Personal Learning Managemet Essay

Abstract Kindler, E.; Krivy, I. (2011). Object-Oriented Simulation of systems with sophisticated control. International Journal of General Systems. pp. 313–343 Haas, J. (n.d.). Modular programming. Retrieved from http://www.about.com Personal Learning Management As course assignments, assigned reading, assigned and interest-based research, and other learning activities are completed, the learner may recognize the economic value of what has been learned. Knowledge gained through learning can be forgotten if concepts are not reviewed on a regular basis. It is possible to design an application to record high economic value learning tasks and insights that will allow for periodic review. This application will help solve the issue of knowledge being forgotten by allowing the information and concepts to be kept in front of the individual for regular review. The application that must be programmed will be a simple user friendly app that will allow the user to see and record progress over a given class which will give the user the ability to not only see what has been done but to have it brought back to the forefront of what they already went over in course assignments, reading and researches for a particular class. So in essence the program will help each student record each task and can, ever so many days allow the student to review what they covered and done to keep the information fresh. The information that we will be recording is assignments for the course, any assigned reading for the course, research both assigned and interest-based, and other learning activities. By getting this information from the user the program will store this information and recall it to the user on a time and scheduled output as well as show what still needs to be done in the course. The first step in creating such a program is that we need to identify the desired results we are looking for in this program which is to help the user retain course information by helping them review the material often. Next we will design the program and this will start by having the program gather the information required from the user and how often the user wants this information brought back up either every week or every 3 days. This step will be more complex as the developing of the application continues. Once we have step-by-step for designing the program to solve the problem stated in the beginning we will began to code the program. This is when we decide which programming language we will use such as C#, C ++ and more to deliver the best solution. After we program the application we will test the program to ensure that it is free of errors and that it does indeed solve the given problem. This is known as the programming development cycle which means at any given point in this cycle we may have revisit a particular step to ensure that we get the results that we need. This program will be developed as an object-oriented approach which is according to Kindler, E.; Krivy, I. (2011) â€Å"a programming paradigm that represents concepts as â€Å"objects† that have data fields (attributes that describe the object) and associated procedures known as methods. Objects, which are usually instances of classes, are used to interact with one another to design applications and computer programs.† We are taking this approach with a modular approach due to the complexity of the program and want to make many objects that will have methods and classes with in the object. We fill this is the best way to approach the problem with various strings and arrays so that our coding will not be confusing and easy to troubleshoot should we run into any issues. Modular programming emphasizes separating the functionality of a program into independent, interchangeable modules, such that each contains everything necessary to execute only one aspect of the desired functionality. (Haas, n.d.) This will improve maintainability by enforcing logical boundaries between components. The modular design will allow us to build into one executable file per module which also allows us to reduce the size of future patches for only the module that needs it. In conclusion we have discussed the problem of users forgetting knowledge gained through learning and will be creating a program that will keep the information fresh and allow periodic review of course assignments, assigned reading, assigned and interest-based research, and other learning activities. Our approach and the necessary steps outlined until the final test has been done and the application is functional.

Learning Theology Essay

In Learning Theology with the Church Fathers, Christopher Hall discusses the doctrinal beliefs of the early Christian leaders while Christianity was in its fledgling state of development. Much of what is discussed by Hill in his book is the standard for what the beliefs on the subject will be throughout the church’s history. The topics in Hill’s book are important because the church father’s findings concern these issues establishes the church’s beliefs on these doctrinal topics. Hill’s approach in his book is to take a subject that was highly contested in the life of the early church and follow one or two of the major leading authorities on the subject from the time period. A benefit to looking at the topic this way shows what the prominent thinking of the day was and if it still relates to Christians today. The first major theme that the book addresses is to describe the attributes of God. Hill looks at the various aspects of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Within discussing the parts of the Holy Trinity, Hill shows the various thinking the early church had concerning the three, what each of their roles are, and discusses how each of the three had equality together without either being subordinate to another. The second theme addressed by Hill is that of God’s interaction with humans. Hill explains the teachings concerning man’s sin and how the church fathers understood God’s forgiveness toward man. Hill also speaks of man as being instilled with God’s goodness. Man’s natural instinct is not bent on doing what is inherently good, but it is within God’s instilled grace that God’s best for man is placed within himself (Hill, 130). Hill also writes in discussion of God’s providence to man as being loving, transcendent and wise. The third theme Hill discusses are those things that are directly relatable to Christians in their relations with God. These things consist of the Christian’s relation to the scriptures, the apostolic founded church, and a Christian’s resurrected body and eternal life. Hill also discusses the early church father’s apologetics to the scripture’s authority and how the scriptures were His perfect gift given through His perfect knowledge (Hill, 209). Hill also discusses the differing roles of the church and what the members communal roles are and the differing thoughts on discipline. One of the most important topics discussed by Hill is that of the characteristics of the Holy Spirit. The discussion that was taking place during the fourth century was what is the Holy Spirit and what role does it play in the character of God? Many believed that the three persons of God were not triumvirate but actually three different Gods making Christianity polytheistic. Basil the Great’s writings on the subject is the focal point of Hill’s discussion. Basil’s writings addressed the variable confusions that surrounded the Holy Spirit. The topics Hill highlights from Basil is that of the Holy Spirits equality with the Father and the Son. One point that Hill singles out which gives credence to a Holy Trinity is that the argument for differing levels of power in the Holy Trinity is not arguable. Hill contends that people cannot comprehend the relationship between the three because they all three transient time and age, thus making it impossible for man to give rank to one over another (Hill, 105). This is rational argument because if something transcends time and age, does another being transcend time and space more? To have this distinction is not a more or less argument but a yes or no argument in defining a deity’s self to which Hill discusses well. Another positive from Hill’s book is the explanation of the Holy Spirit and the description of the divine community that is the Holy Trinity. If the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are not three different gods, what is the purpose of their being three separate beings? Hill examines this by giving each of the three different roles in the actions of the world. Hill defines the Father as the creator, the Son and the initiator, and the Holy Spirit as the perfecter (Hill, 115). This understanding of the Holy Trinity shows how the three are not separate but how each are one with different roles in dealing with man. Hill also explains that neither entity usurps the other’s tasks, but remain separated in their roles showing that neither is superior to the other entities. This is a useful distinction because it helps understand the functioning of the Holy Trinity and how it relates to man. When those tasks are known man has a better appreciation for each part of the Holy Trinity and honor can be given to the each part of the deity including the Holy Spirit (Hill, 118). The theme of man’s relation to God is another well outlined discussion. Hill addresses the subject of man’s sins in a way that explains how it was problematic for the church fathers. Following the writing of Irenaeus, Hill discusses the issue of man’s goodness. The discussion during the time of Irenaeus was whether man was naturally good or was goodness implanted in man by God? Hill’s conclusion eventually is man’s sin nature is prevalent before his conversion and after his conversion God bestows a sense of goodness through His love in man. God’s redemptive spirit is given to man and reflected through the actions of man (Hill, 130). Hill’s explanation that the church fathers did not think man naturally good is logical because if man is naturally good then their is no purpose for salvation. Yet while it is said human nature is without good, man is still given a choice and sometimes makes the moral decision. A limited amount of time was given to explain how God allows man to make his own choices. Hill says that God gives the choice to man to decide but does not fully expound on why man sometimes goes against his nature to make moral decisions. In all, Hill does a good job on explaining the church father’s thinking concerning the formation of early church doctrine. His description of their writings helps the reader understand the issues that spurred their theology and the content of their messages. Learning Theology with the Church Fathers gives an good summation of how Christian beliefs came to formation and who the writers were that God used to frame early Christianity’s doctrine. Bibliography Hill, Christopher. Learning Theology with the Church Fathers. Downers Grove: IVP Academy, 2002.

A Woman’s Beauty Essay

In reading Susan Sontag’s â€Å"A Woman’s Beauty†, she explains that women think they have an obligation to be beautiful and that they consider how they look more important than who they are. Sontag also adds that women are sometimes obsessed with their outer beauty that they lose sight of their inner beauty. Fashion and the Media both have taken outer beauty way too far for women. In this society today, women are more pressured by other women on how they look. Women judge other women about their looks but men don’t do the same, because it is considered† unmanly† as Sontag states. Women naturally try to be appropriate and beautiful to attract men. Unfortunately, they have gone to very high levels of obsession with themselves that they lost track of their purpose of being beautiful and their position in this society. Sontag also argues that women at the same time have the idea in their minds that being beautiful will earn them a certain reputati on and place in society, and that beauty brings power and success. Even young women grow up have these same ideas in their minds and according to Sontag, â€Å"they are taught to see their bodies in parts and to evaluate each part separately†. In modern days beauty is administered as a form of self-oppression. In the process of growing up, young women may forget how intelligent they are and their goals in life. According to some people who have been surveyed about women’s success in the society, good looks are a great advantage in many areas of life. Let’s go back to the point that women try to make themselves beautiful to attract the best men possible. Women forget that beauty is also the power to attract. In women’s view, men come in whole packages together with being handsome and successful. On the other hand, men just want just want healthy and decent women with good personality. Susag Sontag’s essay is indeed very accurate in revealing some important facts about women’s beauty and the way the society looks at women. The world is not a beauty pageant where every woman has to look perfect. There are many people that think that beauty is more important, but there are also people that feel that a woman with a good head and personality will get than based on just looks alone. It is a fact that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and everyone has their own view on what’s beautiful to them.

Standard Chartered and Dubai World The lending problem Essay

Standard Chartered and Dubai World The lending problem - Essay Example This paper focuses upon Standard Chartered Plc, a financial services company, which operates in more than 70 countries around the world. The headquarter of the bank in London, the United Kingdom. The company has entered different countries through the joint venture, subsidiaries etc. The operation of the company is diversified as it offers operations in consumer banking, institutional banking, and corporate banking also. Standard Chartered is listed on the London Stock Exchange; also it is the constituent of the FTSE 100 index. The company is also diversified globally as it offers services all the continents of the world. 90% of the revenue of the company comes from the Middle East and other Asian countries and Africa. The bank offers a diversified range of products including mortgage loans, investment banking, wealth management, corporate banking, wealth management services etc. Dubai World is among one of the main clients of Standard Chartered Bank. The investment company has faced credit crisis in the time of the financial recession and the main creditor of the company was Standard Chartered bank. The geographical presence of the company minimizes their risk. In a globalized world where the multinational companies have to face different political conditions, economic conditions in different countries, then only diversification can minimize the risk of the portfolio of the company. In the time of financial crisis of 2007-09, when all the markets throughout the world have broken, then the diversification helped the company to manage the situation.  

Case Study Review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Case Study Review - Essay Example Criminal activities and drug usage have adverse effects on both the user and the citizens of a nation. A good example of the negative effects is poor judgment as evidenced in the case study of Mike. Mike is a 20-year-old. His age is sufficient indicator that the youth are most susceptible to drug abuse addiction. Involvement in such activities leads one to a jail term of a specified period. On the case of Mike, his release from prison is quickly followed by strict supervision implying he was on probation or trial periods. According to Shifter (2012), drugs and crime have a great relationship as can be identified from the case of Mike who has been involved in crime to a great extent and is also a suspect of drugs usage. The drug used by Mike is cocaine and is an expensive drug. It is worth noting that the need for drugs triggers the involvement in criminal activity (Shifter, 2012). Using the case of Mike, he uses an expensive drug meaning he needs money to acquire the drug. As a result, he is involved in a criminal activity of stealing a car. Individuals suspected to use drugs can be tested after which the result can either be positive or negative. For Mike, on running the test the probation department finds out that he was positive and that he required counseling. Unfortunately Mike’s issues were beyond drug addiction. It is worth noting, that Mike had a personality disorder. In other words, he was self-obsessed such that he had unstable emotions. As a result, he had little regard for the feeling of others. The use of drugs especially cocaine causes anxiety and irritability (Shifter, 2012). Inevitably, this makes Mike more sensitive to the comments of others. Consequently, this triggers the relationship between the people around you. For example, in the case of Mike her fiancà © did break up with him since he only cared about himself. Mike had impaired judgments that, as a result, made

Use of Promissory Estoppel in Business Contracts Essay

Use of Promissory Estoppel in Business Contracts - Essay Example Promissory Estoppels are great ways to avoid injustices in the cases were normal considerations cannot be provided. However Promissory Estoppel has been full of contradictions since they were first mentioned in Section 90 of Restatement of Contracts. They have invoked varied emotions such as they marked the death of contracts or that contract cases will now be decided simply as torts. Promissory Estoppel is still a work in progress. Although Section 90 and 139 which are the basis of promissory Estoppel are brief but the various court cases and judgements have given new meanings to these two sections. Promissory Estoppels is a way to enforce a contract without any consideration (Farber & Matheson, 1985). A normal contract consists of three main components – an offer being made, the offer being accepted and a consideration being given for the offer (Klass, 2010). As an example let us suppose that company A signs a contract with company B to supply 50 tons of rice per month for $50/ton for 5 years. However if the grain prices fall during the contract period and B wants to renegotiate the price to $40/ton then under the normal contract law this can be done in 2 ways – either by giving a consideration such as agreeing to pay for the transportation costs or agreeing to buy more quantity and by annulling the contract and signing a new contract with new terms. However Promissory Estoppels provides an alternate way of doing it without any consideration or annulment. Promissory Estoppels comes into effect when one of the parties has made a promise, the other party has relied on it substantially and when not enforcing a promise will lead to gross injustice to one of the parties. Thus the three main concepts of Promissory Estoppel are a clear and definite promise, substantial reliance on that promise and miscarriage of justice if promise is broken. The origin of the modern concept of Promissory Estoppels can be found in the case of Central London Property Trust Ltd vs. High Tree House Ltd (Farber & Matheson, 1985). The case was regarding raising the rent of a group of flats after the end of the Second World War. The landlord had made a promise that he would take reduced rent from the tenants during the course of the war. However when the war ended in 1945, he wanted the original rent to be restores. In this case the Judge Denning laid down the principals of promissory estoppels by saying that a promise which is intended to be binding is binding as far as it terms apply correctly. This paper discusses the concept of promissory estoppels as applied in USA; the cases of business contracts where relief can be accepted under promissory estoppels and where the claim for relief is likely to be rejected by courts. Bargain Theory of Consideration A contract is a binding agreement between two parties and is the basis for any business transaction between the two parties. Contracts are the heart and soul of all businesses. Some of the contracts are written whereas other may be simply oral or trust based. Before the concept of promissory estoppels was discovered, contracts were based solely on the bargain theory of consideration (Feinman, 1984).According to this theory; a promise is enforceable only if it is supported by a consideration which has been sought for or bargained for by the promisor in exchange for the promise made by him . The Bargain theory also requires mutual consent of the offer which means that a clear offer must be made and accepted by the other party for a contract to be enforceable. In the case of New Zealand Shipping co. Ltd vs. AM Satterthwaite & co Ltd; Lord Wilberforce has clearly stated that offer, acceptance and consideration are requirements for a contract to be valid. These three factors must also be accompanied with no mistake, misrepresentation and duress which can affect the

Case study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 15

Case Study Example ligence Grid (Natgrid) aims to monitor the activities of private citizens1, a move which presses on the boundaries of a citizen’s fundamental liberties. It’s an echo of Big Brother in the guise of public interest; the concept is noble, but there’s so much opportunity for abuse that it cancels all intended benefits. The Natgrid will surely speed up the functions of the bureaucracy with a centralized intelligence system, but it’ll also make data accessible to a lot of unscrupulous personalities and agencies. Although a data protection law already exists (The Information Technology Act), it only goes so far as to cover an individual’s activity. The individual is set apart from the act. The UPA has to set specific ground rules to ensure both aspects coexist but remain separate. The freedom to information shouldn’t be absolute; there has to be a limit to how much the government can access. The law should protect the individual first and foremost. Everything else follows accordingly. 2. â€Å"Convenient and personal are the flip-side to private and anonymous† according to Greenfield. Indeed, convenience comes at a steep price nowadays, and the technological juggernauts of the Information Age admit it. P3P is an essential component of the Web-browsing experience; it allows users to navigate the byways of the Internet without leaving crumbs for the hounds to sniff and follow. This provides a perfect analogy to the online cookies implanted in your browser’s cache; they’re there to monitor online activities, but the exact coverage of this policy is never fully described. As a measure of courtesy, some sites do live up to their word by restricting their own access to user data. The opportunities exposed by a database of unlimited information is too tempting to resist, though, especially when everything of value is now stored in a remote corner or crevice on the web. The competition for technological supremacy between Google, Microsoft, and everyone else is

Improving Learning and Achievement Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Improving Learning and Achievement - Coursework Example The two authors also suggest that an ethic of care must always be undertaken to support the academic achievement of the multicultural students which is often marginalized by schooling. In most cases, the achievement and success of students in a multicultural setting often depends on a wide range of academic and non-academic factors some of which may include enthusiasm and motivation of the students for school, family and community support and the availability of learning opportunities in schools. This paper critically analyses the learning at King Middle School and provides recommendations for improving the learning and achievement of all the students regardless of their diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds. King Middle School currently serves one of the most racially, ethnically, culturally and economically diverse neighborhoods in Maine state. For example, approximately 120 students of the schools population of about 500 speak almost 28 languages and can trace their origins from 17

Letter of Interest Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Letter of Interest - Assignment Example the future and I made sure to continue my training in that field by completing short term computer studies in Website Design and training in the use of DHTML. I also possess Certificates of Completion in C+, Visual Basic, and Perl Software, computer languages which are the basis of all the current modern day computer software. I was blessed to have grown up in an era when the game consoles were but a developing segment of entertainment. It is my opinion that only someone like me, who has been using the previous incarnations of the game consoles, who can best understand the problems of the clients and help them solve it without getting too technical with them. The re-training that will come with this possible promotion and transfer is something that I am willing to undergo in the name of career development. I am not afraid of this challenge and I am looking forward to eventually completing the training program and being able to help our clients in what will be a new line of work and field of career development for me. I have attached the documents that I feel are pertinent to my application for your consideration. As you can see, my interest in the position is more than just a passing fancy. That is why I have made myself available to further discuss my application at your convenience. Thank

The divine life ventures Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The divine life ventures - Research Proposal Example The Divine Life Ventures Research Proposal Dreams are never dependent upon eyes, rather they are born by the visions. We, in TDL Ventures believe in this and it is the core objective behind setting up this organization. In order to convert this idea into reality, we intend to conduct a research so that we would be able to assess our internal and external factors that will be expected to help us out in making this non-profit organization a success.Importance of Research Selection of a correct research approach is of vital nature, as the chances of success are so much dependent on this. A correctly used research method will enable us to have an exact picture of the future structure. Therefore, we it is inevitable for an organization to have a correct measure or use a suitable research approach to ascertain about the certain important current and future factors of the business. An organization, whether commercial or non-profit, is always formed by believing on some assumptions. For bein g successful, these assumptions need to be realistic and practical. Mostly, the research work provides a framework for these assumptions, therefore, research approach is always unavoidable. Research Approach For the desired purpose, we will use exploratory research. The reason is, there is not so much work available to be used as reference for this unique idea. However, we will refer to some secondary sources of data as well, but that would be very limited, only to the extent of taking some guideline for a particular direction in research. Our research will help us out in finding some new ways to do something for the blind or visually impaired people. Their needs, wants and ways of recreation will be explored by this exclusive study. Moreover, by knowing them from the inner, we would also be able to address their problems in a better way and this is the purpose of this study and of course, the objective of formation of this organization. Let’s discuss how this approach and th e intended research will validate the basic strategic tools of our organization in for future. Vision, Mission and Values Vision statement states what a company looks to be in a long term scenario. Therefore, as we at TDL wants to touch the heights in order to provide best services to our handicapped users without getting a single penny profit over our investments. Therefore, through this exploratory study, we will definitely be finding out ways how to explore new ways to do all this. Mission is somewhat what we want to do by our organization. So it is also very clear that we want to provide best services like transportation, leadership training and personal development so that they could make their own status in society and could spend their lives as a normal man does. Lastly, we can also strive to translate our core values in a more meaningful way by exploratory study and the conduct of research. Defining the target market is not a big deal, but finding out new and better ways to serve them is the matter of great consideration. As the chances of improvement are always there in the quality, lead time and magnitude of the future need. So the question for analysis is, HOW CAN WE ESTABLISH OURSELVES AS A BEST SERVICE PROVIDER FOR THE HANDICAPPED, BLIND AND VISUALLY IMPAIRED PERSONS? Answer of this question is revealed through the following lines. Internal Environment Analysis Internal environment analysis in research can include the discovery of new and improved infrastructure, minimization of turnaround time, trained and well equipped staff, modern machinery, state of the art software, latest researches equipped library, a separate and effective research and development department and a visionary leadership at all the departments and across the beard in organizational hierarchy. External environment Analysis External environment is also very important as far as some analysis for a newly established non-profit organization is

Corporate Social and Environmental Accouting Report Research Paper

Corporate Social and Environmental Accouting Report - Research Paper Example This research paper therefore seeks to elucidate the social accounting measures put into place by ANZ Bank in Australia and Citibank in the United States. In its basic connotation, social accounting refers to the process of relaying the information regarding the economic effect of the social and environmental activities of the organization. This is analyzed in the context of particular interest groups and social units within the society. The essence of social accounting is normally the concept of corporate accountability. According to Crowther (2000), social accounting is an approach used in reporting the activities of an organization in a manner that stresses the importance of socially relevant behavior while also stressing the fact that a firm should always be accountable for its social performance. In this regard, very appropriate reporting techniques become imperative as measures of the social responsiveness of the organization. It is imperative to realize that banks constitute t he largest players in the Australian Stock Exchange (ASE). Over 18 percent of the listed companies in the ASE are mostly banks while other financial institutions make up a larger portion of the top 20 companies listed on the exchange. This powerful presence presents the need for the banks to be socially accountable for their operations in the industry and society at large. Literature Review Despite the concept of Corporate Social Reporting being a topical aspect for more than two decades now, much analysis of the subject has always revolved around comparisons between the different CSR practices exhibited by different organizations across the world (Adams, 2004). In this regard, it is realized that differences in culture and national values normally account for differences exhibited in accounting practices between countries. Much literature existing on the topic basically focuses on the social disclosures of mainly firms from industrialized economies with little focus on the developi ng or recently industrialized economies (Hilmi, 2008). The idea behind social accounting presents much challenge to the concepts of conventional accounting regarding the limited image often portrayed as existing between organization and the society at large. As a normative concept, social accounting presents a more elucidative approach to the whole idea about social accountability in the sense that organizations should always extend their social accountability beyond mere economic events (Anderson, 2005). Social accounting advances the view that corporate responsibility should not simply be addressed in financial terms like it is often the case. Conventional practice has always dictated that society is the only recipient of the social responsiveness of organizations. However, in the modern setup, the stakeholders in this regard extend beyond the society and include entirely all the participants in the social world. In a way, it appears that social accounting seems to expose the emer ging tension between the realization of economic profits and the pursuit of environmental and social objectives. The idea behind social accounting is often geared toward two purposes, i.e. accountability purposes and management control. As a demonstration of accountability on the part of the organization, social accounting

Agriculture Industry Linkages in the Economy of Jammu and Kashmir Essay Example for Free

Agriculture Industry Linkages in the Economy of Jammu and Kashmir Essay Agriculture plays an important role in contributing to socio-economic development in many countries. It is the primary source for employment, livelihood, and food security for the majority of rural people. The success of this continuation depends largely on the direct impact it has on the national economy as well as how the agricultural sector stimulates the growth of other sectors in the economy. Consequently, understanding the role of agriculture and its linkages to the rest of the economy is important. The inter-relationship between agriculture and industry has been a long debated issue in the development literature. In the Indian context the issue has acquired interest since industrial stagnation in the mid 1960s. Over the years the Indian economy has undergone a structural change in its sectoral composition: from a primary agro-based economy during the 1970s, the economy has emerged as predominant in industry. This has triggered an interest in readdressing the analytical and methodological aspects of the interlinkages between the two sectors the service sector since the 1990s. This structural changes and the uneven pattern of growth of agriculture, industry and service sector economy in the post reforms period is likely to appear substantial changes in the production and demand linkages among various the economy. At the same time the growing integration with the rest of the world in the post-reform period (post 1991 period) and the recent spurt of service sector led growth are also likely to have significant impact on the linkages between the agriculture and industry. This has triggered an interest in read dressing the analytical and methodological aspects of the interlinkages between the two sectors. That agriculture and industry being integral component of development process due to their mutual interdependence and symbiotic relationship, the contribution of agriculture to the economy in general and to industry in particular is well known in almost all the developing countries. However, the degree of interdependence may vary and also change over time. In the theory and empirical literature, the inter-relationship between agriculture and industry has been discussed from different channels. First, agriculture supplies food grains to industry to facilitate absorption of labour in the industry sector. Secondly, agriculture supplies the inputs like raw cotton, jute, tea, coffee etc. needed by the agro-based industries. Thirdly, industry supplies industrial inputs, such as fertilizer, pesticides, machinery etc. to the agriculture sector. Fourthly, agriculture influences the output of industrial consumer goods through demand. Fifthly, agriculture generates surpluses of savings, which can be mobilized for investment in industry, and other sectors of the economy. Sixthly, fluctuations in agricultural production may affect private corporate investment decisions through the impact of the terms of trade on profitability, whereas some of these channels emphasize the agriculture-industry‟ linkage on the supply side or production side, others stress the linkages through the demand side. The production linkages basically arise from the interdependence of the sectors for meeting the needs of their productive inputs, whereas the demand linkage arises from the interdependence of the sectors for meeting final consumption. Further, the linkages between the two sectors can also be categorized into two groups based on the direction of interdependence. One is the backward linkage, which identifies how a sector depends on others for their input supplies and the other is the forward linkage, which identifies how the sector distributes its outputs to the remaining economy. More importantly, these two linkages can indicate a sector’s economic pull and push, because the direction and level of such linkages present the potential capacity of each sector to stimulate other sectors and then reflect the role of this sector accordingly. As far as Jammu and Kashmir is concerned Agriculture is the predominant sector of the economy. Directly and indirectly, it supports about 80 per cent of the population besides contributing nearly 60 per cent of the state revenue, which adequately explains the over-dependency of the population on agriculture. The overall economic growth of the state depends largely on the progress of the agricultural sector, the development of which becomes even more important in the context of the very nominal progress it has made in the secondary sectors. With the introduction of planned development in the state during 1951-56, production of foodgrains and fruits has increased considerably. During 1998-99, the state produced 15.50 lakh quintals of food grains against 4.53 lakh quintal in 1950-51. Of this, Kashmir region contributed 27.20 per cent, Jammu region 72.14 per cent and Ladakh and Kargil region 0.66 per cent Industries play a vital role in the development of an economy. In this regard unfortunately, JK has not been able to attract investments in industries and remained as an industrially backward state. The state does not have a strong industrial base, because geographical location of the state is such that the setting up of large industries with a large Capital base is not feasible, besides adverse environmental consequences. Nevertheless, many small and medium-scale industries have come up basically in the traditional sectors along with areas like food processing, agro-based units and metallic and non metallic products. Thus in such an sectoral environment were industrial sector has low opportunity, Agriculture provide basic linkages in its development . Thus the state of Jammu and Kashmir were main source of income is agriculture for masses of people, the linkages between Agriculture and Industry is very important to study in order to know the potential of Agriculture to develop an industrial environment in the state. In mean while it is important to study the dependence of agriculture on industry, so that both sectors will flourish the development in the state of Jammu Kashmir. The macroeconomic linkage between the agricultural sector and industrial growth has been one of the most widely investigated in the development literature. In the early stages, researchers paid great attention in studying the relationship between the agricultural and industrial sectors, and how these sectors were inter-related. They argued that agriculture only plays a passive role; which is to be the most important source of resources (food, fiber, and raw material) for the development of industry and other nonagricultural sectors (Rosenstein-Rodan, 1943; Lewis, 1954; Ranis and Fei, 1961). Many of these analysts highlighted agriculture for its resource abundance, and its ability to transfer surpluses to the more important industrial sector. India being a predominantly agrarian economy and an agro-based industrial structure, the interrelationship between agriculture and industry has been one of the major issues for the researchers and policy makers since the beginning of the planning period. In the pre and early post-independence period, the industry sector had a close relationship with agriculture due to the agro-based industrial structure (Satyasai and Baidyanathan, 1997). Satyasai and Viswanathan (1999) found that the output elasticity of industry with respect to agriculture was 0.13 during 1950-51 to 1965-66. Rangarajan (1982) has found that a 1.0 percent growth in agricultural production increases industrial production by 0.5 percent, and thus, GDP by 0.7 percent during 1961-1972. However, the industrial sector witnessed a slow growth, stagnation since the mid 1960s, which was largely attributed to the stunnedagricultural growth and favourable agricultural TOT, among other factors (Patnaik, 1972; Nayyar, 1978 and Bhatla, 2003).10 In fact the interdependence between the two sectors has found to be weakened during the 1980s and 1990s (Bhattacharya and Mitra, 1989; Satyasai and Viswanathan, 1997). For instance, Bhattacharya and Rao (1986) have found that the partial output elasticity of industry with respect to agriculture has declined from 0.15 during 1951/52 – 1965/66 to 0.03 during 1966/67-1983/84. Contradictorily, Satyasai and Viswanathan (1999) found that the output elasticity of industry with respect to agriculture has increased from 0.13 during 1950/51-1965/66 to 0.18 during 1966/67–1983/84, and then remained at the same level 0.18 during 1984/85-1996/97. The deteriorating linkages between agriculture and industry have been primarily credited to the deficiency in demand for agricultural products, decline in share of agro-based industries coupled with slow employment growth (Rangarajan, 1982; Bhattacharya and Rao, 1986; and Chowdhury and Chowdhury, 1995). Sastry et al. (2003), for the period 1981-82 to 1999-2000, found that the forward production linkage between agriculture and industry has declined, whereas backward production linkage has increased. They also found significant impact of agricultural output on industrial output, and that agriculture’s demand linkage to industry has declined, while that of from industry to agriculture has increased. Economic and Political Weekly August 26, 1989 1963 wean agriculture and merely the set of industrial consumption goods like clothing, footwear, sugar and edible oils, it may be concluded that the overall intersectoral linkages appear quite modest. The early writers, for example Rosestein-Rodan (1943), Lewis (1954), Scitovosky (1954), Hirchman (1958), Jorgeson (1961), Fei and Ranis (1961) and others emphasized the role of agriculture only as a primary supplier of wage goods and raw materials and abundant labour supply to industry (Johnston and Mellor, 1961 and Vogel, 1994). The role of agriculture in the transformation of a developing economy was seen as ancillary to the central strategy of accelerating the pace of industrialization (Vogel, 1994). Kalecki (1976) also pointed out the importance of investment and technological advances in agriculture for the rapid development of industry. The traditional literature on inter-sectoral linkages in the growth process generally emphasises the role of agriculture as a primary supplier of wage goods and raw materials to industry (supply-linkage on the one hand and as a provider of major output for in- dustrial goods (demand linkage) on the other [Johnston and Mellor, 1961 and tertiary sector in a modern economy. Further, it may be noted that with growing mechanization of agriculture it becomes dependent on industry for basic inputs, like, fertiliser, power, pesticides, etc. Incidentally the agriculture-industry relationship becomes more complicated in this process. A slow growth of net availability of food- grains or alternatively the movement of inter-sectoral terms of trade in favor of the agricultural sector is believed to cause deceleration of the industrial sector. However, empirically speaking there was no slow down in the growth of production of food- grains after the mid-sixties [Ahluwalia: 1985]. Nor was there any fall in the marketed surplus of agriculture [rhamarajakshi: 1977] so as to be related to the industrial decelera- tion. But, so far as the agriculture vis-à  -vis industry terms of trade is concerned, one en- counters a series of mixed evidence. Whe Thamarajakshi [1977], and Mitra [1977] visualised a favouralJe terms of trade for the agricultural sector during the mid-sixties andearly seventies, Khalon and lyagi [1983] obtained evidence that stand quite contrary to others view. Mundle [1977], however main- tains that in terms of intersectoral resource flow-of which terms of trade is just a single component-the industrial sector has been undergoing loss since the mid-sixties. Prior to that it was agriculture which was experiencing an outflow of resources. Rangarajan [1982a] in his macro econometric model makes an attempt to capture the demand linkage between agriculture and industry. He identifies a positive impact that agricultural output has on the demand for industrial consumption goods. The effect of foodgrain terms of trade on industrial products has been negative but elasticity is negligible. Both agricultural output and terms of trade had a positive influence on household saving and investment. Keeping in view such segmented impact of agriculture on industry zplaining the behaviour of indugtrial produc- tion purely in terms of agricultural performance .Bhattacharya and Rao [1986] emphasisesthe sluggishness that continued in the per-formance of industry even after the relative relaxation of the wage goods constraint that occurred during the green revolution period. Thus, the theoretical literature in the â€Å"agriculture-industry linkages † has broadly highlighted the place of agriculture and non-agriculture sector, especially industry in the development process and contribution of each in augmenting growth of output and employment. Most of the theoretical literature has largely focused only on one side of the â€Å"agriculture-industry linkages ’’ i.e. either the supply side linkages or demand side linkages. However it is both the demand side and supply side linkages that work together in an inter-sectoral framework, which determines the interlinkages between the two sectors. In this respect Bhaduri (2003) and Bhaduri (2007) are two important contributions in the literature. Bhaduri (2003) extends Kaldor’s model by considering the role of the agricultural surplus from the supply side as well as the importance of the demand side effect for industrial goods. In this set up, both the sectors grow in tandem, reinforcing and reinvigorating each other’s growth impulse, by resolving each other’s potential realization problem (Jha, 2010). Further, Bhaduri et al. (2007) have extended the Kaldor’s model by contrasting between the supply side and demand side linkages of the two sectors from the TOT point of view. Thus there has been lot of researches, publication and models on the topic â€Å"Agriculture industry linkages in the economy† given by many renowned economists, and peoples associated with this field. Everyone concluded that there is an unlimited linkage between two sectors which not only develop one other but also give birth to other sectors as well. Thus to conclude it can be said that in an economy mostly there is a l arge number of linkages originated from a primary level and put economy to those sectors which keep it in the level of developed ones.

Situation And Macro Environment: The Efteling

Situation And Macro Environment: The Efteling The Efteling stands for a world full of miracles: this is the service they are offering. The Efteling is well known as a theme park that knows how to fulfill its customers needs. The Efteling emphasizes the experience that its customers obtain from a visit. In the previous years there were no new theme parks entering the market. This does not mean that the competition also stagnates. The main theme park competitors are Walibi World (in The Netherlands and Belgium), Warner Bros Movieworld, Bobbejaanland and Disneyland Resort Paris. With this marketing plan we focused on attracting students. As a consequence the perception of The Efteling will approach those of day trips like festivals these are very popular with our main target group. The Efteling has several target groups: summarized they are groups, families and companies. The Efteling has its own fairytale series, a radio station where kids can listen to interviews with The Efteling inhabitants, music and fairytales. These are examples of The Eftelings market communication. The Efteling is also present in the business-to-business market: they offer businesses to organize an event at The Efteling. The main strategy for targeting students is giving students a à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ 4.00 discount on top of the Albert Heijns discount of à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬8.00. The advised ticket price will then be à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬17.00. Consequently, students will go more often to The Efteling, will take other students with them, and experience The Efteling together. This will increase the customer base and potential customers. Our goal is to increase offerings to students: achieve that 5% of all students visit The Efteling once a year on a non-weekend day. This has to be achieved before the academic year 2012-2013. The applied strategy is based on the differentiation strategy. The sales promotion should increase with the emphasis on the fact that it is better to visit The Efteling on a non-weekend day. In this way the admissions are evenly spread throughout the week. Situation Analysis: Macro Environment Political/Legal Marketing decisions are strongly affected by developments in the political/legal environment. Especially when customers demand faster and more thrilling attractions, the legal obligations for the park are rising. Security standards for rollercoaster and similar attractions are very strict and will be inspected by independent officers. If the park would be caught, not keeping the security standards on the mandatory level, it can have some major consequences including sanctions from the government. But not only the governmental restrictions, also environmentalists are making life harsh for The Efteling. They are afraid that The Efteling will affect the forest Entenwoud and will refuse to accept this. Furthermore we have to add that our target group, students, is able to travel using public transport for free of with 40% discount throughout the academic year. This is favorable because students are able to come from a greater distance for less money. Economical Economical issues rise from the fact, that the daily routine in theme parks in general is very capital and labor intensive. This is an interesting fact, because in most industries, either the labor or the capital intensiveà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã¢â‚¬Å¡. One the one hand, investing in new attractions, setting up new shows and keeping the already existing carousels and coaster in good conditions, is really expensive, and especially the latter one is an ongoing expense. On the other hand, many people have to be employed, to keep the visitors pleased and deliver good experiences throughout the park. As most of the labor intensive work is done behind the scenes, it may not seem to be obvious that a theme park is very labor intensive, but when you think of the security standards, which have to be met, the garbage of thousands of visitors, which have to be cleaned and so forth, it quickly becomes clear that many people have to work hard each day to ensure a smooth running of the park. On the other hand, many people have to be employed, to keep the visitors pleased and deliver good experiences throughout the park. As most of the labor intensive work is done behind the scenes, it may not seem to be obvious that a theme park is very labor intensive, but when you think of the security standards, which have to be met, the garbage of thousands of visitors, which have to be cleaned and so forth, it quickly becomes clear that many people have to work hard each day to ensure a smooth running of the park. Next to this, The Efteling had to face the recession. People saved on day-trips, which are very expensive compared to what you could have bought for the same amount of money. We could say that students do not feel that much of the recession because they do not have a fulltime job, but they do not have the financial sources to go for an expensive day out. Ecological Opening a theme park brings along some big matters of dispute. A previously untouched landsite in the middle of a forest, as it was the case for Efteling, can be severely damaged if constructing of the park is done without any precautions. The soil is being compressed, many square meters or even kilometers are bituminized, and once the park is finished the daily visitors have to get there in the first place, which is unseperately combined with increasing noise and air pollution. In addition to that, it has to be mentioned that the running of big attractions consume a lot of electricity on an ongoing basis. Technological Because of the increasing complexity of new and planned attractions in the park, building- and maintaining costs are raising proportionately. Furthermore, sophisticated new computer-controlled fun rides call for better trained personal to take care of. On the other side of the coin, in case of failure or breakdowns, the error can be detected more easily due to computer analysis of the construction. On top of that computer controlled maintenance schedules leave less rooms for unintentional human failures. The Internet is the most important marketing tool, this because the fact that the possibilities for The Efteling are very high when you look at the area of the computers. Almost everyone has a pc at home. You can order your ticket online, and just scan it at the entrance. Thats it, and you also get a discount of à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬1,00. Another example: by e-mail or by the website, The Efteling alerts people when there are new attractions or when there are new shows. Also for kids the website is very attractiveà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ . Socio-Cultural Major cultural and social topics for The Efteling are the small, but nevertheless existing differences of its visitors from different countries. As the case of Disney-Land Paris taught us, ignoring cultural habitats and taken-for-granted attributes of a society can quickly lead to a financial disaster. Secondly the theme park faces the challenge to be attractive to every single age segment. Concentrating on just children from age 6-10 for example may seem like a distinctive strategy for a theme park, but after all, around 80% of the rest of the population and therewith potential customers are left out the focus point. Thereby customers demand more quality from its money; more for less. Customers want to experience the feeling The Efteling givesà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã†â€™. Situation Analysis: Micro Environment This section of the situation analysis will deal with different steps of discussing the market features in which The Efteling theme park is enacting, this means we will analyze the microenvironment. Size of the market The market in which The Efteling is positioned can be characterized as an international end-consumer market in the service category. Because of its close location to the borders of Germany and Belgium it gains the advantage of attracting visitors of these countries as well. However, there is also the risk of losing domestic customers to foreign theme parks which are at a reasonable travelling distance. Harsh competition is obvious in this triangle of countries. The Eftelings competitors Country Park name Germany Movie Park Germany, Phantasialand, Legoland Discovery Center; Panorama Park and Fort Fun Belgium Bobbejaanland and Walibi Belgium The Netherlands Drievliet, Duinrell and Koningin Juliana Toren * When researching for these competitors we took into account that our target group students are geographically seen relatively mobile. Because Dutch students have a special public transport card they can easily go to any theme park in The Netherlands. Eftelingà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚  Walibi Worldà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã¢â‚¬Å¾ Bobbejaanlandà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Warner Bros Movieworldà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã¢â‚¬   Disneyland Resort Parisà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã¢â‚¬ ¡ Strengths (compared to The Efteling) Large park Own theatre Own hotel Part of int. Walibi organization Close to The Netherlands Part of Walibi organization Close to The Netherlands Strong brand image Entering new businesses easy Weaknesses long queues Especially attractive for teenagers Small park Germany-oriented possibilities for miscommunication (too) High expectations One-day Price (adult) à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬29,00 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬28,50 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ 31,00 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬32,00 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬52,00 Opportunity to sleep Yes, own hotel Yes No Yes Yes, own accommodations When we speak of competitors, we use the following definition from our Marketing Management text book, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ competitors are the firms that satisfy the same customer need, (Kotler et al, 2009) à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‹â€  Because of the large quantity of possible competitors, the market is extensive in size. Of course there are also other competitors. For a day out, consumers can also go to a festival like Lowlands, or Breda Barst. For students these festivals and days out are also very attractive. It is the task of The Efteling to keep this potential target group going to the park. This is possible by giving special discounts for students. Another possibility is that The Efteling creates its own festival with famous artists. We only focused on the main other parks because these are in the same market segment. Marketing channels The growth of the market for theme parks can be described as stagnating. In the last few years there were no new theme parks entering the market. This doesnt mean that competition also stagnated. On the contrary: Every park tries to extend their customer base by offering new attractions, more ways to reach the park and other methods to increase customer value. This is also an approach to overcome the exposure to market myopia. The Efteling has to configure its competitive market in terms of customer needs and not just competitors which deliver the same service. One of the first advertisements of The Efteling (shortly after 1952)Efteling for example has launched its own radio station, it is broadcasting television series with characters that can be seen in the theme park and has recently opened its new overnight camp Bosrijk. In this way, The Efteling tries to convince more people to visit the park, who have to travel longer distances but now have the possibility to stay for more than one day. So this is more convenient for these families and positively influences The Efteling park experience. On January 6th, Efteling announced to invest à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬40,000,000 for a new restaurant, a new conference centre and a new event/performance arena. In general, the trend in the market for theme parks is moving away from just competing in the bare numbers of attractions. Customers demand to enter a world in which attractions and offerings are integrated with each other. The whole park should convey a holistic atmosphere rather than just different obstacles placed inside the boundaries of the parks. Situation Analysis: SWOT analysis In this section we will make an analysis on the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and the threats concerning The Efteling. We have combined this analysis; its the SWOT analysis on The Efteling in general and in addition the SWOT analysis focused on our innovation: students segment. The strengths -The Efteling has a strong brand name. It is to a great extent known, because of great advertising expenses and the attractiveness of the park. This creates a strong, magical vision/perception in the minds of people that (may) visit the park. -The Efteling is associated with more than only being a park including creating musicals, games for on the computer, having its own radio station and television-programmes. -An additional strength is the fact that The Efteling is attractive to every visitor. For the kids there is Het Sprookjesbos, the parents are entertained by memories from their own childhood when they visited The Efteling, many things have changed but the main concept and appearance remained the same. Also, for the grandparents there are tranquil attractions and enough entertainment when the small ones are in a more turbulent ride. For the adolescents there are the big, fiery attractions like the Python, a rollercoaster with multiple looping and the Piraà ±a. -The Efteling has multiple relationships with differentiated companies, for example the Albert Heijn supermarket, sometimes they create a promotion; when you spend a certain amount of money at the Albert Heijn supermarket, you get a discount ticket for The Eftelingà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã¢â‚¬ °. -Except for going to the park for amusement, you can also arrange meetings, parties and events there. -A lot of students are living in the neighbourhood of The Efteling, as you can see in the table belowà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã¢â€š ¬. So the demographic position of The Efteling is perfect for students, its close to their home, the connections by train and bus are also well regulated and during the week, this public transport may be for free. The weaknesses -Compared to other amusement parks, there are only a few shops and stalls settled in The Efteling. Customers do not get tempted to buy merchandise from The Efteling because they just dont see it and dont get the opportunity to buy it. There are not too many distribution points of these products. However, when customers do want to buy something in the few shops that are available, the shop is totally stuffed with other customers. -The queue to get in the rides is relatively long. Visitors will have to wait a very long time before they can actually get in one. Because most people are visiting The Efteling for just one day, it is very infuriating because they cannot visit many rides in this way. -When The Efteling builds new attractions, there is in almost every case a delay. Visitors will come especially for that new attraction, but it is not finished yet. And there are also a lot of attractions that break down more often than others do. When this is a popular ride, this is bad for the reputation of the park. -There is more traffic than ever coming from and going to The Efteling. Although the parking area is very big, it is not working well enough to handle all the cars coming out of their places when the park closes down. Everyone wants to leave at the same time; the exits of the parking lot cannot handle this, which results in very long traffic jams. -The Efteling gets more expensive every year. Of course it is reasonable that The Efteling has to maintain their earnings to finance new projects, but in these times when we are also dealing with the recession, it may be a weakness to use such a price strategy. Visitors, who have been there once, will come back probably because they know that its worth it, but visitors who havent been there will be shocked by the high entrance price. -The prices are too high for students, for the same price; they can get a lot of beers in the city centre of Tilburg or another city in the neighbourhood or do something else, like shopping or spent that money on their room. The opportunities -Get flexible entrance prices; The Efteling has experienced with the amount of visitors so they can estimate this for future periods. When there is a quiet day, lower the prices of the tickets so that the park will be cosy but not packed, when it is usually quiet. When it is going to be a busy day, raise your entrance price so that people will get spread over the weekend and weekdays. This solves the problem of long queues and a bit of the large traffic jams. Also people who want to go to The Efteling for a lower price get that opportunity now. -Get more attractive shops and stalls in the park, so that people will buy more during their stay. Although there is a recession, people always want to have a souvenir. These extra sales may be a stimulus, i.e. way of financing lower entrance prices. -The disposable income of seniors has risen the past few years and the number of elderly people has risen tooà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã¢â€š ¬. An opportunity for The Efteling is to focus their attention on this group by for example organizing special days for them to fresh up their memory. -Students are also a very large group at this moment. But The Efteling focuses most of the attention to kids and grandparents because they want to attract whole families. But this does not include the students who maybe want to go with a group of friends. It could be wise to get special student discounts because the average student doesnt have enough money to pay the entrance price. Also a lot of students dont have lectures during some weekdays. When you can attract them to come at these days, the park will be filled more and the cost of the discount will be incalculable. Also there are just a few attractive attractions for youngsters. They need to have some more rough roller coasters to remain positive. There are a lot of students in the neighbourhood of Tilburg, so The Efteling has a lot new potential visitors which it can attract by lowering the prices and build more new thrill rides. The threats -Most young kids prefer rough roller coasters to Dancing Shoes in het Sprookjesbos. Only very young kids will be attracted to this kind of attractions. -Besides, more and more people are getting older and there are not enough kids to fill this gap. -The recession is a big threat because parents watch their money more carefully than they did before. -Students also have other opportunities to go to, like other parks or for example a festival or museum. The Efteling really has to improve and change some attractions and its brand image for students, otherwise; students will prefer to go to something closer to their home village or students house. When students live in the north of the Netherlands, they will rather go to (for example) Walibi World because it is closer and there are more thrill rides. Strategic Options and Choices: Mission On the companys homepage the statement is put forward: The Efteling theme park is a custodian of the fairy tale (www.efteling.com). This statement is crucial for every staff member of the amusement park, as it should be communicated to every single visitor of the park. It contains more than it seems like on the first sight. Against the modern process of making everything faster and less lasting, the Efteling is trying to do the opposite. Reminding itself of traditional values it invites the visitor to enter a complete distinct world which he will have never seen before. Preserving cultural heritage could be the most important role for the theme park. Next to this, the protection of the environment is a second crucial mission of the Efteling. As an international leader in the tourism and recreation sector, the theme park acknowledged that following this statement provides the most secure formula for its success since its founding in 1952. Building a widespread reputation of a highly-professional, creative and efficient organization, the Efteling continues to concentrate on being innovative and reacting as quickly as possible to customer needs. In this way the parks pursues its basic goal of entertainment on a very familiar and customer friendly level. Goals and Strategy Product strategy The Efteling is clearly a product leader, there is no other theme park that can compete with the position of The Efteling. The Efteling is a world full of miracles, but it has to watch out that they have to continue to think of new attractions. Although The Efteling has a high position the amusement park has to be still innovative. In the minds of many customers the attraction Villa Volta and Droomvlucht are still the most exciting attractions, despite the fact these two attractions are running for a while now. The Efteling should innovate a lot more and should come up in a higher frequency with new attractions. These new attraction have to fit in the world of miracles that The Efteling represent. The new attractions have to challenge the customer. This will give the customer a higher incentive to visit The Efteling more frequent or to attract new customers. In product strategy creativity and inventiveness is necessary, this are the two concepts where The Efteling stands for. Also to stay traditional is a core concept, but with the right strategy the three concepts are good to combine. Every attraction has a legendary and traditional meaning. It is like the attractions came from the test of time. That is the experience that The Efteling wants to give to its customers and that those experiences stress the differences between The Efteling and other amusement parks. The Efteling is not just a theme park, its an experience. Price strategy The Efteling has different prices because Efteling has a different program in the evening than in daylight and The Efteling is also different in the summer than in the winter. The Efteling has this year the Summer Seven League from 19 July through 5 September when the park is open from 10.00 hours until 21.00 hours. On the Summer Evenings, every Saturday during the Seven League Summer, the park is open until midnight. This difference is shown by the price. The price of a normal ticket for an adult is à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ 29.00 and during the Summer Seven League the price of the entree ticket is à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ 31.00. For a senior citizen the price is à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ 27.00 during a normal period. During the Seven League Summer the price is à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ 29.00. On the other hand the two-day ticket has for both periods the same price namely à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ 49.00. The Efteling has also tickets with reduction. For Groups of 20 or more people the ticket price will be à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ 24.00 for each person. There is one major exception and that is the price for schools. If schools book before 1 April the school will pay à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ 12.00 per person. If schools book on or later than 1 April than they have to pay à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ 17.00 for each person. The incentive to lower the prices for groups and schools is to give the pupils and the groups an experience and a service that they want to come back. Even, if they have to pay a higher price. Efteling collaborates several times in a year with the supermarket chain Albert Heijn to give the customers of Albert Heijn a discount on tickets for The Efteling. The customer of Albert Heijn gets a savings card to collect points. The customer collects points through buying an X amount of product. If the card is full the customer gets à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ 8.00 discount of an Efteling ticket. The Efteling should give a higher discount to students. For example: the current price of a Efteling ticket is à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬29.00. With the discount of Albert Heijn it will be à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ 21.00. The Efteling should give the students a à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ 4.00 discount on top of the à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ 8.00 Albert Heijn. You could ask the question Is Albert Heijn the supermarket where students go for their groceries? Firstly, we acknowledge that Albert Heijn is not one of the cheapest supermarkets, but The Efteling has a high reputation that automatically will be linked to the supermarket. If The Efteli ng collaborates with a cheap supermarket the status of The Efteling could be damaged. The Albert Heijn has also a high status with respect to other supermarkets. So the combination of these two companies works perfectly. Secondly, it is proven through several questionnaires that a lot of students do their groceries at the Albert Heijn because it is the nearest one or because of the bonus-products that the Albert Heijn each week offers. Bonus-products are daily products that Albert Heijn offers with a discount. Market communication The Efteling has several target groups: Groups, families and companies. To communicate with these target groups The Efteling has to know their preferences to give them the service that they need. To communicate with families The Efteling has its own fairytale series. The Efteling has also a radio station where kids can listen to interviews with The Efteling inhabitants, music and fairytales. Efteling also reaches out to other companies; it offers them the opportunity to organize a certain event at The Efteling. For example: a party for all employees of a company. Efteling has a large chamber where they can realize certain events for companies. As mentioned we want to attract students as a new target group. There is a simple explanation for the reason why student do not go to The Efteling: the ticket price. If The Efteling will let the students know that they are getting a certain discount, a lot of students are then willing to go to The Efteling. The Efteling can make this possible through advertisement on universities or through cooperating with the students if the students, like our group, chose The Efteling as the company where they have to do an assignment about. If students go to The Efteling with other students and experience the event, the chance that they will go again with other students will then be higher. Then The Efteling gets a much better kind of advertisement and that is word to mouthà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ . Segmentation Market segments  ´Segmentation offers key benefits over mass marketing; it is useful to differentiate positively over our competition because it increases understanding of our customer groups ´ (Kotler et al, 2009)à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‹â€ . In this and the next section we define the targets groups mainly by age. The Efteling offers some more adventurous rides, which are aimed at a segment group of visitors aged between 12 and 25. For example the wild water rafting Piraà ±a the steel rollercoaster Python and the high speed Bobbaan, the main focus of the theme park is actually concentrated on young children and people of age over 25. Thus the majority of the rides are designed for these two targets groups, so they satisfy the perceived needs of two age segments. The whole park is built on the basic belief to construct a world, equal to a fairytale. And so are many of the rides of the park. To give some examples: The Fata Morgana in a slow river boats ride through a city taken from the fairytale 1001 nights, there is Magic forest , a haunted castle and a steam locomotive. They are all meant for one of the different age groups we defined. Demographics and Needs of the customers The Efteling is approaching to a wide base of customers. Mainly families of the middle and upper social class are targeted by the marketing efforts of the theme park. In the following, the different segments are mentioned and their needs are discussed. Children of age between 6-12: The needs of this segment is rather simple, children are confronted with advertising, mostly on TV, in which the same characters as in the series of Efteling appear. By presenting the park as a fairy-tale wonderland, the children are urged to experience it themselves. Teenagers, age between 13-19: Although not the main target group at the moment, still are important for the park, because this group represents a strong decision making unit inside the family, when it comes to vacation planning. Most of the members of this cohort are not yet able to effort to go on holidays without their parents. Their need is to have an adventurous stay at the park. They want to experience something extraordinary they can tell their friends about. Young adults 20-25: This segment is not of big interest for the park because it does not represent any major point of attraction for this group. Young parents 26-32: Couples, who have become parents not that long ago, are, in contrast to the preceding segment, of great importance for the park. This segment is typically looking for a good deal to book a short vacation or daytrip. With the relative low price for the park and its services, compared to a conventional holiday (special subscription offerings are provided), the family is buying a whole bunch of activities. In the park all needs, like entertainment for the kids, relaxation for the parents and eating out together, can be easily fulfilled, there are restaurants various attractions that are appropriate, even for small children. Adults 33-40: also strongly affected by the pull factors of the theme park, with very similar attributes of the previous group. Even though they might have older children the offerings of the park still covers those needs. Elderly 60+: In order to meet the needs of this segment, The Efteling park has thought of several convenience factors. The park is equipped with many toilets and resting areas, which allow the elderly to enjoy the park without being stressed. Many authentic, vintage rides appeal to this segment and constitute a nice contrast to faster rides. On top of that, restaurant, which offers high quality food and a relaxed atmosphere complete the offerings for this group. As The Efteling has special subscription discounts for people of age 60+ another pull factor is placed. Targeting  ´An important aspect of targeting is trying to find what target can be reached a competitive manner ´ (Kotler et al, 2009)à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‹â€ . We will focus on the target group students only. ANP (Algemeen Nederlands Persbureau) predicts the number of University students and high school students in 2012-2013 on 242.000 respectively 399.000à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ . Nowadays, students have a lot of leisure time and that is where the Efteling will respond to. This is to achieve a more equal distribution of visitors during a normal week. The weekends are very demanding in the Efteling and by offering discounts to students they can increase their turnover on the other days of the week. Positioning  ´One of the crucial pillars of the marketing strategy is positioning, it means creating awareness in the target market so that the consumer recognizes the distinctive offering and image ´ (Kotler et al, 2009)à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‹â€ . The goal of positioning is to establish the brand in the minds of consumers in order to maximize the potential benefit to the firm. The Efteling has a strong brand positioning, they try to achieve that consumers recognize the name  ´Efteling ´ and make a link with a high quality park. To achieve these consumer experiences is very important because of worth-of-mouth marketing as concluded in previous sections. When their response is positive, in this way The Efteling knows that they provide the right market offering at an acceptable price. Point-of-difference are attributes or benefits consumers strong associate with a brand, positively evaluate, and believe t

The Eastern And Oriental Hotel Tourism Essay

The Eastern And Oriental Hotel Tourism Essay The Eastern Oriental Hotel is a tranquil haven in the heart of Penang. This is a hotel with old colonial charm and the finest traditions of comfort and service. Right at its door step, it is an amazing heritage of art and architecture, festivals and food. The Eastern Oriental Hotel is just a few minute walk away from a variety of shops, restaurants, cafes, bars and clubs. Besides that, each magnificent suite is extravagantly spacious and thoughtfully furnished with modern day amenities and access to the wireless world.  The Eastern Orientals modern facilities within its enchanting ambience enable guests to pursue their business interests as well as to network, to socialise or simply to relax.   Heritage  Eastern Oriental  Hotel (listed as one of the must-visit destinations in the New York Times bestseller 1,000 Places to Visit before Your Die  by Patricia Schultz) 2.0 The market segments being targeted by the firm Eastern Oriental Hotel was established in 1885 by the Armenian Sarkies Brothers in Penang. It is a colonial-style hotel. The market segments that being targeted by EO Hotel are the foreign people, old and rich people, couples and families. The first market segments being targeted are the foreign people. They are mainly from China, South Korea, Hong Kong, Middle East, Europe and America. Almost 70 percent of guests arrivals derive from overseas markets such as the UK, Japan, Australia, Singapore and USA, with the remaining coming from within Malaysia. Some young adults from foreign countries will also stayed in EO Hotel because they can afford it and expect to get an excellent service. They feel more convenience staying at EO Hotel because there are clubs or bars around the hotel. The second market segments being targeted are the senior citizen which is age 55 above and rich people. EO Hotel is a luxury hotel and it is already 126 year in Penang. The old people like to come to EO Hotel because they come to travel, enjoy their life with the beautiful scenery and willing to spend their money after they had retired. Therefore, EO Hotel located at the Heritage of Penang, there are many Pre-war homes and historic site such as Fort Cornwallis. This can attract the old people who like about history come to travel and stay at EO Hotel. The third market segments being targeted are the couples. EO Hotel will offer the package of wedding which is the hotel will offer a room to the couples who having their wedding function at EO Hotel Ballroom. Almost all the hotel will offer this kind package to the couples who are having their wedding function at their hotel. Therefore, the couples choose to have their wedding function at EO Hotel is because EO Hotel is a luxury and famous hotel in Penang. Besides that, EO Hotel is near to the sea and the couples can have their wedding photo shooting at the seaside. The fourth market segments being targeted are the families. A family member mostly will include 2-3 kids. They will choose to stay at EO Hotel whenever they travel to Penang. When there is an activity organized near to EO Hotel, there will be more families come to stay at EO Hotel, the activity such as, Bon Odori, annual jazz festival , natural park and so on . So the kids will not get bored because in the hotel, there is a swimming pool for the kids and the adults to swim. Therefore, the parents and the kids will definitely enjoy staying in EO Hotel. 3.0 The various strategies used by the firm in marketing-mix Product In hotel, their main products are rooms followed by food beverage and then facilities. Rooms All room and suites are magnificently furnished and spacious. Each guest who stays in the EO will receives the guarantee that their personal needs and comfort are a constant focus from the moment they arrive. There are 7 types of rooms: Deluxe Suite Suite size: 58 sqm. Georgetown Suite Suite size: 79 sqm. Premier Suite Suite size: 58 sqm. Straits Suite Suite size: 87sqm. Writers Suite Suite size: 135 sqm. Pinang Suite Suite size: 241 sqm. Eastern Oriental Suite Suite size: 522 sqm. Restaurants A tantalising medley of flavours and aromas await guests in the hotels restaurants, cafes and bars, each with its own unique aura. To have a midnight snack, the Eastern Oriental provides 24-hour Room Service. Sarkies Corner Operating hours are from 6.30 am 11.00 pm (Daily) The 1885 Operating hours are from 2.30 pm 10.30 pm (Open Daily) The Bakery Operating hours are from 10.00 am 10.00 pm (Daily) Farquhars Bar Operating hours are from 11.00 am to 11.00 pm. Verandah Operating hours are from 6.30 am 11.00 pm (Daily) The Deck Operating hours are from 11.00am to 7.00pm (Daily) Facilities Sauna   Fitness Facility Meeting Rooms Babysitting or child care Banquet facilities Swimming pool ( outdoor ) Price Prices for rooms: Types of room Low season Peak season Deluxe RM 730 RM 830 Georgetown RM 730 RM 830 Premier RM 860.00 RM 960.01 Straits Unavailable Unavailable Writers Unavailable Unavailable Pinang Unavailable Unavailable Eastern Oriental Suite Unavailable Unavailable ** The prices are subjected to change according to the peak season or off season. Place Eastern Oriental Hotel is situated in Georgetown at the intersection of Farquhar Street and Penang Road. It is located at Heritage area. The Eastern Oriental Hotel is just 20 kilometres away from the Penang International Airport and within walking distance to the food havens, shopping complexes and entertainment outlets of downtown Georgetown. Guests can also take a walk to Fort Cornwallis, the City Hall and the Penang State Museum. The guests will also loves to browse the shops, bazaars and restaurants for great bargains and delicious treats, while discovering temples, mosques and churches in quiet little corners. Eastern Oriental hotel is the only one in Penang. It does not have any branches. This makes the hotel special. Promotion There are few ways to promote the EO hotel. The first way is promote through filming. Filming with celebrities is a good way to promote the hotel. For example, on the August 2011, Asian Food Channel (AFC) came to Eastern Oriental Hotel to film. This will actually helps to promote it out to those who are watching AFC channel. A Chinese local actor Ah Niu had came to film at the hotel too. This will actually let worldwide people know about this hotel. The second ways to promote the hotel is through word of mouth. The hotel can also depend on the guests to help to promote the hotels name. For examples, during the weddings night, if the services are extremely good while everything went smoothly and the banquet hall is all nicely decorated, all those who attended the dinner, will goes out to promote to his / her friends or relatives. This will actually helps to spread the good news around. This is also a way to promote the hotel. The third ways to promote the hotel is by advertising through social network. The hotel can create a page at the social network to let the worldwide people knows about the hotel and also the upcoming events of the hotel. Any promotions of the hotel can also include there. People will get update news through social networks. Examples of social networks are Facebook. 4.0 The different environment that have an impact on the firms operation The market environment consists of the various external factors that direct or indirect affect the marketing management. The marketing environment is made up of microenvironment and marcoenvironment. Microenvironment is the elements close to the organization that ability to affect a companys planning and performance. The microenvironment consists of five components which are company, suppliers, customers, competitors, and intermediaries. The first component is the company. EO hotel has several departments and management levels that can affect the marketing managements decision making. The top management of EO hotel is the one who responsible to set the company mission, vision, objectives, policies and broad strategies. Besides that, all departments must work closely with one another. Departments such as purchasing, accounting, research and development finance and etc. The second component is the suppliers of the hotel. Suppliers provide the resources needed by the hotel to produce goods and services. For example, EO hotel rely on the suppliers who provide the ingredients or raw materials to the kitchen every day. Fresh ingredients needed every day to produce quality foods. Increase in ingredients or raw material prices will affect on the marketing mix strategy of the hotel. The close relationship with the supplier is one way of ensuring competitive and quality products for the hotel.   The third component is the customers of the hotel. Western people and the age group above 50 years old are the guests of the hotel. Although the room rates of the hotel are slightly higher compare to other hotels but these two groups of people willing to pay and stay at this hotel. One of the main reason they visited EO hotel is because of EO hotel is the only five star heritage hotel at the heart of the city. Besides that, the banquet of EO hotel is fully book during weekend and peak seasons. EO hotel also provide interesting wedding package to the customers. A lot of people like to have their wedding ceremony, lunch and dinner at EO hotel. The fourth component is the competitors. The competitors of EO hotel are other heritage hotels in Penang and the hotels nearby. Other heritage hotel in Penang such as Rasa Sayang Resort and Spa is the competitor of EO hotel. Rasa Sayang Resort and Spa is a five star heritage hotel allocated at Batu Ferrighi. Their room rate and EO room rate are similar but their target market slight different. EO hotel target is to attract tourists that visited the heritage city of Penang and Rasa Sayang Resort and Spa is to attract tourists that going for relaxation and enjoying water sports. The hotel nearby EO hotel such as Bayview hotel. Bayview hotel is opposite EO hotel. The customers of Bayview hotel are the tourist travel through travel agencies and businessman. The fifth component is the intermediaries. Marketing intermediaries are firms or agencies that help the hotel to promote. There is several government websites help to promote the heritage side of Penang. Some German and Chinese movie and television program had their shooting at the hotel. The German movie entitled A Love and Death on Java and the television program entitled Discovery Travel and Living shooting at EO hotel in year 2010. Positive media attention on the hotel makes the hotel to promote well. Audience can watch the programmers through TV. It is more direct to communicate to the audience. So this is a very powerful and positive impact. Marcoenvironment is the elements which can affect how a company is operate but which are beyond its control. The marcoenvironment consists of four components such as political and legal environment, economic, social and technology. The first component is the political and legal environment. The changes in the political and legal environments at both the domestic and international levels can affect the hotel. To many hotels, domestic political considerations are likely to be of prime concern. However, hotel involved in international operations are faced with the additional dimension of international political developments. For example, the changes political in western countries will affect the business of the hotel because the hotel business depends on the western tourists. Other than that, the political of our country will also affect the business of the hotel. The tourists from other countries will less visit our country The second component is the economic. Political and economic forces are often strongly related. Economic factors are of concern to marketing hotel because they are likely to influence, among other things, demand, costs, prices and profits. The changes in world economic forces are highly significant to hotel, particularly those engaged in international marketing. However, an understanding of economic changes and forces in the domestic economy is also importance as such forces have the most immediate impact. The changes in economy cause the customers to spend less. Besides that, unemployment rate become higher because the economy become worst. These will cause the decreases the demand of many luxury goods and services. The third component is the social. Customers have differences in attitudes, beliefs, motivation, morality, superstition, and perception and other characteristics when demand of goods and services. The type of goods and services demanded by consumers is a function of their social conditioning and their consequent attitudes and beliefs. The people who willing to spend more and enjoying their holiday such as people who had retired will choose to stay at EO hotel. Mostly the guests will not visit the hotel alone. They will bring their spouses along with them. They will enjoy while staying in the hotel and willing to spend more for their lunch or dinner in the restaurant. The fourth component is the technology. The changing in technology may affect the demand for a hotel goods and services. Technological changes may create new opportunities for the hotel. Technological innovation continues to move at an increasingly rapid rate. The changing in technology will help the hotel to promote on the website. Website such as the hotel website, Penang Tourism government website, Penang heritage website and etc. Besides that, the guests of the hotel will give their feedbacks of the hotel through their personal blog, feedback, forum and etc. Through these, a lot of people will understand more about of the hotel. If there had negative comments about the hotel, this will cause the hotel had bad images. 5.0 The current trends that the organization could face 5.1 Current trends Trends means the general direction in which something tends to move while current means the latest belonging to the present time. Therefore, current trends means is the latest trends in the hotel itself. The current trend of the Eastern Oriental Hotel (EO) is the Heritage sites and is located at the center of the city. EO hotel has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008, George Town, was cited as A remarkable example of historic colonial towns on the Straits of Malacca that demonstrate a succession of historical and cultural influences arising from their former function as trading ports linking East and West. The EO hotel is a colonial hotel design that mix old-world charm with modern extravagances. Besides that having heritage sides, the different type of food also is the current trends for the EO .hotel. Penang famous of many different type of hawker food .Instead of room , EO hotel can more focus on their restaurant ,promote more of their restaurant to the outsider , so that can improve the sales of the hotel 5.2 Opportunities Opportunities mean external  chances to make greater sales or profits in the environment. Eastern Oriental Hotel is a colonial design that mixes old-world charm with modern extravagances so many people would like to have their wedding photo shooting session at the hotel due to its unique surroundings. This is a good chance to promote the environment of the hotel to the public. There will also come with a package that guest who is having wedding in their banquet; the package will come with the honeymoon suite and the facilities. Besides that, some food channel or movie company also do filming at Eastern Oriental Hotel. Example for the food channel is Asian Food Channel (AFC), for the movie is German movie entitled A Love and Death on Java at the Eastern and Oriental Hotel. For the local Chinese movie that directed by local artist Ah Niu. For the shooting photo or movie, also will make the greater sales or profits and also will increase the reputation of the hotel and also will attract others people to come. EO hotel also can promote the restaurant in their hotel , because the current trends is the food in Penang . EO hotel can do more promotion for their restaurant such as: 1885 Restaurant, The selection of inventive fusion dishes from EO hotel accomplished chefs, accompanied by a superb selection of wines, marks 1885 as the perfect choice for an enjoyable dining experience, can promote to outsider instead of just promote the hotel room, maybe they will come and dining in. The EO brand is now synonymous with premier developments, and we have been complimented that EO adds the distinct style ingredient into lifestyle. Again, we came to secure this reputation by no accident it was a conscious strategy that we worked hard towards. EO hotel could also expand internationally, either together or through strategic alliances with other global property companies to increase their brand value and presence. EO hotel can also develop new growth engines from existing and new markets. Beyond property development, EO hotel could also explore the possibility of leveraging on each others hospitality capabilities. 5.3 Strengths Strengths mean characteristics of the business or team that give it an advantage over others in the industry. Eastern Oriental Hotel is build in a good location because it is at the center of the city. Eastern Oriental Hotel is near to the seaside so that guests can enjoy the sea view from the hotel. The attraction that near to Eastern Oriental Hotel are such as: Fort Cornwallis, The City Hall and also the Penang State Museum. There are also clubs, pubs, restaurants and cafà ©s all around the place which is nearby to the hotel. Eastern Oriental Hotel is a luxury and old European style hotel, so the hotel provides good quality service, nicely designed and good quality of food and beverage. Penang current trends is different type of food, so EO hotel will be a place that the tourist not only can enjoy the Penang seaview and the heritage building of EO hotel, around EO hotel still can enjoy the culture of Penang . EO has successfully built a strong portfolio and visible premier niche brand in the property development, hospitality and lifestyle segment in Malaysia. Having established their self locally, EO hotel intend to push the boundary further by making EO an inspirational brand that is recognised locally, regionally and eventually internationally. EO hotel is a heritage hotel that has 126 years old , over its century-and-a-quarter history. Attended to by the EOs legendary butler service, each suite offers the perfect invitation to step back into the refined elegance and colonial grandeur of a golden age. So that the guest can enjoy to stay at the old colonial charm building. 5.4 Weaknesses Weaknesses mean the characteristics that place the firm at a disadvantage relative to others. The common weakness is the parking lot for the Eastern Oriental Hotel is too expensive. Normal day for the parking fees is from morning until evening is RM 5, for night time is RM 10. For peak season will increase until RM 20, sometime during public holidays, the parking fees will increase to RM 40. This is too high expenses for a driver just to park their car at the parking lot. But sometimes customers drive along the way to the heart of the city and cannot find parking, so they will choose to park at the parking lot although it is too expensive. Eastern Oriental Hotel is a luxury hotel, so the room rate or the food and beverage will be more expensive compared to others place and so because of this, Eastern Oriental Hotel is not attracted by the budget traveller, because it is too expensive for them just to stay one night. 5.5 Threats Threats mean the external  elements in the environment that could cause trouble for the business. EO hotel is a five stars hotel and Penang has a lot of different categories of 5 stars hotel such as Rasa Sayang Beach and Spa Resort, G- hotel, Equatorial and so on.So they become the competitor with EO hotel . They have different style of the hotel and concept of hotel such as : a) Rasa Sayang Beach and Spa resort Is a expansive luxury retreat in traditional Malaysian style, nestled along Penangs popular Batu Feringgi Beach. This iconic beach resort offers its guests a luxurious accommodation option replete with an array of amenities whilst situated amidst impressive and majestic scenery. Attract customer that more like to challenge or have fun in the water sport activity, such as motorboat, banana boat, parachute and many more. Besides that, Rasa sayang beach and spa resort also provide spa for guest . b) G- hotel Is a bold, beautiful creation in homage to modern, G-hotel fuses cool modernity with stylish comfort. Is located at the Penang most boulevard place. Shopping mall, Penang local hawker centre, is also a advantages that near to the seaside. The room design with concept of modern, space and comfort style . It is a business categories of hotel, so more focus on business guest and also family group . c) Equatorial Hotel The 5-star luxury hotel embraces a splendour of contemporary design.   It houses 662 guestrooms and suites, each classily furnished and facilitated with state of the art in-room amenities. The only hotel on the island which has a 9-hole international golf course, it is the top choice for executive retreats and incentive group gatherings.   It houses two Grand Ballrooms which have been intelligently built with no obstruction of columns in between reputed to be the largest on the island that can house up to 2,000 people.   There are so many different categories of hotel, so the guest will Depend on personal like to choose which hotel. So things that the guest wants or needs that EO hotel cant provide, they will choose the others hotel . That is the Threats for the hotels. Conclusion As a conclusion, marketing is very important to any hotels or businesses. Every hotel or business also need strategic and promotion to keep their sales in the safe level, so that the hotel or business wont loss of money for the others utilities, staff salary and so on. Know well about the SWOP analysis (Strength, weakness, opportunities, threats) of the hotel or business is important, because it can clearly know that what the hotel or business lack out of that need to improve more or things that need to maintain and be more better .Know well about which market segment of people that visit most to the hotel , is to maintain the group of people that visit and so try to attract new group of people to visit the hotel or business ,wont just main on one categories .Besides that , know well about the different environment will Impact the hotel or business so that will have solution or can low down the risk .Marketing is important to every company or firm , no matter is big company or small, service sector or any sector , is important to know it .