Wednesday, May 6, 2020
Creation of the World Free Essays
The creation of the world has many different theories but according to Christian beliefs ââ¬Ëââ¬â¢In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. â⬠(Genesis 1) The Bible states that God created the world is a 7 day time frame in which he started when God created first created light and separated the light from the darkness, calling light ââ¬Å"dayâ⬠and darkness ââ¬Å"nightâ⬠. On his second day of work God created an huge area to separate the waters and called it ââ¬Å"sky. We will write a custom essay sample on Creation of the World or any similar topic only for you Order Now On his third God created the dry ground and gathered the waters, calling the dry ground ââ¬Å"land,â⬠and the gathered waters ââ¬Å"seas. â⬠, God also created plants and trees. Then on the fourth day God created the sun, moon, and the stars to give light to the earth to separate the day and the night. On the fifth day God created every living creature of the seas and every winged bird. On the sixth day God created the animals to fill the earth. On day six, God also created man and women bringing humans to the world for the first time. Adam and Eve were the first humans that God created, man out of dust and woman out of man. God gave them one rule and that was not to eat of the fruit on one particular tree in the Garden of Eden. Eve was talked into eating the fruit by the serpent, and then she convinced Adam to eat of it as well. When they had disobeyed God, they felt ashamed and naked; so they hid from him. After talking with them, he punished them by banishing them from the Garden. This was the day sin entered the world and manââ¬â¢s nature is now sadly a sinful nature. This is why God sent his son to die on the cross for our sins so that we have the chance to live with him one day for eternity. This is how humans first had to encounter a real live situation and choose between good and evil. Finally on day 7 God had finished his work of creation and so he rested on the seventh day, blessing it and making it holy, and that is why Christians celebrate church and mass on Sundays that being the seventh and final day of the week. How to cite Creation of the World, Papers
Saturday, May 2, 2020
Business Law In Minority Oppression Samples â⬠MyAssignmenthelp.com
Question: Discuss about the Business Law In Minority Oppression. Answer: Issue: After going to the facts of this case, the question arises if the majority members of FWPL are involved in minority oppression. For this purpose, it has to be seen, what is the meaning of the term in the operation and move them apply to the court. Rule: Generally, the term minority operation is used for conduct falling under section 232, Corporations Act, 2001. Wide-ranging powers are granted by section 232, which allow the courts to provide relief if companys affairs are being conducted in a way that is against the interests of the shareholders as a whole or if such conduct is aggressive, unfairly prejudicial or unfairly discriminatory against a particular shareholder or group of shareholders, whether in their capacity as shareholders or in some other capacity (Farrar, 2001). In this way, the target of section 32 is the conduct due to which the minority shareholders may have to face some commercial unfairness. The provisions mentioned in this section have been drafted widely. Hence, no limits exist on what may be equal to offending conduct. At the same time, the offending conduct can be companys conduct or its directors or other shareholders (Farrar, 2008). Such conduct is evaluated by the courts by applying an objective test. This test is based on the fact if the conduct in question would have been considered as being unfair by any reasonable commercial bystander. It is not enough that a shareholder has been discriminated or prejudiced (Ford, 1999). This position also requires that there should be an element of unfairness that is something more than a mere disadvantage. Although, there are a wide range of circumstances under which the conduct falling within the purview of section 232 may arise, but it is a difficult task to prove such conduct, particularly in cases where the conduct of the decision also has a legitimate commercial purpose (Whincop, 2001). Practically speaking, generally oppressive conduct takes place when the minority shareholders as to face an unfairness or prejudice due to the abuse of power by majority or its control over the corporation. While the conduct that takes place in bad faith is more probable to be aggressive, but the conduct can be oppressive even if it was lawful and in good faith if it results in being disadvantageous or a burden for the minority that is much more than what would be treated as reasonable commercially. Application: At the same time, oppressive conduct may also occur even in cases where the corporation is treating all the members evenly, for instance, in case of capital raising, where all the members have been invited to take part (Tomasic, 2002). Some instances of the conduct that has been described as being oppressive by the courts include the following:- The issue of shares mainly to dilute. The voting rights of the minority; the non-payment of dividends to the shareholders and making excessive payments to the directors when these decisions cannot be justified objectively under the circumstances of the corporation; persistently refusing to call the meeting of the company in order to prevent the participation of minority shareholders; or applying the ones of the company to benefit the interests of certain shareholders and not the others. Most of the cases of minority operation take place in case of unlisted private companies instead of public companies. This may be so due to the reason that in case of unlisted company, the dissatisfied shareholders can sell its shares, but generally there is no market or ill-liquid market for the shares of minority in case of a private company. Conclusion: Under these circumstances, Galli. Children can also take action under section 232 and claim relief from the court, including an order to issue dividend or to purchase their shares at a price decided by the court. In the present case, Mario and Nick are concerned with the dissatisfaction present among the A class shareholders. Therefore they want, the company to buy out the A class shareholders at the value that has been fixed by independent experts. Under these circumstances the benefits of a share buyback need to be examined. As the name suggests, a share buyback or the repurchase of shares is related with the process when a corporation re-acquires its own stock. In other words, in case of a share buyback, the company buys back its own shares from the shareholders (Weinstock v Beck [2013] HCA 14). A number of rules and regulations have been provided in Australia by the Corporations Act, 2001 and also by the ASIC. The option of share buybacks is considered by the companies due to the following reason. It appears that the directors are of the opinion that a share buyback has a positive impact on the business and also on the shareholders of the company. A share buyback can be described as a capital management strategy. Generally it is considered as a benefit or a reward for the shareholders. Therefore, while it is clear that the investors are benefited by the dividends, as in such a case the money is directly deposited into the bank account of the shareholders, the benefits received are them in case of share buybacks are indirect. In view of the factors mentioned above, by lowering the number of outstanding shares, ultimately helps the company in increasing its share price. In this case, the shareholders are given back their money and it also provides a chance to the investors to capitalize on their investment. At the same time, the management of the company shows that it has confidence in its own company, which can enhance the market sentiment towards the shares of the company. However, there is no absolute guarantee that a share buyback will cause net capital gains, because the price of the shares of the company relies on several factors. However, generally buybacks are considered as an effective way of investing surplus cash and at the same time, boosting the confidence of investors. Although, shared buy back can be inefficient way of using extra cash available with the company, but there are certain cases, when a share buyback may not be in the best interests of the shareholders of the corporation. However, in the end, they can be concluded that share buyback can prove to be an effective way for the management to boost the undervalued share price of the company and to reduce dilution. At the same time, share buybacks also allow the management to show their competence in the operations of the business. But as stated above, every share buyback is not automatically beneficial for the shareholders. Therefore, it is significant that the investors should evaluate the timing and the purpose of the buyback and. They should also consider the overall financial position of the company. Mario and Nick are also required to consider these factors, while making the decision for share buyback. References Farrar, J. H (2001) Corporate governance in Australia and New Zealand (KU956 F24) Farrar, J. H (2008) Corporate governance: theories, principles and practice (SJ100 FAR). Ford, H. A. J (1999). Ford and Austin'sprinciples of corporation law (KD956 F69) (9th ed.). Whincop, M.J., (2001) The Role of the Shareholder in Corporate Governance: A Theoretical Approach 25 Melbourne University Law Review 418 at 432-8 Tomasic, R (2002).Corporations law in Australia (SJ100 TOM). Weinstock v Beck [2013] HCA 14
Tuesday, March 24, 2020
Spatial Data Acquisition Essay Example For Students
Spatial Data Acquisition Essay Spatial data acquisition and system modeling: notes from the field and the lab. Name of Lecturer: Philip Graniero Department of Lecture: Earth Sciences Date andTime of Lecture: January 13th, 2000 at 4:30pm Purpose of Research Project: Theprimary purpose of the project is to use model simulations to forecast spatialpatterns among various species in the environment. By comparing currentsituations with test results, Graniero hopes to have the ability to predictspatial patterns for species in the environment. This will giveenvironmentalists and scientists alike the ability to prevent specie disasterand to study such areas as future habitat. Description of Research/Technologyused: Granieros first step involved measuring the earths topography, underthe bedrock of the surface. This experiment took place in Newfoundland, Canada. We will write a custom essay on Spatial Data Acquisition specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now To do this he took a random sampling scheme. These schemes were tested at adensity of 40 points per hectare. In order to bring the most precise andcomprehensive data to the table, such technologies as mobile computers and GPSsystems were used. The field in which was being tested proved to be verydifficult to measure due to the changing system and the high demand of physicalresource. His objective still remained the same though, to take this data andrun a model that would enable him forecast spatial data on various species. Themodel he used was known as Cellular Automation (CA). The models properties wereas follows: a finite set of discrete states and a state transition rule wherethe next state is determined by; current cell state, states of the nearestneighbours, and the state of other layers. The model worked in specific steps. First, a spatial structure was built. Second, data was collected from it. Third,the simulation of different collection agencies were put forth. Fourth, themodel information was compared to the behaviour of actual systems. Fifth, themodel was repeated with random initial conditions. Thousands of trials were doneat this point. This model is often referred to as a virtual lab. When theinformation was taken at the conclusion of each test, it was sent to processingunits where it was studied in the form of a grid. These grids were then used tostudy the spatial patterns of various species. Such future models will be morecomplex and more specific, thus showing species habitats and migratory trends. Adjusting the variables in the model can allow scientists to measure suchactivities as the population density of a species. Through the experiment therewere three experiment sets. These included populations, disturbances, andresource mapping. The resource spatial structure also varied from uniform,smooth, and patchy environments (soil and forest types). Conclusion: Thisinformation is very valuable to environmentalists and society in general due tothe fact that it looks-out for species that may be in danger and monitorsthe move from one territory to another over a given time frame. Allowingscientists to predict the habitat and density of species in given areas withsuch models keeps humans aware of the impact they may have. This helps protectthe future of species and insures that humans dont interfere with its habitatas well. In conclusion, the model is very useful and as it grows and becomesmore sophisticated it should prove to be a valuable resource to environmentalscientists.
Friday, March 6, 2020
Charles Dickens and Charlotte Bronte Essays
Charles Dickens and Charlotte Bronte Essays Charles Dickens and Charlotte Bronte Paper Charles Dickens and Charlotte Bronte Paper Essay Topic: Kindred Literature Like any novel depicting the theme of social deviance, the basis of the text is taken from the social and political climates that are appropriate to the time that the text is written. Indeed, during Queen Victorias reign, the social alienation of the working class as well as societies prejudices towards women helped to spawn literature that exhibited the other side of the so called coin, with stories that challenged the general social perceptions of these ostracised groups. These concepts that questioned Victorian social norms are best illustrated in the texts Oliver Twist and Jane Eyre, with both texts producing manifestations through the stories protagonists of attitudes that dont conform to the expected traits of either the working class or women. Furthermore, both Charles Dickens and Charlotte Bronte draw parallels in their respective texts to aspects of their own lives by reflecting the prejudices that they personally incurred whilst growing up in Victorian Britain. One of the central themes common to both texts that echoes the childhood of the authors particularly Dickens is the social gap between the middle class and the working class, with both authors embodying these social issues through the presentations of Fagin and Mr Bumble in Oliver Twist, as well as Mrs Reed and Mr Brocklehurst in Jane Eyre. In my opinion, the bullish attitudes that both authors are able to establish through Fagin and Mr Bumble with Oliver, and Mrs Reed and Mr Brocklehurst with Jane, are a direct reference to the middle-class bureaucrats and their oppressive treatment of the lower class. To elaborate, parish beadles like Mr Bumble who at the time were said to have believed in the concept of giving charity to the less fortunate, are instead presented by Dickens as the oppressor, as illustrated in the various instances that Mr Bumble punishes Oliver. The only thing that can be done now, that I know of, is to leave him in the cellar for a day or so till hes a little starved down and keep him on gruel throughout his apprenticeship. Oliver Twist p. 54) This theory is further illustrated in Jane Eyre, with the depiction of Jane as the poor individual within a higher-class environment throughout the text. Consequently, this notion of inferiority in a social context, like Oliver leads to alienation. I was not quite sure whether they had locked the door; and, when I dared move, I got up, and went to see. Alas! yes: no jail was ever more secure. (Jane Eyre, p. 21) However, the significance of these episodes is not only that they show higher-societies contempt for the lower class, but also that they help to display the attitudes of the respective protagonists within these challenging environments. The use of the restrictive imagery in the cited extracts, and the noble and intelligent reactions to this harsh treatment that each protagonist gives, in my opinion enables Dickens and Bronte to produce a critique of the working classes vigour in a social context which contrasts higher-societies pre-conceived judgements of the working class as useless. By voicing the opinions that the lower class are only helpless because the social infrastructure of the Victorian age did not allow them to break away from their working class shackles, both authors transgress social norms by presenting Oliver and Jane as socially deviant to this general public perception. I am running away. They beat and ill-use me, Dick; and I am going to seek my fortune some long way off, I dont know where. Oliver Twist p. 56) The theme of slavery and restriction is further highlighted by Janes opinion of marriage, through the presentation of Cassys relationship with Simon Legree and her own marriage to Rochester, which once again enables Bronte to challenge the norms of society by offering a commentary that exemplifies the oppressive nature of men in a relationship. Although Janes most fulfilling relationship with a male character in the text is with Rochester, Bronte is still able to present Janes scepticism towards marriage in an intellectual manner that in my opinion is credible given the Victorian norms of domestic roles. Indeed, Jane only agrees to marry Rochester when she is certain that they will be both financially, intellectually and social equals. No Jane; you must not go I have little left in myself I must have you. (Jane Eyre p484) It is through the presentation of not only Rochester, but also Mr Brocklehurst and St. John Rivers that Bronte is able to convey the message that women dont have to be in a submissive position in a relationship and is another example of Brontes transgression of social norms. This is illustrated by the fact that Jane escapes Brocklehurst and rejects both St. John Rivers and Rochester before only agreeing to marry Rochester when she feels that they are equals. I want my kindred: those with whom I have full fellow-feeling. Jane Eyre p. 432) However, the most obvious transgression of social norms from a morale perspective in either text is embedded in the character of Oliver Twist, and to a lesser extent Nancy. It is the moralistic nature of these two characters which is obviously highlighted by the juxtaposition against the other characters in Fagins pick-pocket gang that reiterates the fact that the values of goodness can be common to all human beings, and is not absent in the working class just because they are of lower social standing. What was Olivers horror and alarm as he stood a few paces off, looking on with his eye-lids as wide open as they would possible go, to see the Dodger plunge his hand into this old gentlemans pocket. (Oliver Twist p. 76) Some may argue the point that Olivers noble disposition is due to the fact that he is in fact a member of the upper classes because he gains the family inheritance, however, further credence is added to Dickens argument that intelligence and nobility is not restricted to the upper classes through his portrayal of Nancy. As if to eliminate any uncertainties regarding the intelligence of the working class, Dickens places Nancy in the position of a prostitute one of the most socially condemned positions of Victorian times and yet through Nancy displays the most noble act of the novel when she sacrifices her own life to save Oliver. Those were his words, said Nancy, glancing uneasily round, as she scarcely ceased to do since she began to speak, for a vision of Sikes haunted her perpetually.
Tuesday, February 18, 2020
Discussing incentives to conserve marine biodiversity conservation Essay
Discussing incentives to conserve marine biodiversity conservation within the framework of impure public goods - Essay Example It is important to note that their benefits can be affected when the government decides not to offer the conservation. (Maxwell) Ordinarilly, an externality is the effect of an economic activity felt by those not directly involved in the economic activity. Positive externalities are often described as spillover effects to suggest their effects are felt by consumers who were not directly intended by their producers. The impure public goods such marine biodiversity and other environmental amenities are not to be supplied privately because the provider cannot capture the benefits and therefore no one can be excluded, so free riding is possible. Clearly, some aspects of marine bear the characteristics of a public good. Marine contributes to global biodiversity and enhances the well being of the majority of people. (Bulte) Ordinarily, no one has the appropriate incentive to provide marine habitat or otherwise protect marine as they cannot capture the full benefits from the needed investments. Market failure occurs because the amount of a public good is underprovided, and thus marginal social benefits exceed marginal social costs. In this case, more of the public good should be provided, but it is forthcoming only if society subsidizes a private supplier, or provides it publicly. (Bulte) On the other hand, negative externalities that include the government regulations impose costs on society that extend beyond the cost of production as originally intended by the producer. A producer of a negative externality who does not have to worry about its full cost is likely to produce an excessive harmful amount of the product.Ordinarilly, regulations and fines may deter the production of negative externalities. But the effects of regulation may be limited under conditions such as where negative externalities are so pervasive they encourage free riding attitudes, where negative externalities are so pervasive their producers could
Tuesday, February 4, 2020
Contemporary business issues Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words
Contemporary business issues - Essay Example This paper seeks to critically analyze the way that Tesco has applied the Ethical Trading Initiative Base Code, the objectives and the principles of the Ethical Trading initiative, how the code is enforced and the possibilities of applying the code during the recession. As stated earlier, Tesco has applied the Ethical Trading Initiative Base Code to the suppliers to ensure that the suppliers have adhered to the ETI standards. In this way, the problems that are related to the suppliers can be identified and addressed consequently (Crane & Matten, 2007). The company has implemented a number of steps to ensure their suppliers meet the standards in the ETI. So as to ensure that the codes are strictly effective in their application, the company has organised buyer training programmes that help the buyers to understand and comply to the best quality. The supply of quality products in a company requires the buyers in the company to be given some proper training so that they are keen in accepting the supplies. In Tesco, the commercial staffs who are involved in buying commodities from the UK are expected to have the understanding of the ethical considerations before they purchase anything from the suppliers. The company ensures that its employees are made aware of the ethical considerations that should be put in place when accepting goods from a supplier. This is usually done in the job description of the employee (Michael, 2003). The employees usually take a course known as: Buying With Your Eyes Open where the employees are taught ways in which they can identify potential problems and how they can apply purchasing practices thereby minimising ethical risks. The food buyers and the non-food buyers are given the training differently since the requirement specifications of the items are different. The technical managers are also given some audit trainings so that
Sunday, January 26, 2020
How Social Media Contributes To Retailing Marketing Essay
How Social Media Contributes To Retailing Marketing Essay The retailing industry has found itself constantly evolving and transforming in the past two decades. Globalization and advanced technology developments have a very big impact on the retailing landscape. One of the major reasons for this process is the drastic increased growth of the internet and social media. The concept of social media has existed since the days of cave paintings but the internet has made things possible on a whole new scale. In this era, social media is one of the best opportunities available for a brand to connect with its customers. Social media is hot and it is the trend. Globally, customers that are buying the items that they wanted via virtual media had increased drastically. Traditional customer relationship management is not sufficient for a company to interact with customers. Social media has definitely changed the way big companies communicate with their customers. This study explains how social media contributes to retailing. Besides that, this study wil l also describe about the impacts social media have on customer relationship management. Keywords: social media, customer relationship management Introduction Internet is now one of the most important channels of distribution right after high street retailing ever since its commercial launching about fifteen years ago and it is one of the major sources of empowerment and also customer information (Constantinides, Romer and Boria, 2008). The recent developments of internet, information technology and some other Web services had created a bigger area of opportunities in businesses especially retailing. The Internet has changed our lives forever and ità allowsà usà toà communicateà inà waysà unimaginableà only aà fewà yearsà ago (Leary, 2008).According to Borges (2009) it is said that commercial internet started to have a huge boom in about mid-1990s to 2001 and it his highly related to the peoples ability to absorb online information and having the choice to buy online product via ecommerce. In this era of globalization marketing and retailing are slowly embracing social media. The social media had given customers the c hance to have more control, information and power over the market process, posing retailers with a number of important dilemmas and challenges according to Constantinides et al. (2008). We often turn to the Internet for encouragement, entertainment, knowledge and advice. Advice on what to buy, where to buy it and who to buy it from (Leary, 2008).Besides that, in the recent years there is rapid growth of marketing strategies that involve in the circle of customer relationship (Pietro Pantano, 2012). Social network which is now widely used by people around the world and it does have a big effect on the systems of customer relationship management and a new way to CRM is coming out as an ideal platform for using social network in the systems of traditional CRM (Pietro, Pantano Corvello, 2012). According to Divol, Edelman and Sarrazin (2012) it is stated that thirty nine percent of companies that they have surveyed have already started using social media as their first choice of digita l tool to reach out to customers. In about four years, the percentage is estimated to rise to forty seven percent. The way organizations are capturing benefits from the internet technology in the enterprise nowadays is totally different from the past where they attend to other enterprise information systems (De Hertogh, Viaene Dedene, 2011). Overview of Social Media What is social media? The term social media is made up of two words that have its own meaning. In general, the word media means to have advertising and communication of information and ideas with channels and publications while the word social implies to the interaction between a group of people or a community (Sisira,2011). According to Sisira (2011) any kind of website that allows its users to have the authority to share the content, views, personal opinion and encourages interaction can be considered and classified as social media. The worldwide users of social media are over 1.5 billion. Social media is now an evolving wave in retailing. Examples of famous social media sites are Youtube, Twitter, Facebook, Blogger and Scribd. There is also Flickr or Snapfish which emerged as support storage, to share digital photos and an organization (Stefanone, Lackaff Rosen, 2010). Boyd and Ellison (2007) illustrate a better definition of social network site is that it serves as a web-based s ervice which allow people to build a profile within a system whether it is public or semi-public and to connect with a list of people which they have connection to like their family and friends. Social networking had given us a chance to interact with far more people in numbers comparing to our ancestors (Dunbar, 2012). Social network like Facebook and Twitter has the advantage to able to get and win the heart of its customers because social media can connect to them at a very deep level. Now, it seems like a new social network launches every week. To add on to all these famous networks, location-based social networking such as Foursquare and Facebook Places are on the rise (Kidwai Imperator, 2011). Out of hundreds of social networking site in this era, Facebook is undeniably the worlds largest social network. Facebook initially started in February 2004 and it is originally meant to be a social networking site only for Harvard University students (Brothers, Dewland, Hahn Martin, 2011). Somini (2011) states that Facebook has already reached 800 million users worldwide as of as of September 23, 2011 and the users of Facebook press the like button or comment more than two billion times each day. Besides that, they upload a shocking 250 million photos each day too. Twitter is the second leading social networking site after Facebook. Wasserman (2012) said that twitter has already reached 140 million users as of March 22, 2012. According to Anderson (2011) Twitter is actually a place where its users talk about their daily doings, have a gallery to expose photography and as a platform for famous celebrities to be sure that they are part of their fans lives. Twitter is often described as a micro-blog where individuals publish short and personal message about themselves (Brothers et al., 2011). Before the digital revolution, gathering a large amount of crowd is unthinkable but with Twitter, it is now possible (Dunbar, 2012). Social medias contribution to retailing The use of social media occasionally begins in public communication, marketing and retailing department or other department that have direct connection with stakeholders and customers whether it is in business or non-profit organizations (Evans McKee, 2010). There has been a dynamic change in the retailing industry in this 21st century. It is all because of the rapid growth of the web and social media. Generation Y are putting a greater emphasis on networking by using social media because they approaches work in a different way from their progenitor (Karen, 2009). If you are a marketer or building a brand, do not be worries that your company has missed the boat on taking advantage of social media because the majority of social media programs are actually fighting with each other too (Taylor, 2011)..According to Burby, Atchison and Sterne (2007) social media allows super fast and easy communication with billions of customers in a short amount of time and have certainly raised the spe ed where company and its brand can be created, have more exposure and grow. Social media has an enormous potential and capability for companies to engage with customer, thus increasing revenue and efficiency of the company (Baird Parasnis, 2011).The change in this industry does not depend on the size or a big idea of the company it is now nevertheless more focused on customer demand. The information about weaknesses, the good or bad and how can the product have further improvement can be analyzed within a week now compared to older days where much more time is needed to do so (Yazdanifard, Obeidy, Yusoff Babaei, 2011). Decision makers are trying to find ways to enable firms to earn profit by making use applications such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Wikipedia (Kaplan Haenlein, 2010). Social media users have the opportunity to offer feedback and feel more involved with a brand when the profiles status is update with positive information and challenges. It enables organizations to increase customer loyalty while at the same time getting feedback from customers and discovering what changes they want (Friedman Friedman, 2008). According to an eMarketer study in 2008, nearly six out of ten United States users now communicate with businesses and believe that the businesses must interact with their consumers and deepen the brand relationship via social networking website (Abedniya Mahmouei, 2010). According to Gilbert (2010) social media cost may be low but there is a need to invest time and energy in it to be successful. For example, if a retailers want to start a blog or Facebook page, they need to update it regularly or no one will return to see the content (Gilbert, 2010). Simply creating a presence on a popular platform like Facebook or Twitter does not guarantee that customers will be attracted to a firms page and engage with the firm and other customers (Culnan, Mc Hugh, Zubillaga, 2010). This is also because the use of social media by customers are v oluntary and interaction among members need time, organizations need to take great steps in order to build communities and learn from the interactions (Culnan et al., 2010). Figure 1: The Social Feedback Cycle (Burby, Atchison Sterne, 2007) As we can see in Figure 1, it is the social feedback cycle. The word of mouth is important as we can see in the figure. According to Brown, Broderick and Lee (2007) a big part of online customer interaction is word of mouth communication and it influences on a persons evaluation and will to purchase a product. With social media, retailers can get data from their customers opinion or talk and use it as a consideration to enhance their product. As retailers and marketers, brand and business are very important and activity that they do need to have a return on investment, whether it is by increased sales, market share or brand recognition and social media that changed the way people interact with one another have a significant help for marketing, retailing, business and also branding (Drury, 2008). How do retailers turn this potential into real business opportunity and how does social media contributes to retailing? As an example, we can take a look at the best practices of some company in the retail sector. Take a look at IKEAs Social Catalogue, their objective is actually to raise awareness of a new IKEA store with almost no media budget at all. According to Shercan (2010) IKEA is the worlds largest furniture retailer that is held privately and sells accessories and ready to assemble furniture. In the late 2009, IKEA had a Facebook campaign where the idea is contributed by Forsman and Bodenfors to promote a new IKEA store to be launched in Malmo and it was claimed to be a social media campaign that have the most innovation in Facebook (Shercan, 2010). The approach of this campaign is to upload photos of the rooms in the ikea showroom to Facebook, then they allow people to tag themselves against an item of furniture for the chance to win it in real life (Lindsay, Matthew, Jamie, Eveline Chris, 2011). When a person is tagged in a photo on Facebook, their friends will automatically receive an up date that shows the photo. This simple competition will make people have the desire to get free stuff which also meant that this campaign had received a huge amount of public relations. With this, IKEA can increase their companys revenue. Dunay and Krueger (2010) also said that Facebook offers unique ways to communicate with customers such as the Facebook Ads as it can be bought on a cost per click basis and it is very popular as it let company to reach the audience that they desire whether it is narrow or wide. Besides that, there is also Starbucks Mayor Offer where mayor of Foursquare in Starbucks at any local store gets to buy a frappuchino at only one dollar (Keath, 2010). This is special as it is the first national special for mayor using Foursquare. In this situation, customers get value from the discounts and they will have a sudden ego boost to become the mayor of their favorite Starbucks or the one nearest to them. Starbucks will of course get popularity in a form of word of mouth and they are able to identify its top customers. On top of that, there are small businesses that use social media as a real business opportunity. As an example is Wrigleyville, a small company that sell sports related clothing in Chicago and Pittsburgh. Wrigleyville has build a Facebook page for three years and now has twenty two thousand likes and the company tracks sales and marketing efforts from Facebook. They also had contest on Facebook on Mothers Day for visitors to upload some picture of Mom demonstrating why shes the biggest fan of Chicago Cubs (Doug, 2012). Social medias impact on customer relationship management (CRM) Customer relationship management is a combination of technology, business processes and people that want and seek to understand a firms customers and it focus on the incorporation approach on relationship development and customer loyalty (Chen Popovich, 2003). The premise of CRM is that is is a process of relationship building and dual creation of value between firm and its customers, to create win-win situations, enhance customer life time value and increase profitability ( Nguyen Mutum, 2012).According to Jayashree, Pahlavanzadeh and Shojaee (2010) customer relationship management is the collection of processes, people and technology that seeks to find costumers of organizations and CRM develops customers retention and relationship.Progress in Information Technology and organizational changes in customer-centric procedures have positive effect in the development of CRM. Organizations which implement CRM successfully, will gain customer loyalty and profitability (Jayashree, Pahlav anzadeh Shojaee, 2010). All employees in a firm are managers of customer relationship, whether you are the receptionist who answers the phone or customer service operator, and everyone in the company handles customers in the departments (Ronald, 2001). CRM focuses on the integration of customer information, knowledge for finding and keeping customer to grow customer lifetime value and it also has an important role to help organizations to keep their customers and to make them loyal. Organizations should know the reasons of leaving customers and finding the ways of keeping them (Ramakrishnan, 2005). With billions of people having access to a variety of social media, the ability of the word to share and connect is infinite and from a business point of view, companies are now allowed to create a customer experience never before done in the past. Traditional CRM was born in the early 1990s and customer behavior is in a very different phase today (Rich, 2010). According to Vissing (2011 ) CRM is one of the most fundamental elements in any organization because of the emergence of social media in the industry. According to IBM research, there is a large perception gap between what the customers seek via social media and what companies offer (Baird Parasnis, 2011).It is important to master online communication in order to know the people that can influence a particular market. Retailers today are working in a challenging era but they are now able to get closer to their customers and engage with them with a timely and relevant manner (Green Starkey, 2011). Together with CRM, social media can achieve a higher financial benefits to companies and it does not matter which sector they are in (Green Starkey, 2011). What does this change mean for CRM and how this social media phenomenon change the way firms interact with their customers? To engage with customer by using social media will definitely fail if conventional CRM approaches remains the same (Baird Parasnis, 2011). CRM has slowly moved to become social customer relationship management (SCRM). A more strategic and holistic approach that combines social media with more aspects in businesses improves the rate of consistency in achieving success (Leary, 2012). Social CRM is often called CRM 2.0 and it grew because of the empowerment of customers that each customer has the experiences, tools and products with the company that satisfy their personal desire (Mosadegh Behboudi, 2011). Social CRM had pulled the world of customer relationship management into sticking with social media and it results in a very unique and interesting way of working (How do you think, 2012). Social CRM is about joining ongoing conversations customers and prospects that are already engaged in while trying not to control them and it is also about understanding where and what kind of people you want to do businesss by hanging out on the Internet (Leary, 2008).Social CRM is now a new paradigm in combining social networking into traditional CRM systems (Askool Nakata, 2011). At the same time, the interactions between buyer and seller can now be effortlessly stored in a CRM database system for the benefit of the marketer and retailers (Nguyen Mutum, 2012). This interactive era has not only increased collaboration between firm and customer but coupled with continuing technological advances, a marketer has now the ability to track and store customer information optimally, in order to customize offerings to suit individual customer needs and desires (Nguyen Mutum, 2012). Kaftalovich (2010) claims that social media allows company to go into their customers social network and enable them to connect with the customers in an informal way. She also men tion that social media is its own lead generation machine and at Luxor CRM, they found that Twitter is extremely effective because they can gather customers curiosity, opinions and interest in the products as well as gathering about the audiences preferences and buying behavior. According to Green and Starkey (2011) SCRM can deliver insight, which will help drive real customer centric innovation. However, what is sometimes proposed is nothing more than the refreshing of old ideas such as one-to-one communication, relationship marketing or customer engagement applied to social media.à Such thinking actually misses the crucial main point that social media is about people interacting with each other (Ang, 2011). To develop a good social media strategy, it is important to realize that technologies are now allowing people to quickly connect, converse, create and collaborate with each other (Ang, 2011). Besides that, the impact of social media on CRM is the raise of customer centricity. In the world of CRM, the enhanced emphasis is being placing focus on the developing measures that are more customer-centric and that give manager a much well rounded idea about how their CRM is performing (Russell, 2001). This growth of social media had an indirectly result to the growth of much more and better customer centric companies. With social media, it does not matter how much revenue you invest but it is the time, knowledge and patience that you offer in order to satisfy customers (Kaftalovich, 2010). The comparison between traditional CRM and social CRM is that traditional is more data driven and process centric while social CRM is more content driven and conversation centric (Leary, 2008).With social media nowadays, people does not really care about companies that kept promoting themselves, instead individuals are seeking companies that can actually provide them with value. According to He ckadon (2010) if brands want to succeed in social networks environment then marketers must keep content fresh and relevant and the information in social networks must be easy to understand and share. In order to become successful in todays retailing world retailers need to understand about people opinion on their brand in the social sphere. Smart retailers will take a look at their social CRM from the public relations, customer support, product development to maximize connection with customers (Bush, 2011). Retailers can help a brand create top-of-mind awareness by responding effectively to user communications (Heckadon, 2010). Retailers should alsofrequently update their brands social networking profiles and status, and establish RSS feeds so followers can subscribe and obtain updated content on their computers and mobile devices (Heckadon, 2010). Besides that, one of the biggest advantages social CRM has over offline CRM is that social CRM can have a much bigger volume of real-tim e data and it can be used to personalize experiences of the company (Bush, 2011). The growth of more customer-centric companies had resulted in social media being a new wave of customer service and it is all about maintaining long term relationship and partnership with their customers and this is not just a business deal. The development of customer centric firms and lead generation definitely is the impacts of social media on CRM. Discussion As conducted and explained earlier, the purpose of this study is to explore the contribution of social media towards retailing and its impact on customer relationship management. The world of retailing is changing rapidly as time pass. Trends and major development in social media is one of the causes for the rapid change in retailing industry. This paper shows an overview on social media from Facebook, the worlds largest social networking site to Twitter, Foursquare, Youtube and so forth. Then, it can be observe that major networking sites really helps a lot in the retailing industry. Many companies limit their employee to have access to social media sites because of their concern on their employees productivity (Karen, 2009). Social media allows company to communicate with a wide amount of customers much faster and efficiently. Retailers will also know how to further develop their product as they can get data about customers opinions, preferences and talk through the word of mouth a bout their product in a short amount of time. This would eventually make the retailers produce what the customers want. Besides that, social media had helped retailers to have more real business opportunities. Firstly, there is IKEA who launches the Social Catalogue and is able to raise awareness with zero media budget. They focus on the desire of human being to get free stuff and consequently they get a huge amount of public relations. Then, we have Starbucks that have the Starbucks Mayor Offer on the Foursquare application. With this, Starbucks is able to gain popularity and also revenue. This shows that creativity does pay off in social media marketing campaign. Social media has definitely contributes to retailing with unique strategies in getting to know more about companys own product and also improving their sales and revenues. Furthermore, it can be observed by reading this paper that social media also have an impact on customer relationship management. We know that all employees are important in managing customer relationship in a certain company and that social media had changed traditional CRM in a more holistic way and soon it became social CRM. The two major impact social media has on CRM is the growth of customer centricity and social media has become its own lead generation machine. Social CRM also enable company to promote and grow their brand through social media tools like Facebook. There has been a shift in power that can be observed when reading this paper as customers are being given much more priority compared to older day where seller or company had the power. Companies that implement a successful CRM will get the rewards in obtaining customer loyalty and long run profitability. Conclusion There is no way to escape social media these days whether it is for individuals or business companies. It is almost impossible to draw a line separating online world from social media. There are many reasons that social media rapidly gain usage in this era of globalization. The ability to achieve news and information through social media is one of the reasons. Companies are changing and rethinking about their traditional retailing and marketing strategies. This shows that social media is contributing to the retail world. Social network is free and is available for everyone to access and it is generating a mass amount of data which is a big help to marketers and retailers. By carefully understanding the importance of customer relationship management, companies can target their customers more specifically as they have the data of their preferences and opinions. This is the impact social media has on customer relationship management. This is the time where every business takes social me dia seriously and adopts it in their departments. It is now a baseline requirement that whether you are a small or large corporation there is need to have online presence and prolonged conversation with customers. Different retail brands will have different needs and they have to adopt different approaches with different customers. It is very interesting to see how the retailing world will be affected by Facebook and Twitter in the upcoming years.
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