Essay Sample on Marriott Corporation The Marketing Research

Essay Sample on Marriott Corporation The Marketing Research Marriott functions in three main areas: lodging (Marriott Hotels and Resorts, Marriott Suites, Residence Inns, Courtyard Hotels, and Fairfield Inns), contract services (Marriott Business Food and Services, Education, Health-Care, In-Flight Services, and Host International, Inc.) and restaurants (family restaurants, Travel Plazas, and Hot Shops). It is probably best known, however, for its lodging operations. Marketing research at Marriott is done at the corporate level through the Corporate Marketing Services (CMS). CMS’s goals include providing the management of the different areas of Marriott with the information they need to better understand the market and the customer. CMS conducts many different types of research. They use quantitative and qualitative research approaches such as telephone and mail surveys, focus groups, and customer intercept to gain more information on market segmentation and sizing, product testing, price sensitivity of consumers, consumer satisfaction, and the like. The process of research at Marriott is a simple stepwise progression. The first step is to better define the problem to be addressed and the objectives of the client unit and to develop an approach to the problem. The next step is to formulate a research design and design the study. CMS must decide whether to conduct its own research or buy it from an outside organization. If the latter option is chosen, CMS must decide whether or not to use multiple firms. Once a decision is made, the research is carried out by collecting and analyzing the data. Then, CMS presents the study findings. The final step in the research process is to keep a constant dialogue between the client and the CMS. During this stage, CMS may help explain the implications of the research findings or may make suggestions for future actions. This is a sample Marketing essay written from scratch by one of our academic writers. If you want to order a custom term paper, essay, research paper, thesis or dissertation contact our company now.

Why Competition is Good in Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Why Competition is Good in Business - Essay Example This paper illustrates that the tendency to compete with rivals to become superior can be identified in human beings right from their childhood. They try to take several approaches in order to face the competition from the real world. Sibling rivalry, reward from little things and development of new skills from competition help the children to sense the urge of competition right from childhood. An organization needs to distinguish itself from the competition through industry analysis, outshining competition, focus on effective customer service, and development of business operation opportunities. It is true that feelings of competitors can change the behavior and thought process of individuals. According to the social psychology competition helps to improve overall individual performance. Sometimes it can hamper performances. The role of technological innovation is pivotal to foster the overall business growth. The key driver for innovation is competition between the companies. Compa nies need to develop new ideas to maintain its competitive advantage over other rivals. Business organization is pushed by competition to innovate and gain profits from their innovation. The drive of competition is to develop new product and increase market share of a company. Innovation can lead to product diversification, increase of competitive advantage, upsurge of profit margin and fulfillment customer needs. If a company is only a single player in the field, it becomes quite difficult to innovate. Company working in a crowded market must be forced to innovate to be distinguished from other businesses. Company can be over-reliant on new products which can eventually lead excessive expense of marketing. During the product lifecycle, innovation can imply huge investments and it cannot be paid back. New technology can often lead to significant upfront in expenditure.   Small organization may not have the resources to innovate new products.   Over dependent on innovation can so metimes be a downside which is hard to overcome.

Individual privacy vs. National Security Research Paper

Individual privacy vs. National Security - Research Paper Example These efforts by the government were aimed at enhancing national security. The mode or tactics applied by the federal government to ensure national security has raised question from the public concerning the cost the public needs to pay for a secure nation. Civil liberties are personal freedoms and guarantees that are beyond the control and regulation of the federal government. With the current anti terrorism trend, the government has been forced to draw a boundary between civil liberties and war on terrorism. The federal government should promote civil liberties and democracy despite the current security concerns. This analyzes the importance of maintaining personal privacy without compromising national security and war against terrorism. The US patriot act was introduced after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. According to our research findings, the Act was introduced to unite American and prevent any future acts of terrorism (Sunstein, 2003). The Act was therefore meant to prevent terrorism by punishing terrorists across the United States and around the world. Fighting terrorism is a good thing however; the American government seems to have taken the fight to an extreme end. This is because the war on terrorists ended up on people’s doorstep making them to become victims of the war. Since the implementation of the Patriot Act, the First and Fourth Amendment were changed to heighten war on terror. This led to a compromise on people’s freedoms. Firstly, the first and Fourth amendment considered the national security as a priority. Since the implementation of the Patriot Act, the first and fourth amendments were changed to enhance national security. This implied that according to the act the authorities had the rights to vary and at sometimes compromise people’s freedom in their fight against terrorism. Personal privacy is a civil liberty; according to the constitution, the government has a duty to ensure that it protects human righ ts. The national Act was designed to fight terrorism, had little or no concern over individual privacy and civil liberties. Although fighting terrorism to ensure national security is, a good thing for the government it is costly and therefore the government needed to think otherwise. The cost that the government incurred in ensuring national stood out as an opportunity cost. The government needed to consider the opportunity cost that it suffered in ensuring national security at the expense of civil liberties. From the investigations, it was found out that the government incurred heavy costs through Loss of credibility and trust among its people. If the government considered these cost then it could have realized that enhancing civil liberties was beyond national security. Fighting terrorists is the responsibility of the government. I have no any problem with the efforts the government took to fight terrorists. Every American citizen believes that war against terrorist compromises pe ople’s democracy and should have been controlled. Democracy was established to enhance people’s freedom on their movement, speech, and personal privacy among other civil liberties. Personal privacy is a civil liberty and hence a symbol of democracy. From the investigation, it was established that the authorities had difficulties distinguishing terrorists from citizens.

Effect of Acculturation on Consumer Behaviour

Effect of Acculturation on Consumer Behaviour Acculturation and affect of it on ethnic minorities consumer behaviour. Abstract: This paper presents what acculturation is and its impact on consumer behaviour. Acculturation represents a multifaceted and ongoing process where the continual interactions between the minority and dominant ethnic group iteratively affect cultural attitudes, behaviours and values across society. An important aspect of the acculturation process is often the need for individuals to demonstrate success in life, either to the dominant societal group or to their own ethnic group. This behaviour is consistent with consumer acculturation theories that argue that products imbued with cultural meaning are deliberately consumed by ethnic minorities to demonstrate their cultural adaptation. This is the process of acculturation. Introduction: An alternative consumer acculturation perspective is that ethnic minority individuals who demonstrate conspicuous consumption often do so in order to show their sense of rejection from the dominant society. This rejection may arise from experiences of racism often culminating in poor academic performance, inability to obtain well-paid jobs and struggles to establish a self-identity that is both recognized and valued by their own ethnic group and others. The ethnic minority persons sense of rejection may then be represented by the consumption of products that differentiates them from the dominant group and highlights their differences. A consumption act potentially reflects their perceived sense of rejection and demonstrates their inability and unwillingness to conform to the dominant societal culture. Main body : The contention is that there are variations in purchase decisions of micro cultures. It is thought that the division of subcultures will give academicians and practitioners with better and more correct data from which to understand the customers who acculturate. Research in this area will let greater and more precise intercultural comparisons. We also hypothesize that the currently identified social categories are far and too broad to prove meaningful utilization patterns or be predictive of future consumption behaviour, with the changing ethnic origin county. Dimensional nature of acculturation: To consumer researchers, acculturation is measured by some scale on various items relating to the respondents acculturation process, such as language favourite and knowledge about the host culture.   A respondents scores on all items are then put together (or further averaged) to yield a single score of the respondents acculturation level.   This practice assumes acculturation to be one-dimensional and therefore can be expressed by a single score.   However, research in psychology and sociology has shown that acculturation is a more compound multidimensional idea. A noticeable study from the above is that different researchers have proposed different structures for the acculturation. Some look at only behavioural, some use purely attitudinal elements, yet others join both behavioural and attitudinal elements in the structure. Although these structures differ from each other, they all state that acculturation is a one-dimensional form, but a multidimensional construct.   Therefore, when a researcher declares level of acculturation with a single score, the result may be prejudiced and may not reflect the real influence of the different aspects of acculturation. Way acculturation can influence consumer behaviour is through the maintenance and change of the acculturating individuals self-identity.   The acculturation process obviously has a significant impact on the individuals self.   It is main for the individual to get used to the changes while at the same time maintain an incorporated self.   The conflict between change and continuity in the acculturation process is reflected in the products the customer consumes and the way consumption takes place. Ecological factors and individual characteristics also play a vital role in the acculturation process and in the connection between acculturation and consumer behaviour. Acculturation and Consumer Behaviour One central way to differentiate between members of a subculture is to think the degree to which they keep a sense of identifying with their home country vs. their host country. â€Å"Acculturation refers to the process of progress and alteration to one countrys cultural environment by an individual from another country† (Blackwell, Miniard and Engel, 2007). The nature of this change process is affected by many aspects. Personal differences, such as whether the person speaks the host country language. The persons contacts with acculturation causes people and establishments that educate the ways of a culture are also crucial. Some of these agents are united with the culture of origin (in Sevgis case, Turkey). These factors include family, friends, the mosque, local businesses and Turkish-language; media that keep the shopper in touch with his or her land of origin. Other agents are linked with the culture of migration (in this case, the Netherlands), and help the consumer to learn how to pilot in the new surroundings. These comprise state schools and Dutch-language media. As immigrants become accustomed to their new surroundings, some processes come into work. Movement refers to the things appealing people to pull up themselves physically from one location and move to another. Although many ethnic members all over Europe are second generation (born in the country where they live), their parents are more probable to have been the first to arrive in the new country. On arrival, settlers come across a need for transformation. This means attempting to master a set of rules for functioning in the new situation, whether learning how to interpret a different currency or understanding the social meanings of strange clothing styles. This cultural knowledge directs to a process of adaptation, where new consumption patterns are formed. As clients experience acculturation, several things happen. Many immigrants suffer (at least to some extent) assimilation, where t hey agree to products that are recognised with the mainstream culture. At the same time, there is an effort at maintaining of practices related with the culture of origin. Immigrants stay in touch with people in their country, and many go on to eat ethnic foods and read ethnic news-papers. Their continued credentials with their home culture may cause conflict, as they hate the pressure to plunge their identities and receive on new roles. These processes show that ethnicity is a flowing concept, and that the borders of a subculture are continuously being recreated (Laroche et al. 1998 as cited in Palumbo and Teich, 2004). An ethnic pluralism perspective argues that ethnic groups diverge from the mainstream in shifting degrees, and that adaptation to the dominant society occurs selectively. Research facts argue against the view that assimilation essentially entails losing identification with the persons original ethnic group. For example, Sevgi feels relaxing in conveying her ‘T urkishness in a variety of consumption associated ways: the magazines she buys, the TV programmes on the Turkish network she wishes to watch, her selection of ethnically suitable gifts for events such as weddings and bayram(religious holidays).   Otherwise, she has no problems at all in communicating consumption behaviours of the mainstream culture she loves eating drop (Dutch liquorice), buys ‘Western music and has her favourite clothing for going out to the theatre and clubs. The researchers argue that the best pointer of ethnic assimilation is the scope to which members of an ethnic group have social exchanges with members of other groups in comparison with their own. A consumers way of life refers to the ways he or she decides to spend time and money and how his or her values, attitudes and tastes are reproduced by spending choices. Lifestyle research is helpful to track societal consumption preferences and also to place specific products and services to different sections.   Marketers segment by lifestyle distinctions, often by grouping consumers in terms of their AIOs (activities, interests and opinions). Psychographic techniques try to categorize consumers in terms of psychological, subjective variables in addition to visible features (demographics). A variety of systems, such as RISC, have been developed to identify consumer kind and to distinguish them in terms of their brand or product liking, media usage, leisure time manners, and attitudes towards such broad topics   as politics and religion. Interconnected sets of products and activities are associated with public roles to form consumption gathering. People frequently purchase a product or service because it is associated with a group which, in turn, is linked to a lifestyle they find attractive. Where one comes from is often a significant determinant of lifestyle. Many marketers identify national or regional diversity in product preferences, and develop different editions of their products for different markets. Because a consumers culture exercises such a huge influence on his or her lifestyle choices, marketers must learn as much as possible about differences in cultural rules and preferences when marketing in more than one nation. One important issue is the level to which marketing strategies must be customized to each culture, rather than standardized across cultures. A set of techniques called geo-demography investigates consumption models using geo-graphical and demographic data, and identifies bunch of consumers who exhibit similar psychographic characteristics. Consumers identify with many groups that share general qualities and identities. These large groups that live within a society are called subcultures, and membership in them often gives marketers a important clue about individuals consumption decisions. A large constituent of a persons identity is defined by his or her ethnic origins, racial identity and religious background. The growing numbers of people who argue multi-ethnic back-grounds are starting to blot the traditional peculiarities drawn among these subcultures. Recently, several minority groups have trapped the interest of marketers as their financial power has grown. Segmenting consumers by their ethnicity can be of use, but care must be taken not to depend upon inaccurate ethnic typecasts. Because a consumers culture exerts such a major control on his or her lifestyle options, marketers must discover as much as possible about differences in cultural standards and preferences when marketing in more than one country. The appearance of immigrants as a new market opportunity has discussions of immigrants consumption behaviour by both practitioners and academic researchers.   Studying the immigrants acculturation process and their consumption nature present us both a better view of this specific segment and a better understanding of the cultural dynamics fundamental consumer behaviour. Study of acculturating customers can offer us insight into immigrants consumer behaviour and consumer behaviour in common.   With more research undertaken, it can be expected to see extended knowledge of acculturating individuals consumption experience and a more complete understanding of consumers.   The model suggests two paths through which acculturation can influence consumer behaviour.   One is through consumer re-socialization. The other is through the individuals self- management when faced with remarkable changes in the self regularly characteristic of the acculturation process.   Environmental facto rs and individual demographic, socioeconomic, and psychological characteristics can influence both paths and therefore temperate the relationship between acculturation and consumer behaviour. Several orders for future research can be immediately seen.   First, most research has seen acculturation as a one-dimensional construct.   Future research should recognize the fact that individuals accepting the new culture do not necessarily throw away their original cultures.   They can adopt a variety of acculturation strategies including separation and integration.   Psychologists and sociologists have developed multidimensional methods of acculturation that can be adapted to consumer research.   Consumer researchers can also incorporate measures of assimilation and measures of ethnic identification to form a two-dimensional measure of acculturation.   Both construction and corroboration of acculturation measures fitting for consumer research are needed. Second, consumer researchers can study acculturating individuals consumption experience from consumer socialisation outlook.   Some research has been undertaken in this direction.   Penaloza (1989) projected a mo del of consumer acculturation based on consumer socialization.   There are also studies on acculturating individuals information probing behaviour and their dealings with socialization agents such as mass media (DRozario and Douglas 1999; Lee 1989).   More research is needs that study the influence of other socialization agents such as peers and institutions on an acculturating individual and how he or she interacts with them.  Ã‚   Studies on mass media can also be approved further to learn acculturating individuals media use pattern and how different patterns show the way to different consumption related awareness, approaches and values. Thirdly, how acculturating individuals supervise their self-concept during the acculturating process and how different management strategies are toughened and mirrored in the individuals consumption need to be looked at.   Consumer researchers have apprehended the impact of self-concept in consumption and have argued that belongings are part of an individuals extended self (Belk 1988).   These concepts can be applied to acculturating individuals to find out how dynamics of the self are coupled with consumer behaviour. Lastly consumer researchers should put together more hard work to study how an individuals demographic, socioeconomic and psychological characteristics can influence his or her acculturation process and consumption.   Researchers should go ahead of measuring these variables only for testing external strength, but should also study these variables themselves as they may have important suggestions on how acculturating consumers learn and consume.   Efforts should especially be made to identify variables applicable to consumer research and to establish measures of these variables.   Numerical tests can also be done to test these variables reasonable effects and their indirect effects on consumer behaviour. Conclusion: Consumer acculturation can be studied on the base of consumers socialisation. Ethnic identification and level of assimilation are often used to individuals within these minority groups. Acculturation affects consumer behaviour according to both assimilation and unique behavioural model showing the acculturating individuals in their eagerness to adjust to the culture of residence, may develop different social perceptions and behaviour patterns. The paper has attempted to determine the various aspects of acculturation in relation to different ethnic minorities.   Reference Barnett, H. G., Bernard. J. Siegel, Evon Z. Vogt, James B. Watson. 1954. Acculturation: An Exploratory Formulation From the Social Science Research Council Summer Seminar on Acculturation, 1953. Blackwell, Miniard, Engel, (2007) Consumer Behaviour, Tenth Edition, Thomson South-Western. Palumbo and Teich (2004) â€Å"Market segmentation based on level of acculturation†, Journal of Marketing Intelligence and Planning, Vol: 22, Issue: 4, pp. 472-84.   Jamal (1996) â€Å"Acculturation: the symbolism of ethnic eating among contemporary British consumers†, British Food Journal. Solomon et al, (2008) â€Å"Consumer Behaviour: A European Perspective†, Third edition, Pearson publications, U.K

Relationship Between International Law And Municipal Law

To know the relationship between International law and Municipal law, it is important to know what these to laws are. International law is the rules and conducts which deals with the conduct of states. To put into simpler terms, the international law is a set of rules in which the countries use in dealing with each other. The Municipal law is the internal law of the land. There are different theories that distinguish the difference of the two laws. The dualists or the pluralist theory states that international law and municipal law are different with each other in terms of their source, the relations they regulate, and their substance.Both of the laws differ in source because the international law came from treaties and customs grown among states while the municipal law is a product of local or domestic custom. They differ in the relations they regulate. How? The international law regulates the relationship of states with one another and is concerned with the external and foreign aff airs of the state while the municipal law regulates the relationship of individuals under the state and is concerned with the domestic affairs of the state. They also differ in their substance.The international law is a law between sovereign states while municipal law is the law of the sovereign over the individuals in the state. In this theory when a conflict arises as to whether what law should be used in dealing with an issue, the municipal law prevails. The dualists are positivists that biases greatly on state sovereignty. Next theory is the monistic theory or monism. In this theory, the international law and the municipal or domestic law are under one system of law. But there are two monistic theories that states what law should be used in settling disputes or the likes.One monistic theory has a stand that international law is superior to municipal law which is supported by Kelsen. It holds that international law is superior to municipal law because monistic theorists believe t hat international law can instill domestic order. Kelsen also believes that the international law encompasses every aspect of human life. Monistic theorists also see international law as a collective outcome of different local sovereigns. The other monistic theory believes that municipal law is superior to the international law

10 Herbal Medicine

The  Philippine Department of Health (DOH)  has endorsed ten (10) medicinal plants to be used as herbal medicine in Philippines due to its beneficial effects. These herbal medicines have underwent clinical studies through the Philippine Department of Health's  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Traditional Health Program†Ã‚  to offer as alternative to conventioanl medicines. Below is the list of these medicinal plants: 1. Akapulko (Cassia alata)  Common names include â€Å"bayabas-bayabasan† in tagalog, â€Å"ringworm bush or schrub† and â€Å"acapulco† in English, this Philippine herbal medicine is used to treat tinea infections, insect bites, ringworms, eczema, scabies and itchiness. . Ampalaya (Momordica charantia)  Common names include â€Å"bitter melon † or â€Å"bitter gourd † in English. This Philippine herbal medicine has been found to be effective in the treatment of diabetes (diabetes mellitus), hemofrhoids, coughs, burns and scalds, and being studie d for anti-cancer properties. 3. Bawang (Allium sativum)  Common name in english is â€Å"Garlic†. Bawang is a used in Philippine herbal medicine to treat infection with antibacterial, antiinflammatory, anti-cancer and anti-hypertensive properties. It is widely used to reduce cholesterol level in blood. . Bayabas (Psidium guajava)  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ â€Å"Guava† in English. A Philippine herbal medicine used as antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, anti-spasmodic, antioxidant hepatoprotective, anti-allergy, antimicrobial, anti-plasmodial, anti-cough, antidiabetic, and antigenotoxic in folkloric medicine. 5. Lagundi (Vitex negundo)  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ known as â€Å"5-leaved chaste tree† in english is used in Philippine herbal medicine to treat  cough, colds and fever. It is also used as a relief for asthma & pharyngitis, rheumatism, dyspepsia, boils, and diarrhea. 6. Niyog-niyogan (Quisqualis indica L.   Ã¢â‚¬â€œ is a vine known as â€Å"Chinese honey suckle†. This Philip pine herbal medicine is used to eliminate intestinal parasites. 7. Sambong (Blumea balsamifera)- English name: â€Å"Ngai camphor or Blumea camphor† is a Philippine herbal medicine used to treat  kidney stones, wounds and cuts, rheumatism, anti-diarrhea, anti spasms, colds and coughs and hypertension 8. Tsaang Gubat (Ehretia microphylla Lam. )  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ English :†Wild tea† is a Philippine herbal medicine taken as tea to treat skin allergies including eczema, scabies and itchiness wounds in child birth 9. Ulasimang Bato | Pansit-Pansitan  (Peperomia pellucida) is a Phillipine herbal medicine known for its effectivity in treating arthritis and gout. 10. Yerba Buena  (Clinopodium douglasii)  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ commonly known as Peppermint, is used in Philippine herbal medicine as analgesic to relive body aches and pain due to rheumatism and gout. It is also used to treat coughs, colds and insect bites Types Of Herbal Medicine Medicinal plants can be used by anyone, for example as part of a salad, an herbal tea or supplement. Many herbalists, both professional and amateur, often grow or wildcraft their own herbs. Making your own herbal medicine preparation is not only fun, but can be cost-effective. In using the above mentioned herbal medicines, some may require some degree of skill, you have to use your own judgement if you decide to use one. Below is a list of general ways on how to prepare your own herbal medicine. The list is not all inclusive and you have to see individual articles for the herb you use so that you will know how to prepare them. Herbal Teas There are two methods of making herbal teas, infusion and decoction. Infusion is steeping lighter parts of the plant (leaves, flowers, light stems) in boiled water for several minutes. Decoction is boiling tougher parts, such as roots or bark for a longer period of time. Herbal teas are often used as a home remedy, and as an alternative to tea and coffee. As a general rule unless recommended by a herbalist, Prepare 1 teaspoon of dried herb for every 1 cup of water. Let it steep in boiling water for 10 to 20 minutes. Strain the herbs out and drink 3 to 4 times a day. Herbal Tinctures Steeping a medicinal plant in alcohol extracts the alcohol-soluble principles into a liquid form that can be stored for long periods. Herbalists may mix several herbal tinctures to form an individualized prescription for each patient. Plant tinctures are also the basis for many homeopathic medicines. To prepare your herbal tincture you will need: 8 ounces of finely cut dried herbs, 1 large glass jar that can hold 4 cups of liquid 2 cups of vodka Instructions: Put the dried herb into a large, glass jar and pour in equal amount of liquid, making sure the herbs are completely covered (this is very important). Store the jar in a cool, dark place for at least two weeks, preferably 4. Make sure to shake the mixture every day. When ready to use, filter the mixture using a cheesecloth bag, coffee filter, or fine cloth, capturing the tincture liquid below in another container. Store the tincture in clean, dark glass containers, out of the sun. If stored properly the tincture will be preserved for two or more years. Vinegar tinctures should be refrigerated. Note: A drop of tincture is equal to 1 tsp of herb juice. For Vinegar Tinctures, use 1 ounce of herb per 5 ounces of vinegar. Fluid Extracts Fluid extracts are stronger than herbal tinctures, and can be made with alcohol or glycerin. Herbal Poultices Poultices are a solid, vegetable fat based mixture used externally. They have the shortest life span of any herbal remedy and must be made fresh for every use. Powdered Herbs And Tablets Herbs that are dried and (sometimes) certain parts are separated out then diced to powder fine consistency. Powered matter can then be compressed or put in an empty pill coating to form a tablet Herbal Creams And Ointments An ointment usually is mixed with beeswax (or something similar) to make it more applicable to outside the body, such as on a cut or scrape. Essential Oils Extraction of volatile liquid plant materials and other aromatic compounds from plants gives essential oils. These plant oils may be used internally in some forms of herbal medicine as well as in aromatherapy and generally for their perfume, although their medicinal use as a natural treatment (alternative medicine) has proved highly efficacious in the treatment of headache and muscle pain, joint pain and certain skin diseases Herbal Supplements Herbal supplements tend to be commercial products in tablet or capsule form manufactured and marketed by the health food industry for sale in retail outlets to the general public, although there are some types that are sold only to healthcare practitioners for prescription. Herbal supplements are often standardized to contain stated levels of active phytochemicals. Some herbalists may not agree with the standardization of active ingredients, preferring instead to use the whole plant.

Star Death Leads to Cosmic Enrichment