Business case for HRIS

Business case for HRIS Business Case for HRIS Key strategic areas in Insurance sector are employee retention, compensation and reward policy. Retention can be linked directly to talent management and training development. Value added benefit derived from the HRIS can surely revitalise the organisation. The recent recession has furthered the need of lean highly efficient organisations to stem the tide against the recession. The HRIS offers benefits to employees, business as well as the HR department. Benefit for the employees. The HRIS allows immediate access to the employees with whole lot of HR information ie Personal particulars, Disciplinary procedure information, availability of all relevant forms, compensation information, benefit information, leave coordination, managing Tax information and instructions about training and policies. Hence the employee has no longer the need to either go to the HR department or speak to them over the phone. Further more it gives transparency to the functioning of the HR department, which has been the sore point in the employee-HR department relationship. Benefit for the Business. The HRIS impact on the business is far reaching. It not only reduces the administrative costs by reducing the administrative layers but paves a way for Re-engineering. HRIS also brings about enhancement in executive decision making, employee training, better interdepartmental integration and better reporting structure. Thus HRIS helps toward reaching the organisational vision by integration, personnel development, knowledge management and HR analysis. (Mayfield and Lunce, 2003) Further more difficult decisions such as freezing salaries, eliminating overtime, reducing workforce and reducing benefit contributions and redundancy can be handled easily and in a correct manner by HRIS. It provides them with all the information required and also gives them the advantage of structuring the employer data as per their requirement. HRIS also helps managers to evaluate Key parameter Indicators, which are difficult to measure activities, by generation of data in graphs and charts.. Similarly recr uitment system help in maintaining talent pool, which helps the organisation reduce costs by removing the recruitment agencies. Benefits for the HR department The major part of any HR professional daily responsibilities is spent at administrative and advisory role than on the core functionality. Hence HRIS generates time availability to be devoted to the strategic decision making. Furthermore, it aids the department by increasing data accuracy, higher processing speed, better productivity and ability to produce more needful and sophisticated results. (Ceriello and Freeman 1998) Issues in Implementation of HRIS Pre-implementation stage: The basic issue is identification of various HR functions for inclusion in the system. A detailed work flow analysis is required on the cost effectiveness of all available systems and based upon it a thorough customisation suite should be identified which should be in lines with the organisations HR process.(Walker,1993) For this a evaluation team consisting of members from HR, IT , Finance and purchasing department should be formed.(Wisner and Wisner, 1994). Implementation stage: After the selection of the HRIS, next priority should be identification of infrastructure requirements, Inter- department adroitness for incorporation of the system with the organisational needs, formulation of terms and policies for the implementation and identification of the training requirements and testing of the system. A proper project management practises are required to ease out the issues. Training along with the awareness of the benefits of the system should be used as a means for breaking the inertia of existing employee. (Elliot,1999). This stage is for consolidation and all attempts should be aimed at proving and testing the system, prior to it going live. Post implementation. The major feature of this stage is measuring the performance of the system and reorganising the responsibilities of the HR department. Issue in this stage can arise out of adaptive as well as corrective maintenance requirements which can be due to the misinterpretation of directives or due to system limitation. (Ceriello and Freeman, 1998). Issues can also arise out of need for redefining responsibilities of HR managers. (Hagood and Friedman, 2002). Thus in order to reduce the issues in this stage pre-emptive actions need to be taken right at the beginning about defining HR processes and methodical training during the consolidation phase. Successful Implementation. As HRIS brings about critical changes, hence there would be areas which would resist the change (The Interia). Thus the key factor in the success of HRIS implementation is a firm commitment from the Top management,-the sponsors of the project, for providing adequate funding as well as catering to staffing needs of the project. The top brass should assist in formation of a proper steering committee, comprising of all members across the organisation, who can ensure that their line managers have the necessary directives and responsibilities for making the HRIS operational. This committee should resolve major issues and take timely course corrective actions. The steering committee needs to ensure that managers are conversant with the likely changes and garner their support towards this change. This will help set an example and parameter for each members department and will also prepare the ground for dealing with change-management issues. Reference http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3495/is_n12_v41/ai_19099649/pg_4/?tag=content;col1 http://www.esocialsciences.com/data/articles/Document1206200781.437014E-02.pdf http://www.wkforce.com/human-resources/hris.html

Death of a Salesman :: Literary Analysis, Arthur Miller

What encompasses the American Dream? Arthur Miller’s â€Å"Death of a Salesman† offers a realistic, stark picture of lives overflowing with dreams wished and dreams broken; yet, there are no dreams realized here. Their dreams comprise glory and fearlessness over those which genuinely can be achieved. Although Willy, Linda, Biff and Happy, as individuals, still believe in the American Dream, it’s clear that it represents something different for each. Willy Loman has an innate ability for dreaming way beyond his capabilities. Throughout the play, Willy’s dreams represent more fantasy than truth, a behavior which his boys clearly imitate. Yet, despite the talk, there is an ongoing criticism for the world and the way things work. He brags about his sales for a trip, â€Å"I’m tellin’ you, I was selling thousands and thousands, but I had to come home† (1224). It’s difficult to tell if the stories Willy tells are what he believes to be true or what he imagines is correct; as a result, he continually tells lies to cover his shortcomings and mistakes. On the contrary, with all the â€Å"thousands and thousands† of dollars he is making, he complains about necessary repairs to mechanical objects around the house: â€Å"Once in my life I would like to own something outright before it’s broken! I’m always in a race with the junkyard† (1244)! Willy’s primary escape from reality involves his brother Ben, who typifies the American Dream; however, Willy’s escape with Ben is purely a figment of his imagination. â€Å"Opportunity is tremendous in Alaska, William. Surprised you’re not up there† (1230). His imaginings about Ben, while they appear to be an illusion throughout the story, are thoroughly realistic in Willy’s mind. He truly believes that Ben has reached the pinnacle of the American Dream. Willy refuses to recognize that he does have true abilities, as in the field of construction. He appears at times to have hope for the future, â€Å"on the way home tonight, I’d like to buy some seeds† (1243). Nonetheless, there is a pinning undercurrent of fear for Willy, as Linda discovers, â€Å"†¦sure enough, on the bottom of the water heater there’s a new little nipple on the gas pipe† (1237). Although the illusions that Willy puts forth are real to him, they are, nevertheless, simply that: Illusions. Deep down he knows things are not as they should be, with his family, his job and his life.

The Sons Veto

The Sons Veto Thomas Hardy was an English novelist and poet and his story ‘The Sons Veto’ is based on the rigid class system popular in Victorian England. At that time, women were perceived as having a diminutive purpose with little independence. The restrains of society were clearly seen in Sophy’s character. Hardy opens the story with a detailed description on a woman’s hair. He comments on the fashion of that time. Her name was Sophy and she was born in the country village of Gaymead in a remote nook of North Wessex.As a young girl, she worked as a parlour maid in the house of the reverend, Mr. Twycott. Sophy had a young man named Sam Hobson, a gardener in the village. After a few months, Sophy wanted to leave her job and marry Sam but couldn’t do so after Mr. Twycott’s wife died. She decided to stay back and also had a quarrel with Sam regarding her decision. As time progressed, Mr. Twycott realized how dependent he was on Sophy. He became ill and whilst he was ill, Sophy brought his meals to him.One day, she slipped on the stairs while taking the tray down. She twisted her foot in the fall. Mr. Twycott’s health became better although Sophy was no longer able to walk. The parson felt guilty for her and asked her to marry him; she felt as though she was unable to refuse and felt obligated to marry him in order to be socially accepted. She married the vicar out of respect and not love. She was more concerned over her future and knew that any marriage would mean that she would have a home and a good lifestyle in the imminent years.As the story progresses, Mr. Twycott dies and Sophy raises a son all by herself. The author sets up a social detachment between Sophy and her son, Randolph through the language they speak. Sophy could not formulate sentences correctly and her incorrect grammar would blatantly annoy Randolph. Sophy as a woman had her deficiencies. One day while sitting by her window, she found her childh ood friend Sam. They get together after so many years and after a few days he proposes to her.When she talked to her son he was positive about the idea of remarriage but became angry when he found out that the man was a farmer. In a fit of rage, he made her swear on the cross that she would never marry Sam. One may also interpret it to be Sophy’s fault, which wouldn’t be incorrect, however Randolph gains a sort of power over her eventually leading to her death that could have been avoided had he not been so full of pride for himself.

Audit Disaster Futures Antidotes for the Expectation Gap

Managerial Auditing Journal Emerald Article: Audit disaster futures: antidotes for the expectation gap? Fran M. Wolf, James A. Tackett, Gregory A. Claypool Article information: To cite this document: Fran M. Wolf, James A. Tackett, Gregory A. Claypool, (1999),Audit disaster futures: antidotes for the expectation gap?, Managerial Auditing Journal, Vol. 14 Iss: 9 pp. 468 - 478 Permanent link to this document: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/02686909910301556 Downloaded on: 04-12-2012 References: This document contains references to 56 other documents Citations: This document has been cited by 11 other documents To copy this document: permissions@emeraldinsight.com This document has been downloaded 3276 times since 2005. * Access to this†¦show more content†¦Discusses issues associated with the expectation gap and posits that the profession s efforts to educate users as to the nature of the audit process is a necessary, but insufficient, response. A two-part strategy is proposed to effect structural change of the auditorclient environment. Part one of the strategy calls for greater involvement of regulators in selecting the external auditor and requiring auditor rotation. Part two of the strategy proposes market-based instruments, audit failure permits and audit disaster futures, to deal with remaining audit risk. Abstract The expectation gap In current auditing praxis, few concepts are as important as auditor independence. The product of an audit is neither the auditor s report nor the investigation itself, but rather the increased credibility attached to the audited financial statements. The key factor The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at http://www.emerald-library.com Managerial Auditing Journal 14/9 [1999] 468 ±478 # MCB University Press [ISSN 0268-6902] in enhanced credibility is the perception of external stakeholders that the external auditor ``judge is impartial and without conflicts of interest. Without this perceived independence, an audit report would be viewed as nothing more than a company advertisement. The auditing profession itself recognizes this with its emphasis on independence in appearance as wellShow MoreRelatedAccounting Essay1593 Words   |  7 Pages{draw:g} {draw:g} {draw:g} {draw:frame} Introduction Over the years, with the corporate development and social or statutes pressure, some concepts and standards related with audit is uncertainly or ambiguous. The obvious question is whether auditors should be blame when they failing to warn investors to ailing firms’ financial problems and risks (McNabb, 2009). 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Death And Its Effects On The Reality Of Death - 1423 Words

They were afraid of dying but there were even more afraid to show it. They found jokes to tell. They used a hard vocabulary to contain the terrible softness. Greased they d say. Offed, lit up, zapped while zipping. It wasn t cruelty, just stage presence. They were actors. When someone died, it wasn t quite dying, because in a curious way, it seemed scripted, and because they had their lines mostly memorized, irony mixed with tragedy, and because they called it by other names, as if to encyst and destroy the reality of death itself. pg. 19 To someone just picking up this book, this scene would simply look like some poor soldiers developing a temporary and innocent coping mechanism to deal with Death as they face him head on. But†¦show more content†¦One character is obviously the comic relief, another the beloved hero. The rest, valiant men fighting for their country, their lives, their freedom. The scene ends and the curtain rises, all of the pseudo soldiers take a bow and go home to their normal lives, far from the hands of death that grasp at the men forgotten in Vietnam, the real soldiers. They, who saw the hardships of war as more than just a script, beyond the glamorized versions that are seen by the American eyes. They saw the death and the tragedy, slowly becoming worn down into less of a human and more of a desensitized killing machine because that s what war does. It permanently scars the soldiers, tearing away the feeling of loss and inappropriately replacing it with comedy, showing that war is destructive, stealing away an ounce of humanity with each bullet. As seen in The Things They Carried, written by Tim O Brien, the Vietnam War destroyed the minds of soldiers, causing them to lose their human emotions in an unglamorous setting, devaluing death as they lose their ability to appropriately handle situations. Center stage stands a man, young and valiant, seemingly fearless. Well, until a bullet collides with his brain and he loses his id entity as Ted Lavender and adapts his new one as another tally of the total number of men killed in action. But he is not actually killed. No, he is greased they d say.

Human Anatomy And The Physiology Of The Body At The...

Born into a family of engineers and accountants, a career in medicine did not immediately strike me as the obvious choice until high school. Being a recreational gymnast for most of my life, I have always been fascinated with human anatomy. However, I discovered my interest in science after taking an advanced biology class with a dissection component which made me awestruck, appreciate the anatomy and made me want to study the physiology of the body at the molecular scale. Dissections demanded a precision which enticed the artist in me. While still in high school in India, I discovered that I exceptionally enjoyed being with people and making them feel better in any capacity whether it was volunteering with blood drives or a school for deaf and speech impaired children. It struck me that there was a vast need for people to be in every corner of the earth helped whether they were ill, homeless, or depressed and lonely. 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Analyzing Marketing free essay sample

Different definition of marketing and critically analyze them Marketing comes in a wide variety of flavors based on audience, media platform and business in today’s evolving and dynamic marketplace. Therefore, it is no surprise that marketers define what they do differently. Marketing is the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion and distribution of ideas, goods and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational objectives. This definition clearly places marketing as a process. Within most organizations this process is managed by the marketing function. Baker (1), Bernard and Brown (2) among others, however, have argued that in addition to being a function, marketing is clearly an organizational philosophy- an approach to doing business. This approach is exemplified by the quote of Professor Stephen Burnett, appearing in the preface to the 6th edition of the influential marketing text by Philip Kotler (3): In a truly great marketing organization you can’t tell who’s in the marketing department. Everyone in the organization you can’t tell who’s in the marketing department. Everyone in the organization has to make decisions based on the impact on the customer. In addition King 4 has criticized too narrow perspective on marketing- confining it to what a â€Å"bolt on† marketing department does- and recommends a broader interpretation of terms. Despite the current levels of interest in defining the domain of marketing, and in particular the function- philosophy debate, few studies have focused on what marketing means. The generally accepted European definition of marketing is given by the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM). It might be wise to commit this particular definition to memory: Marketing is the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying consumer requirements profitability. Some writers use the terms ‘need’ and ‘wants’ rather than customer ‘requirement’. Kotler(1991) one of the world’s leading academics in marketing, defines a ‘need’ as a basic requirement such as food, shelter, self-esteem, etc. He defines a ‘want’ as a particular way of satisfy a ‘need’. For e. g, a person may need food, but he or she may not necessarily want beans on toast! A more technical definition is given for marketing by the American Marketing Association: Marketing is the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion and distribution of ideas, goods and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational objectives. Although this definition is not as concise as that provided by the CIM, it is more correct, as the CIM definition highlights the ‘profitability’ criterion. To look at marketing as a business philosophy is to take a hostilic view of the discipline. This approach is explained by Peter Drucker (1954): Many people think of marketing only as selling and advertising. And no wonder-everyday we are bombarded with television commercials, Newspaper ads, direct-mail campaigns, and sales calls. However, selling and advertising are only the tip of the marketing iceberg. Although they are important, they are only two of many marketing functions and are often not the most important ones. Today marketing must be understood not in the old-sense of marketing- â€Å"telling and selling†- but in the new sense of satisfying customer needs. If the marketer does a very good job of understanding consumer needs; develops product that provide superior value; and prices, distributes, and promotes them effectively, these products will sell very easily. Thus selling and advertising are only a part of a larger â€Å"marketing mix† – a set of marketing tools that work together to affect the market-place. References (1) Baker, M. J. , marketing an introductory text, 4th edition, Macmillan, london, 1985 (2) Bernard, K. N, â€Å"functional practice and conceptual function-the inherent dichotomy of marketing,† journal of marketing management, vol. 3 no. 1, 1987, pp 73-82. 3) brown, r. j, â€Å"marketing- a functional and a philosophy,† the quarterly review of marketing. vol. 12 nos 3 and 4, 1987, pp 25-30 (4) Kotler. P. C. , Marketing Management, 6th edition, prentice-hall international, 1988 (5) king, s. , â€Å"has marketing FAILED OR was it never really tried,† Journal of marketing management, v ol. 1 no. 1, 1985, pp 1-19 mostaque, a. z, a synthesis model of market orientation for a developing country- the case of Bangladesh, 2003 p17 (6) mcKitterick, JB. 1957, â€Å"what is marketing management concept? † in The frontiers of marketing thought and science frank m. bass, ed. American marketing association, Chicago. pp71-92 (9) Kotler, P. 1998, Marketing Management, Prentice hall, New Jersey (10) Walker et al. (1992) Walker O. C. , Boyd, H. W. and Larreche, J. C. 1992, Marketing Strategy: planning and implementation, Irwin, Homewood, Illinois b) The marketing process- Once the strategic plan has defined the company’s overall mission and objectives, marketing plays a role in carrying out these objectives namely: SWOT and PEST SWOT: SWOT analysis is a straightforward model that analyzes an organization’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to create the foundation of marketing strategy. Strengths: Reviews the business’ current strengths such as a good brand or strong sales performance. Possible strengths in marketing might be: Specialist marketing expertise, location of business if convenient for customers and the reputation of the brand. Weaknesses: Reviews the business current weaknesses such as poor response times to requests for information or late deliveries. Possible weaknesses might include: lack of a clear product differentiation compared with competing products, inadequate online presence. Opportunities: Reviews the business’ future opportunities like new technology. These factors included the specific opportunities existing within the market that provide a benefit, including market growth, lifestyle changes, resolution of competitors to promote an increase in demand for the products or services. Threats: Threats are similar to weaknesses. A threat in marketing SWOT shows how a company is vulnerable to developments in the marketplace. The primary and ever-present threat is competition. However, other threats can include unsustainable price increases by suppliers, increased government regulation, economic downturns. Swot analysis may help in the creation of a contingency plan that will enable quickly and effectively issues that arise. PEST: A PEST analysis is used to identify the external forces affecting an organization. This is a simple analysis of an organization’s Political, Economical, Social and Technological environment. A PEST analysis incorporating legal and environmental factors is called a PESTLE analysis. Political: The first element of a PEST analysis is a study of political factors. Political factors influence organizations in many ways. Political factors can create advantaged and opportunities for organizations. Economical: The second element of a PEST analysis involves a study of economic factors. All businesses are affected by national and global economic factors. The climate of the economy dictates how consumers, suppliers and other organizational stakeholders such as suppliers and creditors behave within society. Social: The third aspect of PEST focuses its attention on forces within society such as family, friends, colleagues, neighbours and media. Social forces affect our attitudes, interests and opinions. Technological: The fourth element of PEST is technology. Technology advances have greatly changed the manner in which businesses operate. Technology has created a society which expects instant results. This technological revolution has increased the rate at which information is exchanged between stakeholders. A faster exchange of information can benefit businesses as they are able to react quickly to changes within their operating environment. Marketing Strategy An organization’s strategy that combines all of its marketing goals into one comprehensive plan. A good marketing strategy should be drawn from market research and focus on the right product mix in order to achieve the maximum profit potential and sustain the business. It is the foundation of a marketing plan. Segmentation: An organization cannot satisfy the needs and wants of all consumers. Segmentation is simply the process of dividing a particular market into sections, which display similar characteristics or behavior. The company identifies different ways to segment the market and develops profiles of the resulting market segments. There are a number of segmentation variables that allow an organisation to divide their market into homogenous groups. These variables are: Geographic Segmentation: Geographical segmentation divides markets into different geographical areas. It calls for dividing the market into different geographical units, such as nations, states, religions, countries or cities. Climatic differences can lead to different lifestyles and eating habits. In countries with warm climates, social life takes place outdoors and furniture is less important. Demographic Segmentation: Demographics originate from the word ‘demography’ which means a ‘study of population’. It consists of dividing the market into groups based on variables such as age, gender, sexual orientation, family size and so on. Demographic factors are the most popular bases for segmenting customer groups. Customer needs, wants and usage rates often vary very closely with demographic variables. As people’s age change, their needs and wants change. Gender segmentation is commonly used within clothing, hairdressing, cosmetic and magazines. Psychographic Segmentation: Although demographic segmentation is useful, marketers can use alternative segmentation variables which aim to develop more accurate profiles of their target segments. Psychographics segmentation can be broken down into social class, lifestyle and personality. Marketing Mix: The 4ps The marketing mix deals with the way in which a business uses price, product, distribution and promotion to market and sell its product. The marketing is often referred to as the â€Å"Four P’s†- since the most important elements of marketing are concerned with Price, Product, Place and Promotion. Price: Price includes the pricing strategy of the company for its products. How much a customer should pay for a product? Pricing strategy not only relates to the profit margins but also helps in finding target customers. Pricing decision should take into account profit margins and the probable pricing response of competitors. A company’s pricing decisions are affected both by internal and external factors. Product: Product is the actual offering by the company to its targeted customers which also includes value added stuff. Product may be tangible or intangible. It is also defined as anything that is offered to a marketer for attention, acquisition, use or consumption and that might satisfy a want or a need. Product planners need to be thinking about products on 3 levels; the core, the actual and the augmented product. The core product answers the question: what is the buyer really buying? The actual product may have 5 characteristics: quality level, features, styling, a brand name and packaging. The augmented product is the additional services and benefits. Place: Marketing channel decisions are among the most important decisions that management faces. A company’s channel decisions are linked with every other marketing decision. The company’s pricing depends on whether it uses mass merchandisers or high-quality speciality stores. Promotion: Marketing calls for more than just developing a good product, pricing it attractively and making it available to customers. Companies must also communicate with current and prospective customers and what they communicate should not be left to chance. A company’s total marketing communications mix- also called its promotion mix consists of a blend of advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, public relations and direct marketing tools. Forms of promotion involves- advertising, personal selling, public relations. The Marketing book, edited by Michael John Baker, Susan J. Hart 6th Ed. Elsevier/ Butterworth- Heinemann 2008 Entrepreneurship Marketing: Principles and Practice of SME Marketing; Sonny Nwankwo 2010 Principles of Marketing, Pearson Custom Business Resources Series; Philip Kotler, Gary Armstrong, 13th edition, Prentice Hall 2010, Pennsylvania State University http://www. businessdictionary. com/definition/marketing-strategy. html#ixzz2SOetHLCP C) There are different concepts that guide sellers to conduct their marketing activities. For e. g. sellers can only focus on production and try to reduce their cost of production, or focus on improving the quality of product. Similarly they can pay more attention to selling and promotion. In this way different concepts have evolved to help the organization in managing their marketing activities. These concepts are: production, product, selling, marketing and societal marketing. The production concept holds that consumers will favor products that are available and highly affordable. It also refers to the philosophy that supply creates its own demand. It means that the sale will increase automatically with the increase in production and production facilities. This concept is one of the oldest philosophies that guide sellers. The production is still a useful philosophy in two types of concepts. For e. g. if the management is trying to reduce the cost of production then it can do so by increasing the production. With increase in production, economies of scale takes place and the cost of production reduces, which helps to reduce the prices. And the second way it is useful is when demand for a product exceeds the supply. Here management should look for ways to increase production. Another major concept guiding sellers, the product concept states that consumer will favor products that offer the most in quality, performance, and innovative features. Thus, an organization should devote energy to making continuous product improvements. So basically, this concept is about to attract the customers by improving the quality and performance on one hand and on one hand and offer attractive price in other. Some manufacturers mistakenly believe that if they can â€Å"build a better mousetrap†, consumers will beat a path to their door just for their product. The product concept can also lead to â€Å"marketing myopia† the failure to see the challenges being presented by other products. Many organizations follow the selling concept, which holds that consumers will not buy enough of the organization’s products unless it undertakes a large-scale selling and promotion effort. This concept is typically practiced with unsought goods (those that buyers do not normally think of buying) for e. g. burial plots. There is high risk in such marketing because the organizations try to sell the product whether the buyers like it or not. Most studies show that dissatisfied customers do not buy again and this can really spoil the reputation of the organization. There are not only high risks with this approach but low satisfaction by customers. According to marketing concept, organizations should focus to analyze the needs and wants of target market, and provide the desired satisfaction more effectively than competitors do. The marketing concept has been stated in colorful way, such as â€Å"We make it happen for you† (Marnott); â€Å"To fly, to serve† (British Airways). JCPenney’s motto also summarizes the marketing concept: â€Å"To do all in our power to pack the customer’s dollar full of value, quality and satisfaction. † The marketing and selling concepts are often confused. The selling concept takes an â€Å"inside-out† perspective. It starts with the factory, focuses on the company’s existing products, and calls for heavy selling and promotion to obtain profitable sales. It focuses heavily on customer conquest- getting short-term sales with little concern about who buys or why. In contrast, the marketing concept takes an outside-in perspective. It starts with a well-defined market, focuses on customer needs, and coordinates all the marketing activities affecting customer relationship based on customer value and satisfaction. Under this concept, companies produce what consumers want, thereby satisfying consumers and making profits. Many successful and well-known companies have adopted the marketing concept. Proctor amp; Gamble, Disney, Wal-Mart, Marriot, Nordstrom and MacDonald’s follow it faithfully. L. L Bean, the highly successful catalog retailer of clothing and outdoor sporting equipment, was founded on the marketing concept. In 1912, in his first circulars L. L Bean included the following notice: â€Å"I do not consider a sale complete until goods are worn out and the customer still is satisfied. We will thank anyone to return goods that are not perfectly satisfactory†¦ Above all thing, we wish to avoid a dissatisfied customer. † Today L. L. Bean dedicates itself to giving â€Å"perfect satisfaction in every way. † The last concept is the societal marketing concept. It focuses to improve the well-being of customers and society as a whole. It also holds that organizations should determine the needs, wants and interest of target markets. It should then deliver superior value to customers in a way that maintains or improves the customer’s and the society’s well-being. The societal marketing concept is the newest of the five marketing management philosophies. It questions whether the pure marketing concept is adequate in an age of environmental problems, resource shortages, rapid population growth, worldwide economic problems, and neglected social services. According to societal marketing concept, the pure marketing concept overlooks possible conflicts between short-run consumer wants and long-rum consumer welfare. The societal concept calls upon marketers to balance three considerations in setting their marketing policies: company profits, customer wants and society’s interest. Originally, most companies based their marketing decisions largely on short-run company profit. Eventually, they began to recognize the long-run importance of satisfying customer wants, and the marketing concept emerged. Now many companies are beginning to think of society’s interests when making their marketing decisions. marketing in a changing world: creating customer value amp;