Health Care Reform 2010 Health And Social Care Essay

Health Care Reform 2010 Health And Social Care Essay US healthcare system was inefficient despite of spending 15% of GDP during 2006 which was more than three times than in 1960. Ten years back, the health care system of USA was announced to be broken and in future it didnt improve. Managed care did not make visible the fixes promises. The rates of premium are increasing. The irritation of patients as well physicians flourish. The study shows that about 45 million people in Americans are still uninsured. In the coming future, these issues will get worse and new challenges will come on the screen. New technology is making place and it is making the things efficient, but the cost of treatment as well new test is higher then before.  Doctors are making the lives of people lengthy so now more people require the medical treatment then before. As the age of baby is increasing so they are demanding the better treatments. Owing to the increased cost, employers will not accept the status quo. Sp they exclude the benefits for new hiring. Others might leave the business of insurance business completely and will contribute only to cover the costs but will not give coverage by themselves. The number of uninsured people in America will increase because of these changes. Disenfranchised middle  class will rise in results of these changes. Employers will go for and favor this modification. The health care system of American splits the population into two groups first is insiders and second is outsiders. Insiders are those who are insured and they have good insurance so they get everything modern. No matter hoe expensive the medicine and treatment is. Outsiders are those who have poor insurance plan or nothing at all. They receive very little out of their insurance plans. About 47 million Americans are uninsured and the number is growing day by day. Insurance companies currently deny covering people with pre-existing conditions. People who have severe medical conditions like AIDS, cancer and other such diseases were not covered by the insurance companies. These people are at high-risk and thats why not covered by companies. Major employers are cutting their costs in healthcare spending to compete in the global challenging market.  [2]  Employers are denying paying insurance premiums to these workers due to high premiums and the current economic situations. Employers are shifting the economic burden towards the employees like deductibles and co-pays. Almost half of the bankrupt people are due to the high medical costs and this cost is directly or indirectly affects the economy. Hence, government has to pay more. One more problem in the current system that doctors are not paid according to their service quality. Doctors are paid very less as compared to other countries of globe like in United Kingdom, doctors are paid for 95% while in US only 30%. Lot of people even did not go to doctor due to high costs of tests, treatment or follow-up after the treatment. These higher costs associated with healthcare also stopped Americans visiting physician regularly for checkup. Also doctors do not know the history of patients due to not visiting them regularly. Americans also have high ratio of chronic diseases. This is also leads to more spending on healthcare and its availability to poor people. United States is the only country among the developed countries whose all citizens do not have access to its citizens except South Africa  [3]  . Medicare and Medicaid are two of government programs which provide medical as well as health related services to the specific group of people in USA. Both of them are different but are managed by the centers of Medicare and Medicaid which is a division of US Department of Health and Human Services. Medicaid is a program which includes means tested health and medical services for specific individuals and families who have low income and limited resources. It is primarily looked after at federal level, but each stat develops its own standards like eligibility standards; determines the amount, type, period and scope of the services; setting the rate of payment for services; administers its own Medicaid programs. As mentioned above that States is the final decision authority of planning of service which will be provided under their Medicaid program. But there are some necessary requirements which must be matched by the States to receive funding from Federal. Following are the mandatory services: Impatient and Outpatient hospital services Prenatal care Children Vaccines Service of Physician Facility of Nursing services for individuals aged 21 or older Services of Family planning with supplies Rural health clinic services Home health care for persons eligible for skilled-nursing services Laboratory and x-ray services Pediatric and family nurse practitioner services Nurse-midwife services Federally qualified health-center (FQHC) services and ambulatory services Early and periodic screening, diagnostic, and treatment (EPSDT) services for children under age 21 Besides the above, the states can add more 34 optional approved services and can receive the Federal matching funding. Although each state has the authority to set the eligibility criteria for getting the Medicaid services but basically the program has been started to help the people with low income. Other requirements may include age, pregnancy, disability, other assets and citizenship. Medicaid does not pay money to the individuals. Medicaid program works like a program provide treatment to the individuals and gives payment to the health care providers. State makes the payment while states receive reimbursement from Federal Government. Medicare is a Federal health program of insurance. It pays for elderly and certain disabled Americans to hospitals and medical care. The program is divided into 4 parts: Part A, B, C and D. But two main parts for hospitals and medical insurance are Part A B. Part A may be known as Hospitals Insurance, pays for the hospital stays and it includes meals, supplies, semi private rooms and testing. It also pays for home health care. Part B which is known as Supplementary Medical Insurance. It pays for physicians visits, home health care costs, outpatient hospitals, and other services for aged and disabled. It covers durable medical equipments, certain vaccinations, blood transfusion, lab and diagnosis tests, X-rays, chemotherapy, hormonal tests and eyeglasses. Part B requires a certain premium which caries each year. Part C is also known as Medical Advantage Plan because it allows the users to design a custom plan that can be more helpful and align to the needs of their medical needs. Part D includes the prescription drug plan. It is administered by one of many private insurance companies. Eligibility for Medicare requires a US citizen or continuous 5 years legal resident of US must be at least 65 years old or under 65 and disables or any age person with End Stage Renal Disease. Payroll taxes which are collected through Federal Insurance Contributions Act and Self Employment Contributions Act are the major elements of funding for Medicare. US healthcare reforms bill 2010 will cost $940 billion over the period of ten years.  [4]  This bill will cover 32 million American people who are uninsured. Health Insurance can be purchased through state-based exchanges and financial subsidy will be offered to the income below 133 percent and 400 percent of poverty level in US. Tax relaxations will be offered to the small business to purchase employee insurances. People who are availing subsidies will not be eligible for Medicare, Medicaid and also for employer covered insurance. New tax will be imposed in 2012 at rate of 3.8 percent on income of families making over $250,000 per year. Insurance reforms will be introduced and insurance companies wont deny to the people and children with pre-existing conditions. Medicaid will expand to include 133 percent of the poverty level in United States. In 2014, everyone must purchase a insurance or face the annual fine fees. Employers who have more than 50 employees must provide insuranc e to their employees or face a fine on the basis of per worker. Illegal immigrants can not avail insurance even if they pay their own money. Abortion insurance will be paid by private money and it will not be subsidized by federal or tax payer funds. Republican offered an alternative program on the basis of four common-sense reforms which can be afforded by people of US named as Common-sense healthcare reform. It includes that all businesses and families can buy insurance across US. The second point is that individuals, small businesses and trade associations can acquire insurances at lower costs by combine efforts. It also allows states to lower costs by creating innovative reforms. The last reform is to finish the lawsuits which must be obeyed by doctors because of getting sued by Police. This will end the high cost tests and other procedures which are actually not required by the patients.

Discussion About Genetically Modified Foods Essay

Genetically modified foods: Beneficial views & Adverse views a. What is the possible risk for genetically modified crops considering nutrition and health? b. Whether the economic effects are the most important? c. Will it bring severe environment problems? III. Arguments for beneficial effects of GM foods a. Firstly, transgenic technology has made considerable progress in food applications. b. Transgenic food has successfully lowered food prices and ensured food safety. c. GM foods significantly reduce the environmental impact of agriculture. Introduction The author, Magana-Gomez, critically analyzed the risk assessment methods of transgenic food for human nutrition and health in the paper, â€Å"Risk assessment of genetically modified crops for nutrition and health†. Magana reviewed various modes including different feeding period, animal modes and parameters in the paper published in 2011 by Nutrition Reviews (Magana G, 2009). In consistent with his studies, negative effects of GM food were identified â€Å"at molecular and microscopic levels†. However, with our entry into the 21st century, genetically modified foods have undergone even faster development. However, there are also many doubts about the safety of genetically modified foods. Therefore, genetically modified foods have become a hot topic issue. Personally, although there are many controversies about GM food, I still insist on the research and promotion of transgenic food due to its diverse benefits. Views According to Curieux-Belfond CL, he could identify the factors that deserve consideration before â€Å"commercialization and promotion of transgenic food† (182). In this paper, â€Å"Factors to condider before production and commercialization of aquatic genetically modified organisms: the case of transgenic salmon†, the author took transgenic salmon as an example, in which Curieux-Belfond examined the corresponding impacts in terms of aquaculture, wildlife, ecosystem and human health. The paper published in 2011 by Evironmental Science & Policy suggested that GM food undoubtedly contributed to economic benefits without exerting too much extra burden (Curieux B, 2009). In the end, the author believed that the benefits of genetically modified foods far outweigh the disadvantages. Analysis of the benefits of genetically modified foods Magana’s argument is persuasive when he assessed the risks about GM food. However, since genetic engineering techniques have successfully transferred anti-viral, insect resistance, cold resistance and other genes to cotton, wheat, tomatoes and other plants, we can get stable new varieties of genetically modified, with low production cost and high-yield food, which will ease the world food shortage and reduce the use of pesticides to a large extent. Based on the above reasons, I will provide a critical analysis with the following specific examples which show his argument is partially wrong. Firstly, transgenic technology has also made considerable progress in animal food applications. At present, a variety of mammal and bird genes are successfully integrated into the genome of fish, which can significantly enhance transgenic fish muscle protein content and improve growth speed. With the development of genetic engineering technology, people have been freed from natural enzymes to a large extent. Especially when the enzyme obtained from natural protein material encounters difficulties, genetic engineering has the unique advantages of natural gene cloning (Seralini GE, 2011). Thus, it can be highly expressed in microorganisms with mass production by fermentation. At present, the transgenic enzymes are widely used in the food industry, such as maltose enzymes amylase, pectinase and the juice protease. The food nutritional quality modified by genetic engineering has also made remarkable achievements. For instance, the genetic engineering technology has been applied for seed protein improvement, which renders it possible to change the plant composition and amino acid content. Secondly, transgenic food has successfully lowered food prices and ensured food safety, which helps increase production and food supply while reducing the farm labor and pesticide applications, agricultural inputs and production costs (Weasel LH, 2009). In the future, GM crops have great potential in solving the food crisis. For instance, by applying transgenic technology to the human staple foods of rice and wheat, people can increase food production and improve nutritional quality, which will provide mankind with higher-quality food. Furthermore, GM foods have also proved effective in alleviating poverty and hunger. The world’s poorest 50% of the population are small and resource-poor farmers, while 20% living in rural areas without their own land actually depend on agriculture. Therefore, the increase in small-scale and resource-poor farmers’ income will directly assist 70% of the world’s poorest people (Curieux-Belfond O, 2009). So far, genetically modified cotton in India, China and South Africa have already made a significant contribution to more than 1. 2 million poor farmers’ income. The benefits of genetically modified corn in the Philippines and South Africa will be much clearer in the future. In addition, genetically modified rice has great potential to benefit 250 million poor families in Asia, whose benefits will reach 10 million people (Curieux-Belfond O, 2009). Transgenic food also helps to reduce land development. Transgenic technology has been developed to improve the current 1. billion hectares of arable land productivity through conservation of biological resources, thereby reducing land development and deforestation. Thirdly, I will demonstrate such improvement since they significantly reduce the environmental impact of agriculture. Traditional agriculture has a significant impact on the environment, and transgenic biotechnology can help reduce this impact. In the first decade of appli cation of genetically modified crops, by planting herbicide and insect-resistant characteristics, transgenic technologies have greatly reduced the use of pesticides, saved fossil fuels and reduced carbon dioxide emissions. Undoubtedly, genetically modified crops with drought-tolerant genes will improve water-use efficiency and maintain sustainable agricultural development, which will play an important role in easing the crisis of population growth and global food shortage (Artemis D, 2009). GM crops have also contributed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in two main ways, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and helping slow climate change. First, by reducing fuel use, the spraying of insecticides and herbicides, GM crops continue to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. In 2007, genetic engineering has been stated to reduce 1. billion kilograms of carbon dioxide emissions, which is equivalent to a decrease of 50 million cars from the road. Secondly, herbicide-resistant GM crops help reduce tillage applications, which protects the land and enhances soil carbon sequestration. Conclusions Despite the many advantages of GM food, we cannot ignore the risks. After genetically modified foods have been taken into th e human body, they may cause harm to human health. Moreover, after a large number of transgenic crops come into nature, they may be biologically harmful to ecosystems. Since the risks of GM food is serous, it is important for us to reflect on it first. Any of the scientific and technological developments should be comprehensive and provide well-being for human life. If genetically modified foods can only increase our economic interests and improved material life without the moral, social and environmental harmony, they cannot be defined as making great contribution to social development. Therefore, whether GM food is a benefit or a disadvantage really depends on what kind of human values people hold (Qaim M. 2009). That is the question we reflect on deeply. In contemporary society, with the rapid development of science and technology, the economic situation of the human and the material standard of living has been soaring. It seems that mankind is taking great proud for the advanced technology. However, we should look back to what the living environment we rely on is subjected to. Therefore, genetically modified foods are seen as the savior of mankind, which is actually human self-centered ideology. Of course, with the continuous development of biotechnology and genetic engineering, human beings have the ability to create more genetically modified food.

Segmentation, Target Market Selection and Positioning Practice in Automotive Industry

SEGMENTATION, TARGET MARKET SELECTION AND POSITIONING (STP) PRACTICE in AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY | Marketing Management| | CONTENTS GENERAL INFORMATION2 OVERVIEW OF THE INDUSTRY2 PROCESS OF SEGMENTATION6 Demographic Features7 Age Factor7 Gender Factor7 Income Factor8 CHOICE OF TARGET MARKET9 Five Patterns of Target Market Selection9 Single-Segment Concentration9 Selective Specialization9 Product Specialization9 Market Specialization10 Full Market Coverage10 POSITIONING10 Perceptual Maps11 Value Map12 APPENDIX (TABLES)13 SOURCES18 SEGMENTATION, TARGET MARKET SELECTION AND POSITIONING PRACTICE IN AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY GENERAL INFORMATIONCompanies cannot connect with all customers in large, broad, or diverse markets. But they can divide such markets into groups of consumers or segments with distinct needs and wants. A company then needs to identify which market segments it can serve effectively. This decision requires a keen understanding of consumer behaviour and careful strategic thinking. T o develop the best marketing plans, managers need to understand what makes each segment unique and different [1]. Companies, instead of scattering their marketing efforts, are focusing on these consumers they have the greatest chance of satisfying.Contrast of mass marketing, nowadays, marketers 1) Identify and profile distinct groups of buyers who differ in their needs and preferences (market segmentation), 2) Select one or more market segments to enter (market targeting), 3) For each target segment, establish and communicate the distinctive benefit(s) of the company’s market offering (market positioning) [1]. OVERVIEW OF THE INDUSTRY Motor vehicles are the products that includes a motor and are used to carry goods or passengers; they are manufactured according to some specific regulations and includes four or more wheels.The industry that manufactures these products is called â€Å"automotive main industry†. On the other hand, â€Å"automotive subsidiary industry â⠂¬  manufactures parts, modules and systems for the companies which produces vehicles. â€Å"Automotive Industry† is the sum of these two industries [2]. In this paper I’ll focus on the â€Å"automotive main industry†. The main products in this industry are automobile (personal car), bus, midibus, minibus, truck, pick-up and tractors. Table 1 shows the players of the automotive industry in Turkey.As shown in Table 1, we can see that automotive industry is very big in Turkey and data in hand shows that it is one of the first three industries in Turkey. Turkey became one of the biggest production area of the big automotive manufacturers on the world. Custom Union Agreement (1996) was one of the milestones for Turkey’s automotive industry. After this agreement, exportation has increased. In 1967, Turkey’s â€Å"local† automobile called â€Å"Anadol† was manufactured. With the begining of industrialization and developments in trade in Tu rkey, tradesman needed pick-ups.Then Otosan began to produce Anadol pick-ups. In 1971, because of the increasing interest in automobiles in Turkey, Renault branded automobiles began to be produced. Because of Turkey’s geographic conditions, like wide rural areas, Renault automobile, which was convenient for these conditions became very popular in Turkey [2]. Parallel to the improvements in automotive industry, the distribution channels of it also improved. At first, only â€Å" made in Turkey † vehicles was distributed in this network, but after 1996, imported vehicles also took place in the distribution network.Until the 1980s, the selling and after sales services were provided in small galleries, but then the service began to be provided in auto-plazas. After the 1990s, in Turkey, including multi-national companies in this industry, modern management ideas, quality, human resources management, production process, continuous development ideas, research & developme nt, marketing channels, customer demand analysis, lean-production, team work, production without stock, 6-sigma and just in time production ideas took place in automotive industry [2].Table 2 shows the Automotive Vehicles Park in Turkey and Table 3 shows the Motor Vehicles by Types and Provinces for the year 2007. As shown in Table 3, the province involves the biggest number of motor vehicles is Istanbul, and an interesting data is â€Å"the number of personal cars in Istanbul is bigger than the total amount of motor vehicles of each province†!!! Another interesting data is â€Å"the number of trucks in S? rnak, different from other provinces, is 5 times bigger than the number of personal cars!!!After the year 2001, the variety of products manufactured in Turkey increased. Technology, qualified human resources and globalization made it necessary to produce various products. In general, it was an obligation for Turkey’s automotive industry to use modern technology, to produce according to scale economy principles, and to be competetive in price and quality in international market. As a result, product diversification has emerged. In 2001 economic crisis, the capacity usage in production decreased until 29%, but today it is almost 86% [2].In 1993 exportation / production rate was 2%, but with the decrease in demand by the effect of exchange rates and economic crisis, manufacturers headed towards mostly exporting their products to other countries. In 2007 exportation / production rate was 73%, as a result [2] (see Table 4 in appendix). High rivalry in global automotive industry causes good improvements in technology. Every year new and advanced models are being produced. These models have high standards and customers prefer these models. Especially after 1997, importation from Germany has increased because of the exchange rate of Mark was under the inflation rate [2].In 2001 economic crisis, exchange rates was high and then importation began to dec rease. Despite the increase in manufacturing in Turkey, about 57% of the Turkey automotive industry provides its products by importation. As shown in Table 5, Renault, Tofas and Ford have bigger market-share in Turkey. Renault and Tofas has mostly personal cars-share and on the other hand Ford has mostly pickups-share in Turkey. When buses are considered, Mercedes has the biggest share. By July 2008, 55 kinds of brand are being sold in Turkey [2]. Improvements in technology made it necessary to merge for different companies in order to compete in market.As a result of these merges, quality and competitiveness increased. The leader manufacturer of * Personal cars is Oyak – Renault * Pick –ups is Ford Otosan * Trucks is Mercedes Benz Turk * Buses is Mercedes Benz Turk * Minibuses is Ford Otosan * Midibuses is Karsan * Tractors is Turk Traktor in Turkey. The leader exporters are Ford, Oyak – Renault, Tofas and Toyota in Turkey. The most profitable companies are For d, Oyak – Renault, Mercedes and Tofas in Turkey (According to Turkey’s ISO-500 report)[3]. In Turkey’s exportation list top-10, there are 4 automotive companies that show us the impotance of automotive industry for Turkey’s economy.Let’s look at from the global view: * World Motor Vehicle Production : Japan is leader, Turkey is not bad, but 10% of Japan. * World Commercial Vehicles Production : Turkey is in a competitive position but the leader is United States. * World Light Commercial Vehicles Production : Turkey is in a good position(in Europe, one of the two leaders). * World Personal Cars Production: Turkey’s share is only 0,1% in the world. Leader is Japan. * World Heavy Trucks Production: China is the leader. Turkey is not good enough. * World Buses Production : Russia and Turkey are leaders in Europe.China, India, Brasil and US are the leaders worldwide. PROCESS OF SEGMENTATION Almost 100 years passed after Henry Ford had said that à ¢â‚¬Å"all automobiles must be black† and produced Model-T. Now there is a very competitive environment in automotive industry and understanding customer needs, expectations and forecasting demands are very important factors. Market segmentation is one of the strategies to be competitive in this industry as I told before. General Market Segmentation Activities are as follows: 1) Define the market to be segmented (automotive products buyers, individual consumers or business buyers, or both). ) Decide how to segment (geographic, demographic, psychographic, behavioral segmentation) 3) Form segments 4) Finer segmentation strategies 5) Strategic analysis of segments, if needed turn to #1. Target marketing involves breaking a market into segments and then concentrating your marketing efforts on one or a few key segments. Target marketing makes the promotion, pricing, conception and distribution of ideas/goods/services easier and more cost effective. It provides a FOCUS as Porter advi ced as one of the marketing strategies.It also provides Porter’s other strategy of being the COST LEADER. According to the Kotler and Keller’s book, steps in segmentation process are: 1) Needs- Based Segmentation 2) Segment Identification (demographic, behavioral .. distinctives) 3) Segment Attractiveness (market growth, access) 4) Segment Profitability 5) Segment Positioning (Create value – proposition and product-price positioning strategy) 6) Segment â€Å"Acid Test† (test the attractiveness of each segment’s positioning strategy) 7) Marketing –Mix Strategy( Product, Price, Promotion and Place aspects) [1].In automotive industry, companies generally segment the market according to demographic features (age, income, gender, family size, social class etc. )[4]. Demographic Features Age Factor In US, automobile buyers are mostly under age 25. For example Mazda has developed its MX-3 model, having shiny colours for ages around 20 and has deve loped its 929 model for middle aged people segment. From their advertisements, we can understand what the target segment is. A Japanese company has seen that the population’s average age is getting higher and targeted the segment of these old people.It manufactures an automobile which can detect the loss of attention of the driver. Toyota has maintained a simple radio system to Carry model for old people. General Motors placed a display which has big bright letters/numbers in front of the fore-glass of car for old people. But sometimes targeting may not be stable after segmenting according to age. For instance, Ford firstly manufactured Mustang model for youngs prefering low priced sportive automobile; but then they saw that this model is bought by all age groups of people. Gender Factor Women take place in working life more than before.So the target market structure changes day by day. Increasing income of a working woman and the quick time of city life the consumption behav iour changes and also total demand increases. Automobile manufacturers develop strategies according to this new market. An investigation made in US, states that woman spends lots of money for automobiles and they have a strong effect (80%) for buying a new car and their car-ownership percentage is 49%. Toyota observed that 60% of car owners of Toyota is woman. An interesting example of Volvo is: â€Å"A woman- team of Volvo has created a concept car designed only for women in 2004.It has many properties especially for shopping-hungry women. It has a motor that sends message to the service-center when the maintenance time comes. It has wide doors opening up and down, which makes it easy to get on and off with shopping packages†. In Turkey, the woman-effect can be seen in automobiles easily. In the wide spread of automatic gear in automobiles, there is an obvious woman effect. The automobiles having child security systems draws interest of woman. An investigation made by IBS Ma rketing Research company shows that a high percentage of woman prefences for an automobile is safety properties [4].If this is provided, then women prefer small automobiles. Income Factor The motor power, accessories, chassis of an automobile shows its class. The class of an automobile affects its price. People whose incomes are higher, prefers good quality, safety, performance and comfortable models. The most expensive cars are class E and F. For example Porche, BMW, Mercedes, Jaguar, Ferrari, Bugatti, Lamborghini are among the most expensive cars in the world. B and C class automobiles are for people having intermediate level of income. There are lots of kinds of automobile in these classes branded Toyota, Opel, Renault etc.This segment of cars has the biggest percentage of sales. Some companies by modifying the car’s function and equipments, targets low-income market segment. Only for this reason, Opel has manufactured a low-cost model for its China market. Toyota Yaris is one of the economic models. Dacia company also targeted the low-income market segment with its cheap automobiles [4]. Other segmenting variables, may be used in automotive industry are: * Geographic (country, climate, state, nation†¦ ) * Psychographic (lifestyle, activities, interests, opinions, personality, core values†¦ * Behavioral (occasions, benefits, loyalty status, buyer-readiness†¦ ) Market segments must rate favorably on five key criteria: 1) measurable (the size, purchasing power etc. ), 2) substantial (large and profitable), 3) accessible, 4) differentiable (distinguishable segments respond differently), 5) actionable [1]. CHOICE OF TARGET MARKET How well does a potential segment score on the five criteria mentioned above? Does a potential segment have characteristics that make it generally attractive, such as size, growth, profitability, scale economies, and low risk?Does investing in the segment make sense given the firm’s objectives, competencies , and resources? These questions should be asked before selecting the target market. The firm must look at two factors: 1) the segment’s overall attractiveness, and 2) the company’s objectives and resources [1]. Five Patterns of Target Market Selection Single-Segment Concentration Volkswagen concentrates on the small-car market and Porche on the sports car market. Through concentrated marketing, the firm gains a strong knowledge of the segment’s needs and achieves a strong market presence. However, there are risks.A particular market segment can turn sour or a competitor may invade the segment. For these reasons, many automotive companies prefer to operate in more than one segment. A benefit of this is a company carrying fixed costs (sales force, store outlets) can add products to absorb and share some costs. Selective Specialization A firm selects a number of segments, each promises to be a moneymaker. This multisegment strategy has the advantage of diversifyin g the firm’s risk. For example Mercedes selects premium segment (Sedan model) and young and alone consumer segment (Smart model).Product Specialization The firm makes a certain product that it sells to several different market segments. For example small cars are manufactured for different market segments such as young/alone consumers and small families living in crowded cities. Market Specialization The firm concentrates on serving many needs of a particular customer group. In automotive industry there is no such example that sells of all its products only to one kind of segment. For example an automotive company doesn’t produce for only old people or doesn’t produce for only high-income people.In order to compete in the industry they also have different product lines serving other segments too. However, Turk Traktor may be an exception, because it produces tractors for people dealing with agriculture. But this must not be considered as one segment. It also inc ludes more than one segments inside, such as high income and low income customers. Let’s remember that a segment must have five key criteria. These two segments do not have the same characteristics and responds differently to different marketing-mix elements (price, place, promotion and product).Full Market Coverage The firm attempts to serve all customer groups with all the products they might need. Only very large firms such as General Motors can undertake a full market strategy. Large firms can cover a whole market in two ways: through undifferentiated and differentiated marketing [1]. Undifferentiated or mass marketing is the result of the decision to aim its resources at the entire market with one particular product. For example Turk Traktor has a narrow product line that keeps down the costs of production, marketing research, advertising and product management.As a result, Turk Traktor, owned by Koc Holding, is one of the fastest growing companies in Turkey [5]. In diff erentiated marketing, the firm operates in several market segments and designs different products for each. In automotive industry, we can say that all automobile manufacturers aim several market segments such as high and low incomed, young and old, looking for comfort or usableness, women and men etc. POSITIONING Positioning is the act of designing the company’s offering and image to occupy a distinctive place in the minds of the target market [1].Positioning is a managerial activity using marketing instruments, mainly promotional and communicational, to influence costumers’ perceptions and to secure a clear and distinctive place in their minds [6]. For an example of value proposition, see Table 6. The starting point for brand positioning is to determine â€Å"category membership†-the products or sets of products with which a brand competes and which function as close substitutes. To determine the proper competitive frame of reference, marketers need to underst and consumer behavior and the consideration sets consumers use in making brand choices.Then marketers must define the appropriate points-of-difference (PODs) and points-of-parity (POPs) (necessary conditions which should be included for brand choice) associations. POD of Lexus is quality. POP of BMW is performance and luxury with respect to performance cars and luxury cars. Because BMW positioned the brand as the only automobile that offered â€Å"both† luxury and performance [1]. Perceptual Maps Perceptual maps provide a visual picture of the positioning activity. They help you understand what consumers think about your and competitors’ brand and help you build an effective marketing strategy [7].One of the most important issues in producing perceptual maps is defining the proper range of competitive products. It has been found that perceptual maps of direct substitutes may better support positioning decisions. So, in an investigation made on Hungary automotive indust ry in 1997, they decided to include â€Å"only direct substitutes† from the medium and lower medium-sized car market in this country instead of â€Å"all† cars. As a result, after the surveys they made on consumers, the perceptual map was like that in the figure. The survey results in value-price relationship says that customers donot simply buy on price, they buy on value [6].So it is very important for an automotive company to position itself correctly. Value Map The analytical framework of the value-price relationship is often called the value-map. The horizontal axis of the value map quantifies the perceived benefits that a product provides to the customers, while the vertical axis represents the perceived price. Positions on the value equivalence line represent a balance between the value and price perceptions of a product. As seen in figure, Skoda and Lada have the value disadvantage and arenot positioned well in consumers’ minds.It is more difficult for m arketers to change perceptions than the physical features of the product [6]. APPENDIX (TABLES) Table 1: Players of the industry in Turkey (Sorted according to the ISO 500 list increasing row number) [3]: 2009 row number| Company| 3| FORD OTOMOTIV SANAYI A. S. | 5| TOFAS TURK OTOMOBIL FABRIKASI A. S. | 6| OYAK-RENAULT OTOMOBIL FABRIKALARI A. S. | 13| TOYOTA OTOMOTIV SANAYI TURKIYE A. S. | 22| MERCEDES-BENZ TURK A. S. | 43| HYUNDAI ASSAN OTOMOTIV SAN. VE TIC. A. S. | 71| MAN TURKIYE A. S. | 84| TURK TRAKTOR VE ZIRAAT MAKINELERI A. S. | 8| BMC SANAYI VE TICARET A. S. | 100| HONDA TURKIYE A. S. | 123| TEMSA GLOBAL SANAYI VE TIC. A. S| 134| OTOKAR OTOBUS KAROSERI SANAYI A. S. | 162| KARSAN OTOMOTIV SANAYII VE TICARET A. S. | 293| ANADOLU ISUZU OTOMOTIV SANAYI VE TIC. A. S. | Table 2: Automotive Vehicles Park in Turkey: Years| Personal Car| Truck| Pick-Up| Minibus| Bus| Tractor| Total| 1963| 72. 034| 49. 356| 30. 739| 7. 543| 11. 726| 50. 844| 222. 242| 1996| 3. 274. 156| 453. 796| 442. 788| 182. 694| 94. 978| 988. 142| 5. 436. 554| 2007| 6. 472. 156| 729. 202| 1. 890. 459| 372. 601| 189. 128| 1. 327. 334| 10. 80. 880| Table 3: Motor Vehicles by Types and Provinces for the year 2007 Provinces| Personal Car| Minibus| Bus| Pick up| Truck| Total| Agr? | 7. 513| 1. 945| 214| 2. 779| 2. 275| 14. 726| Ankara| 820. 355| 24. 777| 14. 922| 149. 602| 58. 797| 1. 068. 453| Bal? kesir| 103. 987| 4. 584| 3. 737| 35. 208| 11. 125| 158. 641| Diyarbak? r| 28. 864| 5. 253| 821| 11. 252| 6. 235| 52. 425| Gumushane| 4. 587| 1. 028| 116| 1. 805| 1. 151| 8. 687| Istanbul| 1. 711. 773| 63. 816| 49. 640| 447. 530| 130. 790| 2. 403. 549| Izmir| 457. 791| 14. 487| 15. 357| 150. 132| 36. 511| 674. 78| Mersin| 123. 253| 5. 679| 5. 047| 49. 872| 22. 059| 205. 910| S? rnak| 3. 326| 706| 50| 2. 085| 15. 961| 22. 128| Source: Turkey Statistics Foundation Table 4: Table5: Table 5 continued: Table 6: Example of Value Proposition [1]: Company and Product| Target Customers| Benefits| Price| Value Pr oposition| Volvo (station vagon)| Safety-conscious â€Å"upscale† families| Durability and safety| 20 % premium| The safest, most durable wagon in which your family can ride. | SOURCES 1. Marketing Management, P. Kotler & K. L. Keller, 13th ed. , Prentice Hall 2. Istanbul Ticaret Odas?Otomotiv Sektor Raporu, F. Karbuz & A. Silahc? & E. Cal? skan,2008 3. Otomotiv Sanayi Dernegi, Turkiye’nin 500 Buyuk Sanayi Kurulusu Icinde Otomotiv Sanayi Raporu, Temmuz 2010 4. Otomobil Sektorunde Uygulanan Onemli Demografik Bolumlendirme Kriterleri, Yrd. Doc. Dr. Bulent Bayraktar, 2005 5. http://www. turktraktor. com. tr 6. Segmenting the Hungarian automobile market brand using perceptual and value mapping, G. Rekettye & J. Liu, Journal of Targeting, Measurement and Analysis for Marketing, Oct 2000 7. http://hausmanmarketresearch. org/256/how-to-build-perceptual-maps/

Sickle Anemia And Its Effect On Today s Time - 2423 Words

Sickle -cell anemia is a very important subject to touch on in today’s time because many people honestly do not know what this is. Sickle -cell anemia is a severe hereditary form of anemia in which a mutated form of hemoglobin distorts the red blood cells into a crescent shape at low oxygen levels (SCDAA par .1). Also it is one of the most common diseases in the African American race. There are other races that this particular disease would show up in such as the Hispanics, and people of the South American descent. According to the American Society of Hematology there are a count for 70 ,000 to 100 ,000 African Americans suffering from this disease (American Society of Hematology par .1). Statistics also state that 1 in 12 African Americans even have the sickle cell trait (ASH par .4). By doing simple math, that means that over the course of a year, there are over 1 ,000 babies being born in the United States with that disease. I know if I was shocked by those numbers, there a re others out there who would be shocked too. I believe there should be more awareness thrown out there about sickle cell anemia because, it takes 2 parents with the trait to bring a child into this world unknowingly with the full blown disease. Throughout many countries sickle -cell often times gets sucked under the radar, when it really should be front in center because of the severity of this disease. Sickle -cell does not go away in a few days with a little bit of rest or medication, like theShow MoreRelatedSickle Cell Anemi Is The Most Common Inherited Blood Disorder? Essay1636 Words   |  7 PagesSickle Cell Anemia is a group of disorders that cause red blood cells to become misshapen and break down. Sickle Cell Anemia affects many people all over the world; Sickle cell disease  is the most common inherited blood disorder in the United States, affecting 70,000 to 80,000 Americans (Ashley-Koch, Yang and Olney). 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