Balance Scorecard Essay Example for Free

Balance Scorecard Essay A Balanced Scorecard is a framework that focuses on shareholder, customer, internal and learning requirements of a business in order to create a system of linked objectives, measures, targets and initiatives which collectively describe the strategy of an organization and how that strategy can be achieved. † The Balanced scorecard retains the traditional financial measures and complements them with measures that are drivers of future performance. The objectives and measures of the scorecard are derived from an organizations vision and strategy and these view organizational performance. The balanced scorecard is a management system (not only a measurement system) that enables organizations to clarify their vision and strategy and translate them into action. It provides feedback around both the internal business processes and external outcomes in order to continuously improve strategic performance and results. When fully deployed, the balanced scorecard transforms strategic planning from an academic exercise into the nerve center of an enterprise. The balanced scorecard is a tool developed by Kaplan and Norton to articulate, execute and monitor strategy using a mix of financial and non-financial measures. It is designed to translate vision and strategy into objectives and measures across four balanced perspectives: financial, customers, internal business processes and learning and growth. It focuses on all the activities that generate financial results rather than the financial side alone. The scorecard depicts strategy as a series of cause-and-effect relationships between critical variables and gives a framework for ensuring that strategy is translated into a coherent set of performance measures. The use of a hierarchy of scorecards cascading through the organisation ensures that strategy and performance measurement is closely aligned. The Balanced Scorecard can act as both a control system and a management tool. In other words, it can be used for monitoring performance as well as for strategic planning. Its versatility may be one of the reasons why so many companies have chosen to adopt it.

Sharpios auto Wreck: The Theme Of Death Essay example -- essays rese

Sharpio's "Auto Wreck": The Theme of Death Few subjects can be discussed with more insightfulness and curiosity than death. The unpredictability and grimness of it are conveyed well in Karl Shapiro's poem, "Auto Wreck". The poem starts with a description of an ambulance rushing to the scene of a crash, and hurriedly gathering up the victims and rushing them away. The aftermath of the police investigation that follows leaves the crowd gathered around the scene to explore privately and individually a range of feelings and emotions about the reality of death. Shapiro's usage of imagery together with figurative language is a key element in getting the theme of death across to the reader. By bringing the scene of the accident to life and relaying the emotions of the spectators with language and several metaphors, the poem gains a realistic and sometimes transcendent effect. In some places in the poem, the words can easily be taken literally to convey scenery or an emotion, but they can also be taken so as to make the reader think about possible higher meanings. The thoughtsexpressed in the poem help to suggest these other meanings by clearly stating what is being felt by the speaker and the crowd around the accident. By stating clearly and vividly the emotions of the scene, it is easy for the reader to identify the theme itself, and also to identify with it. In the first stanza, the speaker describes the ambulance arriving on the scene more so than the actual scene itself. The ambulance is described using words such as "wings", "dips", and "floating", giving the impression of the hectic nature of its business at an accident. When the ambulance arrives and breaks through the crowd, "the doors leap open" to further convey the hurried state it's in. In line 5, as the ambulance passes the beacons and illuminated clocks, it gives the reader an obvious clue about setting. To take the words' meaning further, it can be argued that the illumination of the clocks and the emptying light in line 8 symbolize life itself as light in an otherwise dark situation. Also, the allusion to a heart by use of the words "pulsing", "artery" and "beating" personify the ambulance as the new life giving support of the victims of the crash. ... ... our physics with a sneer". Taking the meaning from these parts and the last lines of the poem takes the speaker and reader through the realization that death is unpredictable and thought provoking, knowing that it can happen in the worst way at any given time. "Auto Wreck" deals with the complex subject of death by exposing the reader to the feelings of the speaker after witnessing a crash. The theme that death is unpredictable and grim is presented through these feelings. The stanzas are set up such that the steps from shock to realization of what death contains can be presented in order of occurence. The first stanza describes the ambulance coming to try to save the victims, and the second stanza deals with the immediate aftermath of the crash. These first two stanzas really create a background to the final stanza, which takes the reader through a range of emotions along with the speaker. The last stanza entirely is the perfect example of how the imagery and figurative language get these emotions across to the reader. In doing such, the theme is revealed very clearly and the reader can think to himself for whom the bell really tolls.

Marketing in Contemporary Context

Marketing in Contemporary Contexts| October 15 2012 | From: Hong Minh VuStudent ID 1216011To: Dr. Amandeep TakharUnit leader of Marketing in Contemporary Contexts| | There can be various answers to this question, and it can be varied in depth and example. From my understanding, I feel that marketing does both. It creates and also satisfies needs of customers. For establised firms, it's essential to be able to satisfy the needs of customers. As they say, a satisfied customer is a profitable one.To be able to satisfy the customer's needs, the firm thus tries to understand it's customer's needs and then attempt try to deliver it. On the other hand, new firms or marketing these days also attempt to ‘create' needs. By doing so, the customer have a reason to buy the product. The basic reason customers purchase anything is they need it. However if customers have a perception that they do not need it, they may not purchase the product. Hence marketing these days have evolved to create needs for customers.Marketing these days does not only mean existing customers, which have needs but also non existing customers, which have no needs. Creating needs by marketing can mean the excellent usage of promotion activities, from words on a poster to colours on it. It can also mean effective sales techniques by the door to door salesman which can talk their way to sell you anything. The traditional concept of marketing was only about sales or meeting the â€Å"current needs† of a consumer. But the same cannot be felt, today with the number of firms on the rise in the same industry, state and even the same street.Everyone is in a race either to: * Capture a customer   and satisfy their needs * Create a customer and satisfy their needs. So what If the competitor has already captured the potential customer, there are many more people in the market yet to realize the need which is created but not actually needed. Let’s take an example. Mac Books or laptops are su ch a common commodity among students and even school kids irrespective of the fact that it is not really needed. Can’t they manage with a desktop at home? But now day’s companies do more! They educate people and give them eason to buy their products and this is what people might call it â€Å"creation of needs† people purchase something when they need it, if they think they do not need the product they may not purchase it. How many people today in Pakistan need I-pod? How many people really need Mobile + Internet + Camera + TV all in one set? Can we call it marketers created their needs? References Parsons, E. and Maclaran. P. (2010), Contemporary issues in Marketing & Consumer Behaviour, Butterworth Heinemann Kotler, P. and Keller, K. (2012), Marketing Management, Pearson Education

Definition and Examples of Word Words in English

How Does Steinbeck Present the Theme of Loneliness Through...

+ The story Of Mice and Men is set in Salinas by the Salinas River - where George and Lennie spend the night after escaping from their previous ranch in weed – just south of Soledad. The theme of loneliness runs throughout the book and I will be exploring how Steinbeck presents this theme through the character of Curley’s wife. Many of the characters are lonely, and seek different ways to find comfort, for Candy it is his dog, this is why he finds it so hard to let him go during chapter 3 â€Å"The old man squirmed uncomfortably† this shows he’s in a lot of discomfort, as he does want to be lonely, and his dog accompanies him. For George and Lennie it is each other, they often speak about how important it is for them to travel together â€Å"Guys†¦show more content†¦Lennie is the only Character in book that doesn’t really show any dislike or hatred to her, when he first sees her he repeats â€Å"purty†, although he is told by Geor ge to stay away from her as he doesn’t want there to be no trouble. + Throughout the book Of Mice and Men Curley’s wife is never named, she is always just known as Curley’s wife. I think this is an important part of the book as it shows that she has no individual identity, it shows that she is merely Curley’s object. She is not treated as an individual and is seen by other characters as just a symbol of other things like Curley’s wife. + During the 1930s women were treated a lot differently as they were today. They were housewives. They were seen as ‘slaves’, and ‘the weaker sex’ they had to take orders from their husbands and obey them, they’d do chores, they would wash, cook and clean whilst the men went out and worked. They were treated without respect, they were only wanted for what they could offer; sex, cleaning. They were just seen as objects and nothing further. Women were not wanted on ranches, and that is where the role of Curley’s wife comes into it. Whilst on the ranch, as stated earlier, the men are not friendly with her, and I think the inequality between the two genders back then really affected their views towards her. During the book you really do see how different it was for woman back then, Curley’s wife is alwaysShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of The Novel Of Mice And Men 1866 Words   |  8 Pagesdamage this can cause: Crooks and Curley’s wife fr om â€Å"Of Mice and Men†, and the persona in â€Å"Havisham† express their frustration, coupled with bitterness, due to being marginalized in society because of their gender or colour. In contrast, Armitage presents a figure in the poem â€Å"Hitcher† who, is fed up with isolation from his work, kills an innocent man. This sense of dissatisfaction is mirrored in the â€Å"Havisham†, In the book â€Å"Of Mice and Men† Steinbeck presents isolation as an effect of racism

Poland s Economic Reform Plan Of 1989 - 1711 Words

The year of 1989 is generally regarded as a watershed moment in the history of Eastern Europe—the one which effectively ended the dominance of Communist politics in the region formerly known as the Soviet Bloc. Comprised of Poland, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, and East Germany, this region was politically and economically depended on the Soviet Union that largely dictated the official ideological orientation of the Soviet Bloc nations. In 1989, the region’s dependence on the Soviet Union effectively came to an end along with the communist hegemony in Eastern Europe. At the same time, Eastern Europeans finally discovered the opportunity to make a transition from centralized socialism to democratic and decentralized form of market economy that was largely modeled on the Western democracies. The following chapter examines the extent to which Western theoretical and institutional trends influenced Poland’s economic reform plan of 1989. At the sam e time, it seeks to account for Poland’s own local tradition of neoliberal thought. In so doing, it aims to dispel the oversimplified interpretation of the transnational exchange between Polish and American economists according to which the former had to learn from scratch while the former assumed the role of educators. As various commentators have observed, the Eastern European transition to market economy took Western neoliberalism as its principal ideological model. It is no secret, for instance, that JeffreyShow MoreRelatedThe Key Principles Of Neoliberalism Essay1052 Words   |  5 Pagesof the package consisted in granting the full responsibility for economic performance to the central administration. The free enterprise characterized by responsibility and autonomy, he insisted, was incompatible with economic coercion by the state (B. KamiÅ„ski 226). As a consequence of protests of similar nature, the government eventually withdrew the package in question from further consideration. Following the revolutions of 1989, neoliberals were able to forge new alliances with Solidarity membersRead MoreThe Collapse Of The Soviet Union1689 Words   |  7 Pagescollapse of the Soviet Union had ended the communist hold on Eastern Europe and surrounding former communist states. The year 1990 had also marked the beginning of rapid economic and social transition from a communist state to a democratic market based economy. Milton Friedman coined the term shock policy, also referred to as economic liberalism, to describe the abrupt release of currency and price controls, the extraction of state subsidies, large scale privatization of former public owned assets,Read MorePoland As A Developed Nation1433 Words   |  6 PagesPoland as a Developed Nation Every nation on this planet seeks to grow and develop. In recent years, the European Union formed to help the European nations grow and develop. Europe is no stranger to conflict of opinion. Many nations have been under duress economically, politically, or even socially. Poland is setting itself to become a key European nation. Poland has had many tribulations in attempt to move forward. Poland has come a long way from the influence of Russia. The PolishRead MoreSoviet Union As Powerful Middle Class Nations Today Essay2191 Words   |  9 PagesRussia and Poland were once under the single party control, communism. Communism is when the government owns nearly all aspects of society. The government controlled everything from means of production, property, to even media. The fall of communism throughout the world began in the late 1980s. Since the liberalization of the two countries, Russia and Poland have come to long ways. After independence, both countries faced many struggles but are now considered to be powerful middle-class nations todayRead MoreRomania After The Soviet War1234 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Å"†¦the real impetus for reform has come from the EU, which has been harsh in its criticism. With the carrot of European integration dangling in front of Romania, real efforts were made to cu rtail corruption before Romani joined the EU in January 2007.† (396-397). Although Romania did not defeat corruption completely they did minimize it enough to be accepted into the EU. Romania also had a major obstacle of fixing their economy, â€Å"Since 1989, Romania has suffered from economic, social, ethnic, and environmentalRead More History of Germany Essay1416 Words   |  6 PagesSlavs. Fighting and power struggles continued until the 1400’s, when the modern world gradually came into existence with intellectual, economic and political changes. During the late 1490’s and early 1500’s, Maximilian I put into motion his plan to reform the German Empire by creating an Imperial Supreme Court (Reichskammergericht), levying imperial taxes and increasing the power of the Imperial Diet (Reichstag) (Wikipedia). By the mid 1500’s Germany was a reforming nation with revolts, uprisings andRead MoreArt Is Endless In Its Scope. And Although Art Historically1829 Words   |  8 Pagesit did not. In Poland there were a handful of artists that still idealized communism, such as filmmakers like Agnieszka Holland. Although it was an unpopular opinion, a surprisingly number of media shapers held the opinion that art simply thrived better under communism. Upon the emergence of a new wave of political climate in Poland during the late 20th century, many reforms sprouted in the social, economic, and political spheres. Strikingly enough, the advent of the Balcerowicz Plan or â€Å"Shock Therapy†Read MoreCollapse Of The Soviet Union Inevitable1334 Words   |  6 Pagesduring the last few years of the war, the USSR face internal domestic problems such as their financial/economic situation, failed political reforms, and revolution throughout the Union itself. The causes to the collapse of the Union not only affected them but affected the world to present day. The first major reason why the fall of the Soviet Union was inevitable was due to their internal economic problems. Evidence to this is, â€Å"by the mid-1980s the Soviet Union and most of its satellites lagged behindRead MoreCapitalism And The United States1549 Words   |  7 Pageshaving a fixed definition of capitalism, it can be defined as an economic or political system that allows for a country s trade and industry to be controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state. Also, while no country uses a pure form of capitalism, they are still considered to be a capitalist country if they allow businesses to sell products and earn money for themselves. Today, countries like the US and Poland are believers that capitalism works with present economies, butRead More The Cold War Essay947 Words   |  4 PagesFollowing World War Two, two distant political governments emerged to dictate the direction the world would take. These two governments consisted of Communism and Democracy which stared untrustingly at each other and staunched economic growth with their excessive military budgets. In the end though, Democracy would prove to be the preferred government archetype for the general population of the world. During World War Two, the United States and the Soviet Union along with their allies

Adventures in Ecodesign of Electronic Products

Question: Discuss about the Adventures in Ecodesign of Electronic Products. Answer: Introduction: The company is a startup, and it is going to embark on the production of electronics for example televisions, mobile phones, computers, iPods, refrigerators, iron boxes and other accessories like chargers and earphones (Stevels, 2017). The company will produce products that are up to date and make sure they cover broad age group and that everybody can understand and use their products. The synthesizing of the idea was because the market lacked products that could blend with the culture and the lifestyle of the customers. The company aims at making the products simple and easy to use and also creating customer experience to ensure no one is left out in the advanced world. The products will be customized in such a way that even the potential clients of the age of 65 years can understand and use them with ease. Formulating of a possible marketing strategy instigates the company to earn itself profits, create customer awareness and increase its sales to be assured of growth and survival (McChesney, 2015).Through market research and development the management understands that should adapt marketing strategies that will make it command a larger market share. Information on the target audience segment analysis The market segment of the company will encompass various variables such as the behavior, psychographic, geographical and demographic factors. The market segment that the company will embark on will be the budget conscious customers (Leary, 2016). The customers are sensitive on how they spend their money, but at the same time, they want to get the value of their money back. Moreover, the company aims at providing goods for customers aged 18-65 years. The specified age group was arrived at because the company provides electronics that suit the lifestyle of the customers (Porcu et al. 2017) .The first class and the middle-class income earners will be the target of the company. The geographical area of marketing will be the locality of the company as the company will work on ways of improving its sales globally as it grows. The customers behavior will vary depending on their preferences, and their purchasing power will rely on the variation in prices. These clients are the time a verse that is they are well conversant with the latest trends in the market and lifestyle. Furthermore, the company must also keep in consideration their cultural beliefs (Jones, 2016).This segment consists of customers who expect quality products, assurance on the ongoing concern of the company and advancement on the existing products by introducing additional unique features. This market segment, therefore, is the most suitable one for the company as it constitutes the majority of the customers. The company will focus on the core purpose of the organization that is the maximization of the benefits. When the company uses the best marketing strategies like advertising its products, it will be able to attract more customers to buy the electronics hence making high returns (Katz, 2016). Also, the company should minimize its operating expenses through maximum utilization of the idle resources to maximize the profits. It will, therefore, set a given profit margin and focus on attaining it. Influence interests or customer attitude The customers are the most valuable assets of the company, and so it will concentrate on the satisfaction of their needs, wants, and expectations. Marketing of the company's products will enable the customers to know the unique features and the advantages of the products hence influencing them to buy. Also, it will instill a positive attitude of the customers towards the products as they will be familiar to them (Hair, 2014).The entity will produce high quality products to ensure that the customers get back the value of their money. It is a customer-centric company, and so it will always want to get the feedback from the customers and work on the disparities in the client needs and values on their products. The operations of the company should be efficient to enhance the achievement of the organization's objectives. The company should thus have competent employees with excellent marketing skills and experience in advertisement and public relations so that they can create broad awareness of the business's products and a good public image of the company (Blakeman, 2014).Consequently, this will lead to the growth of the market share as the products will be well known to the customers. Constant marketing of the companys products is very significant in developing the image of the product as it will incorporate the unique features of the products, how to use the products and the advantages of using those electronics. The company will focus on the advancement of the products by introducing products of different colors; change their appearance and rebranding to make them more appealing and attractive to the customers (Armstrong, 2014). the positive image will thus help the company gain a competitive edge over their competitors. Influencing purchase intentions The company has to take the customer's preferences into consideration hence produce products that suit them. The company can use attractive ways of marketing its products like the giving an offer package that comes along with the purchase of the product. Give the customers something of value that other companies producing the same products do not provide and they are not willing to offer for free for example purchase of a laptop coming along with a free laptop bag, acquisition of new mobile phone comes along with free data bundles and other electronics like refrigerators and television comes with 10 year warranty and free delivery services despite the location. An alternative style of advertising and justify communication objectives ethical issues Marketing through celebrities and public influencers In this technological world of today, social media has become a very addictive platform, and this serves it as an excellent platform to market the electronics and create awareness (Banerjee, Prioritizing Decisions alternatives For Social Media Planning, 2015). The majority of the public follow the celebrities on the social sites just to see their lifestyle. Using the stars as the brand ambassadors of the products will be a paramount strategy of marketing. The celebrities will be able to influence the customers through their social sites to use those products so that they keep up with what the celebrities use since the majority of people associate what celebrities use with class. Also, well-known bloggers and media pundits can be used as significant influencers. Advertising of the companys products through social media and any other available platforms should encompass honesty about the effectiveness of the outputs, the usage, the features, durability and the quality of the products (Ahuja, 2015).The things that are demonstrated during the advertisement of the products should be real facts. To gain the customers trust the company must also be honest in all its dealings. As the integrated marketing communication manager, you should use your professional skills to your best of knowledge to ensure the products of the company are marketed using the best strategies and be very competent in the market. Observe due care to make sure that you do everything within your capacity to help achieve the objectives of the company. The manager should ensure the company practices integrity by avoiding unethical practices like price discrimination whereby they sell other people the same product at different prices depending on their social class, race and maybe tribe. The manager must ensure the employees like people doing the promotion are accommodative to the customers. Integrity implicates treating all customers equally despite their differences and just doing the right things without supervision (Belch and Belch, 2016). The manager should ensure that they are very considerate when it comes to an advertisement to children by knowing the type of things that they can display to the kids. Sensitive information that can tarnish the values of the children should not be posted at inappropriate times. Also, scary things should not be involved in those adverts as they may interfere with the kid's psychology (Preston, 2016). Kids advert should be eye catching and attractive to influence their interests in such products for example advertisement entailing kids iPods that they can use for games should involve cartoon games that are colorful and interesting hence changing their interest in the products. The manager should ensure that the company uses television as a media strategy of advertising its products. It is a technologically advanced world, and so almost everyone owns a television nowadays, and they watch them for leisure. This thereby makes it the best platform for creative advertisement of the electronics as most people pay a lot of attention while watching televisions. Televisions can clearly demonstrate how the electronics work, show pictures of their features, show their package and also show the differentiating factors among the products like the available colors and available sizes with their prices (Chung, Park, and Hall- phillips, 2016).As the customers see how the products work and how they are used they regularly think of the need to have that particular product. It is a crucial medium for advertisement since it can relay the information about the products through sound, sight and even motion. Also, it is easy to reach the target customers by advertising the product at the right time for example advertisement of kids gadgets during the short breaks of cartoon programs and advertisement of raw products very late in the night after the kids have gone to sleep (Ortiz, Salazar, and Suing, 2017) .Consequently, it is the best medium of advertising as it covers a large number of customers suitable for a startup company like this of electronics as it relies on the repeated customers. Details on evaluation or to measure IMC plan effectiveness Assessment and measuring of the efficiency of an IMC program are very paramount to the management to access various roles of some of the communication strategies like an advertisement that it implied in the marketing of its products. It can be observed from two perspectives that are the company's outcome and the communication outcome. Continuous assessment of the performance of the integrated marketing plan is essential, and so it can be done periodically. The companys result is based on the valuation of the business's assets to determine the costs while communication outcome can be evaluated in different ways for example evaluation to determine if the brand awareness is achieved as an objective which will implicate a survey since brand awareness cannot be observed. It is then important to measure the effectiveness of communication by encompassing our arguments against the objectives of advertising. For that reason, the management has to ensure they create that impacting image on the customer's mind during advertisement so that they can remember that specific advertisement of their products showing how efficient, easy to use and their importance as they make purchases. It is also good to create that attractive ad that will always give the customers the urge to make a buy and experience the privileges that come along with owning those products (Thorson and Moore, 2013). Evaluation of performance is done periodically so that they can make corrections where necessary. Performance is first evaluated within the platform as the online campaign, then secondly measure across platforms. Another technique of measuring performance is quality and the impact of the advertisement to the customers through copy testing. Advertising tracking can also be used as another method of evaluation of return which involves showing off the visuals of the advert without showing the brand name to see if the customers recognize it or like it. The advanced technology has also facilitated eye tracking as an evaluation technique entailing the observation of movements of customers eyes, what catches their attention and where they lose interest in watching the advert. This then helps the management to evaluate which communication strategy is preferred by the customers. The management, therefore, has to be very keen on choosing the strategies that are practical and relevant to their marketing objectives. Bibliography Ahuja, R. (2015). Ethical Issues in marketing. Armstrong, G. (2014). Principles of Marketing. Australia: Pearson. Banerjee, S. (2015). Prioritizing Decisions alternatives For Social Media Planning. Indian Journal of Science and Technology, 8(4), 293-298. Belch,G and Belch ,M. (2016). Evaluating the effectiveness of elements of intergrated marleting communications. A review of research, 4(1). Blakeman, R. (2014). Intergrated marketing Communication. Rowman and Little field. Chung,T., Park ,J. and Hall- phillips,A. (2016). Whose the screen? Segmenting social venture consumers through social media usage. journal of retailing consumer services, 28, 288-295. Hair, J. (2014). Marketing Research. Australia: McGrawHill Education. Jones, T. (2016). Segment based Monitoring of omestic and international climbers at Mount Fuji targeted risk reduction strategies for existing and emerging visitor segment. Journal of outdoor recreation and tourism, 10-17. Katz, h. (2016). The media handbook: A complete guide to advertising media selection,planning,research and buying. Routledge. Leary, M. (2016). Introduction to behavioral Research Methods. Pearson. McChesney, R. (2015). Rich Media ,poor Democracy: Communication Politics in Dubious Times. New Press. Ortiz,z,C.,Salazar,G. and Suing ,A. (2017). Advertizing in the Prime time of the Ecuadorian Television. world conference on Information System and Technology, 30-37. Porcu,L.,del barrio-Garcia,S.,Kitchen,P. (2017). Measuring Intergrated marketing communication by taking a broad organizational approach. european journal of marketing, 51(3). Stevels, A. (2017). adventures in ecodesign of electronic Products. Design for sustainability program publication, 17. Thorson,E and Moore.,J. (2013). Intergrated Communication: synergy of persuasive voices. psychology press.