Hybrid Marketing Channels in the Service Sector

EXCUTIVE SUMMARY Being famous brand in food and beverage manufacturing industry, Universal Robina Corporation Vietnam (URC Vietnam), a subsidiary company directly under International Robina Corporation has got significant success since it started business in Vietnam in 2004. URC Vietnam joins the market with four main product catergories: Snacks, Biscuits, Candies, and Beverages. Considered as a strategic product of URC Vietnam, C2 is now known as one of the leaders in green tea market, a popular name with many Vietnamese people in spite of the fact that when it was launched to market, 0 Degree from Tan Hiep Phat Corporation had already been sold and attracted a large number of consumers. Always, URC strongly aim is to provide its customers with the best products. They build up quality policies on purpose of making everything in line with the company’s mission. Being a part of URC International, URC Vietnam also indicates its ability. Facing with the great competitiveness in beverage market, URC Vietnam has implemented a plenty of suitable measures to overcome their fierce competitors. Assessing Vietnam as greatly profitable market for alcoholic and soft drink commodities, there are more and more investors jumping into this market. It is obvious that C2 has to compete with many strong companies in both sides: indirect and direct opponents. Among them, 0 Degree and Lipton Pure Green are rated as the two big competitors who are fighting with C2 for gaining market share in green tea manufacturing field. Customer element is all the time the focus of any business, including this market. In detail, the Vietnamese have tradition of drinking tea; green tea can remove people from tiredness also; that why C2 are preferred a lot especially in summer. C2’s users are primarily students and officials in urban area; they highly appreciate brand differences. C2 operation is at the growth stage with significant increase in sales figure through the year and is the second leading position in the so attractive healthier green tea segment. C2 can be so successful like that because they have employed an effective 4ps marketing-mix: product (diversified flavors, prestigious supplier and good-looking package), price (4000 VND/ bottle 360ml), placement (urban areas, strong distribution channel), promotion (advertising in various media means) C2 has its own strengths and weaknesses; from that, URC Vietnam can make a positive progress in its performance. Studying opportunities and threats is an essential work that company should do as well, so that they can make appropriate and timely strategies to further develop their business. . INTRODUCTION â€Å"Universal Robina Corporation is committed to bringing Filipino taste and culture worldwide, in line with JG Summit’s vision to make life better, not only for Filipinos, but for the rest of the world† That is what URC claims itself and reality has shown URC’s success. As one of the leaders in Food & Beverages market in Philippines, URC has expanded its busine ss in Singapore, Hongkong, China, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam. URC Vietnam, which started the operation in Vietnam in late 2004, is the newest addition to URC International. URC invested 15 million dollar into Vietnam market, and located company in Vietnam- Singapore industrial zone. Typical products are Funbites, Cream-O, Magic, Dynamite Big Bang, Beverage C2,†¦ that are brand-promoted by Hollywood actor Johny Tri Nguyen, Mat Ngoc Girl Band, and Actress Nha Ky. URC Vietnam is the very first URC subsidiary outside the Philippines to successfully produce and market C2 Green Tea. C2 is now one of the two market leaders in Vietnam bottled green tea field and its manufacturing is being expanded to meet highly demanding market. 2. COMPANY ANALYSIS 2. 1. Mission statement The following statement was announced by international URC CEO: â€Å"Our leading brands offer customers the best in enjoyment, quality, value and convenience†. To attain the mission, URC set up their quality policy. â€Å"The Universal Robina Corporation policy is to make consumers' lives more fun and enjoyable through convenient, quality and value for money branded food products. This will make URC the customer's first choice, a market leader in its major food brands and a key player in the Philippines and the Asian region. † Along with the vision of the parent company, URC Vietnam carried out the same line as international URC. URC Vietnam understands that to achieve the given mission, they have to make continuous improvement and training efforts through cost-effective strategies and fitting means to address the changing demands of the consumers. These efforts focus on the quality and freshness of products initiating from raw materials till they are provided to the customers. They endeavor to predict possible problems, provide preventive measures and correct non-conformities. Moreover, it is strongly emphasized that the quality of each URC product is the responsibility of every URC employee. 2. 2. Company objectives It was an outstanding year for URC Vietnam which saw sales surge from 6 million dollars in fiscal 2007 to 31 million dollar last year on the back of the unprecedented growth of the C2 brand. To date, C2 holds a leading market position in Vietnam (which has URC's first C2 plant outer the Philippines), and is now exported to Malaysia and Indonesia. Although in general international URC is suffering from the serious effects of the world financial crisis, it seems special to URC Vietnam case; C2 still continues to affirm its leading position in Vietnam market. At the present, C2 is mostly consumed in urban areas where the competitiveness is really noticeable. In the coming time, in order to remain the current growth, URC Vietnam should set the priority of providing Vietnamese consumers, both in urban and rural areas, with the high-quality goods and meeting their changing demands. 3. ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS 3. 1. Economic issues [pic] Figure 1: Monthly income per capita e Figure 2: Monthly total consumption expenditure per capita (Source: www. gso. gov. vn) As the result of the ever-increasing average per capital income, the living standards of all social strata continued to be improved. In the whole country, the monthly average expenditures in 2006, by current prices hit 511,000 VND, an increase of 28. 9% compared with 2004. The Vietnamese did not stop in essential products for life only; they had more choices when go shopping. There were great opportunities for companies in various fields of launching their business. As an attractive piece of the pie, beverage firms penetrated potential Vietnam market and gained enormous benefit. The difference in monthly income per capital between urban and rural area would lead to the difference in monthly consumption spending between those two regions. 3. 2. Demographic factors This entry provides the distribution of the population according to the age classification. Information is included by sex and age group (0-14 years, 15-64 years, 65 years and over). 0-14 years: 25. 6% (male 11,418,642/female 10,598,184) 15-64 years: 68. 6% (male 29,341,216/female 29,777,696) 65 years and over: 5. 8% (male 1,925,609/female 3,055,212 (Source: CIA World Fact book, Dec, 18. 2008) The country with young populations (high percentage under age 15) is a flexible environment. Its residents seem to be easy to accept changes and the new things. Additional, their taste has the own features. Marketers need the information on the population so that they can position which is the target segment for their products. With the type of drink like C2, analyzing age structure is a necessary work URC have to carry out carefully; from that they can make a suitable strategy when doing business in Vietnam – big market with population of 86 million people Natural conditions Three quarters of Vietnam's territory consists of mountains and hills. Vietnam is located in both a tropical and a temperate zone. It is characterized by strong monsoon influences, but has a considerable amount of sun, a high rate of rainfall, and high humidity. These factors help Vietnam to be a place with many advantageous conditions to grow green tea tree; as a results, URC Vietnam is able to acquire a largely available supply of raw material, especially from Thai Nguyen province, the major supplier. Social concerns Drinking tea is Vietnamese’s long-standing cultural custom. It can be said that tea plays an important role in Vietnamese’s life. In modern society, people get acquainted with fast food and gas drinks but green tea is still the preferable drink many people choose. Moreover, due to the recent increasing trend of low-carb drink, people gradually change to take interest with the natural product. Green tea is produced in industrial scale and added more flavors, it becomes the favorite drink not only with the elders but also the young. 4. COMPETITOR ANALYSIS According to Vietnamnet, â€Å"Vietnam’s great thirst for alcoholic and soft drinks flags the local industry’s fizzing potential and the participation of big foreign investors. † Vietnam market becomes more and more attractive for investors from all over the world, especially in the alcoholic and soft drink fields. Therefore, Universal Robina Corporation (URC) with the product of sweeten green tea, C2, has to face with a great deal of fierce competition that not only encompass the competitors with the same product like 0 Degree, Lipton Pure Green, 100 Green Tea, Wonderfarm and other brands, but also involve those from other kinds of drinks such as beer, carbonated drinks, fruit juice, tonic water and milk. 4. 1. Indirect competitors Thanks to the fast economic growth rate and enormous potentiality of soft drink market, many giants of beer, alcohol and soft drinks industry has come o Vietnam such as Denmark’s Carlsberg and Heineken with beer, Pepsi and Coca-Cola with carbonated drinks, La Vie and Aquafina with tonic water†¦Vietnamese brands like Vinamilk, Tribeco, Hanoimilk has also built up a strong reputation. Hence, Vietnamese people can enjoy a very large variety of drinks but this is also the great threat of C2, especially the threat from Pepsi and Coca- Cola which hold 60% of s oft drink’s market share. 4. 2. Direct competitors In recent years, Vietnam soft drink market has been developing eventfully and the segment of green tea has made so obvious advances that any kind of other soft drinks can do. Vu Quoc Tuan, public relations manager at PepsiCo International Viet Nam, said that the bottled green tea market has grown 300 percent in 2007. â€Å"No drink has grown like that,† he added. Although at the moment there are many brands of sweeten green tea on the market, a lot of products are â€Å"dependent†. They just follow all the thing that create success of market leader’s product For this reason, in part of direct competitor analysis, the report only focuses on studying two major competitors with similar products as C2: 0 Degree and Lipton Pure Green. 4. 2. 1. 0 Degree Tan Hiep Phat Group (THP Group) is the first mover in this segment. After observing the lifestyle changes of greater mobility and the need of healthier beverages, they made tea, part of Vietnamese culture, a ready- to- drink in a very convenient PET bottle, which is heatproof and easy to use. THP invested US$20 million in production equipment from Canada to launch the popular 0 Degree brand. In early 2006, 0 Degree green tea bottle were sold on the local market with a large and effective advertising and promotion campaign (TV, newspaper ads, editorials, PR, sponsor†¦) and considerable distribution over the nation thanks to the foundation that Number 1 has built up. From 11/2006 to 11/2007, THP had the growth rate of 190% by this product, which made green tea became an extremely attractive market segment. First mover is the most significant competitive advantages of 0 Degree over C2, which came to the market a little bit later. However, C2 is considered more convenient than 0 Degree because of the bottle capacity. The 0 Degree net content is quite big for one person while the bottle of 360 ml C2 is much more suitable. 4. 2. 2. Lipton Pure Green Just enter the market in August, 2008, Lipton Pure Green expressed that it is one of the fiercest competitors of C2 with the exceedingly strong reputation of 2 giants: Lipton and Pepsi. Lipton Pure Green is made 100% from the best young tea leaves chose by the rule of â€Å"2 leaves and 1 bud† and it has Antioxidants (AOX), the substance that can naturally prevent people from getting old. However, Lipton Pure Green has only 2 flavors in comparison with 4 flavors of C2; moreover, the tastes of Lipton are not as flavorsome as 0 Degree and C2 by many customers. In addition, the price of this green tea is not one of its competitive advantages because its price is above C2 price and little below 0 Degree with inconsiderable difference in bottle capacity. Furthermore, Pepsi and Lipton are strong brand names that are affirmed but the break out of their marketing campaign and their advantage of powerful distribution seems not to work effectively. Many people are not aware of Lipton Pure Green, a green tea product Pepsi Co. after 8 months of launching. Additionally, as 0 Degree, their bottle capacity is not really convenient. According to statistical data, 450 ml bottle is still quite great for one person. [pic] Figure 3: Volume per one drink To see clearly how these three products positioned in the market, let’s look at the positioning map below: Figure 4: Positioning map 5. CUSTOMER ANALYSIS 5. 1. Behavior To identify and analyze market segments, behaviors variables should be the starting point. In this part of the situational analysis, the variables of purchase occasion, benefits sought and loyalty status are selected to illustrate another base of market segmentation, the behavioral. In summer, the demand for soft drink that is tasty and healthy, especially the one that contains substance- hypothermia, like green tea, increases sharply. URC identifies these typical occasions as a major point for market segmentation. C2 products are made from green tea that can help people feel comfortable even in the hottest days of that most unpleasant time in year with four fruit tastes that can make people more cheery. While looking for a nourishing beverage, C2 appeals to the segment of consumers wanting to have a â€Å"Cool & Clean† product that make from green tea, a traditional remedy for good health. C2 can bring â€Å"cool† feelings and â€Å"clean† drink to customers by verified quality and delicious taste. In the case of sweeten green tea market; the differences among brands are not extremely significant. Sometimes, if the store does not have any more bottled green tea of the brand that customer want, he/she will easily convert to another brand that is available in that store. It may clearly illustrate the customers’ loyalty to C2 products. Hence, C2 concentrates on those who are interested in two or three brands or on those whose purchasing decision is favorite one brand but sometimes trying others. . 2. Demographic Bottled green tea is a product that is utilizable for many people even they are young or old, men or women, married or single. Therefore, in demographic segmentation URC Vietnam just groups their product by nationality and occupation. C2 targets to customers in the nation that have the traditional culture of drink green tea, a typical example -Vietnam, to develop a product which actually familiar with the users. The person who acknowledges of how marvelously good green tea is will be more ready to purchase a bottle of C2 than person who does know nothing about it. As indicated by the statistical data of the company, here is the occupation variable of C2: [pic] Figure 4: Occupation variable of C2 As a result, the advertising of C2 focuses on the young who are both students and staffs with colorful and cheerful ads on TV, newspapers and magazines. 5. 3. Geographic Do not have the competitive advantage of strong distribution channel as 0 Degree, C2 practices geographic segmentation by emphasizing on urban areas which enjoy higher living standard, higher income, and higher density of population, and are easier to approach its marketing campaign. . 4. Type of buying decision behavior Customer decision making varies with type of buying process. To determine which decision type of customer that C2 goes for, there are two factors that URC has to consider: involvement and differences between brands. Sweeten green tea belongs to the product category that has low customer involvement but significant perceived brand differences, variety- seeking buying be havior. Customers often do a lot of brand switching. When they buy a bottle of green tea, they choose a brand without much evaluation, and then evaluate it during consumption. The next time when they buy this kind of product again they will pick another brand in order to look for something different. To become the market leader, C2 should have the marketing strategy that differentiates it from other brands and try to promote habitual buying behavior by dominating shelf space, keeping shelves fully stocked and running frequent reminder advertisings. 6. BRAND ANALYSIS 1. Brand’s current performance 6. 1. 1. Portfolio analysis – BCG matrix BCG matrix, also known as relative growth and market share matrix, was built at the end of the 1960s by Boston Consulting Group, an American trategy consulting company. The real purpose of this matrix is to evaluate the company’s ability to make profit by analyzing its portfolio and put them in four components of the matrix (star, question mark, dog and cash cow) as following graphs: [pic] Based on the studying of the products’ growth rate and market share, the companies are able to establish and develop timely strategies. In C2’s case, they are now placed at Star level with a high market share and rapid growing in the sweeten green tea market. Specifically, in 2007, this ready – to- drink green tea’s growth rate was about 7% equivalently to total sales revenue of 6 million dollars and increased considerably 17%, which brings the company with 31 million dollar revenues in 2008. C2 is currently ranked the second who performs well in the so attractive healthier beverage market- the green tea segment. 6. 1. 2. Product life cycle After taking the Philippines by storm, URC started launching C2 green tea with various flavors in Vietnam in 2007. The company has reached a significant achievement up to now, and become one of the most popular ready-to-drink green tea beverages for sale in that country. Their sales grew slowly as the products were firstly brought into the market, however. At that time, because of the so strong influence of 0 degree brand and also of the company’s weak distribution channel, customers did not pay much attention to and highly assess C2 products. Only when URC Vietnam made some major changes in its promotion and distribution channel, the company experienced a so impressive sales figure, three million bottles sold out in six months. From that time on, C2 operation is positioning at the growth stage with rapid increase in sales through the years. In detail, according to the overview report of TNS Vietnam Consumer Trends Q4/08, that C2 products stood at the sixth position in the 10 fastest growing brands preferred by Vietnamese consumers in 2007, while they kept on doing business successfully in 2008 with the forth position in that selection. Moreover, it is obvious to see that C2 will continue holding higher market share, especially in this coming 2009 summer. . 2. 4Ps- Marketing mix Revenue from C2 products accounted for around one- half of total URC Vietnam‘s profit in 2008. One of the major factors contributing to the company such an incredible success is thanks to marketing strategy based on 4Ps. 6. 2. 1. Product URC Vietnam offer diversified tastes of healthier beverage under C2 brand name. That C2 drink can be divided into four main flavors: lemon, peach, apple and forest fruits green tea among them t he first one is the most preferable to customers. Thai Nguyen tea, a very well-known and favorite Vietnamese brand, is chosen to be the major material utilized to produce such fresh green tea bottles. In addition, each C2 product is packaged in PET type which brings in a number of benefits for the customers. For instance, it has ability to keep the original taste of the natural green tea without any preservatives and artificial color. Furthermore, producers can economically take full advantages of the space in tea bottle’s package for their products’ advertising. Until now, there have been two styles of C2 tea launched on the market, the 360ml and the 1000ml bottles, which will make the users even more convenient. 6. 2. 2. Price According to URC’s research report about customers’ response (posted below), nearly two-third of those who were conveyed agreed that the reasonable price for each 500ml green tea bottle should range from 5,500 to 6,500 VND. Seeing that important factor, the company has established reasonable price using market-penetration pricing corresponding to customers expectation. It is suggested that producers can set a low initial price to penetrate the market quickly and deeply in order to attract a larger number of buyers in short time (Philip Kotler, Principle of Marketing, page 355). Typically, each 360 ml C2 green tea product costs customers from 3,500 to 4,500VND, which is approximately 5,700VND for one 500 ml bottle. In comparison with 6,000 and 7,000 VND for Pure Green tea 450 ml and 0 degree 500 ml, respectively, URC’s products are more favorable, which creates a competitive advantage over their competitors. [pic] Figure 5: Consumers’ opinion of price 6. 2. 3. Placement When first launching in Vietnam, URC did not pay adequate attention to develop or expand its distribution channel, which leaded to an unexpectedly low sale. To deal with that problem, the company has strived so much with the aim at building a strong distribution system. The most important change the company made to improve this ineffective system was to influence on marketing push. They persuaded the retailers or outlets to purchase products by providing so attractive promotion as well as added supports. For instances, URC Vietnam would offer 10 to 15 % discount if those outlets accepted to display C2 products on their shops. Moreover, the company allowed a number of professional sales person and marketing staffs to work with those stores to support and supervise these areas whenever necessary. Thanks to such hard effort, till the present C2 products have been allocated widely in almost all of supermarkets, convenience stores, discount stores, retailers, distribution outlets and so on. In detail, URC Vietnam sells nearly a half of C2 volume through big supermarkets such as Citimart, Big C, Co. pMart, MaxiMart, Vinatex and the like. However, that ready- to- drink tea products has just allocated mostly on cities and urban areas. At the moment, when the summer is gradually coming, URC must take actions to establish a stronger distribution system to make their products more available on the market in order to satisfy a very high demand of Vietnamese customers. 6. 2. 4. Promotion Apart fr om placement, unlike the case of THP Corporation which has spent a huge amount of money on advertising, URC just save their capital invest on other fields rather than such costly activities. For instance, after failing to transfer message to consumers in the first two trials in Vietnam, the company decided to redeem themselves with new advertising to revitalize C2. They created new TVC – Television Commercial, with the participant of Johnny Tri Nguyen, a very cool, good looking, a wushu expert and stunt man, which later was voted among the top 10 â€Å" Most favorite TVCs† by Vietnamese televiewers. Those activities just costed only a half in comparison with the promotion campaign beforehand. That successful results obviously illustrate that â€Å"good advertisings need not be expensive—it must be creative and effective† as URC consultant, Willy Arcilla said. At the moment, not only to be advertised on TV but C2 products also are promoted on newspaper and internet; for example, gia dinh & tiep thi, www. kienthucngaynay. vn. , etc. 7. SWOT ANALYSIS SWOT, the analysis refers to the strategic method used to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats of each company. It is considered to be a crucial tool for auditing the overall strategic position of a business and its environment. SWOT of C2 bottled green tea are summarized as below. 7. 1. Strengths C2’s positive outcomes have been in part due to a number of factors. First of all, one important key contributing to such high sales revenue of the company is because of reliable tea supply. As mentioned in the marketing mix- 4Ps, strong point-of-difference- C2 brews tea leaves grown in the northern highlands of â€Å"Thai Nguyen,† renowned as the source of the best tea in Vietnam. Furthermore, each C2 bottle encompasses the natural flavor extracted from green tea (23%) and also citric acid, an essential element which helps people lose weight effectively. Likewise, C2 products are perfectly brewed and bottled at the same day, still keep totally clean and fresh tea taste. This benefit makes the tea users feel safer and firmly reliable when consuming the product. An additional feature that builds C2 brand popularity is its competitively-lower price in comparison with other brands in the same market. Before making final purchasing decision, people often carefully take price into consideration besides some important criteria such as products’ quality, brand, benefit and features. By impressively influencing on that consumer’s psychology, C2 has got the initial success in catching the attention of potential customers. 7. 2. Weaknesses Although URC Vietnam has made many acquisitions with a large number of retailers or distribution outlets, these stores are located mainly in cities or municipal areas such as Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh, Hai Phong, Da Nang and so on. Whereas, in the local or rural regions, the volume of C2 consumed seems to be much lower than that of 100 tea or 0 degree green tea. Thus, C2 should invest more money on their distribution channel, not only tighten current contracts but also expand new relationships with new local stores. The company can offer retail shops benefits with high premium or build its own retailers initiatively throughout the country. This action will has positive effects on making condition for the company to approach their potential customers more. By narrowing down the potential customers segment on its initial advertising is thought to be one more weakness that URC Vietnam should pay attention to. Specifically, the advertising with the attendance of Johnny Tri Nguyen persuaded consumers who habitually prefer carbonated beverage to convert to green tea products. That message implicated that C2 itself restricted the targeted clients to those who usually consume soft drink. Instead, the company could orient its products to the mineral or pure bottled water and the other beverage market rather than carbonated drink. For that reason, URC Vietnam had better make some new meaningful advertising to draw the attention of higher level of customers. . 3. Opportunities The recent scientific research of England Hospital of Pediatrics has marked out 10 most significant advantages of using tea on people health, among which the best five benefits are utilized to produce new sweeten green tea bottles such as antipyretic ability, decrease in death due to heart diseases (from 28 to 44%) and prevention of being old as well as cancer possibility. Seeing so many advantages of using green tea, Vietn amese people tend to choose tea as their daily preferable product. Through conveying heir opinions, producers have developed and launched new products to meet their essential need (The result is posted as the table below). Most of people believe that employing green tea products will help them have antipyretic ability, reduce the possibility of cancer and purify the body. This rapid change in Customer Behavior creates a valuable chance for the company to keep on producing ready- to- drink tea. [pic] Figure 6: Tea’s Effects In addition, the summer, hottest period in the year, is upcoming. Consequently, people’ drinking demand will increase dramatically the following time. Catching this thirsty need, beverage manufacture should prepare very strong marketing plans (may be in terms of marketing mix) to further satisfy their customers. Particularly, up to now, green tea drink has a quite strong position in customers’ drink options. As a result, C2 should make use of this valuable opportunity to widespread or quickly expand its market in this period. At the end of 2008, there was a quite serious recession occurred in Vietnam economy which affected negatively on Vietnamese lives and reduced their consumption need. However, the quantity demanded for foods and beverage was slow down much less heavily than other sectors, less than 25% (according to the report of TNS). This means that demand for foods and the like can not be replaced in human being life. Hence, it also generates big chances for any company in that industry, including C2. [pic] Figure 7: Consumers’ reaction in the recession Last but not least, C2 products are currently utilized to be the promotion of a number of companies to offer to their customers. For example, whenever customers buy one product of Mobil1 Racing, they will be given one cold C2 bottled green tea. This indirect promotion makes a good condition for URC Vietnam to increasingly raise its sale figures. 7. 4. Threats There are many external forces that have a direct impact on the company’s performance. Currently, C2 has to face up with a very fierce competition in the beverage market, which composes of both carbonated and healthier drinks (indirect and direct competitors). In the same market, there exist many powerful competitors such as 0 degree, Pure Green and 100 in which 0 degree of THP is occupying the largest market share now. Although C2 has been positioned quite strongly in Vietnamese consumers’ drink option, that THP’s product has the advantages of being the first mover in the sweeten green tea segment. Lately, THP has introduced new product, Dr. Thanh herbal tea, which has been consumed with a very fast sales since the first days launching. Hence, it is considered to be one of the biggest competitors in that market. Besides, among a lot of indirect competitors, Coca Cola and Pepsi, the heaviest and strongest ones that account for 60% beverage field in Vietnam, also take a lot of C2’s concerning. . CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS In all, according to the findings above, it can be said that C2 continues maintaining its high position in Vietnam bottled green tea market with outstanding attainment while it also has to share this market with other strong competitors like 0 degree or Lipton Pure Green. Holding a number of internal strengths greatly contributes to C2 such an incredible suc cess whose outstanding example is its appropriate marketing strategies- market penetration pricing. However, URC Vietnam should make some changes in order for a stronger distribution system. They can build up new relationship with the local outlets rapidly by employing marketing push and pull also. In addition, good news from outside has created a lot of valuable chances to boost C2’s development. Especially, URC Vietnam can make the best use of the approaching of special occasion – the summer time to expand its market share as well as consumer’s brand awareness. Nevertheless, the recent appearance of Dr Thanh, a new comer in the healthier beverage market, creates a fiercer competition in that so attractive segment. Therefore, C2 needs to establish better preparation to get a win in that competitive battle. From the study above, some suggestions for improving C2’s performance are introduced. To begin with, advertising is always a very useful way to inform publicly and fully the information about the products and their services. In spite of the fact that C2 has made several qualified advertising, the televiewers are somehow not really pleased with those advertisings’ message. Then, it is proposed that URC Vietnam should concentrate on improving their advertising‘s quality; for example more meaningful ones which transfer expected information to the customers. To compete with the enlarger development of Dr Thanh, the company had better invest money on Research and Development department so that they can produce further diversification in flavor such as strawberry or mix ones. Available on market at the moment there are mainly four tastes among which only the lemon green tea are being consumed with rapid sales. With the variety of healthier drinks sold on the market, the consumers may be confused of which products should be used; for that reason, the company needs to provide differentiated products to gain the competitive advantage over their competitors. REFERENCES 1. 2009, â€Å"Overview TNS Vietnam Consumer Trends Q4/08† [online] Available at URL: http://www. scribd. com/doc/7563073/Overview-TNS-Vietnam-Consumer-Trends-Q408 (Accessed May 1st, 2009) 2. 2008, â€Å"Branded Consumer Foods Group – International†[online] Available at URL http://www2. urc. com. ph/ (Accessed May 2nd, 2009) 3. 2007, â€Å"URC launches C2 Green Tea in Vietnam† [online] Available at URL http://www. universalrobina. com/2007/01/10/urc-launches-c2-green-tea-in-vietnam/ (Accessed May 1st, 2009) 4. 008, â€Å"Demographics_of_Vietnam† [online] Available at URL http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Demographics_of_Vietnam (Accessed May 1st, 2009) 5. 2007, â€Å"Household living standard 2006†, [online] Available at URL http://www. gso. gov. vn/default_en. aspx? tabid=483&idmid=4 (Accessed May 1st, 2009) 6. 2007, â€Å"10 cong dung noi bat nhat cua tra doi voi suc khoe†[online] Available at URL http://blog. 360. yahoo. com /blog-9mJ_aP8yd6QAK2zDNjFeXQbe3Q–? cq=1&tag=ky-luc (Accessed May 7th, 2009) 7. 2008, Quang Minh, â€Å"Tra xanh C2 : thuong hi? u thanh cong v? i chi? lu? c d? nh gia tham nh? p† [online] Available at URL http://vietnambranding. com/thong-tin/phong-su-thuong-hieu/6554/Tra-xanh-C2–thuong-hieu-thanh-cong-voi-chien-luoc-dinh-gia-tham-nhap (Accessed May 1st, 2009) 8. 2008, Quang Minh, â€Å"Tra xanh khong do-Thuong hieu dan dau can thay do†i (Phan-2) [online] Available at URL: http://vietnambranding. com/thong-tin/phong-su-thuong-hieu/5791/Tra-xanh-khong-do–Thuong-hieu-dan-dau-can-thay-doi-(Phan-2) (Accessed May 5th, 2009) 9. 2007, â€Å"ly thuyet ve ma tran BCG† [online] Available at URL: http://5nam. tvnol. com/marketing/465955. ttvn (Accessed May 3rd, 2009) 10. 2008, Roger Pe, â€Å"C2’s Saga in Vietnam†, [online] Available at URL: http://globalnation. inquirer. net/features/features/view/20080414-130258/C2s-sa ga-in-Vietnam (Ac cessed May 1st, 2009) 11. Philip Kotler, Steward Adam, Linden Brown and Gary Armstrong (2002), Chapter 10: Pricing considerations and approaches, Pearson- Prentice Hall, p. p 355,356. ———————– Extreme convenience Bad promotion campaign Good promotion campaign Extreme inconvenience C2 0 Degree Lipton Pure Green

Child Beauty Pageants Should Be Banned Essay Example

Child Beauty Pageants Should Be Banned Essay Example Child Beauty Pageants Should Be Banned Essay Child Beauty Pageants Should Be Banned Essay Child beauty pageants should be banned Child beauty pageants should be banned because they cause children, especially little girls, to use artificial means to boost their self esteem. People were not born with makeup, spray tans, big hair, and false teeth. Beauty pageants set false rules on beauty. They make children believe they have to wear make-up, jewelry, wigs, fake nails, and other acessories to be beautiful. Every child is beautiful in their own way. Their beauty is natural and they shouldnt have to have anyones opinion on the way they look. Beauty pageants can also cause serious mental and health issues. They can lead to depression, anorexia, suicide, and many other serious issues. Children might starve themselves to lose which could lead to eating disorders. Beauty pageants can cause depression, and depression may later lead to a suicide Children shouldnt be forced to be in pageants. Mothers try to live their dream through their children. Children shouldnt get their lives taken away from them. They only get one childhood, they dont get it back after its over. Any parent placing their child in these types of pageants, based solely on looks, is giving their child the attitude that appearance can get you anywhere in life. It is wrong to teach children that looks are the most important asset to possess. I am not stating that children shouldnt be encouraged to develop a talent or skill, and compete with that talent or skill, I am stating that competing over looks is sending the wrong message to children.

Funny Marriage Quotes

Funny Marriage Quotes Marriages may be made in heaven, but they sure have to be managed right here on earth. Thats easier said than done. Take a dig at the funny side of marriage. These funny marriage quotes are good stress busters. They make you laugh at the banalities of marriage. When you read funny marriage quotes, you realize that even a perfect marriage has its inherent flaws but those flaws add to the charm of marriage. Funny Marriage Quotes Ogden NashTo keep your marriage brimming,With love in the loving cup,Whenever youre wrong admit it;Whenever youre right shut up.Bill CosbyFor two people in a marriage to live together day after day is unquestionably the one miracle the Vatican has overlooked.Patrick MurrayIve had bad luck with both my wives. The first one left me and the second one didnt.Gloria SteinemI have yet to hear a man ask for advice on how to combine marriage and a career.Groucho MarxSome people claim that marriage interferes with romance. Theres no doubt about it. Anytime you have a romance, your wife is bound to interfere.Agatha ChristieAn archaeologist is best husband a woman can have: the older she gets, the more interested he is in her.Milton BerleA good wife always forgives her husband when shes wrong.Zsa Zsa GaborA man is incomplete until he is married. After that, he is finished.Henry YoungmanSome people ask the secret of our long marriage. We take time to go to a restaurant two times a week. A little candlelight, dinner, soft music and dancing†¦ she goes Tuesdays, I go Fridays. Joyce BrothersMy husband and I have never considered divorce... murder sometimes, but never divorce.HomerThere is nothing nobler or more admirable than when two people who see eye-to-eye keep house as man and wife, confounding their enemies and delighting their friends.Rodney DangerfieldMy wife and I were happy for 20 years†¦ then we met.Rita RudnerI think men who have a pierced ear are better prepared for marriage. Theyve experienced pain and bought jewelry.Ogden NashMarriage is the alliance of two people, one of whom never remembers birthdays and the other who never forgets.Lord ByronAll tragedies are finished by a death, all comedies by a marriage.Phyllis DillerWhatever you may look like, marry a man your own age - as your beauty fades, so will his eyesight.Katharine HepburnIf you want to sacrifice the admiration of many men for the criticism of one, go ahead†¦ get married.Joyce BrothersMarriage is not just spiritual communion; it is also remembering to take out the tras h.George LichtenbergLove is blind, but marriage restores its sight.

Discussion--Political and Legal Environment Essay

Discussion--Political and Legal Environment - Essay Example A strong legal framework is necessary to protect the intellectual property of businesses. In places such as China companies are subject to theft of intellectual property due to piracy and counterfeit products. The political environment of a country is as important as the economic environment. It is hard for companies to negotiate incentives and governmental help in places were the governments do not have good relations with corporations. â€Å"The political environment is a key component of the business environment that dictates greatly on the success of your home business† (Bluntpolitics). The regulations of governments can impose barriers that increase the cost of doing business in a country. In the United States the tough environmental regulations are forcing companies in certain industries to leave the country in search for locations with more relax environmental regulations. Labor laws also influence the profitability of a company. Countries with low minimum wages are att ractive for companies that have labor intensive operations. The moral conduct of a country affects the operations of a corporation. In many parts of the world bribing a governmental official is part of doing business. I am completely opposed to bribing others. Bribes are an unethical event that should always be avoided at all costs. Whenever a company gives a bribe to another person or governmental official they will enter into an unpleasant arrangement that could backfire because the person that bribes them might continue to pressure the company for more money. The sub-Saharan African region is the place with the greatest incidence of bribery worldwide (Google). Companies must also protect their intellectual property whenever they are going business outside the United States. It takes a lot of money in research and development to create new products. In the pharmaceutical industry companies spend an average of $359 million to develop a new drug (Ca-biomed). I fully support

Influences Affecting Consumers - Evaluating Basic Marketing Techniques Essay

Influences Affecting Consumers - Evaluating Basic Marketing Techniques - Essay Example The marketers use the trade mark James bond theme so that the people can actually identify the ads from the theme music itself. Stimulus generalization refers to the ability of the individuals to generalize the stimuli. This is mainly used by the smaller brands that mainly deal with â€Å"me too† products. This helps the marketers of the smaller brands to create association with the major brands leading to brand recall and awareness (Brown, 2009). Co-branding is being used by the marketers increasingly now days to develop awareness and stimulate sales. At the most basic level the businesses used this approach to suggest enhancement of the present product lines and on a more complex and sophisticated level co-branding also used to create and position a launch a new product. One of the prime examples could be Adidas and Polar Electro. Both Adidas and Polar Electro created project fusion that integrates heart rate, distance and speed monitoring product into the sports apparel. Apple and Nike developed Sports kit which is a wireless system that allows shows to talk to an iPod. One of the most important changes in the world of marketing has been the proliferation of the brand extensions. Managers mainly use brand extension under the assumption that the brand association such as the quality, ability, status and reliability would affect the extension. One of the major advantages of brand extension is the reduction of new product launch. By launching a new product under the brand name of an established brand helps the marketers as the product due to the established brand name would already have high degree of association. One of the major examples of brand extension is of Bisleri. Originally Bisleri used to be delivered in one little bottle, but recently Bisleri has shown a wave of innovations through extensions. The example above shows how Bisleri was able to add new product by using the concept of product line variation and brand extension. In this

Exploring the connections between the mask of masculinity and the mask Essay

Exploring the connections between the mask of masculinity and the mask of femininity - Essay Example A study of the first chapter ‘Saplings in the Storm’ of Mary Pipher’s Reviving Ophelia and the first chapter ‘Inside the World of Boys: Behind the Mask of Masculinity’ of William Pollock’s Real Boys give an insight into the complex psyche of adolescent girls and adolescent boys in coping with societal expectations and norms. ‘Saplings in the Storm’ and ‘Inside the World of Boys’ approach the same issue from two different perspectives. Both take us back to the world of adolescence. While ‘Saplings in the Storm’ tells us about the distress of adolescent girls, ‘Inside the World of Boys’ presents the struggle of teenage boys. In both the cases the young boys and the girls are trying hard to be masculine and feminine rather than naturally grow up into men and women. A girl has always been an enigma to a boy and vice versa. It is but natural that adolescent girls and boys fall on and off in love. A fantasy soon gives way to disillusionment as one sees the other without the mask. They are in love with the mask which is based on unreal concepts of masculinity and femininity. The adolescent boys and girls pass through the same experience of trying to fit into the mask. They struggle to play a certain role and sink in depression when this unnatural struggle takes a toll on their mental health. Today most of the young girls would go to any extent to be the femme fatale with killer looks and a perfect 10 figure or be that pretty young thing. Sadly enough, this is the recent trend of femininity. Pipher begins her chapter ‘Saplings in the Storm’ with the example of her cousin Polly who gave up her tomboyish and spontaneous self to become a social butterfly only to be accepted by her peers. (Cited in Schmidt et al) Pollock in his ‘Inside the World of Boys’ points out to a similar situation of how boys try to live the myths about masculinity. (Cited in Schmidt et al) Boys don’t cry, boys are tough, boys are

Operations management is very important

Operations management is very important Operations management is concerned with managing inputs through transformation processes to deliver outputs eg: people, materials, technology. It is concerned with managing the resources that directly produce the organizations service or product. It is an important part of any organization. Operations management is very important in business operations since if forms the heart of the organisation by controlling the system of operation. Also it deals with design, operation and improvement of systems that create and deliver a firms primary products and services. Role of Implementer, Operations manager and Drivers: Implementers role is implementing new ideas, finding opportunities, designing, they have dreams and the Operations managers job is to workout their dreams come true. Role of managing operations involves five specific tasks. The operations managers must know overall objectives of the operations like quality, speed, dependability, flexibility, and cost. Improving quality can improve performance against any other objectives. Speed refers to the time it takes to deliver what is required of it. Means doing things quickly this can be achieved through rapid suppliers and effective control of work. Dependability covers how reliable the organization keeps promises to its customers. This can be achieved through an efficient scheduling system, reliable equipment and motivation. Flexibility concerns how quick the operation can change to meet demands and the finances consumed refers cost. Cost involves doing things cheaply by getting the right mix of resources and facilities providing good produc ts and services at low cost which can be achieved through increased capacity utilization, reduced overheads and higher productivity. It is the responsibilities of operations manager to undertake responsibility for begin involved in design, inventory management, customer service and the delivery processes. Thus operations managers have to know how the operations activities fare under this calculation. Managers have to understand what operation has to be go at in their particular environment. What operations has to be good at is usually delivering to the right quality, at the right speed, keeping its promises, providing appropriate flexibility and incurring the lowest feasible costs. Managers have to understand what their operation has to be good at in their particular environment. Drivers role is to workout the calculations of managers. They are involved in manufacturing products, loading it from warehouses to retailers, distributing. Infact they are making money for the organisation and the benefits company gains from these are good reputation and remuneration in the industry. A good communication between operations and these functions will help to make the organisation run smoothly. Importance of effective operations management is that it is able to produce professional managers capable of fulfilling strategic roles within business and government enterprises. Like marketing and finance, operations management is a functional field of business with clear management responsibilities. Reliance Communications Limited(RCOM) founded by the late Shri Dhirubhai H Ambani is the leading company of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, listed in the National Stock Exchange(NSE) and the Bombay Stock Exchange(BSE), and is now ranked among the top ten Asian Telecom companies. Reliance Communications is one of Indias foremost telecommunication service providers with more than 85 million customers. Services including national and international long distance calls and broadband services along with a wide range of value-added services and other applications. Companies Vision is to execute projects to facilitate leading edge communication and services affordable to all individual consumers and to offer value to create more customer satisfaction and to improve entire business of the enterprises and individuals whom they serve. Having achieved immense growth, the main challenge of RCOM is to improve quality of service and also its enterprise business is also not in a position to competate with the global giants. Keeping cost in mind, RCOM targets rural customers with new and latest services and cheap prices for mobile Internet access and also BharatNet, Wireless internet service High speed. For this, RCOM had offered internet access for just Rs 98/- per week with up to 350MB of downloads. Keeping dependability and flexibility in mind, they started expanding rural services with new Grameen VAS. Grameen VAS services met the local needs of rural mobile consumers in over 500,000 Indian villages. All these shows companies thrust into the vast po tential. Grameen VAS will be an essential part of their daily lives. It covers several specialised services including Agriculture, Animal husbandry, Weather Forecast, Local info, mHealth, mCommerce and Community Messaging. These services can be accessed via different modes i.e. Voice Portais, SMS, Data(R-World) etc. Just Rs.15/- is charged per month for Grameen VAS inorder to increase its adoption. Machine to Machine Applications (M2M), which are some mobile applications used for surveillance, automation, data gathering and remote monitoring. Its role for rural market includes Irrigation Automation services, monitoring water level, data gathering for agriculture co-operatives milk, soil analysis, fisheries and poultry. Reliance communications, as per its expansion plan has aimed to become one of the single largest wireless networks in the world, covering 1000 million Indians or more than 20% of the worlds population. Also it has a plan to cover 25,000 towns and every single Indian with a population of over 1,000. â€Å"Driving Internet penetration across the country beyond cities is the main priority of Reliance Communications† Reliance Communications, Indias biggest dual network operator and one of the largest telecom operators has won in introducing major techniques aimed at growing the mobile telecom and internet penetration almost everywhere in Rural India. For this they had introduced three initiatives i.e. BharatNet plan, Grameen VAS M2M (Machine-to-Machine) solutions. RCOM achieved this exponential growth through innovative planning and through ground breaking services and offerings in tariffs. The company was the pioneer one to break the Rs 1,000/- entry-barrier with the launch of the lowest cost handset at Rs 777. With this range of price, they plan to appeal with both, heavy and casual users. One India- One tariff plan helped millions to connect across any where in India at just one rupee per minute and Grameen VAS with just Rs 15/- a month. In six years, the company has achieved that much success in making mobile telephone affordable to millions of Indians which was the key driver of Indias enhanced rural tele-density from 1.5% in March 2003 to 15% in May 2009. Reliance communications network has already covered almost 100% of rail routes, providing clear radio, voice and video and internet connectivity to 14mn commuters each day. Recently covered mostly 100% of all highways, national and 84% of all state, helping millions of consumers the strength to talk, sms, surf net, play, chat stay in touch with the whole length of Indias 2 lakh km road networks. RCOM, introduced a new generation, integrated wire line and also wireless, voice, data and video digital network which is able for providing best services, covering over 20 thousand towns and 500 thousand villages. Company operates and owns the worlds largest next generation infrastructure of IP enabled connectivity, comprising over 1lakh 75 thousand kilometers of optic cable systems (fibre) in India, USA, Europe, Middle East and the Asia Pacific region. Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group currently has a worth in excess of Rs. 64,000 crore, cash flows of Rs. 13,000 crore and profit of Rs. 8,400 crore. The company, which has a customer base of over 85 million including over 2.2 million overseas customers, ranks among the Top 5 Telecom companies in the world by number of customers in a single country. On rural basis, the Indian telecom wireless rural subscriber base is now over 125 million. The next wave of telecom growth is emerging from rural parts of India, with a rural base which is expec ted to be double in preceding years. MICROSOFT: Resources, tools and systems are essential part of any business process which when work co-related paves the way to success of any company. Resources: The term ‘resources refer to a group of systems organised together in a proper manner. Various elements which comes together and also which comes to an end. For eg: Management resources, Planning resources. Business resources are usually grouped under several categories like Financial Resources which concerns the ability of the business to finance its strategy. Human resources, which include assessment of factors like existing staffing resources, changes required resources. Physical resources include information technology, production and marketing facilities. Intangible resources that include intellectual property, good will, brands, reputation. A business process can be divided into sub processes which are concerned with customer satisfaction. Tools: An Organization of functionally interactive units for the achievement of a common goal, a group of interacting, interrelated, social, economic, political, organizational form or interdependent elements forming a complex whole or a set of objects. The phenomenon grouped together for classification or analysis, an organized and coordinated method, a procedure or a set of interrelated ideas or principles. Tools are all objectives of systems. Analytic tools, system tools, diagrammatic tools eg: word, excel, power point, Internet explorer are all tools of Microsoft. Design tools of Microsoft include Deep Zoom Composer, Expression studio. Development tools and languages includes visual studio, visual FoxPro, Microsoft Robotics, Windows SDK. System: A system which can be used to find the facts how good you are in meeting standard and keeping everyone happy, an organized way to find how good you are in satisfying the customers meeting the quality and customers satisfaction. Production or Technical systems are concerned with the accomplishment of the basic tasks of the organization like production of goods and services etc. Supportive systems are the systems which obtains the inputs and dispose of the outputs of the production subsystem. For eg: The supervisor program or OS on a computer. A network of related computer software, hardware and data transmission devices. All systems have inputs, outputs and feedback and maintain a basic level of equilibrium. For eg: in the human body the heart functions to support the circulatory system, the type of traffic system which prevails in India. Microsoft Office System delivers a powerful collection of integrated programs, tools, servers, technologies and services that will help its developers build business solutions and connect people one another and to information. Microsoft Office System, Office 2003, 2007 is some of them. Quality audit systems: A good management system cant function without adequate audits and reviews. The system reviews, needed to be carried out periodically and systematically, to ensure that the system achieves the required effect, audits are carried out to make sure that actual methods are adhering to the documented procedures. Auditing means checking the standards. A quality management system review should be instituted every twelve months, with the aims of ensuring that the system is achieving the desired results or not, revealing defects or irregularities in the system, checking on all levels of management, uncovering danger area, to verify that corrective action procedures are effective. Guidance on quality management system audits is given in the international standard ISO 10011. The assessment of a quality system against a particular standard or set of requirements by internal audit and review is known as a first-party assessment or approval scheme. If an external customer ma kes the assessment of a supplier against either its own or a national or international standard, a second-party scheme is in operation. The assessment by an independent organization, not connected with any contract between customer and supplier, but acceptable to them both, is known as an independent third-party assessment scheme. Implementation of System Quality in Microsoft: When we implement system quality, its best to start with a plan. Software quality, by definition, is the degree to which software possesses a desired combination of attributes [IEEE 1992]. Therefore, to improve system quality, we must focus our attention on software-quality attributes. Ultimately, there are only a few system quality attribute primitives to which all system qualities can map. It includes Agility, Flexibility, Interoperability, Maintainability, Reliability, Performance, Reusability, Scalability, Testability and Usability. We must come up with our own set, so that we can clearly communicate with the stakeholders how system quality will affect our architecture decisions. There are a few system qualities that contributed to this positive experience, such as maintainability and testability, but there is one system quality that stands out, System flexibility. Quality culture is basically in corporation of quality in the overall system of an organization which leads to a positive internal environment and creation of delighted customers. A changed mindset at all the levels of management is the basic tool for implementation of such a culture. As the process of starting quality culture begins with managers who know the value of the systems view and also its believe in its implications. In order to create such a culture a changed mindset is essential and it is achieved through self realization at the top or through workshops and trainings. In other words, a quality culture is the organizational capability, its habits and benefits that enable it to deliver and design services and products that can meet customer needs and be successful in the market place for a long term. Microsoft awoken to the realization that its customers would be better served by actually being able to use their computers without having to pay for extra third party software to protect them. Punctuality is a must as all know in every organisation. We have to identify key perform indicates eg: employing good employees, Communicate with the employees, taulk with them, check if they accept that quality culture. Monitoring System-Quality Attributes: According to the plan to define the metrics of system quality and to monitor and track them throughout the software-development life cycle. The purpose of using metrics is to reduce subjectivity during monitoring activities and providing quantitative data for analysis. Any good system architecture has quality requirements, so this is a good place to start. For explaining this, consider flexibility, which is a specific system-quality attribute that consider very important in delivering agility to the business and IT stakeholders. Quality of service (QoS) System requirements; the solution architect is responsible for the integrity of the solution, and poorly defined system requirements can lead to confusion and it will result in a poor quality solution. To mitigate this, ensure that system requirements include QoS requirements specifically for those which are correlated to the prioritized system quality attributes. First build high quality software. Secondly, leverage the industry practice that guide solution architects to build high quality software systems. Last, build a plan for implementing system quality into the solution and avoid optimizing for all quality attributes. Prioritizing the quality attributes and focus attention on the top three. Ideally, it will improve the chances of software which will last and can reap long term benefits by improving customers. Reference: Les Galloway, Frank Rowbotham, and Masoud Azhashemi, 2000, Operations Management in context. First edition by (ISBN: 0750642807). Published by Butterworth-Heinemann, 2000. From given notes. http://www.scribd.com http://www.rcom.co.in/webapp/Communications/rcom/Media/press_release_detail.jsp?id=349 http://www.answers.com/topic/system http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd409094.aspx http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb402962.aspx http://www.blurtit.com/q165042.html http://www.asqlongisland.org/seminars/The_New_Quality_Culture.pdf http://www.cafeid.com/art-newms.shtml