Whether Media Actually Leads To Homogenisation Process Media Essay

Whether Media Actually Leads To Homogenisation Process Media Essay Globalisation and media are closely inter-connected. The growth of globalisation has accelerated to a large extent with the growth and development of media technology especially in areas of TV, films, internet, videos, music, news etc. Media acts as an agent of globalisation in generating homogenisation by spreading cultural symbols, ideas and practices across socio cultural settings of the world. The impact of media is instant, it moves quicker than any material goods or people. It has a tremendous impact on both sustaining and weakening or eroding the fabric of social life. The more efficient the media is in communicating, the more effective it is in stabilising or destabilising existing social, political, religious etc scenario. Media actively constructs peoples identity across the dimensions of nations, race, class, gender, ethnicity etc in a number of ways, which often lead to homogenisation process. The media imposes their powerful images, sounds and advertisements on a vast ra nge of peoples of the world who most often succumb to their messages which are mostly designed to increase the profits of capitalist firms. Globalisation involves expanding worldwide flows of material objects and symbols and the proliferation of organisations and institutions within global reach that structure those flows. The process of globalisation is also characterised by relationships that are mediated through symbols of values, preferences and tastes etc through the powerful impact of media. The impact of media globalisation is manifold: it can lead to hybridisation of cultures, assertion of cultural autonomy and identity, cultural conflict, localisation, creolisation and homogenisation. However in my paper the focus is mainly on the homogenising effect of media globalisation on the socio cultural settings of the world and the factors which facilitates the creation of this homogenisation. Hannerz distinguishes between three dimensions of culture, which indicates that cultures are susceptible to global dynamics: Ideas and modes of thoughts: The entire array of concepts, propositions, values and mental operations that people within some social unit carry together. Forms of externalisation: The different ways in which ideas and modes of thought are made public and made accessible to the senses eg, forms of art, food habits etc. Social distribution: The ways in which people`s ideas and modes of thoughts and external forms are spread over a population and its social relationships. Thus, understanding structures of shared knowledge, values, beliefs, experience and meanings in all their complexities remain the core concern of cultural analysis. Media technology plays a major part in transmission of the second and third dimension of Hannerz definition of culture. According to Hannerz, media in particular are machineries of meanings: they enable communication without being in one other`s immediate presence. In contemporary complex cultures, people increasingly make use of the media to externalise and distribute their ideas and thoughts throughout the world. This is how cultures as a system of meanings, symbols and actions get expressed in different form and media plays a major role in their transmission across the rest of the globe. Therefore culture is also about sharedness. The concept of de territorialisation as also referred by Appadurai, explains the inter connectivity of cultures across nations. These cultures are in contact with media in one way or the othe r and constantly influence each other in terms of tastes, styles, value systems, ideas, meanings and practices. According to Ritzer, the theory of socialisation and social interaction teach that human transcend in their social group through a process of acquiring culture and other gestures from parents and other social group members and social facts that happen in the environment in which the person lives. Here the environment in which each individual lives also includes media mediation and translation of social reality and thus culture is transmitted and diffused across cultures through the workings of the media. Media also play a major role in the continual re shaping of cultural identity. Benedict Anderson, points out that nation as imagined communities often started out as media audience. Media articulate the meanings and experiences associated with particular social identities in a globalised context and export them to different distant places. Arjun Appadurai makes clear that people around the world are increasingly living a fictional lives based on media narratives and imagery. People around the world can now connect with like- minded others which binds people together irrespective of language, home background and socio economic circumstances eg:- allegiance to Real Madrid or Manchester United as global football club. Internet connections enable fans scattered across the globe to remain in touch and meet up regularly. Popular culture leads to formation of distinctive organisational forms and practices which are hybrid in nature. They are neither local nor global but a distinctive hybrid culture of transnational where fan clubs of a particular sport like football, cricket etc or iconic figures like Michael Jackson come together and form a unique transnational group where hybrid names, emblems and material products emerge. This trend emerges with the formation of internet communities and networks. They allow intensive contact with other cultures without actual bodily or localized contact and have an impact on the minds and practices of the people. However the intensity of impact depends on the way in which information are processes and digested in the receiving cultures. New channels of intensified social connectivity are permitted by contemporary electronic media Eg:- social networking sites like facebook, orkut etc. Live global television covering a single event carried through the satellite news carriers covers varied and diverse locations and geographical areas. This brings together people across great distances and social relations become radically freed from l ocal contexts, and spatial distances become less important, and a greater consciousness of a world outside the local context come into picture. It produces a sense of globalised reality eg:- the recent FIFA World 2010, Cricket World Cup 2011 etc. This live global television is experienced by large numbers of people worldwide and creates an extension of social connections across time and space. Increased oneness of the world is accelerated by such forces. There is international corporate ownership of media enterprises which ensures that there is an increasing consumption of material goods and sharing of cultural icons across large numbers of people. These processes construct a shared experience of time and a collective memory for different groups of people. Thus Mass culture is created which is a product of modern communications. There is a huge amount of debate on whether media leads to homogenisation process and thereby the subsequent creation of Global culture and whether there is such thing as global culture. Is the widening and deepening of international flows of culture through media in a single integrated market leading to the emergence of a global culture? The term global cultural flow according to Arjun Appadurai, is used to indicate the simultaneous fluid movement and changing meaning of ideas as well as their location and passage through specific historical, linguistic and political contexts. Global culture is used to denote the growing uniformity and homogenisation of the world`s cultures which serves as a magnet attracting people to particular ideas regarding economic opportunities and consumption. Consumer culture: Global culture is often held to be a media driven construct dependent upon the profit seeking production of mass mediated signs and symbols. The emergence of global culture is often taken as the direct outcome of the capitalist market institution restructuring to get desires, create needs and thereby open up a new arena for capital accumulation leading to commoditisation, commercialisation and consumerism made possible by media ads and communication industries in their drive to maximise profits. Global consumerism thrives on the promotion of brand names like rolex, addidas, reebok, coca cola, Mc Donalds etc based on what people would like rather than what they are and need. This consumer culture is filled with new community signs which form the popular culture allied to global media translated through the market. There is a growing similarity which transcends frontiers and similar trend of styles of dressing, consumption of sports, music preferences, eating habits etc has emerged. Th e term MC world has been coined to describe the standardisation of an American consumer culture, a combination of fast food, fast music and fast computers that bring people together through a common consumption of commodified cultural production. According to Hermans and Kempen in their article Moving Cultures, referred to Glocalisation in economic usage where they introduced the term micromarketing i`e is the tailoring and advertisements of goods and services globally to increasingly local and diverse cultures. Thus, they talked about the creation of differentiated consumers and the emergence of consumer culture of the same global goods and services. They further problematises the relationship between the local and the global where cultures constantly interpenetrates with each other and become a part of the interconnectedness of the world system. Therefore the distinction between what it global and what is local becomes blurred and the presumed homogeneity of the local or internal and the distinctiveness of the global or external becomes problematic. Thus globalisation also involves the blurring of clear cut distinction between the local and global. What is local becomes global and what is global becomes local and sometimes they may become indistinguishable and homogenised. Media globalisation increasingly involved the creation and incorporation of locality. These processes is largely seen through the TV enterprise like CNN and MTV which seeks global markets and focussed on culturally diverse and differentiated groups. Dominance of west: Many have argued that global culture is more of western culture domination and enforcement of western culture on the rest of the world which is referred to as westernisation. The imposition of American culture in the form of TV, Videos, Pop music, Films and Ads on vulnerable communities unable to protect them from the sheer volume and intensity of exposition to media is widely under attacked. In recent years US has enjoyed a growing surplus for audio visual products (TV, Video, and Cinema) with the EU. Globally, the US accounts for about 75% of all TV programme exports. American Time Warner organisation claims to be the largest media company in the world. During the last decade there is a struggle for the formation of a new Information order from the Third World countries with a determination not to remain passive recipient to the west active centre. Countries like France, Italy, China, Canada, North Korea etc has imposed a check on US media imports for different reasons. Hence questions are being raised regarding prior consent for Transborder home reception, the production of communication technology on definition of privacy and also attempt to develop their own regional media. Fears of US media domination lead to Mc Bride Report 1980, which lead UNESCO to call for a restructuring of global media along more egalitarian lines. The WTO and International Tele communications Satellite Organisation (INTELSAT) are among the prestigious international bodies that have attempted to establish guidelines for the regulation of global cultural flow. However for some writers globalization is not westernization. According to them, outwardly analysis may appeared that the world is oriented towards westernisation rather than globalisation especially when one could see the popularity of the western music, movies, and McDonalds etc where more and more countries are seen playing the top chart of the pop list of USA and Hollywood movies and US-made television serials (like Friends and the Simpsons) are becoming widespread processes of cultural transmission. However, a closer examination indicates that the impact of the flow of these cultural goods have different meanings in different societal and cultural contexts with uneven impact on classes and age groups. Some of the products are consumed without any modification; others are modified and indigenized to suit the local contexts. Nevertheless, westernisation can be seen as a part of Globalisation. Media Imperialism: There is a construction of media order through the entrepreneurial devices of a comparatively small number of global players eg Time Warner, Sony, Rupert Murdoch News Corporation and Walt Disney Company. News globalisation was dominated by press wire services in the 19th century, however in the 1970`s and 1980`s electronic media globalisation increased. Aggressive media companies like Rupert Murdoch`s News Corporation yielded a massive conglomerates of other global media industries. Cable News Network (CNN) has struggled to become a 24 hour news provider, watched religiously by global business and political elites of the world. The result was an undeniable increase in the degree to which people`s everyday lives are experienced through the media. Several large media companies like Viacom, Disney, Time Warner etc over the last decade have evolved from being a local industry to large global conglomerates based on new forms of vertical and horizontal integration. These media conglomerati on was made possible by media deregulation in major western economies. These conglomerates not only have access to enormous quantities of investment capital but also the ability to minimise financial risks by managing their media products across different world markets in their areas of influence. For instance, News Corporation began as a print enterprise in Australia, spread into TV in UK in the 1970`s. This is now targeting the huge Chinese and Indian markets with its Star TV system which currently broadcasts in over 20 Asian languages. There is a popular concern about the growing concentration of ownership of global media production and transmission in the hands of a small number of corporations. For example, the past two decades have experience a huge expansion of the pop music industry, MTV has now become 24 hour music channels in America, Europe and Asia. But 70% of all pop music is produced and distributed by a handful of multinational corporations that integrate production, transmission and promotion ensuring that certain iconic faces like Madonna, Michael Jackson etc are everywhere, on TV, video, films, CD`s, magazines, newspapers, advertisements, radio and even designed on T shirts and many other things. The flow of information was dominated by multinational entities based in the most powerful nations leading to what is known as medial imperialism. Global and the local: The widespread claim of homogenisation of world cultures; the global as pro active and the local as reactive to global culture have been found to be unlikely by many scholars. They have argued that the local do not remain a passive recipient of global cultures transmitted to them through the media but the local have its own way of interpreting global influences according to its relativity. One such defender of this view is Robertson, who maintained that diffusion and transfer of ideas and values across socio cultural formations adapt to a particular local culture, which he termed as Glocalization. He talked about ambivalence and ambiguity of human culture in globalised world. Globalisation itself has no meaning unless it is connected in the context of the local. For him, globalisation is able to link locales together both materially and ideationally. Hence the local and global are inter connected and influence each other simultaneously and the media acts as an agent in increasing thi s process of glocalization and globalisation. This results in not only homogenisation but also hybridisation of cultures as the global gets localised according to the suitability and necessity of that particular contexts. To quote Robertson, An international TV enterprise like CNN produces and reproduces a particular pattern of relations between localities, a pattern which depends on a kind of recipe of locality. He further illustrates how certain religions like Hinduism, Buddhism, and Taoism etc involved a long process of Glocalization after its dissemination throughout the globe. Following form this and relating it to the present context of information technologically advanced world, we see that religions are being widely promoted through the media. Religious channels are available 24/7 on TV, internet etc. These channels reach out to different regions of the world and are either absorbed and assimilated into the existing settings and become glocalised or they are rejected complet ely as a threat to their existing values and beliefs system. From here we can induce how the media play an important role in localising the global. Thus, the relation between the local and the global remain complex and negotiable terrain. Basically the politics of the glocal refers to globalisation from below which means that the impact of the global to a certain extent is in the hands of the local. This is because the local is not just a passive recipient of whatever globalisation through media brings at their doorstep influencing their lifestyles, ideas, values etc but the local is something active which constantly accommodates, assimilate and transforms different cultures that are brought to them, interpreting them according to its convenience and adaptability. Another reaction of the local to the global is the rejectionist attitude. There are many local movements who vehemently attempts to reject or resist the globalisation process and the impact of media consumerist culture claiming to protect their cultural identity or the purity of their culture. Some remain hostile to globalisation impact due to its ability to erode the traditional value system and the adverse affect on their socio cultural moral system. Contemporary indigenous movements are becoming increasingly global Eg:- Native people`s Movement increasingly use the media to defend or promote their rejection of globalisation process. In a globalised world, people constantly used the media to mobilise people as a local assertions against globalisation influence. In the present context, promotion of locality through the media has become a common trend. There is an attempt to globally organise the rights and identities of natives or indigenous people`s movement. The emergence of popul ar culture and the growing commodification of the consumer`s experience popularised and sensationalised by media is seen by many as posing a threat to the richness and diversity of cultural practices, resulting in the description of mass consumerism as a monolithic force with one dimensional causal effects on the traditional cultures. There are certain closed group which remain suspicious about the impact of media globalisation and attempts to curb and regulate the free expression of media itself. Such kind of group would be countries like China, Japan, Muslim fundamentalist etc however in the context of contemporary advancement of media technology it becomes difficult to remain intact by the homogenising influence of media. Nevertheless, the idea of uniformity of culture should not undermine the pervasive impact of counter currents that emerges from the local reception of the global. Wilkinson (1995) has developed the thesis that today, Conclusion: However claims of Global culture and its impact on cultures without uninterrupted reception by age, class, gender and geography etc is naive. Thus a deeper probing of the complex relationship between the global and local is necessary because human beings are not without rational analysis or do not have any personal choice but they are thinking individuals with a mind of their own capable of deciding what is best for themselves and hence they do not succumb to the global consumer culture unmindfully but translates the impact of media according to their own reality. Tomlinson made a distinction between culture as lived experience and culture as represented in media. He had argued that the realities in peoples lives are much more powerful than mere representation in global televisions and people do not get manipulated easily by the reception of media. He furthers argues that the cultural critics have overlooked the capacity of the audience to negotiate the possible contradictions in the reception of media. To him the power of the media should not be exaggerated by looking at media as mediating cultural experience rather than the determining force. Ang also refers to interpersonal drama to mean that media products are interpreted differently in different cultural contexts. Avijit Pathak is another who also talks about the politics of culture where cultures constantly negotiate in its interaction and influences. For him, even though there is a dominant global culture emanating, the process of reception becomes contextualised and gain a hermeneutic form, this he calls the art of resistance. For Wilkinson only one global civilisation exists which is a direct descendent of 1500 BC civilisation in the near East when Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilisation collided and fused. This entity spread all over the globe and engulf all others previously independent civilisation like Chinese, Japanese and western into one global civilisation. His idea was of connectedness of the world into one system rather than uniformity. People who interact with each other continuously belong to the same civilisation even if their cultures might be very dissimilar and hostile to each other. Expansion of media communication increases connectivity of cultures, thus a chain of cultural networks are created no matter however they are connected either hostile or differently but they are still interacting with each other and hence influences each other in one way or the other and results in the emergence of certain similar trends. Therefore, what is undeniable is that media globalisation in one form or the other has an impact on the lives and consciousness of almost every one cutting across transnational borders, cultures, ethnicity, gender, class, age etc. Thus, global media is rendering almost everyone with something of a cosmopolitan culture. What was once local has become global and the line between the division of global and local is thinning and becoming blurred day by day.

Analysis of the Guiness Trust LTD Business Plan Essay -- essays resear

For any successful business such as the Guinness Trust one needs to have a business plan, which normally comprises of a 5 year plan detailing their operating plans. The plan details where you are now, where you want to be and your plan for growth. In short this is a blue print of the steps needed to build any business. A business plan is often required to obtain monetary funds, whether from investors or local government. Potential investors will look at the strength of the plan before your business is considered for investment, they will be looking for a plan which indicates a healthy return of profit. With good business plans instilled, investors will want to join any successful business such as the Parchment Housing Group Ltd which joined as part of the Guinness Trust Group. This plan also helps to structure the financial side of any business, but essentially it helps to raise funds if required. The plan is not just for banks and investors but is a guide post for employees. It al so demonstrates to people that you are worth supporting and communicates to staff and other interested parties in what direction you are heading. Guinness Trust Business plan stated how they were able to focus their efforts, set objectives, what its priorities are, stated their vision, what their core values are and set which way the company was heading. It also enabled it to set realistic targets that allow some flexibility without deviating away from their core objectives. The Guinness trust have sound and comprehensive plans which includes the Strategic Plan , the five year action plan, environmental plan ,construction clients charter action plan and the national action plan. With these plans they are able to sustain a viable business which... ... hardly in companies and nobody had ever heard of e-mails, let alone mobile phones, internet or the company intranet. Present Day companies need to be aware of the latest technologies to be able to stay in competition, and possibly improve their products. Lastly legal constraints which all though not part off the PEST analysis but is part of PESTLE and SLEPT analysis I feel its still just as important as the rest of the categories of PEST. Factors such as changes in law and regulations are such issues that companies need to be aware of and to anticipate in which changes may affect the way they perform. Looking at the business plan of the Guinness Trust Ltd they have more than just covered the basic contents of a business plan when you read it, it leaves you in no doubt that they have covered every aspect that might be asked of them from any future investor.

Analysis Of Club Meds Essay

Club Mediterranee was created in 1950 under the law of 1901, through the initiative of a former member of the Belgian water polo team, Gerald Blitz. The idea came to him following a visit to his sister in 1949 at the Olympic Village of Calvi, in Corsica. It was formed along a quite singular concept, that of offering â€Å"all inclusive â€Å"holidays. Sixty years later, Club Med annually welcomes over 1.7 million guests from all over the world, to around 90CM villages in seaside and mountain locations. To cater its guests, also called GM’s (â€Å"Gentils members† or gracious members). Each holiday village has its own structure that is exclusive to club med: the structure is composed of the following The Gentils Organisateurs (GO’s) or gracious organizers. A staff category, including entertainers, group leaders, but also others. Job functions including heads of maintenance, swimming instructors, cooks, human resource directors and many others The gracious employees (GE) who include the waiters and gardeners and usually come from the country hosting the club. Both gracious organizers and gracious employees may be seasonal workers or permanently employed depending on the length of the time that the club has been open. Pillars behind the club’s performance The club has a unique type of staff organization, which is part of the unchangeable pillar of the club. It has exceptional quality of its locations, which distinguishes it from its competitors making the club to be more successful. The club has also managed to find and secure the most beautiful and well-preserved sites in the world, thus contributing to an added competitive advantage. The club ranks its villages in five categories (tridents) according to their locations, their infrastructures and the services offered. Their establishment of the villages ranges from simple huts to a 5-trident establishment. The villages with huts and those currently classified up to three tridents are scheduled to gradually disappear, making a way for additional up-market villages, more in keeping with the club’s new strategy. The first Club Med village was a temporary tent located in the Alcudia in the Balearic Islands. To help him launch his first session, he sought assistance from his friends who he had managed during the pre-war sports. On the club’s first season, they operated on a leased plot near Palma. The tents and the basic cooking necessities were bought in an American army surplus store in Germany. Blitz idea was to involve guests in the successful running of the village. This concept facilitated meeting people and abolishing financial and class barriers for the duration of the holiday through a multitude of activities, sports and excursions. This eventually led for Blitz contacting the Trigano et Fils for additional materials, tents and camping equipment. This eventually led to him meeting Gilbert Trigano his elder brother, a few years later they joined forces and in 1963, he actually became the chairperson and the managing director. (Zaleznik, 1997). In 1952, club med also built its first village with huts in Greece. The construction of a number of further hut villages followed, then more robust constructions in bricks and mortar, more similar to hotels. The first club was built in Agadir under the encouragement of King Hassan II. In 1960, the club almost went bankrupt under the management of the burner. It was saved by Edmond de Rothschild, who came to own 35% shares. In 1966, for the first time, the club was listed on the Paris Stock Exchange. At the beginning of the seventies, the club’s finances were still wanting and Gilbert Trigano, the manager at the time had to seek a considerable injection of new capital. This was when nine new shareholders, including Gianni Agnelli gained a majority of the company’s capital. His participation led to the opening of the first village in Italy. He remained in possession of 23.9% of the capital up to until 2004. A major innovation was introduced afterwards with the first †˜Mini Club Med† a special children’s club catering to all ages, from babies to teenagers. This formed a strong pillar of the enterprise and that is even today, an important criterion for comparing with the competitors. The club later launched a public promotional campaign, which led to the opening of a new club in Brazil in 1979 preceded by the USA during the following year. Four years later the club opened premises in Wall Street, where its shares were listed. In 1980’s the club launched its first sailing ship the â€Å"Club Med I†, and two years later, they launched â€Å"Club Med II†. They also acquired an airline afterwards. Due to these acquisitions, the club started experiencing crisis due to a drop in guest numbers and also its debts increased which three years later, Gilbert Trigano decided to hand over the leadership to his son, Serge. The leadership by Serge ended with huge losses up to 113 million euros in 1996 and 150 million euros in 1977. He was replaced by Phillipe Bourguignon whose ambition was to transform a company of holiday villages to a company of services. There followed the launch of a new promotional campaign that also marked a key date in the history of Club Med (Spring, 2002). In the 20th century, there began renovation of the villages and more competitive price positioning. A number of innovations emerged with the creation of Med World, a venue for concerts and evening entertainment, where the guests could meet up before or after their holidays. In 2001, Oyyo Club concept was created and it aimed at a younger population (18-25 years). In the same year, the Gymnase club was acquired and turned into the Club Med Gym. This year the club was debuted on the internet. The years 2000 resulted in both extreme sailing competitions and participation in hypermarkets through a range of sportswear. Club’s Current Operations                      In 2000, the turnover had grown by 28% compared to the previous years and the operating profits rose to 103 million euros. However the villages were disinfected in the year 2002/2003 leading to a deficit of 6 million euros. This led to the replacement of the manager, Pierre Bourguignon by Henri Giscard d’Estaing. An upheaval occurred later in the shareholding structure. The club sold 28.9% of the share stock to the Accor group, which led to the launch of a new strategy: to make Club Med the leader in up-market, convivial and multi-cultural holidays. This meant that the club would no longer be a mass package holiday organization aiming for high volumes, but rather high-end organization reflecting its exceptional locations. It would continue to be convivial and multicultural. This global strategy is reflected in villages created to be refined in the fact that the villages are now designed by renowned architects and designers, generosity in the attention given to the children with supervision, entertainment and ensured activities for all groups and offering the guests a choice in their preferred means of transport, offering a choice in the wide range of activity options, between sports course spa treatment weeks etc. This strategy led to the abandonment of villages that did not correspond to the new strategy (villages with huts to those with 2 tridents) in order to concentrate on the three and four tridents that offer a return on investment of 9 to 15%. The club sold some of its villages and this enabled it to clear debts and was able to finance the success of the remaining villages. Between 2004 and 2008, over 50 villages were closed down and 20 new ones opened. Today, Club Med manages 80 villages around the world. Club Med communicated its new strategy by launching a new advertising and communication campaign in 2005, under the signature: â€Å"There is still so much world to discover† (Discover new worlds, discover new people), also called the â€Å"Faces Campaign†. It was aimed showing in concrete terms that Club Med had evolved and positioned itself towards the top end of the market. In 2007, a new advertising campaign reinforced their upmarket positioning with the signature. This promotional campaign sought to show tangible proof of this up scaling. The second event was the launching of the first 5-trident Club with the opening of a second village in Mauritius. Classification of the villages reached a new standard, demonstrating the determination to aim higher end of the market. 2007-2008: there were challenges like unfavorable environment that included soaring of petrol prices and a financial crisis. The club had also to face a decreasing accommodation capacity due to the ne w focus on certain villages and reduced opening periods of the 2 and 3-trident villages. It also succeeded in escaping from debts in this year with net profit of 1 million euros after four years of losses. The shareholding base was still fluctuating with the Accor group selling a large percentage of its holdings, remaining with less than 9 % and still it was planning to discontinue its investment. The company is having difficulty in realizing profits since they increased their tariffs, which eventually led to a rapid loss of customers. Up to the year 2009, the group was still in deficit due to real estate charges connected to the closure of certain villages. The commercial potential of Club Med remains essentially in Asia. The Asian market represents a large share of the 60 million potential customers worldwide. The transformation of the club into a global specialist in all – inclusive, up-market and multicultural holidays is real as the chairperson, Henri Giscard d’Estaing is confident in the strategies that he applied. The club is now offering the most accessible, up-market holiday. Asia was responsible for the club’s turnover in 2006-2007, whereby it was estimated that 26 million out of the 60 million potential customers are Asians. Despite the unfavorable environmental context in Asia, i.e. The tsunami of 2004, an outbreak of avian flu and terrorist at tacks, the customers in this region continue increasing.The developers of the internet; greater customer loyalty and a lengthening of the average duration of stays have boosted the levels of growth in Asia. The club also has extended to china and in 2006, they opened a new agency in Canton, thus consolidating its commercial development strategy with the Chinese, as they were the population that was spending an increasing amount of time and money on holidays. Although the club is investigating all opportunities for development, including extending to other countries like the Philippines and Indonesia, the management is also counting on the Asians travelling outside of their home zone. Although the Asian continent has as many cultures as it has countries, it seems to share the same attitudes concerning holidays. Studies carried out has shown that behavior is very similar across the continent, in particular with regard to Club Meds population. To achieve the Asian market targets, the club involves two aspects: The first is the duration of the holidays: Asians do not have many days’ holidays and they therefore spend only four or five days in the club on average. This holiday consumption necessarily influences the club’s occupation rates. Another aspect is the lifestyle adopted by the Asians. They appreciate all activities including archery, kayaking, aqua gym etc. They are always happiest indoors with the air conditioning. They thus adore Club Med as it offers all these activities and adds the karaoke. Studies have been done to investigate on the ways to attract customers worldwide and preserve the current ones with the primary family target implied to goods and services. These are: The offer must be refined in the right locations, high quality villages, a dedicated team, and a high cuisine as well. Studies also show the importance of the all-inclusive formula with the need to suit the whole family, and a flexibility of services to match the inclinations of all. Rooms’ should be extremely comfortable and with modern communication facilities. CITATION Chr97 l 1033 (Clayton, 1997) Club Med is not faced with direct competition in terms positioning. In Asia, for example, the competition is situated essentially on the traditional luxury market. However, sometimes the competition is local. For example, although in Bintan, Club Meds major competitor is Banyan Tree. In order to satisfy customer demand and potential customers while at the same time affirming its new strategy, Club Med has orchestrated its actions around innovation, renovation and service. Club Med has invested over 50 million euros in the renovation of its villages in the Asia-pacific area, where it has ten villages after having closed down five that no longer met the standards of top-end establishments. Apart from the village and room aspect, the activities and the organization have also been reconsidered according to customer expectations. The children’s supervised entertainment and activities, one of the pillars of Club Med has been systematically reconsidered and more widely deployed. Other infrastructures for catering to children have been set in place or renovated. A baby Club Med has been opened in Bali together with a password for teenagers and the renovation of the Petit Club Med and Mini Club Med. Apart from the children’s supervised activities and entertainment, the upscaling of service is particularly demanding in Asia, where regional standards are higher than the rest of the world. The club has used local advertising, communications systems to market their operations. Making the transition from a volume culture to a valuable culture is not without repercussions on the employees’ attitudes. This is the reason why Club Meds human resources have been closely linked to its strategy, which is reflected in the Club’s drive to attract and keep talented employees. Leading to several, initiatives being implemented in terms of recruitment, training and career management. GM Feedback, a major indicator of strategic success is the level of satisfaction shows that the criterion â€Å"Intention to return† is particularly high in Asia overall, which is encouraging for future years. This intention is because of the excellent marks given by customers to the criteria of child supervision/ entertainment, the general atmosphere and the GO teams. In order to measure the impact of the changes, The Research Pacific Group carried out a study. Although criticism persists, it tends to focus on three dimensions: the price, now considered too high: the comfort of the rooms, that could be still improved, and the lack of freedom. (Franco, 1972) The study essentially highlights is the enthusiasm of potential customers for Club Med, in that the mentality that Club Med is a rather old-fashioned type of resort, but rather as the ideal holiday venue for the family, where a multitude of activities and discover a special atmosphere. Another study endeavored to measure t he perception of Club Med via an internet buzz, Club Med is ranked third among the island’s resorts, in the Indonesian islands of Bintan. This position was won thanks to the service, children’s services, the GO team and the variety of activities offered. This position clearly shows that Club Med has joined the upper crust with its luxury hotels, and is confirmed by another example in Bali where Club Med has been ranked fifth. This satisfactory ranking was made possible thanks to service in a broad sense, which includes cleanliness, the GO team and the activities offered. Recent figures published show that turnover has increased 1.9%, in spite of a context of economic crisis affecting all operators in the sector. Business is growing in all zones; while the capacity, as scheduled, has been decreased by 3.1%. Asia recorded 5.2 % (highest growth), Although Club Med benefits globally from the region’s economic dynamism, and it is nevertheless slowed down by up scaling operations that have been accompanied by an 11% average increase in price. The new strategy is attracting new customers, from the point of view of quality; the â€Å"family† strategy engaged by Club Med is working since recruitment is made essentially on this target, with 63% of the Asian clientele structure made up of families (Hart, 1990). Issues And Recommendations In Club Med                      Throughout the past sixty years, Club Med has never really had a chance to profit from a break and the relaxation it succeeds in offering its own guests. The geopolitical climate has often caused difficulties, like the Gulf War of 1990-1991 or the terrorist attack of Bali in 2002, but it also evident that the company has created its own problems. The consistency and coherence of the current strategy are the first for close to 15years and there has been criticism and more obstacles than in any other company (E, 1985). Club Med has an aura of great brand, out of the ordinary, enthusing the public and at the same time receiving all sorts of more or less negative comments. The fame enjoyed by Club Med since its beginning has never weakened and both the customers and the non –customers all over the world have heard about the Club Med and are capable of saying a few words about it. Evidently, this has contributed to its international recognition bu t it has also complicated its task since it has been trying to effect a repositioning; changing mentalities is a longer and more complex task than changing strategy. Three principle challenges seem to stand out for the future of Club Med: environmental, political and organizational. The first challenge is environmental. The whole history of Club Med has been intimately linked to natural disasters, pandemics and financial crises. For example, in Asia the region has suffered from Tsunami, an outbreak of avian flu and terrorist attacks. This is the law of tourism, but it has affected Club Made even more now than in the past, since it’s owns the majority of its villages and its overheads weigh heavily on its balance sheet. This challenge is particularly taken into account in the new strategy where the type of clientele targeted is, for example less sensitive to the financial hazards. Moreover, all new constructions are realized taking into account the possible risks of a Tsunami or an earthquake in areas at risk (WILEY, 1983). Another challenge is political in two senses. The first is connected to the environmental aspect. The challenge of political decisions in the countries where Club Med is active is considerable. The prevailing laws, local requirements and legal obligations to make the taking of risks inevitable in emerging countries, risks that will necessarily have an impact on the financial results. At the same time, by not taking these risks, the Club may be exposing itself to overtaking by the competition that could undermine its historic position as the pioneer. (Hart, 1990) The second sense of the political challenge lies in its singular position in France. Since the club’s activities have been in the headlines, with the opening of villages to movements of capital in its shareholding structure, the worlds of business, politics and the media have been taking an inordinate interest, more so than they would have done for any other company of this size. Club MED has often taken advantage of t his position, which has frequently enabled it to build villages in areas where building permits are difficult to obtain, but at the same time every strategy, it advances is commented, analyzed, dissected and criticized before the new village has been opened. The Club Med also face the organizational challenge, which gives rise to a number of problematic issues. The first is that of resources and ambitions. Club Med is striving to become the world leader of â€Å"all- inclusive† top end, convivial and multicultural holidays. The product it is developing today seems to fit this strategy, but the question remains whether the club has sufficient resources to realize its ambitions, and whether it has the resources to undertake a planetary strategy with the financial capacity of a large SME. Given its large size, it’s also questionable whether the club is capable of succeeding on the three great markets of Europe, Asia-pacific and America. No holiday village operator could succeed and its competitors are often regional operators. With this, there arises a significant question of whether the club will have to give way to a worldwide operator in the short term to medium term as Accor did. This is hastened by the fact that the clubà ¢â‚¬â„¢s capital is fluctuating thus making it an easy prey for tourism experts and others. This last challenge seems to be the most complex to resolve. The problem of service issue in the club’s upscaling operation and the general size of the club is questionable. There has been many cases of failures in the leadership. CITATION Zal97 l 1033 (Zaleznik, 1997) As in the year during the management by Serge Trigano, the club was operating at losses and this eventually led to its slow growth to the upscaling market. The decisions made by the managers also were wanting as in the case of the increase in the tariffs, which eventually led to a hemorrhage of customers. The club, after the closure of some of its villages, it started operating at losses due to the huge real estate charges involved. The decision taken to launch an airline also affected the club negatively as they recorded a loss of 60 million euros. The strategy adopted in the year 2000, although it managed to bring in a huge turnover, there were attached costs penalizing Club Med and its customers found difficulty in recognizing exactly where the club stood in the club stood in the market. This led to losses in that business year. The disinfection of villages in the year 2002/2003 led to difficulties within the club and they recorded tremendous deficits. During this period, the club also lost the majority of its shareholders. During the year 2007-2008, Club Med had to adjust to an unfavorable environment. Soaring petrol prices followed by a financial crisis. The club also faced a decreasing accommodation capacity due to its decision to focus on certain villages and reduced opening periods for the 2- and 3- trident villages. During this period, the shareholding base continued reducing as their main shareholder; the Accor group sold a large percentage of its holdings and was still planning to continue its divestment. The club also has another major weakness: its focus is entirely on the Asian market. It is developing strategies and making acute efforts to improve their position in the Asian market. This has minimized their profits. If the club would target, setting up villages in many parts of the world they would be at a better competitive advantage to its competitors. Understanding what Club Med has become through its new strategies is a main challenge. The club explains its concepts and how it operates in Asian markets. This is usually in conflict as these same Asians have prospects of what they would like to see. I.e. Their needs and expectations are not e European the same as those of the European counterparts regarding the fundamental criterion of the quality of service provided. Recommendations                      Effective use of technology, which can be done in terms of two methods, which are Promotion, and online marketing. In regards to promotion, Club Med can offer package deals to the customers in which each package deal comes with its own unique set of activities, perfect location, breath-taking cuisines and culture friendly yet involved. In the case of online marketing since advertisement is only done locally, Cub Med can target the international community since this era we are is digitally driven. Online marketing would draw untapped enthusiasm from tourist seeking thrill and social travelling. Experiencing other cultures would be the main attraction since it has numerous tridents that offer different reception of cultures. Globalization has made it possible for the introduction of a small representation of culture in different countries such as the presence of china town in the New York. Club Med could benefit from representation of other tridents in the same tridents since its focus is in Asia. Club Med can represent the other tridents in the Asian one enough to create a need of satisfaction. This could help market the other tridents. Club Med can also reduce their tariffs imposed on the customers. This would lead to increased customer turnover and eventually they would register enormous profits. They should also adopt an efficient product mix to attract the number of potential shareholders. The club could also work on improving their infrastructure for catering for all age groups. They could provide better communication appliances in the customer’s rooms to make them comfortable. This would satisfy their customers and thus no chance of losing them to their competitors (E, 1985). Club Med could also channel its efforts to target on a larger market scope rather than coming up with strategies to favour the Asian continent. They should establish various villages in many places in the world. This would ensure that they get a high turnover. Their forthcoming tridents should be located in environmentally viable locations to minimize the chances of disasters and events like terrorist attacks. They should also have some basic guidelines that every decision made by any director should be first screened, voted in by the majority shareholders, vetted and test for market efficiency. This would reduce the chances of managers making ambiguous decisions and coming up with inappropriate strategies that would lead to huge losses, which strains the recovery. To effectively cater for the Asian community, which lacks holidays, Club Med could come up with a strategy that would introduce festivities, such as Cultural nights, music festivals, amongst others. This would influence the preferences of the Asian community positively in hindsight during holidays. They should also seek to renovate their villages and add to them many ideas of interactive workshops with babies and parents. This would ensure that they are at par with the local com petition. (WILEY, 1983) References Clayton, C. (1997). The Innovator’s Dilemma. New York: Havard Business School Pres. E, M. (1985). Competitive Advantage. Free press. Club Mà ©diterranà ©e. (N.d.). Retrieved November 26, 2014, from http://medlibrary.org/medwiki/Club_Mà ©diterranà ©e Destination News – Hotel, Resort & Spa North America. (2009, September 21). Airguide Online. Franco, V., & Perl, M. (1972). The Club MediterraneÃŒ e (Abridged. Ed.). London: Shepheard-Walwyn. Hart, C. (1990). Club Med (A) (Rev. 11/15/90. ed.). Boston, Mass.: President and Fellows of Harvard College :. Pavlovic, T. (n.d.). Club Mà ©diterranà ©e: One of the most optimal formulas of club vacation in sport and recreation tourism. Journal of the Geographical Institute Jovan Cviji?, SASA, 203-211. WILEY, J. (1983). Noel Managing Strategic change:Technical,political,and cultural dynamics. New York. Zaleznik, A. (1997). Managers and leaders . New York: Havard Business Review. (n.d.). Retrieved November 26, 2014, from http://inpublic.globenewswire.com/2013/06/25/Club Mà ©diterranà ©e Gaillon Invest improves the terms of its offer on the securities of the company HUG1711730.html Source document

Prejudice in the School Systems and How to Fix It

Today’s concerns about ethnic prejudice, taking place in the schools, are being brought to the forefront. In response to these concerns, two weeks of summer training is being considered as a requirement for all teachers and staff members. Some are under the impression that prejudice and hate are inevitable and therefore do not find the training necessary. What is being presented will address these concerns and show everyone that prejudice is prevalent with in the schools and can be reduced. There are effective methods that attempt to reduce this common issue. Primary Issues Prejudice is a negative evaluation, based on an individual’s group membership and the associated stereotypes (Crandall Eshleman, 2003). Crandall Eshleman†¦show more content†¦Solutions should be based off of psychological theory, as opposed to just basing theories off of existing problems with prejudice (Crandall Eshleman, 2003). The process by which prejudice is experienced and expressed is described (Crandall Eshleman, 2003). They suggest that prejudice in addition to suppression results in expression (Crandall Eshleman, 2003). A â€Å"genuine prejudice† is considered the primary motivation behind it all. Genuine prejudice is not accessible and that everyone has underlying prejudice attitudes towards those of many different groups (Crandall Eshleman, 2003). Suppression is the attempt to reduce expression or self- awareness of prejudice (Crandall Eshleman, 2003). Genuine prejudice and suppression are almost always the forces of prejudice (Crandall Eshleman, 2003). The results suggest that underlying prejudices are blocked by suppression methods, but can be activated by justification processes (Crandall Eshleman, 2003). Research Findings on Solutions Research was done, examining the outcome of multicultural training for individuals that were pursuing jobs as school educators or counselors (Keim, pg249). 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