Differences between Major and Independent Labels Essay

Differences between Major and Independent Labels - Essay Example There is a big difference between major and independent labels and this has been largely centralized around their financial might and their level of professionalism in a music career. In this light, it is apparent that musicians who have already accumulated wealth can afford to seek the services of major labels that in turn help in marketing their music to a bigger audience hence expanding their fan base across the globe. Additionally, it requires artists who have gained experience in the music industry and are well conversant with the art of stage performance among other dynamics encompassing the music industry. This enables them to perform exceptionally well in all the diverse platforms at regional and international level. On the other hand, the independent labels largely characterize musicians in their inceptive stages of their career. Most of them though not all, are not financially stable and would prefer marketing their music without seeking help from an agency or a management firm; as that will be costly and unprofitable. Furthermore, the artists need more exposure to gain experience in stage performance as well as grow fan support as an independent label before thinking of advancing their music to another new level that can be attained with the help of a major label among other agencies.Another outstanding difference between major and independent labels is the actual contracts they sign. Based on the contract, an artist subscribed to independent label has more benefit than an artist subscribing to the major label.

You decide ( should be relevant financial accounting class ) Research Paper

You decide ( should be relevant financial accounting class ) - Research Paper Example Financial statements are, therefore, the financial results that are presented in the form of reports to represent the financial condition of the organization (AccountingTools 1). Financial statements are useful in various ways. These statements are very useful in the course of determining the ability of a business as far as raising cash and cash equivalents, is concerned. It also concerns the various uses and the sources of such cash. The statements are also very useful in determining whether a business can pay back its debts (Philip 2). The information of this nature can be of much importance to the creditors to find out whether the business can pay back the money they would like to lend to it. The statements also assist the organization to be able to track financial trends and use the trends to spot any profitability issues. From the financial statements, financial ratios can also be derived to help in showing the indications about the condition of the business. Financial statements are also critical in investigating certain transactions that are carried out in the business. This paper is, therefore, aimed at investigating the types of financial statements that are commonly used, their purposes and components. There are various types of financial statements that exist. However, the commonly used financial statements are three and include a balance sheet, income statement and statement of cash flow. Financial statements need to be formatted in accordance with the major accounting frameworks when the statements are intended to be supplied to the external users such as lenders and investors. This will make it easy for the external persons to be able to understand the statements without any personalized guidance. The frameworks give a leeway on how the financial statements can be structured. To this effect, statements issued by different firms in the same industry have some particular differences in appearance. Such guidelines are not

Evaluating Communication Strategies Essay Example for Free

Evaluating Communication Strategies Essay You are working as a human service worker at a local United Way agency that serves several multicultural clients. In addition to the multicultural aspect, the agency also serves children, women, the elderly, and the homeless. Your manager has asked you to decide the best communication approach for each of these clients. Answer the following questions: What would you need to learn or know about each of your clients in order to communicate effectively with them? What strategies or techniques do you believe would be the best approach to take when communicating with each of these clients? How might you need to adapt your communication approach from one individual to the next? Working in the Human Services field can provide you with many different types of job opportunities each requiring their own specific needs to clients, many different types of clients that is. To communicate in an effective way with clients getting to know about them is a great start. Listen is top priority to understanding and getting to know your clients. Active listening describes the effort on the part of the listener. Active listening involves giving verbal feedback on the content of what was said, along with recognition of the feelings underneath. Qualities of a good listener include: being non-aggressive, being self-confident, having the ability to let things go along with the ability to work things out. Listening opens the door to meaning. When you hear the person, understand the situation and the feelings, then you are in a position to take constructive action or to reply to her or him in a way that makes sense. Helpful listening helps people look at their ideas, plans, hopes, concerns, fears, etc. It helps them gather information, solve their problems themselves and try out other alternatives. * Communication may seem easy, but to many peoples surprise it is something that has to be learned and practiced. Some of us have developed poor listening skills; we may be judgmental or dont allow others to speak. Some of us may use close-ended questions exclusively, and do not allow others to explore and contribute to  the discussion. A few strategies and or techniques that allow us to see a better approach to communicating can be using open-end questions such as Where would you like to begin? What options have you explored? Which concern would you like to talk about first? Can you tell me more about that? Open-ended questions encourage the exploration of thoughts and feelings by leaving individuals free to answer in any way they choose. On the flip side, closed sided questions s force a specific answer. They often present themselves as roadblocks to good communication. Sometimes you need specific information (i.e. what city do you live in?). Be sure the information you request is relevant to the persons situation. Use fact-finding, limited-response questions sparingly. A closed question allows for a limited response. Understanding that each client is different from each other, focusing on each client while actively listen, not judging and knowing that the client is there for help is a way to adapt your communication between clients and or patients.

A Problem Statement Of Quality Services Information Technology Essay

A Problem Statement Of Quality Services Information Technology Essay CHAPTER 1 1.1 INTRODUCTION Library is the important place for the people especially the students since it helps the students in their learning process. As it seems important for the students, library should be able to provide a conducive environment in order to help the students to do their revision for example. In other words, student satisfaction is an important measure of quality while providing the services in libraries. However, students perceptions about libraries seem to have been largely ignored by library management in developing countries. So, the assessment of quality while giving the services provides an important feedback for libraries to assess and improve its services to its users (Yrd.Doc.Dr. Zeynep Filiz -2007). Good service delivery to students is one of the primary goals of service organizations like libraries and is the ability of any service provider to provide promised products or services. Libraries are essentially learning organizations stimulating academic and research activities by providing access to world-class information resources. Traditionally, the success of any library is measured in terms of the size of its collection, staff, and budget. But in the present day competitive world, the libraries need to go beyond the traditional modes of assessments and apply marketing techniques for understanding customer requirements. Students focus in services delivery is essential for satisfying the students. The success depends on students perceptions or judgment on the quality of products/services provided by the service personnel in libraries and quality is the measure of how well the products/ services delivered meet students expectations (Manjunatha K and Shivalingaiah D-2004). 1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT Quality services in library are very important aspect in order to satisfy the students through having continuous improvement and the students perception is an important aspect to reveal how satisfied the students towards the library contribution in helping them in learning process. Library must provide a good quality of services, sufficient of collection/information, good activities and staff attitude at the same time solving the challenging faced by them. This can ensure that library can play their role as an academic centre that contributes to a conducive learning environment. If the challenges faced not being solved, it will make students satisfaction become lower and it is hard for the students to find what they want in the library. Therefore, library must find out what kind of solution that needs to be done in order to face the challenges since every year new students come with different needs and expectations. Then, library should do the continuous improvement every time so tha t they could give focus on quality services which makes the service runs smoothly. For that reason, this research is made to know the quality of services provided by UMS library and any continuous improvement can be done if needed. The issues that arise is in terms of the ability of UMS as a learning places to contribute a conducive learning environment in helping the students to access information sources and University to produce a knowledgeable and successful graduate This is accordance with the mission of UMS library Providing comprehensive resources and services to support the university requirements in teaching, learning, research, innovation and publication. So that, this research can measure whether student satisfaction on UMS library services provided fulfill the students need through examine the ability of UMS library in terms of quality services, collection/information, library activities and staffs attitude. 1.3 RESEARCH OBJECTIVE The objectives of this study are: To investigate the students satisfaction on the contribution of UMS library in supporting learning environment process. To determine services at UMS library that need for improvement. 1.4 SCOPE OF STUDY The scope of the study covers the public as the user at UMS library. Public in this scope will involve the final year students that consists of part 6 (semester 2 year 3) students in economy. The purpose by choosing part 6 students is because they are more experience in using the library services. They will now either the UMS library has help them in supporting their learning process over the three years study at UMS. 1.5 SIGNIFICANT OF STUDY 1.5.1 This study as a basis to determine students dissatisfaction towards services given by UMS library. 1.5.2 This study as a platform for the students to express their perception on services given by UMS library. 1.5.3 This study as a basis to identify the area of concern at UMS library. 1.5.4 This study as a platform to suggest possible solution to the problem and for improvement. 1.6 DEFINITION OF TERMS/CONCEPTS 1.6.1 Learning environment The place and setting where learning occurs; it is not limited to a physical classroom an includes the characteristics of the setting (www.teach-nology.com/glossary/terms/l/). 1.6.2 Quality Nunan and Calvert (1992) point out that: The term quality defies any definition which will be universally accepted. When it is linked to performance, quality implies evaluation for comparative purposes; `measures of quality involve norms and standards and judgments of quality are assisted through use of norm or criterion referenced indicators. Where measurement focuses on the student as a product of education, quality is seen as `value-based by the process of education. When the emphasis is management of quality, attention focuses on strategies for achieving or improving quality. 1.6.3 Perception Perception is the process of attaining awareness or understanding of sensory information. 1.6.4 Satisfaction The good feeling that you have when you have achieved something or when you wanted to happen does happen (Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary) 1.6.5 Library A considerable collection of books kept for use, and not as merchandise, as a private library; a public CHAPTER 2 LITERITURE REVIEW AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK 2.1 LITERITURE REVIEW The concepts of satisfaction and quality are often used together, and sometimes interchangeably. Few researchers have identified the particular relationship between the two concepts, however a number of general statements have been made. According to Oliver (1981:42) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ satisfaction is the emotional reaction following a disconfirmation experience which acts on the base attitude level and is consumption-specific. Perceived quality, on the other hand, is defined and contrasted to satisfaction by (Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry, 1988:16) as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ a global judgment, or attitude, relating to the superiority of the service, whereas satisfaction is related to a specific transaction. Thus, these two concepts are related in that incidents of satisfaction, over time, result in perceptions of quality (Hebert, 1993:21). However, academic libraries are facing two major threats: a global digital environment and increasing competition. They must improve the quality of their services in order to survive (Rowena Cullen, 2001). Each year new students enter the learning environment with varying library usage and information gathering skills. Millson-Martula and Menon (1995) state that one element of high quality service is the incorporation of users personal needs and expectations into the development of programs and service. The concept of user satisfaction in the library literature likewise has evolved to include a broader focus on the users perspective of the library. Applegate (1997) defines user satisfactionà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ as a personal, emotional reaction to a library service or product. Bitner and Hubbert (1994) suggest that it consists of service encounter satisfaction, the consumers dis/satisfaction with a discrete service encounter, and overall service satisfaction, the consumers overall dis/satisfaction with the organization based on all encounters and experiences with that particular organization. In addition, a characteristic of service delivery is the simultaneous nature of production and consu mption (Zeithaml Bitner, 1996). Customers are usually involved in some (if not all) of the production processes and therefore have an impact on the outcomes of the service delivery and their satisfaction with it. Bowen (1986), Mills and Morris (1986), and Kelley, Donnelly and Skinner (1990), have shown that participation, or the use of customers as partial employees, can improve productivity for providers as well as improving service quality and customer satisfaction. Bateson (1985) note that problems in the service encounter are often due to conflicts over who is in control of the service interaction, and hence, a way of increasing control for the customer is to offer alternatives or choices within the service setting, such as providing on-site or remote access to electronic resources, loan or photocopying of printed materials, self-service or staff service facilities, silent study or discussion areas, on-site or telephone or email or postal reference consultation. Service providers must develop mechanisms in order to ensure that customers provide the required information and effort to facilitate the service encounter and outcome (Kelley, Donnelly Skinner, 1990). However, though quality is a much studied subject in manufacturing as well as service sectors, there is no universally accepted definition to define quality. The definition of quality is subjective, personal and changes from person-to-person, place-to-place, organization-to-organization, situation-to-situation and time-to-time. However, Conformance to Standards and Fitness for Use is the classic definitions of quality. The quality as a subject of academic interest took momentum in 1950s as a result of the studies on the subject of quality by management gurus like Deming, Juran, Crosby, Taylor, Feigenbaum, and Peters. However, the concepts of quality were mainly applied to products in the manufacturing sector. Due awakening of consumerism in 1980s, the quality of service as a subject of academic interest caught the attention of marketing professionals and they attempted to define service quality from customers perspective. Experts like Kotler, Levitt, Gronroos, Garvin, Cronin, Taylor, Teas, Rust, Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry have contributed to the growth of the subject and many models were developed on its measurement. The team of Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry (hereafter PZB) had conducted several research studies to define service quality and identify the criteria that customers use while evaluating the service quality in service organizations. They define service quality as the extent of discrepancy between customers expectations or desires and their perception of what is delivered. In other words, it is the comparison of what customers expect before the use of product or service with their experience of what is delivered. According to Professor Gaynor Taylor, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Leeds Metropolitan University in her talk on seminar of the impact of Libraries on Learning, Teaching and Research (LIRG) (2001), she spoke of the impact of libraries on cultural and educational life across the country and their key role in enabling and expanding participation in education and lifelong learning. She then went on to praise the role of libraries, arguing that they were central to academic communities. She emphasized the benefits of integrating libraries fully into the student learning experience. Libraries need to be involved from the very beginning of course development and need to make relevant information available in ways that suits users access needs. According to Stamatoplos (1998), consideration of satisfaction should be an important part of the evaluation of library services. Satisfaction depends, to some extent, on patron expectations of services. Satisfaction appeared to be related to student perceptions of information accessibility, staff competence and helpfulness, computer usefulness and ease of use, and skill level for using libraries. He questioned why should library administrators care about patron satisfaction? Some think patron satisfaction is of secondary importance that the purpose of a library is to provide information services and that evaluation of the library performance ought to be judged from that perspective alone. However, others recognize that failing to satisfy the patron is failing to serve the patron. This is not about just making patrons feel good. There is a basic reason for focusing on patron satisfaction: Who is the best judge of whether a patron has been served well or poorly? Professional librarian s may know whether they have provided accurate, timely information in response to a request. Is that enough? Clearly, accurate and timely information is a minimum requirement, but unless the patron is satisfied, in general, the service could have been better. Based on his research on the Effects of Library Instruction on University Students Satisfaction with the Library, he found that the patrons experienced less difficulty in finding material than expected, the patrons also received materials faster than expected; average and maximum wait times were shorter than expected for both books and articles. In terms of the perception of staff helpfulness, patrons perceived the library staff to be significantly less helpful than expected. In addition, in his findings on the perceptions of information accessibility he found that the proportion of needed materials available at the library, the difficulty of finding the materials, and the maximum wait time for articles are all significantly re lated to overall satisfaction with the library. Besides that, in terms of the perceptions of staff competence and helpfulness, it shows that the perceptions that library staffs are competent and helpful are highly correlated with overall satisfaction. Based on the research done by Steve Hiller (2001) on the Assessing User Needs, Satisfaction, and Library Performance at the University of Washington Libraries, the 1998 survey asked whether libraries were open when needed on evenings, weekends, summer, and interim periods. Graduate students, as the case with the previous two surveys, had the lowest satisfaction with hours while faculty had the highest, undergraduate student satisfaction had slipped from 1995 when it was similar to faculty satisfaction. When asked to choose from a list of priorities, more than 37 percent of graduate students and 42 percent of undergraduates chose increased library hours as a priority compared to 17 percent of faculty. Graduate students also wrote more comments about hours than any other group. So, responses to overall library satisfaction questions on the 1998 survey showed faculty had the highest satisfaction while undergraduate students the lowest. According to research done by Noriah Mohamed Ali on the Staff Professionalism in University (Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam), she said that in organization fulfilling customer satisfaction is very important. It is a part of staff jobs. Customers do not ask for too much, it is enough if staff can provide them with clear information, courtesy, the ability to answer them politely and the service can easily be accessible. In service oriented organizations, staff has a big responsibility to treat customers well. This is because service is their core business like in library. As an important person in library, there is no emotional influence in delivering services to the students. Staff must be professional in dealing with students. They should be helpful, polite, friendly, respectful, well trained and knowledgeable. All these will lead to the students satisfaction. Based on this research also, it shows that there is linear relationship between knowledge level of staff and customers satisfaction. Customers need to get information and staff needs to be able to respond to customers questions. It may be that, staff needs to have some alternative methods in answering customers questions. Staff should not cause customers to doubt and be confused about the solution offered by them. Staff needs to have better knowledge in academic affairs and other matters that related to the university. On the other hand, based on the research done by Norliya Ahmad Kassim (Faculty of Information Management, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam, MALAYSIA) and Khasiah Zakaria (Perpustakaan Tun Abdul Razak , Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam), they were investigate users perceptions on the contributions of Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Libraries in creating a learning environment. It shows that the library users were only quite satisfied in terms of the services, collection/information, and activities of the library as a whole. The findings revealed that users were least satisfied with the attitude of the library staff compared with other aspects of the library evaluated. Among the four aspects of the library, respondents were relatively most satisfied with collection/ information (mean score = 3.27), followed by services to users (mean score = 3.18), library activities (mean score = 3.16) and staff attitude (mean score = 3.06) in that order. The information produced through this study will be of use to the improvement of library services and betterment of the library profession, and serve as a contribution to the body of knowledge in the area of user satisfaction on libraries contribution and their services to users. There is an urgent need to examine the perceptions of the students on the contribution of UMS library in creating learning environment process. 2.2 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK Independent variables Dependent variable Perception of the students Collection / information provided Library activities Staffs atitude Quality services Figure 1 2.2.1 INDEPENDENT VARIABLES: SERVICES 2.2.1.1 Quality services Quality services is refer to opening hour, signage, reference service, willingness to help, performing services right, photocopy services and etc. 2.2.1.2 Collection/Information Collection/Information is refer to past exam papers, OPAC stations, comprehensive online database, accessible on digital collection, up-to-date information, comprehensive books collection and complete relevant journal. 2.2.1.3 Academic activities Teaching, learning and training that library provide to the students. 2.2.1.4 Staffs attitude Appearance, knowledgeable, confidence, availability and motivate learning are refer to the attitude that shows by the librarys staff. 2.2.2 DEPENDENT VARIABLE: PERCEPTION Perception is the process of attaining awareness or understanding of sensory information. CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHOD 3.1 Research Design For the purpose of this study, the research design will be sample survey. It means the administration of questionnaires to a sample of respondents selected from some population. Types of approaches being used is by a questionnaire survey. 3.2 Unit of Analysis As the study will identify public perception towards the contribution of UMS library in supporting learning environment process, therefore the unit of analysis will be the final year students in school of Economy and Business study. 3.3 Sample size The sample size for the purpose of this study is 100 respondents. 3.4 Sampling Technique In this study, the stratified random sampling will be used. This sampling design which is the most efficient is a good choice when differentiated information is needed regarding various strata within the population which are known to differ in their parameters (Sekaran 2003). The population from this study consists of the user of UMS libraries. 3.5 Research Measurement/instrument The questionnaire used was structured into 3 sections. Section A focused on the personal data of the respondents such as age, gender, education level and the frequency using the UMS library services. The respondent only need to label the data related to them. Section B focuses on the perception of the students on contribution of UMS library in supporting learning environment process. The question is regarding on four elements that consists the quality of services, collection/information, library activities and staffs personality. The respondents were answer according to five-point of likert scale that indicate 1 is strongly disagree, 2 is disagree, 3 is neither agree or disagree, 4 is agree and 5 is strongly agree. The respondent required to circle one of it. Respondent perception is measure according to five-point of likert scale. Respondents were ask with certain statement to look their respond on that statement either they agree or disagree. Agree or disagree on that statement will reflect their perception. Finally, Section C consist only one question which is regarding the satisfaction on the contribution of UMS library in supporting learning environment process. This is the overall satisfaction of the students based on the question ask in section B. In this section, the respondents answer were also based on the likert scale (5 points) .The respondent were required to express their satisfaction towards the UMS library contribution from 1 is refer to worst perception to 5 refer to better perception. 3.6 Data collection Basically, there are two method used for the collection. Those are primary data collection and secondary data collection. Primary data is a data which collected originally by the researcher based on his effort. Example, the data for this study will be collected through questionnaire to the focus group. This method was chosen because the designed questionnaire could be sent personally to them in a limited time and they have to return it back on that time. While, secondary data is the information which is already in existence that related to the study. It includes the data from the journal, book, and internet search. For this study, both of the data collection method is being used so that it will be help in term of an understanding and the accuracy of information that will be received. 3.7 Data Analysis The data analysis for this study conducted through Statistical Package for Social Science software or SPSS version 17.0 which use the descriptive analysis and also crosstab. SPSS will be used as medium to analyze the data where the raw will be entered in the computer as a data file. By using the tools, any missing value can easily be identified. The tool will help in analyzing data such as table, figure also percentage.

Music of India :: essays research papers

The Music of India Indian music is a very varied type of music which ranges from classical to film, more commonly known as pop. Both types are extremely popular throughout the Indian society in all classes. Music is apparent in Indian culture as a way of expression. The history of Indian music extends back many centuries. Traditionally in that period, there were various kingdoms, in which the power was held equally by the king and the temples. This was the division of music. The temples presented religious music to all that wanted it while the kings patronized the separate artists. Music also formed a major part of the theatre. It was very famous as nearly all of India's people had access to it. There were full scale musicals in the ancient Indian theatres. This tradition has been carried into till the recent days, where Bollywood (the Indian Hollywood) films are very music-friendly. Music is an integral part of the movies that are being made. But many movies are now being targeted at the Western society, movies with less music. This is killing India's musical background. Indian music is a mix of many different types of music. Five hundred years ago, India was ruled Muslims, when it had been influenced by local territories such as the recent Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal. Classical music is a very prominent feature in most Indian people's lives. It is heard for pleasure. The term "Indian Classical Music" refers to two different, but related, age old, traditions. Both of them are very popular and come from two very different areas in India. The North Indian style is called "Hindustani", which translates to India, and South Indian tradition, also known as "Carnatic". Indian music is different from Western music in two major ways: 1. All of Indian classical music is melody, and 2. Indian music is never written down, and cannot be played off a written score. If it was played off the score, it would lose its authenticity. Over centuries, the artists learn to play or sing by listening to the song. As the artist learns the song and plays it, he adds his own authenticity to the song. In this way, the work of numerous generations has been put together to make a singular song that has been made seamless over the years. This is how Indian music has survived over the years. Hindustani classical music is based upon the 12 note scale.

Business Analysis of 20th Century Insurance Essay -- Insurance Compani

Business Analysis of 20th Century Insurance Table of Contents History, Position, Targeted Market, Goals  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Page 3 Northridge Earthquake, Crisis  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Page 4 Comeback Kid, Results of PR Campaign  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Page 6 Developing a Crisis Plan,  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Page 7 Crisis Team, Milestones for Communication  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Page 8 Issues  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Page 9 Plan Approval, Anticipated competitive responses  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Page 11 Recommended press release  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Page 14 References  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Page 15 Appendix A  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Page 16 History 20th Century Insurance was established in 1958 and was the first company of its kind to sell automobile insurance without a middleman, known in the industry as a broker or agent. This direct sales approach allowed 20th to offer insurance at a much lower premium than its competitors. To date, 20th Century Insurance is still recognized as one of the most economical full service automobile insurers in the California market. Position In terms of market share, 20th Century is the fifth-largest car insurer in the state. The company's credit rating was recently upgraded from a B- to BBB+ and its stock is being traded around $21.50. 20th Century is also among the Valley's (headquarters office location) largest firms in both market capitalization and employees. The company currently employs in over 2,000 people. Targeted market For the first 30 years of the company's existence it enjoyed huge profits from selling only automobile insurance. These large profits were achieved, due in part, to its targeted market which are generally people in the age range of 30-60 who are classified as a low risk "good drivers". The company's structure of selling insurance directly to the customer while providing excellent customer service is also a driving force to its success.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In 1982 the company began offering homeowner's insurance and this venture also proved to be financially successful for the company. The vast majority of the homes insured by 20th Century are located in the Valley cites and at one time the homeowner's insurance made up about 10% of the company's business, however, to date it onl... ... business.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   References   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Gross, A. (1998). Catastrophe planning: An essential part of comprehensive risk management. Insurance Advocate Kamer, L. (1997). Crisis planning's most important implement: The Drill. Communication World Littlejohn, F. Robert (1983). Crisis Management a Team Approach New York: AMA Management Briefing.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Newsom, D., Turk-Vanslyke, J., & Druckeberg, D. (1996). This is PR: The realities of public relations 6ed. United States: Wadsworth Publishing   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sanders, E. (1994). Some hard lessons in survival: Insurer faces own problems during quake. Daily News Schnaible, R. (1994) 20th Century Times: Earthquake!, January Shinkman, R. (1996) 20th Century bounces back to solid profitability:Insurer's 1996 net income may hit $100 million., Los Angeles Business Journal April 29-May 5   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sparks, D. (1995) On the Road Again. Financial World, December 5 Stavro, B. (1995) 20th Century on the Rebound After Settling Quake Claims. Los Angles Times September 12 Sullivan, B.(1999) Daily News: Comeback for 20th Century Insurance, January 13 Yoshitake, D. 20th Century puts quake trials behind. Daily News   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  

Reward Strategy: Reasons and Perspectives Essay

Modern business environment is famous for various new trends. An environment where the businesses used to hire employees for the sake of monetary benefits only is now changed in multi dimensional and multi pronged environment. Now business are not run for the sake of money and short term financial benefits only but for a long time sustainable growth and development. Now the only focus of all business is customer  and Customer Satisfaction. This Customer Satisfaction (CS) cannot be achieved without proper involvement of internal customers i. e. , employees. Companies start their business philosophy from their main goals or objectives and make clear statements showing their mission and values. All lateral developments are performed on the basis of these predetermined values. Modern businesses focus only on customer satisfaction and this is the core concept of business as well. Who is Responsible for Customer Satisfaction? Now question is the responsibility of achieving customer satisfaction without any failure. Many plans are made for wining customer satisfaction, but all would be failure if company is not sure about the persons, method and tactics of achieving customer satisfaction. Whole management and its team is responsible for achieving business results so is the customer satisfaction. Modern management has no doubt in it that customer satisfaction can only be achieved if all employees regardless their departments work hard to satisfy customer. Conclusion is all employees are responsible for achieving and maintaining customer satisfaction on long term basis. How would Employees work for Achieving Customer Satisfaction? Employees are important for achieving customer satisfaction then the responsibility comes how these employees should work for achieving high standards of customer satisfaction? It’s an open secret that employees mainly intend to work for the physical work giving to them according to their job description. Though companies make different efforts to ensure quantitative and qualitative efforts to ensure performance of employees but there is not specific way to know how do employees behave and work for achieving customer satisfaction. As per Hertz Berg’s two factor motivation theory, people treat salary and working environment as routine requirement of their jobs and don’t fee motivated on the basis of nominal salaries. For doing something extra, they need motivation and for motivation they need to be given something extra by the employer. To overcome problems and obstacles on their way to customer satisfaction, companies design a special approach to involve employees into their challenging task of customer satisfaction. Reward Strategy Why do people work is the question often answered differently by all respondents. Few people surely confirm the cause of their work, mostly are trapped in wordy reasons like, just to make my life comfortable, to earn my livelihood, to support my family, to spend my spare time or to establish myself. Business psychologists still fail to understand the only common reason among people who work at different places. Similar to the concepts of employees, business researchers and scholars are also divided on certain human needs and employees’ concern bout growth. But all researchers and business psychologists are of the opinion that rewards really award. If you give rewards to your employees reward, they will award business with better results. Various rewards to employees make different behavioural and motivational changes in their personalities. Almost modern business and non-business organizations believe in good reward system that would base on financial compensation or Remuneration, certain benefits regardless their job hierarchy and business status, and perquisites of different types based on hierarchy. These three factors make the most successful blend of modern reward package. As such package is a motivating blend of financial and non-financial benefits, this suites majority of people.