Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Essay

At first, I disagree with this statement. I think Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is universally appropriate or applicable to all businesses. Customer relationship management refers to a series of processes, focused on initiating two-way communication exchanges with customers to have a detailed knowledge of their specific needs and buying patterns. The major benefit of a CRM system is that it helps business organizations in determining the type of customer best suited for the growth of their business. CRM enables business organizations to formulate strategies focusing on customer-driven growth and in providing superior and friendly customer experience There are four advantages of CRM that businesses should implement this strategy. * Customer Satisfaction By implementing CRM strategies, the company can focus on improving customer satisfaction through examination of customer preferences, demographics and interests. This information may be collected through automated surveys or personal phone calls from customer service representatives. Customer research may be performed to discover the reasons why one product is more popular than another. Customers typically enjoy the attention they receive and the interest in their happiness and satisfaction with the product, and the data that is collected can help the company produce better products and services in the future, contributing to improved customer satisfaction. This also improves customer retention over the long run. * Marketing The data that is collected through customer research can provide ideas for marketing and advertising for a big business. With many products or services to market, a large company may have difficulty targeting different customers for each item. However, customer research will provide information about what the customer likes about the product, what they are looking for in future products, and what purpose they would like the product to serve. All of this information provides great content for print or commercial advertisements and packaging designs for each product. * Lowered Costs By automating customer service with CRM software, the company can easily gain customer research through online or telephone surveys. The software automatically formats and calculates the data, making it faster and easier to collect this information. Fewer customer service representatives will be needed for collecting this information and less time will be spent preparing reports on customer research. Another advantage is word-of-mouth advertising from satisfied customers; as CRM strategies make customers happier, they become more likely to bring in new customers through word-of-mouth, which lowers the cost of finding a new customer. * Brand Image As customer satisfaction and retention improves, the corporation’s brand image may begin to improve as well. Customers will begin to associate the brand with good customer service, quality products and a personable approach. The CRM strategy’s focus on the customer will let each buyer know that their input is valued by the company. This can attract more customers and continue to create loyal customers to the brand. There is an example about effective implement of CRM. ICICI Bank has to manage more than 13 million customers. The bank has over 550 branches, a network of 2025 ATMs, multiple call centres, Internet banking and mobile banking. Its customers often use multiple channels, and they are increasingly turning to electronic banking options. Business from the Internet. ATMs and other electronic channels now comprise more than 50 per cent of all transactions. In the process of making its business grow to this level, ICICI Bank has distinguished itself from other banks through its relationship with customers. The Teradata solution focuses on a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform. Information from various legacy and transaction systems is fed into a single enterprise called wide data warehouse. This allows the bank to generate a single view of its customers. The warehouse has the capability to integrate data from multiple sources comprising Oracle and flat files. The Behaviour Explorer enables profiling of customers and querying on various parameters. These enable the bank staff create suitable campaigns for targeting individual customers on the basis of their requirements. To sum up, CRM is one of the best ways of determining the marketing strategies and other services offered to the customer. A well planned CRM can help organizations predict the current trend in the market and provide better services for customers befitting the trend, in turn increasing the business returns. The three major aspects of CRM are an operational system, a collaborative CRM and an analytical CRM. The customer relationship management concepts adopted by each company differ with their organizational objectives. There are 3 challenges of implementing CRM. * Costs One of the biggest challenges facing companies trying to implement CRM is the cost associated with purchasing, installing and training employees to use new software, according to CRMInfoline.com. CRM often doesn’t deliver the return of investment that companies hope for, though this is typically the cause of a poorly implemented system or poorly trained staff. While a properly implemented system should, eventually, show a good return on investment, CRMInfoline.com claims these results could take years to see in full effect as the new system takes root and customer awareness and participation grow. * Transition In order for a business to use a CRM solution properly, nearly the entire business will have to change. Most companies operate on an â€Å"us first, customers second† mentality, whereas CRM-centric businesses focus on placing customers and their satisfaction before the company. Furthermore, CRM systems are typically very complex and span multiple departments, meaning most employees will have to go through some sort of training that will inhibit them, at least somewhat, from performing their normal work duties. * In-House Versus Supported System Supported systems are CRM solutions that are taken care of or outsourced to another company. While in-house CRM software can be more effective, it’s much more difficult to implement. Companies without any current CRM implementation should consider supported systems more than companies with at least some current level of CRM, according to TMCNet.com. Supported systems typically cost less to implement because they’re not as in-depth or effective as in-house solutions. Jollibee is a phenomenal success story, having grown from two ice cream parlours in 1975 to over 1,800 restaurants worldwide today, including the strategic acquisitions of high profile brands like Greenwich Pizza, Deli France, Red Ribbon and Chow King. The company now operates 300 international outlets in markets in the United States, across Asia and throughout the Middle East. The big business like Jollibee must implement complete and effective CRM strategy. * Form a cross-organizational team. A cross-organizational, or cross-functional team, is made up of leaders from each core department in Jollibee. Representatives usually include at least one member from sales, service, marketing, support, management, IT, finance, and any other functional area in Jollibee. * Jollibee should decide what project goals to begin with (customer acquisition, sales growth, service improvement, or something else). Once goals are laid out, phases for installation of CRM can begin. This includes technology and software implementation led by IT, communication of new roles and responsibilities in each department, and implementation of training and rewards programs. * Provide training. Employees in many functional areas, including, service and support, are likely going to be using new technology devices or software solutions for customer accounts, data collection, customer service, data analysis and other CRM functions. This often requires training on philosophy behind the new system and CRM role as well as technical training on the technology applications. * Measure results. CRM fails without constant measurement. By definition, CRM programs are ongoing and design to improve over time. Feedback and data collected during CRM projects and phases should be analysed, evaluated, and reacted to by the cross-organizational leadership team. Decisions on how to improve the customer experience, behaviours of employees, and any other important components of CRM help guide the next project phases or phases. With CRM systems, Jollibee can streamline their business processes effectively and in accordance with customer needs. Customer Relationship Management software is employed by Jollibee to manage and organize their customer database and contacts. Proper customer relationship management solutions are necessary for any business firm to empower their staff, to expand their business and to provide quality customer care services. Task 2 There are 5 possible negative impacts caused by heavy-use of sales promotions. 1. Increased price sensitivity Consumers wait for the promotion deals to be announced and then purchase the product. This is true even for brands where brand loyalty exists. Customers wait and time their purchases to coincide with promotional offers on their preferred brands. Thus, the routine sales at the market price are lost and the profit margin is reduced because of the discounts to be offered during sale-season. 2. Quality image may become tarnished If the promotions in a product category have been rare, the promotions could have a negative effect about its quality image. Consumers may start suspecting that perhaps the product has not been selling well, the quality of the product is true compared to the price or the product is likely to be discontinued because it has become outdated. The Smyle Powder offer of â€Å"Buy 1 and get 2 free† went on and on. Ultimately people stopped asking for the product as the on-going sales promotion strategy made the customers perceive it to be a cheap and an inferior product. 3. Merchandising support from dealers is doubtful In many cases, the dealers do not cooperate in providing the merchandising support nor do they pass on any benefit to consumers. The retailer might not be willing to give support because he does not have the place, or the product does not sell much in his shop, or maybe he thinks the effort required is more than the commission/benefit derived. 4. Short-term orientation Sales promotions are generally for a short duration. This gives a boost to sales for a short period. This short-term orientation may sometimes have negative effects on long-term future of the organization. Promotions mostly build short-term sales volume, which is difficult to maintain. Heavy use of sales promotion, in certain product categories, may be responsible for causing brand quality image dilution. 5. Harmful Effect of Band image If a brand is perceived by consumers as being a value rather than premium brand, it is more likely to receive the most benefit from a price-based sales promotion. However, overuse of price-based sales promotions for any brand can have devastating effects on the brand’s image. This is particularly true for premium and super-premium brands or products and services in which the consumer has difficulty judging product quality in other ways, such as legal services or vitamins. The objective behind sales promotional tools is to keep current customers while attracting new ones, maintaining sales of seasonal products, introducing new products and challenging competitors. The essence of sales promotion involves using all forms of promotional activities, besides personal selling and advertising, to improve sales. In order to gain a strong foothold in the Malaysian market, Jollibee need effective sales promotional tools to fight its competitor. Coupons Coupons are one sales promotional tool. Customers get coupons in several ways, including via newspapers, magazines, online or mail. Customers present coupons to the retailer while buying merchandise in order to receive a discount or free product. For example, a customer of Jollibee use a coupon which takes 50 per cent off a set of meal costing $10, he saves $5. Bonus Offers Bonus offers or gifts with purchase are widely used promotional tools. When customers purchase a product, sometimes a bonus product is given along with it. The purpose is to increase the sale of the product and to make it more attractive by offering an additional item. When customers spent up to $20, he will get a free ice cream. Free Samples Another popular promotional tool is the free sample. When a customer is in the store purchasing certain products, he may receive a free sample of deodorant, shampoo, energy drinks food or candy. Usually, free samples don’t require the customer to purchase anything. Free samples can be given to a particular target audience in order to attract that type of customer. Jollibee can put new product as free samples to get feedback. Premiums Premiums are extras added to sweeten a purchase for a customer. For example, a software company might add a year of free technical support for a customer who buys an expensive software program. Jollibee can offer special toys in their children meals. Offering premiums gives a business owner the opportunity to partner with complementary businesses, creating a wider target audience. This premium creates a win-win situation for everyone involved. It provides a demonstration to potential customers uses referrals to introduce the companies to potential customers and provides a free, useful gift to existing customers. Mystery Rewards Scratch-and-win cards or raffles for prizes are other popular promotional tools. The key is this mystery reward has enough attraction to attract customers. Popular food and unique gift will be work. Money Back Offers When customers doubt the quality or reliability of Jollibee, offer a money-back guarantee. Give a detailed explanation of eligible returns and refunds available for customer reference. Point of Purchase Displays Point of purchase displays is used in Jollibee to catch the attention of customers. The selected products may be sale items but may also be seasonal or high-demand merchandise. The displays are built in a prominent location such as on an aisle end or at the front of the store near the entrance. Jollibee may also place signs at the product’s normal shelf locations. Sales A sale is a reduction in the price of a product for a specified period of time. Sales are used by manufacturers to gain new users or to increase market share. They also generate traffic in a retail establishment. Sales can result in off-season purchases that normally would not occur, such as Jollibee offer special food at 50 per cent off in Malaysia festivals. Besides, some points about sales promotion are important. A sales promotion constructed to inform customers about a new product might include an advertisement in a local paper explaining the product and inviting customers to visit a Web site for a coupon offer. An activity like this can be measured by tracking the number of people who receive the paper, the number of people who visit the Web site, the number of people who download the coupon and the number of people who actually use the coupon. Reminding customers about a product or service is just as important as an initial product introduction. Something as simple as setting up an in-store display with coupons or having customers complete a survey to indicate how often they use the product keeps brands fresh in consumers’ minds. Information gathered from the survey can expose how often customers use a product, how familiar they are with a product and if they plan to use it more in the future. Couple this with a discount coupon and Jollibee can even track the number of people who make a purchase after completing the survey. A follow-up survey can assess things like customer satisfaction and likelihood for a repeat purchase. Sales promotions are a great way to inform and remind customers about Jollibee. Ultimately, the main objective of these activities is to increase revenue. Weigh the cost of promotional sales campaign against the total revenue Jollibee expect to receive. Consider that many companies are spending up to 60 per cent of advertising budgets on sales promotions. Be sure that Jollibee’s promotional campaign is both cost-effective and profitable. These sales promotion techniques can help Jollibee gain a strong foothold in the Malaysian market. References 1. Why Customer Relationship Management is so important? (2008) By Article Alley [online] Available from http://praveenortec.articlealley.com/why-customer-relationship-management-is-so-important-576369.html [Accessed on 12 Jan 2013] 2. Challenges of Implementing a CRM (2010) By Matt Koble [online] Available from http://www.ehow.com/list_6631188_challenges-implementing-crm.html [Accessed on 12 Jan 2013] 3. Tools of Sales Promotion (2005) By Chris Joseph [online] Available from http://www.ehow.com/list_6073558_tools-sales-promotion.html [Accessed on 12 Jan 2013] 4. Disadvantages of Sales Promotion (2008) By Drypen [online] Available from http://drypen.in/sales-promotion/disadvantages-of-sales-promotion.html [Accessed on 12 Jan 2013]

Leading Through Self Awareness Education Essay

IntroductionHow do great leaders become cognizant of their organisations, themselves and others? All when turning up we were under a attention of person at a certain topographic point, this began a relationship of cognizing person and cognizing environment before cognizing ourselves. This lead to a state of affairs of cognizing other people as told who they are and cognizing things as told what they are. More over it makes us to cognize ourselves as told who we are and how should we be. It is in the establishments, schools and tribunals of these formative old ages where we are instituted, educated, prosecuted and judged of what we can be in the universe. This appears to hold been created by a stereotype of what and how the human species must be from a infinite coevalss before us. In this papers an reply to interrupt from this stereotypic barrier is sought through admiting my apprehension of ego and others related to larning penchants. It will be in the same context of looking into my function of how the construct can be applied in my section.Section AHow do I larn?First and far most I am really matter-of-fact person who believes in the attack of making first at and understand it subsequently. I get bored in following rhetoric manuals, theories and research methodological analysiss. All what I take involvement in is to cognize what must be done, how it is done and what application is needed to acquire it done. At work I ever teach my squad to be custodies on and larn to understand by making things themselvesFocus on attendingI ever focus my attending on the state of affairs I am confronting and seek to understand myself and my function in the state of affairs. I tend to look for different sort assortment and wide of involvement before I settle down to work through something. It seems easy for me to acquire a solution when I talk and walkthrough a job ; I portion it with people and state them what I think of the job . I find it easy for me to suit in a subject even if it is discussed by people I am run intoing for the first clip and in most instances I would set in my sentiment even before I introduce myself. I a really much opinionated single and ever present my statements really energetically. I have found that the fond of showing thoughts appeal to much battle as in most instances it either accommodates or challenges people. I have found though that when taking a different frame of attack, listen to more gregarious and chatty people it feels like thorn to person who thinks more of what is being said.Acquiring of informationIt seems that the first thing that captures my head is what is at manus and occurrence now, I ever want to see than to hear about it. At work when there is clocking failure of a merchandise I believe in imitating it and see it go oning to acquire a better apprehension of the cause. I appear to be really much comfortable with the existent and practical state of affairs or job because I get the exhilaration to prosecute in it. I hold an sentiment that everything has a point of truth which could be found if much energy is devoted in it. When working with machines I believe in preciseness that if a machine can bring forth one good unit is possible to be accurate systematically. I hold the same position with people that they can execute to a changeless and accurate degree given that they working with a good calculate rate. This goes for the same with behavoiurs that a good and disciplined behavior is possible for all persons. When required to train members for hapless public presentation and incompatibility, I refer to the experience where good was achieved. I have besides found that when listening to grudges in my section, I tend to tend to a fact like when people are stating they working in bad conditions. I would press them to be factual and individual out a status under which they would non hold taken the occupation if they knew it prior and a status under which they believe that the occupation is non worthy any more. This I have found that it eliminates impossible demands and makes everybody to believe existent even with future possibilities. To me it becomes mind bogging to make a hereafter someplace and still be able to change it even before is being realized. I do believe nevertheless in advanced state of affairss chiefly where the present is discontinued, altered or adapted. In one state of affairs I had to brief my squad about a new maestro production planning theoretical account concentrating on three month period where merely care and one-year leave were considered for proviso for doomed of production. This sparked a immense dissatisfaction from the store stewards about the non-consideration of ill leave and other un-avoidable absences including possible work stoppages and deceases. For me it ne'er came to be a factor because in world there was no 1 who was ill, there was no 1 who was on work stoppage and there was no dead cadaver in the meeting. However in believing it loosely there could be one sick, there could be a work stoppage and there could be somebody dead in the hereafter universe even within the three month period. The larning penchant of other people in the state of affairs forced me to reframe the state of affairs by inquiring the work force to determine the planning theoretical account from the position of our rivals. The theoretical account from the angle of the labor force showed for more willingness to better productiveness by: Acknowledging operators who keep a clean attending record for the three months Train and buttocks operators on repairing minor dislocations on the machine and pay those who pass the asDecision devising penchantWhen required to do a determination I tend to follow the nonsubjective logic position with analysis of the cause and consequence of both the job at manus and the solution that is sought. This I have found to be really much inclusive because it looks further than where the rock falls. I prefer to do determination based on what leading aspires to i.e. justness and consistent rule. I am of the position that consistent rule is good for pull offing a section construction than puting case in points continuously because it is easy to keep policies by using organisation rule than using case in points. To me repute is build by consistence where there is an unfastened door policy for exceeding fortunes than exceeding people. By definition exceeding circumstance to me are all fortunes beyond a human control where the abilities of a responsible individual fail or disabled in such that they can non move in a manner a sensible individual would move. I believe that reasonability is governed by acceptable Torahs, criterions and justifiable Acts of the Apostless. When keeping safety meetings in my section I would ever show the policy of zero tolerance to insecure patterns. What I have found is that though everybody is capable of following the safety patterns and cognize the effects of insecure patterns, people would nevertheless still dispute the policy of zero tolerance. It appears that other people are of the position that the circumstance and virtue of the actions of an person are of import. I ever persuade people to look at safety demand from a position of a household who have lost a bread-winner through a deficiency of safety policy and subject by the company. Largely when their relation died through carelessness by another employee but the company condones it by maintaining that employee in its employ. Asking them to conceive of how the policy would look like if that household was asked to compose the safety policy of this company. With that frame of head everybody tends to hold with me that the best manner of maintaining zero tolerance is to follow military manner of subject to everyone who disregards safety patterns.Preferable life styleIt appears that self-generated and flexible working manner entreaties much to me because I take things instantly as they come and in most cases I leave them opened. I like the tentative approached where a infinite to maneuver is large plenty for me to follow things and to accommodate to things. This has helped me to ever look for some thing new on the manner and would in most instances discover new constructs and new people that can be developed. In my section I ever encourage people to flux in things before doing serious picks because I believe that experience is an unfastened ended teacher. My position is that if have learned and experienced many things you probably to win with easy even in really hostile state of affairss. I seems to be challenged by a state of affairs where I am bound by structural dogmas and modus operandi, which need to be adhered to as checklist of activities however I do believe in broad range of cheques and balances to guarantee that ends are achieved.Section BLearning and development program for my sectionAfter deriving apprehension of ego and others larning penchant I am required to use my acquisition by planing a acquisition and development program for my section. The program is based onExpectationsThe nucleus of leading map is to develop way and aim for all activities required to make a coveted fate. The fate must be good defined from the oncoming and as the leader I am required to use the accomplishments of interpersonal acquisition in placing and tackling all the available and different energies in the section. A leader is good advised to hold the position of the fate at all times to be able to move above opportunism. A leader must walk the journey to the fate through planning, taking, forming and commanding. Once at the fate and holding tasted the goodness of the fate it would look easy for the leader to work convincingly and indefatigably to acquire everyone on board to work towards the fate. This can trip the passion of drawing and developing the people a leader is working with. A leader must be really much generous with cognition and ever want to portion with the people. Leaderships who spend clip with their people tend to develop good wonts of larning from each character under their leading. This normally makes the leader to be a really strong and able to take with freedom of understanding his people. It appears that of such great incarnation the construction gets formed and strengthens since all the people occupy places where they fits. This leads us to the following degree where acquisition is critical i.e. the construction.Learning the constructionThe first acquisition needed is the acquisition of the construction and how it functions to present the needed consequences. In most instances a construction can be cumbersome particularly when used as a commanding and a superior tool of people nevertheless if good understood it is the right tool to accomplish a intent and making fates. It is of import to avoid the pattern of utilizing the section construction as hierarchy of ranks in order to enable self look in full of all members in the section. Learning takes topographic point easy where people relates structurally because the construction gives a good counsel of what must be learned and how the work is inter-linked between people. This seems to be helpful in presenting the different functions each person in the section plays. Since larning will affect larning penchants of ego and others, it is hence advisable to associate to one another with the outlooks of different characters that fit the different functions Sharing is about playing a prima function and pass oning with others in the section. As leader will be required to run into and portion with the people in the section and such meeting must help in steering the section to run into its outlooks. My function as leader in the meeting will be to portion valuable information of the concern, schemes and demands. Progress study and update meetings where different functions take part in presenting and sharing their studies in their several capacities. This meeting could be a critical tool for a leader to pull larning curves and experience from the from the section members. This could besides assist to maintain all members posted about developments in the organisation and learn from one another within the section As leader I must be careful of non going a commanding officer in head by strong-arming squad members but to enable all stakeholders play their meaningful functions in the meetings. It looks likes when people follow on free will they work hard than people who are coerced in following the way of the leading. The chief occupation of a leader in meeting is to steer, inform, warn and urge members to draw together. A function is ever associated with a individual or people, and so when playing my function as leader it would supply a manner of larning about the acquisition penchants of the other people in the section. Another country of acquisition is larning the best manner of pass oning to the members in the squad Depending on the acquisition preferences most people respond otherwise in one signifier of communicating and hence as leader will necessitate to larn a diverse signifier of communicating. Another point to bear in head is that information can be really much unsafe to other people depending how it is communicated. A leader must guarantee understand people good in the section as others are unable to manage sensitive information therefore a great attention and diligence is required when communication.HarmonyHarmony emanates from credence of other people with their penchants and character which when achieved it enables the squad to work like a well oiled machine. It is a good known fact that the people we know and meet with everyday now were one time aliens when we met them for the first clip. Meeting people for the first clip generates perceptual experiences that can either be cemented or alteration at ulterior phases when a individual is good known or understood. Percepts are believed to be developed from our old acquisition and experiences and they usually form the first feeling of our new experiences. Arguably in general life most people attest to the fact that perceptual experience and feeling about other people tend to alter or confirmed at after disbursement clip and larning a batch about them. It is really much of import to command perceptual experience and feelings because though they are non enemies of harmoniousness but they can develop the worst enemy of harmoniousness which is stereotype. Stereotypic thought will ensue to the malfunctioning of the squad because the people keeping such a position will be a job in working with others Harnessing the alone and different energies becomes hard if the leader or other members hold a stereotyped position towards others. This is where interpersonal acquisition get downing from the leader becomes critical to spread this clip bomb of stereotype in organisation. I believe that the best manner of get the better ofing stereotype in the section is to use oneself more on reframing state of affairs because it ever gives you the position of the intent of your being. Stereotype appears to be encouraged by a comfort zone, success of the yesteryear, personal beliefs and conservative thoughts of the good yesteryear. To me it all appears to be a complacence and failure to research oneself, others and the environment more. To get the better of stereotype and comfort zone leaders need to be ever advanced and be ready to venture out of their conform thoughts. Success should be used to dispute one ego and others to continuously excite the competitory thoughts of taking the organisation farther. One of the greatest tools in disputing stereotype is utilizing success as a acquisition where the behavoiurs and larning thoughts of successful people is studied, challenged or adopted. When stereotype is overcome the squad can be able to play to strength by using all the energies and tackle them to the strength of the section. Great coherency will enable all squad members to enthusiastically lend positively to the success of the concern. This will amount to ownership and pride from squad members.Acknowledgment, Reflection and struggle directionPeoples like recognition and experience ignored if feed dorsum is non given after they have done something. Acknowledgement and feed back promote more acquisition and place spreads needed to be closed in acquisition. It helps people to reflect on what they have done and look for more room of betterment. It will be of import besides to let people to give provender back on leading to assist stretching the leader in suiting all the different acquisition penchants in the squad. A leader who is good capacitated in different countries of acquisition will be able to manage and pull off struggle in the squad without destructing the spirit of the squad but by capturing all the differences into a unit.DecisionGreat leading is the art that stems from the roots of acquisition and understanding ego consciousness. Great leaders have learned about themselves, about others and about their environment.

Basf Marketing Report

In order to be known as â€Å"The† global chemical supplier BASF redefined its image by officially changing its name from â€Å"BASF† to â€Å"BASF the chemical company† in 2004. This bold statement is expressed in their brand, corporate identity and company logo. BASF has lived up to this goal establishing itself as the largest chemical company in the world. (1) BASF, which stands for Badische Anilin- und Soda-Fabrik (Baden Aniline and Soda Factory), has used its image marketing to evoke the concept that We dont make a lot of the products you buy. We make a lot of the products you buy better.  ®. BASF posted sales of 52. 6 billion euro in 2006 (1) placing itself above Dow Chemical, its closest competition, followed by companies Bayer AG and DuPont. BASF the chemical company markets a strategy in all its divisions called the â€Å"Verbund† concept, a German word meaning â€Å"linked†. This concept of total integration is how BASF aligns its businesses internally as well as with customers and suppliers. BASF has realized a competitive advantage by not only integrating but interlocking value chains. In the last three years practicing on the Verbund concept acquisitions like Engelhard Corporation, Degussa AG and Johnson Polymers have allowed BASF to further its vertical integration of its businesses. In 2007 BASF found its place at a rank of 81 on the Fortune Global 500 Companies list, up from 94 in 2006. In February of 2006 Fortune magazine performed a survey of U. S business professionals and BASF earned the distinction of being one of the 50 most admired companies in the world in a global comparison. Introduction When you say â€Å"BASF the chemical company† many people may not know the name but those who do can usually recite the slogan: We dont make a lot of the products you buy. We make a lot of the products you buy better.  ®. Even those that can recite the slogan can be quite challenged to give one example of a product that BASF makes. Given this you would be amazed at some of the everyday products that use BASF chemicals. The additive that thickens your shampoo, the Ibuprofen used in your pain medication, the Legos  ® your kids play with all have components supplied by BASF. The only reason an average person would hear of BASF is through their corporate level image advertising. How is it that a company whose products are never seen by the average consumer ends up as the worlds largest in its industry? How it is a company that many have not heard of could make acquisitions in the 1. 6 billion dollar range? How is it a company can post sales in the 52. 6 billion euro range and the average consumer does not know who they are yet there products are everywhere? The first team discussions on what company to do the report on a team member brought some information to the table. This information is that he works for the world’s largest chemical company and no one knew what the company truly makes provoking the questions from above. The challenge is to understand how a company markets itself to a global position without the normal consumers influence. Our team chose this company to look at a business that would perform its marketing in a different environment than the main stream consumer environment and to better understand how a company markets without being seen. This is a report on business to business marketing observations of BASF the chemical company. Table of Contents †¢Macro-Environment Context †¢Marketing, Research Customer Analysis †¢Segmentation Target Markets †¢Differentiation and Positioning †¢Marketing Decision Levers †¢Recommendations Macro-Environment Context BASF is the worlds leading chemical company. They offer intelligent solutions based on innovative products and top notch services to its customers globally. This is the basis of their mission statement and purpose as a company. Their mission is also to create opportunities for success through trusted and reliable partnerships. BASF visions of success include sustainable profitable performance, innovation for the success of customers, safety health and environmental responsibility, personal and professional confidence, mutual respect and open dialog as well as integrity. Creating a Sustainable Profitable Performance to BASF is the basis for all activities within the company. They are continually committed to the interest of their customers first and foremost. They take pride in rewarding their employees, shareholders and take the same stance with regards to society as a whole to better the environment around them for future generations. BASF takes pride in developing innovation for their customers to add continuous long term partnerships well into the future. Their trade mark statement of We dont make a lot of the products you buy. We make a lot of the products you buy better.  ® clearly states this philosophy. They derive nearly all of their business from Business to Business (B2B) sales. This makes innovation very important in all of their many niches in multiple markets they involve themselves in. Partnerships are valued within BASF and are built upon continually to mutually take advantage of highly scientific and technological advances. Due to the nature of the business, that being a chemical company, the environment must take precedence to ensure success. In this day and age, if your company doesn’t take steps to protect the environment that it is in, it won’t be in business long enough to matter. BASF takes safety, health, and environment responsibility to a level that supersedes that of economic considerations. BASF makes their products environmentally friendly for future generations by supporting the Responsible Care TM initiatives. BASF puts itself among the best in the world by fostering group-wide diversity personal and professional competencies. They feel that diversity leads to global success and capitalizes on competition by offering many differing views. They encourage employees to be creative and utilize their potential for common success. In addition they treat everyone fairly and with mutual respect. They try to keep open dialog with all employees, customers, stockholders and relevant groups within society to keep all on a level playing field. The last core value that BASF incorporates is Integrity. The company acts with respect to their words and values. They comply with all laws and respect all good business practices in the many countries that they operate. BASF has a great strategy that includes 4 simple strategic initiatives. They earn a premium on their capital, they help their customer be more successful, they form the best team in the industry, and they ensure sustainable development. All of which are conveyed in the visions for the company same as above. The strategic initiatives are the product of years of providing excellent products at a competitive price to all of its customers. Politically speaking, BASF is globally involved. Based in Germany and intertwined within business all around the world it would be impossible to not be involved in politics. It takes a great stance on political issues to continue its success in business and to show continued enthusiasm in protecting the environment. With regards to the Environment, BASF strives to be the best and let the world know that this is an important issue. Environmental issues in past years have shown light on companies that make their business creating and working with chemicals. BASF cannot escape the microscope of this issue. They comply with all government regulations in all countries it does business to ensure their future. They support the Responsible Care TM initiatives and keep them at the forefront of their values. Environmental issues to BASF ties directly to their social responsibility. The people at BASF value their own lives as much as their neighbors and support this by their integrity. They treat those around the world with the same respect that they feel they would want, regardless of what they are doing. Be it they are selling products to another company or creating a new product, social responsibility is never taken lightly. Technologically BASF prides itself in being the best for themselves and those they do business. They invest millions upon millions to ensure success in the ever changing markets all over the globe. They pass their technological advances on to their customers to ensure continued success and lasting partnerships. Technological advances in the chemical field have undoubtedly kept BASF at the top for so many years. Given a clear SWOT analysis of BASF from any level of the organization, the business unit, the product line or the specific product yields a clear image of their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats all over the globe. SWOT analyses are often used during sales meetings to identify opportunities in the market. They have proven themselves over and over by being a superior company throughout all markets. A tried and true philosophy rooted in the company’s vision and values brings this out in them. They continually identify trends in the industry and counter the changes all the time. In addition they analyze their competition whenever possible to capitalize on those before them. BASF analyzes itself through multiple management channels to ensure continued innovation and profit for its customers, employees and shareholders. Teams all around the globe research the firm’s present and future clients to build lasting relationships and capitalize on hidden opportunities to improve themselves. Their strengths encompass being a globally prestigious brand, a large market share, and universally known for its social and environmental activities. Opportunities lie within possible joint product lines with other companies and customers. Weaknesses of BASF are global spreading in the way of having employees all over the world and keeping focus on attainable goals. They are influential in just about all markets and run the risk of being thin in a small amount of them. Threats within the chemical market could be the continual need to stay environmentally friendly. This can add costs and reduce focus on core assets of the business. While everyone wants to stay â€Å"green†, it comes at a price and that has to be economically accounted for keeping the cost benefit ratio at an equilibrium that is good for all. Marketing Research Customer Analysis BASF being a company that markets its goods and services to organizational firms primarily focuses on the practice of business marketing and being a company that produces no real end product the analysis of normal consumer behavior is not widely used. The success of a business to business marketing plan is in the hands of an organizations purchasing group. These groups that make the purchasing decisions for organizations usually have numerous deliverables that could drive the individual market. One group may see delivery performance as a key factor in their purchasing decisions, the next market segment may see price, value added services or warranty as the key elements. Because of this BASF must continually scan the environment of each of its individual segments and markets using a multidomestic marketing strategy. Being a global provider of chemicals the use a multidomestic marketing strategy helps in the sale of their diverse array of products dependant upon the particular market and the unique region. Marketing research in a commodity based business like the chemical business is primarily based on the use of combination of secondary data analysis and a small amount of primary data gathering and mainly environmental scanning. Scanning the environment and staying on top of the latest social, economic, technological, competitive and regulatory forces help BASF form its global strategy in marketing. This strategy then flows down to the different divisions using more practical marketing research tools to grow the business. Being a business to business company means marketing research is primarily secondary data. BASF globally uses SAP business software. The information gathered in this software is used to formulate sales forecast based off past performance. It is also used to analyze what products are moving and which are not giving key indicators of what products or even divisions are the Stars which are the Dogs, Cash Cows and Question marks. Corporate sales, procurement and logistic systems like WorldAccount or Ensphere ® are also used to gather this data to better service the customer. Trade magazines and publications are used by many of the divisions to gather data in the development of marketing plans. Here is an example from one of the divisions; BASF Industrial Coatings uses trade publications like Metalmag and Construction News to analyze industry trends. Along with trade magazines industry web sites provide information as well. Sites like the one listed below provide valuable information to keep BASF on top of the industry and what’s the voice of the customer. These sites are for the Industrial Coatings division. http://www. coolmetalroofing. org (cool metal roofing coalition) http://www. coolroofs. org (cool roof rating council) http://www. metalconstruction. org (metal construction association) http://www. themetalinitiative. com http://www. designandbuildwithmetal. com (new website lots of pertinent info). Although this is just one division of BASF the same practices reflect across the different divisions. Although not highly used, BASF does a small amount of primary data gathering. In the different divisions web polls, new product or service trials and focus groups have been used to gather information about the voice of the customer. Companies like Ducker Worldwide have performed â€Å"Voice of the Customer Focus Groups† to gather information on the performance of BASF as compared to their competition. Trials include potential new products or services that are either presented or given to a customer to test the markets interest in such goods. These goods or services are run through a customer in the industry to collect information on what the markets tolerance is for such goods or services. Regulatory, social, economic, competitive and technological forces help steer the marketing plan of the various BASF divisions. Through environmental scanning in each of these unique regions BASF collects data. The data is then analyzed to focus on trends in the global market. This data is then used to help direct the company and marketing plan. Canada has had legislation banning/limiting the use and importing of the chemicals such as Isophorone. Isophorone is a distillate of acetone a chemical used in inks, coatings and copolymers. This markets regulatory force led to a change in the components used in coatings sold into Canada. This led to the marketing of â€Å"Isophrone Free† coatings. This information was gathered and then marketed through brochures and fliers as well as the face to face interactions of the BASF sales force with their Canadian customers. With the ever increasing focus on the health of our environment, not only locally but globally, BASF has recognized this social pressure and focused an incredible amount of energy on marketing to the â€Å"Green Movement†. A mere visit to the BASF web site will show the amount of energy being placed upon marketing to the environment. This Green Marketing can be seen in headlines like â€Å"Intelligent solutions for climate protection†, â€Å"Sustainable development†, â€Å"Eco-Efficiency† and â€Å"Climate Protection† on the lead in page of their web site. BASF is currently marketing its association with world wide movement â€Å"Eco- Efficiency Analysis†. Figure 1. Eco-Efficiency Analysis comparing BASF Ibuprofen to competition This term that was coined by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) in its 1992 publication Changing Course looks at the overall footprint of a product from â€Å"cradle to grave†. Realizing the negative image of chemicals and their effect on the environment BASF uses Eco-Efficiency certification to market and sell the total impact a product will have on the environment. The hope is that their product will stand out as environmentally better than the competitions (Figure 1). This certification is being offered on many of its product lines across the globe. Products like Ultradur  ® high Speed easy flow plastic, Ecoflex  ® biodegradable packaging material carry the Eco-Efficiency seal. Other products like or Ultra-cool  ® paints with UV resistant pigments to reduce heat transfer in buildings carry the Energy Star certification. All these have come from environmental scanning. Ultra cool was marketed well enough that it pre-dated any legislation that followed. California’s â€Å"Title 24 Energy Code† now mandates solar reflective coatings used in construction. In the metal roofing industry BASF was the only company producing â€Å"cool† coatings that could meet this legislation and they were producing it before the legislation was enacted. Since then all major suppliers of paint for metal roofing have developed and now market â€Å"cool† coatings. This market segment did not exist until the development of BASFs Ultra-cool ® coatings. This is a testament to the effects of collecting marketing data using environmental scanning, product development and marketing. In scanning the economic climate BASF has gathered data for years on the benefits of their concept Verbund also known as total integration. The Verbund concept has been marketed through every division of BASF the chemical company. There is a â€Å"Purchasing Verbund†, â€Å"Safety Verbund†, a â€Å"Production Verbund† and many more. All of these wide variety of products would make you think that there are a lot of different prices to consider when purchasing from BASF. Because the products they offer are mostly raw materials, the prices of their products change with the economy. When the price of oil goes up, their prices for materials related to that product go up as well. They don’t base their prices off of any index or manufacturer recommendation. This price fluctuation does not affect the quality of their services as there is really no comparison by price to judge whether or not the product is quality. The price that BASF offers for it’s products does not affect consumer perceptions of their company. It seems that along with the business of providing chemicals, they also bring along the feeling of connecting with their customer on a higher level. That overrules the price effect on a consumers decision to go with BASF. BASF does not use the concept of off-peak pricing, which consists of charging different prices during different times of the day, week, or month. This usually reflects the varying demands of the services or products offered. BASF would not benefit from this tactic because the only reason their price changes would be due to the economy and their resources. They do not have a peak time or an off-peak time of demands for their products because they are raw materials and chemicals. The chemicals that BASF offers are in need to make finished products by many different companies at all times of the year. Place BASF uses the e-commerce network widely to reach their customers and suppliers. E-commerce is the electronic handling of business transactions with purchases and production. They conduct most of their transactions through the web in which a customer can log into their personal account and purchase their products through what they call WorldAccount. BASF uses the new internet e-commerce world as a way to make communication faster, more effective, and more direct. It allows customers to have service 24/7, get precise product information, have orders processed faster as well as keep current data on all of your orders. BASF found that the e-commerce way of providing products was the best way allowing more detail and service to be provided to the customer. BASF also has a good representation with production and sales facilities in all of the economic regions. They are located in five continents which are Europe (which is their home market), North America, Asia, Africa and South America. They have more than 100 large sites throughout the world which allows them to be closer to their customers in 170 countries and supply them with their products in a reliable manner. BASF has verbund sites located in Germany (Ludwigshafen), Belgium (Antwerp), Freeport Texas, Louisiana, Malaysia (Kuantan), and China (Nanjing). The term verbund is a German word and means â€Å"linked† or â€Å"integrated†. These verbund facilities make use of integration production processes which makes it less expensive to manufacture the products. This allows BASF to supply a wide variety of different sectors. BASF also operates important production sites which are located in Germany (Schwarzheide), Spain (Tarragona), Port Arthur, Texas, Mexico (Altamira), Brazil (Guaratingueta), China (Shanghai), Japan, (Yokkaichi) and Korea (Ulsan). The use of these multiple locations makes BASF a company that one can rely on almost anywhere you are located. This allows the company to become inseparable from their customers making it more convenient to do business with them in person, as well as through their online stores. Promotion The main idea about BASF’s promotional campaign in Europe is to show that certain things would not exist without their chemicals. It aids you in the course of life and without them, certain things would not be attainable for you. Their main slogan is â€Å"Invisible Contribution. Visible Success. They are aiming to show you that BASF is often working behind the scenes to make their invisible contribution that creates a visible success for their customers through using their chemicals to create the end product. Their image campaign in Europe(which is made up of television commercials and print ads) is directed at the opinion leaders. These are members of society who lead others and shape the views of the general public. The campaign has been covered in Germany, France, Great Britian, Italy, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands through newspapers and lifestyle magazines (such as business, news and science magazines). Their television ads are broadcast during scientific and sport programs, new bulletins, films and television series and is aimed at a wide target audience in Europe. They feature different ads for each type of chemical that they provide which include television ads for the paper industry, the semiconductor industry, water treatment, house construction, sports and leisure, road construction, agricultural products, extreme sports, automotive industry, bridge construction, sun protection, fuel, and plasticizers. They are making sure that they cover each kind of service that they offer by showing this wide variety of television and print ads. BASF uses a discrete way of creating publicity for themselves. When you are on their website for Europe advertising you have the opportunity to download their several different print ad campaigns and use them how you would like. They also offer the option for you to purchase either a postcard or poster of the ad. Publicity is something that is nonpersonal and an indirectly paid presentation of an organization, good or service. In this case, the customer, or fan of BASF, is paying for the poster or postcard, and in turn when sending that postcard or putting up that poster, they are providing no personal advertising that was not directly paid for by BASF. It is a pretty creative way of getting a profit and recognition while allowing their customer’s to do the advertising for them. In this case, the publicity works for them. When it comes to advertising in America, the rules are a little different than they are in Europe. Their main theme is that they are helping to make products better. Their main focus is to show how their chemicals can make your everyday life better here and around the world by creating remarkable and visible changes in many of the most important industries. Their slogan is â€Å"We dont make a lot of the products you buy. We make a lot of the products you buy better.  ®Ã¢â‚¬ . This slogan, according to BASF, has made them the most recognized of any chemical company in North America. The purpose of the several different TV ads allow you to see that they don’t make the finished product, they just provide the quality ingredients to make the best products. It also allows you to see that there are countless uses of the BASF materials that allows you to enjoy life. Just as their slogan says, in most of their TV ads they tell you that they don’t make the product, they just make the product itself better. For example, â€Å"We don’t make the helmet, We make it tougher† is a slogan used in a commercial about their Ultramid polymide nylon that provides hardness and abrasion resistance commonly used in helmets. Along with their TV and print ads, BASF is moving into a more innovational way of advertising to keep up with the demands of advertising and today’s technology. They offer through their website Podcasts. These podcasts include an audible innovation magazine of BASF that offers monthly topics on how chemistry and chemicals will design and shape our future. The other podcast available through the BASF website is â€Å"The Chemical Reporter†. This podcast is for the curious person that has questions about chemistry in your everyday life. This podcast offers answer in their weekly episodes. You can download this to your iTunes account or as an MP3 file for you MP3 player. Another innovation offered is to receive all news alerts and press releases through a RSS feed free of charge. This allows a customer to receive up-to-date news about BASF in a very quick and comfortable way (at your own computer). The only draw back is that you have to download and RSS-reader, but once you have you can select from several different news topics about BASF available online at their website. I’m sure these new innovations are there to create a buzz and traffic to their website. Recommendations The success of BASF marketing can be seen in there continual growth globally. To make recommendations would be easier if we were to look at one division of the company. Either due to market conditions or poor market strategy planning not all the divisions of BASF can be doing well at any given time. The American auto industry is in a state of flux with ever present pressures from the global market. Although divisionally BASF will feel these pressures globally their affiliation with non-US auto makers absorb some of this industries variation, this allowing time for the US market to be analyzed and adjustments to be made. Pure recommendations would have to come from some direct market analysis based off of the division of the company. BASF has done a great job in their Verbund concept. Being a supplier, the concept of interlocking processes or systems creates a relationship with the customer that is hard, or sometimes inefficient to break. From this alignment with cusotmers long term relationships are established. BASF could draw better on global technologies. In looking through the BASF corporate web site many of the technologies that are seen are from different countries. Online information on the use of these products in a specific country could not be confirmed or denied as a potential customer it would have been nice to know that they are available domestically. One observation is that BASF although a hidden part of many â€Å"name brand† products does not benefit from any of their customers successes. Co-branding could lock in the business through the social pressures felt by dropping BASF as a supplier in favor of an alternative. One flaw of focusing on the Verbund concept to lock in customer loyalty is it makes social pressure less of a final end consumer pressure and more of an industry pressure which in the end may not affect sales. In not hurting sales the decision to drop BASF is less of an issue of end unit sales and more of an internal issue of efficiency. Companies like Dow and DuPont often add their name to products in advertising. One example is LineX. LineX is a truck bed liner that is spray applied. This product uses BASF chemicals yet it is DuPont that benefits from co branding with LineX. LineX advertises on their website the following â€Å"LineX, fortified with DuPont Kevlar†. This co-branding is getting the name DuPont and their product Kevlar out to the end consumer. Thus if the customer is happy with the bed liner they may be happy with a product like â€Å"Suave shampoo with DuPont thickening agent† when it should be â€Å"Suave shampoo with BASF thickening agent†. This co-branding would broaden BASF’s evoked set and lock in customer relationships. BASF should capitalize on their success more publicly. The successes of BASF can only be found through their website. These high points in the story of BASF would help establish the confidence that a purchasing group would have in dealing with a stable successful company like BASF. One last recommendation would be to sponsor more events. Dow and DuPont get much of there brand awareness from the sponsorship of events like racing. BASF does a limited amount of this and mostly on a divisional basis. Sponsoring events would get the BASF name out there making it more of an everyday name than it is today.

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Assess and evaluate the nutritional intake and nutritional status of Coursework

Assess and evaluate the nutritional intake and nutritional status of the given case study - Coursework Example The objective of this paper is to assess the nutritional status of a 38 years old lady bus driver who is 75 kilograms in weight. This analysis also looks at the levels of her nutritional requirements and makes recommendations necessary to improve her diet. A record of 3day food intake which included three meals, a snack and drinks were recorded and kept in a journal. The foods consumed in the three days were measured in bowls and cups and used to measure nutritional intake using an online program. The three day food intake was entered on a dietary analysis program know as the supper tracker and is found on the website www.ChooseMyPlate.gov. A three-day average report was then generated from the website using the reports tab. The reports included the averages of all the macronutrients and micronutrients. This was then tabulated and compared with the UK reference values and inference made. The above table shows the three day average intake of macronutrients and calories against the UK dietary reference values. As indicated in the table, the three day averages show excess intake of calories and low intake of non starch polysaccharides. There is also excessive consumptions of the saturated fats and more energy resulting from fats. Poor eating habits are the major risk factors for many serious illnesses affecting human beings today including cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, heart problems, overweight, hypertension and low immunity (McCartney et al 2013 p.2085). Nutrition requirements also differ with respect to the age, gender, weight, level of activity and the physiological state of the body. It is therefore important to note that a balanced diet is critical not only for the prevention of deficiency diseases but also for correct growth and development. As Southerland (2012 p.40) states, Lack of adequate nutrition has resulted into age related blindness and muscular and age related

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Coparing and contrasting two literary works and two literary periods Essay

Coparing and contrasting two literary works and two literary periods in which they were written - Essay Example His life in Paris made him write more about the French Revolution. The literary period which Voltaire referred to was the Enlightenment period and his works received several critical acclaims. In contrast to this, Fyodor Dostoevsky was a contemporary writer who was a Russian novelist. Dostoevsky concentrated on the philosophical and moral aspects of the society. Dostoevsky referred to the realism and symbolism period. This was completely different form that of Voltaire’s thoughts and works. The 18th century was also known as the Enlightenment period. The reason was French Revolution and it had a greater influence of the lives of the people in France. The period of Enlightenment popularized the conceptualities of the French Revolution and it was named as the Age of Reason. It was then the people had the ability to realize what was happening around them and in their country. But the period of Realism was in complete contrast with that of Enlightenment period. The period of 19th century was named as a period of Realism and certain literature works name it as symbolism too. Realism focused on the realistic happenings of the 19th century. Till then the concept of supernatural power and sentiment ruled the country and these were considered as the important elements of the century. Realism revived this and literary writers contributed o this change by releasing books that imparted knowledge of the real world and this made people to realize the simplicity and truth behind a co mmon man’s life. This became a rage as this was completely new to the people of Russia. Enlightenment and Realism imparted different aspects to the people and the world. Writers like Voltaire and Dostoevsky worked hard to help the public realize the seriousness of life and the problems behind every change. Most of the literary works represent a specific incident or a specific revolution. Each of these works focus on the period which

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Art as Cultural Heritage - Essay Example This reason contributes to the distinction of the various forms of art as illustrated from time to time. The focus of this essay will mainly be centered on Europe. The representations and work exhibited by the respective artist has been of interest to many scholars around the world. The uniqueness and execution of the various artistic representations has been the major motivating factor that influenced the preference towards the art. The Renaissance and Baroque periods are the main interest of this essay due to the outstanding effort put behind the art. In reference to some of the previously exhibited art, it is very evident that some of the representations in the various ages were to some extent exaggerated, or generally they did not capture the intended image perfectly. Some of this ages include the earliest art to the Bronze age, whereby some of the representations brought forward were vague and did not give the intended information to the respective observers. With the trends car ried down to the present age, an analysis of the Renaissance and Baroque periods art seems to be the most appealing art with individuals still lining up to ensure that they acquire some of the produced art. The contrast between the Renaissance and Baroque periods and the other artistic periods mainly lies on the detail and amount of attention given to some of the art produced. The Renaissance and Baroque periods saw the emergence of some of the world renowned artist such as Leonardo Da Vinci who not only gave a mathematical twist to his presentations, but also brought out the details to clearly exhibit the intended message (Pittman p 23). The Renaissance and Baroque periods mainly had its main productions made between the years 1490 to 1530. Some of the arts produced within this period included the Mona Lisa portrait, the photo of the last supper and also presentations by Donatello which are still used to date. Other reasons that clearly give the Renaissance and Baroque periodâ€⠄¢s presentations an edge over the other presentations is the relevance that the presentations have to the common man. A portrait made by Leonardo Da Vinci during the Renaissance and Baroque periods clearly exhibited the extent of scientific exploitation in regards to the human anatomy. In comparison to the other presentations, a clear distinction can be drawn due the lack of detail and significance in regards to the future importance of the art, and relevance to the average thinker who would prefer to draw more detail from the art rather than trivial information. This observation clearly shows the superiority of the Renaissance and Baroque periods, and the major impact it has had to the improvement of the scientific exploitation to date (Pittman p 123). The Renaissance and Baroque periods saw the emergence of unique artist, and it also created a new awareness on issues that were rather dismissed or unknown to most individuals. The period is unique due to the application of science to the art presented that was a new maneuver in the presentation of art (Pittman 257). The period was branded as the rebirth of art, and the major concerns were centered on accuracy and originality in execution. Sandro Botticelli was among the artist that graced this period. In his presentation he gave a brief

Film reflection onWW2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Film reflection onWW2 - Essay Example The scene that is being analyzed is the first indicating scene that there are plots to kill Adolf Hitler. This scene shows how a bomb is smuggled on board a plane containing Hitler in order to kill him. This sets up the story of who is involved in the eventual plot that is the highlight of the film. It frames the desperation of those involved as well as the difficulty for killing Hitler despite the numerous attempts. There are three key narratives that frame the story. The first (N1) is that of Major General Henning von Treskow played by Kenneth Branagh who is the first in the film to attempt to assassinate Hitler. The second (N2) is that of Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, played by Tom Cruise, whose personal life and his decision making is used to show how the event of the attempted coup affected the private life of a key participant. Finally, the third key (N3) is that of the conspirators as they participate in putting the plan into action. Another narrative or N4 is that of the le ader of the army, Major Otto Ernst Remer who was used by the conspirators in order to try to arrest the SS and contain their biggest threat to changing the German government. Key: CU – Close Up Shot ECU – Extreme Close Up LS – Long Shot TMS – Tight Medium Shot POV – Point of View MS – Medium Shot INT – Interior EXT – Exterior SEQ 6 Desperate Measures The sequence in which Major-General Henning von Treskow gives a bomb that will be on board an airplane with Adolph Hitler on board is a short, but intense sequence of events. The narrative that shows the story of Treskow is labeled N1, or narrative number 1. Shot 1. (3 sec) It begins with a medium shot pan from right to left of a vehicle as it is partially covered by shrubbery, which can be an indication that what is being done is something that is secret and should be kept under cover. The sun is just setting behind the vehicle. The camera angle is straight on, but slightly low. S hot 2. (1 sec) This shot is in the INT of the back of the truck. The shot is an ECU that focuses on liquid being poured into a bottle. The green of the glass is highlighted against the amber tones of the rest of the shot. The intensity of the scene is punctuated by low music, repetitive and with a deep drum beat that is steady throughout the course of the scene. Shot 3. (1 sec) The shot is a CU of the man pouring the liquid which quickly as Treskow comes into the tent and announces that Hitler is leaving. The tones remain low key and the lighting is minimal reflecting the nature of their business as they are constructing a bomb. Shot 4. (1 sec) The shot cuts to a TMS as Treskow enters the room confirming once more that Hitler is in the process of leaving. Light can be seen coming n through the window that is partially covered with a cloth. Shot 5. (4 sec) The scene cuts to the hand of the man creating the bomb as an ECU reveals him fumbling quickly to get the cap on the bottle. He l ays it on its back and Treskow’s hand moves to put the rest of the assembly for the bomb into the bottom. His hands are trembling as the time is short. Shot 6. (2 sec ) The shot pulls back to a TMS in which they begin to insert the detonator for the mechanism. Shot 7. (2 sec) A CU of the detonator being put in place increases the tension. Shot 8. (1 sec) TMS Treskow hears the plane and turns his head Shot 9. (1 sec) ECU of Treskow as he looks back to his

To bring about its downfall Essay Example for Free

To bring about its downfall Essay The Crucible is set in Salem, Massachusetts, during the 17th century. Salem is a very religious village, with life being centred around the church. Everyone was expected to go to church, and to learn the Ten Commandments off by heart, and always to dress modestly. Sinning was not tolerated at all! Rules were very strict. Everyone feared the devil, this was one of the religious codes. This leads to the whole town becoming very superstitious, believing in witchcraft and servants of the devil. This view shows how narrow minded people can be, and it is this fear of the devil which sets the scene for the prejudice we see during the play. The story has two different meanings which help it to function on two different levels. It shows how a community can live in fear of God and will admit to anything when faced with a death threat. This shows how weak people can be and how people can use their own deceptive minds and power to get what they want. It shows one good man fighting back against a narrow minded judicial system that believes in demons and that sins are unacceptable. It shows good strong men have weaknesses too and that they can be exploited. That everyone is human and unless you stand by what you believe in, it can lead to the downfall of us all. The Crucible shows a good man die when he shows weakness! Abbey Williams is one of the main characters in The Crucible. She is an evil child who twists evidence and words to murder her way through the people she does not like. She must get what she wants at all costs. Abbey seems to have a sexual power which she exploits over John Proctor, but she seems to use it on others in the town to get what she wants. She has power over the girls in the village and threatens them for example; I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you. And you know I can do it. This exhibits what a nasty girl Abbey is, and the girls in the town are scared rigid of her and will do whatever she says. This demonstrates the kind of power she has over the girls. She uses the forcefulness of her personality on the girls of the town, this leads them to do whatever she says. John was in love with Abbey and she uses this against him, she exploits it over him to get him to do what she wants for example; She is blackening my name in the village. You sweated like a stallion whenever I came near. These quotes show how Abbey uses what power she has over John to get him to do what she wants. It shows that Abbey knows what power she has and when to use it. This sexual power is her main power and she uses it over everyone she can. Abbey Williams is a very cruel and arrogant person she insults the judges and is aggressive towards Danforth for example; Ill have no such looks! If I have to answer that I will leave and never come back again. This shows that she can say this to the judges and get away with it, and that Abbey even seems to have power over the judges and court officials. Abbey Williams pretends she was taken by the devil in order to get power over the people of Salem and to get what she wants, this shows how evilly twisted she is. On the other hand the Putnams have a totally different kind of power. They have the power of their material possessions. They are very wealthy, but they are greedy and they have a habit of claiming land that is not theirs for example; Your grandfather had a habit of calling land that never belonged to him. This leads the Putnams to be disliked in the town. The Putnams do have a lot of land most of it swindled from their neighbours and because the rest of the people in Salem arent as rich, lots of them are resentful towards the Putnams. All the Putnams sons have died; we learn this during the play When Mrs Putnam says; Reverend Parris, I have laid seven babies unbaptised in the earth. Believe me sir you never saw more hearty babies born. And yet they would wither in my arms the very night of their birth.

Block Diagram Of A Communication System Computer Science Essay

Block Diagram Of A Communication System Computer Science Essay The doorway to the nowadays wireless communication systems was opened by Guglielmo Marconi when he transmitted the three-dot Morse code for alphabet S by the use of electromagnetic waves over a 3-KM link in 1895. This laid the foundation of modern communication systems ranging from broadcasting, satellite transmission and radio eventually progressing to nowadays cell phones. It wouldnt be wrong to say that wireless communication has indeed revolutionized our present society A sudden increase has been observed in the expansion of radio systems during the last two decades. We have seen great evolution in Wireless communication systems from 1G narrowband analog systems in the 1980s to the 2G narrowband digital systems in the 1990s. Now the existing 3G wideband multimedia systems are being deployed. In the meantime, research and progress in the future-generation wideband multimedia radio systems is vigorously being pursued worldwide. To connect mobile users to the public switched network the United States introduced first radiotelephone service by the end of the 1940s. Improved Mobile Telephone Service was launched by Bell Systems in 1960s due to which lots of improvements like direct dialing and increase in bandwidth took place. IMTS formed the bases of the first analog cellular systems. The term cellular was used due to the fact that coverage areas were split cells, they had a low power transmitter and receiver. BLOCK DIAGRAM OF A COMMUNICATION SYSTEM Figure 1. Block diagram of a general communication system. ANALOG vs. DIGITAL COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS Definition of Digital A method of storing, processing and transmitting information through the use of distinct electronic or optical pulses that represent the binary digits 0 and 1. Advantages of Digital low-priced reliable Easy to manipulate Flexible Compatible with other digital systems The information in digital form can only be transmitted without any degradation through a noisy channel Incorporated networks Disadvantages of Digital Sampling Error As compared to analogue, larger bandwidth is required in digital communications for the transmission of the same information. Synchronization in the communications system is required to recognize the digital signals, but this is not the case with analogue systems. Definition of Analogue Analogue is a transmission standard that uses electrical impulses to emulate the audio waveform of sound. When you use a phone, the variations in your voice are transformed by a microphone into similar variations in an electrical signal and carried down the line to the exchange. Advantages of Analogue less bandwidth is required More Accurate Disadvantages of Analogue Signal loss and distortion can be seen due to the effects of random noise which is impossible to recover GENERATIONS OF CELLULAR SYSTEMS The concept of cellular telephony was introduced in AMPS, short for Advanced Mobile Phone Systems. AMPS divided the total area into small regions called cells and this was from where the concept of cellular telephony started. Cellular Systems had many advantages such as they increased quality, capacity, reliability and availability of mobile telephone network. The generations of cellular systems are described below. FIRST GENERATION CELLULAR SYSTEMS First generation cellular telephone systems were introduced in 1980s. They were based on Analog Frequency Modulation technique. Each channel was assigned a sole frequency. First generation cellular systems offered only wireless voice services based on analog technology. Digital signals were only used for control information such as dialing a number etc. These systems were no able to cope with the increasing demands of users also they had very less capacity and provided poor voice quality. Some first generations systems are Advanced Mobile Telephone System, AMPS NAMPS, AMPS Total Access Cellular System (TACS) Nordic Mobile Telephone System (NMT-900) SECOND GENERATION CELLULAR SYSTEMS Second Generation Cellular Systems provided larger capacity and provided much better services to users compared to first generation systems. They were based upon Digital Modulation technique which led to great enhancement in networks capacity. Second Generation Systems used multiple access techniques such as TDMA and FDMA. The biggest draw back of Second Generation Systems was that its different systems were not compatible with each other. Therefore roaming between different systems was not possible. Some of Second Generation Systems are North American Digital Cellular, NADC Global System for Mobile Communication, GSM Pacific Digital Cellular, PDC CDMAONE, IS-95 CDMA In order to overcome Second Generation compatibility problem with increased data rates of modern internet applications, 2.5 Generation standards were developed. The best thing about them was that they allowed already existing Second Generation systems to be upgraded so that they can be used for higher data rate transmission. 2.5 Generation brought a new revolution in cellular telephony by supporting services like high speed internet and location based mobile services. Some of 2.5 Generation Mobile Systems are General Packet Radio Service, GPRS Enhanced Data Rate for GSM Evolution, EDGE THIRD GENERTAION CELLULAR SYSTEMS Designed to provide high quality and high capacity in data communication, Third Generation Systems require sophisticated spreading and modulation techniques. Third Generation Systems are aimed to provide voice quality comparable to land line telephony and also to support high data rate. These systems are compatible with circuit switched as well as packet switched data services. They are also compatible with the existing networks and use radio spectrum much more efficiently than before. Some Third Generation Systems are Wideband CDMA, WCDMA Universal Mobile Telephone System, UMTS CDMA 2000 BEYOND 3G The highly developed version of the 3G mobile communication are the 4G mobile communication services. It is estimated that 4G mobile communication services will give increase in capacity, data transmission with high speed, broadband, HQ color video images for users, graphic animation games in 3D, audio services in 5.1 channels. For the system and architecture of 4G mobile communication many researches are done. Developments are made in the terminal protocol technology for high speed packet services, larger capacity, enabling downloading application programs by public software platform technology, multimode radio access platform technology, and high quality media coding technology over mobile networks. Why 4G? Services like wireless internet and teleconferencing can be carried by 4G. Global mobility and service portability. Wider bandwidths. Increased bit rates. Less expensive. Mobile networks can easily be scaled. CHAPTER # 02 Multiplexing is a process in which a single carrier is used to transmit several different signals. These several signals are transmitted all together by combining them and forming one signal that will effectively move through the carrier bandwidth. When one transmission is done and the signal reaches the destination point, the integrated signal re-assembles into its actual form and is then received. Multiplexing is one of the most used techniques today in almost every communication system. Because of the technological advance multiplexing, we have seen major increase in efficiency of a wide range of telephony services and online applications. Multiplexing has become an effective technique that assists in everything from video conferences and web conferences up to bulk data transmissions and even making a simple Point-to-Point phone call. FDMA: FDMA is the most usual technique used for multiple accessing. FDMA stands for frequency division multiple access. It is clear from its name that in this technique the frequency is divided among the users as the available spectrum is shared among them in the frequency domain. The message signals are transmitted onto carriers for different users using particular RF frequencies. Within FDMA structural design the Single Channel Per Carrier (SPSC) is the simplest method where each channel is provided with a separate carrier. This scheme finds its essence in the fact that the channels are assigned on the basis of demand. Within a cell all the channels are available to all users all the time, and the channels are assigned as soons as a message signal is received or a request is made. Guard bands are used to reduce the chances of interference from adjacent channels. These guard bands are present between the bands allocated for various channels. In the implementation of the first analog cellular systems, FDMA is the multiplexing technique that was used. TDMA: Time division multiple access techniques allots different time intervals to different users for the transmission of signals and storage of the data is carried out in one frequency channel not like FDMA which uses one frequency per channel. Users are allowed to use the same frequency but the time slots are divided. In TDMA techniques the available spectrum is divided into small frequency bands as in FDMA, which are further sub-divided into various time slots. The user can access the frequency channel only for time slot allotted to him. User can use periodically the particular duration of time. In TDMA systems, guard bands are required between both frequency channels and time slots. SDMA: SDMA stands for Space-Division Multiple Access. It is a MIMO (Multiple-Input, Multiple-Output, a multiple antenna schematic architecture) based wireless communication network architecture. It enables access to a communication channel by the process of identifying the user location and establishing a one-on-one mapping between the network bandwidth allotment and the acknowledged spatial location that is why its mostly suitable for mobile ad-hoc networks. For majority of the well known mobile communication architectures such as CDMA, TDMA and FDMA, SDMA architecture can be configured and implemented CDMA: CDMA stands for Code division multiple access. CDMA systems are based on the spread spectrum technique. In which transmissions by all the users are carried out simultaneously while operating at the same frequency and using the entire spectrum bandwidth. For the identification and extraction of required transmission, each user is allotted with a unique code which cannot match with any other user. This issue of identification is due to the fact that all the users transmit simultaneously. To ensure this privacy, pseudo-random noise codes or PN codes are used. These codes are actually the orthogonal codes and its advantage is that it reduces the chances of cross correlation among themselves. By using this PN code assigned to the specific user, modulation of the message signal from an individual user is done. Then we have the CDMA frequency channel through which all the modulated signals from different users are transmitted. At the receivers end, the desired signal is then recovered by de-spreading the signal with a replica of the PN code for the specific user. The signals whose PN codes are not matched with the desired signal and are assigned to different users are not de-spread and as a result are regarded as noise by the receiver. CDMA differs from both TDMA and FDMA in a way that it allows users to transmit the signal at the same time and operate at the same nominal frequency so it requires less synchronization whereas in TDMA and FDMA frequency and time management is very critical so more dynamic synchronization is required. One more advantage of CDMA is that complete systems spectrum is used by signals and hence no guard bands are required to protect against adjacent channel interference. Intro to Spread Spectrum Communications Following are the major elements that can clearly describe the Spread Spectrum communications: By spread spectrum, bandwidth far in excess is available than that is necessary to send the information. Due to this characteristic the transmission can be protected against interference and jamming at the same time providing multiple access capability. An independent code known as the Pseudo random code is used for signal spreading across the bandwidth. The distinct nature of this code separates spread spectrum communications from typical modulation techniques in which modulation always spreads the spectrum somewhat. For the recovery of the original signal the receiver is synchronized to the deterministic pseudo random code. Users can transmit the signal at the same time and operate at the same nominal frequency by using independent code and synchronous reception. In order to protect the signal from interference a pseudo-random code is used. It appears to be random to anyone who does not have its pre-defined knowledge but in reality is deterministic, it is because of this fact that receiver is able to reconstruct the code needed for the recovery of the required data signal. This code used for synchronous detection is also called Pseudo noise sequence. Types of Spread Spectrum Communications Spreading of bandwidth of the signal can be achieved by three ways: Frequency hopping The signal is shuffled between different centre frequencies within the entire bandwidth available to the hopper pseudo-randomly, and the receiver used already knows where to look for the signal at a given time. Time hopping The signal is transmitted in short bursts pseudo-randomly, and the receiver knows when a burst is expected. Direct sequence Very high frequency is used to code the digital data. The code is pseudo-randomly generated. The same code is generated at the receiver end, and in order to extract the original data this code is multiplied to the received information stream. CHAPTER # 03 SOURCE CODING AND DIGITAL MODULATION 3.0 INTRODUCTION Digital Modulation is performed in order to represent digital data in a format that is compatible with our communication channel. Why Digital Modulation? Digital modulation schemes have greater capacity to convey large amounts of information than analog modulation schemes. 3.1 DIGITAL DATA, DIGIITAL SIGNAL Digital signal is binary data encoded into signal elements. Different encoding schemes for encoding digital data into digital signal are: 3.1.1 Non Return to Zero (NRZ) In NRZ there are two different voltage levels for 0 and 1. There is no transition in the middle of the bit. The absence of signal denotes 0 and a positive voltage level denotes 1. Figure 3.1, Non Return to Zero (NRZ) The major drawback of NRZ scheme is that it adds a dc component to the signal. 3.1.2 Multilevel Binary (AMI) In this encoding scheme there are more than two levels. No signal represents 0 and 1 is represented by some positive and negative voltage level. 1s pulses are opposite in polarity. Figure 3.2, Multilevel Binary (AMI) There is no dc component in this scheme and also there is no loss of synchronization for consecutive 1s. 3.1.3 Manchester Coding There is transition in middle of each bit, which acts as a clock as well as data. The low to high transition represents 1 and high to low represents 0. Figure 3.3, Manchester Coding 3.1.4 Differential Manchester In this scheme transition at the middle of the bit represents only clocking while transition at start represents 0 and no transition at start represents 1. Figure 3.4, Differential Manchester 3.2 ANALOG DATA, DIGITAL SIGNAL Analog data is first converted into digital data by using analog to digital converters. These converters use different techniques to complete their task, some of them are: 3.2.1 Pulse Code Modulation If a signal is sampled at regular intervals at a rate higher than twice the highest signal frequency, the samples contain all the information of the original signal. Each sample is assigned a digital value. Although its quality is comparable to that of analog transmission but still in this process some information is lost and the original signal can never be recovered. Figure 3.5, Pulse Code Modulation Delta Modulation Analog input is approximated by a staircase function. Function moves up or down at each sample interval by one level (d). Figure 3.6, Delta Modulation Delta modulation is easier than PCM in implementation, but it exhibits worse signal to noise ratio for the same data rate. But it is good for data compression. DIGITAL DATA, ANALOG SIGNAL Different digital modulation techniques are: Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK) A modulation technique in which digital data is represented as variations in the amplitude of a carrier wave is called Amplitude-shift keying (ASK). One binary digit is represented by presence of carrier, at constant amplitude and the other binary digit represented by absence of carrier. Figure 3.7, Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK) 3.3.2 Frequency Shift Keying (FSK) In frequency shift keying different frequencies are used to represent incoming digital data. Say in case of Binary Frequency Shift Keying f1 is used to represent 0 while f2 is used to represent 1. Figure 3.8, Frequency Shift Keying (FSK) In MFSK more than two frequencies are used and hence bandwidth is more efficiently utilized. 3.3.3 Phase Shift Keying (PSK) A digital modulation technique in which data is transmitted by modulating and changing the phase of the reference signal is called Phase-shift keying (PSK). In case of PSK, a finite number of phases are used. A unique pattern of binary bits is assigned to each of these phases. Generally, each phase encodes an equal number of bits. The symbol is formed by each pattern of bits that is represented by the particular phase. Figure 3.9, Phase Shift Keying (PSK) Figure 3.10, Constellation Diagram of BPSK The bandwidth of ASK and PSK are specified as: Whereas the bandwidth of FSK is given as: Where, R is the bit rate DF = f2 fc = fc f1 CHAPTER # 04 CHANNEL CODING 4.0 INTRODUCTION Why Channel Coding? In modern digital communication systems information is represented in bit streams, which are then modulated to analog waveforms before being transmitted onto a channel. At receiver this analog information is demodulated into bit streams, but because of the presence of interference and noise in the communication channel this bit stream may be corrupted. So to minimize occurrence of bits in error and protect digital data from channel noise and interference channel coding is used. How Channel Coding is performed? Additional redundant bits are added to the message data stream to perform channel coding, these extra bits assist in error detection and correction at the receivers end. Channel Coding at the cost of? Channel Coding is performed at the cost of bandwidth expansion and data rate reduction. 4.1 TYPES OF CHANNEL CODING TECHNIQUES There are two main types of channel coding techniques, Block Codes Convolutional Codes. Block Codes accepts k number of information bits and generate a block of n number of encoded bits, and thus are commonly known as (n.k) block codes. Some common examples of block codes are Hamming Codes and Reed Solomon Codes. Convolutional Coding is forward error correction technique that is currently most widely used in modern communication systems, this particular technique is used for real-time error correction. Unlike block codes which append redundant bits at the end of original message signal, Convolutional coding form a new codeword using original data stream. The encoded bits are not solely dependent on k current input bits but at the same time on precedent input bits. 4.2 CONVOLUTIONAL CODES In this project Convolutional Coding is implemented. Convolutional Codes are further classified as 1. Trellis Coded Modulation (TCM) 2.Turbo Codes. Trellis Coded Modulation (TCM) is non recursive, non systematic and does not require an interleaver. Turbo Codes on the other hand are recursive, systematic, parallel structured and they also require interleaver. In Wideband CDMA systems TCM is used for all channels while Turbo Codes may be used for DCH and FACH channels. Turbo Codes are sometimes classified as separate branch of Channel Codes so from here onwards word Convolutional Code will only be used for TCM. Types of Transmission Channels Coding Schemes Coding Rate RACH Convolutional Coding 1/2 BCH PCH DCH, FACH 1/2, 1/3 Turbo Coding 1/3 Table 4.1, WCDMA Specifications 4.3 CONVOLUTIONAL CODE REPRESENTATIONS 4.3.1 Polynomial Representation No. of input information bits = k No. of encoded bits = n No. of stages (Constraint Length) = K Code Rate = k/n Encoded CodeWord = U The following example shows how Convolutional Codes are represented. Let g1(x) and g2(x) be encoder polynomials, where g1(x) = 1 + x + x2 g2(x) = 1 + x2 Let input message bit stream be 101, therefore input message bit stream polynomial will be, m(x) = 1 + x2 The encoded codeword U will be combination of product of g1(x) with m(x) and g2(x) with m(x), m(x) x g1(x) = 1 + 1.x + 0.x2 + 1.x3 + 1.x4 m(x) x g2(x) = 1 + 0.x + 0.x2 + 0.x3 + 1.x4 Therefore the codeword U, becomes U = (1,1) + (1,0).x + (0,0).x2 + (1,0).x3 + (1,1).x4 U = 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 4.3.2 State Transition Diagram Convolutional Coding can be represented using State Transition Diagram. Following are State Transition Diagram and State Transition Table for code rate 1/2. Figure 4.1, State Transition Diagram for Code Rate  ½ Table 4.2, State Transition Table for Code Rate  ½ Again for the same input bit stream 10100, the codeword U = 11 10 00 10 11. In the input message last two 00 bits are tail bits. 4.3.2 Block Diagram Representation The following diagram shows block diagram representation of Convolutional Coding with Code Rate = 1/2 Constraint Length (No. of Stages) = 3 Figure 4.2, Block Diagram Representation of Convolutional Code with Code Rate =  ½ The following example illustrates the process of Convolutional Coding using block diagram representation for input bit stream 101. So the final codeword becomes, U = 11 10 00 10 11 4.3.2 Trellis Diagram Representation For input bit stream 101, the following diagram shows how Convolutional Coding is performed using Trellis Diagram Figure 4.3, Trellis Diagram Representation CHAPTER # 05 PULSE SHAPING TECHNIQUES 3.0 INTRODUCTION Why Pulse Shaping? It is done in order to reduce Inter Symbol Interference commonly known as ISI. How Pulse Shaping is performed? In order to achieve zero-ISI the overall system response must be equal to Nyquist frequency response. 5.1 RAISED COSINE FILTER Inter Symbol Interference significantly degrades the data detector ability to differentiate between a current symbol from diffused energy of adjacent symbol. This leads to the detection of error and increases BER. So in order to cater ISI, a real-time realization of Nyquist filter is applied in modern communication systems. Raised cosine filter is one of the realization of Nyquist filter. where r = roll-off factor = 1 ≠¤ r ≠¤ 0 and T = symbol period = 1/R Roll-off factor determines the filter bandwidth and represents a trade-off between the sharpness of the transition band of the filter and impulse response ringing magnitude of the filter. A Nyquist filter has following properties: Time response eventually goes to zero in a time period exactly equal to the symbol spacing. By sampling the symbol sequence at a given symbol time point, present symbol is not affected by the energy spreading from the adjacent symbols. The impulse response and the frequency response of the RC filter is Figure 5.1, Impulse Response of RC Filter Figure 5.2, Frequency Response of RC Filter Time response of the RC filter goes to zero with a period that exactly equal to the symbol spacing. As the response equals zero at all symbol times except for the desired one none of the adjacent symbols interfere with each other. 5.2 ROOT RAISED COSINE FILTER RC filter is divided into a root raised cosine (RRC) filter pair, with one at the transmitter end, which performs the pulse shaping in order to constrain the modulated signal bandwidth, and the other at the receiver end, that performs matched detection for optimizing the SNR of a known signal in AWGN presence. The Root Raised Cosine filter is so named because its transfer function exactly is the square root of the transfer function of the Raised Cosine filter. Where r = roll off factor and T is symbol period. The RRC filter bandwidth is equal to the root mean square (RMS) amplitude 2R. The impulse response and the frequency response of the RRC filter is Figure 5.3, Impulse Response of RRC Filter Figure 5.4, Frequency Response of RRC Filter Both RC and RRC have similar pulse shapes, but the RRC pulse makes slightly faster transitions, therefore the spectrum of RRC pulse decays more rapidly as compared to the RC pulse. Another important difference between both pulses is that the RRC pulse does not have zero Inter Symbol Interference. Because of the fact that RRC filter is used at transmitter and receiver both, the product of these transfer functions is a raised cosine, which will result in zero ISI output. 5.3 ROLL OFF FACTOR The roll-off factor, r, is a measure of the excess bandwidth of the filter, i.e. the bandwidth occupied beyond the Nyquist bandwidth of 1/2T. Where à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  f is excess bandwidth and Rs is symbol rate. CHAPTER # 06 SPREAD SPECTRUM Spread spectrum is a type of modulation where the data is spread across the entire frequency spectrum. This process of spreading the data across the entire spectrum helps signal against noise and interference. These techniques are mostly employed in cell phones and also with wireless LANs. To qualify as a spread spectrum signal, two criterions must be met The transmitted signal bandwidth must be in excess of the information bandwidth. Some function other than the data being transmitted is used to establish the bandwidth of the resultant transmission. Why Spread Spectrum ? Due to its exclusive and peculiar properties spread spectrum is preferred over other modulation schemes. Some of these properties are characterized as advantages and disadvantages of a basic spread spectrum system below. Advantages †¢ It reduces the effects of multipath interference and at times removes them entirely. †¢ Frequency band is shared simultaneously with other users. †¢ Pseudo random codes ensure protection of transmission and privacy. †¢ As the signal is spread over an entire spectrum it has a low power spectral density. Disadvantages †¢ Due to spreading operation it consumes more bandwidth. †¢ It is at times difficult to implement. Types of Spread Spectrum Techniques Most commonly used techniques in a spread spectrum systems are Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum A frequency hopping spread spectrum hops from one narrow band to another all within a wider band. In general the frequency hopper transmitter sends data packets at one carrier frequency and then jumps to another carrier frequency before sending ore packets and continues the same routine throughout the period of transmission. The pattern that emerges seems to be random but is in fact periodic and easily traceable by pre configured transmitter and receiver. These systems can be vulnerable to noise at a particular hop but usually are able to send packets during the next hop. Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum Most widely used technique of spread spectrum is the Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum. A Direct Sequence Transmitter receives the incoming data stream which is to be transmitted and then converts it into a symbol stream where the size of a symbol can be one or more bits. Using any of the modulation schemes for digital systems such as Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) or Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) this symbol stream is multiplied to a noise like sequence known as pseudo random sequence. It is also know as a chip sequence. As a result of this multiplication the bandwidth of the transmission is significantly increased. Figure 3. Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum System Figure 3. shows the working of a basic Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum system. For clarity purposes, one channel is shown working in one direction only. Transmission For each channel a distinct and different Pseudo random code is generated. In order to spread the data the data stream is multiplied with the previously generated Pseudo random code. The signal obtained as a result of this multiplication is then modulated onto a carrier. This modulated carrier waveform is then amplified before broadcasting. Reception The carrier wave is amplified as soon as it is received by the receiver. The signal received is then multiplied with a locally generated carrier which gives the spreaded signal. Again a Pseudo random code is generated on the basis of the signal expected. The process of correlation is carried out on the received signal and the generated code which gives the original message signal. Pseudo-Random Noise The spread spectrum systems are constructed very similar to other conventional systems. The difference being the addition of pseudo random generators both at the transmitter and the receiver which generate the Pseudo noise sequences required for the functionality of Direct Sequence spread spectrum. These pseudo random noise sequences are used for spreading the signal at the transmitter side and dispreading at the receiv