Worldcom Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Worldcom - Article Example He managed his company indirectly and took the firm’s money to spend it on personal purchases which were extravagant in nature. The extravagant lifestyle left him in debt when the company started posting losses. The stock that he took a loan with from the company was the same stock he had used as security for the startup fee of the firm. This is one thing that he kept from the board of directors. He had taken a loan of $415 million and yet he had promised a $1 billion to the creditors, this became a major problem when he failed to meet the financial targets the following year. With the company losing its grip on the share of the market, the 2002 economic downfall of communication companies served as a major blow to the entity. On March of the same year, the SEC investigated the financials of WorldCom which was an economic giant at the time. They found improprieties that led to a 7% drop in the share of the market. This was attributed to the $415 million loan to Ebbers. The firm survived on merger reserves from there on, more inconsistencies were discovered on the reporting of revenues and altering of financial

Self evaluation Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Self evaluation - Assignment Example In the Critique of Practical Reason (2012), the philosopher considers the categorical imperative as an â€Å"act in such a way that the maxim of your will can always simultaneously hold as a principle of a universal legislation.† Another formulation can be found in his work titled The Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals (2011): â€Å"You use humanity, whether in your own persona or in the person of any other, always at the same time as an end, never merely as a means.† Kant believed that the categorical imperative is an obligatory law. All people should follow it regardless of their nationality, wealth, etc. Universality and strict adherence were the two main characteristics of the categorical imperative. Compliance with the categorical imperative is the highest human duty. Despite the humanistic nature of this idea, it might be dangerous, because in some cases, blind adherence to this principle can lead to tragic consequences. In this regard, I am a supporter of con sequentialism in the form of the theory of utilitarianism. Utilitarianism is based on the â€Å"the claim that an act is morally right if and only if that act maximizes the good† (Sinnott-Armstrong, 2011). In other words, attention is paid to the consequences of human actions to a large number of people. I believe that utilitarianism can be used both in social processes, and in business and professional environment. The theory of utilitarianism received its main development in John Stuart Mill’s ideas. Mill considered morality in its connection with the human’s ultimate goal, aimed at satisfying all human desires (Wilson, 2007). Happiness presented in a form of benefit was seen by Mill as a long-term pleasure. However, utilitarianism protested against the theory of egoism, based on the idea that people should strive to meet only their personal desires. The admissibility of pleasure or benefit is determined by their level of

Luxury and convenience commodities Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Luxury and convenience commodities - Assignment Example Now the building up of the habit to gain access to such convenience products happens to cite different alternatives or substitutes of such products to the consumer. The consumer of convenience products in addition to building up a relationship with the product category also tends to reflect a passion for a certain brand relating to the same. However in absence of the specific brand of such convenience product the consumer in the light of other possible alternatives tends to frequently switch over to other available brands. Hence the marketer of the brand of such convenience product needs to develop strategies to attract and sustain the consumers of such products in the global marketplace. The marketer needs to further understand that the total gamut of convenience products available in the marketplace can be generally sub-divided into three parts like Staple, Impulse and Emergency. Staple type of convenience products are refereed to such that tend to reflect a very large availability in the market like grocery commodities and even merchandises like petrol and diesel. Again Convenience products are categorized as being Impulse type where the consumers tend to get largely impulsive in gaining the same from market outlets. Thus commodities like chewing gum or chocolates are categorized as impulsive buys for they do not involve greater amount of planning. Similarly regarding Emergency products like safety aids, bandages and other repair and maintenance utilities and even medicines consumers desire to gain ready access to such in times of sudden needs. Thus in all the three categories of Convenience products it is observed that people procure such by chances or in needful situations thereby spending less time in planning and taking decisions (Baines, Fill and Page, 2011, p.294-295). Like convenience products where the marketer must focus on making every possible attempt to enhance the brand awareness of the same with the targeted consumers to reduce the chances of s witching over to other lower price alternatives strategies are also required to be in place for luxury or high priced merchandises. Consumers of luxury or high-priced products would not go for availing the same without rendering adequate planning. Consumers on the other hand would require gaining a large amount of information relating to the same before finally deciding on to purchase it from the market. Information gained substantially would help the purchaser in making adequate plans to gain the same. Thus herein the marketer is required to reinstate the benefits and advantages related to the brand of such luxury product in question to effectively lure and sustain the attraction of the person to the particular brand (Baines, Fill and Page, 2011, p.296). Management of Online Branding Activities for Luxury and Convenience Products With the development of internet and possibly of social networking platforms the marketing activities of producers and marketers of both convenience and l uxury commodities have gained far flung changes. Marketers of such products have come to acknowledge the fact that the emergence of internet has contributed to the birth of a global marketplace wherein a large number of consumers and buyers are found to mutually exist for different categories of products. Herein the online marketer in order to

Quantitative Easing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Quantitative Easing - Essay Example This act expands the excess reserves of banks and lowers the yield since the prices of the financial assets rise (Wieland & Research., 2009). Since this is a type of a monetary policy, it also includes expansionary and contractionary monetary policies. Expansionary policies include those in which the central bank purchases government bonds (short-term) in order to bring down the market interest rate. When interest rates are at zero and traditional monetary policy cannot be brought into play, quantitative easing is used to further boost the economy, and not only are short-term bonds purchased, but long-term bonds are purchased as well, and the yield would be most likely to increase. (Economist, 2005) This policy helps to keep inflation at the right percentage, neither too low nor too high. However, easing can become over-effective and result in deflation or be ineffective and lead to banks not lending out additional reserves (Economist, 2005). As aforementioned, the central bank imposes a monetary policy by a rise or fall in the interest rate. Then the interest rate target is also achieved by open market operations, which essentially involves the buying or selling of short-term government bonds from financial institutions including banks. The process involves the central bank lending out bonds, collecting the money from these bonds purchased, and this in turn changes the money supply in the economy and at the same time affects the price of government bonds, even though just the short-term ones. This entire process changes the interbank rates of interest (Fukasawa & Corporation, 2000). A liquidity trap occurs when the central bank cannot change the interest rate. Quantitative easing is then used to boost the economy without referring to the interest rate. The aim of quantitative easing is to affect the money supply and not the interest rate, which is impossible to reduce in any case. And this is referred to as a â€Å"last resort policy† in

Stakeholder Influence Essay Example for Free

Stakeholder Influence Essay Programs in the Human Service industry are directly and indirectly affected by its primary, secondary and, key stakeholders. Stakeholders could also be persons who are not directly affected by the program itself. These people can be those who have strong interest in the cause or program, those who are of political and philosophical and academic persons. Stakeholders are not just the funding companies but are also the staff members, the administrators of the program, the community the program wishes to provide services in, other businesses that may be used to serve on behalf of a company or organization and more importantly the people and families of the people who are being helped directly by the program. The needs and expectations of the stakeholders affects a program because it is important to hear everyone’s voice in the building of an organization or program. It is also important to know the expectations in order to create a working program that benefits those that should be benefitted and to acknowledge the concerns of those who will be doing the work or contributing to the program in some way. The needs and expectations of the funding agencies should be met simply because they are the funding agency and have specific drives for what they intend to fund. It is important to honor their wishes so that the program remains funded and the requirements usually shape the program in its entirety. If a funding company wants the program to include more people than what a program wants to help it is because the funding agency has done its research and want to lend more help in areas that may need more help. One of the most important stakeholders in the funding organization. Most often  the funding agencies will have their own expectations for the program and the programs evaluations. The very first need the funding agency may incur is the need for the program to fit into the requirements of the funding. The expectations are that the program does what it says it will and not misappropriates the funds given. The roles and expectations of the administrators in the PEACE Domestic Violence Agency would be to make sure that the staff are doing their jobs to the best of their ability and creating ways to improve those abilities through continuing education, seminars and necessary staff meetings. They should also do internal evaluations to point out the areas that may be lacking and help those to do better. The administrators should make sure that the staff are caring for the clients as they should be without overstepping boundaries into personal attachments that would create conflicts of interests. The program staff should be up to date in human services training and use their skills to properly assist the clients in their development of growing beyond past traumas and learning to make better decisions. They should be aware of all other human services agencies where the clients can get help to live independently. Staff should also be professional and show the clients that there is still some positivity in the world by exuding such positivity and handling the clients delicately. The community has a very differing role and expectation in this program. As a stakeholder they should be more aware of the violence and report it more often so that something can be done about it. Concerning the domestic violence between spouses the community should be more watchful and try to get those in need to help and those who are the perpetrators the attention they need as well. It is also the responsibility of those that are helped to spread the word about being helped in order to reach those who believe they have no way out. The family of the clients help should remain supportive or obtain help or counseling in order to provide such support because the lack of support to an abused family member leaves them vulnerable to returning to the same situations and the PEACE organization does  not want that to occur. It will also be beneficial for young adults and teenagers that come into the program to pass on what they have been taught to their friends and families in efforts to eliminate crime or provide a way for the friends and family to remain law abiding citizens and avoid violence and raise awareness as well. The most important stakeholder is the funding agency. This funding program is called â€Å"Supporting Families† and they seek to raise awareness about domestic violence while promoting better lives to those affected by youth violence and domestic violence by helping them cope with trauma, family members in prison and providing rehabilitation to youth who have been involved with the criminal justice system. This foundation seeks to improve â€Å"skills, confidence and personal support networks to enable them to lead fulfilled and successful lives.† (Appendix A) The role and expectations of the funding agency are to make sure that their objectives are met. If they are not the funding could very well cease and the program will end if further funding is not found. The funding agency can lead evaluations of their own and determine what needs work or a decrease or increase of funding. Keeping to the objectives put forth by the funding agency could increase the reputation of the organization and lead to future funding from other sources as well. Compromising within these roles can be as simple as being lenient with staff that develop emotional attachments to their clients but do not engage with them on an intimate level. The administrator could delegate evaluations and other tasks to other capable staff to free up more time to focus on more important matters. The funding agency could compromise with the organization by not strictly adhering to their objectives. If one objective is not met simply because it is not in the budget it can be looked over in the interest of the other programs working smoothly but with less funding. â€Å"Supporting Families† funding opportunity seeks to improve lives and the community’s lives as a whole. The expectations of their evaluations are to have documentation on all clients who are helped and feedback once they are done with the program to see how well the  program assisted them. This is to measure the success or failings of the programs intentions. The organization will also need documentation on changes, drawbacks and new information that could help the program succeed and create better areas of care to provide the clients with even more options to assist them make a positive change. Stakeholders have a great amount of influence in any human service organization and it is vital that their expectations be drawn out, developed and used to integrate differing principle so that the program can work to the best of the stakeholders abilities.

Company Overview of VEDANTA RESOURCES

Company Overview of VEDANTA RESOURCES INTRODUCTION Vedanta resources is the first Indian company to be listed in the London stock exchange in December 2003. It is an FTSE 100 metals and mining company with its headquarters located in London, UK and is Indias largest non ferrous company based on their revenues. The company is principally situated in India, although they have possessions and operations in other locations such as Zambia and Australia. Vedanta Resources is mainly invested in copper, zinc, Aluminium businesses, however the company is now adding to their portfolio by diversifying into a commercial power generation business. The group has experienced a significant growth in recent years on grounds of various expansions in projects owing to a world class resource base containing copper, zinc and Aluminium, the result of this being the acquisition of Sesa Goa in April 2007, which enabled them to penetrate into the iron ore market. Therefore the organization is actively participating in the iron ore, zinc, Aluminium and copper businesses. Vedanta has a precise vision and mission statement, vision being to be clear and committed so that they might become the market leaders in the non- ferrous market segment and their mission is to be a low cost, million-ton per annum producer, the ultimate goal however is to make the company a success, needless to say that such a mission will certainly put India on a global competitive platform, in the metals and mining segment. The company has continuously demonstrated that they are able to bring in projects that are of high significance thereby contributing unmatched growth at minimum pricing while ensuring high returns to all their shareholders. Also, the organization makes certain that they meet the high conservative standards that are set, so that unjustifiable numbers are not shown in their balance sheets. Vedanta Resources deals with a diverse portfolio of mining and metals business as they make available eminent proceeds to their shareholders even as they make sure that they are socially and environmentally accountable, as the management keeps track of their employees health and safety, community issues and of their surroundings. Several of Vedanta Resources operations are authorized by International Management Systems Standard ISO 14001, proof of it being the many awards won by the company such as Recognition of Commitment Award from the Institute of Internal Auditors, USA in 2005, Vedanta Resources being the only manufacturing company out of a total of four Indian companies to have ever received this award, not to mention the numerous safety and environment awards. To quote the chairman of Vedanta Resources, Mr.Anil Agrawal India is a fast-emerging and attractive resource destination, and we believe our strategy and business objectives will harness Indias high-quality wealth of mineral resources at low costs of development, positioning it as a leader on the global metals and mining map. ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE Vedanta is an emerging multinational conglomerate with many overseas operations. Its organizational structure is a complex one with many subsidiaries, governing board and a management committee. The governing board consists of executive and non executive directors. The executive board of directors consists of Mr. Anil Agarwal, Mr. Navin Agarwal and Mr. M S Metha. Mr. Anil Agarwal founded the company and is leading the company as the executive chairman. Mr. Navin Agarwal is the deputy executive chairman of Vedanta and looks after the corporate business strategy and responsible for overall performance and growth. He also heads the executive committee. Mr. M. S. Metha is the chief executive officer of Vedanta. He joined the conglomerate in the year 2000 and previously was working at Lloyds Steel Industries. The non executive board consists of Mr. Naresh Chandra, Mr. Aman Metha and Mr.Euan Macdonald. Mr. Naresh Chandra was a Padma Vibhushan award winner from the Government of India and he is an Indian Administrative Service officer. He joined the group in 2004 after holding many prestigious positions in India. Aman Metha also joined the group in 2004. Before that he was the CEO of HSBC. Euan Macdonald was the chairman of SBC Warburg India and specializes in emerging market finance. The management committee is lead by Mr. Navin Agarwal and consists of: COMMITTEE DESIGNATION TARUN JAIN PRESIDENT GROUP HUMAN RESOURCES DD JALAN WHOLE TIME DIRECTOR CEO ALUMINIUM BUSINESS MS METHA WHOLE TIME DIRECTOR BALCO P K MUKHERJEE DIRECTOR OPERATIONS KCM DILIP GOLANI COO HZL RAJAGOPAL K. KUMAR CEO COPPER ZINC BUSINESS AKHILESH JOSHI HEAD MANGT ASSURANCE FUNCTION J. JANAKARAJ CEO VEDANTA RESOURCES PRAMOD SURI CEO IRON ORE BUSINESS M SIDDIQI CFO VEDANTA RESOURCED A THIRUNAVUKKARASU DOF STERLITE Vedanta Resources plc. is the parent company with many subsidiaries operating in different sectors in different names. Vedanta has interests in five main businesses. Each business is operated by one of its subsidiary. Below is the Vedanta resources plcs group tree. Copper Business: Copper business are run and operated by Sterlite Industries (India) Limited, Konkola Copper Mines Plc and Copper Mines of Tasmania, however, Vedanta holds 53.9%, 79.4% and 100% stakes respectively and management control in the above companies. The total copper business has an annual production of 678,412 tons and generates revenue of $4,012 million. The end products are the Continuous Cast Rods and Copper Cathodes. Copper from the copper mines are smelted using ISA process, one of the worlds leading technology in copper smelting. They have the latest version of CS 3000 Distributed Control System of Yokogawa from Japan to control the entire copper smelter. Aluminium Business: Bharat Aluminium Company Limited (BALCO) and Vedanta Aluminium Limited (VAL) are responsible for Aluminium business. Aluminium business has a total production capacity of 500,000 tons per annum. Vedanta has the controlling stakes of 70.5% in VAL and Sterlite, the subsidiary of Vedanta owns a stake of 51% and exercises management control. Currently the Aluminium business is under vigorous expansion and by 2012 it would become top five Aluminium producers in the world. The company produces metallurgical grade alumina and Aluminium ingots, billets and bars used for making buses. The Aluminium smelter used the advanced technical specifications of British Standard Institute (BSI). The company has bagged OHSAS 18001 certification for good health and protection standards. VAL unit has obtained ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certificates for quality production and management practices. These Aluminium complexes also have integrated power plants in them. Zinc business: Zinc business is wholly owned and operated by Hindustan Zinc limited (HZL). Vedanta own 64.9% of share capital in HZL. It has an annual production of 9,64,000 tons of zinc that generates revenue of $1,782 million. HZL is the worlds integrated second largest producer of Zinc and Lead. Apart from Zinc and Lead the plant also produces Silver, Cadmium and generates power. Silver and Cadmium are obtained as a byproduct of Lead and Zinc metal respectively. The equity shares of HZL are traded at the Indian stock exchange. The metals are refined and sold according to their quality. Iron ore business: The whole iron ore business is operated by its subsidiary Sesa Goa limited. Vedanta has a controlling stake of 57.1%. The company makes iron ore, pig iron and metallurgical coke. The company has a production capacity of 21.4 million tons of iron ore fines and lumps which generates revenue of $1221.7 million. Apart from these they also sell the in-house technology for coke making. They found new technology using vibro compaction to stabilize coal before using in the furnace for firing. Sesa Goas mines have ISO status for good management standards and safety. Commercial Power Generation business: This is a new business venture for Vedanta group and is run by its subsidiaries Sterlite Energy Limited (SEL) and Madras Aluminium Company Limited (MALCO). SEL is a 100% subsidiary of Sterlite Industries Ltd. As of now the excess power from its various plants are sold. Specialized commercial power generation plants are being set up in India. By the end of 2011 the power plants would become fully operational. Two plants are being set up with a combined generation of 4380MW per year. OPERATIONS OF VEDANTA RESOURCES PLC: CORPORATE STRATEGY Since its incorporation in 1976, Vedanta has been very successful in its operations. The current turnover of company is $ 7931 million. The success can be owed to the corporate strategy of Vedanta which can be explained as follows: Organic Development: This includes developing organizations own capabilities. It is done by making using of latest technology for manufacturing processes; spreading investments over a time, venturing the scope of entry in new markets, analyzing the ability of the company to enter them and then enter into such markets. Latest Technology for Mining Smelting Operations: Vedanta has been doing it by using highly advanced technology for manufacturing and designing. This helps in reducing the production costs and thereby gaining advantage to compete in the market. For e.g. The Sesa Goas team did a detailed experimentation involving studies on the temperature profile of the oven and redesigning the refractories. Followed by the systematic plant trials, it developed energy recovery coke making, an environment-friendly technology that is characterized low capital and operating cost, high energy recovery and capable of producing high quality metallurgical coke. Implementing cost reduction techniques: Vedanta has signed long-term contracts with suppliers of raw materials. This not only reduces production costs but also accounts for the continuous availability of resources without getting affected by market fluctuations. Launching Brownfield and Greenfield Projects: These form a very important consideration for a mining industry. Brownfield projects are abandoned sites that are available for industrial or commercial reuse. The development or expansions of such land is more difficult owing to contamination by earlier use. Greenfield projects are the ones which lack any constraints imposed by prior work. There is no need to demolish or remodel the structure. Vedanta has been investing in Brownfield and Greenfield projects for expansions. A 1.4 mtpa aluminium refinery project at Lanjigarh and an aluminium smelter of capacity 500,000 tpa both in state of Orissa, India are few of the Greenfield projects launched by the company. Entry in New Market: Also the company has now ventured into Commercial Power Generation. It recognised the tremendous scope in the industry for commercial power generation, in India. It has therefore started commercial power generation plants in Chhattisgarh and Orissa. Also these plants are locates at strategic positions, mainly in the coal rich zones of India, thereby facilitating transport and easy availability of coal. Consolidation of Group Structure: As shown above, Vedanta has many subsidiaries like KCM, Sterlite Industries India Ltd, Sesa Goa Ltd etc. Although it has the Holding Stocks and management control over all these, some of the stakes are owned by private investors. Vedanta is constantly trying to buyback it stock and purchase shares of all its subsidiaries. This would help in a consolidated group structure. The main advantage of it is ease in the management decisions. Mergers and Acquisitions: Since 2004, the Vedanta Resources had only one acquisition till date by acquiring the Madras Aluminium Co Ltd. While taking stake into consideration the Vedanta resources taken over 5 companies till finalization of balance sheet for 2010. Acquisitions include Konkola Copper Mines Plc. in 2004 and part in 2009 with a total of 79.4% stake, next Sterlite Gold Ltd and Finsider International Co Ltd both in the year 2007. Moreover, the company acquired approximately 25.8% by the outstanding common shares of Sterlite Gold on a fully-diluted basis. Also the company acquired Finsider International Co Ltd. Fully from a Japanese company called Mitsui Co at around USD 981 million. In the year 2009 the company acquired 51% of Sesa Goa Ltd, Indias largest producer-exporter of Iron-Ore in the private sector at INR 4070 Crore. Now, the Vedanta Resources are planning to acquire 60% stake in Crain India Company. The Cairn India is a leading player in Oil and Gas industry in India. Moreover, Crain India is one the biggest private exploration and Production Company currently operating in India. Edinburgh based Crain Energy is holding a total of 62.37 percent stake in Crain India. According to the deal the Crain Energy will sell its stake to Vedanta Resources Plc for the deal amount of USD 9.6 billion at 405 INR per share. Successful acquisition of KCM, MALCO, Sterlite Gold Ltd and Sesa Goa has added substantial growth to the Vedanta as a whole. They are continue looking for a new growth and acquisition opportunities in the metal and mining sector and related opportunities in India and elsewhere. They are taking all these steps by keeping government privatization programmed in mind. PESTEL ANALYSIS Political Legal: As minerals are a nations wealth, the mining industry operates under the huge cloud of political and legal pressure. Mainly they are state owned or nationalized and involves a large and complicated process for licensing. The industry is very much regulated by governmental law that mainly focuses on labour and environmental factors. In the recent days, the increasing concern for environmental issues has made the government to pressurize the mining policies. Upon this the media focus is still more an added pressure for the mining industry. Even though the governments policies are mainly aimed to protect the resources but they also encourage exports by giving subsidies and encourage new technology developments. Economic: Mining is an industry that requires very high capital investment. Thus, interest rates make a major impact. Not all countries are rich in deposits of minerals; hence mining generally involves import and export of products. The exchange rates fluctuations are a dominant concern. The import taxes and international trade cycle are also important economic factors for the mining industry. Social: Being an industry that impacts the surrounding environment in areas of its operation, the support of the local community is of the most important and underlying factors for mining. Mining, though, a resource based industry, cannot be carried out in areas of high population because of the concerns that it may affect the public health. Mining has also been under the scanner of various activist groups over the recent years. The industry thus has also been attracting continuous media attention. Vedanta has been attracting a lot of media attention recently over ESG issues. Technology: The process involved in the mining industry right from the raw material transportation still export involves risky process. In those conditions the laws prevent the use of human resources that make the mining industry heavily dependent on technology. Recently the mines are using computerized machines that operates according to its program and automated conveyor belts to reach its specified destination i.e. harbor or warehouse. But still the underground mining relies mainly on human resource due to its complicated nature of mining. Environmental: Mining is an industry that affects and makes a negative impact on the environment during and after the process. Thus any mining activity has to go through a number of clearances and regulations concerning the environment. Almost all countries demand an investigation of its impact on the environment before any activity can start. PORTERS 5 FORCES ANALYSIS The following diagram gives the 5 Forces Analysis for Vedanta Resources: Threat of New Entrants: The threat of new entrants to Vedanta is very low. This is mainly because of high capital investments required. The limited resources in mining and the costs of exploration, the various government laws, the equipment required, additional costs incurred in rehabilitation of people living at mining sites etc all make it difficult for new entrants to venture in this industry. Threat of Substitutes: The threat of substitutes also is low. This is mainly because metals are required basically for all types of manufacturing industries as an input. Even if substitution is considered, it has limited scope. Also the price/performance ratios of iron, aluminium etc is low, making the threat of substitutes even less. Bargaining Power of Suppliers: The suppliers include the suppliers of raw materials required, that of equipment etc. There are very few suppliers and therefore their bargaining power is high. Also the cost of switching suppliers is high making it difficult to do so. Vedanta has entered into long term contracts with their suppliers, thus reducing the costs. It also ensures that Vedanta get supply of goods without being affected by market fluctuations. Bargaining Power of Buyers: This is low as the demand of the metals and metal products is very high. Also switching costs are high as the costumers normally have contracts with the company. Competitive Rivalry: Some of the competitors of Vedanta Group are Rio-Tinto, BHP Billiton Ltd, Grupo-Mexico, Hindalco etc. The competition is intense as every player is trying for their market share as the resources are becoming restricted and limited. SWOT ANALYSIS: A complete SWOT analysis of Vedanta Resources plc would provide a clear and unbiased strategic analysis of the companys strengths and weakness and potential opportunities and threats, this sort of analysis helps the business in understanding its partners, customers and competitors better. STRENGTHS: The strength can be determined by the fact that the company has assets that are global with respect to both scale and size; their low cost of production which makes the group competitive among its peers and the skill and experience that are incorporated in the nature of their assets is of high quality. Their recent growth in volume and the many measures that the group have taken in reducing costs has increased their cash flow considerably; The Company understands the fact that it is important to maintain a low leverage by enabling adequate liquidity and meeting all their financial obligations, possessing a strong vision, making strategic acquisitions and having an ability to think ahead. They also understand the value of their employees which is a competitive advantage as its not easily reproducible like technology and the fact that they strive for excellence has only increased their strength. WEAKNESSES: Poor brand management, not giving importance to marketing of the company, keeping silent while a swarm of people accusing the company has increased trouble for the company. Therefore, the company must make all efforts in order to correct the problem before they run out of business and need to curtail their operations. OPPORTUNITIES: The opportunities for the group are many, success in the group will allow the company to compete globally. Several efforts are made by the company with respect to expansion of the company and growth and this can be clearly seen in the group on having acquired Sesa Goa, which makes it possible for the company to penetrate through the iron ore market and by making strategic decisions, will guarantee that Vedanta Resources triumphs. THREATS: The potential threats as reported by The Independent news paper is the fact that the human rights protestors that stood outside the companys building in their avatar costumes, outshone the companys accomplishments which is a major threat to the companys image. The backing out of the Church of England; only six months after researching into the company or Aviva who is one of their backers, who voted against them in three resolutions in board meeting which they attended. Vedanta however, denies the rumors concerning the pollution of Lanjugarh, or any breach in human rights, the encroachment of land in Nyamgiri Hills in Orissa and any other accusations that have been made against the company and they continue to contest any allegations made against the group. Although the rumors are overtaking their defensive stand and is causing a serious dent to the Vedanta Groups image. (The Independent, 2010) COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE: In terms of the competitive advantages for Vedanta resources Plc, Firstly, they have a mining site located where the availability of natural resources is high. Their production is done on the basis of the accessibility of the raw material. As the natural resources are highly available, the supply of the raw material and the cost of production can be low, and the cost of capital can be divided to sustain it in the current market. The raw material in the industry is nothing but the resources held by the group and as they located where there is a rich source of natural resources, not to mention the availability of cheap labour at their mining site which results in Vedanta having a low cost of production per unit leading the company to win an award for the low cost of production in year 2007. Culture of the society where there are located, is also well known by them so the adjustment to the market environment would not be an issue placing the company is a very advantageous position The company has also started their operations in power production unit. They had produced the power sufficient enough for their production and the excess production was sold out and this resulted to the investment in a power generation plant. Now they have obtained blocks for 112.2 million tons with the ministry of coal. They have signed a contract with Chhattisgarh government for the interested thermal and coal power generation plant for 1200 MW power capacity. India is fifth largest in the world for the bauxite with the reserve about of 2,600 million tones and for the coal reserves and for iron ore it is sixth. The most of the mining and smelting site for Vedanta resources are in India. This is advantageous for potential growth in the further prospective for the company. CORE COMPETENCE For Vedanta the core competence of their business strategy is developing low cost, with inexpensive skilled and educated labour. (Business Standard, 2008) In the mining industry, the high costs are to do with the investment in acquiring a mining site and costs need for production. However, Vedanta has reduced its cost of production owing to their location, which is rich in natural resources. The current production for the Aluminium is 1.4 mtpa which is planned to be increased by 6,00,000 tpa to reach is total production of 2 mtpa. The company aims at investing $ 9.8 Billion by which they will be the fifth mining company for Aluminium metal. CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY In the present-day business scenario, Corporate Social responsibility (C.S.R.) and sustainability have become a very high-profile agenda in many countries and industries. Thus, due to the nature of its business, Corporate Social Responsibility is a pretty confound and complicated issue for Vedanta Resources Plc. The company has quite a mixed record on the social responsibility front. Nonetheless, the company has made certain valiant efforts to conduct their business in a socially responsible manner. Vedantas current C.S.R. agenda acknowledges the responsible management of the Environmental, Community, Health and Safety and Employee issues with respect to all of their operations. The companys Health, Safety and Environment (H.S.E) management framework administers the healthy and sound management of its operations. According to its current agenda, the company aims to reduce the impact of its activities on the environment. Efficient consumption of energy and water and use of recycled materials is one of its main motives. It has taken initiatives through its subsidiaries to fulfill its motives. Being a mining company, the health and safety of its employees and the community is a core concern for Vedanta. The company has a Health and Safety management framework and policies in place, which aim to ensure a risk-free environment for its employees. Vedanta has also taken efforts to support and enhance the local community in the areas of their operations. Sterlite Foundation is financial ly supported by the group, which provides free computer training to the young under-privileged people. The company has also made several contributions and donations to the community. For example being the donation of US$1.1 million to the Rajasthan drought relief fund, through its subsidiary H.Z.L. Despite making certain efforts to conduct its business in a socially responsible manner, Vedanta has been engulfed in a web of allegations concerning this issue over the last few years. The company has been under immense criticism for having a poor human rights and environmental record by various activist groups and authorities. A human rights group called Amnesty International, has criticized and raised the issue of ill treatment of the local tribal people by Vedanta in the Niyamgiri hills in Orissa, India. Various other activist groups have also accused Vedanta and its subsidiaries of threatening the livelihood of the community residing in and around the areas of its mines. This also led to recent public demonstrations and protest against the company worldwide. However, the company has maintained a stance that, it would act in a responsible manner and that the proposed project will only enhance the community as a whole in the particular area. Vedantas Alumina refinery at Lanjigarh in Orissa, India, has also been critiqued by the State Pollution Control board in India for air and water pollution. Amnesty International has accused Vedanta of failing to curb the impact created by its refinery of air pollution on the local community. The company is also facing investigations and charges regarding pollution because of its project in Armenia. This is another issue that has been raised by various activist groups. The company has also failed to maintain a clear health and safety record recently. Separate incidents have darned its reputation concerning safety efforts. An under construction chimney at its smelter in Chhattisgarh, India collapsed causing death of more than 40 workers and employees. The company has also been accused of safety negligence as its unsafe mining operations have led to deaths of more than 25 workers and employees and injuries to hundreds of others in 2007. The controversies, poor human rights and environmental allegations have caused a lot of socially responsible investors to divest from the company. After protests by Survival International a human rights group regarding the Orrisa issue, the Church of England sold its stake worth 3.75 million pounds in Vedanta resources on the basis of ethical grounds. The Church stated that we are not satisfied that Vedanta has shown, or is likely in future to show, the level of respect for human rights and local communities that we expect of companies in whom the Church investing bodies hold shares, The Scottish investment firm Martin Carrie Investments also sold its stake worth more than 2 million pounds following protest from activist groups. Other responsible investors like the Swedish Government, Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, Dutch investment firm PGGM and a few others have joined the bandwagon of disinvesting from the company following its poor recent social record. The BP Pension fund has also reduced its share following similar concerns. The UK and Norwegian governments have also condemned the company. The disinvestment by shareholders has been a major concern for Vedanta as it certainly threatens to affect its growth. On 24th August 2010, the Indian government blocked the companys proposal for a new mine in India alleging Vedanta of having a poor human rights and environmental record. Indias Environment minister stated, There is no emotion, no politics, no prejudice I have taken the decision in a purely legal approach, that these laws are being violated. This has been a major blow for Vedanta as it was planning to invest more than 5 billion pounds in the Niyamgiri project. The company has also been alleged of charges of bribery in Chennai, India for the reopening of a factory that was shut down due to a major accident. Sterlite, a subsidiary of Vedanta was slapped with tax notice of more than 44 million pounds by the India Excise department in 2010 while a few other legal violations have also tarnished the companys image. All the recent allegations and controversies in the recent times resulted in a negative image for the company. Its stock rose tremendously by more than 200% from April 2009 to April 2010 but after the recent allegations and concerns over disinvestment by investors, the stock has been a sharp decline. Thus, the issue of corporate social responsibility has certainly made an impact on its growth recently and could also be a cause of concern if the company does not adopt new strategies to improve its CSR record. Vedanta must revive its CSR agenda to clarify investor concerns. The company has however claimed that it aims resolve all the issues regarding the allegations and aim to enrich and empower the community wherever they operate. Projects Under Scrutiny Lanjigarh Bauxite Mine Lanjigarh Smelter Chhattisgarh Chimney Collapse Chennai Factory Source: CONCLUSION: In conclusion Vedanta Resources is Indias largest non-ferrous metal and mining company based on revenue. This FTSE-100 company has a strong balance sheet with cash and liquid investment of $7.2 billion and has cash in excess of $7.0 billion. Moreover, its the only Indian manufacturing company listed at London Stock Exchange. They are working with workforce of 30,000. The analysis shown above certainly explains the success of Vedanta Resources in mining industry. This success can be hugely owed to its corporate strategy. However there are still some glitches in the strategy. This is evident by the SWOT analysis, so also the effects on its business as an aftermath of its weak corporate social responsibility. Therefore it is evident that their current corporate strategy is not sustainable. Although due consideration has been given in asset optimization, reducing costs and thereby gaining profits; Vedanta has not given due consideration to the threat posed by its competitors. If any of the competitors enter India, for mining then Vedanta would not be able to survive. Moreover their corporate social responsibility has been lacking; this has severely affected their Brand-name, a very important factor in todays market. It has also resulted in decreased market share and withdrawal from many of their investors like Church of England. Therefore certain cha nges have to be made in their current corporate strategy. First of all, the company should give due consideration to its Social Responsibility, it should provide rehabilitation facilities to people, who have lost their lands due to mining activities. It should provide safety and security measures for their workers. It should also come with policies that are in accordance with the human right and environment. All this would add up with Brand Image of the company. It should try to improve relations with Indian governm

Measurement Of Advertising Effectiveness Across Different Media Media Essay

Measurement Of Advertising Effectiveness Across Different Media Media Essay Purpose The purpose of this study is to determine advertising effectiveness of four media. These media include both traditional media like television, radio and print and a new medium like the internet. Design/ Methodology/ Approach An online questionnaire was floated asking the respondents to evaluate the four media on eight different parameters namely, informativeness, emotions, attitude, action, attention, entertainment, irritation and deceptiveness. The results were analysed by comparison of the means using the One Way Anova and Tukey b Test, was applied to see the difference between the effectiveness of different media on the basis of the eight parameters listed above. This was followed by Terpstra Jonckheere Test to confirm our order of alternatives. Findings The study determined that different media have significant differences in their effectiveness when evaluated on the above mentioned eight parameters. According to the study, the consumers perceive television as the most effective advertising medium followed by print, internet and radio. Research Limitations/ implications Only four media were considered for the study and it measured the effectiveness of different kinds of advertisements in general. Also, the respondents belonged to the same age group. Future research can be done with more media and can be extended for a particular product and for a particular brand. Practical Implications The study can be used to determine the most effective media for advertising a particular product. Also the advertising requirements differ with the life cycle of the product. The same can be evaluated with the help of this study. Originality/ Value There have been past studies to evaluate the advertising effectiveness of different media but none of them has been particular to Indian context. Key Words advertising effectiveness, comparison between different advertising media, traditional media compared to web Paper Type Survey based research paper INTRODUCTION Media, from long, has been used by advertisers to build brands; be it television, radio, print, internet or outdoor advertising. With increasing competition and the rat race between the various sellers, it has increasingly become important for the advertisers to differentiate themselves from others, and the efficient advertising mix has a very important role to play in the effectiveness of this differentiating behaviour. Often marketers face themselves with the problem of deciding on how much to spend on advertising on the various types of media. This decision rests on the measure of effectiveness of each of these forms, which is often a tough task. For the same product, the effect of a particular media may be far different from the others. Also, the effects of these media may vary largely across the various product categories as well. Hence to reach to the optimum advertising mix its necessary for the marketers to evaluate the perceived value of each of these media on its consumers. How do viewers perceive the TV over other types of media? Is the modern media like internet more effective compared to the traditional media like TV and print? To answer these questions, the study focuses on the view, opinions and perceptions of people who are exposed to the various media. Here, in this paper, we intend to measure the perceived value of the various forms of media in the mind of consumers, and quantify this to reach to an advertising value for each of the media across a particular product category. This perception of viewers has a large role to play on the advertisers selection of various media for advertising, and allocation of the advertising budget to these media. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY Advertising on the four media which are taken into consideration for the purpose of this study namely, television, radio, print and internet have their own advantages and disadvantages. While television, radio and print are the traditional methods of advertising and have a long history behind them, internet has emerged as an advertising medium in the near past. Over the years, internet has emerged as a competitor to the traditional media and has created a niche for itself. It is however not clear from the previous studies that consumers who watch all four kinds of advertisements consider all of them equally effective or not. Also, there is a dearth of research when it comes to measuring the advertising effectiveness of the four media vis-a-vis each other in the Indian context. This study aims to fill this gap that exists. ADVERTISING ON DIFFERENT MEDIA Advertising on Television Television advertising started in United States in the year 1941. Television advertising started in India in the eighties and from then there is no looking back for this medium of advertising. Television is a commonly used medium for advertising campaigns due to its popularity and the capability to reach audiences of all ages (Edell Keller, 1989). According to the New York Times, television is to stay in India. It has seen a phenomenal growth in the past and will continue to grow. There are been a 20 percent increase in the number of homes with televisions. It has increased from 88 million in 2000 to 105 million in the year 2009. There has been a 21 percent increase in the advertising spending on Indian television from the year 1995 to 2005. Spending on television advertising reached $1.6 billion in the year 2005. Television has several advantages over other medium. The reach of television is much wider than that of other advertising media like print and it does so in a shorter duration of time. Also, television has multiple communication appeal as it uses both hearing and vision. Â  By appealing to both senses a TV advertiser can use these to reinforce each other. Television as an advertising medium has its own set of disadvantages. The cost of advertising is much higher for television as compared to other forms of media considered here. Also, if the advertisement is not intrusive enough it may fail to capture the attention of the audience. In addition to this the number of advertisements which fight for the coveted time slots on television may add to the clutter and may not help in reinforcing the belief of the customer. Advertising on Radio Advertising on radio started in the early 1920s, when the first radio stations were established by radio equipment manufacturers and retailers who offered programs in order to sell more radios to consumers. These days radio is no longer considered to be an attractive means of advertising. Radio, an old- fashioned medium existing in the shadow of high tech boom of internet advertising and cable TV, is not considered lucrative anymore (Joachim Jean C., 1999). Though radio ads have decreased in popularity but still it is widely used as an advertising medium because of the benefits it provides. The key advantage of radio advertising is its cost effectiveness as compared to other media like television. The advantages of radio advertising are low production costs and selectivity in reaching segments of audiences homogeneous in demographics or lifestyles (McDonald, 1998; Roberts Berger, 1989). Also, radio has a wider reach in terms of the number of audience covered vis a vis television or internet. Radio advertisement has the disadvantage of being ephemeral, since the consumer can only hear the ad, it becomes very necessary to have an ad which is highly attention grabbing. Also, due to smaller coveted slots, cluttering of ads may happen. Apart from this, the decrease in the popularity of the medium has made radio advertising less sought after. Print advertising is one of the oldest modes of advertising. With the advent of radio, television and internet, print advertising has lost its lustre. Due to the advantage that print medium has on the cost front, it is still the most sought after advertising medium for small, local businesses. Print medium has a very wide reach and it proves to be very cost effective. The advertisement can reach different segments in a wide geographic region. The people can refer to the ads multiple times and therefore it has the desired permanence. The biggest limitation of print is that the ad has to compete for the attention of the reader. In the limited space that the medium provides, the ads may just get lost in the clutter. In addition to this, more and more people are now switching to online versions of magazines and newspapers. So the traditional print medium is losing its charm .Advertising on the Internet Advertising on the internet started in the year 1994 when Wired magazine came up with its commercial web magazine which was the first of its kind. With this online magazine started the era of of advertising on the Internet. Since then, advertising on the Internet has increased rapidly, mainly due to an astronomical growth in Web traffic. But with this increase in the web traffic clutter over the internet has increased manifolds. The internet has many advantages over the traditional forms of media, the most prominent of them being the cost. The cost incurred is a fraction of the cost which will be paid for a similar ad on television. Another advantage of Internet advertising is that it provides a medium to buy the product as well. No other media offers this flexibility. As with other advertising media clutter is an issue, as competition for Web users becomes more intense. Also, the frequency of pop up ads can cause irritation in the consumer. Apart from this the rate of usage of internet is really an issue especially in developing countries like India and this makes internet advertising less popular. LITERATURE REVIEW AND HYPOTHESIS Advertising Effectiveness as defined by Ducoffe is a subjective evaluation of the relative worth or utility of advertising to consumers. Ducoffe, in his study, suggested media mix has an important role to play in advertising effectiveness. In his research, the respondents were asked to rank different media in terms of their role in advertising. Consumers ranked television the top labelling it the most valuable source, followed by print media, direct mail and radio; web was placed at bottom. As per previous studies, consumers consider newspapers to be most effective in informativeness, reliability and credibility whereas television and radio rate lower on these attributes. Comparision of Traditional Media with Web With internet emerging as an effective media of advertising, a synergy in advertising through various media forms can be achieved by integrating internet with other media to achieve companys objectives. Leong et al [1998], in his study, suggested that though internet is different from other media, it can be used to complement other media. Many researchers [Negroponte-1995] are of the view that TV viewing would become obsolete in certain time with computer activities replacing it in a large way. But at the same time, there are many that do not support the replacement view [Coffey and Stripp-1997]. They do agree with TV popularity decreasing to some extent but expect it to still remain a popular activity. As per Kanso and Nelson [2004], various media can be integrated to serve the purpose, thereby enticing customers to the product/ brand. A similar study by Chang and Thorson [2004] show the combined effect of advertising on various media viz. traditional and web is far superior compared to repeated advertising on individual mediums. As per the survey carried out till date, there does not seem any paper which provides a complete comprehensive comparative analysis of different forms of media. Gap in extant literature The study by Ducoffe presents the results of a survey focussing on the perceived value of web advertising vis-Ã  -vis other media. To understand what makes advertising effective, Ducoffe identified the dimensions of advertising which include informativeness, irritation, deceptiveness and entertainment. But this study was limited to comparing traditional media and web advertising and also excluded parameters like degree of information dissemination and emotional effects. Though Leong et al did provide few parameters like attention, emotions, precipitating action and attitude to find out the advertising value of a particular media, but the study was limited to comparing the internet advertising to traditional media. Also, most of the researches carried out so far miss on the point that the respondents chosen should be exposed to these various media so that their responses reflect the true effectiveness of media. We intend to choose those exposed to all the various media forms as our respondent base. This effectiveness varies across the various product categories, their phase in the product life cycle, the demographics of the target group, and hence cannot be generalized. Hence, we intend to carry this research so as to keep these extraneous variables constant and can later be easily replicated across all the categories. THEORETICAL BASES DERIVATION OF FOR THE HYPOTHESIS Figure 1: Application Model The hypothesis has been derived separately for each of the eight parameters, discussed above, and is described below stating all bases for the derivation of each. Informativeness According to the information gathered about informativeness of the various media, internet ads are the most informative, followed by print, television and radio.[Leong, 1998] This fact seems to be correct as the information available about a product/service is very expansive on the internet, due to links provided that help the user gain unending information. This is closely followed by print ads that contain extensive information printed about the product, due to the availability of space. Television and radio provide lesser information, due to the expensive per second rates. Television is more informative than radio due to the visual aid available. Hypothesis 1 The level of informativeness of advertisements varies significantly across the various forms of media, with internet ads being the most informative, followed by print media, television and radio in this order. Attention This section shows how engaging and interactive the media is. Again, television and radio score high on this factor, due to their audio-visual and audio aid respectively. This is followed by print and internet. Print, due to its direct impact in a newspaper or a magazine ranks next in this regard followed by internet ads which might not be that engaging for the user. Hypothesis 2 The level of attention of advertisements varies significantly across the various forms of media, with television ads being the most attention seeking, radio, print media, and internet in this order. Emotions According to Nielson, the internet is a more rational medium, while the television is an emotional medium. Thus, television rates high on the emotional factor, followed by radio and print, with internet being the least emotional, due to least interactiveness of the medium and it being the most informative. Hypothesis 3 The level of emotions of advertisements varies significantly across the various forms of media, with television ads being the most emotional, followed by radio, print media and internet in this order. Precipitating Action Persuasion is an action that drives a user towards purchasing the product. Internet purchasing is the most popular and is significantly higher than telemarketing. Internet is followed by print in precipitating action. Print media seems to influence people towards buying a product due to the informative nature of the medium. Radio is the least persuasive in this regard as radio just provides a recall for the product. Hypothesis 4 The level of precipitating action of advertisements varies significantly across the various forms of media, with internet ads having the most precipitating action, followed by print media, television and radio in this order. Attitude Attitude defines the degree to which advertisements are able to change the beliefs/attitudes of people towards the product or the brand. This would affect the final buying decision of the product or service. The order for this factor ranges from television, print, internet and radio from most effective to least effective in changing attitude. Hypothesis 5 The level of attitude of advertisements varies significantly across the various forms of media, with television ads being the most attitudes changing, followed by print media, internet and radio in this order. Entertainment According to the information gathered about entertainment, television ads come out to be the most effective, followed by radio, print and internet. [Larkin] Television tops the list due to the audio visual effects present. This is followed by radio. The print media shows the entertainment factor through its creative designs and catchy print messages. The internet is considered to be a rational medium providing clear information without the frills. Hypothesis 6 The level of entertainment of advertisements varies significantly across the various forms of media, with television ads being the most entertaining, followed by radio, print and internet in this order. Irritation Advertising effectiveness depends on the users receptiveness towards an ad, and on their attitude towards advertising. Non relevant ads on TV, in newspapers and on the radio are perceived as inevitable by consumers; on the Internet, they are considered to be a nuisance. Television and radio ads are considered irritating due to the disturbance they cause during normal TV or radio screening. Print media ads are considered least irritating as they do not hinder normal operation of a newspaper or a magazine. Hypothesis 7 The level of irritation of advertisements varies significantly across the various forms of media, with internet ads being the most irritating, followed by television, radio and print media in this order. Deceptiveness Another important factor to calculate effectiveness of a medium is to measure the credibility of the medium. According to our research about the subject [Larkin], television ads seem to be to the most deceiving because of the lower airing time, thus the effect could be deceptive and important facts about the product are left out. This is followed by radio and print, with internet being the least deceptive due to the depth of information present on the internet. Hypothesis 8 The level of deceptiveness of advertisements varies significantly across the various forms of media, with television ads being the most deceiving, followed by radio, print media, and internet in this order. Overall Perception The overall perception of advertising media effectiveness has been taken to get an overall picture of the effectiveness. Hypothesis 9 On general/overall perception of the customer, television is the most effective, followed by print media, radio and internet in this order. METHODOLOGY Scale Development The scale items were adopted from Ducoffe [1996] and Leong et al [1998]. A total of 17 statements were used for the proposed scale. A 5-interval scale ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree was used to measure the response to each item. The respondents were given special instructions to not get biased towards a particular advertisement, brand or a product, rather evaluate each media as a whole. The internal reliability score was measured using Cronbachs alpha. The coefficient alpha reliability indicates that the items in each scale are significantly high above 0.7, except for Deceptiveness and Irritation. Though the value of alpha is not significantly low, this lower value is approximately equal to 0.6 which is close to the acceptable value. The instrument thus used was a 17-item scale, with eight underlying factors viz. informativeness, attention, emotion, precipitating action, attitude, entertainment, irritation and deceptiveness. The results were analysed by comparison of the means using the One Way Anova and Tukey b Test, was applied to see the difference between the effectiveness of different media on the basis of the eight parameters listed above. This was followed by Terpstra Jonckheere Test to confirm our order of alternatives. The scale items are listed below- Table 1: Scale Items Respondents Our survey was taken by 106 respondents in the age group of 18-30 years. Considering the kind of research we were conducting, only those people who had been exposed to all the four media viz. TV, Radio, Print and Internet were chosen to take our survey. Respondents were also asked to rank various media in terms of effectiveness with 1 assigned to the most effective medium and 4 to the least. RESULTS Result 1: Informativeness The level of informativeness varies significantly across different media, with respondents rating radio as the least informative. Though respondents consider internet most informative, followed by print and television, the tests reveal that the difference between this three different media is not significant enough to be considered. This is consistent with our hypothesis. Result 2: Attention The level of attention varies significantly across various media with respondents rating radio to have the least level of attention. Though respondents consider television the most attention catching, followed by print and internet, the tests reveal that the difference is not significant in the case of internet and print media, thus might not be considered. This result is slightly different than our hypothesis, according to which internet had the least level of attention. The reason for such a difference could be the difference in times from when the article was written and when the survey was taken. Table 2 : Reactions to Advertising on Various Media Measurement Model Means Scale Relia-bility Signi-ficance Level TV Radio Print Internet Informativeness 3.512 3.031 3.742 3.746 0.698 0.000 Ads provide relevant product information. 3.717 3.160 4.123 3.840 Ads are sources of up-to-date product info. 4.038 3.425 3.934 4.105 Ads supply complete product information. 2.783 2.509 3.170 3.330 Attention 4.344 2.986 3.642 3.524 0.768 0.000 Ads are attractive/eye-catching. 4.434 2.698 3.745 3.651 Ads are effective in producing engaging messages 4.255 3.274 3.538 3.396 Emotions 3.778 2.835 2.901 2.651 0.543 0.000 Ads give details about the product, but do not stimulate emotions* (Negative Question) 2.264 3.047 3.189 3.359 I am touched by ads. 3.821 2.717 2.991 2.660 Precipitating Action 3.953 2.698 3.755 3.255 0.737 0.000 I have thought of buying an advertised product after watching the ad. 3.953 2.698 3.755 3.255 Attitude 4.118 3.340 3.717 3.481 0.737 0.000 Ads help people change their attitude towards the brand/company. 4.170 3.349 3.821 3.547 Ads help people change their beliefs related to the product. 4.066 3.330 3.613 3.415 Entertainment 4.335 3.151 3.340 3.288 0.762 0.000 Ads are enjoyable 4.245 3.255 3.330 3.179 Ads are exciting 4.425 3.047 3.349 3.396 Irritation 2.871 2.988 2.522 3.006 0.573 0.000 Ads insult peoples intelligence 2.755 2.623 2.472 2.566 Ads are annoying 3.076 3.528 2.585 3.585 Ads are confusing 2.783 2.811 2.509 2.868 Deceptiveness 3.698 3.590 3.349 3.590 0.561 0.010 Ads lie 3.660 3.406 3.330 3.613 Important facts about the products are left out of the ads 3.736 3.774 3.368 3.566 Mean responses to the item, n=106 (1 = Strongly Disagree, 5 = Strongly Agree) * Significant at 5% level of significance ** Cronbachs Alpha Reliability Test was used Table 3 : Terpstra Jonckheere Test for ordered Alternatives HYPOTHESIS TESTING PARAMETERS HYPOTHESIS Rank of different Media [from highest to lowest] T-J Statistic* Sig. 1 Informativeness Internet >Print >TV >Radio 7.269 0.000 2 Entertainment TV >Radio >Print >Internet 7.254 0.000 3 Irritation Internet >TV >Radio >Print 4.043 0.000 4 Deceptiveness TV >Radio >Print >Internet 1.768 0.077 5 Attention TV >Radio >Print >Internet 4.495 0.000 6 Emotions TV >Radio >Print >Internet 8.340 0.000 7 Precipitating Action Internet >Print >TV >Radio 3.161 0.002 8 Attitude TV >Print >Internet >Radio 7.536 0.000 FINDINGS TESTING PARAMETERS FINDINGS Rank of different Media [from highest to lowest] T-J Statistic* Sig. 1 Informativeness Internet >Print >TV >Radio 7.269 0.000 2 Entertainment TV >Print >Internet >Radio 8.963 0.000 3 Irritation Internet >Radio >TV >Print 4.889 0.000 4 Deceptiveness TV >Internet >Radio >Print 3.049 0.000 5 Attention TV >Print >Internet >Radio 10.386 0.000 6 Emotions TV >Print >Radio >Internet 8.595 0.000 7 Precipitating Action TV >Print >Internet >Radio 9.697 0.000 8 Attitude TV >Print >Internet >Radio 7.536 0.000 * Significant at 5% level of significance After having performed Tukey-Bs test to check which particular medium differs significantly from others, : Terpstra Jonckheere Test for ordered Alternatives was performed tovalidate the prescribed order of mediums as suggested by the hypothesis and key findings. These results were in conformance with those obtained by the Tukey B test. Result 3: Emotions The level of emotion varies significantly across the different media, with respondents rating television to have the greatest level of emotion. This was followed by radio and print in the same order, although the tests revealed that this difference is not significant enough to be considered. Internet was considered to have the least emotion. Our hypothesis is quite similar to the result, with only difference between radio and print. This could be due to the latest trend of social messages in print advertisements. Result 4: Precipitating Action The level of precipitating action varies significantly across the different media with respondents rating radio to have the least level of precipitating action followed by internet. Though respondents consider television to have the most precipitating action, followed by print media, the tests reveal that this difference is not significant enough to be considered. This result is significantly different than our hypothesis according to which internet has the most precipitating action, followed by print, television and radio. This could be due to the increasing popularity of telemarketing in the current times. Result 5: Attitude The level of attitude varies significantly across the different media with respondents rating radio to have the least level of attitude and television to have the most. Though respondents consider internet and print to follow television, the tests reveal that this difference between internet and print is not significant enough to be considered. This is similar to our hypothesis. Result 6: Entertainment The level of entertainment varies significantly across the different media, with respondents rating television as the most entertaining. This was followed by internet and print, although the tests reveal that this difference is not significant enough to be considered. Radio was found to be least entertaining The only difference in the result from the hypothesis is the position of radio which according to the hypothesis is the second most entertaining after television. This change could be attributed again to the changing times, where radio advertising has taken a back seat in comparison to the print and internet media. Result 7: Irritation The level of irritation varies significantly across the different media, with respondents rating print as the least irritating. Though respondents consider internet most irritating, followed by radio and television, the tests reveal that this difference is not significant enough to be considered. The hypothesis also yields the same result. Results 8: Deceptiveness The level of deceptiveness varies significantly across various media, with respondents rating print as the least deceptive, but the tests reveal that the difference in print, internet and radio are not significant enough to be considered. Though respondents consider television most deceptive, followed by internet and radio, the tests reveal that this difference is not significant enough to be considered. The hypothesis is same for the most deceptive media, but according to the hypothesis, internet is least deceptive. Result 9: Overall Perception Table 4 :Mean rankings of various media Media Mean Rankings Television 1.3208 Print 2.4906 Internet 2.8113 Radio <