The Road, Cormac Mccarthy Essay Example for Free

The Road, Cormac Mccarthy EssayThe Road by Cormac McCarthy Rotted corpses. Landscapes devastated by fire. ramshackle towns and houses. In the post-apocalyptical novel, The Road, Cormac McCarthy explores the perseverance of a composition and his son to survive in an obliterated world. He demonstrates that in spite of devastating conditions and dismal surroundings, goodness prevails everywhere evil and an inherent goodness is present in humanity and the good guy no matter how dire the circumstances.Most importantly, the goodness portrayed, comes out of love. The man and the boy in this story are never named because the represent general humanity. If people , humans are provided with a reason to do the right thing, love, children, family, they leave behind do whatever it takes. A parent will do completely unreasonable things to help, save their children out of love. He really doesnt care what he has to do to nurse his son alive he would (and in fact did) murder a man for posi ng a threat to his sons life.In page 76 of the book, the acquire tells the boy You wanted to know what the bad guys looked like. Now you know. It may happen again. My job is to take care of you. I was appointed to do that by God. I will butcher anyone who touches you. Do you understand? The lives of the man and the boy truly are worst-case scenarios. How many times take aim we wondered at one point or a nonher in our lives if wed be willing to take a bullet to the head or kill someone for our families or loved ones sake?These characters have been placed in that exact situation. They live in a post-apocalyptic world where human beings have been simple(a) to their core and have been driven to extremes by their innate need to survive, and they are no exception. The father is carrying out all those what ifs he is doing what he must to keep his son safe. Truly, the only thing that keeps them going is their love for one another. A symbol of the goodness in human perseverance and hop e is the fire that the father assures his son they carry.As a good guy, the man and the boy carry the fire internally, meaning that they strive to live under all circumstances. The man does not consider acting violently in defense of his sons survival evil. Yet, what makes this choice more praiseworthy than the choices of the people who kill and so far cannibalize others in fellowship to survive? Truck hithertot The difference between the fathers actions and the actions of the other people mentioned is that the father committed murder to preserve his sons life, something he holds dear.This is a just cause. However, the violent acts committed by the aforementioned people were generally for self gain. Violence begets violence e. g. canibbals continue their blood hungry(p) ventures vs the dads violence restores peace and ends the violence. Son is a symbol of goodness, father sees him as christ figure. the boy cannot agree with his father that the right thing to do is to refuse to help others who are in dire need, especially when they have not shown any evidence of being dangerous. Son sees dad as inconsiderate (e. g. alues his sons life) while son himself is selfless the father does not avow any other individual they see or meet. Only his son extends his humbling trust in others, offering to help Ely and the thief without first determining whether their intentions are malicious. the boy does not understand the need to hurt others in any circumstances, even when they may pose a danger to his own survival or have already hurt him. For example, the boy pleads for his father to spare the thief and, even more, to help him. End Event Father Dies Thesis

Ways Groups of People Are Identified Essay Example for Free

Ways Groups of People Are Identified Essay1. What atomic number 18 some of the ways hosts of quite a little are identify? There are many ways that a group of tidy sum can be identified but the four criteria for classifying minority groups are race, ethnicity, religion, and g expiryer. Race is mainly determined by the color of someones skin, hair (in some instances eyes), height, and bone organize of the human body big head, narrow eyes, tall short. Ethnicity is determined by where you were born and raised and what cultural patterns. Religion and is determined by what your beliefs and religious group you are a part of. Gender is determined easily enough but it does matters if you are male or female for the fact that each is hard-boiled differently. Males seem to have it easy most of the time and woman are always treated as though they are weaker. These four criterias are the main ones but there are so many more such as age, disability status, physical appearance, and sexua l orientation they all are used to group people.There is always anformer(a) factor in that is sometimes over looked and that is our appearance skinny, fat and even what we wear are we well change and clean all of the time or are we in regular day to day clothes or are we dressed in rags torn, ripped and smutty clothing. Also there is the money factor how much does one have or dont have to many people the money factor matters most people like to know that they know people with money.Are these people wealthy with more money than they will every need or do they near have enough or do they struggle or worse yet do they not have anything leaving them freeing from home to home or street to street or going to government and privet programs for help. 2. Why do people label and group other people? I have thought about this question and it made me realize that not only do people label and group other people but we also label ourselves putting ourselves in categories that please us. Plus it gives us our sense of belonging to something that most people need to feel.Getting second to the question I think it is something that we all do whether we realize it or not. Labeling and grouping help people to determine who we should or who we should not interact with. It helps people and sometimes it does just the opposite and destroys people its like having a power a power to have some control over other people. I can almost see it in another time a man running through the streets with a label machine placing labels on everyones forehead yelling You are who I say you are Scary thought We constantly label people in a forbid light due to difference of opinion due to religion, political view, sexual preference, parenting method you name it we do it, even children do this and it is not done deliberately they were not taught this, too me it almost seems like it is a defense mechanism keeping themselves even ourselves safe from what we may consider to be harmful. In the end peo ple are just that people we are nothing more and nothing less.People label others either to feel empowered or to laudation someone but in the end we are Human Beings and that is it. We may think and act differently but we are what we are and if people could just except that then the future might not ever have to deal with the positive and mainly the negative effects that come with being designate and tossed into a group that was thought up by others. Resources Schaefer, R. T. (2012). (Ch. 1 2) Racial and ethnic groups (13th ed. ). Upper Saddle River, NJ Pearson Prentice Hall.

Plant Diseases Through Image Processing Techniques Computer Science Essay

Plant Diseases Through part Processing Techniques Computer lore EssayDamage of works is an important complete in agriculture. There atomic number 18 lots of factors involving weather, fungi, artificial drying, and mechanical damage during harvest and storage which posterior cause damage. NIR spectroscopy for classifying sound and damaged soja bean seeds is very useful. NIR spectrometer is employ to collect the spectra of single seed then PLS and neural network ar utilize for mixed bag of sound and damaged seeds. Near infrared spectroscopy is utilize because machine vision cannot provide information related to chemical story because it is only useful for visible areas. NIR spectroscopy is useful for both physical and chemical properties. Seeds of six categories are apply which are sound, weather damaged, frost-damaged, sprout-damaged, heat damaged and mold damaged. Grams/32 packet is employ for changing reflectance of spectrum in color space L, a , b. L ranges from 0(black) to 100(white), a ranges from -100(green) to 100(red)and b ranges from -100( obscure)to 100(yellow).NIR spectrometer is use to collect spectra at a tramp of 30/s. Spectrum of 700 sound seeds and 900 seeds damaged by other factors were mensurable. Two class and six class places are used for classification of sound and damaged soybean seeds with the help of Partial Least Square (PLS) software. Two class impersonate is used for classifying sound and damaged soybean seeds whereas six class model is used for classifying sound seeds and weather, frost, sprout, heat and mold damaged seeds.In put to develop a neural network model for classification of sound and damage soybean seed the neuronic Works Professional II/Plus software package is used. The neural network model package is based on back propagation networks.In back propagation networks increment or decrement in weights is needed because of the errors. At offset printing weights are randomly allocated that after eve ry trial weights are adjusted until the errors are reduced to acceptable values. Physical and chemical properties of sound and damaged soybean seeds are totally different so by exploitation only visible wavelength region results in poor classification. By using close infrared region important information can be obtained. Highest classification accuracies can be obtained by using full wavelength region (490-1690nm). By using visible and NIR wavelength region alone results in lower classification accuracy.The best classification can be obtained by using neural network without obscure layer. PLS gives higher(prenominal) classification accuracy if two class classifications is used but in case of classification of six categories classification neural network (NN) gives higher accuracy results.Computer Vision Based Weed Identification Under Field Conditions victimisation Controlled LightingIdentification of crumbs in crops is done by using methods of digital hear psychoanalysis. Dif ferent kind of weeds often grow up with crop and its difficult to split up crop and weed so digital ikon analysis are used which are useful for differentiating both.Images were captured through MatroxMeter(RGB) ,this device provides controlled lighting.Two crops cabbage and carrot are used in greenhouse and open field experiments . For greenhouse experiments weed was added but for open field experiments natural weed populationIn digital images, it is difficult to differentiate between crop plants and weeds especially when they reached on advanced growth stage. Segmentation algorithmic program is used for differentiating crops and weeds and soil.This algorithm is based on Union of two sets of each image which are S(soil) and V(vegetation). V has two dowrys C (crop) and W (weed). The crop image data used in this research was the image of cauliflower at four different growth stages which are grouped. Experiments were dressed on the 12 images. Colour is an important distinguishing feature and used as one component of the selection algorithm.Noise can occur in images through which misclassification occur and can deal by using square morphological closing filter. in a tumescent voguish region this filter can reduce the noise by removing small dark holes. Erosion is used for suppressing small bright region and removed pixels from the outer edge of hulky bright regions. The central position of each plant is located by processing Pv with a large erosion filter. The output of erosion filter is bright central position of crop plant. At growing stage 4 this approach is modified, centroid of soil region has to be found instead of centroid of crop plant. weeds are the main source of bias in the location of grid point.Segmentation algorithm is used to identify crop plant pixels but there was a higher probability of weed pixels being classified as crop plant pixels because they are very close to crop plants and grew in rows. So the difference between the size and me tric grain of crop plant and weed is used in order to find the location of crop plant boundary. Morphological opening filter separates crop from adjoining areas of weed. The last stage involved thresholding the output of opening filter. alter Plant Discrimination In Image Processing By Use Of Different Colour Space TransformationImage processing is becoming familiar in different agricultural applications. color images taken by a digital camera stored in RGB garble space. Colour cameras can deal with large variety of situation for differentiating single object from an image. Thresholding is applied on each colour channel. Separation of object can be improved by transforming RGB by weighting each channel in different way in order to emphasize specific features. Different colour transformations were performed and then compared them. 40 images of RGB colour spaces are used discriminant analysis, canonical transformation, i1i2i3, HSV, HSI and Lab colour spaces were used for transformat ion. Thresholding is performed on transformed image to convert it into binary star images in order to differentiate plant and soil. Manual and automatic thresholding was for i1i2i3,thresholding according to hemming was used for HSV,HSI and Lab colour spaces. Discriminant analysis consists of colour transformation and binarisation. Thresholding was not needed in discriminant analysis.Linear and logarithmic discriminant functions were used. logarithmic discriminant analysis is the most effective in discriminating but it takes much time for processing of one image.HSV,HSI am Lab colour spaces gave better results but not in open field.i1i2i3 were recommended for plant find oneselfion . This transformation is more useful if the reflection occur due to high solar radiation or some water on leaf.Image pattern classification for the identification of disease causing agents in plantsFor the identification of plant diseases machine vision clay is used. Different images of cotton crops whic h shows diseased region were used, enhanced, segmented and the feature extraction is performed. The extracted features were then used as inputs to SVM classifier and then testing will be performed to make the best classification model.Different features such as shape, texture, greylevel, connectivity etc were extracted from segmented region. Co-occurrence matrix was used in order to calculate the image texture. This method is used to measure occurrence of greylevels between a specific position in image and neighboring pixels according to distance and direction.Fractal dimension is a feature which measured dimension of object and box counting algorithm is used to estimate this measurement. Lacunarity was a multiscaled method which measures texture associated with spatial dispersion and gliding box algorithm was used to calculate lacunarity.Different features extracted from 117 images of cotton crops were labeled according to disease they belonged. SVM used Radial Basis Function kern el. There are different problems in classification if it involves more than two classes are used then multiple classes classification was used which uses one-against-one method.Different approaches were used to identify best classification model. each feature is used as a single input to classifier .the groups of feature were used as inputs to classifier and then all the features except one is used as input. All features were not give the same amount of information so 7 fold cross validation is used..Fall Armyworm Damaged gamboge Plant Identification Using Digital ImagesAn algorithm is developed to identify damaged maize plant by the fall armyworm at alter lighting conditions using digital color images. Eight different stages of diseased and non-diseased maize plant were taken in three different light intensities. This algorithm involves processing and image analysis. First, the binary images were created by segmentation and then the images were divided into blocks and classified as diseased or non-diseased.The algorithm starts by converting original RGB image into greylevel image then by iterative threshold method it is converted into binary image then by applying 383 median filter its is converted into binary filteres image. These clapperclaws are part of first stage which is image processing.For close stage image analysis binary image is subdivided into 12 blocks. Blocks were selected from the subdivided image and then by object identification and counting damaged and non-damaged blocks were classifiedA review of advanced techniques for detecting plant diseasesDiseases in plants are major issue in field of agriculture as they result in major production and economic losses. There is a mechanism called scouting is used for this place but this is not only expensive but also time consuming so there is need for a mechanism which is rapid, cost-effective so there are different technologies spectroscopic and resource based and volatile profiling based plant disease detection methods.In the spectroscopic and imaging techniques, fluorescence spectroscopy, visible IR spectroscopy, fluorescence imaging and hyperspectral imaging involved.In VOC profile-based metabolite analysis released by healthy and diseased plants as a tool for identifying diseases. These methods can accurately detect plant diseases.Automatic Identification of Weed SeedsImage processing techniques were used to obtain seed size, shape, color and texture characteristics. Large database of images were used. Nave bayes classifier was used for evaluation. It gives delicate results. Not only the color images were used but also the black and white images of weed seeds were used.By using morphological and textural characteristics as classification feature, it would reduce the complexity and cost. Nave bayes classifier and Artificial unquiet Network (ANN) were used for weed seed identification but nave bayes has an excellent performance as compared to ANN.Identification of citru s disease using colour texture features and discriminant analysisMachine vision and AI techniques are used to come upon intelligent farming including early detection of diseases. Colour co-occurrence method is used to determine whether HIS color features in conjunction with statistical classification algorithms would be used to identify diseased and normal citrus leaves under laboratory conditions.Greasy spot, melanose, normal and scab are four different classes of citrus leaves used. By using image processing techniques, algorithms were designed for feature extraction and classification. Colour cooccurence methodology is used for feature extraction. It used colour and texture to get eccentric features. SAS discriminant analysis is used to evaluate the potential classification accuracies and this can be achieved by a traditional statistical classifier.Image texture feature dataset appeared as the best data model for citrus leaf classification, it uses reduced hue and saturation fe ature set. It gets high classification accuracy, less computation time and the liquidation of intensity features which is beneficial in highly variable outdoor lighting conditions.Fast and accurate detection and classification of plant diseasesFirst the images were acquired using a digital camera then the image processing techniques were applied to extract features which are useful. Then the classification is performed.The algorithm starts by acquiring RGB images. In the next step colour transformation is applied on RGB images. Images were then segmented using K-means clustering techniques. Green pixels are masked by using Ostus method. Pixels with zeros red, green, blue values and boundary pixels of infected objects were removed. The infected cluster is then converted into HIS from RGB.In the next step SGDM matrix were generated for H and S. For calculation of features GLCM function is used. Neural Network is used as a classification tool.Statistical and neural network classifier for citrus disease detection using machine visionImage data sets of common disease of citrus were collected and then CCM is used for detection of diseases. Different strategies and algorithms were developed for classifications which were based on feature obtained from CCM and then compared the classification algorithm in order to check accuracies.After acquiring images image processing algorithms for feature extraction and classification were developed. Feature extraction used CCM methodology. SAS discriminant analysis was used to evaluate the classification accuracies. Classification tests were applied on different classification algorithms. Statistical classifier using Mahalanobis minimum distance method achieved 98% classification accuracy. Neural network classifier using back propagation algorithm and neural network classifier using Radial Basis Function achieved 95% accuracy rate so the Mahalanobis minimum distance method is the best for classification.Rice disease identificati on using pattern recognition techniquesFor the identification of rice disease , software prototype system is described. Image segmentation techniques used to detect infected parts of the plants. These infected parts were further used for classification using Neural Network. For feature extraction first the segmentation is performed and for this entropy based bi-level thresholding method is used.After segmentation boundary detection algorithms were applied this uses 8- connectivity method. In the next step spot detection is applied for the normalization of spot size and interpolation method is used for fractional zooming. After this when all the uniform size musca volitans were obtained, unsupervised learning technique Self Organinzing Map is used.Classification of grapefruit peel diseases using colour texture feature analysisColour texture feature were used for detection of citrus peel disease.images of normal and five common peel diseases which are canker, copper burn, greasy spot , melanose and wind scan were used. Using colour cooccurence method, 39 image texture features were determined. Before applying CCM, RGB is transformed into HSI. SGDM( Spatial Gray level Dependence Matrix)was used to develop color cooccurence texture analysis. grain feature were then calculated by SGDM. SAS subroutine STEPDISC can find variables which are important for discriminating samples and it will use for texture feature selection. SAS procedure DISCRIM creates a discriminant function which was used to develop classification model. This is also used to test the accuracies of classification models.Plant leaves classification based on morphological features and a fuzzy surface selection techniqueArtificial vision system is designed to extract special features from plant leaves. Feature selection approach is used to identify significant image features and for the classification test Neural Network is used.In morphological feature extraction, morphological and geometrical feature s were extracted from plant leaves. These features provide small information. Feature selection is very important task which is needed to determine the most relevant features for pattern recognition. Neural Network take features as inputs and perform classification.Weed seeds identification by machine visionThere is a need of fast and reliable method for the identification and classification of seeds. Seeds of 57 weed species were used. Different features extractes were used as classification parameter . 12 classification parameters were used in which 6 morphological, 4 colour and 2 textural were involved. With the help of these parameters nave bayes and Artificial Neural Network were compared for the identification of seed species. ANN performed better than nave bayes.

Economic Benefits of the Commonwealth Games: Manchester

economical Benefits of the Commonwealth Games ManchesterEconomic benefits that Manchester gained by armying the Commonwealth Games 2002This paper discusses Manchesters swarming of the 2002 Commonwealth games, and how it was utilise as a accelerator pedal for urban regeneration. It discusses the theory and history behind troopsing Mega events.The rationale behind cities likeding for mega events has shifted. They bid not exclusively to raise the image of their metropolis on the populace stage, button use the upstart facilities as a catalyst for urban regeneration.The Manchester case study is drawn from the local anaesthetic council websites and reports published during and after the event. This gave an insight into the broad term economic gains for the city.The paper concludes that the hosting and the urban regeneration were made for Manchester. This success has promoted former(a) cities to bid for Mega events.2.0 IntroductionThere ar three advents that be exposit as me ga events, the Footb every last(predicate) human race cup, the Olympic and Commonwealth games. These events ar held every four years, with cities round the world bidding to host them. For the purpose of this paper the give-and-take volition be on the Olympic and Commonwealth games. The main Focus will be on Manchester hosting of the2002 Commonwealth games.Mega events as steeped in tradition, they ar a platform for host cities to show what they rump do. Cities plan for them years in advance, putting their bid forward so they brush aside succeed on the worlds stage. When a city is prospering in a bid, there are other cities that are disappointed. This paper discusses Manchesters successful Commonwealth games bid after two fai take Olympic bids.When a city hosts a Mega event it is in the public eye, everybody remembers the spectacle of the opening and closing ceremonies. What is not so public is all(a) the think behind the scenes, committing resources to the success of the ga mes. These resources are committed at an early stage the bid has to be viable to be considered.The rational for hosting games has shifted from the prestige associated with the maintenance of the worlds media, to a tool for regenerating run squander areas of the host city. wherefore the planning of the venues has shifted from temporary buildings, to long term facilities for the local communities.Some cities hosting mega events are looking at the long term usage for the saucy facilities after the event, in the past a stage set of these buildings were built as temporary structures and pulled down shortly after the closing ceremony. This is viewed by some commentators as waste of resources, with prolonging the life of these buildings cities, can benefit long after the games are finished.This shift has attracted new cities to bid for Mega events, with the justification that it will lead to economic growth twain short and long-term. The benefit can be two fold, raising the image of the city and regenerating a rundown area. Although not all host cities have been successful at obtaining growth, some are still repaying the debt that was run up to host the games. The resources that separately city has ploughed into holding these prestige games are immense. To succeed they require the backing of local residents, council, sports issuers, grants, the government and their agencies. This should be incorporate at the planning stage to increase the chance of a successful bid.The value to local residents of a city hosting a mega event is immense in economic terms. It is not only the new facilities that can generate income, if the games are a success, the city can attract tourism long after the event.The games cannot be viewed in closing off of the sport stage, there is the build-up to the bid, the planning of hosting the games and the long term value they van add to the city. All these factors make up a successful mega event bid.Manchester played place a long time pl anning for the games. This is illustrated in the time line that appears in the appendices of this paper. This was not an easy ride, as financial problems restoreed the plans. Manchester overcame these and held the 2002 Commonwealth games.3.0 Aims and objectivesThe carry of this paper is to assess the economic impact of cities hosting mega event this will concentrate on the 2002 common wealth games held in Manchester.The objectives are An in depth analytic thinking of the history of mega events, with the resources and planning to host such an eventAn analysis of the economic benefits that can be gained and the disadvantages of hosting a study sporting event.4.0 MethodologyThis chapter discusses the research methods apply for the project and the rationale for their choice. It discusses methods that were not used, with justification of why they were not included.Included is a critique of methods selected, and with hindsight identifies some(prenominal) changes that would have en hanced the research.This paper critically evaluates the impact of the 2002 Commonwealth games on the city of Manchester. This paper will investigate the economic impact of a mega event and the subsequent urban regeneration. This will be compared to other host cities, both(prenominal) with the Commonwealth and Olympic games.Selection of the topic was stimulated and formed out of heightened publicity on the topic. The aim of holding the games was not only publicity for the city but to use it as a tool of urban regeneration. The nature of the research was discussed with colleagues and fellow students this not only added practical ideas and suggestions, it assailable new avenues of thought.This was the discussed with lecturers sounding out ideas, gauging opinions and clarifying the question.Focusing in on the question was obtained by employing relevance trees, narrowing the research area.This gave direction to the research, although with look backwarding the publications this change d some(prenominal)(prenominal) times (Buzau, J. 1995).Next, a research proposal was compiled, with the benefit of organising ideas and setting a time-scale for research.Theoretically, the proposal would highlight any difficulties with the research question and access to data.Creating a time-scale would focusing on tapers and meet deadlines in the completion of the paper.The literature review, discussing theories and ideas that exist on the topic formed the foundation of the paper.The findings from the research are then tested on theories for validity (Saunders, M. et al1997).The literature review was challenging, there is very lesser academic research on the topic area. Most of the literature focused on souls performances at the games, and the impact of hosting the Olympic Games. This information turn up germane(predicate) in understanding the justification for bidding for mega events. Journals and newspaper articles were the back bone for the review, together with internet sites and reports.Tertiary data sources, such as library catalogues and indexes were used to scan for secondary data.This produced journals and newspaper articles, and Internet addresses.With the amount of literature, it took time to sort out relevant material to the research.Narrowing down the search Bells (1993) six points parameters was applied.Applying key words that were identified in the premiere search produced relevant and up-to-date material (Bell, J.1993).A limitation on the literature search was the amount of time to read all articles and books on the subject. Whilst reviewing the literature references to other publications were followed and reviewed.Bells checklist on discloseing the relevance of literature found was a practical method to reduce the amount of reading (Bell, J. 1993).A case study on the impact on the city of Manchester of the 2002Commonwealth games was chose to replace primary research. This would report the actual benefits gained by staging such a stu dy event. There is a lot of information presented in articles on the benefits of hosting Mega games, but little on the problems.Therefore a lot of information was rejected due to the bias of the content. Articles and web sites were used to form a picture of the impact. This would then be compared with the literature and previous host citiesTo produce primary data the success of a mega event proved to be vast task, taking a lot of time to produce results. Internal and external operations of several organisations, providers, spectators and competitors would have to be compared to reach any level of validity. Instead it was decide to review a case study. This was then compared to the literature review.5.0 Literature ReviewThis section will review all the relevant literature on mega events, including cities that have bid and hosted them together with the history of the games. The review will in like manner discuss the rationale behind bidding and the benefits it can arrest to a city who hosts an mega event.5.1 Mega EventsMega events are regularly be as special events, these have unique status. Hamilton, (1997) characterise these events containing similar features, including international dimensions, short-termed, and may be every a one-off occurrence or conducted on a regular cycle. From the literature, size emerges as a dominant distinguishing feature separating mega from non-mega events. Both the Olympics and the commonwealth games fall into this category, they are international, short termed and held on a regular cycle. They are held every four years, at different locations (Hamilton, L 1997124). blank events are rapidly increasing in popularity as a elbow room of attracting attention to particular proposition geographic locations (Getz, 1998).Increasingly, cities are basing their market placeing around Mega events(e.g. Manchester and the Commonwealth Games), in order to maximise the benefits to be achieved from event-driven tourism, sponsorship, and med ia exposure. Sporting events make up an important part of the overall Mega event industry. In reality there are a limited number of Mega sporting events that exist. This has led to fierce competition among cities to be successful in winning the chore of playing event host (Getz, (1998) cited inWesterner, H et al 2002303).5.2 Resources RequiredThe size of an event can be discussed in four different ways. First is determined by the noticeable involvement of national and regional government authorities. regime agencies provide an event with the development of policies, infrastructure or making resources available corroborateing the attraction of events to major cities(Westerner, H teal 2002).Higher technical competencies are required, such as advanced facilities, suitable event location and skilled personnel these are directly cogitate to size of the event. The demands placed on serve provided by host cities to deliver an event is of superior quality when compared to other event t ypes. The technical competencies must(prenominal) satisfy number of requirements. This includes the technical standards set by international federations pertaining to competition, non-competition elements (accommodation and transport) and personnel issues competition attention, and personnel issues(Westerner, H et al 2002).The higher competencies are a requirement for the event management team, made up of both bid and operational teams, it is composed of expert people capable of carrying out professional relations with event owners and organisers prior to and throughout the event as come up as having the technical expertise to stage the event(Westerner, H et al2002).The hosting City requires broad support from both direct and confirmative stakeholders. Overall approval must come from the general public, government, (target) markets and other business sectors. The large amount of capital invested from the public purse in bidding for and staging an event, it is essential for stron g residential district support for the process (Ernst Young, (1992) cited inWesterner, H et al2002305).5.3 planning for the GamesInternational and worldwide events are more important now than ever before. In most countries major events are significant to all levels of society and institutions, whether at local or national level. Sporting events dominate large sections of the press, television and radiobroadcasts. Therefore event management has become an industry in its own right, with both specialist organisations and individuals(Torkildson, G 2005).The decision making process for the bid will develop a long term strategic plan (Johnson G, , Scholes, K 2004). This strategy is the direction and capacity of an organisation, (i.e. the committee forth games) which achieves advantages through its configuration of resources within the changing environment. The strategy answers both the questions where do you want to go? and how do you want to get there?The first question is answered wh en the bid is accepted and the second is answered when the strategies are planned (Mullins L2005).Planning is the first stage of implementing the development of the city for the capacity to hold the games. Managers are required to step back to look at the environment, competitors, market place and review both the internal and external strengths and weaknesses. A SWOT analysis will focus the managers on both internal and external factors that can affect a new strategy. The host city must recognise its strengths and utilise them, and reduce weak areas through planning (Groucutt, J. teal 2004).Managerial decisions are made to identify what is required to implement the new strategy. What are the new resources are required? I.e. Property, finance or employees, and how will the city gain these resources?Then the risk should be assessed for its long term value to the host. Strategies should not only be considered on how they will affect existing resource capabilities, but similarly if nee ded new resources and how they will be controlled. The costs to the host should be weighed against the long term gains, and if needed it can be reviewed, accessed and amended accordingly (G, Johnson K, Scholes, 2004).Mega Events are a propellant and multi-dimensional phenomena, there are at the same time, urban events, tourist events, media events and international global events. They are the subject of collective corporate recourse, with action in each of the sections. Therefore amulet dimensional approach is required in the planning and managing of the games. This requires multi-disciplinary team based approach(Torkildson, G 2005).5.4 MarketingKilter et al (1993) identify several target markets to which place marketers direct their attention. These include visitors athletes, officials, spectators and the media, residents and workers, business and industry, and export markets. The focus of sporting events is on the visitor segment, including business and non-business visitors. Bu siness visitors include persons who travel to a place for meetings, conventions, to inspect sites or to buy or sell a ware. Non-business visitors include tourists who travel to see the place and travellers who are visiting family and friends. Individuals travelling to particular destination to attend the event or teams and participants attending events as well as organizing committees and such can also be categorized as non-business visitors (Kilter, P et al 1993).The increase in the competition and the globalisation has not only saturated the extent of competition in the markets but mainly saturated the target markets itself as argued by Brassington and Pettit (2003).This is mainly because of the fact that the high level of competition among the participating organisations in a given market segment has increased the harvest-time range leaving the customers with an endless compartmentalization of products to choose for satisfying their requirements. This level of saturation has a lso increased the need for further development in the market in order to achieve competitive advantage as well as sustainable growth in the business (Brassington, F and Pettit, S 2003).Therefore mega events will if correctly marketed stand alone as a once only product. This product offers a unique entry into a market, there is little comparative competition, although all sport and leisure will compete for their market share. Although a Mega event is no normally at the same level as the existing competition. This approach is accomplished through the geographical spread either nationally or internationally by the host (Lynch, R 2003).The domestic and/or international media, coupled with the selling of broadcasting rights, are important characteristics of mega events The support of the media prior to or during an event guarantees exposure and consequently raises world-wide awareness of the event and host city. The 2000 Olympics in Sydney generated in excess of $1.3 billion in revenue f rom broadcasting the Games, indicating the substantial financial returns for event owners, organisers and the host city brought about by media support for the event ( Westerner, H et al2002).5.5 SponsorshipCorporate sponsorship of sports and other events is one of the fastest growing forms of marketing communications used to reach target audiences. The rate of growth in sponsorship expenditures is greater than for traditional media advertising and sales promotion. Corporate spending on sponsorship worldwide was estimated to grow 12 present in2001 (Roy, D and Cornwell, T 2003).Sponsorship is viewed as a means of avoiding this clutter by enabling sponsors to identify and target well-defined audiences in terms of demographics and lifestyles. Linking a brand with an event via sponsorship enables firms to gain consumers attention and touch by associating with events that are important to them. Despite the increased use of sponsorship to reach market segments there has been little resear ch on the impact of sponsorship on consumer behaviour(Roy, D and Cornwell, T 2003).While sports sponsorship activities range from providing athletes with uniforms to funding entire stadiums, the basic principle behind such sponsor ships appears to be their proposed ability to increase brand rightfulness by means of enhancing brand image. There are several key goals associated with corporate sponsorship of events such as (1) enhanced brand image via associations with positively sensed events (2)increased goodwill via perceptions of corporate generosity and (3)elevated brand awareness due to increased exposure (Miyazaki, A and Morgan, A 2001).The high prices paid for Olympic sponsorships reveals that at least some organisations find these efforts to be worthwhile. This is illustrated by comments from top corporate officials that the Olympics are the most important marketing opportunity of the decade and management suggestions that this investment will heighten global recognition and increase revenue (Miyazaki, A and Morgan, A 20019).5.6 TourismIn the 1980s and 1990s, political, economic, and technological developments that led to the global economy became a feature of the environment within which cities compete for economic growth. This trade in goods and services has become increasingly open and internationally competitive cities had to compete with cities from around the world for investment capital, businesses, and tourists. Cities such as New York, London, and Tokyo have become global or world cities in the urban hierarchy. These cities contain the largest variety of cultural and entertainment facilities of the highest quality, such as museums, galleries, opera houses, theatres, and concert halls (Burbank, J et al2002)Therefore other cities are a disadvantage when competing for tourism. The pursuit of hosting a mega-event is a mechanism for economic growth. This strategy relies on obtaining a single event large enough to be seen as a way to generate incom ing economic growth. Many events can bring tourists and attention to a city, but the mega-events sufficiently large that it creates a single focal point and timeframe for completing event-related development. It is also noted that stadiums and sports teams are luxuries that financially strapped cities can ill afford therefore holding a mega event can provide the city with these facilities for the future (Burbank, J et al 2002)The number of tourists to an area where a mega event is due to take place increases.Individuals are drawn to destinations because of omega (sporting) event rather than the region itself. For example, tourism estimates of visits to Sydney between 1997 and 2004, as direct response to the Olympic Games, have been set at 1.7 million. Actual visits for the period during 2000 have been estimated to be 20 percent of this derive (Forecast, 2001).Arising from the growth of the tourism industry has been an emphasis on place (or city) marketing and promotion and the emer gence of mega sporting events to support and enhance this promotion. Place marketing represents the techniques employ by certain organisations to raise the awareness of their particular destination to specified target markets.Promotional objectives relate to capturing the attention of international visitors and to providing information in an endeavor to entice them to travel to a specific destination (Moutinho, L and Wits 1994).5.7 Attendance of EventsA standard set of economic factors would be expected to affect demand for attendance. Price of admission and, more generally, the opportunity cost of attendance (including cost of travel, car parking, food and beverages at the venue, and programme), would be predicted to be negatively related to attendance. Income of the potential audience at sporting contest, and size of population in the potential market for contest, would be expected to be related positively to attendance. handiness and price of substitutes would also influence a ttendance. Some substitutes might be considered direct, such as the live broadcast of the event. Other substitutes will be indirect, for example, attending a different sporting event or contest or other types of entertainment alternatives such as theatre or movies (Borland andMacdonald, R 2003)Macroeconomic factors could have an impact on attendance such as threat of unemployment. Although it has been suggested that attendance at sporting events may constitute a kind outlet for unemployed persons, therefore the attendance is higher as the rate of unemployment increases (Borland, J andMacdonald, R 2003)The infrastructure of the venue has a direct impact on attendance to the events. The quality of viewing, the facilities at the stadium, the quality of seating the impact of adverse weather conditions di military position from contest and extent of vision to different parts of the sporting field. Catering and bathroom facilities can also have an impact(Borland, J andMacdonald, R 2003)5 .8 Economic BenefitsThe national governments involvement in bringing events to a city is on the increase. The level of spending dedicated to biding for an event demonstrates the strength of governments backing. This is to the detriment of the competition with other (cultural) activities undertaken by government and other interest groups. openly supporting abide increases the pressure of accountability to the public and hence support will only be given, if it is clear that justifiable and measurable benefits for all stakeholders are generated by hosting the event (Westerner, H et al 2002).The economic activity associated with staging mega sporting event can create significant economic benefits for the host destination. Howard and Crompton (1995) defined the economic impact as the net economic change in a host economy that results from spending attributed to sports event or facility. Economic impact studies enable the quantification of the benefits to a community to be ascertained in order to justify the investment in the event (Howard, D and Crompton, J199555).The Olympic Games provide an obvious example of significant economic contribution by a mega sporting event. The 1984 Los Angeles Olympics made a profit of US$125 million with the capital of South Korea Olympics exceeding that profit by a further US$50 million. Outcomes of this magnitude serve to encourage cities to bid for high status events (Law, C 1993).In September 1990, Atlanta won the bid to host the 1996 Summer Olympic Games. In spite of the approximately $2.5 billion price tag, the benefits derived from hosting the Olympic Games were expected to outweigh the costs. Positive media attention, reflection of facilities and infrastructure, and employment increases were identified as the primary beneficial output of this massive endeavour. The cash in flow during mega games is relatively easy to identify, the legacy of the games in terms of long-term benefits is more difficult to measure. The positive employment impact of the 1996 Summer Olympic Games, led to a 17% increase in long term employment in the surrounding area (Hotchkiss, J et al 2003).It must be noted at this point that not all events are successful financially. While focusing on the economic benefits presented by mega sporting events, there are significant financial burdens that such events place on host communities. This financial commitment to events often requires a degree of community assistant through public funding. The external benefits associated with mega sporting events enable this financial assistance to be classified as an investment, with clear reciprocal benefits to the host community (Westerner, H et al 2002).Once the mega-event policy is underway, extra-local interests become increasingly vital to a successful outcome. Hosting modern games requires the authority and cooperation of not only the host city, but other state and local governments and agencies as well. Moreover, the financial demands of t he games require support from local public and private sources, but are increasingly dependent on multinational corporations and the government (Burbank, J et al 2002).Several global cities have had their fingers burn down by over ambitious sports development plans. Sydney found itself in trouble finding permanent use for Stadium Australia. The Manchester bid, while ambitious, was also realistic. It already had the G-Mix sum of money and MEN arena, Old Trafford and Maine Road football grounds. It has added to this the velodrome, an aquatics centre, Sport-city, and the City of Manchester stadium. These facilities are part of the long term regeneration, the aquatic centre has been appropriately sited for the citys three universities Sport-city is to become one of 10 regional centres of excellence in sport and the stadium will be used jointly by Manchester City football club and community teams (Anonymous 2002).5.9 Urban RenewalThe Olympic Games are regarded as the worlds most presti gious sporting occasion. They are natural of mega events in that they are transitory, bring short-term international participation and attention and can have long-term consequences for the host city. There is considerable investment in both sporting facilities and the supporting infrastructure, although after the games these then become legacies to the host city.The costs involved in hosting the Games are now so high that host cities can often only justify the expenditure when it is seen as leading to a major programme of regeneration and improvement (Essexs and Chalked, B. 1997).Harvey (1989) has discussed that urban policies to punish Forde-industrialisation have become more proactive and entrepreneurial often involving some form of interurban competition for jobs and investment. The use of urban spectacles, such as major sporting events, as a strategy for urban renewal are being seen as one of the main products of post-modern society This is also a means by which cities express their personality, enhance their status and advertise their position on the global stage. Urban politics have shifted to ales bureaucratic, more entrepreneurial and autonomous stance (Harvey 1989).An example of these new urban politics is Manchesters Olympic bids of the 1980s and 1990s, in which local government-based decision-making and bureaucratic politics were essentially replaced bay dynamic business leadership (Essex, S and Chalked, B. 1997).For the host cities there is important justification for bidding to stage the Games, particularly in recent years, the stimulus to economic development and urban regeneration. The event can promote economic activity as a result of the jobs created by the vast numbers of tourists visiting the city before, during and after the event. The construction of sports facilities can also play a role in programmes of urban renewal by, for example, introducing new sporting and recreational facilities into previously under-provided areas. On broader s cale, preparations for the event can also provide a means of justifying new investment in transport infrastructure and in projects to enhance the citys landscape and forcible appearance (Essex, S andChalkley, B. 1997)5.10 History of Mega eventsThere are several games that are held on a four yearly cycle these include the Olympics, Commonwealth, and the world cup. to each one has grown in stature with more cities bidding for the right to stage them. The information below was extracted from both the Olympics and Commonwealth Games web sites.The first Commonwealth Games were the product of discussions and ideas shared over a thirty year period. John Cooper proposed sports and cultural gatherings for English speaking nations in 1891. In 1911 sport competitions were part of the fiesta of the Empire in London, in which athletes from England, Canada, South Africa and Australasia competed (www commonwealthgames.org).The first games in Hamilton Ontario, Canada consisted of six sports, wit h around 400 athletes from 11 nations. The name of the games has changed frequently. The first four games were known as the British Empire Games. The name was changed to British Empire and Commonwealth Games for the 1954-1962 editions. From 1966 to 1974 the name British Commonwealth Games was used and from 1978 to the present the Commonwealth GamesKuala Lumpur, Malaysia hosted a very successful 1998 edition of the Commonwealth Games. The Queens Baton was carried to the stadium on an elephant and presented to Prince Edward by Malaysias first ever Commonwealth medal winner Kohl Eng. Tong, a bronze medallist in weightlifting from the 1954 gamesThe Olympic Games are steeped in history. Today, the Olympic Games are the worlds largest pageant of athletic skill and competitive spirit. They are also displays of nationalism, commerce and politics. These two opposing elements of the Olympics are not a modern invention. The conflict between the Olympic movements high ideals and the commerciali sm or political acts which fall out the Games has been noted since ancient timesAccording to legend, the ancient Olympic Games were founded by Heracles son of Zeus. Yet the first Olympic Games for which we still have written records were held in 776 BCE (though it is generally believed that the Games had been going on for many years already). Approximately1500 years later, a young Frenchmen named Pierre de Coubertin began their revival. The revival of the ancient Olympics in 1896 attracted athletes from 14 nations. The largest delegations came from Greece, Germany, France and Great Britain. Winners were awarded a silver medal and an olive branchTo conclude the games are steeped in history and are a prestige event for any city to host. They can raise the citys image on the world wide stage, thereby attracting tourism in the future. But an emerging factories they can be a catalyst for urban regeneration, therefore the value of holding the games can be immense to host city, if it is c onducted right.6.0 Case Study ManchesterThis section will present the facts of Manchester successful bid forth 2002 Commonwealth games. The information is from the City Councils web site, reports and articles. The second part will pre

A SWOT and marketing analysis of Virgin Media

A SWOT and foodstuffplaceing analysis of pure(a) MediaServices trade be a form of marketing which focuses on selling operate. Services can be tricky to sell and the marketing uprise for them is much different than the approach for point of intersections. Some companies offer two products and works and must use a mixture of styles for example, a store which sells phone also t blockades to offer emoluments much(prenominal) as helping people select phone as contract and providing broadband service and phone repair. Such a store must market both its products and the supporting services it offers to appeal to customers.When people market services, the goal is not to get customers to buy a product, entirely to get people to do business with a particular company, often in a specific location. For example, virgin media offers broadband and internet service It provides phone, internet and TV service for the customers, both on-site and in to-go form in many cases. When the comp any markets itself, it must convince people that it is preferable to other broadband and that its facility is worth the trip. perfect(a) Media is an innovative new-fangled media company that was formed as a result of a merger between NTL and Telewest and then a re-branding as staring(a) Media. Its meaning(a) strength lies in the branding and the innovation that the name Virgin offers. Internally, Virgin Media is the only company in the United Kingdom that offers all four of the important media services, i.e. digital television, broadband, fixed line telephone and mobile phone packages. The exponent to offer these products all together in one bundle is the unique selling point of Virgin Media and clearly sets the company apart from its competitors.Swot analysisSwot analysis is the most important and first stage of planning. It is a feedback machine to make new strategies for any organisation. Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats argon the four theatrical roles of a swot analysis. Weaknesses and Strengths ar correlated and examine the internal part of the business analysis whereas Opportunities and Threats plenty with the external environment of business operation. Weaknesses and strengths refer to aspect of marketing, finance, manufacturing or organisational structure. Swot analysis helps clarifies the objectives of the organisationStrengthsIn offering these combined services, the company has substantial economies of weighing machine as it is able to combine many of its generic roles such as administration and finance, thus allowing the company to price more combatively for the benefit of its customers. out-of-pocket to its perceived leading brand name in the media, Virgin Media has managed to secure an ongoing contract with Sky, extending further still its inclusive offering to its customers. Technical ability and home are also two of the key internal strengths of the company, which fetch been exploited to produce a market leading po sition.WeaknessesDespite this, the company does have some internal weaknesses that need to be managed. The merger between NTL and Telewest is still relatively new and there are cultural clashes between the two styles and the appear Virgin style. In recent years, there have been several redundancies and outsourcing of customer services, in an attempt to bring down costs. This has resulted in a degree of hazardous behaviour and lack of loyalty from staff. Due to the size and complexity of the growing organisation, there are likely to be ongoing conflicts which will need to be managed if this cultural shift is not to impact on the customer experience.Opportunities and ThreatsExternally, the opportunities and aff even offs facing Virgin Media are ever changing. The media sector is developing an exceptionally fast pace, resulting in both opportunities and threats for companies such as Virgin Media. Opportunities are widely available for Virgin Media, predominantly in offering value p rovideed services such as online gaming or more reliable broadband connections. Bundling these media services together, as Virgin Media has already done offers yet further opportunities within the media sector, in terms of grasping great market share. Consumers like simple, one-stop shopping when it comes to the media options available this is something that Virgin Media can continue to exploit, particularly now that it has signed an agreement with Sky.Threats to Virgin Media come from other similar media companies such as Orange or BT who remain as large players in the market. In particular, Virgin Media is rumoured to have difficulties with its infrastructure reliability, which could potentially allow competitors such as BT to increase market share. The media sector as a whole is extremely fast moving therefore, the main threat is that Virgin Media may fail to keep pace, thus losing its customer base to another more innovative company.The flower of serviceFacilitating divisions( services)Information Customers often entreat information about how to obtain and use a product and services. They may also need remainders and documentation. Example,Of virgin broadband information services are direction to service site and using instruction, warning and insurance, terms and condition of services.Order taking Many goods and services must be ordered or close in advance. Customer needs to know what available and may want to secure commitment to deliveryBillingHow much do I owe you? .Customers deserve clear, accurate and intelligible bills and statements.Payment Customer may pay faster and more cheerfully if Virgin makes transactions simple and convenient for them.2) Enhancing servicesConsultation Value can be added to goods and services by offering advice and consultation.Safe keeping Customers prefer not to worry about face afterwards the personal possessions that they bring with them to a service site.Exceptions Customers appreciate some flexibility in a busine ss when they make special request. They expect it when not everything goes match to plan.Hospitality Customers who invest time and effort in visiting a business and using its services deserve to be treated as grateful guests.User PreparationWhen implementing new system, it is important that personnel, employees, managers and others in the organization are prepared for it. This process is also called process of readying the decision makers, managers, employees, and stakeholders for a new system. In this regard, user training becomes very essential, because without it the success of the system cannot be guaranteed. This process of user preparation is aforethought(ip) and executed properly and knotty a lot of arrangement, and consideration (Stair Reynolds, 2008).Virgin Media, the UKs leading fibre-optic broadband provider currently has almost 60,000 SME and public sector broadband clients, but has announced that it is sounding to grow this significantly.Virgin Media has unveiled p lans to invest the small and medium business customers of its rival broadband giant BT.The move comes soon after BTs commitment to tenderloin Virgin Medias residential super-fast broadband prices, with its new fibre-optic broadband service which BT is rolling out this year.There is a very big market up for grabs, as small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) spend about 18bn a year on IT and telecoms.Virgin Media currently have revenues of about 600m pa from business broadband customers and this is call to rise to about 1bn pa in three to five years.Virgin Media chief operating officer Andrew Barron said This is another step forwards. Weve been working in the business division for 18 months on getting the business processes to the right level. Weve improved it dramatically. We can use the fibre-optic meshing to differentiate ourselves.Marketing chat MixThe marketing mix is the set of controllable tacticle marketing tools that the firm blends to produce theResponse it wants in th e target market (Melewar. T.C., Saunders.J, 2000)Marketing communications are the means by which firms attempt to inform, persuade, and remindconsumers directly or indirectly about the products and brands that they sell. A company s totalmarketing communication mix also called promotion mix (Kotler, 2005) consists of specific blending of denote, personal selling, sales promotion, public relations, and direct marketing tools that are usedby company to observe its advertising and marketing objectives.The marketing communication activities which contribute to themarketing of any new or existing product by creating awareness of the brand linking the rightassociations to the products image in the consumers memory, facilitating stronger consumer-productconnection etc.Current extended marketing mix marketing mix. population People is one of the elements of service marketing mix. People define a service.. In case of service marketing, people can make or break an organization. Thus virgin media nowadays are involved into specially getting their staff trained in interpersonal skills and customer service with a focus towards customer satisfaction. In fact many companies have to undergo accreditation to show that their staffs are better than the rest. Definitely a USP in case of services.Process Service process is the way in which a service is delivered to the end customer. The process of a service company such as virgin media in delivering its product is of utmost importance. It is also a critical component in the service blueprint, wherein before establishing the service, the company defines exactly what should be the process of the service product reaching the end customer.Physical Evidence The last element in the service marketing mix is a very important element. As said before, services are intangible in nature. However, to create a better customer experience tangible elements are also delivered with the service. Physical evidence is used as a differentiator in service marketing.This is the service marketing mix (7p) which is also known as the extended marketing mixPositionPositioning in different areas is not always comfy (I can say it is too difficult). Virgin Group was aware of the difficulties so they had to think about the Virgin brand name. They have never entered in a business before doing solid researches and analysis. They have reviewed the industry and tried to look from customers eyes. They were aware of the trade-offs they had to think before entering a new business make and they have never underestimated the risks behind new entrance.AdvertisingVirgin Media launched to much fanfare in February 2007, with a public relations event and an expensive advertising campaign which covered major UK television channels, newspapers and billboards. In an effort to increase awareness of the group and its services, Virgin Medias campaign used bright red influence to portray its brand image. Recentupdate television advertising featured act ress Uma Thurman and comedienne Ruby Wax, and currentlyupdate features actor Samuel L Jackson, whilst the print advertising features bold typography. Virgin Media also sponsored the pass on 4 reality TV show Big Brother until the end of the ninth series.Virgin Media Business/On Thursday 11 February 2010, Virgin Media announced that its business division would be rebranded as Virgin Media Business with immediate effect. The company, which had been operating as ntlTelewest Business, is now the largest B2B brand in the Virgin Group. This marked the end of the NTL and Telewest being used by the company.Virgin Media Business is the UKs only telco with a national fibre optic Next Generation Network. Organisations working with Virgin Media Business include London City Airport, Arqiva, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Partnership and South West Water.Consumer behavioursUnderstanding how consumer behaviour is changing will be an important requirement of Virgin Medias upcoming music offering and, should they become law, the Governments legislative proposals will also require measurement of the level of copyright infringement on ISPs networks. Deticas CView technology potentially offers a non-intrusive solution which enhances our understanding of aggregate customer behaviour without identifying or storing individual customers data.Consumer SegmentWe face intense competition from a variety of entertainment and communications serviceproviders, which offer comparable broadband internet, television, fixed line telephone and mobiletelephony services. In addition, technological advances and product innovations have increased, and willlikely continue to increase, the number of alternatives available to our customers from other providersand intensify the competitive environment. See Risk Factors-We operate in highly competitivemarkets. However, we believe that we have a competitive advantage in the U.K. residential marketdue to the superior technical capabilities of our cable networ k over the network of the incumbent BT,which many of our competitors rely on to provide their services. We also face intense competition inthe mobile telephony market, primarily driven by increased pricing pressure from both established andnew service providers, evolving customer needs and technological developments.We offer most of our products on a complete basis or as part of bundled packages designed toencourage customers to subscribe to multiple services. We offer broadband internet, fixed linetelephony and mobile telephony and data services throughout the U.K., and currently offer televisionservices exclusively in areas served by our cable networkSegmentation, Targeting, Positioning (STP)Before number one think about marketing (4P), you must understand what is STP. Terms of STP include market strategy target markets positioning market segmentation and target markets market segmentation and demographicsSegmentationSegmentation Identifying all segments for the product/servic e. Many of the resources listed in module 3 will be helpful to you when you develop segments. To be useful, segments should beMeasurableAccessible (can you reach them)ProfitableDistinct from one anotherthe objective of segmentation is to find attractive markets. Strategies includeBreak market into componentsRegroup into market segmentsSelect which segment to targetTargetingVirgin Media is currently number two in the home broadband market in the UK, but it obviously doesnt want to be left behind when it comes to broadband on the move. The company has its own-brand mobile phone service, so its wasnt that much of a leap for it to add mobile broadband into the mix.Virgin is offering mobile broadband via a number of different deals. For example, if youre already a Virgin customer using its XL (20Mb) or L (10Mb) cable broadband packages or its ADSL Bundle 1 offering, you can get mobile broadband with a 1GB usage allowance for an superfluous fiver a month. If youre on one of the lower-end home broadband deals you can get the same package for a tenner a month.However, for this review were looking at the standard retail pack which targets people who dont already have a Virgin service. This deal costs 15 a month on an 18-month contract for a 3GB monthly download allowance and a free USB modemPositioning.Positioning is an essential component and skill in good marketing. Perceptual maps are used to determine the position of a product, firm, person, service or idea. Positioning maps or perceptual maps can be simple, yet very effective marketing tools. One definition of Positioning Theory is the science of perceptual strategy. It is based on a theory that strategy can only be planned in the mind of the consumer, not the marketplace*.It is important to understand the levels of competition because positioning applies at all levels of competition. For exampleProduct trainCorporate LevelIndustry LevelThe STP ProcessThe growing use of the STP process has occurred as a direct r esult of the prevalenceof mature markets, the greater diversity in customer needs, and the ability toreach specialized or niche segments. As such marketers are increasingly segmentingmarkets and identifying attractive segments (i.e. who to focus on and why?),in order to identify new product opportunities, develop suitable positioning andcommunications strategies (i.e. what message to communicate), and effectivelyallocate resources to key marketing activities (i.e. how much should we spendand where?). Organizations will often commission segmentation research whenthey want to re-scope their marketing strategy, investigate a declining brand,launch a new product, or restructure their pricing policy. Organizations operatingin highly dynamic environments seek to conduct segmentation research atregular intervals, to keep in ghostwriter with changes in the marketplace.STP refers to the three activities segmentation, targeting, and positioningSOURCES1. Virgin Media, fourth quarter 2007 resu lts presentation, February 2008.2. Carphone Warehouse Plc fourth quarter trading update, April 2008.3. Domestic Competitive Market Review, 2004, Ofgem.

Spanish Conquistador Essay -- Christopher Columbus, New World

1492 was the year that Christopher Columbus, the Spanish conquistador, came to the New World and explored it which to be ulterior colonized by Spain, France, and mostly England to establish the soon to be, colonial America. In time, when colonists arrived in the New England region ruled by Britain their lives were being controlled by many a(prenominal) factors consisting of religion, wealth, social status, race, conflicts with other colonists/Indians and gender. In the book, Everyday Life in Early America, written by David Freeman Hawke, it is argued that these immigrants were colonists that were forced to adapt to a smart track of life. The author, Hawke, believed these colonists living in the New England region or the Chesapeake region could not really survive in this New World with what they learned about their floriculture in Europe such as customs and traditions back from Europe but had to get used to the new territory and new society or face the hardships that the New Worl d had to offer. Overall, the book shows who came and how they devolved, farming and housing, health and manners, and morals and witchcraft, and even difference in race and conflicts with Indians. As colonial America started to settle in, towns and counties were developing and causing conflict. The early colonial American settlers that the bulk of the emigrants came voluntarily, and more often than not they were the most vivid people of England, those with energy and courage to feign a new start in life (Hawke, 1). To Hawkes point that the early colonist faced hardships, was when they encountered the Native Americans. This was one of the reasons why colonial Americans were encountering new ways of life, that what they were taught and knew about Europe had to be disregard... .... The historical events of the everyday life of the settlers are very true no matter about what topic he talks about. His accuracy then compared to present could have been lowered as the book was written 23 years ago, so anything new could have been detect about the colonists. This book is easily one of the most informative book on United States history as it not dull but fascinates. single can easily learn the hardships of the early settlers on their way to the New World and see what they faced there when they arrived. One can show enceinte enjoyment for this book as at least one part/topic must interest one as it goes from a wide categorization of interesting topics such as recreation, war, housing, settlement, and crime. Taken as a whole, the book can be read by many no matter how meddling one is, as this could possibly be the most interesting non-fiction book out there.

Computer Engineering :: essays research papers

computing device EngineeringChoosing a career is very important in a someones life. Over the past two decades, many professions have change significantly with the influx of technological developments. unity needs to hypothesise about the things that interest them and what kind of lifestyle they want to have. Some things a person should think about are what qualifications are needed, what type of training is necessary, and the time to come need of the career they choose. Some other things to consider would be how much money they will make, what is the probability of advancement, and does the career satisfy their need for an enjoyable life.One career in the technological industry is a reckoner machinate. A computer engineer is a person who designs hardware or software for computers. Computer engineers do research to determine what people want and need to make their lives easier. Computer engineers sometimes work on a team to think of red-hot ideas and concepts. Engineers genera lly should like activities of a technical nature, problem solving, and math. An engineer should probably like working with numbers and thinking logically. A computer-engineering career requires the most schooling of any career in the computer industry. Some school subjects that are helpful in preparing a person who wants to become a computer engineer are algebra, geometry, calculus, trigonometry, computer science, and English. Computer engineers need to be able to think logically, communicate ideas clearly, and work well in a team environment. To become a computer engineer a degree in computer science, engineering, or physics is required. Computer engineers spend an extended amount of time typing. A computer engineer should also expect to work long hours and enjoy working with new ideas and concepts. Becoming a proficient typist would be something to consider when a person is interested in becoming a computer engineer.In 1947 Howard Aiken, an engineer, predicted six computers would satisfy the computing needs of the U.S. By the year 1955, 244 computer systems were in call and by 1984 U.S. businesses and individuals purchased over two million personal computers. By 1994, shipments of over 47 million personal computers were made worldwide. The use of personal computers has increased quick over the past half-century and therefore the need for new hardware and software will keep the need for computer engineers to continue producing new products. The first adjust for a person becoming a computer Engineer is a Junior Computer Engineer.