A Quantitative Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

A Quantitative Analysis - Essay Example In addition, it also markets products meant for kids, and even other athletic and recreational uses, such as baseball, cricket, lacrosse, outdoor activities, tennis, volleyball, walking, and wrestling. To add on, it sells sports clothing and accessories. Lastly, it sells a series of performance equipment, including bags, socks, sports balls, eyewear, timepieces, digital devices, bats, gloves and other protective equipment (Miller, 1992). The sources of market for the company include various strategic stores for the already mentioned activities. However, there exist other retail accounts through the enterprise owned retail stores and Websites of the Internet, who are very direct to consumers (Ramaswamy, 2008). It is comparatively important to mention that the Nike company was formed in 1964 and that the headquarter in Beaverton, Oregon. This report gives the most recent quantitative analysis and goes further to explain the various financial analysis that puts the company ahead in terms of its performance. The investigation has shown that financial results for its fiscal 2015 quarter two ended on November 30, 2014. The quarter results demonstrate that the company is on the growing side and that the power of the portfolio is what unlocks the growth (Parker, 2015). Net working capital involves the discrepancy between the current assets and current liabilities. Examples of current assets are cash and inventories. This can be in the resources this company has not forgetting accounts receivable not yet seen in money form. It is always used to determine the net worth. However, the calculation also involves the current liabilities the company has. It is not the case of Nike Company that has more assets compared to liabilities. In totality as an analyst, in order to make networking capital run smoothly the management structure should be well established so as to know when to lend or buy for the Company success. Based on the financial records below, it clearly depicts

cold war Essay -- essays research papers

Dear President Bush,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I would like to advise you on the causes, course and effects of the Cold War in hopes that you this will help you in shaping your current foreign policy. The Cold War is a term used to describe the intense rivalry and strained relations between the two superpowers that had arose after World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union. This period of hostility mainly resulted from ideological differences, and mutual distrust between the two blocks. Following World War II, Germany and Berlin were divided into four zones. Each zone was controlled either by Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union, or the United States. Despite objections by the Soviet Union, the United States, Great Britain and France planned to re-unify Germany. In response, the U.S.S.R. placed a blockade on Berlin. The United States organized massive airlifts to send food and other necessities to the isolated city. After promises for free elections were broken by the Soviet Union, the already strained relationships between the two superpowers were worsened. In fear of Soviet expansion, the United Stated adapted a new foreign policy of containment, in which they attempted to stop the progress of communism. The Truman Doctrine of 1947 stated that the United States would help any non- communist country resist the pressures of communism. The Marshall Plan involved sending money to help countries recover from World War II, so that they would be less likely to...

Corrupt Utopian Societies Essay

Have you ever imagined living in a society where everyone is the same? Can you imagine living in a society where people don’t ask questions, they just do as they are told? Winston Smith from George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four and Bernard Marx from Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World live in worlds very similar to these. They live in worlds where corruption is scarce among the common population. Winston and Bernard are from entirely different settings; however, they have an abundance of thoughts that lead them to similar places in different stories. These thoughts and actions taken by these characters are fascinating to the reader when drawn into perspective. Few times in the two novels Winston and Bernard’s thoughts draw them close to danger within their worlds because of consequences with their dictators or government. Bernard is exiled from his society to a different continent while Winston is sentenced to death after vigorous amounts of testing and torture. It is interesting to see how these characters thoughts are so different and similar at the same time, and how they lead them to their dismay. The title of my essay relays how I think about these novels in two ways. The first one being that I believe both of the books are attempted Utopias. The second reason being that although both societies are attempted utopias they turn out being the complete opposite and result in being crooked and dissatisfying. In Huxley’s Brave New World Bernard is set as an individual from everyone else right from the start. He is classified as an alpha, but is much shorter than all the other alphas. Rumors were spread that when he was in the bottle he was mistaken as a Gamma and had alcohol slipped into his blood surrogate. Bernard became more of an individual because his peers passed judgment upon him, casting him away from the social normality. By being treated like this Bernard develops an unusual way of thinking compared to others in his world. Bernard has a desire to be excluded from the social body. He wants to pursue happiness in way that is not a part of everyone else’s happiness; he wants to create his own happiness. When Bernard is with Lenina on their first date he says â€Å"†¦the real problem is: How is it that I can’t or rather-because, after all, I know quite well why I can’t-what would it be like if I could, if I were free-not enslaved by my conditioning. † (Huxley 90). What Huxley is portraying in the readers mind about Bernard, is how he hungers for diversity among himself and his peers. He wants to know how himself and others would act if they weren’t so condemned by their conditioning. This thinking is very similar to Winston’s thoughts in 1984 when Winston goes hunting for evidence that society used to be different before the party existed. When Winston is thinking about the Party in general it frustrates him that the Party claims inventing airplanes, when he knows for a fact they didn’t. To resolve this issue in his mind, he sets out on a mission to ask someone of age who might remember. These two scenarios of Winston and Bernard’s show how they want their societies to be different, but are infinitely hopeless in doing so. While Winston and Bernard share a common situation in these two novels, so do two sub-cultures. In 1984 there was a group of people called the Proles who were sanctioned off from the outer and inner Party. The Proles were left to do as they pleased, undisturbed by the Party, for the most part. Unlike outer and inner Party members, Proles are not forced to show support for the Party. Proles are also aloud to partake in sexual acts, unlike Winston, an outer Party member, who must sneak around to participate in such acts. Now, switching over to Brave New World, we recall a similar group to the Proles called Savages who live on the Reservation. The Reservation is in New Mexico and the savages are left alone there to do what they want. They are left alone because their beliefs and impacts are far too abstruse for The World State. In these ways the Proles and Savages on the Reservation are very similar. Nineteen Eighty-Four and Brave New world both share intriguing similarities but there are equally as interesting differences. One of them is the viewpoint within the two novels on love and relationships. In Nineteen Eighty-Four the party abolishes anyone who commits thought-crime. Having a sexual relationship with someone falls under this category and could get you nto a lot of trouble just as Winston and Julia did. For Winston and Julia to be able to partake in even the smallest amount time together, alone and away from surveillance, they had to construct a well thought-out and thorough plan as to not get caught. On the other hand we have Brave New World where everyone is expected to have a relationship with multiple people at the same time, and move on shortly afterwards. When Lenina tells Fanny about seeing Henry Foster exclusively for the past four months, she replies â€Å"No it really won’t do. And you know how strongly D. H. C. objects to anything intense or long-drawn. Four months of Henry Foster, without having another man-why, he’d be furious if he knew†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Huxley 46). This shows quite well how frowned upon it is to not have multiple partners. Characters in Brave New World are expected to not only switch partners often and have multiple partners at one time, but also have sex after the first date. The government has conditioned the people to the point where there’s no real sensation in anything. Normal sensations such as tasting something, loving someone, and sexual intimacy do not exist in Brave New World or Nineteen Eighty-Four. Winston and Bernard both experience complicated love affairs in these novels, ones that have no feeling. Winston is brought up in his society with the idea that sex and relationships are prohibited. His relationship with Julia is short and only has one point, to be rebellious and get pleasure out of it while he can. In Bernard’s society he is conditioned with the idea that relationships should be short, and dissipate after a short while. In his vacant relationship with Lenina he has no genuine feelings for her. In these two contrasts you can see how well relationships and love have such a large impact on the stories. Relationships clearly made an impact on Winston and Bernard’s development throughout their stories. Another influence that affected themselves and their societies was literature. In Nineteen Eighty-Four Syme helped edit and create the book of Newspeak. Syme became obsessed with book and was highly knowledgeable with its contents and the reason it was being made. The Party eventually vaporized him due to the fact that he was became so informed about its reasoning and the point of even making it. A similar character in Brave New World, Helmholtz was convicted of almost the same thing. He produced a poem that encouraged too much thinking; it was too intellectual for The World State. This comparison examines how both governments in the two novels don’t want their people to induce too much thinking upon themselves, as to create a possible rebellion. This comparison isn’t directly about the two main characters, but it does have an effect on how they think. Nineteen Eighty-Four and Brave New World have so many strong similarities and contrasts that it makes it very difficult to only pick a few and go in depth with them. These contrasts I talked about are all evidence as to how Winston and Bernard can be so similar in their worlds and be impacted in lots of different ways. Winston and Bernard act the ways they do because no matter how many dystopian society scenarios you come up with, if you become curious enough, you will seek individualism, change, and rebellion from that society.

Irobot Company

g 1. 0| Executive summary| 2| 2. 0| Situational Analysis2. 1. Political factors2. 2. Economic factors2. 3. Social factors2. 4. Technological factors| 3-6| 3. 0| SWOT Analysis3. 1. Strengths3. 2. Weaknesses3. 3. Opportunities3. 4. Threats| 7-9| 4. 0| Marketing Objectives| 10| 5. 0| Targeting and Positioning5. 1. Targeting5. 2. Positioning| 11-14| 6. 0| Marketing Strategies6. 1. Product 6. 2. Price6. 3. Place6. 4. Promotion| 15-19| 7. 0| Implementation and Control| 20-21| 8. 0| Conclusion| 22| 9. 0| References| 23| 10. 0| Appendix| 24-27| TABLE OF CONTENT 1. 0. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Robot Corporation designs, manufactures, and sells a variety of robots include floor vacuuming robots, pool and gutter cleaning robots. Our marketing objectives are to continue to strengthen our brand, which is to continue having advertisement to increase band awareness in the market, to have high market shares of 20% rather than 11. 67% by December 2012, which we believe this product Cleany will very much cont ribute to the increase in market shares, and to have market expansion in different parts of the world. Our new product is the robotic dirt eating machine. It is called Cleany.It is served as a vacuum cleaner, as well as a scrubber. When the floor, sofa or bed has dirt, Cleany will help clean them up. It is round in shape and it has no sharp ends. This product is very convenient to be used. It ensures safety and cleanliness. Moreover, this product is environmental friendly, it uses solar energy to charge its battery. Our packaging focuses on the protection of the product. We use thick polystyrene to wrap our product. We want to make sure it reaches our customers doorstep without any damages. Cleany is a good quality product. It performs well and it’s durable.Irobot plans to use price skimming as our pricing strategy. From time to time, discounts of 15-20% will be given so that customers with lesser income distributions can also purchase Cleany. The budget allocated to advertis e Cleany through television, radio, magazines, and newspaper, to give sponsorship and to create event to create brand awareness in the market is RM 662,000. 2. 0. SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS 2. 1. Political Factors Tax Tax charged by government to irobot varies from different countries. The standard corporate tax rate in Malaysia is  25% since 2009, while resident small and medium-sized companies (i. . companies capitalised at MYR 2. 5 million or less and not part of a group having a company exceeding the above capitalisation threshold) are taxed at 20% on the first MYR 500,000, with the balance taxed at the 25% corporate tax rate. (TaxRate. cc, 2009-2012) But according to our financial position, tax does not very much affect our company. Employment law The legal/political aspect is very important in global marketing. â€Å"International law† can be defined as rules and principles that states and nations consider binding upon themselves. FAO Corporate Document Repository, 2009) Th ere are employment laws that we need to abide to. For example, we are not allowed to hire child labour in our workplace, we are supposed to grant our employees leave and benefits. Our employees have the right to take sick leave when they are not feeling well, we need to pay our employees extra if they are working overtime. This law has widely opened the eyes of our company. It somehow affects our company because now we know how the employment law works and how to make decisions accurately. 2. 2. Economic Factors Economic growth MIER downgrades 2011 GDP growth rate to 4. percent year-on-year. For 2012, MIER revises the GDP growth forecast to 5. 0 percent. (Suzy, 13 October 2011) Malaysia economic grows from year to year and in 2012, It will probably grow up till 5. 0 percent. During economic growth, customer’s disposable income will increase, and therefore, they have more money to spend now. This factor will most probably increase our company’s sale and cause irobot Com pany’s profit margin to increase. Inflation From time to time, there will be inflation around the world. From our pass experiences, each time there’s inflation, it will somehow affect our company.Customers may consider to not purchase our product first until their income is stable. Below is a graph on Malaysia’s inflation rate (International Monetary Fund – 2011 World Economic Outlook) In year 2010 the inflation rate in Malaysia has increase to 1. 7% from 0. 6% in 2009. Irobot is hoping the inflation to decrease in 2011 and 2012. Increased fuel price The current increased price in fuel since 2 years causes irobot Company to have a slightly lower profit margin as now we have to increase our fuel expenses. For every litre of RON 95, the actual price is RM2. 5, and the price of RM1. 90 at the pump translates to a subsidy of 85 sen, or 31% of the actual price. (Anthony, 6 October 2011) Therefore, starting from 2012, the decrease price of fuel will allow our c ompany to spend lesser on fuel which will be an advantage to the company. 2. 3. Social Factors Attitudes to work and leisure In the 21 centuary, people are all so busy with their studies, works and daily activities. This affect out company sales, as more people now purchase our products as our products are all robotic products that will assure our customers convenience. DemographicsWith the population of 27, 467, 837 residents in Malaysia, some of them have very high income distribution and it will positively affect the irobot Company. We will be able to reach higher sales revenue because the chances of them buying our products will be higher. However, we also have customers that have low income distribution. Therefore, we provide discounts at times, so that this group of customers can purchase our product when our products are on discount. 2. 4. Technological Factors Internet The ability to access to the internet grants our company a lot of advantages.We target to increase the comp any’s sale by 4% through internet sales. Earlier a person had to go to the mall to purchase a product. This is not necessary now. The products for sale can be displayed on your website and the customer can order them from home itself. The only thing that you as a seller have to do is confirm the financial transaction and deliver the goods at the place specified by the buyer. This saves a lot of expenditure both on the part of seller as well as the buyer. 2. 5. SWOT Analysis 2. 5. 1. Strength The company receives a lot of positive images and feedbacks from the consumers.The consumers are more than satisfied to work with us. These are some of the company’s strength. Customer service We make sure all of our staffs work effectively and efficiently, and make sure they are accountable of their work. Besides, we provide customers with extremely good services. The workers are given training to be nice and friendly to all consumers. We connect with and laugh with our customers, even if just for few moments. We always believe that being nice has its own rewards. With positive customer’s service, we will be able to make our customers come back.Strong financial position Our company has a strong financial position in the market. The irobot profit margin is 11. 67% this year. Our target is to reach 20% of the market share by December 2012. To achieve that target, we will have more promotions and advertisements to create stronger brand awareness in the market to attract customers to us. Above is the graph of the profit margin of irobot Corporation from year 2007-2011 (irobot Corporation (irbt), 14 November) 2. 5. 2. Weakness Apart from just strength, every company has its own weakness. The irobot Company is weak in these few ways.Realizing our weakness, we promise to improve in the near future. Product pricing The prices of irobot products are higher as compared to its competitors. Although our products qualities are up to the standard, customers might w ant to try something cheaper when there is inflation or when they have other extra expenses to spend that moment. High operating cost The operating cost of irobot is somehow quite high. This includes salaries and wages to the employees, advertising, and cost of raw material, rent, fuel cost for transportation and also all kinds of taxes. . 5. 3. Opportunities Advanced technology With the availability of wifi, Irobot manages to attract more customers. Customers can now buy our product online. It would be very convenient for our customers as they do not have to come all the way to our retail stores to purchase the product. Growth in robotic industry Study shows that the robotics industry will grow from its present $11 Billion status to upwards of $70 Billion by 2025. Therefore, in future, the demand for robot industries will rapidly increase in demand. 2. 5. 4. ThreatLower cost competitors The company has faced tremendous competitive pressure. There will be price wars existing from ti me to time where our competitors lower down the price of their products, causing us to have a lower profit margin if we also reduce the price of our products. For example, if LG vacuum cleaner decreases their price, our competitors will go to them to try their product and this will cause us to make lesser sales. Competitors Even though irobot is a well known brand but they also have threat that they need to consider.They have many competitors in the market such as LG, iClabo, and also Vbot. So we have to be ready with all kinds of technologies updates in order to stay in front of the competitors. 3. 0. MARKETING OBJECTIVES Continue to Strengthen Our Brand. We intend to continue to enhance our brand image and corporate identity. The iRobot brand is designed to communicate innovation, reliability, safety and value. Our robots’ performance and uniqueness have enabled us to obtain strong word-of-mouth that leads to increasing brand awareness.We intend to continue to invest in our marketing programs to strengthen our brand recognition and reinforce our message of innovation, reliability, safety and value. Higher market shares The irobot Corporation currently holds 11. 67% of the profit margin in the market. Its aim is to achieve a higher market share of 20% by December 2012. Market expansion Our objective is to expand our leadership not only in Australia, but in more countries such as the US, Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Africa and many other countries in designing and building practical robots and in developing robotic technology. . 0. TARGETING AND POSITIONING 4. 1. Targeting Targeting strategies Instead of going after a small share of a large market, irobot Company chose to go after large share of few submarkets. The submarkets that we chose are the busy working people and also upper class families. We plan to focus only on two segments because we know that through concentrated marketing, firm will possibly achieve strong market position in the segment that it serve because it has greater knowledge of the segments. In this way, there will also be specialization in production, distribution and promotion.Instead of going after a small share of a large market, our company chose to go after large share of few submarkets. The submarkets that we have chosen are people who are always busy working and the upper class families. We plan to focus only two segments because we know that through concentrated marketing firm will possibly achieve strong market position in the segment that it serve because it has greater knowledge about what two three segments need and want. In this way, there will also be specialization in production, distribution and promotion. Below are few segments that we are targeting.Demographic Segmentation This product is made for both genders, female and male. It is made for all group ages, right from young working adults, to adults, to middle aged people and finally, senior citizen. Both male and female eat chocolate. And peop le with different age groups eat chocolate as well. This product is made for any religion as all religion can eat chocolate. It is also made for people with occupation that are busy working and has high income. Psychographic Segmentation Market is divided into different groups based on social class. We are targeting those upper class families.Looking into the personality characteristic, Cleany is mainly made for busy people. Geographical Segmentation This product is basically marketed to all busy states, regions, and cities in Malaysia where there are more people living in For example, Kuala Lumpur and Malacca. This product is also marketed to different western countries such as Spanish, United States, Australia and New Zealand and also to the Asian countries like Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Korea. Behavioral Segmentation When this product is launched, we would expect people to have certain significant knowledge about our product.We also want customer to have good attitude towards our pr oduct. When they use our product, they will have a good perception about our product. They will give good response to our product. Once they have tried our chocolate, they will introduce our product to their families, friends and colleague and will even think of purchasing it again in the future. This product will grant them ease when they have no time to vacuum their house. Benefits Segmentation Customers nowadays want to look for things that can lighten their burden. Cleanny can absolutely lighten their burden by just needing them to press a button.And the floor, bed and sofa will be all cleaned. 4. 2. Position We want customers to have a perception that our product is a high quality product, a product that can be trusted, and a product that is of reasonable price. We want to be above our competitors in the mind of all our consumers and we want them to be more than satisfied when they use our product and to come back to us and buy them. Besides, they will also recommend our produc t to their friends. In order to be different in the market, we make sure that we position our product in three different ways.Product differentiation, service differentiation and also channel differentiation. Product Differentiation Our product is different than our competitors. It serves as a vacuum cleaner and also a scrubber. When there are dirt on the floor, Cleany will suck up all dirt and when there are small unwanted particle that is sticked to the floor, Cleany will help scrub them off until it is clean again. Apart from that, Cleany does not require electricity. It uses solar energy as a power resource. Service Differentiation Our company produces delivery service.We always believe that the more services we offer, the more satisfied the consumers, the more consumers we will get. After all, all we want to do is to satisfy our consumers’ needs and wants. Whenever consumers want to place an order they can just give our company a call, and we will send them the product t hrough speedy, careful and convenient delivery. Consumers can also place their order online. This will be so much easier for them. They can purchase the product anytime they want. Channel Differentiation In business point of view, we have to be different in order to win our onsumer over our competitors, we tried our very best to be different and to be outstanding, so that we will be win the hearts of our consumers and have good relationship with them. We employ expertise to advertise our product to the market to create brand awareness, to make sure most of the people in the market have heard of our product. We make sure our product will work well and consumers will be satisfied using them. Other than that, we do carry out cause-related marketing (Charity). We give food to the homeless. We sometimes send our people to visit the old folk’s home. Positioning strategiesThe irobot has chosen two positioning strategies to follow. Product attributes Cleany offers several benefits to the user. first of all, this product is so unique. It works as a machine that helps to clean. With just a button, house works are now so much easier. Customers do not need to sweep and mop the floor. When the side of this product touches any hard surfaces, it will automatically change direction. Away from competitors Our product is made away from the competitors. Normally vacuum cleaner works manually where someone has to hold it and move it to places that need to be cleaned.Normally, someone has to scrub the floor using brush. With the existence of this product, customers do not have to worry about cleaning the floor, the sofa, and the bed. 5. 0. MARKETING STRATEGIES 5. 1. Product 5. 1. 1. Product Features The robotic dirt eating machine (Cleany) looks like this. It is round and it has no sharp ends. 5. 1. 2. Product Benefits Convenience Cleany works as a vacuum cleaner as well as a scrubber. This product makes it very convenient for the customers as the customers do not have to v acuum or to mop the floor themselves. By just pressing a button, this product does it all for them.This product can be used on the floor, on the bed also also on the sofa. Customers that have busy schedule will really fall in love with this product. Cleanliness This product will ensures floor, beds and sofas to be clean, shiny and makes dirty stains to leave. When liquid are spilled on the floor, the dirt eating machine will help wipe it clean. When there are small unwanted particles that are sticked on the floor, this product will help to scrub it out. Safety When we produce this product, we make sure that it is not dangerous and it will not hurt people.That is why this product does not have any sharp ends. It is made round in shape so that it can be safely used. Therefore, customers that have children at home will be able to feel at ease to use our product. Environmental friendly This product is environmental friendly. It works on solar energy. In order to fully charge its battery , customers have to just put this machine under the sun for 30 minutes. This product helps customers to save electricity. Warranty If the dirt eating machine is spoilt within 2 years of purchase, irobot will provide a free machine to our customers.But so far, we have not come across any cases like this for other products irobot produces. 5. 1. 3. Product Labelling and Packaging Product packaging is the activities of designing and producing the container or wrapper for a product. Our product packaging will be based on: Product protection Our packaging concept is to mainly offer product protection. The product will be wrapped with polystyrene and be placed in thick brown recycled boxes to prevent any damages while product is sent to each stores and customers. We are using recycle boxes because we are focusing more on environmental concerns.Using methods Outside of the packaging, there will be instructions on how this product should be used. Customers can always read them first before starting to use this product to ensure they know exactly how this product works. 5. 1. 4. Product Quality Good performance Cleany performs very well and we often have good feedbacks from customers that have purchased some other products from our company. First of all, it works very quickly. Apart from that, it is easily used. Customers have to just press buttons and it will work on its own. Durable Cleany is an extremely durable product.It could last customers for years if taken care in proper way. This product is very hard and tough. This does not break or crack easily. Therefore, customers can feel calm using it. 5. 2. Price Price is the amount of money charged for a product or service. Price skimming We are going to use price skimming as our pricing strategies. This is to establish a quality brand image in the market. We are going to set higher price for this product to attract the least price sensitive market segments. From time to time, discounts will be given to our customers, probably about 15%-20% of the normal price.The reason why we do not use penetration pricing is because we do not want customers to have the perception that our product is a low quality product. Therefore, using price skimming, we have decided to set our product at RM539. Customers can either make their payment by cash or by credit card. Although there is a risk we are taking, as this product might not establish too much profit for the company in the beginning, but we believe as customers start using it, they will see all kinds of benefits the dirt eating machine provides and this good news will be spread by word-of-mouth.Also, by strong promotion and aggressive advertising, our products will be widely sold to the market. 5. 3. Place Distribution channel Most businesses use third parties or  intermediaries  to bring their products to market. irobot Company contains one intermediary. The suppliers will send their products to the retail store, and the retail store then sell the go ods to the final consumers. We do not have wholesale in between so that we could save cost so that the price of our products will not increase. Coverage The type of coverage that the irobot Company is using is the selective distribution characteristics.The dirt eating machine is a shopping good where it can be found in quite a number of outlets in Malaysia. Outlets that are chosen are all of the Jaya Jusco in Malaysia, 9 of the Giants in Malaysia and also 11 of the Tescos’ in Malaysia. Transport Lorries will be used in order for manufacturers to transport their products to all retail shops. And from retails stores to customers, we will post the products to their house using Post Laju. Location Irobot Companies are normally built at places where they know they are going to make profit. Stores that do not meet the requirements are closed down.Therefore, only the most profitable stores survive. 5. 4. Promotion Advertisings We have all kinds of advertising in the market such as T elevision ( Astro, TV8, NTV7 ), Magazines (CLEO, Autoworld Emzime, Chip Malaysia), Newspaper (The Star, Berita Harian, Sin Chew Daily), Radio (Hitz Fm, My FM, Mix Fm, light and easy FM) and also billboard in different places in Malaysia. The irobot company does not mind spending money on advertisement because we believe it’s an investment. We spend money to make more money. Once Cleany is able to create strong brand awareness, that’s when our money comes back.We have spent RM602, 000 through all many kinds of advertising to get our product known. Internet activities We have several internet activities. We have our own irobot website which is irobot. com. We have all the updates of our product in that website. Besides, we also have made a Facebook page that we place the price and our product updates there as well. We know that internet is a very efficient way to reach our customers. Events and sponsors Every year we will lay aside RM20, 000 for events and sponsors. Ever y year, in the month of July, we will carry out social events in colleges, children’s home, and old fox home.We also give out sponsor to companies that needed them. Exhibitions We will carry out exhibitions and our employees take down the names and the email address of people who come to the exhibition because we know that those people that come, they are interested in our product. We will email them about the updates of our products, when will we be launching new products, and also when will we have discounts for our products. To promote our company and also to make our products known to the market, we have spent a total of RM662, 000 in year 2011. 6. 0. IMPLEMENTION AND CONTROLTask| Description| Person in charge| Date to complete| 1. | Meeting on how marketing programme will be carry out. | All marketing department staffs| 20/11/2011| 2. | Advertise the new product on television during peak time on Astro, TV8 and NTV7. | Peter| 21/1012011| 3. | Advertise the dirt eating mac hine (Cleany) on The Star, Berita Harian and Sin Chew Daily newspaper for 2 days per week, which are Friday, Saturday and Sunday. | Derek| 21/10/2011| 4. | Advertise new product on Hit, My, Miz and light and easy FM Radio daily. | Isabella| 23/11/2011| 5. | Advertise on magazines. Paul| 24/11/2011| 6. | Carry out event. | Lucy & Michael| 27/11/2011| 7. | Give out sponsor. | Krystle| 12/12/2011| Irobot Company Marketing Programme irobot Company Budget Activity| Budget (RM)| 1. Advertising CampaignTelevision ( Astro, TV8, NTV7 ) Magazines Newspaper (The Star, Berita Harian, Sin Chew Daily)Radio (Hitz Fm, My FM, Mix Fm, light and easy FM) Billboard | RM 550,000RM 8,000RM 35,000RM 7,000RM 2,000| Public Relation – Events and sponsorship| RM 20,000| Sales Promotion (Discounts, vouchers, rebates, free gifts)| RM 40,000| Total| RM 662,000| 7. 0.CONCLUSION In order to successfully sell our products in the market, marketing plan has to be carried out. Company has to plan and discuss in advance about what they want to achieve, whether is it possible to achieve, how are they going to achieve it, and by when are they going to achieve it. Marketing plan is one of the most important tools that a company can use to be successful in the market. The irobot uses concentrated targeting strategy where we go after a large share of a few submarkets. We are targeting the busy working people and also the uppler class families.We believe that Cleany will make it to the market and will bring brand awareness of the company, will product profit for the company and will increase company sales. 8. 0. REFERENCES 1. irobot corporation (irbt) 7 November 2011. Irobot corperation profit margin Available at URL: http://ycharts. com/companies/IRBT/profit_margin [Accessed 5 November 2011] 2. irobot corporation 2011. Company milestone Available at URL: http://www. irobot. com. my/company-milestones. html [accesed 7 November 2011] 3. Jim Riley September 2009. Distribution – introduction Available at URL: http://tutor2u. net/business/marketing/distribution_introduction. asp [Accessed 5 November 2011] 4. Malaysia Monetory fund 2011, Malaysia inflation rate Adopted from URL : http://www. indexmundi. com/malaysia/inflation_rate_(consumer_prices). html [Accessed 15 November 2011] APPENDIX Through this report, I have learnt several things. I have learned that every single company has factors that will either positively or negatively affect the company such as political, economic, social and technological, environmental and legal factors.As a company, we have to always take notes of these factors as it can sometimes be an opportunity to the company or a threat to the company. This report helps me open my eyes to the SWOT analysis that every company has to know of. As a company, we have to know what are our strengths and weaknesses are, the opportunities around us, also the threats that might bring harm to the company. Once we get to know our strengths, we can be better in what we are good at. For example, the location of our business is good. In future, when we were to open another branch in the market, we would think and make good decisions on better locations.Once we get to know our weaknesses, we can always find ways to improve and to be better in areas that we are weak in. For example, our company is lack of marketing expertise. Then, our company should send our employees for marketing training. When we know what our opportunities are we have to grab hold of it and not let it go. For example, the availability of the internet nowadays, if we are able to make use of it, creating a company’s website or allowing customers to buy products online, then it will help generate profit for the company, at the same time, it helps create stronger brand awareness.As for threats, when we know exactly what the threats that we face are, we can avoid it. For example, the price of raw material in a country increases. We can turn the threats into opportuniti es by purchasing raw materials from countries that are selling them at a cheaper price for example, China. Besides that, i have learned so much more about target marketing and positioning as I look into details every single part of it. Target marketing involves breaking a market into segments and then concentrating your marketing efforts on one or a few key segments. Positioning is how you ifferentiate your product or service from that of your competitors. Positioning helps establish your product's or service's identity within the eyes of the customers. Without the knowledge of targeting and positioning, marketer cannot market their product in the market well. It will bring bad effects to the company. Company will not be able to understand the market. They will not know which segments are measurable, accessible, substantial, differentiable and also actionable. Moreover, they will not know which market segment to target in order to get most of the customers.Without knowing how to pos ition their product, they will lose their place in the market sooner or later. They will lose out in the market. This is because other marketers know what targeting and positioning are and have applied it to their product and company. To have an effective and efficient marketing plan, we have to make marketing strategies that are good. We have to be good and try as much as we could to be different in the 4P’s that are product, price, place and promotion. This is because, when the 4P’s are not good enough, customers will not be attracted to us.Instead, they will turn to our competitors. We have to be different and unique in our products features, we have to make our products provide benefits to our customers, the packaging and the labelling of our products should be interesting to be able to attract our customers over from our competitors, and that the quality of our product should be good so that customers will think that our product is worth the price. Apart from just the product features, the price of the product is another main thing that we should consider. Imagine wanting to buy something that you like, but it’s extremely expensive.You would think of other alternatives rather than really purchasing that particular product. The third P Is the place of the company that sells the product. It should be located at places that have potential customers. Also, the types of intermediaries used. We can choose between one, two, three or four depending of the types of products that we are selling and how many intermediaries that we want to have. As for promotion, we can have various kinds of promotion in order to attract customers to us. We can sometimes give out discount and promotions in ways of vouchers, and free gifts to our customers.This is actually for short term sales. We can also carry out events, charity works, give out sponsors. In order to finish this report, I have read through each and every page of my lecturer’s note so that I would not miss any important thing out. I realized I have learn so much more about marketing plan compared to before. Previously, I had no idea that political, economic, social and technological factor can affect a company. Now I know that all these factors are important for a company to take note of, so that they could avoid harmful factors. Previously, I did not know that being different in the market is so important.Now I know, in order to win customers away from our competitors, we have to stand out in the market. I am really grateful and thankful to my lecturer of her lecturer that she has always wrote extra notes on the whiteboard to make sure we understand what she’s teaching and that she had taught us well. When I’m studying the other marketing modules, I have noticed that what my lecturer teaches me, I have heard of it before, I have studied a bit of it before. I realized that it helped me get better understand of my other marketing modules as well because they are almost about the same.