Business Research Of Countdown Supermarket Chain †Free Samples

Question: Discuss about the Business Research Of Countdown Supermarket Chain. Answer: Introduction The chosen business organization for the current study is Countdown supermarket chain, which is one of the largest retail units operating in New Zealand. The business firm is one of the subsidiary units of the Woolworths Limited, which is the largest retail supermarket chain of Australia. Countdown has the largest number of retail stores in all over New Zealand with a total number of 275 franchise shops. The company was established in the year 1981 and is currently having its headquarters in Auckland. The owner ship of the company is with the group of Progressive Enterprise. However, in the initial stage the ownership was under Rattrays Wholesale Group. The ownership shifted to Progressive Enterprise in the year 2002, which occurred after the group decided to buy the Woolworths Limited enterprise (Countdown, 2017). Hence, it is evident that the Countdown has undergone several organization changes from 1993-2005. This had great impact of the organizational decision making process and upon the quality of service and products that are sold the company. The company has been able to build their reputation in the consumer market of New Zealand due to the effective and quality level of customer service. This has allowed the company to build high level of brand reputation over the years, as the customers are able to have high level of trust over the service and the products. The company has also been able to gain high level of competitive advantage with the help of the better level of customer service. In the recent times however, due to the poor quality of customer service, it is not possible for the company to maintain high level of customer satisfaction, thereby compromising on the level of brand reputation and brand popularity of the company. The aim and scope of the current study is to discuss about the existing literature that is related to various parameters that can ultimately affect level of customer satisfaction. It is important for a business organization to focus upon these factors as it can help in improving upon the brand popularity of a company. The scope of the existing literature is to discuss about the expectation level of the customers, which is believe to be the primary factors for implementing high level of customer satisfaction. It is also important to understand about the fact that in the recent days the customers have the option to switch over different brands if they are not satisfied with the quality of service and products. In this context, the scope of t he current study will include about the matters related to that of competitive environment that has huge influence over the matters related to that of customer satisfaction. The study will also discuss about the factors that are related to high level of customer satisfaction in the supermarket retail industry of New Zealand. Literature Review The Concept Related to Customer Satisfaction The concept of customer satisfaction is one of the basic elements of marketing plan. Satisfaction is believed to be one of the major outcomes of the marketing activity and is believed to serve a link between culminating purchase and consumption. This is also believed to be one of the major factors that decide upon the customer buying behaviour. As a customer chooses a brand and decides to stick with the same for longer period, it gives rise to the concept of brand loyalty. This concept is important due to the fact that can help a company to maintain brand reputation. As said by Haumann et al., (2014), the concept of brand loyalty is entirely dependent upon the satisfaction level of the customer. Hence it is essential for all business organisations to satisfy the needs of the customers, which can be achieved by considering several factors of business. Rogers et al., (2015), have mentioned that customer satisfaction can also help to measure and monitor the quality of product or service that is sold in market. It can also help to measure the extent to which company has been able to fulfil the expectation level of the customer. Chen et al., (2015), have defined the concept of customer satisfaction as a shared process of understanding the nature of service or product that is available in the market. It can also help to understand the level information that is being provided to the customers about the ultimate experience of the service or product. On the other hand Pizam et al., (2016), have suggested that customer satisfaction can be achieved by enhancing the feeling that are experienced by an individual after using a product or service. The consumers perception is also one of the important aspects of customer satisfaction, which helps to fulfil all the concerned related to the quality of the product. Bansal, and Taylor (2015), have mentioned about the concept of desired and adequate level of service, which is believed to be one of the primary essential for understanding the level of customer satisfaction. It can be said that if the desired an adequate level of the product quality are not fulfilled, it is never possible to achieve high level of customer satisfaction. Dominici and Palumbo (2013), have added about the various levels that are involved in achieving customer satisfaction. The primary level there is negative disconfirmation, where the quality of the service ends up being much worse than expected level of customer. In the following step is a positive confirmation, where company is able to better the quality of service buy meeting up with the minimum level of customers expectation. In the later stages, it is possible for the company to go beyond the level of customer satisfaction by bringing about new changes in the protocol of customer service. This type is essential in maintaining sustainability in business and ensuring that the company is able to retain old customers. Customer satisfaction in supermarket Retail Industry With the growing competition in the supermarket Retail Industry of New Zealand, the customer satisfaction level is one of the primary essential concerns that can help the companies to achieve competitive advantage. For large-scale Supermarket Giants like Countdown, it is highly essential to bring about changes in the quality of customer service, as they are always encountering the threat of new competitors, who are incorporating innovative ideas in providing efficient and high quality of customer service. Saeidi et al., (2015), have highlighted up on the importance of getting feedback from the customer, which can help to bring about necessary changes for large scale business organisations. It is often highly challenge for large scale supermarket retail stores to investigate upon the primary needs of the customers. This is mainly due to the fact that need and expectation level of the customers vary hugely in different places. For example, the need of the customer in Rotorua from Count down store may be different from that of Auckland. Hence, it is necessary to provide customer satisfaction at different level depending upon the needs of the local customers. In the middle of tough and fiery competition in the grocery retail sector of New Zealand, it is important to provide wide range of options for the customers. This is believed to be one of the effective ways that can help large scale industries to retain the old customers. Yadav et al., (2014), have mentioned about the importance of implementing digital form of marketing, which can help the large scale Supermarket companies to easily communicate with the customers. This is also believed to be one of the effective ways to maintain high level of customer satisfaction as the company are able to collect direct feedback. The major level of expectation of the customers is primarily to get fast and accurate service. Hence, it is highly necessary to resolve all the issues that are encountered by the customers while purchasing products. It is important to mention that better level of after sale service is also believed to be one of the key to retain customers. Due to tremendous growth in the service of Retail Industry, it is highly challenging for the supermarket chains like Countdown in Rotorua to enhance the rate of productivity that is necessary to meet up with the growing demand of the customers. Oreland Kara (2014), have suggested that understanding and giving priority to the needs of every group of customers at primary level can easily help the supermarket franchise to deal with the complex level of challenges that they face while retaining customers. Kursunluoglu (2014), has also mentioned the importance of digital form of communication, which is Highly Effective in the modern days to establish effective business relationship with the customers. It is essential for the marketing agents of the Countdown Supermarket to identify the root cause of all the service related issues. This can be achieved with the help of extensive level of market investigation that focuses upon the recent crisis and economic loss. Jahanshani et al., (2014), have mentioned about the importance of implementing the tool of Porter's five forces, which can help to understand methods that exist in external business environment and has the potential to disrupt the level of customer satisfaction. It is important to mention in this context that with the growing number of organisations in the grocery and retail sector, the customers have the choice to switch over to other brands if the encounter any issues with the level and quality of customer service. The maintenance of brand loyalty is believed to be one of the primary essential needs for maintaining high level of customer satisfaction, thereby ensuring about the fact of customer retention. It is also important for the Countdown supermarket retail unit to regularly monitor the level of their customer service, which is an important part of market investigation. Holistic mode of evaluation is believed to be highly essential that help them to identify the gaps in the existing customer service, which are causing them to lose customers. As mentioned earlier, digital mode of communication can be useful in collecting feedback from the customers. These feedbacks are the primary information that is necessary in market investigation work related to customer satisfaction (Paparoidamis et al., 2015). It is ultimately important to consider the parameter of customer satisfaction as the primary goal of all business and marketing strategies. Only with the help of high level of customer satisfaction, it is possible for Countdown to achieve their organisational objectives and improve upon the total revenue of the company. As the popularity of the brand will be raised through high level of customer satisfaction, it will be possible for the company to sustain for longer periods in the fast growing changes of the current age. Research Questions What is the importance of maintaining high level of customer service for Countdown Supermarket? What are the factors that need to be considered by the Countdown Supermarket for improving the level of customer satisfaction? Conclusion From the section of literature review it is clear that customer satisfaction is one of the essential goals of all business and marketing strategies. For Large scale Supermarket retail units, it is highly important to maintain high level of customer satisfaction. This can help them to retain customers thereby helping them to achieve competitive edge in the tough and fast changing sector of retail units. At initial stage, it is important for the companies to understand the concept and underlying cause for customer satisfaction. Having a clear concept of customer satisfaction, it is possible for the companies to implement upon different strategies in customer service and understanding the relationship between brand loyalty and customer satisfaction. From the review section it is also clear that the fast growing network of Supermarket grocery chain in New Zealand is one of the primary challenges that barrier to understand the expectation level of customer. Implementation of digital form of business communication is believed to be one of the primary goals of that can help the companies to collect feedbacks from the customers. With the help of the information from the customers feedbacks, it is possible for business to bring about changes in the quality and features that are associated with the customer service. This will ultimately help in the market investigation work that is necessary to maintain and retain customers. References Bansal, H. S., Taylor, S. F. (2015). Beyond service quality and customer satisfaction: investigating additional antecedents of service provider switching intentions. In Proceedings of the 1999 Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) Annual Conference (pp. 75-82). Springer, Cham. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-13078-1_30 Chen, E., Flint, S., Perry, P., Perry, M., Lau, R. (2015). Implementation of non-regulatoryfood safety management schemes in New Zealand: A survey of the food and beverage industry. Food control, 47, 569-576. https://www.tib.eu/en/search/id/BLSE%3ARN359848892/Implementation-of-non-regulatory-food-safety-management/ Countdown. (2017). Countdown Supermarkets Our history. [online] Available at: https://www.countdown.co.nz/about-us/our-history [Accessed 7 Oct. 2017]. Dominici, G., Palumbo, F. (2013). How to build an e-learning product: Factors for student/customer satisfaction. Business Horizons, 56(1), 87-96. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/222088309_How_to_Build_an_ELearning_Product_Factors_for_StudentCustomer_Satisfaction Haumann, T., Quaiser, B., Wieseke, J., Rese, M. (2014). Footprints in the sands of time: A comparative analysis of the effectiveness of customer satisfaction and customercompany identification over time. Journal of Marketing, 78(6), 78-102. https://journals.ama.org/doi/abs/10.1509/jm.13.0509?code=amma-site Jahanshani, A. A., Hajizadeh, G. M. A., Mirdhamadi, S. A., Nawaser, K., Khaksar, S. M. S. (2014). Study the effects of customer service and product quality on customer satisfaction and loyalty. https://scholar.google.co.in/citations?user=g_D4YMIAAAAJ Kursunluoglu, E. (2014). Shopping centre customer service: creating customer satisfaction and loyalty. Marketing Intelligence Planning, 32(4), 528-548. https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/MIP-11-2012-0134 Orel, F. D., Kara, A. (2014). Supermarket self-checkout service quality, customer satisfaction, and loyalty: Empirical evidence from an emerging market. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 21(2), 118-129. https://isiarticles.com/bundles/Article/pre/pdf/13614.pdf Paparoidamis, N. G., Chumpitaz, R., Ford, J. (2015). Service quality, customer satisfaction, value and loyalty an empirical investigation in a service failure context. In Marketing Dynamism Sustainability: Things Change, Things Stay the Same (pp. 173-173). Springer, Cham. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-10912-1_55 Pizam, A., Pizam, A., Shapoval, V., Shapoval, V., Ellis, T., Ellis, T. (2016). Customer satisfaction and its measurement in hospitality enterprises: a revisit and update. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 28(1), 2-35. https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/IJCHM-04-2015-0167 Rogers, H. P., Strutton, D., Doddridge, B. F. (2015). Measuring customer satisfaction with logistics services: an investigation of the motor carrier industry. In Proceedings of the 1997 Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) Annual Conference (pp. 91-92). Springer, Cham. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-13141-2_39 Saeidi, S. P., Sofian, S., Saeidi, P., Saeidi, S. P., Saaeidi, S. A. (2015). How does corporate social responsibility contribute to firm financial performance? The mediating role of competitive advantage, reputation, and customer satisfaction. Journal of Business Research, 68(2), 341-350. https://econpapers.repec.org/article/eeejbrese/v_3a68_3ay_3a2015_3ai_3a2_3ap_3a341-350.htm Yadav, M. K., Rai, A. K., Srivastava, M. (2014). Exploring the Three-Path Mediation Model: A Study of Customer Perceived Value, Customer Satisfaction Service Quality and Behavioral Intention Relationship. International Journal of Customer Relationship Marketing and Management (IJCRMM), 5(2), 1-20. https://www.igi-global.com/article/exploring-the-three--path-mediation-model/118243

Business Research Of Countdown Supermarket Chain †Free Samples

Question: Discuss about the Business Research Of Countdown Supermarket Chain. Answer: Introduction The chosen business organization for the current study is Countdown supermarket chain, which is one of the largest retail units operating in New Zealand. The business firm is one of the subsidiary units of the Woolworths Limited, which is the largest retail supermarket chain of Australia. Countdown has the largest number of retail stores in all over New Zealand with a total number of 275 franchise shops. The company was established in the year 1981 and is currently having its headquarters in Auckland. The owner ship of the company is with the group of Progressive Enterprise. However, in the initial stage the ownership was under Rattrays Wholesale Group. The ownership shifted to Progressive Enterprise in the year 2002, which occurred after the group decided to buy the Woolworths Limited enterprise (Countdown, 2017). Hence, it is evident that the Countdown has undergone several organization changes from 1993-2005. This had great impact of the organizational decision making process and upon the quality of service and products that are sold the company. The company has been able to build their reputation in the consumer market of New Zealand due to the effective and quality level of customer service. This has allowed the company to build high level of brand reputation over the years, as the customers are able to have high level of trust over the service and the products. The company has also been able to gain high level of competitive advantage with the help of the better level of customer service. In the recent times however, due to the poor quality of customer service, it is not possible for the company to maintain high level of customer satisfaction, thereby compromising on the level of brand reputation and brand popularity of the company. The aim and scope of the current study is to discuss about the existing literature that is related to various parameters that can ultimately affect level of customer satisfaction. It is important for a business organization to focus upon these factors as it can help in improving upon the brand popularity of a company. The scope of the existing literature is to discuss about the expectation level of the customers, which is believe to be the primary factors for implementing high level of customer satisfaction. It is also important to understand about the fact that in the recent days the customers have the option to switch over different brands if they are not satisfied with the quality of service and products. In this context, the scope of t he current study will include about the matters related to that of competitive environment that has huge influence over the matters related to that of customer satisfaction. The study will also discuss about the factors that are related to high level of customer satisfaction in the supermarket retail industry of New Zealand. Literature Review The Concept Related to Customer Satisfaction The concept of customer satisfaction is one of the basic elements of marketing plan. Satisfaction is believed to be one of the major outcomes of the marketing activity and is believed to serve a link between culminating purchase and consumption. This is also believed to be one of the major factors that decide upon the customer buying behaviour. As a customer chooses a brand and decides to stick with the same for longer period, it gives rise to the concept of brand loyalty. This concept is important due to the fact that can help a company to maintain brand reputation. As said by Haumann et al., (2014), the concept of brand loyalty is entirely dependent upon the satisfaction level of the customer. Hence it is essential for all business organisations to satisfy the needs of the customers, which can be achieved by considering several factors of business. Rogers et al., (2015), have mentioned that customer satisfaction can also help to measure and monitor the quality of product or service that is sold in market. It can also help to measure the extent to which company has been able to fulfil the expectation level of the customer. Chen et al., (2015), have defined the concept of customer satisfaction as a shared process of understanding the nature of service or product that is available in the market. It can also help to understand the level information that is being provided to the customers about the ultimate experience of the service or product. On the other hand Pizam et al., (2016), have suggested that customer satisfaction can be achieved by enhancing the feeling that are experienced by an individual after using a product or service. The consumers perception is also one of the important aspects of customer satisfaction, which helps to fulfil all the concerned related to the quality of the product. Bansal, and Taylor (2015), have mentioned about the concept of desired and adequate level of service, which is believed to be one of the primary essential for understanding the level of customer satisfaction. It can be said that if the desired an adequate level of the product quality are not fulfilled, it is never possible to achieve high level of customer satisfaction. Dominici and Palumbo (2013), have added about the various levels that are involved in achieving customer satisfaction. The primary level there is negative disconfirmation, where the quality of the service ends up being much worse than expected level of customer. In the following step is a positive confirmation, where company is able to better the quality of service buy meeting up with the minimum level of customers expectation. In the later stages, it is possible for the company to go beyond the level of customer satisfaction by bringing about new changes in the protocol of customer service. This type is essential in maintaining sustainability in business and ensuring that the company is able to retain old customers. Customer satisfaction in supermarket Retail Industry With the growing competition in the supermarket Retail Industry of New Zealand, the customer satisfaction level is one of the primary essential concerns that can help the companies to achieve competitive advantage. For large-scale Supermarket Giants like Countdown, it is highly essential to bring about changes in the quality of customer service, as they are always encountering the threat of new competitors, who are incorporating innovative ideas in providing efficient and high quality of customer service. Saeidi et al., (2015), have highlighted up on the importance of getting feedback from the customer, which can help to bring about necessary changes for large scale business organisations. It is often highly challenge for large scale supermarket retail stores to investigate upon the primary needs of the customers. This is mainly due to the fact that need and expectation level of the customers vary hugely in different places. For example, the need of the customer in Rotorua from Count down store may be different from that of Auckland. Hence, it is necessary to provide customer satisfaction at different level depending upon the needs of the local customers. In the middle of tough and fiery competition in the grocery retail sector of New Zealand, it is important to provide wide range of options for the customers. This is believed to be one of the effective ways that can help large scale industries to retain the old customers. Yadav et al., (2014), have mentioned about the importance of implementing digital form of marketing, which can help the large scale Supermarket companies to easily communicate with the customers. This is also believed to be one of the effective ways to maintain high level of customer satisfaction as the company are able to collect direct feedback. The major level of expectation of the customers is primarily to get fast and accurate service. Hence, it is highly necessary to resolve all the issues that are encountered by the customers while purchasing products. It is important to mention that better level of after sale service is also believed to be one of the key to retain customers. Due to tremendous growth in the service of Retail Industry, it is highly challenging for the supermarket chains like Countdown in Rotorua to enhance the rate of productivity that is necessary to meet up with the growing demand of the customers. Oreland Kara (2014), have suggested that understanding and giving priority to the needs of every group of customers at primary level can easily help the supermarket franchise to deal with the complex level of challenges that they face while retaining customers. Kursunluoglu (2014), has also mentioned the importance of digital form of communication, which is Highly Effective in the modern days to establish effective business relationship with the customers. It is essential for the marketing agents of the Countdown Supermarket to identify the root cause of all the service related issues. This can be achieved with the help of extensive level of market investigation that focuses upon the recent crisis and economic loss. Jahanshani et al., (2014), have mentioned about the importance of implementing the tool of Porter's five forces, which can help to understand methods that exist in external business environment and has the potential to disrupt the level of customer satisfaction. It is important to mention in this context that with the growing number of organisations in the grocery and retail sector, the customers have the choice to switch over to other brands if the encounter any issues with the level and quality of customer service. The maintenance of brand loyalty is believed to be one of the primary essential needs for maintaining high level of customer satisfaction, thereby ensuring about the fact of customer retention. It is also important for the Countdown supermarket retail unit to regularly monitor the level of their customer service, which is an important part of market investigation. Holistic mode of evaluation is believed to be highly essential that help them to identify the gaps in the existing customer service, which are causing them to lose customers. As mentioned earlier, digital mode of communication can be useful in collecting feedback from the customers. These feedbacks are the primary information that is necessary in market investigation work related to customer satisfaction (Paparoidamis et al., 2015). It is ultimately important to consider the parameter of customer satisfaction as the primary goal of all business and marketing strategies. Only with the help of high level of customer satisfaction, it is possible for Countdown to achieve their organisational objectives and improve upon the total revenue of the company. As the popularity of the brand will be raised through high level of customer satisfaction, it will be possible for the company to sustain for longer periods in the fast growing changes of the current age. Research Questions What is the importance of maintaining high level of customer service for Countdown Supermarket? What are the factors that need to be considered by the Countdown Supermarket for improving the level of customer satisfaction? Conclusion From the section of literature review it is clear that customer satisfaction is one of the essential goals of all business and marketing strategies. For Large scale Supermarket retail units, it is highly important to maintain high level of customer satisfaction. This can help them to retain customers thereby helping them to achieve competitive edge in the tough and fast changing sector of retail units. At initial stage, it is important for the companies to understand the concept and underlying cause for customer satisfaction. Having a clear concept of customer satisfaction, it is possible for the companies to implement upon different strategies in customer service and understanding the relationship between brand loyalty and customer satisfaction. From the review section it is also clear that the fast growing network of Supermarket grocery chain in New Zealand is one of the primary challenges that barrier to understand the expectation level of customer. Implementation of digital form of business communication is believed to be one of the primary goals of that can help the companies to collect feedbacks from the customers. With the help of the information from the customers feedbacks, it is possible for business to bring about changes in the quality and features that are associated with the customer service. This will ultimately help in the market investigation work that is necessary to maintain and retain customers. References Bansal, H. S., Taylor, S. F. (2015). Beyond service quality and customer satisfaction: investigating additional antecedents of service provider switching intentions. In Proceedings of the 1999 Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) Annual Conference (pp. 75-82). Springer, Cham. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-13078-1_30 Chen, E., Flint, S., Perry, P., Perry, M., Lau, R. (2015). Implementation of non-regulatoryfood safety management schemes in New Zealand: A survey of the food and beverage industry. Food control, 47, 569-576. https://www.tib.eu/en/search/id/BLSE%3ARN359848892/Implementation-of-non-regulatory-food-safety-management/ Countdown. (2017). Countdown Supermarkets Our history. [online] Available at: https://www.countdown.co.nz/about-us/our-history [Accessed 7 Oct. 2017]. Dominici, G., Palumbo, F. (2013). How to build an e-learning product: Factors for student/customer satisfaction. Business Horizons, 56(1), 87-96. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/222088309_How_to_Build_an_ELearning_Product_Factors_for_StudentCustomer_Satisfaction Haumann, T., Quaiser, B., Wieseke, J., Rese, M. (2014). Footprints in the sands of time: A comparative analysis of the effectiveness of customer satisfaction and customercompany identification over time. Journal of Marketing, 78(6), 78-102. https://journals.ama.org/doi/abs/10.1509/jm.13.0509?code=amma-site Jahanshani, A. A., Hajizadeh, G. M. A., Mirdhamadi, S. A., Nawaser, K., Khaksar, S. M. S. (2014). Study the effects of customer service and product quality on customer satisfaction and loyalty. https://scholar.google.co.in/citations?user=g_D4YMIAAAAJ Kursunluoglu, E. (2014). Shopping centre customer service: creating customer satisfaction and loyalty. Marketing Intelligence Planning, 32(4), 528-548. https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/MIP-11-2012-0134 Orel, F. D., Kara, A. (2014). Supermarket self-checkout service quality, customer satisfaction, and loyalty: Empirical evidence from an emerging market. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 21(2), 118-129. https://isiarticles.com/bundles/Article/pre/pdf/13614.pdf Paparoidamis, N. G., Chumpitaz, R., Ford, J. (2015). Service quality, customer satisfaction, value and loyalty an empirical investigation in a service failure context. In Marketing Dynamism Sustainability: Things Change, Things Stay the Same (pp. 173-173). Springer, Cham. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-10912-1_55 Pizam, A., Pizam, A., Shapoval, V., Shapoval, V., Ellis, T., Ellis, T. (2016). Customer satisfaction and its measurement in hospitality enterprises: a revisit and update. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 28(1), 2-35. https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/IJCHM-04-2015-0167 Rogers, H. P., Strutton, D., Doddridge, B. F. (2015). Measuring customer satisfaction with logistics services: an investigation of the motor carrier industry. In Proceedings of the 1997 Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) Annual Conference (pp. 91-92). Springer, Cham. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-13141-2_39 Saeidi, S. P., Sofian, S., Saeidi, P., Saeidi, S. P., Saaeidi, S. A. (2015). How does corporate social responsibility contribute to firm financial performance? The mediating role of competitive advantage, reputation, and customer satisfaction. Journal of Business Research, 68(2), 341-350. https://econpapers.repec.org/article/eeejbrese/v_3a68_3ay_3a2015_3ai_3a2_3ap_3a341-350.htm Yadav, M. K., Rai, A. K., Srivastava, M. (2014). Exploring the Three-Path Mediation Model: A Study of Customer Perceived Value, Customer Satisfaction Service Quality and Behavioral Intention Relationship. International Journal of Customer Relationship Marketing and Management (IJCRMM), 5(2), 1-20. https://www.igi-global.com/article/exploring-the-three--path-mediation-model/118243

Business Research Of Countdown Supermarket Chain †Free Samples

Question: Discuss about the Business Research Of Countdown Supermarket Chain. Answer: Introduction The chosen business organization for the current study is Countdown supermarket chain, which is one of the largest retail units operating in New Zealand. The business firm is one of the subsidiary units of the Woolworths Limited, which is the largest retail supermarket chain of Australia. Countdown has the largest number of retail stores in all over New Zealand with a total number of 275 franchise shops. The company was established in the year 1981 and is currently having its headquarters in Auckland. The owner ship of the company is with the group of Progressive Enterprise. However, in the initial stage the ownership was under Rattrays Wholesale Group. The ownership shifted to Progressive Enterprise in the year 2002, which occurred after the group decided to buy the Woolworths Limited enterprise (Countdown, 2017). Hence, it is evident that the Countdown has undergone several organization changes from 1993-2005. This had great impact of the organizational decision making process and upon the quality of service and products that are sold the company. The company has been able to build their reputation in the consumer market of New Zealand due to the effective and quality level of customer service. This has allowed the company to build high level of brand reputation over the years, as the customers are able to have high level of trust over the service and the products. The company has also been able to gain high level of competitive advantage with the help of the better level of customer service. In the recent times however, due to the poor quality of customer service, it is not possible for the company to maintain high level of customer satisfaction, thereby compromising on the level of brand reputation and brand popularity of the company. The aim and scope of the current study is to discuss about the existing literature that is related to various parameters that can ultimately affect level of customer satisfaction. It is important for a business organization to focus upon these factors as it can help in improving upon the brand popularity of a company. The scope of the existing literature is to discuss about the expectation level of the customers, which is believe to be the primary factors for implementing high level of customer satisfaction. It is also important to understand about the fact that in the recent days the customers have the option to switch over different brands if they are not satisfied with the quality of service and products. In this context, the scope of t he current study will include about the matters related to that of competitive environment that has huge influence over the matters related to that of customer satisfaction. The study will also discuss about the factors that are related to high level of customer satisfaction in the supermarket retail industry of New Zealand. Literature Review The Concept Related to Customer Satisfaction The concept of customer satisfaction is one of the basic elements of marketing plan. Satisfaction is believed to be one of the major outcomes of the marketing activity and is believed to serve a link between culminating purchase and consumption. This is also believed to be one of the major factors that decide upon the customer buying behaviour. As a customer chooses a brand and decides to stick with the same for longer period, it gives rise to the concept of brand loyalty. This concept is important due to the fact that can help a company to maintain brand reputation. As said by Haumann et al., (2014), the concept of brand loyalty is entirely dependent upon the satisfaction level of the customer. Hence it is essential for all business organisations to satisfy the needs of the customers, which can be achieved by considering several factors of business. Rogers et al., (2015), have mentioned that customer satisfaction can also help to measure and monitor the quality of product or service that is sold in market. It can also help to measure the extent to which company has been able to fulfil the expectation level of the customer. Chen et al., (2015), have defined the concept of customer satisfaction as a shared process of understanding the nature of service or product that is available in the market. It can also help to understand the level information that is being provided to the customers about the ultimate experience of the service or product. On the other hand Pizam et al., (2016), have suggested that customer satisfaction can be achieved by enhancing the feeling that are experienced by an individual after using a product or service. The consumers perception is also one of the important aspects of customer satisfaction, which helps to fulfil all the concerned related to the quality of the product. Bansal, and Taylor (2015), have mentioned about the concept of desired and adequate level of service, which is believed to be one of the primary essential for understanding the level of customer satisfaction. It can be said that if the desired an adequate level of the product quality are not fulfilled, it is never possible to achieve high level of customer satisfaction. Dominici and Palumbo (2013), have added about the various levels that are involved in achieving customer satisfaction. The primary level there is negative disconfirmation, where the quality of the service ends up being much worse than expected level of customer. In the following step is a positive confirmation, where company is able to better the quality of service buy meeting up with the minimum level of customers expectation. In the later stages, it is possible for the company to go beyond the level of customer satisfaction by bringing about new changes in the protocol of customer service. This type is essential in maintaining sustainability in business and ensuring that the company is able to retain old customers. Customer satisfaction in supermarket Retail Industry With the growing competition in the supermarket Retail Industry of New Zealand, the customer satisfaction level is one of the primary essential concerns that can help the companies to achieve competitive advantage. For large-scale Supermarket Giants like Countdown, it is highly essential to bring about changes in the quality of customer service, as they are always encountering the threat of new competitors, who are incorporating innovative ideas in providing efficient and high quality of customer service. Saeidi et al., (2015), have highlighted up on the importance of getting feedback from the customer, which can help to bring about necessary changes for large scale business organisations. It is often highly challenge for large scale supermarket retail stores to investigate upon the primary needs of the customers. This is mainly due to the fact that need and expectation level of the customers vary hugely in different places. For example, the need of the customer in Rotorua from Count down store may be different from that of Auckland. Hence, it is necessary to provide customer satisfaction at different level depending upon the needs of the local customers. In the middle of tough and fiery competition in the grocery retail sector of New Zealand, it is important to provide wide range of options for the customers. This is believed to be one of the effective ways that can help large scale industries to retain the old customers. Yadav et al., (2014), have mentioned about the importance of implementing digital form of marketing, which can help the large scale Supermarket companies to easily communicate with the customers. This is also believed to be one of the effective ways to maintain high level of customer satisfaction as the company are able to collect direct feedback. The major level of expectation of the customers is primarily to get fast and accurate service. Hence, it is highly necessary to resolve all the issues that are encountered by the customers while purchasing products. It is important to mention that better level of after sale service is also believed to be one of the key to retain customers. Due to tremendous growth in the service of Retail Industry, it is highly challenging for the supermarket chains like Countdown in Rotorua to enhance the rate of productivity that is necessary to meet up with the growing demand of the customers. Oreland Kara (2014), have suggested that understanding and giving priority to the needs of every group of customers at primary level can easily help the supermarket franchise to deal with the complex level of challenges that they face while retaining customers. Kursunluoglu (2014), has also mentioned the importance of digital form of communication, which is Highly Effective in the modern days to establish effective business relationship with the customers. It is essential for the marketing agents of the Countdown Supermarket to identify the root cause of all the service related issues. This can be achieved with the help of extensive level of market investigation that focuses upon the recent crisis and economic loss. Jahanshani et al., (2014), have mentioned about the importance of implementing the tool of Porter's five forces, which can help to understand methods that exist in external business environment and has the potential to disrupt the level of customer satisfaction. It is important to mention in this context that with the growing number of organisations in the grocery and retail sector, the customers have the choice to switch over to other brands if the encounter any issues with the level and quality of customer service. The maintenance of brand loyalty is believed to be one of the primary essential needs for maintaining high level of customer satisfaction, thereby ensuring about the fact of customer retention. It is also important for the Countdown supermarket retail unit to regularly monitor the level of their customer service, which is an important part of market investigation. Holistic mode of evaluation is believed to be highly essential that help them to identify the gaps in the existing customer service, which are causing them to lose customers. As mentioned earlier, digital mode of communication can be useful in collecting feedback from the customers. These feedbacks are the primary information that is necessary in market investigation work related to customer satisfaction (Paparoidamis et al., 2015). It is ultimately important to consider the parameter of customer satisfaction as the primary goal of all business and marketing strategies. Only with the help of high level of customer satisfaction, it is possible for Countdown to achieve their organisational objectives and improve upon the total revenue of the company. As the popularity of the brand will be raised through high level of customer satisfaction, it will be possible for the company to sustain for longer periods in the fast growing changes of the current age. Research Questions What is the importance of maintaining high level of customer service for Countdown Supermarket? What are the factors that need to be considered by the Countdown Supermarket for improving the level of customer satisfaction? Conclusion From the section of literature review it is clear that customer satisfaction is one of the essential goals of all business and marketing strategies. For Large scale Supermarket retail units, it is highly important to maintain high level of customer satisfaction. This can help them to retain customers thereby helping them to achieve competitive edge in the tough and fast changing sector of retail units. At initial stage, it is important for the companies to understand the concept and underlying cause for customer satisfaction. Having a clear concept of customer satisfaction, it is possible for the companies to implement upon different strategies in customer service and understanding the relationship between brand loyalty and customer satisfaction. From the review section it is also clear that the fast growing network of Supermarket grocery chain in New Zealand is one of the primary challenges that barrier to understand the expectation level of customer. Implementation of digital form of business communication is believed to be one of the primary goals of that can help the companies to collect feedbacks from the customers. With the help of the information from the customers feedbacks, it is possible for business to bring about changes in the quality and features that are associated with the customer service. This will ultimately help in the market investigation work that is necessary to maintain and retain customers. References Bansal, H. S., Taylor, S. F. (2015). Beyond service quality and customer satisfaction: investigating additional antecedents of service provider switching intentions. In Proceedings of the 1999 Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) Annual Conference (pp. 75-82). Springer, Cham. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-13078-1_30 Chen, E., Flint, S., Perry, P., Perry, M., Lau, R. (2015). Implementation of non-regulatoryfood safety management schemes in New Zealand: A survey of the food and beverage industry. Food control, 47, 569-576. https://www.tib.eu/en/search/id/BLSE%3ARN359848892/Implementation-of-non-regulatory-food-safety-management/ Countdown. (2017). Countdown Supermarkets Our history. [online] Available at: https://www.countdown.co.nz/about-us/our-history [Accessed 7 Oct. 2017]. Dominici, G., Palumbo, F. (2013). How to build an e-learning product: Factors for student/customer satisfaction. Business Horizons, 56(1), 87-96. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/222088309_How_to_Build_an_ELearning_Product_Factors_for_StudentCustomer_Satisfaction Haumann, T., Quaiser, B., Wieseke, J., Rese, M. (2014). Footprints in the sands of time: A comparative analysis of the effectiveness of customer satisfaction and customercompany identification over time. Journal of Marketing, 78(6), 78-102. https://journals.ama.org/doi/abs/10.1509/jm.13.0509?code=amma-site Jahanshani, A. A., Hajizadeh, G. M. A., Mirdhamadi, S. A., Nawaser, K., Khaksar, S. M. S. (2014). Study the effects of customer service and product quality on customer satisfaction and loyalty. https://scholar.google.co.in/citations?user=g_D4YMIAAAAJ Kursunluoglu, E. (2014). Shopping centre customer service: creating customer satisfaction and loyalty. Marketing Intelligence Planning, 32(4), 528-548. https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/MIP-11-2012-0134 Orel, F. D., Kara, A. (2014). Supermarket self-checkout service quality, customer satisfaction, and loyalty: Empirical evidence from an emerging market. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 21(2), 118-129. https://isiarticles.com/bundles/Article/pre/pdf/13614.pdf Paparoidamis, N. G., Chumpitaz, R., Ford, J. (2015). Service quality, customer satisfaction, value and loyalty an empirical investigation in a service failure context. In Marketing Dynamism Sustainability: Things Change, Things Stay the Same (pp. 173-173). Springer, Cham. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-10912-1_55 Pizam, A., Pizam, A., Shapoval, V., Shapoval, V., Ellis, T., Ellis, T. (2016). Customer satisfaction and its measurement in hospitality enterprises: a revisit and update. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 28(1), 2-35. https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/IJCHM-04-2015-0167 Rogers, H. P., Strutton, D., Doddridge, B. F. (2015). Measuring customer satisfaction with logistics services: an investigation of the motor carrier industry. In Proceedings of the 1997 Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) Annual Conference (pp. 91-92). Springer, Cham. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-13141-2_39 Saeidi, S. P., Sofian, S., Saeidi, P., Saeidi, S. P., Saaeidi, S. A. (2015). How does corporate social responsibility contribute to firm financial performance? The mediating role of competitive advantage, reputation, and customer satisfaction. Journal of Business Research, 68(2), 341-350. https://econpapers.repec.org/article/eeejbrese/v_3a68_3ay_3a2015_3ai_3a2_3ap_3a341-350.htm Yadav, M. K., Rai, A. K., Srivastava, M. (2014). Exploring the Three-Path Mediation Model: A Study of Customer Perceived Value, Customer Satisfaction Service Quality and Behavioral Intention Relationship. International Journal of Customer Relationship Marketing and Management (IJCRMM), 5(2), 1-20. https://www.igi-global.com/article/exploring-the-three--path-mediation-model/118243

Money Laundering †Effects on the United States

Money Laundering – Effects on the United States Free Online Research Papers Many people who are either born in or migrate to the United States have hopes to achieve the â€Å"American Dream.† That dream is, through hard work and determination, one can have a prosperous life. However, there are some people who want to achieve the American Dream sans the hard work. These people violate the laws and regulations established by the government, be it federal, state or local. One scheme used is money laundering which has a massive effect on the United States. Not only does money laundering support the continuance of criminal activities including terrorism, it dilutes the financial stability of the United States by reducing tax revenues, restricting fair competition with legitimate businesses and, disrupting economic development. The United States Government has implemented many laws to combat and counter the effects of money laundering. Introduction Money laundering is â€Å"the practice of engaging in specific financial transactions in order to conceal the identity source and/or destination of money.† (Wikipedia Encyclopedia) In a normal money laundering scheme, there are three steps that occur: (1) placing of illegal money into a legitimate financial market, (2) moving the money between different financial institutions and (3) finally, integrating the money back into the economy. The World Book Encyclopedia states â€Å"money laundering involves eliminating evidence and making it difficult for authorities to trace the money back to the illegal source.† (p.718) â€Å"The term ‘money laundering’ was first coined in the 1930s by the US Treasury agents who were trying to lock Al Capone.† (Mathers, p 21) Capone used the laundromats he owned to conceal money he had made from his illegal liquor operation. He made it seem as though the revenue from the liquor came from his operation of the laundro mats. Since then the term has become widely used officially and unofficially alike. Money laundering is no longer a practice limited to your everyday criminal but it includes your normal citizen who just doesn’t want to pay their taxes or who doesn’t want his or her spouse to know how much asset is being held during the time of divorce. As time goes by, there is becoming increasingly more reasons as to why someone wants to launder money. Common reasons why people launder money is that they want to avoid prosecution, increase profits, avoid seizure of accumulated wealth, appear legitimate and evade tax. Just like the reasons are endless so are the methods of money laundering which are very simple in nature. A money launderer can choose to launder through currency exchanges, asset purchases with bulk cash, telegraphic transfer of funds, credit cards, gambling in casinos , and commingling of funds. However, the common choice of money launderers is to structure transactions through different financial institutions. Although, no one knows the exact amount of money involved in the money laundering schemes, it is believed to be in the high billions, and maybe trillions, of dollars each year. Some of the common money laundering schemes include drug trafficking, organized crime, corruption, illicit dealing in weapons, human trafficking, fraud and theft. The United States Government has made it a criminal offense to launder money. The Financial Recordkeeping and Reporting of Currency and Foreign Transactions Act of 1970, also known as the Bank Secrecy Act of 1970 , was one of the first laws implemented as a tool the United States government used to fight money laundering. In order to convict a person of money laundering, the prosecutor must prove that the individual knowingly engaged in financial transactions or international transportation that involved the concealment of proceeds of an illegal activity.Effects Criminal Activities Historically, the most strenuous effect money laundering has on the United States is that it often supports criminal activities, such as organized crime and drug trafficking. This is because the money laundered is often used to continue the operation of the crime. Often, these crimes are associated with the killing of others to maintain control of the underworld market. In todays world, organized crime groups generate enormous amounts of money. This money is often referred to as â€Å"dirty money.† This dirty money will often bring suspicion to the organized crime group and leave a trail of evidence which can lead to conviction and jail time. Therefore, the criminals conceal the origin of the profits from the authorities so that they can benefit from the illegal activity. One of the ways these criminals are concealing the illegal money is by moving the money quickly across the country’s borders. â€Å"The rapid expansion and ease of access to foreign markets has catapulted American organized crime onto the front of the international money laundering stage.†(Sheetz, p. 106) Today’s technology, like Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) and on-line banking, allows criminals to move the money through the different institutions around the world in a matter of seconds. The more international transactions made with this dirty money , the more difficult it is to identify its origin. One of the largest operations in which money laundering plays an integral part is drug trafficking. From 1992 to 1998 Raymond Kelly reports â€Å"US Customs has seized more than 756 million dollars of laundered money. It has made approximately 2100 arrests and seized more than 40,000 kilograms of cocaine.† (p. 39) The high ranking drug dealers exchange the drugs for money in which they use the proceeds to buy more drugs. With any other business, this would be acceptable. However, the effects of the drugs leave the United States in a predicament in which there is an increasing rate of mental and physical illness, incurable diseases, robberies, shooting and killing. Most recently, terrorist attacks have been a high priority for the United States due to the events of September 11, 2001 when so many Americans lost their lives. Although terrorists obtain their money through legal sources like charitable donations, they also obtain some financing through illegal sources such as people-smuggling, drug trafficking, kidnaping and extortion. â€Å"By using convoluted transactions in the layering stage, terrorist financing conceals the source of the funds, which ensures that such sources remain fertile.† (Waszak, p.673) With the money they obtain, terrorists can continue to threaten the United States and the livelihood of the American citizens. Reduces tax revenues Another way money laundering effects the United States is through tax evasions. In the eyes of the United States Government and the Internal Revenue Service, income from any source, be it legal or illegal, is taxable income. Money laundering is one of the mechanisms in which individuals use to circumvent paying taxes on income. It is ideal for criminals who want to hide the proceeds and evidence of an illegal operation or for individuals who want to keep one hundred percent of their income to themselves. In some instances, the individuals will launder the money through offshore accounts to foreign countries. These countries operate as an Offshore Financial Center, also known as Tax Havens. The Tax Havens allow individuals a way out of paying their share of taxes by shielding the money under their guardianship. The 2001 U.S. Senate subcommittee report titled Correspondent Banking: A Gateway for Money Laundering, stated One U.S. correspondent banker told the Minority Staff that he is learning that a large percentage of clients of offshore banks are Americans and, if so, there is a â€Å"good chance tax evasion is going on.† He said there is â€Å"no reason† for offshore banking to exist if not for â€Å"evasion, crime, or whatever.† There is no reason for Americans to bank offshore, he said, noting that if an offshore bank has primarily U.S. clients, it must â€Å"be up to no good† which raises a question why a U.S. bank would take on the offshore bank as a client. A former offshore bank owner told the investigation that he thought 100% of his clients had been engaged in tax evasion. (p.16) Furthermore, the New York Times reported â€Å"Tax evasion by Americans using offshore accounts is rising and will increase† (Johnston, ). Therefore, the United States has to endure an increasing gap in the budget. For every dollar laundered overseas is a dollar that is not taxed and is not portioned to the United States government which goes to support itself and continue federally funded programs such as Financial Aid and Social Security. â€Å"United States loses $70 billion in taxes annually from such evasion a figure so huge that if even half that amount were collected it would pay for a Medicare prescription drug program without raising anyones taxes or cutting anyones budget.† (Johnston) Ultimately, it will not be the United States Government who will be the victim of the tax evasion through money laundering but the American citizens who will be the true victims. For the last four years, there have been major budgetary cuts government-wide in order to carry out the function of the government. If the United States continues to experience hefty losses due to money laundering, the government will eventually begin to raise the tax rates. It will even eliminate non-critical programs like The American Dream Home Ownership Program which has been an instrumental factor for so many Americans buying homes. Disrupts economic development Money laundering creates an underground economy that cripples the United States’ overall economic strength. When money is transferred overseas it leaves less money in the United States to circulate. This reduces the purchasing power of the United States and its citizens. It also lessens the amount of resources the United States has available to operate its businesses to produce revenue. Thus, this creates a cycle. Additionally, money laundering can increase the desire for cash and create an exchange rate that is unpredictable. Furthermore, money launderers are typically greedy in the sense that they are only interested in protecting their financial interests. Money launderers will often use their funds for efforts that may not necessarily benefit the United States’ economic position. This is clearly illustrated in the Enron scandal. At its peak, Enron was one of the top corporations in the United Stated and, in a matter of months, they were bankrupted. A company that once was perceived as an institution that was good for the United States had really been a company that was good for the executives. â€Å"The motives and attitudes behind decisions and events leading to Enrons eventual downfall appear simple enough: individual and collective greed born in an atmosphere of market euphoria and corporate arrogance.†(Thomas, p. 42) The top executives were looking for ways to increase their own equity instead of Enron’s. Therefore, the â€Å"methods the company used to disclose (or creatively obscure) its complicated financial dealings were erroneous and, in the view of some, downright deceptive.† (Thomas, p. 42) As the story slowly unfolded, it was revealed that the executives had laundered some money overseas to hide how much they actually had. And when it is all over, the company we knew as Enron no longer existed. â€Å"November 30 the stock closed at an astonishing 26 cents a share. The company filed for bankruptcy protection on December 2.(Thomas, p45) The greed of the money laundering executives was a hard blow to the United States, as a people and as a government. â€Å"Four-thousand five hundred individuals have seen their careers ended abruptly by the reckless acts of a few† (Thomas, p. 48) and the money they were hoping to retire with is now gone. Additionally, the investors who purchased stocks suffered drastic losses. As a result, the country was left to play clean up. They will have to provide financial assistance to the workers who lost their jobs by paying unemployment, providing additional employment training and outreach, and supplying health benefits until the former employees are able to be self-sufficient. The United States has to suffer a lost in tax revenue; where individuals would have realized a profit they are now showing a loss and will not pay the same amount in taxes. Regulations Authorities will never totally eliminate money laundering, however; the United States enacted cash deposit reporting requirements and anti money-laundering legislation some 25 years ago. In addition, the United States is still developing and amending laws to combat the money launderers and prosecute any future offenders and also deter individuals from committing or conspiring to commit money launder crimes. Because money laundering has significant impact on the United States, it is not surprising how many laws are related to money laundering. The first law that was created to deal with any aspect of money laundering was the Bank Secrecy Act of 1970. This law does not make money laundering a criminal act but simply requires financial institutions to prepare and preserve documentation for specific types of transactions. One type of documentation requires is a Currency Transaction Report. This report is created for every transaction that is made over $10,000. In certain instances, a combination of transactions may be recorded. Another type of documentation is Report Of Transportation Of Currency Or Monetary Instruments. This report is created whenever United States currency or other monetary instruments, totaling over $10,000, are shipped, mailed, or transported into or out of the United States at one time. A third type of documentation is a Suspicious Activity Report. This report is created when a financial institution knows or suspects criminal offenses, at specified thresholds, or transactions over $5,000 that relate to money laundering or violate the Bank Secrecy Act. This is generally in response to the structuring method of money laundering. With structuring, a person causes or attempts to cause a bank to fail to file the requires reports by making several transactions with one or more domestic financial institutions to prevent from going over the $10,000 markat any one institution. Once drug trading became more popular, the United States Congress increased its focus on money laundering and decided to expand the current laws. In 1984, financial institutions were then required to report business cash transactions exceeding $10,000. Finally, the United States Congress begin to specifically concentrate on money laundering when they created the Money Laundering Act in 1986. This act did three things. First, it made money laundering a criminal act. Secondly, it prohibited structuring transactions to evade Currency Transaction Report filings. Lastly, it introduced civil and criminal forfeiture for BSA violations. Therefore, anyone suspected of these acts could now be indicted and prosecuted in a court of law. Then in 1988, Congress passed the Money Laundering Prosecution Improvement Act. This act elaborated on the definition of financial institution. The act included businesses like car dealerships and real estate mortgage companies and subsequently required them to file reports on large currency transactions In 1992 the Annunzio-Wylie Anti-Money Laundering Act was passed and it extended the Bank Secrecy Act in several respects. Most importantly, it required any financial institution, and its officers, directors, employees and agents, to report any suspicious transaction that may be in violation of federal laws and regulations. Other Annunzio-Wylie amendments to the Bank Secrecy Act required financial institutions to establish and implement anti-money laundering programs, initiated special record-keeping rules relating to funds transfer transactions, and created the Bank Secrecy Act Advisory Committee. Lastly, the Annunzio-Wylie Money Laundering Act made it a criminal act to operate illegal money transmitting business , and required mandatory re-examination of the charters of financial institutions that were convicted of money laundering. In 1994, the United States created the Money Laundering Suppression Act. .This act required the banks to develop their own procedures for examining anti-money laundering activities. The act also reconstructed the Currency Transaction Report exemption. Four years later, Congress passed the 1998 Money Laundering and Financial Crimes Strategy Act which required the banks to create and perform anti-money laundering training for their examiners. It also compelled the United State Treasury and other governmental agencies to create and implement a National Money Laundering Strategy; and Created the High Intensity Money Laundering and Related Financial Crime Area (HIFCA) Task Force. The criminal punishments for violation of these laws include prison sentences for a long as 20 years and fines that go up to $500,000 or twice the value of the money involved, whichever is greater. In additional to the criminal punishments, the offenders may face civil charges and have to pay amounts up to the value of the assets involved in a transaction. The United States Congress believe that these punishments to be too severe. Before the 1986 Money Laundering Act, defendants had to be prosecuted under other statutes related to the underlying unlawful activities that had induced the money laundering, such as tax evasion and the Bank Secrecy Act, and, these statutes generally had more lenient penalties. . Following September 11, the United States Congress search for answers as to how such tragedy could happen here on the United States soil. One answer they came up with was through money laundering. The United States Congress found that money laundering was a contributing factor for the financial fuel which allowed a transnational criminal organization to conduct and increase their operations terrorist activities towards Americans. .Money laundering was used to conceal the actual source and use of the money to conduct the terrorist threats. Congress in particular noted that correspondent accounts are subjected to use by money launderers as it is easier to conceal the identities of the owners of such accounts and that private banking services can be susceptible to deception by money launderer. (Wikipedia Encyclopedia) As a result, the most recent legislation associated money laundering came about in 2001 after the event of September 11, 2001. This act is called the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools to Restrict, Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act, commonly reffered to ad USA PATRIOT Act. The USA PATRIOT act requires the sharing of government-institution information and voluntary information among financial institutions. It also required financial institutions to develop and implement programs designed to verify the customers. This will ensure the banks are aware of who they are dealing with and if they are associated with any terrorist. Additionally, the USA PATRIOT Act required financial institutions to take extra precautions with the daily operations of business. Lastly, the act required the establishment anti-money laundering programs across the financial services industry. The Patriot Act as it relates to money laundering is designed to reconstruct and improv e the United States procedures which were created to deter, detect, and prosecute international money laundering and terrorist financing. Research Papers on Money Laundering - Effects on the United StatesThe Effects of Illegal ImmigrationNever Been Kicked Out of a Place This NiceTwilight of the UAW19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraPETSTEL analysis of IndiaIncorporating Risk and Uncertainty Factor in CapitalUnreasonable Searches and SeizuresGenetic EngineeringThe Relationship Between Delinquency and Drug UseAnalysis of Ebay Expanding into Asia

Adverse and Averse - Commonly Confused Words

Adverse and Averse - Commonly Confused Words The words adverse and averse are related, but they dont have the same meaning.​ The adjective  adverse means harmful, unfavorable, or antagonistic. Often it refers to conditions or things rather than people. The adjective averse means having a feeling of opposition, distaste, or repugnance. As Kenneth Wilson points out in the usage notes below, were most often averse to (rarely from) things and people we dislike. Examples It is the adverse effect of television viewing on the lives of so many people that makes it feel like a serious addiction.(Marie Winn, The Plug-In Drug: Television, Computers, and Family Life, 2002)Your friend Mr. Caldwell has some very singular adverse notions about poor abused John Calvin.(John Updike, The Centaur, 1963)Finding that Ewell was averse to making an attack himself, averse to leaving Gettysburg; that Hill was averse to putting his crippled corps forward so soon again; and that Longstreet was averse to fighting at all on that ground, Lee may well have thought that his generals were no longer what they had been.(Samuel Adams Drake, The Battle of Gettysburg, 1891)We have become a risk-averse culture in which our anxieties dictate our decisions in a totally disproportionate way.(Julian Baggini, The Fear Factor. The Guardian, March 21, 2008) Usage Notes We’re most often adverse to actions, events, and things (which we most frequently describe as adverse or designate as adverse forms or adversities). We’re averse to (rarely from) things and people we dislike, but we almost never speak of an averse thing or person.(Kenneth G. Wilson, adverse, averse, The Columbia Guide to Standard American English, 1993)In summary, adverse and averse are only synonymous when used of persons and with to. Adverse is most often used as an attributive adjective and of things; averse is extremely rare as an attributive and is regularly used of persons. . . . Our evidence suggests averse to is more frequently used than adverse to.(Merriam-Websters Concise Dictionary of English Usage, Merriam-Webster, 2002) Practice (a) I didnt like the play, but then I saw it under _____ conditions: the curtain was up.(Groucho Marx)(b) Schuyler was a sensitive and retiring woman who had been _____ to publicity all her life.(Stuart Banner, American Property, 2011) Answers (a) I didnt like the play, but then I saw it under  adverse  conditions: the curtain was up. (Groucho Marx)(b) Schuyler was a sensitive and retiring woman who had been  averse  to publicity all her life.(Stuart Banner,  American Property, 2011)

Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 14

Assignment Example The two sets of answers that contradict one another are those pertinent to questions 6 and 7. Most respondents were comfortable with the pace of reforms in Qatar. However, when asked if things were done slowly, do they believe the changes would last longer – respondents strongly agreed that the pace should be done more slowly. These are therefore contradictory responses. 8. Looking at Table 2, what are the two sets of answers that contradict one another? For example, do students believe that reforms are a good thing but do not believe that children in school should learn English? The two sets of answers that contradict one another are those answers pertinent to questions 10 and 11. Majority of the respondents believed that the reform is turning Qatar into a copy of the West but still they strongly support learning English as part of the reform. Question number 9 has 11 respondents answering that they strongly agree (2) that reforms have a positive influence on Qatari culture. The rationale for this is because respondents in Table 1 are all Qatari students who are most aware of the impact of the reforms on their national culture. Question number 10 has 8 respondents who believed that the reform is turning Qatar into a copy of the West. Again, the rationale for this is because respondents in Table 2 are comprised of non-Qatari students who could have had the opportunities of attending western schools. The acknowledgment of the respondents that English plays an important role in education and should be included as a critical part of the reform, regardless of the nationality of the students who participated in the

International perspectives in criminology Essay

International perspectives in criminology - Essay Example For along time scholars have agreed that the Chinese criminal justice system is substantially retributive in aspect (Chiu 1992, p. 39). The same scholars have explored the apparent weaknesses of this system and held them up for ridicule especially when set against the foil of the international crusades for human rights. The ideological and political loyalists and apologists of the system have, however disputed these allegations and instead described the legal system as a hybrid that incorporates both the restorative and retributive aspects of justice. The thrust of their argument is that the two systems are supplementary and complementary in their operations. The Structures of China’s criminal justice frame work are largely anchored on the philosophies of Confucianism and legalism (Siegel & Senna 2005). Confucianism promotes a culture of entrenched virtue that should be guided by the organs of the state. The Confucian fashion of the criminal justice system was one that would allow citizens to use the law willingly and but also minimally so that the praxis of application, reference or practice are not seen to be overbearing on the society. The salient feature in the Confucian doctrine was the lack of force or organized formality that would preside over the cultural, moral, and social transaction of a people as represented in their everyday rhythms of life. The Confucian system imagines a ruler or the state not as an overlord on the subjects but as a virtuous edifice that should guide the rest of the citizenry through example. The Confucian system aligns with the restorative aspect of law but does not suggest much about the loopholes within the system that might fail to address some peculiar cases of social miscreants. Legalism on the other hand advocates for strong measures by the state to uphold the means and ends of justice. In this method, punishment and coercion are deemed as necessary tools that can help the