Customer relationship management Essay Example for Free

Customer relationship management Essay Abstract Purpose – This paper aims to provide insights into the development and management of a customer community, informing product innovation and engaging customers in co-creation of a consumption experience. Design/methodology/approach – A review of the state of current knowledge about co-production, co-creation and customer communities is followed by discussion of the case study methodology. The case history of a leading player in the UK and international â€Å"sportkiting† market focuses on product innovation and customer-community development. Discussion re? ects in more detail on the lessons from the case for application of the principles in practice. Findings – The case company’s innovative product development strategy provides the catalyst for co-creation of a customer experience. Its marketing actions extend beyond product development and innovation to actively co-creating experiences with customers, fostering a sense of community among users, facilitating communication within that community, acting on the feedback, and continuously developing and maintaining the community relationship. Research limitations/implications – The company’s marketing strategy can be summed up as â€Å"customer community leadership†. This paradigm proposes a new role for businesses in sectors where there is a potential to develop and engage communities. It provides a context for the effective facilitation of customer knowledge management, within which marketing intelligence plays a signi? cant role. The ? ndings offer scope for further research into the nature of this phenomenon and its relevance to co-creation in other industry sectors, and into numerous aspects of the processes and impacts associated with customer communities. Originality/value – The case contributes to the literature of co-creation, demonstrating how it has been achieved through a marketing strategy and marketing mix in a particular customer community. Keywords Customer relations, Innovation, Relationship marketing, Leadership Paper type Case study Marketing Intelligence Planning Vol. 25 No. 2, 2007 pp. 136-146 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0263-4503 DOI 10. 1108/02634500710737924 Introduction. The increased complexity, globalization and knowledge-intensity of marketplaces require all businesses to make better use of their technological, organizational and marketing competences in order to survive. Contemporary organizations in highly competitive and highly innovative markets must be able to build market share quickly, by delivering fast, high quality, innovative solutions. The changing organisational environment has driven interest in organisational learning and knowledge management (Drucker, 1993; Prusak, 1997). Many studies have con? rmed customer knowledge as one of the most important knowledge bases for an organisation (Bennett and Gabriel, 1999; Chase, 1997), and there is a considerable interest in the potential of â€Å"co-production† and â€Å"co-creation† either individually or in community contexts, to enhance innovation and business performance (Gibbert et al. , 2002). Focus on the engagement of customers in organizational learning, innovation and knowledge processes heralds the dawn of a new paradigm of marketing intelligence in  which data and information are not simply gathered into databases and distilled to inform management decision making, but rather marketing intelligence is embedded in dynamic co-creation processes that involve customers as partners rather than subjects. Through a case study analysis and critique of a leading manufacturer of kiteboarding equipment, this paper seeks to provide insights into the engagement and management of a customer community, to inform product innovation and to engage customers in co-creation of a sporting experience. The case contributes to the literature of co-creation and speci?cally to the way in which communities can be enlisted in the co-creation of experiences. It begins with a literature review, outlining the state of current knowledge on co-production and co-creation and on customer communities, followed by a description of the case study methodology. A pro? le of the company, with particular reference to its product development and community development follows leads to re? ection in detail on the contribution from this case. Finally, conclusions and recommendations provide a summary of the issues. The concept of â€Å"customer community leadership† is proposed, and agendas for further research identi? ed. Literature review This section draws together current knowledge on two key themes: co-creation, or co-production, and customer communities. Research on both of these themes ? ts broadly within the paradigm or philosophy of relationship marketing. As the main plank of a marketing strategy, relationship marketing aims to build long term, mutually satisfying relations with customers, suppliers and distributors with the key objective of earning and retaining their long-term preference, loyalty and business (Foss and Stone, 2001; Peck et al., 1999; Buttle, 1996; Massey et al. , 2001). In discussing the absence of a consensus on the term relationship marketing, and on the appropriateness of the term, other authors have suggested that a focus on interactions and networks of interactions between businesses and their customers might be more meaningful (Healy et al. , 2001; Zoliewski, 2004). The concepts of co-production and customer communities both focus on interactions. Communities, in particular, involve networks of interactions. The theme of interaction between customers and organizations in product and service innovation is developed in the literature on co-production. Prahalad and Ramaswamy (2000) suggest that companies have to recognise that the customer is becoming a partner in creating value, and need to learn how to harness customer competences. One aspect of this will be the engagement of customers in co-creating personal experiences. The body of work on co-creation and co-production has grown in recent years. Kristensson et al. (2004) have examined the bene? Ts of involving users in suggesting new product ideas, ? nding that ordinary users created signi? cantly more original and valuable ideas than professional developers, whilst professional developers and advanced users created more easily reliable ideas. At a more modest level of customer engagement, Salomo et al. (2003) found that customer orientation in innovation projects (not necessarily, in this case, customer engagement) had a positive in? uence on NPD success and that the impact increased with the degree of product innovativeness. Similarly, Hsieh and Chen (2005) showed that new product development performance can be enhanced by interacting with users, and capitalising on user-knowledge management competences. Matthing et al. (2004) suggest that the Customer community and co-creation 137 MIP 25,2 138 value of customer involvement in new service development resides in the opportunity to facilitate proactive learning about the customer, and to understand and anticipate latent customer needs. Lilien et al. (2002) suggest that user contribution to the idea generation process is optimised through the careful selection of â€Å"lead users† to participate in the process. Dahlsten (2004) discusses customer involvement in the case of a product development project at Volvo Cars, which allowed the project management team to acquire an understanding of the customer through â€Å"customer presence†. A study comparing the sources of product and process innovation in large and small technology-based ? rms found that product developers in SMEs valued customers, co-workers, marketing and journals more highly, whilst suppliers were particularly valued by large ? rms (Bommer and Jalajas, 2004). Co-creation might be viewed as an aspect of customer-knowledge competence, the processes that generate knowledge about speci? c customers (Campbell, 2003). Gibbert et al. (2002, p. 460) describe customer knowledge management as a process in which organisations seek to â€Å"know what their customers know† and de? ne it as: . . . the strategic process by which cutting-edge companies emancipate their customers from passive recipients of products and services, to empowerment as knowledge partners. CKM is about gaining, sharing, and expanding the knowledge residing in customers, to both customer and corporate bene? It is thus concerned with an understanding of how to elicit and leverage knowledge from customers. Their emphasis on interacting with customers and co-production, extending to co-learning, lifts the focus from collecting data and information in order to learn about customers to learn with customers. They discuss ? ve different styles of customer knowledge management, including â€Å"prosumerism† where the customer acts as co-producer, and â€Å"communities of creation† in which groups of people work together, have shared interests, and want to jointly create and share knowledge. The focus of co-production research is often on product innovation and new product development, with some contributions relating to service development (Matthing et al. , 2004). However, Prahalad and Ramaswamy (2003), suggest a future in which the locus of innovation and co-production will shift from products and services to â€Å"experience environments†. This suggestion aligns with other proposals that the â€Å"experience marketing† era is on the horizon, and that it is becoming increasingly important for businesses to respond to the needs of the experience consumer (Li and Wei, 2004). Co-creation may take place in the context of customer communities. There is a considerable literature on customer clubs (Butscher, 2002; Gustafsson et al. , 2004; Stauss et al. , 2001) and loyalty schemes (Bolton et al. , 2000; Mauri, 2003; Passingham, 1998; Worthington, 2000). Only a small sub-group of such clubs and schemes can properly be described as customer communities, however, which should at the very least exhibit C2C interaction. To convincingly justify the use of â€Å"community† they should furthermore share a culture with norms, values and identity, and mutual interests and objectives. Fan clubs, interest clubs, and software user groups may constitute customer communities. Butscher (2002) identi? es the Kawasaki Riders Club, The Volkswagen Club, and Swatch The Club as examples which might be described as customer communities. On the other hand, loyalty schemes such as Tesco Clubcard, American Express, Airmiles, and Marriot Rewards are focussed on the B2C dimension of relationship marketing, and do little to cultivate or in? uence C2C interactions. Therefore, whilst they may be able to identify a relatively stable group of users, they have not created a community. One context in which there has been more discussion of customer communities is the virtual environment (Armstrong and Hagel, 1996). Some loyalty schemes use this channel to support C2C interaction. Virtual customer communities enable organizations to establish distributed innovation models that involve varied customer roles in new product development (Nambisan, 2002; Pitta and Fowler, 2005). Nambisan (2002) suggests that the design of virtual customer environments needs to consider interaction patterns, knowledge creation, customer motivation, and integration of the virtual customer community with the new product development team. Dholakia et al. (2004) explore the impact of group norms and social identity on participation in consumer communities. The wider literature on virtual communities and their role in learning and knowledge creation is also substantial, and may have perspectives to offer on the role of virtual communities in innovation (Hall and Graham, 2004; Davenport and Hall, 2002; Wenger, 2000). In conclusion, the themes of co-creation and customer communities have been identi? ed as important in the literature, but there remains a scope for considerable further work, speci?  cally relating to: . co-creation of experiences; Customer communities that exist in both physical and virtual space; and . the mechanisms and processes through which organizations can engage customer communities, as opposed to individual members of those communities, in co-creation. Methodology Case studies are a valuable way of looking at the world around us, and asking how or why questions (Yin, 1994). The case study design adopted in this paper may be described as a holistic single case design. Typically, single case designs are appropriate when the exercise has something special to reveal that might act as a point of departure for challenging received wisdom, prior theoretical perspectives and untested assumptions. A specialist in sporting kite technology was chosen as the basis for the case analysis in this paper for four reasons in particular, as follows: (1) The stated mission of Flexifoil International is to: â€Å"provide our customers with the ultimate Kitesports experience† (www.? exifoil. com/company). (2) Flexifoil has been consistently committed to product innovation. (3) Flexifoil works with customers and proactively builds customer communities to support customer engagement in co-creation of the kiting experience. (4) The active and extensive participation of one of the authors in the kiting community formed the basis for an in-depth understanding of the community building and co-creation processes observed. Company pro? le: Flexifoil International Through product innovation, the company seeks to design and develop the highest performance products, with new designs and products that support new kite-based Customer community and co-creation 139 MIP. 25,2 sporting experiences and events. Flexifoil build both their own customer community and the kite boarding community in general through customer service, distribution networks, sponsorship and promotion of the sports for which their products are used. They provide opportunities for the kite sporting community to interact, online and in other ways. Their community is thus built through B2B, C2B and C2C relationships and channels. 140 Product development Until the early 1970s, a kite had for hundreds of years been a piece of fabric controlled with one or two lines, designed to be hand-?own in windy conditions. What is now Flexifoil International started when two English university students effectively â€Å"invented† the two-line power kite by producing the ? rst to be sold commercially. Two larger kites with the evocative names â€Å"Pro Team 8† and â€Å"Super 10† established Flexifoil’s market position, and enabled the company to enter upon a period of innovation and experimentation that explored a range of different potential applications for power kites. Some of their innovations were successful, others less so, such as three-wheeled buggies designed to be pulled by a power kite or traction kite. The successful developments in materials and design technology by Flexifoil and its followers allowed this basic product to support today such diverse activities as kite boarding (water-based), snow kiting, kite land boarding, buggying, recreational power kiting, and sportkiting (â€Å"traditional† kiting). The company’s own product range now comprises: power kites, recreational kites, traction kites, and water re-launchable kites; buggies and boards; lines and control gear; and miscellaneous accessories such as clothing. Following the launch of a web site, with associated forums in which enthusiasts could meet and exchange ideas, Flexifoil’s sales increased by around 25 per cent each year between 1999 and 2004. Innovation continued, with the development of water-based kiting or kitesur? ng, and later kites for land boarding and snow kiting. Over the last thirty years, the company had thus effectively created a market, and maintained leadership in its particular niche, by means not only of product innovation but also engagement with and cultivation of a power-boarding community. Community development Distribution. The community development process begins with the company’s distribution network of authorised retail outlets. Initially, those were mainly windsur? ng and sur? ng shops, but more recently specialised kiting shops have entered the market. Signi? cantly for Flexifoil, some of those have developed into â€Å"kitesports centres† where customers can â€Å"? y before they buy†. At three Premier Kite Sports Centres, the most comprehensive Flexifoil range is available for trial in an environment characterised by knowledgeable staff and extensive facilities in a good location; activity training is also on offer. A smaller range of Flexifoil kites is sold through high street shops. The company also moves the product to market through training schools, academies and university kite clubs, to whom equipment is available at discounted rates or even free of charge if the outlet becomes an of? cial Flexifoil training centre. In addition to these bricks-and-mortar outlets, the company transacts a signi? cant proportion of its retail sales through internet distributors. It also sells spare parts,  branded clothing and a selection of promotional merchandise via Flexifoildirect. com, but restricts distribution of core products to distributors who can offer a full after-sales service. The objective of the company’s distribution strategy is to build, support and maintain an effective customer community. Promotion and marketing communication. The main platform of Flexifoil’s promotional programme is to communicate their commitment to after-sales support, and their ambition to maintain good relationships with both customers and dealer outlets. This strategy, in turn, generates positive word-of-mouth communication, and often act as a channel for customer feedback that can inform future product innovation and development. In pursuit of that objective, Flexifoil make extensive use of specialised advertising media, including every kite magazine in circulation, often running double-page spreads. A branded display stand for Flexifoil product catalogues is distributed to every dealer. To keep the brand at the centre of the kitesporting world, the company sponsors a team of kite boarders who compete around the world. The promotional mix thus embraces advertising, publicity, sales promotion and point-of-sale. Flexifoil furthermore use their web site and its forums proactively to develop the UK kiting community, especially pre-launch. Previews of new kites provoke discussion in the forums, and a level of interest that builds up over months of anticipation and typically generates high sales volumes immediately on the release of the product. This online communication channel brings customers together to exchange experiences, and sell equipment to each other. The company lays claim to the largest online kiting community, of nearly 7,000 members. The variety of forums available to its members specialise in the full range of sportkiting activities. The clear aim of the marketing communications strategy is, like the distribution strategy, to create a community of interest rather than one based simply on transaction. Discussion This discussion will draw out two themes from the case study analysis: co-creation, and customer communities. The study contributes a perspective on the co-creation of experiences, which  is a central element in the emerging paradigm of experience marketing. By continuing engagement with their customer community, the subject company has been able not only to gather feedback on the experiences associated with the use of its products, but also to add to them by offering opportunities, in both the real and virtual environments for customer to enjoy interactions with others who share their interests. It monitors and enhances the experience through the same channels. Whilst product innovation is stepwise, the dialogue and interaction with customers on which that innovation is based is continuous. This is not â€Å"co-production† in the sense that the term is used in new product development contexts, but rather in the service context, where the term refers to the fact that customers have a hand in the development of their own service experience. Nevertheless, experience â€Å"co-creation† in this case, embeds product innovation. The impact of this approach to co-creation is dif? cult to disentangle from the impact of other business and marketing actions. The signi? cant increase in sales in the years since the launch of the web site could be taken as one indicator, but it  Customer community and co-creation 141 MIP 25,2 142 is important to acknowledge the spiral nature of the community creation process. This increase in sales will have expanded the community, and probably also have intensi? ed customers’ engagement with the experiences that community members co-create with the company. The case also contributes some insights on the nature of customer communities. Though the company does ask customers to register their product and thereby collects personal contact details, it does not operate a customer community, club or loyalty scheme. Rather, the innovative and interesting products act as a catalyst for community creation through the medium of the â€Å"experiences† they deliver. The customer community comprises those who have participated in those experiences, enjoyed them, and wish to develop the interaction. Customers work in partnership with the company to build excitement and develop skill, and by sharing the experiences with others, add to the totality of the customer community. The company has taken a number of actions to facilitate this process, including working with distributors, sponsorship, engagement in events, training courses, and an interactive web site. Speci? cally, their approach to communication with their customers is sophisticated. The common view of marketing communications as a one-way transmission is replaced by a marketing communications strategy designed to build and reinforce the company’s position as a leader of a community. Traditional channels such as advertising, sponsorship, and even brand building are only elements in a complex web or network of marketing communications activities, involving C2C and B2B as well as B2C relationships. The company communicates directly with its customers, but also provides contexts which encourage them to â€Å"talk† among themselves. In addition, the marketing communications effort is â€Å"pushed† through distributors, not just in terms of the traditional advertising and branding, but also through the selection of distributors that can offer appropriate support and advice. These actors in the system have a role in welcoming new members into the community. They are supported in doing so by the existing on-line community, and various company-sponsored events at which members are encouraged to gather. The customer community has built gradually as the business has grown. As new products have been added to the product range to support new sports, new sub-communities have formed around them. The process of community development goes hand in hand with product development. Conclusions and recommendations The entrepreneurs behind Flexifoil International have simultaneously created a sport, and an associated sporting community. The company is clear that its mission as not simply to develop and distribute the best products but rather to deliver the most exciting kiting experience. This case study has demonstrates that the entire marketing mix is focussed not on transactions, or even relationship building, but rather on community creation. That community includes both consumers and dealers. Product innovation, distribution and promotion are tightly coupled with community creation. Community building is not just about increasing membership, or even about the engagement of members with the community, but focuses on the creation of a level of mutuality in which there is ongoing dialogue between community members and the company. Flexifoil has neither annexed an existing community, nor do they â€Å"own† one, although they do manage a virtual space through which the community can interact. Rather, their product innovation and the experiences that their product range provides have the potential to act as the catalyst for the community, whilst sponsorship, engagement in events, and the virtual space all facilitate the enhancement of the experience for community members. Other companies compete with Flexifoil for leadership of the power kiting community, both rival manufacturers and others keen to enhance the sportkiting experience. Many of these have web sites through which they seek to capture an online community. For example, one casts itself as â€Å"the kite ? yer’s portal to the internet† offering links to kite manufacturers and kite stores in the USA and Canada, to other power kiting web sites, to other kite ? yer sites, kite teams and clubs, and to magazines and newsgroups. Another claims to be â€Å"the online community that brings ? yers together† and a third promotes itself as â€Å"the internet magazine for kiters†. All offer different services and bene? ts to their customers, but for some, their engagement with the sport kiting community will be restricted to virtual space. Though Flexifoil has a strong brand presence as a manufacturer, it needs to encourage members to participate with it in â€Å"co-creation† if it is to deliver on its mission of providing customers with the ultimate kite sports experience. The approach to marketing strategy described in this case study can aptly be described as customer community leadership. By leading the sport kiting community, but not owning it, Flexifoil has created a community that will buy their products, co-create kiting experiences, provide insights that can inform innovation in the product, the experience and the community innovation, look forward to the next product release, and mutually enhance community members’ experiences of the company’s products and services. Embedded in this approach to community leadership are a number of more traditional marketing actions, such as new product development, advertising, and commitment to after-sales support. The distribution channels are designed to offer the support and training that is likely to enhance sport kiting experiences, but also to build relationships with dealers, and to bring sports kiters together. This is supplemented by opportunities for interaction in virtual space. Community development is achieved through a network of relationship-building actions, at the heart of which are enjoyable and shareable sports kiting experiences. Through community leadership, the company has created a context in which customers are thus from being passive recipients of products and services, and empowered as knowledge partners (Gibbert et al., 2002). In other words, it has thereby created a context that facilitates the processes of customer knowledge management. This is an approach to marketing intelligence and decision making embedded in dynamic co-creation processes that involve customers as partners. It is worth noting that the term â€Å"customer community leadership† can have two different meanings in practice. First, it may mean leadership of a community, in the sense of making it work, setting its direction, and participating in the shaping of experiences of community members. In this context, the focus is on factors such as member engagement, culture, norms, identity and community viability, in terms of the value delivered to all parties. Second, it can describe an avenue to market leadership, in which the business performance of an organisation over the longer term is de? ned and determined by the extent to which its leadership of a community of potential customers, or its power and capacity to lead, is greater than that of its competitors. Customer community and co-creation 143 MIP 25,2 144 In taking the development of the concept of customer community leadership forward, it will be important to explore the different styles and approaches that are and can be adopted by different ? rms and organizations. Given that another essential of successful leadership is followers, an important phenomenon for further study is the nature of â€Å"followership† in this context. This case study has focussed on the actions and strategies adopted by one business to build and bene? t from a customer community and to engage customers in the co-creation of an experience. In addition, it has demonstrated how both online and real-world communities can be enlisted to contribute to building the experience. There is a scope for considerable further study of the processes associated with the co-creation of the experience, and the details of how communities operate. Such research needs both to cover a wider range of organizations and business sectors, and to examine in more detail aspects of communities, co-creation and customer knowledge management. Some potential areas of investigation are: . Perceptions and views of different stakeholders as to the impact of the community and the contributions of different parties in the co-creation of the experience. . The pro? le of such customer communities in terms of loyalty, retention and customer lifetime value, including comparisons between online and real-world communities. . Community processes, including models of key processes of in? uence, knowledge and learning, identi? cation and role of â€Å"node† members, and the role of celebrity voices and endorsement. . The marketing actions that contribute to the cultivation of effective co-creation communities. References Armstrong, A. G. and Hagel, J. (1996), â€Å"The real value of online communities†, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 74, pp. 134-40. Bennett, R. and Gabriel, H. I. (1999), â€Å"Organisational factors and knowledge management within large marketing departments: an empirical study†, Journal of Knowledge Management, Vol. 3 No. 3, pp. 212-25. Bolton, R. N. , Kannan, P. K. and Bramlett, M. D. (2000), â€Å"Implications of loyalty program membership and services experience for customer retention and value†, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 28 No. 1, pp. 95-108. Bommer, M. and Jalajas, D. S. (2004), â€Å"Innovation sources of large and small technology-based ? rms†, IEEE Transactions of Engineering Management, Vol. 51 No. 1, pp. 13-18. Butscher, S. A. (2002), Customer Loyalty Programmes and Clubs, 2nd ed. , Gower, Aldershot. Buttle, F. (1996), Relationship Marketing: Theory and Practice, Paul Chapman, London. Campbell, A. J. (2003), â€Å"Creating customer knowledge competence: managing customer relationship management programs strategically†, Industrial Marketing Management, Vol. 32 No. 5, pp. 375-83. Chase, R. L. (1997), â€Å"The knowledge-based organization: an international survey†, Journal of Knowledge Management, Vol. 1 No. 1, pp. 38-49. Dahlsten, F. (2004), â€Å"Hollywood wives revisited: a study of customer involvement in the XC90 project at Volvo Cars†, European Journal of Management, Vol. 7 No. 2, pp. 141-9. Davenport, E. and Hall, H. (2002), â€Å"Organizational knowledge and communities of practice†, Annual Review of Information Science and Technology, Vol. 36, pp. 171-227. Dholakia, U. M. , Bagozzi, R. P. and Pearo, L. K. (2004), â€Å"A social in? uence model of consumer participation in network- and small-group-based virtual communities†, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Vol. 21, pp.241-63. Drucker, P. F. (1993), Post-capitalist Society, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford. Foss, B. and Stone, M. (2001), Successful Customer Relationship Marketing, Kogan Page, London. Gibbert, M. , Leibold, M. and Probst, G. (2002), â€Å"Five styles of customer knowledge management, and how smart companies use them to create value†, European Management Journal, Vol. 20 No. 5, pp. 459-69. Gustafsson, A. , Roos, I. and Edvardsson, B. (2004), â€Å"Customer clubs in a relationship perspective: a telecom case†, Managing Service Quality, Vol. 14 Nos 2/3, pp. 157-68. Hall, H. and Graham, D.(2004), â€Å"Creation and recreation: motivating collaboration to generate knowledge capital in online communities†, International Journal of Information Management, Vol. 24, pp. 235-46. Healy, M. , Hastings, K. , Brown, L. and Gardiner, M. (2001), â€Å"The old, the new and the complicated – a trilogy of marketing relationships†, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 35 Nos 1/2, pp. 182-93. Hsieh, L. F. and Chen, S. K. (2005), â€Å"Incorporating voice of the consumer: does it really work? †, Industrial Management Data Systems, Vol. 105 Nos 5/6, pp. 769-85. Kristensson, P. , Gustafsson, A. and Archer, T. (2004), â€Å"Harnessing the creative.

Diabetes Mellitus Essay -- Health, Diseases

Diabetes refers to a set of several different diseases. It is a serious health problem throughout the world and fourth leading cause of death by disease in the country. All types of diabetes result in too much sugar, or glucos in the blood. To understand why this happens it would helpful if we understand how the body usually works. When we eat, our body breaks down the food into simpler forms such as glucose. The glucose goes into the bloodstream, where it then travels to all the cells in your body. The cells use the glucose for energy. Insulin, a hormone made by the pancreas, helps move the glucose from bloodstream to the cells. The pathophysiology of diabetes mellitus further explains the concept on how this disease works. Pancreas plays an important role of the metabolism of glucose by means of secreting the hormones insulin and glucagon. These hormones where then secreted by Islets of Langerhans directly to the blood. Inadequate secretion of insulin results on impaired metabol ism of glucose, carbohydrates, proteins and fats which then result to hyperglycemia and glycosuria. Hyperglycemia is the most frequently observed sign of diabetes and is considered the etiologic source of diabetic complications both in the body and in the eye. On the other hand, glucagon is the hormone that opposes the act of insulin. It is secreted when blood glucose levels fall. There are two types of diabetes. The type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is referred to as dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM), or juvenile onset diabetes mellitus. The pancreas undergo an autoimmune attack by the body itself, and is rendered incapable of making insulin. It is in type 1 diabetes where abnormal antibodies are normally found. Antibodies are proteins in... ...e importance of taking nutritious foods and multivitamins, try to stop drinking coffee for two or three days. Eating regular well balanced meals. Avoid fast-food lifestyle that can cause great fluctuation in blood sugar. Lastly, the patient will be able to describe the benefits of regular exercise and how regular exercise can improve blood glucose control. They should know the importance of relaxation and exercises, deep breathing which are popular ways to relieve stress and to avoid strenuous physical activity. Meditations, yoga are good ways of relieving stress. Therefore, learning about the concept of diabetes in general is very important to prevent further complications of other critical diseases. It is best to understand and to stress out the importance of good nutrition, exercise, diet, healthy active lifestyle to the improvement for someone’s well being.

Restaurant and Bar Essay

Work Plan Statement of Problem We are pitching an idea for an all you can eat all-inclusive Asian style cuisine. The restaurant will be located in Bellevue, Washington near Bellevue Square and within walking distance of the Microsoft and Expedia towers. The restaurant will offer a variety of Asian cuisines such as sushi, dim sum, teriyaki, and other popular foods sought by young adults and small families. We are asking for $750,000 from venture capitalists to finance our project. Schedule/Division of the work -May| Bao Tu| Find detailed information for project and needs in Bellevue| 2-May| Peter Calimlim| Composition: List benefits and features of products and services related to business| 4-May| Timofey Khval| Research costs, other financial information completed| | Linh Ninh| Organization: Pick the important and related things to investors’ needs| | My Tran| Research, develop market strategy| 10-May| Bao Tu| Set the target market and find their tastes. Find competitors and r esearch them| | Linh Ninh| Develop ideas for opening| Peter Calimlim| Execution/Evaluation: Revise presentation for 3-4 minute speech. Practice Individually| 16-May| Group| Group meeting to share research and other ideas| 18-May| My Tran| Develop ideas for closing| | Timofey Khval| Compile information into tables, financial statements, graphs| 23-May| Bao Tu| Finish research and preparation for presentation| 25-May| Timofey Khval| Analysis of information completed| | My Tran| Completion of rough draft for opening and offering| | Linh Ninh| Compete rough draft of marketing strategy, closing ideas| 27-May| Group| Finish research and individual portions. Meeting to develop presentation| 1-Jun| Group| Meeting to rehearse presentation, make final revisions| 4-Jun| Group| Meetings to continue rehearsal, work on visual aids (if necessary)| 6-Jun| Group| Presentation date| 1-May| Bao Tu| Find detailed information for project and needs in Bellevue| 2-May| Peter Calimlim| Composition: List benefits and features of products and services related to business| 4-May| Timofey Khval| Research costs, other financial information completed| | Linh Ninh| Organization: Pick the important and related things to investors’ needs| | My Tran| Research, develop market strategy| 0-May| Bao Tu| Set the target market and find their tastes. Find competitors and research them| | Linh Ninh| Develop ideas for opening| | Peter Calimlim| Execution/Evaluation: Revise presentation for 3-4 minute speech. Practice Individually| 16-May| Group| Group meeting to share research and other ideas| 18-May| My Tran| Develop ideas for closing| Timofey Khval| Compile inform ation into tables, financial statements, graphs| 23-May| Bao Tu| Finish research and preparation for presentation| 25-May| Timofey Khval| Analysis of information completed| | My Tran| Completion of rough draft for opening and offering| | Linh Ninh| Compete rough draft of marketing strategy, closing ideas| 27-May| Group| Finish research and individual portions. Meeting to develop presentation| 1-Jun| Group| Meeting to rehearse presentation, make final revisions| 4-Jun| Group| Meetings to continue rehearsal, work on visual aids (if necessary)| 6-Jun| Group| Presentation date|

The Civil Rights Movement, Woodstock, Vietnam War, And...

Who knew how powerful the 1960’s would be? You had the civil rights movement, Woodstock, Vietnam War, and an explosion in rock and roll, as well as soul? Exactly, and that’s just in America. In Africa, countries were gaining freedom and independence. By 1980 the British, French, Italians, Spanish, Portuguese, and Dutch were being conquered and most of Africa had claimed independence as countries, all the while apartheid was still going on. Even with the riots between warring states, weren’t enough to keep them. It actually caused them to lose more control. Countries demanded freedom and to end the apartheid across Africa. Nelson Mandela went to jail for his cause and was released in 1990, after twenty-seven years of imprisonment. Over seventy leaders were assassinated in order to keep control in Africa. I’m going to explain the problems they faced gaining independence in Nigeria and South Africa, as well as the political reforms going on as we speak since 1990. Nigeria was having an internal war that the Muslims started with the Ibos. It started when they gained independence in 1960. They adopted the feudal systems and had to share power with Lagos, and three state governments in the north, east, and west. In 1964, the Ibos seized power and declared a central dictatorship. The Muslims of the north didn’t like the Ibos because they weren’t Muslim. So they sparked a war in 1967. The Ibos, after a group of northern officers obtained the government positions, created their own

Managing Christchurch Rebuild Project With Effective...

MANAGING CHRISTCHURCH REBUILD PROJECT WITH EFFECTIVE COORDINATION PRATIK PATTANSHETTI1 STUDENT ID – 21524417 ABSTRACT The construction industry has the most adverse and complex projects due to the involvement of large funds, infrastructure, economy of a nation and also large portion of the society. Due to this complexity, the projects suffer a lot of fragmentations, conflicts and disputes, large production of waste, project cost and time overruns etc. Due to increase in these types of projects, there are lots of new techniques being developed in the industry i.e. partnering, joint venture, outsourcing, alliances, enterprise resource planning, Total quality management(Hai, Yusof et al. 2012) to tackle the challenges. We have seen a lot of projects which are not delivered on time due to all these reasons. All the techniques work on one important and vital aspect i.e. coordination, without it there can be no successful completion of any project. The more the project is complex the more complexity involved in coordination. Christchurch rebuild has faced similar problems during the last 5 years, the reas on to which it has not been completed until now is lack of proper coordination between the involved parties. There is lot of misunderstanding between the parties involved in the process of construction due lack of proper coordination mechanisms and techniques. The delay in delivery of the project is hampering the image of Christchurch on a global scale. I have addressed a few

The Battle Of Normandy And The Liberation Of Europe

This story focuses on when Nazi Germany invaded Hungary at midnight on March 18, 1944. Few people believed they were in any danger. The night begins with a description of the character Moshe-Shames, the beadle of the town s synagogue and one of the humblest residents, who vainly warns the inhabitants to flee and escape. While the Allies were preparing for the Battle of Normandy and the liberation of Europe during May and June of that year, Wiesel and his family, together with 15,000 other Jews from Sighet and an additional 18,000 from neighboring villages, were deported by German troops to the concentration camps. Once there, his mother and younger sister were immediately sent to the gas chambers. His other sisters, Hilda and Beatriz,†¦show more content†¦I empathized a lot with those real stories. They seem really hard to believe but they are not even half of what they really went through. Through those years, approximately, 20 million Jews died because of Hitler. The Jews never tried to fight against them because they thought that God will be always with them, and if that was happening, it was because God wanted or because God was letting Hitler kill them for a good reason. An evidence of that thought is this quote at the beginning of the book: â€Å"London radio, which we listened to every evening, announced encouraging news: the daily bombings of Germany and Stalingrad, the preparation of the Second Front. And so we, the Jews of Sighet, waited for the better days that surely were soon to come.† In addition to the distance from the fight, the Jews could not imagine that anything of the scale that Hitler threatened was possible. They felt there were too many Jews for him to attempt the things he suggested. As the German Army troops moved into Sighet, the first changes seemed relatively harmless, so they were accepted without undue alarm. By the time Jews were forced into the trains and moved into ghettos by the Nazis, the Jews knew that they were going to die, and that it was too late to organize any resistance. But Elie Wiesel thought differently. He was not able to understand why God wanted all this pain, deaths, and catastrophe to the Jewish people. He thought that it does not make sense to praise God, after seeing howShow MoreRelatedD Day During World War II1319 Words   |  6 PagesD-Day During World War II (1939-1945), D-Day, or the Battle of Normandy, was the turning point in the Allied attempt to liberate Western Europe from Nazi control. The invasion involved 326,000 British, American, and Canadian troops spread among five beaches. The Allies were victorious due to Nazi mistakes. Hitler, believing the attack was simply a diversion to distract the Germans from an attack north of the Seine River, withheld reinforcements and support from armored units. 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Corporations Law The Scallop Fishing

Question: Describe about the Corporations Law for The Scallop Fishing. Answer: 1. The Scallop fishing is restricted to certain regions of AFZ and also it is restricted by quantity and as per the rights granted under AFMA guidelines as framed. The Scallop Fishing and Marketing Act govern the Scallop fishing and marketing in Australia and under strict quota system which is also under control of Scallop Marketing Authority. The Scallop fishing or rather any fishing is managed by AFMA or Australian Fisheries Management Authority which is restricted to AFZ or Australian Fishing Zone and it is limited to 200 nautical miles limit. The Offshore Constitutional Settlement or OCS is made between the states and federal government to manage the fishing control. The above case is to be also guided by the AFZ or OCS or AFMA laid guidelines in the Fisheries Management Act, 1991 where it is laid down those rights are granted to each and every fisherman or even a fishing company (Afma, 2016). These rights are related to fishing of a particular fish type allowed, daily or yearly quota or quantity fixed, type of boats to used, types of equipments to be used, whether it should be directly or through any representative, if type of boat is not known then it should be later notified to AFMA and the rights are granted in the form of a permit which is also mandatory to do any type of fishing within the AFZ locations and as specified. Section 32 says about the permits and its issuance. The permit also mentions certain guidelines under section 41A to do business rightly. The rights may also given by the usage of tender or by special auction called by the AFMA to give special rights where any person is having more capacity to make harvest as specified by AFMA in the auction. These are hence special rights granted and they are very rare and not given in normal course of the system (Wa, 2016). The capacity of Bob was more than 50 tonnes of Scallops in a year but he cannot make more harvest in the presence of such restrictions as mentioned under the AFMA which is also governed by OCS. His daughter Alice has advised him to form a company and make more harvest but it will not be the right process in doing fishing business as per anyones will. But the rights are needed can be only granted by AFMA. Special rights grant can be given by the AFMA is possible if only AFMA thinks it fit on receiving application from persons interested to take rights in multiple fishing and in multiple locations and more than the quota. The fishing of restricted items is to be done with clear permit where the exact item and quota on yearly basis is mentioned. On making application of the prescribed form to AFMA the new right can be granted to all interested persons to take up fisheries in the AFZ regions. The Scallop fishing is restricted as this is a very expensive fishing product which is mostly sold in Asian market through Hongkong and European market. Hence the restrictions are imposed to control unauthorised fishing by anyone to make more profits which are not permitted by AFMA. All fishing companies are also governed by The Fisheries Management Act, 1991 and are to function through permits issued by AFMA on the basis of the written application in the prescribed form for grant of rights. Therefore the idea of making company is not correct but the special right or auction may be the right way to do more business. Hence to get more business rights the written applications must be given to the AFMA for allowing special rights for increase of quota in the years and also to increase the type of fishing items in the rights and permits granted thereon. The permit and rights of the Scallops fishing given by the AFMA for AFZ is very much the systematic approach of the Australian government so that the fishing business can be grown with perfection and with right pace. Hence the system of auction is also made to give the right to those who have more capacity to do more business or have intention to make more out of the benefit provided by AFMA (Dpipwe, 2016). 2. The New Nirvana Ltd, a company owned by a few members of rock brand have floated a few wholly owned subsidiaries that do the concert setting job. One of such subsidiaries is Nuclear Blast Sounds Pty Ltd who is responsible for setting up sound equipments in Australia. The wholly owned subsidiaries are the parent companies arm or it can be said that these subsidiaries are formed with a purpose to make the business more profitable and better controlled as the job area gets segregated into these wholly owned subsidiaries. In recent times the Nuclear Blast Sounds Pty Ltd has organised the sound systems for a concert of the rock band at Sydney where the sound level was kept very high and above the permissible limits with negligence and due to which the hearing problem occurred to five audiences who were taking part in the concert. These five audiences was critically injured in their ears and had the permanent loss of hearing capacity and due to this they blamed the Nuclear Blast Sounds Pty Ltd and have claimed for compensation for the damages caused by their negligence. The subsidiary did not had negligence insurance and therefore it was unable to make the damages claim right for the five audiences who lost their hearing capacity due to the negligent use of the high level of the sound system. The law says that the holding company of any wholly subsidiary companies are also responsible of the controlling these subsidiaries and therefore the negligence of any wholly owned subsidiaries done are or become an indirect responsibility of the parent company. The misdoings are also an indirect part of the holding company. Hence in this case also the sound level placing at a very high level and the loss of hearing by five audiences are an indirect job of the New Nirvana Ltd. Hence the negligence insurance claim by these five audiences were made to New Nirvana Ltd. were justified but the lack of negligence insurance by Nuclear Blast Sounds Pty Ltd. did not able to make the damages claim. Hence the five audiences now placed the claims of damages to the New Nirvana Ltd and it becomes the sole responsibility to make good the damages of the five audiences as the sound level should have been kept as per the given or set guidelines and when their subsidiary was both negligent in not maintaining the sound level and also not to have the negligence insurance. Hence the New Nirvana is bound to make the damages by either making direct settlement or by usage of any insurance of any type which is related to such problem which may be related to hearing loss. And it also shows that the company as well as its subsidiar y should have taken the insurance which is or may have saved the damages claim through the insurance policy taken. The damages should be made by the New Nirvana Ltd as there is no other way legally. The legal bindings of the holding company over its all subsidiaries are very clearly mentioned although the subsidiaries act as separate persons or entity but in case of any mistakes by such companies the holding companies also get into the legal tangle as per the subsidiary and holding companies legal bindings involved and responsibilities towards society and also towards government. It shows also that the legal side of all types must be studied in doing any business where insurance plays an important part in the case of making any damages right. In the absence of insurance the loss due to damages can highly affect the profitability of the business and also it must be seen that such legality of rules must be maintained (Murphy, 1998). 3. Simon, Don and Michael started a project management company called Millennium Pty Ltd. where Don was a solicitor and he was appointed by both Simon and Michael as the Solicitor of the new formation. The companys constitution also mentioned that he will act in case of any land was to be purchased. After a few years passed of the new business both Simon and Michael came across another solicitor who as per their view is more efficient than Don and appoints him. On this Don started a legal action although he is a part of the company but in the constitution it was mentioned that any dispute between the company and its partners must be first referred to an arbitrator before moving to court. But here the arbitrator was not consulted by Don but he imposed legal proceedings against the company along with Simon and Michael which is practically in violation to the agreement done by all three at the time of starting the company. The company hence can and should defend the case by placing of the legal guidelines as per the companys constitution which clearly says that a dispute can be resolved by calling on an arbitrator who can understand the dispute and make necessary mediation first instead of any legal actions or any court proceedings hence the legal action taken by Don is not right and as per the legal guidelines laid in the constitution of the company formed (Lawsocietysa, 2016). The constitution is a legal documents also and if Don is violating the points or clauses mentioned there then he is first doing something illegal himself by initiating legal process. In this process of initiating legal action against the company he is also doing a legal process against him as well as he is also a partner of the company although besides he was appointed by Simon and Michael as solicitor in case of land purchase by the company. Hence the change of solicitor is not a very big deal in Australia as per their eligibility is concerned and is also needed to justify the legality of the decision taken by Don. The legal action will be and can be countered by both Simon and Michael on the ground that the arbitrator should have been consulted before any legal action as these violated the existing position already accepted and formed in the constitution. The legal guidelines as per the provisions of Legal Practitioners (Miscellaneous) Amendment Act, 2013 laid that how a solicitor will act and what types of ethics they will follow, hence being a solicitor himself Don must not violate the said ethics and rules laid down (Austlii, 2016). References: Afma, 2016. Fishing rights permits. [Online] www.afma.gov.au Available at: https://www.afma.gov.au/fisheries-services/fishing-rights-permits/ [Accessed 10 October 2016]. Austlii, 2016. LEGAL PROFESSION UNIFORM LAW AUSTRALIAN SOLICITORS' CONDUCT RULES 2015. [Online] www.austlii.edu.au Available at: https://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_reg/lpulascr2015658/ [Accessed 20 October 2016]. Dpipwe, 2016. Legislation and Management Plans. [Online] dpipwe.tas.gov.au Available at: https://dpipwe.tas.gov.au/sea-fishing-aquaculture/sustainable-fisheries-management/legislation-and-management [Accessed 20 October 2016]. Fish.wa.gov.au, 2016. Scallop commercial fishing. [Online] www.fish.wa.gov.au Available at: https://www.fish.wa.gov.au/Species/Scallop/Pages/Scallop-Commercial-Fishing.aspx [Accessed 20 October 2016]. Lawsocietysa, 2016. Australian Solicitors Conduct Rules. [Online] www.lawsocietysa.asn.au Available at: https://www.lawsocietysa.asn.au/PDF/rules_of_professional_conduct.pdf [Accessed 20 October 2016]. Murphy, D., 1998. Holding Company Liability for Debts of its Subsidiaries: Corporate Governance Implications. [Online] epublications.bond.edu.au Available at: https://epublications.bond.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1148context=blr [Accessed 20 October 2016].