History of Haircoloring Essay

The first major break through in hair coloring history came in 1863, when chemist Dr. August Wilhelm Von Hofmann reported the dye properties of paraphenylenediamine. His discovery led to the birth of the synthetic hair dye industry, and PPD still Dominates the field today. Hofmann was also known for his studies of organic derivatives of ammonia and for discovering the first unsaturated alcohol and several organic dyes. On the heels of Hofmann’s discovery, in 1867 London chemist E. H.  Thullay and Parisian hairdresser Leon Hugot demonstrated the advantages of hydrogen peroxide as best chemical way to lighten hair then alkaline solutions. After the mid 1920’s oxidation dyes were greatly improved and the fashionable use of haircoloring boomed. The introduction of salon and then home hair dyes during the same period brought about a revolutionary change worldwide and explosion of hair options. Clairol’s founder, Lawrence M. Gelb, introduced hair color to salons more than 70 years ago. When Clairol launched its first salon colors in 1931, millions of women began using them. Instant Clairol Oil Shampoo Tint soon changed the look of Americans. In 1950, Clairol introduced Miss Clairol Hair Color Bath, the first real breakthrough that lightened hair without the harshness and complicated handling of bleach. For the first time, hair could be lightened, tinted, conditioned and shampooed in only one step instead of five, in only 20 minutes. In the 1661 book Eighteen Books of the Secrets of Art & Nature, various methods of coloring hair black, gold, green, red, yellow, and white are explained. Hair dye or hair color, is a chemical preparation used to change the color of a person’s hair. Hair dye is used to cover gray hair, which in some cultures has historically been considered to be a sign of aging. The Romans have been known to be interested in changing hair color and history revealed that they created over a hundred recipes using natural ingredients. These preparations could only darken hair. In 2007, where the next hair color breakthrough is currently unfolding, the first in over 50 years. Advances in understanding the molecular structure of hair have allowed scientists to develop improved technologies that minimize the amount of damage in the coloring process, and even create specialized products that restore health and brilliance to colored hair. The new chemistry of hair color is here, making hair color easier, quicker, and more effective than ever. Today millions of women color their hair, spanning every age, race, nationality and religion. According to recent surveys, at least 88 percent of all women feel their hair has an effect on their self-confidence. Today women demand a quick efficient product that easily fit into their hectic lifestyle. These are the products that we have today.

Is Hiroshima Necessary

World War Two raged on with huge increasing number of casualties caused in both Japan and America. However, Japanese military’s stubborn mindset had led to their refusal to end the war. In order to force the Japanese to surrender unconditionally, many have argued that the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was needed. However, I would argue that the atomic bombing of Hiroshima alone would be sufficient in forcing the Japanese to surrender unconditionally. The words â€Å"needed to force† in the question implies that the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was the only measure left while the words â€Å"surrender unconditionally† means that there would be no guarantees made for the country that surrenders. In order to put an end to the horrifying war which took millions of lives, the bombing was indeed necessary. Only the presence of an overwhelming demonstration of destructive capability would serve as a shock to and be sufficient in changing the mindset of the stubborn Japanese military, making them surrender unconditionally. However, traditional firing of air raids would have been another alternative even though it would require a longer time and greater efforts. Thus, I would argue that only the atomic bombing of Hiroshima was needed to force the Japanese to surrender unconditionally. The atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was the only measure left to make the Japanese surrender without any guarantee in order to prevent greater loss of lives. The war had already resulted in millions of deaths and a continuation to the war would only cost more lives. To prevent the number of casualties from rising, it was necessary to force the Japanese to surrender. The Americans were left with the choice to either invade Japan or to drop the atomic bombs to force Japan to surrender. However, it was estimated that the invasion of Honshu and Kyushu would cost 1 million casualties to American forces alone whereas dropping the atomic bombs would only result in casualties in Japan and was thus seen as a better sacrifice for the war to end. Moreover, the effect of the bomb was a better promising solution to end the war due to its destructive effect. Thus, the only measure left to prevent the number of casualties from increasing was to drop the atomic bombs to create a destructive effect in Hiroshima and Nagasaki so that Japan would be left with no other choice but to surrender. However, Japan was already running out on war resources due to the embargoes. Japan was also beginning to suffer as Allied aircraft and submarines began to cut the shipping routes that brought raw materials and food into Japan from her territories in Asia Pacific. Japan was running out on oil and petroleum, which are crucial for war efforts. Even though oil fields in the East Indies were under Japanese control, the sea routes in which the ships had to sail pass in order to import the oil and petroleum to Japan were subjected to constant attack from the Allies. Without these resources, it is impossible for Japan to continue the war. Thus, Japan would have surrendered after a period of time even if the bombs were not dropped. However, without the dropping of the bombs, it would have been impossible to make Japan surrender without any guarantees. To the Japanese, surrender would be a threat to the Emperor. Thus, Japan would only agree to surrender if guarantees were given that the Emperor would be allowed to retain his throne. Thus, the atomic bombing was needed and the only measure left to force the Japanese to surrender without any guarantees. Yet another reason as to why the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was the only measure left to make the Japanese surrender without any guarantee was because of the stubborn Japanese military. The Japanese military had the mindset that â€Å"A true soldier would rather die than to surrender†. Thus, it was believed that the Japanese had intended to fight to their deaths. Even after the Americans modified the ultimatum and demanded only an unconditional surrender from the Armed forces of Japan after they discovered that an unconditional surrender would be seen as a threat to the Japanese Emperor, they refused to surrender. Ironically, the softening of the surrender backfired and instead, the Japanese saw it as a promising development from the enemy and assumed that the Americans no longer insisted on a full unconditional surrender as circumstances have arisen that forced them to end the war. Prime Minister Suzuki thought that by insisting on their demands, the Americans would eventually give in to their requests. Hence, Japan stubbornly refused to surrender. Thus, the only measure left to force the Japanese to surrender without any guarantees was to drop the atomic bombs, which would result in destructive effects to shock the Japanese military into surrendering. However, not the entire of Japan was against surrendering. Unlike Germany, Japan was not ruled by a dictator but a system of government which includes a prime minister, a cabinet made up of military, civilians and a parliament. After the Potsdam Conference in Berlin on 16 July, Prime Minister Suzuki and foreign minister Togo were considering a negotiated settlement. Even the Emperor gave instructions to Prime Minister Suzuki to find a way to end the war as soon as possible. Japan also started to send peace offers to the United States, showing her desire to negotiate for surrender. However, it was also clear that these were not enough to end the war. The Japanese military and General Korechika Anami were determined to continue the war. Soon, a political stalemate was present between the civilian leaders and military leaders, where the civilian leaders tried to find ways to negotiate to an end of the war whereas the military leaders wanted to continue even if they had to place their lives at stake. As Japan could only legally enter into a peace agreement when unanimous support was achieved in the cabinet, orders were given that Japan would ignore the revised ultimatum. Hence, only the dropping of the atomic bombs would make the Japanese military realise that they should surrender to minimize further casualties. Thus, the atomic bombing was needed and the only measure left to force the Japanese to surrender without any guarantees. On the other hand, the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was not the only measure left to make the Japanese surrender without any guarantee because firing fierce conventional air raids would also be an alternative. All along, the Americans have been firing constant air raids, which have caused considerable damage, killing about 241,000 to 900,000 Japanese. The air raids have also resulted in extensive damage to many cities in Japan as well as a huge decline in industrial production. Hence, firing constant conventional air raids would have been able to exert sufficient pressure on Japan to agreeing to an unconditional surrender without releasing the atomic bombs. Thus, the atomic bombing was not needed to force the Japanese to surrender without any guarantees. However, firing air raids would require a longer time to force the Japanese to surrender without any guarantees. Meanwhile, there would also be more resulting casualties. On the contrary, the atomic bombs would have a faster effect on Japan as she would only be left with the choice to surrender, fearing that America would drop atomic bombs in other parts of Japan and eventually mark the end of the Japanese empire. Thus, the atomic bombing was needed to force the Japanese to surrender without any guarantees. After reconsidering the above points, it is conclusive that the atomic bombing was indeed needed to force the Japanese to surrender unconditionally. However, the atomic bombing on Hiroshima alone would be sufficient. The duration between the two atomic bombings was three days, which was insufficient for Japan to realise the destructive effect of the nuclear bombs. In addition, Japan was already planning to surrender previously. Hence, if Japan was given more time to understand the effect of the nuclear weapon on her country and people, she would have surrendered unconditionally. Thus, only the atomic bombing on Hiroshima was needed to force the Japanese to surrender unconditionally.

Screenshot Permission Letter

Microsoft Corporation One Microsoft Way Redmond, WA 98052-6399 January 22, 2010 One Microsoft Way Redmond, Wa Subject: Permission to Use Screenshots To Whom this May Concern: Thank you for taking time out your very busy schedule to read this letter. I will cut right to the point so as to keep my intrusion to a minimum. I am an author of head start manuals written specifically for children. My latest manual is aimed at providing core computing skills needed in today’s technological world, on training wheels of course. As you are well aware, today’s generation is vastly superior in receiving this vital message. It is my goal to provide an educational tool that is formulated using powerful visual imagery alongside an easy to understand explanation. To borrow the cliche’, â€Å"Pictures speak a thousand words†, I have found that children are highly receptive to imagery. Combining persuasive imagery with accurate documentation will prove to be very effective. I plan to produce several Computer based knowledge books specifically for children. This is going to be the 1st edition, so with this in mind I plan on starting from ground zero and working forward. I would like to include the following screen shots associated with Windows ® XP. This screen shot will provide an explanation for what each icon stands represents, the start button location, and where simple programs are located. [pic] I am a father myself, and I plan to include into the manual many of the exercises that I have implemented into my child’s education that have proven to be highly successful. Finally, I’m hoping to include in the manual the screen shot as shown below to provide simple user skills in Microsoft ® Paint. [pic] Once again I would like to thank you for taking some time out of your busy day to read this letter. Microsoft is a wonderful company that continues to provide the world with outstanding resources enabling prosperity on many levels. I hope to one day say that I played a very small part in this powerful commitment! Sincerely,

Children of Heaven Analysis Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Children of Heaven Analysis - Movie Review Example Even though the boy is a small child himself, it is the family value in the culture depicted in the film that compels him to feel responsible for his younger sister (Majidi and Esfandiari, 1998). The girl also looks up to him as a protector and as the one who can solve all of her problems (Majidi and Esfandiari, 1998). The father of the boy is depicted as a poor laborer who loves his family and children and is always thinking about ways to improve their lives (Majidi and Esfandiari, 1998). Though the father seems to be unmindful to the words of the boy when the boys asks him to buy a pair of shoes for his sister, towards the end of the film, the father is seen returning with a newly bought pair of shoes (Majidi and Esfandiari, 1998). This is another example of the bonding and concern that runs deep within this family. The social network in the neighborhood in which the boy and his family lives is presented in the film as a closely knit community where everybody knows everybody and th e general mood is of friendly coexistence. The cobbler seen in the first scene is very cordial with the boy (Majidi and Esfandiari, 1998). ... There is kindness sprinkled throughout this film as if suggesting that people are normally good. Apart from the small vices like the grocer not using his weighing machine to weigh the vegetable he sells to the boy, the people depicted in this film are generally simple and harmless. When the girl loses one of her shoes in the sewage canal, the stranger who sees her crying, come to help (Majidi and Esfandiari, 1998). He along with another laborer saves her shoe from the sewage canal (Majidi and Esfandiari, 1998). They urgently attend to her problem just because they are also poor people and know how valuable even an worn out shoe can be for a poor little girl in their neighborhood. Similarly, the rich man who pays some extra money to the father of the boy and girl for the mending work that he does in his garden, represents another example of goodness inherent to the community (Majidi and Esfandiari, 1998). By sharing his toys with the worker's son, the rich man's grandson also adds his share to this kindness (Majidi and Esfandiari, 1998). In totality, the film presents poverty and hope as two synchronizing notes in the symphony of humane existence. The physical settings of the film depict a semi-urban neighborhood where poverty coexists along with moderate wealth. The school is presented as a space that instills hope for future. The boy protagonist is a bright student despite his poor background (Majidi and Esfandiari, 1998). The place he lives presents rather austere livelihood options for his community (Majidi and Esfandiari, 1998). Yet there is a cleanliness visible in the small world of the poor people here (Majidi and Esfandiari, 1998). Whether it be the oven scene where bread is baked, the

Stock Market Project - Family Dollar Stores Inc Essay

Stock Market Project - Family Dollar Stores Inc - Essay Example Company Information The Family Dollar Stores Inc was opened in 1959 and is now operating more than 6000 stores across the country. Its one of the largest regional based chains in US engaged in the retail business across the different states in the country. The firm is basically considered as a preference by the consumers who are willing to save on their groceries and other retail items. Though not all the items are sold under $1 however, the overall prices are reasonable and considered as affordable by most of the consumers. Major products of the firm include clothing, food and other household items. Firm is a regional business with little or no presence in other countries of the world however, it has achieved tremendous growth in its domestic market by regularly opening new stores across the country. Firm is reseller and sell retail items such durable and non-durable consumer goods. Competitors’ Overview and Industry Trends Major competitors of the firm include Wal-Mart, Doll ar Generation Corporation as well as Dollar Tree Inc. Wal-Mart is quite bigger in the size with international presence in different countries of the world. However, Wal-Mart is a not a typical dollar store though it offers low priced products to its customers. Other competitors are more or less same in size of the firm and are serving different niche markets. (Hoovers, 2011) Industry trends suggest that personal income as well as the fashion trends will be the dominating factors in clothing and other retail segments. Due to the current economic crisis, the overall purchasing power of the consumers has declined thus restricting the consumers to spend lavishly. Financial Analysis The overall operating margin of the firm is over 7% with profit margin in the range of 4.5% during the current period of 2010. Sales for the period ending August 2010 showed an increase of 6.3% despite the fact that the overall economic situation of the country was not feasible due to current economic crisis. Recent figures for the quarter also suggest that the firm has been able to record a return on equity of 28.70% with total return on assets of approximately 13%. This performance suggest that the firm has been able to perform well during the period and consistently recorded better performance despite difficult economic situation prevailing in the country. Stock’s Performance Analysis Firm has a total market capitalization of more than $6 Billions with 122 millions shares outstanding. Past 52 weeks range of prices suggest that the firm has hit the high value of $55.590 whereas the lowest price during the same period was recorded at $35.31. (Bloomberg, 2011). It is also important to note that the firm has been able to withstand the poison pill by rejecting the takeover bid from Peltz Train. (Burritt, 2011) A closer analysis of the firm’s stock performance would suggest that the overall share prices of the firm’s stock fluctuated over the period of time. During the first few years from 2003, the overall prices gradually increased while facing a dip in the prices during 2006. (Yahoo Finance, 2011). It is also important to note that the share prices of the firm remained stable during the current financial crisis despite the fact that overall consumer activity was low. This may however, be attributed to the fact that firm is considered as cheap chain store offering low cost products to

Methodology of a research paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Methodology of a - Research Paper Example basis for drawing the research methodology for the current study is the research onion model, which has been developed and proposed by Saunders as depicted below which reflects that highlights considerations for planning and implementing a particular research methodology initiating from review of possible philosophies supporting different course of research approaches, strategies, and data collection and interpretation methods available for business researches. Furthermore, the chapter also discusses the limitations of the adopted methodology along with the indication of the steps undertaken by the researcher to overcome them. Considering the objective of the study that is to present and discuss the planning carried by event management companies in Bahrain and challenges faced by them in the planning process in relation to the existing literature on the research topic it could be inferred that the outcome of the present study is of qualitative nature and would result in recommendations for event management industry participants of Bahrain. On the basis of this understanding, the research design drawn for the present study is based on a research philosophy referred to as the interpretivist paradigm (Smith, et al., 2009). This research theory supports examination of human experiences, exploring individuals’ perspectives or motivations, and interpreting the outcome of their actions or views. This therefore requires the researcher to understand and interpret the subjectivity and interaction of individuals which affect the behavior of individuals and their motives to take certain actions (Saunders, et a l., 2007). This implies that the present study examines the experiences of individuals involved in planning process in the event management companies operating in Bahrain and evaluating different aspects of planning as discussed in the literature review chapter of this report. The methodology associated with the interpretivist paradigm is of qualitative nature. The

Middle Eastern Humanities CH. 5 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Middle Eastern Humanities CH. 5 - Essay Example be used in setting up the environment for the visitors, for instance, in order to maximize the number of banquet tables in the room, they can be set in a corner or fit in the center of the room. In most cases, diagonal placement and arrangement of banquet tables is deemed to be spacious and efficient as opposed to lateral rows. In making a six-course banquet for visitors from the East, Israel and turkey can require proper planning of the events so that the culinary cultures of the visitors are not violated or offended. However, the banquet being offered may not necessarily incorporate all the cultural values of the visitors, a great degree of comfort and confidence in setting up the banquet is necessary (Helstosky 87). At the same time, there has to be a high degree of ethics related to table manners and other culinary involvements. During the event, tea will be served, as well as other warm beverages depending on the state of the weather, if it will be extremely hot, then it will be prudent to serve cold beverages. During the session, snacks like peanuts or sweets will also be offered for those that may wish to have them, as the visitors get to interact and share light moments, the host will have to inform them when to sit on the round tables. In terms of dishes, beef, chicken, vegetables, as well as different varieties of seafood, shall also be offered, while serving, it will be necessary to keep the number of dishes even (Notaker 187). However, the number of guests and their culinary practices, according to their cultures will determine the setting up of dishes during the banquet. Most often, rice is always served in large banquets, it is usually served last or as the second-last dish, this is done with the aim of avoiding the impression that the host was in misery for serving a meal that is different from the main basic food. Before serving dessert, it is important to start with soup, this ensures that any small amount of space in the stomach is filled,

Business-Level and Corporate-Level Strategies Essay - 8

Business-Level and Corporate-Level Strategies - Essay Example This paper will discuss the business level and corporate level strategies Eni SpA used to remain competitive in the ever-changing petroleum industry. Business level strategy is a set of commitments and actions a company takes to provide good value to customers thereby gaining a good reputation (Ireland, Hoskisson and Hitt, 2011). This may include establishing niches and product improvement to add value to already existing products and services. A successful business level strategy has to consider the five Ws; where, who, when, what and how v. At first, the organization has to determine its clients, the goods and services the client needs, how to deliver the best products and services and the competitors’ price for the same products and services (Ireland, Hoskisson and Hitt, 2011). Eni SpA’s business level strategy is fair pricing and consistency of products. In that regard, Eni had to invest in exploration of oil resources across the world (Maloney, 2012). This would allow Eni to provide petroleum products to its customers throughout. The company was successful in getting some oil reserves in Kazakhstan, Libya and Congo. The oil field Eni SpA struck in Kazakhstan is probably the largest old field the company has ever struck (Maloney, 2012). However, the numbers of oil fields are dwindling by the day. As such, the success rate of getting a good and productive oil field is challenging. With that knowledge, Eni had to acquire oil companies in other countries. This would guarantee Eni’s ability to meet the customers’ demands and expectations (Maloney, 2012). Eni SpA has also focused on the changes in the market dynamics as a business level strategy. In this case, Eni SpA determines whether there are any risks to the business environment in the future (Maloney, 2012). Currently, Eni SpA noted the shift from fossil fuels is gaining momentum. This is likely

Describe and critically evaluate the contributions of Non-Governmental Essay

Describe and critically evaluate the contributions of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) to the development and promotion of civil society. Refer relevant li - Essay Example Thus Civil society can be defined as the political space between the individual and the government, expressed by membership of NGOs, social groups, associations and other organizations and networks. But its role in influencing state action and political processes, and in serving as a corrective and complement to market economies, implies that it should not be seen first and foremost as a channel for emergency and development assistance. However, Restrictions on civil and political rights, in particular the right to free association or free political expression, can serve to weaken civil society. Civil society may also be inhibited from playing a peace-building role by intimidation and attack. Information and communication networks may be especially vulnerable then. Thus civil society programme should be rooted in a firm analysis of the context and the role and position of civil-society groups in it. NGO’s thus help to build their capacity and reach by positively monitoring and supporting their provision of basic health and education services to facilitating advocacy roles and their promotion of dialogue (for peaceful dispute resolution, reconciliation etc.), information and other local and international issues. One pioneering consultation with NGO leaders from developing countries suggested that the nature of the state – democratic, one-party, or military dictator – is very important to the development of civil society (Tandon. 1989) More generally, analyses of experience across countries suggests that the â€Å"social origins† of civil societies in historical interactions among major social forces (e.g., elites, workers, the middle class, the Church, and so on) shape the size and resources of the sector (Salamon and Anheier. 1998) Economic globalization is one of the most powerful forces that seem to have shaped the postwar world. Non-Governmental Organizations that emphasize on

JavaScript Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

JavaScript - Essay Example In the course of its development however, it has gone beyond the realm of simple interactive web features to become a â€Å"respected programming language used by corporations and developers across the globe to make incredible applications† (Resig, 2006, p. 3). JavaScript 2.0, the next major release, is currently under development. The success of any scripting language lies in its compatibility across different browsers, operating systems and platforms. A language developed by Netscape and Mozilla Foundation, JavaScript is naturally fully supported on all Netscape and Mozilla browsers (Lemay, 1996, p. 8). Increasing popularity however pushed other web browsers to support the language or implement a dialect that is compatible with ECMAScript. ECMAScript is yet another scripting language developed by Ecma International; according to a Wikipedia (2009) article, JavaScript is in fact just a dialect of ECMAScript. In this section, we shall examine whether JavaScript is a truly cross-platform application. We shall begin by checking popular browsers for JavaScript support. Netscape Navigator and Mozilla Firefox are, as mentioned, out of the question, leaving us only with Internet Explorer, Safari, Google Chrome and Opera. Internet Explorer. JScript, an ECMAScript dialect, is Microsoft’s answer to JavaScript’s popularity. Because JScript and JavaScript are derived from ECMAScript, the two have minor differences. In other words, an IE browser may, to some extent, read a code differently from a Firefox browser. Thankfully, McFedries (2001) confirms that these differences are trivial and that commonly used JavaScript codes will still run smoothly on non-Mozilla or non-Netscape browsers. Safari. About two years ago, Safari, a browser developed by Apple, was made available to Windows. Luckily, â€Å"Safari uses Apples WebKit for rendering web pages and running JavaScript†, as stated in a Wikipedia

The Accounting Scandal at WorldCom Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 7500 words

The Accounting Scandal at WorldCom - Essay Example The case study shall then discuss the specific nature, and occurrence of financial statement fraud and examines how the fraud was discovered from a forensic accounting perspective. The research shall also look at the results of the regulatory investigation and criminal prosecution in trying to understand the potential consequences of the fraud to the corporation -- the management, board of trustees, shareholders - the employees and the investing public. The research shall conclude with a discussion of the lessons offered by the WorldCom case for evaluating future financial statement and accounting fraud cases. The turn of the century saw Corporate America hitting the news headlines many a time nationally and internationally; however, for the wrongest reasons - disgraceful scandals of financial accounting frauds by some of the most high-held. I. Introduction The turn of the century saw Corporate America hitting the news headlines many a time nationally and internationally; however, for the wrongest reasons - disgraceful scandals of financial accounting frauds by some of the most high-held corporations. Beginning with Xerox Corporation in 2000, a series of financial accounting scandals surfaced the corporate American landscape in these years, exposing the depraved and disgraceful faces of corporate greed and corruption. Disclosing fraudulent misrepresentation in financial statements worth multi-million dollars and/or other accounting irregularities, eventually collapsing and filing bankruptcy, many large and reputed companies such as Enron, Tyco International, Kmart, Global Crossing, WorldCom, et al literally shocked the business world. The exposure not only resulted in indictment and ignominy of the principal players in the fraud and potential losses to the company and public investors but also caused an inevitable erosion of public conf idence and trust in corporate actions, the cornerstone of U.S. market capitalism. The series of financial accounting frauds that surfaced the corporate American landscape in the late 1990s and early 2000s has brought to fore the role and significance of forensic accountants and forensic accounting perspectives - "the how and why" of financial statements - in corporate accounting and auditing practices. [Thiede, 2003]Â  

The Value of Hennes & Mauritz Essay Example for Free

The Value of Hennes Mauritz Essay In the last year the world economic recovery has come a long way. The Swedish economy has been at the forefront of that recovery and has showed impressive GDP growth. With still a lot of economic stress worldwide, mostly concerning national debt, it is still unclear if we have seen all that the financial crises, culminated in the late 2008, has to offer. With this said, the last years high volatility in the financial markets, will have an impact on this thesis. In almost all forms of valuation, some input will always be historical, why the past extreme years will affect the valuation. The models that are being used are the Dividend Discount Model and Free Cash Flow To Firm. Both of these valuation method has a couple of governing assumptions; mainly the assumptions of no transaction cost, perfect information and perfect competition. In reality none of these assumptions is hundred percent accurate. There exist transaction costs, everybody has not the same level of information, and there is evidence of not perfect competition. Nonetheless investors use these models and assume that the assumptions hold good enough for their purposes. This is Hennes Mauritz HM (Hennes Mauritz) is a Swedish clothing company headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. The business idea is; Fashion and Quality at the best Price. With 87 000 employers in forty countries and with revenues over 126 000 000 000 SEK it is the third largest chain store in the world. HM has over 2200 stores on four continents and their goal is to increase the number of stores with 10-15% annually and keep a high profitability and increase sales in comparable numbers. In 2010 HM opened 218 new stores and in 2011 250 new stores are planned to open1. HM is a family business founded in Và ¤sterà ¥s, Sweden, 1947 by Erling Persson2. Today Erling Persson’s son, Stefan Persson, is chairman of the board and Stefan Persson’s son, Karl-Johan Persson is chief executive. As a token of the success of HM Stefan Persson is now the second richest man in Sweden and thirteenth richest in the world, with 159 000 000 000 SEK in wealth3. In 2008 Financial Times announced HM as the most valuable brand in Europe4. In the upcoming years HM is planning to expand in Kina, USA and Great Britain. Even though they are first and foremost a clothing company HM is also active in home equipment, shoes and cosmetics5 HM rents all their storage space or set up stores as franchise. In UK, Germany, Sweden, Norway, The Netherlands, Finland, Denmark and Austria online shopping is available. All expansion and growth is financed by equity6. The Purpose The purpose of this thesis is to establish the value of Hennes Mauritz. The valuation will eventuate in the conclusion if the stock is under- or overvalued. To arrive at this conclusion we will use two valuation methods; Dividend Discount Model and The Free Cash Flow to Firm valuation method. 2. Theoretical Framework 2.1. The concepts of Value and Discounted Cash Flow valuation Before we are getting into the theoretical aspects of our two valuation models, we are going to give a brief explanation about the concept of value for shareholders and discounted cash flow valuation. The most basic question one can ask about a valuation is: What is Value? When talking about a company’s performance there tends to be a focus on earnings and revenues. But must two companies that have the exact same earnings and revenues, over time, be worth equally? The answer to this question is no and the reason is that the cash flow may differ. Cash flow is the difference between earnings and invested capital. Even if earnings and revenues are the same, one of the companies may have to invest a lot more capital to gain the same earnings and revenues. This leads to a difference in cash flows between the companies. Value for shareholders is created when the company generates cash flows at rates of return higher than the cost of capital. When this condition is fulfilled a faster growth rate will create even more value. If the return on capital equals the cost of capital it doesn’t matter how fast the company grow, no value will be created. The conclusion is that managers’ main focus should be on improving cash flows because that is what creates value for shareholders. â€Å"Any action that doesn’t increase cash flows doesn’t create value.† 7 In this thesis we are going to use the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) valuation in order to calculate the value of a company. DCF is built upon the concept that money has a time value. This means that the longer in the future one will receive a fixed amount of money the less it is worth. The reason is that if one receives the fixed amount immediately one can invest it and earn interest. In the DCF valuation the first step is to estimate all future cash flows. The second step is that the cash flows have to be adjusted for the time value. Since the purpose is to find out how much the company is worth today, one has to discount the cash flow to its present value. The discount rate will reflect the riskiness of the estimated cash flows. The riskier the estimation is the higher discount rate should be used. 2.2 Discounted Dividend Model The first method we are going to examine is the Discounted Dividend Model (DDM). The DDM uses earnings per share, discounted by the Cost of Equity to arrive at a value per share. The general version of the DDM8 looks like this; Where; E(DPSt)= Estimated dividend per share at time t ke = the Cost of Equity t = time in years To this general composition there exist several extensions. Some of these extensions are going to be examined below. 2.2.1 One-stage/ Gordon Growth Model An extension to the formula above is the Gordon Growth Model: Ë ¢IË ¬Ã‹ ¯Ã‹ ¥ JË ¦ ËŸË ®JIË « The principle is to take the expected dividend for the next year and discount it with the cost of equity minus the growth rate in dividends. An obvious restriction for the model is that the growth rate can never exceed the cost of capital, since the stock price in that case becomes negative9. Due to the simplicity with a constant growth rate it is far from possible to apply this model on every firm. The model is best suited for firms growing at a rate equal to, or lowers than, the nominal growth in the economy and which have well established dividend payout policies that they intend to continue into the future10. Since this model only contains one single growth rate, it is called one-stage model. The assumption is that the firm continues to grow at the same rate to infinity. However, it is not likely that a firm can maintain a high growth forever. Sooner or later the growth rate will decrease and a more stable and lower growth rate will emerge. This limitation takes us to the next model, the Two-Stage model, which is an extension to the One-stage model.

Success Guide to CRM From Information Technology Perspective

Success Guide to CRM From Information Technology Perspective Abstract The research work is majorly classified into seven different sections. The first section deals with a brief description of CRM, its rise in the industry, its importance in the organizations and its evolution. The next section deals with Electronic Customer Relationship Management, which is the web-version of Customer Relationship Management deployable in organizations. It is a collection of work put together between various Front-end systems, Data-handling technologies and Back-end systems. All these put together form the backbone of Customer Relationship Management. Third section deals with the approaches to Customer Relationship Management. Customer Service,Campaign ManagementandSales Force Automation(SFA) are core of the CRM system and they are discussed in detail. Apart from which other modules such as Operational CRM, Analytical CRM is also presented with a brief description. Fourth section deals with the modules of Customer Relationship Management which needs to be taken into c onsideration for developing a CRM software solution. Primarily the modules of importance in most of the organizations such as Marketing module, Service module, Sales module, and Call center module are dealt with. Each of the modules is in turn covered in detail encompassing the finer divisions in individual module. Fifth section focuses on the types of Customer Relationship Management. Business-to-Business CRM, Business to -Consumer CRM and other CRM related application areas, technical functionality and support required are presented with. Additionally each section is illustrated in detail so that a future organization/individual can have a quick understanding of their requirements and adapt a one which meets their requirements. Sixth, seventh sections provide the list of software vendors, their existing products and how one can select a software as per the needs and requirements of the user. This piece of research work mainly focuses on enabling an individual to understand ones re quirements and facilitates the person in adopting a module which meets all the desired needs. 1. Introduction: Information Technology has made a huge impact on how a business operates; thereby it is being seen as an important area of commerce which needs to be tapped. Despite the large scale investments in trying to automate a business entity, many businesses have failed to attract customers. The factors such as time frame of response, understanding customer needs and new ways to attract customers are making it difficult for the businesses to cope up with. Customers pose a key role in success of an e-business and it has called for extensive research in understanding the key areas of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) in the field of Information technology. Customer Relationship Management from the Information Technology perspective is called as Electronic Customer Relationship Management (ECRM). 1.1 What is CRM? In todays market trend, customers are more educated, better informed, more technology aware and hence demanding more in the service they buy. So, the task becomes more challenging for business managers in attracting the profitable customers. Hence, small as well as big Information technology companies are working hard for maintaining good customer relationships and reaching customer satisfaction. To improve business strategy and plans, firstly, companies need to emphasis more on customers needs and behaviors in order to develop stronger customer relationships. The very first approach comes in this methodology is CRM. CRM stands for the customer relationship management. It is the process or methodology used to interact with customers, which will help bring together lots of information about customers, sales, marketing effectiveness, and customer responses and market trends. It helps businesses use available technology and resources to gain behavior and value of the customer. It broadl y covers concepts used by companies to manage their customer relationships very effectively by capturing, storing and analyzing customer information. For example by having such database created with customers need, matching customer needs and product plans and offerings, knowing what other products customer had purchased, etc. can improve product quality, indirectly improving customer relationships. Thus, CRM is the one of the important aspect in the business industries. (Eric Williams 2006) 1.2 Evolution of CRM CRM must start with an industry business strategy, which will offer positive changes in organization and work processes, which are then enabled by Information technology. In 1960s, academic researchers found that the 4Ps marketing framework i.e. product, price, place and promotion was less valuable than ongoing business relationships. By 1980s, marketing teams used to describe his new focus on understanding customer segment and achieving high customer satisfaction. In 1990s, CRM became the umbrella term; computer systems were deployed to support sales and service processes. By late 1990s, the real impact of these systems was outside the corporate world. Explosive growth in the internet usage broadened the concept as e-CRM to manage online customers. Now, multi-channel systems are available to support direct, internet and partner channels to allow user to use whatever mode of communication, they pleased. (Digital Publishing Solutions May 2007) These systems could typically answer many of the questions such as: How can oneself improve sales activities to have better idea of business improvement. How one can improve capability for leading the generation, account management and opportunities. How to make meaningful decisions on measuring the results from marketing campaign. How to resolve customer service troubles, make queue time shorter, make customer happy by offerings. All in all, how one can improve customer relationship. To answer these questions, CRM was developed to provide best operating practices in sales, marketing and customer services. This is where, companies started using CRM to store customer history, real time activities accumulation, which each department could bring up a record and see all customer interactions. 1.3 Why is CRM important? Everyone faces with the products and services at every single turn. But in realty, many of the product and service providers do actually not know the persons those using them. Major corporations failed to realize that it is the customer who is their biggest ally. Several millions of dollars are lost yearly because they failed to make profit, beat their competitors and stay ahead in this race. They wasted their money in marketing and endeavoring to gain the customers. They all are prone to make same mistake at some point of time. The main reason behind this failure was the attitude of companies towards their customers. The customer is the real king, who makes decision on failure and success of any service or product company. Many of the companies are not open to customers suggestions and more often that they do not provide the customer with a proper avenue and expel their ideas. This often leads to customers unhappiness and eventually their loss. Here comes the real need of the CRM. ( Rick Cook, 2008) CRM take into consideration the customers need and behavior towards services and products provided by companies. Companies can define their business strategy that primarily focuses on the customer, their ideas and suggestions. Benefits of CRM are listed below as business perspective: Increased sales through better timing by analyzing needs based on historic databases. Identifying improvement areas by understanding specific customer requirements. Increasing business, by highlighting and suggesting alternatives or enhancements. Identifying profit making customers. Better marketing of products. Enhanced customer satisfaction and retention. Enhanced customer loyalty. Improved quality communication and networking. Increased overall efficiency with reduction of total cost of sales. Better stand against global competition. Once business starts to look after existing customers effectively, effort can be made to gain new customer thus expanding market value. 2. Electronic Customer Relationship Management: Electronic Customer Relationship Management (ECRM) is the current trend with most business organizations be it small or large. The companies are hesitant in using the traditional strategies for running its businesses. The customers are treated as the most important part of the implementing a business strategy. That is the reason why ECRM has gained a lot of importance in the past decade. Romano (2001) defined ECRM as, â€Å"ECRM is concerned with attracting and keeping economically valuable customers and eliminating less profitable ones†. This aspect of the CRM which deals with the customers over its online business portals helps to identify the key customers and by spending more resources on them to make the business run better. The solutions offered to these businesses are of wide range and they are often sold as a package at very high prices. The nature of a business plays a vital role as adopting these CRM packages is not only waste of money but also huge waste of time. This could even lead to loosing customer base which are absolutely essential for running business. It is highly important to retain customers for a business as a recent study by McKinsey Co. revealed that if there is gain of 10% repeat customers then it will add about a profit of 10% to the company (Sims, 2000). It is highly obvious that a successful business should try and retain customers even though it is at a cost of their own terms. It is important to understand the three requirements that a CRM must address to be successful from IT point of view. 2.1 Front-end Systems In 2.1 shown below, the front-end systems constitute the key aspects of the business such as sales force market automation, customer service automation and application software. In case of online business or retailer, sales force and market automation is totally dependent on how the website looks and what features does it provide in order to attract and retain customers. Tracking all the customers and identify the potential customers will help the managers to take important decisions and capture the market. Customer service automation is a must as it the only place for a customer to reach out if they need any help. It includes setting up of call centers, communication technology infrastructure and websites. As these represent the face of a business it is important to automate these technologies. (Boon et al. 2002) 2.2 Data-Handling technologies The number of customers who shop increase day by day and it is impossible to keep track of them. As a result it has become obvious that one has to employ software tools which can manage the customer information and also be able to provide a proper links between them to help serve the customers. The techniques of data warehousing, data mining and knowledge management helps by making the CRM a better choice. In 2.1 below, the important modules which are part of data-handling technologies are shown. Data warehousing manages the companys data which is stored on a backend system and maintains the records regarding the data such as extracting, loading data in the repository and also managing the metadata. Data warehouses consists of business intelligent tools, tools to retrieve and manage data. Alex (2000) defines Data mining as a tool that automates the detection of relevant patterns within a database. The term explains how much a tool like this would help a business prosper; it gives the business, time to focus on the long term customers of the company and address various other issues. It helps in building strategy close to how the patterns reflect. Knowledge management uses the data warehouse and works as an intelligence tool by trying to establish new links within the data. For example, if a person searches for an item and if it is not found on the database then a tool like this could help the business by recording the information and possibly the customer. This improves the ef ficiency of business and customer satisfaction. These technologies are evidently a mark of the high standards a business can establish in order to survive their competitors within the global market (Compton, 2004). 2.3 Back-end Systems It is the backbone of the business without which everything else goes in utter vain. The data integrity is often considered a major player in getting all the acts together i.e. by bringing together the front-end systems and data handling technologies. It is important to integrate technologies into CRM as it forms a good strategy to work along with all the applications within the system. (Boon et al. 2002) The hierarchy present at the back-end systems as shown in 2.1 depicts the non-sales departments such as application software, enterprise wide applications, and ERP and supply chain management. In first stage, organization starts to analyze the Information systems available in place to suit their needs. The application software is deployed across the platforms they feel necessary and then it is important to establish a link between these applications which are called Enterprise Wide Applications (EWA). These help in interchanging the data between the application software and the systems. This could help the business establish all important background work as it highly important to maintain synergy between them and also update them whenever necessary to increase the speed with which they work. ERP forms the next stage of hierarchy wherein it integrates the EWA with the supply chain management which is a part of the front end and also data handling technologies. (Boon et al. 2002) The technology is considered to be the key player for any organizational success as it can be seen from the above literature. ‘IT infrastructure generally has been described as a set of IT services, including communications management, standard management, security, IT education, service management, application management, data management and IT research and development (Hwang et. al., 2002). ECRM is in short, the customer relationship management which is implemented electronically across the organizations. As CRM is mostly implemented as web based applications, the systems mentioned above play a crucial role in the management of CRM from small and medium businesses to very large scale organizations. Proceeding further, we will see various approaches in the implementation of CRM or ECRM. 3) Approaches to CRM: There are different approaches to CRM implementation and it is presented in different packages focusing on different aspects. In generalCustomer Service,Sales Force Automation (SFA) and Campaign Management are considered as core aspects of the CRM system. Customer service: Customer service is the provision for the customers before, during and after the purchase. â€Å"Customer service is a series of activities designed to enhance the level of customer satisfaction that is, the feeling that a product or service has met the customer expectation. (Jamier L. Scott. 2006). Its importance depends on the product, industry and customer. Customer service provided by a person or by automated mean as self-service (for example, Internet service). In bookRules are to break and Laws are to Follow, Don Peppers and Martha Rogers, Ph.D. wrote that customers have memories. They will remember you, whether you remember them or not. Further, customer trust can be destroyed at once by a major service problem, or it can be undermined one day at a time, with a thousand small demonstrations of incompetence.† From the point of organization view, customer service plays important role in generation of income and revenue. From this perspective, customer service must be included as part of the overall approach to the systematic improvement. Campaign management: It may happen that company may not always require all the details pertaining to particular customers history. In such cases to avoid large sending of data and insecurity, many of the organizations prefer campaign management. Enterprise campaign management solutions allow customer to provide centralized databases to send one or multiple dialers. Rather than sending down all the record, part of the record will be send as and when required. This simplifies the management of the complex dialing campaigns. Sales Force Automation: These are the information systems, which automatically records all the stages in a sale process. Such systems keep track of the all contacts that has been made with the customer, purpose of the contact, and any follow up that might be required. This ensures that sales efforts will not be duplicated, reducing the business risks. It also lists potential customers of related products. It might happen that different department may contact same customer number of times for same purpose. To avoid such a risk, SFA must be fully integrated in all the departments that deal with customer service management. 3.1 Various approaches of CRM: Operational CRM Analytical CRM Sales Intelligence CRM Campaign management Collaborative CRM Consumer Relationship CRM (White PaperonArchitecture for CRM approachesin Financial Services) Operational CRM: Operational CRM provides support for front end business processes, which includes sales, marketing and services. Interactions with customers are generally stored in customers database history and company staff can retrieve information as and when required. So, the need for direct contact with customer for his requirement details will be eliminated and reaching to the customer at right time and right place will be more preferable. Operational CRM processes customers data for various purposes such as managing campaign, marketing automation, sales force automation, sales management system, etc. Few of the benefits of the operational CRM systems are as follows: It delivers personalized and effective sales, marketing and service through multiple channels. Enable 360 degree view of the customers details while interacting with them. Sales or service department can easily access history of the all customers interaction, without referring directly to customer. In sales source automation, company can automate their critical sales and sales force management tasks. Few of the examples include account management, contact management, forecasting, and sales administration keeping track of customer preferences as well as performance management. (Effective CRM Consulting 2009) In customer service and support, many companies automate some service requests, complaints, product returns and information requests. Key infrastructure requirements of CSS include volume processing capability and reliability, multiple channels support such as web, phone/fax, face-to-face, etc. In case of the Marketing Automation, information regarding business environment, industry trends macro-environment variables is stored. And then business strategy is defined. Predictive business model is defined. Analytical CRM: Analytical CRM includes the process of understanding the behaviors of customers, analyzing this data for marketing effectiveness and planning strategies of cross-selling, up-selling, etc. The process of analytical CRM starts with analyzing the customer profiles by targeting various categories of customers and evaluating their responses. These responses can be tracked using customer complaints or through transactional data or by direct customer contacts through satisfaction survey. This data of attitudinal and behavioral responses of customers is input for the next process which is nothing but customer behavior modeling. This includes building of predictive models according to the analysis data for various set of customers. The customer behavioral modeling helps to understand the homogenous customer segments. Also the methods like association discovery which is nothing but understanding the associations between the customer needs. Here only Operational CRM and Analytical CRM are discussed as they are different from the other approaches. The other approaches of CRM namely, Sales CRM, Campaign management, Consumer relationship CRM explanations are not furnished here as they are presented in very much details in the subsequent section, modules of CRM. 4) Modules of CRM: The key functionality of a CRM solution can be studied under 4 basic modules. They are Marketing, Service, Sales and Call centre. All these modules are Collaborative, Analytical and Operational. 4.1 Marketing Module The marketing module ofCRMcomprises of functionalities regarding short term execution of marketing related activities and long term planning within the company. It also helps in activities like planning, Campaign Management and lead management. Marketing module enables different communication channels to run marketing campaigns by the company, which targets potential buyers in using a product or a group of products as a message. One positive way to increase marketing effectiveness is to get better the way leads are captured and acted on. The old method is when an investigation is presented to the organizations web site; an email is generated and delivered to the department of marketing. Novel way is, a new prospect record is automatically formed in the master database which presents the lead source and campaign, assigns it to a sales representative, and emails the prospect with information or instructions scores the lead. Leads can be allocated upon product curiosity, region, or any additional defined criteria. Automated processing is defined by quicker routing and the facility to scrutinize the lead progress on a real time basis as leads are qualified and converted. The whole lot is processed and followed up in the CRM database, but more importantly such types of workflow improvements effects in greater conversion rates. (Kevin M. Turner, 2007) CRM marketing tools afford the infrastructure to prop up a huge variety of lead generation strategies which may be by email marketing, through advertising, direct mail, or trade shows. CRM also facilitates the marketer with metrics which validate financial plans and establishes the worth of marketing to management and sales. Target Marketing: Attaining the correct message at the correct time from the right people is vital. Wish to aim only the decision makers those with a practical role of engineering for technical illustration at trade fare? In order to win over, organizations need to elevate consciousness among their most accessible objectives, at the appropriate time with less cost and endeavor. CRM enables an institute to manipulate the valuable knowledge captured through accessible customer relations. As CRM is in place as infrastructure, setting up and maintaining an effective route for getting customer support CRM and sales customers to enter required knowledge into the database is simple. Have a glance at marketing, the sales and support business processes and workflows, and then categorize communication and marketing opportunities. Mixed with a focus on marketing targets and tactics, now have a map to yield the value in CRM by target marketing. (Kevin M. Turner, 2007) Campaign Management and Effectiveness Tracking: The CRM solutions have incorporated marketing tools to support complete campaign management to conduct the webinars, the marketing campaigns, seminars, trainings, events etc. Choose targets, give invitations, obtain registrations through the web, deliver automated replies and reminders, create attendee lists, and carry out satisfaction surveys. Each detail, offline and online, may be watched, measured, and administered as part of the operation. Every movement that has been made with each of the individual analysis and clientele is captured. Outcome is radically improved marketing administration effectiveness and efficiency, along with a current, shared, and a complete picture of every touch which is made with each client and viewpoint. Icing on the cake is that marketers can obtain benefit of the data obtained to observe real-time campaign metrics, and gauge the efficacy of individual campaigns by kind, time period or medium. Email Marketing and Communications: Email marketing plan is the core of marketing success today. Email marketing is timely, cheap, and when done exactly, effectual. Along with CRM, the sales and customer support staff capture and update email addresses in the main CRM repository during their usual tasks. Its vital to confine and keep up an updated email database of clientele and scenarios. Modules of CRM have complete email marketing facilities built in. A lot of of them do have the capability to send batch emails and trace the reads. However there is a big market of well-known on demand email marketing attributes which â€Å"plug in† to CRM functionality and offer considerably better features to make generating professional email interactions better and perk up the deliverability. In addition, email programs also help to tackle the intricacies of government regulations, tracing, and delivering. If used jointly with CRM, it will have a totally fledged email marketing solution which is professional, acquiescent and effectual. (Kevin M. Turner, 2007) Marketing Administration: CRM can supervise marketing administration activities, which in numerous cases are time intense, not possible, and pricey to administer devoid of automation. Newsletter List Management: Saving and continuing supporting the lists of subscribers for alerts and newsletters may be a full time activity, but the task may be automated by combining a web page to the CRM repository where lists are followed up. The integration allows the subscriber to check current preferences, modify and append to their subscriptions, the login, and authenticates requests and one can send the customer an email to corroborate and thank them. (Kevin M. Turner, 2007) Literature Fulfillment: CRM modules can track supplies and rearrange points and direct orders for dispensation. Moreover, the user wants the ability to follow up fulfillment requests and check their order records. In few cases, literature fulfillment requests are required to come from associates, prospects, or clients via web site, all of which can be contained. Event Management: Events managing require lots of dexterity. A site must be booked, salespersons contracted, presenters scheduled, fund-raisers signed, broadcasts sent, registrations noted, fee processed, and of course the affair must be held. By making the most of CRM for event management, marketing department can with no trouble and efficiently carry out far more events, whilst building a record of sources concerned that may be required in the prospect. Customer Surveys: CRM systems can carry survey administration and consecutively can get better end results for both the corporation and the consumer. Survey invitations may be sent by email from the CRM system, provoking the member to click on a link which guides them to a web survey on organization site. The email address or an approved identifier rooted in the link can combine the study to the members details in the CRM record, where it can get details and also reported about. The CRM workflow may also send announcements as soon as a survey is received. (Kevin M. Turner, 2007) 4.2 Service Module The service module of CRM focuses on how effectively the system is managing customer service which is either planned or unplanned. It helps in activities like Service Contract Management, Service Order Management, and Planned Services management, Installed Base (Equipment) Management, Warranty Management, Service Level Agreement Management, Scheduling, Resource Planning and Knowledge Management. Service contract management: Maintain a variety of service contracts, including labor contracts, standard parts and usage-based contracts. Administer service contracts, manage service-level agreements, automatically verify entitlement, and alert agents when a customers contract is about to expire. Claim and warranty management: Synchronize with third-party logistic providers to avoid unnecessary goodwill allowances and ensure timely customer credits. Handle the entire warranty and claims process, from RMA (return merchandise authorization) to receipt and inspection. Maintenance and Installation: Minimize downtime with planned protection service. Predict impact of new product installation for accurate and fast service. Track customers installed base of products and their pattern with graphical hierarchical demonstration. Customer support and service: Access data on the service histories, the service entitlements and contracts, the installed base, service levels, and the warranties by an easy-to-use communication center screen (SAP Customer Relationship Management on Environment 2006) 4.3 Sales Module This Module ofCRM Solutionsfocuses mainly on the sales team of the company to execute the pre-sales process and manage, making it more organized. The sales teams in most companies are responsible for capturing customer interaction, capturing any leads or opportunities, the CRM helps them to process this data and monitor it in the future. This helps in organizing all relevant data captured and received for a deal to be put into one place, it could hold data as expected budget, prospective customers, total spending, key players, important dates, products interested in and expected closing dates of a deal. Each of these can be stand only applications depending on organizational need. It is important that the right software is selected at the right time and more importantly implemented correctly for any CRM to be effective. Important key sales procedures includes Sales forecasting and planning: Anticipated sales volume over time and provide a total picture of predictable revenue. Augments the precision of sales forecasts and demand plans. Increase performance with coordinated planning and implementation of sales actions across all channels. Territory management: Gets better resource utilization with apparent visibility into accessibility and assignments. Consign the right sources at the correct time in the exact locations to optimize team performance. Maximize distribution of sales sources and account reporting across clearly defined areas. Accounts and contacts management: Present a single, inclusive view of all data required to supervise sales accounts. Capture, monitor and track all vital information about prospects, customers, and partners. Access key contacts, detailed customer profiles, critical relationships, critical relationships, and the position of all recent communications from any place and at any time. Activity management: Seamlessly synchronize e-mail, calendar entries, contacts, and tasks with important groupware solutions. Handle customer visits, account profiles and activity-driven sales activities. Focus on the combined energy of sales team events to proven to promote money-making b Success Guide to CRM From Information Technology Perspective Success Guide to CRM From Information Technology Perspective Abstract The research work is majorly classified into seven different sections. The first section deals with a brief description of CRM, its rise in the industry, its importance in the organizations and its evolution. The next section deals with Electronic Customer Relationship Management, which is the web-version of Customer Relationship Management deployable in organizations. It is a collection of work put together between various Front-end systems, Data-handling technologies and Back-end systems. All these put together form the backbone of Customer Relationship Management. Third section deals with the approaches to Customer Relationship Management. Customer Service,Campaign ManagementandSales Force Automation(SFA) are core of the CRM system and they are discussed in detail. Apart from which other modules such as Operational CRM, Analytical CRM is also presented with a brief description. Fourth section deals with the modules of Customer Relationship Management which needs to be taken into c onsideration for developing a CRM software solution. Primarily the modules of importance in most of the organizations such as Marketing module, Service module, Sales module, and Call center module are dealt with. Each of the modules is in turn covered in detail encompassing the finer divisions in individual module. Fifth section focuses on the types of Customer Relationship Management. Business-to-Business CRM, Business to -Consumer CRM and other CRM related application areas, technical functionality and support required are presented with. Additionally each section is illustrated in detail so that a future organization/individual can have a quick understanding of their requirements and adapt a one which meets their requirements. Sixth, seventh sections provide the list of software vendors, their existing products and how one can select a software as per the needs and requirements of the user. This piece of research work mainly focuses on enabling an individual to understand ones re quirements and facilitates the person in adopting a module which meets all the desired needs. 1. Introduction: Information Technology has made a huge impact on how a business operates; thereby it is being seen as an important area of commerce which needs to be tapped. Despite the large scale investments in trying to automate a business entity, many businesses have failed to attract customers. The factors such as time frame of response, understanding customer needs and new ways to attract customers are making it difficult for the businesses to cope up with. Customers pose a key role in success of an e-business and it has called for extensive research in understanding the key areas of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) in the field of Information technology. Customer Relationship Management from the Information Technology perspective is called as Electronic Customer Relationship Management (ECRM). 1.1 What is CRM? In todays market trend, customers are more educated, better informed, more technology aware and hence demanding more in the service they buy. So, the task becomes more challenging for business managers in attracting the profitable customers. Hence, small as well as big Information technology companies are working hard for maintaining good customer relationships and reaching customer satisfaction. To improve business strategy and plans, firstly, companies need to emphasis more on customers needs and behaviors in order to develop stronger customer relationships. The very first approach comes in this methodology is CRM. CRM stands for the customer relationship management. It is the process or methodology used to interact with customers, which will help bring together lots of information about customers, sales, marketing effectiveness, and customer responses and market trends. It helps businesses use available technology and resources to gain behavior and value of the customer. It broadl y covers concepts used by companies to manage their customer relationships very effectively by capturing, storing and analyzing customer information. For example by having such database created with customers need, matching customer needs and product plans and offerings, knowing what other products customer had purchased, etc. can improve product quality, indirectly improving customer relationships. Thus, CRM is the one of the important aspect in the business industries. (Eric Williams 2006) 1.2 Evolution of CRM CRM must start with an industry business strategy, which will offer positive changes in organization and work processes, which are then enabled by Information technology. In 1960s, academic researchers found that the 4Ps marketing framework i.e. product, price, place and promotion was less valuable than ongoing business relationships. By 1980s, marketing teams used to describe his new focus on understanding customer segment and achieving high customer satisfaction. In 1990s, CRM became the umbrella term; computer systems were deployed to support sales and service processes. By late 1990s, the real impact of these systems was outside the corporate world. Explosive growth in the internet usage broadened the concept as e-CRM to manage online customers. Now, multi-channel systems are available to support direct, internet and partner channels to allow user to use whatever mode of communication, they pleased. (Digital Publishing Solutions May 2007) These systems could typically answer many of the questions such as: How can oneself improve sales activities to have better idea of business improvement. How one can improve capability for leading the generation, account management and opportunities. How to make meaningful decisions on measuring the results from marketing campaign. How to resolve customer service troubles, make queue time shorter, make customer happy by offerings. All in all, how one can improve customer relationship. To answer these questions, CRM was developed to provide best operating practices in sales, marketing and customer services. This is where, companies started using CRM to store customer history, real time activities accumulation, which each department could bring up a record and see all customer interactions. 1.3 Why is CRM important? Everyone faces with the products and services at every single turn. But in realty, many of the product and service providers do actually not know the persons those using them. Major corporations failed to realize that it is the customer who is their biggest ally. Several millions of dollars are lost yearly because they failed to make profit, beat their competitors and stay ahead in this race. They wasted their money in marketing and endeavoring to gain the customers. They all are prone to make same mistake at some point of time. The main reason behind this failure was the attitude of companies towards their customers. The customer is the real king, who makes decision on failure and success of any service or product company. Many of the companies are not open to customers suggestions and more often that they do not provide the customer with a proper avenue and expel their ideas. This often leads to customers unhappiness and eventually their loss. Here comes the real need of the CRM. ( Rick Cook, 2008) CRM take into consideration the customers need and behavior towards services and products provided by companies. Companies can define their business strategy that primarily focuses on the customer, their ideas and suggestions. Benefits of CRM are listed below as business perspective: Increased sales through better timing by analyzing needs based on historic databases. Identifying improvement areas by understanding specific customer requirements. Increasing business, by highlighting and suggesting alternatives or enhancements. Identifying profit making customers. Better marketing of products. Enhanced customer satisfaction and retention. Enhanced customer loyalty. Improved quality communication and networking. Increased overall efficiency with reduction of total cost of sales. Better stand against global competition. Once business starts to look after existing customers effectively, effort can be made to gain new customer thus expanding market value. 2. Electronic Customer Relationship Management: Electronic Customer Relationship Management (ECRM) is the current trend with most business organizations be it small or large. The companies are hesitant in using the traditional strategies for running its businesses. The customers are treated as the most important part of the implementing a business strategy. That is the reason why ECRM has gained a lot of importance in the past decade. Romano (2001) defined ECRM as, â€Å"ECRM is concerned with attracting and keeping economically valuable customers and eliminating less profitable ones†. This aspect of the CRM which deals with the customers over its online business portals helps to identify the key customers and by spending more resources on them to make the business run better. The solutions offered to these businesses are of wide range and they are often sold as a package at very high prices. The nature of a business plays a vital role as adopting these CRM packages is not only waste of money but also huge waste of time. This could even lead to loosing customer base which are absolutely essential for running business. It is highly important to retain customers for a business as a recent study by McKinsey Co. revealed that if there is gain of 10% repeat customers then it will add about a profit of 10% to the company (Sims, 2000). It is highly obvious that a successful business should try and retain customers even though it is at a cost of their own terms. It is important to understand the three requirements that a CRM must address to be successful from IT point of view. 2.1 Front-end Systems In 2.1 shown below, the front-end systems constitute the key aspects of the business such as sales force market automation, customer service automation and application software. In case of online business or retailer, sales force and market automation is totally dependent on how the website looks and what features does it provide in order to attract and retain customers. Tracking all the customers and identify the potential customers will help the managers to take important decisions and capture the market. Customer service automation is a must as it the only place for a customer to reach out if they need any help. It includes setting up of call centers, communication technology infrastructure and websites. As these represent the face of a business it is important to automate these technologies. (Boon et al. 2002) 2.2 Data-Handling technologies The number of customers who shop increase day by day and it is impossible to keep track of them. As a result it has become obvious that one has to employ software tools which can manage the customer information and also be able to provide a proper links between them to help serve the customers. The techniques of data warehousing, data mining and knowledge management helps by making the CRM a better choice. In 2.1 below, the important modules which are part of data-handling technologies are shown. Data warehousing manages the companys data which is stored on a backend system and maintains the records regarding the data such as extracting, loading data in the repository and also managing the metadata. Data warehouses consists of business intelligent tools, tools to retrieve and manage data. Alex (2000) defines Data mining as a tool that automates the detection of relevant patterns within a database. The term explains how much a tool like this would help a business prosper; it gives the business, time to focus on the long term customers of the company and address various other issues. It helps in building strategy close to how the patterns reflect. Knowledge management uses the data warehouse and works as an intelligence tool by trying to establish new links within the data. For example, if a person searches for an item and if it is not found on the database then a tool like this could help the business by recording the information and possibly the customer. This improves the ef ficiency of business and customer satisfaction. These technologies are evidently a mark of the high standards a business can establish in order to survive their competitors within the global market (Compton, 2004). 2.3 Back-end Systems It is the backbone of the business without which everything else goes in utter vain. The data integrity is often considered a major player in getting all the acts together i.e. by bringing together the front-end systems and data handling technologies. It is important to integrate technologies into CRM as it forms a good strategy to work along with all the applications within the system. (Boon et al. 2002) The hierarchy present at the back-end systems as shown in 2.1 depicts the non-sales departments such as application software, enterprise wide applications, and ERP and supply chain management. In first stage, organization starts to analyze the Information systems available in place to suit their needs. The application software is deployed across the platforms they feel necessary and then it is important to establish a link between these applications which are called Enterprise Wide Applications (EWA). These help in interchanging the data between the application software and the systems. This could help the business establish all important background work as it highly important to maintain synergy between them and also update them whenever necessary to increase the speed with which they work. ERP forms the next stage of hierarchy wherein it integrates the EWA with the supply chain management which is a part of the front end and also data handling technologies. (Boon et al. 2002) The technology is considered to be the key player for any organizational success as it can be seen from the above literature. ‘IT infrastructure generally has been described as a set of IT services, including communications management, standard management, security, IT education, service management, application management, data management and IT research and development (Hwang et. al., 2002). ECRM is in short, the customer relationship management which is implemented electronically across the organizations. As CRM is mostly implemented as web based applications, the systems mentioned above play a crucial role in the management of CRM from small and medium businesses to very large scale organizations. Proceeding further, we will see various approaches in the implementation of CRM or ECRM. 3) Approaches to CRM: There are different approaches to CRM implementation and it is presented in different packages focusing on different aspects. In generalCustomer Service,Sales Force Automation (SFA) and Campaign Management are considered as core aspects of the CRM system. Customer service: Customer service is the provision for the customers before, during and after the purchase. â€Å"Customer service is a series of activities designed to enhance the level of customer satisfaction that is, the feeling that a product or service has met the customer expectation. (Jamier L. Scott. 2006). Its importance depends on the product, industry and customer. Customer service provided by a person or by automated mean as self-service (for example, Internet service). In bookRules are to break and Laws are to Follow, Don Peppers and Martha Rogers, Ph.D. wrote that customers have memories. They will remember you, whether you remember them or not. Further, customer trust can be destroyed at once by a major service problem, or it can be undermined one day at a time, with a thousand small demonstrations of incompetence.† From the point of organization view, customer service plays important role in generation of income and revenue. From this perspective, customer service must be included as part of the overall approach to the systematic improvement. Campaign management: It may happen that company may not always require all the details pertaining to particular customers history. In such cases to avoid large sending of data and insecurity, many of the organizations prefer campaign management. Enterprise campaign management solutions allow customer to provide centralized databases to send one or multiple dialers. Rather than sending down all the record, part of the record will be send as and when required. This simplifies the management of the complex dialing campaigns. Sales Force Automation: These are the information systems, which automatically records all the stages in a sale process. Such systems keep track of the all contacts that has been made with the customer, purpose of the contact, and any follow up that might be required. This ensures that sales efforts will not be duplicated, reducing the business risks. It also lists potential customers of related products. It might happen that different department may contact same customer number of times for same purpose. To avoid such a risk, SFA must be fully integrated in all the departments that deal with customer service management. 3.1 Various approaches of CRM: Operational CRM Analytical CRM Sales Intelligence CRM Campaign management Collaborative CRM Consumer Relationship CRM (White PaperonArchitecture for CRM approachesin Financial Services) Operational CRM: Operational CRM provides support for front end business processes, which includes sales, marketing and services. Interactions with customers are generally stored in customers database history and company staff can retrieve information as and when required. So, the need for direct contact with customer for his requirement details will be eliminated and reaching to the customer at right time and right place will be more preferable. Operational CRM processes customers data for various purposes such as managing campaign, marketing automation, sales force automation, sales management system, etc. Few of the benefits of the operational CRM systems are as follows: It delivers personalized and effective sales, marketing and service through multiple channels. Enable 360 degree view of the customers details while interacting with them. Sales or service department can easily access history of the all customers interaction, without referring directly to customer. In sales source automation, company can automate their critical sales and sales force management tasks. Few of the examples include account management, contact management, forecasting, and sales administration keeping track of customer preferences as well as performance management. (Effective CRM Consulting 2009) In customer service and support, many companies automate some service requests, complaints, product returns and information requests. Key infrastructure requirements of CSS include volume processing capability and reliability, multiple channels support such as web, phone/fax, face-to-face, etc. In case of the Marketing Automation, information regarding business environment, industry trends macro-environment variables is stored. And then business strategy is defined. Predictive business model is defined. Analytical CRM: Analytical CRM includes the process of understanding the behaviors of customers, analyzing this data for marketing effectiveness and planning strategies of cross-selling, up-selling, etc. The process of analytical CRM starts with analyzing the customer profiles by targeting various categories of customers and evaluating their responses. These responses can be tracked using customer complaints or through transactional data or by direct customer contacts through satisfaction survey. This data of attitudinal and behavioral responses of customers is input for the next process which is nothing but customer behavior modeling. This includes building of predictive models according to the analysis data for various set of customers. The customer behavioral modeling helps to understand the homogenous customer segments. Also the methods like association discovery which is nothing but understanding the associations between the customer needs. Here only Operational CRM and Analytical CRM are discussed as they are different from the other approaches. The other approaches of CRM namely, Sales CRM, Campaign management, Consumer relationship CRM explanations are not furnished here as they are presented in very much details in the subsequent section, modules of CRM. 4) Modules of CRM: The key functionality of a CRM solution can be studied under 4 basic modules. They are Marketing, Service, Sales and Call centre. All these modules are Collaborative, Analytical and Operational. 4.1 Marketing Module The marketing module ofCRMcomprises of functionalities regarding short term execution of marketing related activities and long term planning within the company. It also helps in activities like planning, Campaign Management and lead management. Marketing module enables different communication channels to run marketing campaigns by the company, which targets potential buyers in using a product or a group of products as a message. One positive way to increase marketing effectiveness is to get better the way leads are captured and acted on. The old method is when an investigation is presented to the organizations web site; an email is generated and delivered to the department of marketing. Novel way is, a new prospect record is automatically formed in the master database which presents the lead source and campaign, assigns it to a sales representative, and emails the prospect with information or instructions scores the lead. Leads can be allocated upon product curiosity, region, or any additional defined criteria. Automated processing is defined by quicker routing and the facility to scrutinize the lead progress on a real time basis as leads are qualified and converted. The whole lot is processed and followed up in the CRM database, but more importantly such types of workflow improvements effects in greater conversion rates. (Kevin M. Turner, 2007) CRM marketing tools afford the infrastructure to prop up a huge variety of lead generation strategies which may be by email marketing, through advertising, direct mail, or trade shows. CRM also facilitates the marketer with metrics which validate financial plans and establishes the worth of marketing to management and sales. Target Marketing: Attaining the correct message at the correct time from the right people is vital. Wish to aim only the decision makers those with a practical role of engineering for technical illustration at trade fare? In order to win over, organizations need to elevate consciousness among their most accessible objectives, at the appropriate time with less cost and endeavor. CRM enables an institute to manipulate the valuable knowledge captured through accessible customer relations. As CRM is in place as infrastructure, setting up and maintaining an effective route for getting customer support CRM and sales customers to enter required knowledge into the database is simple. Have a glance at marketing, the sales and support business processes and workflows, and then categorize communication and marketing opportunities. Mixed with a focus on marketing targets and tactics, now have a map to yield the value in CRM by target marketing. (Kevin M. Turner, 2007) Campaign Management and Effectiveness Tracking: The CRM solutions have incorporated marketing tools to support complete campaign management to conduct the webinars, the marketing campaigns, seminars, trainings, events etc. Choose targets, give invitations, obtain registrations through the web, deliver automated replies and reminders, create attendee lists, and carry out satisfaction surveys. Each detail, offline and online, may be watched, measured, and administered as part of the operation. Every movement that has been made with each of the individual analysis and clientele is captured. Outcome is radically improved marketing administration effectiveness and efficiency, along with a current, shared, and a complete picture of every touch which is made with each client and viewpoint. Icing on the cake is that marketers can obtain benefit of the data obtained to observe real-time campaign metrics, and gauge the efficacy of individual campaigns by kind, time period or medium. Email Marketing and Communications: Email marketing plan is the core of marketing success today. Email marketing is timely, cheap, and when done exactly, effectual. Along with CRM, the sales and customer support staff capture and update email addresses in the main CRM repository during their usual tasks. Its vital to confine and keep up an updated email database of clientele and scenarios. Modules of CRM have complete email marketing facilities built in. A lot of of them do have the capability to send batch emails and trace the reads. However there is a big market of well-known on demand email marketing attributes which â€Å"plug in† to CRM functionality and offer considerably better features to make generating professional email interactions better and perk up the deliverability. In addition, email programs also help to tackle the intricacies of government regulations, tracing, and delivering. If used jointly with CRM, it will have a totally fledged email marketing solution which is professional, acquiescent and effectual. (Kevin M. Turner, 2007) Marketing Administration: CRM can supervise marketing administration activities, which in numerous cases are time intense, not possible, and pricey to administer devoid of automation. Newsletter List Management: Saving and continuing supporting the lists of subscribers for alerts and newsletters may be a full time activity, but the task may be automated by combining a web page to the CRM repository where lists are followed up. The integration allows the subscriber to check current preferences, modify and append to their subscriptions, the login, and authenticates requests and one can send the customer an email to corroborate and thank them. (Kevin M. Turner, 2007) Literature Fulfillment: CRM modules can track supplies and rearrange points and direct orders for dispensation. Moreover, the user wants the ability to follow up fulfillment requests and check their order records. In few cases, literature fulfillment requests are required to come from associates, prospects, or clients via web site, all of which can be contained. Event Management: Events managing require lots of dexterity. A site must be booked, salespersons contracted, presenters scheduled, fund-raisers signed, broadcasts sent, registrations noted, fee processed, and of course the affair must be held. By making the most of CRM for event management, marketing department can with no trouble and efficiently carry out far more events, whilst building a record of sources concerned that may be required in the prospect. Customer Surveys: CRM systems can carry survey administration and consecutively can get better end results for both the corporation and the consumer. Survey invitations may be sent by email from the CRM system, provoking the member to click on a link which guides them to a web survey on organization site. The email address or an approved identifier rooted in the link can combine the study to the members details in the CRM record, where it can get details and also reported about. The CRM workflow may also send announcements as soon as a survey is received. (Kevin M. Turner, 2007) 4.2 Service Module The service module of CRM focuses on how effectively the system is managing customer service which is either planned or unplanned. It helps in activities like Service Contract Management, Service Order Management, and Planned Services management, Installed Base (Equipment) Management, Warranty Management, Service Level Agreement Management, Scheduling, Resource Planning and Knowledge Management. Service contract management: Maintain a variety of service contracts, including labor contracts, standard parts and usage-based contracts. Administer service contracts, manage service-level agreements, automatically verify entitlement, and alert agents when a customers contract is about to expire. Claim and warranty management: Synchronize with third-party logistic providers to avoid unnecessary goodwill allowances and ensure timely customer credits. Handle the entire warranty and claims process, from RMA (return merchandise authorization) to receipt and inspection. Maintenance and Installation: Minimize downtime with planned protection service. Predict impact of new product installation for accurate and fast service. Track customers installed base of products and their pattern with graphical hierarchical demonstration. Customer support and service: Access data on the service histories, the service entitlements and contracts, the installed base, service levels, and the warranties by an easy-to-use communication center screen (SAP Customer Relationship Management on Environment 2006) 4.3 Sales Module This Module ofCRM Solutionsfocuses mainly on the sales team of the company to execute the pre-sales process and manage, making it more organized. The sales teams in most companies are responsible for capturing customer interaction, capturing any leads or opportunities, the CRM helps them to process this data and monitor it in the future. This helps in organizing all relevant data captured and received for a deal to be put into one place, it could hold data as expected budget, prospective customers, total spending, key players, important dates, products interested in and expected closing dates of a deal. Each of these can be stand only applications depending on organizational need. It is important that the right software is selected at the right time and more importantly implemented correctly for any CRM to be effective. Important key sales procedures includes Sales forecasting and planning: Anticipated sales volume over time and provide a total picture of predictable revenue. Augments the precision of sales forecasts and demand plans. Increase performance with coordinated planning and implementation of sales actions across all channels. Territory management: Gets better resource utilization with apparent visibility into accessibility and assignments. Consign the right sources at the correct time in the exact locations to optimize team performance. Maximize distribution of sales sources and account reporting across clearly defined areas. Accounts and contacts management: Present a single, inclusive view of all data required to supervise sales accounts. Capture, monitor and track all vital information about prospects, customers, and partners. Access key contacts, detailed customer profiles, critical relationships, critical relationships, and the position of all recent communications from any place and at any time. Activity management: Seamlessly synchronize e-mail, calendar entries, contacts, and tasks with important groupware solutions. Handle customer visits, account profiles and activity-driven sales activities. Focus on the combined energy of sales team events to proven to promote money-making b