The Ottoman Architecture and The Effect of the Turkish and Persian Essay

The Ottoman Architecture and The Effect of the Turkish and Persian Cultures on it - Essay Example (Meeker, 2002) There was a time when the residences of officials, the military posts, the primary and secondary schools and education centres, and the public health and social services agencies were all located here. Turkish nation's cultural and historical links to its Ottoman past is not new, however the absence of a native Turkish (and Ottoman) historical school of thought opened the way for the easy penetration of Persian ideas and interpretations concerning even the most basic aspects of Ottoman and Turkish history, society and culture. As a result, wholesale acceptance of Persia and Iranian ideas began in the late Ottoman state and accelerated in the Republic. (Goffman, 2002) Nevertheless, scholars long regarded the Ottoman civilization and its predecessor as derived solely from Islam either in Arabic or Persian garb, even though the Ottoman Islam always possessed distinctive regional and ethno-cultural characteristics. Islam was the Turks' most durable link to their Central Asian origins and to the Arab-Persian world, but the unique Turk-European characteristics of the form of Islam that developed in Rumeli and Anatolia were from the very start the real "national" feature of the Ottoman state. (Kerpat, 2002) The Ottoman era along with the Seljuk period began forming an original and interrelated era of historical, cultural, artistic and political civilization. The Ottoman was embedded with all the features that a civilization upholds, all the distinct intellectual, philosophical, ethical, artistic and political characteristics, specific organisation modes and its own material culture (architecture, food, dress, etc.) with particular tastes, values and outlooks. No doubt the Ottomans did not acquire sufficient consciousness of their distinct civilizational characteristics, which are required to analyse and write about. Might be they were not aware of their valuable rituals and intellectuals or these characteristics were not important for them. Some writers have written down like this that they were so much indulged in their religious values that they ignored such characteristics. The truth behind this perception is skeptical but that does not mean that they lacked such characteristics of a civilization. Their main inspiration was to follow the art and architecture of Turkey and Persia, as they were used to it. Fig 2 The question to be debated is why the Ottomans did not seem to be aware of their own artistic, literary, and architectural achievements, many of which surpassed their Arabic, Persian and Byzantine models. According to the 'Orhun' inscriptions, the early Turks had shown some interest in their ethnic identity and "national" solidarity and in writings such as the Divan- Lgat-it-Trk of Mahmud Kasgari, which described the Turks as a distinct linguistic and cultural entity, so the standard answer is that the Ottomans immersed themselves so much in Islam as to forget their ethnic identity. (Goffman, 2002) But this explanation cannot be accepted at face value. Rather, the Ottoman government purposefully ignored the Turkish features of society and stated and emphasized their Islamic characteristics in the second half of the fifteenth century in order to consolidate the Balkan conquests and integrate the newly converted Bosnians, Albanians et al. into the

Free

Free will Determinism Essay Free will is the power to choose among real alternative possibilities. To have free will is to have what it takes to act freely. When an agent acts freely (when she exercises her free will) what she does is up to her. A plurality of alternatives is open to her, and she determines which she pursues. When she does, she is an ultimate source or origin of her action. So runs a familiar conception of free will. Incompatibility holds that we act freely in this sense only if determinism is false. Some say little more about what, besides indeterminism, free will requires. And, yes, the task of providing an incompatibility account is not an easy one. If the truth of determinism would prevent free will, it is far from obvious how indeterminism would help. To assess the point to which free will is compatible with Determinism, one must first consider other approaches to the concept of free will and whether we, in fact, possess it. A Hard Determinist, such as Honderich, would claim that individuals are not free to initiate actions or make moral decisions, by this means making the concept of moral responsibility unnecessary. Any moral decisions we make have uncontrollable prior causes. Therefore, a Hard Determinist would support the premise that free will and Determinism are not compatible with one another. Completely different to Hard Determinism is Libertarianism, with which free will is closely compatible. Proponents of this position, such as Kant, maintain that we are all free and should take full moral responsibility for our actions. Between these two extremes stands Compatibilism. Classical Compatibilists, such as Hume, state that most moral decisions are the result of both external determined forces and an internal act of volition or will. In fact, they go so far as to say that true freedom requires causation, without which there would be randomness. Undeniably then, the idea of free will is incompatible with Hard Determinism. A Compatibilist or Soft Determinist, however, would prove false the claim that the two concepts are incompatible. Arguably then, Libertarianism would seem to present the most convincing approach to the issue of free will, in that it acknowledges the role of the individual in moral decision making because of their free will, while accepting that the persons background will, influence the choices they make. Hard Determinism on the other hand, holdsthat we do not have free will and that all seemingly moral actions are the consequences of prior events that are out of our control. The incompatibility between this position and freedom results in the statement that it is unreasonable to hold people responsible for what they do, making praise and blame redundant. If no one is free to do otherwise than they in fact do, it does seem unfair to punish bad actions while rewarding good ones. Furthermore, Science has proved that the world is governed by cause and effect. For a Hard Determinist, human beings are the same as material things, in that they are controlled by the same laws of nature. Our wills, which we believe to be freely gained, are actually the result of a causal chain stretching back into childhood. The fact we are governed by our genes and our environment  means  that our ability to make moral decisions as free agents, is an illusion. Therefore, the Hard Determinist position seems to be incompatible with the concept of free will.

Concepts of Gender and Mathematics

Concepts of Gender and Mathematics Introduction In 1896 Charles Darwin wrote â€Å"The chief distinction in the intellectual powers of the two sexes is shewn by the mans attaining to a higher eminence, in whatever he takes up, than can women†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.if men are capable of a decided pre-eminence over women in many subjects the average mental power of a man must be above that of women.† (Darwin see Walkerdine, 1989, p. 1) After many years of social change we would expect these views on women to have changed. Indeed, it is not common to hear that, mentally, men are better than women, as women have proved themselves to be just as capable. Take Carol Vorderman for example, in my opinion the most famous female mathematician that I know. She is so good at mental arithmetic that she co-hosted Countdown for 26 years (Vorderman, WWW). However, maths is still perceived as a male dominated subject and it is no wonder that women believe they are inferior to men at mathematics. Even though this myth is meant to be a statistical statement, many women interpret it to mean they cannot do mathematics, having a distressing effect on individuals (Gray, 1996, p. 27). Walkerdine states that â€Å"Women, after all, are clearly irrational, illogical and too close to their emotions to be good at mathematics. Or so the story goes.† (Walkerdine, 1989, p. 1) If certain people actually take on this opinion; that girls are ‘lacking in mathematical ability (Walkerdine, 1989), how are girls supposed to have the confidence to believe they can do mathematics, when â€Å"girls report less confidence in their mathematical ability even when the girls achieve at the same level of boys†? (Fennema see Orlich et al, 2007, p. 52). It is suggested in Burton (1990) that boys are getting more encouragement and praise in the classroom than girls, which builds a lack of confidence causing a negative effect on the girls ability to learn (Burton, 1990). In this essay I will try and address the biological reasoning behind why girls cant do maths and relate this to the ways in which girls learn. The Biology There are two hemispheres to the brain, the left and right. These are specialised, to some extent, to perform different tasks. People usually have a preference to one or the other, although certain people are â€Å"whole brained† in their thinking, and therefore work just as well in either (Funderstanding, WWW). Abigail Norfleet James (2009) has researched into brain differences in boys and girls. She found that language functions and the memory of certain nouns are lateralized to the left hemisphere, whereas mathematical performance and memory of pictures and topography are lateralized to the right hemisphere. Not only did she find differences in the left and right brain, she also researched into certain parts of the brain which help us to learn mathematics using memory and emotions (Norfleet James, 2009). The hippocampus, located inside the medial temporal lobe, plays an important part in long term memory and spatial navigation (Hippocampus, WWW). The Amygdala, which is also found deep in the medial temporal lobe, performs a primary role in the processing of memory and emotional reactions (Amygdala, WWW). The research showed that as the hippocampus and the left side of the brain develops faster in girls, they excel in language, verbalising and working through situations logically. The righ t side of the brain and the Amygdala develops faster in boys, so their mathematical calculations and performance are prominent in their learning (Norfleet James, 2009). â€Å"To oversimplify a complex issue, the left hemisphere in most humans is primarily concerned with language based behaviour and with the cognitive skills we might crudely characterize as analytical or logical. It has become apparent recently that the right hemisphere is far superior to the left in most visual and spatial abilities† (Davies and Hersh, 1995, p. 346) If we look at certain traits from the opposite sides of the brain, we can see that the left brain is notorious for being analytical and sequential, rational and thinking objectively where as the right side is identified with spatial intelligence, thinking randomly and using an intuitive approach to situations (Funderstanding, WWW). Research suggests that the male brain holds an advantage with making quick decisions from lists where as the female brain works inductively and needs much more information to make that same decision (Gurian et al, 2001). It can be said therefore, that women are more inclined to think in a left brained way and men, a right brained way. As a result of this boys tend to have significantly better spatial skills and find visualizing abstract objects easier. When it comes to learning maths we need to use the whole brain; the left and right hemispheres and the frontal lobe (Gurian et al, 2001, p. 51). Primary and Secondary Schools tend to have more female than male teachers (Statistics, WWW). In my opinion, female teachers are more likely to teach using the traits found in the left side of the brain as this is what they naturally excel at. This could possibly be seen as the preferred way of teaching as the traits linked to the right side of the brain are usually connected with impulsive actions and general disruption in class (Gurian et al, 2001). In schools, students are taught to think in a successive way, where they build on previous knowledge. They are taught logical steps, which gives a method they then apply to a question to gain an answer. If, however, the student comes across a problem they have not faced before, they may lack the intuitive skills that would allow them to solve this particular, difficult problem. This method of teaching is sometimes seen as being biased towards the female way of learning, as it develops the skills which girls are already, naturally gifted with. However, to study maths to a higher level, rules and methods can only get you so far. The right hand side of the brain allows you to look at problems as a â€Å"whole† rather than in individual, single steps. As boys naturally develop this part of their brains, they are already able to think subjectively (to relate their problems to personal experiences or previous challenges they have faced), a skill girls have to learn. Thus, with the schooling system developing the boys left hemispheres, they are capable of answering much more difficult, unseen questions, which may require more than just the taught rules. Girls are generally left brained and are therefore disadvantaged, as they are educated to think in one way, their right hemisphere being overlooked. The right brained boys, however, are taught these left brained skills, and coupled with their natural way of thinking allows them to be â€Å" whole brained† and much more efficient at the more difficult maths problems. (Fennema Leder, 1990; Gurian et al, 2001; Norfleet James, 2009) If schools are focusing on a certain method which disadvantages either girls or boys in ways of their brain functions, are they also biased in the way they are teaching, with regards to how boys and girls learn? Learning Styles Along with having a stronger side of the brain, girls are also inclined to use their minds in a specific way. This is usually related to the way they think. Research has shown that there are two types of reasoning; abstract and concrete. Abstract is â€Å"not seeing or touching the thing and yet still being able to calculate it. For example, when mathematics is taught on a blackboard, boys often do better at it than girls.† (Gurian et al, 2001, p. 45). If information was to be taken from the blackboard and put onto, for instance, number lines, which are inevitably more concrete, girls tend to thrive. For girls to understand the more abstract parts of maths, for example geometry, they must bring these aspects to life. In Primary School learning, the idea of Logo (a computerised turtle which moves round the screen following directions) makes the abstract ideas of direction and angles become more concrete. In fact many IT programs used in the classroom have been designed to give a concrete illustration of an abstract idea (Skrimshaw, 1993). Furthermore, people have a predisposition to relate to a particular learning strategy. It has been suggested that girls tend to conform to the serialist, or analytic, model of thinking (Clark and Millard, 1998). These are â€Å"one step at a time learners† (Scott-Hodgetts, 1986, p. 68) who work through problems methodically, leading to instrumental understanding. In an article on the different types of understanding, Skemp (1976) described instrumental as ‘rules without reasons. What he did not realise was, â€Å"that for many the possession of such a rule and the ability to use it, is what they mean by ‘understanding† (Skemp, 1976, p. 2). Aside from serialistic understanding we have the holistic, or intuitive, model of thinking. Scott-Hodgetts claimed that holists like to take â€Å"an exploratory way, working first towards an understanding of an overall framework† (Scott-Hodgetts, 1986, p. 68). The approach that holists take of looking at the whole framework and then filling in the gaps is a way of relational understanding, not only knowing which method works, but why. So although it may take longer for a pupil to become a relational learner, as there is more content, it is never the less, easier, for the holist thinker to then adapt this method and apply it to unknown problems (Skemp, 1976). This is seen as the preferable method to learning as it allows students to link together different concepts of mathematics. Research shows that boys coincide with this manner of thinking (Clark and Millard, 1998). A lucky few tend to be able to switch between both the holist and the serialist approach. These students are called versatile learners. In higher level mathematics it becomes very important to be able to switch your view point, from looking at a problem analytically to globally, in order to see the problem as a whole. â€Å" pupils are expected to do more than simply reproduce items of knowledge, as they have been taught. They must, for example, also be able to restructure bodies of knowledge in ways appropriate to different problems a difficult task for the serialists because of their inclination to learn sequentially, without necessarily forming an overall picture of the relationships involved. whilst holists are busy speculating about relationships, and discovering the connections between initially disjoint areas of mathematics, it may not even occur to serialists to begin to look for such links.† (Scott-Hodgetts, 1986, p. 73) If you are capable therefore of using both of these techniques then surely you gain great advantage over your fellow workers? There are a few issues regarding these learning strategies. In Primary schools, students should have â€Å"the freedom to develop their ideas using their preferred learning strategies, however, teachers do sometimes impose their own strategies upon pupils† (Scott-Hodgetts, 1986, p. 70). I believe at such a young age, it is easier for the teacher to teach rules and for the pupil to learn these, even if they have no understanding of them. Take long multiplication for example. I was taught a step by step procedure which gave me an answer. At this age I had very little idea about why we added a zero at the end of the second line of computation, or why we ‘carried a one; I was just told that is how it is done. This method of learning, remembering and applying, confirms to serialists that this approach is best and leads to success. Even in Secondary school it is known that â€Å"teacher exposition tends to be serialistic in style† (Scott-Hodgetts, 1986, p. 70), Scott-Hodgetts (1986) claims that children who are predisposed to a serialist approach are less likely to become versatile learners than those who think more holistically, purely because of the way that they have been taught (Scott-Hodgetts, 1986). However, it has been discovered that if serialists are exposed to a holistic style of teaching they are just as capable of gaining the same understanding, at the time, as the holists. Although, Pask and Scott, claim that in the long term, such teaching has a â€Å"genuine effect on reducing efficiency†(Pask and Scott see Scott-Hodgetts, 1986, p.72). This inconsistency of teaching styles could explain why certain pupils are capable of working well in class, but then not performing well in mathematics examinations. (Scott-Hodgetts, 1986) At the same time that serialists are convincing themselves that learning and remembering their method is the way to gain the top grades, holistic learners will be shown the effectiveness of a different strategy. They have then begun to be a versatile learner before they reach secondary education. Conclusion After looking at the brain and the mind in relation to learning mathematics, I feel that it is not that girls cannot do maths, on the contrary girls have many skills that would make them adept at the subject, it is more that girls are not taught the right techniques, which would broaden their minds when it comes to tackling harder mathematical problems. I believe that if girls were taught in a holistic way they would, like the boys, learn how to look at problems as a whole and become more proficient at their mathematics. However, as Pask and Scott (see Scott-Hodgetts, 1986) pointed out, mixing learning techniques can become a disadvantage in the long run to the serialistic learners. But if Holists are able to learn from a serialistic point of view, why cant serialist learn from a holistic point of view? Surely this would increase the number of versatile learners? Drawing on my own experiences as a woman, if I look at the skills I have developed to reach my current level in mathematics, I know that I have needed to be analytical in most of the problems I have encountered, as well as being able to observe the problem in full. Surprisingly, being able to think randomly as well as logically can sometimes help to solve the most difficult problems. Evidence shows that even though boys are more naturally intuitive and seem to have many of the skills needed in progressing in mathematics, girls are analytical and sequential which are evidently needed for mathematics. The natural abilities that most girls seem to inherit are the key components when first learning maths. It is only the boys ability to understand this new way of learning, which automatically makes them versatile learners, that gives them the edge over girls. Being able to look at problems analytically and form an algorithm to obtain an answer is vital to any problem solving subject, and therefore it is easy to see why girls can enjoy, and can be good at mathematics. We can see from the following statistics that boys excel when the maths becomes more complicated. In Teresa Smarts article on Gender and Maths in England and Wales she explains that even though there are fewer boys than girls taking GCSE mathematics, more boys continue maths on to A-Level. Only 35% of pupils taking A-Level in 1992 were girls, which shows that the percentage of girls studying mathematics decreases as the level of mathematics increases (Smart, T. 1996). This reiterates that girls can do maths; they are just not taught the necessary skills which are needed to continue the subject to A-Level or even university. However, in researching this topic I found that it is not only our brain or the way we learn which causes us to think we, as girls, are not capable at maths, but also society and the perception they have on girls and mathematics. Until recently girls have very much been considered for different jobs than boys. Careers advice to girls in the fifth form in the 1980s was based on â€Å"retail and clerical types of employment† (Burton, 1986). If girls were adamant that they wanted to study what was considered to be a more male subject, they were expected to achieve higher grades or in some cases, not considered for the jobs at all. In fact, one fifth form girl, in which the section of Burtons book is written, was told by her interviewer that he discouraged women from taking opportunities which would better their career (taking day-release) as they â€Å"tend to leave and have babies† (Burton, 1986). In todays job market women are considered equal to men, however, I feel, it will take a few years before we see equal numbers of women and men in male dominated occupations. It is also important to point out that the content of this essay relates to the general assumption of boys and girls. I know myself, that after extensive research I would consider myself to be a holistic thinker, contrary to what the research suggests I should be as a girl. Does this mean that those female students who study university mathematics and indeed go further, think in a more male way, or are they just fortunate enough to have become versatile learners despite what they have been taught at school? The statement; Girls cant do Maths: Myth or Fact, could be argued to be both myth and fact. We have seen that girls are less likely to be better at maths biologically but if our teaching system was different would we gain different results?

Vampires Essay -- History, Hollywood, Lamastu, God Anu

When the word vampire is said it evokes Hollywood images of handsome men and beautiful women, seductive creatures with fangs that lure in their prey with their hypnotic stare along with their good looks, wit and charm. Once the prey is seduced the vampire goes straight for the throat, biting down and draining their blood and ultimately their life. More recently the images may be of the sexy Vampire who is trying to pass as human in some high school setting that is amazingly fast, and strong, yet trying to be sensitive. Some sparkle in the sun and others must avoid it altogether, while still others wear some enchanted ring or jewelry in order to walk in sunlight. Oh yes, and let’s not forget their ability to go on living forever because one of the most incredible qualities is a vampire’s immortality, unless they have a wood or silver stake driven through their heart, or end up decapitated and burned, which would swiftly end there immortal rain. Whichever version of vamp ire you envision will depend on the most recent book, movie, or television series you are intrigued by. These images are the glorified Hollywood images that are spoon fed to us daily, but these are not the true definitions or characteristics of a real vampire. As much as most people believe that the image of the vampire was spawned from the story of Dracula written by Bram Stoker that is certainly not the case, the story of the vampire started thousands of years ago and span the globe, and continue to engross society today. Every culture has their own story and origination point and these stories have spawned a growing fascination with vampires. It is important to look back and see where it all began in order to uncover the truth of real vampires today. One of t... ...astical ability’s to pass onto their victims through their bite or blood. Just because they are not the vampires we read about or seen on the big screen does not make them any less real. As with anything, Hollywood, and pop culture have become very good at taking the ordinary and making it bigger than it really is or more fantastical which can be with how witches, robots, and housewives are portrayed. Hopefully one day we will be able to separate the fantasy from the reality and see them for what they really are; people like you and me, going to work each day, living life a day at a time. They could be your doctor, friend, teacher or even your neighbor. People fear what they don’t understand, therefore if you look for the truth you will understand that the Real Vampires of today are not to be feared, they just have different energetic needs than the rest of us.

Sales and Distribution Management

BRAND BUILDING STRETEGY OF AIRTEL A brand is a name or trademark connected with a product or producer. Brands have become increasingly important components of culture and the economy, now being described as â€Å"cultural accessories and personal philosophies†. Brand strategy is much more than visual identity. While a beautiful logo, catchy color scheme, and clever tagline are all elements of a brand strategy, they are merely supporting elements. Behind Nike's â€Å"Swoosh† and AIRTEL's â€Å"AIRTEL† are all the elements of a brand strategy, the activities the companies engaged in to give target buyers a reason to buy their product or service and not a competitor's. While the visual identity may elicit a response, it does not cause the response—the elements of brand strategy do. Elements of Brand Strategy To build a powerful brand, companies need to have all the elements of brand strategy in place. There are many elements of brand strategy. †¢ Brand strategy includes targeting †¢ Positioning is an element of brand strategy Product or service configuration and pricing †¢ Marketing communications (e. g. , advertising and direct marketing) †¢ Media allocation, an important part of brand strategy †¢ Customer service is included in brand strategy What’s in a Brand? Sometimes it’s easier to understand what something is by first understanding what it is not. A brand is not a name. It’s not a logo. It’s not a product, service or business. Others have described it as a promise, an expectation and, ultimately, an experience that a person—a customer, patient, guest, visitor, physician, or employee—has with your product or service. Mission, vision, values, strategic plan, and brand strategy: Where do they connect? Most organizations’ brands are inspired by their mission, vision and values statements. The organization’s strategic plan will drive the long-term vision for what the organization will do, and the brand strategy should help the organization define why and how they will accomplish those goals. The real differentiator comes when you discover what makes your brand unique, giving it a market advantage. Consider Nike. The brand is not the â€Å"swoosh. † That’s a logo. The brand is not â€Å"Just do it. † That’s a slogan. Their brand strategy—what makes them number one in sports apparel—is an attitude: Give the consumer the freedom to just do the sport. So, when the Nike strategic (business) plan called for a diversification strategy into athletic equipment, such as golf balls, the brand strategy guided Nike to understand why that strategy was appropriate and how it had the potential to strengthen the brand AIRTEL: It's All About the Brand |Bharti Airtel  [pic] | |Telecom giant Bharti Airtel is the flagship company of Bharti Enterprises. The Bharti Group has a diverse business portfolio and has | |created global brands in the telecommunication sector. Bharti has recently forayed into retail business as Bharti Retail Pvt. Ltd. | |under a MoU with Wal-Mart for the cash & carry business. It has successfully launched an international venture with EL Rothschild | |Group to export fresh agri products exclusively to markets in Europe and USA and has launched Bharti AXA Life Insurance Company Ltd | |under a joint venture with AXA, world leader in financial protection and wealth management. |Airtel comes to you from Bharti Airtel Limited, India’s largest integrated and the first private telecom services provider with a | |footprint in all the 23 telecom circles. Bharti Airtel since its inception has been at the forefront of technology and has steered | |the course of the telecom sector in the country with its world class products and services. The businesses at Bharti Airtel have been| |structured into three individual strategic business units (SBU’s) – Mobile Services, Airtel Telemedia Services & Enterprise Services. |The mobile business provides mobile & fixed wireless services using GSM technology across 23 telecom circles while the Airtel | |Telemedia Services business offers broadband & telephone services in 95 cities and has recently launched India's best Direct-to-Home | |(DTH) service, Airtel digital TV. The Enterprise services provide end-to-end telecom solutions to corporate customers and national & | |international long distance services to carriers. All these services are provided under the Airtel brand. | The Name – Airtel was born free, a force unleashed into the market with a relentless and unwavering determination to succeed. A spirit charged with energy, creativity and a team driven â€Å"to seize the day† with an ambition to become the most globally admired telecom service. Airtel, in just ten years of operations, rose to the pinnacle to achievement and continues to lead. As India's leading telecommunications company Airtel brand has played the role as a major catalyst in India's reforms, contributing to its economic resurgence. Today we touch peoples lives with our Mobile services, Telemedia services, to connecting India's leading 1000+ corporate. We also connect Indians living in USA, UK and Canada with our call home service. | |Our Vision & promise   | | | | | |By 2010 Airtel will be the most admired brand in India: | |Loved by more customers | |Targeted by top talent | |Benchmarked by more businesses | |â€Å"We at Airtel always think in fresh and innovative ways about the needs of our customers and how we want them to feel. We deliver what | |we promise and go out of our way to delight the customer with a little bit more† | The Logo – The Airtel logo is a specially drawn woodmark. It incorporates two solid, red rectangular forms whose counter-form creates an open doorway. The title case lettering with its capital ‘A’ reinforces our leadership position. Thered dot cues in our focus on innovation. Our logo is a reflection of our identity – a confident symbol of a brandthat is always ahead of the rest , always ‘In-touch’ and on customer’s side. . The airtel logo is a strong, contemporary and confident symbol for a brand that is always ahed of the rest. The image style –it incorporates two solid ,red rectangular forms whose counter form creats an open doorway. Te airtel typo graphical style – the title case lettering with its capital â€Å"A† was deliberatiely choose to reinforce the brands leadership position. The red dot on the letter form â€Å"I† cues airtel’s focus on innovation. the words express yourself are very much part of the brand identity. The airtels color palette – the lettering is grey so that the pure black of airtel is visually on harmed The Slogan – â€Å"Nigahhein nigahon ko milakar to dekho, Naye logo se rista bana kar to dekho†¦Ã¢â‚¬  With this the focus have shifted to vibrating the innermost core of a viewer’s heart. The ad is made up of five snippets, each one displaying the importance of reaching out the others. In this Ad, there is the range of situations/relationships covered, from two little girls in the first one to an aged couple in the next one to the young lovers and then to student-teacher pair. Best part about the AD is that it never shows anyone using a cell phone!! This is definitely one of the best Ads of recent times. It certainly makes you believe in the line- â€Å"Aasman simat jaayega tumhara aaghosh mein, chahat ki baahen phalli kart ho dekho†. AIRTELS's Branding Strategy Brand Architecture: Bharti is working on a complex three-layered branding architecture — to: †¢Create specific brands for each service, Build sub-brands within each of these services and †¢Use Bharti as the mother brand providing the group its corporate identity as well as defining its goal to become a national builder of telecoms infrastructure. †¢ This is also called umbrella bra nding by Airtel Also the brand airyel follows co- branding in which it is being tied up with nokia, google and also i-phone 3g to cater the need of its increasing customer’s efficientely. †¢ nokia, ———[pic] †¢ google ——–[pic] †¢ i-phone——-[pic] †¢ Integrated Telecom Company 1. Wireless Services a. 2G/3G b. Rural Market 2. Telemedia Services a. Fixed Line b. Broadband c. DTH 3. Enterprise Services †¢ Carrier †¢ Corporate 4. Passive Infrastructure †¢ Bharti Infratel †¢ Indus Tower AIRTEL (Cellular Operations) BHARTI TOUCHTEL (Basic Service Operations) INDIA ONE (National Long Distance) AirTel – The flagship brand for cellular operations all across the country. Touchtel – The brand earmarked for basic service operations. India One – The brand for national long distance (NLD) telephony Though the costs of creating new brands are heavy but the group wants to create â€Å"distinct independent brands toAddress different customers and profiles†. SEGMENTATION- On the bais of gepography –divided Indian market in telecom circles –subdivided states into category –A,B and C TARGETING- †¢ Earlier elite class above age group of 25 years †¢ Corporate people ad bsiness man Again targeted youth by introducing â€Å"YOUTOPIA† plan †¢ Targeted women and senior citizens by introducing postpaid plans POSITIONING- â€Å"we position airtel as a aspirational and life style brand , in way that trivalised the price in the mind of the consumer . it was pitched not merely as a mobile service , but as something that gave him a badge value†. By Henmant sachdev. CMO â€Å"power to keep in touch ‘ year 1995-98 Significance-The tag line â€Å"power to keep in touch† used in the brand promise was designed to make the user feel â€Å"in control†¦ powerful† positioned premium category aimed at elite ckass of society perception of aspirational and ife style brand. REASON FOR CHANGE- now cellular service operators could drop their prces ad target new customer segments . as the category developed with pricess going down sharply , airtel bean talking to wider spectrum of potential users. this gives he birth to the new tag line Bharti is working on a complex three-layered branding architecture — to: †¢ Create specific brands for each service, †¢ Build sub-brands within each of these services and Use Bharti as the mother brand providing the group its corporate identity as well as defining its goal to become a national builder of telecoms infrastructure REPOSITIONING-(TOUCH TOMORROW) YEAR1999-2001 SIGNIFICANCE Airtel started talking to new segments by positively positioning and establishing itself as a brand that improved the quality of life. -New look and feel of the brand tagline indicated the core values of the brand i. e. leadership, performance and dynamism. REASON FOR CHANGE -Airtel started to look from a regional level to pla n India position -rediffusion DY, which is the ad agency that took charge of revamping Airtel’s brand image thought. To become an Indian leader, Airtel needs to change in it’s tagline. FURTHER REPOSITIONING-LIVE EVERY MOMENT YEAR2002-2003 SIGNIFICANCE -This was the first time A R Rehman had agreed to work for any brand, anywhere in the world. The music from the commercial became the most downloaded ringtone it the history of telecommunications. Tagline denots that each and every person in India live every moment(emotions, feelings etc. ) of the life with Airtel. REASONS FOR CHANGE -Rediffusion DY, which is the ad agency that took charge of revamping Airtel’s brand image again changed the tagline to give better tagline to Airtel which catches some emotional appeal. FURTHER REPOSITIONING-EXPRESS YOURSELF Year2003-2008 SIGNIFICANCE -‘Express yourself’ was successfully launched taking the ownership of the entire space of communication and strengthening the emotional bond Airtel enjoys with it’s customers. -The masterminds behind the ‘express yourself’ campaign are the joint vice-presidents:Mr. Prasant Godbole and Zarwan Patel. Airtel is a market leader in the cellular network and they wanted to very fresh and contemporary idea to build a brand image which their customers could identify. BRAND AMBASSADORS OF AIRTEL SHAHRUKH KHAN——–[pic] SACHIN TENDULKAR—–[pic] A R REHMAN—————[pic] SAIF AND KAREENA——-[pic] VIDYA BALAN AND MADHAVAN– [pic][pic] To understand the brand strategy, let’s first look at the brand building exercise associated with AirTel — a brand that had to be repositioned recently to address new needs in the market. When the brand was launched seven years ago, cellular telephony wasn’t a mass market by any means. For the average consumer, owning a cellular phone was expensive as tariff rates (at Rs 8 a minute) as well as instrument prices were steep — sometimes as much as buying a second-hand car. Bharti could have addressed the customer by rationally explaining to him the economic advantage of using a mobile phone. But Sachdev says that such a strategy would not have worked for the simple reason that the value from using the phone at the time was not commensurate with the cost. â€Å"Instead of the value-proposition model, we decided to address the sensory benefit it gave to the customer as the main selling tack. The idea was to become a badge value brand,† he explains. So the AirTel â€Å"leadership series† campaign was launched showing successful men with their laptops and in their deluxe cars using the mobile phone. In simple terms, it meant Airtel was positione aspirational brand that was meant for leaders, for customers who stood out in a crowd. Did it work? Repeated surveys following the launch showed that there were three core benefits that were clearly associated with the brand — leadership, dynamism and performance. These were valuable qualities, but they only took AirTel far enough to establish its presence in the market. As tariffs started dropping, it became necessary for AirTel to appeal to a wider audience. And the various brand-tracking exercises showed that despite all these good things, there was no emotional dimension to the brand — it was perceived as cold, distant and efficient. Sachdev and his team realized that in a business in which customer relationships were the core this could be a major weakness. The reason? With tariffs identical to competitor Reliance Infocomm. and roughly the same level of service and schemes, it had now become important for Bharti to â€Å"humanize† AirTel and use that relationship as a major differentiation. The brand had become something like Lufthansa — cold and efficient. What they needed was to become Singapore Airlines, efficient but also human. A change in tack was important because this was a time when the cellular market was changing. The leadership series was okay when you were wooing the creme de la creme of society. Once you reached them you had to expand the market so there was need to address to new customers. By that time, Bharti was already the leading cellular subscriber in Delhi with a base of 3. 77 lakh (it now has 1. 2 million customers). And with tariffs becoming more affordable — as cell companies started cutting prices — it was time to expand the market. How could Bharti leverage this leadership position down the value chain? Surveys showed that the concept of leadership in the customer’s minds was also changing. Leadership did not mean directing subordinates to execute orders but to work along with a team to achieve common objectives — it was, again, a relationship game that needed to be reflected in the AirTel brand. Also, a survey showed that 50 per cent of the new customers choose a mobile phone brand mostly through word-of-mouth endorsements from friends, family or colleagues. Thus, existing customers were an important tool for market expansion and Bharti now focused on building closer relationships with them. That is precisely what the brand tried to achieve through its new positioning under the AirTel â€Å"Touch Tomorrow† brand campaign. This set of campaigns portrayed mobile users surrounded by caring family members. Says Sachdev: â€Å"The new campaign and positioning was designed to highlight the relationship angle and make the brand softer and more sensitive. † As it looks to expand its cellular services nationwide —to eight new circles apart from the seven in which it already operates — Bharti is now realizing that there are new compulsions to rework the AirTel brand, and a new exercise is being launched to this effect. Right now, the company is unwilling to discuss the new positioning in detail. But broadly, the focus is on positioning AirTel as a power brand with numerous regional sub-brands reflecting customer needs in various parts of the country. If AirTel is becoming more humane and more sensitive as a brand, Bharti has also understood that one common brand for all cellular operations might not always work in urban markets that are now getting increasingly saturated. To bring in new customers, the company decided that it needed to segment the market. One such experiment, launched last year, is Youtopia, a brand aimed at the youth in the 14 to 19 age bracket and for those who are â€Å"young at heart†. With its earlier positioning, AirTel was perceived as a brand for the well-heeled older customer; there was nothing for younger people. With Youtopia, AirTel hoped to reverse that. In order to deliver the concept, AirTel offered rock bottom tariff rates (25 paise for 30 seconds) at night to Youtopia customers — a time when they make the maximum number of calls. It also set up merchandising exercises around the scheme — like a special portal for young people to buy things or bid for goods. The company is now looking at offering other services at affordable prices to this segment which include music downloads on the mobile and bundling SMS rates with normal calls to make it cheaper for young people to use. The other experiment that Bharti has worked on is to go in for product segmentation through the Tango brand name. The brand was created to offer mobile users Internet-interface services or what is known as WAP (Wireless Application Protocol). The idea was to bring Internet and mobile in perfect harmony. The name was chosen from the popular movie title It Takes Two To Tango: basically, you need the two services to tango to offer customers a new choice†, says Sachdev. This, however, had less to do with the branding exercise as with inefficiency of service (accusingly slow download speeds) and the limited utility of WAP services. Subsequently, the ads were withdrawn, but the company re-iterated that the branding exercise could be revived because Tango will be the brand to offer GPRS services — or permanent Internet connectivity on the mobile phone — which AirTel is expected to launch soon. The Magic: Perhaps the more ambitious experiment has been with Magic — the pre-paid card. The idea was to make the brand affordable, accessible and, most importantly, feasible as a means of expanding the market even faster. PHASE I – Magic was aimed at bringing in infrequent users of a mobile phone into the market and assure him that he would have to pay only if he made a call. Such a customer used the phone sparingly — mostly for emergencies — and was not willing to pick up a normal mobile connection with its relatively high rentals (pre-paid cards do not include rental charges). To achieve its objectives Bharti did three things. .One, the product was made available at prices ranging from Rs 300 to Rs 3,000 with no strings attached and was simple to operate. Two, the product was made accessible and distributed through small stores, telephone booths and even kirana shops so that the offering was well within arms reach †¢Third, to make the product more â€Å"approachable† to the customer, the company came with vernacular ad campaigns like à ¢â‚¬Å"Magic Daalo Se Hello† which appealed to local sensibilities. This apart, the company roped in Karisma Kapoor and Shah Rukh Khan for a major ad campaign all across Delhi, a ruse that saw the number of subscribers go up from 5. 47 lakh to 12 lakh today, overtaking Essar’s branded pre-paid card Speed, which was launched much ahead of Magic. The company is now re-working its Magic strategy even further. Earlier, the branding strategy was aimed at roping in only interested customers — that is, customers who were already inclined to opt for mobile services. But now, with basic service providers having been allowed limited mobility at far cheaper rates, mobile service providers could find themselves under threat again. That is why the new exercise is aimed at co-opting non-adopters. While the exact strategy is under wraps, insiders say the new branding strategy would be aimed at offering them value which they had not perceived would be available from using a pre-paid card. PHASE II – Bharti used AirTel Magic to build a strong value proposition and accelerate market expansion through India’s first national pre-paid card TV brand campaign ? First time ever in India – any pre-paid card brand goes on TV A combination of the film genre exposed through the TV medium designed to connect with the masses of India ? Youth based – romance driven strategy platform makes the value proposition of AirTel Magic – ‘Mumkin Hai’ come alive ? All elements – user imagery, context, tone & language created to connect the category to the lives of the SEC B & SEC C segment – the middle class non-mobile user. ? AirTel Magic positions itself on the platform of being excellent for emergency situations – increasing productivity as a part of everyday life. ? Sharukh Khan makes ‘everything in life possible’ while romancing pretty Kareena Kapoor with AirTel Magic, India’s leading pre-paid mobile card. AirTel today unveiled its strategy for market expansion with the launch of its new AirTel Magic pre-paid card brand campaign – ‘Magic hai to Mumkin hai’. The strategy is targeted at the non-user segment defined as young adults, 15-30 years of age; in the Sec B & C segment is aimed at accelerating market expansion. The value proposition is centered around a person’s desire to make all his / her dreams, ambitions & aspirations instantly possible. The new campaign for AirTel Magic is all about empowering millions of Indians to be on top of their lives. The brand is positioned to be relevant to the mass-market who want to make all their dreams, hopes & desires come alive†¦ instantly. (At just Rs. 00/- per month AirTel Magic is so easy to buy. ) Improving productivity, letting you befriend the world and opening up new horizons. It gives you the freedom to control your life in a way never possible before. Indeed, anything that you think is possible is possib le with AirTel Magic. The new brand slogan ‘Magic hai to Mumkin hai’ has been specially created to capture this effectively. This strategy is designed to help us talk to this segment directly in the tone, manner & language of the masses. The â€Å"Mumkin hai value proposition will help us expand the market and gain a higher percentage of market shares in the process. The brand ambassadors Shahrukh Khan and Kareena Kapoor embody this ‘can do’ or â€Å"Mumkin Hai† spirit (infact that is the reason they were selected as brand ambassadors). Sharukh rose from a TV actor to become India’s top film star and national heartthrob. Kareena’s success is due to her ‘attitude’, talent, hard work and the sheer ability to make a mark in such a short time. Both these stars have said ‘Mumkin hai’ and made it happen for themselves. The genre of this new strategy & campaign is Hindi cinema led. This genre connects millions across India. The spirit of romance, dancing†¦ the Indian cinema, well known to most as Bollywood, holds millions of Indians together as one. The new TV campaign of AirTel Magic crafted in the Hindi film idiom, magnifies the empowering optimism of â€Å"Mumkin Hai†, in the endearing situation of a boy-girl romance. Where Sharukh Khan, sets his eyes on Kareena Kapoor and wins her love with the help of AirTel Magic. (Poignantly conveying that special feeling we all get when a dream is made possible and a victory of the heart is won). The strategy & new brand campaign is targeted at the large untapped base of intending mobile customers from Sec A, B & C. The estimated addressable market of such customers in the next two years is around 25 million in AirTel’s 16 states. The new strategy aims at correcting the perception that the mobile category is useful mainly for ‘business’ or ‘work’ related scenarios. The new strategy, brand positioning & brand slogan is an outcome of an extensive nationwide research and is an integral part of AirTel Magic’s new multi-media campaign. The campaign has been created by Percept Advertising. PHASE-III – Bharti used AirTel Magic to build a strong value proposition and accelerate market expansion through India’s first national pre-paid card TV brand campaign †¢ First time ever in India – any pre-paid card brand gives such freedom to recharge any value †¢ A combination of the film genre exposed through the TV medium designed to connect with the masses of India †¢ Youth based – romance driven strategy platform makes the value proposition of AirTel Magic – ‘Aisi azaadi aur kahan? † come alive Sharukh Khan makes ‘everything in life possible’ AirTel today unveiled its strategy for market expansion with the launch of it’s new AirTel Magic pre-paid card brand campaign †“ ‘Magic hai to Mumkin hai’. . The value proposition is centered around a person’s desire to make all his / her dreams, ambitions & aspirations instantly possible. The new campaign for AirTel Magic is all about empowering millions of Indians to be on top of their lives. The brand is positioned to be relevant to the mass-market who want to make all their dreams, hopes & desires come alive†¦ instantly . At a amount of your choice you can recharge your account with available validity time . Improving productivity, letting you befriend the world and opening up new horizons. It gives you the freedom to control your life in a way never possible before. Indeed, anything that you think is possible is possible with AirTel Magic. The new brand slogan ‘Aisi azadi aur kahanhas been specially created to capture this effectively. Other Brand Building Initiatives to create loyalty:- The main idea is to stay ahead of competition for at least six months. Working on the above game plan Bharti is constantly coming up with newer product offerings for the customers. The focus, of course, is to offer better quality of service. To make the service simpler for customers using roaming facilities, Airtel has devised common numbers for subscribers across the country for services like customer care, food services and cinema amongst others. †¢ It will also launch a unified billing system across circles so, customers moving from one place to another do not have to close and then again open new accounts at another place. †¢ To assist customer care personnel to deal with subscriber queries, a storehouse of 40,000 frequently asked questions and their answers have been stored on the computers. †¢ Bharti expects that most of its new customers (one estimate is that it would be 60 to 70 per cent of the total new subscriber base) would come from the pre-paid card segment. So, they must be given value-added products and services which competitors don’t provide. †¢ Bharti, for the first time for a cellular operator, has decided to offer roaming services even to its pre-paid customers, but the facility would be limited to the region in which they buy the card. To ensure that customers don’t migrate to other competing services (which is known as churn and ranges from 10 to 15 per cent of the customer base every month), the company is also working on a loyalty program. This will offer subscribers tangible cash benefits depending upon their usage of the phone. The loyalty program will not be only for a ‘badge value’, it will provide real benefits to customers. The idea is to create an Airtel community. †¢ Another key area which Bharti is concentrating its attention upon is a new roaming service launched in Delhi under which calls of a roaming subscriber who is visiting the city will be routed directly to his mobile inste ad of traveling via his home network. †¢ The company also offers multi-media messaging systems under which customers having a specialized phone with a in- built camera can take pictures and e-mail it to friends or store it in the phone. The cost per picture is between Rs 5 to Rs 7. Bharti is also aware that it has to make owning a ready-to-use cellular service much easier than it is today. A key area is to increase the number of activation centers. Earlier Bharti had 250 Airtel Connect stores which were exclusive outlets (for its services) and about 250 Airtel Points which were kiosks in larger shops. Now activation can be done by all of them, and not only by Connect outlets, all within 15 to 20 minutes. In comparison, the competition takes two to four hours. †¢ Pre- paid cards are really catching up with the mobile phone users and it is actually helping the market to increase. First, they are easier to obtain and convenient to use. Unlike post- paid, one need not pay security deposits for picking up a pre- paid card. It is often available even with paanwalas. As befits a fast-moving consumer service, the game is now moving beyond price to expanding distribution reach and servicing a well-spread-out clientele with technology and strategic alliances. Bharti is focusing on two factors to make pre-paid cards more attractive. Keeping the entry cost low for consumers and making recharging more convenience. †¢ Bharti is in the process of launching a new system in alliance with Mumbai-based company Venture Infotech which will enable a pre-paid card user to renew his subscription by just swiping a card. The system will not only save users the hassle of going out and buying a card every time it expires but also enable mobile companies to reduce the cost of printing and distributing cards. †¢ Bharti Televentures has tied up with ‘Waiter on wheels,' a company delivering food at home, to reach its Magic pre-paid cards to subscribers' doorsteps. The company is also joining hands with local grocery shops which will enable users to recharge their cards by just making a phone call to the shop. †¢ Apart from improving the convenience of recharging, mobile operators are beefing up their distribution channels. The company is constantly innovating to enhance the value proposition for its pre-paid service. They are leveraging technology to expand their distribution network and deliver round-the-clock recharge options to its MOTS (Mobile On the Spot) subscribers. Bharti Cellular has also launched a special service, CareTouch, for high-value, corporate customers, providing them with instant, single-point access for any assistance they require. Customers can dial 777 and enjoy a slew of services, which includes easier payment of bills, service on priority basis, and value-added services without any additional paper work. Bharti Cellular is offering a range of services without going through an interactive voice recorder ensuring that they save time. Dedicated ‘CareTouch’ executives are expected to assist customers with any service on priority basis. Besides the regular proactive reminder calls for bill payment, customers can also call CareTouch for bill payments at free of cost. †¢AirTel presented MTV Inbox; the first ‘on-air’ SMS based interactive music dedication show exclusively for AirTel and AirTel Magic customers. Highly interactive VJ based show with real-time feedback mechanism. Both brands joined hands to target the high growth youth segment. BRAND RECALL- for brand recall airtel used so many promotional strategies as celebraty endorsement ? also goes for promotional activites like hoardings, billboards,sponser many events ? along with this amny corporate social activity being carried out by airtel ? signature tune as given by A. R Rehman being the most successf ul tool of Airtel in creating brand recall; Bharti’s View on its Branding strategy:- First, brand building efforts in today’s context have to be seen in a more holistic manner. Delivering value on a sustained basis is perhaps the most potent key to build a brand that lasts. Unflinching orientation to customer needs is the second key success factor. Customers (be it for industrial products or consumer goods and services) across the world are more informed and, at the same time, becoming more individualistic in their needs and far more demanding with the passage of time. Pro-active tracking of shifts in consumer behavior, anticipating redefined or emerging customer needs, and then reacting in â€Å"real- time† are essential to attract and retain customer loyalty — a key element of creating brand equity in the present situation. Customizing the product (and communication of its benefit) to meet the specific needs of various consumer/customer sub-segments is the third element in creating brand appreciation. As far as allocation of time and financial resources are concerned, too many companies mistakenly allocate a disproportionate amount on mere advertising and promotion. This is not to say that advertising and promotion are less relevant. On the contrary, with more choices and higher media clutter, businesses need to budget for an increasingly higher spend on their brand promotion but this has to be undertaken in tandem with enterprise-wide â€Å"reengineering† of the business philosophy and core design, production, and delivery operations for the product itself. The positive spin to this argument is that by first addressing the fundamentals, the enterprise itself becomes more competitive. This can be the beginning of a virtuous cycle wherein brand equity continues to increase as the enterprise sustains delivery of an appropriate product or service at an ever increasing value. It is, however, crucial to note that in the years to come, not only will the cost of building a regional or a national (or an international) brand will continue to rise but also the time taken to do so will be longer and will need sustained and focused efforts. Brand value:- â€Å"The brand Airtel is our most valuable asset after our people. We have built it with a lot of passion,† says Bharti Airtel CEO and Joint Managing Director Manoj Kohli. Airtel is all about trust, innovation and ownership bundled with an emotional connection. I can think of very few brands in the whole world which straddle so many categories and talk to so many different economic groups. † Tata, Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group and Airtel have been identified as the top three most valuable brands in India by 4PsBusiness  and Marketing magazine in its annual ranking released here Friday. And according to icmr survey Airtel is regarded as the second trusted and valued service provided brand after LIC. Brand personality: AIRTEL- |Airtel: Leadership, power†¦ feelings? | |Airtel has a branding strategy that focuses on the emotions and lifestyle of consumers. The Airtel’s brand personality is about lifestyle; | |innovation; passion; hopes, dreams and aspirations; and power-to-the-people through technology. The Airtel brand personality is it is also| |customer centric and a elite class product and most reliable on the basis of is good network service and customer centric approach and | |shows its leadership — be it in network, innovations, offerings or services | |   | |â€Å"In a service industry like telecom, people live a brand 24X7. It’s all about experience; and for Airtel ‘brand=customer experience’,† says| |Rajan Mittal, joint managing director, Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd. |   | |That’s now, but when mobile telephony began in India a decade ago, the brand was all about aspiration. That’s understandable: a handset | |cost about Rs 45,000 — the price of a second-hand Fiat — and call charges hovered around Rs 16 a minute. | |   | |Naturally, the personality of the brand airtel is ike | |: elite class and innovative product/service provider | |Used by professionals | |successful entrepreneurs. |Leader | | | | | |â€Å"We positioned Airtel as an aspirational and lifestyle brand, in a way that trivialised the price in the mind of the consumer. It was | |pitched not merely as a mobile service, but as something that gave him a badge value,† recalls Hemant Sachdev, chief marketing officer | |(mobility) and director, Bharti Tele-Ventures. | |   | |   | |The way to the future, though, seems to be through product innovations such as easy charge (recharging prepaid connection through SMS), | |hello tunes, the Blackberry option, stock tickers and M-cheques (mobile credit cards). |   | | | BRAND ASSOSIATION- The Airtel brand positioned it as a customer centric and a elite class product and most reliable on the basis of is good network service and customer centric approach and shows its leadership — be it in network, innovati ons, offerings or services Airtel associates it self with the customers both on functional and emotional values.. these can be jotted down as follows †¢ elite class and innovative product/service provider †¢ it shows the personality of a leader †¢ reliable network and customized service †¢ innovative product †¢ leading the market †¢ trusted and beneficial BRAND loyalty- |Bharti airtel Offers so manY programs to create brand loyalty which is the basic success of airtel .. some schemes such as | |Bharati Airtel offers two points on every Rs 100 on the member’s monthly billing or recharge. | |   | |The company is also considering bringing credit cards, loans and liabilities services under this program. | |   | | | †¢ PRE-PAID users of Airtel can look forward to some free talk time each time they recharge their card. The company is going to launch a new customer loyalty programme across the country for the pre-paid customers called Recharge Reward. †¢ This loyalty programme, which is supposed to be the first of its kind for pre-paid users, would be based on the number as well as the value of recharges the customers opt for. †¢ Speaking to  Business Line, Mr Ramesh K. Narain, Chief Officer – Sales & Marketing, Bharti Mobinet Ltd, said the company for the first time is specially focusing on the pre-paid segment. â€Å"We are looking at pre-paid as a recruitment category and through this loyalty programme we hope to not only increase our customer-base but also in the long run convert them into post-paid users. † Conclusion

Age and memory essays

Age and memory essays It is a common stereotype that memory significantly gets worse as a person becomes older. There is now evidence that shows that these negative stereotypes may actually be negatively affecting the memory of older people who believe this to be true. Older adults who have more positive views on aging and memory have done better on memory performance tests than those who live in cultures where negative views on aging and memory surround them. A possible reason for this difference, is that when people convince themselves that aging effects memory, their effort and strategy use may be changed, which may ultimately effect their memory performance. In this journal, experimenters look at the effects of implicit priming and explicit priming of aging stereotypes. Implicit priming is activating certain associations in memory without conscious recollection, whereas explicit priming is activating associations in memory of facts and experiences. Both implicit and explicit priming were found to have an effect on older adults memory. This research article examines the relationship between age, culture, and memory performance. Researchers have found, overall, smaller age differences in groups of people who have more positive beliefs about aging. Ultimately, this finding illustrates the importance of aging stereotypes because of the influence they may have on memory. In the first experiment, young and old adults were either implicitly or explicitly primed with either positive or negative aging stereotypes, and then given a memory test after. This was done to test several things. First, they wanted to see if the effects of implicit stereotyping on memory performance are reliable with older adults. The researchers believed that this would be proved to be true, and that aging stereotypes would have a large impact on the memory of older adults, but very little on younger adults. Also, they wanted to test the extent to which awareness influenced t...

Free Essays on Hamlets Relationship With Women

In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Hamlet is closely affiliated with two women, Ophelia, the love of his life, and Gertrude, his mother. Hamlet’s relationship with these women may be more complex than the whole drama itself. He has a number of mixed emotions running through his mind dealing with both women. And as if being stressed out about the women in life about whom you care is not enough to kill a man, he had to worry still about grieving his father’s death, avenging his father’s death, whether or not the ghost was going to take his soul, and he has to undermine the constant assaults coming from Claudius and Polonius. All of these things added up making Hamlet’s relationship with Ophelia and Gertrude a complex string of emotions, while making Hamlet’s life a living hell. Looking first at Hamlet’s relationship with Gertrude, we see that he has three basic emotions toward her: disgust, anger, and love. The death of King Hamlet was a tragic event in Hamlets life. The last thing he would have wanted was for his mother to â€Å"abandon† what was left of the immediate family ties and marry with his uncle less than two months after the tragic death. Hamlet describes the hasty marriage as not only a bloody deed, but also an incestuous deed. Hamlet, In Act III Scene 4, became very angry with Gertrude as he reminded her once again of the terrible deed that had been done. In her â€Å"closet† he yelled out obscenities at her trying to open her eyes and make her feel the shame and sorrow that she should have been experiencing. After Hamlet upset Gertrude and turned her eyes into the blackness of her soul, he started to show sympathetic, loving feelings. Even though she had done something so terrible â€Å"as kill a king and marry with his brother† Hamlet shows signs of forgiving her, after all she is his mother. A huge reason for Hamlet’s for... Free Essays on Hamlet's Relationship With Women Free Essays on Hamlet's Relationship With Women In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Hamlet is closely affiliated with two women, Ophelia, the love of his life, and Gertrude, his mother. Hamlet’s relationship with these women may be more complex than the whole drama itself. He has a number of mixed emotions running through his mind dealing with both women. And as if being stressed out about the women in life about whom you care is not enough to kill a man, he had to worry still about grieving his father’s death, avenging his father’s death, whether or not the ghost was going to take his soul, and he has to undermine the constant assaults coming from Claudius and Polonius. All of these things added up making Hamlet’s relationship with Ophelia and Gertrude a complex string of emotions, while making Hamlet’s life a living hell. Looking first at Hamlet’s relationship with Gertrude, we see that he has three basic emotions toward her: disgust, anger, and love. The death of King Hamlet was a tragic event in Hamlets life. The last thing he would have wanted was for his mother to â€Å"abandon† what was left of the immediate family ties and marry with his uncle less than two months after the tragic death. Hamlet describes the hasty marriage as not only a bloody deed, but also an incestuous deed. Hamlet, In Act III Scene 4, became very angry with Gertrude as he reminded her once again of the terrible deed that had been done. In her â€Å"closet† he yelled out obscenities at her trying to open her eyes and make her feel the shame and sorrow that she should have been experiencing. After Hamlet upset Gertrude and turned her eyes into the blackness of her soul, he started to show sympathetic, loving feelings. Even though she had done something so terrible â€Å"as kill a king and marry with his brother† Hamlet shows signs of forgiving her, after all she is his mother. A huge reason for Hamlet’s for...

Battle of Globe Tavern - Civil War

Battle of Globe Tavern - Civil War Battle of Globe Tavern - Conflict Dates: The Battle of Globe Tavern was fought August 18-21, 1854, during the American Civil War (1861-1865). Armies Commanders Union Major General Gouverneur K. Warrenapprox. 20,000 men Confederate Lieutenant General A.P. Hillapprox. 15,000 men Battle of Globe Tavern - Background: Having begun the Siege of Petersburg in early June 1864, Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant began movements to sever the railroads leading into the city. Dispatching troops against the Weldon Railroad in late June, Grants effort was blocked by Confederate forces at the Battle of Jerusalem Plank Road. Planning further operations, Grant transferred Major General Winfield S. Hancocks II Corps north of the James River in early August with the goal of striking at the Richmond defenses. Though he did not believe that attacks would lead to the citys capture, he hoped they would draw troops north from Petersburg and force Confederate General Robert E. Lee to recall troops sent to the Shenandoah Valley. If successful, this would open the door for an advance against the Weldon Railroad by Major General Gouverneur K. Warrens V Corps. Crossing the river, Hancocks men opened the Second Battle of Deep Bottom on August 14. Though Hancock failed to achieve a breakthrough, he succeeded in drawing Lee north and prevented him from reinforcing Lieutenant General Jubal Early in the Shenandoah. Battle of Globe Tavern - Warren Advances: With Lee north of the river, command of the Petersburg defenses dell to General P.G.T. Beauregard. Moving out at dawn on August 18, Warrens men moved south and west over muddy roads. Reaching the Weldon Railroad at Globe Tavern around 9:00 AM, he ordered Brigadier General Charles Griffins division to begin destroying the tracks while Brigadier General Romeyn Ayres division deployed to the north as a screen. Pressing up the railroad, they swept aside a small force of Confederate cavalry. Alerted that Warren was on the Weldon, Beauregard ordered Lieutenant General A.P. Hill to drive back the Union forces (Map). Battle of Globe Tavern - Hill Attacks: Moving south, Hill directed two brigades from Major General Henry Heths division and one from Major General Robert Hokes division to attack the Union line. As Ayres made contact with Confederate forces around 1:00 PM, Warren ordered Brigadier General Samuel Crawford to deploy his division on the Union right in the hope that he could outflank Hills line. Advancing around 2:00 PM, Hills forces assaulted Ayres and Crawford, driving them back towards Globe Tavern. Finally stemming the Confederate advance, Warren counterattacked and regained some of the lost ground (Map). As darkness fell, Warren directed his corps to entrench for the night. That night, elements of Major General John Parkes IX Corps began to reinforce Warren as Hancocks men returned to the Petersburg lines. To the north, Hill was bolstered by the arrival of three brigades led by Major General William Mahone as well as the cavalry division of Major General W.H.F. Rooney Lee. Due to heavy rain through the early parts of August 19, fighting was limited. With the weather improving late in the afternoon, Mahone moved forward to strike the Union right while Heth assaulted Ayres in the Union center. Battle of Globe Tavern - Disaster Turns to Victory: While Heths attack was stopped with relative ease, Mahone located a gap between Crawfords right and the main Union line to the east. Plunging through this opening, Mahone turned Crawfords flank and shattered the Union right. Desperately attempting to rally his men, Crawford was nearly captured. With the V Corps position at risk of collapse, Brigadier General Orlando B. Willcoxs division from IX Corps moved forward and mounted a desperate counterattack which culminated with hand-to-hand fighting. This action rescued the situation and allowed the Union forces to maintain their line until nightfall. The next day saw heavy rains descend upon the battlefield. Aware that his position was tenuous, Warren used the break in the fighting to construct a new line of entrenchments approximately two miles to the south near Globe Tavern. This paralleled the Weldon Railroad facing west before turning ninety degrees just north of Globe Tavern and running east to the main Union works along the Jerusalem Plank Road. That night, Warren ordered V Corps to withdraw from its advanced position to the new entrenchments. With clear weather returning on the morning of August 21, Hill moved south to attack. Approaching the Union fortifications, he directed Mahone to assault the Union left while Heth advanced on the center. Heths assault was easily repulsed after being hammered by Union artillery. Advancing from the west, Mahones men became bogged down in a swampy wooded area in front of the Union position. Coming under intense artillery and rifle fire, the attack faltered and only Brigadier General Johnson Hagoods men succeeded in reaching the Union lines. Breaking through, they were quickly thrown back by Union counterattacks. Badly bloodied, Hill was forced to pull back. Battle of Globe Tavern - Aftermath: In the fighting at the Battle of Globe Tavern, Union forces sustained 251 killed, 1,148 wounded, and 2,897 captured/missing. The bulk of Union prisoners were taken when Crawfords division was flanked on August 19. Confederate losses numbered 211 killed, 990 wounded, and 419 captured/missing. A key strategic victory for Grant, the Battle of Globe Tavern saw Union forces assume a permanent position on the Weldon Railroad. The loss of the railroad severed Lees direct supply line to Wilmington, NC and forced materials coming from the port to be off-loaded at Stony Creek, VA and moved to Petersburg via Dinwiddie Court House and the Boydton Plank Road. Eager to eliminate the Weldons use completely, Grant directed Hancock to attack south to Reams Station. This effort resulted in defeat on August 25, though additional parts of the railroad line were destroyed. Grants efforts to isolate Petersburg continued through the fall and winter before culminating in the citys fall in April 1865. Selected Sources CWSAC Battle Summaries: Battle of Globe TavernEncyclopedia Virginia: Battle of the Weldon Railroad Civil War Trust: Cutting the Supply Lines

The evolution of the central processing unit Research Paper

The evolution of the central processing unit - Research Paper Example In addition, the largest challenge with this type of central processing unit in the fact that it had to be programmed, in which case programming meant rewiring its circuitry to run designated tasks due to the lack of dynamism in automation. As such, all manners of programming done to the CPU were done manually through wiring and rewiring to suit the computational demands of each task. This took plenty of time to do thus was very challenging as was the case of the Harvard Mark 1 and EDVAC, which were amongst the earliest computers that used the custom made processors to execute programs. This can effectively be termed as the first wave of the first generation of processors as it marked a new wave in computing. Therefore, this is where the processors ran at a low clock rate of roughly 100 kHz to 4mhz. the low speeds of the clock rate were largely due to the speed of switching devices and circuitry, which were largely relays and vacuum tubes. Next in line was the transistor and integrat ed circuit CPUs, which was an upgrade to smaller electronic devices that had a higher level of reliability due to the use of transistors. It is these transistors that saw the CPUs of the 1950s and 1960s shrink in size due to the exclusion of electric relays and vacuum tubes, and instead the entire CPU was mounted on one or several printed circuit boards and each had individual components. These usually consisted of tens to a few hundred transistors and for a single to be built all these had to be soldered onto the earlier mentioned printed circuit boards. This is because of the numerous transistors required, there was need to have multiple boards and these needed to be interconnected in a chassis to create a complete central processing unit. In this case, each board consisting of soldered in transistors was known as a die or a chip, and it is only unspecialized digital circuits that were miniaturized into integrated circuits. Miniaturization into transistor integrated circuits were a large step since these did not need rewiring to conduct different due to their non-specialized nature. This phase of the evolution of central processing units was characterized by low power input due to advancement in microelectronic technology and the number of individual transistors required in making a single CPU reduced significantly. Furthermore, in the 1960s, IBM introduced a new standard of architecture and this saw the introduction of CPUs that could run similar tasks and programs at different speeds and performance levels. This marked the first processor that could show a variation in performance and speed as most processors and computers were incompatible with one another to extent that even those that were created by the same manufacturer were completely incompatible. IBM’s system/360 was the name of this architecture and it made use of micro programs that are also known as micro-code and these are still used inn modern CPUs (DejaVu Design, n.d). The reliability of these transistor-based central processing units was based on the lower switching times, which enhanced their speeds as compared to the time taken I the case of electric relays and tubes. The clock speed of these transistor based CPUs marked a new record in that they were double and triple in the dozens of first generation of specialized CPUs. It is after different companies created

Feasibility Proposal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Feasibility Proposal - Essay Example In a study conducted by Display Search, it was revealed that tablets purchase worldwide will hit 416 million, 23 million more than regular laptop’s 393 millions by the year 2017. This trend is supported by the increasing demand of the tablets from the emerging markets around the world. In the study, many people revealed their preference to tablets to be based on its user-friendly nature, classiness and convenience. According to Richard Shim, an analyst and a member of the team who conducted the research, consumers continuously shift towards mobile computing against the traditional notebook, a trend that has picked up well in mature markets around the world. For example, tablet PCs are expected to grow by annual average of 28% in the next 5 years within the mature markets of United States, Japan, and West Europe. The challenge for HP is to ensure it manufacture tablets that are sleek and trendy, which will resonate with the increasingly trendy consumer. In a market where intern et business giants such as Google and Microsoft have taken by storm through their flagship tablets in the market, it is logical to note that any failure by the HP to embrace the tablet market will deal a big blow to its market share. The strategy is to ensure the company maintains or improve its 16% market share around the global consumption of PC usage. Problem statement While many tablet manufacturers have concentrated their tablet market share within the established or rather mature markets, HP has not involved itself in the manufacturing of tablets despite the growing trend in the tablet PC usage around the world. Companies such as Apple, Samsung, Microsoft, and Google have consolidated their market share in the tablet PC manufacturing, leaving HP still struggling with its notebook PCs. A point to note, however, is that many of these companies only focus their products towards mature markets. This trend leaves the gap in the emerging markets, which are expected to grow in equal measure in the projected years. HP can take a leap into the emerging markets, which seem to be catching up with the established markets in the tablet PC usage on a daily basis. However, this should not mean that HP needs to ignore the mature markets, which sets trends for the emerging markets. The company, however, can develop cheap but classy tablets to match the buying trends in emerging markets. A proper study, however, will be needed to ensure a pricing criteria, design and consumption trend is established. The goal of this study is to establish the consumption trend, both in the mature as well as emerging markets. Methodology The research will largely be an internet based, and phone calls. This study will involve web searches on what customers of competitors say on online forums, design online questionnaires, as well as feedback forms for HP notebook users. This strategy will ensure that information about the established and emerging markets are defined, the customers’ b ehaviours, and the future business prospects of both markets. This research will include acquiring of products information, analysis of the existing brands, profiling of the users psychology, and geographical information. Document Specification In about 3000 words report, the study is expected to give a comprehensive result of the strategies HP should use to enter the tablet PC market. The report is expected to outline the following key areas: 1. Project description: indentifying and exploring

D.C. hospital reports high rate of black women seeking treatment for Coursework

D.C. hospital reports high rate of black women seeking treatment for advanced breast cancer - Coursework Example b. As a member of the community of promoting awareness against breast cancer, I would prepare certain questions in relation to mammograms. It is very effective for every woman who is having misconceptions relating to mammography (Sun, 2014). The questions to be framed are provided hereunder. c. Contextually, as a prime responsible person of health promotional program, I will prepare three stage of health prevention camp. Initially, I will suggest all the black American and African women to opt for physical screening, which includes full body examination. After that in the second stage, I will suggest for doing a clinical breast examination with mammography treatment. Finally, I will suggest doing an overall medical screening, if the person is having symptoms of breast cancer (Sun, 2014). d. It can be stated that African-American women belongs to Ward 5 are having lower knowledge regarding the treatment process of breast cancer through mammogram. In this regard, In order to enhance health precautionary promotion, the women are to be provided with appropriate health education program, so that they have knowledge about the importance screening and treatment in the early stage of cancer. In addition, acute measures should be adopted for making them knowledgeable about the treatments to be offered (Sun,

Families in Poverty Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Families in Poverty - Assignment Example 1d. Women, infant and children get benefited from WIC as they get food supplement, free information on health, milk and formulas for babies, immunization referrals and reduction in medical expenses. However, the cons of this program is that it gets misused by the family who can take care of themselves, difficult to access for women living in rural areas and results in increase prices for formulas for parent not on WIC program, since half of the formula being sold in US is been subsidized by WIC. (Rector & Sheffield, 2011) 2a. After reading the article it can be said that the writer was implicitly implying that the poor we consider today are not really poor. If one pays attention closely, poor according to statistics own air-conditioning, a car, X-box, PlayStation and are not living over crowdedly, which shows that they are better off than the middle class of previous years. The sarcasm that the poor worries about paying the air-conditioning bill and putting food on the table implies that the eligibility criteria for government welfare should be reevaluated. The question ‘how a poor person can be poor, if they own a TV and air-conditioning?’ is actually an exclamation rather than question, because what poverty actually means is that the person is homeless, foodless and in time of severe hardship, rather than worrying about being not able to pay AC bills. 2b. As of now, owning such items will disqualify the participant form being considered poor, because the government definition of a poor household include house/apartment installed with air-conditioning, television, car, two color televisions, DVD player and VCR. 3. If I could formulate a plan or strategy to remove poverty, it will include all the departments of the State and a meeting at national level (Smiley & West, 2012). The plan will comprise of few different techniques and this will involve increasing of minimum wage to $11 per hour, as lack of money is the major

Marketing Manager Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Marketing Manager - Essay Example Hiring a competent manager may be a difficult task, especially if you are not equipped with relevant interview questions. It is important to plan the interview because in a new company, the qualities of a marketing manager are very vital. Estimable behavioral qualities may comprise self-direction, motivation, high energy, financial ambition, and persuasive communication. At a beginning, the entrepreneur usually needs someone who is like moldable clay, not somebody who has the traits of a steel rod. They want somebody who will go an extra mile because small industries operate differently from big companies. A marketing manager is charged with the responsibility of making important decisions on behalf of the company (Einhorn, 2010). In this case, the questions for the job interview for the marketing manager aim at assessing their interpersonal communication skills, their analytical skills, marketing approach, and background. Any marketing practitioner is supposed to find out and identify what is trending in the market, the demand of products, their competitors, and prospective customers. They also need to define the product design and observe the development of the product. After developing the product’s pricing strategies, they also need to launch the new product. Finally, marketers need to use various marketing tools to sell the product (Smitt & Albaum, 2004). Open-ended questions are preferred in interviewing a marketing manager. As you ask these open-ended questions, listen not only to the content of a candidates response, but also to the voice and manner behind it. The questions to be asked should be narrowed down to professional experience of the interviewee. Sample questions are; These questions enable the candidate to know why the plan they designed failed and what they can learn from the failure. They are meant to scrutinize the

To what extent do governments shape the global oil economy In your Essay

To what extent do governments shape the global oil economy In your analysis, consider the role of nature, industrial structure and war - Essay Example Constant discovery of new oil fields is necessary to avoid depletion of current reserves; however this is challenging from both economic and business perspectives. For instance, in Canada the oil reserves are difficult to correctly measure because of technological difficulties leading to high cost involvement. On the other hand, oil reserves in Alberta which are now considered second largest oil reservoir were considered as non-economical to develop in past decades (Inkpen, 2012, p.2). One of the most important aspects of oil industry is that rich and poor nations alike are consumers of oil. However, since oil is location-specific therefore only a specific number of nations are major oil producers of the world. Over the last decades, the developed nations have become leading importers of oil which has resulted in severe geographical and political issues. Oil industry is one sector which has experienced large scale government interventions and regulations ranging from taxation to cont rol over production. OPEC â€Å"represents government intervention on a global scale† (Inkpen, 2012, p.4). For five years Saudi Arabia which is OPEC’s largest producer country controlled price by reducing production during phases of excessive supply and increased production during phases of low supply. It could afford because of low population and excessive production. Thus Saudi Arabia along with other OPEC members strived to maximize their oil revenues in the short run (Spero & Hart, 2009, pp.346-347). OPEC’s goal is to sustain the bargaining power on oil producing countries by controlling price. The idea is to ensure smooth distribution of oil to consumers, producers getting their regular profits and investors earning fair returns. However, OPEC’s capacity to fulfill its mission is controversial since increasing oil prices in the 1980s resulted in storing up of oil by producing countries and new exploration

Families in Poverty Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Families in Poverty - Assignment Example 1d. Women, infant and children get benefited from WIC as they get food supplement, free information on health, milk and formulas for babies, immunization referrals and reduction in medical expenses. However, the cons of this program is that it gets misused by the family who can take care of themselves, difficult to access for women living in rural areas and results in increase prices for formulas for parent not on WIC program, since half of the formula being sold in US is been subsidized by WIC. (Rector & Sheffield, 2011) 2a. After reading the article it can be said that the writer was implicitly implying that the poor we consider today are not really poor. If one pays attention closely, poor according to statistics own air-conditioning, a car, X-box, PlayStation and are not living over crowdedly, which shows that they are better off than the middle class of previous years. The sarcasm that the poor worries about paying the air-conditioning bill and putting food on the table implies that the eligibility criteria for government welfare should be reevaluated. The question ‘how a poor person can be poor, if they own a TV and air-conditioning?’ is actually an exclamation rather than question, because what poverty actually means is that the person is homeless, foodless and in time of severe hardship, rather than worrying about being not able to pay AC bills. 2b. As of now, owning such items will disqualify the participant form being considered poor, because the government definition of a poor household include house/apartment installed with air-conditioning, television, car, two color televisions, DVD player and VCR. 3. If I could formulate a plan or strategy to remove poverty, it will include all the departments of the State and a meeting at national level (Smiley & West, 2012). The plan will comprise of few different techniques and this will involve increasing of minimum wage to $11 per hour, as lack of money is the major

To what extent do governments shape the global oil economy In your Essay

To what extent do governments shape the global oil economy In your analysis, consider the role of nature, industrial structure and war - Essay Example Constant discovery of new oil fields is necessary to avoid depletion of current reserves; however this is challenging from both economic and business perspectives. For instance, in Canada the oil reserves are difficult to correctly measure because of technological difficulties leading to high cost involvement. On the other hand, oil reserves in Alberta which are now considered second largest oil reservoir were considered as non-economical to develop in past decades (Inkpen, 2012, p.2). One of the most important aspects of oil industry is that rich and poor nations alike are consumers of oil. However, since oil is location-specific therefore only a specific number of nations are major oil producers of the world. Over the last decades, the developed nations have become leading importers of oil which has resulted in severe geographical and political issues. Oil industry is one sector which has experienced large scale government interventions and regulations ranging from taxation to cont rol over production. OPEC â€Å"represents government intervention on a global scale† (Inkpen, 2012, p.4). For five years Saudi Arabia which is OPEC’s largest producer country controlled price by reducing production during phases of excessive supply and increased production during phases of low supply. It could afford because of low population and excessive production. Thus Saudi Arabia along with other OPEC members strived to maximize their oil revenues in the short run (Spero & Hart, 2009, pp.346-347). OPEC’s goal is to sustain the bargaining power on oil producing countries by controlling price. The idea is to ensure smooth distribution of oil to consumers, producers getting their regular profits and investors earning fair returns. However, OPEC’s capacity to fulfill its mission is controversial since increasing oil prices in the 1980s resulted in storing up of oil by producing countries and new exploration

Project Management and Tran Essay Example for Free

Project Management and Tran Essay Tran was taking his dog Callie on her evening walk as the sun began to set over the coastal range. He looked forward to this time of the day. It was an opportunity to enjoy some peace and quiet. It was also a time to review events on the Ajax project and plot his next moves. Ajax is the code name given by CEBEX for a high-tech security system project funded by the U. S. Department of Defense (DOD). Tran is the project manager and his core them consisted of 30 full-time hardware and software engineers. Tran and his family fled he was 18 and used the education stipend to attend Washington State University. He joined CEBEX upon graduating with a dual degree in mechanical and electrical engineering. After working on a variety of projects for 10 years Tran decided he wanted to enter management. He went to night school at the University of Washington to earn an MBA. Tran became a project manager for the money. He also thought he was good at it. He enjoyed working with people and making the right thing happen. This was his fifth project and up to now he was batting. 500,with half of his projects coming ahead of schedule. Tran was proud that he could now afford to send his oldest child to Stanford University. Ajax was one of many defense projects the CEBEX Corporation had under contract with DOD. CEBEX is a huge defense company with annual sales in excess of $30 billion and more than 120,000 employees worldwide. CEBEX’s five major business areas are Aeronautics, Electronic Systems, Information Solutions, and Space Systems. Ajax was one of several new projects sponsored by the Integrated Systems Solutions division aimed at the homeland security business. CEBEX was confident that it could leverage its technical expertise and political connections to become a major player in this growing market. Ajax was one of several projects directed at designing, developing, and installing a security system at an important government installation. Tran had two major concerns when he started the Ajax project. The first was the technical risks inherent in the project. In theory the design principles made sense and the project used proven technology. Still the technology had never been applied in the field in this matter. From past experience, Tran knew there was a big difference between the laboratory and the real world. He also knew that integrating the audio, optical, tactile, and laser subsystems would test the patience and ingenuity of his team. The second concern involved his team. The team was pretty much split down the middle between hardware and electrical engineers. Not only did these engineers have different skill sets and tend to look at problems differently, but generational differences between the two groups were evident as well. The hardware engineers were almost all former military, family men with conservative attire and beliefs. The electrical engineers were a much motlier crew. They tended to be young, single, and at times very cocky. While the hardware engineers talked about the Seattle Mariners, raising teenagers, and going to Palm Desert to play golf, the software engineers talked about Vapor, the latest concert at Gorge amphitheater, and going mountain biking in Peru. To make matters worse, tension between these two groups within CEBEX festered around salary issues. Electrical engineers were at a premium, and the hardware engineers resented the new hires’ salary packages, which were comparable to what they were earning after 20 years of working for CEBEX. Still the real money was to be made from the incentives associated with project performance. These were all contingent on meeting project milestones and the final completion date. Before actual work started on the project, Tran arranged a tow-day team-building retreat at a lodge on the Olympic peninsula for his entire team as well as key staff from the government installation. He used this time to go over the major objectives of the project and unveil the basic project plan. An internal consultant facilitated several team-building activities that made light of cross-generational issues. Tran felt a real sense of camaraderie within the team. The good feelings generated from the retreat carried over to the beginning of the project. The entire team bought into the mission of the project and technical challenges it represented. Hardware and electrical engineers worked side by side to solve problems and build subsystems. The project plan was built around a series of five tests, with each test being a more rigorous verification of total system performance. Passing each test represented a key milestone for the project. The team was excited about conducting the first Alpha test one week early—only to be disappointed by a series of minor technical glitches that ook two weeks of problem solving to resolve. The team worked extra hard to make up for the lost time. Tran was proud of team and how hard members had worked together. The Alpha II test was conducted on schedule, but once again the system failed to perform. This time three weeks of debugging was needed before the team received the green light to move to the next phase of the project. By this time, team goodwill had been tested, and emotions were a bit frayed. A cloud of disappointment descended over the team as hopes of bonuses disappeared with the project falling further behind schedule. This was augmented by cynics who felt that the original schedule was unfair and the deadlines were impossible to begin with. Tran responded by starting each day with a status meeting where the team reviewed what they accomplished the previous day and set new objectives for that day. He believed these meetings were helpful in establishing positive momentum and reinforcing a team identity among the engineers. He also went out of his way to spend more time with the â€Å"troops,† helping them solve problems, offering encouragement, and a sincere pat on the back when one was deserved. He was cautiously optimistic when the time came to conduct the Alpha III test. It was the end of the day when the switch was turned on, but nothing happened. Within minutes the entire team heard the news. Screams could be heard down the hallway. Perhaps the most telling moment was when Tran looked down at the company’s parking lot and saw most of his project team walking by themselves to their cars. As Callie chased some wild bunnies, Tran pondered what he should do next. 1. How effective has Tran been as a project manager? Explain. 2. What problem(s) does Tran face?