H&M Hennes & Mauritz Ab in Retailing

Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) AB in Retailing December 2009 Scope of the Report Retailing – Hennes & Mauritz  © Euromonitor International Scope †¢ This global company profile covers the following products focusing on the year 2009: Retailing: US$10,430 billion Store-based Retailing: US$9,829 billion Non-Store Retailing: US$601 billion Clothing & Footwear Specialist Retailers: US$791 billion Homeshopping: US$190 billion Internet Retailing: US$243 billionDisclaimer Much of the information in this briefing is of a statistical nature and, while every attempt has been made to ensure accuracy and reliability, Euromonitor International cannot be held responsible for omissions or errors Figures in tables and analyses are calculated from unrounded data and may not sum. Analyses found in the briefings may not totally reflect the companies’ opinions, reader discretion is advised Learn More To find out more about Euromonitor International's complete range of business ntelligence on industries, countries and consumers please visit www. euromonitor. com or contact your local Euromonitor International office: London + 44 (0)20 7251 8024 Vilnius +370 5 243 1577 Chicago +1 312 922 1115 Dubai +971 4 609 1340 Singapore +65 6429 0590 Cape Town +27 21 552 0037 Shanghai +86 21 63726288 Santiago +56 2 4332226 2 Retailing – Hennes & Mauritz  © Euromonitor International Strategic Evaluation Competitive Positioning Geographic Opportunities Category Opportunities Brand and Operational Strategies Recommendations 3 Strategic EvaluationRetailing – Hennes & Mauritz  © Euromonitor International Key Company Facts Hennes & Mauritz (H) AB Headquarters Regional Involvement Stockholm, Sweden Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe, North America, Western Europe, Middle East and Africa Clothing and footwear specialist retailers, homeshopping, internet retailing H robust performance in battle with Inditex †¢ The world’s second largest clothing and footwear Sector Inv olvement World clothing and footwear 1. 7% (2009) specialist retailers share 1. 5% (2008) Retail sales value growth (US$) -4. 1% (2009) 17. % (2008) specialist retailer in 2009, behind Inditex, and ahead of Gap, H continued to record strong sales growth in 2008 and 2009. This was achieved partly thanks to a strong performance in its largest market, Germany, with sales in local currency terms up by double-digits. †¢ Inditex’s and H battle for the world’s largest clothing and footwear retailer position is closely fought, while Gap, which was the world’s largest player in this channel until 2007, has been significantly left behind by the leading two. Hennes & Mauritz (H) AB – Sales excl.VAT vs Profit After Tax 90,000 SEK million 80,000 70,000 60,000 50,000 40,000 30,000 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Sales excl VAT Profit after tax 18,000 14,000 12,000 10,000 8,000 6,000 SEK million 16,000 H profits remain healthy †¢ H registered sales excluding VAT of S EK88. 5 billion (US$13. 7 billion) in 2008, an increase of 13% over the year, with profit after tax also up 13% to SEK15. 3 billion (US$2. 4 billion), which highlights the group’s high margin. †¢ Its major rival, Inditex, recorded revenue of EUR10. 4 billion (US$14. 5 billion) in 2008, up 10% on the previous year, with net profit up 0. % to EUR1. 3 billion (US$1. 8 billion). Gap registered sales of US$14. 5 billion, down 8% in the year, as it suffered from poor conditions in its core US market, though the company’s net profit grew by 16% to US$967 million, helped by cost savings. 4 Strategic Evaluation Retailing – Hennes & Mauritz  © Euromonitor International Q3 results: Resilient Performance, Continued Expansion Hennes & Mauritz (H) AB – Q1 to Q3 Sales excluding VAT (SEK billion) Profit after tax (SEK billion) Net margin (%) 73. 4 (2009) 62. 2 (2008) 10. 2 (2009) 10. 2 (2008) 13. 9 (2009) 16. (2008) Resilient performance, with sales driven by stor e network expansion †¢ H sales excluding VAT grew by 13% to SEK23. 6 billion (US$3. 4 billion) in the third quarter ending August 2009. Group profits after tax continued to rise, up by 4% to SEK3. 5 billion (US$506 million). †¢ However, same-store sales declined slightly in local currency terms, with consumer sentiment remaining subdued and hindering sales of non-grocery retailers, especially in the US, while the German market was resilient and strong gains were made in Italy. †¢ For the nine months to August 2009, sales were up by 18% to SEK73. billion (US$10. 6 billion), with growth boosted by new store openings. Profits after tax were up by 0. 2% to SEK10. 2 billion (US$1. 5 billion). Low inventory levels were a major factor contributing to keep costs down. Inditex records lower sales growth than H †¢ Inditex recorded revenues up by 7% to reach EUR4. 9 billion (US$7. 1 billion) in the six months to July 2009. Growth in Asia’s emerging markets continued to boost revenues, especially in China and Hong Kong, offsetting a negative economic environment in its Spanish domestic market where it saw a strong decline in like-for-like sales. Although impacted by the recession in Europe, Inditex’s profits were resilient, helped by efficient cost controls. The group recorded net income down by only 8% on the previous year to EUR375 million (US$550 million), despite sustained investments in network expansion. 5 Hennes & Mauritz (H) AB – Net Sales excl VAT vs Profit After Tax 75,000 72,500 70,000 SEK million 67,500 65,000 62,500 60,000 57,500 55,000 52,500 50,000 2008 Q1 to Q3 Net sales excl VAT 2009 Q1 to Q3 Profit after tax 12,000 11,500 SEK million 11,000 10,500 10,000 9,500 9,000 8,500 8,000Strategic Evaluation Retailing – Hennes & Mauritz  © Euromonitor International SWOT – Hennes & Mauritz (H) AB Brand recognition: low price and style Combining style innovations and low prices are staple attributes of the H br and on which it has built strong consumer recognition. High profile advertising and collaboration with designers help make stores shopping destinations and raise the desirability of its ranges. Operational efficiency A strong control of the whole logistics process helps H achieve low costs, while low inventory contributes to maintain margins.Reliance on outsourcing The reliance on production outsourcing, unlike other rivals such as Inditex, puts H at greater risks of damaging its reputation in terms of product quality and poor labour conditions in developed countries. Modest presence in emerging markets Despite being a global player present in 33 markets, H has developed its presence in Europe and North America mostly, unlike Inditex operating in over 70 countries including many emerging markets. Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities ThreatsInternet retailing The rapid growth of clothing and footwear sales through internet retailing is expected to continue and give H opportunities to r each a wider audience, especially in its core demographic target, teenagers and young adults, whose purchases are often influenced by the internet. Untapped potential in emerging markets Urbanisation, increased disposable incomes and changing lifestyles making the population more aware of fashion trends give major growth opportunities in large emerging markets such as China and Russia. There is also potential in markets where H is absent such as Turkey and Romania.Non-food expansion of grocery retailers Hypermarkets and mass merchandisers including Carrefour, Target, Tesco and Wal-Mart are set to continue developing their offer of non-food products and compete directly against H in the value segment of clothing and footwear retailing. Fast fashion becoming more competitive H faces a growing threat from a number of direct competitors with increasingly global ambitions at the low-priced end of the market such as Associated British Foods with Primark, Fast Retailing with Uniqlo and Mar ks & Spencer, alongside a resurgent Gap. 6 Strategic Evaluation Retailing – Hennes & Mauritz Euromonitor International Key Strategic Objectives and Challenges Speed to market and price strategy Fast product turnaround, flexibility and speed to market are major elements determining fast fashion retailers’ operational efficiency. H record is strong comparable to Inditex in most aspects, although Inditex has an advantage regarding speed to market, as a result of its vertical integration business model. In the midst of the global economic crisis particularly affecting clothing and footwear specialists, H chose to avoid heavy discounting in order to maintain its margins and profits.However, more aggressive price wars may force it to discount more and hit its margins. Ongoing international expansion with a focus on emerging markets H presence in emerging markets is less important than Inditex’s, which has a major store network in Latin America and more stores in the M iddle East and Africa. Expanding in emerging markets remains a priority for H, although growth prospects remain strong in developed markets such as Canada and the US where it can enter numerous new cities, especially in Southern States where it has a modest presence.H CEO KarlJohan Persson appointed in July 2009 restated the group’s global expansion targets, although it appears to be slower than expected, with around 160 new stores likely to be opened out of 225 initially planned for 2009. Maintain brand image and increase desirability Collaborations with designers will need to be continued and reinvented to make products more desirable, make stores more popular shopping destinations and strengthen the emotional bond with consumers and H.Distinctive store layout has been used successfully by Inditex with its Zara chain to convey the desirability of its clothes, and this is a strategy that H could also implement to make the store designs a more important aspect of its strategy . This could allow H to maintain an advantage over smaller rivals with increasing global ambitions for their brands such as Primark and Uniqlo. Late entry into internet retailing Although growth in internet retailing sales is particularly promising for clothing and footwear retailers, H has been a late entrant and will struggle to seize the opportunities offered by this channel.It has left numerous other retailers including pure play internet retailers such as Amazon and Asos and the homeshopping specialist Otto take a lead. Hence, it will be difficult for H to target these consumers and generate traffic to its websites, although it could rely on high-profile advertising and innovative sites to succeed. 7 Retailing – Hennes & Mauritz  © Euromonitor International Strategic Evaluation Competitive Positioning Geographic Opportunities Category Opportunities Brand and Operational Strategies Recommendations 8 Competitive Positioning Retailing – Hennes & Mauritz Euromonitor International H Performs Strongly but Growth is Matched by Inditex †¢ International expansion and fashionable product assortment led to strong growth for H and its main rival Inditex, despite a marked slowdown in 2009 due to the global economic crisis and the strength of the US dollar. Clothing & Footwear Specialist Retailers – World – Retail Value RSP excl Sales Tax – US$ – % Year-on-Year Growth 28 24 20 16 12 8 4 0 -4 -8 -12 2005 % y-o-y growth A C B 2006 World C Mode Brenninkmeijer & Co INDITEX – Industria de Diseno Textil 2007 2008 Hennes & Mauritz (H) AB Gap Inc, The 2009A – H sales record strong growth, on a par with C, thanks to global store network expansion. However, Inditex outperforms H thanks to more aggressive network expansion not only in Western Europe, but also in emerging markets. B – Gap under-performs its main rivals, hindered by a strong reliance on its low-growth domestic market and a less aggressive price s trategy than H. Gap’s image also suffers from a product assortment perceived as more staid than H and Inditex’s. C – The rise of the US dollar against other global currencies in 2009 is causing a fall in value sales for all retailers.H low-priced positioning and its wide global presence helps the company remain resilient in a challenging environment for non-grocery retailers. 9 Competitive Positioning Retailing – Hennes & Mauritz  © Euromonitor International Competitive Context: Inditex and H on the Rise World – Top 10 Clothing & Footwear Specialist Retailers 2005-2009 Company name INDITEX – Industria de Diseno Textil Hennes & Mauritz (H) AB Gap Inc, The C Mode Brenninkmeijer & Co Ross Stores Inc Fast Retailing Co Ltd Shinamura Co Ltd Limited Brands Inc Benetton Group SpA Burlington Coat Factory Warehouse Corp 5-year 2009 % 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 trend share ?Gap loses its crown †¢ Gap saw declining sales in 2007 3 3 2 1 1 1. 7 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 2 1 4 6 8 12 5 11 2 1 4 6 8 14 5 12 3 1 4 5 8 11 7 10 2 3 4 5 6 11 7 8 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1. 7 1. 5 1. 4 0. 8 0. 8 0. 5 0. 5 0. 5 and 2008, due to unfavourable economic conditions in its US domestic market, which accounted for 81% of its global sales through the clothing and footwear specialists channel. †¢ Compared to H, Gap’s higher price positioning hindered its sales, especially in 2008 and 2009 as the global economic crisis dampened consumer spending. Fast Retailing and Shinamura rising Japan-based Fast Retailing posted a strong performance among the top ? 10 10 12 14 10 0. 4 10 global players, helped partly by the strengthening of the yen to the Note: 2009 provisional data US dollar. Competing with a similar price positioning to H, Fast Strong growth for H, overtakes Gap but is surpassed by Inditex Retailing expanded outside Japan, †¢ Strong sales growth for H over the 2005-2008 period enabled it to especially in China and South overtake key rival Gap . H business model based on low-priced fast Korea, and announced at the end of fashion proved highly popular with consumers. 008 its intentions to open stores in †¢ However, Inditex recorded a stronger performance than H, thanks to a European markets and in the US. more aggressive expansion strategy, especially in emerging markets. The latter was partly helped by a greater reliance on franchised outlets. Although †¢ As Japan’s second largest clothing and footwear retailer, Shinamura’s H new store opening strategy was also ambitious, its presence in ranking was also boosted by emerging markets remained modest compared to Inditex’s. avourable exchange rates, but also †¢ Inditex also benefited from a vertical integration business model enabling it to thanks to new store openings. renew collections more frequently than its main rivals, including H. 10 Competitive Positioning Retailing – Hennes & Mauritz  © Euromonitor International H and Indi tex Neck-and-Neck †¢ H and Inditex have both been highly successful in the clothing and footwear specialists channel over the 2004- 2009 period. Their positioning based on low-priced fast fashion enables them to appeal to a wide range of consumers, especially since 2008 and with the major world economies entering recession.Their fast fashion business model also gives the two players the flexibility to change collections rapidly to adapt to consumer tastes, although Inditex has the edge over H in this respect. †¢ International network expansion was also a major part in driving sales of both companies, although Inditex has a greater presence in emerging markets, especially thanks to a wide reach in Latin America. Thanks to its greater reliance on franchising, new market entry requires fewer resources and entails less risk for Inditex than for H, which is more biased towards company-owned outlets. Although both companies saw their World – Retailing Sales 2004-2009 reta il sales in US dollar terms hit by the fall in the value of the euro 15,000 against the US dollar, they retained their lead over Gap. The latter’s 12,500 strong dependence on the US market proved a disadvantage, as it suffered 10,000 disproportionately from the recession in its domestic market in 2008 and 7,500 2009, which it could not offset with expansion in emerging markets, where it remains absent. ,000 †¢ In addition, Gap adopted a less aggressive pricing strategy than its 2,500 peers, thus losing share rapidly to H and Inditex, but also to players 0 in other channels in the US such as 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 mass merchandisers Target and WalHennes & Mauritz (H) AB INDITEX – Industria de Diseno Textil Mart. Retail value sales rsp excl tax (US$ mn) 11 Competitive Positioning Retailing – Hennes & Mauritz  © Euromonitor International Overall Stagnation in Sales per OutletWorld – Top 10 Clothing & Footwear Specialist Retailers – Sales per Outlet 2004-2009 – US$ Fixed Exchange Rates Company name INDITEX – Industria de Diseno Textil Hennes & Mauritz (H) AB Gap Inc, The C Mode Brenninkmeijer & Co Ross Stores Inc Fast Retailing Co Ltd Shinamura Co Ltd Limited Brands Inc Benetton Group SpA Burlington Coat Factory Warehouse Corp Note: 2009 provisional data 2004 3,130,909 7,103,455 5,233,467 7,658,816 6,571,607 5,663,966 3,168,427 2,541,956 916,038 8,482,203 2005 3,222,196 7,072,943 4,976,290 7,435,090 6,719,945 4,185,028 3,129,442 2,686,424 911,815 9,062,259 2006 3,245,793 7,102,853 4,882,942 7,276,803 6,967,172 3,720,254 3,222,800 2,799,494 896,071 9,090,081 2007 3,374,326 7,194,397 4,648,360 7,195,536 7,136,890 3,884,908 3,196,295 2,778,019 913,342 9,032,800 2008 3,291,002 7,279,016 4,180,204 6,979,826 6,784,922 4,520,068 3,201,177 2,636,235 949,993 8,904,762 2009 3,267,473 7,303,864 3,753,935 6,843,244 7,238,611 5,203,178 3,163,917 2,543,005 960,191 8,068,446 % growth 2004/2009 4. 4 2. 8 -28. 3 -10. 6 10. 1 -8. 1 -0. 1 0. 0 4. 8 -4. 9Modest growth in sales per outlet for most players, including H †¢ The growth trend in sales per outlet broadly matches the trends in overall sales growth for the top four global retailers, with H and Inditex outperforming C and Gap. Higher sales per outlet for H compared to Inditex largely reflects H larger average outlet size. †¢ Downward price pressure and prevalent discounting in apparel retailing, accompanied by the growing reliance on production outsourcing to low labour cost countries in the clothing industry, contributed to the stagnation or slight decline in sales per outlet for most retailers, especially for C and Fast Retailing. Sharp contraction for Gap †¢ Gap’s higher-priced positioning and its relative resistance to discounting led to a sharp drop in sales per outlet, as it pted to maintain its margins at the expense of overall sales growth. 12 Retailing – Hennes & Mauritz  © Euromonitor International Str ategic Evaluation Competitive Positioning Geographic Opportunities Category Opportunities Brand and Operational Strategies Recommendations 13 Geographic Opportunities Retailing – Hennes & Mauritz  © Euromonitor International A Global Player Still Dependent on Western Europe †¢ Among H top 10 global markets in 2009, all of them were located in Western Europe apart from one, the US. This highlights the company’s modest presence in emerging markets. Western Europe will account for 84% of the group’s sales in 2009.This proportion exceeded 90% in 2005, which illustrates H relative success in expanding its presence globally in order to offset the maturity and saturation in Western Europe’s clothing and footwear retailing. †¢ The company’s largest market, Germany, will account for 26% of world sales in 2009. No other market had a share of global sales exceeding 10%, while the domestic market, Sweden, accounts for 5%, which shows that H is not overly dependent on the economy of a single market. In comparison to H, Inditex is more dependent on its domestic market, which will generate 37% of its world sales in 2009. Both companies seek to extend their global reach, especially in emerging markets, although Inditex has a clear lead in this respect.Hence, H operates in 33 markets as of October 2009, compared to around 70 markets for Inditex. Hennes & Mauritz (H) AB – Clothing & Footwear Specialist Retailers (Company's 10 Largest Markets) 2. 0 1. 5 %CAGR 2009-2014 Netherlands Norway Spain 1. 0 Austria 0. 5 Sweden 0. 0 -0. 5 -1. 0 -1. 5 -2. 0 -2. 5 0 25,000 50,000 75,000 100,000 Market Size 2009 (US$ mn) 125,000 150,000 175,000 France Switzerland USA Opportunity Zone Germany United Kingdom Bubble size shows company sales in market, range displayed: US$536 – 3,497 mn 14 Geographic Opportunities Retailing – Hennes & Mauritz  © Euromonitor International Western Europe: Ongoing Expansion for H&M and Inditex H& M has a wide presence covering most Western European markets, in which its two main competitors are Inditex and C&A. All three companies have seen their share increase over the 2004-2009 period at the expense of smaller players, especially those with a national presence only. †¢ The shares of H&M and Inditex were driven by aggressive continuous network expansion across most markets. H&M has seen major ongoing store network expansion in most major European markets in 2008 and 2009, especially in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK. Its business model has proved to be relatively recession-proof, thanks to its low prices. †¢ C&A has been distanced by the two largest operators.Positioned as a value retailer targeted at families, C&A lost ground thanks to a less fashionable image and an inferior international presence. The company is absent from major European markets including Italy and the UK, and over 50% of its sales in Western Europe are derived from the German market . Clothing & Footwear Specialist Retailers: Retail Value RSP excl Sales Tax – Company Shares by GBO 4 % value share 3 2 1 0 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 14 12 % value share 10 Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) AB Company Shares – Top 6 Markets – Clothing & Footwear Specialist Retailers – Retail Value RSP excl Sales Tax 8 6 4 2 0 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 C&A Mode Brenninkmeijer & Co Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) AB INDITEX – Industria de Diseno Textil France Netherlands SwedenGermany Spain United Kingdom 15 Geographic Opportunities Retailing – Hennes & Mauritz  © Euromonitor International Western Europe: Primark Emerges as New Major Player Primark expends beyond the British Isles to emerge as a new European player †¢ Primark, owned by Associated British Foods, only recently expanding outside Ireland and the UK with its first outlets in Spain in 2008 and Portugal and test stores in Germany and the Netherlands in 2009, has ambitions to develop a wid e pan-European network. A new market entry is planned in Belgium in 2010. The success recorded by its first stores in Spain indicates that it could become a major Europe-wide player. With a strong brand image based on low prices and trendy collections following fashion trends closely, Primark targets teenagers and young adults, thus competing directly against H&M in terms of demographic and price positioning. Clothing & Footwear Specialist Retailers – Western Europe and United KingdomRetail Value RSP excl Sales Tax – Company Shares by GBO 6 5 % value share 4 3 2 1 0 WE – Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) AB WE – Associated British Foods Plc (ABF) 2005 2006 2007 UK – Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) AB 2008 2009 UK – Associated British Foods Plc (ABF) 16 Geographic Opportunities Retailing – Hennes & Mauritz  © Euromonitor International Recent and Planned Market Entries: Japan, South Korea †¢ Although geographic expansion has been a central feature o f H&M’s strategy, it has focused until recently on Europe nd North America, in contrast to Inditex venturing in several markets in Latin America and Asia Pacific and C&A’s major presence in Brazil. Recent new market entries in Japan in September 2008 and the planned entry in South Korea in spring 2010 confirm H&M’s adoption of a strategy to be less dependent on Europe and North America. Successful new entry in Japan in 2008 †¢ With its first store in the upmarket shopping district of Ginza in Tokyo, H&M’s market entry was successful. Initial reception was very favourable to the new chain, with around 50,000 shoppers visiting the Ginza store over the first week of opening, and a second Tokyo store was opened in November 2008 in the trendy district of Harajuku. The Harajuku outlet was the first H&M worldwide to sell the fashion labelComme des Garcons, with a collection designed by the Japanese designer Rei Kawakubo. This strategy helped create anticipa tion ahead of the new store opening among fashion-conscious consumers and gives H&M a more exclusive image in Japan than it has in other markets. †¢ Two more outlets in Tokyo are planned by the end of 2009 and a fifth is due to open in 2010, in Osaka. In order to expand faster in the mature Japanese market and to match the scale of its larger rival Inditex, H&M is considering acquisitions to be a possible expansion strategy. Intense price competition in Japan †¢ In a market hit by severe recession in 2009, price competition for clothing and footwear items has intensified. This as highlighted by mass merchandiser chains Justo (Aeon), Ito-Yokado (Seven & I) and Seiyu (Wal-Mart) starting to offer jeans at around ? 1,000 in 2009. Among H&M’s most direct competitors in terms of price and image, the dynamic player Fast Retailing with the Uniqlo chain combining low price and fashionable ranges, followed a similar price move in 2009. However, regardless of price H&M has an advantage in terms of fast fashion in being able to source and offer new products and refresh its collection more frequently than Fast Retailing. South Korea – following in the footsteps of Inditex †¢ Following its successful entry in Japan, H&M plans to open its first outlet in South Korea in March 2010 at a flagship store in Seoul’s business district of Myungdong.In a market less saturated than Japan’s and with fewer major international clothing and footwear specialist chains, H&M is expected to be successful. However, similarly to Japan, H&M enters after Inditex has already established a footprint in 2007 and expanded rapidly since. 17 Geographic Opportunities Retailing – Hennes & Mauritz  © Euromonitor International Further Growth in Large Emerging Markets: China, Russia †¢ With little presence in emerging markets, H&M is attempting to catch up with rivals, especially by expanding in large emerging markets, especially in China and Russia. Ongoing expansion in China to continue †¢ Following market entry in Hong Kong in 2007, H&M expanded rapidly in 2008 and 2009 with new stores in mainland China.Sales in China accounted for almost 1% of global sales in 2009. The first outlet in Beijing was opened in April 2009 south of Tiananmen Square, with H&M becoming the first foreign retailer to be present in this newly renovated part of the city. In order to create more anticipation around the store opening among consumers, it coincided with the launch of a new collection in collaboration with the designer Matthew Williamson. H&M’s presence in China is expected to continue expanding rapidly through new store openings, both in existing cities and by entering new cities where it can target the rapidly growing number of middle-class urban consumers. Among H&M’s global rivals, although Inditex expanded in China and Hong Kong earlier than H&M and has a stronger presence with more outlets, it has a less developed su pplier network in Asia than H&M, and as a result it can struggle to offer competitive prices to compete against H&M and also against local players, which may lead to the adoption a more differentiated positioning than in other markets. †¢ With Gap planning to enter China in 2010, it is likely that a greater number of international clothing and footwear specialist retailers will enter the market. Competing in a similar price segment to H&M, Fast Retailing announced at the end of 2008 its long-term objective to have 100 Uniqlo outlets in China. Russia – untimely entry but sound long-term prospects †¢ H&M opened its first store in Russia in Moscow in March 2009. However, suffering from a fall in gas and oil revenues, the country’s deep recession in 2009 is worse than previously anticipated and makes H&M’s market entry untimely.Rival Inditex has developed a major presence in Russia over several years, which has allowed the group to take advantage of the bo oming economy until 2008 to expand and establish a wide customer base. Longer term, H&M is set to emerge from the recession relatively unscathed thanks to its low-priced positioning and to have major growth prospects. Key point: With no presence in Latin America unlike C&A and Inditex, H&M could benefit from entering the large markets of Brazil and Mexico where its low prices should help build a major customer base. 18 Geographic Opportunities Retailing – Hennes & Mauritz  © Euromonitor International Franchise Deals Give New Middle East Opportunities Middle East and Africa expansion set to gather pace †¢ H&M’s presence in the main Middle East market, the United Arab Emirates, continued to increase rapidly in 2009 hanks to the franchise agreement signed in 2006 with the Kuwait-based company MH Alshaya Group. †¢ Opting to expand through franchise stores and using a similar growth model as Inditex represents a major new development in H&M’s global expan sion strategy in emerging markets, which is likely to help accelerate its global expansion. †¢ Thanks to the partnership with Alshaya Group, H&M entered the markets of Bahrain and Oman in 2009, and also opened its first two stores in Egypt in the second half of the year. H&M is likely to enter other new markets in the Middle East and Africa by the end of 2009, or in 2010, including Lebanon. †¢ Under another franchise deal signed with the local company Match Retail, H&M plans to enter Israel in 2010.Dedicated store concept for Saudi Arabia †¢ As store concept adaptation is an important ingredient in the success for foreign retailers operating in the Middle East and Africa, and require close attention, franchise partners are in a better position than H&M to implement new concepts. †¢ For example, in order to comply with local sharia law that forces shops to have segregated areas for men and for women, for its market entry in Saudi Arabia in autumn 2008, H&M opted t o adapt its store concept to be only open to women and staffed by women. 19 Retailing – Hennes & Mauritz  © Euromonitor International Strategic Evaluation Competitive Positioning Geographic OpportunitiesCategory Opportunities Brand and Operational Strategies Recommendations 20 Category Opportunities Retailing – Hennes & Mauritz  © Euromonitor International Modest Growth Forecast for H&M’s Main Channel †¢ H&M’s sales through the clothing and footwear specialist retailers channel will account for around 97% of its sales in 2009. This channel is forecast to record modest growth over the 2009-2014 period. While channel sales were hindered by the global economic crisis in 2008 and 2009, they are likely to recover to some extent, although they will remain affected by low price pressures on clothing prevailing within this distribution channel as well as in other channels.H&M has stronger prospects than most other clothing and footwear specialist players thanks to its wide international presence and low-cost and flexible business model allowing the group to undercut most rivals while remaining at the forefront of fashion trends. †¢ The remainder of H&M’s sales is accounted for almost equally by homeshopping and internet retailing, although the latter is increasingly supplanting the former, mirroring the wider industry trend. Expanding internet retailing presence will help offset the growing saturation of clothing and footwear retailing. Unlike Inditex, which is also present in the furniture and furnishings stores channel in a number of markets under the Zara Home brand, H&M does not operate other store-based formats. Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) AB – Global Retailing Presence & Prospects by Channel 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 -1 0 100,000 Internet retailing % CAGR 2009-2014Clothing & footwear specialist retailers Homeshopping 200,000 300,000 400,000 500,000 600,000 Market Size 2009 (US$ million) 700,000 800,000 900,000 Bubble size shows company sales in this channel (2009). Range displayed: US$169 – 13,118 million 21 Category Opportunities Retailing – Hennes & Mauritz  © Euromonitor International Battling Against Hypermarkets and Mass Merchandisers Grocery retailers and mass merchandisers increase price pressure on clothing and footwear specialists †¢ Clothing and footwear specialist retailers are increasingly seeing more intense competition from rivals operating †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ mostly in other store-based channels, such as mass merchandisers and hypermarkets.As H&M is positioned in the low-priced segment in clothing and footwear retailing, it is vulnerable to the direct competition from these channels and needs to cultivate its clear competitive advantage in terms of fashion and desirability. An example of the intensifying competition affecting clothing and footwear retailers is the price war between Fast Retailing (Uniqlo) and mass merchandisers Aeon (Jusco) and Wal -Mart (Seiyu) in Japan to sell jeans at around ? 1,000 in 2009. In the US, Gap’s sales have been eroded by the success of mass merchandiser Target’s aggressively priced clothing ranges. In Western Europe, the expansion of major hypermarket operators including Auchan, Carrefour, Tesco and Wal-Mart into non-food products is set to continue as they seek to improve margins.Although this trend has slowed down to some extent in 2008 and 2009 due to the global economic crisis, with grocery retailers refocusing at least temporarily on more recession-proof food items, the longer-term trend is expected to see hypermarkets attempting to be more competitive in their offer of clothing and footwear, with more appealing ranges to compete more directly against specialist non-grocery retailers. In the UK, Wal-Mart’s Asda chain, thanks to the increased sales of its George apparel range in 2009, threatens to overtake Marks & Spencer and Associated British Foods’ Primark cha in to become the country’s largest clothing retailer. Tesco saw clothing sales improve in the first half of 2009 alongside growth in non-food sales, up by 8%. Meanwhile, Sainsbury’s is planning to increase space allocated to non-food ranges in 2010 and 2011 and widen the reach of its successful TU range of clothes by offering it at more stores. 22 Category OpportunitiesRetailing – Hennes & Mauritz  © Euromonitor International Internet Retailing: H&M’s Late Entry H&M and Inditex both rise to the challenge and plan to develop internet retailing †¢ Beyond store-based rivals, clothing and footwear specialist retailers are increasingly battling against internet retailers and most of them react by developing or expanding their own online retailing activity. With consumers’ familiarity with ordering online generally on the rise, coupled with efforts from internet retailers to make their websites more visually appealing and user-friendly, consumersà ¢â‚¬â„¢ confidence in ordering clothes via the internet has been strongly boosted. Major homeshopping retailers which are also leading players in clothing, for example, Otto, are increasingly moving online. Similarly, H&M’s homeshopping sales in Austria, Germany, Netherlands and the Nordic countries are gradually migrating to internet retailing. The company’s significant experience in homeshopping in these markets prepares it well to tackle the logistics aspects to make internet retailing operations efficient across European markets. †¢ Both Inditex and H&M made announcements in 2009 indicating that they are gradually joining the fray and expanding online in most European markets. Inditex will start operations in major European markets by early 2010, while H&M will launch its website in autumn 2010 in the UK.Thanks to its wide product assortment, the vast choice increases H&M’s chances of success in internet retailing although this requires the site to be d esigned in a way to be easy to navigate. †¢ However, H&M is a late entrant in the channel and appears to have made a protracted move, with a plethora of major other operators including Amazon, Asos, the John Lewis Partnership, Marks & Spencer and Tesco having already obtained a strong foothold in UK online clothes retailing. Rival Gap also plans to launch its own website in the UK, following its earlier initiative in 2009 to sell its products on the Asos. com website. In the US, Gap has a multibrand website and offers combined delivery on cross-brand orders.Aggressive expansion from internet retailing specialists and grocery retailers †¢ Major grocery retailers have high ambitions for online clothes sales, as shown by Tesco’s relaunch of its UK clothing website in September 2009 offering private label and brands, and with Wal-Mart’s Asda offering the George label at Asda Direct since 2008. Websites of grocery retailers also often offer the added convenience o f click-and-collect services. Among specialist internet retailers, Amazon’s acquisition of the US online clothes retailer Zappos for US$850 million in August 2009 signals its ambitions in apparel retailing, and its low prices and high number of visits from customers give it key competitive advantages.Key point: With internet retailing making price comparisons between retailers easier, H&M should focus on advertising its low prices and promotions on its transactional website, while also emphasising the more fashionable design of its clothes in order to differentiate its website from Amazon and the grocery retailers. 23 Retailing – Hennes & Mauritz  © Euromonitor International Strategic Evaluation Competitive Positioning Geographic Opportunities Category Opportunities Brand and Operational Strategies Recommendations 24 Brand and Operational Strategies Retailing – Hennes & Mauritz  © Euromonitor International H&M: A Widely Recognised Global Brand Strong brand a wareness and image †¢ H&M’s strong brand image is associated with value and stylish collections, helped by the collaborations with famous designers. The latest example is the creation of the Jimmy Choo collection to be launched in November 2009.Such events create a great amount of publicity and media coverage to generate added footfall. †¢ In a similar way to Inditex, H&M relies on opening stores at a few flagship locations in major cities in order to build its brand image. Examples of such stores include the Harajuku store in Tokyo and the Champs Elysees store in Paris planned for 2010. †¢ Highlighting the H&M brand’s high level of awareness, it was ranked 21st among the top 100 most valuable global brands according to Interbrand in 2009, with a value exceeding US$15 billion. In comparison, Zara ranked only 50, while Gap came in at number 78. High-profile advertising with celebrities is widely used by H&M, unlike Inditex.H&M spends around 5% of its reve nues on advertising. H&M Brand geographic Asia Pacific, Eastern involvement Europe, Middle East and Africa, North America, Western Europe Brand channels Clothing & footwear specialist retailers World ranking & share 1 and 1. 6% (2009) in clothing and footwear specialist retailers Multi-brand approach from Inditex †¢ In sharp contrast to H&M’s almost exclusive Brands other than H&M gain greater importance †¢ The more upmarket COS successfully launched in the UK in 2007 enabling the group to target wealthier customers and potentially increase its margins. It was subsequently extended to other markets: Belgium, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands. The Swedish chain Monki, acquired in 2008 and known for its sophisticated and colourful store designs, is not being rebranded and was expanded outside Sweden in 2009 with two stores in Denmark. This should allow H&M to diversify its customer base. reliance on its eponymous brand, Inditex has adopted a strategy based on build ing a vast brand portfolio including Bershka, Massimo Dutti, Pull and Bear, Zara and Zara Home. †¢ The key competitive advantages resulting from this company’s multi-brand strategy is its ability to target a wide range of consumer groups with brands and products tailored to various tastes in order to bring exclusivity and differentiation. The level of independence of the company’s major brands is also an important aspect of Inditex’s capacity to adapt quickly to changing market conditions. Group synergies are ensured thanks to the group's vertical integration, which also contrasts with H strategy of outsourcing. 25 Brand and Operational Strategies Retailing – Hennes & Mauritz  © Euromonitor International Operations and Private Label Strategies Production outsourcing vs.. vertical integration †¢ H sources around 70% of its product assortment from Asia and over one third is purchased from China. It relies heavily on outsourcing production, with over 21 production offices worldwide (10 in Europe, 10 in Asia and 1 in Africa) liaising with over 750 factories.In contrast, Inditex sources the majority of its products from Europe, and most of its production is made in-house in order to cut the time lag between product design and in-store availability. †¢ Although production in Asia helps H undercut Inditex on price, it also makes it more vulnerable to currency fluctuations, with the value of the US dollar strengthening in 2009 against European currencies and making imports from Asia more expensive in its main market, Europe. This reduced at least temporarily the scale of its competitive advantage over Inditex. Low inventory levels †¢ H operational efficiency is reflected in the level of inventory being usually low thanks to the frequent renewal of its collection.However, the focus on reducing inventory in order to protect margins has been detrimental to sales in some months in 2009, especially over the summer, when the company had relatively few items available for markdowns. Although H generally achieves low inventory costs, it is likely to be often surpassed by Inditex in this respect. As one of the pioneers of the fast fashion business model with new ranges being introduced every two weeks, Inditex is particularly efficient in incorporating feedback from stores daily into the development of new products, thanks to vertical integration and as such, H cannot replicate this model. Private label ranges under various names †¢ All of H product assortment consists exclusively of private label. Private label ranges have various names to arget different genders and customer types. For example, Hennes is targeted at 25-35 year-old women, L. O. G. G. is a casual sportswear label and MAMA is a maternity range. Key point: As European consumers’ awareness of ethical issues increases, H is vulnerable to negative publicity surrounding working conditions at factories producing its clothes in Asia. Since it outsources a greater share of its products from Asia than Inditex and has less control over its supply chain, H auditing of factories must be strict and transparent to limit the chances of poor labour conditions being publicised and tarnishing its brand reputation. 26 Retailing – Hennes & Mauritz Euromonitor International Strategic Evaluation Competitive Positioning Geographic Opportunities Category Opportunities Brand and Operational Strategies Recommendations 27 Recommendations Retailing – Hennes & Mauritz  © Euromonitor International Key Recommendations Develop more premium chains alongside core low-priced offering †¢ H focus on affordability remains Internet retailing to be differentiated and wide-reaching †¢ As H is a late entrant in the New market entries and expansion in existing markets †¢ Entering into new emerging a core element of its success and contributed to make the retailer resilient in a recessionary economic environment. Alth ough its low-priced and fashionable image with its eponymous brand H should not be jeopardised, in addition to cultivating it, the retailer should also attempt to widen its customer base and especially target wealthier consumers with its other banners such as COS and Monki stores offering edgy fashion. This could also help increase profits once the economy recovers and consumers become less cost-conscious. internet retailing arena in most European markets and arrives in a crowded and competitive market where Amazon and Otto have made inroads, it will need to offer innovative transactional websites that can convey effectively the textures, colours and finish of its clothes in order to differentiate its offer but still highlight the low prices. H presence in internet retailing could also be extended to markets where it does not seek to open physical stores, mirroring the example of Marks & Spencer delivering products to around 80 countries since autumn 2009. markets, especially in nei ghbouring markets to those where it operates, offers considerable growth opportunities for H. †¢ Romania and Turkey are large European markets where the store concept is likely to be popular and where rival Inditex has developed a major store network. In Latin America, Mexico offers opportunities in the value segment of clothing and footwear retailing. Although it is well covered by C and Wal-Mart, H can cater for more fashionconscious consumer groups. In Asia Pacific, H burgeoning presence could accelerate by expanding to new cities, especially in China and Japan. In the latter market, new store concepts and collections or new banners such as COS and Monki could be tested. 28 Retailing – Hennes & Mauritz  © Euromonitor International Experience more†¦ This research from Euromonitor International is part of a global strategic intelligence system which offers a complete picture of the commercial environment . Also available from Euromonitor International: Global Bri efings The state of the market globally and regionally, emerging trends and pressing industry issues: timely, relevant insight published every month. Global Company ProfilesThe competitive positioning and strategic direction of the leading companies including uniquely sector-specific sales and share data. Country Market Insight Reports The key drivers influencing the industry in each country; comprehensive coverage of supply-side and demand trends and how they shape the future outlook. Interactive Statistical Database Market sizes, market shares, distribution channels and forecasts; the complete market analysed at levels of category detail beyond any other source. Strategy Briefings Executive debate on the global trends changing the consumer markets of the future. Learn More To find out more about Euromonitor International's complete range of business intelligence on industries, countries and consumers please visit

Pepsico Restaurants Case

MGM 399 1:30-2:50 PepsiCo’s Restaurants PepsiCo started off being a passive company, but later took a more aggressive stance into acquiring key figures like Frito Lay, Pizza Hut, and KFC. The mastermind CEO Calloway orchestrated unique mindsets within each business, and also learned through experience (buying a bakery that failed). Calloway has a lot of success but now faces another important decision: Should he acquire Carts of Colorado? I believe this decision does have some issues and some risk, however overall the benefits might outweigh the problems.If PepsiCo has the right managerial experience and finances Calloway might want to acquire or at least do business with COC. As stated in the case PepsiCo has many competitors in the restaurant industry. The primary reason for acquiring COC is to give PepsiCo a larger advantage over their competitors and maintain sustainable growth. One way these carts can be of great value is their accessibility. Having a low cost mobile serv ice has great benefits. You can read also Classifications of RestaurantsAn example of mobility might be in an amusement park, or a populated city. Another advantage towards acquiring COC might be backward integration. If the carts are doing well other companies might want to buy carts from PepsiCo. A costly venture within the carts is technology. Research and development might be costly in the beginning stages. Management has to be efficient and up to date just as it would be in a restaurant. According to PepsiCo’s Foodservice Revenue of $250 billion 25% of that is from Quick Service.From the expertise with quick service, this should be implemented to increase revenue with the COC. From the case COC was technically bankrupt, and owed $1. 25 million. Pizza Hut helped to keep COC in business. PepsiCo has the capabilities that COC did not have in order to achieve sustainability. PepsiCo analyzed COC as not being the lowest-cost cart and kiosk manufacturer. They also evaluated its engineering and design to be around 18 months ahead of its competitors. This can be very attractive looking at the short term.Maintaining the competitive advantage in technology can be costly, especially since PepsiCo does not have much experience in this field. If PepsiCo acquires COC they would have to invest in technology which could be too expensive. The first recommendation is getting the carts or kiosks in the best location possible according to demographics and population. Backward integration may be possible down the road, but can also oppose a threat by giving competitors some market share. The main risk factor or issue down the road might be the technological aspect.I would suggest hiring managers that have mixed expertise with engineering/design, and with restaurant management skills. PepsiCo can definitely use their success in the quick service business. By using similar standards as they did with Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, and KFC can be very helpful in order to reach their growth goals. The low c ost of the carts/kiosks may be one of the more attractive incentives. My overall decision is to not acquire COC, but come up with some kind of an agreement/contract to do business with them.The main reason for not acquiring COC is PepsiCo would have to invest a lot in resources that deal with technology/R&D. I think it is too risky to get involved in areas where you do not have the correct resources/capabilities to maintain net gains. After a few years the competitors would have the same machines and loss could be evident. COC can provide a temporary competitive advantage. By just doing business with COC this can secure a competitive advantage in the industry for snacks/beverages/food at a low risk.

A Calm Mind Is A Healthy Mind

A Calm Mind Is A Healthy Mind For many people, a low-grade amount of stress is a part of everyday life. So, they may not recognize that it has a negative impact on their overall health. Studies have shown that feeling stress or anxiety on a long-term basis doesn’t just affect your peace of mind. In fact, you’re more likely to suffer from things like digestive issues and a weak immune system if your mind is persistently stressed. Cortisol, the hormone your body produces when you’re feeling stressed, can take a heavy toll on your physical and mental health. Because of this, giving your mind time to relax and recover is one of the most important self-care routines that you can practice. Your state of mind has the potential to greatly benefit your health, or degrade it, over time. Digestion Your liver produces glucose to give you an energy boost when your body is feeling the effects of stress. Whatever your body doesn’t use is then reabsorbed. However, if you’re suffering from chronic stress, your body may not be able to keep up with the extra blood sugar your liver is producing. You may be at an increased risk of developing type-2 diabetes if your body is producing too much glucose. You’re more likely to have heartburn or acid reflux if you suffer from stress. Stress doesn’t cause ulcers, but it may cause pre-existing ulcers to act up. Sexuality and Reproductive System Stress affects the menstrual cycles of some women. You may have irregular or even non-existent periods or more painful or heavier cycles. Too much stress may magnify the physical symptoms of menopause for women. For men, prolonged periods of stress can result in a drop of testosterone levels, erectile dysfunction and even impotency. For many, the loss of sexual appetite is a common occurrence as a result of too much stress. Immune System Stress is known to stimulate the immune system, which is good if it’s short-term because it helps your body stave off infection and heals wounds. But if you’re stressed for prolonged periods of time, cortisol compromises your immune system. This inhibits histamine secretion and your body’s inflammatory response to foreign dangers. People who are affected by chronic stress are more likely to catch viral illnesses like the common cold. It also takes more time for the body to recover from injuries or illness, if you’re chronically stressed. Relaxation Techniques to Calm Your Mind There are numerous techniques for calming your mind. For some, exercise is an excellent outlet to give their mind time to recharge. Meditation is a well known method for clearing your mind. There are many different styles of meditation, tailored to suit your needs and lifestyle. Remember to focus on the positives rather than focusing on everything that’s going wrong around you. Practice self love and compassion and acknowledge your reality rather than criticizing yourself. Set daily routines that will provide a day-to-day sense of peace and comfort that you can use to escape the stresses of everyday life, even if it’s just for a few minutes each day. The well-being of your mind plays a very significant role in your health, physically and mentally. Maintaining a peaceful state of mind is one of the best ways to protect your body from the negative effects of stress. Remember that stress and anxiety are inevitable hurdles everyone deals with. It’s how you manage the stresses of your everyday life that’s important. It’s also the key to overcoming them.

Impact of Censorship and the Internet Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Impact of Censorship and the Internet - Essay Example With such an enhancement towards freedom of open expression, encouraging public debates and discussion of proposals, Internet has also confronted with the negative aspects with the only solution left to rate or filter online content. This idea has been mainly supported by anti pornography feminists. Cyber crime is also an aspect that allows a person to think about such a measure that helps in censoring the Internet. Since the government can punish such actions, that are the real bone of contention in the hindrance of such regulations. As Catharine McKinnon, a leader of a movement wrote in a statement against sexual speech, "Only words, but because they are sex, the speaker as well as the spoken-about is transformed into sex". (Levinson, 2003) "The intensity of the crime can be detected from such a dynamic declaration common to sexual harassment and pornography where the triumph of the word police, no matter what their politics, has been to turn their precepts into common wisdom. Pornography is harmful, the Internet is dangerous, artists are corrupt, tolerance is capitulation, and discussion, imagination, and plain old talk must be controlled and censored. Even liberal-minded people who are against at the prospect of censorship talk easily of limits." (Levinson, 2003) Pornography involves children, that infect their minds and lives, harassment whether live or virtual corrupts humanity; other crimes such as fraud and gambling are becoming common in our daily lives. The suggestion lies in the cure of censorship from individual speech rights to collective groups or peers which if implied, will resolve conflicts over what is good and bad speech. Censorship refers to crime prevention on the Internet; the following steps can be taken in this respect: Develop effective Internet and security policies for all websites to be implemented. In the public sector, governments should attempt to regulate and restrict the use of computers by their employees. Service providers should be subjected to obscenity laws in countries they obtain customers. These laws must be strict and liberal except in the case of child pornography, where the laws must be generally extremely strict. Child pornography has been taken seriously to such extent that Child Pornography Protection Act (CPPA) prohibits and criminalizes the use of computer technology and define child pornography in terms of the harm inflicted upon real children to a determination that child pornography was evil in and of itself whether it involved real children or not. (Ferrera, Cyber Law) Child Online Protection Act of 1998 (COPA) expresses the following rationale for the new legislation: The Internet presents opportunities for minors to access materials through the web in a manner that could frustrate parental control or supervision. The protection of the physical and psychological well being of minors by shielding them from materials that are harmful to them presents a compelling governmental interest. Industry attempts to provide ways to help parents and others restrict a minor's access to harmful materials have not been successful. Prohibiting the distribution of material harmful to minors, combined with legitimate defenses, is currently the most effective and least restrictive means to protect minors. (Ferrera, Cyber Law

Organizational Change Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 7

Organizational Change - Essay Example Negative publicity refers to publicity with which leads to negative outcomes for an organization. Handling negative publicity may not be easy but eventually the organization will find a way of tackling the problem. According to the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium, several standards have been set to ensure efficient handling of negative publicity. These standards include:Negative publicity refers to publicity with which leads to negative outcomes for an organization. Handling negative publicity may not be easy but eventually the organization will find a way of tackling the problem. According to the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium, several standards have been set to ensure efficient handling of negative publicity. These standards include:†¢ Cultivating a caring and inclusive school community†¢ The involvement of parents and outside community  Ã¢â‚¬ ¢ Coordinate school resources for effective learning†¢ Manage and develop staff members' pro fessional skills†¢ Building a shared vision of the school communityAccording to the incident of the school bus driver who was caught on camera choking a child, which is a negative publicity, the school management should have managed the situation before it went out of hand causing the loss of job to the bus driver. Considering that the child required a monitor, and it was hard for the bus driver to manage both her task and that of calming the child. Unless the change is attempted, one may not know its importance. According to Richard and Judy, allowing, acceptance and involvement in change may result in a much-desired results needed for effective leadership and administration. This includes: ensuring a well-detailed reason for the change, impacting the importance of the change to the people so that they own the change and ensuring that the change has a clear vision and has received adequate support for its implementation.

Reflective commentary of research process Paper

Reflective commentary of process - Research Paper Example Furthermore, I felt that my dissertation should contribute to the wellbeing of the society that I am a member of. From this holistic perspective, I chose to study the literature on disaster management and its status in this country. My search of the relevant background information gave me an understanding of the steps that have been undertaken in disaster management in America, to prepare the nation in meeting the threats that are posed by natural and man made calamities. Several agencies and elements contribute to effective preparedness of the nation to face calamities. Scrutiny of the elements led me to understand that a critical element in disaster preparedness focused on those that are called upon the scene or voluntarily present themselves at the scene of a disaster to provide succour to the disaster victims at the outset. Therefore, disaster preparedness of a nation hinged on what we may term these ‘first responders’ at the site of a disaster. My next exploration i n the background literature pertained to these first responders, and the measures that have been taken to increase the effectiveness of the first responders at disaster sites. I found that there was ample information on the measures that were taken, but limited information on the effectiveness of the measures that have been put in place, to enhance the efficacy of the first responders to disaster sites. Therefore, I decided that my research should focus on this area, and have chosen to do a critical review on the disaster preparedness in America, tracing the background of disaster preparedness efforts in the nation, and the importance of the first responders, and finally focussing on assessing the preparedness of the first responders to cope with disaster management. Having found my research problem, the next task I undertook was to find a suitable title for my dissertation. My reading of information on the development of titles for a dissertation provided the information of the tit le needing to be succinct and catchy. After a great deal of thought I arrived at the conclusion of highlighting the subject of the study and the focus of the study through the title† Disaster Management: An Evaluation of the Disaster Preparedness of the â€Å"First Responders†. Developing the Objectives of the Study From the volume of information that was being collected, I realized that I needed to set objectives for my study, if not I would meander in finding the solutions for the subject and focus of the study, making my study aimless and results not gratifying for the efforts put in. My readings on setting objectives for the study also made me realize to keep myself focused on a limited set of objectives that were achievable, and not to try to take on more than I could chew. With this in mind, I developed three objectives that were achievable and relevant to providing answers to the problem that I was studying in detail. Developing the Research Method Having set my objectives, the next step in my journey in creating the dissertation proposal was in finding the efficient means to achieving the objectives of finding answers I was searching for that would be academically reliable and valid. All my earlier experiences in dissertations and my readings of dissertations clearly marked out that choosing the research method required me

Literature review of Analog Circuit Computer Aided Design Essay

Literature review of Analog Circuit Computer Aided Design - Essay Example The main purpose of this research of "Analog CAD" is to get the values of transistor sizes and components values like resistors and capacitances if the analog circuit specification is given. The optimization technique it adopts is geometric programming (Boyd, 2004). Till today analog circuit design automation is done for long length transistors or sub-micron transistors. Main objective of this research work is to automate circuit in deep sub-micron region. Before starting actual work on any topic it is necessary to go through literatures otherwise one may land up in a result which has already been found out by some other person.This section deals with the existing literatures related to analog circuit optimization. It outlines a summary of all the resource materials, authorial credentials, content credibility, source credibility, text credibility- Fluid integration of the source evaluation. A true literature review gives the proper sense of works that technology has achieved till dat e into that specified topic which helps one researcher to bring down his own research problem.Han Young et al. (1990) developed an analog silicon compilation system for CMOS op amps (OPASYN). The synthesis starts from a certain specification. From its database, program selects op amp topology that suits most with the given specification. Using parametric optimization the circuit then determines optimal value for its parameters. It also produces Design-Rule-Correct compact layout of the optimized op amp. Yang et al. (1995) proposed a Simulated Annealing (SA) algorithm for topology selection and sizing. In analog cells, topology choice and sizing simultaneously is efficient than normal two step mode synthesis. Basic problem with that approach is that super circuits must be worked out for each sort of analog cells. Chen et al. (2000) placed an iterative optimization idea for improving delay in digital circuit. Instead of only adjusting that gate sizes to reduce delay, they adjusted wire loads of the gates by repositioning them using geometric program. It gave better result in deep sub-micron design where the effect of interconnect delays dominates Mandal P and Visvanathan V (2001) devised an efficient technique for sizing of op amp by sequential convex optimization problem. This method then prototyped in MATLAB to apply into CMOS two stage op amp. Paper mostly focuses on long length transistor. In short channel case results did not come satisfactory due to second order effects. To overcome this, model was used that gave acceptable result.. Hershenson M et al. (2001) also worked on same topic and came out with fruitful result. There they have used 0.8 technology. Dawson et al. (2001), using geometric programming optimized the allocation of local feedback loops in a multistage amplifier. In a multistage amplifier local feedback loops effects its overall bandwidth, gain, rise time, noise and linearity. Using GP tool these problems had been solved taking into account wide variety of constraints. After that, Daems et al. (2001) came with simulation based automatic generation of signomial and posynomial models that can be used for analog design automation. These posynomial models were found to be more useful for geometric programming optimization. There, they tested the methodology with a CMOS OTA in 0.7 m technology. Hershenson M. (2002) presented a technique for the design of Analog- Digital Converter (ADC). In a predefined pipeline ADC topology she tried to get the component values and transistor sizes meeting the specification and keeping constraints like power, SNR, sampling frequency and area in convex form. Eackelaert et al. (2003) depicted a new technique to generate symbolic expressions for the performance characteristics. The technique determines the coefficients and the exponents of a posynomial template based

How was and is the cold war reflected culturally Essay

How was and is the cold war reflected culturally - Essay Example The commonalities (Cold War order) began from the re-formation of the century long olden times of imperialism and nationalism. The Cold War enmity provided the edge of orientation in which a narrative rapport between imperialism and nationalism wanted to lodge developments such as decolonization and the universal rights uprising; in turn, this adjustment generated developmentalism, multiculturalism, militarism, and new ideologies and modes of individuality configuration, thus producing a novel gathering. The evolving pattern changed and was exaggerated by other chronological factors together with race, femininity, division, and creed among others.1 Era fashioned by structures rising from axis of supremacy that lean to control historical existence. Like other hegemonic configurations, such organizations have a tendency to guide and confine the thoughts of the communal, the biased and selfhood, but these organizations also have violently jagged things and there are countless zones of existence that are relatively unhurt by them. Thus in some places, such as the Japanese territory, exacting aspects, such as developmental imperialism, began prior to the Cold War. One might also argue that in East Asia, the Cold War arrangements began to untie a decade before 1989. The cold war dominated influence on several aspects of people in United States society for almost second half of the twentieth century. It rose as a result of adversary values linking America, representing democracy and capitalism, and Soviet Union, advocating socialism and dictatorship. As the superpowers after the World War II, disputation among the Soviets and Americans rose to be a universal conflict. 2 Cold war was different from several other wars as it was mostly based on propaganda war and much of military activities. Vietnam wars and the Korean wars are crucial instances of military intrusion by the United

Sweetwater State Universitys Appraisal System Essay

Sweetwater State Universitys Appraisal System - Essay Example Decisively, the experts’ recommendations will have a definite impact through the proposed appraisal system because the administrators are required to pay more attention when evaluating their staff members. Moreover, through the vice president, the secretarial and clerical performance evaluation will be more productive and entail fairness to all the staff members. Â  Nonetheless, the proposed way of conducting the appraisal does not fully exploit the abilities of any appraisal; normally because the salary-increase aspect is still the core factor. Moreover, it will definitely increase a certain level of accuracy but there are limitations as the administrators will just examine a few things off the staff acting as the ‘deal breakers’. Resolutely, the feedback will not be fully valid especially because the university is using the graphics rate forms and the administrators are required to rank the staff by force. Â  The graphics rating forms are essential to the Sweetwater State University since it is easy and takes less time to develop, the administrators compare the staff quantitatively, and the forms do not give the administrators a hard time during the evaluation or when developing them. Additionally, the graphics rating forms are also a practice of fairness to the staff, simply because the evaluation follows the same criteria for all of them; moreover, most people agree that it is most valued and permissible but some question its development and validity that need clear guidelines.

Business and Management about WTO Dissertation

Business and Management about WTO - Dissertation Example Concentration Index 56 5. 3.4. Diversification index 57 5.3.5. Trade Composition 59 5.3.6. Trade Balance per Product 64 5.3.7. Trade Performance and Multinational Presence in Vietnam 66 5.3.8. Factor endowment and Composition of trade 70 Conclusions 79 References 80 Appendix I 83 1. Introduction It is essential to find out the probable outcomes of the liberalization of trade on macroeconomic variables for various policy reasons. The most significant of which is that the liberalization may influence the direction, the scope as well as the magnitude that may be used to smooth out external shocks and thereby, stabilize the business cycles through the monetary and fiscal policies. Liberalization has the potential of making the countries more prone towards the international price shocks and thus, it may also give rise to the risk exposure. Liberalization may further affect the terms of trade of a country as well as its prices and competitiveness, which may all result into broader implicat ions for poverty and employment. This study will investigate some of the potential macroeconomic impacts on the domestic market of a country resulting from its accession to the WTO, in particular the case of Vietnam’s accession to the WTO will be discussed that will enable us to determine that how it may assist our organization to enter new markets. This study will concentrate on the period from 1995 when Vietnam commenced to undertake its negotiations for joining the WTO, up to the date of 31 December 2007 that is one year after its accession to the WTO. Since the mid of 1980s, Vietnam has boarded on to the economic reforms and its accession to the WTO has been caused by its drive for bringing economic reforms to its economy and for its better integration in to the trading system of the world. The membership of WTO-World Trade Organization and the participation in RTAs (regional trade agreements) pose significant challenges for the domestic firms along with bringing several benefits and opportunities to them. Numerous social concerns related to the trade policy reform and liberalization arises with the implementation of the WTO commitments. The domestic businesses might face several challenges while endeavoring to adjust to the pressure of the rising competition in the market that arises from the commitments undertaken by the government of the state in the process of WTO accession. Having done in various countries, the implementation of WTO obligations has a significant impact over the economy and the society of the host country. Thus, we will study the accession of Vietnam’s accession of WTO in order to assess the impact of WTO on firms and thereby, determine how it may help our organization in entering new markets. For this purpose, we will investigate the role of WTO in the sustainable and equitable economic development of a country. The report will discuss the impact of trade and institutional reforms through the WTO accession by studying an d learning from the case-study of Vietnam. We will learn, in this report, to capitalize over advantages and minimize the potential negative impacts that emerge from the implementation process by working out the measures as well as through action oriented recommendations. In specific, the study aims to investigate the following subjects: 1. the impact of WTO over the macroeconomic policies, the public sector as well as the public revenue, in particular; 2. the impact of WT

The Impact of Japanese American Internment in the US Essay Example for Free

The Impact of Japanese American Internment in the US Essay The internment of hundred of thousands of Japanese Americans during World War II is one of infamous blotches in the United States’ experience with racial discrimination and human and civil rights violations. Although less discussed in the history books than the country’s fight against discriminatory practices against the African Americans, the incarceration of the Japanese Americans, nevertheless, has tainted the nation with guilt. The reason for this is that the incarceration did not have profound effects on the positive outcome of the war. Instead, it only meant the alienation and the violation of the members of a certain race that the US government judged with sweeping generalization as the enemy. The impact on the Japanese Americans was definitely negative. They had to bear the harshness of living in substandard conditions and, worse of all, the racial prejudice that they suffered from the eyes of the American public. On the other hand, the stigma was felt and continues to be felt by American society itself. The internment has been considered as another shameful chapter in the history of a nation that prides itself of being a promoter of freedom, democracy, and civil rights. The arrival of Japanese into the country had been occurring a century before World War II. The more significant increase in migration however occurred in the 1890’s. Before Pearl Harbor was bombed, the single devastating event that prompted the US to got war against Japan, government statistics already confirmed that there was nearly 200,000 people who were either born in Japan or were with Japanese ancestry. The US mainland, particularly the states along the Pacific coast were home to more than 125,000 of these people while the 150,000 were in Hawaii, which was then just a territory of the US. The death toll and the destruction brought about by what was considered as a treacherous act by the Japanese in Pearl Harbor changed the image of the Japanese Americans in the eyes of the Americans. Spurred by the government’s own paranoia over the existence of these people within the country’s backyard, the American public began to treat the Japanese Americans with contempt and distrust. They began to see them as â€Å"American citizens with enemy faces. † (Daniels et al 12) The paranoia was initiated by a government report on the Pearl Harbor attack that came out in January 1942. Penned by US Supreme Court Justice Owen J. Roberts, the report without much evidence alleged that the Japanese Americans in Hawaii spied for the Japanese navy in preparation of the attack. Barely a month after the report came out congress members of the west coast states sent the US president a letter that recommended the immediate evacuation of Japanese Americans in their respective states. As the members of congress made their move, the US Army’s Western Defense Command also sent a memorandum to the Secretary of War that advised the removal every person of Japanese descent from the entire west coast area. In response to both recommendations by the members of the legislature and by the military area high command, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Executive Order 9066 which provided blanket authority to the Secretary of War and all military commanders to implement the recommendations. One part of the memorandum that influenced the President in issuing EO 9066 stated that â€Å"in time of national peril, any reasonable doubt must be resolved in favor of action to preserve the national safety, not for the purpose of punishing those whose liberty may be temporarily affected by such action, but for the purpose of protecting the freedom of the nation, which may be long impaired, if not permanently lost, by non-action. † (The War Relocation Authority) The President and his advisers clearly knew that the internment of the Japanese Americans could gravely affect their basic human rights. Nevertheless, driven by the sense of urgency to protect the country from the enemy, they would rather incarcerate thousands of innocent Japanese American civilians than be at risk from spying activities by a few if there were any proven. The process taken to implement the internment was tainted with violations of the Japanese Americans’ right to privacy. The United States Census Bureau, a department ran by civilians for purely civilian functions, was employed to assist in identifying individuals and families who should be sent to internment. It took a role in spying neighborhoods and gathering information on Japanese Americans. The bureau vehemently denied this role but in 2007, after several decades, this was finally proven. (Minkel) The US government in 1988, under President Ronald Reagan, came out with a legislation of an apology for the internment. It stated that the decisions and actions of the US government regarding the status of the Japanese Americans anchored on â€Å"race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership. (100th Congress) As a result of this legislation, the US government paid more that $1. 6 billion to Japanese Americans who were victims of the internment or were heirs of those who suffered it. It was just that, although late by several decades, the US government issued an apology and paid reparations for the Japanese American victims of the mass internment. The sense of alienation and injustice resulting from mandatory evacuations was already painful. Making it even worse, was the sub-human conditions in the internment camps and the separation from their properties and livelihood. The barracks in which the internees, many of these families, were made to live in barracks with barely insulation from the hot or cold weather. Many of the barracks did not have plumbing as well as facilities for cooking. Some of them even had common toilets. Since the barracks were mostly built by civilian contractors who usually made the military’s camps, these were naturally unsuitable for family living. Some of the internment facilities such as the Heart Mountain War Relocation Center in Wyoming may have names that did not actually reflect the living conditions of the internees. In fact, the Heart Mountain facility actually appeared like a concentration camp with a â€Å"barbed-wire-surrounded enclave, un-partitioned toilets, cots for beds, and a budget of 45 cents daily per capita for food rations. † (Myer) The mandatory evacuation was done hastily, with the military employed to enforce it. Due to such short notice, many of the internees were not able to prepare enough food and clothing for their stay in the camp. Herded by the military into mass transport systems, they were not informed of their respective destinations or the location of their assigned camps. Because of this, they were not able to bring clothes suitable for the climates in which their camps were. A great number had to make do with the thin clothing usually worn in California as they struggle with the harsh winters in Wyoming. Most of the internees consequently lost valuable properties due to the limits of properties that could be brought to the camps. Japanese Americans who had stable employment were naturally forced to leave their jobs permanently. The Japanese Americans were treated unequally. Although they all lived under the same subhuman conditions of the internment camps, the nissei or those who were born in the US and were granted citizenship and their children were give preferential treatment. On the other hand, the nikkei, who were immigrants from Japan and who did not hold US citizenship, were treated with suspicion by the authorities heading the military zones of which the Pacific coast was subdivided. Stricter rules were also applied to them while they were in the camps. As a consequence of their incarceration, Japanese American children experienced difficulties in their studies. Although basic education was still provided in the camps, the system it employed was not only meant to teach children the necessary academic subjects. Education was also made as a channel for anti-Japanese war propaganda. The camp schools were not conducive to learning. There were very few books, teaching aids, and schools supplies for the students to use. Heating was also quite poor, making the children vulnerable to sicknesses. However, what made the educational system worse then was that it embedded shame and hatred for being of Japanese descent. The effect of the daily dose of war propaganda that they experience was such that â€Å"once in a while a child would confide timidly about not wanting to go to school- ashamed of being Japanese in front of his teachers who read every morning from a newspaper about the horrible Japanese soldiers and how fine American soldiers were fighting and winning. (Hirabayashi 45) The traditional way of bringing up families was destroyed by the internment. Parents found it difficult to discipline their children because the living arrangements in the barracks did not allow them so. If they insist on raising their voices while scolding their children, they would certainly annoy their neighbors with whom they share a common thin wall. Because of this, â€Å"the nissei children, for their part, often ate with their peers in the mess hall and roamed around the camp in packs, thus further escaping the influence of their elders. (O’Brien Fugita 62) As are result of this, it was common for internment camps to have problems with juvenile delinquency. Experiencing the difficulties of living in the internment camps had a great impact on Japanese Americans in the duration of World War II. However, it was not the certain degree of depravation that they encountered that was serious enough for them. It was the psychological effect of the incarceration that was more overwhelming. Internment camp administrators admitted that they observed many Japanese Americans showed signs of depression. They also observed that the feelings of insecurity and helplessness were prevalent in the camps’ population. On the other hand, there was quite a number who expressed apprehensions of living outside the camps and be with mainstream society. The reason for this was that they knew of the rabid anti-Japanese propaganda being spread around and accepted by Americans. They were afraid of integrating themselves in a society that might still consider them as enemies and suffer worse racial discrimination in the end. The internment, therefore, only embedded in them fear and hatred against themselves or against other races. After the war, Japanese American internees were released into mainstream society. They tried living as normal as they once lived before the internment but many of them found it difficult to recover. The no longer have the shops, farms, and jobs which were their sources of living. Opportunities of regaining these were bleak as the general population still tended to treat them with contempt. While before they share the same fate as the African Americans as victims of racial discrimination, after the war, even the African Americans tended to treat them as a lesser race. Several years after, adults who were then young boys and girls in the internment camps still experienced episodes of depression. A former child internee wrote that even after all those decades, there were still times when remembered his experience in an internment camp, as well as the â€Å"feeling of isolation and abandonment. (Tateishi 130) Aside from these depressing memories that former internees continue to suffer, they also suffered confusion of their racial and national identity, especially the nissei. Mary Matsuda Gruenewald, another former child internee, remembered a time when she was made to do a Japanese dance inside the camp; â€Å"vulnerability and fragility exposed my old confusion: Am I Japanese or am I American in this barbed-wire camp, about to perform a Japanese dance? † (Looking Like the Enemy 69) The impact is still experienced by Japanese Americans of this generation. They still â€Å"have trouble feeling at home in their adopted country. † (Alfaro 206) They still fear the possibility that the people of other races upon seeing them would remember them as enemies who had the chance of partaking the opportunities offered in the US. Majority of the American public still has to know the truth about the internment of Japanese Americans. This sad part of history should have a positive impact on society, making the people more vigilant against various forms of racism.

Research Ethics Board of Canada Essay Example for Free

Research Ethics Board of Canada Essay There are many rules that must be adhered to when describing a course of ethics. The purpose of this reading, â€Å"Ethics,† was to inform readers of the rules and regulations set forth by the Research Ethics Board of Canada. The ethics board keeps a close watch over matters of all types of human research. The given selection made obvious the Canadian government’s involvement in the research practices of its countrymen, and also the government’s commitment to keeping human research work ethically sound. The Research Ethics Board of Canada, or the REB, must be consulted in every instance of â€Å"research involving human subjects† (p. 3). Part of their job is to make sure that the safety of the living research subjects is held in high esteem. They also provide a â€Å"clear moral foundation† for research practices (p. 54). The REB is not limited to cases of research on the living. Even in the case of deceased bodies, the REB requires that â€Å"respect† is in order due to the â€Å"dignity of the person from whom tissue is obtained† (p. 76). Regarding the ethical treatment of the living and the dead, the REB has the final say so in what can or cannot be done with a human body, and their opinions supersede those of the researchers (p. 3). The REB oversees laboratory practices, but they also oversee ethical treatment of humans in the public sector as well. In the public sector, celebrities and sports figures are often hounded by reporters and photographers. The REB, however, protects some of their privacy by including in their general policies rules about research on â€Å"living people in the public arena† (p. 1). The REB does not regulate research about people who fall into this classification unless â€Å"the subject is approached directly for interviews or for access to private papers† (p. 1). When such requests occur, the REB must step in and confirm that the â€Å"research† is being done ethically and in accordance with policy (p. 1). One could safely assume that most people wanting information for unethical purposes would be dissuaded by the measure of protection the REB provides. The REB may just have a general measure of authority in research in the public sector, but in some research situations, they assume a great amount of control. In cases of extremely invasive or â€Å"potentially harmful† research, the REB must assess, monitor, and review each case with â€Å"intense scrutiny† (p. 9). The REB especially monitors cases that are â€Å"the most ethically challenging† (p. 9). Some of these cases may include situations where children are involved. Potential â€Å"physical, moral, psychological, and social consequences† must be provided for review by the REB before research on a child, particularly a very sick child, can be approved (p. 28). Even if the research is approved, the REB gives the final decision about the research to the person who will be undergoing it. The REB works with people who usually would not be able to indicate consent, such as young children, Alzheimer’s patients, and the cognitively impaired (p. 29). In the interest of ethical behavior, if the person indicates that they do not want to take part in the research, the REB will step in and remove them from the situation. Even though the REB is a governmental agency, they still have control over what happens medically to the most frail and innocent patients. It would be unethical to include a person in a study that they did not choose to take part in, so in the name of ethics the REB stops researchers from taking advantage of perilous situations. The protection of the people of Canada is the main job of the REB. Even though some people are opposed to governmental intrusion into areas of health and ethical treatment, the REB is a good example of appropriate governmental intervention into such research. Canada has an excellent model for the rest of the world.

Business Essays Marketing Strategies HSBC

Business Essays Marketing Strategies HSBC HSBC Marketing Strategies One of the largest banking and financial services organisation in the world is known as the HSBC Group. It has established businesses in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, the Americas, the Middle East and Africa. In 1991, HSBC holdings were incorporated in England, with its head office based in London. In 1999, the company established its international brand name, which ensured that the Groups corporate symbol became a familiar sight all across the world. HSBC differentiates its brand name from those of its competitors by describing the unique characteristics which distinguish HSBC, namely being, The worlds local bank. As at 31st December 2004, its total asset was valued at  £660 billion. It has over 9,800 offices worldwide. It employs over 253, 000 people, across different countries and territories. Its shares are held by around 200,000 people in some 100 countries and territories. The companys shares are also traded on most of the worlds renowned stock exchanges, namely, London, P aris, New York, and Bermuda stock exchanges respectively. One of the major tools it uses for functionality on a worldwide scale is the companys use of information technology. Its e-business channels include the internet, PC banking, interactive TV, and telephone banking. It maintains its own private network (intranet and extranet), in which HSBCs websites attracted 900 million visits in 2004. The HSBC group provides a comprehensive range of financial services namely: Personal Financial Services: It has over 100 million personal consumers worldwide (including Consumer Finance customers). It provides a full range of personal finance services, including current and savings accounts, mortgages, insurance, loans, credit cards, pensions, and investment services. It is one of the worlds top ten issuers of credit cards. Consumer Finance: The Companys Finance Corporations consumer finance business ensures point of sale credit to consumers, and lends money and provides related services to meet the financial needs of everyday people. In 2004, it completed the integration of its former household businesses. Commercial Banking: HSBC is a leading provider of financial services to small, medium-sized and middle market enterprises. The group has over two million such customers, including sole proprietors, partnerships, clubs, and associations, incorporated businesses and publicly quoted companies. In the UK, 209 Commercial Centre were launched to provide improved relationship management for higher value small-medium-sized enterprise customers, while in Hong Kong, Business Banking Centres, were expanded to provide a one-stop service. Corporate Investment Banking and Markets: Tailored financial services are provided to corporate and financial clients. Business lines include Global Markets, Corporate and Institutional Banking, Global Transaction Banking, and Global Investment Banking. Global Markets includes foreign exchange, fixed income, derivatives, equities, metals trade, and other trading businesses. Corporate and Institutional Banking covers relationship management and lending activities. Global Transaction Banking includes payment and cash management, trade services, supply chain, securities services, and wholesale banknotes businesses. Global Investment Banking involves investment banking advisory, and investment banking financing activities. Private Banking: HSBC is one of the worlds top private banking businesses, providing financial services to high net worth individual and families in 70 different locations. HISTORY OF THE HONGKONG AND SHANGHAI BANKING CORPORATION The HSBC group evolved from The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited, which was founded in 1865 in Hong Kong with offices in Shanghai, London, and an agency in San Francisco, USA. The company expanded primarily through already established offices in the banks name until the mid 1950s when it began to create or acquire subsidiaries. The following are some of the key transitions in the Groups growth and history since 1959. In 1959, HSBC acquired the British Bank of the Middle East formerly known as the Imperial Bank of Persia. In 1965, it acquired a majority shareholding of the Hang Seng Bank Limited. In 1971, the British Bank of the Middle East acquired a minority stake of 20% in the Cyprus Popular Bank Limited, which currently trades as the Laiki Group. In 1972, Midland Bank acquired a shareholding in UBAF Bank Limited (now known as British Arab Commercial Bank Limited). In 1978, the Saudi British Bank is established under local control to take over the British Bank of the Middle Easts branches in Saudi Arabia. In 1980, it acquired 51% of New York States Marine Midland Bank (now known as HSBC Bank USA). At the same time Midland acquired a controlling interest leading German private bank, Trinkaus and Burkhardt (now known as HSBC Trinkaus Burkhardt KGaA). In 1981, HSBC established a branch in Vancouver, Canada. In the same year the Group acquired a controlling interest in Equator Holdings Limited, wh ich was a merchant bank engaged in trade finance in sub-Saharan Africa. In 1982, Egyptian British Bank S.A.E. is formed, with the HSBC group holding a 40% stake. In 1983, Marine Midland Bank acquired Carroll McEntee and McGinley (now HSBC securities (USA) inc.), a New York based primary dealer in US government securities. In 1986, HSBC Australia was established. In 1987, it acquired the remaining shares of Marine Midland and a 14.9% equity interest in Midland Bank (now HSBC Bank Plc). In 1991, HSBC Holdings was established (as mentioned previously); its shares were traded for the first time in London and Hong Kong stock exchanges. In 1992, it purchased the remaining equity stake in Midland Bank. In 1993, it moved its head office to London. In 1994, HSBC Malaysia was established. In 1997, the group established a subsidiary in Brazil, Banco HSBC Bamerindus S.A., and acquired Roberts S.A. de Inversiones in Argentina, HSBC Brazil, and HSBC Argentina, respectively. In 1999, shares of HSBC began trading on a third stock exchange, New York. In the same year it acquired, Republic New York Corporation, which was then integrated into HSBC USA Inc and its sister company Safra Republic holdings S.A. (now known as HSBC Republic Holdings Luxembourg). At the same time Midland acquired a 70.03% stake in Mid-Med Bank Plc (now HSBC Bank Malta Plc.), the biggest commercial bank in Malta. In 2000, HSBC acquired CCF, one of the largest Banks in France. Its shares were also traded on a fourth stock exchange, Paris. The group also increased its shareholding in the Egyptian British Bank to over 90% and then later renames it HSBC Bank Egypt S.A.E. It went on to acquire Demirbank TAS, now HSBC Bank A.S., Turkeys fifth largest private Bank in 2001. Additionally, it signed an agreement to purchase 8% stake in the Bank of Shanghai. In 2002, it acquired Grupo Financiero Bital, S.A., de C.V., one of Mexicos largest financial services groups; and a 10% interest in Ping An Insurance Company of China Limited, the second largest life insurance operation in China. In 2003, it acquired Household International (now HSBC Finance Corporation), a leading US consumer finance company; and Lloyds TSBs Brazilian assets including Losango Promotora de Vendas Ltda, a major consume credit institution. Four French private banking subsidiaries combine to form HSBC Private Bank France. The companys insurance brokers at the same time formed a joint venture Beijing HSBC Insurance Brokers Ltd, in which it has a 24.9% stake. Hang Seng Bank also acquired about 16% of Industrial Bank Co. Ltd, a mainland Chinese Commercial Bank, and HSBC agrees to purchase 505 of Fujian Asia Bank Limited (now known as Ping An Bank Limited). In 2004, it acquired the Bank of Bermuda Ltd, a leading provider of fund administration, trust, custody, asset management, and private banking services. It also opened in a fifth stock exchange, the Bermuda stock exchange. In the same year it acquired about 20% of the Bank of Communications Limited, Chinas fifth largest bank. EXISTING LITERATURE REVIEW Around the world corporations are increasingly becoming aware of the enhanced value that corporate branding strategies can provide for an organization. According to Weitz and Wensley (1988), they define marketing strategy as an indicator that is specific towards which activities are to be targeted and the types of competitive advantages that are to be developed and exploited. Implicitly, the strategy requires clear objectives and a focus in line with an organisations corporate goals; the right customers must be targeted more effectively than they are by its competitors, and associated marketing mixes should be developed into marketing programmes that successfully implement the marketing strategy, Varadarajan (1999). A strategic market plan is an outline of the methods and resources required to achieve an organisations goals within a specific target market. It takes into account not only marketing but also all the functional aspects of a business unit that must be co-ordinated. These functional aspects include production, finance and personnel. Environmental issues are an important consideration as well. The concept of the strategic business unit is used to define areas for consideration in a specific strategic market plan. Each strategic business unit (SBU) is a division, product line or other profit centre within a parent company. Each sells a distinct set of products to an identifiable group of customers, and each competes with a well defined set of competitors, Dibb et al. (2001). Each SBUs revenues, costs, investments and strategic plans can be separated and evaluated apart from those of the parent company. SBUs operate in a variety of markets, which have differing growth rates, opportunitie s, degrees of competition and profit making potential. HSBCs business units includes, personal financial services, consumer finance, commercial banking, corporate investment banking and markets, and finally, private banking. Strategic planners within the group therefore must recognise the different performance capabilities of each business unit and carefully allocate resources or strategically implement its business objectives in order to meet the companys long term goals. They must also ensure that the business units complement each other for the greater good of the overall business. The process of strategic market planning yields a marketing strategy that is the framework for a marketing plan. A marketing plan includes the framework and entire set of activities to be performed; it is the written document or blueprint for implementing and controlling an organisations marketing activities. Thus a strategic market plan is not the same as a marketing plan; it is a plan of all aspects of an organisations strategy in the marketplace, Dibb et al. (1996). A marketing plan, in contrast, deals primarily with implementing the marketing strategy as it relates to target markets and the marketing mix, Abell and Hammond (1979). To achieve its marketing objectives, an organisation must develop a marketing strategy, or a set of marketing strategies. The set of marketing strategies that are implemented and used at the same time is referred to as the organisations marketing programme. Most marketing programmes centre on a detailed marketing mix specification and include internal controls and procedures to ensure that they are implemented effectively. Through the process of strategic market planning, an organisation can develop marketing strategies that, when properly implemented and controlled, will contribute to the achievement of its marketing objectives and its overall goals. However, Harris (2002) argues that companies operating in the financial services market, particularly the big four retail banks (HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds TSB, and the Royal Bank of Scotland (with its acquisition of Natwest), primarily rely on generic marketing strategies. To formulate a marketing strategy, the marketer identifies and anal yses the target market and develops a marketing mix to satisfy individuals in that market. Marketing strategy is best formulated when it reflects the overall direction of the organisation and is co-ordinated with all the companys functional areas. The strategic market planning process is based on an analysis of the broader marketing environment, by which it is very much affected. Marketing environment forces such as legal forces, political forces, technological forces, economic and competitive forces, societal/green forces, and regulatory forces, can place constraints on an organisation and possibly influence its overall goals; they also affect the amount and type of resources that a business can acquire, Dibb et al (2001). They also do create favourable opportunities as well, such as internet banking in which HSBC and Merrill Lynch created an online banking and investment facility, which has proved profitable for both companys as a whole, Eppendorfer et al. (2002). Marketing enviro nment variables play a part in the creation of a marketing strategy. When environment variables affect an organisations overall goals, resources, opportunities or marketing objectives, they also affect its marketing strategies, which are based on the factors mentioned previously. They impact consumers needs, desires and they affect competitors plans. Now, according to Polito (2005), branding in the classic sense is all about creating unique identities and positions for products and services, hence distinguishing the offerings from competitors. Corporate branding employs the same methodology and toolbox used in product branding, but it also elevates the approach a step further into the board room, where additional issues around stakeholder relations (shareholders, media, competitors, governments and many others) can help the corporation benefit from a strong and well-managed corporate branding strategy. Not surprisingly, a strong and comprehensive corporate branding strategy requires a high level of personal attention and commitment from the CEO and the senior management to become fully effective and meet the objectives. Corporate branding is a serious undertaking that entails more skills and activities than just an updated glossy marketing facade with empty jargon. A strong corporate branding strategy can add significant value in terms of helping the entire corporation and the management team to implement the long-term vision, create unique positions in the market place of the company and its brands, and not the least to unlock the leadership potential within the organization. Hence a corporate branding strategy can enable the corporation to further leverage on its tangible and non-tangible assets leading to branding excellence throughout the corporation, Polito (2005). HSBC as stated in the latter has in recent years acquired a vast number of companies across the globe and adopted them fully under its international corporate brand with great success and within a surprising short timeframe. A strong brand is about building and maintaining strong perceptions in the minds of customers. This takes time to establish and many resources to keep, but eventually no one remembers what the local banks used to be called, and HSBC has managed to transfer the brand equities from the acquired brands into its own corporate brand equity. There are several benefits for employing a branding strategy that a corporation can exploit. First of all, a strong corporate brand is no less or more than the face of the business strategy, portraying what the corporation aims at doing and what it wants to be known for in the market place. The corporate brand is the overall umbrella for the corporations activities and encapsulates its vision, values, personality, positioning and image among many other dimensions. Think of HSBC, which has successfully implemented a stringent corporate branding strategy. HSBC employs the same common expression throughout the globe with a simple advertising strategy based on the slogan The worlds local bank.  This creative platform enables the corporation to bridge between many cultural differences, and to portray many faces of the same strategy. Additionally, HSBCs brand name has enabled a number of key mergers and acquisitions (mentioned previously) around the globe, which has so far strengthened its market presence in the banking world, Brand Finance (2000). The Marketing Strategies of the HSBC Group 2005 Towards the end of 2003, HSBC launched Managing for Growth, a strategic plan that provides HSBC with a blueprint for growth and development during the next five years. The strategy is evolutionary, not revolutionary. It builds on HSBCs strengths and it addresses the areas where further improvement is considered both desirable and attainable. HSBC concentrates on growing earnings over the long term at a rate which will place it favourably when compared with its peer group. Also it focuses on investing in its delivery platforms, its technology, its people and its brand to support the future value of HSBC as reflected in its comparative stock market rating and total shareholder return (TSR). HSBC remains committed to benchmarking its performance by comparison with a peer group. Its core values are integral to its strategy, and communicating them to customers, shareholders and employees is deemed as intrinsic to the plan. These values comprise an emphasis on long-term, ethical client relationships; high productivity through teamwork; a confident and ambitious sense of excellence; being international in outlook and character; prudence; creativity and customer focused marketing. Under the managing for growth scheme, eight strategic imperatives were identified as the key marketing and business strategies for 2004 2008. They are: Brand: make HSBC and its hexagon symbol one of the worlds leading brands for customer experience and corporate social responsibility Personal Financial Services: drive growth in key markets and through appropriate channels to make HSBC the strongest global player in personal financial services Consumer Finance: extend the reach of this business to existing customers through a wider product range and penetrate new markets Commercial Banking: make the most of HSBCs international customer base through effective relationship management and improved product offerings in all the Groups markets Corporate, Investment Banking and Markets: accelerate growth by enhancing capital markets and advisory capabilities focused on client service in defined sectors where HSBC has critical relevance and strength Private Banking: serve the Groups highest value personal clients around the world People: attract, develop and motivate HSBCs people, rewarding success and rejecting mediocrity; and TSR: fulfil HSBCs TSR target by achieving strong competitive performances in earnings per share growth and efficiency. RESEARCH APPROACH AND METHODOLOGY EMPLOYED Research Approach The research approach will be carried out using the positivist case research approach. According to Cavaye (1996), positivist epistemology tries to understand a social setting by identifying individual components of a phenomenon and explains the phenomenon in terms of constructs and relationships between constructs. The theoretical constructs describing the phenomenon are considered to be distinct from empirical reality. Hence, empirical observations can be used to test theory. This looks at the world as external and objective. Positivism employs four major research evaluation criteria: a good research should make controlled observations, should be able to be replicated, should be generalizable and should use formal logic. Under positivism, case research findings are not statistically generalizable to a population, as the case or cases cannot be considered representative of a population, however case research can claim theoretical generalizability. This will also include comparing, contrasting and critically evaluating past and present papers, articles, journals, and established theories that have been published on the subject matter. Methodology Employed Multiple-Case Study Design This project uses the multiple case study method in order to enable analysis of data across cases and relating it to the theoretical perspectives in the available literature of marketing strategy. This enables the researcher to verify that findings are not merely the result of idiosyncrasies of research setting (Miles and Huberman, 1984). According to Yin (2002), in such a method it is important to use: multiple sources of evidence. The appropriate number of cases depends, firstly, on how much is known about the phenomenon after studying a case and secondly, on how much new information is likely to emerge from studying further cases (Eisenhardt, 1991). This paper detailed analysis about the marketing strategies employed by HSBC, in comparison to its other major competitors, namely Barclays Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland, and Citibank. Analysis of the marketing strategy of HSBC is evaluated with regard to the organisation meeting customer needs and requirements, advertising strategies and the need to increase its customer base and market share are all addressed. One wants to see if there are any matches with regard to the theoretical literature of marketing strategy and what the empirical evidence gathered says and also any mismatches. This also relates to the literature review. Qualitative Data Cavaye (1996) states that qualitative investigation refers to distilling meaning and understanding from a phenomenon and is not primarily concerned with measuring and quantification of the phenomenon. Direct and in-depth knowledge of a research setting are necessary to achieve contextual understanding. Hence, qualitative methods are associated with face-to-face contact with persons in the research setting, with verbal data (Van Mannen 1989) being gathered. Qualitative data can be collected in a number of forms. One major form of qualitative evidence is interviews, which may be recorded and later transcribed. Qualitative data are rich, full, holistic real their face validity seems unpeachable; they preserve chronological flow where that is important (Miles 1979). In spite of the abovementioned, qualitative data have weaknesses (Miles 1979; Miles and Huberman, 1984). Collecting and analysing data is time-consuming and demanding. In addition, data analysis is not easy, as qualitative data analysis methods are not well established. Recognised rules of logic can be applied to verbal data in order to make sense of the evidence and to formally analyse the data. Rubin and Rubin (1995) state that it is most desirable to disclose the identities of both the case and the individuals interviewed because, The reader is able to recall any other previous information he or she may have learned about the same case from previous research or other sources in reading and interpreting the case report. The entire case can be reviewed more readily, so that footnotes and citations can be checked, if necessary, and appropriate criticisms can be raised about the published case. Nevertheless, there are some occasions when anonymity is necessary. The most common rationale is that when the case study has been on a controversial topic, anonymity serves to protect the real case and its real participants. The second reason is that the issuance of the final case report may affect the subsequent actions of those that were studied. Quantitative Data This is concerned with measuring aspects of a market or the population of consumers making up the market. This includes soft approaches such as consumer attitudes as well as the hard things such as market size, brand shares, purchase frequencies etc. Quantitative data on a market or consumer group can be obtained through carrying out a census, obtaining the relevant measures from every single consumer or player in the market. In practice, research through a census collection is very rare; for one thing it is usually prohibitively expensive to obtain data from every individual (the government only carries out a population census once every 10 years) and even if the money is available the timescales involved are likely to be too long to meet commercial deadlines, Meier (1991). Furthermore, a census is unnecessary since the alternative; sampling can normally produce adequate and acceptably reliable data for a fraction of the cost. Quantitative research is, therefore, nearly always based on more or less rigorous sampling methods which have in common the assumption that the data from the samples can be taken to represent, within estimated levels of accuracy, the population or universe from which they are drawn, (Hague 2002). Types of Quantitative Data The range of information which can be and is collected through quantitative research is enormous if not infinite. In relation to deciding how data should be collected, all the possibilities can be categorised into a simple threefold classification: 1.Market measures 2.Customer profiles or segmentation 3.Attitudinal data. Market measures quantify and describe a market. Common examples include: market and sector size; shares of the market held by suppliers or brands; penetration levels (what proportion of all potential consumers own or buy a product); purchase and consumption frequencies; patterns of consumption and seasonality. Data of this type is very essential for any manager developing or reviewing a marketing plan for a company, product group or brand name like HSBCs hexagon logo. Market measures taken from a sample are generally projected or grossed up to the total market or population, e.g., the proportion of households in a sample found to be without a PC can be multiplied by available estimates of the number of total households to provide an indicator of untapped potential. A vital concern in the marketing of a product or service is knowing and understanding the potential customer base; what type of people or organisation are they? What other types of products or services do they own or use? What is required to meet this need is customer profiling or segmentation data and it is quantitative in nature because reliable breakdowns are needed for the whole market or population, Buck (1990). Hague (2002) argues that profiling data can take various forms: socio-demographics (age, sex, income and occupation group, education level, home tenure etc); geo-demographics; various business classifications such as company size, industry etc. for business to business research or it can relate to consumer behaviour (ownership of various products, purchase or usage levels, media exposure etc.). Unlike market measures, consumer profiling data can be collected only from consumers (including organisations in the case of business to business research) although the distribution or manufacturing levels in the market may also need profiling. Attitudinal data is used in a quite general sense to cover concepts such as awareness, perceptions, beliefs, evaluations, preferences and propensities. In other words they are, in their various forms, subjective and reside in the minds of individuals. Much market research under this is concerned with attitudes and attitude measurement because attitudes and your marketing may mould consumer choice in your favour. Attitudes are of course very much the subject of qualitative research which is often concerned to identify relevant dimensions and categories of attitudes. In quantitative research, the focus is on establishing the degree to which specific attitudes exist among the market and population. The most important tool for data collection under quantitative research is face to face interviewing. However, in situations where over a hundred firms need to be interviewed, due to the cost attached to carrying out such a task, doing a telephone interview would seem more appropriate. The methods used to record data and data analysis here, is predominantly through questionnaires. Most questionnaires used in quantitative research involve a predominance of pre-coded or closed questions and the layout of the response points can help to minimize problems of mis-recording. More problematical, however, is the recording of open-ended questions, such as why did you buy this product, then? This usually leads to a lengthy or rambling response from the individual, in which what is said is then summarized or abbreviated and there is no way of knowing whether what is recorded reasonably reflects the response given. In the case of this paper, due to the short deadline associated with writing this paper, one was only able to get a telephone interview (primary data collection method) from a senior manager of customer relationship management at one of HSBCs flagship branches in the London area. Additionally one has also used multiple sources of evidence, i.e. secondary sources of information, articles, journals, established theories, HSBCs annual report, comments by top management within the organisation are analysed and also the companys website are all used to evaluate and address the effectiveness of its use of market strategy to increase its market share and customer base. The remainder of this paper proceeds as follows, analysis of findings, overview of the marketing strategy, criticisms, summary and conclusion. ANALYSIS OF FINDINGS Central to achieving a companys corporate vision is the need to build up a loyal customer base of satisfied customers. HSBC did not overtake its major competitors by chance in acquiring foreign financial institutions; it developed a clear marketing strategy based on a desire to fully satisfy a carefully targeted set of market segments. As the BBC (2004) gathered, a quarter of HSBCs 2003 profits were made in the UK, and it made around  £70 profit per customer. Additionally, the bulk of its profits came from acquisitions elsewhere, US personal loan firm Household International and HSBC Mexico. Although Household International operates in the UK, HSBC says its British market accounts for less than 10% of this divisions profits. Market segmentation is at the core of robust marketing strategy development. This involves identifying customer needs, expectations, perceptions, and buying behaviour so as to group together homogeneous customers who will be satisfied and marketed to in a similar manner. One segment will differ from another in terms of customer profile and buying behaviour, and also with regard to the sales and marketing activity likely to satisfy these customers. Having sufficient knowledge of these customers is fundamental. It is important to remember that the process of market segmentation involves more than simply grouping customers into segments. Shrewd targeting of certain segments and the development of a clear brand positioning are part and parcel of the market segmentation process. Now, HSBC launched a marketing strategy called Managing for growth, which is to cover and deal with its strategic outlook for the period 2004 2008. From the company website, they have stated that they will deliver this by; focusing on enhancing HSBCs revenue generation culture, develop its brand name further (hexagon logo), manage costs strategically, maintain a prudent credit/market risk stance, and invest further in its people. Addition ally, acquisitions still remains an integral part of their strategy. As stated from the companys website, they will concentrate on growing earnings over the long term at a rate which will place it favourably when compared with its peer group. It will also focus on investing in its delivery platforms, its technology, its people and its brand to support