Marketing Plan for the Samsung Galaxy Tablet

Introduction Marketing refers to â€Å"the set of institutions, activities, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging goods and services that have value for customers, partners, and the society†. Thus, marketing aims at identifying and satisfying customers’ needs effectively.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Marketing Plan for the Samsung Galaxy Tablet specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Marketing is crucial to an organization’s success. It enables an organization to â€Å"integrate and align its resources and functions to an overall goal of customer satisfaction†. Effective marketing requires a marketing plan. A marketing plan refers to â€Å"a written document that describes how an organization intends to reach its target market†. It entails a situation analysis, an organization’s goals, marketing strategies, and marketing mix decisions. This pap er discusses the marketing plan for the successful development, commercialization, and introduction of the Samsung galaxy tablet into the market. Situation Analysis Strengths In the past decades, Samsung has emerged as one of the most competitive companies. Samsung boasts of several strengths. First, it focuses on producing electronic devices with a hardware system, which is compatible with most software and operating systems. This has enabled Samsung to have an edge over its competitors such as Apple. As a result, â€Å"Samsung’s Android mobile phones and tablets have gained a huge market share as opposed to Apple’s iOS and OS X†. Second, Samsung is one of the most innovative mobile phone companies. For example, â€Å"in 2011 Samsung was among the top patent assignees in the United States of America†. The acquisition of several patents has enabled it to surpass most of its competitors. Additionally, the company has won several awards for its productsâ₠¬â„¢ designs, which are user friendly and unique. Samsung also has a major focus on designing environmentally friendly products.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Third, the company has a strong financial base because it has a significant market share in a number of its products’ categories. Moreover, Samsung’s manufacturing firms are located in countries where the cost of production is relatively low. As a result, it incurs low costs of production; hence, it can offer its products at a lower price. Fourth, Samsung has managed to market its brand effectively. It is among the top rising brands. â€Å"From 2011 to 2012, the company’s popularity rose by 40 percent†. This rise was mainly attributed to strategic marketing techniques. For example, the company uses varied avenues such as sporting events to market its products. Weaknesses Despite its streng ths, Samsung faces a number of challenges. First, the company lacks its own software. Software production can enable a company to attain a high profit margin. It also helps to popularize a company’s product and promote its brand loyalty. Therefore, Samsung is disadvantaged compared to its main competitors such as Apple. Second, the company has businesses in a number of industries. Thus, â€Å"it might lose focus by competing in several industries†. In the past years, Samsung has been found guilty of patent infringement. Consequently, this has had a negative effect on its reputation. Third, Samsung is one of the largest electronic companies in the world. Nonetheless, the company experiences a relatively low gross profit margin due to the company’s aggressive price cuts on its products. Opportunities Samsung has numerous opportunities that it can seize in order to enable it expand further. For instance, â€Å"the smartphone market in India is one of the least pen etrated among the Asian countries†. Therefore, its strong presence in India can enable it to maximize gains in India’s smartphone market. The introduction of smartphones and tablets has led to a major increase in the demand for application processors. Fortunately, â€Å"Samsung is one of the main manufacturers of application processors for tablets and smartphones†. Therefore, Samsung stands a better chance of meeting this demand because it has a superior experience in the production of processors.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Marketing Plan for the Samsung Galaxy Tablet specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Samsung is also one of the dominant players in the tablet market. Therefore, the company has high chances of expanding its niche in the tablet market by producing unique and high quality tablet models. Samsung has a large patents portfolio. As a result, it has a competitive advantage over it rivals. Therefore, it can be able to acquire more patents through acquisition of other firms. Threats Samsung faces a number of threats to its business operations. First, the smartphone market in the developed countries is highly saturated; hence, it might not reap major gains in the developed countries. Second, rapid technological change is also a major threat to the company. Currently, Samsung is under pressure to keep on producing new products at a faster rate. However, this is often difficult whenever a company aims at being innovative and successful because innovations take considerable time. Third, Samsung is prone to experience major price wars. For instance, the company has been offering its products at a relatively lower price compared to its competitors. Therefore, its competitors may also follow the trend. Unfortunately, this will significantly erode Samsung’s profit margins, which are already low. Industry Trends and Competition Samsung is one of the major compan ies in the tablet industry. Others include Apple, Asus, Acer, and Nokia. All the players in the tablet industry have continued to produce new tablet models. For example, at the beginning of 2014, Asus introduced the Transformer Book TD300. â€Å"The new tablet model by Asus switches instantly from Windows 8.1 to Android and back†. In a similar manner, Apple has also developed new tablet models such as the iPad Air, which â€Å"has a thinner aluminum body chassis, identical to the iPad mini†. Furthermore, the tablet market is likely to expand due to an anticipated decline in the use of laptops. A number of people have adopted tablets because of their convenience.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Tablets are portable and effective compared to laptops and desktops. Consequently, there has been a rise in the demand and supply of tablets in the market. This has led to a stiff competition among various companies. Therefore, the price and quality of a tablet plays a critical role in determining customers’ purchasing patterns. The Organization’s Mission Statement A mission statement is a statement of purpose. It explains the reason for the existence of an organization. It guides the decisions and actions of an organization. A mission statement for a commercial company should comprise three major elements. These include â€Å"the key market, the contribution of the organization, and the distinction of its product or service†. Therefore, Samsung will adopt the following mission statement: â€Å"to be the most successful electronic company in the world by developing user friendly tablets that brings a lively experience to all internet users.† Performance g oals The company will pursue the following goals. First, the company aims at realizing a monthly turnover of $500,000. Second, the company aims at supplying the Samsung galaxy tablet to the major online stores by the end of the first month after its launch. Third, the company plans to distribute the Samsung galaxy tablet in all Asian countries within the first six months. Marketing strategy A marketing strategy should â€Å"enable an organization to concentrate its resources on the optimal opportunities with the major aim of increasing sales and achieving sustainable competitive advantage†. A marketing strategy is one of the most essential elements of a marketing plan. A number of marketing strategies are often developed as long-term plans. In such a case, an organization is often required to develop a tactical plan. A tactical plan spells out what an organization aims at achieving within a period of one year. There are different types of marketing strategies that a company c an adopt. The choice of a particular marketing strategy is largely determined by the situation analysis. For instance, the strengths and opportunities identified in the situation analysis determine the strategy that a company adopts. In most instances, a company’s success is determined by its strengths and opportunities. Similarly, the choice of a marketing strategy depends on an organization’s mission statement, as well as, the company’s goals and objectives. Some of the marketing strategies include the product differentiation strategy, cost leadership strategy, and the market focus strategy. The product differentiation strategy involves the creation of a product or service that is distinct from one’s competitors. Therefore, a company that adopts this strategy will have to ensure that its product has specific attributes that are unique from other products in the market. On the other hand, the cost leadership strategy is intended to enable a company to at tract cost-sensitive customers. Thus, a company will sell its product at a relatively lower price compared to its competitors. This strategy is most suitable for a company, which incurs lower production and marketing costs. The market focus strategy requires a company to describe its market scope. Thus, a company can choose to have a narrow market scope or a broader market scope. Additionally, â€Å"a company may opt to specialize in the production of a particular product in order to meet the unique needs of customers in a given market segment†. Samsung will adopt the product differentiation strategy. This strategy will be most suitable for commercialization and introduction of the Samsung galaxy tablet into the market. The Samsung galaxy tablet has a distinct model from other tablets in the market. Its model is user friendly and can enable internet users to enjoy lively internet browsing. For instance, the Samsung galaxy tablet has a wider screen, which can enable a user to perform multiple tasks. Additionally, the Samsung galaxy tablet is lighter; hence, portable. Market Segmentation Samsung targets people who are eighteen years and above. The company targets adults because the galaxy tablet will facilitate their activities. For example, the tablet has several applications with varied functions. The Samsung galaxy tablet will also be suitable for both male and female users. For instance, the galaxy tablet has different colors such as black, yellow, and silver. Thus, users have a chance to make a choice between the colors available. Additionally, the Samsung galaxy tablet is lighter. As a result, it can easily fit into a jacket’s pocket or in a handbag. Samsung also targets all professionals in various fields. For instance, the galaxy tablet will be suitable for businesspersons who use the internet several times in a day to communicate with clients. It is also suitable for professionals who may wish to prepare and make presentations. The galaxy tablet will also be suitable for professionals who travel regularly. Therefore, the Samsung galaxy tablet can enable them to work while travelling. Integrated Marketing Mix Product Samsung galaxy tablet is seven inches long. It has two cameras and is compatible with a flash disk. â€Å"The Samsung galaxy tablet uses Android 2.2 with market support†. It also has a number of pre-installed applications. Finally, â€Å"the Samsung galaxy tablet has five default home screens†. Price The Samsung galaxy tablet will cost approximately $600 to $500. However, the price will differ from one country to another. One of the major price determinants for the Samsung galaxy tablet will be the market situation in a given country. For instance, factors such as market competition and cost of operations incurred by distributors will influence the local prices in various countries. Location and Distribution Samsung dealers will distribute the Samsung galaxy tablet to all regions within thei r respective countries. The tablet will be available in the major retail stores in various countries. In addition, customers will also have the privilege to purchase the tablet from online stores. Promotion Samsung will use various advertisement channels to market its galaxy tablet. For instance, Samsung will use both print and electronic media for advertisement. The company also intends to organize major sales promotions in the first three months. Summary and recommendations for the execution of the plan This marketing plan aims at maximizing Samsung’s profits. It provides a detailed description of the company’s strengths such as a large market share, superior experience in the production of electronic devices, and sustained innovation. The company intends to use the product differentiation strategy as its marketing strategy. The company should take note of the following factors in order to execute the marketing plan effectively. First, the company should conduct regu lar evaluation in order to determine progress. It should use the evaluation results to make improvements where necessary. Second, the company should ensure a timely distribution of the tablets immediately after the launch of the galaxy tablet. Third, the company should minimize costs in the execution of the marketing plan in order to increase its gross profit margin Conclusion From the above discussion, it is evident that a marketing plan is a crucial tool that enables a company to have an edge over its competitors. It provides a situation analysis that spells out a company’s strengths and opportunities. Therefore, a marketing plan helps to focus a company’s operations, goals, and decisions. References Jurevicius, O. (2013, May 13). SWOT Anayses. Retrieved from Strategic Management Insight: https://www.strategicmanagementinsight.com/ Proctor, T., Chernev, A. (2002). Strategic Marketing: An Introduction. Psychology Press: London. Samsung. (2013). Galaxy Tabs. Retrieved from Samsung: https://www.samsung.com/us/ Whalley, A. (2010). Marketing Definition. London: Bookboon. This essay on Marketing Plan for the Samsung Galaxy Tablet was written and submitted by user Marlee Ratliff to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

What is mercantalism essays

What is mercantalism essays Mercantallist theory states that a nations power can be measured by the amount of precious metals, usually gold or silver, the nation posseses. Between 1600 and 1800 most of the states of western Europe were heavily influenced mercentallist theories. This was essentially an effort to achieve economic unity and political control. There are many broad definitions but I belive that mercantallism is a collection of policies, which are used by the mother country, in order to keep itself prosperous, by in a way leeching off of the colonies. There are numerous positive and negative effects of mercantalism. The colonies have some leeway in their legislature. They also receive protection from the mother country. This can be direct (having troops stationed in the colonies in case of attack), or through a more indirect approach. This would be intimidation. No one wants to go attack a colony of a country who is for example the biggest naval power. People look at the colonies as a part of the whole, and not a seperate entity. Something else that mercentalism sets up, is the chance for a colony to become is own free state. This has happpened in many cases, including our own. Funds from the mother country build the colony. They fund industry and establish an economy and trade. After years, the colony becomes self sufficient, and with a bit of rebellion, can become its own free state. This in many cases is good, because the people who left the original country in the first place, left because they wanted to form something of their own, and their dreams are fulfilled. We get more players in the global economic ring, which in turn creates competition and the economies flourish. The colonists gain their own identity. However, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Murphy's law clearly states that if anything can go wrong it will. The mother country is usually strict and clamps down on colony legislature. The col...

Sex Tourism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 10000 words

Sex Tourism - Essay Example The foremost conclusion of this qualitative research has been that sex tourism is rapidly increasing in hospitality industry across the globe, and the examples of Thailand, Hong Kong and Caribbean countries confirm this fact. Apart from this, the paper also analyses the various fundamental aspects that help to grow sex tourism within hospitality industry and deal with the important legislations affecting sex tourism in hospitality industry. Sex tourism, which refers to trips organized from within the tourism sector in order to engage in sexual activity with prostitutes, has become one of the most booming industries across the globe in recent years, thanks mainly to the advancements in hospitality industry. Significantly, sex tourism incorporates a number of mercantile sexual activities, agencies and academics spread all over the world and there various types of sex tourism, within the broad category, such as sex tourism, child sex tourism and female sex tourism. There are various factors that contribute to the growth and distribution of this industry across the globe and the scholars in the field emphasise the ever-widening nature of this industry. Several studies connected with hospitality industry conclude that sex tourism has become a very lucrative industry which spans the globe. Thus, it is fundamental to comprehend that â€Å"in 1998, the International Labour Organization reported its calculations that 2-14% of the gross domestic product of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand derives from sex tourism. In addition, while Asian countries, including Thailand, India, and the Philippines, have long been prime destinations for child-sex tourists, in recent years, tourists have increasingly travelled to Mexico and Central America for their sexual exploits as well.† (Nair). Therefore, it is indubitable that the booming industry of sex tourism has attained significance all over the world and

Economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Economics - Essay Example Global capitalism has been tried before in the world and it has failed. However, when the reforms proposed by the West prove ineffective, it tends to blame the East for its innate weaknesses like insufficient entrepreneurial skills. The matter of the fact is the entrepreneurial skills of the Third World and the ex-communist countries are quite similar to those of their Western counterparts. If the people in the third world do not suffer from certain fundamental deficiency in cultural or genetic heritage, then what could be the reason behind the fact that the capitalism is successful only in the West? An answer to this puzzling question is the failure of the Third World and the ex-communist countries to produce capital. The poor people in the developing world are not wanting in the assets that make capital successful. They in fact hold these assets in defective form: the ownership rights are not fully documented, the terms of the businesses are not defined and the industries are not l ocated at suitable places the cumulative result of which is that these assets cannot be turned into capital. In the West, the property is fully documented which can be used as a capital for producing surplus value in various forms such as mortgage and securities. Because of the absence of this representational process, the third world countries are undercapitalized. The third world despite assimilating a lot of western cultural traits has failed to follow the example of the West in this crucial area of producing sufficient capital. This is the mystery of capital. The fundamental difference between the western nations and the Third World and the ex-communist countries is that only the former have the knowledge of converting capital from places which the other countries cannot. This absence of the conversion process in the Third World is compounded by the failure on the part of the West to understand the origin of the capital. This book is an effort to trace the history of capital and learn right lessons from it to help poor countries overcome their problems which have nothing to do with deficiencies in culture and genetic heritage. This fact has been made clear by the fact that the regions which are culturally as diverse as Russia and Latin America share the same problems because of building capitalism without capital. The Third World today faces the same challenges such as lack of enforcement of property rights, poor law and order situation and biased business and trade regulations which were faced by US in its early history and other Western countries only a couple of centuries before. There are at least five questions which need to be answered to understand why the role of capital despite being the most important component of Western development is not adequately understood: first, how much saving has been done by the poorest sectors of society in the west; second, what is the nature of capital and what is its role in the creation of wealth; third, why have the governments not been able to put the â€Å"dead Capital† in the hands of the poor people to some profitable use; four, why have the lessons not been learnt from the history of successful capitalist countries and five, why the adoption of the Western legal system in the third world has not delivered. The Mystery of Missing Information In the Third World, the documentation of property

Financial Reporting and Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Financial Reporting and Analysis - Essay Example The LIFO reserve calculation in inflationary environment where the value of FIFO is higher than the value of LIFO inventory is LIFO Reserve=valuation by FIFO –valuation by LIFO. In a deflationary environment, LIFO Reserve has a possibility of having a negative balance caused by LIFO inventory valuation being higher than its FIFO valuation. LIFO reserve indicates the value which a business entity taxable income as a result of using LIFO method has subsequently been deferred. The balance on LIFO reserve account in 2008 is $524.4 c) If LIFO reserve account was added to the inventory at LIFO, the resulting inventory at the end of 2008 would be $1,346.8. I would consider inventory under LIFO to be more realistic. d) Use of LIFO or FIFO during price increase results to an inflated amount of income. During price decreases, it results to lower income. During constant prices, a normal income results when FIFO or LIFO is used. e) Use of LIFO or FIFO results to inflated cash flows during price increase, a lower cash flow during price decreases and a normal cash flows during normal costs assuming no increase or decrease in inventory quantity. This is a similar case in both pre-tax and after-tax cash flows. g) LIFO layer is an excess of the inventory at base of the current period and the inventory base of previous period LIFO liquidation occurs when the purchase are less than the sales that the inventory costs which are older are utilized in determining the costs of the goods sold. During the periods of rising and LIFO valuation is used, LIFO liquidation that occurs will result to a relatively low COGAS and an amount of income that is inflated. Case 6-4 Diversified Technology. (a)1)Day sales receivables =net sales/365 In 2007 $24,462/365 = $67.019 In 2008 $25,269/365 = $69.23 2) Accounts Receivable turnover = credit sales (net)/average accounts receivables Average account receivables= {($3195+$85) + ($3362+$75)}/2 = $3358.50 Receivable turnover =25269/3358.50 = 7.524 3) Day sales in inventory = number of days in a year (365)/inventory turnover ratio In 2008: 365/8.3867=43.521 In 2007: 365/8.577=42.555 4) Inventory turnover ratio=sales/inventory 2008: $25269/ 3013 =8.3867 2007: $24462/2852 =8.577 5) Working capital = current assets - current liabilities In 2008: $9598- $5,839 = $3759 1n 2007: $9838 - $5,362 = $4476 6) Current ratio = current assets/current liabilities In 2008 = $9598/$5839= 1.644 In 2007 $ 9,838 /$5362 = 1.835 7) Acid test ratio = (current assets – inventory)/current liabilities In 2008: ($9598-$3013)/$5839 = 1.179 In 2007 : (9838-$2852)/$5362 = 1.303 b) Comment on each ratio Day sales receivables indicate the total average number of days taken in collection of all the accounts receivable. It takes around 67 and 69 days in both years. Accounts Receivable turnover is seven as per the calculations. A lower the turnover means a longer the receivables are being held thus the company have an average turnover rate. Day sales in inventory are 43.5 and 42.5 in 2008 and 2007 respectively. It shows number of days in average to sell average inventory in a specified period that is obviously one year. The company is in a position to meet its current obligations within the two years because it had a positive working capital and this shows the company in short term, is healthy. The current ratio of 2:1 can be regarded as acceptable. The company current ratio is acceptable since it can be approximated to 2:1 in the two years. Acid test ratio indicates that the firm already has short term assets that are enough to cover the liabilities that are immediate because it is more than one in both years. c) Comment on liquidity: the current

Importance of Effective Communication in Construction

Importance of Effective Communication in Construction Introduction Civil engineering works are not just the building of structures, but they provide a livable and safe environment for society. To make it all work, the disciplines involved must be in constant communication. They cannot work in isolation and must communicate with other civil engineers and professions and also be able to communicate with society. When communication fails it will have a negative effect on the works. Defining communication In the Oxford Dictionary the word communication is defined as to share or exchange information, and the word effective is defined as producing an intended result. For a civil project, effective communication can be defined as communication between inter-disciplines, which produces a structure that is designed to be safe, serviceable and economic, and constructed to be on budget, time and to the customers satisfaction. In order for communication to be effective a common language must be used which is understood well by the various disciplines. In communication between two parties, there are four key components involved: Transmitter: person with information Receiver: person to whom information is directed Medium (nature of information): words (written and spoken), drawings, figures, symbols, codes, graphs, diagrams, charts, etc Channel (method of communicating information): meetings, documents, email, telephone, video link, projector slides, etc For communication to be effective, information should flow in both directions because the receiver may not be listening to or reading what is being communicated. There must be a response from them to know that the person has both received the message and understood it2. The nature of Civil Engineering works Compared with products manufactured in factories, where most if not all the design and production stages are carried out by a single company and the end products are the same, civil engineering works are manufactured on site with a number of different disciplines involved in the process at different stages of design and construction. These works are always made to the customers specifications, making them unique for each project. With so many different disciplines3 involved, there is an important need for effective communication between them for any project to be successful. For example, the customer must communicate their needs to the consultant engineers. The consultant engineers must understand the customers needs and interpret them into a design. Then, once the plans have been developed and a bid has been taken, the contractor must understand the plans and communicate the plans to the sub-contractors. The importance of effective communication during civil works As said by Peter Rogers How many projects go wrong because somebody has a vision at the top and the people beneath destroy it because they either do not believe in what is being created or the ambition has not been communicated to them?4 Effective communication is a means to an end, which is fundamentally a project delivered on time, on budget and to an agreed quality. So, where there is a breakdown in communication the opposite is likely to occur. In the UK this has left a bad reputation of the construction industry with the client and as has lead to an increase in disputes with many of cases ending up in court. In 1992 this increasing trend prompted the Conservative government to assign Sir Michael Latham, a former MP with experience of the construction industry to investigate. In 1994 he published his report called Constructing the Team5. One of the recommendations he made was the need for improved team-working, which highlights a need for improved communication between team members. A few years later when the Labour government came into office in 1997 they set up The Construction Task Force. It was made up of a team of ten industry clients6 who were to advise on ways of improving the quality and efficiency of housebuilding. They mentioned seeing the industry typically dealing with the project process as a series of sequential and largely separate operations undertaken by individual designers7. In 1998 the Construction Task Force presented their report (commonly known as The Egan Report). Based on their findings they recommended five key changes that were needed for improvement in the construction industry: Committed leadership A focus on the customer Integrated processes and teams A quality driven agenda Commitment to people It can be seen from their recommendations that a crucial element for any of them to be successful is the ability to communicate and listen effectively and although the Task Force looked specifically at housebuilding, their findings can be applied to civil works as well. It has been over ten years (currently 2009) since the Construction Task Forces recommendations. Looking at the performance of the construction industry in last 5 years, it can be seen that there has been improvement but a lot is still needed. A summary of the performance of the construction industry from 2004 to 2008 is shown in Table 1.1. Client product satisfaction has been at 80% or above for the last five years, but this also means that 1 in 5 clients have not been mostly satisfied with the final outcome of their project. Also the figures for defects last year show that approximately one third of defects had a negative impact on the client. Case Study 1: Wembley Stadium The Wembley stadium project is an example of how clients, contractors and sub-contractors can fall out due to poor communication or the lack thereof, which can cause the project to go over budget and time. The client who is Wembley National Stadium Ltd originally selected Bovis Lend Lease and Multiplex to both design and construct the stadium, but negotiations broke down over costs. Multiplex then independently offered a cheaper tender to the client for a fixed price of  £326 million, which in September 2000 was accepted by the client10. However, the price gradually increased to  £445 million after detailed specifications were made. Bovis believed the client had broken the public sector procurement guidelines and that the project should have been retendered. The government commissioned a report to investigate the issue and concluded that retendering would have harmed the project even further in respect to time and money and believed it was not practical to have retendered. But the report also stated that the client: Failed to follow a formal procurement process, including creating proper documentation Carried out two procurement processes at the same time, making it difficult to have competitive procurement Had meetings and conversations with Multiplex before a formal procurement process There were also other problems. Multiplex complained that the client had made 600 design changes to the contract and there were disputes such as the definition of practical completion. There were delays with the raising into position of the arch. Multiplex said that the delays and other troubles were the result of the subcontractor Cleveland Bridges late and defective design of fabrication work. Cleveland Bridge said that the delays and other troubles were because of too many variations or the late supply of information by Multiplex or by the structural engineer, Mott MacDonald Limited. Case study 2: Heathrow Airport Terminal 5 On 27 March 2008 BAA opened Terminal 5 after six years of work, costing  £4.3 billion. The project was a success in terms of being built on time and within budget. However, on the first day of opening there were problems with the baggage system. The baggage system failed and so over 23,000 pieces of luggage needed to be sorted manually. At a press conference just two weeks earlier, BAAs strategy director said We have a world-class baggage system that is going to work perfectly on day one. An investigation into why these problems occurred was undertaken by the House of Commons Transport committee. They found that most of these problems were caused two main factors: Insufficient communication between owner and operator, and Poor staff training and system testing During their inquiry the national secretary for aviation, told the committee: members and shop stewards locally had been raising concerns both within BAA and BA for a considerable period in relation to the opening of Terminal 5, but that no consideration was given to the response from the trade union side. 11 A shop steward working for BAA said that union representatives: said to the company that the way it was going would not work. Based on our own experience having worked there for years no technology can take that away. we said that they must listen to what we said and do it this way, but we were told that, no, it was a state-of-the-art building and everything would work and be all right.12 The Chief executive of Heathrow BAA said that if he could rewind time, he would focus resolutely and determinedly on keeping British Airways and BAA in the same room tightly together. 13 Methods to achieve effective communication According to research carried out by Court, Culley and McMahon14, the method of communication has an effect on the richness of the information received and processed. Table 1.2 shows the various methods of communication and the levels of richness of each. Table 1.2 shows that the best method of communication is verbal, such as in meetings. With verbal communication immediate feedback is received. Information flows in both directions and new issues may be introduced by either party. Meetings are an essential part of effective teamwork and are probably the most important time where designers and constructors work together. They can be said to have two main functions: A social purpose where team members become familiar with one another and one anothers ways of working, A business purpose for communicating information and agreeing actions. For meetings to be successful each must take time to listen to the other, and remove prejudices. We are all individuals and have our own ways of working and communicating with others. What is needed is the desire to communicate and the passion to build something that is good. By sharing information between members, a team is able to make best use of its combined knowledge. Good communication in meetings also depends on individuals being able to understand what is being said. The use of terminology which is not understood by others outside the profession risks poor communication and misunderstanding. A language must be found which is understood well by all parties. Integrated teams An integrated team which was one of the recommendations of the Construction Task Force is another effective method of having team members talking to each other. Multidisciplinary companies like Arup or Amec have the advantage of the different disciplines working for the same company and in the same building. Typically the members of the project work on the same floor in an open plan office making it easy for communication and ideas to be exchanged between the different team members. Computer programmes As the old saying goes A picture is worth a thousand words, in the same way computer programmes such as CAD can be used to produce 2D and 3D drawings, which can then be communicated to other project members. There is industry standards in terms of symbols and legends used on drawings so that everyone is able to understand what is being communicated. CAD drawings can also be sent electronically to the other team members so that they are able to view the same information and develop their information onto the design. They are also able to analyse the structure and its connection with other structural elements and make any adjustments if necessary. Case Study 3: MidCity Place, London MidCity Place, an office development in London took 57 weeks to construct, which according to the developers Stanhope Plc is half the industry average build time and at a cost 20% lower than the market average for a building of its quality15. The project was completed in December 2001, eleven weeks ahead of schedule and within budget. The contractors Bovis Lend Lease and Stanhope developed a logistics process based on experience in the car industry. The logistics programmes scheduled all the components in their sequence in the construction and put this information into 3D modelling software. The programme modelled the building and its assembly and also allowed them to find glitches in the delivery and construction sequence. The techniques used on MidCity Place are now being used on other Stanhope/Bovis Lend Lease projects, where they are being developed further. Education Educating students at an early stage is important in order to allow them to enact the roles they will need to fill when entering the industry. From experience, this is currently being achieved by methods such as group projects, presentations and subjects such as Civil Engineering Management. Although these methods do improve the personal skills of an individual there does not seem to be any formal subject in developing communication skills. It seems that communicating ideas is left more as an art that needs to be developed individually by students, than something that can be learnt academically. There are postgraduate courses such as Interdisciplinary Design for the Built Environment (IDBE) run at Cambridge University or the Project Team Leadership Programme run by Design Build Foundations and Henley Management College, which broaden the education of graduates to getting the industry communicating and working together. Conclusions Communicating information is just as important as the information that is being communicated, without which no progress can be made and ideas will remain just that. A lot of time is spent communicating during civil projects. It is in the interest of all those participating in a project to develop effective forms of communication, as a breakdown in communication can have not only time delays and cost overruns, but also harm a companys reputation and/or even bring financial ruin. References 1. Payne, A.C, Chelsom J.V and Reavill L.R.P (1996), Management for Engineers, John Wiley Sons, England, Pg 192. 2. Ibid, Pg 193. 3. These professions are typically the Client, Civil Engineer, Contractor, Sub-contractor, Manufacturer, and also the general public. 4. Spence R, Macmillan S Kirby P. (2001), Interdisciplinary design in practice, Thomas Telford, London, Pg 28. 5. Latham, M. (1994), Constructing the Team, HMSO, London. 6. The members of the Construction Task Force (circa 1998): Sir John Egan (Chairman), Chief Executive, BAA plc, Mike Raycraft, Property Services Director, Tesco Stores Ltd, Ian Gibson, Managing Director, Nissan UK Ltd, Sir Brian Moffatt, Chief Executive, British Steel plc, Alan Parker, Managing Director, Whitbread Hotels, Anthony Mayer, Chief Executive, Housing Corporation, Sir Nigel Mobbs, Chairman, Slough Estates and Chief Executive, Bovis Homes, Professor Daniel Jones, Director of the Lean Enterprise Centre, Cardiff Business School, David Gye, Director, Morgan Stanley Co Ltd, David Warburton, GMB Union. 7. DETR (1998) Rethinking Construction: the report of the Construction Task Force July 1998, Pg 13. 8. Ibid, Pg 12. 9. Ibid, Pg 4. 10. Morton R, revised by Ross A (2008), Construction UK, Introduction to the Industry, Blackwell, Pg 145. 11. House of Commons Transport Committee (2008), The opening of Heathrow Terminal 5, The Stationery Office Limited, Pg 74. 12. Ibid. 13. Ibid. 14. Court AW, Culley SJ and McMahon CA. (1997), The Influence of information technology in new product development. International Journal of information Management, Vol. 17 N0.5, Elsevier, Pg 359-379. 15. www.stanhopeplc.com, MidCity Place (2009). 16. Office for National statistics (2008), Construction Statistics Annual No.9, Palgrave.

Summary of Hannah Arendts Ideology and Terror: a Novel Form of Governm

In her excerpt "Ideology and Terror: A Novel Form of Government" from her book The Origins of Totalitarianism, Hannah Arendt reveals that terror is at the core of a totalitarian government, and that this terror is based upon ideology. This type of terror exceeds fear. Totalitarianism dominated many governments during the twentieth century. Unlike other forms of government that oppress its people; a totalitarian form of government escapes the boundaries of definition. A totalitarian government is commonly mistaken as a tyranny or dictatorship. Arendt explains that this is because it must begin as a tyranny to lift the boundaries of the laws. Arendt uses two particular governments as examples to help clarify the nature of a totalitarian government; fascist Germany and communist Russia. According to Arendt, the totalitarianism that rose in Germany was based upon the ideology of racism. It was propagated by Hitler and enforced by the Nazi regime. This form of totalitarianism led to the ultimate form of terror: human cruelty and death. Arendt compares that in communist Russi...