Portfolio Models Essay Example for Free

Portfolio Models Essay The use of portfolio models in marketing has been gaining increasing use since 1960s. The portfolio models were developed with the aim of helping in the development of market share and growth. These models have been used as strategic thinking model in the making of business decision. These models include BCG, General electric/shell, Hofner-Schendel, Experience Curve and Porters Competitive models. Each model has been criticized on the capabilities and according to its scope on market share. These models have been found to lead to the wrong decision in investment and other business processes. The portfolio models assume a causal relationship between the market share and the profitability of a product in the market. The common scope of portfolio models is the way it tries to ignores some of the most relevant strategic issues in business. Therefore, all models cannot be taken as an effective strategic decision making model. It should however be discarded or it should be used with caution. This paper does not recommend the use of portfolio models and an alternative way should be sought to replace this. Introduction Portfolio models can be defined as a method or strategy in which a new product will be introduced in the market and perform as it was expected. In the 1960s, there was growing assertion of the use of portfolio models in marketing. There was growing interest on the development of market share and growth strategy which later came to be known as marketing portfolio. The BCG matrix, Hofner-Schendel, Experience Curve and Porters Competitive models and GE/S were meant to achieve the marketing needs especially when introducing new products in the market. They were meant to stimulate strategic thinking especially among the senior marketing executives in the turbulent business environment. However, there has been dysfunction of these models in the way they are taught and the way they are applied in the market. This study will look into the applicability of portfolio models in strategic decision making in marketing. The study will evaluate the view from a number of literature to understand whether the model can really be applied to the decision making process or not. This paper therefore evaluates the available literature which has given an insight into this model to understand how it can be applied in strategic marketing decision. There are other methods that were introduced to give a product a distinctive market share especially when it’s introduced. There are four commonly used methods to approach this matter, the Boston consulting group (BCG), the General electric/shell (GE/S), Hofner-Schendel, Experience Curve and Porters Competitive models. Therefore to give the clear meaning of the portfolio model, there is a need to understand how the portfolio models work. The first step to be taken when using the above models is to understand the different business/ marketing strategies of the company. Portfolio models in marketing decisions Portfolio models management generally defines the way business comes up with strategic decision to venture into the market. In this definition, the strategic marketing decision is a method by which marketing ideas are made and implemented in order for a product to have stronger grounds in the market. At any one time, company will be coming up with new product which will need to be introduced to the market in the most successful way. Portfolio models therefore provide the business with important tools for analyzing of the strategic decision to determine their effectiveness in the market (Abell and Hammond, 1979, p. 42). Purpose of portfolio models in strategic decision making in marketing There are mainly four main purpose of using the portfolio models in the strategic marketing decisions which are pursued in portfolio management and must be achieved through any model that is used. These goals include the maximization of portfolio, seeking of the right balance of the available projects, aligning of the portfolio strategically, and aligning the projects to the available resource (Ansoff, 1984, p. 12). Smith and Swinyard (1999, p. 2) also show that portfolio marketing models are important for an organization to assess the overall success of a new product in the market before a lot of money is used in the development of the product. They both call for the use of multiple marketing models in order to achieve the overall success of introducing new products in the market. This will reduce the failure rate of the products and extend their life cycle in the market. (Thomas, 2002, p. 61) The models can also be used as important tools to forecast the level of competition and therefore draw upon effective way of beating this competition. They help to forecast the performance of a product in the market so as to draw up strategies to effectively introduce it in the market. Edgett, Cooper, and Kleinschmidt (2002, p. 2) showed that in order to achieve full development of a new product in the market, there has to be effective portfolio management. There are different types of portfolio models that include the BCG, GE/S, Hofner-Schendel, Experience Curve and Porters Competitive models. In his review of the portfolio models, Day (1977, p. 32) showed that the use of bubble diagrams had been gaining increasing use in business. Day shows that these models resemble the portfolio models with stars, cash cows, dogs, and others. He showed that these models could be used successfully to forecast the market in the future. Day therefore asserted the role of matrix like Boston matrix in marketing. The Boston matrix could be used to show four quadrants as has been shown by Day and corresponding strategies which could be used in each quadrant. However Day criticizes the matrix on the sense that it is too narrow on its scope. He asserts that the BCG matrix has a narrow focus on the market share of the product. On the other hand Morrison and Wensley (1991, p. 106) provided an insight into the portfolio planning models as used in making business decision. They asserted that the use of BCG matrix in portfolio management is inhibited by difficulties in measurement of the rate of market growth and the relative market share of the product. This is due to a number of reasons. They gave the most prominent reason being the fact that market boundaries are often very difficult to fix which meant the different matrix methods will give different recommendations for a given situation. Therefore they argue that the common scope of BCG matrix in a way ignores some of the most relevant strategic issues in business. Though these other models are not as famous as BCG, Day still argues that use of them could also lead to success in the market. Day advocated and recommended the use of Porters competitiveness that he viewed to have higher possibilities of success than other models if its well implemented. It is commonly used in an already operating business with other products in the market. The experience curve can only be help to the company that has been in the market for sometime with a different product. The experience that the company has gained in the given period will determine the strength of the company in the market. This has been used by several companies like coca-cola in the introduction their mineral water. It would be hard for a company that has not been doing well in the market to succeed with the new product. They showed that Boston matrix was a technique for one season and not for all the season. This is because its popularity and use increased in the 1960s and 1970s and then plummeted due to the challenges faced in the market. They showed that the single chart could be successfully used to determine the growth potential and the competitive strength of a product in the market but this has rapidly changed with time. Armstrong and Brodie (1994, p. 38) evaluation on the applicability of the Boston matrix concluded that the use of the matrix to guide investors often would result to wrong decision through the use of BCG. General Electric and Shell, Porters competitive models are designed for long term use in the market, once the product has been introduced in the market, the models techniques still continues to support the product through the entire life in the market. Whichever model is used, it has to be used for entire life of the company because no other model will fit without altering the companies business especially when the company is introducing new product in the market. Although they based their study on a small number of graduates in a class, they gave a further warning against the use of the matrix in a simple mind. Armstrong and Brodie (1994, p. 3) carried out a study on the effect of the portfolio planning methods on the overall decision making process. Their study pointed out the weakness in the use of BCG matrix in making strategic decision in an organization. Their study revealed that the use of BCG matrix in making investment decisions was highly likely to lead to unprofitable investment while Robert and Merton (1989, p. 210) advocates that the implementation of other models instead of matrix were intended for lifetime decision making. If not well implemented, there is a probability of causing life time losses and would be hard to recover unless the product is withdrawn from the market. Each model has some weaknesses bas they are exposed out in the way models assume a casual relationship between the market share and the profitability of a product in the market. Morison and Wesley (1991, p. 26) also pointed out lack of consistency in the use of the portfolio models in determining market growth and profits. These studies give varied views on the use of Boston matrix, GE/S, Hofner-Schendel, Experience Curve and Porters Competitive models in making marketing decision. They all seem to point out on the weaknesses of these models in light of their theory and application. There are other ways a business can prosper other than using portfolio models. The strategies used in introducing the product in the market is all that matters, portfolios are just to give the business a rough idea on how to approach the marketing matter but not to give a conclusive tread which the business should follow. Conclusion Portfolio models are applied in portfolio management. They are applied in management to make strategic marketing decision. Though they had gained increasing use in different times, they have some weaknesses that are fatal to the welfare of the business in future. On the other hand they may give a rough idea on how to approach the market issues and on how to introduce the new product in the market. In all portfolios, not is able to predict the growth and the profit margins or losses on the other hand for the product, thus making them less important tool for the marketing. However the use of models should be discarded and there be implemented new strategies that would be able to address the issues of the business on long term and in both growth and revenues that are likely to be gained by the introduced product. Recommendations: The use of portfolio models is not recommended and if they have to be used, they must be implemented with great caution. None of all models has proofed an effective strategic decision making in regard to the marketing issues. It should however be discarded or it should be used with caution. This paper does not recommend the use of portfolio models and an alternative way should be sought to replace this.

culture and conflict :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The culture of conflict is just as important as the conflict itself. The reasons for conflict and the inner agony of pride are all do to culture. The epic poem of Gilgamesh, and The Odyssey, the story of Genesis have many forms of many conflicts. Cultural conflicts have many different forms, but pride is usually at the root of all of them.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The book of Gilgamesh has many conflicts, and battles. Gilgamesh was a flashy warrior and leader that resolved everything with primitive actions. He was a conflict all his own because the towns people didn’t like his leadership. His acts of womanizing and mistreating the towns people is what caused this hatred towards him. They all wished for an equal to come. Enkido was a forest man that was an equal to Gilgamesh. He came, and at first wasn’t an equal to Gilgamesh, but a rival. Gilgamesh and Enkido battled through the streets of the town. These actions were pride based and human nature must have had an impact. In anything once a leader is challenged he will do anything to keep his leadership and step up to the occasion. In this case, Gilgamesh the leader was challenged. â€Å"Enkido stood, guardian on the threshold of the martial chamber, To block the way of the king, The aura and power of the wild ox, Gilgamesh, Who was coming to the chamber and take his bride.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Stormy heart struggled with stormy heart, As Gilgamesh met Enkido in his rage, At the marital threshold they wrestled, bulls contending: The doorposts shook and shattered; the wrestling staggered.† (Gilgamesh_14,15)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Once the battle ended, Gilgamesh knew that they were equal. Being the leader that he was, he decided not to be rivals, but be friends. They decide to travel to the forest of Cedars, where they set to challenge the org Huwawa. Enkido doesn’t want to proceed with this thought but Gigamesh wants to continue. They show up and battle the superhuman guardian, kill him, cut down the forest, cut off Huwana's head as a trophy, build a raft, and head back to Uruk.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The really only cultural experience in this battle isn’t just the battle itself, but after the battle when they cut off Huwawa's head and made it into a trophy. Making his head into a trophy exemplifies their in their great victory. It demonstrates was gained and shows that they had something to remember it by.

There is no simple or single entity which we can call aggression

There is no simple or single entity which we can call aggression† aggression a term simultaneously shared & perceived with violence in general views. However, the two terms are diverse in their respective aspects, even though integral to each other. Violence may be the result of aggression in many cases.Aggression cannot be explained as a simple psychological or emotional state. It is a complex state of mind that might be the result of many things. A number of researches have been conducted in this field to study the human nature & thus prepare an explanation regarding such human behaviors.The definition of aggression as stated by Buss is, â€Å"a response that delivers noxious stimuli to another organism.† [Critical Social Psychology: An Introduction] There are various misunderstandings regarding aggression, even in these modern times, the exact reason is not known, however tests & researches are constantly going on to find the answers as to how & why aggression is trig gered & why it differs person to person.The book Critical Social Psychology mentions two types of aggression:Affective aggression, comprising of strong emotional states & often resulting in injuring someone. Instrumental aggression is usually followed by or accelerated in order to attain some desires. Mostly the feeling is conjured by the stress & problems an individual counters in his or her life. Often the social issues in our society disrupts an otherwise normal life of a person, being accepted in the society is considered to be very important & people tend to do things just to fit in with the others.This example is widely present in adolescents; a student gets emotionally & psychologically disturbed if he or she is not being accepted among their school mates, this feeling arouses desperation which provokes them to perform activities due to peer pressure. Extreme anxiety may lead to aggression which might induce an individual to get violent in order to get prominent or to take re venge.  Young people today watch movies & TV programs that are centered on violence like wrestling. It is common conjecture that media is responsible for the increased percentage of aggression in humans. The comics, cartoons, various TV shows designed for children are full of violence & may elicit aggression in young minds.Not only fiction but real life today depicts hostility, deferentially covered by the modern news channels. This perception mentioned in [The Media: An Introduction] also confer various effects like the tendency of children to imitate what they observe, not having the knowledge to decide between wrong & right. Bandura's experiment declared that 88% children imitate the violence they witness on TV.It is also derived that aggression might be learned as well as controlled, by examining the experiment, with young children exposed to adult hostility towards an object & later rewarded or punished for their activities, it was noted that the children tend to indulge in t he behavior for which they witnessed the adults to be rewarded for.The same intense emotion is eminent in adults for example while watching a sports program, the audience tend to get hyper active while supporting their favorite team; like on 11 October 97, the final qualifying football match between England & Italy which ended in a tie; conversely the newspaper & the TV channels highlighted the crowd hostility that took place during the match instead of the result, followed by contemplation concerning the issue. [Sociology, 1998]Not every mind is alike hence the same message is perceived in different ways by different minds. While one person may realize that the violence being shown is negative & should be avoided, another might get inspired from it. Social norms & conflicts affect individuals drastically; the wars around the world & other issues might induce negative mind-set in people hence resulting in aggression.There are many misconceptions regarding aggression, since it is a c omplex condition & cannot be summed up easily, hence it is vital to consider the social & physiological conditions of each individual to come up with a proper explanation. Violence & aggression are interrelated & maybe used as a means of internal sub control [Social Psychology: Conflicts & Continuities] especially when today our society is divided among different races & religions.Every individual considers him to be the righteous one & reacts strongly when verbally or physically challenged. In various cultures, aggression is employed either individually or in group to produce or stop social change in a society. In order to understand the reasons behind this atrocity, it is important to learn what aggression really is, only then we would truly understand the causes & the various possibilities. [From Animosity to Atrocity]The world which we live in today is labeled as a modern world, nevertheless, the irrationality of the violence & riots in cultures. Even today one finds the news of children tortured physically & mentally by parents or teachers & questions his mind whether we are living in the 21st century.The human mind is a difficult chapter to study; psychologists come up with various explanations regarding the aggressive nature of mankind but fail to answer the new questions that arise as a result of that theory. A normal individual today is faced to so much violent behavior that he initially gets used to it & then ignores it.Nobody can answer what goes on in a murderers mind when he or she kills some one, or targets someone with brutal physical or verbal conduct. Researches by previous psychologists were usually based on a number of false assumptions like the works of Freud, Lorenz & Wilson which was later rejected, claimed that aggression was a natural instinct in humans like animals.The fact was also rejected that aggression occurred as a result of biological reasons. However it is accepted that the extreme feeling might evolve due to historical, social or cultural circumstances. [Critical Social Psychology: An Introduction]

What Is The Importance Of Ratio Analysis Finance Essay - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 4 Words: 1334 Downloads: 10 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Finance Essay Type Analytical essay Did you like this example? Ratio analysis isnt just comparing different numbers from the balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow statement. Its comparing the number against previous years, other companies, the industry, or even the economy in general. Ratios look at the relationships between individual values and relate them to how a company has performed in the past, and might perform in the future. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "What Is The Importance Of Ratio Analysis Finance Essay" essay for you Create order Financial ratio analysis is the calculation and comparison of ratios which are derived from the information in a companys financial statements. The level and historical trends of these ratios can be used to make inferences about a companys financial condition, its operations and attractiveness as an investment. Financial ratios are calculated from one or more pieces of information from a companys financial statements. For example, the gross margin is the gross profit from operations divided by the total sales or revenues of a company, expressed in percentage terms. In isolation, a financial ratio is a useless piece of information. In context, however, a financial ratio can give a financial analyst an excellent picture of a companys situation and the trends that are developing. A ratio gains utility by comparison to other data and standards. Taking our example, a gross profit margin for a company of 25% is meaningless by itself. If we know that this companys competitors have profit margins of 10%, we know that it is more profitable than its industry peers which is quite favourable. If we also know that the historical trend is upwards, for example has been increasing steadily for the last few years, this would also be a favourable sign that management is implementing effective business policies and strategies. Financial ratio analysis groups the ratios into categories which tell us about different facets of a companys finances and operations. An overview of some of the categories of ratios is given below. Leverage Ratios which show the extent that debt is used in a companys capital structure. Liquidity Ratios which give a picture of a companys short term financial situation or solvency. Operational Ratios which use turnover measures to show how efficient a company is in its operations and use of assets. Profitability Ratios which use margin analysis and show the return on sales and capital employed. Solvency Ratios which give a picture of a companys ability to generate cashflow and pay it financial obligations. It is imperative to note the importance of the proper context for ratio analysis. Like computer programming, financial ratio is governed by the GIGO law of Garbage InGarbage Out! A cross industry comparison of the leverage of stable utility companies and cyclical mining companies would be worse than useless. Examining a cyclical companys profitability ratios over less than a full commodity or business cycle would fail to give an accurate long-term measure of profitability. Using historical data independent of fundamental changes in a companys situation or prospects would predict very little about future trends. For example, the historical ratios of a company that has undergone a merger or had a substantive change in its technology or market position would tell very little about the prospects for this company. Credit analysts, those interpreting the financial ratios from the prospects of a lender, focu s on the downside risk since they gain none of the upside from an improvement in operations. They pay great attention to liquidity and leverage ratios to ascertain a companys financial risk. Equity analysts look more to the operational and profitability ratios, to determine the future profits that will accrue to the shareholder. Although financial ratio analysis is well-developed and the actual ratios are well-known, practicing financial analysts often develop their own measures for particular industries and even individual companies. Analysts will often differ drastically in their conclusions from the same ratio analysis. As in all things financial, beauty is often in the eye of the beholder. It pays to do your own work! Value Managers Value managers try to find companies trading at less than their intrinsic value, the price the underlying company is worth. In other words, they try to by the stock as cheaply as possible. In buying stocks as cheaply as possible, they hope to outperform in the long term, as their undervalued stocks return to higher valuation levels. They also believe that when they make mistakes, they have a more limited downside, since they paid a cheap price for the stock to start with. Value managers use financial analysis to calculate yardsticks of a stocks worth. A classic value manager would focus on: a low P/E ratio or price-to-earnings ratio (market price divided by earnings) which indicates that the stock is cheaply valued compared to earnings; a low price-to-book ratio (market price divided by accounting book value) which indicates that the stock is cheap compared to its historical accounting value; and a high dividend yield (dividend divided by market price) which shows that the stock pays a high cash yield on its price. Growth managers invest in the stocks of companies with rapidly growing sales and earnings. They believe that the stock price of this type of company will increase quickly as well, reflecting the strong growth of these companies. They do not focus on the valuation of these companies, preferring to examine their industries, management and growth potential. In aggregate, they think that the strong growth of these stocks will outweigh their valuations over a longer period of time. Obviously, growth managers focus on industries with strong growth such as technology and computer companies. The recent growth of the Internet has made Internet companies such as Yahoo! and Netscape favourites of growth investors Core managers or closet indexers focus on security selection, but try to maintain the same weightings as the index that they are compared to. They use the same valuation techniques as value and growth managers, but they dont want to make the ir portfolios appreciably different from the index or other managers. There are a couple of reasons for this. The most important is relative performance. Relative performance means how a manager looks versus the market index they are compared to. Managers generally try to beat the index they are being compared to. If the managers portfolio is very different from the index, the manager will perform quite differently. If the managers performance is good, then there is little problem. When the manager under performs, the clients are not very happy or patient. So managers keep their portfolios similar to the index or other managers, expecting to be not to different from the index or other managers. The other reason is that clients, sales representatives and consultants want their managers performance to be similar to the index or other managers. Client often dont want the best performance, but conservative management, meaning performance fairly similar to published performance sta tistics. Financial sales representatives want their clients to be happy and explaining wide performance differentials between client performance and published market and performance statistics takes a lot of time. Consultants want the managers performance to be similar to the index they are being measured against because they have done asset planning studies which are based on the performance of that index. This means that there is a large group, perhaps the majority of managers, who try to construct portfolios that will perform similarly to indexes and other managers. These core or closet index managers will pick the best stocks from an industry grouping. For example, if there are twenty-five stocks in an industry group that is 20% of the market index, the manager might select the best four at a 5% weight. Since most stocks in an industry tend to track each other in performance, the manager will have much the same performance in this portion of her portfolio as the index. By imp lementing this strategy for the significant industry groups in an index, the manager will obtain very similar performance to the index. Hopefully, by using financial analysis and valuation techniques to choose the best stocks from the index groups, the manager will outperform the index by a reasonable margin.