Tuesday, August 6, 2019
French and Indian War Brief Essay Example for Free
French and Indian War Brief Essay Major Players in the French and Indian War The French and Indian War was primarily England and the American colonies against the French and various Native American tribes in America. As France expanded its colonies along the Ohio River, and Britain ventured further into the mountains and discovered them, it was inevitable that there would be competition, tension and eventually war between the two colonies. This war has come to be known as the French and Indian war, but it has various other names such as ââ¬ËThe Seven Year Warââ¬â¢ or ââ¬ËThe War of British Conquestââ¬â¢. The war escalated into a world war in 1760 when France and Britain declared war on each other. It was sparked in America, not Europe, but Great Britain spent a lot of money in helping to fight the war and support to their colonies in America and the colonies participated fully in the war. Main reasons for the French and Indian War Britain and France had long been in a competition for territory in North America. The rich land west and north-west of the Appalachians was in top demand, for it was filled with waterways, fisheries, abundant game and beaver runs. Tensions grew until France and Britain finally declared war on each other for the region in 1756. In the first year, the British were defeated numerous times by the French and their allies, the Native Americans. This is when British Prime Minister William Pitt lent a hand to help out with the war, and funded an expanded war effort which involved shipping 10,000 soldiers overseas. He could see that there was potential of imperial expansion if France were defeated and borrowed substantial amounts of money to contribute. From then on, Franceââ¬â¢s attempts started to fail. By 1760 they were expelled from Canada, and their all allies in Europe were defeated or made separate peace with Prussia. The War comes to an end The French and Indian War was a great British victory. It ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris and also the Treaty of Hubertsburg in February 1763. In the Treaty of Paris, France lost east-Canada and gave Louisiana to Spain. Britain received Spanish Florida, Upper Canada and other French holdings overseas. The British were very pleased with the treaty, as they no longer had to worry about French attacks as much as they previously did. Also, the extra land meant more room for discovery and settlement, although there were still natives all through the land. Contribution the beginning of the American Revolution Fifteen years after the war, the bitterness the French felt after the loss of their colonial empire influenced their input in the American Revolution.
Monday, August 5, 2019
Social and emotional learning (SEL)
Social and emotional learning (SEL) There is a daunting list of issues which face students and educators alike. A growing number of genuinely effective educational establishments are now coming to realise that competence in socio-emotional development and academic achievement are intrinsically linked and an integrated, coordinated approach (i.e. not just teaching children how to pass exams but educating them in how to develop life skills and deal with social challenges) in each of these areas not only helps students maximise their potential in school but throughout their lives. Educational establishments are now viewed as an important if not central arena for health promotion [and] primary preventionà ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã ¦ in addition to the education of students (Roeser, Eccles, Samoroff, 2000, p. 467). This information however, is far from new. Wang et al. (1997) examined 28 learning influence categories which were based on handbook chapters, surveys of national experts and research syntheses. Of their findings they discove red that of the 11 most influential categories, 8 of them involved factors which were socio-emotional (classroom climate, peer group, social interaction, etc). In support of this work the (American) National Center for Education Statistics (2002) cited that among the predominant reasons given for children dropping out of school several involved socio-emotional factors. Generally feeling left out made up 23.2% whilst those who did not get on with peers or teachers accounted for 20.1% and 35% respectively. 12.1% of the students said they did not feel safe. These worrying figures led Wang et al. to conclude that intervention of a direct kind in the psychological determinants of learning promises the most effective avenues of reform (p. 210) which also supports the cohesive provision of social and emotional learning throughout school-life. Social and emotional learning (SEL) is the ability within the student to recognise emotions and manage them effectively whilst establishing positive and healthy relationships with others around them (competencies which are inarguably essential for all pupils). Accordingly, the objectives of SEL are a combination of cognitions, behaviours and emotions. It is this process of knowledge acquisition and its effective application regarding attitudes and the development of related skills (including managing emotions, developing concern and care towards others, decision-making in a responsible manner and capably handling situations which may be challenging) (Beaty, 2008). Through positive engagement in activities within the classroom and outside the learning environment the students can learn SEL skills in a similar fashion to the manner in which they learn academic skills, then apply them and put them into practice. The increasingly complex situations which todays children face have are bet ter faced when these integrated and enhanced skills are applied (Elias et al., 1997). Much of prevalent practice and methodologies on SEL has evolved largely from research conducted by Goleman (1995) and Gardner (1993), both of whom started a great interest in SEL throughout the 1990s which has continued to the present day. On-going research has increasingly shown that those schools which make efforts to employ SEL and adopt its requirements produce outcomes which are positive. Parents and educators alike are progressively recognising the relationships across socio-emotional learning and academia, in particular within the systems of support found within the context of schools (Kearns, 2010). Within the context of safe, caring, well-managed and participatory school, classroom and extraneous learning environments, these learned skills are reinforced in the home, at school and within the community. All children benefit from instruction in social and emotional learning, although those who are already at risk, are beginning to engage in behaviour that is negative or those who may already display problems which are significant are particularly suited to SEL development. This is why early implementation of SEL programming is essential in order to allow children to develop their skills throughout their early childhood into adolescence. SEL programming focusses mainly on the universal prevention of behavioural problems and the promotion of socio-emotional competence as opposed to direct intervention. There may be smaller numbers of pupils who may require treatment which is moderate to intensive in order to develop socio-emotional competence but the intention of SEL programming is to enhance and promote growth in these areas for all children and to allow them to develop healthy behaviour structures as opposed to behaviours which may be mal-adaptive or unhealthy (Rice et al., 2006). A comprehensive and continuous system of support services which are based on student needs is the context within which SEL should be viewed. As such a support system, SEL is a concept which unifies the integration and coordination of school-based promotion and prevention programmes which reduce marginalisation and minimises fragmentation of these efforts. The most sustained and effective approaches should involve a partnership between educators, parents, students and community members in order to continuously and effectively plan, implement and evaluate the efforts of SEL. Socio-emotional education should begin in pre-school and continue throughout formal education. It should also be intentionally entwined to academic development and is an integral element of the national curriculum (Elias et al., 1997; Talay-Ongan Ap, 2005). With so many situations that can have negative effects on both the socio-emotional and the academic development of children, ultimately affecting their happiness in their lives, it is crucial that children are given SEL from an early age. An increased and generalised sense of fear and insecurity is purveyed throughout the media, from fanatical terrorism and government fear propaganda to adverts and unattainable levels of exquisiteness in teen magazines and music television. This is compounded by a continually increasing level of inequity between the rich and the poor (Wollman et al., 2003). The media constantly bombards the unprepared public with lurid stories of sleaze and corruption, spanning across all walks of previously respected life. Politicians, businessmen, people in positions of esteem, sports icons and popular culture figures (to name but a few) are all regularly featured in relentless stories and reports of unethical conduct and questionable behaviour. This was not a conc ern for generations gone by when the media was less forthright about the delivery of messages which encouraged unhealthy behaviour, nor was the threat of online danger via internet chat rooms and violent video games so prevalent. With so many role models with publicly tarnished reputations, and unethical behaviour increasingly commonplace, more and more students are finding a feeling of uncertainly with their lives and their futures. This disenfranchisement, insecurity, disillusionment, and in many cases, fear, provides a palpable case for stating that perhaps SEL is now more than ever an essential element of educational reform (Zins, et al., 2004). Many SEL initiatives which currently exist are fragmented in methodology and approach which detracts from their collective effectiveness. Extreme action such as the introduction of metal detectors, searching pupils upon entrance to school property, alongside school change management, recreational activities, school architecture and information materials (brochures, posters, etc.) can help prevent problem behaviours whilst promoting a safe environment but are far from the provision of a coordinated and cohesive programme. Rather the outcome is the loss of opportunities to reinforce skills across activities and initiatives along with a seemingly inevitable competition for resources. By using SEL as the organisational framework for such initiatives it can serve a broad array of positive promotional efforts whilst delivering effective prevention of negative behaviours (Gottfredson Gottfredson, 2001). There are several key competencies that are regarded as essential to be reinforced in SEL programming. They consist of: Self-awareness (the identification and effective regard for ones own emotions, a recognition of strength in both ones self and in others and a sense of self-confidence), a social awareness (which involves a sense of empathy and respect for others), responsible decision making (evaluating and reflecting upon personal, ethical responsibilities), self-management (controlling ones impulses, managing stress, developing persistence, setting goals and developing self-motivation) and relationship skills (learning cooperation, seeking and providing help and developing effective communication) (Bear, 2005). As previously noted, it is when they are taught and developed in a caring, well-managed and supportive learning environment that these competencies are they delivered most effectively. Autonomic development, ethical advancement and self-discipline are all more effectively furthered in environments whereby care, consideration, mutual respect, cooperation and decision making are normal conduct. These contexts find themselves structured in such a way that they encourage exploration among students to try new or innovative learning activities. They can also provide accessible opportunities in order to address personal problems or requirements and allow support with the establishment of positive peer and adult relationships. The result is that students feel a sense of safety and security, and are not fearful of making mistakes. A reciprocal relationship should exist in the classroom between SEL and the climate of the school. The school environment which is positive and promotes SEL effectively is affected positively by the development of SEL in its students. This synergistic process exists due to the interdependent nature of social, emotional and academic growth (Dolby, 2007). Given the continuing positive outcomes of research conducted on SEL it seems clear that the responsibility to deliver effective programmes is evident. This means that educators should not only teach and assess SEL for all students within their care but should also be responsible for the conduction of reliable assessment of socio-emotional, health related and academic outcomes in tandem with acknowledgement and development of the school climate. All of this should be based on input gained from a range of constituencies, including, but not limited to, the students themselves, parents, community members and teachers. The assessment of SEL is an area which is still in need of further development and may soon become an area of particular interest to school psychologists. For acceptability and accountability purposes, a determination needs to be made regarding the value-assessable outcomes of SEL with regards to student learning and socio-emotional development, and to enable adequate devel opmental strategies in order to effectively review and improve the instruction delivered (Stormont, 2007). It is essential for todays students to be prepared not only to pass academic exams but pass tests that they will encounter in day to day life. Socio-emotional competence is closely related to academic achievement and to remain effective, educators should focus efforts on coordinated and integrated instruction on each area thoroughly in order to maintain the greatest potential among pupils to succeed both in academia and throughout their lives. Growing research concludes that SEL intervention of an evidence-based nature is increasingly becoming associated with health, academic achievement and ethical conduct. This creates the constant challenge of how to implement SEL as a core element of the national curriculum and perhaps more importantly how to develop relevant programming which is sustainable and effective.
Sunday, August 4, 2019
Essay --
There are several pollutants present in municipal wastewater, including oxygen- demanding substances, pathogen, inorganic and synthetic organic chemicals, and nutrient. Dissolved oxygen in water is necessary to support aquatic life, consumed by aerobic bacteria and other aquatic organisms for living purpose. Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) is the amount of oxygen that would be consumed if all the organics in water were oxidized by bacteria and protozoa (Interlab Supply, 2010). Microorganisms will break down the organic matter by consuming the dissolved oxygen present in the wastewater and BOD is normally used to measure the performance of sewage treatment plant. (United States Environmental Protection Agency, 2004) The wastewater effluent produced by the treatment plant has a high content of organic pollutants such as ammonia which will demand more oxygen. These substances destroyed and converted to other compounds by bacteria when the water has sufficient oxygen. Large amount of bacterium that widely spread in wastewater is also known as pathogens and hazardous to our health while waste products in wastewater are most often liquid or solids and they can be biological, chemical or radioactive dangerous. Apart from having adverse health involvements, wastewater contamination can also have natural and ecological affects, including the degradation of ecosystems which include decreasing of aquatic plants that help to preserve the condition of waterways or biodiversity loss. For example, loss of aquatic life likes fish and crustaceans that are an important part of both animal and human diet. Disinfection of wastewater and chlorination of drinking water supplies manage to reduce the occurrence of waterborne diseases such as typhoid fev... ...sociated with screenings. However, comminutors and grinders can also create problems for downstream processes, such as increasing plastics build up in digestion tanks or rag accumulation on air diffusers. In addition, solids from comminutors and grinders will not decompose during the digestion process. If these synthetic solids are not removed, they may cause biosolids to be rejected for reuse as a soil amendment. Large amounts of grit and sand entering a treatment plant can cause a serious operating problem that is needed for treatment. Grit includes sand, gravel, cinder, or other heavy solid materials that are ââ¬Å"heavierâ⬠than the organic biodegradable solids in the wastewater. Removal of grit prevents unnecessary abrasion and wear of mechanical equipment, grit deposition in pipelines and channels, and accumulation of grit in anaerobic digesters and aeration basins.
Saturday, August 3, 2019
Consequences in Nathaniel Hawthornes The Scarlet Letter :: Scarlet Letter essays
Consequences in The Scarlet Letter à à à à à à à à There are two sides of consequences for almost everything that happens in life, directly or indirectly.à In life, we could learn mostly from the consequences, rather than from the punishments of our actions.à If the consequences are good, we know that the action should be repeated, sometimes.à If bad consequences outweigh the good, we know repeating would not be wise.à Hester Prynne of Nataniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, learns from punishment and the consequences of adultery, but from which does she learn more from? à à à à à à à à Punishment from the magistrates was usually strict and severe. Hester's punishment was to stand on the wooden platform, in the town square, for three hours.à She could not speak to any to the numerous eyes that stared at, through her until dark. Hester also had to wear an embroidered A of scarlet cloth upon her chest.à The A symbolized that she was an adulteress, and should not be associated with.à Hester had also been banished from town, and branded an outcast.à Even though she did not name her lover, so that he could be punished, he did not go unpunished. Reverend Dimmesdale had taken it upon him to stand on the same platform that Hester had, and he also whipped himself.à The whipping did not serve its purpose, he was laughing all the while that he lashed himself.à Neither means of punishment had taught him anything, as well as Hester. à à à à à To fill in for what punishment had not taught, consequence brought forth the lessons of life.à The consequences that Hester found were bad and good.à There is usually two sides of consequences.à The scarlet letter showed everyone she was a sinner, an adulteress, making the people sick of her, and did not acknowledge her.à Yet as time went on, people noticed that Hester had embroidered the scarlet letter so beautifully, that she had offers to have embroidery done for others.à à à As the course of the story the A had changed its meaning.à People saw how strong Hester was and refused to interpret the A as it was meant, the A became to mean both ABLE, and ANGEL.à For her good deeds done unto the community.à She gave clothing to the poor and helped out wherever possible.
Emperor Claudius Essay -- essays research papers
Introduction Tiberius Claudius Nero Germanicus (b. 10 BC, d. 54 A.D.; emperor, 41-54 A.D.) was the third emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. His reign represents a turning point in the history of the Principate for a number of reasons, not the least for the manner of his accession and the implications it carried for the nature of the office. During his reign he promoted administrators who did not belong to the senatorial or equestrian classes, and was later vilified by authors who did. He followed Caesar in carrying Roman arms across the English Channel into Britain but, unlike his predecessor, he initiated the full-scale annexation of Britain as a province, which remains today the most closely studied corner of the Roman Empire. His relationships with his wives and children provide detailed insights into the perennial difficulties of the succession problem faced by all Roman Emperors. His final settlement in this regard was not lucky: he adopted his fourth wife's son, who was to reign catastr ophically as Nero and bring the dynasty to an end. Claudius's reign, therefore, was a mixture of successes and failures that leads into the last phase of the Julio-Claudian line. Early Life (10 BC - 41 A.D.) Claudius was born on 1 August 10 BC at Lugdunum in Gaul, into the heart of the Julio-Claudian dynasty: he was the son of Drusus Claudius Nero, the son of Augustus's wife Livia, and Antonia, the daughter of Mark Antony. His uncle, Tiberius, went on to become emperor in AD 14 and his brother Germanicus was marked out for succession to the purple when, in AD 4, he was adopted by Tiberius. It might be expected that Claudius, as a well-connected imperial prince, would have enjoyed the active public life customary for young men of his standing but this was not the case. In an age that despised weakness, Claudius was unfortunate enough to have been born with defects. He limped, he drooled, he stuttered and was constantly ill. His family members mistook these physical debilities as reflective of mental infirmity and generally kept him out of the public eye as an embarrassment. A sign of this familial disdain is that he remained under guardianship, like a woman, even after he had reached the age of majority. Suetonius, in particular, preserves comments of Antonia, his mother, and Livia, his grandmother, which are particularly cruel in their assessment of the boy. From t... ...and cautious nature, he had a cruel streak, as suggested by his addiction to gladiatorial games and his fondness for watching his defeated opponents executed. He conducted closed-door trials of leading citizens that frequently resulted in their ruin or deaths -- an unprecedented and tyrannical pattern of behavior. He had his wife Messalina executed, and he personally presided over a court in the Praetorian Camp in which many of her hangers-on lost their lives. He abandoned his own son Britannicus to his fate and favored the advancement of Nero as his successor. At the same time, his reign was marked by some notable successes: the invasion of Britain, stability and good government in the provinces, and successful management of client kingdoms. Claudius, then, is a more enigmatic figure than the other Julio-Claudian emperors: at once careful, intelligent, aware and respectful of tradition, but given to bouts of rage and cruelty, willing to sacrifice precedent to expediency, and utt erly ruthless in his treatment of those who crossed him. Augustus's suspicion that there was more to the timid Claudius than met the eye was more than fully borne out by the events of his unexpected reign.
Friday, August 2, 2019
Rational Performance Testing
Hello World: Rational Performance Tester Get to the bottom of application performance issues Skill Level: Intermediate Dennis Schultz (dennis. [emailà protected] ibm. com) Marketing Engineer IBM 12 Mar 2007 This tutorial in the Hello World series introduces you to IBMà ® Rationalà ® Performance Tester and highlights its basic features. Practical, hands-on exercises teach you how to record automated performance tests, use data-driven techniques to ensure randomization, play-back tests, and evaluate real-time performance reports.Upon completing the tutorial you will be able to use Rational Performance Tester to determine the cause of performance problems in your applications. Section 1. Before you start About this series The Hello World series is for novice developers who want a high-level, hands-on overview of IBM software products. Each tutorial in the series provides simple exercises and step-by-step instructions to familiarize you with the components and use of a particular pro duct. Upon completing a tutorial in the Hello World series you will know enough about the product to begin exploring and using it on your own.About this tutorial This tutorial uses hands-on exercises to familiarize you with Rational Performance Rational Performance Tester à © Copyright IBM Corporation 1994, 2008. All rights reserved. Page 1 of 26 developerWorksà ® ibm. com/developerWorks Tester. Step-by-step instructions teach you how to record an automated performance test, enhance the test using built-in data-driven techniques, play-back the test as part of a performance schedule, and evaluate real-time reports to determine the root cause of a performance problem. The maximum estimated running time for the tutorial is three hours. ObjectivesAfter completing this tutorial you should understand the basic functions of Rational Performance Tester and be able to use it to discover and analyze performance problems in your applications. Prerequisites This tutorial is for testers new to test automation and unfamiliar with Rational Performance Tester. As you are taking the tutorial, you can practice the steps yourself if you have access to the environment the tutorial requires. If you don't have access to the environment, you can still read the tutorial and view the animated demos. You just won't be able to try the steps for yourself.The easiest way to access the tutorial environment is through the Rational Performance Tester online trial system created for the tutorial. The trial system uses the Citrix Access Platform to provide you with a connection from your workstation to a remote server running Rational Performance Tester, WebSphere Application Server 6. 0, and the sample application to be tested. If you choose to set up the tutorial environment on your own machine, please use the Hello World: Rational Performance Tester (for downloadable trial code) version of this tutorial that is written for this purpose.In order to view the animated demos for the tutorial you must enable JavaScript in your browser and install Macromedia Flash Player 6 or higher. Animated demos If this is your first encounter with a developerWorks tutorial that includes animated demos you might want to know a few things about them: â⬠¢ Demos are an optional way to see the steps described in the tutorial done for you. To view an animated demo, click the given Show me link and the demo will open in a new browser window. â⬠¢ Each demo contains a navigation bar at the bottom of the screen.Use the navigation bar to pause, exit, rewind, or fast-forward portions of the demo. Rational Performance Tester Page 2 of 26 à © Copyright IBM Corporation 1994, 2008. All rights reserved. ibm. com/developerWorks developerWorksà ® â⬠¢ The demos are 800 x 600 pixels. If this is the maximum resolution of your screen or if your resolution is lower than this then you will have to scroll to see some areas of the demo. â⬠¢ You must have JavaScript enabled in your browser and Macromedia Flash Player 6 or higher installed to view the demos. Section 2. Getting started Overview of Rational Performance TesterIBM Rational Performance Tester, hereafter known as Performance Tester, is a performance test creation, execution, and analysis tool that helps development teams validate the scalability and reliability of their Web-based applications before deployment. Many of Performance Tester's features have been explicitly designed with the novice load tester in mind. Performance Tester allows you to use one of several Web browsers (Internet Explorer, Mozilla, or Firefox) to test a Web-based application. The results of your interaction are captured and recorded on the operating system of your choice (Windows or Linux).The test is presented in a concise tree-based editor that is capable of exposing underlying details to the expert on an ââ¬Å"as neededâ⬠basis. Test scripts are then grouped together in various combinations to reflect the multiple types of user that comprise the projected user population. You can specify the number of simulated system users at execution time. Test execution is accompanied by easy-to-read, real-time reports that update throughout the test run. Bottlenecks based on metrics such as round-trip performance, transaction rates, and system diagnostics are highlighted in these reports.You can also use Performance Tester to further identify the root cause of poor performance problems from the hardware- or software-component level through advanced resource monitoring and response-time tracking. Although this tutorial focuses on testing a J2EE, Web-based application, you can use Performance Tester to test any Web-based application. You can also extend Performance Tester to test the performance of additional application types such as Siebel, SAP, and Citrix (see Resources). Setting up the tutorial environment Rational Performance Tester à © Copyright IBM Corporation 1994, 2008.All rights reserved. Page 3 of 26 develop erWorksà ® ibm. com/developerWorks As previously mentioned, the easiest way to access this tutorial is through the online trial system developed using the Citrix Access Platform. The trial system gives you free access to Performance Tester, WebSphere Application Server 6. 0, and the Adventure Builder sample application, and minimizes your installation and configuration time for the tutorial. Once you have registered for the online trial system, installed the Citrix Metaframe Presentation Server, and logged into the server, you are ready to begin.Performance Tester will launch in a Citrix client session and will appear just as if it were running on your local desktop. You can interact with it just as you would if it were installed locally. The countdown clock on the Rational Test Drive Environment Web page will keep track of the time remaining in your session. If you choose to set up the tutorial environment locally you will need to install and configure Rational Performance Tester and WebSphere Application Server 6. 0 in your workstation. Note that the Adventure Builder sample application used by this tutorial is only available with WebSphere Application Server 6. , not 6. 1. You should also allow additional time to create and configure a project in which to store your test artifacts before starting. The tutorial is written from the assumption that you are using the online trial system. Performance Tester and Eclipse Performance Tester is based on the open-source Eclipse platform. Eclipse provides a rich working environment for many tools, both open source and commercial, including many of the offerings of the Rational Software Delivery Platform such as Rational Software Architect, Rational Application Developer for WebSphere Software, and Rational Functional Tester (see Resources).This provides a common user experience for tooling across the software development life cycle. Not only are these tools all based on Eclipse, but often times they actually share th e same shell. In other words, the capability of each of these tools is presented to the user as a new perspective in the same shell. A perspective is a consolidation of tools and views focused on one particular task. The perspective for Performance Tester is known as the Test perspective. As the name implies, the Test perspective provides views that are needed by a developer or QA professional focused on testing a software application or system.The tutorial workspace and sample projects Assuming you are using the online trial system, Performance Tester will be associated to a pre-configured workspace. A workspace can be any directory location where your work is stored. In your case, this workspace contains two projects. The first project is the Adventure Builder Application. This project contains the source code for the Adventure Builder sample application you will be testing. The application has already been deployed to WebSphere Application Server on the online trial system. The p roject is only in your workspace so that Rational Performance Tester Page 4 of 26 Copyright IBM Corporation 1994, 2008. All rights reserved. ibm. com/developerWorks developerWorksà ® Performance Tester can navigate to the source code later when you are attempting to find the root cause of a performance bottleneck. The second project, Adventure Builder Performance Tests, is the test project you will use to store your tests, datapools, schedules, and results. If you expand the project, you will see several folders used to organize your test assets. You can add, remove, and customize folders as you like. There isn't much to examine in this project yet. You will look more closely at it once you have recorded a test.Figure 1. A Performance Tester workspace viewed in the Test Navigator Section 3. Record a test scenario Performance tests are most often created by recording your manual interactions with the system under test. In this section of the tutorial, you will use the automated HTTP recorder to capture the scenario of interacting with the Adventure Builder sample application to construct a vacation package and purchase it. The Adventure Builder application is already running in the online trial environment. All you need to do is connect to it through a Web browser while the recorder is engaged.Browser support Although you are using Internet Explorer in this tutorial, Performance Tester can work with any Web browser that supports SOCKS proxies. Performance Tester can automatically launch Internet Explorer, Mozilla, and Firefox. Rational Performance Tester à © Copyright IBM Corporation 1994, 2008. All rights reserved. Page 5 of 26 developerWorksà ® ibm. com/developerWorks Animated demo Would you like to see these steps demonstrated for you? me Show Start the recorder 1. Start the recorder by clicking Create a Test from Recording on the toolbar . This opens the Create New Test From Recording window.Figure 2. The Create New Test From Recording window 2. Select H TTP Recording and click Next. Rational Performance Tester Page 6 of 26 à © Copyright IBM Corporation 1994, 2008. All rights reserved. ibm. com/developerWorks developerWorksà ® 3. 4. On the next page of the wizard, select Adventure Builder Performance Tests > Tests as the location to create the file. Enter PurchaseIslandAdventure as the test-file name and click Finish. Figure 3. The Create New Test From Recording window, page 2 5. The recorder is engaged and Internet Explorer is launched to the ââ¬Å"Welcome to Performance Testingâ⬠page.Clear the cache of temporary files by selecting Internet Explorer Tools > Internet Options â⬠¦. Under Temporary Internet Files, click Delete Cookies and confirm. Then click Delete Files. Check Delete all offline content and click OK to confirm. Click OK to dismiss the Internet Options window. 6. Rational Performance Tester à © Copyright IBM Corporation 1994, 2008. All rights reserved. Page 7 of 26 developerWorksà ® ibm. com/developerWor ks 7. Launch the Adventure Builder application by clicking the Adventure Builder button in the Internet Explorer Links toolbar. Figure 4. Launch the Adventure Builder applicationNavigate the application Animated demo Would you like to see these steps demonstrated for you? me Show Now that the recorder is engaged, you will navigate the application just as you normally would. 1. In the left navigation area of the page, click Island Adventures. Figure 5. Island Adventures link 2. Here you see an expanded list of island adventure trips. From the submenu on the Available Adventure Packages page, click Maui Survival Adventure. Figure 6. Maui Survival Adventure link Rational Performance Tester Page 8 of 26 à © Copyright IBM Corporation 1994, 2008. All rights reserved. ibm. com/developerWorks eveloperWorksà ® 3. This page shows you the options available for the package you have chosen. Click Select Package on the right side of the Adventure Package Details page. You are taken to the Packa ge Options page. Here you can personalize your vacation package by changing the number of people, start date, number of days, etc. For now, just accept the defaults by clicking Set Package Options. On the Adventure Package Details page, click I Will Provide My Own Transportation. On the Adventure Package page, click Checkout. Let's keep it simple for now: on the Sign On page, click Sign In as a returning customer.On the Enter Order Details page, scroll to the bottom and click Submit. After a moment, you will be taken to the Checkout page. Here you should see your order ID. Figure 7. The Order ID link on the Checkout page 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Rational Performance Tester à © Copyright IBM Corporation 1994, 2008. All rights reserved. Page 9 of 26 developerWorksà ® ibm. com/developerWorks Note that your order ID will be unique and will not be exactly as shown here. Wait for several seconds after the checkout page loads, then check on the status of your order by clicking on the Order ID l ink. 10.Once the Order Tracking Results page loads, close the browser. This will cause Performance Tester to begin generating the test based on the traffic it has captured. Section 4. Review and customize the test Performance Tester generates a test based on the HTTP traffic it captured during the recording. The test is much more than a simple HTTP trace log, however. Behind the scenes, Performance Tester does a lot of processing to create a test that is robust, extensible, and easy to maintain. In this section, you will examine the generated test in greater detail and customize it to use unique data.Examine the test Animated demo Would you like to see these steps demonstrated for you? me Show The test is represented in a tree format in the left portion of the Test Editor view. Each top-level node in the tree represents a Web page visited during your recording session. The name of the node is based on the name of the Web page. Figure 8. The Test Contents tree view Rational Performan ce Tester Page 10 of 26 à © Copyright IBM Corporation 1994, 2008. All rights reserved. ibm. com/developerWorks developerWorksà ® 1. Expand the Welcome to the Adventure Builder Reference application node.Here is where the advanced performance test engineer can see all the details of the transactions behind the page. The first element is highlighted in blue to indicate that it is the primary request ââ¬â the request for the page HTML contents. Figure 9. The expanded page in the Test Contents tree view 2. Click on the Protocol Data view in the bottom portion of the window, then Rational Performance Tester à © Copyright IBM Corporation 1994, 2008. All rights reserved. Page 11 of 26 developerWorksà ® ibm. com/developerWorks click on the primary request highlighted in blue in the tree.The details of the request and its corresponding response are shown in the Request, Response Headers, and Response Content tabs of the Protocol Data view. The Browser tab even renders the contents of the selected element. Figure 10. The Browser tab in the Protocol Data view 3. Detailed information about the selected element is also presented in the right-hand portion of the Test Editor view. You can edit this data if you need to change the host, URL, request header values, or any other field. Automatic data correlation Animated demo Would you like to see these steps demonstrated for you? me ShowWeb applications tend to be highly dynamic. For example, in the scenario you recorded you placed an order for a vacation package and were given a unique order ID. You then used that order ID to check the status of your purchase. When you play-back this test, it will place another order and you will be given a different order ID. You would want Performance Tester to check the status of that new order ID, not the one you previously recorded. For that reason, Performance Tester performs automatic data correlation. That is, it looks at data parameters sent to the server and matches them up w ith prior response data from the server.Accessing the correlated data is easy. Rational Performance Tester Page 12 of 26 à © Copyright IBM Corporation 1994, 2008. All rights reserved. ibm. com/developerWorks developerWorksà ® 1. Highlight the Order Tracking Results node in the Test Contents area of the Performance Test view. Now right-click inside the Test Data area to the right and select Show References. Notice that the orderId field is being substituted with data from a prior response. Figure 11. Show References for data correlation 2. Double-click orderId. This takes you to the URL of the actual request for that page.Figure 12. Correlated data in the URL of a request 3. Right-click the highlighted string and select Go To. This takes you directly to the orderId value in the response text of the Checkout request. During test playback, Performance Tester will substitute the orderId value it receives in this response for the orderId in the request for order tracking. Figure 13. Co rrelated data in the prior response Granted, you now know far more than you probably wanted to know about data correlation; but that is the beauty of Performance Tester: it does all this for youRational Performance Tester à © Copyright IBM Corporation 1994, 2008. All rights reserved. Page 13 of 26 developerWorksà ® ibm. com/developerWorks without any hand coding or other effort on your part. Randomize the data Animated demo Would you like to see these steps demonstrated for you? me Show In performance testing it is essential to be able to randomize the data being sent to the server. Modern Web applications have many layers of caching. If you were to emulate a thousand users using the application doing exactly the same thing, you would not observe typical performance behavior.Once the first emulated user performed the transaction, all the subsequent users would be drawing information from the cache. For this reason, performance test engineers often spend much of their time configur ing tests to pull random data from a ââ¬Å"datapoolâ⬠so that each emulated user uses unique information. Performance Tester automatically identifies likely candidates for datapool access and makes it possible to associate these fields with data sources you provide. 1. Select the Enter Adventure Package Details page node in the test contents. Notice in the Test Data area the start_month, start_year, and start_day parameters.These were the default values in the Options page, which were subsequently transmitted back to the server when the Set Package Options button was clicked. Figure 14. Datapool candidates 2. 3. 4. Set up a datapool to randomize the values used by your virtual users when you play-back this test. Select start_month in the Test Data area. Click Substitute From below the Test Data area. Select Datapool Valueâ⬠¦. Figure 15. Substitute start_month from the datapool variable Rational Performance Tester Page 14 of 26 à © Copyright IBM Corporation 1994, 2008. All rights reserved. ibm. com/developerWorks eveloperWorksà ® 5. 6. 7. Click Add Datapool on the ââ¬Å"Select datapoolâ⬠column window. You will add an association to an existing datapool to this test. Select the existing VacationStartDates datapool and click Select. Back in the ââ¬Å"Select datapoolâ⬠column window, select start_month and click Use Column. Note that the ââ¬Å"Substituted withâ⬠column next to the start_month variable now has a reference to the datapool column. Select start_year in the Test Data area. Repeat the process. This time you will not need to add the datapool reference; just select start_year and click Use Column.Repeat the above procedure for start_day. The three variable rows should be highlighted in green to indicate they are being substituted from the datapool and should show references in the ââ¬Å"Substituted withâ⬠column. Figure 16. Variables substituted with datapool variables 8. 9. 10. Press Ctrl-S to save the test when finis hed. Rational Performance Tester à © Copyright IBM Corporation 1994, 2008. All rights reserved. Page 15 of 26 developerWorksà ® ibm. com/developerWorks Section 5. Schedule a workload One of the keys to a successful performance test is the ability to accurately model the anticipated system workload.Software systems typically have various types of users that perform varied tasks. Performance Tester provides a graphical interface to enable you to model your user activities. Create a schedule Animated demo Would you like to see these steps demonstrated for you? me Show 1. Expand the Schedules folder and double-click the AdventureBuilderLoadTest schedule to open it in the Schedule Editor view. This is a schedule that has been partially completed for you. Figure 17. AdventureBuilderLoadTest schedule in Test Navigator view 2. Two user groups have already been defined in this schedule.As you can see from the annotations on the Schedule Contents, browsers represent 20 percent of your emula ted users while buyers represent 80 percent. Figure 18. Schedule Contents shows defined user groups Rational Performance Tester Page 16 of 26 à © Copyright IBM Corporation 1994, 2008. All rights reserved. ibm. com/developerWorks developerWorksà ® 3. Expand the Browsers user group and all contained elements in the Schedule Contents. Figure 19. Details of the Browsers user group Performance Tester offers many advanced constructs to help you test the impact of a realistic load on your system.The hierarchy under the Browsers user group can be interpreted as follows: Each browser will peruse three adventure packages. Browsers will randomly choose to look at either mountain adventures or western adventures but are twice as likely to look at mountain adventures. The action of browsing the adventure category is emulated by tests that were recorded in much the same way you recorded your test. After looking at each category, a browser will wait 1000 milliseconds before browsing another cate gory. 4. The Buyers group has not been completed.Use the test you recorded earlier as an implementation for the Buyers test. Click the Buyers user group. Click Add ; Test and select PurchaseIslandAdventure from the Select Performance Tests window. Save the AdventureBuilderLoadTest schedule. 5. Section 6. Run an automated performance test Rational Performance Tester à © Copyright IBM Corporation 1994, 2008. All rights reserved. Page 17 of 26 developerWorksà ® ibm. com/developerWorks In this section you will learn how to execute your test against the Adventure Builder application and monitor the results. Launch the test Animated demoWould you like to see these steps demonstrated for you? me Show 1. Select the topmost node in the Schedule Contents ââ¬â that is, the AdventureBuilderLoadTest node. A number of execution options are available in the tabs on the right-hand portion of the Performance Schedule Editor view. You can specify the number of users you want to emulate in the N umber of users field on the General tab. Since the user groups in this schedule have been defined in terms of percentages, Performance Tester will do all the adjustments for you each time you change the size of your schedule. Leave the Number of users set to 5.The online trial environment is configured for a maximum of five emulated users and attempting to run with more users will result in a license error. Click Run on the toolbar. This launches your performance test. Figure 20. Run button on the toolbar 2. Monitor the test Animated demo Would you like to see these steps demonstrated for you? me Show While your test is running, you can monitor its progress in near real-time. The Overall tab of the Performance Report view will show you test progress in the bar across the top. The bar graph will show the status code success rate for pages and elements.Both should show 100%. While the test is running you can browse the various tabs on the report to see what is happening. 1. Select the Summary tab along the bottom of the report. Basic statistics about the test run, pages, and page elements are given here. Note that these statistics will continue to update until the run has completed. Rational Performance Tester Page 18 of 26 à © Copyright IBM Corporation 1994, 2008. All rights reserved. ibm. com/developerWorks developerWorksà ® 2. 3. Select the Page Performance tab. This tab presents a bar graph of the average page response time for the 10 pages with the highest times.Feel free to browse through the other report pages. The default information presented is relatively easy to read and gives you quick insights into the performance of Adventure Builder application. Note that the graph on the Resources tab will be blank: this is expected. When the test has finished (note the progress bar on the Overall tab), go back to the Page Performance tab. You should notice that the Checkout page is considerably slower than any of the other pages. 4. Section 7. Analyze the root cause At this point, you have successfully used Performance Tester to uncover a performance problem in your application.The next question you will ask yourself is, ââ¬Å"What is causing the problem? â⬠To get to the bottom of this question you will use Performance Tester's Root Cause Analysis facilities. In this section, you will re-run your test with additional data collection tools engaged. The additional information will help you determine if you are facing a hardware or software issue and drill down to the root cause of the performance bottleneck. Engage resource monitoring Animated demo Would you like to see these steps demonstrated for you? me Show 1. 2. 3. Double-click the AdventureBuilderLoadTest schedule in the Test Navigator view.Revisit some of the additional execution controls on the schedule: start by selecting the top node of the Schedule Contents again. Select the Resource Monitoring tab in the Schedule Element Details area. Resource monitoring enables Performa nce Tester to log any system parameter from Windows perfmon, Unix or Linux rstatd, or Tivoli Monitoring. Rational Performance Tester à © Copyright IBM Corporation 1994, 2008. All rights reserved. Page 19 of 26 developerWorksà ® ibm. com/developerWorks 4. 5. Check Enable resource monitoring. Click Add Newâ⬠¦ to define a new server on which to monitor resources.Note that you may need to scroll down the right portion of the Performance Schedule view to see the button. In the Resource Monitoring window, enter localhost as the host name. Check Windows Performance Monitor. Note that in this trial environment, the Web server, application server, and Performance Tester system are all running on a single machine: localhost. This is, of course, not a realistic situation. In a true performance testing environment, you can define any machines that might be part of your application or test system. Select the Resources tab. After a few seconds, you can see the extensive list of counters ava ilable.To keep it simple, deselect all counters except Memory > Pages/sec and Processor > % Processor Time. Click OK to close the Resource Monitoring window. 6. 7. 8. Engage Response Time Breakdown 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Select the Response Time Breakdown tab in the Schedule Element Details area of the Performance Schedule. Check Enable collection of response time data. This enables Performance Tester's response-time data collection infrastructure. Since you know the only test that actually visits the Checkout page is PurchaseIslandAdventure, select only that test. In the Options area, set the Detail level to High.Save the schedule by pressing Ctrl-S. Click the Run button on the toolbar again. Performance Tester launches the test just as before, but this time with resource monitoring and response-time breakdown collection engaged. Examine resource-utilization data 1. While the performance schedule is executing, select the Resources tab Rational Performance Tester Page 20 of 26 à © Copyr ight IBM Corporation 1994, 2008. All rights reserved. ibm. com/developerWorks developerWorksà ® on the Performance Report. This time, you'll see data for the resources you chose to collect in the schedule. Figure 21. The Resources tab on the Performance Report . The data you see here, although accurate, is not really representative of a typical load test. In this trial environment, the Performance Tester load generation, Web server, application server, and database server are all running on a single machine. You would normally track resources on each tier of your application. In addition, the load test you just ran was of very short duration. Normally, performance tests will be significantly longer, allowing the systems to reach a steady state. Nonetheless, the trial system gives you a sense of how easy it is to track resource utilization during a performance test.If you have a concern, you can now go to the Response vs. Time Detail tab, right-click on the graph, and click Add/Remo ve Performance Counters to overlay resource counters onto page response data. This helps you visually correlate any spikes in resource utilization with page activity. Rational Performance Tester à © Copyright IBM Corporation 1994, 2008. All rights reserved. Page 21 of 26 developerWorksà ® ibm. com/developerWorks 3. Since it doesn't appear that the performance issue with Adventure Builder is hardware related, use the response-time breakdown data to find out if it is software related.Examine the response-time breakdown data 1. 2. Select the Page Performance tab of the Performance Report. Drill down into what went on behind the scenes for the Checkout page. Right-click on the bar in the graph for the Checkout page and choose Display Response Time Breakdown Statisticsâ⬠¦. Select the /ab/checkout. do URL from the Selection Wizard and click Finish. The Response Time Breakdown Statistics view lists methods called on the server tiers of the Adventure Builder application. There are var ious ways to examine this information.Switch to the Tree Layout view using the Layout button in the upper-right corner of the view. Figure 22. The Tree Layout view 3. 4. Now sort by descending cumulative time by clicking twice on the Cumulative Time column header. Find the root cause of the problem The top node labeled rationaltd represents the machine. In this trial, all system-under-test and test-harness components are running on a single machine. In a real-world test, you would likely see multiple machines listed. The second-level node labeled J2EE/WebSphereâ⬠¦ is the WebSphere application server component.From the information here, you can quickly see that the J2EE facet type consuming the most cumulative time is the Servlet. 1. Expand the Servlet node and the com. sun. j2ee. blueprints. waf. controller. web package, and the Rational Performance Tester Page 22 of 26 à © Copyright IBM Corporation 1994, 2008. All rights reserved. ibm. com/developerWorks developerWorksà ® Mai nServlet class nodes. This tells you that the four invocations of the doPost method in the MainServlet class consumed 42. 113 seconds. Note that your actual values will probably differ. Figure 23.Response time of the doPost method of MainServlet 2. Right-click the doPost method and choose Open Source. Well, what do you know ââ¬â you have located the source of your performance problem! Figure 24. A sleep statement in the source code Section 8. Summary This tutorial has introduced you to IBM Rational Performance Tester. In a very short time you were able to construct a test suite by recording a performance test for a Web application, customizing the test to randomize data upon playback, and using that test as part of a realistic performance test schedule.You executed that schedule on a small scale and used the near real-time reports to identify a slow page. Once you had identified the page, you gathered resource utilization data and response-time breakdown statistics, which you th en used to investigate possible hardware and software causes. You then drilled down to the specific source code method causing the problem. Rational Performance Tester à © Copyright IBM Corporation 1994, 2008. All rights reserved. Page 23 of 26 developerWorksà ® ibm. com/developerWorksWhile you may have learned a lot in this tutorial, you have only scratched the surface of what Performance Tester can do. As you continue to explore Performance Tester you will discover many more features to assist you in testing the performance of your applications and releasing them with confidence. See Resources to learn more about Performance Tester and other IBM software products covered in the Hello World tutorial series. Rational Performance Tester Page 24 of 26 à © Copyright IBM Corporation 1994, 2008. All rights reserved. ibm. com/developerWorks developerWorksà ® ResourcesLearn â⬠¢ The Hello World: Rational Performance Tester (for downloadable trial code) is another version of this tut orial that is written for people who would prefer to set up their own environment, rather than use the online trial of Rational Performance Tester. â⬠¢ The Hello World series of hands-on tutorials introduces IBM software products that play a critical role in implementing an SOA foundation in your enterprise. â⬠¢ See the Rational Performance Tester product page for technical documentation, how-to articles, education, downloads, and product information about Rational Performance Tester. ââ¬Å"Using IBM Rational Performance Tester to find bottlenecksâ⬠(David M. Chadwick, developerWorks, September 2006) presents a real-world case study in using Rational Performance Tester. â⬠¢ IBM Rational performance testing solutions provide scalability and load testing for J2EE, Web-based, Siebel, Citrix, and SAP applications. â⬠¢ Learn more about the IBM Rational Software Delivery Platform ââ¬â a complete set of tools to build, integrate, modernize, extend, and deploy soft ware and software-based systems. â⬠¢ Learn more about the Eclipse development environment.Get products and technologies â⬠¢ Download a free trial version of Rational Performance Tester. â⬠¢ Build your next development project with IBM trial software, available for download directly from developerWorks. Discuss â⬠¢ Participate in the discussion forum for this content. About the author Dennis Schultz Dennis Schultz joined Rational in 1995 as a technical sales engineer. For eight years, he worked closely with numerous clients, implementing Rational solutions in their projects. Dennis helped deploy solutions for software configuration management, change management, requirements management, and test management and implementation.Since 2003, Dennis has been a Technical Marketing Engineer for Rational Performance Tester à © Copyright IBM Corporation 1994, 2008. All rights reserved. Page 25 of 26 developerWorksà ® ibm. com/developerWorks IBM Rational software. Dennis holds a B. S. in computer engineering from Iowa State University. He is based in St. Louis, Missouri, and fills his non-work time with his four children. Rational Performance Tester Page 26 of 26 à © Copyright IBM Corporation 1994, 2008. All rights reserved.
Thursday, August 1, 2019
Marketing Introduction and Limatations Essay
Introduction In my assignment I will be writing about Two large business agency, Marks and Spencerââ¬â¢s, and British Heart foundation where I will explain about the different marketing techniques and strategies they use to undertake to promote their products and services. How they Brand their company and about relationship marketing. Marks& Spencerââ¬â¢s Marks and Spencer are a big franchise employing up to 78,000 employees worldwide but mostly in the UK. Marks and Spencerââ¬â¢s are one of UKââ¬â¢s leading retailers with annual sales of à £8 billion. They operate more than 450 stores in 30 countries, and serve tens of millions of customers every week. Marks and Spencerââ¬â¢s are only as strong as the communities in which they trade. They aim to please their customers and market in an easy and understandable manner. Marks and Spencerââ¬â¢s promote over thousands of products, from food to clothing, each product marketed in a different fashion. Marks and Spencerââ¬â¢s have used many strategies to survive the recession. Them being Growth, Branding, Survival and Relationship marketing. Survival Strategies They started by cutting jobs and closing stores. In January 2009 Marks & Spencerââ¬â¢s were planning to close 25 small simply food stores one being Croydon Valley retail store. They cut 780 jobs and 450 head office jobs. Sales plummeted in the 13 weeks leading up to December 27 2008, they fell by 7.1 %.Total sales fell 3.4 % in the UK. Other strategies they used to regain money were Pension cuts, Even though Marks and Spencerââ¬â¢s overall sales fell by 1.2% there was an international sales increase and online retail increase. The retailer made pension cuts to save the company à £175m ââ¬â à £200million per annum. Chairman of Marks and Spencerââ¬â¢s Vandavelde (2009) gave a key speech on the recovery plan. ââ¬Å"The previous plan was like feeding a tree that was already overgrown and unhealthy. What it really needed was serious pruning back. It had unproductive limbs that were hampering its growth and a lot of its best characteristics were lost in the foliage.â⬠This is regarding the cuts that were being made. A strategy used by M&S is SWOT. SWOT is a method for analysing a business, its resources, and its environment. Marks and Spencerââ¬â¢s used the SWOT method for their food products. SWOT helped them discover: What the business does better than the competition. What competitors do better than the business? Whether the business is making the most of the opportunities available. How a business should respond to changes in its external environment. By using this method and braking down each sector they were able to research if there products would sell, and their competitors such as big organisations like Tesco would affect their up sales. Another strategy which Marks and Spencerââ¬â¢s use is known all the Boston Matrix. The main value for them using this is because itââ¬â¢s a useful tool for analysing product portfolio decisions. Constraints on survival strategies are the financial situation, resources and material. Cash flow is a common constraint to the sales systems. The financial constraint is usually internal. A resource constraint is also an internal limitation. Machinery, power and skills are some resources with constraints. Moving too slowly to get products to where they need to be is a internal constraint. Material is also a constrain due to where we are buying it from, are we paying for quality and receiving a product of quality or are we not spending enough to make sure our products are efficiently made? This is a external constraint. Relationship Marketing Relationship marketing has continued to evolve and move forward as technology opens more communication channels. This includes tools for managing relationships with customers which goes beyond simple customer services. They identify six markets which are connected to relationship marketing. They are: internal markets, supplier markets, recruitment markets, referral markets, influence markets, and customer markets. Relationship marketing is designed to develop strong connections with customers by providing them with information directly suited to their needs and interests and by promoting open communication. This approach is there for results in increased word of mouth activity. Marks and Spencer have created customer loyalty by launching different campaigns promoting different products which connect with each customer. Theyââ¬â¢ve launched fashion campaigns, food campaigns and an online clothes shop. Marks and Spencerââ¬â¢s have now become partners with Tesco for Fair Trade campaigns; they now have a range of electrical appliances on sale to comply with what their customers want. Marks and Spencerââ¬â¢s customers want to be able to rely on them to succeed and meet their needs as individual customers rather than a group. While Marks and Spencerââ¬â¢s have created a relationship with their buyers and are constantly researching too find out what their customers want more or less of, there are also constraints and limitations with doing so. A market constraint is external. Marks and Spencerââ¬â¢s competitors are always changing strategies and competing in new and better ways to try and come out on top. A question which is asked within big businesses such as M&S is, is the market demand for our products decreasing? This is an external constraint, if thereââ¬â¢s no longer a demand for the product then their profit margin decreases. A decrease in sales = decreased profit. Benchmarking is a strategy that is used by M&S for marketing this involves looking outside the box to examine how other organisations are achieving their performance levels and to understand the processes they are using to be successful. In this way benchmarking helps explain the processes behind excellent performances. Although this strategy helps M&S stay ahead it can also bring them down as changing your outlook and ideas can be a constraint, Managing change is a common constraint. Markets are dynamic and always changing. Organisations work to stay ahead of markets and their leading competitiors. Knowledge could be an internal constraint to success, this could become critical if survival is at stake. Growth Strategies Marks and Spencer uses the Mckinsey Growth Matrix, to expand and grow their business. Instead of trying to find out how other business have grown, the Matrix strategy argues to grow on your own strengths. They have developed there growth strategies based on : Operational skills, Privileged assets, Growth skills and Special relationships. By growing based on these strategies M&S have been able to keep their customer loyalty but also have been able to increase their products and launch new promotions to engage new customers, by using different approaches they have a better change to widen their customer satisfaction. Some of these products can be sold to existing customers who may trust the business (and its brands) to deliver but new customers may need more persuasion. Even though M&S base their growth on their on development they do analyze their competitors. They use recorded dare, opportunistic date and observable date. * Recorded data: examples include competitor annual reports and product brochures. * Observable data: good example is competitor pricing. * Opportunistic data: to get hold of this kind of data requires a lot of planning and organisation. Marks and Spencerââ¬â¢s have grown as a company by producing a wide range of products, by up selling and engaging in customer loyalty. Strategies that have been used are the foundation of growing. They have focused their marketing and sales on a specific target market this has improved effectiveness and speed the learning process. Unfortunately a common constraint could be an unresponsive market. Marks and Spencerââ¬â¢s campaigns have reeled in more customers but buyer Motivation is a must in all businesses, companies can often fail to provide incentives to motivate their buyers to purchase. A constraint which can be avoided is the follow up after sale. Once a product has been bought research should be conducted to find feedback on that product and if theirs a chance of growth from that product. Branding The brand of a product is very important when making your decision weather to buy something. People buy branded names due to loyalty. Either they no the quality is good or the product is always going to taste good. For example; going to Tesco and having the choice to buy, 23p Tesco value beans or 63p Heinz beans. Just because itââ¬â¢s not a named brand doesnââ¬â¢t mean the quality isnââ¬â¢t as good, thereââ¬â¢s just no risk. Trust is the most critical component in building and maintaining a strong, emotionally driven brand. Strategies used to introduce their brand to the public is media. By promoting their brands its then known by existing and new customers. Many businesses such as M*&S use celebrities in their campaigns this is to engage the buyers and also make them aware that a celebrity likes the brand. Limitations Legal constraints: Marks and Spencer may be constrained by a variety of licensure and other regulatory requirements, based on the industry and activities the business wants to pursue. For example M&S sell alcohol so they will need to have a alcohol license before they are permitted to sell any alcohol. Sales of goods act 1979, This act requires trader to sell goods that are described and are satisfactory. Marks and Spencerââ¬â¢s sell products to members there for the information stated should be accurate and not misleading. For example : selling food which states that thereââ¬â¢s only 130 calories in it but really there 600. This is illegal. Voluntary Constraint This is where a company voluntary state that they wonââ¬â¢t do something, or they always will. For example: Marks and Spencerââ¬â¢s have joined forces with Tesco to sell Fair trade products, and they are also recycling old clothes to Oxfam. These things do not have to be done but yet they do they do them anyway to give them a better reputation with the public. Pressure Pressure groups can be extremely effective in changing organisational behaviour.
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