The Furniture Company Spark Furniture Marketing Essay

The Furniture Company Spark Furniture Marketing Essay Introduction This report is based on the furniture company Spark Furniture. This report helps us to assess the current strategy of our enterprise using internal and external analysis. External analysis of spark furniture will identify major factors affecting the industry in which it is operating and to relate its opportunities and capabilities. PESTEL, Michael Porters Five Forces framework and SWOT helps to examine the strategy of spark furniture. Company overview Spark furniture emerged by taking over a small enterprise dealing with furniture groups operating from couple of years. It went with a unique strategy of cost leadership. Its products are Bed, Sofa, Dining table, and Coffee table. It has the third highest market share in overall market segment. The company is well s and known for its lower unit cost and offers lower price than competitors. Strategy Strategic management is defined as The art and science of formulating, Implementing, and Evaluating cross functional decisions that enable an organization to achieve objectives. (Fred, 1999) The strategic position is concerned with the impact on strategy of the external environment, an organizations strategic capability (resources and competences) and the expectations and influence of stakeholders (Johnson et al., 2008). Strategy is the pattern or plan that integrates an Organizations major goals, Policies, and action sequence into cohesive whole (Henry et al., 2003). Goals: States what is to be achieved and when results are to be accomplished, But they do not state how the result are to be achieved. Major goals those that effect the entitys overall direction and viability are called strategic goals (Henry et al., 2003). Policies: policies are rules that express the limit within which organization action should occur. These rules always take the form of contingent decisions for resolving conflicts among specific objective. (Henry et al., 2003) The strong strategic position is an indicator of high profitability and growth. The strategic position of Spark Furniture can be understood by carrying out different analysis on its external and internal environmental factors, and understanding its capabilities. External environmental analysis The different layers of environment that affect the market trends can be classified as macro-environment, Industry, competitors and markets. The analysis of these layers will give a better understanding of factors affecting the performance of Spark Furniture. (Refer Appendix A) PESTEL In analyzing the macro-environment, it is important to identify the factors that might affect a number of essential variables that are likely to influence the organizations supply and demand levels and its costs. (Henry et al., 2003) The Pestle Analysis is used to analyze the factors prevailing in macro-environment which may or may not influence the business, but knowing them and understanding them will help in overcoming uncertainty. (Refer Appendix B) Political Factors: Government regulations like taxation, labor policy, and excise duties issues may be a threat, as these policies will change with the change in government. Recently increase in VAT by 20% led our sales to decrease we are trying to cut down prices and provide customers with their requirements with a reasonable and effective fair price keeping in mind both companies and customer interest. This would help Spark furniture to increase its sale. Recession also affected the companys market share. It reduced peoples earning and spending capacity. Environmental Factors: Furniture industry has a number of environmental impacts that are caused by humans. The emergence of environmental concern as one of the critical factors in strategic business planning indicates the growth of environmental movement in the market place (Menon et al., 1999). Spark furniture focuses on furniture reuse, Environmental disposal green transport and recycling the products which cannot be repaired. This becomes advantage to some extent as it is able to reach the people easily with eco-friendly sense. Social Factors: These refer to what is taking place socially in the markets in which it operate or expect to operate like cultural norms, Population growth rate, Age distribution, Global warming(Due to cutting down of trees). The changes in life style of the people and attitudes to work and leisure also persuade market share. Sometimes strikes affect the market share. In Spark furniture there was a transport strike as the labour union and the employers have not reached a new collective labour agreement. For this reason during 6th period only 70% of goods are delivered and during 7th period no goods are delivered because of which company has to suffer a share loss of -0.17%.(Refer Appendix C) Technical Factors: Change in trend throws a challenge in providing customers with latest trend in the market. But on the other hand this gives an opportunity to be a leader in the market if the trend is grabbed by using latest technology and brought it to customers. These factors can affect the cost, Quality and may lead to innovation. For example, development of online shopping is well established in the market and upgrading the manufacturing process will yield to high quality products. Economic Factors: Economic factors affect industries are Access to credit, Demand for goods, and Technological advancement. The main economic threat would be existing competitors in the market. Company had a loan of  £150,000.00. Interest rate may go up due to inflation in the market this could affect the supply chain due to shift in the cash flows. Spark furniture has successfully sold its entire inventory from last 6 periods at the cheapest price possible apart from its competitors. Legal factors: Spark furniture follows the rules and maintains the specific standards set by the law, so that there is no difference of interest. These factors can affect how a company operates, its costs, and the demand for its products. Also, as it is taken over an existing business, all the legal documentation must be verified thoroughly. Limitations of Pestle Analysis: As the external environment is changing constantly, PESTLE analysis should be done on the current market situations (Cambell et al., 2002). It is also essential to analyze the level to which PESTEL is applied. When considering companies such as Apple, Samsung, PepsiCo, Volvo and Disney it is important to consider that they have many different parts to their overall business they include many different divisions and in some cases many different brands. Porters five forces model Porters five forces is a framework for the industry analysis and business strategy development developed by Michael E. Porter in 1979. It draws upon economics of industries to derive five forces that determine the competitive intensity and therefore attractiveness of a market. (Refer Appendix D) SWOT analysis An analysis of strengths weakness and opportunities threats has been drawn for Spark Furniture. (Refer Appendix E) SWOT analysis of Spark indicates where the company is good at and the areas of improvement. It helps as a planning tool to evaluate its strategic position and to relate it to its competitors (Basu, 2009). Stakeholder Mapping Stakeholder Map shows relationship of stakeholder individuals and groups to one another and finds out the role which each entity is playing. It also shows how an organisational environment must be navigated for successful implementation of change (Berkhout, 2002). Stakeholder Map of Spark Furniture is shown in Appendix F. Strategic group analysis Strategic groups are organisations within an industry with similar strategic characteristics, following similar strategies or competing on similar bases (Johnson et al., 2009). Strategic group analysis can be useful for the following: Understanding competition Deciding a Strategy In the Furniture sales world there exist many companies that try to be the market leaders by maximising their profits and expanding their market share. Spark Furniture is accompanied by other competitors like Leaf furnishing and Green furnishing. The identical strategies like cost leadership, differentiation, focus or stuck in the middle could be followed by these companies because most of the furniture companies deal in common products like the Bed, Sofa, Dining table and Coffee table. Entry of new competitors in the market increases the competition. Availability of more attractive and cheaper versions of products and services will always makes Spark Furniture to upgrade the technology which could increase the research cost. Down fall in the economy could result in the decrease of demand for furniture goods which could affect the overall demand and market share. Strategic capabilities According to Johnson Scholes (2009) strategic capability can be defined as the resources and competences of an organization needed for it to survive and prosper. These capabilities differ from organisation to organisation. Examples of capabilities are logistics, frugal systems etc. Having these capabilities differentiates them from others in achieving a better market share. Strategic capabilities are combination of Threshold resources, threshold competences, unique resources and core competences. Threshold resources: Threshold resources of Spark Furniture are its ability to provide a wide range of choices and offers to consumers at a low price than its competitors backed up by its product quality. Threshold competences: Threshold competences are the processes to be followed, to meet the requirements of customers. For Spark Furniture their aim is to provide products at an low price while keeping the standard quality. Unique resources: The unique resources are unique techniques that help in knowing the drivers of competitive advantage. The unique prices and exhibition of products by Spark Furniture help them to reach a wide range of customers like people who could not spare more money for shopping. Core competence: Core competence for Spark Furniture is its growth strategy of Cost Leadership which helps in offering unique attributes valued by customers for a low price, and perceived to be better than that of competitors. This allows the enterprise to achieve leadership in market and long term sustainability. Diagnosing strategic capability The strengths and weakness of organisation can be identified by analysing their strategic capability: Strengths: Spark offer benefits to valued customers. As a Furniture company, the unique marketing techniques backed up by the inbound and outbound logistics helps them to maintain the uninterrupted supply of products to the customers thus helps in providing qualitative services and products at affordable cost. Weaknesses: Targeting only a particular market segment of people by proving products at low prices could slow down the growth of the company from emerging markets. Evaluation of current strategies of Spark Furniture The strategy adopted by Spark Furniture is based on the generic strategies of Porter and that of Growth Strategy (Ansoff). That is the Cost Leadership and Market Penetration Strategies. The following analysis shows how the decisions undertaken affect the market share of Spark Furniture and its impact on its income and growth. (Refer appendix G) Cost Leadership: The strategy of Cost Leadership helps the way Spark Furniture operate as they tend to target to provide their customers with a good quality products at a very low price than its competitors which helps them to perceive better than their competitors. Market Penetration: This strategy of growth has been adopted by the company to introduce existing products in existing markets in an attempt to leverage the companys brand name. This could enable the company to create a broader customer base. The impact of the above decisions can be known by looking at the market share they are able to take part of the competitors market share and by finding new customers or by getting current customers to use more products. It is considered a low risk method to grow business. Strategic clock The model of strategic clock has been adapted from Cliff Bowman. Strategic clock shows the different positions in a given market where customers have various needs in terms of price (Johnson et al., 2009). By using this model we can study the competitive advantage of Spark Furniture. Bowmans strategy helps us to find out the companys competitive status by using some strategic options. These options are the No Frills, Low Price, Hybrid, Focus and differentiation. Of the various strategic options Spark Furniture had opted for Low Price that is where the company seeks to achieve a lower price than its competitors at the same time providing similar benefits and quality as their competitors. (Refer Appendix H) The reason for the company to adapt a strategy like Low Price is that it could target the people that are most interested in Low price products. As result of the above strategy the concept of Cost Leadership will also be achieved so that control over the price elasticity of the goods sold can be achieved. Competitive advantage The main competition for Spark Furniture is from Leaf Furnishing and Green Furnishing for the leadership in market share and growth. This is making the market segment competition more severe. As a result of the Cost Leadership strategy adopted by Spark Furniture, they are enjoying a healthy market share which is reflected in the rising growth of their market share considerably and as a result the inventory turnover is good and which in turn increased their income. (Refer Appendix I) Sustainability of spark furniture Sustainability of Spark furniture can be explained by analysing the key areas in its organisational growth. The main strategic decision of Cost Leadership helps the company to retain their own customer base which in turn helps in achieving a steady share in market for a long time. Its policy is to provide good quality goods at an affordable price due to its innovative price strategy. This helps the company to maintain its aim of providing products at lower prices than its competitors and thus increasing its brand value. The main costs that could occur for Spark could be, in its education level in order to build up its innovation areas to provide more quality products and still been able to maintain low price. It also needs to spend a bit on Human Resource areas in order to keeps its staff happy and retain their loyalty for a better future as the loyalty of employees is not looking great at the moment which could affect the quality.(Refer Appendix G) From customers perspective Spark Furniture could sustain in the future as long as it can give customers the quality products at a lower prices than its competitors and by doing so it can maintain its brand value and image which could help the company to grow more heights. The other factors that could threaten Spark Furniture sustainability like their slow growth in innovations which could bring down quality of products and thus affecting its market share and need to improve its HR area in order to be more affective in their customer service. Though the company is having a consistent income there is a need to increase its income growth by increasing the sales income of the income which at the moment is bit low. (Refer Appendix G) Conclusion By examining the strategies implemented by spark furniture it seems like they adopted a strategy which suits them. However, they need to be aware of the internal and external environment which changes continuously and the company needs to be ready to adopt a different kind of strategy that could be appropriate for the situation for retaining and increasing their market share. Works Cited Basu, R., 2009. Implementing Six Sigma and Lean: a practical guide to tools and techniques. 1st ed. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinenmann. Berkhout, M., 2002. Service support. Norwich: TSO. Cambell, D., Stonehouse, G. Houston, B., 2002. Business Strategy. Oxford: Butterworth Heinemann. Edu-Finntrack, 2010. Edu-Finntrack. [Online] Available at: http://courseware.finntrack.eu/learners/strat_mgnt.htm [Accessed 14 March 2011]. Fred, R.D., 1999. Strategic Managment. New jersey: Prentice Hall. Henry, M., Joseph, L., James, B.Q. Sumantra, G., 2003. The Strategy Process. New Jersey: fourth. Johnson, G., Scholes, K. Whington, R., 2009. Fundamentals of strategy. spain: Prentice Hall. Johnson, k., Scholes, k. Wittington, R., 2008. Exploring corporate strategy. Italy: Prentice Hall. ktnrchobby, 2011. ktnrchobby.com. [Online] Available at: www.ktnrchobby.com [Accessed 2011 March 15]. marketingteacher.com, 2011. Marketingteacher.com. [Online] Available at: http://www.marketingteacher.com/lesson-store/lesson-bowman.html [Accessed 15 March 2011]. Menon, A., Chowdhury, J. Jankovich, J., 1999. Evolving paradigm for environmental senstivity in marketing programs : a syenthsis of theory and practice. Journal of marketing theory and practice, pp.1-15. Porter, M.E., 2008. The Five Competitive Forces That Shape Strategy. Harvard Business Review.

E-waste: Cathode Ray Tube and New Equipment

Electronic waste or e-waste is any broken or unwanted electrical or electronic appliance. E-waste includes computers, entertainment electronics, mobile phones and other items that have been discarded by their original users. E-waste is the inevitable by-product of a technological revolution. Driven primarily by faster, smaller and cheaper microchip technology, society is experiencing an evolution in the capability of electronic appliances and personal electronics. For all its benefits, innovation brings with it the byproduct of rapid obsolescence. According to the EPA, nationally, an estimated 5 to 7 million tons of computers, televisions, stereos, cell phones, electronic appliances and toys, and other electronic gadgets become obsolete every year. According to various reports, electronics comprise approximately 1 – 4 percent of the municipal solid waste stream. The electronic waste problem will continue to grow at an accelerated rate. Electronic, or e-waste, refers to electro nic products being discarded by consumers.Introduction of E-Waste†¢ E-waste is the most rapidly growing waste problem in the world. †¢ It is a crisis of not quantity alone but also a crisis born from toxics ingredients, posing a threat to the occupational health as well as the environment. †¢ Rapid technology change, low initial cost, high obsolescence rate have resulted in a fast growing problem around the globe. †¢ Legal framework, proper collection system missing.†¢ Imports regularly coming to the recycling markets. †¢ Inhuman working conditions for recycling. †¢ Between 1997 and 2007, nearly 500 million personal computers became obsolete-almost two computers for each person. †¢ 750,000 computers expected to end up in landfills this year alone. †¢ In 2005, 42 million computers were discarded†¢ 25 million in storage †¢ 4 million recycled †¢ 13 million land filled †¢ 0.5 million incineratedIT and telecom are two faste st growing industries in the country. †¢ India, by 2008, should achieve a PC penetration of 65 per 1,000 from the existing 14 per 1,000 (MAIT) †¢ At present, India has 15 million computers. The target being 75 million computers by 2010. †¢ Over 2 million old PCs ready for disposal in India.†¢ Life of a computer reduced from 7 years to 3-5 years. †¢ E-Waste: Growth Over 75 million current mobile users, expected to increase to 200 million by 2007 end. †¢ Memory devices, MP3 players, iPods etc. are the newer additions. †¢ Preliminary estimates suggest that total WEEE generation in India is approximately 1, 46,000 tonnes per year. E-waste: It's implications :†¢ Electronic products often contain hazardous and toxic materials that pose environmental risks if they are land filled or incinerated . †¢ Televisions, video and computer monitors use cathode ray tubes (CRTs), which have significant amounts of lead. †¢ Printed circuit boards contai n primarily plastic and copper , and most have small amounts of chromium, lead solder, nickel, and zinc. †¢ In addition, many electronic products have batteries that often contain nickel, cadmium, and other heavy metals . Relays and switches in electronics, especially older ones, may contain mercury. †¢ Also , capacitors in some types of older and larger equipment that is now entering the waste stream may contain polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) .You can reduce the environmental impact of your E-Waste by making changes in your buying habits, looking for ways to reuse including donating or recycling. Preventing waste to begin with is the preferred waste management option.Consider, for example, upgrading or repairing instead of buying new equipment to extend the life of your current equipment and perhaps save money. If you must buy new equipment, consider donating your still working, unwanted electronic equipment. This reuse extends the life of the products and allows non-pr ofits, churches, schools and community organizations to have equipment they otherwise may not be able to afford. In South Carolina, for example, Habitat for Humanity Resale Stores, Goodwill and other similar organizations may accept working computers. When buying new equipment, check with the retailer or manufacturer to see if they have a â€Å"take-back program†Ã‚  that allows consumers to return old equipment when buying new equipment. Dell Computers, for example, became the first manufacturer to set up a program to take back any of its products anywhere in the world at no charge to the consumer. And, when buying, consider products with longer warranties as an indication of long-term quality. E-waste: Cathode Ray Tube and New Equipment Electronic waste or e-waste is any broken or unwanted electrical or electronic appliance. E-waste includes computers, entertainment electronics, mobile phones and other items that have been discarded by their original users. E-waste is the inevitable by-product of a technological revolution. Driven primarily by faster, smaller and cheaper microchip technology, society is experiencing an evolution in the capability of electronic appliances and personal electronics.For all its benefits, innovation brings with it the byproduct of rapid obsolescence. According to the EPA, nationally, an estimated 5 to 7 million tons of computers, televisions, stereos, cell phones, electronic appliances and toys, and other electronic gadgets become obsolete every year. According to various reports, electronics comprise approximately 1 – 4 percent of the municipal solid waste stream. The electronic waste problem will continue to grow at an accelerated rate. Electronic, or e-waste, refers to electron ic products being discarded by consumers. Introduction of E-Waste†¢ E-waste is the most rapidly growing waste problem in the world. †¢ It is a crisis of not quantity alone but also a crisis born from toxics ingredients, posing a threat to the occupational health as well as the environment. †¢ Rapid technology change, low initial cost, high obsolescence rate have resulted in a fast growing problem around the globe. †¢ Legal framework, proper collection system missing.†¢ Imports regularly coming to the recycling markets. †¢ Inhuman working conditions for recycling. †¢ Between 1997 and 2007, nearly 500 million personal computers became obsolete-almost two computers for each person. †¢ 750,000 computers expected to end up in landfills this year alone. †¢ In 2005, 42 million computers were discarded†¢ 25 million in storage †¢ 4 million recycled †¢ 13 million land filled †¢ 0.5 million incineratedIT and telecom are two faste st growing industries in the country. †¢ India, by 2008, should achieve a PC penetration of 65 per 1,000 from the existing 14 per 1,000 (MAIT) †¢ At present, India has 15 million computers. The target being 75 million computers by 2010. †¢ Over 2 million old PCs ready for disposal in India.†¢ Life of a computer reduced from 7 years to 3-5 years. †¢ E-Waste: Growth Over 75 million current mobile users, expected to increase to 200 million by 2007 end. †¢ Memory devices, MP3 players, iPods etc. are the newer additions. †¢ Preliminary estimates suggest that total WEEE generation in India is approximately 1, 46,000 tonnes per year. E-waste: It's implications :†¢ Electronic products often contain hazardous and toxic materials that pose environmental risks if they are land filled or incinerated . †¢ Televisions, video and computer monitors use cathode ray tubes (CRTs), which have significant amounts of lead. †¢ Printed circuit boards contai n primarily plastic and copper , and most have small amounts of chromium, lead solder, nickel, and zinc. †¢ In addition, many electronic products have batteries that often contain nickel, cadmium, and other heavy metals . Relays and switches in electronics, especially older ones, may contain mercury. †¢ Also , capacitors in some types of older and larger equipment that is now entering the waste stream may contain polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).You can reduce the environmental impact of your E-Waste by making changes in your buying habits, looking for ways to reuse including donating or recycling. Preventing waste to begin with is the preferred waste management option. Consider, for example, upgrading or repairing instead of buying new equipment to extend the life of your current equipment and perhaps save money. If you must buy new equipment, consider donating your still working, unwanted electronic equipment. This reuse extends the life of the products and allows non-pr ofits, churches, schools and community organizations to have equipment they otherwise may not be able to afford.In South Carolina, for example, Habitat for Humanity Resale Stores, Goodwill and other similar organizations may accept working computers. When buying new equipment, check with the retailer or manufacturer to see if they have a â€Å"take-back program†Ã‚  that allows consumers to return old equipment when buying new equipment. Dell Computers, for example, became the first manufacturer to set up a program to take back any of its products anywhere in the world at no charge to the consumer. And, when buying, consider products with longer warranties as an indication of long-term quality.

Mapping Channel Flows in the Music CD industry

In the music CD industry, the choice of the efficient marketing policy is one of the crucial factors in the success of the particular brand. CD’s are one of low-involvement products which can be bought by the customers out of the large selection. In order to be successful, every particular producer in the music industry has to define the marketing mix of the product which includes product, price, promotion, and place. While the first 3 components of marketing mix are very important, the last one which is place seems to â€Å"catch all† of the 4 P’s.Place is a very complex component of marketing mix because it includes such important areas of marketing as decisions about channels, logistics, retailing, customer support and many other issues. The right choice of distribution policy and channels are very important for the success of the producer, and those aspects cannot be neglected.The easiest way for the producer to sell the products to the final customers is by direct selling. The dialog between the supplier and the buyer is the easiest way in which the product can be purchased. However, most industries do not have such a luxury. It becomes inefficient for the producer to sell items directly to the customer, and he gives those functions to all types of intermediaries. In most cases, complex industries have a whole chain of intermediaries which bring the product to the end-user. This system of distribution represents a kind of a channel through which from the producer to the first intermediary and from the first intermediary to all others one by one product, payments, and information flow are channeled.Whenever the chain is very long, it’s obvious that every member in the chain, as well as the end-user has his specific needs, which all have to be taken into account by the producer. It’s very important to make sure that the information flow through the channel does not break. The more intermediaries there are between the produc er and the end-user, the more complicated the relationships inside the channel become, and more attention has to be paid by the producer so that the quality of the product remains high as in the very beginning of the chain. CD’s industry deals with rights on a particular part of property, therefore it’s very important to maintain the chain of suitable distributors which provide the highest quality of the music record companies products.The most widely-used forms of â€Å"channels† of distributions used by the companies include the following:v Selling direct (with the help of salesforce);v Mail order (including telephone sales);v Retailer;v Wholesaler;v Agent (who acts on the behalf of the producer) (Mercer, 467)In order to maintain the quality of the production, it’s necessary for the producer to keep some control over the members of the distribution channel. Most music record companies pay close attention to that. Once the control is entirely lost, it mi ght be hard for the producer to monitor the sales and the quality. The most efficient structure is when the producer structures the distribution channel by himself. Depending on what market the producer is in, this issue touches him in a different way. For example, when the producer produces mass consumer goods and there are many competitors in the market offering the same type of product, it’s not that important for the producer to control all the distributors who offer his product.The producer’s goal is to increase the number of distributors offering his product because he wants to have a large share of the market. In the opposite case, when the goods produced by the company have some unique features and the company competes with competitors mostly in quality, it has to take responsibility over the quality of the products which it offers and may suffer losses if the quality of the products end-users receive is low. Therefore, the producer will very much care in such a case about the quality of the goods which are offered to the end-users, and do his best to determine only very reliable distributors of his production in order to have a strong emphasize on quality. The mentioned approaches which can be used by the producer in the distribution policy therefore include:1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Intensive distribution;2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Selective distribution;3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Exclusive distribution.In the case of the intensive distribution, the main emphasize is made on the number of distributors selling the company’s product. The price competition is evident in such a case and quality of all the similar goods offered in the market is pretty much the same.Selective distribution means that the producer selects suitable distributors to re-sell the product. Those distributors who have a good reputation get a chance to sell the company’s products. The selection can be quite wide, and the producer in such a case in not very concerned about the top quality of the products which he is offering. Exclusive distribution is common in such fields where companies offer products with unique characteristics and the main point of the marketing policy of the company is offering goods of the highest quality. Every little detail of the product is important in such a case.Therefore, companies choose a very limited selection of distributors who will be re-selling their product in order to maintain the highest quality. The main partners of the company in the distribution channels include such establishments as specialty outlets, supermarkets, department stores, and discount outlets. Specialty outlets have a narrow product line (Mercer, 473). For example, in fashion industry specialty outlets aim at women of a specific age group with a specific taste. Such distributors offer a greater degree of personal service and usually the selection of products for the targeted group of customers is very large.Supermarkets can be characteriz ed by the following principles: self-service and self-selection displays; centralization of customer services; large scale; a strong price emphasize; a broad assortment of merchandise. The most famous supermarkets include Sainsbury, Tesco, Wal-Mart, and others. Department stores cover a large variety of products in different departments of the stores and offers great competition for supermarkets. Examples of department stores include Boots, Marks & Spencer, British Home Stores. Discount outlets specialize in a â€Å"high turnover at low cost†. They usually specialize in products of one field and get a 30-day credit from their suppliers. For example, they include Dixons in consumer electronics/electrical; MFI in furniture.A major feature of the distribution channel is that there is a â€Å"value-add’ of every level of channel. Just as the product and information are channeled from one level of the channel to another, the value is also added at every level step by step. For example, in the music industry, the value is first added by the manufacturer who makes the music label, then the CD’s are passed to distributors, sometimes on a couple of levels until they reach the customer. At every level, the value is added because more companies participate in the process.The manufacturer is the one who owns the music label and therefore is the main player in the game. He adds the most value to the product, which consists of the cost of production and the profit. However, without the distributors the CD would not be able to get the end-users, so at every level of the channel new value is added to the primary product. The first level of distributors can be wholesalers, the second level can consist of retailers. Therefore, value is added at 3 levels until it reaches the end-user.In the music industry, the efficiency of channel members is very high. Companies producing CD’s pay close attention to the distributors who specialize in selling CD†™s and for the most part, those channels fall into the category of selective distribution. The channel distribution in the music industry is very complex due to the characteristic features of the industry. Nowadays, there are many companies which produce CD’s (give the music label) and there are many customers in the market who are willing to buy those CD’s.   For example, Sony Records, Inc. is one of the leaders in the music industry production.However, it faces some competition in the market. Customers can give preference to CD’s produced by other companies as well. Therefore, every music record company needs to make sure there are many distributors who are brining CD’s to the end-users and also maintain high quality of the product. The distributors in the music industry include music stores which deal with CD’s in particular, supermarkets where one can also find this product, and Internet distributors which specialize in music CD’s. T he chain of distributors is quite large in the music industry. It’s very important for music record companies to provide the highest quality of their musical CD’s.One of the reasons of the need in high quality is that nowadays music record companies face sharp competition from the Internet. It has become very simple for people who are fond of music to download music files from the Internet, and they no longer need to go into the music stores in order to get the CD’s. The files which people can download from different sites are free of charge, and no money goes to the singers from those operations. One of the ways to fight with that competition for music record companies is by offering the highest quality of their products. If a person can buy a CD of the highest quality in the music store, he might stick to it and not use Internet for getting his favorite music albums.Another way is to include Internet distributors of music products which can compete with free m usic upload by offering additional services. Such distributors as Amazon.com for example can guarantee high volumes of CD’s sales due to its closeness to the customer. It’s common truth that many people who use Internet are interested in music. As long as they can order their favorite CD’s on Amazon.com, they will keep their hands off the free file upload. However, in such a case the emphasize on the quality is important as never: the customers will order CD’s from Amazon.com as long as the quality of CD’s is beyond competition. In addition to that, it’s important to make sure Internet users get some additional benefits together with CD’s, for example, suggestions about their future possible purchases, discounts, or free information about their favorite singers.The efficiency of the CD’s and payment in the music industry through the distribution channel is very efficient but there can be some developments made in it. The most i mportant is to keep in mind the importance of Internet in the distribution of CD’s. It’s also possible to devote some attention to such types of direct marketing as teleselling, direct mail, and direct selling. By mailing catalogues to potential customers, large volumes of sales can be achieved. For maximum efficiency of distribution in music industry, it’s necessary for music record companies to devote lots of attention to maintaining a large chain of distributors but at the same time monitor the quality of the products which are being offered to end-users.Bibliography.David Mercer. Marketing. Blackwell Business. 1992. J. Barry Manson, Moris L. Mayer, Hazel F Ezell. Foundations of Retailing. Business Publications, Inc., 1984. Kevin J. Clancy, Robert S. Shulman. The Marketing Revolution. HarperBusiness, 1991. Kotler. Marketing Management. 1986. R.M. Johnson. Market segmentation: a strategic marketing tool. Journal of Marketing research, vol. 7, 1981.

Technology Is The Fear Of Being Removed From Mobile...

Nomophobia is the fear of being removed from mobile contact. Just twenty years ago and mobile phones were obsolete. Now, we have a word for the fear of being separated from our phone. Nomophobia is important, not because of its meaning, but because of its existence. Technology has evolved exponentially, faster than anyone could have expected. Innovation has been at the forefront of society for the past thirty years. Innovation has been of utmost interest to all for the past thirty years. Technology conglomerates and the dot com bubble of 2000 hit the world by storm and has changed each and every one’s life. Apple, Twitter, Facebook, and many other companies that are now part of every day and minute of our lives were just small seedlings in the 1990s. After the 200’s the companies controlled our lives; one day without one of these companies nowadays and we would be devastated with problems. However, the dot com bubble also caused a major problem that no one could foresee . After the world experienced the robust growth in the early 2000’s, all things changed in 2008. Banks became too optimistic about the future and gave out mortgages and loans to anyone who wanted one. After all, with the booing economy, banks believed that consumers would be able to repay the loans without any analysis on the future. Once banks realized people could not pay back these loans, everything collapsed. Millions of people around the world lost their jobs. Many companies were forced to close dueShow MoreRelatedHow Communication Skills Can Help A Person s Personal, Professional And Social Life1688 Words   |  7 PagesIn order to move from where they are, to where they want to be, you will need to be able to use a range of communication skills. 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