Yakult Marketing Plan

Yakult Marketing Plan INTRODUCTION: History of Yakult Yakult Honsha Ltd. was founded in 1930 by Dr. Shirota. For over the past 75 years, the company has expertise in the field of beneficial bacteria. The main activity of Yakult is to introduce a wide range of healthy foods, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. In 1930, Dr. Minoru Shirota, who was conducting his research in a microbiology lab at the Medical Faculty of Kyoto University in Japan, became the first person in the world to create a strain of lactic acid bacteria beneficial to human health. This bacterium was named after Dr.Shirota Lactobacillus casei Shirota strain (Our History, 2010). In Malaysia, Yakult is still a young and growing company. Yakult Ace was only launched in Malaysia in 2004. Yakult (Malaysia) Sdn.Bhd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Yakult Honsha, Japan (Yakult-Malaysia, 2010). Vision Yakult’s vision is to push forward with the quest for new possibilities for probiotics in the academic and medical fields. Mission Yakult’s mission is to contribute to the health and happiness of every person throughout the world through the pursuit of excellence in life sciences and the excellence in life sciences and the study of microorganisms. Philosophy SHIROTA-ISM Preventive medicine A healthy intestine leads to a long life A healthy life for all We contribute to the health and happiness of people around the world through the pursuit of excellence in life science in general and our research and experience in microorganisms in particular (Philosophy, 2010). Issues and challenges In the recent years, several major issues and challenges were faced by Yakult. Yakult is facing a shortage of stock to meet the demand of the people around the world. It is reported that there is high stock turnaround (Cruz, 2013). SWOT ANALYSIS: Strengths Dynamic Research Development power Retrieved from the annual report of (â€Å"Global Yakult†Ã¢â‚¬â€ Entering a New Growth Stage, 2013), one of the strengths portrayed by Yakult is its dynamic research and development power. With its 252 medical doctors and scientists, they actively pursue research aimed at applying bacteria effectively in the prevention and treatment of many diseases. The RD Division tails basic research in life science meant at applying and developing basic materials in pharmaceuticals, food, cosmetics and other fields. Besides that, Yakult does their research and development at the Yakult Central Institute for Microbiological Research, which is situated in Tokyo, Japan. The aim of this central is to the study is to the use of beneficial bacteria in the promotion of health. Therefore, there are continuous improvements inYakult’s products that can improve consumers’ health for today and in the future. Good distribution channel Another essential strength of Yakult is the unique distribution channel byYakult Ladies. It is a type of delivery service that delivers Yakult cultured milk drinks directly to the consumers’ home through a network of Yakult Ladies. According to managing director Kouichi Nakayama (abhishek_g, 2012), door-to-door sales through the Yakult Lady System are more profitable than supermarkets sales.In Japan, more than 60% of Yakult products are distributed by Yakult Ladies. They deliver door-to-door every day, from rural areas to high-rise buildings in the city. However, in Malaysia, Yakult Ladies is also available in delivering of goods. However, it is only available in certain place such as Klang Valley, Negeri Sembilan, Melaka, Penang, Kuantan, Ipoh and few other areas. The best thing is there is no minimum order or delivery charge for the products (Fong, 2007). Weaknesses Less product choice for customers in terms of flavours The first weakness of Yakult is lack choice of flavours. There are only two flavours available which are Yakult Ace and Yakult Ace Light. Unlike its competitors, such as Vitagen and Nutrigen, these two brands come out with products with variety of flavours which will attract more people to buy their products. As Malaysia is a multiracial country, different races of people have different tastes. Thus, Malaysians usually prefer to choose their drinks from a variety of flavours. Storage difficulty Second is storage difficulty. The products are fermented milk drinks which contains active bacteria under low temperature. However, if the temperature increases, the bacteria will eventually become inactive that will turn the taste sour. This is because the bacteria will begin to make lactic acid when the temperature drops (FAQs, 2010). Therefore, refrigerators are necessary. However, consumers who do not own a refrigerator will find it a problem. By the way, it will also lead to a storage difficulty for retailer outlets with little storage capacity as they still have other products brand they need to keep. This will cause an imbalance of stock availability during different time of the outlets. This problem also influences consumers’ purchase intention that does not have a refrigerator. Smaller packaging and higher price compared to competitors Another weakness of Yakult is that the packaging of Yakult is small compared to its competitors. One bottle of Yakult contains 80ml cultured milk drink while competitors such as Vitagen and Nutrigen serve in 125ml per bottle (TK-eShop, 2010). Besides that, according to Yakult, it is fine for consumers to drink more than 80ml of Yakult cultured milk. Therefore, consumers who drink more than one bottle may go for other competitors’ product who sells in larger packaging (FAQs, 2010). Yakult products are sold in a bundle of 5 bottles, which is the same with its strong competitors such as Vitagen and Nutrigen. However, the Yakult cultured milk drink’s price is higher than the competitors, who offer their drinks in bigger bottles too. Opportunities Trends in health concerns Few studies shows that more and more people are concerned about their health problem and health awareness is becoming increasingly important nowadays (Rollins, 2008); (Senterfitt, Long, Shih, Teutsch, 2013). This is an opportunity for Yakult since Yakult has already scientifically proven that their products are good for health. Consumers are turning to dairy products, yogurts and so forth to start their day. In Yakult’s advertisements, the company informs consumers that their products are probiotic drinks which are good for people’s health. This increases health awareness of the people. Besides that, Yakult’s brand recognition also increases among consumers during this process. The creative thinking of Yakult’s advertisement helps in promoting health by emphasizing beneficial bacteria for intestinal balance of consumers which ultimately leads to good health. Increase in number of convenience stores and hypermarkets According to (Wong, 2007), the number of convenience stores and hypermarkets are increasing. It means that Yakult’s distribution channel will also increase. Yakult’s product can be sold in more and different places. Consumers will also find it easier and more convenient to buy Yakult’s product from the hypermarket or convenience stores nearest to them. Threats Intense competition Yakult faces a tough competitive environment in the market. There are similar healthy foods and also probiotic drinks in the market. Yakult’s main competitors are Vitagen and Nutrigen that has strong brand recognition in the Malaysian market. Vitagen is the first cultured milk to be introduced in Malaysia which is also known as the number one cultured milk in Malaysia. As for Nutrigen, it also provides cultured milk which is similar to Yakult and also Vitagen. These competitors have their own competitive advantages compared to Yakult in terms of the flavours they offered which can suit different consumers’ taste with their different flavours available. Low switching cost Besides that, consumers in Malaysia do not incur high switching cost if they choose to switch to other category of healthy foods. Yakult’s price offering is also a threat as they offer in higher prices and also smaller packaging compared to competitors. Consumers who are price sensitive may choose competitors’ product instead of Yakult’s. Thus, Malaysians can switch to another drinks or brands whenever they want if there are substitute products available with lower prices. They can also shop favourably and also choose selectively without sticking to one supplier. Competitors use aggressive marketing technique Yakult’s competitors uses aggressive marketing plan to promote their products such as advertising in traditional media like television advertisement, radio, social network sites and forth, especially Vitagen. With this, competitors are more recognizable to consumers than Yakult. As Yakult does not usually do aggressive advertisements to promote their brand, consumers are more likely to be aware of competitors’ brand than Yakult. Besides that, the marketing plans that are not heavily invested are usually advertisements that are easily duplicated. Decrease in consumer’s purchasing power Millions of middle-class Malaysians are suffering from low consumer spending growth while increasing in state controlled electricity and gasoline costs since 2008 (Koon, 2014). As a result, mid to higher end choices of beverage suffered a decrease on the sales (Consumer spending to slow down in 2014, 2014); (Koon, 2014). The economic downturn has contributed greatly to the slow growth of the purchasing power as Yakult is not a necessity in consumers’ daily life. Yakult is a probiotic drink, where consumers who desire for a better health can consume it continuously and not a necessity for consumers to drink them as a must in order to survive. INDUSTRY ANALYSIS BY USING PORTAL FIVE FORCES a) Threat of new entrance Yakult probiotic beverage falls into a broad and safe market, especially the awareness and concern of people on health are increasing. Probiotic drinks are favourable and popular for consumers and bring a considerable return to the company. This has made the cultured milk market seems attractive to the market, where it attracts many outsiders that tries to enter this industry. However, the capital cost to enter this industry is relative high compared to other beverage industry. As probiotic beverage requires friendly bacteria such as lactobacillus acidophilus that are hard to produce and refine it to produce a drinkable beverage. Potential entrants who wish to enter this industry need to invest heavily on Research and Development as well as pharmaceutical department in order to produce a probiotic beverage. As Yakult has been proven by many professors such as Dr Ko Okumura (Juntendo University, Japan), Dr. Haruji Sawada and others, the credibility of Yakult beverage is high, which result to a high entry barrier for new entrants as well. Furthermore, potential entrants need to make sure they are able to differentiate their product from Yakult in term of higher nutrition or lower price or both. If firms are not able to come out with a better beverage than the existing beverage in market, then there is no point they enter the market as this will deficit the company. In a nutshell, the entry barrier for new entrants to enter this industry is high. Yakult is facing low threat of new entrants. b) Threat of substitute Porter’s threat of substitute definition is the availability of a product that the consumer can purchase instead of the industry’s product with similar benefits. Eventhough Yakult is the pioneer of probictic, substitutes products are still able to replace them. Customers can easily replace Yakult by purchase bottle of probiotic capsule, probiotic powder or probiotic drink. Example of probiotic supplements is Kordel’s Protect probiotic powder, which cost around RM70 for 30 sachs. Yogurt drink and yogurt powder are also substitutesthat can replace Yakult products. The more substitute the products are, the more competitive the industry is. In the long run, Yakult may suffer less profit. In this case, there are few substitute products in market that can replace Yakult products, so they are facing high threat of substitute products. c) Bargaining power of supplier Bargaining power of supplier occurs when buyers are too many but only few suppliers in the market. When it is too costly to change suppliers, the bargaining power of suppliers is relative high. The Yakult Plant in Calamba city, Laguna, is able to produce 1.6 million bottles of Yakult a day. In order for them to produce a bottle of 100ml Yakult Probiotic beverage, they will need few raw materials such as skimmed milk powder, sugar, and dextrose is blend with sterilized water to create a sweet, milky solution. While all these raw materials are not unique or highly differentiated product. Which means Yakult can get them from few suppliers, as there are not only one supplier in the market that supplies sugar, skimmed milk powder and dextrose. The suppliers industry is not dominated by small number of firm, thus the bargaining power of supplier is not harmful for Yakult. Furthermore, Yakult uses backward integration, where they have their own manufacturing factory to produce their probiotic beverage. The main ingredient in the probiotic dairy beverage, liveLactobacillus caseistrain Shirota is carefully cultured and tested in Yakult own laboratory. In other words, Yakult does not rely on outsider to get their main raw material, but they produced it themselves in their own laboratory and factory. In a nut shell, Yakult is immune with the power of supplier, as they having few suppliers instead of rely on one supplier. d) Bargaining Power of Buyers Buyer power is one of the forces that shape the competitive structure of an industry. When the power of buyer is strong, they can pressure the sellers to lower down the prices, improve product quality or better service. In contra, weak bargaining power of buyer will often makes an industry less competitive and increases the profit potential for seller. In this case, Yakult are facing high bargaining power from their buyers. Firstly this is because there are available substitute and large range of probiotic drink in the market that offered similar benefit to the customers, for example Vitagen, Nestle Yogurt drink, and probiotic supplement beverage. Yakult is not the only firm that produce probiotic daily beverage. Customers can easily switch to other product that available in the market, customers switching cost is low. Secondly, customers are price sensitive towards the beverage. If Vitagen probiotic drink is having promotion and the prices are much cheaper than Yakult Ace drink, customer will simply switch to purchasing Nestle yogurt drink. Thirdly, Yakult probiotic daily drink is not highly differentiated and standard. It become a daily basis for some consumer, thus consumer can switch to other brand that provide the same function as Yakult. In a nutshell, the bargaining power for Yakult buyer is relatively high. e) Threat of rivalry The intensity of rivalry among competitors in an industry refers to the extent to which firms within an industry put pressure on one another and limit each other’s profit potential. High intensity of rivalry means competitors are aggressively targeting each other’s markets and aggressively pricing products. While low intensity of competitive rivalry makes an industry less competitive and increases profit potential for the existing firms. The rivalry in probiotic beverage is minimal. Firstly this is because few competing firms are roughly doing the same size and serving the same amount of customers. Yakult, Vitagen, Nestle are sharing the almost similar market share. Secondly, there are lack of product differentiation for the existing brand in the market, Yakult, Vitagen, Nestle are offer the almost similar probiotic daily beverage in the market. This three probiotic beverage different in some ways but they do share the similar characteristic as well, which are help strengthen immune system and smoother the digestive system. Thirdly, customer brandloyalty is not significant, customer who consume Vitagen beverage might switch to consume Yakult on some day, and same goes to consumer for Yakult. In a nutshell, the threat of rivalry is minimal for Yakult Company. REFERENCES abhishek_g. (12 June, 2012). Yakult. Retrieved 17 June, 2014, from Slide Share: http://www.slideshare.net/abhishek_g/yakult-13298536 Consumer spending to slow down in 2014. (9 January, 2014). Retrieved 26 June, 2014, from The Sun Daily: http://www.thesundaily.my/news/925542 Cruz, H. (13 January, 2013). Vision, Mission, Objectives, Goals, Prob. its Background. Retrieved 30 June, 2014, from Prezi: http://prezi.com/mvkfvph4nkz0/vision-mission-objectives-goals-prob-its-background/ FAQs. (2010). Retrieved 15 June, 2014, from Yakult: http://www.yakult.com.my/html/faqs.html Honsha, Y. (2013). â€Å"Global Yakult†Ã¢â‚¬â€ Entering a New Growth Stage. Japan. Koon, C. P. (7 January, 2014). Malaysians Seen Curbing Spending as Living Costs Surge: Economy. Retrieved 26 June, 2014, from Bloomberg: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-07/malaysians-seen-curbing-spending-as-living-costs-surge-economy.html Philosophy. (2010). Out Philosophy. Retrieved 10 June, 2014, from Yakult: http://www.yakult.com.my/html/our_philosophy.html Rollins, C. (16 December, 2008). RAISING HEALTH CONSCIOUSNESS UTILIZING â€Å"UNNATURAL CAUSES† SERIES AS STIMULUS . Retrieved 30 June, 2014, from https://www.wpi.edu/Pubs/E-project/Available/E-project-121808-155128/unrestricted/Chris_Rollins_Health_IQP_Final_v3.pdf Senterfitt, J. W., Long, A., Shih, M., Teutsch, S. M. (January, 2013). How Social and Economic factors affect health. Retrieved 26 June, 2014, from Social Determinants of Health: http://www.publichealth.lacounty.gov/epi/docs/SocialD_Final_Web.pdf TK-eShop. (2010). Cultured Milk Drink. Retrieved 30 June, 2014, from tk-eshop: http://www.tk-eshop.com/about-us/articles/articles/vitagen-nutrigen-yakult Wong, L. C. (2007). Development of Malaysia’s Agricultural Sector: Agriculture as an Engine of Growth? Retrieved 28 June, 2014, from ISIS.org.my: http://isis.org.my/attachments/386_Territorial_Disputes_in_East Asia.pdf Yakult. (2014). Profile. Retrieved 13 June, 2014, from Yakult: http://www.yakult.co.jp/english/ir/management/profile.html Yakult-Malaysia. (2010). Yakult Malaysia General. Retrieved 23 June, 2014, from Yakult: http://www.yakult.com.my/html/yakult_my_general.html

Power in Congress Essay -- essays research papers

Power In and Over Congress I feel the system is biased because there are inequalities among the representation and participation of interest groups and constituents in the political system. Unfortunately, poor and uneducated citizens aren’t as organized as interest groups, lobbyists and PACs because they lack the money, resources and connections necessary to influence congress members on legislative bills. It is evident that, â€Å"businesses, interest groups and labor unions are spending more than $100 million a month to lobby the federal government†(Associated Press, SFC, 3/7/98). â€Å"The actual population of interest groups in Washington surely reflects that there is a class bias in the membership of interest groups†(JBG). â€Å"Interest groups are organized bodies of individuals who share some political goals and try to influence public policy decisions. Representatives from interest groups are referred to as lobbyists† (JBG). â€Å"Lobbyist seek to bring about the passage or defeat of legislative bills and to influence congress, often using large sums of money in a variety of ways to influence legislative outcomes† (APD). I feel that lobbyists have a great deal of influence within congress because they may have direct connections with congress members in high positions. Through PACs, organizations can pool campaign contributions from group members and donates those funds to candidates for political office. Personally, I feel that PACs have the most influence over congress because their ...

Facing Death Essay -- Papers Death Dying Life Religion Essays

Facing Death Works Cited Not Included In today?s modern society we have a certain distaste for the subject of death. There are people in society feel uncomfortable with the subject of death. The subject of death is a reality that we need to face everyday. There is nothing any of us can do about death, and there is no virtue in dwelling on it or trying to penetrate its mystery. Is it possible to prepare for death? In our day and age as we know it, there have been astounding advancements in medicine. The average life expectancy has risen. People are being educated in issues that surround a healthy life style. As a society, we are trying to increase our life span and defeat death. While people are following strict diets and grueling exercise programs, the earth is creating new diseases, viruses, bacteria, and illnesses that cause death. Is the earth compensating for these new medical advancements by creating these deadly ailments to make life and death equal? We are all going to die; that?s not our problem. Our problem is how to live until we die. Our ...

The Unknown Prevalence of Youth Gambling Essay -- Gamble Winning Win E

The Unknown Prevalence of Youth Gambling A child’s motivation to begin gambling is obvious. Even at an early age children are trained to idolize winning. They are taught the tortoise is the best because he wins the race. From this elementary lesson, children develop a tendency to idolize the winners and discount the losers. Children observe gambling and have an inclination to see the player raking in armfuls of chips, not the player across the table slowly losing a week’s pay at the black jack tables. They see Las Vegas portrayed in the media as a place to go to win money. They do not see the gamblers who leave the town with an empty bank account and a potential inability to provide for their families. By looking at the gambling culture in this idealized way, children are inclined to gamble when the opportunity presents itself. They may begin innocently by entering into their father’s office pool or wagering on baseball games with their friends, but the fact is many of these children will find t hemselves facing a gambling problem in years to come. I began gambling when I was thirteen with sports pools and friendly wagers with friends. Only four years later I found myself immersed in the culture of gambling; risking my money four nights a week in poker games. When I had started gambling, the stakes were only fifty cents, but now thirty and forty dollars were up for grabs. By the time I was eighteen, even these stakes were no longer enough for me. I decided that the casinos in Atlantic City were the only venues with payoffs large enough to satiate my hunger for gambling. On nothing more than an impulse I set off on a three hour drive, bound for certain victory. I found a seat at the black jack tables in Bally... ...tions. However, the nation will not take action any time soon, not without a push. As members of a society we must do our part to increase awareness about this issue. We must make an effort today to see the adolescents don’t gamble their tomorrow away. Works Cited Eckart, Dennis. Advancement of an Emerging Science. 2003. National Center for Responsible Gaming. 10 Sept. 2003 . Moiduddin, Adil. Gambling Impact and Behavior Study. 2003. The National Opinion Research Center. 10 Sept. 2003 . Willenz, Pamela. Pathological Gambling More Prevalent Among Youths Than Adults, Study Finds. 2003. American Psychological Association. 11 Sept. 2003 .

Concert Critique: La Vida Breve Essay

The concert was titled â€Å"Guitar Escapades,† the long- awaited guitar duo featuring Nobel Queano and Franco Maigue. The concert happened last September 8, 2011, 7 pm, at NCAS Auditorium. Nobel L. Queano is a graduate of Psychology and Music from the University of the Philippines, Diliman. He was a former faculty member of Miriam College of Music Center, Colegio San Agustin Makati and the Temple Hill International School and a former member of the Baguio Guitar Ensemble and the Philippine Youth Orchestra. He was also a first prize winner and a recipient of the Most Outstanding Student of the Yamaha School of Music Guitar Competition in 1986 and 1987. Presently, he is working with some musicians of the Academy of Performing Arts in Hong Kong privately teaching and preparing international music students for the Associated Board of the Royal School of Music Exams. Franco Raymundo M. Maigue is a graduate of UP College of Music. He finished his Bachelor of Music degree as a cum laude. He is the first prize winner of the 2005 Competitions for Young Artists and top prize winner of the 2002 and 2009 National Music Competitions for Young Artists. He was also featured as a soloist accompanied by the manila Symphonic Orchestra at the First Philippine International Guitar Festival. He has been a member of the UP Guitar Orchestra, Kithara Quartet, Abelardo Guitar Quartet and the UP Jazz Ensemble. B. Musical theme and style Begun as royal entertainment in the 16th Century, these brief plays with songs were revived to combat enthusiasm for Italian opera, featuring uniquely Spanish settings and characters, all suffused with the potent and highly distinctive flavor of gypsy music. As outlined by Suzanne Desmarquez, the origins of this style were Arab, with intense and irregular rhythms, sharp attacks, rough endings, and wide vibrato, manifested through guitar accompaniment, castanets, zapateado (foot stomping and tapping), palmar (hand clapping), rapid triple meters, melismatic beginnings and ends of long held notes and harmonies based on open guitar chords. According to his student, Adolfo Salazar, Falla rejected basing his music directly on folklore, but rather used it as the seeds of his own style, extracting the substance of its sonorities, rhythms and spirit. To David Ewen, Falla was a mystic who sought out and assimilated the soul of Spain to produce a vibrant evocation rather than a literal depictio n. The performers presented Classical Music. II. Analysis of the elements A. Dynamics Dynamics is the loudness and softness of sound. In L a Vida Verde, B. Tempo Tempo is the speed at a regular beat. The first part of the piece is fast or allegro, then, there will be a pause, and a slower part (adagio) is played. C. Melody After hearing the piece, I remembered its melody. Melody is a series of single tones which add up to a recognizable whole. A melody begins, moves, and ends; it has direction, shape, and continuity. How the tones of a melody are performed can vary its effect, too. Sometimes they are sung or played in a smooth, connected style called legato. Or they may be performed in a short, detached manner called staccato. D. Other elements of music III. General reaction to the concert A. Describe the mood audience were amazed (may mabilis na part kasi)nakakaexcite! B. Images and ideas conveyed pre Spanish era†¦ kamisa de chino for boys†¦ for girls†¦ nakikipaglandian ung girls sa boys. may pakipot epek†¦ suyuan sa loob ng simbahan. may pamaypay ung girls. sisilipin ung boy tapos magtatakip ng pamaypay. It is a pre-Spanish era. There were men and women in a church. The men wore kamisa de chino while the women were dress in [damit ng girls? ewan!]. It is like the men were courting the women in the church. The women were shy while the men are aggressive and they are trying to pursue the women. C. Memorable feature of the concert The memorable feature of the concert was when they played the song â€Å"Sana Maulit Muli.† It is a popular song in the country, and everybody knows the song. Those who remember the lyrics sang the song. I liked the way they play the song; it’s refreshing and pleasing to the ear. The audience were lively. This is my first time to hear the song in an acoustic It is relaxing, as you listen to them play. D. Did you like the concert? Why/ Why not? I liked the concert. Why? I am a music lover. I appreciate all kinds of music. I believe that doing the classical songs in acoustic guitar is really hard. I admire the performers, I am a frustrated guitarist. For me to watched such astounding performance, I am overjoyed. I liked the concert because I liked to play guitar. Though there were times that I fell asleep, (well, it can’t be helped because what they’re playing is classical music) and Classical music is like a lullaby to me. I usually listen to classical music when I can’t sleep. I am fascinated by their talent. I want to be a good guitar player too, conducting concerts and go to places and make people happy with my music. I’ve never been to a guitar concert before but I think that the concert was awesome. Playing a guitar for such a long time is hard. And besides the pieces that they play were hard and complicated. They’re awesome.

Ederly Parents Should Live in Nursing Homes or Not? Essay

Vietnam’s population is older and older and it is important for young people, especially politicans, to seriously think about the issue of nursing homes. Should elderly parents live in nursing homes or not? Sending elderly parent into nursing homes is the best choice for them in the rest of their lives for three main reasons. First, elderly parents live in nursing homes will be good for their children. Nowadays, young people are too busy. They have o go to work and have no time to take care of their parents. They leave their parents at home lonely for whole day and feel nervous about their parents. Consequently, they can not concerntrate on their work and nursing homes are a good choice for them to send their parents into. Second, when elderly line in nursing homes, they can make friends with the people at the same age. They will fell very happy because they can chat whole day with their friends, do some helpful excercises such as jogging, tai chi, instead of being lonely at h ome when their children go to work. Third, the most important reason, is that nursing homes can provide elderly parents with modern health care facilities. In nursing homes, professional doctors, nurses and high quality equipments are always available to take care of elderly parents. Doctors here also give them a suitable diet which is good for their health. Opponents of sending elderly parents into nursing homes say that elderly parents will fell lonely when they live far from their children and it is also against Vietnamese moral value. However, as stated previously, nursing homes are the place which provide old people with the best health care. Moreover, their children can come and visit them whenever they want. In conclusion, there are undoubtly many benefits to send elderly parents into nursing homes. Most of old people who live in nursing homes show that they live better and happier with their friend here. Sending elderly parents into nursing homes becomes an important issue for both young people and elderly pare nts themselves to think about.

Twitter Case Study

TWITTER SEARCHES FOR A BUSINESS MODELTwitter, the social networking site based on 140 character text messages, is the buzz social networking phenomenon of the year. Like all social networking sites, such as Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Flickr, and others, Twitter provides a platform for users to express themselves by creating content and sharing it with their â€Å"followers,† who sign up to receive someone’s â€Å"tweets. † And like most social networking sites, Twitter faces the problem of how to make money. As of October 2010, Twitter has failed to generate earnings as its management ponders how best to exploit the buzz and user base it has created. Twitter began as a Web-based version of popular text messaging services provided by cell phone carriers. Executives in a podcasting company called Odeo were searching for a new revenue-producing product or service. In March 2006, they created a stand-alone, private company called Twitter. The basic idea was to marry short text messaging on cell phones with the Web and its ability to create social groups. You start by establishing a Twitter account online, and identifying the friends that you would like to receive your messages. By sending a text message called a â€Å"tweet† to a short code on your cell phone (40404), you can tell your friends what you are doing, your location, and whatever else you might want to say. You are limited to 140 characters, but there is no installation and no charge. This social network messaging service to keep buddies informed is a smash success. Coming up with solid numbers for Twitter is not easy because the firm is not releasing any â€Å"official† figures. By September 2010, Twitter, according to comScore, had around 30 million unique monthly users in the United States, and perhaps 96 million worldwide, displacing MySpace as the number three global social network (behind Facebook and Microsoft’s Live Profile). The number of individual tweets is also known only by the company. According to the company, by early 2007, Twitter had transmitted 20,000 tweets, which jumped to 60,000 tweets in a few months. During the Iranian rebellion in June 2009, there were reported to be over 200,000 tweets per hour worldwide. In October 2010, Twitter was recording over 1. 2 million tweets a month. On the other hand, experts believe that 80 percent of tweets are generated by only 10 percent of users, and that the median number of tweet readers per tweet is 1 (most tweeters tweet to one follower). Even more disturbing is that Twittter has a 60 percent churn rate: only 40 percent of users remain more than one month. Obviously, many users lose interest in learning about their friends’ breakfast menu, and many feel â€Å"too connected† to their â€Å"friends,† who in fact may only be distant acquaintances, if that. On the other hand, celebrities such as Britney Spears have hundreds of thousands of â€Å"friends† who follow their activities, making Twitter a marvelous, free public relations tool. Twitter unfortunately does not make a cent on these activities. The answer to these questions about unique users, numbers of tweets, and churn rate are critical to understanding the business value of Twitter as a firm. To date, Twitter has generated losses and has unknown revenues, but in February 2009, it raised $35 million in a deal that valued the company at $255 million. The following September, Twitter announced it had raised $100 million in additional funding, from private equity firms, previous investors, and mutual fund giant T. Rowe Price, based on a company valuation of a staggering $1 billion! So how can Twitter make money from its users and their tweets? What’s its business model and how might it evolve over time? To start, consider the company’s assets and customer value proposition. The main asset is user attention and audience size (eyeballs per day). The value proposition is â€Å"get it now† or real-time news on just about anything from the mundane to the monumental. An equally important sset is the database of tweets that contains the comments, observations, and opinions of the audience, and the search engine that mines those tweets for patterns. These are real-time and spontaneous observations. Yet another asset has emerged in the last year: Twitter is a powerful alternative media platform for the distribution of news, videos, and pictures. Once again, no one predicted that Twitter would be the first to report on terrorist attacks in Mumbai, the landing of a passenger jet in the Hudson River, the Iranian rebellion in June 2009, or the political violence in Bangkok and Kenya in May 2010. How can these assets be monetized? Advertising, what else! In April 2010, Twitter announced it s first 386 Part Three Key System Applications for the Digital Age foray into the big-time ad marketplace with Promoted Tweets. Think Twitter search engine: in response to a user’s query to Twitter’s search function for, say netbooks, a Best Buy ad for netbooks will be displayed. The company claims Promoted Tweets are not really ads because they look like all other tweets, just a part of the tweet stream of messages. These so-called â€Å"organic tweets† differ therefore from traditional search engine text ads, or social network ads which are far from organic. So far, Best Buy, Bravo, Red Bull, Sony, Starbucks, and Virgin American have signed up. If this actually works, thousands of companies might sign up to blast messages to millions of subscribers in response to related queries. A second Twitter monetization effort announced in June 2010 is called Promoted Trends. Trends is a section of the Twitter home page that lets users know what’s hot, what a lot of people are talking about. The company claims this is â€Å"organic,† and a true reflection of what people are tweeting about. Promoted Trends are trends that companies would like to initiate. A company can place a Promoted Trends banner on the bottom of the page and when users click on the banner, they are taken to the follower page for that movie or product. Disney bought Promoted Trends for its film Toy Story 3, according to Twitter. In July 2010, Twitter announced its third initiative of the year: @earlybird accounts, which users can follow to receive special offers. Walt Disney Pictures has used the service to promote The Sorcerer’s Apprentice by offering twofers (buy one ticket, get another one free). The service could work nicely with so-called real-time or â€Å"flash† marketing campaigns in entertainment, fashion, luxury goods, technology, and beauty products. So far, Twitter has over 50,000 @earlybird followers and hopes to reach â€Å"influentials,† people who shape the purchasing decisions of many others. Another monetizing service is temporal real-time search. If there’s one thing Twitter has uniquely among all the social network sites, it’s real-time information. In 2010, Twitter entered into agreements with Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo to permit these search engines to index tweets and make them available to the entire Internet. This service will give free real-time content to the search engines as opposed to archival content. It is unclear who’s doing who a service here, and the financial arrangements are not public. Other large players are experimenting. Dell created a Twitter outlet account, @DellOutlet, and is using it to sell open-box and discontinued computers. Dell also maintains several customer service accounts. Twitter could charge such accounts a commission on sales because Twitter is acting like an e-commerce sales platform similar to Amazon. Other firms have used their Twitter followers’ fan base to market discount air tickets (Jet Blue) and greeting cards (Somecards). Freemium is another possibility: ask users to pay a subscription fee for premium services such as videos and music downloads. However, it may be too late for this idea because users have come to expect the service to be free. Twitter could charge service providers such as doctors, dentists, lawyers, and hair salons for providing their customers with unexpected appointment availabilities. But Twitter’s most likely steady revenue source might be its database of hundreds of millions of real-time tweets. Major firms such as Starbucks, Amazon, Intuit (QuickBooks and Mint. om), and Dell have used Twitter to understand how their customers are reacting to products, services, and Web sites, and then making corrections or changes in those services and products. Twitter is a fabulous listening post on the Internet frontier. The possibilities are endless, and just about any of the above scenarios offers some solution to the company’s problem, which is a lack of revenue (forget about profits). The company is coy about announcing its business model, what one pundit described as hiding behind a â€Å"Silicon Valley Mona Lisa smile. † These Wall Street pundits are thought to be party poopers in the Valley. In a nod to Apple’s iTunes and Amazon’s merchant services, Twitter has turned over its messaging capabilities and software platform to others, one of which is CoTweet. com, a company that organizes multiple Twitter exchanges for customers so they can be tracked more easily. Google is selling ad units based around a company’s last five tweets (ads are displayed to users who have created or viewed tweets about a company). witter is not charging for this service. In the meantime, observers wonder if Twitter is twittering away its assets and may not ever show a profit for its $160 million investment.Sources:Matthew Shaer, â€Å"Twitter Hits 145 Million User Mark, Sees Rise in Mobile Use,† Christian Science Monitor, September 3, 2010; Jason Lipshutz, â€Å"Lady Gaga to Steal Britney Spears’ Twitter Crown,† Reuters, August 19, 2010; Emir Afrati, â€Å"Twitter’s Early Bird Ad Ploy Takes Flight,† Wall Street Journal, July 14, 2010; Jess ica Guynn, â€Å"Twitter Tests New Promoted Trends Feature with ‘Toy Story 3’ from Disney’s Pixar,† Los Angeles Times, June 16, 2010; Erica Naone, â€Å"Will Twitter’s Ad Strategy Work,† Technology Review, April 15, 2010; Jessica Vascellaro and Emily Steel, â€Å"Twitter Rolls Out Ads,† Wall Street Journal, April 14, 2010; Brad Stone, â€Å"Twitter’s Latest Valuation: $1 Billion,† New York Times, September 24, 2009; Jon Fine, â€Å"Twitter Makes a Racket. But Revenues? † Business Week, April 9, 2009.CASE STUDY QUESTIONS1. Based on your reading in this chapter, how would you characterize Twitter’s business model?2. If Twitter is to have a revenue model, which of the revenue models described in this chapter would work?3. What is the most important asset that Twitter has, and how could it monetize this asset?