Has the marketing mix for Volkswagen been successful Coursework

Has the marketing mix for Volkswagen been successful - Coursework Example This report will focus primarily on promotion at Volkswagen and psychographic segmentation and targeting strategies, since the recent successes at VW in the last four to five years has been highly dependent on these activities and marketing strategies. The report describes pricing structure at Volkswagen and the rationale for this strategy, followed by acknowledgement of product and place in the marketing mix, with a continuing in-depth discussion of promotional activities domestic and international that has led to higher sales since 2008. 2.1 Pricing and Product at Volkswagen One marketing manager at Volkswagen describes the rationale for pricing at the company: â€Å"We are targeting young, self-confident city dwellers†¦that want a car which ticks all the technical boxes, epitomizes lifestyle and is a little unconventional in terms of looks† (Volkswagen 2010, p.91). The market share in Europe contributes most to the sales revenues and profit of VW, a market that is domi nated by small-sized passenger cars produced by companies such as Kia, Hyundai, and Fiat (among many others). These cars typically carry much lower prices due to their efficiency in petrol mileage and limited features. Customers have dedicated brand following to many of these competitive models, thus in order to gain market attention from the young professional between 21 and 34, the business must devote much of its production capacity and capabilities to producing small- to mid-size cars as competitive low-end pricing. In the UK and the United States, as one example, the list price is approximately $19,000 for the Passat (the company’s largest international seller). This price structure is compared to other small-sized... The report describes pricing structure at Volkswagen and the rationale for this strategy, followed by the acknowledgement of product and place in the marketing mix, with a continuing in-depth discussion of promotional activities domestic and international that has led to higher sales since 2008. One marketing manager at Volkswagen describes the rationale for pricing at the company: â€Å"We are targeting young, self-confident city dwellers†¦that want a car which ticks all the technical boxes, epitomizes lifestyle and is a little unconventional in terms of looks†. Volkswagen continues to use actors and endorsers and messages in the promotion that are highly relevant to lifestyle and attitudes, thus improving brand equity and long-term market loyalty. Trust in the brand is built around the market communications offered by Volkswagen that revolves strongly around satisfying consumer demands and promoting â€Å"affordable innovations†. This company would seem to be a b enchmark of the theoretical concept of effective customer relationship management, through its dedication to establishing operational components, the marketing mix, sales dealerships, and communications precisely linked to customer social and psychological value systems and emotional competencies in this age group. Examination of research on Volkswagen did not indicate any negative sentiment from the brand in existing key target markets.

Principle And Practice Of Assessment Theory

Principle And Practice Of Assessment Theory Within unit three of principles and practice of assessment, we as students were required to research the following areas: Principles of assessment, Peer and Self Assessment, Feedback and Questioning and Assessment Record Requirements. Research was completed on the four topics to help increase understanding and background knowledge of the areas. Further examination of these topics would allow me to think about the way in which I teach my students, be able to incorporate the ideas and illustrate the process of teaching and learning using these methods. During the research, it was intended that we explore the topics given, selecting and analysing material and using it to relate to the specialised area in which we teach. Initially, we worked as a group to research the principles of assessment which we were then to present back to other students as a micro teaching session. Petty (2004, pg 219) suggests that group work is active and gives students †¦chance to use the methods, principles and vocabulary that they are being taught. Assessment is a method which measures the extent and degree of learning which has taken place within or outside of the classroom. Skills, knowledge and attitudes can be measured against a pre determined standard set by the tutor or examining body of a subject module or qualification. Dictionary.com (2009) defines assessment as the act of assessing; appraisal; evaluation. As Petty (2004) suggests, assessment serves many different purposes. It can grade the attainment of learners, help to select candidates for jobs or courses, contribute to evidence the effectiveness of a course content and tutors abilities and provide a long term goal for learners. Assessment also allows opportunity to adjust teaching to ensure all targets or criteria is being met. However, it has been argued that assessment is unreliable and inaccurate and is a poor tool of predicting a students future performance. There are various types of assessment methods; these include initial diagnostic, formative, summative, norm and criterion referencing. Assessment starts at the very beginning of a students academic career. The initial or diagnostic assessment can take on many forms such as an informal chat to an entrance essay or examination. The goal is to attempt to find out as much information as possible about the student. The more information we have on the student, the more we can adapt the learning experience, to suit the learners needs. When working with adults with learning disabilities it is crucial that a tutor tries identify the abilities of a student as soon as possible. This is so we can identify their basic literacy and numeracy and as to whether we will have to place extra staff support into the classroom to ensure an inclusive environment. Often a student and tutor will create an Individual Learning Plan or ILP, which will identify learners needs and support they may require as well as any goals they may have for the future. Initial assessment can also help identify a students learning style. Gravells (2008) believes that †¦a key part of initial assessment is to involve your learners in assessing their own skills and knowledge. Formative assessment is continuous and frequent and is a tool used to inform the student and the tutor of students progress and whether they are meeting the objectives of the course. This form of assessment provides information and feedback upon which decisions and adaptations can be made and provides students with directions for future learning. Research has shown, (Petty, 2004) that this feedback while you learn has more effect on student achievement than any other factor. It gives students an intrinsic motivation to learn rather than extrinsic, therefore doing something or learning something because they want to not because they have been told they have to. Generally the results of formative assessment do not contribute to a students final grade but are purely for the purpose of assisting students to understand their strengths and weaknesses in order to work towards improving their overall performance. A major barrier to the effectiveness of formative assessment is the fact that t he mark generated doesnt usually count towards a students final grade and therefore students can be less motivated to put a great deal of effort into such assessment. Brown and Knight (1999) suggest that if used in an effective manner, formative assessment can help students to be more autonomous in their learning and to reflect on their performances and take responsibility for their academic growth. As a tutor, I tend to rely on formative assessment with my students; the reason for this is to alleviate any stress or nerves for the student. Due to having a student with autism, the idea of a formal summative assessment would upset that student and impact on their final grade. Summative assessment occurs at the end of a course or academic year. It is often achieved by the means of an examination or test which is †¦designed to differentiate between candidates on the basis of the breadth and depth of their learning. (Petty, 2004 pg 466). Summative  assessment is also seen as formal testing of what has been learned in order to produce marks or grades which may be used for reports of various types.  Ã‚  Research by the Assessment and Learning Research Synthesis Group has shown that the emphasis of formative assessment can help students to learn and be motivated to learn, whereas the use of summative assessment can have a negative impact on pupils motivation. Within the learning environment, norm and criterion referencing is also used. James (2002) suggests that Best practice in grading in higher education involves striking a balance between criterion-referencing and norm-referencing. A norm referenced test compares students achievements relative to other students achievements. This is often apparent with the General Certificate in Education (GCSE). Criterion referenced test does not compare student with student but requires the student to meet a certain set of criteria or targets to be seen as competent. This can be seen in National Vocational Qualifications (NVQ). Criterion referencing emphasizes the achievements of a student against a predetermined set of standards rather than comparison to another student. Criterion referencing can provide a tutor with the information of exactly what a student has learnt; therefore identify the abilities of that student. With this information, a student can then fill in any gaps of knowledge they may have missed. Whereas norm referencing can only show a tutor how one student has performed against another. When working with students with learning disabilities, I often rely on initial/diagnostic assessment to ensure I can provide the correct support for that student. Using formative assessment can also motivate my students, Most students with learning disabilities respond favorably too seeing their academic progress charted, and this can become†¦a very motivational tool. Bender, 2002, pg 116). Another area that we researched, through individual research and peer micro teach sessions were peer and self assessment. Petty (2008) believes that Self assessment encourages reflection and purposeful activity towards useful goals, as well as encouraging learners to become responsible for their own learning. Kolb (1984) proposed a four stage cycle of learning and within one of those stages was observation and reflection. This stage allows students to take a step back from the task in hand and review what they have done and the experience of it. Which then moves on to the abstract conceptualisation stage and allows students to plan how they might carry out the task differently. Whilst working with students with learning disabilities, I often use peer assessment. Behaviourist theory suggests that giving feedback whether positive or negative, will enable students to behave in a certain way. Skinner (1974) believed that a learner will repeat a desired behaviour if positive reinforcement follows. During a session with my students I often allow them to assess each others work, students are always almost honest and do not hold back their thoughts and feelings. This often motivates students to work harder or continue that particular behaviour due to the fact they get praise and can encourage self correction. On the other hand, when working with mainstream students, they may not always be honest when assessing each others, worrying in case they upset their peer or being bias because they have issues with the student they are assessing. Feedback and questioning can play an important role in assessing our students. There are many reasons why as a tutor we would use questions, but mainly it is to assess our students learning. Questioning allows us to check understanding and whether learning has taken place. It can also encourage participation within a classroom and allows us to draw on students experiences. Effective questioning is an assessment tool in which I use as a tutor of adults with learning disabilities, as many students cannot portray their ideas or thoughts on paper due to their lack of literacy skills. Using probing questions, either open or closed allows differentiation within my classroom and ensures an inclusive environment. Petty (2008) implies that questioning has a crucial advantage when considering student motivation in the classroom. Nothing motivates quite as much as the glow of satisfaction that a student gets when he or she answers a question correctly. (Petty, 2008, pg 183). Giving rewarding fe edback following this will encourage student learning and they have seen they can succeed. Feedback is a way of communicating information back to the student. We must ensure that when giving feedback to a student, it should be done in a positive manner which enhances, rather than damages their self-esteem. Negative feedback will often demotivate the student and make them feel as though they have failed. Internet site Brooks.ac.uk (2009) suggests that There is a school of thought that praise of a students work will lead to under-performance, whereas criticism will spur them on to greater achievements. There seems to be very little evidence that such a strategy is successful in achieving its goals. While there are dangers in becoming too blasà © about ones achievements, negative criticism can be highly de-motivating. However, it is necessary that as a tutor we must point out the shortcomings of a students work to ensure they meet the criteria set, it is the manner in which we do it to ensure progression. We as a teacher should †¦support the student in finding their own way of correcting problems, and should not do all the work for them. (Rogers, 2001). When giving feedback to my own student, it is essential that it is clear and specific and must not focus on too may aspects at the same time as this may confuse or upset the student. We must also ensure that feedback is delivered in a suitable area or environment so not to distress the student. A feedback session should also conclude with the student and tutor agreeing what should be done for the student to succeed. The final area that was to be researched was the types of assessment records that which would be needed to meet organisational and external requirements. It is important that as a tutor we keep records of our learners, both personal and how they are progressing. Initial assessment records are an essential tool as this would inform us of the students background and where the student expects the course to take him or her. Information received by these methods needs to be recorded in a way that the student, tutor, organisation and external bodies can access at any time. External bodies may need access for funding reasons. They can be stored in a portfolio for the student for ease of access by all concerned. An awarding body such as City and Guilds will monitor the teaching of a course and therefore teachers must keep records of what and how they are teaching, as well as formative and summative assessment records. This will allow a process called internal or external verification to take place to ensure quality teaching and learning is taking place. Formative assessment records will also allow teachers to fill in any gaps of knowledge that their students may have. Learning institutions will often be inspected by the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted), this is to promote service improvement and ensure an inclusive educational environment for all students. The points which were researched, by group work, individual research and through peer micro teach sessions are areas that tutors need to be aware of and are imperative to successful teaching. As a tutor we need to be tuned in to a variety of issues to ensure that we meet the needs of all learners and organisations.

Babylon Revisted :: essays papers

Babylon Revisted This Story was intriguing to me for several reasons. Fitzgerald gradually unwinds the plot, posing new questions as he goes. Charlie seems to be someone who has experienced the best as well as the worst in life and it has made him a stronger person. However, his time revisiting Paris proves how one’s past can come back to haunt you. It seems this might be a fairly typical story in the era of the stock market boom and the infamous crash. In this story Fitzgerald slowly shows the past of the main character, Charlie. He is obviously well educated and has been wealth at some point. He speaks of collage and communicates with elegance. Charlie gradually comes to speak of times when he threw away large sums of money for no reason other than entertainment. At one point he speaks of being treated like royalty with the other Americans partying in Paris. A page before that he tells how he spoiled Paris for himself, that the days went by without his knowing. This shows the diversity that the character represents. The darker sides of Charlie’s life are presented through another character, Marion along with her husband Lincoln. These people are related to him by marriage only and have custody of his daughter. Marion reveals the extent of Charlie’s drinking and the problems that arose out of his marriage to her sister, Helen. Marion says that she questions Charlie’s character when he asks to take his daughter, Honoria, home with him. I find this interesting because at one point he also questions his own character saying â€Å" he wanted to jump back a whole generation and trust in character again as the eternally valuable element. Marion seems to blame Charlie for the death of her sister almost goes far enough to accuse him of being involved saying, â€Å"How much you were responsible for Helen’s death I don’t know.† The story takes a turn when Charlie has finally convinced Marion to allow Honoria to travel home with him. As they make the agreements Charlie’s old friends, representing his past, show up at the home of Marion and her family. When they leave Marion rushes out of the room. Her husband claims that shock makes her physically sick. I think that Fitzgerald is trying to make the notion here that Marion is in no better state than Charlie has ever been in.

Early Perspectives in Psychology Essay

Structuralism emphasized that the objective of psychology is to study the elements of consciousness and to learn how it operates and how it influences behavior (Eysenck, 1998). Structuralism focused more on the structure of consciousness and tried to identify the different experiences that each sensation and perception elicited. They believed that by breaking down the elements of each sensation, they would be able to gain a better understanding of human behavior. For example they tried to identify the different tastes that a person could experience, like salty, sour, sweet and bitter. By identifying the structure of the experience and of how a person perceives it, psychologists can identify the different behaviors that the individual may exhibit based on that experience, like when someone who eats something salty may make a grimace and then look for a drink. The method used by structuralists’ was introspection or the systematic observation of one’s experience. Structuralism was an attempt by psychology to become scientific; experiments were conducted to define the different elements of consciousness. Psychologists were trained to explore behavior by analyzing their own experience, introspectionism as a method was heavily criticized because it was a vague concept that did not lend itself to scientific replication. Moreover, it was difficult to learn and was subjective. Structuralism however provided a limited view of psychology and there arose a different perspective called behaviorism. Behaviorism posits that the goal of psychology is to examine behavior. Overt behavior as seen by behaviorists as the only human facet that can be objectively analyzed, how a person reacts or behaves towards a stimuli explains behavior (Zimbardo, Gerrig & Richard, 1999). Behaviorists believed that a person can be trained to exhibit a certain behaviory providing him/her with the right environment and learning. Although behaviorism gained popularity in the field of psychology, many criticized it as being too mechanistic and take the humanness out of the person. One of the appeal of behaviorism however was that it was very objective and treated mental processes as kind of a black box that should not be given due importance because it was not overtly possible. Behaviorists think that a person’s behavior is a reaction to the presenting stimuli. Behaviorism used the scientific method to study behavior; one of its most important contributions is the concept of classical and operant conditioning. It has been applied to a wide range of psychological fields like education, training and psychotherapy. Psychoanalysis was developed by Freud in the period when Behaviorism was at its height. Psychoanalysis as a psychological perspective says that man’s behavior is influenced by his experiences during childhood (Conlan, 1994). Psychoanalysis also believes that human behavior is greatly influenced by the unconscious part of the human mind. He likened the human mind to an iceberg wherein the tip was the part that was conscious. Psychoanalytic theory argues that an individual’s internal conflict is brought about by the repressed desires of the person. The method used by psychoanalysis is free association, wherein the person is asked to relate to the therapist what comes to mind, aside from free association, psychoanalysis also delved into dream analysis and hypnosis. The theory was criticized for giving too much importance to the unconscious and at that time, Freud offered a controversial perspective of human behavior which many did not understand, however it has become one of the most important theories in psychology and many theorists within this orientation developed. Psychoanalytic theory however lacked scientific credence as it was focused on personal thoughts, memories and interpretations of which differed from one theorist to another.

Poetry Explication Essay

Sir Walter Raleigh (1552-1618) was called a â€Å"silver poet of his time because of the way he did not conform to the poet writing style of the Renaissance era. He became fairly popular with Queen Elizabeth I and was knighted in 1585. But he fell out of her good graces when he secretly married ladies without her permission. The queen locked him in the Tower of London for some time, and while he was locked up he was writing poetry. He was ultimately arrested and executed in 1618 to appease the Spanish government for some ransacking that his men did on one of their voyages through America. His works are everything from plain to somber and that is one of the main things that made him a great poet. The Nymph’s Reply  Ã¢â‚¬Å"The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd† by Sir Walter Raleigh has many themes and interpretations. The poem describes love and time, but the most important thing that I think it describes is â€Å"Carpe Diem† or seizing the day. The poem is a response to Christopher Marlowe’s â€Å"The Passionate Shepherd to His Love†. Marlowe’s poem describes a shepherd trying to win over the one he loves by promising her all of these earthly things, but Raleigh’s poem is the woman seemingly denying the shepherd’s advances and saying that all of the earthly things that he promised will all eventually pass away and be forgotten. The Nymph says that the only way we can be together is if youth lasted forever and their passionate love knew no time. I believe that the theme of this poem is carpe diem and the poetic elements that support that are alliteration, visual imagery, and situational irony. The first element that helps describes Carpe Diem is in the poem is alliteration. Raleigh’s use of alliteration really helps get his points across to the reader and helps the transactions be smoother. Like in the line, â€Å"These pretty pleasures might me move† (1224), Raleigh uses alliteration to almost mock the shepherd’s advances on the nymph. And also in the line, â€Å"Time drives the flocks from field to fold† (1224), Raleigh  uses alliteration to help to say that time changes everything. That is the reason why alliteration supports the theme of Carpe Diem. The only way the Nymph will accept the shepherd’s love is if they forever live in the present where they are young and passionate. The nymph does not want earthly things that will wither or sour throughout time, but rather she wants things to be eternal and stay fresh. These examples are a perfect form of Carpe Diem, and that is why alliteration helps get the main point across to the reader. The next poetic element that helps represent Carpe Diem in the poem is the imagery, more specifically the visual imagery. Raleigh uses imagery to help support Carpe Diem by showing the disadvantages of time. He shows the readers how moods change with the seasons, flowers will wither, and things grow old all through imagery. Like in the lines, â€Å"Thy cap, thy kirtle, and thy posies Soon break, soon wither, soon forgotten† (1224-1225), Raleigh helps the reader see the flowers withering through time. He even does so well as to put images in the reader’s mind of things fading away and being forgotten. When Raleigh uses imagery to diminish time he is also using it to uplift Carpe Diem at the same time. And that is how imagery helps support the theme of Carpe Diem. The final poetic element that helps support the theme of Carpe Diem is irony. And the specific irony used in the poem is situational irony. The sense of helplessness by the shepherd is apparent throughout the poem. The shepherd has to listen to the nymph deny all the things he promised her, and tell him that the only way that they can be together forever is if they can stay young forever. This is why it is situational irony because there is nothing the shepherd can do so that he and the nymph can live young forever. The best he can give her is Carpe Diem and try to live in the now while the passion is still fresh, but ultimately they could never be together forever. This sense of situational irony is why it is a perfect example of Carpe Diem. In conclusion the poem itself really displayed strong cultural values of its time period. It showed that during the time of romanticism Carpe Diem was a big thing back then. It was a great poem with many key points and I enjoyed  reading it.