Questions and Topics We Can Help You To Answer:
Paper Instructions:

The economic analysis project is an applied analysis demonstrating the students’ ability to utilize economic concepts and tools for managerial decision-making. Given that many working professionals are used to receiving information from an accounting perspective, often an effective approach to presenting economic analysis is to contrast it with the traditional way that data has been analyzed.



There should be a specific problem, issue or product as the focus of the report. The project may relate to a business venture, company performance, specific work-related issues or even a personal development analysis.



The analysis should utilize at least three different economic concepts and methods of analysis. Mention it clearly in the introduction. At least one of the three should involve a quantitative or computational application. This is feasible even if actual data is not currently available as you may often use proportional, regression, percentage or ratio relationships and even hypothetical data to demonstrate the appropriateness of the method or model of analysis. 



Some of the areas to consider for application include supply and demand, demand estimation, consumer utility, elasticity of demand, economic forecasting, supply analysis and estimation, marginal analysis, opportunity costs, production cost analysis, sunk costs, price determination, risk analysis, market structures, pricing theories, Investment analysis etc.  Any of these topics, as well as others, may be used at a conceptual, theoretical level to fill the two other applications requirements.  Remember, the goal of the analysis to make a decision.  Even if all of the analytical concepts or methods do not clearly delineate one obvious choice, your report should conclude with a justifiable decision.



While the textbook is an excellent source for much of your analysis, you are to cite and apply a minimum of four academic journals or professional sources.  (Note: The class article reviews that you and your colleagues present could be an excellent resource.) The final report should follow CTU writing guidelines (APA) for general formatting purposes.  However, as this is an applied report there is greater flexibility in layout.  Use visuals, graphs, tables, etc., to enhance, simplify and clarify the information being presented.  Put detailed calculations and supporting data in an appendix.Market 

1-    Demand 

2-    - supply

3-      sales



Production Analysis 



1      Production cost 

2      Distribution 

3      Marketing

4      Recall





Market structure 





What type market 

Nature competition 

Questions and Topics We Can Help You To Answer:
Paper Instructions:

Persuasion Outcomes
It is important to consider the different types of persuasion outcomes when marketing a new product. Imagine you are a marketer in charge of designing an advertising campaign for one of the following products: a new car, a new potato chip flavor, or a new pair of shoes. Write a 600 to 750 word paper that briefly describes the advertising campaign that you would create for the product you selected. You may use first person pronouns in this paper to explain the personal choices you would make for developing all aspects of the campaign, including the message of your campaign and the medium you will use to promote that message. In your paper, identify appropriate affective, behavioral, and cognitive outcomes and explain how your campaign could be designed to target each measurable outcome.
The Persuasion Outcomes paper
Must be 600- to 750-words in length (do not include title and references pages in word count) and formatted according to APA style 

Questions and Topics We Can Help You To Answer:
Paper Instructions:

Part 1

Discuss what a marketing plan is and describe the different components of the marketing plan in your own words (see figure 16.2 in the text). Also explain how the marketing plan is helpful to the organization. You do not have to put together a marketing plan for this assignment


Part 2

Please take the elements/components you have learned in this course (such as the SWOT, goals/objectives, etc.) and translate/apply them into how they would be carried out into the execution of a marketing strategy.

For instance (note that these examples may not be used in your assignment):

In a SWOT analysis you determined that one of the strengths of a company was that weekly team meetings were held where ideas are exchanged and commendations are awarded to team members who have met or exceeded goals or expectations for the week.  How can we translate or incorporate that Strength into a marketing strategy?

Since the ideas being exchanged in the weekly meeting are to foster growth and innovation, camaraderie, excitement, and motivation, they can also be used to generate new ideas for promotion.  This weekly team meeting can be leveraged to spur perhaps a name of a new product that company X has been trying to launch for considerable amount of time but just haven't thought of the right one.


A real world example, Lays Potato Chips reached out to the general public using their social media strength to ask them to come up with a new flavor of potato chip. This combined the strengths the company had with the need to execute a new marketing strategy. Through this process, a consumer won $1mm for coming up with a new potato chip flavor, and Lay's of course won tons of new customers and multiple millions in sales of new product.



The Final Project needs to be in a Word document and in APA format. Page requirement is at least 4 pages in length. This does not include the cover and reference pages. Make sure to provide at least four outside sources to support your work

Questions and Topics We Can Help You To Answer:
Paper Instructions:

Following are the topics you have to cover:

1) Research Paradigm: Which philosophical paradigm are you rooting for:

a) Positivism vs Interpretivism
b) Quantitative vs Qualititative

2) Data Collection Methods: Tell us who are you going to interview,  How many and how? for example: you can even use a small questionnaire or you can even interview. How many and how? Tell us the duration of your fieldwork and other plans related to it. [Mainly surveys]

3) Data Analysis techniques: How are you going to analyse your data when you have collected it. [SPSS or Ehtnography, phenomenology, hermeneutics, semiotics, discourse analysis.]

4) Ethical Issues.

5) References

NOTE: I have also added the literature review just to give you the basic idea.

Questions and Topics We Can Help You To Answer:
Paper Instructions:
PART I: The American Marketing Association (AMA) 

Access the American Marketing Association’s website which can be found at: 
http://www.marketingpower.com/Pages/default.aspx 

In your own words (don’t just copy and paste the information) discuss the following: Hint: 
Four to five complete sentences and/or a bulleted list of facts should be sufficient for most 
questions. 

1) What is the AMA? 

2) Briefly discuss the history of the AMA and some of the milestones that you found 
interesting. 

3) How does the AMA define marketing and marketing research? 

4) Briefly summarize and discuss some of the key elements described in the AMA’s Statement 
of Ethics. 

5) Discuss some of the benefits and categories of AMA membership. 


PART II: Careers in Marketing 

Answer the following questions using the AMA website and the Occupational Information Network 
(The O*NET), one of the nation's primary source of occupational information, which can be found 
at http://online.onetcenter.org/. 

Again, answer each question in your own words (don’t just copy and paste the information). Hint: 
Four to five complete sentences and/or a bulleted list of facts should be sufficient. 

1) Briefly discuss some of the careers in the marketing profession. In your response, describe 
two or three marketing job titles/categories and the necessary KSA’s (Knowledge, Skills, & 
Abilities). 

2) Discuss the career outlook for the marketing profession.

Questions and Topics We Can Help You To Answer:
Paper Instructions:

Question 1 (Learning outcome: 4, R)
Explain for which company and/or service(s)/product(s) you’re creating this Cross Media Marketing Strategy (CMMS). Give an insight on the history, market and goals of the company and explain your connection with it. (400 words min.)

Question 2 (Learning outcome: 1, 4, R)
Describe the goals and targets for this specific CMMS. Which areas of the Media Clover need to be covered and why.
(400 words min.)

Question 3 (Learning outcome: 1, 4, R)
Describe for each Media Value (“Bought Media”, “Owned Media” and “Earned Media”) which tools and actions will be implemented. Present a realistic planning and budget. (400 words min.)

Question 4 (Learning outcome: 2, 4, R)
Create a Social Media strategy as part of the overall Cross media Marketing Strategy, based on the information and knowledge gained during the Social Media workshop and the mandatory literature (‘The New Rules of Marketing & PR’). The outcomes of questions 5 and 6 are not allowed as part of this strategy. (400 words min.)

Question 5 (Learning outcome: 3, 4, R)
Create a Social Media Release as part of the overall Cross Media Marketing Strategy, based on the information and knowledge gained during the Social Media Release workshop and the mandatory literature (‘The New Rules of Marketing & PR’) and the provided ‘Review on SMR web-applications’ (PDF). The outcomes of questions 4 and 6 are not allowed as part of this strategy. (400 words min.)

Question 6 (Learning outcome: 1, 2, 3, 4, R)
Create a Media Briefing for a specific media campaign, as part of the overall Cross media Marketing Strategy, based on techniques given during the classes and the mandatory literature (‘Media Briefing’, OMD). The outcomes of questions 4 and 5 are not allowed as part of this campaign. (400 words min.)

Questions and Topics We Can Help You To Answer:
Paper Instructions:

Part 1 - Briefly described your product/service and associated business idea.

My product is beauty soap targeting young women. Beauty soaps are commonly used by women to enhance their skin texture. My product will come with variety of fragrance and sizes to be used at different times. My product choice is based on the fact that it is one of the products that are frequently used in the market that one can use simple distribution channels like home delivery, phone s and even garage for selling. Since it is a new business I will also take advantage of incubator programs as one of the strategy get expert advice and support from like minded people to enable the business to grow.

Part 2

1. Clearly describe what channels you would use for distribution and why (support your decisions with specific explanations about why you did and did not select various channels)

The most preferable channel for distribution will be online. Using online distribution is the current trends in marketing. Online provide several benefits to both consumers and the seller. Compared to retailing that requires large business with good physical location and distribution strategy. Retailing also requires physical space compared to online services. Since the business will start on a small scale having a home office will be the better option because of the advantages that one can get compared to using co working spaces.

2. If you had an unlimited budget, what specific strategies would you use for marketing and promoting your product or service and why? (again provide an explanation of why you would and would not utilize various strategies)

With unlimited budget the best strategy to use in marketing is by acquiring a good physical location in which the building is visible to make customers reach instead of advertising. Therefore a prime location is the best strategy in marketing.  Considering the fact like the target population, taxes, technology and available resources.

3. If you had a limited marketing budget of $250 dollars per week, what specific strategies would you use for marketing and promoting your product or service and why?

With a marketing budget of $ 250 per week, the best strategy for marketing would be to use the existing business networks that you have built. This includes meeting people to expand the business. Get contacts and meeting potential clients face to face to discuss. Another creative way will be to maintain good relationships with clients. This can be done through online forums, social networks and blogs. Keeping the traditional form of communication is also important as it portrays a good public relation.

I NEED YOU TO ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS FOR ME:

Thank you for addressing each of the discussion questions this week and adding an interesting idea to the forum. I think online distribution is a very reasonable strategy. However, what would be your specific online channel(s)? Your own e-commerce website? Existing web retailers (e.g. Birchbox)? Or existing online marketplaces (e.g. Amazon, Ebay)? Or a combination of these online sales channels? 

I'm not sure I quite understand your first marketing suggestion here, why would you even need a location if your product is being sold via online channels? Would you be able to stock the location with only beauty soap? Certainly a location can be part of a marketing mix but generally it is not used as the only marketing strategy because it will only impact a very limited geographic area of customers and you probably want others. Why not invest in a great e-commerce website and sophisticated online and email marketing program?

Market control in the Louis Vuitton Company's products.

 The main problem affecting the Louis Vuitton Company is the issue of counterfeits. Despite this, the products concertation in the market was as high as it was being sold to numerous department stores. This causes an overpopulation of LV products in the market, making the product lose its prestigious and luxury value in the market. Their failure to control the distribution market and the sales of their product was also one of the company's problems. Cases of overexposure of the product in the market were the key to reducing the products' value in the market and leeway for the product being copied. 

   The development of counterfeit products has affected the quality of their product and their price on the commodity. Similarly, the availability of counterfeits in the market has affected its income and revenue as it infestation the company's market and distribution channels.  The effects are felt more through loss of sales, thus affecting the profit margin by reducing the profit. This cause affects the production as the company tries to outdo the counterfeit in the market. This leads to over-production of products reducing the quality of the product.

The effects on the brand are more felt in reducing the brand perception of the brand image in the face of customers. Counterfeits affect the products' market as the customers feel that they are being deceived despite the original product (Marticotte, & Arcand, 2017). The effect to the Louis Vuitton Company was more pronounced as the customers failed to differentiate between the actual product and the counterfeits. This degrades the customer perception about the product, thus affecting the quality of the quality. Despite the high quality and durable product, the counterfeit involves creating negativity when exposed to the counterfeits.  The difference in the quality of the product between the original and the counterfeit causes the customer to lose faith in the luxury brand, thus affecting the market of Louis Vuitton. Despite the negative effect on the brand, the counterfeit, if outdone by the original brand, can help the business create product awareness.

To counter the effects of the counterfeit in the market, Louis Vuitton Company imposed various policies on their product to reduce the impact of the counterfeit on the brand. First, the company increased the product's price to help the customer understand that the brand is luxurious thus should be obtained at a higher cost than the counterfeit (Kasztalska, A. M. (2018). The price increase was an indication of the quality of the product allowing the customers to differentiate between the counterfeits and the original product in the market. The company took control of the distribution channels as the product from Louis Vuitton Company are sold in stores controlled by their employees and managers.

The increases in the price of the company's bags and other commodities were a means of outdoing the counterfeits and a strategy to make the brand luxurious. The low prices of the commodity had diluted the market, making the products from Louis Vuitton a standard product in the market. To maintain the top quality of the product and make rare to the customer the increases in price and the control of the market and distribution channel was the key to making the brand a luxury. It also helps in reducing the population of LV products in the market, making the product rare and thus hard to copy.

 In the attempt to reduce the brand's overexposure that creates the chance for the counterfeits to get the details about the product, the company had to control the market and price of the products. LV company has ensured that celebrities and supermodels' marketing is done (Keerakittiwat, 2020). This helps them prevent overexposure while also helping keep the brand prestigious on the face of the customer. It also helps in branding the products as luxury products, thus explaining they are rare and making their high price justifiable The rare nature of the product allows it to stay fresh in the market for a long time as most people cannot access it readily, thus remain at the top of the market.

The primary strategy of controlling the LV Company's product problems is through monitoring and controlling the market of their products. This can be ensured by maintaining the product's sales in the market by owning the department stores where the products are being sold, thus making it rare (Heikkinen, 2020). This will help reduce the cases of customers buying counterfeit products from the company's stores. Controlling the market ensures the product quality is not diluted by the counterfeits in the market, thus ensuring the brand name and image in the customer's mind is a commodity of a high-quality product. The increase in the price also helps in making the commodity rare and prestigious.

Recommendations.

The high commodity price has brought about the product perception as high quality and thus luxurious but has also reduced the sales of the product in the market. In determining the commodity price, the company should make sure that despite making the product rare, the current price is affordable to the people in the middle class to increase their sales. To ensure that the product does not face the same problem of being a counterfeit, the primary measure is controlling the distribution and the product market instead of raising the product's price. The rise in price makes it affordable to the high class only.

To ensure that the product exposure to viable customers is attained, the company should ensure that the product is available in the global market. The company should open up the market in other countries and states worldwide to allow the company to increase the sales and profit margin of LV products. The introduction of pricing as an advertisement is the key to ensuring the brand image in the market (Thomas, 2021). Using the supermodels in the advertising creates prestige and ensures the ads do not go beyond the company site. This will help in reducing the spread of the commodity to the counterfeits as they have limited information.

Justification.

The control of the market as done by the company has proven to be the best way to ensure that the company controls the market. The managers and employees in control of the department store ensure the customers do not buy the counterfeits from their stores. Market monitoring offers the company market analysis through the sales made in a specific duration of time. Similarly, it helps reduce the intermediaries that create the chance of mixing the original product with the counterfeits, ensuring the safety of the quality of the product. 

The marketing strategy through pricing helps ensure that LV company products' quality, prestige, and luxurious value is maintained. To ensure that the information provided to the customer is from the company, the advertisement means are limited to the company marketing through models, ads done by the company. The pricing makes the commodity rare, thus making the brand image perceived highly by the customer.

References.

Thomas, (2021). Louis Vuitton Advertising Strategy: Why is Louis Vuitton so popular? Retrieved from, https://avada.io/resources/louis-vuitton-advertising.html

Heikkinen, E. Product IPR Analysis of LV Archlight Trainer by Louis Vuitton.

Keerakittiwat, K. Advertising design for Zap Hollywood Smile.

Marticotte, F., & Arcand, M. (2017). Schadenfreude, attitude and the purchase intentions of a counterfeit luxury brand. Journal of Business Research, 77, 175-183.

Kasztalska, A. M. (2018, September). Louis Vuitton As An Example Of The Old And Modern In The Same Time Luxury Brand In The Eyes Of Its Clientele. In CBU International Conference Proceedings (Vol. 6, pp. 226-230).

Marketing Mix and CSR for Microsoft corporation.

Microsoft is a multinational technological corporation with headquarters in America known for developing computer programs, applications, and software. The company was founded on the 4^th of April 1975 by a school dropout bill gate. The company is owned by a billionaire Bill Gates with his friend since childhood Paul Allen. He has transformed the company into the most valuable business globally as they are the chief producers and developers of computer-related programs. The company is known for producing software in a computer like widows among other computer brands under the brand Microsoft starting from word to other software. The transformation of the business into a multinational corporation with its products worldwide has led to the development of the corporation to venturing into new business. Microsoft has launched into the mobile and phone market where the produce's programs and games are being used by various companies producing phones like techno and Samsung that use mobile OS a Microsoft product. The venture and the corporation's brand, and the production of the quality product have allowed the company to Merge the best in the gaming market. In its development, the company merged skype for $8.5 Billion in 2011, absorbing the company into their system; this was to enhance the competition from companies such as Google and apple. The company is associated with the achievement in computer software control with the market and their commodity used worldwide.

Target market

Microsoft's market target includes all the customers with different tastes and needs as the company is involved in producing various applications and software, increasing their market to all levels of the demographic. The corporation is engaged in a global market with their commodity worldwide where the demand of their item is dependent on the customer’s choice as they have programs and applications developed to take care of people of all age groups. (Murugan, 253). This enhances their market and limits their need to computer and phone users, thus demanding a literacy level to acquire and use their product. The company product is a choice of people from different demographics from the young age where people live at home, to an age bracket of after six years where the child has developed motor skills.

 The company’s software, especially the computer software and application, is commonly used by students; employees are professionals in all fields in their careers. It has multiples used starting from word documented generation. The application installed in the computer users in the career fields includes the PowerPoint for document documentation through slides and publisher for data computation. (Saifuddin, and Anwar. 11) The application in excel is also used in computing data giving the computer multiple purposes in the office and documentation of data. The target market is all individuals who are user and non-users, determined and ambitious people, people seeking benefit from the system's efficiency and accuracy. People of different occupations depending on the uses they use the computer for from student to employees and employers, people of all social classes and lifestyle.

 Products.

Microsoft products include various products where they deal with software development, licensing and support, and hardware essential to online activities. The company is well known for software and hardware production, but they are also critical products in the application and games for a wide range of age groups.  Their products include operating systems for computers, the produce servers, mobiles and mobiles systems, and devices that possess artificial intelligence. (Dutta, and Dutta, 983). Despite this, they are the key server producers ranging from application servers to all computer servers and the development and selling of hardware, including entertainment consoles and other essential gaming hardware. The company provides services in the consultation of business in the software and hardware market venture and includes training on the developers.

The company development is due to the employees' continuous research and the research team to ensure the growth and upgrade of the product they offer. The company is a critical provider in the skype network's products and services where they provide both [the hardware and software as the skype network owners. The company is known for providing services essential for developing the cloud base in computing services—the Maintenance of the high services offered through the research and development of high-quality software and hardware. Hardware products include laptops and other computer models under the production of the Microsoft Corporation.

Place.

 The dominance of the Microsoft corporation in the market has caused the company to monopolize the market, thus controlling its products. The company has set up retail shops where the products and services on the training are offered to their customers. The company has opened a retail shop operated by a retail team from the company’s facilities (Mora, Daniel, et al. 102). The change in technology affects the sales on the retail shop and forces the company to adopt online marketing to sell their products. The company was reported to close all the retail shops worldwide to reduce the revenue and change the market to the online market. The process is said to save more than four hundred and fifty million dollars on the shares. This activity will transform the business from having a specific location to be everywhere in the market.

The transformation of the market to online will help the company serve many customers worldwide, helping them increase their revenue. The online market is supported as the company has trained marketing personnel to operate online effectively. Software development provides the company with adequate resources to enable the company to have the best platform for the products' sales. Sale in the online market offers more effortless channels in advertisement and availing goods to all customers worldwide.

Promotion.

 The Microsoft market's monopolistic nature allows the corporation to do their advertisement and promotion in their store and use the media channels. The advertising done in the company is aimed to reach the population that has the least usage of their commodities, thus creating awareness to them on the benefits of having them using their products. The company uses various channels to reach the target population where they use their main website and the national website where the product is promoted through discounts and offers on certain commodities to attract customers (Helmold, 53). The company uses ads and social media for advertising the products where they give procedures on how to use their item. In these media, the company uses attractive videos advertising or showing the offers available to the customer on purchasing the product from the firm.

Price.

 In determining the price, the company considers the accessibility of the product to the customers, thus helping in pricing the commodity according to the consumer's ability.  In this case, the company may provide some of the products for free to the users, and others may need the user to have experience with them before paying for the product's license. (Sheelapriya, and Murugesan, 192) The company's use of Microsoft's pricing strategy allows the company to make a significant effort to attract customers to use and pay for their products. The advantages are associated with the product's usefulness dictating the products' price and the number of customers willing to pay for the services. The strategy is the key to the cultivation of the business value and building of customer loyalty.

CSR.

The company's patriotic mission usually controls Microsoft corporate responsibility to serve the global needs of the community in the betterment of the community life. The company has been in the first line in environmental conservation. The company is making an effort to remove the company's carbon by using electrical consumption of the gases out of the environment (Sehgal, et al.64). the need to reduce the gap created by the broadband gap. The company has made an effort to reach the people in a rural area in an attempt to provide them writhe band where 2.2 million people were served. To accumulate the funds, the company allows the employees to donate to other facilities where more than seven hundred and fifty thousand hours were donated for free services translating to more than two hundred million US dollars. CSR is beneficial to the company as it is to the community by creating a better brand name for the company and the increase in the sales associated with the activity. The removal of the carbon in the environment by the company helps in reducing the gas level rising to toxic levels for the animals and plants life thus reducing pollution,

Work cited.

Dutta, Pranay, and Prashant Dutta. "Comparative Study of Cloud Services Offered by Amazon, Microsoft & Google." International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development 3.3 (2019): 981-985.

Helmold, Marc. "Pricing Strategies." Total Revenue Management (TRM). Springer, Cham, 2020. 43-59.

Mora, Daniel, et al. "An In-store Recommender System Leveraging the Microsoft HoloLens." International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction. Springer, Cham, 2020.

Murugan, M. Sakthivel. "EMPIRICAL STUDY ON FACTORS INFLUENCING CUSTOMER PURCHASE DECISION OF SOFTWARE SERVICES PERTAINING TO MICROSOFT PACKAGES."

Saifuddin, Mohammad, and Syed Farrukh Anwar. "Integrating Various Softwares for Planning Analysis and Design."

Sehgal, Gaurav, et al. "Corporate social responsibility: A case study of Microsoft Corporation." Asia Pacific Journal of Management and Education 3.1 (2020): 63-71.

Sheelapriya, G., and R. Murugesan. "Stock price trend prediction using Bayesian regularised radial basis function network model." Spanish Journal of Finance and Accounting/Revista Española de Financiación y Contabilidad 46.2 (2017): 189-211.

The Make versus the Buy

Introduction

In the business world, firms may decide either to manufacture the products they need or otherwise buy from an outside supplier. This practice is made based on a decision made by the organization after consideration of cost-benefit analysis. This decision is also referred to as an outsourcing decision, where the firm compares the cost associated with producing the needed goods or services internally, to that of hiring an external supplier. In this context, the organization has to weigh out all the aspects that regard the acquiring and storage of the items, against creating the same products in-house, sometimes which involve the purchase of new equipment and associated storage costs. For this decision to be right and acceptable a quantitative or qualitative analysis needs to be done to ensure that the decision made is advantageous to the company in terms of decision making (Pratama & Rosyidi, 2017, November). This essay presents a discussion on the make versus buy decision based on Firebird Company production.

The Firebird Company has been getting its products from an external producer, thus in recent days has thought on whether this process is cost-beneficial or not. It is from this that the organization would now decide whether to make-or-buy. With many operations around the company with many assemblies and units. The Firebird firm needs to consider all the costs associated with producing the products in-house, mainly in buying and maintain equipment, cost of the premises, raw material cost, cost of fuel and electricity, labor cost, storage cost, shipping cost, and the cost of capital. In this context basing our discussion in the Firebird firm in the purchase of Firebird Electric is decentralized. The organization is set to have six buyers, with responsibilities of obtaining materials. Within this organization, the four buyers are responsible vendors, overseeing the products, two of these are associates specifically, assigned to supply evaluation and incoming quality confirmation.

Various steps must be followed when launching new products. The first step is to establish the requirements. In order to ensure that the entire process there must be a clear plan and organization of the whole operation, the organization needs to keep quality. Some key operations to keep in place include, developmental stages, these include, the design of the product, purchasing, quality assurance and control, materials management, the entire manufacturing process, and engineering. In the production process, the first process involved in manufacture includes the development of housing, a step that involves, gathering all relevant information, drawings design, and evaluation of the cost of constructions. In the contemporary world, the organization seeks to use the new technologies and new input materials across all the components.

Additionally, for quality assurance, various procedures are applied. In this process, the technicians are hired to review the fabrications and eliminate the components that seem to incur the company extra costs. From this step, the reviewers can now search and offer alternative tools that can be used in production, after a following up in a meeting of the organization’s representatives pulled from all the departments a decision is meant on which materials they choose for operation. After this assurance, the manufacturing personnel is informed of the updates, costs, and responsibilities for each stakeholder. The success of the entire production is taken is assure if a continuous flow of information. Firebird then proceeds to define the fixture measurement of the product, aligned with accuracy, ease of use, and cost-efficiency. After consulting with the engineers a trial is run for the product in-house, which is aimed at ensuring a minimal rejection rate. The most important thing that needs to be ensured is that the whole process is smart. The latter mean it should be specific and within a speculated duration.

Following all these procedures the cost of manufacturing these products internally, get so tedious and sometimes much expensive. The cost expenses are incurred in the bid to higher the specialist and time needed in the entire production process when starting from scratch, this referred to as Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) (Serrano, Ramírez & Gascó, 2018). For this process to be successful in this Company, it has to ensure that it meets all the production expenses, these funding include output, resin, molding units, labor, and plant, housing, and purchasing. For the Firebird organization to ensure that it meets all production needs it must ensure that it has at least eight million dollars, like direct labor output. Which is a bit expensive as it also includes other procedures, and more importantly time.

Based on the facts revolving around the direct production of goods the Firebird opts to get its products from external sources. Compared to the overall production of goods which amounts to eight million dollars the direct purchase of products is cheaper and less time is involved. For instance, the purchase price of products is $750,000, and before the purchase, the company only pays receiving and inspection cost of $35,000, with an annual order processing cost of $5,000, totaling $790,000. The buying is cheaper than making thus the company should keep getting their products from an external supplier.

However, before selection of the supplier that Firebird Company needs to carry out a strategic evaluation. This ensures that the quality of products obtained is the best, the steps involved include, strategic thinking in the selection, the next step is to get assured of the reliability, quality, and value for money, through a partnership approach and thus financial security (Taherdoost & Brard, 2019). The company then identifies and lists all the potential suppliers, this process can be through trade associations, business advisors, exhibition or trade press. Then shortlist the suppliers, which is followed by research that fulfills the organization's requirements, the company goes ahead and chooses the supplier who meets the set criteria. Carry out negotiation on the terms and conditions, get a quotation, and a comparison of all the potential suppliers. From the selected few suppliers, one of them is the right for supply it is then hired.

References

Pratama, M. A., & Rosyidi, C. N. (2017, November). Make or buy decision model with multi-stage manufacturing process and supplier imperfect quality. In AIP Conference Proceedings (Vol. 1902, No. 1, p. 020026). AIP Publishing LLC.

Serrano, R. M., Ramírez, M. R. G., & Gascó, J. L. G. (2018). Should we make or buy? An update and review. European Research on Management and Business Economics, 24(3), 137-148.

Taherdoost, H., & Brard, A. (2019). Analyzing the process of supplier selection criteria and methods. Procedia Manufacturing, 32, 1024-1034.

Outline

Topic: shopping

 Title: comparing and contrasting online shopping and In-store shopping

Background statement: The advancement of E-commerce facilitated an adjustment from store shopping to online shopping. The Digital revolution generated numerous opening and also unconventional obstacles to shoppers. Online stores provide connectivity to a huge number of customers at an inexpensive cost. At the onset of the 21st century, online stores experienced unprecedented growth due to the increasing use of the internet.

 Thesis statement: Online shopping is better than in store shopping due to three reasons- online shopping provides its clients with comparison shopping capabilities, a broader variety of good and services, affordable prices and electronic mode of payment. In totality these reasons have made online shopping more convenient, accessible and secure to more customers.

 Point 1: use electronic modes of payment

• Easier and convenient to pay for goods and services
• Safer to shop online
• Flexible as one can pay from anywhere

Point 2: comparison shopping

• Less time spent moving from one online store to the next
• Availed reviews
• Competitive pricing

Point 3: availability of a wider range of items and services

• Discounted products
• Easy to located desired items
• Easier to move from one online store to the next as compared to moving from one physical store to the next.

Comparing and Contrasting Online Shopping and In Store Shopping

Introduction

  The advancement of E-commerce facilitated an adjustment from store shopping to online shopping. The Digital revolution generated numerous opening and also unconventional obstacles to shoppers. Online stores provide connectivity to a huge number of customers at an inexpensive cost. At the onset of the 21^st century, online stores experienced unprecedented growth due to the increasing use of the internet. Unlike previous times when people were forced to leave the comforts of their home, the internet allowed people to buy necessities through internet platforms. Due to the ease with which people shopped online, it became more convenient to shop online. Online shopping is better than in store shopping due to three reasons- online shopping provides its clients with comparison shopping capabilities, a broader variety of good and services and electronic mode of payment. In totality these reasons have made online shopping more convenient, accessible and secure to more customers.

 Body

Online shoppers make use of electronic modes of payment rather than physical cash which is frequently, used in-store shopping. While shopping online, most of the client prefer mobile payment methods because they are verified and secure. Once the good is delivered and the client is satisfied with the product, then he or she releases the payment through mobile banking or other electronic forms of payment (Ifeanyichukwu 201). Hence, the use of credit cards and mobile payment has made online shopping easier and more convenient for shoppers. Also, Ewallets contain personal customer data which can be used to help the client pay for products once they are delivered from the online shop. On the other hand in stores are known for preferring physical cash once the client chooses an item. The chance that comes with having more than one mode of payment makes some of the transactions risky as one must part with cash. Online shopping has provided a range of payment methods that are then considered for the purchase. The use of electronic forms of payment has made it safer for most online shoppers. In store shopping is prone to insecurity due to the usage of physical cash. Most of the online shops have electronic modes of meaning hence the customers do not use physical cash to pay for goods and services. This is the main reason that makes online shopping safer than in store shopping.  Another reason which makes online shoppers secure is that they shop from the comforts of their own homes without leaving their secure places. Some may argue that online shoppers are prone to cybercriminals but online stores disseminate information and use better security mechanisms. Shopping in person is riskier because people have to leave their homes and in the process expose themselves to more harm. It is safer to enter the credit card details in a personal computer than in a swiping machine. Stealing from an online shopper is more difficult than stealing from an in store shopper (Hodges, and Lizhu 118). Transacting online has been made safer and reliable to most of the online shoppers due to the series of safety nets put in place by cybersecurity experts. With more people preferring online shopping, security systems have been upgraded to superior levels. Nowadays, it is rare for cybercriminals to steal from online shoppers. On the other hand, online shoppers have made it easy to isolate online stores which do not offer security to their consumers. Therefore, online business owners have ensured that they all levels of transaction and delivery are safe and accounted for by the available security systems.

 In terms of comparison shopping, one of the main reasons people prefer to shop online is due to numerous reviews attached to products. In a physical shop, the item only has a price tag hence one cannot review and assess the usability of the product. An online shopper can spend time comparing products before settling on one quality item he or she wishes to purchase. Rather than moving from one in store to another looking for affordable products, online shopping has made it easy for the shoppers to navigate from one online platform to the next in search for quality items (Zhai, Xinyu, and Feng 38). With online shopping one searches for product reviews, compare prices and quality. Hence at the end day it is cheaper and much faster. Online shopping allows shoppers to shop at any time unlike in stores where one has to shop only at specified times (Schmid et al., 156). Online shopping is not limited to any time or even space. As long as the client gains access he or she can purchase anything at any time and would then be delivered on his or her doorstep. This allows people whose schedules are tight to shop and get whatever they need for the day. In other words, online shopping is flexible as it gives people a wide range of possibilities.

Apart from comparison shopping capabilities, online shopping gives shoppers a wider selection of goods from which they can choose. Online stores are not limited to shelf space hence are able to keep as much goods as possible. An online store can have numerous items and expand its space as much as it wants to. (Nagar, and Payal 851). This is an advantage to the online shopper as he or she gets a chance to choose from the wide assortment of goods. Also, shoppers can easily navigate their way through the numerous products because the search bar helps in the location of items. More products normally translates into better deals due to the stiff competition between manufacturers who make these products. Most of the online shopping websites offer more discounts than in store shops hence attracting more potential clients. This implies that items which are not discounted in physical stores can be found at a better price on online platforms. Also, online shoppers have an option of either picking their items from local stores or through home delivery hence making online shopping convenient and time saving for the shoppers. Another reason why online shopping is considered cheaper is because the retailers who own them have lesser operational costs hence passing the savings to the clients by reducing the item expenses. Online shoppers browse through numerous online shops and settle on the best commodity (Anesbury et al., 261). This way, they get affordable products. In conjunction with its affordable prices, online shoppers have the option of purchasing items directly from producers and get rid of the middlemen who usually manipulate prices unlike in store shops. Therefore services and products are cheaply priced.

Conclusion

Online shopping is popular due to its wide range of products from which people can choose from. Also, a wide range of products cater to the needs of more consumers. Online shopping is affordable because of the low operation cost incurred while running them. Unlike in store shopping which rarely offers discount on its products, online merchandize are frequently discounted hence attracting more potential buyers who flood online platforms to buy discounted items on short notice. More so, online shopping enables shoppers to compare and review items before buying them thus most of the products bought are of high quality and competitively priced. Most of the online products are reviewed and ranked and this makes it easier for new shoppers to easily make a choice before buying the product.

Works Cited

Anesbury, Zachary, et al. "How do shoppers behave online? An observational study of online grocery shopping." Journal of Consumer Behaviour 15.3 (2016): 261-270.

Augsburger, Mareike, et al. "The concept of buying-shopping disorder: Comparing latent classes with a diagnostic approach for in-store and online shopping in a representative sample in Switzerland." Journal of Behavioral Addictions 9.3 (2020): 808-817.

Hodges, Nancy, and Lizhu Davis. "Consumer shopping value: an investigation of shopping trip value, in-store shopping value and retail format."

Ifeanyichukwu, Chioma D. "Shopping orientation and online shopping: an analysis of online shoppers in Nigeria." International Journal in Management & Social Science 4.6 (2016): 199-205.

Nagar, Komal, and Payal Gandotra. "Exploring choice overload, internet shopping anxiety, variety seeking and online shopping adoption relationship: Evidence from online fashion stores." Global Business Review 17.4 (2016): 851-869.

Schmid, Basil, and Kay W. Axhausen. "In-store or online shopping of search and experience goods: A hybrid choice approach." Journal of choice modelling 31 (2019): 156-180.

Zhai, Qing, Xinyu Cao, and Feng Zhen. "Relationship between Online Shopping and Store Shopping in the Shopping Process: Empirical Study for Search Goods and Experience Goods in Nanjing, China." Transportation Research Record 2673.11 (2019): 38-47.

Customer Journey

Opportunities

Building Relationships

 The first key that needs to be done is to set up a customer service center and hotline that will create numerous openings for customers to express themselves and how they feel about the business. In the customer center booth or department, the business owner can learn how to handle customer challenges and realign the business's objectives to newly emerging trends. Thus a customer center opens up more opportunities to learn more about the customers and their preferred means of conducting the business. More so, setting up customer service centers will retain clients and establish trust with them. It gives the company the chance to come to terms with their mistakes as they gauge the entire business strategy's penetration and effectiveness. For the services rendered, we recommended a company or business concentrate on highlighting both negative and positive reviews to enable people to come to terms with the services offered and unveil the business practices of the business in a more open manner. This way, both negative and positive reviews make the business operations seem legitimate to the market base. Apart from having a customer service center, the company is recommended to have specific staff or personnel I charge of handling matters concerning the customer challenges such as complaints and pending questions about product or services being offered on a daily basis. Thus, the personnel should be in charge of giving direction, details on items and services, receive orders, and come up with routes of solving consumer problems. To establish a relationship with the customers, a business has to maintain an optimistic, compassionate, and proficient approach towards clients at all given times.

2

 The goal of any business is to make a profit and create a market niche that is loyal to the business. One of the most basic ways of increasing customer retention is through the establishment of trust. Trust entails going beyond smiles and shaking of hands into actively involving customers in the decision making process. For instance, independent have to ensure that key business operations are stead and running as usual so that the clients might have their needs met on time without any delay. For example, each FA should book an appointment with the client so that they might inform on the ongoing business operations. In fact, the key business operations should run as usual, with no delay. Secondly, it is recommended to communicate with clients with their own preferred method effectively. For instance, if a client launched a complaint through an email, the customer services should reply using the same means the customers communicated before so that it can create understanding and consistency with the customer. Comprehending the needs and wants of a customer at a particular time will inform on how the business responds to the customer. Besides, ensuring that the customer is satisfied at the end of the entire customer service helps retain the customer and meet their needs. Subsequently, the customer has to prove and verify that their personal portfolio is up to date and can meet the customers' needs on a timely basis. Rather than pushing dates forward, all the face-to-face appointments or activities should never be delayed or subject to postponement. Subsequently, the company must be assured that the company is doing everything in its mandate to protect their financial well-being. Therefore, carrying out performance appraisals assures the customers that their money is in the right hands hence giving them a reason to trust the company. Thus, an ongoing relationship has to be demonstrated and proved through the performance of key to the tasks.

3

Improving Customer Experience

 We are recommending that the  wants of the customers have to be met. For this to occur, the company has to formulate a clear vision. This means that customer experience should be a top priority because customer experience increases revenue, leading to higher profit margins. For most companies, customer services cannot be replaced with customer experience. Thus, the need to positively impact a client’s emotions so that the company might have more regulars to its list. Customer experience impacts both external and internal aspects of a company. Besides, customer experience can only be judged through the customer's interaction with the company brand image. In order to gain a good reputation with customers, companies need to present themselves as accessible and helpful to the consumers. For instance, the company should respond to emails in a timely fashion and whenever customers raise issues or queries, the company should be quick to not only answer but create a reference point through which the consumer will have their needs met. Due to the increasingly stiff competition, retaining a good reputation with companies will help the company remain afloat and sustain its profit margin in the long run. Thus the company becomes more visible and marketable without much in much effort.