Composition Of Consumer Co Operative Societies

Composition Of Consumer Co Operative Societies Consumers are unorganized and therefore exploited by traders in price, quality and weight. Consumer co-operatives protects the interests of consumers against artificial scarcity, over charging of prices, supply of sub standard goods and the unfair trade practices distorted by private traders. Definition: Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960, defines consumer co-operative society as a society, the object of which is: The procurement, production or processing and the distribution of goods to or, the performance of other services for its members as also other consumers, The distribution among its members and customers, of the profit occurring from such procurement, production, processing and distribution are in proportion as prescribed by rules or bye-laws of the society. A consumer co-operative society is basically formed for the promotion of the interests of the consumers. Composition of consumer co-operative societies: National Co-operative Consumers Federation (1) State Co-operative Consumers Federation (28) Departmental Stores (Apna Bazaar) Wholesale / Central Stores (681) Primary Consumer Co-operative Stores (26469) University College Consumers Stores Consumers Stores of Industrial Workers Consumers Stores for Rural Population Objectives of consumer co-operatives: To educate the consumers to keep their needs within the income limit. Stabilization of market rates. To supply the goods and services regularly at reasonable costs. To protect the consumers from black marketing, increase in market rates, scarcity, cheating and adulteration. To supply proper unadulterated goods and to use proper measurement (weighing scales). To inculcate the habit of savings and economy among the consumers. To control the profit-making tendency Need and importance of consumer co-operatives: Supply of things and services as per needs- The consumer co-operative societies are formed to satisfy the needs goods and services as demanded by the consumers. There are directly contracts with producers and manufacturers of things and required goods are purchased directly from them, thereby the consumers can be supplied with the goods as demanded. Eradication of malpractices of traders- It is found that there are many malpractices in trading like black marketing, artificial scarcity, cheating in measurements, hoarding, etc. proper measurements are not used whereby the consumer becomes ultimate victim of all these malpractices by the traders. There is no place for all these things in co-operative consumer societies and so the consumers are attracted towards them. Necessity of time: India has adopted financial planning and there is importance for public distribution of essentialities of life. The consumer co-operative societies help the government in distributing these essentialities to rural and urban areas of our country. These societies have become very important day by day. Since these societies have been entrusted the job distribution, the consumers are saved from financial exploitation and hardship. Establishment of proper trading system: The consumer co-operative societies supply good quality of things at reasonable cost by using right measurement and pure things. Hence from the viewpoint of customers these societies are very important. Eradication of traders chain: There is long chain in between the producers and consumers. The things are sold at higher cost to consumers because the middlemen add their own profit and expenses. The consumer co-operative societies directly purchase the goods from the producers and chain of middleman can be avoided. Apna Bazaar Apna Bazaar is probably the oldest and largest consumer co-operative multi-state society with a customer base of over 12 lakhs. The Rs 140-crore retail chain, that, for over 55 years remained largely middle-class, Apna Bazaar has 80 outlets in Mumbai, Thane and the neighbouring Konkan region. It has recently opened its first shop outside the state in Goa. It recorded a turnover of Rs 127 crore for the year 2003-04. Apna Bazar, the synonym for the basic needs, Brand name of Mumbai Kamgar Madhyavarti Grahak Sahakari Mandal Ltd Date of Incorporation 9th May 1948 Constitution Multi State Co-operative Society Sector Private Industry Retailing Registered Office 106-A, Govingi Keni Road, Naigaon, Dadar [East], Mumbai 400014 Role of Apna Bazaar: Apna bazaar plays a vital role by market intervention during the shortages of essential commodities. The distribution of these items is taken up by the Apna Bazaar at a loss to fulfill its social commitments. At times of need, Apna Bazaar has diverted its manpower and resources, even at the cost of its own commercial interest, for the public good. Objectives of Apna Bazaar: To undertake wholesale and retail distribution of consumer goods and essential commodities; and to establish department stores; To foster the growth products and new manufacturing units through market support and management advice To lower distribution costs and to introduce fair and better trading practices such as fixed prices etc; and Eradication of malpractices of traders black marketing, artificial scarcity, cheating in measurements, adulteration, etc. Necessity of time public distribution of essential commodities in rural and urban areas. Elimination of middlemen. Management and Organization: Apna Bazaar is headed by a management team comprising a chairman, vice chairman and Hon secretaries. The team largely provides direction to the organization and is not involved in the day-to-day affairs. The day-to-day affairs are managed by an executive team, which consists of a general manager, additional general manager and office bearers of the organization. Outlet Apna Bazaar has a customer base of over 12 lakhs. Apna Bazaar has 80 outlets in Mumbai, Thane and the neighbouring Konkan region. It has recently opened its first shop outside the state in Goa.The break up of the stores is: Items Sold By Apna Bazaar Apna Bazaar has the following three main categories of items: Agro products Branded products Rural products Apna Bazaar sells an immense variety of items through its various departments/retail outlets. These are described below: Furniture: All type of wooden furniture, steel furniture library furniture, hospital furniture, revolving chairs, computer furniture, mattresses, pillows, sofa cushion. Household: Steel utensils, aluminum utensils, non stock, gas stoves, locks, mixer-grinder, juice-cum-mixer grinder, hot-cases, room heater, room convector, geysers, all type of fans, electrical goods, washing machine, air-conditioners, water cooler, voltage stabilizer, generator set, crockery, flasks, plastic items, electrical bulb/tubes and tube fittings, table lamp, emergency light, cell, torch, electric wire, desert cooler, exhaust fans. Footwear: Shoes, sandals, ladies purse, belt, umbrella, school, bag, suit cases, brief cases, file box, file bag, luggage bag. Textile: Woolen suiting, tericot suiting and shirting, blanket, blazer, bed-sheets, pillow cover, dress material, all types of sarees, markein cloth, long cloth, voil, mulmul khadi etc. Handloom: Towels, dusters, curtain cloth, bed-covers, carpets, quilt, durries, jute matting, blankets, pillow covers, door-mats, PVC flooring. Ready Made Garments: Pants, shirts, undergarments, socks, sweaters, leather jackets, ladies suits, petticoats, children garments, rain coats, over-coats, mosquito mat, curtain tapes, machine oil, raxine. Stationery: All types of duplicating, typing, photocopies paper, printing paper, all types of rules registers in different sizes peon books, dak pads, pens, pencils, pen stands, eraser, markers, sign pens, gum-bottles scales, colours, art material, sealing wax, white fluid, sutle, stencil and carbon paper, all type of computer stationery, butter paper, crepe paper, glaze paper, graph paper, file covers, log books, all type of printed forms (Govt. offices), PVC sheet for binding purposes, transparency sheets, ledgers, cash books calculators, computer floppy, fax roll, typewriting ribbon, ammonia paper rolls. Watches: Watches of reputed companies like Titan. Grocery Toiletries: Pulses, spices, atta, rice, oils, tea leaves, and various other edible items, insecticides, disinfectants, phenyle, detergents, soaps, cosmetics, tissue rolls and napkins etc. Medical Surgical Equipment: All types of medicines, medical surgical equipment etc. Members Benefits: Dividend on shares at 12% to individuals, society and government. Purchase rebate on share amount 10% each year. Attractive rate of interest up to 9% on fixed deposit by the members. Facilities Offered By Apna Bazaar to Consumers: Apna Bazaar provides the following facilities to consumers: Quality products at reasonable prices. Variety of items under one roof. 24 hours drugs outlets. Self-service counters Items of high quality tested by its quality- testing laboratory. Display boards and price lists at various counters to enable the customer to make his/her choice. Home delivery, but this facility is only available for purchase from branches. Discount sales periodically on various items Location: The location for the store is selected taking in consideration the residential population in the area, the standard of living of the people, the amount of business the other shops are doing and also future development that are likely to take place in that area in future. Area covered: Apna Bazaar has 80 outlets in Mumbai, Thane and the neighbouring Konkan region. It has recently opened its first shop outside the state in Goa. However the density of Apna Bazaar is high in Naigoan and Chembur Space required: The minimum requirement of area for setting up Apna Bazaar is1000 sq.feet. The biggest store is at Vashi, which is spread across 27000 sq.feet. Target segments: The store was started keeping in mind the lower middle class section of the society. But gradually it has moved up the consumer ladder with the inclusion of the middle class as its target consumer. Now slowly it is drawing the upper class towards it. It now caters to almost all the segments of the society depending on the location. In order to attract the upper class to combat growing competition in the retail industry it is making changes in its product-mix. Change in product Mix: The above table indicates decline in the sales of Rice, Wheat, Pulses etc which shows the change in the food culture/consumption pattern of the consumer. It indicates that the consumers inclination towards ready-to-eat food is increasing. Taking this into consideration Apna Bazaar had made has made appropriate changes in its Product Mix. Slowly the Percentage of food grains, pulses has declined and that of FMCG products has increased. In a couple of years the percentage of poultry products in the product mix would increase whereas that of food grains pluses etc. would decline. This would further change the product -mix of Apna Bazaar. Store Layout: Layout of shop Apna Bazaar does not have any specific layout of shop. But in most of outlet the 1st division you would come out is Vegetable, Fruit, Medical product, food grains, and FMCG product. The only think that is kept under consideration that Heavy Product like 5kg. Sugar, 10kg. Wheat, 5 ltr. Oil is near cash counter for convenience of customer. In case of display they see to it that display at entrance is very colorful attractive. Hence they display cosmetics FMCG product. Besides product, which is new to the market, are also displayed to grab attention of consumer Product Display: The brands are displayed in a very attractive manner .The decision to place a Brand on a particular shall depends upon the Market share enjoyed by the company /Brand. Usually there are 5 Shelves. Out of which 2nd, 3rd 4th shelves are most important ones on which the brand with high market share or high brand equity are placed. These products are always in demand by the customers. Footfalls: In big stores, like the departmental store at Andheri, there are 2000 to 3000 footfalls in a day (on weekdays) on weekends there are around 3000 to 3500 footfalls. In small outlets there are around 100 footfalls on regular days .On weekends there are 200 to 250 footfalls. The footfalls are more especially on Sunday. The footfalls are more in evening between 6.30pm. 8.30pm .Whereas the footfalls are comparatively low during the afternoon slot of 1.30-3.30 pm. Keeping this in mind stores are closed down during this time. In this time the staff are rearrange the merchandise in the store. Sources of Income: Retailing is their core activity and a major part of their income come from the various retail outlets. They supply commodities like Dal, Pulses, Food grains, Cereals to Govt. Institutions, Hospitals for their Canteens. A 30 Days credit is given to them. They also earn income from the company racks that they display in their outlets. These racks contain the products of the particular company and the in turn pays Apna Bazaar for displaying these racks. E.g. Maggie, Colgate, Pepsodent, Vicks, Nescafe etc. They provide space to companies e.g. MEPL (Electronic goods) in order to display and sell their goods by charging rent for space provided. They have 37 Franchise outlets, which act as a source of income for Apna Bazaar as Apna Bazaar supplies 70% of goods. Provide place to banks for opening ATM center by charging rent since almost all the outlets are owned by Apna bazaar. MetLife India signed an agreement with Apna Bazaar Co-operative for selling life insurance policies. Based on the agreement, Apna Bazaar Co-operative shall become corporate agents for MetLife India and offer MetLife India products to its huge customer base. Henceforth Apna Bazaar will enable its customers to build financial freedom through MetLife India products based on need analysis. Apna Bazaar will receive a commission of 35% on Premium amount. Exports: Apna Bazaar is a 55 year old co-operative organization with US $ 37 million annual turnover through 07 departmental stores, 06 super markets 65 retail outlets. Apna bazaar used to export commodities like fish and grapes to Europe. In spite of good earnings on exports they have discontinued the exports from this year .Thus the reasons for the discontinuation were due to: The goods were seasonal in nature. In case of grapes the Jalgoan region in which grapes where cultivated was hit by drought, thereby by affecting the production of grapes. Besides the grapes were sprayed with certain chemicals which were banned in the European countries, thereby further affecting the exports. Besides exports is not Apna Bazaars core activity therefore the decision to discontinue exports was taken. SWOT Analysis: Strengths: Goodwill- Apna Bazaar has built its image over the years as a value for money store, which supplies good quality goods at economical price. Number of Outlets- Apna Bazaar has 80 outlets spread all over Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Thane and the neighbouring Konkan region, Lanza (Bombay-Goa road), among other places in Maharashtra. All these areas are easily accessible as public transportation is available. Hence providing easy accessibility to the customers. Team work- Although there is no training imparted to the employees at the outlets, there is co-ordination and understanding between them due to which the work goes on smoothly creating a win-win situation for both, the management and the employees. Modernization- Apna Bazaar makes use of modern technology to maintain correct supplier bills and giving accurate bills to customers giving details of each purchase and most importantly showing him the savings he has made while purchasing from Apna Bazaar. They also possess total details of their sales and the percentage of sales in each category so they know where the sales are high and where they are lagging behind. Genuine Products- The products of Apna Bazaar are genuine as they purchase it directly from the companies. Lots of imitations of consumables such as honey, oil, etc. are available in many stores. People get cheated, as it is not easy to identify them. CRM- Apna Bazaar organizes a customer meet for their regular customers called MELAVDA at their anniversary to build stronger relations with their customers. On this day, the customers are offered purchase discounts which show that they have taken corrective steps towards customer satisfaction. Weaknesses Capital- Raising capital for expansion and improvement is also a constraint. Apna Bazaar is bounded by the laws of consumer co-operatives due to which they cannot raise funds from open market. There is also limit prescribed by the consumer co-operatives for number of shares issued by Apna Bazaar. This is a major drawback for Apna Bazaar. Ageing society- Apna Bazar started after World War 2 when there was need of essential commodities at lower prices. But, after liberalization many super markets and hypermarkets have opened up due to which there is explosion of choices. Moreover, people today have the money to go for convenience shopping, and hence, the purpose for opening the co-operative is defeated. Obstacles in recruitment: Apna Bazar does not have the budget to recruit skilled staff. The employees are not well educated and hence, they are not aware of the management practices. A qualified employee demands higher salary, which cannot be given by Apna Bazaar due to their constraints. Hence they cannot appoint a MBA a managerial job. No online retailing: Apna Bazar does not have information about its products online. They should have their own website as it is very important in todays world. They could even learn about customer grievances by the feedback. Price fluctuation: Price Fluctuation is a major threat to Apna Bazar. If the product is bought at a higher price is has to be sold at that price only so as not to incur losses. For example, the price of oil fluctuates a lot. So if the price for oil is Rs. 820 for a can when it is purchased, it will be sold at Rs 820 per can even if the price falls to Rs. 800 per can. In this case the oil available from other shops will be cheaper. Opportunities Brand building: Apna Bazaar can take efforts to build its brand image. For this purpose, a marketing firm can he hired. This will attract more and more people to its outlets. Also, they have upgraded their outlets. This can be the base for attracting more customers as they will soon have all air conditioned stores. Expansion: Apna Bazaar can expand its outlets to other states. At present, they have discovered interests from Madhya Pradesh and Delhi. The initiation is on the anvil. Development in suburbs: People are now moving in the suburbs; infrastructure is developing due to which there is huge potential to attract more customers. Retailing boom: Retailing today is not only about selling at the shop, but also about surveying the market, offering choice and experience to consumers, competitive prices and retaining consumers as well. The establishment of supermarkets and convenience stores has been a great effort to communicate the advantages of organized retailing to customers. Threats: Malls- There are a large number of malls that offer discounts the discounts offered by them are as good as those offered by Apna Bazaar because the malls purchase in bulk and can hence afford to give heavy discounts to the customers. The customer has an explosion of choices and will prefer shopping at these big malls because of the ambience. They get the complete shopping experience at malls. Hence, malls are a major threat for Apna Bazaar. Competition from other stores in terms of- Customer Centric Approach: Most other stores take feedback from the customers in form of grievances, opinions and suggestions. They can find out customer needs and ways to satisfy them. Image: Image of a private retailer is more modern and advanced compared to that of Apna Bazaar. The display is also more attractive in other super markets and hypermarkets compared to Apna Bazaar. Future Plans: Apna Bazaar plans to open outlets in the new housing colonies coming up in the interior suburbs like Kandivli and Thane. Increasing the distribution reach is a strategy to counter competition the co-operative plans to increase its outlets from 80 at present to about 100 by next year. This would comprise department stores, super markets, franchisee outlets and medical stores, both in Maharashtra as well as rest of the country. Apart from that, it has money transfer facility under an arrangement with Western Union money transfer. On the tie-up with HPCL for having Apna Bazaar outlets at the petrol pumps, so far three HPCL pumps have Apna Bazaar outlets and the results are still being analyzed. Apna Bazaar Co-operative has embarked on a restructuring exercise and has appointed Darashaw and Company as strategic consultants. The restructuring involves exiting certain business while adding more services, to be provided under its umbrella. The restructuring plan involves exiting out of businesses like export of fish and grapes, milk processing, manufacturing bakery products like biscuits and also pickles papads and spices. Online booking for provisions through the Net and a centralized system to control inventory are also on the anvil. To begin with the co-operative plans to have a dedicated call center for customers to phone in their requirements, which would then be delivered from the nearest Apna Bazaar outlet. An online presence, on the lines of Sangam Direct-the online initiative of HLL-is under consideration. To ensure minimum inventory and maximum rotation, the co-operative is planning to centralize its supply chain management. It is talking to FMCG majors like Tata, Nestle, HLL and PG to ensure rotation without building up much inventory. While the super markets would be serviced directly by the companies, the requirements of franchisee outlets would be met by Apna Bazaar to ensure better co-ordination. Apna Bazaar operates the Akshay Labh Yojana scheme wherein the customers can deposit Rs. 10,000 at any point of time in the year and get items worth Rs. 100 per month free. They also have term deposit schemes. Apna Bazaar has also entered into an eCRM tie-up with Venture Infotek, the e-infrastructure solutions provider, whereby Venture Infotek provides the integrated end-to-end solutions, with the shared infrastructure and payment-as-you-use payment mechanism, without investment in infrastructure. The first thing on Apna Bazaars plans is to work on all 365 days like other big players. Upgrading the skills of their manpower and create vehicle parking facility are also in their agenda. They plan to have a tie-up with Citibank on co-branding. Regarding credit card, they are on the verge of signing a MoU with SBI. As visual merchandising, a new way for presenting the products will be introduced. The National Consumers Co-Operative Federation has approached Apna Bazaar and enquired about the possibility of running department stores under the brand name Apna Bazaar in Delhi and Madhya Pradesh. Apna Bazaar is planning to open another outlet in Goa as they have got a good response from the supermarket. Recommendations: Government interference has had a major effect on the democratic setup of Apna Bazaar. Therefore, lesser dependence on government should be opted for. Government should help stores like Apna Bazaar with credit at cheaper interest rates. Apna Bazaar should improve their capital assets by enrolling more members and also introduce more product varieties. In the coming years, the economy will be dominated by the retailing sector. Times are changing, organizations are changing. Changing according to times is inevitable. Apna Bazaar has to change its traditional viewpoints. It should adopt new techniques and accept change wholeheartedly. Bringing qualitative changes in their skill and especially mindset will help it to survive competition. Apna Bazaar can open one outlet offering all the products it sells in the 80 outlets so that people get all products offered by Apna Bazaar under one roof. Other activities: Healthy child competition for member children. Ayurvedic camp conducted by apna bazaar every year in November. Consumer bulletins are printed and distributed to consumers, which gives them information about various products stored by them.

Marketing Mix Essay

Introduction Marketing Mix is a major concept in modern marketing and involves practically everything that a marketing company can use to influence consumer perception favorably towards its product or services so that consumer and organizational objectives are attained, i.e. Marketing mix is a model of crafting and implementing marketing strategy. In this assignment, I will discuss the major marketing mix variables as classified by Prof. E. Jerome McCarthy which are: i. Product ii. Price iii. Place (Distribution) iv. Promotion. Throughout the assignment I will prefer to use my reference to Sony Corporation. I will refer to this company how it has diversify its market products, the price range, places for distribution and the promotional strategies they have used to promote their products. SONY Corporation In Brief Sony Corporation is a multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, and one of the world’s largest media conglomerate with revenue of US$88.7 billion (as of 2008) based in Minato, Tokyo. Sony is one of the leading manufacturers of electronics, video, communications, video game consoles and information technology products for the consumer and professional markets. Its name is derived from Sonus, the Greek goddess of sound. Sony Corporation is the electronics business unit and the parent company of the Sony Group, which is engaged in business through its five operating segments—electronics, games, entertainment (motion pictures and music), financial services and other. These make Sony one of the most comprehensive entertainment companies in the world. Sony’s principal business operations include Sony Corporation (Sony Electronics in the U.S.), Sony Pictures Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Sony Ericsson and Sony Financial Holdings. As a semiconductor maker, Sony is among the Worldwide Top 20 Semiconductor Sales Leaders. The company’s slogan is Sony. Like no other. SONY Products The first market mix element is Product. A product is anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use or consumption that might satisfy a need or want. Product decision normally base on brand name, Functionality, Styling, Quality, Safety, Packaging, Repairs and Support, Warranty, accessories and Services. These product attributes can be manipulated depending on what the target market wants. Also, customers always look for new and improved things, which is why marketers should improve existing products, develop new ones, and discontinue old ones that are no longer needed or wanted by the customer. Sony has a variety of products ranging from electronic devices, games and entertainment. So, briefly Sony products can be categorized in the following major product categories: i. Television and Projectors: Bravia LCD TV, CRT TV, Home theatre projector, Business Projector, Public Display Panel. ii. Home video: Blue-ray disc player, DVD player, DVD portable player. iii. Home Audio: Hi-Fi Systems, Home audio accessories. E.g. Digital media port. iv. Home Theatre system: DVD Home Theatre System, Home Theatre Component System, Home Theatre System Accessories. v. Digital Photography: Digital SLR, Cybershot Digital Camera, Digital Photo Printer, Digital Photo Frame vi. Hand cam video camera: Handycam high definition video Camera, Handycam Standard Definition Video Camera, Handycam Accessoriesiv, Digital Photo Printer, Digital Photo Frame. vii. Computer Peripherals: VAIO laptops and computers, VAIO accessories, Business Projectorsiv, Memory Stick. viii. Portable Audio: Walkman mp3 series, CD Walkman series, CD/Radio/Cassette player, Radio, Voice recorder, Audio Accessories ix. Game: Playstation 3, Playstation 2, PSP (Playstation Portable) x. In-Car entertainment: Xplod CD receiver, Xplod in car visual, Xplod Cassette receiver, Xplod Amplifier, Xplod Speaker/Subwoofer xi. Mobile phones : Phones, Phone Accessories. xii. Storage and Recording media: Memory Stick, USB storage media, Data storage media, Video Storage media, Audio media, Storage media, Professional media. xiii. Battery and Charger SONY Promotion Brief Introduction: Promotion is a key element of marketing program and is concerned with  effectively and efficiently communicating the decisions of marketing strategy, to favorably influence target customers’ perceptions to facilitate exchange between the marketer and the customer that may satisfy the objective of both customer and the company. A company’s promotional efforts are the only controllable means to create awareness among publics about itself, the products and services it offers , their features and influence their attitudes favorably. Advertising: SONY has advertised its products through many different ways and media. Through TV we have seen different advertisements of its products such as Bravia televisions or Sony wega TV. Sony also advertise its products by targeting those favorable television programs, like sports, series and also it has its own channel called Sony TV channel. Sony uses some events like Miss India2008 to promote its products. Also, Sony has advertised its games like Playstation 3, Playstation 2 and PSP using sports like football in England premiere league. Through newspapers like Times of India, Sony has advertised a wide range of products it offers to its customers. And also through Posters a message has been sent to a lot of people to be aware of the products which Sony offers. Sony also uses direct – response advertising. This is type of advertising that encourages the consumer to respond either by providing feedback to the advertiser or placing the order with the advertiser either by telephone, mail or the internet. Such advertising is done through direct mail or catalogues. Sony incorporates co-operative advertising in its advertising process. Sony corporation provides the dealers (e.g. Sony World) with the materials and guidelines to develop ads for print, television or radio commercials. This ensures that message is in line with, what the manufacture wants to communicate. The company and the dealers usually share the media costs and hence, the name ‘co-operative advertising’. Sales Promotion: Sales promotion is a marketing discipline that utilizes a variety of incentives techniques to structure sales – related programs targeted to customers, trade, and/or sales levels that generate a specific, measurable action or response for a product or service. Sales promotions for example includes free samples, discount, rebates, coupons, contents and sweepstakes, premiums, scratch cards, exchange offers, early bird prizes, etc. Sony has promoted its products through different sales promotional  strategies. For example after the release of the Sony BRAVIA television sets, Sony promoted them by earl bird prizes by saying that all BRAVIA full HD LCDTVs purchased during July 2008 and registered within two weeks of purchase qualify for a Bonus Playstation 3 as long as the customer claims is one of the first35,000 received and validated by Sony. Also Sony has promoted its Sony Ericsson P1i phones by including a scratch cards which gives the customer the offer to download 10 free software application for that mobile phone. Sony Ericsson has also promoted its Sony Ericsson K550i Mid-Range Cyber-shot Phone that if you buy it you get a free Bluetooth headset with one year manufacturer’s warranty Public Relations and Publicity: Public relations is a broad set of communication activities employed to create and maintain favorable relationship with employees, shareholders, suppliers, media, educators, potential investors, financial institutions, government agencies and officials and society in general. Through its website, Sony corporation has its provided contacts for those customers who will be in need of any information from the company. In this way Sony can create a mutual relationship with its customers and ensure that it serves the wishes and demands of its customers. SONY Place (Distribution) Decisions with respect to distribution channel focus on making the product available in adequate quantities at places where customers are normally expected to shop for them to satisfy their needs. Depending on the nature of the product, marketing management decides to put into place an exclusive, selective or intensive network of distribution, while selecting the appropriate dealers or wholesalers. Sony being the company which positions itself as a seller of durable and high-end products, it is practicing selective distribution of its products from the selective dealers i.e. SONY World. Apart from this there are grey-markets in India and other countries where a practice of intensive market coverage is practiced, and the products in these kind of markets normally do not posses all the features and benefits which Sony offers e.g. warranty and guarantee. Sony distributes its products in various channels. It uses Zero-level channel, one level channel  and two-level channel. In India, Sony has used the method of one-level distribution channel. This means that, customer buy their Sony product from the retailers recognized by Sony, and these retailers buy the products directly from the company itself. SONY Price Pricing decisions are almost always made in consultation with marketing management. Price is the only marketing mix variable that can be altered quickly. Price variables such as dealer price, retail price, discounts, allowances, credit terms etc. influence the development of marketing strategy, as price is a major factor that influences the assessment of value obtained by customers. Customers directly relate price to quality, particularly in case of products that are ego intensive of technology based. Sony being a company which emphasize product quality, it tends to sell its products with price range from moderately-high to high-prices, depending on the use and the targeted customers. For example, Lets consider Sony series of VAIO laptops. Sony has tried to categorize the laptops according to style, user, purpose, mobility and performance, and each a corresponding price. The laptops sold by Sony in India include a series of Sony VAIO, this are VAIO SR, VAIO FW, VAIO tokage, VAIO CR, VAIO NR, VAIO TZ and VAIO SZ. VAIO SR, boast on the excellence in mobility and perfection in performance. This laptop was designed for businessmen and its price is around Rs. 75,000/ VAIO FW, boast of theatrical experience and world class performance. This model was designed mainly for home user or casual user of laptops who aims on media playback. The price of it is around Rs. 80,000 and Rs.1,25,000. VAIO CR, boast on style and texture. Depending on the configuration, the prices are from Rs. 40,000 to Rs. 65,000. VAIO NR, boast of natural, chic design. It was designed to meet customers ambiance and lifestyle. For this reason the Sony corporation has decided the price of the laptop to be Rs. 40,000 and Rs. 50,000 depending on the configuration. VAIO TZ, boast of elite lifestyle, and high class performance. This laptop was designed purposely for business as it is light weight, high processing speed, and flash memory storage and longer backup power. For all this facts Sony has priced it to be between Rs. 1,15,000 and Rs. 1,40,000.VAIO SZ, boast of premier mobility and executive excellence. This laptop was  developed by Sony to target executives and business people who are mobile. The laptop is fitted with hybrid hard disk drive and motion eye camera and Bluetooth compatible headset with applications for increasing mobility and video conferencing. It’s price is about Rs. 1,24,000

The Cost Effective Enhancement Of Enterprise Network...

The project focuses on the cost effective enhancement of enterprise network security via OpenFlow controlled switches and specialized SDN applications running on a controller. The project will investigate on securing the network from various attacks like ping attack, TCP SYN attack, Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS), DHCP attack. Different security measures will be discussed through which the user can establish a secured network. These security measures will be implemented over SDN. 3. Objectives of Proposed Work The main objective of this project is to enhance the security of a network using various modern day technologies. 1) The enhancement in the security of the network will mitigate the attacks like Denial of Service attacks. 2) It will also help in controlling the data and control plane of the networking devices, which will enable more options to enhance the security. The project focusses on using the advantages and applications of the Software Defined Networking (SDN) technology. By implementing security measures in SDN, one can develop a network that will be free from several network attacks like ping attack, TCP SYN attack, probing, Denial of Service, Distributed Denial of Service and several other scanning attacks. Another point to mention is that if an administrator had to implement all these security measures in a traditional network, he would have to configure all the networking equipment separately with the required security measures. On top of that. ifShow MoreRelatedBenefits And Applications Of The Software Defined Networking3320 Words   |  14 Pagesproject focuses on the cost effective enhancement of enterprise network security via OpenFlow controlled switches and specialized SDN applications running on a controller. The project will investigate on securing the network from various attacks like ping attack, TCP SYN attack, Distribute d Denial of Service (DDoS), DHCP attack. Different security measures will be discussed through which the user can establish a secured network. These security measures will be implemented over SDN. 3.) Objectives:

Medicine and Health Care - 1155 Words

RESEARCH PROPOSAL ON TOPIC â€Å"EFFECT OF ELECTRICITY LOAD SHEDDING ON PERFORMANCE OF PRIVATE CLINICS SMALL HOSPITALS IN KARACHI† (AN OBSTACLE IN PROVISION OF BASIC HEALTH CARE SERVICES) BY DR. AQUIL AHMED KHAN MBA Batch: SA-003, CP-2008 Enrolment No. 09/2008/049 SUPERVISOR MR. RIAZ HUSSAIN SOOMRO INSTITUTE OF HEALTH MANAGEMENT DOW UNIVERSITY OF HEALTH SCIENCES KARACHI 1- Introduction 1.1- Background of study Electricity load shedding is common in Karachi. It is often unexpected and most of the time scheduled activity. On one hand it reflects the bad governance and socio-economic failure, on other hand it impacts on the health care services. Its major impact is visible in the†¦show more content†¦1.5- Limitations †¢ As health sector electricity provision are entirely different and separate fields, there is no sufficient attention specific literature available considering load shedding and its impact on provision of health care services in Karachi. †¢ Current law order and political environment may cause deficit in open communications and cooperative primary data collection. 2- Literature Review The prolonged and frequent load shedding by the KESC has become a major threat to trade and industrial activities of Karachi and urgent steps are required to cope with this menace. The utility service providers power distribution and generation services have deteriorated, sharply, nowadays and Karachi is being plunged into darkness after every one-hour interval (PPI, 2009). The Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) has been accused of increasing sufferings of patients at different hospitals of Karachi by carrying out massive load shedding for several hours despite arrival of summer season. PPI learnt on Wednesday that due to load-shedding, power generators are run from morning to noon and are switched off afternoon, causing torments to the patients (PPI, 2009), health centers and seminaries were facing serious problems due to prolonged load shedding. Despite the tall claims by the authorities of WAPDA and KESC, Karachiites were facing 12 to 14-hours dailyShow MoreRelatedM edicine, Health Care, And Philosophy Essay1220 Words   |  5 PagesMedicine, Health Care, and Philosophy is a European scholarly journal focused on topics related to medicine, health care, and philosophy. The genre of this publication is science with a focus in medical discipline. 2. Who publishes this periodical? Is the publisher a commercial or non-profit venture? 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Assorted technologies have assisted in saidRead MoreMedicine And Health Care Are Two Of The Many Things We1548 Words   |  7 Pages Medicine and health care are two of the many things we as Americans have the privilege to take for granted. However, America was not always the gold standard of medicine and surgery as it is today. Many widely accepted and professional techniques that were used in the 1800 s would be considered barbaric, medieval, and would almost certainly be illegal in the modern day. Obviously, one must begin a study of American history at its beginning. Because wars always show the most grotesque of disfigurementsRead MorePhlebotomist: Medicine and Health Care Support Essay1469 Words   |  6 PagesPhlebotomist April L. Rosser Ivy Tech Community College Phlebotomist I have always wanted to work in health care and help people but I did not want to be a nurse or directly involved in individualized health plans. I wanted to work behind the scenes. I became a CPhT and went to work right away at my local hospital. Life was wonderful! I was helping sick people feel better and doing something worthwhile that came along with the means to help support my family comfortably. Then that dreadfulRead MoreMedicine Was Religion : A Holistic Approach Into Our Health Care System992 Words   |  4 Pagesâ€Å"Medicine was religion. Religion was society. Society was medicine† (Fadiman, 1997). To the Hmong’s, this is a way of life. Everything in their culture is interrelated and represents a holistic view. As Americans, we try to incorporate the holistic approach into our health care system, but heavily rely on medications and science to treat illness. Arthur Kelinman developed the explanatory model of illness which incorporates a series of questions that is unique to a patient’s illness to develop