Patient Satisfaction with Public Healthcare | Literature

Patient Satisfaction with Public Healthcare | Literature Literature Review: Alian A. Alrasheedy, Mohammed Azmi Hassali, et al., published a research study in Australasian Medical Journal, 2014 entitled as â€Å"Assessment of general public satisfaction with public healthcare services in Kedah, Malaysia†. They conducted a cross-sectional study to assess patients’ level of satisfaction with public healthcare services and to determine the factors that may affect patient satisfaction among convenience sample of general public. They developed a questionnaire which consists of five sections including demographic data, patients’ perceptions of their relationship and interaction with healthcare professionals in the public healthcare sector, patient perception of skills of healthcare professionals, patients’ assessment of the amenities, accessibility to and facilities available in the public healthcare sector and general satisfaction of patients with public healthcare services. To perform the statistics they used chi-square test and for it ems expected to have lower frequency, Fisher’s exact test was used. The findings showed that almost half of the participants were satisfied with current health care services in public hospitals and clinic. It shows a significant association between satisfaction and some participants’ characteristics such as age, gender, waiting time. Other factors influencing satisfaction level includes the length of consultations and process of patient registration. The limitation of the study is that illiterate people were not included in this study as it is a self-administered questionnaire. It concludes that improving the health services which leads to shorter waiting time may increase the patients’ satisfaction level. Krupal Joshi, Kishor Sochaliya, et al., performed a cross-sectioanl study to identify the factors that affect patient satisfaction regarding health care services. The study was entitled as â€Å"Patient satisfaction About Health Care Services: A Cross Sectional Study of Patients Who Visited the Outpatient Department of a Civil Hospital at Surendranagar, Gujarat† which was published in International Journal of Medical Science and Public Health, 2013. The patient were interviewed using pre-structured questionnaires which can be replied in choices like satisfactory/unsatisfactory, yes/no, good/moderate/poor, adequate/inadequate. The study revealed that overall the patient satisfaction was good regarding the quality of the services provided by the hospital. But revealed mild to moderate satisfaction regarding waiting time and specialist availability. Patient satisfaction was considered to be important in both evaluation and shaping of health care. Mansour Alturki, Tahir M.Khan published a study entitled â€Å"A study investigating the level of satisfaction with the health services provided by the pharmacist at ENT hospital, Eastern Region Alahsah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia† in Saudi Pharmaceutical Journal,2013. They conducted a cross sectional study to evaluate the satisfaction of the patients related to pharmacy services provided to the patients at the hospital pharmacy. A self-administered 15-item questionnaire was used in the study which comprises of three sections which considered patient demographic data, information about health status of respondents, pharmacist-patient interaction level. The results were analyzed using independent sample t-test and one-way ANOVA. This study shows that the patient were majorly satisfied about the availability of the pharmacist and the explanations/clear labeling of drugs, politeness and prompt services of the pharmacist. The elderly patients were highly satisfied with the services p rovided by the pharmacy than the other age groups. But overall the satisfaction levels of the Saudi patients were least than that of the Egyptian and others and it may associate with the demographic features such as age, sex, and level of the education. Sumeet Singh, Paramjeet kaur, et al., conducted a study entitled â€Å"Patient satisfaction levels in a tertiary care medical college hospital in Punjab, North India.† It has been published in International Journal of Research and Development of Health, 2013. The study was aimed to assess the patients’ satisfaction regarding care provided in the hospital, behaviour of medical, nursing and supportive staff and availability of necessary services and amenities in the hospital. A cross-sectional study based on a pre-designed and pre-tested Indoor Patient Feedback Form was done. This study shows that most of the patients were more satisfied with the behaviour of doctors. The major problem was found to be in identifying the location of various areas mainly labs in the hospital. Satisfaction regarding the service and the behaviour of the paramedical staff was found to be high. This study shows that assessing patient satisfaction is simple, easy and cost effective for evaluatio n of hospital services. Afolabi MO, Afolabi ERI, et al., published a study in African Health sciences, 2012, entitled as â€Å"Construct validation of an instrument to measure patient satisfaction with pharmacy services in Nigerian hospitals†. The study aimed to develop a questionnaire used to assess the quality of the pharmacy services provided by the hospitals and to define the scale construct validity with an opinion to identify the factors that affect the target users. First they developed a 35-item Patient Satisfaction Survey questionnaire and then based on the pilot study conducted to assess the internal consistency reliability there was a reduction of items on the scale to 25 items. They used Cronbach coefficient Alpha, Spermann Brown’s and Guttmann’s coefficients to determine the reliability of the scale and Scree plot was also carried out for the final 25-item scale. The reliability coefficients attained for the instrument by means of various methods were comparable and statist ically significant. The final scale which consists of 25 items showed stable and significant correlation coefficients and produced six consequent dimensions of patient satisfaction which includes attitude of pharmacy personnel, accessibility and convenience of pharmacy location, quality and cost of the drugs, conducive physical environment, and availability of prescribed drugs and timeliness of service delivery. This study established a scale to evaluate satisfaction of the patients regarding pharmaceutical services. Amany M. Abdelhafez, Lina Al Qurashi et al., published a study in American Journal of Medicine and Medical Sciences, 2012, entitled â€Å"Analysis of factors affecting the satisfaction levels of patients toward food services at general hospitals in Makkah, Saudi Arabia†. This study aims to determine the factors that the satisfaction levels of the patient with the food services in a sample of general hospitals. They performed a cross-sectional study using an interview questionnaire. Spearman correlation was used to identify the relationship between the various aspects of food and food services and the overall satisfaction. In this study the temperature of the food was one of the determinants of overall dissatisfaction. Overall satisfaction levels can be increased by increasing the quality of food and hospital food services. As hospital malnutrition is a main problem, so hospital services should be considered as an important part of the patient treatment plan and hence it is imp ortant to evaluate patient views to make sure that the expectations of the patients regarding the food services were achieved. M V Kulkarni, S Dasgupta, et al., had done a study entitled â€Å"Study of Satisfaction of Patients Admitted in a Tertiary Care Hospital in Nagpur† which was published in National Journal of Community Medicine, 2011. It states that patient satisfaction is one of the important tools to measure the success of the services provided in the hospital. They performed a hospital based cross sectional study to evaluate the satisfaction of the patients admitted in the hospital regarding behaviour of the medical, nursing, and supportive staff, and other services provided in the hospital. They used a pre-designed and pre-tested â€Å"Indoor Patient Feedback Form† which was filled up by the patient through an interview on the day of the discharge. They analyzed the data using Epi-Info statistical software by calculating chi-square test and proportions. Their study reveals that the most of the patients were satisfied with the provided hospital services, behaviour of the doctors but s howed dissatisfaction towards the cleanliness in the toilets, quality of the food. Leticia R. Moczygemba, Jamie C. Barner, et al., published a study entitled â€Å"Patient satisfaction with a pharmacist-provided telephone medication therapy management program† in Research in Social and administrative pharmacy, 2010. They conducted a non-experimental and cross sectional survey to measure the patient satisfaction with pharmacist-provided telephone MTM program. They mailed the questionnaire developed to measure the patient satisfaction on MTM program. Descriptive statistics have been used to calculate the patients’ responses. The study revealed that the patient were pleased about the services provided by the pharmacist during MTM consultation. And also the patients are willing for face-face to consultation to learn more about their medications. From this study it is proved that for some patients MTM program can be carried out in telephone without compromising patient satisfaction. Mehrnoosh Akhtari-Zavare, Mohd Yunus Abdullah, et al., performed a study entitled â€Å"Patient Satisfaction: Evaluating Nursing Care for Patients Hospitalized with Cancer in Tehran Teaching Hospitals, Iran† in Global Journal of Health Science, 2010. The study was aimed to assess the relationship between cancer patients’ satisfaction and the nursing care in order to assist nurses in defining more clearly their roles. They performed a cross-sectional study in which a proportional stratified sampling method was used to collect the data from face-to-face interviews based on validated Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire. In this study, they conducted binary logistic regression to predict factors that influence the satisfaction level. It was seen that patients receiving chemotherapy were more satisfied with the nursing care than patients receiving other type of treatment such as radiotherapy, surgical etc. Though the study found that most of the patients were satisfied with t he nursing care, they suggested some improvements regarding interpersonal relationship which may improve patient satisfaction. Z Iliyasu, IS Abubakar, et al., published a study entitled â€Å"Patients’ satisfaction with services obtained from Aminu Kano teaching hospital, Kano, Northern Nigeria† in Nigerian Journal of Clinical Practice, 2010. Their study aimed to evaluate the patient satisfaction and their relatives with the hospital services. They considered satisfaction was from the perspectives such as ease with which patients’ accessed care, time of waiting, patient-health care provider relationship, payment and facilities provided by the hospital. The data was collected by a cross-sectional survey based on structured questionnaires which were distributed to the patients and focus group discussions with the patient relatives. The results shown that most of the patients were satisfied about the accessed care, patient provider relationship, inpatient services and the hospital facilities. And the patients were asked for the complaints which were mostly related to the waiting time and th e payment cost. In focus group discussions most of the patients relatives complained about the missing of laboratory data and delay in the laboratory data. Overall the satisfaction of the patients and patient relatives showed a high satisfaction level with the tertiary care services. Ranjeeta Kumari, MZ Tdris, et al., published a study entitled â€Å"Study on Patient Satisfaction in the Government Allopathic Health Facilities of Lucknow District, India† in Indian Journal of Community Medicine, 2009. They performed a cross-sectional survey to detect the areas and reasons of low satisfaction among the patient and to suggest methods for improvement. By using a multi-stage stratified random sampling technique three representative hospitals (Tertiary level hospital, Secondary level hospital and a primary level hospital). A quantitative structured interview schedule was used to record information from the patients attending the health care facilities. Data was analyzed using Epi-info software (version 6). From the results it was seen that the most important factor for them to visit the secondary and tertiary level of health facilities was the trust on doctors or health facility, availability of the specialists whereas the closeness of the health facility to thei r homes, belief on doctors or health facility and cost-effectiveness were crucial at the primary level. They concluded that, there is a need to communicate effectively with patients about their disease and treatment and to clarity their doubts and fears to achieve good standards of health. Juan Francisco Marquez-Peiro, Carmen Perez-Peiro published a study entitled â€Å"Evaluation of Patient Satisfaction in Outpatient Pharmacy† in Farm Hosp in 2008. The main objective of this study is to identify the satisfaction and dissatisfaction levels among patients receiving care from the Outpatient pharmacy. Dissatisfaction has been defined as the lack of correspondence between the patient expectations and their final perception of the healthcare service provided. They conducted a cross-sectional study to establish patient satisfaction levels by using a valid questionnaire and patient dissatisfaction were established from the complaints made by the patients attending the outpatient pharmacy. The reasons for complaint were grouped based on the classification system created by Pichert et al and also on the items described in the patient satisfaction survey. Patient satisfaction was evaluated with the help of a patient satisfaction indicator Satisfaction index recognized by the Regional Ministry of Health for the Autonomous Community of Valencia. The results show the high patient satisfaction index with the services provided by the outpatient hospital pharmacy department. The aspects scoring least points in patient satisfaction were mainly dispensing area (waiting room and access to the OP) and the dispensing process (waiting time and the consultation hours) which were also the main reasons for dissatisfaction. Pharmacist’s technical expertise and professional attitude are the most valued aspect in the patient satisfaction survey. Pharmacist’s professional competence and the pharmacist-patient relationship were the reasons for complaints made by the patients to the Patient Service Department of the hospital. The features that require improvement are area and process at the dispensing and the increased structural and human resources required. They concluded that, although the satisfaction index high and is useful for identifying what impro vements are needed, it is also important to identify the reasons for dissatisfaction to complement this information. Maria Luz Traverso, Mercedes Salamano, et al., published a study in the journal International Journal for Quality in Health Care, 2007, entitled â€Å"Questionnaire to assess patient satisfaction with pharmaceutical care in Spanish language†. The main objective of their study was to design and validate a questionnaire in Spanish language, to assess patient satisfaction with pharmaceutical care provided by the community pharmacies. A questionnaire of 27 items, with randomly assigned order consisting give dimensions which includes general satisfaction, explanation, managing therapy, consideration and setting was designed. The reliability of the instrument’s scale was assessed with Cronbach’s alpha and to determine the questionnaire construct validity, Mann-Whitney test was applied to compare the data form two groups of pharmacies. Although overall results of the construct validity test did not presented significant changes among the two groups of pharmacies in whic h one group provides pharmaceutical care and other group do not provide pharmaceutical care, but 23 items presented significant variances among the two groups of pharmacies. The results suggest that the developed questionnaire was found to be a reliable and valid instrument in Spanish to evaluate patient satisfaction related to pharmaceutical care in community pharmacies. R.K.Sharma, conducted a study to identify the patient satisfaction level in both out-patients and in-patients entitled â€Å"Patient satisfaction- A case study of zonal hospital† which was published in Nursing and Midwifery Research Journal, 2005. They assessed the patient satisfaction in terms of services and amenities. In this study it was observed that most of the indoor and outdoor patients were dissatisfied with most of the amenities. Most of the patients were satisfied with the behaviour and attention given by the doctors but were not satisfied with the behaviour of paramedical staff and other employees of the hospital. And most of the patients were not dissatisfied with the availability of the medicines in time. It concludes that frequent patient satisfaction surveys are essential to make necessary improvements on basis of opinions and suggestions given by patients. C Jenkinson, A coulter, et al., performed a study entitled â€Å"Patients’ experiences and satisfaction with health care: results of a questionnaire study of specific aspects of care† which was published in Quality and Safety in Health Care, 2002. The purpose of their study was to determine what aspects of health care provision are most likely to influence the satisfaction with care and willingness of the patient to recommend hospital services to others and also to determine the extent to which satisfaction is a significant indicator of patients’ experience of healthcare services. They had done a postal survey in which the questionnaires based on picker survey of patient experiences questionnaire was used. From the descriptive statistics it is evident that there is an association between the level of satisfaction and the number of item completed in the questionnaire. The study states that patient satisfaction scores and the related issues of willingness to recomm end a hospital to others present a limited and optimistic picture. It also suggests that detailed questions about specific aspects of patients’ experience are more beneficial for observing the performance of different departments of the hospitals and which helps in improving the health care delivery. Differences Between Leadership and Management | Tesco Differences Between Leadership and Management | Tesco Management is a function that must be exercised in any business (Maccoby, 2000, pp57-59) management is a process of planning, organising, commanding, coordinating, and controlling and it is a systematic way of doing things. According to Mullins (2010, p429) Fayol describes these elements as: Planning examining the future, deciding what needs to be achieved and developing a plan of action. Organising providing the material and human resources and building the structure to carry out the activities of the organisation. Command maintaining activity among personnel, getting the optimum return from all employees in the interest of the whole organisation. Co-ordination unifying and harmonising all activities and effort of the organisation to facilitate its working and success. Control verifying that everything occurs in accordance with plans, instructions, established principles and expressed command. Leadership is an attempt to influence group or individuals (Russell C, Richard J, 2002, p406) he further explains that leadership gets organizations and people to change. Leadership is communicating to people their worth and potential so clearly that they are inspired to see it in themselves. Differences between Leadership and Management Mullins demonstrated the differences of leadership and management. Managers tend to adopt impersonal or passives attitudes towards goal. Leaders adopt a more personal and active attitude towards goals. In order to get people to accept solutions, the managers needs continually to co-ordinate and balance in order to compromise conflicting values. The leaders create excitement in work and develop choices that give substance to images that excite people. In their relationship with other people, managers maintain a low level of emotional involvement. Leaders have empathy with other people and give attention to what events and actions mean. (2010, p374) Leadership differs from management in a sense that: Management includes focus on function, authority relationship and creates stability. However, for a business to excel leadership is vital, because leaders motivate, secure commitment and inspire people. Relationship between Management and Leadership Leadership and management are the terms that are often considered synonymous. Leadership is defined as the potential to influence and drive the group efforts towards the accomplishment of goals. This influence may originate from formal sources, such as that provided by acquisition of managerial position in an organization. According to Mullins (2010, p374) Despite a continuing debate on differences between management and leadership, there is a close relationship between them and it is not easy to separate them as distinct activities. He further describes management and leadership, they overlap and you need both qualities. Increasingly, management and leadership are being seen as inextricably linked. It is one thing for a leader to propound a grand vision, but this is redundant unless the vision is managed so it becomes real achievement. A manager must have traits of a leader. Leaders develop strategies that build and sustain competitive advantage. Organizations require strong leadership and strong management for optimal organizational efficiency. Both managers and leaders aim to achieve goals, mobilize and utilize resource. Section 2 Managers have to perform many roles in an organization, how they handle various situations will depend on their style of management. According to Mullins (2010, p381), there are many dimensions to describe leadership style and he simplified three fold heading; The authoritarian (autocratic) Style: The manager alone exercises decision making and authority for determining policy, procedures for achieving goals, work tasks and relationships, control of rewards or punishments. The democratic Style: The leadership functions are shared with members of the group and the manager is more part of team. The group members have a greater say in decision making, determination of policy, implementation of systems and procedures. A laissez faire (genuine) style: The manager consciously makes a decision to pass the focus of power to members, to allow them freedom of action to do as they think best, and not to interfere; but is readily available if help needed. There is an often confusion over this style of leadership behavior. The word genuine is emphasized because this is to be contrasted with the manager who could not care, who deliberately keeps away from the trouble spots and does not want to get involved. From my own experience of working in ABA Beverages, management decided to implement HACCP using autocratic style of leadership style. This decision of quality control was taken to attract new customers and satisfy existing customers. According to Wikipedia (ONLINE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hazard_analysis_and_critical_control_points) HACCP (Hazard analysis and critical control points), is a systematic preventive approach to food safety and pharmaceutical safety that identifies physical, allergenic, chemical, and biological hazards in production processes that can cause the finished product to be unsafe, and designs measurements to reduce these risks to a safe level. In this manner, HACCP is referred as the prevention of hazards rather than finished product inspection. A key role of the quality manager in the company is to maintain the food safety. He has vital responsibilities and challenges to achieve HACCP. In order to achieve HACCP, he uses autocratic style of leadership. This autocratic style was necessary because it is a matter of food safety. Employers view this safety principal as a critical, therefore use autocratic style. Employees must comply with instructions at all times. The positive impacts food safety is met, objective of customer satisfaction met. If they do not use autocratic style, quality would be compromised and customers would not be satisfied. Sri Lanka Red Cross Society SLRCS (Sri Lanka Red Cross Society) (ONLINE: http://beta.redcross.lk/vision-mission.asp) has operated since 1936. The SLRCS covers all 25 administrative districts of the Sri Lanka and the total membership 100,000.The total number of active volunteers 6,500. From my own experience of working in SLRCS, during the war in 2007 in Sri Lanka, it was involved to help victims who affected by war. They have divide teams and work under a coordinator. The coordinator gives freedom to the team leader to take appropriate actions within agreed boundaries (within set time limit and safety clearance). For example teams have to reach the camp and distribute all foods to beneficiaries. In case any problem arises team leaders have to make the decision. At this point Laissez Faire style help to achieve the scope of the organization. Here, team leader is trusted to make decision by the coordinator follows laissez faire style. On the other hand, when the team is in dangerous war zone, for the safety of team members team leader follows an autocratic style of leadership. For example if the supply not distributed on the agreed time limit or if the situation becomes dangerous, team leader take own decision either stay or leave for the camp and team members fol low his autocratic style of leadership. Tesco Tesco is a British multinational grocery and general merchandise retailer in United Kingdom. One of the business objectives of Tesco is customer satisfaction. Tesco is a customer-orientated business. It aims to offer products that provide value for money for its customers and to deliver high quality service. Tesco wants to attract new customers, but it also wants to keep its existing customers happy. To keep at the top of its game and to maintain its number one spot in the market, the company needs skilled staff at all levels and in all roles. The style of leadership can vary depending on the task. Some managers allow teams to take charge of their own decision-making for many tasks. Team leaders will set the objectives but empower team members to decide how these objectives are achieved. This has several advantages. It helps to motivate individuals in the team and it draws on the expertise of the members of the team. Berian manages a team of 17 in a Tesco in-store bakery. One of the key challenges of Berians job is to ensure his team produces the right products to meet demand at key times. His usual management approach is to allow the team to take responsibility for achieving the desired result. In this way, the team not only buys into the activity, but also develops new skills. For example, when the bakery expanded its product range and Berian needed to ensure that all the products would be on the shelves by 8.00 am, rather than enforce a solution, he turned to the team for ideas. The team solved the problem by agreeing to split break times so that productivity could be maintained. Berians approach produced a positive outcome and increased team motivation. (ONLINE: http://businesscasestudies.co.uk/tesco/developing-appropriate-leadership-styles/management-and-leadership.html#axzz2DWoXdm7O) Berian uses democratic style of leadership to achieve the target. This style encourages ideas, feedback, suggestion and team sprit from all team members. Words 525/ 1480

Lenovo Brand Strategy

Lenovo Brand Strategy Abstract Purpose This study aims to apply the reviewed literature of brand identity, brand strategy, and product positioning to analyze the lessons and improvements on how Lenovo, a No.1 PC manufacturer in China, implements brand integration as part of its global brand strategy to increase brand awareness and recognition. Approach This study introduces multiple methods to analyze the pros and cons of brand integration, and brand product positioning such as product segmentation and perceptual map as well as the companys revenue comparison. Findings Lenovos co-branding strategy in its first two phases of global brand strategy benefit its revenue growth dramatically but in limited level to its own brand awareness. And the global sales loss happened after Lenovo forgone co-branding with IBM brand on its ThinkPad/ ThinkCentre brand lines in its third phase of global branding strategy. Moreover, the unsatisfactory sales performance forced the company to trade-off the premium price of ThinkPad in attempt to cater to more consumers, gaining market share and revenue growth, but only result in the opposite situation due to the unclear repositioning of ThinkPad. Research limitations/implications The inaccessibility of the overall statistics on the sales of ThinkPad by Lenovo in overseas market over the past five years impacts the accuracy of the analysis result. Besides, the depth of the study is hindered due to the lack of Lenovos investment in branding and marketing promotions, as well as sales volume of its major competitors such as US, Europe, etc. Practical implications Leveraging a well-known ThinkPad brand can expedite Lenovos access to the cutting-edged technology and distribution channel setup, however, it will takes a long process to build and increase a strong brand of Lenovo globally. Apart from focus on quality and technology innovation, Lenovo should emphasize its value-added brand positioning, i.e. nurturing the brand in the dimensions of relationship, personality and culture. The separation of Lenovo and ThinkPad should be the best solution for the sake of maximizing each brand equity. Originality/Value This study is an attempt to discuss disconnection of distinctive brands like Lenovo and its sub-brands ideapad/ideacentre from ThinkPad / ThinkCentre to maximize each brand equity. Literature Review According to Arnold (1992), brand strategy is the process whereby the offer is positioned in the customers mind to produce a perception of advantage. And strategy implies the execution of the organizations vision, mission, and objectives. In another word, the essence of the brand needs to be reflected in everything the company does, especially those that impact the consumer. When making branding strategies, a company should first have an insight into their brand and brand equity. Brand equity is the differential effect that knowing the brand name has on customer response to the product or its marketing (Kotler, 2009). A successful brand has high brand equity and its image (B) can be thought of as the combination of three elements: a good product (P), a distinctive identity (D), and added values (AV), i.e. B=P*D*AV. Especially the brand preference depends on added values that give customers confidence that this product has qualities, status or associations not possessed by alternative choices (Doyle, 2008). It helps customers navigate the choice process by reducing risks and saving time of evaluation (Doyle, 2008). Brand management centres on creating perceived added value for the companys offer among customers, which can be achieved by shaping the brands identity. Brand Identity is everything the company wants is brand to be perceived by customer (Temporal, 2002). It has six dimensions, which is also called now as brand identity prism (Kapferer, 2007), namely , physical, reflection, relationship, personality, culture and relevance (Kapferer, 1997). The identity of strong brands reminds us that identity is not just a matter of functional attributes (Kapferer, 2007). With time, brand associations typically move up from tangible to intangible values -No brand should be without a strong intangible component became the top priority of 10 key principles of strategic brand management (Kapferer, 2007). Due to the increasing fierce competition and rapid imitation, the focus of keeping customers in marketing highlights the building lasting relationships on brand management, namely, classifying the different types of relationships consumers have with brands (Fournier, 1998), or the different types of interactions companies engage in with their clients (Rapp and Collins, 1994; Peppers and Rogers, 1993). Kapferer (2007) claims the establishment and recognition of brand identity is one of the key stages in the process of brand globalization. That is, the brand must have an identity that will serve as a medium for its globalisation, specifically for its brand positioning and brand strategy. Clearly, for existing brands, positioning derives from identity. But it exploits a specific, coherent and salient aspect of identity at a given point in time in a given market and against a precise set of competitors. At the level of global brands, the brand positioning emphasizing a unified identity should occupy a distinct place in the target markets mind (Kotler, 2000), ensure the distinctive position of the products of a company from its competitors offerings, maintain or increase market share by satisfying current or potential customers, and finally achieve higher revenue (Hassanien and Baum, 2002). Bingham and Raffield (1995) identified six positioning alternatives for firms: price, technology , product quality, distribution, image and service. Although repositioning is increasingly inevitable as the changing marketing environments that influence organisations (Trout and Rivkin, 1995; Kotler, 1997), any decisions companies need to make about repositioning will demand careful consideration of all of the brands attributes (Park et al., 2002). When brand managers decide brand strategy, the added-value lever on which a product is based should be taken into consideration as an important parameter in choosing different brand architectures. A single (corporate) brand umbrella or master brand strategy is often recommended when the added value in a particular market is linked to reputation and scale (Kapferer, 2007). However, the more segmented the market, with top-quality, personalised products, the more one has to favour either an endorsing brand strategy or a new portfolio of product brands. Besides, cost factors have to be considered. Doyle (2008) gave insightful explanation and said that the objective of adopting brand strategies is to increase long-run economic profits, which leads to an orientation to sharing brand names For companies in its initial phase of going global with limited resources, the simplified brand lines can reinforce each brands selling power and reduce marketing cost, provided that the company has complementary products. Another factor that can not be neglected in formulating brand strategy is the country background of a brand. COO (Country of Origin) refers to the impact that generalisations and perceptions about a country have on a persons evaluation of the countrys products and brands (Nebenzahl, Jaffe, and Lampert 1997; Lampert and Jaffe 1998; Dinnie 2004). COO helps or hampers the development of brand equity in the new market. Yet to some extent, acquired brands can produce a short-cut to overcome the negative effect of COO in brand globalization (Ying, 2008) and co-branding provides a buzz around the brand among opinion leaders to create an image (Kapferer, 2007) facilitating brand into global arena, but it is not a substitute or alternative for brand building in the long term. Co-branding can generate greater sales from the existing target market as well as open additional opportunities with new consumers and channels as it can increase cash flow through increased number of touch points betwee n brands (Srivastava et al., 1998). In addition, co-branding can reduce the cost of product introduction and help stage a brand into a new market by leveraging the existing brand with global awareness. This is reflected in the increasing number of cases of mergers and acquisition of such kind worldwide. Undeniably, it can boost the business of a company but does not necessarily mean the success of integrating brands (Swystun, 2001). It is difficult to change an established brand identity and a good fit between brands is essential to the successful marriage. For a company going global, a distinctive and consistent brand identity should be nurtured and matters most in distinguishing itself from other competitors despite of manufacturing the same high quality products. Clayton M. Christensen (2004) noted that most organizations can acquire resources, but it is the application of the process (how to solve problems) and values (past investments) that distinguish a company. And branding strategy is the process of such kind as one of the key factors which will ultimately determine a companys future success. About Lenovo and its internationalization and global brand strategy Founded in Beijing, China, Lenovo is No.1 PC manufacturer in China and the worlds fourth largest PC maker with its revenue in 2007-2008 reaching 16.4 billion US dollars and its market share in China stabilize at 29%-30%. In 2004, its acquisition of IBM PC business (Thinkpad brand) for 1.25 billion US dollars made the company the worlds No. 3 PC company after Dell and HP and signified the beginning of its steps into international market. Since then, Lenovo has established more than 200 branches in 66 countries (Lenovo official website: http://appserver.lenovo.com.cn/About/aboutus_overview.html, accessed Nov 23, 2009). Lenovos sports marketing, the Olympic marketing, and co-brand marketing strategy enhance the brand image and capture the market share. Its global branding strategy incorporates three phases. In the first phase focused on the continuity of the brand in overseas countries to strengthen the relationship between the Lenovo and Thinkpad; In the second phase to consolidate t he high-end business Thinkpad image. And in the third phase to accelerate Lenovo brand building (Gu, 2006). Methodology and descriptive analysis We can compare Lenovos branding strategy with its revenue over the past five years. Investment in the brand must come first to ensure revenue enhancement. (Jeff Swystun, 2001) From the comparison, the dramatic revenue growth in 2004-2006 seems to verify that the branding strategy of leveraging IBM brand and reinforcing ThinkPad benefit the corporate performance. Meanwhile, however, Lenovos global brand awareness got increased during the process? Since Lenovo had the right to use the IBM brand only for five years until 2010, the company decided to drop it two years ahead of schedule, such was its confidence in its own brand (http://www.economist.com, 2008). Despite of the right move, the result is the decrease in the corporate revenue: Lenovos sales volume was down by 5 percent in the third quarter 2008, sales revenue dropped by 20 percent, and market share declined from 7.5 percent to 7.3 percent (Ming, 2009), especially, the sales in America and Europe fell by 17% in the 3rd quarter compared with the same period last year due to the sluggish demand in those markets and notably, its domestic sale grew and accounted for 48% of its total sales(http://www.economist.com, 2009). Actually, the unsatisfactory result can be attributed in a sense to the abrupt brand shift from IBM ThinkPad to Lenovo ThinkPad. Whereas, the point is that it is not the inappropriate timing to forgo co-branding with IBM brand, but it is during the initial phase of implementing global branding strategies when Lenovo did not handle well the relations between leveraging IBM brand and, more importantly, enhancement of Lenovo brands identity and differentiated advantage in its new market outside Asia where the brand name was little known, especially in US and Europe, the focus of Lenovo business outside China. To gain an insight on the brands strategy, we can look at Lenovo brand architecture transition below for the major product lines and brand integration in the early 2008. After the brand integration, under the corporate umbrella brand of Lenovo, the streamlined product brands resulting in global marketing cost-effectiveness can be categorized into ideaPad and ideacentre sub-brands for consumers and ThinkPad sub-brand for consumers and commercial segment and ThinkCentre sub-brand for companies. Notably, there is a change in customer positioning for ThinkPad by serving companies only switching to companies primarily and consumers secondly served with individual models of ThinkPad products. This is to meet the increasing needs for consumer PC. Besides, ThinkPad is expanding its position from high-end only to both middle and high-end in light of Lenovos pricing system. And a question comes to arise: Is Lenovo ThinkPad is as good quality as IBM ThinkPad? Lenovos reaction to the sceptical v oices is the price cut of ThinkPad is to cater to those customers feeling pinch in the current situation. But the transition risk should be foreseen that the customers who know ThinkPad very well may not have that sense of advantage that the original brand identity confers, and eventually the transformation may harm the brand equity. Lets look at the brand positioning of Lenovo and its competitors. Over time, PCs has become ubiquitous and play a growing role in many important aspects of daily life. Consumers are therefore looking for more innovation (Quelch and Knoop, 2006) with appropriate pricing. Capping the product features of each company in terms of innovation and pricing, we can see that HP, Dell and Acer-the strong competitors of Lenovo in US and European market -are all positioned as economy brand whereas Lenovo as bargain brand positioned as overall high level of innovation and IBM as premium brand. Highly recognized by its customers, ThinkPad brand, with high innovation and high price of a differentiate advantage, best represent the culture of IBM brand. The branding strategy should first take into consideration the environment and customers (Doyle, 2008). Although Thinkpad brand has nothing to do with IBM after the acquisition, the customers perception of high level of innovation and pricing of Thinkp ad brand is deep-rooted, thus, it is not necessary and even harmful to its original image in its customers mind for any attempt to lower its pricing arrange. As for Lenovo brand, on one hand, competitive pricing is the core value that the company embraces to contest its key competitors internationally, and on the other hand, like many other Chinese company going global, it still take time for Lenovo to get away from Made in China image interpreted as manufacturing cheap products. Thus, the implementation of its bargaining pricing system in its another brand line ideapad and ideacentre can embody its differentiating advantages lower price but good quality and higher level of innovation and lower the entry barrier to the consumers in the new market(Doyle, 2008). Of course, this is what Lenovo is doing, promoting its idea brand line in US, Europe and other major overseas market (Lenovo official website: http://appserver.lenovo.com.cn/About/aboutus_overview.html, accessed Nov 23, 2009 ). It can be concluded that there is distinctively different brand identity between ThinkPad/ ThinkCentre and Lenovo and its sub-brands ideapad/ideacentre. Discussion on improvement In developing a global brand, Chinese companies could choose between a traditional and modern approach (Ewing, Napoli, and Pitt, 2001). And Lenovo has adopted the modern (although more risky) approach that accelerates internationalization via joint ventures and acquisition of foreign brands, enabling them to leapfrog to the advanced stage in the process. Product differentiation and brands management separation Lenovo should resume the high-end brand identity of ThinkPad targeting companies and high-end consumers to gain premium price and high margins. And this branding strategy can not waver surrendering to the current economic conditions. And for the medium and lower-end market, idea brand line can play its flexible role catering to different subdivision market. In addition, the ideapad/ideacentre identity should be enriched to increase its value-added specifically in its relationship and personality prospective to differentiate with other competitors brands. Apart from product pro motion, creating customers product experience should be the remedy to have them gain better knowledge of the new entry brands and enhance the recognition of Lenovo. Most important, ThinkPad/ThinkCentre brand should be separated from Lenovo and its sub-brands. The case of the separation of product brand Lexus and company brand Toyota means the success of the both brands even though few know Lexus brand is under Toyota.(Jean-Pierre and David, 2002) . Conclusion This study emphasizes on the analysis and discussion on the brand integration of Lenovo, idea brand line, and IBMs ThinkPad brand, which features an indispensible process of implementation of global brand strategy by Lenovo. The strategy of co-branding of Lenovo and IBM in ThinkPad products in the initial phase impelled the process of Lenovo brand into international arena. At the same time, however, Lenovo should have engaged in its own brand identity and equity, which will alleviate the loss arising from the disconnection of IBM and Lenovo. An effective positioning/repositioning brand strategy should highlight the consistent process of enhancing brand awareness. At this point, Lenovo took a either slower or inappropriate action which entail improvement and transformation. As for the established ThinkPad brand, the dimensions of its brand identity should be taken into full consideration otherwise any branding initiatives will damage its brand value through confusing or depriving the sense of status and pride from its customers. To avoid the collision of two distinctive brand identities ThinkPad and Lenovo with its sub-brands ideapad/ideacentre, disconnection is the best solution to maximize brand equity.

Inherit The Wind Essay -- essays research papers

Brady and Drummond, two former partners, beginning their legal lives working together. Now each one strives to be superior, confident in their ways and beliefs, trying to out-do the other. Despite a common goal, the two gradually became very different people, as is evident in the play and movie,Inherit the Wind. Throughout the years, as each one fought cases, established a name for themselves, and gained popularity (or notoriety), they kept a careful watch on the other. Learning of the others triumphs, which pushed them to try even harder, become more set in their ways, believing that their heterogeneous beliefs were right, and that if they kept those beliefs the focus of their existence, they could eventually prove themselves the victor. Yet the two had never met head-on in court. They both knew that until so, everything they did, every case they fought and one, would only be a form of practice, and a silent taunt at their foe. But until they truly fought together in court, this two man war would never be over. Thus, when the time finally arrived, when the two ingenious legal warriors who had trained together met at last for that one final battle to the death, they entered Hillsboro planning to put every single legal idea and tactic they had used and believed in over the years to work, believing that they had followed the correct path and that their long thought over battle plan was superior to the other’s. Brady loved the public. He knew that, even before the time of radio and television, if he controlled the media, he controlled the masses. Thus, his first move every time was to choose the side which the public sided with, knowing that people listened to what they wanted to hear, which would be him, so he would essentially become the media. And thus, he would create a flock of loyal followers. And with the public behind him, a case was usually much simpler. Besides, he loved being adored by people. He relied upon public approval and easy answers for legal guidance, as was evident when, upon hearing some of his former admirers turn to Drummond’s side, he broke down in tears. He enjoyed using the people as a weapon. Upon hearing the news of Drummond being appointed as the defense, he quickly realized a chance to gain the upper hand in the battle he had been preparing for his entire life. Before the townspeople had even met Drummond, he... ...portant battle for free speech, and man’s right to think. Brady, on the other hand, when faced with the revival of his seemingly unstoppable foe and a major setback for which he had not planned, instead of handling it in a sophisticated manner, as Drummond did, fell to pieces. He became flustered and began looking for pity in what was left of his flock of ignorant followers upon seeing part of his legal empire crumble and collapse. As he scrambled to pick up the pieces, he lost more and more until he was left with only a shred of his former greatness. Even after he had been declared the winner (though he knew that, in reality, Drummond had been the one who truly emerged victorious from this brawl of words and law), he fought to regain his once loyal group of admirers, as he watched many of them walking out of the courtroom door, their backs turned upon him. He screamed over the din, trying to regain something, anything, he once had. And all this only took from him the one thing he still had left... the steady beating of a human heart. And Drummond, Bible and Darwin in hand, was the only one of the two extremely different ex-partners to walk out of the courtroom that day.

Essay --

Throughout history, sugar has been an important product due to its multiple uses as a sweetener and preservative. Countless corporations continue to switch from cane sugar to HFCS to lower cost. But is the toll it takes on American’s health worth the quick buck? C. DIVISION: - 2 Main Points – roadmap, or preview for audience of what is to come. 1. First I would like to give a brief description of what HFCS is, what makes them different from cane sugar 2. When/why the U.S. started using HFCS in products and possible risk factors D. DEVELOPMENT: - 2 Sub-Points of Main Points – supporting detail of main points: quotations, stats 1. A brief description of what HFCS are, what makes them different from cane sugar? a. Since its introduction to food products in the 1960's, HFCS has slowly been added to most foods, such as ketchup, baby formula, soft drinks, baked goods, and breakfast cereals. High Fructose Corn Syrup is a thick, gummy substance used as an artificial sweetener. It’s produced by treating corn with enzymes. First the corn is made into corn starch then into corn syrup a...

The Importance of Using a Condom Essays -- Argumentative Persuasive Ar

The Importance of Using a Condom In a recent study performed at the University of New Orleans by Dr. Bruce M. King, only 20% of men reported using a condom consistently, while only 50% reported using protection with a new partner. The results of condom use or lack there of is clear: ? 2/3 of all STIs occur in people 25 years of age or younger ? By the age of 24, 1 in 3 sexually active people will have contracted an STI ? In 2000, 15- to 19-year-old women had the highest rate of gonorrhea compared to all other age categories. (Sources: American Social Health Association, Centers for Disease Control, and Planned Parenthood.) There are many stigmas about using condoms. Many sexually active college students simply don?t find sexual intercourse with condoms as satisfying as sex without them. Often students find it inconvenient, or expensive to use condoms. However, all of these excuses are minuscule compared to the dangerous and life-altering results of not using protection, in addition all of these issues can be overcome. First it may be true that not using ... The Importance of Using a Condom Essays -- Argumentative Persuasive Ar The Importance of Using a Condom In a recent study performed at the University of New Orleans by Dr. Bruce M. King, only 20% of men reported using a condom consistently, while only 50% reported using protection with a new partner. The results of condom use or lack there of is clear: ? 2/3 of all STIs occur in people 25 years of age or younger ? By the age of 24, 1 in 3 sexually active people will have contracted an STI ? In 2000, 15- to 19-year-old women had the highest rate of gonorrhea compared to all other age categories. (Sources: American Social Health Association, Centers for Disease Control, and Planned Parenthood.) There are many stigmas about using condoms. Many sexually active college students simply don?t find sexual intercourse with condoms as satisfying as sex without them. Often students find it inconvenient, or expensive to use condoms. However, all of these excuses are minuscule compared to the dangerous and life-altering results of not using protection, in addition all of these issues can be overcome. First it may be true that not using ...

Workplace Problems

A: Britani Franklin, Kellie Johnson, Jennifer Vendura, & Rob Vendura PSY/435 August 7,2013 Carla Kuhiman I/O Psychology and Workplace Problems Many individuals struggle with feeling overworked on the job. Unbalanced workloads lead to several negative aspects that can hurt an organization’s ability to function as a cohesive unit. In this analysis, Team A will relate Kellie’s issue of feeling overworked. Team A will then choose a research method that will best solve the issue, while applying more specific methods to gain the clearest picture possible of the problem at hand.Finally, Team A will relate the ethical considerations that must be iincluded in providing an applicable solution. Work Related Problem: Unbalanced Workload- Kellie Speaks Working in one of the largest school districts in Colorado, one would think the communications department would be at the top of the priority list when it comes to the number of people they would have to keep those gears moving. Being a five-year veteran of the establishment, I have seen people come and go. I am what you call the utility player.I spend my day trying to figure out what everyone else needs to be happy. My technical job title is ‘Community Relations Coordinator. ’ I spend 40 to 50 hours a week supporting the public information officer and the community relations officer- setting their meetings, filling their calendars, and reminding them of what they need to do and where they need to be. I need to make them look good. A great deal of my job consists of answering the phone for them and the Superintendent of Schools.These phone calls usually are upset parent's that want to talk about why little Johnny didn’t get into the special art class they requested or, ‘did you realize there is 3 inches of snow on the ground and why didn’t we cancel school today? ’ I also have two videographers that I have to send out to shoots at locations tthroughout our 900 mile distric t. We have over 84 schools. The Superintendent runs the district like a Fortune 500 company. This can have its positives and negatives. I understand that having over 6,000 employees could compel an individual to run things like this- but ometimes it can also make it very impersonal. I am the only support staff these people have. I do, however, get a 3o minute lunch that I usually take at my desk. This is usually a delicious frozen entree or leftovers of some sort that I bring from home. Even when I skip lunch I still cannot find enough time in the day to finish my tasks, which mearns they get pushed back to the next day. This can be very frustrating as the tasks pile up. By the end of the week, sometimes I have more than I started with and I end up taking work home.For these reasons, my case is relevant to the study of I/O psychology; unbalanced workloads are not limited to my job and solutions to this will be welcomed by individuals in every employment sector. Analyzing the Issue: Research Method(s) If Team A was composed of Industrial/Organizational psychologists, we would begin our analysis of Kellie’s workplace problem with a research question. Research questions can be general or specific, but to ascertain a better understanding of the problem a specific question is of greater benefit (Spector, 2012).To this end, our research question would likely be ‘What is causing employees to feel overburdened by an unbalanced workload? ’ In this way, Team A has defined the objective of the study and identified the specific problem at issue (Spector, 2012). Our next step is to decide what research method is most appropriate in addressing the issue. Although a thoroughly balanced study generally includes qualitative and quantitative research methods- with quantitative methods used to garner empirical support for qualitative findings- Team A will opt to employ only qualitative methods at this point (Mahoney ; Goertz, 2006).We must also take into acco unt that the issue will be perceived differently by employees, supervisors, and ourselves as the psychologists researching the issue (Stagner, 1982). Our research question has a high degree of subjeactivity; what is considered too much work by one employee can be considered entirely manageable by another. For these reasons, Team A will use more than one method of qualitative research with the goal of reaching a realistic and applicable solution. Qualitative methods involve several mearns of studying organizational issues.Among these are observational studies, case studies, interviews (Spector, 2012). Team A will begin by conducting structured oral interviews of employees and supervisors. In this way, we will begin to paint a broad picture of the issue with the goal of identifying different employee perspectives to be reconciled through other research methods in the future (Rojon, McDowell, ; Saunders, 2011). Conducted face to face with staff members, Team A will pose specific questi ons in the interviews.Likely questions include: What is your hourly wage or salary? How many hours per week do you work? What are your specific tasks and duties? Do you have support staff? Does your company have an employee break/lunch ppolicy and if so, is it enforced? Do you have one supervisor, or do you report to several? Do you feel you have adequate technological resources and/or support? How well do you get along with your fellow employees? How many, if any, tasks are left incomplete each day? Why are those tasks left unfinished?Although the above list of questions is hardly exhaustive, Team A will get an idea of the varying perspectives bound to be held by different employees in this manner. Following the collection of interviews, Team A will attempt to interpret the results through content analysis (an evaluation of the details and implications of the aanswers received) and thematic analysis in which recurring themes among responses will be identified (â€Å"Siop. org†, 2013). Because Team A wants to get the clearest picture of the issue possible, observational research methods will also be used.Team A will rely on the participant observation method whereby we will become members of the workplace group by conforming to the collective culture of the cohort. In this way, sharper insight will be gained into the cohort’s methods, group and individual motivation, behavior, and emotions (Mahoney ; Goertz, 2006). This method has inherent problems Team A will try to avoid. For example, observer bias can come into play; events are often interpreted through the lens of an individual’s unique experiences and are not always objective in relation to solving problems.Team A is also aware of the problem of reaactivity- a phenomenon by which an observer inadvertently influences the environment he or she is observing (â€Å"Ucdavis. edu†, n. d. ). Team A hopes that by utilizing structured oral interviews and participant observation enough d ata will be gathered in relation to the problem of an unbalanced workload. The data gathered will then be subjected to more quantitative methods to garner empirical support for our findings (Mahoney ; Goertz, 2006). Tthroughout the process, Team A will remain cognizant of the ethical considerations to be taken into ccount. Ethical Considerations When considering the problem of unbalanced workloads in the workplace, Team A came across some ethical considerations. According to Industrial and Organization Psychology, there are six ethical codes an I/O psychologist must consider when researching an issue (Spector, 2012). These are competence, integrity, professional and scientific responsibility, respect for others and dignity, concern for others’ welfare, and social responsibility. Competence describes the work an I/O psychologist has the ability to perform.Integrity describes that an I/O psychologist is fair and honest when he or she deals with others. Professional and scientif ic responsibility describes an I/O psychologist’s ability to maintain professional behavior. Respect for rights and dignity describes that an I/O psychologist respects the confidentiality of other’s privacy. Concern for others’ welfare describes an I/O psychologist’s attempt in helping others through professionalism. Social responsibility describes that an I/O psychologist uses his or her professionalism to benefit society (Spector, 2012).In studying these principals, Team A decided that the ethical considerations most important in this research case are competence, professional and scientific responsibility, and concern for others’ welfare. Competence in this research case is the most important ethical consideration. To begin, Team A has to make sure that they are all willing and able to carry out this study. In being competent, one shows that he or she is able and ready to carry out tasks necessary to complete and carry out the goal- which is in this case how to remedy an unbalanced workload in Kellie’s workplace.The second consideration, professional and scientific responsibility, is important because in researching this case it may be easy to gain biased opinions of views. It may be hard to remain unbiased and consider how the people being overworked can benefit from figuring out how to give the people being underworked more tasks. Team A could easily gain a biased opinion of those not carrying their weight and slant the research unfairly. In remaining professional, all parties will be heard and spoken for, and professionalism can help to make sure that happens.The last element, concern for others’ welfare, is the best way to describe how Team A can come to a conclusion in this case study. The main goal is to make life easier for those in the workplace. Team A believes that helping those who do not carry their weight mearns to show them the value of hard work and how they can continue this lesson in life to better themselves. That is what this last ethical consideration entails. Team A, as professionals, commits to the ethical consideration of using their professionalism to help and better others.In this case study, the end goal is to help and improve others by taking some pressure off those who have been given heavy loads of work and giving more work to those individuals deemed underutilized. In conclusion, Kellie is hardly alone in feeling overworked on the job. Although Kellie’s story is a common one, solutions need to be found. In this analysis, Team A related in detail the ways in which Kellie feels overburdened at her place of employment. Team A then went on to choose qualitative research methods, including structured oral interviews and participant observation, to further analyze the issue.Finally, Team A highlighted specific ethical considerations- competence, professional and scientific responsibility, and concern for others’ welfare- to take into account while c onducting research on the issue. References Mahoney, J. , ; Goertz, G. (2006). A tale of two cultures: Contrasting quantitative and qualitative research. Political Analysis, 14, 227-249. Rojon, C. , McDowell, A. , ; Saunders, M. N. (2011). On the experience of conducting a systematic review in industrial, work, and organizational psychology: Yes, it is worthwhile.

Benziger Family Winery Essay

In the case of the Benziger Family Winery, is being approach with the decision of whether or not Chris Benziger should expend in an ISO 14000 certification. The answer is yes, he should wage the certification in an attempt to settle his k todayledge that his guild already has close being environment eachy friendly. This testament fix his position on the grocery as a leader in fuddle industry. In pursuing the certification, he go forth in addition educate other growers on the importance of a strong environmental management system. This leave alone make them wish to take those same steps to suspensor promote their channel to be much like him.By getting the ISO this willing further support his environmental policy that he strongly applies to the daily routines for sh argon the familiarity conserve resources and prevent pollution. He is already advised by the Sonoma County jet-propelled plane Business Program (SCGBP) and is in beat environmental compliance. As pa rt of this compliance, the drinkry has saved over 2 jillion gallons of water per year through recycle all wastewater. They reduced solid wastes as vigorous as energy toll due to the construction of a wine cave built in the hillside which asseverate temperature cool enough to prevent them from apply electricity to cool.The Gap analysis is the semiformal study behind what the business is soon doing and where they want to be in the future. This elbow room the need for continuous improvement is incumbent in promoting the best possible outcomes for the partnership goals. The gap analysis identifies the gaps from what the company is doing now to what they would be doing should they utilize additive resources to dish out improve the companys outputs. By documenting what they draw through in the past, this will show what other requirements atomic number 18 necessary to be put in key in an attempt to maximize the companys capabilities.This may involve benchmarking as wel l. In this case the vintner shortly has annual tax incomes of closely 15 million. They be striving to launch a spick-and-span brand, Tribute that would be selling in the $50-$60 range at nearly 4000 cases per year. They would alike like their exports to increase from about 10% of sales to 20%. For Benziger, this analysis can be done at an operational level since all of his employees ar well-trained on the companys environmentally friendly efforts and are shared with guests of the winery to promote the business.This is an opportunity for Benziger to bring his disposition to a high point and kick the bucket towards his goal for being a initiative leader in the wine industry. Since the U.S. market is very competitive this would make him rack out since very some U.S. wineries score their ISO 14000 certification. He could enter more markets that its consumers are sensitive to environmental products and continue expanding his business to other countries.It is stated that beco ming certified with the ISO 14000 is expensive. This is an investment that will pay for itself in the future. There will be revenue increases by becoming more inviting to consumers who support the environmentally safe achievement process. The ISO 14000 is an attempt to develop a widely accepted, uniform approach to certify that Benzigers EMS is the best way to run a business for long term nest egg and making a positive theatrical role to the environment.In exhibit 40.4 it shows the EMS Gap Analysis and explains what policies and procedures the Benziger may or may not relieve oneself in crop. It explains that he does lose an environmental policy in place and that he has conducted an analysis of the impact that it has on the environment. When it comes to legal requirements, they do not have a procedure in place. This is the office of the Ranch managing director and it has not been done yet. He has covered all of his objectives and has launch a well-written program to achiev e those objectives. He has very good structured at bottom the winery and has delegated responsibilities to each of the family members as well as their other employees. However no roles have been defined and documented yet.It is also noted that there is need for additional readiness on EMS aspects. The Ranch manager seems to need assistance with organization of training and documentation as well. Although they are on the right track he need to en sure enough that they are taking all the necessary steps to continue the company professionally and in an organized fashion. erstwhile the ranch manager has assigned ad hoc roles and tasks to certain team members it will not be all on him to keep the EMS running properly it will flummox a part of the way they do business.The last part of the divulge 40.4 shows some(prenominal) things that they need to improve on. There is no documentation for anything the company does. He need to be able to show records of his feed to be environmen tally sensitive. Several of the drafts have been started but none have been completed. It also states that there needs to be a regular review ensuring that the EMS is suitable and effective.Exhibit 40.5 is the Benziger Family Winery Environmental Policy. In par to Exhibit 40.4, the policy states the steps they are willing to take to make sure the winery is an environmentally safe and sustainable business. However, when each of the bullets are broken dump into a series of questions as they are in Exhibit 40.4, they are not satisfying all of their own expectations. It seems as though they have a few small improvements to make that seem as though are they are not too time consuming. Once each of these steps has been achieved, they are well on their way to being more successful and more organized. If the proper steps are taken to correct the small issues on-hand, the neighboring step for the Benziger Winery is to pursue the ISO 14000 certification. This will set the bar for how othe r wineries should be run and help the company operate one of the top U.S. wine distributors.