Analysis of poetic techniques in The Company of Lovers Essay -- Judith

Judith Wright, who was born during the First World War, lived through, and was greatly influenced by, many wars that Australia had involved herself in. During an interview in 1985, Judith Wright recounts how her childhood was overshadowed by images of war, and therefore many of her earliest memories were connected with war and its effects. The constant presence of danger forced Wright to confront her awareness that all life ends in death, which has haunted her poetry throughout her years. The fear of death and loss has been expressed in 'The Company of Lovers', which was published in 1946, after Wright saw the influence of the Second World War on Australia. Judith Wright's success in translating human existence into poetry has resulted in a rich creation of exuberant expression and sincerity. Her poetry has the ability to connect reason and emotion through various poetic techniques in such a way that knowledge and experience are represented in a powerful yet dense fashion. One would find a great challenge in expressing deep experiences in a poem consisting of simply two octaves. However, through the employment of poetic techniques Judith Wright has captured her knowledge of life and death, and the effects of war, and successfully translated them into her poem ?The Company of Lovers?. This poem reflects an entire generation, worldwide, who went to war, and their lovers and family who were left behind, indicated in the opening line, ?We meet and part now over all the world?. Wright has employed a paradox, ?We meet and part? to encourage an awareness of coinciding union and departure. This paradox serves two functions, to suggest that a brief moment between lovers may soon be disrupted, and to communicate said idea in a condensed... ...remarkable capacity to go beyond and above what can be grasped by the senses. ?The Company of Lovers?, which literally associates love and death, contains a raw essence that supports attributes of reality which explores the connection between inner existence and actual reality, which is effectively and concisely represented through these use of poetic devices, such as paradox? and personification. Wright?s concern with love and death, a feminist and metaphysical issue, had been constantly in her thoughts. However, later in her life, once she had met her lover and had their daughter, she was able to accept death as not an enemy but as phase in the cyclical nature of life. Through the use and develop of poetic techniques, such as structure, language, imagery and movement, Wright has been able to address her concerns with love and death in a vivid but compacted manner.

Hdfc Bank Credit Cards

| Contents TOPIC : â€Å"STUDY OF HDFC BANK CREDIT CARDS TOWARDS CUSTOMER†1 1. Context /Background3 2. Summary and literature review4 3. Questions and hypotheses and justification6 4. Summary of method7 4. 1:Research instruments7 5. Ethics and Safety Requirements8 6. Limitations9 7. Implications10 8. Research Timetable11 9. References12 STUDY OF HDFC BANK CREDIT CARDS TOWARDS CUSTOMER 1. Context /Background Housing Development Finance Corporation Bank of India was incorporated in the year in August 1994 after the changes that were made by Reserve Bank of India, which is by allowing for the establishment of private sector banks in India.This is an assignment made on the sales of the bank credit cards because this is a vast subject that is to be studied in a country like India. India is a large country with diversities, so the customer interaction with be different in each and every place, that may be the language, environmental factors etc. According to my study I would like to suggest that the industries go through narrow phases like introduction, growth, maturity and declines. But these may vary from one place to another comparatively on interceptions and interpretations. In India there a various banks like public sector and private sector banks.And today the private sector banks are giving a tough fight for the public sector banks so called government banks. So considering all these factors I would like to discuss the topic credit cards of HDFC Bank Ltd because there is a tough competition and in this competitive situation how the customers can be satisfied with the bank. In today’s world of competition customer is the supreme for the bank so customer service and customer satisfaction are the main areas were the concentration is to be made. HDFC Bank ltd has got various types of credit cards for different consumers.It has made a very good market catching plan by introducing different types of cards to different types of customers like for workin g class, business class and special cards for women. The different types of cards that they have introduced are like Gold Credit Card, Women’s Gold Credit Card, Business Gold Credit Card, Titanium Credit Card, Business Platinum Card, Platinum Chip Credit Card all these are regular card and there are premium cards like World Master Credit Card, Visa Signature Credit Card and also there are Super Premium cards like Infinia and Regalia cards.All the above mentioned cards are of different credit limit. All these cards are given to the consumers according to their bank transactions ant measured value of customers according to their efficiency so all types of customer get the privilege of using credit card. In India use of credit card is a privilege. So the HDFC Bank ltd aiming this point of view of customers they have satisfied the needs of customers according to the customer wants. In my study ill will show about the HDFC Bank and their role towards customers. 2. Summary and lite rature reviewI will be showing in this study of HDFC Credit Card towards customers as they have many positive and few negative things towards the usage of credit card. There are three factors of customers that i have taken into consideration that is satisfaction of customer, security and payment default of customer. In this study I have a personal experience with the sales of HDFC Credit Cards so that I know what the customer prefer what are their needs, i have a basic practical research on this. And also in my study i have done a review of different people what is their opinion about credit card towards customers.There is a lot of study made by various people in the literature review and tried to prove various points like why people start using credit cards by Berthoud and Kempson in 1992, Lea, Webly and Levine in 1993, Lea, Webly and Walker in 1995, Livingstone and Lunt in1992, Tokunaga in 1993, Kaynak and Harcar in 2001. all these people have made an enormous ways of study in cre dit and customers. In one of the study referred in that Tokunaga in 1993 tried to prove himself by getting involved in profile individuals who are using credit cards and also the related problems of it faced by the customers.He made a detail study that whether the consumers are able to use or not efficient to use consumer credit card effectively and in his theory he made a research on consumer behaviour, psychology and substance abuse. He came to know from the study that abortive users appeared to have more external locus of control, lower self efficiency, considered money as a spring of power and prestige. Cox and Jappelli in 1993 initiated that the demand of credit card positively related to permanent earnings and net worth and negatively related to income and age.Duca and Rosenthal in 1993 in their search recognizes that the credit demand of young households is positively related to wealth, income and household size. Calem and Mester in 1995 in their study they investigated the c ircumstances of the people whether they have the efficiency of paying their credit card debts and they recognized that the card holders with a very high unpaid due or debts had a higher probability of payment default. One of the study made by Ankara Chamber of Commerce (ATO) in this study unimpeded that â€Å"what the consumers says for the credit cards? ,it was designed to find that the number credit card a holder having, the interest rates, amount of the card debts of the consumers, expenses that have been made by the credit card and the problems that have been caused by the use of credit cards. Slocum and Mathews in 1970 made a test that whether social class and income class can be considered as indicators of consumer behaviour by using the data that is obtained from nearly 2,032 commercial bank credit card holders in USA.In their study they observed that people of various segments gave their views as different credit card using patterns, and they found that the social class is not the most useful market segmentation variable for the credit card behaviour of consumers and came to a conclusion that the income level is better indicator of consumer card behaviour than social class. Again in 1969 Mathews and Slocum in their study found that the card holders who have low income and socio economic status used credit cards to spawn revolving credit more habitually than the affluent and elevated class card holders.Ankara Chamber of Commerce says that according to their survey results that 70. 6% of the card holders will be using more than one credit card, 50. 3% of the people have the difficulty in the payment of credit card bills, 24. 2%of the people paid their all debts every month and 25% of the people did not even bother of repaying the amount. According to the Novilities et al of 2003 there are inconsistent conclusions in the literature about the effect of psychological factors cause a creation of debt.Some of the studies come to a conclusion that people with outsized amount of personal debt are not demographically different from others. For instance, Livingston and Lunt in 1992 instituted that the debt is common among individuals with high income and less children. In 1993 Lea et al. studied that the serious debtors are varied from the non-debtors in terms of sociological, economical and psychological variables and gentle debtors are generally intermediate between the two.Ausubal in 1997 and Domowitz and Sartain in 1999 instituted that there is a positive relationship between credit cards and personal bankruptcy. Warren-Tyagi in 2003 in his study he says that credit cards provide temporary opportunities for the people to continue their life values when their income is not sufficient. It is like they want to go above their limits to get the needs that are not necessary. In one of the study made by Ahuja G and Singh in 2006, according to them the perceptions of nearly 160 customers of a place in usage of credit cards especially their gro wth of India.They say that 2/3rd of males and 1/3rd females use credit cards. People of age 40-50 years are the people who make more usage. Majority of the card holders are business man or serviceman. The whole study says that the bank should try to give equivalent attention to female consumers with some special offers and benefits. According to Saha p and Zhao Y in 2005 they analyzed that the relationship between service and customer satisfaction in credit cards are mainly of five service dimensions selected by them.Their survey says that efficiency, reliability, responsiveness, fulfilment, privacy, communication, personalization, technology update are the main factors for the customers. These have a strong impact on customer satisfaction. Here in above instances we are aware of different people given different interpretations, ideas, views regarding credit cards. Here in my study I have taken three major factors into consideration that is satisfaction of the customer, payment defa ult of the customer and the security of the credit card.Satisfaction of customers is how the customers are going to be satisfied with the product which is given by the bank. Paymentdefault is a major problem for the bank and also the customers the study is also made on this as key factor and security which each and every customer are find that as a very important factor because they require safety for their money and the credit card which may cause for the misappropriation of the account if lost or mishandled. All these factors are also studied with hypothesis below. 3. Questions and hypotheses and justificationQuestions 1. RQ1: Does the customer’s satisfaction affect credit cards? 2. RQ2: Is there any payment default? 3. RQ3: Do the customers have security for their credit card? SATISFACTION RQ 1 PAYMENT DEFAULT RQ 2 HDFC CREDIT CARDS RQ 3 SECURITY RQ1: HDFC Bank is a customer friendly bank and it try to have a good relationship with the customers by giving good service RQ2: Bank sees that there will be no more payment default and so that it will help the customer and the customer will have satisfaction with the service of the Bank.RQ3:Bank gives security to each and every customer of the bank it is like the credit customer credit card is the credit card of the bank so that it will be taken care of it so that there will be no misappropriation. 4. Summary of method In my study i can say that the customer’s attitude towards HDFC Bank credit card services was eloquent in nature. According to my secondary data study collected by me I would like to say that regarding the satisfaction, customer default and security collected the data feedback from the people to whom I have issued credit cards and use to have a discussion with them about the usage of the card.This was done in order to fully understand the existing banking scenario of the banking services. Firstly regarding satisfaction of customer is yes most of the customers preferably the working cla ss like the customers who work in companies and the companies will have tie up with the bank, in that the companies are graded and according to the grade of the company, the type of credit which the customer require will be given. So the customers of this kind are preferably more in the bank avoiding to my observance so these customers have good satisfaction.But there are instances where customers are not having a great satisfaction with the bank credit card. This is because of some there is some mishandling with the customers because they don’t use the credit card as per the guidelines, rules and regulations given by the bank. Even bank has got some drawbacks because the credit card is been sold out by the credit card sales representatives, so these so representatives don’t explain the customer systematically in a eager that they got a customer and the representatives will be in the only view of completing their target with the given data.I have made few discussions w ith customers to whom i have issued to get the feedback of the service given by the Bank and by myself. 4. 1:Research instruments Discussion: Direct discussion with the customer when he visited the bank for the payment of the credit card bill or by a telephone call after the credit card is issued. Geographical coverage: This study is taken on the customers of HDFC Bank customers. And the customers were from various places who had come for the sake of job.Place where I made my study is in India, Karnataka state, Mangalore. In my study i also found about the payment default of the customers due to various reasons that is; Late payment: This is a major mistake what the employees do, as soon as they get the bill they keep aside then forget to pay or just neglect it and due to this the bank will levy high charges because of the due of the bill. Then the customers start blaming the bank that the bank has unnecessarily levied high charges.Unwanted swiping: Customers once they get a credit card first they start is swiping everywhere for things which not required and the bank put sur charges for the swipes made which the customers some time won’t be aware of that then later the customer will blame the bank. So the bank has taken some precautions for this by giving some facilities like regular messages to the mobile phone, mailing the customer and also the customer can enquire through customer care centre. Security Customers in India are very careful when their using such kind of facility.They will be having lot of enquiries regarding the usage of credit card. They also prefer the card to be secured sop that if lost also any one should not be able to misuse it. So the banks give a pin or a security code to the customer and also insurance facility with the credit card. And if the card is lost and misused by any one the customer will get an alert on his cell or to his mail saying that the card is being swiped. So that he will come to know that if he is using or som eone else if using. 5. Ethics and Safety Requirements:While conducting my research i have taken into consideration that some kind of ethics and safety requirements are followed that are necessary. All the data which I have collected and presented is authentic one. All the research methods which have done is where other researchers have done in their study and I am going to use the method which the research’s have used in their early research study. Some of the ethics to be followed are: Understand would like to make the reader understand what is the research is made on. I have used the language in the way that is simple so that any reader can understand and find it easy.Disclosure: All the data which has been given in this research will have full authenticity. All the data and all the information given will be disclosed despite of being positive or negative in nature. Think about the data when the research is yet to begin would be unethical if the data used is not proper in n ature. To avoid this data will be re analysed before the study begins so that there will be a proper, supportive good data disclosed. Limits of internet: it would be unethical if the data that is applied in the research made by me would be abstracted directly from the internet and disclosed.All the literature and the data will be disclosed taken from internet and checking its authentication and researcher who has done before as the primary research. 6. Limitations 1. The study which i have made on is restricted to the customers of the place Mangalore and it was only about the bank which I was working. 2. There was a lack of co-operation from the customer’s side to give the required information to know or get back the feedback of the customer. 3. The study was restricted to only Mangalore. Hence caution need to be exercised in generalizing the results of the study. 4.The availability of time to carry out an overall exhaustive study was not enough to gather the complete scenari o. 5. In between the work load of the bank the study was conducted so factors may be missed out. 6. There is still study to made on this but due to the time shortage only few things are taken into consideration in my study 7. In some instances the customers are satisfied with the HDFC Bank and the services but in some cases customers are not satisfied with some factors. 8. Only around 50 % of the customers are satisfied with the interest rate on credit card purchase.Most of them believe that the researcher must be enthusiastic to provide some variety of compensation or benefits on the respond because interaction has sacrificed time and may even incur transportation cost to participate in the collection of data. Such responses should be restricted only to the non-financial such as the sharing of the data collection, results etc. 7. Implications The outcome of this research will let us know the customers if the bank better and the customer will come to know about some of the basic thi ngs of the bank credit cards.From this study I would prefer to say that the HDFC Bank should concentrate on the study of the customer card department of HDFC Bank and the credit card section should be in a position to direct the customers in all transactions and credit card queries. There should be a quick processing of the applications when an applicant is applied for credit card. There should be security for the credit cards that which has got a advanced technology so there no chance of misappropriation without the knowledge of the customer.The surcharge and other hidden charges that the bank will be charging on the customer should be informed properly to the customers. The message of the bill should be reached to the customers in time and the bank should keep a good friendly relationship with the customer and suggest the customer to pay the bill in time and also try to convince the customer if there is any pending of the bill to make the payment but convincing the customer in a v ery polite systematic way that the customer is satisfied with bank and do the payment which will be helpful for the customer as well as the bank.The sales representatives should give a clear picture or idea to their customers about the credit card services and all the queries. The research is based on the study made in a place called Mangalore of only one branch of the bank. Thought there are certain limitations feel that justice has been made to the subject and an attempt is made to present an overall picture about the banking experience in HDFC Bank. By conducting this study i would feel that the Bank may go for further improvements in the credit card section in their upcoming days so that it will be favourable to the customers and the bank.The success of the bank depends on the extent to which they are able to sustain the competitive advantages. The bank should also do such kind of studies so that it will come to know the customers wants and needs. 8. Research Timetable TIME FRAM E| MILESTONE| | | 20 JUNE 2012| Selection of assignment topic| 22 JUNE 2012| Enquire with the supervisor can the study be done or not| 25 JUNE 2012| Start with the topic| 26 JUNE 2012 to 27 JUNE| Context| 28 JUNE 2012| Summary of literature review| 9 JUNE 2012| Questions and hypotheses and justification| 30 JUNE 2012| Summary of the method, ethics and safety requirements, limitations| 1 JULY 2012| Implications| 9. References Mehta, Subhash, â€Å"India Consumer Behaviour, Studies and case for Marketing Divisions†, 1997 Tata McGraw Hill Publishing Co. , Ltd. , New Delhi. Kotari C. R, â€Å"Research Methodology† Wiley Eastern Ltd. , New Delhi Jean Pierre Jeannet, Hubbert D. Hannessey, â€Å"Global Marketing Strategies†, 2nd edition, Jaico Publishing House, New Delhi, 1999. Journals,publications,magazines and websitesSurvey of India Industry 2005, The Hindu. Goyal, A. 2004. Role of Supplementary Services in the Purchase of Credit Card Services in India. Asia Pacifi c Journal of Marketing and Logistics, 16(4): 36 Lee, J. , & Kwon, K. -N. 2002. Consumers' use of credit cards: Store credit card usage as an alternative payment and financing medium. The Journal of Consumer Affairs, 36(2): 239. Sulaiti, K. A. , Ahmed, Z. U. , ; Beldona, S. 2006. Arab Consumers' Behavior Towards Credit Card Usage: A Comparative Analysis of Consumers Across Middle Eastern Countries. Journal of T Adcock, W.O. , E. C. Hirschman and J. C. Goldstucker (1977). â€Å"Bank credit card users: an updated profile† Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 4, pp. 236-241ransnational Management, 12(1): 65 Ausubel, L,M. (1997), â€Å"Credit card default, credit card profits and bankruptcy†, American Bankruptcy Law Journal, Vol. 71, pp. 249-270 Dunn, L. F. and Kim, T. H. (1999), An empirical investigation of credit card default, Working Paper, Ohio State University www. www. sebi. gov. in/dep/dcbdraft. pdf ezineartticles. com/online-credit-card-payment-service-HDFC-Anyone? &id=6907353 ttp://article. wn. com/view/2012/07/01/HDFC_Bank_aims_one_million_new_credit_cards_in_201213/ Credit Card Research Group (2001), Statistical Yearbook, Credit Card Research Group, London. Mackintosh, J (2001), The Financial Times, pp. 4. Horne, S, Worthington, S. (1999), â€Å"The affinity credit card relationship: can it really be mutually be Worthington, S (1999), â€Å"The plastic card and its role in customer relationship management†, Customer Relationship Management, Vol. 1 No. 3, pp. 199-20. neficial? â€Å", Journal of Marketing Management, Vol. 15 No. 7, pp. 603-1 ***

Marriott Case Hbs

Issue In this assignment, we are asked to compute the WACC of Marriott Corporation and each of the company’s three divisions. Our approach is outlined in the next section. We made a series of assumptions regarding either the available data or the missing information. This has been explained below, in a separate section. Approach We applied the following formulae to calculate the WACC: Our assumptions are explained in the next section. The table below presents the approach for calculations at corporation level and division level according to each of the variables. Marriott’s capital structure comprises debt (fixed and floating) and equity. Marriott CorporationBusiness Lines 1Beta of Debt (?  ¬Ã‚ ¬d)Computed using correlation between S&P500 returns and HG Corp Bonds (recent history is implicitly more weighted), s. d. of the S&P500 and s. d. of the HG Corp Bonds (Exhibit 4)Same 2Risk-Free RateEstimated to be equal to 10y US Gov Interest Rate as of April 1988 (Table B)Same 3Current LeverageUsing financial statements (Exhibit 1), we estimated the market value of debt and divided by market value of assets. Market value of debt is estimated to be equal to its book value. Market value of assets is equal to market value of debt + market value of equity (number of outstanding shares * price per share)N/A 4Market Risk PremiumFrom table of returns (Exhibit 5), taken as the average of spread between rates of return for S&P500 and LT US Gov Bonds, 1926-87Same 5Tax RateEstimated from data in exhibit 1, from ratio between income before tax and net income for year 1987Same 6Beta of Equity (? E), Unlevered ? E Levered can be found in Exhibit 3 for the current debt load. Using the current leverage ratio (Step 3), we calculate the unlevered ? E. Having found unlevered equity betas of comparables from their leverage ratio and levered ? E (Exhibit 3), we averaged the unlevered ? E to get the unlevered ? E for each Marriott division. Restaurants division was mapped on Restaurants comparables, Lodging on Hotels whilst Contract Services was implied from Marriott’s and other two divisions unlevered ? E and their respective share in total assets book value. 7Cost of Equity (RL)We recalculated the new Levered ? E based on target leverage of Marriott (Table A) then, combine the Levered ? E, risk free rate, and MRP to calculated the cost of equity using CAPM relationship. Same, except unlevered beta from previous step was used to calculate levered beta. 8Cost of Debt (RD)See step 7, using Beta DebtSame 9WACCWACC formula accounting for ITS correctionSame, respective target leverage ratios and a ? D equal to Marriott’s ? D were used to estimate WACC. Assumptions †¢Overall Assumptions: Although we assume an ITS, we do not have the data to calculate individual ITS for each division and Marriott. As a result, we assume E*=E (rather than E*=E+ITS) and that the ITS is as risky as debt. We assume debt is perpetual and no growth. Beta of Debt: Although Marriott is one firm, we assume it is fairly comparable to a generic HG Corp, with single A rating. Therefore we performed a linear regression on the rate of returns of HG Corporate Bonds against S&P 500 rate of returns, as a proxy of the market portfolio rate of returns. †¢Risk-free rate: The 10Yr UST is assumed to be the best estimate at company and division level. Ideally, each cash flow shou ld be discounted using a government bond with the same maturity. For this case, the selection of the maturity should one that matches best the entire cash flow stream being valued. Also, 1Yr rate is very volatile and 30Y illiquid and thus there is premium built therein. We have assumed that the rates provided in Table B are for zero-coupon bonds, and USD. †¢Current leverage: Market value of debt is estimated to be equal to its book value. The firm is HG, risk premium for HG bonds is relatively low, and we have no information on coupon level of fixed rate debt. The floating rate debt is likely to trade close to par. For subsequent calculations, we also assumed the average maturity at five years. There is only long-term debt for us to consider. Market risk premium: In the same fashion that we estimate the risk free rate benchmark is 10y UST Bond Interest Rate, so we used the difference of average returns between LT UST Bonds and S&P 500 for the period 1926-87, the longest history available we have. We are aware of the imperfection of using historical rates of return. †¢Average corporate tax rate: We assume that the rate calculated as the average rate ap plied to 1987 is a reasonable proxy for future tax rate. Tax rate is applicable across divisions. †¢Cost of Debt: S&P 500 is also considered to be best proxy available for market portfolio. We also assumed no financial distress, which is reasonable because firm has real assets and overhead cost is 3% of revenue. Competitors and divisions have the same debt beta as Marriott: †¢Beta equity of each division: it has been assumed that the unlevered beta equity of each division is comparable to the average of unlevered beta equity of the comparables identified in the case for each relevant business segment. †¢Weighted average of book value of assets was used to determine the unlevered beta of Contract Division, we assumed this to be a reasonable proxy instead of market value of assets.

Marketing and Product Development

The question in the case is whether Kim should spend the fresh (2nd round) VC financing in Marketing and scale up the business or should focus the resources on fine tuning the existing product. Our recommendation is that the company should allocate around 70% of $4mn in marketing spend and 30% in product development and fine tuning the existing one.This recommendation is primarily based on the fact that the company should maximize the first mover advantage and develop barriers to entry by reducing the cost of goods sold with the help of economies of scale and ventually reducing the sales price so as to be competitive and not let others to enter the space. This is mainly because the business model is very easily replicable and thus create the risk of being thrown out of business in the long run.Moreover, the product development and fine tuning is largely replicable irrespective of the number of customers and each customer could be segmented based on the 4 bins Kim and Nolan came up wi th. With reference to the spend, the company should focus on Email marketing, Sophisticated social media, developing sophisticated search echanics, promoting the deals websites advertising and also advertising through blogs.However, it is worthwhile a mention that though emails and network affiliates program involves huge spends, they are directly proportional to the amount of business the firm does or the customer acquisition. The company may run the risk of: 1. Exposing the activities and products in addition to the business model by scaling up the marketing spends and bringing unprecedented levels of transparency to customers along with the firms competitors and potential competitors 2. Exponentially increase the customer retention and acquisition costs by developing ultiple layers of acquisition costs 3.May negatively affect the performance and reputation of the firm if the customers have complaints about the product However the firm may mitigate these risks by: 1. Acquiring max imum amount of market share and create growth in the market size. Thus, creating barrier to entry as a result of low selling price and variety of product match. This is mainly because the idea is substantially untapped and the product is simultaneously acceptable. The firm must target to tap as much market as possible before any new or existing player takes it over. Marketing and Product Development The question in the case is whether Kim should spend the fresh (2nd round) VC financing in Marketing and scale up the business or should focus the resources on fine tuning the existing product. Our recommendation is that the company should allocate around 70% of $4mn in marketing spend and 30% in product development and fine tuning the existing one. This recommendation is primarily based on the fact that the company should maximize the first mover advantage and develop barriers to entry by reducing the cost of goods sold with the help of economies of scale and eventually reducing the sales price so as to be competitive and not let others to enter the space.This is mainly because the business model is very easily replicable and thus create the risk of being thrown out of business in the long run. Moreover, the product development and fine tuning is largely replicable irrespective of the number of customers and each customer could be segmented based on the 4 bins Kim and Nolan came up with. With reference to the spend, the company should focus on Email marketing, Sophisticated social media, developing sophisticated search mechanics, promoting the deals websites advertising and also advertising through blogs.However, it is worthwhile a mention that though emails and network affiliates program involves huge spends, they are directly proportional to the amount of business the firm does or the customer acquisition. The company may run the risk of:1.Exposing the activities and products in addition to the business model by scaling up the marketing spends and bringing unprecedented levels of transparency to customers along with the firms competitors and potential competitors2.Exponentially increase the customer retention and acquisition costs by developing multiple layers of acquisition costs3.May negatively affect the performance and reputation of the firm if the customers have complaints about the product However the firm may mitigate these risks by:1.Acquiring maximu m amount of market share and create growth in the market size. Thus, creating barrier to entry as a result of low selling price and variety of product match. This is mainly because the idea is substantially untapped and the product is simultaneously acceptable. The firm must target to tap as much market as possible before any new or existing player takes it over.2.The increasing customer retention and acquisition costs could also  be countered by lowing the COGS as a result of economies of scale and effecting the retention by further lowering the selling price without affecting the margins much.3.Negative reputation due to customer complaints could be countered with the help of product development and fine tuning the existing products and ideas based on customer needs and value system. This could be done by implementing the CRM with the help of 30% of the additional funds raised in the 2nd round.

Pathophysiology- gasrtic acid stimulation on PUD,GERD,GASTRITIS Essay

Pathophysiology- gasrtic acid stimulation on PUD,GERD,GASTRITIS - Essay Example There are four main phases in the process of gastric acid production and these include basal phase which is constant acid release into the stomach. The cephalic phase involves the preparation for eating and acid secretion is triggered by impulses from higher CNS structures through CN X. Acid secretion in the gastric phase is due to distention of the abdomen and the intestinal phase is stimulated by amino acids and intestinal distension (Malfertheiner, 2009). There are several disorders that can occur as a result of hypersacidity which include peptic ulcer disease, gastroesophageal reflux and gastritis. The acid accumulation in these cases is due to a series of aggressive factors such as alcohol, h. pylori and NSAIDs. For example in patients with hyperacid dyspepsia due to Helicobacter pylori there is an increase in gastrin production which stimulates the the parietal cells to produce HCl. Dietary factors and consumption of alcohol leads to stimulation of gastric mucosa leading to hypersecretion of acid from the parietal cells (Patel & Gyawali, 2012). Genetics have a role to play in the development of PUD, gastritis and GERD due to several reasons. Firstly, hyperacid dyspepsia can be a genetic condition whereby an individual naturally produces an elevated amount of acid therefore making him or her predisposed to developing the above mentioned conditions. Other genetic conditions such as hyperpepsinogemenia play a role in the development of peptic ulcer disease. Genetic defects of lower esophageal sphincter function also predispose an individual to GERD. Autoimmune disorders, cancers and allergic reactions increase an individual’s chances of developing peptic ulcers or gastritis (Patel & Gyawali,

Blue Jean Waste Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Blue Jean Waste - Essay Example Public health should always come first because I believe that this is foremost important for betterment of a society. This personal belief propelled my reaction to the video which called for more stress to be put on social and environmental responsibility on a global level. I believe that the corporations involved in this case like Gap and Levi reacted appropriately to pandemonium created by the responsible plant. Different regulatory measures taken to prevent blue jeans waste from ruining health of local people in the future are reliable. This is because myriad inventive strategies were engineered by those corporations only days after the incident got reported (Macvicar, 2009). The most valuable action in my opinion was formation of a neutral organization to keep a check on performance of garment manufacturers in Lesotho. Such a neutral monitoring organization was bound to make most objective and unbiased observations regarding actions of the factories

Things Fall Apart (Okonkwo Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Things Fall Apart (Okonkwo - Research Paper Example Nwoye, Okonkwo’s oldest son, was a major character that accepted and embraced the new order to the disappointment of his father. Nwoye was the opposite of his father. He loathes war and violence, which Okonkwo cherishes. He embraces the new religion, which Okonkwo vows to destroy. Nwoye’s final decision to leave his father house clearly shows the cultural collapse the new religion brought to the Igboland. The Story Though Okonkwo is a respected leader in the Umuofia tribe of the Igbo people, he lives in fear of becoming his father, Unoka, an idle, poor, profligate, cowardly, and gentle man and could not even think of tomorrow. Throughout his life, Okonkwo attempts to be his father’s direct opposite. From an early age, he builds his home and reputation as the precocious wrestler, who throws Amalinze the Cat â€Å"in a fight which the old men agreed was one of the fiercest since the founder of their town engaged a spirit of the wild for seven days and seven nights † (Achebe 3) He was also a hard-working and a productive farmer. He becomes prosperous, thrifty, courageous, violent, and adamantly opposed to anything else that he perceives to be â€Å"soft,† such as conversation, music, and emotion. He marries three women and fathers eleven children among. He is stoic and tough on the outside but he was not a cruel man. Okonkwo’s life takes a turn a when an accidental murder takes place and Okonkwo was given the responsibility of adopting a boy named Ikemefuna from the village, Mbaino, where the murder took place. Okonkwo comes to love Ikemefuna like a son since the latter turns the feminine Nwoye into a man. In fact, he loves him more than his natural son, Nwoye. After three years, though, the tribe decides that Ikemefuna must die. When the men of Umuofia take Ikemefuna into the forest to kill him, Okonkwo actually commits in the murder. Although he’s just killed his adopted son, Okonkwo shows no emotion because he wan ts to be seen as courageous and not weak like his own father was. Inside, though, Okonkwo feels painful guilt and regret. But since Okonkwo was so wrapped up in being tough and emotionless, he isolated himself from Nwoye, who was like a brother to Ikemefuna. Indeed, Okonkwo never portrays emotions towards anyone even though he feels inward emotions at times as he did after killing Ikemefuna. Okonkwo wraps his inward emotions by outfits of anger express through violence, stubbornness, and other irrational behavior. He was impulsive; he acts before he thinks. Okonkwo demands that his family work long hours despite their age or limited physical stamina, and he nags and beats his wives and son, Nwoye. Later on, during a funeral, Okonkwo accidentally shoots and kills a boy. For his crime, he was sent on exiles for seven years in his mother’s homeland, Mbanta. There, he learns about the coming of the white missionaries whose arrival signals a collapse of the Igbo culture. They brin g a new political system, colonial government; and a new religious order, Christianity. The two new systems weaken the cohesive force among the Igbos and leads to eventual collapse of the Igbo culture. For instance, Igbo outcasts, the Osu, become accepted in the society. As the Christian religion gains legitimacy, more Igbo people including prominent sons became converted. Just when Okonkwo has finished his seven-year sentence and is allowed to return home, his son Nwoye converts to Christianity. Okonkwo is so bent out