The Fundamental Causes of the Womens Movement Essay

The Fundamental Causes of the Womens Movement - Essay Example In the 1960s, the National Organization for Women fought the good fight to bring women's rights and equality for all to the forefront, while at the same time some women, like Phyllis Schlafly, were very vocal against feminism and women's movement. Nonetheless, reformers have made great strides towards equality in society today, both in the workplace and within the home. The proverbial "glass ceiling" that keeps women from substantial promotions in the workplace still exists, and there are definite strides to be made, however, as time passes and outdated ideals and beliefs are shattered, total equality for women may be just a short distance down the road. The women's rights movement began in the first half of the nineteenth century. From the emergence of the suffrage movement in the 1850's until women obtained the right to vote in 1920, suffrage became the primary goal of the women's rights movement. Suffrage included a set of grievances such as unequal wages, inequality at work, unsanitary working conditions, and limited job options. This movement also targeted the suffering of the non-working woman as well, such as married women's property rights and the suffrage of women overall. This led to the first women's rights convention held at Seneca Falls, New York in 1848 (Baker 24). An outspoken proponent of women's rights was Francis Wright who gained prominence within the women's movement in the late 1820's as a colorful, sensational speaker. She spoke out against slavery and also believed that marriage was a coercive institution and advocated replacing current laws on marriage with a non-legal bond called "generous attachment", based only on mutual respect and love and not regulated by any legal authority (24). Because she was a woman, her speeches were considered radical and improper and her detractors labeled her a "Red Harlot" along with any other woman who followed her or attended her lectures (25). Frederick Douglas, a well-known reformer within the anti-slavery movement, was also a staunch supporter of women's rights, and as early as 1848 demanded the vote as an essential right of women (42). Furthermore, Susan B. Anthony, an American civil rights leader, played a pivotal role and wrote often about the women's suffrage movement. In her writings, many t imes she equated the women's movement with the anti-slavery movement. She stated: the 'Woman Suffrage Movement,' was the Anti-Slavery struggle (31) Anthony was also a paid agent of the American Anti-Slavery Society as well as a suffragist (42). In 1875, a major court case, Minor v. Happersett, arose out of the quest to vote by a woman named Virginia Minor. She attempted to cast her vote in St. Louis and the registrar, Happersett, refused to permit her to do so. Minor was the president of the Woman's Suffrage Association of Missouri and her husband was a prominent attorney. They sued the registrar for denying her what they believed was her privilege and immunity of citizenship. The court in Minor v. Happersett decided against her and Minor appealed her case to the United States Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ruled that if the founders wanted to include suffrage in the constitution, it would have been explicitly stated. The Court refused to interpret the constitution any other way and decided that

Politica Science - society and state in contemporary russia Essay

Politica Science - society and state in contemporary russia - Essay Example A democracy can broadly be defined as a government that has been set up by the people which essentially means that all people living under that government should be entitled to have their opinion considered in everything that affects their lives. Furthermore, democracy can also be exercised directly or indirectly through which people elect their representatives. In light of this, it is absurd that two decades down the line despite the dissolution of USSR president Yeltsin failed to horn our promise to better democracy and improve the lives of Russian citizens. This just proves that Russia is still categorized as one of the authoritarian states in Europe. As much as most of the leaders have improved the country’s economic status both domestic and international policies it is believed that from the essays â€Å"not free† a lot of factors have hindered Russia’s democracy development (Motyl 2005). For the first time power within Kremlin changed through the 2000, elec tion this process not only took place but was conducted according to the constitution more than two thirds of the eligible voters participated. They appeared to be well informed of choices to make. However, up to now Russian political conditions do not meet the criteria of democracy; a political framework must be adopted to understand democracy adequately (Chomsky, et al 2003). Some political analysts such as Joseph Schumpeter describes democracy as an institutional arrangement for arriving at a political decision that help politicians in the acquisition of the power necessary for them to decide by way of their struggling to obtain votes from the citizens (Josephi 2010). Basically his definition may suggest that countries only differ in the degree to which institutional conditions are satisfied. Perhaps that is the reason why president Yeltsin ascended to power and failed to live up to his promises. Most Russians still point out that with the rioting on October 2nd the liberal regim e suppressed the angry communists. After a time period of approximately ten years since 23 Russian citizens lost their lives, the Russian government is still expounding on the myth that the crackdown was just to topple Mr. Yeltsin political opponents (Lucas 2009). This left many with the view that Mr. Yeltsin is a democratic hypocrite who never had the people’s interests at heart. All he had was his own vested interests. From that moment, descending from power without going to prison for him was inevitable; perhaps that is why he saw in an inherited presidency system as a scapegoat; perhaps that is why he ensured Mr. Vladimir Putin came to power (Marot 2012). When United Russia party chanced to win a working majority in the 2003 Russian Parliamentary elections, the Russian president Putin was seen to set out and attempt to critically undercut most of the opposition parties that were active in the country. He instigated changes in various electoral policies that allowed the go vernment to effectively manage to shut out a variety of the smaller political parties focusing mainly on those that had been perceived as being key advocates of liberal democracy. Other changes that were made caused it to become extremely difficult for parties to manage to field presidential candidates in a presidential ballot (Ethridge and Handelman 2012). Following the unexpected resignation of President Boris Yeltsin in 2000 Vladimir was assigned to

Tour Operations Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Tour Operations Management - Essay Example The most important aspects of a holiday usually coordinated by a tour operator include the type of travel, transfers, excursions, facilities among other services. One easiest way to distinguish tour operators from other practitioners like travel agents is by establishing their form and features. A tour operator will, for this reason, bring together various subsets of tourism experience and offer it as a package. A package offered by tour operators is usually referred to inclusive tour. Inclusive tour mostly includes at least two elements often offered at an inclusive sale price and will encompass a stay of move for more than twenty-four hours in overnight accommodation. These elements range from transportation, foods, accommodation to other tourist services. The kind and variety of packages in a given market is mostly categorized into two categories, that is, those that use the traditional charter flight and those using booked flights. Booked flights are mainly used when it is consid ered uneconomic for tour operator to purchase charter flights. The types of package in a tour operators industry is also often categorized according to a mode of travel or mode of accommodation (Chauhan, 2009). In the case of mode of travel, the package involves issues like coach holiday or ferry. Mode of travel can also be based on ion twin transport packages like fly-drive, which are mostly popular with inbound tourist in the United States of America (Negi, 2006). Segmentation by mode of accommodation on the other hand is where hotels chains assumes the role of tour operators by packaging their excess capacity to offer weekends or short breaks in business attractions as in the case of inclusive package. An inclusive tour can also be segmented according to whether they are domestic or international, according to the length of the holiday, distance and destination type (Gupta, 2012).

Water privatization Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Water privatization - Research Paper Example This is from the verity that the utilities of water provision will be of high quality and the investment in this sector will increase; thus, more access to water services. An analysis of the positives and cons of this aspect, therefore, needs to be analyzed so as to understand the issue in detail. Evidently, water privatization is a very crucial issue. A lot of concern needs to be taken prior to coming with a lasting conclusion on this issue. In an attempt to highlight the water privatization question, it is vital to evaluate on the question of access and availability of water to all persons especially on persons of low income. If these water access and availability are left out, a lot of concerns will definitely be raised in the water sector. I take the stand that water needs not be privatized. So as to support this stand, focus will be shed on the quality of water and privatization, costs of privatized water, the divided interests in water privatization, how expensive privatization is, the loss of public control of privatized water from the locals and the fact that privatization may be permanent and irrevocable. These evidences will outdo the aspect that water should be privatized, simply because privatization has been seen to produce quality services, water privatization i s an urbanization move, privatization of water saves lives and privatization also creates economies of scale. Privatization of water will automatically undermine the quality of water. As seen in the research conducted by Shiva, the motive of acquiring more profits in the water industry will outdo the need to serve the public; thus, water needs not be privatized (35). A closer analysis of this fact means that the wellbeing of the public will be put at danger and the profits will be considered. Barraquà © states that the move to control water, a key resource, has indeed created a huge

The New BreatherSaver The Energy Mint Research Paper

The New BreatherSaver The Energy Mint - Research Paper Example Eventually, it became clearer that there are several ways to indulge the food industry in the manner production and marketing mint was adapting to. This has led to a new area of study in marketing strategy that the food industry so proudly presents to the world of corporate production and strategy formulation (Baldauf and Stair, 2010). In this discourse, the Hershey Company is applied as case study to explain the mint industry experiences in terms of product design overview, SWOT, marketing strategies, effectiveness and future performance predictions. Snack foods and chocolate business has had an all time high performance since the emergency of Hershey Chocolate Company that has since found a special market niche eventually renaming to the Hershey Company (Weaver and Weston, 2007). Continued evolution of the snacks market has not only witnessed competition among a number of market players but has also experienced diversification of products range. In the growing list of products is the market mint brand known as BreathSaver. Initially, it was exclusively produced and marketed by the Hershey Company but other food companies have joined in the production. Generally, the BreathSaver is a product that not only serves as an ordinary mint product for the market but is also enhanced to capture the market that needs breath fresheners. Neutrazin is a special additive to the mint product that makes the BreathSaver an exciting market hit. In terms of its design, the BreathSaver is an improved mint disc shaped into a cylindrical product made of mint to capture these two markets. Alternatively, there are a few other features that distinguish it from other mint products, mainly through the product design. One of such features is the embossment of the name BreathSaver on the product. In addition, there are various flavors and packaging designs which include a certain number of the mint rolls in a single packaging. Regarding the new product, BreathSaver

Travel Market - Segmentation Essay Example for Free

Travel Market Segmentation Essay 1. The Travel Market can be segmented into 3 segments: Luxury travellers, Adventurers and Budget travellers. These segments are identified by demographics like age and income, psychological factors like personality, and benefits sought like needs and product features. Luxury travellers are usually older or middle-aged consumers who are already financially prosperous and look for relaxation and rejuvenation from their stressful positions. They can also be retirees. Luxury travellers will be willing to pay more for value, quality and service, and they look for quality relaxation and experience when looking for a place to reside while travelling. Luxury travellers will respond well to Banyan Holding’s Banyan and Laguna resorts and hotel line. Banyan tree hotels and resorts seek to have guests â€Å"pampered with a warm and friendly retreat experience† and are targeted to those â€Å"who place a premium on exclusive and unique localtes, with a penchant for the indulgent, luxurious and exotic† (Marketing in Asia 2nd Ed, p714-715). These high-end customers desire personalized service, ambience, and design, and a self-contained, personal retreat with private and tasteful amenities (Marketing in Asia 2nd Ed, p715). Luxury travellers who go on trips with their family members will prefer Laguna resorts and hotels as it provides a wide range of amenities for children to elderly, like the children’s suite, Laguna shopping centre and Angsana Spas. The Laguna hotels offers a wider range of services for a broader base of targeted audience, hence appealing to luxury travellers who travel with their family. Adv enturers are younger working adults around their twenties to late thirties who are financially independent and willing to spend. These consumers look for exotic places and place high emphasis on outdoor-recreation. They value authenticity and look for opportunities to immerse themselves in the local culture. People who go for adventure travelling would look for places that are less urbanized and richer in culture. Authenticity and thrill will be their main concern hence location and convenience would matter less. Adventurers will respond well to Banyan Tree’s sister brand, Angsana Hotels and resorts. The hotels are designed to be contemporary and which, and marketed with emphasis on outdoors-recreation which will appeal to such travellers. They also have a range of adventurous activities offered, like bungee jumping, white-water rafting and trekking. A great selling point of Angsana hotels is that it is located in unique world heritage site locales which offer adventurers a rustic experience with the added bonus of comfort and luxury. Budget travellers are identified to be in the lower to middle income group and are financially independent but not holding large amounts of disposable income for leisure activities. These travellers are sometimes young parents who hold tight budgets when it comes to travelling as they need to set aside large portions of their income for their children’s education and to support their own parents. They seek for benefits like low prices and promotions and do not always aim for quality or service. These consumers will not be prone to consume Banyan Tree Holding’s products and services as the products offered are generally high-end and too expensive. These consumers will likely to be working hard to support their families and hence unable to go for Angsana or Banyan spa treatments as well due to the lack of time. When travelling, these consumers will go for cheaper hotel options instead as they do not place high emphasis on special product features like adventurous amenities or quality of the services. 2. The attractiveness of the market segments can be assessed by the market size, the expected growth, the competitive position, the cost of reaching the segment and the compatibility with the Banyan Tree’s objectives and resources. In terms of market size, the budget travellers take up the largest percentage of leisure travellers while adventurers take up the least. In United States, the top 1% households own 35.4% of all privately held wealth (Domhoff, 2013). Wealth distribution is similar in the rest of the world; small proportion of people holding majority of the wealth. As such, the adventurers and luxury travellers take up a much smaller market size while budget travellers are aplenty. In terms of expected growth, the luxury travellers are expected to grow the fastest. Baby boomers, who are born between 1946 to 1964, are at their prime of their careers and some may already be retired. As these people age, the financially prosperous bunch of them will be expected to go travelling on retirement trips and they will have the financial capacity to spend on quality services and experiences. The luxury travellers will thus be expected to grow the fastest. The growth of the adventurers and budget travellers will then depend on the state of the economy and birth rate. Developed countries now face declining birth rates and an aging population, which causes both the adventurers and budget travellers to decrease in size or grow at a slower pace. For competitive position, the market for budget travellers will be the most competitive as most options are available. These competing hotels and motels are largely s imilar, providing homogenous amenities and services with price as the main selling point. Hence, it will be difficult to compete against these hotels as lowering price too much will start a price war, which in turn causes damage to all producers. Joining this market will not guarantee a significant market share as there are many firms and the products are mostly homogenous. In the luxury and adventure travelling segments, the hotels are largely different with their own selling points. For example the Maison Souvannaphoum Hotel in Luang Prabang would offer visitors a cultural and scenic experience of the Mekong River and hills of Laos, an experience that will not be found in any other hotels. The luxury hotels offer different scenic views and quality service, hence these hotels compete via product differentiation. There are less firms and hence more competition, but it also means that there will be a chance of getting a large market share should Banyan tree decide to invest in it. In terms of cost, marketing Banyan Tree’s products too all three different segments of consumers will take roughly the same costs. These will include advertising costs on websites, newspapers and tie-ups with travelling agencies. In terms of compatibility, reaching out to the budget travellers will be most costly as brand new budget hotels will have to be built, which requires a large amount of capital. Marketing Banyan Tree Holding’s hotels and services to the budget travellers will also not be effective as the product features of Banyan tree’s products are incompatible with the features these consumers are looking for. Reaching out to luxury travellers and adventurers will be easier as they will already be receptive to the products offered by Banyan Tree. In conclusion, Banyan Tree Holdings should focus on the Luxury Travellers market segment as they have the highest potential growth rate and the products which these consumers are looking for tally with the products Banyan Tree Holdings offer. 3. Companies in the travel industry can carry out product positioning by emphasizing on different aspects of their products and services, like the geographical location, the economic value, lifestyle, services and amenities, and environmental awareness. The geographical location of the company will include the cultural heritage of the host country in which the firm can use as a selling point to foreign visitors. The actual location of the hotel can also be used as a selling point for added convenience if the hotels are located just beside train or bus stations. The economic value refers to marketing the company’s products and services at a certain price which gives a similar level of satisfaction. Hotels can market themselves as budget hotels which are on the lower scale of the price range, or luxury hotels which gives consumers such a great experience and service that the consumers think the high price is worth it. Lifestyle and services can be marketed to consumers if the hotel provides visitors with a distinct, exotic experience or have unique facilities. Companies can also support environmentally friend codes of conduct to promote themselves as clean and green, giving off a positive reputation and image to the public and potential customers. Banyan Tree uses the product position strategy of geographic location, lifestyle and services and environmental awareness. According to Marketing in Asia 2nd Ed p714, each Banyan Tree property is designed to fit into it’s natural surroundings and the natural landscape is preserved as much as possible. This places emphasis on the location of the hotels and resorts, marketing itself to be exclusive and asian. For Angsana Hotels and Resorts, it is located in unique World heritage site locales which provide visitors with a coherent authentic experience of the local destination, serving as a large attraction. Secondly, Banyan tree also markets itself to pamper guests with a warm and friendly retreat experience that showcases Banyan Tree’s signature lend of romance, rejuvenation and exotic sensuality. This adds to lifestyle and experience. Thirdly, Banyan Tree sells itself with an environmentally friendly and conscious theme. Besides being environmentally friendly, Laguna Resorts and Hotels is also committed to providing for the health and educational needs of the children of its employees and local villages. This will attract consumers who care for the deterioration of nature and the welfare of developing countries. Banyan Tree’s products are highly distinctive as they emphasize themselves on being a luxury and premium brand. Banyan Tree previously marketed itself with the slog an of â€Å"Romance of Travel† which also emphasizes on rejuvenation and relaxation. Banyan Tree is consistent in all it’s different product types in the fact that it focuses on pampering the guest and providing the ultimate luxurious experience. To support the theme of luxury, Banyan Tree’s products are highly priced. This is because consumers usually associate higher priced products to be of better quality. Banyan Tree promoted themselves with the â€Å"Romance of Travel† campaign which emphasized on Banyan Tree’s brand of romance, intimacy and rejuvenation. Banyan Tree is also spread to other consumers through articles in many websites by travellers. Positive testimonies stir interest in potential customers, and can reach out to many due to the widespread use of internet today. To tap on the greater use of internet, Banyan Tree also offers direct bookings through popular resort websites for convenience and accessibility. To keep up with this inf ormal advertisement, Banyan Tree maintained it’s well-known quality of service which aided it to have good reviews. Banyan Tree also took part in eco and cultural tourism, and famous projects like the Tsunami Relief Project in 2004, projecting an image of awareness and goodwill for the company.

An organisations process

An organisations process Introduction Strategic planning is an organisations process of defining its corporate strategy, making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue its strategy, including its capital and human resources. In this modern and competitive era growing business, means taking timely, quick and accurate decisions about the way we want to grow our business. As an organisation grows, it becomes more and more complex for management to control. In this case, strategic planning is the key component for all type of organisations, which help them to keep on track. All organisations depend on strategic plan to keep the long-term focus synced up with day-to-day decision-making. From Board level to front line staff, everyone is aligned with the organisations strategy and vision. Because it is a road map to lead organisation from where it is now to where it would like to be in future. It is very important for management that they make sure, that all those who involved in any activity are clear about what that o rganisation is looking to achieve and how they are planning to do it. The main source of information is included from official websites and reports published by companies. Moreover, references from different books, published journals articles, research reports and internet have been used to support the arguments. Critical Analysis of Strategic Planning of Primark Company profile Primark is an Irish clothing retailer. It opened its first store in Dublin in 1969 under the name of Penneys. The company head office is based In Dublin, and operates 193 stores in Ireland, UK and other European countries. Primark is a subsidiary of Associated British Foods Plc (ABF) and positions itself as marketing (selling) fashionable clothing at cheap prices, targeting women, men, children and supply home decoration goods. Primark aim is to focus on latest fashions and sell to its customers with the variety of design at affordable prices. Primark mission statement is to provide customers with high quality, fashion basis at value for money prices (Primark 2009). Critical Analysis of Primark According to clothing market review 2008, the United Kingdom retail clothing market was worth  £42.45 billions in 2007. It account for almost 6% of total consumer spending which is lowest proportion in the history of UK. The reasons for decline in market were the declining prices and intense competition in the industry. Survey also shows that the cheap clothing market consumers will increase in the future and there is no sign of growth in market value over the next five years (Market Report 2008). Primark face intense competition due to number of competitors (Appendix 1). According to Bowmans Strategic Clock (1996), Primark is position itself in competitive environment at low price in his strategic clock (Appendix 2). This strategy helps Primark to analysis it competitive position in other competitors. Primark is fashion conscious targeting under 35s with the slogan Look good pay less at Primark. It offers good quality fashion clothes at very competitive prices. According to Porter Generic Strategies (1980) Primark is following cost leadership Strategy in retail clothing market. The success of this strategy is based on access to cheap resources and buying in bulk. Michael Porters Five Forces (1979) Model of competitive position helps Primark to analyse its competitive position in the industry. Cost leadership strategy helps Primark to create barrier for new entrant to sell same products at lower price. Primark imports from Asian countries where cost of production is very low and buying in bulks help Primark to improve its Bargaining power. On the other hands, bargaining power of the customers is not very strong because no other retailer is selling trendy and fashionable products at such a low price. So all this help and provide a platform to Primark for expansion both gaining market share and entering into new markets. PEST analysis can be used to examine the factors affecting on Primarks external Environment. All four factors have a considerable impact on Primarks environment. Political factors such as labour law, environmental, trade restrictions, tariffs, tax policy restrict Primark to operate within the limits. Economic factors such as interest rate, inflation rate, exchange rate, economic growth and disposal income affect Primark business operation and day-to-day decision-making. Social and cultural factors help Primark to take into account trends, fashion, growth rate in population, age, gender etc. Finally, technological factors helped Primark to reduce cost, improve quality and lead to innovation. In UK, clothing market is very competitive and credit crunch made it worse. Primark is the only clothing retailer who gets benefit from credit crunch. According to Igor Ansoff (1957), Primark is penetrating the clothing market to targeting competitors customers and retaining existing customers. Sean Poulter (2008) report says, Primark sales rose over 25% in 2008 and gave Primark overall 10% market share of UK clothing industry. It made second biggest seller after MS (12% Market Share). Primark has a very clear market positioning at the cheap end of the market. For Primark internal environmental analysis, SWOT analysis is used to assess Primarks internal capabilities, core competences while threats and opportunities assess external environmental factors. Primark SWOT analysis is shown in appendix 3. Critical Analysis of Strategic Planning of Woolworths Group Plc Company Profile F.W. Woolworths Company founded Woolworths in UK in 1909. In 1982 it was acquired by Paternoster Stores ltd, the subsidiary of Kingfisher Plc. Woolworths Group Plc was formed by the demerger of Kingfisher and began trading as listed company in August 2001. It inherited a mountain of  £200 million debts, and costly lease agreements. Right from the beginning, it sold a variety of goods such as childrens clothes, toys, stationery, electronic goods and confectionery. Pic n mix sweets and Woolworths have always gone together until went into administration. In first four years company really took off but after 2005 it faced constant decline in business and finally it went into administration on 27 January 2009 (Times Online 2008). This company was one of the biggest victims of recession. Mission and Vision Woolworths mission was to be at the heart of the community and the best loved retailer for kids, home and family leisure. Vision was to provide quality products and services to customer all the time through price strategies Elrico (2002). Critical Analysis of Woolworths Group Plc My aim is to analyse strategic planning process of Woolworths to analyse past seven years performance by using various strategic tools. Woolworths performance has been variable over the past few years and in 2005 private equity group Apax made a takeover bid, which was rejected by the board, and four weeks later they received another offer and it made Woolies future uncertain in retail sector. Strategic planning is usually begins with external environmental analysis of the organisation. Competitors are the primary external consideration for strategic planning. For Woolworths Porter Five Forces (1979) can be used to analyse external environment. Woolworths failed to respond the threats of it competitors. They never made any strategy to build barrier for competitors such as ASDA, Tesco, Argos, Discount Stores etc. Its management always depend upon advertisement and customers loyalty. Perfect competition brought more choices for customers and due to intense competition (Rivalry) in the industry, profit squeezed and market demand saturated. Woolworths customers switched to its competitors. Woolworths faced huge problems with suppliers in last couple of year of trading and they forced to pay cash at the time of purchases because of lack of security. According to Michael porters (1980) Generic Strategies to obtain competitive advantages, organisation must have one of the following strategies: Cost Leadership strategy Differentiation strategy Focus strategy Woolworth get stuck in the middle without having any competitive strategy as a result competitors (ASDA, Argos etc) took advantages of that and stole all customers form it. They never released the importance of competitive strategy and had growth strategy to compete with competitors by opening new stores in different parts of the country. According to Igor Ansoff (1957), Woolworths had Market development strategy to target new customers. Woolworths internal environmental analysis, SWOT analysis is the best tool, which can be use measure internal and external factors that affected on its strategic planning. Internal analysis examines Woolworths capabilities and external analysis examines factors that bring opportunities and threats (Appendix 4). Comparison of Strategic Planning of both organisations In the highly competitive environment in which all UK retailers are in war to sustain their position against competitors in this recession, Primark is doing remarkably well. The key of success in based on its well-planned strategies that evaluate internal and external factors that affect on it environment. On the other hands, Woolworths group Plc failed because, they were never thought about any strategy that gave them competitive advantages over any of its competitor. People and media said that Woolworths was the victim of recession but I would say it was the victim of bad management. My aim is to compare and contrast the strategic planning of both organisations. For this purpose, I have discussed few strategic planning models in critical analysis and now I am going to compare them and find out the reasons of success and failure. Pricing (Competitive) Strategy According to Michael Porter (1980) to get competitive advantages organisation must follow one of its generic strategies. Primark slogan is look good pay less, means cost leadership strategy. Cost leadership strategy does not mean low prices but it lead to emphasize on efficiency by reducing cost in all departments. This strategy gave competitive edge to Primark over it competitors. According to Jonathan Prynn (2009), Primark has boomed in the recession with the British biggest discount clothes chain unveiled big increase in revenue and profits. Primark revenues increased from  £1.17bn in 2007 to  £1.6bn in 2008 and it jumped to  £2.31bn in 2009. On the other hand, Woolworths was trading without having any competitive strategy, which help its management to focus on the ways in which it can achieve the competitive position in the retail industry. Its revenue declined since 2004 and in final year of trading, Woolworths announced pre-tax loss of  £99.7m for the first six months. This is just because of Woolworths was stuck in the middle of competitive strategies for long time and management was not sure what price they charge to customers for particular products. Woolworths products were comparatively expensive than its competitors and customers realised their products are not good quality compare to the prices Woolworths charged. Affects of competition Competitors are the real enemies for all organisations. Successful organisation always makes plans ahead to avoid the consequence of any threat from its competitors. Both organisations operate in highly competitive environment. Competitor analysis is very important for both organisations strategic planning. Sometimes organisations think that they are doing well and it is best to carry on with their plans and other become obsessed with monitoring every action of competitors. Woolworths Group Plc was well aware about competition. In Woolworths financial reports 2008, directors mentioned competition is a big risk for Woolworths but they did not come up with any strategy (carry on their own plans) that help Woolworths to maintain and improve it competitive position in the market. They lost most of there business to competitors. In clothing retail industry, Primark is also facing intense competition. Most of Primarks competitors hold same percentage of market share as Primark have. Nowada ys fashion has become disposable and to avoid competition Primark has led fast fashion revolution at lowest prices taking the fast fashion retail industry into new era. I would say Primark has emerged as the McDonalds of the fast fashion retail industry. Customers Analysis Customers analysis is an operative tool, which helps organisations to understand the specific customers demand, preferences and loyalty to the organisation. To keep competitive in todays environment, organisations need to take an in depth look at customers to explore and identify opportunities and threats. I would say Primark is the market leader to understand customers demand and response quickly to the fast fashion requirements of customers. Primarks time-to-market has been very fast, both in terms of copying designs rapidly after they come out in terms of getting the new stock into their stores while items are still hot' (R. M Grant, Blackwell 2009). New style, quality and low prices keep customers coming in and encourage them to come back again. All these help Primark to increase its market share and revenue. On the other side of the picture, Woolworths failed to focus on what they were good at, to sell to there customers and failed to identify their core products and customers. From customers point of view, Woolworths was a complete mish mash with hundreds different types of products, but low product ranges. As a result, Woolworths did not have enough selection of any product to attract customers (John McMillan 2008). All these factors forced customers to switch to Woolworths competitors. Marketing issues Organisations used marketing tools to create, keep and satisfy customers needs and demands. To get competitive advantages in the target market organisations use segmentation, targeting and positioning tools. These tools help organisations to differentiate there goods and services from their competitors. Market Segmentation and targeting Market segmentation help organisation to split customers or potential customers into different groups. Primark segments it customers on socio-economic (disposable income) and demographic (age, gender, lifestyle) bases. Robert Stockdill (2007) says in his report, Primarks target customer is young, fashion conscious and under 35 years old. So like many other retailers chasing that demographic or the broader value end of the market, Primark is now targeting a four to six week turnaround from design to shelf, sourcing primarily from Asia. Primark also target low-income group who have less disposable income to spend on latest fashion. Woolworths was also segmented its customers on demographic bases but there aim was to target all customer in the market. They never identified their target customer, market and which income group they were targeting. Market Positioning In market positioning, my aim is to create an image in the target market for both organisations, their products, and brands. Primark is known as cost leadership retailer in the market, which has over fifteen own brands (Appendix 5). Customers think that Primarks products are good value for money. Woolworths also had very rich and successful long history with the number of brands such as Chad Valley, Ladybird, Winfield and Worthit etc. Form customers point of view both organisations market-positioning image can be mapped in the following Bowmans Strategic Clock (1996); Business Seasonality Most organisations are affected by the fluctuation in business activity at different part of the year. According to directors 2008 report, Woolworths was highly seasonal business. Most of its revenue, profit, and cash flow have been come from Christmas season. Lower than expected performance in the Christmas period may have adverse impact on overall Woolworths results. It happened continuously after 2004 with Woolworths and it performance was very unstable un-till it went into administration. Woolworths never made any strategy to avoid adverse affects of Christmas sales. Primark business is all four seasons. Although most of its sales come from Christmas season but other three seasons of the year its make good profit. According to (James Hall 2009) report, Primark total revenue reaches it highest level of  £1 billion in first six months of trading, which is 18 % more than last year. Primark is the only largest fashion retailers around the world, who produce solid performance in cre dit crisis due to strong strategic planning. Conclusion Strategic planning is directional map, key instrument for strategic management for deciding where their company is headed and how they are planning to get there. Strategic planning is known as a process of defining strategy and making decisions on allocation of organisation resources to pursue strategy. It is a dynamic tool of continuously looking at organisational current position, examine and plotting future move. All this need in-depth knowledge and understanding about organisation and its internal and external environment in that operates in. the best organisations like Primark always engaged in some form of strategic planning to keep themselves update about internal and external environmental factors. Based on my detailed strategic planning analysis of Primark, i would say that Primark has comprehensive strategy planning, which considers all-important factors that affects on its business environment. From my above research, I conclude that, there are number of reasons behind Primark success. Firstly, they understand customers specific requirements and always come up with the solution of latest fashion at low price. Secondly, Primark has a very clear market position at the cheap end of the market and target customers who have low disposal income and fashion conscious. All this gave Primark competitive advantage over its competitors. Third, Primark has access to cheap resources and has very tight control over costs, which help them to increase profitability. Many people say Woolworths was the victim of credit crises. Other says Woolworths faced financial pressures (received over  £200 million debts in inherent and seasonal business crises) and severe competition from day one, so that is why it failed to survive. From my above discussion and analysis, I conclude that Woolworths was the victim of bad management and poor strategy planning. From my above discussion, I have mentioned several reasons of Woolworths failure. Woolworths completely failed to respond the threats of competitors, new technologies, customers buying patterns and target market. The world change very fast in 21st century and strategy worked in 1990s does not work today. Woolworths was keeping the old fashion strategy and planning to run business successfully in 21st century, where yesterdays strategy could be out date today. World has become global village and customers have many choices to buy products from any were in the world through internet. Ignorance of all thes e external factors have leads Woolies to lose their business to competitors. Finally I would say the key of success is to do few things right like Primark, not 100s things badly like Woolworths, keep ears and eyes open, monitor your internal and external environment, and response best to the threats and convert into opportunities. 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