Research & expressing emotions Essay

Art has been one of the most prolific ways of expressing emotions and thinking by mankind. Most of the traditional artists have been using different mediums to make an art form. They range from clay to paints. But in this age of electronic media, art has also found some new mediums. Electronic art is the art form which started to emerge in early 1990’s and as a result of this many young artist from the new generation became famous. One of them is Eric Jordan. He is not just an artist; he is a philosopher and a businessman. Eric Jordan is the founder of 2Advanced.com.he founded 2Advanced when he was just 23. 2Advanced is regarded as one of the most creative web design companies in the world with clients like Ford, NBC, General Electric and many other Fortune 500 companies. Eric has been the main driving force behind 2Advanced. Eric started   Eric indulged in arts from a very early age when he started making sketches but soon moved to electronic media. He started by experimenting with different softwares but couldn’t get his hand on something which could really satisfy him to express his thinkings. During this point in life he discovered two softwares which would play a pivotal role in the life of Eric: Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Flash. He started using these softwares day and night, and his hard work result in eye-catching website of 2Advanced. Currently 2Advanced is in its fourth version of the website. His work became so famous that he got nominated and won the prestigious Webby Award. The famous 2Advanced website was created by Eric in the span of two weeks. The software he used was Adobe Flash, Adobe Photoshop and Freehand. To this date 2Advanced.com has been my favorite work designed by Eric. The blend of futuristic vision with eye-catching graphics and phenomenal graphics has taken Flash and Photoshop to new heights.   Apart from being famous for amazing work at 2Advanced Eric is also a famous DJ in California. He has an extreme passion for electronic music and has been playing electronic music since he was a teenager. He believes that he could bring his futuristic vision of the world to the electronic media and he has been successful in that by showing the work he has done in the field of web design. His work mostly depicts the world of future with a careful attention to detail. In an interview while describing the theory behind 2Advanced, Eric says: â€Å"Many people think the name â€Å"2advanced† was meant to imply mastery of everything, when in reality it constitutes a love of the future and the underlying feeling that somehow I wish I had been born in the distant future. Not because I don’t appreciate the era I was born in, simply because the idea of deep technological advances and a rise in the collective human consciousness are alluring to me. 2advanced was a way for me to tell the story. Some people pick up on the message, some don’t. But even if one person understands the 2advanced voice, it makes it all worth it.†

Human resource management Essay

People believe that technology enhancement can play a vital role in replacing people with machines, but these people are the one, to invade those machines. Human resource is an important area in an organization as it deals with different departments of the organization such as finance department etc. Without hr management none of the organization can achieve a repetitive position. In today’s world, changes are taking place in hr management due to trends in globalization. Invention of new technologies, diversity, e-business that is e-commerce and ethics (Haslinda, 2009). Globalization is a process in which regional economies, societies and culture become integrated. In the second half of the 20th century globalization takes a great part in enhancing the economic expansion of the global economy. Globalization has completely changed the environment of the business. With globalization, barriers to entry will not be able to restrict new entrants in the market. Due to this fact, companies will not have to restrict themselves with a single prediction plant, in spite of it, they can move from a single market to another market with lower transportation and communication cost. Due to this multinational corporations are taking advantages to set monopolies in the market. Competing in the global market is very difficult, so to face such kind of competitions hr should be properly centralized and should be in practice. Efficiency of the employees plays a great role in managing and controlling the hr department. In human resource management the staff which is requi red should be talented, creative, innovative, understandable, trained properly etc to meet the requirements of the globalization (Rajar and Shah, 2010). In early century, when there was no HR department, people use to make the best use of the technology, which was available at that time like telephone, typewriter, time clock etc for managing all departments properly. But with the advancement in technologies and with the inventions of other computerized base technologies, the hr started to take benefits from it. They started to manage and use the database. They use different technologies to deal in different areas of work like interactive voice response, local area networks, optical character recognition etc. (Frantzreb, 2010). Diversity is the policy of encouraging people coming from different backgrounds. Diversity management is adapted by different workplaces in order to make changes in different work styles. Companies use diverse work force because different people are specialized in different fields (Mortan, 2009). If some one is specialized in a particular work and continues it for a longer time periods then he will definitely get bored with his work one day and he will also not enjoy in doing his work which will result in the downfall of the company. Therefore, people will work inefficiently and will not enjoy their work. So, diversity should be adapted because it will motivate people towards hard work. Companies uses diverse work force for increasing efficiency and to achieve companies goals and a higher position in the market. It has many advantages; one of the main advantage of diversity management is that it enhances the skills and talent among employees and staff having different ages, countries, race, gender etc. Every one is treated equally. And employees feel more secure and began to work more effectively (Taton, 2010). E-Business is the application of communication technologies, which manages different departments of business and manages all the activities of business. Changes in e-business obviously effect human resource management, which includes compressed technology cycle, higher demand, more dependence on higher speed and always demand for higher service etc. To maximize the benefits of e-commerce some different methods of e-business should be adopted by different organizations. Company should create a strong team for decision-making. And the team must include employees from different departments (Nelson, 2001). There are different departments in every organization and different people in hr department manage each department efficiently. Human resource department manages the organization by first finding the place where they want a new employee, then they find what kind of workers they will need, then they will take interviews and select. Hr manages all the employees by giving them motivation by compensation and by increasing their salaries. Every organization must have a hr department. The role of human resource management is changing day by day in different trends like globalisation, diversity, technology, ethics and e-commerce.

Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing therapy intervention for Literature review

Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing therapy intervention for adolescents with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder - Literature review Example A person that has PTSD my show side effects of; flashbacks, awful dreams about the experience, abstaining from speaking or considering knowledge, feeling numb inwardly, sadness, diminished action, crabbiness, outrage, blame, rest unsettling influence, or listening to or seeing things that are not genuine (Mayo, 2012, p.46). In case of adolescents, there are certain other symptoms which are not seen in adults like behavioral problems, developmental regression, physical symptoms and some generalized fears (Schwarz, 1994). Broadly the methods used for treating post-traumatic stress syndrome are classified as psychotherapy and medication (Ipser, Sander, &Stein, 2009). Rules on PTSD from the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE, 2005) state that all individuals with PTSD ought to be offered a course of trauma-centered psychological medication (trauma-centered cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) or EMDR). National Institute for Clinical Excellence rules note that these medicines ought to typically be given on a singular outpatient foundation (Bernard & Krupat, 1994, p.68). Since the concept is still relatively new, there is ongoing research as to what could be the best method to treat post-traumatic stress syndrome. Psychotherapy includes various methods like cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), session therapy etc and there is no substantial proof about which therapy is the best or whether we need to provide a combination of the therapies to actually treat the symptom (Ipser, Sander, & Stein, 2009). Guidelines on PTSD from the American Psychiatric Association (APA, 2004) expressed that CBT and EMDR have been indicated to be compelling for center side effects of intense and constant PTSD (Healy, 2014). These rules note, in any case, that no controlled investigations of EMDR have been led that might build information based proof of its viability as an early preventive mediation for PTSD (Bernard & Krupat,

Bancfirst Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Bancfirst - Research Paper Example Marketing intermediaries dictated by intermediaries who help close business sales are another micro-environmental factor. Yet another environment is the macro-environment, which is uncontrollable. The business must adapt to these factors, including social, economic, political, legal environment and, in addition, technical environment. Bancfirst is most likely to be affected by factors that influence their client base, such as competition and prospects of growth. Additionally, macro-environment factors, such as the economic environment and legal environment will affect the operations of first bank on a day-to-day basis (Tracy, 12). If there is an increase in consumer income, the demand for the house will go up, and as such, the demand curve shifts to the right. Increase in income thus shifts the demand curve right. Another cause for a demand curve shifting to the right is changes in preference, with the recent high price houses coming with increased comfort and security, making consumers buy more of these sorts of houses. The demand curve for houses has shifted to the right. Finally, the demand curve may be shifted by changes in expectations. If clients expect to have a job for a long time, coupled with increased income, then demand for products will increase and, as a result, the demand curve shifts to the right. The demand curve shifting to the right on houses caused the equilibrium price for houses to rise (Tracy 11). The supply curve for Bancfirst was affected by various factors. Changes in the supply curve occur when product supply is affected by other factors other than its price. Increased technology caused the supply curve to shift to the right, while the number of clients wanting to buy houses caused the supply curve to shift to the right. The price of substitute investments also fell, causing the supply curve to shift to the right. The increase in supply caused the supply curve to shift to the right, thus causing

Negotiation Analysis- Negotiation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Negotiation Analysis- Negotiation - Essay Example he second part will zero in on my negotiation experience—selling a flat screen television—by highlighting on both the results and what I could have done differently. In an online report entitled The Art of Negotiation, negotiation is defined as a basic means of getting what one party wants from another party (Filipovich & Watercourse 1). It occurs when the two parties have conflicting and complementary interests. Principled negotiation, as posited in the same repot, involves the separation of people from the problem being tackled; the focusing on the two parties’ interests rather than each one’s position; the invention of options for mutual gain; and the use of objective criteria all throughout the activity (Filipovich & Watercourse 2). Separating people from the problem means using joint problem-solving techniques by establishing harmonious communication and being critical to each one’s emotions and perceptions on the topic of negotiation. Focusing on each party’s interests entails the drive to be objective. Inventing options for mutual gain means exploring other opportunities that could be tapped without veering too much from the goals set. Using objective criteria means having a legitimate standard that guides the negotiation process (usually backed up by credible information). Preparation is essential in negotiation as the party should not only decide on what issues to discuss during the negotiation, but the basic strategy that he will employ as well (accommodating, avoiding, competitive, or collaborative). My experience in selling my flat screen television will be divided according to the three clients that I have made a deal with: my sophomore friend named Luis, members of the web community portal in my apartment, and users of craiglist.com. As a background, I decided to sell this item for I deemed it cheaper than selling a brand new one—thus, helping me attract a wide range of buyers. I bought it three years ago in the local best buy for

Market Strategy and Anti-Trust Regulation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Market Strategy and Anti-Trust Regulation - Essay Example To be specific, the company targeted a large market through the Product Line Expansion Strategy. In explanation, the De Beers Company had an effective distribution channel and it influenced other companies to make sales through the distribution channel. This ensured that the company gained control of the product supply globally due to the consumer surplus, regardless of whether it produced the diamond. The company had an excess supply of diamond, therefore, controlling the prices of the commodity. After 1990, there were new sources of diamond in other countries that sold the product directly to the market without involving De Beers. This created a producer surplus situation and the company employed its resources to purchase diamond from the emerged sources, as a strategy to maintain its market share (Thompson, Arthur, & Strickland, p. 23). The American courts had no jurisdiction to handle De Beers’ case for defying the country’s anti-trust regulations (Guide to Antitrust Laws). The company was not accountable for the diamond in the United States as the transfer of the title to the products occurred outside the country’s boundaries. However, the De Beers Company decided to pay the penalties even through it was under no legal obligation to make the payment. The justification is that it paid the fines in order to have the ability to enter the United States market to increase its

Cultural Considerations in the Design and Localisation of Essay

Cultural Considerations in the Design and Localisation of International Websites - Essay Example ses who want to make sure they can gain profits more efficiently in the fierce market competition should definitely design their websites in different languages and localise them to adapt to the local culture. Sun (2004), who is a senior localisation specialist from a software localisation company in Shenzhen, defines localisation as a process to custom-make software, websites, or documents according to the demands of the target country, or market, in order to eliminate the cultural barriers. For example, in the context of a company the term localization refers to the transformation of the company’s image to an international standard. Thus, it reaches more countries beyond that which it is mainly based in both expansion of services to target region and meeting their specific, cultural resemblance. In fact, other definitions of localisation also stress that website localisation is meant to revise the website to give the website a linguistic appeal in aagreement with the target culture so that the information on the website can be accessed and used by the target users more easily. It is an all-round process so the designer of the website must consider all business and cultural aspects. The designer should not only be a programming expert since great web design is not enough in business localisation. Thus, the web designer should also be familiar with the target culture knowledge, and of course, master the target language. It can be seen that, through restructuring of the web content and emphasis of a cultural appeal; the basic object of localisation is to eliminate cultural barriers. Therefore the cultural considerations are definitely necessary and even the most important concern in the design and localisation of international websites.The essay is going to start with describing the necessary of localisation of international websites. Next there are some analyses of important cultural considerations, such as language, colour, images and symbols, layout and data

Philosophy of leadership Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Philosophy of leadership - Assignment Example I choose to work in organizations because I want to change the world, and feel that I can have the most impact by aligning my effort with the purpose of others. I take as my purpose fostering the growth of knowledge, the development of people, and improvement of the common quality of life. This revolves round certain guiding principles and values as well. As a leader, one is at the position to sit back and let the Human Resource department, and all relevant individuals dictate your leadership strategy. After all, you are busy serving customers and driving revenue. That is a mistake! Since your success remains tied to having great talent and you play a major role in developing future leaders, you should take an effective role in shaping the leadership strategy. In addition, the foundation of a leadership strategy is a core leadership philosophy (Stogdill, 1955, 102). A leadership philosophy defines what it means to be a leader and is unique to your company. It describes what leaders d o and what is expected of them, and represents the basis for all leadership activity, including development, promotions, and movement. In many companies, the leadership philosophy is abstract and ill defined, but it may lay crafted through a series of interviews and consensus discussions with senior leaders (Sims, 2005, 88). There are many leadership theories. These revolve round trait approaches, contingency of situational models, transformational or charismatic models, and power. They all influence approaches in one way or another. The theories and associated research attempt to explain leader or follower behavior, characteristics, or personality. Some theories refer to the characteristics of the leader. For example, charismatic leaders tend to gain respect and trust. Personality theories on the other hand refer to the leader’s traits such as integrity and honesty (D'Aveni, 2002, 92). Leadership can encourage initiative as well. This lies in the readiness to act that channe ls ability into results. Hesitation often leads to missed opportunities, so leaders must often take the first step or support a colleague who recognizes the opportunity. If people lay asked to take risks, leaders must support them if things do not go well. Often many failures lie experienced, in order to reap the reward, and the path from idea to payoff can be long and unforgiving. I value personal courage, to overcome risk-aversion and maintain integrity. Doing the right thing is not the easiest path often (Hodgkinson, 1983, 122). Doing something, new or enacting change can be difficult even for the visionary. I believe in the Stockdale paradox, that no matter how bleak our reality is, we must maintain faith that we will ultimately overcome and triumph. Thus, my influence as a leader can only be as great as I am resolute in times of trial (Bell, 1990, 123). The question of hiring new leaders against that of growing one’s own lies best answered as a percentage, which can serv e as a useful guide to how you recruit or promote leaders. Many companies have an unstated philosophy that they want to grow their own leadership talent. However, what is the right mix? Establishing this question as stated goal gives clarity to all involved, and should remain revisited every few years. If your goal is 25 percent new hires and 75 percent grow

Curriculum Implementation and Evaluation Essay Example for Free

Curriculum Implementation and Evaluation Essay The 8th grade English curriculum is one of the student’s preparatory curriculum scheme that is entitled to provide efficiency in the learning process of English. It is a core process and procedure that is aimed any ensuring the student is able to achieve the most implicit English learning techniques. Though complex however, the curriculum system can be described in a brief manner that provides the most important factors in its implementation. At one level, it requires that the students demonstrate a clear understanding on what builds the English grammatical facets that is captured by both written and spoken English. This implies that, the student should demonstrate a concise command into English grammar in terms of punctuations marks, sentence structure and sentence use. Elsewhere, it incorporates the essence of student-teacher relationship both in class and assignments. This is synonymous to adequate communication and response between them in modeling an attractive English learning environment. Here, the student is required of his/her participation in class response and other subject modeling areas. ( http://www. rusd. k12. ca. us/4teachers/langarts/corenovels8. html) The system recognizes the importance of other forms and sources of learning English such as the media and texts. Here, he/she is required to gather the most appropriate information that may help him in the learning process which is not within the classroom environment. Comprehensions and passages are important. This is developed through engaging them in reading various comprehension texts and passages that help them to develop a more valuable support towards comprehending. (http://www. gisd. k12. nm. us/standards/eighth/8thLA_gisd. html) In the process of learning English, induced acquisition of new vocabulary is highly important. This is got from student’s ability to write different word meanings and pronunciation of words as well as their correct placement into English sentences. The process of adequacy in reading is required. A student should demonstrate ability in loud reading that is clear in terms of pronunciation and sentence clarity. Reading ability can be acquired through his/her role of reading the most appropriate materials equivalent of 25 books in Georgia English curriculum. Development of exemplary English knowledge should be accompanied by a student’s ability of acknowledging different English authors and their publications. The scope of student reading should be broad that help to provide him with acquiring new vocabulary and information from different study areas. Having read widely, he/she should produce concrete, well-formatted and grammatical writing. This should be coupled with competence in various English genres. Writing ability can be supported by comprehensive research into books, media, archives and the internet. (http://www. ncpublicschools. org/curriculum/languagearts/scos/2004/25grade8) Reference 8th Grade Language Arts Curriculum Links. Retrieved on 20th May 2008 from http://www. rusd. k12. ca. us/4teachers/langarts/corenovels8. html 8th Grade Language Arts Curriculum. Retrieved on 20th May 2008 from http://www. gisd. k12. nm. us/standards/eighth/8thLA_gisd. html Eighth Grade. Retrieved on 20th May 2008 from http://www. ncpublicschools. org/curriculum/languagearts/scos/2004/25grade8

Organization Behavior and Leadership Essay Example for Free

Organization Behavior and Leadership Essay The Expectancy Theory of Motivation One of the most widely accepted theories of motivation is Victor Vrooms Expectancy Theory. â€Å"Expectancy theory argues that the strength of a tendency to act in a certain way depends on the strength of an expectation that the act will be followed by a given outcome and on the attractiveness of that outcome to the individual.† (Robbins Judge, 2007, p.208) [i] In other words, employees will have the motivation to put forth a strong effort, if: They believe the effort will give them positive recognition. (This is called the â€Å"effort-performance† relationship.) That positive recognition must then lead to some kind of desirable reward, such as more money or an increase in status or power. (This is called the â€Å"performance-reward† relationship.) That reward must also be something that fulfills a personal goal for the employee. (This is called the â€Å"rewards-personal goals† relationship.) All three components need to be present for an individual to exert the kind of effort needed to be considered an intense motivation for action and performance of a duty or task. Lets consider the following example: A company that produces a high quality audio products has recently introduced a new production process in an effort to help the employees meet a goal of high production standards. Supervisor As team of employees are not doing well with the production process. Some do not strive to master the process, those that have mastered it are not putting forth effort to reach the goals, and even top-producers dont seem interested in achieving the goals. After speaking to some of Supervisor As team, Supervisor B has discovered that the following concerns are expressed by the team: Some do not feel they can be successful because they believe lack the dexterity needed to implement the process. Some feel that it is not worth the putting forth the extra effort to reach the goals because there is no difference in salary increase for those that meet the goals and those that do not. They believe that performance has to be very slow before it affects the rate of pay. They also say that when a bonus is given, after the withholdings are taken out, the bonus is so small that overtime actually is seen as better way to earn more money than trying to earn a bonus. This scenario lends itself to the perfect situation to implement the expectancy theory of motivation. The employees feel: That there is no recognition for achieving the goal. That there is no reward for achieving the goal. Since there is no recognition or reward, there is no opportunity for employees to evaluated their personal goals to see if reaching the performance goal will help to fulfill a personal goal. The company could implement the expectancy theory by enacting the following steps: Create a specific recognition for those that master process. For those that master the process bonuses can be implemented that exceed those monetary rewards that overtime would bring. Personally interview each employee to discover what their employment goals are and create a personalized plan to reach those goals, make mastering the process one of those steps needed to reach the personal goal. This plan would address all three components of the expectancy theory. However the plan should not be created as one-time policy implementation. Rather it should be tested and evaluated to discover what rewards and recognitions created the most effective levels of motivation. [ i ]. Robbins, S. P., Judge, T. A. (2007). Organization behavior. (12 ed., p. 208). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.

A parts manufacturer approval

A parts manufacturer approval CHAPTER 1 : INTRODUCTION 1.1 Introduction Parts Manufacturer Approval (PMA) is a combined design and production approval for modification and replacement parts. It allows qualified sources that are not the original type certificate holder to design and manufacture replacement parts for commercial aircraft. The FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) approves materials, processes, appliances and other parts by other means like a Technical Standards Order (TSO) or in conjunction with a type certificate. The concept is pretty straight-forward: TheFAAsays that as long as you dont infringe upon someone elses patent, you can make a part or system of parts that someone can install on their aircraft in lieu of the original item. The FAA, specifically the ACO (Aircraft Certification Office) of the FAA, is responsible for approving any part design related to commercial aircraft. An OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) is subject to the same regulations to qualify and validate parts as a PMA holder is. An OEM does not approve its own pa rts. Order8110.42prescribes the approval procedures for FAA personnel and guides applicants in the approval process. Of course, for safetys sake, the FAA wants detailed proof that the PMA part is as good or better than the one made by the original equipment manufacturer, but thats a hurdle that more than a thousand PMA manufacturers have jumped many, many times. The rewards for their efforts are the profits received from building what they feel are better products, less expensive products or both. Today, airlines on every continent have an increasing demand for the PMA parts. The use of high-quality PMA parts has given airlines the cost savings that are translated into operational economy. Airlines are now working directly with PMA suppliers to develop replacement parts as a hedge against what they view as the monopoly pricing power of OEMs. 1.2 Problem definition Being first to the market is not as important as giving the customers what they want. Although being the major player in the industry, OEMs such as Boeing and Airbus have to take into considerations of how the customer feels about the cost-cutting value that the PMA part offers. The OEM might have paved the road in the industry, but PMAs are taking advantage of the situations that arise from it. At a time of weak revenue growth, the global airline industry has continued to seek more innovative cost containment strategies. Maintenance, which ranks second behind fuel as the largest cost line item for airlines, has huge potential for cost savings. Much of these savings can be realised through the use of DER repairs i.e. repairs approved by FAA Designated Engineering Representatives and parts manufactured under PMA by reputable sources other than the original OEM. (Andrew Farrant,October 2010). The battle between the original parts and the aftermarket parts have been a heated one, not only in the aviation industry but also from other businesses as well. We can see almost in every automotive workshops that aftermarket products are being sold widely to cater for the demand of the customers. Original manufacturers wants their customer to buy and use their products, whereas aftermarket products manufacturers is offering a cheaper alternative that can work as good as the original part. The OEM says theres plenty wrong in using aftermarket products, because if the OEM didnt make it, theres no guarantee that it will perform as well as the original; a situation that could jeopardize lives and indirectly ruin the reputation of the aircraft builder. A simple situation could explain all this. If in the event of an aircrash, the general public only hears that a particular model aircraft crashed, not the fact that an aftermarket part may have caused it. In the other hand, the PMA manufacturer says theres nothing wrong with their parts, especially since the FAA has to certify them as being equal to or better than the OEMs product before they can be sold to anyone. This is to prove that only a certified part can be used on an aircraft, thus keeping the standard of airworthiness. Use of such parts does not in any way affect the airworthiness of the aircraft. Such parts are identical in design specifications and part number to that of original manufacturer. Such parts are not bogus parts. They meet the drawing and material specifications and are manufactured under approval. Often, PMA parts are cheaper than the OEM parts as PMA holder does not have to make any investment on research and development. The PMA parts are identified by OEMs part number with either a prefix or suffix to differentiate it from OEM part number and to have traceability. It is almost identical, but with a lower price tag. The way that the OEM addresses this proble m is to say that once PMA parts is being used with their aircraft, the warranty for that particular aircraft, if still valid, is not accepted anymore. That is a big blow for the PMA industry, having a minority say in the situation.But like everything else in a free market, the victor is chosen by the customers, and for now theyre split, with some swearing by PMA parts and others swearing at them. In this battle, both OEM and PMA have their own strength. The OEM is armed with guaranteed compatibility and the PMA steps forward with compatibility, as well as lower prices and better availability. It is hard to see which side is winning the parts battle. It all comes to which part and what kinds of customers are being examined. 1.3 Objective of research The objective of this research is to determine the acceptance of PMA usage within the aviation industry in Malaysia. There is always two sides on a coin. Some may say that PMA is really the way to go especially in this dire economic state that the aviation industry is facing, while others may opt for the guaranteed OEM parts. According to Jason Dickstein, president of the Modification and Parts Replacement Association (MARPA), the attitude toward PMA parts was very different in the 1990s than it is today. He says that as some larger companies recognized that PMA parts could be a viable threat to their business, people became more reluctant to accept them. Efforts to try to disadvantage PMA parts ensued in the Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee (ARAC). â€Å"I think that there has been some anti-PMA sentiment in the past,† says Dickstein. â€Å"People who didnt understand PMAs were averse to PMAs because they represented an unknown quality. Over the last decade or so, MARPA, the PMA parts manufacturers themselves, and even some of the government agencies have done a good job cooperatively of better educating the public, particularly the public within the industry, about what a PMA part is. In response to OEM concerns, the FAA put its Aviation Safety (AVS) Repair, Alteration, and Fabrication (RAF) Team to work. Its task was to â€Å"provide recommendations to close any gaps existing in both current and in-process regulations, policy, and guidance necessary to ensure an acceptable level of safety commensurate with the criticality of affected parts.† â€Å"What they concluded was that what the FAA has been doing is safe, that PMA parts are safe, and a lot of the OEM concerns are competitive, rather than safety-driven,† says Dickstein. 1.4 Research scope This research will be targeted mainly on the two biggest airline operators in Malaysia, which are Malaysia Airlines System and Air Asia. The scope of the study will only be concentrated in the maintenance and financial field. * Maintenance the practicallity of PMA parts to be the substitude for OEM parts (how they perform,do they fit easily,the availability of parts etc) * Financial the pros and cons in terms of monetary value, both in short and long term aspects (how much difference does PMA parts offers in terms of savings, to what extend does PMA parts affect the warranty of an aircraft etc) This research will only cover the perceptions and opinions of people who are involved with the aviation industry, particularly on PMA issues. The outcome from this research could possibly help both airlines in deciding whether to go for or against PMA parts. There are a few big names working together with the PMA manufacturers. Names such as British Airways, Delta Airlines, Pratt Whitney are now enjoying the benefits that the PMA parts offers, both to them and also to their customers. Airline operators in Malaysia must have their stand on the PMA issue in order to be on par with the big names. CHAPTER 2 : LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction PMA parts have been produced for 50 years, beginning with the demand for replacement parts for World War II-vintage aircraft. At that time, companies other than the original manufacturers were allowed to design and make spare parts for aircraft under a PMA to help a large number of military aircraft sold to civilian operators to fly again. However, even after 50 years of usage throughout the industry, arguments between the airlines, the OEMs and the PMAs are still highly debated. This is due to the questionable quality and safety concerns used by Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) to challenge PMAs, whom they take as a big competitor in the market. 2.2 Certification According to the FAA, PMA means the design and production approval for modification and replacement parts. It allows a manufacturer other than the OEM to produce and sell these parts for installation on type certificated products. Without the PMA, aircraft parts would be designed and manufactured exclusively by the OEM, granting them a monopoly in the replacement parts market. The FAA requires that companies or individuals that produce parts for sale for installation into type certificated aircraft may only sell approved parts. These approved aircraft parts, other than hardware, are parts that are approved by TSO, PMA, a type certificate, or a production certificate. To receive a TSO or PMA approval for a part, the manufacturer of the part must demonstrate to the FAA that the part will operate just like the original part, as intended in an aircraft environment and will be manufactured according to the FAA standards. The FAA regulations states that it is the responsibility of the person installing the parts on an aircraft to ensure the parts meet the appropriate airworthiness standards. The Technical Standard Order (TSO) is one of the procedures that the FAA uses to establish standards for aircraft parts. TSOs have been established for many types of aircraft parts such as landing gear parts, engine parts and many avionics equipments. TSOs are divided into d ifferent categories and the testing required to cover a wide range of environmental conditions such as heat, temperature, altitude, vibration, etc must be established. If a TSO is available for a part, a manufacturer will test the part in an FAA-approved laboratory to meet the requirements as per the TSO. If the part successfully passes all the tests, then the manufacturer will be granted a letter from the FAA stating that the part is approved per the TSO. This TSO approval letter means the part can be used for installation in any aircraft via an STC (Supplemental Type Certificate) or TC (Type Certificate) as long as the operating environment of the part in the aircraft is within the TSO criteria. If there are no TSO categories established for the part that the manufacturer wants to produce and sell, the manufacturer can still get the approval from FAA by testing the part in the actual aircraft type where it is designed to be used. To achieve this, the part must be conformed to the design drawings by a FAA-designated inspector to ensure it meets the type design. Then it will be installed and tested in accordance with a FAA-approved test plan. Upon completion of the tests, submittal of the appropriate documentation, and verification of a FAA-approved manufacturing system for the part, the FAA will issue a letter identifying the part as eligible for installation under PMA for the specific aircraft type in which it was tested. The PMA part may then be installed in the specific aircraft via STC or TC. If the part manufacturer wants to use the part in another aircraft type, additional documentation and testing may be required. In any case, a PMA part can only be installed in an air craft types where it has specifically been approved. Airliner who manufacture parts for their own use, do not require a PMA for the manufactured parts since they are not being sold to another party. The parts, however, still must be approved and manufactured according to the FAA standards and installed using a STC or other FAA-approved installation procedure. The regulations states that a PMA part must be equal to or better than the OEM equivalent. John Wicht, a project manager at Wisconsin-based Rapco, Inc pointed out that the FAA Aircraft Certifications Office wont accept on ‘equal to parts, according to his involvement in many PMAs. He also said that â€Å"If you cant definitively demonstrate that your part will exceed the performance of the OEM part, theyre just not interested in talking to you. 2.3 Safety issues The FAA or EASA have no statistical evidence for safety concerns with PMA parts. It is as if they are turning a blind eye on the matter, which is definitely not a good news for the OEM. For them, anything will do as long as all the required procedures are being followed accordingly. To achieve certification, PMA manufacturers must prove to the FAA that a part that they manufacture is the same in all respects to a design in a type-certificated product or, through test an computation, that the part is the same as, or better than, the one it seeks to replace. â€Å"You have to prove that the quality assurance system is adequate before you get production approval, just like the OEM products are proven,† says Jason Dickstein, president of the Modification and Replacement Parts Association (MARPA). As people begin to see what the regulatory structure surrounding PMA parts before it is being approved, those people begin to accept PMA parts. Many air carriers are now starting up programs to identify and purchase PMA parts because they believe that the PMA parts are safe and that, because they represent competition, PMA parts would bring prices down. British Airways had been on the opposite of the PMA parts until representatives from Heico International Inc., a maker of hydraulic cylinders, sat down with them to explain the benefits of PMA parts. After the presentation, British Airways had turned around 180 degrees and begin purchasing PMA parts. Air carriers are now being more acceptance towards PMA at the purchasing and quality assurance levels because they have conducted investigations prior to the actual usage of it. Air carriers had to investigate the usage of PMA to figure out whether or not they represent a good economic value. What the carriers found out was that not only were they a good economic value, but theyre also safe. A PMA may be obtained for replacement parts for TSO articles that are approved as part of a product type design, provided that installation eligibility to that product can be shown. Approval of a part that would result in a major design change to the TSO article cannot be done under a PMA and would require a new TSO authorization. Even critical components can be ‘PMAed, given that it is in compliance with the specific FAA guidance. When there is a PMA on a critical part, chances are that the critical part has gone through a whole lot of FAA scrutiny that the OEM part didnt go through. This means that a PMA part is being more thoroughly checked. The FAA has to witness all the tests being carried out to the most critical components. These will never be delegated to a DER (designated engineering representatives). The FAA has to perform its own analysis of all the data and make the individual regulatory compliance findings themselves. The draft for FAA Order 8120.2F also states that once a PMA part has passed through a PMA holders quality system, the holder must establish a procedure to report any failure, malfunction, or defect of the part to the FAA. 2.4 Cost savings By using the PMA parts, airlines all over the world can also save a lot of money. The economic imperative for airlines to minimize maintenance costs means the savings offered by PMA parts, when compared to OEM catalogue prices are a big advantage. DER repairs and PMA parts programmes that specifically focus on gas path components can result in savings of more than US$500,000 per shop visit, or over 50 percent of the typical OEM catalogue pricing. These alternative parts and repair programmes not only represent a great opportunity for savings, I believe they represent the only form of competition available in this specialised market. [ Andrew Farrant, 2010 ] As mentioned earlier, British Airwaysis clearly showing a very high interest on using PMA parts. They are now looking to make massive savings through the extensive use of PMA parts instead of sourcing them from the OEM. Speaking at The Great PMA Debate event at the Royal Aeronautical Society in London, Ameet Bhalla, British Airways technical manager, airframe systems, explained that the strategy follows on from a deal signed with Heico, the worlds largest independent designer, manufacturer and distributor of FAA and EASA approved replacement parts for jet engines and aircraft components. This will see that Heico will be managing BAs alternative parts programme while at the same time helping the airline maximise savings through using alternative aircraft parts. Through this deal with Heico, we will actively seek PMA opportunities going forward. We will no longer be the cash machine for OEMs, said Bhalla. Contrary to popular belief, PMA parts have been used for many years within BA. There has been an approval process since 1997 and hundreds of PMA parts are now in use. In 2006 alone, 28 new PMA parts were approved, he added. These are not bogus parts but approved by the very same regulatory authorities that approve OEM aircraft parts. BA reviews all applicable PMA parts and approves each one on a case-by-case basis. Once installed, the parts are monitored for any defect trends and we note failure modes of PMA parts to check that they are similar, if not the same, as their OEM equivalent, he says. Bhalla also said that BA are now looking on to exploring the potential of 95% of Heicos inventory that are non-critical items. There has been no overall financial saving target set but we have said that we will openly entertain the PMA concept and w ould consider putting non-critical PMA parts on any of our aircraft, he says. James Bennett, Heico European sales director, told Flight International: Historically BA, while not anti-PMA, could not be said to be advocates either. They are well known as being extremely conservative as an airline but the move byLufthansa, which isa stakeholder in Heico, was seen in the industry as an extremely successful move to keep the OEMs in check. BA must certainly be looking in the region of saving between 30-40% off OEM list prices and will be focusing on high-cost items. Heico will head that PMA management process and review together with BA where further PMA applications can be used. We will be the fulcrum for BA to explore PMA. 2.5 Availability PMA manufacturers are also proud of their inventories, having the ability to supply immediate availability on a variety of parts that the OEMs have trouble keeping in stock. Although customers most frequent complaints are with engine OEMs, shortages can be found with everything from fasteners to landing gear struts. During the summer of 2003, owners of MDHIs helicopters noticed a dramatic decline in the availability of OEM parts. It wasnt long afterwards that everyone realized the company was in the grips of severe cash flow problems, resulting in angry suppliers refusing to deliver new components to the factory floor until outstanding debts were paid. As a result, sales of MDHIs light single-engine MD500s and twin-engine Explorers plummeted and there are rumours that MDHI was months away from bankruptcy. Meanwhile, MDHI aircraft around the world were on the ground with timed-out parts and some very angry operators. Aerometals, a California-based supplier of PMA parts, which had been selling PMA parts for MDHI (then Hughes Helicopters) since 1983, was perfectly positioned to take advantage of the problem with the OEM and sell tons of products to MDHIs anxious customers. And even though the health of MDHI has greatly improved since its acquisition by Patriarch Partners investment group in 2005, customers still call on Aerometals for a wide variety of components. Aerometals tend to have 95 percent of their product line available for same-day shipment, whereas the OEM competitor has many items back ordered for six months or more. Aerometals has experienced a huge rise in sales simply because they have the items in stock and the OEM doesnt. Even some of the healthy helicopter manufacturers have had trouble filling orders. Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, companies likeAgustaWestland, Bell andEurocopterhave seen orders for new aircraft come in at a record pace. The increase in orders at the helicopter manufacturers still have their assembly lines running at maximum capacity. A new Bell orEurocopterproduct will have to wait around two to three years before it can be delivered. The ripple effect of those sales has overwhelmed the engine manufacturers and other OEM subcontractors in the chain as well, leaving the door open for PMA manufacturers to step in with parts ready for immediate shipment to aircraft already in-service. 2.6 Wider acceptance Acceptance comes with maturity. And where there is acceptance, market potential could grow from it. This statement briefly concludes the PMA parts in aviation world today. Every year, more businesses discover the advantage of buying PMA parts. As a result, the aerospace industry has witnessed a continuous rise in the usage of PMA parts on a global scale. But their acceptance by the airlines has escalated only recently. PMA parts acceptance among airlines was pretty low just five years ago, says Hal Chrisman, a principal at the Ann Arbor, Mich.-based management consulting firm, AeroStrategy. North American airlines have long used PMA parts, but their interest in their cost-cutting value has increased noticeably since 9/11 and the resulting economic downturn. PMA parts provide the irresistible cost advantage of 30 percent to 50 percent, says Kirti Timmanagoudar, research analysis at the consulting analysis company, Frost Sullivan, San Jose, California. Equally important to industry p otential is the emerging interest coming from Europe and Asia. Europes growing use of PMA parts is being supported by an improved industry structure and by major third-party MRO providers that are encouraging airlines to switch to PMA parts, according to a Frost Sullivan survey of European maintenance trends. The increased use of PMA parts in Europe is in tandem with the continents growing number of low-cost carriers (nearly 50 of the more than 80 carriers, according to Frost Sullivan) and the trend to outsource maintenance, which has brought the rapid increase in numbers of third-party MROs. Ironically, despite this growing demand for PMA parts (made in the United States and approved for acceptance in other countries through bilateral agreements), Europe has virtually no parts manufacturers other than the OEMs. This escalating interest in PMA parts led to a two-day meeting of airline maintenance officials in Seattle in late January 2006, the purpose of which was to better understand PMA parts and theFAAparts approval process for the airlines. They want to, first, find out how each of the attending airlines handle PMA parts and, second, find ways to expedite, and perhaps standardize, the use of PMA parts. Before, the airlines apparently didnt talk much to each other [about PMA parts processing], according to Gloria Nations, president of the Modification and Replacement Parts Association (MARPA) and attendee of the Seattle meeting. Spearheaded by Alaska Airlines, the meeting included presentations by invited association, government and industry officials. Airlines like United, Delta, Air Canada, Japan Airlines and, most recently, British Airways have struck strategic partnership deals with Heico, reputedly the worlds largest independent designer, manufacturer and distributor of FAA- and EASA- approved alternative parts for aircraft and jet engines. American Airlines has a joint venture with the company to manage its alternative parts, while Lufthansa Technik actively encourages the development and production of PMA parts through its 20 percent stake in Heico. Carl Pedersen, president and CEO of Cimber Air Support, a passionate advocate of PMA, told delegates that PMA will become more relevant than ever as operators are forced to cut cost without jeopardizing safety. Yet, whenever the use of PMA parts is put up for discussion, said Pedersen, the individual who tables the issue is often looked upon as the bad guy of the movie which, to my mind, indicates that the subject of PMA is not fully understood.† EASA will only grant approval to a PMA part today if its not a critical component, it has been manufactured under license or if any minor changes or more major supplemental type certifications meet specific EASA approval. But now, Pedersen said, EASA has plans in place for a European PMA equivalent to the FAA under the banner of an EPA part, for which a tender for review has been commissioned but not yet finalized. It could be argued that design and manufacturing procedures are already in place under EASAs Part 21, said Pedersen, but creating a recognized European equivalent will put European operators and MROs on an even footing with their U.S. counterparts, eliminating the unfair trade limitations we have today†. To this end, he said the issue of PMA might yet be included in the imminent EU/U.S. Bilateral Air Safety Agreement which, reportedly, currently is embroiled in the politics of fees and charges. Yves Morier, EASAs head of product safety, confirmed EASA is discussing with its FAA counterparts how best to cooperate on PMA rulemaking. Currently, there is no statistical evidence for safety concerns with PMA, said Morier. But the overall experience may not be sufficient to draw definitive conclusions. Chris Carter, who manages the FAAs Certification Procedures Branch, had a definite view. PMA is here to stay, he said. Its deeply embedded in our system, and theres an ever-growing demand, especially now that Pratt Whitney is entering the market, he said. Moreover, in terms of PMA product quality, he confirmed the FAA has no better than or safer than criteria. The only bar required is the absolute safeguard of industrial regulation. Any latent risk in PMA has more to do with the financial standing of the PMA manufacturer than the PMA part itself, and, in his view, some PMA manufacturers are attaining the scale and stability of many OEMs. Looking ahead, he told the delegates that the FAA will continually improve its processes and work very closely with MARPA (Modification and Replacement Parts Association) on upcoming policy and new changes. Were also expanding delegation as the industry matures its capabilities and responsibilities, he said. Indeed, the U.S. has signed its first PMA bilateral agreement with Australia, which now has its own PMA approval processes, he said. The greatest supporting fact that PMA is now being accepted is the defence from the FAA on the side of PMA. In an attempt to counter anti-PMA safety concerns, the FAA released Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin (SAIB) NE-08-40 on Aug. 8, 2008. There have been a few wording in some OEM manuals that drove the FAA to issue the bulletin as a closing statement in an ongoing argument about the validity of PMA parts. According to Jason Dickstein, president of the Modification and Parts Replacement Association (MARPA), the SAIB was driven by the FAAs dismay at the fact that some OEMs were using safety documents for competitive purposes. A MARPA release from Aug. 10, 2008, states that some manufacturers have made commercial statements designed to demoralize the publics confidence in PMA parts. OEM decisions cannot override the word of the FAA. â€Å"If the FAA approved a PMA part to be used, the OEM is in no position to tell you that the FAAs approval is invalid,† says Dickstei n. MARPA says that the FAA expects the industry to treat its approval of PMA parts with the respect to the FAA decision. â€Å"We are an extremely risk-averse industry,† says Dickstein. â€Å"Many industries will go with a new product as long as they dont see anything wrong with it. Our industry wont go with a product unless we see everything is right with it.† 2.7 Different views As a customer, the airline industry comprises of many different subcategories. Each of them have a different approach on the PMA issue and whether they best fit into their operation or not. 2.7.1 The Airlines It is in a very competitive business environment that airlines are operating, with profit margins so small, every dollar has to be treated as if it was worth a million. That is why all airlines are very interested at the low cost that PMA parts do offer. Most of the engine parts that must be replaced on a regular basis, needs to be changed periodically and the cost of sustaining such activity are directly proportional to the usage of the engine. This means that the more the engine is being used, the more maintenance that it has to go through and the more money needs to come out from the pocket of the airline. Maximising the usage of the airlines resources, in this case the aircraft itself, is very crucial in keeping the airline in business. Obtaining the less expensive part such as the PMA parts to cater to the demand of the ever increasing cost in maintenance is a very good move. The airlines are trying to control the amount of money that comes out from their pocket in order to oper ate efficiently. They cannot control the price of fuel, so the next best thing that they can control is the price of maintenance activity. But what scares them is the OEMs asking the billion dollar question: Are you willing to risk lives, law suits and ruining your good name because you decided to buy cheap parts? In response to not knowing which part to be in, whether going to the people who say PMA parts are safe and inexpensive or the OEMs who say PMA parts are unsafe because theyre inexpensive, some airlines conducted evaluations. Samples of an OEM part and its PMA equivalent are run in controlled tests side by side to evaluate their performance. Many airlines that conduct their own tests end up selecting certain PMA parts, while keeping some OEM components. The buzz around the airl

Reversal of Paralysis :: Biology Essays Research Papers

Reversal of Paralysis This semester we learned about the paralysis of Christopher Reeves. In thinking about his condition, I began to wonder where researchers stood in their attempt to cure paralysis. Paralysis was often considered to be completely irreversible. However, I found that the last ten years have brought huge advances in our understanding of the nervous system and spinal cord injury. Even though paralysis due to spinal cord injury is still, for the most part, permanent, several drugs and techniques show promise in reversing the effects of paralysis. In order to understand the difficulties of curing paralysis, we must first understand the nature of spinal cord injury. When the spinal cord is injured due to trauma, there is localized death of the nerve cells. (1) The initial injury is only the beginning of the cell death. In the hours, days, and weeks following the injury, nerve cells continue to die above and below the original wound. When the area begins to heal, scar tissue, fluid-filled cysts, and cavities occupy an area where the tissue was once healthy. (4) Many of the nerve fibers at the injured area actually separate into two pieces. The part of the fiber that is torn from the soma dies within 48-72 hours. This part does not regenerate, and cell/cell communication is lost below this point. Some cells, on the other hand, remain intact, but lose their myelin. Myelin is a fatty substance that is necessary to conduct electrical signals along the axon. "[It] increases the speed of transmission of signals from one nerve cell to the next, and without myelin the signal may deteriorate so much that it does not reach its target at all." (2) It is entirely possible that the nerve cells and their axons may survive the trauma, but paralysis still occurs because of the destruction of the myelin sheath. In order to reverse the effects of the spinal cord injury, the patient must receive treatment depending on which damage category their injury falls into. Methylprednisolone is the first drug which was proven to control spinal cord damage in humans. It is unclear exactly how methylprednisolone works, but it is thought to reduce inflammation, the release of glutamate, and the accumulation of free radicals. Immediately after trauma to the spinal cord, tiny hemorrhages appear due to blood vessel damage. The resultant swelling inhibits the delivery of nutrients and oxygen to the nerve cells, causing them to die.

Bill Gates :: essays research papers

Bill Gates On October 28, 1955, in Seattle, Washington a boy was born. This child would grow up to be one of the most successful people in the history of man. His name, William (Bill) Henry Gates. Bill a.k.a. Trey was a different child from the beginning of his life. His first five years were normal just like most kids. Once he turned six his parents would almost go crazy. He declared war on his mother and always talked back to her as in this example; She would call him up to dinner from his basement bedroom and he would not respond. "What are you doing?" she once demanded over the intercom. "I'm thinking," he shouted back. "You're thinking?" "Yes, Mom, I'm thinking," he said fiercely. "Have you ever tried thinking?" His mother sent him to a psychologist, after a year of tests and studies the doctor came up with a solution. His answer was, "There is nothing you can do. Just give up and live with it." Bill attended Lakeside School. It was a very nice private school. There he learned how to use a computer. His friend, Paul Allen and he would start their computer programming there. The first programs they made were a math program and tic-tac- toe. Bill and three other friends joined forces to make the Lakeside Programmers Group. Bill then went out to a store, which just received a new IBM. He convinced the boss to let him and his friends use the computer. In exchange, he would have to debug the computer. Bill got so obsessed in it that he went to the store late at night and worked on the computer! A little later that year, Bill attended Harvard. To most people there he was considered a snob and idiot. He would order pizza every day and go to many bars. In 1974, Bill and Paul Allen created BASIC, a computer language. MITS then bought a license to have the product. At the age of twenty-one, Bill dropped out of Harvard to work on Microsoft all the time. Within three months, MITS ripped up the contract. Bill found a person in Japan who would help him. Bill and Paul then set up a building in Albuquerque, New Mexico. They then renamed their company Microsoft. The original name was Allen&Gates. Bill loved New Mexico. He had his favorite Porsche, which he called Sand Buggy.

Innocent Company Analysis

Innocent Company Analysis Table of Content Front sheet1 Table of Content2 Executive summary3 Introduction Internal analysis 1. 1 Mission, core values, and vision 1. 2Value Chain Analysis 1. 3Positioning Map 1. 4Success & Survival factors 1. 5Miles & Snow Adaptive Strategy External analysis 2. 1Segmentation Analysis 2. 2Porter’s five forces 2. 2Industry Life Cycle 2. 3PEST Analysis 2. 4Benchmarking analysis SWOT Analysis 3. 1Recommendations Executive summary: Introduction This report is an analysis about the company: Innocent Ltd.This company started its way in 1998 by three friends Richard Reed, Adam Balon and Jon Wright and produces healthy drinks and food. Their current market share in the UK is now 78%. Internal Analysis The analysis of the company is started by the internal analysis that broadly examines the marketing practices, the values of the company, the value chain of the company, the positioning in the market, the vital success and survival factors and lastly the Mi les & Snow adaptive strategy. The company’s mission is to create a healthier lifestyle of the population by their products in order to ‘live well and die old’.This is supported by their vision that states that they want to become the earth’s favourite little food company and according to one of their values; creating a business they can be proud of. Moreover, as part of  the  internal analysis, a Value chain analysis has been carried out for Innocent Ltd. The value chain analysis identifies primary and support activities critical for the company’s success. Factors of the companies value chain within their primary and support activities seem very promising and are significant in the success of Innocent Ltd; their current market share of 77. 5% can support this.Nevertheless it is crucial that the company preserves consistency throughout their activities in order for them to sustain profitability, thus maintaining competitive advantage. Based on th e positioning map, Innocent found and filled a gap in the market and is free from its competitors based on quality and price. It is a premium product, however customers are willing to pay for this premium price due to its quality. In order to survive in the industry, it is vital for the company to maintain their innovative and creative marketing campaigns by taking customer preferences into account.In order to succeed, international markets for a huge opportunity for the organization. Due to this international expansion, the company could start to make more use of economies of scale, which increases the margins. The analysis have shown that organization can be seen as a prospector, due to the fact that they have changed the industry or actually started an industry, of healthy smoothies. They are continuously pro-active rather than re-active. External Analysis To move on with the External Analysis of the company, starting with the segmentation analysis.This shows that Innocents custo mers are mainly located in North-Western Europe and countries such as Austria and Switzerland. Based on the demographics, people that buy innocent are between 18 and 40 years old that are business people, mothers, on-the-go people and sports people that mostly come from the AB socio-economic group. The customers identify themselves with the brand and are as well believers and strivers. Their behaviour shows that they are enthusiastic and image seekers (because they find it cool to drink innocent).The porters five forces analysis shows that the competitive rivalry, buyer power and threat of substitutes form the biggest threat for the company. Potential entrants and supplier power are identified as a lower threat due to the fact that it costs a lot of money in order to compete with companies such as Innocent and enough suppliers are present that offer natural fruit products. Luckily enough for Innocent Ltd, the industry is still growing and therefore it can be argued that the industry is in its growth phase, even though they had some struggles with the recession.The PEST-Analysis is used to describe the macro environment of innocent on the subject of political/ legal, economic, social and technological aspects. The government cuts, 5 a day campaign and tax increase play an important role regarding the political issues in the macro environment. It is expected, that the economic climate as well as the smoothie market will improve in the future. The trend for healthy eating and the ethical behavioural consciousness plays a main role in this. It is also expected to have lots of innovation and communication developments regarding he technological macro environment. The benchmarking analysis in this report is applied as well in order to identify the main competitors of Innocent Ltd and to compare those companies with the organization. This analysis shows that Introduction: Richard Reed, Adam Balon and Jon Wright founded innocent in 1998. (Below) They bought ? 500 wort h of fruit and set up a stall at a music festival in Parsons Green, London, selling smoothies. At the stall, the guys put up a sign asking ‘’should we give up our day jobs to make smoothies? ’ They had two bins; one labelled ‘’YES’’ and the other ‘’NO’’ and they asked people to vote using their empty bottles. By the end of the day the ‘’YES’’ bin was completely filled up. This made them decide to start Innocent as a new business. Reed stated ‘’Innocent was born from a bin test’’. (EN, the magazine for entrepreneurs, 2011) (CarMicheal, A, Photography, 2009) They worked hard to gain their capital to realize Innocent as a business; unfortunately they were refused finance from various mainstream banks.With perseverance they managed to source their capital from Maurice Pinto, an American, London based businessman who provided them with the ? 250,000 needed capit al. Pinto has since admitted to having made this decision more out of a sense of obligation than in the expectation of the kind of return he’s made on it – one of the best of his life, it turns out. (EN, the magazine for entrepreneurs, 2011) ‘’The idea was a simple one, like most good business strategies† Reed says. (EN, the magazine for entrepreneurs, 2011) Just over a decade later, Innocent now has an annual turnover of around ? 10m, has been growing by 20% year on year and currently has a around 75% share of the UK smoothies market. (BBC New- Business, 2010). The company now produces more than 30 different recipes and sells more than two million smoothies each week through 10,000 retailers in the UK and overseas. (Young, 2009) Internal Analysis 1. 1. 1Mission statement â€Å"To make natural, delicious food and drink that helps people live well and die old. † (Innocent Ltd, 2011) With this mission statement Innocent emphasises that they prod uce products that are natural and good for you.They explain that the products deliver a boost to vitality and because the products are 100% natural and healthy people will live longer by making their immune system stronger after consuming the vitamins. Ultimately their mission is that they want people to consume as much fruit and vegetable as possible in order to make society healthier. (Innocent Ltd. , 2011) 1. 1. 2Vision statement â€Å"Becoming ‘the earth’s favourite little food company. † (Innocent Ltd. , 2011) A vision statement is something a company aspires to become it should be a projection for the future of the company and where they want to grow. Ward, S 2011) Innocent wants to become the earth’s favourite little food company. Currently they have managed to attain 78% of the smoothie market (source %) in the UK and in the past 2 years Innocent has introduced new products to their brand, which means they are working towards their vision statement . 1. 1. 3Core values Core values hold the foundation to how a company performs. The core values of a company are constant and mark the way a company interacts, produces and presents itself. (NPS, 2010) Innocent has set 5 core values to their company; each value has an individual meaning explained below:Be natural Innocent produces products that are 100% natural, taste good and are healthy to consume. Being natural goes hand in hand with their mission statement where they aim to make society healthier. Be entrepreneurial Innocent started their company by seeing an opportunity; they first sold their smoothies at a music festival in London where they initiated their entrepreneurial approach. Innocent strives to be the best they can be and continuously incorporates creativity into their company to become better than the rest.Be responsible Innocent finds it important to stick to their core values and principles thus they want to be responsible for what they produce and how they educate the consumer. Be commercial Innocent is a commercial business and operates that way. Ultimately the profit they generate is a profit for both them and the customer. Innocent incorporates commercial behaviour in order to be tough and fair to the competition. Be generous Lastly Innocent finds it important to be generous and give back what they can to society.They are involved in various organizations for a good cause and have even set up their own Innocent foundation that provides sustainable farming for a secure future for farmers that produce Innocent fruit. (Innocent Foundation Ltd. 2011) Other organization they are involved are: The big knit (Age UK), innocent scholarship foundation, childcare vouchers, drinks for the homeless, buy one get one bee, taste not waste. (Innocent Ltd. 2011) 1. 2Value Chain Analysis Value Chain Analysis: ‘’The term value chain describes a way of looking at a business as a chain of activities that transform inputs into outputs that customers value.Customer value derives from three basic sources: activities that differentiate the product, activities that lower its cost, and activities that meet the customers’ needs quickly. ’’(Mulleady, F, 2011) Businesses often used the Value Chain Analysis to understand and examine different activities within the business, which contribute to customer value, which they aim to generate to help them gain competitive advantage. Michael Porter suggested that the activities which take place within a business can be grouped under two headings, primary activities and support activities.Primary Activities: Inbound logistics: Innocent produce their products from 100% natural goods, which adds to their overall image as a healthy food and drink label. Due to their values, Innocent do not use concentrates of any kind as they feel that they are very bad for you and hardly contain any original goodness which comes from a fruit. The majority of their products are smoothies, whic h are made from 100% real crushed fruit with no added ingredients or materials. Their other products such as the veg pots contain fresh vegetables, whole grains with herbs and spices.The soundness and efficiency of raw materials is high at Innocent as they link extremely well with the overall image of the company and what they aim to deliver to their customers. Operations (Manufacturing): The company headquarters, also known as the ‘Fruit Towers’ is located in Shepherds Bush, London. This is where the company is based and where the main operations and manufacturing of the products takes place. They have 150 people working for them at the ‘Fruit Towers’ and 250 acorss 9 other offices around Europe. In these offices, the recipies are made, the products are produced and packaging is carried out.A lot of effort is put into their packaging, here are a few examples: Excellent level of efficiency regarding productivity, quality and the layout and work flow design at operations at Innocent. Friendly working environment with an overall low staff turnover. Outbound logistics: Innocent products are sold over 10, 000 retailers, compared to 1 in 1999. Their retailers include supermarkets such as Asda, Tesco’s, Waitrose and Sainsbury’s. (Innocent Website, 2011) Due to the accuracy and effective production line, the outbound logistics, which include the delivery of the inished goods and services, are all very efficient. Marketing and sales: * Identified customer needs: Innocent identified that there in today’s society, with worth ethics increasing rapidly and people always on-the-go, that people don’t have enough time to be healthy. So they decided to offer customers healthy products to help them towards consuming their 5 a day fruit and veg. * Innovation in sales promotion and advertising: excellent level of advertising with the main ones including Posters on public transport, television adverts which are very fun and or iginal, press adverts and billboards.Expanding by the year. Service: * ‘Banana phone’-deals with all consumer queries, good and bad comments, which are then passed on to the ‘Peoples champion’ * Email-Website has a list of name and image of all employees and a link to email them directly! * Post * Blog/Facebook/Twitter They fulfil the significant role of giving customers full attention when it comes to after care, complains, customer inputs for product improvement, their promptness in dealing with customer complaints and quality of customer education. Support activities: General administration: They now have 36 different products compared to 3 which they has in 1999. Innocent have the ability to identify new product and market opportunities. * Seem to work well in achieving their objectives which are mainly to provide fresh and healthy products * Their co-ordination and integration amongst all of the value chain factors is good-This is evident with their cu rrent market share of 77. 5% which has come from a result of their increasing number of employees, increasing their productivity and therefore increasing their retailers from 1 to 10,000 in just over a decade.All of this success has meant that 2 million smoothies are now sold a week which compares enormously to 20 per day sold in 1999. (Innocent Website, 2011) * Excellent Public image Human Resource management: * Generally the staff turnover seems to be low which is excellent for the company as the staff have a great level of knowledge about the company as a whole. * The working environment is very enjoyable and fulfilling for the employees. This effectively minimises absenteeism and keeps the staff turnover as a desirable level through motivation and job satisfaction.Technology development: * Staff carry outstanding ability of creativity and innovation * Experience of technicians such as the recipe maker is very good 1. 3Positioning map The perceptual map is a geometric comparison of how competing products are perceived; the dimensions used on the two axes represent the key attributes as seen by the consumer. It is used to generate knowledge about the parity and difference between competing products. (Fill, 2009) Innocent is placed at the high quality/slightly expensive point compared to its competitors.It could be said that Innocent has the perfect position as its closes competitor, Grove, is of lesser quality and is more expensive and not a lot of other competitors are nearby. The fact that there are not a lot of competitors in the area of Innocent shows that the company saw a clear opportunity in the market. As can be seen in the map, the position low quality/expensive is completely empty; this is probably because of the fact that low quality/expensive products in general are not that successful. (Fill, 2009) Looking at the perceptual map, it can be assumed that one of the factors that makes Innocent Ltd. arket leader is that they fill a gap in the market and had the first-mover advantage. 1. 4Survival & Survival factors Survival factors: In accordance to the report of Global Industry Analysts Inc, the global smoothies market will increase to 9. 0 billion in 2015. In order to survive in this market, it is vital for the company to keep the innovative and creative marketing campaigns alive. Although it seems to be that there is enough space for all competitors to expand, Innocent should be careful in their approach.Taking the customers preferences into account plays a main role in this process without ignoring the financial stability of the company. Success factors: Regarding the report discussed in the previous paragraph, exploiting international markets seems to be an attractive opportunity for Innocent Ltd. This will also increase the applicability of economies of scale for the company, which could have positive effects on costs as well as revenue. Strong relationships with suppliers and distributors will be needed, even strategic a lliances and collaboration forms a success factor of the company.Well-structured and carefully composed contracts should ensure the positive effects these attributes will have on the organization, such as; higher revenues, higher margins and therefore higher profits. Maximization of revenue and minimization of costs will enhance the financial capabilities of the companies, which can be used for marketing campaigns and investments in further developed technology in order to create even more sophisticated smoothies. Another essential success factor for Innocent ltd. is to stay ahead of competition, being pro-active instead of re-active.This should be accomplished by creative marketing campaigns and brand loyalty of the consumer. 1. 5Miles & Snow Strategy Analysis External Analysis 2. 1Market Segmentation Analysis A segmentation analysis is needed in order to identify the characteristics of the market population. The analysis is split up into four segmentation areas; geographic, demogr aphic, psychographic and behavioural segmentation respectively. According to the geographic segmentation, Innocent is distributed in the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, Norway, Finland, Austria, Denmark and Switzerland.However, future expansion could lead to a wider geographic area covered by the organization. In respect to the demographic segmentation, the company is aiming for hard working professionals that are interested in a healthier lifestyle, mainly between 18 and 40 years old. The income of the market is therewith above average (ABC1), due to the fact that the drinks are relatively expensive and mainly used by business people with a modern and trendy lifestyle. The people that buy innocent drinks psychographic identify themselves with the brand and feel therewith connected by the innovative and achievement focused approach of the organization.According to Innocent drinks, one of their key approaches is â€Å"to leave things a little bit better than we find them†. Therefore users of the products are also believers and strivers by supporting this organization. The psychographic part of the market segmentation might also be that the people feel good by drinking or eating the products, due to the fact that the products are healthy and the fact that the organization has its own foundation (Innocent Ltd, 2007) Customers of Innocent definitely can be segmented by behaviour.The marketing of innocent is making them enthusiastic about the brand and it becomes ‘cool’ as well to consume the products of Innocent. The market can therefore partly be seen as image seekers. The people that actually buy the products are young business people, mothers that buy these products as an alternative for the unhealthy sodas and fast food and people that often work out. Even though the company has the largest market share, still a lot of people don’t know the brand due to its short existing period. The group of first-time and po tential users is therefore attractive for the business.The marketing campaigns of Innocent should ensure that the brand awareness of the company increases. 2. 2. 1Market Segmentation summary: Geographic segmentation: | North-Western Europe| Demographic segmentation: | Business people + Mothers + On-the-go people + Sports people + People under 35 + AB socio-economic group| Psychographic segmentation:| Innovators, achievers, believers & strivers| Behavioural segmentation:| Enthusiastic, image seekers, first-time and large amount of potential users. | 2. 2Porters Five Forces Force| Ranking1 = no threat4 = big threat| Industry Analysis| Potential Entrants| 1| High start-up costs|Competitive Rivalry| 4| The juice market is very big with a lot of competitors| Buyer Power| 4| A consumer can easily switch brands| Supplier Power| 2| Many suppliers available| Threat of Substitutes| 4| A lot of substitute drinks for smoothies| The Porter’s five forces model is a holistic way of looking at the industry of interest and it shows whether it is interesting or not to enter a certain industry. The model does not only look at competition in the industry, but also at the threat of substitute products and services and new entrants, and the power of suppliers and consumers. Porter, 2008) Looking at the smoothie industry, the first force â€Å"potential entrants† is ranked with a one, which means that is this force is not a big threat. Although a lot of new smoothies enter the market every year, in general these come from established producers, for example Starbucks. (Innofood, 2011) A barrier for new entrance could be the high start-up costs. The second force â€Å"competitive rivalry† is ranked with a four and therefore a threat in the industry, this means that there are a lot of companies competing in this industry.Examples of main competitors of Innocent Ltd. are Tropicana, Grove, Ella’s Kitchen. â€Å"Buyer power†, the third force is ranked wi th a four, this is often the case in a highly competitive industry with a lot of different brands. Consumers can choose out of many different products, which makes it harder for companies to make them loyal to their brand. In the smoothie industry the fourth force â€Å"supplier power† is ranked with a 2 because their are many suppliers available in this industry and this makes it easy for companies to switch suppliers.The fifth and final force â€Å"threat of substitutes† is of course a four as there are a lot of substitute drinks for smoothies, water, soft drinks etc. The smoothie industry does not look too â€Å"sexy† considering the model. High competitive rivalry, buyer power and threat of substitution make it a difficult industry to be successful and thus profitable in. Low threat of new entrants and supplier power are interesting but do not weight off the other forces. (Porter, 2008) 2. 3Industry Life Cycle An Industry life cycle shows in what stage an or ganization is in the cycle of their life.An industry life cycle consists of four stages, introduction which is a stage for start-ups with a new product or within a new industry. The growth stage follows after, this is when a company expands, introduces new products and grows within the industry. The maturity phase is where a company is in consolidation it also shows a slowing in growth. Lastly the decline stage means sales are decreasing, company reached its peaks and during this stage a company could ultimately die. (Inc. 2011) Innocent ltd is currently positioned in the growth stage of their life cycle.They started with a healthy company and within the last 13 years (since 1998) the company grew towards a market share of 78%. In the past 2 years Innocent has been exploring new grounds and introducing new products to their company such as fruit tubes for kids and microwaveable food pots for those who need a quick meal. Innocent has yet to introduce more products and thus has not re ached the maturity stage yet. In recent years the smoothie industry has become more popular because people become more health aware and smoothies manage to tap into the health and convenience trend of today.The smoothie industry has exceeded into a growth stage and according to research is growing towards a continuously expanding market size which indicated the industry will remain in the growth stage for a long period. (Lloyd, A. 2011) 2. 4PEST Analysis Political: 5 A Day Campaign: Innocent profits from the ‘5 a day’ campaign the government and the NHS support. It states that: The Government recommends an intake of at least five portions of fruit or vegetables per person per day to help reduce the risk of some cancers, heart disease and many other chronic conditions (NHS, 2011).One Innocent Smoothie provides 2 of the daily-recommended intake of 5 portions (Innocent, 2011). Government Cuts: Due to the current recession and a deficit of 156 billion pound, the government decided to save 6. 2 billion in the financial year 2010-11. This includes for example less spending on Civil service pay and the Home Office and therefore less purchasing power for these occupational groups (BBC, 2010). This might affect Innocent sales, because consumer might switch to cheaper brands or stop purchasing Smoothies at all, as Smoothies are relatively pricey and considered to be a tread or a luxury product, not an essential (Mintel, 2011).Corporate Tax decrease: The UK government has decided to reduce the corporate tax to 26% in 2011 and again in 2012 to 25%, compared to 28% what it used to be before (Directgov, 2010). This leads to an increase of revenue for Innocent. VAT increase: On the 4th of January the value added tax where increased to 20 per cent, former it was 17. 5% for standard-rated goods, which includes Smoothies, because they are rated as beverages(Directgov, 2011). In November 2010 Innocent unsuccessfully filed a suit against the 17. % of VAT that was cha rged on their products. They argued, that Smoothies are like â€Å"liquefied fruit salads†, because the raw materials for their drinks are Value added tax free (Helen and Hawkes 2011). But it was declared that a Smoothie is not an essential drink or aliment, but of luxuries, therefore a VAT of 17. 5% was applied (now 20%). This implicates a disadvantage for Innocent, because without the 20% VAT Innocent, could lower prices and increase sales or just have a 20% higher profit margin. Economical: Forecasted future growth in the Smoothie market:The overall trend in the Smoothie market in the UK regarding to sales is ascending. It is expected that sales will increase again from a total of 143 million pound in 2011 to 179 million pound in 2016. After sales have been declining from 2007 till 2009. The expected market growth is an opportunity for Innocent to increase their sales and therefore revenue. (Mintel, 2011) Expected bettering of the economic climate: As one can see in the gr aph, GDP in the UK has started to increase again since the 2nd quarter of 2009.Till the 3rd quarter of 2011 there has been a gain in GDP of about 3. 1% (Office for National Statistics, 2011). The treasury expects further growth in GDP over the next years as well as a decline in the unemployment rate. This will have positive effects on the future spending power of consumer, influence purchasing decisions and strengthens consumer confidence (HM Treasury, 2011). Premium brands such as Innocent will profit from an overall economic growth, because during recessions consumers will at first cut their spending on luxury, not essential good.Source: HM Treasury, (2011). Forecasts for the UK economy: a comparison of independent forecasts Source: HM Treasury, (2011). Forecasts for the UK economy: a comparison of independent forecasts Social: Trend for healthy eating and convenience: In the UK society there has been a long-term trend for healthy eating and convenience food. Innocent benefits fro m this trend because Smoothies and Innocent have the reputation to be healthy as well as their products are an easy way to eat five portions of fruit/vegetables on a daily basis in an increasingly fast moving society (Mintel, 2011).Awareness of ethical behaviour: Corporate Social Responsibility tends to be important to consumer, where more than three fifths of consumers believed it important that a company act ethically. Although during the recession this attitude change during the recession, where people were more concerned about their personal wealth and spending. Innocent with its core value being sustainability, profits from the consumer awareness on ethical behaviour of firms and therefore might experience an increase in its brand reputation and brand awareness (Mintel, 2011). Demographics:Most consumer who buy Smoothies are under 35 years old and those in the AB socio-economic group. Because they are more concerned about health and diet. The Graph shows that overall the UK pop ulation is aging this will lead to an increase of the population of consumers between 25-34, which are most likely to by Innocent products. Therefore Sales are expected to increase. But on the other hand, the over 55s are a large segment and are unlikely to purchase Smoothies (Mintel, 2011). Technological: Innovation: Ethical packaging and healthy products are the two main attributes the firms in the market concentrate on.Hence the firms focus on developing new ways of ethical and sustainable packaging, like Innocent, who introduced a bottle made of 100% recycled plastic(Mintel, 2011). Moreover the companies are trying to producer their products with as little additives as possible to bring forward the naturalness of the product. Another important factor for the firms in the market is the innovation of new recipes in order to attract new costumers, for example children or older people. Communication: â€Å"Above-the-line investment in the smoothies market rose by almost 50% in 2010 , to ? 6. 1 million. Due to the fact that all the products in the smoothies market are substitutes and switching costs are low, the companies have to build a relationship with the costumer in order to keep them buying their product. Political * Government cuts * 5 a day campaign * Tax increase (VAT) * Decrease of Corporation Tax| Economic: * Expected bettering of the economic climate * Forecasted future growth in the Smoothie market| Social * Trend for healthy eating and convenience * Awareness of ethical behaviour (CSR) * Demographic| Technological * Innovation * Communication| . 4Competitive Benchmarking Analysis | Innocent(Innocent ltd, 2011)| Tropicana(Tropicana, 2011)| Ella’s Kitchen(Ella's Kitchen ltd, 2011)| Market Share(Lloyd, A. 2011)| 78%| 3%| 2%| Target Market| Business people, mothers, sports people, on-the-go people| Only available for supermarket shoppers. Mothers (children, babies)| Competitive Advantages| 100% natural, strategic alliance with coca cola, | Inte rnationally established| Specially for babies and small children (stages), added value less costs | Core competencies| Brand advertising and communication| World leader in fruit juice manufacturing| Wide product range (drink, food and snack)| Competitive Strategies| Differentiation| Cost leadership| Differentiation Focus| CSR activities| Big knit (Age UK), innocent scholarship foundation, the innocent foundation, childcare vouchers, drinks for the homeless, buy one get one bee, taste not waste. |Expending carton recycling, waste reduction efforts, bottle recycling, rainforest rescue, PepsiCo sustainability. | Eco offices, terra cycle, recyclable packaging, super schools| Competitor ranking| X| 1| 2| Competitive benchmarking is a continuous process of comparing the output, performance and practice of an organization to its direct competition. The matrix gives an overview of the different aspects of Innocent and its closest competitors; Tropicana and Ella’s Kitchen. The matrix above shows that Innocent is a well established and growing company with an incredible market share of 78% in the UK smoothie market.The close competitors only share a 5% market share, the remaining market share is either by very small brands or own brands such as Tesco and Waitrose. Looking at the target market there are some variations, Ella’s Kitchen has a narrow focus on mothers who feed their babies and small children. Tropicana is generally only available to people shopping at supermarkets and Innocent is available in numerous locations from supermarkets, vending machines to supermarkets which means its accessible to the mass public and thus has the largest target market. (Mintel, 2011)Moreover, Innocent prides itself on it products being 100% natural and this is therefore a competitive advantage because very few competitors can state that they only use pure fruit without any processing such as pasteurization. Tropicana uses a pasteurization process in their juice, whic h makes it less healthy than innocent. (Tropicana, 2011) The strategic alliance with Coca-Cola can on one hand be a competitive advantage because Innocent can you the power Coca-cola has but on the other hand Coca-cola could be a bad influence and bad for their eco reputation.Tropicana has a competitive advantage over Innocent and that is that they already are international established and far greater than innocent has. Ella’s kitchen has a competitive advantage oriented towards their target group. They are considered a solid competitor in the smoothie industry and their major customer is the mother, which means that a majority of the target group ‘mothers’ favours ella’s kitchen over the others. Now about the core competencies, innocent has a very popular and a unique brand dvertising and communication that makes them differ from the others and stand out. Tropicana is the world leader in fruit juice manufacturing which is what makes them stand out and las tly Ella’s kitchen has a very wide product range but does compete high up in the smoothie market. When we look at competitive strategies we know that Innocent has a differentiation strategy because they have a broad target and their products are differentiated from the competition. Tropicana on the other hand has a cost leadership approach because they also have a broad target but low costs.Lastly, Ella’s Kitchen uses the strategy differentiation focus because they have a narrow target and a differentiation approach. (Institute for manufacturing, 2011) Finally when looking at the CSR activities all three companies are involved with corporate social responsibility but Innocent is definitely the leader and even has their own foundation. Overall we ranked Tropicana as a stronger competitor. SWOT Analysis All information gained from the tools is used to compose the SWOT analysis. The strengths and weaknesses of Innocent ltd. re derived from the internal analysis of this re port. To start with the main strengths of the organization, the market share of 78% in the UK smoothie market is definitely a strong point of the company. Moreover, the closest competitors (Tropicana ; Ella’s Kitchen) only have three and two percent respectively. This shows the power of Innocent ltd. in the smoothie market. In addition to their power, the brand awareness and the brand image of Innocent is therefore very high. The organization focuses on charity work and wants to ‘leave things a little bit better than we found it’. Innocent ltd, 2011) They have won several business awards such as the Barclays Green Leaders Business Award and the Business Commitment in 2008. Furthermore, their premium quality of their products differentiates themselves from their competitors and forms the basis of the brand loyalty and the cause of their high market share. The Banana phone and the AGM days support the customer loyalty due to the fact that it increases the involveme nt of customers in the organization. Their market share, brand loyalty and close retailer relationship support another strength of the company, which is that the roducts are placed at eye-height in the supermarkets and in clear sight at other retailers such as Starbucks. Despite of the many strengths of the company, our internal analysis of the organization also showed some weaknesses. The first weakness of the company is the price inflexibility, which means that the prices of smoothies are dependant on the prices of food. Furthermore, the competition remains a weakness of the company, due to the fact that established companies such as Starbucks are now starting fruit bars as well, which could negatively affect the sales of the Innocent products.Furthermore, the internal analysis showed that the organization is highly dependant on their smoothies sales. This is a weakness because when the sales or trend of smoothies declines, the whole revenue and profit of the company will decline as well. This is also mainly due to their narrow target market, which is the AB socio-economic group, that intensively reacts on the state of the economy. In times of recession, the smoothies are seen as luxury products, which cause a decline in sales during this time.To go on with the opportunities and threats gained from the external analysis. According to reports used in the analysis, the international smoothie market will be worth 15 billion in 2015, which causes a major opportunity for the company to go global. In addition, the government is supporting healthier lifestyles with the 5 a day campaign and the trend is to buy and eat organic healthy food, which could benefits Innocent as a healthy business in the future. In addition to this trend, an opportunity for Innocent is to differentiate more on healthy products.They already did with their veggie pots, however there are lot more opportunities for more healthy foods and drinks. Lastly, the strategic alliance with Coca-Cola mi ght negatively as well as positively influence Innocent Ltd. An opportunity for the company is to make more use of strategic alliances or partnerships in the future, which for example, could benefits and support the international expansion. And lastly, the external analysis showed some threats that could affect the business negatively. Firstly, it is necessary to monitor the competition in hat they are doing and anticipate on them in order to maintain their ‘prospector’ status according to their Miles ; Snow adaptive strategy. In addition, the prospector strategy could also lead to losses due to the risk that is associated with this strategy. Another threat is the fact that Innocent’s products are highly linked to the economic climate, with fewer sales in times of recession. Furthermore, substitute products form a threat for the company, for example when other soft drinks become healthier; the consumers could decide to buy those instead of the healthy innocent dr inks.And lastly, as discussed in the opportunities paragraph, the controversial alliance with Coca-Cola could negatively influence the brand image of Innocent Ltd. Appendix †¦ shows the overview of the SWOT analysis. Recommendations The strategic alliance with coca-cola can have a negative impact on the company, thus Innocent needs to be solid in not adapting the culture of coca-cola and stick to their own eco approach. If coca-cola influences them they might lose their CSR aspects.Another point is that Innocent has a very narrow target market and only AB socio economic people can afford to buy the products regularly. Innocent is also highly dependant on food prices, which are linked to the economic climate. If there is a change in the economic climate prices might increase which will affect their narrow target group even more. In order to avoid such a problem Innocent needs to stick to their prices or even try to lower them and possible increase sales because the demand will b ecome higher from a larger target group.Lastly, many companies such as Starbucks are also starting fruit bars and or juices which can ultimately become a threat to Innocent but in order to remain market leader in the smoothie industry Innocent should stick to their 100% natural policy and due to the current health trend the healthy consumer will prefer Innocent over the others. There are very few competitors that can also incorporate the 100% natural policy, they will also add sugars, additives or pasteurization processes which makes the product become less healthy hence if Innocent remains a healthy product they will always have a competitive advantage.ReferencesBBC Business news. (2011). Richard Reed, Innocent Drinks. Available from: http://www. bbc. co. uk/news /business- 11551271. [Accessed 01. 11. 2011]BBC, (2010). 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