Measuring and Managing Customer Relationships Essay

Some companies have highly sophisticated analytic systems that allow them to estimate these parameters based on the demographic characteristics of a potential or newly-acquired customer. The analytics help guide the companies’ promotion strategies and campaigns to attract customers with the highest expected lifetime value. For example, RBC Financial Group in Canada uses an analytic model of a customer’s future profitability based on age, tenure with the bank, number of products and services already used at the bank, and the customer’s potential to purchase additional products and services, grow account balances, and generate fee-based income. 1 The bank assigns a personal account representative to its estimated high lifetime value customers, ensures that their phone calls get picked up quickly, and provides them with ready access to credit at attractive terms. 6-31The net promoter score is likely to have the greatest predictive power for repeat purchases and growth in business-to-customer settings where customers have frequent interactions with companies. The score is likely to have the least predictive power in business-to-business settings where purchasing decisions are made by highly sophisticated professionals. In this case, it is better to ask, â€Å"How likely is it that you will continue to purchases products or services from Company X? † CASES 6-32The responses below are based on â€Å"Survival Strategies: After Cost Cutting, Companies Turn Toward Price Increases,† by Timothy Aeppel, The Wall Street Journal (September 18, 2002, p. A1). (a)Jergens’ president based the price on what he determined to be the cost of producing the order of 10 odd-sized fasteners from scratch. The cost included setup for the odd size and overtime labor. The company actually produced the odd-sized fasteners by producing full-size fasteners and then shortening 10. This method was less costly than setting up the equipment to run a small batch of the required odd size. (b)Goodyear had been rewarding its sales force based on volume, providing an incentive for the sales force to deeply discount prices to large distributors. The discounts were so substantial that the large distributors could resell the tires to smaller distributors (even with transportation costs to other regions), reducing Goodyear’s sales at higher prices to smaller distributors. Goodyear responded by cutting the discounts to large distributors, removing discount approval authority from the sales force and transferring it to a â€Å"tactical pricing group† that determines whether Goodyear can profitably match a competitor’s prices. Goodyear also modified its sales force bonus scheme to include a â€Å"revenue per tire† metric. (c)Emerson discovered that customers were willing to pay about 20% more than Emerson’s initially proposed cost-based price of $2,650 for a new compact sensor. Emerson priced the sensor at $3,150. Note that the article does not provide information on how Emerson determined product costs that it used as a basis for its markups. A traditional cost system is more likely to undercost a low-volume or customized product because it allocates manufacturing support costs to products based on unit-level drivers. An activity-based costing system more accurately assigns costs based on resource usage. (d)Wildeck, â€Å"a maker of metal guard rails, mezzanines and material lifts for factories and warehouses,† promoted packages that included installing its products. The installations bring higher profit than parts catalog sales. Wildeck responded to a competitor’s lower-priced storage-rack protector by developing its own â€Å"lite† version and pricing it much lower than the competitor’s price. When customers called about purchasing the lite version, they were informed of the benefits of the original version, and most of these customers bought the original version. An accurate costing system, such as a good activity-based costing system that includes both manufacturing and nonmanufacturing costs of providing goods and services to customers, provides reasonably precise information to managers for making decisions about the mix of products and services to offer to customers and prices to charge in order to generate the desired level of profitability. (e)Union Pacific introduced a minimum price that was higher than a third of its customers paid. The company was not concerned if it lost these customers because customers who were paying higher prices would fill up the newly free space. Dropping unprofitable customers will not lead to an immediate increase in profit if the associated capacity-related costs are committed costs and the resources cannot be put to other profitable use.

Transformational leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Transformational leadership - Essay Example The group exists to achieve a common purpose or task, and the leader's actions in one area affect both the others; thus successful achievement of the task is essential if the group is to be held together and its members motivated to give their best effort to the job. So, the four key elements of performance should be taken into account. These are: measurement - assessing results against agreed targets and standards; feedback - giving people information on how they are doing; positive reinforcement - emphasizing what has been done well so that it will be done even better in the future; only making constructive criticisms, i.e. those that point the way to improvement; exchange of views - ensuring that the discussion involves a full, free and frank exchange of views about what has been achieved, what needs to be done to achieve more and what individuals think about their work, the way they are guided and managed and their aspirations. Performance and development reviews provide those in volved with the opportunity to reflect on past performance as a basis for making development and improvement plans. Obtaining historical perspective through analysis is a necessary part of the review but reaching agreement about what should be done in the future is what it is all about. The performance review should take the form of a dialogue, not a top-down interview or 'appraisal' (Boehnke, Bontis, 2003). The old routines of central planning and negotiating inputs from might have gone, but there remained the assumption that some other agency would solve the problems: an assumption the CEO himself appeared to share. All of this was taking place within a structure which remained hierarchical, with little involvement of junior management or the workforce, who believed that their product could only sell locally and clung to the assumption that they could sell everything they could produce (Whipp, 1991). This systems view therefore suggests that organisations can and do change by mutually reinforcing and amplifying stimuli within their systems. It is change on the basis of the current ways of doing things: in this sense, it is an explanation of incremental change. The change agent seeking to manage change incrementally would, therefore, search for ways in which changes could be made within current systems, which would have the effect of amplifying change. Education and communication might be appropriate if there is a problem in managing change which is based on misinformation or lack of information. It requires an atmosphere of mutual trust and respect between managers and employees, and might well be time consuming if large numbers are involved in the change since it is unlikely that mass briefings of people will be sufficient to communicate effectively. Many organisations realise that such situations are likely to require small group briefings and debate if the communication is to be effective. However, often the direction or process of strategic change lacks clarity, so relying on processes of communication alone is problematic. The ability to motivate and inspire employees is now a core competence for the best managers. In order to achieve optimal goals three basics would be taken into account: motivation, reward and commitment. Motivating other people is about getting them to move in the direction you want them to go in

Directors Duties Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Directors Duties - Essay Example Directors exercise these powers by passing resolutions at board meetings. In the prevailing scenario where Wendy and Greg are directors of the block Ltd, there is a breach of directors' duties. Therefore the directors will be held liable for their acts. In this regard there is breach of:- The directors' of a company are expected to perform their functions with reasonable care and attention. They must discharge their duties and obligations with skill and diligence as expected from a reasonable person of his knowledge and experience. They (directors) are however not liable for bonafide error of judgment as observed by Romer J. in Re City Equitable fire insurance company 3. In this case the company collapsed due to bad investments and bad debts and misappropriation caused by fraudulent acts of a director. The company suffered a loss to the tune of 1,200,000 are eventually was ordered to be would up. The director was convicted for his fraud and negligence. He was however acquitted in appeal because of an exception clause in the articles to hold directors liable only for gross negligence. In Jorchester finance Co. Ltd v. ... hat the duty of care extends uniformly to all directors whether they are executive on directors of a company were held liable for the loss caused to the company due to their negligence in signing blank cheques which enabled the executive directors to enter the amount as they pleased in those cheques _______________ 3. Dr. H.V. Paranjape, Company law, 2000 4. Wardman, K. Abbott, Business law, 2001 . As regards the standard of care and skill expected from directors in performance of their duties, courts seem to unanimously agree that it is that of a reasonable person who with the same knowledge and experience would exercise in the situation. However, a distinction has been drawn between the standard of care and the standard of skill. For assessing a standard of care, the test of objective, while for the standard of skill is subjective. In this regard Wendy and Greg never exercised duty of care and skill. We are told that at the general meeting they failed to take suggestions of Kirstein and other Shareholders who were concerned about the company's expansion yet there was a fall in apartment prices. Further Greg's order of 50,000 from Alfonzo was not in good faith since name of the directors or shareholders was informed of the loan. Therefore the two directors Wendy and Greg lacked the duty of skill and care towards the company. b) Fiduciary Duties The duties of good faith and honesty arising out of fiduciary the fiduciary relationship between the director and his company are analogous to those of a trustee. The law imposes these duties upon the directors so that they are not allowed 'capitalize strategic position in the company to serve their own interests5' The Australian, uniform Companies Act has incorporated statutory provisions containing an explicit

Solomon's book presents different proofs for the existence of God Term Paper

Solomon's book presents different proofs for the existence of God. Discuss the one that you think is most persuasive, and comp - Term Paper Example All three major religions Judaism, Christianity, and Islam share a similar view about God’s existence which is that there is only one God or supreme force in the world. The Greek and Roman gods and goddesses, on the other hand, had some great supernatural powers but they also often behaved like average humans in reference to how they got vengeful when denied something or acted unimpressively at times. In this paper, I will focus on one proof for the existence of God in particular that I consider most persuasive and then compare it to others which do not seem as powerful and appealing as the one discussed at length. There is no scientific evidence supporting the existence of God, so the only notions supporting this idea are related to manmade explanations like there has to some force starting the universe which is so perfect that no human can be held responsible for it. Also, we have to believe in God as suggested by the biblical teachings because of this faith that there is a supernatural power which is omnipotent. There is no concrete evidence really which could either prove or disprove the existence of God, but it is still healthy to accept by faith this existence as without it people would consider themselves free to act in whichever way they like without the fear of facing results at the end like in the form of Day of Judgment of afterlife. According to the Bible, people have to judge from things around them if God exists or not and there is plenty of evidence, not concrete but symbolic, which speaks of God’s presence like the skies and the sun which are so perfect and identify the g lory of God. All the mystic and enthralling wonders of nature point to God’s presence denying which is plain adamancy. Pascal’s proof for God’s existence is a different kind of argument in itself and differs from the explanation provided by Christianity and Islam on multiple levels. While the Bible and Qur’an stress that there is no option but to believe that God exists because of many stupendous works of nature, Pascal argues that believing in God irrespective of whether he exists or not exists is a win-win situation. The tendency of not agreeing to God’s existence, in contrast, is prone to many losses. This is because if we believe in God and he actually does exist, then there is no doubt that we will be rewarded and if we believe so and he does not exist actually, even then it is beneficial because people tend to give up many sinful pleasures in respect of this belief that God exists. Many great scientists like Freud plainly refuse the idea of G od’s existence characterizing it as very irrational. Freud does not believe thinking irrationally in terms of God is actually a bad thing and if not believing in God is irrational, then believing in God is also irrational. This is because irrationality is only defying what cannot be considered rational and second, it is also about believing in what cannot be proved. Freud characterized the existence of God to be harmful in certain instances especially when people tend to rationalize their evil actions by believing they were intended by God to happen or he would have stopped them. So, the proof for the existence of God really comes down to the marvels of nature and a person’s innate disposition to believe in God. In conclusion, not every proof for believing in God identified by Islam, Judaism, and Christianity is rational because

The Population Environment Debate Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

The Population Environment Debate - Essay Example Currently, researchers are trying to frame this debate into a more analytical parameter. This is after they discovered that a framework, which describes the inherent uncertainties in the relationships between population and environment, is vital in giving this debate a direction. Governments are also advised to develop and implement population policy that acknowledges and respects the relationship between population and the environment. Additionally, the entire population should also be engaged, in this debate, to get their views and opinions about the future at the local, regional, and national levels. These actions will help people understand both the positive and negative relationships between population and the environment. Betsy Hartmann first came up with the idea that overpopulation is the primary cause of environmental degradations, and serious population control is required to control this situation (Ramphal et al. 45). He dismissed the idea that population growth was the ma in cause of environmental problems, and reminded researchers to reflect on how population- control programs are not paid much attention. This argument is recognized as the cause of the population-environment debate. Participants of this debate are facing the challenging of considering whether population growth is the cause of environmental degradation, or whether it should be considered as a non-issue, in this debate. Considering one factor, as the effects of population growth on the environment, is what has always given this debate a meaningless direction. Participants need to broaden the basis of their arguments and understand population dynamics and their impacts on the environment (Ramphal et al. 51). While the rate of population growth has significantly slowed down, there is still an increase in the world’s population every year (Ramphal et al. 23). Population growth has a considerable effect on the environment, however; it is difficult to determine whether this impact i n linear or uniform.           

FDI in Sudan agriculture Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

FDI in Sudan agriculture - Research Paper Example However, in subsidiaries, more than 50% of the voting rights must be controlled by the parent company. Foreign direct investment in which the parent enterprise cannot exercise control over the affiliate enterprise is basically termed as a portfolio investment (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2009, pg 17). Moreover, FSI stimulates economic growth in host countries of the affiliate companies. Host countries therefore undertake to attract foreign investors by introducing tax breaks, specific grants and incentives, investment regulation relaxation and enforcing low interest rates on loans to foreign investors. Foreign Direct Investment in Developing countries, Africa and Sudan Foreign direct investment has in the past few years grown considerably, particularly in developing countries’ agricultural sector. Foreign investors view developing countries to have exceptional potential of economic growth. Primarily, multinational companies have significantly increa sed foreign investments in developing countries because of the competitive advantage in their investments. Currently, foreign direct investment in developing countries constitutes sixty one percent of total foreign investments. ... In a move to promote foreign investment in agricultural sector, African governments have undertaken structural adjustment and liberalization of policies to sourcing and marketing inputs and outputs of agriculture both locally and internationally. The governments have also introduced export-processing zones in targeting foreign investors in the agricultural sector (Basu, et al, 2002, pg 12). FDI and Development: Review of the literature Forms of International Investment in Developing Countries International investors may enter foreign markets through trade, foreign direct investment, or international licensing of technology and intellectual property such as copyrights and patents. Each of the above forms is characterized by different levels of involvement, managerial requirements, and commitment in a foreign market (Schaffer, Agusti, and Earle, 2008, pg 6). Trade in foreign markets usually has the least political and legal risks due to its limited involvement in the foreign economy es pecially in the case where a transnational corporation is maintaining sales agents over seas. Trade is used by investors to import items not readily available in the country and export items that are in plenty or not needed. In addition, foreign governments may regulate trade by enacting laws, policies, and import duties. Licensing of technology and intellectual property are substantial assets with legal rights to artistic or written works, name and government grants owned by domestic and international firms. Lastly, foreign direct investment refers to ownership and active control of productive assets by an investor in a foreign country with the expectation of making profits both in the short run and in the long run. Land and environmental

In pregnant patients, does the use cabbage leaves decrease the Research Paper

In pregnant patients, does the use cabbage leaves decrease the incidence of breast engorgment as well as the application of brea - Research Paper Example However, this paper intends to analyze the effectiveness of swift nursing interventions along adequate patient teaching in relieving engorgement compared to the use of binders. After the comparison, the paper will highlight the best alternative for relieving engorgement. Research Question The research question in this case was to analyze whether the swift action from nurses in offering support pregnant patients before and immediately after delivery can help them in handling engorgement. On the other hand, the paper will analyze the efficiency of breast binders in minimizing the pain brought about by the condition. Mothers face a lot of anxiety after birth, and often need reassurance from informed nurses that they can handle the breastfeeding experience. The action from nurses also involves highlighting the crucial breastfeeding tips to mothers. Therefore, the intervention from nurses must come along adequate patient teaching. This research seeks to examine whether both medical and no n-medical support from nurses is more efficient in reducing breast engorgement in comparison to the advocated use of breast binders. The Search Process The EBSCO database proved to be a reliable source because it provides a wide range of resources. However, it was essential to customize the advanced search settings in order to get access to the most relevant range of articles. Therefore, limits for results included full text research articles, peer reviewed and from journals. Moreover, other limits included customizing the geographical setting to United States of America and limiting the search to articles dated 2007 to 2012. The search words were ‘breast engorgement’. Numerous articles addressing this issue appeared. Among these articles, five proved relevant to the issue and served as reliable sources for this search. The use of CINAHL database proved very resourceful because of the vast collection of nursing articles from renowned journals. How Engorgement Results In the first few days after birth when the baby begins to breastfeed, the milk may not flow easily. In this initial phase of the breastfeeding process, colostrum flows out to supply the baby with both nutritional and immunological components. However, its flow presents irregularities. At first, the mother may not succeed to feed the baby despite her efforts. However, with time the milk may flow to the breast in large amounts. The sudden inflow may cause the breast to swell and become tender. For many mothers, the breastfeeding experience ranging from the anxieties to the pain of engorgement may prove unbearable. Strong (2011) highlights that the pain of engorgement may extend for the initial six days under normal cases, but pain occurring beyond the first week of breastfeeding has other causes. A pregnant patient will require this knowledge prior to delivery. Critical understanding of the causes and remedies of engorgement is an important aspect to each pregnant patient. The pregnant patient requires relevant information concerning the implications of both natural birth and caesarian option concerning engorgement. Nurse Interventions and Adequate Patient Teaching According to Martucci (2012), the entire procedure of initiating breastfeeding can be a lot easier if nurses present the mothers with relevant informat