In A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, Alex, the main character, loses his ability to enjoy classical music due to the experimental treatment, called Ludovico’s Technique, tested on him in prison. Any thought of violence, including classical music, which he associated with violence, made Alex dreadfully sick. The treatment that leads to Alex’s inability to enjoy the music of Beethoven is not justified for several reasons.
First, the treatment does not change the personality of the patient. It just suppresses the violence and brutality of the person. The therapy works to create an association of violence with the sick state of the body. Thus, every time Alex thinks about the violence, he feels horribly sick. The fact that Alex thinks about the violence, even though it is now associated with being sick, makes the treatment not justified. Proper treatment should include a radical change in the way a person thinks and behaves. Second, classical music is one of the few things that were not a criminal act and Alex could enjoy. Depriving him of the opportunity to enjoy the music only made him angrier and increased his hatred towards the world.
Alex became a clockwork orange after being treated by Ludovico’s Technique. The meaning of being a clockwork orange is to be purely evil or purely good, which is an inhuman characteristic (Burgess 4). The state of Alex before treatment was his moral choice, which was naturally done. However, Alex’s behavior after the treatment was a result of artificial interference. His mind was artificially turned back from violence, which naturally exists along with human’s good qualities. Thus, the treatment made Alex ignore his dark side and make only good choices and actions, which is the exact definition of being a clockwork orange.
Reference
Burgess, Anthony. A Clockwork Orange. 1962.
Animal Foodland Company’s Marketing And Mission
Introduction
The Animal Foodland is a premier food company that seeks to meet the needs of dog keepers in Austin, Texas, and its environment. The firm specializes in organic foods to meet the needs of clients who seek an alternative to animal products. The location of the business is preferred because Texas has a high population of pet dogs. The city has a vibrant dog industry, including pet boarding and pet games. Consequently, the region provides a critical market for dog food. Although there are several dog food outlets in the city, none meets the quality and convenience that Animal Foodland hopes to deliver. Animal Foodland intends to manufacture top quality dog food containing multiple nutrients based on extensive research. According to Hobbs and Shanoyan (2018), most Americans prefer organic foods for their pets. The company will manufacture food items that meet the nutritional needs of dogs reared for different purposes. Besides, the company customizes nutrition based on the dog’s developmental stage to ensure healthy canines. Animal Foodland will add value to their service by organizing home delivery and free consultation services for dog owners. In this regard, the company seeks to produce unique products and services for dog owners in Austin.
Mission Statement
The mission of Animal Foodland is to provide excellent service for dog owners. The company seeks convenience in the pet business by delivering dog food upon request and free pet owners to pursue other engagements. The company also aims to enhance the dignified treatment of dogs by providing consultancy services geared towards offering the correct dietary needs of the canines. The firm seeks to employ qualified dog nutritionists and ensure products from the company meet the dogs’ highest nutritional value. The company will maintain a culture of teamwork and problem-solving to achieve the best deal for clients. The firm will pursue these objectives with professionalism and responsiveness. The company also provides feeding accessories to dog owners to enable hygiene in dog feeding to minimize infections. Through these activities, the company seeks to deliver excellent and convenient feeding service to customers to enhance their quality of life.
Goals
- Animal Foodland seeks to deliver quality food services for dog owners in Austin by pursuing the following goals.
- To manufacture high-quality pet food that meets the nutritional needs of dogs bred for diverse purposes.
- To offer excellent nutrition advisory services to dog-owners to ensure that they provide the right foodstuffs to their pets.
- To facilitate fast and efficient delivery of dog food to locations requested by clients.
- To foster a culture of teamwork among employees and ensure continuous product improvement and achieve customer loyalty.
Short Term Goals
- To establish a state-of-the-art dog manufacturing plant that meets the building codes for the city.
- To recruit highly trained and skilled personnel that will be responsive to customer needs.
- To develop a marketing strategy that includes direct selling, electronic positioning, and social media campaigns.
- To establish a management structure that fosters teamwork for quality service management.
- To identify reliable suppliers for the supply of raw materials for dog food.
Long-term Goals
- To achieve a manufacturing capacity of 100 tons per day of dog food in the next five years.
The management will measure this goal by monitoring the daily production rates through the automatic factory records.
- To obtain 50% of share in the dog food market in the next five years
The firm will get these data from market trend analysis conducted by independent firms.
- To employ top talent in nutrition and customer service in the next five years.
The firm will ascertain this goal by assessing the number of professional employees specializing in pet food and marketing with graduate qualifications.
- Develop a concrete corporate social responsibility by hosting free community dog feeding workshops to enhance market visibility in the next five years.
The parameter for measurement will be the frequency of workshops held and the number of attendees.
- To achieve a strong brand identity through aggressive marketing
The metrics used to measure this goal will be the number of likes on social media and downloads of marketing content on the company website. The technicians will also monitor the number of visitors to the company website. Another measurement parameter will be search engine results for the company.
Environment Analysis
Environmental analysis is a tool that enables an assessment of the external and internal factors that affect the business. This section will examine the impact of competitive, political, legal, technological, and sociocultural forces on the dog food business. The analysis will allow an understanding of the company’s competitive edge and prospective performance in the industry. The analysis will also offer vital information on possible adjustments to better address industry rivalry for a competitive advantage.
Competitive Analysis
Animal Foodland faces competition from other pet food manufacturers, including “Just Food for Dogs” and “Tomlinson’s Feed.” Tomlison’s Feed supplies healthy organic dog food and has developed an enduring legacy by regularly distributing donations to rescued dogs in Central Texas. Besides, the company boasts of highly trained and experienced staff. However, the firm does not offer consultancies to dog owners and supplies. Again, Tomlinson’s Feed only manufactures general food for dogs and does not consider the nutritional requirements for the pets reared for different purposes. Anima Foodland, therefore, has a competitive advantage by offering these additional services to the market. However, the company must confront the benefits that Tomlinson’s Feed has in the market because of extensive experience in the per sector since 1946.
Just Food For Dogs offers a range of natural delicacies for dogs and has a “no secrets. Open kitchen” policy that can gain considerable public trust. The company also has a strong professional team with expertise in outreach, veterinary, and food formulation. Just Food For Dogs, however, has no elaborate corporate social responsibility. Animal Foodland seeks to enhance its brand against Just Food For Dogs by leveraging its CSR in training members of the public on healthy options for dog food.
Economic Analysis
The company seeks to address the company’s economic issues by using sustainable manufacturing processes to minimize production costs. Animal Foodland could suffer economic challenges due to inflation in the economy. Inflation harms return on assets and reduce firms’ capacity to compete (Dewi et al., 2019). The firm will seek to increase demand for its products through competitive pricing and free nutritional advice. The firm will also employ short-term staff on a contract basis to manage the wage bill. Besides, the firm will subcontract the transport segment to minimize the capital cost.
Political and Legal Analysis
The company seeks to maintain staff based on the employment policies in the city for both permanent and permanent staff. Animal Foodland has a resident accountant that will ensure statutory compliance to local taxes and levies. The company has aligned with the city’s building codes and the safety measures according to the city’s standards.
Technological Analysis
Animal Foodland is mindful of the impact of technology on its business operations. In this connection, the company has adopted technology in marketing, customer requests and feedback, and manufacturing. The firm established the correct rations of nutritive contents in dog food through sophisticated measurement technology for precision. The company has also developed a mobile phone application for interaction with customers and address their complaints. The company also markets its products through social media and hopes to apply analytics technology to achieve precision marketing.
Socio-cultural Force Analysis
The business is mindful of the busy lifestyles of the dog owners in Austin. The Austin area comprises mainly middle-class working residents who have limited time to tend to their pets. Animal Foodland responds to the increasing demand for organic dog food due to skepticism about meat products. The firm responds to these needs by providing delivery services to save the clients time shopping for the items. The firm also responds to the dog rearing culture as a hobby in Austin and seeks to deliver quality nutrition-related services to the market. The dog is a status symbol, and individuals seek to maintain healthy pets that can accompany them for family outings. Animal Foodland takes care of the nutritional needs of these pets and readily supplies to destinations requested by the client within the Austin locality.
SWOT and Needs Analysis
| STRENGTHS
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WEAKNESSES
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| OPPORTUNITIES
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THREATS
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Strengths
Animal Foodland is in a rapidly growing middle-class area of Austin. The increasing population creates demand for food, and the form provides easy solutions for this challenge. Most middle-class people are engaged in regular jobs and have little time to cater to their dogs. Clients can also use the free time to care for their families and enjoy a better-quality life. In this regard, the company has a ready market for its products. The company also specializes in organic food that most residents prefer.
The firm also boasts of a strong management team comprised of professionals with rich experience in the market. The leadership at Animal Foodland includes equal representation of men and women and thus achieves gender equality for enhanced public image. The various persons in the management team comprise individuals with training in pet nutrition, organizational leadership, and marketing. The management provides visionary leadership required to achieve market domination in the niche dog nutrition industry.
Despite its recent entry into the pet industry, the firm boasts impressive knowledge of the market through the accumulated experience of its leaders. All the team members have worked in Austin before joining Animal Foodland and are familiar with the buying behavior of the residents. Besides, 80 percent of the employees reside in the Austin neighborhood and are accustomed to the residents. The company, therefore, enjoys the ease of penetration because of local popularity.
Weaknesses
Animal Foodland is a recent entrant into the dog market and has poor experience in the field. Consequently, the firm struggles to establish customer trust as a reliable supplier of dog food. Many of the customers already have allegiances to established companies in the area, which slows down the speed of market penetration. The company thus spends considerable resources to market the firm and to and achieve market trust.
Animal Foodland’s staff are less trained in handling the nutritionist needs of the dogs and marketing. Despite the high skill levels of the management, the company has not attracted highly qualified staff. Company employees are significant partners in a company towards gaining customer confidence. Customers gain an impression of the company based on the quality of interaction with the staff. Although Animal Foodland seeks to attract employees with high skill and experience, the firm has limited resources to retain experienced staff. Based on this reality, Animal Foodland has difficulty obtaining customer trust with low-skill staff. The company must therefore invest in considerable resources to train staff to equip them with the required skills.
As a new entrant into the market, Animal Foodland has not established strong relationships with suppliers in the market. Most of the suppliers have little capacity, and the firm must obtain raw materials from several individuals. The firm seeks to address this challenge by growing the crops required to manufacture organic food. In the current scenario, the company cannot ascertain whether the crops supplied to the firm have been developed through organic means. Animal Foodland, therefore, produces below capacity due to a lack of a reliable supplier for their raw materials.
Opportunities
Animal Foodland offers delivery services and free workshops for dog owners, which positions the company as a socially responsive agency. Most residents in the Austin area have a close connection with their dog pets and desire the best service to keep them healthy. Delivery offers convenience to dog owners and frees them to attend to other duties. The free training provides critical information for dog owners and endears the firm to the community. Training is an opportunity to attract new customers to the company.
The uptake of dog rearing as a hobby in Austin is a boon for Animal Foodland. The increasing numbers of middle-class citizens occupying the area have continued to adopt dog rearing. Animal Foodland seeks to exploit this trend by providing unique products to this population. The population is young and technology savvy, and the firm will reach out to them through social media advertising. The firm also hopes to tap into this market through exceptional customer service.
Animal Foodland has a unique CSR program of training dog owners on nutrition and offering exceptional customer service. The training programs can act as forums for marketing the firm to attract new customers. Besides, the CSR program positions the company as a socially responsible firm needed to obtain a favorable brand image. The strategy also creates an avenue for corporates to connect with the community (Celik et al., 2019). The training campaign will be one of the company’s signature activities and will provide an opportunity to sell the company’s products.
Threats
The dog food industry is highly competitive in the Austin area, and Animal Foodland risks gaining a diminished market share. Clients are likely to patronize more experienced corporates leaving Animal Foodland with a small market share. The company must thus develop an innovative marketing strategy to attract customers. A change in government policy could affect the mode of business for the firm. The economic challenges occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic may trigger increased levies from the government. The additional tax will diminish the company’s profits. Regulations on urban pet ownership could reduce the population of dogs and decrease the profitability of the company. Austin has several companies with vast experience in dog handling. Many of the companies have established customers and offer higher remuneration to their staff. Animal Foodland, therefore, risks losing its valuable employees to these established companies.
Conclusion
Animal Foodland stands a great opportunity to thrive in the organic food industry in Texas because of its innovative business strategy and location. The company’s situation in the fast-growing middle-class suburbs of Austin provides growth opportunities. The company also offers customers unique services through home deliveries to afford them free time to attend to other aspects of life. Nevertheless, the company must look out for the competitive forces that threaten to derail its market penetration. Several other companies operate in the niche area, and Animal Foodland must provide creative promotion to remain completeness. Besides, the firm has little risk of losing its staff to established corporates who offer better terms to its employees. Animal Foodland must leverage its unique customer service strategy and the resourcefulness of its management to penetrate the market and build a strong corporate brand.
References
Celik, A., Abdul-Kareem, A., & Yilmaz, H. U. (2019). The impact of corporate social responsibility on community development: Evidence from Ghana. Global Journal of Business, Economics and Management: Current Issues, 9(3), 122-133. Web.
Dewi, V. I., Soei, T. L., & Surjoko, F. O. (2019). The impact of macroeconomic factors on firms’ profitability (evidence from fast moving consumer good firms listed on Indonesian stock exchange). Academy of Accounting and Financial Studies Journal 23(1).
Hobbs, L., & Shanoyan, A. (2018). Analysis of consumer perception of product attributes in pet food: implications for marketing and brand strategy. Agricultural and Applied Economics Association. Web.
Newcastle And Edinburgh Universities’ Website Design Comparison
Comparison
Look, Navigation, Structure and Graphics
In terms of visual design, both websites are quite similar, using large fonts, buttons and images to make the process of navigation and the visual appeal of their page better. The perspective is largely vertical, with no additional side bars or tabs being available, and the major categories of the page being outlined at the top. The navigation is quick and easy, with the leoading times for each section being adequate. They are divided into major categories that might interest a student, including question of study and university activities, the staff and other considerations. Newcastle’s website hides a number of its tabs under a “more” section, making the bar look tidier while accommodating more icons. Search functionality is prominent on both pages, making the process of finding the specific information one needs easier. Edinburgh University website appears to be slightly better accommodated for search functionality, as it is able to auto-fill out some of the words being typed, a feature unavailable on its competitor’s site. Another consideration is the general size of the icons and images on both sites. On a medium-sized monitor, the Ediburgh page manages to fit more images, text, and information, while making its quick overview convenient and intuitive. The space on the Newcastle University Website is tightly occupied, with a message to allow it to use cookies further obscuring the vision of the observer. While it generally takes the same amount of time to find the top row of tabs, page navigation and understanding is severely hindered on the Newcastle website. Picture and graphic quality on both are practically similar, looking minimalistic and professional.
Covid-19 Related Information
In terms of the Covid-19 response, it can be noted that the Newcastle website has adapted more thoroughly and made access to relevant information on the subject easy. A new user first coming to their site is greeted by an image of a person washing their hands accompanying a message of preventative measures. Clicking on the banner redirects a person to an article discussing some of the measures against the virus and the need to continue a combined effort of combating the disease. This information is presented in a concise manner, and an approximate length of the article is stated in the beginning. This allows the staff of Newcastle university to effectively relay their professional stance on the topic of the virus and outline some of the measures considered to be needed for the university environment. Their direct response to the Covid-19 challenges can also be found on the website, by using the search function. Overall, the page has addressed the issue in an adequate manner. The University of Edinburgh website, however, is prepared to a bit of a lesser extent. The initial page does not appear to show any information related to the subject, or contain tabs for accessing it. To view the university position and recommendations about it, a person would need to use the search function instead.
Needs of the Stakeholders
Both websites effectively fulfill the needs of at least one of their major stakeholders – Students and Future Students. Both groups are able to find up to date and relevant information about the process of applying to the university, its main courses, the requirements one must have and the kinds of activities that are performed there. This information is relayed in part by the tabs on the top bar of both pages, or as various redirect links to the other sections of the webpage. In case of the University of Edinburgh, main page and all its subsections allow quick and efficient log in to the student platform needed to access a person-specific data on the education in the university. Other groups, such as the staff, are also able to see information relevant to their needs. The current staff, the hiring requirements and work organization are all outlined in various subsections of the website, with links both at the top and at the bottom leading to specific parts of the page needed to receive up to date information. For those interested in the scientific side of the pages, links to research published by the universities are also a part of the top bar of the main page.
Overall
Overall – both websites provide a student-centric perspective on an educational facility, giving fast, accurate and reliable information on its goals, capabilities and future development ambitions. Students are able to see the information needed through a series of big windows and sections, with many of them being accompanied by pictures. The visual experience is similar on both the PC and a mobile device, as the pages seek to deliver large amounts of information in a quick manner. Information about the Covid-19 pandemic is available no both pages, while the Newcastle page seems to display it more prominently. The design choices and the informational backbone of the websites satisfies the needs of their stakeholders, including the Students, the Staff and Academic researchers.
Further improvement to the layout and the size of some of the objects would be needed, but both sites fulfill their purpose well. In the case of the Newcastle website, a change in the size of the interface to better accommodate smaller screens would be welcome. By putting more quick-to-access information on the screen, the creators are able to more quickly assist users in finding the sections of information they need, making navigation easier. On mobile, the website is also not fully optimized, using small fonts that make the access to needed sections difficult. The size and appearance of the panels and bars should be changed to better fit the phone screen. Furthermore, to enhance the experiences of current students, as one of the core demographics that visits the website regularly, the page should be better suited to their needs. A shortcut to a user canter or a web portal on the main page of the website would be the optimal approach, as it makes the process of accessing student-specific information quick and easily understandable.
For the Edinburgh website, the first step towards improving the user experience would be to make the availability of Covid-19 related information more apparent, and offer necessary solutions to the problems that arise because of it. Other factors, such as the layout and the presentation, as well as the design of the mobile version are made with noticeable consideration, and do not require much adjustment.
Improvements and Suggestions
A variety of improvements could be made to ensure that the user experience, convenience and satisfaction from visiting the website. Firstly, it can be noted that both pages are only available in English, and no translation or language change options are present. It was noted by a variety of research that the usability and user experience can be significantly improved with the proper implementation of a multilingual system (Vázquez & Bolfing, 2013). It can allow the website to be accessible to a wider range of people and make its content understandable both for students and other stakeholders. By adopting various translations of the website into some of the most popular languages, such as French, German and Chinese, they can cater to a wider demographic and be effective in delivering information.
Another addition that can be effectively utilized is the facilitation of the on-website communication. As shown by a study done by Dessart et al. (2015), users of a website prefer to engage with its staff as well as other users. Adding functionality that would support better communication between visitors and stakeholders could be an effective way to increase website engagement, and gather user feedback. An ability to leave feedback and comments in various parts of the page can also be beneficial to the process of better adapting to the challenges of working with users online. While it is known that data gathered by crowdsourcing can be ineffective in outlining the needs of people, by properly introducing a system of collecting data, some of the problems associated with the process can be avoided (Crowdsourcing Isn’t as Unbiased as You Might Think 2017). By making suggestions anonymous, the bias associated with people supporting ideas of people they know can be eliminated, and the process can be made more streamlined.
The changes introduced this way can better align with the principles of e-CRM, as one of the most important part of marketing within the digital space. E-CRM is a way of gaining and retaining an audience in the online sphere, a collection of methods (Chaffey & Ellis-Chadwick, 2020). The customer-oriented approach and the use of different communication channels to reach a broader audience and make a bigger impact. By establishing proper communication channels and giving the websites a method of gathering data on their users, the creators can create better two-way engagement beneficial for the longevity of their sites.
Marketing Plan
In the case of promoting the existence and development of websites connected with universities, it is important to understand the main goals sought out by their creators, as well as the circumstances of the micro and macro environment (Chaffey & Ellis-Chadwick, 2020). On the big scale, the importance of education and quality of knowledge is becoming more important, making educational institutions much more prominent than ever. With the global development and the process of globalization, the need of universities to adapt to the changes to be successful and be able to work with a larger influx of people is much needed. More and more people from all parts of the world are coming to get good education, and the facilities they use need to answer in kind. On the micro environment level, universities need to continuously introduce change and innovation into both their educational structure and organizational model to win over potential students, workers, and partners. With the change in the use and perception of the digital sphere and its use in business, it is important to recognize how modern online space can be used to effectively support organizations. Digital experience provides a variety of benefits to its users and hosts alike, making the process of receiving and delivering information much more convenient (Kannan & Li, 2017). In particular, the online platform is a great opportunity to expand a company’s reach beyond its normal area of operation, make itself known to a wider array of people (Chaffey & Ellis-Chadwick, 2020). In the context of introducing needed to change to a structure of a website, this consideration can be fulfilled by making the website more accessible to a wider population. An option of introducing multilingual settings to it is one of the more comprehensive and effective, allowing people less familiar with the English language better access. While current research emphasizes the need for more information, the move can be generally considered to be beneficial to the understandability of a page (Vázquez & Bolfing, 2013). In terms of design, this change should be introduced as soon as possible, because it can be a gateway towards further improvement. Another benefit of the online sphere is that it gives organizations an opportunity to gather user data, use statistics and amass feedback (Lamberton & Stephen, 2016). The use of features usually reserved for social media can be effective in introducing larger traffic to the pages and making people more eager to visit them, as it is one of their main features (Ngai et al., 2015). The implementation of a structured communication and feedback system can be effective in both improving audience engagement and creating plans for future improvement. By giving individuals an ability to communicate between each other, the university websites can improve the likelihood of people staying on their websites longer and providing valuable user data (Dessart et al., 2015).
Reference List
Chaffey, D. & Ellis-Chadwick, F. (2020). Digital marketing, Harlow: Pearson.
Dessart, L., Veloutsou, C. & Morgan-Thomas, A. (2015). Consumer engagement in online brand communities: a social media perspective. Journal of Product & Brand Management, 24(1), pp.28–42.
Harvard Business Review (2017). Crowdsourcing Isn’t as Unbiased as You Might Think. Web.
Kannan, P.K. & Li, H. A. (2017). Digital marketing: A framework, review and research agenda. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 34(1), pp.22–45.
Lamberton, C. & Stephen, A.T. (2016). A Thematic Exploration of Digital, social media, and Mobile Marketing: Research Evolution from 2000 to 2015 and an Agenda for Future Inquiry. Journal of Marketing, 80(6), pp.146–172.
Ngai, E.W.T., Tao, S.S.C. & Moon, K.K.L. (2015). Social media research: Theories, constructs, and conceptual frameworks. International Journal of Information Management, 35(1), pp.33–44.
Vázquez, S.R. & Bolfing, A. (2013). Multilingual website assessment for accessibility. Proceedings of the 15th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility.