United Health Group Essay Example for Free

United Health Group Essay 1.Describe clearly the accounting changes Harnischfeger made in 1984 as stated in Note 2 of its financial statements a.Harnischfeger registered as a net sale the final sales amount of products bought from Kobe instead of only the gross margin received per unit. It has also taken in consideration the financial statements of some subsidiaries (but not all of them) to increase net sales. 2.What is the effect of the depreciation accounting method change on the reported income in 1984? How will this change affect profits in future years? a. In the case of depreciation of some type of assets, Harnischfeger is adjusting its depreciation policy to the straight-line method from accelerated methods, which let the company increased net income as the adjustments are being applied retroactively. This change will increase net income in the coming immediate years, but the depreciation expense will be present for a several more years since the straight-line method is being used. 3.What is the effect of the depreciation lives change? How will this change affect future reported profits? a.As mentioned before since straight-line method will be used, depreciation expenses will be more realistic. The change will increase profits immediately but reduces them in the following years. 4.The depreciation accounting changes assume that Harnischfeger’s plant and machinery will last longer and will lose their value more slowly. Given the business conditions Harnischfeger was facing in its primary industries in 1984, are these economic assumptions justified? a.Yes, I believe it was totally justified since revenues went down to $398,708,000 in 1984 from $447,461,000 in 1982, specially taking in consideration that 1984 revenues include other subsidiaries income that were not part of 1982 financial statements.

Studying Abroad Essay Example for Free

Studying Abroad Essay Having a strong education is the best way to ensure a good future and fulfillng dreams. Therefore, I feel it is important to pursure my higher studies and have decided to study abroad, in particular. I have applied for this scholarship and chosen my major for the following reasons: to gain education of high quality, to get better employment opportunities, and to learn more about other cultures. The first reason for choosing to study IS is to gain education of high quality. As we all know, Europe is famous for the education that is provided by its strong universities, best professors, successful educational systems and methods. Graduating from prestigious colleges or universities like that is often regarded as an achievement in itself. Furthermore, a degree from a good foreign university always adds up to ones resume. Secondly, due to the lack of specialists in this major in my country, it is considered an advantage for me to have chosen to study IS because it will result in getting better employment opportunities. With the knowledge that I get from studying in such a field and applying ehat I have learned, I will have an added advantage over others. Last but not least, it is an exciting advanture to study out in a completely new enviroment. It will enable me to mature quickly and develop independence. For instance, joining the university will be the first experience to adjust to living away from family and friendes. Though there will be many difficulties like culture or lack of proficiency in laguage, Ill learn how to live on my own and look after myself after overcoming them. In conclusion, my desire to study abroad is based on getting best level education in the world, being offered better job chances, and experiencing new things. However, it does not mean that one can get this knowledge and experience just by going abroad to study. He / She must choose carefully which college to study in, and struggle for what he/she is longing for to improve oneself and ones country.

Role of Media in Society

Role of Media in Society Media is considered to be the 4th pillar of the society while the other three being legislative, executive and judiciary. It plays an important role in the welfare of the society, working as an informer, an educator, a form of entertainment and an opinion influencer. In Malaysia, media and politics are co-dependent because through this, democracy is formed. Mustafa (1999) stated that in this broad context of democracy, the mass media plays an important role by supplying media users with a platform to obtain information, exchange views and at the same time give feedback to the government; however this is overshadowed by the states official view that the media should be functioning as an essential tool to promote national development, national harmony and national security. The Mainstream Media and Politics The Malaysian mainstream press can be categorised as having gone through a major period of change since the early 1980s in terms of ownership and well as flourished amendments and policies that serves as a form of gate-keeping and control over the media. All forms of media introduced, newspaper, radio and television, directly went under the control of the government or companies that were aligned with the government. In Malaysia, obtaining information is often a tedious affair and can be frustrating applied not just for journalists but for the public because there are no Freedom of Information (FOI) laws. One of the events that aided towards a tight control over the mainstream media was during the 1969 elections, Barisan National while retaining a majority, lost many seats to extremist Chinese and Malay parties Yesudhasan Wong (2010) stated that Malaysia experienced one of the worst incident of ethnic violence in its history that came to be known as the May 13 incident. As part of the governments plan to sustain social order then, the government suspended the publications for all newspapers for two days starting from 16 May 1969, subsequently introduced a censorship law and banned the circulation of certain foreign magazines and newspapers that contained reports of the violence in Kuala Lumpur (Mustafa, 1999) Due to the incident, the government declared to have the rights to censor items that were deemed dangerous to national security. The Malaysian government appears to be misusing arguments of religious sensitive and cultural issues to manipulate the political system by limiting political freedom of the opposition and civil society which makes Malaysia a less democratic state (Azizuddin, 2008) Then, a new established body, the National Operations Council (NOC) was formed to resuscitate parliamentary democracy, rebuild public confidence and engender ethic harmony and a form contributing towards forming ethic harmony; an amendment was form whereby it prohibited any act, speech or publication that has a tendency to bring feelings of ill-will and enmity between the various ethnic groups (Zaharom, 1999) Thus the strong hold over the mainstream media begins. Many government leaders in the developing world justify their control over the media in terms of jealousy guarding and guiding its members towards the supposedly noble path of national development and to ensure that the media does not fall into the wrong hands or in other words, state control over the mainstream media has clearly been justified in the name of national development and national security (Mustafa, 2004) During elections, the media plays an important role in publicizing as well as plays a part in advertising politicians as well as their campaign. The mainstream media is fully controlled by Barisan Nationals needs to not only publicise but as Mustafa (2005) stated, flaunt to the whole country BNs achievements, particularly in the area of socioeconomic development. A wide coverage would done on the pro-government and minimal reporting would be done on the opposition. Media ownership generally plays in role in why Barisan national is constantly being flaunt and portrayed as the political party to vote for. After Malaysia gained independence in 1957, the mainstream print media was owned by private sector companies. Then the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) made a successful bid for the Utusan Melayu a few years afterwards. Over the years, the major English newspaper, The New Straits Times was also taken over by UMNO of the ruling National Front, while The Star was bought over by the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) and mainstream television channels like TV1, TV2 and TV3 were born, controlled by the government. According to an analysis on the coverage of Malaysias 2004 general elections by four mainstream newspapers (The Star, the New Straits Times (NST), Berita Harian and Utusan Melayu), the total number of news items that were positive towards BN among all four major newspapers were roughly 40% and above. The other part of the percentage went straight to new items that were negative towards the opposition. Only a slight number of news (4% and below) were negative new items towards BN. Mustafa (2005) also highlighted sample of headlines used by these newspapers that gave an idea of slant news reporting; Malaysians prefer Pak Lahs vision of Islam (NST, March 15 2004), Perlis merana jika pilih pembangang (Perlis suffers if opposition is voted) (Utusan Melayu, March 16 2004 ) This shows a high level of bias coverage within the highly influential mainstream newspapers during the 2004 general elections. Alternative Media and Politics With an obvious slant reporting and biasness from the mainstream media, cyber news is slowly taking over, becoming a more focused, better written, more informative and alternative to the mainstream newspapers and media. Like in the case of Marina Mahathir with The Column that wasnt; this piece was spiked by the Star because it touched in issues that were sensitive but since The Malaysian Multimedia and Communication Acts of 1998 promises that No censorship would be applied on Internet content, Marina published her column online together with ranting on why her column was spiked. What would stop the public now from reading that column online and have the same reaction if it was published in the mainstream newspaper? A study conducted by Zentrum Future Studies Malaysia in 2008 involving 1, 500 respondents between the age of 21 and 40 showed that the alternative media holds a big influence on young Malaysians. In the study, 64.5% of those ages from 21 to 30 years old trusted blogs and online media for reliable information. Those between 31 and 40 years old, 61.7% believed that information in blogs and online media are true. (Study Shows Why BN Lost the War, 2008) Yesudhasan Wong (2010) said that the young readership in Malaysia believes that the mainstream media are under the control of the government, always working continuously to ensure that the news are pro-government and has no or limited reports on sensitive issues. Various alternative news portals such as Malaysia Today, Malaysian Insider, Harakah Daily and MalaysiaKini provide media users with the alternative source to obtain political news or for those who have generally lost faith with the mainstream media. The parliamentary elections in 2008 brought the alternative media to a different level when weblogs, text messages and copies of Internet-streamed videos became the most influential information sources for voters ahead that resulted in a surprise blow to the Barisan National (BN) party, which has ruled the country for more than 50 years. After BNs worst election showing, in which it lost its two-thirds majority in the parliament, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi acknowledged March 25 that his coalition certainly lost the Internet war, and added that it was a serious misjudgement for his party to rely solely on government-controlled newspapers and television in its efforts to attract voters, (Kaufman, 2008). The alternative media gave media users a chance to hear what opposition parties have to say as it is not controlled by the government. Due to this, the government realize that the new media or alternative media is an important impartation in the political scene. Now, politicians are looking into the internet to gain communicate and display information to the mass society of internet users. Parti Keadilan Rakyat, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is in the blogspere at www.anwaribrahim.com, with regular updates on PKR as well as him opinions on what Malaysian the government should be doing. SMS is also another form of alternative media, in fact; it is a rather powerful form of communication tool if used wisely. Generally, there has been a passive use of SMS for politicians to pass on messages as well as information to voters from a national voter database, as well a more interactive use of it for politicians to communicate with party representatives, voters or the media (Kaur and Halimahton, 2004) A research done by Kaur and Halimahton (2004) analysed contents of several election-related SMS for the 2004 general election sent from the nomination date until a few days after the election ended that were being sent among 238 respondents. This number was the final sample for the pilot study. According to research, 51 general election-related messages sent by friends, colleagues, family members, political party members and NGOs were collected between nomination day, 13 March 2004, and polling day, 21 March 2004. Only one message could categorized as informative, provided by communication provider MAXIS, informing voters that they should check their voting status and voting location through SMS. Only a few proved to be informative and useful in helping voters with information on the general election. 19 out of 50 were shown to be ridiculing or condemning messages towards Barisan National. 60.5% of the respondents found the election-related messages to be useful and informative. 27% found the messages to be funny where as about 6% found the messages to be a nuisance. Thought most found the SMS to be useful and informative, only 31.9% were influenced to support a party of individual base on what they received. Data collected showed that the public primarily uses SMS to for jokes or to criticize certain candidates or political parties, no serious discussion was found among the sample of SMS messages to persuade voters to vote in a certain way. Another form of alternative media, Al-Jazera English (AJE) believes in their mission to provide voice to the voiceless. In a survey done by AJE on how AJE is perceived by participants, the respondents of the survey gave a ranking of more positive than negative, showing the respondents had a favourable perception of AJE with regard to how it performed the conciliatory media functions (Mohammed and Power, 2010) Among the points that participants agreed on was that AJE provided a public place for politically underrepresented groups, AJE provides multiple view points on a diversity of controversial issues and that AJE represents the interests of the international public in general rather than a specific group of people. During the protest that broke out in November 10, 2007 organized by BERSIH with the aim of reforming the electoral process, up to an estimated of 40,000 protestors came with force to draw attention from the government. What began as a peaceful protest, the Malaysian police tried to vanquish protestors with tear gas and fire hoses. The image of such going ons were shocking and while, the mainstream broadcast and print failed to cover the protests but obtain minimal coverage, AJE covered the whole thing live and in detail (Mohammed and Power, 2010) The coverage done by AJE was then placed online, on YouTube, receiving more than 250,000 viewers within the first week of the protest resulting in a largely stated influenced media resulted in the Malaysian mainstream medias largest credibility crisis to date (Mohammed and Power, 2010) Media, Politics and the Public Sphere The role of the media is to act as a safety valve to release any pent-up emotions on any issue or combination of issues facing our country; with the heavy ownership by government, the credibility and reliability of our mainstream media might die out one day. The media also acts as a public sphere that is critically important for modern societies as it serves as a forum whereby the public can communicate collectively on relevant issues as well as allowing citizens to inform or update themselves on societal developments to observe and control political, economic and other elites (Gerhards and Schafer, 2010) However, due to the hold back and tight gate-keeping from the mainstream media, Mustafa (2005) stated that the public sphere in Malaysian society has been further constrained so that ordinary citizens and concerned civil have not been able to fully express their views and to directly participate in the countrys democratic process. Earlier this year, NTV7 producer resigned in protest over his companys decision to stop his talk show from commenting on the upcoming by-election at Hulu Selangor, following pressure said to have emanated directly from the ruling coalition. A TV2 documentary on the controversial Bakun Dam and the forced relocation of Sarawaks natives was forced off the air, just before the Sibu parliamentary by-election took place. It is clear that open debate has little room to flourish in Malaysia, (Yeoh, 2010) Malaysiakini, an example of a alternative publication that flourished tremendously after the 2008 general elections. Steele (2009) stated that it is not the Internet that challenges the Barisan Nationals stranglehold power but it is actually the norms and values of independent journalism that have made MalaysiaKini such a threat to government authorities. This ideology of creating independent journalism with the alternative media not only changes those who work within the public sphere but also creates a democratic space for public discourse, one that the Malaysian society lacks. It not only gives voice to the voiceless but concrete prove or forms of information through video, audio and feedback tools. It shows media users sides of stories that they may not see. The seemingly mechanistic tools of fairness and balance, did you get the quote from the other side? become a means of guaranteeing that all voices will be heard (Steele, 2009) Conclusion The media plays an important role in the welfare of the society, working as an informer, an educator, a form of entertainment and an opinion influencer. With the current media ownership that poses credible threat and questions the credibility to the role of the media; media users need to consider, who to trust now? Political issues are highly dependent on the media as it is highlights what is important and is highly influential thus it works as a form to influence the political mind-set of media users. With the mainstream constantly bombarding pro-government issues towards society, media users now yearn for a different point of view, shifting to the alternative media to abstract that diverse opinion. In sight of how the media and politics are inter-wined, it is important that the opinions and comments of the public take place to form a democracy, in the words of Abraham Lincoln; for the people, by the people and of the people. Thus, the public sphere is important in the role to colle ct or obtain the voices of the public. The alternative media has already taken the role in proving that space for the public to take part in forming the countrys democracy; it is now up to the mainstream media to do the same, for a better political constitution of the country.

F. Scott Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby :: essays research papers

Nick Carraway’s Look at Man   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Nick Carraway, the first character introduced in Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, is primarily acts as the â€Å"guide and pathfinder†; he relates the story from what others have told him. He strives at all times to be objective, and his comments are balanced. His amusingly contemptuous remarks show his sense of humor, and although he is straight-laced, he does not bore the reader. Nick is introduced directly, but Gatsby remains a distant character for a good while. The establishment of Nick’s reflective, tolerant personality is essential, as are his limitations, so the reader doesn’t just dismiss him as Fitzgerald’s mouthpiece. The fact that he disapproves of Gatsby so early on helps the reader to go along with his judgments when he tells of Gatsby and unfolds the story.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The first mysterious glimpse of Gatsby prepares the reader for much of what is to come. The imagery of â€Å"silhouette,† â€Å"moonlight,† and â€Å"shadow† in this passage prepares the reader for Gatsby’s shadowy, dark character. Many more of his actions appear to the reader, and Nick, as â€Å"curious.† The fact he is‘ trembling’ shows he is intense in his emotions-- and none of this is for show; Gatsby believes he is alone. His concentration on the â€Å"single green light† represents his determination to succeed, his constant drive; everything is designed so he can be with Daisy. He then vanishes; echoing the end of the book.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Nick is unlike the other characters of the book; he is not one of the â€Å"careless people.† He has a conscience, he is not selfish-- he has decency, which is well demonstrated in his efforts for Gatsby’s funeral. His down-to-earth character shows how superficial Daisy and Tom are. They are ruthlessly practical, where as Gatsby is a hopeless dreamer. Nick guides the reader between these two extremes while remaining a detached observer whilst being involved in the action-- â€Å"I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Nick’s aim to be truthful and objective makes the reader trust him. When Nick says Gatsby has a â€Å"rare smile with a quality of eternal reassurance in it,† the reader knows his riches or parties, but is telling it to the reader straight aren’t charming Nick. His contempt for much of what Gatsby says, but also Nick’s tolerance, is emphasized when Nick doesn’t mock him-- ‘â€Å"I lived . .

Richard P. Feynman :: biographies biography bio

Richard Feynman, born on May 11, 1918 to Lucille and Melville Feynman, is remembered for many things by many people. He was Physicist, a Mathematician, a Noble Laureate in Physics, he worked at Los Alamos constructing the first atomic bomb, he probed the Challenger shuttle disaster, made new paths into Quantum Mechanics and Electrodynamics through Path Integrals and Feynman Diagrams, he was a teacher, a husband and a father. He was all these things and more, yet he was still just a man, like everyone else, and he liked to play the bongo drums. Feynman attended MIT where he received his bachelor if science degree and then Princeton for his Ph.D. It was during his time at Princeton that Feynman married his first wife, his high school sweetheart, Arline Greenbaum. Arline was already ill with tuberculosis at the time, and the young newlyweds could not even kiss. In 1942 the young couple left for Los Alamos where 24 year old Feynman would be made group leader in the theoretical division. Eventually Arline was admitted into the Albuquerque hospital where she eventually died in 1945. Feynman was very distraught. Feynman took several teaching positions over the following years, ending up at CalTech where he would spend the rest of his career. Feynman married two more time, in 1952 he married Mary Louise Bell, and in 1960 he married Gweneth Howarth. They had a son, Carl, and adopted a daughter, Michelle. During his time at CalTech Feynman agreed to teach a two-year course of introductory physics to freshman students. The lectures were recorded, transcribed and photographs were taken of all the blackboards. From these lectures three books, The Feynman Lectures on Physics, were published. Also published were two books by Ralph Leighton,Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman! in 1985 and What Do You Care What Other People Think? in 1988, both highly enjoyable books to read that capture the personal side of Feynman that he was so infamous for. Feynman died February 15, 1988 at the age of 69 from stomach cancer. The above picture is a formal pose of Feynman after receiving the Nobel Prize in Physics, along with Sin'ichiro Tomanaga and Julian Schwinger, for his work in Quantum Electrodynamics(QED). Although Tomanaga and Schwinger had independently created equivalent theories, it was Feynman's that proved to be the most original and far-reaching. Feynman was recruited onto the Los Alamos project in 1942, where he developed many experimental devices to test his theories, without having to blow up Los Alamos.

Religion at the time of the Communist Manifesto Essay -- Karl Marx Rel

Religion at the time of the Communist Manifesto Following the Industrial Revolution in 19th century Europe, change was in full swing and religion began to have different meanings for different people. The upper-class citizens used Religion, namely Christianity, and the power that it possessed in an attempt to keep their high status in society, while the lower class turned to faith so that their lives could possibly improve. Instead of religion being the cornerstone of faith and worship amongst all people, it was being used for power and money by the upper class. Even worse, religious leaders were using the upper class people as well, gaining money and authority from their endorsement. A man by the name of Karl Marx saw what was happening and thus spoke out about it, declaring religion as â€Å"the opium of the people.†[1] He had a vision for equality, and wrote it down in the form of the Communist Manifesto; however nowhere in this document were aspirations of religious harmony. Religion was becoming the c atalyst for class separation and social mayhem in 19th century Europe, and according to Karl Marx, equality was only possible with the abolition of it as a whole. In a time where industry was at a peak, and the wealthy citizens, or bourgeois, were getting richer and richer, religion was being used as a way to make money and ensure the power of the upper class, while the lower class proletariats could but watch their lives fade away into the horrific conditions of the working class, with little hope due to the lack of lower class education.[2] As religions spread out freely, the authoritarian peoples frequently used their power to embrace religion as a moneymaker, and prevent liberty from turning ... ...eger, 1961.) 33 [4] Armstrong, 178 [5] Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Manifesto of the Communist Party, trans. Samuel Moore (Chicago: Charles H. Kerr Publishing Company, 1989) [6] Friedrich Engels, The Condition of the Working-Class in England in 1844 (London: Swan Sonnenschein & Co., 1892) 45, 48-51. [7]) McClellan, 63 [8] Sherman, Dennis , and Joyce Salisbury. The West in the World. (Boston: McGraw Hill, 2001.) 617 [9] Lichtheim, 42. [10] Butterfield, Herbert. Christianity in European History. (London: Collins, 1951) 5. [11] Sherman, Salisbury, 617 Links: Professor Santamarina's webpage http://www.marxist.com/Theory/marxism_and_religion.html http://www.faithnet.freeserve.co.uk/marxism.htm http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/bookchin/comman.html http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/index.htm

Efeectiveness of Loyalty Programs in Big Bazaar

| 2011| | MARKETING OF SERVICES TERM PAPER PRADEEP KUMAR. N(M100002MS) | [EFFECTIVENESS OF LOYALTY PROGRAMS IN BIG BAZAAR]| | Contents page no 1. About the company 03 2. Significant features of big bazaar 04 3. Promotion techniques 04 4. Sales Promotion techniques 05 5. Loyalty programs 06 6. Customer experience 08 7. Research objective 09 8. Research methodology 09 9. Hypothesis and testing 10 10. Sampling plan 10 11. Findings 11 12. Conclusion 12 ABOUT THE COMPANY Big Bazaar is a chain of hypermarket in India. Currently, there are 210 stores across 80 cities and towns in India. Big Bazaar is designed as an agglomeration of bazaars or Indian markets with clusters offering a wide range of merchandise including fashion and apparels, food products, general merchandise, furniture, electronics, books, fast food and leisure and entertainment sections. Big Bazaar is part of Future Group, which also owns the Central Hypermarket, and is owned through a wholly owned subsidiary of Pantaloon Retail India Limited that is listed on Indian stock exchanges. Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited, is India’s leading retailer that operates multiple retail formats in both the value and lifestyle segment of the Indian consumer market. Headquartered in Mumbai (Bombay), the company operates over 10 million square feet of retail space, has over 1000 stores across 61 cities in India and employs over 30,000 people. The company’s leading formats include Pantaloons, a chain of fashion outlets, Big Bazaar, a uniquely Indian hypermarket chain, Food Bazaar, a supermarket chain, blends the look, touch and feel of Indian bazaars with aspects of modern retail like choice, convenience and quality and Central, a chain of seamless destination malls. Some of its other formats include, Depot,Shoe Factory, Brand Factory, Blue Sky, Fashion Station, aLL, Top 10, mBazaar and Star and Sitara. The company also operates an online portal, futurebazaar. com. A subsidiary company, Home Solutions Retail (India) Limited, operates Home Town, a large-format home solutions store, Collection i, selling home furniture products and E-Zone focused on catering to the consumer electronics segment. Pantaloon Retail was recently awarded the International Retailer of the Year by the US based National Retail Federation (NRF) and the Emerging Market Retailer of the Year 2007 at the World Retail Congress held in Barcelona. Pantaloon Retail is the flagship company of Future Group, a business group catering to the entire Indian consumption space. Pantaloon is not just an organization – it is an institution, a centre of learning & development. Over the years, the company has accelerated growth through its ability to lead change. A number of its pioneering concepts have now emerged as industry standards. For instance, the company integrated backwards into garment manufacturing even as it expanded its retail presence at the front end, well before any other Indian retail company attempted this. It was the first to introduce the concept of the retail departmental store for the entire family through Pantaloons in 1997. The company was the first to launch a hypermarket in India with Big Bazaar, a large discount store that it commissioned in Kolkata in October 2001. And the company introduced the country to the Food Bazaar, a unique ‘bazaar' within a hypermarket, which was launched in July 2002 in Mumbai. Embracing our leadership value, the company launched aLL in July 2005 in Mumbai, making us the first retailer in India to open a fashion store for plus size men and women. STRIKING FEATURES OF BIG BAZAAR * Food bazaar. Electronic bazaar. * Furniture bazaar. * FutureBazaar. com * Amusement zone. * Telecalling services PROMOTION TECHNIQUES * Big Bazaar – Isse sasta aur accha kahin nahi :- Big Bazaar has adopted value pricing in which they win loyal customers by charging a fairly low price for a high – quality offering. * Wednesday Bazaar – Hafte ka sabse sasta din :- In January 2007, Big Bazaar introduced a Wednesday Bazaar concept called â€Å"Hafte Ka Sabse Sasta Din† with the aim to give homemakers the power to save the most on this day of the week. Sabse Saste Teen Din (Big days) :- In 2006 they started a new shopping festival, i. e. Sabse Saste Teen Din on 24, 25 and 26th of January. Big bazaar throwed up to 65% of on each & every products in the store for three days. * Big Bazaar announced The Great Exchange Offer with a â€Å"Bring anything old and take anything new† concept which started from the 16th of Feb 2008 at the Landmark store. SALES PROMOTION TECHNIQUES The various promotional schemes undertaken by big bazaar are as follows: * The punch line of Big Bazaar says â€Å"IS SE SASTA AUR ACCHA KAHI NAHI†. This line gives the feeling that Big Bazaar gives merchandise which is cheapest in the market or in other words the value for money which a customer will be getting here will be more than anywhere else. * Wednesday is the cheapest day. This is done to divert some of the crowd coming on weekends to a relatively free day. Big bazaar advertises Wednesdays as the cheapest day in all the leading dailies across the capital. This offer targets housewives and encourages them to purchase groceries and vegetables because no one purchases vegetables on a weekly basis, they purchase it at least two times a week. * Big Bazaar has announced a unique exchange offer `Bring anything old and take anything new’. Under the exchange offer, old garments, utensils, furniture, plastic ware, newspapers or just about anything will be weighed and valued and customers will be given exchange coupons. There is also a direct exchange on mobile and electronic goods during the period with attractive discounts on new purchases. * Big Bazaar’s `The Great Exchange Offer’ has mobilized more than two lakh families to actually carry the junk of the house and offload it at the nearest Big Bazaar. Retail analysts say that generally February and March are dull months for consumer buying in the country and therefore this kind of a promotion campaign is needed to boost sales during the period. PANTALOON group’s hypermarkett chain, Big Bazaar, celebrated Republic Day as the Maha Savings Day, when shoppers at Big Bazaar and Food Bazaar outlets across the country, were offered merchandise at rock bottom prices. * The Maha Savings Day saw shoppers got deals they have never seen or heard before. The offers spread across categories from electronics to utensils, from apparel to furniture and also food. For example pressure cooker for Rs 299, two Ruf n Tuf Jeans for Rs 499, and a M otorola C115 for Rs 1,399. Big Bazaar usually runs a full page advertisement on Saturdays and Sundays in all the leading dailies communicating various offers. This is done to attract crowds on weekends because most of the people usually shop during weekends. * Pantaloons retail India limited provides Green card, this Green Card is passport to a whole new world of exclusive benefits and privileges. These includes: * Instant discounts for every time you shop at Pantaloons. * Exclusive shopping days to get hold of latest merchandise. Regular updates on collections and promos via catalogues, sms and email. * Special invites to the most happening events. * Extended exchange periods and complimentary drops for alterations. * Exclusive billing counters and much more. * Big bazaar in association with ICICI banks has launched loyalty cards for the customers. They are: * ICICI Bank Big Bazaar Silver Credit Card : It gives you the benefits of regular cards and additional features to make your shopping not only enjoyable but also a way to save more with Big Bazaar. ICICI Bank Big Bazaar Gold Credit Card :The card brings to you more reasons to save and earn rewards on its usage. It gives you all the benefits of regular cards and additional features to make your shopping not only enjoyable but also a way to save more with Big Bazaar. * Shakti Card Shakti is a credit card for housewives. You need not submit income proof. Simply show your Big Bazaar bill of more than Rs. 500 and a lifestyle proof like club membership card, health club card etc. And get your ‘Shakti’. You can use Shakti at all the Big Bazaar and Food Bazaar outlets * T24 In June 2010, Future Group in partnership with TTSL rolled out a mobile service called T24 for its customers. As part of the offer, customers were rewarded with free talk time for every purchase above Rs. 500 made at Future Group shopping outlets across all formats and locations. LOYALTY PROGRAMS * Big bazaar in association with ICICI banks has launched loyalty cards for the customers. They are: * ICICI Bank Big Bazaar Silver Credit Card : It gives you the benefits of regular cards and additional features to make your shopping not only enjoyable but also a way to save more with Big Bazaar. * ICICI Bank Big Bazaar Gold Credit Card :The card brings to you more reasons to save and earn rewards on its usage. It gives you all the benefits of regular cards and additional features to make your shopping not only enjoyable but also a way to save more with Big Bazaar. * Shakti Card Shakti is a credit card for housewives. You need not submit income proof. Simply show your Big Bazaar bill of more than Rs. 500 and a lifestyle proof like club membership card, health club card etc. And get your ‘Shakti’. You can use Shakti at all the Big Bazaar and Food Bazaar outlets * T24 In June 2010, Future Group in partnership with TTSL rolled out a mobile service called T24 for its customers. As part of the offer, customers were rewarded with free talk time for every purchase above Rs. 500 made at Future Group shopping outlets across all formats and locations. CUSTOMERS EXPERIENCE The customer experience among the big bazaar customers is comprised of the following Components: POPULATING THE CUSTOMER PROFILE: To create the Ideal Customer Experience, Big Bazaar populates the Customer Profile with the relevant information . the customers who are having very similar buying patterns in the big bazaar are populated and an analysis is done so as to find the preferences of the products of these groups, including various promotion strategies and offers. DELIVERING AND RECEIVING VALUE AT EACH CUSTOMER INTERACTION: Big Bazaar views each interaction as a golden opportunity to deliver value through its products, services, and processes, as well as to receive valuable information from the Customer in the form of feedback. CUSTOMIZING THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE: By understanding an individual’s needs, it creates the Ideal Customer Experience by Customizing the products, services, and processes to meet the Needs of the individual customer RESEARCH OBJECTIVE * The objective of the research is to find the effectiveness of loyalty programs in BIG BAZAAR ,i. e whether loyalty programs attract customer attention or not in todays competetive scenario . * To find out the increase in customer loyalty by measuring various factors. * To find out customer’s reactions to various loyalty programs and change in their purchase decision due to these programs. To analyze customer’s expectations from retail format like convenience store in terms of offering of loyalty programs. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Research problems:- consumer’s reactions and expectation from loyalty programs of convenience store format, Big Bazaar. †¢ Research methodology: Exploratory method †¢ Descriptive research: is a type of research conducted when we have to find out the frequency with which Something occurs. This research is guided by initial hypothesis. HYPOTHESIS AND TESTING Hypothesis testing for this report has evolved around formulating a null hypothesis and an alternative hypothesis as regards to the percentage of population availing the loyalty programs H(o) Null Hypothesis :Mostly 70% of the population would be Availing the loyalty programs carried out by Big bazaar. H(T) Alternative Hypothesis:- Less than 70% of the population Would be availing the loyalty programs carried out by Big Bazaar. At 5% level of significance I tested the above mentioned hypothesis as per the results obtained. The Chi-Square test has been taken up as the selection criteria for the above mentioned data. The Chi-Square test which shows the magnitude of discrepancy between observed and expected frequency can be expressed symbolically as X2= Summation of (O-E)2 E Where, O= Observed set of frequencies E= Expected set of frequencies SAMPLING PLAN I selected a sample size of 51 ,I gave a questionnaire and interviewed the samples in the OLD MADRAS BIG BAZAAR in BANGALORE Questionnaire Sample Methods| Random Simple Sampling| Sample size| 51| Primary data| Questionnaire| Interview Sample Units| sampling unit is Noida area. | Source of data| through primary sources| Market survey & area| | Sampling size| 51| FINDINGS * Big Bazaar has been preferred by most of the Households frequently and they use to purchase daily Requirement material from there. While still 15% of People don’t prefer to buy daily requirement items from Organized formats. The data predicts that customers at nearby locations of Big Bazaar prefer to go to there often but it is not a destination for customers every time. * 35% go there oftenly * 30% go there occasionally * 15% go everytime * 20% people go there sometimes * The ratio of customers using loyalty programs floats between 60%-62%. Educated people are giving more Attention to the loyalty card due to the awareness of its future benefits monetarily as well as in getting right information of the production. Most of the custo mers feel satisfied from the loyalty program offerings of Big Bazaar so it has been successful in fulfilling customer’s expectations. While 25% of customers still want to get some more benefits in return of their loyalty to the store. * Customers feel 55% motivated to shop from Big Bazaar due to their loyalty programs. Conclusion In my calculations: The calculated value of is more than the table value. So, the hypothesis is REJECTED i. e. less than 70% of the population is only availing the loyalty program carried out by Big Bazaar. There are maximum customers who are satisfied with the merchandising of the store and they find every product of brand in each category and shelf according to their choices. They are having some complains regarding the future cards. * Customers wait for discount loyalties provided by them but not too much. * Customers are not aware of the benefits of the card. * Many of the customers are not even using any of the loyalty Program. * Store has been a big flop at online shopping centre as people want to touch and select their items before purchase