Business of Data Warehousing Foundations Essay Example for Free

Business of Data Warehousing Foundations Essay Executive Summary mySupermarket is a grocery shopping and comparison website which aims to provide customers with the best price for their shopping. This report examines how data warehousing provided mySupermarket with the foundation in which to build a successful enterprise, and allowed a subsequent expansion into the ‘business intelligence’ sector. The research draws attention to the problems and limitations that mySupermarket encountered including; coping with diverse sources of data streams, customer loyalty issues, achieving real-time data, data integrity and generating a sustainable revenue stream. These problems were tackled respectively through; building their own data warehouse, adopting a CRM strategy underpinned by their warehouse, adopting Microsoft’s SQL software, supermarket website ‘crawling’, offering ‘targeted’ advertising space and the realisation that the granularity of detail they offered, would allow them to expand into the ‘business intelligence’ sector. The report appreciates the importance of storing data, but concludes that data itself is the prerequisite to success, and that good management is needed to convert this data into meaningful information. It is therefore a combination of data warehousing and good management that has enabled mySupermarket to become a successful venture. Introduction â€Å"On the 31st August 2006, entrepreneur Johnny Stern received a seven-figure sum from investors to transform the way consumers shop for their groceries. From this, the price comparison site mySupermarket.co.uk was born and the company has utilised data warehousing to give consumers access to cheaper grocery shopping. The venture has not been without its problems, however four years on the company has withstood Adam Smith’s ‘Invisible Hand’[1] and grown into a c. £10m company† mySupermarket is a grocery shopping and comparison site that allows customers to compare and shop from four main UK supermarkets in one central place. Their mission statement is â€Å"to get the best possible price for your supermarket trolley while enjoying an easier and more consumer-friendly shopping experience†. Through the use of SQL and data warehousing, mySupermarket is able to collect product pricing, promotion and availability data directly from retailers websites. It then uses its proprietary technology to match identical Stock Keeping Units (SKUs) across retailers. After initial investment from Greylock Partners and Pitango Venture Capital (investors in Facebook LinkedIn), mySupermarket have faced the same difficulties as other price comparison sites in generating a sustainable revenue stream after Stern declared that â€Å"the portal would remain free in principle for shoppers†. The customer proposition for mySupermarket is to first log into their account. Then choose which supermarket to shop at from; Asda, Ocado/Waitrose, Sainsbury or Tesco. Tick their preferred supermarket and choose a delivery time/date, then start to shop. mySupermarket is updated on a daily basis so that the prices shown are the most competitive. Once the customer has made their choice of store, they start to shop by using the tabbed choices along the top of the page. These are divided up into virtual aisles so making a choice from Fruit and Veg, Meat, Fish Poultry, or Drinks etc. Once shopping has been completed, it then shows basket prices across the four supermarkets and allows the customer an opportunity to switch supermarkets. This report will critically discuss how data warehousing has enabled mySupermarket to build a successful business model including the benefits and problems that have arisen from the use of this technology. The report will finally analyse the extent to which data warehousing has contributed to mySupermarket’s success. Technologies Discussed According to Bill Inmon[2] (1993) data warehousing can be defined as, â€Å"a  subject-orientated, integrated, time variant and non-volatile, collection of data in support of the management decision making process†. It is, in essence, a large data storage facility which enables an enterprise to gain a competitive advantage through analytics and business intelligence. Providing integrated access to multiple, distributed, heterogeneous databases and other information sources has become one of the leading issues in database research and industry, IEEE Computer (1991) which can be seen through the success of First American Corporation (FAC), Cooper et al (2000) and Tesco/Dunnhumby, J. Perry (2009). Data mining is the process of ‘digging-out’ patterns from data, usually through Clustering, Classification, Regression and Association rule learning. Data mining technology can generate new business opportunities by providing: †¢ Automated prediction of trends and behaviours. †¢ Automated discovery of previously unknown or hidden patterns D. Champion and C. Coombs (2010) This process is carried out by sophisticated software packages such as Oracle, IBM and SQL. This alleviates the (potentially) very time consuming task of manually inputting and analysing the data Within data warehousing, there is a high importance placed on the quality of data, as without it, meaningful analysis is impossible. Data collection should therefore be taken with a high level of detail, and have solid definitions, as to avoid subjectivity. The purpose of a data warehouse is to support creative strategic decision making through a greater granularity of information with a consistent view of what’s happening. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) emerged in the 1990’s at a time when customers were becoming better informed and less brand loyal. CRM is an integration of technologies and business processes used to satisfy the needs of a customer during any interaction, Bose (2002, p. 89) and is underpinned by data warehousing. As with VISION in the FAC case (2000), the subsequent  benefits of CRM, is that firms are able to exploit the ‘80:20 principle’ which states that some customers are more important/profitable than others. These information sources can only come through data warehousing and data mining. mySupermarket – The Beginning The inspiration for mySupermarket came from Stern’s bargain-obsessed elderly relative; who would scour the aisles of Tesco’s to find his favourite tin of baked beans, jot down the price and travel to competitor stores to try and find a better deal. Stern identified the growing interest in online grocery shopping and felt that it was an area that could be exploited (Fig. 1). Figure 1: Mintel Intelligence – Online Grocery Data Stern spent 18 months before the launch developing the software and tweaking the concept (Fig. 2). Figure 2: Adaption of Martin et al., 2005: 193 The data warehouse was developed through ‘crawling’[3] the four supermarket websites and adding product pricing, promotion and availability data to the warehouse. Once this data was implemented in the warehouse, proprietary technology and SQL software allowed mySupermarket to match identical SKU’s across retailers. This data was also used in developing its CRM strategy through the use of ‘cookies’[4] to store data in the customers computer using the functionality of their browser to find out whether the computer has visited the site before and what SKUs they purchased. â€Å"This enables us to operate an efficient service and to track the patterns of behaviour of visitors to the website.† mysupermarket.co.uk. The feature enables mySupermarket to utilize this information by creating functions such as a ‘Regular Shop’ button, saving customers’ time on their shopping. mySupermarket – Problems Many problems can arise through the use of data warehousing, both technically and commercially. According to Mintel Intelligence (2009), â€Å"Consumer loyalty is fairly low in the [price comparison] market with more than 14 million people (c.58% of market) having used three or more different price comparison sites†. Underlying these efforts was the recognition that, to succeed with this strategy, it must know its customers exceptionally well and leverage that knowledge in website design, service and interaction with their clients. mySupermarket would therefore have to find a strategy to retain a ‘loyal customer base’ in a notoriously disloyal sector. Kimball Ross (2002) state that a common pitfall of data warehousing is to â€Å"presume that the business, its requirements, analytics, underlying data and supporting technology are static† – an early problem mySupermarket encountered was the variation in regional pricing and a growing demand for ‘real-time’ data. Another problem with data warehousing is ensuring the integrity of data, this is typically a human procedure and so subject to human error. Even the most sophisticated data mining systems cannot produce good analysis from poor data. A good illustration of this is from Blastard and Dilnot ‘The Tiger That Isn’t’ where a hospital survey found that an alarming amount of patients were being born on the 11th November 1911. Further investigation showed that nurses often would not fill in patient files properly and to save time, when asked to enter patient D.O.B. they would type 11/11/11 into the database. No matter how intelligent a computer system is, if you put ‘garbage-in’ you will get ‘garbage-out’. Beynon-Davies (2004) states that data warehousing projects are large scale development projects typically taking up to three years to complete. Some of the challenges of such problems may include; selecting, installing and integrating the different hardware and software and also, the diverse sources of data feeding a data warehouse introduces problems of design in terms of creating a homogenous data store. Finally, as with all comparison sites, the major obstacle facing  mySupermarket was generating a sustainable revenue stream from the database they had accumulated. mySupermarket.co.uk did not generate any revenue 5 months after the website went live. Originally, mySupermarket didn’t operate a ‘search advertisement’ scheme (a central platform for companies such as Google eg, BP paying for advertising of their oil spill cleanup when people typed in â€Å"BP Oil Spill† G. Cheeseman, 2010) . There are also no revenue-sharing agreements in place with the four stores whose prices it monitors in effort to remain independent. This, in part, may stem from mySupermarket’s limited market, consisting of ‘a comparison of groceries’. mySupermarket recognised that they would have to expand their focus if they were to generate a large enough turnover to operate a successful business. mySupermarket – Technological Impact The first problem mySupermarket addressed was the industries poor ‘customer loyalty’. They decided to attack this through the implementation of a CRM strategy. After the initial launch, mySupermarket was receiving feedback from customers regarding such things as; healthy options, promotions on offer, printable shopping lists and regular shops. mySupermarket realised that the information stored in their data warehouse could be exploited to meet these demands and increase customer utility. Subsequently, a Health Checker feature was launched based on the Food Standard Authority’s approved traffic light system. In November 2008, the mySupermarket ‘Quick Shop’ function was added, allowing users to type their shopping list on a virtual notepad and find their required items in one go. As delivery slots started running out towards Christmas we also introduced a new print your shopping list feature, which was popular, said Stern. A lot of our shoppers are using the website as a quick way to find the best deals and are then going to the supermarket to make their purchases†. Recent analysis of visits shows mysupermarket.co.uk has a loyal repeat following, with Stern claiming visitors are spending an average of 20 minutes on the site. â€Å"Until recently, there were few viable tools to provide real-time data warehousing nor an absolutely current picture of an organization’s business and customer† J. Vandermay (2001). To combat the problem of achieving  real-time and regional data, mySupermarket used Microsoft’s SQL software[5]. Most data integration solutions focus on moving data only between homogeneous systems and database software. However, SQL integration is capable of moving data among a wide range of databases and systems. It also offers transformational data integration tools to consolidate and synchronize heterogeneous data into a warehouse. This allows consumers to view whether a certain item is in stock in their local store, or view delivery slots for their specific region. This real-time data saves the mySupermarket team having to continually update the warehouse manually. Fortunately for mySupermarket, their website ‘crawling’ technique allows them to take the SKU data directly from the supermarkets themselves. Therefore data will only be wrong, if the supermarket has made the mistake (so would have to sell the item at that price) and so mySupermarket would not be liable. Although Stern took half the time recommended by Beynon-Davies, the warehouse has had to be continuously tweaked since its launch. After its launch mySupermarket noticed a data stream that wasn’t being filtered into the data warehouse – calories. After the realisation, mySupermarket were able to add a ‘calorie counter’ function on to the website. For any business to survive, it needs to generate a revenue stream to achieve a sustainable cash flow:mySupermarket were able to negotiate with supermarkets a commission of  £5 for every ‘first-time buyer’ that shops through their site and  £1 every time thereafter. Other sources of revenue came from the use of advertising, which could be split into two different segments on-site and search-related advertising. Marks Spencer (Fig. 3) are one company that has chosen to advertise with mySupermarket.co.uk as the content is relevant and it is independent from the four supermarkets being compared. Advertisers will typically pay $1.00 $1.50 per 1,000 run-of-site impressions for the advertising placement. However, advertisers may pay even more for targeted sidebar advertisements. Search advertisements are targeted to match key search terms entered on the search engine, these products (advertisements) will then appear first in the search. Danone (Fig. 3) has  paid for ad vertisement when the search term ‘yoghurt’ is entered, and so their umbrella brands (eg, Activia) show at the top of the list, increasing its probability of being bought. Figure 3: mySupermarket.co.uk advertising example Due to the amount of data mining available to mySupermarket, an opportunity was identified for expansion, called ‘mySupermarket insights’. It acts as real-time B2B data service for the ‘Fast Moving Consumer Goods’ (FMCG) sector. As mySupermarket has access to SKU by SKU trends, it is able to offer extremely high level, intelligent data. The services it offers include; New Product Development (NPD) alert reports, Online auditing reports, Price comparison reports, Product substitution report and Customer profiling reports (allowing for further use of CRM through ‘cluster analysis’[6]). This sort of information is of high value to companies and a subscription to the service can range from  £5,000  £20,000p.a. (current clients include Kellogg’s, Innocent Smoothies, Nielson and Ella’s Kitchen). Finally, mySupermarket is often contracted by media companies, such as ‘the Independent’ to analyse trends for news stories – J. Burchill (2010). I feel that information is now widely recognised as being one of the key corporate resources, needing to be carefully managed so that it can be effectively utilised in the decision-making process. Timely, accurate and relevant information can only be generated, however, if corporate data is stored in a secure, accessible and flexible manner. The following table provides a summary of the impact that data warehousing technology had for mySupermarket: Figure 6: Technological Impact Summary mySupermarket – Conclusion To conclude, data warehousing has enabled mySupermarket to overcome issues  such as customer retention, real-time data and generating revenue. It really does appear that â€Å"information is key†, whereby data is the prerequisite for information. J. Poole et al. (2003) state ‘ the underlying economic justification is ultimately based on the value a given technology provides to the customers of the computing systems and software products’ and so the determinate of mySupermarket’s success is essentially based on ‘whether people use the technology’ and ‘the value of the company’. Based on an monthly unique user level of 1 million, and 500k registered users turning over c. £10m, we can assume that at this point in time mySupermarket is justified economically. On the other hand, you could argue that mySupermarket is a ‘recession business’ and not a sustainable enterprise. In which case, the rapid growth in recent years could be due to the economic climate and not because there is a long term demand. Looking towards the future, Our investors have international ambitions, Stern said. They see the potential of transporting the model to different markets.† mySupermarket are looking to expand the companys development team to support its entry into Europe and the US. mySupermarket are currently looking for another round of funding to bridge G. Murray’s (1994) second equity gap. Technology firms often require ‘follow on development funding’, as cash is heavily plowed into ‘Prototype testing’ and ‘Research Development’. In terms of an exit, mySupermarket would be very attractive to major FMCG companies such as PG, Unilever and Kraft’s venture arms. I believe that mySupermarket will achieve their second round funding as they are now profitable and have a proven concept that has high growth prospects for the future. Over the past few years there has been a huge growth in the use of ‘numbers’ and ‘analytics’. Businesses are recognising that it is not enough to work harder than the competition; they also have to work smarter. Davenport (2006) argues that it is â€Å"virtually impossible to differentiate yourself from competitors based on products alone† and so to pull ahead of the pack, businesses need to compete on analytics. In which case, ‘mySupermarket insights’ is poised in a perfect position to capitalize on this new thirst for ‘business intelligence’, whereby companies feel that  they will have to subscribe to the service to compete on an even playing field. However, it is not enough to just store data, it has to be managed, analyzed, implemented and utilised to convert raw data into real information. mySupermarket realised the benefits of data warehousing and were able to exploit this, expanding from a mere ‘price-comparison site’ to a ‘business intelligence provider’ to major FMCG companies. I believe that with the current shift towards analytics and business intelligence, mySupermarket has the potential to be a major force in the FMCG sector whilst offering a greater transparency for customers, all of which stems from good management and data warehousing. References: Beyon-Davies, P (2004) – Database Systems, 3rd edition, Palgrave, Basingstoke, pp. 527-538 and 547-553 Bose, R (2002) – Customer Relationship Management: Key concepts for IT success, Vol. 102, No. 2, pp. 89-97 Blastland, M Dilnot, A (2007) – The Tiger That Isn’t: Seeing a World Through Numbers Burchill, J (Aug 2010) – The Independent: So the Prince of Green Hypocrites is going on tour. Thank God Ill be abroad Cooper et al. (2000) – Data Warehousing Supports Corporate Strategy at First American Corporation Vol. 24, No. 4 Champion, D Coombs, C (2010) – Handout: BSC070 Enterprise Information Systems Cheeseman, G (June 2010) – Triple Pundit: Is It Ethical For BP To Buy Oil-Spill-Related Google Search Terms? Davenport, T. H (2006) – Competing on Analytics IEEE Computer (Dec 1991) – Special Issue on Heterogeneous Distributed Database Systems, 24(12) Inmon, W.H. and Kelley, C (1993) – Developing the Data Warehouse. QED Publishing Group, Boston, Massachussetts Kimball, R Ross, M (2002) – The Data Warehouse Toolkit: The Complete Guide to Dimensional Modeling, 2nd edition Martin et al., (2005): 193 – Managing Information Technology 5th Edition, Pearson Education Inc, pp. 192-195 Mintel Intelligence (Oct 2009) Web Aggregators, UK Murray, G (1994) The Second Equity Gap: Exit Problems for Seed and Early Stage Venture Capitalists Perry, J (Nov 2009) – Dunnhumby: A lifetime of loyalty? RetailWeek Poole, J et al. (2003) – Common Warehouse Metamodel: Introduction to the standard for data warehouse integration Smith, A (1959) – ‘The Theory of Moral Sentiments’ Vandermay, J (2001) – Considerations for Building a Real-time Data Warehousea

The Truth In Hard Determinism Philosophy Essay

The Truth In Hard Determinism Philosophy Essay Over the years the problem of free will versus determinism has been a phenomena to philosophers for many years. It has been a huge issue, because without the presence of free will there cannot be morality, no wrong or right, no good or evil. Everyones behavior would be determined before hand and people would have no creativity or choice. Everything one does on a daily basis in ones life somehow involves the process of decision making or choice selection, whether it be mental or physical. From the moment one wakes up to the second one sleeps, decisions and choices are being made. There are some decisions that one makes that are extremely obvious to oneself because of the need of reflecting on the choices before choosing. But most of the decisions one makes throughout the day are made with little thought. Furthermore, many people are mostly unaware that they are making decisions because of preference and habituation. Before continuing further, the terms free will, and determinism must be defined. Free will is the idea that an individual is free to make decisions that are unhindered by external forces. Whereas determinism states that the conditions of a specific moment are the result of from the previous conditions of previous moments. The position that this paper encourages is that of hard determinism. The general hard determinist believes that no human action is free. Paul Holbach was a hard determinist philosopher who wrote an article called The illusion of Free Will. In it he explained how everything one does is caused by things that is beyond ones control. Generally speaking , people are motivated to pursue pleasure and avoid pain, but people cannot help what gives them pain or pleasure. No matter what one does, the endless chain of causes and effects leads ones doing is inevitable. An important example that Holbach used was the poisoned water. It demonstrated that whatever one does they do it for a reason, and that these reasons are simple changes that the brain makes which determines what one chooses to do. Since one cannot control the changes in the brain that causes one to choose what one chooses, then that would mean that no one cannot control their own actions. Hard determinism also gives a more rational perspective of humans and their choices. It focuses on the causes instead of the instant causes for ones actions. Also the implications of being determined are taken more seriously, and it does not make one responsible for the decisions one makes because they are beyond the individuals control. Furthermore, hard determinism tries to take into fact of how people feel that they are free when they really are not. Halbach believed that the main cause of why people think that they make their own decisions is because they are ignorant to the cause and effect chain that determines their behaviors. The motives and causes are just too complex for people to understand them. People do not also naturally question where the causes behind their choices come from, which gives humans the idea of having free will. Moreover, hard determinism has many advantages to it. It could be helpful in courts of law and in the legal system, that is when it would be most convincing . A person who maybe standing on trial may use hard determinism as a defense by stating that the individuals actions were caused by events that occurred in the past which were ultimately beyond the persons control. If hard determinism is successfully persuasive in court, then it should be accepted that both free will and determinism are incompatible. However hard determinism does have its flaws. While soft determinism views that humans are unique, because they possess free will; hard determinism refutes humans that important component that makes humans distinctly different form animals. Humans are also no more free than robots. In addition, it would be wrong to punish a criminal, because they just could not help it; and that would ultimately lead to an unstable society filled with mayhem and troubles. Ultimately hard determinism argues that humans may feel free but it is nothing but a mere illusion, and some people would argue against this and believe that it is free of choice. Continuing on the pros of the hard determinist view, libertarianism brought up many new points to the argument. Libertarianism was about the idea that humans are all free and that free will is not compatible with determinism. Libertarians argue that because one can easily create ones choices it gives one libertarian free will, and that ones choices in the future are undetermined. Furthermore libertarianism has far too many problems and disadvantages. The first disadvantage is that there is scientific data and empirical evidence that proves that humans are psychologically and scientifically determined,(this discovery was made by Skinner, who was also a hard determinist). It is through classical conditioning that human behavior is a response to the stimuli an individual is in or exposed to. Thus, ones decisions are caused the external environment around that certain individual which accounts for ones choice. Eventually, once the psychological evidence is shown, such as operant conditioning and scientific determinism, it becomes a challenge to see how humans are not determined, and that leaves little room for the libertarian perspective to prosper. One other argument against the libertarian perspective of free will and determinism is the explanation that everything has a cause. Where in the natural free word everything that exists is ca used by something; and equivalently ones choices has to have causes and determinism. However a hard determinist philosopher by the name of T. Honderich who wrote an article called A defense of Hard Determinism, disagreed with the libertarian view. He believed that the human mind must be determined, and that the mind should not be separate from the rest of the body, as it has been demonstrated that the mind highly dependent on physical brain activity. Finally, the criticism above has shown that libertarianism is unconvincing and has many poke able holes, as libertarians believe that the mind is in charge of making ones decisions. Ultimately, there are many perspectives that are related to the question of free will being either compatible with determinism or it being incompatible with determinism. From the evidence presented within this paper, hard determinism is the most consistent theory to follow when it comes to the question of free will and determinism. This is because a choice t hat is not under ones control must be determined by something else; and that certain something according to Holbach is either an external or internal force that drives every human being to make certain decisions. Even though it is hard to accept, Holbach explains that humans must accept it because it is the truth. Humans are not free to choose their actions.

Study Of Services Provided By Public And Private Sector Banks Finance Essay

Study Of Services Provided By Public And Private Sector Banks Finance Essay INTRODUCTION Banking in India originated in the last decades of the 18th century. The oldest bank in India is the State Bank of India, a government-owned largest commercial bank in the country. In 1991 banking sector made a remarkable progression. New private sector banks have brought the necessary competition into the industry and acquire the changes towards higher utilization of technology, improved customer service and innovative products. India has 88 scheduled commercial banks (SCBs) 27 public sector banks (stake holding by the Government of India ), 29 private banks ( no government stake; they may be publicly listed and traded on stock exchanges) and 31 foreign banks. They have a combined network of over 53,000 branches and 17,000 ATMs. According to a report by ICRA Limited, a rating agency, the public sector banks hold over 75 percent of total assets of the banking industry, with the private and foreign banks holding 18.2% and 6.5% respectively. Customers are now becoming more conscious of their rights and are demanding more than ever before. The recent trends show that most banks are shifting from a product-centric model to a customer-centric model as customer satisfaction has become one of the major determinants of business growth. Keeping these in mind, an attempt has been made in this study to analyze the factors that are essential in influencing the investment decision of the customers of the public as well as private banks. For this purpose, Factor Analysis, which is the most appropriate multivariate technique, has been used to identify the groups of determinants. This study also suggests some measures to formulate marketing strategies to lure customers towards banks. PROJECT BACKGROUND STATE BANK OF INDIA State Bank of India (SBI) is Indias largest commercial bank. SBI has a vast domestic network of over 9000 branches (~14% of all bank branches) and commands one-fifth of deposits and loans of all scheduled commercial banks in India. The State Bank Group includes a network of eight banking subsidiaries and several non-banking subsidiaries offering merchant banking services, fund management, factoring services, primary dealership in government securities, credit cards and insurance. ICICI ICICI Bank is Indias second-largest bank with total assets of Rs. 3,849.70 billion (US$  82 billion) at September 30, 2008 and profit after tax Rs. 17.42 billion for the half  year ended September 30, 2008. The Bank has a network of about 1,400 branches and 4,530 ATMs in India and presence in 18 countries. ICICI Bank offers a wide range of banking products and financial services to corporate and retail customers through a variety of delivery channels and through its specialized subsidiaries and affiliates in the areas of investment banking, life and non-life insurance, venture capital and asset management. The Bank currently has subsidiaries in the United Kingdom, Russia and Canada, branches in United States, Singapore, Bahrain, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, Qatar and Dubai International Finance Centre and representative offices in United Arab Emirates, China, South Africa, Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. Our UK subsidiary has established branches in Belgium and Germany. ICICI Banks equity shares are listed in India on Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and the National Stock Exchange (NSE) of India Limited and its American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) are listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). PROJECT AIMS AND OBJECTIVES To study whether the customers are satisfied with the services provided by ICICI bank and SBI bank To know about the customer preferences among ICICI and SBI bank To compare over all commitment, pattern of affective, normative and continuous commitment in public and private sector To know about the various promotional tools of Private and Public sectors banks in India To make a comparative analysis of customers perception for promotional strategies of private and public sector banks in India To find out the key promotional tools for banking services on the basis of customers responses The above objectives lead to the following Hypothesis: H1: There is no significant relationship between the educational qualification of the respondents and the reason to choose the service. H2: There is no significant relationship between the occupation of the respondents and the type of service they prefer the most. RESEARCH PROGRAMME THE MARKETING RESEARCH PROCESS: RESEARCH PROBLEM Assessment of consumer perception and behavior in relation with SBI and ICICI bank in Panipat, Haryana. RESEARCH DESIGN AND PLAN The study is both descriptive and exploratory in nature. By descriptive research the extent of difference in the needs perception attitudes and characteristics of customers would be gathered. Diagnostic analysis will be used when customers will be asked questions such as why do you feel that way? Exploratory studies will provide information to use in analyzing a situation. Descriptive research will be used to uncover conclusive evidences to determine a particular course of action. The research design and plan was based on various factors like Method of data collection: RESEARCH METHOD The proposal is basically research oriented and it depends mainly on primary sources of data. It would be acquired through close-ended structured questionnaire in various ICICI and SBI banks covered under the project. The information validity depends upon the ability of the peoples understanding of the questions that is being asked by the researcher. Survey Method: This method would be used to get more detailed information of responders through Questionnaire. Further this is the only method to get the desired information. DATA SOURCES Primary Data: The research would be done with the help of primary data as it requires firsthand information on individual interviews. RESEARCH INSTRUMENT: Research instrument would be a questionnaire as the data is primary. The questionnaire would be designed on the following basis: To know about the customer needs and preferences To find ways to provide them more satisfaction To understand the factors that influence their decision while choose among the different banks SAMPLING: The sample consists of all those persons who either have a bank account in ICICI and SBI or are planning to open it in next few months. For this research we use non-probability sampling. Zikmund (1997) stated that in non-probability sampling, the probability of any particular member of the population being chosen is unknown. The element in the population does not have any probability attached to their being chosen as sample subjects. Snow ball sampling will be applied in this research. Snow ball sampling refers to the procedure that involves the selection of additional respondents based on referrals of initial respondents. Elements: Students, businessmen, Traders, Farmers, Workers, Salesman etc. Extent: Panipat Survey Time: 6 Weeks Sample size: 200 customers are to be questioned. The target population in this research refers to the bank customers who are having an account in SBI bank and ICICI bank due to the convenience in collecting the data. The respondents can be any gender, any income level, any occupation and any education level. Approach: 260 people would be approached SAMPLING PLAN Data would be collected from both public as well as private sources from all department.Accompanying each questionnaire is a letter explaining the general purpose of the study. Participants in the study are entirely voluntary. The researcher is going to collect the data from the ATMS and also by visiting the bank. It would be directly obtained from the customers. DATA ANALYSIS Appropriate statistical analysis will be adopted. The data will be tabulated and analyzed. DELIVERABLES To get the clear view as to which bank is more efficient in focusing on serving their customer by building long term relationships through performance excellence and delivering customer satisfaction. To know about the reliability of the response and provide major requirements by getting feedback on questionnaire. What are the reasons to choose a public bank like SBI? To examine in depth about their loan, ATM and other facilities that attract customers To know why some people choose SBI while other prefer ICICI Both the banks are competing equally with each other. But SBI bank is a bit below the line in customer complaints handling when compared to ICICI bank. The researcher would aim to know where they should focus to attain more and more customers while retaining the older ones at the same time. REVIEW OF LITERATURE Making Government the Best Place to Work: Building Commitment (Belcourt, Professor of Human Resource Management at York University, 2000; and Simon Taggar. Resources Library, internet, journels, magazines.

Azalea Seafood Gumbo Shoppe Essay -- Business Marketing Case Study, so

Azalea Seafood Gumbo Shoppe Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Found in approximately 1000 supermarkets and 300 restaurants, Azalea Seafood and Gumbo Shoppe is among the largest producers of ready-to-eat gumbo with annual revenues in 2000 of more than $1 million. The company's gumbo was their best selling item earning nearly 90% of yearly sales. Although Azalea has a competitive advantage with its tasty gumbo, Azalea is looking to maintain long-term growth and obtain a sustainable competitive advantage. In order increase its profitability, the company needs to consider options to improve its business strategies.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Currently Azalea's facilities are located in a small country side building and many large restaurants do not find it at par with their standards. This causes Azalea to lose sales from businesses like Applebee?s and Cracker Barrel. In addition, major highways for the rapid distribution of their product are not available and easily accessible. Despite the location, Azalea?s owners are satisfied with the new facility and its improved capabilities, compared to that of their old location.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In order to increase sales by 50% and help Azalea to obtain a sustainable competitive advantage, the company needs to develop four strategic plans. The first one includes staying in their current location. Staying at this location will maintain their satisfaction with the facility and allow them to maximize their efficiency. Next, Azalea should implement a Total Quality Management (...

Legal Progression of Marriage in America :: Essays Papers

Legal Progression of Marriage in America As the British colonies in North America took root, a great part of the economic growth in colonial society was predicated on the labor of imported African slaves. As the number of slaves increased significantly, especially in the southern colonies, a system of separation of the races was established. Since the beginning of the White and Black coexistence in America, Whites have suppressed the rights of Blacks in order to emphasize their racial superiority and to prohibit mixing between the races. In order to maintain their racial purity, Whites established laws making illegal the marriage of Blacks and Whites. Although anti-miscegenation laws were present in early colonial societies, the legacies have continued in the contemporary period. For example, Alabama amended its constitution in 2000 to acknowledge interracial marriages as valid and legal. For over 300 years, anti-miscegenation laws have remained generally the same, outlawing marriages between people of different races. Over time, however, definitions of who is Black have drastically changed, reflecting the status of Blacks’ in society. Anti-miscegenation laws during the era of slavery defined Blacks as having at least one Black grandparent, or one quarter â€Å"Black blood†. Later, these same laws during the Great Migration of the twentieth century, evolved to define Blacks by the â€Å"One Drop Rule,† a rule stating that one was Black if he or she had at least one Black ancestor. These laws, as represented in this paper and based on the policies of the colony and state of Virginia, were used to maintain a separation of races and, thus, to preserve the purity of Whites and to guarantee their system of White supremacy. Sent by King James I, The Virginia Company established the first colony in America in 1607 appropriately named Jamestown (History of Jamestown 1). It is generally accepted that the first Blacks were imported to America in 1619, only twelve years after the colony was established. At this point, no specific laws prohibited interracial relations, but societal taboos and religious doctrines were enough to separate Whites and Blacks from sexual contact. Such beliefs were noted in the proceedings between the governor and his council within the colony: In 1630, a man named Hugh Davis, accused of being sexual involved with a Black, was â€Å"to be soundly whipped before an assembly of Negroes and others for abusing himself to the dishonor of God and the shame of Christians by defiling his body and lying with a Negro† (Hall 602).

The Unique Corporate Culture in Google

The Unique Corporate Culture in Google Executive Summary The internet giant of search engine â€Å"Google†, always rated for the â€Å"Best Workplace†, â€Å"Best Employer† in the recent ten years. Why? Except the professional technology, Google’s great and unique corporate culture made so. The feature of Google’s corporate culture is equality, free and human oriented.The company provide the most luxury and comfortable work environment to its employee, encourage them relax more, play hard and work hard. From Google’s case, more and more companies realized the perks and benefits for the employee are no longer only medical, insurance, overtime pay, free coffee and two weeks holidays. In Google, nobody need to punch the clock, you can work in your own â€Å"time zone†.If you don’t want to leave your pet in the working time, bring it in your office, you can stay with it in every minute. You don’t need bring the lunch box to t he company, because it has free breakfast, lunch and dinner every day. Vast kinds of facilities are well-established. Like the professional massagist, the gym, the massage chair, the bicycle, the dry clean laundry, the slides, the electronic scooter, the oil change, and so on.Everything seems great, but if the employee has other demand, they can speak to the founder or CEO directly, maybe the request would be excessive or crazy, but if it is feasible, Google will satisfy employee in every possible way. The open policy reflects the equality in Google. Every employee can see the boss and co-workers work plan and schedule. Google think this way can let all employees get the information about company’s program progress and developing direction, make them feel they are trusted and will be one of the groups always.

Issues Relating Diverse and Cross Cultural Management Essay

The diverse workforce has become a reality today. The impact of cultural diversity varies with the type of environment and firm’s overall strategy. As more and more number of firms move from domestic, multidomestic, multinational strategies to operating as a truly global firm, the significance and impact of cultural diversity increase markedly. Management of cultural differences has become more important for creating advantages and getting competitive edge. Companies must also consider stakeholders as employees. The viewpoints of stakeholders such as shareholders, suppliers, public agencies, and government regulators should be considered in shaping the culture of performance and approaching the diverse markets. In number of situations employees, customers and other stakeholders in the service environment interact to produce the ultimate service outcome. To solve the problem of unfair, inequitable treatment of diverse people, both as employees and customers, managers must recognize that such treatment is bound with bureaucratic structure, subjectivity and irrationality, inappropriate policies and practices, ineffective implementation of human. Companies should completely reshape the working culture that make possible the integration of a broad range of viewpoints that leads to a redefinition of how work gets done and how diverse markets are approached and capitalized upon. All employees should be held accountable for their behaviors and human resources results. There are certain arguments for creating a diverse workforce, those are as follows: 1. As the number of women, minorities etc. in the workforce increase, so will their influence as consumers. Hiring women, minorities, disabled, etc. will help the organizations to tap these niche markets. . As all the segments of society have stake in the development and prosperity of the society as a whole, the creation of diverse workforce should be seen as a social and moral imperative. 3. Diversity enhances creativity and innovation and produces advantages. 4. Diversity helps organizations for entering the international arena. 5. Diverse teams make it possible to enhance flexibil ity and rapid response to change. Diversity also causes certain problems those are as follows: (i) Communication becomes more difficult. Employees from different cultures fail to understand one another. Firms operating in different language areas find difficulty in communicating with the local employees as local employees speak different language. (ii) Diversity increases ambiguity, complexity and confusion. (iii) Diversity also causes problems when managers and employees over generalize organizational policies, strategies, practices and procedures. (iv) Cultural diversity creates difficulties for an organization when it wants to reach on a single agreement. (v) Cultural diversity increases the complexity and problems in developing overall organizational procedures. A company with a diverse workforce can better serve and compete in diverse markets. Hiring a diverse workforce can be challenging but the greater challenge is to retain the diverse workforce. Exploring best HR practices helps in identifying the best tools for retaining a diverse workforce. These practices include establishing open communication, supporting ongoing training and mentoring programmes and linking pay to diversity goals. Ultimately, the key to create, develop, and retain diverse workforce is to find a way to make workforce to feel connected to their company Cultural Diversity and Management  The cultural impact on management is reflected by basic values, attitudes, beliefs and behavior of the people. Culture can affect technology transfer, managerial attitudes, managerial ideology and even government-business relationships. Moreover culture affects how people think and behave. In some societies important decisions are made by few top managers, while in others, these decisions are diffused throughout the enterprise. American society comes under the first case and Japanese comes under the latter case. American and other Western countries’ cultural norms require individual rewards that are not so in Japanese culture. In some societies, risk-taking is encouraged which is not so in others. People identify themselves very strongly with their company as in Japan against America where people identify themselves with their occupational group. Some societies encourage cooperation between people. Others encourage competition between people. The managers and employees vary on four primary cultural dimensions: * Individualism/collectivism * Power distance. * Uncertainty avoidance. * Masculinity/femininity (Career success/quality of life). Managing Cultural Diversity The five cultural dimensions highlight the important cultural differences in organizations. To manage effectively in a global or a domestic multicultural environment, we need to recognize the differences and learn to use them to our advantage, rather than either attempting to ignore differences or simply allowing differences to cause problems. Rather managers should be taught how to respect the differences at work and how to work with them to maximize the contribution of each employee. Strategies for managing cultural differences The extent to which managers and employees recognize cultural diversity and its potential advantages and disadvantages defines an organization’s approach (strategy) to manage cultural diversity. Ignore Cultural Differences – managers do not recognize cultural differences (diversity) or its impact on the organization. This strategy is very popular in parochial type of organizations. * Minimize Cultural Differences – managers do recognize cultural diversity but only as a source of problems. In an ethnocentric organization, managers believe that â€Å"our way is the best way† to organize and manage. * Manage Cultural Differences – The organizations which adopt the strategy of managing differences are synergistic organizations. These type of organizations recognize the impacts of cultural diversity that leads to both advantages and disadvantages. Synergistic Organizations Assume I. that groups within society differ across cultures and that each maintains its cultural distinctness. II. that the similarities and differences are of equal importance. III. that there are many culturally distinct ways to live, to work, and to reach a final goal. IV. that there are many different good ways to reach the final goal. The best way depends on the cultures of the people involved. Cross-cultural Training Cross-cultural training stresses on training employees about other cultures and sensitizing them to the discrimination and biases diverse employees feel. Cross-cultural training aims at helping employees live and work comfortably in another culture. Organizations can use two approaches of training that can play a big role in managing diversity. (i) First approach offers training to diverse groups of employees. People from diverse groups can be trained for an entry-level skill. (ii) Second approach is to provide training to managers and other employees who work with diverse employees. Many organizations impart practical, real-life training to teach employees how to handle situations those arise due to cultural differences. Environmental briefings: to provide information about history, geography, climate, schools, government, economy, etc. Orientation in culture: to familiarize the employees with value systems and culture of the host country. Cultural assimilator: is a programmed learning technique that is designed to expose employees of one culture to some of the attitudes, customs, etc. of another culture. Language training: to teach conversational language skills.