Teaching Children to Count

Teaching Children to Count A childs first teacher is their parent. Children are often exposed to their earliest math skills by their parents. When children are young, parents use food and toys as a vehicle to get their children to count or  recite numbers. The focus tends to be on rote counting, always starting at number one rather than the understanding the concepts of counting. As parents feed their children, they will refer to one, two, and three as they give their child another spoonful or another piece of food or when they refer to building blocks and other toys. All of this is fine, but counting requires more than a simple rote approach whereby children memorize numbers in a chant-like fashion. Most of us forget how we learned the many concepts or principles of counting. Principles Behind Learning to Count Although weve given names to the concepts behind counting, we dont actually use these names when teaching young learners. Rather, we make observations and focus on the concept. Sequence: Children need to understand that regardless of which number they use for a starting point, the counting system has a sequence.Quantity or Conservation: The number also represents the group of objects regardless of size or distribution. Nine blocks spread all over the table are the same as nine blocks stacked on top of each other. Regardless of the placement of the objects or how theyre counted (order irrelevance), there are still nine objects. When developing this concept with young learners, its important to begin with pointing to or touching each object as the number is being said. The child needs to understand that the last number is the symbol used to represent the number of objects. They also need to practice counting the objects from bottom to top or left to right to discover that order is irrelevantregardless of how the items are counted, the number will remain constant.Counting Can Be Abstract: This may raise an eyebrow but have you ever asked a child to count the n umber of times youve thought about getting a task done? Some things that can be counted arent tangible. Its like counting dreams, thoughts or ideasthey can be counted but its a mental ​and not tangible process. Cardinality: When a child is counting a collection, the last item in the collection is the amount of the collection. For instance, if a child counts 1,2,3,4,5,6, 7 marbles, knowing that the last number represents the number of marbles in the collection is cardinality. When a child is prompted  to recount the marbles how many marbles there are, the child doesnt yet have cardinality. To support this concept, children need to be encouraged to count sets of objects and then probed for how many are in the set. The child needs to remember the last number represents the quantity of the set. Cardinality and quantity are related to counting concepts.Unitizing: Our number system groups objects into 10 once 9 is reached. We use a base 10 system whereby a 1 will represent ten, one hundred, one thousand, etc. Of the counting principles, this one tends to cause the greatest amount of difficulty for children. Note We’re  sure youll never look at counting quite the same way when working with your children. More importantly, always keep blocks, counters, coins or buttons to ensure that you are teaching the counting principles concretely. The symbols wont mean anything without the concrete items to back them up.

A Concussion is No Laughing Matter

This is what I saw in manga, but the character got hard on my head, the stars suddenly floated in the air, and the manga looked very awkward. However, in just a few seconds, the cartoon restarts and resumes operation. In the latest legend of Tom and Jerry or Coyote and Roadrunner, this seems interesting, but in real life it is not that fascinating. Looking at the stars, fainting and feeling unconscious may be a brain injury called concussion. Concussion or traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a very serious problem that needs to be treated in this way. However, traditional doctors and medicines often treat post-concussion treatment as long-term treatment. You may ask if there is a general concussion or TBI In the absence of common symptoms, they believe that you healed, but symptoms of concussion have been affected for a long time. There are various ways to heal the brain after concussion, so you can return to sports events and restore quality living. We used the definition of concussion proposed by international consensus on sports concussion. Thus, athletes experiencing acceleration of brain trauma followed by concussion symptoms, concussion or cognitive decline of the brain are diagnosed as concussion. . Standardized entrance and follow-up visit forms are used in various places. The patient enters demographic information (date of birth, gender etc.) and clinical data (eg, injured day, injured movement, symptom score after concussion). A single definition of concussion, mild head trauma, or mild traumatic brain trauma is generally accepted. International Symposium on Sports Vibration 2001 In the first session of the sports group the vibration of the first session was defined as a complicated pathophysiological process affecting the brain caused by traumatic biomechanical force. It is generally accepted that concussion is usually accompanied by transient damage that temporally spontaneously heals over time, and neuroimaging usually has a severe structural change ca used by the condition of the brain It indicates that it is not.

Women are the Stronger Sex Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Women are the Stronger Sex - Essay Example Women are more nurturing than men because they have to be. Women care for others. This does not mean men do not have the capacity to nurture, but women as a majority have a greater capacity. Women take care of children, the sick, and elderly family members. One author reveals: Over the years, women have won access to the paid workplace, but they have yet to win the social change that truly acknowledges the contributions of unpaid care to the economy and society. Nurturing or caring for another individual involves things not considered manly. An example would be changing diapers, either a child or a parent. Some men do changes diapers, but all women with children change diapers. Women have to nurture, which make them the stronger sex. Women are also physically stronger, not in strength but in health and living with more illness. In the US, a woman’s life expectancy is 79 years, while a man’s life expectancy is 72 years (Cromie). Women live longer than men worldwide. Cromie states, â€Å"While men die from their diseases, women live with them." Although women live longer, they develop â€Å"arthritis, osteoporosis, and diabetes†. This attests to the physical endurance of women. Recently, women have been urged to only donate whole blood, not plasma. In Oklahoma, women have been prohibited from donating plasma. This is due to an antibody that women develop when they are pregnant but are immune to, but men are not. This has caused complications in transfusions, leading to pulmonary problems. Their bodies are stronger than that of a man.

Relationship Between Service Advertising Strategies and Consumers Dissertation

Relationship Between Service Advertising Strategies and Consumers Responses Within Hospitality Industry - Dissertation Example the primary research instrument and are administered in various modes, such as by regular mail, overnight delivery, fax, the Internet and drop-off/pick up. Meanwhile, interview-completed surveys are conducted personally in a shopping mall, home, office or other workplace of the consumer-respondent or coursed through the telephone. On the other hand, Hair et al. (2011) explained that observations may be conducted in three ways: (1) directly by a human observer; (2) electronically, as in the scanning of purchases in retail outlets or click-through behaviour of individuals when browsing the Internet; and (3) mechanically, through the telephone as when business calls are recorded for quality control monitoring or training purposes. Qualitative techniques. The qualitative techniques in commonly used in business researched are classified as interview-based or observation based. Both classifications used interview / interview guides. In-depth interviews, focus-groups, case studies and proje ct techniques are interview-based. In contrast, qualitative observations carried out either directly by a human observer or electronically. Traditional focus groups are the most frequently selected qualitative observation technique based on the 2008 trends in research industry (as cited in Hair, et al., 2011). Other common observation-based qualitative techniques based on research industry trends include personal and telephone-coursed in-depth interviews, chat or text-based online focus groups, video-based online focus-groups, interview / groups using online communities, monitoring blogs, and ethnography (Hair, et al., 2011; Bryman & Bell, 2007). Mixed methods techniques. Mixed methods research refers to one which â€Å"integrates quantitative and qualitative research within a single... This dissertation chapter discusses the methodology, that was designed to provide direction in the collection, processing and analysis of data in this study, which ventured to look at the consumer decision process in terms of the association between the advertising strategy applied and corresponding consumer reactions to the strategy utilized within the hospitality sector. Three groups of research techniques are available for this type of business-related inquiry, namely: quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods. A quantitative technique was deemed most appropriate for the purpose of the study. Survey methodology was adopted with the use of a researcher-constructed instrument consisting of twenty items developed from existing literature. The instrument was evaluated using face validity and internal consistency reliability, for which pre-testing and pilot testing were carried out. Simple random sampling was utilized in the calculation of minimum required sample size of 138. The sam pling unit adopted in this chapter of the dissertation was the household. Systematic sampling was used in the administration of the research instrument to one household for every 500 households in the Bournemouth area. To sum up, it can be stated that data collected were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Inferential statistics were carried out using two-tailed or non-directional analysis and a 0.05 level of significance. A coding guide and an interpretation guide facilitated the analysis of data.

The 1954 CIA Coup in Guatemala :: CIA Guatemalan Government Economy Essays

The 1954 CIA Coup in Guatemala The 1954 coup that deposed the democratically elected government of Guatemala has long been acknowledged to have been the result of CIA covert action. Recently declassified documents have shown a new, and more sinister light, on the CIA's involvement in an action that gave birth to some of the most brutally dictatorial regimes in modern history. No one at this point will dispute the original involvement, but there are still those who maintain that this is all water over the dam of history and that the US has not had direct responsibility for the actions of a Guatemalan government since the 1954 coup. (Evans-Pritchard) I intend to outline the background of the political circumstances that lead to the coup. This will include Guatemala, the US and the world scene at the time, when anti-communism contended with communism as state ideologies. I will contend that the coup was all but inevitable in the prevailing political climate of 1954. But that still doesn't make it right. We have been finding out for nearly half a century how wrong it was. Opinions have always varied with the positions of their adherents, but I believe there is one thing that can no longer be disputed: the CIA catalyzed a turn for the worse, even to the inhuman, for many Latin American governments by its actions in managing the Guatemalan coup. They provided the essential weapon for the modern national security state, the knowledge of how to organize an efficient apparatus of state repression and terror. ‘The wink and the nod’ that was all somehow acceptable to your primary sponsor caused many a dictator to adopt these methods to take and maintain power. Only recently have internal CIA documents become available, allowing researchers to begin to look inside the CIA itself. Partial as these releases are, they supply valuable insight into the machinations of this secretive organization. These documents outline the beginning of the Terror; let's hope we are seeing the end of it. The early 1950s was a time of tension and uncertainty in the world. The Cold War replaced ‘hot’ war. Humankind had gone from the terror of actual war to the terror of the potential of nuclear war. The situation was aggravated by the ongoing conflict in Korea which pitted the forces of the ‘Free World’ against the specter of international Communism. Anticommunist hysteria gripped the US political scene, mirroring many of the excesses of the Stalinist enemy that it was in struggle with in the international arena.

Sony’s Environment Analysis

Executive Summary Sony Corp. acquired Ericsson’s shares in their 50-50 joint venture Sony Ericsson early this year and rebranded it into Sony Mobile, a wholly own subsidiary of Sony Corp. The aim of this audit is to analysis current situation of Sony Mobile and suggests how Sony Mobile could compete in such competitive market It started with analysis about the mobile phone market. It then gave an overview about Sony Mobile and STP analysis. This audit used Porter 5 Forces to analyse the current situation of Sony Mobile.PEST and SWOT analysis were used to determine the external macro and micro environment and Sony Mobile’s internal strength and weakness. It also analysed Sony Mobile’s main competitors in the industry and used the marketing mix to analyse its marketing strategy. Finally, the audit gave evaluation of the current situation and gave recommendations. Industry Background Market Size: The global mobile phone industry consists of all analog and digital ha ndsets used for mobile telephony (Marketline, 2009). Mobile phone industry is a very fast growing and competitive industry with many big players like Nokia, Samsung, LG, HTC, RIM, Apple, etc.According to International Telecommunication Union (2011), total number of mobile subscriber worldwide has reached 5,981 millions. The breakdown of subscription by regions extracted from ITU is as follow: Source: ITU Gartner, the world's leading information technology research and advisory company, in its report in 2012 reported that total number of mobile phone shipped in 2011 is 1,775 million units. Total sales of smartphone in 2011 have reached 491. 4 millions, around 27. 7% of total mobile phone sales. (IDC, 2011) Market Growth In 2012, mobile phone industry operating profits rose more than 44% annually (Strategy Analytics, 2012).This is a very impressive growth for any industry thanks to the creation and expansion of 3G and 4G net-works. That led to the demand for 3G and 4G mobile handset g lobally. Total number of mobile phones rose by 11. 1% (Gartner, 2012) and total number of smartphone rose by 61. 3%. (IDC, 2012) Market Trend In 2007, the first iPhone was introduced to the market and it changed the game. Apple created a new trend to the mobile phone industry, the trend of smartphone. Since then to now, Apple has sold more than 200 million iPhones, customers started to pick up smartphone instead of feature phone and producer started to follow the trend.Samsung came up with its Galaxy series, Nokia with its N series, etc. Currently, iPhone and Galaxy from Apple and Samsung are the two best-selling smartphone models worldwide. The two models are being priced quite high but multi-million of them have been sold. The two tech giant, Apple and Samsung continue to lead the market and enjoy the lion's share of global revenues and profits, thanks to the weak performance of other giant such as Nokia, Motorola and LG. Below chart showed the change in market share of top 5 smar tphone vendors. Market ShareNokia’s market share is declining year by year but still, it is holding the largest pie of the cake. Taiwanese mobile producer HTC, Korean giants Samsung and LG are becoming stronger and stronger, Research in Motion has always has its certain share in the market and Apple with its Swiss army knife iPhone, is becoming a biggest threat to all competitors in the industry. The market share of the industry is as follow: In such market, competing in this industry would be difficult enough, but to be a market leader will be even more challenging. Sony Mobile, successor ofSony Ericsson which has the financial support of Sony Corp. and the technology and market share of Ericsson, has always strived to be the top player in mobile industry. Company Background – Sony History Akio Morita & Masaru Iuka founded the Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo in 1946. It was then renamed into Sony Corp. in 1958 due to the belief that a company’s name should be as short and easy to remember as possible. Its headquarters is in Japan but its presence is all over the world and in almost any industry. Howard Stringer is currently appointed as Sony Corp. chairman and CEO.In 2001, Sony joint venture with Ericsson and introduce to the mobile phone industry a new player Sony Ericsson. The milestone marking the success of this joint venture is in 2003 when Sony Ericsson launched the camera phone. It was the combination between the famous Sony cyber shot digital camera and the Ericsson mobile phone technology. However, very soon after, in 2011, due to the significant decline in sales over several years, Ericsson wanted to withdraw from the joint venture. Taking the opportunity, instead of closing down Sony Ericsson, Sony bought Ericsson shares and it became a fully own subsidiary of Sony Corp.It is now dealing with over 2500 contractors worldwide. The current workforce of Sony is around 9400 employees under the leadership of Kunimasa Suzuki, the newly-appointed CEO of Sony Mobile Communications. Sales and Finance As indicated in its 2011 fourth quarter financial statements, Sony Mobile, formerly known as Sony Ericsson report a loss of 247 million euro. It is a decline of 374% from 2010. The lost was due to the rise in competitiveness of the market. It also reflect the unfavourable macroeconomic and the effects of the flood in Thailand in November 2011.The company have shifted from selling feature phones to smartphones. Its Android-based smartphone sales in the fourth quarter increased 65% year-on-year. Sony Mobile have the total units sale during the 2011 fourth quarter is 9 million, it is a decrease of 20% from last year. The decrease in sales is the result of the shift from feature phones to smart phones. The number of feature phones was significantly dropped due to the change in strategy but the increase in smartphone sale is too little to offset the loss in sales despite the fact that the sale in Xperia smartphones to date has reached 28 million.Sales for the quarter were approximately â‚ ¬1. 3 billion, 80% of which is from Xperia smartphones. This has emphasized the company's shift in strategy from selling feature phones to selling smartphones. The gross profit margin was 24%. It is a decrease compare to 30% the same quarter last year and 27% in the previous quarter. The decrease in gross profit margin show the difficulties of Sony in sales due to the increasing in market competitiveness with the rise of many innovative, creative and strong competitors such as Nokia, Samsung, Apple.The price competition is affecting Sony gross profit margin and it also one of the reason led to the loss of Sony Mobile during this quarter. Due to the difficulties and the shift in strategies and the restructuring program mentioned above, Sony Ericsson ended the quarter with a net loss of â‚ ¬207 million. Cash flow from operating activities during the quarter was negative Euro 26 million. External borrowings were Euro 19 milli on during the quarter. Total borrowings were Euro 742 million at the end of the quarter. Total cash balances at December 31, 2011 were Euro 442 million. Business objectives:Sony Mobile is aiming to challenge the market leaders in smartphone producers. They want to integrate Sony Corp. technology into their phones in order to compete with others smartphone vendor like Apple or Samsung. They want to gain market share any try to become number one market leader. â€Å"Sony will change† as quoted by the current President and the CEO of Sony Corp. , Sony is reinventing itself to deliver a new, unique and exciting experience for its customers around the world. Sony is now moving fully towards giving an all-in-one solution through its new array of smartphones powered by android operating system.SONY STP ALALYSIS (Segmentation Targeting and Positioning): In marketing most important things are the marketing segmentation and the marketing mix. Even if you come up with a best product and if you do not use the right marketing strategies the result can be devastating. Sony is one of the electronic companies in the world but it cannot be attributed just to the technology and the innovation. Sony's marketing segmentation consists of four different lines: 1) Mobile phones 2) Sony music 3) Sony pictures (Play Station) ) Electronics (TV, camera, walkman, computer, MP3 players) Source: http://www. consumerpsychologist. com/cb_Segmentation. html Segmentation: Sony takes an effort to understand its customers as much as possible. The marketing segmentation makes the process more efficient and effective. It divides the market into small pieces and targets people who belong to the same group and feel the same desire for a product. Sony mobile aims to target the mid-end to high-end market and they offer high quality product irrespective of the cost.Sony mobile works on the design of handset to make it more stylish. Segmentation can be done in four categories: * Demographic * Geo graphic * Psychographic * Behavioural Demographic: Marketers typically consider for a broader vision of socioeconomic characteristic as demographic variables. Demographic characteristic that marketers commonly use to segment markets include age, sex, race, education, occupation and social class. Sony mobiles have different variety of handsets. For example, Sony launched mobiles of different range i. e. Sony Xperia P, Sony Xperia S, Sony Xperia U.These new generation mobiles are targeted for young and middle aged people. As these smartphone mobiles have latest features like Reality Display powered by the Mobile BRAVIA ® Engine HD, Clear Audio and xLOUD Sony audio technologies, a next generation PlayStation for gaming, HD camera, and social networking. It is targeted for business people as it is said â€Å"Your office is where you are†, this shows that it has excellent business capabilities. Geographic: Market is divided into different regions as one or more geographic region s cause customers to differ from one region to other.Sony has different marketing strategies for different regions, as in some regions of India; more people are attracted for loud and clear music while some regions are more in social networking. For such regions Sony launched mobiles like Sony Xperia sola, Xperia P. Largest market segment is China with 1,023 million mobile subscribers. India is second with 919 million and USA top the three with 331 million subscribers. Psychographic: Psychographic factors are also been used to segment markets, as it is divided into lifestyle, motives, etc.Lifestyle analysis provides a broad view of buyers, as it is categorised like hobbies, sports, entertainment, social events, shopping and many more. For business driven customer, Sony came up with smartphone Xperia S as a tool for their business. Also for entertainment and social networking consumers, Sony’s smartphones include features to enable the same. Behavioural: Behavioural is classif ied in some categories like Brand Loyalty, Price Sensitivity, and benefit expectation. Some of the consumers look out for brand loyalty as, Sony designed the new Smartphone which target for such customers.As price is another factor, for which the consumers check, Sony came out with price of range S$650-S$750 for Xperia S, Xperia P which has latest features. Targeting: Sony mobile is currently trying to target mid-end to higher-end market by rolling out lower priced handsets. Sony mobiles use the newest and greatest technology to appeal to their customers. The people who are most interested in staying up to date with the newest technology are usually men of the ages 18-30. Sony mobiles are more targeting for entertainment with communication.They are targeting for young and middle aged group, who are more interested in new features and latest technology. Young aged group consumers i. e. 18-25, are more attracted towards Smartphone’s having features like entertainment, social ne tworking, and camera. For which Sony is targeting these age groups with Xperia’s new versions. Sony mobile communication is also targeting for business group consumers by using excellent business features. Positioning Sony Mobile is currently focusing only on the higher end of mobile phone, the smart phone segment. They position their product as high class mobile phones.With their continuous innovation in technology, they are trying to lower the cost and produce entry-level smart phone models (telecomlead, 2012) but the image of a higher class mobile phone is still their main focus. Sony Mobile has an advantage that they inherited the image and brand name of Sony Corp. When people think of Sony, they think of high class, innovative, high-tech and best quality product. Sony Mobile is trying to re-assure customer that image through their products. PORTER’s 5 PORTER’s 5 forces analysis helps to study the market’s structure which would identify the companyâ⠂¬â„¢s attractiveness and long-run profitability. . Threat of new entrants Considering the amount of capital required to setup a mobile phone manufacturing company, the threat of new entrants are relatively low. Though few companies crop up once in a while, it is not feasible to challenge big players such as Sony. 2. Bargaining power of suppliers Sony currently has got very limited number suppliers when it comes to their chips. Since android supports only specific number of chips, Sony needs to make sure that they maintain a good working relation with such companies. Qualcomm, NVidia and ARM are such company who provides required chipsets to Sony.But in terms of other parts for their mobile, they are flexible and for few parts such as camera, they have got their own manufacturing units. 3. Bargaining power of Buyers Like in majority of the companies, bargaining power of the buyers are the prime criteria to which the companies aim to cater. All the major companies are trying to endle ssly to the catch up with the customer’s demand through offering unique features. Each Customer perceive value in a different way, thus it is very important to keep up with the customer’s expectation. 4. Threat of Substitute Products/ServicesDue to high competition in the market currently, there are high numbers of choices a customer can make while selecting their mobile. Also there is no switching cost involved except for the cost of the mobile phone. Unless 5. Intensity of Rivalry among Competitors Competition is extremely fierce between the existing mobile phone manufacturers. Competitors such as Samsung, Nokia, HTC and LG are continuously coming out with new features in a regular interval. The competitors make sure their products stand out through actively promoting them even before the launch. PEST Analysis:This is a framework where the management/strategy consultants use to get an overview of the external Macro-environment in which the organization operates. PEST factors play an important role in the value creation opportunities of a strategy. These factors are usually being considered as either threats or opportunities. Political Factors: Political factors for Sony can be changed at any time. The Government holds the power to change any policies and regulations which may affect Sony at the time. Also the recession may become reduced, therefore resulting in better trades for Sony. Government decisions an affect the organization up to high extent. Even this would affect Sony’s competitors. The laws which can affect Sony Corporation would consist of new international policies. Internationally the Government may change or increase trading restrictions which would definitely change the way Sony works, because it needs to trade. Government also has the power to change minimum wage, tax, VAT etc. These are also the factors which lead Sony to rank low compared to other competitors. Sony Mobiles are present in many countries worldwide; the p olitical pressure in each of them would affect them one way or the other.Economical Factors: The economic growth has shrunk which means that the growth of the economy is negative. Economically, due to this many changes occur such as the interest and exchanges rates. Due to the recession being deducted in the near future exchange rates may also decrease, however steadily. Sony must be aware of any trading restrictions the Government has made. Since Sony is an international company the exchange rates is different to whichever country they trade with. If the exchange rates in different countries have changed, Sony works out what prices are their products being sold at and whether it would be worth it.Sony Mobile formulates new strategies with respect to segmentation and to check on with the new price of products being launched in different markets due to the changes in these exchange rates. Also low growth in the National income of most of the countries has been resulted in low demand of the firm’s products. Because of these increasing costs and problems Sony Mobile company had to reduce the size of its organisation as it was in the year 2010, the global economic climate has a negative effect on Sony mobiles and as a direct result of this it was necessary to rebuilt and reduce the size of the organisation around the world.Social Factors: Socially, Sony Corporation would be predicted to do well. The company has already gained a lot of reputation because of the quality products and services they provide. Technology has been improved by a mass majority. Sony may even have new competitors which may impact on them. Sony must ensure that they stay ahead of technology. They must be able to create revolutionary equipment for people because that what their company would rely on to stay alive. Companies such as Microsoft and Apple would also do the same. People have trends which Sony must learn so that they may create products which can relate towards them.For examp le, many young adults tend to listen to music; therefore Sony would create products which may allow people to listen to music anywhere at any time. People will have different tastes of style, trends, activities etc. Sony must also improve their work of ideas so that they can still please their customers and that they have adapted with the ageing of the company. Technological Factors: Having new technology Sony creates and innovates products for e. g. Sony’s 12MP camera in Xperia S and their Bravia engine based HD display. This is all possible due to the technological advances.With the latest technology it is possible for Sony mobiles to reduce costs, improve quality, and lead to innovation and new developments. These products benefit the company as well as its customers. Sony mobile works around the latest technology. In order to lead with their competitors they have to stay updated every time and regularly research and develop. It depends on technology so that it may provide efficient productivity of work internationally. Sony uses upgraded and new technology to increase its productivity level and to stay ahead of its competitors.Sony uses new technology to conduct its research and development which would help the business create new products using customer information and also by conducting market research. SWOT Favourable Sony’s presence around world is given the fact that it is one of those strongest established Japanese brand. It is present in almost all the countries around the world. Sony, established in 1946 one of those world renowned companies known for their innovation and quality of products till date. They have a very strong brand name and have a magnitude of products under their brand.They are the leaders when it comes to their display unit in the mobiles as well as the camera. Apple’s Iphone 4S and Samsung’s Galaxy SIII buy their camera unit from Sony. Unfavourable Unfortunately with the lack of innovation and not kee ping up with the competition, Sony is no more a leader or even in the top 5 of the mobile phone manufacturers in the world. With more people moving towards the smart phone segment, Sony has lost out to its competitors such as Samsung, Apple, HTC, etc. Sony’s adaptation to the latest mobile technology is also at its slowest.While its competitors are moving towards the next generation technology Sony is very slow with even announcing its next generation product roadmaps. Sony currently is lacking in innovation unlike till few years back. Despite having a previous generation technology their product pricing is a tad bit higher than its competitors. Opportunities Sony has got an opportunity to tap into the lower segment market with their high quality product offering. Currently all the mobile manufacturers are very focused in their higher end and higher mid value segment market.Sony who is already a marketing leader in portable gaming service can integrate such technology into th eir mobiles and offer a unique product which will set the apart from their competitors. While all of their products currently using Google’s Android OS, they should provide faster software updates to their products. These days the operating system used also one of the decisive factors while buying a mobile. Threat Currently Samsung, Nokia and HTC are aggressively releasing their new generation smartphones and promoting the same.While other manufacturers such as LG, Motorola and Research in motion are coming out with newer product of next generation smart phone in order to stay competitive. Sony’s market share is decreasing slowly and their advertisement campaign hardly has any reach to its target segment. Competitor Analysis For the completive analysis, we’ll look at the major mobile phone manufacturers in the market. We’ll look at their strength and weaknesses, strategy and objectives. Samsung Korean Giant Samsung is one of the leading mobile manufacture rs in the world.Currently Samsung is the world’s largest smart phone maker with the sales of 45 million smartphones in the first quarter of 2012. Samsung’s strong hold is with its mid segment to the high end segment products, comprising majorly of the smartphone sporting the Google’s Android OS. Samsung is aggressively competing with Apple in the top end segment of the smart phone. Samsung’s Galaxy S line is their flagship models and are one of the highest selling products in the smartphone industry. For the first quarter of 2012, Samsung holds a market share of 23. 5% and 29. 1% of global mobile phone market and global smart phone market respectively.Nokia Nokia is one of the direct competitors of Sony from the early days. Despite its declining market share, Nokia is still the largest mobile phone maker in the world. With its strong low segment models and the recent tie up with Microsoft for their Windows Mobile OS. Nokia is aggressively trying to get so me of shares in the smartphone market. They have already strategically placed their products in the mid segment and high end segment market, ranging from Lumia 610 to the Lumia 900. HTC HTC is next big competitor to Sony. HTC trademark comes from their very quick releases of the new generation products.HTC was the first to come out the initial batch of touch screen smartphones and also the first to come out with the mobile under Android platform. HTC’s current flagship product lines are their â€Å"One† Series and are aggressively promoting it all over the world. Their strategy is to release their product ahead of the competitors and gain a good amount of market share. HTC is project itself as a very good multimedia mobile and have acquired Beats Electronic. HTC also acquired majority of the stake in â€Å"VIA Technology†, one of the major chipset makers on July 6, 2011. MotorolaThe Patent powerhouse Motorola is also on decline with respect to its market share. Motorola lacks the consistency when it comes to their market share. The threat to Sony comes from the fact that Google has acquired â€Å"Motorola Mobility† and that in the near future it’ll revamped to compete with the bigger players including Apple. Currently Motorola is doing a fair amount of sales with its â€Å"Droid RAZR† product and has got couple of more release lined up for the next generation mobiles. Apple Competitor Analysis would not complete without analysing Apple. Apple’s dominance in the market with its IPhone is unbeaten.With their aggressive marketing and innovative design, they are in the lead along with Samsung. Apple currently sports a big fan following for their products and holds a very high market share in the smartphone and tablet segment. Despite having only very less number of products in their portfolio, Apple manages post a huge profit when compared to others. In the first quarter of 2012, Apple holds a market share of 24. 2% in the smart phone segment, an 88. 7% increase from the first quarter of 2011. This scenario is bound to continue for the upcoming years. Other Players:Research In Motion (RIM), LG, ZTE are other big competitors to Sony. ZTE and LG are holding a market share of 4. 8% and 3. 4% respectively in the global mobile phone market. Whereas, Research in Motion’s market share in the smart phone is down to 6. 7% and are planning on targeting the mass market instead of restricting themselves to the business class users. Thus from the above analysis, it is evident that Sony is facing with a high amount competition and is in a very tough spot. Marketing Mix Marketing Mix is a different kind of choices organizations makes in the process of introducing a product or service to the market.The 4Ps is one of the methods used to analyse the market mix. 5. 1 Product In the Fiscal year 2011, Sony began to shift the focus of its mobile phone business exclusively to smartphones. So currently Sony Mo bile Corporation has got a very low number of products under its wing. It has got only two product lines namely â€Å"BRAVIA† and â€Å"XPERIA† range of mobile phones. The â€Å"BRAVIA† branded line of phones are exclusive to their Japanese market and there are about five models under it. For rest of the world the â€Å"XPERIA† ranges of mobile phones are being sold.First introduced back in 2008, Sony after revamping their product line retained only this series which sports the Google’s Android OS. Sony currently has got about six models under the â€Å"XPERIA† series. Sony’s flagship model â€Å"Xperia S† comes with one of the best camera in the market with its 12 Mega Pixel Sensor. With their â€Å"Xperia† product line up, Sony is trying to offer an all-round functionality offering. It is also coming up with 7 new models which will target the various segment users. Sony also has got two Tablet models namely â€Å"Sony Tablet P† and â€Å"Sony Tablet S†. Currently all of Sony’s models are featuring android and are touchscreen.Sony also has got range of Accessories to support the functionality of their mobile phones such as headset, wrist strap and customized chargers. 5. 2 Price Pricing is one of the key areas to be successful in the market and is one of the frequently investigated marketing strategies as related with quality. The perception of Sony’s superior quality is still preserved with their current models and it comes at a higher cost of production. This makes their models costing higher than its competitor with the similar product. Currently Sony’s cheapest model comes at the cost of about SG$400 and their flagship model â€Å"XPERIA S† costing about SG$700. . 3 Place Sony currently retails its mobile phone through four primary channels – traditional multi-brand shops, retail chains, local stores and also through their exclusive branded stor es. Sony also sells their product online through their own web store and also through online e-commerce websites such as newegg (US), amazon (US), flipkart (India) and other country specific e-commerce portals. Sony also sells its product with tie up the national operators of the respective country. Sony mobile takes the inherent advantages of the Sony brand and strengthens the marketing field and publicity.Build an outstanding Sony branded shop in shop and point of sale and re-establish the brand image of Sony mobile market and marketing in a wide range. And realize the integration of other businesses with the Sony Group. It means selling the smart phones in Sony home appliances and other Sony line of business sales channels online shop. In order to achieve the effective integration – Sony mobile channels the resources to the Sony Group. 5. 4 Promotion Sony Mobile currently trying to establish its â€Å"Sony† brand name after the name change from â€Å"Sony Ericssonà ¢â‚¬ .Currently Sony is trying hard to be a follower and it is currently promoting its Xperia smartphone through various communications medium such as Television advertisement, press, Internet and social websites, and road shows. Sony is also actively sponsoring various public events and also through. They are also aggressively promoting their models through the network operators by providing the mobiles at a subsidized rate upon contract. Evaluation & Recommendation From the marketing audit, it is quite evident that Sony is currently facing lots of challenges, while trying to establish its revamped image with their smartphones.They have put in strategies to gain more market shares and introducing new smartphones to keep up with the recent market development. With its strong foundation, Sony can improve their positioning in the market with strategically placed steps. Sony need to focus on delivering products that would cater to wide segment of customers. They should make sure that they come out with latest technology products on par with its competitors. Sony should bring back their innovative culture they once had and focus on becoming the market leader.They should leverage on their strong foundation with the multitude technological products under them. Sony currently does not have any low cost solution; this is a very big shift from their previous strategy wherein they had products targeting all range of customers. It is recommended they try to focus on providing low cost solution and fill in the void. Currently all the major companies are focusing their resource to compete in the mid-range to high end mobile products, leaving enough opportunity in the lower end segment of the mobile market.With the right price to feature ratio in this segment, Sony can gain a very good market share that will enable to them to recapture their past position in the near future, especially in the developing countries like India where such low price solution will attract a huge number of customers. Though Sony has got an extensive distribution network, they can provide a direct to customer model through their website which can enable them to engage the customers directly without a need of the resellers; they are already doing such model through their direct stores.With more users opting to purchase their products through the e-commerce websites, such a solution will add some good value to the company. Sony should make sure their products are marketed properly such a way they highlight the target feature for the respective target group. Thus with right products and marketing strategy, Sony Mobile Corporation can make sure that they reach their objectivity of gaining more market share. LIST OF REFERENCE Fourth quarter mobile phone industry overview | asymco. 2012. Fourth quarter mobile phone industry overview | asymco. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www. asymco. om/2011/01/31/fourth-quarter-mobile-phone-industry-overview/. Global mobile statistics 2012 Part A: Mobile subscribers; handset market share; mobile operators | mobiThinking. 2012. Global mobile statistics 2012 Part A: Mobile subscribers; handset market share; mobile operators | mobiThinking. [ONLINE] Available at: http://mobithinking. com/mobile-marketing-tools/latest-mobile-stats/a#subscribers. Gartner Says Worldwide Smartphone Sales Soared in Fourth Quarter of 2011 With 47 Percent Growth. 2012. Gartner Says Worldwide Smartphone Sales Soared in Fourth Quarter of 2011 With 47 Percent Growth. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www. artner. com/it/page. jsp? id=1924314. Key Global Telecom Indicators for the World Telecommunication Service Sector. 2012. Key Global Telecom Indicators for the World Telecommunication Service Sector. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www. itu. int/ITU-D/ict/statistics/at_glance/KeyTelecom. html. Worldwide Smartphone Market Continues to Soar, Carrying Samsung Into the Top Position in Total Mobile Phone and Smartphone Shipments, According to IDC – prUS23 455612. 2012. Worldwide Smartphone Market Continues to Soar, Carrying Samsung Into the Top Position in Total Mobile Phone and Smartphone Shipments, According to IDC – prUS23455612. ONLINE] Available at: http://www. idc. com/getdoc. jsp? containerId=prUS23455612. Global Mobile-Phone Sales and Market Share: Summary – Bloomberg. 2012. Global Mobile-Phone Sales and Market Share: Summary – Bloomberg. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www. bloomberg. com/news/2011-11-15/global-mobile-phone-sales-and-market-share-summary-table-. html. Mobile Phone Industry Profits Surge 44% in Q1 2012 . 2012. Mobile Phone Industry Profits Surge 44% in Q1 2012 . [ONLINE] Available at: http://blogs. strategyanalytics. com/WDS/post/2012/05/30/Mobile-Phone-Industry-

Fossil Fuels And Its Effects On The Environment - 2338 Words

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