Assessment and Treatment Exercise

Jesminder Jess Kaur Bhamra presents today with difficulties she is having at home. She comes from a rattling traditional and strict Indian family where gender roles ar clearly defined. Women be judge to learn to cook and cargon for their husbands, who are, of course, expected to be the sole breadwinners. She states that she loves and respects her parents as well as their traditions besides feels such traditions are antiquated. She has decided to seek counseling because of her recent thicket with her set out. Jess does non wish to take on the traditional role of juvenility Indian women, who marry new and desire a husband.She is really self-assertive and wants to break proscribed of the mold, universe something different than what is expected. I evaluate this as a typical adolescent issue, a growing pain, if you will that is being trivialized by her parents. Jess is at a crossroads. It is normal to desire to please unrivalleds parents and Jess ineluctably to evaluate he r motives for doing what she wants for herself and what her parents desires. leaf node Motivation Jess sees herself as a womanish version of her hero, David Beckham, competing in soccer rather than cooking for an delicious Indian man as tradition dictates.She has posters of him plastered all everywhere her bedroom. She watches him so intensely on television that she is not even invariably aware that her parents are calling her. She get togethers every chance she repays with her male counterparts in the park. She even keeps up a rouse of a summer blood to secretly get in on an all girl squad. She is also make aware by her teammates and coach that in that respect is a real misfortune that her dream of playing professionally may be realized Client Resources ( positions) Jess exercises and practices frequently. Her coach and peers encourage her and let her hunch forward how faithful of a doer she is.The guys that she plays with at the park come to her games to cheer her on. Jess is highly disciplined. She takes her training disadvantageously and has a very loving and supporting family. She states that her mother alship canal wants the lift discover for she and her sister and that she is always concerned with their well-being. Jess erect talk to her father al roughly anything that is going on in her life and most of the time, he is very understanding. She and her sister have a close bond. Her relationship with her sister, Pinky, is one of the things that enables her to protract on.Pinky covers for Jess so that she can continue to play soccer. She encourages her to do her best and not to worry ab divulge other peoples thoughts about what she is doing. Jess also mentions Jules, a teammate who is going through a similar concomitant with her own family and has been able to relate to her struggles. They are a tower of strength to each other. In addition to sheer determination, these are things that keep Jess rivet on her goals. Intersomebodyal fu nctioning Jesss peers share her enkindles. She has a a few(prenominal) peers that are boy crazy up to now she does not really settle out with them.Jess has slowly begun to detach herself from them because they cannot understand wherefore she would rather get sweaty and dirty than go shopping with them. She also has an understanding coach, Joe. Joe has helped her break out of her shell by allowing her to accept herself. She was very afraid to play in short pans because of the burns she encountered as a child. Joe showed her his scar and she is no perennial afraid to play in short pants. This new level of credenza has propelled her into a greater realm of possibilities. No one on her team comments about it.One of her peers from the park made a comment but she was very resilient to it and it has not been an issue since. She has made a healthy limiting to her circumstances and not let a deformity discourage or predict her prox. Intrapersonal function According to Jess, going a gainst her mothers wishes is kindred rejecting her own nicety. The reason that she feels this way is because she believes that she has nothing in common with the absolute majority of her peers, especially those within her culture. Her priorities clash with her mothers expectations.Jess believes her mother wants her to be more feminine like her sister and that her mother values trade union over independence. even off though she has now surrounded herself with people that are interested in the same things she is, she can not help but feel alone. As much as her friends want to be there for her they do not understand why she can not with child(p)ly tell her mother what she really wants to do and her peers have a hard time letting her deal with the stain. They do not understand her traditions. Even though her sister has always been there for her, Pinky is more traditional.Jess is the merely female in her immediate cultural surroundings that has an unusual pipe dream and she is trying to assess her contacts. She needs to determine if she is doing the even up thing. Without any female role models in her culture to model, it is an even more difficult feat. As much as she wants to follow her dreams and make soccer her profession, she is also feeling torn inside. Ethic/Culture/Gender considerations In Indian culture one of the most important things there is, is wedding and family. It is un countable for a daughter to go against her parents wishes and most importantly playing such a masculine sport like soccer.According to Jess girls are supposed to put a great emphasis on learning how to be a good homemaker and making their husband happy and then they can think about such things as education and other interests they may have. In Indian society an arranged marriage is seen as an act of love. Since marriage in their culture is one of the most important decisions a person will ever make and because divorce is not accepted among most Indians, it is important th at the marriage choice is carefully thought out and planned.The family, ordinarily the parents, look for certain traits in a marriage partner. Some loveable traits looked for in both male and female are things like duplicate levels of education, matching cultures, close parental cities and matching religions. There are however times when a love match happens as it was in the persona of Pinky and her fiance. A love match is much like an American marriage, where the two fall in love. However, in Jesss case her interest in soccer was not going to be accepted that easily. Her situation went beyond what any elder in her family would ever understand.For them, seeing Jess crop rough in a pair of shorts playing a game that is considered a men sport would bring much rape to their whole family. Her culture does not accept any form of homosexuality. She almost destroyed her sisters chances of getting married because the fiances family thought they saw her kissing a girl. She and Jules were joking around on a bus stop and it was misinterpreted by Pinkys future in-laws. It brought temporary shame to her family. Her culture is very keen on respecting parents and obeying their wishes.This is why the secret that she keeps is causing her so much turmoil. Her family is deeply religious and she has to participate in various rituals that interfere with her ability to play soccer. Developmental considerations If Jess were to be a regular girl growing up in the coupled States the riddle that she is going through might not be such a big deal with any other family. There are some families who would love to have a all-round(prenominal) teen-ager who is staying out of foreboding and has not given into peer pressure to follow any trends.For a 17 year-old Jess is very mount and is able to analyze the consequences that her actions might bring. She is mature enough to understand that she is caught between what she wants and what her parents want for her and was able to seek ou t the help that she needs in order to address her problem. Inferences and Judgments Jess is a rattling(prenominal) young lady. She is very grounded and disciplined. She has great friends. One of the young men she pals around with even offered to marry her so that she can pursue her dream. She was offered a erudition to play soccer and she does not know how to inform her parents about it.Given her chronicle and her internal conflict, I am confident that Jess will make the right decision and right choices for her family and her future. Summary Practitioners impressions, including the initial problem targeted for treatment When I first met with Jess I believed her to be a well-rounded person that really knew what she wanted. She has a lot of things going in her opt such as having a strong support system that she can count on and having a strong sense of self when it comes to what she wants out of life.She is lacking the confidence and courage to confront her mother and let her know what she wants out of life. Identification of goals Some of the goals we have set during our sessions involve ways of solving her dilemma with her family. Her father has induce aware of her situation and she was allowed to play in the tournament. She has made immense progress by allowing one of her parents to become her ally. She needs to build and strengthen her relationship with her mother and allow her mother to come to terms with her decisions. She also needs to stand firm on her beliefs.Jess must learn to combine her interests and goals for the future with her cultural influence. She also needs to learn to be more constructive in her way of handling others opinions of her culture. She had become very upset on the field when a young lady called her a Paki. She began fighting with her. She and Joe have developed feelings for each other. She must work getting her parents to accept this because he is not of her culture. Overall, she has made tremendous progress and at this poi nt, she seems sufficient enough to execute these goals without further intervention.

Ebay Market Share

How to dominate the online auction sale off sale off sale mart Jeffrey Phillips Brian Somok Xiaoke Zheng administrator Summary Background e request Inc history September 1995 funded as a furbish up proprietorship. May 1996 incorpo arranged in California. April 1998 reincorporated in Delaw atomic upshot 18. September 1998 completion of initial public shoting October 2002 acquired PayPal Product Online Auction E re totallyy day, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, millions of people from all(prenominal) over the orbit go shopping at online auctions. This is not an extravaganza e embayment, with a 76% look at of the auction site commercializeplace place, reports 42. million users and a growth factor of 100% per Year Porters basketball team Forces Analysis Rivalry Rivalry is real intense. Yahoo had to overtake up Japan and Australia online auction sites in 2003 because of low margin in this securities industry even if Yahoo made capital investment in these gondola cardinal sites beforehand. Number of firms Online auction firms www. e bay laurel. com, www. overstock. com, www. ubid. com, www. yahoo. com, www. amazon. com, www. CQout. com, www. bidville. com, etc. The large(p) number of firms in this commercialize reflects the intense controversy among those sites. Margin profit is decreased to a relatively low level. Bay could still survive because of its scale of miserliness and substantially re editation. However, eBays growth in 2004 was much wasteder than in 2003. Sh atomic number 18holders put much pressure on eBay, and eBay had to read upright its pricing on alter services on the short run in come in to come across peoples short condition expectation. However, he is risking his longsighted term taxation and news report. Fixed cost Essentially, dogged costs on online auction market ar rather low purchasing programming engineering science patents, web, administration, recognize, accounting, staff, and daily operations. Product assortediationDifferentiation depends on how the operation is performed. thither is not too much difference among un akin online auction companies in web processing efficiency and tape transport efficiency, scarcely eBay is more(prenominal) contented than separates, due to their lengthy expertise in the market. eBay differentiated itself by compound PayPal payment system, which is famous for its pledge, sporty rate and net fit utility. eBay offers a cheap transaction topple rate, as well. It has greatest number of users by cold, which offers tenuous internet utility. virago used to be a substitute proceeds returnr.However, since 1999 virago added auction module in its bank line line. eBay likewise encroached on amazons corner by adopting fixed expense functions like cloud it straight simplyton and purchasing www. half. com. eBay and amazon suck up been slight different and in that respectfore rivalry has increased a modest. How ever, there is still an demonstr able-bodied gap between them in m championtary value of allot model and softw ar development. Amazon built its reputation with high-end users. It has a friendly and succinct transaction interface, which offers superior product mix. Amazon is utilizing Porters value scheme and has not changed this for years.On the different hand, eBay is a large confederacy of small purchasers and denounceers who deal with single-item proceeding at negotiable harms. It has a created cost good by scale of economy. roughly goods traded on eBay are secondhand, and eBays blood line changes more rapidly than Amazons. eBay is actually taking Porters cost strategy. Different line of merchandise models result in different m unrivalledtary operation. eBay generated $441 million kale in 2003 on $2. 17 billion revenue compared with Amazons much smaller $35 million profit on far more revenue &8212 $5. 3 billion. eBay has a more liquid and good financial structu re.Besides, these two companies are most(prenominal) valued by their proclaim network/community. Most guests arrogatet hold between auction and fixed price sell very often part because they are rooted in the community culture of either network. They dont draw incentives to change their current manner of transaction if it is satisfactory. Different business models and different networks are enough to place these two companies in different niches without too much rivalry. Barriers of New Entrants New freshers seize every luck to expand their market share. eBay still has a dominant market share of online auction.His reputation is a sweeping force in hold oning his good performance. However, eBay has to be cautious in every marketing decision. His mistakes leave be taken payoff by these brand- cleanfangled-fashioned comers. For example, www. bidville. com , an online auction site, recently experienced a dramatic increase in new member registration subsequently eBay a nnounced they would raise their itemization fees for venders. eBay took a prompt response by resuming the listing fee grit to the original level. eBay didnt win anything in this price adjustment and readjustment, only when eroded his reputation.Essentially in this online auction market, whoever has the most take a leak actualisation, wins the game. remunerate now, Bidvilles disadvantage in separate recognition puts Bidville out as a possible alternative to eBays market home temporarily. eBay should think around more to maintain his piddle recognition on the long run. Patents eBay does not hold any tonality patented technology. A new newbie could soft emulate eBays interface. High cost of intromission eBays most effective barriers are its large network and credible reputation. It is rather arduous for a new crank to build a new network starting with no users. We can verify this by how new air ticketing companies grow. ) The only expressive style to start a network fr om a reasonable size is to go for an online auction market from an lively online website company which already has a network, just as Yahoo and Amazon did. A new entrant must(prenominal) also demonstrate citationability and capability to customers and payment providers ( belief card, PayPal, eWallet, etc. ). New entrants must prove their attempts of efficient and honorable legal proceeding, to both purchasers and marketers. Why would buyers and vendors bother to reposition from a sound existing online auction site to a new one?Incentives to switch imply discounts, coupons, accumulative reimbursement like shop at miles, complements from other services an entrant or their co operate company offers, and higher- tint service in terms of timely and elegant shipping. All of these are trivial precisely not necessarily effective gross revenue methods. Effectiveness depends on a super sales strategy which is based on keen insight of business dynamics and human group dynamic s. It is hard for a new entrant to find an experienced strategist, and even if it does, there is still no guarantee to gain market share.This market is basically first-mover dominant. Furthermore, it is unlikely for payment companies like credit card companies or other electronic payment providers to brook a new entrant, because profitability is unclear. The revenue for successful new entrants go forth be low at the beginning and stable on the long run. However, expenses will be extremely high at the beginning. A new company archaicly survives within a short term unless it has a very generous percentage of leverage or a large amount of venture capital, and leverage is only available for public companies. on that pointfore, a new entrant can likely only be an existing company that operates in other markets. It should either be sufficiently self-funded or nominate a very strong, persuasive income statement and business be after to prove liquidity and gain leverage. Since the ea rnings bubble, venture capitalists are very cautious in investing in IT companies, especially Business-to-Customers or Business-to-Business ecommerce companies. (Check the performance of eBay during and after internet bubbles. ) Essentially, the scale of economy is very obvious in the online auction market.The value of an online network is proportional to the number of users squared. The scale of economy will naturally lead to a monopoly. A new entrant should either license a caper cake system or employ a third-party payment platform company that already integrates sham prevention system in its service. Brand loyalty First of all, eBay has been operating in this market since the beginning of e-commerce. A lot of e-commerce companies beat failed since the internet bubble. eBay has successfully survived because of the convenience and simplicity of its service. It has gained popularity and built loyalty among customers.It has a capture identity system, and every user has a record of past minutes. eBay has a sound rating system for every buyer and seller to piece credibility amongst the users. eBays user accounts work like passports of their personal credit and reliability. Most customers of eBay are long-term users therefore, they will not attempt humbug in their transactions. If they do, their rating suffers. All customers flow to trust each other because transactions are transparent to the 3rd party supervisor, eBay. eBay has successfully glum their online auction site into a community which has a cohesive culture.Photos of items to be sold greatly enhance the community value and establish good humour and trust between sellers and buyers. (eBays success has influenced Amazon to adopt a identical policy in its online transactions recently. ) New entrants are competing against a community as well as a company. It is rather difficult to build a new culture and a new community. There expertness be some other narrow auction niches available, but eBay o ffers nearly any product available. For example, eBay has online auctions for cars. However, since cars are large purchases, people tend to be cautious in purchasing them.They must inspect the cars in person, and the buyers and sellers tend to haggle in person. Online auctions dont seem contributory to the secondhand car market. As one would expect, eBay doesnt assume much revenue from car transactions, and any other online car auction websites are not likely to generate high revenues. Such specialized auction markets have uncertain viability. In the example of a car transaction, there are two types of creditability involved. One is buyers trust of eBay Will eBay protect the buyers cover? The other is buyers trust of sellers Will sellers defraud the buyers or exaggerate the quality of their cars?Shipping is also a major cost in this transaction. Most buyers obviously favor in-person transactions. There is little market space for online auction providers. In fact, there are free o nline bulletin boards that provide used car sale teaching. They make it difficult for paid online car auctions to exist at all. Mostly, the viability of much(prenominal) specialized auction markets is doubtful. so, there is express mail chance for new entrants. Substitute Products The most important merit of fixed-price online retail is that a buyer does not have to wait for an auction to end. It is challenge to shoppers who prefer straightforward sales.They value their time more than the small price change. It is basically a tradeoff between time and price. Since online auction and fixed online retail target people with different personalities, these two products necessityly dont conflict with each other. eBay expanded its market by adding fixed-price features to its online transactions, such as Buy It Now. Half. com is a fixed price online retail web site which is admited by eBay. This shows that eBay is flexible in its business model. On the other hand, Amazon, a traditio nal online fixed-price retail web site, launched its auction feature in 1999.Here, fixed-price retail acts fairly like a complement. However, it is a complement only when a company is involved in both types of sales. It is especially beneficial for the companys network utility. eBay expanded its community (network) by adding fixed price retail feature, as Amazon did by adding auctions. Both of them successfully combined these two functions together, which merged these two markets into one, and gave customers greater convenience by allowing them to decide which trend to purchase goods impromptu. However, there is less differentiation between eBay and Amazon. handed-down retail is more prevalent when the buyer must check the product in person or shipping is difficult or overpriced. eBay has had to build a strong creditability by reservation sure all the descriptions of online items to be sold are precise, complete and correct. Without this reliability, customers would switch to tr aditional retail stores. For those goods which are hard to price without observation, eBay cannot supplant traditional retail. This is particularly true for specialized items such as cars, jewelries, and plastic surgeries, all of which have too many a(prenominal) an(prenominal) details to be taken bursting charge of online.Online transactions seem impossible for these goods. The switching cost from online auction to traditional retail or fixed-price online is essentially high. For fixed-price online, sellers have to pay the shop fee for Amazons storage plant. For traditional retail, sellers have to pay for the storage fee and shelf rental fee. These extra fees, which are switching costs, are enough to discourage single item sellers, who are main customer category of eBay, to switch. Buyer business leader Customers price aesthesia Online auctions dont excite sellers for storage of their goods. Fixed-price sites might charge sellers for storage.Traditional retailers incur overh ead costs. Sellers have incentives to sell via online auction. On the other hand, online auctions in the first place deal with unpackaged new products or secondhand products. Most buyers of such products are familiar with eBay, so sellers are more prone to sell via online auction. Buyer bargaining tycoon is weakened. Customers negotiating power As I analyzed above, eBay is a large network of small buyers and sellers who principally deal with single-item sales. A seller generally sells one item to one buyer on eBay, so eBay has high prices and high margins when providing services for many buyers and sellers.Online auction site, recently experienced a dramatic increase in new member registration after eBay announced they would raise their listing fees for sellers. eBay took a prompt response by resuming the listing fee back to the original level. eBay didnt win anything in this price adjustment and readjustment, but eroded his reputation. Essentially in this online auction market, whoever has the most name recognition, wins the game. Right now, Bidvilles disadvantage in name recognition puts Bidville out as a possible alternative to eBays market space temporarily. Bay should think intimately more to maintain his name recognition on the long run. Patents eBay does not hold any key patented technology. A new entrant could easily emulate eBays interface. Buyer Power Customers price sensitivity Online auctions dont charge sellers for storage of their goods. Fixed-price sites might charge sellers for storage. Traditional retailers incur overhead costs. Sellers have incentives to sell via online auction. On the other hand, online auctions mainly deal with unpackaged new products or secondhand products. Most buyers of such products are familiar with eBay, so sellers re more prone to sell via online auction. Buyer bargaining power is weakened. Customers negotiating power As I analyzed above, eBay is a large network of small buyers and sellers who mainly deal with si ngle-item sales. A seller generally sells one item to one buyer on eBay, so eBay has high prices and high margins when providing services for many buyers and sellers. Supplier Power Suppliers to eBay offer technology patent, legal support for intellectual property, and fraud prevention systems. eBay has great pressure to prevent fraud, since its reputation is at stake. Buyers and sellers care about very much about their security.Online auction fraud in 2004 made up 16% of all consumer complaints last year, and 48% in the sub hang of internet-related complaints, topping the list. eBay has 0. 01% fraud rate of all transactions, but these isolated incidents feature wide media coverage, which discourages many potential customers. eBay is still improving its fraud prevention system. The fraud prevention system is launched by Microsoft Inc. and Visa Inter national Inc. As this system is undeniable to eBay, it has little leverage to negotiate a better price. Many online retail systems l ook at fraud prevention system, but there is only one supplier in the market.It has great bargaining power. Complements PayPal, as an online payment solution, is a good complement of eBays online auction business. PayPal is a neutral mediator based on the financial infrastructure of bank accounts and credit separate, support by a proprietary fraud prevention system. Transactions on PayPal are of low risk to both sellers and buyers. PayPal accepts property from the buyer in one of the three ways. Charging the buyers credit card Debiting the buyers checking account Charging from the buyers PayPal account. The buyer can unceasingly send check to his/her PayPal account.Then PayPal will email the seller about the payment made by the buyer. The seller will receive bullion in one of the three ways. The seller might have his own PayPal account. The payment will directly transfer to his/her account. The seller might receive a check from PayPal. PayPal directly deposits the payment into the sellers checking account. Buyers care about security. Buyers credit card numbers are only shown to PayPal. That is safer than online payment directly by credit card. Buyers also care about the cost. For transactions between PayPal customers, theres no transaction fee.PayPal makes money on the float when customers money sits in their account, PayPal is collecting interest on it. Customers generally dont care about the interest that PayPal collects on their deposits. Customers also care about ease of use. PayPal is one of the mere(a)st services for online transactions. All a buyer has to do is to provide his/her name, e-mail address, credit card information, and billing address. For business accounts on PayPal, merchants are aerated a 2. 2% discount rate + 30 cents on the transaction. It is better than the rate charged by merchant banks for judge credit cards, in most cases. eBay Micro StrategiesIncrease brand recognition Expand the auction market by introducing PayPal to more online auction markets assent card companies charge more for Internet-enabled merchant accounts (the accounts the merchants need to accept credit card payments on the Internet), because of the high cost to main security. Therefore, credit cards become too expensive for smaller purchases. PayPal might negotiate with credit card companies for smaller fees for their subscribers. They can cooperate to share the market in the following way Merchant accounts on PayPal will be charged less by credit companies than those on other online payment platforms.Therefore it can increase the number of small purchases on eBay auction. Nowadays, credit cards are the primary means of purchasing air tickets and recording frequent flier miles. eBay should inscribe the air ticketing markets. It definitely can offer the homogeneous service with PayPal. PayPal should cooperate with more airlines and online ticketing websites. If they can integrate PayPal into ticket sales websites, eBay will have a ma ssive potential market in air ticketing and also increase its network utility. eBay should acquire a greater online auction market share by educating online customers that PayPal is the online currency.Yahoos purse failed in the online marketplace. It was not easy to establish their own online payment platform, partly because the online payment concept goes against Yahoos traditional business model. PayPal should make use of its competitive advantage and offer Yahoo and other websites its specialized solutions. Perfect its proprietary fraud prevention system, which is essential to its success. eBay should let its customers, conjunctive online transaction sites, online airline ticketing sites, and credit card companies all feel that transactions through eBay will lower their costs and be more valuable. Bay should cooperate with shipping companies, and make its online transactions more lucrative eBay should work with Phish Report Network and other anti-phishing organizations more eff iciently in order to prevent fake online auction sites taking its market share and negatively charged the whole markets reputation eBay should work with bundle developers to amend the security, efficiency, and adaptability of its database. eBay should convince customers that there is no intentional bidding up air involved in its online auction practice Develop real name feature for customers.Put some restrictions on new sellers in expensive merchandise transaction or large volume sale until they have a good track record. Expand to international market, decrease national boundary barriers in terms of payment (credit card/PayPal) and shipping. Cooperate with local anaesthetic equivalent companies or localize by itself. Mediate between buyers and seller at Security C attain. Respect both sides privacy. Solve conflicts in ultraconservative way. Dont take risk of eBays reputation. eBay Today eBay is the worlds foremost online marketplace. through with(predicate) reliable customer s ervice, efficient information exchange, and by utilizing the latest technology, eBay has created an auction-based market community of an efficiency unheard of foregoing to the internet revolution. Competitive Advantage eBay has used its first-mover advantage to establish itself as the most reliable and, more importantly, largest auction house on or off the internet. In 2003 alone, more than 30 million people interchange over $20 billion. Due to the size and diversity of its user base, eBay is able to offer a wider selection of merchandise than any online retailer.This is made workable by the virtual nature of eBays market sellers can market obscure items to a global market as easily as and more cheaply than they could put an ad in their local paper. historied for matching buyers and sellers across the world with the most extreme items, eBay has developed immeasurable value in its brand name. eBay has become a household denomination synonymous with an eclectic online marketplace. eBay comes to the mind of any buyer looking for that rare or rarely-cheap item any seller hoping to get rid of a great deal anything knows a buyer is lurking somewhere on eBay.The site has become an easily identifiable rallying point akin to a popular leap club on a global scale everyone whos anyone is thereand everyone else too. eBays Macro Strategy eBay seeks to maintain a high level of consumer patronage by capitalizing on its unique positioning as an internet marketplace. Globalization. Since eBay is a virtual marketplace, eBay can establish language localized sites in other countries that have access eBays full auction database. Since the seller handles the shipping details, each seller whitethorn determine the extent to which they enter the global market. Bay has already expanded into 150 countries around the world. worldwide transactions require little additional bookkeeping cost trance their benefit to the consumer is enormous every buyer and seller has access to the l argest market possible. Communication By allowing buyers and sellers to meet and communicate online, eBay is able to minimize the costs of remote market re chase and various(prenominal) exchanges of information across states and borders. This interplay is essential to mutually amicable transactions on which eBay is based.To encourage fair transactions eBay provides an efficient feedback system to allow buyers and sellers to benefit from collective experience, giving customers a strong social incentive to honor each transaction. Integration Through its acquisition of PayPal eBay gained not only market share, but also vertical integration key to its long-term success. By embracing the payment method most commonly used on its site rather than forcing an unpopular one on its user base, eBay has not only retained the existing PayPal user base but expanded to those consumers previously unsure of which method to use.In 2003 there were 40 million PayPal accountsalmost twice as many as the previous yearand these customers transferred $12 billion across 38 countries. Diversification In addition to normal auction bidding, eBay now offers a Buy-it-Now option. Sellers set fixed maximum prices at which the auction will close before it begins. This attracts auction-wary consumers from other e-commerce sites outside of the strict auction market and effectively competes with amazon. com and froogle. com for fixed-price transactions.By allowing independent sellers to maintain storefronts online, eBay seeks to extend its position to include an even wider range of transactions, thus not only broadening its arouse but securing ties to more conservative consumer bases. The Future of eBay Industry Trends What originally began as a small industry of auctions for collectibles has mushroomed into a behemoth encompassing individual sellers, small businesses, and large retailers. The e-commerce industry is constantly growing, and many businesses rely on the reputation of eBay or one o f their competitors to sell their products.As the market grows, a wider demographic range of consumers will be purchasing an increasing number of products online. For example, teenagers are the target consumers of very recent products such as cadre phone ring tones and games, many of which are available exclusively online. As such varied consumer groups are emerging in the online market, there is more room for differentiation perhaps some niches are being created. Therefore, the barriers to incoming will decrease as the market expands. Competitive Trends eBay has a solid foothold as the canonical online auction site.They have a niche as an enormous community with an extremely high success rate of matching buyers and sellers. eBay is distinguished by its availability of single, used, and/or rare items, and for its floating prices. They are adequately differentiated from their competitors, and they possess roughly 70% of the online auction market share. However, due to the relativ ely low switching costs and innovation barriers inherent in a web market, eBay must continue to be rather defensive of their position, against current competition and potential new entrants. contemporary CompetitorsAmazon and Yahoo Auctions are the main competitors of eBay. Ubid. com has 14% of the market share, but they have a different niche than eBay by appealing to business-to-consumer transaction. Amazon may pose a threat to eBays utter assurance they are consistently bringing retailers into e-commerce. However, this comes with a great burden. Whereas eBay has roughly no overhead, Amazon needs to store and move vast quantities of inventory. Currently, Amazons revenues are considerably greater than eBays (about twice as much), but their costs are so high that eBays annual profits are roughly ten times Amazons.Alternatively, Amazon might choose to expand its auction operations, trying to nudge eBay from its niche. Amazon would have to establish a network, a community, on the scale of eBays in order to challenge them directly. Although this could be time consuming and costly to implement, counselling on transactions in which they are merely the broker and carry no cost could greatly increase their long-term profits. Yahoo poses little threat to eBay. While they theoretically have potential for growth similar to Amazon, they lack Amazons reputation.They also lack the cost-free transactions in which eBay luxuriates. New Entrants Online auctioning doesnt have high costs of entry, especially the way eBay operates All a new entrant needs is merchant software there is no need for warehouses or expensive machinery. However, many companies have tried to enter this lucrative market and have failed. New entry is difficult because eBay has an enormous community, which gives tremendous network value to both buyers and sellers. any entrant would have to build up a network from scratch. Conceivably, if a new company entered a niche market, e. g. uctions of teenage clothing and cellular phone phone accessories, they could survive, but such a market would likely be too small to gain any measurable market share. Alternately, a website that already has a large community would be able to enter more easily. For example, Craigs List has a network of millions of users, who rely on it for matching them up with people who can fulfill their specific needs. It would be simple enough to add an auction section to the site, and take advantage of this existing network to compete with eBay. Froogle, a new service from Google, may forever change the way online shopping is done.While it currently is a beta version, it looks to be a promising engine for online shoppers to quickly search nearly all online stores for the products they desire. While Froogle isnt an entrant to the online auction market (yet), it is sure as shooting the beginning of a powerful new substitute service. Froogle may be very dangerous to eBay for many reasons. Google already has a huge network of search-users and advertisers. If vendors (especially specialized vendors, as many on eBay are) can set up their own online stores and be rear for free on Froogle, they have less of a reason to pay eBay for its high access. Bay certainly still has a lot going for it, (security and reputation) but may soon find its network challenged by Froogle users. eBays Response eBay recently started Business. eBay, a new business-to-business online auction that spans all sectors, from mining to farming. eBay is aware that they may need to accommodate larger retailers in order to grow, and to challenge Amazons growth in this direction. If Amazon decides to challenge eBays community appeal, thus eBay must block this attempt any way they can. A simple method would be to start a price war. Bays costs are so negligible compared to Amazons that Amazon could not possibly survive a price war. EBay could almost give away auctions to sellers, whereas this sort of competition would bankrupt Am azon. If a new entrant emerges, eBays best bet is to rely on the value of their community. until now a company trying to enter into a niche market would have a difficult time building a network large enough to attract eBay customers. In the rare case of an established community site entering into online auctioning, eBay should engage in a price war if they believe this sites community is comparable to theirs. Bay is famous for their extreme efficiency, and any entrant would likely be somewhat inefficient due to their inexperience. eBays best response to Froogle is to assert their security and reputation to their users If you buy from eBay, you know you will have a safe and fraud-free transaction, especially if you pay with PayPal. On the other hand, if someone buys from an online shop found on Froogle, he has no idea how reliable the vendor is, or if his credit card information will be safe.If buyers are indisposed to engage in potentially insecure transactions outside of eBay, b uyers and sellers resembling will continue to complete their transactions through eBay. Summary eBay virtually monopolizes the online auction market, due to their large network value, extremely low costs, reputation for security, and efficient operations. When confronted with competition, eBay either relies on its community niche, or buys out the competition (i. e. Half. com and PayPal). They have created a market where entry is very difficult, and competitors are relatively powerless, particularly given the threat of a price war.These advantages should ensure eBays continued domination of online auctions in the future. However, they should court larger retailers, as Amazon has, to expedite their growth. eBay is likely to stay the leading online auctioneer for quite some time, as long as they remain adaptable to the ever-dynamic online market. eBay has proven to be a successful chameleon in the past, making lucrative acquisitions and modifying its business model, depending on the s tate of the online market. As long as eBay continues to aggressively maintain its community and reputation of security, it will dominate the online auction market.References 1. Crockett, Roger O. No shaping? No Problem. BusinessWeek online. . October 23, 2000. 2. eBay 2003 Annual Report. . 3. Hof, Rob. Meet eBays Auctioneer-in-Chief. BusinessWeek online. . May 29, 2003. 4. Hof, Robert D. The eBay Economy. BusinessWeek online. . August 25, 2005. 5. Lewis, Marilyn. eBay and Amazon. webservicespipeline. . celestial latitude 22, 2004. 6. Perez, Juan Carlos. Online auction providers grapple with fraud. Computerworld. . Februrary 17, 2005. 7. Roberts, Paul. Microsoft, eBay, Visa form Phish Report Network. Computerworld. . February 14, 2005

Religion, Rituals, and Health

Chapter 4 faith, rites, and Health Overview of Chapter Topics Introduction righteousness, spi riteity, and ritual faith in the U. S. morality and wellness styles Effect of religion on wellness- colligate behaviors piety and health outcomes Religion and medical examination decisions rites in relation to health practices Case Study cystic fibrosis in a Hasidic Jewish patient Religion, spiritism, and Ritual in that location is considerable overlap betwixt religion and spirituality. Religion a judgement in and respect for a supernatural power or powers, which is regarded as creator and governor of the universe, and a soulal or institutionalized arrangement grounded in such a depression or worship Spirituality the sustenance force within each of us, and it refers to an individuals test to find meaning and purpose in livelihood Religion, Spirituality, and Ritual Religion is more associated with behaviors that elicit be quantified than the more inchoate term, s pirituality. Religion can be categorized by denomination, so there is more intellect near the meaning of the term, and it can be more easily quantified (i. . , dwelling of worship) Similar overlap exists between religion and ritual. Religion may accept established rituals, but not all rituals argon associated with a specific religion. Consequently, this chapter examines the relationship between ritual and health separately from the relationship between religion and health. Religion in the U. S. In 1999, 95% of population in U. S. reported a belief in God or high power. In a 2005 study, 57% of those queried stated that religion is very eventful in their lives, while or so 28% stated that it is fairly important. Since 1992, studies grant found consistent rates of attendance at religious places of worship. Religion and ethnicity may be loosely linked, but a persons religious affiliation should not be assumed based on his/her ethnicity. Religion and Health Behaviors Li festyle is single most prominent set over health today. People with religious ties obligate been shown to follow better behavioral patterns than the nonreligious related to Wider networks of social support than does a strictly layperson tone Social networks are often key to coping with life stress so improved coping mechanisms Proscribed behaviors (i. . , no alcoholic drink role or premarital sex) Religion and Health Behaviors Dietary practices with workable effects on health Prohibition or restriction of consumption of animal products and beverages Fasting Prohibition or restriction of consumption of stimulants and depressants because of habit-forming properties Some religions incorporate the use of stimulants or depressants into their ceremonies Religious practice may correlate with positive health behaviors generally, as well as with trim down rates of depression and higher rates of marital stability Religion and Health Behaviors Religion thought to correlate to positive outcomes with respect to hypertension Mortality/longevity Depression Suicide Promiscuous sexual behavior Drug and alcohol use Delinquency General touch perceptions of well-being intrust/purpose/meaning in life Self-esteem Educational improvement Religion and Health Outcomes Religion also can harm health Sometimes used to justify hatred, aggression, and prejudice Can be judgmental, alienating, exclusive Can cause feeling of religious guilt or feeling of failure to meet religious expectations May restrict health lot services because belief that health is in Gods handsReligion and medical exam Decisions Beginning of life decisions Abortion contend or strictly curb by many religions (i. e. , health of the mother is at risk if maternal quality continued child would be born with a disability that forget cause woeful rape incest) Birth control usage vary methods approved or strongly opposed by certain religions some religions permit hormonal method s but not the methods that block or subvert sperm Religion and Medical Decisions leftover of life decisions Religious belief may influence decisions to accept/reject optional treatments to prolong life at the end i. . , respirators, organ transplants, feeding tubes Religion and Medical Decisions End of life decisions Organ donation perspective is changing some instanter view it an act of compassion related to belief in resurrection euthanasia the act or practice of ending life of someone who is suffering from a terminal illness or incurable condition by lethal injection or suspension of medical treatment Opposed when viewed as murder or suicide or that it will injury karma (states that one must show respect for preservation of life) Some translate as an act of compassion and concern for dignityReligion and Medical Decisions End of life decisions Use of advance directives for end of life care Advanced directives are legal documents that enable a person to convey his or her decisions about care ahead of time Include information about use of life-sustaining equipment, artificial hydration and nutrition (tube feeding), resuscitation, organ donation, comfort care Concerns related to appointing one person as the decision maker in collectivists cultures, person undergoing needless suffering, and if you discuss it, it will happenRitual in Relation to Health Practices Ritual a set of actions that usually are very structured and have symbolic meaning or value May be performed on certain occasions, at regular intervals, or at discretion of individuals or communities held in private or public Tied to numerous activities and events i. e. , births, deaths, holidays, guild meetings, etc. Many rituals in health care settings i. . , being on time for appointments, how people are addressed, where patients sit Ritual in Relation to Health Practices Objects as rituals (i. e. , amulets, bracelets, statues, crosses) Importance of shrines in ritual activities (many are for health and healing) Rituals involving animal sacrifice (done to build and maintain ain relationship with a spirit) Birth rituals (i. e. food restrictions, silent birth, how placenta is discarded) Death rituals (how and when the organic structure is disposed of, prayer, dress, use of flowers) Summary Religion and spirituality play a major role in peoples lives and in their health decisions and behaviors. It has been shown to improve health, but also can contribute to health problems Impacts medical decisions Many rituals are related to health and some are laced to specific religions .

Summary of the Biography of Edgar Allan Poe

Biography of Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Poe was innate(p) in capital of Massachusetts on January 19, 1809. That makes him Capricorn, on the cusp of Aquarius. When Poe was 6, he went to school in England for 5 years. He learned Latin and French, as well as maths and history. He later returned to school in America and continued his studies. Edgar Allan went to the University of Virginia in 1826. He was 17. Edgar Allan had no money, no job skills, Edgar went to Boston and joined the U. S. Army in 1827. He was 18. He did reasonably well in the Army and attained the rank of serjeant-at-law major.In 1831, Edgar Allan Poe went to immature York City where he had just about of his poetry print. He submitted stories to a figure of magazines and they were all rejected. Poe had no friends, no job, and was in financial trouble. In 1835, Edgar finally got a job as an editor of a newspaper because of a contest he won with his story, The Manuscript Found in a Bottle. Edgar missed Mrs. Clemm and Virg inia and brought them to capital of Virginia to live with him. In 1836, Edgar married his cousin, Virginia. He was 27 and she was 13.As the editor for the Southern literary Messenger, Poe successfully managed the paper and increased its circulation from euchre to 3500 copies. Despite this, Poe left the paper in early 1836, complaining of the poor salary. In 1837, Edgar went to New York. He wrote The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym yet he could not find both financial success. He moved to Philadelphia in 1838 where he wrote Ligeia and The Haunted Palace. His offshoot volume of short stories, Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque was published in 1839. Poe received the copyright and 20 copies of the book, precisely no money. Poe found himself without a regular job once again.He tested to start a magazine called The panache and failed. He won a cytosine dollars for his story, The golden Bug and sold a few other stories to magazines but he b atomic number 18ly had enough money to raise his family. Often, Mrs. Clemm had to contribute financially. In 1844, Poe moved masking to New York. Even though The Gold Bug had a circulation of around 300,000 copies, he could barely make a living. He and his family moved to a small bungalow near what is now East 192nd Street. Virginias wellness was fading away and Edgar was deeply upset by it. Virginia died in 1847, 10 eld after Edgars birthday.After losing his wife, Poe col pass from stress but gradually returned to health later that year. On folk 27, Poe left Richmond for New York. He went to Philadelphia and stayed with a friend named James P. Moss. On September 30, he meant to go to New York but supposedly took the wrong accept to Baltimore. On October 3, Poe was found at Gunners Hall, a public house at 44 East Lombard Street, and was taken to the hospital. He lapsed in and out of consciousness but was never able to explain barely what happened to him. Edgar Allan Poe died in the hospital on Sunday, October 7, 1849.Quotes from Edgar Allan Poe It volition be found, in fact, that the ingenious are always fanciful, and the truly imaginative never otherwise than analytic. from The Murders in the Rue dead room It is more than probable that I am not understood but I fear, indeed, that it is in no manner possible to convey to the mind of the merely frequent reader, an adequate idea of that nervous strength of interest with which, in my case, the powers of meditation (not to utter technically) busied and buried themselves, in the contemplation of still the most ordinary objects of the universe. from Berenice

Strategic Management and Lego

1st baptistery STUDYWinter term 2012/2013Student Aitor Martin SantanaProfessor Ravinder Kaur-LahrmannSubject Management Tools THE LEGO GROUP 1. In this case I have place some key characteristics that be in relation with the schema that LEGO has been following. In the 1970-1980 decades, surround was hostile. in that respect was a huge embrocate crisis, and there were in like manner a lot difficulties. However, LEGO maintained its philosophy, and their image of unique and iconic brand. competence was as well hard, with Mattel and Hasbro in the market, but LEGO sustain its powerful position.If we steeringsing, for example, in the dodging that they carried reveal between 1995 and 1998, an interesting fact is that their objectives (become the scoop out cognise global brand, increase the sales, etc. ) are set in a long term direction. Another substantial point is that they wanted to expand the sphere of their activities. They entered in naked as a jaybird areas mu ch(prenominal) as films, games and they alike built unseasoned LEGOLAND parks. However, the thong attempts that happened between 1999 and 2003 forced this companionship to visit their dodging. Different factors such as the changing environment, lead times touched negatively LEGOs dodging.This shows that the uncertainty of strategic decisions is also decisive. If we look at the exploring dodge model, we pot see that the strategic decisions have affected the three main elements (position, choices and action). Regarding to the strategic choices for example, we layabout mention the corporate-level and the business level strategies. I ring that LEGO took some correct decisions, such as changing their relationship with retailers, innovation their supply chain 2. There are many international features that have more than or less influenced LEGOs strategy organic evolution.One of this factors has been the competitors influence. Due to the spicy competitiveness in the play ma rket, LEGO has to come upon a big effort in strategy in browse to be one of the leaders of this industry. Other Coperni stand issue is the supply and the distribution. The main savvy of changing their strategy is that sales were seasonal worker and they had to adapt their supply system to this. Concerning the distributors we provoke state that retailers were putting too much pressure on the company, so the closure consisted on bringing their positions in separate to achieve better results.Maybe one of the reasons of offset a digital strategy was the obsolescence of their increases. There are other influences worth mentioning, such as the scotch (crisis and bad represent management) and social (criticism of the public). 3. Improvements of the capital structure were distinguished resources that have enabled LEGO to achieve their successful results. If we focus on intangible resources, we can aver that the reputation of this firm is key element, in particular because they created an image of a family-run company, which give consumers, shareholders, suppliers a feeling of trust.Kjeld played an important role. On the other hand one of the intimately important competences of LEGO is their brand. This is one of the oldest and better known toy companies in the world, so we can ordain that their brand is iconic. In my opinion, this is the main core competence of LEGO. 4. I think that the various internal and external factors liable for problems were the key element in the development of those alternative strategies. They forced Kejld to sate those decisions.The anterior years were adverse, and there were internal problems such as financial and logistic difficulties, longstanding lead times, etc. Also external factors such as competitors rising power and problems with suppliers were determinant in taking the strategic decisions. In my view, dickens were the most important strategies focusing on cost and the supply chain and innovating. Managing the cost efficiently is very important, especially for companies that produce seasonal products. This gives security. Innovation provides a company an extra value.Inviting the consumers to participate in product development was an excellent idea, because in the toy market is necessary to have slews of ideas. LEGO needed new, better and more ideas. 5. In order to approach future strategy development, they could focus on one of the foursome strategic lenses (strategy as a design, strategy as experience, strategy as ideas and strategy as discourse). If they chose the design lens, their managers would have to burgeon forth rational decisions with a high patsy of legitimacy such as those relate to costs, their products marketing, etc.They also should take a look on economic performance, which is very important in LEGO Group. Also, they could focus in the experience lens. Focusing on this lens would be a practicable decision, because LEGO has a lot of individual and embodied experience . Although LEGO could focus on this lens, I in person think this would not be the beat out option because LEGO needs innovation and new ideas for the future, and this lens states that the future has to be make based in the past. The next would be the ideas lens. This would be, with the design, the ens which better would fit with LEGO Groups strategy, and the one that they should develop most. I say this because in the market where this company competes new ideas are very important, in order to maintain competitiveness. Finally there would be the discourse lens, which I think could also be a good strategy for LEGO, but not the best, because we have to immortalize that LEGO doesnt want its managers to have too much power and legitimacy. Their work should be more focused on teamwork and cooperation between higher and lower power levels in the company.

American and North Vietnamese Perception of War

Austin Beeler American and northwest Vietnamese Perceptions of state of contend To the American Soldiers and the NVA/VC soldiers, the Vietnam War was both genuinely similar and very different. Most of soldiers in Vietnam went into the struggle with a nominate, and they had a very gamey team spirit levels. Both the Americans and the NVA soldiers unexpended with many a(prenominal) problems. The contend leftfield most soldiers with very horrendous cases of mental issues. There were also many things about the state of war that differed to the soldiers. One was the graphic symbol of patriotism, and the other was the consequences of choosing to not fight.The American soldiers were competitiveness with a different type of patriotism than the communist soldiers. The Vietnamese soldiers were fighting for their liberty and to protect their homeland. The Americans were fighting for their regime. They went into the war only trusting their government no weigh what they app roximation about the conflict. The war left both sides with extensive wounds that would take a long fourth dimension to heal. The American soldiers left for Vietnam knowing that they hold in been the victors in in all of the other wars and conflicts they have been in.The morale among the soldiers was graduate(prenominal) at the beginning of the war. The Vietnamese soldiers had very high morale after debacle the French in 1954. One American soldier wrote a letter to his groom-to-be that was supposed to be given to her in the unfortunate blusht of his death. He told his fiance that he is proud that he was even able to fight for his nation, and even though the war has taken his life, he wishes that she doesnt hate the war because of it. The soldiers that were first dis plaza over seas were proud of what they were doing.They believed in their country and they believed that the people patronise home would have their back. The Vietnamese soldiers had been victorious in debacle the French empire just eld before the American soldiers arrived. They were in high spirits and it gave them a sense of indomitability because they just defeated a huge power. The Vietnamese soldiers were fighting for their homeland. They saw the Americans as another colonial power that was attempt to move in and take ensure again. The soldiers knew that they could navigate the land much crack than the Americans and they aidfully planned their attacks.Both of the sides were firm, just they were patriotic in different ways. The American soldiers were patriotic in the sense of they were serving for their government and their country. They were fighting because the government told them that they need to be over there stopping the sprinkle of communism. For the Americans it was about making their country proud. The sexual union Vietnamese soldiers were patriotic in a completely different sense. They were fighting for their freedom. They thought that if they didnt fight, then they would be seat back down to a write down level than the Americans.Just like the French had with with(p) to them when they were in control. The soldiers were fighting to protect their families back north and to save their land. They had an obvious purpose to fight, while the Americans couldnt see how the war alter them back home. Both the Americans and the northeastward Vietnamese soldiers left the war change deeply. Many soldiers returned to their homes and they were s ever soely affected by PTSD. In the book, Kein has nightmares every night that he tries to sleep. That includes the nights he was in the military, and the nights after the war was over.Kein was talking to one of this soldiers and he say their chaotic minds, their troubled speech, revealed how cruelly they were misshapen and tortured by the war(20). The NVA soldiers watched thousands of their cub soldiers die right beside them. Throughout the war, the NVA/VC preoccupied over a million soldiers. perceive that many people die affected the soldiers greatly. One of the soldiers in Keins battalion is severely depressed and is thinking about deserting the perch of the soldiers and heading home. Kein tells him its suicidal and shameful. Can grammatical construction Suicidal? Killing myself?Ive killed so often it wont mean a thing if I kill myself. As for the shame In all my time as a soldier, Ive never seen anything honorable, shows how desensitized the soldiers are. They dont care about death anymore. Many of them bring on married it because they know its coming. The American soldiers were just as scarred by the war. One of the soldiers that reflected on the war in 1984 basically express that depression kills you faster than a hummer to the head. It eats away at you upcountry being. It eats away at everything that you ever learned (5). The soldiers with depression didnt get divine service from anyone.The only people they got help from were the psychiatrists they paid to go see. Both sides use drugs to help cope with the sorrows of war. The Vietnamese soldiers take in the Rosa Canina flower, and the American soldiers smoked cannabis and used heroin. The drugs helped the soldiers deal with the depression of war. The war was a very tough place for both sides. Both countries had a very hard time recovering from the war, but the people who had to overcome the most were the soldiers. They went through so many things in war that they left Vietnam with young shoulders that bore kinda old heads (2).

Airborne: United States Postal Service and Express Mail

A flipper force analysis consists of five parts cosmos threat of substitutes, comforter of launch and exit, talk terminal figures power of buyers, bargaining power of suppliers, and degree of ambition. The threat of substitutes for airborne, in the interior(prenominal) submit stake grocery, came from dickens new(prenominal) extended firms catereral evidence and the United postal operate. federal officialEx, UPS, and mobile unneurotic held an 85% merchandise sh be. caterex held roughly 45% of the domestic trip out food securities diligence and was considered the attention worker, however disputed. Their name was synonymous with displace something everywherenight.Al intimately equivalent when at a restaurant we order a coke, no matter what the exact brand is the await forget understand what we want. The United lot benefit, UPS, was the largest package pitch shot ph ir in the world and held a 25% market place share of the domestic expedited mai l gain. airborne was under the constant threat of substitutes, which were significant. The assuage of entry and exit into the expedited mail preservation market is in truth difficult. Planes, mails, personal, facilities, equipment al together use up to be in place out front stock-still one package is successfully delivered.Buyers had oft successions bargaining power in that the three largest domestic expedited mail holder waves apiece offered corresponding products, next dayspring obstetrical address for sequence sensitive items. Price, reliability, access to addressing, node service, and convince of drop-off locations were both(prenominal) things that the client m from each one quantifys would consider onwardshand choosing their carrier. The bargaining power of suppliers was excessively crocked. The fleshly legal transfer of the package was totally a part of the service offered to clients.The major companies likewise made it possible to track packag es en route, guarantee on time service, and even put up logistical consulting go. The degree of rivalry was very intense betwixt these companies, in the primeval 1990s assiduity observers called the opposition amid feedEx and Ups the parcel war. Each friendship would non only yoke individually former(a)s determines precisely in like manner their engine room and services Factor mobile UPS Fedex Products Offered 1 2 1 rump Customers 1 2 2 militant Positioning 3 2 1 Financial Per fashionance 1 1 1 nicety 2 1 3 Land Ops 2 1 1 Air Ops 2 1 1 Marketing and Sales 2 1 1 Customer expediency 1 2 2 IT 3 2 1 Totals 18 14 14 Lowest=Best airborne is crocked in its products offered in incessantly seeming to be on the straits and rear ending guests high-octanely. Unlike FedEx and UPS, mobile possessed the airdrome that served as its major hub in Wilmington, Ohio. As a result airborne did non nourish to move over fees to the aerodrome and could amend any obstacles tha t they came across at their accept forwardness without having to consult with any remote parties. mobile in like manner differentiated by non having its own retail service c place downs and owning only a dole out of their auction pitch vans. These were both greet saving differentiators, hiring independent contractors to pickup arm and talking to was 10% little expensive. mobile did non market to the push-down list media sooner they targeted the personal inwardly companies who were in channelise of logistics in order to obtain larger much than profitable accounts. Providing flexible, custom solutions for their nodes was besides a difference in care plans that mobile however FedEx and UPS also began to yell this.Ensure that airborne survives and thrives in the future, the companionship would use up to re main(prenominal) competitive with UPS and Fedex. airbornes carnal cognitionship with RPS was beneficial because RPS had connections to the heart of UPSs cu stomer base in the form of large great deal barter customers. The animal(prenominal) dissemination of mobile and RPS were completely separate. To survive, I would suggest that airborne form a stronger relationship not just share-out of marketing and ecstasy teaching. How and why has the bring mail perseverance structure evolved in unclouded years?How dumbfound the changes unnatural small competitors? The US chatter mail industry is mettlesomely con unharmedated. 85% of the market is served by 3 service go forthrs. on that billet are six second tier up players who serve the remaining 15%. FedEx and UPS lead the industry in services and innovation. The future(a) trends wee-wee been observed in this Industry. serve A host of services are pop the questiond to suit the call for to different logical argumentes. overnight merchant marine and next-morning delivery are about popular amongst some other services like next-afternoon delivery and second day service. Same-day and early-next morning services are even decipherlier. onus records have risen over the ecstasy however the rise in taxs has not been complimentary, due to falling costs. Customers it is imperative for avocationes to make haste fast entropyrmation dissemination. read mails have provided a medium for establishing this. All businesses and individuals directly use this service. Contrary to the traditional belief, items being shipped are high value compared to high weight. These items are time-sensitive. Customers have different criterias to get back which service provider to use.With advancements in engineering, this industry has fuck off extremely automated, there by providing better customer service with relation to parcel tracking, pick up services etcetera The decision matrix broadly speaking includes brand name, reliability, price, customer service etc. Customers are generally not fast(a) as switching costs are negligible. operations Most players use the hub-and-spoke model. study hubs act as salt away grounds for mail from all over America. The mails are past sorted and then sent off to respective destinations.Priority is disposed to early-next and next-morning mails. Planes land and take off all through the night. Capital expenditure link up to a hub is extremely high. Both FedEx and UPS mark on improving the sorting strength airborne Express grew very quickly in the late 1990s, outperforming both of its main rivals, FedEx and UPS. When evaluating the success of airborne, it is evident that the organization sedulous a strategy of low cost leadership, utilizing tactics surrounding efficiencies, cost reductions, market focus, and rigid budgeting.Early in its history, the high society targeted a certain market, originally businesses that shipped large records of pressing items to other businesses. This focus allowed airborne to ward off markets of marginal value. In addition, mobile retain cost minimization in rudime ntary functional areas such as applied science, marketing, and overhead. mobile was very discriminating in their invest in technology and innovation, allowing first varyers to coat the way. The automation they did provide, such as heighten and the electronic submission of cargo ships entropy, relieve money on comprehend y reducing manual data entry requirements. Also, airborne did not advertise in mass media, but rather targeted selective logistics managers of major shippers, creating a courting hyphen gross revenue environment (Airborne, p. 12). This allowed for long term partnerships with repeat business. Overhead was kept about 30% less than main rivals. These types of actions, among others performed by Airborne, all point to low cost leadership. When analyzing the role of resources in the firm, Airborne has strong tangible, intangible, and capability resources in their favor.For example, Airborne possess the airdrome that served as its major hub, including the warehouses that contact the airdrome, which they leased to business customers (Airborne, p. 11). In addition, Airborne have a fleet of one hundred seventy-five aircraft, although utilise they provided Airborne the opportunity to personalise the outfitting of each aircraft to their onus withdraws. Airborne also owned a portion of its delivery motortrucks, victimization independent contractors to provide balance on labor costs, fuel, and truck maintenance. A insufficiency of unions in the hub also kept labor costs down.A respite market of large corporate clients with solid sales relationships was among the capability resources. Along with a large amount of equity and cash, Airborne was situated to be a very strong company. While there are many threats to the sustainability of low cost leadership, one of the biggest threats is imitation, especially in businesses using the network (DLE, p. 177). Airborne, due to its business model, was both accede to and immune to this threa t. Because it waited for others to analyze new technologies first, Airborne reaped the benefits of rivals work.For example, Airborne created a software system, its load On-Line Control and Update dust (FOCUS), which imitated field Express foundation, and allowed customers to trace packages themselves rather than rely on company representatives. Because Airborne make outed its innovation practices after already successful programs, they challenged rivals sustainability in the market. On the other hand, Airborne also developed new technologies, like those associated with decamp scanning and delivery, which gave Airborne the ability to deliver Xerox packages before 8AM.This method was easily imitated by FedEx and UPS, which enabled the rivals to provide the same service to their entire customer base, instead of just one client. Airborne was unable to capitalize on the technological advancement after the initial institutionduction, and therefore, suffered a low cost leadership sustainability threat. &8212&8212&8212&8212&8212&8212&8212&8212&8212&8212&8212&8212&8212&8212&8212&8212- underlying Information ofAirborne Express cocktail dress Number 9-798-070 Author Jan W. Rivkin Publisher Harvard line of descent Publishing Year Feb 5, 1998 Course crime syndicate Strategy &8212&8212&8212&8212&8212&8212&8212&8212&8212&8212&8212&8212&8212&8212&8212&8212- typesetters case Summaryof Airborne Express 1997 Airborne Express quarterly revenues up by 29%, and YTD net lettuce ad make upd by more than than 500%. Third largest player in testify mail industry. Boost from the recent rap music at rival UPS. sudden increment company in the industry, but thin margins. Federal Express had tardily raised prices. Previous year Fed Ex and UPS launched new services and set schemes o UPS locomote to distance-based pricing, with prices raised on long-distance encumbrances, lowered on short-distance shipments. Fed Ex followed suit in 1997. Would Airborne? The Express s hip Industry in the United States work provided include somatogenic shipment of packages, shipment tracking, on-time service guarantees, usance headway expedition, warehousing services, logistics consulting services Customers o military controles In industries such as monetary services and consulting, submit mail had become the standard means of delivering docs o common shipments business docs, electronic components, medical samples, and backup parts. o Customer base broadening. good deal of goods considered perishable or time-sensitive increasing over time. Acceleration in the pace of business ontogenesisd talk good deal shipped by each customer. Main consideration factors when decision making whether to ship an item express mail were urgency of shipment and price postman selection based off of carnal knowledge price, carrier reliability, brand name, tracking capabilities, customer service, drop-off convenience, and/or habit. Discounts based on volume encouraged cus tomers to focus on one carrier. However, customers tend not to be loyal when a contract expires. Operations 1. Large fleet of vans and drivers. Drivers leave exchange depot and collect packages. At point of pick up, hand-held computing device used to scan the packages barcode and enter package data.Data transplantred to central computer, which determined routing. packet boat scanned at each subsequent transfer points so that the company could track its progress. 2. incases driven to airport, primed(p) in containers, which were, in turn, move on company-operated dispatch planes. Upon landing at airport, usually around 11 pm, crew, using special equipment, unloaded plane in 20 minutes. Second crew simultaneously servicing plane in formulation for outbound escapism. 3. Cargo containers taken to hangar, where packages are sorted according to final destination. Labor-intensive.Once sorted, case placed in containers and loaded onto planes. Planes typically depart from 3 am 4 am. Planes landed around 6 am at destination airports. 4. Packages unloaded, distributed to vans, and delivered to final destinations. press down-priority packages follow slightly different route more likely to travel by truck rather than air. Heavy investment in large hub facilities, air and ground fleets. accustomed over to customer service and sophisticated information systems. Competition Domestic Express Mail Market 3 major players = Fed Ex, UPS, Airborne Express, serving 85% of the market. nd tier players BAX Global, DHL Worldwide Express, Emery Worldwide, Roadway Package strategy, TNT Express Worldwide, US Postal Service. US Postal Service served much of the remaining 15% of the market, popular due to the convenience of the post office to residential customers. However, prohibited by law from crack volume discounts to business customers. Also, could not track packages streamlinedly, and poor delivery record. DHL, TNT concentrate on worldwide market. o DHL of fered extended service in hard-to-reach areas of the globe. Required knowledge of customs procedures and officials to clear customs quickly.Not heavy invested in domestic capabilities. BAX Global, Emery focused on heavy cargo RPS focused on 2-day delivery via a ground network, targeting price-sensitive business customers. cognize for efficient ground change and sophisticated IT. Fax, email Compete on multiple fronts, including prices, products, and customer service Major Competitors Federal Express o 45% domestic express mail market o History Invented the industry. Prior to founding, express deliveries flew as freight in holds of passenger planes. Frederick Smith, proposed an skyway dedicated solely to express delivery of mail.Argued airlines designed to carry passengers suboptimal for carrying express mail. Any route acceptable for a package as long as it arrives on time. Hub-and-spoke routing more efficient for express mail. Packages would be collected at a single airp ort, sorted, and sent to their destinations. 1971, Federal Express incorporated. pose market focused on small packages, which were largely do by by other air carriers. utmost barriers to entry assembling fleet of jets, constructing a hub in Memphis, securing initial customers, and gaining governmental approving in highly regulated airline industry.Service sourceed in April, 1973. 1983, reached $1 cardinal in revenue, the first company to do so within 10 years of start up, without acquisition. o Technology COSMOS, central computer system, coordinated vehicles, people, packages, routes, and weather information. Supertrackers used by couriers to enter in package info Digitally Assisted Dispatch carcass (DADS) directed couriers to pickup locations and uploaded info from Supertrackers to COSMOS Gave customers Powership computer terminals and shipping software to arrive at shipping paperwork, streamline billing, and track shipments. www. fedex. com o Marketing SalesAggressive mar keting led to astray recognized mottoes High advertising expenditures + sales reps + money-back guarantee o tidy sum Culture People, Service, ProfitWhen people are placed first, they will provide the highest possible service, and loot will follow. Promoted from within. No layoffs form _or_ system of government. Cross-trained employees and cultivated a large part-time workforce. Extensive employee-training programs Employees given wide latitude to make decisions on their own. Expected to take risks and resolve problems on own. Emphasis on communication. FXTV broadcast insouciant company news, weather conditions, competition info, etc.Formal compensation system. Managers incentive pay based on performance against negotiated objectives, employee satisfaction playing a significant role. Hourly workers were also desirable for bonuses. o world-wide Ventures 1985, Fred Smiths vision of world(prenominal) delivery of express mail. However, expensive. 1992, overseas operating loss es transcend $600 million, so company scaled back. Relied on partner companies to complete deliveries. United percentage Service (UPS) o Largest package delivery company in the world, but most volume not express mail, traveled via ground network. History Founded in 1907 as a messenger service. Repositioned itself as the delivery arm of major department stores. fifties automobile ownership widespread, retail stores moved to suburbs. Repositioned again around common carrier service to deliver parcels in general, not just department store deliveries, by truck. Only reached goal of complete national coverage in 1980s, due to level-headed and regulatory battles to deliver within and between states. 1953, coupled ground network with cargo services of major airlines to offer two-day delivery service. 1981, gets first aircrafts. 987, took direct control of all air operations. USPS viewed as main rival. focused on reducing costs since grade were highly regulated. Charged single pric e to all customers. Saved money by picking up at companys convenience and not investing in collecting info (could not track packages easily). Late 1980s/early 1990s, refocused around customer service and invested in aircrafts, sorting infrastructure, and technology, in order to contend with Fed Ex. Radically and successfully restructured. o Operations Hub in Louisville, KY, with 5 regional air hubs around the US.Speculated that UPS sorting and routing facilities were highly automated and employed the latest technology. angiotensin converting enzyme fleet of trucks handled pickup and delivery of all UPS shipments. o Technology determined to match Fed Exs information collection capabilities, invested $3 billion in groundbreaking technology between 1990 and 1995. Resulted in ability to track packages efficiently, deliver electronic proof of delivery, and offer money-back guarantee of on-time delivery. net income site rivaled Fed Exs o Marketing Sales No marketing department before 1980, with puny to no advertising 1996, spent 80% more on media than Fed Ex People Culture owned by managers and managed by owners privately owned, with stock issued to company managers, and, as of 1995, nonmanagement employees as healthy up. Promote from within The Policy Book, emphasized management by consensus and an ethic of humility High payoff kept labor-management relationships good. 1997, drivers among best paid, largely in part to union involvement. 16-day labor strike flooded competitors business. Resolution favored labor, with an increase in full-time positions, as well as full-time and part-time contend over a five-year period.Ramifications of strike include $700 million in lost revenue and poor reputation for absolute tried delivery. o International Operations Invested heavy in developing ball-shaped distribution network, and, even with high operating losses, seemed committed. Airborne Express Often overlooked, but growing faster than competitors in mid-1990 s, with 16% of domestic express mail market in 1997. History o 1968, The Airborne efflorescence Traffic Association of California (shipped fresh flowers from Hawaii to mainland) and Pacific Air encumbrance (delivered perishables to/from Alaska) merged to form Airborne cargo Corporation.Prior to Fed Ex, most successful in express mail industry. o Target business customer that regularly shipped a large volume of urgent items, in the beginning to other business locations. Example Xerox Operations o Owned airport that served a major hub. Did not pay landing fees and no obstacles to tailoring the facility to its unavoidably. However, did need to maintain airport itself, and did not share expenses with other airlines. o rent warehouse space on airport property (Fed Ex and UPS offered warehousing options as well, bot not onsite at airport) o take operations less automated, more humane labor-intensive.Unions represented app. Half of workforce, including all pilots. o Fleets consis ted primarily of used aircraft, built in 1960s and 1970s. Patented cargo containers did not require cargo door. Aircraft run app. 80% full (vs. competitors 65-70%). damages of flight did not vary by amount of cargo carried. o Shippers and recipients concentrated in metropolitan areas. o Greater portion of volume = afternoon and second-day deliveries, so could use trucks more than competitors (30% volume never on plane, vs Fed Exs 15%).. Cost of a truck 1/3 that of aircraft. Unlike competitors, did not maintain retail service midways and owned/operated only a portion of its delivery vans. Independent contractors 60-65% volume, and 10% less expensive than company-owned pick up and delivery. Technology o Invested selectively. Let competitors test innovations and introduced themselves if clear benefit derived. o freight rate On-Line Control and Update System (FOCUS) comparable to Fed Exs COSMOS o Offered high-volume shippers software which bind directly into FOCUS, allowing custome rs to track packages and to submit shipping info themselves as opposed to attractive service agents. Website not as all-inclusive as competitors Marketing Sales o Did not advertise in mass media. Targeted logistics managers of major shippers via sales force. o Known for low prices o Mid-1990s, the flexible, solution-oriented express carrier with an ability to tailor its services to needs of large business customers. However, Fed Ex and UPS offered 8 am service to any customer for a surcharge, as well as claimed to be able to tailor services to customer needs too. People Culture o Humility International Operations o More balmy than Fed Ex and UPS. Used mercantile airlines and local partners to complete shipments RPS Relationship o RPS targeted the ground transport needs of large-volume business customers, whittling at UPS customer base. Offered low prices, maestro info and tracking capabilities. Tried to intro air operations, but folded after large losses. o Companies phys ical distribution systems remained separate. Cooperation in marketing process and sharing of shipment info. However, hinted at a closer alliance. Airbornes Future Postal Service had performed well during UPS strike and success seemed to arouse its ambitions.Planned major advertising blitz to make headway express services. Petitioning government to grant volume discounts. UPS was expected to make play to reclaim volume. UPS strike had shaken customers loyalty to a single company for shipping needs. &8212&8212&8212&8212&8212&8212&8212&8212&8212&8212&8212&8212&8212&8212&8212&8212- Case Analysisof Airborne Express 1. How and why has the structure of the express mail industry evolved in recent years? How have the changes affected small competitors? How has the rivalry between FedEx and UPS impacted them and the rest of the industry? Business and individuals spent $16-17 billion on express mail within the US in 1996.Shipment volumes had risen 15-20% per year for a decade. Services h ad proliferated by delivery time. Service is not limited to physical delivery. It also includes warehouseing services and logistics consulting services. Express Mail Industry 1. 16-17 billion on expedited shipments in US in 1996. 2. Shipment volumes had risen 15-20% per year for a decade. 3. Services had proliferated by delivery time. 4. Service is not limited to physical delivery. It also includes tracking services, warehouseing services, logistics consulting services and expedited customs clearance for international shipments. . Shipping companies competed on the primer of time-to-market, eg. Increased volume shipped by and to each customer. 6. Customers concern when choose a shipping service includes price, reliability, brand name, access to tracking, customer service, convenience of drop-off, and sheer habit. 7. Shipping companies owns vans, drivers, and aircrafts. They have hub airports. They employ the advanced logistic technology. 8. FedEx, UPS and Airborne were the Big Thre e in the industry, together served more than 85% of the market. 9. Invested in global distribution system. 10.Originally set one price for every customer, evolved into distance pricing (ie. Lower prices for shorter distance deliveries) Different company target different markets. To survive, small company must(prenominal) find their differentiation in the industry (ie. DHL specialized in international shipping RPS specialized in ground transport 2 day deliveries). FedEx overnight delivery cutting-edge information and logistic technology Hubs customer self help hostile marketing strategy no layoff policy great customer services employees wide latitude of decision making incentive pay employ both part time and full time international expansion.UPS ground services largest delivery company in the world followed FedEx to purchase their own aircraft started to advertising stock owned by managers and not for public carry on employ both part time and full time international operation. co ntribution Wars Fedex and UPS copied and tried to beat each other in pricing, products and services. When one lowered prices, the other followed and created some other promotion to distance the offer. As a result, small companies need to find their specialty in the market. They will also have employ advanced technology and logistic system and provide great/special customer services. . How has Airborne survived, and recently prospered, in this industry? Airborne targeted the business customer that regularly shipped a large volume of urgent items, primarily to other business locations (mainly 50 metroplitans). They were cognize for their low prices. They cut cost in many ways having their own airport leasing warehouse space to customers hiring part-time employee acquire used aircrafts load more per flight than rivals no retail service center using independent contractors a runty bit late delivery time no advertising picking the technology after FedEx and UPS tested.They provided flexible, solution oriented service to customers. 3. Quantify Airbornes sources of payoff. half-time salary is 7/hour, compared to FedExs 8/hour. Run aircraft 80% full, compared to typically 65-70%. 80-85% of the volume was shipped to 50 metropolitan, compared to FedExs 60% 30% of the volume was not shipped by airplanes, compared to FedExs 15%. The cost of a runway a truck is 1/3 of the cost of owning and operating a similar amount of aircraft capacity. Use of independent contractors accounted for 60-65% of volume using contractors cost them 10% less than doing work themselves. No advertising cost. Drivers picked up more parcels than Fedex resulting in lower labor costs per unit by 20% for pickup and 10% for delivery. Besides, owning their own airport would a big advantage in control and operating cost. 4. What must Robert Brazier, Airbornes President and COO, do in order to lace the companys position? Provider recommendations that will strengthen Airbornes position in this industry.Evidently, Airborne needs to employee advanced technology and explore the global business. Robert Brazier needs to make sure that Airborne will still hold their advantages in the global business. 5. In retrospect, we know that Airbornes position was not sustainable and the company was acquired by DHL. What were early clues about the lack of Airbornes sustainability? Will the DHL/Airborne combination be an trenchant competitior against FedEx and UPS? unrivalled early clue less efficient that Fedex/UPS in on-time deliveries. Should have invested more in technology. Lack of global vision/awareness.Inability to adapt to market 80% of volume delivered to major metropolitan areas, not servicing every customers. Did not take full advantage of opportunity with RPS deal kept coat of arms length deal. Should have leveraged relationship to increase technology and cust base to gain market share. The DHL/Airborne combination could be an effective competitor again FedEx and U PS, although they have their own specialty and targeting markets. DHL does well in the international market, but its domestic business is not strong. Airborne and DHL could be a strong plus to each other.