Financial Statement Analysis for Microsoft Corporation Essay Example

Financial Statement Analysis for Microsoft Corporation Paper In Microsoft? case, the ratio is . 23; this is a proportion of equity and debt used to finance the assets. International Accounting Standards Board vs.. Financial Accounting Standards Board International Accounting Standards Board, ASSAI Is an independent, privately-funded accounting board who set accounting standards for international companies. The Financial Accounting Standards Board, FAST Is a private board that Is established to set accounting standards for United States companies. Both boards are set up to help understand the financial statements of companies. However, the FAST only deals with united States companies unlike the SAAB that deals internationally. Therefore, SAAB echelons may take longer compared Walt ten FAST Decease teen nave to consoler how global companies operate financially and make their decisions based on the world. Yet, both companies objective is to set standards that are clear, concise, and fair. The cash basis vs.. The accrual basis There are two approaches to accounting, the cash basis and the accrual basis. The cash basis is quite familiar because is similar to maintaining a personal checkbook here the receipts and payments of cash are recorded. We will write a custom essay sample on Financial Statement Analysis for Microsoft Corporation specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Financial Statement Analysis for Microsoft Corporation specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Financial Statement Analysis for Microsoft Corporation specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer But most corporations use the accrual basis to measure their income and financial position. The accrual basis ? the impact of transactions on the financial statements in the periods when revenues and expenses occur instead of when the company receives or pays cash?C,-1?0 (Horned, Sunder, Stratton, Burgomaster, Chatterer, 2008). That is, the company records revenue when it earns it, and it records expenses when it incurs them. Key Financial Statements The key financial statements for Microsoft Corporation are the income statement, the lance sheet, statement of equity and the statement of cash flows. Individual items in each financial statement carry over or are part of another statement and so forth, affecting the results of those statements. For example, net income from the income statement is entered in the statement of equity but it is also reflected in the balance sheet as well as in the cash flow statement. It is vital to understand this relationship as an entry/adjustment to one statement will flow through to the other statements. Conclusion For companies to be successful, it is key to monitor how the money is being spent, ND accounting provides with the right tools to assess the financial progress of a company.

Social Media Policy How to Make Yours Thorough to Avoid Emergencies

Social Media Policy How to Make Yours Thorough to Avoid Emergencies When it comes to social media, how companies set internal policies can be a gray area. For example, questions like, â€Å"Am I allowed to be on Facebook at work?†Ã‚  are becoming as common as â€Å"how much time do I get off a year?† Being able to easily answer those questions is where having a clear and easy-to-follow social media policy comes into play. By clearing up ambiguity and defining in black and white what is acceptable social media behavior for your organization, you can answer those questions before they come up, and avoid costly social media mistakes. In this post, we’ll help clear up those murky waters by showing you: How to create social media guidelines for your business. Having guidelines will help your employees understand what is acceptable social behavior. Knowing what’s appropriate and not appropriate will help avoid those blunders that could not only create a scandal for the company but cost an employee their job. How to create a living social media policy document.  Having a living social media policy document is the key to keeping your company’s social media image healthy and stable. Not only that but having a document that is constantly updated with the most recent social media guidelines will give your employees something to rely on when it comes to answering those ever-changing social media questions. How to approach the conversation about social media policy with your employees.  Having a conversation about social media and its reach inside and outside company time is hard. However, establishing those guidelines and having those conversations are what will help your employees and your company avoid disasters later down the road. How To Build a Thorough Social Media Policy to Prevent EmergenciesBefore We Start: Grab Your Free Social Media Policy Template Before you continue reading, download our Social Media Policy Template, which will walk you through how to create your own social media policy. By the time you’re done,   you’ll have your own policy to hand off to your employees. Start By Explaining Why You Need a Social Media Policy The first thing that you are going to see when you open your social media policy template is a section dedicated to answering the following question: Why does this social media policy exist and why should your employees care about it? Outlining why you have your policy will help your employees understand what they can do to help promote the company, help them avoid creating social media disasters, and make sure that you don’t lose a potentially great employee based on one instance of poor judgment. In your social media template, we’ve outlined a basic answer to the â€Å"why does this policy exist?† question. However, feel free to adjust your answer based on your company guidelines and expectations. Who Are We On Social Media? Your company probably has a set of core values or guiding principles that you operate by. These values are at the heart of everything you do. Those values don’t have to stop once your employees leave the office, either. They can be a part of their personal social media posts as well. At we live by: Being passionate about our product Never settling for good enough Getting sh*t done Thinking big Great design Personalized customer service Those core values can translate into social media guiding principles. How can you do that? By asking yourself, â€Å"How are your core principles going to drive your interactions on social media?† For example, at we are passionate about our product. How does that drive our employee’s social media interactions? We talk about our product. We’re proud of what we created and therefore we share information about it. It could be a new update, a new feature or a significant use case. To create these guidelines each one of your core principles should have an actionable item attached. How To Set Expectations For Your Employees The best way for your employees to understand what they can and cannot post on social is to be as clear as possible with your expectations. For the next part of your social media policy template, we’re going to focus on how to clearly define those expectations. Determining What Your Employees Should Post Determining what your employees should post is crucial to the success of your social media presence. When you’re thinking of what your employees should post, be as clear and specific as you can. The more you explain, the fewer questions you’ll have down the road. So for an example, let’s pretend a hypothetical theater company was working on a list of appropriate topics their employees could post. It might look something like this: Upcoming auditions Upcoming shows Company news (once approved by board for release to public) Job or artistic openings Industry news Rehearsal photos Company outings Local events Local theater productions Behind the scenes/ backstage photos Each one of these examples is something an employee can post about the company and not have to worry about checking in with the social media team to make sure it’s okay. In fact, we would encourage our employees to post about these topics! Recommended Reading: How to Curate Content For Social Media to Help Boost Your Reach Determining Post Topics Your Employees Should Avoid Most of the items that you would encourage your employees to be cautious posting about are pretty self-explanatory and should be common sense areas to avoid. However, clear instructions will help guide your employees and create fewer questions down the road. So let’s go back to our social media policy template and see what an example looks like: Politics Religion Sensitive audition information Company finances Costumes or set photos (unless permission has been given by the designer) Speculations about upcoming season shows Negative reviews of actors, directors or other artists Negative reviews of local theaters Gossip or other inflammatory language Derogatory language about someone’s gender, religion, heritage, sexual orientation or disability Most of these are pretty obvious but there is one point that you need to clearly define within  your social media policy document. The definition of derogatory language. That line is so easy to cross, and what your company defines as derogatory language may be different from another. For this example our theatre company would define derogatory language as *It is important to note that derogatory language is defined at Change Theatre Company as anything that degrades, insults, or implies that an individual that belongs to one of those groups is anything less than a human being with their own unique experiences and perspectives. At Change Theatre Company we strive to accept and respect all perspectives and people, no matter who they are. The more you can draw that line in the sand, the better. Freedom Of Speech Versus Company Policy: Which One Wins? Trying to tell employees what they can post on their social accounts is the definition of a gray area. It is their personal account, after all, they are entitled to their own opinions. Well, while you are entitled to your own opinions, that doesn’t mean that you or your employees are free from the backlash of a poorly worded tweet. Yes, freedom of speech is important, but just like in the real world where you represent your company at all times, you also represent your company on social media at all times. You represent your company on social media at all times.So how do you navigate this particular gray area? Sharing opinions on touchy topics will vary by company, industry and more. For example, our theoretical theatre company encouraged our employees to tread carefully when it comes to posting about hot button topics like religion and politics. However, both of those topics may come up as themes around different shows, therefore it would be completely reasonable for employees to engage in discussion about them.   Another conflict example could be if you work for a news organization. These traditionally taboo topics come up daily for reports, they can’t just ignore them and continue on with their day. So what’s the fix? It’s vital that when you create your company’s social media policy, you take its public position into account. If your organization is centered around politics, it would probably be okay for your employees to post about them, but again it all depends. While you can encourage employees to stay away from discussing certain topics on social media, it is important to note that you cannot, according to the National Labor Relations Board, restrict people from discussing things like wages or working conditions among other things. If you’re in doubt about something, consult your legal team. You never want to feel like you’re squashing your employees with your social media policy, but you also want to protect yourself, and them! Now there’s a trend that says if you put a disclaimer in your bio like â€Å"opinions are my own† or  Ã¢â‚¬Å"retweets do not equal endorsements† then your content is safe from employer backlash and your company is safe from public backlash. Those tiny bits of legal jargon do absolutely nothing to protect you or your company. They are nice to have, but don’t rely on them to save you or your company if a situation arises. All of this information is not meant to scare you or to encourage you to create a policy that is locked down so tight it discourages your employees from posting online. Rather, the policy is there to help guide your employees and help them avoid mistakes, not shut down their social media posting. A #social #media #policy should help employees avoid mistakes.Social Media At Work The next part of your social media policy template is a section dedicated to identifying appropriate social media usage at the office and during work hours.   Some companies will have a very strict, no social media browsing while at the office, while some companies will be more relaxed and allow employees to browse social media as long as it doesn’t distract from their work. The policy that is in this example is strict but how your company determines your policy will be up to you. The Enforcement Of Your Social Media Policy The rules of your social media policy need to be enforced. What that enforcement process looks like needs to be set up in your social media policy. It is better for your employees to know what is coming if rules are broken, then to sit and wonder what will happen. For this example, I broke down enforcement into three categories. One involves breaking the policy for social media office use, the second involves posting content that breaks the rules for acceptable content, and the third involves sending company information or other language that would be grounds for an immediate dismissal. Each enforcement structure may differ depending on the types of rules you put into your policy. Work with HR and upper management to determine the course of action your company should take each time the policy is broken. Recommended Reading: How to Improve Your Social Media Management in Just 30 Days Where Should Staff Direct Questions About the Social Media Policy? Your employees are going to have questions, whether it’s a simple â€Å"can I post this meme?† or more serious questions like â€Å"I posted a tweet and now people are upset, what do I do?† Having someone to turn to whether it’s a simple matter or a time of crisis can help make sure that your social media program is flowing smoothly. In your social media policy template, you’ll see a whole section dedicated to laying out what your chain of contact looks like. For this example we would have information all the way up to our CMO listed however, your’s may be different based on company and personal preferences. What Happens In A Crisis Situation? Everyone is human and therefore mistakes happen. What do you do when those mistakes arise? More importantly, what do you do when those mistakes create a social media crisis situation for an employee? In your social media policy template, you’re going to layout the exact instructions that your employee will need to follow. The following is what I would have an employee do at Change Theatre Company. 1. Delete the tweet and issue a sincere apology.  If something gets posted by one of your employees and it starts to cause a backlash, have your employee delete that message right away. It’s important to note that while the message may be gone, it very well could have been saved by someone else. Be prepared for it to resurface. The second thing your employee needs to do is issue a sincere apology. Not a regurgitated, robotic one either. You need to sincerely apologize for the offending message. People can tell in an instant if you’re just apologizing to save your skin. 2. Contact your social team.  The next thing you need your employee to do is to contact your social media team and let them know what has happened. Once they have all the information they can prepare the company for any backlash they might face, and they’ll be able to advise said employee on what steps to take next in order to remedy the situation. Speaking of next steps†¦ 3. Don't ignore angry messages.  The worst thing you can do in terms of a social media crisis is to ignore angry messages. This adds gasoline to an already growing flame. Be sincere in your responses and remember the more genuine you can be with your responses the better. This is where I would end my instructions for my employees. However, based on your company and procedures your list may be longer.   Work with your social media team to figure out the best process for you and There is a second section of your crisis management involves contacts of people who need to be informed immediately if a crisis situation arises. These are the people who can put your crisis plan into action and try to control any damage that the company may suffer before it gets out of control. Managing Your Online Presence Having resources at the end of your social media policy to help your employees manage their social presence will not only give them peace of mind about what to post but if they’re done right if will actually encourage them to post more. In your social media policy template is the last section for you to fill out. Here is an example of what I would want my management section to look like. Creating A Checklist Or Step List To Great Online Etiquette Forbes has an amazing 12 step checklist to having great social media etiquette. Things have changed since the days of 12-course dinners and formal introductions. So I would put a short online etiquette list for your employees. For this example, I stuck to five major ideas. Your list could be longer like the Forbes list or shorter than my example. This list is mainly here to serve as a reminder to double-check that you’re sending the right things out into the mindset. How To Deal With Online Complaints Or Questions Never ever let your employees take complaints or questions into their own hands unless it’s part of their job to do so. For this example, I include a simple three-step process for my employees to follow if they see a question or complaint about the company. Be Up Front About Who You Work For You never want to be deceptive in your social media use so it’s important that your employees are upfront about who they work for. Intel has a great social media policy that highlights how employees can identify that they work for Intel.  Usually, they have a disclaimer in their bio that they work for Intel and if they post about something work related they should use the hashtag #IAmIntel I used this same theory in creating our example social media policy. There is a section explaining what they should have in their social media bios and the hashtag they should use. Four Real-World Social Media Policy and Business Guidelines for Inspiration Now you’ve got your initial social media policy built. There may be more things you want to cover in your policy and that’s ok. But in case you need even more inspiration to create your policy check out some of these examples.

Civil Rights Era Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Civil Rights Era - Essay Example Before the 1960s, other major nations like the United Kingdom had in various ways permitted higher levels of freedom to the Black community (Mohammed, 2010). Faith Ringgold had used the ‘N’ word in her painting thus to bring attention to the fact that it was high time the so called ‘nigger’ of the United States had his or her own freedom and rights respected. Clearly, the overall meaning of her work could be summed as a protest against racism. Living a fight that had been started by the civil rights movement, Faith Ringgold was more or less adding her voice to the call for the Black American to be respected by virtue of his color and the need to the Black community to be granted as much freedom and justice as the White community. In relation to the documentary, the N Word, which sought to review various meanings associated with the word nigger, one is right to say that the title of ‘Die Nigger’ used by Faith Ringgold was an advocacy call for the negative connotations associated with the word nigger and the personality of the African American, of which the painter was one, as nigger to die (Mohammed, 2010). In the opinion of the painters, the African America did not deserve any more continuation of nigger connotations and so the overall meaning of the painting was for the associated nigger to die once and for all. One unique social structure of the United States that distinguishes it from other major countries and cultures of this world has to do with the kind of identification they give to citizens who are not of original American descent. This identification is in the fact that they want to mention the original origin of the citizen in addition to the word, American. One of such identifications is Mexican-American. Interestingly, this does not end there. In the era prior to the civil rights freedom era, it was generally speculated and notion that Americans refused to give total freedom to the respect of the rights of thes e labeled Americans. In this vain, several civil rights groups sprang up among these labeled Americans who in most cases formed the minority group (Rogers, 2009). The Chicano Movement is one of such popular groups that were instituted to defend the human rights of Mexican-Americans. As a member of the Mexican-American himself, Mel Casas used his talent and profession as a painter to trumpet his side of the message for equality before the law. In support of his move, other famous methods of trumpeting the need for equality sprang up through the use of strange means like cartoon and commercials. PART 2 1. A s far as the representation of the two imagery are concerned, it can be seen that the artist took advantage of the power and authority behind the national flag of the United States to put her message of the need for absolute equality before the law across. It is not surprising therefore that the painting really was done in the image of the United States flag. Imperatively, one nati on that had all its people using the same flag needed to be treated the same but in the opinion of the artists this was not done. She therefore could not help than to use her painting to create the impression that some people among the American society had a different identity by virtue of the treatment they received in the hands of their own people. 2. The first point that confirms that the message in the work of

Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke - Essay Example According to Boardman of The Huffington Post, the video seems to be giving power to men rather than women, especially in the context of rape based on the line ‘I know you want it’ to suggest that women mean yes when they say yes when faced with cat calling or manly sexual advances. This controversy led universities in Britain to ban the song from being played in any of their functions because of this portrayal of women. In their defence, Robin, Pharrell and T.I argued that the song had some feminist themes as it sought to liberate women against male oppression. They argued on the basis that they were fathers and husbands meaning that it was not possible for them to portray women in such an undignified manner or sexist. According to Lynskey of the Guardian UK, the lyrics to the song include the use of derogatory names against, which in some quarters is considered racist, hence influencing an outcry by those involved in the feminist movement. The explicit version of the so ng also has some sexual elements embedded in it is as analysts decry why the song had to give details on what they can do to a woman in a sexual way. This to them exemplifies rape as a woman is not supposed to have a say   in the way that a man can have her sexually, meaning that their consent in sexual matters is inconsequential as the man is the one who gets to decide. Others argue that the video promotes pornography ideology, especially with the models in the song appearing topless or bikinis that have the same color.

Organizational Behavior Bus 520 Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 6250 words

Organizational Behavior Bus 520 - Term Paper Example The recognizable cultural entities are values, norms, rituals, ceremonies, verbal communication process and the ability to accept change (Alvesson, 2002, p. 24). USA has always given a great performance towards the development of the business culture among them as well as to the world and that is the reason US is always portrayed as the top nation in the world. In other hand United Sates of American (USA) is a mixture of many races, cultures and religions, it is the best known cosmopolitan country in the world. Being one of the most promising American electronic companies, the Best Buy has created a culture within the organization which is a win win situation for both the company and the employees. The New ROWE program is the example of the new thought to change the organizational culture to increase the level of job satisfaction and the productivity among the employees. However, the culture in the Best Buy can be treated as a variable factor which is ever changing for the betterment of the company and to reshape the meaning of job satisfaction. Discuss the approach to organizational change that the ROWE program illustrates. It is understood by most of the countries in the world that knowing the US business culture in one of the essential tools to do business with United States of America. Being the fourth largest country in the world, US culture is having a most diverse socio-cultural structure in the world. The ROWE (Result only work environment) program is one of the most diversified cultural approach in the business environment. This is a program which allows the employees to accordingly their daily schedule. In one hand it can be said that the working hour is 24 hours and in other hand it also can be said that an employee can work when he or she feels. This new business cultural approach would give great advantages to the employees to balance their corporate and family lives. According to the program there are no work schedules in the traditional manner, e mployees are not to judge how long they work or how long they will be with their colleagues within the office rather it is the productive work they do no matter within short or longer time. This tactical approach has been proven as one of the most effective way of motivating the employees. This particular approach has also been affective to maintain the low turnover ration within the organization. It means that this approach has given the motivation to the employees to be with the company for the longer time. The employees who thought to quit, they stayed back after the implementation of the particular program. The best part about this approach is the flexibility of the work time, employees can work from home, so in this case the employees can enjoy the family life and at the same time he or she can make her daily office work also accordingly. The bottom line is, this particular approach have given a new look to the work culture. The employees have started loving their work and the result was shown in the productivity report. Discuss the resistance, both organization and individual, that the ROWE program had to overcome. USA can be considered as the global cosmopolitan country as people from many countries come here to seek better careers or business opportunities. As a result, the business environment is very much competitive, and the culture in molded with self-reliance, independence, individuality, etc rather than self sacrificing behavior for the country or for the community. The main socio-economic business culture

Usefulness Of Symbiotic Relationships In Marketing Marketing Essay

Usefulness Of Symbiotic Relationships In Marketing Marketing Essay Symbiotic Marketing, also known as Co-Marketing Alliances and Joint Marketing Activities, has remained sporadic, especially in Indian Small Scale Sector. The studies focusing on the applicability of these Symbiotic Marketing strategies in the Indian context are conspicuously absent. The existing literature, conveniently assuming that the Indian Small Scale entrepreneurs possess the knowledge of the operationalities of the concept, has suggested this as a valid alternative system to their marketing problems. The present study is aimed at comprehending the perceptions of the Small Scale entrepreneurs towards Symbiotic Marketing strategies. The analysis is useful in developing programs aimed at facilitating these inter-organizational cooperative marketing strategies. In marketing channel strategy literature, a number of channel alternatives have been identified which firms utilize in distributing their products and services. These alternatives include the traditional marketing channel, the vertical marketing system, vertical integration, strategic alliances, network organizations, and the horizontal marketing system. These channel forms have been studied by market researchers relatively thoroughly and from a number of perspectives. However, one other strategic alternative has been identified and discussed by a few authors but has yet to receive the same level of attention as other forms of marketing and distribution. This cited strategy is the more holistic concept of symbiotic marketing, originally defined as an alliance of resources or programs between two or more independent organizations designed to increase the market potential of each (Adler, 1966). The concept was first introduced in 1960s, but has rarely been discussed by the market resea rchers and is generally dispatched as a synonym for horizontal marketing system (Kotler, 1991). However, the concept is much more powerful and comprehensive, than conceived by the lack of research in the area. The symbiotic marketing is comprehensive in the sense that firstly, it provides a strategic direction to channel considerations. Rather than develop strategically important core competencies and resources internally, firms which practice symbiotic marketing are actively and continually scanning both the external and the competitive environments for likely partners with such resources. This shifts the firm from being primarily internally- oriented to externally oriented. Secondly, the modes of symbiotic marketing comprise virtually all of the various forms of distribution identified in extent marketing and management literature. Modes of symbiosis include strategic alliances, joint ventures, co-marketing agreements, vertical marketing systems, horizontal marketing systems, and traditional buyer-seller marketing channels. However, distribution strategy employing mergers and acquisition as a tool, violate the spirit of symbiotic marketing, since the firms are integrated and are no longe r independent organizations, which is a requisite for symbiotic marketing. Thus all forms of distribution strategy other than vertical integration lie within the scope of symbiotic marketing. Since, not enough research has been done on the subject, extent literatures existing on strategic alliances and organizational networks has been used for the analysis since virtually all modes of symbiotic marketing is based on some form of organizational collaborations. Once the basis for symbiotic marketing has been established network analysis will be proposed as a tool for symbiotic partner selection and market selection. The underlying framework for this research is that the use of symbiotic marketing can return to a firm superior market success, if applied in a strategic manner, via such measures as first mover advantage, superior profit returns, and the ability to overcome barriers of entry into market niches dominated by well-entrenched competitors. Hypotheses will be proposed to test these assumptions. STATEMENT OF PROBLEM The usefulness of Symbiotic Relationships in Marketing for firms to compete successfully in the local global markets and its acceptance by small business units in India. TOPIC JUSTIFICATION OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY The primary objective of this paper is to address an apparent gap in the strategic or purposeful use of symbiotic marketing as a delivery system for a firms product or service in the current stream of marketing literature. Only recently has the market researchers focused on an attempt to understand the vertical marketing systems (VMS) and horizontal marketing systems(HMS), of which HMSs such as joint ventures, strategic alliances and partnerships have been studied most heavily. However, the researchers of these strategies have focused only on a single mode of HMS, whereas Symbiotic Marketing provides a broader framework for the researchers, to apply their desired analysis tool. Apart from the handful of extant literature existing on HMS, much of the research on channel strategy has focused on vertically-oriented channels such as VMS and vertical integration. This focus on Vertically-oriented Structures has discounted the emergence of horizontal strategies such as strategic alliances, partnerships and co-marketing agreements. The rationale behind vertically- oriented alliances or integration primarily gravitates around reducing transaction costs or achieving economies of scale (Heide,1994). On the other hand Symbiotic Relationships allow the firm to achieve significant leverage in the marketplace by not only accessing external resources but also identifying and exploiting market voids at reduced capital outlays. Furthermore, as the market segment boundaries are becoming increasingly undistinguishable, the firms focus is shifting from market share to designing strategic distribution programs that provides some degree of isolation from competition (Day, 1991), which is achievable through the use of Symbiotic Marketing strategies in niche markets, or using external resources for competing successfully in the global marketplace. Once the foundation for Symbiotic Marketing has been established and justified, network analysis can be used to explain how and why the firms will achieve superior markets via Symbiotic Marketing, providing a method for identifying potentially profitable market niches and guidance for selecting symbiotic partner firms for penetrating these market segments. Moreover, understanding the formation of Symbiotic Marketing in the network analysis framework is important because, firstly no adequate framework for understanding the Symbiotic relationships exists in the marketing literature; secondly business competition is increasingly between distinct networks or groups of independent firms operating as a single competitive entity; finally, there is a lack of marketing literature, focusing on the specific conceptualization of Symbiotic relations which need to be addressed. Thus an integrative framework needs to be developed to understand why and how firms enter into these types of partnership s, which will be useful to both academicians and practitioners. To achieve these goals, this paper will first, introduce and review the extant literature available on the subject matter which will provide the basis for developing the framework. The framework will be developed which builds on that introduced by prior researchers and will focus on developing a typology of possible modes of symbiosis available to businesses and their symbiotic opportunities. Secondly, the general concept of market segmentation discussed which is applicable to our study presented. Thirdly, the powerful concept of network analysis will be introduced. However, the focus will be on the qualitative, managerial implications and applications of network analysis, not on its usefulness as a quantitative structural analysis tool. Finally, a model of Symbiotic Marketings usefulness as a strategic tool will be presented and justified. CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW Recent research has pointed the importance of nurturing relationships for effective marketing. There is a paradigm shift in marketing from transaction marketing to relationship marketing. Firms are also considering relationship marketing as crucial for sustaining competitive advantage. The center has provided impetus for an in-depth look at relationship marketing from the perspective of both theory and practice. The term relationship marketing encompasses some of the constructs suggested by past research. These constructs are relational contracting, internal marketing, symbiotic marketing, relationship marketing, strategic alliances, working partnerships, co-marketing alliances, and long-term orientation. Morgan and Hunt emphasize the process and their definition states relationship marketing refers to all marketing activities directed toward establishing, developing, and maintaining successful relational exchanges.We suggest that relationships lead to value creation that has become an area of interest to researchers. Firms realize that both customers and suppliers create value. The value can manifest itself into access to technology, access to markets, and access to information. Firms realize that customers and suppliers provide access to value creation that will provide them with sustainable competitive advantage. Value creation can be divided into three domains. The first domain is value creation through supplier partnering that forms the first set of articles for this special issue. Value creation through alliance partnering form the second set of articles. Finally, value creation through customer partnering form the third set of articles. The issue of value creation through relationships with suppliers is examined by the first four articles. The first paper is Supplier Relationships: Emerging Issues and Challenges, written by the co-editors of the special issue. The paper proposes that effective relationship with suppliers will provide firms with next-generational competitive advantage. We suggest that this shift toward supplier relationships will change the role, processes, and strategies of firms and, therefore, new areas of inquiry will emerge. These include understanding suppliers as customers; cross-functional supplier teaming; economic value of supplier equity; supply experience curves; hub and spoke organization; bonding with suppliers; global sourcing processes; cross-cultural values in purchasing; cross-national rules and regulations; and service procurement. The second article also addresses the issue of the importance of supplier relationships and discusses the use of portfolio approaches to examine supplie r relationships. In previous papers, authors suggest that firms should examine supplier performance to classify suppliers into groups. This classification will aid firms in designing strategies to enhance relationship with firms. The next two articles discuss the effect of JIT and information technology on supplier relationships. In The Effect of JIT Purchasing Relationships on Organizational Design Purchasing Department Configuration, and Firm Performance, by Richard Germain and Cornelia Droge, the authors suggest that JIT relationships involve close supplier collaboration on product development and specifications, product, and information flows. Based on a survey of 200 US firms, the article suggests that JIT increases a firms formalization, integration, and specialization. Also firms that use JIT have enhanced performance. Employing Information Technology in Purchasing: An Empirical Study of the Impact on Buyer-Supplier Relationships and Size of the Supplier Base, by Rodney L. St ump Ven Sriram, and Earl G. Graves, discusses the role of information technology on relationships. They find that information technology investments enhance buyer-seller relationships and the degree of information technology used in transaction processing affects this relationship. Interestingly, they also find that information technology investments reduce the supplier base. The next set of two articles discuss value creation through alliance partnering, an emerging area of interest to marketers. The fifth article in the special issue is Scope and Intensity of Logistics Based Strategic Alliances: A Conceptual Framework and Managerial Implications, authored by Walter Zinn and A. Parasuraman. The article examines logistics based strategic alliances and proposes a typology to classify these alliances along the dimensions of scope and intensity. They also offer strategies for firms involved in strategic alliances as well as areas for future research. The next article, Selling Alliances : Issues and Rights, by Brock Smith, examines the issues of selling alliances, an emerging area of interest in personal selling. The issues of selling alliances at both the organizational as well as the personal level are discussed. A sample of 175 salespeople who are in sales partnerships is used to validate the expectations. The final set of articles discuss value creation through customer partnering. Customer Value Change in Industrial Marketing RelationshipsA Call for New Strategies and Research, by Daniel J. Flint, Robert Woodruff, and Sarah F. Gardial, addresses the issue of customer perceptions of value. The authors suggest that suppliers perceptions of value are changing. To design strategies that give business marketers a strategic advantage, firms need to understand customers present value needs, marketers ability to deliver value, and change in perceptions of value. The next article discusses the issue of customer perceptions of the marketer and value provided by the mark eter. As firms survey their customers to determine their performance, the issue of the validity of customer evaluations comes into question. What Information Can Relationship Marketers Obtain from Customer Evaluations of Salespeople? by Douglas M. Lambert, Arun Sharma, and Michael Levy, addresses this issue. The results of a survey from business customers in the health care industry suggest that buying firms that give higher evaluations to business salespeople also give higher performance ratings to the selling organization. Also, salespeople who are evaluated as being better and more credible by customers also receive superior evaluations from their managers. The final three papers in the special issue discuss case studies in value creation through customer partnering. The first paper, Managing Business Relationships and Positions in Industrial Networks by Brian Low, examines the issues of industrial networks. The article views networks as providing access to resources and activiti es and examines a network in the context of a dealer for office equipment. The second article, Building Supplier-Customer Relationships: Using Joint New Product Development, by James Comer and B. J. Zirger, examines the evolution of a supplier-customer relationship. The paper examines a relationship in the case of an automobile project. The final paper by Pierre Filiatrault and Jozee Lapierre, Managing Business-to-Business Marketing Relationships in Consulting Engineering Firms, (accepted by Peter LaPlaca) examines relationships in the context of business services. In conclusion, we feel that the papers provide a broad look at the academic research in the area of business relationship marketing. The articles in this special issue address value creation through supplier relationships, alliances, and customer relationships. The papers make an important contribution to relationship marketing thinking in the domain of business markets. The research is both useful to managers and serves as an impetus to future research in this area. We hope that you find the articles as exciting and interesting as we have. CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY DATA SOURCES UNIT OF ANALYSIS SAMPLE SELECTION The present investigation is prescription type of study undertaken to estimate the effectiveness of the Symbiotic Relationship in the Indian Marketing Scenario in various business units and its impact on the Partnered Business profits, Market Share, Level of Competition and Customer Loyalty and Retention. The present study identifies the views of people engaged in different businesses, generally small-scale, about their interpretation, importance and understanding of the advantages of developing a Symbiotic Relationships with different aspects of their supply chain or competitor base in order to cater to new market segments, or expanding their resource base and thereby improving their productivity, profitability and survivability in the highly competitive and rapidly expanding Indian Markets. Moreover, due to lack of availability of enough time, the scope of research has been restricted to the local area markets in the Mumbai region covering the areas of Andheri, Vile-Parle, Kandivali, Santacruz, which are small scale businesses such as shop-owners or factory outlet managers and marketing and operations team-members of some large scale firms. Considering the time criteria in which the report had to be prepared, we considered small scale businesses as the population with the size of 68. However, 24 participants did not fill the questionnaires provided to them completely, a requisite when using the likerts scale, and about 8 people were not willing to fill such questionnaires, the number of actually completed forms was drastically reduced to 36. Considering the fact that, for conducting a Z-Test for the analysis, the minimum size should be 30, the sample size of 35 was considered appropriate for the analysis and was carried forward for the purpose of research. TOOLS TECHNIQUES The tool used for conducting the research was administering the questionnaires to the business owners and conducting interviews, so as to determine whether their response in the questionnaire and on-face does not contradict. The questionnaire consists of open-ended questions which need to be answered on Likerts 5 Point Scale. For the analysis of the responses of the respondents, a 2-tailed Z-test will be used and the feasibility of the Symbiotic Marketing in the Indian Context will be determined based on the mind-set of the people involved in the analysis. Although, the sample size is 35, but it will be indicative of the entire population in the local areas considered for this study. Also random sampling (and in some cases systematic sampling) has been used to distribute the questionnaires and collect the responses for conducting the analysis. DATA SOURCES Market research requires two types of data i.e. secondary data and primary data. Primary data has been used abundantly for the study. Well-structured questionnaires were prepared the survey was undertaken. Feedback for the display has been taken by asking questions observation has also done to gather primary information. There is also a use of secondary data, collected from the extant literature available on the subject matter in various journals, books, and websites from various marketers and business owners. PRIMARY DATA The primary data to be selected was based upon the response of the respondents to the questionnaire designed. The questionnaire consists of open ended questions. The Questionnaire was targeted to know about the views of the business owners and planning and marketing department people towards the adoption of symbiotic relationship in the long term opportunities for the businesses especially in the Indian Context. SECONDARY DATA The secondary data was collected by referring through various companys marketing strategies in online manuals, Reports, journals and research papers, web sites, and the final data was analyzed systematically to accomplish the objectives of this research paper. CHAPTER IV RESEARCH FRAMEWORK OF THE STUDY PROPOSED FRAMEWORK RATIONALE OF FRAMEWORK VARIABLES HYPOTHESIS Symbiotic Marketing increases the competitive Advantage of the participating firms over their respective competitors companies with complementary products or services can also achieve symbiotic marketing by carrying out lateral cooperative marketing Growth Oriented firms prefer bigger firms for Marketing Symbiosis. Survival Oriented firms prefer equal sized or smaller firms for Marketing Symbiosis. Sharing of operational resources and mutually-complementary advantages among interrelated companies, will increase their production efficiency. CHAPTER V DATA ANALYSIS INFERENCE STATISTICAL ANALYSIS INTERPRETATIONS CHAPTER VI SUMMARY CONCLUSION SUMMARY OF FINDINGS CONCLUSION SCOPE RECOMMENDATIONS LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY CHAPTER VII REFERENCES [1] Kotler, P., Fernando, T. D.(2005).Lateral Marketing. Beijing: China Citic Press,25. [2] Lee, A. (1966). Symbiotic Marketing. Harvard Business Review,44(9-10):59-71. [3] Rajan, P. Rajaratnam, D. (1986). Symbiotic Marketing Revisited. Journal of Marketing, 50(1):7-17. [4] Andy, L., Ian, B. (2001). Strategies for Building a Customer Base on the Internet: Symbiotic Marketing. Journal of Strategic Marketing, (9):47-68. [5] KaZuo, A. (2002). Sociological Principle. Beijing: Huaxia Publishing Co., Ltd., 50-52. [6] Shiroshi, T. (2000). How Will the Market Strategy Change in the Future?. ToKyo: Diamond Inc.,90. [7] Kazuhisa, T.(2000). Social Psychology of Consumption Behavior. ToKyo: Kitaoji Publisher,52-62. [8] Xavier, M. J., Krishnan, R., Borin, N.(2005). An Integrated Model of Collaborative Value Creation for Strategic Innovation: The Case of Retail Automation in India. IIMB Management Review,(6): 29-39. [9] Yokozawa, T. (1998).Customer Value Management. ToKyo: Productivity Publisher,71-80. [10]Mohr, J., Fisher, R., Nevin, J. (1996). Collaborative communication in interfirm relationships: moderating effects of integration and control, Journal of Marketing, 60(July) [11]Osborn, R. Baughn, C. (1990). Forms of interorganizational governance for multinational alliances, Academy of Management Journal, 33(3), 503-19. [12]Rangan, V., Menezes, M., Maier, E. (1992). Channel selection for new industrial products: framework, method, and application, Journal of Marketing, July, 69-82. [13]Shaw, A. (1912). Some Problems in Market Distribution, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 26 (4): 703-765. [14]Street, P. (1975). Animal Partners and Parasites, London: David and Charles. [15]Snyder, G. (1991). Alliance theory: a neoralist first cut, in The Evolution of Theory in International [16]Relations (pp. 83-110), Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press. [17] The Effect of JIT Purchasing Relationships on Organizational Design Purchasing Department Configuration, and Firm Performance, by Richard Germain and Cornelia Droge. [18] Scope and Intensity of Logistics Based Strategic Alliances: A Conceptual Framework and Managerial Implications, authored by Walter Zinn and A. Parasuraman. CHAPTER VIII APPENDIX Insert the questionnaire hereà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦

History Textbooks Do Not Tell the Truth About Slavery :: United States History Essays

Why Do History Textbooks Hesitate to Tell the Truth About Slavery? Works Cited Missing [1] In the movie Sankofa, Haile Gerima does not hesitate to show the audience the horrors of slavery. Not only does he show the brutal and humiliating practices used by slaveholders to subjugate slaves but he also shows how slaveholders used Christianity to control and manipulate slaves. He demonstrates the huge impact of slavery on today’s society and the importance of looking back to slavery to understand the present. Traditionally, history textbooks have hesitated to talk about any of these aspects of slavery. Present history books have begun to describe the brutalities of slavery but still refuse to explain slavery’s impact or to mention Christianity’s role in slavery. There are three main reasons for this hesitance to be truthful about all aspects of slavery when writing history textbooks. These are patriotism for the United States, cultural bias towards the white race, and a bias towards Christianity. Nationalism/Patriotism [2] When scholars and historians write history books, they are usually limited by their sense of nationalism or patriotism. They hesitate (or avoid altogether) to write about events or institutions that make the United States look bad. As James Loewen points out, history textbooks "...leave out anything that might reflect badly [on] our national character" (2). Most citizens of the United States are proud of the United States, its history, and its present role in the world’s affairs. They do not want to write or read about wrongs and injustices that the United States government or state governments have allowed or even encouraged. Eric Foner, professor of history at Columbia University, mentioned in a show called "Who Owns History", that the founding fathers considered slavery when writing the constitution and that the constitution strengthened the institution of slavery, by giving slaveholders more power. Most people have never heard of this because the constitution was always heralded as an incredible piece of writing that created a fair and balanced government. Historians avoided mentioning that the constitution strengthened slavery because that would taint the legacy of the constitution and the United States as a whole. History that we learn in school is not an unbiased narration of facts; it is molded and interpreted by the historians who write about it. Historians are constantly influenced by national pride and the desire to make our nation look good.