Critically evaluate the contribution of secondary retail and Essay

Critically evaluate the contribution of secondary retail and merchandising at FIFA World Cup - Essay Example Most organizations, businesses and non-commercial institutions will want to be a part considering the magnanimous influence it has on the entire global community. Notably, due to the enormous cost of organizing such a huge event, FIFA would not be able to manage the tournament devoid of the significant support of commercial affiliates, the host country and cities (Hunt, 2006, pp. 44). All these stakeholders make essential financial donations to ensure that the privately funded experience remain in course. In return for the decisive support, FIFA’s rights holders are assured an elite relationship with the competition, especially the privilege to use the Official Marks for advertising and promotional purposes. In as much as, there are several organizations and institutional that support FIFA at different levels, the paper focuses on the contribution of secondary retail and merchandising at FIFA World Cup. The 2014 FIFA World Cup is anticipated to entertain over six billion TV viewers across the world and other internet followers. Coca-Cola representatives said it has a program in the U.S. that supersedes contribution in Summer Olympics. McDonald’s nonetheless will sponsor 25 children to a World Cup and Visa will have 40 percent more banking participants tap into their assets. Addidas, on the other hand, is projecting 30 percent amplification in World Cup-related clothing. All these support aim at making sure operations run smooth from day one to the last day. Secondary retail and merchandising remain partners at different levels to FIFA either directly or indirectly (Dohmen, 2006, pp. 27). Being a FIFA partner culminates to having the uppermost level of connection to the football body. The 2010 FIFA partners were Adidas, which provided entire staff and umpire uniforms, as well as the official ball used for the whole period. Hyundai, Coca-Cola, Sony, Visa, and Emirates Airline were also key partners of the global football body.

Phyiscal and chemical control of growth and viabilty Essay - 1

Phyiscal and chemical control of growth and viabilty - Essay Example Environmental requirements are particularly physical conditions that affect the amount and type of microbial growth. For example, activities of enzymes are dependent on environmental temperature. Microorganisms are also classified into groups based on their preferred environmental temperature. For example: thermophilic organisms, thermophiles prefer very high temperatures of above 400; mesophilic organisms, mesophiles grow well in temperatures of 200 to 400; while psychrophiles, psychrophilic organisms prefer relatively low temperatures. However, a range of maximum or minimum growth temperature exists for every individual species. The best growth occurs at optimum growth temperature (Singh, 2010). Another environmental requirement for microbial growth is the extent of alkalinity or acidity of the habitat, also referred to as a pH solution. Most of the microorganisms prefer an optimum pH of between 6.5 and 7.5. The tissues of the human body is between 7.0 and 7.2, therefore neutrophilic microorganisms often grow in the body very well. Other microorganisms such as those in yoghut and sauerkraut which are acidophilic grow well in acidic environment of below 6.0, for example yeast and molds. Microbial growth also does well where osmotic pressure is idyllic. In most cases, the concentration of salt in microbial cytoplasm is around one percent. Where there is one percent concentration of salt in the environment, the osmotic pressure is at optimum. In case the salt concentration rise in the external environment, water will definitely flow out of the cytoplasm through osmosis via cell membrane to the environment resulting into shrinking of the microorganism, and ultimately death. In contrary, where external water has minimal salt, water flows into the cytoplasm through the cell membrane resulting into cell swelling and ultimately burst. Conclusively, microorganisms living in

Preventing Cardiovascular, Diabetes, and Cancer (CDC) Strips

Preventing Cardiovascular, Diabetes, and Cancer (CDC) Strips Novel Strategies Halt Cardiovascular, Diabetes, and Cancer Strips Summary Since the authors found firstly there are cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancers (CDC) strips and disclosed their mechanisms, classifications and clinical significances, there is an arising problem how to prevent and halt CDC strips. Fortunately, the authors had already developed new strategies which based previous works for the prevention of coronary heart disease (CVD), cardiovascular events (CVEs) and healthcare, etc. These novel strategies, which including sleep, emotion, exercise and diet intervention (SEEDi), E (e)nvironment + SEED intervention [E (e)SEEDi] and even Hu’s healthy lifestyles[E (e)SEED-BasED ones] intervention (HHLi), also called â€Å"Chinese vaccine† or â€Å"hero for human health (H.H.H)†, as the core elements of â€Å"Grade 210 prevention†, play an important role in the prevention and management of human chronic non-communicable disease (NCD) when combined with RT-ABCDEF strategy, for example, obesity-OSA-hypertension (OOH) sy ndrome, C-type hypertension (CtH) and sudden cardiac death (SCD), and especially in halting CDC strips the authors discovered. Keywords: cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, prevention, healthy lifestyles Since the authors found firstly there are cardiovascular disease (CVD), diabetes and cancers strips and named them CDC strips, and disclosed further their mechanisms, classifications and clinical significances,1 there is an arising problem how to prevent and halt CDC strips. In this article, with several conceptual and technical breakthrough, the authors will introduce several novel strategies which were developed based on previous work for effectively preventing and halting CDC strips.2-6 The authors have already developed new strategies in previous works for the prevention of coronary heart disease (CHD), cardiovascular events (CVEs) and healthcare (http://www.chinagene.cn/CN/news/news370.shtml).3 These novel strategies, which based on sleep, emotion, exercise and diet (SEED) intervention, was also called â€Å"Chinese vaccine† or â€Å"hero for human health (H.H.H)†. As the core elements of â€Å"Grade 210 prevention†, they play an important role in the prevention and management of human non-infectious chronic disease (NCD) when combined with RT-ABCDEF strategy,5 for example, sudden cardiac death (SCD) and obesity-OSA-hypertension (OOH) syndrome Dr. Chun-Song Hu and Prof. Da-Yi Hu discovered and first named,7 especially in halting CDC strips. Introduction of Novel strategies Since healthy â€Å"SEED† rulers were developed in 2005 according to great clinical experiences, authors conducted positively these novel strategies in clinical for primary and secondary preventions of CVD, CVEs and healthcare, and cited the related article,2, 3, 6 then developed further into â€Å"E (e)SEED† due to the important role of environment. Together with Prof. Sheng-Shou Hu, these new strategies were still developed into more novel â€Å"E (e)SEED-BasED† healthy lifestyles by innovated idea, and named â€Å"Hu’s healthy lifestyles (HHL)† in 2009. The key tips of these strategies for NCDs, especially CDC strips are showed as follows (Table 1). 2. Novel strategies for the early evaluation of RFs CVD is the number one killer and a leading cause of death in the world. There was 17.5 million death cases every year, which bring a big burden and great challenge for public health. Moreover, it plays a key role in the development of CDC strips. Single gene defects, target diseases have now come to include multi-genetic and multi-factorial diseases, such as CVD, neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinsons disease, T2DM or T1DM, and human cancer, especially CDC strips. Therefore, to screen and evaluate early CV status is very important to the prediction and prevention of CVEs and CDC strips. Both previous experimental and clinical studies confirmed the role of single factor in the development of human disease. However, little is known about multi-factors’ role (more than 5 to10, even 20 or more). The authors developed Chinese E (e)SEED-BasED score (CEBS) according to â€Å"E (e)SEED-BasED† healthy lifestyle. These healthy elements and related RFs play a very important role in human health. That is to say, if people intervene early with these RFs, they can keep effectively from CDC strips. As showed in last table, the authors have already developed these new strategies for better healthcare. In Round 3 application of GCE project (http://www.grandchallenges.org), authors further developed a novel strategy that was based on a QA list and CEBS (Table 2). According to CEBS, people can determine CDC strips hazard levels from low, moderate to high, thus, adopt effective measures including follow-up, and intervention with SEED, E (e)SEED or HHL, these are SEEDi, E (e)SEEDi, or HHLi. The authors believe CEBS will be better for the early evaluation of NCDs, especially CDC strips based on previous work and this creative idea. Here, the authors may compare easily with other scores, such as QRISK a new CVD risk score for the United Kingdom,8-11 Framingham CVD algorithm (FA) and Scottish score (ASSIGN) (Table 2). These scores focus on standard, common, classic, multiple modifiable or non-modifiable (eg. positive family history) RFs, but the authors think that CEBS is advantaged, validated, global with 15 classifications of core RFs. 3. RT-ABCDEF strategy and Grade 210 prevention for NCDs or CDC strips RT-ABCDEF strategy developed in previous work is very suitable for the management and prevention of human disease,5 especially NCDs or CDC strips. The key tips as follows (Table 3): As we all known, early prevention is the best choice of treatment. Efforts to achieve the ambitious goals of Healthy China or World 2020 require new synthetic strategies for delivering healthy policy, primary and secondary prevention. Here the authors named it â€Å"Grade 210 prevention†. Due to HHL containing preventive and care strategies for these core RFs, it’s core elements of â€Å"Grade 210 prevention†. Therefore, it’s worthy of conducting and application in the global nations, not just healthcare providers and medical organizations. Of course, collaborative efforts among governments, private healthcare providers, insurers, policymakers, nonprofit organizations, and the global public are necessary for â€Å"Grade 210 prevention†. Generally speaking, it’s a synthetic core strategy of healthcare for everyone or anyone and from birth to death. 4. SEEDi, E (e)SEEDi or HHLi for CDC strips Most of patients with NCDs, including chronic heart failure (CHF), particularly those with more severe HF, and T2DM or T1DM, need the option of palliative care as assessed by symptom burden, depression, and spiritual well-being just as advanced cancer patients do.12 That is to say, palliative care is effective on most of CDC strips. The development of CDC strips results from the shared many RFs related to lifestyles according to the authors’ â€Å"Bad SEED† +/- â€Å"bad soil† Theory or Doctrine.1 Thus, it needs synthetic strategies to prevent and control the development of CDC strips. Therapeutic lifestyles interventions, such as SEEDi, E (e)SEEDi or HHLi , which based on E (e)SEED-BasED lifestyles, eg. HHLi related rational drug interventions (Table 4), can significantly improve nutrition and physical activity behavior and can reduce many of the RFs associated with common NCDs, especially CDC strips. The authors think that it was very useful and effective to most of CDC strips in the global. Therefore, people may call it â€Å"Chinese vaccine† or â€Å"hero for human health (H.H.H)†. It may help reducing in morbidity and mortality of CDC strips. For example, among 74,607 men and women, aged 60 or more, without CHD, stroke, or cancer at enrolment, the Mediterranean diet, modified so as to apply across Europe, was associated with increased survival among older people and is associated with longer life expectancy among elderly Europeans.13 These results also help explain the role of SEEDi, E (e)SEEDi or HHLi. â€Å"Rainbow diet† we conducted in HHL is also very helpful due to balanced nutrition. For example, coffee consumption was verified to be helpful in the prevention of NCDs,14 including CDC strips. Besides, green tea and grape are also useful foods as interventional choice of diets, because increasing consumption of vegetables and fruits may elevate the levels of anti-oxidative components.15 According to updated study in Nature,16 diet is the main factor which linked with gut microbial ecology and health because unbalanced dietary nutrients can cause intestinal inflammation, and induce human aged. Another clinical t rial showed that both walking and vigorous exercise are associated with substantial reductions in the incidence of cardiovascular events among postmenopausal women.17 Yuga, Chinese Taiji and Qigong are also useful physical activity for the prevention of CDC strips. As a part of HHLi, rational drug choice also plays an important role in initiation, progression, treatment and prevention of NCDs, especially in effectively halting the development of CDC strips. These drugs include aspirin (ASA),18, 19 ACEI/ARB, CCB, cannabidiol (CBD)20 and coenzyme Q-10,21 as well as others. Several animal experiments and clinical trials showed, as chemo protective agents, statins (pravastatin, rosuvastatin) did not only prevent and decrease CHD and CVEs,22, 23 and not indicate an increase in over all cancer risk (simvastatin, pravastatin),24, 25 but also be protective against the development of DM and various cancers (lung cancer,26 pancreatic cancer,27 RCC,28 colon cancer29) , and PCOS (atorvastatin) (Table 4).30 That is to say, statins may help preventing and halting CDC strips. Glutathione (GSH) plays important roles in antioxidant defense, nutrient metabolism, and regulation of cellular events, and its deficiency contributes to oxidative stress, aging and the pathogenesis of many diseases,31 of course, including NCDs, especially CDC strips. Thus, the authors think that GSH is an effective cytoprotective chemo agent for treating NCD,32, 33 such as CDC strips (Table 4). As essential and critical trace elements and antioxidants, studies have indicated that selenium and zinc may play a role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and be useful for secondary prevention of CHD.34-36 However, their deficiency associated with numerous diseases including CVD, DM, and cancer.37, 38 Hence, these antioxidants may be useful as therapeutic agents for CDC strips. Besides, Vit D and n-3 fatty acids,39 and Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM),40-45 eg. Ginseng, Barbary Wolfberry fruit, Cordyceps militaris, Ganoderma lucidum, SR10 and Astragalus are also very helpful in the preventive of CDC strips (Table 4). Of course, when people dedicated to reducing morbidity and mortality from CDC strips, enhanced collaboration is critical because CDC strips share many RFs and opportunities for prevention, eg, by assessing and regularly updating an individual’s family history. As to a positive history of family, eg, patients with CHD and T2DM or cancer, just like successful gene therapies,46, 47 RNAi or knockout technology is a new choice when all strategies are no use, but need to evaluate its early and late effects as our trials.48, 49 At the same time, it still need to make sure the protection of some genes,50-52 not just medical hypotheses. Moreover, it’s necessary to identifies susceptibility loci when began RNAi or knockout technology.53, 54 An updated research showed that an intensive lifestyle intervention focusing on weight loss did not reduce the rate of CVEs in overweight or obese adults with T2DM.55 This confirmed that it needs comprehensive strategies, just like SEEDi, E (e )SEEDi, or HHLi, for CVD, T2DM, cancers, of course, including CDC strips, not just focusing on weight loss. Some times, it even needs RNAi. One of the authors’ goals is to stimulate substantial improvements in Grade 210 prevention, and early detection through collaboration between key organizations, greater public awareness about HHL, legislative action that results in funding and staff for and access to China Center of Research and Development for Hu’s Healthy Lifestyles (CCRDHHL, a preparatory organization we expect and an effective platform for prevention, early detection, and treatment of NCDs, especially CDC strips, http://blog.sciencenet.cn/home.php?mod=spaceuid=71966do=blogid=491168) programs and research, and emphasis of a series of new concepts authors conducted, and meets the need for curriculum-based health education regarding â€Å"the Grade 210 prevention† and motivation of people to incorporate HHL practices into their daily lives. 5. Clinical practice in CDC strips OOH syndrome the authors found and first named in 2006 is one of classic NCD and a synthetic killer which including 3 independent risk factors and characterized by â€Å"a shaped and sounded killer at night, but a shaped and no sounded killer at day†. According to the authors’ preliminary clinical data (manuscript not published yet), it’s high risk to occur T2DM, CHF and various acute CVEs, even cancers, eg. prostate cancer in men and breast cancer in women. That is to say, it’s a status of pre-CDC strips, or already met a branch (Type A) of CDC strips. Recently, the authors found that a group of patients with hypertension which related to â€Å"new type stress† due to bad lifestyles, and named it for â€Å"C-type Hypertension (CtH)†. Its main clinical features are on that there is temporary absolutely increase or continuously slowly increase levels of human cortisol, a biomarker of CtH, and it often appears among young or middle aged subjects and is a new ignored killer due to easy to suffer from AMI, CHF, Stroke or SCD. Thus, CtH results from bad â€Å"SEED† bad lifestyle, not bad â€Å"Soil†Ã¢â‚¬â€genetic factors. Some patients with hypertension among OOH syndrome may diagnose as CtH because here obesity resulted from bad lifestyles. OOH syndrome and CtH are easy to develop to CDC strips if there are long-term lasting co-RFs which would lead to T2DM and cancers. SCD as an acute CVE, often occurs in patients with CHD, younger or older, especially in patients with OOH syndrome, CtH or CDC strips (Type A or B). And SCD often occurs as the endpoint event of CDC strips. Because both OOH syndrome or CtH and various SCD have the common RFs, that is to say, â€Å"Bad SEED† +/- â€Å"bad soil†, therefore, SEEDi, E (e)SEEDi, or HHLi is a good choice for halting the development of CDC strips in OOH syndrome or CtH and for removing RFs induced SCD. All in all, OOH syndrome, CtH, CDC strips, and SCD are highly linked, they need urgently SEEDi, E (e)SEEDi, or HHLi to enhance quality of life (QOL) and life expectancy, and the earlier, the better. Maybe people can call this â€Å"OCS status† (OOH-CDCs-SCD). Update, the authors developed general formula for management of human disease, especially NCDs, which including OOH syndrome and CDC Strips as follows: General Formula = 3Ãâ€"RT-ABCDEF + E (e)SEED-BasED + 210. As to detailed explanation of this formula, people may easy to know from above.

Comparing Social Commentary in Dover Beach, Second Coming, and Church Going :: compare and contrast essay examples

Comparing Social Commentary in Dover Beach, Second Coming, and Church Going Human society has always struggled with the conflict of faith versus technology. Faith has always been a symbol of order, and increasing technology has always been the scapegoat for "mere anarchy." When faith ebbs, technology or new scientific concepts are blamed. Technology is a convenient target because when people lose faith in the church, science is a hard-based, factual thing in which to believe. The increasing chaos in society can be blamed on the decreasing faith in religion that has been shifted to technology. After the fall of the Roman Empire, European society was in chaos. Since no other civilizing force in which to believe was in existence, when the Roman Catholic Church made itself a organizing power, it set up a precedent that attached itself to the mind set for the next few centuries. Religious beliefs are synonymous with the "calm" and the peace that relieve life's turmoil. For a long period of time, there was no other steadying force, so "the Sea of Faith" was the sole source for easing "the turbid ebb and flow of human misery." Tradition has kept this view of religion popular. Still, religion itself cannot hold the attention of human society forever. Eventually, as displayed in "Dover Beach," faith in religion and its structure will fade in the light of new ideas and new human inventions. Society's faith cannot always be "full" because as civilizations grow individuals become more independent. They begin to think for themselves, which causes life to become more subjective. With less imposed structure, individuals will determine that they do not subscribe to all of what their predecessors believed, and they are left "wondering what to look for." Technology often replaces religion because it is far more tangible than the concepts of organized religion that require blind faith. It is easier to believe in something touchable. In "Church Going," this attitude is examined. A wistfulness for a time when faith came easier is apparent, but there is also "an awkward reverence" for the ways of religion even if they are no longer believed. Once people place their faith in technology rather that something spiritual, they will find that while technology is concrete, it does not provide guidance for social behavior or the human spirit as most religions do. In "The Second Coming" the world is spinning out of control.

How effectively did Philip II manage his finances? Essay

The fiscal statistics of Philip’s reign would overwhelmingly conclude that he completely failed to effectively manage his finance. His inherited debts had increased threefold during his reign, and subsequently, the Crown declared bankruptcy no less than three times. In contrast to this view, it can be argued that Philip was effective as far as he was able. His failure was not due to incompetence for certainly, he made attempts to rectify the situation, but instead due to the numerous impossibilities that surrounded the Royal Finance. Philip’s ineffective approach to handling Finance is largely summed up by saying that as ruler of the Monarquia, he was never able to match his income to his extortionate expenditure. This costly policy was due to the amount of money funding war. Travelling costs, continuous updating of armaments and wages of soldiers consumed the vast bulk of Philip’s finance. Even this failed at times, as seen by the revolt of the unpaid soldiers in the Netherlands. Philip’s empire was so extensive that he was called upon to go to war in the interests of many different nations. His wars were not all territorial, such as the defence of Italian lands, his own dynastic interests in France and England had to be defended, as did the Catholic religion against the Turks. Philip was also drawn into costly civil wars. As a result, Royal money was frequently spent all over the Monarquia, and often on places that were not raising the money. This again reflects Philips bad management of finance whereupon countries could not be relied upon to be self-sufficient or contribute to wars fought on behalf of the entire Monarquia. The result of this was that Castile bore the brunt of the effort to fund the Monarquia. This was an unreasonable burden, as Castile possessed neither the wealth, the manpower or the economic strength demanded off it. This policy of Philip further proves his ill-managed Royal finances. Such heavy taxation on one part of the Monarquia alone sent Castile into steady decline. Instead of being a successfully self-supported land, Castile began to heavily depend on outside imports, increasing the risk of further inflation, a threat that remained since its onset early in Philips reign throughout his inherited lands. Philips highly infective management is reinforced by his failure to lift out of debt despite increased revenue. Bullion from the wealthy Americas boosted the wealth of Castile, as did the revenue from the Indies. Philip also increased finance through taxation, which backfired, and through borrowing money. Philip was forced into negotiating complicated loans with moneylenders that would allow him to continue paying back old debts while receiving fresh ones. However, even this was not enough to keep Philip from greatly failing financially, and declaring bankruptcy in 1557, 1575 and finally in 1596. The 36 million Ducat debts that he inherited became à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½68 million Ducats by the end of his reign. The diabolical state of finance was not helped by the grandiose lifestyle of the King, who maintained the mentality of the ever-important prestige display. Moreover, Philip failed to be interested in Fiscal matters, and appeared to launch plans without taking the care to cost them throu gh. Philip seemed to have greatly failed to be efficient on handling Royal finances. However, another view could argue that Philip made the best of a bad situation. For example, he managed to re-stabilise finance after the bankruptcies. Philip was initially dealt a bad hand by inheriting both a great debt and an extended empire from his father. This would entail a need for further finance, and Philip was immediately faced to raise this form a minus figure. Moreover, the increased lands now labelled as Philip’s Monarquia, would involve extended foreign war involvement, and in turn, war expenditure. The need to go to war in the interests of his inherited lands was forced upon the new ruler. War came with the territory, and the territory came with the inheritance. Philip had no choice in defending both his territories and his religion so the increased expenditure that resulted in bankruptcy was arguably inevitable and out of Philips control. Moreover, it is important to remember that the first declaration of bankruptcy was a further inheritance of Philip from his father, Charles I. Philip was faced with more difficulties from the outset of his reign. Inflation was taking hold in many countries across Europe, forcing Philip to find increasing amounts of money to fund both the running of government and also war expenditure. Moreover, territories such as the Netherlands that has previously provided great income for Charles, became a drain on finances. The Netherlands then, revolted against Philip and instead of contributing to the Royal finance, Philip was forced to spend increasing amounts combating the rebels. It is also clear that Philip attempted to address the problem of unstable finances. The reorganisation of the departments of Finance was undertaken in order to increase efficiency. Philip was also effective in increasing revenue during his reign, albeit mostly in Castile. New taxes were introduced and old ones modified so that the wars of Spain could be funded. The ‘alacabala’ for instance, tripled in it yield by the end of Philips reign. Custom duties were effectively reorganised so that they were received directly by the Crown instead of the old method whereby tax farmers would retain a hefty proportion of the money collected. The ‘cruzda’ was introduced by the church to fund the wars against the Turks, and this too was effective by doubling its yield. Another new tax was effectively introduced to tax church property, furthering Philips income. The ‘subsido’ an existing tax was equally successful in increasing its revenue. Evidence of Philips effective policies involving finance are reflected in the decrease of household expenditure during his reign. This shows that Philip has recognised the responsibility he had to improve the state of Royal finance. This could be considered impressive due to the mentality that Philip, and other Kings of this period, were fixed in. This was the age in which religion and national prestige far outweighed the necessity to deal with Finance. It can convincingly be argued then, that Philip was a highly overworked King who made the best of a bad situation. He attempted, with limited personal time and resources, to manage the situation, and did so with reasonable success. Certainly he was effective in the matters which he did change, such as taxation. It can be said that financial failure was inevitable and that is was impossible for Philip to effectively succeed in regaining control of royal finance. I support this view as a far more realistic and pragmatic one than the opposing view which argues that Philip failed to deal with the underlying problems of Royal Finance. Instead he ignored opportunities to effectively reform finance so that bankruptcy was caused several times, indicated ultimately his failure to manage finance.

Eharmony Examination

What kind of a platform business is the online personals market? What kind of network effects (direct, cross-sided, positive, and negative) does it leverage? How structurally attractive is it? The online personals market is a specific niche of social networking, and it is a sole-sponsor, proprietary platform business. In terms of network effects, it could be seen as a one-sided network (users can instigate an interaction, or can have someone else instigate an interaction with them), but is better described as a two-sided market with men on one side, and women on the other (with the exception of homosexual sites which are clearly one-sided markets). Within this, there are both direct and cross-sided network effects. For direct, there are small positive effects (as a man, you want enough men on your side to attract women on the other side), but primarily negative effects (the more people on your side, the more competition you will have finding a match). For cross-sided, there are positive effects (the more of the opposite sex there are, the more likely you will find a match), and negative effects (if there are too many people on the other side, it may be hard to search through the noise to find an actual match—not to mention that there can be liars, frauds, and other undesirable people on the other side of the network). To examine the attractiveness of the industry structure, a five forces analysis will offer us insight. First, we can consider buyers’ power. In this case buyers (prospective daters) do have some power in that there are a plethora of other options online (from Match to free sites), as well as any number of venues in the real world. However, since they are individual consumers, they do not have scale power and must accept prices. Further, there is an overall opinion that meeting the right person is very hard, and thus there is a significant willingness to pay for a quality service. Second, looking at the competitiveness of rivals, it is clear that there is a significant amount of competition (though concentrated within a few main players). Match is trying to copy eHarmony with Chemistry, and they have been increasing spend on advertising. Yahoo! also boasts a strong installed base that they can funnel into their Personals site. In addition, free sites keep everyone in check in terms of the amount they can charge. Nevertheless, the main players have demonstrated price discipline, as prices have remained steady or even risen (in the case of the competition). Third, the threat of new entrants is low / moderate. There are a hundreds of niche sites starting up every year, but for the most part, the built-in network effects of the three main players, as well as multi-homing costs, have kept the three leaders consistent over the years, and each year the vast majority of new sites fail. The biggest threat would be for a behemoth like Facebook to activate its users on a proprietary site, but so far this has not materialized for a number of reasons. Fourth, the threat of substitutes is always present. In addition to the numerous ways that people can meet partners in the real world, there are also real world match services that pre-date the internet (as well as the threat of new technology and innovations changing everything). However, for the time being, online personal sites are clearly the most efficient and affordable option for the masses. And lastly, there is really no bargaining power of suppliers. eHarmony controls all of its inputs. Thus, the sum of these parts leads to a pretty attractive industry. It is not a winner-take-all market (multi-homing costs, while present, are not overwhelming, and the case mentions that many people are members of multiple dating sites), but the significantly strong network effects and stability of a few main players lead this to be a profitable industry ( primarily for the incumbent leaders). What is eHarmony's competitive advantage? What differentiates it from its competitors? How does the company create value? What is the value proposition to the customer? What kind of customer benefits the most? Can we calculate the company's competitive advantage by relying on the equation of willingness to pay minus cost, as discussed in the Google versus Microsoft session? Is the competitive advantage sustainable? The main competitive advantages of eHarmony are in its ability to offer high quality customers (which is the really the â€Å"product† they are offering), and more accurate matches with superior ensuing relationships. Just as Google’s research and continual adjustments give it an advantage in offering more relevant searches, eHarmony’s research department has created a match algorithm that greatly outperforms the results of its competitors (and arguably the traditional methods of meeting, as well). Further, their long initial setup process serves to self-select only the most serious of consumers, which leads to an increased WTP of everyone who makes it through (and additionally, this has led to more women than men signing up—an extraordinary feat since women have been the hardest customers to acquire in the online dating world). The company differs from its competitors in its guided matchmaking (though Match has recently tried to copy this). Rather than allowing free range for the users to search through the database of potential mates, eHarmony first weeds out the non-serious and non-desirable applicants with its extensive questionnaire, and then uses its patented algorithm to find the best potential match. It takes this even further by then scrutinizing each potential match with additional questions before an actual interaction can begin, and this has ensured a much more accurate product than its competitors. The company creates value by doing a lot of the work for its clients. While the initial time investment (45 minutes) may be longer than the traditional model, it then provides the service of searching through the millions of potential matches. This not only proves to be a more accurate way to find dates, but also saves a great deal of time (where most online daters spend a 7 times as much time searching for a partner as they do interacting). And for men, who are usually fighting over a scarcity of women, they benefit from the majority percentage of women who have become the core of eHarmony’s paid customers. Thus the value proposition for the customer is: better matches (and better quality people) with a much smaller time commitment. The customers who benefit most from this are people who are serious about finding a person for a long-term relationship (rather than those who are just browsing, or hoping to have flings with as many people as possible). With eHarmony’s superior product, we can calculate that their competitive advantage? (WTP-Cost)eHarmony> (WTP-Cost)Chemistry. In this case, eHarmony’s average price (of the four options) is $37. 45 versus $34. 14 for Chemistry, demonstrating the increased WTP of their customers. Further, their advertising strategy (avoiding costly broadcast networks in favor of more cost-effective national cable buys) has helped to keep costs down significantly in comparison to its rivals. By building up network effects and switching costs (including termination fees and amount of time / information invested in their platform), this can be a sustainable advantage. But as with all social media, creating insurmountable switching costs is never really possible, and there is always a risk of new competitors or a game-changing technological shift. And the uber-popularity of sites like Facebook pose a significant threat, as they could integrate a sophisticated dating platform into their current offering, and instantly have hundreds of millions of potential customers at their fingertips. How much of a threat is Chemistry to eHarmony? How could Chemistry break eHarmony's network effects (direct and cross-sided)? As with Google’s search versus Bing, eHarmony is in a very advantaged and enviable position versus Match’s Chemistry offering. The eHarmony product is clearly superior, with the eHarmony benefitting from years of learning and tweaking their algorithm (again, similar to Google’s position). Further, their ability to point to the number of successful relationships they have continues to grow, and thus feeds the virtuous circle by attracting new customers. That said, Chemistry cannot be taken lightly. Match comes in with the deep pockets of IAC, and the ability to match any investment that eHarmony makes—and we have seen this recently with their increased marketing spend. As a latecomer, Chemistry comes in with the benefit of being able to ride on eHarmony’s coattails, learning from their success and mistakes and copying their offering. Further, most of what eHarmony offers while sophisticated, is not inimitable. In terms of ways that eHarmony can break eHarmony’s network effects, they can certainly subsidize some of the switching costs (leave eHarmony and your first month or two are free). Since women are the hardest customers to attract (and wherever they go, the men will follow), they could selectively subsidize the women—e. g. – women pay half price, and once they have built up a vast network of women, they would be able to charge a premium for the male customers. They could also beef up their offering so that they not only cover meeting people, but weddings, having children, and other stages of life that would enable them to extend their customers’ lifetimes (as eHarmony has considered). Another potential idea would be to create a network of niche sites all under the Chemistry banner where there would be sub-sites focused on a number of specific niches (based on lifestyle, religion, sexuality, etc. ) and allow people to join the main site, plus one or two of the niche sub-sites for free. However, most importantly Chemistry needs to dramatically improve its matching competency. As a latecomer facing a dominant incumbent, it has to offer better results than eHarmony if it’s going to break the network effects and challenge for the top position in the market. That is not an easy task to accomplish, and it will cost a lot in research (to improve their matching skills), and then marketing (to let potential customers know about their improved product). Due to resource constraints (and need for strategic focus), eHarmony can only pursue one of the options: how would you go about ranking their relative merit? Once you have done that, choose your top-ranked option and evaluate it. To evaluate the four options on the table for eHarmony, we need to examine their merits on a number of key dimensions. First, how does the strategy fit in terms of the company’s current competencies and competitive advantage? Second, how does it serve to bolster network effects and strengthen the relationship with the current core customers? Third, how well does it address the competitive threat? And fourth, how does it position the company for future growth opportunities? {draw:frame} Upon consideration of these dimensions, it is clear to me that the best option is to grow the new business of handling life transitions. This is the most comprehensive strategy in terms of addressing the various needs of the business. If this were a winner-take-all market, then defending the niche by rapidly increasing the number of paying members would be the correct strategy, but since multi-homing costs aren’t overwhelming, we’ve established that this is not a winner-take-all market. Expanding to medium-term relationships does offer the upside of immediate growth opportunities, but more importantly, it unravels the competitive advantage and value proposition of having top-quality, like-minded individuals who are willing to pay a premium for a better chance to meet a life partner (in some ways it is almost a different business). Lastly, geographic expansion seems perfectly poised for disaster. While it would be the best opportunity for growth in both the near- and long-term, it also goes against the competitive advantage of offering the best matches based on detailed knowledge and understanding of their consumers. To do it properly, they would not be able to transplant the knowledge they’ve gained in the US, but would need to start again with new research in each country they wanted to expand into which is not an efficiently scalable model. Thus that leaves us with expanding into the new business of handling life transitions. This offers the opportunity to have balanced growth—the lifetime of the customer grows from the â€Å"finding a partner stage† to a potential for many years or even life. It also allows the company to capitalize on and build on the goodwill that they earn from their customers when they provide a positive (and life-changing) match, and diversify its revenue stream from purely subscription based into a mix of subscription and advertising. Further, the ability to keep customers longer can help to bolster the network effects as the network becomes larger and offers more value. It also increases switching costs the more that one invests in building up a personal eHarmony ecosystem. In doing so, it addresses the competitive threat by beating the competition to further innovate and lock-in the customer base. And lastly, it builds on the current competencies and competitive advantages by leveraging the advanced research skills that are a large part of eHarmony’s success, with the collective R and knowledge serving as a barrier to entry for potential new entrants. In order to successfully execute this strategy, there will be the need for additional resources. However, this will not be overwhelming and can all happen with internal investment. They will only need to build out and expand eHarmony Labs to continue the expanded focus from forming relationships, to the ensuing events that occur in each relationship. With the project already underway and experienced research scientists already on the payroll, eHarmony is in a much better position to act on this than its competitors. There will some additional marketing and sales investment needed to attract new customers who are already involved in committed relationships, but the majority of its growth will be organic in that they will be able to keep their â€Å"matching services† customers for much longer, and greatly reduce the churn rate. In terms of the competitive threat, I believe this will be enough to stay ahead of Match / Chemistry, and Yahoo! (as well as other new entrants). The name of the game is bolstering network effects, switching costs, and multi-homing costs to carve out a significant and stable market share, and this strategy accomplishes all three. With more offerings, eHarmony should be able to capture more users (as well as keeping them longer) which will continue to feed its network effects. Additionally, having all of these services under the eHarmony banner will increase the amount of time and information supplied by the customers, and thus increase both switching and multi-homing costs. As a response, eHarmony can expect the others to copy, though eHarmony is far ahead and better positioned in this field, so this is not an immediate threat. Additionally, they may find pricing pressure as the ompetition resorts to more desperate measures of cutting price (since they will not be able to compete on the product). In regards to this, they need to be firm in their pricing, knowing that they have the superior product, and continue to build up switching costs to keep their customers captive for the long term. With a superior product and strong network effects in place, eHarmony can expect a profitable life in the near future. EXT RA CREDIT: â€Å"Yellow Submarine,† â€Å"With a Little Help from My Friends,† â€Å"Act Naturally†