Early childhood classroom or early learning centre education essay

Early childhood classroom or early learning centre education essay The qualities of an effective communicator in the early learning centre are establishing and maintaining meaningful and respectful relationships with Educators, families and children. As an Educator, communicating effectively demonstrates interest, trust, commitment and professionalism. Educators communicate through a variety of different ways. Communicating effectively can be through forms of writing, speech, verbal, non-verbal and body language. Communication is the key to success and importantly what brings the world together. An effective communicator is an effective listener. The quality of an effective communicator in the early learning centre provides families and parents important and relevant information and the willingness to discuss positive aspects of the child. Communicating effectively demonstrates a high level of quality and reassurance for both parents and the educator. Important information that is discussed and carried out within the early learning centre is the childs progression (daily information). This information that is relevantly discussed is the childs routine, meal times, sleep times, the childs developmental areas which are social skills, communication skills, fine and gross motor skills, emotional and cognitive skills and the childs well-being. Informative discussions that are held between educators and families are based on the childs interests and motives. This information is beneficial for the parents and demonstrates how an educator shows initiative and companionship towards children and their education that the educator brings into the childs environment. Families also are benefiting and gaining this information which allows them an understanding and good results of how their child is progressing in the centre. This includes what the child may need to focus on and the positive side of the child. As children are all individuals, educators are to include children with special needs to experience literature, language skills and all areas of development skills. Children with special needs have special aids that teach children communication skills and different ways of communication which involves mostly how to understand communication which is non-verbal. Within the daily program that is carried out in an early learning centre, educators are to also include diversity. Including language through diversity promotes children the ability to learn different languages, culture and most importantly how to speak different languages. As an Educator, communicating effectively to children develops their social, emotion al, physical and intellectual skills. While communicating to children it broadens their understanding on reading and literacy. These main two qualities of development help children to improve on their pronunciation skills and their language skills. As children are developing such an important skill in their life, they are developing self-confidence within themselves. As an educator, demonstrating effective communication skills enhances childrens awareness of how to talk, read and write. Children learn by hearing words, therefore when educators are communicating to children within the learning centre, children are capable of matching the words together and making meaning of what is being heard. As quoted, Reading aloud with children is known to be the single most important activity for building the knowledge and skills they will eventually require for learning to read. Marilyn Jager Adams. In a learning child care centre environment, communicating effectively allows children to respond in many different ways. Qualities of a child communicating are using verbal, non-verbal communication, visually communicating to sounds or objects and importantly having a trusting relationship with an educator that confines security, comfort and an understanding. Early educators communicate effectively with children by involving language into play and encouraging children to develop this skill. While allowing children to communicate through play, children develop increasing elaborative sentences based on their thoughts, ideas and creativeness. Educators encourage children to communicate through play by expanding on their sentences and encouraging them to further speak and build on their self-confidence. Educators are then able to develop the knowledge and observe the child based on the childs interests, motives, and what the childs strengths are. Through this, children grow emotionally and socially as individuals. Children explore in their leaning centre environment, they develop through pretend play, art and craft activities, shared play experiences and most importantly group time. Group time activities provide a wide range of areas where children are continually developing on their language skills. Activities that are carried out in a learning centre can range from Flash cards, reading books, singing songs, and show and tell. While children are reading books, it builds on their future academic skills and vocabulary skills. Reading develops childrens listening skills that are a most important factor of a childs life. Effective communicators teach children to develop on their language skills through singing and music. Whilst children sing songs, they develop on their memory skills and anticipate the lyrics or the next words to the song. Singing songs also demonstrates children to communicate verbally and non-verbally. Children develop with music by using hand gest ures and actions. Within the early learning centre, as an educator it is important to communicate effectively towards members of the workplace. This carries out a high quality of professionalism and positive leadership. While communicating effectively, it is the audience which include families, parents, co-workers and management to develop. Developing as a team defines a happy and safe environment for all partys within the early learning centre. Communicating effectively in the workplace develops positive feedback when communicating with families and between staff members. This forms trusting relationships also between children, their families and the relationships that are developed with workers. With an early learning centre, this provides a high quality standard for the organisation. As educators or any organisation, it is important and an exception to follow correct policy and procedure standards of communicating in a professional way. This promotes a safe environment for children, families and co -workers. As professionals, in an early learning centre workplace, educators need to be mindful of how to communicate to avoid conflict. Conflict can be avoided and mostly resolved by the way communication is involved. Techniques and ways to reduce conflict is directly confronting the person in an effective way with any issues or matters that are affecting the person.Communicating in a reasonable and conducting matter can resolve conflict and on a positive note, can reflect a friendly and professional environment for all workers. There are many forms of communication techniques that are carried out in the workplace apart from direct verbal and non verbal communication. As educators, it is important to have good effective communication skills via telephone. Educators are to always conduct themselves in a professional way that brings families together and enables good conversations with the families or any person associated within the organisation. Communication skills via telephone a re important within an early learning centre. Educators on a daily basis are communicating with families, departments of education, other centres and managers of the organisation. Techniques that are undertaken in a professional way when communicating over the telephone is listening to the person, note-taking any important and relevant information, greeting the personnel in a pleasant and warm matter, communicating clearly between each other, introducing yourself and the position you hold, and most importantly detailing any contact numbers, the name of the person, and the main subject regarding the telephone conversation. As an educator, it is then important to action the conversation by communicating this to a director or a second in charge worker. This is handing over the information correctly, clearly and in a way that is understandable for the other person. Direct communication is beneficial as it passes the information to the other person clearly and in a quick manner. This dis plays effective communication skills and good initiative. Communication is conducted on a daily basis and is the key that holds a divine workplace. Communication that is carried out in the workplace can be with people from different cultures. As Australia is an indigenous supporting country, employees of the workplace are to conduct a respectful, culturally environment. It is important as members of the workplace to respect families, childrens and workers from different backgrounds. Communicating with families, children and workers from diverse backgrounds, needs to be promoted in a professional and mindful matter. As people within the community are multicultural, this is a great way to support childrens education through different cultures and language. Educators have the ability and determination to teach children aspects of diversity, language barriers, cultural music and cultural background. It is a good way to bring various multicultural backgrounds into the early learning cent re. In conclusion, the ability and quality of an educator to demonstrate effective communication skills can manage problems, challenges, questions, and most importantly language. Educators in the early child care centre having the ability and power to express their thoughts, to be articulate and demonstrate creative ideas. These qualities encourage children to communicate effectively. As an educator, qualities of an effective communicator facilitate excellent care for the children, their education and their families. Educators communicate in ways that advance childrens education and build relationships with families and co-workers. Through positive teaching skills, children do develop effective communication skills and the power to learn how to communicate in their learning environment. Reference: Marilyn Jager Adams. Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction (2000) http://www.readingrockets.org/books/fun/quotable.

Issues of Foreign Workers Policy in Malaysia Manufacturing Industry

Introduction On March 7, 2011 The Star, we know that our Malaysia government had decided to recruit more foreign workers from India which around 45,000 people from India. This is to meet the demand by around 13 sectors which currently in shortage of workforce. So, this resulted in many people and The Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) had strongly opposed the decisions made by government. The Malaysian Trade Union Congress (MTUC) is said as the most representative workers’ organization in Malaysia.Three main objectives emphasized by MTUC: first is to promote the interest of its affiliate unions in order to improve the workers’ economic and social conditions. Second is to ensure the policies are developed and action been taken towards make sure that full employment and setting a minimum wage, a legal maximum working period per week which is 44 hours and served as a training centres for workers. Thirdly, build a Social Security measures that provide retirements benefi ts, as well as protection against sickness, unemployment, injury, and old age.Overall, MTUC was served to protecting the workers interest or fight for them. According to Nagiah Ramasamy (2008), our Malaysia trade union movement is facing many challenges, which are from neoliberal policies and the changing structures of employment. Due to the strict requirements of the Trade Union Act 1959, Malaysia union are normally small fragmented and regional. But, they still protest the decision of recruiting more foreign workers from India which might harm our local workers benefit.Some local workers are too picky on job selection and they don’t want to work unless there is high salary, benefit or bonus waiting for them. So, attitude towards the job is their main problem. So, the employers forced to retrenched the local workers and recruiting the foreign workers by outsourcing or others way. The objectives of this assignment are to figure out the problems facing by Trade Unions in Malay sia on migrant and domestic workers. Furthermore, we also know that the impacts of the foreign workers policy in manufacturing industry.In this assignment, we have a more understanding on foreign workers policy as well as the ways to overcome it in future trend. Literature Review According to A. Navamukundan (n. d. ), employers are cost-conscious and choose workers who are not only inexpensive but also have the necessary skills and comply with strict discipline and hard work. The preference will be for immigrant foreign workers, who will accept both lower wages and worse terms and conditions of employment, as their primary objective is to earn as much money as possible within a short span of time.Those are the reason why the population of immigrant foreign workers are increasing years by years. A study done by Philip S. Robertson Jr (n. d) stated that the Malaysian Government does not have a comprehensive legal and policy framework to regulate the recruitment, admission, placement, treatment, and repatriation of migrant workers. Oversight of migrant workers is divided among ministries, and even within ministries, between various departments. Therefore, foreign worker can easily migrate to our country to find a job which offers them the salary that is higher than their own countries.This has become a threat to the local workers. Nagiah Ramasamy (n. d) proposed that the challenge for union leaders is to build a union movement that can respond effectively to the threats and opportunities that it faces with the growing influence of MNCs and the growing numbers of bilateral trade agreements. Trade unions can help in improving occupational health and safety, decent work and social dialogue with government and employers. It is so obvious that trade union play an important role in fighting for local worker’s right. A study presented by U. S.Department of Labor stated the Government of Malaysia revised its policy on foreign workers so that priority would be give n to Malaysians seeking employment due to the world economic slowdown and increased unemployment in 2001. The Government has limited documented workers to a three year stay and is cracking down on unregistered foreign workers, with new amendments to the Immigration Act calling for harsh penalties. According to Kgaogelo Elizabeth Mokoka (2007), most South African nurses immigrate to destinations such as UK, Saudi Arabia, New Zealand, Australia and the USA (Xaba & Phillips 2001).In a study commissioned by the World Health Organisation (WHO), Buchan et al (2003) identified two groups of countries in terms of nurse emigration and mobility. â€Å"Destination countries† are those to which nurse are drawn, while â€Å"source countries† are those that nurse are drawn from. Destination countries include five countries, namely Australia, Ireland, Norway, the UK and the USA. According to Mr. Ajit Singh Jessy from the Penang Human Resources committee, salary remains as one of, or the most, important factor in the retention of workers.As such, the complaints of local workers regarding wage levels are not baseless, especially when it comes to menial forms of labour. What may be baseless is the argument that locals shun these jobs which then have to be farmed out to foreign labourers. According to Cecilia Kok (2011), for South and Southeast Asian economies, especially those that are lagging behind Malaysia, many migrant workers perceive a land flowing with milk and honey. Official data show that Malaysia attracts a huge number of migrant workers into the country.According to official record, the number quadrupled from less than 500,000 in 1999 to more than two million, representing about 17% of the country's workforce in 2008. Vijayakumari Kanapathy (2006) proposed that foreign workers in large numbers were seen as a security threat as the rising crime rate and incidence of highly contagious diseases were associated with them. Such popular perception was co mpounded by the belief among policy makers that heavy reliance on low-skilled foreign labour will trap the economy in low-wage low-skill equilibrium and slow down the much-warranted economic transformation into high-skilled activities.According to the International Organization for Migration (n. d. ), there are approximately 2,109,954 migrant workers currently working in Malaysia, 50 per cent are Indonesian labour migrants, indicating the scale of Indonesian labour migration to Malaysia. The majority of labour migrants arriving in Malaysia originate from other South and Southeast Asian countries, mainly attracted by the higher salaries that are covered in Malaysia compared with their countries of origin.A study done by FEDERATION OF MALAYSIAN MANUFACTURERS (2010) stated that Manufacturing companies are currently reporting an increase in orders. However, many are facing difficulties accepting and fulfilling orders due to a shortage of workers. Some have to turn away orders while othe rs are penalised for late delivery. There are also companies recording losses because they have not been able to fulfill orders. Development of the Issues Important of Manufacturing Industry and Contribution to GDP The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Malaysia is depends on its agricultural ector, manufacturing industries and the service sectors. Purchasing power parity (PPP) is a theory which states that exchange rates between currencies are in equilibrium when their purchasing power is the same in each of the two countries. This means that the exchange rate between two countries should equal the ratio of the two countries' price level of a fixed basket of goods and services. In 2008, the agricultural sector had contributed 9. 7 % towards the country’s GDP. The contributions of the manufacturing industries were estimated as 44. % and that of service sector was 45. 7 % towards the country’s GDP. As per the GDP- PPP, Malaysia is ranked 29th in the world. A GDP growth rat e of 20 % was noticed towards the end of 20th century. The Gross Domestic Product nominal of Malaysia in 2009 was estimated as US$ 207,400 billion in 2009 and that of GDP-PPP was estimated as $ 3. 9 billion. The GDP nominal per capita in 2009 was estimated at US $8,100. Analysis of challenges facing by Trade Union in Malaysia Number of foreign workers is growing-1. 6 million in 2005 to 1. million in 2010 (figure 1). According to Philip S. Robertson Jr. , Malaysians have a bad altitude of not willing to perform jobs that they consider as 3-D (dirty, difficult and dangerous), creating demand for foreign workers in sectors like plantations/agriculture, construction, manufacturing, and some service occupations. The Malaysian Trades Union Congress said today it opposes strongly the proposed mass recruitment of 45,000 foreign workers because it would edge out locals from the labour market. According to MTUC vice-president A.Balasubramaniam, a profound effect on the wages of Malaysians cou ld be caused by such a big influx of foreigners and the government’s high-income policy for them would be jeopardized too. Moreover, locals are being deprived or discriminated if they are competing with foreign worker for the opportunity of being chosen to work overtime according to Ministry of Human Resources Malaysia. A study done by Syarisa Yanti Abubakar, from the short-term point of view of employers, migrant labour will only be hired only if doing so is more cost effective compared to other existing alternatives.That’s why locals are left behind because their cost of hiring is far higher than that of foreign worker. Besides that, according to Ministry of Human Resources Malaysia, more and more local workers are retrenched and replaced with foreign workers. This is resulted by the actions taken by many manufacturing companies of outsourcing foreign workers through some agencies. Furthermore, altitude is another reason which cause the retrenchment of local workers such as thinking too highly on themselves, not willing to do those ‘non-air conditioned’ job and so on.STATISTICS OF FOREIGN WORKER IN MALAYSIA Statistics PLKS by Citizenship and Sector, Feb 2010 (Source: Immigration Department) STATISTICS OF FOREIGN WORKER IN MALAYSIA Statistics PLKS by Citizenship and Sector, Feb 2010 (Source: Immigration Department) Figure 1 Implementation Various foreign worker policies are implemented by the to control the influx of illegal foreign workers. According to economic report 2004/2005, these include the Foreign Worker Rationalisation Programme to legalise illegal workers, amendments to the Immigration Act, 1977 and imposition of an annual levy.In addition, several Memorandum of Understanding (MOUs) were signed with labour exporting countries to authorise legal recruitment of foreign workers. All of these had resulted the employer’s preference more towards foreign workers but not the locals and this preference has come along with t hree obvious activities according to a study done by the Ministry of Human Resources Malaysia. The first is the number of the application on recruiting foreign workers is significantly increasing as we can know from a statistic that there are average 20,000 foreign workers approved every month in Malaysia.Secondly, most of the employers are not taking serious altitude in recruiting locals. Those applications from the employer mostly from manufacturing industry are bypassed while going through the ELX system to ensure the objective of recruiting foreign workers can be achieved. Lastly, large portion of foreign workers in Malaysia are employed through the outsourcing companies to escape the quota limit. If the employer directly hires foreign workers from source countries, they will be facing the quota limitation and therefore they hire the foreign workers through a third arty. Advantages According to Daniel Lee and Richard Ho (2011 Nov), many employers complain that their business act ivities will come to a dead stop if they forbid them to use foreign workers because the jobs in those sectors are perceived to be dirty, difficult and demeaning to the average Malaysian. Therefore, they have to utilize foreign workers and sing praises of hiring such workers, supposedly of a labor category that is easy to utilize, simple to manage and that does not make demands for wages increases.Some local employers have voiced out in support for the hiring of foreign workers that many among them have threatened to blot out and relocate if their demands for â€Å"low-cost† foreign workers are unmet. As such, foreign workers fill up the empty space as they are not opposed to working in dirtier, more dicey conditions and longer hours for equal or lesser pay thereby keeping labor costs relatively low and helping to keep Malaysia competitive against other low-cost producing countries. They also serve as a buffer during times of recession as they help sustain.Disadvantages Accord ing to Ken CK (2002), the economic profit that gained from foreign workers has resulted in social costs and social problems, for example rising crimes, fraud, social deviance, health care costs and the transmission of communicable diseases including HIV/AIDS. This is because their unsafe sexual behavior through commercial sex, and casual homosexual and heterosexual activities. Furthermore, according to Syarisa Yanti Abubakar (2002), migrant labours will only be hired only if doing so is more cost effective compared to other existing alternatives.This will cause the locals are being deprived or discriminated if they are competing with foreign worker for the opportunity of being chosen to work overtime according to Ministry of Human Resources Malaysia. According to Ministry of Human Resources Malaysia, nowadays local workers are retrenched and replaced with foreign workers and this will resulted by the actions taken by many manufacturing companies of outsourcing foreign workers throug h some agencies.Altitude is also another reason which causes the retrenchment of local workers because they think too highly on themselves and not willing to do those 3D jobs (dirty, difficult and dangerous). Effects of Foreign Worker Migration to Manufacturing Industry According to Ministry of Human Resources Malaysia, there must be no discrimination in treatment by employer on local and foreign workers in respect of wages and terms and conditions of service. According to K George, the government has finally decided to extend equal treatment to foreign workers and also Human Resources Minister Dr.Fong Chan Onn announced that foreign workers employed in Malaysia would be treated equally in accordance with the provisions of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) convention which Its function is to safeguard the rights and dignity of the working people all over the world. Recommendation Foreign worker indeed have contributed to the growth of economy, but too dependent on this gro up of foreign workers to drive our economy cannot be carry out in long term as this may drag our country economy.To stop dependence of foreign worker in our country cannot be done away overnight as a sudden repatriation of them can have a serious impact on the economy. Therefore a careful planning and cooperation from employer and government is needed. One of the ways to ensure employers lower down the foreign worker and shift to employ locals are by quotas system. Quotas of foreign employee can hired in one company should be set by the government to stop them over relying to foreign worker and hire more local.Different quotas should be set differently according to the supply and demand because the supply for local labour in certain industry is low for example construction. Quotas should be raise for a certain period of time to minimize the impact to the industries. Government can reduce the amount of foreign worker by increasing levy on foreign worker to a high amount where there a re no cost saving benefits in employing foreign worker to encourage the employer uses local worker. When the cost of hiring a foreign worker is higher compare to local worker, employer will choose to use local worker because they can save cost thus ill eventually increase the amount of skilled local worker in Malaysia which will increase the productivity and move Malaysia into a high income country. Both employer and government play a big role in order to reduce the country dependence on foreign worker. Employer who over depend on cheap foreign worker should try to shift use local to increase the productivity in long term while government should implement better regulation and enforce them to punish those employer which break the rules for using illegal immigrant in their firm and to prevent illegal immigrant to enter our country.Conclusion In conclusion, we had more understanding about foreign workers policy in Malaysia. Nevertheless, the foreign workers play an important role as o ne of the workforce in our country since decade years. They bring their skills from their country and practice them at here. But, it also brings some problem and cases to us which even make our government headache. So, law enforcement should be taken serious, as we should treat the arrest and detention of undocumented migrant workers as an administrative offence, and not a criminal matter.These undocumented workers will affect our daily life, as they would commit crime or practice illegal activities in our country which make our government hard to tackle on them since we don’t have their personal detail and document. So, enforcement on foreign works policy is vital. Besides that, instead we relying on foreign workforce, we know that it would be better for us to consider more on our domestic workers which can also have equivalent level of skills and performances.This also follows to our MTUC aim which suggested that giving priority to our local workers. Of course, our domestic workers also need to improve themselves, not matter on hard-skills or soft-skills; we should upgrade our own knowledge and skills to fight in economy and global competition. It should be making clear that the interactions between governments are extremely important. The trade union leader should try to come out an agreement with the government on foreign workers policy which will benefit foreign workers and our Malaysian at the same time.If does, it will be the win-win situation between two country. References A. Navamukundan. (n. d. ) Labour migration in Malaysia –trade union views. Daniel Lee and Richard Ho. (2011). Labour Shortage Issues Forum. Retrieved November 11, 2011, from www. seri. com. my: http://www. seri. com. my/v3/index. php? option=com_content&view=article&id=169:labour-shortage-issues-forum&catid=38:latestnews&Itemid=54 Evelyn S. Devadason and Chan Wai Meng. (n. d. ).A Critical Appraisal of Policies and Laws Regulating Migrant Workers in Mala ysia. Ken CK. (2002). Male foreign migrant workers and HIV/AIDS in Malaysia: risk environment, susceptability and implication for intervention. Retrieved November 3, 2011, from NLM Gateway: http://gateway. nlm. nih. gov/MeetingAbstracts/ma? f=102259889. html Nagiah Ramasamy. (n. d) The Future of the Trade Union Movement in Malaysia. Tenaganita. (n. d. ) Outsourcing in Labor or Trafficking in Migrant Labor?

Ancient Roman And The Roman Empire - 1236 Words

The Ancient Roman’s had a wicked idea of entertainment. The Colosseum or Coliseum, also known as the Flavian Amphitheatre, is an elliptical amphitheater in the center of the city of Rome, Italy. Built of concrete and stone, it is the largest amphitheater ever built and is considered one of the greatest works of architecture and engineering. The Roman Colosseum, constructed in 79 AD, is a visual representation of the importance of physical strength and military proficiency in Ancient Roman civilization, this is because it was constructed to revel Rome’s military accomplishments and to provide entertainment for Roman citizens. Many events prompted the construction of the Roman Colosseum. Many historical events led to the construction of†¦show more content†¦Vespasian sat on the Roman throne from AD70-79. (Sims et al., 1999) proposes that ‘Vespasian was the emperor who restored order after Nero.’ Many emperors of Ancient Rome satisfied the needs of their citizens with the giving of bread and entertainment, Vespasian wanted to impress visitors and the general public. Being able to build a vast structure showed that the government took care of its people and was wealthy. It essentially also showed the emperor’s power. Emperor Vespasian used the construction of the Colosseum to gain popularity and support throughout his empire. His name was not to be forgotten, as well as Titus who was the successor and heir of Vespasian. Jewish slaves assisted in the construction of the Colosseum in a form of slave labour. Jewish slaves were the forced builders of the Colosseum and it was accomplished with slave labor. Due to failure in the Great Revolt, 20,000 Jewish slaves were brought over to Rome to build the Colosseum. (Mathias, 2011) proposed that another 70,000 Jewish slaves were used to quarry stones for the Colosseum, haling over 292,000 cartloads of stone from the Tivoli which was 17 miles away from the construction site. The construction project was funded by the treasure stolen from the Temple, as the empire was broke at the time due to the Great Revolt. The construction project took 8 long years to build. Unfortunately, Vespasian was unable to

Loctite Adhesive - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 13 Words: 3987 Downloads: 4 Date added: 2017/09/23 Category Advertising Essay Type Analytical essay Did you like this example? Marketing Strategy BUS 37000 Saturday Section Bond-A-Matic Product Marketing Plan Partha Srinivasan â€Å"I pledge my honor that I have not violated the Chicago GSB Honor Code during the Preparation of this assignment. † Bond-A-Matic Marketing Plan Executive Summary With the introduction of a unique low-cost adhesive dispensing product named as Bond-A-Matic (BAM), Loctite Inc is seeking to resolve dispensing issues such as clogging in smaller adhesive bottles. As a leader in development of high-performance adhesives and sealants for industrial and consumer applications, Loctite has a mission to become the premiere worldwide marketer of instant adhesives for industrial use by 1985. By increasing product awareness brand recognition for Super Bonder, a CA adhesive product line, Loctite has improved sales revenue in 1978 over the previous year’s sales. With the idea of complementing Super Bonder, Loctite is hoping to expand adhesive dispensing equipment sales by introducing this new product. Bond-aMatic will be positioned as the low cost dispensing equipment for Super Bonder adhesive users. Situation Analysis CA sales were increasing at a rate of about 20% annually (twice the total adhesive market growth) and industrial adhesive use is outgrowing consumer market. Also based on a market research survey in 1977, it is found that 60% of purchasers bought less than a pound of CA adhesives while 55% of sales volume accounted for by small firms with fewer than 20 employees. By solving some of the problems (such as clogging) in dispensing adhesives, Loctite can improve its sales of industrial use CA adhesives. The current situation is further analyzed in detail in terms of consumer behavior, competition, Loctite’s core competencies SWOT analysis for Loctite (see appendix A, C for information). Objectives for Bond-A-Matic Launch The launch of Bond-A-Matic product will be guided by two primary objectives 1) to catalyze Super Bonder sa les with the help of complementary dispensing equipment in order to achieve corporate goals 2) To create a market for low cost high precision adhesive equipments by offering attractive price point for small firms. Plan of Action Product Strategy The main emphasis of Loctite’s product strategy is to create a high-quality, anti-clogging low cost product. The low pressure model was originally designed for Super Bonder 420 and 495. However, since this model can also handle Super Bonder 430 and 414 models, we will label the model to handle all 4 Super Bonder products. This could help with getting maximum contribution from the model that has lower material cost ($75). For the high pressure model, we can charge it a little higher premium (to breakeven for the additional material cost) and label it as the primary model for Super Bonder 416 but to also work for Super Bonder 430 414 products. Since many users (about 71% purchasers per Exhibit 3) use instant adhesives for only on e application, this product labeling strategy should not significantly limit sales for High pressure model. The Gluematic tip is used to bond rough surfaces such as metals plastics while the Vari-Drop applicator with needle is used for soft surfaces such as rubber. So including both Gluematic tip and Vari-Drop applicator in the package makes it convenient for consumers for ready to use for both surfaces. In addition, Loctite can also sell the applicators as replacement accessories. Loctite should include a self-training kit user manual along with an attractive packaging. We will subcontract the parts assembly work to third party to reduce costs. Since BAM can also be used to dispense a broad range of adhesives, future product strategy should be to make BAM usable for dispense all adhesive products (as it’s already capable to dispense many adhesives). Promotion Strategy Loctite should target small firms and include other SICs such as 75, 76 as these industrial segments seem to have very high % of user establishments that use instant adhesives. The following promotion ideas should be considered: 1) Advertise Bond-A-Matic in magazines targeting small firms and specific industries. The focus should be to advertize BAM as a ‘Product that fits small firm needs’ instead of marketing it just as a ‘low cost solution’. This strategy would reflect better on the Loctite brand and would not jeopardize existing equipment (sold to large firms) sales. ) Combine BAM advertisements with the Super Bonder adhesive advertisement. This would help to promote joint sales as well as help reduce advertisement costs. The selling point for small firms is low cost equipment that optimizes use of high quality adhesive and reduces total cost. By eliminating clogging, providing faster application and reducing assembly errors (Exhibit 8), BAM will be positioned as the product that reduces mess and helps small firms save on labor and adhesive costs (mor e under pricing strategy). 3) Include brochures on Bond-A-Matic with 1 lb packages of Super Bonder adhesives with 10 packs of 1 oz Super Bonder bottles. Include product information highlighting benefits such as anti-clogging, no mess/waste (and others in Exhibit 8), a response/ordering card with discount coupons. Sales personnel could follow up any leads that come from brochure response. 4) Include one year limited warranty (include warranty registration card) instead of 30-day free trial to reduce return expected costs. This plan would also go well with the Loctite brand image. ) Offer bulk purchase discounts and build proper incentives to sales force to persuade distributors and end users to avail this promotion. 6) Train sales team to determine the correct model and best fit for intended applications. Also provide them priority of sales (Super Bonder vs BAM) based on profitability of the product rather than sales generated from a given product. 7) Incentivize distributers to s tock and sell BAM by providing a high profit margin (more detail under distribution strategy). Provide POP displays and other promotional material to the distributors and pursue them to actively work with plant and production engineers in the clientele. Pricing Strategy As explained under Product Strategy, low and high pressure models are priced differently to maximize contribution. We cannot do a value pricing based on the benefits as we do not have any quantifiable information about the benefits of using BAM. Though many industrial users are price insensitive (about 81% of surveyed users per Exhibit 3), we are not sure whether a higher price for the product would be attractive enough for small firms. So proposed pricing in Exhibit 10 is not changed but instead all the accessories will be packed with BAM and priced together. If we add Gluematic tip, Vari-drop applicator and needle prices to the base price of $175 for BAM, the final price to end user would be around $199. At t his price, the unit contribution towards fixed costs/profit would be about $88 via direct sales (drop shipment) and $58 via distributors giving 25% commission to distributors (see Appendix A-Price for more details). The high pressure model could be priced at $228 to make up for higher costs to provide a unit contribution of $85 via direct sales and $51 via distributors (see Appendix A-Price for detailed pricing information). By keeping the prices for both low pressure model ($199) and high pressure model ($228) below capital expense limit of $250 allowed for plant production engineers, quick purchasing decisions could be made by plant and production engineers without the need to involve design engineers and purchasing staff. Distribution Strategy Loctite will take full advantage of its excellent relationship with the existing distributors. Since 62% of the adhesive users purchase instant adhesives via distributors (exhibit 3) and about 50% of Super Bonder sales are done via d istributors, using the current selective distributors for BAM sales should work fine. Since the BAM is low maintenance equipment that provides an equal profit margin as adhesives (about 25% RefPage 4), Loctite should be able to convince distributors to carry BAM. Also Loctite has to create training programs along with promotional material and display materials for distributors to help them sell BAM more effectively. In addition to sales via distributors, Loctite should perform direct sales for customers requesting via mails. In the future, if Loctite expands the BAM product to all adhesives, having a broader distribution with retail channels, more specialized distributors etc would be ideal. Costs and Budget Assuming Loctite targets SICS 35-39 SICs 75-76 there will be a total available market size of around 103K user (current potential) establishments. Several assumptions are made (see Appendix B-Assumptions) such as the following: The market demand for low pressure high press ure models are assumed to be equal (i. a potential firm would buy either low or high pressure model). So the average BAM price cost are calculated as averages between low pressure and high pressure models for calculation simplicity. The sales via distributors are assumed to be 80% and the remaining 20% via Loctite direct sale (with 10% drop commission to distributors). Also advertisement costs are assumed to be 20% of the proposed cost given in Exhibit 11. By selective magazine advertisements and combining with Super Bonder advertisements, the advertisements cost is assumed to be reduced. The number of sales calls generated via advertisements/other means is assumed to cover about 10% of the potential market size. Sales visits will be made only to the 285 distributors to reduce sales expense. Below is the short summary of the sales projection (detailed calculation, assumptions in Appendix B): Based on the calculations, Loctite will be able to break even after 3rd year and make pr ofits from BAM product. Competitive reaction Based on the available information, the competitors for the dispensing equipment are small firms and do not have the required sales force/distribution channels. So Loctite does not have any significant competitor threat for equipment sales in the near future. However, larger adhesive competitors such as 3M could enter this market and compete aggressively on price and other benefits. Loctite has to actively monitor the competitive landscape and make sure their product strategy would meet the competitive challenges. As mentioned earlier, Loctite should consider broader distribution to reach out to retail channels as well as extend product sales to all adhesives to reduce the threat due to competition and any other unfavorable conditions in the future. Action Programs This marketing plan is focused on the product positioning promotion strategy to market the BAM product. These changes can be immediately put into place. The sales staff will have to support this initiative by discussing and explaining these changes to distributors. The promotion strategy will require at least 3-4 months acquiring the necessary brochure preparation, revised packing and designing POP displays. Controls and Revisions In order to ensure proper implementation of the plan, constant monitoring and control of the marketing activities is needed. Sales and market share analysis will be performed each quarter to evaluate customer penetration, loyalty, distribution channel performance to identify any shortcoming in product positioning, pricing, advertisement strategies. Loctite also has to monitor the impact of CA adhesive sales other dispensing equipment sales due to BAM introduction. Customer data would be acquired from the distributors and consumer behavior needs to be analyzed. Similarly, customer and distributor surveys at regular intervals should keep Loctite abreast with the latest consumer/distributor demands and product perception amongst the consumers. While it is anticipated that the actual market and sales results will deviate from the target, proper monitoring mechanisms will help understand the deviations and help refine the targets. Comprehensive data on consumer and supplier demands will be used to reduce BAM product costs, by using just-in-time inventory management, lean manufacturing and improved economies of scale with better negotiated/reduced costs. Future Recommendations For future, it is recommended to evaluate a broader launch strategy by selling BAM to be usable for all dispensing adhesives (not just CA) and selling it via retail channels. Currently Super Bonder has good sales revenue (3. 44M) but the profit margin seems to be low (18%) at $620K. Having a broader distribution network and reaching out all profitable SICs through focused marketing would help to improve net margin as well as help Loctite achieve its objectives. Case for No-Go Decision There are several issues that pertain to the business case and value proposition of the BAM product. Firstly, Sales force expressed the difficulties of assembly line workers for dispensing during 1977 sales leadership conference. However, Loctite seem to have addressed this issue in FY 1978 itself. As a result of market research study, Loctite introduced a built-in applicator allowing greater dispensing control for 1 ounce SB bottles. Unless there was a follow up survey to understand whether this change satisfied the dispensing needs, there is no sufficient justification to introduce this product to address the same issue. Also, this product request is only initiated from assembly workers point of view. So we need to know whether other industries will have similar issues for dispensing to make this a viable product to make. So a much more thorough analysis of the market needs should be performed before introducing this product. Even if we plan to introduce this product targeting small firms, the projected sales (s ee Appendix B) does not provide a compelling ROI to make such an investment. Further, it also introduces new risks of cannibalizing more expensive dispensing equipments if the current equipment consumers perceive this product just as a low cost alternative. There were also concerns about BAM’s impact on Loctite’s and Super Bonder’s brand image. Moreover, the benefits from using BAM are not clearly quantified to justify the value for to persuade small firms to make this capital investment. The advertisements for Super Bonder were successful partly due to the quantifiable comparison (Exhibit 6, 7) with the competing product/technology. BAM missing such valuable marketing appeal makes it harder to market and convince customers/distributors. For an effective aggressive advertising campaign, there should be sizable market with a potentially higher penetration prospective. BAM product’s total market reach is not clear since the CA adhesive market is frag mented and very diverse. Also it may be too expensive to reach all the potential consumers to make a successful launch. Based on Exhibit 3, about 60% of the purchasers buy less than one pound and another 29% buy only 1 to 9 pounds annually. So, it would be hard to convince such low quantity adhesive purchasers to be interested in dispensing equipment unless there is a quantifiable annual savings using the equipment. Even with such savings, unless the CA adhesive usage level increases to a higher level, the need may not be very pronounced to make BAM an attractive product. Also, in terms of product development cycle, some key steps such as business analysis (as mentioned above) and test marketing are missing which are absolutely necessary before launching such as product (see Appendix D). Based on the above mentioned issues, it can be concluded that unless we have more detailed information on the product needs and a concrete business case, there is a serious risk of failure for la unching the BAM product. Partha Srinivasan Appendix A 5Cs 4Ps Company Loctite sold over 300 adhesive products and has established itself as a market leader in high-performance adhesives and sealants for industrial and consumer applications. With approximate sales revenue of $22. 4 million (70% revenue out of $32M) from selling anaerobics and CA adhesives, Loctite held a dominating 85% NA anaerobic market share in 1978. Loctite has established an internal goal of increasing Super Bonder sales by 31% ($3. 44M to $4. 5M) and market share of 35% in 20-39 SICs. Further, Loctite held 50% dollar market share of an approx $2. 9M market. Loctite held a premier brand image and was known for high quality products and was able to command premium prices among both distributors and end users. BAM provides an opportunity for Loctite to expand the breadth of its adhesive equipment products and develop strength in adjacent competencies for Loctite. Consumers Automatic adhesive dispensing equ ipment is generally used by large firms. During a 1978 survey, 51% of users expressed interest in improving dispensing technology. Loctite responded with a built-in cap applicator improving dispensing control for standard 1 ounce bottles. Though the user satisfaction feedback is not available, BAM was developed to address the frequent adhesive clogging issue for assembly line workers. About 10% of the firms were concentrated within 16 SICs groups. About 55% of the instant adhesives were bought by small firms though in very small quantities and many of them used adhesives for only one application. More consumers were price insensitive (current potential) but considered technical support is very important. Competitors While there were some significant competitors in the adhesive market such 3M (anaerobics), Eastman, National Starch and Chemicals Inc (CA market), adhesive equipment market did not have any significant competitors. Though the competitor products were quite cheaper (about $240) when compared to Loctite’s products (cheapest product, 200 console plus applicator at $725), competitors were small in size with limited marketing resources. BAM should be priced so that it would not be cannibalize but complement Loctite’s current product line and compete at lower end segment. Collaborators Loctite worked with its distributors to sell over 50% of their Super Bonder adhesives. A large number of its distributors sold diverse range of products and supplied to machinery and equipment manufacturers. Loctite also had very good relationship with distributors and held very effective training programs. Due to these reasons, Loctite was able to command premium prices among distributors and end users. Loctite was using a selective distribution strategy (working only with 285 distributors out of 10,000 distributors nationwide) as it elieved that its distributors had good market coverage and provided a superior service. Some officials were concerne d about their current distributor’s ability to work with the correct person to work with on the end user firm and called for a broad distribution approach. Context The market for CA adhesive is growing at rate of 20% every year, with total adhesive market at about 10%. The need for adhesives in the industrial segment is growing faster than the consumer segment but industrial segment is more vulnerable to economic downturn. CA adhesive market is wide spread and fragmented than the anaerobics market. A large volume of CA adhesives were bought by smaller firms. Product The Bond-A-Matic product was developed in response to the sales leadership conference finding that assembly line workers had difficulties in dispensing CA from one-ounce and smaller bottles. The product was developed to leverage from the year’s innovative Gluematic pen’s tip applicator which facilitated precise adhesive placement to prevent clogging. The product had several benefits (highlighted u nder Exhibit 8), but none of the benefits were quantified. Price The proposed price of $175 for the BAM is targeted to provide a low cost solution for dispensing problems in small bottles. Loctite is skeptical about the impact of low price on Super Bonder brand image and sales of other products. But this low price also provides an opportunity for quick purchase decisions for plant and production engineers as the capital cost is less than $250. Also this low price makes this product attractive for small firms that do not typically buy dispensing products. Though we do not know how to quantify the benefits for BAM, we know that the replacement cost would be relatively low. For instance, a single Gluematic tip (costing $1) can be used for atleast 40 ounces of Super Bonder (good for 12,000 dot applications). Below is the summary for BAM accessories prices along with the newly proposed price for BAM package, and the current pricing model for existing dispensing equipments. Place C onsumers purchase adhesive mostly via distributors (about 60%), retailers (about 35%) and a little directly from the manufacturers. Loctite has a small but strong distribution network to sell its products. Promotion BAM product is targeted to sell along with Super Bonder which was heavily advertized in 1978(with about 30% advertising costs). This helped Loctite to improve Super Bonder sales from 62K pounds to 92K pounds. Though advertising was an excellent tool to spread the product awareness, it is expensive. So advertising should be kept at a minimal level until enough revenue is generated to sufficiently increase marketing (for instance, when broader distribution is planned). Therefore the BAM product is planned to sell mostly via distributors and direct sales (received via responses to brochures included in the Super Bonder package and other means). Appendix B Diffusion Model for Revenue and Costs Prediction Because of the scatted customer distribution and customer possib le reluctance to accept a new product the p and q values in the diffusion model are set at 0. 01 and 0. 5 respectively. Assumptions The potential market size for a given SIC is calculated based on the % of User establishment + Additional % of Potential User establishments multiplied by the number of user establishments for that SIC. Assuming Loctite targets SICS 35-39 SICs 75-76, we will have a total market size of around 103K user (current potential) establishments to sell both low pressure high pressure BAM models. P is assumed to be really low since the small firms were not used to buying dispensing equipment and large firms usually bought the high-precision equipment with adjustable pressure regulator. The demand for both low pressure and high pressure BAM models are assumed to be equal. So the average price is calculated as an average between low high pressure models. Distributer sales assumed to be 80% and remaining via direct sales. Distributor sales commission for direct sales is calculated as 0. 80*0. 25 = 0. 20, distributor commission for drop sales is calculated as 0. 20*0. 10 = 0. 02 Only new sales calculated(i. e no equipment replacement sale and accessory replacement sales figures are considered) Sales personnel need to visit each distributor (total 285 distributors) yearly Sales calls assumed to be made atleast to 10% of the potential customer base Advertisement costs are assumed to be reduced to 20% of the proposed $51K by reducing number of advertisements on magazines and combining them with Super Bonder advertisement. Appendix C SWOT analysis Strengths Leader in high-performance adhesives and sealants for industrial and consumer applications (85% market share in anaerobics) Strong distribution network and excellent training programs Strong brand image and known for selling premier products Opportunities Untapped market for small firms Improve marketing strategy for maximize product reach Weaknesses Least market knowledge on CA a dhesive user behavior Little focus on adjacent competencies such as adhesive equipment sales Selective distribution nhibiting growth Niche (only high price) products that can be impacted during tough economy. Threats New players such as 3M in anaerobics due to low capital to entry and expiration of patents Fragmented CA market can lead to lower profit margins. Appendix D Analysis of the new Product development Process for Bond-A-Matic Idea Generation: During 1977 Sales Leadership Conference, several salespeople highlighted difficulties of assembly line workers in dispensing CA from standard one ounce smaller bottles. A FY1977 survey of CA industrial users also confirmed that a number of users were interested in improving dispensing technology. Idea screening: BAM is envisioned as a low cost adhesive dispensing system that leveraged from the innovative Gluematic tip to prevent clogging and mess around the assembly line. Initial development: After extensive testing, 2 BAM models were developed to address high low viscous adhesive products. Also some preliminary tests were conducted to confirm the faster operation (apply a dot of adhesive every 3 seconds) and tip durability (usable for about 40 lbs of adhesives). Marketing strategy development: Loctite was trying to understand the ideal target market segment, whether to productize both models, what accessories (Gluematic tip, Vari-drop applicator) to package with BAM. Loctite was also debating about low pricing and promotions such as 30-day free trial or 1 year warranty. It was also trying to analyze the need for an aggressive advertising via magazines, use its own sale force or do telemarketing. It was also considering direct mailing as an alternative for magazine advertisements. Business Analysis: There is not a lot of business analysis done to understand the business case for BAM. Loctite was concerned whether BAM would stimulate or cannibalize current sales and whether broader manufacturing would be possible. Without proper market segmentation analysis via market research and via market surveys, it would be hard to analyze the business case. Product development and market testing: There was no prototype testing or market testing before the launch. So there was very little knowledge on the market acceptance for this product. Commercialization: Loctite is considering commercialization early 1979 based on the marketing plan. It is evaluating impact on other products, pricing impact, quality assurance and advertising factors to make a decision on launching the product. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Loctite Adhesive" essay for you Create order