Global Marketing Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Global Marketing Plan - Essay Example The present study would focus upon the international expansion plan of the UK based cosmetic firm Avea in the Indian market. The study would include an analysing of the Indian consumer market as well as a general framework for the strategic initiatives of the firm to enter the Indian market. The study would also contain a product mix that would be used by the firm in the Indian consumer market. Finally a feedback and control mechanism would also be framed that would help the firm to evaluate its strategies and generate sustainable competitive advantage in the Indian market. Introduction Globalisation has changed the dynamics of business environment as firms have expanded beyond geographical and political boundaries to reach out to new markets. The present study would focus upon the international expansion of Avea into the Indian consumer market. ... These figures also generate significance for firms like Avea as the cosmetic industry alone is being valued at 274 million US dollars. The personal cosmetic products hold the biggest potential for the entire industry with personal wash based items being valued at 989 million dollars (IBEF, n.d., p.90, 92). Target Country Profile/PEST The external environment of an organization is largely based upon the aspects of political, economic, sociological and technological factors (Wakley & Chambers, 2005, p.38). Political India is the world’s largest democracy and has been a role model for a democratic state. The nation has a stable government that is headed by the president who acts on the advice of the Prime Minister and his council of ministers that are elected democratically. This makes it one of the most attractive destinations for investment for business organizations (CIA, 2011). Economic India is one of the fastest growing economies of the world registering favourable GDP grow th rates. The growth of economy also implies higher disposable income of the residents of the nation (CIA, 2011). This holds good opportunities for business organizations like Avea to expand its operations into the Indian consumer market. Sociological India is the second most populous nation of the world having a population of approximately 1,189,172,906 individuals as of 2010. A majority of this population falls within the age group of 15-64 years which is the target market for the company. The median age of the population is pegged at 25.6 years that again represents good opportunities for cosmetic marketing firms like Avea (CIA, 2011). Technological Technological aspects also hold widespread implications on the business prospects of an

Feasibility I Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Feasibility I - Assignment Example Venture concept refers to a start-up entity built with the intention of benefiting financially. A business endeavor may also be deemed a small business. Numerous ventures will be advanced by one or more groups or individuals with the anticipation of the business raising a financial benefit for all sponsors. Most business ideas are generated on an insufficient supply in the market or the market demand. If the new venture is accepted by entrepreneurs or investors the growth of the new proposal will start and all supporting players will help expand and market the new venture to gain financially. The Food retail industry, for instance, particularly bake products has continued to develop into consumer demand. Rolls, fresh bread, cakes, and pastries are products customers seek on a daily basis. The new venture notion of Innovative bakery services and goods consumer is what Sweet Berry Company seeks about to establish. Introducing New Business Proposal –Sweet Berry Company The company makes customized pastries. What this means is that the clients log onto our website choose the product, for example, a cake then choose the ingredients that they want to be used to make a cake. The advantages of this are numerous as we can specify needs such as health or medical concerns for the clients. For example, clients who are lactose intolerant can place an order where the cake is made without the use of dairy products. This is where a business owner takes into consideration factors such as labor, location, suppliers, transportation amongst other factors (EPA, 2008). Investors are usually able to gauge a good business plan from the information contained in the technical feasibility. It is used to asses costs, long-term planning and troubleshooting. For our particular model of business, we have no competitors for this particular brand locally. The model that we have taken is from companies such as Indulge bakery in Colorado and sweet themes

Principal Strengths And Weaknesses Of Norwegian Integration Politics Essay

Principal Strengths And Weaknesses Of Norwegian Integration Politics Essay The foreign policy of the European Union (EU) compromises two major tools. First, deepening dictates a horizontal (among members) process where member states tie up their relations on stronger grounds. Second, enlargement is associated with a vertical growth (between members of the EU and the candidate countries) that absorbs new members into the Union creating new markets, new employment potential, and a wider geographical status. The basic difference between these two processes is that the latter must also include the satisfaction of an outsider (i.e. the candidate country). As strange as it may sound to a Turkish citizen, some countries are willing to opt out the so-called opportunity of becoming an EU member. Any expression of opposition to the European Union or to the project of European integration, generally labeled Euroscepticism, comes from many different quarters and spans across the political spectrum. One basic idea is that European integration might be accompanied by a certain disintegration of the political system at the national level. In the recent European Parliament elections, many Eurosceptics entered the European Parliament, thus suggesting that Euroscepticism is on the rise across Europe. In surveying the nature of Euroscepticism across European states, Szczerbiak and Taggart (2000) identified Soft and Hard Euroscepticism which implicitly suggest particular features of Eurosceptical attitudes to Europe. For Hard Eurosceptics, the EU may be opposed because it embodies some previously identified  «enemy » (e.g. capitalism for communism, socialism for the right, bureaucracy for populists, supranationalism for nationalists, or neo-liberalism for socialists). For Soft Eurosceptics, the EU is problematic when it development runs counter to interests, policies or issues they support. (Szczerbiak and Taggart 2008) Euroscepticsm in Norway In the Norwegian context, Euroscepticism is usually associated with the question of membership. To the question why the membership issue was and is so hotly debated in Norway there is no single answer, but rather several partial ones. A leading expert in the field of political behavior, Professor Henry Valen, points to the interplay of history, geography and social structure(Miles 1996). Historically, centuries of foreign rule first by the Danes, then by the Swedes and the fact of being a young nation (i.e. Norways comparatively recent independence since 1905) made many Norwegians fierce patriots. To this should be added the large geographical distance to mainland Europe. The country has traditionally pursued a policy of non-involvement in European conflicts. Furthermore, the Norwegian Euroscepticism can be traced to both the economic and cultural territorial cleavages that shape the Norwegian party system, thus cutting across the main left-right dimension in Norway i.e. socio-economic competition between Labour and the Conservatives. (Eliassen and Sitter 2003). The centre-periphery cleavages derived from the national revolution and the rural-urban cleavages that were arose during the industrial revolution are other two explanatory dimensions of Euroscepticsm in Norway (Rokkan and Urwin 1983). Domestic politics reflect economic inequalities and conflicts of interest stemming from the huge geographic extension of the country from south to north and the gap in living conditions between the densely inhabited and industrialized areas of south and the thinly populated rural and coastal districts. Furthermore, throughout the EU debates there were unusual but strong alliances between farmers and fisherman, urban radicals, and partisans of lingui stic, religious and teetotalist counter-cultures. Miles (1996) finds that on most of these dimensions there has been a remarkable stability since the early 1970s. The economic dimension of Norwegian Euroscepticism is illustrated in the sectors that face uncertainty or decreased subsidies if exposed to free trade and competition, primarily agriculture and fisheries, but also to a smaller extent the public sector. Fear that integration might undermine Norways regional policy, which entails both economic transfers and positive discrimination in the forms of tax-breaks and other financial incentives, provides further grounds for economic opposition. In terms of identity or culture, European integration has been perceived as a potential or actual threat to Norways moral-religious heritage (Eliassen and Sitter 2003). Foreign and security policy added as further dimension to the Norwegian Euroscepticism. Until 2000, there was scarce evidence of that Norway was responding to the end of the Cold War and changing military and security realities of the 1990s, and the distance between Norwegian and EU security policy was greater than at the beginning of the decade (Eliassen and Sitter 2003). This is rooted partly in the perception that Norway is a different country, in terms of either geopolitics or its international profile. The EU and the USs changing approaches to security and defense (beyond sole focus on traditional concerns of defense of state bounders), has little effect on the Norwegian foreign and security policy. However, even in narrow terms of security concerns, Norway is finding that its non-NATO neighbours are increasingly addressing regional concerns through the EU institutions. Given its NATO membership and geostrategic position, Norway would be in a prime position to play a strong role in shaping the EUs emerging security and defense policy. Thus, even in the absence of EU membership, Norway joined the Schengen agreement on police cooperation and border control and performs surveillance on the European It has also established close cooperation with the EU on its Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). Historical outline of Norways foreign economic relations since independence Norway is no stranger to complex relations with the outside world (Claes and Fossum 2002). Its foreign policy has historically striven to strike a balance between internationalism and national self-assertion. Although united under a common king as early as 872, it lost its independence in the late Middle Ages, was ruled by Denmark from 1390 to 1814, and then was the possession of the Swedish king until obtaining independence in 1905. In order to find the connection between a nations national identity and her foreign policy, one must first deal with whether Norwegian identity formation has yet ended up with a solid national identity. Anthony Smith (1993) outlines fundamental features of a national identity as such: a historic territory (homeland); common myths and historical memories; a common mass public culture including dialect languages and shared customs/traditions; common legal rights and duties for all members; and a common economy with territorial mobility for members. Internalizing Smiths features of national identity as well as making, Norwegian society has come up with an accomplished national identity without question. The main priority in Norwegian foreign and security policy after the Second World War was always the Atlantic relationship, built around NATO membership and a strong reliance on the United Kingdom and the United States. In 1960 Norway joined the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) which included the United Kingdon, Finland, Sweden, Austria, and Liechtenstein. However, Norways applications to join the European Community in 1962 and 1967 and vetoed by France indicated that there was potential for conflict in the Norwegian political system concerning stronger orientation towards the European Community. The opposition was not limited to the internal dimensions. Externally, membership meant a potential break with the traditional non-supranational Nordic and EFTA approaches. As a consequence, it was felt by many Norwegians that Nordic cooperation might be jeopardized by opting for EC membership. The 1972 Trauma In the 1972 referendum on EC membership, a majority of 53 percent of the population voted against. Community to ensure duty-free trade for manufactured goods, the European question receded from its political agenda. The negative referendum outcome caused something like a political earthquake in Norway. It marked a broad popular protest against the exclusive competence of the government to handle questions of foreign policy and international economics generally and against EC membership specifically. The No in a way became part of the Constitution, standing above the government, the Storting (parliament) and the political parties. Despite the rejection in 1972, and the following silent treatment of the membership issue, the prospect of the Single European Market triggered negotiations to link the EFTA states with the EC through the creation of the European Economic Area agreement (EEA). As an intergovernmental agreement between the EU and the three remaining EFTA partners (Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway), the EEA became the backbone of Norway s economic relationship with the EU. The vote against membership of the European Community in the 1972 set the scene for an approach to European integration based on an ever closer cooperation short of actual membership. Despite the rejection of membership, Norway was required to respond to and accommodate European integration. What started as bilateral relationships between each EFTA member and the EU evolved into coordinated multilateral interaction in the early 1980s. [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] (Eliassen and Sitter 2003) The 1994 No referendum to EU membership In the wake of the 1994 referendum , in Norway, enormous offshore oil and gas resources had been developed, increasing the level of Norwegian exports and adding one more sensitive sector to the Norwegian negotiation agenda with the EU. In the EU, a more ambitious direction was employed both to harmonize economic regulations of the members in order to create a common market and economic union, and also to create a political union with common foreign policy. The impact of these changes together with political considerations, including loss of sovereignty in critical decision-making areas, made the distance between Norway and the Union extended. The No slogan EU campaigns 1994 slogan centered on three words environment, solidarity and national rule all of which were threatened by the Union. Norwegian Method of European Integration The combination in increasingly close cooperation in a growing range of policy sectors while excluding the possibility of full membership has come to represent a join-as-much-as-we-can-get-away-with approach to European integration on the governments part has been called the Norwegian method of European integration (Eliassen and Sitter 2001). The results in both 1972 and 1994 referendums were marginal No majorities, and this has been combined with a permanent pro-integration majority in Parliament, hence the basis for the Norwegian method of European integration. Strenghts of the Norwegian method in European integration The European Economic Area (EEA) has been, is and will be the cornerstone of Norwegian involvement in European integration. The deal entails comprehensive membership in the EUs Single European Market, and most Norwegian parties consider a well-functioning EEA an essential prerequisite for Norway not applying for full membership of the EU. Enlargement of the Single European Market was, of course, both for the EU and the EFTA countries, the key motive behind the EEA agreement (leaving aside the broader political goals of extending European integration), and this is perhaps the aspect of the EU Norway relationship that has worked best. Nevertheless, under the EEA arrangement Norway has seen much better economic development over the last decade than the EU average. The Norwegian North Sea oil wealth is almost a blessing for the Norwegian economy, but not the only, explanation for this. In most sectors, the differences between the EEA and EU arrangements for trade in the Single Market are minor. In several respects, Norway has even outperformed the EU. Interest rates have fluctuated, but with some lag they have followed the Euro-zone. The government debt was eliminated, the foreign trade surplus grew, non-petroleum industrial investment increased and business did not emigrate to the Euro-zone. To be sure, the economic slowdown in the opening years of this century also hit Norway, but less severely than most of the EU member states. Unemployment in Norway stand (relatively stable) at the end of 2009 at around 3 percent, about half the EU average. This can be put down largely to the relatively tight fiscal policy pursu ed in Norway, even in the face of the temptation to use more oil money. In fact, a large degree of convergence between Norway and the Euro-zone in terms of monetary policy has taken place despite the lack of a formal relationship. Norways has secured ad-hoc participation in several EU policy initiatives beyond those covered by the EEA The most spectacular of these, are the Schengen arrangement on passport free travel and associated policies and Norways close cooperation with the EU on its Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). Perhaps most significantly, the EU-Norway relationship is dynamic. Although this means that the EEA treaty is upgraded when the EU enlarges, most of the responsibility is on the three EFTA members unilaterally to adapt to developments in the EU. This means both EU Treaty change and substantial developments in EU policy. Weaknesses of the Norwegian method in European integration The Norwegian quasi-membership in the EU (Eliassen and Sitter 2004) entails ever-closer cooperation, and the advantages of the supposed discretion that such arrangements entail shrinks with the deepening and widening of the EU. The first challenge is associated with the deepening of the EU. Although the EU as a whole is generally pleased with Norways performance, it shows little interest in developing this system much further to accommodate deepening of European integration. The EEA and Schengen systems are static compared to the very dynamic developments within the EU. Both arrangements are becoming ever smaller parts of the whole, and this is particularly evident when the EU moves into new areas such as counter-terrorism. In other rapidly developing areas such as foreign, security and defense policy, the overall Norwegian strategy is not always clearly developed, and the EU side justifiable questions whether Oslo is prepared to accept the full implications of ad hoc participation in any given initiative. The price for access the Single Market is accepting EU market regulation and competition policy. In terms of the free movement of goods, services, capital and labour, there is little difference between the EEA agreements and full EU membership, and the EEA competition policy has brought a degree of supranationalism to an otherwise intergovernmental agreement. Although Norway has adopted less to EUs competition policy than most member states, it has partially adopted the EUs prohibition approach and remains under pressure to follow EU states in adapting to the EU system (Eliassen and Sitter 2003). The EUs eastern enlargement, or widening, makes up the second element of the challenge of the future and the dilemma of quasi-membership. The tenfold increase in the fee for Norways access to the EU Single Market agreed as part of the EEA enlargement deal not only illustrates the shifting balance between the costs and benefits of quasi-membership (and some EU states perception of Norway as a rich relative who is unwilling to contribute to the common good), but also the potential consequences of the growing asymmetry between the EU and EFTA partners in the EEA. Conclusion Are Norwegians as Eurosceptic as we often think? The question of how and to what extent Norway should participate in European integration has been the most important issue in national politics since the Second World War. The current Norwegian method of European integration lies between the alternatives of full membership and withdrawal from the EEA. At the same time, Norways non-membership of the EU understood as economically sensible for a country rich on natural resources is seen by most of the EU members as an indicator of self-reliance and national independence which suggests cultural introversion and a lack of need to actively trade and communicate in cultural, scientific and commercial matters with the rest of Europe. Despite this quite false picture that is developing, are Norwegians as Eurosceptic as we often think? In light of this, I have identified four arguments against the standard story of Norwegian Euroscepticism: High degree of integration with European markets when looking at the share of import and export from/to EU of total (2000-2009); High degree of compliance with EU Norms, revealed through the percentage of EU directives not transported (EU and EEA scoreboards) between 1997-2009; Considerable pragmatism by Norwegian political parties (i.e. there is a difference between talking and acting). All parties have governed on the EEA and if it was not supported, at least it was accepted as a compromise; Norwegian citizens have average attitudes towards European unification (European Social Survey 2008). Thus, a general lesson for the study of Euroscepticism is that it fails to grasp the distinction between opposition to European integration and opposition to EU membership. It tends to overemphasize the significance of formal membership and ignore many different Norwegian ties to the EU. Membership is not so much a question about the EU, but primarily about domestic issues in Norway, as in most of the member states.

The Search for Terra Australis Incognita :: essays research papers

During the Sixteenth and Seventeenth century, the Spanish, Portuguese, and Dutch sailors explored a large part of the world. They discovered a lot of land in the South East Asia but wanted to travel further south. The explorers were interested in Terra Austrails Incognita (meaning unknown south land), to expand on their trade and colonies as they were seeking more power. The trade from south East Asia, at the time, was very lucrative, so exploring the unknown southern land below it, was a good opportunity to look for more. Two, very famous explorers were William Jansz and Able Tasman. William Janzs made the trip to Australia on a ship called the Duyfken. His reason to explore it was because it was thought to be rich in gold. Able Tasman wanted to discover the unknown southern land and was given two ships to complete the trip to Australia, the Heemskerk and the Zeehaen. In 1606, William Jansz sailed to New Guinea on the Duyfken to try to discover new land. This voyage eventually lead him to Terra Austrais Incognita, where he was to unfortunately meet the aboriginals, who were unfamiliar and unsure about foreigners and didn?t welcome him very nicely. Jansz thought of them as ?wild, cruel, black savages? In 1642, Able Tasman, made the voyage towards the southern land in the Heemskerk and the Zeehaen. He discovered and explored an island, and thought it was inhabitant by giants, because of cuts in the trees about a giant?s height. He named the island van demon?s land. He then traveled to New Guinea in 1644 to see if Terra Austrails Incognita was connected to the computer. Australia wasn?

Review Questions

In your own words explain what is meant by: vision, mission and goals. Vision – it is an aspirational view of what the company will be like in the future. It is a detailed description of how things will be when the organization eventually reaches its destination. Mission † A mission statement answers the question â€Å"Why do we exist? † and expresses the company's purpose both for those in the organization and for the public. It identifies the organizations reason for being and may define the rganizations primary customers, the products and services that they produce.Purpose is to communicate what the company stands for and where it is heading. Goals – Is basically what the organization alms to achieve In future, perhaps to increase revenue, profit, reputation and loyalty to the public. 2) Discuss their role on strategy formulation. The vision, mission and goals play a great part when organizations formulate their strategy for the long term direction as it will help to identify the implementation steps, the planning, coordination, collaboration, communication and control that the ompany will need to do In order to achieve the maln goal of their organization. ) In your opinion, what should be the starting point for strategy formulation be? The competitive advantage from the resource and capabilities of the organization will be the starting point of strategy formulation. Organizations identify how they differ from their competitors and design such strategies to exploit such differences, as strategy is about being different and this will help In formulating long term direction, scope of the organization and alrnlng to achieve advantage In a changing environment.International strategy 1) What Is the difference between global and multl-domestlc strategy? Global Strategy – assumes a single market and offers a standard product to meet customer needs wherever they are located. This is a cost leadership strategy, exploiting economies o f scale and other cost efficiencies. Multi-domestic strategy – assumes variance in customers needs according to their location and therefore issues a differentiation strategy, adapting products and services to make unique local requirements. ) Identify five examples of each. Multi-domestic Strategy 1) Red bull and Packaging 2) Nokia 2) 3) Reebok 3) 4) Ford Motor 4) 5) McDonalds 5) Value chain and value system 1) Explain how the concept/framework of the value chain and value system may help in the strategy formulation process. The value chain will help identify competitive advantage. Focusing on the way the organization may use its resources may allow the organization to identify how it can be different and unique or where it can be more efficient. ) With reference to the value chain; identify alternative strategies available to the nternational organization Since an international organization will typically comprise of more than one business, the organization should be decomp osed into strategic business units with different strategies considered for each. An organization can develop cost leadership, product differentiation, and business innovation strategies to confront its competitive forces. Cost leadership requires the organization to find and exploit sources of cost advantages, efficient manufacturing processes and tight cost controls.Product differentiation is based on understanding the customers and heir needs in order to provide something unique and valuable to them. Generic Strategy 1) Describe each of the generic strategies Segmentation strategy Cost leadership – This strategy involves the firm winning market share by appealing to cost-conscious or price-sensitive customers. This is achieved by having the lowest prices in the target market segment, or at least the lowest price to value ratio (price compared to what customers receive).To succeed at offering the lowest price while still achieving profitability and a high return on investme nt, the firm must be able to Differentiation strategy – A differentiation strategy is appropriate where the target customer segment is not price-sensitive, the market is competitive or saturated, customers have very specific needs which are possibly under-served, and the firm has unique resources and capabilities which enable it to satisfy these needs in ways that are difficult to copy. 2) Identify and describe the strategies that may deliver a competitive advantage.Since an international organization will typically comprise of more than one business, he organization should be decomposed into strategic business units with different strategies considered for each. An organization can develop cost leadership, product differentiation, and business innovation strategies to confront its competitive forces. Cost leadership requires the organization to find and exploit sources of cost advantages, efficient manufacturing processes and tight cost controls. Product differentiation is b ased on understanding the customers and their needs in order to provide something unique and valuable to them.Strategy formulation 1) Identify and describe the different ways strategy may be formed within organizations In general terms, strategy formation in most organizations can be thought of as resolving around the interplay for three basic forces: An environment that changes continuously but regularly; An organizational operating system A leadership whose role is to mediate between these two forces, to maintain the stability of the organizations operating system while at the same time ensuring its adaptation to environmental change. Describe the key stages in a typical planning approach to strategy formulation 3) Critically evaluate, compare and contrast the planning and adaptive modes of strategy formulation Competitive advantange 1) In your own words, explain what is meany by resource, routine, capability and competence. Review Questions 1. Explain the significance of components (encapsulation) in the context of object-oriented development. 2. Explain how does OO based development helps reuse? 3. How does the concept of inheritance relate to OO-based development? 4. How does the concept of composition/ aggregation relate to OO-based development? 5. Identify the four components of a use case and how they affect each other. 6. Provide an example for actor generalization. What is the significance of generalizing or specializing actors? 7. Provide an example for use case generalization. What is its significance? 8.What are the differences between â€Å"extend† and â€Å"include† use cases? 9. How do you define structural modeling in an object-oriented approach? 10. How would you distinguish objects from classes? Can you provide an example? 11. Where do classes originate from? 12. To build an information system, which one do you need to identify first, classes or objects? Explain. 13. Structural modeling rep resents classes or objects? 14. How does encapsulation protect business rules from unauthorized access and manipulation? 15. How does an object’s interface relate to services that the object provides? 6. Comment on the statement: â€Å"Classes provide the containers and objects provide the contents. † 17. Why should operations be described by verbs? 18. What is â€Å"protected† visibility? Give an example. 19. What is the difference between aggregation and composition? Give an example for each. 20. Describe the relationship between dynamic modeling, behavioral modeling and structural modeling. 21. Comment on this statement: â€Å"Dynamic modeling is about interaction. † 22. How sequence diagram differs from use-case modeling? 23. Explain how objects interact by exchanging messages. 4. Explain the role of parameters and return values in exchanging messages. 25. What are the building blocks of a sequence diagram? 26. Explain the lifetime of an object. Provi de an example. 27. How actors and objects fit in a sequence diagram? 28. Why dynamic modeling is based on objects, but not classes? 29. Explain the following pairs in relation to each other: a. Method & Operation b. Event & State. c. Interaction & Message. 30. What are the components of statechart modeling? 31. What is the significance of statechart modeling? Review Questions 1. Explain the significance of components (encapsulation) in the context of object-oriented development. 2. Explain how does OO based development helps reuse? 3. How does the concept of inheritance relate to OO-based development? 4. How does the concept of composition/ aggregation relate to OO-based development? 5. Identify the four components of a use case and how they affect each other. 6. Provide an example for actor generalization. What is the significance of generalizing or specializing actors? 7. Provide an example for use case generalization. What is its significance? 8.What are the differences between â€Å"extend† and â€Å"include† use cases? 9. How do you define structural modeling in an object-oriented approach? 10. How would you distinguish objects from classes? Can you provide an example? 11. Where do classes originate from? 12. To build an information system, which one do you need to identify first, classes or objects? Explain. 13. Structural modeling rep resents classes or objects? 14. How does encapsulation protect business rules from unauthorized access and manipulation? 15. How does an object’s interface relate to services that the object provides? 6. Comment on the statement: â€Å"Classes provide the containers and objects provide the contents. † 17. Why should operations be described by verbs? 18. What is â€Å"protected† visibility? Give an example. 19. What is the difference between aggregation and composition? Give an example for each. 20. Describe the relationship between dynamic modeling, behavioral modeling and structural modeling. 21. Comment on this statement: â€Å"Dynamic modeling is about interaction. † 22. How sequence diagram differs from use-case modeling? 23. Explain how objects interact by exchanging messages. 4. Explain the role of parameters and return values in exchanging messages. 25. What are the building blocks of a sequence diagram? 26. Explain the lifetime of an object. Provi de an example. 27. How actors and objects fit in a sequence diagram? 28. Why dynamic modeling is based on objects, but not classes? 29. Explain the following pairs in relation to each other: a. Method & Operation b. Event & State. c. Interaction & Message. 30. What are the components of statechart modeling? 31. What is the significance of statechart modeling?

Google †PESTEL & Porter’s Five Forces Analysis Essay

1.0 Introduction Google Inc, a global technology company, founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, is the most popular search engine in the world. Google provides numerous free services and products such as Google search, YouTube, Google Maps, and has transformed how people use and share information. Google’s business spans from advertising, data analytics, operating systems to technologically advanced devices such as Google Glass, Driverless cars, Solar-powered drones, and was recently named â€Å"The World’s Most Valuable Brand† due to consumers perception of Google being a forward-looking company focused on innovation (Bloomberg, 2014). As of 2013, Google has 43,862 employees working in more than 70 offices in over 40 countries around the world with their headquarters located in Mountain View, California, USA. (2014). For the purpose of this study, I will be basing my analysis of Google in Singapore, its Southeast Asia headquarters which opened in 2007. The following sections will analyse the various factors that will influence Google’s operations in Singapore, and conclude with recommendations of how Google should further improve to boost its competitive edge. 2.0 PESTEL Analysis 2.1 Political Though little political restrictions affect Google’s operations due to the nature of its business, government stability is a major aspect in Google’s strategic planning. Singapore had been rated Asia’s most politically stable country (Berdzenadze, 2013), and Asia’s most competitive economy in the Global Competitiveness Report by the World Economic Forum (2013). When the market of operations has political and economic stability,  businesses will thrive and in turn advertise more, thus increasing business opportunities for Google. 2.2 Economic Google was hailed as being â€Å"Recession-Proof† when they continued to post solid earnings through the economic downturn (Quittner, 2008). It is well positioned to weather the downturn, as its services are free to consumers, and advertisers substituted traditional media advertising with online advertising to cut costs. Regardless, Singapore is widely acknowledged as having one of the best business environments in the world. Ranked as the world’s easiest place to do business (The World Bank Group, 2014) and city with the best investment potential (as cited by Economic Development Board, 2014), Singapore with its sound monetary and fiscal policy attracts many investors. The more investment dollars pour into a business, the more they are willing to spend on advertisements, which increases business opportunities for Google. 2.3 Social In Singapore where there is high internet penetration rate of 87% and mobile penetration rate of 156% (IDA, 2014), consumers comfortable with technology often see the internet as the first source of product research before making their final purchase, making Google a very important part of the process. To increase the number of users accessing Google’s services from their mobile device, Google released its own Android mobile operating system which now holds 55.8% of the mobile device market share (comScore, 2014). It is thus increasingly important for marketers to influence consumer’s final purchasing decisions by advertising in this space. However, Google’s infrastructure created to customise and personalise each user’s search experience by storing their personal information has been  received with mixed reactions as some find Google’s sale of such information a violation of their privacy. As people’s attitude and concern towards protecting their private data change, Google’s business may face a threat. 2.4 Technological Beyond a search engine, Google constantly innovates and develop its wide range of free products aimed at strengthening user engagement. Technology rapidly advances, and Google actively takes measures to ensure they do not fall behind. According to Bloomberg data, Google has acquired 127 companies in the past three years (as cited by Farzad, 2014). Besides buying companies, such as Waze, a GPS navigation software, and Admeld, an advertising optimisation platform, in a smart defensive play to acquire companies that poses a threat to its business, Google has been acquiring a wide range of technological companies from Humanoid robots to Airborne wind turbines to Home automation devices. In a bid to strengthen its business, Google is increasingly moving into developing hardware technology that has a tangible presence in consumer’s homes and offices. 2.5 Environmental It is estimated that Google runs over a million servers in data centres worldwide, with its first Southeast Asia data centre in Singapore operating since 2013, and consumes a huge amount of electricity. Every time someone makes a search or sends an email, they contributes to the electricity bill at Google’s data centre (Tan, 2014). However, Google argues that they have made the world a greener place considering the electricity consumption for a search in lieu of a drive down to the library. Above all, unlike other companies, Google builds most of their own data centres down to the energy-saving chips it uses, and custom-designs its servers for efficient energy use (Glanz, 2011). Its  facility in Singapore uses recycled water for its cooling system. Although Google is a high carbon footprint business, it has adopted a proactive strategy to hold itself up as a 3ly responsible company by making its facilities environmentally-friendly through generating its own renewable energy from solar panels, wind farms and purchasing carbon offsets by funding green efforts. 2.6 Legal From the perspective of law and regulation, the internet is inherently transgressive and difficult to govern since it is global, and information can be instantly transferred at anytime, anywhere. Google’s products collects a lot of personally identifiable information on its users – DoubleClick cookies tracking online footprints, Google wallet storing name, credit card details, and thus how this information is compiled, used or stored are a natural concern. Google’s data centre in Singapore serves users around the region, and Singapore’s business-friendly approach with the privacy law on international transfers of data that does not restricts transfers to specific countries on their approved list, but instead puts the onus on the company to put in place measures to ensure personal data is transferred to locations with comparable standard of protection, makes compliance issues less complicated than that of Europe’s (Bratby, 2013). In general, Singapore is a relatively late adopter of privacy laws (The Register, 2014), and is largely reactive rather than transformative. As such, legal issues that may arise in Singapore are likely to be those that Google already has measures or policies in place. 3.0 Porter’s Five Forces Analysis 3.1 Threat of New Entrants Although the internet has traditionally been viewed as a â€Å"low barrier to entry† marketplace, the barriers to entry in the internet search market are high, as it would take a giant step in innovation, and a mammoth starting capital to build a network infrastructure that could compete with all of Google’s services and products. The scale of Google’s businesses has become a significant barrier to entry. Nevertheless, companies focusing solely on developing a single product or service that Google offers could potentially usurp Google’s dominance in that area, as seen with the Rubicon Project, an advertising start-up which surpassed Google’s Ad Network reach by over 6 million unique visitors (Thomas, 2012). 3.2 Threat of Substitution Some of Google’s products and services could potentially be substituted, such as users choosing GPS instead of Google Maps, but Google’s primary business is their online search engine, which is difficult to substitute. Everyday, an average of 5.9 billion Google searches are made (Statistic Brain, 2014). Although there are alternative sources of information such as newspapers, books, television, or radio, the internet is the preferred source for people to retrieve information as it provides information on demand. As of now, the threat of substitution is low as there are no foreseeable substitutions for online search. 3.3 Supplier Power Google owns its search platform and advertising services tool, thus it has very limited exposure to suppliers. Due to the advertising system used to generate revenue, both the advertiser and search engine user are Google’s customers. However, websites that have given inventory to Google for sale can be considered their supplier. As websites frequently have their inventory  listed across multiple ad exchanges, Google will have to return both quantity of sales and quality of pricing of their buys to maintain the impressions given to them for sale by web publishers. So long as Google maintains strong market dominance, supplier bargaining will remain low. 3.4 Buyer Power Although internet users are free to switch to alternative platforms, most of Google’s products and services that they use are at no cost to them. Whereas in the case where the buyer is the advertiser, buyer power is low as there are limited vendors they could spend with. A key feature of Google’s ad buying platform, DoubleClick, is that advertisers can buy ads on 300 different websites with a few clicks instead of making 300 calls or meetings to get the ads on all the websites. The scale of modern online media buying is staggering as Google provides access to millions of possible sites for advertising. Although Google’s products are not unique, they are at scale, and can make competition difficult for start-up and smaller competitors. 3.5 Industry Rivalry Google is known for being the best search engine with high relevance within its searches, thus its position as the market leader in the search market with about 80% market share (Nguyen,2012). Though competitors have caught up, and substitution of Google search in favour of Yahoo or Microsoft’s Bing is certainly possible, ‘Googling’ has now been ingrained in people’s mind, and is largely a habit instead of being driven by significant product differentiation. When Google introduced the Android operating system, they have placed themselves in direct competition with Apple. Though Android phones currently has larger market share than iOS phones, Apple will not easily give in in the battle of mobile operating systems. Google’s strategy is all about scale and interoperability. With advertising making up over 90% of its total revenue (Google Inc, 2014), it is critical for Google to protect its space, thus its entrance into the browser and mobile operating system market. When one owns the platform, one has the stage. Google tries to own as much of the overall ecosystem as they can so as to lock in its users and keep out competitors. In doing so, it does not need considerable advertising expense to stay and remain on top. 4.0 Conclusion & Recommendations In terms of PESTEL analysis, I recommend that Google venture into new markets around the region. Singapore is a mature market, thus opportunities to grow further are rather limited due to its market saturation and small population. In essence, it is difficult to justify large advertising spend when it can never attract large reciprocal sales as it simply does not have the population to support it. However, expansion into emerging markets in Southeast Asia such as Indonesia or Philippines will help its revenue growth. To illustrate, Indonesia has internet penetration at 24% (Statista, 2014), which translate to 60 million users. That is 12 times Singapore’s population. The propensity of growth there is phenomenon. In terms of Porter’s Five Forces analysis, I recommend that Google diversify into other ventures that helps generates income as it is not healthy for the company to rely almost entirely on one source of revenue. With its wide range of free products and services, Google could select a few of its products to further develop as alternative revenue sources such as its VOIP business, or licensing fees for its products. Google will also need to ensure that it maintains its momentum in the research and development of its search engine to ensure that it is ahead of its competitor. With Microsoft and Yahoo search’s merger, the convergence of technologies will improve their search engines, and possibly catapult Yahoo’s more successful products such as Yahoo Finance and Flickr. As long as Google’s continue to innovate and stay ahead of its game, they will remain the market leader in the industry. 5.0 References Bloomberg. (2014, May 21). Google Overtakes Apple as Most Valuable Brand [Video file]. Retrieved 13 June 2014, from http://www.bloomberg.com/video/google-overtakes-apple-as-most-valuable-brand-PgHrIgIsQMuzLZA4CxRJSg.html Bratby, R. (2013) Singapore takes business-friendly approach in data protection guidelines. Retrieved June 24, 2014, from http://www.zdnet.com/sg/singapore-takes-business-friendly-approach-in-data-protection-guidelines-7000021091/ comScore. (2014). comScore Device Essentials – Singapore & Hong Kong 2013. Retrieved June 13, 2014, from https://www.comscore.com/content/download/23711/1282705/version/1/file/ singapore-vs-hongkong-mobile-usage.pdf Berdzenadze, I. (2013) Singapore: Asia’s Leading Business Hub. CNN. Retrieved June 24, 2014, from http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-953461 Economic Development Board. (2014). About Singapore – Facts and Rankings. Retrieved June 13, 2014, from http://www.edb.gov.sg/content/edb/en/why-singapore/about-singapore/facts-and-rankings/rankings.html Farzad, R. (2014). Google at $400 Billion: A New No. 2 in Market Cap. Business Week. Retrieved June 22, 2014, from http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-02-12/google-at-400-billion-a-new-no-dot-2-in-market-cap Glanz, J. (2011, Sep 9). Google Details, and Defends, Its Use of Electricity. The New York Times, pp. B1. Retrieved June 23, 2014, from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/09/technology/google-details-and-defends-its-use-of-electricity.html Google Inc. (2014) Google Annual Report 2013. (pp. 26). Retrieved June 13, 2014, from http://investor.google.com/proxy.html Google Inc. (2014) Company – Google locations. Retrieved June 22, 2014, from http://www.google.com/about/company/facts/locations/ Google Inc. (2014) Investor Relations – 2014 Financial Tables. Retrieved June 22, 2014, from https://investor.google.com/financial/tables.html Info-communications Development Authority of Singapore. (2012). Google breaks ground for Singapore data centre. Retrieved June 13, 2014, from http://www.ida.gov.sg/blog/insg/in-the-news/google-breaks-ground-for-singapore-data-centre/ Info-communications Development Authority of Singapore. (2014). Infocomm Landscape – Facts and Figures. Retrieved June 22, 2014, from http://www.ida.gov.sg/Infocomm-Landscape/Facts-and-Figures Quittner. J. (2008, 16 Oct). Behold! The Recession-Proof Google!. Time. Retrieved June 22, 2014, from http://content.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1851286,00.html Statisticbrain. (2014). Google Annual Search Statistics | Statistic Brain. Retrieved June 16, 2014, from http://www.statisticbrain.com/google-searches/ Tan, H. (2011, 21 Dec). Rainfall to cool Google’s data centre here. The Straits Times, pp. 21. Retrieved June 23, 2014 from http://newslink.asiaone.com/user/OrderArticleRequest.action? documentId=nica_ST_2011_22596292&year=2011&month=12&date=21 The Register. (2014). Singapore lures big biz with mega data protection regime. Retrieved 24 June 2014, from