Human Resources and Cyber Competition - Essay Example

Research methodology Introduction E-commerce is becoming more important and decisive in promoting businesses of the new modern society. It is one of the best means of bringing the sellers and the buyers together, simultaneously reducing costs and increasing the globalization of the market. Cyber competition provides business people with opportunities of making their business perfect online without substantial costs and investments, however letting them get significant profits. Shopping is becoming available to anyone on the Web, making an example of a popular vending machine, as more and more retailing buyers come to the Global network for shopping. The fact that Internet is full (or, rather, overfilled) with various information in relation to buying and shopping, makes the sellers think about new ways of promoting their products and making them more price competitive. Shopping online is convenient, especially for the part of the modern society, which is always busy and wants to buy high quality products spending minimum time on the search and buying process. The World Trade Organization has performed a study which suggests that the companies which will concentrate their operations on online products and services, will greatly benefit in the future, as this will soon become a major means of shopping all over the world. However, it should be remembered that the level of competition online also grows, thus the probability exists that some of the online sellers might lose their money. Despite the high volumes of the annual Internet turnovers, which grow each year, it should be pointed out that the more sellers enter online space, the more the global web will be characterized by fierce competition, thin margins, higher initial start-up and uncertain environment. However, the call to join the ‘dot.com’ is still very attractive and extremely interesting for many potential businessmen who are not able to invest large finances into opening their own business. Hypothesis and objectives The topic of the research is the following: a descriptive correlation study of online beauty product vendors with discussing their strategies and buying behaviors of consumers. The main aim of the study is to describe the behaviors of the consumers which by beauty products online, as well as the promotion strategies used by online retailing sellers of the beauty products. The main questions which are to be discussed in the work in details are as follows: 1. What are the reasons of consumers for buying or not buying beauty products on-line? a. How do consumers assess beauty on-line vendors they have had experience with in terms of the following on-line promotion strategies? b. Comfort offered by clicking instead of dialing a number from the website c. Diversity of beauty product offerings d. Extent of market networks and alliances e. Offering high quality products f. Being a strong global brand g. Maintaining a good, long-term relationship with its on-line clients h. Having attractive promotional offers 2. Which of these promotion strategies are significantly correlated with overall strategies? 3. Customer satisfaction from the evaluations of consumers? However, there still exist some limitations of the study, which are connected with the following problems: first of all, the number of the respondents, who took part in the present research, is limited and thus might not create 100% objective picture of the most popular and profitable online strategies in the area of beauty product selling. The respondents have not been divided into categories, according to their age, online experience, education, etc. Such additional factors should be taken into account as they often influence the attitudes and choices of the beauty products online. The second limitation of the present research is the fact that in creating and providing the respondents with the questionnaires, there has been made no reference to any specific online vendor, which could have a significant impact on the way the respondents answered their questionnaires, and thus on the ultimate results and conclusions of the work. Literature research As the previous decade has been highlighted by the struggle of the business organizations for their competitive position on the market, especially online. In the present research there have been used a number of literary sources, which give general picture and trends on the modern global market and can be used in the discussion of the future online trends, as well as applied specifically to the beauty products on the web. There are several theories and views of different authors which are used in the research. First of all, Luttwack (1999) notes, that there are global drivers which exert strong influence on service organizations, including the two types of forces – internal and external ones. However, to make the research objective and more profound, it is necessary to use the following theories. First of all, the concept of the 4p should be discussed in the online context and applied to the position of beauty product vendors on the global market. The work of Kotler (2000) will be used in the work as a basic research of marketing notions and concepts, however, other works on similar topics should be used to make up the basis of the 4P framework. In this context the work of Christopher, Clark, Peck and Payne (1999) becomes the basic, giving the 12 factors which comprise the so-called ‘marketing mix’, being referred to the book of Borden (1960). These 12 factors have later been formed into the well-known Kotler’s 4P, which are now applied to any marketing area, as well as the online marketing. Several theories and opinions as for the long-term relationship on the global online market are also used in the present research. Christopher et al refers to the eventual inadequacy of the transaction-based model, noting that for a long time there have been used marketing models inappropriate in various industrial and servicing contexts; marketing science in its traditional form has never represented the real aims and limitations of the online marketing. It has become evident in the mid 1990s that traditional marketing paradigm had lost its potency even on the consumer markets, thus there appeared the need in creating new paradigms and strategies which could also be applied to the growing web market. The relationship marketing, reviewed by Christopher et al. (1999), Stone, Woodcock and Machtynger (2000), Gordon (1998) and Gummerson (2002) provided the new tools and methodologies, known as relationship marketing. This theory has become one of the mail lines in the present research. Christopher et al. (1999) was the first to introduce the new concept, stating that relationship model is also connected with the other external parties, such as distributors, suppliers, etc., which are the integral parts of any online market at present time and should be accounted in this work when discussing the strategies and behaviors of the beauty product vendors. Despite the variations in definitions, relationship marketing borrows heavily from studies on customer service and customer retention. Scholars suggest that more than single-sale transactions, it is often desirable for companies to establish a longer-term, mutually beneficial (value-creating) relationship between the organization and its customers (Stone, Woodcock, & Machtynger, 2000; Christopher et al., 1999; Gordon, 1998; Gummerson, 2002b). Another concept to be used in the work is the concept of internal marketing, which is closely related to the relationship model. The definition of the internal marketing has also been made by Kotler (1997), which is the means of motivating the employees for providing the customers with high quality products and services. In this connection the work of Guenzi and Pelloni (2004) should be used as it provides the description of the impact of interpersonal relationships on customer satisfaction and loyalty. Given the importance of such frontline personnel in delivering the relationship marketing strategy, Guenzi and Pelloni point out managerial implications in terms of personnel selection, training, rewards systems, facilities, processes, and peripheral services. As the concept of internal marketing has already been used and discussed in literature, another stress in the present research should be also made on the concept of external marketing, which is also connected with the relationship marketing, will be applied to the present topic and have been described by several authors. However, it should be noted, that only a few authors discussed the external marketing concept, among which Gummerson (1994), Christopher, Payne and Ballantyne (1991). Christopher et al. (1991) labels such non-customer, external relationships as “influence markets”. Influencer applies to a “range of third parties who exercise influence over the organization and its potential customers.” In addition, there will be used the theories of online strategies, discussed by Henderson & Michelle (1997), Ocasio (1997), Shuen (1997) and Farjoun (2002). Theories of strategy in new environments were established by this work but it should take into consideration key elements such as corporate uncertainty, learning and mistakes and resistance to change. Firms base their general tactics on their belief on what will work and not on a specific understanding of what will work; this is because failure and exit occur frequently in new environments. Relevance of the work The work appears very relevant nowadays with the active growth of the online markets and the globalization of economies. It is becoming more popular and convenient to buy products and services online, thus it is necessary to understand and outline the most appropriate and profitable strategies for the sellers who have their businesses online. It is understood, that the general notions and concepts of the marketing according to Kotler and other authors can be applied to the global network businesses, however there are some peculiarities, which should be subject to closer research, be explained and described from the viewpoint of the online business. There are many issues which are to be discussed in this and in further researches, such as the 4P of the marketing if applied to online vendors, external and internal factors which influence customer preferences, etc. However, the present work being devoted to the issues of beauty product vendors online may be partially applied to other trading issues on the Web in its theories and general concepts. The conclusions, made in the work, should be also viewed and somewhat amended in relation to other branches of business in the global network. However, as beauty products represent a very specific product, which can also hardly be shopped online, there should be applied special strategies for making this business successful and profitable, thus the work is of high relevance for both the sellers of such and similar products, as well as the customers, which should be aware of the benefits of the online shopping. Methodology The study of the beauty vendors online employs a descriptive correlation method of analysis. This method is descriptive and is the best way in proving the main hypothesis of the work through describing different aspects of selling beauty products online. The method is descriptive as it provides further insight by describing the variables of interest, and it is also correlation as establishes the relationship between each online promotion strategy and the paths and methods of customer satisfaction. The samples chosen were the respondents, selected according to the two specific criteria: first of all, they must have at least some relation or experience in interacting with some of beauty vendors online, however, it is not necessary that these respondents have bought any beauty products from these vendors; according to the second criteria, each respondent should have explicitly expressed his (her) wish to take part in the research. The method of the sampling in the present work is called purposive, which is in fact a non-probability sampling, when the researcher tries to combine clustering with randomization, using human logic and judgment. All consumers of the beauty products online are able to take part in this study as respondents. It was expected that the equal number of male and female respondents would take part in the present research, at the age between 20 and 50, as the consumers of the beauty products online represent wide range of ages. The consent of the respondents to take part in the research should be unconditional and reasonable, as according to the requirements of the research, no coercion into participation will be used, as the study requires this participation be voluntary. In addition, all respondents were informed that their responses to the questionnaires would not become public and would only be used for the research. For the questionnaire to correspond the main requirements of the research, it included the contact information of the researcher. As it has been already noted, the questionnaire created by the researcher has become the main instrument of the present research. The first type of questionnaires used in the work was dichotomous, thus the respondent had to answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’ at the questions included, or to choose from the number of answers the most appropriate ones. The examples of the questions included into this type of questionnaire, were the following: have you bought any product online in the past? What are the three main reasons for buying products online? What are the three main reasons for not buying anything online? The second type of the questionnaire deals with discussing various promotion strategies for the beauty products online, and is designed in the form of the Likert scale. The questions asked in the second part of the questionnaire may be outlines as follows: do online products offer comfort providing the possibility of clicking instead of dialing a number; do online markets offer more digital than physical products; is it possible to maintain long-term relationships between the customers and the sellers online. The final part of the questionnaire is represented in the form of proposal to evaluate the general satisfaction from buying products or services online. The general procedure of the research can be defined in the form of several steps. 1. The literature review, which included citation of various books, journal, magazine articles, and online sources as well on the main and related topics of the research. 2. Creation of the questionnaire, which has later been sent to 80 respondents, selected purposively. With the help of frequencies, percentages and statistical methods the data collected has been analyzed by the researcher. 3. The processing of questionnaires was performed without any personal details of the respondents, each questionnaire being sealed and carrying only the participant’s number. Each respondent has been informed about the possibility to gain access to the final results of the research as soon as it is in its final stage of dissertation creation. The present study utilizes a correlational research design, specifically determining bivariate correlation between the etiology and anatomical site of the injury and postural characteristics. In bivariate correlation, the degrees of the association between two variables in assessed. Such a relationship has a degree as determined by its magnitude, expressed as a number between -1 and +1, the so-called correlation coefficient. A zero correlation denotes the absence of a relationship. As the correlation coefficient becomes closer toward either -1 or +1, the relationship gets stronger until there is a "perfect correlation" at either extreme. The timeline and milestones of the present research The main part of the dissertation being the data collection, this stage has been completed in 14 days. The announcement has been made to the university students who were willing to take part in filling questionnaires. The completion of the questionnaire by each student took 10 minutes. Participants were encouraged to complete the questionnaire within their dormitories, although when necessary survey questionnaires can be completed in their own time and returned to the researcher in a sealed envelope. Each questionnaire booklet was identified only with a participant number. On completion of the study participants were thanked, and were briefly informed of the study’s objectives, and asked not to reveal these to students who may still wish to participate. It can be proposed that the present research is only one of the stages in carrying major work in the area of online business, marketing and promotion strategies. The work has revealed the issues which should be subjected to closer consideration and research, thus it is suggested that the similar research is carried out in two years, in the conditions of the constantly growing online markets. It is recommended that the results obtained through the present research are compared to the results of other similar works and the results acquired in the further researches in the recommended timelines. The following recommendations have been created by the researcher in the process of writing this dissertation: 1. The future researches in the area of online business should take into account cultural differences and note, whether these differences cause any major discrepancies in the online promotion strategies. 2. The future researches should also employ other variables, as the gender, age and education of the respondents, thus making the future works more differentiated and sophisticated. 3. It is also possible to use more sophisticated statistical tools such as the analysis of variance or multiple regressions to look at the effect of more independent variables in the study of online behavior as they relate to beauty products. The results of the work may be used as an example of recommendations for the beauty product online vendors, thus making their promotion strategies more effective and cost-effective. The results of the study also indicate that the degrees to which goods are customized to their needs are also valued by online consumers. These are consistent with the suggestions of Wind and Mahajan (2000) saying that the process of customization can bring about significant benefits to both customers and the organization. Based on contemporary studies, there are alternatives on how online vendors can convey trust online, including the communities in it (Balasubramanian & Mahajan, 2001). One is through links from trusted websites and the submission of objective product information such as customer feedback, (Urban, Sultan & Qualls, 2000) as well as using existing conventional brand names (Shankar, Rangaswamy & Putaseri, 1999). These are only some of the factors that online vendors may focus on based on the results of the study. References Davis, J 2005, ‘Correlational research methods’. Retrieved on January 12, 2005 from http://clem.mscd.edu/~davisj/prm2/correl1.html Mason, J 1997, Qualitative researching: An introductory text. New York, Sage Read More