Introduction for Currys Essay Example for Free

Introduction for Currys Essay For this assignment I am investigating Currys and I will be getting information about my investigation from the customer service of Currys, but to do this I will need to know also a little bit about the customers profiles and what the customers think about Currys products and services that they provide. Background: Currys is the leading choice for families buying electrical devices for the home and other businesses. Currys also delivers their goods to their customers seven days a week to households and businesses throughout the UK. While delivering new products the Group collects 750,000 ends of life white goods appliances, fridges, freezers, cookers, computers, printers, radios, televisions, phones and washing machines, from customers homes each year, of which, until November, approximately 300,000 were fridges. Until November 2001 these were recycled or refurbished by a network of contractors, relieving Local Authorities, who would otherwise be obliged to collect or receive these products, of a significant burden. Many units were refurbished and resold at low cost, providing cheap products for families on low income (including through create, a Dixons supported project to re-train long term unemployed people as engineers). Others were exported for further use and the remainder recycled and disposed of following CFC gas extraction meeting environmental standards. In effect Dixons Group provided a cost-free channel for the disposal of this domestic waste and one which minimised the generation of extra journeys by householders or local authority collectors and is thus more environmentally acceptable. This shows how much Dixons group has been acting ethically. Services that Currys provides and competitive background: For my assignment, it is important to understand why retailers offer such services. Electrical retailing is highly competitive, like: Currys, Comet, John Lewis, Debenhams, House of Fraser, Argos, Powerhouse, Dixons and many thousands of small independent retailers all compete for trade in what many customers view as a product market. Low margins demonstrate the offer and that is the competitive nature of the industry. Because this is a competitive market, price pressure is intense and retailers will normally try to offer the lowest price in the market. So the customer gets used to the idea that prices will be similar in most outlets. Therefore there is a strict pressure to make different either by offering exclusive products or by excelling on service. That is why all retailers will offer competitive service offers including suitable delivery and after sales. No retailer will want to risk for too long a competitor being able to offer a new service recognized. As yet the leaving of take-back has had incomplete things on sales; however one of the two main peaks for sales, the hot summer months and this is the period of sales and a period that businesses look to maximise their sales. Customers profile: Most of customers of Currys are from a mixed group of age, gender and races. Most of customers that I personally see coming to the store of Currys in Chadwel heath are parents or just adults who are able to purchase products by credit cards or any other ways of payments. There are also other customers of Currys who are of an average age like teenagers who are able to pay musical items or games. Currys does not have any geographical customers because their customers are most of the time locally. Some customers have their information stored into Currys system due to their customers loyalty and due to Currys market researches. Currys gives to its customers a guarantee of purchasing items from their stores in case that the customer is not satisfied with the products or services that Currys provides to them, then the customer can take the products back and get a replacement or if possible get the customer can get his/her money back but this depends with the case. Some times if Currys cannot sort out the problem that the customer has with the products, they usually give to the customer the phone number of the company or the manufacturer of that particular product for further information or instructions about the usage of the product.

New product development

New product development Need in the Market The need for an eBook in the market was evident. In the information age, where volumes of data and information need to be exchanged, created, examined and organized, there was a huge void to be filled by a handy device capable of being carried around, having an interface big enough like a book, but not the limited capacity of a paper book. The books were omnipresent, even though depleting in number with the internet coming up. But for extended reading, the computer screen was too inconvenient. It took too much time to load up. It was unwieldy to carry around. Not everything was available in a format youd want it in. To look into what exactly the need was, lets us look deeper into some specific points. To fill the current void, the market needed a product that: Was not heavy on the environment, like books. There was too much paper and ink being used for relatively miniscule amounts of information. Replicated the book in terms of readability. The computer screen was strenuous to look into for too long. Further, the computer screen could not be seen in sunlight. It also was very hard to read at angles. Facilitated exchange of information without necessarily the constriction of holding a device and keeping the users eye fixed on it. For example, in the ultra mobile culture that is emerging, many users are either driving a vehicle for a big fraction of the day. They may be users who are working around the house too. Books, because of the undivided attention they required, were slowly being drifted away from. Did not require storage space. Books took up a lot of space. Theres only so much information that can be kept in the library in the form of books. Was not heavy. Books are heavy if you realize that just to move from your living room to the park outside with a few big books is not inviting. If youre travelling, its almost impossible. Was updated in real time. Books cant be, and computers are, as we saw, unwieldy. We now see how the Kindle fulfilled these needs. The Amazon Kindle and how it filled the gap The answer was an eBook reader. One such product is the Amazon Kindle. A quick glance at its features, benefits and how it fits with the market demand identified above is presented. Amazon Kindle: a software/hardware platform by Amazon.com for displaying e-books and sometimes, other digital media. The 3 versions are: Kindle, Kindle 2, and Kindle DX. The Kindle First Generation, which was Amazons first device, was released in the US in 2007 (on November 19). The Kindle uses an E Ink brand electronic paper display. It downloads content using Amazons Whispernet (propriety online store) using mobile networks. The Kindle 2 devices use the American ATTs service and some roaming partners that give wireless access internationally. Kindle does not have to be connected to a computer, and Amazon Whispernet does not require a subscription. All Kindles come with free access to the Internet over mobile networks in the US. Here is a look at the features and benefits you can find with Amazon Kindle. The screen looks like real printed paper. Kindle also became desirable because of its 3G connection service in more than 100 countries. Users are able to get the first chapters of books before purchasing them. The actual download takes 60 seconds. The Kindle DX features a larger screen and more memory to hold more e-books. The screen size is 9.7 inches which is pretty large for comfortable reading. Even the available memory of 3.3 GB is enough to keep to the tune of 3500 books. The screen boasts not having any glare or illumination. This doubles up as a major power saver. In addition, the words of the book, once displayed on the kindle, remain that way without consuming any power. So, in the domain of utilization of power, it is very efficient. About 500,000 book titles are available at its Kindle Store for international customers. Competitive analysis Porters analysis for the eBook industry Entry Entry barriers to the e-book industry are few, if any. The manufacturing process is relatively simple; except for the screen, the technology is well developed. The Kindle uses an electronic paper display manufactured by E-Ink Corporation and this same display can be found in the Sony Reader, the iLiad, the Cybook Gen3, and the Readius. However, there is a challenge of signing agreements with publishers so that the material can be released as an e-book. Perhaps the biggest obstacle that all the companies are facing right now is the lack of growth in the industry. Jinke has been in the business since 2000 but has sold only 150,000 readers, the most of all the companies. Rivalry The e-book market is still in an early stage and because of this, market price levels are still uncertain. There are significant variations in price between different producers of e-book readers. Amazon entered the market at a significantly higher price than Sony and many other competitors, but there are also other readers selling at $700 or more. Because the consumer base is so small, all producers would rather see it expand than steal customers from other manufacturers. Consequently, there is more incentive for manufacturers to improve their product and increase interest in e-books than to compete on price. Supplier Bargaining Power Supplier bargaining power is derived from the number of suppliers, availability of substitutes, and costs associated with switching to alternative inputs. There are two main inputs to the Kindle: screen and network technology. The technology used to create the specialized display on the Kindle is manufactured by the E-Ink Corporation. E-Ink is the leading firm in the electronic paper market and is a supplier to a variety of companies, including Sony and other e-book manufacturers. Since the electronic paper market is relatively new and does not consist of many firms, substitutes are limited. Given the state of the electronic paper market and the fact that electronic paper is a recently developed technology, E-Ink needs customers and hence E-Ink does not have much supplier bargaining power over Kindle. This could change in the future, depending on the popularity of the Kindle and the development of the electronic paper market. Amazon uses EVDO network technology, supplied by the Sprin t network. Kindle users do not need to pay to connect to the network, as Amazon covers the cost. Large EVDO network providers also include Verizon and Alltel, with other competing networks using a standard other than EVDO. This means that Amazons choice of networks for Whispernet is fairly limited. While not an issue now, if Kindle becomes much more widespread in the future, the company could face a holdup problem with Sprint if Sprint wants more of Amazons profits. Thus Kindles display and network suppliers currently do not have much bargaining power, but it is highly likely that if Kindle succeeds, supplier bargaining power will increase and may become a problem for Amazon. Publisher bargaining power is also important to consider since the Kindle is fairly useless without e-books. To increase the size of Amazons e-book library, it needs to obtain publisher permission for each book it converts. Publishers have a great deal of bargaining power in this respect; while there are many publishers, for each title one publisher has a monopoly. Thus, if Amazon wants a specific book for its Kindle, it will have to pay monopoly prices to the publisher. This effect can already be seen in the market for printed books, where much of the profit on a book is retained by the publisher. For a large publishing company like Random House, its profits are on the order of 10% of its revenue. On the other hand, a book retailer like Barnes and Noble has drastically lower profitability, with profits less than 1% of revenue. Thus publishers have a great deal of supplier bargaining power since they essentially decide which books become e-books and whether those books will be availa ble for the Kindle. Publishers can also require that Amazon sell only versions of their books that include Digital Rights Management (DRM), an attempt to prevent illegal copying of the content. Consequently, all books sold through Amazon on the Kindle are available only in the proprietary AZW format. Most competing readers also specialize in their own DRM format. Buyer Bargaining Power Kindle buyers have little bargaining power. Bargaining power is derived mainly from the ease of switching to a competing product and the value of the product to the buyer. Because both the Kindle and competing readers use DRM schemes, books purchased for the Kindle cannot be transferred to other manufacturers devices and vice versa. This is not the primary reason for DRM, but it is advantageous from Amazons point of view because it increases switching costs and helps to create buyer lock-in. The market for e-book readers is still young and small, so the majority of e-book reader buyers do not have a significant existing electronic library. Existing libraries are not yet an important factor in shaping consumers purchasing decisions. However, once the market matures a significant portion of sales will be to existing owners of e-book readers. Thus buyer bargaining power will decrease over time and be very weak in the mature market. Substitutes The main substitutes for Amazon Kindle are libraries, both brick and mortar and online bookstores, and Google Books. However, unlike the online bookstores and Google books, Kindle does not require a computer. Kindles free wireless connectivity which uses the same network as advanced cell phones enables buyers to shop from the Kindle Store directly from the Kindle device. Instead of having to travel to the local library or waiting for books to arrive from online bookstores, this wireless network can download a book in 60 seconds providing customers a more efficient and direct access to books. Although Kindle does not yet have access to as many books as some of these substitutes, it is progressively adding more books. Also, the Kindle stores everything a purchaser buys online; in this way, if a customer loses the Kindle, the reading material will not be lost, as would be the case if you had a paperback. The readers also do not have to deal with heavy or numerous books because of Kindle s light portability. The Kindle display looks like ink on paper, which is easier on the eye than LCD screens and comparable to printed media. It can also increase text size which is a clear advantage over books. Physical bookstores allow customers to browse books before purchasing. Amazon attempts to emulate this feature by allowing users to download and read the first chapter of any book for free. E-book versions of new releases and New York Times Best Sellers are $9.99, saving on average 60%, and many other books can be found for less. As for Google Books, Googles aim is to help people find and discover books and learn where to buy and borrow them. Although there are books that can be read online from start to finish, this is only the case for books in the public domain and out of copyright. For these reasons, Kindle compares favourably to these substitutes. Complements The size of the e-book library, other file types such as .pdf, .doc, and .jpeg, and the service to convert files to Kindle format are all complements of Amazon Kindle. The most important compliment required is the number of books offered to Kindle users. The day Amazon Kindle was released last year, the Kindle Store had more than 88,000 digital titles available for download and now has over 115,000 Books, newspapers, magazines, and blogs. Amazon also offers an email-based service that converts .html, .doc, .jpeg, .gif, .png, and .bmp documents to their Kindle format, AZW, or can load unprotected Mobipocket or plain text content. This AZW format is only for the Kindle which is a good strategy on Amazons part to tie the complement to the product. Kindle also supports formats for audio in the form of MP3s and Audible 2, 3, and 4 audiobooks, which must be transferred to the Kindle over USB or an SD card. With a variety of book options and supported formats to accommodate more customers a nd their various needs, the Kindle is a simple and convenient alternative to reading a paper copy book. Major Competitors This competitor analysis only compared the products on the basis of the technology but to sell the product, there is much more than mere technology which has to be projected. That is where marketing steps in and that is the area where Amazon has been at the forefront with its clear marketing strategy and its proactive and subtle innovations which keep them at the forefront of the E-book reader industry. Marketing strategy The marketing strategy of Amazon Kindle can be seen through the STP (Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning) analysis of the Kindle which would give way to the marketing mix followed by the brand. A typical buyer of a Kindle can be perceived as a businessman/businesswoman who does not have enough time and space to carry along the pile of books and newspapers when they go out on a trip or a business meeting. They want multipurpose equipment with no frills attached so that they can browse their favourite book whenever, wherever they can. The popularity of the Kindle can be seen in countries such as America and Europe where these kinds of users are easy in good number. The Kindle is sold on the website of Amazon that saves Amazon a lot of cost due to a direct supply chain. The communication is basically through a series of adverts whenever one goes to the website of Amazon. Amazon has positioned the Kindle as a book carrier for the people on the go. The product is marketed heavily in A merica and not so much in Europe as books have an aesthetic value in the Europe. It considers book as a form of art which is not a case with Americans. Methodology The methodology consists of both the primary and secondary research methodology. The basic aim of the methodology is to gauge the consumer perception of the Amazon Kindle and to analyze the gap between the Brand identity portrayed by the product and the brand image which is actually created in the mind of the consumer of an Amazon Kindle. Generally, it is seen that a new product has problems filling this gap and it is one of the major threat whenever the product is launched in the market. There is a need for the company to portray itself in a manner that the gap is minimized. In order to see the success of the Kindle we tried to visit the various blogs and the website of the Kindle to look for the consumer perception and the post purchase analysis. This methodology was validated by the questionnaire floated on various internet sites and the blogs in order to get maximum responses from the people. The scope of study was narrowed down on to finally three types of units: Users of Amazon Kindle Non-Users of Amazon Kindle People who havent heard of Amazon Kindle It is very important to gauge all the three responses in order to get the birds eye view on the product and the concept delivery. While hundreds of responses were analyzed in the secondary research, we came up with 54 responses in the primary research which was covering the geographical areas of USA, India, France, Germany, Greece, Australia, South Africa, Spain, Argentina and many more nations which make the study geographically significant. The responses were analyzed by the statistical tools such as excel and SPSS in order to come up with the impact analysis of Amazon Kindle and finally the recommendations that we came up to make this process of marketing the Kindle much more efficient and focused. Observations and analysis Secondary research observations: The secondary research was performed on the following web blogs and websites: inventorspot.com ireaderreview.com www.wired.com www.bestebookreaders.com reviews.cnet.com crunchbase.com blogs.techrepublic.com www.computerworld.com wiki.mobileread.com www.hanselman.com www.macworld.com gadgets.boingboing.net arstechnica.com www.digitaltrends.com Amazons Website The blogs are the major technology blogs which constantly receive the comments of the users and the non users and are a fair indicator of the trends and perception of the new product in the market. This is majorly significant in the case of the Kindle as the marketing mix of the product significantly enhances the importance of the blogs and reviews online. The product is sold online only and thus all the users or the people who are interested in the product are more likely to be avid internet users. The first step for adaptation of any new product is the search of the information about the product and the information, in case of Amazon kindle is majorly available on these websites and the Amazons site. The user therefore pays a lot more attention to these blogs in this case. Thus these blogs are very powerful in forming the perception about a product which is sold online. The E-Paper screen is slightly smaller than that on its primary competitor, the Sony Reader, but is still quite legible and roomy E-Paper has a long way to go before it replaces ink on paper, but its comfortably on the right path Youll need to use the Kindle in the same sort of well-lit environment that youd read a normal book or magazine Some of the features such as the expandable memory and the wireless services truly make using a Kindle an unforgettable experience. However, we can never call the Kindle a radical innovation as the concept was already put in to the market by Sony via their Sony reader. But as compared to its counterparts, it is perceived as a pioneer in innovation and technology. With the latest launch of the I-PAD, there has been a lot of speculation while we compare the I-PAD to the Kindle. While both Apple and Amazon maintain that the products are not in competition but there has always been a comparison made which can be unfair to the Kindle as it is not a multipurpose device as compared to the Kindle. But Kindle has been very proactive in ensuring that they come out with the subtle innovations that would keep their nose ahead at all times. This can be seen when they launched the Kindle application for the IPAD very recently just after the launch of the IPAD. Primary Research Observations The primary research was conducted on 51 respondents who were spread all over the globe on all continents of the world. The respondents were divided into 3 categories and the perception mapping was performed. The results show high involvement of Americans over the rest of the world. This can be easily explained by the history of the Amazon Kindle which launches the new version in America first and then another version is launched in the rest of the world. There is always an international version of the Kindle which is meant for the rest of the world except America. The research had 61 percent female respondents and 39 percent male respondents. There were many avid readers among the Americans who answered the questionnaire. The total avid readers were 55 percent and out of those, 80 percent were Americans. The value sought in the Amazon Kindle was very high among these groups of people which tell us that the Kindle is very popular among the people who love to read a lot. The people were mainly fond of the fact that the kindle is very compact and easy to operate. The peoples response was mainly hinting that the Kindle is surely a device that they would like to buy but the barriers that they have put either on the initial price and on the subsequent running costs is deterring them from having a Kindle with them. According to them, there is a special place of books in there and Amazon should not compete with them. The testimony of the fact is that the 90 percent of the people preferred paperback books instead of an electronic book if given a free choice. The reason given is that the book looks much more real and there is a sense of possession when we have a book in our hand rather than when we have an eBook in our laptops of our Kindle for that matter. The Kindle had the biggest advantage over the rest of its competitors due to its wireless capabilities which actually allow you to get your favorite books within a few seconds room anywhere in the world and anytime in the world. While Americans and Australians preferred the Kindle because it saved a lot of shelf space which in other cases would have been taken by the books, the Europeans preferred Kindle because it was su pposed to save a lot of paper and it looked elegant in the hand of the possessor. Some of the other findings include the fact that while 39 percent of the respondents were actually Kindle users, there were 21 percent of the respondents who were not aware of the Kindle at all. The reason that we could thought of was that it has something to do with the less popularity of Amazon in the countries of these people as most of these people were from India(50 percent) and Thailand and other parts of Asia. This throws light on the fact that for a product which mainly sells from the internet, it is very important for the parent company to have an established base of consumers who can then communicate with them and participate in the offerings given to them in the form of products such as the Kindle. There is no distribution channel where we can push the product. The other respondents who had heard of the Kindle but never thought of buying it thought that the price of the Kindle is the major factor that deters them from even thinking of having one. For the ones who want to b uy it and do not have it as of now, the major reason is that the people associate a lot of hidden costs with the product. This was a major finding as the company never projects the actual cost to consumer throughout the life of the consumers. While the possessors liked the fact that the Kindle has good connectivity which we too found out as the point of difference of the Kindle from its competitors, the non users liked the read without glare feature the most attractive one. This lead us to one more observation that the most attractive feature is not the unique feature of the kindle so the Kindle may or may not be the first choice of the people when they go on to buy an eBook reader. This is kind of disheartening for the company as the product is highly placed on the price and the technology table and the users may not find value for money once they look to buy a Kindle. There were some serious observations made in the value that the consumers attach regarding the price of the Kindle and that comes out to be around 140 Euros that is way less than the actual price of the kindle i.e. 250 Euros. This leads us to the observations is that the barrier is too high for a large amount of potential users which can be exploited if they agree to lower the initial cost. The people were very apprehensive of the actual cost to customer and Amazon can do well to enlighten the customers about the same. Success of the product to date The Amazon kindle is unarguably the best selling product for Amazon and the adverts on the website of Amazon are a testimony of this. It is the most wished for, most desired and most searched for product on Amazon site which tells us that the product is doing very well on the international scene as well. Some of the factual data released by Amazon can also be seen below. It tells us that the product is doing wonderfully well on the international scene. The product is a very successful one and the continual improvements that it has come up with are a major factor contributing towards such a success. The revenue percentage of Amazon is as high as 2.6 percent that tells us that it is the star performer for Amazon. The fact that is not taken into consideration is that there are huge running costs that are related to each Kindle that are unfortunately not mentioned in the data. But it is clear that the Kindle is doing cery well in the market since its launch in 2008. Recommendations Amazon should focus on advertising to attract new customers to the e-book market. A large potential for growth in its base of consumers is with commuters and business travellers, who will benefit from the convenience of the Kindles portability and also possess the disposable income to afford the device in its current price range. As Ron Hawkins, vice president for portable reader systems at rival Sony, points out, Digital readers are not a replacement for a print book; they are a replacement for a stack of print books. That is where we see people, on the go, in the subway and in airports, with our device. The Kindle delivers newspapers directly to users for, on average, $10/month. This enables commuters to easily read the newspaper on a smaller medium without the unwieldiness of the print version. Similarly, businessmen will find the Kindle appealing to avoid carrying multiple books while travelling. By targeting these consumers through increased advertising in subways, airports, and on airplanes, Amazon can expand the market and reach out to new adopters of e-books. In coordination with this advertising effort, Amazon should attempt to negotiate deals with major newspapers. At a time when newspapers are struggling with declining numbers in readers and revenue, Amazon can seek to capitalize on their situation. For example, the LA Times started a task known as the Manhattan Project seeking to investigate solutions to reinvent the paper for the future. Amazon has the opportunity to approach them with the Kindle as a new venue to revive their business through a younger tech-savvy audience. The primary goal of this advertising campaign is to increase the overall e-book market, rather than to steal customers from rivals, so competitors should not feel threatened by it. In fact, other firms may benefit from the increased awareness of e-book readers. Similarly, parallel campaigns by rivals do not pose a significant threat to Amazon, since the major challenge at hand is to grow the market and provide for future profitability. However, Amazon needs to ensure that rivals do not enter into exclusive contracts with newspapers or other content providers in general. These deals only serve to benefit individual firms in the short run and ultimately hinder expansion of a relatively small, nascent market. Long Term Positioning In the long run the market for e-books themselves is unlikely to support significant profits. The main issue stems from the large amount of publisher bargaining power that currently exists in the print book market. Publishers have a significant influence in the supply chain for books, retaining the largest portion of the producer surplus in print media. The retailer only receives a small fraction of the overall profits on the book, so it is presumable that Amazon will face similar difficulty in extracting profits from e-books. In addition, Amazons business model is reproducible and thus their current distribution advantage is not necessarily permanent. Amazons reputation would be their only substantial barrier to new entrants in the e-book sales market. Lastly, competition with free pirated e-books would present problems. Even if Amazon proves more successful than competitors in e-book retailing, as the market grows, piracy will inevitably emerge to erode profits. This has occurred o ver the last decade in the music industry as digital music and the Internet have matured. These pitfalls make it unwise for Amazon to pursue a partnership with a hardware-oriented company like Sony, in which Amazon would limit itself to selling e-book reader content. Instead, Amazon should continue to produce the Kindle itself. Due to the nature of the market, the selection of complements will not distinguish the Kindle from other readers. If Amazon can maintain comparable hardware quality to other manufacturers, switching costs and brand identity should allow Amazon to keep a stable customer base and to support some level of sustainable profits. Pricing It also might be tempting for Amazon to leverage their current advantage in e-book distribution into greater profits on the e-books. This trades larger short term profits for a weaker future position in the market, which will be much larger that it is now. Thus, Amazons pricing strategy should be consistent with the long term focus on hardware and a desire to prioritize market share over short term profits throughout the growth phase. Amazons recent price reduction from $399 to $359 reflects a shift from targeting quality sensitive early adopters to more price sensitive consumers. It should continue to drop prices in steady increments to attract wider consumer bases. Consumers are less sensitive to e-book prices than they are to hardware prices, and the decision to purchase a Kindle is more likely to be triggered by the cost of the Kindle itself. Hence, Amazon should not be overly concerned with further reducing e-book prices. These prices are currently lower than most hardbacks and trade paperbacks but higher than most mass market paperbacks. Attempting to compete with mass market paperbacks is infeasible because of publishers resistance to pricing e-books much cheaper than print versions. It already loses money on most of its e-books, priced well below what it pays publishers, and further price cuts would likely require Amazon to take losses unjustified by the small benefits in market share. However, if the Kindle is able to propel the e-book markets into a fast growing phase, publishing executives anticipate that it will not be long before Amazon begins using the Kindles popularity as a lever to demand that publishers cut prices. At this point , Amazons increased bargaining power will enable it to price more competitively without the losses from subsidies. Questionnaire Age Sex Male Female Nationality How much reading do you do in general? I am an avid reader, I cant live if I dont read I like to read, you would find me reading very often I like to read sometimes I read rarely I hate reading, i have better things to do in life What according to you is the most attractive feature of Amazon Kindle? Its sleek design and light weight The concept of an electronic reader The easy connectivity(Global 3G wireless) Long Battery Life Reads like real paper without glare, even in bright sunlight Holds up to 1,500 books Saves paper Lower prices than paper books Over 450,000 books and the largest selection of the most popular books people Other: What is it that would deter you from buying the Kindle? Price The concept of buying an E-book and limited number of reads Lack of Knowledge(less advertizing) Other: What according to you is the biggest competitor of the Kindle? Apples I-Pad The paper books Barnes Nobles Nook The Nook book reader Sony pocket touch edition

Personal Narrative- Moose Hunt Essay -- Personal Narrative

Personal Narrative- Moose Hunt It was the middle of October, and it was finally time for my long awaited moose hunt. I have waited ever since I was a little girl for this opportunity, and it was finally here. So, my father and I packed up our stuff and left the warmth of Phoenix. We were leaving the "Valley of the Sun" and headed for a place called Wyoming. After two days and fourteen long hours of driving, we made it to our hunting unit. The mountains were tall (11,000 feet +) and covered with bright powdery snow. It was like nothing I had ever seen before. I was eager to set-up camp and prepare for our nine day hunt. But, Dad said that we had to drive around and check out all the good places, just to make sure that we were in the best area. This was partially understandable, but since I am a teenager I'm not supposed to understand anything! So, we spent another several hours driving. We went up and down through the mountains and then we saw it. The spot was beautiful; it was right on the edge of a vertical drop-off, over looking everything. It was like paradise, but colder! We set up our camper and got everything ready to go for morning. Sooner than I knew it, morning came and that annoying alarm clock was ringing in my ear. I slowly dragged myself out of bed and got ready to go on yet another driving/scouting trip. This would be our first opportunity to really look around and see what these mountains had to offer. We spent several days really scouting the entire unit, and we had seen several decent bulls. Finally, the evening before opening day we spotted the best bull yet, and he was right by the jeep trail! I decided that he was the one I wanted. He was with a cow and a calf, so we thought he would probably be i... ...e high in front of the lungs and behind the brisket. All of his bleeding had been internal. An inch either way would have made our tracking job a lot easier. But then I would not have had such a great story to tell! We also found that my third shot with the 300 grain hollow point went through the moose and took out both lungs. My final shot broke his spine and dropped him in his tracks. They say that the easy part of moose hunting is up until you pull the trigger. Well, if this had been the easy part, I did not want to know what the hard part was. Then, six hours later, I understood! Actually, we finally had a lucky break; a half-mile before we caught up to the moose they had crossed a jeep trail. So, after we de-boned the Moose, it only took us four hours of packing fully loaded pack frames to get him to the road†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦and we are still eating that tasty meat.

The Holocaust Essay -- essays research papers

The Holocaust Experience   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The world that people lived in during the Holocaust is described by the personal experiences of the oppressed throughout the story Jack and Rochelle, written by Jack and Rochelle Sutin, and the memoir by Alexander Donat titled The Holocaust Kingdom. The horrifying mindset of the oppressors, particularly the Nazi`s, is illustrated in both books. The vicious and relentless emotional, physical, and psychological abuse the Nazi`s targeted at their victims is depicted in detail. The unspeakable cruelty received by the Jews dramatically altered their state of mind and how they lived their lives. The emotions of despair, distress, depression, hopelessness, helplessness felt by the Jews eventually turn to hate, anger, hopefulness, faith, and ultimately revenge against all oppressors.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Holocaust was a traumatic and tragic time in history to say the least. Those who were victims of the mistreatment were forced to respond. In Jack and Rochelle, both families were used to some form of oppression. Growing up in Poland, Rochelle and her family were used to feeling hated. Here is an example through dialogue of how some of the Poles felt about the Jews and the Germans: â€Å"Just wait! Hitler is coming and he`ll off the heads of all you Jews.† Rochelle: â€Å"What are you so happy about? The Germans might cut off my head, but your independence will be gone. Poland won`t be Poland anymore!† â€Å"They would tell me that it was worth losing their independence just to get rid of the Jews (page 8, Jack and Rochelle).†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Jack also experienced mistreatment even before the Germans came. In the town of Mir, he attended a grade school where he was singled out by the teachers: â€Å"As for school work, if we failed to complete an assignment or to pass a test, we were singled out for special criticism, well beyond what a Polish student would receive. â€Å"What`s the matter Jew?† the teacher would ask us. â€Å"Can`t keep up? (page 14, Jack and Rochelle).† They knew that they could not stay in Poland: â€Å"†¦there was no freedom, no future for us in Poland (page 16, Jack and Rochelle).† The Jews in Poland knew that they were not welcome. Here is an example of how Jack felt from early childhood growing up in Poland: â€Å"Did I have a sense that Jews were hated in Poland? You didn`t need to have a ... ...l, educated people. Finally, in April of 1945 the camps were liberated. After the liberation of the Jews, many of the Jewish inmates of the camps were too weak to move. Many of the Jews being liberated were so delusional from the continuous negligence, torture, unspeakable acts, mass killings, (basically an unrealistic experience), that they were not aware of what was happening. The Jewish prisoners were not restored to health simply by liberation. More painful than their captivity was the awakening from nightmares. When the prisoners began to improve physically, they were then able to feel and think and realize what had really happened to them. Many of the Jewish survivors described themselves as incapable of living their lives to the fullest. They often caught themselves unable to perform tasks that are considered very basic. Some felt that the war and the imprisonment had such a dramatic affect on their life that they had their spark to life that they once had. The traumatic experience of these camps has deeply scarred many of the unfortunate prisoners during the Holocaust. Let us all pray that a time like the Holocaust never comes about again.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  

The Great Gatsby :: The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald

I. Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald, born in St. Paul, Minnesota, grew up in an upper-middle class family where he enjoyed the traditions of the upper classes, but not the financial ability to uphold those practices. Fitzgerald acquired his fame, almost overnight, with the publication of his first book, This Side of Paradise, in 1920. His extensive career began with the writing of stories for mass-circulation magazines, such as The Saturday Evening Post. That same year, he married Zelda Sayre, who later became one his major influences on his writing, along with literature, Princeton, and alcohol. In the summer of 1924, Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby, a novel about the American dream. This novel was written in Fitzgerald's own time. The reader is able to see his insight and artistic integrity in the way that which the novel is composed. He brings forth the values that he embraced at least partially in his own life, such as materialism and the magic of wealth, which are clearly placed i n the characters of The Great Gatsby. The novel is almost a paradox of his own biography: a unique materialism in which men attempt to create happiness from material achievement. The novel received the most striking critical appraisal, just as predicted by Fitzgerald. This honorary event marked the climax of his fame, however, his reputation faded from then on. With the illness of his wife, he reflected his experiences in his further work, such as Tender Is the Night. Some other examples of his work include The Beautiful and Damned and The Love of the Last Tycoon. At the age of forty-four, Fitzgerald dies of a heart attack. Since his death, critics have come to see his work as a reflection of the American culture and of "The Twenties", a noteworthy representation of his people that is saturated with meaning today. II. The story of Gatsby takes place in the 1920's, a time that began with the closing of the bloodiest conflict the world had ever witnessed. The European society had suffered spiritually from the effects of World War I, yet life in America became a time of material demand. The twenties are best known as a decade when American business was riding high and increases in productivity brought hundreds of new products within the reach of the average consumer. The widespread impact of the stock market downturn heightened the popular view of the importance of the economy during the 1920's.

Essay on Informal and Formal Griencance Essay

This essay will explore the difference between formal and informal Grievance process, how it can be prevented and a sample of the authors own work of grievance investigation and conclusion As a shift Manager and part of my responsibilities to ensure that we have a harmonious working relationship between staff and management. For the purpose of this essay, I will cover the Grievance process, how it can be prevented and a sample of grievance proceedings that I handled. A grievance is generally any complaint that has been presented by an employee to a management representative about an aspect of the employee work, working conditions or relationships. They are usually set out to the employer, either verbally or in writing. However, it is important to note that grievance can be presented in many forms and it should always be dealt with to minimise the risk of employment tribunal claims and awards. As part of our company policy and in our contract of employment, the company has adopted a ‘Positive Work Environment, which states that the company is committed to create a harmonious working environment, which is free from harassment and bullying and in which every employee is treated with respect and dignity.’ We have three forms of communicating to all our employees the company’s stance on grievance related issues, which covers staff understanding of what is grievance, the consequences if a grievance case against fellow employee is proven and the reporting procedures. Firstly, we will discuss grievance to all employees through the employee induction process, in their written contract of employment, which is normally issued to the employee after successful three months probation. And finally through the company hand book, which every employee is issued a copy, signed for and advised to read and follow the company’s policies therein. In addition and under the employment act 2002 (Dispute resolution) Regulation 2004, it is the duty of the employer to detect whether a complaint from an employee amount to an informal grievance, and if it is, such complaint should be dealt with through the organisation or that company’s grievance process. The following are common issues that can easily lead to grievance: †¢ Bullying and Harassment  Ã¢â‚¬ ¢ Discrimination †¢ Poor Management Practice †¢ Inadequate training †¢ Poor communication †¢ Unfair treatment †¢ Unclear job roles †¢ Failure in providing equal opportunities †¢ Personalities, Values, Workload and Expectations †¢ Changes to accepted customs and practices Once the Management understands that the above possible causes can lead to employee grievance complaints, the initial method to prevent it from happening is to adopt it into the company continuous improvement programme, which must form part of the management daily working activities, since issues of grievance can come from all sectors of employees working activities. The secondary prevention measures are how noticeable grievance cases are dealt with appropriately and quickly. As a rule of thumb, the initial approach to deal with grievance is to try and resolve it informally if possible. As it is always the case, leaving or ignoring grievance to develop can often lead to an escalation of the problem, which can lead to Managers having to spend time on endless investigation, lose of good employee and expensive Employment Tribunal proceedings. There are also multiple symptoms that an employee with perceived grievance can exhibit, which in many cases can affect the productivity of the company. For example, an employee may take more time off or sick off from work, or not performed his or her work duties to the optimum, which in many cases is a result of stress or anxiety from work. An experienced Manager or Supervisor should be able to detect some of these signs, talk to the employee concerned and informally resolved the issue as soon as possible. In a situation whereby a Manager could not detect a grievance through the behaviour of one of his employees, but it is established that an employee complaint is a grievance, that Manager should tell that employee that his complaint is a grievance, and must also explained to him his right under the company’s grievance provision to raise or report that matter (instilling confidence). The employee should be assured that the matter will be investigated and dealt with and there will not be any retribution from the company for reporting that issue. As per the grievance procedure contained in the company handbook and under the employment act 2002 (Dispute resolution) Regulation 2004, the employee must put his case in writing, but if for some reason the employee is unable to do this, the Manager should make full notes of the grievance and ask him/her to sign it as being a true representation. Once the written notification or the signed grievance note is given to the employer, an immediate and formal investigation should ensued. The employer should invite the employee in writing to a meeting to discuss the issue. This is an investigatory meeting to review the complaint, and not to give value judgements or comments, and certainly not any form of decision. The investigative officer should have an open mind, as all the facts may not be available to him. He should not pre-empt the decisions that will later be made. The aim at this stage is to identify the grievance, and be clear about the matter so that the company can resolve the grievance.

Good Morning Listeners

The term normalization Is the process whereby something or someone Is pushed to the edge of a group and counted not as Important. Normalization Ignores and does not consider or protect the needs of certain people who do not have the same advantage as others. By Ignoring those people they are not able to have the same rights and opportunities as others to participate and succeed in society. In Australia you could say we have marginal's groups such as Indigenous people, the deaf and blind and the mentally ill. People who have migrated to Australia may also be seen as marginalia due to their needs.The immigration history of Australia began with the initial human migration to the continent around 50,000 years ago when the ancestors of Australian Aborigines arrived on the continent from the islands of Maritime Southeast Asia and New Guiana. From the early 17th century onwards, the continent experienced the first coastal landings and exploration by European explorers. Permanent European se ttlement began in 1788 with the establishment of the British Crown colony of New South Wales. From the first contact with the migrants from Britain there was tension. Cultural differences led to exclusion and rejection.Then in 1901 the white Australia policy was introduced to prevent people of African, Asian or even Pacific descent from coming to Australia. However, after World War 2, Australia realized they needed to populate the country so increase security and develop as a nation so they embarked on an ambitious European Immigration program. The first poem that we will be analyzing Is The Unhappy Race by Codger Announced. Australian born poet, political activist, artist and educator. White fellow, you are the unhappy race. You alone have left nature and made civilized laws.You have enslaved yourselves as you enslaved the horse and other wild things. Why, white man? Your police lock up your tribe in houses with bars, We see poor women scrubbing floors of richer women. Why, white m an, why? You laugh at â€Å"poor Blackwell', you say we must be like you. You say we must leave the old freedom and leisure, We must be civilized and work for you. Why, white fellow? Leave us alone, we don't want your collars and ties, We don't need your routines and compulsions. We want the old freedom and Joy that all things have but you, Poor white man of the unhappy race.This small and simple but extremely poem describes This simple but extremely powerful poem in free verse describes Chaos's feelings towards those who do not accept him as â€Å"Australian†. He gives a new twist to the word â€Å"terrorists†. In his poem he sees the Anglo-Celtic Australians as people who strike â€Å"terror† in his heart. â€Å"They are everywhere†. He feels paranoid because at any time â€Å"they' can attack and wound him by saying something which reveals that â€Å"they' do not perceive him as a â€Å"real† Australian though he was born here and has lived h ere all his life.