5 Simple Questions To Stay Focused On What Matters

5 Simple Questions To Stay Focused On What Matters If you asked me what the most important core principal at was, I would probably tell you that its our ability to stay focused. This means staying 100% focused on what matters most to our company, customers, and product- no matter what. Of course, this is a learned skill and definitely, easier said than done. When you work in a company with a lot of creative people, there are always a ton of ideas popping up. There is also the temptation to continually chase down those new ideas and make them a reality. After all, were a startup, right? But, chasing down our whims would take us out of focus, and that would be a bad thing for everyone. 5 Simple Questions That Will Help You #StayFocused On What MattersHow We Stay Focused At †¦ Around our office, you’ll hear the phrase â€Å"that’s a thing we could do† at least several times per day. It indicates when we’ve come across an idea that we could work on, but instinctively know we shouldn’t  because it would be out of focus. As a company, we have a roadmap for our product and distinct metrics that were working to improve. If we chased down every idea, theres a chance we could lose our focus and miss our clearly outlined goals. If we chased down every idea, wed risk losing our focus and missing our goals. But, this isn’t the only thing we do to stay focused. As a leader, I have worked to instill our team with the necessary tools for battling â€Å"scope creep† and staying focused. Author John Maxwell says that good leaders ask great questions, and that advice has become very powerful for me. I’ve come to adopt a few key questions that cut through the crud and help our team stay focused like a laser beam. Good leaders ask great questions. -John MaxwellHere are my top five questions for keeping our team (and myself) focused 100% of the time: Question #1: Whats In It For Them? This is the essential question that frames everything we do at . With every blog post, new feature, or web page, we continually ask ourselves what’s in it for the reader, visitor, or customer. Whats in it for your readers? Customers?We’re kind of obsessed with it. The beauty of this simple question is that it constantly drives us toward focusing on providing more value. It’s simple- the more value you provide your readers or customers with, the more likely they will be to reward you with their attention and business. I would say that its the single most important question for our modern economy. If you aren’t focused on providing value, you aren’t focused on anything at all. If you arent focused on providing value, you arent focused on anything at all. Learn to ask this question at the beginning of any new project to keep your work focused and on point. You might be surprised at how much clarity it brings. Question #2:  Does This Meet Our Standard Of Performance? Does everything you ship meet your teams one true standard of performance?  This question allows your team to constantly review their own work and evaluate how it compares to the quality level your entire team has committed to. Even as a tiny startup, our goal has been to provide a best-in-class experience for everyone that comes in contact with our team. We expect ourselves to  perform as well, or better, than the top five companies in our class. No matter how limited our resources are. For our content marketing team, this means that they literally focus on writing the absolute best blog post on a given topic every time. This doesn’t mean the best blog post they are capable of; it means the best blog post on the entire internet. It means that they have to push themselves further every time. Create the best work anyone has ever seen in your niche.They do a ton of research, they read â€Å"competing† posts, and then assemble a post that goes at least one step further than others on the web. They even go back and rework posts that are later determined to have fallen short. This is, of course, only possible because the team has clearly defined their standard of performance. To use this question effectively, this is also something that you will need to do. Keep things simple, and ask the question often and you should be fine. As a team, you should define a clear â€Å"standard of performance† and constantly ask yourself if youre meeting it. Recommended Reading: The Horrifying Truth About Multitasking And Productivity Question #3:  What Can You Ship Right Now? While it may feel a bit contradictory to my recent statements about quality, we also frequently ask ourselves how we can get things out the door faster and sooner. This question is related to the concept of the minimum viable product made popular in the book Lean Startup by Eric Ries. Many people associate this concept with sloppy or unfinished work, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Rather, our team uses it as a way of splitting large projects into smaller and more manageable chunks. It’s all about shaping a project to ensure that we approach it  with clear goals in mind. Focus on something that you can ship in a week.An example of this comes in a recent redesign we started for this very blog. Rather than building it all at once, we opted to make some of the backend and functional changes first using our current design. That gave us an opportunity to test them out and work through the kinks before the big launch. This prevented us from taking on more than we could handle  and allowed us to focus on creating something that we could ship in a week- thus taking advantage of some of those changes right away, rather than waiting until we completed an entire redesign. Oftentimes, this question is also phrased in terms of â€Å"what can we ship this week,† meaning what small part of the project can be accomplished without waiting on everything else to be done?  This attitude allows us to continually focus on moving things forward, rather than getting ourselves bogged down in ultra-huge projects. The idea here is focusing on small frequent wins, rather than the  more traditional pattern of infrequent but huge wins. Large projects frequently bog us down, and usually lead to low satisfaction among team members. Always focus on moving forward.  What can you ship right now? #Startups #StayFocusedBy asking yourself What can I ship right now? you will keep yourself laser-focused on continuous improvements that constantly add up over time. This means that everything you do is constantly improving, and that is a very good thing. Question #4:  Are You Building A  Monopoly? Some of my favorite startup advice comes from PayPal co-founder and venture capitalist Peter Thiel. He simplifies it all by instructing startups to always seek to build a monopoly. In a monopoly, the business owns its market. It can set its own prices, avoid the struggle of competition, and maximize its place in the industry. What Peter is talking about here is building something that is unique enough to avoid competition, or has grown so aggressively that it simply leapfrogs the competition entirely. One way that we apply this idea at is to constantly evaluate the impact of the projects we take on. We look at it as 10% versus 10x improvement. The idea is simple:  There are always things that can improve what you do by 10%, but why bother with them if there is something else that could actually improve what you do by 10 times? It’s a lot like asking if the things youre doing right now will actually pay off enough to make them worth it. If you consider every hour of your day an opportunity, what is the opportunity cost of working on the 10% when you could be doing the 10x instead? It’s a really great question for staying focused. Rather than focusing on small goals and ideas at , we constantly shuffle our priority list by its potential impact on our company, and our ability to ultimately create a monopoly in our market. You can’t build a monopoly by grinding out 10% improvements all day. You need to stay focused on the 10x growth opportunities, and constantly ask yourself if what youre doing right now has the potential to result in 10x growth. If it doesn’t, it’s time to find something else to work on. You cant build a monopoly by grinding out 10 percent improvements all day.Question #5:  Do You Have Everything You Need To Be Successful? As a leader, its my job to make sure that everyone who works at has everything they need to be successful. This may sound simplistic, but its actually very powerful. One of the things that drive  me crazy is to see team members who have not been empowered to do their job. This is not their fault; it’s mine! It may be due to a lack of time or clarity but can often arise from a lack of permission to act as well. Either way, it’s  an inefficiency that needs to be dealt with. The problem with someone not having what they need  is that they can never achieve clear focus without it. If there are too many things on their plate, how will they ever do anything well? If there is too much on their plate, how will they ever do anything well? #team #teamworkIf they don’t have the knowledge required to complete a task, how will it ever get done? Sometimes, this can also be about â€Å"permission.† If someone doesn’t have the freedom or permission to do what they need to do, how will they ever be able to focus on it correctly? My job as a leader is to eliminate roadblocks, and this question helps me find out if there are any. It also helps my team reflect on their own needs and expectations. Recommended Reading: This Is What Happens When You Ask 12 Blog Editors About Increasing Productivity Another way we do this is to simply ask three distinct questions: Whats going well? Whats not going well? What is required for a happy future? If you want to stay focused, constantly ask yourself these questions to re-evaluate your own needs or the needs of those around you. If you know where you stand, you will always be focused. What Questions Are You Asking? These are the five questions I ask our team the most often, but it is far from a complete list. Questions are powerful tools for self-reflection and leadership What questions are you asking of your team to bring laser beam-like focus? Share them in the comments or via social media. We’d love to hear! P.S. This post is part of a new series about ’s workplace, culture, and productivity. Join our official email list and never miss a post!

Principles of management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Principles of management - Essay Example The other staffs working under them just follow the tasks provided by the executives. The said structure may be considered as bureaucratic or post-bureaucratic depending upon the performance. Bureaucratic is considered when there is a value for merits, hierarchy and definite separation of responsibilities and roles. On the other hand, a post-bureaucratic organization may have the hierarchy but there is a sense of equality in voicing out opinions and ideas through dialogues. Post-bureaucratic also favors consensus which means the decision would depend upon the majority of votes or prevailing idea (DuBrin 263). Despite of the â€Å"majority wins† mentality, hierarchy still exists in post-bureaucratic organizations. Kraft was sort of a centralized rigid organization way back before its acquisition of Cadbury. After one and a half year of acquiring Cadbury, the company decided to split the organization into two namely the snack food business and grocery business (Geller). In addit ion, it also made efforts to decentralize its structure by allowing more staffs to participate in decision-making and improving the company as a whole. The decision-making involving the product development and manufacturing would be the ones transferred to the lower levels of the organizational hierarchy. In addition, the structure might look like a matrix because the information technology, human resources and logistics teams would be shared across the organization (Ferrari). Organizational structure is not the only concern in the paper as the ethical issues are also important in the productivity and performance of a company. It is already an accepted fact that making mistakes is inevitable but can be reduced by careful preparations, best practices and sound decisions. Each mistake can be detrimental to the overall state of the company so the rightness or wrongness of an action or practice is being looked at by the professionals and even by the public. After all, a business depends upon the profit that will be gained from sales that they can make from the market which includes the public. Once the public sees something wrong with the products, services or practices of a business, they will stop patronizing the business. As a result, the business will earn less due to a decrease in sales. Worst may come to worst, the business may shut down its operations. When it comes to Kraft Foods, it is not safe from ethical issues as it had been involved with two primary issues: the ethics in cloning food products and the acquisition of Cadbury. It was said that genetically-modified organisms and clones ones for food production became a controversy in the 90s when people suspect that they would not bring any good to the public. Some people speculated that those can be harmful once taken. It might have a partial truth with it but the Food and Drug Administration had released stricter guidelines in monitoring cloned food goods to ensure the safety of the consumers. Kraft ma rketed the Starlink corn which was contaminated. The said corn was used in making the Taco Bell shell which was marketed by Kraft in supermarkets (Brizek, Cameron and Woodle 5). In response, Kraft made a series of tests and when they found out the contamination to be true, they quickly pulled out the said product in the market. Another ethical issue would be the acquisition of Cadbury as Kraft made a promise not to close the plant in Summerdale community. The promise was not kept and

Conflict and friendships Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Conflict and friendships - Essay Example l consensus among developmental psychologists that security is one of the most important properties of children and adolescents’ relationships with their friends†. For example, when compared with securely attached individuals insecurely attached persons usually display lower levels of companionship with their friends, lower security levels, which are reflected in lower expectations from the friendship to help to cope with difficulties, and higher conflict levels with the friends / Hazan & Shaver, 1987/ . There are also studies, which focused on the relation of attachment styles with sex differences. These studies have shown that women display higher levels of Companionship, Protection, and Affective Bond, which men showed Aid, Security, and Help / Saferstein, Neimeyer & Hagans, 2005/. Accorging to Bukowski et al. (1994) â€Å"one of the most persistent themes in the theoretical literature regarding children’s and early adolescents’ friendship relations is that these relations are affordances for feelings of acceptance, validation, and attachment†. So, attachment style theory suggests that attachments are generally described ob the basis of certain characteristics sex of the friend is among them. One more theory investigates the dependence between the family experiences of a child and its ability and success in building close relationships with its peers. Thus, the researchers of this sphere maintain that there is a direct link between the close parent-child relationships and the quality of friendships established by a child. Both attachment and social learning theories supported the findings that children with close relations confiding relations with their mothers possessed higher quality of friendships. The most prominent such dependence becomes in comparison with children from complex or stepmother families / Dunn, Davies, OConnor & Sturgess, 2001 /. However, there is the point where the supporters of this theory split. One believe that it is the

Colgate Palmolive Industry Position

Colgate Palmolive Industry Position Colgate-Palmolive is recognized as the worlds leader in personal care sales which included oral hygiene products like toothbrushes and toothpastes. In 1991, its sales topped at $6 billion and profits at $2.76 billion as it cornered 43% of the worlds toothpaste market and 16% of the worlds toothbrush market. In the United States, the worlds largest market, Colgate-Palmolive holds the number one spot in toothbrush sales with a market share of 23%. From these statistics, one of Colgate-Palmolives main strengths is being the market leader in oral care products. Colgate-Palmolives extensive overseas reach is another main strength. Based on the data in the case study, Colgate-Palmolive introduced 275 new products worldwide and setup manufacturing facilities in China and Eastern Europe breaching the emerging economies of the 21st century. On top of that, international sales accounted for 64% of total sales and 67% of the total profits for Colgate-Palmolive. Colgate-Palmolive has an extensive Research and Development department boasting 170 employees worldwide. Though having a large RD department does not directly contribute to increased profits, Colgate-Palmolives history of innovation  [1]  in the toothbrush market is linked to its current position as the market leader in the toothbrush industry. Therefore Colgate-Palmolives strong commitment to innovation through investment in RD is a prominent strength. With an energetic and visionary leader like Reuben Mark at the helm of Colgate-Palmolive, the company has transformed itself into a lean and profitable machine, leading to increased profit margins and volume growth.  [2]  Clearly, having a visionary CEO is a strength. Colgate-Palmolives positioning strategy for its toothbrush line in food stores has aided in capturing their current dominant market share. Its in-store displays, combining toothbrushes with toothpaste packs and locating the Colgate-Palmolive line of toothbrushes in the middle of the stores shelves have contributed to this dominance. This strategy has been successful, as sales through food stores, drug stores and mass merchandising channels have produced the greatest volume and dollar sales historically.  [3]   Colgate-Palmolive has a large number of stock keeping units for their toothbrush line.  [4]  Multitudes of SKUs indicate that Colgate-Palmolive is targeting a broad spectrum of market segments in the toothbrush market, which spreads the risk inherent to carrying any product. Diversification of product types within the toothbrush market is another strength factor Colgate-Palmolive holds. Colgate-Palmolives secret weapon in the war for supremacy in the super-premium market, Colgate Precision, is proven to be very effective in removing plaque 35% more effective than existing brands and in preventing gum disease. This advantage can be attributed to the innovative design, high-tech research using CAD and infrared scanning, consumer research and extensive product testing. Although this technology is a strong argument for positioning Precision in the super-premium category, Colgate-Palmolive could also use its design aspects to improve Colgate-Palmolives existing professional and value toothbrush lines to increase their respective market shares. Colgate-Palmolives patented  [5]  innovation for Precision also stands as a strength upon which Colgate-Palmolive can lean for other market differentiating advancements. Colgate-Palmolives recent infusion of new capital into its manufacturing facilities will bode well as it prepares to battle for market share in the new super-premium market segment. Colgate-Palmolive will be able to leverage its existing relationship with its manufacturing partner, Anchor toothbrush, to quickly and cost-effectively product its newest product. Weaknesses The impending release of Colgate-Palmolives new toothbrush, Precision, may affect sales of its existing toothbrush lines. This may lead to a cannibalization of the Colgate Plus and Colgate Classic market of up to 60%.  [6]  Since the existing toothbrush lines are the cash cows  [7]  of the companys oral care division, a dismal performance by the new Colgate-Palmolive Precision might drain the cash cows of their resources altogether. Colgate-Palmolives media expenditure layout is very small compared to its rivals.  [8]  It has spent only $7 million dollars on its Colgate-Palmolive Plus marketing efforts and has only 19% of the share voice. Since media exposure fuels consumer demand  [9]  for a new product, this is one area where Colgate-Palmolive needs to have its expenditures equivalent to that of its rivals. Another marketing weakness that Colgate-Palmolive faces is its lack of professional dental endorsements, with less than half that in market share and dollar sales than that of their largest competitor, Oral-B. Similar to Colgate-Palmolives lack of professional endorsement, the Precision toothbrush does not have the fullest endorsement from the American Dental Associations (ADA). Although the ADA issued its seal to the product, the seal alone stands for little more than recognition that the toothbrush works. In fact, only when the ADA issues its seal and an official quote stating that a product is superior to similar product types, does a product receive the fullest support possible. Not having the full backing of the ADA is a weakness which Colgate-Palmolive may have to overcome to gain the professional endorsement they seek.  [10]   Opportunities Macroeconomic The emergence of the niche super-premium category presents a golden opportunity for Colgate-Palmolive to increase market share for several reasons. First, although its competitors, i.e. Oral-B, Johnson Johnson and Procter Gamble, have gained a foot-hold in this niche market already, Colgate-Palmolive can still make a dent with its new Precision toothbrush, thus enabling them to enter a new and potentially highly profitable market segment. Since the super-premium category accounts for 35% of the volume and 46% of the dollar sales of toothbrushes  [11]  this niche category may in turn result in a substantial profit margin. Secondly, with the baby boomers and younger generations becoming more concerned with the health of their gums, they will be willing to pay the above mentioned premium for a toothbrush  [12]  which is optimized for better gum care. Colgate-Palmolive can capitalize upon this demographic segment to ensure a successful release of their super-premium Precision toothbrush. Finally, since 82% of toothbrush purchases are unplanned and many consumers are unaware of the technological and cost variation among toothbrush brands,  [13]  Colgate-Palmolive could establish a media blitz with educational ads depicting Precision toothbrushes as technologically superior to its rivals at an equivalent cost. The ads can also serve to educate consumers about proper toothbrush replacement schedules to ensure effective plaque removal and gum disease prevention. Ultimately, Colgate-Palmolive could leverage their advertising campaign to boost sales and revenues. Microeconomic One of Colgate-Palmolives competitors, Johnson Johnson,  [14]  ranked third in toothbrush sales, was phasing out one of its toothbrush lines at the time of the Precision introduction. As the toothbrush market remains rather constant, courting customer from other brands, particularly ones being phased out, is a tremendous opportunity to gain market share.  [15]  Another competitor, Smithkline Beecham, was predicting an operating loss in its toothbrush business.  [16]  If the losses are sustained, it might cause Smithkline Beecham to move out of the toothbrush business all together, yet again opening the door for further gain of market share. Colgate-Palmolives constant innovation also provides an opportunity to convert consumers away from less advanced toothbrushes, such as those offered by Lever. Threats Threat of intense segment rivalry The super-premium toothbrush market is highly competitive, hosting many brands and private label toothbrushes. If any of these rivals creates a toothbrush which tops or even equals the technology of Precision, specifically if done at a lower production cost, Colgate-Palmolive may lose market share. Threat of new entrants Along with intense rivalry from existing competitors, Colgate-Palmolive has to deal with new competitors. In 1991, the toothbrush market exploded with a dramatic increase in new entrants. Proctor and Gamble introduced Crest Complete, their first toothbrush  [17]  . Smithkline Beecham entered the market with Aquafresh Flex and a 9% market share volume for 1991. Levre, Pfizer and Sunstar all entered the market in 1991 and earned a total 11% market share. These numbers reinforce the seriousness of the threat of new entrants that Colgate-Palmolive will have to contend with when they launch Colgate Precision. Threat of substitute products Similar to many industries, oral care technology has advanced tremendously since its inception in approximately 3000 B.C. The introduction of the nylon bristled toothbrush in 1938  [18]  represents one of the latest quantum improvements for the industry, however it was not the last. The introduction of electronic toothbrushes and water picks are threatening to usurp traditional oral care products market share. This is a threat which Colgate-Palmolive needs to heed, despite its confidence in the technology of Precision. Threat of suppliers growing bargaining power Colgate-Palmolive depends on Anchor toothbrush for its outsourced manufacturing. Hence, Anchor toothbrush has a decided supplier advantage in the relationship with Colgate-Palmolive. If Anchor toothbrush were to increase its supply cost, it would affect Colgate-Palmolives production costs which in turn would impact Precisions market share by potentially pricing it above even the super-premium segment. Colgate-Palmolive needs to maintain a healthy relationship with Anchor toothbrush to reduce the risk of a costly supplier switching process. Threat of buyers growing bargaining power One of the factors which can cause buyers bargaining power to grow is when the switching costs for buyers are low. Even if Colgate-Palmolive were to position Precision as the most expensive toothbrush on the market, it is still a relatively inexpensive product, compared to many daily purchases (i.e. lunch in NYC or a cup of coffee at Starbucks). Therefore, buyers can easily switch between toothbrush brands without giving the decision much thought. To combat this threat, Colgate-Palmolive could position Precision as a superior toothbrush that customers can not afford to be without. PROBLEM STATEMENT In 1992, after evaluating the current market condition and completing its research and development, Colgate-Palmolive was ready to begin marketing its newest toothbrush, Colgate Precision. Of major concern to Colgate-Palmolive was how to position, brand and communicate this new product to the general population. Colgate-Palmolive also had to develop budget constraints and generate a marketing mix that would maximize the sales and revenues of the new product. Colgate-Palmolive was faced with the decision of whether to promote the new product as a high quality niche product marketed mainly towards individuals concerned about gum disease, or as a mainstream toothbrush that would be marketed as the best toothbrush available. If marketed as a niche product, Colgate-Palmolive would target a smaller market segment without as many competitors vying for market share. A niche market segment would also be willing to pay a premium for the new toothbrush. If, however, the toothbrush were marketed as a high quality mainstream toothbrush, Colgate-Palmolive would realize revenues from larger volumes of sales despite a lower price and more competition. To reach its verdict, Colgate-Palmolive analyzed forecasted data with regard to potential sales volumes and prices, advertising, packaging, and manufacturing costs, among other factors. A summary of this analysis, and a marketing strategy recommendation follows. EVALUATION OF ALTERNATIVES In August 1992, Colgate-Palmolive had two options regarding the positioning strategy for their new toothbrush titled Colgate Precision. Their choice was to position the product as a mainstream offering or target the Precision toothbrush to a niche market. The positioning of the product would have little to do with any modifications to the actual design of this toothbrush, but would effect the perception of the toothbrush within the market. Mainstream or mass marketing refers to the mass production, distribution and promotion of a single product to all potential buyers.  [19]  Contrarily, niche marketing is a form of micro-marketing. It refers to a specifically defined group of consumers with a need that is not currently well served. A niche is created from a subdivision of a market segment.  [20]  Due to the diversity of these two market types, the decision to market the Precision toothbrush as a mass-market product or as a niche product involves analysis of the advantages and disadvantages for each. Mainstream Marketing Advantages The primary reasons to use a mainstream marketing approach is that the product is made accessible to a larger market. Marketing to a more diverse audience would enable Colgate-Palmolive to construct a more simple and direct campaign that would address the common concerns of all toothbrush buyers. Consequently, the use of television and radio would be more cost effective as it would reach this larger audience. The obvious goal of such a position would be to capture a greater return on the investment Colgate-Palmolive made on this products research and development effort. It is estimated that within twelve months this product could secure 10% of the market and a volume share of 14.7% by its second year. This would equate to 27 million retail unit sales in year one and 44 million in the second year, if positioned as a mainstream product.  [21]   Disadvantages There are also many problems with marketing Precision to the masses. In the mainstream market a higher price makes a product less attractive to the average consumer. This means that Colgate will have to price their product within reasonable alignment of other similar products in order to be a serious competitor inside this market, ultimately diminishing their potential profit margin and return on investment. There is a variance amongst consumers in relation to oral hygiene. They are classified into three groups: Involved oral health consumers Therapeutic brushers Involved oral health consumers Cosmetic brushers Uninvolved oral health consumers These segments are divided into relative percentages of adult toothbrush users. They are 46%, 21% and 33% respectively.  [22]  This illustrates that one third of the toothbrush using adult population has only little interest in oral hygiene and are probably not a worthwhile audience to which to pitch the Precision toothbrush. The expense of including these consumers in the target market would not be advisable. In the design and testing phase of the Precision toothbrush, Colgate-Palmolive accrued significant clinical data concerning the product. This information would not be relevant to the mainstream market that most likely would view it as too scientific. The Precision toothbrush was originally conceived to be a top-of the-range, super-premium product  [23]  indicating that production schedules had been developed in line with a niche marketing strategy. Mainstream marketing would require a greater volume production of the toothbrush with an estimated ten month lead time to achieve sufficient quantities of the product. This could result in an inadequate supply of the product at the outset.  [24]   The objective of the research and development group working on the product was to develop a superior, technical, plaque-removing device.  [25]  It was produced to be the best toothbrush possible and become the top-of the-range, super-premium product.  [26]  All of these phrases are heavily skewed towards niche merchandising. A mainstream product should aim to serve all of the people, all the time. This product clearly was created with niche-oriented goals. The greatest issue facing Colgate-Palmolive if they were to promote this product in the mainstream market is that it would be distributed through the same channels as an existing Colgate-Palmolive toothbrush called Colgate Plus.  [27]  Colgate Classic was the companys original entry in the toothbrush sector and was positioned as a value segment. The Colgate Plus came later and was placed in the professional segment as a higher quality product.  [28]  Including Precision as a high-end, mainstream product could potentially cannibalize Colgate Plus sales. Finally, Susan Steinberg, the product manager of Precision, felt that incorporating the new product into the mass market would require the company to delete one or more of the seven existing SKUs (stock keeping units) that Colgate-Palmolive produced.  [29]  This strategy could result in a loss of market share in the value or high-end segments. Niche Marketing Advantages Advertising companies have access to audience profiles through a wide variety of media products, such as television, radio and print media. This is the fundamental basis for successful niche marketing. A great advantage of offering any eligible product to a niche market is that it allows for a concentrated, specific advertising campaign, targeted to a specific demographic, psychographic, behavioral or geographic segment through whichever medium is most effective at reaching the specific population.  [30]  This allows efficient use of advertising budgets. Precision falls within the class of goods that could tender itself as a niche product. Developed to be the best toothbrush possible and placed in the super-premium category, this toothbrush is inherently a niche product. Members of the public most interested in this toothbrush would be those in the Involved oral health consumers groups; therapeutic and cosmetic brushers. Therapeutic brushers are interested in functionally effective products and differentiate between brands.  [31]  Both segments of customers would appreciate the scientific data Colgate-Palmolive has complied on this toothbrush. The facts that the initial clinical trials removed an average of 35% more plaque over that of Reach and Oral-B, and that it assists in the reduction of the likelihood of gum disease, would be effective information for this group.  [32]  Unlike the mass market, these are issues which a niche market segment would comprehend and about which they would care. Niche market participants are also more likely to pay a premium for this product due to the fact that Precision caters to a distinct set of needs they have. With this type of positioning, a 15% increase in price above Oral-B regular would be anticipated, bringing the cost to consumers to $2.13 per unit (more aligned with Oral-B Indicator). A mainstream market could only be anticipated to pay $1.85, in accordance with the Oral-B regular line.  [33]   As Precision was conceived more as a niche-type product, initial production was set for the lower demands of the smaller market segment. As discussed previously, to change the natural emphasis of the toothbrush to mainstream distribution would require a major overhaul of projected production schedule and costs due to the increase number of units required. Additionally, to keep Precision as a specialized product means that the new product is less likely to invade the market share of other Colgate-Palmolive products, like the Colgate Plus. This would also preserve the number of SKU that Colgate-Palmolive currently produces in the toothbrush sector. Niche markets historically attract fewer competitors.  [34]  This gives time and room for a new product such as Precision to establish itself and build up a market share before it may have to fight against a new contender. Disadvantages Marketing the Precision product to a niche market would generate less revenue for Colgate-Palmolive than a mainstream approach. Working with the estimated figures for the first two years of release generates the following table. Niche marketing Mainstream marketing Year 1 Year 2 Year 1 Year 2 No. units sold 8MM 15MM 27MM 44MM Factory list price $2.13 $1.85 Total revenue generated $17,040,000 $31,950,000 $49,950,000 $81,400,000 Obviously, the niche market revenue is significantly less than the mainstream market revenue, despite the 13% higher price. Conclusion Developing and communicating a positioning strategy for a product is necessary and critical. Differentiating a product, and the degree to which that product is differentiated, can be guided by quantifying the following criteria: Importance Distinctiveness Superiority Preemptiveness Affordability Profitability Using these parameters, a company can provide the public with a reason to buy their product.  [35]   Another tool used in solving the marketing mix problem companies face when launching a new product is a perceptual map.  [36]  This is a graphic representation of two or more features against which similar products can be ranked. When graphed, the resulting map displays areas to which the product types cater, revealing both areas of over population and areas of potential opportunity. Clusters of products exist when similar products appeal to the same consumer market participants. In these areas, competition is intense, therefore, they are not as attractive when positioning a new product. An optimal plan is to create a space within the product market that is relatively free of rivals and can enable a new product to develop and dominate. A perceptual map for Precision was created from the following data: Toothbrush Price Benefits Class Colgate Precision 0.8 0.9 Super Premium Oral-B Indicator 0.8 0.8 Super Premium Oral-B Regular 0.7 0.6 Super Premium Crest Complete 0.5 0.6 Super Premium Reach Advanced 0.6 0.5 Super Premium Aquafresh Flex 0.7 0.7 Super Premium Colgate Plus 0.4 0.4 Professional Reach Regular 0.3 0.4 Professional Pepsodent Professional 0.2 0.4 Professional Colgate Classic -0.4 -0.1 Value Pepsodent Regular -0.3 -0.1 Value Butter GUM Microtip 0.3 -0.1 Value Butter GUM Supertip 0.4 0.1 Value Menedent Pro-Core 0.7 0.7 Professional Oral-B cross action 1 0.8 Super Premium Generic Eckerd Interdental -0.5 -0.2 Value Generic Eckerd Angle -0.7 -0.2 Value Crest Advantage 1 0.8 Super Premium Recommendation Using these evaluative criteria in relation to the advantages and disadvantages of niche and mainstream marketing, we believe that Colgate-Palmolive should position the Precision toothbrush as a niche product. This would establish Precision as the leading toothbrush on the market at a competitive price. It would be a superior and distinctive oral care product. However, we believe this product would also work in the mainstream market and we envision it moving towards the mass market in the future. Once the toothbrush has established itself as a high quality product with specialty features, we believe that Colgate-Palmolive could transition the product to a wider audience. This will also allow time for Colgate to reconcile the position that the Colgate Plus product will hold relative to the Precision line. Further, we anticipate no significantly negative issues will be encountered by initially marketing Precision as a niche product and then moving it into the mainstream market. We do not believe the opposite would be true, as a niche market will most likely not accept a product that has been offered to the masses as the best value, and then marketed as a specialty item. The anticipated cyclical nature of the product on the market is well illustrated by the Boston Consulting Groups Growth-Share matrix.  [37]  The Precision toothbrush will begin as a question mark. This means the company will spend money developing and establishing the product in anticipation of increasing its market share. Subsequently, the hope would be for Precision to become a star, meaning it has been successful by obtaining a high market share and growth rate. If the product evolves into a mainstream offering by this time, the company will reap higher rewards. Going even further into the future, the toothbrush will most likely decrease its market growth rate while maintaining its high market share. At this phase the product will be a cash cow. Revenues produced from Precision at this phase can be used to establish other question marks and/or subsidize other stars if required. The final phase in this products life cycle will be a decline into dog status. This refers to the product when it has weak market share and low growth. At that point, Precision would need to be removed from the companys product line, allowed to decline further or all together repositioned in the market. At this point, the research and development phase for Precision has been completed, a thorough analysis has been performed on the current market situation, and a marketing strategy has been recommended. The final aspects of launching a new product must now be investigated product, price, place and promotion. PRODUCT Colgate-Palmolive has many important decisions to make regarding the new toothbrush before it becomes available on store shelves for customers to purchase, including the positioning strategy for the new toothbrush. To reach a conclusion, the new toothbrush must be analyzed on three product levels the core product, the actual product, and the augmented product so that customers needs are fully understood and the Precision toothbrush is correctly marketed to meet those needs. Since we are recommending that Colgate-Palmolive choose a niche market for Precision, the core benefit that the toothbrush will deliver to its users is plaque removal. Less plaque in turn leads to the added benefit of a reduction of the lik

Critical Analysis of The Awakening Essay -- Kate Chopin The Awakening

Critical Analysis of The Awakening The Awakening, by Kate Chopin, is the story of a woman who is seeking freedom. Edna Pontellier feels confined in her role as mother and wife and finds freedom in her romantic interest, Robert Lebrun. Although she views Robert as her liberator, he is the ultimate cause of her demise. Edna sees Robert as an image of freedom, which brings her to rebel against her role in society. This pursuit of freedom, however, causes her death. Chopin uses many images to clarify the relationship between Robert and Edna and to show that Robert is the cause of both her freedom and her destruction. Birds are a sizable image in The Awakening. Edna feels like a caged bird, and wishes to be freed. When Madame Ratignolle plays the piano, Edna often creates pictures in her head that represent the music. Edna's picture of a musical peice called "Solitude" is "the figure of a man standing beside a desolate rock on the seashore" (71). "His attitude was one of hopeless resignation as he looked toward a distant bird winging its flight away from him" (71). Edna feels like this man, as though she is trapped and cannot spread her wings and fly. This is a danger, however. Caged birds, although they are not free, are safe. They do not know of the dangers that can come with freedom. Once Edna tastes freedom, she does not want to go back to the safety of a caged life. She does not know of all the possible dangers, and being naive, she is very s...

Confessions of St.Patrick

Kelvin Kublall Feb, 4/2013 History of Christianity Confessions of St. Patrick St. Patricks story is a quite dramatized one, it speaks about the great things he has passed through. St. Patrick was one of the first and most influential missionaries to Ireland, bravely entering this superstitious and violent country to bring the healing balm of the gospel. Firstly He was born in Great Britain nearing the end of the fourth century. He was the son of Calpornius, who was a deacon and decurion.Patrick was of a noble birth, he was a Roman citizen. At about the near age of 16 he was captured by barbaric Irish pirates and taken to Ireland where he served as a slave tending to the sheep. During his Shepard time, he was converted to the Lord and then after 6 years, God gave him a dream to leave Ireland for his â€Å"ship awaits†. God made St. Patrick travel two hundred miles to where God told him the ship would be and boarded it and set sails back to his homeland in Britain.Now while amon g his family, he had another dream, this time a voice spoke to him telling him to return to Ireland. During this time an outlined map of Ireland was identified with the forest of foclut near the western sea. Here a childhood confession he made before he became a deacon returned to haunt him. And later there was many boasting of bringing religion to the Irish. It spoke on how they never knew God and cherished idols. Then in paragraph 42 he baptizes a beautiful Irish princess in Gods name.Then he closes his confessions by saying that those who believe in the faith of God and fear him and do only what is pleasing in His sight will glorify God’s name eternally. For those were his confessions before he died. It seems that the new church leadership did not share their predecessors’ approval of Patrick’s mission, particularly his emphasis on reaching the lost rather than shepherding the existing flock. The bishops felt Patrick’s teams were spending too much time with the pagans and not enough time tending to their own spiritual well being.Patrick quoted Mathew 28, explaining that Jesus had commanded his disciples to go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation, baptizing the nations and teaching them to obey everything he had commanded. By most accounts Patricks efforts were successful. By the end of Patrick’s approximately 30 years of ministry in Ireland, the Church was blossoming and a previously violent, pagan land was becoming much more peaceful and virtuous.Patrick’s theology also freed him to build a bridge to the Celtic culture by celebrating and emphasizing the aspects of that culture that he found good and righteous. The key to Patrick’s approach, was his ability to tell the Celtic story better than the Celts could. He offered them a more complete explanation of their history, showing how it finds its fulfillment in Jesus. Likewise we are today when doing missionary evangelism, we should conduct proper surveys of the population and know our roots before entering. Knowing our roots simply means to be grounded in the faith of Jesus.

The Narrative Style Structure of The Tell-Tale Heart - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 4 Words: 1156 Downloads: 5 Date added: 2019/10/30 Category Literature Essay Level High school Tags: The Tell-Tale Heart Essay Did you like this example? An unstable narrator is tortured, and when he can no longer take it and has reached the breaking point, the man murders his master. This is the out-of-control conflict created in Edgar Allan Poes famous short story, Tell-Tale Heart. The short story is published in 1843 and gives a better understanding of what an insane person is capable of. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "The Narrative Style Structure of The Tell-Tale Heart" essay for you Create order Edgar Allan Poe focuses part of his literature on the genre of horror to force many to take it more serious than otherwise would have (Poe-land 9). To elaborate, after reading The tell-tale heart someone would consider guilt as part of the aftermath or murder that they would not have before. Many people with mental illnesses refuse to seek treatment or are not aware of their illness. In The Tell-Tale Heart the narrator tries to convince the reader that he is not insane by explaining why he murdered his master. The narrator has both external and internal conflicts in this short story. External conflicts that the narrator faces are the eye and police, and the internal conflicts are the beating heart and his denial of insanity. Conflict is the most important narrative element in The Tell-Tale Heart, because it shows the internal battle of the narrator, the way he is trying to assimilate what has happened while dealing with his psychotic break, conveying the final event and how he is sti ll human and finally breaking when he is being questioned by the police, and feels as though they are making fun of him. What the narrator seems to be experiencing is a type of Stockholm syndrome, which means that after having lived such a traumatic experience in order to survive the victim develops feelings or an emotional bond with the captor, There was no reason for what I did. I did not hate the old man; I even loved him. He had never hurt me (Poe). According to Good Therapy, A person who develops Stockholm syndrome often experiences symptoms of posttraumatic stress: nightmares, insomnia, flashbacks, confusion, and difficulty trusting others (Stockholm). After having some realizations, the narrator has reached his breaking point, in which his psychosis starts to make him delirious and want to break free, When the old man looked at me with his vulture eye a cold feeling went up and down my back; even my blood became cold. And so, I finally decided I had to kill the old man and close that eye forever (Poe). This starts the internal conflicts within the narrator, since he claims he loves his captor bu t says he sees evil in his eye and is starting to see and hear things, all revolving around the evil eye that wouldnt leave him alone. In order to deal with his plan, the narrator is trying to find small gestures of affection to make it seem like he is still sane and capable of reasoning. By doing so, he needs to have constant reminders for himself, So, you think that I am mad? A madman cannot plan. But you should have seen me (Poe). He started to find reasoning for planning the murder, his mind was playing tricks on him by telling him he wasnt trying to kill the old man rather than kill of his eye which was full of evil, Always the eye was closed, so it was impossible for me to do the work. For it was not the old man I felt I had to kill; it was the eye, his Evil Eye. And every morning I went to his room, and with a warm, friendly voice I asked him how he had slept. He could not guess that every night, just at twelve, I looked in at him as he slept. The eighth night I was more tha n usually careful as I opened the door. The hands of a clock move more quickly than did my hand. Never before had I felt so strongly my own power; I was now sure of success. At this point, he has gone through with his plan, and he sees this as motive to be okay when the police arrive, because he is confident that he did nothing wrong, that is until he starts to realize the actual magnitude of his actions. Once he heard the last beat of the mans heart, he proceeded to dismember him and hide his body, until he realized that the old mans dying wails awoke neighbors encouraging them to call the police, I asked the policemen to come in. The cry, I said, was my own, in a dream. The old man, I said, was away; he had gone to visit a friend in the country. I took them through the whole house, telling them to search it all, to search well. I led them finally into the old mans bedroom. As if playing a game with them I asked them to sit down and talk for a while (Poe). Right now, the narrator is beginning to assimilate the fact that he just murdered someone, and will slowly begin to unravel, And the sound, too, became louder. It was a quick, low, soft sound, like the sound of a clock heard through a wall, a sound I knew well. Louder it became, and louder. Why did the men not go? Louder, louder. I stood up and walked quickly around the room. I pushed my chair across the floor to make more noise, t o cover that terrible sound. I talked even louder. And still the men sat and talked and smiled. Was it possible that they could not hear No! They heard! I was certain of it. They knew! Now it was they who were playing a game with me. I was suffering more than I could bear, from their smiles, and from that sound (Poe). The narrator is now experiencing another emotional break, he physically heard the old mans heart stop beating but as the polices officers prolonged their stay he eventually starts to get nervous which is why he believes he is hearing his heartbeat through the walls, his delusions furthermore make him believe the officers too hear it, but wont say anything for the simple reason that they are trying to play mind games with him. Overall, Poes short-story, The Tell-Tale Heart, is the gruesome narration of a man murdering his captor but strikes up conflict within himself, as he cannot be real to himself and admit he hated the old man, in his mind he believes he loved him but felt compelled that the evil in him was starting to drive him crazy. To furthermore expose his psychosis, he believes his delusions are real, he thinks he is hearing the old mans heart, bringing him to his final breaking point and confessing to the police. This conflict is what makes the story and makes it so essential due to the intensity and pulls in together all the opposite aspects of the narrators mind.