Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Best war ever Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Best war ever - Essay Example How to make this Planet Earth heaven-like? The answer is simple and straightforward. Eyes full of understanding, hearts full of love and the life that refuses conflicts-enough, these alone are enough! But when the war is declared, the objective of the country involved in the war, is to win the war, no matter how it wins! The advanced technology was brutally used in World War II, and it served very well, the ultimate purpose of any war—to win the war, to end the war and to secure peace! The main objective of the war-related technology is to win the war with minimum casualties. Technologically, America was superior on all counts than its enemies in war. It helped to contain and defeat its foremost enemy, Japan. To start with, â€Å"Japan’s naval technology and fighting methods, innovative in the beginning-stages of the war, quickly lagged behind the Allies. Japan lost naval air-battles because its ships and planes did not have the radar.†(Adams, p.62) Air-power dominated during II World War. There was not much difference in their roles like reconnaissance, bombers, fighters and ground-support though each area was technologically far advanced. Some additional roles were seen for the aircrafts in WW II. Airlift the fighting forces and move quickly high-priority supplies, strategic bombing, targeted bombing of the civilian areas to hamper enemy industrial production and inflict casualties to destroy the morale. At the beginning of the war aeronautical warfare played limited role and little success was achieved. But actions at Pearl Harbor, the South China Sea, Taranto, and the Coral Sea changed the complexion of the war. America had the decided advantage in technology. â€Å"For many, including a majority of survivors from the era, the war years have become America’s golden age, a peak in the life of society when everything worked out and the good guys

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Team And Leadership Effectiveness In The Workplace

Team And Leadership Effectiveness In The Workplace Leadership is defined as the process of influencing the activities of an individual or a group in efforts toward goal achievement in a given situation. In essence, leadership involves accomplishing goals with and through people (Hersey and Blanchard, 1993). Leaders envisage the future; they motivate organisation members and impart values-whether they are concerned for honesty, hard work, quality and taking calculated risk or concern for customers and employees. It seems there is no common definition of leadership , perhaps it is because the leadership concept is complicated and fuzzy. According to Robert Tannenbaum, Irving R. Weschler and Fred Massarik leadership is defined as interpersonal influence exercised in a situation and directed, through the communication process, toward the attainment of a specialized goal or goals. Leadership is about showing the way, by going in advance, and influencing the behaviour of others. It refers to introducing new business behaviour, practices, o r technologies, which demonstrate that sustainable development is possible (Sommer, 2003) Todays business leaders have identified two important factors that could drive success in organisations of world class cadre- continually enhancing performance by becoming faster, better and more effective, and including all employees in Performance improvement can be achieved only by enhancing the processes within an organisation. Since the processes are created and operated by the people, the only way to enhance performance would be through people. Therefore continuous effective improvement depends on the capability of managers to guarantee that each and every one becomes involved in enhancing performance, work efficaciously in teams in order to analyse processes, and study problems to implement solutions. Leadership Under the leadership of Mr. Narayan Murthy, the ex-chairman of the Infosys, the company has ended up being one of the most successful IT companies in the world. Infosys Technologies Ltd is one of the leading IT companies In India and worldwide. It is now a global leader in the Next Generation of IT and Consulting. Starting in 1981, Infosys witnessed its corporate success in a short time. Although the company started functioning almost twenty five years ago, it is in the recent times that it experienced strong growth. Ever since it started the company has had a remarkable growth in terms of revenue. Revenue in 1994 was only US$9.5million but in 2005 Infosys revenue touched US$2billion which was only half this revenue in 2004. There is a saying that Great companies can neither be built nor their greatness sustained without great leaders, the above results clearly proves that Mr. Murthy is one such great leader who lead the company to the success path. According to the Hay group review, a global management consulting firm, of 1249 leaders from prominent organisations functioning in the Indian market, about 60% create a de-motivating climate and do not employ those who can lead. It also found only 18% develop an engaging climate that promotes high performance. So today it is so very much necessary for many organisations to create motivating climate and engage people who can lead effectively. The successful organisation has one major attribute that sets it apart from unsuccessful organisations: dynamic and effective leadership (Hersey and Blanchard, 1993). Infosys took an initiative in this direction and opened Infosys leadership institute where it intends to grow leaders. The Leadership development program at Infosys Leadership Institute targets to produce a collective pool of leaders and shape them to take on present and future challenges in business. The Infosys Leadership Institute offers a wide range of organisational and individual development sessions to expound business problems. At Infosys they believe that a good leader can be only one who uses all different styles of leadership with one of them usually dominating and a bad leader is one who sticks to one style. At Infosys it is not that only the top management gives suggestions to support its vision and manage agility, uncertainty and ambiguity at all circumstances. Courtesy: http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/swami_lalita-161501-infosys-leadership-ob-education-ppt-powerpoint/ The leadership believes in taking valuable suggestions from its young achievers in the company. The Chairman diagnosed that young achievers in the company were wavering to come forth with their ideas. These people had a great value to add to the company but could not give in to the discussions feeling in secured of infracting hierarchy. Mr. Murthy communicated to be open minded and encouraged the young achievers to speak. He found that the suggestions and thoughts given by them had a lot of substance and can significantly help the company. The leaders at Infosys are so very much adaptable, bothered significantly over the above issue they built a leadership institute where they can develop and groom leaders from its promising employees irrespective of the hierarchy and provide them the opportunity to help build the company. Today many organisations are facing talent problem, where people are being rushed into activities they are unaware of or assigned to jobs for which they have inadequate preparations. Due to the phenomenal growth of India in last 5 to 10 years people were getting promoted before their time and these people held a wrong perception of empowerment. Even though they had the authority, they lacked in terms of experience and credence to be true leaders. If organisations have to maintain conservative growth estimates, much of todays leaders need to motivate the employees who work for them. If not able to successfully motivate, it would be difficult to keep employees sticking around long enough to progress them into competent leaders. So it becomes very important to have motivating climate in any company in order to enhance its own performance. According to Hersey and Blanchard(1993), in leading or influencing there are three competencies of Leadership: Diagnosing-being able to understand the situation you are trying to influence, Adapting-being able to adapt your behaviour and other resources you have available to meet the contingencies of the situation, Communicating-being able to communicate in a way that people can easily understand and accept. The soul of leadership competencies in Infosys rest in their vision statement which reads as: We will be a globally respected corporation that provides best of breed business solutions, leveraging technology, delivered by best in Class people. To achieve their vision, leadership competencies have been marked along four dimensions: Work, people, technology and business. Each of these is further exaggerated into smaller functional terms in the graphic shown below. Courtesy: http://www.thehindu.com/businessline/praxis/pr0304/03040380.pdf The Infosys leadership institutes primary goal is to assist the company to counter the explicit challenges of now and in the future. They believe that by improving the quality of leadership they can handle its phenomenal growth, with stand the complexities of the market and swiftly changing environment, and through thought leadership they can develop higher customer value. Courtesy: http://www.thehindu.com/businessline/praxis/pr0304/03040380.pdf At Infosys in order to increase their quality of leadership they use a Nine pillar model of leadership development. At Infosys, for leadership development these nine pillars are functional elements. For the development of leadership competencies at discrete level each pillar has its own distinct importance. 360-degree appraisal: It is method of consistently collecting data about an individuals performance and potential from a broad range of co-workers. This may include the manager, direct reportees, peers and both internal and external customers. It is an organised method of gathering and processing data and gives the employee an opportunity to express on his valuable information. The response received from 360-degree feedback is used as a foundation to direct the person in gaining new skills and improving existing skills all arranged to the leadership competencies model. Development assignments: They are a traditional and powerful form of leadership development. Potential employees are allowed to have experience in various functions through Cross functional assignments and internal job rotations. Development assignments help an employee to gain practical leadership skills outside their zone of experience. Development relationships: Mentoring is viewed as a developmental relationship in the framework of leadership development. In order to transfer and share knowledge and experience, one-on-one relationships in work scenes are facilitated. This mentoring for leadership program is functional and learning from this course will be utilized to refine and broaden the element of leadership development throughout the organisation. Leadership skills training: It is a process by which individuals in the organisation go through a sequence of learning interventions on matter relevant to leadership. A Leaders teach series was formed in which the board of directors including the chairman, the Managing director, and the Chief Executive Officer hold a workshop with help of leadership institute faculty for the development of future leaders. Feedback Intensive program: These are comprehensive behavioural interventions based on informal and formal feedback taken from people that the individual interfaces with. These programs are structured in a way that individuals give and receive feedback in an environment that is non-threatening and could generate a workable plan for goal setting for progressive professional and personal development. Action Learning: It is a real time experience which is time based used to crack systematic, unresolved and real organisational problems. It is termed as a pragmatic process directed at producing a resolution a problem that has been identified by the organisation and a workable plan is designed for goal setting and strategies for progressive development to attain them. Systematic process Learn: It is an intervention that will enable individuals to view the organisation as system in whole which consists of many interacting sub systems. It is intended to yield plan for continuous advancement in systematic processes and details as to how a participant will initiate such an improvement. Community Empathy: The organisation holds a fundamental belief the social conscience requires to be nurtured and improved in each of its potential leaders. And the value of this community empathy aligns with the above fundamental belief. The Infosys leadership holds an ambition to opportunities for potential candidates on a regular structured basis to enrol themselves in cause outside the company that contribute to good of the less fortunate. Infosys culture workshop: These workshops are intended to help individuals to understand the purpose processes and the core values in ambience of leadership development. These workshops have been designed to in a way that allows expansive interaction among the individuals leading to strengthening of the Infosys culture and ensuring enough authorization to assure adherence to the culture of the company. Leadership traits: According to Warren Bennis, leaders should empower their organisations to develop an environment where people feel important, competence and learning matter, people are part of the team, and work is interesting. Leaders should also be creating an environment where standard matters and dedication to work enthuses effort. According to Huczynski and Buchanan, a charismatic leader holds the following characteristics: Visioning- providing a luxurious and extraordinary total dining experience that delights customers, empowering- giving staff a voice, showing confidence and trust, allowing staff to influence what they do, experiencing high standards,energizing- communicating vision, making staff feel part of something special, aiming for perfection, excitement, joy, passion in the work. The transactional leader a leader who treats relationships with followers in terms of an exchange, giving followers what they want in return for what the leaders desires, following prescribed tasks to pursue established goals( Huczynski and Buchanan, 2007) Transformational leader- a leader who treats relationships with followers in terms of motivation and commitment influencing and inspiring followers to give more than mere compliance to improve organizational performance( Huczynski and Buchanan, 2007) Traits that are found most often to be feature of successful leaders as per Yukl are: Assertive, cooperative, dependable, decisive, dominant, persistent, energetic, self-confident, willingness to assume responsibility, tolerant to stress, alert to social environment, adaptable to situations, achievement oriented and ambitious. Empirical research studies suggest that leadership is a dynamic process, varying from situation to situation with changes in the leader, the followers and the situation. Because of this, while there may be helping or hindering traits in a given situation, there is no universal set of traits that will ensure leadership success (Hersey and Blanchard, 1993) Team Work: Teams that can bring and stick employees together to investigate problems to implement solutions would be one of the best ways to increase productivity and product quality. And teams which can continually improve can be considered as powerful tools any organisation can use to ensure employees remain firmly focussed on meeting business goals and customer needs. Employers emphasis the significance of employees working as a team and apprise for people who hold the quality to work in such a way. Team work comes into consideration when there is a need to utilize different strengths of employees and goodness of cooperation. Principles of team work: Understanding the team is very important, as a team member he/she should know the following things: Roles and responsibilities operations of a team advantages of working as a team for individuals(motivation, job satisfaction, pride, external qualification) advantages of working as a team for the organisation (improved results due to increases in quality and productivity) Probable disadvantages of teams(Conflicts, domination) Working relations: Characteristics of a good team member Different working relationship problems with members and colleagues in other groups Team and leadership activities in order to improve team work success Team activities: The team should contribute to constant improvement activities, brainstorm activities, performance reviews, team briefings, problem resolution sessions, question and answer sessions, and team and individual appraisals. The team should be reading and contribute to team boards. The team should use internal network systems or e-mail to support communication. The team must keep displays and visuals updated. Leadership activities: Setting team objectives and goals, action planning, and recognising achievable business targets. Distribution and monitoring of team members, deciding on employee role and responsibilities, team work-load prioritization to make sure targets are met efficiently and effectively. Supervising the team performance against the objectives and goals, managing ineffective and poor performance, encouraging and motivating team members, developing a cohesive work-team through teambuilding approaches, analysis the training needs, creation of skills matrix, mentoring, team and individual appraisals, communication and consultation with management, peers and sub-ordinates and subject specialists, successfully managing conflict and tensions, grievance and disciplinary procedures. Conclusion: This paper shows the leadership in Infosys, one of the most successful IT Company in the world. Mr. Narayan Murthy, the Ex-chairman of the company has been a true leader and shows what a brilliant visionary he is. Under his leadership the company has grown tremendously within twenty five years of its existence. At Infosys they believed that a good leader can only be one who uses all different styles of leadership with one of them usually dominating. At Infosys, in order to improve the quality of leadership a leadership development program was initiated by opening the Infosys Leadership institute. This leadership Institute offers a wide range of organisational and individual development sessions to expound business problems and targets to produce a collective pool of leaders and shape them to take on present and future challenges in business. In order to achieve their vision, leadership competencies are marked along four dimensions of Work, people, technology and business. The Infosys believe that by improving the quality of leadership they can handle its phenomenal growth, with stand the complexities of the market and swiftly changing environment, and through thought leadership they can develop higher customer value. The Nine Pillar model of leadership development is used to improve the quality of leadership and as a consultant I would suggest the other company to use the Nine Pillar model as a basis to develop a similar model to improve their quality of leadership. About the team work it is now evident that it comes into consideration when there is a need to virtue of cooperation and use various strengths of employees. By understanding the principles of team work, and the team and leadership activities to be carried out properly could result in improvement in teamwork success.

Friday, October 25, 2019

Foucault And Truffaut: Power And Social Control In French Society :: essays research papers

Foucault and Truffaut: Power and Social Control in French Society Both Michel Foucault and Truffaut's depiction of a disciplinary society are nearly identical. But Truffaut's interpretation sees more room for freedom within the disciplinary society. The difference stems from Foucault's belief that the social control in disciplinary pervades all elements of life and there is no escape from this type of control. Foucault's work deals mostly with "power" and his conception of it. Like Nietzsche, Foucault sees power not as a fixed quantity of physical force, but instead as a stream of energy flowing through all aspects of society, its power harnesses itself in regulating the behavior of individuals, the systems of knowledge, a societies institutions, and every interaction between people. Foucault in Discipline and Punish, applies this notion of power in tracing the rise of the prison system in France and the rise of other coercive institutions such as monasteries, the army, mental asylums, and other technologies. In his work Foucault exposes how seemingly benign or even reformist institutions such as the modern prison system (versus the stocks, and scaffolds) are technologies that are typical of the modern, painless, friendly, and impersonal coercive tools of the modern world. In fact the success of these technologies stems from their ability to appear unobtrusive and humane. These prisons Foucault goes on to explain like many institutions in post 1700th century society isolate those that society deems abnormal. This isolation seeks to attack the souls of people in order to dominate them similar to how the torture and brutality of pre 1700th century society sought to dominate the physical bodies of prisoners. In Foucault's interpretation freedom from the pervasive influence of "power" is impossible. Because his conception of "power" exists not just in individual institutions of society like prisons but instead exists in the structure of society and more importantly in peoples thought systems, escape from social control is impossible. Foucault in the last chapter talks about how even the reforms in the system have been co-opted to further the goals of the state. Instead of a lessening of social control Foucault sees that the technologies change from the wheels and gallows of the 17th century to the disciplinary society of the 19th century to the emerging carceral city of the future. In this carceral city the dispersion of power will be complete. The technologies of control will emanate from all parts of society, "walls, space, institution, rules, and discourse." Truffaut's interpretation of society and its future is much more upbeat. Although like Foucault he sees the technologies of the disciplinary society as insidious social control mechanisms.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

18th century English literature Essay

1. There was a sense of relief and escape, relief from the strain of living in a mysterious universe and escape from the ignorance and barbarism of the Gothic centuries –not referring only to Gothic literature. The dark period provokes that people want to change and improve their lifestyle when they entered the 18th century. There was a general desire to emancipate from the dark aspects of rural and dark living. 2. Sanity, culture, and civilization had revived. There was a general feeling of emancipation from historic specters, a sense of security from the upheavals of the Civil War period. 3. Dryden wrote in 1668 â€Å"We have been so long together bad Englishmen that we had not leisure to be good poets†. This quote exemplifies that 17th century men were occupied with complete other things than humanities. â€Å"Nature†Ã¢â‚¬â€œphilosophical concept/religious concept that rule the 18th century. Western thinking– has been a controlling idea in the Western thought ever since antiquity, but it has probably never been so universally active as it was from the Renaissance to the end of the 18th century. The laws of â€Å"Nature† are the laws of reason; they are always and everywhere, and the axioms of mathematics they have only to be presented in order to be acknowledged as just and right by all men. This was the Golden Age of natural theology and deistical freethinking: Spinoza, Boyle, Locke, etc. During the Christian centuries religion has rested upon revelation; now it rested largely upon â€Å"Nature† and even the Orthodox who retain the supernatural basis felt that faith must be grounded firmly upon â€Å"Nature† before one had recourse t super-Nature. The 18th century is the century of Reason. If we want to apply reason, it has to be stable. Everything ought to be structured in logic axioms. It is the Golden Age of liberal thinking, also in religion which one had the power and gave divine explanations but they will not provide the answers anymore, but science will do. The scientific movement of the 17th and 17th centuries: Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, Bacon, Descartes, Newton produced a â€Å"climate of opinion† in which supernatural and occult explanations of natural phenomena ceased to satisfy. The Universe came to be regarded as the Great Machine, working by rigidly determined laws of material causation –laws of Physics; everything has a cause. The supernatural, in both its divine and its diabolical forms, was  banished from Nature. Another relevant issue: the state power passed from the king gradually to the Parliament and the Cabinet ministers. A huge expansion abroad of British colonies in Asia, Africa and North America caused the Industrial Revolutio n. The basis consists of democratic principles. ! London became more and more the center of the literary and intellectual life of the country and writers came to look upon â€Å"polite† London society as their chief, if not their sole, audience. The opposite of natural living, cultivated people lived in London. Aristocracy in the old sense has been transmuted into gentility and wealth becomes the main motivating power in society –aristocracy regarded as gentile; educated and cultured people. Wealth becomes the motor of society -> new social class that centers in commercialization. Economics and Ethics are finally separated. The new economists prove to their own satisfaction that the individual desire to make money can produce in the long run nothing but good, and poverty can only be the result of idleness. In London, the coffeehouse replaces the Court as the meeting place of the men of culture. The journalist makes his appearance, and poetry becomes social and familiar. There was a correlation, between social class and education and between elegance –which was related to education; e.g. people went to the theatre– and learning that has not always existed in subsequent periods –people wanted to be cultivated so they started reading. The English novel coins in the 18th century thanks to journalism. And if poets were to use references to the Latin and Greek classics as well as to the events in the contemporary world of learning, they had to consider themselves addressing a very limited audience. That is why classic and contemporary studies were mixed in order to have a broader audience. Merchants and tradesmen of the town came to play a very important part in the life of the country. But the middle class were not yet the landed aristocracy, the country gentlemen and big state owners though they ruled only with the permission of and in alliance with the commercial interests. London The education and the entertainment of the middle classes became a legitimate objective of literature. The period between 1660 and 1785 was a time of amazing expansion for England. The world seemed different in 1785. A sense of new, expanding possibilities transformed the daily life of the British  people. And offered them fresh ways of thinking about their relations to nature. The city of London became the center of business, pleasure and the emerging consumer society. Samuel Johnson said that â€Å"when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life fir there is in London all that life can afford†. With growing prosperity, London turned into a city where everything was for sale. Its elegant shops dazzled tourists, supplying not only heaps of goods but also a perpetual source of amusement. Varieties of spectacles and shows drew larger and larger crowds, and theatres expanded to meet the competition. At the London playhouses, the audience itself was often part of the entertai nment. The Royal Exchange, in the hart of the city (financial district) of London, was not only a hub for business and shopping but also a symbols for â€Å"globalization†. The increasing importance of international commerce to the British economy. Addinson’s idyllic picture of the Exchange, written in 1711, celebrates the way in which the whole world seems to revolve around the blessings of trade. But many English people also worried that foreign luxuries might sap the national spirit of independence and self-sufficiency (Practice 1). There was a shift in population from the country to the town, and it reveals how far the life of the city, where every daily newspaper brought news sources of interest had moved from traditional values (London life is reflected in the newspaper). Formerly, the tastes of the court had dominated the art (!): the monarch stands for the nation. But the 18th century witnessed a turn from palaces to pleasure gardens that were open to anyone with the p rice of admission. New standards of taste were set by what the people of London wanted, and art joined with commerce to satisfy those desires. Artis Willams Hogarth made his living, not as earlier painters had done through portraits of royal and noble patrons, but by selling his paints to a large and appreciative public. London itself –its beauty and horror, its ever changing moods –became a favorite subject of writers (!). The sense that everything was changing was also sparkled by a revolution in science. In earlier periods, the universe had often seemed a small place, less than 6000 years old, where a single sun moved about the earth, center of the cosmos. Now time and space exploded, the microscope and telescope opened new fields of vision and the â€Å"plurality of world†, became a doctrine endlessly repeated. The authority of Aristotle was broken, their systems could not explain what Galileo and Kepler saw in  the heavens. As discoveries multiplied, it became clear that the moderns knew things of which the ancients had been ignorant. This challenge to received opinion was thrilling as well as di sturbing. In Paradise Lost, Book 8, the angel Raphael warn Adam to think about what concerns him, not to dream about other worlds. Yet, despite the warning voiced by Milton through Raphael, many later writers found the new science inspiring. It gave them new images to conjure with and new possibilities of fact and fiction to explore. Explorers were travelling around the earth, where they discovered unknown countries and ways of life. These encounters with other peoples often proved vicious. The trade and conquests that made Europeans powers like Spain and Portugal immensely rich also brought the scourge of racism and colonial exploitation. In the 18th century, Britain’s expansion into an empire was fueled by slavery and the slave trade, a source of profit that belied the national self-image as a heaven of liberty, and turned British people against one another. Rising prosperity at home had been built on inhumanity across the seas. At the end of the 18th century as many writers joined the abolitionist campaign, a new humanitarian ideal was forged. The modern world invented by the 18th century brought suffe ring along with progress. We still live with its legacies today. England was a nation of shopkeepers. But the stylish and lavish shops that filled 18th century London were also a visible sign of growing national power. The cutting edge of a consumer revolution, they showed the public that the modern world was to be welcomed, not feared. There was something for everyone to desire and possess in this new world of fashion. During the successful run of The Tatler (1709-1711)Germen de la novella de ficcion, Steele’s and Addison’s predecessor to The Spectator, The Female Tatler was published 3 times a week attributed to an imaginary â€Å"Mrs. Crackenthrope, a Lady that knows everything†. Its authors, who probably included both women and men, aimed to amuse and instruct female readers, as shown in the following piece on shops from 1709. -> Joseph Addison, from The Spectator, No. 69. Questions: Consider the satisfaction which Addison takes in The Royal Exchange. Why does he love so much to visit it? Are you persuaded that his pleasure comes from being â€Å"a great Lover of Mankind,† or is wealth itself what stimulates him? Many historians describe what happened in 18th century England as The Birth of a Consumer Society. According to this analysis, the widespread pursuit of good and entertainment turned England into the first truly modern nation, in which commercialization drives art as well as the economy. How well does this premise account for what you see in this topic?

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Princely Jets (Pvt.) Ltd. the Air Ambulance Written Analysis of a Case

Princely Jets (Pvt. ) Ltd. – The Air Ambulance| Written Analysis of a Case| Mariam Soomro, Sharmain Malik, Syed Zainul Islam & Farooq Tirmizi| Introduction This paper will be referring to the case study â€Å"Princely Jets (Pvt. ) Ltd. – The Air Ambulance†. It will discuss at length the issues brought out in the case which concern the new Air Ambulance service that Akbar Group of Companies is planning to launch. This paper asserts that Akbar Group should go ahead with the launch of the new service at the proposed price US$ 750 monthly membership and an hourly rate of usage of US$2500. The paper will attempt to justify the pricing strategy and discuss the mix of promotion tools that they should make use of. Overview The Akbar Group has a diverse group of companies with their operations being divided into two major categories: the aviation division and the commercial division. They started operations in Pakistan in 2005 with Princely Jets (Pvt. ) Limited with their first private charter jet services. They offered private jet services on an adhoc as well as on a scheduled flight basis with an objective of making the private jet charter experience simple, comfortable, enjoyable and unique. They launched in Karachi and later on expanded their services to Islamabad in 2006. By 2008 they had a fleet of 6 aircrafts. They had an average growth rate of 15% and a return on investment of 3%. Their aviation division also included being the General Sales Agents for twelve international airlines; they were representatives of Amadeus; and they offered travel agency services under the name Princely Travels and Citilink. Their commercial division included allied businesses such as the distribution of Nike and United Parcel Services (UPS). They also had exclusive distribution of travel insurance for the American Insurance Group. Akbar Group also introduced many global businesses in Pakistan such as McDonalds, The Princeton Review and LMVH Watches and Jewelry. Market Situation and Competitive Scenario Pakistan suffers from a host of problems such as political and social unrest. The rate of political protests, traffic accidents, criminal assaults and terrorist attacks has increased significantly. There is a constant need for transportation of victims for emergency needs. There have been many instances where the patient never makes it to the medical facility in time because of traffic jams. There are a sufficient number of medical rescue teams that provide ambulance services such as Askari Aviation, Edhi Foundation and Chhipa Ambulances, but none that provided specialized air ambulance services. The Akbar Group identified this gap in the market and decided to offer an Air Ambulance service to cater to this unmet need. It was easy for them to cater to this need as it would be a natural extension of their aviation services that they provided through Princely Jets. They had an existing clientele from their Princely Jet services who they could target for the same specialized air ambulance services. Segmentation and Target Market The Akbar Group chose to segment the market using two techniques: Psychographic and Demographic. Psychographic: They wanted to target affluent customers who would be â€Å"willing to provide insurance for this value added medical facility not only for their personal use but also for the use of company employees†. Demographic: The target market identified for the air ambulance service included corporate entities such as multinational and large national companies, banks, embassies, governmental agencies and some high net worth individuals. Marketing Mix Product/ Service The Akbar Group proposed the following with their Air Ambulance Services: * Transportation of physicians and specialists to remote areas * Inter-hospital transfer of patients requiring specialist’s treatment and immediate attention * Quick transportation of blood and human vital organs * Medical and other assistance to companies and organizations in remote areas of the country. They wished to start off their operations with a pilot project in Karachi and later on proceed to other parts of the country. In the Karachi region they planned to provide their services within a radius of 125 nautical miles (225 land miles). The justification behind this radius was that they wanted to transport the patient to the nearest medical facility within a maximum of 90 minutes. They planned to offer air ambulance services with two fully equipment helicopters with multiple seating and at least two patient beds. They would have on board a fully trained paramedic team including a doctor, state-of-the-art medical equipment, life saving and emergency medicines, oxygen and blood transfusion capabilities. The air ambulance aimed to offer a smooth transition of the patient from the helicopter to the emergency room. Financially Viability As seen from the expected revenue above, after the first year this project will generate a profit stream which will make this a viable project. The Air Ambulance project is suitable for a country like Pakistan where one sees in Exhibit 9A and Exhibit 9B that there is a high requirement for such services. To support this one should also look at Exhibit 12 to see the number of people that are in need of such services and have no other alternative. Pricing The two pronged strategy that is being offered by Mr. Ghouse is feasible since targeted market segment pays little importance to prices. They consider the value of the services. Therefore, as they are willing to pay these prices for business purposes; then they will be more than willing to pay for medical services. The prices suggested will be divided into 3 categories for three different customer divisions as the following: Corporate customer- These are the companies mentioned in Exhibit 3. They will be offered a yearly package that will contain 37 hours that they can use at any hour. It can be used by any member of the corporation with the approval of HR. * Private Customer- These will be those individuals who are operating private companies that have steady cash flow. They will be familiar with Princely Jets (PVT) LTD. services; hence it will be relatively easy to convince them to utilize The Air Ambulance services for themselves. * Hospitals- A yearly contract will be signed with hospitals as mentioned in Exhibit 11B; this will provide an additional service which can be provided by leading medical institutions, which will have customers who are willing to avail on a one off basis. The cost that is charged by the hospital will be left to its discretion. Pricing Method The pricing strategy will differ from segment to segment. The private customer will be charged a slightly higher price as he will be less likely to require services on a regular basis. Whereas corporate customers and hospitals will be charged a slightly lower price since they will be purchasing bulk services and are more likely to want greater flight hours. Therefore, higher revenue can be generated from these institutes through variable costs. The above methodology is simply a proposal. However, this project is definitely viable. If we consider the pricing that Princely Jets is exploring; the following comes to mind: Premium Pricing Princely Jets is going to be fulfilling the needs of a niche market. As stated earlier, pricing is not an influencing factor in the decision to purchase. For these high profile consumers, the ambience, the service environment and the quality will be perceived as of worth. It is about how vital the customer is made to feel during the entire journey. It is the flexibility offered, the uniqueness in treatment and of course, the fact that each flight is personalized for the client. They will be willing to pay for a superior air solution over others which are designed to give greater benefits. It is these intangibles that justify the premium pricing strategy. Also as it is the pioneer in its category, it can enjoy the benefit of being a price setter in the industry. Specialized Service Air ambulance services have high operational costs. The specialized nature of these air rescue services limits the ability to compete on the basis of cost. Therefore, marketing is directed towards high net individuals, corporations and governmental agencies that prefer other factors. Customized Air Solution Princely Jets is going to fabricate each flight with accordance to the needs of the client. From the point of destination to the point of food being catered; every small aspect will be planned in order to serve the punter in question. Heritage Akbar Group of Companies is bringing this premium service in and has over 100 years of experience in the aviation industry. This facet can be utilized to position Princely Jets air ambulance services in the consumer’s mind and be used to build brand equity. Placement Princely Jets launched from Karachi in 2005 and had expanded to Islamabad by 2006. It designed a 4000 square yard hangar with a high tech maintenance workshop for supportive services. Also to add benefits and value to their service, Princely Jets had its own airport lounge in Karachi. It was dedicated to Princely Jets customers. Promotion Viral Marketing This strategy played well for the luxurious travel Princely Jets offered. It appeared to be promising for air ambulance services as well. Within the narrowed boundaries of this niche market, if the trend of air ambulance services spreads like wildfire, targeted customers will be drawn into its usage. Word of mouth Word of mouth communication remains to be the most effective and popular marketing tool. As it is recommended from person to person, a level of trust is involved. That by itself will build to service credibility and reliance. Relationship marketing Given the infrequent nature of this service, Princely Jets will have to be persistent in building and sustain its clientele. It should focus on the longevity of end user relationships and continue to remain in touch with them. They will likely own personal, intricate consumer information such as birthdays, anniversaries etc and can perform diminutive gestures such as sending a birthday card across to remind the consumer that Princely Jets remembers them and is thinking of them. That will add to value in terms of positioning in the customer’s mind. Direct Marketing This may prove to be a successful strategy for the air ambulance sector. Sending brochures, flyers, personalized posters to the consumers would build a personal connection. An even better alternative is to send customized letters to them on a monthly or biweekly basis to build brand recall and to make Princely Jets the preferred carrier. Another way to differentiate itself is to offer to show the helicopter to exclusive clientele. These strategies are recommended to Mr. Ghouse as they will prove to be the most effectual and valuable. However, an aggressive online marketing campaign to compliment the above tactics will be better. Mr. Ghouse should draw up an integrated marketing communication plan that has the consistent message of safety, security and comfort and is conveyed accurately.