6 Ways to Handle Employment Gaps on Your Resume

6 Ways to Handle Employment Gaps on Your Resume Have you had to bounce around a bit? Worried your recent job history will appear a bit erratic to potential employers? Though job hopping is becoming less and less stigmatized, and more and more employers and recruiters will be sensitive to the particular challenges of the marketplace and the current economy, there are still some situations wherein it’s best to downplay all your job activity. Here are 6  ways to minimize the damage of having employment gaps on your resume1. SummarizeIf you don’t already have a summary paragraph at the top of your resume, now’s the time to add one. Use it to define yourself, and then to guide the recruiter through the bullet points and information she’s about to take in. Use it to show how best to interpret your multiple recent job changes, and what narrative to take away from that. If you give a recruiter a greater narrative, that should stick with them. And, if you’re worried that recruiters might think youâ€⠄¢d be a flight risk? Emphasize in your summary that you are looking for a long-term position, or to be somewhere for the long haul. Get out in front of the story, as they say in the media.2. FocusOn three or four of your recent jobs and flesh them out in more detail than you normally would. Then make a more summarized section on previous employment, including multiple jobs within those dates, to minimize the feeling of having hopped around from job to job during that time.3. Find coherenceIf you can find a through-line to connect all of your hopping, then you’re golden. Perhaps these were all positions within the same field, or in hopes of rocketing up the ladder, or learning new skills. Or if you’ve hopped from industry to industry, emphasize instead the work you do, and how you’ve been trying to hone in on the perfect niche for it. Make your job hopping an asset by making it tell a story.4. Be honestIf you were laid off as the result of a merger or acquisitio n, or you were a contract worker, then some of your hopping was not at all your fault. It is totally okay to explain this on your resume. A quick parenthetical (formerly X Company) next to the company name will be a good start. Your summary paragraph will also help here.5. Fudge the monthsIf you can get away with taking out the months in your dates, and just leaving the years, then you can give the illusion of having worked at a place longer than you did. Using years only helps you to smooth over short-term gigs. You can also put the dates to the right of the job headings, rather than the left, to deemphasize them.6. Try a hybridIf all else fails, the hybrid resume might be for you. This is a new way of thinking about the resume, emphasizing your skills first, and your bulleted, chronological history second. Choose four to five responsibilities or skills or job facets that you’ve excelled in, across all of your jobs, and sell yourself as a primo candidate. By the time the hir ing manager gets to the second page with your list of actual job experience, she’ll already be convinced you can do the job.

Gender stereotype Essays

Gender stereotype Essays Gender stereotype Essay Gender stereotype Essay Gender Stereotypes in a Commercial An advertisements intended use might be to sell a product in the grand scheme; however gender stereotypes are often embedded to attract a particular market and indirectly set the social norm. These gender stereotypes are found in commercials, TV shows, music videos and billboards. Men and women are depicted to behave a certain way in society, and have a certain attitude to differentiate genders. This shapes the way men and women should act in society, and creates a targeted end user for a companys product. Marketers exploit gender identities, stemmed from rotational ways of composing oneself to sell products. Targeting a market uses different methods that will attract a female versus a male. For example, pastel colors for a little girls clothes and toys, where as a boys are bold or bright in color. More specifically, a Did Groins pizza commercial was attempting to convince the audience that their bake-at-home frozen pizza was as good as a fresh delivered pizza. : However, when watched closely, this Did Groins commercial expresses women being portrayed as responsible for grocery shopping and cooking, that women are inferior to men, and that all men dictate. Since the beginning of culture, women are often depicted as housewives who do the cooking, shopping and laundry. Historically, chores around the house are gender oriented. Women do the light weight work and nurture the kids, while men do physical, heavy lifting work and take charge. Psychologically, commercials embed these stereotypes, which define how genders should compose themselves in society. In this Did Giorgio advertisement, it is obvious that the woman is viewed in a house setting, as a domestic bringing in the groceries. She is then told by her husband to make a pizza with extra toppings and to make it quick. This gender stereotype proves the label of women having to cook for their husband and family. The point of this commercial, which was trying to sell a home baked pizza Just as good as delivery, left an impression towards women suggesting that you should make what your husband wants, how he wants and when he wants it. When he gets what he wants he will be satisfied and love you. A woman cooking for their husband is understood as trying to make their husband happy, and in return, creating happiness for themselves. The perception about women having to cook and grocery shop is not only a way of this immemorial trying to sell their product, but also to convey that the current restricted gender roles are still the same. Women are widely known as inferior to men, not only in the household but in all settings of society. Whether it is in the workforce, in politics, or religion, women are deemed as inferior to men because of sexual selection. Men prove themselves as physically and intellectually greater than other men when trying to get women, whereas women must be superior sexually. This leads to the conclusion that men are of higher power or value and women should be overlooked. Traditionally, this culture we are raised in does not see a point in women that she hates when he dictates to her, but reluctantly takes his command and makes the pizza. This gives in to the stereotype that women are inferior to men. It comes across as women being passive and taken advantage of. The thought of women being a lesser human being and more unreliable than men is disrespectful. Women should have a right to equality between gender roles, without the needed acceptance of commercials. Commercials display gender stereotypes that are widely followed, with womens inferiority being the case in this advertisement. While women are considered to be submissive and passive, men are also largely stereotyped. Men are represented to be dominant and strong. Male stereotypes can cause pressure on men who do not fit the label of a male physically and emotionally. In society men are pictured as lazy, that they are doctors, not nurses and have the right as husbands, to tell their wives what to do. As seen in the Did Giorgio commercial, the husband is depicted in a social setting, watching television with his friends. The husband, trying to impress his friends, ordered that his wife make a pizza the way he wanted it, in a Emily manner. The husband was essentially dictating his wife, from naturally having a leadership role. Men are known to dictate in the work force or house environment because women tend to lean on them for assertiveness. However the stereotype that men dictate, particularly women, is not always true. Because of situations they are put in, for instance in decision making, marriage or outside affairs leads to believe this is how all men act. Gender stereotypes lead to believe that all men should dictate in society, and have the right to. The commercial which is viewed by millions, encourages men to continue to act that way without hesitation. Advertising relies on stereotypes to sell their product, while simultaneously defining gender. Because so many people watch commercials, television, or ads, they have the power to influence society stereotypes. The Did Giorgio commercial confirmed that men still desire for the dictator role in a relationship, while females continue to insist on equal rights. Granted, females have Just as many rights as males do today, but equality is something constantly being striver for in the twenty first century. Commercials are a way of making us believe what we are watching, which sells their product, but also psychologically tells us how we should act in a traditional culture. The traditional culture has always been looked upon, and never really been challenged of its standards. It is hard when the public norm does not acknowledge males as nurses or females as presidents because of gender stereotypes portrayed in commercials. Gender is only a part of which people are; it does not define them or their limits. Advertisements contribute to our perception of cultural identity, gender identity and gender roles, but perception is not reality.

Police Brutality. Is it increasing or is it all media hype Research Paper

Police Brutality. Is it increasing or is it all media hype - Research Paper Example Study results show more brutality among the minority and powerless in the population (Busby, 2001). A brief overview of police brutality Brutal police officers rationalize extralegal force claiming to punish the law breakers. Police officers except citizens differ from them always. Challenge by citizens is unofficial crime and police use physical force in eliciting the compliance. Many nations in the world formulate laws addressing the police brutality. Human rights organizations receive many complaints on use of excessive force by the police. Failure to prevent police brutality corresponds to the insular police culture. Most obvious police brutality is physical and verbal abuse. Many nations attempting legislating police brutality formulate laws on minority profiling (Tonry, 2008). Amnesty International (AI) on the American Police Brutality The major theme of AI campaigns is the police brutality in using excessive force. The rights for all indexes reflect the police beatings, danger ous restraint techniques and unjustified shootings. Harassment disproportionately affects the minority based on races and ethnic groups. Various incidents cited by AI reflect unjustified practices of police misconduct. Despite restrictions on use of excessive force, the police officers in US use excessive force indiscriminately; police officers kill citizens through shootings. Nevertheless, criminal charges to the few officers remain untried. This systematically hides the abuse and causes persistence of the impunity. Reports by local media rarely reflect scandals on police brutality. The footage on the dramatic increase in negative actions by police officers perpetuates negative attitudes among the citizens (Tonry, 2008). Police Brutality Excessive use of force by police officers is brutality. It is a practice that disregards the status of citizens, restricts their freedom, annoys and harasses them, and uses unwarranted physical force. It is citizens’ judgment on failure of t reatment with the full rights and dignity by the police officers within the democratic society. The categories of complaints by the citizens concerning police brutality include excessive force and the abuse of the police power (Holmes, 2000). Despite the variation in estimates, incidences of the brutality by police are infrequent. Use of excessive force affects both the police officers and the citizens subjected to the force. Many riots result from misconceptions by the citizens on misuse of force by the police. The 1919 riots following the arrest of Rodney King in Chicago reflect public conception of the misuse of force by the police officers. After his release from custody six months before, Rodney King’s attack depicted the brutality of the police officers. Police officers pursued him in a chance deployment; police cars and helicopter chased after him (Busby, 2001). When he surrendered, police officers surrounded him in a semi circle. Contradicting reports rose up regardin g what happened afterwards. According to the police, King tried to stand up when handcuffed, he reached for the pocket of his pants making officers suspect and fear any weapon. However, reports from witnesses were extremely different from the officers’. Rodney reported of electrocution and handcuffing by the police officers. Citizens air complaints of racism and brutality among the police. One among the four officers beating Rodney King had time and again used excessive force on the citizens. Other

REDD+ Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

REDD+ - Article Example The REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation and + refers to conservation and enhancement of carbon stocks) program has been created to reduce carbon emissions from forest lands and to contribute towards sustainable management of the forest ecosystems. Carbon emissions resulting from degradation of forest lands and deforestation carried out for agricultural purposes, infrastructure development, and creation of pasture lands and emissions resulting from forest fires, all contribute about 20% greenhouse gas emissions. It has been well documented that such emissions will have a major impact on the global average temperature. Concrete steps need to be taken to stabilize the average temperature within two degree Celsius and the REDD program has been created with this vision. Through the program developing countries are provided results-based incentives and support for capacity building to reduce the green house gas emissions and implement strategies to conserve the natural ecosystems and more specifically the forest carbon stocks as these have the potential to reduce climatic changes (http://www.un-redd.org; The UN-REDD Programme, n.d; Vhugen, Aguilar & Miner, 2012). In order to further assist developing countries to reduce forest carbon emissions a collaborative program with the UN was launched in the year 2008. The program was initiated with nine pilot countries from 3 continents: Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania and Zambia from Africa; Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Vietnam from Asia-Pacific; Bolivia, Panama and Paraguay from the Latin America and the Caribbean. This program now supports operations in 44 partner countries in designing and implementing the REDD program. Additionally it also helps the participating counties to develop strategies, monitor the system effectively and provides methods, data and tools for the implementation of the program. The program is implemented country-wise and with the feedback given by other coun tries it supports the conservation of forest lands and reduces deforestation. There has been a gradual rise in the funding for the program as more countries have expressed interest in the program. In addition to the programs formulated for specific countries, the UN-REDD also supports REDD+ readiness through a Global Program in which policies and strategies are commonly developed to help countries in their REDD+ readiness efforts. The UN-REDD program also receives expertise on various issues related to conservation from three other participating organizations namely the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). (The UN-REDD Programme, n.d). Members of the REDD+ program recently recognized the increasing responsibilities of legislators in passing laws and preparing budgets and in order to strengthen the parliamentary role in reducing emissions it has introduced a Globe Legislature Forest Init iative. Through this program legislators can help in reducing deforestation and emissions by providing governmental support, law enforcement, financial scrutiny and accountability. Through this initiative legislation and policies could be shared between nations and thereby contribute to the success of the program.

Strategic management analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Strategic management analysis - Essay Example The Paper will also suggest several recommendations that will be deemed as helpful in improving the Coffee house’s operations within the United States market. A Brief History of Starbucks. Starbucks is an American global corporation that specializes in selling coffee in its various coffee houses situated all over the world. Its main base of operations is currently at Seattle, Washington. The first Starbucks coffee shop opened its doors in the Seattle Springs area of Washington in 1971 and the company has grown to become the largest coffee house company in the world. It boasts of having about 19,972 stores which are spread out in 60 countries across the globe. Most of the company’s branches are currently located in the United States with an approximately 12,937 branches. ... Starbucks has also expanded its current investments into the entertainment industry and through its Starbucks Entertainment division as well as its hear Music brand, it also markets films, books and music. Most of the company’s product offerings are found to be not only seasonal but also specifically tailored particularly to satisfy the requirements of customers in the locality that the branch is located. Some of its branded products such as coffee and ice cream are sold in grocery stores all over the United States (Starbucks 2012). The United States Coffee House Market The Coffee Shop business and the entire coffee industry have had a significant boom over the recent years. This is especially so in the case of the specialty coffees offered by the industry. The market for these coffees has registered significant growth that has been spurred by the growing trend of the consumers becoming increasingly educated about the industry’s espresso-based drinks as well as how they are made (Starbucks 2012). According to research data conducted by First Research, the United States is host to about 20,000 coffee shop businesses whose total combined revenue has been estimated to stand at $10 billion as of 2011. More than 50% of these sales have been seen to be generated by the country’s top 50 coffee shop operators. Most of the county’s coffee shop operators have increasingly been spreading their business into the international market with Starbucks reporting to having set up shop in over 5,500 licensed locations outside the United States in 2010 (Green and Keegan 2012). The average gross margin for a single coffee shop in the country is

Costa Coffee Essay Example for Free

Costa Coffee Essay 1. Executive summary In this business report we are analysing the business environment in which our company – BESO and its main competitor – Costa Coffee operate. The main objective is to research, analyse and understand the competitor’s business strategy, to find out if there is a gap in their action plan and how we can take advantage of this. The report consists of SWOT analysis of BESO and PEST analysis of both companies. The target markets of both – BESO and Costa Coffee are similar. That makes the competition between them even bigger. The report also discusses the marketing approach and the various advertising campaigns conducted by Costa Coffee and the advertising techniques we decide to adopt in the long run. The distribution system of Costa Coffee is also considered and plans to expand to different locations. The pricing strategy of BESO is based closely to the strategy of Costa Coffee as we have adopted competitive pricing. In terms of ethical issues we examined the various types of corporate social responsibilities of Costa Coffee. 2. Introduction. The business report includes an analysis of Costa Coffee as a main competitor of BESO Coffee. The report examines the business environment where both companies operate in. It has been requested from the Marketing Director of BESO and also has to be focused only on the UK market. 3. BESO – Brief history BESO Coffee is a coffee chain settled in the UK in 2001. It has been established by an independent trader but later on when the business has grown, new stakeholders appeared. At first BESO’s target market was limited as well as the products it offered- only a few types of coffee and limited types of confectionary. However, only two years after launching BESO on the market it became popular through different groups of people, therefore the menu became much diversified and the target market as well. BESO has shown great performance during the years and has become one of the most recognized names on the current market. That is why Costa Coffee is determined as a main competitor of BESO. 4 5 The Marketing Profession 4. SWOT and PEST analysis 4. 1. SWOT analysis Strengths †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Efficient and trained staff Customer loyalty Brand recognition High quality coffee Friendly and relaxing atmosphere for our customers. Weaknesses †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Limited number of outlets Low levels of advertisement Interior design needs updating More range of the types of coffee available. Continual change in consumer taste Can be seen as an unhealthy product Opportunities †¢ Based in Central London which covers a large demographic of customers Olympics 2012 will bring in more sales Introduction of new products including healthy options. Retailing mugs and coffee equipment Threats †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Customers demanding fair-trade and organic coffee. Big chain coffee shops dominating the market. Economic issues and crisis Lack of ownership of primary resources e. g. Coffee farming. †¢ †¢ †¢ 4. 2. PEST analysis There are many different Political, Economic, Social and Technological issues that both our company and also Costa Coffee face within the coffee industry. Firstly, the first political issue to consider is that majority of coffee beans are brought and made in developing countries, so companies need to ensure that their coffee is made by fair-trade dealers and they need to consider the ethical conditions of the labor used. Another political issue includes all the taxes and tariffs incurred by any business operating within the UK, whether it be import tariffs or VAT on goods sold. The economic factors that our companies face are similar to the issues faced by many businesses within the whole goods and services market, this including the economic recession of 2008. Customers now have less disposable income to spend and as a result cut-down on the purchasing of non-vital goods. This is due to of unemployment rising and the levels of debt increasing. The social factors that need to be taken into consideration is that consumers are spending more money on coffee due to the demand for quality goods. This can be seen in the comparison of value of tea and coffee industry with coffee valuing at 738 million according to the Times (2008). As a result, companies need to ensure that buying coffee is not only a quick purchase, as they need to have value-added for customers including high quality coffee and a relaxing 5 6 The Marketing Profession atmosphere. Lastly, the technological issues that both our company and Costa face is the introduction of self-made home coffee by the use of coffee machines specifically tailored to make at home, for example, the Senseo coffee-machines. This can be seen as a threat to coffee shops as it is a cheaper alternative for customers in the long run. 5. Target market According to a Mintel report titled Coffee Shops published February 2012, Two thirds of consumers buy coffee out of home, rising to three in four among 16-24-year-olds as core users. Costa Coffee has the highest number of outlets within the UK totaled to 1,302 coffee shop chains as opposed to Starbucks who has 739 and Caffe Nero with 509 shops. It also claimed that Costa has different store designs to suit different purposes such as ‘Metro’ which is aimed at the younger/urban consumers and ‘Evolution’ which is designed for more mature customers in provincial locations. It states its customer segments are ‘Recharge, Relax, Refuel’. Therefore the target market for Costa Coffee ranges from a wide range of customers of different ages as it caters to many different needs. Students have been said to make up 30% of their target market, Professionals 45%, Families 10% and mature consumers 15% of the clientele. At BESO Coffee, our market we aim to target at is very wide as it ranges from teenagers to mature customers. We even target at families as we offer menus for younger children and parents. Our products are reasonably priced so it can be bought from people of many different income level groups, from working to upper class. 6. Marketing approaches Costa coffee have used many different marketing approaches and campaigns in order to succeed within the industry as it is important to continually update their marketing strategies. Costa has introduced campaigns such as How Do You Like Yours’, which allowed customers to customize their coffees by for example adding espresso or syrup. This helps them differentiate themselves from competitors as it gives consumers more power and control over their purchase. Another campaign introduced by Costa was the arrival of Costa light in 2011, which offered low-calorie and healthier options to customers. This was an important step for Costa as there has been an increase in healthy eating trends, which can be seen in the figure below. Figure: Consumer demand for display of calorie content on restaurant menus, June 2010-December 2011 6 7 The Marketing Profession. Other campaigns included the launch of Costa Coffee Gift Card in November 2011 which allowed customers to buy card with pre-paid amounts of up to ? 75 and a more recent campaign at the beginning of 2012 when Costa collaborated with the Spirit Pub Company which ensured that Costa coffee would be used in its restaurants chains including Chef Brewer and Flaming grill. Costa has used many forms of media to advertise their campaigns to the public. One method used to inform customers was through the use of television advertising in 2008 whereby Costa launched its first ad. The advert helped to illustrate the superiority of Costas products and according Reynolds (2010) its message was that the brand is on a mission to save the world from mediocre coffee and seven out of 10 coffee lovers prefer Costa. Other forms of media used by Costa include Billboards as it can be seen by many commuters within the UK by their use of big bold writing and minimal distraction of the main message. Their billboards are distinctive as they have a continual theme colour, text and logo, which are recognised by customers. Our approach to our marketing campaign is to use alternative uses of media to portray our message, including the use of the Internet, as it is a popular form of media used in today’s society. We aim to use Facebook and Twitter to advertise our campaign and the company as a whole as it covers a large demographic. 7. Distribution strategy Costa operates in the UK through its own coffee shops, franchises and wholesale outlets. On the18th of October 2011, Whitbread stated that the number of Costa UK stores had risen from 1,217 in March 2011 to 1,302 in September 2011, including 95 openings and ten store closures. In comparison, Costa International increased its stores from 654 to 701 during the same period, including 72 openings and 25 closures. Meanwhile Costa Express/Coffee Nation units increased from 877 in March 2011 to 934 in September 2011, taking account of 79 openings and 22 closures. These units are partnered with service station operators such as Moto, Esso and Welcome Break, retailers like Tesco and The Co-Operative and foodservice group Compass (Mintel 2012). In a market with low loyalty levels, advertising and promotion is important in keeping brands in the forefront of consumers’ minds. Costa Coffee looked to sustain an emotional response among consumers with the marketing supporting its launch of Costa Light variant in autumn 2011 through an advertising campaign that used slogans such as ‘All the love, none of the handles’ and ‘Extra feel good in every cup’ (Mintel 2012) Customers were also encouraged to see the lighter side of life with its Costa Light Comedy Challenge competition. Costa’s aim was to showcase up-and-coming comedians by asking them to submit a one-minute film via its website. A public vote then saw the top ten entries from five regions go through to a further round to be judged during one-off events across the UK, with the campaign finally culminating in two regional winners performing at The Comedy Store, London (Mintel 2012). Costa Coffee’s distribution system is broad with a balanced portfolio across high streets, retail parks, concessions, airports, rail and other travel hubs as well as an increasing number of stores in new locations such as universities and hospitals. Innovative distribution channels, such as Costa Express and Drive Thru are developed. They will extend the brand’s reach and increase accessibility for the customer (Whitbread, 2010). 7 8 The Marketing Profession Andy Harrison, chief executive of Whitbread said that popping out for a coffee has become a firm fixture of peoples lives. â€Å"Coffee culture has grown massively over the last five to 10 years – people have a real demand for quality coffee and a choice of different coffees, he said. When I was kid everyone wanted a Nescafe – that has definitely changed. (The Guardian 2011). 8. Pricing strategy. Costa Coffee is a well-known, high valued and trusted cafeteria all over the world. They offer wide range of high qualitative coffee drinks and food, excellent services and relaxing atmosphere. Costa relies on their superiorities and offer comparatively higher prices because they have realized that the luxury comes with the price. Costa Coffee offers two sizes of drinks medium and large and the price difference between them is not significant. In this way they encourage their customers to buy the bigger size, because the amount of the drink is bigger and is on almost the same price as the medium one. But even the medium size of cappuccino is served in a cup with the size of soup bowl, so Costa Coffee has a reason to charge a relatively higher price because of the value they give, even though in most cases customers do not need such a big amount of drink although they have to pay for it. In this way, Costa is able to sell cheaper coffee to regular customers, who are aware of the amount of the drink (with elastic demand) and sell more expensive coffee to infrequent visitors, therefore the cafeteria makes big profit from each cup of coffee. This is the corporate strategy and how Costa found a way to charge comparatively higher prices than most of their competitors. This strategy has some disadvantages and threats such as the present credit crunch, which might affect the sales and the budget of Costa Coffee as they target middle and upper middle class, therefore in the time of recession customers may prefer some of the cheaper competitors. 9. Pricing strategy that we will adopt competition based pricing strategy One of the biggest advantages of the Competition based pricing strategy is that in the same time you are focused on your business and objectives and on the competitions strategies. Once you understand what the competition is doing, you have the chance to do everything better and to gain a competitive advantage (Jobber 2008), therefore to increase the number of customers and to gain bigger market share. There are three types on competition based pricing methods: †¢ †¢ †¢ Price your product the same as the competitor Set your price to increase customer base Seek larger market share through price Compared to Costa Coffee we are fairly new to the market so it would be more appropriate for BESO to adopt the Competition based pricing as a strategy that will allow us to grow fast as competitive brand. In order to achieve biggest results we will match/mix the three competition-based pricing methods. BESO will offer similar products as/like the Costas products but on lower prices, therefore BESOs market department must always be aware of what the competition is offering in order to provide better value for money. In this way BESO will has the opportunity to outline its advantages as comparing similar products as those of the competition but on lower prices (even pence). Once customers understand our priorities they will use to come to BESO as a place, which offers better value for money, 8 9 The Marketing Profession. therefore we will increase our market share (Palmer and Hartley 2006). In terms of increasing customer base, the process is similar to market penetration, we have to select a price that will beat the competition and doing that we will motivate customer to notice our products and to make a purchase decision. Market penetration pricing works well in the introduction stage of the product life cycle and in a highly competitive market, as you increase the production some of your costs will decrease. During the next stages of the product life cycle the price can be increased (Jobber 2010). The easiest way to increase the market share of BESO is to select prices that will attract and hold as many customers as possible (depend on target). It is recommended to adopt the Market share pricing after the business achieved market penetration, because they are linked as the market share happens when large volume of products are sold. So it is better if things happen step by step. And finally the market share is calculated by dividing the amount of each company sells out of the total market and in this way the market leader is determined. 9. 1. Disadvantages of Competition based pricing †¢ †¢ †¢ There is a danger to ignore your own production cost if you focus too closely on the competitors prices. It takes more time to research and update competitors information. Competitors also can copy whatever price you select. 10. Customer service Loyalty is particularly low in the coffee shop market, making customer retention a key area of improvement going forward (Mintel 2012). At the start of 2012 Costa Coffee launched the ‘Just How Do You Like Yours? ’ campaign. It aims to highlight the customizable elements of its products, a key differentiator to its lower-priced non-specialist competitors such as EAT and Pret A Manger. A clear pricing strategy was also included in order to appeal to consumer’s sense of value for money. For example, customers can now add an extra shot of espresso or sugar-free syrup shots to their drinks for 35p per unit. Also, in 2011 Costa Coffee launched gift cards (Mintel 2012). Although consumers state that convenient location is more important to them than the brand of coffee chain, operators can still capture consumers’ attention through qualities other than price. For example, two in three users think that quality is the most important decision-making factor when choosing where to buy hot drinks, whilst nearly half disagree that they usually choose the cheapest venue. However, with so many brands trading off of a quality positioning, operators have to ensure that they are differentiating themselves on additional levels, hence the trend towards lifestyle branding in the wider eating out market (Mintel 2012). Costa Coffee’s reputation for excellence applies not only for the exceptional coffee but also the insistence on perfect service. â€Å"Recruiting and retaining highly motivated and talented people is essential and great emphasis is placed on improving the skills, expertise and 9 10 The Marketing Profession performance of our people through award winning, industry-leading training and developing programs† (Mintel 2012). 11. Costa Coffee’s attitude towards environmental issues Consumers are extremely careful about environmental issues, trying to buy environmentally friendly food and drinks. Most of the customers feel that it is their duty to save the environment in order to live healthier. That is why most companies are under a lot of pressure to change their attitude towards the environment most often related to greener, packaging solutions, recycling and many others. Costa Coffee is the first UK coffee chain buying beans from Rainforest Alliance Certifiedâ„ ¢ farms. From October last year, almost 100% of the coffee beans for Mocha Italia blend are from certified sustainable farms. Costa Coffee is also a member of UK Paper Cup Recycling Committee, their cups are made from sustainable sources and that’s saves about 1,100 trees a year. The ingredients from which the cups are made of are all from iconic recyclable material and are made using only certified sustainable pulp. Vegetable Costa Coffee is also concerned about its coffee-growers and in 2006 it registered a Costa Foundation, dealing with the improvement of the welfare of coffee-growing places like Colombia, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Uganda and Vietnam. Costa Coffee is also a partner with Cafechurch network, supporting local community. The organization deals with environmental issues, fair trade, divorce and stress problems and others. People are feeling well, being part of a great atmosphere, live music, good communication, and a lot of interviews, having the opportunity to understand more about the Costa Coffee Foundations. 12. The competitor’s CSR activity Costa Coffee is not achieving basic standard of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The coffee company does not give a specific data for the carbon footprint. Its environmental data is part of the environmental data of its parent company-Whitbread. 13. What is your attitude to CSR/environmental issues going to be? The aims that Costa Coffee manages to do are quite a lot. Some of the first ones are: †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Developing Costa Coffees energy environmental strategy. Managing carbon reporting and ensuring compliance for CRC. Maintaining the ISO50001 system. Working with manufacturer’s waste contractors and NGO to improve takeaway cup recycling. 10 11 †¢ †¢ The Marketing Profession Developing Costa Good Together CR programme . By 2012/13 Costa Coffee aims to help 15, 000, providing them access to education. That target will help to bring together the communities, helping adults to find jobs and trades. The coffee chain aim is to raise ? 750,000 alone during 2012/13. Costa Coffee will try to dedicate Energy Environment Manager in Costa Coffee. That will be useful, trying to insure more control and to organize the best structured plan for the company. Costas cardboard cups are not recyclable, even though the cardboard can be recycled. The other ingredient in the cardboard cups, the ink and the glue, cannot be recycled. The target environmental plan of Costa Coffee is to use vegetable ink and degradable glue on its cups. Costa Coffee is raising money to build schools in regions where a lot of coffee farms take place. There are already 22 schools in developing countries. That makes a big difference for a lot of young people who have the opportunity to study. Costa Foundation is also taking care for the supplement of special healthy nutritious meals and laptops for the children. †¢ †¢ †¢ 14. Conclusion Based on the researches and analysis that have been done BESO has a great potential to use Costa’s disadvantages and to convert them into our opportunities for prosperity. Offering similar products as those of Costa Coffee but on lower prices and in the same time launching our own products (BESO’s cupcakes) is a good strategy to gain a competitive advantage. Slight changes in the interior design of our cafeteria would be refreshing and a good way to attract new customers. Furthermore increasing our advertising activities would be an opportunity to remind our customers and in the same time to inform our new potential customers about BESO’s fantastic services and great value for money. 15. References Baker S. (2003), New Consumer Marketing, West Sussex, John Wiley Sons Ltd Cooper D., Schindler P. (2011), Business Research Methods, New York, McGraw Hill Education Economics Help (2008), Costa Coffee UK and Sales Techniques. Available at: http://econ. economicshelp. org/2008/08/costa-coffee-uk-and-sales-techniques. html [Accessed: 20th March 2012]. Government of Alberta (2012), Methods to Price Your Products. Available at: http://www1. agric. gov. ab. ca/$department/deptdocs. nsf/all/agdex1133#competition [Accessed: 20th March 2012] Jobber D. (2010), Principles and Practice of Marketing, London, McGraw Hill Education 11 12 The Marketing Profession Kotler P. , Armstrong G. (2006), Principles of Marketing, The United States of America, Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data LinkedIn (2011), Costa Coffee Energy and Environment Manager at Whitbread. Available at: http://uk. linkedin. com/pub/ollie-rosevear/14/672/948 [Accessed: 20th March 2012] Mintel (2012), Brand Communication and Promotion. Available at: http://academic. mintel. com/sinatra/oxygen_academic/search_results/show/display/id=59 0036/display/id=611992#hit1 [Accessed: 20th March 2012] Mintel.

Margaret Thatcher Essay

Margaret Thatcher Essay Most people say that you either loved or hated Margaret Thatcher. But the truth is that you could feel both ways about her, often at the same time. Margaret Thatcher was a stateswoman in the fullest sense of the word. She ended socialism in Britain and revived the British economy. She even won the Falklands war and radically changed British society. Some would even say that she created the world we live in today. Has the legacy of Margaret Thatcher any influence on British society today? How important was the Iron Lady to Britain? The British inflation was in 1975 up at 24, 11%  [1]  and with the unions constant claim for higher salaries, nobody expected it to drop to a normal level. In 1976 it still did not help and in the same year they had to take a loan in the International Monetary Fund (IMF)  [2]  . When Margaret Thatcher won the general election in 1979, she became Prime Minister of a land in chaos. The British top tax rate was 83% and on unearned income the rate was 98%  [3]  and the bottom rate was 65%. The first thing Margaret Thatcher needed to deal with as a Prime Minister was the inflation and tax rates. She lay out a political program that should prevent a raise in salaries and in public spending. It did not matter whether you were rich or poor; you were paying most of your money in taxes. When Margaret Thatcher left the office in 1990, the top rate was now only 40%  [4]  . Margaret Thatcher fought for minimizing the tax rates and allowed business to boom in Britain. Margaret Thatcher believed in free competition and a reducing of the government power. She radically changed British society. Margaret Thatchers policies of free enterprise, privatization helped modernize Great Britains economy. Her policies of home ownership, share ownership and less government led to a rise in home-ownership rates  [5]  . Margaret Thatcher privatised many national owned industries through the 1980s. A reduction of the public sector would produce more free competition and through that a more market-orientated economy. Her belief was that the private sector was more effective because many of the nationalised industries were sold to the private sector. Therefore the profitable range was higher than government owned industries. But the Thatcher government did also raised money by selling state owned companies like the British airways, British telecom and Rolls Royce. Because of Thatchers influency on inflation, the  small state, and  free markets  through  tight control of the money supply and  privatisation it would now be callen Thatcherism. Thatcherism is characterised by the philosophy of a smaller role for the government and creating a free-market economy. The state should not interfere in the regulation of prises or salaries, but only make sure that the competition stayed fair for all of its participants. Beside this, Thatcherism also implied privatisation of state owned industries, like British airways, low taxation and a monetarist economic policy as an attempt to control the inflation  [6]  . In 1982 Margaret Thatcher won the Falklands War. At a time where the kingdom was divided and the support of the government was almost non-existing. Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands in 1982 and Margaret Thatcher shipped a large elements of the Royal Navy down to retake those islands again. Britain won the Falklands War and it was Britains first military victory since World War II in 1945. For Britain and Thatcher the victory provided a boost of confident. The victory made Britain feel proud and strong about their country. Britains international position became stronger. Thatcher regained her popularity with the voters who were thrilled by the outcome of the war and in 1983 the Thatcher conservative government was re-elected  [7]  . In 1985 things started to work for the government and for Margaret Thatchers old reforms. There was an economic growth and the number of unemployed was falling  [8]  . Especially the economy grew fast. It reached 4-5% a year. The inflation increased to 10% but decreased again in 1990. This led to the third victory in the 1987 general election. Margaret Thatcher won convincingly but had lost many votes to Labour. In November 1990, Margaret Thatcher resigned as Prime Minister. She had lost the strong hold in the public and in the party. Leading co-workers assumed that her strong opinion against further political integration in Europe and her lack of ability to listen to others, in the end was the reason she lost when her position as the leader of the conservative where challenged by John Major who served the post until the election of Tony Blairs Labour Government in May 1997. Margaret Thatcher has not only changed the Conservative Party, but also the entire British society. Thatcher solved certain big problems as, high inflation, high tax rates, low manufacturing productivity and high unemployment. Britain has maintained a strong nation with a strong defence because of the victory of the Falklands War. Thatcher had the passion and she deeply believed that she could make a change in the Conservative Party and therefore she did. Thatcher is important because of her time during the 80s which affect the British society today. The political parties in Britain are forced to adapt her legacy. Thatcher stopped socialism in Britain and now the Labour has had to change into the New Labour, which is something they hate her for. Britain now lives by her political trademarks. Loved or loathed, Thatchers personal accomplishments will remain part of world history. Her legacy will live on and the importance of her hard work during her time as Prime Minister will never be forgotten.