Economic viability of the shale gas boom in the US Literature review

Economic viability of the shale gas boom in the US - Literature review Example economy, environment as well as political status in the future. Natural gas is known of reducing air pollution as a result of using coal by 30 percent (Energy Information Administration 2009 and Energy Information Administration (US) 2009). As a result of this, majority of the people believe that the use of natural gas will aid reduce pollution of air by fossil fuels such as coal and oil. The production and utilization of domestic fuels will have a significant impact on the economy of any state by creating job opportunities as well as increasing income through royalty payments (Energy Information Administration (US) 2011 and Schlumberger 2011). Additionally, the use of natural gas will enable the U.S. utilize the money used to be spent on fuel imports on other valuable goods (Energy Information Administration (US) 2010 and Energy Information Administration (US) 2011b). Although there are many shale gas reserves in the U.S., the most important is Marcellus Shale (Bloomberg 2011). Marc ellus Shale is located in Pennsylvania as well as Upstate New York. It has gained significant attention because of its closeness to most populated areas, its huge deposit size, and the amount of recoverable gas it has. Some of the factors that affect the productivity of the Marcellus Shale include â€Å"the drop in natural gas prices, overproduction claims, a decade of rising costs and apparent production declines in the shale gas wells† (Energy Information Administration 2012b). Economic analysis of this circumstance will enable the examination of the profitability of the shale gas well in the Marcellus Shale through looking at production as well as variables (Schoen 2011). The results gotten will then aid in evaluating whether producers are in a position to profitably extract natural gas despite the current market conditions. Profitability will then be measured by calculating crucial metrics such as internal rate of return of the chosen

My Depression Essay Example for Free

My Depression Essay Growing up in a small town wasnt always easy for me. I felt that I was constantly hiding and denying the person that I was and the life that I lived. I was forced to be someone that I really wasnt due to the fact that I had a family secret that I was withholding in order to protect the well-known, family name, Hutcherson. In highschool, no one but family members and close friends knew that I lived with an alcoholic father. As a child I was always taught to keep our family life secret and never let people know the struggles that our family faced. People always thought that I had the best of everything because of the material possessions I accumulated from my dad. They assumed that because our family had money, we were problem free and oh, how wrong they were! It was until my senior year at Halls High School that I kept leading people on to believe a lie. I finally got tired of feeling as though I was two different people with two different lives. After attending counseling for several months, because of the depression that had taken a tole on me, my psychiatrist helped me to realize that it wasnt my fault that my father has this addiction. I soon figured out that there was no reason to be ashamed or embarrassed for things that I had no control over. If people liked me, they should like me for the real me, not who I had been pretending to be. I learned to deal with my fathers alcohol problem by acknowledging the stages of the grieving process. Dr. Bell taught me that in order to make peace with the hardships in my life, I had to overcome each of the five processes; denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Denial was the first, and probably the hardest stage of the grieving process. It seemed as if denial overwelhmed my entire life, even from childhood. It was hard, at times, to admit that living with an alcoholic parent was a part of my life. I didnt want to accept the fact that this was a definite part of who I really was. I was ashamed and humiliated. I remember being embarrassed to tell Dr. Bell the whole truth. I also felt like by doing so, I was dishonoring my family and degrading my father. However, after I came to terms with the truth that I had been denying for so long, I felt like a ton of bricks were lifted from me. The second stage of the grieving process is anger. I can remember being so mad at Dad for putting our family through this. There were times that I hated him and wished that something bad would happen to him, just so I could go back to the life I was accustomed to living, that of lies. I blamed my mother for staying with him and giving us children no choice as to what we wanted. I envied her just about as much as I envied him. I know now, that even though she wasnt happy, she was doing what she felt she had to do, and that was support him 100%. I no longer look at this situation as something to be angry at. I see my father now, as a sick man and not one that intentionally has this horrible addiction to hurt the ones he loves. There were times that I remember bargaining with God, asking him to please take this away. I would pray at night that if he would just heal my father, I would be willing to do whatever it took to show appreciation. I would make deals with my father, Dad, if you dont drink for two weeks, I will mow the lawn for free. It was things like this that would sometimes be the only thing that gave me hope. At times, the things that I would say to my father would work, only because of the quilt that he felt, but it wouldnt be long and he would be back in the same boat he had been in for many years drinking, uncontrolably. The forth stage is depression. I have to say that this is the hardest thing I have ever faced (and still facing) in my life. Looking back now, I remember the thing that depressed me the most was thinking that things were getting better and then being disappointed again. There were times that Dad would stop drinking, sometimes weeks at a time. Though I always knew in my heart that it wasnt going to last long, I still had hope that that particular time could be different.

Marketing Strategies of UK Political Parties

Marketing Strategies of UK Political Parties In this paper we examine the use of political marketing in the United Kingdom and the United States of America. It focuses on the hypothetical theoretical aspects of marketing frameworks, which are identified and applying these frameworks to the marketing strategies of the political parties within the UK and the US. Additionally, we compare and contrast certain aspects of the marketing frameworks that have been identified with the parties, analysing whether the use of the frameworks are inherently present with regard to their electioneering and campaigning strategies. Political marketing has come to be an increasingly exciting and integrated phenomenon that the majority of significant public figures and political employees are vividly aware of. It holds the potential to transform politics as we know it, and exert a tremendous influence on the way everyones life is run, but we will only ever reach a greater understanding of the existing and potential consequences of political marketing if we acknowledge and accept the breadth and nature of the phenomenon. The reason why marketing can be attached to politics is that in essence they share some common tenets: the aim to understand how political organisations act in relation to their market and vice versa. Furthermore, marketing, being somewhat more prescriptive, provides tools and ideas about how organisations could behave in relation to their market in order to set aims and objectives, so that at the end they can achieve their goals. It can help an organisation understand the demands of its market. T he idea of a political system that meets peoples needs and demands links back to traditional politics: Jones and Moran (1994, 17) argue that British democracy means that the people can decide the government and exercise influence over the decisions governments take. Political marketing is simply a way of doing this in the 21st century with a critical, well informed and consumerist mass franchise. The evidence suggests that major British parties are not just applying the techniques of marketing, but its concepts. They appear to be determining their policies to match voters concerns (using findings from survey research and focus groups) rather than basing them on ideological considerations. Therefore, they are attempting to become what is known in business terms as ‘market oriented and designing their ‘product to suit consumer demands. This would imply a new role for political parties, one at odds with the traditional role assumed by the standard literature. It may also cause potential problems for political parties in the long-term, as well as having significant normative implications for politics as a whole. This paper therefore explores the full potential of political marketing on a theoretical level integrating management, marketing and political science literature to find out how British political parties and the US political parties have used marketing and become market-oriented. It will examine the extent to which the ‘New Labour Party in 1997 exhibited behaviour in line with this model and comparing this with the Conservatives in 1979. We would also consider its use in the US by the Republican and Democratic political party and how it has affected the political landscape. It will be seen how the Conservative party used marketing to inform policy design, a model which ‘New Labour followed but to a greater extent, using results from market intelligence to push for changes to the role of the memberships and further centralisation of power to ensure a clear organisational structure within the party. In more recent times, the endorsement of George W. Bush (jnr), by the Repub lican Party in the US and how the product, i.e. his behaviour over the election period leading up to his election win was galvanised through political marketing. It is hoped that this paper will highlight how the implications of political marketing are much wider than at first sort. Marketing is a form of management or method used primarily by business organisations. It has evolved to include the design and promotion of a product to ensure that the goals of the organisation, the prime one being to make profit in the case of a business, are met. It is not just about selling, or in this case campaigning. As Levitt (1960: 50) argues, that the difference between marketing and selling is more than dynamic. Selling focuses on the needs of the seller, marketing focuses on the need of the buyer. The current marketing philosophy focuses on how firms can satisfy customers wants, and adopt what is called a market-oriented approach as this is deemed the most effective way to meet the firms goals Drucker (1954:37). Cannon (1996:6) found that with business organisations the idea that firms exist, first and foremost, to satisfy customers needs has not been accommodated easily into the operations of many organisations. It is likely in this case, to be even more difficult with a political party, which is bound to consist of many ideas and attitudes to how the party as a whole should behave, not the least, different theories of the meaning of democracy and the role of the elites. Kotler and Andreasen (1987:505), suggest that everything about an organisation, which includes, its products, employees facilities, and actions, all communicate something to the general public. Not only the nature of the leader, but also the behaviour and rights of the partys members could be influential in attracting or repelling voters. As Shaw (1994:175) puts it, the British Labour party failed to win the 1992 general election because (amongst other factors), despite changes in policy, the then leader of the party, lacked the time and support to transform the party itself, a fatal weakness, since the character and behaviour of its activists at the time, its ethos, language and rituals, and most importantly, its close association with the trade unions, all alienated the electorate. A party with the wrong approach to gain the attention of the voting electorate is more likely to fail. As Scullion and Dermody (2004:361), argues that the campaigns employed by the political parties were being accused of failing to engage a disinterested young electorate. In their comparison of New Labour (UK) and New Democrats (US), Ingram and Lees-Marshment (2002:5), state that systemic differences between the countries, the UK and US, substantially condition the scope, focus, and application of political marketing and although American campaigns maybe the breeding ground for technological innovation and birth of political marketing, there is more potential for the use of political marketing in Britain, due to the more centralised nature of political parties and campaigns and to the component delivery of the marketing model. This article found that Labours approach was far broader in scope, influencing aspects of its policies, personnel, internal organisation, and leadership behaviour. One should also understand that the use of marketing as a tool for political gains is not a new thing. Eisenhowers use of direct male in the early 50s in the US, and in the UK, Margaret Thatchers use of the Saatchi and Saatchi advertising agency (Scammell, 1994:23). H owever, there has been an increasing use of marketing methods in political campaigns over the latter part of the twentieth century (Smith and Saunders (1990: 295), Wring (1997:1131). To date the dominant paradigm has been to adapt consumer goods marketing ideas and frameworks (Baines and Egan, 2001:1), especially the marketing mix concept (Niffenegger, 1989:45). Other frameworks might provide a more fruitful basis for analysis. The broadening theory of marketing was based upon the notion that marketing ideas and techniques could be utilised whenever value is exchanged between two parties, e.g. charities, churches, and political parties, (Kotler and Levy, 1969:10). It was argued later that differences of form and content (Lock and Harris, 1996: 21), and structure and process (Butler and Collins, 1999:55) existed, and that value exchange was not so straightforward. Baines, Harris, and Newman (1999:1) additionally state that this commercial and political difference, when suggesting tha t political campaigns usually operate with shorter, more intense promotional campaigns, in oligopolistic markets, with polarised levels of voter loyalty, and differing potential for the degree of marketing orientation in different countries. It can be argued here that structural changes in the political landscape had an impact on the perceived need for adoption of marketing techniques. Voters are perceived to be less involved and less loyal than in the past (Ware, 1995: 6). This may partly be due to voter apathy, which is a growing trend in most western democracies. There are a number of factors that are central to the need for marketing in campaigns. They are lack of actual or perceived product differentiation; increasing numbers and frequency of electoral contests and referendum held, or simply because voters have more compelling distractions stimulated by increased wealth and leisure time. To cast ones vote was and is seen as less of a duty than was largely the case in the past. This is why marketing has evolved to be used as a way of demand intervention. Marketing and political campaigning or vice-versa can be deemed as inseparable, because of its strategic importance to the outcome of any election. Such is the perceived value of marketing that no political party and few individual candidates would challenge the role marketing plays in the modern campaign and electoral process. With all this in mind, this paper moves on to explore the full potential of political marketing on a theoretical level identifying the literature that a political party might use marketing and become market-orientated. It will examine the extent to which the Labour party in 1997, exhibited behaviour in line with this model and comparing this with the Conservative party in 1979. Additionally, the Republican party of the US would also be mentioned and examined with regard to correlations or differences between the use of this model, in the UK and the US between the political parties. Therefore the remainder of this paper is set as follow: Chapter 3: Theoretical concepts of Political Marketing Chapter 4: Labour Party use of political marketing, 1997-2001 Chapter 5: Conservative Party use of political marketing, 1997-2001 Chapter 6: The use of political marketing in the US in comparison to the UK Chapter 7: Summary and Conclusion References and Bibliography. Political parties use political marketing to determine their policies, organisation, communication and, ultimately, potential delivery in government. Political parties were traditionally perceived as bastions of ideology, dogma, idealism and rhetoric. In the twenty-first century, however, most if not all-political parties in the UK of varying ideologies, histories, sizes and fortunes are aware of political marketing. The extent to which they choose to use it, the form they adopt, and their success at adopting a market orientation may vary, but all understand the pressure from the political market to satisfy the general populace. Depending on their nature, political parties can use marketing in various ways. Parties differ in their size and goals. Major parties are large, established organisations whose dominant goal is to win control of government, therefore to win a general (or devolved) election. The Conservative and Labour parties in the UK are major parties and so try to use political marketing to win an election. Their market consists of the electorate, in addition to anyone else who has influence on voters, although the parties do not need to win support from everyone to gain power. Their product includes all aspects of their behaviour. Although a major party generally asks political consumers to vote for it on the basis of what it promises to do in government, its policy promises or party manifesto which it lays out to the general electorate, voters also take into account other aspects of party behaviour such as leadership, party unity, organisation, and the behaviour of members, because these may aff ect the ability of the party to deliver on policy promises. The current marketing philosophy focuses on how firms satisfy customers, and adopt what is called a market-orientation as this is deemed as the most effective way to meet the firms goals (Drucker, 1954:37). It can be argued here that if a political party implements the marketing philosophy, it will seek to meet voters needs and wants, thus producing voter satisfaction, and in doing so gain electoral support to meet its own goals. Orientation is a concept that the major parties should adopt, which is based on an attitude towards how they behave in relation to the electorate. There are three main political marketing orientations (Lees-Marshment 2001:692). Market-oriented parties (MOPs) design their product, including policies, leadership and organisation, to suit what political consumers demand, in order to achieve their goal of winning a general election. This does not mean they simply follow what everyone wants to them to do, because this would be impossible anyway, because demands are complex and competing. Instead they need to go through a complex process of stages. This is shown in Box 3.1. Box 3.1 The Process for a Market-Oriented Party Stage 1: Market intelligence Party finds out what voters need and want by: †¢ Keeping an ear to the ground, talking to activists, meeting the public; †¢ Using quantitative research (electoral results, public opinion polls and privately commissioned studies) and qualitative research such as a focus group. Stage 2: Product design Party designs behaviour (including leadership, members, policies, staff, constitution and symbols) according to voters demands. Stage 3: Product adjustment Party designs product to suit the electorate at large and then needs to make sure it considers other factors: †¢ Achievability, determine whether the product design is achievable; †¢ Internal reaction analysis, to alter design to ensure it will obtain the support of enough MPs and members to ensure its implementation; †¢ Competition analysis, this is to promote opposition weaknesses and highlight own strengths; †¢ Support analysis, this is with the view of focusing on winning the support of voters, it does not have, but needs to win. Stage 4: Implementation   The findings from stages 1 – 3, must be implemented. The majority must accept the new behaviour broadly. This requires effective and considerate organisation and management. Stage5: Communication This includes the so-called near-term or long-term campaign, but also ongoing behaviour. The party ensures that communication helps it achieve electoral success; attempts to influence others in the communication process, such as journalist and opposition parties; and uses selling techniques such as direct mail and targeted communications Stage 6: Campaign This can be said to be the final chance for the political party to communicate with the voters. Stage 7: Election The party goes through the election. Stage 8: Delivery The party carries out promises made once in government. Box 3.2 The process for a Product-Oriented Party Stage 1: Product design The party designs its behaviour according to what it thinks best represents them. Stage 2: Communication This includes the so=called near-term or long-term campaign but also ongoing behaviour. Not just the leader, but all MPs and members, send a message to the electorate. The organisation is clear and effective; it is designed to advance arguments. Stage 3: Campaign The official election campaign period starts leading up to the election. 4: Election The general election takes place. Stage 5: Delivery on promises made during election as stated on the partys election manifesto The party will deliver its product in government. Box 3.3 The Process for Sales – Oriented Party Stage 1: Product design The party designs its behaviour according to what it thinks best. Stage 2: Market Intelligence The party aims to discover voters response to the product, especially voters who do not support the party but might, so that communications can be targeted on them. Informally, it keeps an ear to the ground, talks to party members, creates policy groups and meets with the public. Formally, it uses quantitative research (electoral results, public opinion polls and privately commissioned studies) and qualitative research such as a focus group. Stage 3: Communication This includes the so-called near-term or long-term campaign but also ongoing behaviour. Not just the leader, but all MPs and members send a message to the electorate. Attempts are made to ensure all communication helps achieve electoral success, and to influence others in the communication process. The organisation is clear and effective designed to advance arguments. It also makes use of selling techniques such as direct mail and targeted communications to persuade voters to agree with the party. Stage 4: Campaign   The official election campaign period kicks in up until election. The party continues to communicate effectively as in stage 3.   Stage 5: Election The general election. Stage 6: Delivery The party will deliver its promised product in government. Other parties with different goals may not choose to use political marketing in this way i.e. Box 3.1. However, if the dominant goal of a party is to advance a particular policy, rather than win an election, it maybe more product oriented. Product – Oriented parties (POPs) decide their behaviour or product themselves without much care for the opinions of political consumers, or rather, they assume that voters will realise that it is right and vote for it accordingly. Their process is quite simple: see Box 3.2. A product – oriented party refuses to change its ideas or product even if it fails to gain electoral or membership support. If a party is a small or minor party, with the main goal being not to win a general election but to put ideas on the agenda, this may be the most appropriate political marketing orientation. However, most partys overtime, grow to be concerned about their performance. They may then move to a sales orientation position, retaining the same product or behaviour, but using political marketing communication techniques, see Box 3.3. Market intelligence is used not to inform the product design, but to help the party persuade voters it is right and has sound electoral policies. Sales-oriented parties are often perceived as the more manipulative, because they use marketing to persuade or change public opinion. Current research indicates that the trend in the UK, at least amongst the major political parties, is towards the market-oriented approach (Lees-Marshment 2001). The trend is to evolve from product through to sales and then finally a market orientation, responding to the gradual rise of the political consumer. Major partys can however, win power using a market-orientation and then switch back to a sales or product once in power. Political parties often find it harder to rema in in touch with the public and responsive to the demands of political consumers once they are in government. Other small UK parties tend to adopt any one of the three orientations. Parties such as the Scottish National Party have moved through the classic product-sales-market –oriented cycle. The use of marketing by political parties is not as easy as the theory suggests. The latest research in political party marketing suggests that despite the desire of both the Conservative and Labour parties to adopt and maintain a market orientation, many obstacles get in the way. This will be fully explained in the following chapters. The Labour party has been one of political marketings success stories of the new century, at least on the surface. Using political marketing to become more in touch with the public, reduce any unwanted historical baggage, and even relabelled itself as ‘New Labour, it first became market oriented in order to win the previous election in 1997. It remains the fullest example of a market-oriented party, following the model to the greatest degree of any party ever seen. However, after obtaining the mandate of power from the UK electorate, the party met many obstacles to delivering on its 1997election promises. This is a major potential weakness: Labour support is very much based on promised outputs, so it needs to be seen to deliver. It is in the context that Labour attempted to maintain a market orientation and retain its electoral support during 1997 – 2001. Table 4.1 The Labour government and Delivery, February 2000 ‘There is a lot of talk at the moment about whether the present government is or is not ‘delivering. From what you know, do you think that it is or is not delivering on each of the following? Source: Gallup Political Index Delivery in government on the 1997 election promises Delivering the political product as stated previously is not an easy task. It is one of unanswered potential conundrums at the heart of political marketing (Laing and Lees-Marshment, 2002:19). The Labour party understood this. The party talked constantly about the need to deliver. It copied business and started to issue an annual report on its delivery of its promises (Labour Party 1999: 3-7, 2000). Labour undoubtly succeeded in some areas, such as constitutional reform, with the introduction of devolution in Scotland and Wales and the removal of hereditary peers from the House of Lords. However, Labour failed to convince many voters that it had made real improvement to standards in the public services, which is the core part of the 1997 product. Public resentment about Labours failures to deliver grew, Table 4.1, gives you the evidence. There was also dissatisfaction with the Labour party. A report from the Labour party itself based on its private polls leaked in the independent warning that the partys huge lead in the opinion polls masks the fact that people are turning against the Government because they believe it is failing to deliver its 1997 general election party manifesto. In July 2000 a MORI survey indicated that 57% of respondents did not think the leader of the Labour Party had kept the parties election promises. See the following table: Table 4.2 Perceived performance of the prime minister, July 2000 Since becoming prime minister in May 1997, do you think, Tony Blair has or has not delivered election promises made in the partys election manifesto? Source: MORI telephone survey 20-22, July 2000 Labour therefore still needed to utilise political marketing, but this time to maintain rather than win support. Stage 1: Market Intelligence The Labour party conducted substantial market intelligence. Philip Gould conducted focus group work for the party; Greg Crook ran a rolling programme of opinion polling (Cook, 2002:87); the partys advertising agency, TVWA London, also conducted research (Lawther, 2002:1). Labour also analysed results of elections to local authorities, the devolved institutions, the European parliament and parliamentary by-elections (Cook, 2002:88). It took account of negative criticism despite the overall positive polls and continued to monitor the performance of the opposition. During 1997 – 2001 Labour continually discussed voters needs. Stage 2: Product design The New Labour product offered to the electorate in 2001 was extremely similar to that offered in 1997, with greater determination to deliver in the second term. Policy: In terms of policy, the focus remained on raising standards in the public services, such as health and education. The party retained its commitment to low income tax and competent economic management. There were slight changes in terms of greater investment in public services in order to improve them, but such moves were made without a call o increase tax. Stephen Lawther, polling coordinator for the Scottish Labour Party, argued that Labour put forward a strong product: †¢ Minimum wage; †¢ 1 million new jobs; †¢ Lowest unemployment in 25 years; †¢ Lowest inflation in 30 years; †¢ Winter fuel allowance;   Ã¢â‚¬ ¢ Record investment in schools in hospitals; †¢ Small class sizes; †¢ A nursery place for every 4 year old; †¢ 10,000 more nurses in the NHS; †¢ Working families tax credit reduction; †¢ Scottish parliament (devolution), (Lawther, 2002). Leadership: As leader, the prime minister continued to exercise strong and determined control over his party and the senior leadership and cabinet in particular. The prime minister enjoyed extremely high popularity scores in public opinion polls until the end of the 1997-2002 periods, when he began to attract criticism for being smarmy, arrogant and out of touch with the national electorate. In June 2000, the prime minister was even slow-hand-clapped by the Womens Institute. Internal membership: Changes were made within the party with the aim of making members more involved (Seyd 1999:390-391). Members-only sessions were introduced at the annual party conference, to ensure members had a chance to air their views without damaging the party externally. Partnership in power, a series of proposals to change certain organisational structures within the party, devolved policy-making to the National Policy Forum to provide greater consultation with the membership. Nevertheless, party membership slumped from 420,000 after 1997 election to just 320,000 by mid-1999. Many of those who remained were de-energised (Seyd and Whiteley, 1999). This reflects the limited application of marketing to the membership, (Lees-Marshment, 2001a). The foundations of Labours support have been eroded, making it even more crucial that the party satisfy voters through delivery on public services. Party Unity: The leadership exerted significant control over the partys participation within the new devolved institutions in the selection of the leadership candidate for the Welsh assembly, which aroused significant discontent among Labour party activists. Another case was the election for the London mayor. After failing to be selected as the Labour candidate, an old left-winger, Ken Livingston, stood as an independent after calls from the public to do so, and won. This was an indication of the discontent at the grassroots of the Labour party: an issue that Labour continues to struggle with, due to its use of political marketing. Stage 3: Product Adjustment Achievability: Learning in government that delivering on the 1997 pledges, particularly those about the quality of public services, was extremely difficult, the party made promises for the next term of office in terms of inputs rather than outputs, such as ‘x number of nurses or police rather than reduce waiting list or lower levels of crime. Inputs are easier to deliver because they are easier to control (Lees-Marshment and Laing, 2002:20). The 2001 pledges were: †¢ Mortgages to be as low as possible, low inflation and sound public finances; †¢ 10,000 extra teachers and higher standards in secondary schools; †¢ 20,000 extra nurses and 10,000 extra doctors in a reformed NHS; †¢ 6,000 extra recruits to raise police numbers to their highest ever level; †¢ Pensioners winter fuel payment retained, minimum wage rising to  £4.20, and most recently to  £5.25 an hour. Internal reaction analysis: The decline in membership that Labour experienced after 1997 suggests failure of internal reaction analysis. The new system of policy-making was criticised for restricting the opportunity for debate at conference and ignoring the work of policy forums (Seyd, 2002:95). The selection processes used for the Scottish parliament, Welsh assembly and London mayor also indicated a lack of internal reaction analysis and generated further discontent. Competition analysis: Labour engaged in a significant competition analysis in terms of its planning for the campaign. It was keen that voters would see the election as a choice between the parties rather than a referendum on Labours mixed record of delivery (Gould, 2002:57, Lawther, 2002:1). Posters reassured voters about the party, saying, ‘Thanks for voting Labour, but also reminding them of potential problems the Conservatives might bring, with posters headed ‘Economic Disaster II). Support analysis: Labour analysed voters who were former Conservatives that had defected to the party in 1997, and found that this group would stay with the party. Attention then shifted to mobilising people to vote, as the party feared it could lose support due to a low turnout. Labour played on the emotion of fear at a prospective Tory victory, commissioning the famous ‘wiggy poster of the then leader of the Conservative party, warning ‘Get out and vote or they get in. It tried to put forward the vision that the work goes on and voters needed to give the party more time. Stage 4: Implementation The leader of the Labour party insisted on strict party unity: i.e. all ministers had to agree any interaction with the media and the press office of the Labour party, to ensure unified communication from government. The partys leader had a few difficulties passing legislation. And ambitious MPs knew they had to keep in line with the leadership if they wished to advance their careers. Blair (the leader of the Labour Party) followed the market-oriented party model to fine detail, promoting those who followed the product design and sidelining those who voiced dissent. Nevertheless Labour was criticised for being too ‘Control Conscious. Stage 5: Communication Labour continued to control communication from the party and also central government. The Government Information Service was used to communicate the governments message and delivery (Scammell, 2001). Government spending on advertising increased massively in the four years between 1997 and 2001 (Grice, 2001). Party communication was also focused on delivery: party political broad casts during the elections to the European parliament, for example, focused on the governments achievements, rather than European issues. Communication did not succeed in convincing voters that the government had delivered as initially thought. Stage 6: Campaign The character of the partys product and its delivery performance in office determined Labours campaign. It focused on the need to deliver, asking for more time to do its job. Labour used target marketing and campaigned most heavily in marginal seats where it was assumed that its efforts would have the greatest effect (Cook, 2002:87). In Scotland Labour sent out targeted direct mail in the form of a letter from both the leader of the party and the deputy leader to segments of the market such as Scottish National Party (SNP) floaters, and Labour also ran health rallies and a pledge day to reinforce key themes. The campaign was closely co-ordinated from the partys Millbank headquarters, with an integrated marketing communications structure. Responding to market intelligence, significant effort went into getting the vote out, through ‘Operation Turnout. This assessed the party identification and voting history of electors in target seats and sent a direct marketing message to them to get them to vote (Lawther, 2002). Nevertheless, the underlying public dissatisfaction with public services was brought to the fore when Blair was accosted by the partner of a patient complaining about the poor standards of care in the NHS in a di Marketing Strategies of UK Political Parties Marketing Strategies of UK Political Parties In this paper we examine the use of political marketing in the United Kingdom and the United States of America. It focuses on the hypothetical theoretical aspects of marketing frameworks, which are identified and applying these frameworks to the marketing strategies of the political parties within the UK and the US. Additionally, we compare and contrast certain aspects of the marketing frameworks that have been identified with the parties, analysing whether the use of the frameworks are inherently present with regard to their electioneering and campaigning strategies. Political marketing has come to be an increasingly exciting and integrated phenomenon that the majority of significant public figures and political employees are vividly aware of. It holds the potential to transform politics as we know it, and exert a tremendous influence on the way everyones life is run, but we will only ever reach a greater understanding of the existing and potential consequences of political marketing if we acknowledge and accept the breadth and nature of the phenomenon. The reason why marketing can be attached to politics is that in essence they share some common tenets: the aim to understand how political organisations act in relation to their market and vice versa. Furthermore, marketing, being somewhat more prescriptive, provides tools and ideas about how organisations could behave in relation to their market in order to set aims and objectives, so that at the end they can achieve their goals. It can help an organisation understand the demands of its market. T he idea of a political system that meets peoples needs and demands links back to traditional politics: Jones and Moran (1994, 17) argue that British democracy means that the people can decide the government and exercise influence over the decisions governments take. Political marketing is simply a way of doing this in the 21st century with a critical, well informed and consumerist mass franchise. The evidence suggests that major British parties are not just applying the techniques of marketing, but its concepts. They appear to be determining their policies to match voters concerns (using findings from survey research and focus groups) rather than basing them on ideological considerations. Therefore, they are attempting to become what is known in business terms as ‘market oriented and designing their ‘product to suit consumer demands. This would imply a new role for political parties, one at odds with the traditional role assumed by the standard literature. It may also cause potential problems for political parties in the long-term, as well as having significant normative implications for politics as a whole. This paper therefore explores the full potential of political marketing on a theoretical level integrating management, marketing and political science literature to find out how British political parties and the US political parties have used marketing and become market-oriented. It will examine the extent to which the ‘New Labour Party in 1997 exhibited behaviour in line with this model and comparing this with the Conservatives in 1979. We would also consider its use in the US by the Republican and Democratic political party and how it has affected the political landscape. It will be seen how the Conservative party used marketing to inform policy design, a model which ‘New Labour followed but to a greater extent, using results from market intelligence to push for changes to the role of the memberships and further centralisation of power to ensure a clear organisational structure within the party. In more recent times, the endorsement of George W. Bush (jnr), by the Repub lican Party in the US and how the product, i.e. his behaviour over the election period leading up to his election win was galvanised through political marketing. It is hoped that this paper will highlight how the implications of political marketing are much wider than at first sort. Marketing is a form of management or method used primarily by business organisations. It has evolved to include the design and promotion of a product to ensure that the goals of the organisation, the prime one being to make profit in the case of a business, are met. It is not just about selling, or in this case campaigning. As Levitt (1960: 50) argues, that the difference between marketing and selling is more than dynamic. Selling focuses on the needs of the seller, marketing focuses on the need of the buyer. The current marketing philosophy focuses on how firms can satisfy customers wants, and adopt what is called a market-oriented approach as this is deemed the most effective way to meet the firms goals Drucker (1954:37). Cannon (1996:6) found that with business organisations the idea that firms exist, first and foremost, to satisfy customers needs has not been accommodated easily into the operations of many organisations. It is likely in this case, to be even more difficult with a political party, which is bound to consist of many ideas and attitudes to how the party as a whole should behave, not the least, different theories of the meaning of democracy and the role of the elites. Kotler and Andreasen (1987:505), suggest that everything about an organisation, which includes, its products, employees facilities, and actions, all communicate something to the general public. Not only the nature of the leader, but also the behaviour and rights of the partys members could be influential in attracting or repelling voters. As Shaw (1994:175) puts it, the British Labour party failed to win the 1992 general election because (amongst other factors), despite changes in policy, the then leader of the party, lacked the time and support to transform the party itself, a fatal weakness, since the character and behaviour of its activists at the time, its ethos, language and rituals, and most importantly, its close association with the trade unions, all alienated the electorate. A party with the wrong approach to gain the attention of the voting electorate is more likely to fail. As Scullion and Dermody (2004:361), argues that the campaigns employed by the political parties were being accused of failing to engage a disinterested young electorate. In their comparison of New Labour (UK) and New Democrats (US), Ingram and Lees-Marshment (2002:5), state that systemic differences between the countries, the UK and US, substantially condition the scope, focus, and application of political marketing and although American campaigns maybe the breeding ground for technological innovation and birth of political marketing, there is more potential for the use of political marketing in Britain, due to the more centralised nature of political parties and campaigns and to the component delivery of the marketing model. This article found that Labours approach was far broader in scope, influencing aspects of its policies, personnel, internal organisation, and leadership behaviour. One should also understand that the use of marketing as a tool for political gains is not a new thing. Eisenhowers use of direct male in the early 50s in the US, and in the UK, Margaret Thatchers use of the Saatchi and Saatchi advertising agency (Scammell, 1994:23). H owever, there has been an increasing use of marketing methods in political campaigns over the latter part of the twentieth century (Smith and Saunders (1990: 295), Wring (1997:1131). To date the dominant paradigm has been to adapt consumer goods marketing ideas and frameworks (Baines and Egan, 2001:1), especially the marketing mix concept (Niffenegger, 1989:45). Other frameworks might provide a more fruitful basis for analysis. The broadening theory of marketing was based upon the notion that marketing ideas and techniques could be utilised whenever value is exchanged between two parties, e.g. charities, churches, and political parties, (Kotler and Levy, 1969:10). It was argued later that differences of form and content (Lock and Harris, 1996: 21), and structure and process (Butler and Collins, 1999:55) existed, and that value exchange was not so straightforward. Baines, Harris, and Newman (1999:1) additionally state that this commercial and political difference, when suggesting tha t political campaigns usually operate with shorter, more intense promotional campaigns, in oligopolistic markets, with polarised levels of voter loyalty, and differing potential for the degree of marketing orientation in different countries. It can be argued here that structural changes in the political landscape had an impact on the perceived need for adoption of marketing techniques. Voters are perceived to be less involved and less loyal than in the past (Ware, 1995: 6). This may partly be due to voter apathy, which is a growing trend in most western democracies. There are a number of factors that are central to the need for marketing in campaigns. They are lack of actual or perceived product differentiation; increasing numbers and frequency of electoral contests and referendum held, or simply because voters have more compelling distractions stimulated by increased wealth and leisure time. To cast ones vote was and is seen as less of a duty than was largely the case in the past. This is why marketing has evolved to be used as a way of demand intervention. Marketing and political campaigning or vice-versa can be deemed as inseparable, because of its strategic importance to the outcome of any election. Such is the perceived value of marketing that no political party and few individual candidates would challenge the role marketing plays in the modern campaign and electoral process. With all this in mind, this paper moves on to explore the full potential of political marketing on a theoretical level identifying the literature that a political party might use marketing and become market-orientated. It will examine the extent to which the Labour party in 1997, exhibited behaviour in line with this model and comparing this with the Conservative party in 1979. Additionally, the Republican party of the US would also be mentioned and examined with regard to correlations or differences between the use of this model, in the UK and the US between the political parties. Therefore the remainder of this paper is set as follow: Chapter 3: Theoretical concepts of Political Marketing Chapter 4: Labour Party use of political marketing, 1997-2001 Chapter 5: Conservative Party use of political marketing, 1997-2001 Chapter 6: The use of political marketing in the US in comparison to the UK Chapter 7: Summary and Conclusion References and Bibliography. Political parties use political marketing to determine their policies, organisation, communication and, ultimately, potential delivery in government. Political parties were traditionally perceived as bastions of ideology, dogma, idealism and rhetoric. In the twenty-first century, however, most if not all-political parties in the UK of varying ideologies, histories, sizes and fortunes are aware of political marketing. The extent to which they choose to use it, the form they adopt, and their success at adopting a market orientation may vary, but all understand the pressure from the political market to satisfy the general populace. Depending on their nature, political parties can use marketing in various ways. Parties differ in their size and goals. Major parties are large, established organisations whose dominant goal is to win control of government, therefore to win a general (or devolved) election. The Conservative and Labour parties in the UK are major parties and so try to use political marketing to win an election. Their market consists of the electorate, in addition to anyone else who has influence on voters, although the parties do not need to win support from everyone to gain power. Their product includes all aspects of their behaviour. Although a major party generally asks political consumers to vote for it on the basis of what it promises to do in government, its policy promises or party manifesto which it lays out to the general electorate, voters also take into account other aspects of party behaviour such as leadership, party unity, organisation, and the behaviour of members, because these may aff ect the ability of the party to deliver on policy promises. The current marketing philosophy focuses on how firms satisfy customers, and adopt what is called a market-orientation as this is deemed as the most effective way to meet the firms goals (Drucker, 1954:37). It can be argued here that if a political party implements the marketing philosophy, it will seek to meet voters needs and wants, thus producing voter satisfaction, and in doing so gain electoral support to meet its own goals. Orientation is a concept that the major parties should adopt, which is based on an attitude towards how they behave in relation to the electorate. There are three main political marketing orientations (Lees-Marshment 2001:692). Market-oriented parties (MOPs) design their product, including policies, leadership and organisation, to suit what political consumers demand, in order to achieve their goal of winning a general election. This does not mean they simply follow what everyone wants to them to do, because this would be impossible anyway, because demands are complex and competing. Instead they need to go through a complex process of stages. This is shown in Box 3.1. Box 3.1 The Process for a Market-Oriented Party Stage 1: Market intelligence Party finds out what voters need and want by: †¢ Keeping an ear to the ground, talking to activists, meeting the public; †¢ Using quantitative research (electoral results, public opinion polls and privately commissioned studies) and qualitative research such as a focus group. Stage 2: Product design Party designs behaviour (including leadership, members, policies, staff, constitution and symbols) according to voters demands. Stage 3: Product adjustment Party designs product to suit the electorate at large and then needs to make sure it considers other factors: †¢ Achievability, determine whether the product design is achievable; †¢ Internal reaction analysis, to alter design to ensure it will obtain the support of enough MPs and members to ensure its implementation; †¢ Competition analysis, this is to promote opposition weaknesses and highlight own strengths; †¢ Support analysis, this is with the view of focusing on winning the support of voters, it does not have, but needs to win. Stage 4: Implementation   The findings from stages 1 – 3, must be implemented. The majority must accept the new behaviour broadly. This requires effective and considerate organisation and management. Stage5: Communication This includes the so-called near-term or long-term campaign, but also ongoing behaviour. The party ensures that communication helps it achieve electoral success; attempts to influence others in the communication process, such as journalist and opposition parties; and uses selling techniques such as direct mail and targeted communications Stage 6: Campaign This can be said to be the final chance for the political party to communicate with the voters. Stage 7: Election The party goes through the election. Stage 8: Delivery The party carries out promises made once in government. Box 3.2 The process for a Product-Oriented Party Stage 1: Product design The party designs its behaviour according to what it thinks best represents them. Stage 2: Communication This includes the so=called near-term or long-term campaign but also ongoing behaviour. Not just the leader, but all MPs and members, send a message to the electorate. The organisation is clear and effective; it is designed to advance arguments. Stage 3: Campaign The official election campaign period starts leading up to the election. 4: Election The general election takes place. Stage 5: Delivery on promises made during election as stated on the partys election manifesto The party will deliver its product in government. Box 3.3 The Process for Sales – Oriented Party Stage 1: Product design The party designs its behaviour according to what it thinks best. Stage 2: Market Intelligence The party aims to discover voters response to the product, especially voters who do not support the party but might, so that communications can be targeted on them. Informally, it keeps an ear to the ground, talks to party members, creates policy groups and meets with the public. Formally, it uses quantitative research (electoral results, public opinion polls and privately commissioned studies) and qualitative research such as a focus group. Stage 3: Communication This includes the so-called near-term or long-term campaign but also ongoing behaviour. Not just the leader, but all MPs and members send a message to the electorate. Attempts are made to ensure all communication helps achieve electoral success, and to influence others in the communication process. The organisation is clear and effective designed to advance arguments. It also makes use of selling techniques such as direct mail and targeted communications to persuade voters to agree with the party. Stage 4: Campaign   The official election campaign period kicks in up until election. The party continues to communicate effectively as in stage 3.   Stage 5: Election The general election. Stage 6: Delivery The party will deliver its promised product in government. Other parties with different goals may not choose to use political marketing in this way i.e. Box 3.1. However, if the dominant goal of a party is to advance a particular policy, rather than win an election, it maybe more product oriented. Product – Oriented parties (POPs) decide their behaviour or product themselves without much care for the opinions of political consumers, or rather, they assume that voters will realise that it is right and vote for it accordingly. Their process is quite simple: see Box 3.2. A product – oriented party refuses to change its ideas or product even if it fails to gain electoral or membership support. If a party is a small or minor party, with the main goal being not to win a general election but to put ideas on the agenda, this may be the most appropriate political marketing orientation. However, most partys overtime, grow to be concerned about their performance. They may then move to a sales orientation position, retaining the same product or behaviour, but using political marketing communication techniques, see Box 3.3. Market intelligence is used not to inform the product design, but to help the party persuade voters it is right and has sound electoral policies. Sales-oriented parties are often perceived as the more manipulative, because they use marketing to persuade or change public opinion. Current research indicates that the trend in the UK, at least amongst the major political parties, is towards the market-oriented approach (Lees-Marshment 2001). The trend is to evolve from product through to sales and then finally a market orientation, responding to the gradual rise of the political consumer. Major partys can however, win power using a market-orientation and then switch back to a sales or product once in power. Political parties often find it harder to rema in in touch with the public and responsive to the demands of political consumers once they are in government. Other small UK parties tend to adopt any one of the three orientations. Parties such as the Scottish National Party have moved through the classic product-sales-market –oriented cycle. The use of marketing by political parties is not as easy as the theory suggests. The latest research in political party marketing suggests that despite the desire of both the Conservative and Labour parties to adopt and maintain a market orientation, many obstacles get in the way. This will be fully explained in the following chapters. The Labour party has been one of political marketings success stories of the new century, at least on the surface. Using political marketing to become more in touch with the public, reduce any unwanted historical baggage, and even relabelled itself as ‘New Labour, it first became market oriented in order to win the previous election in 1997. It remains the fullest example of a market-oriented party, following the model to the greatest degree of any party ever seen. However, after obtaining the mandate of power from the UK electorate, the party met many obstacles to delivering on its 1997election promises. This is a major potential weakness: Labour support is very much based on promised outputs, so it needs to be seen to deliver. It is in the context that Labour attempted to maintain a market orientation and retain its electoral support during 1997 – 2001. Table 4.1 The Labour government and Delivery, February 2000 ‘There is a lot of talk at the moment about whether the present government is or is not ‘delivering. From what you know, do you think that it is or is not delivering on each of the following? Source: Gallup Political Index Delivery in government on the 1997 election promises Delivering the political product as stated previously is not an easy task. It is one of unanswered potential conundrums at the heart of political marketing (Laing and Lees-Marshment, 2002:19). The Labour party understood this. The party talked constantly about the need to deliver. It copied business and started to issue an annual report on its delivery of its promises (Labour Party 1999: 3-7, 2000). Labour undoubtly succeeded in some areas, such as constitutional reform, with the introduction of devolution in Scotland and Wales and the removal of hereditary peers from the House of Lords. However, Labour failed to convince many voters that it had made real improvement to standards in the public services, which is the core part of the 1997 product. Public resentment about Labours failures to deliver grew, Table 4.1, gives you the evidence. There was also dissatisfaction with the Labour party. A report from the Labour party itself based on its private polls leaked in the independent warning that the partys huge lead in the opinion polls masks the fact that people are turning against the Government because they believe it is failing to deliver its 1997 general election party manifesto. In July 2000 a MORI survey indicated that 57% of respondents did not think the leader of the Labour Party had kept the parties election promises. See the following table: Table 4.2 Perceived performance of the prime minister, July 2000 Since becoming prime minister in May 1997, do you think, Tony Blair has or has not delivered election promises made in the partys election manifesto? Source: MORI telephone survey 20-22, July 2000 Labour therefore still needed to utilise political marketing, but this time to maintain rather than win support. Stage 1: Market Intelligence The Labour party conducted substantial market intelligence. Philip Gould conducted focus group work for the party; Greg Crook ran a rolling programme of opinion polling (Cook, 2002:87); the partys advertising agency, TVWA London, also conducted research (Lawther, 2002:1). Labour also analysed results of elections to local authorities, the devolved institutions, the European parliament and parliamentary by-elections (Cook, 2002:88). It took account of negative criticism despite the overall positive polls and continued to monitor the performance of the opposition. During 1997 – 2001 Labour continually discussed voters needs. Stage 2: Product design The New Labour product offered to the electorate in 2001 was extremely similar to that offered in 1997, with greater determination to deliver in the second term. Policy: In terms of policy, the focus remained on raising standards in the public services, such as health and education. The party retained its commitment to low income tax and competent economic management. There were slight changes in terms of greater investment in public services in order to improve them, but such moves were made without a call o increase tax. Stephen Lawther, polling coordinator for the Scottish Labour Party, argued that Labour put forward a strong product: †¢ Minimum wage; †¢ 1 million new jobs; †¢ Lowest unemployment in 25 years; †¢ Lowest inflation in 30 years; †¢ Winter fuel allowance;   Ã¢â‚¬ ¢ Record investment in schools in hospitals; †¢ Small class sizes; †¢ A nursery place for every 4 year old; †¢ 10,000 more nurses in the NHS; †¢ Working families tax credit reduction; †¢ Scottish parliament (devolution), (Lawther, 2002). Leadership: As leader, the prime minister continued to exercise strong and determined control over his party and the senior leadership and cabinet in particular. The prime minister enjoyed extremely high popularity scores in public opinion polls until the end of the 1997-2002 periods, when he began to attract criticism for being smarmy, arrogant and out of touch with the national electorate. In June 2000, the prime minister was even slow-hand-clapped by the Womens Institute. Internal membership: Changes were made within the party with the aim of making members more involved (Seyd 1999:390-391). Members-only sessions were introduced at the annual party conference, to ensure members had a chance to air their views without damaging the party externally. Partnership in power, a series of proposals to change certain organisational structures within the party, devolved policy-making to the National Policy Forum to provide greater consultation with the membership. Nevertheless, party membership slumped from 420,000 after 1997 election to just 320,000 by mid-1999. Many of those who remained were de-energised (Seyd and Whiteley, 1999). This reflects the limited application of marketing to the membership, (Lees-Marshment, 2001a). The foundations of Labours support have been eroded, making it even more crucial that the party satisfy voters through delivery on public services. Party Unity: The leadership exerted significant control over the partys participation within the new devolved institutions in the selection of the leadership candidate for the Welsh assembly, which aroused significant discontent among Labour party activists. Another case was the election for the London mayor. After failing to be selected as the Labour candidate, an old left-winger, Ken Livingston, stood as an independent after calls from the public to do so, and won. This was an indication of the discontent at the grassroots of the Labour party: an issue that Labour continues to struggle with, due to its use of political marketing. Stage 3: Product Adjustment Achievability: Learning in government that delivering on the 1997 pledges, particularly those about the quality of public services, was extremely difficult, the party made promises for the next term of office in terms of inputs rather than outputs, such as ‘x number of nurses or police rather than reduce waiting list or lower levels of crime. Inputs are easier to deliver because they are easier to control (Lees-Marshment and Laing, 2002:20). The 2001 pledges were: †¢ Mortgages to be as low as possible, low inflation and sound public finances; †¢ 10,000 extra teachers and higher standards in secondary schools; †¢ 20,000 extra nurses and 10,000 extra doctors in a reformed NHS; †¢ 6,000 extra recruits to raise police numbers to their highest ever level; †¢ Pensioners winter fuel payment retained, minimum wage rising to  £4.20, and most recently to  £5.25 an hour. Internal reaction analysis: The decline in membership that Labour experienced after 1997 suggests failure of internal reaction analysis. The new system of policy-making was criticised for restricting the opportunity for debate at conference and ignoring the work of policy forums (Seyd, 2002:95). The selection processes used for the Scottish parliament, Welsh assembly and London mayor also indicated a lack of internal reaction analysis and generated further discontent. Competition analysis: Labour engaged in a significant competition analysis in terms of its planning for the campaign. It was keen that voters would see the election as a choice between the parties rather than a referendum on Labours mixed record of delivery (Gould, 2002:57, Lawther, 2002:1). Posters reassured voters about the party, saying, ‘Thanks for voting Labour, but also reminding them of potential problems the Conservatives might bring, with posters headed ‘Economic Disaster II). Support analysis: Labour analysed voters who were former Conservatives that had defected to the party in 1997, and found that this group would stay with the party. Attention then shifted to mobilising people to vote, as the party feared it could lose support due to a low turnout. Labour played on the emotion of fear at a prospective Tory victory, commissioning the famous ‘wiggy poster of the then leader of the Conservative party, warning ‘Get out and vote or they get in. It tried to put forward the vision that the work goes on and voters needed to give the party more time. Stage 4: Implementation The leader of the Labour party insisted on strict party unity: i.e. all ministers had to agree any interaction with the media and the press office of the Labour party, to ensure unified communication from government. The partys leader had a few difficulties passing legislation. And ambitious MPs knew they had to keep in line with the leadership if they wished to advance their careers. Blair (the leader of the Labour Party) followed the market-oriented party model to fine detail, promoting those who followed the product design and sidelining those who voiced dissent. Nevertheless Labour was criticised for being too ‘Control Conscious. Stage 5: Communication Labour continued to control communication from the party and also central government. The Government Information Service was used to communicate the governments message and delivery (Scammell, 2001). Government spending on advertising increased massively in the four years between 1997 and 2001 (Grice, 2001). Party communication was also focused on delivery: party political broad casts during the elections to the European parliament, for example, focused on the governments achievements, rather than European issues. Communication did not succeed in convincing voters that the government had delivered as initially thought. Stage 6: Campaign The character of the partys product and its delivery performance in office determined Labours campaign. It focused on the need to deliver, asking for more time to do its job. Labour used target marketing and campaigned most heavily in marginal seats where it was assumed that its efforts would have the greatest effect (Cook, 2002:87). In Scotland Labour sent out targeted direct mail in the form of a letter from both the leader of the party and the deputy leader to segments of the market such as Scottish National Party (SNP) floaters, and Labour also ran health rallies and a pledge day to reinforce key themes. The campaign was closely co-ordinated from the partys Millbank headquarters, with an integrated marketing communications structure. Responding to market intelligence, significant effort went into getting the vote out, through ‘Operation Turnout. This assessed the party identification and voting history of electors in target seats and sent a direct marketing message to them to get them to vote (Lawther, 2002). Nevertheless, the underlying public dissatisfaction with public services was brought to the fore when Blair was accosted by the partner of a patient complaining about the poor standards of care in the NHS in a di

The Ideal Performance Management System Essay -- Management Performan

A comprehensive performance management system will be thorough, inclusive, practical, meaningful, reliable, open, ethical, and correctable among other qualities (Aguinis, 2013). Additionally, the process of managing performance will be an ongoing process to include processes such as coaching and employee development. An ideal performance management system will serve an organization by developing satisfied and competent employees who are actively engaged in aiding the organization to reach their strategic goals, mission, and vision. Consideration of an ideal performance management system for a college of business shall be discussed to include the organizational strategy, systems, implementation factors, and employee development components. Organizational Strategy The primary objective of performance management is to assist organizations to achieve their strategic goals (Aguinis, 2013). These strategies initiate from the organizations vision and mission statements (Johnson, 2013). The performance management system, if effectively developed, will join unit and individual goals with the overall organizational goals so that all parties are working to achieve the same purpose (Aguinis, 2013). An additional benefit can be derived from the performance management plan because it serves to secure employee engagement in the organizational objectives (Aguinis, 2013). At the College of Business, the organizational purpose, vision, and mission are modified to adequately serve these objectives. Organizational Purpose The College of Business is committed to success. The success of students is a primary focus of this organization as a school of business. As an AACSB accredited college, the organization stands well positio... ...ormance appraisal look like? Journal of Applied Business and Economics, 12(1), p. 57-71. Oberoi, M. & Rajgarhia, P. (2013). What your performance management system needs most. Retrieved from http://businessjournal.gallup.com/content/161546/performance-management-system-needs.aspx Society for Human Resource Management. (2012). Performance management: Can our company’s vision and values be reflected in our performance management system? Retrieved from http://www.shrm.org/TemplatesTools/hrqa/Pages/Canourcompany%E2%80%99svisionandvaluesbereflectedinourperformancemanagementsystem.aspx The Deming Institute. (2014). Theories and teachings. Retrieved from https://www.deming.org/theman/theories/fourteenpoints University of Cincinnati. (2013). Vision, mission, and core values. Retrieved from http://www.uc.edu/business/index/about-us/vision-mission-and-core-values.html

Abigail Williams Analyzation

Williams is a cruel, vengeful and power hungry person. She has the ability to manipulate almost anyone she wants, whenever and wherever. She uses this ability to gain power and deem people witches who don't have any real proof against them. This puts her in a position where she can Just do almost anything she wants to, like eliminating people that she doesn't want to see anymore. Abigail Williams is really just one power hungry, vengeful person. Abigail had been one of the original girls that started the whole witchcraft ordeal y practicing voodoo rituals in the woods outside of her town.She later then blamed the whole event on the slave of Reverend Paris saying â€Å"Now look you. All of you. We danced. And Tuba conjured Ruth Putnam dead sisters. † The people she told believed her as slaves were of lower class then Abigail, and that Just happened to be how it worked then. Abigail also was in an affair with John Proctor, which after Elizabeth found out about it, who is John's wife, Abigail was fired from her position as a servant to the Proctors.Abigail went on to accuse people of the town of witchcraft. This allowed her to rise to power and become a member of the court. Abigail sought vengeance on the people that witnessed her in the woods with Tuba as well. She pin pointed those people and decided she would accuse them of witchcraft In any way she could. For instance, she accused Elizabeth of witchcraft because she had a doll with a needle In Its stomach, saying she was using voodoo to hurt Abigail.Even though Abigail set the whole thing up and punctured herself with a needle. All these situations show how Abigail nature Is to be cruel, and how she manipulates people's views and emotions. Abigail also became a huge power fugue throughout the act. She rose to power after accusing people for witchcraft. She made up fake stories and false evidence to get people to go to trial. For Instance when she accused Elizabeth proctor of witchcraft, Abigail said she was stabbed by Elizabethan spirit.When the authorities searched the Proctors house, they found a doll with a needle In Its stomach. This was enough â€Å"proof' they needed to take her away. Abigail got away with a lot of things throughout act 1 . She used peoples emotions to get what she wanted and didn't have any sympathy for anyone she came across. She ended up In a position where she can Just do almost anything she wants to, Like eliminating people that she doesn't want to see anymore. Ball Williams Is really Just one power hungry, vengeful person.Abigail Williams Analyzing By shinning pin pointed those people and decided she would accuse them of witchcraft in any OLL with a needle in its stomach, saying she was using voodoo to hurt Abigail. Even situations show how Abigail nature is to be cruel, and how she manipulates people's false evidence to get people to go to trial. For instance when she accused Elizabeth authorities searched the Proctors house, they found a doll with a needle in its stomach. This was enough â€Å"proof† they needed to take her away. She ended up in a position where she can Just do almost anything she wants to, like

Free Essays on Relationship Between Mao And Red Guards

Authorities’ suppression on people under authority causes rebellions against them. In the late times of the Cultural Revolution this processes were a bit different. Mao was the leader of the Revolution; however Red Guards rebel against him at the end. When the relations between Mao and the Red Guards broke down, the Cultural Revolution started to break down at the end of the Cultural Revolution. To understand better this situation, the reasons why the relationship between Mao and Red Guards came to an end will be explained. One of the main reasons is Mao’s bad management on Red Guards that caused the break down in relations at the end of the Cultural Revolution. At the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, Mao was a hero for Red Guards, because of the fact that Mao created them. The Red Guards was formed with young people all over the country. This young population was unemployed, poor and was just looking for their basic needs. Their hero, Mao gave them a job and protected them from disappearing in this bloody revolution. Nevertheless, they became an extensive power in a short period. They started to destroy the four olds- old customs, old habits, old culture and old thinking- with the command of Mao. However they continued destroying everything wildly with considering anything. Mao could not manage this power correctly, and at least they broke off the rope that Mao was holding in his hands. Then Mao, with the help of the army, subdued the Red Guards in 1968. After that, Red Guards were confused with Mao’s behaviour. As a result, Mao’s unbalanced behaviour caused a break down between him and his favourite Red Guards (Smitha, 2001, p.5). The other main reason is Red Guard’s selfish acts which made them to think themselves as heroes. After Mao gathered young people and gave them an identity as Red Guards, they supposed that they were the only and most important force for the Cultural Revolution. They acted with no responsibi... Free Essays on Relationship Between Mao And Red Guards Free Essays on Relationship Between Mao And Red Guards Authorities’ suppression on people under authority causes rebellions against them. In the late times of the Cultural Revolution this processes were a bit different. Mao was the leader of the Revolution; however Red Guards rebel against him at the end. When the relations between Mao and the Red Guards broke down, the Cultural Revolution started to break down at the end of the Cultural Revolution. To understand better this situation, the reasons why the relationship between Mao and Red Guards came to an end will be explained. One of the main reasons is Mao’s bad management on Red Guards that caused the break down in relations at the end of the Cultural Revolution. At the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, Mao was a hero for Red Guards, because of the fact that Mao created them. The Red Guards was formed with young people all over the country. This young population was unemployed, poor and was just looking for their basic needs. Their hero, Mao gave them a job and protected them from disappearing in this bloody revolution. Nevertheless, they became an extensive power in a short period. They started to destroy the four olds- old customs, old habits, old culture and old thinking- with the command of Mao. However they continued destroying everything wildly with considering anything. Mao could not manage this power correctly, and at least they broke off the rope that Mao was holding in his hands. Then Mao, with the help of the army, subdued the Red Guards in 1968. After that, Red Guards were confused with Mao’s behaviour. As a result, Mao’s unbalanced behaviour caused a break down between him and his favourite Red Guards (Smitha, 2001, p.5). The other main reason is Red Guard’s selfish acts which made them to think themselves as heroes. After Mao gathered young people and gave them an identity as Red Guards, they supposed that they were the only and most important force for the Cultural Revolution. They acted with no responsibi...