Managerial economic Essay Example for Free

Managerial economic Essay Wal-Mart had a marketing campaign where it offered Every Day Low Prices, but this was not quite true in Mexico because it had significant import charges on many of the products brought from the U. S. After the implementation of NAFTA, Mexico became a free trade zone. This made it possible for Wal- Mart to reduce its tariff from 10% to 3 %. This led the government to solve the logistical problem due to the fact that Mexicos transportation system was below average. NAFTA encourages Mexico to improve the transportation system, which lowers the logistical cost. Additionally, NAFTA allows foreign investment in Mexico. As a result, Wal-Mart was able to build manufacturing plants in Mexico because of the cheap labor. In this particular case we can observe how low labor cost contributes to obtain low import tariffs therefore leads to cheaper products. Wal-Marts success in Mexico was definitely possible because of the NAFTA implementation. Question 2 How much of Walmarts success is due to NAFTA, and how much is due to Walmart,s inherent competitive strategy? In other words, could any other U. S retailer have the same success in Mexico post-NAFTE, or is Walmart a special case? NAFTA benefits every company that is willing to operate abroad. This agreement solved some difficulties but Wal-Marts inherent competitive strategy was effective in the Mexican Market. As we all know Wal-Marts strategy to win against its competitors is its offered prices. The company is considered leader in the market because it has the capability to offer the lowest prices for this reason Wal-Mart is considered to have a large negotiating power. They can negotiate with suppliers to drop prices and consequently lower prices. In my opinion NAFTA benefits plus Wal- Marts purchasing power was the combination that allowed the company to be successful. Wal-Mart uses time inventory system which allows them to keep track of what they need and communicate this to their suppliers. Wal- Marts purchasing power is not available in other companies therefore if competitors any to survive they should compete against the companies prices or change the type of business. Question 3 What Have Comerci and Sorina done to remain competitive? What else do you thinks hey need to do remain competitive in the tuture? Comerci and Soriana torm a purchasing consortium that would allow them to negotiate better bulk price from suppliers. Comerci expand by opening new stores. Enter into several strategic alliances including with Wallmarts major competitor in US. Soriana bought Gigante supermarket chain and gain greater purchasing efficiencies for its larger network of supermarkets. Upgrading the supply chain and distribution channel system, reducing the using of warehouse that can cut cost of operation and logistic. Developing a strong relationship with supplier could make a comerci and soriana get a exclusive right of supplier , such as extra tenure on short term credit, lower rate on short term credit, lower price of product and so on. Create customer loyalty benefit, such privilege card or coupon, this action could make the customer loyal to comerci or soriana. Multiple source advantage, by doing this comerci and soriana could get more choice in choosing the supplier, which one could give a better rate and good service. Lobby for government intervention in avoiding a monopoly player in the arket, such as impose a regulation on floor price. Question 4 What do you think of Walmarts strategy in Mexico and Central America, and how have bilateral agreements and geographic proximity played a role in their success? What challenges do you think Walmart de Mexico e Centrameca will face as it continues to expand in Mexico and Central America? Walmart in Mexico penetrated the market with a Joint venture with its local player. This Joint venture helped Walmart gain better knowledge of the Mexican market and supplied Walmart with upplier connections, knowledge about the local culture as well as helping Walmart to work with local authorities. This ensured successful expansion of Walmarts power in the Mexican markets, gaining the greatest influence in the shortest time period. Bilateral agreement and geographic proximity played a roled in wallmart success interm of gain and access into more product and suppliers. Also have a better coordinate the network of 14 distribution centers in mexico and 11 central America, locating Wallmarts strategically throughout the region. Apart from it, Wallmart also stablished multiformat operations approach in the region to address different consumer segment

Sexual Harassment is NOT Tolerable Essay -- Sexual Harassment in the Wo

According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) sexual harassment can be defined as unwelcome sexual advances, wishes for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitutes sexual harassment when submission to or rejection of this conduct clearly or completely affects an individual's employment, unreasonably interferes with an individual's work routine or creates a threatening, antagonistic or unpleasant work environment (EEOC, 2002). The victim or harasser can either be a man or a woman, and sexual harassment is not always targeted to members of the opposite sex. Sufferers of sexual harassment in the place of work can be subject to fear or anxiety, lower efficiency, a higher level of stress and substance abuse (EEOC, 2002). Quid pro quo harassment is when employment or employment decisions for an employee are based on that employees’ reception or dismissal of unwanted sexual behavior (EEOC, 2002). An example cited by Paul is that of Valerie Craig, an employee of Y & Y Snacks, Inc. She had joined some co-workers and her supervisor for drinks after work one day in July of 1978. Her supervisor drove her home and anticipated that they become more intimately familiar. She refused his request for sexual relations, upon which she was fired after ten days from the incident. She soon filed a complaint of sexual harassment with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), and the case wound its way through the courts. Craig won, the company was held accountable for damages, and she received back pay, return to work, and an order barring Y & Y from taking negative action against her in the future (Paul, 1998). Sexual harassment in the workplace is not tolerable in spite of the powe... ...d need for an understanding of behaviors, legal environment, social context and educational systems, which exist in the countries in which modern organizations operate. The outcome of this effort should be the development of not only a pluralistic organization, but also one with a multicultural workforce from the top ranks all the way to lowest ranks (UMC, 2007). Works Cited EEOC, E. E. (2002). Facts about sexual harrasment. available at http://www.eeoc.gov/facts/fs-sex.html retrieved on 31-10-11 at 12:00 am. Goodman, E. (1991). The Reasonable Woman Standard. Boston Globe. Paul, E. F. (1998). Bared Buttocks and Federal Cases. Society , 352-355. UMC, U. o.-C. (2007). Power And Sexual Harassment -- Men And Women See Things Differently. Science Daily available at http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070403184604.htm retrieved on 1-11-11 at 7:00 am.

Sexual Appeals in Advertising and Their Effects on Consumers

Sex Appeal is one such method of differentiation that suppliers have found and proven to be successful. By targeting our basic animalistic behaviour, namely the drive for sexual reproduction, firms have found that through a cleverly designed message containing sex appeal, they can attract and hold on to consumers’ attention, thus making it more likely for consumers to choose that particular product over another. On the other hand however,sexual content may not be communicative and might even have a detrimental effect on brand information processing. Using sex appeal in advertising is a time-tested technique that will probably be with us forever. If you are marketing a product or service, you need to be aware of the power of sex appeal in advertising and understand the nuances of using sex to market your wares. What is sex appeal in advertising? Appeals utilizing overt sexual information are common in mainstream consumer advertising. Sex appeal is pervasive in advertising and is used with increasing frequency. As advertisersseek out ways to break through clutter and draw attention to their messages, the use of sexually oriented appeals have been used as a communication technique . Previous research for advertising has documented that sexually oriented appeals are widespread, commonplace, and increasing. Typically, sex appeals have varied along two major dimensions; nudity and sexual explicitness. The escalating usage of sexual stimuli in advertising indicates that companies will advertise in a way that most effectively moves the product. And sex does sell; one only has to browse through popular magazines to realize how powerful a tool sex is. Why Sex Sells: The most obvious reason sex appeal works in advertising is that it grabs attention. Both males and females are attracted to this type of advertising. It is a powerful instinctive attraction that will take our focus from anything else we may be doing. And advertisers know this. They play off of our curiosity. They know that it will be more likely to be recalled than most other forms of appeals because of the generated interest. Also, many advertisers have found that overly controversial images, even if they are taken off of the air, will stir up discussions about the ad and the product associated with it. Even if someone does not agree with what is put on an ad, they are still talking about it. By those discussions being had, the name of your product stays in the minds of consumers longer. What to Be Careful of When Using Sex Appeal in Marketing: Make sure that people are not so distracted by the sexual appeal of the ad that they do not remember what the ad was for in the first place. It does not do any good to create a sensual or sexual message when all they can remember is the image and not the brand name. So, make sure the sexual/sensual image being used is connected in some way to the product or service being promoted. This will create a link between the two and make the viewer much more likely to remember the product or service being advertised. Many advertisers appeal to males in this way- buy the product, get the girl. Especially beer advertisements- generally, a group of average looking guys will be in a bar and by purchasing or drinking a certain brand, they will attract interest from an attractive girl across the room. What is considered acceptable varies from one location to another. In a large metropolitan area with a diverse, less conservative population, you might be more likely to produce more risque advertising versus a rural and conservative or religious community. Tailor the message to the people you are targeting, which includes understanding their feelings and beliefs on public sexuality. If you are setting up a business in a smaller community, make sure to note what other businesses do to advertise. Sex appeal may not be an acceptable form of appeal at all. It is not as attention-grabbing as it once was. There is still an element of surprise, but do not think that people will react or respond quite how they did when it was first being used. As we have become more and more surrounded by sexual images in movies and television, we have become almost desensitized to it, and an ad with half-dressed models does not nearly shock us as much as it would have twenty years ago. So, instead of just having a group of sexy girls or guys in an ad, try to find more subtle and unexpected ways to use sexuality in your message. Dove did this by using â€Å"real people† in their marketing campaigns that started a few years ago. They used the different kinds of beauty, body shape, and age to promote their products. This unexpected campaign, which premiered during the Super Bowl, was extremely successful because it was something different that they were remembered for doing. Sex appeal can be used in many ways. In short, make sure that the way you are using it is appropriate for the product that you are selling and the people you are selling it to. Amy Bax is interested in providing innovative informational resources to entrepreneurs. She is currently an MBA student at the University of Missouri – Columbia. We're surrounded by advertisements that desperately compete for our attention. Everywhere we look, we find ourselves inevitably drawn to images of scantily clad attractive men and women that are supposed to somehow inspire us to purchase products they endorse. Sure, this attention-getting strategy is popular. Is sex appeal effective? Sex appeal can increase the effectiveness of an ad or commercial because it attracts the customer's attention. It's human nature to be curious about sex. A pair of long legs on a billboard is more likely to catch (and hold) a guy's attention than a puppy, regardless of how cute it may be. Even women are drawn to them, perhaps with the desire of having goddess-like legs. However, misuse of sex appeal can be costly. Many campaigns deemed offensive have started brand boycotts that affect sales and damage brand reputation. Abercrombie & Fitch has been involved in several scandals, the latest from their most recent catalog entitled â€Å"XXX Wet, Hot Summer Fun. † On April 18, 2002, only a week after the catalog hit the stores, the Illinois State Senate passed a resolution condemning A&F's advertising tactics. This resolution, backed by several nonprofit organizations, suggests citizens and shareholders boycott Abercrombie's products and to take a stand against the company's marketing strategies. Although sexy images in catalogs are not at all uncommon, â€Å"XXX Wet, Hot Summer Fun† featured naked boys and girls frolicking in natural settings. Not quite appropriate for an apparel catalog targeted at teenagers. Sex in advertising has stirred controversy for many years, an advertiser must be careful when incorporating it in a campaign. Great advertisers consider not only the attention-getting power of an advertisement or commercial, but also what kind of emotional response it provokes in customers. Studies show that the attractiveness of the endorsing model provokes positive responses. Nudity and graphic erotic content, while still increasing consumer's attention, doesn't really generate positive feelings among viewers. In other words, advertisers must be careful to avoid the â€Å"cheap shot,† which may negatively affect a brand's image. To avoid that, the sexual content in advertising must be appropriate to the product category and have a proper underlying message. One spot, called â€Å"The Premature Pour,† shows a beautiful seductive woman pouring Heineken into a glass. When a guy across the bar responds by pouring his own, he nervously pours too fast and spills foam all over the table and himself. The sexual content is implicit, yet direct. The sexual reference in this and other spots in the campaign worked, causing sales to rise 13% in the first two quarters of 2002. However, Steve Davis (VP of marketing in Heineken USA), claims that, â€Å"Provocative is a very good place to be, as long as we're not inflammatory. But the spots also work for a different reason. From the tag line to the plot, they are about a desire for Heineken. Our ads make the beer the hero. † Sex sells, yes, but only when used â€Å"in good taste. † As marketers we must think not only in getting customers' attention for the short term, but also in building a brand reputation that will yield long-term results. The positive roles of sex appeal in advertising: One might ask ‘why do advertisers promote sex appeal? ’ The answer in its purest form is thatit works well in most cases and according to Bumler (1999), most advertising executives usesex appeal as the most powerful weapon in their arsenal and therefore they use graphic images to get and hold on to audiences’ attention. From a marketing perspective, sexual appeal maybe advantageous for the simple reason that they prey on basic biological instincts and thus, an incredible motivational factor, which is a desirable attribute to break through clutter. Advertisements that attract attention have the increased likelihood to affect persuasion,especially in a saturated media environment typified by passive viewing exposure. Numerous research studies have revealed that sexual appeal, when used in advertising are attention grabbing, likeable, arousing, effect inducing, memorable, and somewhat more apt to increase interest in the topic advertised in comparison to non-sexual appeal. Sex appeal serves several crucial roles in advertising. Firstly,sexual material in advertising acts as an initial attention lure to the ad, which is referred to asthe stopping power of sex . Attention is a necessary condition for learning, attitudinal change and behavioral effects. A second function of sexual stimuli in advertising is to enhance message recall as sex is arousing, easy to relate, emotion inducing, and most of all, memorable. Finally, the third role of sexual content in advertising is to evoke emotional responses, such as feelings of arousal, excitement, or even lust, which in turn can create stimulation and desire for the product (Bumler 1999). This role may affect the consumer’s mood and can result in favourable cognitiveprocessing of the ad and increase the persuasion impact. Sex appeal in advertising is also effective ineliciting fantasy or expressing the imaginative fulfillment of motives, such as sexual gratification. Latour, Pitts, and Snook-Luther (1990) have provided insight into the emotional impact ofsexual appeals, specifically the level and nature of evoked arousal and attitudes toward theadvertisement and brand. They have found a direct relationship between the positive arousalevoked by sexual appeals and evaluations of the brand. Nonetheless, whether sexual appealelicits a positive or negative reaction depends on the appropriateness to the advertisedproduct. Richmond and Hartman (1982) ascertain that sexual stimuli will enhance brand recallonly if it has an appropriate relationship with the product category and the advertisingexecution. When sex appeal is used inappropriately, such as utilizing it solely as an attentiondevice, exploiting the female body, degrading the female role or insulting propriety, weakbrand recall may occur and may in fact produce a negative attitude towards the brand. This implies that the use of sex appeal in advertising must be appropriate to the type of products eing advertised and when sex appeal is used thoughtfully and appropriately, it may produceacceptable and satisfactory results. Negative effects of sex appeal in advertising: While studies have shown that overt sexual portrayals attract attention to an advertisement, other numerous advertising research have also suggested that inappropriate and excessive use of sexual content can actually have a number of negative effects. Consistently, studies have demonstrated that sexual appeals attract attention to the ad, typically without a corresponding advantage for brand information processing. Sexual content may be eye-catching and entertaining, but it may not be communicative and might distract the viewer from the message. When sexual stimulus is used in advertising, viewers’ perceptual and processing resources are directed toward the sexual information in the ad rather than toward the brand. The use of explicit sexual messages in advertisements may interfere with consumers’ processing of message arguments and brand information, which in turn may reduce message comprehension. Furthermore, initial devices such a sexual stimuli overwhelm the message, and are negatively correlated to both recall and persuasion. Finally, there has been evidence to suggest that overt sexual appeals may have detrimental effects on attitudes toward the ad and brand, and therefore may reduce purchase intention . These findings led MacInnis, Moorman, and Jaworski to advance the proposition that hedonic appeals, such as sexual stimuli, increase motivation to process the ad execution, but largely at the expense of the brand. All of these threaten to act as potential hazards of using sex appeals. The Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) provides a framework to understand the role of sexual appeals in persuasion (Shimp 2003). According to ELM, persuasion can occur along a continuum of elaboration. Persuasion resulting from extensive issue-relevant thinking isreferred to as central route processing, whereby receivers engage in vigilant examination ofmessage information. As receivers’ motivation, opportunity, and ability decrease, receiversare less likely to engage in systematic elaboration and are consequently more likely to rely onperipheral cues to guide their decision-making. Evidence suggests that this process occurs in response to sexual appeals in advertising (Severn, Belch & Belch 1990). It appears that numerous advertising utilizing sex appeal seems to get attention but do little for the advertised product. For instance, Judd and Alexander (1983) found that ads withdecorative female models increase memory for the image in the ad with no difference in actually reading the information of the ad. In particular, nudity and erotic content was found to increase attention to the ad, but not necessarily enhance recall or positive attitudes toward a brand. As a result, sexual appeals stimulate less argument elaboration and connecting thoughts than will non-sexual appeal. Additional evidence also suggests that, as the level of nudity and erotism increase, the intended communication effects either become negative or dissipate. Therefore, despite the persuasiveness of sexual appeals when used in advertisements, it is likely to be the result of peripheral processes and as a result may be transient. In addition to the aforesaid negative effects of advertising, bad uses of sex symbols in advertising may lead to unacceptable perception by audience. The widespread use of sex as an advertising technique has elicited significant consumer protest. On top of that, as clutter increases in advertising, consumers appear to be more able to physically avoid advertising and tune out . For this reason, every advertiser haspragmatic need to stand out. As marketers focus on developing messages that stand out, too many of them forget that their focus should not solely be on the executional devices, but on the core message. In order to investigate the abovementioned discrepancy with regards to the effects of sexual stimuli in advertising, we conducted a short survey on 20 subjects on their perception of ads that exploit sex appeal. The subjects, who consisted of eleven females and nine males, wereasked to browse through five different ads for 20 seconds. Two out of the five ads presented,employ sexual appeal as their core messages. The subjects were then required to answer a series of questions about the attractiveness of the ads and were then asked to recall the brand names. The survey questions, results, and advertisement stimuli are provided in Appendix 1. It was found that one of the ads utilizing sexual appeal (Ad 2) was rated as most appealing by the majority of subjects. Interestingly however, the other ad that displays explicit nudity (Ad) was rated as most unappealing and most subjects were unable to recall the brand name. We therefore concluded that sex appeal in advertising works well, but only if it is appropriate with the product context and within an appropriate level of explicitness.

Alcohol Consumption Should Be Banned. Agree or Disagree

Alcohol consumption should be banned. Argue for or against the statement. Alcohol is one of the most widely used and abused drugs in the world. It is a legal drug that can be found just about anywhere, restaurants, liquor stores and even in some supermarkets. It is a drug that is used by many, some just to relax, others to party with the intention of getting drunk and those that are addicted and who abuse the drug like no other. Alcohol causes several problems and injures the lives of many, it is the fifth most dangerous drug in the world being higher than LSD and ecstasy, yet it is a drug that society allows to be used everyday. Alcohol is a drug, which is classified as a depressant. This means that after being consumed it slows†¦show more content†¦(http://www.drugfreeworld.org/drugfacts/alcohol/international-statistics.html). Statistics show that alcohol appears to be a very negative drug. Taken on a worldwide scale alcohol causes more deaths than any illegal drug. But this is not to say that all alcohol consumption is bad. Statistics have shown that wine, in moderation, is actually healthy for a person. Red wine has been proven to actually help the heart and lessen the risk of heart disease. Studies shown have indicated that red wine contains antioxidants, which actually help prevent heart disease by increasing levels of ‘good’ cholesterol and protecting the heart against artery damage. Although this has been seen, doctors still do not encourage people to start drinking as all alcohol can, in the long term effect, cause problems towards health. Red wine contains a chemical known as resveratrol, which helps prevent damage to blood vessels, reduces ‘bad’ cholesterol and prevents blood clots. (http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/red-wine/HB00089). Many people have shown that they also enjoy alcohol and that those who drink in moderation cause no actual harm to themselves or the others around them. The problem is that alcohol is very addictive. 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