Analysis Of Enrique s Journey And Journalist For La Times

Before reading Enrique’s Journey I only knew 3 things about those who immigrated to the US. One, the majority were Mexican families. Two, they only migrate to the US, because they are poor and there are more job opportunities with better pay. Three, they got to the US by being smuggled in a van over the Border. All these things listed are true to an extent, but on a much deeper level. Sonia Nazario, author of Enrique s Journey and journalist for LA times, has opened my eyes with Enrique s Journey. Enrique is a young Honduran boy making his seventh attempt to America to reconnect with his mother after 11 years. Many unaccompanied children go on the same quest to America as Enrique to escape gang violence or to find a job to support their families. On this journey children ride on top of train cars, encounter gangs and corrupt officers, witnessed many acts of violence and death, and do their best to blend in and not get caught by officers who will deport them back from where the y came. I learned immigration is frowned upon in the US and many agree with presidential candidate Donald Trump’s â€Å"build a wall† campaign to block out anyone coming in from Central America. I believe the majority of those who agree with his campaign only believe the stereotypes about immigrants. If those who supported Mr.Trump s campaign knew the true struggles of immigrants lives and what sacrifices they made and the serious danger they put themselves in to get to America I strongly believe everyoneShow MoreRelatedDeveloping Management Skills404131 Words   |  1617 Pagesbuilt-in pretests and posttests, focus on what you need to learn and to review in order to succeed. Visit www.mymanagementlab.com to learn more. DEVELOPING MANAGEMENT SKILLS EIGHTH EDITION David A. Whetten BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY Kim S. Cameron UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN Prentice Hall Boston Columbus Indianapolis New York San Francisco Upper Saddle River Amsterdam Cape Town Dubai London Madrid Milan Munich Paris Montreal Toronto Delhi Mexico City Sao Paulo Sydney Hong Kong Seoul SingaporeRead MoreOne Significant Change That Has Occurred in the World Between 1900 and 2005. Explain the Impact This Change Has Made on Our Lives and Why It Is an Important Change.163893 Words   |  656 Pagescase can be made for viewing the decades of the global scramble for colonies after 1870 as a predictable culmination of the long nineteenth century, which was ushered in by the industrial and political revolutions of the late 1700s. But at the same time, without serious attention to the processes and misguided policies that led to decades of agrarian and industrial depression from the late 1860s to the 1890s, as well as the social tensions and political rivalries that generated and were in turn

Hamlet, Prince Of Denmark - 1798 Words

Hamlet, Prince Of Denmark is by far one of the best known of William Shakespeare’s works and, may well be the most famous English-language play ever written. Categorized as one of Shakespeare’s â€Å"later tragedies,† it has developed a reputation as a difficult work to analyze. The Character of Hamlet is, perhaps, one of the most compelling characters to ever rise from the pages of English literature. He has been subjected to numerous interpretations and studies over the centuries, his actions thoughts analyzed and analyzed again. And this, probably more than anything else, is the reason for Hamlet’s enduring appeal. One of the biggest arguments in Hamlet’s character is his madness; whether he is pretending or if he really goes insane.†¦show more content†¦Somehow, even in the short amount of time the people have had to morn the King’s death, Claudius convinces everyone that it is time to move on and put the past behind. Gertrude is the mother of prince Hamlet and the new wife of his uncle. Her marriage to Claudius largely accounts for the melancholy and cynicism of her son, who violently attacks her for her lust. She appears with her new husband, the King, and he justifies their marriage to the court. Later she tries to talk Hamlet out of dwelling on his father, and into seeing the new king as a father. The Ghost of Hamlet’s father is probably the most mysterious character of them all. It is fully covered in armor and takes the form of the ex-King on Denmark. This spirit has twice appeared to Marcellus and Bernardo (both castle guards) before they see it a third time in the presence of the skeptical Horatio. It appears again to Hamlet, Horatio, and Marcellus. Hamlet follows, and it tells him how he was poisoned by Claudius, who had already seduced Hamlet’s mother. The spirit then enjoins Hamlet to revenge his murder, but leave his mother to the punishment of heaven. The ghost appears again in act III, scene iv when Hamlet, having made no attempt to kill Claudius, seems to be on the point of killing his mother. It is said by Rowe Flatter in his book â€Å"Hamlet’s Father,† that Shakespeare himself acted the part of the Ghost of King Hamlet. Polonius is the chief advisor to King

Management Studies and Skills

Question: What do you think should be the most important characteristics of the ideal Manager ? Answer: Introduction In this era of globalization, competition has increased among organization. It can be said that organizations requires leaders and managers in order to develop a sustainable model of business. There has been a shift from transactional marketing to relationship marketing. It is important that managers should be able to play an integral role of anchor. The role of manager is not only to manage the operations, the role of the manager is to encourage and motivate others in order to get things done. For a long time, people have been involved in doing the research work on managerial work. It can be said that managerial work is both quantitative and qualitative in nature. Therefore it is important that the research work on managerial work must focus on both quantitative and qualitative factors. It is also important that the researcher should be able to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the research on managerial work. It can be said that the research on managerial work could be usefu l people in society as people can learn a lot from managerial work. It is often said that management is both an art and a science. The research on management and managerial work would help people to understand the intricacies involved in management decisions. It would help both organizations and individuals to make decision that could benefit them (Guthrie, 2010). The objective of this paper is to identify, discuss and explain the strengths and weaknesses of the research on managerial work and explain how research on teamwork should shape the future of research on managerial work. It is important to learn about the teamwork because teamwork is an integral part of any managerial work. The objective of managers is to ensure that there could be effective communication and collaboration among the team members. Analysis One of the important roles of managers is to develop a platform wherein the people can learn the skills and competencies required to perform the daily work. It is also important that managers should understand the difference between skills and competencies and the same difference should be communicated to employees. Skills are more technical in nature. It is about the knowledge that can be attained from education or practical. Competency is about the execution of this knowledge. For example, a car mechanic may have desired skills to repair the car but he may lack competency if he does not know the manners to behave with customers. It can be said that skills are at the core of any offering and competency is the periphery. For human managers it is important to develop skills and competencies among individuals. HR managers should develop a platform wherein individuals can develop specific skills and competencies in order to perform their duties (Cai, 2012). It is important that managers should realize the skills of their employees. The research on managerial work would to get a perspective on the way managers works. It is important that managers should continuously work to improve the performance of its team members. The managerial work is a generic term that could be highlighted to number of operations performed by a manager. It is important that people should realize that a manager has to wear a heat of multiple colors. The role of manager has changed in todays time and it is expected that manager would be able to do both internal and external work. One of the organizational goals and objectives is to satisfy the need of customers. It can be said that customers are the most important external stakeholders for management and employees are the most important stakeholders for management. One of the managerial works is to maintain a balance between internal and external stakeholders. In fact, it can be said that one of the work of manager s is to bridge the gap between customers expectations and management perception of customers expectations. Another important work of managers is to work as guardian of employees. In an organizational setting, employees would perceive the organization from the eyes of their manager. Therefore one of the objectives of managers is to be a bridge between organizational policies and strategies and employees expectations. The research on managerial work would help to understand all the things that affect the relationship of managers and employees. The research on managerial work would be beneficial for management as well as employees. It is important that managers should participate in any such research (Corbridge, 2010). It is also important that managers should provide true inputs whenever required. For example, managers should answer to all the questions of researchers. At the end of researcher it is also important that this information should be kept confidential and the person who is manager should be ask for permission if any such information has to be published. One of the important managerial works is to develop a team of promising individuals that can help organization to reach its goal and objectives. The research work on managerial work should also include the research on teamwork. It can be said that the success of managers would be directly proportional to the way managers are able to handle their team. It is expected that manager would be able to develop a team that would help manager to accomplish the task. Therefore any research on managerial work should always be based on the research on teamwork. The research on teamwork should always act as an input to the research for managerial work. The future of the research on managerial work depends on the underlying research that is being done on the teamwork. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the quality of services delivered by managers would depend on the way managers could handle the team. Managers should realize that the best learning is the learning from people (Boxall, 2005). Therefore managers should always focus on teamwork and they should focus to recruit the best people from the industry. For researchers it is important to realize the strength and weakness of performing the research work on managerial skills. The relative strength and weaknesses of the research on managerial work can be discussed as: Strengths 1. One of the important strength for doing the research on managerial work is for managers itself. Every organization would have lot of managers. With the output of the research on managerial work, managers would be able to learn about themselves. The research on managerial work would be a good input for managers to realize their strengths and weaknesses. The result from the managerial work would also help managers to get a feedback about their performance. It is very important for any individual or any manager to get an open feedback about the way he or she is performing in the organization. 2. The strength of doing the research on managerial work shall also be discussed with respect to organization and organizational leaders. It would be important for founding members of an organization to have information about the way their managers is perceived by the employees and external stakeholders. It could be possible that the senior management and founding members funds the research project. Any research project requires an investment to be made. The senior management should be willing to make this investment. 3. The strength of the research work on managerial work shall also be discussed with respect to employees. It can be said that the performance of employees also depends on the actions of managers. Therefore it is important that a health relation is maintained between managers and employees. The research work on managerial work should also drive employees. In fact, the research work on managerial work should also include collecting data and information from employees or team members. It is expected that all the employees and team members would provide correct responses with respect to the questions. The research on managerial work would also enlighten employees in number of ways. 4. The strength of the research work on managerial work could also be observed for society at large. With the research on managerial work, people can learn a lot of things about the people living in society. It is important that people should always keep and open mind in order to learn from managers and leaders. Managers should develop the strategies for people and managers also play a role of bridge between internal and external environment of the company. It is important that HR managers should have healthy relations with employee and customers. In fact, HR managers should enable employees to deal with customers. It would result in improve levels of employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction. Weaknesses 1. It is expected that people would have their normal life full of privacy. One of the important weaknesses of research on managerial work is that it could be seen as an attack on the privacy of individuals. It happens in several scenarios that managers have to put their privacy on line. The interviews with managers, which would be done for managerial research, would include both personal and professional questions. This is the weakness that personal questions also have to be answered with professional questions. 2. The output of the research work on managerial work would also make the life of manager a public life. One of the weaknesses of the research work is that the life of managers is made public. It is difficult for managers to have a balance between private and personal life. The managers can overcome this weakness only when they learn to differentiate between their personal and professional lives. This weakness can also be overcome by the way researcher would perform the research. It is important that researchers should have a professional attitude while performing the research. 3. One of the weaknesses is that the output of research work depends a lot on the quality of research work. Therefore it is important that only qualified researchers perform the research. Researcher should always have positive attitude. It can be called as weaknesses of research work on managerial work that it depends a lot on the attitude of research work. To overcome this, researcher should have a standardize way of performing research. It would ensure that the research work on managerial work can be least affected by the attitudes and personal judgments of the researcher. 4. The weakness of research on managerial work would also be discussed with respect to ethical and legal dimension (Redman, 2010). For any research, there are number of ethical and legal concerns that have to be overcome. It is important that researcher should overcome all the ethical and legal concerns before he or she can start the research work. It is also important that researchers and managers should also discuss the research work. The ethical responsibilities also exist for managers. It is important that all the questions that should be asked by researchers should not cross the ethical lines. 5. The strength and weaknesses discussed above also highlights the advantages and disadvantages of managerial work and the research done on managerial work. It is also important to understand that any manager would eventually have a team and it is expected that the team members would also support in the research work on managerial work. It can be said that the research work on managerial work would explain the research work on teamwork. The reasons for the same can be discussed as: 6. Every manager has to handle a team. The way a team is performing can be judged from the way manager is leading. In fact the performance of managers can be closely linked to the performance of teamwork. Therefore any research on teamwork would eventually have an impact on research on managerial work and vice-versa. 7. In an organizational setting, managers come at top and employees come at entry level and mid level (Prykop, 2012). Typically, organizations would have a pyramid type of organization structure. It is important that the pyramid should be in control of manager, who is at the top of the pyramid. The entire pyramid can be thought of as a team. It is important for managers to handle their team. The relationship between managers and their team is strong. Therefore any research work on the managerial work has to start with the research work on teamwork. 8. It can be said that management or leadership and team have to work hand in hand. If managers are the policy makers then team members are the executors (Paauwe, 2012). It is important that managers should be able understand the expectations of its team members. The research work on managerial work or on teamwork cannot be completed unless the second factor is also considered. For example, any research work on managerial work should incorporate teamwork and vice-versa. Conclusion It can be said that most organizational leaders intuitively know this and want the best managers they can find. Unfortunately, identifying and selecting the best managers is not always an easy task. It can be observed that high performing technical employees are often selected for managerial positions because of their ability to do the technical work. But good technical employees are not necessarily good managers.Therefore it is important to have a research on managerial work. There could be number of drivers who can trigger this research. The project sponsor can ask for the research of managerial work or this request can also come in from top leaders of the company. The above paper discusses the strengths and weaknesses of the research on managerial work. With the above discussion it can be said that is important to have the provision of research work on managerial skills and work. It is also important that the stakeholders of organization should realize that technical skills might not be required to emerge as a successful manager. It can also be said that there are very less chances that technical managers would emerge as successful leaders. Therefore it is important that organizations should have the provision of research on managerial work. As discussed above the research done on managerial work could be useful for leaders in the organization, managers and employees. It is important that the research output of this research work should be shared with all the stakeholders so that they can make their own decision. The paper also discussed the weaknesses associated with this research work. However there are ways that these weaknesses can be overcome. It is expected that all the stakeholders would work together in order to ensure that weaknesses can be overcome and true benefits could be realized. References Evanschitzky, H., Sharma, A., Prykop, C. (2012). The role of the sales employee in securing customer satisfaction.European Journal of Marketing,46(3/4), 489-508. Haesli, A., Boxall, P. (2005). When knowledge management meets HR strategy: an exploration of personalization-retention and codification-recruitment configurations.The International Journal of Human Resource Management,16(11), 1955-1975. Ji, L., Huang, J., Liu, Z., Zhu, H., Cai, Z. (2012). The effects of employee training on the relationship between environmental attitude and firms' performance in sustainable development.The International Journal of Human Resource Management,23(14), 2995-3008. Palthe, J., Kossek, E. E. (2003). Subcultures and employment modes: Translating HR strategy into practice.Journal of Organizational Change Management,16(3), 287-308. Messersmith, J. G., Guthrie, J. P. (2010). High performance work systems in emergent organizations: Implications for firm performance.Human resource management,49(2), 241-264. Pilbeam, S. Corbridge, M. (2010)People resourcing and talent planning: HRM in practice. 4th ed. London: Prentice Hall International. Snape, E., Redman, T. (2010). HRM Practices, Organizational Citizenship Behaviour, and Performance: A Multià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Level Analysis.Journal of Management Studies,47(7), 1219-1247. Van De Voorde, K., Paauwe, J., Van Veldhoven, M. (2012). Employee Wellà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ being and the HRMOrganizational Performance Relationship: A Review of Quantitative Studies.International Journal of Management Reviews,14(4), 391-407.

Problems and Prospects of Capital Market in Bd Essay Example

Problems and Prospects of Capital Market in Bd Essay Problems and Prospects of Capital Market In Bangladesh What is Capital Market? A capital market is a market for securities (debt or equity), where business enterprises (companies) and governments can raise long-term funds. It is defined as a market in which money is provided for periods longer than a year, as the raising of short-term funds takes place on other markets (e. g., the money market). The capital market includes the stock market (equity securities) and the bond market (debt). Financial regulators, such as Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for Bangladesh or for the UK Financial Services Authority (FSA) oversee the capital markets in their designated jurisdictions to ensure that investors are protected against fraud, among other duties. Capital markets may be classified as primary markets and secondary markets. In primary markets, new stock or bond issues are sold to investors via a mechanism known as underwriting. In the secondary markets, existing securities are sold and bought among investors or traders, usually on a securities exchange, over-the-counter, or elsewhere. What is stock? Stock is a security issued in the form of shares that represent ownership interests in a company. There is both common stock (often simply called stock, shares, or equity) and preferred stock. Common stock holders elect the companys board of directors and actively participate in the companys success (or failure) through a rising (or falling) stock price. Common stock holders may also receive dividends, provided the company is profitable, obligations to commercial creditors and bondholders have been met, and the board sees fit to declare them. We will write a custom essay sample on Problems and Prospects of Capital Market in Bd specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Problems and Prospects of Capital Market in Bd specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Problems and Prospects of Capital Market in Bd specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer How can it be traded? For example if you want to transfer your part of ownership of the firm to other then you should sell the deed of ownership to someone else. In that case, you have to maintain some papers. For example, a sale deed will be signed and the deed will be registered in government registry office. In case of stock when you buy stock/share of a certain company you will be given a share certificate. This certificate certifies that you own that much part of the company. In addition, you have to register your ownership certificate with companys register. However, due to some problems with paper certificate (such as copied certificate, maintenance of huge paper certificates) a new system of electronic stock (dematerialized share) is made. In this system, your stock is preserved in an electronic system rather delivering you the paper shares. Moreover, you do not need to register your ownership. The ownership is automatically transferred to you and preserved in an automatic system. This system is called Central Depository Bangladesh Limited (CDBL). What is stock exchange? A stock exchange is an entity which provides trading facilities for stock brokers and traders, to trade stocks and other securities. Stock exchanges also provide facilities for the issue and redemption of securities as well as other financial instruments and capital events including the payment of income and dividends. The securities traded on a stock exchange include: shares issued by companies, unit trusts, derivatives, pooled investment products and bonds. To be able to trade a security on a certain stock exchange, it has to be listed there. Usually there is a central location at least for recordkeeping, but trade is less and less linked to such a physical place, as modern markets are electronic networks, which give them advantages of speed and cost of transactions. For example Dhaka Stock Exchange has a electronic trading system called TESA and Chittagong Stock Exchange has an electronic trading system called VECTOR. These two systems work as an arrangement to help buy/sell of listed securities. Capital Market Participants: The participants of capital market are mainly those who have a surplus of funds and those who have a deficit of funds. The persons having surplus money want to invest in capital market in hope of getting high returns on their investment. On the other hand, people with fund deficit try to get financing from the capital market by selling stocks and bonds. These two kinds of activities keep the capital market going. Surplus Unit: Surplus Unit has enough funds over all of their liabilities to invest in the capital market. It may broadly be classified into two investors (i) Individual Investors; (ii) Institutional Investors. i)Individual Investors: Individual Investors participate in the capital market through purchasing Govt. Bonds Notes, Public Limited Co. ’s shares, or mutual funds. (ii)Institutional Investors: When the institutional investors have surplus funds that are not needed for a short time period, they seek to make money from their cash surplus by purchasing securities from the market. Institutional Investors may be Commercial Banks, Insurance Companies, Leasing Companies, Investment C orporation Bank (ICB), Asset Management Companies, and various other companies. Deficit Unit: Deficit Unit usually takes loans or capital by selling bonds or shares to the surplus Unit to arrange necessary funds for investment in different promising business. Deficit group may further be classified into two groups (i) Government; (ii) Public Limited companies. (i)Government: The Government of Bangladesh always experiences its expending requirements exceed their tax revenues. To balance this difference, it needs to collect fund through borrowing. Government also borrows on behalf of nationalized industries, municipalities, local authorities and other public sector bodies. It can borrow by selling Treasury Bonds and Treasury Notes to the surplus Unit through capital market. (ii)Public Limited Companies: Public Limited Companies arrange their equity capital and debt capital by selling shares bonds or debentures respectively to the surplus unit for the purpose of fund modernization or future business expansion. DIAGRAM OF FINANCIAL MARKET Dhaka Stock Exchange Dhaka Stock Exchange (Generally known as DSE) is the main stock exchange of Bangladesh. It is located in Motijheel at the heart of the Dhaka city. It was incorporated in 1954. Dhaka stock exchange is the first stock exchange of the country. The management and operation of Dhaka Stock Exchange is entrusted on a 25 members Board of Director. Among them 12 are elected from DSE members, another 12 are selected from different trade bodies and relevant organizations. The CEO is the 25th ex-officio member of the board. As of January 20, 2010, the Dhaka Stock Exchange had 444 listed securities with a combined market capitalization of TK. 2,049. 34 billion. Chittagong Stock Exchange BACKGROUND The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) began its journey in 10th October of 1995 from Chittagong City through the cry-out trading system with the promise to create a state-of-the art bourse in the country. Founder members of the proposed Chittagong Stock Exchange approached the Bangladesh Government in January 1995 and obtained the permission of the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 12, 1995 for establishing the countrys second stock exchange. The Exchange comprised of twelve Board members, presided by Mr. Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury (MP) and run by an independent secretariat from the very first day of its inception. CSE was formally opened by then Honorable Prime Minister of Bangladesh on November 4, 1995. As of January 20, 2010, the Chittagong Stock Exchange had 227 listed securities with a combined market capitalization of TK. 1,640 billion. The key Indicators of DSE and CSE are shown in the following table: (as of January20, 2010) Sl. No. Indicators DSECSE 01. Total No. of Listed Companies 282209 02. Total No. of listed Mutual Fund 1816 03. Total No. of listed Bond Debenture1362 04. Total No. of Listed Securities (01+02+03)436227 05. Total No. of shares4,428,589,137414,612,267 06. Total Issued Capital (Share)TK. 230. 62 billionTK. 223 billion 07. Total Market Capitalization (TK. )TK. 2,049. 34 billion. TK. 1,640 billion. 08. Total Market Capitalization (US $)29. 36 billion23. 5 billion 09. General IndexDGEN 4956. 73CSCX 9346. 70 The Potentiality of the Bangladesh Capital Market The capital market is the engine of growth for an economy, and performs a critical role in acting as an intermediary between savers and companies seeking additional financing for business expansion. Vibrant capital is likely to support a robust economy. While lending by commercial banks provides valuable initial support for corporate growth, a developed stock market is an important pre-requisite for moving into a more mature growth phase with more sophisticated conglomerates. Today, with a US $ 89. 04 billion (TK. 6149. 43 billion)economy and per capita income of roughly US $621, Bangladesh should really focus on improving governance and developing advanced market products, such as derivatives, swaps etc. Despite a challenging political environment and widespread poverty, Bangladesh has achieved significant milestones on the social development side. With growth reaching 5. 8 percent in 2009, the economy has accelerated to an impressive level. It is noteworthy that the leading global investment banks, Citi, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Merrill Lynch have all identified Bangladesh as a key investment opportunity. The Dhaka Stock Exchange Index is at a 10-year high, however, the capital market in Bangladesh is still underdeveloped, and its development is imperative for full realization of the countrys development potential. It is encouraging to see that the capital market of Bangladesh is growing, albeit at a slower pace than many would like, with market development still at a nascent stage. The market has seen a lot of developments since the inception of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 1993. After the bubble burst of 1996, the capital market has attracted a lot more attention, importance and awareness, which have led to the infrastructure we have in the market today. The Recent Surge in the Capital Market The Dhaka and Chittagong Stock Exchange Index was at a 10-year high in the 2009 year end. DSE General Index rose at 4,800 and CSE SCX rose at 8560 in the year end of 2009 which made it Asias one of the top performers. The steady investment atmosphere prevailing throughout 2009 is considered one of the main reasons behind this surge. Good return prospects, stable market growth, and uninterrupted trading as a result of political stability attracted foreign investors to invest in local securities. The banking sector, followed by the power, pharmaceutical and cement sectors, received the most foreign investment. The government has also attracted investors by pledging to sell securities of state enterprises. The state-owned companies Jamuna Oil Ltd, Meghna Petroleum Ltd, and Titas Gas Ltd debuted in the bourses in 2008. The P/E ratio now stands at least 20x as compared to 14.1x for emerging markets. It seems sustainable if the planned big IPOs of a few SOEs and the other telecom companies like Grameen Phone Ltd. take place in the market. More such large issues are required, which can emerge out of the energy, infrastructure and public sectors. Challenges Ahead of the Capital Market 1. Information Asymmetry Access to credible information is restricted Retail investors lack dedicated investment process infrastructure. Forced to look to brokers for advice that may consist of market rumors. Syndicate of large investors manipulate the market through price inflation, pump and dump strategies. 2. Supply Side Constraints Lack of fundamentally sound scrips as companies prefer traditional bank finance to capital markets Need to encourage listing of good scrips in the market. Reducing supply side constraints generates liquidity, reducing scope for price manipulation. 3. Lack of Professional Portfolio Management Ratio of institutional-to-retail investors remains low Institutional investors bring stability through non speculative long term investments. Listing of more mutual funds can be a starting point to increasing institutional activity. 4. Valuation Disparity Value of scrips is subject to speculative trading rather than sound fundamentals, resulting in market volatility Education of investors, overall development of capital markets through time can address this issue. 5. Lack of a Formal Debt Market Bangladesh does not have established secondary debt market Markets are unable to provide short term financing solutions to corporations, i. e., commercial paper. Listing of debt instruments from quality issuers and institutional trading can increase activity. Introduction of BASEL II guidelines by Bangladesh Bank likely to encourage banks to raise capital through debt instruments in 2010. 6. Quality Research and Analysis Development of quality equity research in the country is yet to match the growth of local capital markets Quality research increases investor awareness, reducing speculative trading and market volatility. 7. Central Co-ordination of Regulators Top down co-ordination between Bangladesh Bank, SEC and related bodies would: Streamline regulatory processes. Reduce time required for quality issuers and new capital markets products to reach mark. Recent Regulations and Opportunity Space in the Capital Market 1. Strengthening of Surveillance Following the stock market crash of 1996, measures have been taken to prevent future incidents of the sort Constant market surveillance by the SEC. Increasing standards of corporate governance. Dematerialization of Trading. Focus on investor education – establishment of Capital Markets Institute. 2. Introduction of BASEL II Guidelines Introduction of BASEL II guidelines by Bangladesh Bank likely to encourage banks to raise capital through debt instruments in 2010 Issuance of debt and equity by banks through capital markets likely to generate increasing liquidity. 3. Introduction of Book building / Price Discovery Introduction of book building is a big step towards developing Bangladesh capital markets Book building reduces risk of undervaluation for issuers. Ensures fair pricing by factoring in demand, likely to encourage listing of large, well-reputed companies. SEC qualifying conditions for book-building set certain criteria for companies to be eligible. 4. Infrastructure Development through Capital Markets Focus on infrastructure development may see Government of Bangladesh (GoB) seek capital markets as an avenue for financing GoB plans to issue TK. 5. 0 billion (US$72mm) in securitized bonds to fund Bangabandhu Bridge. Cabinet approval for the issue of TK. 42 billion (US$650mm) in bonds to fund Padma Bridge likely. Plans to construct second bridge over Padma at a cost of US$1. 89bn signals potential financing needs. Further GoB funding requirements arise from needed development in the power sector and development of roads and highways. Bangladesh Capital Markets – The Future 1. Institutionalization of the Market We expect to see more institutional investors bringing long term commitment and liquidity to the market -Longer investment horizons reduce market volatility. -Institutional investment strategies are fundamental focused rather than speculative. 2. Listing Fundamentally Sound, Well-reputed Companies With the improvement of corporate governance, we can attract sound corporations to come to capital markets -Quality scrips provide liquidity and motivation for educated investors to participate in capital markets. -Listing of large, reputable corporations attract foreign investments, increases liquidity. -Introduction of new scrips in different sectors provides investors with broader options. -Recent addition of telecom sector likely to generate interest among other large cap companies to list. -Inclusion of well reputed, large companies will reduce ability of select â€Å"investor syndicates† to manipulate prices. 3. Flotation of Mutual Funds Strong pipeline for listing of mutual funds (US $ 300mm in mutual funds expected to enter the market by mid 2010) -Provide retail investors with safer, indirect market access, preventing wealth capital losses. -Reduces dependency on retail investors, allowing institutions to bring commitment and stability to the market. -Bring much needed market stability that only institutional investors can provide. 4. Facilitation of Private Equity Investments Recent introduction of certain foreign private equity investors in Bangladesh -Provide stable flow of capital given mid to long term investment horizon of PE investments. High risk hurdles and selective investments direct PE funding to quality local corporations. 5. Inclusion in Global Indices Bangladeshi companies are now included in global indices -The Dow Jones SAFE Index already includes 5 Bangladeshi banks and a power company. -Inclusion of high quality scrips in the index can result in inclusion of our index in global indices such as MSCI Emerging Markets, etc. Other Major Future Prospects Within the next 2 years, 26 large profitable state-owned enterprises (SOEs) are going to be listed under Direct Listing Method to increase depth of the market. The Private Public Partnership (PPP) will be implemented through capital market for financing government projects. The Telecom companies (Aktel, Teletalk, and Banglalink) are interested to be listed in capital market like Grameen Phone. British High Commissioner of Bangladesh Stephen Evans has recently said about 1 million Bangladeshis living in UK are willing to invest in the capital market. Bangladesh Shipping Corporation (BSC) is almost ready to float the share and it is expected that it will raise TK. 50 billion from the market Power and energy sectors demand for capital is 5 to 10 billion dollar within short time to meet the immediate needs of 5000 MW power demand. Introducing book-building method that is well accepted by everybody and it is expected that the SOEs will also be off-loaded through the method. A deep-sea port requiring 1 billion dollar is going to start with a policy decision that it will also be listed. Export oriented food processing industry needs huge capital and technical capacity to meet the growing standards in global market for marine food, fruits and poultry. IT sector with our talented developers, yet to demonstrate the massive potentials of software industry of the country. Problems of the Capital Market in Bangladesh The unexpected rise and fall in share prices are mostly followed from the general confidence of the investors about political stability, euphoria of investment in shares, prospect of quick capital gains, a vacuum in respect of institutional presence in the share market, monopolistic dominance of member brokers, inefficiency of the SECS to cope up with the developments, xistence to Kerb market, and absence of proper application of circuit breaker etc. Delivery versus payment mechanism was used as one of the main vehicles of manipulation. Kerb market gave birth fake and forged share certificates. Although there are increasing trends in all the indicators, DSE, CSE are not free from problems. The problems of DSE, CSE may be summarized as under: 1. Price manipulation It has been observed that the share values of some profitable companies has been increased fictitiously some items that hampers the smooth operation of Stock market. 2. Delays in Settlement: Financing procedures and delivery of securities sometimes take an unusual long time for which the money is blocked from nothing. 3. Irregulations in Dividends: Some companies do not hold Annual General Meeting (AGM) and eventually declare dividends that confused the shareholders about the financial positions of the company 4. Selection of Membership: Some members being the directors of listed companies of DSE, CSE look for their own interest using their internal information of share market. 5. Improper financial statement: Many companies do not focus real position of the company as some audit firms involve in corruption while preparing financial statements. As a result the shareholders as well as investors do not have any idea about position of that company OTHER PROBLEMS The concept of centralization of the securities market has not been implemented that arises technical problems and political infighting. The intrinsic values for securities traded are sometimes estimated without considering the current market prices of the securities. The absence of comprehensive legal and supervisory framework. Lack of skilled manpower as well as financial and non-financial institutions involved in the securities market. The lack of proper policy framework that provides incentives and protection to investors. The dominance of bigger public sector and borrowing of public sector as well as government form the institutional sources rather than the market. Suggestions to Improve the Activities of Capital Market To introduce automated monitoring system that may control price manipulation, malpractices and inside trading. To introduce full computerized system for settlement of transactions. To force the listed companies to publish their annual reports with actual and proper information that can ensure the interests of investors. To control and abolish kerb market form premises of stock market. To take remedial action against the issues of fake certificates. The Composite Quotation System (CQS) should be introduced and implemented that available the exchange specialist bid-ask quotes to the subscribers. To create arrangement to set-up merchant banks, investment banks and floatation of more mutual funds particularly in the private sectors. Banks, insurance companies and other financial institution should be encouraged deal in share business directly. The brokers should not be allowed to deal in the Scripps on their own accounts. The management of DSE and CSE should be vested with professionals and should not in any way be linked with the ownership of stock exchange and other firms. Conclusion To expedite the market development process, it may be a good idea to decide on certain milestones and link them to the disbursement of Development Credit Support of the World Bank. The government is making good progress in other sectors, including monetary management, corporatisation of public-sector banks and others through this linkage. The missing link between the SEC, Bangladesh Bank, Bangladesh Telecom Regulatory Commission and other regulatory bodies is now getting established. Individually, they were not serving each other’s interests, and there was no effective coordination among them, hence the country was deprived of great initiatives. A dedicated financial market cell at the Ministry of Finance could be formed to coordinate with these regulators as well as other ministries. In terms of creating market depth, more state-owned-enterprises that are profitable should be listed. The supply of securities can be increased if the SOEs are allowed to operate through the stock exchanges. Floatation of SOE scrips is expected to expand the market by couple of times. Corporatisation of SOEs will bring in transparency as well as confidence on the government financial system. The Bangladesh capital market still has a long way to go. The recent measures taken by the transitional government have already begun to influence the markets positively. If more investor friendly policy reforms were to be implemented, the capital market will undoubtedly play a critical role in leading Bangladesh towards being the next Asian tiger with growth comparable to India, Vietnam and the other most dynamic economies in the region. Appended Part Index DSE: Dhaka Stock Exchange CSE: Chittagong stock Exchange DGEN: DSE General Index CSCX: CSE Selective Categories Index SOEs: State-Owned Enterprises SEC: Securities Exchange Commission CQS: Composite Quotation System AGM: Annual General Meeting BSC: Bangladesh Shipping Corporation GoB: Government of Bangladesh FSA: Financial Services Authority in UK IPO: Initial Public Offering CDBL: Central Depository Bangladesh Limited BSB: Bangladesh Shilpa Bank BSRS: Bangladesh Shilpa Rin Shashta ICB: Investment Corporation of Bangladesh Data Sources http://www. dsebd. org http://www. csebd. com http://www. scribd. com/document http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Capital_market http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Stock_exchange

Free Essays on Collage Life

If I were to make a choice between Time or Money, precisely favor money rather than the time. In my opinion no life possiblely substance in the absence of money. Money, a good friend of life for everyone plays an important role to support throughout living. Starting from purchasing basic commodities, almost all goods we use in the daily life are based on only money. In the lack of money, the life remains incomplete. Taking a point of view from a daily life, money is essential in every step. Everyday, for purchasing our basic foods, traveling to and from, buying cloths, going to the movies of getting an entertainment, all are dependent upon the amount that we can effort. Since the birth of a child money stands being one of the complementary factor till the end to sustain the life properly. If we just plan about establishing ‘something’ new, we cannot even think in the absence of money. The investment is compulsory otherwise the project cannot be started. For instance, if we want to open an educational institution, which is for the well being of the government and the public people as well who achieve a high standard of education requires some deposits before the opening of the institution. In the lack of money, it is almost impossible to proceed ahead. Whatever the people are doing, they all are investing money accordance with their capacities. The people get education and ultimately their aim is focus to collect money which holds on their life in better ways. The earning principle is here in the world since the millennium and it is still continued. People always get worry about the complexity of money because they cannot earn enough as they expect. People do not mind investing even a large amount of money to their children’s education thinking that after being educated they will earn ten or 20 folds of what they have invested. At last I do stress that money is only factor that can stand the life properly.... Free Essays on Collage Life Free Essays on Collage Life If I were to make a choice between Time or Money, precisely favor money rather than the time. In my opinion no life possiblely substance in the absence of money. Money, a good friend of life for everyone plays an important role to support throughout living. Starting from purchasing basic commodities, almost all goods we use in the daily life are based on only money. In the lack of money, the life remains incomplete. Taking a point of view from a daily life, money is essential in every step. Everyday, for purchasing our basic foods, traveling to and from, buying cloths, going to the movies of getting an entertainment, all are dependent upon the amount that we can effort. Since the birth of a child money stands being one of the complementary factor till the end to sustain the life properly. If we just plan about establishing ‘something’ new, we cannot even think in the absence of money. The investment is compulsory otherwise the project cannot be started. For instance, if we want to open an educational institution, which is for the well being of the government and the public people as well who achieve a high standard of education requires some deposits before the opening of the institution. In the lack of money, it is almost impossible to proceed ahead. Whatever the people are doing, they all are investing money accordance with their capacities. The people get education and ultimately their aim is focus to collect money which holds on their life in better ways. The earning principle is here in the world since the millennium and it is still continued. People always get worry about the complexity of money because they cannot earn enough as they expect. People do not mind investing even a large amount of money to their children’s education thinking that after being educated they will earn ten or 20 folds of what they have invested. At last I do stress that money is only factor that can stand the life properly....

BookBub For Authors The Ultimate Guide (+ Free Submission Calendar)

BookBub For Authors The Ultimate Guide (+ Free Submission Calendar) BookBub for Authors: Everything You Need to Know Whether you’re working on your first book, or have published dozens of them already, my guess is: you’ve probably heard of Bookbub, if not used it yourself as a reader. But I also bet you’re not familiar with all the features and opportunities that the platform offers to authors.In a publishing world increasingly dominated by Amazon, BookBub was able to emerge and establish itself as a company offering a solid marketing alternative to authors and publishers - and has allowed many of them to hit coveted bestseller lists through their Featured Deals.In this post, we’ll run you through everything you need to know, as an author, about BookBub, and how best you can leverage their different tools and services to propel your books in the rankings. In particular, we’ll look at:Featured Deals (and how to maximize your chances of landing one);Self-serve CPM/CPC ads;Bookbub’s â€Å"follow† features.But first, for those of you who’re not y et 100% familiar with their service, let’s start with the obvious question.What is BookBub?BookBub is a free service focused on helping readers discover new books that they'll like. BookBub is mostly known for their daily newsletters promoting a handpicked selection of "deals", i.e. books deeply discounted - or free - for a limited time. As a reader, you can also follow your favorite authors on BookBub and receive notifications when they have a new deal or release.BookBub has over 15 million readers signed up for their newsletters, across as many as 42 fiction and non-fiction genres. Their popularity offers a great opportunity for authors, as most of their â€Å"daily deals† newsletters generate hundreds or even thousands of sales for all the books featured in the newsletter - and tens of thousands of downloads in the case of free books. Learn how to get the most out of BookBub as an indie author. BookBub are highly selective of the books they feature in their newsletters, and being accepted for a Featured Deal has become somewhat of a â€Å"Holy Grail† for independent authors in the past few years. So let’s take a look at how you can achieve just that!How do Bookbub Featured Deals work?For every one of their 42 genre categories, BookBub sends daily and weekly emails to readers (subscribed to that genre) featuring discounted and/or free books. Getting a spot among those discounted/free books is what a Featured Deal is all about. But before we go into what it takes to achieve that, let’s talk money a bit.How much does a Featured Deal cost?First, something quite important: it doesn’t cost you anything to submit your title for a Featured Deal. You only pay if your deal is accepted. Now, when that happens, on top of the cost of the bottle of champagne you’ll open to celebrate it 🠍 ¾, you’ll have to pay BookBub for the feature.The cost of a Featured Deal depends on several factors:The price at which your book will be discounted (the more you discount, the cheaper the Deal);The BookBub genre category you submit your book in (and the expected performance of BookBub newsletters in this genre);Whether you’re getting a US Featured Deal or an International only one (US ones are much more expensive).You can view an updated list of all prices based on these factors here. How can you get your book into a BookBub Featured Deal? BookBub’s criteria for selecting books to featureBookBub’s official criteria to accept Featured Deal submissions are pretty clear. From their own website, your title should be:Free or discounted by at least 50%.The best deal available. The book can’t have been offered at a lower price anywhere in the past 90 days.Error free.A limited-time offer (except for free promotions, where they do accept permafree books).A full-length book, with a minimum number of pages:Novels: 150+ pages;Nonfiction: 100+ pages;Cookbooks: 70+ pagesMiddle Grade: 100+ pagesChildren’s picture books: 20+ pages.No novellas or short stories.Widely available, i.e. at least one major retailer in either the US or the UK. And the more, the merrier.Lastly, BookBub will not feature the same book from an indie author more than once every 6 months. Nor will they feature the same indie author more than once every 30 days. But more on that later†¦Now, these are the minimum requirements for a d eal to be submitted to BookBub. Meeting these requirements certainly doesn’t guarantee your deal will be accepted by their editorial team and featured in a newsletter - far from it. Which brings us to the following, million-dollar question†¦How can I maximize my chances of getting a Featured Deal?In recent years, BookBub Featured Deals have become harder and harder to get for indie authors. Some say that their editorial team favors deals from traditional publishers - though that has been formally denied by the company.One thing is sure: BookBub bases most of its decisions on data. After years of serving deals to millions of readers and watching how these readers react, they have a pretty good idea of what will work (or not) for their audience.BookBub’s selection process for Featured Deals also relies heavily on human curation. They have an editorial team for every genre, that goes through the submissions and handpicks the Deals to feature every day.With that in mind, let’s look at how you can boost your chances of getting that coveted Featured Deal. Here are our top nine tips:Tip #1: Subscribe to BookBub’s newsletters in your genreIf you want to get a Deal in a genre, the first step is to understand what BookBub’s curators in that genre are looking for. And you can get a glimpse of that by simply signing up (as a reader) to their newsletters in that genre. Check out the books they feature and analyze what they have in common (what do the covers look like, what are the price points, how many reviews do the books have, etc.).Tip #2: Make sure your book has an appropriate number of reviewsFrom BookBub’s blog:â€Å"Reader reviews and ratings help our editors get a sense of how readers have responded to your book, and they are a crucial element of the selection process. We recommend browsing through the books we’re featuring in your category to get a sense of what a competitive number of positive reviews is for that genre.†This goes back to our advice above: check out the kind of books they feature and see what their usual number of reviews is. There’s no sense in applying for a Featured Deal until you have a similar number of reviews.Note: for this reason, it’s highly unrealistic (read: a waste of time) to apply for a BookBub Featured Deal for a new release, as you won’t have any reviews to show for it when submitting it. For new releases, BookBub actually has a separate product you could try: Featured New Releases.Tip #3: Polish your product pages on all retailersWhat do BookBub’s curators look at when evaluating a deal? The same thing that readers will: the book’s information on retailer pages. Their goal is the same as yours: selling as many books as possible. So they want to make sure that the books they feature are optimized to drive sales.In particular, this means:The title has a professional cover that matches genre expectations (more on this here);The book’s blurb on retailer pages is optimized to hook and convert readers (more on this here)Optional: The book features editorial reviews or accolades from well-known publications or influencers.Tip #4: Be flexible with your promotion datesWhen applying for a Featured Deal, you can indicate whether you’re flexible with your chosen discount dates or not. Obviously, indicating your flexibility will increase your chances of getting that deal.Do note, however, that BookBub only schedules Featured Deals up to 30 days in advance. So if you apply for a flexible-dates Deal, make sure you’re ready to drop your price across all retailers if you’re accepted.Tip #5: Keep submitting (download our free Bookbub submission calendar)Even if you get all of the above right, and BookBub’s editors think your book would make for a great deal, they might end up declining it just because there are other, even more attractive deals that have been submitted a t the same time.In other words, your chances of getting that coveted Deal also depend on the competition. And the level of competition depends on timing.What’s the solution? Keep submitting! BookBub allows you to re-submit a book every 30 days. So if you have a big list of books, and you really want to get a deal, you can maximize your chances of landing one by continuously submitting every book you have on a 30-day rolling basis.Now, if a Deal is accepted, BookBub won't feature the same indie author for another 30 days, and the same book for another 6 months. So keeping track of when you can and cannot submit each book can quickly become a headache†¦ Which is why we're providing you with a free BookBub submissions calendar - originally created by indie author Nick Thacker - to help you get all your ducks in a row.🠦†ðŸ ¦â€ Ã°Å¸ ¦â€  Sign up here to download our BookBub submissions calendar for free. 🠦†ðŸ ¦â€ Ã°Å¸ ¦â€  Do you regularly submit to BookBub as a #selfpub author? You need to DL this calendar. Tip #6: Try different price points (including free)One of the company's main tips for authors is to keep trying. But of course, receiving constant rejection notifications can become a bit frustrating. So the following three tips will explore what you can change in your re-submissions to augment your chances of getting accepted.The first thing to try is changing the price point. Their’s goal is to offer the best deals possible to their audience. So the lower you can go in terms of price, the higher your chances of being accepted.Furthermore, if you’ve been trying to get a $0.99 Deal for months, without success, try applying for a free one instead!Tip #7: Go wideIf your book is in Kindle Unlimited, I have some bad news for you: it’ll be much, much harder to land a Featured Deal. Here’s why, in BookBub’s own terms:â€Å"When members sign up for BookBub, they opt into the retailers they want to see deals for. So if a book is available on all the major retailers - Amazon, Barnes Noble, Apple iBooks, Google Play, Kobo - more of our readers would be able to snatch it up, which makes the book more appealing to our editors. Between two books with equally competitive platforms and deal prices, the editors will always choose the book available on more retailers.†At Reedsy, we personally know authors who submitted KU books to BookBub over 50 times, without ever getting accepted. One of them, Craig Martelle, finally took one of his books wide, and finally managed to land a Featured Deal with it (albeit an international one). You can read his story on the 20Booksto50k Facebook group (well worth joining!).Tip #8: Submit for international deals firstWhen applying for a Deal, most authors focus on US-only deals. These are the most expensive but also the most rewarding in terms of sales and ranking boosts. But they’re also equally harder to get. So if all your attempts at landing a US deal are failing, try for an international one. Even though they’re less powerful, they can be great for boosting your international reach and presence on non-Amazon retailers.More importantly, there’s anecdotal evidence that once you get a Featured Deal, it’s easier to get another one. So going for free, international Deals is a way to get your foot in the door. And once that door is open, it might lead to paid, US-only Deals.Tip #9: If everything fails†¦ rebrand!If everything above is failing, then there’s probably something wrong with your book. Maybe BookBub editors don’t think it fits into one of their categories. Or maybe they think the cover doesn’t match the genre.This can often be the case for books that were published over 3-4 years ago. Genre expectations regarding covers can change quite drastically, so if you can’t get any Featured Deal for your old books, consider rebranding them. Not only will that boost your chances of getting a Deal, but it’ll also most likely boost your sales, as shown in our case study.How to make the most of a Bookbub Featured DealHurrah! Thanks to our tips, you managed to land a Featured Deal! First off, take a moment to congratulate yourself and celebrate - it’s a big deal. But right after that, start planning your promo period to make the most out of the deal. Here are a few things to consider:#1. Don’t discount your other books in the seriesThis is a common mistake for BookBub Featured Deal first-timers. You want to encourage readers finding your book through the Deal to buy your other books, so you discount those as well†¦But what happens is that BookBub readers are deal seekers. If they see that your other books in the series are at $0.99 as well, they’ll just go ahead and buy them all. Great, right?Well, not really. Because while you might be making a bit more of an instant profit, you’re effectively losing all these full-price sales that would have happened when th ese readers finished reading your discounted book and decided to buy your other ones, full-price. And if you're wondering, yes, BookBub readers do also buy books full-price. Here are the official stats.#2. Run the promo over a longer periodAlmost everyone who ran a Featured Deal is unanimous about this: you’ll get better results if you keep your discount for a longer period than the minimum days required by the service. The reason for that is that Amazon’s algorithms (represented by a friendly emoji below) largely reward plateaus over spikes.If you raise your price right after the BookBub Deal, your sales will abruptly stop. If you keep the discount, they’ll still take a dip, but it won’t be as bad, which will help you maintain a high rank on bestseller lists, and have Amazon take over the marketing for you.If you’re in Kindle Unlimited and manage to get a Featured Deal (congrats, you’re a unicorn 🠦„), then running the discount for lo nger is all the more important to make sure you climb the popularity list and trigger a subsequent wave of page reads - learn how that works in this Reedsy Live with David Gaughran.#3. To stack or not to stack?The practice of â€Å"stacking† ads is that of buying several placements on other book promotion newsletters on top of the BookBub Feature. The goal here is still the same: achieving a plateau, or an upwards trend, rather than a spike.There has been a lot of discussion on ad stacking around Featured Deals in the author community, and the consensus seems to be that:Ad stacking can work for paid Featured Deals;Ad stacking is a waste of money for free Deals.The reason why stacking can be a waste of money for free is that free readers will often sign up to as many promo sites as possible to receive free book alerts. So by advertising your free book on several sites and newsletters, you’re effectively paying more to reach the same readers.#4. Run other ads on the sid eNow, while stacking promo newsletter ads might be a waste of money, this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to run ads on your own. Both Facebook and Amazon ads will earn you a lot more sales/downloads if your book is discounted/free.You can learn how to create your first ads on Facebook and Amazon through our free Reedsy Learning courses:Facebook ads for authorsAmazon ads for authorsBut there’s a third self-serve advertising platform that will work even better to move discounted/free copies. And surprise, surprise†¦ it’s BookBub’s!â€Å"Wait, what? Isn’t BookBub what I’ve been reading about for the past 10 minutes?†Yes, but there’s more to it (keep reading)!Bookbub self-serve CPM/CPC adsWhile it’s getting more and more difficult for indie authors to get a BookBub Featured Deal, it’s actually very easy for anyone to get their book in their newsletters. How? Through their self-serve ads. Are BookBub's CPC and CPM ads worth the time and money? How do BookBub self-serve ads work?A few years ago, the company launched â€Å"BookBub Ads,† an advertising platform that lets authors and publishers place image ads in their newsletters (and on their website).To give you a better idea of what that looks like, here’s a typical BookBub newsletter.Notice that â€Å"follow† button? Readers who come across your books (e.g. in Featured Deals) are prompted by BookBub to â€Å"follow† your profile. They’ll also be able to find you in their â€Å"Discover† section:Now, the reason why followers are valuable is that BookBub sends an automatic â€Å"New Release Alert† to all your followers when you release a new book. So if you have 5,000 followers on there, that’s 5,000 release emails that BookBub will send for you, for free. You can learn more about how these alerts work here.And that’s it! If you read this far, you now know pretty much everything you need to know about BookBub an d how to best use their tools to your advantage.If you’ve had a Featured Deal in the past, or used their self-serve ads platform, don’t hesitate to share your advice and experiences in the comments below!

The way that the memory of the events of the Boston Massacre have Research Paper

The way that the memory of the events of the Boston Massacre have changed over time - Research Paper Example This Act was imposed on the order of a British official called Charles Townshend. The objects on which import duty was attached were paint, paper, tea, lead and glass2. The members of the British parliament introduced the Townshend Act as a punishment to the colonists for protesting against the previous Stamp Act. With this new Act, the parliament wanted to teach a lesson to the colonists that they are bound to abide by any Acts they would introduce. The American Board of Customs Commissioners was also arranged by the Parliament whose members were responsible for seeing that smuggling laws were duly followed. This Board was set up in Boston since smuggling activities were centered in this city. The Parliament believed that if smuggling could be wiped out from Boston then it would be easy for them to force other colonial citizens to follow the trade laws3. Very soon the colonists began to protest against the Townshend Act declaring that no taxes can be levied on any goods without thei r agreement. The protestant acts were further provoked by the writings of many patriotic leaders of that time. A protesting letter was written by John Hancock and was circulated to all the townspeople in Massachusetts: â€Å"You are already too well acquainted with the melancholy and very alarming Circumstances to which this Province, as well as America in general, is now reduced. Taxes equally detrimental to the commercial interests of the Parent country and the colonies are imposed upon the People, without their consent†4. The merchants in Boston began to reject any goods made in Britain. In 1768, a circular letter was sent by the Massachusetts Assembly to the other colonial legislatures informing them about difficulties faced by the colonists because of the Act: â€Å"The House of Representatives of this province, have taken into their serious consideration, the great difficulties that must accrue to themselves and their constituents, by the operation of several acts of P arliament, imposing duties and taxes on the American colonies†5. In response to the protests the British began to send troops to maintain peace while still enforcing the law. This led to many violent conflicts between the British soldiers and the protesting colonists; one such incident that became most well known in American history was the Boston Massacre. On March 5, 1770, a crowd of angry people taunted nine British guards of custom house and threw snowballs at them, and the latter fired in return which killed five people and wounded some6. Sons of Liberty In October 1768, the 14th and 29th regiments of British army arrived in Boston. They were dispatched by Royal Governor Francis Bernard whose purpose was to maintain law and order in the Boston and also to assist the customs official to collects taxes as per the Townshend Act imposed by the British Parliament. However, Massachusetts Assembly accused Bernard that this action was an attempt to overthrow the Boston government and felt that there was no need of the troops to maintain peace in the city. But Bernard was concerned because of an earlier protestant act in June, 1768 when the customs officials seized a sloop of John Hancock who was a merchant and political leader. This led to protests by a group called Sons of Liberty who decorated an elm tree with placards and effigies of Bernard and customs officials7. Bernard, although opposed the 1965

The Life I Want to Live Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Life I Want to Live - Personal Statement Example As foreign friends and I exchange information on our respective hometowns, I began to reflect on the life that Sao Paulo has to offer and compared this with the bountiful opportunities in Switzerland and other countries. For instance, I have been told that it is a punishable offence in Singapore for parents not to send their children to school for primary education. This is unheard of in Brazil. While Sao Paolo has no doubt developed considerably over the past decades, poverty is still clearly widespread especially in the North-Eastern part of Brazil. The extreme inequality of land possession is a contributing factor of this issue as the majority of land owned by farmers is dedicated to subsistence production. Additionally, the automation of large plantations have caused decline in jobs. The situation is not any better in Sao Paulo. With over 20 million in population, globalization has brought about relocation of businesses and closures of factories, leaving thousands without a job and many turning to crimes. Poor infrastructure, limited access to technology, inadequate health facilities and deficiency in formal education are turning many into committing crimes. This, I realize, is not a choice that many are making, but rather as a last resort in survival.

Business Strategy Essay Example for Free

Business Strategy Essay In 2006, Starbucks’, the ubiquitous coffee retailer, closed a decade of astounding financial performance. Sales had increased from $697 million to $7.8 billion and net profits from $36 million to $540 million. In 2006, Starbucks’ was earning a return on invested capital of 25.5%, which was impressive by any measure, and the company was forecasted to continue growing earnings and maintain high profits through to the end of the decade. How did this come about? Thirty years ago Starbucks was a single store in Seattle’s Pike Place Market selling premium roasted coffee. Today it is a global roaster and retailer of coffee with more than 12,000 retail stores, some 3,000 of which are to be found in 40 countries outside the United States. Starbucks Corporation set out on its current course in the 1980s when the company’s director of marketing, Howard Schultz, came back from a trip to Italy enchanted with the Italian coffeehouse experience. Schultz, who later became CEO, persuaded the company’s owners to experiment with the coffeehouse format—and the Starbucks experience was born. Schultz’s basic insight was that people lacked a â€Å"third place† between home and work where they could have their own personal time out, meet with friends, relax, and have a sense of gathering. The business model that evolved out of this was to sell the company’s own premium roasted coffee, along with freshly brewed espresso-style coffee beverages, a variety of pastries, coffee accessories, teas, and other products, in a coffeehouse setting. The company devoted, and continues to devote, considerable attention to the design of its stores, so as to create a relaxed, informal and comfortable atmosphere. Underlying this approach was a belief that Starbucks was selling far more than coffee – it was selling an experience. The premium price that Starbucks charged for its coffee reflected this fact. From the outset, Schultz also focused on providing superior customer service in stores. Reasoning that motivated employees provide the best customer service, Starbucks executives developed employee hiring and training programs that were the best in the restaurant industry. Today, all Starbucks employees are required to attend training classes that teach them not only how to make a good cup of coffee, but also the service oriented values of the company. Beyond this, Starbucks provided progressive compensation policies that gave even part-time employees stock option grants and medical benefits – a very innovative approach in an industry where most employees are part time, earn minimum wage and have no benefits. Unlike many restaurant chains, which expanded very rapidly through franchising arrangement once they have established a basic formula that appears to work, Schultz believed that Starbucks needed to own its stores. Although it has experimented with franchising arrangements in some countries, and some situations in the United States such as at airports, the company still prefers to own its own stores whenever possible. This formula met with spectacular success in the United States, where Starbucks went from obscurity to one of the best known brands in the country in a decade. As it grew, Starbucks found that it was generating an enormous volume of repeat business. Today the average customer comes into a Starbucks’ store around 20 times a month. The customers themselves are a fairly well healed group – their average income is about $80,000. As the company grew, it started to develop a very sophisticated location strategy. Detailed demographic analysis was used to identify the best locations for Starbuck’s stores. The company expanded rapidly to capture as many premium locations as possible before imitators. Astounding many observers, Starbucks would even sometimes locate stores on opposite corners of the same busy street – so that it could capture traffic going different directions down the street. By 1995 with almost 700 stores across the United States, Starbucks began exploring foreign opportunities. First stop was Japan, where Starbucks proved that the basic value proposition could be applied to a different cultural setting (there are now 600 stores in Japan). Next, Starbucks embarked upon a rapid development strategy in Asia and Europe. By 2001, the magazine Brandchannel named Starbucks’ one the ten most impactful global brands, a position it has held ever since. But this is only the beginning. In late 2006, with 12,000 stores in operation, the company announced that its long term goal was to have 40,000 stores worldwide. Looking forward, it expects 50% of all new store openings to be outside of the United.i Case Discussion Questions 1. What functional strategies at Starbucks’ help the company to achieve superior financial performance? 2. Identify the resources, capabilities and distinctive competencies of Starbucks? 3. How do Starbucks’ resources, capabilities and distinctive competencies translate into superior financial performance? 4. Why do you think Starbucks’ prefers to own its own stores whenever possible? 5. How secure is Starbucks’ competitive advantage?What are the barriers to imitation here? !Sources: Starbucks 10K, various years; C. McLean, â€Å"Starbucks Set to Invade Coffee-Loving Continent,† Seattle Times, October 4, 2000, p. E1; J. Ordonez, â€Å"Starbucks to Start Major Expansion in Overseas Market,† Wall Street Journal, October 27, 2000, p. B10; S. Homes and D. Bennett, â€Å"Planet Starbucks,† Business Week, September 9, 2002, pp 99–110; J. Batsell, â€Å"A Bean Counters Dream,† Seattle Times, March 28th, 2004, page E1; Staff Reporter, â€Å"Boss Talk: it’s a Grande Latte World†, Wall Street Journal, December 15, 2003, page B1. States. C. Harris, â€Å"Starbucks beats estimates, outlines expansion plans†, Seattle Post Intelligencer, October 5th, 2006, page C1

The 1960s :: American America History

The 1960s It may have been a decade of a myriad of effulgent paintings and intrepid space excursions, but for most people, resplendent canvases don't come near the cranium when someone mentions the 1960s. So just what do we associate the decade with? The most intriguing part of our prior erudition: hippies, flower power, peace, love, drugs, and Woodstock! All of the preceding are the very essence of the '60s in America; all of them had a distinct impact on the world. Presumably the most prominent aspect of the '60s was the evolution of the youthful generation into a powerful strong-minded group of people known as the hippies. Around the late '60s, there was a copious amount of young men and women who were just reaching their late teen years, re-evaluating their sentiment on important issues. But just what was a hippie? Hippies were mostly young people who were often characterized by long hair and flowing skirts. They had very confident convictions, particularly in regard to the Vietnam War. Because this new generation possessed a blatant loathing for the affect of Vietnam on the country, they rebelled against everything the war was about. This resulted in a shared conception of love, peace, and happiness. They held protests and anti-war love-ins promoting their ant-violence views, unity, and, also, drugs. Previously unmentioned, hippies were also druggies. Dr., Timothy Leary was a drug guru who was much loved for his preaching. He said things suc h as "Turn on, tune in, and drop out" and used new pronouns like "She" and "hir" to promote gender equality. He brought about a new philosophy that conceived that your state of consciousness is reflected in your environment. Leary had four exercises to a life of expanded intelligence: 1) Look at yourself in the mirror, change your manner of dress and your behavior so that you float like a god, not shuffle like a robot 2) Look around your home and throw out everything that is not "tuned in" to your highest vision 3) Make your body a temple and your home a shrine 4) You are a god, live like one! As prevalent as hippies were, it astounds many people to hear that there was a subdivision of the group. Yippies, as they were called, were much like other hippies, only more extreme. The yippies were New Left radicals with a no-holds barred approach contesting every custom of society.

Environmental Resources Worksheet Essay

Using the assigned readings from Week Four, write a 50- to 75-word response to each of the following questions. Your responses will be assessed according to the accuracy of the content. Minerals 1. How do minerals affect society? Minerals have aided in the continuous growth of developing nations and also, â€Å"had abundant mineral deposits that enabled them to industrialize† (Berg, 2013). However, as a consequence of industrialization, â€Å"these countries largely depleted their domestic reserves of minerals so that they must increasingly turn to developing countries† (Berg, 2013). Also, minerals affect the global economy. For example, China â€Å"controls more than 90 percent of the global supply of rare earth metals, has also reduced its exports to other countries, in a move that could affect market prices† (Berg, 2013). 2. What is the difference between metallic and nonmetallic minerals? Provide two examples from each category and discuss their uses. Minerals are divided into two categories: metals and nonmetallic minerals. Metals are â€Å"malleable, lustrous, and good conductors of heat and electricity†, while nonmetallic metals â€Å"lack these characteristics† (Berg, 2013) . Gold is a metal used for currency and iron is a metal used for steel buildings. Gypsum is a nonmetal that is used for drywall. Silicon is another nonmetal that is used for electronic devices. Mining 1. How are minerals extracted from the Earth and processed? There are two ways to extract minerals from the Earth, either surface mining or subsurface mining. Surface mining is done when minerals are closer to the surface. Subsurface mining is used when the minerals are too deep to be removed by surface mining. Smelting is the â€Å"process in which ore is melted at high temperatures to separate impurities from the molten metal† (Berg, 2013). 2. What are the different ways minerals can be mined? Provide a brief  description of at least three types of mining. What effect does extracting minerals have on the environment? Other than land damage, extracting minerals causes air pollution of the air, soil, and water. Also, it destroys vegetation and causes soil erosion. Possibly most importantly it affects the water supply. Mineral extraction â€Å"exposes large areas of dissolved toxic substances to precipitation, greatly accelerating polluted runoff† (Berg, 2013). Soil 3. What is your definition of soil? What is soil composed of? Why is soil important to the environment? Soil is the uppermost layer of the Earth and supports life on earth. Soil is composed of four parts: mineral particles, organic matter, water, and air. Soil is very important to the environment because various organisms depend on soil for life and â€Å"supports virtually all terrestrial food webs† (Berg, 2013). 4. What types of organisms are found in soil? Determine the relationship between soil and organisms. Ants, moles, snakes, and earthworms are just a small number of the many organisms that are found in soil. Essentially, organisms and soil depend on each other to remain balanced. Organisms that live in soil provide â€Å"ecosystem services, such as maintaining soil fertility, preventing soil erosion, breaking down toxic materials, and cleansing water† (Berg, 2013). 5. What is soil erosion? How can soil become polluted? What effect does soil erosion and pollution have on the environment? Soil erosion is the â€Å"wearing away or removal of soil from the land† (Berg, 2013). Being that soil erosion reduces the amount of soil in an area, vegetation growth can become very limited. As a result, it disrupts the balance of the ecosystem by eliminating food sources. 6. What is the purpose of soil reclamation? Soil reclamation can be executed by â€Å"(1) stabilizing the land to prevent further erosion and (2) restoring the soil to its former fertility. To stabilize the land, the bare ground is seeded with plants that eventually grow to cover the soil, holding it in place† (Berg, 2013). Once the soil is returned back to its original state, the land can be used again. Forestry and Rangeland Resources and Management Strategies 7. Differentiate between government-owned and public lands. Which government agencies are involved with government-owned lands? What is the purpose of government-owned lands? Government owned lands â€Å"provide vital ecosystem services that benefit humans living far from public forests, grasslands, deserts, and wetlands† (Berg, 2013). These places include national parks and provide protection for endangered species and flood and erosion control. Public land is available for recreational purposes such as hiking, swimming and boating. 8. Why is the forest an important ecosystem? What is your definition of forest management? What is its purpose? Describe the concept of sustainable forestry. The forest is an important ecosystem because it â€Å"provides many goods and services to support human society† (Berg, 2013). They also provide employment for millions of people worldwide. Forest management is the managing of timber production. The purpose of forest management is to produce as much timber as possible. 9. What effect does the harvesting of trees and deforestation have on forests and the environment? Is there a preferred method for harvesting trees? Explain. Both the harvesting of trees and deforestation result in â€Å"decreased soil fertility† (Berg, 2013). The vital minerals that are needed by soil are washed away because there are no trees to absorb them. Also, this takes away food sources and shelter for various organisms. This disrupts the delicate balance of ecosystems. Selective cutting, is when a small group of mature tress are individually cut or in small clusters. This means that the rest of the forest is left undisturbed. However, this method is expensive and does not generate timber needed quickly enough. 10. What is a rangeland? Describe rangeland degradation and desertification. What effect does degradation and desertification have on the environment? Is there a preferred method for harvesting trees? Explain. Rangelands are â€Å"grasslands, in both temperate and tropical climates, that serve as important areas of food production for humans by providing fodder for livestock such as cattle, sheep, and goats† (Berg, 2013). Degradation is â€Å"both a natural and a human-induced process that decreases the future ability of the land to support crops or livestock† (Berg, 2013). Desertification is progressive degradation that produces desert-like conditions on land that was used previously and was plentiful. 11. What is  overgrazing? What effect does this have on rangelands? What strategies can be employed for managing and conserving forests and rangelands? Overgrazing is a â€Å"situation that occurs when too many grazing animals consume the plants in a particular area, leaving the vegetation destroyed and unable to recover† (Berg, 2013). When rangelands are overgrazed, â€Å"plants die, the ground is left barren, and the exposed soil is susceptible to erosion† (Berg, 2013). The rangelands have to be taken care of by practicing techniques that are environmentally friendly. Agriculture 12. What is the difference between industrialized and subsistence agriculture? What effect do these methods have on the environment? Industrialized agriculture are modern â€Å"agricultural methods that require large capital inputs and less land and labor than traditional methods† (Berg, 2013). Subsistence agriculture supports on the farmer and their family with little reserves. Industrialized agriculture causes pollution and lowers an ecosystem’s biodiversity. Subsistence agriculture relies on more human and animal labor and has a much smaller impact on the environment. 13. What is one agricultural challenge, other than soil erosion, that society faces? Explain your answer. One agricultural challenge that society faces is the lost of agricultural land. Countries are starting to expand and grow rapidly. With so much space being needed for expansion, this takes land that could have been used for agricultural purposes. The loss of rural land means that food will have to travel longer and use more resources to do so. 14. How would you describe sustainable agriculture? How does it affect the environment? In regards to agriculture, what are the advantages and disadvantages involved with genetic engineering? I would describe sustainable agriculture as agriculture that is better for the environment and leaves less of a footprint on the Earth. It also promotes high diversity. It has minimal long term impacts on the environment by using less pesticides and using biological diversity instead (predator-prey relationship). The advantage of genetic engineering is that any organism can be used and it takes less time to engineer another breed. The disadvantage is that there is yet to be seen what long term effects  genetic engineering has on the environment or on humans. Works Cited Berg, L. (2013). Visualizing Environmental Science (4th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

How Hilton Hotels Builds a Relationship with Its Customers

Introduction This study aims to apply the application of value chain to a selected organisation in a service industry. This study aims to use Hilton Hotels as the focus of this paper. The main purpose of this study is to examine how Hilton Hotels builds a relationship with its customers, how it improves the added value to retain customers and what should be improved under the context of value chain to improve the better services in order to effectively deliver customer satisfaction and exceed their expectation. The paper will start from providing brief information about Hilton Hotels and then move on to analyse and discuss the key issues. About Hilton Hotel Hilton Hotels is one of the leading international premium hotels in the world. The company was founded by Conrad Hilton (Hilton Hotels, n. d. ). It offers full-services hotels and resorts to customers in many major cities around the world. Through different kinds of customer service programmes, it attempts to develop a good relationship with the targeted market. It also attempts to use the ‘Hilton Honors’ which is customer loyalty programme to retain existing customers (Hilton Hotels, n. . ). The programme does not only enable Hilton Hotels to assess quality premium services from the hotel and its affiliated firms, but also helps them to experience the feeling of privilege. How effective are the organisation’s resources in delivering its service offering? Based on the concept of value chain, it can be assumed that Hil ton Hotels attempts to add value to its offerings with the use of effective support value chain activities. Hilton Hotels uses different support value chain activities to sustain the effectiveness of primary activities to exceed customer satisfaction and expectation. These can be explained below. Primary Value Chain Activities of Hilton Hotel Inbound Logistics Hilton Hotels have several suppliers in each country in order to have sufficient supplies as part of a good quality service for customers. There are three most important areas that Hilton Hotels pays a lot of attention on because they influence people to pay more for premium services. These include food and drink, pick-up and other motor service and interior design. For example, Hilton Hotels decides to use different suppliers for fresh meat and vegetables to get the best products from suppliers with specialised offers. Once the goods are delivered, food and catering department of Hilton Hotels will store them in the right temperature until they are required. Before they are put in the stockroom, catering staff will put different colour stickers on the package. For example, fresh meat will have the maximum lifetime of five days. If it arrives on Monday, the blue sticker with the word ‘FRI’ should be put on the package to inform the chef and other kitchen staff that it should be used by Friday or otherwise, it should be binned to avoid food poisoning. The same practice is also true for car courtesy service and interior design. For example, Hilton Hotels has a contract with Mercedes Benz and other luxurious car brands to support its car courtesy services, while its interior design is done by a professional firm which will be in charge for all events held at the hotel. Operations As previously explained, this stage involved with transforming the goods into the finished offerings for end users. At Hilton Hotels, there are many goods that need to get through the operations process before being delivered to the end users. For example, all rooms will be cleaned once the customers check-out to ensure that that they are ready to serve the next guest. Outbound Logistics This is about delivering the finished goods to final users. For Hilton Hotels, this is about the presentation of both tangible and intangible products to customers. For example, the room must be spotless and equipped with facilities as promised and advertised. Also, the food should be cooked in the right manner, such as if the customer asks for a medium rare steak, they should get what they have requested. Once the food is cooked, it should be served to the customer within five minutes and the table must be cleared within ten minutes. Marketing & Sale This is about developing the marketing communication and promotion strategies that meet the needs and demands of customers. The marketing communication message used by in the poster is ‘Never feel away from home †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ When living any of our over 514 hotels worldwide!!! ’ This slogan informs the target market that wherever they go, they can always be comfortable like staying at home at the Hilton Hotels which has more than 514 outlets worldwide. Hilton Hotels does give some discounts to customers during the low season. It does not do this on a regular basis like many budget accommodations. This is because it targets customers who are less price-sensitive and they are willing to pay more for premium services. Service Through the customer loyalty programme ‘Hilton Honors’ to monitor behaviour of customers. This loyalty program enables card holders to access other premium quality services from the partnership companies of Hilton Hotels, such as car rental firms and airlines. The loyalty scheme allows the hotel to improve the products and services to meet new demand in the market more effectively. Support Value Chain Activities of Hilton Hotel Firm infrastructure Hilton Hotels is an international hotel chain with many resorts and leisure accommodations in many cities around the world. Customers should expect to get the same quality standard of leisure hotel services. This is because Hilton Hotels has an effective system to control the performance of the company. There are five main factors that Hilton Hotels uses to maintain its performance in all cities. These include cleanliness, quality, service, maintenance and atmosphere (Roubi & Litteljohn, 2004). All hotel rooms and common areas of the hotel should be spotless, the service should be delivered in a professional manner, cars, tools and equipments should be maintained and checked to ensure that they work effectively when required and the interior design should provide comfort. All of these elements are part of the organisational culture of Hilton Hotels. Human resource management Both frontline and management workers of Hilton Hotels are well-trained to deliver a perfect customer serving. Hilton Hotels tends to select employees with the right skills and knowledge. It is revealed that Hilton Hotels welcomes and prefers employees who have degrees from hospitality institutes in Switzerland. However, those with appropriate experiences are also welcomed. All workers of Hilton Hotels are required to attend both on-the-job and off-the-job training programmes to ensure that they are equipped with the right tools to carry out a good customer service. At the same time, to motivate all workers to work towards the assigned tasks with their best effort, Hilton Hotels provides its workers with financial and non-financial rewards. Some employees who have been working for the hotel for more than two years are eligible for organisational rewards, which are in the form of shares that are sold to workers at a discounted price (Watson et al. , 2007). Technology department Like other companies in the hospitality segment, the technology development and web-technology is used by Hilton Hotels to improve customer satisfaction in terms of fast and instant customer service. Hilton Hotel develops an official website which enables customers to book a hotel room, make a request for the airport pick up and other additional services. The website of Hilton Hotels does not only make it easy for customers to access the services of the hotel, but it also enables the hotel to promote its brand and offers worldwide at the lowest cost (Lo et al. , 2010). Procurement Hilton Hotels is very selective about its suppliers. This is because it positions itself as the international premium hotel chain. Thus, apart from good quality products and services that these suppliers have to provide, they must also follow the rules set by Hilton Hotels. Hilton Hotels requires all of its suppliers to be environmental-friendly and should not be involved in any kind of unethical issues, such as sweatshop and using underage workers (Hilton Hotels, n. d. ). How is Hilton Hotel attempting to build a relationship with the customer? Under the concept of value chain, it can be assumed that the targeted customers of Hilton Hotels are those who are quality conscious and they are willing to pay extra for the best service. Hilton Hotels uses differentiation strategy to develop a good relationship with customers and this enables it to retain customers more effectively. Differentiation & Value Chain – Customer Service Based on the analysis in the previous section, it can be assumed that Hilton Hotels develops a strong bond with targeted customers through value chain differentiation strategy. This is done by making its customer service different from others in the same segment. Hilton Hotels aims to offer the best leisure products and services in the industry. This strategy does not only enable it to charge customers premium price, but it also allows Hilton Hotels to retain and influence the repeated purchase behaviour (Vukmir, 2006). The loyalty scheme ‘Hilton Honor’ does not just makes customers feel that they are more privilege than others, but also enables them to access many premium services. Hilton Hotels must work hard to ensure that the promised offerings are delivered to customers. Differentiation & Value Chain – Technology To keep customers updated with new offers, Hilton Hotels sends electronic mails to customers who sign up for the service. The technology makes it easy for Hilton Hotels to develop a customer database and this can help them to monitor the behaviour of targeted customers more effectively. Hilton Hotels also utilises other new forms of media to keep a good relationship with customers through social networks like Facebook and YouTube. This enables customers to share experiences about their stay at Hilton Hotels. At the same time, this also allows Hilton Hotels to keep customers informed about recent events and activities. Conclusion According to the analysis in the previous sections, it can be assumed that there is little evidence about customer satisfaction towards the services of Hilton Hotels. However, based on the review of Hilton Hotels on TripAdvisor website (2009), it can be seen that it receives four out of five stars and 87 percent of customers who stay at the Hilton recommend it to others. The only problem that many customers appear to complain about is the pricing tactic of Hilton Hotels. Thus, under the current difficult economic conditions, it seems that customers will become more price-sensitive as they have less disposal income or start being cautious about their spending habits. They may look for substitute leisure accommodations which offer quality lodging services at affordable and reasonable prices. This means that even customers with a high spending power may still want to stay in a hotel room without breaking a bank. Therefore, there are two possible tactics that Hilton Hotels can consider in order to add value to its offerings. These include (1) promotional offer or competitive deals; and (2) complimentary or free gifts. The first strategy does not only add value to the offerings and exceed customer expectation, but it is also attractive to those who look for value for money. By contrast, the second strategy will satisfy customers who pay a full price on services. Complimentary offers would be perceived by them as a thank you gift from Hilton Hotels. This tactic will also make high spending-power customers feel privileged. Thus, it can be concluded that both strategies should effectively add value to the offerings of Hilton Hotels and satisfy customers with different spending powers.