attempts and initiatives to understand product and service innovation. One such initiative was the product life cycle (PLC) theory developed by Raymond Vernon. The PLC is an economic theory that attempted to explain the observed pattern of international trade. Vernon (1966) argued that many products experience cycles. The theoretical rationale behind the PLC theory emanates from the concepts of diffusion and adoption of innovations (Everett, 1962). Schematically, the PLC may be approximated by a bell-shaped curve that is divided into different stages (see Figure 1). Although the number of phases suggested by different scholars varies from four to six, for the purpose of this paper we have adopted a four-phase cycle as proposed by Polli and Cook (1969). The four-phase cycle is realistic. Some cycles, which include a saturation stage, have proved to be unrealistic and questionable. For example, a clear distinction could not be drawn between the mature and satura tion stage (Gardner, 1987). Pollit and Cook (1969) stated that sales follow a sequence of stages, starting with product introduction and proceeds with growth, through maturity and eventually decline. Figure 1. Product Life Cycle Source: Polli and Cook (1969) Below is the summary of the four stages in a products life cycle: Introduction New products are introduced to meet local and national needs. Profits are often low because customers are few. This stage is characterized by significant uncertainty regarding the market size, consumer tastes and technological constraints. Growth Products become more widely known and accepted. Profits begin to be earned as the image of the product is developed. Maturity Products may be extended by adding both width and depth. Sales are at their peak and profits are high. There is production of standard products through standardized production processes. Decline Sales fall very fast and profit go down. Prices are also likely to fall. Vernon (1966) posited that products are initially discovered and produced in developed countries (north) and exported to the less developed countries (south). The emphasis was on the role of innovation, scale ignorance and uncertainty. Vernon discarded the classical assumption that knowledge is a free good. He claimed that developed countries spend more on product development and innovation than developing countries. Hence they tend to develop high end products. Initially, the manufacture of a new product tends to be located in the country that developed it. This is largely on account of large markets in the developed nations therefore early stages of a products life production need to be located close to the market. Vernon further argued that when products become mature their degree of standardization and consequently of price elasticity of demand increases, cost considerations become more important and production will often move to less developed countries. Concerns about productio ns costs and possibilities of economies of scale results in shift of location of production from the north to the south. Hence the north produces only new goods while the south produces only old goods (Funk, 2004). The cycle arises because what is a new good in one period eventually becomes an old good in another period. The PLC theory is a conventional concept which has stood the test of time. It has represented central elements of innovation and marketing for four decades (Mercer, 1993). Following its development in the 1960s and subsequent popularization in the 1970s, the theory has remained a stable feature in international trade. A great deal has been written on the subject and several empirical studies have validated its existence (Polli Cook 1969; Meenaghan Turnbull 1978; Klepper 1992; Mercer 1993; Funk 2004). The PLC has been used for strategic planning, product development, financial management and has been considered to be an influential concept (Moon, 2005) and an enduring marketing framework (Golder Tellis 2004). The concept has been used for specific technologies (Abernathy and Utterback, 1978); for dominant designs (Tushman and Anderson, 1990), for customer adaptations of new technologies (Rodgers, 1962) and for specific industries and clusters (Audretsch and Feldman, 1996). Indeed the evidence supporting the PLC theory and the amount of attention bestowed upon the theory in the academic literature over the years have been impressive. However, in the recent past the PLC concept has begun to appear unsustainable. There is a serious deficiency in the assertion that new products and innovations happen in developed countries and later get adopted in developing nations. Recent scholarly work has brought out evidence showing an increasing trend of product development and innovations originating from developing nations such as India and China (Tiwari Herstatt 2012; Prahaland 2005; Economist 2010b). These countries are no longer just borrowing innovations from developed countries; but from time to time are contributing innovations to the rest of the world including advanced economies (Govindarajan Ramamurti, 2011). Recent research has suggested that enterprises are increasingly using fast-growing developing economies as lead markets for innovating specific pro ducts, services and technologies (Tiwari Herstatt, 2012). An example of such innovations is a washing machine called Mini Magical Child introduced by Haier, a Chinese home appliances firm. This washing machine is being sold in the US and Europe. These innovations have been termed frugal innovation because they meet the needs of low end customers at affordable prices and have acceptable quality (Zeschky et al. 2011). This trend cannot be sufficiently explained by the PLC theory and by factors such as degree of standardization and price elasticity of demand. To the contrary, the trend has challenged the core assumptions of the PLC theory and proves, in the interim, that innovation and new products can emerge from anywhere and not just in advanced countries. The assertion, by Vernon, that discarded the notion that knowledge in a free good therefore cannot stand. 2.2. The Closed Innovation approach has been eroded The old paradigm was called closed innovation which was based on the strict control of successful innovation (Chesbrough, 2003). Under this view, organizations generate their own ideas, develop them, finance them and support them on their own. In short, companies maintain complete control of all aspects of the innovation process and inventions are kept highly secretive. Traditionally many organizations followed this model and it worked well for most of the twentieth century (OVO, 2008). However, over the years a number of factors have led to the erosion of the closed innovation approach (Chesbrough, 2003). First, due to an increase in the mobility and availability of highly educated people, large amounts of knowledge leave the research laboratories of many companies. Second, the availability of venture capital has increased significantly in the recent past making it possible for promising ideas and technologies to be further developed outside the organization. Third, other firms in the supply chain began to play an increasingly pivotal role in the innovation process. Finally, today there is an abundance of knowledge in virtually every field. The proliferation of public scientific databases, online journals, low-cost internet access have given firms access to a wealth of knowledge that was far more expensive and time-consuming to reach as recently as the early 1990s. The above factors have rendered the closed innovation model unsustainable. Consequently, some mature firms got stuck in a narrow search for efficiency, displaying short sightedness and an inability to innovate to the extent needed to sustain their competitiveness (March, 1991; Dougherty and Hardy, 1996). Hence, many organizations started looking for other ways of increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of their innovation processes. On the other hand, these conditions have led to the globalization of innovation and emergence of what Chresbrough (2003) has called open innovation. Under this paradigm, firms can and should use both internal and external ideas to develop and commercialize products and services. Open innovation provides means to benefit from a much broader base of individuals and organizations. Ideas coming from customers and business partners may identify gaps and needs that internal team may have been ignoring or unable to identify. Firms are tapping into internal a nd external sources of knowledge to review development cycles, re-think development costs and develop products for particular markets with differing customer tastes, geographic conditions or regulatory requirements (Buse et al. 2010; Cantwell, 1995; OECD, 2008). Internationalization of RD which was thought to be phenomena of the developed countries such as Japan and Germany has now shifted to developing countries (Carlsson, 2006). There is a remarkable trend of multinational enterprises selecting locations in emerging economies such as India and China to conduct innovation activities (Tiwari, 2007; OECD; 2008). 2.3 The emergence of frugal innovation The open innovation approach and the failure by traditional theories such as the PLC to elucidate the current innovation trends, have laid a basis for the emergence of different approaches to innovation management. One such approach is frugal innovation which targets middle and lower-income customers in rapid growth markets (Pinelli, 2011). Frugal innovation is also called reverse innovation (Govindarajan and Ramamurti, 2011) constraint-based innovation, meaning sparse in the use of raw materials and their impact on the environment (Innovation Post, 2011). It is driven by resource constraints imposed by infrastructural and business environment (Sehgal et al. 2010). Practitioners have referred to frugal innovation as a holistic rethinking of products and services offered to the customers and underlying processes and business models so that companies can squeeze costs and expand the customer base, business and profit (Jagati, 2011). These customers are enjoying their first taste of mod ern prosperity and are buying for the basics not for fancy features (Prahalad, 2005). They have unique needs that are not usually addressed by mature market products, mainly due to prohibitive cost base of developed world products. To produce frugal goods, complex and concerted RD efforts are required (Jagati, 2011). In this regard, the field of engineering has also undergone some changes in order to face these challenges. In 2006, the Chairman and CEO of Renault-Nissan Alliance, Carlos Ghosn came up with the term frugal engineering to describe the competency and aptness of Indian engineers in developing products like Tata Motors Nano. Frugal engineering is an overarching philosophy that enables a true clean sheet approach to product development (Sehgal et. al. 2010). It avoids needless costs and addresses millions of consumers at the bottom of the pyramid who are moving out of poverty in developing nations. Kumar and Puranam (2012) in their recent research identified the following underlying principles on which frugal engineering efforts seem to rest: Robustness The characteristic of being physically strong and inured to endurance. Most of the developing nations have harsh environments such as extreme temperatures. Portability Poor roads and transportation in the emerging economies call for the importance of goods that are easily portable. Small and lightweight products become highly desirable. Defeaturing This refers to feature rationalization. Usually features accumulate in products over time. Therefore there is need to remove some of them that do little to enhance the actual product. Leapfrog technology Leapfrogging is a process of making progress by large jumps as opposed to small increments. This may seem contradictory for developing nations. However, engineers in India and China have adopted technologies that make dependence on existing infrastructure irrelevant. Mega-scale production It is estimated that the middle class in Asia alone is 525 million people, greater than the entire population of the European Union (Pinelli, 2011). This massive population can help firms produce on a massive scale and drive costs down. Service Ecosystems By using efficient service ecosystems, firms utilizing frugal engineering have been selling large volumes to multiple segments, each with slightly different needs. With ecosystems low costs have been achieved. In India, frugal innovation is known as Jugaad innovation which means doing the best with what one possesses (Innovation Post 2011). Jugaad is a colloquial Hindi word which roughly translates as an innovative fix; an improvised solution born from ingenuity and cleverness (Radjou et. al., 2012). The term refers to a unique way of thinking and acting in response to challenges. Juggad is, quite simply, achieving more with less. India is becoming a leader in frugal innovation (Tiwari and Herstatt, 2012). In fact it is rapidly emerging as one of the hotspots for the development of innovations tailored to the needs of lower income groups (Kubzansky and Karamchandani, 2009). As mentioned earlier, the best known example of a frugal product is probably the Tata Nano car, which has become so popular in India and dubbed the peoples car (Howard, 2011). At the end of 2010, 70,000 units had been sold. Tatas aim was to develop and produce a car that would be much cheaper than any other car in the w orld. To achieve this, the company reengineered parts to save weight, reconfigured assembly methods and developed a complex network of third party suppliers to increase efficiency (Pinelli, 2011). In view of this ground breaking technology, some established car manufactures from advanced economies have seen a reduction in their sales. According to the Society of India Automobile Manufacturers, in 2011 Suzukis car sales in India dropped by 11.9 percent for the first time in 9 years (Nagata, 2012). Suzukis market share in India which was 50 percent in 2009 dropped to under 40 percent in 2011. Another example of frugal innovation is Indias technologically sophisticated solutions. The country is providing satellite launch services at the India Space Research Organization (ISRO). This organization is offering commercial services to space agencies and research institutions all over the world for costs that are significantly lower than those of its competitors in the developed world (Chand rashekar, 2011). In the medical field, a unique and interesting trend has emerged. Sometime back people seeking specialized medical treatment from developing nations would travel to developed nations for treatment. However, because of new and affordable medical services in India, patients from wealthy countries are going there for specialized treatment (Moriyasu, 2012). The comparably decent treatment is much cheaper and waiting time is short. For instance, the heart bypass surgery which costs US$144,000 in the US is available for US$8,600 in India (Moryyasu, 2012). In this regard, the number of medical tourists received by India has grown to 4.6 times the number received five years ago. At Indraprastha Apollo Hospital in New Delhi, patients from the US, the UK and the Persian Gulf States have been treated. Another country with successful cases of frugal innovation is China. For example, BYD in that country has developed a very low-cost method of producing lithium-ion batteries whose cost has been reduced from US$40 to less than US$5 per unit (Kharas, 2010). Other frugal products in China include a washing machine called Mini Magical Child developed by Haier, a home appliance company in 1996 (Hang et. al., 2010). The product was designed for small daily loads and offered an alternative to large expensive washing machines. These are all examples of good enough products designed to fulfill the basic needs at low cost thereby providing high value. From the scarce literature, three studies that attempted to address frugal innovation theoretical issues were identified. The first one proposed a frugal theoretical model on the basis of resource constraints, institutional innovation and social innovation (Bhatti, 2012). According to this model, the intersections among these three innovation streams present a fertile space where frugal innovation can be located. If each stream is taken separately, it cannot deal with the challenges of innovating for the underserved in emerging markets. The second study presented a conceptual framework for product innovation (Ray and Ray, 2011). As shown in Figure 2, they contended that to serve the markets at the bottom of the pyramid three concepts need to be harnessed; architectural innovation, modularity and collaborative partnerships. When performance of existing product technologies far exceeds what customers in mass markets are able to utilize or pay for; innovators need to develop simpler and cheaper products. They likened this to Christensens model of disruptive technologies. In this context, architectural innovation becomes the logical low cost choice, since it recombines existing component technologies in new ways, to create and alter price-performance packages without further investments in developing new core technologies. Modularity incorporated in such products enables firms to improve performance overtime to appeal to more discerning mainstream customers, eventually facilitating a technology to emerge. In short modularity is for customization and improvements. Furthermore, given that developing disruptive technologies is prone to high uncertainties and unforeseen costs, which maybe further exacerbated by institutional weaknesses in emerging economies, the authors drew on the concept of collaborative partnerships. Such firm practices will lower the costs and risks associated with innovation. The third study focused on frugal service innovation in Kenya, Africa. T he aim of the study was to explore how the MPESA solution (which will be discussed later in this paper) was conceived, designed and delivered to the customers (Wooder and Baker, 2012). The study proposed a service innovation framework comprising how to; create, deliver, capture, defend and sustain value. Unlike the model proposed by Bhatti, the last two conceptual frameworks have been subjected to some testing. While the three models are in tandem on affordability, resource constraints and internal capacities of firms, the Bhatti model appears complicated and difficult to implement. To test the intersection of social innovation, institutional innovation and resource constraints is such a mammoth task. BOP DISRUPTIVE TECHNOLOGY simpler, cheaper than mainstream products Architectural Innovation Modularity Collaborative Partnerships Figure 2: A Conceptual Framework for product innovation for mass markets in emerging economies Source: Ray and Ray (2011) In order to understand how MNCs are organizing frugal innovation efforts in emerging markets, an in-depth study of five firms was carried out (Zeschky et al., 2011). Initially 13 firms, representing a variety of industries, were identified. The firms were sieved and eight dropped due to insufficient available data. The remaining five were found suitable case studies. Analysis was based on three criteria; product characteristics, motivation for developing products and implementation of product development. The study found that besides having similar structures regarding organization of RD, all of the five firms had a successful history of frugal innovation. Based on the above criteria it was established that successful frugal innovation: Should be grounded in the drive to meet the needs of resource-constrained customers at the lowest possible cost. Require local organizational structures and resources. Should result in products and services that are easy to use, robust and reliable. The above and other previous studies provide empirical evidence and a yardstick upon which future studies can be benchmarked. First, primary data was used; second the sample was reasonable and third firms represented different industries. 3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY This research focuses on identifying examples of frugal innovation in Africa. Being the first study of this kind in Africa, we used analogical thinking to identify of frugal innovation. The use of analogies in research involves the transfer of knowledge gained from one area (source domain) to another area or field (target domain) (Kalogerakis et al. 2010; Keane 1988). The knowledge and evidence of frugal innovation in some emerging economies (source domain) presented in this paper was used to identify examples of frugal innovation in Africa (target domain). As shown in this paper, there are successful examples of frugal innovation in India and China and these will be the yardstick against which cases in Africa will be identified.. Specifically the Zeschky et al. (2011) selection criterion was used to locate exceptional cases of frugal innovation in Africa. We scanned research databases and reviewed reports, articles and papers from previous studies and projects. Sources of such data included the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), World Bank, reputable journals, African Union (AU) and New Partnership for Africas Development (NEPAD). This methodology was appropriate at this stage of the research. For the future, there will be need to carry out comprehensive in-depth case studies of the identified cases. Such studies will provide us with detailed insights of the firms design, and production processes and commercialization of products. 4. EXAMPLES OF FRUGAL INNOVATION IN AFRICA Drawing from the literature, we present six examples of successful frugal innovation in Africa. These cases are drawn from a range of broad areas ranging from housing construction to electronic money transfer technologies. 4.1 Moladi: Affordable houses in South Africa In many African countries, housing is one of the most sensitive issues affecting the lower income groups. In South Africa for example, close to 13% of the 14.3 million households are informal dwellings (Statistics South Africa, 2011). The term informal dwelling is often used in South Africa to designate shacks, corrugated-iron structures and other makeshift shelters. The above statistics represents about 1.8 million households (between 7.2 and 10.8 million people). Informal structures are often made of highly combustible materials such as wood and cardboard which pose serious safety and environmental concerns. The structures are easily damaged and exposed to the external elements meaning that people often live in damp, very hot or very cold conditions. The other concern is inadequate or lack of sanitation and running water which constitute a serious health hazard for the population. Similar conditions are present in many parts of Africa. In order to address this problem and as part of public policy, the South African government took a number of initiatives. It became one of the few countries in the world where the right to adequate housing of all citizens is enshrined in the constitution. According to section 26 of the constitution, the state has an obligation to take reasonable legislative and other measures, within its available resources, to achieve the progressive realization of this right [to housing]. (Republic of South Africa, 1996). In order to translate this commitment into results, the first fully democratic South African government, immediately upon taking office in 1994, embarked on a far-reaching economic policy framework called the Reconstruction and De