Britons turn off television and put down the paper as they take up broadband

Richard WrayThursday November 30, 2006The Guardian

A third of British internet users watch less television once they have broadband, while 27% read fewer national newspapers and almost a fifth switch off their radios, according to new research from the telecoms regulator Ofcom. The picture is similar across France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US, highlighting the threat posed by the web to traditional media.

Ofcom's first major international survey of communications trends also shows that Britons pay less for mobile phone, TV and internet services than their counterparts in Europe and the US. The proliferation of "free" broadband, bundled products and fierce competition has kept prices down, while Freeview provides the type of digital television that is dominated by subscription services in other markets.

More than a third of British internet users have watched TV, movies or film trailers over broadband. Across all age groups, 34% of British broadband users have looked at user-generated content while 38% have watched the news online. British youth are the most web-savvy in the country - of those aged 18 to 24 with broadband, 77% have downloaded a music video, which is more than in any country except China, and 60% have watched TV over the web, putting them on an equal footing with similarly aged users in Japan, but behind the 82% in China.

British web users turn away from TV and national newspapers once they have broadband but although 17% say they listen to less traditional radio, 43% listen to radio on the web at least once a month, similar to the trend on the continent.

Only 19% of British web users make phone calls over the internet at least once a month compared with 30% in France and 37% of users in Germany. Brits are also more reticent about using websites to meet, chat and make friends. Despite the turn away from old media such as the BBC, the report shows 64% of British consumers believe public service broadcasting is "definitely necessary".

Organisation & Context Assignment

I really enjoyed to do this assignment, cause I could applyed the concepts about Internal and External analysis, in order to establish quality patterns and develop and improving the business' core competencies. I've used the bibliography below :

Journals:

Prahalad. C,K. and Hamel. G. (1990) ‘The core competence of the corporation. Harvard Business Review.

Srivastava, S.C. (2005) ‘Managing core competence of the Organization.’ Vikalpa. 30 (4).

Books:

Brennan, R. & Baines, P. & Garneau, P. (2003) Contemporary Strategic Marketing. China: Pal Grave MacMillan.

Chopra, S. & Meindl, P. (2004) Suply Chain Management – Strategy, Planning, and Operation. International Edition. USA: Prentice Hall.

Cravens, W.D. & Piercy, N.F. (2006) Strategic Marketing (8th Ed.) Singapore: McGrawHill.

Doyle, P. & Stern, P. (2006) Marketing Management and Strategy (4th Ed.) England: Prentice Hall.

Kotler, P & K.L Keller. (2006) Marketing Management, 12th Ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Pearson/Prentice Hall

Porter. M, (1985) Competitive Advantage – Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance. USA: The Free Press.

Websites:

Chinas’ Outlook report – Business monitor International – [online] URL: http://www.datamonitor.com/ [Accessed 23rd November, 2006].

China Country Profile – DataMonitor – December 2005. [online] – URL: http://www.datamonitor.com/ [Accessed 23rd November, 2006].

Global Data processing & Outsourced Services – Industry Profile [online] – URL: http://www.datamonitor.com/ [Accessed in 23rd November, 2006].

Internet Access in Asia-Pacific – Industry Profile – [online] – URL: http://www.datamonitor.com/ [Accessed in 23rd November, 2006].

The Market for Consumer Lifestyles in the USA. – Euro Monitor International [online] URL: http://www.datamonitor.com/ [Accessed 23rd November, 2006].

DISSERTATION - PHASE 1
Hy Guys...Have you understood the Ontological and Epistemological assumptions ? So, I think not... If you wish to share bibliograph and articles, please send me and I will upload on my site. You can check the bibliography that I`ve used in my dissertation here...see below:


Bibliography and References

Text Books

Burrell, G. Sociological paradigms and organisational analysis : elements of the sociology of corporate life / [by] Gibson Burrell, Gareth Morgan. London : Heinemann Educational, 1979.

Burns, C.A. and Bush R.F. Marketing Research (3rd Ed), UK: Prentice Hall International, 2000.

Bryman, A. and Bell, E. Business Research Methods, New York : Oxford University Press Inc, 2003.

Collis, J. and Hussey, R. Business Research – A practical guide for undergraduate and postgraduate students (2nd Ed), Bristol: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003.

Comte, A. Introduction to positive philosophy / Auguste Comte ; edited, with introduction and revised translation/,[by] Frederick Ferré. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1970 pp .08.

Saunders, M., Lewis, P., and Thornhill, A. Research Methods for Business Students (4th Ed), England: Pearson Education Limited, 2007.

Sekaran, M. Research Methods for Business – A skill building approach (4th Ed), USA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 2003.

Smith, J.K. Quantitative v. Qualitative research: An Attempt to Classify the Issue. London: Educational Research, March, 1983 pp.6-13.

Smith, M. ,Thorpe, R., and Lowe, A. Management Research, An Introduction (2nd Ed), London: Sage, 2002.

Journal Articles

Beam, C. Turn quantitative data into meaningful information. Consulting to management: Vol.16, No.2, June 2005, pp.35-38.

Hussey, M. and Hooley, G. The diffusion of quantitative methods into marketing management. Journal of Marketing Practice: Applied Marketing Science, Vol. 1
No. 4, 1995, pp. 13-31.

Subrahmanyan, S. Using quantitative models for setting retail prices. Journal of product & brand management. Vol. 9, 2000, pp. 304-315.

Wass, J.A. Comparative Statistical Software Review . Scientific Computing. Reed Business Information. February, 2006.

Weber, R. The Rhetoric of Positivism Versus Interpretivism: A Personal View. MIS Quarterly. March 2004.Vol. 28 No. 1.

Cheers guys ! I was elected Student representant of MSc Strategic Marketing Class. I will try to improve our course quality and be a good voice through the Tutors ! Thanks for the confidence !

See ya !

• 
  Article - Global Advertising Strategy – The moderating role of brand familiarity and execution style.
  
  A market research in Hong Kong was executed to find relevant data that could support the theories about local and standardized advertising campaigns. During the research several foreign and local advertisings were showed for the sample and the audience were submitted to respond questions about their attitudes toward the brands, toward the advertisings, purchase intentions, and their level of familiarity with the brand.
  
  The article’s highlights are showed below:
  - The concern about the standardization of global advertising campaigns.
  - Analysing the gap between the consumer view and the response to commercials.
  - Taking as example the Hong Kong marketing, because it is a growing and important market for multinationals companies.
  - The influence of culture in the advertising management.
  - Consumer perceptions between standard and local advertisings.
  - The differences between transformational and informational styles.
  - The central requirement in Global Advertising is the cultural fit between the values in the advertising message and the values of the receiver.
  - The role of brand familiarity
  - Brand familiarity is extremely important for acceptance and for implementing higher levels of advertising standardization .
  - The differences between transformational and informational advertising styles among cultural differences.
  
  As a conclusion of the research, the writers suggest that how more familiarity the consumers are with the brands, more standardized the advertisings can be executed to reach purchasing intentions and advertising acceptance. Other important aspect is about the advertising style used in the campaigns, that should consider the local culture. While the transformational style is more efficient in low-profile cultures as the Chinese culture, the informational style is more suitable for cultures as European and North American.

If you wish to receive the full article, please email me on fabiogoliveira@hotmail.com

The Bonfire Night

In 1605, thirteen young men planned to blow upthe Houses of Parliament. Among them was Guy Fawkes, Britain's most notorious traitor.
After Queen Elizabeth I died in 1603, English Catholics who had been persecuted under her rule had hoped that her successor, James I, would be more tolerant of their religion. James I had, after all, had a Catholic mother. Unfortunately, James did not turn out to be more tolerant than Elizabeth and a number of young men, 13 to be exact, decided that violent action was the answer.

A small group took shape, under the leadership of Robert Catesby. Catesby felt that violent action was warranted. Indeed, the thing to do was to blow up the Houses of Parliament. In doing so, they would kill the King, maybe even the Prince of Wales, and the Members of Parliament who were making life difficult for the Catholics. Today these conspirators would be known as extremists, or terrorists.

To carry out their plan, the conspirators got hold of 36 barrels of gunpowder - and stored them in a cellar, just under the House of Lords.
But as the group worked on the plot, it became clear that innocent people would be hurt or killed in the attack, including some people who even fought for more rights for Catholics. Some of the plotters started having second thoughts. One of the group members even sent an anonymous letter warning his friend, Lord Monteagle, to stay away from the Parliament on November 5th. Was the letter real?

The warning letter reached the King, and the King's forces made plans to stop the conspirators.
Guy Fawkes, who was in the cellar of the parliament with the 36 barrels of gunpowder when the authorities stormed it in the early hours of November 5th, was caught, tortured and executed.
It's unclear if the conspirators would ever have been able to pull off their plan to blow up the Parliament even if they had not been betrayed. Some have suggested that the gunpowder itself was so old as to be useless. Since Guy Fawkes and the other conspirators got caught before trying to ignite the powder, we'll never know for certain.

Even for the period which was notoriously unstable, the Gunpowder Plot struck a very profound chord for the people of England. In fact, even today, the reigning monarch only enters the Parliament once a year, on what is called "the State Opening of Parliament". Prior to the Opening, and according to custom, the Yeomen of the Guard search the cellars of the Palace of Westminster. Nowadays, the Queen and Parliament still observe this tradition.

On the very night that the Gunpowder Plot was foiled, on November 5th, 1605, bonfires were set alight to celebrate the safety of the King. Since then, November 5th has become known as Bonfire Night. The event is commemorated every year with fireworks and burning effigies of Guy Fawkes on a bonfire.

Global Trends - Strategic Marketing

A indústria automobilistica conseguirá se tornar ambientalmente responsável ?

Na última segunda-feira, aqui na Inglaterra, Sir Stern, um economista consagrado e um dos conselheiros do primeiro ministro Tony Blair, divulgou o seu relatório sobre as previsões economicas que poderão ocorrer em decorrência do aquecimento global, que embora muitos acreditem ser um ciclo natural do planeta, é em 90% acelerado pelas altas taxas de emissão de CO2 na atmosfera. Entre outras previsões catastróficas, o relatório prevê que se nenhuma ação for tomada agora, até 2010, aproximadamente 200 milhões de pessoas serão forçadas a sair de suas regiões atuais, ou morrerão em decorrência da seca ou de inundações. Infelizmente, estas regiões são em grande maioria ilhas e regiões áridas de países em desenvolvimento, portanto podemos considerar que grande parte não terá recursos suficientes para locomoção e acabará sofrendo as consequências e pagando o pato. No entanto, a pressão da mídia internacional, assim como ONGs e outras entidades, tem gerado alguns resultados. Refletindo a urgência de ações, o governo de Tony Blair está agora pressionando um pacto com o G8 e os cinco países emergentes para que o acordo previsto no protocolo de Kyoto (pós 2010) para cortar em 30% a emissão de CO2 até 2020 e 60% até 2050 via um acordo mundial , seja antecipado para o ano de 2008.

Como um profissional de marketing estratégico, não posso deixar de fazer alguns questionamentos em relação a redução de emissão de gases, principalmente pelos 03 maiores poluidores do momento: EUA, India e China. A redução de CO2 afetará muitas indústrias diretamente e milhares de empresas indiretamente, o que geraria uma crise na economia sem precedentes. O que fazer, com a produção de petróleo por exemplo ? E com as reservas, motivo de recentes conflitos que custam bilhões e muitas vidas ? Outras perguntas: Estão estas empresas investindo em produção de energia sustentável e renovável ? O prazo para alterar a infra-estrutura da indústria é suficiente ? As empresas automobilísticas possuem capacidade tecnologica e produtiva para reverter a produção para veículos ibridos ou menos poluentes ?

Hoje, a indústria automolistica é responsável pela emissão de 22% do total mundial de CO2, enquanto a de aviação fica com apenas 2% e o restante é proveniente da indústria em geral, onde aproximadamente 80% se concentra nas 03 maiores potencias economicas. E a pressão começou justamente nos dois menores emissores e nos usuários de veiculos. Também nesta semana, o governo inglês propôs entre outras coisas, o aumento de até 200% no imposto similar ao IPVA, para proprietários de veículos que emitem mais de 120 gramas de CO2 por Kilometro.

Ao analisar os players mundiais, os interesses de cada parte, os riscos e os desafios, podemos prever que muitas coisas mudarão, mas que o problema está longe de ser resolvido. Será que existirá vontade política suficiente para realmente reverter a situação ? Na variável cultura, as pessoas mudarão os seus hábitos, usando menos carros, viajando menos de avião, vivendo com menos supérfulos e forçando a redução da emissão de gases provenientes da indústria, e se isso acontecer, o que acontecerá com os milhares de desempregados destas indústrias ?

Se você ainda não adotou nenhuma ação de economia de energia elétrica, não é adepto da reciclagem e não participa de debates sobre este tema, é melhor começar a se preocupar. O tempo é curto e passa muito rápido. Vamos ver se conseguiremos reverter a situação para sofrer menos, ou vamos pagar o preço premium.

Fabio Gonçalves