Attraction Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Attraction Management - Assignment Example The level of security that is put in place in the 02 Arena was the very important feature for the visitors, the fact that the Arena is fast enough and it can hold almost 23,000 people it can be a terror target. This is a very important feature as it makes the people feel secure as they are at the 02 Arena. The market target was the very important aspect for attraction, the various businesses and the events in the area can attract all sort of ages. The movies can attract kids, the musical events are capable of attracting teenagers, and the casinos can attract those who are not in their youthful years. Major events such as hosting prominent and flashy musicians, like Justin Timberlake, Beyoncà © were a very strong tool for attraction. Holding events such as the Paralympic games also makes the Arena to be known and the venue will be in the mouth of many potential visitors. The geometrical shape of the 02 Arena that is dome-shaped was very attractive and it brought upon experience to a majority of the people. Controlling the behavior of the clientele is the very important aspect of attraction management, this can be achieved by making sure factors such. The flexibility of the arena was very catchy and this has attracted many because they think and try to figure out how different events that of different nature can be held in one Arena. Employees of the area were and are very supportive, there is an efficient call center within the area that can't take any query presented by a potential client.

Re-Branding Malaysia Airlines

Re-Branding Malaysia Airlines To solve Malaysia Airline’s branding problem, rebranding is necessary for them for their potential customer to put Malaysia Airline as priority choice when comparing among the airlines. According to Jonathan A.J Wilson (2014), brands are a visual, aural and verbal encapsulation of differentiating characteristics for people to a particular product or services (Lessons from Malaysia Airlines: Damage Control and Should They Rebrand, para.4). Comparing same type of products and services, branding always influences people to put the brands as their top choices. He also stated that cooperate brands have their identity and personality, linking all the employees, activities, products and services to the organisation (Lessons from Malaysia Airlines: Damage Control and Should They Rebrand, para.4). Although Malaysia Airline gives us the pride as it is our national brand, people avoid choosing it as their top choice for their safety measure when flying because the branding is associates with air disasters. Rebranding would be a solution for Malaysia Airline current situation because rebranding which involves repainting its uniforms and relaunching it with new logos and name is a strategic action for the airlines after a clash (Karl West, 2014, para.1). According to Johnny Clark, an aviation brand consultant and director of The DesignAir , their recognisable logos and cooperate colours were on the headlines of TV news channels and newspaper front pages during the air crashes, causing deep impact in the people memory about the passenger jet disasters. Clark also pointed out MAS need to consolidate the current look of their aircraft if their aircraft and the smart course of action would be to expedite the painting of their entire fleet to the newer scheme( Annette Ekin, personal communication, July 2014). By rebranding the Malaysia Airlines, people will lower their worries and security guard towards the branding because it is wholly new for them and the new branding would prevent evoking of the memories of the scene of plane crash. A name change would tell the entire world that Malaysia Airlines have changed and they are ready for a new chapter in order to regain their customers. Comparing the air disasters happened in the past, the aviation tragedy in MH17 similar with the shooting down of Korean Air Lines flight KAL 007, a commercial carrier which sheered into Russian airspace. To solve their branding crisis, the airline chose to remould into its new image, Korean Air. The affiliation of its previous branding which is a tail-fin logo, a red crane enclosed in red circle with tragedy and doomed flight is replaced with a stylized red and blue taeguk, the Korean yin-yang. With its fresh look, Korean Air now a top ranked airline for service and safety and able to survive through the bran ding crisis ( Karl West, 2014, para.9) . Other than rebranding Malaysia Airlines, they need to restructure their business by making major internal changes in the company. Apparently, the first things they need to improve is development of a flexible crisis response capability. Paul Baines (2014) has stated the capability of a company in handling challenges and crisis is a measure of the company to survive in the business world. (What Malaysia Airlines must do to survive, para.5) According to Paul (2014), it is crucial for Malaysia Airline to form a crisis response team in order to response to the emotional needs of its public and also conduct a post mortem the changes they would practice for handling crises better in future. (What Malaysia Airlines must do to survive, para.5) It is very important for it to refill its plane with global passengers, especially the Chinese and the Dutch which are the biggest community involved in the twin air disasters. The crisis communication strategy should account for the media and general public particularly the families and internal staff. A crisis communication team would be responsible for when, what and how the informations will be conveyed to each audience (Ben McCarthy, 2014,pg.1). Reviewing the case of MH370, the biggest fault by Malaysia Airline is the slow reaction towards the crisis. Robert Jensan who is the chief executive of Kenyon, a crisis and disasters management company said that the first thing Malaysia Air lines should have done is inform the airport to take a few actions without any delays. The arrival board of the flight should be taken off immediately, setting up a reception area for the family members. Before the news broke, the family members is required to stay in a protected area, securing them from the media onslaught. The priority in the chaos should be the family members of the passengers. Furthermore, Robert pointed out that Malaysia Airline should brief them before the media and be transparent in giving the information in their hand and caution them about the speculation that will inevitably arise and tell them what to expect in the coming days (Amber Hildebrandit, personal communication, March 12, 2014). By having good crisis management team in order for facing challenges in the future, Malaysia Airline is more ready to be exist as a competitive airliner. Good crisis management system would regain its customers because their right have been reserved. Concerning about their customers’ right and needs, the Malaysia Airline would be remoulded as a responsible airline company which put their customers need as their top consideration. By doing this, they would solve their branding problem and financial problem in the future. Although regaining potential customers to refill its plane would help Malaysia Airline to aid in its financial problem, cutting cost and restructuring the business model are necessary. Since high operating cost is one of the factor, weakness in pricing and revenue management, sales and distribution in the market can be overcome by personnel transfer. Cut job can directly ease the financial burden and the remaining staffs will provided training again so that they remain as highly skilled and competitive employee to help in decision making in the planning for business strategy for Malaysia Airline. In addition, replacing the aircraft with the higher efficiency and fuel saving is inevitable for facing the current escalating fuel. It is to ensure the yield per route would be profitable to cover the high operating cost. To do so, restructuring the route also needed so that unprofitable route would be taken out and avoid financial lost. Although cutting cost and restructuring business mode l are effective ways to solve their financial crisis, it would takes long time to practice the solution. Despite the time taken, downsizing and restructuring the route affect the personnel lives. Downsizing would cause the employees to lose their jobs and source of revenue while restructuring the route may neglect the need of minority group who needs the flying service. For this reason, Malaysia Airline needs to handle it well by holding several communications and negotiation with the employee and the public so that it will not bring damage to its branding anymore. The twin aviation disasters in four months have brought severe damage to the reputation and financial status of the Malaysia Airline. To survive in this crisis, it is a biggest challenge faced by the airline because the lack of experience handling in such problem in the past. Malaysia Airline should solve both the problems together as its’ interrelated. Rebranding and restructuring of the airline would be a new chapter for the relationship between the airline and customers. Lessons learned by the airline would help them to handle crisis better in the future, securing the national brand of the airline as well as the right of the passengers.

Hindu Astrology and Free Will :: essays research papers

Friends when we talk about astrology, we mess up in rajyogas, duryogas, auspicious incidents, inauspicious happenings and so on. I don't think we ever proceed to search out 'seriously' beyond that. Then comes out the most controversial and debated subject what we call 'free will'. If everything has been pre-destined, what the hell we are striving for? Is there any devil writing our fates all the time and having fun? A big No, all the saints say that nobody else, but we alone are responsible for our plight. Vivekananda says "Stand upon your feet and take the responsibility of your present prevailing circumstances instead of being a coward escapist passing all the blames upon Almighty." Our Seers were not mere astrologers or fortune tellers, but they were inventors. Without the help of any external aid they located so much just by going deep inside. They located the laws of nature and their influence upon human beings. If we just make a go with different yogas, then astrology seems to be mere fatalism unable to extend any aid to come out of the vicious circle what we term as destiny. In this case astrology seems to have lost its ground. The predestination of fate leaves astrology meaningless. Simply because the past has already passed, the present has been decided and the future has already been written. I started astrology in the year 1998. Till the end of 2003 I was an incurable fatalist. During these 5 years I read almost all the literature of Vivekananda and Yogananda, the famous kriya yogi who left his human body in the year 1950. In those books I read a lot about the so called free will of human beings but with little conviction. Since as an Astrologer I was witnessing almost regularly that destiny couldn’t be altered. But the last two years changed my whole perception. I understood well what those great saints meant to say. When they talked about the free will, they were not concerned merely about the human body made of five tatvas of Nature namely water, air, earth, fire and ether. In all actuality they were talking about the free will of the spirit, which inhabits one and all. The body and mind are bounded in the Nature's laws, and therefore, enjoy very little freedom. When you go by the commands of mind, you gradually nullify yourself by being the slave of senses.

Sauna pants

The pants are simple to wear with adjust-ability in waists and thighs but still, since it has limited sizes to fit all types of body shape for both men and women, there are complaints grading inconvenience among users' reviews. You have the option to dial your desired temperature, but by sacrificing the moving-around due to the 4- inch cord. On the other hand, it is guaranteed 100% money back in 90 days after purchase for the relatively reasonable price $29. 99 – $39. 95 (compared to a standard sauna normally around $40-$60).No matter how promising this product may sound, if you wish to lose real weight this is not a desirable equipment. One deficiency is no clinical test or patent being mentioned; hence, skin irritations or other health-related problems like infertility are upon your own risk. Like how the claim ingeniously claims, the user just gets rid of some extra water weight, a small amount of weight that will be easily gained back during a re-hydration session. No musc le workouts or any kind of physical activities is needed while the real weight loss plan lies in the reduction of fat volume, leaving muscle and water remained.Same heating mechanism to accelerate water weight loss, we have another apparel item, the sauna suit. Unlike the sauna pants, the sauna suit â€Å"features high insulation and low water vapor permeability, due to the thickness and the lit-layered fabric design†, then serves as a major physiologic defense against overheating through sweating during vigorous physical activity, which makes it by far a more effective product in support of weight loss according to a research about sport bra and integral fitted sauna suit.Regarding the warm, relaxed treatment for soothing sore joints or tight muscles, it is just a temporarily relieved feel due to the heat, which a light intensity of exercise or a heating pad can do the same with far lesser cost. Legend the discussed understandings, would not use it for the sake of losing wei ght, nor commend it to anyone. This product is no use in any perspectives, also promotes laziness towards work-outs and unrealistic crave for healthy well- being with no effort.

Resources and Capabilities of Coca-Cola Essay

In the competitive corporate world it is very important for organizations to have a strategy. This strategy should be based on resources and capabilities that the firm has and also taking into consideration the opportunities that arise in the external environment enabling companies to achieve sustainable competitive advantage. (Grant, 2005). The company that I have chosen is Coca-Cola. The reason behind me choosing this company is because from my point of view, Coca-Cola has been a company that has always invested, upgraded and leveraged its resources and capabilities to be the most successful brand in the soft drink industry for more than 120 years. According to Interbrand ´s report on Best Global Brands, Coca- Cola has been ranked in the first position for the 13th consecutive years. Estimating its brand value at $77.8 billion and having a rise in 8% since last year annual report. (The New York Times, 2012). Coca-Cola ´s was discovered by John Pemberton, a pharmacist from Georgia, as a result of an accident, which has now become the most consumed soft drink in the world. (The Coca-Cola Company, 2012). Around 1.7 billion of Coke products are consumed in a day. (The World Fact Book, 2012). Its portfolio of products range from the traditional Coca-Cola, carbonated soda water, bottled water, tea, sports drink and fruit juices, having over 3,500 products and brands. The company holds 275 bottling partners around the world; these companies are dedicated to produce, package and distribute most of the company ´s products. The company competes in over 200 countries. (The Coca-Cola Company, 2012). The resource based view is a framework that suggests that companies obtain competitive advantage by focusing on strategies that exploit their internal strengths by responding to the external opportunities and trying minimize external threats and internal weaknesses. (Barney, 1991). The advantage of this model is that the firm can consider factors that are within their control. (Connely, 2010). Moreover, this model has two assumptions in analyzing resources. The first one is that the firm is heterogeneous to the strategic resources they control. The second is that resources aren’t perfectly mobile across firms and thus heterogeneity can be long lasting. (Barney, 1991). Before talking about Coca-Cola ´s resources and core capabilities it is important to understand the difference between these two. â€Å"Resources are the productive assets owned by the company, capabilities are what the firm can do well. Resources can be classified as three types; tangible resources, intangible resources and human resources.† (Grant, 2005, p. 136-137). Authors such as Teece and Pisano (1997) suggest that an organization has to always renew and recreate its resources to meet the needs of changing environments. They are three basic types of dynamic capabilities the ones sensing opportunities and threats, the ones concerning seizing opportunities and the ones concerned in re-configuring the capabilities of an organization. Dynamic capabilities can take various forms such as recruitment and management process, major strategic moves, such as acquisitions and alliances. Tangible resources are physical and financial resources that can take a variety of forms. These assets and capabilities determine how efficiently and effectively a company performs its functional activities†. (Grant, 2005, p.139). To determine if a company has a strong financial position financial analyst tend to evaluate in general the gross profit margin, operating margin, ROA and ROE ratios. The Coca Cola Company has a very strong financial position, its sales were $46.542 billion, its gross profit margin in the year 2011 was 60.86%, 2010 it was 63.86%, in 2009 it was 64.22% meaning that the company has been consistent in their efficiency of manufacturing and distribution during the production process. (Google Finance, 2011). The operating margin in 2011 was 23.06% and 2010 it was 39.13%. The margin is the measure of the proportion of company ´s revenue left after deducting variable costs. The margin has been consistent which means that the company is always trying to maintain its variable costs. The ROA is the indicator of how efficient a company is using its assets to generate earning. In 2011, Coca-Cola ´s ROA was 10.17%, during this year the management was less efficient at using its assets but during last few it has been quite efficient. In 2010 it was 16.19%; in 2009 it was 14.02%. The ROE from last year has dropped from 28.17% in 2010 to 17.73% in 2011, even though the company is trying use less shareholders equity to produce profits. (Coca-Cola ´s Annual Report, 2011). The physical resources that Coca-Cola owns can be classified into building, equipment and their bottling partners. The buildings account for $ 5.24 billion, the property, plant and equipment account for $ 23.15 billion. The distribution of the drink is done through 275 bottling partners. The bottling partners manufacture, package, merchandise and distribute the finished branded beverages. (Coca-Cola ´s Annual Report, 2011). The intangible resources tend to contribute more than tangible resources. They can be classified as; intellectual property, resources for innovation and reputation. (Grant, 2011). One of Coca-Cola ´s most valuable intangible resource is its secret formula. The company tends to sell concentrated syrups to their bottling partners, who then use the syrup to produce the final product. This means that the company does even share their secret formula with its bottling partners. (Coca-Cola ´s Annual Report, 2011). According to Coca- Cola another intangible resource that they own is their technology and the know-how. They related this technology to the â€Å"Company ´s products and the processes for their production, the packages used for our products, the design and operation of various processes and equipment used in our business and certain quality assurance software.† (Coca-Cola ´s Annual Report, 2011, p. 9). An intangible asset that Coca-Cola owns is its â€Å"Goodwill†. The goodwill can be classified as the strong brand name, good customer relations or good employee relations. (Investopedia, 2012). In 2011 Coca- Cola ´s good will accounted for $ 12,219. The company performs impairment tests of goodwill at geographic operating areas. The operating areas are: Eurasia and Africa, Europe, Latin America, North America and Pacific. Coca- Cola ´s brand loyalty and recognition can be considered as Coca-Cola ´s most valuable intangible resource. Every day 1.7 billion of coke products are consumed in a day, more than 60% of the of the world ´s population have a Coke drink in a day. (Market Line, 2011). Moreover, the red and white logo is recognized by 94% of the world ´s population. (Business Insider, 2012). The Coca-Cola Company had 146,200 employees worldwide in the year 2011, respectfully called associates. The Company always tries to keep their employees engaged by motivating and indulging responsibility in projects. Their work place includes on site company gym, free Coca-Cola drinks, summer and flexible working hours. Training and development also plays a big role, they continually invest in employee development plans, internal talent management, leadership development for managers and employee performance management. They also tend to reward their employees by different elements such as pension, health care and additional holidays. Once analyzed Coca-Cola ´s tangible and intangible resources I now proceed to analyze their core competence and dynamic capability. Core competence can be defined as â€Å"the linked set of skills, activities and resources that, together, deliver customer value, differentiate a business from its competitors and potentially can be extended and developed†. (Johnson et al, 2011, p. 89). Coca-Cola ´s major dynamic capability is large investment in marketing. In 2011, Coca- Cola spent $ 3.3 billion on advertisement. (Google Finance, 2011). Their marketing programs are developed to â€Å"Think Globally, but act locally† designed to enhance more consumer awareness and product appeal for customers. The company tends to differentiate its marketing strategy in developed markets and developing markets. In developed markets is objective is continue having growing profits and in developing markets its objective is to increase brand value. In emerging markets they invest in brands and infrastructure programs to give access to the consumers to the product. In developed markets they invest in making the product affordable, good communication with its customers and differentiation within its products. (Coca-Cola ´s Annual report, 2011). Another core competence that enables the company owns to gain competitive advantage is their distribution and bottling operations. Most of their products are â€Å"manufactured, sold and distributed by independently owned and managed bottling partners†. (Coca- Colas Annual report, 2011, p. 32). The company owns nearly 275 bottling companies, distributing their products in more 200 countries. Three most known bottling companies are Coca-Cola Hellenic, Coca-Cola Femsa, and Coca-Cola Amatil. Coca-Cola Hellenic distributes in 28 European countries. In 2011, 46% of the unit case volume of Coca-Cola Hellenic consisted of Trademark Coca-Cola Beverages. Coca-Cola Femsa is a Mexican company covers most of parts of South America. In 2011, 62 percent of the unit case volume of Coca-Cola FEMSA consisted of Trademark Coca-Cola Beverages. Coca-Cola Amatil covers Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Indonesia. In 2011, 45 percent of the unit case volume of Coca-Cola Amatil consisted of Trademark Coca-Cola Beverages. According to Coca-Cola the ownership of bottling companies helps them reduce costs and make the product more available throughout the world. In the next five years the company has committed to invest $30 billion in their bottling companies. (Coca-Cola ´s Annual Report, 2011). Coca-Cola ´s innovation in products can be classified as one of its most dynamic capability. They always try to â€Å"recreate and renew† their products. The company holds around 500 products. (Coca-Cola ´s Annual Report, 2011). Their innovation philosophy is â€Å"70/20/10†. They invest â€Å"70 of their resources in existing products, 20% in innovations related to existing products and 10% in pure innovation. (Forbes, 2012). The newest products launched into the markets are mini cans of 7.5 ounces and has only 90 calories. Another new product is Sprite Green, naturally sweeten Truvia, every 8.5 ounce serving has 50 calories and 5% lemon juice. (World of Cola, 2012). Once analyzed all of Coca-Cola ´s resources and core capabilities, the next step is to use the VRIN model, which consists in externally analyzing the firm’s resources and dynamic capabilities to see if these are useful to generate sustainable competitive advantage. VRIN stands for Value, Rarity, Inimitability and Non-Substitutability. (Barney, 1991). Nevertheless some authors such as, McEcily and Chakravarthy (2002), believe that the framework lacks semantic logic that account for characteristics that impede certain activities in the firm at the same time enhancing others. The value of resources can be determined if they can give a company competitive advantage at a cost that it allows the organization to have acceptable profits. (Johnson et al, 2011, p. 89). In case of Coca-Cola the company is very innovative this makes them the market leader. It always takes advantage of new market trends to develop new products and gain competitive advantage. In 1892, they were the first ones recognize about the change that consumers were getting more health conscious and introduced the Diet Coke, a low calorie beverage, which since then became the world ´s top-selling low-calorie soft drink. (World of Coca-Cola, 2012) In terms of Rarity, rare capabilities are those that no or few firms posse. (Johnson et al, 2011, p. 89).According to Coca-Cola their brand value, brand loyalty and brand recognition are capabilities that no other firm holds in the industry. As stated before, their brand value is estimated at $ 77.8 billion and their logo is recognized by 94% of the world population. They have been holding this capability since many years which drives them sustainable competitive advantage. (Coca-Cola ´s Annual report, 2011). Coca-cola resources can also be classified as inimitable. Their distribution system and bottling companies are so widely spread throughout the world, making their products available to customers everywhere at any time of the day. It is really difficult for companies to have such wide distribution network as the costs would be really high for a new firm trying to do this. (Forbes, 2012) Moreover, their secret formula of making coca-cola is considered as non substitutability resource. This is because it hasn’t been discovered by any other soft drink company. Even thought there are substitutes available in the market none of them meet up to Coca-Cola ´s taste or standard. (Coca-Cola ´s Sustainability Report, 2011) In conclusion, Coca-Cola ´s history, brand equity, people, distribution network, secret recipe, etc. are resources that are difficult to imitate, while being extremely valuable. The company constantly works to gain competitive advantage by developing healthier products as consumers are becoming more health conscious and by having big investments on marketing programs to have more consumer engagement. Even though Coca-Cola ´s strategies and competitive advantage are extremely sustainable the company can face competition from healthier and more environmental friendly firms, which the company is trying to tackle by implementing the 2020 vision. The 2020 vision has 5 long-term objectives. The first one is energy conservation/climate change which consists in reducing by 15% carbon footprint. Second, sustainable packaging/recycling makes their packaging 100% recyclable. Third, water stewardship which consists in establishing a water sustainable operation in which they minimize the use of water and have neutral water impact on the local communities where they operate. The Fourth is product portfolio/wellbeing, they intent to provide healthier beverages for every lifestyle and occasion. Fifth, diverse and inclusive culture consists in creating a better work place to work every employee with a wide diversity of culture.