Natural monopoly Essay Example for Free

Natural monopoly Essay I believe that times change and as they, change rules and regulations must adapt to the times. Therefore, the treatment of the different industries must represent the different industries as they grow. I do not think the Telephone and Broadcast should never have or ever be considered a â€Å"Natural Monopoly†. The concept of natural monopoly presents a challenging public policy dilemma. On the one hand, a natural monopoly implies that efficiency in production would be better served if a single firm supplies the entire market. On the other hand, in the absence of any competition the monopoly holder will be tempted to exploit his natural monopoly power in order to maximize its profits. A natural monopoly is defined in economics as an industry where the fixed cost of the capital goods is so high that it is not profitable for a second firm to enter and compete. There is a natural reason for this industry being a monopoly, namely that the economies of scale require one, rather than several, firms. Small-scale ownership would be less efficient. Natural monopolies are typically utilities such as water, electricity, and natural gas. It would be very costly to build a second set of water and sewerage pipes in a city. Water and gas delivery service has a high fixed cost and a low variable cost. Electricity is now being deregulated, so the generators of electric power can now compete. But the infrastructure, the wires that carry the electricity, usually remain a natural monopoly, and the various companies send their electricity through the same grid. Cable as a Natural Monopoly Nearly every community in the United States allows only a single cable company to operate within its borders. Since the Boulder decision [4] in which the U. S. Supreme Court held that municipalities might be subject to antitrust liability for anticompetitive acts, most cable franchises have been nominally nonexclusive but in fact do operate to preclude all competitors. The legal rationale for municipal regulation is that cable uses city-owned streets and rights-of-way; the economic rationale is the assumption that cable is a natural monopoly. The theory of natural monopoly holds that because of structural conditions that exist in certain industries, competition between firms cannot endure; and whenever these conditions exist, it is inevitable that only one firm will survive. Thus, regulation is necessary to dilute the ill-effects of the monopoly. [5] Those who assert that cable television is a natural monopoly focus on its economies of scale; that is, its large fixed costs whose duplication by multiple companies would be inefficient and wasteful. Thus, competitive entry into the market should be proscribed because it is bound to be destructive. The Competitive Reality 1. A skeptic hearing exhortations that cable television is a natural monopoly that should be locally regulated could have some questions at this point. First, if cable is a natural monopoly, why do we need to guarantee it with a franchise? Economists Bruce Owen and Peter Greenhalgh argue persuasively that given economies of scale, if a cable company is responsive and efficient in its pricing and service quality then there will be little incentive for competitors to enter, and no need for an exclusionary franchise policy. [9] Thus, if entry restrictions are necessary to arrest competition, the industry by definition is not a natural monopoly. 2. Second, if cable is a natural monopoly, is it necessarily a local monopoly? Some observers use the terms interchangeably, but there is no evidence that economic laws respect municipal boundaries. Given large fixed costs, does it make sense to award a local franchise to one company when another already has facilities in an adjacent community? Yet such wasteful duplication, as the natural monopoly proponents would call it, occurs frequently under the franchise system. Local franchises make no sense in a true natural monopoly setting. 3. These questions, however, go to the heart of natural monopoly theory itself, a doctrine that is under increasing attack. [10] In the face of crumbling conventional wisdom in this area, the burden should be on the natural monopoly proponents to demonstrate that competition is not possible, and further, that regulation is necessary. Such a demonstration will prove impossible in the cable context. Cable is both extremely competitive, facing both direct and indirect market challenges, and, in any event, is better left unregulated. For many decades, economic textbooks have held up the telecommunications industry as the ideal model of natural monopoly. A natural monopoly is said to exist when a single firm is able to control most, if not all, output and prices in a given market due to the enormous entry barriers and economies of scale associated with the industry. More specifically, a market is said to be naturally monopolistic when one firm can serve consumers at lower costs than two or more firms (Spulber 1995: 31). For example, telephone service traditionally has required laying an extensive cable network, constructing numerous calls switching stations, and creating a variety of support services, before service could actually be initiated. Obviously, with such high entry costs, new firms can find it difficult to gain a toehold in the industry. Those problems are compounded by the fact that once a single firm overcomes the initial costs, their average cost of doing business drops rapidly relative to newcomers. The telephone monopoly, however, has been anything but natural. Overlooked in the textbooks is the extent to which federal and state governmental actions throughout this century helped build the ATT or Bell system monopoly. As Robert Crandall (1991: 41) noted, Despite the popular belief that the telephone network is a natural monopoly, the ATT monopoly survived until the 1980s not because of its naturalness but because of overt government policy. I hope that the above facts help support my beliefs that these industries should not be considered Natural Monopolies. These companies just executed and had better site than other in the same industry had. Today ATT is just as strong as it ever was. References Benjamin, S. M. , Lichtman, D. G. , Shelanski, H. , Weiser , P. (2006). FOUNDATIONS. In Telecommunications Law and Policy . (2nd ed. ). (pp. 437 469). Durham, NC : Carolina Academic Press. Foldvary, F. E. (1999). Natural Monopolies . The Progress Report. Retrieved January 9, 2012, from http://www. progress. org/fold74. htm Thierer , A. D. (1994). UNNATURAL MONOPOLY: CRITICAL MOMENTS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE BELL SYSTEM MONOPOLY . 14(2).

Graduation Speech -- Graduation Speech, Commencement Address

Welcome staff, students, family, and graduates. Today marks a special day in our lives. Today is the day of our graduation. It seems with every graduating class there is a certain amount of responsibility placed on the graduates. For this year’s class it is no different, in fact more has been placed on this class than any others in history. The Class of 2006 is going to shape our world for the 21st century; the Class of 2006 is going to improve our lives and our country. We can talk all we want about the things we want to accomplish or change, but if we do not reach out for opportunities, then all of these ideas are fantasies. This is what I want to talk about with all of you today. First, what is an opportunity? An opportunity is the chance to do something to improve ourselves or the lives of others. When we were freshmen, our teachers, counselors and administration urged us on to excel in the classroom, join a sports team or help with an activity for the school. As we grew older we had to motivate ourselves to do these things. There is a young lady graduating tonigh...

Contract Laws In China and America Essay

I.Concepts and Features of Contract and Contract Law I.Concepts A.Concept and Features of Contract 1. Concept of Contract According to the provision of Article 2 of the Contract Law of People’s Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as Contract Law), contract is the agreement in which natural persons, legal persons or other organizations with equal status declare a common intention to establish, alter and terminate civil rights and obligations. Contract was once divided into agreement and contract. Agreement refers to the civil legal act established by both parties’ consensus with regard to opposite intentions, such as sales agreement. Contract refers to the civil legal act established by two or above three parties’ consensus with regard to collateral intentions, such as partnership contract. However, such division can no longer be seen in our current laws and the two are collectively referred to as contract. Contract has its broad and narrow meanings. In the broad sense, contract refers to all agreements generating rights and obligations, such as labor contract, administrative contract, civil contract, etc. Furthermore, civil contract may also be divided into creditor’s right contract, real right contract, intellectual property contract, identity contract, personality right contract, etc. In the narrow sense, contract refers to the agreement for involved parties with equal status to establish, alter and/or terminate civil rights and obligations. The contract adjusted by the contract law is generally confined to the contract of creditor’s right, real right and/or intellectual property, etc. 2. Features of Contract It can be seen from the concept of contract — contract is the agreement in which natural persons, legal persons or other organizations with equal status declare a common intention to establish, alter and terminate civil rights and obligations that, contract has the following legal features: Contract is a kind of civil legal act implemented by natural persons, legal persons and/or other organizations with equal status. As the most important legal fact, civil legal act is the lawful act implemented by civil subjects, which can generate, alter or terminate civil right and obligations. Since contract is a kind of civil legal act, it is different from fact behavior in nature. Fact behavior refers to the act which does not take the declaration of intention as an essential condition and cannot generate the legal effect expected by the party involved, such as infringing act, picking up lost property, etc. In nature, contract as the civil legal act belongs to lawful act. That is to say, only under the circumstance that the declaration of intention made by the contracting parties is lawful, the contract is legally binding and protected by national laws. On the contrary, in case contracting parties make illicit declaration of intention, the agreement, even already reached, may not have the effect as a contract. As contract is a kind of civil legal act, general regulations of civil law concerning civil legal acts, such as essential condition of civil legal act, the ineffectiveness and revocation of civil act, are all applicable to contract. 3 Contract is the civil legal act in which two or more parties declare a common intention. The establishment of a contract shall have two or more parties who declare intention to each other and achieve a consensus. If such declared intentions are not consistent, no contract will be formed. Even though â€Å"one party cheats or threats or take advantage of the other party’s precarious situation to make such other party to conclude a contract which violates its real intention†, the party suffering damages is entitled to request people’s court or arbitration agency to alter or revoke the contract (Article 54.2 of the Contract Law. For similar notes cited in the following text, Contract Law will be omitted). Contract is the civil legal act with a view to establishing, altering and terminating civil rights and obligations. Establishing civil rights and obligations refers to that after parties involved conclude the contract pursuant to the law, civil rights and obligations thus emerge between; altering civil rights and obligations refers to that after parties involved conclude the contract pursuant to the law, the previous civil rights and obligations between them is changed and new civil rights and obligations are formed; terminating civil rights and obligations refers to that after parties involved conclude the contract pursuant to the law, the civil rights and obligations previously existing between them are abolished. â‘ £Contract is a civil legal relationship generated on an equal and voluntary basis by parties involved. That is to say, the subjects concluding the contract have equal legal status and no party may impose its will on the other party. â€Å"Parties of a contract have equal legal status and one party may not impose its will on the other party† (Article 3); â€Å"Parties have the right to conclude a contract voluntarily according to law and no unit or individual may intervene illegally† (Article 4). â‘ ¤Contract is the civil legal act which is legally binding. â€Å"The contract concluded according to law is legally binding upon parties involved. Parties shall perform their obligations as agreed and may not alter or terminate the contract with no consent†; â€Å"The contract concluded according to law is protected by law† (Article 8). Unless otherwise specified by law such as force majeure, the party who fails to perform the contract or whose performance of obligations does not conform to that prescribed in the contract shall assume the liabilities for breach of the contract to continue to perform the contract, adopt remedial measures or compensate losses. B. Concept and Features of Contract Law 1. Concept of Contract Law Generally speaking, the concept of contract law may be comprehended in the broad and narrow sense. In the narrow sense, given contract is the consensus of parties to the contract in nature, contract law is deemed as the law implementing the promise and agreement of parties involved. â€Å"The core of contract law is the exchange of promise†. However, the concept of contract law in the narrow sense confines the contract law to normalizing the establishment, effectiveness, performance and default liability of the contract, but excluding the non-establishment, ineffectiveness and revocation thereof. Therefore, the scope contained is not comprehensive. Just as Bayless stated, â€Å"The contract law pays attention not only to enforceable contracts and   agreements, but to adjusting the result of no contract or agreement concluded†. Therefore, the concept of contract law in the narrow sense is not suitable to apply. The concept of contract law in the broad sense proceeds from the object normalized thereby, namely the transaction relation, and defines the contract law as â€Å"the law relating to the individual transfer of property or labor service†. Most scholars in our country also consider that contract law is the law adjusting the dynamic property relations. Both contract law and real right law adjust the property relations, however, â€Å"the real right law stipulates and adjusts the static state of property relation while the contract law stipulates and adjusts the dynamic state of property relation†. Given that the contract law comprehensively adjusts the transaction relation and the establishment of a contract equals to the formation of a transaction, the performance, alteration, cancellation and termination of the contract constitute the transaction process. Consequently, it’s necessary for the contract law to stipulate the procedures to conclude the contract by parties involved, ineffectiveness and revocation of the contract, remedies upon the failure or part failure to perform the contract, various specific contracts, etc. In a word, any and all transaction relations may be adjusted by the contract law. The definition of contract law as the law adjusting the transaction relation precisely summarizes the nature and fu nctions of the contract law. 2. Features of Contract Law The contract law takes adjusting the transaction relation as its content and is applicable to various civil contracts, which determines the contract law has the features different from those in other departments of civil law (such as personality right law). These features are: Contract law has strong randomicity. Under the condition of market economy, the transaction development and property growth require the market subjects to be independent and fully express their wills. Laws shall leave broad space for the transaction activities of market subject and the intervention of government in economic activities shall be limited to the extent prescribed in the contract. The requirements put forward by the market economy against the law which endow parties with freedom to act as far as possible are thoroughly expressed in the contract. Therefore, the contract law mainly regulates the transaction through random norms rather than mandatory norms. For example, though the contract law stipulates various contracts with certain titles, it does not necessarily require parties to design the contract content precisely in accordance with the provisions prescribed in law concerning the contract with certain title, but parties may negotiate to determine the contract articles freely. As long as the articles negotiated by parties don’t violate the prohibitive regulations of laws, social public interest or public morality, the effect of the contract is acknowledged by law. Notwithstanding law stipulates the contracts with certain titles, parties are not prohibited from creating new contract forms. Although the form to establish a contract is stipulated by law, unless otherwise specially prescribed about the contract form, parties are allowed to freely choose the contract form in principle. In short, a majority of norms of the contract law may be altered by parties through agreements. The contract law also takes the freedom of contract as its basic principle; therefore, the contract law can be called as law at will in this connection. â‘ ¡Contract law emphasized the principle of consultation on an equal footing and compensation of equal value The object normalized by the contract law is transaction relation, which requires the principle of consultation on an equal footing and compensation of equal value in nature. Just as Marx indicated, the commodity is â€Å"equal by nature†. In the exchange of commodities, â€Å"only the owners of commodities with equal status stand at opposite sides, and the means of occupying others’ commodities may only be used to alienate their own commodities.† The exchange of commodities inevitably requires conforming to the law of value so as to carry out the exchange of equivalent labor, which determines that the contract law attaches more importance to the principle of consultation on an equal footing and compensation of equal value than other laws of civil law. â‘ ¢Contract law is a uniform property law. Market economy is an open economy, which demands for the integration of domestic market with international market, domestic trade and international trade. As the basic law of the market economy, the contract law should not only reflect the requirements for a uniform market with a set of uniform rules, but also integrate with international conventions. â‘ £Contract law is the law producing social wealth. Market economy is a developed credit economy, with all credit systems established on the basis of contract relations. A developed credit economy needs promise and agreement. At the same time, the more solid and universal the promise and agreement are, the more developed the credit economy is. II. Comparison of Development History and Textural Difference between Chinese and American Contract Laws A. Different Development Histories of Contract Legal Systems in China and US 1. Emergence of Contract and Contract Law Contract is the result of commodity economy, which emerges along with the emergence of commodity economy and develops along with the development of commodity economy. The contract law is accompanied with the emergence and development of the contract. In later period of clan society, due to the emergence and accumulation of private property, the exchange of products among people was becoming increasingly extensive and certain rules came into shape gradually. In the beginning, these rules were guaranteed by oaths, customs and other ways. When the oaths, customs and other ways were incapable to guarantee the implementation of trading rules, the social community emerging as the times required (organ of state power) thus formulated legal norms to supersede the foregoing. The earliest contract law of human society was developed from customs, so it’s called as customary law. However, the continuous development of society, especially the development and change of social   imbalance, made the customs different in various regions and groups, which resulted in customs here and now being inconsistent with those there and then, thus leading to transaction disputes. This determined that the written law would gradually substitute the customary law. The Code of Hammurabi promulgated by ancient Babylonian Empire in the 18th century BC is the most ancient and most well-preserved written law discovered so far in the whole world, which has 282 articles in total, among which over 120 stipulates contract norms directly. The Twelve Tables and Corpus Juris Civilis promulgated by ancient Rome have more complete legal norms about contract, acting as the most complete and typical law reflecting the production and exchange of commodities among ancient laws and playing an important role in the legislation of capitalist countries in later ages. The French Civil Code in 1804 was based on Roman law. The civil laws in European countries, except Britain, mostly originated from Roman law and formed the so-called â€Å"Roman Law System†. Along with the colonial expansion of these countries, the impact of Roman law was further extended to more regions of the world. After the Second World War, the contract law of early modern period was properly modified to become the modern contract law. 2. Development History of China’s Contract Law The ancient laws in our country had some regulations about the contract. According to the records of Rites of Zhou, there appeared written contracts such as â€Å"panshu (bamboo or wooden slips on which the texts of borrow and loan are written)†, â€Å"zhiji (sales contract)†, â€Å"fubie (borrow and loan contract)† in Zhou Dynasty. â€Å"Where any party asks for the government authority to deal with any dispute arising from debt borrow and loan, the case may only be accepted with the â€Å"panshu† previously co ncluded present†. â€Å"Where any dispute arises from a borrow and loan contract, the official in charge of trying such dispute should make a judgment according to the articles specified in fubie†. â€Å"Where any dispute arises from a sales contract, the official in charge of trying such dispute should make an award according to the articles specified in zhiji†. All these written contracts were main basis for government authorities to judge right and wrong and determine the debt liabilities. In the following dynasties of Qin, Han, Sui, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing, laws had several regulations about contract and contract system. However, in ancient times, our country was always with the agricultural economy which was self-sufficient and self-supporting, and the commodity economy was not developed. As a result, the norms of contract law centering on trading rules was also not developed, with no specialized civil code. Even in the collection of various laws such as Tang Code and Great Qing Legal Code, articles pertaining to contract and contract system are also rarely seen. Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the contract law of our country has achieved significant development. In the initial stage of new China, the Financial and Economic Committee of the Government Administration Council under Central People’s Government promulgated the Interim Measures for Organs, State-owned Enterprises and Cooperative societies to Conclude Contracts or Agreements on September 27, 1950, and the Trade Department formulated the Decision Pertaining to Earnestly Concluding Contracts and Strictly Implementing Contracts as well as the norms relating to various specific contracts such as sales contract and contract labor agreement of capital construction in the same year, all of which ascertain the legal norms of contract system and contract in the new China. Needless to say, due to the impact of wrong course and wrong trend of thought, the legal nihilism was rampant and the contract system was once cancelled in late 50’s. Especially in the period of the â€Å"Great Cultural Revolution†, all the contract systems, relevant laws and regulations were discarded. In the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Party, the wrong policy of â€Å"taking the class struggle as the outline† was abandoned, the focus of work of the Party and the nation was shifted to developing economy, and the strategic decision of reform and opening up to the outside world was made in the session. All of these opened up a promising prospect for the development of contract leg islation. The Economic Contract Law, Economic Contract Law Involving Foreign Interest and Technology Contract Law were successively approved by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress on December 13, 1981, March 21, 1985 and June 23, 1987. It is especially worth mentioning that the General Principles of the Civil Law approved in the Fourth Session of the Sixth National People’s Congress explicitly regulates the system of civil rights and the system of civil liabilities, playing a very important role in perfecting the system of contract laws in our country. Through more than a decade’s legislation, our country has formed the legal system of contract laws which is guided by the General Principles of the Civil Law, backboned with Economic Contract Law, Economic Contract Law Involving Foreign Interest and Technology Contract Law, and based on the contract norms in specialized laws such as Maritime Law, Civil Aviation Law and Copyright Law and a set of administ rative laws and regulations normalizing contracts. All these laws have greatly promoted the economic development and the establishment and development of socialist market economy in our country. However, along with the establishment and development of socialist market economy, this legal system gradually presented new defects. In order to adapt to the requirements of economic construction and development, it’s necessary to proceed from the actual situations of our country, summarize the experience of ten years’ contract legislation and borrow general international practices to formulate a uniform and relatively complete contract law. On October 1993, the Commission of Legislative Affairs of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress embarked on drafting the contract law on the basis of the legislation program approved in the Eighth Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress. According to the advice from all sources, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress further modified the draft for many times to form the Contract Law of People’s Republic of China (Draft) and submitted it to the Second Session of the Ninth National People’s Congress for deliberation. Through serious and earnest deliberation by people’s representatives, this important law was finally approved on March 15, 1999, which is a glorious page in the legislation history of the Republic, marking that the legislation of our country’s socialist market economy is ushering a new phase. 3. Development History of American Contract Law As a whole, the American laws are developed on the basis of inheriting British laws. Although American laws are influenced by British laws at different levels in different fields, the contract rules formed in the British common law and equity law have a significant impact on American contract law. Therefore, when investigating the historical evolution of American contract law, it’s necessary to review the early development history of British contract law. a. Lawsuit of Promise in Early Britain In the medieval period, British law had not formed the concept of contract. The earliest to emerge was the so-called lawsuit of promise, namely, when the promisor violated his/her promise, the promisee might file a lawsuit with the court to force the promisor to implement the promise. The principle pursued by common court when trying such lawsuit was: only making a promise cannot generate a right of action; under normal conditions, promise doesn’t have the effect of compulsory ex ecution, exceptional situations excluded. In contrast to the practice of common court as mentioned above, other courts showed more active attitude towards accepting the lawsuit of promise. First of all, ecclesiastical court regarded the promise with oath as an irreversible one according to canon law and rendered the implementation. Secondly, in the court of equity, the Chancellor decided that since one party suffered loss because of the other party’ failure to perform his/her promise, such party shall obtain the compensation. However, till the 16th century AD, common court won the battle with the court of equity and ecclesiastical court striving for jurisdiction. In this process, the jurisdiction of common court was increasingly enlarged and the common law became the main part of British law. The opportunity for the contract law to develop through the judgments of ecclesiastical court and court of equity was always limited. From the 15th to the 16th century, along with the development of the relations of commodity production within the feudal society, to develop a kind of general basis for enforceable promise within the previous lawsuit procedures of common law was the urgent task to be resolved which was confronted by common court. At the beginning, common court just confirmed more exceptional situations under which the promise may be executed mandatorily. However, this didn’t change the basic principle that promise doesn’t have the effect of compulsory execution under normal conditions. Since the second half of the 12th century, common court started to confirm the enforceable effect of sealed covenant, which was a kind of written promise with a seal on. Some people considered, if common court could loosen its requirements about the form of this written document, such document may also be mandatorily executed even with no seal on. The existence of such covenant might become the general basis of the compulsory execution of promise, while till the 14th century, this possibility disappeared. Common court considered, the seal not only proved that one party had already made a promise, but also indicated that the promisor had seriously expressed that he/she would perform the promise for the promisee. Therefore, a covenant which was not sealed couldn’t be compulsorily executed. At the end of the 12th century, common court started to confirm the debt of a borrow and loan relation as the cause of action: In case one person borrowed an   amount of money from another person, the borrower should pay back the money to the lender. If not, the lender might file a lawsuit with the court to force the borrower to pay back money. Later on, common court further expanded the scope of lawsuit of debt repayment: Once a person granted a kind of material interest to another person, such person might lodge a lawsuit of debt r epayment against the latter one, no matter the interest provided was a valuable thing or personal service. However, the existence of such debt also didn’t become the general basis of the compulsory execution of promise for this debt was only confined to the interest which was already granted to others. If a promisee just accepted a promise from the promisor while obtained no actual interest from the promisor, he still couldn’t lodge a lawsuit of debt repayment. In the beginning of the 15th century, common court developed such a principle in its judgment: If someone made a promise of undertaking some kind of obligation to another one, and the promisee suffered damages in the process of the promisor’s performance of the obligation, the promisee might lodge a lawsuit to require the promisor to compensate. This is called the Action of Assumpsit for Misfeasance, whose basis was the theory of law of torts then already approved. In this kind of lawsuit, if the promisor didn’t perform the obligation it undertook, the promisee couldn’t obtain the remedy. In the second half of the 15th century, the judges of common court realized that, in order to win the battle for jurisdiction with other courts, the scope of lawsuit of commitment must be expanded. New legal precedent rule in this period was: If the promisor changed his status due to his dependence on the promise and the non-performance of the promisor made the promisee suffer damages, the promisee might also obtain the remedy. Till the 16th century, the previous scope of lawsuit of commitment was newly expanded, namely, when two persons made promises to each other and the promise of one party constituted the transaction object promised by the other person, even if no party of the two performed his obligation, the promise to be carried out shall have the effect of compulsory execution. The reason to adopt such rule was that, once the promise was made, the promisee has an expectation for the implementation of the promise, which should be protected, even if the promisee didn’t perform the corresponding obligation, nor suffered â€Å"damages†. Generally speaking, the 17th and the 18th centuries were the period during which British contract law slowly developed. b. Evolution of American Contract Law in Modern Society The American historian Henry Maine said in 1861 that, â€Å"till now, the movement of this developing society has always been a movement from identity to contract.† This sentence indicates the profound revolution undergone by western society from the feudal times of middle ages to the times of â€Å"laissez-faire capitalism†: In the feudal society, human relation was determined by their identity; in the period of â€Å"laissez-faire capitalism†, human relation was determined by the agreement reached between them. The whol e 19th century is regarded as the century of contract by western historians. The United States, just independent from the colonial domination of the Great Britain, entered in such a century soon after its establishment. In this period, main systems of British and American contract laws were both confirmed. With regard to the main body, American contract law remained consistent with British contract law. In this period, the consistency of American contract law with that of western countries was: The contract concluded by parties involved was generally considered as having the effect of compulsory execution. Once confirmed, such effect shall become absolute, and may not be changed by state will. In the second half of the 19th century, as the laissez-faire economy developed toward an extreme orientation, to safeguard individual’s right to freely conclude contracts had become the primary goal of laws. In the eyes of Americans at that time, â€Å"in nature, justice is to safeguard lawful contracts†. The freedom of contract in the 19th century gave a full display of personal â€Å"independent will† and made private economy taking the â€Å"struggle for existence† as the motive power obtain rapid development with no government restraint and intervention. However, in late 19th century and early 20th century, the defects caused by this unlimited freedom of contract had fully appeared. In this period, contract laws of western countries underwent a new round of modification. The result was, the previous social movement â€Å"from identity to contract† started to turn to the social movement â€Å"from contract to identity†. In the US, since this century, especially since the Roosevelt’s New Deal in the 30’s, personal freedom of contract has received more and more restrictions. Today, the â€Å"identity† is playing an important role in determining the relation of rights and obligations among people for the second time: Workers are protected by â€Å"workers compensation law† due to their identity, and the article of employment contract preventing the employer from undertaking the compensation liability for industrial accidents is no longer legally binding. Similarly, the lessee of rental agreement, the insurer of insurance contract and the demanders of various contracts of public service are all protected by certain laws due to their special identities. It can be seen from the aforementioned change that, in modern American contract law, to provide special legal protection for the vulnerable party of a transaction has already become a consistent policy. Another feature displayed by American contract law in the process of its modern development and evolution is that, the impact of traditional British common law and systems and principles of other laws is decreasing, which is fully reflected from the fact that the Uniform Commercial Code abandoned and modified the traditional system of British contract law. B. Textual Difference and its Reasons between Chinese and American Contract Law Systems Given the development history of contract and the difference between Chinese and American political systems, there are following features when comparing Chinese contract law with American contract law: First, the contract law in our country is a uniform contract law applicable to all regions of China, whether in capital Beijing or western provinces. Second, this contract law is drafted with a round axis structure. Basic principles  are firstly stipulated, and then some specific contracts, such as sales contract, lease contract, etc. In this way, the basic principles are regarded as the axis, and many specific contracts are radiated to satisfy different transaction requirements. For example, the transport contract has the problem which cannot be covered by basic principles. This problem can be resolved by combining the axis and the excircle. American political system is different from Chinese political system, and the development history of American contract law is also different. In America, it’s impossible for the legislative body to approve a law with the two features as mentioned above. America has no uniform contract law, nor state contract law. The international contract laws, such as the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) and New York Arbitration Treaty are commonly used in all used in the whole United States. However, with regard to the contract among American individuals, no law is promulgated by the federation. Consequently, there is no federal legislation with a round axis structure in America. Basically, each state has its own contract law and is responsible for developing basic principles of such law. The contract law of one state is not only applicable to the court of the state, but also binding on the federal court sometimes. In other words, as long as the state contract law exists, the federal court shall apply it. Of course, when 50 different contract laws are adjusting the same legal fact, the court will be confronted with a problem, namely, how to achieve the consistency of application of law? It’s also necessary to notice that American contract law is developed by the court rather than the legislative organ. You must be familiar with the concept of common law, which was formed in Britain and then introduced to America. The contract concept of the common law is formed th rough a long time. Their judges make the judgment and give opinions on the judgment. Now, in this connection, the greatest exception is the UCC. American UCC is a uniform law. In America, every state has its own laws, but these laws cannot cover all transactions. Some are involved with transaction of several properties, such as the transaction and lease of products and some are related to bank business, security trading, e-commerce, etc. However, the construction contract and real estate contract are adjusted by commercial law. Since different state laws may result in different court judgments, if the Congress can approve a law with the round axis structure, these problems will be soon resolved, because doing that can get all transactions under the adjustment of one law. C. Summary The development histories of Chinese and American contract law systems are different. Chinese culture has a long history and the contract law system was born very early. On the contrary, the US is a new country breaking away from the colonization. Although American economy is developing rapidly, its legal systems are mainly inherited from the Britain; especially the American contract law is significantly influenced by the contract rules formed in Britain common law and equity law. In short, China has a uniform contract law applicable to the whole nation, while America has no uniform contract code other than international contract laws. In addition, the difference of Chinese and American political systems leads to a great difference in the textural structures of Chinese and American contract law   systems: Chinese contract law system is based on basic principles which guides various specific contract law systems so as to form a complete set, while America has neither guidance of basic principles in the contract law nor uniform contract law applicable to the whole nation. All in all, the development history and political system of a country influence its legal system. III. Conclusion The economic globalization and political polarization are two trends of the world development. Since China has joined the WTO, how to coordinate our laws is the central issue in the field of law. Nowadays, the world has ushered in the era of knowledge economy and the advancement of science and technology is crucial to the economic development. However, the development of economy as well as the development, transfer and application of technology will inevitably require reforming the traditional contract law system. Some countries have already been reforming the current contract law systems quietly. The birth of China’s new Contract Law is confronted with the era of knowledge economy rather than that of planned economy or the transitional period from planned economy to market economy. The development of science and technology in the era of knowledge economy is so vigorous that it’s probable that difficulties in application will soon emerge after the implementation of new contract law, or even some regulations are already outdated. This situation may be considered as normal because law is the superstructure, which is always behind the economic development. Therefore, any law has to be continuously reformed and perfected. Bibliography 1. http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com 2. Wilmot et al, 2009, Contract Law, Third Edition, Oxford University Press 3. Ewan McKendrick, Contract Law – Text, Cases and Materials (2005) Oxford University Press 4. P.S. Atiyah, The Rise and Fall of Freedom of Contract (1979) Clarendon Press 5. Randy E. Barnett, Contracts (2003) Aspen Publishers 6. Scott Fruehwald, â€Å"Reciprocal Altruism as the Basis for Contract,† 47 University of Louisville Law Review 489 (2009).

E-Marketing Strategy Pennine Hotel - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 8 Words: 2408 Downloads: 1 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Marketing Essay Type Case study Level High school Did you like this example? E-Marketing Strategy Pennine Hotel 1.0 Introduction Internet marketing is the practice of marketing goods and services electronically over the internet (Chaffey, 2003:45-46).   As the capabilities of both technology and the internet have expanded it has become easier to market directly and indirectly to a wide market demographic in a cost effective and efficient manner.   According to Kasper et al â€Å"internet marketing ties together the creative and technical aspects of the Internet, including design, development, advertising, and sales,† (2006:209).   Internet marketing also differs from more traditional marketing approaches in that it relies far more heavily on the placement of media throughout the process of engagement with the potential customer, utilising techniques such as banner-ads and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) to raise the prominence of the organisation in question. This report will focus on the development of an e-marketing strategy for the Pennine Manor Hotel in Outlane, an established country ho use hotel which would benefit from enhanced e-marketing to attract a wider range and greater number of visitors for both leisure and business purposes.   Currently the hotel has no website of its won and relies on meta-crawlers to publicise it such as the AA hotel guide.   Therefore this report will analyse the current activities at the hotel in terms of e-marketing and suggest a range of improvements to increase visitor numbers and revenue. . Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "E-Marketing Strategy Pennine Hotel" essay for you Create order 2.0 Background and Scope The Pennine Manor Hotel in Outlane is an established country house hotel listed in the AA Good Hotel Guide with a modest 3-star rating.   Described by the AA as â€Å"an attractive stone built hotel which enjoys magnificent views over the valley†, the hotel is popular with tourists and business users alike for its conference facilities in a panoramic location.   However, despite advertising that it has the latest conference facilities available the hotel itself does not have its own website or direct e-commerce facilities and instead relies on meta-crawlers and other 3rd party websites with free advertising to market the hotel in a media context. This presents three significant challenges.   Firstly it now makes the hotel appear unprofessional if they cannot market themselves appropriately (Brassington and Pettitt, 2006:78-79) secondly, by relying on third parties to marketing them the hotel has no control of the image which is portrayed (Avlonitis and Indounas, 200 5:47-57) and thirdly, it also give the hotel very limited ability to monitor and measure the success of their e-marketing channel (Gummesson, 2008:116-119).   In short it makes the e-marketing element of their overall marketing strategy appear as an afterthought and not as an integrated marketing channel or a tactical approach to marketing and improving the perception of the hotel.   Thus, the following section of this report will comprise of a situational analysis using suitable marketing frameworks to establish an operating platform for improvement. 3.0 Situation analysis 3.1 PESTLE POLITICAL From a political perspective, there are no direct issues which the hotel must respond to, however in the wider context they must be aware that as the UK economy looks set to fall into a double-dip recession they must consider how they can market their way through such challenging times when businesses and leisure visitors alike cut either their marketing budget or their discretionary spend ECONOMIC Economically as the real value of money in the UK is falling and it would appear as if the economy is at genuine risk of stagflation, then the hotel must consider how to spend their own marketing budget wisely to attract a range of guests to the hotel.   This will be necessary if they are to survive the predicted period of austerity in the UK economy. SOCIAL Socially as UK disposable income falls for most families, the hotel will have to consider how they can market the hotel effectively to a far wider range of potential guests from overseas.   It is clear that the UK domestic or â€Å"staycation† market is unlikely to be lively in 2011. TECHNOLGICAL With technology becoming increasingly powerful and cost effective there is virtually no excuse for not operating a website, nor even operating a skeleton Customer Relationship Management system to keep track of past customers and to consider how to segment the market to attract new guests to the hotel. LEGAL Legally the hotel must apprise themselves of legislation relating to e-commerce and security such as data protection and encryption of sensitive customer details.   Any e-commerce facilities they operate must be able to handle credit card transactions in a secure manner. ENVIRONMENTAL One of the many benefits of e-marketing is the fact that it is extremely environmentally friendly as it does not require costly or environmentally damaging printing and distribution requirements of more traditional marketing methods. 3.2 SWOT STRENGTHS The hotel has several strengths, such as its excellent location which is both rural yet easily accessible.   It also has an excellent reputation which it should use as part of its marketing campaign.   It is clear that the hotel has repeat custom and therefore this offers an excellent opportunity for direct and customised e-marketing to encourage regular customers to return. OPPORTUNITIES There are several opportunities available to the hotel, not least of which is that in a challenging market those businesses which market themselves strongly are far more likely to attract custom in difficult times.   By operating ahead of their competition in the immediate locality and contacting other businesses who may require their facilities directly this could be an ideal way to attract more commercial guests. WEAKNESSES The hotel has left itself exposed in marketing terms by failing to act proactively with regard to its own website or e-commerce facilities.   This makes the hotel seem â€Å"behind the times† and less attractive to commercial customers, thus they are missing an ideal opportunity to market effectively and directly to many potential customers. THREATS The hotel faces direct competition from other similar hotels within a 30 mile radius, although none have the AA recognition or star rating of the Pennine Hotel.   Moreover, with the UK economy in its current challenge conditions they must look to market more creatively both domestically and in foreign markets if they are to widen their potential market. 4.0 Objectives Having established that the Pennine Hotel is well positioned within the market, but failing to market itself effectively against its competitors it is necessary to set out a series of e-marketing objectives using the SMART principle (Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-based).   These objectives are set out below and encompass strategic, tactical and operational objectives. Conduct an in-depth competitor analysis to establish the strengths and weaknesses of competitors within a 30 mile radius.   Use this information to develop and implement an immediate to medium term strategic direction for the Pennine Hotel which targets the gaps in the market.   The plan is to be designed within 3 months and the objectives to be implemented in full within 6 months.   The plan should be designed to increase guest occupancy by 20% within 6 months. In line with the strategic objectives conduct a full market analysis which focuses on market segmentation and customer n eeds.   Create a targeted marketing plan which utilises e-marketing channels to directly address the needs of commercial, domestic and foreign visitors, further segmented by repeat and new custom.   Establish a range of packages or options which meet the needs of the customers and establish advertising within 2 months to be implemented in full within 4 months.   Use metrics to track the effectiveness of the advertising campaigns (Zeithaml et al, 2009:136-141). Design and launch a website which meets the generic needs of all current and potential guests.   This should be themed to showcase the best attributes of the hotel and also designed so as to appeal to both domestic and commercial visitors (eg highlighting contemporary bedrooms and exceptional conference facilities).   Website prototype to be created within one month and launched within two months, and the website is to support full e-commerce facilities and have tracking capability to monitor hits to the website a nd length of browse time on each page (McDonald and Payne, 2006:321-333). 5.0 Strategy According to Grunroos brand awareness â€Å"is a marketing concept that measures consumers knowledge of a brands existence. At the aggregate (brand) level, it refers to the proportion of consumers who know of the brand,† (2007:118).   For the Pennine Hotel it is clear that there is limited brand awareness outside of their immediate geography due to their limited marketing tactics.   Thus, the following strategy is proposed to raise immediate market and brand awareness via e-marketing channels. Given that the Pennine Hotel is not part of an existing hotel chain which can leverage core brand equity, it is recommended that the hotel seek to dramatically increase awareness through their own website which pushes them to the top of search engine rankings in their own right, and simultaneously seek reciprocal partnership arrangements with links from mutually beneficial sites which will also raise brand awareness and appeal to a wider market. Although it is acknowledged th at this may create some initial resource challenges in terms of building the links to partner businesses and also building the website, research by academics such as Chaffey (2006) has demonstrated that effective websites generate their own return on investment extremely quickly.   As it is also clear that currently the hotel has no means to generate a website without expert assistance (otherwise it would already be in existence), then they should look to obtain the services of web-design expert who has previously built sites for other hotels.   This knowledge will enable the Pennine hotel to benefit from the designers previous experience whilst adding their own touches to the website (Chaffey, 2006). 6.0 Tactics With regard to the actual design of the website which is estimated to take one moth under the plans outlined above, a paper prototyping approach has been adopted with sample images as guidelines from other competitor websites included in appendix 1 (Snyder, 2003).   Given that resources in terms of marketing budget are likely to be constrained for the Pennine Hotel, then paper prototyping is a quick and easy method of sketching out what would be appropriate as a website.   Moreover, once the site has been built and is fully operational the use of metrics to track customer browsing experiences will offer guides as to how to shape the website to appeal to a wide range of potential guests.   As observed by Snyder, (2003) website design is not an exact science and it will require tweaks and adjustment until it fully reflects the needs of the hotel.   Moreover, the website design must reflect the hotel brand and must also be easy to navigate and browse.   The wireframe sketch is demonstrated below. 7.0 Action Having established that a website marketing strategy is required will full e-commerce capability the next phase of the process is to design the website in conjunction with market analysis.   This will ensure that the website meets not only the needs of the Pennine Hotel in terms of showcasing its capabilities, but also that any gaps in the market are fulfilled in terms of facilities that guests may require.   Examples of this include exceptional bedroom facilities, conference locations, spa treatments or convenience to local amenities such as walks or historic attractions.   By highlighting the available facilities on the website and also carefully wording the website so that it scores highly on search engine optimisation this will ensure that the website will serve its desired purpose (Lovelock and Wirtz, 2010:214-216). Within the overall strategic objectives of the Pennine Hotel e-marketing plan it has been determined that the website design and implementation are of imm ediate priority as the hotel seeks to market through difficult financial times, and also to position itself within the market place as the leading hotel in the area in terms of facilities.   Therefore the first action is to seek out a suitably qualified and experienced website designer with experience in the specific area of hotel website design so that the Pennine hotel can benefit from his or her knowledge and experience in this area (Strauss et al, 2008). 8.0 Control The final issue to consider is one of monitoring and control.   This has been touched upon previously in section 5 above, however it is of critical importance to establish and implement a tracking plan which will permit the management team at the Pennine Hotel to establish which elements of the website are the most popular or successful in terms of hits and browsing times.   If the website has been carefully designed and is easy to navigate it is then a simple matter to add or remove content to ensure that the website remains fresh and at the top of SEO listings.   This should also be checked with reference to very short customer service questionnaires which can be raised as pop-ups on the website.   This information will be particularly valuable to the Pennine Hotel in establishing the effectiveness of the website. With regard to metrics these must adopt a two-phase approach; One strand to concentrate on tracking the effectiveness of the website, and the other to match this against any changes to the website and corresponding uplift or downturn in occupancy or revenue.   It is important to recognise that there will be seasonality in demand and thus the longer the tracker can run for, the more effective and useful it will be.   An outline 6 month tracker plan is laid out below. Design and apply index tools which will track and monitor up to 50,000 hits per month. Establish visitor tracking and block IP addresses of Pennine Hotel employees, Send automatic reports of usage to nominated emails, Track SSL, Track user-defined actions, Perform ration conversion analysis 9.0 References Avlonitis, G. Indounas K. (2005) Pricing objectives and pricing methods in the service sector Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 19, No.1, pp.47-57. Brassington. F., Pettitt, S., (2006) Principles of Marketing Financial Times/ Prentice Hall; 5th edition Chaffey, D., (2006) Internet Marketing: Strategy, Implementation and Practice Financial Times/ Prentice Hall; 3 edition Chaffey, D., (2003) E-Business and E-Commerce Financial Times/ Prentice Hall; 2 edition Grunroos, C., (2007), Service Management and Marketing, 3 rd Edition, John Wiley Sons, Ltd. Gummesson, E., (2008) Total Relationship Marketing, 3rd ed, Elsevier. Kasper, H., van Helsdingen, P. and Gabbott, M. (2006) Services Marketing Management: A strategic perspective, 2nd Edition, John Wiley and Sons Lovelock, C. and Wirtz, J. (2010) Services Marketing: People, Technology, Strategy, 7th Edition, Pearson. McDonald, M. and Payne, A. (2006) Marketing Plans for Service Businesses, 2nd Edition, Elsevier . Snyder, Carolyn (2003). Paper Prototyping: the fast and easy way to design and refine user interfaces. San Francisco, CA: Morgan Kaufmann. Strauss, J., Frost, R., El-Ansary, A., (2008) E-Marketing Prentice Hall; 5 edition Zeithaml, V., Bitner, M.J. and Gremler (2009) Services Marketing: Integrating customer focus across the firm, 5th Edition, McGraw-Hill.