Marketing Literature review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Marketing - Literature review Example literature review will look at the effects of the product placement on the consumer behavior and how likely are the product placement to change consumers mode of buying a certain commodity. It is crucial for people to know how to use product placement positively (Johnson, 2009). Product placement is the use of diverse types of media to make people conscious of different products and services when they are entertained through watching. Its development dates back upto 1896, when it was used by Lumiere brothers in their short film â€Å"washing day in Switzerland† and they advertised soap. It was introduced by Henri Lavancy who was the film director and publicist for the soap company but, it became popular in the 1930’s when the sound movie was introduced. For example, in 1934 in the movie, â€Å"It happened One Night,† the star Clarke Gable featured bare chest and sale of men’s shirts reduced; therefore, use of the movie is a strong tool of product placement (Johnson, 2009). It gained popularity with the years, but in 1980’s, it became more successful when the movie â€Å"Extra Terrestrial† by Steven Spielberg advertised Reese Pieces and increased its sales by 65%. The 80’s was the turning point of product placement where there was a working partnership between the movies and the commercial sector. According to Mary-Lou, product placement is necessary because moviemakers need money for their movie production; therefore, they will turn to the commercial sector to provide the money and them to provide the services of product placement (Johnson, 2009). Product placement in Sweden developed in the 1990’s when the real first commercial commenced, this was due to strict government regulations on media operations. It has been embraced in the recent past, for example, where TV shows get sponsorship from the commercial sector in SVT. In Kanal 5, the home improvement show â€Å"Room Service† was sponsored Marlamastana which is the trading association of painters. To

The Globalization At Macro Level Business Essay

The Globalization At Macro Level Business Essay This is a small assignment based on the question of Globalisation is inevitability for both manufacturing and service organisations .As an SME in your country, what does this challenge mean for business sustainability This report is consists of many factors which have adverse implications on the overall goals of the organisation. In this cutthroat competitive milieu globalisation has played a pivotal role in the ever-changing environment of the organization. Further, constant change in the culture and system of the organisation has their own significance in the organizational culture that will be discussed exhaustively in this report. Research Methodology GLOBALIZATION: Arguably, the biggest single challenge facing managers today is globalization: the creation of a unified world marketplace (Dunphy et al, 2007). According to (Brunes.B, 2009)Allied to globalisation, however, are three other challenges: how to achieve sustainability in a world of dwindling natural resources and increasing environmental pollution, how to manage an increasingly diverse workforce and at a time when business leaders are considered less trustworthy than ever before, how manage ethically. On the other hand (Jones, 1995; Deresky, 2000) thinks that globalisation is the name of economic phenomenon, which is related to the integration and Convergence of economic systems through the growth in international trade investment and capital flows (Jones, 1995; Deresky, 2000). While some authors has suggested that it is a merely combination of four factors such as social, cultural and technological elements. (Giddens, 2002) assures that with the help of globalization death of the distance is certainly possible. But, it also makes it possible for the organisation to cross the boundaries and start the cross culture communication with other organisations. According to the Reich (1998) shows some agreement amongst the writers that what is driving globalisation? Whether its intensification of international competition, economic liberalisation, removal of trade barriers or advent of new technologies. But some authors has unfortunately shed some light over the factors which brought about many conflicts between the stakeholders who see it as a force for global good and those who see it as the oppression of poor nations by rich ones (economist, 2002, Hosbawm, 2008; Klein, 2001; Stiglitz, 2007). (Brunes, 2008) According to a research more than half of the 100 larges t economies in the world were private corporations. Further, the sales of Ford and General Motors combined were greater than the combined GDP of sub sharan Africa. Which clearly proves the point of conflicts when globalization was seen as a force of global good and a oppression for the poorer community. Globalisation has its own implications that may hamper the organisations some ways or either helps organisations to grow and sustain in the market for a longer period. Sustainability stems from the same notion of having a globalized milieu with a set rules pre-defined by the regulatory bodies as per the behaviour and pattern of the organisation. (Brunes.B, 2008) has defined sustainability by highlighting the characteristics of sustainable organisations. There is a wide spread view that governments must solve environmental problems. However, the major multinationals outstrip many of the worlds national economies in terms of wealth and power, and their global coverage allows them to escape the requirements of particular governments seeking to place severe environmental restrictions on them. They can simply move their operations across national borders. In addition to that, (Dunphy et al, 2007) argues that it is highly likely that an organization the one who operates in competitive and hostile market, it has to work as per the desire of the stakeholders for increased profit with the need to act in the wider and long term interests of society as a whole. Therefore, the organisations in the volatile external environment are not potent enough to sustain in a scenario whereby managers do not have the authority to divorce their actions from the wider impact they have on society. Adding that, (Brunes.B, 2008) nor can they ignore the fact tha t a sustainable future of the organisation needs a non-volatile open and close system in the external environment of the organisation. In order to, bring about the sustenance in the system of the organisation. Incremental and transformational approaches should be intertwined in a way, which will then help to create a sustainable organisation. While, (Docherty et al 2002) proposed a theory that sustainability is not about the relationship of organisations to their environment, or the depletion of natural resources. But, sustainability encompasses three levels: individual, the organisational and societal. It is evident with the recent studies that sustainability is not merely the name of satisfying the needs of some group of people at the cost of others. But, it is a name of a cohesive process, which creates bond between the customers, personnel owner and society. Due to this reason, many organisations in Asian countries were unable to survive or stop functioning properly at some point. 2.2. Work Force Diversity:As Jones et al (2000) defines that: Diversity is dissimilarities differences among the people due to age, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, socioeconomic background and capabilities. It has very severe implications if it is not handled well. Any organisation can easily collapse in this highly globalised environment. In many transnational organisations people are engaging with the workforce of other culture and creating a synergy as per the requirement of production or service based company. In the case of Muslim Charity, which has made strategic alliances or co-partnering with the regional companies to deliver their projects in far fetch areas. (Brunes, 1998) By and large, migration and recruitment has been the important factors for transnational organisations as well. But, in high context cultural (leadership, 2008) countries preference of male over the female is always evident. Though, it has been proved time and again that organisations in economically developed countries accepted the workforce of minority (women). Yet (Cummings and Worley, 2001, 429-30) are in consent with each other at one point that is contemporary workforce characteristics are radically different from what they were just twenty years ago. Employees represent every ethnic background and colour range from highly educated to illiterate, vary in age as well and parents may have dual income or physically or mentally challenged. (Brunes, 2008) point outs that culture is not about the fact that all work forces possess the common work ethos and reacts in the same way. But, Ricks (1999) raised a very critical point about cultural differences that they are the most significant and troublesome variables encountered by the multinational company. Failure to understand this very point comprehensively can mislead managers of the organisations. This is where managers made many blunders. For instance, Muslim charity has a very diversified culture to extent whereby, sometimes conglomerates unable to resolve the disparities that pops up every now then. The main rationale behind is the differences in the culture. Moreover, (Hofstede, 1980) successfully determined the similarities and differences between national culture and the implications of these for the management of different groups. For example, workers from UK-Muslim Charity will be less effective if they to manage a group of employees from south Africa-Muslim Charity. On the contrary of that, (Cumming and Worley, 2001) came up with the brilliant concept that comprehensively covers all the dimensions of diversity. Diversity results from people who bring different resources and perspectives to the work place and who have distinctive needs preferences expectations and lifestyles. Therefore, In order to gain a competitive advantage organisations must establish a division that appraise the performance of the work force. Although, (Hofsetede, 1980) work on understanding the culture was criticised enormously by other authors on national cultures. Further, Hofsetede work showed some resemblance with the contemporary work of Handys (1986) in which he explained that four forms is striking. But, it has been observed from the past research work that in many organisations both role and task cultures are prevalent simultaneously. For instance, in most countries Muslim Charitys organisational environment is purely based upon the role culture. While, in low context culture where only task culture is prevalent only. In addition to this, both task and role culture is prevalent in the headquarter milieu. (Rogers et al, 2006) Bain and Company found a very interesting research on culture that: Culture is at the heart of competitive advantage, particularly where it comes sustaining high performance. Bain company research found that nearly 70 percent of business leaders agree: Culture provides the greatest source of competitive advantage. In fact, more than 80 percent believe an organisation that lacks a high performance culture is doomed to mediocrity. 2.3 Indvidualism v collectivism: (www.geert-hofstede.com) Geert Hofstede had explained about the Individualism and collectivism that they are the two ends of a framework. One, which is defined as a loosely-knit social framework in which individuals are expected to take care of themselves and their immediate families only. Its opposite is collectivism in which preference is given to the tightly-knit framework in society in which individuals can expect their relatives or members of a particular in-group to look after them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty. In the context of Muslim charity transition in the culture of the organisation is taking place where a framework of individualism is not viable in the system and subsystem of the organisation. Instead, Collectivism is replacing individualistic culture incrementally in the internal environment of Muslim Charity, whereby; internal stakeholders are performing conditionally in exchange of the reward system. Which is expected from the group of employers. Thus, the culture of individualism within the strategic business units or the divisions of regional offices of Muslim Charity is on the lower side. 2.4 MASCULINITY FEMININITY: Further, Hofstede highlighted more on the importance of the masculinity femininity. The masculinity side of this dimension represents a preference in society for achievements, heroism, assertiveness and material reward for success. Society at large is more competitive. Its opposite, femininity, stands for a preference for cooperation, modesty, caring for the weak and quality of life. Society at large is more consensus-oriented. By and large, preference to the masculinity over femininity has been removed from the ethos of Muslim Charity and a constant incremental change has enabled the system to adopt a policy whereby, equality has become the preference of charitable trust. However, some policies should be adopted whereby, everyone has the power to contribute and internal stakeholders expects a reward system purely based on fair policy specifically at the international stage. It has been observed in the 3rd world countries where organisations have not been able to adopt fair policy for both the sexes. Resulting, a great loss of human capital. Although, according to the (www.wolframaalpha.com) statistics of 2008 in Pakistan. Unemployment ratio remains to a 8%. But, the feminine community were ignored in all the sectors. One more critical point put forward by (Brunes.B, 2008) Hofstede, cultural dimension model that every organisation has its own orientation. Which is classified into two kinds; namely, employee oriented and employer oriented. First form of orientation is purely revolves around the employees preference to their personal goals which are entirely not align with the organisational aims. Employees try to attain these personal goals on the expense of organizational objectives. On the contrary, notion of employer orientation is the way of engaging employees and realign their orientation to attain common objectives of the organisation. In the culture of Muslim Charity this has been the most critical point. This is where management has not yet been able to successfully execute a work plan for employees. Resulting, a horrendous consequences faced by the organisation which ultimately hampered the working capital of the organisation. Employer orientated guidelines are required at national and int ernational platforms that will exhibit synergy at all levels in the hierarchy of the Muslim Charity. 2.5 Degree of leadership style: In (Brunes.B, 2008) Hofstedes cultural dimensional theory the very last element that is known as leadership style. It plays a vital role in the organisational culture as a whole which really transform and shifts it two a new level. (Brookes, 2008) There is no iota of doubt that different leadership styles bring various outcomes for the organisations, which are then used effectively by the leaders as per the requirement. (LD, 2008) Leadership styles are classified into three categories, which are as follows: a) Participative, b) Authoritarian c) Delegative. In the internal environment of Muslim Charity more or less all the styles of leadership are required. Due to low coercive power the flow of information in the scale of chain of command never transfer from operational core to strategic apex (bottom to top)(Bpp, 2008). As result of this, untimely delays in the decision-making makes it even harder for senior management to take S.M.A.R.T (G. jones, 2010) decisions. Occasional authoritative style will help organisation to attain its goals. However, long-term dictatorial culture in the high context cultural organisation can bring numerous conflicts. Which can cost heavily to any organisation, which has certainly deteriorated the internal environment of Muslim Charity. Pace-setting style which will enable the Muslim charity to engage employees to bring about their individual skills and delegate and participate in the operational activities that will increase the leverage of the business in the long run. 2.6 POWER DISTANCE: This refers to the response to power and authority at different levels of a hierarchy no society functions without some hierarchy and power distances. In cultures where power distances appear low, their informally prevails or is more subtle and is not necessary responding to a formal structure, close work supervision would be presented in cultures with wider power distances, the members of that society accept and respect hierarchy and even encourage it. Manager would expect autocratic decision-making. Employees work is organised according to what the next line of managers expect. So, (Brunes.B, 2008) Hofstede has looked at one very interesting dimension here as he recognizes social inequalities in many countries and work environments these are a part of life. (G. Jones, 2010) interestingly sub-classified the power distance in various categories. As per the classification Muslim Charity falls under the category of power distances coercive and legitimate power. Where power is centred at one place and a very limited delegation of authority prevails in such organisations. In particular low context culture organisation possess such distance powers. In the context of globalisation and conjunction of two power distances can some time possess uncertain threats to the open and close systems of the organisation? As a result of this processes within the organisation discontinue itself, which will then create hindrance in the flow of information of hierarchical structure. 4. Uncertainty Avoidance According to (Hofstede, 1980) the fourth dimension that Hofstede distinguishes is the uncertainty dimension. The spectrum is made up of uncertainty avoidance on the one end and uncertainty tolerance on the other end. Further, it can be defined as the extent to which the members of a culture feel threatened by ambiguous or unknown situations, this expresses itself in the work place for example in the need for predictability. This dimension refers to the extent of the need to avoid uncertainty in life. Where this dimension is high, the effects of conflict, organisational politics, and competition at the work place are more feared. Naturally stress levels are higher, individuals are less entrepreneurial or independent. At the other end of the spectrum the opposite applies because the work force is willing to take risk, be less resistant to change and have less stress and job anxiety. To combine both power distance and uncertainty avoidance, consider figure 1.0 which is as simplified extraction from Hofstedes work to serve as an example only. Diagram of hofstede model. According to the model Pakistan falls under 3rd quadrant where the power distance is always very low in comparison with the uncertainty avoidance. In such circumstances due to high uncertainty avoidance whereby everything is structured in a society and rules that are required in the society are very stringent. In case of Muslim Charity uncertainty tolerance in the UK division is very low in comparison with the other end of the uncertainty spectrum. Collectivist . Pakistan 4Quadrant 3rd Quadrant Individualist . Britain 2nd Quadrant 1st Quadrant Feminine Masculine [figure is taken from Brunes. B, (2009), Managing Change] Fig1.0 Britain East Africa Uncertainty Avoidance Power Distance Low Distance High Distance [figure is taken from Brunes. B, (2009), Managing Change] 5. Globalization at macro level: As numerous writers has written a lot about globalization at various occasions. By and large the fundamental definition of globalization will change in the context of macro and microeconomics level. According to (www.Beerkens.info) the characteristics of the globalisation trend include the internationalizing of production, the new international division of labour, new migratory movements from south to north, the new competitive environment that generates these processes and the internationalizing of the state making states into agencies of the globalising world. 6. Key Drivers for Globalization: One of the authors had come up with 4 key drivers of globalisation. A change small change in any of the following drivers can have critical implications on the economic outlook of any country. Which will thus, slows the growth of companies. a) Customer drivers, b) Cost Drivers, c) competition Drivers, and Country Driver. As far as the cost driving force in terms customer is concerned will challenge any organisation when the demand and satisfaction need of all the customers converge and becomes a common need altogether. Afterwards, it would become very easy to run the business on a common platform. Cost Drivers: it is very crucial to recover or save the cost in the production of the service. While, at the same time company enables itself to increase its economies of scale that will allow the company to spread the cost and thus reduce or mitigate the financial risk on geographical bases. Henceforth, Muslim charity can achieve the economies of scale by sale volumes globally. Country Drivers: are the key fundamentals drivers that may bring about the increase in the overall profit of the MNCs (Multinational National Corporation). Economic trade policies (Whittington, et al, 2009) and (Porter. M,1982) reduction trade barriers can really thrive the profitability of any business. In addition, to this globalization also underpins the regulations related to standardization of either product based businesses or serviced based. As a result of that, meeting those standards can reduce the chances of speeding the cross-cultural business. Further, for Muslim Charity reaching to the wider audience requires a common cross communication tools and ethical standards, which will easily facilitate the business to run openly on, cross communication bases. Competition Drivers: (Whittington et al 2008) in this cut throat competition at global level. It is very important to determine the optimal capability profile of the competitors, which ensures their level to do business at local or progress it towards next level of globalization. According to (G.jones, 2008) competitors has the biggest say of driving the focus of competition from one level to another or divert the focus from one thing to another. (Porter.M, 1982) whenever the rivalry increases specially with the entry of new entrants into the market and they emerge from regional level to compete at international level. Resulting a profound impact of globalization will become evident for longer period. For instance, Muslim Charity is entering at the gross root level in charity sector of Bangladesh to penetrate the market by competing with the movers and shakers of the market at domestic level first and then progress further towards global level. According to (G. Jones, 2010) for a company to become less competitive or show no incline towards the competition will depend upon some factors as shown in the figure. Firstly, it has to remain competitive localised by having a certain niche strategy in the market, which is shown in the 1st quadrant of the figure. For a geographical space in the market occupying a certain space of product scope for sustainability perspective will bring about the competitive international broad range strategy which will push company to become globalised but at the same time remain uncontested. In the context of Muslim Charity moving from quadrant 2 to 4 is to expand the business by being local. Instead tapping the international market on regional and geographical level while, keeping the current competitive position. While, option 5 whereby the company has to sustain itself by closely reading the market condition and determining the ability of the competitors to market the transition. Product Scope Local or National Competitive Localised Niche Strategy 1 Competitive Localised Broad Range Strategy 3 International or Regional Competitive International Niche strategy 2 Competitive 4 International Broad Range Strategy Geographic market scope Globalise 5 [figure is taken from Brunes. B, (2009), Managing Change] 7. CONCLUSION: Finally, Intricate and demanding processes of Muslim Charity requires rigorous and intensive exercise of all the 6 dimensions of Haofstede model which will enable it to become more competitive for longer period of time. Further, it will make Muslim Charity to become order winner instead of order qualifier. If the points which were discussed comprehensively and the flaws comprehended in the report rectified practically. There is a possibility that Muslim Charity will certainly gain competitive advantage and it will sustain in the market. .

Essay on Things Fall Apart and Heart of Darkness -- comparison compare

The Tragic Fall in Things Fall Apart and Heart of Darkness      Ã‚   In Achebe's Things Fall Apart and Conrad Heart of Darkness, the role of Africa is intertwined. It is seen as extremely primitive and the African's belief system is belittled. The two heroes in the novels also are very similar, and most especially in one aspect. They both experience a downfall. This is a vital theme throughout both books. Aristotle would say it is the fall of two "tragic heroes". However, even though these two characters share these similar incidences, the readers are given several different perceptions of one event. The colonization of the Europeans paid a heavy toll on the Africans and their way of life. The Europeans are consistently portrayed at the outsiders. Okonkwo is also quite familiar with Africa, yet Marlow was not. In his eyes, the Africans are seen as the outsiders. Okonkwo's father, Unoka, was seen as a person who was very lazy and who made no contribution to their society. This made Okonkwo hate him and any trait of any kind that correlated wit h that of his father. One way that this is displayed is that "Okonkwo never showed emotion openly, unless it be the emotion of anger. To show emotion was a sign of weakness, the only thing worth demonstrating was strength" (Achebe 28). Okonkwo's greatest weakness was fear, yet this a contradiction in it's own terms. His fear of fear played such a big part of his adult life that it came back to haunt him. He never wanted to be considered a victim. Yet, ironically, he was only setting himself up to self-destruction and tragedy. Because of fear, it drives him pull his machete and strike a blow, first killing Ikemefuna and later the Court Messenger. Finally, this drives him to be physically abus... ...d, but instead because he could have been so great. Instead, he becomes cruel, unfeeling, and greedy. The true tragedy is that Kurtz did not become the great man that he could have been. Okonkwo and Kurtz were two men from the opposite ends of the spectrum. Their beliefs did not coincide, but they did have one aspect in common. They both brought themselves to the point of a tragic fall. For some reason or another, they both had to leave their homes. This is the marking of their fall. As soon as they do leave, the downfall begins, and it does not stop until there is nothing else to lose.    Works Cited Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, 1959. Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1988. Daniel, Patsy J. ConradÕs Heart of Darkness. Explicator. 54(3):164-165.      

Beginnings

All great things In life start with an even greater beginning. When I was 12 years old I Joined my first competitive swim team; I swam for the downtown Suffolk YMCA. At first I only swam because of all of my friends that swam and I wanted to spend more time with them, but then realized how much more potential I had In swimming. After that moment I started to become more and more dedicated to swimming. I began to realize the true competitive nature of swimming and I liked it. Swimming has become a big part of my life since then and the beginning is the most important part to all good decisions.I first started swimming to be with friends and to make new friends. After we were on the same team we started to challenge each other and race one another to see who was the fastest. That's how I began to see the competitive nature of swimming. Nick Burton and Joey Kauffman are two guys I started racing me near the beginning of my swimming career and I still race them now to get better. My fami ly always supported me when I went to my meets. My brother would be swimming In the same meet, he could be In the next event, but he always took time to cheer for me; Then, I started to do the same for him.My mom Is the only reason could even do swimming, without her I would never have had a ride to any practices. Karen Keenan was my first coach on ODDS; she is the reason I am where I am at today. The first team I ever joined the YMCA cancelled the entire swimming team program. I had a choice put in front of me: stop sports all together, Join ODDS, or find another mediocre swim team. I chose to Join ODDS; ODDS stands for Old Dominion Aquatic Club. Once I joined ODDS I began to practice more and more. I spent more and more and more energy on practices and I could feel myself getting better, so it was equivalent to a new beginning in my eyes.I was more prepared to race on a higher level and I wanted to. After I got my first tastes of true competition, all I wanted was more of It. I be gan to practice harder than I ever had before In order to get to the next level. The next level for me was to get 3 state championship time standards and make It to the high performance group. Once I made t there I did not stop I still wanted to get better and try my hardest; there is always a higher goal. My next goal was to make national standards; I did not stop there, my new goal is to make the US Open and race against the top athletes in this country.In Conclusion, Swimming is one of my greatest achievements; I only made it this far because of how I began in swimming. Beginnings are one of the most important parts of beginning something new, along with Influential people, A lot of dedication, and a strive to do more than you ever have before. Those key factors are the reasons some people get so good at what they do. Just always remember, Beginnings are Important. Beginnings By loggias All great things in life start with an even greater beginning. When I was 12 years more time w ith them, but then realized how much more potential I had in swimming. Supported me when I went to my meets.My brother would be swimming in the same meet, he could be in the next event, but he always took time to cheer for me; Then, I started to do the same for him. My mom is the only reason I could even do swimming, The first team I ever Joined the YMCA cancelled the entire swimming team Aquatic Club. Once I Joined ODDS I began to practice more and more. I spent more After I got my first tastes of true competition, all I wanted was more of it. I began to practice harder than I ever had before in order to get to the next level. The next level for me was to get 3 state championship time standards and make it to the high important.

Amazon.com and Porter’s Five Forces Essay

Introduction In the early 1990s, the Venture Capitalists and Banks reviewed business models of books, CDs, electrical appliance retailers which were majorly confined to brick and mortar stores and simple operations. But they would be surprised to view the business model of Amazon.com Inc, which has used the internet to gain competitive strategic advantage and personify most of innovation metaphors. This analysis of Amazon.com Inc has Porter’s five forces model, which consist of Supplier’s Power, Customer’s Power, Threat of New Entrants, Threat of Substitutes and Degree of Rivalry, respectively, being conscientiously used in respect to our chosen company, to determine whether Amazon has benefitted in terms of competitive advantage by its different-than-others business model, or has it not. The rest of this research answer is organized as follows: first we shall look at why we chose Amazon, and then we shall study the five forces given in the same progressive order as above. Th is is finalized by our conclusion, where the research answer is stated clearly. Why Amazon Being one of the largest online retail companies in the world (Forbes), Amazon.com has clearly stated its position in the dominant market analogies. Emerging in the early 1990s (the era of .com boom) the firm was one of its own kinds of innovation. The firm sells everything from books, DVDs to kitchen appliances and jewellery. The firm’s other operations are: providing content production and computing services to various firms. So, all this was basic data about the company which looks great on paper, but the quality in Amazon which led us to choose it as our company was persistence towards transforming. To survive and grow in today’s complex business world where words like stability don’t matter anymore, you need to change and transform constantly according to situation and time, which Amazon has done very nicely. First of all, it survived through the dot com bust due to it having an innovative business model with less cost formula. Then to expand, they went further than books to bring in most of easily shippable goods. Amazon came through once again to satisfy a new customer – IT community, which required new resources, and a new business model. This was in 2002. In 2007, it further innovated to launch the kindle eBook reader (which currently is a  tablet computer). This product required Amazon to be a hardware producer as well as digital media software. And the success of Kindle showed that Amazon had the ability to respond to market needs, and to transform, not just once, but time and time again, to deliver the demanded product for both customer satisfaction and growth of its business. These support our choice of choosing this company. Supplier’s power There are two major supplying fields for Amazon’s (according to the sales structure of the firm), namely; electronics and book sectors. With those suppliers related to supplying books in terms of their bargaining power have proved to be at a minimum (or limited) level ’cause of low concentration that directly adds to the firm’s value overtime. The out-coming factor to such relativity is large number of book sellers present in the market. In such manner, Amazon is readily open to select its own suppliers for books once there is a distortion of material nature of things. Other sector that the firm’s sale figures are heavily dependent upon is electronics. In such case the bargaining power for electronics suppliers is relatively high. The only reason present for this explanation is the low costing structure that Amazon presents for its electronic goods to sell. In such manner they are not collecting their deliveries straights from the parent companies rather they opt for its second dealers, which have more bargaining power (price mechanism that outcry’s the related market dependences). The nature for such power is the presence of fewer dealers for the supply or if the firm wants to switch to other suppliers then their pricing could be different (generally higher than market price). On an overall we can say the bargaining power of suppliers fluctuates from low to mid-high (taking overtime factor into account that directly proportions the book sector) Customer’s Power Such power is generally related in the manner how a customer selects, carry forward and considers his / hers buying options. In terms of online retailing, customers are having high bargaining power. If they see other  sites selling at different costing they’ll shift the choice of not selecting Amazon.com. Sometimes customers are over possessive in terms of product selection. So they want hand touch to their selections. In accordance to that online retailers are at a diminishing level as there are markets to look for (such could also be a case of buyer’s customisation). Another way to look for such scenario is the manner in which the industry provides product quality. Amazon.com being regarded as a superior firm in terms of product quality, so its costumers purchase more on it rather going to the markets. This also adds value to the firm by creating more customers over the years. Considering the fact that Amazon.com do not operate any of its retail outlets, there are saving, accordingly. It’s in the business nature of the firm to transfer that saving directly to buyers in terms of low pricing of its goods, and in that causative approach Amazon.com enhances its value. Being more customer centric firm, it satisfies more customers and due to that reason the firm has more offering than any other industry in such field. To conclude, the above reasoning for the customer’s power to bargain and industry’s ability to attract more, we say that it fluctuates mid to high. Threat of New Entrants Majorly this relates to barrier to entry into the current segment of the market (online retailing). In such field (at eh present financial scenario) threats of new entrants are low. Beating Amazon.com is at its performance scale is a tough job for any new .com enterprise. It may take years for a new firm to get into form working in present financial world (concerning stock market fluctuations, investment hedges etc.). For any E-commerce firm to develop requires a start-up strategy and stable working environment; that is only possible when there a suitable financial induction and better approach to day-to-day problems. Strong distribution and supply network is the basic necessity for an online retail company. The manner in which big firms such as Amazon.com, eBay, Alibaba; operates, they have evolved overtime to get their goods to the end consumers. Geographic factor is better for the firm’s competitive advantage. Amazon.com withstand a better than any other firm, by operating as product and service differentiation to attain maximum locality it can. (a view in accordance to the working nature  and size of Amazon.com) http://www.wikiwealth.com/five-forces-competitor:amazon:geographic-factors-limit-compe Pricing structure and capital requirements always pose a extradition to new retailing firms as these costs associated to them are usually high. An economy of scale is widely looked upon a changing mechanism for a firms operating level. Amazon.com has this factor in high nature as it is able to limit its cost governing operations which in case of new entrants is high. Governmental policies could sometimes hold a newly formed company not the start up or disrupts its operations in middle as it might not be in the proper nature of working (legal concerns) (Chapter 2 page 85 book – exploring corporate strategy) Threat of Substitutes Having market for goods diversified, there are number of options available to purchasers while selecting a particular choice of their own. Online stores, direct outlets, discount shops, stands; goods can now be purchased anywhere and any-time (no need for going online every-time; but yes the comparison can be made). Taking example for book purchase; such can be bought from number of book shops or news-stands at much more cheaper price (taking a margin of interest). Other could be music selection; iTunes, radio stations or recording on one’s own are close substitutes for online purchase. Only thing to argue here is the nature of physical presence or being virtual about a shopping item. By taking such notice, threat of substitutes in case of Amazon.com is high. Degree of Rivalry Market adjusts in accordance to the compelling nature of firms to attract consumers. More product diversification leads to empowering market to produce rivalry among providers of it. Amazon.com being of the key player in such market capture faces strong competition from its rivals (such as eBay, Alibaba, Barnes & Nobel, Wal-Mart etc.) Growth rate [in %] (Source: NASDAQ) INDUSTRY 2014 2015 Amazon.com 195.36 132.47 Wal-Mart 3.82 9.10 Barnes & Nobel -189.66 2.38 Ebay 8.65 14.11 Amazon.com hold a strong future forecasts in terms of growth rate. (could also be a measure to predict industry development towards market behaviour) But when we consider sales revenues into account for the year 2012-13 http://www.forbes.com/sites/walterloeb/2013/07/24/alibaba-a-threat-to-amazon-ebay-walmart-and-everyone-else/ Source: Forbes In billion $ Alibaba 170 Amazon.com 95 EBay 75 There is a clear presentation of how market can integrate companies in terms of revenue capturing in the same field of online retailing. This could either be short-term or long-term depending upon attempts to gain dominance over one another (chapter 2 page 85 book – exploring corporate strategy) In terms of entry and exit barriers, there is a moderate rivalry between firms. The explanation to that is the profit making what the investors see in retail sector. https://www.extension.iastate.edu/AGDM/wholefarm/html/c5-200.html Consequently, Amazon.com stands on a better scale of performance as when it started operating there were low exit barriers that made the company to add to its value. But these current times, investments and barriers are getting more complex that puts pressure on firms which are stepping into recent marking to perform above. The firms that hold strong grounds (as mentioned EBay, Alibaba etc.) are giving intense rivalry to Amazon.com. Conclusion Porter’s Five Forces Model Conclusion Supplier’s power Mid-High Customer’s Power Mid-High Threat of New Entrants Low Threat of Substitutes High Degree of Rivalry Mid-high Viewing the tabular conclusion gets us to further conclude that Amazon.com Inc has increased its competitive advantage, in a good degree, one might say.