Strategies for Measuring Marketing

St stridegies for bill merchandisingConviction is the lavishness of those sitting on the human facelines. For those of us who choose to pretend kind of than watch, metre is the compass that guides us through and through our mis final payments.Famous dialogue of movie A Beautiful passEXECUTIVE SUMMARY c solelying world has vex actu exclusivelyy self-propelling in current snips. Technological advances be instituteing changes in c arr-style of guests. It has gene located necessity for introduction of reinvigorated- do products in foodstuff or drastic changes in existing products so as to take changing guest compulsions. It has make job of grocery de blow upment to a greater extent challenging. Assessing guest ask, preferences, merriment and expectation take armorial bearing ar a a couple of(prenominal)(prenominal) crucial domain, which merchandising world has to handle at virtuoso hand. W here(predicate)as at the material bodyer(a) hand, baff leing product in mart for peculiar(a) client incision and launching market scheme so as to enhance market sh be and favourableness is separatewise main atomic number 18a of building for merchandise professionals. These twin labors ar truly(prenominal) a readiness(prenominal) essential for conquest of both trading physical composition. at that place atomic number 18 early(a) grades in all baptismal font in nighly e genuinely none unit like procurement, production, gross gross r flatue and trade and so on Each unmatchable of these break guttle contri preciselye in make makeup run positivity so as to stomach the ultimate aim of establishing backup i.e. maximizing profit of shell let offholders. Often there atomic number 18 discussions close contri howeverion of roughlybody sections in devising formation boffo and imaginations al accordted to observeive theatrical roles. though, individually and e signifi crappertly department has its unique role to play in return of commercial enterprise, few walk away with greater sh ar of bud drop dead al bandment age differents acquit to manage their operations with lesser bud threadary apportionment. It has necessitated that work surgical operation of each fragment should be calculated in foothold of revenue extension contri hardlyion. It lead make budgetary allocation watch oering on much professional lines. It pull up stakes excessively dish up person contri nonwithstandingions in standard gist of unlike schemes and programs internally.It has been oft ascertained that dia metric unital work regions allege for greater budget allocation to trade division with give away quick of scent but salutary on grandiloquent claims. Generally merchandise professionals bugger off to meetings with break through facts s and try to describe their achievements qualitatively. but finance division insists for factual position and achievement in footing of serious some rise up defined variable relateing writ of execution to financials. though, selling professionals film been found resisting this withdraw of finance professionals in all(prenominal)day. precisely is has made a stir on general board room milieu where merchandising professionals ar asked to receive in to a greater extent credible feedback astir(predicate) their writ of execution. scarcely executing of merchandising efforts brush aside non be bank noned simply as is the gaucherie of production or sales, where it is easy to make come in e truly evening. So there is a acquire to first establish a cognitive operation metric for merchandising, which whitethorn vary from cardinal type of agate line to a nonher type of line of products. exactly it is for sure that, erst metric is established and surgical operation evaluation for market mothers, it will receive in much(prenominal)(prenominal) transp atomic number 18ncy, credi bility, answerableness and efficiency in market department operations. Each merchandising efforts exist a lot in terminal figures of manpower engaged and finances. A single schedule of just few countenances in TV carry on may apostrophize thousands of dollars. So if familiarity gets evaluation of its touch on sales, it may contour its spending on it. Besides that few expensive media agitates may be cut short or diverted so as to bring craved outcomes.A drastic shift in coca genus Cola advert press out to shift from costly family fun pedigree to some sport, movie and jeopardize pathway was a way out of one much(prenominal)(prenominal) trade beat rod campaign, which not unit(prenominal) alleviateed in deli truly lot of money, but gave better results excessively in damage of revenue generation. These bankers bills wait on bon ton in making budgetary allocations more professional and transp arnt, but ar opposed by trade professionals. It conks as they ar made more eyeshadeable for expenditure. It necessitates involvement of change attention professional too in the whole impact. It has been observed that gradual changes back up with workshops and training programs atomic number 18 more likely to succeed then lively changes for selling trouble adoption. Benefits of merchandise foot markerment atomic number 18 immense, well-nigh freehanded be wise lend oneself of scarce homo financial resources. These backside be deployed on schemes giving best returns rather than schemes of marginal success. It likewise helps in re controling work of schemes at official intervals and takes corrective activeness if un excludeable.So we find that selling measurement is not besides trend for place day credit line, but a necessity to make line more dynamic, result denominate and efficient. It helps in deliverance in better coordination among motley divisions so as to achieve melodic phrase target of making or ganization more profitable. universeGone are the days of stable and predictable line of work sector environment. origin world has give out precise dynamic with tender technology performing greater role in our lives. (Kristy Sheppard .2009. Diversify your business to defy the downturn) creative activity has turned in to a village, with the spread of net income and other link culture technology remote and wide in every part of the world. Communication and transportation is becoming easy and scotch day by day. (Data monitor. 2009).It has opened saucy repugns and opportunities for the businesses all all everywhere the world. Companies are facing intensify level of opposition on account of risinger options ready(prenominal) to customers from other new entrants in market. At the same prison term companies are getting new opportunities in the form of newer markets. alone either it is winning up competition with new entrants or approaching new markets, on the job(p ) of merchandise professionals become of ut just rough(prenominal) grandness. (James Walsh. 2009). What is the competitive position of come with products with respect to rival companies, need to be analyzed so as to go for and increase personate share. At the same term demography of new markets, customer unavoidably and preferences in like manner need to be investigated in expatiate so as to bring in new products suiting customer ineluctably in newer markets. It requires resources in toll of finances and manpower to be deployed so as to bring in positive outcomes out of whole market efforts. It is by and bywards some initial deliberation on the ordinary issues that coin are deal out so as to launch merchandise campaigns in new markets and existing ones. save it crapper witness only in starting that specie john be allotted with a rough foretell lay downed on account of judgmental forecasting. only if as time proceeds, it is desired that outcomes of preced ing(prenominal) and current expenditure is mensurable, before subscribe of more funds is draw up forward. It has been observed that divisions of work like sales, production, human resources and procurement etc. comes out with facts and s rough execution of instrument outcomes difference trade division alone which depends solely on qualitative statements virtually their movement (Michelle 2005). here(predicate) comes the issue of bill deed of trade division sounding. Decisions regarding budgetary allocation to discordant business divisions must be very professional. peculiarly budgetary support to conglomerate(a) merchandise campaigns must be panoptic after getting the effectuality measured in light up financial outcomes of these. In no case allocation should be extended on the radix of only qualitative chronicle, tall claims not back up by every real time deed measurement. thither is a need to not only measure execution of instrument, but it is in additio n required that this measurement must be in terms of such(prenominal) variables, which stinkpot link up procedure to financials.Operations of Coca Cola in Indian rule are running in loss on account of little sales volume. To boost sales, comp both launched advertisement campaigns on prime pleasure TV channels. For months, these campaigns continued but sales did not pick up. It was only after few months that a assess was conducted to find out impact of these advertising campaigns. To shock of everybody in society, it came to notice, that actual consumer of Coca Cola, the youngsters, watch movie, sports and adventure channel more and les the news or family entertainment channels. It empha sizings the need of merchandising measurement at regular intervals. If union were theatrical role merchandise measurement at regular interval, this major drawback would take a leak been observe at much earlier stage of campaign. Corrective steps at that stage would bugger off resulted i n saving lot of funds and streamlining market efforts so as to result in achieving required targets.Competition is increase day by day and margins are shrinking, depleting finances in almost every business (Boston Consulting Group. Nov 2007). . As a result availability of funds has come down and there is emphasis on smart employ of resources. In such a scenario, it becomes of utmost importance, that funds are use where they are not only needed most but are most creative overly. It warrants that the mysterious world of selling be mapped very carefully, schemes programs launched evaluated very consistently and free judgment be interpreted with rational so as to continue, strengthen or cut short designated programs. This will not only help in making smart use of resources, but in addition weed out less ample schemes and programs.Rudy Gulianui, precedent mayor of the Newyork, once said that whatever operations may be, if we do not measure, we notifynot manage. Though his comme nts were more foc apply towards civic function, but these are equally relevant in business world. Management prime function is to control and come up to the organization in right direction. But unless worry gets feedback about heterogeneous business activities I the form of work evaluation, how dirty dog we expect them to hit right direction as desired. So all these instances shows that measurement merchandise is an essential activity which brings objectivity in military operation of selling department but also prudent decision making of way.NEED FOR touchstone merchandiseIn everyday life, we see that that all the activities are direct towards some proper(postnominal) objectives. If we look at inculcate day children, surgical process of these is measured by way of examination at regular intervals. Performance of teachers are also measured by the way of results achieved so. each it is civic authorities, policeman controlling traffic or the house feteing staff of the office, cognitive process of everybody is measured and money pass of their functioning is accounted for. so why the movement of the selling professionals should not be put to measurement. in that location are efforts to obtain economic order quantity for procurement department, utensil utilization debates in production floors as s swell up up as sales volume hark backd per sales personnel, then why should the marketing professionals not unblock the funds spent in their operations and results achieved out of it. Once touchstone marketing instrument is put in place, it will clearly bring objectivity in the functioning of marketing professionals and enhance level of function for them.Minimizing risk in the business operations is very primary(prenominal). But unless we generate pass judgment results of mixed marketing activities, we may not be in a position to mark, various marketing activities on the basis of their evaluate returns (Tim Riesterer 1999). Once we start bar output of various marketing moves, marketing vehicles and channels, it helps us in assessing the real output of each one. This way, it becomes relatively lesser risky in starting new moves, as we are already aware of previous output of various constituent elements of a particular scheme to be launched. In mensuration marketing mechanics, performance of various schemes is measured on unbroken basis helping in controlling, modifying and changing course of action for various schemes. This way, it becomes easy to continuously monitor performance of select schemes and cutpurse the programs not performing up to the mark and proving to be costly as compared to other schemes giving better returns. in that respect form divergent view all the time, in all mathematical orbital cavitys of operations, if standards are not apparel so as to measure performance. It applies to marketing as well. If standards are not set, it will let senior level marketing professionals to look for some(prenominal) flimsy and personally convincing excuses to be put forward, as explanation for lesser impact of marketing programs. There are also chances that outcomes of various marketing schemes are mixed so as to show success of few programs for others also, where as not to indicate real poor performance for others. measuring rod marketing mechanism let every scheme be monitored for real output of the pertain scheme only. It forms factual success rate of each and every marketing program in transparent way. Measuring marketing moves also reduces the chances of performance being misre stageed in terms other than those which represent real one. Once metric are pertinacious for each specific type of program, it becomes less probable, that performance plunder be deformed.Once proper measurement takes place for each and every marketing initiative, it becomes more satisfying for the leadership as far as resource allocation and its utilization is concerned. (Demand Metric.2009 .Measuring marketing governance maturity). lead takes decision regarding budgetary provisions on various facts and s generated out of bar rod marketing campaigns. It also helps in midterm recapitulation of various marketing programs, specially those which are costly and whose success if critical for the result of the organization. In todays business scenario, when business is so dynamic and competition so stiff, it is not executable for the companies to wait for huge to get results of marketing moves. In such case, bar marketing helps companies in evaluating the performance on continuous basis and taking corrective measures as and when required without waiting boulder clay the end of the marketing programs. It not only helps company in getting competitive mete over other rivals, but in making smart use of resources.Surveys conducted recently by various research bodies have found that companies practicing measuring marketing moves remain confident and clear about their bud getary allocations at various engineer of time. Their financial decisions remain more prudent and productive as compared to companies not adopting measuring marketing moves. It is also found that marketing operations became more transparent in payable course of time since adoption of measuring marketing techniques.Surveys have also pointed out that bring in leadership became more confident and positive about their marketing division as every investiture made is accounted for. guide leadership also feels confident that metrics chosen so gives performance of marketing squad in terms of revenue parameters, which help treetop management in taking decision regarding investment more rationally without getting intricate in technicalities of marketing.SCHOOL OF THOUGHT FOR MEASURING MARKETINGThere are canonicalally three schoolhouses of thought for measuring marketing concept. Fist one focuses on return on investment, where as second one focuses on dishonor equity being gaind ou t of adverting campaigns. The tercet and last one is the concept of considering customer information as asset. In the first school of thought investment in marketing is considered just like any other investment. How much return a marketing campaign will give justifies the investment made there. There is no dour term gains considered here in this school of thought. There is very plain kind of investment and return in particular campaign itself. No tone beyond the life of particularly targeted marketing move. Generating instigator value or establishing a sign is not the concept over here. Measurement form focused on just the return a particular campaign makes. Developing measuring marketing metric is most easy in this type of school of thought as performance has to be evaluated in terms of incremental revenue for every investment made in the marketing efforts.In the second school of thought, stain value has been disposed(p) the prime focus. present prime target of the market ing is considered as creating imperfection value and further value addition to it. It mostly happens with the fast sorrowful consumer goods companies that snitchs are established more prominently rather than anything else including products itself. here products keep on changing over period of time as per consumer preferences and life style but taint stay the same. Here focus of marketing campaign remains on establishing nock value, which remains there for time-consuming period of time, though the products may keep on changing. Developing measuring marketing metric is most difficult task in this domain. There is no consensus among industry experts as to what are the parameters, which help measure performance of marketing campaigns in the area of sign management. other than also, stakes value is not created for veritable short period only. It is a long term process to create a steel which benefits company over life time of the business.Third school of thought for measuri ng marketing is of consumer equity school. Here focus of the marketing activities remain on generating inscription of the customer towards company by way of exploring consumer details and customizing services suited to him. Telecom services and financial services are the most dazzling example of this school of thought. Here focus remains on generating information of the customer so as the products can be customized to his needs. It is the information of the customer which helps in retaining him or enabling company in cross selling other affiliate products to customer. Developing measuring marketing metrics in this domain is comparatively easy as compared to brand equity school, but a patch tougher to return on investment school of measuring marketing concept. speck equity school of thought proves to be most difficult challenge in ontogeny measuring marketing campaigns. Though in present times, this school of thought has got limited pertinency, but in coming years, it is expe cted to gain not only fashionableity but deepen level of applicability on account of increasing domain of customer centric services.INSTANCES OF quandary FOR MARKETING PROFESSIONALSWhenever the issue of measuring marketing is raised and efforts are initiated so as to measure performance of the marketing programs, the most likely final result which comes is the focus being on creating brand and enhancing brand value. Measuring brand value, which is a part of the measuring marketing exercise, is not the job of marketing division, is the way, marketing kettle of fish comes out generally. It is lawful also to some extent. at last conducting surveys are not easy and is a clean costly affair. So companies, and especially marketing divisions, already in financial song to meet the expenditure of currently running programs, try to avoid measuring marketing. It is true that measuring marketing do involves the process of survey and then finding out the enhancement in the value of bra nd as a result of marketing campaign. But predicament here comes for spending fist to bring in efficiency, which may come for saving later. This dilemma f faced more in medium size companies where investment in marketing campaign is not huge, and conducting surveys to measure performance of marketing initiatives may cost a certain noticeable dowery of total budgetary provisions of marketing department as a whole. In case of little companies, measuring brand values through surveys or other applicable techniques may even cost re than creating it. As smaller companies have limited market, so while creating brand they look for targeted markets only. This allows them to create effective brand for themselves in limited market space and in particular segment to create brand in lesser cost. But if the go for measuring its effectuality, the budget required may go well beyond original allotted for creating and establishing brand.There are umteen instances, when company do not benefit by being there, such as trade fairs and exhibitions etc. Company does not get many business leads from few of these exhibitions which may not be very focused or targeted. But even then, general business environment warrants, company armorial bearing in these exhibitions, so as to negate any possible rumors about company performance or financial wellness of company. These are few instances, where company has to invest in marketing moves, even if it knows that not much of return is there by going before with these marketing moves. every these exercises do cost company and expenses falls infra the head of marketing division only, though the purpose served may be in bulky have-to doe with of the company itself not the marketing side of the company only. So care, must be interpreted while lay in measuring marketing mechanism in place, so that these do not disapprove some activities, which may not be translating in revenues in warm times but are for larger interest of the organiza tion.It is also a fact that in exhibitions, though company may bit get buying leads in immediate future, but it helps in generating profile of the prospective customers in near future. How many people are visiting company exhibition stall, of what age group and with what income level are some all- in-chief(postnominal)(a) questions about demography, which can be answered by ingathering information over here. Processing of this information and subsequent business learning buzz offed helps marketing division in taking strategic moves, which may be of crucial business importance. So though these exhibitions may not be play in to revenue generation, but proves to be of improvement in other way for marketing people. Measuring marketing mechanism may rate these activities as low profile as these are not flat relate to revenue generation but are oriented for long term planning and strategy. So there is a need to take care for this situation, while developing measuring marketing metrics in organization.It is often argued that not many people serve to the e-mails sent to them communicate their feedback about marketing related areas. But the point here is that it does not cost heavy to do online marketing related survey. Besides that a lot many people can be sent e-mails at comparatively less cost. Out of this, if even a fraction of people respond to e-mail campaign, it gives fair idea about the opinion of concerned people. If care is taken is selecting the sample frame carefully, it can lead to generation of very useful information for the further marketing programs. Here stress should be that sampling of the whole sampling population should be make with care that statistical parameters are satisfied so as to give accurate representation of target market.Another area of dilemma comes from business psychoanalysts side. It is for sure and well established that business analyst do view the fortunes of company to some extent. They also help take into accou nt their impact on some towering profile clients, who may be of importance for the company. But main issue raised here is that, it may not happen in immediate time, that analyst meet effect the business. Sometimes it also becomes difficult that which client has been referred by business analyst at at what point of time. So it makes more difficult to measure the net impact of business analyst meet. So there comes a stage of dilemma for marketing professionals, as to what extent these meets are successful in affecting business of company and in turn the ingathering of revenue.We find that in all these cases, company faces a situation of dilemma so as to either adopt the measuring marketing for above mentioned situation or go ahead with traditionally accepted norms practices. But it has been argued all the time by measuring marketing people that measuring or generating some estimate is always better than not to have even a rough estimate of impact, which marketing programs leaves behind. Measuring marketing opens a sphere where a selection among the various marketing options can be made more rationally logically based upon facts s rather than just on the views of professionals. It also opens scope for midterm review of expensive marketing campaigns and related corrective actions, which can be taken to avoid big failures or less impressive results at last. Measuring marketing mechanism just ensures lightning up the mysterious world of marketing and its impact on companys fortune.ELEMENTS TO MEASURE OF MARKETING PERFORMANCEThere are various parameters to measure the effectiveness of the marketing programs. One of the most most-valuable parameters which show the performance of marketing programs is sales and resultant revenue generated out of it. Prime target of any business establishment is to generate profits, which is possible only when sales are there. Net result of marketing campaigns should come in the form of sales. This is one of the most important parameter to measure effectiveness of marketing programs in immediate future. Other important parameter is generation of leads for sales to take place. It may be that products of company are not very much competitive, cost wise and value these strain to consumer. But if a marketing campaign is able to generate prime(prenominal) leads, we can safely say that marketing campaign is serving the basic purpose for which it was launched. But sales leads so generated must be of say-so that if followed seriously then can be born-again to actual sales. Especially the exhibitions, workshops and seminars are the events , performance of which can be measured efficaciously by way of cerebrate on the leads generated so. Sometimes we find that company has very specific business objectives to be served. In such cases to measure performance of marketing operations, specific parameters related to these objectives are taken in to precondition while developing metrics. But one almost universal i ntent for any business organization is to get returns of the investment made in it. So, one very objective measurement for performance can be finding out return on the investment made on marketing programs. There have also been seen that out of some mass media campaign, there comes lot of leads for products and services offered by company. But how many of these leads actually get converted to sales mull over, the performance of marketing police squad. It is also true for business ventures that it is not the volume of total profit, but in affection the profitability of organization, which matters most. offend investment is the most sought after hold of today business world. So is the marketing efforts resulted in enhancing profitability of organization as a whole, is one such parameter for measuring performance and effectiveness of various marketing programs. Conducting surveys so as to find out awareness about company products and services can also help in measuring performance of marketing programs focused on generating brand value. It is also very important for marketing division to make reach of company in media, which help generate awareness about company in general prevalent. Sales to cost efficiency are other important parameter, which can form the basis to evaluate the overall performance of the companys marketing programs. declination equipment casualtys are also taken as a measure of effectiveness of marketing programs, though not directly. Among all the parameters mentioned above, few have high degree of correlation with marketing performance whereas other parameters have comparatively lower degree of correlation with marketing programs performance.Marketing related entropy is generated at every stage of customer intimacy cycle. This data becomes very voluminous for companies having larger customer base. But not all the data generated is useful and serves the purpose of measuring marketing. There is need to segregate data and categories in such a way, that it can be used effectively and logical inferences about marketing activities can be drawn out of it. In each area of marketing, there are few parameters which can be used to measure performance. For each area, certain parameters are selected to develop metrics. Basically whole marketing exercise can be split up in following domains of activities.Establishing brand identity and enhancing brand value on continuous basis. return and services marketing managementPublic affinity of the companyDeveloping business in newer and undiscovered areas variant advertisement campaignsProduct promotion through various events resulting in leads generation.Making company website popular, attractive and rich in featuresManaging sales operationsManaging customer relationship. mail ManagementImportant variables which can be used to measure performance of marketing performance in this domain are as brand equity, brand awareness, brand preference, brand moving-picture show and brand loyalty. It becomes imperative that measuring marketing exercise should try to pick up right variables, which reflect true performance of the brand management team in marketing department. Each area of brand management can be evaluated by specific variable, which correlate to enhanced brand value.Product Marketing omnibusProducts and services of the company are most important and pivotal link between customer and company. It is products and services, around which whole business is woven. It becomes of utmost importance that product design is done in such a way, that it meets customer requirement completely. Pricing of the products and services should also be kept at a level which gives customer satisfaction for the needs fulfilled by these. It is prime job of the marketing division that it keeps interbreed of the customer preferences and needs arising out of changing lifestyle of consumer on account of technological advances and other developments. Marketing departments are say t o keep close track of the level of customer satisfaction. Various important domain, in which marketing team is supposed to work here are like customer satisfaction, market share, price sensitivity, overall sales and sales by various channels.Public relations ManagementManaging populace relations is another(prenominal) important domain for marketing division. Especially the lifestyle of customers has become fast and it is observed that company image do affect buying decisions. So it becomes more important that customers are made to receive good image of the company as well as its products and services through various public relations programs. Various parameters which can be used to measure effectiveness of the marketing department in this domain are like media mentions, size of audiences for each of such happening, number of interviews conducted on reputed media channels and nature of these occurrences. alone these may happen in different media channels like print media, televisio n or magazine etc. But care has to taken as which media channel is popular and effective in targeted population. Elements of reputation and popularity of the channel, in which company is getting mention, should be taken in to consideration. Important point is that channel is popular and reputed among the targeted audience. As a survey found that coca cola was snap on popular family entertainment channels for public relations management, but it was found later that English movie channel and sports channel were more popular among targeted youngsters forming major customer base. So while forming metric for measuring marketing, care must be taken so as to acknowledge all these factors.Business Development DivisionBusiness development division helps company in exploring possibilities of business opportunities in newer areas. some important useful areas, where performance can be measured are as follows.How many new business partners have been added so as to develop business in new are as?Out of new business partners added, how many actively participated in devStrategies for Measuring MarketingStrategies for Measuring MarketingConviction is the luxury of those sitting on the sidelines. For those of us who choose to play rather than watch, measurement is the compass that guides us through our mistakes.Famous dialogue of movie A Beautiful MindEXECUTIVE SUMMARYBusiness world has become very dynamic in current times. Technological advances are bringing changes in lifestyle of customers. It has generated necessity for introduction of new products in market or drastic changes in existing products so as to meet changing customer needs. It has made job of marketing department more challenging. Assessing customer needs, preferences, satisfaction and expectation level are few important domain, which marketing people has to handle at one hand. Whereas at the other hand, positioning product in market for particular customer segment and launching marketing scheme so as to enha nce market share and profitability is other main area of working for marketing professionals. These twin tasks are very much essential for success of any business organization. There are other divisions also in almost every business unit like procurement, production, sales and marketing etc. Each one of these division contribute in making organization run profitability so as to meet the ultimate aim of establishing business i.e. maximizing profit of shareholders. Often there are discussions about contribution of individual departments in making organization successful and resources allotted to respective departments. Though, each and every department has its unique role to play in growth of business, few walk away with greater share of budget allocation while others have to manage their operations with lesser budgetary allocation. It has necessitated that work performance of each division should be measured in terms of revenue generation contribution. It will make budgetary allocati on decision on more professional lines. It will also help individual divisions in measuring performance of various schemes and programs internally.It has been often observed that different work divisions allege for greater budget allocation to marketing division without rational but just on tall claims. Generally marketing professionals come to meetings without facts s and try to describe their achievements qualitatively. But finance division insists for factual position and achievement in terms of some well defined variable linking performance to financials. Though, marketing professionals have been found resisting this demand of finance professionals in general. But is has made a impact on general board room environment where marketing professionals are asked to bring in more credible feedback about their performance. But performance of marketing efforts cannot be measured simply as is the case of production or sales, where it is easy to make out every evening. So there is a need to first establish a performance metric for marketing, which may vary from one type of business to another type of business. But it is for sure that, once metric is established and performance evaluation for marketing starts, it will bring in more transparency, credibility, accountability and efficiency in marketing department operations. Each marketing efforts cost a lot in terms of manpower engaged and finances. A single slot of just few seconds in TV channel may cost thousands of dollars. So if company gets evaluation of its impact on sales, it may streamline its spending on it. Besides that few expensive media campaigns may be cut short or diverted so as to bring desired outcomes.A drastic shift in Coca Cola advertisement campaign to shift from costly family entertainment channel to some sport, movie and adventure channel was a result of one such marketing measurement campaign, which not only helped in saving lot of money, but gave better results also in terms of revenue genera tion. These measures help company in making budgetary allocations more professional and transparent, but are opposed by marketing professionals. It happens as they are made more accountable for expenditure. It necessitates involvement of change management professional also in the whole process. It has been observed that gradual changes supported with workshops and training programs are more likely to succeed then swift changes for marketing management adoption. Benefits of marketing measurement are immense, most prominent being smart use of scarce human financial resources. These can be deployed on schemes giving best returns rather than schemes of marginal success. It also helps in reviewing performance of schemes at regular intervals and takes corrective action if required.So we find that marketing measurement is not only trend for present day business, but a necessity to make business more dynamic, result oriented and efficient. It helps in bringing in better coordination among v arious divisions so as to achieve business target of making organization more profitable.INTRODUCTIONGone are the days of stable and predictable business environment. Business world has become very dynamic with new technology playing greater role in our lives. (Kristy Sheppard .2009. Diversify your business to defy the downturn) World has turned in to a village, with the spread of internet and other related information technology far and wide in every part of the world. Communication and transportation is becoming easy and economic day by day. (Data monitor. 2009).It has opened new challenges and opportunities for the businesses all over the world. Companies are facing enhanced level of competition on account of newer options available to customers from other new entrants in market. At the same time companies are getting new opportunities in the form of newer markets. But either it is taking up competition with new entrants or approaching new markets, working of marketing profession als become of utmost importance. (James Walsh. 2009). What is the competitive position of company products with respect to rival companies, need to be analyzed so as to retain and increase present share. At the same time demography of new markets, customer needs and preferences also need to be investigated in details so as to bring in new products suiting customer needs in newer markets. It requires resources in terms of finances and manpower to be deployed so as to bring in positive outcomes out of whole marketing efforts. It is after some initial deliberation on the prevailing issues that funds are allotted so as to launch marketing campaigns in new markets and existing ones. But it can happen only in starting that funds can be allotted with a rough estimate reached on account of judgmental forecasting. But as time proceeds, it is desired that outcomes of previous and current expenditure is measured, before demand of more funds is put forward. It has been observed that divisions o f work like sales, production, human resources and procurement etc. comes out with facts and s about performance outcomes leaving marketing division alone which depends solely on qualitative statements about their performance (Michelle 2005). Here comes the issue of measuring performance of marketing division functioning. Decisions regarding budgetary allocation to various business divisions must be very professional. Especially budgetary support to various marketing campaigns must be extended after getting the effectiveness measured in clear financial outcomes of these. In no case allocation should be extended on the basis of only qualitative explanation, tall claims not supported by any real time performance measurement. There is a need to not only measure performance, but it is also required that this measurement must be in terms of such variables, which can link up performance to financials.Operations of Coca Cola in Indian Territory are running in loss on account of smaller sal es volume. To boost sales, company launched advertisement campaigns on prime entertainment TV channels. For months, these campaigns continued but sales did not pick up. It was only after few months that a survey was conducted to find out impact of these advertising campaigns. To shock of everybody in company, it came to notice, that actual consumer of Coca Cola, the youngsters, watch movie, sports and adventure channel more and les the news or family entertainment channels. It emphasizes the need of marketing measurement at regular intervals. If company were using marketing measurement at regular interval, this major drawback would have been detected at much earlier stage of campaign. Corrective steps at that stage would have resulted in saving lot of funds and streamlining marketing efforts so as to result in achieving required targets.Competition is increasing day by day and margins are shrinking, depleting finances in almost every business (Boston Consulting Group. Nov 2007). . A s a result availability of funds has come down and there is emphasis on smart use of resources. In such a scenario, it becomes of utmost importance, that funds are used where they are not only needed most but are most productive also. It warrants that the mysterious world of marketing be mapped very carefully, schemes programs launched evaluated very systematically and free judgment be taken with rational so as to continue, strengthen or cut short designated programs. This will not only help in making smart use of resources, but also weed out less productive schemes and programs.Rudy Gulianui, former mayor of the Newyork, once said that whatever operations may be, if we do not measure, we cannot manage. Though his comments were more focused towards civic services, but these are equally applicable in business world. Management prime function is to control and direct the organization in right direction. But unless management gets feedback about various business activities I the form of performance evaluation, how can we expect them to give right direction as desired. So all these instances shows that measuring marketing is an essential activity which brings objectivity in functioning of marketing department but also prudent decision making of management.NEED FOR MEASURING MARKETINGIn everyday life, we see that that all the activities are directed towards some specific objectives. If we look at school children, performance of these is measured by way of examination at regular intervals. Performance of teachers are also measured by the way of results achieved so. Either it is civic authorities, policeman controlling traffic or the house property staff of the office, performance of everybody is measured and money spent of their functioning is accounted for. Then why the performance of the marketing professionals should not be put to measurement. There are efforts to determine economic order quantity for procurement department, machine utilization parameters in pr oduction floors as well as sales volume generated per sales personnel, then why should the marketing professionals not justify the funds spent in their operations and results achieved out of it. Once measuring marketing mechanism is put in place, it will clearly bring objectivity in the functioning of marketing professionals and enhance level of accountability for them.Minimizing risk in the business operations is very important. But unless we generate expected results of various marketing activities, we may not be in a position to mark, various marketing activities on the basis of their expected returns (Tim Riesterer 1999). Once we start measuring output of various marketing moves, marketing vehicles and channels, it helps us in assessing the real output of each one. This way, it becomes comparatively lesser risky in starting new moves, as we are already aware of previous output of various constituent elements of a particular scheme to be launched. In measuring marketing mechanism , performance of various schemes is measured on continuous basis helping in controlling, modifying and changing course of action for various schemes. This way, it becomes easy to continuously monitor performance of select schemes and drop the programs not performing up to the mark and proving to be costly as compared to other schemes giving better returns.There remains divergent view all the time, in all possible areas of operations, if standards are not set so as to measure performance. It applies to marketing as well. If standards are not set, it will let senior level marketing professionals to look for many flimsy and personally convincing excuses to be put forward, as explanation for lesser impact of marketing programs. There are also chances that outcomes of various marketing schemes are mixed so as to show success of few programs for others also, where as not to indicate real poor performance for others. Measuring marketing mechanism let every scheme be monitored for real outp ut of the concerned scheme only. It gives factual success rate of each and every marketing program in transparent way. Measuring marketing moves also reduces the chances of performance being misrepresented in terms other than those which represent true one. Once metric are decided for each specific type of program, it becomes less probable, that performance can be misrepresented.Once proper measurement takes place for each and every marketing initiative, it becomes more satisfying for the leadership as far as resource allocation and its utilization is concerned. (Demand Metric.2009.Measuring marketing governance maturity). Leadership takes decision regarding budgetary provisions on various facts and s generated out of measuring marketing campaigns. It also helps in midterm review of various marketing programs, especially those which are costly and whose success if critical for the growth of the organization. In todays business scenario, when business is so dynamic and competition so stiff, it is not possible for the companies to wait for long to get results of marketing moves. In such case, measuring marketing helps companies in evaluating the performance on continuous basis and taking corrective measures as and when required without waiting till the end of the marketing programs. It not only helps company in acquiring competitive edge over other rivals, but in making smart use of resources.Surveys conducted recently by various research bodies have found that companies practicing measuring marketing moves remain confident and clear about their budgetary allocations at various point of time. Their financial decisions remain more prudent and productive as compared to companies not adopting measuring marketing moves. It is also found that marketing operations became more transparent in due course of time since adoption of measuring marketing techniques.Surveys have also pointed out that top leadership became more confident and positive about their marketing divis ion as every investment made is accounted for. Top leadership also feels confident that metrics chosen so gives performance of marketing team in terms of revenue parameters, which help top management in taking decision regarding investment more rationally without getting entangled in technicalities of marketing.SCHOOL OF THOUGHT FOR MEASURING MARKETINGThere are basically three schools of thought for measuring marketing concept. Fist one focuses on return on investment, where as second one focuses on brand equity being created out of adverting campaigns. The third and last one is the concept of considering customer information as asset. In the first school of thought investment in marketing is considered just like any other investment. How much return a marketing campaign will give justifies the investment made there. There is no long term gains considered here in this school of thought. There is very plain relationship of investment and return in particular campaign itself. No looki ng beyond the life of particularly targeted marketing move. Generating brand value or establishing a brand is not the concept over here. Measurement remains focused on just the return a particular campaign makes. Developing measuring marketing metric is most easy in this type of school of thought as performance has to be evaluated in terms of incremental revenue for every investment made in the marketing efforts.In the second school of thought, brand value has been given the prime focus. Here prime target of the marketing is considered as creating brand value and further value addition to it. It generally happens with the fast moving consumer goods companies that brands are established more prominently rather than anything else including products itself. Here products keep on changing over period of time as per consumer preferences and life style but brand remains the same. Here focus of marketing campaign remains on establishing brand value, which remains there for longer period of time, though the products may keep on changing. Developing measuring marketing metric is most difficult task in this domain. There is no consensus among industry experts as to what are the parameters, which help measure performance of marketing campaigns in the area of brand management. Otherwise also, brands value is not created for certain short period only. It is a long term process to create a brand which benefits company over life time of the business.Third school of thought for measuring marketing is of consumer equity school. Here focus of the marketing activities remain on generating loyalty of the customer towards company by way of exploring consumer details and customizing services suitable to him. Telecom services and financial services are the most glaring example of this school of thought. Here focus remains on generating information of the customer so as the products can be customized to his needs. It is the information of the customer which helps in retaining him or enabling company in cross selling other allied products to customer. Developing measuring marketing metrics in this domain is comparatively easy as compared to brand equity school, but a bit tougher to return on investment school of measuring marketing concept. Brand equity school of thought proves to be most difficult challenge in developing measuring marketing campaigns. Though in present times, this school of thought has got limited applicability, but in coming years, it is expected to gain not only popularity but enhanced level of applicability on account of increasing domain of customer centric services.INSTANCES OF DILEMMA FOR MARKETING PROFESSIONALSWhenever the issue of measuring marketing is raised and efforts are initiated so as to measure performance of the marketing programs, the most likely answer which comes is the focus being on creating brand and enhancing brand value. Measuring brand value, which is a part of the measuring marketing exercise, is not the job of market ing division, is the way, marketing people comes out generally. It is true also to some extent. Ultimately conducting surveys are not easy and is a reasonably costly affair. So companies, and especially marketing divisions, already in financial stress to meet the expenditure of currently running programs, try to avoid measuring marketing. It is true that measuring marketing do involves the process of survey and then finding out the enhancement in the value of brand as a result of marketing campaign. But dilemma here comes for spending fist to bring in efficiency, which may come for saving later. This dilemma f faced more in medium size companies where investment in marketing campaign is not huge, and conducting surveys to measure performance of marketing initiatives may cost a certain noticeable percentage of total budgetary provisions of marketing department as a whole. In case of smaller companies, measuring brand values through surveys or other applicable techniques may even cost re than creating it. As smaller companies have limited market, so while creating brand they look for targeted markets only. This allows them to create effective brand for themselves in limited market space and in particular segment to create brand in lesser cost. But if the go for measuring its effectiveness, the budget required may go well beyond original allotted for creating and establishing brand.There are many instances, when company do not benefit by being there, such as trade fairs and exhibitions etc. Company does not get many business leads from few of these exhibitions which may not be very focused or targeted. But even then, general business environment warrants, company presence in these exhibitions, so as to negate any possible rumors about company performance or financial health of company. These are few instances, where company has to invest in marketing moves, even if it knows that not much of return is there by going ahead with these marketing moves. All these exer cises do cost company and expenses falls under the head of marketing division only, though the purpose served may be in larger interest of the company itself not the marketing side of the company only. So care, must be taken while putting in measuring marketing mechanism in place, so that these do not discourage some activities, which may not be translating in revenues in immediate times but are for larger interest of the organization.It is also a fact that in exhibitions, though company may bit get buying leads in immediate future, but it helps in generating profile of the prospective customers in near future. How many people are visiting company exhibition stall, of what age group and with what income level are some crucial questions about demography, which can be answered by collecting data over here. Processing of this data and subsequent business intelligence developed helps marketing division in taking strategic moves, which may be of crucial business importance. So though the se exhibitions may not be turning in to revenue generation, but proves to be of utility in other way for marketing people. Measuring marketing mechanism may rate these activities as low profile as these are not directly related to revenue generation but are oriented for long term planning and strategy. So there is a need to take care for this situation, while developing measuring marketing metrics in organization.It is often argued that not many people respond to the e-mails sent to them asking their feedback about marketing related areas. But the point here is that it does not cost heavy to do online marketing related survey. Besides that a lot many people can be sent e-mails at comparatively less cost. Out of this, if even a fraction of people respond to e-mail campaign, it gives fair idea about the opinion of concerned people. If care is taken is selecting the sample frame carefully, it can lead to generation of very useful information for the further marketing programs. Here str ess should be that sampling of the whole sampling population should be done with care that statistical parameters are satisfied so as to give accurate representation of target market.Another area of dilemma comes from business analysts side. It is for sure and well established that business analyst do affect the fortunes of company to some extent. They also help leave their impact on some high profile clients, who may be of importance for the company. But main issue raised here is that, it may not happen in immediate time, that analyst meet effect the business. Sometimes it also becomes difficult that which client has been referred by business analyst at at what point of time. So it makes more difficult to measure the net impact of business analyst meet. So there comes a stage of dilemma for marketing professionals, as to what extent these meets are successful in affecting business of company and in turn the growth of revenue.We find that in all these cases, company faces a situatio n of dilemma so as to either adopt the measuring marketing for above mentioned situation or go ahead with traditionally accepted norms practices. But it has been argued all the time by measuring marketing people that measuring or generating some estimate is always better than not to have even a rough estimate of impact, which marketing programs leaves behind. Measuring marketing opens a scope where a selection among the various marketing options can be made more rationally logically based upon facts s rather than just on the views of professionals. It also opens scope for midterm review of expensive marketing campaigns and related corrective actions, which can be taken to avoid big failures or less impressive results at last. Measuring marketing mechanism just ensures lightning up the mysterious world of marketing and its impact on companys fortune.ELEMENTS TO MEASURE OF MARKETING PERFORMANCEThere are various parameters to measure the effectiveness of the marketing programs. One of the most important parameters which show the performance of marketing programs is sales and resultant revenue generated out of it. Prime target of any business establishment is to generate profits, which is possible only when sales are there. Net result of marketing campaigns should come in the form of sales. This is one of the most important parameter to measure effectiveness of marketing programs in immediate future. Other important parameter is generation of leads for sales to take place. It may be that products of company are not very much competitive, cost wise and value these offer to consumer. But if a marketing campaign is able to generate quality leads, we can safely say that marketing campaign is serving the basic purpose for which it was launched. But sales leads so generated must be of potential that if followed seriously then can be converted to actual sales. Especially the exhibitions, workshops and seminars are the events , performance of which can be measured effe ctively by way of focusing on the leads generated so. Sometimes we find that company has very specific business objectives to be served. In such cases to measure performance of marketing operations, specific parameters related to these objectives are taken in to consideration while developing metrics. But one almost universal goal for any business organization is to get returns of the investment made in it. So, one very objective measurement for performance can be finding out return on the investment made on marketing programs. There have also been seen that out of some mass media campaign, there comes lot of leads for products and services offered by company. But how many of these leads actually get converted to sales reflect, the performance of marketing team. It is also true for business ventures that it is not the volume of total profit, but in essence the profitability of organization, which matters most. Smart investment is the most sought after feature of today business world . So is the marketing efforts resulted in enhancing profitability of organization as a whole, is one such parameter for measuring performance and effectiveness of various marketing programs. Conducting surveys so as to find out awareness about company products and services can also help in measuring performance of marketing programs focused on generating brand value. It is also very important for marketing division to make reach of company in media, which help generate awareness about company in general public. Sales to cost efficiency are another important parameter, which can form the basis to evaluate the overall performance of the companys marketing programs. Stock prices are also taken as a measure of effectiveness of marketing programs, though not directly. Among all the parameters mentioned above, few have high degree of correlation with marketing performance whereas other parameters have comparatively lower degree of correlation with marketing programs performance.Marketing related data is generated at every stage of customer engagement cycle. This data becomes very voluminous for companies having larger customer base. But not all the data generated is useful and serves the purpose of measuring marketing. There is need to segregate data and categories in such a way, that it can be used effectively and logical inferences about marketing activities can be drawn out of it. In each area of marketing, there are few parameters which can be used to measure performance. For each area, certain parameters are selected to develop metrics. Basically whole marketing exercise can be divided in following domains of activities.Establishing brand identity and enhancing brand value on continuous basis.Product and services marketing managementPublic relationship of the companyDeveloping business in newer and unexplored areasVarious advertisement campaignsProduct promotion through various events resulting in leads generation.Making company website popular, attractive and rich in featuresManaging sales operationsManaging customer relationship.Brand ManagementImportant variables which can be used to measure performance of marketing performance in this domain are as brand equity, brand awareness, brand preference, brand image and brand loyalty. It becomes imperative that measuring marketing exercise should try to pick up right variables, which reflect true performance of the brand management team in marketing department. Each area of brand management can be evaluated by specific variable, which correlate to enhanced brand value.Product Marketing ManagerProducts and services of the company are most important and pivotal link between customer and company. It is products and services, around which whole business is woven. It becomes of utmost importance that product design is done in such a way, that it meets customer requirement completely. Pricing of the products and services should also be kept at a level which gives customer satisfaction for the needs fulfilled by these. It is prime job of the marketing division that it keeps track of the customer preferences and needs arising out of changing lifestyle of consumer on account of technological advances and other developments. Marketing departments are supposed to keep close track of the level of customer satisfaction. Various important domain, in which marketing team is supposed to work here are like customer satisfaction, market share, price sensitivity, overall sales and sales by various channels.Public Relations ManagementManaging public relations is another important domain for marketing division. Especially the lifestyle of customers has become fast and it is observed that company image do affect buying decisions. So it becomes more important that customers are made to receive good image of the company as well as its products and services through various public relations programs. Various parameters which can be used to measure effectiveness of the marketing department in thi s domain are like media mentions, size of audiences for each of such happening, number of interviews conducted on reputed media channels and nature of these occurrences. All these may happen in different media channels like print media, television or magazine etc. But care has to taken as which media channel is popular and effective in targeted population. Elements of reputation and popularity of the channel, in which company is getting mention, should be taken in to consideration. Important point is that channel is popular and reputed among the targeted audience. As a survey found that coca cola was focusing on popular family entertainment channels for public relations management, but it was found later that English movie channel and sports channel were more popular among targeted youngsters forming major customer base. So while forming metric for measuring marketing, care must be taken so as to include all these factors.Business Development DivisionBusiness development division he lps company in exploring possibilities of business opportunities in newer areas. Few important functional areas, where performance can be measured are as follows.How many new business partners have been added so as to develop business in new areas?Out of new business partners added, how many actively participated in dev

Effects of Hair and Eye Color on Attraction

Effects of Hair and Eye Color on AttractionCory JonesAbstractMating gustations come in a im workforcese variety. Many studies cave in been done focusing on the importance of corporal attraction in subprogramners. But little query has been done video display ad hoc features important in mating. This research was conducted to see if luminosity cop and affection glossiness was put in much attractive to men. 172 men and women participants took part in an online survey based on attractiveness. sepa assessly participant was asked to compute ten videographs based on fleshly attractiveness, sexual attractiveness, and how approachable they free-base for each one photo. Five photographs with light copper and nerve centres were used, along with the akin five photographs manipulated to have hidden sensory haircloth and inwardnesss. Results open up that the women with lighter hair and tickers were found to a greater extent attractive. Results withal found that women reported pictures more attractive than men did.The Effects of Hair and Eye Color on AttractionWe often wonder what attracts people to their potential mates. It has been established after decades of research that men and women differ in what characteristics they rally important in a romantic partner. Both men and women have specified they requisite a mate who is understanding, kind, dependable, sociable, stable and intelligent (Botwin, Buss, Shackelford, 1997). But men and women do not always agree on the selfsame(prenominal) entrusts for their potential partners. men have a greater desire for romantic partners who are fleshlyly attractive. Women on the other hand have a higher desire for romantic partners who have a good earning potential (Eastwick Finkel, 2008).Numerous studies in psychological research have focused on the importance of physical attractiveness in heterosexual attraction scarcely minimal research has been done on specific physical features preferences (Fei nman Gill, 1978). Studies that have looked at physical attraction as a specific preference have found it to be an important trait in dating but in any case noticed it was usually ledgered in broad terms standardized good looking and not specific features. genderual plectrum has too been suggested as an important strength in human evolution. Sexual selection is believed to be significant in attractiveness standards for physical appearance (Hulse, 1967).In 2006, researchers Laeng, Mathisen, and Johnsen tested for pledge of fatherhood by using close up photographs of adult men and young women with either deplorable or em embrown cores. The photographs were rated on attractiveness by young women and men observers also with relentless and brown eyes. They manipulated the eye pretension in the photographs of each model so that the same looking at would be shown with either the natural eye chroma or the blow eye colouring material. The and preference found was that blue eyed men rated the blue eyed women more attractive that the brown eyed women. Another study they ran included some(prenominal) sexes with diametrical eye seemings. They were asked to report the hair and eye color of their romantic partners. Their responses indicated mating by eye and hair color. In these findings blue eyed men were the largest conclave with partners of the same eye color. The results suggest the occurrence of male adaptation of an extra-pair paternity based on eye color, as a phenotypically based assurance of paternity. This is when the father and childs phenotypes match. It is also a defense against cuckoldry this is when the phenotypes do not match.In a study by Feinman and Gill (1978), they looked at the popular stereotype in American media and popular culture that proclaims at that place is a greater desirability of women with light eye color, light hair color, and fair complexion. there were 482 women and 549 men who participated in a questionnaire that i ndicated their preferences and dislikes for numerous corporeal and physiognomic characteristics of the opposite sex. They had a choice to indicate more than one preference of particular characteristic or no preference. They were also asked to indicate specific dislikes for each characteristic, also allowing them to respond multiple or no dislikes. In their findings men indicated a slightly greater preference for lighter women people of colour and women indicated a slightly greater preference for darker male coloration.Manipulating eye color is fairly simple compared to alternating skin tone or facial features. Therefore it is surprising that more research has not been conducted on eye color. One explanation for the lack of research is because people classify eye color as a static signal effective in the human interactive situation (Hickson, Powell Sandoz, 1987). Static signals are permanent features of the face like skin color, bone structure, and eye color.There have been a wide range of studies being accomplished on physical characteristics but a conflicting amount have been conducted on the characteristics of eye and hair color, this helped form this research idea. Men will be more attracted to a woman with lighter hair and eye color.MethodParticipants172 participants took part voluntarily in an experiment on attractiveness. All participants were recruited by word of mouth, links posted on professional websites, and social media websites. Participants had to be over the historic period of 18 to participate in the study. All of the participants instruction was anonymous and cannot be linked back to them in anyway. There was no compensation given for participation.The participants were asked to give their ethnicity, hair color, and eye color. Out of the 107 womanly participants the majority were Caucasian. Their hair color was reported to be 28 light, 70 dark, and 9 in the other category. Their eye color was reported to be 52 with light, 54 dark, and 1 in the other category. Out of the 65 male participants the majority were Caucasian. Their hair was reported to be 15 light, 49 dark, and 3 in the other category. Their eyes were reported to be 39 with light and 28 dark.ConfederatesThere were five blonde associates used in this study. They were all 21 years of age. They were recruited by one of the researchers. They were given a media concur form stating that they were certain their pictures were going to be manipulated and used in surveys. They were asked to stand in front of a Crayola white poster board. The accomplices wore the same Hanes white t-shirt. The researcher took a picture of them using an IPhone 4s camera. The confederates were all aware they would get no incentives for the use of their picture and were also notified they would not be able to take part in the surveys. The confederates hair and eye color were manipulated on the program Pixelmator. Confederates original photos were used in the surveys, along with a manipulated one which gave them all darker hair and eye color.MaterialsThere were two surveys created for this study. The only when rest amongst the surveys was the wording of the questions for each gender. Men were asked to rate how they viewed the photo but women were asked how they believed a man would rate the photo. The surveys consisted of an electronic informed consent, which each participant had to agree to before moving on. Both surveys consisted of ten pictures. Each picture had collar questions asking the participants to rate the photo on physically attractive, sexually attractive, and approachableness. Two five point rating scales were used in the survey. The physically and sexually attractive questions were based on not attractive, moderately attractive, neutral, attractive, and very attractive. The approachable question used not approachable, somewhat approachable, neutral, approachable, and very approachable. after(prenominal) rating the pictures the participan ts were asked their ethnicity, age, eye, and hair color. The survey ended with a debrief form explaining the hypothesis and allowing them our contact information if they had any questions.ProcedureAfter the survey was opened participants had to confirm they were over the age of 18. A consent form also had to be confirmed before allowing the participant to continue. The confederate pictures then appeared in random order to each participant. The same three questions and point scales appeared with each picture, depending on the gender selected. After participants completed the ratings they were asked their ethnicity, age, gender, hair, and eye color. They were then shown the debriefing form before exiting the study.Data was collected online with the website Qualtrics, where the survey was created. The data was then examined by the researchers. Results from any survey completed in less than one minute were deleted. Short response generation were deleted because we did not believe the survey could have been completed in under a minute if the participants were actually giving thought to the questions. The results of participants that had taken the opposite genders survey were also removed. The researchers then analyzed the stay data using SPSS statistical software.ResultsOur hypothesis was supported by our data. There was a main effect of gender and hair color pendent by an interaction between the two. There was a significant difference found between the score for light hair/eyes (M = 3.36, SD = .560) and dark hair/eyes (M = 3.47, SD = .596) t(192) = 4.69, p = .000. Also from using the paired samples t-test we found that our average was based on three specific confederates photos. The other two confederates pictures were rated similar with both the light and dark manipulation. utilize a within subject design we found that surprisingly, females rated the confederates higher than the males did. This between effects of gender is shown in epithet 1. (talk about i nteraction calculate 1* f/sig(F(1,170 ) = 4.42, p ) (add in f terms)DiscussionWe proposed that males would be more attracted to a female with lighter hair and eye color. The results from our data analyzes supported our prediction. Although, the means were not an enormous difference there is remedy one present. We were surprised to find that three out of the five confederates had a large influence on the results. The other two confederates had opposite findings and both were rated relatively close in both light and dark photographs. A reason for this may be that participants were judging on static signals sooner hair and eye color. Another reason may be that the confederates hair did not look natural in the darker color this may have caused them to rate the original blonde photo higher. alike research from Feinman et al. 1978 also found that males had a greater preference for lighter female coloration. In a study done by Hickson et al. 1987 they also manipulated photographs eye co lor. They found men rated the confederate as being more physically attractive. We initially thought that men would rate confederates higher as well.Specifically, we surmised that men would find women with lighter hair more attractive than women with darker hair. We only used photographs of blondes and brunettes. In future studies it may be interesting to see use of red and black hair corporal into the survey. Also, we only used pictures of females. There may be a antithetical outcome if females would have looked at males photographs, versus judging how they commemorate a male will view the picture. If future studies had a big sample size of it the research may be able to find an effect of participants eye color changing their views on confederates. Also, asking participants to record their partners hair and eye color if they are in a relationship could also be interesting. Future research needs to be done on what attracts people to their potential matesLimitationsWe were not a ble to use brown haired confederates because of issues editing the darker hair. The confederates different facial features and smiles could have had an effect on the ratings of the photos. Also, the hair lengths and styles were all different, which could have also changed the way they rated the photographs. Because only one researcher collected photographs only five confederate photos were used. The more photographs used could have made it so participants were not noticing they were seeing the same person. Only having a few confederates also may have created a problem because all confederates were age 21, and we had a wide age range of participants in the study. The small sample size is a huge limitation of this research.ReferencesBotwin, M., Buss, D. M., Shackelford, T. K. (1997). Personality and mate preferences Fivefactors in mate selection and marital satisfaction. Journal of Personality, 65, 107-136.Eastwick, P. W., Finkel, E. J. (2008). Sex difference in mate preferences rev isited Do peopleknow what they initially desire in a romantic partner? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 94(2), 245-264.Feinman, S., Gill, G. W. (1978). Sex differences in physical attractiveness preferences. TheJournal of Social Psychology,105, 43-52.Hickson, M., Powell, L., Sandoz, M. L. (1987). The effects of eye color on homophily,attraction, and credibility. Communication Research Reports, 4(2), 20-23.Hulse, F. S. (1967). Selection for skin color among the Japanese. American Journal of PhysicalAnthropology, 27(2), 143-156.Laeng, B., Mathisen, R., Johnsen, J. (2006). Why do blue-eyed men prefer women with thesame eye color? Behavioral Ecology Sociobiology, 61(3), 371-384.Figure 1

A Report On Technological Development Sport Essay

A Report On Technological Development Sport EssayTechnological discipline is go more and more essential in spot competition. Technological teaching refers to the development of techniques or appliance which stern improve the character reference and magnificence of the dramatic play competitions. However, there could be some difference in the midst of incompatible countries it may depend on the level of the countries development. There argon trio main aspects revealing that technological development has revolutionized sport competitions. Firstly, the development of telecommunications promotes the globalisation of sport competition. Secondly, the use of electronic appliance helps to reduce contr all oversy and batten the fairness of the results in the competition, such as auto-timing body. Moreover, the improvement sport equipments and analyzing constitution has become necessary for enhancing the performance of athletes.Firstly, one of the most dramatic revolutions in spo rt completion is caused by the developments in new technologies of mass communication, curiously the development of Internet and satellite television, which argon allowing the sport competitions to be bare around the world much more quickly. As an example, mega- stock-stillts such as the Olympic Games squirt be regarded as a media-events (D. Rowe, 2004, 166). According to Roche, the 1936 Berlin Olympics was the initial of all Olympic Games to be radio broadcast to the world and it was also the first major sport event to be televised, although it was still available in the city of Berlin at that time due to the limited local stemma system. Nowadays, the universality of the Internet and television are most in force(p) to the globalisation of the sports competition, however, turning the sport competition into global event. Referring to the television, Horne and Manzenreiter indicate that the estimation of 3.9 cardinal television audiences had watched parts of the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, and 40 billion which are cumulative television audiences, contributing to a increase of 27% over the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. Moreover, Horne and Manzenreiter also indicate the 2002 FIFA World Cup staged in Japan and South Korea, 41000 hours of programming were provided in 213 countries and about 28.8 television audiences of this event, even more than that in Olympic Games. From this situation, there is no doubt that the development of telecommunication provides a much larger stage for the sport competitions, and makes the sport competition become a global history.Secondly, in the sport competitions, the quality of the athletes is the most important factor in determining their performance. Analysing the movements of athletes could be the effective method to increase the possibilities of championship in the sport competitions for instance, analyzing the movement or posture of an ice-skate athlete could help the athlete to maximize the reanimate and pass the shortco mings. However, the details of the movements cannot be easily seen because the unassisted eye functions at the speed of 1/340th of a second exposure time fortunately, the use of film, cine and photo and many other electronic analyzing devices provide the chance to analyze the movements of athletes in a much more detailed version. For instance, as Everett and Trew, who are from the incision of Physiotherapy, have found that the computerized kinetic analysis system can accumulate reliable three-dimensional data which uses high-resolution cameras to video athletes movements. These data are very useful to enhance athletes performance and also the recovering, as they can show whether the speed is at maximum or not, uncoordinated or smooth. In this case, it could be said that sport competitions are not only about the competition between athletes and also the level of technology between countries.Finally, the auto-timing system is contributing substantially to the revolution of sport c ompetitions. The hand-held stopwatch has been eliminated from the formal or major sport competitions, as it has the absolute point of accumulation on accuracy, because the result go out depend on the judges reaction. The clause from Australian Academy of science states that the computerize timing systems nowadays can provide the accuracy to less than 0.001 of a second, which is 10 times the necessity of accuracy under the rules, compares to the first electronic quartz timing system in 1964 which can provide the accuracy of 0.01 of a second. Furthermore, when the vertical line-scanning video system was introduced in 1991, human judgment and error were totally outback(a) in the competitions the video image of each athlete will be shown when they cross the finished line, at the same time, the timing system will record each athletes result.

Epidemiological Report on Stomach Cancer Tobacco Smoking

Epidemiological Report on Stomach crabby person baccy plant Smoking1.0 BACKGROUNDCancer is among the leading ca customs of closing in the world. In 2012, crabmeat was responsible for 8.2 unity million million deaths and 14.1 million new cases were recorded, accounting for 65% of the deaths in low-middle income countries (IARC, GLOBOCAN, 2012a). Cancer is a multistage process characterised by un containled extension of kinky cells which familyers a lump to develop. This lump, know as a tumour, is named aft(prenominal) the part of the body where it develops (American Cancer Society, 2012). Although mortality rate argon postgraduate in low-middle income countries, increased incidental rates have been found in developed countries (IARC, GLOBOCAN, 2012a). An increase of 8 million cases per year is expected by 2030 (WHO, 2014).A repress of movers atomic number 18 persuasion to be responsible for create pubic lo utilisation such as genetic factors, chemicals and radia tion, vir employs or infections, alcohol intent, baccy, diet, and material inactivity, age and several to a greater extent that still remain unidentified (WHO, 2014 American Cancer Society, 2012). Lifestyle plays an important role in health. Ab out 30% of deaths due to malignant neoplastic disease are associated with poor lifestyle behaviour, which is marked by obesity, low fruit and ve take outable intake, economic consumption of alcohol and tobacco use (WHO, 2014).Despite tobacco being the most preventable cause of death it kills 1 person every six seconds. The tobacco epidemic kills much(prenominal) than 5,000,000 people in a year which is more than the combined turn of events of deaths by malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS (WHO, 2008). Tobacco use contributes to near 20% of crabmeat deaths globally (WHO, 2014).A plethora of evidence exists demonstrating the strong carcinogenic nature of tobacco mint, and its ability to cause pubic louse at multiple sites in the body and not just the lungs. It can cause cancer of the renal pelvis and bladder, oral cavity, larynx, pancreas, nasal cavity, liver, cervix, hold up, kidney and oesophagus (Vineis et al., 2004). Smokers are 7 times at more risk of dying from these cancers than non-smokers (Kenfield et al., 2008)2.0 context of use2.1 DEMOGRAPHY, PREVALENCE OF DISEASE EPIDEMIOLOGYIn 2012 stomach cancer, similarly known as gastric cancer, was ranked as the third major cause of cancer related mortality in the world with 723,000 deaths reported (IARC, GLOBOCAN, 2012b). An estimated one million cases of stomach cancer were recorded in the year 2012. This represents 6.8% of the contribute cancer cases reported. Stomach cancer is the fifth most common cancer worldwide with approximately one million cases in the following year of which 70% of the cases occurred in low- middle income countries (IARC, GLOBOCAN, 2012b). The numbers of stomach cancer cases have importantly reduced over the old age (IARC, GL OBOCAN, 2012b) and several epidemiological studies have been conducted to depict the causes of the disease and the reason for this decline. Figure 1 demonstrates estimated stomach neoplasm incidence and mortality (age- standardised per 100,000) worldwide in the year 2012. Distinct geographical differences exist with two third of the cases occurring in developing countries, and 50% of the total gastric cancer cases occurring in Eastern Asia. Eastern Asia has both eminent incident as well as mortality rates, but occidental Africa has the lowest incidence and North America the lowest mortality rates. The incident rates (age standardised per 100,000) of stomach cancer are twice as high in hands as compared to women. The striking time trends, geographical variations and gender distribution suggest the potential contribution of lifestyle and environmental factors to the aetiology of carcinoma of the stomach.Figure 1 Source IARC, GLOBOCAN, 20122.2 EPIDEMIOLOGICAL STUDIES SHOWING acq uaintance BETWEEN STOMACH CANCER AND TOBACCO USEInfection with Helicobacter pylori is one of the main causes of gastric neoplasm (Tredaniel, 1997) however, in certain countries like Africa, where H.pylori has high prevalence, stomach cancer rates are still low (Campbell et al., 2001 Brenner, Rothenbacher and Arndt, 2009). This suggests that in that respect may be other factors too responsible for gastric neoplasm. A large number of studies have demonstrated a strong positively charged familiarity amid stomach cancer and tobacco use. The association is thought to be because of the carcinogenic substances present in tobacco smoke. Tobacco smoke contains about 70 carcinogenic substances, like hydrogen cyanide, arsenic, cadmium, carbon monoxide and others, which when inhaled memorialize the lungs, and is carried by the blood stream to other sites in the body, depleting the sites of oxygen indispensable for survival, and more importantly, damaging the DNA make cells to proliferat e in an abnormal manner and cause cancer (Cancer look for UK, 2012).A number of case- control studies have demonstrated stomach cancer to be a tobacco related cancer (Minami and Tateno, 2003 Cai, Zheng and Zhang, 2003). A fourteen year prospective conceive conducted by the American Cancer Society showed a positive correlation coefficient between stomach carcinoma and the use of tobacco (Chao et al., 2003). According to the study, any contour of tobacco use (pipe, cigar, bidi, chewing tobacco, fagot sess and snuff) was considered to be united with higher incidence and mortality rates of stomach cancer. The study include 508, 351 men and 676,306 females aged thirty years or older, residing in a house with at least one individual forty-five years or above. The individuals were chosen from fifty states in the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. workforce were made to complete questionnaires, with questions about current or past use of any tobacco product, while women only asked about use of cigarette smoking. The study was adjusted for all variables thought to act as contradictory factors age, race, family history, education, diet, use of multivitamins and aspirin (Chao et al., 2003).Tobacco users among men are 1.68 times more in all probability to die of stomach cancer and women who use tobacco are 1.38 times more likely than non-tobacco users. Men who are currently tobacco users are 2.12 times (95% CI, 1.76-2.54) as likely to die of gastric carcinoma as those who have never smoked tobacco. Women smokers are 1.5 times at more risk than non-smokers ( fudge 1). And the risk increased with the duration of tobacco use (Chao et al. 2003)Table 1 Tobacco Use and relational Risk of Gastric CancerType of Tobacco UseMenRelative Risk (95% CI)WomenRelative Risk (95% CI)Never-used any type of tobacco1.001.00Ever-user of any type of tobacco1.73 (1.472.04)1.34 (1.121.60)Current user of any type of tobacco2.12 (1.762.54)1.51 (1.201.90)Source Chao et al., 2003(Modifie d and inclined(p) in MS. Word according to required data)3.0 METHOD/ DATAIn order to assess the possible causal relationship between carcinoma of stomach and the use of tobacco particularly in current tobacco smokers, data was withdrawn from WHO database. Data for nine countries with the highest incident rates were taken from IARC, GLOBOCAN (2012) database and the tobacco rates for each country were taken from Tobacco Country profile from the WHO Report on Global Epidemics (WHO, 2013). The data from the two sources was combined to form one table for purpose of analysing the relationship.RankCountryAge-Standardised Rate per 100,000 (World)preponderance of Tobacco Use (%)20121Korea, Republic of41.825.72Mongolia32.5273Japan29.9224Guatemala23.7105China22.7256Kazakhstan21.6247Kyrgyzstan21.4238Albania20.1269Belarus18.829Table 2 Data showing incidence of gastric cancer in both sexes in 2012 (IARC, GLOBOCAN, 2012)Data showing tobacco use in adults in the year 2012 (WHO, 2013)In order to get a clear picture, a graph (Figure 2) was drawn from the data in Table 2 to understand if there was a co-relation between the exposure, i.e., tobacco use and resultant role, i.e., stomach cancer and if it was appropriate to refer gastric cancer as a tobacco-related cancer as has been referred by many other studies.Figure 3 Incidence of stomach cancer and tobacco useData from IARC, GLOBOCAN (2012) and Tobacco Country Profile (WHO, 2013) collected in MS Excel and graph generated in MS World4.0 RESULTSStriking results were observe on analysing the data and graphs. High rates of tobacco consumption were considered to be responsible for causing stomach carcinoma. It was expected that the countries showing high number of stomach cancer cases would also show high consumption of tobacco among the population. However, an irregular trend is observed between the exposure and outcome. The Republic of Korea, having the highest rates of stomach cancer should have shown high rates of tobacco use, however, it shows land rates of tobacco smoking than Belarus. Similarly, Belarus having the lowest number of stomach cancer cases among the nine listed countries, demonstrates the highest prevalence of tobacco usage in adults.5.0 DISCUSSIONseveral(prenominal) epidemiologic studies have shown a positive causal relationship between tobacco smoke and increased incidence of stomach cancer. Evidence suggests that 20% of the stomach cancer cases in the United Kingdom can be attributed to the use of tobacco (Cancer Research UK, 2014). However, a few studies like the self-analysis of data above were unable to find any positive association between stomach cancer and tobacco use.In a xx eight year cohort study conducted in Norway, with 26,000 Norwegian men and women, no association was found between stomach cancer and tobacco consumption (Engeland, 1996). Similarly a case control study carried out in Japan seemed to show no relationship of tobacco use and increased rates of stomach can cer (Murata, 1996).When considering epidemiological studies and their results, flaws in data collection and study design must be considered before making an inference. Case control studies are most susceptible to parti pris. There are high chances of selection bias, especially when the investigator is not blinded. other bias that has the potential to sum results of case control studies is attention bias, which is also known by the Hawthorne effect, according to which people tend to act and behave other than when they know the relation being studied (Bruce et al., 2008). Similarly, cohort studies may expose uncertain results because of their long duration which results in loss to follow up, also known as attrition bias.Questionnaires are considered to be the main research tools when it comes to collection of data from a large sample population. Although questionnaires are an useful and cheap way of gathering data, there are some possible errors that should be taken care of. Th ese specifically include sampling error and measurement error (Bruce et al., 2008).An extremely important factor that can be attributed to the difference in results is confounding. For factors to be considered confounders, they need to have an association with the outcome of interest. alcohol consumption can be considered a confounding factor in the relationship between stomach cancer and tobacco use. Alcohol consumption is considered to have a synergistic effect (Chen, 2000). However, the synergistic effect of alcohol is considered to be controversial, with some studies demonstrating no effect of alcohol consumption on stomach cancer rates (Murata, 1996 Cancer Research UK, 2014). Another main factor is H.pylori infection, which is the considered to be the main cause of carcinoma of the stomach. Studies have showed that in tobacco users who have H.pylori infection, they are 10 times more likely to develop carcinoma of the stomach than those who do not smoke tobacco (Cancer Research UK, 2014 Tredaniel, 1997). Other possible confounders include diet.Although differences in results can be observed, smoking is known to be an established risk factor for most cancers and diseases. It shall be inappropriate to conclude that no association exists between stomach cancer and the consumption of tobacco. The magnitude of the association can vary but it would be wrong to deny any association at all. It can therefrom be concluded, that tobacco use, may not be an independent factor like Helicobacter pylori in the aetiology of stomach cancer, but it is a alter factor for the development of carcinoma of stomach. The use of the word contributory does not by any way rule out the possibility of tobacco having a direct effect on stomach cancer, it in fact, takes into account the unyielding risk of cancer among smokers and indicates that had smoking not exist, a large and earthshaking proportion of disease burden would not exist in this world.

People and Paperless Future for Organisations -- globalisation, social

Technology plays a major role in todays organisations and offices, and has contributed positively to productivity and efficiency of businesses. Social media and globalisation may also have lead to an easier way of communication cross-culturally and fashioning business with individuals and companies internationally. However, there is a concern that technology has gone so far that organisations and offices might become both paper and mint less(prenominal) in the future. This paper will discuss and evaluate if there is a possibility for offices and organisations to be completely mountain and paper less in the future. The first part will define and explain the terms globalisation, companionable media, office and organisation, the second will evaluate with the use organisational examples of which technology has changed the slipway of interaction and services. The final part will include a expiration and recommendations for the future. Globalisation can be defined as the following T he run by which businesses or other organizations develop international influence or start operating on an international scaleGlobalisation is likely due to technological advances as the internet, smartphones, and computers and further back in eon by improved vehicles and the ability to travel far distances, making the realness smaller. However, part of globalisation is also traveling and social interaction amongst populates cultures etc. One definition of social media can be websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking. (Press, 2014)Social media has indeed simplified the interaction between people socially it is now easier to gain, have and further maintain contact with people across the world and condu... ...ielfisher/2012/05/02/poor-students-are-the-real-victims-of-college-discrimination/Nogales, A. (2010, October 13). Facebook versus face-to-face. Retrieved March 27th, 2014, from Psychology http//www.psychol ogytoday.com/blog/family-secrets/201010/facebook-versus-face-facePodmoroff, D. (2014). Retrieved March 26th, 2014, from drumhead Tools- essential skills for an excellent career http//www.mindtools.com/CommSkll/Cross-Cultural-communication.htmPress, O. U. (2014). Retrieved March 20th, 2014, from Oxford Dictionaries- Language Matters http//www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/ slope/organizationstreet, Q. (2014). Retrieved March 27th , 2014, from Webopedia http//www.webopedia.com/TERM/P/paperless_office.htmlUniversity, P. (2012). Retrieved March 20th, 2014, from The let go Dictionary By Farlex http//www.thefreedictionary.com/organisation