Effect of Bicarbonate Supplement on Kidney Function

Effect of Bicarbonate Supplement on Kidney Function Bicarbonate Supplementation Slows Progression of CKD and Improves Nutritional Status Ione de Brito-Ashurst, Mira Varagunam, Martin J. Raftery, and Muhammad M. Yaqoob  Lay Abstract Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is the long-term damage of the kidney. Symptoms only start presenting when the disease is progressing towards the advanced stages. It is a disease of the elderly population, and with the UK’s ageing population, cases are likely to increase in the near future. Metabolic acidosis (MA) is a common complication of CKD and treating this has been thought to slow down the decline in kidney function. Bicarbonate supplementation has previously been used as an experimental treatment on rat models to correct the MA but results have been inconclusive. There is also a lack of long-term trials investigating the effect on humans. The results showed bicarbonate supplementation was beneficial to kidney function and nutritional status of patients, while causing minimal side effects. More clinical trials need to be performed to consolidate these findings and to look at alternative treatment regimens before being implemented into clinical practice. Background Information and Rationale for Carrying Out the Work Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is the long-term decline in kidney function. It is defined as kidney damage resulting in a GFR ≠¤ 60 mL/min/1.73m2 for more than 3 months, or kidney damage for more than 3 months with evidence of structural or functional abnormalities, with GFR not necessarily reduced (1). In advanced stages it can lead to metabolic acidosis (MA) due to a decreased tubular bicarbonate secretion, which has been known to cause protein catabolism and increased insulin resistance (2), and impaired ammonium excretion (3). The lesser stages of CKD are quite common in communities but ESRD is quite rare in populations. CKD is a disease of the elderly with around 30-40% of the population > 75 years having CKD at stages 3-5 (1). It is usually asymptomatic until the later stages of the disease and during ESDR, the only possible life supporting treatments are transplantation or dialysis (4). Obesity is associated with an increased risk of CKD by over 2.5 times (5). With obesity, type 2 diabetes and hypertension all on the rise (6-8) , there is likely to be a boom in the number of CKD cases within the next couple of decades. There is clearly a need to address this future burden on the healthcare system. Correction of MA in dialysis patients has shown to slow down protein degradation in a small number of short term clinical trials (9, 10). Studies on rat models have shown inconsistent evidence where MA has been shown to slow down progression of renal failure (11). Due to the short term nature of these studies, there has been inadequate evidence on the impact of renal function. There have been very few studies investigating the correction of MA in CKD in humans and also the lack of long term studies of the effect on pre-dialysis patients, which were the main motives for carrying out this study. Approaches to the Question and Key Results The research question raised was whether bicarbonate supplementation to patients with MA in CKD could slow its progression and improve nutritional status. A single-centre, open-label, randomised, parallel-group study was carried out to investigate this question. The inclusion and exclusion criteria were stated explicitly. 134 eligible patients were randomly assigned to either routine standard care or oral sodium bicarbonate tablets 600mg TID which was increased as necessary to maintain bicarbonate ≠¥ 23mmol/L. The treatment assignment procedure was done by an external statistician and involved block stratification, then randomisation carried out within each stratum of men, women, diabetics and non-diabetics. This method helped to balance each of the patients’ covariates and ensured adequate concealment. As a result, 67 patients were assigned to the control group and 67 patients to the treatment group. To reach a power of 90% which would allow an absolute difference of 30% to be detected, 63 patients in each group would have to be studied, but to allow for non-compliance, this was increased to 67. Calculation of statistical power ensured a large enough sample size. The 2 groups had similar baseline characteristics (Table 1) and ap art from the bicarbonate supplementation, they were both treated equally. Patients were followed up every 2 months for 2 years for the primary outcome measurements while nutritional assessments were carried out at 0, 6, 12, 18 and 24 months by a single dietician. All patients were able to be analysed with none of the patients being lost to follow up or discontinuing the intervention, however 5 withdrew before receiving the treatment. Intention to treat analysis was performed. The investigators, statisticians and the single dietician were blinded to the initial group assignment as they were directly involved in assessing the outcomes, but since the trial was open-label, it suggests that patients and external clinicians were not. The outcomes were focused on the research question and were measured in a standard way. The primary outcomes were the decline in renal function, the number of patients with rapid progression of renal failure, and the development of ESRD that required dialysis. After 12 months, the rate in decline of CrCl was lower in the treatment group at 1.88 ml/min per 1.73 m2 (95% [CI] 0.39 to 4.15 ml/min per 1.73 m2) than the control group at 5.93 ml/min per 1.73 m2 (95% confidence interval [CI] 4.19 to 7.76 ml/min per 1.73 m2) (P Secondary outcomes were measurements of changes in normalized protein nitrogen appearance (nPNA), dietary protein intake (DPI), serum albumin and mid-arm muscle circumference (MAMC) to identify the nutritional status of patients. Results showed an increase in DPI (P Likely Impact of Research Outcome The fact that there was both a slowdown of the decline in kidney function and a reduction in the number of patients progressing to ESRD is clinically beneficial. However, the confidence interval for the treatment group is quite large (0.39 to 4.15 ml/min per 1.73 m2) and the upper limit is close to overlapping with the confidence interval of the control group at the lower limit (4.19 to 7.76 ml/min per 1.73 m2) for the rate in decline of CrCl. Statistically, the treatment may only offer a marginal improvement over the control, but the bicarbonate supplementation clearly does offer some benefit to stage 4 CKD patients. There are also significant nutritional benefits to CKD patients. Poor nutrition leads to protein energy wasting (PEW) and a low serum albumin which increase morbidity and mortality in dialysis patients (12), but this can be easily reduced with bicarbonate supplementation. The patients studied in this trial are not 100% representative of the population. This trial had to exclude 30 out of 184 potential subjects due to eligibility criteria. The exclusion criteria included morbid obesity, congestive heart failure, chronic sepsis, malignant diseases, cognitive impairment or uncontrolled hypertension so findings will not apply to patients that fall into these categories, however the findings will be important for the majority of patients with CKD. The trial was only a single centre study on patients at the Royal London Hospital in the East End of London. The demographic in this area of London is likely to vary from demographics in other parts of London and the UK. I think all the outcomes of interest to the patient were considered before the trial. Side effects of worsening hypertension and oedema that required an increase in therapy and loop diuretics respectively were minimal (Table 3). Blood pressures rose and oedema worsened more in the treatment group but these were not statistically significant (P=0.17 and P=0.5). The single main issue was that 6.5% of subjects experienced a bad taste taking the tablet of the sodium bicarbonate, which was then switched to a powder form. In the long term I think this trial will form the basis of a future change in clinical practice. The change will not be immediate as this is the first RCT on pre-ESRD patients with MA and more clinical trials need to be carried out in this area, with a subsequent systematic review and meta-analysis. Overall, the bicarbonate supplementation does offer an advantage over standard treatment, and the fact that bicarbonate itself is simple and very cheap to source and produce with minimal side effects also works in its favour. Future Work and Conclusion There are some changes I would make to the trial. The confidence interval for the treatment group is quite large (0.39 to 4.15 ml/min per 1.73 m2) and the upper limit is close to overlapping with the confidence interval of the control group at the lower limit (4.19 to 7.76 ml/min per 1.73 m2) for the rate in decline of CrCl. So statistically, the treatment may only offer a marginal improvement over the control. In order to achieve a more precise CI, a larger sample size could be used, and a multi-centre trial could be conducted so that the findings can be applied to a wider population. I think the accuracy of the outcomes would also benefit from the use of a placebo and double-blinding. This study focused only on patients in stage 4 CKD. While these patients are likely to experience MA, it may also be beneficial to study the effect on patients in stage 3 CKD. Patients especially in stage 3b CKD (GFR 30-44 mL/min) are at risk of slipping into the stage 4 category and bicarbonate supplementation has potential to act as a preventative treatment. The serum bicarbonate level in the treatment group was maintained at 23 mmol/L or greater. There was no upper limit for the bicarbonate level and considering that the normal range of serum bicarbonate is 22-28 mmol/L, we can see that the trial looked at the lower end of the reference range. I think a future clinical trial should look at the effect of bicarbonate supplementation on stage 4 CKD patients when serum bicarbonate is controlled within a middle range of 24-26 mmol/L and at the upper end range of 26-28 mmol/L. It is encouraging to see that there have been more RCTs investigating the positive outcomes of bicarbonate supplementation on CKD (13-15), however further investigations still need to be carried out to reach an optimal and definitive treatment plan. References 1.Barratt J, Topham PD, Harris KPG. Nephrology. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2009. 2.Kopple JD, Kalantar-Zadeh K, Mehrotra R. Risks of chronic metabolic acidosis in patients with chronic kidney disease. Kidney Int Suppl. 2005(95):S21-7. 3.Bailey JL. Metabolic acidosis: an unrecognized cause of morbidity in the patient with chronic kidney disease. Kidney Int Suppl. 2005(96):S15-23. 4.Smart NA, Dieberg G, Ladhani M, Titus T. Early referral to specialist nephrology services for preventing the progression to endà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ stage kidney disease. 2009. 5.MacLaughlin HL, Hall WL, Sanders TA, Macdougall IC. Risk for chronic kidney disease increases with obesity: Health Survey for England 2010. Public Health Nutr2010. p. 1-6. 6.Klahr S, Morrissey J. Progression of chronic renal disease. Am J Kidney Dis. 2003;41(3 Suppl 1):S3-7. 7.Shaw JE, Sicree RA, Zimmet PZ. Global estimates of the prevalence of diabetes for 2010 and 2030. Diabetes Res Clin Pract. 2010;87(1):4-14. 8.Guh DP, Zhang W, Bansback N, Amarsi Z, Birmingham CL, Anis AH. The incidence of co-morbidities related to obesity and overweight: A systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Public Health. 2009;9(1):88. 9.Graham KA, Reaich D, Channon SM, Downie S, Goodship TH. Correction of acidosis in hemodialysis decreases whole-body protein degradation. J Am Soc Nephrol. 1997;8(4):632-7. 10.Williams AJ, Dittmer ID, McArley A, Clarke J. High bicarbonate dialysate in haemodialysis patients: effects on acidosis and nutritional status. Nephrol Dial Transplant. 1997;12(12):2633-7. 11.Jara A, Felsenfeld AJ, Bover J, Kleeman CR. Chronic metabolic acidosis in azotemic rats on a high-phosphate diet halts the progression of renal disease. Kidney Int. 2000;58(3):1023-32. 12.Lowrie EG, Lew NL. Death risk in hemodialysis patients: the predictive value of commonly measured variables and an evaluation of death rate differences between facilities. Am J Kidney Dis. 1990;15(5):458-82. 13.Kovesdy CP. Metabolic acidosis and kidney disease: does bicarbonate therapy slow the progression of CKD? 2012. 14.Abramowitz MK, Melamed ML, Bauer C, Raff AC, Hostetter TH. Effects of oral sodium bicarbonate in patients with CKD. Clin J Am Soc Nephrol. 2013;8(5):714-20. 15.Gaggl M, Cejka D, Plischke M, Heinze G, Fraunschiel M, Schmidt A, et al. Effect of oral sodium bicarbonate supplementation on progression of chronic kidney disease in patients with chronic metabolic acidosis: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial (SoBic-Study). Trials. 2013;14:196.

The Manager Of Subway Supacenta On Improving Management

The Manager Of Subway Supacenta On Improving Management Subway SupaCenta Manukau wanted to explore and research about the possible factors that are influencing the customer service satisfaction. The research report included the current trends and circumstances that may or may not affect the performance of the Subway SupaCenta. The researcher did a pilot study to explore and examine the possible problems and factors that has adverse effects on the overall customer service satisfaction. After a preliminary study some general problems were found like communication among staff members and with the customers, unreliable suppliers, lack of motivation among staff members, cultural differences, wastage of food etc. All these problems lead to poor customer service and ends up with many customer complaints because the customers were not satisfied with the service provided by the staff members. After a thorough study, author identifies the main problem as lack of motivation in staff members. Author used quantitative as well as qualitative techniques to investigate more about these problems. The author used many methods to research about all the problems. The main techniques used by the author are document analysis, questionnaires, observations, interviews. Document analysis provides a lot more information about the working schedules, operations manual and sales. The author was able to work on these documents to analyze the current situation. Questionnaires were used to get the information from customers. Interviews were conducted with manager and assistant manager to get more information from top level. So the overall problem identification research was conducted with the use of various techniques and methods and various management theories were used in the whole process. In the end conclusions were drawn based on the findings and relevant recommendations were provided. Introduction The Setting Subway SupaCenta is a fast food restaurant located in SupaCenta in Manukau. Subway is very popular because of the healthy food products. It is growing rapidly in the country and whole world. It is famous for the fresh food products made in front of the customers with a quick and friendly customer service. Subway is in a high demand for health conscious people. At the time of this high demand among people, Subway is struggling because of various internal and external problems that trigger the poor customer service. The author selected this organization to examine the issues and factors that create the problems and affect the overall performance. This investigation examines the administration, management and staff level factors that cause adverse effects on the overall organization performance. The Business Problem The business problem is identified as lack of motivation among the staff members which cause the poor customer service. All the other problems like communication, wastage of food, cultural differences are interlinked with the motivation problem and organizational structure. This business problem involves the organization culture, routine work, management etc. Motivation Problem (Poor Customer Service) Communication Problem Wastage of Food Shortage of Staff Cultural Differences Miscellaneous Problems Figure 1. Factors affecting Customer Service This research is completed by answering the below given questions. These questions are suitable and relevant to the organization and identified problem. There is a huge opportunity to investigate and find out the possible solutions and recommendations: What are the organizational factors that influence the performance of the staff members? What are the process factors which contribute to the customer service? What are the motivation problems in the Subway SupaCenta? What people factors influence the customer service at Subway SupaCenta? The Value of Research The research is adequate and relevant for the organization to examine and improve the customer service satisfaction. This valuable investigation report presents the current organization procedure and policies, culture, trends and provides the possible recommendations for both internal and external factors. This research will provide the current scenario of the organization which will help the management to put extra efforts where needed. The researcher focused on all the aspects of lack of motivation which could lead to poor customer service. The author provided a clear picture of the aspects affecting the performance using various techniques and analysis. To achieve the organizational goals, management have to deal with these aspects to maximize the productivity and increase the performance. This will bring effectiveness and efficiency in the organization. The Aim and Purpose The aim of this research study is to provide the possible recommendations for the problems in Subway SupaCenta that are identified at earlier stage of this research project. The author provided the possible aspects that trigger the poor customer service which is generated by lack of motivation. Lack of motivation covers current culture, system, management, policies and procedures. The purpose of the study is to improve the customer service satisfaction by motivating the staff members. The purpose includes the possible policy implementations to achieve the desired overall performance. To improve the service, achieve the aim and fulfil the purpose, this research study tries to answer some questions: What are the possible factors affecting the customer service? Why staff members are unmotivated? When there is a need for extra efforts? Who should motivate the staff members? How the staff members will be motivated? Figure 2. Customer service in Action Methodology The Author used qualitative as well as quantitative research instruments to investigate thoroughly about the identified business problem. These instruments provide the logical and analytical information about the current situation. In this research report, author used the below given research instruments: 1. Document Analysis 2. Questionnaires 3. Observation 4. Interviews The methodology and research instruments used in this research report are quite relevant to find out the problem factors and other things that influence the customer service satisfaction. 1. Document Analysis The author was able to do document analysis of company documents. In document analysis, the author research and examine the company sales figures, company operations manual, rosters, company pamphlets etc. Document analysis is very useful resource to examine the company strengths, weaknesses, and also the opportunities with possible threats. Official documents like sales figures were used to check when the company is making huge sales or when its sales are going down. Rosters were also analyzed to check that who is doing the specific shifts and if there is any biasing in the rosters etc. Operations manual of the company was also analyzed to check if the company is doing good and in the proper way as they described or not. 2. Questionnaire Questionnaire was used in this research project. Author asked for permission from the store manager of Subway before using this method. After getting the approval from manager Mr. Shea Tipene author used the questionnaire to collect the qualitative data. Two different questionnaires were prepared for staff and customers. The questionnaire was given to 4 staff members and 8 customers. The researcher especially used this method to collect information from the operational environment. The author uses the technique in a very honest way and didnt try to alter the information in any form. The questionnaires are given as appendix at the end of the report. 3. Observation The researcher used this method to explore the natural scene without any biased assumptions. The permission was taken from the manager to perform this action and he approved it. Observation helps to bring the natural activity. It gives the opportunity to examine the whole process at the level of the subject. This method helped the author to achieve a personal experience with high understanding. Observation was very helpful to get information about staff-customer relationships and also the relationships among all the staff members which shows that how they are coordinating with each other to accomplish their duties. 4. Interview Author used the interview as a technique for this research project. It is very useful to collect qualitative information through formal interviews. The researcher interviewed the manager Mr. Shea Tipene and assistant manger Mr. Jasdeep Singh. In this process, the researcher was very honest and didnt use any emotive language or biased opinion to influence the interviewee. The unstructured interview is best to use when the researcher has general ideas about the topic. Author asked the permission from the manager and assistant manager to conduct the interview. After the final approval, the author prepared the questions for interview. The author was careful while preparing the interview questions so that there are no suggestive or aggressive questions that may offend some people. Author aims to be natural at the time of interview and not the person with some special role or powers. The interview questions are given as appendix at the end of the report. Strengths and Limitations of the Study There are many strengths and limitations to this study. These are given below: Strengths: This study helps to analyze the verbal and non-verbal behaviour of staff members and customers to understand the exact situation. It helps to portray perspectives and pass on the feelings and experiences. It helps to find out the existing problems with the factors that affect the working environment. It provides the useful recommendations for the management to improve the customer service in store. Limitations: Time frame for the study was limited. It took more time to research and analyze as compared to the schedule. Qualitative study is often criticised as being biased, time consuming and useless. Lack of precision is another limitation of this study because in some cases the author may try to use their own views or biasing which could lead to wrong results. Qualitative also lacks any statistical data values which look more promising and real. Management Theory Fish-Bone Analysis The author used the Fish-bone analysis to examine the problems that causes the customer dissatisfaction. This analysis provides a clear picture of what are the key problems that cause the main big problem. This is very suitable problem solving technique because it covers all the aspects of causes that contribute to the big problem. It is very important to explore all the possible causes before starting to solve the problem. A diagram for the Cause and Effect problem solving technique is given below: Figure 3. Fish-Bone Analysis Possible causes as given above in the starting of the report that contribute to the poor customer service are lack of communication, lack of knowledge, wastage of food, lack of power. All these problems arise due to the motivation problem. Employees are not motivated and they dont feel themselves as a part of the store. So if they are not motivated they will try to avoid their responsibilities and will not like to work effectively. The given management theory is relevant for the identified business problem of lack of motivation in customer service among staff members. It is reasonably feasible and relevant to the company because the aim of the company is to provide quality food products with great service. If the customer service in the company is not up to the standards, it will affect the productivity and company will loose the profits. Lack of motivation can led to various problems like wastage of food, misbehave with customers, negative work environment etc. So the fish-bone analysis provides a clearer picture of what is actually happening in store. So this method is quite relevant and feasible to the given problem and will provide relevant results to improve the service and productivity of the store. Results and Discussion 1. Document Analysis The author used the document analysis technique to find out the reasons of problems related to the poor customer service. Staff was not feeling motivated because there are too many problems in store that lead to poor customer satisfaction. The author used the documents like rosters and Subway operations manual to find out what is main reason behind their low motivation. The author checked the roster of 4 weeks to find out how the staff members are getting hours. The roster was mainly analyzed for 4 staff members on an average to find out the result. Figure 4. Staff hours for four Weeks So the above graph shows that there is a huge difference of shifts between staff members. So some staff members getting more hours that the others that affects their performance. Here in this case Aashish is getting more hours than other staff members whereas Wini is doing an average hours but other staff members are getting less hours. The above graph represents that there is a case of biasing in giving staff hours among staff members. The staff members that are getting more hours will be more motivated than other staff members. The employee that gets less hours will feel dissatisfied and will not like to work honestly, efficiently and up-to his best possible efforts. They will not feel valued and will try to avoid their responsibilities which could lead to poor communication, poor customer service and overall poor performance. The author also used the Subway operations manual which discusses about the motivation among staff members. It describes that management should motivate staff members as much as possible to get the best out of them. If the employees are motivated they will feel valued and will work honestly and effectively to get the best results which will increase their productivity and service performance. 2. Questionnaire The author used the questionnaires to collect the qualitative information from the customers and staff members to find out the possible reasons and factors that affect the performance of the employees. The author provided two different questionnaires for staff and customers. Staff Questionnaire Answer Figure 5. Questionnaire response from Staff The results of the questionnaire shows that the employees are not satisfied with their job. They dont like the management, the salary or fairness towards all the staff members. It shows that they are not motivated and feels unhappy when performing their jobs. This whole process affects their performance which in turn decreases the productivity and customer satisfaction. Customer Questionnaire Figure 6. Questionnaire Response from Customers The customer questionnaire shows that there is big percentage of customers that are not dissatisfied with the customer service of the store. They feel de-motivated and dont like to visit the store again. Store is doing well in terms of sales because of its location but the service performance level is going down which is a big problem for the business. 3. Observation The author used observation technique to collect the qualitative data. The results of observation provide a quite big picture which shows the problem factors. This technique provides enough information about the contributing factors and their percentage. To observe the current situation of the store, the author visited the store 4 times in 2 weeks to get the multiple results. For two days author visited the store in the lunch time and for other two days he visited the store in evening just before the dinner time. Figure 7. Observation Results. So the above graph represents that there are too many problems in store that contribute to the poor customer service. Employees lacks in communication. They try to avoid customers which bring the negative feedback from customer. Employees are not trained properly and they have less knowledge about the nutritional facts of the sandwiches which is another big problem. If some customer asked for some information, the staff members are unable to provide the up to date information to that related topic. So the above graph shows that communication is the biggest problem in this store. They need to improve the communication skills to improve the overall productivity of the staff. According to the Subway operations manual, the staff members should be aware of everything that they selling so proper training is needed to improve the service All the above given factors are a result of the lack of motivation. These factors are influenced by the motivation factor. If the staff members are not motivated then they will not show willingness to learn new things and get the training about the proper policy and procedures. 4. Interviews The author conducted two different interviews with store manager Mr. Shea Tipene and assistant manager Mr. Jasdeep Singh. Formal permission was taken from the manager before interview. The interview shows that the manager Shea Tipene has the full control over the store management and employees. He likes the authoritarian approach in store. The interview questions and answers are provided in the appendices. The results of the interview with Mr. Shea Tipene represent him as an autocratic leader which makes it difficult for other employees to talk to him if they need. The results are shown as a chart below: Figure 8. Interview Results from Manager. After conducting the interview with store manager author also conducted a second interview with assistant manager Mr. Jasdeep Singh. The interview statistics shows that Mr. Jasdeep Singh is very democratic person. He loves to talk to employees and get their comments to improve the service. But he got fewer powers than store manager so in some cases he feels helpless to do some specific activity. Figure 9. Interview results from Assistant Manager. So the above graph represents that he is a democratic leader which loves to talk to employees to solve problem, improve performance and improve the overall productivity and efficiency. A List of Possible Solutions and their Consequences There are a lot of possible solutions that are useful to solve the problems of this store. A list of possible solutions and consequences is given below in a table format. No. Solutions Consequences 1 More training to staff members. Management need to spend more money. 2. Delegation of Powers. Management need to divide authority powers should provide more responsibilities and power to assistant manager. 3. Benefits and Allowances. Management need to spend more money 4. Fairness. Management should set the standard to provide a fair opportunity for everyone. So everyone should be treated equally and should get equal opportunities. 5. Education Management should provide education about customer service and provide courses through Subway University. Table 1. A List of Possible Solutions and their Consequences McGregors XY Management Theory The author used the McGregors XY Theory of management to examine and analyze the problems in Subway SupaCenta store. McGregors XY theory helps to improve the organizational cultural and development. McGregor provide fundamental approach to manage the people and businesses. This theory provides two sub theories X and Y. Some managers use theory X which is mainly authoritarian management style and some manager use theory Y which is more democratic and participative kind of management style. Figure 10. McGregors Theory X Y The management theory used in this research project is very relevant to analyze the situations in Subway. This provides the information about current management style in store and the effects of the particular management style. This theory recommends that the people can perform better if they are motivated properly by the top management. Encouraging the participation brings the motivation in employees. This theory explains that the people are not lazy by nature but if they get a right amount of motivation then they can bring the best out of them. Theory Y encourages team work, removing obstacles, providing the guidance to increase the productivity and growth. These techniques will help the organization to match the goal of the employees with organizational goals. Theory X and Theory Y are quite different from each other. Theory X is more conservative, authoritarian, rigid and static but theory Y is more flexible, dynamic and progressive with a feeling of optimism. This theory encoura ges self-direction and integration of goals. The given management XY management theory is quite relevant to the business problem. Theory X is related to more autocratic style of leadership and Theory Y is more related to democratic style. So it is quite helpful for the above given problems. It will help to find the problems and provide the relevant solutions. Evidence of Original Research The whole research process was original and personally performed by the author. He conducted interviews, provide questionnaires and observe the situation in store personally. For the evidence, there are questionnaires, interview questions and answers are given in the appendices. Conclusions Recommendations Conclusions: In the conclusion author provides the results of the whole research report. The author found out various problems in the Subway SupaCenta and was discussed in the first assignment. Out of all the problems, the author chooses one big problem as lack of motivation. These problems have further small problems that affect the overall performance. The results helped the author to get the conclusion of this report. In the conclusion, the author explains that the problem lack of motivation was the biggest problem in store. The employees are not motivated to work in the store which is the biggest problem. If the employees are not motivated they are not in a mood to listen what the manager is saying or what the customer wants. There are too many problems that affect the staff performance and overall customer service. The author used the qualitative techniques such as observation, interviews to find out the personal views of managers and customers and to observe the staff performan ce in store at various times. So in the end author defined the big problem (Lack of Motivation) with various sub-problems. Motivation Problem Lack of Fairness Lack of Communication Lack of Knowledge Lack of Training Conclusions are based on the original research conducted by the author. For the evidence, the author provided interview questions and customer satisfaction survey forms in the appendices. The Henri Fayols Management Theory The author used the Henri Fayols management theory to discuss the results, conclusions. Fayols provide 14 management principles which help the author to draw the conclusions and recommendations. These principles are given below: Division of Work Staff should be divided into department to increase the output. Authority Managers should use their powers with responsibility. Discipline Discipline is very important in the organization. Unity of Command Employees should have only one direct supervisor. Unity of Direction Employees with the similar objective should be working under one manager. This will increase the coordination. Subordination of Individual Interests to the General Interest The personal interests should be second and companys interests should be first. Remuneration Employees should get a good remuneration for their performance. Centralization The employees should be close enough to the result-making authorities. Scalar Chain Staff members should be aware of their place in the company. Order Management should provide safe and clean working environment. Equity Managers should treat all the employees equally. Stability of Tenure of Personnel Managers needs to work on the employee turn over to increase the productivity at the same time increasing the performance. Initiative Employees should be able to perform some tasks by their own. This will increase their confidence. So managers should be using laissez-faire style for some level. Esprit de Corps Organizations should work hard to promote the team work and unity. Recommendations: In the end, the author provides some recommendations to the management so that they work on it to improve the staff performance to overall increase the productivity. Recommendations are relevant, feasible and practical. Some of the recommendations are given below: Training: Management should provide more training to the staff members to get the best out of them. Training will improve their knowledge. Fairness: Staff should be treated equally with fairness. This will help them to feel attached to the company. Improve Communication: The Communication problem was the biggest problem among employees. This will help them to be confident and they will be more friendly with the customers. Delegation: Delegation of powers is another main factor that will help to divide the powers among employees. This will help them to feel more motivated and valued for the company. Benefits to employees: Benefits are the biggest motivators for everyone. Management should set a standard that if the employees are working up to that standard then they will get some extra benefits and allowances. Bigger Store: The management should try to get a bigger place for the store because some customers had given the feedback about that. So that will help to increase the sales. References: http://www.vectorstudy.com/management_theories/theory_X_and_Y.htm http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/henri-fayol.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishikawa_diagram http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_03.htm http://www.learnmanagement2.com/fishboneanalysiscauseandeffect.htm http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/leadstl.html http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_84.htm

The Phoenician Empire :: World History

The Phoenician Empire The Mediterranean Sea has spawned many civilizations through history. The Phoenicians, which originated around 1200 BCE, is one example. Despite the rather small size of this civilization, its impact on our world has been considerable. Being a seafaring nation, the Phoenicians established colonies all over the Mediterranean area, including the present-day cities of Carthage and Tripoli. As notable traders, they shared cultures with many nations, which allowed their invention of the alphabet to spread throughout Eurasia. The Phoenician Empire continued to evolve until its eventual incorporation into the Persian and Macedonian Empires, around 400 BCE. Phoenicia is an ancient region lying on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Empire peaked at around 1000 BCE, and developed until around 700 BCE. Phoenicia, now known as Lebanon, Syria, and Israel, was naturally isolated from other civilizations by the Lebanon Mountains in the east, and the great sea on the west. The small region stretched about 320 kilometers long and about 25 kilometers wide. This geographical isolation gave the Phoenicians enough protection to evolve into a strong nation, while giving it the freedom to trade and explore across the Mediterranean. Although little is known about the ancient civilization, it is known that the government was, at least in part, a monarchy. Royalty was considered a matter of divine descent, so kings could not be chosen outside of the royal family. The merchant families also held much power in Phoenicia, due to their great influence in public affairs. Although the name Phoenicia implies that the civilization was a unified state, the nation consisted of separate city-kingdoms. Each Phoenician City was considered independent from one another, and was ruled by its own king. Phoenicians were known as the most distinguished seafaring traders and merchants of the ancient world. In fact, they called themselves Kena'ani (or Canaanites), which is Hebrew for "Merchant". They established trading colonies all over the Mediterranean Sea, including Carthage, Simyra, Zarephath, Byblos, and Tyre (Sur). Maritime trading also reached into the Atlantic Ocean to England. Some of the goods traded included glass, color dyes, metals, horses, ebony and ivory, linen, coral, honey, spices, oil and precious stones. Maritime trading would not be possible for the Phoenicians without developed nautical technology. Phoenicians were known for having extremely advanced ships and navigation. Ships were built with a keeled hull, which allowed them to travel on the open seas.

A Critical Essay on Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher (1

The twenty first century author Alexandra Iftodi Zamfir (1986- ) argues that â€Å"architecture and settings are more important in Gothic fiction than in any other type of literature†¦all architectural elements are closely connected with Gothic protagonists and the plot.† (Zamfir. 2011: 15). This critical essay will first consider and analyse this statement and investigate the style, language and form of the American author Edgar Allan Poe’s (1809-1849) macabre and Gothic fictional prose The Fall of the House of Usher (1839) (Poe. 1987: 1). I shall present and argue how the artistic effects deployed in the narrative structure create an atmosphere of tension and suspense, through the exploration of architectural space demonstrated in a close reading and analysis from key passages of the text. The Fall of the House of Usher was written by the American author and poet Edgar Allan Poe, it first featured as a Gothic short story in Burton’s Gentleman’s Magazine in (1839) (Hayes. 2002: xvii). Poe was writing at a time of immense change to social, economic and cultural conditions following the technological advancements of the Industrial Revolution (1750-1850), his work on The Fall of the House of Usher could be said to show an impact of Western society’s internal and external fragmentation. (Montagna: 2006). As stated by Zamfir â€Å"the universe portrayed in the House of Usher is Poe’s most sublime†¦in humanizing a dwelling to portray the inner self of the Gothic hero, but it also represents an investigation of the self in a state of disintegration.† (Zamfir. 2011: 62). This process of disintegration is both reflected within the architectural structure of the house itself; as the building gradually corrodes, in addition to that of the ps... ..._of_Space_in_Gothic_Architecture. [Accessed 11th May 2012] Giordano, R. (2005-2011) Poestories.com: An Exploration of Short Stories by Edgar Allan Poe. [On-line] Available from: http://www.poestories.com/. [Accessed 24th September 2011] Gunn, A.G. (1997-2002) Cyclopaedia of Ghost Story Writers. [On-line] Available from: http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/~agg/ghosts/#poeea. [Accessed 24th September 2011] Hallqvist, C. (2001) The Poe Decoder. [On-line] Available from: http://www.poedecoder.com/. [Accessed 24th September 2011] Montagna, J.A. (2006) The Industrial Revolution. [On-line] Available from: http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1981/2/81.02.06.x.html. [Accessed 11th May 2012] Pridmore, J. (1998-2011) Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849). [On-line] Available from: http://www.literaryhistory.com/19thC/Poe.htm. [Accessed 24th September 2011]

Struggle between Good and Evil in The Scarlet Letter and Macbeth Essay

Struggle between Good and Evil in The Scarlet Letter and Macbeth It is said that â€Å"all conflict in literature is, in its simplest form, a struggle between good and evil.† Indeed, the fundamental conflict of human nature is that of darkness and light; and as a mirror to life, the conflicts in literature is not different from those in human nature. The struggle of good and evil is shown in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, which portrays the spiritual battle between and evil man and a sinned minister, as well as the minister’s internal turmoil. William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, similarly describes a man’s moral decay and the vengeance of the wronged good people. Both authors use various literary elements and techniques such as symbolism, metaphor, theme, and characterization to illustrate the struggle between good and evil in their works. The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a story of damnation and redemption. Roger Chillingsworth, finding out his wife’s adultery with Arthur Dimmesdale upon his returning from Indian captivity vows to take revenge on the minister. In the process, however, he transforms himself into the minion of devil on earth. Through the mouth of Pearl (the fruit if the illegitimate union), the author metaphorically calls Chillingsworth â€Å"the Black Man.† Comparing Chillingsworth to the Devil, Pearl warns Dimmesdale â€Å"the Black man wants thy soul.† Indeed, Chillingsworth sets out to poison his rival – both physically and mentally. Dimmesdale, on the other hand, is waging a war within himself. His good nature craves to confess his secret affair with Hester Prynne, yet his darker side – cowardice perhaps- stubbornly refuses. In ... ...ts stem from this eternal struggle. Nathaniel Hawthorne writes The Scarlet Letter to question sin, and Shakespeare’s Macbeth gives an alarming example of moral decay. The moods of both masterpieces are gloomy, dissecting and examining the powerful darkness of human psyche. In the end, however, goodness endures and shines through the dark clouds, offering hope and testimonies for the complexity and ambivalence of humankind. Works Cited and Consulted: Brooks, Cleanth. Blame in Macbeth. London: Reynal & Hitchcock, 1987. Chase, Richard (1996). "The Lessons of the Scarlet Letter." Readings on Nathaniel Hawthorne (pp. 145-152). San Diego: Greenhaven. Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. New York: St. Martins, 1991. Shakespeare, William. Tragedy of Macbeth . Ed. Barbara Mowat and Paul Warstine. New York: Washington Press, 1992.

Dr. Pepper

Dr. Pepper is a soft drink marketed as having a unique flavor. The drink was created in the 1880s by Charles Alderton of Waco, Texas and first served around 1885. Dr Pepper was first nationally marketed in the United States in 1904, and is now also sold in Europe, Asia, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand (as an imported drink).Described the taste of Dr Pepper as one-of-a-kind, saying, â€Å"I've always maintained you cannot tell anyone what Dr Pepper tastes like because it's so different. It's not an apple, it's not an orange, it's not a strawberry, it's not a root beer, it's not even a cola. It's a different kind of drink with a unique taste all its own.†Target MarketHis section describes the customers you are targeting. It defines their demographic profile (e.g., age, gender), psychographic profile (e.g., their interests) and their precise wants and needs as they relate to the products and/or services you offer.Unique Selling Proposition (USP)Having a strong unique selli ng proposition (USP) is of critical importance as it distinguishes your company from competitors. The hallmark of several great companies is their USP. For example, FedEx’s USP of â€Å"When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight† is well-known and resonates strongly with customers who desire reliability and quick delivery.Pricing & Positioning StrategyYour pricing and positioning strategy must be aligned. For example, if you want your company to be known as the premier brand in your industry, having too low a price might dissuade customers from purchasing. In this section of your marketing plan, detail the positioning you desire and how your pricing will support it.Promotions StrategyThe promotions section is one of the most important sections of your  marketing plan and details how you will reach new customers. There are numerous promotional tactics, such as television ads, trade show marketing, press releases, online advertising, and event marketing. In this section of your marketing plan, consider each of these alternatives and decide which ones will most effectively allow you to reach your target customers.Online Marketing StrategyLike it or not, most customers go online these days to find and/or review new products and/or services to purchase. As such, having the right online marketing strategy can help you secure new customers and gain competitive advantage.SLIDE Pepper DietDr. Pepper's latest product is an â€Å"it's not for women† soda called Dr Pepper Ten. The product, unlike zero-calorie diet sodas, has 10 â€Å"manly† calories, as shown in its ads featuring a metallic gray can. Its target audience is younger males whom the makers of Dr Pepper believe are turned off by zero-calorie diet sodas but are still concerned about caloric intake.

Introduction of E-commerce

Commerce (the trading of goods) has been a major impetus for human survival since the beginning of recorded history and beyond. The mass adoption of the Internet has created a paradigm shift in the way businesses are conducted today. The past decade has seen the emergence of a new kind of commerce: e-commerce, the buying and selling of goods through human-computer interaction over the Internet. Traditional physical trading of goods and currency is becoming increasingly unpopular and more businesses are Jumping on the e-commerce bandwagon.Today, the line between e-commerce and traditional commerce is becoming more blurred as more businesses start and continue to integrate the Internet and e-commerce technologies into their business processes. 1. 2 DEFINITION OF E-COMMERCE The e-commerce can be defined as a modern business methodology that addresses the needs of organizations, merchants, and consumers to cut costs while improving the quality of goods and services and increasing the spe ed of service delivery, by using Internet.It differs from the traditional electronic commerce (e-commerce) in he way that it enables the trading of goods, money and information electronically from computer to computer. Business is done electronically and there is no longer a need for physical currency or goods to conduct business. 1. 3 EVOLUTION OF E-COMMERCE Evolution of e-commerce can be attributed to a combination of regulatory reform and technological innovation. Though Internet (which played an important role in evolution) appeared in the late sass, e-commerce of today took off with the arrival of World Wide Web and browsers in early sass.The liberalizing of the electrification sector and innovations such as optic fiber, DSL etc. (which has helped to expand the volume and capacity of communications) have helped in the process of that rapid growth. As a result the barriers to entry and engage in e- commerce have fallen rapidly. A brief timeline of evolution is as follows: 2 E-CO MMERCE 1. 4 1969 Internet/Apparent 1989 WWW HTML invented at CERN 1991 NSF lifts restrictions on commercial use of Internet 1993 Mosaic browser invented at University of Illinois, Urbana Champagne, is released to public 1994 Netscape releases Navigator browser 1995 Dell, Cisco, Amazon etc. Gang aggressively to use Internet for commercial transactions The growth of Internet has a special significance in the growth of e-commerce. It has the potential to involve general people into the process thereby increasing its reach far beyond large companies. CONDUCTING BUSINESS ONLINE (E-COMMERCE) Doing business online is electronic commerce, and there are four main areas in which companies conduct business online today: 2. 3. 4. Direct marketing, selling, and services. Online banking and billing. Secure distribution of information. Value-chain trading and corporate purchasing. 4. 1 Direct Marketing, Selling, and Services Today, more websites focus on direct marketing, selling, and services tha n on any other type of electronic commerce. Direct selling was the earliest type of electronic commerce, and has proven to be a stepping-stone to more complex commerce operations for many companies. Successes such as Amazon. Com, Barnes and Noble, Dell Computer, and the introduction of e-tickets by major airlines, have catcalled the growth of this segment, proving the reach and customer acceptance of the Internet. 1. 4. 2 Financial and Information ServicesA broad range of financial and information services are performed over the Internet today, and sites that offer them are enjoying rapid growth. These sites are popular because they help consumers, businesses of all sizes, and financial institutions distribute some of their most important information over the Internet with greater convenience and richness that is available using other channels. For example, you have: ; Online banking Online billing Secure information distribution 1. 4. 2. 1 Online Banking Consumers and small busines ses can save time and money by doing their banking n the Internet.Paying bills, making transfers between accounts, and trading stocks, bonds, and mutual funds can all be performed electronically by using the Internet to connect consumers and small businesses with their financial institutions. ELECTRONIC COMMERCE-?TECHNOLOGY AND PROSPECTS 3 1. 4. 2. 2 online Billing Companies whose bill can achieve significant cost savings and marketing benefits through the use of Internet-based bill-delivery and receiving systems. Today, consumers receive an average of 23 bills per month by mail from retailers, credit card companies, and utilities. 1. 4. 2.Secure Information Distribution To many businesses, information is their most valuable asset. Although the Internet can enable businesses to reach huge new markets for that information, businesses must also safeguard that information to protect their assets. Digital Rights Management provides protection for intellectual and information property, a nd is a key technology to secure information distribution. 1. 4. 3 Maintenance, Repair, and Operations (MR.) The Internet also offers tremendous time and cost savings for corporate purchasing of low-cost, high-volume goods for maintenance, repair, and operations (MR.) activities.Typical MR. goods include office supplies (such as pens and paper), office equipment and furniture, computers, and replacement parts. The Internet can transform corporate purchasing from a labor and paperwork-intensive process into a self-service application. Company employees can order equipment on websites, company officials can automatically enforce purchase approval and policies through automated business rules, and suppliers can keep their catalog information centralized and up-to-date. Purchase order applications can then use the Internet to transfer the order to suppliers.In response, suppliers can ship the requested goods and invoice the company over the Internet. In addition to reduced administrativ e costs, Internet-based corporate purchasing can improve order-tracking accuracy, better enforce purchasing policies, provide better customer and supplier service, reduce inventories, and give companies more power in negotiating exclusive or volumetrically contracts. In other words, the Internet and e-business have changed the way enterprises serve customers and compete with each other, and have heightened awareness for competing supply chains. 1. 4. 4 Value-Chain IntegrationNo other business model highlights the need for tight integration across suppliers, manufacturers, and distributors quite like the value chain. Delays in inventory tracking and management can ripple from the cash register all the way back to raw material production, creating inventory shortages at any stage of the value chain. The resulting out-of-stock events can mean lost business. The Internet promises to increase business efficiency by reducing reporting delays and increasing reporting accuracy. Speed is cle arly the business imperative for the value chain. 1. 5 ISSUES IN IMPLEMENTING ELECTRONIC COMMERCEAlthough it is simple to describe their benefits, it is not nearly as easy to develop and deploy commerce systems. Companies can face significant implementation issues: ; Cost Value 4 Security Leveraging existing systems Interoperability 1. 5. 1 cost Electronic commerce requires significant investments in new technologies that can touch many of a company's core business processes. As with all major business systems, electronic commerce systems require significant investments in hardware, software, staffing, and training. Businesses need comprehensive solutions with greater ease-of-use to help foster cost-effective deployment. 5. 2 value Businesses want to know that their investments in electronic commerce systems will produce a return. Business objectives such as lead generation, business-process automation, and cost reduction must be met. Systems used to reach these goals need to be fle xible enough to change when the business changes. 1. 5. 3 security The Internet provides universal access, but companies must protect their assets against accidental or malicious misuse. System security, however, must not create prohibitive complexity or reduce flexibility. Customer information also needs to be protected from internal and external misuse.Privacy systems should safeguard the personal information critical to building sites that satisfy customer and business needs. 1. 5. 4 Leveraging Existing Systems Most companies already use information technology (IT) to conduct business in unlettered environments, such as marketing, order management, billing, inventory, distribution, and customer service. The Internet represents an alternative and complementary way to do business, but it is imperative that electronic commerce systems integrate existing systems in a manner that avoids duplicating functionality and maintains usability, performance, and reliability. 5. 5 Interoperabil ity When systems from two or more businesses are able to exchange documents without manual intervention, businesses achieve cost reduction, improved performance, and more dynamic value chains. Failing to address any of these issues can spell failure for a system's implementation effort. Therefore, your company's commerce strategy should be designed to address all these issues to help customers achieve the benefits of electronic commerce. Your company's vision for electronic commerce should also be to help businesses establish stronger relationships with customers and industry partners.For example, a successful strategy for delivering this vision is described by three work-flow elements (platform, portal, and industry partners), each backed by comprehensive technology, product, and service offerings. 5 From self-service portals to transaction processing, a successful work-flow strategy can be the underlying engine delivering state-based, processed-focused control services for e-busin ess applications. Human labor is expensive, and work-flow technology allows e-businesses to supplement, and in some cases eliminate, reliance on human supervision and intervention. . 6 HOW DO YOU WORK WITH E-COMMERCE? E-commerce is about setting your business on the Internet, allowing visitors to access your website, and go through a virtual catalog of your products/services online. When a visitor wants to buy something he/she likes, they merely â€Å"add† it to their virtual shopping basket. Items in the virtual shopping basket can be added or deleted, and when you're all set to checkout, you head to the virtual checkout counter, which has your complete total, and that will ask you for your name, address etc. ND method of payment (usually via credit card). Once you have entered all this information (which y the way is being transmitted securely) you can then Just wait for delivery. 1. 7 COMPARISON BETWEEN TRADITIONAL COMMERCE AND E-COMMERCE In many cases business processes u se traditional commerce activities very effectively, and these processes cannot be improved upon through technology. Products that buyers prefer to touch, smell, or examine closely are difficult to sell using electronic commerce.For example, customers might be reluctant to buy high-fashion clothing and perishable food products, such as meat or produce, if they cannot examine the products closely before agreeing to purchase them. In the case of traditional commerce retail merchants have years of experience in creating store environments that help convince a customer to buy. This combination of store design, layout and product display knowledge is called merchandising. Sales people in course of time develop skills that allow them to identify customer needs and find products and services that meet those needs.The arts of merchandising and personal selling can be difficult to practice over an electronic link. Through commerce branded products such as books or CDC can be easily sold. As one copy of a new book is identical to there copies and because a customer would not be concerned about freshness he would willingly order a title without examining the specific copy they would receive. The advantage of electronic commerce, namely the ability of one site to offer a wider selection of titles than even the largest physical bookstore, can outweigh the advantage of a traditional bookstore, namely the facility to browse.Some examples of business processes are listed in the following table that suit to the e-commerce and traditional commerce respectively. Business processes well-suited to: Electronic commerce Traditional commerce ; Sale/purchase of books and CDC Sale/purchase of high-fashion clothing ; Online delivery of software ; Sale/purchase of perishable food products ; Advertising and promotion of travel services ; Small-denomination transactions ; Online tracking of shipments ; Sale of expensive Jewelry and antiques 6 1. 8 E-COMMERCE TECHNOLOGIES What technologies are necessary for e-commerce?The short answer is that most information technologies and Internet technologies that we discuss throughout the book are involved in e-commerce systems, biz. – Customers must be provided with a range of secure information, marketing, transaction, processing, and payment services. Trading and business partners rely on Internet and extranets to exchange information and accomplish secure transactions; including electronic data interchange (DE') and other supply chain and financial systems and databases. Company employees depend on a variety of Internet and intranet resources to communicate and collaborate in support of their SEC work activities. . 9 The Internet, intranets, and extranets are the network infrastructure or foundation of e-commerce. Information system professionals and end users can use a variety of software tools to develop and manage the content and operations of the websites and other SEC sources of a company. ECONOMIC POTENTIAL OF E -COMMERCE Consumers are pushing retailers to the wall, demanding lower process, better quality, a large selection of in-season goods. Retailers are scrambling to fill the order. They are slashing back-office costs, reducing profit margins, reducing cycle times, buying more wisely, and making huge investments in technology.They are revamping distribution channels to make sure that warehouse costs are down by reducing their average inventory levels and coordinating the consumer demand and supply patterns. In the push to reduce prices, more and more retailers are turning to overseas suppliers, in part because of cheaper labor costs. The effect of e-commerce can also be seen over the retail industry and marketing. 1. 9. 1 E-commerce and Retail Industry Retailers are in the immediate line of fire and are first to bear the brunt of cost cutting.They are putting that pressure on the manufacturing and supplier end of the pipeline. At the same time, the quest for efficiencies has led to turm oil and consolidation within the retail industry. The pressure experienced by retailers and suppliers can be seen in the disappearance of Jobs, in mergers, and in the increase in business failures in the manufacturing sector. The problems are indeed serious. Electronic markets could provide a partial solution by promising customers more convenience and merchants greater efficiency and interactivity with suppliers to revivalist the troubled retailing sector. . 9. 2 E-commerce and Marketing Electronic commerce is forcing companies to rethink the existing ways of doing target marketing (isolating and focusing on a segment of the population), relationship marketing (building and sustaining a long-term relationship with existing and potential 7 customers), and even event marketing (setting up a virtual booth where interested people come and visit). Consider the case of conventional direct marketers, who devote some 25 percent of their revenues to such costs as printing and postages for c atalogs.Interactive marketing could help cut such expenses and may even deliver better results. Interactive marketing is accomplished in electronic markets via interactive multimedia catalogs that give the same look and feel as a shopping channel. Users find moving images more appealing than still images and listening more appealing than reading text on screen. Those are two powerful reasons why every text-based and still-picture-based interactive experimental-based service has ever generated anywhere near the volume of retail merchandise orders that televised shopping channels have achieved.Maximum public acceptance will require that interactive catalog services have a more entertaining visual appearance than traditional text-intensive catalogs have had. Ideally, an interactive shopping program should produce full-motion demonstrations of selected products, but such a practical and economical technology has yet to be developed. 1. 10 INCENTIVES FOR ENGAGING IN E-COMMERCE A basic fa ct of Internet retailing is that all retail websites are created equal as far as he â€Å"location, location, location† imperative of success in retailing is concerned.No site is any closer to its web customers and competitors offering similar goods and services may be only a mouse click away. This makes it vital that businesses find ways to build customer satisfaction, loyalty, and relationships, so customers keep coming back to their web stores. Thus, the key to e-commerce success is to optimize several key factors such as selection and value, performance and service efficiency, the look and feel of the site, advertising and incentives to purchase, personal attention, immunity relationships, and security and reliability.The incentives for engaging in e-commerce are listed as follows: Selection and Value. Attractive product selections, competitive prices, satisfaction guarantees, and customer support after the sale. Performance and Service. Fast, easy navigation, shopping, a nd purchasing, and prompt shipping and delivery. Look and Feel. Attractive web storefront, website shopping areas, multimedia product catalog pages, and shopping features. Advertising and Incentives. Targeted web-page advertising and e-mail promotions, discounts and special offers, including advertising at affiliate sites. Personal Attention. Personal web pages, personalized product recommendations, web advertising, and e-mail notices, and interactive support for all customers.