Globalization and Technology Changes in Starbucks Company Research Paper - 8

Globalization and Technology Changes in Starbucks Company - Research Paper Example Here the company has carefully expanded its products and expertise to reflect new channels, products, and markets. Today Starbucks Company proudly offers its newly acquired customers assorted iconic beverages as well as new menu choices that reflect their community preferences. Technological advancement has in the recent days proven as offering certain companies a competitive edge over other similar companies. Changes in technology have equally been associated with growth in the competitiveness. Starbuck Company takes this idea seriously and has been in the forefront initiating new technological operations. Using this technology Starbuck has realized benefits ranging from administrative functions, management of our supply chain, online business, point-of-sale processing and payment at the stores and online, Starbucks Cards. There is no doubt that technology has boosted Starbucks operations and profitability, thanks to its inherent effectiveness and efficiency elements. Globalization and technological changes have seen the Starbuck grow its market outside America to include the China and Asia Pacific segment and the Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) segment. The former segment at one point became the fastest growing market delivering about 27% of the total growth in 2013. Ideally, Globalization and technological changes allowed the company to increase its market and thus increase its Net Revenues from $9.8 billion in 2009 to $14.9 in 2013(STARBUCKS CORPORATION Fiscal 2013 Annual Report, 2014). Â  Starbuck success is no secret and no one can doubt its standing among its equals; however, there is still much room for better performance. Maybe one of the ways this company can ensure its returns go above –average is by keeping up the search for more distribution channels in its US market and offer a wide range of food to complement its beverage business. Such is the case that this move will increase the average customer check.

Issues in Gumdrop Northern Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Issues in Gumdrop Northern - Essay Example In the later stages, the US military began to understand the different problems from the gumdrop northern and the department of justice and the lawyers came involved in the issue and the leaders were going down the barrels of the prosecution.The authorities of the management became aware of the fact and as the judiciary duties have to be fulfilled. The company had to face certain legal issues regarding the employees as they were at the edge of bankruptcy, In order to maintain the stand in the market the company had fired out the employees for no reasons and the people had to suffer a lot because of the issue. As the company was bankrupted and as they have build rapport with the countries like Argentina and Columbia where the company assets had been transferred to banks in Argentina and which assured customers with good finance which can make them free from creditors.   Exporting of landmines to Afghanistan and Iran in contradiction to the international law and treaty. The supply of the defective land mines to Afganistan and the defective switches of them caused the death of soldiers and children. Ethics engage in the area of interpersonal, group, and community policy at the different levels in the organization and the outcome of the achievement of the result. The ethics is the complex process in the organization. There are different ethical issues in the organization gumdrop, the gumdrop is the organization with the annual revenue of about $500 billion and as the revenue and the outcome are considered they are found to be good performing company, but unlike to the ethical practices the company had  a problems in the product even though they had a good payment been done for its body armor and armored vehicles, the company also uses various substandard products for its manufacturing.

Acting out-Tranference and Countertransference Research Paper

Acting out-Tranference and Countertransference - Research Paper Example The notion of acting out has been imposed with various orientations and connotations. The thirty-year old precise definition, which was thought to be a rightful and analyzable form of resistance, has now been extended to make room for delinquent behaviors and pathological and impulsive actions. The expression is now used by various psychoanalysts and others to include a variety of antisocial, impulsive and unsafe actions, often without keeping in mind the context in which the action arose. It is also sometimes used in derogatory sense to indicate dissatisfaction in the actions of patients. The present puzzlement around the phenomenon basically starts from the time when Sigmund Freud translated the term. In 1901, Freud used the informal term handeln meaning ‘to act’ to describe faulty actions, which according to him had unconscious importance. However, in 1905, he used a less informal term, agieren which also meant ‘to act’, but with a more forceful connotation. Freud initiated the expression in agieren as ‘Remembering, repeating and working through’ (1914). Agieren was then translated as ‘acting out’ and it is most likely that it is the translation that had lead to uncertainty in the psychological literature. Acting out basically refers to the release through actions, rather than verbalization, of conflicted mental substance. Even though there is a difference between act and word, both types of liberations are answers to a return of the repressed; repeated in the case of actions and remembered in the case of words. Another difference sometimes drawn is between acting out and acting in, used to differentiate between actions that occur outside the psychoanalytical treatment and actions that take place within treatment. The concept of acting out is strongly related to the theory of the transference and its advancement. Even though Freud treated the transference as the source of acting out and as a hindrance to the treatment

What Makes an Effective Team Work Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

What Makes an Effective Team Work - Essay Example In some situations, one type offers the most benefits, and in some other circumstances, other type of team can be fruitful in achieving the expected outcomes. However, in order to understand the effectiveness of teamwork, the paper will now discuss some of the different types of teams that will allow an efficient understanding of teamwork. Analysis of the material related to teams has indicated that different experts and researchers have identified and categorized teams into different types that will take more than this paper. For this reason, this paper will discuss some of the most common and effective types of teams that will be worthy of a discussion. As the name says itself, peer means someone that is almost of the same characteristics of the other. In this regard, peer workgroups usually involves individuals that possess the same attributes; however, such attributes can vary and depend on setting of the workgroup. For instance, an evident example of peer-to-peer workgroup is an educational class in the school that involves children or students of the same age group (DuBrin, pp. 77-81). The basic notion of peer-to-peer workgroup is an informal platform that provides an opportunity to the team members to achieve the objectives while learning and complementing each other. One of the significant characteristics of peer-to-peer workgroup that it although caters individuals of the same age group or same class or same interest, such as music, art, etc. However, it always consists of various diverse attributes of the team members, such as different socio-economic status, different race, etc that makes peer-to-peer group an efficient an d natural way of interacting with each other. Until now, the paper discussed an informal type of workgroup that involves peer-to-peer learning; however, additive and conjunctive are both formal types of teams that enable the team members to work formally to achieve the

Saving Private Ryan by Steven Spielberg Essay Example for Free

Saving Private Ryan by Steven Spielberg Essay Write a newspaper film review analysing how Steven Spielberg makes the cinema audience regard the pain of others. In the Omaha Beach sequence at the beginning of Saving Private Ryan. Saving Private Ryan Cast Tom Hanks, Tom Sizemore, Matt Damon, Edward Burns, Jeremy Davies, Vin Diesel, Adam Golberg, Barry Pepper and Giovanni Rabisi. Director Steven Spielberg. Producers Ian Bryce , Mark Gordon, Gary Levinsohn. Screenplay Robert Rodat. Cinematography Janusz Kaminski. Music John Williams. U.S Distributor DreamWorks SKG/Paramount Pictures. Viewer Rating 15. Internationally acclaimed 1940s war epic Saving Private Ryan directed by Steven Spielberg, this outstanding box office hit picked up five academy awards for:- Best Director. Cinematography. Film Editing. Sound and Sound Effects editing. Best Picture This award top grossing American Motion Picture of 1998. Saving Private Ryan opens with a cinematic battle that is, without a doubt, one of the finest, most graphic and realistic half-hours committed to film. This sequence, a soldiers eye view of the D-Day invasion of Normandy, is brilliant, not only in the terms of technique but in the depth of viewer reactions it generates, such films as Platoon, and the Apocalypse dont come close to the immense scenery Spielberg has portrayed. It is certainly the most violent, gory and realistic depiction of war that I have ever witnessed, the levels of pain put across with splitting sounds and visuals on screen. Spielberg spares the viewer nothing of the horrors of battle, using unbelievable images to display the utter chaos and senselessness that any soldier will encounter in an engagement with the enemy. Spielberg presents us with graphic scenes of Omaha Beach, the sequence is random, unstructured and subject to sheer chaos made all the more effective to the emotion on screen. Spielbergs portrayal of war on camera is outstanding, Spielberg also uses other methods to capture his sense of war, hand held cameras, a slight speeding up of images and also slowing up of images to show complete bewilderment the soldiers have to go through in the heat of battle. Also muted sound is used as to show when a shell or grenade has exploded close by and a soldier has lost their hearing. The soundtrack at the start of the sequence when soldiers are exiting the landing craft is like you are falling underwater and with a blurred sense of vision and hearing. Captain John Miller (Tom Hanks) goes through a sequence of shell shock where he is witnessing his fellow countrymen die around him, not only death in a clean and typical country and western fashion, but horrific, Spielberg shows the sheer randomness and shocking way that someone can die in the heat of battle The hand held effect used by Spielberg is used to give you the perspective of what a solider is looking at in the bedlam of battle, bullets piercing everywhere, decapitation and death surrounding everything, truly shocking images being displayed, it doesnt bare thinking about to actually experience being picked off like sitting ducks on a pond, no where to go, no where to hide, knowing that the only way you can survive is to advance towards the enemy! In the opening sequence we see an American Amphibious landing vehicle approach Omaha Beach, as soon as the door drops on the front of the vessel facing the enemy the scene explodes into intense rapid machine gun fire. Nine out of ten instantly get pierced-feared dead. This shot has been used wit the German gunner out of view, showing a dark figure with no emotion and no care in the world, which is what the worlds prospective was of the Nazis at this time of sorrow. The camera effect fades right as the gun in the view aims in the direction of a vessel, giving the effect that it is in fact the aim of a Nazi soldiers eyes. The camera quickly switches to a shot down in the water at the beach where a soldier has been set foot into the water at waist height. As the soldier struggles through the water he sinks under, the soundtrack changes at this point to men shouting and the sound of gunfire, as the soldier is oblivious and concentrating on making it out of the water alive, he is shot through the chest and falls motionless into the water, the camera is shaking at the shells smashing into the beach whilst the camera is on a soldiers eye view, like the solider is witnessing his comrades die. It just makes you think an awful lot about the daunting task that the army had to embark upon that day. The first really graphic moving image Spielberg introduces to us in is near the start of the sequence, he doesnt hold back the gory images at all, the audience witnesss the pain of others but showing for example a soldier walking up the beach with a determined look on his face, when he suddenly shelled and is left leg is decapitated to the hip, he hits the floor feared dead with bright red blood spurting out onto the grey beach. Spielberg also shows the power of a shell by re-enacting a blast and following it up with the soldier rather overreact to some peoples point of view, do a cart wheel in mid air, there is also a fellow dead solider lying beside him in this shot. The next shot is where Captain John Miller (Tom Hanks) is first introduced into the film and this is done by him crawling up the shell battered beach, clenching his helmet, making his way to shelter behind an ALD (Anti Landing Device) used by the Germans to prevent the amphibious vehicles getting up the beach. In my opinion, I think the introduction of Tom Hanks distracts the viewer from what really is going on., there is a war going on, but this shot is when a plot begins to emerge. Carrying on the sequence it shows through Captain John Miller (Tom Hanks) eyes, view pointing on a squirming solider who is very young trying to save himself from enemy fire. This is showing human emotions and reality of war and what effect it can have on a person. This young soldier has given up on his objective, he is crying and trying to push another solider out of the way so he can get more cover from enemy fire, which gives the impression of every man for himself. Again Captain John Miller (Tom Hanks) is shown in close up, his emotion is dazed. The soundtrack suddenly fades and sounds like he is underwater, gurgling sounds and sounds in the distance. This shot has been used to show how much of what you are looking upon can effect you. Captain John Miller (Tom Hanks) looks upon his fellow men dying around him, his face really shows how much he cares but also looking very unaware of where he is and what he is doing. The following scene (shot) is seen through Captain John Millers (Tom Hanks) eyes, he looks at a soldier approaching the higher tier of the beach, with one solider with a flame thrower on his back being followed by two other infantrymen. The flame pack gets pierced by a bullet and explodes, engulfing him and the other soldiers, this is where colour is properly introduced with the flames and Captain John Miller (Tom Hanks) still dazed, the sound is like a brush of wind through trees. This shot gives the sense of how war can backfire on you, its ironic how this American soldier was going to use his unique weapon to kill the enemy but as a result it killed him in an horrific manor, showing countless ways that people can die in wartime. Moving back to Captain John Miller (Tom Hanks) looking through his eyes, he sees a man who has had his arm decapitated and is searching for his lost limb in confusion, after being re united with his mangled arm, he simply walks off down the beach. The scenery behind this injured soldier has been framed behind the Anti Landing Devices to keep the mood of battle and with soldiers crawling around underneath this soldier to show more authenticity and amazement at what the soldier is doing. Once again showing randomness in war, with the man who simply has given up his objective. Still with no dialogue introduced yet. The following shot in this sequence brings you back to Captain John Miller (Tom Hanks) after just seeing three men being engulfed in flames, a wash of blood sprays onto Captain John Millers (Tom Hanks) face and dribbles down, but he just closes his eyes, still dazed and a doesnt seem fazed by this, although looking surprised he is still without proper hearing. This is used to still represent confusion in war. Spielberg shows the machinery in wartime used in the D-Day landings, he represents them by a landing craft is on fire and American soldiers pouring out on fire. Landing craft called PA30-31 designed to drive up the beach, but unsuccessful and engulfed in flames. The soldiers arent bothered about getting shot, they are just worried about getting the flames off them by diving into the freezing cold water, running around like headless chickens, showing that not everything goes to plan in war, and again the randomness of it all. Also showing that you cant always die by the bullet. This shot is still looking through the captains eyes, the first scene with a crowd sense. The soundtrack at this moment is still with Captain John Millers (Toms Hanks) hearing disabled slightly and you hear the sound of flames and shouting. Showing the sense of uncertainty and danger the soldiers are in. The camera is used in a way that helps us to understand Millers confusion. One shot has the camera panning away from Millers eyes as his hearing slowly returns, to the sound of explosions and endless gunfire, illustrating that Captain John Miller (Tom Hanks) has suddenly become aware of what is around him and what he has to do to survive. Miller is seen putting his helmet on which is filled with sea water stained red with blood, the camera follows this action closely as the blood runs down his face, again illustrating the stark reality of his situation. This is further emphasised by the introduction of the first real dialogue, What do we do now sir? Miller is slow to respond and the soldier shouts, I said what the hell do we do now sir!? To say that the film starts with a BANG! Is an understatement, Spielberg uses grotesque images of blood, gore, drowning, dismemberment and death to create impact and then shows us by his clever use of camera angles and close ups shots, the mental and physical pain that these men experienced. This ultimately leaves the viewer shell shocked and in complete empathy with those who experienced the D-Day landings on June 6th 1944.

Effect of Loyalty Cards on Customer Loyalty

Effect of Loyalty Cards on Customer Loyalty Background of the topic: The purpose of this dissertation is to analyze and investigate the effect of the loyalty cards on customer loyalty and how does it helps large organizations to achieve its goals. When shopping in supermarkets there is one experience that everyone has, when customers finish with their shopping and get to a checkout, the assistant will ask the customers, whether they have a clubcard. This will continue every time whenever those customers without a clubcard shops in the future, the assistant will keep on asking them for a clubcard unless they get one for themselves. Now there is a question that will come across every customers mind, what is a clubcard and why does every company insist them and every customer to be a part of the clubcard family? Now people become curious and they want to get a clubcard too. The assistant says to fill up a form with the customers general details like name, address and contact details and the day customer fills the form, next day they will receive a clubca rd. Impressive, now why companies offer clubcards to their customers, how do companies benefit from these schemes they provide for their customers? Background of this research title is concerned with the highly competitive market where retail giants have to survive and maintain their competitive edge to always stay ahead in the race or even to survive the downfall whenever necessary. Unlimited majors are taken and a huge amount of time and money is spent to attract customers who bring revenue to the company. Having a large number of competitors around, it is very difficult to have a competitive advantage. Basic mean for this subject matter is to identify the purpose and importance of relationship marketing, and its benefits to make strategic decisions. Loyalty cards can significantly boost business profits whilst simultaneously building customer loyalty. Studies show that loyalty cards are one of the most cost effective ways to build brand loyalty and improve customer retention. Loy alty cards are used by all the major retail and supermarket chains as a vital tool to improve profitability, but one does not need to be a national high street store in order to run a profitable reward card scheme. One of the reasons the supermarkets are taking business away from independent retailers are the incentives offered in their loyalty card schemes. The loyalty cards market in the UK is one of the most significant in the world and forms the backbone of marketing and customer retention planning. With over 85% of UK Households possessing loyalty cards it is really a case where companies can afford not to offer a loyalty card service to their customers. There are different companies who offer loyalty schemes for their customer and give customers shopping vouchers after they spend certain amount of money through those loyalty cards. Main objective behind loyalty cards is to keep customer loyal with the company by offering them discounts and gifts on their shopping so they spend more money in their shops and markets. Most common example of loyalty card is Tesco club card, Sainsbury nectar card and other such cards offered by different companies in the country. But most of the people wont understand the idea behind those loyalty cards that how they work. The success of the Tesco Clubcard has been well documented, in 2002 a Market and Opinion Research Poll found that Tescos Clubcard had been more successful than the programmers offered by rival supermarkets (Smith, 2004). Rationale: Why is this study being done Tesco got a huge amount of success with its loyalty schemes unlike its competitors. The reason behind this study is to find out why Tesco was so successful with their Loyalty cards, Tesco Club cards, as they are named, and how it played a very important role in maintaining their customers loyalty, which is very important for any business today. The theory behind this concept is Relationship Marketing, and how it was used by Tesco to grow its business. Background of this research title is concerned with the highly competitive market where retail giants have to survive and maintain their competitive edge to always stay ahead in the race or even to survive the downfall whenever necessary. Unlimited majors are taken and a huge amount of time and money is spent to attract customers who bring revenue to the company. Having a large number of competitors around, it is very difficult to have a competitive advantage. Basic mean for this subject matter is to identify the purpose and importance of relationship marketing, and its benefits to make strategic decisions. Companies offer such countless schemes for their customers to retain and maintain customer loyalty for their store. There are many other factors behind these loyalty schemes where companies benefit. Loyalty card schemes are not only beneficial for the customers, but are equally beneficial for the companies as well. Significance: How does the study contribute The aim of the research is to identify the impact of the Tesco Clubcard on customer loyalty. This will contribute to contrast customer perceptions of the Clubcard, staff and â€Å"feeling valued† to identify which factor has the greater impact on customer loyalty to store. The paper is useful to both practitioners and academics in the fields of relationship marketing and loyalty. The research provides some initial insight into consumer perspectives in the value of loyalty cards. Tesco has succeeded with the strategy of loyalty cards, but its competitors did not. Retailers like Sainsburys and ASDAs who are the competitors of Tesco, did not manage to promote their business using their loyalty cards as Tesco did. Tesco got a huge amount of success with its loyalty schemes unlike its competitors. Tesco has been known for their best customer service where as its competitor, Asda have been known for their best value and low competitive prices. Now why has Tesco chosen such a marketi ng strategy to attract customers and increase revenue? The reason behind this study is to find out why Tesco was so successful with their Loyalty cards, Tesco Club cards, as they are named, and how it played a very important role in maintaining their customers loyalty, which is very important for any business today. The theory behind this concept is Relationship Marketing, and how it was used by Tesco to grow its business. Tesco has chosen a marketing strategy where they need to gain customers faith and trust to maintain a good relationship with them. Hence they need to know everything about their customers individually. How will they keep a track of each and every customer they have? There are many strategies to know your customers and Tesco uses such strategies to have a good track of their customers. The best way to do this is by the method of loyalty cards. Companies can know much more about their customers through loyalty cards. This study will show how Tesco collects data of t heir customers and use that data to improve their customer service in order to gain customer satisfaction. Aims Objectives: The aim of the research is to investigate the influence of the Tesco Clubcard on customer store loyalty. In 1995, Tesco introduced the loyalty Clubcard that was to offer, â€Å"Benefits to regular shoppers whilst helping the company discover more about its Customer needs†. The main aim of this research will be to compare the Loyalty schemes of Tesco Clubcards with its competitors like Sainsburys and ASDA, and find out why Tescos Clubcards were a huge success unlike Sainsburys Nectar and Asda loyalty cards did not succeed in promoting their business. The study also focuses on the need of customer loyalty and what steps were taken by Tesco to retain and maintain its customer loyalty. (www.tescocorporate.com) Sign Posting: A glance at the major and successful organizations around the globe shows that their success is partly due to their ability to apply the theory of relationship marketing. In the contemporary business arena, all organizations, large or small improve their effectiveness and efficiency by applying this theory, thus improving their customer service and customer relations which play a very important role for any business organization. This study shows the brief idea of the Relationship Marketing and how it has been used by the retail giant, Tesco to gain their customers loyalty and retain it for a long time. Tesco is the company on which this whole study has been based on. At the first there is some information and idea has been explained about Relationship Marketing and how is plays a vital role in companys marketing strategies. It also discusses about the benefits of the relationship marketing and how it is used by the company to achieve its aims and objectives. This will later on conti nue with the main topic, that is, the success of Tescos loyalty cards other than its competitors. It will discuss the concept of the loyalty cards and the different strategies used by Tesco and even its competitors to get a competitive edge in the surviving market. The later part of the study also shows how Clubcards are beneficial for the customers as well as the company. Then research methodology is identified that how the research will be conducted, it includes that how the research will designed means the ways through effective data can be find out. Literature Review In this discussion outcomes from the previous research will be demonstrate to provide the clear understanding to the topic. In this chapter views of different authors and researches will be quoted to support the research. It will include the work of researchers who have worked on this matter and have reached to some conclusion. As a literature review chapter it will consist of basic definitions of customer loyalty, customer relationship, loyalty cards and the most important one relationship marketing. This chapter will also explain these theories and how are they applicable for the strategies used by the companies to achieve their goals and success. Customer Relationship: What does it mean for an organisation and its customer to have a relationship with each other? What kind of a relationship would they have with each other? Do customers have relationships with enterprises that do not know them? Is it necessary that the companies know their customers or the other way around? What kind of a relationship would that be if both the parties are unaware of the relationship they have? Can the enterprise be said to have a relationship with a customer it does not know? Is it possible for a customer to have a relationship with a brand? It can be said that customers would know the products but not the company. Experts have studied the nature of relationships in business for many years, and there are many different perspectives on the fundamental purpose of relationships in business strategies. It can be said that the only aim of the company is not only to gain maximum profits out of their customers or having the greatest market share or the rank the company is. Instead, to be successful in the era of interactivity, when it is possible to deal individually with separate customers, the business objective must include establishing meaningful and profitable relationships at least with the most valuable customers, and making the overall customer base more valuable. Technology plays a very crucial role in maintaining this relationship between companies and customers. In short, the company strives to get a customer, keep that customer for a lifetime, and grow the value of the customer to the organisation. Relationships are the crux of the customer-strategy enterprise. Relationships between customers and enterprises provide the framework for everything else connected to the customer-value business model. This is the same model used by Tesco in order to gain a competitive advantage in the most competitive markets in the world. The exchange between a customer and the enterprise becomes mutually beneficial, as customers give information in return for personalized service that meets their individual needs. Because we are talking about relationships between businesses and their customers, it is important that we agree on a few of the elements that make up a genuine relationship. And while dictionary definitions are not bad as starting points, the most important issue for us to consider is how well our own definition of relationship helps companies succeed in the â€Å"customer dimension† of competition. Lets list some of the distinct qualities that should characterize a relationship between an enterprise and a customer. First, a relationship implies mutuality. In order for anyone to consider a relationship, both the company and its customer have to participate in and be aware of the existence of the relationship. This is the most common factor which is needed to be realized by both the parties. This means that relationships must inherently be two-way in nature. Second, relationships are driven by interaction. When the company and the customer interact, they exchange information, and this information exchange is a best tool for building the relationship. This, of course, also implies mutuality. But interactions dont have to take place by phone or in person or on the Web. An interaction takes place when a customer buys a product from the company that sells it. This is where the customer and the company are in face to face for a reason which builds up this relationship. Every interaction adds to the total information content possible in the relationship. This leads to the third characteristic of a relationship: It is iterative in nature. That is, since both the customer and the company are interacting mutually, the interactions themselves build up a history, over time—a context. This context gives a relationships future interactions greater and greater efficiency, because every successive interaction represents that the company and the customer is growing into a healthy relationship than before by communication and a benefit for both the parties. The mo re that company communicates with its customer, the less they need to say the next time around to get their point across. Another characteristic of a customer relationship is that it will be driven by an ongoing benefit to the customer and the company. The customers convenience is one type of benefit, for the customer, but not the only one. Participating in a relationship will involve a cost in money, time, or effort, and no customer will engage for long in any relationship the company wont be more beneficial for that customer, of it that customer is not getting more benefits that before. However, precisely because of the context of the relationship and its continuing benefit for the customer and the company, each party in a relationship has an incentive to recover from mistakes. Relationships also require a change in behavior on the part of both, the customer as well as the company, in order to continue. After all, what drives the ongoing benefit of a relationship is not only its c ontext, its history of interactions, developed over time, but also the fact that the customers and the companys current and future actions reflect that previous context. This is an important characteristic, because companies sometimes mistakenly believe that interactions with a customer need is always the same, the communication from the companys side, cannot deliver same behavior pattern to every customer. In other words companies need to have relationships with their customer individually because the behavior of every customer is not always the same, which can result in different kind of relationship pattern with the company. But unless the companys actions toward a particular customer are somehow different, there is a possibility of miscommunication and can ruin the relation between that customer and the company, which will be no ongoing benefit for the customer, and as a result the customer might not continue the relationship. Every relationship is different. Relationships are c onstituted with individuals, not with populations. This means relationships are with the individual customer and not the whole segment of the customer population of the company. As a result, a company who wants to engage its customers in relationships must be prepared to participate in different interactions, remember different customers and their behavior or spending habits, and engage in different behaviors toward different customers.(Peppers .D, Rogers. M 2004) During the last few years there has been a growing interest in studying the economics and markets of long-lasting customer relationships where customer relationships play a vital role for every company. This kind of relationship can help to increase revenue for the company which can be a long term process and a continuous growth of the relationship between the organization and the customer. Heskett introduced the concept of market economies, which means achieving results by understanding the customers behavior instead of by concentrating on developing scale economies. (Heskett, J.L., 1987) A mutually satisfactory relationship between the company and its customers makes it possible for customers to avoid significant transaction costs involved in shifting from one company or a service provider which can be beneficial for both, the customer and the company. However, customer retention is not enough. Some long-lasting customer relationships, where the customers are obviously satisfied with what they get, are not profitable even in the long run, as Storbacka says. There is clear evidence that from a profitability point of view intelligent relationship building where company can be beneficial to the customer as well as themselves in the long run, then only such a management make sense. (Storbacka, K., 1993) Customer Loyalty: The whole point of a relationship is to keep your customers, and simultaneously grow new customers. So what is customer loyalty? Those whove tried to answer that question have approached it from two different directions: attitudinal (what Barnes calls â€Å"emotional†) and behavioral (what Barnes calls â€Å"functional†). Although each of these two definitions of loyalty is valid, they have different implications and lead to very different prescriptions for businesses. The attitudinal definition of loyalty implies that loyalty is a state of mind. Customers are loyal to a brand or a company if they have a positive, preferential attitude toward it. They like the company, its products, or its brands, and they therefore prefer to buy from it, rather than from the companys competitors. In purely commercial terms, the attitudinal definition of customer loyalty would mean that someone who is willing to pay a premium for Brand A over Brand B, even when the products they represe nt are virtually equivalent, is loyal to Brand A. But the emphasis is on willingness, rather than on actual behavior, per se. In terms of attitudes, then, increasing a customers loyalty is virtually equivalent to increasing the customers preference for the brand. It is closely tied to product quality and customer satisfaction. Any company wanting to increase loyalty, in attitudinal terms, will concentrate on improving its product, its image, or other elements of the customer experience, relative to its competitors. The behavioral definition of loyalty would mean that someone is willing to pay a premium for Brand A over Brand B, even without respect to the attitudes or preferences that underlie that conduct. By this definition, customers are loyal to a company if they buy from it and then continue to buy from it. Loyalty is concerned with repurchase activity, regardless of any internally held attitudes or preferences. In the behavioral definition, loyalty is not the cause, but the re sult of brand preference. A company wanting to increase customer loyalty will focus on whatever tactics will in fact increase the amount of repurchase behavior— tactics that can easily include, without being limited to, raising consumers general preference for the brand or their level of satisfaction with it. (Peppers .D, Rogers. M 2004) Customer loyalty could be termed a â€Å"customers commitment to do business with a particular organization, purchasing their goods and services repeatedly, and recommending the services and products to friends and associates†. It is a term which is neither easy to gain nor maintain, rather it is vulnerable, where â€Å"even if its customers are satisfied with the service they will continue to defect if they believe they can get better value, convenience or quality elsewhere†. (McIlroy, A. and Barnett, S. (2000) In order to investigate the concept of loyalty, we see the framework of Sopanen (1996) to reveal six different types of loyalty: (1) Monopoly loyalty, where there are no available choices. (2) Inertia loyalty, where customers do not actively seek substitutes. (3) Convenience loyalty, where loyalty is solely defined by location. (4) Price loyalty: where customers are influenced by the lowest price. (5) Incentivized loyalty, where loyalty relates to the benefits gained from reward cards and programmers. (6) Emotional loyalty, where customers are influenced by factors such as brand. From this we can observe that loyalty programs such as Tesco Clubcard can be considered an incentivized type of loyalty, which can be exhibited by customers, but the strength of this loyalty is often questioned. â€Å"As organizations become increasingly customer focused and driven by customer demands, the need to meet the customers expectations and retain their loyalty becomes more critical† (Disney, 1999, p. 491). Customer loyalty is one of the fundamental goals of marketing (Selnes, 1993). Not only does it guarantee repeat customers, but it also decreases the need for companies to spend large portions of their budgets on advertising and promotion in order to attract new customers. Mittal and Lassar (1998) identified that customer loyalty is very often thought of as an outcome of customer satisfaction. This explains why customer satisfaction has become an essential concept in marketing and its quest is one of the most important goals for businesses (Webster, 1994) Relationship Marketing: Relationship marketing is very much interlinked with the notion and practice of customer care. There is no doubt that the development of relationship marketing has had and will continue to have major implications for the marketing managers. Comprehensive accounts of the development, meaning and implications of relationship marketing for the contemporary marketer are given by Lancaster and Massingham. As so often, there are many different views as to the precise nature and hence definition of relationship marketing. So, for example, Groonroos stressed the element of mutual exchange ad trust in relationship marketing as follows. â€Å"Relationship marketing is a process including several parties or actors, the objective of which has to be met. This is done by mutual exchange and fulfillment of promises, a fact that makes trust an important aspect of marketing†. Stone and Woodcock on the other hand put more emphasis on the traditional tool of sales, communication and customer care techniques. Again we see overlap between these two areas. â€Å"Relationship marketing involves the use of a wide range of marketing, sales, communications and customer care techniques and processes to: identify named individual customers, create a relationship between the company and these customers, and manage that relationship to the benefit of both the customer and the company†. Perhaps one of the simplest and yet the most powerful summaries of what relationship marketing is however, is that provided by Buttle. â€Å"At its best, RM (relationship management) is characterized by a genuine concern to meet or exceed the expectations of the customers and to provide excellent service in an environment of trust and commitment to the relationship†. Buttle goes on to indicate what is involved in successful relationship marketing and the commitment of the company required to generate this success. â€Å"To be successful relationship marketers, companies must develop a supportive organizational culture, market the RM idea internally, intimately understand customers expectations, create and maintain a detailed customer database, and organize and reward employees in such a way that the objective of RM, customer retention, is achieved†. This illustrates that relationship marketing has major implications for both how we think about marketing and our approach to the practice of marketing. It affects and includes the provision of marketing information, organizational systems and procedures, and the elements of marketing strategy. Relationship Marketing refers to Promotional and needs and maintain the relationship. This proposal is concerned with Relationship management and marketing at how it is been used by companies to maintain existing customers, retain lost customers and attract new customers. (http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/relationship-marketing.html) Relationship marketing is systems-oriented, yet it includes managerial aspects. A systems approach is well suited as a basis for a general theory of marketing, because it makes it possible to include all relevant actors, environmental influence, and even the process nature of marketing. (Kuhn, T.S. (1957) The concept of relationship marketing has emerged within the fields of service marketing and industrial marketing. The phenomenon described by this concept is strongly supported by ongoing trends in modern business. Grà ¶nroos defines relationship marketing in the following way: Marketing is to establish, maintain, and enhance relationships with customers and other partners, at a profit, so that the objectives of the parties involved are met. This is achieved by a mutual exchange and fulfillment of promises. Such relationships are usually but not necessarily always long-term. Establishing a relationship, for example with a customer, can be divided into two parts: to attract the customer and to build the relationship with that customer so that the economic goals of that relationship are achieved. (Grà ¶nroos, C. (1990) More businesses are moving toward relationship marketing in dealing with their customers as more customers expect a personalized experience. Considering relationship marketing vs. transactional marketing for http://searchcrm.techtarget.com/generic/0,295582,sid11_gci1253633_mem1,00.html) Relationship marketing is a marketing strategy that emphasizes customer loyalty, customer retention and long-term customer engagement. Using the relationship marketing approach, an organization aims to develop strong, long-term connections with customers by providing them with information directly suited to their needs and interests. This approach often results in increased word-of-mouth activity, long-term purchasing behavior and a willingness to provide information. The goal of every enterprise, once you strip away all the activities that keep everybody busy every day, is simply to get, keep, and grow customers. Whether a business focuses its efforts on product innovation, operational efficiency and low price, or customer intimacy, for that firm must have customers or the enterprise isnt a business—its a hobby. This is true for nonprofits (where the â€Å"customers† may be donors or volunteers) as well as for-profits, for firms large and small, for public as well as private enterprise. What does it mean for an enterprise to focus on its customers as the key to competitive advantage? Obviously, it does not mean giving up the product edge, or the operational efficiencies, that have been successful in the past. It does mean using new strategies, nearly always requiring new technologies, to focus on growing the value of the company by deliberately and strategically growing the value of the customer base. Companies needed to build compr ehensive customer databases. Companies had been maintaining product databases, sales force databases, and dealer databases. Now they needed to build, maintain, mine, and manage a customer database that could be used by company personnel in sales, marketing, credit, accounting, and other company functions. As customer database marketing grew, several different names came to describe it, including individualized marketing, customer intimacy, technology enabled marketing, dialogue marketing, interactive marketing, permission marketing, and one-to-one marketing. Modern technology makes it possible for enterprises to learn more about individual customers, remember those needs, and shape the companys offerings, services, messages and interactions to each valued customer. The new technologies make mass-customization (otherwise an oxymoron) possible. At the same time, technology is only a partial factor in helping companies do genuine one-to-one marketing. The following quotes about custome r relationship management (CRM) make this point vividly: â€Å"CRM is not a software package. Its not a database. Its not a call center or a Web site. Its not a loyalty program, a customer service program, a customer acquisition program or a win-back program. CRM is an entire philosophy.† (Steve Silver) â€Å"A CRM program is typically 45 percent dependent on the right executive leadership, 40 percent on project management implementation and 15 percent on technology.† (Edmund Thompson, Gartner Group) (Peppers .D, Rogers. M 2004) Loyalty Card: Any retailer running a loyalty card scheme could call up customer details and purchase history from incoming phone numbers. In many firms, loyalty cards are used for direct marketing and not much else. Using them to dramatically improve customer service seems a fitting reward for loyalty. Marketing program designed to enhance brand loyalty by cultivating an ongoing relationship between a marketer and his customer. Successful loyalty programs encourage the consumer to buy frequently, to increase the amount spent each time, and to concentrate all or most of their related purchases on that brand. Most loyalty programs offer perks for membership in a club or program and reward purchases. Rewards may be based on the dollar value of purchases made or on the frequency of purchases. The most well-known loyalty programs are airline frequent-flyer programs that offer discounts against future travel called award miles. Most large supermarket chains now have frequent-buyer clubs that offer no-coupon discounts as well as newsletters and http://www.answers.com/topic/loyalty-program) A loyalty card program is an incentive plan that allows a retail business to gather data about its customers. Customers are offered product discounts, coupons, points toward merchandise or some other reward in exchange for their voluntary participation in the program. A secondary goal of a loyalty card program is to build repeat business by offering participating customers something that isnt available to non-participating customers. Loyalty cards often resemble plastic credit cards but they can also be keychain fobs or stickers. Typically a loyalty card has a barcode or magnetic stripe thats scanned at the point of sale (POS). The card identifies the customer and sends information about what the customer bought to a database. The information in the database is used to help the retailer understand and influence his customers buying habits. According to research carried out by Boston Universitys College of Communication, eighty-six percent of American shoppers are listed in a loyalty database; a majority of survey respondents said receiving the card was worth giving up some measure of privacy. Loyalty schemes are necessary for the retailers because it helps them in attracting the customers and when they came to them they try to retain them by offering their services on discounted rates and by offering them further discounts and services. Smith states the importance of loyalty cards and schemes in the following sta tement â€Å"if Effect of Loyalty Cards on Customer Loyalty Effect of Loyalty Cards on Customer Loyalty Background of the topic: The purpose of this dissertation is to analyze and investigate the effect of the loyalty cards on customer loyalty and how does it helps large organizations to achieve its goals. When shopping in supermarkets there is one experience that everyone has, when customers finish with their shopping and get to a checkout, the assistant will ask the customers, whether they have a clubcard. This will continue every time whenever those customers without a clubcard shops in the future, the assistant will keep on asking them for a clubcard unless they get one for themselves. Now there is a question that will come across every customers mind, what is a clubcard and why does every company insist them and every customer to be a part of the clubcard family? Now people become curious and they want to get a clubcard too. The assistant says to fill up a form with the customers general details like name, address and contact details and the day customer fills the form, next day they will receive a clubca rd. Impressive, now why companies offer clubcards to their customers, how do companies benefit from these schemes they provide for their customers? Background of this research title is concerned with the highly competitive market where retail giants have to survive and maintain their competitive edge to always stay ahead in the race or even to survive the downfall whenever necessary. Unlimited majors are taken and a huge amount of time and money is spent to attract customers who bring revenue to the company. Having a large number of competitors around, it is very difficult to have a competitive advantage. Basic mean for this subject matter is to identify the purpose and importance of relationship marketing, and its benefits to make strategic decisions. Loyalty cards can significantly boost business profits whilst simultaneously building customer loyalty. Studies show that loyalty cards are one of the most cost effective ways to build brand loyalty and improve customer retention. Loy alty cards are used by all the major retail and supermarket chains as a vital tool to improve profitability, but one does not need to be a national high street store in order to run a profitable reward card scheme. One of the reasons the supermarkets are taking business away from independent retailers are the incentives offered in their loyalty card schemes. The loyalty cards market in the UK is one of the most significant in the world and forms the backbone of marketing and customer retention planning. With over 85% of UK Households possessing loyalty cards it is really a case where companies can afford not to offer a loyalty card service to their customers. There are different companies who offer loyalty schemes for their customer and give customers shopping vouchers after they spend certain amount of money through those loyalty cards. Main objective behind loyalty cards is to keep customer loyal with the company by offering them discounts and gifts on their shopping so they spend more money in their shops and markets. Most common example of loyalty card is Tesco club card, Sainsbury nectar card and other such cards offered by different companies in the country. But most of the people wont understand the idea behind those loyalty cards that how they work. The success of the Tesco Clubcard has been well documented, in 2002 a Market and Opinion Research Poll found that Tescos Clubcard had been more successful than the programmers offered by rival supermarkets (Smith, 2004). Rationale: Why is this study being done Tesco got a huge amount of success with its loyalty schemes unlike its competitors. The reason behind this study is to find out why Tesco was so successful with their Loyalty cards, Tesco Club cards, as they are named, and how it played a very important role in maintaining their customers loyalty, which is very important for any business today. The theory behind this concept is Relationship Marketing, and how it was used by Tesco to grow its business. Background of this research title is concerned with the highly competitive market where retail giants have to survive and maintain their competitive edge to always stay ahead in the race or even to survive the downfall whenever necessary. Unlimited majors are taken and a huge amount of time and money is spent to attract customers who bring revenue to the company. Having a large number of competitors around, it is very difficult to have a competitive advantage. Basic mean for this subject matter is to identify the purpose and importance of relationship marketing, and its benefits to make strategic decisions. Companies offer such countless schemes for their customers to retain and maintain customer loyalty for their store. There are many other factors behind these loyalty schemes where companies benefit. Loyalty card schemes are not only beneficial for the customers, but are equally beneficial for the companies as well. Significance: How does the study contribute The aim of the research is to identify the impact of the Tesco Clubcard on customer loyalty. This will contribute to contrast customer perceptions of the Clubcard, staff and â€Å"feeling valued† to identify which factor has the greater impact on customer loyalty to store. The paper is useful to both practitioners and academics in the fields of relationship marketing and loyalty. The research provides some initial insight into consumer perspectives in the value of loyalty cards. Tesco has succeeded with the strategy of loyalty cards, but its competitors did not. Retailers like Sainsburys and ASDAs who are the competitors of Tesco, did not manage to promote their business using their loyalty cards as Tesco did. Tesco got a huge amount of success with its loyalty schemes unlike its competitors. Tesco has been known for their best customer service where as its competitor, Asda have been known for their best value and low competitive prices. Now why has Tesco chosen such a marketi ng strategy to attract customers and increase revenue? The reason behind this study is to find out why Tesco was so successful with their Loyalty cards, Tesco Club cards, as they are named, and how it played a very important role in maintaining their customers loyalty, which is very important for any business today. The theory behind this concept is Relationship Marketing, and how it was used by Tesco to grow its business. Tesco has chosen a marketing strategy where they need to gain customers faith and trust to maintain a good relationship with them. Hence they need to know everything about their customers individually. How will they keep a track of each and every customer they have? There are many strategies to know your customers and Tesco uses such strategies to have a good track of their customers. The best way to do this is by the method of loyalty cards. Companies can know much more about their customers through loyalty cards. This study will show how Tesco collects data of t heir customers and use that data to improve their customer service in order to gain customer satisfaction. Aims Objectives: The aim of the research is to investigate the influence of the Tesco Clubcard on customer store loyalty. In 1995, Tesco introduced the loyalty Clubcard that was to offer, â€Å"Benefits to regular shoppers whilst helping the company discover more about its Customer needs†. The main aim of this research will be to compare the Loyalty schemes of Tesco Clubcards with its competitors like Sainsburys and ASDA, and find out why Tescos Clubcards were a huge success unlike Sainsburys Nectar and Asda loyalty cards did not succeed in promoting their business. The study also focuses on the need of customer loyalty and what steps were taken by Tesco to retain and maintain its customer loyalty. (www.tescocorporate.com) Sign Posting: A glance at the major and successful organizations around the globe shows that their success is partly due to their ability to apply the theory of relationship marketing. In the contemporary business arena, all organizations, large or small improve their effectiveness and efficiency by applying this theory, thus improving their customer service and customer relations which play a very important role for any business organization. This study shows the brief idea of the Relationship Marketing and how it has been used by the retail giant, Tesco to gain their customers loyalty and retain it for a long time. Tesco is the company on which this whole study has been based on. At the first there is some information and idea has been explained about Relationship Marketing and how is plays a vital role in companys marketing strategies. It also discusses about the benefits of the relationship marketing and how it is used by the company to achieve its aims and objectives. This will later on conti nue with the main topic, that is, the success of Tescos loyalty cards other than its competitors. It will discuss the concept of the loyalty cards and the different strategies used by Tesco and even its competitors to get a competitive edge in the surviving market. The later part of the study also shows how Clubcards are beneficial for the customers as well as the company. Then research methodology is identified that how the research will be conducted, it includes that how the research will designed means the ways through effective data can be find out. Literature Review In this discussion outcomes from the previous research will be demonstrate to provide the clear understanding to the topic. In this chapter views of different authors and researches will be quoted to support the research. It will include the work of researchers who have worked on this matter and have reached to some conclusion. As a literature review chapter it will consist of basic definitions of customer loyalty, customer relationship, loyalty cards and the most important one relationship marketing. This chapter will also explain these theories and how are they applicable for the strategies used by the companies to achieve their goals and success. Customer Relationship: What does it mean for an organisation and its customer to have a relationship with each other? What kind of a relationship would they have with each other? Do customers have relationships with enterprises that do not know them? Is it necessary that the companies know their customers or the other way around? What kind of a relationship would that be if both the parties are unaware of the relationship they have? Can the enterprise be said to have a relationship with a customer it does not know? Is it possible for a customer to have a relationship with a brand? It can be said that customers would know the products but not the company. Experts have studied the nature of relationships in business for many years, and there are many different perspectives on the fundamental purpose of relationships in business strategies. It can be said that the only aim of the company is not only to gain maximum profits out of their customers or having the greatest market share or the rank the company is. Instead, to be successful in the era of interactivity, when it is possible to deal individually with separate customers, the business objective must include establishing meaningful and profitable relationships at least with the most valuable customers, and making the overall customer base more valuable. Technology plays a very crucial role in maintaining this relationship between companies and customers. In short, the company strives to get a customer, keep that customer for a lifetime, and grow the value of the customer to the organisation. Relationships are the crux of the customer-strategy enterprise. Relationships between customers and enterprises provide the framework for everything else connected to the customer-value business model. This is the same model used by Tesco in order to gain a competitive advantage in the most competitive markets in the world. The exchange between a customer and the enterprise becomes mutually beneficial, as customers give information in return for personalized service that meets their individual needs. Because we are talking about relationships between businesses and their customers, it is important that we agree on a few of the elements that make up a genuine relationship. And while dictionary definitions are not bad as starting points, the most important issue for us to consider is how well our own definition of relationship helps companies succeed in the â€Å"customer dimension† of competition. Lets list some of the distinct qualities that should characterize a relationship between an enterprise and a customer. First, a relationship implies mutuality. In order for anyone to consider a relationship, both the company and its customer have to participate in and be aware of the existence of the relationship. This is the most common factor which is needed to be realized by both the parties. This means that relationships must inherently be two-way in nature. Second, relationships are driven by interaction. When the company and the customer interact, they exchange information, and this information exchange is a best tool for building the relationship. This, of course, also implies mutuality. But interactions dont have to take place by phone or in person or on the Web. An interaction takes place when a customer buys a product from the company that sells it. This is where the customer and the company are in face to face for a reason which builds up this relationship. Every interaction adds to the total information content possible in the relationship. This leads to the third characteristic of a relationship: It is iterative in nature. That is, since both the customer and the company are interacting mutually, the interactions themselves build up a history, over time—a context. This context gives a relationships future interactions greater and greater efficiency, because every successive interaction represents that the company and the customer is growing into a healthy relationship than before by communication and a benefit for both the parties. The mo re that company communicates with its customer, the less they need to say the next time around to get their point across. Another characteristic of a customer relationship is that it will be driven by an ongoing benefit to the customer and the company. The customers convenience is one type of benefit, for the customer, but not the only one. Participating in a relationship will involve a cost in money, time, or effort, and no customer will engage for long in any relationship the company wont be more beneficial for that customer, of it that customer is not getting more benefits that before. However, precisely because of the context of the relationship and its continuing benefit for the customer and the company, each party in a relationship has an incentive to recover from mistakes. Relationships also require a change in behavior on the part of both, the customer as well as the company, in order to continue. After all, what drives the ongoing benefit of a relationship is not only its c ontext, its history of interactions, developed over time, but also the fact that the customers and the companys current and future actions reflect that previous context. This is an important characteristic, because companies sometimes mistakenly believe that interactions with a customer need is always the same, the communication from the companys side, cannot deliver same behavior pattern to every customer. In other words companies need to have relationships with their customer individually because the behavior of every customer is not always the same, which can result in different kind of relationship pattern with the company. But unless the companys actions toward a particular customer are somehow different, there is a possibility of miscommunication and can ruin the relation between that customer and the company, which will be no ongoing benefit for the customer, and as a result the customer might not continue the relationship. Every relationship is different. Relationships are c onstituted with individuals, not with populations. This means relationships are with the individual customer and not the whole segment of the customer population of the company. As a result, a company who wants to engage its customers in relationships must be prepared to participate in different interactions, remember different customers and their behavior or spending habits, and engage in different behaviors toward different customers.(Peppers .D, Rogers. M 2004) During the last few years there has been a growing interest in studying the economics and markets of long-lasting customer relationships where customer relationships play a vital role for every company. This kind of relationship can help to increase revenue for the company which can be a long term process and a continuous growth of the relationship between the organization and the customer. Heskett introduced the concept of market economies, which means achieving results by understanding the customers behavior instead of by concentrating on developing scale economies. (Heskett, J.L., 1987) A mutually satisfactory relationship between the company and its customers makes it possible for customers to avoid significant transaction costs involved in shifting from one company or a service provider which can be beneficial for both, the customer and the company. However, customer retention is not enough. Some long-lasting customer relationships, where the customers are obviously satisfied with what they get, are not profitable even in the long run, as Storbacka says. There is clear evidence that from a profitability point of view intelligent relationship building where company can be beneficial to the customer as well as themselves in the long run, then only such a management make sense. (Storbacka, K., 1993) Customer Loyalty: The whole point of a relationship is to keep your customers, and simultaneously grow new customers. So what is customer loyalty? Those whove tried to answer that question have approached it from two different directions: attitudinal (what Barnes calls â€Å"emotional†) and behavioral (what Barnes calls â€Å"functional†). Although each of these two definitions of loyalty is valid, they have different implications and lead to very different prescriptions for businesses. The attitudinal definition of loyalty implies that loyalty is a state of mind. Customers are loyal to a brand or a company if they have a positive, preferential attitude toward it. They like the company, its products, or its brands, and they therefore prefer to buy from it, rather than from the companys competitors. In purely commercial terms, the attitudinal definition of customer loyalty would mean that someone who is willing to pay a premium for Brand A over Brand B, even when the products they represe nt are virtually equivalent, is loyal to Brand A. But the emphasis is on willingness, rather than on actual behavior, per se. In terms of attitudes, then, increasing a customers loyalty is virtually equivalent to increasing the customers preference for the brand. It is closely tied to product quality and customer satisfaction. Any company wanting to increase loyalty, in attitudinal terms, will concentrate on improving its product, its image, or other elements of the customer experience, relative to its competitors. The behavioral definition of loyalty would mean that someone is willing to pay a premium for Brand A over Brand B, even without respect to the attitudes or preferences that underlie that conduct. By this definition, customers are loyal to a company if they buy from it and then continue to buy from it. Loyalty is concerned with repurchase activity, regardless of any internally held attitudes or preferences. In the behavioral definition, loyalty is not the cause, but the re sult of brand preference. A company wanting to increase customer loyalty will focus on whatever tactics will in fact increase the amount of repurchase behavior— tactics that can easily include, without being limited to, raising consumers general preference for the brand or their level of satisfaction with it. (Peppers .D, Rogers. M 2004) Customer loyalty could be termed a â€Å"customers commitment to do business with a particular organization, purchasing their goods and services repeatedly, and recommending the services and products to friends and associates†. It is a term which is neither easy to gain nor maintain, rather it is vulnerable, where â€Å"even if its customers are satisfied with the service they will continue to defect if they believe they can get better value, convenience or quality elsewhere†. (McIlroy, A. and Barnett, S. (2000) In order to investigate the concept of loyalty, we see the framework of Sopanen (1996) to reveal six different types of loyalty: (1) Monopoly loyalty, where there are no available choices. (2) Inertia loyalty, where customers do not actively seek substitutes. (3) Convenience loyalty, where loyalty is solely defined by location. (4) Price loyalty: where customers are influenced by the lowest price. (5) Incentivized loyalty, where loyalty relates to the benefits gained from reward cards and programmers. (6) Emotional loyalty, where customers are influenced by factors such as brand. From this we can observe that loyalty programs such as Tesco Clubcard can be considered an incentivized type of loyalty, which can be exhibited by customers, but the strength of this loyalty is often questioned. â€Å"As organizations become increasingly customer focused and driven by customer demands, the need to meet the customers expectations and retain their loyalty becomes more critical† (Disney, 1999, p. 491). Customer loyalty is one of the fundamental goals of marketing (Selnes, 1993). Not only does it guarantee repeat customers, but it also decreases the need for companies to spend large portions of their budgets on advertising and promotion in order to attract new customers. Mittal and Lassar (1998) identified that customer loyalty is very often thought of as an outcome of customer satisfaction. This explains why customer satisfaction has become an essential concept in marketing and its quest is one of the most important goals for businesses (Webster, 1994) Relationship Marketing: Relationship marketing is very much interlinked with the notion and practice of customer care. There is no doubt that the development of relationship marketing has had and will continue to have major implications for the marketing managers. Comprehensive accounts of the development, meaning and implications of relationship marketing for the contemporary marketer are given by Lancaster and Massingham. As so often, there are many different views as to the precise nature and hence definition of relationship marketing. So, for example, Groonroos stressed the element of mutual exchange ad trust in relationship marketing as follows. â€Å"Relationship marketing is a process including several parties or actors, the objective of which has to be met. This is done by mutual exchange and fulfillment of promises, a fact that makes trust an important aspect of marketing†. Stone and Woodcock on the other hand put more emphasis on the traditional tool of sales, communication and customer care techniques. Again we see overlap between these two areas. â€Å"Relationship marketing involves the use of a wide range of marketing, sales, communications and customer care techniques and processes to: identify named individual customers, create a relationship between the company and these customers, and manage that relationship to the benefit of both the customer and the company†. Perhaps one of the simplest and yet the most powerful summaries of what relationship marketing is however, is that provided by Buttle. â€Å"At its best, RM (relationship management) is characterized by a genuine concern to meet or exceed the expectations of the customers and to provide excellent service in an environment of trust and commitment to the relationship†. Buttle goes on to indicate what is involved in successful relationship marketing and the commitment of the company required to generate this success. â€Å"To be successful relationship marketers, companies must develop a supportive organizational culture, market the RM idea internally, intimately understand customers expectations, create and maintain a detailed customer database, and organize and reward employees in such a way that the objective of RM, customer retention, is achieved†. This illustrates that relationship marketing has major implications for both how we think about marketing and our approach to the practice of marketing. It affects and includes the provision of marketing information, organizational systems and procedures, and the elements of marketing strategy. Relationship Marketing refers to Promotional and needs and maintain the relationship. This proposal is concerned with Relationship management and marketing at how it is been used by companies to maintain existing customers, retain lost customers and attract new customers. (http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/relationship-marketing.html) Relationship marketing is systems-oriented, yet it includes managerial aspects. A systems approach is well suited as a basis for a general theory of marketing, because it makes it possible to include all relevant actors, environmental influence, and even the process nature of marketing. (Kuhn, T.S. (1957) The concept of relationship marketing has emerged within the fields of service marketing and industrial marketing. The phenomenon described by this concept is strongly supported by ongoing trends in modern business. Grà ¶nroos defines relationship marketing in the following way: Marketing is to establish, maintain, and enhance relationships with customers and other partners, at a profit, so that the objectives of the parties involved are met. This is achieved by a mutual exchange and fulfillment of promises. Such relationships are usually but not necessarily always long-term. Establishing a relationship, for example with a customer, can be divided into two parts: to attract the customer and to build the relationship with that customer so that the economic goals of that relationship are achieved. (Grà ¶nroos, C. (1990) More businesses are moving toward relationship marketing in dealing with their customers as more customers expect a personalized experience. Considering relationship marketing vs. transactional marketing for http://searchcrm.techtarget.com/generic/0,295582,sid11_gci1253633_mem1,00.html) Relationship marketing is a marketing strategy that emphasizes customer loyalty, customer retention and long-term customer engagement. Using the relationship marketing approach, an organization aims to develop strong, long-term connections with customers by providing them with information directly suited to their needs and interests. This approach often results in increased word-of-mouth activity, long-term purchasing behavior and a willingness to provide information. The goal of every enterprise, once you strip away all the activities that keep everybody busy every day, is simply to get, keep, and grow customers. Whether a business focuses its efforts on product innovation, operational efficiency and low price, or customer intimacy, for that firm must have customers or the enterprise isnt a business—its a hobby. This is true for nonprofits (where the â€Å"customers† may be donors or volunteers) as well as for-profits, for firms large and small, for public as well as private enterprise. What does it mean for an enterprise to focus on its customers as the key to competitive advantage? Obviously, it does not mean giving up the product edge, or the operational efficiencies, that have been successful in the past. It does mean using new strategies, nearly always requiring new technologies, to focus on growing the value of the company by deliberately and strategically growing the value of the customer base. Companies needed to build compr ehensive customer databases. Companies had been maintaining product databases, sales force databases, and dealer databases. Now they needed to build, maintain, mine, and manage a customer database that could be used by company personnel in sales, marketing, credit, accounting, and other company functions. As customer database marketing grew, several different names came to describe it, including individualized marketing, customer intimacy, technology enabled marketing, dialogue marketing, interactive marketing, permission marketing, and one-to-one marketing. Modern technology makes it possible for enterprises to learn more about individual customers, remember those needs, and shape the companys offerings, services, messages and interactions to each valued customer. The new technologies make mass-customization (otherwise an oxymoron) possible. At the same time, technology is only a partial factor in helping companies do genuine one-to-one marketing. The following quotes about custome r relationship management (CRM) make this point vividly: â€Å"CRM is not a software package. Its not a database. Its not a call center or a Web site. Its not a loyalty program, a customer service program, a customer acquisition program or a win-back program. CRM is an entire philosophy.† (Steve Silver) â€Å"A CRM program is typically 45 percent dependent on the right executive leadership, 40 percent on project management implementation and 15 percent on technology.† (Edmund Thompson, Gartner Group) (Peppers .D, Rogers. M 2004) Loyalty Card: Any retailer running a loyalty card scheme could call up customer details and purchase history from incoming phone numbers. In many firms, loyalty cards are used for direct marketing and not much else. Using them to dramatically improve customer service seems a fitting reward for loyalty. Marketing program designed to enhance brand loyalty by cultivating an ongoing relationship between a marketer and his customer. Successful loyalty programs encourage the consumer to buy frequently, to increase the amount spent each time, and to concentrate all or most of their related purchases on that brand. Most loyalty programs offer perks for membership in a club or program and reward purchases. Rewards may be based on the dollar value of purchases made or on the frequency of purchases. The most well-known loyalty programs are airline frequent-flyer programs that offer discounts against future travel called award miles. Most large supermarket chains now have frequent-buyer clubs that offer no-coupon discounts as well as newsletters and http://www.answers.com/topic/loyalty-program) A loyalty card program is an incentive plan that allows a retail business to gather data about its customers. Customers are offered product discounts, coupons, points toward merchandise or some other reward in exchange for their voluntary participation in the program. A secondary goal of a loyalty card program is to build repeat business by offering participating customers something that isnt available to non-participating customers. Loyalty cards often resemble plastic credit cards but they can also be keychain fobs or stickers. Typically a loyalty card has a barcode or magnetic stripe thats scanned at the point of sale (POS). The card identifies the customer and sends information about what the customer bought to a database. The information in the database is used to help the retailer understand and influence his customers buying habits. According to research carried out by Boston Universitys College of Communication, eighty-six percent of American shoppers are listed in a loyalty database; a majority of survey respondents said receiving the card was worth giving up some measure of privacy. Loyalty schemes are necessary for the retailers because it helps them in attracting the customers and when they came to them they try to retain them by offering their services on discounted rates and by offering them further discounts and services. Smith states the importance of loyalty cards and schemes in the following sta tement â€Å"if

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Guillermo Campos ID #477549 Term paper on Global Warming Ways and Means That Could Be Employed to Save the Earth from Global Warming. Global warming should be a concern for modern day humanity. It can be a determining factor in preserving our humanity. Preventive measures can be implemented to enhance the quality of the air we breathe and the environment we live in. Becoming educated about going green is a great method for addressing global warming. It could make a difference in the next phase of our humanity. We must all contribute in our own way to help prevent global warming. Global warming is one the most debated environmental topic of this day. Everyone is concern with the next phase of humanity. Will we survive? Will the earth replenish itself from all these toxins? Including the many means and ways to prevent this human catastrophic event. Global warming is defined as a sustained increase in the earth’s atmospheric temperature. This is due to human practices that result in an increase in the emission of carbon-dioxide into the atmosphere from cars, heat from homes and businesses, factories. These few things alone contribute to about 80% of today’s carbon-dioxide emissions, 25% methane, and 20% nitrous-oxide. The increase in agriculture, deforestation, industrial production, and mining contribute a significant share of emissions as well. Also the burning of solid waste, fossil fuels and wood products are a major problem too. Scientist believe that global warming is a combination of human activities as well as natural climatic change. Climatic change as a result of the natural life cycle can be a contribu... ... decrease in the algae population and this would result in a population increase for algae. In the end the fate of humanity with respect to global warming will be determined by the actions we take individually and as a whole. The first thing to do is monitor our behaviors. We need to practice more safe and environmental friendly activities when it comes to helping to make our earth a cleaner and safer place to live. We can do more to recycle. We have to be mindful of how we dump our garbage. Definitely, we can use more environmental products. Overall, the issue of preventing global warming is on us as humans. Nature plays a part as Fas climate changes but most of the responsibility of keeping the earth clean and staying on that path is ultimately our responsibility.