The influence of user generated content on the hotels image by using Dissertation

The influence of user generated content on the hotels image by using travel search engines - Dissertation Example If you post ideas, comments, questions, data, graphs, opinions, creations, customizations, ID or other information (such as information on bulletin boards, discussion forums) (hereinafter referred to as "User Generated Content"), on the site, or if you send to any company this user-generated content via the site, it will become the property of that organization. As a standard, the user-generated content is assumed to be non-confidential and we have the right to use or disclose in any manner whatsoever, without representation or notice. The user-generated content or other information should not be offensive, pornographic, defamatory, profane, illegal or may violate applicable law, whether governed civil, criminal or religious. User-generated content (UGC) is to become a more important tool for travel marketers, as consumers rely more on independent advice. User-generated content is a delicate area for travel marketers, as there is a risk of negative reviews of destinations or hotels. However, the popularity of sites such as Trip Advisor has forced brands to rethink their strategies. With the advancement of contemporary hospitality industry user generated content has turn out to be one of the significant features and requirement in marketing mix and status management strategy of a hotel. While there are many benefits of UGC and it plays an important role in the marketing and the reputation of the business there are some important points that must be considered for User-generated content. As not all the information is accurate or credible hence user generated content can develop a negative impact on the business of hotels. In order to acquire immunity from these ramifications one must keep in the view that in User-generated content all the available content is not authentic and some reviewers may have some other reasons and motivations which might develop adverse effects on the business. A good approach when dealing with such critical situations and making the condition work for your gain is essential. Inaccuracies can take place if the chance presents itself you r reaction may make all the difference to how future readers read, understand and interpret the written message. Another important aspect that needs to be mentioned here is that excessive positive and appreciating remarks over a small time period or only positive remarks may raise doubt to the strength of the comments as this gives a feeling that the remarks are not original and added intentionally for the purpose of making good business. This is the fact that customers avoid hotels if they feel an hotelier has so many reviews that are same and positive. Some negative comments work intends to create a marketing balance, particularly if the response of hotelier gives you an idea about real concern and an effort to rectify or correct the situation. A readiness to get better and an interactive tone in the communication process is a good signal for most prospective customers. In the subsequent phases of our discussion we would be looking at the different ways in which the hospitality in dustry can have an impact upon small countries such as Dominican Republic in developing their tourism sector. Secondly, ways through which UGC has an impact upon consumer behavior will also be a part of the formulated research questions. UGC after the advent of Web 2.0 A recent survey shows that out of 78% of companies use electronic channels, web marketing and email for their marketing purposes (Witkowski, 2007).

Schedule and Cost Control Techniques Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 4

Schedule and Cost Control Techniques - Essay Example A typical problem solving process may look like this: This process is simply inline with the rational decision making process and there are typical practical areas where the formal decision making of such process is required in terms of project management. These decision areas include estimation of costs, selection of various tools to be used, selection of the vendors who will be providing various equipment and services etc. However, decision making falls within two broader areas of decision making. These are progress decisions as well as adoption decisions. Progress decisions are basically taken in order to assess whether the project is meeting the assigned targets whereas adoption decisions are concerned about adding new goals to it. As discussed above that there area various models available which decision analysts use. Decision analyst attempt to construct models of various decision situations. These models use mostly various mathematical tools such as graphics, equations and flow diagrams etc. The aim is always to provide various decision making parameters. In its essence, decision analysis is a technique based on the set of statistical techniques however latest trends in the decision making process involve a broader view of the decision analysis while recognizing the contribution being made to the different phases of decision making process. The use of software is also another option which is being used for decision making purpose. These softwares include spreadsheets, statistics packages and different financial modeling packages. Specialized softwares are also available for the use. These softwares include decision pro, Precision Tree as well as Crystal Ball etc. These software help a lot in order to better formalize the decision making process within the organization and help to make it more on rational decision making models. It is also very

Criminology Essays Crime and Power

Criminology Essays Crime and Power Criminology Crimes of the powerful. Q. Why has the analysis of crimes of the powerful been such a growth area in criminology over the past century? It is tempting to give a simple or even simplistic answer to the above question: it is tempting to say that analysis and theory of crimes of the powerful have grown so quickly in the last century because the quantity and diversity of such crimes have themselves exploded outwards. As the number of crimes committed by the powerful have risen exponentially across the years and continents, so the police forces, crime-prevention agencies and legislators of the governments charged with halting these crimes have had to evolve into larger and more complex organizations also. For instance, amongst myriad forms of organized crime that developed in the twentieth century, one pertinent recent example is the efflorescence of high-tech and internet crime, where professional and international gangs manipulate technology to extort or steal large sums of money from the public. High-tech crime is of course a recent phenomenon; it did not exist at the turn of the last century. Therefore analysis of suc h activities by law agencies has grown to respond to this new threat; moreover, the analysis and prevention of such crimes has had to grow in sophistication and size just as the crimes themselves have done. Organized crime be it narcotic trafficking, prostitution rings, corporate crimes and so on has become a massive international business, and it has required larger agencies equipped with better criminal theory and technology and international cooperation between agencies to deal with it. Moreover, the clear lapse between the professionalism and techniques of many criminal organizations and the law agencies that pursue them will require these agencies to catch-up to the advances of these criminals in the next decades. And, of course, this catch-up will depend heavily upon advances in criminal theory and analysis. Crimes of the powerful are not exclusively concerned with illegal activities of the above description, but also with crimes committed by corporations, by governments, by dictators and even, in an interesting new perspective, by patriarchal gender structures that sanction crimes of power against women. The attention of law agencies and legislators upon these crimes has led to a mass of new analysis and theory by criminologists on the nature of such crimes. Likewise, several theories compete to describe the causes of organized crime and crimes of the powerful. One such theory points to social change as the most profound catalyst in the spread of organized crime and the detection of organized crime. This theory assimilates the teachings of sociology, psychology, anthropology and history to produce a detailed sociological critique of these causes. In the eighteenth or nineteenth centuries, many acts committed by the powerful that would today be classified as criminal were then merely pse udo-illegal or socially disapproved of; they carried no specific criminal offence. But social and legislative advances have made the prosecution of crimes of the powerful easier enact. out. For instance, the prosecution of corporate crime is, theoretically at least, far easier to identify and prosecute than it was in the early twentieth century. Moreover, greater media exposure of the life of corporations and governments has magnified their crimes whenever they are committed. A moment of this essay might be given to discuss exactly what is meant by the phrase crimes of the powerful. Indeed, a person unfamiliar with the literature of criminology might be forgiven for regarding the term as somewhat amorphous and nebulous: he might argue that nearly any criminal phenomenon could be termed a crime of the powerful. The dictionary defines a crime as an act punishable by law, as being forbidden by statute or injurious to the public welfare. An evil or injurious act; an offence, a sin; esp. of grave character (Oxford, 1989). It is difficult to see how the word power could not be inserted into any part of this definition and for it still to make sense. There is therefore in the pure black letter interpretation of the law a huge shaded area that allows for misinterpretation of the term crime of power. Can, for instance, a crime of the powerful be a physical act? Or must it the top levels of an organization? Moreover, the use of the word crime is itself ambiguous. The trafficking of drugs or children is clearly illegal and criminal according to the principles of law; but we also speak of corporate crimes against the public withholding medicines from the dying, adulterating foods etc., as crimes even though they have no explicit recognition as such in law. There is then a near infinite possible extension of the word crime when one uses the word in the sense of something that ought to be illegal rather than something that is presently illegal. In Smiths words: If a crime is to be understood simply as law violation, then no matter how immoral, reprehensible, damaging or dangerous an act is, it is not a crime unless it is made such by the authorities of the state. There is moreover often the paradoxical situation where a government that commits crimes of power against its people can only be legally recognized as doing such if it passes legislation against itself. That is: their This is obviously extremely unlikely to happen and so many such crimes go unnoticed. It is often directly against the interests of certain groups or interests to recognize the existence of certain crimes because then have to recognize theory legal existence also. Recently however, one growth of criminal analysis of the powerful has come from greater international laws that allow for the international legal recognition of crimes committed by dictators or despots when they would never do this themselves. For instance, Saddam Hussein is near universally thought to have committed crimes of power against his people; such things were never legally recognized as crimes as such until a body such as the United Nations had the international authority to declare the illegal action s of heads of states. Sociologists and psychologists amongst other groups (Chesterton, 1997) have argued that the moral, sociological and psychological aspects of crimes of the powerful should be recognized by criminologists to a far greater extent. By using approaches such as these criminologists can add the activities of environmental pollution, insider trading, and tax evasion to the public consciousness of what constitute crimes of the powerful. In Sellins (2003) words if the study of crime is to attain an objective and scientific status, it should not allow itself to be restricted to the terms and boundaries of enquiry established by legislators and politicians . According to scholars authors like Chesterton and Dupont the intense interest in by criminologists in the analysis and prevention of crimes of the powerful is due to the massive growth and myriad new forms of these crimes. Perhaps the most powerful criminals whose crimes are explicitly illegal are international drug trafficking organizations. In 2004, according to Smith (Smith, 2004) Â £550 billion of cocaine and other illegal substances were transported illegally internationally. This trade is therefore lager than the GDP of many African and other third-world countries. Faced with this massive business and with its catastrophic social consequences traditional law agencies and their democratic legislators have had to radically alter the way they investigate and prosecute these crimes. The extreme complexity and ingenuity of international drug cartels have meant that governments have had to build equally complex systems of criminological analysis and technique to limit these crimes. Complex intelligence agencies like the MI5 and MI6 in England and the CIA and FBI in the United States now have innumerable specialist intelligence groups of scientists, field-officers and so on investigating the criminal nature and consequences of organized crime such as drug trafficking, the shipping of illegal weapons and so on. Perhaps the only organizations on earth with greater power than the above organized crime syndicates are the international corporations of Western countries like Britain, America and so on. Many critics of these organizations (Chomsky, 2003) allege that the secret crimes of these corporations exceed even those of the drug barons. For instance, everyone will be familiar with the recent scandals of Enron, Anderson and Paramalat where billions of pounds were swindled by these massive companies. This white-collar crime was half a century ago hardly investigated and such crimes went essentially unnoticed. But greater public consciousness of the activities of these companies through the media has theoretically at least imposed a greater accountability and potential punishment for companies who exploit either their shareholders or their customers. This increased interest in corporate crime has led in turn to the need for a vast number of criminologists to produce theories to explain the cau ses of such crimes and then strategies for their prevention. A further consequence of the media revolution of the past century and the changed social assumptions of our society has meant that the crimes of governments as crimes of power are now open to far greater than public and professional scrutiny and analysis than they ever have been before. Twenty-four hour television and instant access to news stories and the daily events of our political life have meant that the public can therefore criticise the crimes of their governments with greater ease than before. For instance, the vociferous protests in 2003 by citizens of Western democracies against the invasion of Iraq were due to the belief of those citizens that their governments had acted illegally and criminally in invading that country. Traditionally, such crimes do not fall into the sphere of criminology because of the numerous problems identified in the definition paragraph of this essay. However, criminologists, at least theoretically, and urged by famous opponents of the war like Noa m Chomsky and Michael Moore, are coming to analyze and investigate the issues and theoretical difficulties of holding entire governments to account for committing crimes of power. Many of the principles used by criminologists to analyze the techniques and structures of organized crime yndicates are being suggested to be transferred to an analysis of the crimes of government. The analysis of government crime may prove to be one of the most fruitful of the coming decades for criminologists. In this essay then, the term crimes of the powerful refers to such crimes as are carried out by organized criminal gangs (either national or international), by corporations, by governments, by powerful individuals such as corrupt magnates, businessmen and so on. Such crimes might include: corporate fraud, corporate mal-practise, illegal narcotics or arms; high-tech crimes such as computer fraud. It is necessary for the student of criminology to know something of the state criminal affairs at the end of the 19th century if he is to find a clear answer for the growth of analysis of crimes of the powerful in the twentieth century. One strong reason why analysis of such crimes was less in say 1900 was that many organized crimes did not exist at all. For instance, the use of narcotics like opium and heroin were widespread amongst all levels of society but legal also; the trade of these drugs were controlled by legally registered companies and there existed no illegal market for their production or importation. Accordingly, since these acts were no understood as crimes, British police did not need to analyse the behaviour or causes of these. Moreover, the size of the police force as well as its technical and theoretical know-how were far smaller than they are today in Britain, America, France and so on. Similarly, whilst many companies exploited the Victorian workforce, none did s o in the systematic and pre-determined fashion that is characteristic of Anderson, Enron or Parmalat in the past ten years. Other crimes of the powerful like high-tech computer fraud obviously required no analysis or theory of criminology since they did not exist at all. Similarly, The In James Smiths (Smith, 1999, p44) memorable phrase At the dawn of the twenty-first century the Western world faces a plethora of organised criminality of the like that it has never known before. From the mass trafficking of illegal narcotics, to whole-scale prostitution, to high-tech computer fraud, to corporate offences on a giant scale, the police forces and criminal prevention agencies of the new century will meet challenges as they have never glimpsed in the past. And, a little further on, They will no longer compete against petty or isolated crimes of individuals, but against the sophisticated and organized attempts to make vast fortunes by systematically breaking the law. In this contest between law officer and criminal former is now far behind; it remains to be seen whether he will catch-up in the near decades (Smith, 1999, p44). Another area of rapid growth in crimes of the powerful has been the feminist critique of domestic violence committed against women by dominant males. Feminists of the last few decades have argued cogently that the term crimes of the powerful should include also these domestic abuses because of the patriarchal structures within our society that promote such abuses. The explosion of such feminist critiques flows from the fact that before this century there was no feminism as such, and domestic abuse was either not considered a crime or it was publicly invisible or ignored. The changing social philosophies such as liberalism and attitudes of the twentieth century gave birth to a greater consciousness for women and therefore greater demands for them for social and legal equality. This, in the 1960s and 1970s, leading feminists like Germane Greer campaigned for recognition of the domination of women by societal institutions and conventions that are massively weighted in favour of men. Fem inists scholars and theorists argue that the vast majority of these structures and the crimes they inflict upon women are unreported; marital rape is the most frequent abuse, and nearly 80% of women in this predicament are abused repeatedly (Painter, 1991). A whole host of crimes commited by men supported by social institutions go unreported and unprosecuted. Some feminists therefore describe a fundamental imbalance in the power structures of Western society, and that agencies and organizations should be set up to combat and prevent this crime. In S. Griffins words: Men in our culture are taught and encouraged to rape women as the symbolic expression of male power (Griffin, 1971) and Brownmiller says eloquently that rapists are the shock troops of patriarchy, necessary for male domination. Some men may not rape, but only because their power over women is already secured by the rapists who have done their work for them (Brownmiller, 1976). This feminine critique therefore demands a c onsiderable extension of the definition of the term crimes of the powerful to include all those thousands of incidents of unseen violence issued from an entire gender that has power over another. In this sense, arguably feminists have uncovered the crime of the powerful of all. According to feminists, the truths of this oppression has been recognised partially by criminological theorists by the tides of social legislation that have been passed in recent years to protect women from domestic violence. Nonetheless, say that criminologists yet lack a complete or detailed analytical theory of such violence; this itself being reflected by the dominance in criminology of males. In the final analysis, the growth of the analysis of crimes of the powerful may be attributed principally to the growth of the number and types of such crimes and the subsequent need to investigate and prevent them. Some crimes of the powerful such as drug trafficking are nearly entirely new to our age, and criminologists have had to develop wholly new theories and techniques to combat it. On the other hand, entirely new academic critiques like those of feminism, sociology and psychology have identified and produced theories to describe invisible crimes of power against groups who before the last century had to suffer in silence. Criminologists too have had to swallow these theories and then learn methods and techniques to apply them to our modern world. Similarly, the rise of mass media and the extension of democratic institutions have enabled citizens with far better information about the behaviour of their corporations and governments; this awareness has in turn led to a conscious ness of the similarity of nature between illegal crimes like drug-smuggling and corporate crimes like deliberately withholding medicines from the sick or the invasion of a foreign country. These new fields of investigation have given the criminologist much to think about. The student of criminology should not forget either that the subject he studies had itself evolved over the last century to become a highly professional and international and therefore capable of greater levels and specializations in analysis than it could ever have been before. BIBLIOGRAPHY Academic Books, Journals Articles Brownmiller, S (1976). Against our Will: Men, Women and Rape. James Press, London. Chesterton, B. (1997). Criminology and Social Science. Blackthorn, Edinburgh. Dupont, D. (2000). Foucault against Foucault: Rereading the Governmentality Papers, Theoretical Criminology, No. 3, May 2000, (with). Foucault, Governmentality, Marx. (1998). Journal of Social and Legal Studies, 7:4, December 1998 (with S. Tombs). Hazards, Law and Class, Social and Legal Studies, Vol. 6, No.1, March 1997. Painter, K. (1991)Rape, Marriage and the Law. Bold Books, Exeter. Shover, N. (2001). Capitalist Business Organizations in White Collar Crime. Oxford Press, Oxford. Smith, J. (1999). Criminology for the Twenty-First Century: A Readers Guide.. Devillier Press, New Jersey. Snider, L. (1995). Corporate Crime: Contemporary Debates. University of Toronto Press, Toronto. Snider, L. (1992). Crimes of the Powerful special issue of The Journal of Human Justice, Vol. 3, No.2, Spring. Steve Tombs and Dave Whyte (Editors). (2003) Unmasking the Crimes of the Powerful: Scrutinizing States and Corporations. Peter Lang, New York Summer, C. (ed) (2003). Blackwell Companion to Criminology. Oxford, Blackwell. The Oxford English Dictionary. (1989) (2nd Ed.). Oxford University Press, Oxford. Valverde, M. (1996). Conflict, Contradiction and Governance, special issue of Economy and Society, Vol. 25, No.3, (Autumn). West, G Morris, R (eds.) (2000). Regulating Toxic Capitalism in The Case for Penal Abolition. Canadian Scholars Press, Toronto Woodiwiss, M. (1993). Global Crime Connections. Macmillan, London.

The Snows of Kilimanjaro Essay example -- essays research papers

It is my claim that Ernest Hemingway’s piece, â€Å"The Snows of Kilimanjaro† is most effective at showing how trivial life can be as it regards to what people think is needed to be successful in life for three main reasons. The reasons are that people put too much time into achieving unrealistic goals, people get too involved in obtaining their goals and do not appreciate what they have, and people have the wrong idea about success and can not obtain true success with the wrong vision of what it is. Some people put too much time into achieving their unrealistic goals, and never realize them and then end up wasting most of their life and lively hood in search of their personal success. Those same people also never stop to appreciate what they have in their lives, when all they were trying to obtain could have been in front of them and all they ever wanted. Most goals that people believe make them successful do not, many people have the wrong idea of what success is and when someone dies this is the only time they will realize what actual success is. Hemingway’s story begins with Harry and his wife on Kilimanjaro arguing over many petty things. Harry had gotten into an accident and scraped his leg while they were on their hunting trip. The wound got infected, even though Harry put some medication on it, the wound soon started to become gangrene. He is lying on a cot for the whole story while he continues to bicker with his wife. Many Vultures are around and Harry makes comments on how they must smell the leg, and that is what attracts them to him. Harry has many recollections of events through out his life, he referred to them as the topics he wished he would have written about. Through all of Harry’ recollections of his life he wonders where all his time went. He starts to think about how he has wasted he life and talent with the â€Å"enemy†; money, rich women, and soft living all symbolizing the forces of corruption. The story ends with Harry getting â€Å"rescued† by men in a plane that had landed near them, which the reader soon finds out it was just Harry’s dream as he actually dies. His wife is awoken by a hyena that had fallen off a cliff that was making a human-like cry. When she goes to check on Harry, she finds that he has stopped breathing, and the hyena continues to make the sound that had waken her ... ...e â€Å"good life†, and has painful memories that he will overcome to be rewarded. Harry does share many characteristics with Hemingway’s other characters but he is different in that his profession does not take the form of deep sea fishing or war or bullfighting but of writing. He is also different in that he is rewarded "in the other world." All the other Hemingway heroes must be and are "rewarded" here in whatever private or public form the reward may take. Hemingway’s piece clearly shows how trivial life can be in regards to what is thought to be needed to be successful. The reasons are that people put too much time into achieving unrealistic goals, people get too involved in obtaining their goals and do not appreciate what they have, and people have the wrong idea about success and can not obtain true success with the wrong vision of what it is. Harry clearly illustrates all of those points and the reader can learn from his â€Å"mistakes†. One should have a clear, realistic image of success before they waste their time and effort to obtain it. Success can only be obtain and kept in this world, it can not go with someone when they die.

Social Media Advertising

Internet Advertising: Social Networking First Name Last Name BUS 123 Introduction To Advertising Dr. First name and last name September 26, 2010 Internet Advertising Now more than ever, small businesses can promote themselves online by targeting customers and expanding their networks, often for little or no cost. Businesses can promote themselves through a variety of techniques such as targeting customers by demographics, contributing to online discussions and drawing attention to new services. Advertising in the 21st century has become very versatile because of various online social websites like Facebook and Twitter, along with other blog atmosphere websites like Pinterest and Craigslist. In the last decade, the explosion of technological advances has produced unprecedented events in the history of mankind. One of them is the Internet and its conversion into a new medium for marketing and the use of social communication in advertising. Inevitably, the internet has changed our lives. In  traditional media, newspapers, radio  and television  can cause information overload  and change the perception  of the audience (Janoschka, 2004). The  Internet is not  exempt from this  danger, but  has the potential to  do something different,  because  it can directly reach  the target audience  and interact with it. A function of memory is to forget, especially information that is not significant. The challenge of advertising is to make you remember the ads. The purpose is to sell. The good publicity convinces the viewer to buy the product. This requires creating an attractive brand image and strengthening it with each ad. Advertising employs both verbal and nonverbal elements that are composed to fill specific space and time formats determined by the sponsor. Advertising reaches people through a channel of communication referred to as a medium. Today, technology enables advertising to reach its’ target audience efficiently through the Internet. In the 1990’s, the Internet became a major part of American society and is the fastest growing type of advertising. Its more than just banner ads, it means large format interactive ads, search-engine marketing, creating special promo videos for web download and supporting TV ads with online sites. Communication among people all over the world is effortless, and information on almost any topic is just a few keystrokes away. As a public global platform open to all kinds of information, entertainment, and communication, one of which is online advertising, it has become the latest mass medium. † (Janoschka, 2004). Internet technology allows delivering the right message to the right person at the right time while helping advertisers to reach their audience. From  the moment the   surfer  enters  the web to search for information, pop ups appear allowing the audience to subscribe to  mailing lists that  will send  continuous  news, promotions, articles, etc. , depending on   their preferences. This allows the  seller  to better  reach its target  and maintain  continuous  communication  in the shortest  time possible. .Most online ads do not come to you as an individual, but by your interests in various subjects, your location or, in general, by your behavior during internet navigation. In most countries, it is possible to divide the audience by geographic area based on IP address, which facilitates advertising companies that offer products and services in those areas. Websites use demographic data to learn more their audience. When registering with a portal or website, you normally provide certain personal information such as your age, gender, hobbies, etc. With this information, websites offer relevant content and advertisements based on the information provided. Some companies specialize in a data collection process known as behavioral advertising which matches ads to the interests of users based on their surfing habits. As users browse, advertisers collect data on their online activity: sites visited, time spent on each ad shown, ads that were clicked, when and how often you click on the banners. Today, cookies are tools that allow advertisers to target advertising to specific audiences and segments. Compared  with traditional media  the cost of  internet advertising is  extremely low, and  because of its effectiveness  and its high potential for growth, it is  ideal  for small  and medium businesses that  do not have large  resources to invest  in other media. Then the questions  arise: how  to advertise  online? What is the  correct way  to? There is no  magic formula  that a media planner can you use but here are some suggestions. Due to the internet being global, the network gives the possibility to reach all audiences in the world. With internet advertising one must  include,  email,  search engine  registration, and banners which are  ads with  motion graphics which  are located in different  sites  of the network  as a gateway  input  to a website. Using email as a form of advertisement is easy and free. All that is required is to sign up for email with your internet  service provider  or a  free  mail  server  such as Yahoo  mail or Gmail and send emails to  the potential  customers with  offers  or information  on products. According to Arens, â€Å"Google is the most popular destination on the web reaching an astonishing 40 percent of all Web users each day† (pg 337). Search engines are only responsible for registering portal websites and their content and then delivery the results to the users who made requests for information. The following is an example of how a search engine works. A user uses the search engine  of their choice and  asks to find  companies  that export  tomatoes. The search engine will  send  in response  with a list of websites of companies  that fulfill  the request and  then the user can  enter  the different sites  to see  what they need and select the company that  meets  their requirements. The  banner system  is  one means  of internet advertising  that is more effective: You can choose  the categories  to be displayed and  include descriptive words  to detect  if the user is  looking for that particular product. The  banners  are similar to the  rotating  banner  but  the difference is that  the user can interact  with them. As in any  project,  internet advertising  should begin  by  making  a strategic plan. The result will be  better planning of  a website and  the ability to maintain  the user's attention  and customer loyalty. The presence of internet advertising will be an excellent complement to traditional media advertising and may end up becoming one of the priorities of advertisers. For now, more and more ads in the media show the direction taken by advertisers along with customer care and other services of interest. User forums, blogs  and  social networking  sites like Facebook and Twitter  are invaluable resources  for monitoring  companies' reputations  and interests of  consumers of services and  products. Facebook is the largest social network in the world with more than 500 million people connected to each other. Facebook has not surpassed Yahoo! o be the second most popular site on the web behind Google. Facebook's popularity has increased due to the ability to connect individuals without geographical barriers. The uniqueness of Facebook allows people to meet virtually to discuss and share their interests with each other (Arens, Schaefer, Weigold, 2011). There are 60 million status updates posted every day in over 65 languages. Facebook's audience is far superior to any other mass medium like TV channels, radio or press Facebook has revolutionized advertising not only by the size of its audience, but also by the engineering behind its operation. It allows an analytical and intelligent marketing to reach the precise target audience through market segmentation according to gender, age, geographic location, country, city and locality, educational level, likes, interests, product preferences, favorite activities, favorite programs and language. For example, it is now possible to know without extensive market research which countries have the largest number of youth between 18 and 35 years and who love rock music, football and a certain brand of beer. Having a presence in social media is a must have for most brands. Facebook created Pages for businesses to post information about their services or products. When using a search engine, your Facebook Page will be one of the main results of your search. Consumers have tremendous power and influence on a brand and trust recommendations of other consumers they don’t know. According to Barefoot, â€Å"Groups and applications gain popularity one friend of a friend of a friend at a time† (Barefoot, pg 174). The result is friends becoming fans or joining groups encouraging them to purchase a product or service that is being discussed or advertised. Twitter is still a very popular social media networking site, although adoption is declining. Compared to Facebook, Twitter has 50 million tweets created each day and the average Twitter account has an average of 300 followers. Social networking is important to marketers because it gives them the opportunity to show customers that they are listening to what they have to say about a brand or product and respond accordingly. The possibilities are endless. It is common for  organizations to provide direct consumer  messages  daily  on Twitter, maintain  a Facebook page, or depending  on your industry  also  a profile  on MySpace. Social networking has completely changed the way we communicate with each other. Everyone has a voice and an outlet to reach millions of people instantly with either Facebook or Twitter. The internet  is  an advertising medium  with a great future  because it is interactive  can be customized or  delivered to users  according to their  preferences. There is  immediate feedback  and can communicate  directly  with users  to resolve their doubts and  concerns and with  a global reach. The internet  brings  great potential  for use in  the field  of marketing, market research,  direct marketing,  sales promotion, trade mail and, of course,  advertising communication. As a society  we must be prepared  to confront and  take advantage of  the opportunities  this new technology  gives us. References Arens,W. , Schaefer, D. , & Weigold, M. (2012). Advertising. McGraw Hill Irwin. New York

Case-8-Accra-Beach-Hotel Analysis

Mc Donald’s and Subway Services Marketing 2011 Submitted By: Ankit Singh Mc Donald’s and Subway Table of Contents CORE SERVICE AND VARIOUS SUPPLEMENTARY SERVICES†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 5 FACILITATING SERVICES †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 8 ENHANCING SERVICES †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢ € ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 0 HARD AND SOFT SERVICE STANDARDS †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 11 CHANNELS OF SERVICE DELIVERY †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 14 COMMUNICATION MIX †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 16 SERVICE BLUEPRINTING†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 1 SERVICESCAPE †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 23 SERVICE QUALITY GAP MODEL AND QUALITY DIMENSIONS †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â ‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 28 PRICING STRATEGY †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 35 Critical Analysis †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 2 3 Mc Donald’s and Subway Table of Figures Figure 1: SubWay – Flower of Service †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 6 Figure 3: Facilition Services †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 7 Figure 2: McDonald's – Flower of Service †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Figure 4: Communication Mix †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 16 Figure 5: Role Of Communication Mix †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 19 Figure 6: McDonald – Go Global Act Local †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 20 Figure 7: Mc Donald's Blueprint †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 1 Figure 8: Subway-Blueprint †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 22 Figure 9: Service Gap Model†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 28 Figure 10: Characteristics and Evaluation Outcomes †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚ ¬ ¦.. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 29 Figure 11: Strategies to influence expectations †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 0 Figure 12: McDonald's Pricing †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 36 Figure 13: SubWay Pricing †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 38 Figure 14 : SubWay & Mc Donald ‘s Pricing Strategies†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 41 4 Mc Donald’s and Subway CORE SERVICE AND VARIOUS SUPPLEMENTARY SERVICES SUBWAYSUBWAY has come a long way in India since it opened its first restaurant in India. Young Indians have warmed to the image of the American chain, and made it one of their favorite places to swarm to, and hang out in. Subway has very successfully entered the Indian market and sustained its growth by developing a unique menu to appeal to the Indian taste. If you are a foreigner visiting India, you might be interested in indulging in some of the Indianite treats at Subway — for example, the legendary paneer tikka sandwich. Also, as an Indian you might be interested in some of Subway’s Continental trea ts like the Italian B.M. T. Subway offers a wide variety of submarine sandwiches and salads on its menu. It offers an assortment of vegetarian and non-vegetarian fares. They also cater to the health-conscious customers by providing them with 97% fat free subs. Subway offers a separate specialty menu for breakfast. Apart from subs and salads, they also provide side dishes like cookies, desserts and beverages. Subway allows customization of sandwiches by offering a variety of gourmet breads, different kinds of flavored meat, fresh and exotic vegetables and variety of sauces, both low and high calorie.Following the â€Å"Think Global, Act Local† policy, it offers ingredients specific to the locations; for instance, it offers Halal meat in Hyderabad. MCDONALDS McDonald's is without a doubt the world's largest and fastest growing restaurants in the world, serving food and drink to 38 million customers daily. Right from its inceptions through being multi-billion dollar quick servic e restaurant, hamburgers and fries have always been at the front of McDonald's menu. However, their menu has expanded keeping the taste and the lifestyle of the local customers in mind.Its extensive menu also offers a full range of desserts, hot and cold drinks to cater to everyone. McDonalds underlying strategy for success in the Indian market is- â€Å"Local sourcing is the key for Truly Indian products†. Prior to its launch into India, it invested six years to develop its unique cold chain, 5 Mc Donald’s and Subway enabling customers to enjoy highest quality products, absolutely fresh and at a great value. Keeping the culture of India in mind, McDonalds does not offer any beef or pork items. It has developed a specialty menu unique to the Indian palate with a variety of vegetarian and non-vegetarian selections.They are also conscious enough to prepare vegetarian food separately and this separation is maintained throughout the various stages of preparation. So much s o that the mayonnaise and the soft serves are also 100% vegetarian and its uses only vegetable oil as a cooking medium in India. They also have an exclusive menu for breakfast. McDonalds also caters to the tastes of the local people. In Hyderabad, they offer â€Å"Halal Meat† for the non-vegetarians which they quite explicitly convey to its customers through a signage.The efficiency with which the staff at Subway and McDonalds serves the customers is enhanced by the range of services that supplement the core service. Following the flower of services approach, the given figure shows the services that support the core service at Subway. FLOWER OF SERVICE FOR SUBWAY Figure 1: SubWay – Flower of Service FLOWER OF SERVICE FOR MCDONALDS 6 Mc Donald’s and Subway Figure 2: McDonald's – Flower of Service These services can be broadly classified as facilitating and enhancing services: †¢Information †¢Ordertaking †¢Billing †¢Payment Facilitating Enhancing Figure 3: Facilition Services Consultation †¢Hospitality †¢Safekeeping †¢Exceptions 7 Mc Donald’s and Subway FACILITATING SERVICES INFORMATION Information to customers at Subway is provided through different ways: Directions: in case of Subway, they provide a signage to direct the customers to the vegetarian and the non-vegetarian counters. Also, both Subway and McDonalds have user-friendly websites wherein customers can log on from any place at any time to locate their nearest stores. Prices: Prices of the different items of food available at both Subway and McDonalds are displayed on a display board. Apart from that it also displays he prices of the other side dishes which the customer might want to buy. Instructions on using core product: Since Subway is a made-to-order restaurant where a customer has full freedom to customize his sandwich, for a first-time customer, there are instruction sheets at both, vegetarian and the non-vegetarian counters t hat instruct the customers on the steps to follow to place an order for a sandwich. It also lists down the variety of ingredients and gourmet breads that it offers to its customers. Notifications: At Subway, they are prompt enough to notify its customers of any technical problems that might bring inconvenience to them.At times, when the toaster is not in working condition, they put up a notice communicating the same. Both Subway and McDonalds also notify the customers of any promotional or â€Å"combo offers† for the day through posters and leaflets. They allow customers to sign up for offers on the net to get regular notifications on current offers and current news on Subway. Conditions for service: At McDonalds, they promise to deliver the order within minute, at particular time slots, else they give a soft-drink free to the customer.This information is very explicitly visible to make sure that no customer misses to notice it. ORDER FULFILMENT 8 Mc Donald’s and Subwa y The order entry methods followed at Subway are: On-site order fulfillment: Here the customers are served immediately as the orders are placed. Once the customer has decided what to eat, that is, a sandwich or a salad, he moves on to the next step where he chooses bread from a variety of gourmet breads for his sandwich. He also decides the size of the sandwich he would like to have, that is, 6-inches or foot-long.In the next step the customer gets the option of adding extra ingredients to his/her sandwich like double layers of meat or extra cheese for better taste. He then chooses the assortment of vegetables he would like to have. The last item on the list of ingredients is the variety of sauces that subway offers. The customer might want to supplement the sub or salad with his choice of drinks. At McDonalds, they follow an on-site order fulfillment method too, where they promise to deliver the orders in a minute, else they give a soft drink free.McDonalds also allows its customer s to enjoy its meals while they are on their move. Through â€Å"McDonalds Drive Thru†, customers enter the â€Å"drivethru†, place their orders and pick then up within minutes. Web-site order placement: McDonalds allows its customers to become members which in turn helps them place orders online. Telephone order placement: Subway also promises an express delivery facility to offices and home which allows customers to place orders through phone. McDonalds provides home delivery service to its customers with no restriction on the minimum order.However, they charge an additional fee of Rs 20/- per order irrespective of its size. BILLING The billing process goes very systematically. A typical customer would start by placing orders looking at the display board. As he makes his order, the amount due is displayed on the machine after each item is entered. Once all the items have been recorded, the billing machine displays the total amount due. The person who is recording als o verbally states the amount due as a confirmation. The invoice is generated and the payment is made.The billing process uses all the four elements, namely 9 Mc Donald’s and Subway Invoice for individual transactions Verbal statements of amount due Machine display of amount due PAYMENT Payment at both Subway and McDonalds is done using the conventional method of payment through cash or card. The customer is allowed to make payment through credit card only above billing of a certain amount. Also, they provide coupons and vouchers through newspaper inserts, which can be redeemed by the customers. ENHANCING SERVICESCONSULTATION The staff at the counter provides customized advice to customers who are visiting both Subway and McDonalds for the first time. They also help customers decide on what orders to place and which combo offers to avail. HOSPITALITY Subway is seen as a place to hangout with friends. Customers, mostly the younger generation go to Subway when they need to sit, eat and drink with their friends. Also, a Subway outlet is usually never jam-packed with customers, hence there is never a queue to enter or place orders. Thus, there is never a need for waiting space.The customers could also sit for as long as they want without being asked to leave. McDonalds offers high quality products at affordable prices which it promises to serve on time. They have a policy of greeting every customer with the traditional â€Å"Welcome to McDonalds, How may I serve you†. A lot of importance is given to the smile during the greeting. Each McDonald’s outlet has a washroom for must. 10 Mc Donald’s and Subway SAFEKEEPING Subway provides the perfect ambience by ensuring that the outlets are clean, the seats are wellspaced out and it allows the customer to sit back and relax.Their packaging for take always is also ecofriendly and attractive. McDonald's is driven by the philosophy of Quality, Service, and Cleanliness & Value for Money. This transl ates into a commitment to provide customers high quality products, served quickly with a smile, in a clean and pleasant environment at an affordable price. This effectively means that the McDonald's menu is priced at a value that the largest segment of the Indian consumers can afford while at the same time ensuring that quality is not sacrificed for value. The packaging at McDonalds for orders ike â€Å"Happy Meals† which most of the times contains â€Å"happy Toys† and other such items are a major attraction for the kids. These Happy Meals have different toys which when collected will form a set. This in turn, attracts children and increases the sales. EXCEPTIONS Subway caters to the needs of the health conscious customers by providing them 75% fat-free subs and salads. Also, Subway has a policy of getting a feedback form filled by its customers. HARD AND SOFT SERVICE STANDARDS MCDONALDS McDonald’s aims to provide 100 percent total customer satisfaction.In orde r to achieve this goal , McDonald’s relies on its operating philosophy based on QSC & V – Quality, Service, Cleanliness and Value. McDonald’s believes that customer satisfaction is crucial to the success of the brand and all restaurants must perform to the standards. These standards are used in both company owned and franchised restaurants. QUALITY Hard Standards: 11 Mc Donald’s and Subway Best ingredients: This is achieved by its commitment to sourcing all its requirements from local farmers and suppliers. Before entering India, the company spent six years and Rs. 50 crore to set up its supply chain. In India McDonalds pioneered the cold chain management which helps keep vegetables and processed products safe for a longer time. Potato farming in Gujarat Radhakrishna Foodland (Distribution partner) focused all its resources to meet McDonald's expectation of ‘Cold, Clean and On-time Delivery’. Trikaya Agriculture (Supplier of fresh Iceberg let tuce) uses a cold chain to store and transport lettuce to maintain freshness all year round. Pre-cooling rooms ensure field to 2 degrees in 90 minutes.Dynamix Dairy (Supplier of cheese) has a completely computer controlled automation equipment to supply cheese to McDonald’s. Vista Processed Foods Pvt. Ltd (Supplier of chicken and vegetables) has storage facilities to maintain temperatures as low as -35 degrees to ensure freshness. Preparation Standards: Best quality standardized ingredients ensure standardized preparation standards can be followed. Every product has a fixed procedure of preparation. However, newer McDonald’s stores offer MFY (Made for You) where the product is made only after the order is placed. Other standards: Use FIFO (First in First Out) for all inventories.Reverse osmosis water treatment plant – best technology for water purification at every outlet to provide water. Strict standards for vegetarian products including eggless mayonnaise and eggless icecream. SERVICE Some soft standards followed by McDonald’s staff are Welcome every customer with a smile and are genuinely friendly at all times 12 Mc Donald’s and Subway Deliver consistent standards of hospitality Seize opportunities to interact with customers in a personal and positive way Be well informed about product contents and nutritional information Always appear clean and well groomed.Hard standards Serve fresh and hot Serve within one minute of receiving order or give a free coke. This is implemented in a few outlets and is not applicable during peak hours. Cleanliness and Hygiene The counters, tables, floor area are to be kept clean at all times. All staff required to cover their heads and wear gloves when within preparation area. All these standards are evaluated by mystery shoppers and rated. This is called a RVR Restaurant Visitation Report) which provides a snapshot of the stores performance over a period of a few hours. The stores are graded either A, B, C or F.SUBWAY No information is available on the hard standards followed by the company. Below are some soft standards Subway has laid out. Quality All material, vegetables, sauces, meat and cheese have to be sourced from the supplier certified by Subway. Franchises cannot procure from other non-certified suppliers. All material has to be stored at specified temperatures to ensure freshness. All franchises are required to abide by the Gold Certification standards of Subway. Cleanliness All employees must at all times wear gloves while making a sandwich or handling material.All employees must at all times wear a plastic covering their hair to ensure hygiene. Service The employees should greet the customer with a smile. 13 Mc Donald’s and Subway They should help customers choose combinations to customize their Subway Sandwich by making suggestions. During calls for home delivery, all the requirements of the customer should be attentively noted and followed. CHANNE LS OF SERVICE DELIVERY SUBWAY Subway uses Franchising as its channel of delivery. Subway currently has 35340 restaurants in 98 countries. This is being followed by Subway from its inception.As all franchisers, Subway requires each store to operate by the strict standards of quality, service and cleanliness defined by the company. The Subway franchise ensures that safety measures are taken by all its franchisees to provide quality food. All employees need to use gloves at all stages of food handling. Members of the specialty food franchise have to attend a training course in their local area in order to provide needed information to their employees on this regard. Fresh food stock preparation and temperature regulation helps the fast food franchise to keep up its high standards of hygiene.It is to provide the necessary specifications on the levels of cleanliness to be maintained by franchisees that the Subway franchise initiated â€Å"Gold Standard† policies. However, there ha ve been several problems faced by Subway along the way. Quality standards: There have been several complaints from consumers all over the world regarding quality issues of vegetables, meats and sauces used in Subway sandwiches. Most of these issues arise due to improper storage of materials in the store. Temperature controls aren’t maintained resulting in spoilage and wastage.Legal woes: Subway has faced more legal cases than most other franchises. Franchisees complain that even one slip results in threatening letters from the head office. Or complaints regarding too many stores opening in the nearby areas resulting in cannibalization. 14 Mc Donald’s and Subway Many instances have been cited by franchise holders where Subway has unfairly penalized them. MCDONALDS McDonald's is the world's leading global foodservice retailer with more than 33,000 locations in 118 countries. McDonald’s has several company owned stores, but uses Franchising for both domestic and in ternational expansion.McDonald's India was set up as a 50:50 joint-venture between McDonald's at a global level and regional Indian partners such as Hardcastle Restaurants Private Limited in western India, and Connaught Plaza Restaurants Private Limited in northern India. McDonald’s currently has over 220 restaurants in the country. McDonalds doesn’t provide any financial assistance and absentee ownership of finance is not allowed. Also, the financial requirements are quite steep. MFY- In order to implement the MFY (Made for You) option for customers, the franchises are required to upgrade their equipment at their own expense.This caused some problem with maintaining standard service across all outlets. Pricing and menu may also be a point of difficulty for the franchiser and franchisee as prices vary between company owned and franchised stores. Inconsistent standards- There are several instances of poor service or disgruntled customers complaining about the quality of food served. This is because it is difficult to enforce the exact same standards in all franchised stores. 15 Mc Donald’s and Subway COMMUNICATION MIX COMPANY External Marketing Communications Advertising Direct Marketing Sales Promotion Public RelationsInternal Marketing Communications Vertical Horizontal PROVIDERS Interactive Marketing Communications Personal Selling CUSTOMERS Customer Service Centre Service Encounter ServiceScapes Figure 4: Communication Mix The diagram above clearly explains a generic model for communication which is being implemented by services based companies in the world. The communication model is divided into 3 parts as clearly seen above:a) Internal Marketing Communications: It company should manage the information and its flow from company to employees in order to accurately and consistently reach to customers who are hearing and seeing it. ) External Marketing Communications: These are the channels (not under the company’s control) throug h which the company disseminates the information to its customers. These channels provide equal opportunities to all the companies for communication to masses. 16 Mc Donald’s and Subway c) Interactive Marketing Communications: These channels are in direct contact with the customers when it experiences the services in form of servicescapes, service encounters, Customer Service centers and company’s frontend employees.Mc Donalds Extracurricular Crew activities, Free employee meals in the restaurant, MahaBucks Performance-linked pay, Graduate Career Advancement Programme, In House Training Courses Employee of the Month Newspapers, Magazines Television, Radio, Movies Hoardings, Pamphlets, Banners Emails Websites, Banner Ads, M-Commerce Movies Coupons Combo Meals, Corporate Rebates Nickeldon Toys HCL Laptops Every Month press releases, News Yes Children's Day , Birth Days Bollywood Actors Subway Extracurricular Crew activities I N T E R N A L Horizontal Company Policies Ver ticalIn Housing Training, Performance-linked pay Employee of the Month Newspapers, Magazines Television, Radio Hoardings, Pamphlets, Banners, vehicle advertising on Cabs Emails Websites, Banner Ads, M-Commerce Movies Coupons Goodies , Corporate Rebates No No Internal Branding Branding Through Employees Print Broadcast S E R V I C E M A R K E T I N G Advertising Outdoor Direct Mail Internet & Mobile Discount Coupons Rebate E X T E R N A L Sales Promotion Gifts(Toys) Co – Promotional Activities Press Release News Yes World Health Day Sports Persons 17 Public RelationsSponsorship Shows, Exhibitions & Special Events Media Coverage Mc Donald’s and Subway 1. McDonald’s retail outlets to encourage young voters for the Lok Sabha elections. 2. McDonald’s ties up with Symbiosis Institute Facebook , Twitter C O M M U N I C A T I O N M I X CSR Activity Fit to Hunger Social Media Facebook , Twitter, YouTube Confirmation Calls for Home Delivery Personalisation and Cust omization of Sub. NO Countrywise Website NO Customer Service Personal Selling Sales Executive Tele- Marketing Confirmation Calls for Home Delivery Probing and giving alternatives for better Deals.NO Countrywise Website NO I N T E R A C T I V E Instruction Material Website Brochures Catalog Signage Interriors Servicescapes Mascot Stationary Employee Uniform Remote Encounters Name Boards Kids Zone, Interior Menu Board Ronald Donald Mc Donalds on tissue Paper ,Tray Paper and Sauce Sashes Dress Code Online orders Placing orders on phone At Franchises Name Boards Normal Interiors NO SubWay on Tissue Paper & Tray Paper Dress Code Online orders Placing orders on phone At Franchises Service Encounters Phone Encounters Face to Face 18 Mc Donald’s and Subway Role of the Various Communication MixFigure 5: Role Of Communication Mix 19 Mc Donald’s and Subway Figure 6: McDonald – Go Global Act Local 20 Mc Donald’s and Subway SERVICE BLUEPRINTING Figure 7: Mc Donald's B lueprint 21 Mc Donald’s and Subway 22 Figure 8: Subway-Blueprint Mc Donald’s and Subway SERVICESCAPE It is a well known fact that the environment in which a service is executed is important. They physical environment or the Servicescape provides cues about the quality and character of the service quality and character of the service, cues that consumers look for both before and after buying and that affect their experience of it.Typology of McDonalds and Subway based on variation in form and Use of the Servicescape: Servicescape Usage Complexity of the Servicescape Elaborate McDonalds Subway Interpersonal Service-Both customer and employee MCDONALDS McDonalds recognizes culturally defined expectations in allowing its franchisees around the world tremendous freedom in designing their Servicescape. McDonald’s strategy is to have restaurants worldwide reflect the culture and community in which they are found. Elements of Physical EvidenceFacility Exterior: Exterior Design: McDonalds design exhibits a sense of â€Å"Forever Young† look with bright red and yellow colours appealing to the children and establishing its family restaurant positioning. The building provides a practical, contemporary design that aligns with the McDonald's brand essence while accommodating the latest operational and consumer experience standards. Their mascot Ronald Mcdonald is also present outside each of their restaurants. McDonalds 23 Mc Donald’s and Subway always have all glass restaurants.McDonalds has always clearly identified and managed the various clues that customers use to form the impressions and feeling about their company. In addition to this, McDonalds has separate take away counters in order to save time of their patrons. Signage: All of McDonalds external signage reads as, â€Å"McDonalds-Family restaurant. Also keeping in mind with the local language, all McDonalds restaurant have their name boards in Hindi. McDonalds strongly believes in adhering to the local sentiments and hence none of the outlets in India sell Beef products and every restaurant has this mentioned.Also McDonalds, strongly believes in glass branding for any new products or services they offer. Most of the communication is designed to cater to local tastes and preferences. Parking/Landscape/Surrounding Environment: All McDonald outlets are located are accessible and present everywhere thus capitalizing on brand recognition. Most of the McDonalds have their own restaurants and hence the seating space available is exclusive to McDonald’s patrons. Also McDonalds offers proper parking facilities for its highway restaurants. Facility InteriorAll McDonalds outlet are standardized in terms of layout and have proper in-store branding. The 24 Mc Donald’s and Subway â€Å"Young and Cheerful† design concept is a progressive, youthful, and energetic environment with open views for social interaction. All McDonald outlets are huge with p roper aisles and passages with appropriate signage for seating arena, lavatories, wet floor and food counters. McDonalds has a Made for You food preparation platform. MFY is a unique concept (cooking method) where the food is prepared as the customer places its order.This cooking method has helped McDonald’s further strengthen its food safety, hygiene and quality standards. McDonalds also has illuminated Menu boards that offer a mix of both vegetarian and non vegetarian burgers along with other savories and drinks. McDonalds also has proper queues for placing order and often there is a executive who assists you in order placing. Also McDonalds gives toys for children thus making them wanting to come back. The other visible cues are color, lighting, in-store music, employee uniforms and trays with literary.McDonalds has ample in store lighting and directly in? uences an individual’s perception of the de? nition and quality of the space, in? uencing his or her awareness of physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual aspects of the space. The bright McDonald stores ensure prompt handling and evaluation of products. In all McDonald stores the lighting is perceived as more pleasant than other fast food environments. The color scheme that McDonalds uses exhumes cheerfulness and warmth. Red depicts vibrance, cheerfulness while yellow depicts friendliness and brightness.At McDonalds, music is a positive auditory cue stimulating specific consumer behaviour and emotions. Music appears to influence buyer-seller interaction. There is audio played about the latest offers and products. Also a balance and constant sound creates a pleasant sound environment. All employees at McDonald are provided with uniforms and name badges along with caps with McDonald signature â€Å"M† arch. Employees are also trained with appropriate soft skills to address customers. Every employee or front line executive greets the customer and exchanges pleasantries 25Mc Don ald’s and Subway which makes them happy. McDonalds also has the policy of serving within one minute or they give free redeemable coupons on the next visit. SUBWAY Elements of Physical Evidence Facility Exterior: Subway sandwich restaurants are often simple eat outs using minimal architecture and traditional branding with yellow and white shades. The facility exterior often gives a look of freshness and is located amidst other eateries in food courts of malls or recreation centres. Signage: The signage at every Subway store is uniform as per international standards.The store size is generally small and hence there is no room for enough glass branding. Unlike McDonalds, Subway doesn’t have extensive branding on door panels and windows. Facility Interior: The size of any Subway outlet is small in relation to McDonalds, Also, since Subway outlets are located in multiple eatery zones they do not have an exclusive seating arena for its patrons. However the exclusive Subway s tores has minimal seating arena. The in-store lighting is sufficient however not exclusively bright as seen with McDonalds.The color scheme used in all subways is Green depicting a sense of Freshness. Most of the subway outlets have the aroma of freshly baked cookies that draws one towards it. The employees have a proper uniform and our courteous. Also the person who takes your order is the same one who prepares your Sub thus allowing more time for interaction. Since every Sub is customized as per the customer it takes time. 26 Mc Donald’s and Subway However all the ingredients used are fresh and thus adhere to Subway-Eat Fresh strategy. Roles of ServicescapePackage McDonalds Strong visual metaphors, right from its outlets to the employees to the trays to ketchup cups Well designed outlets with appropriate with signs, appropriate ventilation and proper seating arena The goal of being the customers â€Å"third place† is achieved with comfortable chairs, children play ar ena for customers to interact Red and Yellow colour scheme along with McDonald branding to differentiate from others. Subway Visual metaphors in the form of wrapping paper, beverage cups. Small outlets or kiosk with minimal signs and few seats. More of a restaurant to have a quick bite. FacilitatorSocializer Differentiator Regular branding 27 Mc Donald’s and Subway SERVICE QUALITY GAP MODEL AND QUALITY DIMENSIONS Figure 9: Service Gap Model The five gaps that organizations should measure, manage and minimize: Gap 1 (listening gap) is the distance between what customers expect and what managers think they expect – Clearly survey research is a key way to narrow this gap. Gap 2 (standard and specification gap) is between management perception and the actual specification of the customer experience – Managers need to make sure the organization is defining the level of service they believe is needed. 8 Mc Donald’s and Subway Gap 3 (performance gap) is from the experience specification to the delivery of the experience Managers need to audit the customer experience that their organization currently delivers in order to make sure it lives up to the specification Gap 4 (communication gap) is the gap between the delivery of the customer experience and what is communicated to customers – All too often organizations exaggerate what will be provided to customers, or discuss the best case rather than the likely case, raising customer expectations and harming customer perceptions.Finally, Gap 5 is the gap between a customer's perception of the experience and the customer's expectation of the service – Customers' expectations have been shaped by word of mouth, their personal needs and their own past experiences. Routine transactional surveys after delivering the customer experience are important for an organization to measure customer perceptions of service Service Quality dimensions ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Tangibles: Physical evidence of se rvice Reliability: Consistency of performance and dependability Responsiveness: Willingness/readiness of employees to provide service in timely manner Credibility: Trustworthiness, believability, honesty Security: Freedom from danger, risk, doubt Guarantee , Certification Competence: Possession of required skills to perform service Access: Approachability and ease of contact Courtesy: Politeness, respect, consideration, friendliness E Empathy Assurance Figure 10: Characteristics and Evaluation Outcomes 29 Mc Donald’s and Subway Figure 11: Strategies to influence expectations SUBWAYLocation: City Centre Mall, Banjara hills, Hyderabad Mode of service delivery: mainly â€Å"Self Service Model† Number of visit: 3 (to check reliability) In our visit to SUBWAY there we had initial perception about the subway of â€Å"low calorie fast food alternative which is quick and fresh†. Reason for this perception was firstly their tagline â€Å"EAT FRESH† and their comme rcials starring Jared who had lost something like 150 pounds by eating an all-Subwaysandwich diet. Finally we also had in mind that there will be offer of day â€Å"SUB OF THE DAY† with this perception when we visited to SUBWAY there was no disappointment at all.From their nutrition charts we could make out that we can have good low calorie food. This was tangible cue on the counter making us aware that they provide what they convey. But best was, they were also having option of normal full of calorie diets for those who like it that way so in our group no one has to compromise. One of the service facilitator for us their separate VEG and NON VEG counter and their separate preparation counter. *Experience till this place actually reduce the â€Å"communication gap† as we were getting all we expected and it was in level of tolerance service zone so it was a good service.Dimension for service in terms of 30 Mc Donald’s and Subway tangible quality was good as emplo yees were properly dressed, hygienic and clean area, good seating arrangement but in combination with other restaurant and finally good ambience with music. After looking at this entire scenario there was â€Å"assurance† that food delivered will be good and in accordance with expectation. We were quit assured with the quality because of the brand image they have in the market. Finally they replace the food if something goes wrong this also increase assurance from their side which is generally unsaid case for all the restaurants.Now further we went to place our order, here we were having ample of â€Å"tangible cue† (physical evidence) which helped us in making the decision, what to order? Further all information about the sub of the day was provided and people were assisting if extra information was required. Finally after billing we went to counter which were situated adjacent to each other to place order. We got customized subs and employees we continuously asking t he way we want from which loaf to what and how much inside that loaf in the same charge. That was a good experience.Finally we had our food and as soon we were finished person came and immediately cleaned the table. *Experience Regarding the tangible cues, were quiet evident as person making sub was wearing gloves and hair cap. Fresh plates were served. All products of papers and plastic were recyclable. Quality of food was good as they were fresh and prepared in front of eyes in accordance to our taste. This actually reduce â€Å"performance gap† as they were pretty good in the employee end. Service delivery was also in time there was no â€Å"standard and specification gap†. Listening gap† was not there as they actually served the food in the way we asked them to prepare and there was no mistake in any of our food. Even each person (employee) was well versed in Hindi, local language and English. â€Å"Empathy† wasn’t that great as they were polite but were in rush as customer were waiting because there were only two person preparing the sub so they have to rush. They were quiet â€Å"responsive† to what were ordering and even when we ask to clean table again it was done immediately. Quiet â€Å"reliable† service as they delivered all aspects equally to all of us and in our every visit.They also asked us to fill the feedback form that was good and person requested to do it. Service gap- Due to lack of loose small denomination money we were not refunded Rs. 10 change even after 45 min when we were going back. They assured that they will do it when we are returning but still it didn’t happen. They don’t provide the timeline in which you will get your order so if there is rush you 31 Mc Donald’s and Subway have to wait long. Even if we have to wait there is no magazine or television which make time cross by ease. Finally common sitting arrangement which make their customer dependent on rush in other restaurant.This can be reflected in low standard GAP and finally to performance gap in case of return of change. This will affect customer faith to their assurance level. Finally there was no operational cues format so disorder of cues was bound to happen. Mc DONALD Location: City Centre Mall (1st floor, Banjara hills, Hyderabad) Mode of service delivery: mainly â€Å"Self Service Model† Number of visit: 3 (to check reliability) In our visit to Mc DONALDS there we had initial perception about the mc Donalds of â€Å"tasty food with fun† and basically reasonable family and friends restaurant.Reason for this perception was firstly their tagline â€Å"I m lovin it† and their adds on different places with packaging and also else were. Finally we also had in mind that it will be not costly at all. When we reach there it was different then subway in many respect firstly, multiple delivery counter and no separate counter for VEG and NON veg. separate sitting spac e and even different private meeting hall. Nice ambience, good music and clean place to enjoy food. There were multiple counters each taking order then and there and no customization. Here look at menu and order whatever you like from the menu.Lot of tangible cues which help in deciding meal and there were lot of complementary priced meals options. It is for the entire segment who seeks value for money apart from quality. *Experience till this place actually reduce the â€Å"communication gap† as we were getting all we expected and it was in level of tolerance service zone so it was a good service. Dimension for service in terms of tangible quality was good as employees were properly dressed, hygienic and clean area, good seating arrangement. After looking at this entire scenario there was â€Å"assurance† that food delivered will be good and in accordance with expectation.We were quit assured with the quality because of the brand image they have in the market. Finally they replace the food if something goes wrong this also increase assurance from their side which is generally unsaid case for all the restaurants. Now further we went to place our order, here we were having ample of â€Å"tangible cue† (physical evidence) which helped us in making the decision, what to order? Further all information about the meals which we generally happy meals were provided and people were assisting if extra information 32Mc Donald’s and Subway was required. Operational line management were there apart from lot of counters and for entertainment they have television ads running around so even peak hours and even waiting was easy. Apart from this they say delivery in 5 min else free which they stick too. That was a good experience. Finally we had our food and as soon we were finished person came and immediately cleaned the table. *Experience Regarding the tangible cues, were quiet evident as person serving at back were wearing gloves and hair cap. Fre sh plates were served.All products of papers and plastic were recyclable. Quality of food was good as they were fresh and prepared in front of eyes at the backend. This actually reduce â€Å"performance gap† as they were pretty good in the employee end. Service delivery was also in time there was no â€Å"standard and specification gap†. â€Å"Listening gap† was not there as they actually served the food in the way we asked and they used to recheck the order before placing them apart this was mechanized function so error was less. Even each person (employee) was well versed in Hindi, local language and English. Empathy† was good as they were polite even while waiting because there were many counters to serve and no customization so efficiency can be maintained even with the speed. They were quiet â€Å"responsive† to what were ordering and even when we ask to clean table again it was done immediately. Quiet â€Å"reliable† service as they del ivered all aspects equally to all of us and in our every visit. Service gap. Yes one of our friends got free coke for not getting food ordered in 5 min this was a performance GAP and free providing increases assurance quality of the Brand.They have good level of responsiveness as they were delivering in time and response to complain was also very quick. 33 Mc Donald’s and Subway Rating on Basis of high low and medium Service quality dimensions (high is good Assurance and low is bad) Tangibility Empathy Responsiveness Reliability Service gap (low is good and high is Listening bad) Communication Performance Standard SUBWAY medium medium high high medium low low medium low Mc DONALDS medium high medium high high low low low low 34 Mc Donald’s and Subway PRICING STRATEGY Pricing is the process of determining what a company will obtain in exchange for its products.Pricing factors include: Manufacturing cost Market place Competition Market condition Quality of product. It is a fundamental aspect of financial modeling and is one of the four Ps of the marketing mix. The other three aspects are product, promotion, and place. Price is the only revenue generating element amongst the four Ps, the rest are cost centers. When deciding on pricing objectives the organization or company must consider: ? The overall marketing, financial and strategic objectives of the company ? The objectives of the product or brand ? Consumer price elasticity and price points ? The resources available with the organization.A well thought out price for a product or service should fulfill three things: ? Achieve the financial goals of the company ? Fit the realities of the marketplace ? Support a product's positioning and be consistent with the other variables in the marketing mix. Pricing strategies are of various types mainly:? Competition – based pricing ? Cost-plus pricing ? Price skimming ? Penetration pricing ? Limit pricing ? Premium pricing ? Target pricing 35 Mc Don ald’s and Subway ? High – low pricing ? Value based pricing MC DONALDS Value Pricing McDonald’s has a unique pricing strategy that falls exclusively on their many product lines.Their Value Meals fall into the category of value pricing. McDonalds has certain value pricing and bundling strategies such as happy meal, combo meal, family meal etc to increase overall sales volumes. For example, you can order a Mc Veggie Value meal that comes with a Mc Veggie burger, medium drink and fries for around Rs99 where the customer can save Rs 39 if he/she bought the food items separately. You can Super Size this meal to get a large drink and large fries for a little more money or you can go with another value meal that might include different items for ifferent price. Figure 12: McDonald's Pricing Also in its promotions, M c D o n a l d ’ s c a m e u p w i t h a v e r y c a t c h y p u n c h l i n e â€Å" A a p k e z a m a n e m e i n , b a a p k e zamane ke daamâ₠¬ . This was to attract the middle and lower class consumers and the effect can clearly be seen in the consumer base McDonalds has now. 36 Mc Donald’s and Subway Promotional Pricing To promote its breakfast menu Mc Donald’s has come up with a new scheme of giving Rs 20 off on its Great Breakfast meal.This kind of promotional pricing is adopted to target new customers, to increase its base of customers and to give a variety in its offerings to its existing customers to help increase volume. SUBWAY Value Pricing Subway tries to create value products by service in terms of quality, ambience, variety, and convenience. By introducing the concept of sub of the day the company tries to satisfy the needs of its present customers by creating a sense of curiosity amongst in the sense they would want to know what sandwich is the sub of the day. 37 Mc Donald’s and SubwayFigure 13: SubWay Pricing Bundling Strategies Subway offers combo offers of a sandwich, potato chips/coo kie and a drink at only Rs. 45 extra for a medium size meal and Rs. 50 for a large size meal. Promotional Pricing To increase its current consumers base and also to attract new customers, Subway has come up with new campaign where with any 6 inch sub and a medium beverage the company is offering another 6 inch sub for free. In September 2011, Subway has introduced a buy one get one free offer on Mondays. This is valid on all its sandwich offerings. 38 Mc Donald’s and Subway 39Mc Donald’s and Subway 40 Mc Donald’s and Subway Figure 14 : SubWay & Mc Donald ‘s Pricing Strategies 41 Mc Donald’s and Subway Critical Analysis MCDONALDS With respect to the services provided by Mc Donalds, the following management issues were observed: 1. McDonalds wishes to rework on its restaurant interiors and match up to those of its self owned restaurants, However the problem that they have encountered is that franchisee owners are unwilling to invest in interior design . 2. McDonald’s has introduced MFY (Made for You) whereby the burgers are made after the order is placed.However, the franchises are required to upgrade their equipment in order to follow this. The franchisees are not willing to incur such expenditure which poses a problem to McDonald’s. 3. We normally observe the customary trend of people queuing outside McDonalds especially during the weekends. This is due to the limited capacity space in the restaurants. This has been a persistent management problem for Mc Donalds. Even though the management at McDonalds has been trying to search for a solution for the same, it fears doing so