Evaluation of frontline the merchants of cool Essay

Evaluation of frontline the merchants of cool - Essay Example However, marketing is admittedly not that simple or easy, as consumers are quite fickle. They can change their minds readily, by following trends and whatever is considered as â€Å"cool.† Marketeers and advertising professionals can focus their efforts only on a particular sector or segment of the population, to achieve maximum effect. One can direct all marketing and advertising on middle-aged individuals, for example, for these are the people who are at the peak of their earning capabilities, at the prime of their careers. Or one can focus on youths which is also fast becoming a significant sector because of its huge spending power. Teenagers are the hottest consumer demographic today, at 33 million strong with a buying power of about $100 billion by themselves alone, and by influencing parents, can still command another $50 billion to spend. I will argue in this paper that the comparison made by media critic and professor Robert McChesney likening this population segment a s a massive empire to be colonized, an intellectual equivalent to Africa, is not very accurate. Discussion Teenagers as a separate demographic segment came into prominence only recently as family incomes rose during the last few decades. Teens today have more pocket money when compared to earlier generations due to this rising affluence brought by a good economy and a continued globalization in teen culture has a marked influence on how this sector came to the attention of professional marketeers. Teen lifestyle became a distinct marketing category that deserves all the attention from marketing and advertising professionals because teenagers' big spending power on consumer items is a crucial factor when selling items like CDs, films, television programs, clothing, jewelry, shoes, books, music, sports, and many other items. In a certain but limited sense, this is probably what Prof. McChesney referred to as a moral equivalent of the vastness of the African continent at the turn of th e previous century, when it was ripe for the taking and exploitation. The teen demographic sector provides a vast opportunity for the purveyors of youth culture, food, fashion, fun, beauty products, activities, etc. because of their huge spending power in absolute dollar terms. Teenagers in a way had become a legitimate sector as part of an American consumer polity (Lee & Zhou 102). However, the comparison of this teen demographic sector to the African continent is not very appropriate, as it is a bit of an exaggeration because of one key difference. In the time of British colonialism and imperialism, the colonized peoples of Africa were in no way able to offer some form of resistance. It was largely a one-way relationship, in which the British held all the cards, so to speak, with the African peoples in a very weak position in the relationship of colonial power and colonized people. The colonial encounter in Africa was that of inequality, the British from a position of strength and the Africans in a weak position (Asad 16) but this is clearly not the case when it comes to the teens in terms of marketing. The youth today have a voice or choice, in which they

Recommendations for a client business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Recommendations for a client business - Essay Example On the other hand, Strait’s business rival M.Y. China had their hostess at the podium to warmly greet the incoming guests and seat them most of the times. The restaurant manager also helped her seat the guests especially when more than one guest came in at the same time. This resulted in fewer complaints from customers and more importantly shorter periods in seating the customers. The hostess at M.Y. China is always in a jovial mood and welcomes guests in a friendly and a professional manner. It is apparent that from the customer comments that even when customers did not get her at the podium she made up with the welcoming gestures. She always engaged eye contact with her the guests, smiled and used a friendly tone when talking to them (Yelp). Therefore, Straits should put efforts in improving its service standards if it is to maintain its clientele, especially with increased competition from its next-door competitor M.Y. China. For instance, many customers have expressed diss atisfaction with declining food quality, service level and the restaurant’s general experience. The customers also bemoan the inattentiveness and the unprofessional manner with which the hostess and other workers behave themselves. Such negative perceptions from the customers may eventually hurt the restaurant’s business if they are not addressed. Some customers have complained about the absence of a clear job structure that results in ambiguity in the roles that different persons perform. For example, some guests have to wait to be ushered into the restaurant when the hostess is helping the servicer to clear the tables. Some customers also observed that the restaurant seems not to have an outlined task plan to ensure smooth flow of operations. This is apparent when customers who have made a reservation come into the restaurant and the hostess looks clueless when they enquire about their table. Sometimes she ends up mumbling some apologies and seating the guests in a d ifferent table. Recommendations The observers made some recommendations after a thorough evaluation of the service standards of Straits restaurant and comparing it to that of its competitor M.Y. China. Since the main issue was found to be the absence of the hostess at the podium, the group of observers formulated some recommendations that outlined tasks that would ensure that a hostess was always manning the podium area in order to greet and usher in incoming guests. The recommendations are outlined as follows: i. Organizing the reservations This would involve the hostess staying at the podium and organize any reservations that are made on the phone. The hostess should answer incoming machine messages to confirm that that all reservations have been noted. In addition, the hostess should schedule the reservations for all guests in advance and formulate a plan on how to receive and seat the guests as and when they arrive. This should include a seating chart. It is important for the ho stess to ask the guests some specific questions when they call in to make the reservations in order to have some basic information beforehand. Such information will assist the hostess in creating customer profiles that include names and contacts such as telephone numbers and e-mail addresses. However, the hostess may encounter problems that may be difficult to solve. For instance, what does the

User Frustration Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

User Frustration - Assignment Example Errors occur when users get the perception that something in the computing system is not working right making the user unable to reach their task goals. The error might be from either the hardware or the software failure, e.g. a crash. Alternatively, the error might result from actions of users, for example, using wrong commands, or using the correct commands but entering them wrongly, such as a mode error. The situation gets worse if the user is new and is, therefore, unable to troubleshoot the errors. Such users may end up performing actions that only increase the intensity of the error. The error messages given might be too complicated for the user to understand, leave alone responding (Lazar, Jones, Hackley, & Shneiderman, 2006). Users, especially experts, would prefer computer applications that respond promptly. This would save them time and prove to be convenient. However, this is not always the case. Sometimes an application such as web browser may take so long to respond. This inhibits the user from completing the task within the desired time. The time delays occur mostly when users are requesting content from the web. In the end when the user finally gets the requested content, he may not find it that interesting. Long time delays make it harder for users to remember their goals, or even the related context in which the request was made. Web pages that take excessively long to respond make the user believe that an error has occurred, making him frustrated (Lazar et al., 2006). The amount of time spent in running a particular application may cause mood disturbances and discomfort when performing the task. Computer systems that take long response time increase user stress. Emotions play a role in the end-user experience with information technology. Applications complexities and poorly-crafted interfaces result in emotions such as failure, confusion and frustration (Lazar et al., 2006). Frustration originating from errors can be reduced by using bug

Report Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 3

Report - Assignment Example ly reduce its cost burden and be reflected in affordable prices that will act as a competitive measure against other global corporations (Wintzer 56). In regard to its quarterly performance snapshots, it is advisable that the firm would enjoy competitive advantage by diversifying in terms of its products. This would significantly cushion it against loses from other products due to tastes and seasonal demand disparities. There is seemingly a regional difference in terms of revenue and costs which can majorly be attributed to tax policies and other government regulations. For this firm to remain competitive and command greater market size in year 11, the management needs to reorganize its regional inventory size (Wintzer 96). This would mean that the company concentrate much of its sales effort to developed economies but shift much of its value creation processes in developing economies with cheap labor and raw materials. The global performance overview indicates positive outcome in terms of the firm’s shares pricing. This sets a good pace for overall rating of the firm in comparison to its other competitors. It would only be advisable that the company focus on more equity financing than debt financing to boost its security and restore faith of the shareholders thereby competing favorably with other companies in the industry in year

Appropriation of The Department of Defense From The Federal Budget Essay

Appropriation of The Department of Defense From The Federal Budget - Essay Example According to the Department of Defense, the Bush administration in the US has fought the war on terror on the offensive to counter any proposed, planned terror attacks and to uproot terror camps in places such as Afghanistan and Iraq. The Defense department has claimed that the US military has been able to remove threats to US security in Afghanistan and Iraq and has liberated 50 million people of these countries. The Defense department has also claimed that it has raised pay levels for US service men and women and the rise in pay levels has been 21% with expanded targeted pays and bonuses. The military personnel and their families are also provided with better services and housing through new constructions and privatization. The defense budget has also shown an increased spending by 26% and this has been able to transform the Nation's defenses with the largest increase in military spending recorded since the Reagan administration. To improve readiness rates, transformational and joi nt training program has also been launched in the defense department with increased research and development funding by 56%. The Defense department has also claimed that there has been doubled investments in missile defense systems and the first ever land and sea based systems have been deployed (provided by the Department of Defense statement, 2005). The US defense agenda thus seems to be based on a war on terror, improving housing quality of military personnel, increased research and development in defense sectors, and increased pay for military personnel. The Department of defense gives further arguments in favour of an increased defense budget since the time of Reagan's presidential administration. According to the Department of Defense, the following reasons of Defense spending have been advanced. According to the Department of Defense, the Bush administration's agenda and defense spending - advances and promotes US' ongoing efforts in the Global War on Terror; provides for $401.7 billion of Defense Department's base budget, and this indicates an annual increase of seven percent, for a total increase in defense spending of 35 percent since 2001; makes considerable progress in transforming the Department to meet new threats and prepared to face new challenges; and continues improvements in the quality of life for US military personnel and their families by providing them with higher pay and better homes. (Department of Defense, 2005) Global war on terror and the need to meet new threats seem to have shaped the defense budget and increased defense spending to a whopping $401.7 billion with an annual increase of 7% and a total increase of as high as 35% since 2001. In comparison, China's Defense budget has also increased from $22 billion to nearly $30 billion in 2005. Thus although US defense spending seems to have shown a steady rise since the September 11 attacks in 2001, China's defense budget has shown drastic increases after 2002. China's defense spending may have been attempting to keep pace with other countries and defense budget has increased by 12.6%. China's defense spending is higher than that of Taiwan, India or South Korea. Although China's defense s

Carrefour Hypermarket Essay Example for Free

Carrefour Hypermarket Essay A hypermarket or multi department store is a superstore which combines a supermarket and a department store. The result is a very large retail facilitywhich carries an enormous range of products under one roof, including full linesof groceries and general merchandise. When they are planned, constructed, andexecuted correctly, a consumer can ideally satisfy all of his or her routine weeklyshopping needs in one trip. The example of hypermarket have been set up inMalaysia is Carrefour, Tesco, Jusco, and Giant (foreign hypermarkets) besidesother local hypermarket such as Mydin. Following are background of theCarrefour hypermarket and Mydin hypermarket.The first Carrefour store opened on 3 June 1957, in suburban Annecy near a crossroads (carrefour in French). Today it is the smallest Carrefour location inthe world. The group was created by Marcel Fournier and Denis Defforey andgrew into a chain from this first sales outlet. In 1999 it merged with Promodà ¨s,known as Continent, one of its major competitors on the French market.Marce Fournier and Denis Defforey had attended several seminars in theUnited States led by The Pope of modern distribution Bernardo Trujillo, whoinfluenced other famous French executives like Édouard Leclerc (E.Leclerc),Gà ©rard Mulliez (Auchan), Paul Dubrule (Accor), and Gà ©rard Pà ©lisson (Accor).Their slogan was No parking, no business.The Carrefour group pioneered the concept of a hypermarket a large supermarket and a department store under the same roof. They opened their first hypermarket 15 June 1963 in Sainte Genevià ¨ve des Bois, near Paris inFrance.1976 Carrefour introduces  ³produits libres ´ which are unbranded product but ³just as good, and cheaper ´. In 1992, Carrefour creates filiere quality systems,which quarantee product origin and traceability. Carrefour opened their firsthypermarket 1994 in Malaysia. In the 21st century, hundreds of millions of men and women will become part of the consumer society within a globalized economy. Globalization does, however,pose new types of risk for both human society and our planet. Faced with suchrisk,  and in order to improve prospects for future generations, it is crucial tofollow the path of sustainability, which combines economic profitability, respect for the environment and both social and ethical development. mission Carrefour are totally focused on meeting the expectations of their customers. Carrefour mission is to be the benchmark in modern retailing in each of their markets, by offering : * Their customers: the best prices and the best merchandise, in every banner and every country. * Their staff: the possibility of growth and fulfillment in a trusting environment, withinteresting jobs and motivational compensation. * Their shareholders: a sustained return on their investment and the growthprospects of a global, multi format retailer. * Their partners, franchisees or affiliates: leading banners and brands, marketingand sales expertise, purchasing power and constantly improving techniques. * Their suppliers: markets, customer intelligence, and cooperation to improveproducts through long term, mutually beneficial relationships. * Public, local and national authorities: a deep commitment to the community,as a socially responsible economic actor and good corporate citizen. Objectives †¢Improve customer satisfaction †¢Improve profitability †¢Significant reduction in excess inventory Carrefour is a public limited company with a share capital of 1,790,354,427.50 euros divided into 716,141,771 shares and with some 460,000shareholders. Carrefours employees own 2.98% of the Groups share capital.Their attention to social and environmental performance preserves their share price and attracts new investors sensitive to social and environmental issues.Carrefour strives to guarantee to its shareholders the transparency of its corporategovernance. Ethical, social or environmental issues are dealt with by Carrefour’s key decision making bodies : 1. The Board of Directors is Carrefour’s main governing body. It comprises 11members of whom 3 are independent directors, and is assisted by a Strategic Steering Committee, an Audit Committee and a Wages and Salaries Committee. 2. The Executive Committee is the backbone ´ of Carrefour’s managementstructure. Under the impetus of its chairman, it recommends strategic directionsand guidelines and organises their deployment. Its membership reflects the waythe Group is structured per geographic area with cross sector support functions. 3. The Quality Sustainable Development department, which manages thesustainable development programme, reports directly to the CEO and advises theExecutive Committee on sustainability issues. Carrefour products Besides, With its customers needs in mind, Carrefour decided in 1985 toreplace its produits libres, generic product line created in 1976, with an own -brand line, which is produced for the most part by small and medium sizedbusinesses and manufacturers. Today, Carrefour sells over 2,000 products thatmeet very strict specifications with regard to their price / quality ratio, taste,authenticity, food safety, traceability and innovation. Carrefour also sells 5,000 non- food products under its own brand names. Outside laboratories conduct qualityaudits of our non-food products at various stages in their production to make sure theymeet our specifications. Carrefours organic line now offers 130 products in its freshfood, grocery and frozen food aisles. All products in the Carrefour organic lineare inspected and certified by the independent certification organization ECOCERT,and must meet organic farming specifications (no chemical fertilizers, no syntheticpesticides). Everyone who works with Carrefour to produce its organic line makes a long term commitment to adhere to demanding production control and producttracking specifications. Regular inspections are conducted at every stage of themanufacturing process, up to and including inspections of the finished product. Carrefour market positioning Carrefour does business, its stores have further moved its marketpositioning towards the discount end through a policy of low prices andlargescale promotions. The banners concerned by the conversion to the eurolocked in their prices through May 2002 and maintened a freeze on own brandsover the whole year. The price positioning was supported by many promotionalcampaigns. In the first half, Carrefour won back market share in Brazil byconducting three short promotional campaigns a week. In the second half, thegroup’s 40th Anniversary offered a worldwide opportunity to display thecompetitive nature of the product range. Other international promotions such asthe ones in countries involved in the World Football Cup, helped to boostthe stores financial performance. Carrefour branches With operations in 30 countries, Carrefour is the world’s second largestretail group. It is the number one retailer in Europe. Carrefour has  also been present in the Americas since 1975 and in Asia since 1989. This success stems from their ability to adapt their strategy to fit local markets and to make globalisation an Opportunity for progress. Wherever they do business, they striveto raise local standards in terms of quality, service, working conditions and preserving the environment. They also mindful of their contribution to the labour market, in some countries, like Argentina. Carrefour is the largest private sector employer. Market positioning is the act of designing the company’s offerings and image to occupy a distinctive place in the mind of target market for its product, brand, or organization. It is the relative competitive comparison their product occupies in agiven market as perceived by the target market. Market positioning strategy usedby all retail in dustry such as foreign hypermarket. Below type of market positioning strategy used by retail industry . Product offered by Carrefour is a basis to differentiate other hypermarket product. The bases used in Carrefour hypermarket are * Quality Quality is one of Carrefour main source of competitive differentiation and is partof the fundamental policies defining the implementation of the Carrefour’s strategy. It always corresponds to what the customer explicitly or implicitly wantsand must be clearly perceived as such. The value for money must be the best.Controlled products whether banner brands or own brands, offer exemplary qualityand safety. A product must demonstrate the required quality level before it canbe approved for purchase. * Guaranteeing food products safety and quality The best possible value for money is offered at every price level (first priceproducts/ own brand and banner brand products). For own brand and banner brand products, the quality process includes signing a set of specifications,approving production sites and product control plan, processing and archiv ing anycon-compliant products and following up of customers claims. To complete thissystem, Carrefour has deployed in 2005 a Quality Scorecard available on theintranet site, which enable all the Carrefour to track products at every stage of their marketing and to react more efficiently in case of a crisis. * An approach shared with our suppliers To guarantee the quality of its food products and its own brand and banner brand products, Carrefour systematically conducts audits on its suppliers’s production sites, which are audited health and safety conditions. Suppliers’s production sites are audited by Carrefour,  its service providers or certificationagencies. Suppliers are audited with respect to health and safety conditions, riskcontrol, traceability and compliance with specifications. In addition, Carrefour endeavours to verify progress in product development Quality at the best price: first price products First price No1 ´ products launched in Malaysia. Drawing on synergies andpurchasing volumes at the Carrefour, these products are intended to offer consumers quality products at a price that is 5% to 7% below hard discountprices. In addition to meeting existing legal requirements, No1 products alsoreflects the quality and safety approach that characterizes all their own brandand banner brand products. Carrefour has decided to apply the same position for No1 products as for own brand and banner brand products by excludinggenetically modified organisms from the composition of all products. * Quality information on non food products labels To promote the quality of its own brand products and retail brand productsamong consumers, Carrefour hypermarkets decided to optimize the quality of information on the packaging of its Carrefour brand non food products. Four criteria, symbolized by four icons, were adopted, referring to usage, safety, health and the environment or social conditions of production. The packaging points outthe most striking criterion for each product by explaining in one or two sentencesthe product’s added value. This is signed with the commitment logo of Carrefour, which provides Consumer services with evidences of its procedures.Carrefour has already used this method on paints, backpacks, toys and scents. This approach will be extended to include children’s products, paper goods,sporting goods and food containers. * Ensure in store safety and quality The proper upkeep of stores and the respect for the cold chain and food safetyare key elements of the Carrefour’s policy in Malaysia . Thus the Carrefour mobilizes all its employees to ensure respect for health and safety rules. Thisinvolves training, establishing procedures, and systematic hygiene and qualityaudits in stores and warehouses. * Improve nutritional information on food products labels Facing with a disturbing rise in food-related problems and to help customers tocombine food products better for a more balanced diet, in early 2005, Carrefour has optimized the labelling of its Carrefour brand products. The Carrefour’s Commercial Department has worked with the CLCV to develop a more accessibleand helpful presentation of nutritional  information. The packaging has now a ³nutrition box ´ indicating the share of daily needs for six main nutrients ( fats,sugar, carbohydrates protein, fibre and salt) provided by the products. Brand The Carrefour has had successful financial results, has gained market share,and makes customer happy. This is a reward for all employees, as all of themplay a role in this result. In fact, over 90% of the employees work in contactwith customers. That means that customer happiness is closely linked to theemployees’ performance. The Carrefour has developed various tools, depending onthe employee’s position to assess the employee’s performance. For instance,tools for cashiers include such indicators as turnover and absenteeism. A number of teams participated directly in the preparation of the strategicplan through participating. In task forces that brought together people from allstore formats and all geographical areas. Being linked to the global strategy is agreat motivation for store managers. Moreover, the strategy is probably moreappropriate this way, so it is in turn easier for managers to implement theprograms with the employees. Since 2000, hypermarkets have systematized listening to employees toassess their satisfaction. Over 8,000 persons, both managers and employees,used it to express their point of view. It enables the Group to have a fair overview of labour relations, to adjust its management style and to draft actionplans that factor in employees’ recommendations and comments. Besides, general staff benefits include such as * Contractual Bonus * Service Awards Programme * Out Patient Treatment Benefits * Group Personal Accident Plan * Group Health Plan (Cover includes immediate family members) * Structured Skills Career Development (Programmes Structured SkillsCaree) Additional benefits for Non-Executives include allowances for: * Transportation * Attendance * Punctuality * Cashier ( cashier only ) * Festive incentive ( ie: Hari Raya, Chinese New Year, Deepavali) At Carrefour, they constantly strive to be a responsible corporate citizen andundertake various measures to give back to the community and society as awhole. Carrefour strive to make a difference in the lives of the community fromthe urban to the rural and they are driven by the belief that all life is special anddeserves attention. Carrefour believes in operating business with integrity andcommitment to quality. This conviction that begins with us as an individual andthrough this inward conviction, Carrefour will make a difference in the lives of people around Malaysia. Personnel Differentiation The Carrefour Group has formalized its progressive approach based onthree key commitments: quality and safety, respect for the environment andeconomic and social responsibility. Safety commitment on Drug Perfume and Hygiene products (DPH) All suppliers are required to abide by Carrefour’s policy on cleaning,detergent and cosmetic products. No cosmetic product has been tested onanimals by Carrefour’s purchasing office or on its behalf for 10 years. Products and their formulas are rigorously scrutinized by a team of six internal specialists,with the support of an additional team of recognized external experts. Some of the group’s banners are taking this approach even further. Safety commitment on textiles and clothing for babies and children In 2003, Carrefour has developed specifications to improve the safety of clothing and textile products intended for children and babies. In two years, morethan 5,000 textile products involving over 200,000 substances were tested byindependent agencies. This safety requirement has been boosted by regular monitoring conducted with the help of specialists, toxicologists and allergists for all textile products. Based On services Differentiation The Carrefour puts its customers at the heart of everything it does. To thisend, it has simplified its organization, giving more independence to storemanagers to enable them to adapt their business as closely as possible to theneeds of their catchment area. Alongside this, the Carrefour has expandedcustomer choice, adapted its store brand ranges and increased its  serviceoffering. New store concepts have been introduced to respond to evolutions intheir customers’ lifestyles. For some years now, the Carrefour has also beenstrengthening its loyalty programs around this country to ensure that they reflectthe latest consumer and social trends.Over the years, Carrefour has added numerous practical and accessibleservices to its offering. The Carrefour has thus become a competitive player andthe benchmark in several areas of activity outside of its core business line.Carrefour made significant capital expenditures in 2002 to reconfigure its stores tomake them more attractive and im prove customer service. Reorganized salesareas and product staging make the best of the Carrefour’s various areas of expertise. This applies to both the food and non  ± food areas in hypermarkets. At Carrefour, they welcome customer views and comments which will help themimprove their service to customer. As in many other businesses, it is a crucial point for the Carrefour to learnabout their customers and to do everything they can to satisfy them. ThusCarrefour has defined what builds up a positive experience for the customer;apart from the differentiation strategies, price positioning strategies, distributionchannel and marketing mix, can see that the success factors contribute on itsproducts or services. The Carrefour mostly sells consumer goods and servicessuch as: * Convenience goods (food products, gas) which are sold by all formats of retail stores. * Shopping goods and services (household appliances, electronic devices)which are sold by hypermarkets only. * Cash Carry and wholesale stores sell industrial goods (mostly food) asthey sell to businesses (food trade professionals).Carrefour’ s success factors used on its product are: * The Carrefour ¶s product be unique and different from the existingproducts in the market. (CG Home theatre system very unique and different from other Hometheatre at market). * The product has sales in needed and wanted by the consumers.(Carrefour arrange different product in festival seasons such as HariRaya, Chinese New Year, Deepavali and Christmas. Example: LuckyBamboo, cai Shen scoll, honey mandarin and assorted paper card inChinese New Year and Christmas table, Christmas trees and colourfullights  ± in Christmas.) The product have hi gh consumer demand and a high growth rate. ( allkind of product). * The product has to be reasonably priced and affordable to the majorityof consumer. ( all kind of product). * The  Carrefour have sufficient funds to build consumer awareness andcarry on other promotional activities. ( Carrefour Gift Vouchers, Carrefour Bonus ) . Form The products design different from other products, example GC product.QualityCarrefour always guarantee that all products they sales are safety and goodquality. Brand At Carrefour they sales CG brand products, which one mostly unique anddifferent from other brand products at market. Besides Carrefour also sales other product such as TOSHIBA, PENSONIC, ELBA, FABER, SAMSUNG, SHARP, LG,Goldsonic and etc.Durability A product that can last for many years is perceived as a product of goodquality.FeaturesCG products have various attractive features such as CG television set with loudstereo sound, clear picture quality , remote control and a big screen falls into thegood quality product category. Carrefour FreshFOod Carrefour also offer fresh food to consumers which one given the opportunity toconsumer to make many choices, an opportunity which has so far been lacking in Malaysia Carrefour. In terms of fresh produce, choice also pervades. Pursuingthe unconventional, for example, Carrefour will carry those items that other storesshy away from: at Carrefour one can find curved cucumbers, freshly harvestedcabbage (ones that have not gone through any additional processes), and other items that suffer from no real, discernible defect in quality. Besides Carrefour also carry fresh food like fresh chicken, fresh fish, fresh Australia Beef, freshprawn and etc.Differentiation strategies on Carrefour Fresh Food are based on productdifferentiation.QualityThe Quality Way products are the result of the collaboration between Carrefour and chosen producers, who have committed themselves to strictly follow a qualityletter statutes agreement. The aim of the collaboration is to provide consumerswith healthy and safe products. The products certified with the Quality Way signare quality and safety guaranteed, from the first production stage until the finalpositioning on the shelves. Some fresh food in Carrefour certificated as QualityWay are : Halvah quality way, Chicken quality way, Free Range Eggs quality way, Fresh Fish tsipoura quality way, French beef, Salmon, Biological bread, Barrel Feta quality way, Pork quality way, Apples agorin quality way, Peaches and Nectarines Veria quality way, Seabass quality way, Kiwi quality way, Feta Tin quality way Based on services differentiation.Carrefour also provide customer service such as Cutting Service (Scalling / Cuttingservice for meat products upon request). Carrefour Family G oods.  Carrefour also carry family Goods such as Carrefour Baby Goods (Food range,hygiene, perfumery, childcare products, toys, apparel developed under the adviceof a committee of pediatricians and specialists, in order to guarantee the baby’s development from 0 to 36 months with security and comfort.), Carrefour KidsGoods ( Food range, general merchandise, apparel, designed to develop goodhabits (fight against obesity with less fats, sugar and salt), as well as developingautonomy, satisfying the tastes of children between 4 and 10 years old throughadapted packaging and the use of the mascot: Genius), Men’s clothes, Lady’ sclothes (variety of clothes) and etc. Differentiation strategies on Carrefour Family Goods are based on productdifferentiation.QualityCarrefour always guarantee that family goods they sales are safety and goodquality specially Babys Goods. To guarantee the quality of its products and itsown brand and banner brand products, Carrefour systematically conducts auditson its suppliers’ production sites, which are audited health and safety conditions..Suppliers are audited with respect to health and safety conditions, risk control,traceability and compliance with specifications. Distribution Channel The Carrefour as a whole is an efficient channel of distribution: it is a whole setof marketing intermediaries that have joined together to transport and store goodsfrom producers to consumers. The Carrefour acts as a wholesaler as the Groupsells products to franchises. All the retail stores are other intermediaries. Some of the producers are local while other goods  are bought by bulk purchases or global sourcing. That means that Carrefour has to organize the wholetransportation to its retail stores. Carrefour is mainly concerned with outboundlogistics as they manage flows of finished products to ultimate customers (and tobusiness buyers for cash carry). This is a critical activity for Carrefour: they just cannot have empty shelves because that would not make customers happy!Each day, 8 trucks are needed to deliver products to one hypermarket! They usesophisticated software to create an efficient link between sales and purchases.They use  ³push  ± pull push ´ logistics. It means that they both do forecasts andthey also control what is sold in order to adapt. Before the merger Carrefour  ±Promodà ¨s, both firms had their own channels of distribution. After the merger,they decided to organize a common and efficient channel of distribution. It can bedivided into three networks: î€ grocery products which stay a very short time in warehouses for hypermarkets the same products for supermarkets, convenience stores and Promocash î€ products which stay a bit longer in warehouses, and that are delivered toall formats of stores This new system enables to reduce the distance over which the products aretransported (thus reducing the cost), and also shortens the time for the delivery.Moreover, with the  ³multidrop system ´, only one truck is used to transportproducts from a manufacturer to two close warehouses. Carrefour owns manyhuge logistics platforms (also called distribution warehouses). They gather products from different manufacturers (which are suppliers for Carrefour), andredistribute these products to the different stores when they need them. Theyhave introduced technological tools: those who prepare orders are helped by avocal recognition tool, in order to avoid any mistakes. Manufacturers used tostore finished goods in their own warehouse, and then, the goods weretransferred to Carrefour warehouses. Carrefour now wants to transport directly thefinished goods from the manufacturers’s to Carrefour warehouses. Marketing mix The marketing mix looks at the four main factors that go into a marketingprogram (Product , Price , Place , Promotion ) , which are referred to as the 4 Ps. PRODUCT The Carrefour needs to design their stores so that they meet customers need.This includes having the right store format, helpful services, the  appropriateproduct mix , and a reliable private label brand.Carrefour have adapted the kinds of products they sell to the local culture. For instance , Chinese people do not always have a huge refrigerator , so theyappreciate fresh products. Thus , Carrefour , by guaranteeing both prices andquality for lots of fresh products has a real advantage : it is much easier andpractical to buy fresh goods.Moreover , in Carrefour , they also sell western products for the western peopleliving here. This market segment needs were not yet fulfilled, as westernproducts are not sold elsewhere. In Carrefour Malaysia, people can buy suchgoods as chocolates, wine, and even cheese or cookies just like in France. Thegroup also adapted its services to local shopping habits. For instance, inMalaysia , people often drive to hypermarkets , only once a week. They buyeverything they need for the week, and a car is very useful to transport thegoods back home. That is why big parking lots are needed. ( in convenience stores ) Although the Carrefour sells a lot of goods with a manufacturer’s brand names(such as Danone , Yoplai t or Nestlà © ), they also sell dealer (private label)brands: * Carrefour (in Carrefour hypermarkets) , * Champion( in Championsupermarkets ) * Grand Jury ( in convenience stores ). Thus, these products donot carry the manufacturer’s name. The Carrefour product range now includes11,000 mass-market products and miscellaneous household goods.They have paid a special attention to the packaging so that the brand isimmediately recognizable . It has a special colour code , displays the Carrefour’squality commitment, complete labelling information and a display of the Carrefour’s satisfaction or consumer money back ´ policy. In order to improve these brandsequity, they use widely recognized labels to promote trust among customers. The brand loyalty  is very high. The Carrefour brand is the best selling brand inCarrefour hypermarkets, representing 25% of the total sales. Nine out of 10customers fill their shopping carts with Carrefour brand products. Thus, these products donot carry the manufacturerss name. The Carrefour product range now includes11,000 mass-market products and miscellaneous household  goods.They have paid a special attention to the packaging so that the brand isimmediately recognizable . It has a special colour code , displays the Carrefourssquality commitment, complete labelling information and a display of the Carrefourss satisfaction or consumer money back ´ policy. In order to improve these brandsequity, they use widely recognized labels to promote trust among customers. Thebrand loyalty is very high. The Carrefour brand is the best selling brand inCarrefour hypermarkets, representing 25% of the total sales. Nine out of 10customers fill their shopping carts with Carrefour brand pro ducts. PRICE This is a very important P in Carrefour’s strategy, they even talk of the  ³priceimage ´ of the group.The objective of the Carrefour is to reduce prices in all formats of stores.In 2005, the clearly stated objective of each hypermarket was to be the leastexpensive store within its market radius. This is a competition based pricing,their strategy is based on what other competitors are doing (including harddiscounters and informal traders), and the Carrefour tries to set the price belowthe competitors.However, they also seem to have a demand based (or target) pricing  as theyconstantly try to reduce prices to meet or exceed customers expectations, eventhough they are already under their competitors’ price. The objective of this pricereduction strategy is to attract more people to the stores, thus gaining market shares. The objective can be explained as a virtuous circle: the more they sell,the more economies of scale they can do, the more they can lower prices thusattracting more customers. The Carrefour has reduced the necessary time toanalyze the research data and to adjust price displays in each department to 24to 72 hours maximum. They pay a particular attention to the pricing of  ³sensitive ´categories of products (those that the customers notice). They have also studiedwhat factors contributed to this image. The main ones are fresh product pricecompetitiveness, reliability and quality of the price indications, pricecompetitiveness of the private label range. PLACE This P is about putting the product in a place where people will buy it.The  Carrefour adds value to goods or services by different means. Form utility The fresh bakery department in hypermarkets uses variousingredients to make croissants, bread and baguettes on the spot. Other departments such as the butchers’s and the fish department also perform formutility. Time utility. In order to make products available when they are needed, theCarrefour has developed a new format according to consumer needs and wants. Place utility In order to sell products where people want them, the Carrefour has different store formats. For instance, in Malaysia , hypermarkets are intown suburbs easily accessible by cars. Possession utility The group provides credit. With the PASS Card, customerscan spread out their payments and make their purchases on credit. TheCarrefour also helps to take a loan to buy a car for example. When you buybig goods, hypermarkets can deliver them to you. PROMOTION Promotion is the effort to inform and remind people in the market about productson sale in the stores, and to persuade them to buy. Carrefour uses various tools(advertising, public relations, sales promotion) which altogether are called thepromotion mix. It is worth noticing that as other big retailers, they do not usepersonal selling. Advertising Carrefour slogan (Lebih Jimat, Lebih Hemat ) is probably one of the best knownamong Malaysian people. It is quite simple to remember. It just means that withCarrefour, can be very optimistic as everything is so great in these hypermarkets. As they target the local market, it is highly efficient as people see the billboardsmany times. Time to time, they use other medias such as the TV to promotenation  ± wide events. Public relations In order to inform the public of the changes that are being made by Carrefour,and to show how this is a good thing to customers, Carrefour has a veryefficient information programme. Moreover, as Carrefour is one of the biggestfirms, there are many newspaper articles about the Carrefour. Overall, thesepublications are a good publicity for the Carrefour. Sales Promotion is the promotional tool that stimulates consumer purchasing anddealer interest by means of short term activities. Carrefour Hypermarketsregularly send catalogues to all households that live nearby. In each hypermarket, they have a reserved zone where they make special displays to present newproducts. There are also reduction coupons for those who have  the loyalty cardCarrefour. They can have reductions of 20% on most popular products. Specialevents are organized each time they open a store. They also use bonuses (buyone, get one free), especially one they want to get rid of their stock. The Carrefour’s need to attract the greatest possible number of people totheir retail stores. As different market segments have different needs, they needto have different formats of retail shops to fulfill these needs. For instance,elderly person often do not have a car and live alone, so they need a storenear their house, they need district shops. However, large families with childrenare looking for hypermarkets where they can buy goods at a cheap price, justonce a week. So that Carrefour need deploying an ongoing and aggressive low-price policy by expanding its in  ± store promotions and communications.Besides Carrefour need to: Strengthen environmentally conscious product and packaging design anddevelop a range of products with social and environmental added value. * Ensure product safety and quality, and customer and and employee safetyat our store locations. * Guarantee respect for human rights internally and along their productssupply chain. * Promote staff training and development, and inform staff of their view of the world, and their core values, their policies and their approach tosustainability. * Respect customers freedom of choice by offering them a wide range of products at attractive prices with full, factual information. * Making the brand work harder will help Carrefour grow sales and profitsin Malaysia. * Offer a more diversified product mix than traditional with hard discount. Reference * Carrefour Malaysia. (online). Available: www.Carrefour.com.my. * Carrefour Group. (online). Available: * www.Carrefour.com. * Wal-mart store inc. (online). Available: www.Wal-mart.com

Wide Area Networks, Observer Management and Monitoring Tools

Wide Area Networks, Observer Management and Monitoring Tools Abstract In this report the concepts of different network management principles will be explored with a view to demonstrating how Observer manages wide area networks. The report will explore the issues with WAN and how Observer overcomes these problems. Introduction Wide area networks are becoming far more complex and far wider spread than ever before, this of course leads to some big problems for the network managers of these large scale networks. Most of these networks are huge in size and can easily encompass an entire city, whereas most of them are transcontinental. This poses the first of many problems for a network manager, they may not be in the same continent as a large proportion of their network. This makes the use of network management software essential, such as Observer. Using network management software means the network manager would not have to leave their desk to find any fault in the network whether it was in the next room or half way across the globe. Literary Review The most useful literary text the author found was from the new owners of Observer, the software used in this report. The new owners ViaviSolutions have published a white paper on using   Observer Analyser, their latest version of the observer suite as a security tool. (anon, 2014) The journal by Liu et al. (2014) provided a lot of insight into where wide area networks are going, and their optimisation. It contains interesting formulae for network optimisation using the Gauss-Newton method of nonlinear least squares. This principally agrees with the first text in this review about the nature and make up of a wide area network. Ahmed Boutaba, (2014) goes on to agree in part with the rest of the journals about the nature of a WAN but goes on to discuss the fact that traditional controllers can cause bottle necks in the network and that opting for SDN (Software Defined Network) allows for a faster network and a higher level of quality overall. Ahmedi Mitrevski, (2014) looks at possibly the only real area of disagreement with regards to WANs and that is how much they cost. The relative cost of implementing and the monthly upkeep of a network seems to be the only area where professionals disagree about these networks. Anon (2008). This seminar outlined the principles of network management that are considered as industry standard. Cahn, (1998). This journal looks at the design of WANs and their benefits, and this also agrees with the principles outlined in the previous articles mentioned, including the ambiguous nature of the costing of a network. It outlines there are only three important numbers when considering a WAN, these are the cost, either monthly up keep, total set up cost or a mixture of both, the reliability and the response times, and goes on to say these are all directly proportional to each other, as in if you reduce the amount of money spent the response time goes up which brings the reliability down. Dian Septama et al., (2015). In this journal there is lots of information regarding providing a high quality of service, one of the main areas a network manager faces the biggest struggles and can cause the biggest issues aside from security. Feng et al.,( 2014) this journal explores the real world application of a WAN and covers the issues in using traditional methods against new technologies which are opting for more automation and utilising programs and algorithms to manage the trivial day-to-day running of a network which frees up the human element to focus their time on more important tasks. Geer,( 2013)this journal focuses more on the security and current state of the internet, but in essence the internet is just a very large WAN and so its management and security are relevant here (Langer et al., 2010) this journal uses the example of a healthcare organisation utilising the fast and secure delivery methods of a WAN to transport confidential patient files and details across the WAN to remote geographical locations, the main example used is radiology images. These are now digital images and are large in size due to the resolutions required to accurately use them for medical diagnosis. Malhotra et al., (2011) this journal replicates closely the experiment that was carried out by the author of this report, the main differences are this journal experiments with a LAN and uses OPNET to generate the usage. Shin et al., (2007) this journal agrees with Ahmed Boutaba, (2014) and Feng et al.,( 2014) in so much as they state that a network should be monitored and managed by an algorithm based on the existing SNMP framework. Tiropanis et al., (2015)this journal explores the development of networks and their respective sciences and how these have evolved, specifically into internet science and web science. And how each of these areas are evolving in their own areas and how each of them has an impact on the others. Travostino et al., (2006) this journal outlines another real world application of WANs for the distribution of virtual machines and how they can be utilised to compute large tasks aver the network instead of only using local resources. Wang et al., (2014) this journal documents an experiment into the future of how security of a WAN could be implemented. It outlays an idea of sending the authentication key across the network securely but not via mathematical encoding to deter eavesdroppers but by quantum physics. The system uses high frequency lasers beamed down fibre optic cables which are encoded by the transmitter and then decoded by a receiver, the encryption is encoded into the specific frequency of the lasers architecture and photon length. Each transmitter and receiver contain sophisticated monitoring circuitry which monitor the incoming traffic and actively scan for Trojan horse photons from the channel. Observer and wide area networks For the purposes of this report the author created a simulated WAN to utilise the software Observer to implement network management. The network simulated three terminals situated in three cities around the world. The console was simulated as being in London, one was in Paris and the other was in New York Fig 1: Showing Simulated Geographical Location of Console (Circled) Fig 2: Showing Simulated Geographical Location of Second PC (Circled) Fig 3: Showing Simulated Geographical Location of Third PC (Circled) Once the author had set up the WAN they opened Observer on each of the machines connected to the virtual WAN. The machine simulated as London was selected as the machine to be the console for the purpose of managing the network and so was configured to collate the data generated by the network. The other two machines utilised the inbuilt traffic generation tool in Observer. Although the software produces traffic this is of a CBR style and so the data received is evidently simulated but for the purpose of this report this is acceptable. The traffic generator in Observer comes with a plethora of options. The default option sends a small group of packets through on a broadcast channel (ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff) the author altered this setting to generate the top talkers and pair matrix graphs as on a broadcast channel all the traffic appeared to be generating and received by the switchs MAC address which wasnt the case. The size of the packet and the transmission length were also altered to gi ve a larger test sample. The author also tried to generate random traffic which is one of the options but this seemed to have no effect on the traffic generated as it was constant bit rate style simulation traffic. Fig 4: observer running on first PC (Simulated location Paris) Fig 5: Observer running on third PC (simulated location New York) Fig 6: Traffic Generation on second PC (Paris) Fig 7: Traffic Generation on third PC (New York) On the console PC observer was running several of its functonal windows, first of which was the top talkers windows. This window is utilised to identify the staations on the network with the highest traffic volumes. This is particularly usefull from a management perspective as to monitor the personality of the network in order to maintain smooth operation, and identify potential security threats. (Anon, 2016) the top talkers screen provides a huge amount of information about the different stations attached to the network, including the amount of traffic generated and received by the node in both packets and bytes, its MAC address, its IP address . From this screen the network manager can monitor all the nodes on the network and diagnose issues as they happen. If a node suddenly starts generating large amounts of traffic for no apparent reason the network manager can have observer set up an alert and even have it send a SMS message or email reporting the issue. This ensures the networ k manager can stay on top of all aspects of the network regardless of time or location. If any issues arise the network manager can deploy a resource from the technical team to resolve the problem swiftly so as not to impact upon the quality of service. Fig 8: Observer Top Talkers window with Paris PC selected Fig 9: Observer Top Talkers window with New York PC selected Looking at the top talkers window identifies that the two Traffic generating PCs were indeed the ones with the heaviest traffic flow, followed by the swiches and hub that connected them all together. A network manager looking at this screen can monitor all machines connected to the network regardless of geographical location, even wireless connections are shown and can be monitored. (Liu et al., 2014) Another window on the console pc is the paired matrix screen. With this tool the network manage can monitor the pathways the network traffic is taking on the network. Through this analysis the network manager can optimise the network through routing manipulation. If a particular router is getting the brunt of the network traffic a second router can be installed to share the traffic burden and reduce the utilisation of the initial router and theoretically improve the quality of service. (Anon, 2016), (Anon, 2008) Fig 10: the Pair Matrix window showing traffic from the Paris PC the the New York pc and then to conslolePC Fig 11: Paris and New York PCs traffic going straight to Consloe PC The final tool used by the author is the packet capture window. The first attempts at packet capture by the author demonstrated the need for checking the settings thouroughly as the buffer for capture was very small and so the captured line on the graph was tiny to start with untill this was increased by the author. After increasing the buffer size the graphs look much better and the data far more usable. After increaseing the buffer hugely the traffic was restarted and the capture began again. The packet capture showed the traffic being generated as it monitors all traffic on the network, but will only capture a certain amount for analysis. Fig 12: Packet Capture window showing the current traffic on the network (yellow line shows packets captured, blue line is total packets on network) Fig 13: Packet cature after buffer increased Fig 14: Dialogue box from Observer detailing total packets and ability to save the range for later reference Through the packet capture the network manager can observe the networks personality again to monitor for threats and general maintenance of the network. (Anon, 2016) Results After running the experiment the data collected showed exactly how powerful the observer tool can be, although there was only three machines the scope of observers abilities is evident and can easily be imagined for a network of three thousand machines. The interface can be de-cluttered to show only relevant information so the network manager wouldnt get bogged down with an information overload. Looking at the paired matrix graphs there are several lines on the screen all of which are communiquà ©s between nodes on the network, not all of these are PCs most of them are routers and switches along which the WAN is established. The thickness of each line denotes the amount of traffic it has dealt with. These lines show both incoming and outgoing traffic and the lines connect the source to its destination address. The labels are a combination of the assigned name, normally the name assigned in the NIC and its MAC address EG. Broadcom[5A:7C:09] the label for the console PC. As shown in fig 11 the packets do not have to be routed to or even through the console PC for Observer to pick the packets up and display them. The data collected from the packet capture can be used to manually calculate the utilisation of the network, although this can also be worked out by Observer automatically. The packet capture screen is in a graph format with time across the bottom and the amount of packets per second up the side. There are three coloured lines on the graph blue which denotes the total packets on the network, yellow which are the packets captured by Observer and red which denotes the amount of dropped packets. In the data captured there were no dropped packets, and a peak of approximately 500 packets per second. This flow rate lasts for five minutes with no dropped packets, showing the networks utilisation was within acceptable ranges. if there had been dropped packets it would show that the network was working too hard and there for would mean it had a high utilisation and would prompt the network manager to address the utilisation, and to optimise the efficiency of the network. Looking at the top talkers table in fig 9, in this data it is evident which nodes on the network receive the most and also which transmit the most. This information is highly important to the network manager as these are essential to the security and effective maintenance of the network. For example if there was an employee using the companys network to watch movies on their workstation the network manager would see within Observer a radical change to the stoichiometry of the network and its personality would change. Once this change had been brought to the network managers attention they could look on Observer at the top talkers and paired matrix charts and identify which terminal was using an abnormal amount of the networks bandwidth and then take action against the offending party in line with the companys IT policy. Conclusion This report has looked at the management techniques used in applying wide area networks, their future, their application in the real world and their design and deployment, it is the opinion of the author that the general consensus is that the IT community seem to be in agreement about most concepts of wide area networks, apart from the cost of them, and how to control them. Although the majority of newer reports (Shin et al., 2007), (Ahmed Boutaba, 2014), and (Feng et al., 2014) are swayed towards having the majority of the control handed over to algorithms and evolution programs, there is also still call for there to be a human element to be involved in the management process.  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   After looking through the papers used in the research for this report it is the opinion of the author that the application of a well managed WAN is far more beneficial than any other communication option, considering the internet is in reality just a huge WAN its self, a WAN can run everythi ng in a business or academic environment, from physical security like door locks and fire alarms through to phones (Dian Septama et al., 2015) and lighting, there are even applications to control environmental conditions. With the introduction of automated network managers, the buildings air conditioning could be being controlled by a computer thousands of miles away. With the development of encrypted laser communications utilised in QKD making networks virtually completely secure the control of more sensitive systems may fall under the control of larger WANs and possibly a large central, global WAN to control all the mundane systems around the globe. To conclude this report the author believes in view of the huge advances in using automated network management options and the amount of non communications based areas controlled by nodes on the network, coupled with the advancements made in artificial intelligence the role of the human network manager could become extinct as we know it. The role could progress to either being an overseer of the AI or completely redundant altogether. Bibliography Ahmed, R. Boutaba, R. (2014) Design considerations for managing wide area software defined networks. IEEE Commun. Mag., 52 (7), pp.116-123. Ahmedi, B. Mitrevski, P. (2014) On The Development of Methodology for Planning and Cost-Modeling of A Wide Area Network. IJCNC, 6 (3), pp.71-90. Anon (2008) 10th IEEE/IFIP Network Operations and Management Symposium (NOMS2008). IEICE Communications Society Magazine, 2008 (7), pp.7_12-7_15. Anon (2014) USING A NETWORK ANALYZER AS A SECURITY TOOL. 1st ed. Minnetonka. Available from: [Accessed 17 December 2015]. Cahn, R. (1998) Wide area network design. San Francisco, Calif., Morgan Kaufmann. Dian Septama, H., Ulvan, A., Hlavacek, J. Bestak, R. (2015) High Available VoIP Server Failover Mechanism in Wide Area Network. TELKOMNIKA (Telecommunication Computing Electronics and Control), 13 (2), p.739. Feng, Y., Cui, D., Li, Y., Zhang, J. Li, J. (2014) Contrasting Meteorological Wide-Area Networks and Evolutionary Programming. AMM, 687-691, pp.2557-2560. Geer, D. (2013) Resolved. Communications of the ACM, 56 (6), p.48. Langer, S., French, T. Segovis, C. (2010) TCP/IP Optimization over Wide Area Networks: Implications for Teleradiology. Journal of Digital Imaging, 24 (2), pp.314-321. Liu, L., Ling, Q. Han, Z. (2014) Decentralized Gauss-Newton method for nonlinear least squares on wide area network. IOP Conf. Ser.: Mater. Sci. Eng., 67, p.012021. Malhotra, R., Gupta, V. K. Bansal, R. (2011) Simulation and Performance Analysis of Wired and Wireless Computer Networks. International Journal of Computer Applications, 14 (7), pp.11-17. Shin, K., Jung, J., Cheon, J. Choi, S. (2007) Real-time network monitoring scheme based on SNMP for dynamic information. Journal of Network and Computer Applications, 30 (1), pp.331-353. Tiropanis, T., Hall, W., Crowcroft, J., Contractor, N. Tassiulas, L. (2015) Network science, web science, and internet science. Communications of the ACM, 58 (8), pp.76-82. Travostino, F., Daspit, P., Gommans, L., Jog, C., de Laat, C., Mambretti, J., Monga, I., van Oudenaarde, B., Raghunath, S. Yonghui Wang, P. (2006) Seamless live migration of virtual machines over the MAN/WAN. Future Generation Computer Systems, 22 (8), pp.901-907. Wang, S., Chen, W., Yin, Z., Li, H., He, D., Li, Y., Zhou, Z., Song, X., Li, F., Wang, D., Chen, H., Han, Y., Huang, J., Guo, J., Hao, P., Li, M., Zhang, C., Liu, D., Liang, W., Miao, C., Wu, P., Guo, G. Han, Z. (2014) Field and long-term demonstration of a wide area quantum key distribution network. Opt. Express, 22 (18), p.21739.