Dear Manny and Jennifer

Good day! Before anything else, my father and I would like to express our deepest gratitude to both of you with regard to the real estate properties information in Phuket, Thailand.Your suggestions were closely considered and after thinking things thoroughly, my father indicated that he would like to buy a hotel that is fully established and is currently in business. Another possibility would be a hotel that is completely erected and would be in full operation in a few months' time.My father decided on this as he is concerned that it would be difficult if he bought a property that is not yet established since he has very little knowledge about Thailand's real estate laws and regulations. He also understands the trouble of having to deal with the hotel in Phuket while he is in Hong Kong and so he believes that this is the best way to do it.My father is also wondering about the cost of these properties. Is it possible that the prices be forwarded so that he can decide better? I would l ike to assure both of you that he is not rushing to buy a property, so please do not worry. He is actually waiting for the best one in the market, and, when the opportunity comes, you can be sure that he will buy it right away.Again, thank you so much for your help. Your efforts are greatly appreciated. Without you two, we would not have been able to look in to this. We hope to hear from soon.Sincerely

How Do I Develop a Personal Code of Ethics

How do I develop a personal code of ethics? Developing your own personal code of ethics is one of the most important things you can do for yourself. A personal code of ethics puts into writing those ideas and philosophies that are the essence of your life and allows you to say I will do this because I believe this. A code of ethics is a document, which you can look to each day not only as a reminder of what you believe in but also as an encouragement to carry on with your daily walk.The main question most people have is â€Å"how do I develop a personal code of ethics? † The answer really is quite simple, but it will take a little work and thought on your part. First, take stock of your life. Take the time to write down who you are. This is a reflection of who you believe yourself to be. Think of it this way. If you asked a friend to describe you, what would they say? An example of this would be someone saying to you that you are helpful or that you are kind. List all the trai ts that anyone has ever pointed out to you.Second, think about what you believe. Make a list of all of your ethical beliefs. Don’t worry about why you believe them just write down as many of your personal beliefs as you can think of. These are the beliefs that carry you through your everyday life and define your decision-making process. Third, think about the places you work, rest, and play and how you relate to all the people you come in contact with. Are there things that you would like to change about these relationships that would involve listing them in a code of ethics?I am not only talking about any obvious things like any misdealing with customers or family members. I am talking about the little things as well, such as gossip, etc. Fourth, now that you have your beliefs written down, think about why you believe them. This is essential because it sets up how important each of your beliefs are to you. The source of all ethical beliefs is the Bible. So if you have any fa vorite verses, now would be the time to list them next to each of your beliefs that is shaped by a biblical truth.Now that you have all the information about who you are and why you believe what you do, it is time to write and develop a personal code of ethics. This is not as hard as you think it might be, but it will take you a little time to think about what you want to include and not include. The first part of your personal code of ethics is the purpose for your personal code of ethics. Are you writing it to regulate your behavior or to inspire you to greater heights? Whatever your reason, this is where you will develop the philosophy behind your code of ethics.The only requirement is that the purpose, as well as the code of ethics, be tailored to your needs. The second part of your personal code of ethics is what I like to call the â€Å"I will† section of your personal code of ethics. God, in the Bible, set up His â€Å"I will’s† which are based on who He is. This is the same thing you need to do. Go through the list of how people see you and look to see if any match up to what you believe. This is the aspirations section of your document. All the traits that you now exhibit as well as those you wish to develop should be included.The third part of your code of ethics is the rules or beliefs you expect yourself to follow when dealing with other people. These are all the â€Å"why’s† listed in the information gathering part of the process of writing a personal code of ethics. In this section, you might want to list some Bible verses that help you to see the importance of applying your personal code of ethics to your life. Once you are done writing the first draft, look it over and refine it as necessary and as changes come in your life. Remember you are writing the code of ethics and it will be up to you to follow it.

Applications of computers in various fields Essay

Computers have their application or utility everywhere. We find their applications in almost every sphere of life–particularly in fields where computations are required to be done at a very fast speed and where data is so complicated that the human brain finds it difficult to cope up with. As you must be aware, computer now-a-days are being used almost in every department to do the work at a greater speed and accuracy. They can keep the record of all the employees and prepare their pay bill in a matter of minutes every month. They can keep automatic checks on the stock of a particular item. Some of the prominent areas of computer applications are: 1)In Tourism:[/B] Hotels use computers to speed up billing and checkout the availability of rooms. So is the case with railways and airline reservations for booking tickets. Architects can display their scale models on a computer and study them from various angles and perspectives. Structural problems can now be solved quickly and accurately. 2)In Banks: [/B]Banks also have started using computers extensively. Terminals are provided in the branch and the main computer is located centrally. This enables the branches to use the central computer system for information on things such as current balance,deposits, overdrafts, interest charges, etc 3)In Industry:[/B] Computers are finding their greatest use in factories and industries of all kinds. They have taken over the work ranging from monotonous and risky jobs like welding to highly complex jobs such as process control. Drills, saws and entire assembly lines can be computerized. Moreover, quality control tests and the manufacturing of products, which require a lot of refinement, are done with the help of computers. 4)In Transportation:[/B] Today computers have made it possible for planes to land in foggy and stormy atmosphere also. The aircraft has a variety of sensors, which measure the plane’s altitude, position, speed, height and direction. Computer use all this information to keep the plane flying in the right direction. In fact, the Auto–pilot feature has made the work of pilot much easy. 5) In Education:[/B] Computers have proved to be excellent teachers. They can possess the knowledge given to them by the experts and teach you with all the patience in the world. You may like to repeat a lesson hundred times, go ahead, you may get tired but the computer will keep on teaching you. Computer based instructions (CBI) and Computer Aided Learning (CAL) are  common tools used for teaching. Computer based encyclopedia such as Britannica provide you enormous amount of information on anything. 6)In Entertainment:[/B] Computers are also great entertainers. Many computer games are available which are like the traditional games like chess, football, cricket, etc. Dungeons and dragons provide the opportunity to test your memory and ability to think. Other games like Braino and Volcano test your knowledge. 7)Science: All branches of science, from astronomy to zoology, depend on computers to further their knowledge on increasing the life span of man. The MRI, the PET, and other computer-aided machines help doctors and scientists to better understand the people’s medical needs. 8)Communications: using computers will never be complete without using the Internet. This global network of networks have swept the lives of many people as daily tasks become handier, communications more convenient, and most of all, sources of information broader and more accessible. 9)Business: Computer has changed how we do business. Gone are the days of labor-intensive and manual way of inputting data through ink and paper. Now, with a few taps of keys and a few clicks of the mouse, good and productive business is on its way. 10)Government: Government offices also depend on computers for its basic needs. From simple letters to the more complicated projects are now being produced through the use of computers. Government agencies and their databases are now interlinked, making it easier for the agencies to monitor economic developments.

Human Resources Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 2

Human Resources - Essay Example As the report declares a job description is one of the most crucial documents that an employer needs to have because it determines productivity and prevents lawsuits. A detailed description concerning a position is given that helps in attracting the most appropriate individual for the position. In addition, it helps in performance management, employee development as existing employees attempt to acquire a promotion, compensation, and recognition. With regard to the HR process, job descriptions clarify as well as enhance communication between the management and the employee. This is because they support almost all employment actions such as promotion, hiring, and compensation. This research stresses that one of the best modes of evaluation is performance appraisal. A reliable performance appraisal system ensures that the employees are aware of what is expected of them and is undertaken at least once per year. The goal of the overall appraisal process is to help the employee to get an idea concerning where they are as compared to the previous period of evaluation. While the evaluation process allows an organization to provide feedback to the employees and offer positive criticism of their work, they are also used to identify the areas that require improvement. The evaluations should be realistic and consider individual employees while evaluating in addition to concentrating to evaluating their performance instead of their personality.

Public policy discussion Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Public policy discussion - Assignment Example These environmental discussions are still held every year in chosen countries around the world. Part 1 The states have become an alternative avenue in the formulation of the environmental policy in two main ways. One is that the states are faced with varied environmental challenges. The states become an avenue through which the federal government collects data from the citizens of those states. The states are represented in the congress and therefore the issues they raise are heard by the federal government. The federal government uses this information from all the states to formulate a national environmental policy. In the same the federal uses the states to collect information, it is the same channel that the federal government in conjunction with the states governments implement the environmental policy (HarperCollins 56). This is the other function of the states in environmental matters. In addition to this, when the policy is being implemented, its effectiveness should be evalua ted in order to determine whether the desired results are being achieved. This determined through the officials deployed by the government in the states using various programmes. After the Clean Air Act of 1963, changes were made to the Water Pollu ­tion Control Act of 1948 (Robert. This is when Washington started pressing the states to set pollution standards and to come up with implementation frameworks which were based on the federal government's guidelines. Another perfect example is when the Congress gave way to the policy innovation at the end of 1969 when it passed the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The act provided that it is the role of the Federal Government, in together with State and local governments, and other interested public and private institutions, to put in place achievable means and measures, not forgetting financial and technical support, in a way aimed to maintain and promote the general wellbeing, to develop and promote situations whereby human b eing and the environment could exist in beneficial harmony, and at the same time achieve the economic, and other needs of current and future off springs of Americans. Clinton is praised for his environmental appointments and for his strong government sup ­port for programmes like the restoration of the Florida Everglades and other decision based on new innovations and approaches to ecosystem management. Clinton reversed major decisions of the Reagan- and Bush-era that were highly criti ­cized by environmentalists (Hanna 53). He also increased government expenditure and spending on environ ­mental initiatives, initiatives towards green energy and conservation research, and international populace policies (MarianR 67). Government definitely is a major player in the environmental affairs, and the federal government will go on having unique roles, as will the fifty states and the 80,000 local governments across the United States. The involvement of states in environmental regulati ons crafted by the federal government varies from one state to another based on the environmental challenges they might be facing. In the past two decades, the states are coming up with their own environmental policies which are of course in line with the federal gover

Solid-phase synthesis of Gly-Glu-Lys-Gly-Ala by Merrifields method Lab Report

Solid-phase synthesis of Gly-Glu-Lys-Gly-Ala by Merrifields method - Lab Report Example Step 6: Decoupling and reaction with resin bound Gly to form dipeptide (Boc-Glu-Gly-Resin).Step 7: Orthogonal protection of second -NH2 group of Lys by benzyloxycarbonic acid treatment of already N’ terminal (ÃŽ ±NH2-) protected Boc-Lys.Step 8: Linking such both NH2-group protected Boc-Lys derivative with Glu-Gly-Resin.Step 9: Addition of Boc-Gly to derivatized Lys-Glu-Gly-Resin.Step 10: Addition of Boc-Ala to Gly-derivatized Lys-Glu-Gly-Resin.Step 11: Universal decoupling and release of N’-Ala-Gly-Lys-Glu-Gly-C.’  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   According to the essay, gly has a vast pK range and can be covalently linked to the resin at any pH value. Glu has quite acidic isoelectric point (pI) (= 3.1), and for all reactions in aqueous solutions (Boc and DCCD derivatization) it is required to keep pH close to 3.0. Once Glu is linked, Lys has very alkaline pI (= 9.8) and thus the resin should be washed with a buffer of pH 10.0. All blocking reactions (Boc, DCCD and benzyloxyca rbonic acid) need to be carried out in aqueous phase at this pH. Subsequently, for Gly and Ala, pH can be brought back to neutral or slightly acidic (pH 5.0-7.0). Orthogonal protection is a method to protect other than N’ and C’ terminals, the COOH, NH2, and other groups which may affect peptide bond formation or cause stearic hindrance such as –OH, -SH etc. Depending on the groups to be protected (here Lys) chemicals can be chosen. As coupling of amino acids through a peptide bond is enderogenic reaction, they need to be activated by DCCD before coupling. Source Voet, D. & V

Discuss the effects of digital technologies on cinema. To what extent Essay

Discuss the effects of digital technologies on cinema. To what extent are pre-digital filmmaking methods and filmmaking practice - Essay Example Digital cinema is defined as the use of digital technology to project and distribute motion pictures.   The process of doing this is called digital cinematography. Therefore cinematography is defined as the use of digital technologies to capture motion pictures in the form of digital images instead of capturing them on a film. The images are captured on hard disks, tapes, flash memory and other media capable of recording digital data. Examples of such digital film-making technologies are Phantom HD High Speed camera, Thomson Viper, Red Digital camera, Genesis, Arrflex D-20 and noX 2K d-cinema and digital projectors. The introduction of such technologies has ushered in yet another new era of digital cinematography (Barda, 2002).   Digital imagery existed as from 1980s as evidenced by Disney’s Tron produced in 1982. This was the first movie to contain high-resolution. However, the first film in digital format was marketed in 1997. From that time henceforth, cinema has experi enced technical and social changes as a result of digital technology. ... The effects of digital technologies on cinema Positive effects The arrival of the digital technologies brought a sharp division between the old and new media. From experience, film-makers confess that the entrance of digital technologies in the movie making industry has enabled them to ‘tell stories that were not possible to tell before’ and achieve higher levels of realism in their movies. They have also been enabled to impress the cinema audience with effects that were previously unseen. For example, using the digital technologies, movie makers have been able to make shots that are more impressive than those that could have been produced using the pre-digital technologies. Therefore, we can say that the entry of digital technology has created new, great possibilities for cinema. Each of the positive impacts of digital technology on cinema is explained in the following paragraphs. Digital technologies allows film-makers to focus more on actor actions because digital vid eo equipment enables them to be closer to the actors and even being inside the action as it unfolds. This gives them a chance of conducting a more legitimate filmic approach leading to the inclusion of minor details in the movie, something that could not be easily achieved with pre-digital technologies. A legitimate filmic approach helps to reduce unnecessary levels of suspense created by failure to bring out some parts of the movie that need close range shots (Ganz and Khathib, 2006). According to Kotian (2005), digitalization of cinema has led to production of movies that have high abilities of attracting and retaining audience attention due to the special

Why is Reality TV so Popular Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Why is Reality TV so Popular - Research Paper Example The appeal of reality TV has been evident to all people who have watched the shows. Several others have become tired of listening and watching recycled jokes and sitcoms and drama shows. Reality TV shows have been able to create new dimensions in the entertainment industry which have given life to the culture of TV watching. They have yielded a premise that plays out in unpredictable ways. They have been able to appeal to people because there has been an easy way to relate the audience to the one who is shown on the shows. The elements of real life and reality of the actions that are performed in the shows have been the main eye-catching events in the shows. Reality TV shows have been gaining popularity day by day and therefore many people have expressed their desire to have more and more shows. Many have been dreaming of going and participial in the shows and reap the benefit in monetary and fame that comes with actual participation in the shows. The benefit including money, home, and fame or new faces have been the main attraction for the desire by many people who wants to participate in the reality TV shows. Each day when you turn on the TV you are likely to see a reality TV shows on all the channels that you tune to. This shows that these shows have become the recent attractions in the entertainment world. But why have they become so much famous for a short period of time since the first reality TV show was aired in 2000? There are several reasons that can be attributed to the increased fame of the shows.

LLB - UNIT 3 TORT 1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

LLB - UNIT 3 TORT 1 - Essay Example Violation of absolute right does not require the damage to be proved and it actionable per se, Ashby v. White4. The concept of Damnum5 and Injuria6 in relation to tortuous liability explains the real significance of legal damages. Damnum and Injuria are interrelated and determines act actionable or not actionable. These two factors have close relationship with tortuous liability. The relationship between these two terms is explained in the two maxims i) Injuria sine damno and ii) damnum sine (or obsque) injuria. Injuria sine damno: There are two torts one is actionable per se7 and the other is actionable only on proof of damage. Every person has an absolute right to immunity of his person, to his property, and to his liberty. Infringement of this right is actionable per se. In case of injuria sine damno a person whose rights are infringed has cause of action even though there is no actual loss or damage. Ashby v. White4 In this case a legally qualified vote of a person was refused maliciously causing injuria, but the person for whom voted was elected, causing no loss, held it is actionable applying the maxim injuria sine damno. Damnum sine injuria: In damnum sine injuria, where there is an actual and substantial loss (Damnum) without infringement of legal right (Injuria) no action leis. In a suit for damages based on a tort the plaintiff cannot succeed merely on the ground of damage unless he shows that the damage was caused by violation of his legal right. The following are the instances of Damnum sine injuria: Interception of percolating water:- A landowner and mill owner who had for about six years enjoyed the use of a stream, which was chiefly supplied by percolating underground water, lost the use of the stream after an adjoining owner dug on his own ground an extensive well for the purpose of supplying water to the inhabitants of the district. In

Pragmatism Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Pragmatism - Coursework Example The underlying principle is to raise the level of entrepreneurship activities that are considered to be below the social optimum. The implementation can be done directly to address the needs of the entrepreneur. The policies can be modeled in the form of a series of inputs that starts with the change in culture followed d by general and specific developments in skills. Pragmatism is a tradition of philosophy that began in the U.S around 1870. The term refers to the rejection of the idea that the function of thinking is to describe the reality. According to pragmatists, thoughts are a product of the interaction between the environment and organisms. When it comes to entrepreneurship, there is eminent risk in the decision making processes. In this case, the notion of pragmatism suggests that the entrepreneur has the ability to put ideas to the test (Dye, 2010). He/she should ensure that the ideas have a certain degree of truth in them. When the ideas are applied in the real world, they should be workable. In such a case, the notion of pragmatism becomes a philosophy of experience. Moreover, there have been marked changes in pragmatism over the past twenty

Therapeutic approaches Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Therapeutic approaches - Essay Example From a research conducted by Flower et al (1999), it is evident that, the major reasons towards conducting research in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), is to create an opportunity whereby emotional disorders are minimized, as well as, ensuring client take part in active participation in reduction of social disability risks and relapses. Barker (2003) indicates that, in the assessment procedures, it is important that patients are directed towards identifying their problems, establishing the best way forward towards attaining the best solution for their problems, and finally formulate means of working towards their therapies. The Becks inventory indicated that the client in question was suffering from depression, from an analysis and assessment of the transcript. William (1992) indicated that depression is the causative agents of depression are inclusive of dejected moods, feelings of guilt, loss of happiness, pleasure, appetite as well as, concentration. Depression also, has a high relationship with poor concentrations of clients; low energies have also been characterized in depressed individuals. Becks’ five area assessment, according to William and Garland (2002) gave comprehensive answers on why individuals experienced distorted reasoning abilities, behavior and symptoms in the course of assessment. The thoughts of Grand et al (2007) are in line with those of William and Garland (2002) in relation to the model consisting of the five principles. The model highlights issues of the environment, moods, perceptions, characteristic behaviors as well as, individuals’ physical responses. This model is useful for enabling attain an understanding on how various elements are useful are important, in the assessment and introduction of vital CBT skills. Barker (2003) argues that, this form of assessment strategy is useful for a clear evaluation of patient Marie. This strategy will assist on a great mile, why the patient thinks of her situation, why she is inclined to think that way, and if her perceptions affect her both physically and emotionally. From Marie’s response, as indicated in the respondents’ transcript, it is evident what the patient needs and the interventions required for assistance to the patient. One of the earliest symptoms of distorted emotions is deformed posture. This fact can be justified by M1 and M2. From M18 and M19, the feeling of melancholy, guilt and despair are evident. This is also an explanation of Marie’s distorted behavior as evidenced in M14. Marie is indicated to have responded ‘yes’ to a nurse, which meant that she had issues with something that belonged to her being taken. Fox and Convoy, argue that in the assessment process that it is mandatory that people are enlightened on the need to be open on their problems, as well as set clear goals on what they aim to achieve at the end of the therapy. The patient’s symptoms are evident in M18 and M19, whereby the patient’s response may either indicate the patient’s fright or sadness. The patient may also be indicated to

Roles of Women Essay Example for Free

Roles of Women Essay The configuration of a womans identity consists of the expectations that society places on her. Such expectations are still in existence today. Authors from the nineteenth and twentieth century are using literature and poetry as a vehicle for the new role and passion of the woman. Such authors as Kate Chopin, Mary Wilkins Freeman, Marge Piercy, Edna St. Vincent Millay and Henry James evoke a new sense of expectations for women in their use of literary language. One must acknowledge the differences in the expected roles of women and those the authors are portraying in order to penetrate the effect the author is trying to convey. These authors go beyond the norm and give women hope for the future. Kate Chopin creates a female character in At the Cadian Ball and The Storm that is vivid and defiant. Calixta is the image of hope that an authentic woman dares to embody. Chopin challenges society in her literature. She tests the roles of women. For instance, the female character she depicts in The Storm and The Cadian Ball is sexually overbearing, an adulterous, and presumptuous. Radek suggest that women of the nineteenth century were not supposed to have any real sexual contact before their marriage. The characteristics that Calixta possesses are dissimilar to the expected roles of women. The women of this time should be reserved, subservient, compliant, and gentle creatures. Henry James paints a picture of a similar vixen in Daisy Miller, although Daisy is innocent and naive in her promiscuity. James, no doubt being male, depicts women in a role outside of that of society. He portrays Daisy as innocently flirtatious. While this is not completely immoral, it is defiant of a placid nature. Mary Wilkins Freeman does not create as much controversy as Chopin, although she does create characters that embody independence rather than subservience. In The New England Nun, Louisa encompasses the typical homemaker characteristics, but she withstands independence when she rejects submission to Dagget, while declining to marry him. Wilkins expresses the hindered spirit of rebellion in The Revolt of Mother. She uses her words to convey the rebellious attitude the woman feels and is dared to communicate. She expresses the anger and uprising women are mandated to keep silent. Poetry is a vehicle for thought provoking expression that flows gently. Such poets as Edna St. Vincent Millay and Marge Piercy communicate their thoughts through the flow of language. Edna St. Vincent Millay writes in an emotional upheaval. In I, Being Born a Woman and Distressed, she transmits her despairing and vulnerable attitude. Marge Piercy writes from the corner in which women confine themselves. She portrays the loneliness that one feels because of the expectations that society places on them. The character in Barbie Doll is driven to suicide because she falls short of these expectations. This poem plays out the helplessness of the woman, while Whats That Smell in the Kitchen portrays the womans rebellious nature. This wife is tired of being socially correct and acts out in fits of rage. Kate Chopin, Mary Wilkins Freeman, Marge Piercy, Edna St. Vincent Millay and Henry James are writers of today. They innovate the true desires, passions, and frustrations of the American woman. While many of them are unable to articulate their inner desires and frustrations through physical expression, due to social restraints, they are able to express these emotions through their writing. This vehicle of emotion is a channel for the mind, body, and soul because of societys secluding forces. These authors are able to play out the roles that they desire, those roles that are unmentionable, through their words. Their words are the true expression of a womans mind and feelings, while society believes that women are not suppose to behave or feel these ways. Hartman says that a womens God-given role was as wife and mother, keeper of the household, guardian of the moral purity of all who lived therein. In conclusion, through the years, it is prevalent that the inner woman bears similar characteristics. Women are consistently making a way through life to gain equality to men. They desire to express the emotions and passions they possess while stepping outside of the societal standards. Chopin uses Calixta as a symbolic representation of the womans sexual emotions that are forcibly in suppression. Freeman symbolizes independence in the character she creates. Millay, simply, expresses her emotions and frustrations as a woman. Piercy articulates the bondage that a woman is under due to the roles and appearances they are expected to maintain. Henry James, not being a woman, creates Daisy, a woman filled with innocent flirtation. This is a characteristic outside of the reserved, subservient expectation. Though these authors may be the initiation of controversy in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, their rebellious illustrations are, no doubt, compelling to readers today. Works Cited Chopin, Kate. At the Cadian Ball . Chopin, Kate. The Storm . Freeman, Mary W. A New England Nun . Freeman, Mary W. The Revolt of Mother American Literature, vol 2, 6th ed. William E. Cane. New York: Pearson Longman, 2004. 145-159. Hartman, Dorothy. Womens Roles in the Late 19th Century. 10 Aug. 2005 http://www. connerprairie. org/historyonline/1880wom. html. James, Henry. Daisy Miller http://ci. moc. edu/webapps/portal/frameset. jsp? tab =coursesurl=/bin/common/course. pl? course_id=_367_1. Millay, Edna St. Vincent. I Being Born A Woman and Distressed American Literature, vol 2, 6th ed. William E. Cane. New York: Pearson Longman, 2004. 575. Piercy, Marge. Barbie Doll American Literature, vol 2, 6th ed. William E. Cane. New York: Pearson Longman, 2004. 1453. Piercy, Marge. Whats That Smell in the Kitchen? . Radek, Kimberly. Women in Literature. 9 Aug. 2005 http://www. ivcc. edu/GEN2002/Women_in_the_Nineteenth_Century. htm. Victorian Lace. 12 July 2005 http://www. geocities. com/victorianlace10/women. html. Wyatt, Neal. Biography of Kate Chopin. 1995 http://www. vcu. edu/engweb/eng384/katebio. htm

The Role Of Mass Media In Gender Roles

The Role Of Mass Media In Gender Roles Gender roles are very significant to an individual as they determine whether someone is male or female and therefore it can be said to be the attitudes and behaviors that a particular society expects from an individual or member of that society. The gender roles within different communities may vary depending on the expectations that a particular society expects of its individuals. For instance the gender roles that the society expects from its citizens has tremendously changed over the past decade and such changes have really affected relations at work, home, school and all Americans at large. This paper seeks to expound on the role of mass media in the development of gender roles. When talking about gender role formation and development, clear and precise definitions of the term sex or gender, need to be perfectly known and what makes sexuality to differ from gender roles is that the latter is usually influenced externally through various social factors while the expression sex represents the actual physical composition of individuals that describe them as male or female. Gender role mainly occurs during the childhood to the adolescence phase and what one chooses affects him/her throughout his life. At times situations may arise where one is not at peace with his identity. The strongest influence for the formation of gender role are the parents as they are our first teachers on earth and are the ones responsible for teaching children basic things such as walking, talking also attitudes and behavior for instance they tend to allow the boy child to try different things unlike the girls as there is fear for their safety Peer pressure can also contribute to reinforcing the traditional gender roles. This clearly arises when children tend to tease those that that are not fitting to the usual traditional roles which they are normally exposed to. For instance it is vividly clear that a girls color is pink therefore a boy spotted having a pink item will be teased therefore being forced to hate the color Mass media and gender roles formation Introduction Television for a long time has been a tool in promoting the stereotypes of gender roles and tends to show them as being natural. The television industry is usually male dominated therefore most of what is produced tends to take a male perspective therefore bringing about male gaze. Through such productions girls get to learn that this is a mans world and hence they get to change their personalities. It is a very powerful and highly influential means to make and communicate gender equality and gender culture of society are mass media technologies which have become an essential part of individual daily lives and culture in the world over (Craig, 2003, p.93). The mass media are able to genuinely make legal gender ideas and philosophy shaped by gender politics and beliefs, and to increase the likelihood or chance of their reception by the general audiences. The mass informs and also gives great pleasure and full entertainment. It is a dominant influence in distinguishing the roles of men and women in a civilized world. Morley in his work opines that, The younger generations are especially influenced by its depiction of gender roles. Even though television has improved very well in its representation of gender, women are still stereotype in conventional roles, and under-represented, while men are revealed or seen as dominant figures (Lawrence, 2004, p.28). Generally, women are known to be mothers whiles men are depicted as the bread winners of the family. Advertisements by the mass media In mass media advertisements, sex stereotyping tends to be at its greatest because the intended audiences are normally either male or female. Men are seen in further occupations than women; women are seen generally as house-keepers and mothers. Men have greater possibilities to be seen advertising car companies or marketing products; women are mostly advertising household products. Men are more likely to be shown outside or in a big business backgrounds; women in domestic settings. Men are more often seen to represent authority. Craig writes, As far as advertisement is concern, with older men gaining more authority than the younger men, at the same time as women seem to fade away. Television and radio commentary represent the interpretations of what is actually seen by the initiator of the TV or radio program me (Craig, 2003, p.82). These commentary or voice over is the tone of power or authority. A recent figure shows that television commentary majorly male. Even though the number o f female voice-overs in recent years has been on the rise, women still engage in their regular, domestic products and feminine care products advertisement. Male voice-overs are more likely to be linked with a far wider variety of products. Influence of TV gender images There is a general agreement that the mass media act as very significant agents of interaction, in cooperation with the family unit and peers, and it contribute to ensuring the gender roles are shaped effectively. Without doubt, at individuals level, it is normally learnt to be male or female this does not come naturally and the mass media helping in making such roles seem as if they are normal. And there is no doubt that the mass presents influential, compelling images of gender. It has been shown that many male individuals spend most of their time with male role-models on the television. But television as a means of socializing is not accountable for shaping the gender roles of individuals. There is abundance of instances of gender-typed conducts around the world today. An exceptional involvement of the television may be to present clear examples of models seen in a larger world than that which is more honestly experienced domestically and the locality. Wherever they get their tho ughts from, by the age of about eight, it seems that most kids develop precise and definite stereotypes about what the sexes can perform or cannot accomplish. Most individuals tend to see the mass media as unavoidably socializing children into customary stereotypical roles, because of the commonness or popularity of such images on the television and the importance attribute to them by children (Donna, 2010, p.35). On the other hand, such records tend to overrate the power of mass media and underrate the multiplicity of ways in which people; mostly children tend to handle their lifes experiences. Most television images of boys, girls, men and women are more different and less clear-cut than such arguments suggest. In the world today, the television offers conflicting images which can be understood in several ways, and viewers are far more dynamic interpreters than the inactive recipients suggested by such records. Craig states that, The prospective influence of the television may be greatest during teenage years (between 12 and 18), since at this phase gender plays such a significant role in social life. At this juncture prevailing gender pictures on TV may tend to strengthen and support traditional expectations among adolescents, thus bringing to mind role variances (Craig, 2003, p.90). Some individuals speculate that the space between a teenager self-concepts and highly fascinating media images may occasionally induce personal uncertainty. In a nutshell, although there are enormous gaps in our understanding of developmental factors, the developmental point of view gives emphasis to the problem of talking about the weight of television on a growing kid in general. And the critical significance of the family should not be ignored, either. It would be improbable for children not to be subjective by the contradictory ways in which their parents use the television. In some families in which the g ender roles are basically traditional, the television may tend to serve to strengthen such gender roles. In this way TV most definitely plays a very vital role in the building of gender roles. Despite the fact that there is little uncertainty that TV presents largely conventional gender photos there is this mixed evidence about the effects of such images or pictures on gender thoughts and behaviors? It is quite hard and extremely difficult to cut off the role of mass media (TV), since people are influenced by their entire environment, even though there is reasonably widespread acceptance that over time, still yet the mass media seems possible to influence peoples thoughts concerning gender roles. The watching of television by individuals may tend to contribute to gender role development and/or strengthening amongst children and teenagers, and some associating stereotyping of gender roles with profound TV spectators. On the other hand, there is proof that opposing stereotypical portr ayals do appear able to influence the perceptions of most kids, but in general such portrayals are uncommon. In summary, the influence of television gender images or pictures on kids is not very beyond question, partially because they have not constantly been well designed. Rheingold writes, There is a modest relationship between presentation patterns and gender stereotypes. There is not much confirmation yet for any great impact of the mass media (TV). Kids are not inactive recipients of images shown on the television (Rheingold, 2000, p.447). Their open feelings to gender role play a significant part in understanding the meaning of images of gender on the television. Conclusion From the above findings it is clear that there are various factors that bring about gender role formation and these factors are rooted within the society and are passed on from one generation to another. The media has also been a factor in bringing about gender roles as it tends to focus more on the ancient stereotypes that cover the boy and girl child roles in the society hence bringing about the inflexibility in the gender roles Conclusively, there is proof that a stereotypical view of gender role may weigh greatly on the viewers, particularly young viewers. There is also clear evidence to show the effect of television messages on young viewers. On the other hand there is indication to show that there is a strong potential correlation with stereotypical ideas. The ideas of conventional or long-established roles of the genders are very deceptive. So as to ensure a change in the gender roles there should be campaigns against stereotypes that surround gender roles

Customer Satisfaction in the Indian Petroleum Industry

Customer Satisfaction in the Indian Petroleum Industry Determination of elements of customer satisfaction in delivering fuel through retail outlets on highways and in suburban areas Introduction The Indian Petroleum Industry The Indian petroleum Industry started way back in the end of the 19th century, with the discovery of petroleum in Digboi Assam .The industry was initially opened for international players and global oil majors such as Caltex, Esso and Burmah Shell. However after 1970s, the Indian division of the international companies was nationalized by government of India and the industry became strictly regulate din the country. The government nationalized the refining and marketing sectors and subsequently introduced regulatory controls on the production, import and distribution and pricing of crude oil and petroleum products by establishing the Oil coordination Committee (OCC). Through the OCC, the government administered the prices of petroleum products after establishing a complex oil pool account system. Producers, refiners and marketers were compensated for operating cost and were also assured of a fair return on their assets through the Administered Price Mechanism (APM). During this period, government controlled entities accounted for 90% of the market share. Major players like IOC, BPCL and HPCL dominated the market in the downstream sector, while the upstream sector was dominated by Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and Oil India claiming approximately 84% of the share of the total market. After the liberalization of the Indian economy, the industry witnessed some fundamental changes. The policy makers realized that APM will no longer be working successfully as it had in the past and the sector will have to be opened completely. Thus the government initiated the process of deregulation in 1995, whereas APM was replaced by Market Determined Price Mechanism (MDPM).With the introduction of MDMP and deregulation of the marketing and refining sectors, the industry was opened completely for private and foreign participation. The government allowed four companies Reliance Petroleum, ONGC, Essar and Numaligarh Refineries to market petroleum products through their retail outlets. During the APM regime, public sector companies ‘owned the mark et and hence they never felt the need to pay attention towards brand building and customer loyalty. Branding initiatives were limited to lubricant market only. With the entry of these new players, competition intensified and posed a serious threat for the existing players. This lead to change in the way oil marketing companies looked at the fuel retail business. This was the time when all players started understanding the fact that fuel products has to be moved from commodity-convenience purchase behaviour to service-customer loyalty quadrant. This will initiate cross selling and thus leading to increase in per square feet revenue from retail space. This increased the players effort towards branding and Non Fuel Revenue initiatives. Fuel Retailing in Indian Petroleum Industry Fuel retail business in India has undergone a huge change from a fully regulated market to semi regulated market. Till 2002 the sector was completely under government control. During all these years, the marketing function of organisations received the least importance. Distribution was the only marketing function. The market was sellers market. The customers had no option other than to buy products from public sector oil companies. The entry private players in the market have brought in options for customers and the concept of customer service has evolved in fuel retail business. At present there are nearly 34000 PSU fuel retail outlets spread across India. There are around 3000 fuel retail outlets by private players. The brand war is spreading to petrol pump stations. The players are becoming more customers centric and once the market becomes fully deregulated in coming years with number of players becoming double of present, the competition on price will die and the competition will be to gain customer loyalty by providing different services to customer. Thus it becomes important to know the hierarchical level of services which need to be provided to achieve customer satisfaction and gain customer loyalty. The study by Kumar Sahay(2004) says that the behaviour of customer at fuel retail outlets on highways is to park the vehicle and relax, which is very different from behaviour on outlets within urban limits. Thus it becomes evident from the above that fuel retail business in India can divided into two types, which are â€Å"Fuel Retail Business with in Urban Limits† and â€Å"Fuel Retail Business on Highways and Suburbs†. The hierarchical level discussed above is dependent upon type of fuel retail business the player is operating in. This demarcation into two businesses happens due to the difference in the customer behaviour while travelling with in urban limits and on highways. There are many researches done on highway travellers and their expectation and preferences of services on fuel stations, but these are geography specific and nothing has been done in the Indian context. The determination of hierarchical level of services at fuel stations till date is confined to urban limits only. The customer behaviour and expectations on outlets situated on highways and suburbs are different from customer segments visiting outlets with in urban limits. This research aims at finding different services at fuel retail outlets on highways and in suburban areas other than refuelling which will help in creating loyal customers. Also there can be number of services, but which are more important for particular outlet always remains a question. The research also aims to find relationship between the location of outlets to the kind of services required in order to build a decision making process model to select important added services with an objective of increasing per squ are feet revenue from the real state space and development of customer loyalty. Literature review Fuel Retailing â€Å"Retailing is the set of activities that markets products or services to final consumers for their own personal or household use whereas Retailer is someone who cuts off or sheds a small piece from something† Before moving to Indian context it is important to create a parallel with western markets where fuel or gasoline retailing is in more developed stage in comparison to Indian fuel retailing. The fuel retailing in India has started to move from commodity to service from 2002 after the emergence of private and global players. But this phenomenon happened far before in US, European and Asia Pacific markets. Since 1960 there have been substantial changes in the structure of the petrol retailing industry of Europe and North America (Lowe J. , 1976)There was influx of new companies in UK market which were either independent or wholly owned subsidiaries of foreign giants. Lowe (1976) analyzed that after the influx of new firms in UK, the price competition became fierce and all the new companies tried different things to differentiate and gain customer loyalty. The fuel or gasoline retail structure in US had full service gasoline stations. The full service gasoline station was the one that offered minor services and repairs, where wind shield was cleaned, where credit was offered and where rest rooms were available (Mitchell 1980). Mitchell(1980) also stated that these services were sold as a part of a package along with the gasoline itself and was done entirely with the objective of building a long term relationship between the service station and the customer. The companies in the western countries started looking for various services which can supplement their gasoline sales in the event of increased competition. One of the most popular additions of service was car wash, which proved to be a successful strategy in selling tremendous volumes of gasoline. This made customers to come for car wash and also get their vehicles refuelled. ‘A dealer in Dallas, estimated that more than half of his anticipated $ 700,000 sales would come from an automated car wash. What more he claimed that the presence of car wash boosted his gasoline sales to an annual rate more than 1,000,00 gallons from 680,000 gallons three before that.( Steele 1966) Steele (1966) also predicted that as time passes by more and more gasoline stations will turn into large service centres offering a combination of gasoline, car wash, tire and battery service, restaurant and so on. Thus the future will be a complete one stop solution. This can hold true in Indian context also, but the bouquet of services will be definitely very different from outlets in developed markets. The bouquet will be entirely different depending upon the different customer requirements and purchasing power. Mitchell (1980) also predicted the movement of gasoline stations from independent full service stations to company owned self service gasoline stations. The reason stated was the pressure of margins and aim to drive customer loyalty by providing customers with a large service bouquet at gasoline station with in the same margin. This can also be seen happening in Indian context with Indian Oil Corporation being the first among all PSUs moving towards company owned outlets to increase service standards at their pumps and recently Shell entering into Indian market with company owned outlets. The conceptual model (Brown Ingene 1987) on fuel or gasoline retail structure in US explains the influence of demographic environmental characteristics on marketing mix offerings. The model also explained the influence of location of the outlet on demographic, environmental, and marketing mix characteristics. The research by Brown and Ingene (1987) demonstrated that while defining marketing mix elements for fuel and gasoline retailing it becomes important to consider the impact of demographic and environmental characteristics. The major changes started to happen in fuel retailing and fuel stations started to move towards differentiating themselves due to increase in competition. This was the development of forecourt retailing phenomenon at gasoline stations in western markets. The major changes occurred with petrol forecourt retailing where transition of fuel stations within a contextual framework happened. They had sought differentiation in the face of increased competition. One strategy undertaken was to develop a convenience store format to supplement fuel sales (Denning Freathy 1996). A clear analogy can be drawn for Indian fuel retail also, where with emergence of many private players to tap the biggest consumer market, the players or fuel companies will have to try and do something to differentiate themselves. As the competition grew the fuel retailers faced more and more pressure on profits and it became important for them to generate loyal customers and increase the ticket sales value of loyal customers at the fuel outlet. They move to others forms of revenue generation. The objective was to compensate for erosion with alternative forms of profit generation. The issue for the petrol retailers has been to identify ways of adding value to their operation in the face of these competitive threats. One of the main methods of achieving this has been through forecourt shop. Many petrol retailers have attempted to reduce the risk posed by petrol price fluctuation by expanding the facilities at their outlets. (Keynote, 1993) Denning and Freathy (1996) established that different customer segments depending upon their income levels and profession purchased different products from convenience stores at petrol stations. This indicates that determination major visiting customer segment becomes important at any fuel retail outlet. The product mix at any fuel retail outlet is also dependent upon purchasing power of the customer segments at that outlet. The exact form that the formats have taken has varied by operator location and site type. This is a reflection of the fact that the convenience store does not necessarily follow a single set pattern. The limited space available within each unit, it is possible that services take priority over other categories of goods.(Denning Freathy 1996) An important feature to note here is that, the development of fuel stations did not happen only in areas with in urban limits. The development of interstate highways and urban express ways had made many fuel stations obsolete in western world. This made many oil companies to build new facilities to meet the changing traffic patterns. More and more oil companies began to realize that former gas outlets of the conventional style were no longer getting customer visits. The primary objective of service bouquet is to add to the convenience of the customer visiting the outlet. Convenience is especially important in attracting repeat customers. It becomes fairly important to understand what adds to customer convenience and what not. Convenience results from various factors such as site size, site plan, traffic impacts and parking (Smalley 1996). The factors are not limited to the ones stated above; the factors vary with different geographies and markets. Fuel retail business is of two types one with retail outlets with in urban limits and other with retail outlets on highways and suburbs. The behaviour of the customer is very different at these two different types of business. The marketer likewise faces a distinct business environment to which marketing strategy must be adapted. The Highway market is not necessarily different from traditional markets because objectives remain the same. It is unique, however, because new approaches are needed to achieve the objectives.(Beaton 2001) Interstate or highway motorists seek five basic services: gasoline, rest rooms, food, relaxation and lodging. Aside from the need for gasoline as the prime factor, marketers differ somewhat in their opinions as to the exact ordering of these needs as stopping power factors. (Beaton 2001) The development of new factors is prompting rapid growth of different services at fuel retail outlets at highways. Competition and changing travel patterns mean that to remain competitive the oil companies must meet the overall needs of the motorist at one stop. (Beaton Hall, 1968) For a fuel retail outlet on highways, petroleum companies apply the same criteria for building service bouquet as that of the outlets with in urban limits. This happens due to the profit criteria only as the main objective of existence of outlet instead of customer satisfaction. A good station site does not guarantee a good service station. Site and location factor analysis indicates what a particular fuel outlet should do. (Beaton Hall 1968) Fuel Retailing India Fuel retail business on highways is geography dependent; the above researchers have kept their study confined to more developed and liberalised markets than India. All those factors may be or may not be applied to Indian conditions. As the Indian fuel retail business becomes more deregulation, the customer expectations will start to rise. The variables like competitive market, promotional effort to attract customers by competitors, etc. raise the customer expectations and create customer gap. (Kumar Sahay 2004) In India the study by Kumar Sahay, to find out the elements that determine customer satisfaction in delivering petrol/diesel through retail outlets is confined to fuel retail with in urban limits. The market survey was carried out in Delhi. Stratified non-probability sampling method was used for sample collection. The target population has been defined as: The people who drive ‘Cars / jeeps or ‘Motorcycles/scooters or ‘Buses or ‘Goods vehicles on the roads of Delhi (state)†. (Kumar Sahay 2004) Through cluster analysis the initially found segments reduced to three segments and customer expectations level for various services determined. This has lead to development of hierarchical levels of services for different segments and a conclusion that a player offering all the six levels of services will be able to bridge gap between customer expectations and services offered. These levels of expectations, if met successfully, create â€Å"wow† effect and customer would indulge in word-of-mouth communication. Word-of-mouth communication is the most powerful tool for creating customer base. Not only the existing customers are retained but also they bring-in new customers to outlets. Prospects with continued satisfaction with the products and services become advocates. Such customers start singing marketers song and begin to praise. (Kumar Sahay 2004) Fuel and Non Fuel retailing Initiatives by Indian Oil Marketing Companies The three major players in the domain of oil marketing companies in India are PSUs namely BPCL, HPCL and IOC enjoying majority share. Rest of the pie is served by private players like Reliance, Essar and Shell. All the three PSUs have taken initiatives to add non fuel revenues and build customer loyalty. These initiatives had been taken on outlets both within urban limits and also on outlets on highways and suburbs. The reason behind all the initiatives had been to gain customer loyalty and thus increase customer satisfaction. http://www.icmrindia.org/free%20resources/casestudies/BPCL.htm Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) is one of the largest public sector undertakings in India, with the Government of India having a more than 50% shareholding in the company as of 31 March 2008 (Euromonitor International, April 2009). BPCL is engaged in the refining and retailing of petroleum and petroleum products, with around 8,251 retail outlets. By December 2008, around 400 of these outlets had an organised convenience store attached, branded as In Out, with an aggregate retailing space of 18,600 sq m. BPCLs key strategy to increase revenues from the In Out outlets has been to expand the basket of products and services offered through the outlets. Apart from offering packaged food, soft and hot drinks, cosmetics and toiletries, household care items and consumer foodservice, BPCL has also tried to add other additional services at the outlets over the years to add to the customer satisfaction levels. Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) is planning to grow its non-fuel retail business by expanding its fuel retail network, with sufficient size to emphasise non-fuel offerings, and enlarge the portfolio of non-fuel offerings in its outlets located at highways and urban locations, with a focus on food, shopping and entertainment in these outlets. It will also increase consumer services for example, through its recent tie-up with an agency for international money transfer services at its existing urban outlets. During the forecast period, BPCL proposes to invest Rs 6 billion to expand its retail network. The outlets will be built mainly on national highways and at urban locations, and will offer mobile consumers high quality food, and also provide them with access to entertainment through an on-site multiplex screen. BPCL has tied up with Cinemata, a film distribution unit of Sony Entertainment Television, to establish cinema halls at its fuel outlets on highways across the country by 2010. In order to expand its range of services, In Out launched an e-traveller facility at its forecourt retail outlets. The facility enables consumers to book rail, airline and bus tickets, as well as hotel accommodation, and is available in 37 stores. BPCL is working on Phase II of the deployment of this service, when it will make it available in an additional 100 stores. Revenues from the e-traveller facility were around Rs15 million in 2007/2008; its first full year of operation, with sales of 7,782 tickets (Euromonitor International, April 2009). To provide added convenience services to its customers close to their homes, BPCL has signed a memorandum of understanding with Money Gram Internationals agent Airwings Services, to offer international money transfer service in India from its selected In Out outlets. Meanwhile, its alliance initiative with Western Union Money Transfer saw the In Out network record 36,677 transactions in the year ending March 2008, with a turnover of Rs 699 million, an increase of 26% over the previous year. (Euromonitor International, April 2009) BPCLs quick service restaurant sales through its alliance network partners McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Cafà © Coffee Day, Subway, Nirulas and other foodservice brands grew by 40% to Rs 249 million in the year ending March 2008. BPCLs outlets on highways are branded as Ghar Dhaba, and represent the companys foray into food. BPCL has developed a concept covering theme design, kitchen layout and menu planning, and established the standard operating processes for the outlets in-house. As of March 2008, it had 21 Ghar Dhaba outlets in operation, with total sales of Rs23 million. Developed on a large area of three to five acres (12,000-20,000sq m), these outlets provide the requisite space to allow BPCL to experiment with a multiplex cinema for stop-over entertainment (Business Standard, Sep 2007). http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/bpcl-to-mix-moviesoil-at-pumps/297583/ If the concept is successful, the company will roll this out in more Ghar Dhaba outlets. The multiplex screens, especially in outlets located on highways, will also serve a social purpose for nearby rural consumers. BPCL plans to screen social awareness, health and literacy content in these multiplexes for rural audiences. The majority of the products through the In Out outlets are manufactured by third parties. However, BPCL proposes to offer its own brand of bottled water at the outlets, where the water will be a by-product of its captive power plant, based on hydrogen fuel cell technology. Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) was the leading forecourt retailer in India in 2008, with 400 outlets. The company added 17 outlets to the total in that year. Rather than expanding rapidly, BPCL has focused on ensuring that its outlets are profitable, and also on adding additional services to its existing outlets. In 2008, sales revenues of BPCLs non-fuel retail arm, Allied Retail Business (ARB), grew by 32%, to Rs2,089 million, making it the largest non-fuel revenue generator in the oil industry. During the year, In Outs sales revenues grew by 41%, to Rs 1092 million. 15 of the In Out outlets achieved average sales of Rs1 million per month, compared to eight in the previous year. This is clear indication of the fact that now oil marketing companies are understanding the importance of non fuel retail revenue initiatives and also working over it not only for outlets with in urban limits but also for outlets on highways. But as discussed the scientific framework to decide what to offer still remains a mystery, as all the efforts for highway fuel retail outlets have been o trial and error basis. Source: Euromonitor International from trade press Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) HPCL is a Fortune 500 Company, with an annual turnover of over Rs 74044 Crores, a 20% refining and marketing share in India and a strong market infrastructure. (Euromonitor International, July 2007) The corporation operates two major refineries, producing a wide variety of petroleum fuels and specialities, one in Mumbai (West Coast) with a 5.5 MMTPA capacity and the other in Vishakapatnam (East Coast) with a capacity of 7.5 MMTPA (Oil Gas, IBEF Report Sep 2009) HPCL holds an equity stake of 16.95% in Mangalore Refinery Petrochemicals Limited, a state-of-the-art refinery at Mangalore with a capacity of 9 MMTPA. In addition, HPCL is progressing towards the setting up of a refinery in the state of Punjab. HPCL also owns and operates the largest lube refinery in the country, producing lube base oils to international standards. With a capacity of 335,000 metric tonnes this lube refinery accounts for over 40% of the countrys total lube base oil production. The vast marketing network of the corporation consists of zonal offices in the four metro cities and 85 regional offices facilitated by a supply and distribution infrastructure comprising terminals, aviation service stations, bottling plants, and inland relay depots and retail outlets. The Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL) focus is on providing broader services to its customers with an experience that is unmatched. Through its retail channels, HPCL offers a nationwide chain of convenience stores, has forged tie-ups with leading fast food and refreshment companies to set up food counters, a special arrangement with FedEx to provide a world class courier service, vehicle insurance and international money faster counters. The focus is on complete customer satisfaction and an experience that will make a customer drive in again and again to HPCL forecourt retailing and convenience stores. In 2006, the chain developed its forecourt operations substantially through a series of agreements with a number of prominent foodservice and retail players. HPCL is increasingly adopting a focus on loyalty, it has put in extra efforts and an aggressive marketing campaign to retain customer loyalty. It runs Indias largest loyalty programme and has products such as the HPCL credit card, HPCL debit card and I-mint loyalty programme. Another focus is on brand equity; HP has been investing in increasing its brand presence and has taken on brand ambassadors such as Sania Mirza and Narayan Karthikeyan to promote its different products. Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) is a central government commercial enterprise engaged in the refinement and sale of crude oil. It also manufactures other petroleum products like LPG, lubricants, greases, petrochemicals and aviation turbine fuel. HPCL launched its Club HP forecourt retailing chain in 2001. From the beginning, the chain sought to offer other facilities besides selling petrol, diesel and other products. These include free vehicle checks, vehicle finance and insurance related services, bill payment services, HPCL-ICICI credit cards and loyalty programmes. (Euromonitor International, July 2007) Club HP outlets are classified as Standard, Mega and Max, depending on the services and amenities available. In its first phase of expansion, HPCL set up 85 Club HP outlets in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai. Each of these outlets was converted at an estimated cost of between Rs1 and Rs3 million. It subsequently introduced its supermarket sub brand HP Speed mart, and developed its foodservice operations through an agreement with US Pizza. The success of this deal prompted HPCL to enter into similar agreements with players such as Cafà © Coffee Day (vending and foodservice), Dairy Den (ice cream parlours), Western Union (money transfer points) and Tata Motors (car care services) (Business Standard, Jan 2007). http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/fuel-stations-to-offer-one-stop-shopping/269785/ In order to improve its image among Indian consumers in terms of the quality of its fuel, during the review period the company launched the PCL Quality Assurance initiative under the Good Fuel Promise slogan. This involved the pioneering concept of mobile laboratories to carry out regular checks on fuel sold at Club HP outlets. It also entered into an agreement with the international agency Bureau Veritas to conduct a surveillance audit of Club HP Outlets. After having a market share of around 20-22% for a long time, recently it has improved its market position to number two, with a market share of close to 25% of the total service station market in India (Business Standard, April 2005). http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/fuel-stations-to-offer-one-stop-shopping/269785/ For most of the review period, Club HP played second fiddle to BPCLs In Out chain in terms of revenues from forecourt operations, although it garnered considerable brand awareness among consumers. A deal with US Pizza was expected to witness the opening of over 500 pizza and fast food delivery units at Club HP service station outlets across India between 2005 and 2007. Apna Bazaar Co-operative (a supermarket chain) is involved in a pilot project with HPCL to establish Apna Bazaar outlets at three Club HP outlets in Mumbai. If successful, the alliance will be extended to other Club HP outlets nationwide. This agreement will also enable Apna Bazaar to upgrade its image by targeting more upper and middle class consumers. http://www.hindustanpetroleum.com/En/UI/RetailClubHP.aspx While neither of these deals on their own are likely to have any major impact on constant value sales of impulse food and drink products through Club HP outlets, they will almost certainly benefit from the rise in consumer traffic that these foodservice and supermarket operations will entail. A loyalty card deal with low-cost airline Air Deccan should also ensure a higher volume of consumer traffic in Club HP outlets over the forecast period. Similarly, an agreement with Federal Express (FedEx) during the review period to open cargo collection centres at various Club HP outlets should continue to attract consumers between 2005 and 2010. FedEx is slowly gaining a reputation in India as a reliable cargo delivery agent; in 2005, there were FedEx cargo collection centres at HP outlets in eight major Indian cities. Source: Euromonitor International from trade press Reliance Petroleum Reliance Petroleum is aggressively targeting the service station channel, planning a pan-Indian presence over the next couple of years in cities as well as on main roads. The biggest challenge it faces is in terms of return on investment and whether it is a wise move to invest so heavily in forecourt retailing in India, which is still relatively underdeveloped. With Reliances strong presence across India, food and beverage manufacturers can aim to push major volumes through Reliance service stations. Reliance Petroleum Limited (RPL) is a subsidiary of Indias largest private group Reliance Industries Ltd. RPL was set up to harness an emerging value creation opportunity in the global refining sector and currently RPL is a 75% owned subsidiary of RIL. RPL also benefits from a strategic alliance with Chevron India Holdings Pte Limited, Singapore, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Chevron Corporation USA (Chevron), which currently holds a 5% equity stake in the company. RPL was formed to set up a Greenfield petroleum refinery and polypropylene plant in the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) at Jamnagar in Gujarat. This global sized, highly complex refinery is being located adjacent to RILs existing refinery and petrochemicals complex, which is amongst the largest and most efficient in the world, thus offering significant synergies. With an annual crude processing capacity of 580,000 barrels per stream day (BPSD), RPL will be the sixth largest refinery in the world. It will have a complexity of 14.0, using the Nelson Complexity Index, ranking it among the highest in the sector. The polypropylene plant will have a capacity to produce 0.9 million metric tonnes per annum. (Euromonitor International, July 2008) With its Reliance A1 Plaza chain, Reliance aims to provide consumers with a wide choice of products in convenient locations. The company had planned to open more than a 1,000 service stations in the next 2-3 years, so it was clearly targeting leadership in the petroleum retailing segment. But during economic crisis and with high crude rates, Reliance had shut their outlets as serving fuel at comparative prices was becoming non-profit making business for them. Shell India Marketing Private Limited Shell India Marketing Private Limited (SIMPL) is a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell and the first multinational corporation to obtain government approval to open 2,000 servic Customer Satisfaction in the Indian Petroleum Industry Customer Satisfaction in the Indian Petroleum Industry Determination of elements of customer satisfaction in delivering fuel through retail outlets on highways and in suburban areas Introduction The Indian Petroleum Industry The Indian petroleum Industry started way back in the end of the 19th century, with the discovery of petroleum in Digboi Assam .The industry was initially opened for international players and global oil majors such as Caltex, Esso and Burmah Shell. However after 1970s, the Indian division of the international companies was nationalized by government of India and the industry became strictly regulate din the country. The government nationalized the refining and marketing sectors and subsequently introduced regulatory controls on the production, import and distribution and pricing of crude oil and petroleum products by establishing the Oil coordination Committee (OCC). Through the OCC, the government administered the prices of petroleum products after establishing a complex oil pool account system. Producers, refiners and marketers were compensated for operating cost and were also assured of a fair return on their assets through the Administered Price Mechanism (APM). During this period, government controlled entities accounted for 90% of the market share. Major players like IOC, BPCL and HPCL dominated the market in the downstream sector, while the upstream sector was dominated by Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and Oil India claiming approximately 84% of the share of the total market. After the liberalization of the Indian economy, the industry witnessed some fundamental changes. The policy makers realized that APM will no longer be working successfully as it had in the past and the sector will have to be opened completely. Thus the government initiated the process of deregulation in 1995, whereas APM was replaced by Market Determined Price Mechanism (MDPM).With the introduction of MDMP and deregulation of the marketing and refining sectors, the industry was opened completely for private and foreign participation. The government allowed four companies Reliance Petroleum, ONGC, Essar and Numaligarh Refineries to market petroleum products through their retail outlets. During the APM regime, public sector companies ‘owned the mark et and hence they never felt the need to pay attention towards brand building and customer loyalty. Branding initiatives were limited to lubricant market only. With the entry of these new players, competition intensified and posed a serious threat for the existing players. This lead to change in the way oil marketing companies looked at the fuel retail business. This was the time when all players started understanding the fact that fuel products has to be moved from commodity-convenience purchase behaviour to service-customer loyalty quadrant. This will initiate cross selling and thus leading to increase in per square feet revenue from retail space. This increased the players effort towards branding and Non Fuel Revenue initiatives. Fuel Retailing in Indian Petroleum Industry Fuel retail business in India has undergone a huge change from a fully regulated market to semi regulated market. Till 2002 the sector was completely under government control. During all these years, the marketing function of organisations received the least importance. Distribution was the only marketing function. The market was sellers market. The customers had no option other than to buy products from public sector oil companies. The entry private players in the market have brought in options for customers and the concept of customer service has evolved in fuel retail business. At present there are nearly 34000 PSU fuel retail outlets spread across India. There are around 3000 fuel retail outlets by private players. The brand war is spreading to petrol pump stations. The players are becoming more customers centric and once the market becomes fully deregulated in coming years with number of players becoming double of present, the competition on price will die and the competition will be to gain customer loyalty by providing different services to customer. Thus it becomes important to know the hierarchical level of services which need to be provided to achieve customer satisfaction and gain customer loyalty. The study by Kumar Sahay(2004) says that the behaviour of customer at fuel retail outlets on highways is to park the vehicle and relax, which is very different from behaviour on outlets within urban limits. Thus it becomes evident from the above that fuel retail business in India can divided into two types, which are â€Å"Fuel Retail Business with in Urban Limits† and â€Å"Fuel Retail Business on Highways and Suburbs†. The hierarchical level discussed above is dependent upon type of fuel retail business the player is operating in. This demarcation into two businesses happens due to the difference in the customer behaviour while travelling with in urban limits and on highways. There are many researches done on highway travellers and their expectation and preferences of services on fuel stations, but these are geography specific and nothing has been done in the Indian context. The determination of hierarchical level of services at fuel stations till date is confined to urban limits only. The customer behaviour and expectations on outlets situated on highways and suburbs are different from customer segments visiting outlets with in urban limits. This research aims at finding different services at fuel retail outlets on highways and in suburban areas other than refuelling which will help in creating loyal customers. Also there can be number of services, but which are more important for particular outlet always remains a question. The research also aims to find relationship between the location of outlets to the kind of services required in order to build a decision making process model to select important added services with an objective of increasing per squ are feet revenue from the real state space and development of customer loyalty. Literature review Fuel Retailing â€Å"Retailing is the set of activities that markets products or services to final consumers for their own personal or household use whereas Retailer is someone who cuts off or sheds a small piece from something† Before moving to Indian context it is important to create a parallel with western markets where fuel or gasoline retailing is in more developed stage in comparison to Indian fuel retailing. The fuel retailing in India has started to move from commodity to service from 2002 after the emergence of private and global players. But this phenomenon happened far before in US, European and Asia Pacific markets. Since 1960 there have been substantial changes in the structure of the petrol retailing industry of Europe and North America (Lowe J. , 1976)There was influx of new companies in UK market which were either independent or wholly owned subsidiaries of foreign giants. Lowe (1976) analyzed that after the influx of new firms in UK, the price competition became fierce and all the new companies tried different things to differentiate and gain customer loyalty. The fuel or gasoline retail structure in US had full service gasoline stations. The full service gasoline station was the one that offered minor services and repairs, where wind shield was cleaned, where credit was offered and where rest rooms were available (Mitchell 1980). Mitchell(1980) also stated that these services were sold as a part of a package along with the gasoline itself and was done entirely with the objective of building a long term relationship between the service station and the customer. The companies in the western countries started looking for various services which can supplement their gasoline sales in the event of increased competition. One of the most popular additions of service was car wash, which proved to be a successful strategy in selling tremendous volumes of gasoline. This made customers to come for car wash and also get their vehicles refuelled. ‘A dealer in Dallas, estimated that more than half of his anticipated $ 700,000 sales would come from an automated car wash. What more he claimed that the presence of car wash boosted his gasoline sales to an annual rate more than 1,000,00 gallons from 680,000 gallons three before that.( Steele 1966) Steele (1966) also predicted that as time passes by more and more gasoline stations will turn into large service centres offering a combination of gasoline, car wash, tire and battery service, restaurant and so on. Thus the future will be a complete one stop solution. This can hold true in Indian context also, but the bouquet of services will be definitely very different from outlets in developed markets. The bouquet will be entirely different depending upon the different customer requirements and purchasing power. Mitchell (1980) also predicted the movement of gasoline stations from independent full service stations to company owned self service gasoline stations. The reason stated was the pressure of margins and aim to drive customer loyalty by providing customers with a large service bouquet at gasoline station with in the same margin. This can also be seen happening in Indian context with Indian Oil Corporation being the first among all PSUs moving towards company owned outlets to increase service standards at their pumps and recently Shell entering into Indian market with company owned outlets. The conceptual model (Brown Ingene 1987) on fuel or gasoline retail structure in US explains the influence of demographic environmental characteristics on marketing mix offerings. The model also explained the influence of location of the outlet on demographic, environmental, and marketing mix characteristics. The research by Brown and Ingene (1987) demonstrated that while defining marketing mix elements for fuel and gasoline retailing it becomes important to consider the impact of demographic and environmental characteristics. The major changes started to happen in fuel retailing and fuel stations started to move towards differentiating themselves due to increase in competition. This was the development of forecourt retailing phenomenon at gasoline stations in western markets. The major changes occurred with petrol forecourt retailing where transition of fuel stations within a contextual framework happened. They had sought differentiation in the face of increased competition. One strategy undertaken was to develop a convenience store format to supplement fuel sales (Denning Freathy 1996). A clear analogy can be drawn for Indian fuel retail also, where with emergence of many private players to tap the biggest consumer market, the players or fuel companies will have to try and do something to differentiate themselves. As the competition grew the fuel retailers faced more and more pressure on profits and it became important for them to generate loyal customers and increase the ticket sales value of loyal customers at the fuel outlet. They move to others forms of revenue generation. The objective was to compensate for erosion with alternative forms of profit generation. The issue for the petrol retailers has been to identify ways of adding value to their operation in the face of these competitive threats. One of the main methods of achieving this has been through forecourt shop. Many petrol retailers have attempted to reduce the risk posed by petrol price fluctuation by expanding the facilities at their outlets. (Keynote, 1993) Denning and Freathy (1996) established that different customer segments depending upon their income levels and profession purchased different products from convenience stores at petrol stations. This indicates that determination major visiting customer segment becomes important at any fuel retail outlet. The product mix at any fuel retail outlet is also dependent upon purchasing power of the customer segments at that outlet. The exact form that the formats have taken has varied by operator location and site type. This is a reflection of the fact that the convenience store does not necessarily follow a single set pattern. The limited space available within each unit, it is possible that services take priority over other categories of goods.(Denning Freathy 1996) An important feature to note here is that, the development of fuel stations did not happen only in areas with in urban limits. The development of interstate highways and urban express ways had made many fuel stations obsolete in western world. This made many oil companies to build new facilities to meet the changing traffic patterns. More and more oil companies began to realize that former gas outlets of the conventional style were no longer getting customer visits. The primary objective of service bouquet is to add to the convenience of the customer visiting the outlet. Convenience is especially important in attracting repeat customers. It becomes fairly important to understand what adds to customer convenience and what not. Convenience results from various factors such as site size, site plan, traffic impacts and parking (Smalley 1996). The factors are not limited to the ones stated above; the factors vary with different geographies and markets. Fuel retail business is of two types one with retail outlets with in urban limits and other with retail outlets on highways and suburbs. The behaviour of the customer is very different at these two different types of business. The marketer likewise faces a distinct business environment to which marketing strategy must be adapted. The Highway market is not necessarily different from traditional markets because objectives remain the same. It is unique, however, because new approaches are needed to achieve the objectives.(Beaton 2001) Interstate or highway motorists seek five basic services: gasoline, rest rooms, food, relaxation and lodging. Aside from the need for gasoline as the prime factor, marketers differ somewhat in their opinions as to the exact ordering of these needs as stopping power factors. (Beaton 2001) The development of new factors is prompting rapid growth of different services at fuel retail outlets at highways. Competition and changing travel patterns mean that to remain competitive the oil companies must meet the overall needs of the motorist at one stop. (Beaton Hall, 1968) For a fuel retail outlet on highways, petroleum companies apply the same criteria for building service bouquet as that of the outlets with in urban limits. This happens due to the profit criteria only as the main objective of existence of outlet instead of customer satisfaction. A good station site does not guarantee a good service station. Site and location factor analysis indicates what a particular fuel outlet should do. (Beaton Hall 1968) Fuel Retailing India Fuel retail business on highways is geography dependent; the above researchers have kept their study confined to more developed and liberalised markets than India. All those factors may be or may not be applied to Indian conditions. As the Indian fuel retail business becomes more deregulation, the customer expectations will start to rise. The variables like competitive market, promotional effort to attract customers by competitors, etc. raise the customer expectations and create customer gap. (Kumar Sahay 2004) In India the study by Kumar Sahay, to find out the elements that determine customer satisfaction in delivering petrol/diesel through retail outlets is confined to fuel retail with in urban limits. The market survey was carried out in Delhi. Stratified non-probability sampling method was used for sample collection. The target population has been defined as: The people who drive ‘Cars / jeeps or ‘Motorcycles/scooters or ‘Buses or ‘Goods vehicles on the roads of Delhi (state)†. (Kumar Sahay 2004) Through cluster analysis the initially found segments reduced to three segments and customer expectations level for various services determined. This has lead to development of hierarchical levels of services for different segments and a conclusion that a player offering all the six levels of services will be able to bridge gap between customer expectations and services offered. These levels of expectations, if met successfully, create â€Å"wow† effect and customer would indulge in word-of-mouth communication. Word-of-mouth communication is the most powerful tool for creating customer base. Not only the existing customers are retained but also they bring-in new customers to outlets. Prospects with continued satisfaction with the products and services become advocates. Such customers start singing marketers song and begin to praise. (Kumar Sahay 2004) Fuel and Non Fuel retailing Initiatives by Indian Oil Marketing Companies The three major players in the domain of oil marketing companies in India are PSUs namely BPCL, HPCL and IOC enjoying majority share. Rest of the pie is served by private players like Reliance, Essar and Shell. All the three PSUs have taken initiatives to add non fuel revenues and build customer loyalty. These initiatives had been taken on outlets both within urban limits and also on outlets on highways and suburbs. The reason behind all the initiatives had been to gain customer loyalty and thus increase customer satisfaction. http://www.icmrindia.org/free%20resources/casestudies/BPCL.htm Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) is one of the largest public sector undertakings in India, with the Government of India having a more than 50% shareholding in the company as of 31 March 2008 (Euromonitor International, April 2009). BPCL is engaged in the refining and retailing of petroleum and petroleum products, with around 8,251 retail outlets. By December 2008, around 400 of these outlets had an organised convenience store attached, branded as In Out, with an aggregate retailing space of 18,600 sq m. BPCLs key strategy to increase revenues from the In Out outlets has been to expand the basket of products and services offered through the outlets. Apart from offering packaged food, soft and hot drinks, cosmetics and toiletries, household care items and consumer foodservice, BPCL has also tried to add other additional services at the outlets over the years to add to the customer satisfaction levels. Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) is planning to grow its non-fuel retail business by expanding its fuel retail network, with sufficient size to emphasise non-fuel offerings, and enlarge the portfolio of non-fuel offerings in its outlets located at highways and urban locations, with a focus on food, shopping and entertainment in these outlets. It will also increase consumer services for example, through its recent tie-up with an agency for international money transfer services at its existing urban outlets. During the forecast period, BPCL proposes to invest Rs 6 billion to expand its retail network. The outlets will be built mainly on national highways and at urban locations, and will offer mobile consumers high quality food, and also provide them with access to entertainment through an on-site multiplex screen. BPCL has tied up with Cinemata, a film distribution unit of Sony Entertainment Television, to establish cinema halls at its fuel outlets on highways across the country by 2010. In order to expand its range of services, In Out launched an e-traveller facility at its forecourt retail outlets. The facility enables consumers to book rail, airline and bus tickets, as well as hotel accommodation, and is available in 37 stores. BPCL is working on Phase II of the deployment of this service, when it will make it available in an additional 100 stores. Revenues from the e-traveller facility were around Rs15 million in 2007/2008; its first full year of operation, with sales of 7,782 tickets (Euromonitor International, April 2009). To provide added convenience services to its customers close to their homes, BPCL has signed a memorandum of understanding with Money Gram Internationals agent Airwings Services, to offer international money transfer service in India from its selected In Out outlets. Meanwhile, its alliance initiative with Western Union Money Transfer saw the In Out network record 36,677 transactions in the year ending March 2008, with a turnover of Rs 699 million, an increase of 26% over the previous year. (Euromonitor International, April 2009) BPCLs quick service restaurant sales through its alliance network partners McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Cafà © Coffee Day, Subway, Nirulas and other foodservice brands grew by 40% to Rs 249 million in the year ending March 2008. BPCLs outlets on highways are branded as Ghar Dhaba, and represent the companys foray into food. BPCL has developed a concept covering theme design, kitchen layout and menu planning, and established the standard operating processes for the outlets in-house. As of March 2008, it had 21 Ghar Dhaba outlets in operation, with total sales of Rs23 million. Developed on a large area of three to five acres (12,000-20,000sq m), these outlets provide the requisite space to allow BPCL to experiment with a multiplex cinema for stop-over entertainment (Business Standard, Sep 2007). http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/bpcl-to-mix-moviesoil-at-pumps/297583/ If the concept is successful, the company will roll this out in more Ghar Dhaba outlets. The multiplex screens, especially in outlets located on highways, will also serve a social purpose for nearby rural consumers. BPCL plans to screen social awareness, health and literacy content in these multiplexes for rural audiences. The majority of the products through the In Out outlets are manufactured by third parties. However, BPCL proposes to offer its own brand of bottled water at the outlets, where the water will be a by-product of its captive power plant, based on hydrogen fuel cell technology. Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) was the leading forecourt retailer in India in 2008, with 400 outlets. The company added 17 outlets to the total in that year. Rather than expanding rapidly, BPCL has focused on ensuring that its outlets are profitable, and also on adding additional services to its existing outlets. In 2008, sales revenues of BPCLs non-fuel retail arm, Allied Retail Business (ARB), grew by 32%, to Rs2,089 million, making it the largest non-fuel revenue generator in the oil industry. During the year, In Outs sales revenues grew by 41%, to Rs 1092 million. 15 of the In Out outlets achieved average sales of Rs1 million per month, compared to eight in the previous year. This is clear indication of the fact that now oil marketing companies are understanding the importance of non fuel retail revenue initiatives and also working over it not only for outlets with in urban limits but also for outlets on highways. But as discussed the scientific framework to decide what to offer still remains a mystery, as all the efforts for highway fuel retail outlets have been o trial and error basis. Source: Euromonitor International from trade press Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) HPCL is a Fortune 500 Company, with an annual turnover of over Rs 74044 Crores, a 20% refining and marketing share in India and a strong market infrastructure. (Euromonitor International, July 2007) The corporation operates two major refineries, producing a wide variety of petroleum fuels and specialities, one in Mumbai (West Coast) with a 5.5 MMTPA capacity and the other in Vishakapatnam (East Coast) with a capacity of 7.5 MMTPA (Oil Gas, IBEF Report Sep 2009) HPCL holds an equity stake of 16.95% in Mangalore Refinery Petrochemicals Limited, a state-of-the-art refinery at Mangalore with a capacity of 9 MMTPA. In addition, HPCL is progressing towards the setting up of a refinery in the state of Punjab. HPCL also owns and operates the largest lube refinery in the country, producing lube base oils to international standards. With a capacity of 335,000 metric tonnes this lube refinery accounts for over 40% of the countrys total lube base oil production. The vast marketing network of the corporation consists of zonal offices in the four metro cities and 85 regional offices facilitated by a supply and distribution infrastructure comprising terminals, aviation service stations, bottling plants, and inland relay depots and retail outlets. The Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL) focus is on providing broader services to its customers with an experience that is unmatched. Through its retail channels, HPCL offers a nationwide chain of convenience stores, has forged tie-ups with leading fast food and refreshment companies to set up food counters, a special arrangement with FedEx to provide a world class courier service, vehicle insurance and international money faster counters. The focus is on complete customer satisfaction and an experience that will make a customer drive in again and again to HPCL forecourt retailing and convenience stores. In 2006, the chain developed its forecourt operations substantially through a series of agreements with a number of prominent foodservice and retail players. HPCL is increasingly adopting a focus on loyalty, it has put in extra efforts and an aggressive marketing campaign to retain customer loyalty. It runs Indias largest loyalty programme and has products such as the HPCL credit card, HPCL debit card and I-mint loyalty programme. Another focus is on brand equity; HP has been investing in increasing its brand presence and has taken on brand ambassadors such as Sania Mirza and Narayan Karthikeyan to promote its different products. Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) is a central government commercial enterprise engaged in the refinement and sale of crude oil. It also manufactures other petroleum products like LPG, lubricants, greases, petrochemicals and aviation turbine fuel. HPCL launched its Club HP forecourt retailing chain in 2001. From the beginning, the chain sought to offer other facilities besides selling petrol, diesel and other products. These include free vehicle checks, vehicle finance and insurance related services, bill payment services, HPCL-ICICI credit cards and loyalty programmes. (Euromonitor International, July 2007) Club HP outlets are classified as Standard, Mega and Max, depending on the services and amenities available. In its first phase of expansion, HPCL set up 85 Club HP outlets in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai. Each of these outlets was converted at an estimated cost of between Rs1 and Rs3 million. It subsequently introduced its supermarket sub brand HP Speed mart, and developed its foodservice operations through an agreement with US Pizza. The success of this deal prompted HPCL to enter into similar agreements with players such as Cafà © Coffee Day (vending and foodservice), Dairy Den (ice cream parlours), Western Union (money transfer points) and Tata Motors (car care services) (Business Standard, Jan 2007). http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/fuel-stations-to-offer-one-stop-shopping/269785/ In order to improve its image among Indian consumers in terms of the quality of its fuel, during the review period the company launched the PCL Quality Assurance initiative under the Good Fuel Promise slogan. This involved the pioneering concept of mobile laboratories to carry out regular checks on fuel sold at Club HP outlets. It also entered into an agreement with the international agency Bureau Veritas to conduct a surveillance audit of Club HP Outlets. After having a market share of around 20-22% for a long time, recently it has improved its market position to number two, with a market share of close to 25% of the total service station market in India (Business Standard, April 2005). http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/fuel-stations-to-offer-one-stop-shopping/269785/ For most of the review period, Club HP played second fiddle to BPCLs In Out chain in terms of revenues from forecourt operations, although it garnered considerable brand awareness among consumers. A deal with US Pizza was expected to witness the opening of over 500 pizza and fast food delivery units at Club HP service station outlets across India between 2005 and 2007. Apna Bazaar Co-operative (a supermarket chain) is involved in a pilot project with HPCL to establish Apna Bazaar outlets at three Club HP outlets in Mumbai. If successful, the alliance will be extended to other Club HP outlets nationwide. This agreement will also enable Apna Bazaar to upgrade its image by targeting more upper and middle class consumers. http://www.hindustanpetroleum.com/En/UI/RetailClubHP.aspx While neither of these deals on their own are likely to have any major impact on constant value sales of impulse food and drink products through Club HP outlets, they will almost certainly benefit from the rise in consumer traffic that these foodservice and supermarket operations will entail. A loyalty card deal with low-cost airline Air Deccan should also ensure a higher volume of consumer traffic in Club HP outlets over the forecast period. Similarly, an agreement with Federal Express (FedEx) during the review period to open cargo collection centres at various Club HP outlets should continue to attract consumers between 2005 and 2010. FedEx is slowly gaining a reputation in India as a reliable cargo delivery agent; in 2005, there were FedEx cargo collection centres at HP outlets in eight major Indian cities. Source: Euromonitor International from trade press Reliance Petroleum Reliance Petroleum is aggressively targeting the service station channel, planning a pan-Indian presence over the next couple of years in cities as well as on main roads. The biggest challenge it faces is in terms of return on investment and whether it is a wise move to invest so heavily in forecourt retailing in India, which is still relatively underdeveloped. With Reliances strong presence across India, food and beverage manufacturers can aim to push major volumes through Reliance service stations. Reliance Petroleum Limited (RPL) is a subsidiary of Indias largest private group Reliance Industries Ltd. RPL was set up to harness an emerging value creation opportunity in the global refining sector and currently RPL is a 75% owned subsidiary of RIL. RPL also benefits from a strategic alliance with Chevron India Holdings Pte Limited, Singapore, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Chevron Corporation USA (Chevron), which currently holds a 5% equity stake in the company. RPL was formed to set up a Greenfield petroleum refinery and polypropylene plant in the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) at Jamnagar in Gujarat. This global sized, highly complex refinery is being located adjacent to RILs existing refinery and petrochemicals complex, which is amongst the largest and most efficient in the world, thus offering significant synergies. With an annual crude processing capacity of 580,000 barrels per stream day (BPSD), RPL will be the sixth largest refinery in the world. It will have a complexity of 14.0, using the Nelson Complexity Index, ranking it among the highest in the sector. The polypropylene plant will have a capacity to produce 0.9 million metric tonnes per annum. (Euromonitor International, July 2008) With its Reliance A1 Plaza chain, Reliance aims to provide consumers with a wide choice of products in convenient locations. The company had planned to open more than a 1,000 service stations in the next 2-3 years, so it was clearly targeting leadership in the petroleum retailing segment. But during economic crisis and with high crude rates, Reliance had shut their outlets as serving fuel at comparative prices was becoming non-profit making business for them. Shell India Marketing Private Limited Shell India Marketing Private Limited (SIMPL) is a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell and the first multinational corporation to obtain government approval to open 2,000 servic