Online Integrated Marketing Communication Essay Example for Free

Online Integrated Marketing Communication Essay Integrated marketing communication – the evolution of a concept The IMC approach has received almost instant recognition at the end of the 1990s, as a result of the existing trends to reduce the budget allocated to mass advertising campaigns and to concentrate on segmented or personalised communication with final consumers. The increased fragmentation of media and customers, as well as the revolution introduced in mass communication by the new communication channels – internet and mobile communication technologies – has created the need for a new approach to marketing communication, that can insure centralised management and a consistency of corporate messages sent towards various audiences. The concept of IMC was defined in many different, often contradictory, ways: Pickton and Broderick (2001) claim that synergy is the principal benefit of bringing together the various facets of marketing communications in a mutually supportive way. Definition proposed by Keegan et al. (1992, p. 631): Integrated marketing communications is the strategic co-ordination of all messages and media used by an organisation to collectively influence its perceived brand value. At the heart of this definition is the assumption that the credibility and value of both the company and its brand(s) will increase, when messages transmitted to various audiences become consistent across time and targets. Another definition proposed by Duncan (2002, p. 8) demonstrates the current conceptual perception of IMC: A cross-functional process for creating and nourishing profitable relationships with customers and other stakeholders by strategically controlling or influencing all messages sent to these groups and encouraging data-driven, purposeful dialogue with them. The notion of stakeholders implies the shift in the IMC concept from customer target audiences to the inclusion of key stakeholder groups such as employees, investors, suppliers, distributors, media and the social community. The most significant organisation barriers for the implementation of the IMC concept: * lack of horizontal communication; * functional specialisation; * decentralisation; * lack of IMC planning and expertise; * lack of budget; * lack of database technology; * corporate culture; and * fear of change. The impact of the internet technology on marketing communication: The rapid development of the internet in the last ten years has changed the classical communication procedures (Blattberg and Deighton, 1991; Holtz, 1999), because of three specific and co-existent characteristics that differentiate it from any other communication channel: * Interactivity. The internet offers multiple possibilities of interactive communication, acting not only as an interface, but also as a communication agent (allowing a direct interaction between individuals and software applications). The traditional communication channel was uni-directional, Even when communication was considered a two-way process, the institutions had the resources to send information to audiences through a very wide pipeline, while the audiences had only a minuscule pipeline for communicating back. Now, the communication channel is a network, not a pipeline. Communicators have grasped and even embraced this new proximity, fact demonstrated by the vast number of web sites which display â€Å"Contact Us† buttons and links. However, in most of the cases, these new facilities are not fully used. * Transparency. The information published online can be accessed and viewed by any internet user, unless this information is specifically protected. * Memory. The web is a channel not only for transmitting information, but also for storing information – in other words, information published on the web remains in the memory of the network until it is erased. The new realities of how audiences get and use information: * The audience is connected to the organisations * The audience is connected to one another * The audience has access to other information * Audiences pull information (info has to be available where audiences can find it, and it must be customizable) { Today, we get messages from multiple media channels: email, voice mail, faxes, pagers, cell phones, interoffice memos, overnight courier packages, television (with hundreds of channels), radio, internet radio, etc. As a result, the media that used to provide an efficient channel of communication for practitioners have become now only noise that most of the audiences have learned to filter out} Different definitions of IMC: Some retail organisations track the interaction between the online user and their web site: â€Å"the time spent by a client on a specific web page can represent an indication of his/her present interest†. â€Å"We use the results provided by our online behaviour tracking system to create personalised promotions targeted to individual customers†. The meaning is not simply transmitted, but has to be negotiated separately with each online audience. The message needs to be adapted to the specific level of understanding and interpretation of each public, but, on the other hand, has to express the same core organisational values, in order to display a coherent organisational image If the company attempts to reach foreign audiences, the message needs to be adapted to the cultural specificity of the overseas public. This raises important questions regarding the possibility of integrated online marketing communication in the global context: â€Å"we often communicate with customers from various cultural and economic backgrounds. In these conditions we must apply a clear segmentation and positioning strategy, in order to match the needs of every cultural group with our marketing messages.† The specific characteristics of the internet therefore create two conflicting tendencies: (1) the fragmentation of audiences and communication contexts requires the customisation of online marketing messages; but (2) the interactivity, transparency and memory of the web necessitates the consistency of communication and the coherence of the transmitted meaning Below figure presents the place of integrated online marketing communication in the online CRM process of the firm. The customer data/feed-back collected online is used directly to better design and implement the online integrated marketing communication, which are then targeting selected online audiences. Correctly implemented, the IMC program is a continuous cycle of gathering data and implementing response-generating marketing communication which is based on previously gathered consumer data. the specific characteristics of the internet are making the implementation of integrated online marketing communication both inevitable and efficient for an online organisation. The transparency, interactivity and memory of the internet force the organisation to adopt a proactive-reactive attitude in online communication, and to combine consistency and continuity with flexibility and customisation. These characteristics can be integrated by designing and implementing a specific model of integrated online marketing communication. The use of advanced online applications to collect customer data and feed-back information is paramount for the success of the online communication campaign (O’Malley and Mitussis, 2002). Because of the high interactivity of the internet, the communication process has become a real-time dialogue. Important issues relevant for the implementation of integrated online marketing communication have not been addressed because of space and methodology limitations. These areas can represent the subject of future research projects investigating: the management process of integrated online marketing communication; the criteria used for selecting and combing various channels in the online communication mix; the relation between the organisation and web advertising agencies; or the challenges raised by the general integration and co-ordination of online and offline (traditional) communication.

ASBO Order for Environmental Health Legislation

ASBO Order for Environmental Health Legislation Write a cabinet paper on the potential for ASBOs to contribute to the effective enforcement of legislation enforced by environmental health departments. The following are the arguments in favour of ASBO’s contributing or having the potential to contribute to the effective enforcement of the legislation carried out by environmental health departments across the country. The Prime Minister has already expressed in public his determination to reduce and eliminate anti-social behaviour and allow the general public to feel safer and have the problems associated with anti-social behaviour reduced. ASBO’s have already proved that they have potential in making Britain a cleaner and safer place to live in. Between their introduction from 1 April 1999 and the 31 March 2004, 2455 ASBO’s were approved and enforced showing the determination of the police, environmental health departments and social services amongst others to reducing the problems associated with anti-social behaviour.[1] ASBO’s are an alternative sanction available to both environmental health departments and ultimately the police to ensure that legislation is enforced and public order is maintained. Environmental health departments have to meet requirements such as reducing the level of graffiti, vandalism and litter or tackling noise nuisance, all of which can be considered anti-social behaviour and can lead to the involvement of the police and the courts. Such behaviour either directly effects law abiding people, intimidates them or blights their lives with fear. ASBO’s have the potential and the intention of protecting the property, the environment and the personal safety of the majority of law-abiding people. They are intended to remove the anti-social behaviour carried out by the law breaking minorities that ruin the lives of the most vulnerable and cause social, economic and environmental damage to local communities.[2] Tackling anti-social behaviour through the use of ASBO’s has the potential to make people feel safer as well as improving the physical environment they live in. The work of environmental health departments is closely linked with not only the police but also social services and local education authorities as there are strong connections between truancy and youths being involved in anti-social behaviour and crime. Close co-operation between these agencies increases the potential of ASBO’s to decrease crime, people’s fear of crime whilst making Britain a better place to live in. This government should take pride in been able to reduce people’s fear of being the victims of crime. The British crime survey has shown a fall from 40% in 1995 to 26% in 2004 of people expecting to be the victims of crime and anti-social behaviour or believing that they faced such a risk. If ASBO’s allow environmental health departments and other agencies to reduce the amount of graffiti and vandalism visible and counter the presence of gangs that fear of crime should diminish further as should the risk.[3] ASBO’s offer the potential to break up the gangs that break the law through acts of vandalism, graffiti and other forms of anti-social behaviour by banning individuals from the estates or areas they cause damage in. Breaking up gangs would mean that environmental health departments could deal with individuals rather than more intimidating gangs. ASBO’s can allow agencies such as environmental health departments and the police to control, punish or rehabilitate minor offenders whilst avoiding imprisonment were possible. However ASBO’s it should be stressed are not a soft option and the breaking of their conditions should result in further appropriate action been taken to curb anti-social behaviour including ultimately imprisonment.[4] Through the use of ASBO’s environment health departments have the potential to tackle persistent offenders without spending so much time preparing prosecutions whilst still being to prosecute people that breach their ASBO’s. While any ASBO is still in operation the onus remains on environmental health departments, social services and the police to monitor the behaviour of those subject to ASBO’s. ASBO’s can be used as part of the government’s crime reduction targets. [5] Central government can offer incentives for local authorities to tackle anti-social behaviour and has already allocated extra resources to the areas worst affected by anti-social behaviour. The success of environmental health departments in tackling anti-social behaviour will be measured with little extra cost through the Comprehensive Performance Assessment process already carried out by the Audit Commission that monitors local authorities provision of services. The public will be able to find out which local authorities are the most effective and will be able to press the less effective councils into taking further action.[6] ASBO’s potentially allow environmental health departments to fulfil their legislative obligations by diffusing and stopping anti-social behaviour more efficiently and with greater speed. The removal of persistent offenders or gang ringleaders will show the determination and effectiveness of environmental health department to enforce the law properly and completely. ASBO’s have the potential to reduce anti-social behaviour whilst the involvement of environmental health departments and other agencies could allow the police to switch their resources to tackling more serious crimes. Anti-social behaviour may not always be considered to be major crime yet it can lead to it hence the importance of ASBO’s in reducing the problem. Reducing anti-social behaviour will not only enhance the public’s quality of life it would prove cost effective in terms of lower expenditure in cleaning up graffiti and property damage as well as fewer people in overcrowded prisons.[7] The availability of ASBO’s offers the potential for environmental health departments to clean up areas of environmental damage or anti-social behaviour that impacts on the environment such as noise pollution, juvenile crime and vandalism. Other areas in which ASB0’s have the potential to allow environmental health departments fulfil their statuary requirements include countering anti-social behaviour caused by drinking and to a lesser extent begging in public. There are certainly strong links between heavy drinking (and drug taking) with anti-social or criminal behaviour.[8] Some crimes such as burglary, car crime and robbery have fallen significantly in 2004-05 by 20%, 17% and 12% respectively. However the potential of ASBO’s to work effectively for environmental health departments, the police and other agencies would increase with measures against binge drinking. Binge drinking is directly connected to most violent crime and anti-social behaviour. ASBO’s are part of the solution to environmental health departments meeting their statutory requirements yet will work best in combination with other strategies and through co-operation with other agencies.[9] Bibliography Coxall B, Robins L Leach R (2003) Contemporary British Politics 4th edition, Palgrave, London Dodd T, Nicholas S, Povey D and Walker A (2004) Home Office Statistical Bulletin, Crime in England and Wales 2003/04, Crown Copyright, London Home Office (2005) The Government Reply to the Fifth Report from the Home Affairs Committee Session 2004/05 HC80 Anti-Social behaviour, Crown Copyright, London Jones M and Lowe R (2002) From Beveridge to Blair – The first fifty years of Britain’s Welfare State 1948-98, Manchester University Press Manchester and New York. Slack, R ‘Drunken yobs blamed for record violent crimes, Daily Mail 21st July 2005 www.homeoffice.gov.uk Crime Policing / Anti-Social Behaviour Orders Legally Binding Undertaking I (Barry Vale) undertake that in line with my contractual obligations this work is completely original, and has not been copied from any website or any other source, either in whole or in part. By submitting this work I understand that if my work is found to be plagiarised I will not only forfeit my fee but also be subject to legal proceedings in order to recover damages for loss of profit and damage to business reputation. Moreover, I understand that I may be subject to legal proceedings from any third parties, such as the end clients and copyright holders of the original work who may have had their rights infringed or suffered loss as a result of my actions. I also understand that in addition I will be liable to a  £100/$200 administration charge and that I may be liable for legal costs. I understand that this e-mail and the work I am submitting may be used as evidence against me if I breach this undertaking. Please take this to constitute my electronic signature (Barry Vale) [1] www.homeoffice.gov.uk [2] Home Office (2005) p.3 [3] Dodd, Nicholas, Povey Walker (2004) p. 18 [4] Home Office (2005) p. 6 [5] Coxall, Robins Leach, (2003), p.275 [6] Home Office (2005) p.1 [7] Coxall, Robins Leach (2003) p. 276 [8] Jones and Lowe (2002) p. 189 [9] Slack, Daily Mail 21st July 2005

Predict the Impact on Organisation and Consumers of Government Policy :: Economics

Predict the Impact on Organisation and Consumers of Government Policy on Industry The government's industrial policies seek to have an impact on organisations and consumers. The government has a wide range of policies effecting three areas: - Monopoly - Privatisation - Location of industry Monopoly and Restrictive Practices Monopoly power may lead to consumers being exploited for example, prices charged above the true marginal cost of supply - leading to excess profits being made by suppliers in the market. Monopoly power can also lead to lower quality output of goods as the protected position of monopolist means that there will be a lack of incentive to improve goods. Because of the potential economic welfare loss arising from the exploitation of monopoly power, the Government regulates some monopolies. Regulators can control annual price increases and introduce fresh competition into particular industries. In terms of regulation of monopoly the government attempts to prevent operations that are against the public interest - so called anti-competitive practices. Problems occur when the market structure in a given industry becomes monopolistic e.g. if a merger or a take-over causes a firm to supply more than 25% of the market output (defined as a working monopoly). The Competition Commission investigates mergers. Oligopolies can also lead to market failure - particularly if there is evidence of collusive behaviour by the dominant businesses within an industry. The Competition Commission The Competition is a public body established by the Competition Act 1998. Formerly known as the Monopolies and Mergers Commission, it came into being on 1st April 1999 The Competition Commission has two main roles: - Reporting on referrals made by the Director General of Fair Trading, the DTI and the main utility regulators - Hearing appeals against prohibitions under the Competition Act 1998 New legislation comes into force from 1st March 2000 and the Competition Commission will hear appeals against decisions made by regulators. Regulators and DGFT will carry out the prohibitions. Regulators have the power to enforce prohibitions and to impose fines of up to 10% of turnover. Prohibitions - These fall into two main categories: Anti-competitive agreements, which include fixing purchasing and selling prices, limiting production, technical development, investment, sharing markets or supply sources and applying different trading conditions to equivalent transactions. Abuse of dominant market position normally where a firm has over 40% of the market and imposing unfair purchasing or selling prices. Referrals to the Competition Commission A last ditch effort if the Director General of Fair Trading cannot remedy the problems. Tends to follow the merger business cycle (very strong at the moment!). Agreement can be reached to rectify the offending area of conflict - ITV companies were requested to reduce advertising sales contracts

Rebutting Arguments to Legalize Euthanasia or Assisted Suicide Essay

Rebutting Arguments to Legalize Euthanasia or Assisted Suicide      Ã‚   This essay focuses on several of the most common arguments in favor of the legalization of euthanasia or assisted suicide - and rebuts them. The language is simple, or, as they say, in layman's terms so as to be easily understandable. The sources are from professional journals, internet websites, and news outlets.    The first common argument favoring euthanasia or assisted suicide is this: "Since euthanasia and assisted suicide take place anyway, isn't it better to legalize them so they'll be practiced under careful guidelines and so that doctors will have to report these activities?" That sounds good but it doesn't work. Physicians who do not follow the "guidelines" will not report and, even when a physician does report information, there is no way to know if it is accurate or complete. For example, the Oregon law requires the Oregon Health Division (OHD) to collect information and publish an annual statistical report about assisted suicide deaths.(Oregon) However, the law contains no penalties for health care providers who fail to report information to the OHD. Moreover, the OHD has no regulatory authority or resources to ensure submission of information to its office.(Prager) Thus, all information contained in the OHD's official reports is that which has been provided by the physicians who pr escribed the lethal drugs and only that which the physicians choose to provide.    The OHD even admitted that reporting physicians may have fabricated their versions of the circumstances surrounding the prescriptions written for patients. "For that matter, the entire account could have been a cock-and-bull story. We assume, however, that physicians wer... ...19, conducted by Hebert Research, October 31, 1991, and within one week following the November 5, 1991 vote. Five days before the vote only 9.7 percent of those opposing the measure cited religious reasons for their opposition. Following the measure's defeat, individuals who had previously indicated support for Initiative 119 were again surveyed. Of these previous supporters, 15 percent subsequently opposed the initiative. Religious reasons accounted for only 6.1 percent of this eventual opposition.    Transcript from audio tape of "On Target," WVON Radio (Chicago). Debate between Rita Marker and T. Patrick Hill, September 26, 1993.    Van der Wal,G. P. J. van der Maas, J. M. Bosma, et al., "Evaluation of the notification procedure for physician-assisted deaths in the Netherlands," 335 New England Journal of Medicine (November 28, 1996), p. 1706.

Writing and Bio-organic Chemistry Review

HAD cholesterol (good) Bio-organic Chemistry Review Sheet Ill What is an alkaline? What is an alkaline? Ill. What are some common alikeness? IV. How to you make an alkaline? V. What is the mechanism of the addition of HEX across a double bond? Bio-organic Chemistry Review Sheet 3 (continued) VI. What is the mechanism of the addition offs across a double bond? The reactions of alikeness: (attach index cards here) This tip for improving your SAT score was provided by David Greensward at Verities Prep.For many college applicants, the essay is the most dreaded portion of the SAT. Many students believe that a good essay requires time to develop into something that envoys nuanced understanding of the material. Although time and skill are useful in writing a dissertation, the SAT essay is much more formulaic and simply requires an understanding of how to produce a passable piece of persuasive writing that can function with nearly every prompt. Here are three keys to creating a consistently excellent essay on the SAT: 1 . Create a template before you write an essay.BLOB: How to Improve Your SAT Essay Writing Essentially all persuasive writing has the same characteristics. The goal is to take a position on some question and support that position with evidence, which can efficiently be accomplished in a five paragraph essay (an introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion). For this reason, one can essentially write the bones of the essay before one knows what the topic of the essay is. The easiest way to accomplish this is to write a bona-fide practice essay that you feel is strong and then remove all the specific references to the topic.For example, say you were writing a thesis statement on the topic of whether or not it is better for a leader to be feared or loved. (Much great writing already exists on this expansive topic, but we don't have to be Plato here. A thesis might say: â€Å"Therefore the assertion that being loved is a more powerful motivator for achieving a leader's desired goals than being feared is demonstrably true. † This is a strong thesis and could essentially be boiled down to â€Å"therefore the assertion that [position on topic] is demonstrably true. Voila! This is a thesis that can essentially work for any specific topic. From here on, all that needs to be done is to create a prototypical essay and remove all the specifics. This essay template works especially well for the introduction and conclusion, but the next tip is very helpful for the body paragraphs. . Relate topic sentences and non-personal examples back to the thesis. It is a little harder to completely script the body paragraphs, as these will be related to whatever examples you choose to include.The magic ticket in the body paragraphs, however, is to relate what you are writing back to your thesis. For instance, if one of your examples for the above topic of whether a leader should be feared or loved is Animal Farm, it is not strong to simply s ummarize the book. For example â€Å"Animal Farm is the story of how animals rise up against an unjust system, only to emulate the system they so despise. Not a bad summary of Animal Farm, but if graders want to know what happens in that book, they Just read it. Graders want to know how the example will be related back to the thesis.A better take is â€Å"The eventual societal decay and uprising of the subjugated animals in George Rowel's Animal Farm demonstrates the danger of a leader being feared, as opposed to being loved. † This is much more related to the main thesis of the essay. Also, make sure your examples are from something outside personal experience; it is far stronger to apply learning than to apply anecdotes on the SAT. BLOB: Make Your Practice Count 3. Write as if you were creating sentences for the multiple choice questions.This is a surprisingly effective tool in ensuring stylistic and grammatical clarity on the SAT. Students devote quite a bit of time to le arning potential errors on the multiple choice writing questions, but it does not always occur to them to put their own writing under the same scrutiny. All the guidelines for correct sentences can be applied to personal writing: Use active voice, check for subject verb agreement, be clear, and the list goes on and on. If the same precision applied to the writing ultimate choice questions is applied to this essay, grammar and clarity will not be issues.

BP Deep Water Horizontal Explosion

BP originated from a British petroleum company founded in 1909. After experiencing crises during the 1980s-1990s, the company started to have a cost cutting culture. During mid-1990s, with an aggressive growth strategy, BP started to grow and reposition. After BP merged with Amoco in 1998, John Browne started to serve as chief executive until May 2007. Browne repositioned BP as a â€Å"green† oil company after he took over and practiced the model of organizational decision-making strategy, known as â€Å"asset federation. Under this new strategy, onsite asset managers had the authority to make decisions, and employees’ compensation was directly tied to asset performance (Ingersoll et. al, 4). Many decisions made by John Browne were directly related to the Deepwater Horizon explosion. In 2007, Tony Hayward replaced John Browne and became the new chief executive. Tony Hayward slightly adjusted BP’s organizational structure and decided to pay more attention to BPâ €™s safety issues and risk averse culture. However, the Deepwater Horizon explosion happened when Tony Hayward was in charge. The BP Deepwater Horizon oil explosion occurred in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010, which is considered as the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill caused tremendous damages to the surrounding environment and enormous losses to shareholders. BP acquired the right of operating the Macondo Well Project from the U. S. Minerals Management Service in 2009, and then BP leased the Deepwater Horizon rig from Transocean who provides offshore drilling equipment and personnel operation. Both BP and Transocean operated the Deepwater Horizon when the disaster happened. The Deepwater Horizon explosion resulted in major damages and losses. When the explosion occurred, workers abandoned ship and jumped into the burning ocean. Among the 126 workers on board the Deepwater Horizon, 17 were injured and 11 died. Additionally, the rig burned down 700,000 gallons of oil within 36 hours, and the smoke trail spread over 30 miles (Ingersoll et. al, 2). BP’s stock price declined dramatically after the explosion. The disaster not only dragged BP into the major scandal but also destroyed many surrounding businesses and families. The consequences of the explosion affected not only organization, shareholders, and employees but also the environment, social issues, and public relations. The Deepwater Horizon disaster had many causes, direct and indirect; it mainly involved people-issues, managers and managing, organizational weaknesses, and external oversight and accountability. â€Å"CAUSES† OF THE EXPLOSION Firstly, individuals in an organization always have decision-making biases, and thus they would have a â€Å"huge capacity to rationalize their behavior† (Crews). Individuals usually make decisions subjectively based on their value set. The former CEO John Browne set up how BP would develop after mid 90’s; he also was the key person who affected the future of Tony Hayward. Browne relied on and promoted Hayward. A metaphor in Elkind’s article said that Hayward was favored prince of Browne, and Browne opened Hayward’s eyes to the world of business (Elkind et. al, 9). It was not clear why Browne relied on Hayward so much, but he made Hayward become the CEO of BP. On the other hand, Browne played an important role in BP’s management strategy. Browne decided to focus on cutting costs and had a desire to make BP become the largest oil producer. He created the big picture of BP’s development, which influenced the future CEO Hayward’s value set of decision-making and employees’ behaviors in BP. Not only managers had bias of decision-making, the engineers who constructed and maintained the rig also had bias. BP chose long string casing for the Macondo well because several individuals overvalued the cost. As a result, the well casing choice created the condition of the rig’s explosion (Ingersoll et. al, 19). Additionally, the drilling engineers decided not to run the â€Å"cement bond log† test, and that test could accurately diagnose a bond failure to improve process safety. Mark Hafle, one of BP’s drilling engineers even claimed the cement job was working fine at court (Ingersoll et. al, 16). The drilling engineers of the Macondo project were warned about potential risks, but they willfully ignored the warnings and insisted everything would work fine. Such bias and rationalized behavior of drilling engineers just added another warning sign to the explosion of Deepwater Horizon. Secondly, BP’s business relationships are complex, and the legitimate priorities often conflict (Crews). BP’s failure to prevent the explosion was due in part to complex partnership. BP held the rights to drill using the rig and operation services leased from Transocean. As a result, â€Å"of the 126 people aboard the Deepwater Horizon, 79 were from Transocean, seven were from BP, and the rest were from other firms† (Ingersoll et. al, 1). People serving on Deepwater Horizon came from different organizations. A decision making process involved many authorities, which decreased the efficiency and effectiveness of decision-making. Even though BP maintained main operational authority, only six percent of people aboard the Deepwater Horizon rig were from BP. As an important business partner of BP, Transocean provided the equipment and performed the majority of the work, and thereafter it had some authority over operations and maintenance. The complex business partnership caused serious operational consequence. Upon the day of explosion, the Deepwater Horizon rig had been operating 29 days more than it should had been, and the leasing fee owed to Transocean far exceeded the budget (Ingersoll et. al, 7). It was a problem that both companies had authority of decision making over operation. This led to legitimate conflict of priorities. For example, when closing a well, â€Å"11 companies played a role in the construction of the casing for the Macondo well, and all with different responsibilities for various aspects of setting the well† (Ingersoll et. al, 9). Different companies made decisions based on their own company’s interest of cost, time, and safety. As a result, any decision-making process would be very time-consuming, given that all companies kept competing and were not willing to compromise. Because of the conflict of interests and inadequate information, decisions made under such condition were inconsistent and unclear. The inefficient and ineffective decision-making processes slowed the progress of drilling and over-drafted the budget. If the drilling on Deepwater Horizon rig would have been completed within 51 days as expected, BP may have stopped a disaster. Thirdly, the misalignment occurs when managers’ words and action conflict. To prevent corporate scandals, managers’ actions are more powerful than words in shaping employees’ behavior and presenting a positive image to society (Crews). BP faced safety issues in last few decades. Even though each time its CEOs made a commitment to the public about safety, disasters still happened continuously. For instance, â€Å"in 2000, after a string of fires and equipment failures, CEO John Browne announced plans to ‘review the commitment to safety. † In 2005, the explosion of BP’s Texas City refinery killed 15 people; ironically, Browne swore to fix safety problems again like previously. The Deepwater Horizon spill, the worst one in history, happened two years after CEO Tony Hayward took over, and he had promised to focus on safety issue â€Å"like a laser† (Elkind et. al, 4). Empty promises are just like checks without sufficient funds. The conflic t of managers’ words and action caused the corporation lose credibility to the public. BP’s CEO kept vowing to correct safety issues, and the sequential disasters revoked their promises time after time. The U. S. Chemical Safety Board investigated BP’s real safety operation after the Texas City refinery explosion, and they found that BP Group failed to review its refinery operation systematically. Even though the Group Chief Executive claimed, â€Å"BP would learn lessons from Grangemouth and other incidents† (National Commission Chapter 8, 6), BP’s actions were against its public commitment. BP had desires to change, but it never improved in respect to safety weaknesses. BP emphasized personal safety instead of process safety, which led to the serious consequence (Elkind et. l, 5). BP’s board of directors failed to enhance process safety, and this helped BP lose credibility with the public. They needed to create an environment of safety concern to train employees from every level of the organization. Fourthly, BP’s managers were more concerned with seeking profits than with ethics (Crews). Employees’ performance was evaluated by ability of cost cutting and profit generating. For example, in 2008, BP introduced an â€Å"every dollar counts† program that aimed to reduce the costs of their drilling operation (Smith, 1). Another example would be that leaders of BP’s drilling team considered the $2. 2 million of incremental cost benefit over safety when they handled installation problem of lockdown sleeve (Smith, 2). Likewise, many other decisions of construction of the Macondo well were made based on cost and profit instead of safety concerns. BP’s failure was highly related to managers blindly seeking profit and ignoring safety issues. BP used Long-string casing, which made production less costly and shortened the time of return on investment (Deepwater Horizon Study Group, 56). This was one of the main causes of the explosion. Oil drilling is a highly risky industry, and BP was supposed to emphasize safety; however, managers valued profit over ethics, and that hastened up the failure of BP. Fifthly, an organization’s culture, structure, strategy, and resource allocation strongly affect the behaviors of managers and employees (Crews). BP’s organizational culture is cost cutting and risk taking, which directly affected managers’ decision-making. Since 1995 when John Bowne took over, he â€Å"imposed a tough bottom-line mentality† to focus on cutting costs. He also chose to give more operating authority to his managers. Bowne targeted aggressive profit growth by making his managers sign an annual performance contract (Elkind et. al, 8). BP’s organizational culture pushed CEOs to set profit as the primary goal. An organization’s culture is its personality, which implies how managers would operate the organization. With the cost-cutting culture, managers and employees made decisions driven by the organizational culture. Additionally, BP’s unethical management structure and strategy caused the bad competition between employees. BP had a management strategy, â€Å"asset federation. † BP’s onsite asset managers had â€Å"decision-making authority and responsibility for meeting performance targets;† moreover, onsite employees’ compensation was valued by overall performance of the site (Ingersoll et. al, 4). As a result, BP exploration sites had an unethical competition and were less likely to share best practice on risk management; that was a big concern for an oil company whose process safety was a problem. On the other hand, BP also had a weakness of high bureaucracy operating costs. BP had â€Å"a starched, rigidly hierarchical management culture;† for example, headquarter employees and senior employees had preferential treatment in company, which shows BP’s unbalanced and unsound reward system (Elkind et. al, 7). In other words, BP was weak in human resource management. The company rewarded employees by position instead of ethical behavior and good performance. A lack of focus on safety issues directly led to the explosion. BP’s â€Å"creative† management strategy introduced by John Browne made exploration onsite managers keep their best practice to themselves and blindly chase profit. Such management contributed to Deepwater Horizon explosion. Finally, external auditing and regulatory weaknesses also indirectly contributed to the explosion (Crews). Offshore oil drilling is a risky industry. Therefore, in some region, the government essentially banned it due to environmental concerns. However, in the Gulf, the environmental protections and safety regulation were relaxed and ineffective because the oil drilling would bring billions of dollars to federal government (National Commission Chapter 3, 3). Driven by revenue, the government and regulators id not put forth too many restrictions for oil industry in the Gulf. With this important advantage, BP continually neglected safety issues and took risks, which eventually caused the disaster. According to the national commission report, revenue increases when moving drilling deeper into the water, but the corresponding safety risks also increases; however, such increased risks were not covered by additional regularly over sight (National Commission Chapter 3, 3). Investigators found that Deepwater Horizon extended drilling by 18360 feet below sea level. BP drilled aggressively by ignoring the risks and consequences. However, regulators might be more than happy to accept the huge revenue contributions instead of considering environmental concerns and set restrictions. More importantly, the regulation and auditing office had a culture of revenue maximization. BP acquired the right of exploration from MMS. The national commission report points out that the MMS office had culture of accepting gifts from oil companies. An employee of MMS even negotiated with the oil company when he conducted inspections on this company's oil platforms (National Commission Chapter 3, 23). Oil companies and public regulation office benefitted each other, and that made improvement of safety issue in entire oil industry became obstructive. The government did not provide strict regulation to an industry that could bring it money because more regulation means less revenue. Along with a long list of safety issues, BP risked drilling down below the sea to seek more oil and profit without additional auditing and regulation; all the factors pushed and forced the disaster happened. First, The Deepwater horizon explosion killed 11 people, and 17 were injured. The ocean was flaming when the rig became a graveyard. To those dead employees, their family had to face the loss of family members. Second, The Deepwater Horizon explosion affected BP’s and Transocean’s financial market. The sharp drop of stock price wiped out $91 million in market value. BP’s working capital that founded by $10 billion in short-term paper was shut out (Elkind et. al, 20). The credit situations of both companies weakened. Moreover, BP and Transocean had to pay for the damages by billions of dollars. Even two years later in 2012, BP still had $8. 3 billion on damage payouts caused by the explosion (Helman, 3). Both companies were required to pay for environmental restoration, damage to surrounding businesses, and cleanup cost. On the other hand, the explosion also destroyed the reputation of BP and Transocean, and scandals were harmful to two companies’ public relationship. After Deepwater Horizon explosion, the financial market for BP securities had a dramatically change. BP’s investors faced a huge loss on investment. BP’s stock price dropped more than 50%, and the stock and option trading volume increased instantly by fifteen to twentyfold. Interest rate of BP bonds increased, and the company announced the suspension of cash dividends to shareholders (Fodor and Stowe, 1). BP’s disaster made shareholders face a tremendous loss. The value of stocks in hand became worthless and the dividend payments might endless delay. Furthermore, the explosion also affected business in the gulf and the coast tourism industry. The disaster dramatically affected the Alabama coast, which depended on tourism: compared to 2009, the number of visitors decreased by 1 million, real estate values dropped by more than 65%, retail sale declined by 50% (Keegen, 2). The most affected business was fishing industry in the gulf. Since the spilling oil, many fishes were killed and many families whose life depended on fishing and tourist service were bankrupt instantly. In addition, the explosion affected the gulf coast ecosystem. After the explosion, the rig burned for 36 hours. Deepwater Horizon rig exploded about 100 miles southwest of Orange Beach,† and â€Å"more than 200 million gallons of crude went into the gulf† before July 15, 2010 (Keegen, 2). As a result, spilling oil â€Å"fouled beaches and shorelines,† and it destroyed gulf coast ecosystem; creatures and species were killed. The Deepwater Horizon explosion â€Å"created one of worst environmental disaster in U. S. history (Keegen, 2). Ba sed on a research of Texas A& M’s Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, the real loss of gulf coast ecosystem and fisheries were huge and need decades for recovery (Keegen, 5). PREVENTION One of the reasons for BP’s failure is that top managers did not have ethical concerns. The safety issue is the major problem of BP; however, CEOs and managers were concerned for profit over safety concern. Internally, the Board of Directors should create a clear plan that focuses on addressing particular ethical needs for different situations. Additionally, BP should increase the responsibility of the Board of Directors in overseeing the managing executives. An organization should had ethical oversight, and it should provide employees ethical training to advocate ethical behavior. Management fault also was the main reason contributed to the explosion. BP had problems with management structure and management strategy. Managers who focused on cost cutting and wilfully ignored safety problem made numerous poor decisions. Employees should be rewarded by performance overall instead of the ability to cut cost. Rig managers and engineering leader should regard the warning signs and conduct safety test regularly. The managers should pay attention to â€Å"near misses† and avoid the â€Å"favorable wind direction,† and then they might be able to predict and prevent the crises (Tinsley et. l, 1). Considering all of the factors that contributed to Deepwater Horizon explosion, the root cause was the cost-cutting organizational culture. An organizational culture is the characteristic of a corporation; it affects people’s perspectives and values. Employees use the organizational culture to guide and rationalize their behavior. Therefore, directors of bo ard, executives, and top managers should create and inform employees with a positive organizational culture and build conditions for employees’ learning and appreciating. BP’s explosion had internal and external reason. Internally, BP Deepwater Horizon explosion involved two CEOs’ main decisions; besides, BP had a complex organizational strategy, management structure, and partnership. Externally, the outside weakness of legality and regulation contribute to BP’s ethical scandals. Thereafter, besides corporation internal control, the regulators should provide more specific regulations and auditing that conduct oil industry operating with a safer procedure.

Advertisement Is Legalised Form of Lying Essay

100% yes. Most advertisements and advertisers make totally false and tall claims, which is far from reality. And they call it creativity. It is nothing but lying and society has tacitly grown to accept it. If the strict definition of â€Å"cheating† is taken, as is commonly defined in most countries across the world, then most advertisers and the companies would have to be put behind bars for the offence. It is not entirely clear what is meant by legalised form of lying. There are lies that advertisers cannot legally utter, and then there are exaggerations, poetic over-statements, or misleadingly incomplete information which advertisers can get away with. A great many of the statements that advertisers make are not literally true, but then, they are not expected to be taken literally. Our chocolate is out of this world, it is so delightful that you will forget all your problems and feel like you have gone to heaven. Ok, maybe you won’t, but then, you didn’t really take those claims seriously, did you? Statistics verifies that crores of mullahs are spent on advertising. This ‘legalized form of lying’ helps one sell an idea more than a product. If we want to look glamorous, we buy a bar of ‘Lux’ soap or when we are thirsty, we drink Sprite. Although these products do not necessarily serve its proclaimed purpose, advertising creates a phenomena called ‘free recall. Thanda is synonymous to Coca Cola and Xerox to a photocopying machine. Advertising promises you that you will surely look like Amitabh Bachan with a Reid ; Taylor suit when you you look nothing like him. Only if you sport a Raymond suiting, you become a ‘complete man. ‘ otherwise, you may have some doubts. Such is the power of advertising to create doubts about your own identity.