Strategies for Pricing, Promotion and Marketing Analysis

Strategies for Pricing, Promotion and Marketing Analysis Product Cost Literature Review We all are exposed to marketing in one or the other form everyday. Every time we buy or use a product, go window shopping, watch an advertisement, find a new product or someone telling about it. Marketing outputs are very familiar and are not as narrow as people generally know. Marketing is not just advertising, selling or making people buy things they want or they don’t. Marketing infact covers a wide range of absolutely essential business activities that bring us the products we want them, when we want them, where we want them, with all information. (Kotler P and Keller K, 2006) â€Å"Marketing is the management process that is responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably†. (CIM, 2001) â€Å"Marketing is the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion and distribution of ideas, goods and services to create exchange and satisfy individual and organisational objectives†. (AMA, 1985) A definition that includes the important elements of both the AMA and CIM definitions, but still embraces the evolving relationship orientation is offered by Gronroos (1997). â€Å"Marketing is to establish, maintain and enhance relationship with customers and other partners at a profit, so that the objectives of the partners, at a profit, so that the objectives of the parties involved are met. This is achieved by mutual exchange and fulfilment of promises†. (Gronroos C, 1997) Marketing management is the act and science of choosing target markets and getting, keeping and growing customers through creating, delivering and communicating superior customer value. (Kottler.P , Keller.K 2006) Marketing is a management process. Marketing involves management skills, requires planning, analysis, resource allocation, control and investment in terms of money, skilled people and physical resources. It also requires implementation monitoring and evaluation. Marketing fulfills customer requirement profitably Marketer has to work within the resource capabilities of the organisation and specifically work within the agreed budgets and performance targets set for the marketing function. Marketing identifies and anticipates customer requirements. Marketer creates some sort of offering only after researching the market and pinpointing exactly what the customer want. Marketing is about giving customers what they want It implies a focus towards the customer or end consumer of the product or service. (Kotler P and Keller K, 2006) Marketing offers and exchanges ideas, goods and services. The idea of marketing is an exchange process, organisation offers a product or service and the customer offers a sum of money in return. (Brassington F and Pettit S, 2006) Marketing deals with identifying and meeting human and social needs, one of the shortest definitions is â€Å"meeting needs profitably†. (Kotler P and Keller K, 2006) Marketing management tasks Capturing marketing insights Developing marketing strategies Connecting with customers Shaping the market offerings Delivering value Communicating value Creating long term growth (Kotler P and Keller K, 2006) The marketing mix is one of the dominant ideas in modern marketing. Marketing mix consists of everything the firm can do to influence the demand for its product. The many possibilities gather into 4 P’s. They are Product, Price, Place and Promotion. â€Å"The set of controllable tactical marketing tools– product, price, place and promotion- that blends to produce the response it wants in the target market. Marketing Mix Variety Advertising List price Channels Quality Promotions Discounts Coverage Design Personal selling Allowances Assortments Features Publicity Payment period Locations Brand name Direct selling Credit terms Inventory Packaging Transport Services Warranties Target Market (Kotler et al, 2001, p98) THE 4 Ps of Marketing The four strategies of the marketing mix (product, price, promotion and place) are interconnected. The marketing mix is one of the dominant ideas in modern marketing. Action in one affects decisions in another. It is the set of controllable tactical marketing tools that blends to give or meet the market needs. Target population must be first selected and then the strategies are applied towards. Marketing mix consists of everything that can influence the demand of the product. PRODUCT- Product can be a tangible object or a service offered by a company to the target market. A product can be any physical object, services, person, places, organisation and ideas that are offered to a market for acquisition, attention, consumption or use that satisfies the customer needs or wants. There are different product levels depending on the customer value hierarchy, they are; core benefit, basic product, expected product, augmented product, potential product. PRICE – Price is the amount of money charged for a product or service rendered, it is also the sum of value that consumers exchange for the benefits of having, using satisfying their needs or wants of the product or service. PROMOTION – Promotion are the activities that communicate the merits of the product or service that persuade the target customer to buy them. Special promotion offers like cash discount, rebates, offers etc. PLACE – Place is all the activities that a companies carries to make the product reach and available to the market. Place is also the distribution channel and distribution of the product or service in the most advantageous and best way possible to the target customer. (Kotler et al, 2001, p98), (Kotler P and Keller K, 2006), (Lancaster G and Massingham L, 1993, p100) Promotion The communication of merits of the product and persuading the customer to purchase is promotion. The benefits of the product have to be communicated to the customers for earning profits and gaining sales. The process of communicating with various form or promotion mix is known as promotion. (Kotler et al, 2001, p98) Promotion mix Promotion mix is the blend of promotional tools, which are, advertising, sales promotion, personal selling, sales force, direct marketing and public relations. These promotional tools are used to communicate or spread awareness to the customers. These tools have different characteristics and costs. Total marketing communications programme carried by a company or a business is called the promotional mix. (Kotler et al, 2001), (Michael J. Barker, 2003) Advertising Any paid form of non-personal communication of ideas or products through the medium or channel like television, newspapers, magazines, hoardings, posters, radio, cinema etc by an identified sponsor. Advertising include not only business firms, but also museums, charitable organisations, and Government agencies that direct messages to target publics. Advertisements are cost-effective way to disseminate messages, whether to build brand preference or to educate people. (Kotler. P, p590, 2005) The intention of advertisement is to inform and to persuade. The two basic aspects of advertising are the message that has to be communicated and how to be communicated. (Keith Crosier, 1998a) Personal Selling Personal selling is one of the effective tools of promotion mix involving an interactive relationship between the seller and the buyer. It is more effective in building up buyer preference, conviction and action. (Philip Kotler, 2005, p580 ; Kotler P and Keller K, 2006, p556) Sales Promotion Sales promotion is used for short run effects to promote product offers and to push sagging sales. Through sales promotion, companies get better, stronger and quicker response from the customers. Ex- contests, coupons, premiums, offers-buy one get one etc.(Philip Kotler, 2005, p580) Public relation or Publicity It is to build good relationship between the public and the company by favourable publicity, thereby building image. Lower in cost compared to advertising. It is most of the times the communication of a product, brand or business by placing information about it in the media without paying for the time or media directly. (Kotler et al, 2001, p690) Direct marketing Direct marketing is an interactive system of marketing that uses one or more advertising media to effect a measurable response or transaction at any location. Direct connections with carefully targeted individual consumers to both obtain an immediate response and cultivate lasting customer relationships by using telephone, mail, e-mail, internet, fax etc. to communicate directly with specific consumer alternative. (Bennett P D, 1995), (Betts et al., CIM, 1998) (Terance A. Shimp, 1997, p386) Promotion mix Advertising Builds awareness, public presentation (impersonal) Repetition of brand awareness and product helps in positioning and build customer trust Personal Selling Immediate and interactive lots of communication between the buyer and seller, sales call are costly. Communicating complex and deeper product information and features. Relationships can be built up important if closing the sale make take a long time. Sales Promotion Can stimulate sales by targeting promotional incentives on particular products Effective short term promotional tool. Public Relations News, stories and features are more authentic and credible. Cheap way of reaching many customers if the publicity is achieved through the right media but lose control. Direct Marketing Direct interaction with targeted individual consumers. Communication can be personalised and activities less visible to competitors. (David Jobber, 2001),( William G. Zikmund and Michael d’Amico, 1998), Kotler P and Keller K, 2006, p555-6) Advertising â€Å"Advertising is any paid form of non personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods and services by an identified sponsor†.(AMA, 1963) â€Å"Advertising is the non-personal communication of marketing related information to a target audience, usually paid for by the advertiser, and delivered through the mass media in order to reach the specific objectives of the sponsor†(Burnett, 1993) Advertising: Its role and structure Developments in magazines, radio and television have had a tremendous impact of advertising. Apart from marketing, advertising may also serve several other functions in the economy and in the society. (Bovee C. L and Arens W. L, 1992) A hierarchy of effects model proposes that ads can move consumers closer to buying step by step, from being unaware, to knowledge, to liking, to preference, to desire, to purchase. The basic functions of advertising are- Precipitation- Create awareness and stimulate needs and wants. Persuasion- Encourage action and commitment Reinforcement- Support customer’s past decisions Reminder- Create habit Advertisings have the ability to add value to the brand as they are capable of endowing a brand with a symbolic meaning that makes more value in the consumer’s eye. (Kotler P and Keller K, 2006, p556) Advertising performs the communication function of a company, which the company has faith on. The main function of advertising are informing, persuading, reminding, adding value and assisting other company efforts. Informing: Advertising makes consumer aware of brands, new brand, educates about the features and benefits, builds brand image or forming o it by reaching the mass audience at a low cost per head. It also increases demand for existing product, teaches new uses of product and awareness. Persuading: Advertisements persuades or try to push the consumers and customers to try the advertised products and services. At chances there is also demand created for the secondary product of the brand. Reminding: Advertisements make the brand memorable by recalling them, they also remind customers of their purchases, influences the consumer’s interest in mature brand bears influence on brand switchers by letting them know about the other. Assisting other company efforts: Advertisement assists other company efforts by carrying the information or spreading the awareness of sales promotion to consumers(coupons, offers). It also helps the consumers in recognising the product or brand by showing the packaging and design on television, hoardings and magazines. (Shimp T. A., 2000) Advantages of advertisements Advertising provides an introduction to the company and its products Advertising explains the products new features Advertisements are more economical Advertisements offering brochures generate leads to sales people Advertisements tell people how to use the products and make them aware of their right purchase. (Kotler P and Keller K, 2006, p556) Advertisings have the capability to compliment the other promotional mix elements, like- Delivering sales promotions directly and supporting them indirectly, carrying public relations messages and announcing public relations activities, it also presells the salesperson’s product. Thereby advertising increases sales and profitability. (Burnett, 1993) The economic impact of advertising can be linked to the opening shot in billiards, a chain reaction that affects the company that advertises as well as its competitors, customers and the business community. On the otherside or broaderscale, advertising is often considered the trigger on mass distribution system that enables the manufacturers to produce the products in high volume, at low prices, standardised quality. Advertising adds value to products, makes products more or less expensive, affects total consumer demand, encourages or discourages competition, narrows or widens consumer choice and affects national business cycles. Advertising influences in an economy that produces more goods and services that can be consumed. (Bovee C. L and Arens W. L, 1992). Advertising is expensive and its effects are uncertain, moreover sometimes it takes time to impact on consumer behaviour. Functions and effects of advertisements as a marketing tool To stimulate the distribution of a product To lower the overall cost of sales To build brand preference and loyalty To identify products and differentiate them from others To communicate information about product, its features and its location of sale To induce consumers to try new products and to suggest reuse. (Bovee C. L and Arens W. L, 1992) The magnitude of advertising Advertising is a big business. USA’s expenditure on advertisements alone total to 200 million dollars as of 1998. Some American companies invest more than 1 billion dollar a year on domestic product. (Coen R. J, 1997) Advertising is investment in brand equity bank Brand’s equity is enhanced by marketing communications that create brand awareness thereby leading to strong, favourable and unique relation in the consumer’s memory between brand, feature and its benefits. (Aaker D. A., 1993). A brand is differentiated from competitive offering from price competition. (Boulding W, 1994) Advertising affects on building brands Advertising helps to build brands by communicating value and adding personality. It is only advertising that can do this task well. Advertising is essential to build consumer perception of brand values in market. (Randall, 1994, p 16) Advertising cannot be evaluated separately and it is an extricable part of total brand. The sales of brand are associated with the advertising expenditure as they are directly proportional. Advertising takes the sales up and down with the increase and decrease with proportion to the communication spread to the consumers of the market. Mraket have instinctive and correct feeling that the brand is the most valued property that evaporates unless supported properly by investment in advertising. (Arnold, D 1993) Brand A brand is a name, term, sign, symbol or design or combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors. -American Marketing Association Ultimately, a brand is something that resides in the mind of customer. â€Å"A brand is every sign that is capable of distinguishing the goods or services of a company.† In this definition, the stress is on ‘sign’ and ‘distinguishing’. A sign may be a word, picture or form mark. The brand name is that part of the brand that can be pronounced. A brand name can serve as a characteristic in the recognition of the branded article.(Riezebos.R et al, p-33,63,85, 2003) Brands are fundamentally important to the survival and success of many firms for which companies have to manage them correctly. Strong brands are powerful and profitable yet there are many challenges and threats continuing strength and their existence. Branding is a fundamental strategic process that involves all parts of the firm in its delivery. Brand must always deliver value which must be defined in consumer terms. Brand has a continuing relationship with its buyers and users, this may change overtime but the company should always work on it to maintain it. Branding must be continuously adapted so that it is both efficient and effective due to the threat of growing competition. (Randall G, 2000, p1-5) The connection of Zippo lighters, Swatch watches or Mont blanc pens. With all the views it feels that a brand is something different from a product. When Virgin first started, it sold music as a product. Later the Virgin brand was built up and now is in various fields like airlines, cola, railways and financial services. It is now definitely a brand. A brand has an existence that is more than an actual product or service, it has a life of its own that feeds on the original product but also carries its original values and identify into new product areas. â€Å"A product is something that is made in factory and brand is something that is bought by a consumer† (Randall G, 2000, p1-5) It is every human being’s nature to invent and build brand values in each individual head. We do it with people, we do it with animals and we do it with inanimate objects. The skill of brand management is to see that each consumer is offered the right raw materials from which he or she will build the brand as the brand owner would prefer.(Randall G, 2000, p1-5) A brand is not an objective fact, it is made up of a million or more individual and subjective assessments. (Bullmore, 1999) Hankinson and Cowking (1993) have described brand definition under six headings; Visual Perceptual Positioning Added value Image Personality (Hankinson, G and Cowking, P,1993) Brand Image and Brand Identity Brand image- Brand image is what exists in the minds of consumers and the entire information of the brand they have received by word of mouth, advertising, packaging, experience, service etc. modified by perception, previous beliefs, social norms and forgetting. Brand image is what exists. Brand identity- Brand identity is what is under control and what is transmitted to the market. A strong brand is one that has a consistent, coherent identity. (Randall G, 2000, p1-5). Brand identity consists of twelve dimensions organised around four perspectives- the brand as product(scope, attributes, quality or value, uses, users, country of origin), brand as organisation (organisational attributes, local versus global), brand as person (brand personality, customer relationships), and brand as symbol (visual imagery and heritage). (Randall G, 2000, p68) As per Randall, (1993) brands perform five man functions for consumers. Identity- Brand must identify itself clearly and unambiguously, so name, legal protection and design elements are important. Shorthand summary- The identity should act as a summary of all the information the consumer holds about the brand. Security- Brand should guarantee to provide the benefits expected. Differentiation- The brand must clearly differentiate itself from its competitors and shows its uniqueness. Added value- Brand must offer more than the generic product. (Randall, G, 1993) One more view of brand is to excel in their offering product like price such as Asda, functional benefit such as Toyota or psychological benefit such as Timotei. (Davidson, H, 1997) When General Motors (GM) and Toyota both marketed a car produced by them in joint venture and cars were functionally identical but were branded as Toyota and Geo Prizm. In the course of 1990-94, Toyota were able to sell 200,000 Corollas at US $ 11,000 each and GM were able to sell only 80,000 and that to with a lower price of US $ 10,700. This shows the greater power of the Toyota brand over the other. This shows the perception of quality in consumer’s mind with respect to brand. (Almquist et al, 1998) Brands in Takeovers Nestle made a takeover bid for Rowntree at a premium due to the brand equity or value by Rowntree. The premium was not paid for the present performance of the brand but for their future potential. Nestle made kitkat the truly European brand. Brand Equity Brand equity is a set of liabilities and assets which are attached to a brand, its value, name, symbol of a company to that of the customers. They are grouped under five categories. Brand loyalty Name awareness Perceived quality Brand association in addition to perceived quality Other proprietary brand assets-patents, trademarks, channel relationships etc. (Aaker D A, 1991, p8) Celebrity Endorsements (Brand Ambassadors) Celebrities are individuals who enjoy public acknowledgment by a large share of a certain group of people. Their attributes like attractiveness, skills, extraordinary lifestyle are observed, They also differ from the social norm and take pleasure in a high degree of public awareness. Few classic examples of celebrities like, Meg Ryan, Pierce Brosnan, models like Naomi Campbell, Gisele Buendchen, sports persons like Anna Kournikova, Michael Schumacher entertainers like Oprah Winfrey, Conan O’Brien, and pop stars e.g. Madonna, David Bowie, Britney Spears and Rihanna and also business class or groups like Donald Trump, Bill Gates or politicians like Bill Clinton, Tony Blair. Appearances of celebrities are in different ways. Initially, when they appear in their actual profession (Tennis players in Wimbledon) like Anna Kournikova Pete Sampras. Later, their appearance in public by attending special celebrity events like world premieres of movies and academy awards, in news, magazine s provide information on events and the personal life of celebrities through mass-media. Celebrities act as spokespeople in advertising to promote products, services and ideas. (Kambitsis et al. 2002, Tom et al. 1992). Celebrities like Britney Spears, Michael Jackson, Liz Hurley and Tiger Woods are paid billions of dollars for every contract with the company or brand as they play a major role in advertising industry. (Daneshvary, Rennae and Schwer, 2000, Kambitsis et al. 2002). For example, Famous Tennis player Venus Williams has been endorsed by the sportswear manufacturer Reebok International Inc. for $40 million and five year contract. Advertising with the use of celebrities create enormous publicity and attention of people. (Ohanian 1991) Celebrities as Spokespersons Spokespersons are generally used by companies to deliver their advertising message and convince consumers of their products or brands. Spokesperson who are popular and are widely known are endorsed by companies, thereby celebrity endorser (Tom et al. 1992). â€Å"A celebrity endorser is an individual who is known by the people for their achievements in their fields other than the product class endorsed.† (Friedman and Friedman, 1979, p63). Actress Catherine Zeta-Jones endorses the perfume manufactured by Elizabeth Arden (cosmetic manufacturer). Celebrities are endorsed due to their high influential potential capability and their higher recall and degree of attention in advertising. Advertising with celebrities create positive feelings towards brands, more entertaining and increases company’s awareness, Advertising with celebrities are likely affect consumers brand attitudes and purchase behaviour. (Solomon 2002) Source Credibility and Attractiveness The main intention of advertising is to persuade customers, attempt to modify or change consumer’s attitude towards brands (Solomon 2002). Celebrity endorsement strategy by advertisers enables to project an image in terms of persuasiveness, objectiveness, expertise, and trustworthiness. (Till and Shimp 1998). Source attractiveness- It is the endorser’s individuality, physical appearance, likeability, and similarity to the consumer perception, thereby to the perceived social value (Solomon 2002). Using celebrities or attractive people in television and print advertising is common practice followed and have proved to be more successful in influencing customer’s attitudes and beliefs. (Ohanian 1991) The Match-up Hypothesis Many research studies have showed the relativity between brand and celebrity endorsers and explained the effectiveness of using them to promote brands. Many of the celebrity endorsements proved to be successful. (Walker et al. 1992). Celebrity Endorser Company/Product Success (Yes/No) Liz Hurley Estee Lauder Yes Cindy Crawford Revlon PepsiCo Yes Yes Bruce Willis Seagrams No Michael Jordan Nike WorldCom Yes No Whitney Houston ATT No Jerry Seinfeld American Express Yes Milla Jovovich L’Oreal Yes (Successful and unsuccessful celebrity endorsements Source, Walker et al. 1992, Till 1998) It is not enough for a person to be just famous to endorse (Solomon 2002). Super stars like Bruce Willis and Whitney Houston who were attractive failed in their endorsements. Celebrity spokespersons should be knowledgeable, experienced, and qualified to talk about the product to be effective on consumer. (Tom et al. 1992, Daneshvary and Schwer 2000) References Philip Kotler, (2005), Marketing Management, 11th edition, Pearson Education, India AMA, (1985), ‘AMA Board approves new marketing definition’ Marketing news, 1st March, p1. Brassington F and Pettit S, (2006), ‘Principles of marketing’ 4th edition, Pearson education, England. Gronroos, C, (1997), ‘From marketing mix to relationship marketing- Towards a paradigm shift in marketing management decision 35(4), pp322-39. Kotler P and Keller L K, (2006), Marketing management, 12th edition, Prentice Hall, USA. Kotler P, Armstrong G, Saunders J and Wong V, (2001), Principles of marketing, 3rd European edition, Prentice Hall, UK Peter D. Bennett, (1995), Dictionary of marketing terms, American Marketing Association, Chicago. Keith Crosier, (1998a), Advertising, in kitchen, P.J.(ed.) Marketing Communication: Principles and practice, International Thompson Business Press, London. Michael J. Barker, (2003), The marketing book, 5th edition, Heinemann publication, Great Britain. Betts et al., CIM, (1998), Promotional Practice, 5th edition, BPP publishing, London. William G. Zikmund and Michael d’Amico, (1998), Effective marketing-Creating and keeping customers, International Thompson Publishing, USA. Terance A. Shimp, (1997), Aspects of integrated marketing communication, The Dryden press, USA. Lancaster G and Massingham L, (1993), Marketing management, McGraw Hill Company, Great Britain David Jobber, (2001), Principles and practice of marketing, McGraw Hill publishing company, UK. CIM, (2001), Marketing management, BPP publishing, London.

Informing Panasonic

From the Information supplied In the case, Identify three Information needs of Panasonic as an organization and explain why this information would be important to managerial decision – making at the company. Three information needs of Panasonic Has the ability to create, store, share and analyze data about products, customers and suppliers in ways that were not even feasible Just a few decades ago. Ђ It had developed numerous duplicative, inconsistent and incomplete records stored in ultimate isolated databases across the enterprise It also prevented the company from making timely decisions, which diminished Panasonic flexibility and agility. Importance of information to managerial decision making Helps in making effective problem – solving decisions 2. Explain how the new information system benefits both Panasonic and its various stakeholders. Panasonic was able to save millions of dollars per year Improves Panasonic time – to- time marketReduces the time re quired to bring a product to market from 6 months to 1 month Reduces the amount of time required for creating and maintaining product information by 50 per cent It allowed Panasonic to move away from It's â€Å"push† Inventory model, towards a † pull† model. Improved Its response to retailers' orders so that its retailers have been able to cut inventory to seven days. 3. Compare and contrast the â€Å"push† and â€Å"pull† models of Information supply outlined n the case.What are the potential advantages and disadvantages of each method? O Push inventory model Information is centralized and delivered automatically to everyone who needs it, simultaneously C] The company would push products to retailers such as Best Buy and Cult City Pull inventory model Marketing and sales had to request both structured and unstructured information from numerous sources 0 vendors order products on as-needed basis o Advantages – Push – pull Disadvantages

Obedience To Authority Essay

The Vietnam controversy made many people feel at distress. It was never considered a â€Å"war,† although that is exactly what it was. The My Lai Massacre in Vietnam was one of the many atrocities of that war. There is an unquestionable connection between Milgram’s â€Å"Obedience to Authority† and the My Lai Massacre. According to Kelman & Hamilton, â€Å"Unquestioning obedience has been the cause of such disasters as the My Lai massacre and the Holocaust. People need to resist the dangerous web of influence from strong personalities in fields such as politics, religion and the mass media who become the objects of their idolatry. To become less susceptible to the irrational persuasive power of such personalities, individuals should develop a sense of self-respect and practice critical thinking† (Kelman & Hamilton). In cases such as the My Lai Massacre, the soldiers were not just following the thoughts of a politician or religious figure. They followed their military leader, the same person they counted on for leadership and survival. â€Å"Soldiers are trained to always follow orders, never question orders (When I say jump, u you say how high). But that belief is somewhat erroneous, the charge to the soldier is to obey any lawful order given (Schwalbe). â€Å"Absolute obedience, although not wholeheartedly embraced in official military pronouncements, is nevertheless unanimously praised in combat context (Peppers). Some military scholars call the modern version of military discipline â€Å"enlightened obedience.† Enlightened obedience springs from a belief on the part of the subordinate that his superior’s orders are authoritative and valid (Peppers).† A classic example of the power of authoritative factors is provided by Stanley Milgram’s study on obedience to authority. College students from Yale University were asked to participate in an experiment to test the effects of punishment on learning. They were willing to continue administering what they thought were increasingly higher levels of shocks to  another subject (actually an actor) simply because the experimenter (Milgram) said to do so. The results, in fact, were so unbelieveable that they made Milgram one of the most famous social psychologist. About 65 percent of the subjects continued to obey the experimenter to the end of the experiment even when they thought the victim was getting dangerous levels of electric shock, and even when he asked them to stop So what exactly does the My Lai Massacre have to do with Milgram’s experiment? The My Lai Massacre of 1968, in which a company of American soldiers poured automatic rifle fire into groups of unarmed villagers, killing perhaps 500 people, many of them women and children† (Hammer). Those soldiers were obeying orders from a superior officer. â€Å"It passed without notice when it occurred in mid-March 1968. Yet the brief blood bath at My Lai, a hamlet in Viet Cong-infested territory 335 miles northeast of Saigon, may yet have an impact on the war. According to accounts that suddenly appeared on TV and in the world press last week, a company of 60 or 70 U.S. Infantrymen had  entered My Lai early one morning and destroyed houses, livestock and all the inhabitants that they could find in a brutal operation that took less than 20 minutes. When it was over, the Vietnamese dead totaled at least 100 men, women and children, and perhaps many more, only 25 or so escaped, because they lay hidden under the fallen bodies of others. (Schawlbe) Military men said that stories of what happened at My Lai are correct. If so, the incident ranks as the most serious atrocity yet attributed to American troops† (Hammer). Isard said, â€Å"I see men who obeyed the leaders of their country, then lost themselves†. The My Lai Massacre was planned. â€Å"Planned, how could it have been planned? A recon patrol, perhaps, was planned, maybe even a search and destroy mission: Burn the villages; interrogate the villagers, and all that. But a massacre? Strategies are planned. Brutalities just happen† (Isard). â€Å"Obedience to Authority† Stanley Milgram described the â€Å"agentic shift in  which an individual attributes responsibility for his or her actions to a person in the position of authority.† In the My Lai Massacre the men felt it was their duty to open fire on the village. They were given orders to do just that. There was no questioning of orders from Cally, their superiour. The soldiers must have done as they were told, or incur sever consequences. Soldiers are taught from their first moments in Boot Camp that orders must be obeyed. The way in which the My Lai Massacre was particularly a case of over obedience to the military, is that the men that committed the massacre were ordered to do so. They did not decide on their own to destroy a bunch of people. They were following orders from military authoritative figures to destroy My Lai. What does this mean? Its clearly a case of over obedience to military authority. The men had two choices. They could obey a command and kill hundreds of innocent people, or they could disobey a command and face a possible consequences from the courts. In actuality they didn’t have a choice. many of the soldiers in Vietnam were there because of the draft, they however in their eyes, served their country to their best of their knowledge. They went bravely into battle and they did what had to be done. In the case of the My Lai Massacre, they were following orders just as they had done in many other times in the war. Only this time, the orders were to kill hundreds of villagers, not the Viet Cong, not the enemy. There were women and children in that village. They were gunned down mercilessly. For what reason? They were ordered to do so. The soldiers had an obligation, a duty to obey their superiors. That is what makes the military so successful. Soldiers not ask questions; they merely obey orders. In this  instance the orders went too far. Hundreds of innocent people were killed in the name of following orders. Is this any less an atrocious because the men were ordered to fire on the village of My Lai? No. Were the men doing this for personal gain? No. Were they doing it out of hatred or in defense? No.  Many of the people in the village were women and children. The soldiers had nothing against those people In this instance the village of My Lai was a case of death by over obedience of the American army. Was what they did right or wrong? In the eyes of most people, including the participants, the action was wrong, but they could not be faulted because they were simply following orders. Works Cited Hammer, Richard One Morning in the War: The tragedy at Son My. Coward-McCann NY 1970 Isard, Walter., ed. Vietnam: Issues and Alternatives. Schenkman . Cambridge MA: 1969 Kelman, Herbert C.; Hamilton, Lee V. Crimes of Obedience. New Haven: Yale University Press. 1989 Milgram, Stanley. â€Å"The Perils of Obedience.† Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum. 7th ed. By Laurence Behrens and Leonard J. Rosen. New York: Longman, 2000. 343-355 Miller, Heather. â€Å"Stanley Milgram† http://muskingum.edu/~psychology/psycweb/history/milgram.htm Peppers, Donald A. â€Å"War Crimes and Induction: A Case for Selective Nonconscientious Objection.† Philosophy and Public Affairs, Vol. 3, No. 2. (Winter, 1974), pp.129-166. JSTOR Middlesex County College Library, Edison. 29 Nov. 2000 http://www.jstor.org Schwalbe, David. â€Å"The My Lai Massacre.† American History. 1998 http://americanhistory.about.com/homework/americanhistory/library/weekly/aa031798.htm

A Case Study Of GBS Mutual Bank Finance Essay - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 12 Words: 3545 Downloads: 1 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Finance Essay Type Research paper Did you like this example? Definition of bank interest risk Banks can be described as intermediaries between lenders and borrowers. In general, banks accept client funds with varying maturities and lend at different terms as well. Interest rate risk stems from assets and liabilities maturing at different times. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "A Case Study Of GBS Mutual Bank Finance Essay" essay for you Create order There are basically three components under interest risk, which are the margin between the rates earned on assets and paid on liabilities, the repricing potential of assets and liabilities at different points in time, resulting in mismatches in various time frames between assets, liabilities and derivatives, and the period during which these mismatches persist. Banks can theoretically avoid interest rate risk by perfectly matching assets and liabilities by setting the rates on both sides fixed or floating, and thus enjoy a fixed margin. However in reality, the ideal construction of the asset and liability portfolio is dependent on variables such as bank competition as well as the requirements of clients, investors and stakeholders, all of which may affect the composition of the balance sheet. A large portion of private banks revenue stems from net interest income which is generated from the difference between various assets and liabilities that are held in the balance sheet. Th e composition of both interest income and interest expense of the GBS mutual bank are listed in Appendix 1. The relationship between interest rate risk and the yield curve The shape of the yield curve affects banks interest rate risk and liquidity risk exposure. In order to hedge or take advantage of a particular shape in the yield curve, banks may alter the composition of the balance sheet from time to time. The normal yield curve A normal yield curve means long-term securities have higher yields than short-term ones. In order to take advantage of the positively sloping yield curve the bank may alter the structure of its balance sheet by borrowing funds short and lending them long. The banks interest margin and profit will interest at the expense of a decrease in bank liquidity. The inverse yield curve The inverse yield curve represents a lower long-term yields and higher short-term yields. In order to maximize profits, the bank should alter the structure of the balance sheet by borrowing funds long-term and lending short-term. Liquidity of the bank will be increase together with interest margin and profit. However, as the inverse yield curve indicates a changing interest rate structure, banks risk exposure will increase of rates change suddenly which affects net interest income significantly. The flat yield curve While the short-term yield equals the long-term yield, no profit can be made from the mismatching of assets and liabilities. In this scenario interest rate risk is minimized as no returns can be made from restructuring the balance sheet. BUSINESS CIRCUMSTANCE OF GBS MUTUAL BANK AND SOUTH AFRICAN INTEREST RATE CYCLE Background The GBS head office is located in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The bank has branches located in Cape Town, Port Alfred and Port Elizabeth. The bank was formed in 1877 and is regarded one of South Africas oldest financial institutions. It is noted that a large portion of the banks current business activity is derived from home mortgages business. Specific Business Circumstance of GBS Mutual Bank The purpose of this section is going to provide a brief explanation to the GBS business practices. The mutuality of the bank is a feature that differentiates its business activities substantially from other private sector banks and affects its interest rate risk exposure. To be a mutual bank, GBS has a particular business strategy. Firstly, the bank is no shareholders, so the bank is not only owned by its share-depositors. Since this is no shareholders, the GBS is not purely profit driven as other banks. To a certain extent, bank profits are generated primarily to maintain bank reserves and capital adequacy requirements of Reserve Bank of South Africa. Moreover, the GBSs primary source of funds or primary liabilities is bank deposits, while its primary assets or uses of funds are mortgages and asset backed finance. Secondly, the small community banking business and the geographic footprint affect the number and demographic pattern of customers. Hence, the GBS has incorporated a personalized banking service for its customers in order to generate a competitive advantage over other competitors. For example, a large portion of its clients is elderly citizens who prefer high yield deposits. The GBS often quotes rates above those of its competitors in order to retain and attract this type of client. Based on the above banking practices, the GBS use a low risk profile in order to ensure a short-term credit. The profile is that a significant portion of the banks advances is collateralized and in the form of different mortgages such as residential properties, smaller commercial and industrial properties. Also, the bank tries to focus on these types of advances primarily from its previous business structure as a building society. Secondly, due to the regulations of the Mutual Banks Act, the bank is statutorily required to hold an amount of capital of not less than 10% of its risk-based assets as a buffer against losses by depositors. Finally, the experienced m anagement is required to ensure the trade profitably of GBS. In summary, the practices have ensured a short-term credit to GBS. South African Interest Rate Cycle and Term and Structure of Interest Rates: 1996 2007 The down trended of interest rate has been observed in last decade. It is provided a reference to understand the yield curve of South Africa. The repurchase rate and the bank prime lending rate are included in Appendix 2. Based on the data from the reserve bank of South Africa, the yield curve has been deduced and showed in Appendix 3. As mentioned previous, when the difference between the 10-year bond rate and the 91-day Treasury bill rate is positive, the normal yield curve exists where the yield on longer-dated bonds is higher than the yield on short-dated bonds. According to the figure, a positive or upward sloping yield curve occurs during March 1999 May 2002 and September 2003 October 2006. Secondly, when the Treasury bill is negative, the inverse yield curve exists where the yield on short-dated bonds is higher than the yield on long dated bonds. Then, a negatively shaped yield curve occurs during November 1996 March 1999 and June 2002 September 2003. Finally, t he flat yield curve exists where the yield on short-dated bonds is equal to the yield on long-dated bonds. A flat yield curve appears on a number of occasions during 1996 as well as March 1999; June 2002; September 2003 and October 2006. GBS MUTUAL BANK INTERES RATE RISK HEDGING Balance sheet positioning instruments Net interest income smoothing Net interest income is the difference between the interest income received on banks assets and the interest payments on its liabilities, and it is the primary source of banks income. The NII smoothing technique simply relies on the banks ability to reduce the variability of NII caused by the interest rate fluctuation. As the assets of GBS mature faster and therefore reprice faster than its liabilities, it would naturally receive a higher amount of NII during a rising interest rate scenario and a lower amount of NII during falling interest rates, and so the GBS will save larger portions of funds during rising interest rate periods in order to offset losses during periods of declining interest rates and hedge its interest rate risk. Volume strategy A volume strategy is a hedging method to alter the volume or mix of assets and liabilities on the balance sheet by purchasing or selling the required amount of funds in the market. It is similar to NII smoothing which is positioning banks balance sheet toward targeting NII, however, volume strategy relies heavily on bank interest rate forecasts. If the interest rate is increasing, the GBS will naturally be in a position to benefit from its asset sensitive balance sheet. This balance sheet structure can be repositioned by further shortening the maturity structure of its assets and lengthening the maturity structure of its liabilities. During a falling interest rate environment, the GBS should operate in the opposite way. Pricing strategy Banks can position itself advantageously during experienced and forecasted interest rate cycles by adjusting the interest rates quoted to borrowers and lenders and thereby influence the amount of assets and liabilities on its balance sheet. And this is an interest rate pricing strategy. Applying this method, GBS can effectively hedge its interest rate position by increasing rates on short-term deposits and increasing rates on long- term loans when the prevailing interest rate trend is downward sloping. This will increase the volume of short-term deposits due to the higher rate of interest received by customers and reduce the amount of long-term loans as customer interest payments become greater. It must be noted, however, that this strategy may have some practical drawbacks for the GBS. The GBS regards itself as a price-taker in so far as its quoted rates are linked to rates quoted by its larger competitors. Any significant restructuring of interest rates may hamper interest margins and business practices. It is also recognized that a pricing strategy may also take longer to implement due to the intermediary target variables. Moreover, a pricing strategys effectiveness requires substantial customer volume in order to change the structure of the balance sheet. The ideal portfolio The ideal portfolio is a balance sheet positioning strategy that perfectly matches assets and liabilities in terms of maturi ty as well as fixed-rate and floating-rate financial instruments. It can be attained with a combination of the above mentioned balance sheet positioning strategies and the banks ability to buy or sell fixed or floating interest rate financial instruments. During an upward sloping yield curve environment, the GBS can construct a portfolio in the following manner: the GBS can construct a portfolio with long dated fixed-rate liabilities and short-dated floating-rate assets. Conversely, the GBS should hold a portfolio containing short-dated floating-rate liabilities and long-dated fixed rate assets if a downward sloping interest rate environment persists. It is recognized, however, in reality the ideal portfolio construct is virtually impossible as the positioning of the balance sheet and the type of financial instruments held can be dependent on variables such as bank competition as well as the requirements of clients, investors and stakeholders, all of which may affect the compo sition of the balance sheet. Thus banks are naturally exposed to interest rate risk as they have a large variety of assets and liabilities that differ in terms of maturity and repricing frequency. Immunization Immunization refers to the banks ability to match the average duration of the banks balance sheet to the investment horizon. It is important to note that the realized annual return remains constant when the duration is made equal to the holding period. We can verify this in an example in Appendix 4. The bank holds a R100, 000 bond that yields interest payments of 12% paid annually with the maturity of 5 years and the duration of 4. 04 years. Appendix 4 illustrates the effects of immunization under three different interest rate scenarios: an increased rate of 14%, a steady rate of 12% and a lower rate of 10%. The table also provides a fluctuating holding period of 5 years, 4 years and 3 years. It is clear from the example provided is that as long as the duration of 4.04 i s made equal to the holding period of 4 years, the return of 12% is received regardless of the fluctuating interest rate. Therefore, GBS can be able to immunize itself against interest rate risk at either the individual asset class level or the entire portfolio level. By making the duration of the bond or indeed the average duration of the entire portfolio equal to the investment horizon, the GBS can offset its interest rate risk exposure. This is because the rise in the interest rate induces a decline in the market price of the bond/portfolio, while the income earned on the reinvestment of the bond/portfolio rises to offset this amount. The net effect is that the realized return remains constant. Immunization may be a useful tool, but it is also acknowledged immunization does not take convexity into account and may be expensive and time consuming to implement because the GBS will need to continuously rebalance the portfolio in order to match the duration of its instruments to the investment time horizon. Interest rate derivative The Interest rate derivatives provides a viable method for the GBS to hedge its interest, and the use of interest rate derivatives is affected by many aspects, for instance instruments availability, transaction costs and specific GBS business circumstance. The financial derivatives including: securitization, interest rate forwards, interest rate futures, interest rate swaps, interest rate options, interest rate caps, interest rate floors, interest rate collars and hybrid derivatives. First derivative is securitization. The GBS use securitization to reduce the interest risk by moving the longer duration assets and interest rate-sensitivity items off the balance sheet by securitization. Whats more, the securitization allows for the unbundling of risk, which means the unbundled interest rate risk can be sold to a third party or managed by a more competent third party. However, it also has some disadvantages. First, the securitization is extremely complicated to implement. Second , it cost a lot to disseminate interest rate risk effectively. Third, its less likely for an investor to invest in a once-off securitized asset from an issuer. Second kind of interest rate derivatives is interest rate forwards and Interest rate futures. Interest rate forwards can gain the interest rate income after downside period of reduced NIM, it has advantage that you can hedge a position more precisely and it has no liquidity risk with no marginal call. However, it also has some disadvantages that it is more expensive compared to other derivatives and the credit risk is increased. By the use of Interest rate futures, the investor can have long futures position offset the decline in NII. It also has some advantages such as it is ideally suited to smaller financial institutions and it is guaranteed by an exchange, however it also cumbersome when using it. Third kind of derivatives is Interest rate swaps and Interest rate options. The biggest difference of interest rate opti ons is that provides the right, not obligation to GBS. Both of the Interest rate swaps and Interest rate options has disadvantage of sophisticated systems. In addition, as for the interest rate options, pricing process is complex, and premiums may be expensive. Another interest rate derivative is interest rate caps, interest rate floors and interest rate collars. The interest rate caps is not a viable instrument for it place an upper limit to earnings and reduce the potential earning increase when the interest rate increases. However, the interest rate floors is an ideal instrument because it protect the interest rate income when interest rate declines. As regard to interest rate collars, we can buy an interest rate floor at a pre-specified rate and simultaneously sell an interest rate cap to allow the GBS to enforce the contract below the floor strike rate and reduce its interest rate risk exposure. However, since the use of such interest rate contracts is highly administrativel y intensive, we should not exceed a period of three years. Finally is the hybrid derivative, which contains Options on swaps and Options on futures. They are both very expensive and option on swaps is less administrative. However, due to their features, such contracts should not be entered into for a period longer than 12 months. Among the above interest rate derivatives, the most practical ones are interest rate futures and interest rate collars. Interest rate futures is guaranteed and market-to-market. Whats more, since the futures market has high liquidity, the closing-out position is quite simple for investors, which making the futures easily accessible and suited to smaller financial institutions. On the other hand, the interest rate collar sets the cash flows negatively related to the interest rate. For instance, when interest rate decreases, the cash flow from floor purchase increases, and the premium is offset in the process. Consequently, the cash flow structure of in terest rate collar is perfectly suited to the GBS to hedge risk. Retaining the status quo Besides the methods above, another option for the GBS is to retain the business operations with an un-hedged interest rate risk position. There are a number of reasons the current strategy may be retained, including: inducing other risks, other hedging options may be too expensive, requiring a large amount of monitoring and sophisticated systems, or may alter the business structure of the bank unfavorably. GBS MUTUAL BANK ASSET AND LIABILITY COMMITTEE Introduction As mentioned in previous sections, banks face various types of risks such as interest rate risk and liquidity risk. The GBS Asset and Liability Committee (ALCO) was established to manage these risks so as to enhance the banks risk and return structure. This section will provide us an exploration on the functions and organization of the GBS ALCO. Functions of the GBS ALCO The three main functions of the GBS ALCO are interest rate risk measurement, stimulation and interest rate risk management. The purpose of interest rate risk measurement is to quantify the interest rate risk profile of the Bank. Stimulation means the committee will explore the past and recent information in the interest of anticipating future performance and risks in order to constitute business and hedging policies. Interest rate risk management aims to measure, monitor and control its risk. Complicated measurement, adequate monitoring and pricing systems are significant factors for the GBS to appropriately hedge its interest rate risk. Since GBS faces large numbers of risks, it has to assure that hedging policies cover interest rate risk as well as other risks. The GBS has made satisfactory results on hedging risks by utilizing the complex computational systems. However, it is quite costly to use the systems. The current interest rate risk hedging strategy would conform to a p rudent strategy instead of a speculative strategy. By adopting a prudent hedging strategy, the GBS would be able to hedge its interest rate risk partially or entirely by either locking in a certain interest rate over time or just hedging unfavorable interest rate movements. Organization of the GBS ALCO All departments of GBS are encouraged to participate in interest rate risk policies in order to enhance the effectiveness and corporation of hedging risks. Furthermore, the GBS should also integrate the use of external and internal sources of information when establishing its ALCO structure. The Bank can make use of external sources such as macroeconomic indicators (fiscal policy and monetary policy) to forecast the banks internal interest rate. In the mean time, internal sources such as maturity structure, growth forecast, etc. serve as substantial factors for the balance sheet forecast. The GBS currently performs these activities extremely well. It is suggested to carry meetings frequently so as to monitor the GBS interest rate risk exposure. The GBS recently conforms to the following practices. When the market is unstable, meetings can be held daily to provide better supervision on the Banks performance. In contrast, during the normal business situation, meetings can be condu cted less frequently, say four to eight times a month. Moreover, five members who are from different departments across the GBS have formed a risk sub-committee. This improves the communication and effectiveness of risk researches. CONCLUSION This essay focuses on the interest rate risk management by analyzing the GBS mutual bank. It began with a brief description of a banks interest rate risk and its relation to other bank risks. It mainly focused on interest rate risk and the ways to manage these risks. It then started to perform an empirical analysis on a case study of GBS mutual bank. GBS mutual bank specific business circumstance is discussed first, and then followed by an investigation on the South Africa interest rate cycle and term structure of interest rates from 1996 to 2007. Moreover, it is significant to explore the GBS mutual bank interest rate hedging tools which comprise of three elements: balance sheet positioning instruments, interest rate derivatives and retaining the status quo. This essay also suggested two interest rate derivative instruments which are interest rate futures and interest rate collars for the purpose of balance sheet positioning strategies. Last but not least, the functions and organi zation of the GBS mutual bank asset and liability committee are introduced since interest rate risk management is affected by the committee. The GBS ALCO has the power to choose the hedging strategy that suits themselves the most. After investigating the interest rate risk management of the GBS mutual bank, we should have more understanding on interest rate risk, its relative yield curve, structure as well as interest rate risk management. APPENDIX Appendix 1 South African Banks: percentage contribution of interest income and interest expense (average December 2005 Rand Millions) Appendix 2 Interest Rate Cycle (1996-2007) Appendix 3 The 10- year bond rate, the 91-treasury bill rate and the differential (1996-2007) Appendix 4: Impact of Holding Period on Realized Annual Return Bond : R100 000, 12% (annual return) ÃÆ' £Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ ÃÆ' £Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ ÃÆ' £Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ Maturity : 5 years ÃÆ' £Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ Duration : 4.04 years ÃÆ' £Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ ÃÆ' £Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ ÃÆ' £Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ ÃÆ' £Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ Holding period Interest rate Bond price after holding period Coupon paid Reinvestment income Total value Realized annual return ÃÆ' £Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ (% p.a.) (R000) (R000) (R000) (R000) (% p.a.) 5 years 12 100.0 60 16.2 176.2 12.00 ÃÆ' £Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ 10* 100.0 60 13.3 173.3 11.60 ÃÆ' £Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ 14** 100.0 60 19.2 179.2 12.38 4 years 12 100.0 48 9.4 157.4 12.00 ÃÆ' £Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ 10* 101.8 48 7.7 157.5 12.00*** ÃÆ' £Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ 14** 98.2 48 11.1 157.3 12.00*** 3 years 12 100.0 36 4.5 140.5 12.00 ÃÆ' £Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ 10* 103.5 36 3.7 143.2 12.70 ÃÆ' £Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ 14** 96.7 36 5.3 138.0 11.30 * Market rate falls to 10% after first year and remains there ÃÆ' £Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ ** Market rate rises to 14% after first year and remains there ÃÆ' £Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ *** Approximate ÃÆ' £Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ ÃÆ' £Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ ÃÆ' £Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ ÃÆ' £Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ ÃÆ' £Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬