Organizational Competitive Strategies-Porter’s Five Forces Model (AIR ASIA) Essay

The Porter’s five forces model, in this assignment, can be used to access the competitiveness of the airlines industry. It can review the competition within the industry plus checks for threat from outside. Bargaining power of supplier-High- In every industry, there has to be someone to play the role of a supplier. It is important to know the power of the supplier as it will affect the industry. There are only two main suppliers in the airline industry, Airbus and Boeing, thus there isn’t much of an open option. Not forgetting the global economic catastrophe which has limited the new entry of competitor plus reducing the necessity of upgrading of planes in near future. However, both suppliers grant almost similar standard aircrafts; hence the switch to AirAsia is low. Furthermore, AirAsia places a bulky amount of order from Airbus in order to expand its routes internationally. Therefore, the authority of suppliers may weaken as Airbus’s profit may be influenced by Air Asia. Bargaining power of customer-High- Customers are the main factor which influences the industry to either make a loss or profit. Nowadays, customers are much more knowledgeable and comparative compared to previous. Thus, they are very sensitive to the hike and drop of prices, regardless the product or service. In this assignment, AirAsia always provides the lowest price to customers, but the act of comparing between airlines still exist. AirAsia is not the only one providing an airline service thus, for a customer to switch between airline services is simple. For example, customer may still choose MAS, Tiger Airway or even Firefly. Internal rivalry within the industry-High- In every business sector, there exist either a positive or negative tendency towards an industries rate of development. Result of a positive trend would be in companies not stealing the share market among them. Nonetheless in an airline industry, the rate of development is low by reason of the inadequate amount of consumers. Hence, AirAsia has to steal the market share from its contenders to develop and succeed further. The main key advantage is its low operating overhead, this factor enables it to be the prime in the main field in price. Nonetheless, there are many other upcoming competitors or rivals immerging into the airline industry, who have key carriers as their backbone, which may direct to an ugly price clash in the coming years. There are few other minimal cost airline services such as Firefly, Tiger Airways and etc, making them possible competitors of AirAsia. Barriers to Entry/Potential entrants-Low- there is a high barrier to emerge in the airline industry since the capital required is very high, such as the need to purchase airplanes, office buildings and hiring staffs. Hence this reduced the threat for AirAsia. Plus brand awareness is also a main leading factor. A new line of aircraft can’t make a mark so fast in the industry and it requires a lot of capital and time to build its name. Consumers always prefer a brand that has been there for an adequate amount of time, a brand that they can trust. This also reduces the threat. Not forgetting the governmental legislation also is a barrier by itself. For example, MAS has got the backing and protection by the Malaysian government on the route to Sydney and Seoul, so AirAsia finds it tough in getting a new route from the government. This reduces the profit margin able to be made by AirAsia, but also has reduced emergence of new entries. Power of Substitutes-Medium- Substitute are products or services which can replace the originals, and still able to provide almost the equivalent fulfillment to clients. In the airline industry basically, two types of substitutes are present, indirect and direct. Indirect substitute are ferry, bus and further forms of transportation except from airline, while direct substitute are the other rival airlines. Consumers usually go for those that cost less. If the trip covers a short distance and mainly connected to the peninsula then forms of transport will include train, bus or air travel. However if the trip is budgeted the preferable choice would be by bus. Moreover the development in technology has highly contributed in this matter by making ticketing and pricing of air tickets available to travelers on the internet and also allowing them to compare the rates. Even if the travelers may prefer to take a bus or train to their preferred location such as travelling from Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok, it is still an undeniable fact that air travel is much more convenient and consumes less time.

Customer Survey Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Customer Survey Assignment - Essay Example They are not limited to the questionnaires, and can freely talk about related matters that could support their answers. Focus group discussions (FGD) usually allow participants to talk about issues that may not usually arise from individual interviews. For example, there may be issues that the individual interviewee may forget during the course of the interview, which other participants in an FGD might bring up. Email survey questionnaires, meantime, may not be able to paint the real pictures since respondents would only be those who have email addresses, and not everyone has one. 3. Respondents may hesitate giving accurate answers depending on who or what group is administering the survey. They may feel more comfortable, or withheld information depending on their level of comfort with the one conducting the survey. For example, if the respondents have had previous unpleasant experience with the surveyor, the tendency is not to provide honest and accurate answers, or maybe even avoiding the survey altogether. On the other hand, if respondent has already established trust towards the person or the group conducting the survey, they would tend to be more engaging or pleasant in their answers. Survey instrument design on the other hand may stem from the manner by which a survey is conducted. For example, absence of an email address for every potential respondent may result to inaccurate results. If the surveyor wants to measure the service quality of a supermarket and only sends the questionnaires to registered email addresses of frequent customers, there would be biased answers. Same goes if the survey is featured in a certain website only. Of course, only those who have accessed the website can participate in the survey. There will be no chance for people who are not internet savvy to share their experiences even if they are actually frequent

Reading Reflection Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 3

Reading Reflection - Essay Example In the same note, applying critical appreciation in the course of the reading, one has to be aware of the historical context of the text. It must be duly noted that the story was written in 1894. Dismissing this fact would yield confusion to the reader if to be taken within the understanding to today’s standards. This significant piece of work can easily be associated to a feminist reading with the patriarchal concept of a traditional family in mind. The story opens with a quick and stimulating fact that was to develop the theme of the text. The story begins with the disclosure of the heart ailment of Mrs. Mallard and the apprehension to reveal to her the news of her husband’s death in a railroad mishap. Immediately, the audience is revealed to the circumstances of the characters with Louise being married to Brently Mallard with no indication of a child produced between them. The news of her husband’s death was given to her in a very calculated manner as her sist er Josephine and close friend Richards were afraid how she will take the news. Also, they fear that it might cause her to break down and that her heart ailment may get the best of her. The characterization of Mrs. Mallard was established in her reaction to the news. â€Å"She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance† (Chopin, 1894). This indicates the fact that she is not like everybody else. The author gives the sense that Mrs. Mallard is different from the typical wife as portrayed in society. The conventional depiction is that of a woman who would not be able to get over the grief over the lost of a member of her family particularly of her husband. Culture tells us that women during those times were subservient to the needs of the husband. Inculcated was the notion of the typical wife who serves as the homemaker ready to serve her husband and to answer for his every need. This is the concept of a tradit ional family that we know. But Mrs. Mallard was different. Her reaction to the death tells us that there is more to the desires and wants that she would like that transcend the kitchen of her house. Right after the ‘storm of grief’ and her immediate tears, Mrs. Mallard wanted to go to her room alone. The succeeding scene painted a metaphor for her newfound liberty. A window is opened and she looks beyond it and saw sparrows and the clouds. Suddenly, everything was more vivid. She was made aware of the freedom of the birds and the color of the sky as though she had never noticed them before. The twittering of the birds and the blue sky ahead of the cloud was revealed. She props herself in a chair and looks out, here the author gives a more or less physical description of her. The narrator of the story speaks of a calm and young woman reflecting a â€Å"suspension of intelligent thought† (Chopin, 1894). This builds up the prospect of a woman who has her whole life ahead of her beyond the tragedy of being a widow, a whole life on her own without a husband to think about. The death served as her epiphany. This reinforces the implied truth that their union is not a happy one. There are many ideas that they be attributed to the cause of this. For instance, the marriage may be forced and that there is really no love or the concept thereof that we have, at one point she thought of her love for him as being fleeting at infrequent moments. The probability of

Intercultural Communication in the Workplace Essay - 1

Intercultural Communication in the Workplace - Essay Example These standards included graduation from an accredited university within certain specified fields of study. There were minimum grade point averages established as well as minimum levels of English-language proficiency. In addition, all hires were expected to have at least five years of relevant sales and marketing experience. In all, there were to be eighteen local hires in Thailand. These staffing standards were established at a meeting six months previously at the corporation’s Los Angeles headquarters. Present at that meeting were the Vice President for Human Resources, his assistant, and a Thai national hired to run the regional headquarters in Bangkok. The staffing standards were communicated orally and in a formal written set of job descriptions. The Thai national had graduated from a reputable American university, had worked for the corporation in Los Angeles for six years, and spoke English fluently. There appeared to be no problems until profiles of the proposed new h ires in Thailand were sent to Los Angeles for confirmation. In short, the American Vice President was not happy. He was not happy because the minimum standards for screening and hiring new employees in Thailand were ignored. The proposed hires did not graduate from reputable universities; indeed, three were graduates of a police college. More, academic transcripts showed that many of the proposed hires were, at best, mediocre students. There was no evidence of English-language proficiency and the minimum sales experience requirements had similarly been ignored. There were also a surprising number of the same surnames; as it turned out, a number of people from the same families had been proposed as local hires. The Vice President was furious because the Thai employee seemed to have thrown his instructions out the window. How did this problem arise? To be sure, there were explicit oral

Osmosis And The Egg Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Osmosis And The Egg - Lab Report Example 7. The egg was placed in a clean beaker and covered with water, the amount of which was recorded. Following which the beaker was covered and it was left for a week. 8. After a week, the egg was removed from the beaker, dried, measured and weighed, and details about the appearance were noted. Finally, the amount of water that remained in the beaker was measured and recorded. Data table Measurements Baseline After vinegar After corn syrup After water Circumference (cm) 13 14.5 12.2 15.5 Mass (g) 51.5 71.89 51.6 78.5 Appearance Oval, smooth, soft Long, rubbery, more cracks Smaller, partly indented Bigger, like a rubber immersed in fluid Amount of vinegar (ml) 60.5 43 - - Amount of corn syrup (ml) 77 - 79 - Amount of water (ml) 67 - - 35 Change in liquid (ml) - -17.5 2 -32 Graph Figure 1: Starting circumference (in centimeters) of the egg and circumference following each of the experimental treatments. Figure 2: Starting mass (in grams) of the egg and the mass following each treatment. Q uestions 1. The circumference of the egg increased by 1.5cm after it was immersed in vinegar and left to stand for a week. The mass changed, increasing by around 20g. Overall, the size of the egg increased. The amount of vinegar in the jar decreased by 17.5ml. The changes were the result of osmosis. The gradient across the membrane of the egg made it such that molecules of vinegar were drawn into the egg, resulting in a lower concentration of vinegar molecules outside the egg and a higher concentration within the egg at the end of the week. The cracks in the shell of the egg were the result of an acidic reaction between the vinegar and the shell of the egg. The rubbery nature was due to the change in chemical composition of the egg, it had more liquid in it as a result of the... Water molecules will move in the direction of a high concentration of solute, and hence low water concentration until equilibrium is reached. Generally osmosis occurs across a cell membrane; however, this is not always the case. The outside solution can be grouped into one of three categories, isotonic, hypotonic and hypertonic. Isotonic is where the concentration of water is the same inside and exterior to the cell, and as a consequence water moves in both directions with no next change. A hypotonic solution has a higher concentration of water compared to the internal environment, and as a consequence water moves into the cell. Finally, a hypotonic solution has a lower concentration of water to the internal environment, so water moves out of the cell. The process of submerging the egg in liquid and leaving it for a week allowed the process of osmosis to take place. This is because the egg shell is semi permeable and is able to act in the same way that a cell membrane can in terms of allowing diffusion. Both water and vinegar were hypotonic compared to the interior of the egg and as a consequence immersing the egg in these liquids resulted in water being taken into the egg. This resulted in the egg appearing rubbery and gaining in size. In contrast, corn syrup was hypertonic compared to the interior of the egg so water moved out of the egg. As there was already an increased amount of water inside the egg it was this that was removed, resulting in the egg being similar in size to when the experiment began.

Business Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words - 2

Business Strategy - Essay Example The distribution networks handle yogurt as one of the most interesting products in fresh food division. The consumers have also their own preferences where market and product development are also hinged on. An adult consumer is particularly interested in the health/nutrition component of the product thus she chooses yogurt with added probiotics, or natural yogurt. She consumes the product as a breakfast or a main meal of the day. While the young consumers eat yogurt mainly as a snack for self-indulgence though they still consider health and nutritional value. For the children consumers, they have mothers who choose the product, are considers self-gratification and at the same time the nutritional aspect. The dominant competitors in this sector which have a national scope are the incumbent players such as Sitia Yomo, Danone, and Parmalat; and the new entrant Muller. Other firms operating in the dairy industry (Nestle, Granarolo, Lactis, A.L.A., Milkon, Latteria Sociale Vipiteno) had also their share in the yogurt industry, including the importers (Ehrmann, Stuffer) which caters a multi-regional market. There were emerging challenges among competitors because of the entry of new players in the industry. This has reduced the amount of display space allocation to market leaders and brands. Also, the overcrowding of the sector has increased the discretional power of distribution. The growth in commercial brands and price brackets (from average to medium price) has reduced the linear shelf space available and thus has increased the referencing costs of the major companies. The emergence of modern distribution channels has also raised the level of competition among players with regard to the economic crisis and the development of distribution formulas, e.g., hard discount stores. This has caused major distributors to take actions aiming to improve price perception of the end consumers. They inserted commercial brands in the market and introduced premium prices. Development of new products was done by traditionally marketing oriented companies. On the part of product developers, there are also challenges that can be considered to better compete in the industry. These concerns the choices and evolving values of the end-consumers: the emerging culture of valuing low calorie and health aspects of foods; the fact that proper meals are becoming less popular; because of fast-paced life, there was less time spent for breakfast. 1.2 Changes and reasons Thus, the intense competition among major players in the industry, the not-so-fast paced growth rate, and highly price sensitive consumers have contributed in the structure change. On the part of Yomo, Danone, and Parmalat, they have opted to maintain substantial investments in advertising of their products as well as improving their trade investments. While Yomo has continued to give a high retail price positioning, Danone, Parmalat and Muller has opted to become aggressive in determining and enforcing their pricing policies. The creation of new refrigerated sections and reduction of linear shelf space given to other fresh products such as pre-packed salami, butter or margarine has expanded the display shelf space allotted

Maryland Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Maryland - Research Paper Example ack Obama, in proclaiming the $4.35 billion Race to the Top activity a year ago, said the project is dependent upon a basic standard: "whether a state is primed to do what meets expectations." Maryland is prepared, as well as ready and equipped to proceed with the advancement that has been made. MSDE worked with our nearby school frameworks and a mixture of accomplices to assemble Marylands winning arrangement. We are resolved to proceed with our States energy since Race to the Top is an element of the federal governments American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Program. Marylands vision for change is to revise the Prek-12 Maryland State Curriculum, appraisals, and responsibility framework dependent upon the Common Core Standards to guarantee that all graduates are school and vocation prepared. It also has a vision to build a statewide innovation foundation that connections all information components with investigative and instructional instruments to screen and push understudy accomplishment. Another vision is to redesign the model for arrangement, advancement, maintenance, and assessment of instructors and principals. Finally, Maryland has a vision of fully actualizing the inventive Breakthrough Center methodology for changing low-performing schools and