Reflection practice Essay

Reflection practice is an approach that allows practitioners to understand how they use their knowledge in realistic situations and how they mix action and learning in a more successful manner (Henderson, 2002). Kondrat (2004) claims that the aim of critical reflection is to be conscious of the influence of the subject self in relations to prejudices so that such prejudices may be reduced or removed. However, Smith (2002: 138) argues that â€Å"for reflection to be critical it need to also embrace the capacity to consider social structures and power relationships analytically and apply this analysis in practice†. This assignment aim at researching the benefits and challenges of reflection in work practice by reflecting on an incident at work and examine what went wrong and what went well (see appendix 1). It will evaluate my progress about how I used reflection to develop professional practice after an incident. It will also assess how feedback from manager and colleagues may help me to maintain my continuing professional development. see more:the different ways that people may react to receiving constructive feedback According to Taylor and Beverly (2000) reflection is a significant human activity in which people recall their experiences, think about it, ponder over, evaluate it; and it is this working with experience that is important in learning. Du Gay (2005) claims that we learn through critical reflection by putting ourselves into the experiences and exploring personal and theoretical knowledge to understand it and view it in different ways. However, Swan (2008) argues that it may be hard to reflect in work practice due to time constraint and lack of understanding about how to reflect. Swan (2008) further argues that others practitioners may not be motivated enough in finding time to reflect. However, Taylor (2000) proposes that improved self-awareness, though not the principle reason for reflection, may create important changes in normal reactions to challenging clinical circumstances that may affect a beneficial change in the outcome observed. As a health and social care practitioner I appreciate that reflection offers a number of benefits such as improvement in practice and in patient service. Improved self-knowledge may offer this additional benefit, as contending with the behaviour of persons in strange circumstances outlines an important part of health care practitioners Taylor (2000). Wilkin (2002), Paget (2001)  and Taylor (2000) cited in Hayden, (2005) agree with the notion that reflection allows practitioners to broaden themselves intellectually and improves their professional role especially when pressure is wielded to behave more technically. However, Smith and Jack (2005) argue that practitioners need to be aware of personal advantages, improved self-awareness and improved confidence in progressing professional development as it may affect how they relate with patient. In relation to my individual learning plan (ILP) as identified in appendix one I have encountered problem such as involving colleagues and my manager in giving me feedback. This may be because of work demands placed on my manager and change in staff structure due to an incident which occurred in work. Therefore I had to reconsider using a diary to record activities identified in ILP and record of incident; this meant that I can only rely on my own feedback and the understanding of my work practise in order to achieve the best possible outcome. According to Boud (2000) health and social care professionals often work one on one with service users who may be experiencing various levels of emotional distress. Young and Henquinet (2000) claim that more than half of challenging behaviour occurs in social services and health care settings, therefore safety is paramount. Boud (2000) claims that it is vital that professionals and service users do not exist in blankness, as both parties are influenced by societal, community and organizational behaviour this is supported by Bronfebrenner’s theory (Adams, 2007). Smith (2002) states that these factors may impact on service users’ relationship and interactions therefore a key skill is needed to work in partnership with service users. When the service user went absent without authorised leave I had to respond immediately as it was apparent that I was the only person with sufficient knowledge. Having experience this before and knowing my work practice procedures on missing person prompted me to react as I did as identified in Schon (1991) reflection in action. Smith (2002) further argues that to attain this, it is essential for  professionals to be able to make logic of their practice, and to understand their involvement in therapeutic functioning. This was evident in my practice as I had to support other service users who were in distress and also I had to write an incident report whilst offering re- assurance. This was challenging as I am working as part of a small team which meant that I had to carry some of the task individually. However, being part of a small team meant that I was able to interact and communicate more easily with peers and gained their sense of commitment level as pointed out by (Young and Henquinet 2000). Northouse (2004) states that ethics in a small teams are important because as team progress through the decision-making or problem-solving process, several questions may arise that may need to be dealt with and the people’s behaviour or actions surrounds the communication process. Engleberg and Wynn (2003) suggest that staff member or team members need to consider how their verbal and nonverbal communication and listening skills may affect how they construct and construe these messages. Fujishin, (2007) argues that communicating in an unethical way may include misrepresenting a position or stance on a topic, and pretending to be informed about a topic. Fujishin, (2007) suggests that to avoid this staff member should not keep back information from other members and should be truthful when sharing information. As a practitioner I am morally required to contemplate the likely benefit or harm that may result if I chose to do nothing in a given situation. My actions matched my belief in the human rights to be safe and contribute to decision making and information sharing (Beidler and Dickey 2001). Controlled reflection may thus be an instrument to help professionals’ gain better understanding not only into professional practice but into their working relationship with service users Bould (2000). Gaining better knowledge and understanding into reflection is not new, Schon (1999) in Adams et al (2009) defines reflection in action as an approach taken by practitioners in work setting to instantly restructure and adjust their practice. However, Crisp and Green (2002) argue that uncontrolled reflection may not generate theory or understanding. Nevertheless, the practitioner who  is able to reflect on a situation, make sense of what happened and coherent the process and variables involved may create a better understanding of the situation and of theory. Another way of making sense of circumstances that affect us together individually and professionally is through organised reflective writing. The method of reflection does not have to be written, however Seymour (2003) and Ullrich et al (2002) suggest that more understanding may be gained if writing is involved as it may allow the professionals to structure opinions and reminiscences more subjectively. Ullrich and Lutgendorf (2002) also claim that it may also provide a lasting record for other professionals to access in future. In work setting I had to keep record and times of incident this is refer to as incident report. Lindeman (2000) claims that writing an incident report allows practitioners to learn about individuals, organisation and others. For instance, I have learnt a lot about different agencies that gets involved when a service user is reported missing. I have also learnt about the importance of keeping accurate conversation records. Duffy (2000) proposes that the process of reflective writing may offer time to reflect properly and make sense of happenings that may have affected work practice. Nonetheless, without a clear outline it may be problematic to know in what way or what to reflect upon. Burton (2000) argues that this is particularly applicable to trainee reflective professionals. Furthermore, Brennan and Hutt (2001) argue that another additional likely risk is that professionals only reflect upon circumstances that they perceive as gone wrong. Taylor (2000) states that in this case reflective writing then becomes possibly negative and not useful if left unstructured or un- facilitated. This was apparent common in my work practice as staff focused more on the negative of the incident instead of encouraging the use of positive. McCabe (2004) suggest that it is the duty of the experienced practitioner to question the practice of another if they believe inappropriate treatment may harm or be negative to service user. It was extremely difficult to challenge my colleagues about their negative comments this may be because they have  been in my work practice longer than me. McCabe (2004) argues that health practitioners may feel uncomfortable due to uncertainty in their work practice. Conversely, Paget (2001) argues that service user’s best interest must be conserved all the time even if conflict should arise. According to Joyce (2005) common difficulties with using reflective journals involve procrastination, fading, eagerness, and also reluctance or lack of ability to reflect. Reflective diaries or periodicals may be an effectual tool for self – assessment and development of reflective skill, specifically reflection on practice (Joyce, 2005). The skill of reflective writing may be advanced either through working separate or within peer groups. Teekman (2000) believes that record keeping is part of showing consistency and caring about service user’s outcome. Caring is also paramount in health and social care, I feel strongly about this belief and try to practise continuously. Ritz (2009) cited in Ritz and Weissleder, (2009) proposes that writing and thinking goes together when developing critical skills. According to Wilkie and Burn (2003) Health and social care have a spoken culture in which practitioners have restricted chances to develop critical, analytical skills through writing. I found it easy to use diary this may be due to the time I spent writing incident report. However, getting feedback from my colleagues proofed difficult as they had different views about giving me feedback. This may be due to what they perceive as of importance as pointed out by Bowers and Jinks (2004). In conclusion reflecting about incident at work has been self- empowering and has provided me with a perception into personal understanding and control (McCabe 2004). This reflection has recognised the opinions, hindrances associated with working in Health and social care (HSC) practice. Additionally, it has also shown that the present-day premise of HSC is multifaceted. However using Schon’s context does aim to reveal the insufficiencies of a positivist attitude to knowledge and practice and this may result to new understandings (Teekman, 2000). Consequently, it is essential that the professional is allowed to reflect critically on practice  so as to improve and extend knowledge and eventually the quality of service and care provided to service users. Reflective writing has helped me to cope with critical incident at work and I feel like I can pass this tool to my work colleagues. References Adam R, Dominelli L, and Payne, M (2009) social work themes, issues and critical debates(3rd ed). Basingstoke: Palgrave. Boud, D. (2000) Sustainable Assessment Rethinking assessment for the learning society. Studies in Continuing Education. 22: 151-167. 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How to Increase Retail Sales Essay

1 Introduction One of the challenges for companies that have invested heavily in customer data collection is how to extract important information from their vast customer databases and product feature databases, in order to gain competitive advantage. Market basket analysis (also known as association rule mining) is one of the data mining methods (Berry and Linoff, 2004) focusing on discovering purchasing patterns by extracting associations or co-occurrences from a store’s transactional data. Several aspects of market basket analysis have been studied in academic literature, such as using customer interest profile and interests on particular features of the product for the product development and one-to-one marketing (Weng and Liu, 2004), purchasing patterns in a multi-store environment (Chen et al., 2004), or point at certain weaknesses of market basket analysis techniques (e.g. Vindevogel, Van den Poel and Wets, 2005). Market basket analysis has been intensively used in many companies as a means to discover product associations and base a retailer’s promotion strategy on them. When different additional brands are sold together with the basic brands, the revenue from the basic brands is not decreasing, but increasing. â€Å"Buy two, get three†sales promotion campaigns are very successful, if market basket analyses are used in order to determine the right products to be promoted. â€Å"Buy a product, get a gift† sales promotion campaigns are successful, if a basic product and a gift are related and the basic product has high margin rate. Based on market basket analyses, sets of products are defined and sold together with discount. Limitedbrands organizes internal competition in up-selling. Our paper – a case study – presents and analyses the application of market basket analysis in a major trade company in Slovenia. 2 The company Merkur, d. d. Merkur, d. d. is a trading company (Merkur, 2005) that has for years ranked among the top companies in Slovenia dealing in items for home improvement, home services as well as lawn and garden. Merkur, d.d. has recently strengthened its position on the foreign markets through the supplies of goods to industrial enterprises, and by the establishment of its own retail network abroad. Merkur, d.d. is the mother company of Merkur Group. The Group consists of two Slovenian subsidiaries and six subsidiaries abroad (Zagreb, Sarajevo, Skopje, Munich, Milan and Warsaw). Besides that, the group also includes two offices (Moscow and Belgrade). Merkur plans to further strengthen its position on the domestic market, spread its sales to the foreign markets, especially to the markets of former Yugoslavia, and develop a high-quality range of products. The company is organised in  several large departments: Wholesale, Retail Sales, Sales to Foreign Markets, Purchasing, Logistics and Supporting Services. Customers include construction companies, trading organisations, installation companies, industrial enterprises, craftsmen and small entrepreneurs, as well as end consumers. The company makes almost 60% of its sales revenues by selling goods wholesale. To make the sales quick and efficient, the Wholesale Department has been divided into four sales sub-divisions. At present, Merkur has 38 retail sales centres in Slovenia. Specialisation increases the effectiveness of sales, so two types of Merkur sales centres were developed: MERKURDOM focusing on ordinary households, and MERKURMOJSTER intended for DIY (do-it-yourself) users. More information about MerkurDom and MerkurMojster is available on Merkur internet site: www.merkur.si. 2.1 Characteristic figures of the company The scope of the company Merkur, d.d. can be shown through the following figures: The sales programme consists of about 200.000 active items (more than 120.000 items on stock), divided into 5 sales programmes, 74 lines of goods, 720 groups of goods and 5.600 basic goods classifications. Around 80% of sales are done with the top 12.000 items and 80% of stock is held on the top 20.000 items. The Purchasing Department issues more than 250.000 purchase orders with 1.200.000 items annually. Merkur purchases goods from more than 2.000 suppliers. About 80% of purchases are done with the top 200 suppliers. Wholesale has business relations with more than 2.500 buyers – organizations. About 80% of wholesale sales are done with the top 800 buyers. Wholesale issues approximately 400.000 invoices with total 2.200.000 items annually. Retail sells goods to 13.000 buyers / organizations and to about 500.000 end consumers. More than 70% of sales to end consumers are personalized with the Merkur loyalty card called the â€Å"Merkur Card of Trust†. Retail issues 6.000.000 invoices with more than 20.000.000 items to end consumers annually. In the period from 1993 to 2004 Merkur achieved 19% average annual growth in revenues, 20% average annual growth in net margin and 27% average annual growth in profit from operations. Today Merkur is the sixth largest Slovenian company in revenues. 3.1 The history of DW&BI in Merkur Merkur started to implement data warehousing and business intelligence (DW&BI) in 1999 with a project called KAS (Commercial Analytical System) (Svetina, 2002). Before 1999, different analyses and reports were performed in Merkur’s transactional information systems, much of the analytical data was held in Excel spreadsheets and Access databases. In the past, Merkur twice attempted to implement DW&BI technology, but failed because proposed technology was still too difficult to use for the majority of the users. In 1999 Merkur started with a major business process reorganization and, therefore, better and new business analyses were needed in order to make better decisions. The need for a DW&BI system emerged, so the KAS project was given high priority. Merkur started to design analytical data models for sales data and succeeded in integrating sales data from wholesale, retail and sales to foreign markets in one unified data model. The IT department proposed Microstrategy DW&BI technology, which was installed and tested in the beginning of the year 2000. The technology was found to be appropriate and the decision was made to implement DW&BI with Microstrategy solutions. The first power users (sales analysts) were educated and the first KAS sales analyses were used in the decision-making process. In the beginning the ETL (extract – transform – load) process was carried out on monthly basis, but by autumn of 2000 the company started to perform ETL process daily. Later in the year 2000 the purchasing analytical system was introduced as well. In 2001, the data warehouse was upgraded with data on Merkur’s business plans. Sales and margins were planned on a very low organizational level. The annual plan fact table has more than 1.000.000 records, so the salespersons’ performance is measured very accurately. Because the technology is easy to use, the number of KAS users increased up to 100. In 2002, the implementation of a very large and complex analytical module followed, containing inventory data. The inventory levels of each item in every warehouse on a monthly basis is stored in KAS and enables detailed inventory analyses and detection of critical items. Also, data on Merkur’s partner’s  debts and liabilities was added to data warehouse, which enables accurate cash flow management. Item price calculation elements and different prices were imported in KAS in 2003, so critical prices can be detected and all inconsistencies eliminated. Many minor additions to the system were also made over the last few years. All the time Merkur tries to use adequate analytical and data mining methodologies in order to improve the whole system of business reporting. From the DW&BI history we can see a controlled step-by-step development of the KAS system. Such way of development gives opportunity for good definition and implementation of analytical contents and enables Merkur to make many better business decisions. The KAS system brings Merkur an important competitive advantage, which enables the growth of the company. Improved decision making can be demonstrated through different measurable key success factors which are improving constantly. Key success factors such as net margin, net margin per item, net margin per customer, number of new customers and others are measured in KAS. These factors are always accessible for KAS users and help them to make better decisions. 3.2 DW&BI technology Since 2000 Merkur has used the Microstrategy DW&BI technology. Microstrategy provides ROLAP solutions, which enable a step-by-step approach in data warehouse development and processing large amounts of data. The data warehouse is implemented in an Oracle relational database. This means that the same database technology is used in both transactional and analytical information systems. Therefore, Merkur’s IT department can focus in one database platform instead of two or even more. Oracle technology was used in Merkur before the implementation data warehouse was started, so the implementation of this technology was fast and smooth. In Merkur the  following Microstrategy tools (Microstrategy, 2005) are used: MicroStrategy Intelligence Server is the heart of the BI system and provides reporting and analysis for the whole enterprise. This BI server provides the full range of BI applications through unified metadata and a single integrated server. MicroStrategy Administrator consi sts of a suite of tools that provide the systems management environment for business intelligence. It maximizes uptime of BI applications. Its tools give an environment for developing, deploying, monitoring and maintaining of systems. MicroStrategy Architect is a rapid development tool that maps the physical structure of the database into a logical business model. These mappings are stored in a centralized metadata repository. MicroStrategy Desktop is the business intelligence software component that provides integrated query and reporting, powerful analytics and decision support workflow with a desktop PC. MicroStrategy Desktop provides an arsenal of features for on-line analysis of corporate data. Reports can be viewed in various presentation formats, polished into production reports, distributed to other users and extended through a host of ad hoc features including drilling, pivoting and data slicing. The interface itself is customizable to different users’ skill levels and security profiles. In Merkur, the Desktop solution is used by 13 power users (analysts). MicroStrategy Web provides users a highly interactive environment and low maintenance interface for reporting and analysis. Using this intuitive HTML-only Web solution, users access, analyze and share corporate data through any web browser on any operating system. MicroStrategy Web provides ad hoc querying, quick deployment and rapid customizability, making it even easier for users to make informed business decisions. In Merkur, Microstrategy Web is used by 90 end users of KAS. MicroStrategy Narrowcast Server is a proactive information delivery server that distributes personalized business information to users via email, pagers and cell phones. It includes an intuitive self-subscription interface that enables users to specify what information they want to receive, as well as when and how they want to receive that information. Narrowcast Server is becoming more and more important in Merkur because of its efficiency. 3.3 Merkur’s DW&BI system today Presently, KAS; Merkur’s DW&BI system, is five years old. The development of the system continues constantly and there is still much content throughout the organization which must be implemented in the BI system. The most important content to be implemented in the future are the following: Integral data from Merkur’s finance and accounting system (the finance and accounting analytical system) Relevant business data from Merkur’s subsidiaries Data from Merkur’s human resources analytical system Data from Merkur’s e-business analytical system Data from Merkur’s logistic analytical system Presently in KAS (Merkur Commercial Analytical System – KAS, 2005): †¢ 13 power users (analysts) and 90 end users; of both groups, 50 users have the ability and knowledge to set-up their own reports. †¢ Up to 30.000 reports are run on KAS on monthly basis. †¢ KAS consists of the following objects: o 137 tables o 433 attributes o 1.195 metrics o 5.611 reports †¢ Over 35 automated services are run on the Narrowcast Server The KAS system enables many sophisticated business analyses such as market basket analyses, described later in this paper. 4 Market basket analysis and the used methodology Market basket analyses are an important component of analytical system in retail organizations. There are several definitions of market basket analysis. In a broader meaning, market basket analysis targets customer baskets in order to monitor buying patterns and improve customer satisfaction (Microstrategy, 2003). The following analytics can be used: attachment rates, demographic baskets, brand switching, customer loyalty, core items, items per basket, in-basket price, revenue contribution, shopper penetration and others. In a narrower meaning, market basket analysis gives  us the answer to the following question: which goods are sold together within the same transaction or to the same customer? By analysing this information, we try to find out recurring patterns in order to offer related goods together and therefore increase the sales. We can track related sales on different levels of goods classifications or on different customer segments. In this paper, the narrower meaning of market basket analysis will be taken into consideration, focusing on the use of these analyses in Merkur. It has to be noted that several other terms are also used to describe market basket analysis: related sales, cross-sell, up-sell. The distinction between these terms is very unclear and the same terms are often used in different meanings. What can we gain from market basket analysis (Limitedbrands, 2004)We get the ability to learn more about customer behaviour. We can make more informed decisions about product placement, pricing, promotion and profitability. We can find out which products perform similarly to each other. We can determine which products should be placed near each other. We can find out which products should be cross-sold. We can find out if there are any successful products that have no significant related elements. 1. Discover the selling documents (transactions) with the item, for which we want to perform market basket analysis. This logic is valid, if we want to carry out item-related market basket analysis. We can also perform good classification or even loyalty card holder-related market basket analyses, which will be shown later in this paper. 2. Discover all the items in relevant selling documents and their selling quantities, prices, number of transactions and other relevant data. As an example, an item related market basket analysis will be presented. We want to analyse sales related to item ‘209525 Decorative lamp Saturn II’. In the first step we determine the selling documents with this item. The partial result is shown in the table 1. Further, the result of the first step is used as a filter in the second step, which results in a table with items, sold together with item 209525. 5 Areas of market basket analyses In Merkur different kind of market basket analyses are done. Analyses are adapted to various business needs, and some of them are discussed in the following sections. In every section, the relevant examples of analyses are presented and opportunities for business action discussed. 5.1 Marketing and sales promotion campaigns When sales campaigns are prepared, promoted items must be chosen very carefully. The main goal of a campaign is to entice customers to visit Merkur’s retail centre and buy more than they usually do. Therefore, we must choose the right items and offer the right prices or other conditions. Margins on promoted items are usually cut, therefore, additional non-promoted items with higher margins should be sold together with promoted items. As we could see from the example in Section 3, item ‘209525 Decorative lamp Saturn II’ is quite adequate to be included in a promotion. Together with it many other items are sold, so we can allow a lower margin of promoted item. Of course, there are some other criteria for an item to be included in a campaign, such as: †¢ Where on the item life cycle curve is the item situated? †¢ What is our brand promotion policy? †¢ Can we reach an agreement with the supplier (producer) to assure larger quantities and better prices? Table 4. Sales promotion market basket analysis In table 4, data from a New Year’s promotion campaign is shown. The: campaign was done through public advertising. Paper catalogues of promoted items were sent to households, there were also commercial spots on TV and radio, and advertisements in newspapers. Because of advertising a certain number of customers came in Merkur retail centres in order to buy the promoted items. Additionally, they also bought many non-promoted items (70% opposed to 30% of revenues and 75%  opposed to 25% of margins) with much higher % of margin (29,08% opposed to 21,81%). This means that promoted items generated sales of non-promoted items. There are also many possible ways for organizing campaigns using direct marketing tools for the interaction with Merkur loyalty card holder. This issue will be discussed in Section 5.5. 5.2. System solutions offering Market basket analyses are also used to combine more items in a set or a system, because the majority of customers are interested in buying and using them at a time or in a short period of time after the purchase of a particular item. By designing sets and systems of related items a company can increase sales and also cut down costs of sales transactions, so that various discounts can be offered to customers. This results in a typical win-win situation. A retailer must know the needs of customers and adapt to them. Market basket analysis is one possible way to find out which items can be put together in sets and systems. Table 5. Classification Group ‘Kitchen extractor hood’ market basket analysis In Table 5 we can see groups of goods which were sold together with the group ‘Kitchen extractor hood’. In the related groups are also different kitchen appliances like refrigerators, dish washers, kitchen-ranges, taps, dishes etc. This means that Merkur should design and offer the customers different kitchen systems. These systems should include kitchen furniture,  major and small kitchen appliances and kitchen utensils. Such a system should be displayed in one place in a retail centre where customers could choose from whole system solutions to just several parts (items) of these solutions. 5.3. Placement of goods in retail stores Market basket analyses give retailer good information about related sales on group of goods basis. As we can see in Table 5, the majority of kitchen appliances groups are related. Customers who buy a kitchen appliance often also buy several other kitchen appliances. It makes sense that these groups are placed side by side in a retail centre so that customers can access them quickly. Such related groups of goods also must be located side-by-side in order to remind customers of related items and to lead them through the centre in a logical manner. In Merkur, two basic concepts of retail centres are used: MerkurDom specialises in high-quality items for home improvement and garden, MerkurMojster specialises in high-quality products aimed at DIY users, craftsmen, and entrepreneurs. Centres are also classified by size as small and large centres. For each of these concepts, standardized placement plans were developed. Market basket analyses represent one segment of tools for decision making considering placement of goods. It can show us where we should change the placement of goods. After the change we can measure the business effects of the change. 5.4. Education of salespeople The interesting results of market basket analyses must be presented to the salespeople in retail centres, because the employees must be aware of them and they should use them in the process of selling. Every salesperson has some knowledge about related items from his or her experience. With market  basket analyses we can structure this knowledge and use it to teach less experienced personnel. Merkur invests a lot in education of salespeople through both internal and external sources. Knowledge from market basket analyses is widely used in internal education. 5.5. Segmentation of customers As mentioned in Section 1.1., more than 70% of sales to end consumers are personalized with the Merkur loyalty card called â€Å"Merkur Card of Trust†. This data enables us to answer the following question: What did consumers who bought item (group) X in period 1, buy in period 2? If we identify customers who bought item X today, we can anticipate what they will buy, for instance, in next three months, and we can advertise them the right products. A typical example is shown in Table 6. We analysed loyalty card holders who bought ceramic tiles in the period from April to June 2004. In Table 6 we can see product groups which were bought by the same card holders in the period from July to November 2004. They bought different bathroom and kitchen accessories and central heating elements. It would be very useful, if Merkur organized a targeted marketing campaign for this specific group of customers in July 2004 and promoted these products. There are many other possibilities and opportunities in Merkur to use loyalty card-based market basket analyses as a support tool for direct marketing campaigns. Merkur usually organizes non-targeted common campaigns, in which the majority of Slovenian households are included. But lately Merkur also started to implement direct marketing methods and therefore an effective data warehouse and business intelligence system is essential. This helps many interesting marketing ideas to be implemented. 6 Conclusion The practice in Merkur proves that market basket analysis is a very useful for marketing campaigns, good placement definition and education of sales personnel. Merkur uses market basket analysis throughout the promotion campaign process. When a sales promotion is prepared, market basket analysis is used to define the right products and the right prices for the campaign. Related non-promoted items are also defined in order to place them in the vicinity of promoted items and therefore increase sales. When sales promotion finishes, its results are carefully analysed in order to discover opportunities for next promotions. Merkur widely uses market basket analyses to manage the placement of goods in retail centres. Related products and product groups are placed together in such a manner that customer can logically find items he/she might buy. The findings of market basket analyses are an important part of the process of teaching the salespeople of Merkur. Sales personnel must be aware of related products in order to increase satisfaction of customers and intensify sales. Market basket analyses are just a part in the holistic approach to the execution of marketing development strategy in Retail in Merkur. The analytical process is integrated in other marketing activities and analysts are an important part of Merkur marketing development team. Team work is crucial for successful use of such analyses. Beside of the organization of the Merkur marketing process, a capable DW&BI system is needed. The BI system must have good performances when processing large amount of data. It also has to be scalable and flexible, but, above all, the BI system must be user-friendly so that different marketing specialists can use it without any problems.  Fortunately, Merkur’s KAS is such a system. But there is still much work to be done. We demonstrated that market basket analysis in Merkur can be done and that it brings useful results. In the future a working direct marketing strategy must be developed based on data already available in KAS. Then an organization and information systems for efficient execution of this strategy have to be established. 7 References Berry, M.J.A., Linoff, G.S.: Data Mining Techniques: for Marketing, Sales and Customer Relationship Management (second edition), Hungry Minds Inc., 2004  Chen, Y.-L., Tang, K., Shen, R.-J., Hu, Y.-H.: â€Å"Market basket analysis in a multiple store environment†, Decision Support Systems (article in press), 2004, accessed through www.ScienceDirect.com Limitedbrands: Achieving Greater Efficiencies with Market Basket Analysis, Microstrategy World 2004 Conference, Miami, 2004 Microstrategy: Business Intelligence in the Retail Industry, Microstrategy World 2003 Conference, Las Vegas, 2003 Microstrategy Web Site: http://www.microstrategy.com/Software/, Microstrategy, 2005 Merkur Commercial Analytical System – KAS, internal document, Merkur, 2005 Merkur Web Site: http://www.merkur.si/ang/podj.html, Merkur, 2005 Svetina, Marko: Izdelava in uporaba market basket analiz, http://www.muson.net/Konferenca_login.asp?mni=12, Konferenca MUS 2004, Ljubljana, 2004 Svetina, Marko: Kome rcialni analitski sistem v podjetju Merkur d.d., Konferenca Poslovna inteligenca in upravljanje odnosov s strankami, Ljubljana, 2002 Vindevogel, B., Van den Poel, D., Wets, G.: â€Å"Why promotion strategies based on market basket analysis do not work† (article in press), Expert Systems with Applications, 2005, accessed through www.ScienceDirect.com Weng, S.-S., Liu, J.-L.: â€Å"Feature-based recommendations for one-to-one marketing†, Expert Systems with Applications, Vol. 26, 2004, pp. 493-508.

Frasier Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Frasier - Essay Example Majority of the scenes takes place in a bar known as cheers located in Boston Massachusetts. A group of locals met in the bar where they got drunk and relaxed at the same time. The rest of the scenes take place on stage 25 in Paramount Studios besides various locations within Los Angeles. Period allocated for a particular show in television and strategic scheduling usually plays a significant role in attracting as well as retaining audience. Shows, aired for shorter periods, attract audience more compared to those having long durations. Frasier show lasted for 30 minutes and aired after the Seinfeld hit series, which had a very huge audience. The Frasier show rated as one of the most successful spin-off series in television history besides being the greatest comedy series of the time that received critical acclamation (Gates). According to many viewers, the show attracted a huge audience due to Cranes’ intra-family culture clash. This was symbolic of what occurred when the blue-collar Americans sent their children to Harvard. Most of the American Television series frequently featured socioeconomic systems but not the class system as presented by Frasier series. Gates, Anita. TELEVISION; Yes, America Has a Class System. See Frasier. New York Times. 19Th April 1998. Web. 9Th September 2013.

Canadian Blood Services Analysis Research Paper

Canadian Blood Services Analysis - Research Paper Example Introduction It has been the wish of Canadian Blood Services to continue saving lives through supplying adequate blood. Nonetheless, it is quite obvious that the blood supply is barely enough to meet the increasing demand resulting from the ageing population as well as increased number of emergencies and elective surgeries. As a result, this has called for development of efficient and effective strategies aimed at increasing blood supply through increased donors as well as repeat donations. This memo contains SWOT analysis and strategies that can be used to attain increased blood supply are outlined. Discussion Objectives of Canadian Blood Services Canadian Blood Services is an organization that attempts to motivate people to donate blood. The organization’s main objective is to increase the number of donors to approximately 400,000 and donor retention statistics in order to meet the challenges of increasing blood demand. Increasing blood demand is associated with ageing popul ation, increased emergencies and elective surgeries, and the need to reduce waiting time. Attaining this objective however, requires effective motivational strategies. SWOT Analysis In order to identify the best strategies that will lead to increased blood supply from donors, there is need to understand the strengths, weakness, opportunities, and threats surrounding CBS. The SWOT analysis exhibit 1 displays some of the strengths, weakness, opportunities, and threats facing the organization. Market Segmentation Market segmentation is an important aspect in marketing since it provides an overview and vista to identify specific groups of persons or individuals to focus on while using promotional strategies to influence their behaviors. There are two forms or categories of market segment that CBS should focus on in a bid to increasing number of donors and repeated donations. These two categories are non-remunerated and remunerated blood donation market segments. Remunerated Blood Donati on Segment: The remunerated blood donation segment involves individuals who are above 17 years of age. These individuals are reached out to through mails, flyers, or word or mouth. In most cases, the segment obtains financial incentives from CBS hence termed as remunerated blood donation segment. CBS has concentrated so much on this segment given that they are the majority within the country. However, the main challenge the organization faces is to motivate this segment in order to increase blood donations. Non-remunerated Blood Donation Segment: This segment contains three main groups; schools individuals aged between 15 and 24, working individuals between age 25 and 24, and the senior donors aged above 55 years. The first two categories of this segment are often influenced by their friends who have donated before. Other ways through which they are motivated to donate include satisfaction in saving another person’s life, the need for acceptance, friendship, and love, and the conviction that some day they will be in the same situation. Reaching the school and working age is usually through internet, school learning programs, word of mouth, mails, and television programs. Notably, such individuals rarely donate blood since their donations depend on donation program in schools, time, and other obligations. The senior donors (aged above 55 years) on the other hand make donating decisions depending on personal

Personal Branding Plan Paper Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Personal Branding Plan - Research Paper Example I believe I can swim in the fenland of life, in the streets and not come out stinking, and hunt monsters without turning into one. Through my interest in others and genuine concern for my community I develop lasting, fruitful relationship with my colleagues and increase the citizens trust in law enforcement agencies. My interest in law enforcing, however, goes beyond community law enforcing, as I would like to widen my boundaries and practice law enforcing on a broader scale. The priority function of the Border Patrol is preventing illegal entry of aliens and weapons, including weapons of mass destruction into the country (Defle, 2002). This particular line of duty has always fascinated me and holds a great appeal for me as it is my aspiration to help develop a peaceful nation. Becoming a Border Patrol Officer is a step towards maintaining internal peace as it is a border patrol officer’s main aim to prevent terrorists and terrorists’ weapons from entering the country by securing the states borderline (Defle, 2002). Their agents work round the clock on assignments, in all kinds of terrain and weather conditions. Agents also work in many isolated communities around the country. Several years as a law enforcement officer have strengthened my endurance and perseverance ability. Therefore, this line of work is an ideal match for my experience and skills (Defle, 2002). Private security is involved with ensuring the safety and security of individuals and property, as well as sensitive organization information and intellectual property. Being a private security officer is often a hard job and at the same time honorable merely because the employee is constantly risking his life with regard to protecting other people (Defle, 2002). The job requires a certain degree of willingness and dedication as well as the sense of being responsible for other people. I believe I possess these qualities. Private

Brain Development Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Brain Development - Research Paper Example Brain functions through activity of neural circuits. These circuits are formed from the fetal period and throughout the life by forming synapses in a process called synaptogenesis. The necessary neutrons that a brain will have until death are almost present in a new born baby's brain. During the development stage 250,000 neutrons are added per minute. The brain grows after birth by increasing the size of the neurons and consequent increase in number of supporting cells. The weight of the brain of the newborn is approximately 300 grams. Brain weight increases with age and achieve mature weight between six and fourteen years of life. The baby's brain moulds itself in response to the demands of the surroundings. The child's brain is an amazing learning engine. A child learns to do everything step by step in his growing stage. Children acquire language in a fast pace. It is found out that a baby reacts to language with his complete brain until he is one year old. Brain imaging studies suggest that the brain continues to develop through adolescence and into young adulthood. During adolescence, the parts of the brain that are liable for expressing emotions and for seeking enjoyment tend to mature sooner than the regions of the brain that control impulses, reasoning and decision making. The adult brain is related mostly to the human intellect. The modern science admits that emotions are fundamental to the general mental health. Recent studies show that brain produces new neurons even at the age of seventies. The normal aging process leaves most mental functions unharmed, and even provide the brain with unique advantages that form the root of wisdom The 'Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus', written in the 17th century BC, has the earliest recorded reference to the brain. Hippocrates believed the brain to be the seat of intelligence. Studies of the brain became more sophisticated after the invention of the microscope. In the late 1890s Santiago Ramon y Cajal and Camillo Golgi suggested the neuron doctrine, which established that the functional unit of the brain is the neuron. Related studies by Paul Broca suggested that certain regions of the brain were responsible for certain functions. Modern researches are ongoing to show that distinct areas of the cortex are activated in the execution of specific tasks. The advance in neuroscience in the last 10 years is ahead of that has made ever since the studies of brain began. let us try to brief the current trends in the studies of brain. A child gets adapted to the environment at his birth, due to the presence of abundance of the neural circuit in his brain. Healthy brain cells will die if they don't have to perform during the critical periods of a child's developmental years. Each element of a picture which we see is sent to different parts of the brain for processing. The human brain's capacity is best standardized by the number of connections that develop among its billions of brain cells. Different neurological and behavioral differences come out in the early developmental stages and continue throughout a lifetime. Neuro-biological differences mostly causes many of the gender-specific patterns in learning and behavior. Immobility is unable to get along with complex learning experiences. Continual stress and fear can lead to the physical destruction of neurons in the hippocampus, a sub-cortical structure that plays an important role

Doesn't Matter Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Doesn't Matter - Essay Example ly problematic world is the main purpose of the poet who skilfully illustrates the universal characteristic of the human condition in the modern world through the geographically, historically, and linguistically wide variety of cultural, literary, and spiritual settings. Thus, the poem attains a universal appeal and nature which mainly worked in favour of the piece which is now considered as the most effective touchstone of modern literature. The poet resorts to a complex method of incorporating culturally, geographically, historically, spiritually, and linguistically distinct settings to deal with the most complex theme of the modern world. The essential method used by Eliot in The Waste Land, according to Cleanth Brooks, is â€Å"the principle of complexity. The poet works in terms of surface parallelisms which in reality make ironical contrasts, and in terms of surface contrasts which in reality constitute parallelisms.† (Brooks) The employment of such a wide variety of set ting can be best comprehended as part of the poet’s specific method of illustrating the complex nature of the modern world through a complex method. In The Waste Land, Eliot concentrates on dealing with the primary theme of the modern world situation and the particular settings, images, and symbols used by the poet help him in this attempt. Rather than demonstrating the thinner side of the modern situation of the world, offering a single, unambiguous meaning to the poem, the poet provides opportunity for multiple interpretations and meanings. The various symbols, which are drawn from a variety of settings, correspond to the dramatized instances of the theme, exemplifying in their own nature the basic paradox of the theme. Therefore, the manifold settings and symbols of the poem help in the development of the basic themes of the poem. Eliot’s themes are drawn from the various ages, settings, and contexts, and, hence, the use of various settings enhances the appeal of the themes.