Overview of the Republic of Malta

Diagram of the Republic of Malta Malta, authoritatively called the Republic of Malta, is an island country situated in southern Europe. The Malta archipelago is situated in the Mediterranean Sea, around 93 km south of the island of Sicily and 288 km east of Tunisia. Malta is known as one of the universes littlest and most thickly populated nations, with a region of only 122 square miles (316 sq km) and a populace of more than 400,000-giving it a populace thickness of around 3,347 people for every square mile or 1,292 individuals for each square kilometer. Populace: 408,333 (July 2011 estimate)Capital: VallettaLand Area: 122 square miles (316 sq km)Coastline: 122.3 miles (196.8 km)Highest Point: TaDmerjrek at 830 feet (253 m) History Archeological records show that Maltas history goes back to old occasions and was one of the universes most established developments. From the get-go in its history, Malta turned into a significant exchanging settlement due to its focal area in the Mediterranean, and the Phoenicians and later the Carthaginians constructed strongholds on the island. In 218 B.C.E., Malta turned into a piece of the Roman Empire during the subsequent Punic War. The island stayed a piece of the Roman Empire until 533 C.E. at the point when it turned into a piece of the Byzantine Empire. In 870, control of Malta went to the Arabs, who stayed on the island until 1090 when they were driven out by a band of Norman swashbucklers. This prompted it turning into a piece of Sicily for more than 400 years, during which time it was offered to a few medieval rulers from lands that would inevitably come to have a place with Germany, France, and Spain. As per the U.S. Branch of State, in 1522, Suleiman II constrained the Knights of St. John from Rhodes and they spread out in different areas all through Europe. In 1530, they were allowed rule over the Maltese islands by Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, and for more than 250 years the Knights of Malta controlled the islands. During their time on the islands, the Knights of Malta fabricated a few towns, royal residences, and places of worship. In 1565, the Ottomans endeavored to attack Malta-known as the Great Siege-yet the Knights had the option to overcome them. By the late 1700s, be that as it may, the intensity of the Knights started to decrease and in 1798 they gave up to Napoleon. For a long time after Napoleon took over Malta, the populace endeavored to oppose French guideline and in 1800, with the help of the British, the French were constrained out of the islands. In 1814, Malta turned into a piece of the British Empire. During the British control of Malta, a few military strongholds were constructed and the islands turned into the central station of the British Mediterranean Fleet. During World War II, Malta was attacked a few times by Germany and Italy yet it had the option to endure and on August 15, 1942, five boats got through a Nazi bar to convey food and supplies to Malta. This armada of boats got known as the Santa Marija Convoy. In 1942, Malta was granted the George Cross by King George VI. In September 1943 Malta was home to the acquiescence of the Italian armada and therefore, September 8 is perceived as Victory Day in Malta to stamp the finish of WWII in Malta and recognize the triumph in the 1565 Great Siege. On September 21, 1964, Malta picked up its autonomy and it authoritatively turned into the Republic of Malta on December 13, 1974. Government Today Malta is still administered as a republic with an official branch comprised of a head of express (the president) and a head of government (the PM). Maltas authoritative branch is included a unicameral House of Representatives, while its legal branch is comprised of the Constitutional Court, Court of First Instance and the Court of Appeal. Malta has no regulatory regions and the whole nation is managed straightforwardly from its capital, Valletta. There are anyway a few neighborhood committees that direct requests from Valletta. Financial aspects and Land Use Malta has a moderately little economy and it is dependent on universal exchange on the grounds that, as indicated by the CIA World Factbook, it creates just about 20% of its food needs, has minimal new water and has hardly any vitality sources. Its principle horticultural items are potatoes, cauliflower, grapes, wheat, grain, tomatoes, citrus, blossoms, green peppers, pork, milk, poultry, and eggs. The travel industry is additionally a significant piece of Maltas economy and different enterprises in the nation incorporate gadgets, shipbuilding and fix, development, food and refreshments, pharmaceuticals, footwear, apparel, tobacco, just as aeronautics, monetary and data innovation administrations. Topography and Climate Malta is an archipelago in the Mediterranean with two primary islands - Gozo and Malta. Its complete zone is little at just 122 square miles (316 sq km), however the general geography of the islands changes. There are for instance numerous rough beach front bluffs, however the focal point of the islands is ruled by low, level fields. The most noteworthy point on Malta is TaDmerjrek at 830 feet (253 m). The biggest city in Malta is Birkirkara. The atmosphere of Malta is Mediterranean and as such it has mellow, blustery winters and warm to blistering, dry summers. Valletta has a normal January low temperature of 48ËšF (9ËšC) and a normal July high temperature of 86ËšF (30ËšC). References Focal Intelligence Agency. (26 April 2011). CIA - The World Factbook - Malta.Infoplease.com. (n.d.). Malta: History, Geography, Government, and Culture.United States Department of State. (23 November 2010). Malta.ï » ¿Wikipedia.com. (30 April 2011). Malta.

Symbols Hills Like White Elephants

Martin Chi English 102 Essay #2 Professor Crawford Hills like White Elephants In â€Å"Hills Like White Elephants†, Ernest Hemingway, doesn't uncover the wellspring of contention between the youngster and young lady in the story, however it is inferred that the contention is focused on the choice of premature birth. The objective of the man in the story is to persuade the young lady to have a fetus removal methodology. The objective of the young lady is to take the necessary steps to make her accomplice glad and therefore save their relationship.The three fundamental images are the slopes, the white elephants and the rail street station. In the story, Jig took a gander at slopes and stated, â€Å" They looked like white elephants. † The man answered, â€Å" I’ve never observed one. † Then she answered, â€Å"No, you wouldn’t have. † (line 9-11). The slopes represent the large obstructions that we should ascend, however are not gigantic mounta ins. This speaks to the way that the girl’s infant is a significant impediment in her life, yet ti isn't a mind-blowing finish and she will endure. Slopes are likewise perspectives to watch out from, yet additionally obstruct the view for those in the valley.This speak to how in the story Jig takes a gander at the slopes and sees opportunity, yuet simultaneously the man takes a gander at it and sees his vision of a positive and upbeat future hindered by the tremendous impediment of a kid. Slopes are likewise delightful, normal and totally fixed. This shows the child will make them settle down and remain together. The creator utilizes slopes in light of the fact that pregnant moms gut is somewhat a slope itself. Being pregnant secures the mother and makes her not so much portable but rather more stationary.The component of the trinket is representative of the infant. A trinket is a valuable thing that has a cost which maybe outperforms it convenience. Dance has gotten a blessi ng which is, right now in her life, pointless to her. It is a blessing that could be extremely valuable to another. The trinket likewise represents the way that the man said he has never observed white elephants. This is on the grounds that he isn't available to thinking about keeping the kid and needs the young lady to have the premature birth procedure.The rail street is representative of being at the intersection of life during a period of emergency. The American man and the young lady can't remain at the station until the end of time. They are voyaging and there will be change. There must be a choice of where to go straightaway. The entirety of this is representative of the choice to keep the kid or not. All voyaging has an expense thus does the result of this choice. To either keep or prematurely end the youngster is an exorbitant choice. The young lady, Jig, demonstrates herself to be extremely reliant upon her male partner all through the story.She requests his contribution o n even the easiest of errands, for example, the decision and number of her drinks. Her conduct can be deciphered to be an indication of instability more than everything else. Dance confides in his judgment, has a sense of safety in his organization and appears to effectively keep him around. When pushed on the issue of the activity, Jig shows no genuine worry for her own wellbeing or mental prosperity, expressing completely, â€Å"I couldn't care less about me. † Jig's primary concern is whether she can satisfy her accomplice so they will â€Å"Be okay and be glad. It is far fetched that Jig proceeded with the methodology with an unmistakable still, small voice, which is the reason she was relentless to the point that they would not talk about the issue any further. â€Å" Hills Like White Elephants† is an anecdote about emergency. The American man and Jig the young lady have a choice to make and there is no simple way out. In any event, settling on no choice is a cho ice. We as a whole can without much of a stretch identify with being in this sort of circumstance. Hemingway, Ernest. â€Å" Hills Like White Elephant† . † The Norton Introduction to Literature. New York: W. W. Norton and, 2010. 117-18. Print

Do Negative Reviews Disproportionately Impact Women and Writers of Color

Do Negative Reviews Disproportionately Impact Women and Writers of Color There used to be a post or article every other day about whether the book review is dead, or if negative reviews do more harm than good. Lately, the talk seems to have quieted down. Not because these topics became any less relevant; rather, we exhausted them without coming any closer to finding an answer. Everyone got tired of talking about it. I can list all the arguments: the death of the book review sections in legacy papers, critics becoming enmeshed with the publishing industry, critics who are more concerned about their personal brand than the work, book bloggers, the “Big Five” publishers created their own reviewing outlets to better control the conversation, online consumer reviews have more influence (conveniently located on the same page as the BUY button) on readers than professional reviews, bad reviews hurt book sales in an already dwindling landscape, and that old standby “if you don’t have anything nice to say…” But recently a pair of articles, both touchin g on negatives reviews in the context of women and people of color, have made these topics interesting again. Photo by Lauren Mancke Kristina Marie Darling, in her November 11th, 2017 Los Angeles Review of Books essay  Readerly Privilege and Textual Violence: An Ethics of Engagement (a PhD Dissertation title if I ever heard one), writes about the damage bad reviews can do specifically to marginalized communities.   She tells us that “critics in a position of privilege…should avoid foreclosing possibilities for individuals to appreciate a given work of art…our biases are often the result of class, race, gender and our limited experience of the world us. Reviewers  should not hold up their personal tastes as a normative standard that others should aspire to. Humility is a virtue, after all.” And later: “Reviews are not the arbiters of taste, but rather, they are ushers in a room full of empty chairs.” Now, I disagree with multiple points Darling makes in her article, but I’ll focus on just those few sentences. All critics are in a position of privilege, by definition. Whether it is Harold Bloom or Zadie Smithâ€"the very fact they are allowed a platform from which to discuss a book moves them into it. And the idea that a reviewer needs to perform a tabula rasa, discarding class, race, gender and personal experience like a plaid flannel in order to come to a book as a completely neutral observer, is unrealistic. Rather, it is more important for a reviewer to acknowledge their privilege and background; talk about the books they are consciously, or even subconsciously, comparing the book they are reviewing to; and, most importantly, be honest with themselves, the reader and the author. They also need to look outside of their comfort zone when choosing (if that is an option) books to reviews. Which is why my personal feelings are more aligned with a February 21st, 2018 Baffler article, In Praise of Negative Reviews, in which Rafia Zakaria engages with Darling’s essay directly. Not only does she feel negative reviews are important, Zakaria believes “The idea that all Native American or Muslim American women must be praised  for the very fact of publishing a book smacks of the worst sort of condescension; the idea that their public positions must receive gentle pats insures their intellectual exclusion.” Because, as those of us who follow the VIDA count know, the problem for marginalized groups historically is not that their writing is receiving bad reviews, but that it isn’t being considered at all. Book reviewers are no longer the arbitrators of taste, if they ever were. But neither can they be accused of “foreclosing possibilities”â€"disliking a writer’s work does not suddenly remove that book from the market. A positive review may have the power to increase sales, but that does not make the opposite true. And, while a bad review might feel like the end of an author’s world at the time, it rarely (if ever) is. It’s so much worse to be ignored. Negative criticism is allowed, even embraced, by the film, television, music, and even the video game industries. Cultural criticism has taken over the internet. Why should books be considered off limits? If social media has taught us anything, it’s that for something to be culturally relevant it needs to evoke strong (and conflicting) opinions and emotions. There is no conversation if we all agree. And I have proof: without Zakaria’s critique, I would never have read Darling’s essay. And, sure, I disagree with most of what Darling has to say… but I’m more than happy to talk about all the reasons why.

Family and Football - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 3 Words: 870 Downloads: 9 Date added: 2019/02/15 Category Society Essay Level High school Tags: Family Essay Did you like this example? Two of the most important things in my life is family and football. Family and football are one in the same to me. I value them both as they have taught me discipline, respect and loyalty. In the game of football my teammates and I have built an unbreakable bond like those of brothers. At the age of 5 my father started playing semi pro football for the Colorado Wildcats. The experience and joy I felt seeing him on the field allowed me to expand my horizons and see life in a different perspective. This made me want to better myself so that I can be a professional and make it to the NFL. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Family and Football" essay for you Create order I started playing flag football in the 5th grade and continued playing to my current year in high school. My parents and family were there to cheer me in even when I did not know they plays and that made me feel great. I knew that with my family support and dedication I was going to be a success story. I continued to practice with my dad, who taught me the game and when my freshman year of high school came I was 1 of 4 freshman students on the varsity team at Adams city high school. My sophomore year I transferred to George Washington high school. This is where I found the true meaning of family which was a big deal for me. Family is so important because they provide security making you feel safe. Having that support system. They will always love you, and be there for you no matter what. Having role models to show you how to act, how to carry yourself respect not only urself but respect others. Your family provides security Football has taught me important life lessons that I carry with me every day. I had to learn that you win some and you lose some. Losing games were really hard for me, however I learned that with sportsmanship, you shake the other players hands no matter if you win or if you lose. You also look them in the eyes and give them the respect that everyone deserves after playing the game. Optimism is not always easy. It is very easy to get down on yourself, get mad at your coaches, or say â€Å"I can’t.† However, sports teach you that you can’t just throw your hands up in the air and give up. Never give up. That is also where confidence comes into play. I did not have a lot of confidence in myself when I first started playing contact football. I was afraid that I would get hurt. My father told me that anything can happen on the field and in life; however, if you pay attention to your surroundings and believe that you can do it, anything is possible. I had to learn to b elieve in myslef on and off the field. I will never forget these life lessons. They have made me a better person and shaped me into the person I am today. I am continuing to learn new lessons every day. My mother and father always told me that school came first. My grades arent very good. I am still learning to apply the confidence I gained from football to my work in the classrooms. I turn in my classroom assignments as I am supposed too; however, my grades have been hurt dramatically because I choke up during test and quizzes, which hurt my overall grade. I struggle more with timed tests, I know the material, I know I can do the problems, I go blank. I pay too much attention to the clocks, because I am still afraid that the clock will pass me up and I will not finish in the time allowed. I know that I must play hard on and off the field in reference to my education. I recognize that test taking may be a weakness for me but nonetheless I strive to do my best day in and day out, by taking better notes during class, asking for help when needed and seeing my teachers during breaks, lunches and after school for the assistance that I may need. I want to join study groups, tutoring c lasses and seek out additional resources and assistance in college to ensure that I don’t repeat the same mistakes in the past with my grades. If being a football player is not in my future, Coaching would be my next step. I would love to be able to share the lessons that I have learned to other up and coming athletes. To mentor them on how to become good people, how to respect not just others but to also respect themselves, discipline and loyalty, and all the other great things that sports have to offer on and off the field. I would like the opportunity to make my family proud. I would like the chance to continue to make my family proud by being the 1st out of a few generations to actually make it to college and be successful. I understand to accomplish this, it will take hard work, will power and dedicated. I am willing to do what it takes.

Baseball As A First Negro Player - 866 Words

After World War II, Baseball was most beloved game in America. Africans had served their country gallantly with others. However, they return home fighting to free the world from tyranny only to find racism, Jim crawlism and segregation still waiting at home. The film is about the challenges Robinson face to come to play Baseball as a first negro player through social segregation. Segregation was the law and custom of the land. No other group was more scrupulous in its observance of customs than organized Baseball. In 1946, there were 16 Major Baseball teams consisting of 400 players and all of them was white. In 1947,Mr Ricky, innovative major league Baseball executive, stood apart to bring a colored ball player in Baseball. He offers Jacki that if he make it to Montreal, he could play with Brooklyn Dodgers with a good amount of salary. However, there was one condition that Jacki must control his temper by any means. Jacki replied, â€Å"You give me a uniform and a number on my back , and I will give you my temper†. Jacki got a jersey with 42 on the back. After signing the contract with Montreal Jacki got married with a fine young woman named Rachel. At the first day of spring training at Montreal he faced a few question from the reporters. He answered them with his intellect. In Daytona, Florida- police interrupt Jacki in the game, accusing him of hitting a white player in the field. But, it was legal by the game rules. April 18, 1946 in Jersey-city was the opening day ofShow MoreRelatedEssay about The Historical Significance of Negro Baseball Leagues953 Words   |  4 PagesNegro baseball leagues have a deep historical significance. Racism and â€Å"Jim Crow† laws encouraged segregation of African-Americans and whites. Arguably, the players on the negro baseball leagues were some of the best ever. 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The Negro Leagues flourished from 1920 to 1951, with the first all-pro African AmericanRead MoreAmerica s Favorite Pastime And Jackie Robinson Essay1661 Words   |  7 PagesAmerica’s Favorite Pastime and Jackie Robinson The game of baseball has been intertwined in our history. It has been there through the wars and the civil rights movements. The game has seen it all. There have been great players who have put their career’s on hold to fight for their country. â€Å"More than 500 major league baseball players during World War II, including stars like Ted Williams, Stan Musial and Joe DiMaggio†. There is one player that didn’t have to put his career on hold to fight for his

Blue White Selection Free Essays

Blue white selection  is a widely used method in screening recombinants in cloning. This is based on the gene product of lac z gene. The plasmid vectors contain this gene which produces  ? galactosidase  enzyme. We will write a custom essay sample on Blue White Selection or any similar topic only for you Order Now When a gene is inserted close to  lac z gene, the reading frame will be distorted and the gene is inactivated. So the transformed cells will not produce this enzyme and are called competent cells. After the recombination, the bacterial cells are grown in a medium containing X gal (5-bromo-4-chloro-indolyl-? D-galactopyranoside) and  IPTG (Isopropyl ? -D-1-thiogalactopyranoside). IPTG acts as the inducer for lac z gene and enhance the production of ? galactosidase. When it is produced, combines with X gal to form a blue colour complex called  5,5†²-dibromo-4,4†²-dichloro-indigo  which is insoluble. The transformed colonies will appear white in colour and non- transformed cells will appear blue in colour. This method is also called as insertional inactivation of lac z gene. Hybridization  techniques are widely used to identify recombinants. This is based on the ability of nucleic acids hybridize with complementary DNA. The transformed cells are transferred on to a  nitrocellulose membrane  which is subjected to cell lysis. The double stranded DNA is converted to single stranded DNA and immobilized on the membrane. Then it is treated with radiolabelled  probes  complementary to target DNA. If the desired DNA is present, the probes will be hybridized which can be detected by autoradiography. Apart from these methods,  immunochemical methods  are used to detect protein products to screen recombinants. How to cite Blue White Selection, Essay examples

The teacher walked into the classroom Essay Example

The teacher walked into the classroom Essay The teacher walked into the classroom. It was the first period. My classmates grudgingly removed our books from our bags and got ready for our math lesson. I have never been particularly good at math, so I can safely say it is not my favorite subject. Still, it was better than my English, which has earned the dubious honor of being the last in class. I stretch to alleviate a crick in my neck and gaze down onto my books. Just then, the earth begins to shake. Being used to living in an earthquake prone region, I coolly duck under my desk, as often instructed by teachers. We will write a custom essay sample on The teacher walked into the classroom specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The teacher walked into the classroom specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The teacher walked into the classroom specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer However, s I gaze across the class, I notice that this earthquake was no ordinary one. The ground did not stop shaking for almost a minute. Finally, the earth quieted down. Most of us were out from under our desks within seconds, stooping low to pick up our scattered belongings. My eyes met my classmates, a pretty girl with a sweet demeanor and enchanting smile. Grinning, she walks over and hands me my water flask, which has somehow managed to roll over the debris and end up at her feet. Without warning, an announcement that the earthquake had occurred under the sea floor was given. I could barely hear the word tsunami over my classmates chatter, but there was no mistaking when the air raid sirens begin to wail. The teacher ordered us to line up into an orderly fashion and proceed to the tsunami safety zone, some 10 minutes hike up a hill behind our school. I had done this hike before, and am not pleased to be ordered to repeat it. Still , better safe than swimming. We exit the school, which overlooks the town below us, when I notice something wrong. Far out into the horizon, a thin black line has appeared on the water. Then the realization hits me, the tsunami is coming, and coming fast. Without even pausing, I run downhill towards my house. My classmates yell after me but I ignore any and all warning. My grandmother and my cousin lives near the sea. What chance does a 65 year old lady and a 2 year old child have against Mother Nature herself? L, 16 and somewhat fit, can make better time than them. Pattering feet indicates another person is running beside me. My blood turns cold as I looked into Junior Eries eyes, the same eyes I looked into minutes earlier. She lives just a few houses away from me. Like me, her parents are working in Tokyo, leaving err here to take care of her younger siblings. Without even thinking, without even asking, we encourage each other to run faster. Cars whiz by as panicked drivers sought to escape the impending doom. I do not even bother to try to flag one down because I know they will not stop, and I do not want another person risking their life for my family. Despite being out of breath when I reach my house, I yelled BAOBABS!! . My grandmother comes running out of the house, carrying my cousin and some important documents. I grab my cousin and hold my grandmothers hand. Together, e race Deck funnel Glancing to my sloe, Im release to see Reel Ana nerd two young brothers running for it. Running uphill is a challenge even for someone with my physical condition. Within minutes my grandmother is winded. I am in hardly better shape. I reach out to grab my grandmothers arm, coaxing, nay, forcing her to move. A rumbling sound floats sinisterly through the air, and I realize our two story high sea wall is all but demolished. Ire is in an even more difficult position than me. Her brothers are younger and not capable of running far. Still, she doesnt let them go. She continues to pull them further and further uphill. There are no passing cars left to get a lift, were on our own. The waters start seeping around our shoes. Sensing this, my grandmother looks at me long and hard in the eyes, and tells me a two words that will haunt me to my dying day. Status, run But baobabs, I cant leave you!! Take good care of your cousin then she pats me on the head and pushes me. I run for the hills. Looking back one last time, I see she is already waist deep in water. She continues to hold her gaze at me until she is swept off her feet and sinks uneaten the raging waters. A yell, loud enough to draw my attention over the sloshing sound of water shifts my gaze far right. Eries brothers are climbing a service ladder on the side of a six storey building. Ire makes up the rear. Her shoes and socks are wet, but otherwise okay. She is ordering her brothers to continue climbing, but they are tired after their uphill race. The waters are rising rapidly beneath her, and I am in no position to be a hero myself, barely keeping in front of the wave as it. I continuously check over my shoulder. The wave appeared to be slowing own and Ire is almost out of harms way. Just as I stoop over to catch my breath, Eries legs are hit by a floating van and crushed against the side of the building. She screams, but holds on. Then incredibly, continues to climb with mangled, blood spattered legs. Using the strength of arms and will alone, she pulls herself another three storey to safety. The waves finally recede after a few hours. My parents add contacted me during the time, and I had sobbed uncontrollably, explaining to them why I had to let grandmother go. They appeared to be understanding, but I wont even forgive myself.

What Does Feminism Stand For Who are These Creatures who call themselves Feminists

What Does Feminism Stand For Who are These Creatures who call themselves Feminists A layman views feminism as being focused on women gaining equal rights to men. However, this is a very simplistic way of addressing feminism. In reality, feminism is much more complex and larger than merely describing equality for women (Weisberg 234).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on What Does Feminism Stand For? Who are These Creatures who call themselves Feminists? specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Feminist philosophy espouses various hidden as well as non-expressed desires of all the people with regard to human equality. It is both an intellectual commitment and a political movement that seeks for womens justice as well as an end of all kinds of sexism (Dutt 238). Generally, people disagree on a number of issues. For instance, they are against of the common definition of sexism. This question should reflect their craving for equality and measures which are to be done to achieve it. Whilst many people can easily def ine feminism, there is a need for deeper understanding of what feminism is and who qualifies to be termed a feminist. Feminist concept varies in two ways in majority sociological hypotheses (Walker 89). Firstly, it is the function of a multidisciplinary, multicultural as well as worldwide community, which consists of not only sociologists, but also professionals from several other professions, artistic authors as well as political activists. Subsequently, feminist sociologists operate with a dual goal to expand a deepen sociology by reviewing professional understanding. It is also necessary to take into account breakthroughs being attained by feminist scholars and to grow a crucial comprehension for a culture in order to alter the globe in guidelines considered much more humane. Various feminists want the society to accept that there is no strategic means of unifying different sexism instances and correspondingly, the lacks of a strategic unity in what constitutes feminism. Rather f eminism should be viewed as an avenue for coalition building (Dutt 236). Different entities operate to deal with various forms of oppressive actions; some entities handle oppression against females as of fundamental concern.Advertising Looking for essay on history? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More However, feminists are motivated by the pursuit for social justice. The feminist inquiry offers a wide range of standpoints with regard to social, cultural, economic, as well as political aspects (Duplessis and Ann 34). Understanding feminism begins with developing an undertaking of the theory itself, as well as the politics surrounding it. Further, the sub-entries of feminism include aspects like disability, globalization, sex work, human trafficking, as well as sexuality, among others (Walker 99). These aspects extend the understanding as well as the scope of feminism. Different cultures, even without their own comprehensi on describe various aspects of feminism uniquely. For instance, within the African culture, feminism will show much focus on fighting the tradition that deters progress of women. In such societies, women have for long been sidelined in decision making and generally treated as the weaker sex (Kiss 343). The society has shaped women to be ‘submissive’ to men regardless of whether they are being oppressed or not. This is very much unlike the western civilization where women have long been accepted as participants within every process in the society. However, within such a society, another aspect of feminism emerging is the role of sexuality (Walker 102). As one would ask, is the western culture treating women as sexual objects? Broadly speaking, most societies describe feminism goal as being to end oppression and hence stresses that women oppression is not only unjust but an unethical practice. The perspective is likely to differ within diverse cultures and it must be ackn owledged that women oppression goes beyond the rhetorical sexism. Emerging issues from diverse cultures include: classism, homophobia, racial feminism, ageism, as well as ableism, among other areas (Jaggar 98).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on What Does Feminism Stand For? Who are These Creatures who call themselves Feminists? specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More What is sure, is that all societies agree that unequally is unjust, thats why feminists should fight for their rights to restore the justice. However, a closer look emphasizes that accomplishing feminism goals necessitates dealing with racism, as well as economic exploitation suffered by women (Jaggar 67). Information from different cultures reveal that women from different racial backgrounds suffer from different forms of exploitation. The plight of women in African societies definitely differs from that of white women, or Indian women. This implies that femini sts must address the issue of race. A fundamental question to query the racial perspective is how often a white woman will get similar treatment as the one accorded to a black woman (Delphy 87). Moreover, one can watch the media display pictures of women from different backgrounds and the plight they suffer. Feminism is a fight for liberty that is one of the larger battles to eliminate all forms of superiority. It is important to understand how patriarchal domination shares ideologies with racial foundations as well as other forms of oppression (Herrman and Abigail 131). The feminism aspect cannot be eradicated while leaving intact the other aspects. Such knowledge plays an important role in both feministic theory and practice. Feministic theory is a generalized from this point. It is meant to be wide ranging system constituted of ideas about social life as well as human experience based on a woman-focused viewpoint. There are three ways by which feminism is woman centered. Firstly, it begins with investigation, which seeks to establish the situations and experiences encountered by women in the society (Herrman and Abigail 132). Secondly, feminism puts women at its centre by seeking to view the world from an exclusive vantage point for women within the social sphere.Advertising Looking for essay on history? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Thirdly, feminist theory acts as a critical basis for activitism on behalf of the female-kind. It attempts to create a world where all humankind can live as equals. More answers are still general after decades of posing the question to the women’s plight in the society. Women are found within all social scenarios. Where they are absent, it is due to the fact that they don’t have the ability or desire, but due to the fact that there has been a purposive endeavor to leave them out. Where there are women, they have exercised roles extremely diverse from the well-known conception of them (with regard to roles of being passive wives or girlfriends as well as mothers). In fact, as wives and mothers as well as in a sequence of various other tasks, females have, alongside men, actively produced the ideals of being desired (Kiss 345). Females are actively present in the majority of social circumstances, professions, publics as well as community roles where a blind eye has been turned to the women’s contribution. Furthermore, female roles in a lot of social circumstances, whilst crucial, are diverse ranging from, much less fortunate compared to, to beings subordinate to men. Paying no attention to the role of women in society is a key to notice inequality. Feminisms second fundamental query, then, is: Why are things the way they are? The initial query demands for an explanation of the social community, the second query requires an explanation of the community. Feminisms responses to these types of queries provide people with a common social concept. Delphy, Christine. Close to Home: A Materialist Analysis of Womens Oppression, Trans. Diane Leonard. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1984. Duplessis, Rachel and Ann, Snitow. The Feminist Memoir Project: Voices from Womens Liberation, New York: Random House, 2008. Dutt, Martin. â€Å"Reclaiming a Human Rights Culture: Feminism of Difference and Alliance.† In Talking Visions: Multicultu ral Feminism in a Transnational Age, ed., Ella Shohat. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1998, 225-246 Herrman, Anne and Abigail, Stewart. Theorizing Feminism: Parallel Trends in the Humanities and Social Sciences, Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2007. Jaggar, Alison. Feminist Politics and Human Nature, Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 1983. Kiss, Elizabeth. â€Å"Feminism and Rights.† Dissent, 42.3 (2002): 342-347. Walker, Margaret. Moral Understandings: A Feminist Study in Ethics, New York: Routledge, 2005. Weisberg, Kelly. Feminist Legal Theory: Foundations, Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1993.

How to Treat Names of Groups and Organizations

How to Treat Names of Groups and Organizations How to Treat Names of Groups and Organizations How to Treat Names of Groups and Organizations By Mark Nichol Proper names create challenges for writers and editors trying to identify an organizational entity in a way that is both accurate and graceful. For example, in general, if you would precede the name of an entity with the article the in speech, do so in writing, and if not, don’t. This rule applies to organizations: â€Å"Your charitable donation to the March of Dimes helps fund our mission,† not â€Å"Your charitable donation to March of Dimes helps fund our mission.† (The organization’s Web site lists the copyright holder as â€Å"March of Dimes Foundation,† with no article, but refers to itself throughout the site as â€Å"the March of Dimes.†) â€Å"Save the Children has instituted rigorous standards in the communities it supports,† not â€Å"The Save the Children has instituted rigorous standards in the communities it supports.† (â€Å"One could write â€Å"the Save the Children philanthropic organization† to provide context, but â€Å"the philanthropic organization Save the Children† is more elegant.) It is also relevant to corporations: â€Å"GlaxoSmithKline PLC is headquartered in London,† not â€Å"The GlaxoSmithKline PLC is headquartered in London.† â€Å"The Dow Chemical Company is headquartered in Midland, Michigan,† not â€Å"Dow Chemical Company is headquartered in Midland, Michigan.† (But a short form of the name would not be preceded by the article: â€Å"Dow is headquartered in Midland, Michigan.† Usage in corporation names complicates matters somewhat, however. Some firms that include company in their name precede the name with the, and others don’t. (Careful writers and editors will check company literature for proper usage, or delegate the task to a fact-checker.) The same problem occurs when corporation is part of the name: For example, Microsoft Corporation omits the in its official corporate name, but many other such entities include it, as in the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Number agreement of proper nouns and verbs is also a significant issue. For example, in American English, names of music ensembles, whether orchestras or pop groups, are matched with singular or plural verbs depending on the name: â€Å"Led Zeppelin was an English rock band,† not â€Å"Led Zeppelin were an English rock band.† â€Å"The Beatles were an English rock band,† â€Å"Not the Beatles was an English rock band.† (Note, also, that the, when it precedes a band name, is not capitalized, even if band documentation uses a capitalized the.) However, British English employs plural verbs regardless of the form of the band name: â€Å"Led Zeppelin were an English rock band,† and â€Å"The Beatles were an English rock band.† In the United States, names of athletic teams are always treated as plural, regardless of whether the name is a singular or plural term: â€Å"The Magic are headquartered in Orlando, Florida,† not â€Å"The Magic is headquartered in Orlando, Florida.† (Note that the house style of the New York Times is an exception.) â€Å"The Giants are headquartered in San Francisco,† not â€Å"The Giants is headquartered in San Francisco.† (But â€Å"The San Francisco Giants baseball team is in the National League of Major League Baseball,† and â€Å"The team is headquartered in San Francisco.†) In American English usage, metonymic team references, in which a team is referred to by the place name rather than the mascot name, are in singular form: â€Å"Orlando is on its way to the playoffs,† and â€Å"San Francisco is in a slump.† In the United Kingdom and other countries where British English is standard, a distinction is made between the organization and the athletes as a group: In the former case, the singular form is used (â€Å"The Manchester United Football Club is the most successful football club in England†), but the plural form prevails in the latter case (â€Å"Manchester United are ahead by one point†). Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Spelling category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:16 Substitutes for â€Å"Because† or â€Å"Because Of†How Long Should a Paragraph Be?5 Examples of Insufficient Hyphenation

The Arab-Israeli Peace Process Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

The Arab-Israeli Peace Process - Essay Example The Oslo process made Israeli forces withdraw from West Bank territory that contained Palestine and was made to be under Palestinians. The treaty brought peace in Palestine. Both the countries had to ensure they provide maximum security to their citizens and prevent the terror attack. There was peace in Palestine because it was their responsibility to ensure that they avoid terror against the Israelis. The Oslo process had some shortcomings in it. The Oslo process broke down because of improper negotiation habits thus turning the peace that was created to the charade. This provided a much safe platform for the Israelis to keep on doing their projects in West Bank and go unpunished (Rothstein, Maoz & Shiqāqī, 2002). Some of these projects harmed the Palestine. The Oslo process led to loose of trust between the countries and there was no peace. The Palestinians are unsatisfied and grieve thinking of what was to yield a wave of peace in their country is bringing harm. The Palestinians lands have been taken because of a construction of roads and walls thus separating the Palestinians communities (Rothstein, Maoz & Shiqāqī, 2002). The number of deaths has increased evidently in the recent killing in Gaza strip and there were more than a thousand individuals killed in the process. After the Oslo process failed there was no room left for subsequent peace talk between the Israelis and Palestinians because of lack of trust, which is a foundation for establishing treaties. From the shortcoming, we see Oslo process as an inappropriate aid, which is falsely framed to bring peace to the

The NGO Activism via Official Website, a Case Study of WWF, Save the Dissertation

The NGO Activism via Official Website, a Case Study of WWF, Save the Children, and Greenpeace - Dissertation Example Greenpeace†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.48 4.4. Use of Web Technology by WWF, Save the Children, and Greenpeace: A Comparative Study†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.51 4.5. Brief Overview on Other NGOs using the Internet Technology†¦...53 4.6. An Overall Analytical View†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..56 5. Conclusion†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.60 6. References†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.63 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I am thankful to all m y faculty members, colleagues and institution for giving me an opportunity to study the use of the web technology and the significance of the official websites of the three selected NGOs- WWF, Save the Children, and Greenpeace. I am also especially thankful to my supervisor, _______ ________ for the timely advice, feedbacks and tips which aided me in improving upon my work and remain punctual in the agreed scheduled deliveries of dissertation chapters. ABSTRACT The use of web technology has overcome serious difficulties in the modern business world and the manner in which organizations tend to market their products or services. The present study focuses on the use of the official websites by the non-governmental organizations in reaching out to common masses of people, marketing their activities and trying to get them involved in their activities. The focus is primarily on three NGOs- World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Save the Children, and Greenpeace. A detailed study and analysis on the contents of the official websites of these three NGOs have clearly revealed the importance of the web technology in the enhanced performances of the... The modern times can be called the age of the Internet. More and more uses of the internet can now be found to influence the activities of different organizations and their marketing processes in the business world. This includes the activities of the NGOs as well. In the present times, NGOs are involved in virtual activism, where the digital media of the NGO websites are given credentials for helping and training people. Moreover, any positive change which results in the betterment of society is embraced by the population of the world as a whole. The goal is reached only â€Å"Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection† (Tagore, 1996, p. 27). When this proactive approach is adopted via the website of any NGO; people of the society respond to it positively, and support the causes. The vital consideration is whether the NGOs are using the Internet facility with ingenuity to augment their success. The use of websites can be realized to be in use since a long time. However, the use has been made effective in the recent times when the users of the web technology have realized that with internet they could enhance their activities and gain more profits and success. Thus in the recent times, every business organization might be observed having their own website. This is primarily because the world has now become more competitive and every organization tends to focus on factors that might put them into a higher position among the population of the world.

Customer Satisfaction in the Indian Petroleum Industry

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