...2009” and is more profitable to game companies over physical sales (Okalow a, 2012). You may ask yourself: why are there still physical retailers if digital distribution is so much better? This is one of many problems in the current game retail industry we will be exploring. The Steam Client is a digital game retailer and a multiplayer and communications platform created by Valve Corporation in 2003. Steam has over 1500 games available and over 54 million active users and is estimated to control roughly 70% of the digital game market. Steam will be the future of game retail and it is positioning itself perfectly to do so. This paper will discuss the current state of the game industry and how and why it has gotten there. From there it will focus on how games are sold today and how retailers are positioning themselves for the future. Lastly the paper will dissect the Steam client and all it has to offer; specifically comparing it to current physical and digital retailers. As technology goes digital, entertainment media seems to be stuck in the physical past; at least for the time being. This is changing rapidly as more and more gamers are realizing the benefits of digital distribution. DFC Intelligence is forecasting that boxed retail will have declined from $29 billion in 2011 to $24 billion in 2016. Meanwhile, the market for digital distribution will grow $15 billion, to US$39 billion in 2016, up from US$24 billion in 2012 (Okalow b, 2012). The game industry has been in...
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...2009” and is more profitable to game companies over physical sales (Okalow a, 2012). You may ask yourself: why are there still physical retailers if digital distribution is so much better? This is one of many problems in the current game retail industry we will be exploring. The Steam Client is a digital game retailer and a multiplayer and communications platform created by Valve Corporation in 2003. Steam has over 1500 games available and over 54 million active users and is estimated to control roughly 70% of the digital game market. Steam will be the future of game retail and it is positioning itself perfectly to do so. This paper will discuss the current state of the game industry and how and why it has gotten there. From there it will focus on how games are sold today and how retailers are positioning themselves for the future. Lastly the paper will dissect the Steam client and all it has to offer; specifically comparing it to current physical and digital retailers. As technology goes digital, entertainment media seems to be stuck in the physical past; at least for the time being. This is changing rapidly as more and more gamers are realizing the benefits of digital distribution. DFC Intelligence is forecasting that boxed retail will have declined from $29 billion in 2011 to $24 billion in 2016. Meanwhile, the market for digital distribution will grow $15 billion, to US$39 billion in 2016, up from US$24 billion in 2012 (Okalow b, 2012). The game industry has been in...
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...Online Advertising Really Moves Offline Product Steve Warshaw, VP, Business Development, ACNielsen Phil Cara, Director, Yahoo! Inc. 6 Consumer Insight | Summer 2004| c o v e r s t o r y A woman goes online to research a question about her dog’s health. While surfing Yahoo!, she sees a dog food ad. Later that week, she goes to the store and encounters the same brand of dog food. She buys it. Breakthrough stuff? Absolutely. It may sound ordinary: Consumer sees ad; consumer responds. Yet in the world of e-commerce, manufacturers of consumer packaged goods have never been sure how often exposure to a product message online translates into a product purchase offline. Now they can be. Since 2002, ACNielsen and Yahoo! have been working together on a measurement tool to assess the correlation between a person’s surfing and shopping habits. This joint effort is called Yahoo! Consumer Direct— powered by ACNielsen, and for 18 months, Consumer Direct has combined the reach and technology of Yahoo! with the analytical tools of ACNielsen Homescan. The program evaluates the effectiveness of online advertising and promotions by consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies like PepsiCo, Kraft, Unilever and Nestlé. The study results are consistent—and satisfying. They indicate that online promotions can lift offline sales time after time, whether the item in question is a food, personal care or household product. Furthermore, each campaign has typically brought in more than twice the...
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...Inventory Management and Its Effects on Customer Satisfaction Scott Grant Eckert1 Abstract This study examines inventory management and the role it plays in improving customer satisfaction. It looks at how food companies have been under pressure to streamline their inventory systems, and the consequences of such actions. It also examines how many retailers are trying to implement a “perfect order” system and how suppliers are constantly under pressure to meet the demands of these retailers. Many food companies are, therefore, looking at various inventory management systems as they belief this will have a positive effect on the satisfaction of their customers. The paper also outlines the methodology used in the research and concludes by pointing out the limitations of the research as well as suggestions for further research. Keywords: Inventory Management; Customer Satisfaction; Grocery Companies Introduction Many food companies have been under pressure to streamline their supply chain, minimize large inventories, and cut holding cost on inventory. In the past, inventory management has focused on not running out of finished goods. This caused manufacturers to stockpile large amounts of raw materials, work in process, and finished goods. The extra finished goods would be to protect them from going out of stock. There are different costs associated with 1 Scott Grant Eckert is currently studying for a doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) at the College of Business and Information...
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...Echtelt Eindhoven Centre for Innovation Studies/Institute for Purchasing & Supply Development, Eindhoven University of Technology, PO Box 513 - 5600 MB Eindhoven, Netherlands Tel. +31 40 2473841, Fax +31 40 2465949, j.y.f.wynstra@tm.tue.nl, f.e.a.v.echtelt@tm.tue.nl Abstract This paper presents a critical literature review concerning the effects of involving suppliers in product development, the critical processes underlying the management of this involvement and the potential driving and enabling factors for managing supplier involvement in product development. Together they constitute the building blocks for a ‘input-throughput-output’ model that helps in understanding the crucial elements of how to manage supplier involvement in product development. This model draws on our previous work in this area, but focuses more clearly on the ‘inputs’ and ‘outputs’ of managing supplier involvement. Introduction to managing supplier integration in product development Literature on product innovation has been pervasively trying to distil the key ingredients for company success. Many of the internal and external actors that are involved in product development - and the interfaces between them - have been subjects of research. Especially the interface between R&D on the one side and marketing and customers on the other side has been investigated (Souder and Chakrabarti 1978; Souder 1988; Griffin and Hauser 1996; Sherman et al. 2000). Compared to this body of literature, the role of suppliers in...
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...Terracini 28, 40131 BOLOGNA BO ITALY p.barbieri@unibo.it 4 Department of Electric, Managerial and Mechanical Engineering, Via Delle Scienze, 206, 33100 UDINE UD ITALY nassimbeni@uniud.it 5 Department of Management, University of Bologna Via U. Terracini 28, 40131 BOLOGNA BO ITALY andrea.zanoni@unibo.it ABSTRACT Interest in back-reshoring strategies – intended as companies’ decisions to reverse previous off-shoring by bringing manufacturing back home – has gained momentum recently. However, little is known so far about the magnitude of this phenomenon, about its geographical boundaries, and about the underlying motivations. In this paper a characterization of back-shoring as part of the dynamics of firms’ internationalization strategies is offered. Next, building on emerging empirical evidence, open questions are identified and an agenda for research is proposed. KEYWORDS Reshoring Back-reshoring Near-reshoring Off-shoring Internationalization 1. Introduction In the last few years numerous manufacturing companies have announced the return of part of their off-shored production (either in-sourced or out-sourced) to their home countries. Industrial giants such as Caterpillar, Bosch, and Philips are featured among them, but also a plethora of smalland medium-sized enterprises that are reconsidering their international...
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...The Power of Like2 How Social Marketing Works ANDREW LIPSMAN VP, Marketing, comScore GRAHAM MUDD Head of Measurement Partnerships, Facebook CARMELA AQUINO Senior Marketing Manager, comScore PATRICK KEMP Senior Data Analyst, comScore Executive Summary The following white paper is the second in the U.S. Power of Like series, a research collaboration between comScore and Facebook to deliver unique insights on the impact of social media marketing. The research, which primarily leverages data and analysis from comScore Social Essentials™, comScore AdEffx™ and Facebook’s internal analytics platform, focuses on the impact of branded earned and paid media exposure on the behavior of Facebook Fans and Friends of Fans. The summary below establishes the key findings and implications of this research. Brands can maximize the impact of their social marketing programs on Facebook by leveraging a framework that helps them move beyond Fan acquisition to delivering reach, impact, and measurable marketing ROI. Using the Brand Page as a control panel for creating social marketing programs, brands should focus on benchmarking and optimizing on the following dimensions to deliver against their broader marketing objectives: Fan Reach Exposure in the News Feed Engagement Fans interacting with Brand Page marketing content Amplification Expanding reach by promoting content to Friends of Fans through both earned and paid means Most leading brands on Facebook achieve a monthly earned Amplification...
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...Competitor analysis: Website & Thought leadership Report by Rashmi Singh (PGDM No: 10098) Work carried out at Tata Consultancy Services, Bangalore, Karnataka Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement of Summer Internship Programme Under the Supervision of Mr. Ashish Shetty, Marketing Lead, Insurance ISU, TCS, Bangalore SDM Institute for Management Development Mysore, Karnataka, India (June 2011) SDM IMD INSTITUTE CERTIFICATE This is to certify that Ms. Rashmi Singh, undergoing PGDM program 2010-12 at this institute has successfully completed the Summer Internship Programme on the project titled ―Competitor Analysis: Website and Thought Leadership‖ at TCS, Bangalore, from April 01, 2011 to May 31, 2011 as a partial requirement for completion of his PGDM curriculum. Prof. Govinda Sharma Internal Faculty Guide SDM IMD, Mysore. Date: 24/06/2011 Place: Mysore Summer Internship Project Page 2 SDM IMD Acknowledgement I take this opportunity to extend my sincere gratitude to our guides at Tata Consultancy Services, Mr. Ashish Shetty and Ms. Varsha Nair who spent a lot of time mentoring and guiding us. The insurance ISU was a completely new arena for us. We stumbled a few times, yet they have been very patient and supportive with us, always encouraging us to give our best. I also thank the Academic relationship manager, TCS, Mr. Chandra Koduru, for helping us with the joining formalities and induction program. I would also like to thank Prof. N. R. Govinda Sharma...
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...Racially Biased Policing Turns Fatal B.J. Johnson English 102 December 2014 This past summer on August 9th, in Ferguson Missouri, Officer Darren Wilson heard a dispatcher report of a stealing in progress. Following protocol, Officer Wilson radioed in to offer help to the officers searching for the suspects in question. Wilson’s offer wasn’t needed due to the fact that the suspects had disappeared. Moments later Wilson drove past two young black males and ordered them to move off the street. After a second look, Wilson realized one of the young men matched the description of the stealing progress. Wilson radioed for backup and in little over minute and young man lay dead at the scene. He was unarmed. That young man was Michael Brown; the 18-year-old black boy who’s shooting this past summer sparked a major controversy and raised a lot of questions about Police Shootings in the U.S. and their undeniably pattern of racial issues. Currently young black males risk of being shot by police officers is 21 times more likely greater than young white males (Staples). Due to police tactics motivated by racial profiling, racially bias news and media that enhance minority stereotypes, United States law enforcement is targeting minorities that results in Police Shootings caused by racism. After Michael Brown’s tragic death, many realized that our country had seen similar circumstances like this before. A young, unarmed, black male shot dead, taking with him, the alternative...
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...Introduction In this assignment, I will discuss and compare University of KwaZulu Natal (UKZN)’s Human Resource (HR) practices to that of Unilever and Johnson & Johnson (J&J). I will critically analyze the case study provided (Johnson & Johnson vs. Unilever) in comparison to university’s current HR practices. The focus will be on recruitment and selection processes, talent management and diversity management. In the case study between Unilever and Johnson & Johnson, the focus is on recruitment selection of managerial staff and also on development of managerial staff, for UKZN I will focus on general recruitment. RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION Recruitment and selection can be described as a process of identifying and hiring the best candidate who is right suited for the job and its requirements, the organizational environment and its culture. According to Robbins, et al. (2009, p. 450) the most important and critical decision HR personnel has to make is to effectively select the right people by figuring out the right match between individual’s ability, experience, attitude, skills and knowledge and job requirements. This is not always easy and in most cases not achievable as lot of factors like organization’s adherence to recruitment and selection policies, processes used, Government regulations e.g. Employment Equity Act, budget for recruitment and lastly the urgency to fill the position shift the focus of hiring the “best” suited candidates. Recruitment and Selection:...
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...Asia-Pacific Research and Training Network on Trade Working Paper Series, No. 99, April 2011 Utility of Regional Trade Agreements: Experience from India’s Regionalism by Sejuti Jha* * PhD Scholar, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, New Delhi. The author is grateful to Biswajit Nag, Rajan Sudesh Ratna and Mia Mikic for valuable comments. The paper benefited from the comments received from the participants at the second Empirical Issues in International Trade and Finance conference, organized by IIFT at New Delhi, 16-17 December 2010. The opinion, figures and estimates are the sole responsibility of the author and should not be considered as reflecting the views or carrying the approval of the United Nations, ARTNeT and the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade. Any errors are the responsibility of the author, who can be contacted at sejuti.jha@gmail.com. The Asia-Pacific Research and Training Network on Trade (ARTNeT) is aimed at building regional trade policy and facilitation research capacity in developing countries. The ARTNeT Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about trade issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. ARTNeT working papers are available online at www.artnetontrade.org. All material in the working papers may be freely quoted or reprinted, but acknowledgment is requested, together with a copy of the publication containing...
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...Gülden Turhan, *Ahmet Özbek Factors Affecting Consumers’ Behavioural Intention Towards Apparel Stores: A Test of the Mediating Role of Brand Satisfaction Abstract The research studied the factors that affect consumers’ behavioural intention towards apparel stores. Three different aspects of behavioural intention were examined: consumers’ purchase intention (PI), willingness to pay more (WPAY), and brand recommendation (RECM). Specifically the authors propose a model in which consumer satisfaction with the store brand mediates the effects of attitude towards sales personnel and the convenience of the store’s payment conditions or options on PI, WPAY, and RECM. The relationships hypothesized in the model were tested using two apparel store brands familiar to consumers in the city of Istanbul, Turkey. All findings were in favour of the model proposed for both apparel store brands studied, which were either a sample of men or women. Key words: satisfaction, willingness to pay more, purchase intention, recommendation, payment conditions, attitude towards sales personnel. Marmara University, Faculty of Technical Education, Department of Textile Goztepe/Kadıkoy, 34722, Istanbul, Turkey E-mail: gturhan@marmara.edu.tr *Sinop University, Gerze Vocational High School, Department of Textile Samsun-Sinop Karayolu uzeri Ataturk Mah., 57600, Sinop, Turkey E-mail: ahmetozbek@sinop.edu.tr GENERAL PROBLEMS OF THE FIBRE AND TEXTILE INDUSTRIES n Introduction To date, a vast amount of...
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...and companies’ own employees Corporate Social Responsibility vs. Employees Most of the current researches and data available today regarding Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives are on the cause and effect of CSR initiatives on the customers’ perception of the company. According to those data, it is apparent that the more companies are involved with CSR initiatives, the better they perform in terms of customers’ brand and product evaluations (Klein). There is also quite a bit of information on how customers nowadays view company’s CSR with increasing weight and importance. However, there seems to be a shortage of information on how companies’ CSR initiatives affect their own employees. Because employees are the primary stakeholders who directly contribute to the success of the company, understanding employee reactions to CSR is helpful in discovering potential effects of CSR on firms and causes leading up to these effects (Bauman). Through observing employees’ perception on CSR and their attitude change due to their company’s investment in CSR, we can delve deeper into the intrinsic motivation behind companies’ CSR initiatives, rather than purely focusing on the results. The purpose of this research paper is to address this specific topic: relationship between CSR and companies’ employees. In addition to providing you with great insights on CSR’s impact on employees, this research paper will also give you recommendations on how to improve this relationship...
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...our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction,...
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...Hybrid Cars IQP A Study on Hybrid Cars: Environmental Effects and Consumer Habits An Interactive Qualifying Project to be submitted to the faculty of Worcester Polytechnic Institute in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Science. Submitted By: Michael Beliveau James Rehberger Jonathan Rowell Alyssa Xarras Submitted to: Submitted: 28 April 2010 Project Advisor: Prof. Chickery Kasouf 1 Hybrid Cars IQP Table of Contents List of Figures ................................................................................................................................................ 4 Abstract ......................................................................................................................................................... 5 Executive Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 6 Chapter 1. Chapter 2. Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 9 Literature Review ................................................................................................................ 12 2.1 Environmental Effects ....................................................................................................................... 12 2.2 Emissions ............................................
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