Marketing Myopia Essay Example

Marketing Myopia Paper Marketing Management I Assignment 1 Marketing Myopia Myopia refers to nearsightedness or shortsightedness. Marketing myopia refers to the myopia shrouding the vision of certain companies or industries. It occurs when the company/industry focuses mainly on selling its products and services, instead of paying attention to the needs of the consumers. They concentrate their efforts on selling, instead of marketing their product. They tend to ignore the adage, â€Å"the Customer is King†, which more often than not results in disastrous consequences. The concept of Marketing Myopia is applicable to Indian companies as well. Many Indian companies historically have failed to define their purpose from the consumers’ point of view. These firms have focused more on producing their goods and services and then finding customers to sell them to, instead of getting to know the consumers’ needs and then producing goods to meet those needs. The situation was made worse by the licensing era and closed Indian economy till 1991, which led to little competition for firms. This resulted in customers having to buy products of only those companies, which created a high demand for their products. One Indian company that suffered from marketing myopia and paid a heavy price for it is Hindustan Motors (HM). It was founded in 1942 by Mr. B. M. Birla, and was the producer of the Ambassador and the Contessa cars. Hindustan Motors: The History The Ambassador began production in 1958, and was based on the Morris Oxford, a British car. It was an extremely popular car in the Indian market for several decades. We will write a custom essay sample on Marketing Myopia specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Marketing Myopia specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Marketing Myopia specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer It had a constantly growing market, initially due to the prestige associated with the car, and later due to the growing affluence of the population, and was helped by the fact that its only rival till 1983 was the Premier Padmini. There was a long waiting period to acquire an Ambassador, and the company was reaping huge profits, without having to focus on consumer needs. Also, Hindustan Motors did not invest money in RD and did not try to improve its cars’ features. . There was a ready market for their product, and they just had to produce their car for it to be sold. 983: Maruti Suzuki enters the market However, the situation changed n 1983, with the introduction of the Maruti 800 by Maruti Suzuki. Consumers now had another car to choose from, and the 800 was like a breath of fresh air in the Indian automobile industry. It ate into a huge chunk of the Ambassador’s market share, as Indians now preferred this feature-packed family car. Hindustan Motors did take some init iative to ward off the threat posed by the Maruti 800 by launching its own luxury car, the Contessa, in 1983. It included a number of high-end features, and was targeted at affluent buyers looking for a luxury option. In addition, HM were also helped by the fact that the Ambassador was the only Indian car with a Diesel variant. During that time, the difference between the price of Petrol and Diesel was significant, and a lot of price-sensitive consumers preferred it to the 800. Due to its spacious size, it also became a popular choice amongst taxi operators. Lastly, a very significant market for the Ambassador was the Government. It was the first choice for most bureaucrats, and the Government accounted for over 16% of the total sales. These factors combined to mitigate the effect of the introduction of the Maruti 800 in the Indian market. 1991: The beginning of the end In 1991, the Indian economy was liberalized, and the Indian markets were opened for Foreign Direct Investment. In due course, a number of new automobile companies entered the market, and the consumers had a lot of options to choose from. The pursuers now became the pursued, and foreign companies supplied better cars at cheaper prices. These cars were packed with features, and the parents companies put in efforts to market their products in a new market. All these factors were missing in the Ambassador and the Contessa, and the money-wielding consumers gladly shifted base to other brands. Where Hindustan Motors lost the plot As discussed by Theodore Levitt, Hindustan Motors made the grave error of taking its customers for granted. They were under the belief that their growth was assured by an expanding and more affluent population, and belief that there is no competitive substitute for the car industry. These conditions were coupled with the fact that the Indian economy pre-liberalization did not have major rivals for them within the industry, and that the Ambassador was the vehicle of choice for Government officials. Over the course of 5 decades, the Ambassador was never changed drastically. There were only cosmetic changes made to the car, and from 1958 till 2000, only 3 upgrades were made. The company never tried to keep up with the changing market environment by varying the looks of its cars, or offering better features that might attract customers by choice and not due to a lack of choice. Hindustan Motors also made the surprising decision of not varying their price to increase sales. Currently, the price of the Ambassador starts at Rs. 4. 2 lakhs, which is sufficient to buy a feature-packed and trendier sedan offered by other companies. There are also several hatchbacks being made available to the consumers at cheaper prices. Hence, even today, the company is not focusing on the needs of the Indian consumer, who are sensitive to price, mileage, features and status. Hindustan Motors has also been dealt a huge blow by the shifting of allegiance on the part of the taxi operators, and Government officials. Government officials started shifting to better and safer cars ever since Atal Bihari Vajpayee started using a BMW 7-Series Sedan as his official car as Prime Minister. HM has lost a huge chunk of its customers, since they failed to focus on their needs, and adapt accordingly. They could have leveraged on their history of being the unofficial car provider to the Indian Government by coming up with new models that would satisfy their needs. Taxi operators have also moved on to the Tata Indica and Toyota Innovas to provide better service to their consumers. They stopped production of the Contessa in 2002 following low demand, and it seems like the Ambassador will be going down the same path soon at this rate. The decision by HM to continue production of the Ambassador and not invest in RD to launch a new car has been a surprising one. That being said, one positive step that HM has taken has been to enter into a Joint Venture with Mitsubishi in 1998 in India. However, in our opinion, the Mitsubishi brand is more apparent to the consumers, and most people do not know about the JV. Hence, Hindustan Motors have failed to respond to the consumer needs and market changes. Globally, cars like the Toyota Corolla, Volkswagen Beetle, Buick Regal have been in the market for decades, and have adapted to the customer and industry demands to have strong sales figures even today. Closer to home, the Maruti 800 also managed to attract new customers over the years by keeping itself relevant in the market. Hindustan Motors have unfortunately been unable to capitalize on their brand value, and the automobile giant of yesteryears has now been reduced to a miserable entity in the current car market.

Free Essays on Christropher Colombus

Critique of â€Å"Columbus in the Classroom† Bill Bigelow, a history teacher at Jefferson High School in Portland, Oregon, in â€Å"Columbus in the Classroom†, argues that it is time to replace the legends that one might learn in school and in textbooks with a more accurate representation of the truth, and that people shouldn’t just consider what they read to be true. Bigelow in one of his classes, tries to convey to his students that throughout their school lives they have been studying an idea, at the time, they thought was true, but might consider now that the story might have a different meaning after all the facts are known. Bigelow explains to his students that when learning about something, all facts about the subject you learned about should be known, so you could come up with your own understanding of the story. The article starts out with Bigelow giving an example of one of the activities that he did in class. With the person’s permission, he claimed to his class that he had a purse and the belonging inside. Then he asked the class to prove that it was not his. The students gave many responses to the reason of it not being his, and then Bigelow brought a point of him discovering it. His students shrugged him off. Therefore, he responded,† So, why do we say that Columbus discovered America†. Bigelow goes onto explain to his class the flaws in what they learned in their early life. Bigelow’s main reason for arguing is a need to inform others about the things they did not learn about Columbus in the past. After the students in Bigelow’s class learnt about Columbus negatively, the students and Bigelow perform a role-play that expresses Bigelow’s views of Columbus. In this article, either the reader agrees with one side of the argument or the other. There is not a middle ground were the reader can agree with parts of the two different agreements. Until the point that I learned, Christopher Columbus w... Free Essays on Christropher Colombus Free Essays on Christropher Colombus Critique of â€Å"Columbus in the Classroom† Bill Bigelow, a history teacher at Jefferson High School in Portland, Oregon, in â€Å"Columbus in the Classroom†, argues that it is time to replace the legends that one might learn in school and in textbooks with a more accurate representation of the truth, and that people shouldn’t just consider what they read to be true. Bigelow in one of his classes, tries to convey to his students that throughout their school lives they have been studying an idea, at the time, they thought was true, but might consider now that the story might have a different meaning after all the facts are known. Bigelow explains to his students that when learning about something, all facts about the subject you learned about should be known, so you could come up with your own understanding of the story. The article starts out with Bigelow giving an example of one of the activities that he did in class. With the person’s permission, he claimed to his class that he had a purse and the belonging inside. Then he asked the class to prove that it was not his. The students gave many responses to the reason of it not being his, and then Bigelow brought a point of him discovering it. His students shrugged him off. Therefore, he responded,† So, why do we say that Columbus discovered America†. Bigelow goes onto explain to his class the flaws in what they learned in their early life. Bigelow’s main reason for arguing is a need to inform others about the things they did not learn about Columbus in the past. After the students in Bigelow’s class learnt about Columbus negatively, the students and Bigelow perform a role-play that expresses Bigelow’s views of Columbus. In this article, either the reader agrees with one side of the argument or the other. There is not a middle ground were the reader can agree with parts of the two different agreements. Until the point that I learned, Christopher Columbus w...

The History of Cartography

The History of Cartography Cartography is defined as the science and art of making maps or graphical representations/images showing spatial concepts at various scales. Maps convey geographic information about a place and can be useful in understanding topography, weather and culture depending upon the type of map.   Early forms of cartography were practiced on clay tablets and cave walls. As technology and exploration expanded maps were drawn on paper and depicted the areas that various explorers traveled. Today maps can show a plethora of information and the advent of technology such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS) allows maps to be made relatively easily with computers. This article provides a summary of the history of cartography and map-making. References to in depth academic studies on the development of cartography are included at the end. Early Maps and Cartography Some of the earliest known maps date back to 16,500 B.C.E. and show the night sky instead of the Earth. In addition, ancient cave paintings and rock carvings depict landscape features like hills and mountains and archaeologists believe that these paintings were used to navigate the areas they showed and to portray the areas that the people visited.   Maps were also created in ancient Babylonia (mostly on clay tablets) and it is believed that they were drawn with very accurate surveying techniques. These maps showed topographical features like hills and valleys but also had labeled features. The Babylonian World Map is considered the earliest map of the world but it is unique because it is a symbolic representation of the Earth. It dates back to 600 B.C.E. The earliest paper maps that were identified by cartographers as maps used for navigation and to depict certain areas of the Earth were those created by the early Greeks. Anaximander was the first of the ancient Greeks to draw a map of the known world and as such he is considered to be one of the first cartographers. Hecataeus, Herodotus, Eratosthenes, and Ptolemy were other well-known Greek map makers. The maps they drew came from explorer observations and mathematical calculations.   The Greek maps are important to cartography because they often showed Greece as being at the center of the world and surrounded by an ocean. Other early Greek maps show the world being divided into two continents – Asia and Europe. These ideas came largely out of Homer’s works as well as other early Greek literature. Many Greek philosophers considered the Earth to be spherical and this also influenced their cartography. Ptolemy, for instance, created maps by using a coordinate system with parallels of latitude and meridians of longitude to accurately show areas of the Earth as he knew it. This became the basis for today’s maps and his atlas Geographia is an early example of modern cartography. In addition to the ancient Greek maps, early examples of cartography also come out of China. These maps date to the 4th century B.C.E and were drawn on wooden blocks. Other early Chinese maps were produced on silk. Early Chinese maps from the Qin State show various territories with landscape features such as the Jialing River system as well as roads and are considered some of the world’s oldest economic maps (Wikipedia.org). Cartography continued to develop in China throughout its various dynasties and in 605 an early map using a grid system was created by Pei Ju of the Sui Dynasty. In 801 the Hai Nei Hua Yi Tu (Map of both Chinese and Barbarian Peoples within the (Four) Seas) was created by the Tang Dynasty to show China as well as its Central Asian colonies. The map was 30 feet (9.1 m) by 33 feet (10 m) and used a grid system with a highly accurate scale.   In 1579 the Guang Yutu atlas was produced and contained over 40 maps that used a grid system and showed major landmarks like roads and mountains as well as the borders of different political areas. 16th and 17th century Chinese maps continued to develop to clearly show regions under exploration. By the mid-20th century, China developed an Institute of Geography that was responsible for official cartography. It emphasized fieldwork in the production of maps focused on physical and economic geography. European Cartography Like Greece and China (as well as other areas throughout the rest of the world) the development of cartography was significant in Europe as well. Early medieval maps were mainly symbolic like those that came out of Greece. Beginning in the 13th century the Majorcan Cartographic School was developed and consisted of a Jewish collaboration of cartographers, cosmographers and navigators/navigational instrument makers. The Majorcan Cartographic School invented the Normal Portolan Chart – a nautical mile chart that used gridded compass lines for navigation.   Cartography developed further in Europe during the Age of Exploration as cartographers, merchants, and explorers created maps showing the new areas of the world that they visited. They also developed detailed nautical charts and maps that were used for navigation. In the 15th century, Nicholas Germanus invented the Donis map projection with equidistant parallels and meridians that converged toward the poles.   In the early 1500s, the first maps of the Americas were produced by the Spanish cartographer and explorer, Juan de la Cosa, who sailed with Christopher Columbus. In addition to maps of the Americas, he created some of the first maps that showed the Americas along with Africa and Eurasia. In 1527 Diogo Ribeiro, a Portuguese cartographer designed the first scientific world map called the Padron Real. This map was important because it very accurately showed the coasts of Central and South America and showed the extent of the Pacific Ocean.   In the mid-1500s Gerardus Mercator, a Flemish cartographer, invented the Mercator map projection. This projection was mathematically based and was one of the most accurate for world-wide navigation that was available at the time. The Mercator projection eventually became the most widely used map projection and was a standard taught in cartography. Throughout the rest of the 1500s and into the 1600’s and 1700’s further European exploration resulted in the creation of maps showing various parts of the world that had not been mapped before. In addition, cartographic techniques continued to grow in their accuracy. Modern Cartography Modern cartography began as various technological advancements were made. The invention of tools like the compass, telescope, the sextant, quadrant and printing press all allowed for maps to be made more easily and accurately. New technologies also led to the development of different map projections that more precisely showed the world. For example, in 1772 the Lambert conformal conic was created and in 1805 the Albers equal area-conic projection was developed. In the 17th and 18th centuries the United States Geological Survey and the National Geodetic survey used new tools to map trails and survey government lands. In the 20th century, the use of planes to take aerial photographs changed the types of data that could be used to create maps. Satellite imagery has since been added to the list of data and can aid in showing large areas in great detail. Finally, Geographic Information Systems or GIS, is a relatively new technology that is changing cartography today because it allows for many different types of maps using various types of data to be easily created and manipulated with computers.

Corey Worthington Delaney Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Corey Worthington Delaney - Case Study Example Alfred Adler was born in Vienna in 1870, decided in childhood to be a physician and ultimately earned a medical degree from the University of Vienna. He began his medical career as an ophthalmologist but moved into general practice. By the early 1900s, he had turned to psychiatry and was invited to join Sigmund Freud's discussion group. Adler's criticisms of Freud led to his forming his own group, the Society for Individual Psychology (Boeree 2003). According to Boeree, Adler's theory of a motivating force to fulfill potential was what he called "striving for perfection." The idea was that social interest, inherent and learned, can lead to fulfillment if nurtured. Adler (Slaney, Ashby & Trippi 1995, p. 280) considers that "striving for perfection" is innate and universal and while normal individuals set difficult but attainable goals that can be adjusted, neurotics set unrealistic goals and require superiority in all things. It seems obvious in Corey' Worthington's case that his goal s are unrealistic and probably will not be realized by him, even though his agent promises him fame and fortune. It was Alfred Adler's belief that a person who is too self-interested will not be fulfilled and the failure is due to feelings of inferiority and lack of concern for others, only concern about self. Physical inferiority, Boeree (2003) notes, is brought about by outside forces and if an individual like Corey who is small for his age allows these feelings to take over, the result will be a tendency to be self-centered, antisocial, and lose support from others. A superiority complex might also develop when inferior feelings are covered up by practicing attention-getting dramatics that create a sense of power as is the case with Corey. According to T.W. Allen (1972 p. 4), the anniversary of Alfred Adler's birth in 1970 reinstated interest in his principles, which mainly had been associated with inferiority complex and were often considered a petulant contradiction of Freud. It became obvious, however, as new studies of Adler have been made, that his concept was a simple and successful method of analysis, and his Individual Psychology concept could especially benefit modern society. Adlerian Principles If Corey were willing to go into counseling in which the 12 Adlerian principles (Stein 2008; Croake 1983) are applied, he would first meet with a therapist who could perhaps (1) establish empathy by showing respect for him. In all of Corey's interactions with others in the limelight, no one ever showed him respect. If the therapist could establish a camaraderie, Corey would probably welcome the opportunity to (2) talk about his childhood, his problems adjusting to his stepfather, what happened to his father, whether he is angry that his parents show little compassion for him. When he understands why his feelings of superiority are (3) actually brought about by feelings of inferiority, he can begin to (4) move in a new direction. His mother and stepfather do not really (5) offer the connections he needs, and it will be difficult for him to make an effort to communicate with them

There are two short written assignments for this lesson 2.1 Essay

There are two short written assignments for this lesson 2.1 - Essay Example The documents do not satisfactorily promote social justice according to the authors, an area which they deem as fundamental to the nursing practice. Bekeimeier and Butterfield feel that the documents need to have placed more focus on political action and on ways through which nurses can be able to address all underlying factors in the eradication of emerging health problems. With this, the three documents help in ensuring quality healthcare for individual patients that nurses come into contact with, rather than ensuring the quality health of the entire population. From the arguments presented by the two authors, the three documents bring about various social aspects but only mention this at some instances. The weight given on issues related to social justice cannot be compared to that given to issues related to individual patient care. The phrase social justice is reported to have only been used one time in each of the 3 documents, an indication of the value this has been given as co mpared to aspects related to nurse-patient relationships (Bekeimeier & Butterfield, 2005). Based on the arguments presented by the two authors, I strongly agree with their view and believe that more should have been done to promote the role of nurses as political and social leaders as well as advocates. Though the Scope and Standard for Practice document defines nurses as those who play these two roles of leadership and advocacy and in the promotion of social change and reforms towards the improvement of health, the document, just like the other two documents does not focus on how this can be effectively done (ANA, 2010). Having gone through the three documents by ANA, any one would see the evident focal point for the three documents. The amount of information given as guidelines for the nursing practice and that relate to the care and services provided to a patient is overwhelming. There are parts of the documents that touch on public health and the nurses’ involvement in th e promotion of public health, but have only been briefly stated (ANA, 2013). I am in complete agreement with the authors on the issue of collaboration as brought out in the three guide documents. In most cases, collaboration has always been taken to mean different groups of persons working together with one mission, and where each member makes a contribution towards the group. This is however not the concept brought out in the Code of Ethics, where collaboration during patient care would be taken to mean nurses working with patients and other related parties such as families and the surrounding community to promote quality care and treatment as well as overall promotion of complete health for all. The Code of Ethics, in this case brings out collaboration to mean the involvement of the patient in being part of the decision making process (ANA, 2013). This definition shifts the focus of the document from the social aspect to what most parts of the documents focus on; an individual pat ient. I also concur with the two on their view that the generalization of the term patient to refer to the

Is Anything Certain? Essay -- Philosophy, Unger, Hitherto

Peter Unger maintains that all knowledge requires certainty. Moreover, since he insists that nothing can be known for certain, Unger concludes that â€Å"nobody ever knows anything to be so† (Unger, 42). This is Unger’s argument: 1. â€Å"If someone knows something to be so, then it is all right for the person to be absolutely certain that it is so† (42). 2. â€Å"It is never all right for anyone to be absolutely certain that anything is so† (43). 3. Therefore, â€Å"[n]obody ever knows that anything is so† (43). Succinctly, nobody can know anything. As â€Å"anything† makes explicit, Unger suggests that we cannot have knowledge of our own existence, external objects, past or present experiences or even that 1+1=2. He also insists that knowing anything with certainty is inherently dogmatic. Being certain involves a negative attitude; it implies that nothing (new information, evidence or experience) â€Å"will be seriously considered to be at all relevant to any possible change in one’s thinking in the matter† (44). Unger defines this as the attitude of certainty. This is why it is wrong â€Å"for anyone to be absolutely certain†. I agree with Unger and concede that (2) is correct. However, Unger’s rejection to the attitude of certainty leads to the rejection of all knowledge. This is where Unger is an error. I intend to argue that premise (1) is dubious and that knowledge requires justified true belief but never certainty itself. Before continuing, I must clarify Unger’s notion of certainty. Hitherto, I have used Unger’s notion of certainty (denoted in italics) without explanation. Certain is an absolute adjective analogous to the concept of flat. An absolute adjective is or is not. A board, for example, is flat iff it lacks any changes in gradi... ...nger’s first premise). 2. Knowledge is justified belief with confidence. 3. Being confident, but not certain, allows for changes in opinion/belief in the face of new information and experiences (avoiding Unger’s attitude of certainty). 4. Knowledge with confidence, but being susceptible to new information is not dogmatic. 5. People can know things with confidence without being dogmatic. 6. Therefore, people can justifiably and confidently know that some things are so. The above argument allows for things to be known but in a non-dogmatic manner. Although, knowledge with confidence (but not certainty) can be considered a weak sense of knowledge, it avoids the skeptical conclusion while also avoiding Unger’s attitude of certainty. With the ability to amend and modify justified beliefs (knowledge), certainty is inherently absent from this notion of knowledge.

Revolution

D. Revolutionary Changes in the Atlantic World, 1750-1850 1. The American Revolution never went through the radical phases that the French Revolution did. Yet, the nineteenth-century French government was more conservative than the nineteenth-century U.S. government. Explain. The American Revolution is not as tough and Radical as the French Revolution because France provided American forces with financial help and armor support during the American Revolution. The Americans are also greatly influenced by some philosophers that made them not to look up to French's form of government as a model even though France provided coalitions and even send off fleet and an army to help them triumphed battles effectively. French government is more conservative than the U.S government during the 19th century because of the absolute monarchy of French government. Americans never went through radical changes since they followed a series   of   board intellectual shifts and social shifts as well that gave them new republican ideals that expands democracy among   American people and created the ethic that formed the core of American political values. 2. What similarities and differences do you see between the nineteenth-century revolutions in Latin America and their French and American predecessors? The similarities between the 19th century revolution in America and their French American predecessors is that they began to inherit political powers and the idea of a democratic government where the consent lies on the government’s consent. Assertion of liberty, individual rights, equality and hostility towards corruption which are considered as American core values greatly influenced their predecessors. This made realizations to them that they could also break away and become self governing nations. E. The Early Industrial Revolution 1. How did events in the eighteenth century lead to industrialization in the nineteenth century?   What was the most important catalyst for industrialization? The industrial Revolution was a result of the outgrown of institutional and social changes in Britain right after the 17th century English Civil War   and   technological innovation The presence of a large domestic market should also be considered an important driver of the Industrial Revolution, particularly explaining why it occurred in Britain. In other nations, such as France, markets were split up by local regions, which often imposed tolls and tariffs on goods traded amongst them. (Deane, Phyllis. The First Industrial Revolution, Cambridge University Press.) 2. Compare and contrast the impact of the Industrial Revolution on men and women.   How was family life affected by industrialization? Industrial Revolution have different impact on men and women for men it paved way for more work ad encourage them to more enhanced way of labor through innovation and technology. Forced labor and child labor is also rampant during the years of Industrial revolution which gave workers longer working hours. Women’s job like factories of clothings and the weaving industry is affected by Industrial revolution because machines takes place of the job which is supposedly for the works of women. The Great Exhibition of 1851 site http://www.victorianstation.com/palace.html