Boots Marketing Strategy

Boots Marketing Strategy INTRODUCTION: Boots (UK) Ltd is also known as boots, It is the leading health and beauty retailer with around 1400 branches alongside in United Kingdom and Ireland. It has also more than 300 branches of Boots optician. Boots is previously known as The Boots Company, it has most its outlets in high streets throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland. Boots is subsidiary company of Alliance Boots. After merger of Alliance Boots and Boots Group Plc., Boots launched. Boots are dealing with 8 million customer every week. Boots develops and sells own brand products, a number of which are leaders in their respective markets. The Boots brand is founded on the trust, expertise and heritage, which comes with its longevity in the market. Boots Group operates three principal businesses: Boots The Chemists; Boots Opticians; and Boots Retail International. Pharmacy is a fundamentally important part of the brand; representing one quarter of sales, it is the foundation of Boots authority and credibility. Boots stores are mostly located on high streets; but, in line with modern shopping trends, its presence in edge of town retail parks is rapidly increasing. Over the last three years 48 such stores have opened, as well as a flagship London store on Oxford Street. Overseas, Boots is working closely with other major retailers in their local markets, to open Boots branded within their stores. There are currently 758 implants in 13 countries. Boots also has 96 standalone stores in Thailand. Boots has had an illustrious history. From its beginnings in 1849 as an herbalist shop, Boots has continually developed new product ranges, many of which are now household names in their own right. By the 1930s, Boots had more than 1,000 st ores selling a wide range of products. Over the years Boots has successfully introduced brands such as 17 cosmetics, aimed at teenagers, which was introduced in 1968 and new business ventures such as Boots Opticians now a major division of the business. In 1985 the Research Department received the Queens Award for Technological Achievement for the discovery and development of ibuprofen. The analgesic ibuprofen was introduced in 1969 as a prescription drug, but launched as the over the counter brand, Nurofen, in 1983. Boots internet business has become increasingly important in the new millennium and a successful part of the brand. Improvements have been made to the online customer experience making navigation easier, resulting in boots.com sales becoming bigger than those of the largest Boots store. Boots is best known for selling a wide range of products under the Boots brand name across health and beauty. The merger between Alliance UniChem plc. and Boots Group plc. was completed on July 1 2006, creating an international pharmacy-led health and beauty group operating in more than 15 countries across the world. The Alliance Boots network will include two retail formats, both under the Boots brand, ranging from approximately 1,500 smaller dispensing pharmacies to approximately 800 larger destination high street and edge of town health and beauty stores. In addition, Alliance Boots will also operate approximately 300 additional retail outlets, including freestanding Boots Opticians practices. Boots is also developing in-store health zones in its bigger stores, which will include extended waiting areas for customers collecting prescriptions. Consultation rooms for pharmacists are also being introduced, as part of a government initiative to alleviate the pressure on GPs surgeries. Boots uses a wide range of media on an ongoing basis, including TV, press, and direct mailings to its Advantage Card members to highlight new products, offers and services. Jesse Boot, the son of John Boot, the brands eponymous founder, took control of the business in the 1870s. He had a business philosophy of buying in bulk and passing the benefit of reduced prices on to his customers. His policy of superior goods at competitive prices delivered with expert care meant that the Boots name became synonymous with quality, value and service. His earliest marketing was based around the concept of Largest, Best and Cheapest Branches Everywhere. This philosophy is still an important part of Boots today. It aims to treat its customers fairly and to act with integrity in everything it does, which results in the brand regularly being rated as the UKs most trusted brand. Boots also believes that it has an enormously valuable role to play in promoting the health of the nation. It achieves this by forming innovative, long term partnerships with charities, particularly focusing on womens cancer. Boots has worked with Breast Cancer Care for 11 years, and this year linked with the Eve Appeal to highlight ovarian cancer. Boots also supports the health of the UK everyday through its 15,000 healthcare advisers working in store. MARKETING STRATEGY: Marketing strategy  is a process that can allow an Boots to concentrate its limited resources on the greatest opportunities to increase sales and achieve a sustainable  competitive advantage. A marketing strategy should be centred around the key concept that customer  is the main goal. Developing a marketing strategy is vital for any business. Without one, your efforts to attract customers are likely to be haphazard and inefficient. The focus of your strategy should be  to make  sure that your products and services meet customer needs and  that you develop  long-term and profitable relationships with those customers. To achieve this, you will need to create a flexible strategy that can respond to changes in customer perceptions and demand. It may also help you identify whole new markets that you can successfully target. The purpose of your marketing strategy should be to identify and then communicate the benefits of what your business offers  to your target market. Once you have created and implemented your strategy, you should monitor its effectiveness and make any adjustments required to maintain its success. This guide helps you identify which customers to focus on and your key objectives in reaching them. It explains what to include in your marketing strategy and how it can be used as the basis for effective action. MARKETING MIX Boots has a marketing strategy that tries to increase turnover. Look carefully at this strategy (page 6) and suggest ways in which the strategy could be improved. How can Boots improve the image of its brand products? How can Boots boost the male market for beauty products? Think about the target group and the 4 Ps. Marketing is not just about selling, It involves:- Price: This is the term used to describe what a customer pays for a product and service. It includes the actual selling price, any credit terms and profitability. Boots has to decide price of product as per local market conditions and customers. Place: This part of the marketing mix is about many things. It is about Location where it is located, how easy it is to get there. Access when is it open, are their special access facilities for people with special needs. Distribution channels how can you buy the product or service provided or buy tickets for the attraction. Boots has to open their outlets at opportunities market at initial stages. Promotion: This is about how you let people know about what you have available. There are many different ways you can go about this: Advertising, Direct marketing, Public relations, Personal selling, Displays, Sponsorship, Demonstrations, Sales promotions. Boots have to promote their product locally by sponsoring local events and local advertisements. Product: This is what the Boots provides for its customers. It is what they buy or what they experience. What they buy are tangible goods or products. They are things that can be taken away such as tennis rackets from a sports shop. Mostly what the customer buys is intangible. You cannot take them away but you can experience them like a white-knuckle ride at a theme park. All of these are part of the product. When looking at the product, there are a number of things to think about to make sure it meets the needs of the customer: Product and service features, brand name, after sales service, product life cycle, Researching the market to find out what customers want. Developing and designing a product that customers desire/want. Producing the right amount of the right quality. Getting the price right so that the product is affordable and profitable. Making sure that the customer know about the product through promotion. Making sure the product is on sale in convenient places These combination of factors adds up to the marketing mix or the 4 ps. This Could improve strategy by aiming to increase turnover during other periods other than Xmas. And also Aim to increase their business with the male market. Boost brand products could be improved through advertising television, magazines etc. target specific consumer groups. In order to boost the male market Boots needs to distance the male products from the womens and target marketing and promotional campaigns at the male consumer group. The Marketing Strategy for boots going to international market should be as follows. The below are the analysis, how boots can achieve success by going it internationally. By exploring key market drivers they can make huge success. Brand Tracking data showed that Boots continued to be rated much higher than competitors on the quality and choice of healthcare products and on customer knowledge and advice. However, only 19 per cent of dispensing customers identified Boots as their first choice pharmacy. The reason Boots isnt first choice is because only 20 per cent of Boots stores are more conveniently located than their competitors and convenience is the primary driver of pharmacy choice. The audience are the key factors which can make differences. The dispensing audience is critical to Boots. More importantly when you analyse the audience it becomes apparent that the pare to principle applies to Boots pharmacy. 60 per cent customers are on repeat medication, this 60 per cent generat es 90 per cent of the Boots pharmacy revenue.  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   In addition it is important to remember that our audience is heavily skewed towards those over the age of 60 (57per cent). This was important for us to keep in mind as we develop the strategy and Mother developed the creative work. We had to ensure that our positioning and messaging were relevant and motivating to a certain type of consumer.  Brand positioning is important for boots as they are going internationally.   Government legislation makes it illegal for any company to claim that their prescription Collection Service brand is better or different from competitors.  So in the absence of a distinct USP, PCS is effectively a parity service. As such, the positioning, creative and use of media became even more critical.  Operational: store visits revealed that the staff dont understand the PCS service and cant explain its benefit. Competitive: every competitor has an equal service to us. Some are using television advertising to raise awareness.  Communications: the previous agency had tried to use TV advertising to drive PCS sign-ups. While it may have driven awareness. Consumer: qualitative research revealed that customers didnt understand the benefits of the service either. They needed a few minutes of someone explaining it, and then they really understood how it saved them having to stand in a queue. Upon deeper interrogation of the brief, it was apparent that the required campaign was not an awareness one. This was not a mass message or proposition this was aimed specifically at people on repeat prescription. Therefore traditional ATL channels would prove to be an inefficient way of meeting our clients business objectives.  Theres only one place where youre really receptive about a message about not having to get tired of waiting in a queue. Its when youre standing in one. So we spent most of our media budget on huge signs hung above the queue. And then when customers got to the front of the queue, we got our staff to offer customers the chance to sign up to a service where you never have to queue again. So we were now communicating the right message at the right time. Remember the staff in-store didnt understand the service. And we were now using them as the primary communications channel. We couldnt just give them a T-shirt and a badge and expect them to sign customers up. So the final part of the strategy was to: train our staff on how to sell the service incentivise the staff by giving them longer coffee breaks if they reached their target number of sign-ups introduce a standard operating procedure so they knew how to enter. MARKETING ENVIRONMENT: The marketing environment surrounds and impacts upon the Boots. There are three key perspectives on the marketing environment, namely the macro-environment, the micro-environment and the internal environment. The micro-environment This environment influences the Boots directly. It includes suppliers that deal directly or indirectly, consumers and customers, and other local stakeholders. Micro tends to suggest small, but this can be misleading. In this context, micro describes the relationship between firms and the driving forces that control this relationship. It is a more local relationship, and the firm may exercise a degree of influence. The macro-environment This includes all factors that can influence and Boots, but that are out of their direct control. A company does not generally influence any laws (although it is accepted that they could lobby or be part of a trade Boots). It is continuously changing, and the company needs to be flexible to adapt. There may be aggressive competition and rivalry in a market. Globalization means that there is always the threat of substitute products and new entrants. The wider environment is also ever changing, and the marketer needs to compensate for changes in culture, politics, economics and technology. The internal environment. All factors that are internal to the Boots are known as the internal environment. They are generally audited by applying the Five Ms which are  Men,  Money,  Machinery,  Materials and  Markets. The internal environment is as important for managing change as the external. As marketers we call the process of managing internal change internal. Essentially we use marketing approaches to aid communication and change management. The external environment can be audited in more detail using other approaches such as  PESTLE Analysis, Michael Porters  Five Forces Analysis  or  SWOT Analysis. Pestle analysis: There are many factors in the macro-environment that will affect the decisions of the managers of any Boots. Tax changes, new laws, trade barriers, demographic change and government policy changes are all examples of macro change. To help analyse these factors managers can categorise them using the PESTEL model. This classification distinguishes between: Political Factors Political factor includes government policy, wars and conflicts, legal issues, some employment laws, revenue policy, environmental laws, trade policy, current legislation, future legislation, international legislation, governments stability, international trading policy, are the political factors that affect Boots. Economic Factors Economic factors includes economic crisis in country, employment problems, exchange rate, condition of stock market, change in international trade policy, fluctuation in tax, inflation rate, growth in economic are the economic factors that affect the Boots. Social Factors Social factors includes literacy rate, minimum wages, change in lifestyle, living condition and standards, demographic changes, population changes, occupation of people, earning capacity, consumers attitude, ethical problems, marketing and publicity pattern, religion issues are the social factors that affects the Boots. Generation gap between young employees and old age employees to fulfill both requirement and satisfied both according to their thinking strategy are work as a medicine. Dominant religion if they are religious, they will not work on the day they are worshipping like the Sabbath for Christians. Some religions favours certain animals such as in Hinduism, the cow is sacred; if cows were used in testing the chemicals or Boots sell anything that has beef in it, Hindus will probably not work there. Attitudes towards foreign products and services they dont like stuff for foreign companies; they are not likely to attract people who dont like foreign products. If people think foreign stuff are cheap and it compromises the quality of the product, their self-image may be an issue. Green issues If Boots were to do all sort of environmental harm, environmentalists will not work for them. Likewise, if environmentalists found out that Boots does recycling and is dedicated to planting a hectare of trees each month out of its own pockets, it will attract more environmentalists to work for them. Animal testing if Boots products were animal tested, protesters will not work for them, let alone any animal lover. Roles of men and women if there is any sexism in the company, women are likely to leave. If there are only a selected set of roles that each sex can apply for (e.g. facial cream sales rep, beauty treatment), then that would restrict the number of applicants and workers Boots will get. Health consciousness if people are health conscious, they can use their knowledge to promote products Boots has. On the other hand, if the applicant wasnt health conscious , he/she will not really guarantee a job as a sales assistant in any section to do with health products. If people have a choice of jobs with equal pay anywhere and they were not all that health conscious, then they are not likely to be applying for jobs at Boots. Technological Factors Technological factors includes arrival of new technology, quick acceptance of new technology, competing technology development, Information technology, intellectual technology issue, communication, replacement of technology, maintenance of machines, outsourcing of technology, Research and development activity, Customer relationship management are the technological factors that affects the Boots. Environmental Factors Boots has to take care of Staff, they have to increase morale of staff periodically by giving satisfying them. This could be satisfy by hierarchies needs. Boots has to concerns about staff engagement. Enjoyment between staff is necessary to increased productivity and quality of product. Boots has to conduct workshops for employees to increase product awareness, customers service lessons, and all other aspects which can help Boots. Boots culture is most importing aspects which can helps them to be a success in international market. Boots has also take care of pollution which may be created from Boots products or services or both. They has to more concern about recycling of products which can help to boost international image. They has to help government and consumers towards environment by giving service in environmental activities. Legal Factors Legal factors are important for a company who is going to internationally. Boots has to take in mind that what is happening in our sector that will impact what we do, they also have take care of minimum wages, working conditions as per local government rules. Governments is most important in legal factors. Boots have to take care of food items, Industrial training and take care of local child labour laws. The below legal factors affects boots and which will be Legislation in areas such as employment, competition and health safety, future legislation changes, changes in government law, trading policies and Regulatory bodies Pest analysis gives brief knowledge about key factors which is affect the Boots and Stakeholder to fulfil their needs .PEST analysis looks at the external  business environment  and is an appropriate strategic tool for understanding the big picture of the environment in which business operates, enabling the company to take advantage of the opportunities and minimize the threats faced by their business activities. When  strategic planning  is done correctly, it provides a solid plan for a  company  to grow into the future. With a PEST analysis, the company can see a longer horizon of time, and be able to clarify strategic opportunities and threats that the Boots faces. By looking to the outside environment to see the potential forces of change looming on the horizon, firms can take the  strategic planning  process out of the arena of today and into the horizon of tomorrow. PEST is not a set of rigid compartments into which ideas need to be sorted. It is better thought of as a set of hooks that can be used to fish for important facts. Once the factors have been fished out, it does not matter which hook they were attached to. When it comes to writing up the analysis, there is no need to mention the PEST labels at all. Porters Five Forces for Competitive Position Porters five forces is strategy for competitors, deals with issue regarding the suppliers, Rivalry, threat about their competitors, substitutes, and threats of new market entrants are the porters five forces. Power of Suppliers: It includes concentration of supplier on business, importance of volume to supplier, separation of inputs, and impact of inputs on cost, Threat of future assimilation, cost relative to total purchase in industry, switched cost of Boots. Power of Buyer: It includes bargaining leverages, volume of buyers, detail information of buyer, identity of buyer, and sensitivity of price, incentives of buyer, threat related to past integration, differentiation of products. Entry barriers: Both new and existing competitors feels threat. It includes absolute cost advantages, access of inputs, Economic scale, capital requirement, and identity of brands, governments binding policy, and access of distribution channel. Threat regarding substitutes: Buyers tendency to substitutes, price performance of substitutes, switching cost of buyers, buyers opinion regarding the product and its separation and amount of substitutes product available in market. Rivalry: It defines when some organization competes with each other in same business for same thing. It is important to make strategy to deals with competition in same business environment. It determines attractiveness of Boots. Swot Analysis: Environmental scanning includes internal analysis of the Boots and external macro environment and task environment. Internal analysis and external analysis of Boots is known as a SWOT analysis. This analysis gives brief knowledge about auditing of Boots and details of products. SWOT Analysis is the base of making strategy and to manage risks regarding to the products. It is very important to understand general techniques and functions of managements. .SWOT analysis makes suitable environment for identifying and analysing strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threat. It also gives clear vision regarding situation and making suitable strategies and business formulas. There are following stages of SWOT analysis. Strengths Appropriate Environment, strong brand name, Strong background, good reputation, strong distribution channels, good quality natural resources, exclusive rights of products are the strengths of business Boots. Boots turnover and current sales are marginal to enters global market. Boots have clear objectives which can help to understand the global market easily. Boots is successful manufacturer of health and safety products. There customers are loyal to the brand which can helps to enter global market. Weakness Boots failed to attempts to diversified in Halfords. Saturated global market is also important factor for boots in this segment. Boots is also failed to expand their business in European market. Weak background, inappropriate environment, inferiority raw material, lack of natural resources, lack of manpower, unreliable product and services ,lack of finance, weak brand name, poor reputation, lack of distribution network are the weaknesses of business Boots. At present situation of credit crunch, their operating profit is falling. Boots market strategy failed to target socio-economic groups . Opportunity Boots has opportunity by some success with implant in south east Asia. There is a possibility of  £100 million savings if they merger with Alliance Unichem. Women are the key customers of this kind business and at present that 11 million people have an advantage card, but only 9% being male. Now a days internet selling is important and Internet sales becoming popular. They have an opportunity to expand their business in ethical market. Male healthcare and beauty products are also opportunity for boots. Increasing production when low revenue cost, increasing production when inflation rate is low, quick acceptance of latest technologies, take benefits of international trade policy, investments which is favourable for Boots are the opportunities of Boots. Threat Tesco and other supermarkets are threats after deregulation of Boots. Competitors sales of product through the internet is remarkably high as compared to Boots. Competitors, less interest of customers in product, fluctuations of price between competitors, changes in government policy like tax, revenue and inflation rate, Demographic changes in target market, changes in population age are the threats of Boots. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS: Boots could expand their business overseas. Because it has had failures but can benefit from this experience. Boots could look for further mergers to give it access to more markets either in the UK or abroad. Unichem does have pharmacies and hospitals abroad. Boots could continue with the idea of implants. Boots could continue with its core activity of developing new products in healthcare. It has a great deal of expertise in research and development and an understanding of the market. The male market is under-developed and needs to be expanded. The Advantage Card is not used by male customers. I would recommend that Boots concentrate on its core business for a number of reasons which are Boots should not diversify because it has failed in markets, Boots has only recently merged with UniChem. If this proves to be successful it should merge with other companies as this increases market share and lowers cost, The UK market is saturated, Boots should expand its internet sales worldwide. Boots should re-design it marketing strategy toward young male customers. This would expand its core business. The Advantage Card needs to be launched to male customers to improve the core business.

Full Service Cinema: The South Korean Cinema Success Story (So Far) :: Free Essays Online

Full Service Cinema: The South Korean Cinema Success Story (So Far) Fifteen years ago, South Korean cinema was in precipitous decline. It was facing deadly competition from Hollywood as import barriers were dismantled, and had almost no export market. Today, South Korean cinema is widely considered the most successful and significant non-Hollywood cinema anywhere in the world today. It is successful both in the domestic market, and internationally. This essay sets out to understand this phenomenon. First, it attempts to trace South Korean cinema’s comeback story. I feel a need to do this because I find that so many of my South Korean friends and colleagues are reluctant to admit this, or focus solely on the problems the industry is facing in the future. There may be worries about the future and there may be â€Å"ifs† and â€Å"buts† about the present state of the South Korean film industry. But we should start out by acknowledging its success. In considering some of the reasons for the recent success of South Korean cinema, two further observations can be made. First, if we pay attention to the international export success of South Korean cinema, we can see that it has carved out a new route. This is based on regional markets at least as much as Europe and the United States. Second, unlike the successes of the Taiwanese and Chinese â€Å"new waves† since the 1980s, it is not based on the old European art cinema model. This raises a question about the viability of art cinema, independent feature films, short films, independent documentary, and other less profitable and commercial modes of filmmaking in South Korea. It may even lead some people to believe that those other modes of filmmaking are not an integral part of the new South Korean cinema success story. Yet, my third and final point will be to argue against this and for the importance of what I want to tentatively call â€Å"full service cinema,† includ ing a full range of modes of production and consumption. In making this point, I want to challenge another very common assumption not only in South Korea but everywhere—the idea that art cinema and independent cinema are opposed to mainstream commercial cinema. While there may be an aesthetic opposition between them, it is a strategic mistake to translate this into an institutional opposition. Even though their philosophies may be very different, as I will attempt to outline today, they need each other to succeed. Full Service Cinema: The South Korean Cinema Success Story (So Far) :: Free Essays Online Full Service Cinema: The South Korean Cinema Success Story (So Far) Fifteen years ago, South Korean cinema was in precipitous decline. It was facing deadly competition from Hollywood as import barriers were dismantled, and had almost no export market. Today, South Korean cinema is widely considered the most successful and significant non-Hollywood cinema anywhere in the world today. It is successful both in the domestic market, and internationally. This essay sets out to understand this phenomenon. First, it attempts to trace South Korean cinema’s comeback story. I feel a need to do this because I find that so many of my South Korean friends and colleagues are reluctant to admit this, or focus solely on the problems the industry is facing in the future. There may be worries about the future and there may be â€Å"ifs† and â€Å"buts† about the present state of the South Korean film industry. But we should start out by acknowledging its success. In considering some of the reasons for the recent success of South Korean cinema, two further observations can be made. First, if we pay attention to the international export success of South Korean cinema, we can see that it has carved out a new route. This is based on regional markets at least as much as Europe and the United States. Second, unlike the successes of the Taiwanese and Chinese â€Å"new waves† since the 1980s, it is not based on the old European art cinema model. This raises a question about the viability of art cinema, independent feature films, short films, independent documentary, and other less profitable and commercial modes of filmmaking in South Korea. It may even lead some people to believe that those other modes of filmmaking are not an integral part of the new South Korean cinema success story. Yet, my third and final point will be to argue against this and for the importance of what I want to tentatively call â€Å"full service cinema,† includ ing a full range of modes of production and consumption. In making this point, I want to challenge another very common assumption not only in South Korea but everywhere—the idea that art cinema and independent cinema are opposed to mainstream commercial cinema. While there may be an aesthetic opposition between them, it is a strategic mistake to translate this into an institutional opposition. Even though their philosophies may be very different, as I will attempt to outline today, they need each other to succeed.

Five Phases of Project Management

Assignment – Five Phases Project Management Strategy November 5, 2012 Five Phases of Project Management Life cycle management is a business management approach that can be used by all types of businesses (and other organizations) to improve their products and thus the sustainability, employing the principles of project life cycle – the five phases of project management, which consists of, initiation, planning, execution, monitoring, and closure. Iniation PhaseThe first phase of a project is the initiation phase. During this phase, a business problem or opportunity is identified and a business case providing various solution options is defined. Once the recommended solution is approved, a project is initiated to deliver the approved solution. Terms of reference are completed outlining the objectives, scope and structure of the new project and a project manager is appointed. The project manager begins recruiting a project team and establishes a project office environment. Within the initiation phase, the business problem or opportunity is identified, a solution is defined, a project is formed and a project team is appointed to build and deliver the solution to the customer (Barkley, 2005). Planning Phase Often the most time-consuming of the phases of project management, the Planning phase is where you lay your project groundwork and is critical for a successful implementation of the subsequent Execution phase (Reynolds, 2009).Additionally, in this phase Project Planning builds on the work done in Project Initiation, refining and augmenting Cost, Scope, Schedule and Quality (CSSQ) and Project Plan deliverables. Usually, additional members join the Project Team, and they assist the Project Manager in further elaborating the details of the Cost, Scope, Schedule and Quality (Macek, 2010). The planning phase produces a project plan, project charter and/or project scope outlining the work to be performed. During this phase, a team should prioritize the pro ject, calculate a budget and schedule, and determine what resources are needed0 (LaBrosse, 2008).This phase is the basis for the successful execution of the subsequent Executing phase. The planning phase is also the phase where, definition of work packages, detailed planning, clarification of responsibilities, risk analysis, and interfaces are defined. Project Planning marks the completion of the Project Plan –i. e. , no work is left uncovered. Execution Phase Execution. This is where the project team does the work to crate the final deliverables of the project. It is the largest part of most projects and it goes far better if adequate time was taken to properly plan the work of the project (Reynolds, 2009).Resources' tasks are distributed and teams are informed of responsibilities. This is a good time to bring up important project related information (Project Plan Execution, 2009). During the Execution phase, the project manager spends a considerable amount of time in commun ication making sure the resources (people, equipment and materials) are available to do their work and know what work needs to be completed. There is a significant amount of work in this phase, as a project manager works to juggle many aspects of the project.During this phase, you'll use all of your management skills to implement and manage cost and quality, risks and change, and several other factors (Reynolds, 2009). Monitoring The next phase of the Project management life cycle is monitoring. Successful Project Management Principles & Controls are summarized as three main methods; continual focus on the Project Plan, constant update of the Project Plan (especially the triple restraints, and most importantly, measure status and project progress against the Project Plan -making adjustments to get back on track, if necessary (Project Plan Execution, 2009) .Closure In Project Closeout, the Project Team assesses the outcome of the project, as well as the performance of the Project Team and the Performing Organization. This is accomplished primarily through soliciting and evaluating feedback from Customers, Project Team members, Consumers and other stakeholders. The primary purpose of this assessment is to document best practices and lessons learned for use on future projects. In addition, key project metrics are also captured to enable the Performing Organization to compare and evaluate erformance measurements across projects. Project completion is signified by accomplishments such as (1) all tasks finished, (2) agreed deliverables completed, (3) testing completed, and (4) training materials prepared. The project benefits should be measured and compared with the final business case. Not all the benefits of the project are immediately apparent. The results must be compared with the cost-benefit analysis along with all the other forecast benefits that the project was planned to provide the organisation.Analyzes how each phase could support the organizationâ₠¬â„¢s business strategy. There is a dramatic rise in the use of project management as organizations shift to provide customer driven results and systems solutions. Some implementations of project management have been successful, while others are incredible failures. A common occurrence in many organizations is too many projects being attempted by too few people with no apparent link to strategy or organizational goals.Unfortunately, this is why the organization I currently work in is struggling to successfully complete the EMR, too few resources and too many projects being implemented simultaneously and most not align with the strategic plan. Experience indicates that the support of upper management is critical to project success, upper management was absent as participants of the project until the decision was made to delay the go-live. In our case, Upper management did not take action to create an environment for more successful projects in their organizations.Project management m ust be regarded as a company-wide project management competency designed to benefit the entire company (Kerzner, 2005). It also includes developing a corporate culture that is based upon effective organizational behavior and creating a well-developed project management methodology, accompanied by the proper supporting tools, which is vital to achieving organizational goals. Once the organization recognizes that project management is a core competency, the organization can convert this competency into a sustainable competitive advantage.The ultimate purpose is for the sustainable competitive advantage to become the pathway for a strategic competency that becomes a primary drive during strategic planning activities (Kerzner, 2005. As the project management strategy matures, the business value derived from each phase increases. Increased value subsequent to increase project portfolio leads to the alignment of project management and organizational strategy across the organization/enterp rise. Keeping each phase of the project on track yields a successful project, which means managing the triple constraints and strict management of metrics (monitoring phase).The project goals then extend throughout the team to the suppliers, contractors, and stakeholders. The five phases of project management assists the organization in creating a strategic value chain that gives companies a competitive edge. References Kerzner, H. (2005). Using the Project Management Maturity Model: Strategic planning for project management (2nd ed. ). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, Inc. LaBrosse, M. (2008). Key principles of project management. Food Management, 43(5), 27-27. Retrieved from http://search. proquest. com/docview/215900222? ccountid=32521 Macek, W. (2010). Methodologies of project management. Wspolczesna Ekonomia, 4(4), 267. Retrieved from http://search. proquest. com/docview/1115291842? accountid=32521 Project Plan Execution – where you â€Å"walk the walk† as the Pr oject Manager. (2009). Retrieved from URL Managerhttp://www. mastering-project-management. com/project-plan-execution. html Reynolds, D. (2009, May 13). Phases of project management: Initiation. Bright Hub weblog. Retrieved from www. brighthub. com/office/project-management/articles/1672. aspx Reynolds, D. (2009, May 13).Phases of project management: Planning. Bright Hub weblog. Retrieved from www. brighthub. com/office/project-management/articles/1673. aspx Reynolds, D. (2009, July 28). Phases of project management: Execution. Bright Hub weblog. Retrieved from www. brighthub. com/office/project-management/articles/1674. aspx Reynolds, D. (2009, May 13). Phases of project management: Monitoring. Bright Hub weblog. Retrieved from www. brighthub. com/office/project-management/articles/1675. aspx Reynolds, D. (2009, May 13). Phases of project management: Closing. Bright Hub weblog.

Jimmy Smits--A Biographical Summary.

Jimmy SmitsA Biographical Summary. On July 9, 1955, one of the most prominent Hispanic actors was born. His name is Jimmy Smits, a.k.a. Detective Bobby Simone on NYPD Blue. Smits has helped increase the visibility of Hispanics in non-typecast roles on television. He has also made his appearance in several movies, and he lends his support to groups concerning themselves with Hispanic issues.Jimmy Smits was born in Brooklyn, New York. His father came from Surinam, and his mother came from Puerto Rico, where he spent most of his childhood. Smits eventually returned to Brooklyn and attended Jefferson High School. Jimmy played football at firststanding six feet, two inches tallbut decided later on that acting was more important to him. He quit football and joined every dramatic production he possibly could, even at other schools.No one in Smits' family went away to college, but he changed all that by going to Brooklyn College to study drama and earn a B.A.Jimmy Dean and Large DogsAfter that, he attended Cornell to earn an M.A. in theater. As an ambitious young actor, Jimmy's dream was to perfect his craft and work on high-quality projects with high-minded people. In reality, however, he spent his first years in the business playing roles that did not meet his artistic expectations.At that time, many Hispanics and African Americans were not given that much of a chance in acting. Sure, they got parts, but the roles they played were misleading toward their race. After landing a part in L.A. Law in 1986, Smits changed all that. More and more Hispanics were appearing in films and television shows. Soon after Jimmy's debut on L.A. Law, he landed parts in Running Scared, The Believers, Stamp of a Killer, and Glitz in only three years!Then, in 1994, Smits joined the cast of NYPD Blue,

Terrorism response

Terrorism response Know Your Terrorist PAGE 3Know Your TerroristMelissa Chastain, Jesse Digiovanni,Glenda Miranda, and Courtney TerrellUniversity of PheonixCJA/313 OntarioKeith A. GreenNovember 26, 2007Al-Ittihad al-Islami (AIAI)Duale A. Sii'arag (2005). The Birth and Rise of Al-Ittihad Al-Islami in the Somali Inhabited Regions in the Horn of Africa.Al-Wafa al-Igatha al-IslamiaSumner, Tim (2007). Ex-Guantanamo detainees on trial in Morocco for terrorism. Retrieved on November 20, 2007 from 911familiesforamerica.org/?s=guant%C3%A1namoAsbat al-Ansar'Asbat al-Ansar (N.D.). Retrieved on November 20, 2007 from fas.org/irp/world/para/asbat.htm4. Darkazanli CompanyChediak, Mark (2005). Following the Money: Tracking Down Al Qaeda's Fund Raisers in Europe. Retried on November 20, 2007 from http:/www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline5. Salafist Group for Call and Combat (GSPC)Keats, Anthony (2003). Center for Defense Information. The Salafist Group for Call and Combat (GSPC) Retrieved on November 20, 2007 from cdi.o rg/program/issue/document.cfm?DocumentID=386IssueID=56StartRow=1ListRows=10appendURL=Orderby=DateLastUpdatedProgramID=39issueID=56.6. Islamic Army of AdenThe Islamic Army (1999).Sea Tigers freighter sunk by Sri Lankan Air Force ...Abu al-Hassan and the Islamic Army of Aden-Abyan. Retrieved on November 20, 2007 from al-bab.com/yemen/hamza/hassan.htm.7. Libyan Islamic Fighting GroupBlack, Andrew (2007). The Reconstituted Al-Qaeda Threat in the Maghreb. Terrorism Monitor: Vol. 5 Issue 2.8. Jamiat ul-MujahideenMahbub, A. G. (2007). Islamic Terrorist Leaders Shun Suicide. Retrieved March 22, 2007 from http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?no=351550rel_no=19. Ansar Al-IslamSchanzer, J. (2003). Ansar Al-Islam: Iraq's Al-Qaeda Connection. Retrieved March 25, 2007from frontpagemag.com/Articles/Printable.asp?ID=557110. Armed Islamic Group (GIA)Pike, J. (2004). Armed Islamic Group. Retrieved March 25, 2007 fromfas.org/irp/world/para/gia.htm11. Palestine Islamic Jihad (PIJ)Pi ke, J. (2004). Palestine Islamic Jihad. Retrieved March 25, 2007 fromfas.org/irp/world/para/pij.htm12. Jemaah Islamiah, Islamic Group, Islamic CommunityJemaah Islamiyah. (2007). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved March 25, 2007from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jemaah_Islamiyaholdid=11881530213. Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)Pike, J. (2004). Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Retrieved March 25, 2007 fromfas.org/irp/world/para/ltte.htm14. Moranzanist...

Making Movies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Making Movies - Essay Example His critical analysis and great knowledge makes his book a must read for all amateurs who are learning the art of filmmaking. His book almost covers all aspects required to make a creditable film. He gives detailed knowledge about music, production, direction, props, cameras, editing, cinematography, scripts, actors etc. Â  This book provides a vision and a guiding pathway for all those who are entering this field and all those young filmmakers intending to make this vast field as their ongoing profession. In the movie The Verdict director Sidney Lumet according to me does not come up to my level of expectation as a lot more could have been done. After reading the novel I personally think direction was not as strong as it should have been for a person with so much in depth knowledge of the field. The level and the bar raised by Sidney are quite high which he didn’t sustain in this book. This clearly explains that despite the great effort and techniques involved far more could be done to make the movie a success. Apparently this movie for me was a very entertaining and a top notch courtroom based drama which had elements of tragedy, suspense, fraud, emotions and romance making it a complete story. Sidney holds this view that the script should disturb the conventional balance. Astonish the reader, entertains, intrigues and then when it is about to conclude the reader must develop a feeling that this was meant to happen. This precisely means that the script is the skeleton for any film and a good script keeps the audience awe struck. Likewise in the movie the script is one of the most complex elements, when Frank goes to meet his mom he is immensely affected by her present state which brilliantly unveiled another side of Frank. Â  Sidney believes that usually he is not thinking about the viewer might react; there are basically two perspectives when it comes to life that have a great impact, that is precisely life and death. These aspects are so intense

Strategic issues in banking and insurance Essay

Strategic issues in banking and insurance - Essay Example In developed world where most of the sector is de-regulated and enjoy substantial degree of freedom and autonomy, political influences may not be there however, in developing countries, this may not be the case. Developing countries do not have very well grown financial sector and most of the institutions are either directly owned or controlled by the government themselves or governments have the substantial share in them. This allows the government to largely influence the banks especially to engage into practices which may not be in direct interest of the deposit holders of those banks. The era after 9/11 have seen a new shift into the industry in terms of influence of political forces on it. The anti-money laundering rules, terrorist funding etc were some of the key strategic issues which put extra pressures on the banks and insurance companies to devise methods and strategies which can effectively help in tackling issues like illegal money laundering, channeling of funds through SWIFT etc to the supposedly terrorist organizations etc. The current economic trends especially the crisis emerged due to the subprime mortgages is considered now as one of the great strategic challenge faced by most of the players in the financial sector industry. Subprime mortgages are considered as the threat which has largely been created by the banks themselves as they tend to violate their own prudent lending policies in order to capture the market. This has therefore provided them an opportunity to earn at the cost of incurring high cost. â€Å"Sub-Prime lending typically has been characterized as lending at relatively costly interest rates and fees to credit impaired or otherwise high risk borrowers.† (Lax, Manti and Raca). Subprime loans are among the newly popular mortgage products, such as interest-only loans, for people with strained budgets, including first-time buyers. Homeowners increasingly use them to refinance and consolidate household debts