The Picture of Dorian Gray Vocabulary List

The Picture of Dorian Gray Vocabulary List 1 (Q2) Precis (noun): Make summary of. â€Å"I know she goes in for giving a rapid precis of all her guests. † (Pg. 14) Ravelled (verb): To tangle or entangle. â€Å"†How horribly unjust of you! † cried Lord Henry, tilting his hat back and looking up at the little clouds that, like ravelled skeins of glossy white silk, were drifting across the hollowed turquoise of the summer sky. † (Pg. 15) Candour (noun): The state or quality of being frank, open, and sincere in speech or expression; candidness. All the candour of youth was there, as well as all youth's passionate purity. † (Pg. 26) Sovereignty (noun): Rightful status, independence, or prerogative. â€Å"It has its divine right of sovereignty. † (Pg. 35) Hedonism (noun): Doctrine that pleasure or happiness is the highest good. â€Å"A new Hedonism–that is what our century wants. † (Pg. 36) Staccato (adjective): Shortened or detached when played or sung. â€Å"Suddenly the painter appeared at the door of the studio and made staccato signs for them to come in. † (Pg. 37) Caprice (noun): Sudden, unpredictable change, as of one's mind or the weather. The only difference between a caprice and a lifelong passion is that the caprice lasts a little longer. † (Pg. 38) Vermillion (noun): A bright red, to reddish-orange color. â€Å"†It is quite finished,† he cried at last, and stooping down he wrote his name in long vermilion letters on the left-hand corner of the canvas. † (Pg. 38) Panegyric (noun): Formal or elaborate praise. â€Å"Then had come Lord Henry Wotton with his strange panegyric on youth, his terrible warning of its brevity. † (Pg. 40) Wizen (verb): To wither; shrivel up; dry up. Yes, there would be a day when his face would be wrinkled and wizen, his eyes dim and colourless, the grace of his figure broken and deformed. † (Pg. 40) Divan (noun): A sofa or couch, with n o arms or back, often usable as a bed. â€Å"The hot tears welled into his eyes; he tore his hand away and, flinging himself on the divan, he buried his face in the cushions, as though he was praying. † (Pg. 42) Hansom (noun): A low-hung, two-wheeled, covered vehicle drawn by one horse, for two passengers, with the driver being mounted on an elevated seat behind and the reins running over the roof. â€Å"Come, Mr.Gray, my hansom is outside, and I can drop you at your own place. Good-bye, Basil. It has been a most interesting afternoon. † -Lord Henry (Pg. 48) Indolence (adjective): Disliking work or effort; lazy; idle. â€Å"His father had been our ambassador at Madrid when Isabella was young and Prim unthought of, but had retired from the diplomatic service in a capricious moment of annoyance on not being offered the Embassy at Paris, a post to which he considered that he was fully entitled by reason of his birth, his indolence, the good English of his dispatches, and his inordinate passion for pleasure. (Pg. 49) Collieries (noun): A coal mine, including all buildings and equipment. â€Å"He paid some attention to the management of his collieries in the Midland counties, excusing himself for this taint of industry on the ground that the one advantage of having coal was that it enabled a gentleman to afford the decency of burning wood on his own hearth. † (Pg. 49) Cheroot (noun): A cigar having open ends. â€Å"When Lord Henry entered the room, he found his uncle sitting in a rough shooting-coat, smoking a cheroot and grumbling over The Times. (Pg. 49) Facile (adjective): Moving, acting, working, proceeding, etc. , with ease, sometimes with superficiality. â€Å"He invented a facile excuse, and having taken the vacant seat next to her, looked round to see who was there. † (Pg. 57) Liveried (adjective): Clad in livery as servants. â€Å"At last, liveried in the costume of the age, reality entered the room in the shape of a servant to tell the duchess that her carriage was waiting. † (Pg. 65) Expound (verb): To explain; interpret. Some day, when you are tired of London, come down to Treadley and expound to me your philosophy of pleasure over some admirable Burgundy I am fortunate enough to possess. † (Pg. 67) Cosmopolitan (noun): A person who is free from local, provincial, or national bias or attachment; citizen of the world. â€Å"Makes it quite cosmopolitan, doesn't it? You have never been to any of my parties, have you, Mr. Gray? † (Pg. 71) Brocade (noun): Fabric woven with an elaborate design, esp. one having a raised overall pattern. â€Å"I went to look after a piece of old brocade in Wardour Street and had to bargain for hours for it. † (Pg. 72)

Beyond the Ordinary Essay

Inside the Ateneo de Manila University is a hectic and busy population of students . Clearly seen by the bags under their eyes, these students have been through numerous tension due to the load of studies they’re having. Fortunately, beyond all those problems ,there is a sanctuary where students can reside to ease up their stress. A restaurant so accessible that is just within the school itself. Hidden under the University Dorm, is a concealed restaurant exceeding your ordinary cafeteria. It is Zekaf, the right place to relax while having a meal. Zekaf has the perfect ambience for people to relax and hang out. Once inside the restaurant, the public figures on the wallpapers greets you with a warm welcome. The place gives a warm feeling to its customers, as it is decorated with different shades of brown, a dull hue to bring out its sophistication. The carpeted floor also adds to the restaurant’s comfort. Mellow sounds and jazzy instrumental music engrosses the area, keeping the customers entertained while keeping them relaxed. Deeper inside the restaurant, is a wide balcony that displays the bright lights all over Marikina City, a simple yet breath-taking view. The smell of mixed herbs and spices also fill the area as the main dishes are being served on ordinary ceramic plates. What makes Zekaf unlike the other cafeterias is its interior design that helps attract more customers. Exceeding its ordinary purpose of being a cafeteria to the students of the Ateneo, Zekaf is also considered to be a venue for the people to enjoy each others company. Bringing in more students, from both Ateneo High School and Ateneo University, the restaurant has proven to be a mode of entertainment for every age group. Designed by a flat screen television, one can hear all kinds of sounds– from the deafening charges of guns from action movies to soothing melodies projected in the nature channel, the customers can just sit back and enjoy the entertainment offered by this restaurant. Zekaf has already grabbed its social status inside the university. It’s the place where students can both ease their stress at the same time enjoy the company of their friends. Beyond the average cafeteria, this place not only gives the customers a hearty meal but also the entertainment one cannot simply experience anywhere.

Exit Strategies for Business Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Exit Strategies for Business - Assignment Example The exit strategy must not be left for the future and the entrepreneurs must decide appropriately for the coming days. The main reason behind the entrepreneurs stepping away from their businesses is the retirements or the terminations of the partnership or the joint ventures. The entrepreneurs must have built their businesses with certain care and efforts and have taken them to a certain position and after certain point of time they may consider handing over the businesses to other entrepreneurs who by applying their experiences and perspectives can take the businesses to new heights. The entrepreneurs may as well decide to exit for the reason that they might have lost interest in that particular business or project and thus may consider entry into new projects or ventures. However, if planning is done in-advance it provides the entrepreneurs to decide on numerous options of exiting from the businesses. The profits can be maximized at the times of shutting from the businesses if prop er strategic business direction is considered (The Great British Business Show, 2011). Advantages of Exit Strategy The main advantages of the exit strategy are that the value in relation to the business built by the entrepreneur can be protected and the future worth of the businesses can be enhanced. The tax impacts upon the estate or family can be reduced to a greater extent through exit strategies. Income can be generated that can assist in retirement or during any disability (Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, 2011). Exit Strategies for Entrepreneurs There are numerous strategies for exits, available to the entrepreneurs. They are buy-sell agreement, cash sale to the third party, buyout or recapitalization along with employee stock ownership plan. Each one of them has been explained below: Buy-Sell Agreement: Buy-sell agreement strategy enables the entrepreneurs to end the business relationship by the formation of the parameters for the participants who would be buying the busines s. It can be mentioned that one or two associates are capable of involving themselves with the business while the others may plan to separate themselves from it. The agreement may assist the businesses with funding for the takeovers because of disability or for the reason of the death of the co-owners. The design of the buy-sell agreement needs to be done carefully so that the execution of the strategy does not get overlapped with other estates as well as succession planning tools. Cash Sale to A Third Party: When the businesses are to be sold by means of cash transactions, it can create immediate liquidity for the seller. Through means of cash sales owners are capable of executing immediate separation from the businesses. While searching for the third party buyer, the challenge is the difficultly to find a market ready where the small businesses can be sold. In simple words, the owner needs to put great deal of time and money to search for the profitable deal. Buyout or Recapitaliz ation: In case of the leveraged transactions, the corporate entities such as the managers, partners as well as the business houses tend access the funds so that they can buy the stocks of the existing owner. For the purpose of dissolving the multiple ownership arrangements or for preserving the businesses as a going concern this arrangement of buyout or recapitalization is quite important. The strategy may also be useful while transferring the responsibility of

Plan an effective IT infrastructure based on the needs of an Essay

Plan an effective IT infrastructure based on the needs of an organization - Essay Example Despite their growing popularity, cable companies have encountered huge costs of replacing their local loop cables with fiber optic cables to attain high bandwidths. There only demerit is its decreased throughput resulting from concentrated connections within a geographical area. Unlike other connections, cable companies use DOCSI v3 specifications. T-1 and T-3 are a form of leased line connection capable of attaining a data and voice speed of 1.5Mbps and 45Mbps respectively. The difference in speeds translates to a drastic cost implication for the latter. As compared to other forms of internet connection, leased line service are generally more expensive. The only advantage over other networks is its ability to provide permanent and active data connection without the need for dial up services. In addition, T-1 networks can be customized. With a 24 individual telephone and data line at 56kps, it provides a flexible data rate as per the user needs. Dial up connections require a telephone line to establish a server connection. A â€Å"dial up†number provides a link that initiates the connection process. It is the cheapest of all the services. However, the speed and stability provides a challenge. With a maximum speed of 56Kps it lags behind compared to other technologies. An improvement of the dial up connection resulted in ISDN. ISDN uses a circuit switch and a dedicated line. ISDN allows parallel data and telephone transmission (Laan, 2011). Frame relay, just like ATM provides high speed, packet-switched service for sending data between two local or long-distant regions. Both are layer 2 protocal meaning that they can be used in a twisted pair and fiber optic cable. However ATM differ from frame relay in a number of ways. ATM incorporates a mechanism where data is sent in a small 53-byte packages referred to as cells. This splitting of cells into small packages promotes efficient data

Two sides on branding Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Two sides on branding - Essay Example Naomi Klein's book,as it title implies is a criticism to the proliferation of branding strategies launched by business organisations in order to capture customers.The selection lifted from her book outlined the evolution of branding-from its earliest beginning, downfall, recovery, and recent expansion.The concept of branding, according to Klein, began with the company's recognition that production is not the main core of their operations but marketing. The earliest proponents of marketing like Nike and Microsoft stated that manufacturing is only an "incidental" part of their operations and that they are not selling "products" but "images of their brands." This early beginnings started a new age of branding previously homogenous, mass-produced commodities replacing the old shopkeeper who traditionally scoops out generic products like sugar, flour, and cereal in barrels. The popularity of Dr. Brown, Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben, and Old Grand Dad became synonymous with the ascent of branded generic commodities.However, the death of branding came one Marlboro Friday as Phillip Morris is threatened by the intense competition from lower priced unbranded competitors. With this happening, a dramatic shift in customers' buying behavior was illustrated-from prestige to price consciousness.The article concluded with the "rebirth" and expansion of branding. This phenomenon was lead by established companies like Body Shop and Starbucks which were able to safeguard and even expand their market share by investing in their brand images. These, together with other successful companies like Nike, began the more rapid proliferation of branded products which does not only market the attributes of the product by created a "concept" to establish an "emotional connection" with its clients. Naomi Klein concluded that with this age of branding, customers are easily manipulated by branding tactics as marketers can establish a good brand even with the lowliest products. She argued that instead of focusing on production and improving products, companies are embarking and spending time, effort, and money in creating a good brand for which they ask customers for a premium. The Economist-Who's Wearing the Trousers The article lifted from the Economist, hold an antagonistic position on Naomi Klein's book. Though it also recognizes the good arguments raced by Klein, the Economist offer a very different view on what the first author referred to as "brand bullies." Basically, the article presented in the Economist can be summed up into two points-the first one being the exaggeration of Naomi Klein's argument on the power of brands, and the second one on the manipulation of the customers by the branding strategies of the large corporations. The Economist recognizes the importance of brands in selling a company's products. However, it claims that Klien's article exaggerated the role of branding in the strategies of the large business organizations. The article proved this by citing the case of the companies who spent bulk of financial resources in creating a good brand only to fail. As the company treats a "brand" as one of its primary assets, a brand can also be regarded as liability as it makes a company highly responsible in the damages which it can give to customers. Customer loyalty is not only rooted on their perception on brand. This is evidenced by the recent research which shows that customers of all ages shift from brand to brand. This also strengthens the claim of the Economist claim that customers are not highly manipulated by company's branding tactics. It is also irrefutable that companies' are spending a lot of money to retain their customers and develop their products to safeguard their brand. Between the Two Articles Naomi Klein and the Economist hold two seemingly different arguments about branding, company's performance, and customers. The two articles summarized above show some same

Mediation Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Mediation Assignment - Essay Example It is this relationship that guides them in any future dealings, and might also assist the summer interns get the Human Resource Department’s support whenever any issue might arise. After both parties arrive at the office, it is vital to assure them that all parties will have their turn to speak and air their views. It is paramount that some of the ground rules are made for all parties to comprehend what might be at stake (Smith & Smock, 2008). I am the voice of reason between the warring parties, thus; confidence, clarity, and conciseness are what I need to make the mediation process a success. At the end of the stabilization stage, I ask for any questions from the warring parties, and then proceed to hearing their views. The mediation room is one place where all the concerned parties become aware of each other’s existence and role in the organization. At this stage, I allocate Ms. Bennett and Mr. Stokes a few minutes to speak about their predicaments, and inquire what their thoughts are, with regards on how to move forward in company dealings. Both parties think they are entitled to what they want, but I remind them of the organization’s policies and what they dictate. Questioning both parties and restating some of their positions gives my position a better chance at trying to negotiate the terms of the agreement (Smith & Smock, 2008). The confidentiality of the meeting makes it possible for both Ms. Bennett and Mr. Stokes to confide in me, and after each parties’ contribution, I thank them both for sharing. After listening to both sides, it is my duty to bring them both to agree on a common ground, where every party might feel like they have a certain measure of control in their respective departments. This ensures that issues which are of more concern find their way to the top of the discussion table, and

Conrad's Vision of the colonial world in nostromo and the heart of Essay

Conrad's Vision of the colonial world in nostromo and the heart of darkness - Essay Example There are also diverse political systems within the country, look at http://www.123helpme.com/assets/16087.html for more information. Enslavement of congo in 1800 brought many changes to the country with suppression of rights of the inhabitants and pauperization of their lives. What will help a lot is reading the biography of the author and understanding for political viewpoints and ethical standpoints to use it for the interview. Based on his biography you can give detailed explanation of why he used each symbol in his works. The main idea here is to make a contradiction between the two pieces of work. Finding common and dissimilar ideas you convey that you have fully understood what the author is trying to show through his work. He was born shortly after the Crimean war in Poland and both his father and his mother died of tuberculosis so he had to lie with his uncle. Using the fact that he left his country to avoid "being conscripted for service in the Russian army" you can see that the suppression element drove him out of his beloved country. He t ravelled to France and England and he went to Congo which fascinated him. There is here therefore a love for the setting of his work which he would most certainly not like to see under the suppression of any country. This bias is a setting for the elements of his work. The second thing you need to focus on are the characters of the two pieces of work. ... mainly in the central character and the other central characters that are in the setting is what is missing from the author's life or the kind of people they highly appreciate and miss. In any case when evaluating a piece of literature work one needs to keep in mind that even though the author is trying to convey personal convictions each literature piece is interpreted differently by the author There is no right or wrong in a literature piece, however all the elements of the piece, setting, characters, ethics, author bio etc. need to be taken into consideration to have a COMPLETE view of the piece of work and have a personal viewpoint of everything included in the work. What you might also need to do is probably memorise what is said in some parts of the text because this will convince for sure your professors that you have written the dissertation. In every academic paper details make the difference and they are always giving extra mark. Try referring to specific characters for ins tance. As far as the setting is concerned you will also need to keep in mind the political situation when the author was born and make a correlation between that and the political situation in the two works. You need to remember that you cannot focus on EVERYTHING that is considered important. You will need to extract what you think was most important for you and elaborate on this but really learn a lot of details. Your professors will read your paper and they will focus on what contradicitions are made and they will ask you questions on these. They might also ask what you mean by some sentences in your dissertation so be prepared to answer any vague points. 2. The characters of the works The second thing that need to be stressed are the main characters in Nostromo, you have Gould who

Analyse performance management and performance appraisal in primark Essay

Analyse performance management and performance appraisal in primark london - Essay Example ns attributed to proper performance management but these broadly fall into direct financial gains, motivated workforce goals and improved management control (Daniels, 2006). When the sphere of organisational development (OD) is considered, performance can be seen as actual results achieved against the desired results wanted. In case that there are any differences between these, there is the possibility of performance improvement. Both performance management and improvement can be taken as a cycle where: The focus of this text will be to analyse the performance appraisal system and practices of an actual organisation. In order to deal with the issue better the performance appraisal system is outlined below against which the current review will take place. The typical performance appraisal is a developed method through which the job performance of an employee can be assessed for issues such as cost, quality, time, quantity etc. through an evaluation by the corresponding manager or supervisor (Patterson, 1987). This process is essential to guiding and managing the career development of employees whereby the employee’s worth to the organisation is obtained, analysed and recorded. Overall the performance appraisal process documents an employee’s personal strengths and weaknesses, their recent success and failures as well as their suitability for further promotion or training as applicable. The performance appraisal process also accounts for issues other than productivity alone in trying to assess an employee. The most common aims of a performance appraisal are: Engro derived itself from Exxon Mobil’s fertilizer venture that went online in 1966 in Daharki, Pakistan. After Exxon’s exit from the business in 1991 the company became the country’s first successful employee led buyout. Since then the company has kept on expanding from the fertiliser business into the food business, the industrial automation market, chemical storage jetties and the like. The

The field of psychology addresses the constant question of whether Research Paper

The field of psychology addresses the constant question of whether humans are born hard-wired with specific characteristics and - Research Paper Example However, when it comes to understanding the causes behind severe behavior problems like addiction, anger, aggression, criminal bent of mind, sadism, depression, anti-social behavior etc., then understanding the role of nature and nurture in the development of these patterns becomes an important. Hence, people in the field of psychology and psychiatry continuously make efforts to find out what it is that makes human beings behave in certain way, nature or nurture. That is, they try to know if people are genetically programmed to behave in a certain way or if their behavior is shaped by the environment. However, studies in psychology have given a hope to human beings by showing that even though human beings are programmed through their genes to behave in certain way, the environment has the power to break the genetic programming and modify the behavior pattern of human beings in positive way by strengthening the ‘good’ genes and weakening the ‘bad’ genes. The Role Of Genes Variations In Genes Genes play an important role in the development of behavior and personality pattern of human beings. Different genes are responsible for development of different habits and behavior pattern in people. Every human being has same 20,000 genes present in the body but what makes them different is its ‘variants’ or ‘flavors’ (Frehley, 2010, para.1). ... However, it is important to note that scientists are not 100% sure of this information as it is not a statement but a ‘speculation’ (Frehley, 2010, para.2). Also, it is interesting to know that every human being possesses all the genes but what makes them differ in behavior is the â€Å"less than 1%† variance in the genes (Frehley, 2010, para.5). According to Ebstein et al. (1996), the variations in ‘specific’ geneses result in different social behavior patterns in different individuals (Nicolaou & Shane, n.d., p.2). It makes one wonder if such a small amount of genetic variation is ‘major’ enough to control the will power in human being. That is, can human being acquire skills or behavior pattern that he is not genetically programmed to acquire? Evolutionary psychology, also known as ‘modern Darwinism’, is the field that helps in answering this ‘nature or nurture’ question (Nicholson, 1998, p.135). Desire For Se curity It is a natural understanding that if the circumstances and the conditions of living change, then the behavior of human beings should also change. However, according to the evolutionary psychology, human beings living in today’s modern world, still display the same ‘survival’ traits that their ancestors living in the Stone Age had displayed to survive the threats in the environment (Nicholson, 1998, p.135). This shows that even if the environment and the surrounding situations change, human beings still carry the ‘innate’ fear from surrounding and are ‘hard wired’ to behave in certain way when they sense threat. For example, people from Stone Age were genetically programmed to gather and store enough food and have

The Acquisition of Tense by Arabic Learners of English Language Thesis Proposal

The Acquisition of Tense by Arabic Learners of English Language - Thesis Proposal Example This proposal was motivated by an interest in the subject as well as the knowledge that the results of the study are potentially productive and could provide necessary knowledge in the area of linguistic science. This subject is a problem of significance for the students it affects and the knowledge to be gained from this study stands to benefit more than the population of peoples with Arabic as a first language. It is my hope that the findings of this study will also be used to assist other L2 students, and perhaps enrich their relationship with a second language. Among the problems faced by English students with Arabic as their first language is the acquisition of tenses. The morphemes of the English language differ greatly from those of Arabic, and the irregularities of tenses must be memorized, making the acquisition of tenses one of the most difficult parts of the learning process. As stated by Johanne Paradis, this situation â€Å"†¦is a vulnerable domain for English lang uage learners across acquisition contexts†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Since one of two allomorphs pertaining to the past tense is possible, either [td] or [t or d], the English past tense exhibits a quasi-regularity. These combined attributes create difficulties for the would-be English learner. To appreciate the hardship of the L2 student, data will be collected from thirty students at three consecutive levels of ability. Two approaches will be taken while analyzing the data in an attempt to prove two hypotheses.... Since one of two allomorphs pertaining to the past tense is possible, either [td] or [t or d], the English past tense exhibits a quasi-regularity (McClelland). These combined attributes create difficulties for the would-be English learner. To appreciate the hardship of the L2 student, data will be collected from thirty students at three consecutive levels of ability. Two approaches will be taken while analyzing the data in an attempt to prove two hypotheses. Problem Statement: Learning difficulties arising for L2 students can affect certain aspects of their lives. In the case of foreign students, attempts to integrate into a new country can be inhibited by linguistic difficulties. "knowing a language involves mastering an intricate system full of surprising regularities and idiosyncrasies." (Sag and Wasow, 2001) For people attempting to learn English as a second language, it can be embarrassing and often debilitating to incorrectly express tenses. In the workplace, people with English as a second language are often misjudged as unintelligent. Added to the difficulties most adults have with the correct acquisition of phonological sounds, (Escudero, 2005) the learning of English for Arabic speakers is quite a challenge. The confusion of past tenses was one of the major errors in tenses reported in a study of Arab learners of English at the University of Sudan (Kambal, 1980). Therefore, a study concerning the acquisition of English tenses by Arabic students can assist students with similar problems by determining the most effective solution. Hypotheses: There are two hypotheses which will be used to attempt an explanation of the difficulties that

Education Sector Essay Example for Free

Education Sector Essay The typical Indian classroom was once characterized by students sitting through hour-long teacher monologues. Now, technology is making life easier for both students and educators. Schools are increasingly adopting digital teaching solutions to engage with a generation of pupils well-versed with the likes of PlayStations and iPads, and trying to make the classroom environment more inclusive and participatory. Take Smartclass from Educomp Solutions, one of the first Indian companies in this space. Smartclass is essentially a digital content library of curriculum-mapped, multimedia-rich, 3D content. It also enables teachers to quickly assess how much of a particular lesson students have been able to assimilate during the class. Once a topic is covered, the teacher gives the class a set of questions on a large screen. Each student then answers via a personal answering device or the smart assessment system. The teacher gets the scores right away and based on that, she repeats parts of the lesson that the students dont appear to have grasped. Technology makes the teaching-learning process very easy and interesting, says Harish Arora, a chemistry teacher at the Bal Bharti Public School in New Delhi who has been using Smartclass since 2004. For instance, [earlier] it would easily take me one full lecture to just draw an electromagnetic cell on the blackboard. Though I could explain the cell structure, there was no way I could have managed to show them how it really functions. This is where technology comes to our aid now I can show the students a 3D model of the cell and how it functions. Instead of wasting precious time drawing the diagram on the blackboard, I can invest it in building the conceptual clarity of my students. According to Abhinav Dhar, director for K-12 at Educomp Solutions, more than 12,000 schools across 560 districts in India have adopted Smartclass. More importantly, the number is growing at almost 20 schools a day. On average, in each of these schools eight classrooms are using Smartclass. When we launched Smartclass in 2004 as the first-ever digital classroom program, it was an uphill task convincing schools to adopt it, Dhar notes. These schools had not witnessed any change in a century. It is a completely different scenario now. Private schools across India today see [technology] as an imperative. A digital classroom is set to become the bare-minimum teaching accessory in schools, just like a blackboard is today. Dhar recalls that one major roadblock for Educomps proposition in the early days was on the price front. At US$4,000 (at the exchange rate of Rs. 50 to a U. S. dollar) per classroom, schools found the product very expensive. To get over this hurdle, Educomp quickly decided to make the initial investment and gave the schools an option to pay over a period of three to five years. The strategy worked. Enthused by the market response, in January Educomp launched an upgraded version the Smartclass Class Transformation System with more features, including simulations, mind maps, worksheets, web links, a diagram maker, graphic organizers and assessment tools. Huge Potential According to the Indian Education Sector Outlook Insights on Schooling Segment, a report released by New Delhibased research and consultancy firm Technopak Advisors in May, the total number of schools in India stands at 1. 3 million. Of these, private schools account for 20%. Educomps Dhar points out that only around 10% of the private schools have tapped the potential of multimedia classroom teaching whereas in government schools, it has barely made any inroads. The current market size for digitized school products in private schools is around US$500 million, says Enayet Kabir, associate director for education at Technopak. This is expected to grow at a CAGR [compound annual growth rate] of 20% to reach the over US$2 billion mark by 2020. However, the market potential then might get as big as US$4 billion [i. e.if the total population of private schools that could adopt multimedia actually adopt it. ] Apart from this, the current market size for ICT [information and communications technology] in government schools is US$750 million. We expect this to grow five times by 2020 due to the current low level of penetration in government schools. Kabir lists Educomp Solutions, Everonn Education, NIIT, Core Education Technologies, ILFS and Compucom as dominant players in this sector. New entrants include HCL Infosystems, Learn Next, Tata Interactive Systems, Mexus Education, S.Chand Harcourt (India) and iDiscoveri Education. Except for S. Chand Harcourt, which is a joint venture between S. Chand and US-based Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, all the others are Indian firms. A recent trend is that schools in tier two and tier three cities are increasingly adopting the latest technology. Rajesh Shethia, head of sales and marketing at Tata Interactive Systems, which launched Tata ClassEdge in early 2011 and has partnered up with more than 900 schools, says that more than half of the demand for digital classrooms is from tier two and tier three cities. According to Shethia, schools in these smaller cities realize that it is difficult for their students to get as much exposure as students from tier one cities. [So] they proactively subscribe to solutions such as ours, which richly benefit both teachers and students by simplifying the syllabus. Even parents want the best for their wards and are not averse to paying a little extra. They see value in these initiatives by schools to modernize the way teaching is imparted today. Making some back-of-the-envelope calculations Shethia adds: If we consider the top 100,000 private schools in India as the captive market, the potential is approximately two million classrooms of which currently just about 80,000 have been digitized. Srikanth B. Iyer, COO of Pearson Education Services, also sees tremendous potential in the smaller cities. Pearson provides end-to-end education solutions in the K-12 segment. Its multimedia tool, DigitALly, has been adopted in more than 3,000 private schools across India since 2004. DigitALly installations have been growing at three times the market for the past two years, Iyer says. Currently, more than 60% of our customers are from tier two and tier three towns, such as Barpeta (in the state of Assam), Sohagpur (in Madhya Pradesh) and Balia (in Uttar Pradesh). In order to make its offering attractive to the schools, Pearson has devised a monthly payment model under which a school pays around US$2 per student per month. As the price point is affordable, schools across all locations and fee structures find it viable to opt for our solution, Iyer notes. We focus on tier two and tier three towns and cities where penetration is relatively low and desire for adoption of technology is high. HCLs Digischool program, which launched about 18 months ago, has also made a strong beginning, with a client base of more than 2,500 schools. Partnering with State Governments Meanwhile, state governments are also giving a boost to the adoption of technology in schools. Edureach, a divison of Educomp, has partnered with 16 state governments and more than 30 education departments and boards in the country, covering over 36,000 government schools and reaching out to more than 10. 60 million students. Edureach leads the market with 27% of the total schools where ICT projects have been implemented, says Soumya Kanti, president of Edureach. We are looking [to add] 3,000 more schools this fiscal year and 20,000 to 25,000 additional schools in the next five years. As of now, Edureach has created digital learning content in more than 14 regional languages for these projects. In the northern state of Haryana, CORE Education and Technologies is implementing a US$59 million ICT project that aims to benefit 5 million students across 2,622 schools. Five of these schools will be developed as Smart schools. CORE is also implementing ICT projects in the states of Gujarat, Meghalaya, Punjab, Maharashtra and Nagaland. The scope of work in these projects ranges from implementation of computer-aided learning in schools, installing bio-metric devices to monitor attendance of teachers, and setting up computer hardware, software and other allied accessories and equipments. The task has not been an easy one, admits Anshul Sonak, president of CORE. There are several logistical issues. Delivery of equipment to rural areas is a big challenge in itself. There is lack of basic infrastructure either there are no classrooms or there are ones with no windows. Some schools dont even have toilets. Moreover, the power availability in these areas is often poor and we have had to deploy generator sets in many schools. But despite the challenges, educationists are optimistic. Rahul De, professor of quantitative methods and information systems area at the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore (IIM-B) believes that ICT can have a huge impact on our education system. He points out that ICT can result in increasing the reach [of education] and in keeping the costs low. With increasing penetration of mobile phones and Internet kiosks, the potential is indeed immense, he adds. A study conducted by De in 2009 on the economic impact of free and open source software (FOSS) in India found that it resulted in significant cost savings. FOSS can play a huge role in education, De notes. In the state of Kerala, it has already had a huge impact in both saving costs and providing state-of-the-art access computing to students in government schools. FOSS has a huge number of packages for school students, many of which can be ported to local languages and used in schools. It is also helping disabled students in a big way, by enabling them to access digital resources using audio-visual aids. Edureachs Kanti adds that a study by the Centre for Multi-Disciplinary Development Research in Dharwad in Karnataka in 2006 revealed significant improvement in student enrolment and attendance, as well as a reduction of student dropouts due to ICT interventions. Yet another study conducted by the Xavier Institute of Management in Bhubaneswar in 2007 revealed that computer-aided education has improved the performance of children in subjects such as English, mathematics and science, which are taught through computers using multimedia-based educational content. All in a Tab In line with this increasing interest in technology for school education, there has been a rush of education-focused tablet computers in the market. The most high-profile of these has been Aakash, which was launched by Kapil Sibal, union minister for human resource development, in October 2011. The Aakash project is part of the ministrys National Mission on Education through Information Communication Technology (NME-ICT). It aims to eliminate digital illiteracy by distributing the Aakash tablets to students across India at subsidized rates. While the project itself has become mired in delays and controversy, it has generated a lot of awareness and interest among students around the educational tablet. Meanwhile, DataWind, the Canada-based firm that partnered with the union government for the Aakash project, has also launched UbiSlate7, the commercial version of Aakash. The opportunity for low-cost tablets in India is huge. In the next two years, it will exceed the size of the computer market in India i. e. 10 million units per year, says Suneet Singh Tuli, president and CEO of DataWind. In April, technology firm HCL Infosystems launched the MyEdu Tab, which is priced at around US$230 for the K-12 version. The device comes preloaded with educational applications and also books from the National Council of Educational Research and Training, a government organization. Anand Ekambaram, senior vice-president and head of learning at HCL Infosystems, is in the process of partnering with more than 30 educational institutes across India for MyEdu Tab. MyEdu Tab has content offline and can be accessed over the cloud. It allows students to learn at their own pace, Ekambaram notes. With a topic revision application and a self-assessment engine, students can evaluate their skills and knowledge on their own. Teachers can upload content, which can be accessed by students and parents for tasks such as homework and progress reports on their respective devices. The parent can monitor the progress of his or her child through the cloud-based ecosystem. Earlier this year, Micromax, a leading Indian handset manufacturer, also launched an edutainment device called Funbook. Micromax has also partnered with Pearson and Everonn to make available relevant content for students. Susha John, director and CEO at Everonn, was upbeat at the launch. Digital learning facilitated through tablets will revolutionize the educational space, John said. Everonn has invested in developing content and services targeted toward tablet audiences. To start with, we will offer our school curriculum-learning modules and at home live tuition products on the Funbook. Students can now have access to good teachers, educational content and a great learning experience anytime, anywhere. At Pearson, Max Gabriel, senior vice-president and chief technology officer, is focusing on K-12 content in English to begin with. We are sitting on a huge repository of existing content. Adding the right level of interactivity and richer experience will be our priority. Meanwhile, Educomp is gearing up to launch content that is device agnostic and can be run on any tablet. But even as schools in India are going through this transformation powered by technology, one key question is how big a role technology will play in the education sector. In an earlier interview with India [emailprotected], S. Sadagopan, founder-director at the International Institute of Information Technology in Bangalore, pointed out that there are four parts to learning lectures, library, laboratory and life noting that, Technology plays a critical role in all these. Kabir of Technopak adds another perspective. Despite numerous studies on the impact of ICT in education, the outcomes remain difficult to measure and open to much debate. It needs to be understood that technology is only an enabler and a force multiplier and cannot be treated as a panacea. We believe that impressive gains in teaching-learning outcomes are possible only through an integrated approach rather than a piecemeal intervention. Don Huesman, managing director of Whartons innovation group, recommends caution in considering potential investments in educational technologies. These are very exciting times for online and distance education technologies, but there are risks facing parents, educators and policy makers in evaluating the opportunities these new technologies, and their proponents, represent. Huesman points to the recent growth in high-quality, free, online educational courseware offered on websites like the Khan Academy and the Math Forum, as well as the work of the Open Learning Initiative in developing intelligent cognitive tutors and learning analytics. But such technologies, available from a global network of resources, only provide value when understood, chosen and integrated into a local educational community, he says. As an illustration, Huesman offers the example of cyber kiosks, provided in recent years by foundations at no cost to rural communities in India, exacerbating the gender divide in many traditional communities in which young women congregating at public cyber cafes, also frequented by young men, would be considered taboo. Interventions by governments and NGOs must be inclusive of local community concerns and aware of local political complications, Huesman notes. Globalization: Impact on Education by Satish Tandon, September 2005 The principal objective of education has been the development of the whole individual. The minimum level of education that was necessary to achieve this goal in the agrarian society was basic or primary and in the industrial age, secondary. In the present borderless information society, education needs to be able to respond to additional demands of a rapidly globalizing world by raising awareness of environment, peace, cultural and social diversity, increased competitiveness, and the concept of a global village. Such education is to a knowledge or information society what secondary education was to an industrial economy. Education prepares the individual to connect and live in harmony with the environment around him. Globalization has changed the size, nature and quality of that environment. The challenge for higher education, therefore, is to reform, create and develop systems that prepare the individual to work in a borderless economy and live in a global society. In other words, our educational institutions need to produce global citizens. The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 allowed liberal democracies to claim victory for the capitalist system and contributed to increasing the pace of globalization that was already under way. As globalization gained momentum, market substituted political ideology as the dominant force guiding national and global policies. What followed next, therefore, does not seem so illogical. National governments everywhere partly in deference to the ascendancy of the market and partly in response to pressure from the private sector to expand their sphere of activities began to relinquish control over the delivery of social goods. Everything began to be viewed as a commodity that could be produced and delivered by the private sector in line with market forces and according to the principles of supply and demand. One by one water, electricity, postal services, health, and now education, have been turned into a commodity. The withdrawal of state from higher education has also been helped by economists, who have had an overly simple way of assessing the return on investments in higher education. The basic problem is that they have measured the return on education exclusively through wage differentials. With reference to someone who has no education, someone who has been to primary school, someone who has completed secondary school, and someone with a university degree, one can ask how much more each earns than the previous. These differences are then compared to the incremental amounts invested in their education to find the return. The results generally suggest that higher education yields a lower return than primary or secondary education and they have been used to justify the skewing of government budgets and development funds away from higher education institutions. The rate of return calculations are flawed because they do not take account of the full range of benefits to those who receive higher education. For example, higher education can enhance health, openness, peace, and social development, and at the same time reduce disease, bigotry and blind nationalism so the private benefits to the individual and to society are not just the direct labour productivity benefits, as the rate of return analysis suggests. Higher education confers benefits above and beyond enhancing the incomes of those who receive it. And many of these benefits take the form of public goods, such as the contribution of higher education to enterprise, leadership, governance, culture, and participatory democracy, and its potential for lifting the disadvantaged out of poverty. These are all vital building blocks for stronger economies and societies and all routes by which the benefit of investment in higher education multiplies throughout society. Liberal democracies have traditionally operated on the principle of separation of activities in the social sphere just as they have on the principle of separation of powers in the political sphere. The private sector had been given a relatively free hand in the production and delivery of economic goods while the state concentrated on the provision of healthcare, education and other infrastructure goods, also known as public goods. Globalization has changed all that. The rapid expansion of the influence of the private sector at the global level necessitated a corresponding expansion in their sphere of activities by diversifying into the production and delivery of public goods that had always been within the purview of the state. The takeover was swift and remarkable in the sense that the effort did not meet much resistance. One of the major consequences of the globalization of education has been commodification and the corporatization of institutions of higher learning. It is said that the for-profit education market in the United States is worth more than $500 billion in revenue for the involved corporates. More than one thousand state schools have been handed over to corporations to be run as businesses. But there is a fundamental problem with the way business models have been applied to the delivery of education and other public goods. Unthinking adoption of the private sector model prevents the development of a meaningful approach to management in the public services in general or to the social services in particular based on their distinctive purposes, conditions and objectives. There is another, more serious, problem with corporatization of education. Corporations operate on the principles of cost reduction and profit maximization. These require introducing standardization and the packaging of product in compact, measurable, byte-like, configuration. Applied to education, these approaches would possibly negate its basic fabric and purpose. Education has always encouraged and represents openness, inquiry, diversity, research and limitless learning. Corporatization of education would make it elitist the one provided by corporations for the masses and the poor who cannot afford going to the traditional institutions of learning, and the other for the rich and the affluent. The delivery of public goods and services is and should remain the primary responsibility of the state. Representative government may not be the ideal or perfect arrangement for governance but it represents the best that is available, and certainly more desirable than the private sector management of public services such as education. If the state relinquishes its control over education and education policy, we run the risk of diminishing it to the status of a packaged for-profit product which it is not. Openness, diversity, scholarship, research and disinterested learning will be its biggest victims.

The Changing Nature Of The Employment Relationship Business Essay

The Changing Nature Of The Employment Relationship Business Essay Problems faced by mangers. Business environment is changing drastically in todays corporate world. In early years of current management era manager were suppose to work exclusively with equipments, data and systems; performing traditional tasks. But scenario of management responsibilities has been changed significantly and todays manger faces issues like cross training, personnel management , interdepartmental communication and widening job scope. Globalization is shaping and re-shaping business environment, resulting in increase of competitors, demand of new sourcing strategies and facing new markets with new demands. Irregular flow of information often subject to quantitatively strong fluctuations, controlling the flow of information is necessary otherwise these fluctuations can become detrimental. Information controlling is the analysis, evaluation and importance attached to the data that collected and provided with the data under various criteria. Because day by day managerial job is becoming more and more hectic manager needs to continuously look for new ways to improve speed and quality along with reduction in rising cost. Rising costs is another problem for the managers. Rising in the cost of services and wages is becoming more and more troublesome for managers. In current environment there is no guarantee of the employees being loyal to company, then in that case, to get more money employees ask for higher wages. Also there is requirement to keep the cost of services, provided by company under constant watch. If company starts loosing because of rising service cost then mangers put attention to solve this issue. As complexity of electronic data processing increases, security often decreases. Not only does this pose problems in the form of breaches, it also has legal ramifications with regard to license. This problem especially faced in IT industries. IT companies buy very expensive software and after some months or years new version comes up, then again managers need to change their strategy along with change in technology. Customers may want to change or upgrade to new technology, then managers has to negotiate for the money and services, this may lead to unsatisfactory customer service. Mainly following are the main challenges faced by todays managers Responding to Globalization: Various forces of globalization are reshaping the business environment generating new competitors and demanding new sourcing strategies and market. In dynamic market situations its very hard for managers to predict any concrete goal and strategy for the business development. Short term strategy may work very well but for long term, goal setting is the problem. Again dynamic market conditions of global economy make the profit prediction shaky. No one is able to predict the variations in the profit and losses, business can make. Responding to globalization is becoming more and more important; this result in redefining business model. Today change is happening at a rate that does not afford organizations the luxury of managing one major change at a time. Today managers are facing two questions because of globalization, how does relentless change redefine the nature of management and the structure of an enterprise? And what role should management play in re-s haping the enterprise? Managing work force diversity: Because of globalization and open market system for business, management has to face diversity in work force. Now a days businesses are spread over different cities in various countries. Thus many times not only gender and age diversity, but cultural diversity becomes essential to manage work force. Basically heterogeneity of people becomes challenge for the managers because of variations in the ethics, motives and working culture. Improving quality and Productivity: Main problem for the management is to decide, what is to produce, how much is to produce and where is to be produce. Management has to decide either to produce different products or to emphasis on one product. Once deciding this, managers have to make sure that the quality of the product is good. It takes long time for the organization to create a market about the product; but if there is any lacuna in quality and productivity then because of high competition its become hard for the product to sustain in market. Improving customer service: Improving customer service is sometimes managers think they will get around to in time. But that time rarely comes. Changes in the requirements or changes in the taste of customers become hurdle in the improvement of customer service. To solve this issue many times managers try to set up scenarios that challenge employees and cover the full range of customer requests. At times management also keep two scenarios running parallel and asks employee to maintain balance. Along with above problems managing labor force is again a challenge for managers. Now days there is no unwritten contract of being loyal to an organization, because of this many employees seems to be fired from the organization or they leave the organization for getting good salary job. In the absence of contract between employee and organization, employee may decide to leave an organization in the middle of project work. This is very challenging situations for managers to deal with. To overcome these challenges managers have to modify the working culture. Managers need to be aware of the skills of their subordinates and people under them. Empowering of employees is the best way to get maximum output from them. People get bore because of routine work, then to get more output managers can make changes or innovations in the working style. Along with the challenges discussed above, managers have to make efforts to understand their employees. If managers are able to gel with their employees then only employee will be happy to work with the manager, and he/she will be ready to face or tackle the challenges faced by managers. By knowing employee managers will be in a position to understand the working capacity of employees and allocate the work accordingly. This will also help for the performance appraisal and to know liking of an employee about the job and the work allocated to him/her. Conclusion: Considering many changes in the working environment and globalization todays managers are facing many new challenges comparing to previous years. Todays managers are coming up with new ideas and theories about the challenges faced by them. Inflation and changing rates of foreign exchanges are also creating challenges to managements, to handle this managers have to come up with new innovative ideas. Introduction The shift from a manufacturing economy to a services economy from production of goods to production of ideas, and from the machine age to the information age has been accompanied by many transformations. Rather than producing goods, the service firms produce ideas. Organizations in the services era, such as software, financial services, and biotechnology firms, depend on intellectual capital. People create intellectual capital and are therefore, the most valuable asset of a firm. Even the environment within which firms conduct business today is very different and much more complex and dynamic when compared to the environment fifteen years ago. Firms no longer compete or operate nationally only. Organizations are no longer governed by the business, legal and political environment of their own nations only. As the world becomes one global playing field, the environmental changes in countries other than the home country of a firm affect business decision and the performance of firms. Se veral societal and global phenomena have challenged the management of human resources. Thus, changes in the economic, business, social and cultural environments have brought about a transformation in the HR function and the roles and responsibilities of HR professionals. Some of the significant environmental trends and changes faced by HR managers that pose major challenges are as follows: Trends in the business environment The changing nature of work Demographic, societal and work-force trends The changing nature of the employment relationship. Globalization of Business A major environmental change that has taken place in the last fifteen years is the globalization of business. The world has become a global village and business has become global in character. Organizations are venturing beyond national boundaries in the pursuit of business opportunities. Toyota Motor Corporation makes cars in USA and India, Mc Donalds sells burgers in India and hamburgers in China, and Marks and Spencers sells products in India. Every other product sold by Wal-Mart stores Inc. is made in India. This is the time when buildings are conceptualized in the US designed in India and built in China. Very recently, Ford Motor Co. (Ford) announced its plans to invest $ 1 billion in products and plants in the Asia-Pacific region in the next few years to maintain its presence in the fast-growing markets. Outsourcing has made India a Manufacturing hub, especially for the automobile sector; with cheap labour providing one of the competitive advantages. Government policy reforms and growth against an appreciating rupee have also facilitated this trend. Large numbers of manufacturing assembly jobs that require low skills have moved from the US and Western Europe to developing countries like China, Thailand, Malaysia, and India. Indias manufacturing and services companies invested $10 billion overseas in 2004. The top 15 Indian IT, software and related companies have invested mostly in developed countries. Like the IT and automobile industries, domestic hospital chains from India, such as Apollo Hospitals Group, Fortis Healthcare and Max Healthcare Institute Private Limited, also have ambitious expansion plans in markets as far away as the US, UK, Mauritius, and South-East Asia. Multinational corporations require employees who can adapt to different cultures, customs, social practices, values, economic and political systems and management approaches, who can work with other employees from differing backgrounds. This has caused new challenges for HR managers. The HRM function of a company must develop systems that will help individuals from different cultural backgrounds to work together. Human resource managers must ensure that employees with the requisite knowledge, skills, abilities, and cultural adaptability are available so that they may be successful in global assignments. Foreign investment is no longer something that flows only from a developed country to a developing one. Indian companies are on an expansion drive. Indian business houses, like the Tata Group and firms like Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited (Ranbaxy), Wipro Limited (Wipro), Sun pharmaceutical Industries Limited, Crompton Greaves Limited, Asian Paints, and Cognizant Technology Solutions, have struck merger and acquisition deals world wide to become global players. Acquisitions by Indian companies have now become strategic in nature, by which they have been able to take leadership positions in Asia. The table 1.1 depicts major Human Resource Challenges faced by modern businesses in the present scenario. Table 1.1 Environmental Trends and Human Resource Challenges Sr. No. Environmental Trends Human Resource Challenges 1. Business Environment Globalization and increased competition Managing a global workforce. Ensuring availability of employees who have the skills for global assignments. Focusing increasingly on employee productivity to ensure competitiveness. Ensuring legal compliance when conducting business abroad. Mergers and Acquisitions Managing employee insecurity. Ensuring continued employee productivity. Developing HR initiatives to manage employee morale. Downsizing Managing organizational relationship with survivors Managing morale and commitment of survivors Providing outplacement services or relocation for employees who lose jobs. Providing personal and family counseling to employees who lose their jobs. 2. Changing Nature of Work Industry and Occupational shifts Managing workforce with flexible working patterns. Focusing on competencies during hiring process. Designing incentive based compensation. Developing proactive employee development programmes. Technological Advancements Managing a virtual workforce. Managing employee alienation. Developing training modules and conducting programmes to provide employees with required skills. Retraining current employees to mange obsolescence. Providing work-life balance initiatives. Outsourcing Manage employee concerns about losing jobs due to outsourcing. Managing employee morale and productivity. Flexible Work Arrangements Managing the loss of organizational control over work. Developing programmes for motivating the flexible workforce. Developing ways of ensuring commitment of the flexible workforce to the firm. 3. Demographic, Societal, and Workforce Trends Workforce Diversity Workforce Composition Devising customized HR strategies for hiring, retaining, and motivating employees belonging to different generations. Developing life-style driven perks for the new generation employees. Developing work-life balance programmes. Workforce Availability Ensuring the availability of skilled talent to fulfill organizational needs. Ageing population and workforce Finding replacement for retirees. Managing the demand-supply gap for qualified managerial talent due to a large retiring workforce. Developing mentoring programmes to ensure the skills of experienced mangers are passed on to new managers. Obsolescence training and retaining of older employees. Managing retirement policies. Conducting programmes to retain experienced employees. Educated and knowledge workforce Ensuring the continued supply of trained manpower. Training new hires. Partnering with universities and developing academic initiatives to meet projected shortage of skilled manpower. Training employees in computer skills, communication skills, and customer handling skills. Emphasizing re-training and development activities. Women in workforce Strategizing to attract and retain educated and skilled women workers. Conducting programmes for women who opt for career breaks. Providing facilities such as crà ¨ches, flexible working hours, etc. Changing family structures Developing work-life balance programmes. Global Workforce Developing diversity training programmes. Developing HR initiatives directed to workforce diversity. Identifying and training expatriate managers for overseas assignments. Developing equitable pay plans for individuals working in different countries. Contingent Workforce/workforce flexibility Developing systems to motivate the temporary workforce and elicit commitment from them Helping the temporary employees to quickly adapt to the organization to reach their full potential 4. Changing Nature of Employment Relationship Offering challenging jobs to employees. Managing rewards for enhancing employee performance. Providing opportunities for enhancing skills through training, development, and educational programmes. Developing programmes for employee commitment. Understanding value differences across different employee groups and customizing HR programmes. Source: Agarwala, Tanuja, Strategic Human Resource Management, Oxford Publication, 2007. Another recent change faced by HRM in the present business scenario is that of Mergers and Acquisitions. Companies today need to be fast growing, efficient, profitable, flexible, adaptable, and future-ready and have a dominant market position. Without these qualities, firms believe that it is virtually impossible to be competitive in todays global economy. In order to gain access to new markets and fresh ideas, companies often choose to grow via Mergers Acquisitions (MA) rather than concentrating their efforts on their own business activities. Such inorganic growth is often viewed as a faster way to achieve growth for the company. Especially in technology driven industries, where growth is often accelerated through increased innovations, and one way for the firms to compete is to align themselves with those companies that are developing the innovative technology. Such alignment is achieved through MA activities. Successful manifestation of such activities involves complex procedures and processes in order to integrate both organizations and align them as per a common unified objective. It has created certain problems for an organization. One of the problems associated with MAs is the retrenchment of staff that becomes surplus due to rationalization of operations. For example, in the financial services sector, MA activity between 1996 and 2006 caused an aggregate employment decline. Due to MA, sector experts predicted a loss of more than 300,000jobs in the banking sector between 1999 and 2002. When negotiations for MA are on, employees of the concerned firms are subject to several rumours that cause insecurity about the future. Thus, HRM is faced with several challenges before, during, and after the MA decision. In the present era, the competitive advantage of organizations is linked to knowledge. There is a lot of emphasis placed upon dissemination of knowledge, and knowledge workers within organizations. Therefore, there is an increased focus on management of the knowledge resource in organization. Thus, in the 21st century, the HRM function has a key role to play in shaping the competitive position of the organization. To compete effectively in the knowledge economy, a firm must have what Ulrich calls organizational capabilities.HRM plays an important role in creating, developing, and managing the organizational capabilities that are necessary for competing in the knowledge economy. Human resource mangers have to create effective teams within a diverse workforce; tap talent throughout the organization by recruiting, retaining, and developing people at all levels; build and integrate cultures as mergers and acquisitions become common; and develop employee commitment toward organizational v ision. Human resource management is confronted with major challenges in the present knowledge economy. Thus, HRM is no longer simply focused on managing people or confined to traditional HR functions rather; it is now responsible for managing the capabilities within the organization. The Table 1.2 given below elaborates upon the challenges facing HRM in the knowledge economy. The four major HRM roles in the Knowledge economy are as:- Human Capital Steward Knowledge Facilitator Relationship Builder Rapid Deployment Specialist Technology has had a tremendous impact upon the global business environment. Communication, transportation and production efficiency are various areas of business which have been enhanced by the development and improvement of technology. As continual enhancements are made, the world continues to grow smaller and businesses have further reach than ever. Computers The most important technological development to impact the global business environment is the world of computers. There are various programs which help maintain records of inventories and shipments. Email allows for instantaneous communication almost anywhere in the world. Besides its speed, email is easily forwarded and retained. The communication in the global business environment is improved with the use of email. The impact of computers on the global business environment is wide-ranging and also includes the Internet, which is a useful tool for international companies. By using the Internet, companies across the world can perform research and learn more about partners and suppliers. Conference Calls and Video Conferencing Conference calls allow people in multiple locations to be involved in the same conversation. Video conferencing provides the same service, but with the added benefit of all parties being able to actually see each other. Both of these forms of communication have a definite impact on the global business environment. With either form of technology, a parent company in Norway can have a conversation with a raw material supplier in Brazil and a manufacturing plant in Taiwan. This improves communication on a global scale and enables all parties to understand specific plans and agreements. Sponsored Links Import export Find quality suppliers on 20-23 Apr Register for free trade admission! www.hktdc.com Transportation The shipment of raw materials and finished products is absolutely vital to any business, but particularly those with an international scope. Transportation technology enables a company on one continent to send its raw materials or products to another company in a different continent. Technological advancements in airplanes, cargo ships and railways allow for quicker, cheaper delivery, which impacts business by making global distribution more feasible. Manufacturing Technology Increased efficiency of manufacturing plants has a certain impact on the global business environment. By having the capacity to produce materials and products more quickly and efficiently, a company is able to produce quantities needed to supply global demand. Robotic technologies and factory lines have enhanced the speed at which materials and products are manufactured. For a company to be a player in the global business field, it must be able to keep up with demand. Shipment Tracking Corporations now have the ability to track shipments virtually anywhere across the world. Global Positioning Systems (GPS) allow accurate tracking. The implication of this technology on the global business environment is the ability to let customers know exactly where their shipments are at any given time. This technology creates secure relationships within the global business field. Competitors fill a need for business owners by keeping them on the cutting edge. Without competitors, a business would have no reason to keep prices in check. It would create a monopoly which is never good in any society. When two competitors compete for business, the market (customers) are the ones who decide who they will patronize with their dollars. Prices are usually the first element people choose when deciding which business or product to go with. Competitors drive innovation and keep new ideas and procedures moving forward. Imagine if McDonalds were the only fast food hamburger restaurant in the world. There would never be a Burger King to compete. All food would taste bland and boring. Everyone is always looking to build a better mousetrap Many consumers and social advocates believe that businesses should not make a profit but also consider the social implications of their activities. We define social responsibility as a businesss obligation to maximize its positive impact minimize its negative impact on society. Although many people use the terms social responsibility and ethics interchangeably, they do not mean the same thing. Business ethics relates to an individuals or a work groups decisions that society evaluates as right or wrong, whereas social responsibility is a broader concept that concerns the impact of the entire businesss activities on society. From an ethical perspective, for example, we may be concerned about a health care organization or practitioner over- charging the provincial government for medical services. From a social responsibility perspective, we might be concerned about the impact that this overcharging will have on the ability of the health care system to provide adequate services for all c itizens. The most basic ethical and social responsibility concerns have been codified as laws and regulations that encourage businesses to conform to societys standards, values, and attitudes. At a minimum, managers are expected to obey these laws and regula- tions. Most legal issues arise as choices that society deems unethical, irresponsible, or otherwise unacceptable. However, all actions deemed unethical by society are not nec- essarily illegal, and both legal and ethical concerns change over time. Business law refers to the laws and regulations that govern the conduct of business. Many problems and conflicts in business can be avoided if owners, managers, and employees know more about business law and the legal system. Business ethics, social responsibility, and laws together act as a compliance system requiring that businesses and employees act responsibly in society. Business ethics are moral principles that guide the way a business behaves. The same principles that determine an individuals actions also apply to business. Acting in an ethical way involves distinguishing between right and wrong and then making the right choice. It is relatively easy to identify unethical business practices. For example, companies should not use child labour. They should not unlawfully use copyrighted materials and processes. They should not engage in bribery. However, it is not always easy to create similar hard-and-fast definitions of good ethical practice. A company must make a competitive return for its shareholders and treat its employees fairly. A company also has wider responsibilities. It should minimise any harm to the environment and work in ways that do not damage the communities in which it operates. This is known as corporate social responsibility. Codes of behaviour The law is the key starting point for any business. Most leading businesses also have their own statement of Business Principles which set out their core values and standards. In Anglo Americans case, this is called Good Citizenship. A business should also follow relevant codes of practice that cover its sector. Many companies have created voluntary codes of practice that regulate practices in their industrial sector. These are often drawn up in consultation with governments, employees, local communities and other stakeholders. Anglo American has played an active part in initiatives such as the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, the United Nations Global Compact and the Global Reporting Initiative. Anglo American has also contributed to the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights. This code sets out principles and practices for ensuring that a companys need to ensure the security of its employees and operations in volatile countries does not adversely impact upon the local population. Thus the Principles provide guidance on how both private and public security forces assigned to protect a mining operation or an oil and gas facility should be vetted, trained in human rights, monitored and controlled. Anglo American also aims to ensure that it plays a role in protecting the human rights of its employees and local people in countries in which it operates. The company supports the principles set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. All companies need to make a profit. However, Anglo American recognises that this objective must take account of ethics as shown in its statement on corporate responsibility: Though providing strong returns for our shareholders remains our prime objective, we do not believe that these can or should be achieved at the expense of social, environmental and moral considerations. Indeed a long-term business such as ours will only thrive if it also takes into account the needs of other stakeholders such as governments, employees, suppliers, communities and customers. Stakeholders An important process used by Anglo American is that of stakeholder engagement. This enables it better to understand the perspectives and priorities of external groups that are affected by its activities and to factor them into its decision-making processes. To support this work at a local level, Anglo American has developed a Socio-Economic Assessment Toolbox or SEAT process. This toolbox helps managers to measure the impact of activities on the company and communities. It also helps to improve a mines contribution to development through, for example, using its supply chain needs to generate new businesses or to improve the water or electricity infrastructure. They use this toolbox to engage with stakeholders including community representatives. Sometimes communities have to be resettled, with government sanction, in order for important mineral deposits to be accessed. This can cause controversy and divisions in the communities concerned. International best practice sets out a number of key stages in such a process including the need for structured consultation, fair compensation and the importance of restoring and enhancing the livelihoods of people in their new locations. Recently Anglo American has had to undertake two such relocations in South Africa at the villages of Ga Pila and Motlhotlo. These were undertaken with the support of the provincial government and local tribal leadership and after consultation with local people lasting for several years leading to agreement with each householder. New villages have been built with better houses and infrastructure and more land for farming. The relocation programme was voluntary. The relocation programme at Motlhotlo is still under way but at Ga Pila 98% of those living in the old village took up the offer to move to the new village Read more: http://businesscasestudies.co.uk/anglo-american/business-ethics-and-corporate-social-responsibility/what-are-business-ethics.html#ixzz2K6s8ohJR Follow us: @Thetimes100 on Twitter | thetimes100casestudies on Facebook

Strategies for Measuring Marketing

Strategies for Measuring Marketing â€Å"Conviction is the luxury of those sitting on the sidelines. For those of us who choose to play rather than watch, measurement is the compass that guides us through our mistakes.† Famous dialogue of movie A Beautiful Mind EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Business world has become very dynamic in current times. Technological advances are bringing changes in lifestyle of customers. It has generated necessity for introduction of new products in market or drastic changes in existing products so as to meet changing customer needs. It has made job of marketing department more challenging. Assessing customer needs, preferences, satisfaction and expectation level are few important domain, which marketing people has to handle at one hand. Whereas at the other hand, positioning product in market for particular customer segment and launching marketing scheme so as to enhance market share and profitability is other main area of working for marketing professionals. These twin tasks are very much essential for success of any business organization. There are other divisions also in almost every business unit like procurement, production, sales and marketing etc. Each one of these division contribute in making organization run profitability so as to meet the ultimate aim of establishing business i.e. maximizing profit of shareholders. Often there are discussions about contribution of individual departments in making organization successful and resources allotted to respective departments. Though, each and every department has its unique role to play in growth of business, few walk away with greater share of budget allocation while others have to manage their operations with lesser budgetary allocation. It has necessitated that work performance of each division should be measured in terms of revenue generation contribution. It will make budgetary allocation decision on more professional lines. It will also help individual divisions in measuring performance of various schemes and programs internally. It has been often observed that different work divisions allege for greater budget allocation to marketing division without rational but just on tall claims. Generally marketing professionals come to meetings without facts s and try to describe their achievements qualitatively. But finance division insists for factual position and achievement in terms of some well defined variable linking performance to financials. Though, marketing professionals have been found resisting this demand of finance professionals in general. But is has made a impact on general board room environment where marketing professionals are asked to bring in more credible feedback about their performance. But performance of marketing efforts cannot be measured simply as is the case of production or sales, where it is easy to make out every evening. So there is a need to first establish a performance metric for marketing, which may vary from one type of business to another type of business. But it is for sure tha t, once metric is established and performance evaluation for marketing starts, it will bring in more transparency, credibility, accountability and efficiency in marketing department operations. Each marketing efforts cost a lot in terms of manpower engaged and finances. A single slot of just few seconds in TV channel may cost thousands of dollars. So if company gets evaluation of its impact on sales, it may streamline its spending on it. Besides that few expensive media campaigns may be cut short or diverted so as to bring desired outcomes. A drastic shift in Coca Cola advertisement campaign to shift from costly family entertainment channel to some sport, movie and adventure channel was a result of one such marketing measurement campaign, which not only helped in saving lot of money, but gave better results also in terms of revenue generation. These measures help company in making budgetary allocations more professional and transparent, but are opposed by marketing professionals. It happens as they are made more accountable for expenditure. It necessitates involvement of change management professional also in the whole process. It has been observed that gradual changes supported with workshops and training programs are more likely to succeed then swift changes for marketing management adoption. Benefits of marketing measurement are immense, most prominent being smart use of scarce human financial resources. These can be deployed on schemes giving best returns rather than schemes of marginal success. It also helps in rev iewing performance of schemes at regular intervals and takes corrective action if required. So we find that marketing measurement is not only trend for present day business, but a necessity to make business more dynamic, result oriented and efficient. It helps in bringing in better coordination among various divisions so as to achieve business target of making organization more profitable. INTRODUCTION Gone are the days of stable and predictable business environment. Business world has become very dynamic with new technology playing greater role in our lives. (Kristy Sheppard .2009. Diversify your business to defy the downturn) World has turned in to a village, with the spread of internet and other related information technology far and wide in every part of the world. Communication and transportation is becoming easy and economic day by day. (Data monitor. 2009).It has opened new challenges and opportunities for the businesses all over the world. Companies are facing enhanced level of competition on account of newer options available to customers from other new entrants in market. At the same time companies are getting new opportunities in the form of newer markets. But either it is taking up competition with new entrants or approaching new markets, working of marketing professionals become of utmost importance. (James Walsh. 2009). What is the competitive position of company prod ucts with respect to rival companies, need to be analyzed so as to retain and increase present share. At the same time demography of new markets, customer needs and preferences also need to be investigated in details so as to bring in new products suiting customer needs in newer markets. It requires resources in terms of finances and manpower to be deployed so as to bring in positive outcomes out of whole marketing efforts. It is after some initial deliberation on the prevailing issues that funds are allotted so as to launch marketing campaigns in new markets and existing ones. But it can happen only in starting that funds can be allotted with a rough estimate reached on account of judgmental forecasting. But as time proceeds, it is desired that outcomes of previous and current expenditure is measured, before demand of more funds is put forward. It has been observed that divisions of work like sales, production, human resources and procurement etc. comes out with facts and s about p erformance outcomes leaving marketing division alone which depends solely on qualitative statements about their performance (Michelle 2005). Here comes the issue of measuring performance of marketing division functioning. Decisions regarding budgetary allocation to various business divisions must be very professional. Especially budgetary support to various marketing campaigns must be extended after getting the effectiveness measured in clear financial outcomes of these. In no case allocation should be extended on the basis of only qualitative explanation, tall claims not supported by any real time performance measurement. There is a need to not only measure performance, but it is also required that this measurement must be in terms of such variables, which can link up performance to financials. Operations of Coca Cola in Indian Territory are running in loss on account of smaller sales volume. To boost sales, company launched advertisement campaigns on prime entertainment TV channels. For months, these campaigns continued but sales did not pick up. It was only after few months that a survey was conducted to find out impact of these advertising campaigns. To shock of everybody in company, it came to notice, that actual consumer of Coca Cola, the youngsters, watch movie, sports and adventure channel more and les the news or family entertainment channels. It emphasizes the need of marketing measurement at regular intervals. If company were using marketing measurement at regular interval, this major drawback would have been detected at much earlier stage of campaign. Corrective steps at that stage would have resulted in saving lot of funds and streamlining marketing efforts so as to result in achieving required targets. Competition is increasing day by day and margins are shrinking, depleting finances in almost every business (Boston Consulting Group. Nov 2007). . As a result availability of funds has come down and there is emphasis on smart use of resources. In such a scenario, it becomes of utmost importance, that funds are used where they are not only needed most but are most productive also. It warrants that the mysterious world of marketing be mapped very carefully, schemes programs launched evaluated very systematically and free judgment be taken with rational so as to continue, strengthen or cut short designated programs. This will not only help in making smart use of resources, but also weed out less productive schemes and programs. Rudy Gulianui, former mayor of the Newyork, once said that whatever operations may be, if we do not measure, we cannot manage. Though his comments were more focused towards civic services, but these are equally applicable in business world. Management prime function is to control and direct the organization in right direction. But unless management gets feedback about various business activities I the form of performance evaluation, how can we expect them to give right direction as desired. So all these instances shows that measuring marketing is an essential activity which brings objectivity in functioning of marketing department but also prudent decision making of management. NEED FOR MEASURING MARKETING In everyday life, we see that that all the activities are directed towards some specific objectives. If we look at school children, performance of these is measured by way of examination at regular intervals. Performance of teachers are also measured by the way of results achieved so. Either it is civic authorities, policeman controlling traffic or the house keeping staff of the office, performance of everybody is measured and money spent of their functioning is accounted for. Then why the performance of the marketing professionals should not be put to measurement. There are efforts to determine economic order quantity for procurement department, machine utilization parameters in production floors as well as sales volume generated per sales personnel, then why should the marketing professionals not justify the funds spent in their operations and results achieved out of it. Once measuring marketing mechanism is put in place, it will clearly bring objectivity in the functioning of mark eting professionals and enhance level of accountability for them. Minimizing risk in the business operations is very important. But unless we generate expected results of various marketing activities, we may not be in a position to mark, various marketing activities on the basis of their expected returns (Tim Riesterer 1999). Once we start measuring output of various marketing moves, marketing vehicles and channels, it helps us in assessing the real output of each one. This way, it becomes comparatively lesser risky in starting new moves, as we are already aware of previous output of various constituent elements of a particular scheme to be launched. In measuring marketing mechanism, performance of various schemes is measured on continuous basis helping in controlling, modifying and changing course of action for various schemes. This way, it becomes easy to continuously monitor performance of select schemes and drop the programs not performing up to the mark and proving to be costly as compared to other schemes giving better returns. There remains divergent view all the time, in all possible areas of operations, if standards are not set so as to measure performance. It applies to marketing as well. If standards are not set, it will let senior level marketing professionals to look for many flimsy and personally convincing excuses to be put forward, as explanation for lesser impact of marketing programs. There are also chances that outcomes of various marketing schemes are mixed so as to show success of few programs for others also, where as not to indicate real poor performance for others. Measuring marketing mechanism let every scheme be monitored for real output of the concerned scheme only. It gives factual success rate of each and every marketing program in transparent way. Measuring marketing moves also reduces the chances of performance being misrepresented in terms other than those which represent true one. Once metric are decided for each specific type of program, it becomes less probable, that performance can be misrepresented. Once proper measurement takes place for each and every marketing initiative, it becomes more satisfying for the leadership as far as resource allocation and its utilization is concerned. (Demand Metric.2009.Measuring marketing governance maturity). Leadership takes decision regarding budgetary provisions on various facts and s generated out of measuring marketing campaigns. It also helps in midterm review of various marketing programs, especially those which are costly and whose success if critical for the growth of the organization. In todays business scenario, when business is so dynamic and competition so stiff, it is not possible for the companies to wait for long to get results of marketing moves. In such case, measuring marketing helps companies in evaluating the performance on continuous basis and taking corrective measures as and when required without waiting till the end of the marketing programs. It not only helps company in acquiring competitive edge over other rivals, but in making smart use of resources. Surveys conducted recently by various research bodies have found that companies practicing measuring marketing moves remain confident and clear about their budgetary allocations at various point of time. Their financial decisions remain more prudent and productive as compared to companies not adopting measuring marketing moves. It is also found that marketing operations became more transparent in due course of time since adoption of measuring marketing techniques. Surveys have also pointed out that top leadership became more confident and positive about their marketing division as every investment made is accounted for. Top leadership also feels confident that metrics chosen so gives performance of marketing team in terms of revenue parameters, which help top management in taking decision regarding investment more rationally without getting entangled in technicalities of marketing. SCHOOL OF THOUGHT FOR MEASURING MARKETING There are basically three schools of thought for measuring marketing concept. Fist one focuses on return on investment, where as second one focuses on brand equity being created out of adverting campaigns. The third and last one is the concept of considering customer information as asset. In the first school of thought investment in marketing is considered just like any other investment. How much return a marketing campaign will give justifies the investment made there. There is no long term gains considered here in this school of thought. There is very plain relationship of investment and return in particular campaign itself. No looking beyond the life of particularly targeted marketing move. Generating brand value or establishing a brand is not the concept over here. Measurement remains focused on just the return a particular campaign makes. Developing measuring marketing metric is most easy in this type of school of thought as performance has to be evaluated in terms of incrementa l revenue for every investment made in the marketing efforts. In the second school of thought, brand value has been given the prime focus. Here prime target of the marketing is considered as creating brand value and further value addition to it. It generally happens with the fast moving consumer goods companies that brands are established more prominently rather than anything else including products itself. Here products keep on changing over period of time as per consumer preferences and life style but brand remains the same. Here focus of marketing campaign remains on establishing brand value, which remains there for longer period of time, though the products may keep on changing. Developing measuring marketing metric is most difficult task in this domain. There is no consensus among industry experts as to what are the parameters, which help measure performance of marketing campaigns in the area of brand management. Otherwise also, brands value is not created for certain short period only. It is a long term process to create a brand which ben efits company over life time of the business. Third school of thought for measuring marketing is of consumer equity school. Here focus of the marketing activities remain on generating loyalty of the customer towards company by way of exploring consumer details and customizing services suitable to him. Telecom services and financial services are the most glaring example of this school of thought. Here focus remains on generating information of the customer so as the products can be customized to his needs. It is the information of the customer which helps in retaining him or enabling company in cross selling other allied products to customer. Developing measuring marketing metrics in this domain is comparatively easy as compared to brand equity school, but a bit tougher to return on investment school of measuring marketing concept. Brand equity school of thought proves to be most difficult challenge in developing measuring marketing campaigns. Though in present times, this school of thought has got limited applicability, but in c oming years, it is expected to gain not only popularity but enhanced level of applicability on account of increasing domain of customer centric services. INSTANCES OF DILEMMA FOR MARKETING PROFESSIONALS Whenever the issue of measuring marketing is raised and efforts are initiated so as to measure performance of the marketing programs, the most likely answer which comes is the focus being on creating brand and enhancing brand value. Measuring brand value, which is a part of the measuring marketing exercise, is not the job of marketing division, is the way, marketing people comes out generally. It is true also to some extent. Ultimately conducting surveys are not easy and is a reasonably costly affair. So companies, and especially marketing divisions, already in financial stress to meet the expenditure of currently running programs, try to avoid measuring marketing. It is true that measuring marketing do involves the process of survey and then finding out the enhancement in the value of brand as a result of marketing campaign. But dilemma here comes for spending fist to bring in efficiency, which may come for saving later. This dilemma f faced more in medium size companies where inves tment in marketing campaign is not huge, and conducting surveys to measure performance of marketing initiatives may cost a certain noticeable percentage of total budgetary provisions of marketing department as a whole. In case of smaller companies, measuring brand values through surveys or other applicable techniques may even cost re than creating it. As smaller companies have limited market, so while creating brand they look for targeted markets only. This allows them to create effective brand for themselves in limited market space and in particular segment to create brand in lesser cost. But if the go for measuring its effectiveness, the budget required may go well beyond original allotted for creating and establishing brand. There are many instances, when company do not benefit by being there, such as trade fairs and exhibitions etc. Company does not get many business leads from few of these exhibitions which may not be very focused or targeted. But even then, general business environment warrants, company presence in these exhibitions, so as to negate any possible rumors about company performance or financial health of company. These are few instances, where company has to invest in marketing moves, even if it knows that not much of return is there by going ahead with these marketing moves. All these exercises do cost company and expenses falls under the head of marketing division only, though the purpose served may be in larger interest of the company itself not the marketing side of the company only. So care, must be taken while putting in measuring marketing mechanism in place, so that these do not discourage some activities, which may not be translating in revenues in immediate times but are for lar ger interest of the organization. It is also a fact that in exhibitions, though company may bit get buying leads in immediate future, but it helps in generating profile of the prospective customers in near future. How many people are visiting company exhibition stall, of what age group and with what income level are some crucial questions about demography, which can be answered by collecting data over here. Processing of this data and subsequent business intelligence developed helps marketing division in taking strategic moves, which may be of crucial business importance. So though these exhibitions may not be turning in to revenue generation, but proves to be of utility in other way for marketing people. Measuring marketing mechanism may rate these activities as low profile as these are not directly related to revenue generation but are oriented for long term planning and strategy. So there is a need to take care for this situation, while developing measuring marketing metrics in organization. It is often argued that not many people respond to the e-mails sent to them asking their feedback about marketing related areas. But the point here is that it does not cost heavy to do online marketing related survey. Besides that a lot many people can be sent e-mails at comparatively less cost. Out of this, if even a fraction of people respond to e-mail campaign, it gives fair idea about the opinion of concerned people. If care is taken is selecting the sample frame carefully, it can lead to generation of very useful information for the further marketing programs. Here stress should be that sampling of the whole sampling population should be done with care that statistical parameters are satisfied so as to give accurate representation of target market. Another area of dilemma comes from business analysts side. It is for sure and well established that business analyst do affect the fortunes of company to some extent. They also help leave their impact on some high profile clients, who may be of importance for the company. But main issue raised here is that, it may not happen in immediate time, that analyst meet effect the business. Sometimes it also becomes difficult that which client has been referred by business analyst at at what point of time. So it makes more difficult to measure the net impact of business analyst meet. So there comes a stage of dilemma for marketing professionals, as to what extent these meets are successful in affecting business of company and in turn the growth of revenue. We find that in all these cases, company faces a situation of dilemma so as to either adopt the measuring marketing for above mentioned situation or go ahead with traditionally accepted norms practices. But it has been argued all the time by measuring marketing people that measuring or generating some estimate is always better than not to have even a rough estimate of impact, which marketing programs leaves behind. Measuring marketing opens a scope where a selection among the various marketing options can be made more rationally logically based upon facts s rather than just on the views of professionals. It also opens scope for midterm review of expensive marketing campaigns and related corrective actions, which can be taken to avoid big failures or less impressive results at last. Measuring marketing mechanism just ensures lightning up the mysterious world of marketing and its impact on companys fortune. ELEMENTS TO MEASURE OF MARKETING PERFORMANCE There are various parameters to measure the effectiveness of the marketing programs. One of the most important parameters which show the performance of marketing programs is sales and resultant revenue generated out of it. Prime target of any business establishment is to generate profits, which is possible only when sales are there. Net result of marketing campaigns should come in the form of sales. This is one of the most important parameter to measure effectiveness of marketing programs in immediate future. Other important parameter is generation of leads for sales to take place. It may be that products of company are not very much competitive, cost wise and value these offer to consumer. But if a marketing campaign is able to generate quality leads, we can safely say that marketing campaign is serving the basic purpose for which it was launched. But sales leads so generated must be of potential that if followed seriously then can be converted to actual sales. Especially the exhibi tions, workshops and seminars are the events , performance of which can be measured effectively by way of focusing on the leads generated so. Sometimes we find that company has very specific business objectives to be served. In such cases to measure performance of marketing operations, specific parameters related to these objectives are taken in to consideration while developing metrics. But one almost universal goal for any business organization is to get returns of the investment made in it. So, one very objective measurement for performance can be finding out return on the investment made on marketing programs. There have also been seen that out of some mass media campaign, there comes lot of leads for products and services offered by company. But how many of these leads actually get converted to sales reflect, the performance of marketing team. It is also true for business ventures that it is not the volume of total profit, but in essence the profitability of organization, which matters most. Smart investment is the most sought after feature of today business world. So is the marketing efforts resulted in enhancing profitability of organization as a whole, is one such parameter for measuring performance and effectiveness of various marketing programs. Conducting surveys so as to find out awareness about company products and services can also help in measuring performance of marketing programs focused on generating brand value. It is also very important for marketing division to make reach of company in media, which help generate awareness about company in general public. Sales to cost efficiency are another important parameter, which can form the basis to evaluate the overall performance of the companys marketing programs. Stock prices are also taken as a measure of effectiveness of marketing programs, though not directly. Among all the parameters mentioned above, few have high degree of correlation with marketing performance whereas other parameters have comparatively lower degree of correlation with marketing programs performance. Marketing related data is generated at every stage of customer engagement cycle. This data becomes very voluminous for companies having larger customer base. But not all the data generated is useful and serves the purpose of measuring marketing. There is need to segregate data and categories in such a way, that it can be used effectively and logical inferences about marketing activities can be drawn out of it. In each area of marketing, there are few parameters which can be used to measure performance. For each area, certain parameters are selected to develop metrics. Basically whole marketing exercise can be divided in following domains of activities. Establishing brand identity and enhancing brand value on continuous basis. Product and services marketing management Public relationship of the company Developing business in newer and unexplored areas Various advertisement campaigns Product promotion through various events resulting in leads generation. Making company website popular, attractive and rich in features Managing sales operations Managing customer relationship. Brand Management Important variables which can be used to measure performance of marketing performance in this domain are as brand equity, brand awareness, brand preference, brand image and brand loyalty. It becomes imperative that measuring marketing exercise should try to pick up right variables, which reflect true performance of the brand management team in marketing department. Each area of brand management can be evaluated by specific variable, which correlate to enhanced brand value. Product Marketing Manager Products and services of the company are most important and pivotal link between customer and company. It is products and services, around which whole business is woven. It becomes of utmost importance that product design is done in such a way, that it meets customer requirement completely. Pricing of the products and services should also be kept at a level which gives customer satisfaction for the needs fulfilled by these. It is prime job of the marketing division that it keeps track of the customer preferences and needs arising out of changing lifestyle of consumer on account of technological advances and other developments. Marketing departments are supposed to keep close track of the level of customer satisfaction. Various important domain, in which marketing team is supposed to work here are like customer satisfaction, market share, price sensitivity, overall sales and sales by various channels. Public Relations Management Managing public relations is another important domain for marketing division. Especially the lifestyle of customers has become fast and it is observed that company image do affect buying decisions. So it becomes more important that customers are made to receive good image of the company as well as its products and services through various public relations programs. Various parameters which can be used to measure effectiveness of the marketing department in this domain are like media mentions, size of audiences for each of such happening, number of interviews conducted on reputed media channels and nature of these occurrences. All these may happen in different media channels like print media, television or magazine etc. But care has to taken as which media channel is popular and effective in targeted population. Elements of reputation and popularity of the channel, in which company is getting mention, should be taken in to consideration. Important point is that channel is popular and reputed among the targeted audience. As a survey found that coca cola was focusing on popular family entertainment channels for public relations management, but it was found later that English movie channel and sports channel were more popular among targeted youngsters forming major customer base. So while forming metric for measuring marketing, care must be taken so as to include all these factors. Business Development Division Business development division helps company in exploring possibilities of business opportunities in newer areas. Few important functional areas, where performance can be measured are as follows. How many new business partners have been added so as to develop business in new areas? Out of new business partners added, how many actively participated in dev Strategies for Measuring Marketing Strategies for Measuring Marketing â€Å"Conviction is the luxury of those sitting on the sidelines. For those of us who choose to play rather than watch, measurement is the compass that guides us through our mistakes.† Famous dialogue of movie A Beautiful Mind EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Business world has become very dynamic in current times. Technological advances are bringing changes in lifestyle of customers. It has generated necessity for introduction of new products in market or drastic changes in existing products so as to meet changing customer needs. It has made job of marketing department more challenging. Assessing customer needs, preferences, satisfaction and expectation level are few important domain, which marketing people has to handle at one hand. Whereas at the other hand, positioning product in market for particular customer segment and launching marketing scheme so as to enhance market share and profitability is other main area of working for marketing professionals. These twin tasks are very much essential for success of any business organization. There are other divisions also in almost every business unit like procurement, production, sales and marketing etc. Each one of these division contribute in making organization run profitability so as to meet the ultimate aim of establishing business i.e. maximizing profit of shareholders. Often there are discussions about contribution of individual departments in making organization successful and resources allotted to respective departments. Though, each and every department has its unique role to play in growth of business, few walk away with greater share of budget allocation while others have to manage their operations with lesser budgetary allocation. It has necessitated that work performance of each division should be measured in terms of revenue generation contribution. It will make budgetary allocation decision on more professional lines. It will also help individual divisions in measuring performance of various schemes and programs internally. It has been often observed that different work divisions allege for greater budget allocation to marketing division without rational but just on tall claims. Generally marketing professionals come to meetings without facts s and try to describe their achievements qualitatively. But finance division insists for factual position and achievement in terms of some well defined variable linking performance to financials. Though, marketing professionals have been found resisting this demand of finance professionals in general. But is has made a impact on general board room environment where marketing professionals are asked to bring in more credible feedback about their performance. But performance of marketing efforts cannot be measured simply as is the case of production or sales, where it is easy to make out every evening. So there is a need to first establish a performance metric for marketing, which may vary from one type of business to another type of business. But it is for sure tha t, once metric is established and performance evaluation for marketing starts, it will bring in more transparency, credibility, accountability and efficiency in marketing department operations. Each marketing efforts cost a lot in terms of manpower engaged and finances. A single slot of just few seconds in TV channel may cost thousands of dollars. So if company gets evaluation of its impact on sales, it may streamline its spending on it. Besides that few expensive media campaigns may be cut short or diverted so as to bring desired outcomes. A drastic shift in Coca Cola advertisement campaign to shift from costly family entertainment channel to some sport, movie and adventure channel was a result of one such marketing measurement campaign, which not only helped in saving lot of money, but gave better results also in terms of revenue generation. These measures help company in making budgetary allocations more professional and transparent, but are opposed by marketing professionals. It happens as they are made more accountable for expenditure. It necessitates involvement of change management professional also in the whole process. It has been observed that gradual changes supported with workshops and training programs are more likely to succeed then swift changes for marketing management adoption. Benefits of marketing measurement are immense, most prominent being smart use of scarce human financial resources. These can be deployed on schemes giving best returns rather than schemes of marginal success. It also helps in rev iewing performance of schemes at regular intervals and takes corrective action if required. So we find that marketing measurement is not only trend for present day business, but a necessity to make business more dynamic, result oriented and efficient. It helps in bringing in better coordination among various divisions so as to achieve business target of making organization more profitable. INTRODUCTION Gone are the days of stable and predictable business environment. Business world has become very dynamic with new technology playing greater role in our lives. (Kristy Sheppard .2009. Diversify your business to defy the downturn) World has turned in to a village, with the spread of internet and other related information technology far and wide in every part of the world. Communication and transportation is becoming easy and economic day by day. (Data monitor. 2009).It has opened new challenges and opportunities for the businesses all over the world. Companies are facing enhanced level of competition on account of newer options available to customers from other new entrants in market. At the same time companies are getting new opportunities in the form of newer markets. But either it is taking up competition with new entrants or approaching new markets, working of marketing professionals become of utmost importance. (James Walsh. 2009). What is the competitive position of company prod ucts with respect to rival companies, need to be analyzed so as to retain and increase present share. At the same time demography of new markets, customer needs and preferences also need to be investigated in details so as to bring in new products suiting customer needs in newer markets. It requires resources in terms of finances and manpower to be deployed so as to bring in positive outcomes out of whole marketing efforts. It is after some initial deliberation on the prevailing issues that funds are allotted so as to launch marketing campaigns in new markets and existing ones. But it can happen only in starting that funds can be allotted with a rough estimate reached on account of judgmental forecasting. But as time proceeds, it is desired that outcomes of previous and current expenditure is measured, before demand of more funds is put forward. It has been observed that divisions of work like sales, production, human resources and procurement etc. comes out with facts and s about p erformance outcomes leaving marketing division alone which depends solely on qualitative statements about their performance (Michelle 2005). Here comes the issue of measuring performance of marketing division functioning. Decisions regarding budgetary allocation to various business divisions must be very professional. Especially budgetary support to various marketing campaigns must be extended after getting the effectiveness measured in clear financial outcomes of these. In no case allocation should be extended on the basis of only qualitative explanation, tall claims not supported by any real time performance measurement. There is a need to not only measure performance, but it is also required that this measurement must be in terms of such variables, which can link up performance to financials. Operations of Coca Cola in Indian Territory are running in loss on account of smaller sales volume. To boost sales, company launched advertisement campaigns on prime entertainment TV channels. For months, these campaigns continued but sales did not pick up. It was only after few months that a survey was conducted to find out impact of these advertising campaigns. To shock of everybody in company, it came to notice, that actual consumer of Coca Cola, the youngsters, watch movie, sports and adventure channel more and les the news or family entertainment channels. It emphasizes the need of marketing measurement at regular intervals. If company were using marketing measurement at regular interval, this major drawback would have been detected at much earlier stage of campaign. Corrective steps at that stage would have resulted in saving lot of funds and streamlining marketing efforts so as to result in achieving required targets. Competition is increasing day by day and margins are shrinking, depleting finances in almost every business (Boston Consulting Group. Nov 2007). . As a result availability of funds has come down and there is emphasis on smart use of resources. In such a scenario, it becomes of utmost importance, that funds are used where they are not only needed most but are most productive also. It warrants that the mysterious world of marketing be mapped very carefully, schemes programs launched evaluated very systematically and free judgment be taken with rational so as to continue, strengthen or cut short designated programs. This will not only help in making smart use of resources, but also weed out less productive schemes and programs. Rudy Gulianui, former mayor of the Newyork, once said that whatever operations may be, if we do not measure, we cannot manage. Though his comments were more focused towards civic services, but these are equally applicable in business world. Management prime function is to control and direct the organization in right direction. But unless management gets feedback about various business activities I the form of performance evaluation, how can we expect them to give right direction as desired. So all these instances shows that measuring marketing is an essential activity which brings objectivity in functioning of marketing department but also prudent decision making of management. NEED FOR MEASURING MARKETING In everyday life, we see that that all the activities are directed towards some specific objectives. If we look at school children, performance of these is measured by way of examination at regular intervals. Performance of teachers are also measured by the way of results achieved so. Either it is civic authorities, policeman controlling traffic or the house keeping staff of the office, performance of everybody is measured and money spent of their functioning is accounted for. Then why the performance of the marketing professionals should not be put to measurement. There are efforts to determine economic order quantity for procurement department, machine utilization parameters in production floors as well as sales volume generated per sales personnel, then why should the marketing professionals not justify the funds spent in their operations and results achieved out of it. Once measuring marketing mechanism is put in place, it will clearly bring objectivity in the functioning of mark eting professionals and enhance level of accountability for them. Minimizing risk in the business operations is very important. But unless we generate expected results of various marketing activities, we may not be in a position to mark, various marketing activities on the basis of their expected returns (Tim Riesterer 1999). Once we start measuring output of various marketing moves, marketing vehicles and channels, it helps us in assessing the real output of each one. This way, it becomes comparatively lesser risky in starting new moves, as we are already aware of previous output of various constituent elements of a particular scheme to be launched. In measuring marketing mechanism, performance of various schemes is measured on continuous basis helping in controlling, modifying and changing course of action for various schemes. This way, it becomes easy to continuously monitor performance of select schemes and drop the programs not performing up to the mark and proving to be costly as compared to other schemes giving better returns. There remains divergent view all the time, in all possible areas of operations, if standards are not set so as to measure performance. It applies to marketing as well. If standards are not set, it will let senior level marketing professionals to look for many flimsy and personally convincing excuses to be put forward, as explanation for lesser impact of marketing programs. There are also chances that outcomes of various marketing schemes are mixed so as to show success of few programs for others also, where as not to indicate real poor performance for others. Measuring marketing mechanism let every scheme be monitored for real output of the concerned scheme only. It gives factual success rate of each and every marketing program in transparent way. Measuring marketing moves also reduces the chances of performance being misrepresented in terms other than those which represent true one. Once metric are decided for each specific type of program, it becomes less probable, that performance can be misrepresented. Once proper measurement takes place for each and every marketing initiative, it becomes more satisfying for the leadership as far as resource allocation and its utilization is concerned. (Demand Metric.2009.Measuring marketing governance maturity). Leadership takes decision regarding budgetary provisions on various facts and s generated out of measuring marketing campaigns. It also helps in midterm review of various marketing programs, especially those which are costly and whose success if critical for the growth of the organization. In todays business scenario, when business is so dynamic and competition so stiff, it is not possible for the companies to wait for long to get results of marketing moves. In such case, measuring marketing helps companies in evaluating the performance on continuous basis and taking corrective measures as and when required without waiting till the end of the marketing programs. It not only helps company in acquiring competitive edge over other rivals, but in making smart use of resources. Surveys conducted recently by various research bodies have found that companies practicing measuring marketing moves remain confident and clear about their budgetary allocations at various point of time. Their financial decisions remain more prudent and productive as compared to companies not adopting measuring marketing moves. It is also found that marketing operations became more transparent in due course of time since adoption of measuring marketing techniques. Surveys have also pointed out that top leadership became more confident and positive about their marketing division as every investment made is accounted for. Top leadership also feels confident that metrics chosen so gives performance of marketing team in terms of revenue parameters, which help top management in taking decision regarding investment more rationally without getting entangled in technicalities of marketing. SCHOOL OF THOUGHT FOR MEASURING MARKETING There are basically three schools of thought for measuring marketing concept. Fist one focuses on return on investment, where as second one focuses on brand equity being created out of adverting campaigns. The third and last one is the concept of considering customer information as asset. In the first school of thought investment in marketing is considered just like any other investment. How much return a marketing campaign will give justifies the investment made there. There is no long term gains considered here in this school of thought. There is very plain relationship of investment and return in particular campaign itself. No looking beyond the life of particularly targeted marketing move. Generating brand value or establishing a brand is not the concept over here. Measurement remains focused on just the return a particular campaign makes. Developing measuring marketing metric is most easy in this type of school of thought as performance has to be evaluated in terms of incrementa l revenue for every investment made in the marketing efforts. In the second school of thought, brand value has been given the prime focus. Here prime target of the marketing is considered as creating brand value and further value addition to it. It generally happens with the fast moving consumer goods companies that brands are established more prominently rather than anything else including products itself. Here products keep on changing over period of time as per consumer preferences and life style but brand remains the same. Here focus of marketing campaign remains on establishing brand value, which remains there for longer period of time, though the products may keep on changing. Developing measuring marketing metric is most difficult task in this domain. There is no consensus among industry experts as to what are the parameters, which help measure performance of marketing campaigns in the area of brand management. Otherwise also, brands value is not created for certain short period only. It is a long term process to create a brand which ben efits company over life time of the business. Third school of thought for measuring marketing is of consumer equity school. Here focus of the marketing activities remain on generating loyalty of the customer towards company by way of exploring consumer details and customizing services suitable to him. Telecom services and financial services are the most glaring example of this school of thought. Here focus remains on generating information of the customer so as the products can be customized to his needs. It is the information of the customer which helps in retaining him or enabling company in cross selling other allied products to customer. Developing measuring marketing metrics in this domain is comparatively easy as compared to brand equity school, but a bit tougher to return on investment school of measuring marketing concept. Brand equity school of thought proves to be most difficult challenge in developing measuring marketing campaigns. Though in present times, this school of thought has got limited applicability, but in c oming years, it is expected to gain not only popularity but enhanced level of applicability on account of increasing domain of customer centric services. INSTANCES OF DILEMMA FOR MARKETING PROFESSIONALS Whenever the issue of measuring marketing is raised and efforts are initiated so as to measure performance of the marketing programs, the most likely answer which comes is the focus being on creating brand and enhancing brand value. Measuring brand value, which is a part of the measuring marketing exercise, is not the job of marketing division, is the way, marketing people comes out generally. It is true also to some extent. Ultimately conducting surveys are not easy and is a reasonably costly affair. So companies, and especially marketing divisions, already in financial stress to meet the expenditure of currently running programs, try to avoid measuring marketing. It is true that measuring marketing do involves the process of survey and then finding out the enhancement in the value of brand as a result of marketing campaign. But dilemma here comes for spending fist to bring in efficiency, which may come for saving later. This dilemma f faced more in medium size companies where inves tment in marketing campaign is not huge, and conducting surveys to measure performance of marketing initiatives may cost a certain noticeable percentage of total budgetary provisions of marketing department as a whole. In case of smaller companies, measuring brand values through surveys or other applicable techniques may even cost re than creating it. As smaller companies have limited market, so while creating brand they look for targeted markets only. This allows them to create effective brand for themselves in limited market space and in particular segment to create brand in lesser cost. But if the go for measuring its effectiveness, the budget required may go well beyond original allotted for creating and establishing brand. There are many instances, when company do not benefit by being there, such as trade fairs and exhibitions etc. Company does not get many business leads from few of these exhibitions which may not be very focused or targeted. But even then, general business environment warrants, company presence in these exhibitions, so as to negate any possible rumors about company performance or financial health of company. These are few instances, where company has to invest in marketing moves, even if it knows that not much of return is there by going ahead with these marketing moves. All these exercises do cost company and expenses falls under the head of marketing division only, though the purpose served may be in larger interest of the company itself not the marketing side of the company only. So care, must be taken while putting in measuring marketing mechanism in place, so that these do not discourage some activities, which may not be translating in revenues in immediate times but are for lar ger interest of the organization. It is also a fact that in exhibitions, though company may bit get buying leads in immediate future, but it helps in generating profile of the prospective customers in near future. How many people are visiting company exhibition stall, of what age group and with what income level are some crucial questions about demography, which can be answered by collecting data over here. Processing of this data and subsequent business intelligence developed helps marketing division in taking strategic moves, which may be of crucial business importance. So though these exhibitions may not be turning in to revenue generation, but proves to be of utility in other way for marketing people. Measuring marketing mechanism may rate these activities as low profile as these are not directly related to revenue generation but are oriented for long term planning and strategy. So there is a need to take care for this situation, while developing measuring marketing metrics in organization. It is often argued that not many people respond to the e-mails sent to them asking their feedback about marketing related areas. But the point here is that it does not cost heavy to do online marketing related survey. Besides that a lot many people can be sent e-mails at comparatively less cost. Out of this, if even a fraction of people respond to e-mail campaign, it gives fair idea about the opinion of concerned people. If care is taken is selecting the sample frame carefully, it can lead to generation of very useful information for the further marketing programs. Here stress should be that sampling of the whole sampling population should be done with care that statistical parameters are satisfied so as to give accurate representation of target market. Another area of dilemma comes from business analysts side. It is for sure and well established that business analyst do affect the fortunes of company to some extent. They also help leave their impact on some high profile clients, who may be of importance for the company. But main issue raised here is that, it may not happen in immediate time, that analyst meet effect the business. Sometimes it also becomes difficult that which client has been referred by business analyst at at what point of time. So it makes more difficult to measure the net impact of business analyst meet. So there comes a stage of dilemma for marketing professionals, as to what extent these meets are successful in affecting business of company and in turn the growth of revenue. We find that in all these cases, company faces a situation of dilemma so as to either adopt the measuring marketing for above mentioned situation or go ahead with traditionally accepted norms practices. But it has been argued all the time by measuring marketing people that measuring or generating some estimate is always better than not to have even a rough estimate of impact, which marketing programs leaves behind. Measuring marketing opens a scope where a selection among the various marketing options can be made more rationally logically based upon facts s rather than just on the views of professionals. It also opens scope for midterm review of expensive marketing campaigns and related corrective actions, which can be taken to avoid big failures or less impressive results at last. Measuring marketing mechanism just ensures lightning up the mysterious world of marketing and its impact on companys fortune. ELEMENTS TO MEASURE OF MARKETING PERFORMANCE There are various parameters to measure the effectiveness of the marketing programs. One of the most important parameters which show the performance of marketing programs is sales and resultant revenue generated out of it. Prime target of any business establishment is to generate profits, which is possible only when sales are there. Net result of marketing campaigns should come in the form of sales. This is one of the most important parameter to measure effectiveness of marketing programs in immediate future. Other important parameter is generation of leads for sales to take place. It may be that products of company are not very much competitive, cost wise and value these offer to consumer. But if a marketing campaign is able to generate quality leads, we can safely say that marketing campaign is serving the basic purpose for which it was launched. But sales leads so generated must be of potential that if followed seriously then can be converted to actual sales. Especially the exhibi tions, workshops and seminars are the events , performance of which can be measured effectively by way of focusing on the leads generated so. Sometimes we find that company has very specific business objectives to be served. In such cases to measure performance of marketing operations, specific parameters related to these objectives are taken in to consideration while developing metrics. But one almost universal goal for any business organization is to get returns of the investment made in it. So, one very objective measurement for performance can be finding out return on the investment made on marketing programs. There have also been seen that out of some mass media campaign, there comes lot of leads for products and services offered by company. But how many of these leads actually get converted to sales reflect, the performance of marketing team. It is also true for business ventures that it is not the volume of total profit, but in essence the profitability of organization, which matters most. Smart investment is the most sought after feature of today business world. So is the marketing efforts resulted in enhancing profitability of organization as a whole, is one such parameter for measuring performance and effectiveness of various marketing programs. Conducting surveys so as to find out awareness about company products and services can also help in measuring performance of marketing programs focused on generating brand value. It is also very important for marketing division to make reach of company in media, which help generate awareness about company in general public. Sales to cost efficiency are another important parameter, which can form the basis to evaluate the overall performance of the companys marketing programs. Stock prices are also taken as a measure of effectiveness of marketing programs, though not directly. Among all the parameters mentioned above, few have high degree of correlation with marketing performance whereas other parameters have comparatively lower degree of correlation with marketing programs performance. Marketing related data is generated at every stage of customer engagement cycle. This data becomes very voluminous for companies having larger customer base. But not all the data generated is useful and serves the purpose of measuring marketing. There is need to segregate data and categories in such a way, that it can be used effectively and logical inferences about marketing activities can be drawn out of it. In each area of marketing, there are few parameters which can be used to measure performance. For each area, certain parameters are selected to develop metrics. Basically whole marketing exercise can be divided in following domains of activities. Establishing brand identity and enhancing brand value on continuous basis. Product and services marketing management Public relationship of the company Developing business in newer and unexplored areas Various advertisement campaigns Product promotion through various events resulting in leads generation. Making company website popular, attractive and rich in features Managing sales operations Managing customer relationship. Brand Management Important variables which can be used to measure performance of marketing performance in this domain are as brand equity, brand awareness, brand preference, brand image and brand loyalty. It becomes imperative that measuring marketing exercise should try to pick up right variables, which reflect true performance of the brand management team in marketing department. Each area of brand management can be evaluated by specific variable, which correlate to enhanced brand value. Product Marketing Manager Products and services of the company are most important and pivotal link between customer and company. It is products and services, around which whole business is woven. It becomes of utmost importance that product design is done in such a way, that it meets customer requirement completely. Pricing of the products and services should also be kept at a level which gives customer satisfaction for the needs fulfilled by these. It is prime job of the marketing division that it keeps track of the customer preferences and needs arising out of changing lifestyle of consumer on account of technological advances and other developments. Marketing departments are supposed to keep close track of the level of customer satisfaction. Various important domain, in which marketing team is supposed to work here are like customer satisfaction, market share, price sensitivity, overall sales and sales by various channels. Public Relations Management Managing public relations is another important domain for marketing division. Especially the lifestyle of customers has become fast and it is observed that company image do affect buying decisions. So it becomes more important that customers are made to receive good image of the company as well as its products and services through various public relations programs. Various parameters which can be used to measure effectiveness of the marketing department in this domain are like media mentions, size of audiences for each of such happening, number of interviews conducted on reputed media channels and nature of these occurrences. All these may happen in different media channels like print media, television or magazine etc. But care has to taken as which media channel is popular and effective in targeted population. Elements of reputation and popularity of the channel, in which company is getting mention, should be taken in to consideration. Important point is that channel is popular and reputed among the targeted audience. As a survey found that coca cola was focusing on popular family entertainment channels for public relations management, but it was found later that English movie channel and sports channel were more popular among targeted youngsters forming major customer base. So while forming metric for measuring marketing, care must be taken so as to include all these factors. Business Development Division Business development division helps company in exploring possibilities of business opportunities in newer areas. Few important functional areas, where performance can be measured are as follows. How many new business partners have been added so as to develop business in new areas? Out of new business partners added, how many actively participated in dev