Business of Data Warehousing Foundations Essay Example for Free

Business of Data Warehousing Foundations Essay Executive Summary mySupermarket is a grocery shopping and comparison website which aims to provide customers with the best price for their shopping. This report examines how data warehousing provided mySupermarket with the foundation in which to build a successful enterprise, and allowed a subsequent expansion into the ‘business intelligence’ sector. The research draws attention to the problems and limitations that mySupermarket encountered including; coping with diverse sources of data streams, customer loyalty issues, achieving real-time data, data integrity and generating a sustainable revenue stream. These problems were tackled respectively through; building their own data warehouse, adopting a CRM strategy underpinned by their warehouse, adopting Microsoft’s SQL software, supermarket website ‘crawling’, offering ‘targeted’ advertising space and the realisation that the granularity of detail they offered, would allow them to expand into the ‘business intelligence’ sector. The report appreciates the importance of storing data, but concludes that data itself is the prerequisite to success, and that good management is needed to convert this data into meaningful information. It is therefore a combination of data warehousing and good management that has enabled mySupermarket to become a successful venture. Introduction â€Å"On the 31st August 2006, entrepreneur Johnny Stern received a seven-figure sum from investors to transform the way consumers shop for their groceries. From this, the price comparison site mySupermarket.co.uk was born and the company has utilised data warehousing to give consumers access to cheaper grocery shopping. The venture has not been without its problems, however four years on the company has withstood Adam Smith’s ‘Invisible Hand’[1] and grown into a c. £10m company† mySupermarket is a grocery shopping and comparison site that allows customers to compare and shop from four main UK supermarkets in one central place. Their mission statement is â€Å"to get the best possible price for your supermarket trolley while enjoying an easier and more consumer-friendly shopping experience†. Through the use of SQL and data warehousing, mySupermarket is able to collect product pricing, promotion and availability data directly from retailers websites. It then uses its proprietary technology to match identical Stock Keeping Units (SKUs) across retailers. After initial investment from Greylock Partners and Pitango Venture Capital (investors in Facebook LinkedIn), mySupermarket have faced the same difficulties as other price comparison sites in generating a sustainable revenue stream after Stern declared that â€Å"the portal would remain free in principle for shoppers†. The customer proposition for mySupermarket is to first log into their account. Then choose which supermarket to shop at from; Asda, Ocado/Waitrose, Sainsbury or Tesco. Tick their preferred supermarket and choose a delivery time/date, then start to shop. mySupermarket is updated on a daily basis so that the prices shown are the most competitive. Once the customer has made their choice of store, they start to shop by using the tabbed choices along the top of the page. These are divided up into virtual aisles so making a choice from Fruit and Veg, Meat, Fish Poultry, or Drinks etc. Once shopping has been completed, it then shows basket prices across the four supermarkets and allows the customer an opportunity to switch supermarkets. This report will critically discuss how data warehousing has enabled mySupermarket to build a successful business model including the benefits and problems that have arisen from the use of this technology. The report will finally analyse the extent to which data warehousing has contributed to mySupermarket’s success. Technologies Discussed According to Bill Inmon[2] (1993) data warehousing can be defined as, â€Å"a  subject-orientated, integrated, time variant and non-volatile, collection of data in support of the management decision making process†. It is, in essence, a large data storage facility which enables an enterprise to gain a competitive advantage through analytics and business intelligence. Providing integrated access to multiple, distributed, heterogeneous databases and other information sources has become one of the leading issues in database research and industry, IEEE Computer (1991) which can be seen through the success of First American Corporation (FAC), Cooper et al (2000) and Tesco/Dunnhumby, J. Perry (2009). Data mining is the process of ‘digging-out’ patterns from data, usually through Clustering, Classification, Regression and Association rule learning. Data mining technology can generate new business opportunities by providing: †¢ Automated prediction of trends and behaviours. †¢ Automated discovery of previously unknown or hidden patterns D. Champion and C. Coombs (2010) This process is carried out by sophisticated software packages such as Oracle, IBM and SQL. This alleviates the (potentially) very time consuming task of manually inputting and analysing the data Within data warehousing, there is a high importance placed on the quality of data, as without it, meaningful analysis is impossible. Data collection should therefore be taken with a high level of detail, and have solid definitions, as to avoid subjectivity. The purpose of a data warehouse is to support creative strategic decision making through a greater granularity of information with a consistent view of what’s happening. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) emerged in the 1990’s at a time when customers were becoming better informed and less brand loyal. CRM is an integration of technologies and business processes used to satisfy the needs of a customer during any interaction, Bose (2002, p. 89) and is underpinned by data warehousing. As with VISION in the FAC case (2000), the subsequent  benefits of CRM, is that firms are able to exploit the ‘80:20 principle’ which states that some customers are more important/profitable than others. These information sources can only come through data warehousing and data mining. mySupermarket – The Beginning The inspiration for mySupermarket came from Stern’s bargain-obsessed elderly relative; who would scour the aisles of Tesco’s to find his favourite tin of baked beans, jot down the price and travel to competitor stores to try and find a better deal. Stern identified the growing interest in online grocery shopping and felt that it was an area that could be exploited (Fig. 1). Figure 1: Mintel Intelligence – Online Grocery Data Stern spent 18 months before the launch developing the software and tweaking the concept (Fig. 2). Figure 2: Adaption of Martin et al., 2005: 193 The data warehouse was developed through ‘crawling’[3] the four supermarket websites and adding product pricing, promotion and availability data to the warehouse. Once this data was implemented in the warehouse, proprietary technology and SQL software allowed mySupermarket to match identical SKU’s across retailers. This data was also used in developing its CRM strategy through the use of ‘cookies’[4] to store data in the customers computer using the functionality of their browser to find out whether the computer has visited the site before and what SKUs they purchased. â€Å"This enables us to operate an efficient service and to track the patterns of behaviour of visitors to the website.† mysupermarket.co.uk. The feature enables mySupermarket to utilize this information by creating functions such as a ‘Regular Shop’ button, saving customers’ time on their shopping. mySupermarket – Problems Many problems can arise through the use of data warehousing, both technically and commercially. According to Mintel Intelligence (2009), â€Å"Consumer loyalty is fairly low in the [price comparison] market with more than 14 million people (c.58% of market) having used three or more different price comparison sites†. Underlying these efforts was the recognition that, to succeed with this strategy, it must know its customers exceptionally well and leverage that knowledge in website design, service and interaction with their clients. mySupermarket would therefore have to find a strategy to retain a ‘loyal customer base’ in a notoriously disloyal sector. Kimball Ross (2002) state that a common pitfall of data warehousing is to â€Å"presume that the business, its requirements, analytics, underlying data and supporting technology are static† – an early problem mySupermarket encountered was the variation in regional pricing and a growing demand for ‘real-time’ data. Another problem with data warehousing is ensuring the integrity of data, this is typically a human procedure and so subject to human error. Even the most sophisticated data mining systems cannot produce good analysis from poor data. A good illustration of this is from Blastard and Dilnot ‘The Tiger That Isn’t’ where a hospital survey found that an alarming amount of patients were being born on the 11th November 1911. Further investigation showed that nurses often would not fill in patient files properly and to save time, when asked to enter patient D.O.B. they would type 11/11/11 into the database. No matter how intelligent a computer system is, if you put ‘garbage-in’ you will get ‘garbage-out’. Beynon-Davies (2004) states that data warehousing projects are large scale development projects typically taking up to three years to complete. Some of the challenges of such problems may include; selecting, installing and integrating the different hardware and software and also, the diverse sources of data feeding a data warehouse introduces problems of design in terms of creating a homogenous data store. Finally, as with all comparison sites, the major obstacle facing  mySupermarket was generating a sustainable revenue stream from the database they had accumulated. mySupermarket.co.uk did not generate any revenue 5 months after the website went live. Originally, mySupermarket didn’t operate a ‘search advertisement’ scheme (a central platform for companies such as Google eg, BP paying for advertising of their oil spill cleanup when people typed in â€Å"BP Oil Spill† G. Cheeseman, 2010) . There are also no revenue-sharing agreements in place with the four stores whose prices it monitors in effort to remain independent. This, in part, may stem from mySupermarket’s limited market, consisting of ‘a comparison of groceries’. mySupermarket recognised that they would have to expand their focus if they were to generate a large enough turnover to operate a successful business. mySupermarket – Technological Impact The first problem mySupermarket addressed was the industries poor ‘customer loyalty’. They decided to attack this through the implementation of a CRM strategy. After the initial launch, mySupermarket was receiving feedback from customers regarding such things as; healthy options, promotions on offer, printable shopping lists and regular shops. mySupermarket realised that the information stored in their data warehouse could be exploited to meet these demands and increase customer utility. Subsequently, a Health Checker feature was launched based on the Food Standard Authority’s approved traffic light system. In November 2008, the mySupermarket ‘Quick Shop’ function was added, allowing users to type their shopping list on a virtual notepad and find their required items in one go. As delivery slots started running out towards Christmas we also introduced a new print your shopping list feature, which was popular, said Stern. A lot of our shoppers are using the website as a quick way to find the best deals and are then going to the supermarket to make their purchases†. Recent analysis of visits shows mysupermarket.co.uk has a loyal repeat following, with Stern claiming visitors are spending an average of 20 minutes on the site. â€Å"Until recently, there were few viable tools to provide real-time data warehousing nor an absolutely current picture of an organization’s business and customer† J. Vandermay (2001). To combat the problem of achieving  real-time and regional data, mySupermarket used Microsoft’s SQL software[5]. Most data integration solutions focus on moving data only between homogeneous systems and database software. However, SQL integration is capable of moving data among a wide range of databases and systems. It also offers transformational data integration tools to consolidate and synchronize heterogeneous data into a warehouse. This allows consumers to view whether a certain item is in stock in their local store, or view delivery slots for their specific region. This real-time data saves the mySupermarket team having to continually update the warehouse manually. Fortunately for mySupermarket, their website ‘crawling’ technique allows them to take the SKU data directly from the supermarkets themselves. Therefore data will only be wrong, if the supermarket has made the mistake (so would have to sell the item at that price) and so mySupermarket would not be liable. Although Stern took half the time recommended by Beynon-Davies, the warehouse has had to be continuously tweaked since its launch. After its launch mySupermarket noticed a data stream that wasn’t being filtered into the data warehouse – calories. After the realisation, mySupermarket were able to add a ‘calorie counter’ function on to the website. For any business to survive, it needs to generate a revenue stream to achieve a sustainable cash flow:mySupermarket were able to negotiate with supermarkets a commission of  £5 for every ‘first-time buyer’ that shops through their site and  £1 every time thereafter. Other sources of revenue came from the use of advertising, which could be split into two different segments on-site and search-related advertising. Marks Spencer (Fig. 3) are one company that has chosen to advertise with mySupermarket.co.uk as the content is relevant and it is independent from the four supermarkets being compared. Advertisers will typically pay $1.00 $1.50 per 1,000 run-of-site impressions for the advertising placement. However, advertisers may pay even more for targeted sidebar advertisements. Search advertisements are targeted to match key search terms entered on the search engine, these products (advertisements) will then appear first in the search. Danone (Fig. 3) has  paid for ad vertisement when the search term ‘yoghurt’ is entered, and so their umbrella brands (eg, Activia) show at the top of the list, increasing its probability of being bought. Figure 3: mySupermarket.co.uk advertising example Due to the amount of data mining available to mySupermarket, an opportunity was identified for expansion, called ‘mySupermarket insights’. It acts as real-time B2B data service for the ‘Fast Moving Consumer Goods’ (FMCG) sector. As mySupermarket has access to SKU by SKU trends, it is able to offer extremely high level, intelligent data. The services it offers include; New Product Development (NPD) alert reports, Online auditing reports, Price comparison reports, Product substitution report and Customer profiling reports (allowing for further use of CRM through ‘cluster analysis’[6]). This sort of information is of high value to companies and a subscription to the service can range from  £5,000  £20,000p.a. (current clients include Kellogg’s, Innocent Smoothies, Nielson and Ella’s Kitchen). Finally, mySupermarket is often contracted by media companies, such as ‘the Independent’ to analyse trends for news stories – J. Burchill (2010). I feel that information is now widely recognised as being one of the key corporate resources, needing to be carefully managed so that it can be effectively utilised in the decision-making process. Timely, accurate and relevant information can only be generated, however, if corporate data is stored in a secure, accessible and flexible manner. The following table provides a summary of the impact that data warehousing technology had for mySupermarket: Figure 6: Technological Impact Summary mySupermarket – Conclusion To conclude, data warehousing has enabled mySupermarket to overcome issues  such as customer retention, real-time data and generating revenue. It really does appear that â€Å"information is key†, whereby data is the prerequisite for information. J. Poole et al. (2003) state ‘ the underlying economic justification is ultimately based on the value a given technology provides to the customers of the computing systems and software products’ and so the determinate of mySupermarket’s success is essentially based on ‘whether people use the technology’ and ‘the value of the company’. Based on an monthly unique user level of 1 million, and 500k registered users turning over c. £10m, we can assume that at this point in time mySupermarket is justified economically. On the other hand, you could argue that mySupermarket is a ‘recession business’ and not a sustainable enterprise. In which case, the rapid growth in recent years could be due to the economic climate and not because there is a long term demand. Looking towards the future, Our investors have international ambitions, Stern said. They see the potential of transporting the model to different markets.† mySupermarket are looking to expand the companys development team to support its entry into Europe and the US. mySupermarket are currently looking for another round of funding to bridge G. Murray’s (1994) second equity gap. Technology firms often require ‘follow on development funding’, as cash is heavily plowed into ‘Prototype testing’ and ‘Research Development’. In terms of an exit, mySupermarket would be very attractive to major FMCG companies such as PG, Unilever and Kraft’s venture arms. I believe that mySupermarket will achieve their second round funding as they are now profitable and have a proven concept that has high growth prospects for the future. Over the past few years there has been a huge growth in the use of ‘numbers’ and ‘analytics’. Businesses are recognising that it is not enough to work harder than the competition; they also have to work smarter. Davenport (2006) argues that it is â€Å"virtually impossible to differentiate yourself from competitors based on products alone† and so to pull ahead of the pack, businesses need to compete on analytics. In which case, ‘mySupermarket insights’ is poised in a perfect position to capitalize on this new thirst for ‘business intelligence’, whereby companies feel that  they will have to subscribe to the service to compete on an even playing field. However, it is not enough to just store data, it has to be managed, analyzed, implemented and utilised to convert raw data into real information. mySupermarket realised the benefits of data warehousing and were able to exploit this, expanding from a mere ‘price-comparison site’ to a ‘business intelligence provider’ to major FMCG companies. I believe that with the current shift towards analytics and business intelligence, mySupermarket has the potential to be a major force in the FMCG sector whilst offering a greater transparency for customers, all of which stems from good management and data warehousing. References: Beyon-Davies, P (2004) – Database Systems, 3rd edition, Palgrave, Basingstoke, pp. 527-538 and 547-553 Bose, R (2002) – Customer Relationship Management: Key concepts for IT success, Vol. 102, No. 2, pp. 89-97 Blastland, M Dilnot, A (2007) – The Tiger That Isn’t: Seeing a World Through Numbers Burchill, J (Aug 2010) – The Independent: So the Prince of Green Hypocrites is going on tour. Thank God Ill be abroad Cooper et al. (2000) – Data Warehousing Supports Corporate Strategy at First American Corporation Vol. 24, No. 4 Champion, D Coombs, C (2010) – Handout: BSC070 Enterprise Information Systems Cheeseman, G (June 2010) – Triple Pundit: Is It Ethical For BP To Buy Oil-Spill-Related Google Search Terms? Davenport, T. H (2006) – Competing on Analytics IEEE Computer (Dec 1991) – Special Issue on Heterogeneous Distributed Database Systems, 24(12) Inmon, W.H. and Kelley, C (1993) – Developing the Data Warehouse. QED Publishing Group, Boston, Massachussetts Kimball, R Ross, M (2002) – The Data Warehouse Toolkit: The Complete Guide to Dimensional Modeling, 2nd edition Martin et al., (2005): 193 – Managing Information Technology 5th Edition, Pearson Education Inc, pp. 192-195 Mintel Intelligence (Oct 2009) Web Aggregators, UK Murray, G (1994) The Second Equity Gap: Exit Problems for Seed and Early Stage Venture Capitalists Perry, J (Nov 2009) – Dunnhumby: A lifetime of loyalty? RetailWeek Poole, J et al. (2003) – Common Warehouse Metamodel: Introduction to the standard for data warehouse integration Smith, A (1959) – ‘The Theory of Moral Sentiments’ Vandermay, J (2001) – Considerations for Building a Real-time Data Warehousea

Systems Paper :: essays papers

Systems Paper Part I 1.Animal food cycles 2.Energy flow 3.In identifying parts of the system for the Tsembaga in New Guinea. I will start with the solar energy and rainfall that are the major contributors to life and the growth of plant and human life. The sun produces energy for plants to photosynthesize and the 150 inches of water per year that the Tsembaga receive facilitates this process. The Tsembaga grow a variety of crops including: taro, sweet potatoes, yams, manioc, greens, sugar cane, and some tree crops. Human labor to sustain the growth of these crops includes cutting, fencing, planting, maintaining, harvesting, and walking back and forth. The men usually perform these labors. Another strategic part of the soil maintenance includes the fallowing and rooting of the ground by pigs. The pigs are usually taken care of by the women of the group. After the crop has grown it is harvested by the men and stored for later consumption by the human population as well as the pig population. In times of Physiological stress which includes m isfortune and emergency the pigs are killed by the men and then the flesh is distributed to the group that the stress is greatest. The storage of the crops also leads to not only the consumption of the crop but the crops can also be used in trade outside of their territories for such objects as stone axes. 4.Applying the above in to the Culture Core Model I started with the base of the pyramid, economics. The reason for the growth of the crops has an economic reason, using the crop as an item to exchange goods with for things like stone axes. Also the more of the crop you have the more pigs you can sustain, which inevitably means the more protein you can get from eating the pigs. The Tsembaga also have territories that they live, grow and raise pigs on. That is there largest economic commodity. Social aspects of the model include the division of labor, which could also be a political matter, but the society is egalitarian so that everyone is equal and there are no chiefs. The men work the crops and fight while the women cook, clean, watch the children and over see the pigs. Politically they patrilineal clans, which are organized into smaller groups. Men are the only ones that are allowed to fight. When a pig is killed it is pre decide who will get it depending on need, men during time of war, and in times of illness or injury it is the victim that gets the meat.

Bp Marketing Problem After Oil Spill

British Petroleum’s Marketing Problem Florida International University Summer 2011 Alex Del Veccio Yudith Torres BP Marketing Problem In April 20th, 2010 one of the worst environmental natural disasters that were brought on by a men happened. We are talking about the British petroleum Oil spill on the Golf Coast. The disaster not only affected the plants, animals and people living in the area but also the image of the company. British Petroleum has been successful on creating a powerful brand image, being authentic to the core values of its business and building the goodwill of their customers, now BP is trying to save what is left after the disaster. The disaster leads to many angry people, including environmentalists, shareholders and the general public to create campaigns to bring down the company reputation. BP has been accused of 11 workers dead and 17, injured. The extent of the spill is about the size of Rhode Island, running across the northern Gulf of Mexico between the mouth of the Mississippi River and Florida. The spill runs wide, threatening the coastlines, and deep, traveling beneath about 5,000 feet of water and 13,000 feet under the seabed. The Deepwater Horizon well is leaking 5,000 barrels per day, shutting down fishing across the affected areas, damaging fragile habitats and putting animals in peril. BP was also accused of trying to silence the scientists that were studying the effects of the oil spill, not allowing publishing researches done for the company; this clause was expressed in their contacts. The entire situation has position BP with a bad corporate image in the entire world leading to customer to refuse buying its products. This crisis has result in a negative publicity, threatening the image of the company and having effects on people perception of the company and its products. BP has responded to the event, trying to diminish the severity of the contamination, in a desperate effort not to lose its social legitimacy and seen to being irresponsible and dishonest with the public. These are a few of many pictures that were put out there by the media, making the problem even worse for British Petroleum, those images were directly associated with the corporation, death, contamination, social irresponsibility, unhappy people. BP has a huge problem, they need to make people to stop associating those images with its corporation and products, and recover its good name again. Consumer Behavior Issues as a result of BP the oil spill Consumer attitudes toward BP products were badly affected by the oil spill; there was not favorable opinion about the corporation resulting on the decline of consumer intentions to buy BP products. BP oil spill has impacted purchasing behavior, the spill rattled the company, causing the stock to lose about half its value and prompting Tony Hayward CEO to resign and be replaced by Bob Dudley, But the company was able to get the oil gusher stopped and has been paying to repair the damage to the local economy. The company is paying to cleanup an estimated of $20 billion, as a result the company temporarily suspending its dividend, in another blow to investors. The dividends were reinstated in February 2011. Despite the fact that many surveys has showed that people has no intention to boycott or switch from BP brand ( (Harrison) the consumer perception of the company was reflected on consumer willingness to invest on BP stocks, maybe because many of them were normative influenced altering their behavior to meet public opinion expectations. Consumer awareness has shifted dramatically when there is a catastrophe related to a big corporation such as British Petroleum, consumers has jointed forces and organized protests to show their disgruntlement with the corporation and pressing them to take full responsibility for the disaster. The oil spill has had effected no only on consumer attitudes towards BP products, but to other industries too. Approximately 71% of consumers were still concerned about the safety of consuming seafood, and 23% reported they have reduced their seafood consumption as a result of the oil spill ( (Bianco) Consumer analysis Of British Petroleum after oil spill According to a Brand Index Survey, (Index, 2010) British Petroleum public image went below Goldman Sachs (and investment bank many feel contributed to the financial crisis' in 2008). This Survey that came out in June 2010 show these findings. Only Toyota who went through a massive recall shows worse. Many more surveys show that consumers were not please with British petroleum (eye, 2010) Following are s few notes from the article on the corporate eye's website (eye, 2010): * From an Economist and YouGov survey: When it comes to trusting BP to â€Å"do the right thing in stopping the oil spill and cleaning it up,† 9% of respondents said they trust BP â€Å"a great deal† and 13% trust BP â€Å"quite a bit† while 20% have â€Å"only some† trust that BP will do the right thing, and another 20% said they have â€Å"very little† trust that BP will do the right thing. The majority of respondents, 28%, trust BP â€Å"not at all. †Ã‚   The remaining respondents stated that they were not sure how they felt. * From the same Economist and YouGov survey: 65% of respondents believe that BP and other companies involved in the oil spill are â€Å"pointing the blame on others and avoiding responsibility† while just 35% believe BP and other companies involved are â€Å"doing whatever it takes to stop the spill and clean up the oil. † * From a USA Today/Gallup poll: 34% of the respondents rated BP’s response to the spill as â€Å"poor† and 39% rated it as â€Å"very poor†. Only 6% rated BP’s response as â€Å"very good† and 18% rated it â€Å"good. † * From a Pew Research Center and National Journal Congressional Connection poll: 44% rated BP’s response to the oil spill as â€Å"poor† and 26% rated it â€Å"only fair† while 16% rated BP’s response â€Å"good† and 3% rated it â€Å"excellent. † * From a CNN and Opinion Research Corp. poll: 76% of respondents disapprove of BP’s response to the oil spill and 24% percent approve. These surveys and many like them combined with massive protests and boycotts reshaped the Value of British petroleum as reaction to their stocks showed. In late June in 2010 British petroleum's stock fell to under 28 dollars per share. This was a major drop from there yearly high of over 61 dollars per share in February in 2010. While the consumer trend for the oil industry is still in high demand, British petroleum still loss revenue loss due to poor public perception and also lost revenue from the oil spill and cleanup efforts. According to this story BP has it work cut out for them financially (JACOBSON, 2011)– Almost $50 billion in lost market value. Its rivals' stock is up almost 15 percent, while BP's has been down roughly 25 percent. Shares that were worth $60 a piece on April 20, 2010, are worth $46 today (JACOBSON, 2011). * Sales of $24 billion of the company's assets to be set aside to help pay for claims and other costs. Gheit said roughly 10 percent of BP's production and reserves were sold last year. Another $6 billion worth are expected to be sold this year (JACOBSON, 2011). * $3. 8 billion paid out in claims so far. That's part of a $20 billion fund set aside under pressure from the government last year (JACOBSON, 2011). * Liabilities could swell by tens of billions more. If BP is found to be criminally negligent (several investigations and reports have yet to be completed), the price tag could exceed $50 billion. (Contending their equipment and work played a major role in the cause of the accident, BP is suing Halliburton and TransOcean for billions of dollars as well. (JACOBSON, 2011)) However not all is lost for BP. As you look at the Global 500 (500, 2011) ranking of the top one hundred companies in the world. You will notice that six of the tops 10 are oil companies, including BP at number four. This not only shows that oil is a very profitable industry and in high demand despite calls for alternative energy sources over the past decades. Unless such an alternative energy source can come about and service the billions of people who demand energy: the outlook in the oil industry will continue to be high. Which also means the oil industry will continue to be profitable. When we also add into the factor that developing countries have increased demand for oil and global demand for this resource is predicted to go from 41. million gallons per day to 86. 6 million gallons by the year 2025 (prices, 2010). I do not see consumer trends in oil consumption a problem for BP. This consumption pattern will be an advantage for BP. The bottom line is that BP's industry and products looks like they will be in high demand for the foreseeable future. However even though Bp's product is widely used they are not immune from poor public perception. Since the oil spill Bp has been forced to sell o ff some assets (White, 2011) to pay for loss revenue, and pending lawsuits from the oil spill. BP's problems continue outside of its finances. In early 2000 British petroleum launched a new campaign called â€Å"Beyond Petroleum†. This campaign was targeted top the environmental conscious consumer. Bp wanted to become established as an environmentally friends energy company. While it's hard to see if that campaign was successful regardless, any positive perception or equity acquired from that campaign was lost do the oil spill. Reinventing themselves as an eco friendly company looks to be a difficult task at this time. Moving forward With the environment a major issue in today's world it may be a good idea for BP to invest in research for safer more eco friendly offshore drilling technology. Another way for BP to win over the public interest is to come up with a cleaner alternative source of energy. Would it be ironic that a oil company invents an alternative energy that is safer and cleaner for the environment. The emotional element of BP’s brand invokes bad feelings. With concerns about Global Warming and endangered species many feel BP broke its Brand Promise started by their campaign â€Å"Beyond Petroleum†. For now British Petroleum's strategy should be to allocate resources for research for the above mentioned. And also allocate resources to improving public perception. One example is their commercials with local business owners that were affected by the Gulf oil spill. They are telling the consumers that they are standing by their mistakes. I would also advise BP to communicate to the public what changes they are making from organizational structure to safety precautions. BP may also look into working with eco friendly organizations and organizations like the World Wild Life foundation. Such organizations have voiced strong criticism BP after the oil spill. Working with these organizations would go far in telling the public they have turned over a new leaf. Marketing Recommendations for British Petroleum (prices, 2010) British Petroleum needs to have specific plan for each one of the possible scenarios they might encounter, the company took three months to stop the oil leak, and they are still working on the cleaning process. This shows that BP was not prepared to face such a huge natural disaster; they did not have a contingency plan appropriated. Its is very important than the fist reaction that company takes to resolve the problem is the most suitable one, because that is when the media and public attention are more focus on the problem, and a prompt resolution will lead a faster recovery of the company image. BP should focus on mortification, taking full responsibility for the situation and its consequences. This strategy address public critique in advance and give the company a more significant public relations ground. After admitting and apologizing for the catastrophe, BP must take an action to avoid that is going to happen again. Creating more and secure ways to drill oil, the company needs to improve procedures, safety and competence to regain the lost trust from the public. BP need to regain their good mane, at the moment the company is located in the awareness set in the customer mind that it does mean that its products will be consider if people has a negative image in it. British Petroleum need to build positive feeling towards its corporation, one option is to develop green advertising, the company have invested million on it, but today they should put more emphasis on it. Create better image (social factor) by better approach to compensate those who have been affected. There were many people affected by the catastrophe, people from different communities, they need to focus on the different groups of people they are trying to reach in order transmit the message more efficiently; failing to do will worse the problem. In order for people to place BP into their consideration set they need to believe that the company is reliable and responsible, in addition people must have good feeling towards the brand. They must invest a lot of money in advertising, informing people what is plan to recover and it is being developed. Those ad must run as many time as its needed, to inform people that â€Å"we are taking responsibility† to backfire those ad claiming the contrary â€Å"Show you care†, that is the primary position British Petroleum must assume. The reality is that the Oil Spill in deep horizon water in Mexican Gulf, in April 2010 has made a huge human, ecological and financial lost, and it has ruined the company’s reputation. There is not way the company can go back in time and avoid what happened, but they can look forward and make the best out the situation. If BP can convince the public that they truly believe that its image will be reinstated, people will start bearing positive feeling towards BP. Bibliography 500, G. (2011). And the world's biggest companies are†¦ Retrieved 2011, from Cnn Money 2011: http://money. cnn. com/magazines/fortune/global500/2011/ Bianco, V. D. (n. d. ). Louisiana News . Retrieved from Louisianafoodnews. com. eye, c. (2010, june 4). The BP Brand Fallout – Consumers Weigh In. Retrieved from corporate eye: http://www. corporate-eye. com/blog/2010/06/the-bp-brand-fallout-consumers-weigh-in/ Harrison, M. (n. d. ). Wave Matrix. Retrieved from wavematrix. com. Index, J. C. (2010, hune 24). Survey BPS consumer perception sinks below Goldman Sachs. Retrieved from http://www. mediabistro. om: http://www. mediabistro. com/prnewser/survey-bps-consumer-perception-sinks-below-goldman-sachs_b3951 JACOBSON, M. (2011, april 26). One Year Later, Where Does BP Stand? Retrieved from pbs. org: http://www. pbs. org/newshour/rundown/2011/04/bp—-one-year-later. html prices, O. (2010, July ). Retrieved from oilprices. org: http://www. oilprices. org/ White, G. (2011, feb 22). BP to sell off North Sea asset. Retrieved from the t elegraph: http://www. telegraph. co. uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/oilandgas/8341366/BP-to-sell-off-North-Sea-assets. html

The Importance of the First Amendment Essays - 496 Words

The Importance of the First Amendment Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of Religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, this Amendment is the most important part of the constitution. Without free speech, we the people of the United States would not be able to speak openly and freely about issues that affect our everyday life. Had it not been for Katie Stanton and Susan B. Anthony exercising their first amendment right to free speech and peaceful assembly, and the press covering and catching the womens suffrage movement it is possible that women may not have gained the legal right to vote until many years later. Many amendments to the Constitution were started by†¦show more content†¦Due to people using their first amendment rights the Civil Rights Act was put into effect in 1964. DR. Martin Luther King Jr. used free speech and the right to public assembly when he spoke from the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. and people listened and change was brought about by his speech. If the first amendment right was never ratified, we might be living in a nation that separates us on our race, sex or age. Through this amendment, the people have caused such enormous changes that even other nations have taken notice and adopted similar laws and policies. There are also times when information is released to the public, which could be potentially harmful to our national security. Ultimately Freedom of the Press is an essential right. For the press, they feel the need to inform people of situations that arise, such as health care issues (probably to raise their revenue but also because if they were part of the general public, they would want to be informed). The government may not be ready to tell its people that there is a potentially life threatening disease in populated areas, in fear that it might cause a panic. The press on the other hand, will supply its readers with the information. With the advent of the Internet, freedom of speech has come under close investigation. Although we as Americans are allowed to speak our mind, there comes a time when we are faced with materials we find offensive and repugnant. So, the question arises; shouldShow MoreRelatedImportance Of The First Amendment1114 Words   |  5 PagesThe Importance of the First Amendment When our Nation had regarded themselves as thirteen newly colonies and to separate themselves from Great Britain. Congress had imparted to the state legislature twelve amendments to the Constitution. These Amendments later became the Bill of Rights, the first basic rights that the country was founded to provide. 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By looking freedomRead MoreWhy the 1st Amendment Is the Best1142 Words   |  5 PagesAmendment Essay By: Christina Ramler Neil Gaiman once said, â€Å"The current total of countries in the world with First Amendments is one. You have guaranteed the freedom of speech. Other countries don’t have that.† At the time of the amendments’ creation, a vast majority of operating countries had not yet granted their people such freedoms. Granting every citizen of the United States this right seemed to have been an important landmark in this nation’s history. Along with others, this right is declaredRead MoreThe Bill of Rights: The Best Way to Limit the Power of the National Government772 Words   |  3 PagesThe importance of the Bill of Rights was not universally agreed upon at the time of their suggestion (Amar, 1992). In fact, in the original Constitution the Bill of Rights was specifically rejected by the Constitutional committee. 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They were written by James Madison for a greater constitutional protectionRead MoreThe Case Of Samuel Roth921 Words   |  4 PagesDavid Alberts was prosecuted for publishing photos of naked women. Both men appealed to the Supreme Court and their cases were merged together. 3. Questions of the Case Did the California or Federal Statute violate David Albert and Samuel Roth’s First Amendment freedom of speech? Did California violate David Alberts Due Process? 4. Holding No. The ruling was 6-3 in favor of the United States. The ruling was 7-2 in favor of California. 5. Opinion of the Court Justice Brennan delivered the opinion ofRead MorePersuasive Speech On School Dress Code1316 Words   |  6 Pagesprohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech...†. This is what our first amendment speaks about. The freedom of speech and expression. Schools have been violating this law in the place of school dress codes. There should not be a dress code in school because it violates the first amendment, they do not support creativity and they are expensive. Dress codes violate the first amendment. Students should have the ability to express themselves as it is their right to do so, but