Walmart the functions of an organisation Marketing Essay

Walmart the functions of an organisation Marketing Essay Marketing is one the functions of an organisation that most connects an organisation to its environment. It maintains relations with the customers. It also involves satisfying needs of the customers. It incorporates hoe a business should be conducted and a set of values and processes that are put into practice(Naylor, 2004, p.525). According to Kotler Marketing can be defined as a nodal and managerial process by which individuals and groups obtain what they need and want through creating and exchanging products and value with others (Kotler et al., 1999, p.10).The key ideas in this definition are needs, wants and demands, value and satisfaction, exchange, transactions and relationships and markets. The American marketing association defines marketing as a process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion and distribution of ideas, goods and services to create changes that satisfy individual and organisational goals (Kotler, 2002, p.4). There are numerous theories t hat are part of marketing as a subject. This essay aims at identifying the key concepts of marketing and how are these concepts can be studied and applied to a functioning of an organisation which is Walmart in this case. Walmart is an American public corporation that operates a chain of large discount department stores and a chain of warehouse stores.. The company was founded by Sam Walton in 1962. It is publically traded on New York Stock Exchange. The company is the largest private employer with approximately 2.1 million employees. It operates in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Japan, Mexico, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico and the United Kingdom and, through a joint venture, in India. Walmart became an international company in 1991 when it opened its first Sams Club near Mexico City. Two major concepts of marketing are the market orientation a firm has and the marketing mix it follows. Wal-Mart has its own market orientation and a marketing mix that it has adopted. Market orientation is an approach that a business has to run its operations and achieve its organisational objectives. These are the different ways that a business approaches its customers and determines how an organisation carries out its marketing activities. They guide the marketing efforts of an organisation. The different marketing orientations are as follows: 1.Production: Production oriented firm focuses on large scale production of goods that can be made widely available. It also focuses on efficiency issues. There is little focus on customer needs and their wants. It is based on the Says law which says Supply creates its own demand. 2.Product: A product oriented firm focuses on the quality and features of the product. It assumes that the customers want the best quality products for their money. Continuous improvement and refinement of products is also a very important factor. 3.Selling : In this market orientation the main focus is on selling and promotion of the products. It is assumed that good marketing efforts will persuade enough customers to buy the product. It tends to ignore what the customers really want or need. 4.Marketing : It is an approach which keeps customers at the centre. It involves doing a market research and identifying the needs of the consumers and thus making products that satisfy the consumer needs in the best and most efficient way. It is assumed that identifying the customer needs gives a firm a sustainable competitive advantage. 5. Socially Responsible Marketing: It involves responding to the ethical issues in a society. It is related to the corporate social responsibility of a business. It informs consumers of the various contributions that the business is making towards the society and makes a good image of the business as a whole. Different businesses have different market orientations. The two most important aspects of Wal-Marts market orientation are product and market. Wal-Mart offers a huge variety of products. Their aim is to satisfy almost every possible need that might arise. Wal-Mart is not a store for people from a specific age group or income group. In fact it serves people from every age group and income level. Wal-Mart also works with its suppliers and uses a testing laboratory called a consumers testing lab. It runs test on food items, clothing ,electronics etc. By doing this it ensures that the goods it delivers to its customers are of highest quality. The second aspect of its market orientation is Marketing. Wal-Mart uses detailed market research and customer segmentation to better deliver against the customer needs. Wal-Marts ability to recognise changes in the retailing industry has given it a huge advantage over its competitors. This has only been possible because of the intensive market research it undertakes before making any strategic decision. Before making any promotional strategy they measure the return on investment. They evaluate everything such as how many customers will see the advertisement, how many will react to it, how many will actually buy the product. They have huge customer data and sales data. They even share the sales data with their suppliers in order to keep the most popular items stocked and to persuade its suppliers to supply goods which are most popular among the consumers. So it changes itself according to the customer needs and sell products which customers want and not what it has to sell. It also pr omotes relationship marketing and uses one to one relationship marketing tactics. For e.g. a person greeted every customer who came in and said goodbye to each person who left. Wal-Mart has always closely observed its market using different research methods and has always successfully anticipated the change in consumer tastes and preferences and changed itself accordingly so it always keeps its customers at the centre. Another important theory of marketing management is the marketing mix. Marketing mix is the set of marketing tools that a firm uses to achieve its marketing objectives in a specific target market. The tools can be classified into four categories namely Price, Place Promotion and Product and are referred to as the 4 Ps. Price and advertising costs etc. can be altered in the short run but elements such as product and the distribution channel can only be changed in the long run. .( Kotler, 2002, p.9 )These variables affect the level of demand for a firms products. It is a combination of these tools that are used to satisfy consumer and company objectives. The four variables can be explained as follows: 1. Price: Price is an important factor in the marketing mix when the products are not bad. People want to use money thoughtfully and want maximum utility out of their income. Discounts, allowances, payment terms and credit are some of the tools used to attract customers. 2.Product: Product is the top priority in the marketing mix. Some of the strategies that firms may use are quality, design , features, packaging and warranties etc. Using these tools a company can differentiate its products from its competitors. 3.Place: The place element is becoming more important these days. Big retailers make it more convenient for people to buy everything. Locations, inventory and transport etc are areas that are important for a business. 4.Promotion: People should know about the products of a company. Effective way to advertise the products necessary. Sales promotion, sales force ,direct marketing and public relations are some examples that come under promotion aspect of the marketing mix. We can relate these 4 Ps with different strategies that Wal-Mart adopts. Price is the most important factor for Wal-Marts marketing mix and is the winning formula for the company. The company has build an image over the years that its name has become a synonym to low prices. The mission of the company is to provide cheapest prices in the market. It is because of its such low prices that it has been able to serve and fulfil the needs of millions of customers. Wal-Mart has the best and the most convenient store locations which its competitors find difficult to beat. This is due to the extensive market research it does before expanding into a new area. Also the stores are strategically located to gain efficiency in storage and transportation of its goods. However the company has saturated the local markets and now has plans to extend its operations in many foreign countries. As Wal-Mart offers variety of products for every segment of the market it ensures that its customers get the high est quality products. Some products are sold under its own brand whereas some other from other companies. Wal-Mart often comes up with packaging techniques that help reduce the cost of the goods sold. Now the company is trying to attract more affluent customers by launching new Metro 7 Stalls which offer jewellery and other expensive items in 1500 different stores. (source: http://walmartstores.com/pressroom/news/5721.aspx). Coming to promotion the most notable strategy that the company uses is public relations by taking parts in charitable events. It started health plans starting from $23 and also advertised itself as the largest employer. All these strategies have helped Wal-Mart emerge as the market leader in the retail sector and the key factors being low prices, more customer service and constant innovation in the business.

Dove – Brand Value

Question 1 Prior to the launch of â€Å"The Campaign for Real Beauty,† Dove focused mostly on the brand’s functional benefits in its advertising. Dove products were packaged simply, and the name â€Å"dove† implied purity, freshness and cleanliness. It was also very feminine. To customers, Dove was viewed not as soap, but as a moisturizer because of the brand’s constant emphasis on the one-quarter moisturizing cream added to its beauty bars. Because of this, women flocked to the brand in hopes of trading in their dry skin for soft, smooth skin.Exhibit 1 shows a brand association map for the Dove brand prior to the introduction of â€Å"The Campaign for Real Beauty. † As shown in the Exhibit, a lot of Dove’s associations are in the functional category or teetering between functional and emotional. This is because of the way Dove introduced itself – the brand was so determined to set itself apart from its competitors because of the moist urizing differences in products, but Dove became stuck in the functionality view point. It’s hard to create a story and brand personality for something which is only viewed as a functional product.Question 2 The main reason â€Å"The Campaign for Real Beauty† was created was so that Dove could become a Masterbrand. This meant that Dove had to expand its product line to include other personal care products besides in the beauty bar category. Dove tried to launch its new personal care products using techniques similar to those of the beauty bar, but to unify all of Dove’s products, the branding team had to create a new vision so that they could sell Dove as a brand rather than individual products.The key brand associations (taken from Exhibit #1) are healthy skin, beauty, and moisture. Dove wanted to introduce deodorants, hair care products, facial cleansers, body lotions and hair styling products. For each of these products, beauty is important. Every girl wants beautiful hair, beautiful skin and even beautiful underarms. Moisture is important for facial cleansers, body lotions and hair care products because you don’t want something that will dry out your skin or hair; however, moisturizers aren’t necessarily important in deodorants.Healthy skin only applies to facial cleansers, body lotions and deodorants, but not to hair care and styling products. As it stands here, Dove’s brand story is inconsistent for taking on multiple products of such different purposes. There is no one association that will incorporate all of the products Dove plans on introducing. Question 3 The brand story of Dove’s â€Å"Campaign for Real Beauty† can be broken down into the four elements of storytelling: message, plot, conflict and characters. The message behind the campaign is that all women should feel beautiful in their skin.The plot is to show women that by using Dove products, they can feel beautiful in their skin. The conf lict is that society tells consumers what beauty should look like, but the Dove brand refuses to conform to those supposed â€Å"norms. † The characters are women; women of every size, shape, color, age and height. These ideas are the backbone of â€Å"The Campaign for Real Beauty,† and are also Dove’s unique selling propositions. Overall, Dove’s brand story behind â€Å"The Campaign for Real Beauty† is strong. What makes it strong is that it’s never been done before.Consumers are so used to seeing the same faces, figures and ethnicities in advertising that when you show them something different, their interest in peaked. By putting women in the ads that look like anyone off the street, it becomes a brand that is for all people rather than only a certain kind of person. It’s also incredibly strong because the idea behind the campaign opens up conversations about self-esteem in general. The campaign generated a multitude of discussions on the internet about topics like anorexia, body image and race. Question 4The first of Dove’s advertising as a part of â€Å"The Campaign for Real Beauty† were its â€Å"Tick-Box† advertisements. These were very creative billboards designed to incorporate the opinions of the consumers about the product, but also about the campaign itself. The ads caught the attention of the public, and many people voted â€Å"oversized† at first, but â€Å"outstanding† quickly took over. Based on these results, it’s apparent that Dove had gained support in their campaign and message. The next series of Dove advertisements for the campaign are known as â€Å"Firming† advertisements.These ads featured six â€Å"real† women posing in plain white underwear. The imagery is simple, clean and pure – all aspects associated with the Dove brand and products. This ad is a great representation of the brand’s new vision. It featured women of all shapes, sizes and colors, smiling and baring their bodies comfortably. This is exactly the type of feeling â€Å"The Campaign for Real Beauty† was created to portray. The next step in the campaign was the creation of a video that didn’t even mention the selling product.The video featured young girls admitting things about themselves that they wished were different or didn’t like. The advertisement still remains controversial. This ad demonstrates the big picture behind â€Å"The Campaign for Real Beauty,† in that Dove wants to open up discussion about what it means to â€Å"beautiful† in today’s society. With the â€Å"True Colors† ad, the company doesn’t let the product get in the way, but rather lets the campaign take over the brand. This is most likely why the ad received so much praise, and ran during the 2006 Super Bowl in front of 90 million viewers.Stage four of the campaign was mostly unplanned. The â€Å"Evolutio n† video was created as a way to entice people to attend Dove-lead self-esteem workshops in Toronto, Canada. After the North America team saw the film, they decided to air it more publically on YouTube. In a matter of months, the film received over 3 million views. Using YouTube at the time was an extremely smart idea considering how popular the site was becoming. It opened the Dove brand up to the social media craze of the time, and created a dialog within the internet in the form of blogs, video responses and forums.The same can be said for the â€Å"Onslaught† film that Dove put up that thoroughly depicted what it can be like for women and young girls to walk down the street or watch television, and be bombarded with these images of what it means to be â€Å"beautiful. † Question 5 Billboards in Grand Central Station Dove’s â€Å"Campaign for Real Beauty† is described by Harousseau as â€Å"breaking every rule in the company. † Doveâ€℠¢s marketing objective for the campaign was to create a buzz and get people talking about the company itself and the message it is trying to portray.By using billboards in Grand Central Station, the company was taking advantage of the huge amount of foot traffic and diversity that the station offers. This technique in getting people’s attention obviously worked when Katie Couric spent 16 minutes on the Today Show talking about the ads and Dove’s new direction. Using the billboards in such a culturally mixed environment allows all sorts of potential consumers the opportunity to be introduced or reintroduced to the Dove brand and â€Å"The Campaign for Real Beauty. † Super Bowl Advertising Dove’s usage of the Super Bowl was all about exposure and introducing â€Å"The Campaign for Real Beauty.† The idea to advertise during the Super Bowl was at first rejected with good reason: the Super Bowl has always been a way to advertise beer, cars, chips and ot her â€Å"masculine† products; it wasn’t the place for Dove let alone a campaign set out specifically for women. However, the Super Bowl offers an audience of over 90 million people which would surely get Dove and the campaign some buzz. After its ad ran, Dove experienced continued exposure in conversations by news outlets, Oprah Winfrey and late night personalities. The ad was a huge success in making consumers aware of Dove’s mission.However, in exposing its brand and campaign, Dove opened itself up to ridicule and satire which is an unfortunate side-effect of advertising to an entire nation rather than your intended market. YouTube Release of â€Å"Evolution† Dove released the â€Å"Evolution† ad on YouTube using no paid media. Overtime, the word-of-mouth phenomenon went into effect, and the ad was among the most downloaded commercials on YouTube despite never appearing on television as paid advertising. However, the ad did make it into the medi a in the context of news programs, newspapers and radio.This advertising technique most appropriately demonstrates Dove’s new direction and mission. It shows people that what they perceive as beautiful isn’t actually real. Dove wants women to realize this, and love themselves naturally. The â€Å"Evolution† message is an important one for all consumers to understand. The Dove Two Dozen and Dove Real Beauty Award The Dove Two Dozen was a very behind the scenes media technique. It involved introducing the campaign to significant women in the media whom Dove believed shared its vision.Through this vehicle, the company hoped to gain the trust of influential consumers who would hopefully pass on their praise of the product and the campaign to everyday consumers who would also appreciate the brand’s efforts and goals. This is a good marketing technique because celebrities and well-known personalities have a lot of influence in the consumer market, so passing on â€Å"The Campaign for Real Beauty† idea to these individuals increased the likelihood of attracting the appropriate demographic. The â€Å"Dove Real Beauty Award† is a very clever way of introducing the campaign into the world of media and female empowerment.Dove created the award as a part of the American Women in Radio and Television’s annual gala. Although this offers minimal exposure since it is only an annual award, the influential characters that would attend this gala could possibly bring the brand and campaign to a larger audience. Global Self Esteem Fund This was the final step in Dove’s overall media planning process. The company created the fund to support uniquely ME! , which is an organization that partners with the Girl Scouts of the USA whose goals include building self-confidence in girls ages 8-17.This fund was mentioned on the Girl Scouts website, and linked to the campaign’s standalone website. Creating this fund helped garner exposure, but also added to Dove’s corporate social responsibility which is incredibly important in the overall view of the company and helped the campaign establish a monopoly on female self-confidence and self-esteem. Question 6 The introduction of â€Å"The Campaign for Real Beauty† definitely changed the brand meaning of Dove. The brand started out focusing on only the functional uses of its products, but the campaign transformed the brand to encompass an idea that was more powerful than mere functionality.The Dove brand remains pure and simple in its advertising, and still promotes its one-quarter moisturizer claim. But on top of that, Dove now stands for promoting self-esteem and self-confidence in young girls and women around the world. The brand also challenges the modern societal view of beauty which is monumental considering that no other company dares do it. Exhibit 2 shows a new brand association map that portrays the Dove brand after the launch of â€Å"T he Campaign for Real Beauty. † A few of the original associations have shifted and a few have been added: original, empowered, happy, extraordinary and confident.Most notably is the shift of the â€Å"beauty† association. Originally it was placed directly on the â€Å"Emotional† axis, and closer to the lower end. After the introduction of the campaign, beauty has shifted to the higher ends of both the â€Å"Emotional† and â€Å"Self-Expressive† axes. Another significant change is the addition of the â€Å"confident† association. Beforehand, Dove wasn’t known for instilling confidence in women, but after the introduction of the â€Å"Tick-Box† and â€Å"Firming† advertisements, that changed. It showed â€Å"real† women smiling happily, while baring their bodies despite them not matching societal expectations. Question 7: 1. Price PremiumAeker uses price premium as a measurement of loyalty. It represents of the extra amount of money that a customer is willing to pay for a brand compared to the generic option. Based on information provided in the case, there is no evidence to show how much financial growth â€Å"The Campaign for Real Beauty† has given the Dove brand. Although, in 2006, Dove was cited as one of the 10 brands with the greatest percentage gain in brand health since 2003. This acknowledgement is due to the fact that the brand had grown by $1. 2 billion in only three years. No one is sure how much of that growth can be credited to â€Å"The Campaign for Real Beauty. † 2.Satisfaction/Loyalty In brand equity, loyalty leads to satisfaction; this involves a customer’s experience with a product. Considering that Dove has been a well-known and well-loved brand for over 50 years, it can be easily deduced that there is a high level of loyalty behind the brand. Before â€Å"The Campaign for Real Beauty† concept, Dove focused on the functional benefits of its produc ts; mainly on the fact that Dove’s cleansing products contained one-quarter moisturizing cream. This differentiation between Dove and other cleansers is what made Dove the number one cleansing brand in 2007 and contributed to the brands largely female following.â€Å"The Campaign for Real Beauty,† although it started a lot of chatter about the brand, didn’t necessarily enforce more loyalty from new or existing customers. It would appear that Dove, while still using the campaign, is still focusing on its brand’s functional benefits to maintain loyalty. 3. Perceived Quality A products performance that varies from the object quality is the perceived quality. â€Å"The Campaign for Real Beauty† is an idea/message that Dove brand managers came up with in order to create a story on which they could sell their quickly increasing product line.The Dove products are still the same – they haven’t altered the ingredients of the products because o f the campaign. However, the quality of the brand itself has shifted. Because of the campaign’s focus on self-confidence and self-esteem in women and young girls, consumers began viewing Dove as a pioneer in the fight for societal acceptance of all. This view point is extremely important because the issue of body image in American culture is very prevalent, but companies refuse to address it in fear of being rejected by the masses for going against the â€Å"young, white, blonde and thin† norm.Because Dove decided to step out in protest of these so-called â€Å"norms,† the company runs the risk of being rejected. As Alicia Clegg stated: â€Å"Talk about real beauty all you want – once you’re the brand for fat girls, you’re toast. † 4. Leadership/Popularity The first series of Dove’s â€Å"Campaign for Real Beauty† ads came out to the public between 2002 and 2005. Since then, Dove has launched several ads following the me ssages inspired by â€Å"The Campaign for Real Beauty. † In 2007, Dove was â€Å"the world’s number-one â€Å"cleansing† brand in the health and beauty sector, with sales of over $2.5 billion a year in more than 80 countries. † This shows that 3-5 years after the introduction of â€Å"The Campaign for Real Beauty,† Dove remained the leader in its market. Also, since the campaign’s reveal, the brand grown by $1. 2 billion which can be mostly attributed to the brands product extensions, but also because of the campaign’s success. 5. Perceived Value The perceived value of Dove is the perceived brand utility relative to its costs. Dove is one of the more expensive â€Å"cleansing† brands in the market today, but it also offers more moisturizers which makes your skin softer and healthier.Since the perceived value focuses mainly on the functional uses of the product, â€Å"The Campaign for Real Beauty† does not affect the bran d’s perceived value. However, the campaign could increase or decrease a consumer’s individual perceived value if they support or reject the message that Dove is putting out with its campaign. 6. Brand Personality Dove’s brand personality links the brand’s emotional and self-expressive benefits to the consumer’s needs for social approval, personal expression or self-esteem. The idea of self-esteem is the whole basis of â€Å"The Campaign for Real Beauty.† After rigorous surveying and planning, the brand managers found out that only 2% of women worldwide consider themselves to be beautiful. Dove also found out that this is mostly because of the images women see every day in the media which depict women whose beauty is even unattainable to them (hello, Photoshop)! In response, Dove wanted to create its brand personality to encompass the idea of loving yourself in your own skin no matter your shape, size, color, etc. This new personality was emb raced by consumers and the media, most notably Katie Couric and Oprah Winfrey.7. Organizational Associations Organizational associations urge consumers to connect the organization’s employees, values and programs with the brand itself. This is very well done in Dove because of â€Å"The Campaign for Real Beauty. † Because the campaign is an idea, it offers many values out to customers that reflect what the Dove brand is all about. Because of the campaign, Dove, to the hope of the brand managers, will become a brand synonymous with â€Å"natural beauty† and â€Å"self-esteem† – extremely powerful words in the beauty market in America. 8. Brand AwarenessBrand awareness refers to how aware consumers are of Dove and its products. Because of the dramatic shift in brand personality and ground-breaking advertising series, Dove has created a lot of chatter. This is centered on â€Å"The Campaign for Real Beauty. † When the advertisements first surfa ced, they were so different and controversial that the media got involved and did news reports on the campaign. This was fantastic free advertising for Dove. Because news outlets and media personalities were discussing this campaign and the Dove brand itself, it got customers interested.Like a wildfire, word spread across the internet and people were creating blog posts, YouTube videos, updating their Facebook and Twitter accounts mostly in praise of the campaign. 9. Market Share Nothing is stated in the case about the market share of Dove, but its competitors include Proctor and Gamble’s Ivory, Kao’s Jergens, and Beiersdorf’s Nivea. However, it can be assumed that since Dove has been a leader in the health and beauty sector of the market since its introduction, it has a fairly large market share.This share may have been increased due to the brands $1. 2 billion increase from the introduction of an extended product line and â€Å"The Campaign for Real Beauty. à ¢â‚¬  10. Market Price and Distribution Coverage From personal experience and knowledge, Dove products are generally on the higher side of the pricing scale. They use high quality ingredients, and use more moisturizer than other brands so the skin stays softer and healthier. Dove sells all of their health and beauty products in grocery stores, convenience stores and drug stores.Because Dove’s â€Å"Campaign for Real Beauty† focuses on the everyday woman, it wouldn’t make sense for the company to try and sell in high end stores like Macys, Sephora or Nordstrom. Placing Dove products in places where any woman could find it increases the likelihood that the campaign will stick in the minds of target consumers and expand from there. Overall, â€Å"The Campaign for Real Beauty† is positively contributing to Dove’s brand equity. In a majority of Aaker’s markers, the campaign has clearly added a positive spin on the brands total equity. This is es pecially true in the brand’s personality.The campaign completely transformed the brand from one that merely focused on the functional benefits of the products to the feel and meaning of the brand as a whole. This is important because now that Dove has a large line of different products, creating a meaning behind the brand itself makes creating a story easier. Questions 8 and 9 Each of the consumer-created responses listed poke fun at the advertisement efforts of the Dove brand. Despite the existence of these mock advertisements and social messages, it doesn’t seem that the Dove brand or â€Å"The Campaign for Real Beauty† was hijacked by consumers.A brand hijacking is defined as â€Å"the consumer’s act of commandeering a brand from the marketing professionals by seizing control of its ideology, use and persona, and driving its evolution. † Based on what’s been accomplished by Dove and its campaign and the efforts of these consumer’s, saying the brand has been hijacked based on these few responses unrealistic. â€Å"Slob Evolution,† a consumer-created YouTube parody of Dove’s â€Å"Evolution† video features a normal looking man being transformed into a â€Å"slob† by make-up artists and the use of Photoshop. This specific video has a little over 1.5 million views on YouTube in the last six years. In contrast, the Dove video has almost 16 million views on YouTube in the same amount of time. Because so few people saw the consumer-created video as compared to the real video, I don’t think one could say that Dove lost control of the campaign’s initial meaning. In addition, majority of the comments in response to â€Å"Slob Evolution† don’t even mention the Dove brand or â€Å"The Campaign for Real Beauty. † The same could be said for â€Å"Dove vs. Axe,† a consumer-created response to Dove’s Onslaught film. There are only 5,500 views in the last three years.There hasn’t been enough exposure of these mock films to trigger a hijacking. One of the most powerful consumer-created videos is the â€Å"Onslaughter† video. It was created to get the message across that Dove allegedly uses palm oil from Indonesia that was planted after the destruction of lowland forests. While this is a powerful statement and potential problem for Dove, this advertisement doesn’t focus on â€Å"The Campaign for Real Beauty. † It does, however, present a problem because its name is very similar to the name of one of Dove’s real advertisements for the campaign.When the actual video’s name, â€Å"Onslaught,† is typed into Youtube, the consumer-created video is one of the first to come up. Again, this isn’t necessarily hijacking â€Å"The Campaign for Real Beauty,† but rather a small attack on Dove. Question 10 Based on the qualitative and quantitative success of â€Å"The Campaign for Real Beauty,† I think Dove should continue investing in the campaign. The brand has experienced phenomenal sales growth in the last five or so years, and has introduced several new products into the market through the campaign.Dove can continue to advertise using the values and messages from â€Å"The Campaign for Real Beauty,† and continue to open up dialogue about self-esteem and body image. There has been such a positive response to the campaign itself and already so much investment into programs and funds. As young girls grow up seeing Dove’s ads and messages, they will develop a loyalty and understanding of the brand. In addition, hopefully with Dove’s messages and influence, there can be radical change in the way girls view themselves.Since â€Å"real† women are the majority of women who buy Dove products, it’s important that Dove continue their focus on them. By reverting back to merely focusing on functional benefits, consumers could easily forget what Dove stood for in the past and simply change to another brand that may be cheaper and offer the same benefits. Dove must continually emphasize â€Å"The Campaign for Real Beauty† so people do not forget the social responsibility that Dove is trying to take on. In addition, no other brand or company is willing to take this similar risk, so Dove can continue to profit unopposed using this strategy.

Religion a tool of oppression Essay

Religion is an important aspect of life; it influences a high proportion of many things. The odd part is that many people are not actually clear on what a religion is. There are several key aspects that make something a religion although the exact details can vary. In reality there is no firm agreement on just what a religion is. Religion is defined by the online dictionary as‘a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs’, ‘The body of persons adhering to a particular set of beliefs’. Religion is a belief system that uses symbols to allow people to explore their spirituality. Religions usually rely on narratives and symbols that are used to offer a meaning to life or to explain things like who or how the universe was created. In addition most religions have an ethical component that teaches people how they are expected to live. There is a lot of variation within this as can be seen by the number of religions that exist in the world. In fact there is no firm agreement about what constitutes a religion and what does not. One aspect of religion that applies in all cases is that it is a public process. Having a personal belief system does not make it a religion. By definition a religion is an organized activity that involves other people. Most religions have a hierarchical system for example with priests and bishops and so on but this is not required. Most religions also have a specific place of worship and there are usually sermons, festivals and many other activities that are part of the process. None of this is strictly required; the only requirement is that the religion be a belief system that is held by a group of people who publicly share that religion. However in practice the vast majority of religions have some aspect of these things. A lot of religions have been established in drastically different ways with the differences largely being cultural. The largest difference in most cases is that some religions put the importance on belief whiles others put the emphasis on practice. Basically this means that in some cases the most important thing is that you believe the doctrines of the religion while in other cases it is more important what you do than that you actually believe what is being taught. It’s a known fact that religion is used to emphasise the importance of peace and harmony between individuals for example some of the laws made by the government is influenced by Christianity’s ’10 Commandment’. All Religions teach parents how to train or discipline their children, how to overcome certain obstacles and also what to and what not to do, religion does these things by promising a reward and punishments in the afterlife, paradise for the righteous followers and condemnationfor the people which disobey Discussion However, religion is criticised of being a tool of oppression, a sociologist, Karl Marx famously stated that â€Å"Religion is the opiate of the people† that statement clearly shows that he’s thought that religion was a lie by the ruling powers for example, the kings presidents etc., to keep their subjects submissive and obedient, and to give them hope for the next life so they would not revolt in this life. Also, another Marxists sociologist, Louis Althusser, brought forth the idea that religion serves the society by being the ideological state apparatuses, this basically means that the higher class rule over the working class by controlling people’s ideas, values and beliefs. This means that the higher class just brought forth religion as a way to control the massed that all their hard work will be rewarded in the next life or will be punished if they try to rebel the higher class’s control over them. The medieval theology presented the culture of the time a concept called ‘the divine right of kings’ this therefore basically means that whatever the king said were directly from God and should be treated as the decisions of God. This was just the latest of manifestation of the tendency of ancient dictators to place themselves as identical with God, as the Roman Emperors would do, having the citizens bow in worship of them. In actual fact, history swarms with examples of power starved governments and individuals using God, gods and religion as a mean of justification for their thoughtless and self-aggrandizing use of political power. So then, is religions especially precisely the Christian faith, then, simply another scheme imposed upon the masses to keep them obedient to the law of the land, no matter how unfair the law may be to stop them retaliating? A quote from the Bible, Hebrew 11:1 states that ‘To have faith is to be sure of the things we hope for, to be certain of the things we cannot see’if this passage is clearly and carefully looked at with the thought of it being used by the government or higher ruling classes as a tool of oppression, then it’s clear that this is used as a reassurance to its followers not to doubt the passages in the book and have faith that all the deceit they are exposed to is for their own good. In the Bible, the passage Matthew 10, talks about Jesus sending out his disciples out into the world, instructing them to preach his gospel no matter what the subsequences may be as well as warning them of the resistance and acts of hatred they will encounter just because of their message, Jesus says‘ Think not that I have come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household’ When the disciples went forth and began to teach, they were arrested repeatedly. At one court hearing they were asked if they had not understood that they were not allowed to teach the Gospel of Jesus, to which they replied, â€Å"We ought to obey God rather than men.†So therefore the real question is has religion been used as a tool for governments and authorities to control the masses? Absolutely. However, there is one element found in all such religions that is conspicuously absent in proper Christianity. That is the idea that true religion consists of obeying a set of laws in order to gain eternal reward.In ancient Egypt the deceased are judged by their deeds in life, their souls being weighed against a feather. If the soul is not weighed down with wickedness, they pass into the realm of the gods. In modern day Islam there is a similar belief where Allah judges the dead, weighing their adherence to the laws set forth in the Quran against their evil deeds. If Allah deems that the person’s obedience was greater than their disobedience, they pass into paradise.Even in Roman Catholicism, a person must constantly confess and make amends for their evil, following the various rituals of the Church in order to gain salvation. When a religion forces constant performance from its followers, promising the highest reward for obedience and the most monstrouspenalties for failure to execute, that religion has a controlling effect that cannot be overstated. The followers of the religion become absolute slaves to the performance demanded by their faith. There is also a strong tendency to hypocrisy in such religions, since the followers tend to overestimate their own righteous performance while looking down on others. Proper Christianity, however, is no such faith. While every other religion offers only enslavement to law, Christianity offers freedom from law and laws. This is why Christians have always obeyed a power that transcends government, often to the violation of those governments. Because those who must follow laws in order to obtain God’s favour come to resent those laws, but those who are freely forgiven and adopted have a loyalty that surpasses compulsory obedience. They have a loyalty to God that stems from bottomless gratitude On the other hand religion is not all gloom and doom, religion is inevitable in our day to day life. Religion is an important part of life for many people. Even people who are not all that religious by nature consider it to be important. The question is why do they feel this way? The reason is largely down to the belief that society needs religion. As a society we benefit from our collective religious beliefs. In fact there are many people who would argue that we could not function without religion. The biggest reason that society needs religion is to regulate behaviour. Most of the laws that we follow today have their basis in religious teachings. There is considerable debate as to whether or not religion is required to make us good people but what is beyond dispute is that the rules for what is acceptable for society are largely based on religion. Without religion we would almost certainly live in a different type of society, it can be debated whether it would be better or worse but it would certainly be different. Since a major change like that would be impractical it is important that we maintain religion. The other big reason that society needs religion is that it teaches self-sufficiency. Virtually all religions that teach that you are responsible for taking care of yourself. While they all support the idea of charity, none of them teach that accepting charity should be desirable. This has helped to encourage the work ethic that is needed to make society successful. Therefore it is important that people continue to desire to do the work that is necessary. Society is largely based on the idea of cooperation. This can be a bit of a tricky issue since as humans we are selfish by nature. There is an obvious problem here; we need to work together to be successful but for the most part we can benefit personally by being selfish. Religion has proven to be an effective way to get around this problem. Religion teaches that we should work together and help each other and it discourages the kind of selfish behaviour that would make a functioning society impossible. Certainly there are selfish people who are willing to take advantage of others for their own benefit. However the fact that the people who do this are in the minority is largely down to religion.

Cost of Turnover in Organizations Free Essay Example, 1000 words

2). The increase in the cost of turnover depends on the accumulated learning, experience, and contacts of leaving employees (Katsikea et al. , 2014, p. 2). Losing high-level knowledge workers with specialized competencies is a costly problem for employees. Several reports and studies showed that turnover costs are high, particularly when companies evaluate their losses in terms of knowledge, experience, and contacts. Lucas (2012) described the cost of turnover in organizations. She explored the costs through a hypothetical scenario and used data from the case study of the Center for American Progress that used 31 corporations. The findings of this study underscored that employee turnover is costly. Lucas (2012) reported that for work that earns less than $50,000 per year, the average cost of hiring a new employee can reach up to 20% of the leaving employee’s yearly salary (para. 4). She stressed that though low-paying jobs that usually have high turnover rates are less costly to replace, the cost will still reach 16% of the yearly salary and these costs can add up for large turnover rates (Lucas, 2012, para. We will write a custom essay sample on Cost of Turnover in Organizations or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now 6). In addition, the study underscored that losing executives is the costliest of all. Replacing an executive can have expenses that can reach up to 213% of the executive’s salary (Lucas, 2012, para. 8). Guilding, Lamminmaki, and McManus (2014) described the costs of turnover for the hotel industry. They mentioned a number of real examples of companies losing tens of millions every year because of their turnover rates. One study noted that a turnover rate of 50% for front desk employees results to a loss of $150,000 every year (Guilding et al. , 2014, p. 232). Losing employees at all levels means costs for companies. Graham-Leviss (2011) reported higher estimated turnover costs for sales team members. She stressed that turnover cost can reach up to 200% of the salary because of the wide range of tangible and intangible expenses in replacing lost employees (Graham-Leviss, 2011, para. 1). Graham-Leviss (2011) determined that the tangible compon ents of turnover costs are â€Å"severance pay, vacation accrual, and job advertising and recruiting fees, † while the intangible costs are â€Å"the staff time needed for paperwork, recruiting, resume reviews and interviews, and then new-hire orientation and training, † as well as â€Å"customer dissatisfaction, poor employee morale and loss of revenue during transitions† (para. 2). To reiterate her point, she gave an example of a company with 10% yearly turnover rate and turnover cost of 150% of $50,000 (yearly salary).