...Company value chain and links to value An international designer and manufacturer of high-quality polyvinyl chloride (“PVC”) systems came to us for assistance in defending the profitability of its French subsidiary in the context of a tax audit. The tax authorities were arguing that the French entity was illegally transferring profit to its Belgian parent and we needed to defend the profitability of the French subsidiary. Based on interviews and market research, we saw that the Group had developed a highly integrated and state of the art production process that included several unique production steps using patented technology, tools and know-how to create specialized PVC systems (systems used in home construction). The Group’s focus on innovation, as well as its integrated production process, allowed it to have control over all stages of the supply chain, to create a broad range of product offerings for its clients and, as such, to generate a key competitive advantage. The Group considered its innovation capabilities, as well as its vertically integrated structure, as a key advantage. More specifically, these were: * Capability to perform compounding; * Manufacturing of own tools used for extrusion; * Patented finishing processes and products. As a result, the value-chain of the company was determined to be as shown below: Value-Chain of Company | Compounding, Tool and Finishing Know-How Research and Development Basic Extrusion Manufacturing ...
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...Introduction: The use of IT and social media was the differentiating factor in the US politics, which catapulted Barack Obama ahead of Mitt Romney and has secured Obama’s second term as the President of the United States. For a long time, traditional social media has been the medium of communication of ideas in politics. Dating back to the 1950s, shrewdly assembled team of social media experts would have designed and crafted political campaigns that appealed and rallied the emotional side of supporters. Most of the occasions, contesting candidates would have carefully selected controversial policies that the majority were against, to garner support by invoking them to think that dethroning the current office would be “changing for the better”. Social Media experts would then exaggerate these feelings of unrest and protest in the undecided voters by publishing contents that citizens feel that are controversial. The reigning party would also, with the help of traditional social media, attempt to strengthen their foothold in the office by reinforcing the pathetic few policies that they have implemented during their term. Traditional social media has indeed played a pivotal role in all political elections all around the globe. However, with the ubiquity of smartphones and personal computers, coupled with a massive surge of online social platforms, the pivotal change of politics seem to lie in the hands of the party who knows how to play the game of IT. There have been numerous...
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... Obama made history as the first African American to win the election against Republican candidate, John McCain, thus becoming the 44th president of the United States. Obama won by a margin of nearly 200 electoral votes and 8.5 million popular votes. Many factors contributed to his success, but a major one was the way Obama and his Chicago-based campaign team used social media and technology as an integral part of their campaign strategy, not only to raise money, but also more importantly, to develop a groundswell of empowered volunteers who felt that they could make a difference. Michael Malbin, executive director of the Campaign Finance Institute said: “No other candidate has ever integrated the full picture the way he [Obama] has, that‟s what‟s really new about his campaign.”1 Edelman Research analysts said that Obama won by “…converting everyday people into engaged and empowered volunteers, donors and advocates through social networks, e-mail advocacy, text messaging and online video. The campaign‟s proclivity to online advocacy is a major reason for his victory”2 (Exhibit 1). In terms of the numbers, externally, Obama‟s campaign was able to garner 5 million supporters on 15 different social networks ranging from Facebook to MySpace. By November 2008, Obama had approximately 2.5 million (some sources say as much as 3.2 million3) Facebook 1 2 Chris Lefkow, “Obama Has Huge Lead Over McCain—in Cyberspace,” Agence France Presse, October 5, 2008. Edelman Research, “The Social...
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...Interim Report ICT use in Getting out the Vote in recent US Presidential Elections: A Tale of Two Solutions. Xxxxxxxxxxxxx (for module ISM106) December 13, 2012 Contents. 1.0 Background and Objectives………………………………………………..3 2.0 Literature Search and Methodology………………………………………4 3.0 GOTV - The Problem Domain…………………………………………….5 4.0 Timetable……………………………………………………………………7 5.0 References…………………………………………………………………..8 “Good judgment comes from experience, but a lot of that comes from bad judgment”. Will Rogers, American Humorist (1879-1935). 1.0 Background and Objectives. Getting out the vote (GOTV) is a very important activity in an election campaign. Within a typical polling precinct, campaign fieldworkers identify and confirm voters who pledge to vote for their candidate. A list of these voters is carefully compiled for each precinct, with up-to-date contact information and whether assistance is needed in getting voters to the polling station being crucial. On Election Day, campaign workers at the polling stations monitor the voters on the list and record which have voted and which have not. Great effort is then expended on contacting the “laggards” and getting them out to vote. Periodically during the day, voter turnout data is sent, through aggregation points, to campaign HQ where it updates the big picture and allows the co-ordination and refocusing of further GOTV efforts. The purpose of...
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...For the Midterm Project Part 3: Campaign Recommendations, I pretended to be a campaign consultant for Candidate Smith. My goal was to create a plan that will lead him into a success, in other words, help him to reach the presidency. Before the assignment, I collected and analyzed data from the 2012 Obama v. Romney presidential campaign. Which included a four video campaign analysis, statistical data from two swing states, and an analysis on the impact social media has on presidential elections. Thus, my time management, writing skills, and critical thinking skills were all put to the test. Along with this assignment, I was working on completing the weekly module, and the coursework for my other classes. And in order to effectively improve my time management skills, I prioritized my assignments based on points and which ones will affect my grade the most. Moreover, for this particular assignment, I worked on it for an hour or so over a period of three days, so that I will have a clear mind and a new set of ideas each time. This helped my writing skills too, as my mistakes became much more visible,...
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...Presidential nominating conventions take place in the summer of an election year. The main task is to select the party’s presidential nominee, even that in all recent contests one candidate has already emerged from the nomination process with a clear majority of delegates and wins the nomination on the first ballot. To get the nomination, a candidate needs the support of a majority of the delegates, and if no candidate receives a majority after the first round of voting at the convention, the voting has to continue until someone does. After the delegates nominate a presidential candidate, he chooses a vice-presidential nominee, who has to be ratified by the delegates. The normal performance of the nominations used to have a pattern, in which there is a frontrunner that is leader in the early public opinion polls and has raised a large amount of money, and goes on to win the nomination. In a less common scenario, the leader falters and is replaced by another candidate, and in third place it could happen that in the political party, there is no clear frontrunner but in fact, a number of more contenders vying for the nomination. In another variant, it happens that two strong candidates may battle it out over the entire course of the presidential primaries and caucuses. The final purpose of a convention is to attract public attention, to make it a...
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...How Campaign Finance Affects Electoral Outcomes (Name) (Subject) (Nature of Work) I. Introduction An electoral candidate can win an election if he has plenty of campaign finances. This seems to be the common wisdom that people believe in when it comes to the electoral success of candidates. However, such a statement is not easily verifiable. In fact, there are several factors involved in the determination of whether or not there is a correlation between the campaign finances used by candidates and the probability of winning due to these funds. It has been the contention of majority that for a candidate to get a seat or win the presidency, it is important that he spend lavishly. If this is the case, then incumbents, who are generally the ones equipped with the biggest campaign funds, have edge over challengers. It is also an assurance to potential challengers that if they manage to put up campaign funds, whether from contributors or from their own pockets, they are already assured of a win in the elections. With the government structure the United States have, generalizing for all sectors of the government, particularly during the electoral races, will be quite complex. Moreover, though it is very easy to make assumptions, such arguments could start crumbling once empirical studies of various experts on the subject of political science come to light. Factors such as policy decisions, party affiliations, popularity, etc. play a role in the...
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...Marketing Application Class A Task – Political Marketing Mohamad Alshafei (AKA Leo) 1|Page Contents 1. US presidential election 2012 Overview ..................................................................................... 3 2. Political Program and Positions ................................................................................................... 4 Barak Obama ............................................................................................................................... 4 Economic policy ....................................................................................................................... 4 Health Care .............................................................................................................................. 4 Foreign policy .......................................................................................................................... 4 Mitt Romney ................................................................................................................................ 5 Economic policy ....................................................................................................................... 5 Health Care .............................................................................................................................. 5 Foreign Policy .......................................................................................................................
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...Comparative Rhetorical Analysis: Donald Trump and Jeb Bush “I’m officially announcing my candidacy for President of the United States of America.” Members of the Republican Party have heard this seventeen times so far during the duration of this presidential primary cycle. It’s safe to say that anyone who gives any attention to presidential elections in America have been enlightened with a very interesting presidential primary so far to say the least. It’s important to analyze what statements the candidates are trying to present to the potential voters in their party's primary election. Businessman, Donald Trump and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush campaign announcement speeches are considered to be in the top tier of effectiveness. While they both have very different views on how to govern our country and Governor Bush mentions about "we" a considerable amount of times while Donald Trump lectures...
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...Marketing David J. Huff Clinical Assistant Professor of Supply Chain and Information Systems Johannes Baumgartner Professor of Marketing Head of the Department of Marketing *Signatures are on file in the Graduate School iii ABSTRACT Political marketing sits at the nexus of two disciplines, political science and marketing, but is not entirely accepted by either. The present research looks at the origin, development, and evolution of political marketing and examines how the adoption of a political marketing orientation is impacting the practice of political campaigns. The role of political marketing in actually changing voters’ preferences is also examined, showing that grassroots marketing efforts seem to have the greatest effect, especially with undecided voters. Finally, voter segments are derived for the last five presidential elections in the United States (1988-2004) using latent class analysis (LCA). The interpretation and implications of these segments are discussed and several avenues for future research are suggested. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................... vi...
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...historical presidential elections in the history of U.S. Illinois Senator Barack Obama became the 44th president of the United State. During the election, there was this first lady, named Hillary Rodham Clinton, who expressed her interest in the presidential election of 2008. Until then, in the history of presidential election in United State, none of the woman had ever won the major party nomination. Well-educated Hillary Clinton had a good experience of public service and managing the Oval office. She emerged as a dedicated and hard working lady from the American women’s perspective. The staff members and policy team of the campaign The initial team of her campaign was supported and run by a group of advisers and political operatives. Mark Penn, Penn, Schoen & Berland were considered as the stategic genius of Clinton’s campaign. The chief operating officer of the campaign was Evelyn S. Lieberman while Howard Wolfson was the spokesperson of the campaign. Many other well-known senior advisers and subject specialist formed the focus group of the campaign. Ann Lewis was campaign’s senior adviser and Cheryl Mills was campaign’s general counselor. Other names that were included directorial list of the campaign were Jonathan Mantz, Neera Tanden, Kim Molstre, Phil Singer. However there were many other well-known adivers and supporters that lead the campaign for Hillary Clinton. An analysis in October 2007 reported that majority of the senior staff members of Clinton’s campaign...
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...politics. As with Nixon himself, the speech was brilliant, bare knuckles and mawkish, all at once. By going over the heads of the press in directly appealling to the American people, this speech saved Nixon’s political career, delivered a hard (and some would say low) blow back on his political opponents (especially Dwight Eisenhower, the Republican nominee for the presidency, whom Nixon was running with in 1952), and seriously embarrassed his wife. Possible subtopics: • Richard Nixon’s early political career • Nixon’s relationship with Eisenhower • American political parties • Presidential elections and campaigning • Campaign finance • American media • Television and American society • Public response to the speech • Effects of the crisis on Richard and Pat Nixon • Canines Research Question: What effects did the “Checkers” speech have on Richard Nixon’s career and on American presidential campaigning and politics in general? Working Thesis Statement: Richard Nixon’s desperate, hastily organized “Checkers” speech not only saved his political career—while souring the relationship between himself and Dwight Eisenhower—it fundamentally altered the nature of political campaigning in the United States by its enormously successful, direct appeal to the American people through the new medium of television. (Yeah, I don’t recommend your thesis statement be this long; but this one reflects all the main points I would want to argue in a paper on this topic. I would probably...
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...AGENDA SETTING THEORY the creation of what the public thinks is important History and Orientation Agenda setting describes a very powerful influence of the media – the ability to tell us what issues are important. As far back as 1922, the newspaper columnist Walter Lippman was concerned that the media had the power to present images to the public. McCombs and Shaw investigated presidential campaigns in 1968, 1972 and 1976. In the research done in 1968 they focused on two elements: awareness and information. Investigating the agenda-setting function of the mass media, they attempted to assess the relationship between what voters in one community said were important issues and the actual content of the media messages used during the campaign. McCombs and Shaw concluded that the mass media exerted a significant influence on what voters considered to be the major issues of the campaign. Core Assumptions and Statements Core: Agenda-setting is the creation of public awareness and concern of salient issues by the news media. Two basis assumptions underlie most research on agenda-setting: (1) the press and the media do not reflect reality; they filter and shape it; (2) media concentration on a few issues and subjects leads the public to perceive those issues as more important than other issues. One of the most critical aspects in the concept of an agenda-setting role of mass communication is the time frame for this phenomenon. In addition, different media have different agenda-setting...
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...In a formal discussion on a particular topic in a public meeting or legislative assembly, in which opposing arguments are put forward, the presidential debate is focusing on one question what makes a good president? The two candidates use a mix of eye contact and physical movement to get the audience's attention and show what they meant and where feeling they also used things like pathos, ethos and logos that helped to support their debate. In the presidential debate both candidates use rhetorical analysis such as ethos in their responses to the questions that were being asked by the audience. When being used, the candidates were attacking each others ethos. For example, when Clinton said, “when I hear something like that, I am reminded of what my friend Michelle Obama advised us all. When they go low, you go high”(CBSNewsOnline) it showed that she is already connected to power and that she is associated with the First Lady and the whole presidential family. Once she brought in the First Lady it gave her a step up from trump because she now got the support from the civilians that love Michelle Obama. There...
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...The Constitution and Government Structure During 1992-93 Yeltsin had argued that the existing, heavily amended 1978 constitution of Russia was obsolete and self-contradictory and that Russia required a new constitution granting the president greater power. This assertion led to the submission and advocacy of rival constitutional drafts drawn up by the legislative and executive branches. The parliament's failure to endorse a compromise was an important factor in Yeltsin's dissolution of the body in September 1993. Yeltsin then used his presidential powers to form a sympathetic constitutional assembly, which quickly produced a draft constitution providing for a strong executive, and to shape the outcome of the December 1993 referendum on Russia's new basic law. The referendum vote resulted in approval by 58.4 percent of Russia's registered voters. The announced 54.8 percent turnout met the requirement that at least 50 percent of registered voters participate in the referendum. The 1993 constitution declares Russia a democratic, federative, law-based state with a republican form of government. State power is divided among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. Diversity of ideologies and religions is sanctioned, and a state or compulsory ideology may not be adopted. The right to a multiparty political system is upheld. The content of laws must be made public before they take effect, and they must be formulated in accordance with international law and principles. Russian...
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