Theories and Philosophies of Human Resources Development

In this course, I learned a great deal about Human Resources Development (HRD). I now have a better understanding on the history of human resources development, the different theories and philosophies of HRD, and skills pertaining to analyzing an organization’s human assets and the processes related to human capital development. Human assets are the skills and abilities that employees and other members of an organization add to the organization as a whole. Some human assets are exceptionally valuable. For instance, employees who receive additional education and training in order to improve their repertoire of skills, which can then be contributed to the organization, are strong human assets. Such assets greatly enhance the potential†¦show more content†¦With the job expectations identified, a measurement system must be established so that an employee’s efficacy within a given position can be quantified. Next, the existing education and training courses mu st be evaluated for strengths and weaknesses. It is important that human resources departments regularly evaluate training programs for efficacy and employ innovative changes to training programs as needed. Out-dated training programs are likely to result in lost resources, wasted time, and diminished human capital. With a proper training program established, the instructional setting must be selected. Depending on the tone of an organization, training programs can range from recreational, casual programs to rigidly structured, formal programs. An organization that prides itself on enthusiasm, team building, and creativity may opt for a training program setting that is outdoors or involves physical exertion. Meanwhile, an organization that is more dedicated to classic professionalism and rigid curricula may opt for a traditional classroom setting for their training program. The tone of training programs and employee advancement opportunities sets the mood for all employees. T he employees, in turn, convey the organization’s demeanor and brand to customers and clients. Therefore, in order to build consistency and brand recognition, the tone of training programs and human resources development must match the overall tone andShow MoreRelatedThe Effect Of Pars Food On Human Resources And What Impact It Has On The Company966 Words   |  4 Pagesof Pars can be effective in human resources and what impact it has on the company. The second portion of the report will be showing how a variation of different finances can attribute to the short term goals of Pars Food ltd. Pars Food ltd. Is a frozen foods business and is one of the market leaders in the UK. 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My Philosophy of Teaching Essay example - 1251 Words

Philosophy of Education As Malcom Forbes once said, â€Å"Education’s purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.† As a future teacher and educator, I heartily agree with the quote from Mr. Forbes, a successful businessman. Because I have been a student in school since I was five years old, I have had many opportunities to look at my education and assess what I have truly learned. Honestly, I can say that the most important part of my past and current education has been being exposed to the many ideas and concepts of our world today. Aside from learning about the all important â€Å"classic† subjects, I have been fortunate enough to be educated by individuals who truly wanted to teach me, as well as other students, to make a†¦show more content†¦With more worldly knowledge, our students will become strong leaders in their communities, striving to make our world a better place. In addition to Social Reconstructionism , I do draw some more important ideas from both Perrenialism as well as Essentialism. I am an avid reader and I feel blessed that I actually enjoy this all too important skill. However, there are many unfortunate individuals who do not know how to read, and if they can, they are not interested. Reading is a skill that will never go out of style. People will be reading until the end of the world. For this reason, I think that the Perrenialist approach to reading the â€Å"Great Books† is ideal. Every student should be educated on the literature that has shaped our world today, as well as on how to think critically. In addition to learning about critical thinking and the foundation of America, students should be required to read on a regular basis. It is necessary that all students today strengthen their reading skills, and reading assignments will give them much needed practice. 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Factor Affecting People Investing in Mutual Fund Free Essays

Factors affecting people investing in Mutual Fund in Malaysia: An application of the Theory of Planned Behavior Kuah Kean Lam Research report in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MBA 2008 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my supervisor, Dr. Nabsiah Abd. Wahid and my co-supervisor, Dr. We will write a custom essay sample on Factor Affecting People Investing in Mutual Fund or any similar topic only for you Order Now Datin Joriah for their invaluable guidance in helping me with this research. Special thanks also go to Associate Professor T. Ramayah for his kind assistance and consultants in my statistical analysis. My sincere thanks to all the lecturers in the MBA programs. I also want to thank my family for their patience, support and encouragement during the period of my study. I am also grateful to my friends for their help and encouragement. Lastly, I wish to accord my appreciation to all the respondents who had so kind to respond my questionnaire in time. i TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENT i TABLE OF CONTENTS ii LIST OF TABLES vii LIST OF FIGURES viii LIST OF APPENDICES ix ABSTRAK xi ABSTRACT xii Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION 1 1. 1 Introduction 1 1. 2 Background 1 1. 2. 1 Benefits of Unit Trust Scheme 2 1. 2. 2 Disadvantages of Unit Trust Scheme 1. 2. 3 Types of Unit Trust Funds 4 1. 2. 4 Growth of Mutual Fund in Malaysia 6 1. 3 Problem Statement 8 1. 4 Research Objectives 10 1. 5 Research Question 10 1. 6 Definition of Key Terms 11 ii 1. 6. 1 Mutual Fund / Unit Trust Fund 1. 6. 2 11 Federation of Malaysia Unit Trust Managers (FMUTM) 12 1. 6. 3 Net Asset Value (NAV) 12 1. 6. 4 Islamic Mutual Fund 12 1. 6. 5 Attitude 13 1. 6. 6 Subjective Norms 13 1 . 6. 7 Perceived Behavioral Control 14 1. 6. 8 Behavioral Intention 14 1. 7 14 1. 8 Chapter 2 Significance of Study Organization of Remaining Chapter 15 LITERATURE REVIEW 16 2. Introduction 16 2. 2 Literature Review 16 2. 2. 1 Emerging Market Research 17 2. 2. 2 International Research 20 2. 3 Model Explanation (TRA, TAM, TPB, and DTPB) 22 2. 3. 1 Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) 23 2. 3. 2 Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) 25 2. 3. 3 Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) 26 2. 3. 4 Decomposed Theory of Planned Behavior (DTPB) 28 2. 3. 5 Inclusion of other variables in the TPB iii 31 2. 4 33 2. 5 Theoretical Framework 33 2. 6 Chapter 3 Gaps in Literature Hypothesis Development 35 METHODOLOGY 41 3. 1 Introduction 41 3. 2 Research Design 41 3. 2. 1 Type of Study 1 3. 2. 2 Data Collection Method 42 3. 2. 3 Population and Sample 42 3. 2. 4 Data Collection 43 3. 3 Data Analysis 43 3. 3. 1 Descriptive Analysis 45 3. 3. 2 Factor Analysis 45 3. 3. 3 Reliability Test 45 3. 3. 4 Correlation Analysis 46 3. 3. 5 Multiple Regression Analysis 46 3. 4 48 3. 5 Chapter 4 Summary Expected Outcome 48 RESULTS 50 4. 1 Introduction 50 4. 2 Profile of Respondents 50 4. 3 Goodness of Measures 52 iv 4. 3. 1 Factor Analysis 52 4. 3. 1. 1 Factor Analysis for Relative Advantage, Compatibility and Ease of Invest 53 4. 3. 1. 2 Factor Analysis for Efficacy and Facilitating Condition 54 4. 3. 1. 3 Factor Analysis for Past Behavior, Attitude, SN and PBC 4. 3. 2 4. 4 Reliability Test 57 Descriptive Analysis 4. 4. 1 55 58 Analysis of Independent Variable Explanatory Role 58 4. 5 Correlation Analysis 60 4. 6 Hypotheses Testing 62 4. 6. 1 Multiple Regression Analysis (Stage 1a) 62 4. 6. 2 Multiple Regression Analysis (Stage 1b) 64 4. 6. 3 Multiple Regression Analysis (Stage 1c) 66 4. 6. 4 Multiple Regression Analysis (Stage 2) 68 4. 6. 5 Multiple Regression Analysis (Stage 3) 70 4. 7 Chapter 5 Summary of Results 73 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION 76 . 1 Introduction 76 5. 2 Recapitulation of the Study Findings 76 5. 3 Discussion of Major Findings 77 v 5. 3. 1 Attitude towards the Behavioral 78 5. 3. 2 Past Behavior 79 5. 3. 3 Subjective Norms 80 5. 3. 4 Perceived Behavioral Control 80 5. 3. 5 Behavioral Intention 81 5. 3. 6 Actual Investment 82 5. 3. 7 Relative Advantage, Compatibility and Ease of Invest 5. 3. 8 Efficacy and Facilitating Condition 83 5. 3. 9 5. 4 82 Normative Influence 84 Implications 84 5. 4. 1 Theoretical Implication 84 5. 4. 2 Practical Implication 85 5. 4. 2. 1 Marketing Strategy for Mutual Fund 85 5. 5 Answering the Research Questions 87 5. 6 Limitations 89 5. 7 Future Research 90 5. 8 Conclusion 90 REFERENCES 91 APPENDICES 97 vi LIST OF TABLES Page Table 4. 1 Respondents Demographic Profile Table 4. 2 Rotated Component Matrix for relative advantage, Compatibility and ease of invest Table 4. 3 54 Rotated Component Matrix for efficacy and facilitating Condition Table 4. 4 51 55 Rotated Component Matrix for Attitude, SN, PBC and Past Behavior 56 Table 4. 5 Reliability Coefficients of Variables 57 Table 4. 6 Descriptive Statistics 59 Table 4. 7 Pearson’s Correlation Analysis of Variable 1 Table 4. 8 Result of Multiple Regression of H8, H9 and H10 63 Table 4. 9 Result of Multiple Regression of H13 65 Table 4. 10 Result of Multiple Regression of H11 and H12 67 Table 4. 11 Result of Multiple Regression of H1, H2, H3 and H5 69 Table 4. 12 Result of Multiple Regression of H4, H6 and H7 72 Table 4. 13 Summary of Hypotheses Testing Results 73 vii LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 1. 1 Total NAV vs Bursa Malaysia Market Capitalization as at 31st Dec 2006 6 Figure 2. 1 Theory of Reasoned Action 24 Figure 2. 2 Technology Acceptance Model 25 Figure 2. 3 Theory of Planned Behavior 26 Figure 2. 4 TPB with belief de-composition 29 Figure 2. 5 Theoretical Framework 35 Figure 4. 1 Stage 1a Multiple Regression 62 Figure 4. 2 Stage 1b Multiple Regression 64 Figure 4. 3 Stage 1c Multiple Regression 66 Figure 4. 4 Stage 2 Multiple Regression 68 Figure 4. 5 Stage 3 Multiple Regression 71 Figure 4. 6 Model Summaries with Significant Relationship and Beta Value 75 viii LIST OF APPENDICES Page Appendix A Questionnaire 97 Appendix B Coding of Variables 103 Appendix C Respondent Frequency Results 104 Appendix D Factor Analysis – Relative Advantage, Compatibility and Ease of Invest 08 Appendix D1 Factor Analysis – Relative Advantage, Compatibility and Ease of Invest. (After removal of RA_2) Appendix E 111 Factor Analysis – Efficacy and Facilitating Condition 114 Appendix E1 Factor Analysis – Efficacy and Facilitating Condition (After removal of FC_2) 117 Appendix E2 Factor Analysis – Efficacy and Facilitating Condition (After removal of FC_2 a nd EF_2) Appendix F 120 Factor Analysis – Past Behavior, Attitude, Subjective Norm And PBC 123 Appendix F1 Factor Analysis – Past Behavior, Attitude, Subjective Norm And PBC (After removal of Att_3) 128 Appendix G Reliability Analysis – Behavioral Intention 133 Appendix H Reliability Analysis – Actual Investment 134 Appendix I Reliability Analysis – Attitude 135 Appendix J Reliability Analysis – Subjective Norm 136 Appendix K Reliability Analysis – PBC 137 Appendix L Reliability Analysis – Relative Advantage 138 ix Appendix M Reliability Analysis – Ease of Invest 139 Appendix N Reliability Analysis – Normative Influence 140 Appendix O Reliability Analysis – Efficacy 141 Appendix P Reliability Analysis – Facilitating Condition 142 Appendix Q Descriptive Analysis Results 143 Appendix R Correlation Analysis Results 44 Appendix S Stage 1a Multiple Regression Analysis 145 Appendix T Stage 1b Multiple Regression Analysis 148 Appendix U Stage 1c Multiple Regression Analysis 151 Appendix V Stage 2 Multiple Regression Analysis 154 Appendix W Stage 3 Multiple Regression Analysis 157 x ABSTRAK (MALAY) Faktor-faktor yang mempengaruhi pe laburan dalam dana bersama di Malaysia: Applikasi dengan Teori Perlakuan Terancang. Dana Bersama (Mutual Fund) di Malaysia mengalami perkembangan pesat dalam beberapa tahun yang lepas. Perkembangan pesat ini menandakan kesesuaian pelaburan secara berkumpul di Malaysia. Hari ini, dana bersama telah menjadi satu bahagian penting dalam bidang ekonomi Malaysia. Perkembangan sihat dalam bidang tersebut telah memberi manfaat kepada ekonomi negara dan para pelabur. Tujuan kajian ini adalah untuk menentukan faktorfaktor yang mempengaruhi orang ramai untuk melabur dalam dana bersama di Malaysia dengan menggunakan Teori Perlakuan Terancang (TPB) yang diubahsuai. Sebanyak 400 soal selidik telah diedarkan kepada orang dewasa di negeri Pulau Pinang dan 211 soal selidik yang boleh diguna telah dikutip balik. Berdasarkan analisis, didapati model yang diguna dapat menerangkan 47. % varian dalam Keinginan (Intention). Sikap (Attitude), Perlakuan Lepas (Past Behavior) and Norma Subjektif (Subjective Norms) mempunyai hubungan positif yang ketara dengan keinginan untuk melabur dalam dana bersama. Analisis seterusnya mendapati kedua-dua kelakuan lepas dan keinginan mempunyai hubungan kesan positif yang ketara dengan pelaburan sebenar. Sungguhpun model ini dapat meneran gkan varian agak tinggi dalam keinginan, tetapi didapati Tanggapan Kawalan Perlakuan (Perceived Behavioral Control) tidak mempunyai hubungan kesan positif yang ketara dengan keinginan dan pelaburan sebenar. Keputusan ini mencadangkan model teoretikal lain tanpa pembolehubah (variable) ini mungkin akan lebih sesuai untuk mengkaji sikap pelaburan dana bersama. xi ABSTRACT Mutual Funds in Malaysia have experienced phenomenal growth in the past few years. This growth reflects the suitability of collective investments in Malaysia. Mutual fund forms an important part of the Malaysian economy today. The healthy growth of the industry seems to benefit the country’s economy and the investors. The aim of this study is to determine the factors affecting people investing in Mutual Fund in Malaysia using the modified decomposed Theory of Planned Behavior. Structured questionnaire was used in this study. Four hundred questionnaires were distributed to the adults in Penang state and two hundred eleven useable questionnaires have been collected back. Based on the analysis, it was found that the model has explained 47. 4% of the variance in Behavioral Intention. Attitude towards behavior, Past Behavior and Subjective Norm have positive significant influence on investors’ Intention to invest in mutual fund. Further analysis on the Actual Investment, it was found that the both Past Behavior and Intention have positive significant influence on investors’ actual investment behavior. Even though the model has explained considerable high percentage of variances in Behavioral Intention, however, the findings that Perceived Behavioral Control is not a significant contributor to both Behavioral Intention and Actual Investment suggests that other theoretical model without this variable might be more suitable to study mutual fund investment behavior. ii Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION 1. 1 Introduction This chapter introduces the research outline of the study. The chapter begins with an overview of the Mutual Fund industry in Malaysia, followed by brief discussion of the benefits and disadvantages of the Unit Trust Scheme, their growth and different types of Mutual Funds. Besides that, this chapter also includes the problem statement, research objectives and research questions. The key terms and si gnificance of the study will also be highlighted. 1. 2 Background A Unit Trust Scheme (UTS) or Mutual Fund (MF) is a form of collective investment that allow investors with similar investment objectives to pool their savings, which are then invested in a portfolio of securities or other assets managed by investment professionals. Investors in Unit Trust Scheme or Mutual Fund do not purchase the securities in the portfolio directly. Securities or stocks are purchased by the Unit Trust Management Company (UTMC) following the authorized investments guidelines by a group of professional fund managers. Ownership of the portfolio is divided into units of entitlement and each investor is known as a ‘unit holder’. In this case, unit holders in Unit Trust Scheme (UTS) are not shareholders in the company but are rather beneficiaries under a trust set up by the company. Under the Unit Trust Scheme constitution or ‘deed’, there must be a trustee looking after the interest of the investors. The trustee is the legal owner of all the assets of UTS on behalf of the unit holders, and must act for the benefit of the unit holders. Unit holders in UTS have a eneficial interest in all the assets of those UTS, but are not entitle to direct UTMC on how to invest the portfolio of investments (Dealing in Unit Trust, FMUTM 2005). The return on investment for unit holders in UTS is usually a combination of a regular income payment (a ‘distribution’) and capital appreciation derived from the pool of investments held within those UTS. Each unit represents an entitlem ent to an equal amount of income and capital appreciation or depreciation that is normally reflected in the unit price of those UTS (Dealing in Unit Trust, FMUTM 2005). 1. 2. Benefits of Unit Trust Scheme For investor who is unable or unwilling to research and analyze investment markets by their own effort, Unit Trust Scheme is an ideal way of investing. To maintain a portfolio of directly held investments, an individual needs to keep up-to-date with market information and sentiment. This means keeping track of a wide range of information from many sources. For many individual investors, this is difficult, time consuming and expensive. Investing in UTS transfers most of the stress of investing to those best equipped to handle it – professional fund managers. Other significant benefits of investing in UTS are listed as below: (i) Diversification A larger pool of funds from many small investors allows the fund manager to purchase a wide range of investments. (ii) Liquidity of funds Most investors require that their investment be liquid. The investor can redeem their unit trust fund and receive their money in the specified time frame. In the case of Malaysia, the guideline is within 10 days. 2 (iii) Professional Management Investment decisions are made by professional fund managers. The investment process adopted is structured and follows basic investment principles outlined in the prospectus and deed. (iv) Investment Exposure For small investor (with RM1000), it is sometimes difficult to invest in particular asset class or certain securities, for example real estate or corporate bonds. UTS make this possible with pool investments from many small investors. (v) Investment Cost When making direct investments, the smaller investors will pay higher transaction cost if compare to large institutional investors due to prenegotiated fees on large purchase. 1. 2. Disadvantages of Unit Trust Scheme Some of the disadvantages of Unit Trust Scheme are list as follows: (i) Risk Any investment involves risk. Investment in UTS also has its risk of losing all of the money invested. (ii) Loss of Control Investors in UTS lose their right to direct how their savings are invested. If the fund manager invests the portfolio in accordance with the prospectus and deed, there is little that the unit holders can do if they disagree with the investment decisions made by the fund manager. 3 (iii) Fees and Charges The services provided by the UTMC are not without cost. Hence there are fees and charges payable by investors in UTS. (iv) Opportunity cost As with any decision, an investor who invests in UTS may have produced better returns by investing directly in the markets. This excess represents the ‘opportunity cost’ of investing in UTS. 1. 2. 3 Types of Unit Trust Funds Mutual funds are referred to as open-end funds for two main reasons: (i) they are required to redeem (or buy back) outstanding shares at any time upon a shareholder’s request, at a price based on the current value of the fund’s net assets; and (ii) irtually all mutual funds continuously offer new fund shares to the public. A closed-end fund is an investment company that issues a fixed number of shares that trade on a stock exchange or in the over-the-counter market. Assets of a closed-end fund are professionally managed in accordance with the fund’s investment objectives and policies, and may be invested in stocks, bonds, or a combination of both. Like other publicly traded securities, the market price of closed-end fund shares fluctuates and is determined by supply and demand in the marketplace. 4 Based on Lipper’s fund investment objectives, Unit Trust Funds in Malaysia have been grouped into the following seven types (FMUTM Annual Report, 2006): (a) Exchange Traded Funds-Bond General funds. (b) Guaranteed/ Protected funds : Comprises Capital Guaranteed funds and Capital Protected funds. (c) Money Market funds : Include all Money Market funds. (d) Mixed Asset funds : Include Mixed Asset Asia, Mixed Asset Emerging Markets Asia, Mixed Asset Global, Mixed Asset Growth funds and Mixed Asset Income funds. (e) Islamic funds : Bond Islamic/Syariah funds, Equity Islamic/Syariah funds and Mixed Asset Islamic/Syariah Balanced funds. f) Bond funds : Include all General Bond funds. (g) Equity funds : Include Equity ASEAN fund, Equity Asia Pacific Ex-Japan funds, Equity, Equity Europe, Global funds, Equity Growth funds, Equity Income funds, Equity Index Tracking funds, Equity Info Technology funds, Equity Sector Real Estate Asia funds, Equity Sector Real Estate Global funds and Eq uity Small Companies funds. 1. 2. 4 Growth of Mutual Fund in Malaysia In Malaysia and throughout the world, Mutual Trust funds have experienced phenomenal growth in the past few years. This growth reflects the suitability of collective investments in Malaysia, as a means for the smaller investor to accumulate capital over the longer term. 5 Figure 1. 1 shows the growth trend of mutual fund and total NAV versus Bursa Malaysia Market capitalization. Figure 1. 1. Total NAV vs Bursa Malaysia Market Capitalization as at 31st Dec 2006 Source: Securities Commission (2007) Although the mutual fund industry in Malaysia started as far back as 1959 with the establishment of the Malayan Unit Trust Ltd, the development of the industry did not take-off until 1980s with the launching of the Amanah Saham Nasional (ASN). The major growth of the industry can only be seen in the 1990s when Malaysia, together with other Asian Tigers, saw a high and consistent growth in their economies. For Malaysia, the growth in the mid-1990s was very much due to the boost given by the government in the area of tax relief and allowing withdrawal on Employee Provident Fund (EPF) to invest in the mutua l fund. With these incentives the mutual fund industry increased in size from RM15. 7 billion in 1992 to RM60 billion in 1996. The Asian crisis of 1997 had brought a sudden halt to this and we have seen even negative growth. However, the signs of recovery after that are becoming evident. Growth of the unit trust industry in Malaysia continued at a rapid pace in 2006. Total Net Asset Value (NAV) of the industry gained 23. 6 per cent, the net asset value of the managed funds increased to RM121. 8 billion. This amounts made-up of only 14. 35 per cent of the total market capitalization of the Bursa Malaysia, which stood at RM848. 7 billion. (FMUTM Annual Report, 2006) Different from the developed countries, an important characteristic of the Malaysian mutual fund industry is the dominant role of the government. As of 2006, more than 58% of these funds are affiliated with the government, i. . either owned by state governments or quasi-government agencies. Nevertheless, the number of private sector funds is increasing, in particular bank-owned funds. The NAV of the private unit trust funds (excluding federal and some state funds) in year 2006 stood at RM50. 7 billion, an increase of RM 6. 6 billion over previous year. (FMUTM Annual Report, 2006) The double digit growth was observed. The type of funds included Equity Funds, Bond Funds, Islamic Funds, Mixed Asset Funds, Money Market Funds, Guaranteed Funds and Exchange Traded Funds. All these funds are the â€Å"open-end† Mutual Funds. 7 Unit Trust industries are well established in developed financial markets like United States and European Union. The extent to which research, both at the theoretical and technical level, has been conducted in developed markets indicates the stage of maturity of mutual funds in these markets. In emerging markets, however, mutual funds are a recent phenomenon. Nevertheless, growth has been robust. Emerging Asian economies like China, Indonesia, the Philippines, India and Malaysia are expected to grow by double digits annually and projected to reach US$ 12 trillion by the year 2030 (PR Newswire, 2000). The phenomenon growth in the mutual fund industry in these emerging markets has resulted in an increase in the number of investment companies offering a wide range of different mutual funds (Ramasamy Yueng, 2003). Faced with a wide range of mutual funds, how does one made choices and what are the factors affecting the intention of an investor investing in Mutual Funds? 1. 3 Problem Statement Growth, both in terms of size and number of funds categories, in the mutual fund industry among emerging markets has been impressive. Most researches, be it domestic or international, were on the mutual funds performance compared to the market (Don, Galagedera Silvapulle, 2002), comparison of funds performance in different regions (Otten 2002), Islamic Funds performance (Abdullah, Hassan Mohamad, 2007), aggregate funds performance (Taib Isa, 2007), qualification, experience and investment style of fund manager, asset size and transaction cost (Ramasamy Yeung, 2003), price linkage with index in emerging market (Low Ghazali, 2007) and performance of funds during different economic cycles (Low, 2007). All the researches are conducted on the nature and 8 characteristics of the mutual funds it selves and not for one of the most important components of the mutual funds, the â€Å"investors† or â€Å"mutual fund purchasers†. Thus, in this research, we will study the individual investors’ intention and factors affecting investment decision in the emerging market like Malaysia. This paper intends to fill this gap. Mutual fund forms an important part of the Malaysian economy today. As of 31st December 2006, the total registered mutual trust agent was 31060 people (FMUTM annual report, 2006). Many peoples’ livelihoods are depending on this industry, directly or indirectly. Besides the mutual trust agents, the mutual trust management companies, and regulatory bodies in Mutual Fund industry, investors play the utmost important role in the growth of the industry as they are the one who provides the required capital in the industries. Investors have numerous choices to invest their savings; there are many benefits and disadvantages to invest in the mutual trust funds. Investors have to weight the benefits and disadvantages, and to consider their investment objectives before deciding to invest in the Mutual Funds. In many developed countries, Mutual Funds investment has become the preferred vehicle for savings and retirement. The healthy growth of the industry seems to benefits the country’s economy and the investors. For the continuous growth of the industries in Malaysia, it is utmost important to study the behaviors of the investors, their intention, and the other factors motivating investors investing in Mutual Fund. Many theories have been developed and evolved through time for the research of behaviors and intentions in many domains. Among the few popular theories re Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and Technology Acceptance 9 Model (TAM). The theoretical models and their comparison will be discussed in detail in section 2. 3. 1. 4 Research Objectives We have seen that NAV of Mutual Funds invested in Malaysia on 2006 was at RM 121. 8 billion. This has formed an important part of the Malaysian economy. This study is to investigate factors influencin g Malaysian consumers’ intentional behavior to invest in Mutual Funds using modified Decomposed Theory of Planned Behavior (DTPB). In line with this, four specific objectives have been developed. The four main objectives of this study are therefore to: (1) determine significant contributing factors to Attitude, Subjective Norm and Perceived Behavioral Control, (2) determine the most significant factors among Attitude, Subjective Norm and Perceived Behavioral Control that lead to Behavioral Intention to invest in Mutual Fund, (3) identify the relationship of Intention and Actual Investment (Behavior). (4) In line with the 3 objective above, an additional objective will be drawing the implications for the marketing of Mutual Fund products. . 5 Research Question This research attempts to answer the following research question: (1) What are the factors that significantly affect Attitude, Subjective Norm and Perceived Behavioral Control? 10 (2) Attitude, Subjective Norm, Perceived Behavioral Control and Past Behavior – which of these factors significantly contribute to Intention to invest in Mutual Funds? (3) Will Intention turn into actual Investment in Mutual Funds? (4) What are the conclusions and implications of the study for the marketing of Mutual Fund products? 1. 6 Definition of Key Terms In order to share common understanding of the concepts and for better understanding of further discussion, the following key terms’ definition were referred specifically. 1. 6. 1 Mutual Fund / Unit Trust Fund Mutual Fund is a form of collective investment that allow investors with similar investment objectives to pool their savings, which are then invested in a portfolio of securities or other assets managed by investment professionals. Investors in Unit Trust Scheme or Mutual Fund do not purchase the securities in the portfolio directly. Ownership of the portfolio is divided into units of entitlement and each investor is known as a ‘unit holder’ (Dealing in Unit Trust, FMUTM, 2005) 11 1. 6. 2 Federation of Malaysian Unit Trust Managers (FMUTM) Federation of Malaysian Unit Trust Managers – an organization with the vision to develop unit trust as the preferred vehicle for saving and retirement. The objectives of the organization are (Dealing in Unit Trust, FMUTM, 2005): ? To improve the regulatory, fiscal and legal environment of unit trust; ? To formulate sound and ethical business practices, to promote the interest of the unit trust industry and provide investor protection; ? To provide information, assistance and other services to its Member; and; ? To promote public awareness of the benefit and risk of investing in unit trust. 1. 6. 3 Net Asset Value (NAV) The net value of the assets invested in the portfolio of the mutual fund. It’s a way to assess the net worth of the mutual fund. The value is computed every day after the closing of the share market. The NAV will be used to determine the price of buying and redemption of units trust. Dealing in Unit Trust, FMUTM, 2005) 1. 6. 4 Islamic Mutual Fund Islamic investing can be defined as investment in financial services and other investment products, which adhere to the principles established by the Shari’ah. These principles require that (Dealing in Unit Trust, FMUTM, 2005): (a) Investment must be made in ethical sectors. In other words, profits cannot be ge nerated from prohibited activities such as alcohol production, gambling, 12 pornography etc. In addition, investing in interest (riba)-based financial institutions are not allowed. b) All wealth creation should result from a partnership between an investor and the user of capital in which rewards and risks are shared. Returns in invested capital should be earned rather than be pre-determined. 1. 6. 5 Attitude The extent to which one views a behavior as favorable or unfavorable, if a person perceives that there are positive outcomes resulting from an activity, then his or her attitude towards performing that behavior is likely to be positive (Ajzen, 1991). Attitude can be measure either through direct or belief-based measure. Belief-based measure of attitude is the weighted average of the strengths and outcomes evaluation of person’s behavioral beliefs (Ajzen, 2002b). 1. 6. 6 Subjective Norms An individual’s perception of social normative pressures, or relevant others’ beliefs, that he or she should or should not perform such behavior. It can be measured either through direct or belief-based measure. Belief –based measure of subjective norms is the weighted average of the normative expectations of others such as from family, friends or doctors and motivation to comply with their expectations (Ajzen, 1991 2002b). 3 1. 6. 7 Perceived Behavioral Control An individual’s perceived ease or difficulty of performing the particular behavior (Ajzen, 1985). It is assumed that perceived behavioral control is determined by the total set of accessible control beliefs. It can be measured either through direct or belief-based measure. Belief –based measure of subjective norms is the weighted average of the strength of control beliefs and facilitation power of these beliefs (Ajzen, 1991, 2002b). 1. 6. 8 Behavioral Intention An indication of an individual’s readiness to perform a given behavior. It is assumed to be immediate antecedent of behavior (Ajzen, 2002b). It is based on attitude toward the behavior, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control, with each predictor weighted for its importance in relation to the behavior and population of interest (Ajzen, 1991). 1. 7 Significance of the study Mutual fund has become one of the important investment vehicles for the world’s economy. The launching of the Amanah Saham Nasional (ASN) in 1980 in Malaysia is part of the government efforts to increase the stakes holding of native Malays’ in Malaysian economy. The Unit Trust industry is an important component of the Malaysian economy. The industry serves to mobilize the saving of the average, small investors by funneling these savings into areas where capital is required. Investors want good returns on their savings, Mutual Fund provides an ideal way for them to gain exposure to investment that in the long run can produce returns superior to those from traditional savings accounts and fixed deposits. Study on the factors influencing the intention to invest and investment decisions will help the 4 industry formulate marketing strategies to further stimulate growth of this industry and eventually help in the healthy growth of the country’s economy. 1. 8 Organization of Remaining Chapter This research is presented in five chapters including this introduction chapter. The next chapter (Chapter Two) is the review of literature that outlined previous studies, from the review of literature; gaps are identified and new research framework is formulated for study in Malaysia context. Chapter Three will illustrate the research design, methodology used for data collections, and data analysis techniques to be used to analyzed and test the variables. Chapter Four will present the analyses done for the study and also the findings of the study. Chapter Five will discuss the interpretation and recapitulation of the study, implications of the findings, limitations of the study and suggestion for future research. It then concludes the whole research. 15 Chapter 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2. 1 Introduction For better understanding of the present study, a comprehensive search of previous literature has been undertaken. As such, this chapter was organized in the manner to give an overview of literature, identify gaps, formulated theoretical framework and the hypotheses development. 2. 2 Literature Overview Mutual funds offer investors the advantages of portfolio diversification and professional management at low cost. These advantages are particularly important in the case of equity funds where both diversification and professional management have the potential to add value. For bond and money market mutual funds, the main advantage is transactional efficiency through professional management. There are many literature about the mutual funds in the developed countries. Literature are limited in the emerging market but are gaining popularity recently due to the tremendous growth in this industry. We will examine some literature in the emerging market, especially Malaysia as well as the international market. 16 2. 2. 1 Emerging Market research Investors made investment in the mutual funds with various investment objectives. Selecting mutual funds that will offer high returns with acceptable risk is a complex task. Literature shows that there are multiple factors that determine the performance of a mutual fund. Study by Ramasamy and Yeung (2003) on mutual fund purchaser in emerging country, Malaysia, shows that among the factors dominating the selection of mutual funds are consistent past performance, size of funds and cost of transactions. Qualification and investment style of fund manager seems to be relatively less important. This means that in emerging market, the final performance of the funds is what matters. A study by Taib and Isa (2007) on Unit Trust Funds performance of Malaysian market from period 1991-2001 showed that unit trusts have not performed well over the share market index on the period of study. In most of the instances, unit trust trail behind the performance of the market portfolio except during the crisis period when the unit trust market adjusted returns yields positive results. Of the various types of unit trust under investigation, they found the bond funds showed very superior performance over and above the market and equity unit trusts. The high interest rate kept throughout majority of the period particularly during the crisis period in year 1997 has tremendously benefited the bond funds. The study also found no meaningful inter-temporal correlation between current performance and past performance. Low (2007) had studied on the Malaysia’s unit trust performance during the up and down market conditions has shown that the Malaysia mutual fund performance from 1996 to 2000 reported that the manager’s poor timing ability contributes significantly to the fund’s 7 negative overall performance. Such results suggest no economic benefit accrues to the average fund manager involving in market timing activities. The other study by Low and Ghazali (2007) examines the price linkages between unit trust funds and the stock market index during the period of 1996-2000. He finds in the short run, the prices of unit trust funds are related to the stock market index, but finds the nonexistence of long run relation ship between the unit trust funds and the stock market index. This could possibly due to fund managers that are obliged to adhere to their investment policies with the aim of maintaining a long term allocation strategy. One recent study by Lau (2007) on the investment style of fund managers of emerging market, Malaysia, indicates that most of the funds do not outperform the passive style benchmarks. Fund managers invest in large-cap stocks with cash enhances the performance of funds. Besides having a relatively high degree of style, funds that hold large-cap stocks together with a relatively high portion of liquid asset class tend to have higher alpha, translating into higher information ratio. It could be implied that liquid asset class enables fund managers to invest in stocks that improve their values in economic cycles. It is obvious that most of the funds concentrated on large-cap stocks, followed by medium-capital and government bonds. The Islamic Mutual Fund is gaining popularity in the emerging market like Malaysia and China. In the study by Abdullah, Hassan and Mohamad (2007) on the performance of Islamic mutual fund over three different economic periods namely pre, during and post economic crisis in year 1997 compared to the conventional mutual funds has shown that 18 Islamic funds performed better than the conventional funds during bearish economic trends while, conventional funds showed better performance than Islamic funds during bullish economic conditions. In addition to that finding, both conventional and Islamic funds were unable to achieve at least 50 per cent market diversification levels, though conventional funds are found to have a marginally better diversification level than the Islamic funds. The results also suggest that fund managers are unable to correctly identify good bargain stocks and to forecast the price movements of the general market. In the past decades, there were wide variety of studies in consumer behaviors indicated a considerably consistent successful findings using the application of TPB model (Ajzen Madden, 1986). The model was wide used in the emerging market to study the consumer behaviors. Study by Mohamed (2004) on consuming herbal supplement in Malaysia has indicated the suitability of the model. In his study, Attitude was found to be the strongest predictor of behavioral intention. Study by Chai (2006) on consumer behavioral intention to choose functional foods in Malaysia was also based on TPB model. The results showed that intention was strongly predicted by subjective norms followed by perceived susceptibility to illness, health value, attitude towards behavior and finally perceived behavioral control. Interesting finding in this study was perceived importance of taste did not have significant impact on intention. The other study by Muniandy (2006) using the integrated Decomposed Theory of Planned Behavior on internet stock trading showed that attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, descriptive norm and perceived usefulness have a direct significant 9 positive relationship towards behavioral intention. In his study, the model was also compared to other intention based model like TAM, TPB and DTPB and found that IDTPB has better explanatory power. 2. 2. 2 International Research. In the research on the global growth of mutual funds by Fernando, Klapper, Sulla and Vittas (2003) indicate that the growth of mutual funds was likely to be determined by a number of fac tors. First and foremost is the level of income and wealth of the residents of a country. Conceptually, investing in mutual funds, like purchasing life insurance and saving for retirement, should be seen as a luxury good with a positive income elasticity of demand. In practice, however, the relationship between per capita income (used as an indicator of economic development and wealth) and holdings of mutual fund assets (expressed as a percentage of national income) is not always positive. In the same research on the global growth of mutual funds also indicated that the availability or not of substitutes as well as complements also greatly affects the growth of mutual fund assets. For example, houses are distant substitutes of mutual fund shares in household wealth but most other instruments are either close substitutes or close complements, in some cases both at the same time. Bank deposits, both the traditional form of checking accounts and savings deposits and the more modern money market deposit accounts, are close substitutes of money market mutual funds. The interest rate spread between bank deposits and money market funds would be expected to play an important part in determining the demand for money market mutual funds (Fernando et al. , 2003). 20 The study by Otten (2002) to analyze the development and performance of the European mutual fund industry and compared it with the industry in the United States, found that Europe was lagging the American mutual fund industry when it comes to total asset size, average fund size, and market importance. Furthermore, it appears that a few large domestic fund groups dominate the mutual fund markets in the individual European countries. The study also showed that the performance of US equity funds was relatively poor compared to the European funds, and the outperformance of small cap mutual funds. In one of the extensive research by Fortin (2005) on international mutual fund management, he examined the international mutual fund returns for each category and overall returns for the 25-year period (1976-2000). The result of the study showed that there is no relationship between total return and expense ratio, but there is a significant positive relationship between total return and turnover, and a significant positive relationship between total return and fund size. Study by Huhmann and Bhattacharyya (2005) on Mutual Fund advertisement in Canada and United States has found that Mutual fund advertisements are not providing the information necessary for optimal investment decisions. In another word, mutual fund advertisements do not contain all the requisite information on the risk-return trade-off, principal-agent conflict, and transaction costs that consumers need to optimize their investment decisions. Mutual funds used techniques known to increase the likelihood that their advertisements are noticed, but they also use techniques known to decrease the readership of their advertisements. Also, they rarely included convenience information. 21 Philpot and Peterson (2006) study on the Real Estate Mutual Fund (REMF) found that team-managed funds have lower risk-adjusted returns than solo-managed funds. Managers with longer tenure on job tend to pursue higher market risk levels, and there was no relation between manager characteristics and management fees. Researchers have begun to recognize the importance of understanding consumers’ or investors’ intention and behavior and consequently, there has een an increase in the number of studies in this area. Many theories have been developed and evolved through time and situational change. Each has its strengths and weaknesses. Among the few popular theories are Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), DecomposedTPB and Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). There are many more theories in the literature, however this research will concentrate only on the theories as listed above as they are r elated and well within the scope of study. . 3 Models Explanation (TRA, TAM, TPB and DTPB) The objective of the study is to determine the factors affecting the purchasing behavior of the investors in the Mutual Trust funds. Four alternative models – the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and the Decomposed Theory of Planned Behavior (DTPB), primarily adapted from Taylor and Todd (1995) – are here examined and compared. 22 2. 3. 1 Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) The Theory of Reasoned Action was developed by Fishbein and Ajzen in 1975. TRA suggests that a person’s behavioral intention depends on the person’s attitude about the behavior and subjective norms. If a person intends to do a behavior then it is likely that the person will do it. Furthermore a person’s intentions are themselves guided by two things: the person’s attitude towards the behavior and the subjective norm. Behavioral intention measures a person’s relative strength of intention to perform a behavior. Attitude consists of beliefs about the consequences of performing the behavior multiplied by his or her valuation of these consequences. Subjective norm is seen as a combination of perceived expectations from relevant individuals or groups along with intentions to comply with these expectations. In other words, â€Å"the person’s perception that most people who are important to him or her think he should or should not perform the behavior in question† (Azjen Fishbein, 1980). The TRA is popular in applied to explain use or adoption behavior. Research by Buttle and Bok (1996) on hotel marketing strategy reveals the two predictor constructs contained in the theory, attitude-towards-the act and subjective norm, jointly explain about 65 per cent of the variance in the criterion variable intention to stay in the hotel on the next business trip. Other example of research is consumption of alcohol free beer (Thomson Thomson, 1996). In his research, it was found that the main determinant of behavior was Attitude followed by the subjective norm. Control factors failed to improve the basic model. The basic framework of TRA is shown in Figure 2. . 23 Figure 2. 1. Theory of Reasoned Action One shortcoming of the theory of reasoned action is the consideration of behaviors over which people do not have complete control. Therein lies the notion of perceived behavioral control, or â€Å"the perceived ease or difficulty of performing the behavior† (Ajzen, 1991). As Hagger et al. (2001) note, this concept â€Å"reflects the perso n’s assessment of the capacities (e. g. , skills and abilities) and the limiting or facilitating factors (e. g. , barriers and access to facilities) regarding behavioral engagement†. Theory would predict that perceived behavioral control influences both intentions (Ajzen, 1991) and actual behavior (Ajzen Madden, 1986). Another limitation of the theory is that the theory stems from the assumption that behavior is under volitional control. It means that this theory could only be applied if the person can decide at will to perform or not to perform a certain behavior (Ajzen, 1991). The limitations of TRA lead to the development of Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). TPB is an extension of TRA to include the dealings of behaviors when people do not 24 How to cite Factor Affecting People Investing in Mutual Fund, Essay examples

Case study on Sofitel hotel

Question: Describe about the Report For Sofitel Hotel of Multinational Group. Answer: Introduction Accor hotel is a multinational group of hotels and resorts that operate in over 90 countries across the globe. This group was founded in 1967 and is headquartered in France. This group manages hotels that range from economical and budget-friendly hotels to five-star hotels. The economy brands that are part of the Accor group include Hotel f1, Ibis budget, Ibis styles. The midscale brands that are part of the Accor group include Mercure, Novotel, and Adagio. Sofitel is a luxury brand that has its presence in five continents and over 40 countries. This brand was founded in 1964 and is headquartered in France. Sofitel is a hotel chain that is part of the Accor group. This hotel chain has won several awards. The Sofitel hotels offer every facility that the guests can think of like complimentary Wi-Fi, play station, private pool, LCD/ LED television set, CD player, cordless telephone, microwave, refrigerator etc. The hotels offer exquisite facilities like 24-hours front desk service, facilities for physically challenged people, spa beauty treatment area, Jacuzzi, salon, gymnasium, barbeque, bars, kids entertainment section, option for babysitting, currency exchange centre, business centre, option for private chef, express laundry, florist, library, medical services, travel desk, water sports, option for chauffeur etc. It caters to people who wish to experience fine dining, luxury and spas (Weinstein, 2014). The hotels have highly profession al, skilled and friendly staff members. Sofitel focuses on customer relationship management. Market and situation analysis Market analysis is done to analyse the attractiveness of the market related to a particular industry. A market analysis helps a brand to take decisions related to investments in terms of inventory, manpower, machinery, promotional activities and technology. Based on the market analysis, the brands make an assessment of the future opportunities and threats in relation to their strengths and weaknesses(Milfelner Korda, 2011). Following are some of the elements of market analysis: The size of the market- It takes into consideration the sales volume of a particular market which further depends on upon the number of customers and their demands. It is equally important to understand the market potential by taking into account the potential customers. Prevailing trends in the market- It is important to be informed about the changes in the technology, social conditions, legal system, regulations, economic factors, political conditions as they responsible for opportunities as well as threats. Various techniques like test marketing, risk analysis, customer feedback analysis, competitor analysis are used to understand the market trends. Distribution channels available in the market- It takes into consideration the existing and emerging distribution channels (Padmanabhan, 2008). The scope of profitability- Factors like the power of customers, the power of suppliers, entry barriers for an industry, economies of scale, access to high-quality/ low-cost resources, the rivalry between brands in the same industry, the threat of substitutes etc. determine the profitability in a particular industry. The growth rate of the market- The difference between the actual market volume and the potential volume gives an estimate of the market growth. The adoption rate for similar products/ services can use to analyse the market growth rate (Tsai, 2006) . Pricing trends within the industry- It is important to understand how pricing for products/ services is done within an industry. Setting the prices too high will lead to loss of customers, whereas setting the prices too low will lead to a negative perception in the minds of the customers regarding the quality of products/ services. For the project, a number of drivers can be used for demand generation-promotions through online and offline modes, the introduction of attractive packages and discounts like complimentary breakfast for 2 people, get 10% discount on a stay for two people in November (Sen Kaushik, 2016). In order to analyse the demand for a hotel, the market can be divided into various categories- commercial, leisure, extended stay etc. Commercial demand takes into account the business travels. The hotel should have a tie-up with the corporate offices in close proximity so that those corporate houses prefer only our hotel for their clients and visitors. The hotel should also start a loyalty program in the commercial category. Extended stay demand takes into account those customers who require accommodation for more than five days. People who visit the place for a research project or construction project fall under this category ("What is Marketing Analysis?", 2015). Leisure demand takes into account the individuals and families that visit a place for travel purpose. They will require an accommodation when they visit Sydney for a vacation or visiting their relatives/ friends. Leisure demand is strongest during weekends, summers and holiday periods. It mainly depends on upon the disposable income of customers. Brand and ownership Sydney central business district is the main commercial area of Sydney. It is the main financial and economic centre of Australia. Some of the largest companies in Australia are a situation in this location. Head offices of many multinational companies are situated in this region. Offices of Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Allianz, Citibank, Westpac etc. are situated in this location. Queen Victoria Building is situated in the heart of Sydney CBD which is a very popular shopping destination. There are various tourist attractions in Sydney like Sydney Harbor Bridge, Darling Harbor, Watsons Bay thus tourists visit this location every year (Serafini Szamosi, 2015). This location is well-connected to other parts of Sydney by buses, ferries, and railways. Thus, this would be an ideal location for opening a Softie hotel. Internal analysis It is very important to have an assessment of the financial, technical, infrastructural and human resources that are available and have an estimation of these parameters regarding their future requirements (Serafini Szamosi, 2015). PEST analysis PEST (Political, Economic, Socio-cultural and Technological) analysis is generally done to analyse the external factors that affect the brands decision making and strategy formulation. Political factors- These factors include the attitude of political parties towards trade, the level of democracy and political stability within the country of operation. It also takes into consideration the employment laws, minimum wage laws, trade regulations/ restrictions imposed by the government, tax-related rules, consumer protection laws, rules regarding mergers/ acquisitions (Zulkurnain Kaur, 2014). The Australian government is very encouraging towards the hospitality and tourism industry. Economic factors- These factors include the income distribution, economic condition of different segments of the population, the level of employment, purchasing power, the price of raw materials, the growth rate of the economy, inflation rate, interest rate, exchange rate, monetary policies, etc. Since the income distribution is uneven, the lower income segment of the population cannot afford the facilities provided by a luxury hotel. In Sydney, the level of literacy and employment is high, the growth rate of the economy is high and the purchasing power of customers is high (Zulkurnain Kaur, 2014). Thus Sydney will be a suitable location for the Sofitel hotel. Socio- cultural factors- These factors include demographic factors, the perception of people towards themselves, traditions, beliefs, the lifestyle of people, the growth rate of the population, living standards and level of education. The role of media is also taken into consideration (Simons Hinkin, 2001). In Sydney, people are very conscious of their lifestyle and their standard of living. Customers are aware of what is happening in other parts of the world. Technological factors- These factors include changes in information technology, the amount of money spent on Research and Development, the introduction of e-commerce, new manufacturing techniques, changes in logistics, the rate at which innovations are happening and pace at which technological changes are being accepted. In Australia, a lot of money is being invested in the field of hospitality and tourism. With the advent of technology, internet penetration is quite high in Australia. Thus online marketing is the most preferred mode of marketing (Simons Hinkin, 2001). Mobile applications have become very popular. Technology has resulted in a faster exchange of information among the stakeholders. Since the majority of people in Australia have access to the internet, online marketing should be used for the promotion of the Sofitel hotel. Porters five forces analysis Porters five forces model (refer figure 1) helps to analyse the level of competition within the hospitality industry and the attractiveness of the hospitality industry. Attractiveness refers to the overall profitability of the industry. An attractive hospitality industry does not mean that every hotel will have the same profitability. Hotels can make use of their competencies and innovative business models to achieve high profits. Following are the five forces that affect the competitiveness of a brand: Rivalry among existing competitors- The rivalry among competitors in the hospitality industry is fierce. Today, people have access to the internet where they can compare the prices and services offered by different hotels. Intense competition can lead to price and promotion wars. Hotels reduce their prices and offer attractive packages in order to stay ahead of rivals. The Internet has the ability to cover large geographical areas, thus increasing the competition. The threat of new entrants- The initial investment to set up a hotel is one entry barrier. The second barrier is the ability to differentiate on the basis of location, staff, quality of services, quality of food, ambiance, brand image etc. Thus, it is very difficult for new entrants to enter the luxury hotel market. The threat of substitutes- In the hospitality industry, the threat of substitutes is high. You can find a hotel at every corner of Sydney. These hotels have different price ranges, different ambiances, and levels of services. This gives customers a number of alternatives. It is possible for one hotel chain to attract the customer base of other hotel chains with innovative marketing campaigns. It is important to entice the customers to choose your hotel over other hotels. Bargaining power of buyer- In the hospitality industry, the bargaining power of buyers is very high. With the advent of technology, it has become very easy for customers to book a hotel online. They do not need any middlemen or travel agents to help them in choosing a hotel. The cost of switching is very low in this industry. Thus, it is very important for a hotel to create an everlasting impression on the minds of customers with unique differentiators. The bargaining power of suppliers- The bargaining power of suppliers in the hospitality industry is low. The hospitality industry is known for its services that manpower is the backbone of this industry. Thus the staffs are the in-charge of daily operations. A hotel relies on suppliers for kitchen ingredients, liquor, linen, beddings etc. Figure 1: Porters Five Force Model SWOT analysis SWOT analysis takes into consideration the issues that internal and external to a brand. Strengths and weaknesses are internal to the brand, whereas opportunities and threats are external to the brand. The analysis of these internal and external issues helps a brand to determine whether the existing strategies will help the brand to achieve its objectives or not. Strengths- These include the positive attributes of the hotel that are within the control of the hotel and lead to profitability like brand recognition, human resources, suppliers, favourable physical location, quality of services etc. Weaknesses- These include negative attributes that hamper the growth of the hotel like limited access to technology, lack of marketing strategies, poor inventory management, lack of online presence etc. Opportunities- These include the factors that motivate a hotel and if explored properly, these factors can give the hotel an edge over its competitors like changing preference towards fine dining, use of online promotional techniques, upcoming social events/ festivals and holidays etc. Threats- These include a factor that is not within the control of the hotel and can pose risks for the hotel like an increase in prices of kitchen ingredients from suppliers, negative media coverage, change in government regulations, new tax-related laws, a price war among competitors etc. Stakeholder analysis A brand is accountable to all its shareholders and stakeholders (employees, customers, suppliers, investors, government agencies, non-governmental organizations). Stakeholders can be segregated into primary and secondary stakeholders. Primary stakeholders are those stakeholders that are directly affected by the decisions/ activities of the brand and are involved in some economic transactions with the brand e.g. employees; customers, investors, suppliers etc. thus are extremely valuable for a brand. Customers can be defined as those primary stakeholders that buy the goods/ services provided by a company/ brand and help the organization in earning profits. A company/ brand can increase brand loyalty by maximizing the value-creation either by providing products at a lower cost in comparison to its competitors or by providing top-notch quality of products and services (Karadag, 2006). Employees work for a company/ brand in exchange for monetary and non-monetary benefits. Their time and hard-work can be credited to the growth and success of a company/ brand. Capital can be considered as the lifeline of a company as without capital even the day-to-day operations of the company can be hampered. Thus, each and every investor is valuable to the company. Suppliers provide raw material and equipment/ machinery for the company as the specifications mentioned by the company. Secondary stakeholders include the general public, support groups, media, government etc. who are not involved in economic transactions with the brand. Special groups play a vital role in changing corporate behaviour by taking up issues ranging from working conditions for employees to environmental pollution (Hope, 2003). It is the responsibility of the brand to maximize value creation for all its shareholders, stakeholders and the general public for the sustenance of brand image and market share. A public relation is an effective tool that is being used for strategic communication. Public Relations are used to increase awareness about the brand and improve customer perception towards the brand. It helps to evaluate the attitude of the general public and gain their acceptance. Public refers to the people with whom a brand interacts directly or indirectly- customers, employees, investor, suppliers, media, government organizations and non-governmental organizations. Sofitel hotel should use tools like press conference, press release and interaction with the target audience. The hotel should have its own website that will have all details of the services/ facilities it offers and the terms and conditions that need to be followed. Strategic goal setting It is imperative to set goals/ objectives in order to measure the impact of the marketing and communication strategy adopted for the hotel. Since the Sofitel hotel is being opened in Sydney CBD, the main objective of the marketing plan should be to increase awareness about the brand among people and encourage people to visit the hotel to experience world-class food and services (Koch Nafziger, 2011). The objectives/ goals for the marketing plan should be SMART (Specific Measurable Achievable Realistic Timely). The outcomes of the goal should be quantitatively measurable. The impact of the marketing plan can be measured by calculating the % increase in awareness level and % increase in the visitor level (Bipp Kleingeld, 2011). 6 months should be taken as the time constraint for measuring the impact and effectiveness of the communication plan. Competitor analysis Competitor analysis is done to analyse the strengths and weaknesses of the existing and potential competitors. This also helps in identifying the threats and scope of opportunities. On the basis of competitor analysis, formulation, implementation, and monitoring of strategies are done. Competitor analysis can be done through the annual shareholder reports published by the competitors, press releases by competitors, capital investments done by competitors, investment in Research Development, mergers, and acquisitions and promotional activities (Albayrak, 2015). Competitor analysis can also be done by analysing the websites of the competitors and their pages on social networking sites. Following are the main objectives of competitor analysis: Listing of brands operating in the same market and targeting the same segment of customers. Understanding the objectives and capabilities of the competitors Understanding the strategies formulated by the competitors. Understanding how the competitors will react to the brands decisions and actions (Albayrak, 2015). Competitor analysis helps to create detailed profiles for the major competitors within the given industry. Following elements are involved in competitor profiling: The background of the competitor: It includes the presence of the brand both online and offline, history of the brand, mission, vision, values and brands organizational structure (Albayrak, 2015). The product portfolio of the competitor: It includes the list of existing products/ services offered by the brand, development of new products/ services, patents, licenses, investment in Research Development. Financial stability: It includes profit growth rate, asset versus liability ratio, dividend policy, the liquidity of funds, cash flow etc(Guolin Sun, Jie Chen, Wei Guo, Liu, 2005). Human resources: It includes the number of employees, skills/ expertise of employees, remuneration offered to employees, the level of employee involvement, the level of employee satisfaction, management style etc. Promotional techniques- It includes target customers, market share, brand awareness, brand loyalty, the budget for promotional activities, distribution channels, modes of promotion both online and offline, positioning strategy, pricing strategy, product bundling technique. In addition to the existing competitors, it is important to keep a track of the potential competitors. The probability of potential competitors increases when the barriers to entry are low, demand is higher in comparison to the supply, the competition between the existing brands is low and profit margins are highest in the industry. Following are the major sources of potential competitors: Brands dealing with a related range of products/ services. Brands using similar technologies. Brands targeting the same market segment, but with complementary or substitute products/ services. Brands operating from different geographical locations, but dealing with similar products/ services New start-ups managed by former employees of existing competitors (Aung, 2000). Competitive advantage In todays competitive world, hotels are making strategic moves to gain advantages over their competitors. A strategy is basically a plan of action that is chosen to achieve the desired objectives after analysing the internal and external factors affecting the business while taking the uncertainties into consideration (Aung, 2000). These days hotels try to gain leadership in terms of customer experience, pricing of food/ services and quality of food/ services. Hotels strive to provide unique value to the customers on the basis of cost or differentiation (customer experience, innovation, quality of services etc.). Competitive advantage (refer figure 2) is based on the key strengths that are specific to the brand like staff management, inventory management, technology, which results in enhanced efficiency, reduced overall costs, and superior quality. Capabilities and resources are the prominent factors that help a brand to attain competitive advantage. An edge, over the competitors leads to an increased profitability (Aung, 2000). Following are the major factors that result in superior value creation for the customers: Human Resource- Staff plays a vital role in a service based industry. It is imperative to have a strong HR department that takes care of selecting, training and motivating the staff and maintains a healthy work culture. This would certainly help in improving the staff productivity and customer services. Logistics- Luxury hotels make use of a standardized procurement process for items like kitchen ingredients, liquor, linens, beddings, souvenir good, furniture etc. Information system- Information system in the hospitality industry is used to keep a check on financial data, inventory levels, dealing with customer responses/ inquiries and customer bookings (Bhabra, 2007). It helps to manage the payment and billing system. It helps in maintaining a centralized database regarding prices and availability of rooms through travel agents, booking sites and reservation at the hotel reception. Infrastructure and facilities- Luxury hotels have large conference halls, internet facilities, spas, gymnasium, recreation/ gaming areas, pools, salons etc. apart from the rooms and dining areas. Figure 2: Building blocks of competitive advantage Segmentation Market segmentation is critical for making a strategic marketing plan. Segmentation is a technique that is used to divide the entire market available for the industry into small sections where customers belonging to one section have the similar needs/ demands/ aspirations/ priorities and respond in a similar way to a marketing initiative. Segmentation can be done on the basis of geography, demography, behaviour, socioeconomic factors, psychological factors, and awareness. A target audience is selected on the basis of segments. Segmentation is done with the purpose of gaining a competitive advantage (Blocher, 2007). It helps a brand to make maximum utilization of the available resources and offer different products to different customer segments. Due to globalization, brands make use of cross-cultural approaches and cross-national approach. Following are the different approaches for segmentation: Segmentation on the basis of geography- Market can be segmented on the basis of continent, countries, states, cities, postal codes, climatic conditions etc. Segmentation on the basis of demography- Market can be segmented on the basis of gender, age, income, ethnicity, educational level, religion, culture, social class, occupation etc. Segmentation on the basis of behaviour- Market can be segmented on the basis of perception, knowledge, brand loyalty, user status, usage rate etc (Blocher, 2007). Segmentation on the basis of lifestyle- Market can be segmented on the basis of customer interests, spending patterns, activities, values, attitude etc. Targeting and positioning process Targeting strategy takes into consideration the diversity in customer and different offerings are made on the basis of market segments. Same taglines and promotional activities should entice the customers belonging to the same target segment. Brands use marketing strategies to target customers. After selecting the target customers, the brands try to create top-of-mind recall and brand loyalty by creating a positive image/ perception of the products offered by the brand against the products offered by its competitors. This is known as positioning. Positioning is very important in competitive markets, especially for low-involvement decisions. A positioning statement is used in every written communication to the stakeholders that helps to distinguish the brand from its competitors by citing the brands credibility, relevance, and factual information so that it influences the buying decision of target customers. For this project, the people of Australia and the tourists visiting Australia should be targeted on the basis of geography. On the basis of demography, people who are unmarried/ married, live in urban areas and are falling in the age group of 18-40 years should be targeted. Educated people who fall in the high-income bracket and who are ready to spend on leisure activities should be targeted. Those people should be a target who enjoys fine dining. The positioning statement for this project should be- Our hotel takes luxury to a different level. We value our customers. Our exquisite dcor, genuine hospitality and attention to details will turn your moments into memories. It is a perfect option for people with gourmet tastes. Design message The presentation (layout, colours, fonts.) and the content of the communication message play a very important role in determining the impact and effectiveness of the communication plan. All the online and offline communications should have the message- Our hotel takes luxury to a different level. We value our customers. Our exquisite dcor, genuine hospitality and attention to details will turn your moments into memories. It is a perfect option for people with gourmet tastes. (Chen et al., 2011) The message should have images of how the hotel will look from the exterior as well as from the interior. Pictures of the lobby, dining area, spas and rooms should be used. The message should include facts like pricing and services offered by the hotel that makes it exclusive and hard to imitate. The message should be designed in such a way that it leaves a lasting impression on the minds of viewers and it entices the viewers to visit the hotel at least once. Development of IMC program The following marketing tools are generally used by brands in order to accomplish their communication objectives: advertising, direct marketing, internet marketing, sales promotion, publicity/ public relations and personal selling. Integrated Marketing Communication means using a set of different marketing tools for accomplishing the desired objectives where all the tools convey the same meaning(Chen et al., 2011). For the Sofitel hotel, advertisements, internet marketing and public relations should be used that includes both online and offline modes of communication. Following are the merits of using PR strategies: Credibility: People consider PR, communications to be more reliable/ credible than other marketing tools. For example, a blog or an article in the newspaper giving positive reviews about the interior design and the quality of food/ services provided by the Sofitel hotel will be considered to be more credible than the advertisement of the hotel on a billboard(Connor, 2003). People also tend to pay more attention towards PR activities because there is a lot of clutter in the advertisement world. Cost: The cost that a brand has to incur in PR activities is far less than the cost that the brand has to incur for giving advertisements. Implementation of communication strategies In the world of advertisements (both online and offline), appeals are used to convey the message: emotional and rational appeal. In rational appeal only facts/figures are stated, whereas in emotional appeal advertisements use different emotions like fear, affection, joy, nostalgia, guilt, pleasure and comfort. For the Sofitel hotel, the emotional appeal should be used- People should come and stay in the Sofitel hotel with their family during their vacations (Tatar Eren-Erdomu, 2016). They should relax, unwind and pamper themselves. A renowned personality (actor, politician or sportsperson) can be asked to be a part of the promotional campaign. Before directing the promotional messages towards the target audience, media planning needs to be done which includes the following elements Medium: A medium (the internet, newspaper, magazines, radio, television) needs to be selected for advertisements. For Sofitel hotel, internet, television, and newspaper should be used for advertising (Lee Oh, 2013). Media vehicle: Media vehicle is the specific tool that is selected within the given medium. For this hotel, advertisements should be given in the Daily Updates newspaper, The Travel Stay Guide channel on television (Lee Oh, 2013). Reach and Frequency: The coverage of a geographical area comprises the reach. Frequency is the number of times in a day the viewer is exposed to an advertisement. In this project, the advertisement should be given in the selected newspaper once in a month and once in 2 days on the selected television channel(E. Dobbs, 2014). For marketing through online mode, social networking sites like Face book and Twitter should be used for promoting the hotel and banner advertisements should appear if a person visits a website related to travel and tourism. Monitoring and analysing the IMC program It is very important to analyse the effectiveness of the marketing strategy because a lot of costs is involved in the promotion activities for a brand. It is meaningless to spend such a huge amount of money if the campaign does not achieve its objectives. Alternate marketing strategies should be considered if the chosen marketing mix is unable to achieve the objectives(Chen et al., 2011). Following techniques should be used to measure the effectiveness of advertisements: Consumer surveys regarding awareness: Once the hotel gets inaugurated and people become exposed to advertisements, surveys should be conducted at an interval of 2 months to measure the percentage increase in the awareness levels and percentage increase in visitor level. Recall test: A random sample of people belonging to the target segment should be taken and they should be asked to recall the message and appeal of the advertisement(E. Dobbs, 2014). Following techniques should be used to measure the effectiveness of PR program: Total number of impressions over a time period of 1 month Percentage increase in the number of positive articles/ posts/ remarks over 1 month Percentage increase in the number of negative articles/ posts/ remarks over 2 month Ratio of positive to negative articles or posts or remarks over 1 month The impact of online communication should be monitored by measuring the volume of visitors on the website of Sofitel hotel and number of posts/ hits/ likes/ shares on social media like Face book and Twitter (Tatar Eren-Erdomu, 2016) . Conclusion Strategies related to marketing, operations, inventory and supply chain should be formulated according to the market analysis, competitor analysis, and internal analysis in order to gain a competitive advantage. Advertising, public relations, and internet marketing will help Sofitel hotel to attract customers and manage to acquire a market share (Connor, 2003). The marketing mix should strive to create a positive public image so that the target customer base visits the hotel to experience a royal treatment and even recommend the hotel to their friends and family. The prime focus of the hotel should be on the quality of food and services so that the customers are forced to revisit the hotel. Undoubtedly, excellent customer experience is the key to succeeding in the hospitality industry. Recommendations Sofitel hotel should make use of the internet for promotional activities and for interacting with the stakeholders through its website, blogs, social networking sites etc. The website should be created in such a way that it conveys a sense of luxurious and pampering experience and encourages bookings. The overall marketing strategy should lend a sense of exclusivity. It is imperative to hire skilled, experienced and efficient employees. Proper training should be given to the staff in order to enhance their knowledge, skills, and efficiency. It should provide lucrative salary packages, other non-monetary benefits, rewards on the basis of performance in order to motivate them and increase their productivity. The hotel should maintain high standards of room service, cleanliness, food taste and plating. The hotel should have a strong information system in order to maintain a database of the customers visiting the hotel and having real-time access to information related to online bookings, customer queries, customer feedback etc. The hotel should a proper inventory management mechanism(Connor, 2003). It is very important to have a reliable forecasting system because the hotel makes use of ingredients that are not readily available. The hotel should choose the suppliers for kitchen ingredients very wisely. The quality of kitchen ingredients should be given more value than the price of kitchen ingredients. For improving customer experience, feedback should be taken from every customer that visits the hotel regarding their likes, dislikes, and scope for improvement. Loyalty programs should be used to increase the cost of switching especially for the commercial category of customers comprising of business travellers. References Albayrak, T. (2015). Importance Performance Competitor Analysis (IPCA): A study of hospitality companies.International Journal Of Hospitality Management,48, 135-142. Aung, M. (2000). The Accor Multinational Hotel Chain in an Emerging Market: Through the Lens of the Core Competency Concept.The Service Industries Journal,20(3), 43-60. Bhabra, G. (2007). Insider ownership and firm value in New Zealand.Journal Of Multinational Financial Management,17(2), 142-154. Bipp, T. Kleingeld, A. (2011). Goal setting in practice.Personnel Review,40(3), 306-323. Blocher, M. (2007). Market Testing und Target Costing.VM,13(4), 199-204. Chen, P., Okumus, F., Hua, N., Nusair, K. 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The Moons Of The Solar System Essays - Planetary Science, Moons

The moons of the Solar System A moon is an object that rotates around a planet. Every planet except for Venus and Mercury have moons. The biggest moon in the Solar System is Ganymede, it has a diameter of 5,276 kilometres. It rotates around Jupiter. The smallest moon is Deimos, it has a diameter of only 16 kilometres. It rotates around Mars. Our moon is the fifth biggest of the 62 moons in the Solar System. It has a diameter of 3,476. The planet with the most moons is Saturn, it has 17 of them. Europa, which rotates around Jupiter, is the only moon that is covered with ice. That makes its surface smooth and with very few craters. Io constantly has volcanic eruptions because of the gravitational pull of Jupiter and three other moons. The coldest object in the Solar System is not Pluto but one of Neptunes moons, Triton. Mercury and Venus have no moons. Earth has one, Mars, has two, Jupiter has sixteen. Saturn has eighteen, Uranus has fifteen, Neptune has eight, and Pluto has one. The five biggest moons in the Solar System are: Number 1 Ganymede, Number 2 Titan, Number 3 Callisto, Number 4 Io and Number 5 our Moon. Mercury none Venus none Earth Moon Mars Phobos, Deimos Jupiter Mets, Actrastra, Thele, Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto, Lecla, Himabia, Lysithea, Elara, Amalthea, Ananne, Carme, Pasphae, Sinope Saturn Atlas, Prometheus, Pandora, Janus, Epimetheus, Mimas, Eceladus, Tethys, Telesta, Dione, Helene, Rhea, Titan, Hyperion, Iapetus, Phoebe, Calypso Uranus Cordelia, Ophelia, Bianca, Cressida, Desdemona, Juliet, Portia, Rosalind, Belinda, Puck, Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, Oberon Neptune 1989 N6, 1989 N5, 1989 N4, 1989 N3, 1989 N2, 1989 N1, Triton, Nereid Pluto Charon