Marketing Considerations and Plans Essay

McDonald is one of the most internationally recognizable companies within the hospitality industry. Although I have not worked with McDonald ever, I am quite familiar with it as one of closest friends has been working with the marketing team of this restaurant chain for last four years. He keeps telling me about his company, how it runs its business so that it can maintain its top position within the fast food sector world wide. Apart from listening to my friend about his company, I also do research on McDonald by reading stories relating to McDonald published in various magazines, newspapers and on various websites as I am a fond of McDonald food staffs and love this fast food restaurant chain. McDonald Corporation listed in New York stock exchange has emerged as one of the world’s largest chain of fast food restaurants. It is most popular for its hamburger. Its customer base is so huge that worldwide it sells its products to around 47 million people on daily basis. The menu of McDonalds includes various sorts of burgers like hamburgers, cheese burgers etc. , products made of chicken, different sorts of breakfast items, French fries, various kinds of shakes, desserts and soft drinks. Mcdonald’s, however, quite often gets criticized over the healthiness of its products. These products are considered to be one of the important factors which are taking active part in increasing obesity in the western countries. The company, however, has made some effective measures in response to the rising obesity trend in the western countries and the criticism over the healthiness of its signature products. It has made some modifications to its menu by introducing several healthy food items like different types of salads, wraps and fruits. In spite of getting criticized over the healthiness of its products and having increasing competition within the industry, McDonald has been able to maintain its strong position within the industry it operates in. Its popularity has not decreased. Thus it would be quite interesting to look at the sources of its competitive advantage which have helped it to win the competition. In order to examine the sources of competitive advantage of McDonald, the strengths of the company will be analyzed in detail as strength of any company can be defined as a distinctive competence of the firm that gives it a competitive advantage in the market place. A firm can gain its strength from its financial resources, the image of its brand, leadership quality within the market and buyer-supplier relationships. (Competitive advantage, 2010; Ghosh, et al. n. d) In case of McDonald’s, its biggest strength is its brand image. Since McDonald’s is one of the most known chains of fast food in the world, its brand recognition seems to be its biggest strength. Its marketing campaign always focuses on brand recognition through continuous promotion of the brand name. Through its extensive marketing campaign world wide the company has been able to create an image in the people’s minds and introduce them to the fast food culture. Its customer base ranges from kinds to old generation. It has nearly 30,000 branches in as many as 120 nations across the world. However, 80 percent of its revenues are generated from the market of eight countries including US, UK, Japan, Australia, Canada, France, Brazil and Germany. The company has been able to expand its stores on the basis of three core strengths- cleanliness, delivery speed and customer care. McDonald has created a corporate symbol and through its highly successful marketing campaigns all round the world it has been able to develop a brand image and establish its logo in the minds of the people across the world. People are attracted to this logo and brand image and this attraction brings them to the stores. Although a number of competitors have emerged in the fast food industry, its rigorous marketing campaigns which are based on the company’s internal resources, external conditions and its relations with its shareholders have been able to strongly maintain its brand value in the market. (Ghosh, et al. n. d; Vijayarani, n. d. ) The brand name will not work in longer run unless brand value is mixed up with high quality product value. In order to obtain and maintain a strong position in the market, every company needs to use an appropriate marketing mix and product occupies one of the most significant positions within the marketing mix. Product value has been one of the greatest strengths of McDonald’s. When a customer enters into a McDonald’s store he/she know what to expect. The company places huge importance on its human resource and takes appropriate steps to satisfy it customers as well as its employees. As far as the product related issue is concerned, the company is also found to be quite innovative in introducing new products according to changing trends and tastes of the people. Not only that, it also offers different menu to the people living in different countries according to their tastes and the country’s culture. Fro example, in India it offers a menu which is completely different from its international offerings. In the stores situated in India, it has eliminated ham, mutton and beef burgers from the menu. India is found to be the only country where McDonald offers vegetarian menu. Which is more interesting is sauces, cheese etc, are also completely vegetarian in India. In India according to changing taste and preference of the customers, it has introduced Chicken Maharaja Mac. Thus the biggest strength of McDonald lies in the fact that it brings an internationally reputed brand with high class food quality and brilliant customer specific product features. This strength provides the company with huge competitive advantage. Vijayarani, n. d. ; Ghosh, et al. n. d) Till now only the sources of competitive advantages of McDonald have been discussed. But in order to survive amidst strong competition a company has to possess sustainable competitive advantages. Hence, it is now the time to look into sustainable competitive advantages of McDonald’s. For a company, its sustainable competitive advantage can be defined as the advantage which seems to be difficult or unfeasible for other co mpanies to own or infiltrate. The brand value, cost structure, vibrant customer care or its patent can be considered as sustainable competitive advantages for a company. An advantage should be considered as sustainable advantage only if the advantage has a distinct character or it is proprietary in nature. The sources of sustainable competitive advantages for McDonald’s can be as follows: ( Reidenbach and Goeke, 2006; Vijayarani, n. d) – In order to build sustainable competitive advantage there should be a good integration and coordination between the company’s managerial and organizational process. If such integration takes place then there would be created the essential value as everyone will be chasing a common goal. In order to develop sustainable competitive advantage an organization is required to learn and introduce changes according to the need of the time and it should always be flexible towards changes that takes place in the external environment of the company, such as changes in customer’s taste and preferences, changes in government or legal restrictions, and development in the areas of technology. For McDonald’s, one of the principal reason behind surviving within current market competition is that the company is placing its focus on sustainable competitive advantages by making efforts to integrate organizational behavior with managerial expertise. McDonald’s, however, did not recognize the need of building sustainable competitive advantage previously. Earlier McDonald’s used to ignore this advantage as it was more interested in expanding its outlets across the globe than focusing on its core advantages. As a result of it, the company did not experience any massive change in its revenues with opening up of new outlets. In fact, it suffered huge loss unless it recognized the importance of building sustainable competitive advantage. The company was right in detecting the need of the hour and bringing about changes in its management process in order to possess completive edge over its competitors. ( Lamb et al. 2008; Levy and Weitz, 2001) – A company can obtain an excellent position in the market through its financial, structural, and technological assets. All these assets significantly help in building sustainable competitive advantage for an organization. McDonald’s has been able to obtain a strong position in the market by its abundant financial resources along with plentiful structural and technological assets. Since 2003, the company has started to concentrate on identifying and implementing these assets in right direction that would bring improvement to the company. Thus these assets build one of the greatest advantages for the company. (Lamb et al. 2008; Levy and Weitz, 2001) Apart from all these, the vision and mission with which the company started its journey can be considered as one of the biggest competitive advantage fro McDonald’s. McDonald’s ability to sustain its dream over the years has provided it with a huge competitive advantage over its competitors. When a brand revolves around its vision in order to sustain and work in lieu with it, this results in developing significant sustainable competitive advantage for the brand. The McDonald’s started its business in order to help those people who did not have much time to cook or were too busy to go to an appropriate restaurant. The vision of McDonald’s was to offer quick service, and high quality food staffs at cheap rate. Over the years the company has been able to sustain this vision. Lamb et al. 2008; Levy and Weitz, 2001) Thus to sum it up it can be said that McDonald’s has been able to implement its best value based strategy by utilizing all its advantages which are unique to it and can not be copied by any of its competitors and thus it has build its competitive advantages which the company has been able to sustain over the years.

Hinduism: Samsara

Samsara is a Sanskrit word meaning the endless cycle of birth, life, death, and rebirth that is considered to be experienced by all humans in the Upanishads and in Buddhism. It is the repeated passingof souls through different worlds. Thus, Samsara is commonly known as â€Å"the wheel of life† in Hinduism. Also, Samsara refers to the general, day-to-day struggles and obstacles man experiences throughout life. Samsara exists in many religions like Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism, Vaishnavism, and other related religions.According to these religions, one has a karmic â€Å"account balance† when he or she reaches death that will determine one’s destiny when a person is reborn. In Hinduism, ego-consciousness of the body and the phenomenal world comes from ignorance of one’s true self. This means that through egoism and personal desire, people are creating the basis for their next life or â€Å"future becoming†. The path of Samsara can only be overc ome by attaining a sense of selflessness and having one’s soul (atman) follow its own version of Samsara†¦repeatedly reincarnating.Samsara is a very interesting concept to me and I am fascinated by the stories I’ve heard from Buddhist friends of mine. I’ve enjoyed the company of my Buddhist friend,Betty, because I’ve learned so much from her as we both have shared our religions with each other†¦ me being muslim and her being Buddhist. Our religions are completely different from one another so I was very curious to know what she believes and how reincarnation and Samsara play a role in her life.I’ve known Betty for over five years and I never thought of her to be a very religious person because she did not throw her religion at people or talk about it all the time. I ended up finding out that she prayed on a daily basis and she was very strong in her religion as a Buddhist. She was always very relaxed and positive, but the best thing about her is how she naturally helped others with no expectation of anything in return. She is so giving and selfless, and it is very humbling to see the things she does for others.She never tries to convert others when religion is brought up like most people do. She is absolutely beautiful as well, and she has very high morals and values that she lives by. She is just a great person and I would always think back at our friendship and appreciate her so much because she is one of my only friends that has not wronged me. One day Bettytold me that the first time she saw her Buddhist monk she felt like she knew him, but could never figure out where from. He was drawn to her and was very interested in her life.She was flattered by this, but she did not understand why he took such major interest in her. After months of talking, she still could not tell where she knew his familiar face from. As her story went on, I found out that the Buddhist monk finally told her why he was so interested in he r personality and the way she lived he life. He told her that she was an angel in the past life that had helped him in a life crisis situation. I was shocked, but at the same time, it made sense considering how great of a person she was and all the beautiful things she did for others.

Hitlers Mistakes essays

Hitler's Mistakes essays The true nature of a mans ability and worthiness is assessed not only by his triumphs but also his failures. Quite often all that is achieved may suddenly be overshadowed by dark clouds of fallacy, occurring lightning fast, and having thunderous repercussions. Through either ineptness, deficiency in character, or just plain bad luck stemming from uncontrollable events, failure is as inevitable as death and occasionally may lead to this unfortunate ending. Adolf Hitler regarded as a man who almost had world domination in the grasp of his ironclad fist, let it slip through his fingers with a compound of irreparable and unjustifiable mistakes which ultimately cost him the war and his life. Within various arenas around the world, he continuously obliterated all hope the Third Reich had on winning the war and expanding its empire permanently. Key blunders, which were detrimental and caused Hitlers downfall, include the hesitation at Dunkirk, the indecision to wage against Great Brita in, and the betrayal of Russia. The disappointment at Dunkirk, although its affects were not felt suddenly, was distinctly the afternoon that Hitler lost the war. British and French officials noticing the devastating force Germany was becoming after recent victories in Poland and the mutual non-aggression pact signed with military mass Russia, proclaimed war against their sworn enemy. France was amply prepared for their neighbouring rival, protecting their borders with the Maginot Line a series of concrete structures costing France $ 1 billion and consuming over 26 million cubic feet of cement. In an outstanding strategic move, the German generals anticipated the resistance that would be encountered in a foreshadowed attack, and made their way through the Ardennes Forest, thought by the French to be impenetrable, especially by armour units. The swift declaration of B...

How to Get a Girlfriend in College and Keep Her

How to Get a Girlfriend in College and Keep Her Dating is one of the main concerns students have (besides studying of course), and sometimes it becomes a real struggle. How to find a girlfriend? How to make a good impression on her? How to make this relationship work? These are key questions that might occur in your head. We will try to answer these questions in our guide on how to meet a girl and build a relationship with her that will be actually deep for both of you. Find Inner Confidence Make the first move Many guys feel nervous and act awkward around girls. Its normal because not everyone has the strength to approach and talk to a girl. Most of the time we can see a guy in a high school or college who is staring in admiration at a girl from a distance. That seems creepy to onlookers. Please, dont do that. If you saw a girl who you find attractive in the class or in the library or any other place, come up to her. Or, find her on social media and text her if youre shy. Its the most difficult part because it implies leaving your comfort zone, but its actually a necessary step. Otherwise, you can wait for a girl to come up to you first for a very long time. Show her that you actually exist. Dont take it too seriously Be confident and think about this situation as a part of your life experience. You have nothing to lose, even if she rejects you. Dont make a drama out of the whole situation. Eventually, she is just a person too. So, take a deep breath, calm your nerves and come up to introduce yourself. Dont try to pretend like you dont care and approach her in the sake of curiosity or boredom only. A lot of guys do that to hide their feelings and then wonders â€Å"How to get a girl to like you?† Actually, after such a move, its pretty hard to change a girls opinion. First Meeting Its hard to evaluate the perfect scenario for an acquaintance. In movies, we can see beautiful scenes of a girl in college dropping books down and a guy helping her out. Even though it might happen to you, dont actually count on such a situation. There are a lot of places where you can meet a girl in college. You can start with a compliment or a joke. Or simply introduce yourself in a polite manner. Dont stare at her like youre a crazy man. Smile and speak to her about: College courses Professors Movies and shows Favorite books Hobbies Friends Pay attention to the topics she has a lot to say on. For example, if you are talking about the new microscope that you have bought, and a girl is just nodding her head in reply, try to change the subject. Ask her about her day or what she is doing on the weekend. The best thing for you will be to take her phone number or find her on social media. If you dont speak in person, but via phone or text messages instead, you will feel less anxious. Develop Trust The more you talk to a girl and build trust with her, the deeper relationship you can develop with her. Its not only about being honest but also about making her feel comfortable and safe with you. Show her that she can tell you about her worries and you can give her valuable advice. Avoid keeping secrets and make your intentions clear. A lot of girls are not ready for serious relationships, so you have to understand and appreciate that. Dont hide your feelings. Let her know how you feel. Caution: Remember that lying to your partner is the main reason why couples split up. Be a Good Listener If a girl feels that she can share her secrets with you and speak freely about everything in the world, its a good sign. Be a good listener. Pay attention to what she tells you about her family and friends, studying and job. The more you know about her, the better communication you will have. Try to remember significant information and show her that you understand her and can relate to her problems. Be Positive No one likes moody individuals. When you talk about your problems too much, it makes a bad impression on everyone around you. Its much better when a person you communicate with can feel that you are glad to have this conversation at the moment. Keep a good mood and try to cheer up a girl if shes having a bad day. Unlike the grumpy cat, you wont seem cute when you are not in a good mood. Make an Effort When you have a relationship, you have to put some effort to make it last and prevent from burning down. When you continuously have no time for conversation or dates, it makes you look like a person who doesnt care. A relationship is a constant compromise. You have to understand that managing your schedule to find time for your girlfriend is as essential as giving her time to be on her own. A person needs to have space and time for other things besides a partner. For example, the social circle of her friends or family. Find a balance between being too intrusive and too indifferent. Be polite, confident and caring. These are the most essential components of a long and deep relationship.

A Critical Comparison Between Clt English Language Essay

A Critical Comparison Between Clt English Language Essay In the case of communicative language teaching, students do not know how to communicate using appropriate social language they have studied, so teachers need to engage them in all sorts of activities like: role playing, problem-solving tasks, discourses and so on, in order to practice some real-life communication problems with one another. As for the direct method, teachers who use it think that a student has to learn how to think in the target language and then to be able to communicate successfully with others. They also think that students need first of all to associate the meaning with the target language. In order to do this, they use in class pictures, pantomime, sounds, gestures and so on, without translating a word into the student’s native language. In the direct method students learn how to speak when they are given some real situations like the following: they are in England and they have to go shopping. They have no food and only some clothes for the summer and th ey have to handle this particular situation where they have to speak to the cashier and to the shop assistants. The teacher and the learner’s roles in CLT and DM method : The direct method was established in Germany and France around 1900 and the communicative language teaching began in Britain in the 1960s as a replacement to the earlier structural method, called Situational Language Teaching. Both methods resemble in the fact that they refrain from using the learners’ native language and just use the target language. Their oral communication skills are built up in a carefully and progressive, they are both organized around question-and-answer exchanges between teachers and students in small but quite intensive classes. To the extent of learning a foreign language through the communicative language teaching, students need to have some knowledge about linguistic forms, meanings, structures and functions. The teacher is the developer or the promoter of student’s learning abilities. He manages all the activities in the classroom and he answers all the student’s questions, he is engaged in the conversations and he supports them all along. On the other hand, with the direct method, the teacher uses first some evidence, he shows his students pictures, he has the role to make them understand the meaning of things; he explains them facts with the use of pantomime and so on. One of the most conclusive characteristics of the CLT method is that all the activities are done communicatively and when they end, they also receive a feedback. Some other characteristics of this method are: the use of authentic materials, activities done in small groups of people, interaction between students is favored, etc. Same goes for the direct method too, the materials used (pictures, books, posters, bills, tickets and so on) should be authentic, to make students acquire new vocabulary words or phrases correctly in the target language. When a goal of these meth ods is to teach students grammar or the ability to produce sentences structurally correct in a language, the direct method comes with an inductive approach (i.e. having learners find out rules through the presentation of adequate linguistic forms in the target language) same goes for the communicative approach where students formulate the rules themselves (inductive learning) rather than teachers (deductive learning). Learners should not be overwhelmed with linguistic terminology (Brown, 2001), grammar rules will be clearer and be remembered better if they are taught in digestible segments bearing the cognitive process in mind.

Healing hospital paradigm Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Healing hospital paradigm - Essay Example Healing hospitals avail a healing culture that aids patients to feel safe and comfortable. For instance, Mercy Gilbert Medical Centre focuses on delivering a healing facility, reinforced by a healing environment and healing culture grounded in three essential elements, namely: a healing physical milieu, the incorporation of work plan and environment, and a tradition of radical loving care. A Healing Physical Environment This concept dwells on healthcare personnel care for patients, in addition to the manner, in which healthcare personnel connect with the patient’s families and other caregivers. This encompasses developing an empathetic, affectionate, and gratifying setting that is calm and stress free. As a result, the loving, calm, and satisfying environment enables the patients and their families to manage tension accompanying their infirmity (Chapman, 2003). Hospitals should promote a serene environment that is free from physical turbulence such as strange sound or dull arr angement of hospital settings. The Integration of Work Design and Technology This element details the combination of work design and technology allows the medical providers to carry out their tasks more proficiently, besides providing confidentiality and security to the patients. The implementation of sophisticated technology aids in facilitating and sustaining a healing environment (Hutchinson, 2011). A Culture of Radical Loving Care This philosophy facilitates and reinforces the healing of patients through an all encompassing orientation that satisfies the patient’s bodily, psychological, and spiritual needs. Healing Hospital Paradigm Relationship to Spirituality Spirituality  infers an individual’s experience of meaning and purpose in life, a sense of association with people and things in the world. Healing is mainly spiritual, intangible, and experiential, comprising of integration of body, mind, and spirit (Puchalski & McSkimming, 2006). The integration avails t he individual with a sense of peace. Spirituality encompasses a belief system centering on intangible elements that convey vitality and meaning to life’s events. Spirituality is one of the significant factors that positively influence a patient’s potential health since the body, mind, and spirit work as one. Individuals are cared for and afforded support for not only their medical well being, but also their emotional and spiritual health. Challenges of Creating a Healing Environment Healthcare personnel mainly  diagnose and treat diseases, and may possess few skills on how to respond to the spiritual side of the patients. Furthermore, ethical practice demands that the physicians refrain from impinging their beliefs on patients. Acting within the boundaries of medical ethics, while responding to the spirituality of patients, may be a significant challenge to healthcare personnel. Similarly, the American culture of religious pluralism provides a broad range of belief s ystems and the physicians may not be expected to comprehend all the beliefs systems and practices of the diverse faith communities. Other challenges reported involve developing strategies to aid healthcare providers to differentiate spiritual care from  excellent customer service. There is a thin line between customer service

Consumption in Wall-E Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Consumption in Wall-E - Essay Example Consumption is often thought of in regard to food; the act of hoarding food to the point of becoming overweight. Though this holds true in Wall-E and plays an essential role in the story, consumption can also mean the obtaining of consumer goods. Similar to hoarding food, this definition of consumption means to hoard consumer items, such as electronics or other material possessions, until there is simply too much of these items. In Wall-E, consumption is seen in both of these ways. The humans displayed in the film are overweight due to food consumption and are in the position of not being able to live on Earth because of mass consumption of consumer goods while they were living on the planet. Wall-E uses the conditions of the people and the Earth to show the message of how serious consumption can be and how close we are to following some of the actions seen in the movie. The film opens up to reveal an empty, trash-filled Earth. Due to mass consumption, which essentially took over the Earth, the extensive litter left behind made the air toxic, therefore making the Earth uninhabitable to people. Until the Earth is cleaned and habitable once again, the humans live on a spaceship hovering above the Earth. Far from being concerned about the state of their home, the humans lounge happily away in chairs that take them to whatever part of the craft they want to go to. They have all of the food that they could want, making it easy for them to gorge themselves to an unhealthy weight. These people let consumption get the better of them, resulting in a decline in health and control over their lives. Instead of learning their lesson about what took place on Earth, they continued to consume now that they had a new place to do it. The people in Wall-E, as well as the condition of the Earth, reveal how important we allow products to be in our lives. People have been known to throw away all of their money just so that they can have the newest top-of-the-line cell phone. A month later, when a newer model comes out, that first model goes in the trash and the new one is bought. The cycle continues, gradually covering our world with garbage, which is all due to our need of having stuff. More products are being created and thrown out than we can keep up with. We begin to think less of ourselves, less of our surroundings, and more about the wonderful toys and gadgets that we can get our hands on. People would rather risk being unhealthy and living in a dirty world than giving up even a single material possession. We no longer allow ourselves and our world to define us; our products and our need to have as much stuff as possible is what defines who we are. The world may be polluted, but we do not mind that as long as we have our cell phones. We have become both masters and slaves to material possessions. We are masters in the sense that we create products to do what we want them to do, which usually includes having them be capable of completing a task that makes our lives easier and less busy. We control what these products can do. On the other hand, we have become so consumed by material possessions that we are also slaves to them. We have allowed them to take over our lives to the point where many of us are willing to admit to it, yet refuse to do anything about it. We may be slaves to them, but they seem to be doing us so much good. This is where it tends to get confusing; we believe these products are