Fundamental of Management for the Technical Professional - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 6 Words: 1858 Downloads: 3 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Management Essay Type Essay any type Did you like this example? Fundamental of Management for the Technical Professional Spring 2014 All answers should be clear and concise; about 1 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" 2 paragraphs per answer. Use proper punctuation and check spelling. Use your own words for your answers and cite any sources with proper citations. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Fundamental of Management for the Technical Professional" essay for you Create order Any sentence within an answer that is not original and not cited will receive a 0 on that answer. Upload answers to Blackboard by Friday, May 7, 2014, 11:59pm. Graduate Students: Please answer 5 questions from the FOM section and 5 questions from the AITL section. Undergrad Students: Please answer 3 questions from the FOM section and 3 questions from the AITL section. FOM Define organizational behavior and describe its goals. Organizational behavior is a field of study that is concerned specifically with the actions of people at work. It focuses primarily on two areas, individual behavior and group behavior. Individual behavior includes topics such as attitudes, personality, perception, learning, and motivation. Group behavior includes norms, roles, team building, leadership, and conflict. Organizational behavior is normally used as a tool to understand how people behave in an organization The goals of organizational behavior are to explain, predict, and influence behavior. Managers need to be able to explain why employees engage in some behaviors rather than others Predict how employees will respond to various actions the manager might take, and Influence how employees behave. Identify and describe three traits associated with leadership. There are in all seven traits associated with leadership, which are as follow: Drive, Desire to lead, Honesty and Integrity, Self-confidence, Intelligence, Job-relevant Knowledge, Extraversion. Among all I would describe the three traits, which I think, are most important and they are explained below: Honesty and integrity: Leaders build trusting relationships with followers by being truthful, or no deceitful, and by showing high consistency between word and deed. Self-confidence: Followers look to leaders for an absence of self-doubt. Leaders, therefore, need to show self-confidence in order to convince followers of the rightness of their goals and decisions. Intelligence: Leaders need to be intelligent enough to gather, synthesize, and interpret large amounts of information, and they need to be able to create visions, solve problems, and make correct decisions. Describe how managers might motivate professional workers. There is a different needs and expectations of professional workers compare to Non-professional in their jobs. Professional workers have a strong and long-term commitment to their job. They use to learn more and more knowledge to keep their job and work and they work with full dedication without defining their working schedule as 5 days a week. Professional workers are not motivated by money or by any raise in their job; tackling new problems and finding solutions motivate them. When managers praised their work and dedication they himself got motivated and works more efficiently in other words they get motivated by their work and value of support. They simply values challenging work, problem solving and supports. Different professional haves different values of motivation which managers needs to understand to motivate them. Discuss the three sets of variables that have been found to stimulate innovation. Structural Variable: Organic structures, Abundant resources, High interunit ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¨communication, Minimal time pressure, Work and nonwork support. Human resource variable: High commitment to training and developmentà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ High job security à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Creative people Cultural variable: ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¨Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Acceptance of ambiguityÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¨Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Tolerance of the impractical à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Low external controlsÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¨Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Tolerance of risksÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¨Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Tolerance of conflictÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¨Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Focus on endsÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¨Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Open-system focusÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¨Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Positive feedback. A. Structural Variables Affect Innovation First, organic structures positively influence innovation. They are lower in work specialization, have fewer rules, and are more decentralized than mechanistic structures; they facilitate the flexibility, adaptation, and cross-fertilization that make the adoption of innovations easier. Second, easy availability of plentiful resources provides a key building block for innovation. An abundance of resources allows management to afford to purchase innovations, bear the cost of instituting innovations, and absorb failures. Frequent inter-unit communication helps to break down possible barriers to innovation by facilitating interaction across departmental lines. 3M, for instance, is highly decentralized and takes on many of the characteristics of small, organic organizations. B. Cultural variable Affect Innovation Innovative organizations tend to have similar cultures. They encourage experimentation. They reward both successes and failures. They celebrate mistakes. An innovative culture is likely to have the following seven characteristics: Acceptance of ambiguity. Tolerance of the impractical. Low external controls. Tolerance of risk. Mistakes are treated as learning opportunities. Tolerance of conflict. Focus on ends rather than on means. Open systems focus. C. Human Resource Variables Affect Innovation Innovative organizations actively promote the training and development of their members so that their knowledge remains current, offer their employees high job security to reduce the fear of getting fired for making mistakes, and encourage individuals to become champions of change. Once a new idea is developed, champions of change actively and enthusiastically promote the idea, build support, overcome resistance, and ensure that the innovation is implemented. Research finds that champions have common personality characteristics: extremely high self-confidence, persistence, energy, and a tendency to take risks. Champions also display characteristics associated with dynamic leadership. They inspire and energize others. They are also good at gaining the commitment of others to support their mission. Champions have jobs that provide considerable decision-making discretion. Discuss why people resist change due to the fear of losing possessions or status. Include an example to support your answer. It is clearly stated fact that people resist changes in their profession and their workplace. There can be many reasons behind this like losing profession, their status, position, reputation are some major reasons. People use to resist change as they already have given lots of efforts and experience to their work. They have worked for day and night, invested lots of money and energy and respect. They canà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t easily loose this all in a matter of time. And as a professional I think they are doing right. For example: Long year back there was no such technologies which can compute the work in just a fraction of seconds and at that time people use to work and get success in their profession. But now a days if people are not familiar with technology then they have a fear of loosing job and status. So they use to learn and improve their skills to remain on there position at workplace. AITL Are IT applications an asset or an expense? In my point of view IT applications, can be asset or can be expense, if IT application helps any organization to grow its infrastructure and technology along with its platform in which it works then it will be taken as an asset. And these days many new applications and newer versions of present application are introducing, which are to buy by the organization to improve and grow, then those it application will be consider as an expense for organization. As organization will buy the newer and improved versions of application and they have also bought the older one too. I have seen an example in book AITL, which is like hardwareà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s are taken as asset where as technologies like software are taken to be expenses. What processes need to be in place to effectively establish IT project priorities? To have any successful project, the project must be taken care of concept like Planning, Organizing, controlling and leading, which are know to be effective process in fundamental management. Planning is said to defining schedule, goals and task of the project. Organizing defines as work and task allocation to team members, like what tasks are to be perform and who will perform those tasks. Controlling is defined to monitor and checking for the jobs are going in the right direction and getting things done in right manner. Leading can be said as the proper utilization of tools and resources during the project and to achieve the desired goals. In my thinking planning, organizing and controlling are the most important roles to accomplish any IT project. Planning in such a way that successful project can be achieved in desired time and budget. Organizing peoples, tools, budget and resources to generate the best possible result. Controlling can be done at the time of completion of ea ch task and to check that the output at the end of task is same as it was planned. This monitoring is needed on every single task of project to have a successful project. What should be the ideal ratio of maintenance to new application? It completely depends on what type of organization we are talking; if it is a professional IT organization then they have to design new technologies and application for the growth, but if it not a IT organization then that organization can buy and maintain new application from market. But for a Non-IT organization it will be costly to maintain application. Lets take an example of IVK, this organization is a financial based company and has to maintain certain records and data in their database. That is the reason they have to invest near about 20% for new technologies and application. Where as a company apple, they especially need new innovation to grow their business. They have to invest near about 70% of their budget on RD department to generate new application. So I can say IT organization has to keep 70-30 ratios and where as non-IT organization has to 20-80 ratio. Would Barton make a good next CEO for IVK? In what ways might he differ from past leadership? In my thinking after going through the book, Barton can never be a good CEO, as he was sensitive and over friendly with the employees of IVK, which can be considered as black spot on him for CEO position. He was great on position of CIO at the time of crisis. And the present CEO William was good at CEO position during the issue he handles well. Some of the decisions, which were made by William, were instant and spontaneously taken of firing which is a plus point for William. But if we consider Barton as CEO than decision-making could not have that effective, as he could have think before taking such an action. By the decision of William IVK has recovered really fast. In other words William believes in result and Barton believes in process and this personality differences, I think Barton could not be a good CEO for IVK but he can be a good COO. Which job offer should Barton accept? I think Barton was not having three choices, he was considering to leave IVK. He was having two choices one is go with kid and other with Bob Goldman. In my thinking Barton should go with Bob offers, as he was the inspiration of JIM and giving a position of COO. Bob and KID both were also offering Barton a huge amount of salary, so it wonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t be considered as reason. KID offered Barton CIO position but in my thinking Barton works good at COO position, as he was confident of what he is doing. After going thru the book we all know he was a confuse person at CIO position. So, I think Barton should have taken BOB Goldman offer and work in a manner as he like.

The Internet And Its Effect On Society - 1590 Words

In the 21st century, many things that were not thought about in previous generations take up large portions of our time. Point in case, the Internet is an aspect of the 21st century that had no place in previous generations, yet occupies a percentage of time nowadays. The Internet has many positive features, yet numerous, less known harmful effects on society, affecting different age groups and parts of the population in different ways. The Internet is predominantly a catalyst for communication; communication that would otherwise have been extremely difficult or impossible to initiate. The Internet helps people stay connected to friends and family, which as a byproduct, helps people maintain positive relationships. (O’ Keefe et al. 801). Going further, the Internet helps people make new friends they otherwise would not have encountered in their lives (O’ Keefe et al. 801). Beyond personal relationships, however, the Internet is also extremely useful in making business c onnections (Moore Flounders 11). Hiring opportunities, employment opportunities, networking, and the ability to market oneself are just some of the business opportunities available through the use of the Internet. â€Å"Every day, people make connections on social networking sites, such as MySpace and Facebook, and on professional networking sites, such as LinkedIn and Jobster† (Moore, Flounders 9). However, the Internet also has a dark side, which ironically, also comes from its most useful feature:Show MoreRelatedThe Internet And Its Effect On Society1553 Words   |  7 PagesAbstract This research paper is about the Internet. I choose to write a Qualitative essay because the Internet has a myriad of information to speak on. Moreover, using the Qualitative research method over the Quantitative research gave me a chance to become more knowledgeable in exactly what I was writing on. It also gave me a chance to understand and become more aware of the topic to write a great essay. Additionally, when I looked at the numerical data from the Quantitative research the informationRead MoreThe Internet And Its Effect On Society1540 Words   |  7 Pagesare living in a world where the Internet has become an integral part of our everyday life. Everything is at our fingertips through the Internet: school, work, business, personal, and so forth; that our society has made its usage almost mandatory. It has made everything easier and people today cannot even imagine how their lives would be without this genre of technologies. But, we cannot expect that something as useful as the Internet will not have adversely effects in people. However, in this technologicalRead MoreThe Internet And Its Effect On Society Essay1200 Words   |  5 Pagesuniversal PC s net known as Internet . Internet is essential need of young time today; youth can get by without sustenance yet can t make due without web. Above all else, Internet gives access to a considerable measure of data. Some of them are exceptionally valuable in your employment different aides in your pastime. At first web was not so conspicuous but instead after advancement in adaptable development web has wound up crucial need of people in worldwide. Internet has extended correspondenceRead MoreThe Internet And Its Effect On Society1614 Words   |  7 PagesIn today’s world, the internet is the leading source of information and the leading way of communication. Every year, technology improves, and so does society’s dependence on it. The use of the internet has made a huge impact in the society cau sing controversy. Social media can help people to communicate and to be in touch with their families and friends, but it can also disconnect people from reality. This can be seen in today s new generations, since children and adolescents tend to be more involvedRead MoreEffects Of The Internet On Society1767 Words   |  8 PagesThe world wide web, otherwise called the internet, came about in the 1960s and was primarily used for researchers and academia. But since the 1990s, the internet has had that revolutionary effect on the culture and commerce in our society. This includes communication by email, instant messaging, and internet phone calls. In addition, there is also the world wide web with discussion forums, social networking sites, and online shopping sites, which people, despite their generational differences, utilizeRead MoreThe Internet And Its Effect On Society3739 Words   |  15 PagesThe Internet is a debatably the most important invention that mankind has ever accom plished. Having access to everyone at any given time is something of a dream back in the past and now that it is here there is no stopping the effects it has on society. Social media, GPS, email the list goes on and on what the Internet can do, it would be a shorter list to just tell what the Internet cannot do. Having this being said businesses have felt the effects of the ever growing technology of the World WideRead MoreThe Internet And Its Effects On Society Essay1834 Words   |  8 Pagesof this common, every-day scenario, is the internet. Winston Ross, a Senior Writer for Newsweek described the internet as the following, â€Å"It is available, affordable and accessible† (Ross 3). The internet is a positive technological advancement that has contributed immensely to socialization, education and work life. Though the internet is known for being addictive and distracting, the benefits of using it far outweigh any potential risks. The internet is used today across the world as a large socialRead MoreThe Internet And Its Effect On Society1852 Words   |  8 Pagesthousands more will â€Å"like† an Instagram photo†¦and that’s if they read very quickly (Marrouat). Today, many people use the Internet for everything. The internet has many benefits, anyone that has a computer with internet can find any information and can even add to it. That’s why the Internet is known as the collected knowledge of millions of people. The most popular tool of the Internet though, is its way for socialization. Socialization is referring to the way people communicate and how they do it. ThereRead MoreThe Internet And Its Effect On Society917 Words   |  4 PagesThe internet is a cyberspace of knowledge compacted to fit in to the palm of our hands. It has the power to connect us to people across the ocean, deliver food to our homes and even help us meet the love of our lives. However, this type of power co mes with a great responsibility of its own. Nowadays, the internet has become a way to target those who are gullible or those who have limited knowledge of it. The internet now has had an especially big impact when it comes to children and sexual predatorsRead MoreThe Internet And Its Effect On Society1371 Words   |  6 PagesThe introduction of the Internet to society resulted in the opportunity for people to produce, consume and share creative content. This culture of online production and consumption is bound to copyright and fair use laws. While these laws have the capacity to protect an individual’s ownership of intellectual property and creative content, they are not conducive to a vibrant culture of creativity. The Internet and its evolution of search engine engagement has cultivated an online community that can

How High

How High-Stakes Tests Are Hurting Our Children?s F Essay utureAlmost every person who has graduated from high school has taken the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT), which is generally used for college admissions. We all remember the stress of taking a test that could affect our future educational plans. Now due to the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, this kind of test is now being administered to children from the 3rd to 8th grades as a way to determine if the school or teachers are educating them properly. High-stakes standardized tests of this nature should not be used to determine the educational abilities of either schools or the teachers. Standardized tests have been around for quite a while now, and are used by a large number of schools. These tests are developed by large educational companies, and because they are distributed to such a large number of schools, theyre used as a standard with which to compare students from the state in which they reside, or across the U.S. Most of these tests are fill in the bubble, multiple-choice, versus essay tests, which are more expensive for the schools to have graded. Some of the better known standardized tests are: SAT (Scholastic Assessment Test), ACT (American College Test), CAT (California Achievement Test), ITBS (Iowa Test of Basic Skills), and TAAS (Texas Assessment of Academic Skills). These tests have been used by high schools and colleges to determine if a student has the knowledge needed to succeed in college. It is felt by a large number of students, teachers, and others in the education field, that these tests are not a true representation of what the students know, but rather how well the students can take a test. Standardized tests do not show how well a student does in class work, homework, self-study, or their response to learning. The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) act (P.L. 107-110), was signed into law by George Bush in 2001 to replace the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. NCLB has as one of its major requirements that all students from 3rd to 8th grade be required to take a standardized tests every year, and once in grades 9-12, these tests are on the subjects of math and reading, and must be expanded to science by 2007. In addition to the tests, states must implement an accountability system using the same assessment for all public schools in the state, and must meet the adequate yearly progress (AYP), which means that all public schools must show improvement every year. The baseline of this program is created using data from the 2001-2002 school year. If a school does not meet the AYP for two consecutive years, it is placed on a list of schools which need improvement, and receive assistance from the school district or the state. If the school continues to fail to meet AYP, then they may be subj ect to staff changes, longer school years, or even be closed and re-opened under new management. This all seems like a great new program that will raise education levels and give aid to schools that lack funds, but it has some major problems. The first of these is what is called teaching to the test. This means that since the test is a high-stakes test, on which the future of the schools and the teachers depend on, the emphasis in the classroom will be on teaching children how to pass these kinds of tests. This can lead to teachers changing their teaching methods and class structure from learning how to find the answers to just knowing the answers. The federal No Child Left Behind Act dramatically increases the use and importance of standardized tests. However, standardized tests are poor yardsticks to measure student achievement. In fact, an emphasis on testing encourages teaching to the test, skews school programs and priorities, and drives quality teachers out of the profession. In addition, since test scores can bounce up and down rapidly, they are virtually useless for comp aring a schools progress from one year to the next. (1)Another problem that is anticipated to occur is the shifting of emphasis off of classes that do not get tested such as, literature, art, music, and social sciences. These classes will become casualties of the war to pass the tests, simply because that classroom time can be better used to prepare the students for the tests. This will in turn cause the children to quit using their imagination, and become drones who only know how to answer questions. .u564887afd8287e13369e65074e7b72c1 , .u564887afd8287e13369e65074e7b72c1 .postImageUrl , .u564887afd8287e13369e65074e7b72c1 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u564887afd8287e13369e65074e7b72c1 , .u564887afd8287e13369e65074e7b72c1:hover , .u564887afd8287e13369e65074e7b72c1:visited , .u564887afd8287e13369e65074e7b72c1:active { border:0!important; } .u564887afd8287e13369e65074e7b72c1 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u564887afd8287e13369e65074e7b72c1 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u564887afd8287e13369e65074e7b72c1:active , .u564887afd8287e13369e65074e7b72c1:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u564887afd8287e13369e65074e7b72c1 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u564887afd8287e13369e65074e7b72c1 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u564887afd8287e13369e65074e7b72c1 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u564887afd8287e13369e65074e7b72c1 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u564887afd8287e13369e65074e7b72c1:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u564887afd8287e13369e65074e7b72c1 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u564887afd8287e13369e65074e7b72c1 .u564887afd8287e13369e65074e7b72c1-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u564887afd8287e13369e65074e7b72c1:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Poor Boys Blimp EssayIf you were to ask most teachers if they believe that a single test, on a single day of the year, could give a true picture of what a student has learned, the answer would most likely be no. A multi-stage testing system might be a little better, giving a comparison between what the student knew in the beginning of the year, the middle of the year, and at the end of the year, but even this is not a certain way to evaluate a child. Teachers usually watch the students in the class, grade homework, and meet with the childs parents to evaluate the parents feelings towards their childs education. These observations are necessary for the teacher to know if th ey are doing their jobs correctly, a test score just reflects how the student performed that one day. Scores might be different on a different day, a different time, if the students mood is good or bad, or is tired. There is also the variable of the economics of one school compared to another. Some schools have more money to spend on study materials and sample tests than other schools. It is widely known that most inner-city schools have very little money to spend on supplies for teachers and students and therefore are placed at a disadvantage when compared to a suburban school with a broader range of incomes. Should we allow economics to determine that a school is not able to educate our children because they couldnt afford to buy as many practice tests as a school with a larger budget?These reasons, and many more, are why standardized tests should not be allowed to be the sole determining factor in how good a school is for our children. We should look at all of the factors which contribute to the learning environment in our schools and not just at how well our students can take tests. 1.Education-Mandatory Testing, 2003 Policy Summary by the Center for Policy Alternatives http://www.pta.org/ptawashington/issues/testing.asp2.

Agricultural and Environmental Ethics System †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Agricultural and Environmental Ethics System. Answer: Introduction The retail industry in Australia is a very competitive one and the different companies need to ensure that they always strategize their moves so that the company remains in a suitable position throughout. The given report will be highlighting the marketing environment of the Coles supermarket situated in Yarraville (Aghdaie Alimardani, 2015). The report will first briefly describe the Yarraville Coles Supermarket with reference to the area it is situated in and the kind of crowd it caters to. That will be followed by an Industry analysis of the supermarket in Australia using the Michael Porters Five Forces Model. An external environment analysis will also be given followed by the positioning and segmentation strategy of the firm. The chosen company for the given assignment is the Coles Supermarket situated at Yarraville. Yarraville is a western suburb situated near Melbourne, Australia which is around 6 kilometers away from the Central Business District of Melbourne. The suburb has a population of 15000. The Yarraville Coles Supermarket is situated at Williamstown Rd High St, Yarraville VIC 3013, and Australia. The restaurant serves various products that are generally served in all supermarkets (Coles Supermarkets., 2018).It offers various discounts to its customers and offers home delivery service as well. Their main motive is to provide good quality products at affordable prices. Industry analysis and market trends The industry analysis of Coles Supermarkets in the Yarraville suburb will be undertaken using the Porter Five Forces Analysis (Andaleeb, 2016). The Porters Five forces is an analytical tool which assess the position of the industry and how they are affected by one another: Bargaining Power of Buyers: The bargaining power of the buyer in the given industry is generally very high. This is because of the presence of a large number of stores and supermarkets which help the consumers to attain the basic items important for necessity. As the customers are open to the wide range of options, their power is generally high. Bargaining Power of Suppliers: In the Australian supermarket industry, the bargaining power of the suppliers is generally very high (Beneke Trappler, 2015). This is because the market is highly concentrated and there are big players present in the market. Threats of New Entry: The threat of new entrants in the Australian supermarket industry is generally low. This is because, the industry is dominated by large players and they make it difficult for the firms to penetrate in the given industry and form barriers for them. Rivalry among Existing Firms: The competition and rivalry among the industry is cut throat and brutal. The major players are Woolworths, Coles, Wal-Mart and Wesfarmers. This leads to intense discounts being offered by the Supermarkets and existence of price wars. Threat of Substitute: The products sold by these supermarkets are essential products and there are no alternatives available. For this reason the threat of substitutes is comparatively low. PEST Analysis The PEST analysis analyses the factors that tend to have an impact on the performance of the industry or on the company at large. Factors Importance Political The competition policy which has been introduced by the Federal Government in Australia. The given competition policy prevents the major independent players like Coles and Woolworths to enter into completion. The primary reason behind this is that the small companies suffer a blow. Economical There has been a decline in the economic market conditions in Australia which has lead to a problem in the performance of the Coles group.. This is because there has been a decline in the economic activity of the countries which has further weakened the Australian dollars. Socio-economical The socio economical aspect of the Australian supermarket industry is that the customers generally prefer companies which have a higher corporate responsibility. And thus the retail companies are under the pressure of performing such initiatives (Chhetri et al., 2017). Technological The technological factors affecting the given industry are application of environmental friendly technology and the increased use of automated machines. Also, the increase fever of online websites have affected the company and the industry as a whole The results of the PEST analysis state that the retail supermarket industry in Australia is undergoing various changes and that changes have had a profound impact on the performance of the various companies within the country. The newly stated policy by the Australian government has bought about intense pressure on the government and this has lead to a pressure on the Coles group as now they will have to face competition from the smaller firms (Culley et al. 2017). The economic downturn of the country has also had an effect on the performance of the firm. Furthermore, the socio economic pressure on the industry also brings about immense pressure on the firms. The trend of online shopping has also affected the operations of the firm. Competitors analysis Competitor analysis can be described as an important aspect that a company needs to conduct in order to be aware of the different competitors from whom a business can expect a certain degree of rivalry. . The competitor analysis of Coles Group in Yarraville with other supermarkets has been given as follows: Supermarkets Woolworths Coles Advertising The advertisement campaigns of Woolworths have been noteworthy since the very beginning. They engage in various mediums to market their product. Earlier, the marketing and advertisement strategy of the Coles supermarket was not at par with the Woolworths`s . However, the company has started using similar ways of advertisement. Offers Woolworths offers various discounts on the product it sells. Many products are almost priced half during the offer season. Coles does not have any give offers which are as great as Woolworths, however they price their goods reasonably with Four Meals priced below $10 (Neirotti, Raguseo Paolucci, 2016). Promotion Woolworths implements various promotion strategies like Club Card, exchange offers, home delivery servicing and others. The promotional aspect of Woolworths is one of its strongest key points (Khedher, 2014). Coles group offers various promotional like Woolworths. The supermarket has a loyalty program , after signing up to which the customers receive huge discounts on various products. Price The price at Woolworths is very reasonable however for some products, it is higher than that of its competitors like ALDI and Coles (Malik, Sudhakar Rahman, 2016). Coles prices its products similar to that of Woolworths , however its prices are never higher than its competitors . Products Woolworths offers a wide range of products ranging from all consumer essential goods to grocery as well. Coles has an offering similar to that of the Woolworth Location Woolworths has more stores than Coles Located at all convenient locations, but not as many as that of Woolworths. Therefore, from the given analysis it can be stated that Coles is doing well and adopting a similar strategy to succeed in the market just like its competitors. However, the company needs to adopt a strategy which is unique to gain the market share. The major market segments of the Coles group at Yarraville have been given as follows: The quick shoppers- These are the consumer segments who want to complete their shopping as quickly as possible. They have been shopping with the firm for a long time and for this reason, they would prefer that they can be done with the shopping as quickly as possible (Chhetri et al. 2017). They keep busy and would prefer if the products are laid out in a manner such that it is easier for them to make the purchases. The budgeted shoppers- These shoppers are on a strict budget and would like to buy products which are generally priced low. They tend to shop in the beginning of the month where the prices are low. Smart shoppers- This market segment buys products based on great bargaining deals. They are smart in their decisions and make their purchases based on bargaining deals and discounts. The lazy shoppers- The lazy shoppers are the group of shoppers who shop for the leisure of it. They are not concerned about the offers or the discounts but would like to buy what appeals to their eye (Kumar Singal Kumar Jain, 2014). A good shelf decoration would be good for this group. Quality conscious- The quality conscious customers are generally gourmet oriented and prefer all good products and they are willing to pay premium prices (Patti et al., 2017). To satisfy this segment this company should stock good quality products. Variety conscious- These shoppers like to compare and buy their products. Hence, to appeal to the given segment the company should, include in stocking more products. Primary and secondary markets Primary Markets Secondary Markets Budget shoppers Lazy shoppers Quality conscious Variety conscious Smart shoppers From the given table it can be witnessed that the company aims to provide services to the given consumers, however the priority and markets have been divided accordingly. The primary markets are the Quality conscious customers, smart shoppers, budget shoppers (Heinberg, Ozkaya Taube, 2017). The company aims to offer high quality goods at premium prices as well as good quality products at comparatively low prices. The company also has certain offers for the smart buyers. Its secondary market has to segments which are the lazy shoppers who just shop at their convenience and are not bothered about the prices (Sebri Zaccour, 2017). The variety conscious customers are also the secondary target market of the Coles supermarket at Yarraville. Level of involvement and decision making The level of involvement primarily refers to the fact how customers are a factor in determining the prices of the products. There are two main kinds of customer involvements, ranging from high to low (Wang, 2015). When customers have a high level of involvement then their input is generally taken for decision making. On the other hand, if their level of involvement is low, then they do not form a part of the decision making process (Haskelberg et al., 2016). In the given scenario of Coles supermarkets, the power of the buyers or popularity termed as the customers is very high. The given fact was realized in the Michael porters Analysis, and it was observed that the customers play a big role in the industry and that their power is quite high. It is because of this, their choices and preferences form the basis of the various decisions taken by the group. The customers are exposed to a wide variety of choices and it is for this reason that they generally prefer to have goods at their co nvenient prices and varieties. Hence, it can be stated that their involvement level is very high. The given perpetual map is based on market research and from the given map it can be understood that the firm generally caters to the budgeted population and the smart buyers who tend to offer high quality goods at comparatively low prices. The major competitors of the company are Tesco, ALDI and Woolworths (Rundle-Thiele, Dietrich Kubacki, 2017). In the high quality, low price segment , Coles received direct competition from Tesco. However the given supermarket is not present in convenient locations and the Coles group has an advantage in this scenario. For customers on a budget and who like to buy smart, Coles group is a convenience based supermarket offering good quality at affordable prices. The given statement reflects the main motto of the group and how it aims to offer the customers goods at convenient prices (Scrinis, Parker Carey, 2017). Conclusion Therefore from the given analysis it can be stated that the Coles Group at Yarraville has an advantage as it is the only supermarket in its area offering good quality at convenient prices. The competition policy by the government may have an impact on the pricing of the firm, but Coles can adopt other strategies and redefine its segmentation. The advertising and marketing strategy of the firm has improved considerably which continues to raise the brand name. References Aghdaie, M. H., Alimardani, M. (2015). Target market selection based on market segment evaluation: a multiple attribute decision making approach.International Journal of Operational Research,24(3), 262-278. Andaleeb, S. S. (2016). Market Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning. InStrategic Marketing Management in Asia: Case Studies and Lessons across Industries(pp. 179-207). Emerald Group Publishing Limited. Beneke, J., Trappler, E. (2015). 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