Strategic Planning Human Resource Management Commerce Essay

Strategic Planning Human Resource Management Commerce Essay Strategic human resource is a strategy or plan that carried out by organization to guides an organization in accomplishes its vision and mission. Through a strategic plan, the organizations can develop an effective human resource plans that will enable the organizations to make a management decisions especially something that will give a benefit to their employee and organization in the present and to support and guide the direction or flow of the organization. Human resource strategies are designed to ensure that organizations have the staff they need to meet customer demand. Lately, whether we realize it or not, the strategic human resource planning has been used widely in organizations. A discussions highlight several key term of strategic human resource that can affect the business in organization. There are characteristic of strategic human resource, planning process and the way of the organization implement their strategies. Usually, based on the strategic plan, it will guide the organization to be more competitive. Through this journal, it is explore about the strategic human resource management that has been practiced in organization for a small business. Other than that, it is also has been practices in staff training and development to ensure that the staff achieve their standard and perform better. INTRODUCTION Human resources is a set of individuals who form a organization workforce, business or an economic sector. Other terms sometimes used to replace the term human resources as workforce, talent, labor or simply people. Human resource management is reflected in the professional disciplines and business functions of overseeing human resources of an organization. Different with human resource management, strategic human resource management pay attention to human resource activities with the long-term objectives. Strategic human resource management also focuses on issues of internal human resources. In addition, the strategic focus of human resource management is to manage and resolve the problems that effects people management programs in the long-term and often globally. Therefore, the ultimate goal of strategic human resources to improve productivity of workers by giving attention to the business barriers that occurs outside of human resources. This journal focuses on Strategic Human Resources Planning. Human Resource Planning as a process of systematic review to determine human resources requirements to Make sure That the number of employees in line with the required skills. Human resource planning is a step in identifying human resource needs of the present and future of an organization to achieve the goal. HR Strategy will need to demonstrate that careful planning of people issues will make it significantly easier for organizations to achieve greater strategic and operational goals. Better strategic planning is needed to ensure that the organization obtain competitive opportunities from other organizations in the future. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY The mainly purpose of this study is to examine whether strategic planning human resource management can support the achievement of business goals. This goals and objectives are attainable when the strategy aligned with organizational goals. The next purpose is to develop and expand the workforce in organization and meet future demands. Furthermore, strategic human resource also develops plans for the future and to make sure all employees meet company goals and expectations. Besides that, provide individual member of staff with information relating to staff development and training opportunities, and their task. FINDINGS What is Strategic Human Resource Management According to Huselid and Jackson, strategic human resource management specifically develops, implemented and executed based on a deliberate linkage to a companys strategy. Strategic human resource management also means that employees are strategic resources for example human capital that must be managed and leveraged in executing corporate strategy. The SHRM paradigm were predicated on the belief that specific human resource practices need to promote behaviors designed to deliver firm strategies and were focused on the relationship between employee behavior and company strategy (e.g. Snell 2001; Schuler and Jackson 1989; Fisher 1989). It also focuses on strategic context that influences on individual and later systems of technical human resource management practices. Managers were expected to employ the system of individual practices based on considerations of external threats and opportunities and internal resource capabilities, resources, and competencies their firms strategy, to e licit and reinforce the required behavior. Besides that SHRM is align with traditional human resource management practices such as recruitment, selection, training and development and rewards to a companys strategy. It also means place the policies and procedures that facilitate proficient strategy execution, using teams to leverage cross-functional knowledge and competencies, improve the knowledge management capabilities that facilitate the leveraging of best practices and effective also being efficient to capture the economy of scope opportunities, improve learning organizations that facilitate the constant adoption, utilization, ownership, and internal dissemination of best practices, and executing change management approaches that contribute to building and maintain the strategy supportive of corporate cultures. The researcher also said that the SHRM includes developmental performance feedback, management by objectives techniques, and balance scorecards; competence development maps and frameworks; open book management pra ctices to reduce worker-manager status differential; cross-functional teams and project teams profit sharing, team based compensation, merit pay, and long term incentives; enterprise resource planning human resource management solutions; and enhanced involvement of the human resource function in crafting, implementing, and executing strategy and also structured interviews, bio-data, cognitive ability tests, and assessment center. Next according to assumption by Arthur, fundamental to the strategic HRM perspective is that firm performance is influence by the set of HRM practice firms have in place. The expectation by external stakeholder relevant in shaping technical HRM activities include the government, which regulates a wide range of employment practice, and various professional organization (Baron , Jennings Dobbin, 1998; Tolbert Zucker, 1993). The expectations of these stakeholders tend to be similar for all firms, and they fell some pressure to conform. Key internal stakeholder like line managers and executive prefer high- quality technicalHRM activities (Tsui, 1987).The stakeholders are not yet likely to hold strength expectation or put pressure on organization to adopt these practice becausethe HRM activities are relatively recent innovations (cf.John, 1993; Wright McMahan, 1992). Characters of strategic human resource management Emphasize the ability of value creation The important path that organization must consider is a strategy that will be used based on their strategic resources. The organization must allocate their resources with effectively and then can decide the main objective. For organizations, the purpose to determine a strategic key of human resource is to identify employees that have a high achievement and have talents to compete with others. Think highly about the value chain management The key term of value chain management describe about strategic integration of the human resource with each function. The strategic human resource management will consider each function and try to create effective plans that can maximize the policies, procedure and also systems in the organization. Thus, the organization can implement the strategy and to use efficiency at the maximum level. Emphasizes contributions to the organizations strategy The success of the strategic human resource can contribute to the organization growth. The strategy must be aligning with the organizational objectives. First of all, there must be a clear tasks and relevant that affect organizational efficiency. There are also basic functions and skills that will be combining to develop a strategic human resource. Therefore, the organization can perform the task with excellent and thus can accomplish the organizations strategic objectives and at the same time can contribute to the growth of the organization. Should be recognized The approach taken to the management of human resources will be found that there is a mutually critical. For example, when the organization was changed and has redefined the role of the individual, indirectly it will affect to the way in which individual performance is managed, and the way in which the pay structure should be designed to reflect and support new ways of performing work. Specific human resource management initiatives will ensure that the sequence changes occur in the correct order and indirectly recognizes the need to understand where you are now in relation to each different area. (Roy Massey, 1994) (Taking a Strategic Approach to Human Resource Management Roy Massey) Approach to strategic human resource Blending strategies is one of the approaches to achieve an organizational vision, mission and objectives. An appropriate element of human resource strategy is required in order to formulate and implement these strategies. A blended strategic approach combines face to face methods through computer activities between each employee. The trainer and also trainee will interact with each other from time to time to share their information or any ideas about development. By this strategy, they can meet thru their organizations websites and discuss for any progression. The strategic human resource planning process Assess the current human resource capacity The most important steps in organization based on strategic plan are to assess the current capacity of human resource. The employees will be identified their knowledge, skills, behavior and also abilities before perform a tasks. Thus, the management can describe each type of employee based on their capabilities while handle the tasks given. Therefore, the management can evaluate employees performance and from that they can find a right employee that must undergo a training program to enhance their abilities. Forecasting human resource capacity The second step based on the strategic plan is to forecast human resource requirements for the future. The management must forecast the demand and supply for the organizations future. Forecasting can support the organizational goal and give the important information especially human resource capacity to management. Gap analysis The third step is to identify the gap between the organization present and in the future. This gap analysis will identify the number of staff will be employed in the future, the scope of the organization will be carried out, the skill and technology required and so on. It is important because through this strategic plan, management can improved or there are new practices to make the organization move forward, always up dated and achieve their strategic goal. Developing human resource strategies There are several strategies that the organization may take advantage in order to meet their goals in the future. The organization can do a training program to develop their employees. The management also can send their employee to take courses to become expert or certificates them. This training is to upgrade and enhance the employees skills and it will give advantage to the organization. Strategic implementation Future performance capabilities HR must analyze the capabilities inherent in the organization to determine the core competencies that will be needed to implement the strategy in the future. The basis for the strategic contribution of HR is to close any gaps between actual competencies required of the future. Values and culture HR policies should be examined from the perspective of core valuesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹, to ensure that the value are accordance with the new strategy. To maintain stability in the middle of turbulent change, HR must play an important role in communicating the companys core values à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹and operational changes to employees. Learning and system thinking Regeneration strategies must be combined with strategic HR learning program. Teamwork, communication, problem solving, statistical analysis processes, and continuous improvement are just some of the skills that must be learned and adapted to meet the new strategy. Passion to improve HR must help develop a healthy respect for the bridle view, so that they can be heard and discussed, especially when dealing and strengthen with the company weaknesses. HR must replace the hardcore, bureaucratic policy to friendly lines, flexible framework that does not damning line managers. Partnerships and collaboration HR can do a lot of action to help resolve the structural stress and cross-functional teams. HR will be a third-party collaborators allows others to become successful, productive partnerships that need to intensify the companys ability to achieve new strategies. Communication and commitment HR has an actual cheerleading role to play in the follow-up to the strategic planning session. Given the role of HR neutral organization, it can and must be followed up to make sure that the commitment and passion for the new strategy to be experienced. HR can proceed the planning process across the organization so that everyone taking part in the continuous organic strategic planning process. (Ivey business journal strategic HR by Doug Treen) http://wwwold.iveybusinessjournal.com/view_article.asp?intArticle_ID=206 Strategic Implementation practices in Small Business According to ORegan Ghobadian ,the strategic planning is setting of long-term business goals, and the developing and implementing of formal plans to achieve these goals. From a comprehensive reviews of the small business,it suggest thatstrategic planning is generally more common in better performing enterprises (Hormozi, Sutton, McMinn, Lucio, 2002; Lurie, 1987; Miller Cardinal, 1994; Schwenk Shrader, 1993). For example, small businesses that strategically plan ,compared to those that do not strategically plan are more likely to be those that get a higher sales growth, higher returns on assets, higher profit margins and higher employee growth (Berman, Gordon, Sussman, 1997; Bracker, Keats, Pearson, 1988; Carland Carland, 2003; Gibson Casser, 2005). Strategic planning involves the systematic setting of comprehensive business goals. In the present study, business ownership motivations were compared against four planning criteria that is the use of business plans (yes vs. no), the formality of business plans (written vs. unwritten/in my head), the timeframe of business plans (short-term only vs. long-term only vs. both short- and long- term), and the timely review of business plans (at least half yearly/yearly vs. less than once every two years). Usually , small business operators engaged in strategic planning can be expected to: Have a business plan, Have a business plan that was written, Have a business plan that covered both the short- and long- term periods; and, Have a plan that was reviewed regularly. Following Huselid, Jackson, and Schuler (1997), strategic human resource management (SHRM) can refer as a critical element in fostering operational efficiency and firm performance. The reseachers agrees that the characteristics of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) strategic human resource management practices determines how people managed their capabilities and on the effect side, is directly related to its value as a strategic partner. It contend that the factors affecting the quality of a SMEs of SHRM resource management capability include the industry and competitive condition of its partners and direct competition from other SMEs and businesses intention to provide value to a SMEs partners. SHRM and Business Strategy Fit or Integration SHRM existence increasingly enhance the value of to the organization. SHRM strategy refers to moving pattern organization and management techniques or approaches used to achieve organizational objectives and to continue mission of the organization (Inyang, 2004:20). In an attempt to be successful or achieve a competitive advantage, organization must pick and follow a variety of approaches. Academic support as mentioned has consistently stressed the need for HRM to be strategic business partners. This means that the SHRM integrated with business strategy. Integration or fit refer to the SHRM involvement in the formulation and implementation of organizational strategy and SHRM alignment with the strategic needs of the organization (eg Buyens De Vos 1999; Schuler Jackson, 1999). Human resource managers should join together with other senior managers in the organization during strategic decision-making process in order to become a strategic business partner. Membership at this level in the hierarchy of the organization offering the opportunity to SHRM to represent the concerns and influence the strategic direction of the business from the beginning of the decision making process. SHRM and the Resource Based View (RBV) of the Firm A firm that acquire and develop human resources can achieve a competitive advantage (Hamel Prahalad (1989). Resources owned by the firm that helped it reach ongoing competitive advantages must be satisfy four requirements. Resources should be precious, rare, inimitable, and can not be replaced. If the firm uses resources that are not easily substituted or duplicated by other firms, the firm can take this opportunity to get a competitive edge not simultaneously pursued by other firms. Among the most essential factors competitive advantages is the capability of to distinguish what the business provide to the customer than those provided by competitors. Purcell et al (2003) maintain that such discrimination can be achieved by having the HR strategy, policies and practices that ensure that: The firm has high quality employees from competitors. Unique intellectual capital owned by organization are developed and nurtured. Organizational learning is encouraged, and Certain organizational values à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹and culture exist that binding the organization together gives it focus. The RBV of the firm is related to developing strategic capabilities, investing in sufficient organization workforce to increase value to the firm. RBV purpose is to enhance the capacity of resources reach strategic fit among resources and opportunities, and obtain added value from the efficient allocation of resources. Business strategy designed to reach objectives of the organization are not likely to succeed when HRM was not undergo the formulation and implementation of strategies. Organizations should provide a conducive environment for the integration of HRM with business strategy from HR to provide energy to drive the organizations strategy. Wei (2006) stated that HR systems and practices are important in helping to accelerate the achievement of business strategy through people management. Strategic human resource practices in staff training development Firstly, by strategic planning, the organization can achieve their specific strategic business objectives. These planning implement an action with follow the procedure that related to the study and discuss to resolve the difficulties and any matters in the organization. Strategic planning can actively solve the conflicts such as culture conflicts through effective communication with each other members, full participation from the combination of organization and any department and get a high support from the members. Hence, staff training can achieve their training and accomplish business strategy goal for development. Secondly, the strategy oriented training more concern about sharing and initiative, carries out the training transfer, creates conducive working environment that stand for lifelong training and enhances the training productivity. It different from traditional training because this training focuses on long term objective and guide the organization development. In organization, training transfer is about the transformation of the training results. It is a process where the staff training applied the knowledge, skills, and behavior into practical work. Thirdly, implement the strategic training that focuses on core competitiveness of employees and organization. Give expand spaces to staff to develop their competitiveness and through training also they can increase their knowledge, skills and work achievement. Hence, the staffs understand the concept and can effectively adaptation the strategic goal of the organization. Thus, it can be consider that the success of strategic human resource can produce qualified excellent talents in the organization. CONCLUSIONS The success of the strategic human resource can contribute to the organization growth. The strategy must be aligning with the organizational objectives. There must be a clear tasks and relevant that affect organizational efficiency. It is also a basic functions and skills that will be combining to develop a strategic human resource. Therefore, the organization can perform the task with excellent and thus can accomplish the organizations strategic objectives. Then, the strategic planning can refer as a broad managerial process of developing a vision, mission statement, goals and objectives that can be serve as influential guides to employees using the top bottom management approach (Warner, 2000). Next, for small business ownership motivations are diverse and significantly influence how operators manage their businesses. As we can see, the operator is the business and accordingly, research into small business strategic planning needs to focus on the operator and his/her personal motivations and ambitions. The role SMEs can play in fostering the competitiveness of big businesses and the challenges they need to overcome have been well documented. Further insights on the factors that aid or inhibit successful partnering, can only be of strategic importance not only to SMEs but to their big business partners. However, powerful strategic partnership and alliances between small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and big businesses is critical to the ability of big business to build and maintain the sustainable competitive advantage.

Fitness program for Football

Many things affect your performance in games. Training preparation and fitness definitely affect your performance in games this is because when you train you improve everything needed to play football. If you exercise and train on cardiovascular endurance therefore you can last a whole game without tiring which is great because then you can play without the team having the strain of carrying you through the match. So if you train you become fitter if the training involves steady progression, this will enable you to play the game without tiring or straining yourself to hard. The better and more you exercise won't just affect your fitness it affects all three aspects of your health. The three aspects of health are social, mental and physical well-being. If you do exercise the social well-being would improve because you go to classes and meet people and make new friends so exercise = more friends+ and greater social well being. Exercise helps your mental well-being because you deal with stress and new skills and tactics giving you focus and determination. It also helps when the day is bad for oneself you can go out and relieve stress and tension that has built up during the day. Exercise helps physically because overweight people burn body fat and skinny people build muscles and give them a nice shape. It also prevents heart disease and high blood pressure, back pain and some cancers. Swimming and walking help people with asthma and all this gives a higher life expectancy so exercise looks good for everyone but too much can cause illness and make you more susceptible to flu. The reason for training is to improve your ability to take part in physical activity. Training has certain principles that apply no matter no matter what sport you undertake. These are: (S) Specificity (P) Progression (O) Overload (R) Reversibility (T) This is there because it is a simple way of remembering the principles of training Specificity Any type of training must be suitable or specific to the activity that you are training for E.g. A strength building programme will not train your body in order to run a marathon. Aswell as choosing a type of training you may wish to train concentrate on part of the body too E.g. strength building on the legs. SPECIFIC EXERCISES WILL NOT PRODUCE SPECIFIC RESULTS Each activity will have different specific demands. Most physical activities require a combination of exercises and it is important to analyse exactly what is required and those requirements can be met. It will even be necessary to identify relevant muscle groups. Overload This is making the body work harder than normal in order to improve it. Overload can be achieved in the following ways. Frequency of training: To start with you may only train twice a week with a recovery period in between. This could be increased to every other day and then to five times a week to create overload. Intensity: You can increase the intensity by simply working harder at the training method you are using e.g. twenty minute jog at 50 % of max speed increased to twenty minute jog at 60 % of max speed. Time/ Duration: Refers to the length of each training session and this should be made longer to achieve overload. Unfortunately we can't increase the time of each session because we are confined to lesson times. Your body responds to overload by adapting to it. Used sensibly it will lead to an improvement. Progression The training you are doing and particularly the amount of overload must be increased progressively. In other words, as your adapts to the increased demands that you are putting on it, then that demand should be steadily increased. If you sty at the same level so will your fitness, but you must not do too much too soon, this will lead to injury. Reversibility If you either stop or decrease your training you go into reverse and lose the effect. There are three heart rate zones they are normal, which is below 60% of your highest heart rate and there is aerobic respiration, which is above 60% of your max heart rate, and below 85% of max heart rate then there is anaerobic respiration, which is above 85% of max heart rate. When your heart rate is normal this means no benefit from training so this is bad so I have to make myself go above 60% of my max heart rate for someone my age because everyone has a different heart rate. It is believed that your max heart rate is 220- your own age e.g. 220 – 15 = 205 beats a minute which is extremely fast therefore 123 is my aerobic point and 174 is my anaerobic point. A way you can see your anaerobic point is on this graph: To make my fitness programme effective for my current level of fitness I will use many bits of information gathered such as the results from nine fitness tests preformed in class times also I will use whether recent illness has effected my performance of late. The results were in a table like this one: This table shows that I had an average attempt but can improve in allot of areas so I will focus on these areas. The areas that most concerns me is co-ordination and reactions this is because they are needed most of the time playing football e.g. when I need to dribble and look up for options so this is good when a cross can get into the box. Reactions are needed in football when the ball can't be seen when it is crossed then at the last minute you see it and need to control it. So in my programme I will be using this information to get these different fitness components improved. Over the last two weeks I have had lots to eat this being bad food for fitness because it is that time of year so this may effect my ability at the start of the course. I have had no real illness but the slight illness has now gone and I am back to normal and fighting fit. My football skills always need to be improved so I will use practices to improve passing and shooting techniques so these will be included to my fitness programme. Also I will do a little on control because it makes no harm practicing that. You should always do a warm up before each main activity because it is light exercise to get the blood pumping around the body. Also during a warm up your muscles get by the blood flowing around them gets faster and this lowers the risk of injury. The warm up also heats up synovial fluid this makes joints more mobile. When stretching in a warm up this helps muscles, tendons and ligaments from getting strained. When doing simple skills this your muscles but also helps psychologically. So this light exercise helps all three elements of health if doing in a group. In a good warm up before any sport there should be three main phases a gross body movement stage where by you do simple jogging for a long time doing such things as bringing your knees up to your chest, flicking your bottom with your heels then when you feel it is good gradually get faster into sprinting. This is to get the blood pumping around your body this also may improve slightly on cardio vascular endurance. Remember go from slow to a faster speed. My gross body movement arrangement can be shown in this diagram: The second stage of any warm up should be stretching this will help loosen the main joints this also helps to stop muscles, tendons and ligaments straining. The stretching phase should start from your ankles upwards stretching nearly every muscle. To improve flexibility you should stretch from 10-30 seconds and doing it regularly should be 8-10 seconds. The stretches used should be one as these: The next stage in the warm up is the skills stage, which helps the psychological side giving focus and determination. In this stage there should be simple tasks, which involve skills needed in a game e.g. passing against the wall controlling it and passing again and other various simple tasks. After the main activity there should be a cool down this should be included because helps your body recover after vigorous activity. Like the warm up this has phases but only two they are gross body movement and stretching. The gross body movement stage this time is to give oxygen to the muscles meaning lactic acid can be removed thus giving the muscle less stiffness. During the warm up you go from slow to fast this time go from fast to slow. Use many of the techniques shown in section five on the warm up. Finish off the cool down with some stretches this should loosen your muscles and prevent stiffness because usually after exercise muscles are often tight. As before in the warm up go from ankles upwards. Use the stretches shown in the warm up section. To monitor my performance of my activities in the 6 sessions I will use this table: I have used this table because it sets a target for each session and shows how close I was to meeting the target so if my sessions are good I should reach the target easily each time. I will make sure that the area is safe for others and myself. I will pack things away and leave them in safe places and make sure they are out of the way. I will try to set up things in an area that is out of the way of other people so noone is harmed. I will put things away immediately away after use. I will wear suitable clothing that is easy to do all the activities required.

Evaluate the effectiveness of Internet marketing Essay

Given that the UK has fully embraced e-commerce and Internet shoppers now contribute more to the nation’s GDP than other country in the G20, it is perhaps unsurprising that it spawned one of the world’s leading online retailers – ASOS (As Seen On Screen). When launched in 2000, the website was aimed at providing consumers a tool to buy clothes and accessories that had been worn by celebrities, or otherwise items ‘As Seen on Screen’, but has since grown to a global online fashion store that has over 65,000 products that are targeted at the ‘20-somethings market’. ASOS ideal customer is a female, 20 year old, fashion-lover: an avid consumer and communicator who are inspired by celebrities and the media. ASOS aim to gain an increased understanding of their target customer so they can offer them the fashion they want, they do this by building an online relationship. ASOS ideal customer would have online, digital lives to ensure the instant access to information as ASOS is web-accessible on any device they happen to be using – mobile, tablet or laptop/PC. ASOS sells a wide range of brands to target different individuals. ASOS sell their own label and other world-renowned brands, and also give individuals and boutiques the chance to sell, new and pre-worn fashion, through their ASOS Marketplace channel. ASOS now has eight local language websites (UK, US, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Australia, China and Russia) but also provides free shipping to 234 countries in total. Its website attracts 29.5 million unique visitors a month (excluding mobile) and has 14.8 million registered users. With the Group’s chief executive recently claiming that  £1 billion in annual sales are firmly in the company’s sights, ASOS is truly an online giant. How does ASOS use the Internet? ASOS use the Internet in a range of different ways to strive to gain the most from the company. As the company is online only, their main use of the Internet is through their own website. By using their website they can convey the company’s message, to inform existing and potential customers of the features and benefits of the company’s products and/or services. This enables the customers to browse through the products available and purchase them online at their own convenience. As customers of ASOS become part of the company by having their own personal accounts, ASOS can use direct  mailing when promoting new offers, products and services. They can also use direct mail to support customers when tracking orders placed online. ASOS can also use the Internet to promote the company through Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Search Engine Marketing (SEM), which is marketing a website online via search engines, either by improving the site’s ranking through search engine optimization (SEO), buying pay-per-click (PPC) ads or purchasing pay-for-inclusion (PFI) listings in website directories. By doing this, ASOS can use popular search engines such as, Google and Yahoo!, to sponsor any links of theirs, this instantly gives them a competitive advantage over competitors. ASOS can also use the Internet by advertising through banners etc. Social Media is another way ASOS can use the Internet. Social media marketing, this can involve social networks like Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook. ASOS can use these sites to gain customers and also enhance the popularity of the company. The products provided by ASOS target a range of customers with a wide array of high street and designer brands. These are all promoted alongside ASOS own brand to gain an increased recognition from potential customers. What are the benefits? By using the Internet, ASOS have been able to obtain a number of key benefits. The main key benefit for ASOS is the ability the Internet brings to provide a service to a wider target audience. The convenience of the store and the 24/7 access enables ASOS to obtain an increased amount of customers. By being an online store they can also target customers worldwide, which further expands their ever-growing target audience. Another benefit of using the Internet as a business is the ability to use direct marketing, via Email, text etc. ASOS are able to contact customers directly through their account information and they do this to inform them of the latest sales/promotions. This is a huge benefit for ASOS in terms of sustaining customers and it builds a customer/company relationship and increases the loyalty of the customers. What challenges did ASOS overcome? In order to excel to become one of the world’s leading online retailers, ASOS have had to overcome a number of challenges. The most substantial challenge,  which greatly impacted ASOS financially, was in the form of a warehouse fire in 2006. The warehouse fire caused 45% of stock with an overall profit of 3.8million to be lost; this incident saw a great downfall for the company. Unfortunately, the incident fell during December, which resulted in the loss of thousands of Christmas presents that had also been paid for by customers worldwide. Not only was this a financial issue this also hindered ASOS reputation and brand image due to the lack of trust and decreased loyalty from their customers. In the wake of the 9/11 and the collapse of the dot-com boom craze, ASOS shares were falling towards one of the worst market collapses for a generation. An instant decrease in share prices similarly caused a challenge for the business. ASOS also faced challenges with the lack of support from high-end, designer brands. To build the companies reputation, attracting larger fashion labels was crucial. By 2004, ASOS was selling stock from a number of prestigious brands; this greatly increased customers and therefore increased profits and popularity of the site. The brand image including the re-brand of the company from As Seen On Screen to ASOS, which was another vital decision ASOS had to make to suit customers demands and needs. By doing this they tailored their company to fit the desired needs of their customers, which succeeded in building the relationship between the company and the customers. After the incident of the warehouse fire, ASOS faced financial struggle and faced interim payments over 12 months to strive to put the business back on track. They thrived in doing this with a growth of 116% in 12 months – and revenues o f 42.6 million. Today, ASOS still faces challenges with issues such as, technical difficulties and securing payments online. How do they meet the customer needs? As a highly successful company, ASOS meet customer needs in a number of diverse ways. The website itself aims to meet customer needs by targeting their design and layout to appease customers. The website features a navigation bar, drop down menus, a help page and contact details for customers. When featuring a product on the site, ASOS offer customers with a wide range of colour and size options, catering for customers needs. The website also makes this easy for customers to find their desired product with the use of filters when browsing products. The website is also used to  promote sales and special offers for customers all year round. Recently ASOS have expanded their services by providing, ASOS VIP Premier (for just  £9.95 a year). This allows loyal customers to become a VIP member of the site with extra services such as unlimited next-day delivery, free returns and early access to sales. This is highlighted to enhance customers desire to shop with ASOS and also provides increased benefits when becoming a VIP ASOS customer. As well as the ability to become an ASOS VIP Premier customer, customers can join the website (free of charge) with their own personal account. This includes sharing personal details when ordering and tracking products. Due to security, some customers may see this as an off-putting aspect to ordering online. However, ASOS ensure security recognition, in the form of a verified icon, focuses that ASOS is a secure site. By becoming a member, customers are automatically placed on the direct mailing list. This allows ASOS to keep customers up to date with special offers and also help to sustain customers. As well as using their own site, ASOS also uses a variety of social networking sites to help their customers feel more connected to the business. This also enables them to be informed of any updates. ASOS also use popular search engines, such as Google and Yahoo! through sponsored link; this means that when users search ASOS, the page is automatically the first link to appear on screen. By using sponsored link this enables ASOS to gain recognition of customers and also makes it more convenient and easier for customers to find the page. To meet a wider customer audience, ASOS ensure their site is accessible to all, with the option of 8 different language and currency selections to suit a specific customer. This meets customer’s needs as it enhances ASOS target audience therefore generating an increased profit for the company. How don’t they meet the customer needs? Despite having a wide range of benefits that do meet ASOS’ customer needs; there are still a number of factors that hinder success for ASOS. Primarily, with ASOS being an online only business, there is no direct service for customers. Although the website provides an email service there is no direct service available for customers, which means customers can not ring the business or speak to an employee face to face. This may be a huge disadvantage to the ASOS, as they do not provide a particular service that  customers may feel is a must. The website itself, although fresh and tidy with its black and white colour scheme, when browsing the site customers may find the design to be boring and dull in comparison to an exciting and living shopping trip experience. This may hinder customer’s use of the site and result in a loss of customers and profit. As well as the design of the website, images of products featured on ASOS, may also deter customers desire to purchase from the website. Some of the images on the ASOS website are unreliable which makes it hard for customers to gain a realistic vision of what they are potentially purchasing. This could possibly be a disadvantage for ASOS as customers may face disappointment on the arrival of their purchase, as they do not have the ability to view the product in high detail before buying. When browsing ASOS, it can be highlighted that some of the pages show a different layout than others on the website. This could be seen as inconsistency within the website and give customers an unprofessional image of ASOS. Conclusion In conclusion, ASOS is effective in meeting the desired needs of its customers. The figures in 2007 of 42.6 million in comparison to the predicted turnover of  £1 billion expected by 2015 show the growth of the company in past years. This growth is down to the overall service providing by ASOS and use of the Internet. This is shown through benefits such as; navigation of the website, popularity through other sites, including search engines; direct mail and accessibility. Despite this, there are several drawbacks to using Internet market, which may prevent ASOS to strive to reach their fullest potential. Drawbacks within; overall customer service and inconsistency throughout the site, which may be seen as a huge disadvantage when using the website and may hinder the future growth of ASOS in the aspect of gaining and sustaining current and potential customers.

Presentation of In Flanders Fields †script Essay

Presentation of In Flanders Fields – script Our presentation is on In Flanders Fields by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae. There is an irregular rhyme scheme = aabba aabc aabbac Almost all lines are 8 syllables long The rhythm sounds like that of a nursery rhyme – there is an iambic pentameter with a very regular line length and rhyme scheme. This is in great contrast to the actual words all about death and war. * Line 1 – ‘In Flanders Fields the poppies blow’ presents a nice natural image of poppies swaying in the breeze. * Line 2 – ‘Between the crosses row on row, That mark our place†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ ‘row on row’ signifies the enormous number of graves, as it is not a definite, but an infinite number of crosses. We all†¦show more content†¦This is surprising because the 1st stanza was all imagery and symbolism and this is very different. The statement is short, and abrupt, which makes it sound bitter.  · It is quite a shock because not many poems are written from this point of view and a lot of people don’t like to think about it at all.  · This abruptness perhaps symbolises the fact that nothing can be done to change this fact, as it is just that: a fact.  · ‘Dead’ is capitalised, as though the poet is referring to all those who died as one collective person. People not in the war would probably refer to them like this, anonymously. * Line 1 – ‘Short days ago’ this brings home the suddenness of death in war. * Line 2– ‘We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ this helps the reader to identify with the dead. It contrasts with the previous capitalisation of ‘Dead’ because it is reminds the reader of how these soldiers were all real people, who had feelings and watched sunsets.  · Sunsets are beautiful things very unlike the war. They appear to be an eternal cycle, which is very different to these peoples’ lives, and reminds us of our mortality. * Line 3 – ‘Loved and were loved, and now we lie†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ ‘loved and were loved’ shows that the dead soldiers cared about people who cared about them, but it is in the past tense. This makes it sound as if now they are dead no-one cares about them. They are forgotten, which makes the next lineShow MoreRelatedSample Assignment28504 Words   |  115 Pageswhy. Technical competence of reward proposals The discussion of reward proposals naturally improved throughout the report. Phase 1 was often a little unclear in the way that the compensable factors were explained and justified. Perhaps a better presentation could have been achieved – although there is the odd confusion between person and job based factors (e.g. p20). Similarly the discussion of the development of multiple structures on the basis of a single set of comp factors is not clearly explained