Geographic Information Sytems :: Significant Elements of GIS

Significant Elements of GIS GIS unites graphical representation of characteristic items (e.g. trees, houses, wells, streets, and so forth.), properties of items and apparatuses to oversee conduct of the guide objects. This makes, GIS goes far past the administration of ―backgroundâ€â€" mapping as it gives genuine positional mindfulness in backing of leading examination crosswise over various wellsprings of data. Incorporating ERP and GIS The test is that organizations actualize different requisitions for a reason; every is intended to help the needs of a specific client assemble in performing their particular assignments. Geological data frameworks (GIS) have the capacity of putting away, controlling, examining and imagining the geospatial data through maps. Frequently, picturing the information on maps is more applicable than taking a gander at the plain information, which is the reason GIS has started to be incorporated in key business requisitions additionally. The collaboration between GIS and ERP data frameworks, offers focal points to any endeavor in both store network administration and advertising ranges. Logistic firms oblige shorter request cycle, more dependable conveyances, better warehouse administration and they must hold their transportation fetches under control. With a specific end goal to accomplish these objectives, the reconciliation of GIS, GPS and ERP innovations was proposed by researchers and by business programming sellers. In the promoting region, ERP/GIS incorporation might be helpful in all showcasing blend segments: item (fragment clients by lifestyle and item advancements and classification), value (usage of estimating strategy relying upon area), spot (site choice and conveyance directing) and advancement (create target geocode clients, comprehend client using). With a coordinated framework, a client can do a cluster of capacities that could affect corporate running cost by fulfilling the accompanying: Enhance asset usage, examination, wellbeing and stake trustworthiness through a capacity to speak to work requests and warnings at their accurate area on a GIS map. Enhance operational proficiency (e.g. wellbeing, dispatching) by speaking to work exercises that effect a zone as polygons on the guide and ID of briefest courses. Enhance workforce gainfulness by giving more extensive program based access to ERP and GIS based possessions, upkeep, and client data. Lessen administration sets back the ol' finances by stretching an on-line organization toward oneself entrance with fundamental business forms (e.g. report flawed gear). Hoist client administration and choice making with stretched access to ERP information from the GIS map. Associations that incorporate GIS with ERP fit in with

Art Appreciation Essay

Art has been part of the human culture for thousands of years. It has facilitated the development of civilization for centuries. The history of the world would not be the same without the affluence of creativity and innovation. One particular period in art history that clearly manifested the artistry and ingenuity of many artists was the Baroque period. The art style practiced during this era was described as the â€Å"harmony spatial relationships, both real and illusionary, with spectacular visual effects† which were executed using technical brilliance. Most of the artworks produced during the Baroque period had â€Å"highly developed naturalistic illusionism, usually heightened by dramatic lighting effects, creating an unequaled sense of theatricality, energy, and movement of forms† (Heindroff, 2006). More so, this art movement flourished throughout Europe wherein several talented artists have emerged who had helped shaped the contemporary art style. Morover, at that time, one of the famous themes for the visual arts was landscape painting. It is in this field that Annibale Carracci, an Italian painter, Claude Lorrain, a French artist, and Jacob Van Ruisdael, a Dutch artisan, have all excelled. They have produced some of the most exquisite masterpieces such as the Landscape with Flight into Egypt (c. 1603) by Carracci, A Pastoral Landscape by Claude Lorrain (c. 1650) and View of Haarlem from the Dunes at Overveen by Van Ruisdael (c. 1670). In Carracci’s Landscape with Flight into Egypt, he showcased the beautiful landscape of Rome with two human figures and a donkey at the foreground. This piece of art was commissioned by â€Å"Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini Pietro Aldobrandini for the family chapel in his palace in Rome, later known as Palazzo Doria Pamphilj†during the year 1603. More so, this painting was considered as the most notable input of Carracci in the veduta genre which was described as the precise and detailed depiction of urban cities and rural landscapes that that attracted the â€Å"sense of local pride of the wealthy Dutch middle class. † Carracci successfully established â€Å"a balanced, idyllic landscape beauty, with a perfect sentimental fusion of the holy characters, their stories and the landscape† (NationMaster. com, 2005). Furthermore, he was one of the pioneers to create a landscape painting wherein the figures were not the focal point but it was the landscape that took the spotlight. This style was later on followed by Carracci’s pupils such as â€Å"Domenichino and Lorraine. † Overall, â€Å"Carracci was remarkably eclectic in thematic, painting landcapes, genre scenes, and portraits, including a series of autoportraits across the ages† (Bookrags. com, 2006). Meanwhile in France, Claude Lorrain was also acclaimed for his landscape paintings. Lorrain was born in Lorraine, France but he actually grew up in Italy. By 1633, he was able to launch his name as one of the most leading landscapist and he was also commissioned by high-ranking officials of the Italian society such as the â€Å"popes, cardinals, ambassadors and kings† (Barewalls. com). In A Pastoral Landscape, Lorrain was commissioned by â€Å"Prince Lorenzo Onofrio Colonna. † Like Carraci’s painting, this one also had no distinguishable subject. The figures present where â€Å"sitting and the standing shepherds† accompanied by 3 women (Miller, 2007). The background is a scenic view of the city alongside the pastoral landscape of the rural area. Lorrain’s landscape paintings illustrated a â€Å"sharp contrasts of light and shades. † More so, it was believed that Poussin influenced him to highlight spatial composition in order to reach a â€Å"complete balance between masses of trees and of architecture. † By 1650, he was able to hone and enhance his creativity and art skills and these were manifested in the â€Å"classical balance of the composition which is subtly altered by soft light† (Barewalls. com). For Van Ruisdael, he was also a landscape artist who studied painting in Germany but lived in Amsterdam. Van Ruisdael was able to establish his own studio where he trained several talented artists. His â€Å"dramatic, naturalistic rendering of landscapes and his emotional use of color support his reputation as the principal Dutch landscape painter in the second half of the 1600s. † Additionally, he mastered the use of proportional compositions, meticulous draftsmanship, and thick impasto which were all evident in the â€Å"View of Haarlem from the Dunes at Overveen (Getty Museum, 2008). This landscape painting showed the panoramic view of Haarlem, Van Ruisdael’s hometown. The red roofs of the houses and the clouds in the sky were the main visual elements in the painting. These three paintings showcased the different approaches of three artists from three different countries during the flamboyant period of Baroque. Annibale Carracci, Claude Lorrain, and Jacob Van Ruisdael gave a new meaning to the word landscape painting wherein they transcended reality in a two-dimensional canvases infused with their own respective personalities and techniques. References Barewalls. com. (n. d. ). Claude Lorrain. Retrieved December 6, 2008, from http://www. dropbears. com/a/art/biography/Claude_Lorrain. html Bookrags. com. (2006). Annibale Carracci. Retrieved December 6, 2008, from http://www. bookrags. com/wiki/Annibale_Carracci Getty Museum. (2008). Jacob van Ruisdael. Retrieved December 6, 2008, from http://www.getty. edu/art/gettyguide/artMakerDetails? maker=517 Heindroff, A. M. (2006, July 24). Baroque Art. Retrieved December 6, 2008, from http://arthistory. heindorffhus. dk/frame-Style10-Baroque. htm Miller, M. (2007, February 16). Claude Lorrain Landscape Drawings from the British Museum at the Clark. Retrieved December 6, 2008, from http://www. berkshirefinearts. com/? page=article&article_id=218&catID=3 NationMaster. com. (2005). The Flight into Egypt (Annibale Carracci). Retrieved December 6, 2008, from http://www. nationmaster. com/encyclopedia/The-Flight-into-Egypt- (Annibale-Carracci)

Implementing Relationship Marketing: the Role of Internal and External Customer Orientation

Developing an internal and external customer orientation will facilitate the implementation of relationship marketing principles by businesses. Relationship marketing highlights the need for an external customer orientation, which in turn raises the need for customer-oriented employees. Employees will only be customer-oriented if an internal customer orientation is evident in the business. Four constructs pertaining to the internal customer orientation of small- to medium-sized textile retailers in the North-West Province were identified.After checking for internal consistency, effect sizes were determined for these constructs analysing the practical significance of employees’ as opposed to management’s opinion on the underlying constructs. Similarly, four constructs referring to the external customer orientation of the same businesses were identified. The four identified constructs underpinning an external customer orientation were also checked for internal consistency and the practical significance of customers’ as opposed to management’s opinion on the underlying constructs was determined through effect sizes.It was found that the identified businesses lack both an internal and external customer orientation. Recommendations are made to improve internal customer orientation for the sake of an improved external customer orientation. An improved external customer orientation will facilitate implementation of relationship marketing principles in these businesses. INTRODUCTION According to Saren and Tzokas (1998:187) researchers in relationship marketing have come to realise that there is a need for detailed empirical evidence on how this approach could be implemented in order to promote a beneficial customer-business relationship.Morris, Brunegee and Page (1998:360) and Fornier (1998:343) argue that a lack of knowledge and consensus about relationship marketing and the activities involved in the implementation thereof has led to diffi culties in operationalising the construct. This study addresses this concern by arguing that a relationship marketing orientation is facilitated by management being sufficiently orientated to the needs and expectations of employees (internal customer orientation) as well as to those of customers (external customer orientation).The internal and external customer orientations of small- to medium-sized textile retailers in the North-West Province were investigated by means of effect size analyses. The goal and objectives of the study are subsequently explained, followed by a theoretical exposition on the interface between relationship marketing as well as internal and external customer orientation. A description of the research methodology is followed by the empirical results on internal and external customer orientation of the businesses that participated in the study.Conclusions are drawn from these empirical findings. Finally, managerial implications are discussed based on the concl usions. GOAL AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY The goal of this study is to explore internal and external customer orientation as elements facilitating relationship marketing implementation by small- to medium-sized textile retailers in the North-West Province. This goal will be achieved through the following objectives: to explore the interface between relationship marketing, and internal and external customer orientation; †¢ to report on empirical findings related to internal and external customer orientation of small- to medium-sized textile retailers in the North-West Province; and †¢ to consider the managerial implications of the above empirical findings for managing these retailers. FOSTERING INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL CUSTOMER ORIENTATION TO FACILITATE THE IMPLEMENTATION OF RELATIONSHIP MARKETINGSheth and Parvatiyar (1995:261) define relationship marketing as â€Å"an orientation that seeks to develop close interaction with selected customers, suppliers and competitors for va lue creation through co-operative and collaborative efforts†. This definition suggests that businesses should pursue profitable business relationships. Morgan and Hunt (1994:22) define relationship marketing as â€Å"all marketing activities directed towards establishing, developing and maintaining successful relational exchanges†. This definition sets out the ultimate goals of relationship marketing, but does not show what relationship marketing entails.Attempts have been made to address this limitation by emphasising the dimensions and activities of relationship marketing. These dimensions and activities include (Too, Souchon and Thirkell, 2001:290): †¢ customer retention; †¢ product benefits; †¢ quality improvement; †¢ customer service; †¢ customer commitment by the business; and †¢ frequent contact with the customer. The first four issues refer to the business’ customer orientation while the last two relate to customer relationsh ip management practices.Kotler and Armstrong (2001:9, 667-681) indicate that relationship marketing is the process of creating, maintaining and enhancing strong value-laden relationships with customers and other stakeholders. According to this definition, relationship marketing does not end with customers, but includes all stakeholders (i. e. employees, channel members, stockholders and others). Relationship marketing advocates the establishment of long-term and profitable relationships between (both internal and external) partners or stakeholders (Zikmund and d’Amico, 2001:8).These relationships are not naturally sustained and should therefore not be taken for granted (Day, 2000:25). Long-term and profitable relationships are only established when trust, commitment and service are inculcated in relationship partners (Buttle, 1996:8-9). Stakeholder relationships also have to transcend functional boundaries (Beth, Burt, Copacino, Gopal, Lee, Lynch and Morris, 2003:67-68). Rela tionship marketing advocates that an engineer should, for example, take time to see how he could best design the product to satisfy the customer’s needs.The same applies to the accounting department – it should develop credit and payment terms that will best suit the customer while it needs also realising a profit for the business (Ostroff and Smith, 1992:22-23). In this respect Day (2000:24-30) argues that the ability to create and maintain relationships depends, inter alia, on the integration of key internal processes in the business. The implementation of relationship marketing therefore depends on a well-developed internal (employee) and external customer orientation.Taher, Leigh and French (1996:218) argue that in order to be customer-oriented, marketers should provide exceptional performance in quality, delivery and cost competitiveness (i. e. customer orientation). The business should also understand how customers measure value and how these value expectations c an be met. To win orders, a business should exhibit an external customer orientation that manifests the relative strength of the business in relation to its competitors (Koufteros, Vonderembse and Doll, 2000:526).To attain lasting customer orientation careful attention should be given to detail, meeting promises and swift response to the requirements of customers – i. e. competitive capabilities. The same authors define competitive capabilities further as a business’ ability to meet customer expectations compared to its competitor’s ability to do the same. Day (2000:28) argues that a customer orientation should be â€Å"immediately evident† in the mindset of those who deal directly with the customer. Kennedy, Goolsby and Arnould (2003:77-79) found that the development of an external customer orientation will be facilitated by: leadership. Staff members must experience â€Å"an unbroken circuit of passionate, sincere, unified and committed leadership from top levels to local managers†; †¢ centrality of customer requirements and performance feedback. This will also assist in achieving the required inter-functional co-ordination and alignment; and †¢ collection and dissemination of external customer data. This data, however, only becomes conducive for customer orientation development when it is widely circulated in the business to become a shared organisation-wide platform from which decisions are made.Patterson and Smith (2001:438) also support this notion. It is stressed that customer orientation should be explicit, otherwise the business risks over-serving unprofitable accounts and wasting resources that might be allocated to profitable customer groups. In this respect Reinartz and Kumar (2002) distinguished between customer groups and suggested ways of managing each group for increased profitability. Relationship marketing raises the need for customer orientation, which in turn raises the need for customer-oriented employees.Bendapudi and Leone (2002:83) indicate that customers form relationships with employees who serve them, and that these relationships may be stronger than the customer’s relationship with the business represented by the employee. Employees will not be able to develop social relationships with customers if they were not recruited and trained with this in mind (Patterson and Smith, 2001:438). Without customer oriented employees it will be difficult to implement customer orientation because employees are the ones who have to make it happen.If customer-orientation is lacking, the implementation of relationship marketing will suffer. This is because dissatisfied customers will never develop good relationships with the business (Engel, Blackwell and Miniard, 1995:47). Attracting, developing and motivating employees as internal partners foster an internal customer orientation (Conway and Willcocks, 2000:81). Day (2000:28-29) recalls the efforts made by many businesses to m ake employee satisfaction and retention a top priority in recognition of the damage that high employee turnover and disgruntled employees can cause to customer relationships.Employee performance and attitude play an important role in service delivery to external customers. Employee satisfaction impacts on employee attitudes, which in turn influence employee performance and interaction with external customers. Employee interaction with external customers obviously plays a pivotal role in the ultimate success of the business (Lewis, 1989:41). Strauss (1995:62-77) distinguishes between internal customer satisfaction and employee satisfaction. He argues that internal customer satisfaction entails employees’ satisfaction with the performance of internal suppliers (workflow satisfaction).Internal customer satisfaction should, however, not be confused with employee satisfaction – i. e. the satisfaction of employees with their working conditions. He argues further that interna l customer satisfaction reflects in external customer satisfaction. For purposes of this study the identified relationship between internal and external customer satisfaction is acknowledged, but the distinction between internal customer orientation and employee satisfaction is rejected. Employees in small- to medium-sized textile retailing businesses are not dependent on intricate internal workflow processes.As they derive their workflow inputs directly from management, a distinction between management inputs (relating to Strauss’ employee satisfaction concept) and workflow inputs will be vague. Strauss (1995:63) himself points out that if managers are prepared to take responsibility for quality and act as role models, they can expect commitment from their employees – which will eventually result in improved bottom-line results. Sasser (2003) explains the relationship between employee and customer satisfaction in terms of value the business creates for employees, who in turn will be able to create value for customers.If the value created for employees and customers exceeds costs, value is being created for investors. Internal customer orientation is the result of a conscious management decision about the â€Å"organizational setting† (Strauss, 1995:68). Concerning this organisational setting Malherbe and Pearse (2003:2-12) found significant positive relationships between job enrichment characteristics and job satisfaction, and eventually between job satisfaction and service quality in the South African retail industry.Chaston (1995:332-349) investigated possible actions to establish a stronger internal customer orientation in UK clearing banks, and concluded, inter alia, that management’s improved understanding of internal customer needs will be helpful in this regard. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Small- to medium-sized textile retailers from six selected towns and cities in the North-West Province were investigated to assess their interna l and external customer orientation. Retailers from Brits, Klerksdorp, Lichtenburg, Mafikeng, Potchefstroom and Rustenburg were sampled.These cities and towns were chosen on the basis of their geographical representation in the province. They also represent the largest centres of economic activity in the province. A sampling frame of 61 small- to medium-sized textile retailing businesses were constituted by using information obtained from the Potchefstroom City Council, the Bureau of Marketing Research and Braby’s databases. The sampling frame included independent tailoring businesses, textile, fabrics, and cloth retailing businesses (retailers, merchants or distributors).Forty-eight (N1=48) of the 61 business owners/managers were willing to participate in the study and were subsequently interviewed. One hundred and four (N2=104) employees, as found on the 48 premises, were also interviewed. Finally, two hundred and thirty (N3=230) customer responses were gathered using avail ability sampling for periods of two hours at each of the 48 business premises. Separate questionnaires, incorporating close-ended structured items, were developed for management, employees and customers as three separate groups of respondents. Owners/managers had to respond to 77 items.Thirty one (31) of these items pertaining to internal customer orientation were duplicated in the employees’ questionnaire, requiring respondents to respond to them from an employee’s perspective. Thirty-three (33) of the items on external customer orientation related to owners/managers were also put to customers, requiring them to evaluate it from their perspective. Respondents had to respond to the items according to a four-measure Likert scale where: 1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = agree and 4 = strongly agree. The responses were statistically processed with the help of SAS software (SAS Institute Inc. 1999). The reliability of constructs associated with internal and external customer orientation was tested by means of Cronbach’s Alpha values and average inter item correlations (Clark and Watson, 1995) as reported below. The practical significant difference between specifically defined constructs for employees and owners/managers (internal customer orientation) as well as for customers and owners/managers (external customer orientation) is indicated by using effect sizes. Effect sizes are calculated as availability sampling was used instead of random sampling.As explained above, the six cities and towns, the businesses who participated in the study, the interviewed employees and the interviewed customers of these businesses were not randomly selected. Statistical inference is therefore not relevant. This eliminates the use of t-tests and p-values as a technique to analyse statistically significant differences between means of responses from management and employees (or management and customers). Unlike t-tests, effect sizes are independent from s ample size, as a standardised difference based on the maximum standard deviation between compared groups is calculated (Steyn, 2000).The effect sizes (d-values) were calculated by using the following formula (Cohen, 1988:20-27): [pic] where: †¢ d = effect size; †¢ [pic] is the difference between means of two compared groups (e. g. management and employees or management and customers); and †¢ [pic] is the maximum standard deviation of the two compared groups. To calculate effect sizes, the maximum standard deviation is used instead of a mean standard deviation to allow for a more conservative approach to practical significance (Steyn, 2000). Cohen (1988:20-27) gives the following guidelines for interpreting effect sizes: †¢ d ? 0. indicating no practically significant effect; †¢ d ? 0. 5 indicating a moderate effect that could be significant if more data had been collected; and †¢ d ? 0. 8 or larger indicating a practically significant effect. EMPIRICAL RESULTS Empirical results regarding both the internal and external customer orientations of small- to medium-sized textile retailers in the North-West Province are subsequently discussed. Empirical results: internal customer orientation Four constructs associated with internal customer orientation, as well as the items comprising these constructs, are reported in Table 1.The items comprising these constructs are also indicated. The four constructs exhibited Cronbach’s Alpha values all greater than 0. 6, indicating â€Å"good or adequate† reliability of the measurement scale (Clark and Watson, 1995:315). Average inter item correlations ([pic]) are also reported in Table 1. Clark and Watson (1995:316) indicate that the average inter item correlation should also be used as a measure of internal consistency. They recommend that the average inter item correlation should lie between 0. 15 – 0. 50.It is evident from Table 1 that the average inter item correlations fall within this range, indicating internal consistency of the constructs. TABLE 1 CRONBACH’S ALPHA AND AVERAGE INTER ITEM CORRELATIONS FOR INTERNAL CUSTOMER ORIENTATION |Construct |Cronbach’s Alpha |Average inter item | | | |correlation ([pic]) | |1. Management’s involvement with employees |0. 752 |0. 1 | |Applying management principles strictly | | | |Seeking people who can think of new strategies | | | |Culture of supporting staff | | | |Treating staff the same as external customers | | | |Creating an enabling culture for staff creativity | | | |Exercising staff chievement recognition and reward | | | |Following fair disciplinary action | | | |Development and training of staff | | | |Appreciation of staff contribution to business success | | | |Conducting formal performance appraisals | | | |Making staff a part of solutions | | | |Aggressively competing for talented staff | | | |2. Employee development through communication and participative management |0. 713 |0 . 4 | |Promoting staff learning | | | |Encouraging a learning culture | | | |Practising participative management | | | |Marketing the business’ vision to staff | | | |Creating messages to inspire staff action | | | |Understanding the reality staff experiences | | | |Consulting staff with regard to leadership style | | | |Maintaining a two-way channel of communication in the business | | | |3. Acknowledgement of employees’ expertise and potential |0. 659 |0. 5 | |Incorporating knowledgeable staff inputs into business decisions and activities | | | |Acknowledging that staff is the business’ primary asset | | | |Involving current staff in the process of appointing new staff | | | |Giving responsibility and accountability to staff for their respective performance | | | |areas | | | |Collaborating with staff to draw up strategies, plans and objectives | | | |Arranging for staff to visit customers | | | |4. Satisfaction of customer needs is realised through an integra ted effort by all |0. 623 |0. 5 | |involved in the business | | | |All departments working in collaboration with customer focus in mind | | | |Successfully satisfying customers’ needs and wants | | | To indicate the practically significant differences between employees’ and owners’/managers’ view on internal customer orientation, effect sizes were calculated on the respective constructs. These effect sizes are reported in Table 2. Practically significant effects on constructs 1, 2 and 3 are revealed. Construct 4 only revealed a small effect.TABLE 2 EFFECT SIZES FOR INTERNAL CUSTOMER ORIENTATION Construct description |Business owners |Employees |Effect size | | |Mean |Standard deviation|Mean |Standard deviation| | |1. Management’s involvement with employees |3. 103 |0. 447 |2. 787 |0. 445 |0. 707 | |2. Employee development through communication and |3. 137 |0. 504 |2. 767 |0. 504 |0. 734 | |participative management | | | | | | |3. Acknowledgement of employees’ expertise and potential |3. 086 |0. 557 |2. 674 |0. 554 |0. 40 | |4. Satisfaction of customer needs is realised through an |3. 489 |0. 695 |3. 327 |0. 750 |0. 216 | |integrated effort by all involved in the business | | | | | | Empirical results: external customer orientation Four constructs relating to external customer orientation, as well as the items associated with these constructs, are reported in Table 3. The correspondent Cronbach’s Alpha values for the four constructs are all above 0. 6, indicating â€Å"good or adequate† reliability of the measurement scale (Clark and Watson, 1995:315).Average inter item correlations ([pic]) are once again reported in Table 3. These correlations fall within the range of 0. 15 – 0. 50 indicating internal consistency of the constructs (Clark and Watson, 1995:316). TABLE 3 CRONBACH’S ALPHA AND AVERAGE INTER ITEM CORRELATIONS FOR EXTERNAL CUSTOMER ORIENTATION |Construct |Cronbach’s Alpha |A verage inter item | | | |correlation ([pic]) | |Building customer relationships through the efforts of employees is important |0. 762 |0. 7 | |Attracting, maintaining and enhancing relationships with customers | | | |Establishing and maintaining profitable customer relationships | | | |Maintaining a mutually committed long-term oriented relationship with customers | | | |Moving customers from one level of the relationship to the next | | | |Extending priority treatment to regular customers over irregular ones | | | |Interacting with regular customers | | | |Forging long-term committed relationships with customers | | | |Employees developing business relationships with customers | | | |Fostering an intimate understanding between customers and staff | | | |The business’ offer to customers is geared towards satisfying customer needs |0. 665 |0. 6 | |Delivering an offer exactly as required | | | |Extending quality and durability as the business’ core offer | | | |Deliverin g superior offers not available from competitors | | | |Continue improving the total offer to customers | | | |Delivering a tailor-made offer to customers | | | |Viewing delivery of the offer from customers’ perspective | | | |Delivering customer satisfaction |0. 642 |0. 6 | |Offering high levels of customer service | | | |Managing and maintaining the delivery of customer satisfaction | | | |Successfully satisfying customers’ needs and wants | | | |Custom fitting service to customers’ particular requirements | | | |Delivering services to the satisfaction of customer desires | | | |Customer orientation of employees |0. 619 |0. 6 | |Instilling customer orientation among staff | | | |Formulating and realising a customer orientated mission statement | | | The effect sizes on the respective constructs for the practically significant difference between customers’ and owners’/managers’ view on external customer orientation are reported in Table 4. Practically significant effects are revealed on constructs 2 and 3, while construct 4 exhibit a moderate effect size. Construct 1 revealed a small effect size.TABLE 4 EFFECT SIZES FOR EXTERNAL CUSTOMER ORIENTATION Construct description |Business owners |Employees |Effect size | | |Mean |Standard deviation|Mean |Standard deviation| | |1. Building customer relationships through the efforts of |3. 303 |0. 557 |3. 100 |0. 442 |0. 364 | |employees is important | | | | | | |2. The business’ offer to customers is geared towards |3. 408 |0. 423 |2. 928 |0. 465 |1. 32 | |satisfying customer needs | | | | | | |3. Delivering customer satisfaction |3. 528 |0. 445 |3. 202 |0. 399 |0. 733 | |4. Customer orientation of employees |3. 360 |0. 591 |2. 991 |0. 635 |0. 581 | CONCLUSIONS From the above empirical results the following conclusions regarding the internal and external customer orientation of small- to medium-sized textile retailers included in this study can be drawn. Internal custom er orientationFrom the effect sizes reported in Table 2 it is evident that management and employees differ significantly (practically significant effect sizes) on the following issues: †¢ management’s involvement with employees (construct 1). Management feels more involved with employees than employees experience it to be the case ([pic] > 0); †¢ employee development through communication and participative management (construct 2). Management is of the opinion that employee development takes place through communication and participative management, while employees do not experience the same ([pic] > 0) ; and †¢ acknowledgement of employees’ expertise and potential (construct 3).Management feels that employees expertise’ and potential is acknowledged, while employees do not feel the same ([pic]> 0). An small effect size was calculated for construct 4. Management and employees therefore agree that satisfying customer needs is realised throu gh an integrated effort by all involved in the business (construct 4, Table 2, [pic] and [pic] both > 3. 0, indicating agreement on the Likert-type scale). External customer orientation As far as external customer orientation, as reported in Table 4, is concerned, owners/managers and customers differ significantly (practically significant effect sizes) on: †¢ whether the businesses’ offer to customers is geared towards satisfying customer needs (construct 2).Management feels it to be the case, while customers differ significantly ([pic] > 0); and †¢ delivery of customer satisfaction (construct 3). Customers feel significantly less satisfied than management thought them to be ([pic] > 0). As far as customer orientation of employees is concerned, a moderate effect size was determined (Table 4, construct 4). Owners/managers are of the opinion that employees are customer-oriented ([pic] > 3. 0) while customers do not experience it to the same degree ([pic] & lt; 3. 0). Table 4 also indicates an insignificant effect size on construct 1. Management and customers therefore agree that it is important to build customer relationships through the efforts of employees (construct 1, [pic] and [pic] both > 3. 0). MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONSWhen considering the internal customer orientation of small- to medium-sized textile retailers participating in this study, it is evident that employees do not feel appreciated by management. Employees indicated that management is not involved with them and that their expertise and potential is subsequently ignored. They also do not feel empowered through communication or participative management initiatives (or rather the lack thereof) from management’s side. Management and employees agree on a basic principle of the marketing concept (Barnes, 2001:7), namely that customer satisfaction is dependent on an integrated effort of all involved in the business. From the above it is clear that a certain amount o f goodwill is evident among employees.Employees recognise the importance of an integrated effort of all involved in the business to satisfy customer needs. It is recommended that management of these businesses capitalise on this aptitude of employees. Communication with employees on matters relating to management of the business will encourage employee participation, paving the way for the implementation of participative management techniques. This will draw on the latent expertise and potential of employees and will ultimately contribute to employee development and a sense of management involvement. As indicated by the empirical results, small- to medium-sized textile retailers participating in this study lack a pronounced external customer orientation.Customers do not regard the businesses as being geared towards satisfying their needs. They are also of the opinion that employees of small- to medium-sized textile businesses are not sufficiently customer-oriented. By improving thei r internal customer orientation as suggested above, the external customer orientation of businesses may take a turn for the better. This may contribute to greater customer satisfaction as the interaction between customers and (more appreciated, and thus better satisfied and motivated) employees improve. After all: management and customers both agreed that the efforts of employees are important to build customer relationships.This is consistent with Sasser’s (2003) exposition that an improved internal customer orientation will contribute towards a better external customer orientation that will result in more satisfied customers.

Article # 4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Article # 4 - Essay Example that patients who received â€Å"sustained care† were â€Å"70% to 71% more likely to be non-smokers after six months than the patients who got the usual care, the researchers found† (Kaplan). The intensive program would cost $4,910 per quitter in the first year and $2,670 per person for the succeeding years (Kaplan). The elements of strategic management that are included in the article are strategic financial and human resources that are part of the strengths of the organization, and they are related to the article because these resources demonstrate how essential they are to successful anti-smoking programs. The financial resources refer to the money needed to buy the medication, pay for health care services, and sustain the toll-free support line for quitters. Human resources pertain to doctors, counselors, and help line operators who provide various health care services and support. These resources are strengths because they provide effective point-of-service and after-service consultation for patients. The article indicates that the entire service delivery process must work together in providing effective and efficient care for patients who want to quit smoking. Point-of-service and after-service are critical because quitters need different approaches that fit their health care needs, and these approaches must be sustained until they are ready to stop smoking without them. For these patients, they need both free sustained medicine and counseling/help line support to help them quit. After-service processes can reinforce the effectiveness of point-of-service processes. The basic meaning of this news is that a health care organization should have successful therapies or programs to maximize their strategic resources. This article will help me succeed in this class and in my employment by showing me the value of different services in providing successful health care. In class, this article made me more aware of analyzing service processes and their

Mediterranean fruit fly Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Mediterranean fruit fly - Assignment Example Most countries which have been infested have had both successful and unsuccessful eradication programs. New Zealand too has a Biosecurity system which renders protection against such invasions and has been so far successful in keeping the country free from these pests. The main aim of this paper is to understand what the Biosecurity system and policies of the country are effective at during incursion responses and suggest ways in which such responses can be strengthened to ensure better protection against bioinvasions of the Mediterranean fruit flies. There are various kinds of fruit flies found in different regions of the world. The ones belonging to family Tephritidae are considered the true fruit flies. The most important members of the family are the Bactrocera sp and the Ceratitis sp. The Mediterranean fruit fly is binomially known as Ceratitis capitata and ranks among the top most destructive agricultural pests. Its origins lie in tropical Africa but today it is found around the world and is not only highly destructive but is highly invasive as well (Huang et al,2009,p1239). The med fruit fly can be easily distinguished from any other fruit flies because of its characteristics. An adult fly is slightly smaller when compared to an adult common housefly. An adult fly measures about 3-5 mm. The body is straw yellow in color with brownish tinge. The thorax is off-white in color. It bears some marks on the wings but the most prominent one the presence of a broad yellow band across the middle portion of the wings. It also has ocellar bristles (bristles present on the dorsal part of the head) and its eyes are purplish in color. The adult male flies can be segregated from the female flies because the presence of a long pointed expansion on the top of the orbital setae (present between ocelli and eyes) (IFAS,2010). The life history activity of Medfly is dependent on temperature and it completes its life cycle under optimum conditions of temperature. The

Subject Position and Discourse Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Subject Position and Discourse Analysis - Essay Example The Person Peter Smith is in seven situations all at the same time. Subject positioning is the constant shifting from one position to another because a person has many subject positions in one discourse. A person, in a small group gathering, could be the mother to a daughter, an Asian woman to a white man, a fat person to a slim one, a Florida resident to a Virginian and the like. Discourses are then constructed to fit the given situation or position a person is in. The defining in positive of one position will generate the "other" position automatically. The woman position means there is a man position. Fraser said that Hegemony is the "discursive face of power".(Bingham,1994) In a hospital situation, when a patient is being interviewed by the doctor, the doctor tries to get as much information regarding the medical history of the patient. The patient, not knowing a medical jargon, will try to explain, in a subject position of patient/doctor, her complete medical history. People will look at a pregnant woman and they will understand her body language and give her advices (Davies and Harre, 1990). The viewer crosses the threshold of the concrete work of art. ... (Hein,1998) In a storytelling situation, When a person speaks of his or her personal pains in a love relationship, the listener sympathizes with the speaker because they both feel the same situation. Van Langehove and Harre describes this as the giving of ACCOUNTS (accountive) of other people's behavior. PERFORMATIVE. This occurs when the student PERFORMS. This is evident in the social and communicative skills that a person makes in front of a real live audience. Prosody is an integral part of the reading process. Teachers aid the students, in the growing years, to gain the competency need for communication using verbal PERFORMANCE to be beneficial to both the reader and the listener.According to Miller, Steiner & Larson in 1996, the integrated language arts & reading program as well as the reading and writing lessons are authentic activities that can be incorporated into content areas such as science. (Bucher,2003) Performance positioning can also be greatly enhanced with the use of Prosody. This is language put to music. Prosody uses patterns of pitch, rhythm, and loudness that a person uses creates native sounding and emphatic speech. (Wennerstrom,2001) When a person does an activity together with the other person this is called performance positioning.Discourse analysis only discusses the details or micro of what message a person communicates. Whereas, subject positioning is more macro. It takes into consideration the economy, business and the entire environment when the communication was sent from the speaker to the listener.Subject positioning is better than discourse analysis because discourse analysis explains the effect of what has

Breast Cancer Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Breast Cancer - Research Paper Example Morphologically breast cancer is divided into two basic types depending on the anatomic site affected by the tumor cells; Ductal and lobular carcinoma. As the name indicates, the ductal type originates form the ducts or lactiferous tubes of the breast while the lobular carcinoma originates from the stroma or lobules of the breast responsible for lactation. On the basis of penetration through the limiting basement membrane, the breast cancers are divided into two basic subtypes; Invasive and non-invasive. The non-invasive types are classified into two types which include ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) and lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS) on the basis that tumor cells have not invaded the adjacent tissues (Chen 2010; McPherson et al 2000). The causes or risk factors of breast cancer can be divided into two major categories which are modifiable and non-modifiable. Non-modifiable risk factors are age, geographical variations, family history, menstrual history, associated familial syndromes and genetics. The increase in the age of a woman is also a risk factor for breast cancer. Women who fall between the age group of 40-50 are at the highest risk of getting this malignancy. Moreover, if family history shows positive cases especially in first degree relatives like mother, daughter or sister, then it also increases the chances to develop breast cancer. Breast cancer has been associated with genes which include BRCA1 and BRCA2 which have been linked to the causation of familial breast cancer. These are genes located on chromosome 17 which undergo autosomal dominant mutations and are responsible for 5% to 10% inherited cases of breast cancer. The sporadic breast cancer is considered to be caused by mutations in several tumo r suppressor and oncogenes like p53, c-myc, c-myb and bcl-2. Moreover, the over expression of HER2/neu also has a very strong relation to breast cancer. The age of menarche and menopause also plays an important role in the incidence of breast