Globalization and the Geographies of Consumption: A Case Study of the Clothes and Footwear sector.
Globalization and the Geographies of Consumption: A Case Study of the Clothes and Footwear sector Introduction The consumption patterns in the clothing and footwear field within British households today is determined by everyone that consumes and utilises a product which in turn contributes to the state of the global economy. Today, more so than ever before, there is mass consumption in the world and, as an affluent country, Britain is contributing largely to the patterns that exist today. There is indeed an ever changing nature in the rates and types of consumption in Britain and the rest of the world. These changes in the relationship between production and consumption is a highly intriguing phenomenon, one which is constantly analysed in order to understand how and why these changes take place. It is possible to outline the contemporary geographies of production and consumption and, with particular reference to Britain, determine why this is occurring in relation to economic, cultural and political contexts. The product market of clothing and footwear is influenced by a variety of factors such as international regulation, tradition, identity and fashion and the existence of niche markets. The aim of this report is to outline these patterns by collecting various data and collating the results to maintain an outcome where it is possible to make a conclusion as to what those
An Analysis of National Bicycle Industrial Co.
Executive Summary Mass customization theorizes that companies can develop, produce, market and deliver customized products and services on a mass basis. Supporters of mass customization argue that this strategy allows a company the flexibility to meet the constantly changing demands of consumers, who continuously demand higher quality, lower priced products and services delivered in a relatively short amount of time, but which are also highly customized. Most importantly mass customization implies that, by automating the customization process, companies can produce the custom good at costs competitive with standardized goods. Proponents of mass customization point out that with this strategy, low costs are accomplished primarily through economies of scope rather than scale: "Economies of scope are realized by the application of a single process to produce a greater variety of products and services more cheaply and more quickly." (Joseph Pine II, author of Mass Customization: The New Frontier In Business Competition.) To achieve the goals of mass customization, a company must address major shifts in operating methods throughout the organization - engineering, manufacturing, and marketing - including the supply chain, with the creative use of automation and technology. Companies such as Dell Computer, HP, Toyota, Levi Strauss and Lutron Electronics have employed this
The price of oil has recently reached new highs and Britain now has some of the highest taxes on petrol in Europe. Examine the impact on the consumer demand for car, bus, and train travel of a further increase in the costs of motoring. In your essay, you
Economics Level 1 Q1) The price of oil has recently reached new highs and Britain now has some of the highest taxes on petrol in Europe. Examine the impact on the consumer demand for car, bus, and train travel of a further increase in the costs of motoring. In your essay, you should make use of economic concepts such as demand, price elasticity, and income elasticity. Matriculation Number: 0509206 Tutorial Group: 11 Words count: 1258 Tutor's Name: Hilary Macleod Introduction: Why does the price of oil keep escalating over the past century, and recently reach new peaks? In general, the answer to the question is directed to few main contributing factors that are unexpected closure of oil production, on-going Iraq war, destructive natural disaster and further increment of government taxes on petrol. These factors closely play a part in affecting the supply and demand of oil in the commodity market where the consequence of these factors often raised the price of oil. Taking an illustrative example, one can observe clearly that the unexpected closure of a major oil production (Anadarko Petroleum Corporation) in Gulf of Mexico due to the storm of Hurricane Rita (www.oilonline.com, 2005) has significant impact on reducing world's supply of oil where the reduction in supply ultimately increases the price of oil even when the demand for oil remains unchanged. Economists usually
Define price elasticity of demand, and explain the main influences which make the demand for some goods elastic and the demand for others inelastic. B. How relevant do you consider price elasticity and income elasticity of demand to be to the followi
Economics essay A. Define price elasticity of demand, and explain the main influences which make the demand for some goods elastic and the demand for others inelastic. B. How relevant do you consider price elasticity and income elasticity of demand to be to the following I. Governments taxation policy II. When the firm is considering what price it should charge Outline I. Introduction II. Answer A III. Answer B IV. Conclusions V. Appendices VI. Reference I. Introduction Price elasticity of demand or PED shows responsiveness of the quantity of a product demanded, to change in price of the product. PED measures how elastic demand of product. It can be elastic or inelastic. If product is inelastic, change in price will not lead to massive drop or increase in quantity demanded. If it is elastic change in price will lead rice or fall in demand (Ison and Wall, 2007). Best way to show this responsiveness is to use formula or graph (see appendices graph 1). Formula: PED= % Change in the quantity demanded %Change in the price Graph one shows elastic demand to the product which is = 1. It means that if quantity changes, price respond more sensitive. On (graph 2 A) shows perfectly inelastic demand= 0, that means at any given price demand is constant. But on (graph 2 B) it is directly opposite to (A). Income elasticity of demand or YED measures change in
Why do people play the National Lottery? Can the Expected Utility model of Consumer Choice explain this, While Assuming that Individuals are Rational? Are there Alternative Economic explanations of this?
Why do people play the National Lottery? Can the Expected Utility model of Consumer Choice explain this, While Assuming that Individuals are Rational? Are there Alternative Economic explanations of this? The National Lottery was launched in 1994, it is a standard game compared to other lotteries around the world. Players must match X numbers from a choice of M with the numbers drawn randomly, by the lottery operators, from the same set. In the UK it is 6 numbers from 49. Because it was relatively unusual in the UK, this made it very difficult for policy makers to identify possible consumer reactions to the product. Using the economics of uncertainty cannot only justify the playing of the National Lottery. There are also Social aspects that must be looked at. Why would a rational consumer place a bet of £1 on a 14 million to 1 shot to just win 4 to 7 million pounds? Or even £1 on a 57 to 1 shot to win £10? It doesn’t sound like a rational gamble. When looking at probability distribution of getting three numbers and six numbers, as these are the smallest and largest prizes. If you buy the lottery ticket for £1, you will have a wealth distribution consisting of w, the original wealth, £7million if you win (assuming this will mean w is an insignificant amount compared to £7million) w+£10 or in the most likely event of not winning at all w-£1. ‘The thing that
Analysis of market structure in the airline industry.
Analyse the structure of an industry of your choice An industry is described as a collection of companies or firms that produce a similar service or good; for instance (Jain, 2002) Coca Cola and Pepsi Co both produce a cola flavoured drink and are therefore situated within the beverage industry but more precisely the carbonated soft drink industry. Within an industry, there are market structures ,which Bamford et al (2009) describes as 'The characteristics of a market ,these include the size of firms, amount of firms operating in the market, strength and extent of barriers to entry and exit, product differentiation and whether firms are price makers or price takers'. Based on the above characteristics, we are able to classify and group industries into one of the following market structures such as perfect competition, monopoly, oligopoly, monopolistic competition, duopoly and natural monopoly. The main focus of this essay will be on the air travel industry, in particular the commercial airline industry. It will identify the market structure which airlines operate within is an oligopoly. According to Sloman and Wride (2009) an oligopoly is 'A market structure where there are few enough firms to enable barriers to be erected against the entry of new firms' this relates to the proposition that only a handful of commercial airline alliances have a large proportion of total
Does Marks & Spencer have a future?
INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGY, NAGPUR Does Marks & Spencer have a future ? Managerial Economics Group Assignment - 1 Submitted by : Aishwarya Iyer 08FN007 Anjan Sethi 08FT012 Anchal Sharma 08HR010 Date of Submission : 01-09-08 Section A ABSTRACT This report analyses the impact of external and internal influences on the business strategies of Marks and Spencer (M&S) between 1996 and 2002, and evaluates the factors affecting them. The report basically identifies the main factors affecting the demand for M&S products by analyzing the weaknesses and threats faced by the company. It furthers the discussion by pointing out the changes, which the company tried to bring about in its marketing mix elements, branding strategy and value chain to enhance its market share and profitability. The major finding is that M&S had successful business strategies and marketing plans. However, the company could not maintain these advantages continuously, and faced a slowdown during the period 1998-2001. The main factors that contributed to the slowdown were the insularity shown by the company, which made it less responsive to the changing market conditions. TABLE OF CONTENTS . Introduction.......................................................................................4 2. Factors affecting the demand for M&S
Identify and discuss the factors which influence consumer satisfaction and dissatisfaction. Describe and assess the different possible consumer responses to dissatisfaction. How should organisations respond to complaints?
Identify and discuss the factors which influence consumer satisfaction and dissatisfaction. Describe and assess the different possible consumer responses to dissatisfaction. How should organisations respond to complaints? Introduction To answer this question effectively I intend to split it into three separate sections. In the first section I will discuss the different factors which influence consumer satisfaction and dissatisfaction (CS/D). Due to the restrictive word limit I will be basing my arguments mainly around the three main traditional theories of CS/D, Expectancy Disconfirmation, Equity Theory and Attribution Theory as well as more recent research into the factors affecting CS/D. In the second section I will discuss the three main responses to dissatisfaction; take no action, private action such as avoiding the brand in the future and public action such as complaining to the business. Finally in the third section I will discuss the most effective ways for organisations to respond to customer complaints, including amongst others such measures as establishing a establishing a free-call consumer complaint hotline. Factors which influence consumer satisfaction / dissatisfaction Consumer satisfaction / dissatisfaction (CS/D) refers to an emotional response to an evaluation of a product or service consumption experience (Wilke, 1990). Expectancy Disconfirmation
Discuss the main factors affecting product pricing in the UK
Discuss the main factors affecting product pricing in the UK In theory, prices of products are determined by many different factors within a firm. This will depend on the market structure and the firms objectives, whether this is to maximise profits, maximise sales revenue, increase market share or to provide public services. The market structure normally determines the firms objectives, for example a monopoly has the power to set a high price level to maximise profits whereas perfect competition must compete on none price factors therefore will sell at the given market price. Oligolopolies such as leading supermarkets (e.g. ASDA, Tesco, Sainsbury) do not normally compete on price as a decrease in one firms price will be followed by other competing firms therefore all firms lose out and only the consumer gains, therefore prices are set to increase market share. Fig.1 In oligopolistic markets, there are forms of price wars. This is shown by the kinked demand curve in Fig.1. This leads to firms changing prices in order to raise and defend market share, due to this being one of their objectives as opposed to profit maximisation. For example, the UK's largest petrol retailer Esso announced price cuts to earn just 1p per litre in order to maintain a high market share and market power. This is known as market share strategy, a short run strategy as it little relation to the costs
MP3-Players Market. A connection between brand loyalty, price competition and market entry barriers could be illustrated with an example of the monopolistically competitive MP3 player market.
Introduction Monopolistically competitive markets can be characterised as having few barriers to entry and exit, producers influencing market prices with no firm having control over the market price, and brand loyalty that allows companies to increase prices without losing all customers (Anold, 2010). A connection between brand loyalty, price competition and market entry barriers could be illustrated with an example of the monopolistically competitive MP3 player market. Technology standards and popularisation of MP3 players have already been completed. Taking the lead in compatibility with various contents, extension of devices related to product design and MP3 players based on high-tech function, miniaturisation and mass storage are the main factors dominating the market. With regard to the compatibility of devices with various contents related to MP3 players, companies are executing joining hands strategies. Accordingly, the most important is the issue of design that is based on miniaturisation, mass storage and high-tech functions (Electronic parts institute, 2006). The total annual market value of portable music players is almost £ 500 million (Mintel 2005). According to the recent In-Stat report, the Hard Disk Drive (HDD)-based and Flash-based players market should grow from 140 million units in 2005 to 286 million units in 2010 (In-Stat, 2006). The major factors that