Barnes and Noble Case Study

Management Project 10th of december 2010 History In 1873, Charles Barnes opened a book-printing business in the USA. The first bookstore was set up by his son, William, in partnership with G. Clifford Noble, in 1917 in New York and it is the advent of Barnes and Noble. In 1932, at the height of the Great Depression, the bookstore was moved to its current location on Fifth Avenue. Barnes & Noble was acquired by Leonard Riggio in 1971, who oversaw the growth of the business. Leonard Riggio, the company's chairman, began his bookselling career while attending New York University in the early 1960s.Working as a clerk in the university bookstore, he became convinced that he could do a better job serving students,  and he opened a competing store of his own. With a small investment, Mr. Riggio established the Student Book Exchange (SBX) in Manhattan's Greenwich Village in 1965. The store quickly became one of New York’s finest bookstores, known for its knowledgeable staff, wide se lection and great service. In 1974, Barnes & Noble became the first bookstore to advertise on television.In 1975, the company became the first bookseller in America to discount books, by selling New York Times best-selling titles at 40% off the publishers’ list price. During the 1970s and 1980s, Barnes & Noble opened smaller discount stores, which were eventually phased out in favor of larger stores. They also began to publish their own books to be sold to mail-order customers, enabling them mail-order to reach new customers nationwide through mail-order catalogues. In 1979 Barnes & Noble acquired a chain of retail stores called Bookmasters, and then bought up Marboro Books Inc. , a remainder company with discount retail outlets.Barnes & Noble continued to expand throughout the 1980s, and in 1987, the company made its largest acquisition when it purchased B. Dalton Bookseller from Dayton Hudson. This acquisition of 797 retail bookstores thrust the company onto the national sc ene, making Barnes & Noble a nationwide retailer overnight and the second-largest bookseller in America. The company also acquired Doubleday Book Shops from the Bertelsmann Company and the rights to the Scribner’s bookstore trade name from Macmillan. Barnes & Noble purchased BookStop, a company operating discount book superstores in Texas, in 1989.This acquisition gave the company key insights into the ingredients behind a successful superstore strategy, from real estate to operations to marketing and merchandising. In the late 1980s, Barnes & Noble tested selling books online in an early generation venue called Trintex, a joint venture with IBM. In the early 1990s, the company refined its superstore concept and established the modern generation of Barnes & Noble superstores, which today represent over 96 percent of their retail sales. Barnes & Noble became a publicly traded company in 1993, listed in New York Stock Exchange.In the mid-1990s, it sold books on CompuServe and l ater opened a full-fledged book superstore on America Online in March 1997. Before Barnes & Noble created its web site, it sold books directly to customers through mail-order catalogs. It first began selling books online in the late 1980s, but the company’s website was not launched until May 1997. According to the site, it now carries over 1 million titles, as well as a vast selection of music CDs and DVDs. (5) In the beginning of the millenium the company has made two acquisitions that expanded its publishing capability. * In 2001, Barnes & Noble purchased SparkNotes. om, a leading study aids website, offering free online access to literature notes and more than 1,000 study guides on everything from literature to chemistry to computer science. SparkNotes converted its top study guides into print publications, and they have rapidly become bestsellers. * In 2003, Barnes & Noble purchased Sterling Publishing. For 60 years, Sterling has been one of the world's leading publishers of non-fiction books. Sterling strives to publish high-quality books that educate, entertain and enrich the lives of their readers. In March 2009, Barnes ; Noble acquired Fictionwise, a leader in the eBook marketplace.Headquartered in New Jersey, Fictionwise was founded in 2000 by Steve and Scott Pendergrast. In July 2009, Barnes ; Noble launched the world's largest eBookstore as  part of its overall digital strategy. In October 2009, Barnes & Noble introduced Nookâ„ ¢, the world’s most advanced eBook Reader. It was awarded as the Best New Gadget of 2009 in January 2010. Institutional structure Stakeholders A stakeholder is defined as â€Å"an individual or group with an interest in the success of an organization in delivering intended results and maintaining the viability of the organization's products and services. Analyzing the economic interactions of Barnes ; Noble closely, it can be seen that there is a great variety of internal as well as external stakeholders t aking part in the economic and financial decision making of the company as a whole. Internal core stakeholders of Barnes ; Noble first of all include its 40,000 nationwide employees, which contribute to the economic functioning of the company by their direct interaction with customers in Barnes ; Noble’s 720 stores and 636 college bookstores.Also they are likely to contribute directly with their ideas, creativity and expertise. Their expectancies can be identified as job security, financial compensation of their contributions in terms of a salary, esteem, pensions, extended involvement in profit and a health care insurance, as well as a pleasant working atmosphere. Further internal core stakeholders of Barnes ; Noble, who are vital for its business making through their contributions of not only risk capital, but also of ideas and control, are its various shareholders.The expected reward of shareholders concerns capital gain in terms of dividends or a rising stock price, which usually is obtained through sustainable economic growth and a reasonable business strategy of Barnes ; Noble. Besides internal stakeholders, there are also many external forces and groups which indirectly influence the decision making of Barnes ; Noble. Especially competitors play an important role, as their decision-making might directly influence or initiate changes concerning Barnes ; Noble’ operating markets.Besides its fundamental core business, which concerns selling books through its 720 local bookstores in all 50 States of the USA, Barnes ; Noble’s online appearance, www. barnesandnoble. com, has gained on importance over the last years. Especially this sector is highly competitive as big players such as Amazon. com Inc. dominate the market. Possible interactions amongst competitors concern eventual collaborations in innovation. Another absolutely important group with respect of Barnes ; Noble’s stakeholders are its clients. Their contributions to the c ompany concern not nly purchases but also loyalty and most importantly feedback, which can be used to adjust Barnes ; Noble’s business plan depending on consumer preferences. The expectations of customers include quality, special offers and, in case of the book market Barnes ; Noble operates in, a broad variety of books available directly on demand. In a more general sense, also the American government takes part in Barnes ; Noble, as it ensures a fair competition in the market through regulations and a framework of rules which has to be accepted by not only Barnes ; Noble but also by all its competitors.Rewards, which are expected by the government, include tax payments, employment, and economic growth. Also banks are part of Barnes ; Noble’ shareholders, as they provide loan capital upon request as well as advisory in exchange for interest and mortgages. However, as Barnes ; Noble rents most of its stores, there has not been any significant need of loan capitals over the last decades. Ownership Structure The ownership structure of Barnes ; Noble is determined and ranked by the amounts of shares owned by a certain individual or group.The assembly of shareholders is therefore the most important event in terms of power and decision making for Barnes ; Noble, as it is symbolizes the top entity in the hierarchy of power distribution. First of all, 49% of the total available Barnes ; Noble’s shares are in the possession of Insiders and the Top-5-Percent Owners. The most significant position, equivalent to 27. 8% of the total distributed shares, is held by Barnes ; Noble’s chairman Leonard Riggio, as it can be seen in the underneath graph. Also the American business magnate Ronald Burkle is heavily invested in Barnes ; Noble with roughly 18. % of Barnes ; Noble shares in the possession of his Investment firm Yacaipa Cos. Another 49% of total Barnes ; Noble’s shares are held by Institutional ; Mutual Fund Owners, such as Aletheia R esearch ; Management Inc. which holds 15 % on Barnes ; Noble as seen in the underneath graph. The total number of Institutions holding Barnes ; Noble’s shares was 161 in June 2010. Governance Structure and its Mechanism Barnes ; Noble governance structure is equivalent to the standard American governance model: the assembly of shareholders elects the board of directors.Then, it is the task of the board of directors to successfully control Barnes ; Noble’s top managers (the executive committee) according to the expectations and conclusions of the shareholders and the board of directors. Therefore, the top managers are the ones who effectively control the daily business of Barnes ; Noble and who give feedback to upper entities upon developments. The underneath model summarizes the simple interconnection of Barnes ; Noble’s managerial entities: Assembly of Shareholders Board of Directors Top Managers Members of the Board of Directors Barnes ; Noble can be seen in t he underneath diagram:It can be seen that the chairman Leonard Riggio together with his son Stephen Riggio, controls the Board of Directors, whereas William J. Lynch, /as the CEO, is in charge of the executive committee of Barnes ; Noble. The members who are listed as â€Å"Director† are so called independent directors, who worked for other companies over the last years and who contribute mainly with their experience to the overall decision making. The power within the Executive Committee is distributed between three major committees, which are dealing with different areas of Barnes ; Noble economic functioning: The Audit Committee, which is in charge of assuring the integrity and reliability of the ? nancial records and the protection of assets though internal control as well as the external control through an annual independent report of BDO Seidman. -The Nominating Committee, which controls the composition of the members through recommending and selecting qualified individ uals to the full board in order to elect them as new members. -The Corporate Governance Committee, dealing with the overall economic efficiency of Barnes ; Noble, as well as with the distribution of rewards for employees.Core Institutional Goals Core institutional goals of Barnes ; Noble describe the overall strategy of the Board of Directors, to be carried out by the Executive Board. Primarily, Barnes ; Noble wants to become the biggest bookseller in the United States and therefore increase its market share. Also Barnes ; Noble wants to expand its product line by not only focusing on book sales, but also by successfully selling its eBook Reader Nook. Even though the expansion on international markets was already under discussion, this is not yet part of its core objectives.Also Barnes ; Noble wants to invest in restructuring its stores in order to make the stay at a Barnes ; Noble Book Store an experience and thus increase its loyal customer base. Interaction of Elements The interc onnection of the mentioned elements is vital for the understanding of the functioning of not only Barnes ; Noble but of every company. Metaphorically it can well be compared to the mechanism of a automatic watch – if one element is missing or separated from the others, the whole mechanism will not work.Despite their different contributions and expectations, all stakeholders together form the base of the company Barnes ; Noble. Essentially it is the interaction of provided capital, a business plan and employees, which forms the first preliminary framework of a company. However, power within a company has to be distributed, as only a structured hierarchy amongst employees ensures an efficient functioning of all sectors. Therefore a governance structure has to be developed in order to distribute tasks effectively.In order to be able to plan ahead and give investors an outlook in the potential future, institutional goals have to be stated. Thus, all these core elements are absolu tely vital for not only Barnes ; Noble but for all companies in order to successfully compete in their market environment. Institutional Components influencing the Financial Performance Having analyzed the ownership structure of Barnes ; Noble, it can be seen that Leonard Riggios amount of shares owned combined with Ronald Burkles proportion of shares together sum up to almost 50 % of the total shares in the market.Therefore the entire governance structure mechanism is heavily dependent on their, eventually subjective, opinions, which makes the mechanism inefficient. Even though this is a very particular observation, I personally think it might be of significant importance, as the poor performance of the organization in my opinion is mainly due to a lack of innovation. As the founder and chairman Riggio is said to be a very conservative shareholder, he might hinder Barnes ; Noble to modernize as well as to eventually readjust its institutional goals.Corporate strategy The Companyâ⠂¬â„¢s principal business is the sale of trade books (generally hardcover and paperback consumer titles, mass market paperbacks, children’s books, eBooks and other digital content, eReaders and related accessories, bargain books, magazines, gifts, cafe products and services, music and movies direct to customers through its bookstores or through its subsidiary Barnes ; Noble. com.In October 2009, Barnes ; Noble also launched NOOKâ„ ¢, the Company’s proprietary eReader that the firm considers the world’s most advanced eBook reader, because â€Å"it features groundbreaking lending technology, a color touchscreen and lets readers download books in seconds†. In addition Barnes ; Noble has expanded its approach to bookselling and the products it offers through its self-publishing program and through its Sterling Publishing and through the acquisition of SparkNotes.The company publishes over 500 titles annually, under a variety of imprints including Sterling, Sterling Children’s Books and Barnes ; Noble Classics. In 2009, the Company also acquired Fictionwise, Inc. (Fictionwise), a leader in the eBook marketplace, enabling the launch of one of the company’s eBookstore. Finally, as a result of the acquisition of B;N College (2009), the Company sells textbooks and course-related materials, emblematic apparel and gifts, trade books, school and dorm supplies, and convenience and cafe items on college and university campuses.B;N College sales account for approximately 14% of the Company’s fiscal 2010 sales. Products and Services Because Barnes ; Noble retail business is very complex, a deeper analysis is crucial to understand its main features: Since 1997 Barnes ; Noble has started redesigning its position in the business from a store-based model to a multichannel model centered in internet and digital commerce by launching its website barnesandnoble. om, but the biggest step forward has been done in July 2009 with the o pening of its Ebookstore and digital newsstand, which now allows customers to purchase over one million eBooks, electronic newspapers and magazines. Barnes ; Noble’s eBookstore is available on a wide range of digital platforms, including iPadâ„ ¢, iPhone , iPod touch and several smartphones, as well as most laptops or desktop computers. In Barnes ; Noble retail stores the company offers a huge selection of books, ranging from 20,000 to 200,000 titles.Complementing this extensive on-site selection, all Barnes ; Noble stores provide customers with access to the millions of books available to online shoppers at Barnes ; Noble. com while offering an option to have the book sent to the store or shipped directly to the customer. The online channel also offers the supplemental opportunity to buy not only common hard covers but also out-of-print, rare and used books. Moreover, many of the Barnes ; Noble stores have music/DVD/BluRay departments that typically stock over 20,000 titl es.The Company’s DVD and BluRay selection is focused on foreign films, documentaries and episodic TV shows. The music selection is focused on classical music, opera, jazz, blues and pop rock. The music department features RedDotNet, an advanced listening station technology that is connected to the Company’s online electronic music catalog and enables customers to listen to any compact disc in the store, sampling up to 300,000 music titles using scanner technology.In every store it is also possible to find an Home ; Gift section that offers items for the office and electronics and also Toys ; Games and PC ; Video Games departments with a selection of thousands of titles as well as consoles, accessories and strategy guides. Many stores are also have some cafes inside that offer costumers Starbucks beverages, and other products such as candies and sandwiches. Although the cafes are owned and operated by Barnes ; Noble, servers follow Starbucks' standards in beverage prepa ration.From 2004 all the stores offer a free Wi-Fi access using the AT&T FreedomLink network. Horizontal and Vertical Boundaries: While the company has a complete control on sales and hence has never franchised its retail stores, it has anyway signed many different trading agreements with third parties concerning purchases of most of the products sold, manufacturing, logistics and IT complements with the objective to reduce its operating costs. Below the most important are enlisted: NOOKâ„ ¢, the Company’s eBook reader, and other Company products are manufactured by a third-party manufacturer outside the United States and Barnes & Noble relies on components provided from a number of different manufacturers both within and outside the United States. Many of these manufacturers are concentrated in geographic areas outside the United States.. Barnes & Noble relies also on third-party digital content and applications. * The company is provided with national freight distributio n, including trucking services by Argix Direct Inc. The company’s B&N Retail segment purchases physical books from over 1,700 publishers and over 50 wholesalers or distributors. Barnes & Noble also acquires rights to distribute digital content from publishers and distributes the content on Barnes & Noble. com. * The company uses Intel-based server technology in a fully redundant configuration to power its website, which is hosted in two locations. At these locations, the company maintains computers that store its web pages in electronic form and transmits them to requesting users (known as hosting).The Company utilizes two hosting locations. One location is hosted internally by the company and the other is maintained by a third-party hosting vendor. Instead, the company decided to invest in the purchasing of two huge distribution centers: one in Monroe Township, New Jersey, which ships merchandise to stores throughout the country and to online customers and one in Reno, Nevad a, which is used to facilitate distribution to stores and online customers in the western United States.The company also owns another distribution center capacity for facilitating sales by Sterling Publishing to third parties. This investment has clearly enabled the company to source an increasingly larger percentage of its inventory through its own distribution centers, resulting in increased direct buying from publishers rather than wholesalers. Greater volume through the company’s own distribution centers makes it possible to lower distribution costs per unit, to increase both inventory turns and product margins.This has also led to improved just-in-time deliveries to stores and the ability to offer â€Å"Fast&Free Delivery† through its website and for in-store orders placed by customers for home delivery. The improvement in technologies and the changes in culture and society are making books obsolete goods whose demand is getting lower and lower, this reality force d an institution in book retailing like Barnes and Noble to change its strategy and to concentrate in new markets such as e-books production and selling as well as e-book readers manufacturing.This change in the course of action also drove the company to transform its superstores into community centers that host the most important social events as well as to turn into a multichannel distribution company by strengthening its position in the e-commerce industry. These improvements have made Barnes & Noble the only enterprise that nowadays offers readers the option of store visits, e-Commerce, and digital delivery of books to Barnes & Noble-branded devices or other devices of their choosing.The company also makes big effort in marketing and merchandising campaigns in order to drive traffic to both its stores and website: at the center of this program is Barnes & Noble. com, which receives over 450 million visits annually and most of all leverages the power of the Barnes & Noble brand b y offering online customers a premier destination for all the products sold by the company. In this way, Barnes & Noble. com serves as both the Company’s direct-to-home delivery service and as an important broadcast channel and advertising medium for the Barnes & Noble brand.Geographical scope From the point of view of the geographical scope, the aim of B&N has always been to collocate its retail stores and its college stores only in the USA in order to gain the leadership in the book-retailing market of the country. The firm has reached its goal thanks to its huge number of retail stores (720 located in all the 50 states plus the District of Columbia and 637 college stores) and has still no plans to open its stores anywhere else. Concerning the e-commerce B&N hasn’t instead created any geographical boundaries: in the USA b&n. om has a consolidated power that is still overcome just by Amazon. com whereas in Europe the firm is trying to gain shares in the market especia lly through a joint venture created in October, 1998, with the German publishing giant Bertelsmann AG. The purposes of this venture are mainly two: Bertelsmann wants to compete with Amazon. com in the U. S, while Barnes & Noble expects its partnership with Bertelsmann to help it expand into European markets. Organizational structure David Deason V. P. of Development Barnes & Noble, Inc.Chris Troia Chief Information Officer Barnes & Noble, Inc. Alan Kahn President of Barnes & Noble Publishing Group Leonard Riggio Founder and Chairman Barnes & Noble, Inc. William F. Duffy Executive V. P. of Distribution and Logistics Barnes & Noble, Inc. . Allen Lindstrom Control Allen W. Lindstrom V. P. , Corporate Controller Barnes & Noble, Inc. William J. Lynch Chief Executive Officer Barnes & Noble, Inc. Andy Milevoj Manager of Investor Relations Joseph LombardiChief Financial Officer Barnes & Noble, Inc Jaime Carey Chief Merchandising Officer Barnes & Noble, Inc. Mary Ellen Keating Senior V. P. o f Corporate Communications and Public Affairs Barnes & Noble, Inc. Stephen Riggio Vice Chairman Barnes & Noble, Inc. Mitchell S. Klipper Chief Executive Officer Barnes & Noble Retail Group Barnes & Noble, Inc. Michelle Smith V. P. of Human Resources Barnes & Noble, Inc. Mark Bottini V. P. and Director of Stores Barnes & Noble, Inc. Marcus E. Leaver President Sterling PublishingThere are no direct information about the organizational structure of the firm, but by looking at the chart it is quite clear that the company is divided in several functions that deal with both the two main operating segments: B&N Retail and B&N College; anyway the Company board of directors has decided to treat these two businesses as independent from one another, considering the manner in which the business is managed (focusing on the financial information distributed) and the manner in which its chief operating decision maker interacts with other members of management.The company has seasoned management te ams for its digital business and retail stores, including those for real estate, merchandising and store operations. According to its main strategy, the Company management team employs exclusively highly skilled professional with both media expertise and supply chain management skills in order to guarantee a positive customer’s experience regardless the preference for either physical or digital products.Field management includes regional directors and district managers supervising multiple store locations: Each store generally employs a store manager, two assistant store managers, a cafe manager and approximately 50 full and part-time booksellers. Many Barnes & Noble stores also employ a full-time community relations manager.Field management for all of the company’s bookstores, including regional directors, district managers and store managers, participate in an incentive program tied to store productivity. The company believes that the compensation of its field manage ment is competitive with that offered by other specialty retailers of comparable size. Store managers participate in annual merchandising conferences, and district managers participate in semi-annual training and merchandising conferences.Store managers are generally responsible for training other booksellers and employees in accordance with detailed procedures and guidelines prescribed by the Company utilizing a blended learning approach, including on-the job training, e-learning, facilitator-led training and training aids available at each bookstore and for adjusting the buyers’ selection to the interests, lifestyle and demands of the store’s local customers.Organizational Culture Since its foundation, the Firm has been trying to reach mainly one aim: to make its stores centers and active parts of the community life, places where people can meet, interact with the others, feel at ease and share their common passion for books.To achieve this goal the Company firstly h as built imposing bookstores in highly visible areas open seven days a week, secondly has focused on creating a warm and cozy environment with ample public spaces, comfortable settings, including lounge chairs and reading tables, a cafe, public restrooms and also children playgrounds, thirdly has added a calendar of ongoing events, including author appearances and children’s activities and also supports communities through efforts on behalf of local non-profit organizations that focus on literacy, the arts or K-12 education.As well as its stores, also the website reflects the efforts made by the company to offer a pleasant shopping experience: it is easy to browse thanks to a clear site map and a useful search bar and moreover is it organized in order to show to the visitors all the ranges of products and most of all the special offers. It is common knowledge that the artifacts are the direct expressions of some values that every company considers crucial and strives to teach to all the employees, from just a superficial analysis of the firm some of them appear quiet clearly: firstly the importance of quality and customers’ satisfaction.But what is considered absolutely vital for the effectiveness of the firm’s performance it’s both the collaboration among colleagues that can be maintained and strengthened by respecting, supporting and helping each other and the alignment with Barnes and Noble commitment and ethics. As it has already been said, the company has always believed that by concentrating its efforts on becoming a community institution and by satisfying in every aspect the customers it would encourage customer loyalty, word-of-mouth publicity and media coverage and it would have a successful and effective performance.This strategy has clearly worked and hence allowed the firm not to bother too much on competitors’ strategies and become anyway a leader in the book retailing market and one of the most powerful firms in the e-Commerce field. It is evident that the stores haven’t been created to be considered Just as dealers: the relationship that the customers establish with the company is rather more complex: per excellence books- buyers are hesitant, but in B&N stores they have the chance not only to be helped by highly skilled booksellers but also to feel at ease in special relax areas where they can peruse a book over some coffee.Also analyzing the company strategy in the e-Commerce field, the satisfaction of the customer is still the unique priority. The exploitation of the well furnished distribution centers through fast deliveries to all the USA guarantees an standoffish online service. Punctuality and fast delivery made Barnes & Nobles a leader in the e-Commerce. Competitive strategy Barnes & Noble competes in the book selling industry. The industry can be examined by using the five basic competitive forces.The threat of new entrants depends on the barriers to entry and the threat o f retaliation. There is low capital requirement for the industry, because the books can also be sold online, but the economies of scale is significantly high, because of its large inventories and diverse selection capacity. The book selling industry is a highly competitive market. The company has to compete with e-Commerce businesses (Amazon. com, Apple), mass merchandisers such as Wal- Mart, growing market for electronic books and digital distribution of book content.Additionally, it has to face a challenge because of specialty retail stores, furthermore, it competes with large bookstores such as Borders and Book-A-Million, as well as smaller bookstores such as Waldenbooks. That is why, the threat of retaliation in the book selling industry is low, because the profitability in the industry is already low due to intense competition. Legal restrictions are low for the e-commerce business and brand loyalty is also low for the industry. All of these factors approve that the barriers to entry for the book selling industry is low.The suppliers for Barnes&Noble are the third party manufacturers located outside the United States who are the producers of the books and store leasers. The threat of integration for the book manufacturers is low, so their barganing power can not be high also depending on their quantity. Besides, all of Barnes&Noble’s retail stores which are leased premises effects profitability in a very essential way. Its profitability depends on the company’s ability to find the optimum point for its store lease portfolio. number of retail store, store locations, lease terms &conditions). On the other hand the customers’volume of purchase is not that high, but the availability of information is pretty high especially for the Internet. Consequently the bargaining power of customers is high. There are no substitutes for real books except e-books, but Barnes & Noble also exists in that business. Barnes & Noble retail stores primarily c ompete on the store experience, quality of shopping and the price and availability of the products.Barnes & Noble’s most powerful competitor is Amazon. com. Amazon. com is the firm that dominates in the online book selling market, as well as web shopping. It has many advantages over Barnes&Noble, such as easy access and a highly secure information system. Also it has a book recommendation system which keeps the information of every customer by collaborative filtering and recommends books depending on the customer’s previous purchases. Unlike Barnes&Noble, Amazon. com does not have a physical bookstore.The firm has a very small inventory, but Barnes&Noble has to have a large inventory to provide a variety of selection to satisfy customers and it has to pay to the distributor within (at most) 3 months after the purchase which means that the firm has to carry the cost of the inventory for up to four months. This situation creates a disadvantage for Barnes&Noble, against i ts strong competitor Amazon. com. On the other hand, having many stores can be an advantage, because it reduces the advertising expenses of the firm.Only online book seller Amazon. com, has to advertise by links from other web sites and it has to have an advanced information technology which can offer individualized recommendations for the customers, billing and shipping systems. Barnes&Noble’s information system is worse than Amazon. com’s but it also has brick and mortar stores which can never face any technical problems that can lock up all of its sales for a period of time. Therefore, these stores have both advantages and disadvantages for the company.Another specialty that Barnes&Noble has is related to its horizontal boundaries. It majorly sells books but it also sells DVDs, toys, games and music albums. Therefore it does not have a narrow horizontal boundary. So just like Amazon. com it also has to compete with eBay, which is a very popular online auction site. As it can be understood from Amazon. com’s features, it has the market dominance, with the contribution of being the first one in the online book selling market. Still, Barnes&Noble has an advantage over Amazon. om, because Barnes&Noble is a profitable company unlike Amazon. com. It does not have high marketing expenses, because it markets its merchandise by creating a nice atmosphere and opening a coffee shop inside the stores, letting customers have a nice experience which increases their willingness to buy. Nevertheless, Barnes&Noble has to compete with â€Å"Borders† which is an international book and music retailer located in United States. Barnes&Noble is the largest bookstore chain in the US, but it still increases the concentration of the industry.One of the main competitive disadvantages of Barnes&Noble is its high overhead expenses and high cost of production, because the company has more than 1000 stores and 40,000 employees. (Amazon. com has only 7600 emplo yees, and 1600 of them are for book sales) On the other hand, its size allows it to offer some discounts to its customers and lets it have highly diverse selections, which also means that high economies of scale is an important factor for the companies in this industry.Therefore, another effective competitive strategy of Barnes&Noble is its nationwide discount pricing strategy. The current pricing is 30% off publishers’ suggested retail prices for hardcover bestsellers and 20% off select feature titles in departments such as children’s books and computer books. The Barnes & Noble Member Program offers members greater discounts. For an annual fee of $25, members receive discounts of 40% off publishers’ suggested retail prices on hardcover bestsellers, 20% off adult hardcovers, and 10% off on almost all other merchandise.These discounts are available to members for purchases made at Barnes&Noble stores. Barnes&Noble. com implemented an â€Å"everyday low pricingà ¢â‚¬  model that provides a single, low price for each item site wide for members and non members and enables the Company to offer better value to its customers. Members also receive free express shipping on eligible purchases made on Barnes&Noble. com. In addition, members receive exclusive offers and promotions via direct mail and email. Consequently, the switching cost of the industry gets higher.Barnes&Noble’s online customer base is a lot lower than Amazon. com’s. Therefore it developed or copied some strategies to overcome this dominance. For example, it made a deal with Microsoft to become â€Å"the exclusive book seller† for the book shopping category on the MSN network, which is an imitation strategy, because also Amazon. com has a similar agreement with Microsoft. Also, it sold 50% of its shares to the German Publisher Bertelsmann AG, right after Amazon. com’s similar partnership with it. Barnes&Noble’s main purpose was to grow into Euro pean markets.Besides, Barnes&Noble started to move into other markets such as the sales of dvds, toys and music albums, after Amazon. com. Amazon. com, manages to sell a lot in these areas with no profit, because of its high advertising expenses. So it is pretty useless for Barnes&Noble to copy this strategy of Amazon. com. Since Amazon. com has the dominance for the online book selling industry, only a few consumers prefer Barnes&Noble on its new market, unless it does not make any differentiations about it. Also this situation, prevents both companies to have a significant brand recognition.To sum up, Barnes&Noble, uses the Wal- Mart strategy to compete in this industry, which includes huge stores, low prices and a sophisticated technology to track its inventory and get rid of the undemanded products from its supply, but this situation can not actually help the firm to raise its profit, because an innovation is needed in this kind of a highly competitive industry. The company need s essential differentiation. Another copycat like strategy of Barnes&Noble was to create Nook (which looks like an imitation of Amazon. om’s Kindle). But this time there was a difference about this copying strategy, the company created an additional e-book software for PC, Mac and iPad and its own content library. With this strategy the company has vertically integrated. (only by a single layer which is content) Moreover, Barnes&Noble, sells content and makes its platform available to IREX and Plastic Logic devices’ users. This stack strategy, brings additional revenue to the firm and also makes the company’s options unavailable for its competitors.Unfortunately, this strategy is not good enough for the firm to dominate in the market, because scale, efficiency and little differentiations is not enough for a market with many competitors. The increased competition is likely to reduce Barnes&Noble’s sales and profits Finances Consolidated balance sheet of Ba rnes & Noble Inc. (2010-05-01) (in thousands of USD) Assets| Current Assets| Cash And Cash Equivalents| 60,965| Short Term Investments | -| Net Receivables | 106,576| Inventory | 1,370,111|Other Current Assets | 181,825| Total Current Assets | 1,719,477| Property, Plant and Equipment | 812,034| Goodwill | 528,541| Intangible Assets | 580,962| Accumulated Amortization | -| Other Assets | 64,672| Deferred Long Term Asset Charges    | -| Total Assets | 3,705,686| Liabilities| Current Liabilities| Accounts Payable | 1,624,408| Short/Current Long Term Debt | 100,000| Total Current Liabilities | 1,724,408| Long Term Loans | 260,400| Other Liabilities | 505,903|Deferred Long Term Liability Charges | 311,607| Minority Interest | 1,550| Total Liabilities | 2,803,868| Stockholders' Equity| Issued Common Stock  Ã‚  ($0. 01 per share)| 89| Retained Earnings | 681,082| Treasury Stock | -1,052,356| Capital Surplus | 1,286,215| Other Stockholder Equity | -13,212| Total Stockholder Equity | 901 ,818| Total Liabilities + Equity| 3,705,686| Consolidated Income Statement of Barnes ; Noble Inc. (2009/05/02 – 2010/05/01) (in thousands of USD) Total Revenue| 5,810,564| Cost of Revenue| 4,133,819|Gross Profit| 1,676,745| Operating Expenses| Research Development| -| Selling General and Administrative| 1,392,207| Non Recurring| 3,518| Depreciation and Amortization| 207,774| Earnings Before Interest And Taxes| 73,246| Interest Expense| 28,237| Income Before Tax| 45,009| Income Tax Expense| 8,365| Net Income| 36,644| Preferred Stock And Other Adjustments| -| Net Income Applicable To Common Shares| 36,644| Barnes;Noble Inc. financial ratios of the latest annual report (2009/05/02 – 2010/05/01) Return on equity| 4. 06%| Return on total assets| 1. 1%| Return on sales| 0. 77%| Asset turnover| 1. 57| Current ratio| 0. 99| Quick ratio| 0. 2| Debt/equity ratio*| 2. 2| Interest cover| 1. 29| Cost of capital| 1. 42%| *debt = long term loans + current liabilities Barnes;Noble Inc . financial performance evaluation The profitability of Barnes;Noble Inc. is very and despite it is mainly competing in the retailing business ROE = 4. 06% is unacceptable comparing to the average 5-year ROE=10. 5%. The same tendency can be seen looking at the ROTA which is 2. 7 times lower than the 5-year average.Company‘s profit margin is even below 1% and this means that Barnes;Noble does not manage to earn enough money but at least they are able to cover all their expenses on time without losses. Low profitability ratios as well as asset turnover can be partly explained that market was facing a sharp decline, which was caused by global financial crisis and even though it did not cause the reduction in sales which actually increased but made larger costs (i. e. interests) which increased more than sales and caused some financial problems for the company.Barnes;Noble Inc. current ratio is almost 1 and this theoretically allows for the company to cover all their short term fi nancial operations but quick ratio is very low (only 0. 2) and this means that company has much inventory which is about 80% of current assets. This means that company could possibly improve its‘ profitability ratios by increasing sales of the inventory but since Barnes;Noble is in the shrinking market which cannot buy all the goods it is almost impossible to reduce high inventory significantly.Turning to Barnes;Noble Inc. financial strength ratios situation is a bit better. Company‘s debt/ratio (2. 2) looks quite normal and we can deduce that it exploits all the available financial resources to keep its‘ sustainability as well as possible. On the other hand, interest cover is particularly low (only 1. 29) and since company is facing the shrinking market this can cause trouble in the near future and lead to negative net earnings. On of the factors which allows Barnes;Noble Inc. o have positive net earnings is low cost of capital and this means that average interest rate is 1. 42% and is lower than return on the risk capital. In overall, Barnes;Noble Inc. financial results are not very pleasant and acceptable since company is facing decreasin market there is not much it could do in order to improve its‘ situation: firstly, it should try to reduce their administrative expenses, maybe close less than the average profitable which generates higher costs.Secondly, it could try to reduce inventory by lowering prices but as I have mentioned before it is a very dfficult task to acomplish since it is facing shrinking market. Finally, it could try to use their cash which even though does not count much of current assets but this could allow company to pay at least part of their debt and increase its‘ liquidity in the short run. Bibliography http://www. google. com/finance http://www. barnesandnobleinc. com/ http://www. fundinguniverse. com/ www. barnesandnoble. com www. maths. tcd. ie/~nora/FT351-3/CS. pdf www. ichnet. org/glossary. htm

Aldi †Crisps, Snacks & Nuts Essay

Exercise You have been asked by the Buying Director to visit a local Aldi store and critique the Crisps, Snacks & Nuts fixture. Your critique should take the form of a report or presentation in any format. However, we will not be providing laptops on the day so if you choose to produce a PowerPoint presentation we advise you print out your slides prior to the day. You may want to look at using a SWOT or PEST analysis. A SWOT analysis requires you to consider strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. A PEST looks at external issues such as political, economical, social and technological factors. We have detailed a number of pointers that may be of help to you. You should consider short term and long term recommendations leading on from your analysis, taking into consideration any wider implications. The critique should cover areas such as: Quality Range Service Availability Packaging On the day of your Interview, you will have an opportunity to present your department critique to the Buying Director. In this exercise you will be assessed on: Your critical evaluation of the department and the reasoning behind any recommendations made The ideas you present Your consideration of the long term and wider implications

Objective Function vs Constraints in Linear Programming Essay

Linear Programming Model in Operation Research study is usually mathematical type of model which contains set of equations that represent objective function and constraints. The keywords in this article are Objective Function and Constraints, according to Heizer & Render (2008) Objective Function are mathematical expression expressed in linear programming designed to maximizes or minimizes some quantity, for example profit can maximized while the cost might be reduced. The objective function is also called effectiveness function, it is the mathematical expression of the objectives which may be cost of operation or profit on operation (Kumar and Hira, 2008). Constraints which is also known as restrictions are mathematical expressions of the limitations that are involved in fulfilling the objectives; they are caused by scarce or limited resources which may include money, space, manpower, materials and so on. Heizer & Render (2008) defined constraints as restrictions which limit the ext ent to which a manager can pursue an objective The objective function is more important than the constraints in a linear programming model under the circumstances in which the controllable variables which is also called the decision variables forms the major components of the linear programming model. Controllable variables are the variables that are directly under the control of the operations analyst; their values are determined by the solution of the problem. Using the stock control or inventory as an example, the controllable variables are the order size and the interval between the placed orders (Kumar and Hira, 2008). On the other hand the constraints are more important than the objective function in linear program model when the models function depends largely on the uncontrollable variables of the model. They are variables that are the function of the external environment and over which the operations analyst has no control, such variables are known as state of nature. Using the transportation system as an example, the per unit transportation cost is known as uncontrollable variable because it is subjected to continuous, unceasing change. In conclusion, it is imperative to understand and analyses the situation carefully before applying one linear programming over the other in other to improve or optimize current operations (Heizer & Render, 2008). Furthermore, it is difficult to predict or choose without examining several samples, the more reason why it is important to define variables which represent the problem  from the real world, then based on the variable determine the most applicable method (Heizer & Render, 2008). References: Heizer, J. & Render, B. (2008) Operations Management and Principles of Operations Management. PowerPoint presentation, 7th Edition. Prentice Hall, Inc., Upper Saddle River, N.J. 07458 Kumar, G.P. and Hira D.S. (2008). Operations Research, Revised Edition. Chand and Company Ltd., New Delhi.

Ip1 managing high performance Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Ip1 managing high performance - Research Paper Example Therefore, supervisors have to interact with sub-ordinates to find out the best style of management to utilize for effectiveness. Some will need an authoritarian manager while others will perform adequately in a participative manner that guarantees the best result. Theory X can use in managing unskilled labor-force and large scale production. Theory Y is best suited for professional services as well as knowledge-based work, such as call center procedures (Winslow, 2009). Theory Y and democratic decision-making are at some degree comparable. The employees working under theory Y naturally merged their objectives to the organization’s objectives. Theory Y allows employees to participate in decision-making but leave management to implement decisions made. However, democratic decision-making is when an individual makes decisions without external influence. Employees’ performance and morale can improve if a manager understands the two theories. The manager can hence practice the excellent leadership style. As a result, he can advance the productivity of the organization (Drucker,

Determining a profitable investment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Determining a profitable investment - Essay Example On the other hand, long term investing can be much more useful when the entrepreneur uses Candlestick examination to purchase stock at the most beneficial cost and set up for sale of stock at the finest price when a marketplace rally has run its course. Investment approaches employed by the entrepreneurs will depend upon the investment goals. If an investor is looking forward to a short term profit investment he should pick different stocks as compared to when he is looking to establish a balanced stock portfolio with the idea of retirement in mind. In realizing a potential useful investment, the entrepreneur must eternity balance risk management as a single risk. In additions, he/she can pose a significant threat to harmonizing a stock portfolio with hoard picks and chooses from a variety of market segments, and technological stock analysis with candlestick outlines to maximize profits. The entrepreneur will evaluate the risks available and make a choice on the stages of risk he is willing to sustain in finding profitable ventures. Many of the times superior profit potential bears higher risks. The long term entrepreneurs and the day to day traders, usually have a limit to the level of his risk by close attention to business senti ment using candlestick chart analysis. Entrepreneurs use methodological scrutiny to evaluate the market sentiment. Majority of cases are the primary drive are eventual stock price are set in consideration into account by the market very fast. Since the prices in markets tend to replicate themselves, identifying a profitable investment is achievable in understanding the market reaction to changes in essentials. No matter how well versed the entrepreneur is in the in evaluating the essentials of stock, through the use of technical analysis with candlestick pattern configurations will most usually help the entrepreneur to be able to buy and sell stocks at the

Literary Analysis by Amy Hempel's. In the cemetery where AL Jolson's Essay

Literary Analysis by Amy Hempel's. In the cemetery where AL Jolson's Buried - Essay Example The narrator recalls how her only visit to the hospital was to see her best friend, who wore a surgical mask as a result of her condition and she had to do the same. Her visit had taken a quite some time because she was largely procrastinating, as the narrator did not have the courage to see her friend in such a state. From the very beginning the narrator and her friend talk about inconsequential things and then the plot sheds light on all the other fears the friend fears, such as fear of flying and fear of earthquakes; however, the main fear that the narrator is experiencing is largely the fear of losing her best friend. The story intertwines many complex human feelings such as love, attachment, communication, death and dying, and the process of grieving for the loss of loved ones. It could be deduced that despite being an aviophobe, she flies all the way to a hospital near the California coast; which is also one of the most earthquake prone areas in the United States. Thus, her wis h to see her friend during her last moment, is not only about the narrator finally confronting her friend’s imminent death but also facing all the other stimuli in her life that caused her to become increasingly fearful. (Henderson, 2001) Furthermore, the fact the narrator used to drink Canadian ginger ale and pretend that they were in Canada, is a brilliant allegory used by the author to describe the narrator’s mindset that how she uses her imagination in order to bend reality. The communication between the two friends actually the demonstrate the closeness between the two. The stories they share and the light-hearted humor that brings to the story is clearly an example of how one becomes avoidant at a crucial stage like this. The stories they share shed light in to the emotional conflict the narrator is experiencing, for instance when the narrator speaks about the first chimp was taught to speak , also lied. This shows that human beings are very similar when it comes to embracing the truth. They would lie not only for some dubious reason but the lies are in fact intended to protect them from the harshness of the truth. Therefore, out of the five stages of grief outlined by Kubler-Ross the origin of denial largely stems from the fact that the individual refuses to be honest with him or herself. The aforementioned ideas clearly demonstrate that the narrator’s fluency in the language of grief. Ideas like â€Å"the smarter knows when to disobey†¦Ã¢â‚¬ is actually another parallel that the author drew in order to underline the narrator’s for her sincerity towards her friend but at the same time, she must abandon in order to hide from the pain of watching her friend die in front of her. There are a number of other metaphors in the story that is not only appropriate to describe the narrator’s ordeal but is true for every human being. The narrator states: â€Å"So I hadn’t dared to look any closer. But now I’m doing it – and hoping that I will live through it† No one has the nerve to see eye to eye with their worst fears but certain circumstances may cause an individual to face his or her fears; even though, it may seem like their fear is so excessive that it might kill them but is obviously not necessarily so. The narrator was afraid beyond her wits, every time the thought occurred to her that her friend may die and she was close to abandoning her but yet somehow circumstances do not allow her. She believes

LETTER OF APPEAL Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

LETTER OF APPEAL - Essay Example Respect Sir, I basically belong to the part of the world that is often characterized by the conventional professions and money making sources. These primarily include professions like business studies, engineering, medicine and other commonly tested and practiced professions. In such environments there is little margin for experimenting or going for professions that are little tested and little known. Before I put my case, I hereby state that I am not writing to question the system of immigration in the incumbent country nor do I plan to challenge it through the claims that I may make. I am here only to seek your professionally motivating and sympathetic consideration into the personal reasons which forced me into skipping classes and breaching the original terms of visa where it was conditioned to attending the classes and completing my degree as per initial undertaking. I will also attribute the reason for the overall debacle to the immaturity and hastiness from my end, believing that the dropping out will make my parents realize instead of considering the repercussions and the possible consequences and I hold myself directly responsible for it and do not blame the law, the institution or any other individual affiliated in the entire conundrum that is at hand. To start with the particularity of my case I render an unconditional apology for having violated the original conditions and thereby request a revisiting into the case with possible grant of a fresh visa or nullifying of the decision reached as a result of the acts committed in the light of skipping classes originally. Giving a history of my family, my sister is enrolled in the field of medicine study and she is going well with her goals and there are no records of her dropping out or any other event therefore I can indirectly assure through her practices and her presence ,that if I am given a chance to follow my desired goals, it will allow me delivering the goods as per expectations and conditions

History of Jazz Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

History of Jazz - Essay Example development into the modern jazz movement cannot be described in a linear historical model with a series of clearly separate stages because, since its inception in the 1940s, it quickly fragmented into cool and hard bop in the 1950s to the 1960s. Bebop exhibits the dynamic organic nature of jazz as it changes across three decades. It evolves from early jazz and revolts against swing, as it continues the development of modern jazz into cool and hard bop, an evolution that manifests African American innovation that reacted to American society’s oppressive socioeconomic and cultural conditions. Bebop rebels against big bands which are already declining during the 1940s as a form of struggle against racism. Several historians argue that bebop is a reaction to racism and swing’s populist ideals. Eric Porter asserts that Bebop musicians â€Å"refused† to become the entertainers of â€Å"Uncle Tom,† and wanted â€Å"to escape the stereotypes and audience expectations of the past,† while preserving an â€Å"aversion to musical boundaries.†3 Bebop is rooted in African American experiences that characterize it as an oppositional reaction against big bands, the large dance swing bands.4 Bebop music is about experimentation and technical expertise that resisted the controls of socioeconomic forces. In essence, bebop musicians did not play music primarily for making money, but for their autonomy.5 As a result, when it first came out, those who regarded themselves as â€Å"cultural gatekeepers† of white bourgeois cultural values and standards â€Å"descended† on bebop with â€Å"fanatical fury.†6 They did not like the originality and independence of bebop that reflected aggression and defiance of rigid social hierarchy through traditional musical norms. Scholars understand this negative perception of bebop from the threatened gatekeepers because changing music means changing culture and that these changes ultimately threaten the status quo of society.7 Besides rejecting

Building of the Holocaust Memorial Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Building of the Holocaust Memorial - Movie Review Example ions of the gay and lesbian population, and not including these people in this Holocaust memorial could make it seem like they are less valued by the German people, like their murders were less of a travesty than the murders of Jews. On the other hand, many point out that the main targets of the Holocaust were Jews, and the main ideology and iconography of the Nazi party were anti-Jewish, and it is thus important to single out the attacks on Jews against the attacks on everyone else, and perhaps give other people who were victims of the Holocaust their own memorials to honour their deaths. One of the most interesting sections of this video is the opinions of the original architect and designer of the memorial on what has been done around it. One of the biggest disappointments for the designer was the fact that other people chose to put an underground informational center (the Ort) as part of the installation. He was against this decision, and it is interesting to see how even the lead designer of a project like this does not necessarily have complete control over their project. â€Å"Building the Holocaust Memorial† is an interesting take on the construction of an important site in Germany. It shows that even a simple act of goodwill, like building a memorial to the victims of one of the most atrocious assaults on humanity in history can be fraught with political and ethical difficulties, and that nothing is as simple as it seems on the

Wooden Bats versus Metal Bats in Baseball Essay

Wooden Bats versus Metal Bats in Baseball - Essay Example Wooden bats are heavier than metal bats because they are solid, and that is why they require more effort to sway than aluminum bats. They also have a smaller sweet spot due to which the hit remains within range, i.e., the hitting zone is small. In other words, the weight of wooden bats is concentrated far from hands, or in other words, the center of gravity lies in the barrel. Thus, the swing weight is higher, which keeps the ball within range and means that the ball will not go much farther. Metal bats are hollow from within. A metal bat is lighter because of a larger sweet spot (Zumerchik 52), and the weight is concentrated very close to the hands, which will make the hit swing much higher as the swing weight is lower. A ball thrown at a higher or faster pace will also go farther. Wooden bats are safer than metal bats because the exit speed of the ball is much slower in case of wooden bats. Thus, the ball comes off with slow speed, which is good as it reduces the danger of injury if the ball hits another player or pitcher. Also, there is no chance that the bat will get tossed away from the hands of the player. This is why major league baseball authorities endorse the use of wooden bats, considering the hit power of the professional players. Metal bats, as they are lighter, can easily get tossed away to injure another player. Also, the larger sweet spot in case of metal bats causes larger exit speed of the ball, i.e., the ball will jump off faster, which could injure anybody within the hitting zone very seriously. There have been many unfortunate events in the past, in which players or spectators got injured due to this issue, as the Associated Press states, â€Å"A New Jersey teenager left brain-damaged after being struck by a line drive while playing in a youth baseball game will receive $14.5 million to settle his lawsuit against the bat.

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

Econometrics - Assignment Example The least squares estimator bMC is not consistent in this case since there exists autocorrelation between the independent variable and the error term ui i.e. i.e. the disturbances are pairwise correlated. This is referred to as autocorrelated disturbances. b) You have data on the variables Y , X, W and Z. The variable Z satisfies the "exogeneity" condition and the "relevance" condition . You decide to estimate model (3) using the instrumental variables method. Is the instrumental variables estimator bIV consistent in this case? Explain your answer. The instrumental variable estimator bIV is consistent in this case since the instrumental variable is uncorrelated with the error term though there exists a correlation between it with the exogenous variable. c) You have data on the variables Y, X and Z, but you dont have data on W. The variable Z satisfies the "exogeneity" condition and the "relevance" condition . You decide to omit the variable W from the regression and to estimate the model: using the instrumental variables method. The instrumental variable estimator bIV is inconsistent in this case; for the consistency in the instrumental variables Zi and Wi should be correlated. In this given case, the conditions for consistency have not been met hence leading the instrumental variables estimator bIV to be inconsistent. i) What is the interpretation of this value of the J statistic? Do we reject the hypothesis of exogeneity of the variables Z1 and Z2? (you will need to look at the critical values in the table for the distribution of to answer this question). The interpretation for the J statistic is that that all instruments are uncorrelated with ui. With the value of J statistics being 15.7, we reject the null hypothesis and conclude either one or more of the instruments are invalid or that the structural model is specified incorrectly The p-value of the coefficient of incomehi is less than 5% significance level (p-value=0.000

Self - Assessment of Personality Essay Example for Free

Self Assessment of Personality Essay Id, Ego, Superego three levels of depth a person has to know in order to determine one’s situatedness and beingness. In order to know better and to assess one’s self or to know who you really are, I believe that it should start from knowing the three you within one single body. With Sigmund Freud’s theory I can relate much for there are times that I could not understand myself. Specially at times when I am alone, I keep talking about and thinking about something, then later those things would vanish and I’ll be back with reality perhaps. I really believe that we people are alternately changing our depths at a time, there are times when our Id prevails and we just don’t know the exact when and where and how we get away from it. I experience it lot. Our Ego our prevalent state of mind the state wherein we think we always are. It is the state wherein we bring back ourselves from our imaginations and aspirations. Superego, our mysterious personality wherein, I sometimes become someone I could never have thought I could be in the real setting but I unconsciously wanted to become somebody like that impossible me. A human being is really that mysterious and too puzzling because I know my physical actions for Ego limits me, but others do not know my other thoughts as much as I do not know what they too are thinking. That is why to prevent our self to be corrected and to be wronged by anybody else we commit these various ways of defense mechanisms and these ways are really common to us all and sometimes we are doing it but do not admit to doing it because we want to let the people know that we are not that easy to get and that we righteous at all times because we are prideful in nature no matter how we deny it. Basing on the principles and theories of Carl Jung I can say that I can myself as an Extravert person and more specifically a extravert feeling type of person. That is because I am the person that it outward and directed to the world outside me. I enjoy human interactions and I am enthusiastic, talkative, assertive and expressive. Taking pleasure in activities that involve large social gatherings, such as parties, community activities, public demonstrations, and business or political groups are my type. I want to spend more time with people I know and comfortable being with them, moreover I feel energized when interacting with large group of people and feel a decrease of energy when left alone. Nonetheless I am sociable, sentimental, seeks personal and social success that is why I can say that I am a feeling type of extravert specifically. I also admit of possessing those kind of unconscious collective, like Persona, Shadow, being excited with my Animus-destiny and of course I am hoping to find the right one in the right time someday. With I could infer that in order to contain help ourselves survive from the extremes of each of our life stages we have to apply the moderation principle like in Buddhism. We need to realize that everything has its own opposite as said in every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. However, Erikson wants us to realize that in life there is no such thing as perfection and that we cannot attain all good things and all bad things we have to be oriented of this action, reaction principle. In order to do this, you have to consider some possible outcomes, and that everything will come our way because life comes in surprises. To be able to be able to cope with the different conflicts in each life stage we should learn to embrace the two opposing possibilities. Like in exams although I have studied I cannot assure myself that I would pass the test that is why in order to not be shattered and disappointed with the results of any examination, we must need to expect the unexpected and think of the worst that would happen. In that way we could adjust and continue living.  It is just a matter of making conflicts meet and when they do so, those conflicts will become an achievement in one’s life. Adler’s principle is on Superiority and Inferiority complex, and about the four types of people. Besides also of the concept on Fictional Finalism- being the perfect self you can be. Each person is striving hard in order to attain the supremacy status of their lives. Hoping that time will come that everyone would look up on you and that you will become the master of all things, becoming good in all aspects of life and all. Having the most treasured and expensive things in the whole wide world; wanting to make other people experience the hardships you have undergone before you reach where you are now. With Alfred’s four types of people I categorize myself as belonging to the Socially Useful type of person, because I value having control over others lives and strive to do good things for the sake of society. I like the feeling of taking care of others see them grow and follow my steps or maybe exceed my achievements, it is just that overwhelming. Maslow’s theory of personality is based on Humanistic Psychology. It aims to examine what is really right with people, rather than just what is wrong with them. Knowing more on the potentials of an individual rather than scrutinizing their incapabilities. The concept shows that humans reach for a high-level of capabilities in our possible and comfortable way. we have our preferences for we are unique and we must be respected for our own discretion. Furthermore, Humans look for the frontiers of creativity, the highest reaches of consciousness and wiseness. Besides humans are labeled as â€Å"fully functioning person†, â€Å"healthy personality†, or as Maslow calls this level, â€Å"self-actualizing person. † These self-actualizers are of addressing the needs of a human person, specifically our psychological needs, safety, belonging, self-esteem and the end self-actualization. It is in simplifying our life there we could attain the highest peak of our different careers, which is towards Self-Actualization and it could only be done if we focus on one thing at a time. Humans as we are we strive hard enough even ending up pushing ourselves to our limits. We want to be the One, to attain perfection at any aspect and to please everyone in the community. This goal of attaining perfection is not only influenced by our own feelings most often we are put in this kind of situation by the people in our community. For they have expected you to be always on top and that all your actions are flawless and if you do not keep up to their standards you will be considered an outcast from the society, you will become the subject for all the eyes, the talks and the jokes. In order to be able to cope with them you are trying as much as you can sometimes you even become paranoid and lunatic. Rogers only explains that people in the society are the people that prevents us from showing our real self and that is why we have this cover-up when you are outside- the thing you call as your Ideal Self, making each individual sometimes forget who they really are from their cover up self. In that way, we sometimes mix up our self with the fake and the true self we are. Making us more inclined with showing our mask instead of our true essence, Albert’s Social- Cognitive Learning Theory explains why nowadays many children are doing some mature stuffs and those acts that they are not suppose to do at their age but they are now doing, it is because as it is said what you see is what you get. Example when a child is exposed to a gambling community it is perhaps a resulting consequence that the child would grow up as a gambler. It is like what you are fed with, it is what you do and follow. Children in nature are observant enough, what gets their attention, probable result- the images will be stuck in their minds and they have retention with that matter. Next in line will be application or reproduction of that certain act and most probably if rewards or anything that would inspire them is match with that deed or matter the child would probably do those kinds of things. That is why I can say that what you are as a child reflections the current You. What you knew, observed, and absorbed as a little child would probably the cause of your current actions, you are doing now, for how you are as a child is how you will become when you grow up. Each one of us are shaped and are upholding some various traits we are taught when we were young that we have brought now that we are matured. People say that I am a person that always leads and is always cheerful and happy.  On the deeper side, I feel being burden when I lead sometimes and that not every flash of my smile expresses that I am being happy, maybe I am just to angry that I could not do anything but laugh on it. That I think is my cardinal trait as a person. My central traits should be that I am trying to pleasant at all costs and trying to be calm at all times not for my own sake but for the people around me. Lastly, secondary traits is that my being easily pissed off and being too moody, I always show those traits when something is wrong with my scores in class or if I do not get what I want. Therefore traits of each and individual changes through time and nothing in constant, we could all have a change of traits as well as we have our change of hearts everytime we fall and by the time that we rise again. Traits of ours our sometimes our defense mechanism in order not to end up with having breakdown in our disappointments and trials, we must just manage ourselves properly in order to have a much better way of coping up mechanism when things go wrong.

Essay Writing In Malaysian Schools

Essay Writing In Malaysian Schools Essay writing is a must for Malaysian secondary schools students. There are few types of essays that the students need to master. Guided writing, summary writing and continuous writing are the three main types of essay that are tested in examination. These three different types of writing test students ability to understand and use correct grammar, to apply language skills for interpersonal purposes, to apply language skills for informational purposes, and to apply language skills for aesthetic purposes (Malaysian Examinations Syndicate, 2004). Students have to excel in these three types of writing to be able to apply it in real life situation. Students are assessed on their writing skills in school tests as well as in the national standardized test. Different methods of assessment are used in evaluating students essays. At different levels and tests, there will be at least a minor difference in the method of assessing. In Malaysia secondary school, teachers are not given any specific guides to assess students written works. They assess according to their own methods and experiences. Many methods can be used for assessing students essays. Every method has its own specific guidance and teachers can use them based on their needs and students performance. For example, holistic scoring method is used to assess students essays in a generalized way that is to look at their works as a whole piece without analyzing it in details. Any method is analytic scoring method where teachers look at students performance in details. Both methods can be applied by teachers in classroom- based assessment. In this study, only two methods of essay scoring will be discussed which are mentioned above. Holistic and analytic scoring methods are very different and unique in their own way. Therefore, it is important that teachers know how to use both of them in assessing students essays. The subjects that will be chosen for this study are English teachers in secondary schools in Malaysia. They will be investigated on the ways they use to assess their students essay. A few students from their class will also be chosen to give feedbacks about their teachers assessment. 1.2 Statement of Problem Students essays are marked without a standard scale in Malaysian secondary schools. Teachers score their students based on what they think is good for them. They use mostly holistic scoring method which might not be fair to students (Bloom, Daiker White). The ministry of education might be responsible for what had happened. Teachers mark students essays according to what the ministry suggests. Holistic scoring method has long been implemented in schools. Is it the best method for teachers and students? Some problems have occurred with this method because it is not specific enough. It might also create biasness in the case where students are close to their teachers. This method views the essay as a whole without further analysis on each component. While analytic scoring method views the essay in a more specific way, it provides details for students to be able to know what is lacking in their essays. Analytic scoring method uses a rubric as a standard scale to mark essays. Analytic scoring method is regarded as requiring more work and is expensive while holistic scoring method is considered cheaper and more efficient. Holistic scoring method provides less information to students than analytic soring method. Each of the methods has their own advantages but there should be one method that is more suitable for essay scoring. 1.3 Purpose of the Study This study is aimed at investigating the use of holistic scoring method and analytic rubrics in essay scoring among teachers of Malaysian secondary school. This study is also aimed at discovering the relationship between the two methods. Another goal of this study is to find out how analytic scoring method can be applied in Malaysian secondary schools. 1.4 Significance of the Study Methods of essay scoring have been discussed by many experts all around the globe. It is important in a sense that it reflects students ability in writing essay. The wrong method used to mark their essays will cause their performance to drop. How students write essays, sometimes depend on how the teachers mark their essay. There is a vital connection between the two. Basically, Malaysian secondary schools teachers mark students essay according to what they believe is correct and suitable for their students and the method they use can be considered as holistic scoring method. It is very important that they know a method in specific so that they can mark students essay in details. With this study, it is hope that teachers will realized that analytic scoring method is a more suitable method to be used in essay scoring as it will enhance students writing skills precisely and increase the quality of their essays. 1.5 Research Questions The research questions for this study are as follows: How is holistic scoring method used in marking students essays? How are analytic scoring rubrics used in marking students essays? Why is the holistic scoring method mostly used in school? Why is the analytic scoring rubric rarely used for marking essays in school? How far is it possible to integrate analytic scoring rubric in the curriculum of Malaysian secondary school? CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW Introduction According to Normah Othman (2006), there is no specific scoring strategy implemented specially for a classroom-based assessment of direct writing in Malaysian secondary schools. As it is now, ESL teachers currently use a scoring method adopted from the Malaysian Examinations Syndicate. Therefore, teachers can choose to use analytic or holistic scoring. But most of the teachers use holistic scoring in Malaysian Secondary context. Below are the researches done at different countries on analytic and holistic scoring method. According to Alharby (2006), studies addressing issues related to performance assessment seem to be taking two relatively different directions. One if it is to search for the best scoring method that maximizes reliability and validity of assessment. This is usually accomplished by comparing two of the most popular scoring methods used with performance assessment, the holistic scoring method vs. the analytic scoring method. According to him again, the holistic scoring method is usually used with large scale assessment because it is less time consuming than the analytic method; the latter often producing a very large number of responses that need to be evaluated in a short period of time. The analytic scoring method, on the other hand, is usually used with classroom assessments because it provides more detailed feedback on students learning progress for teachers, students, and parents than does the holistic scoring method. In this research paper, the two essay scoring methods will be f ocused on in Malaysian secondary school context. Moon and Callahan (2001) reported that performance assessments have become more popular within classroom assessments for the last two decades. Methods used in performance assessment are analytic and holistic scoring methods. This two types of scoring methods have been concerned by many researches regarding issues such as its reliability (Parkers, Zimmaro, Zappe, Suen, 1998), validity (Kane, Crooks Cohen, 1999), cost (Picus, 1994), and practicality (Baker Aschbacher, 1992). In this research paper, all the mentioned issues will only be dealt as general factors that affect teachers of English in Malaysian secondary context in choosing essay scoring method. Waltman, Kahn Koency (1998) found that the way raters score individual responses affect reliability as well as the validity of an assessment. The two most common ways to score individual responses such as essays written by students are the holistic scoring method and the analytic scoring method. According to Clauser (2000), analytic scoring method is recommended for simple tasks such as tasks to evaluate students ability in spelling and grammar usage. On the other hand, Clauser recommends the holistic scoring method when the tasks are more complicated such as evaluating the adequacy of a haiku. According to Charney (1984), the holistic scoring method tends to be favored by large scale assessment with numerous examinees because it is less time consuming. In contrast, Vacc (1989) claimed that the analytic scoring method tends to be favored by classroom assessment because of the detailed feedback it offers to teachers, students, and their parents in terms of how students performed on t he assessment. Holistic Scoring Method The holistic scoring method was first introduced in 1960s and was known as the general impression scoring method (Hunter, 1996). Similarly, Ojeda (2004) stated that the holistic scoring approach is an approach where graders read to evaluate an essay as a whole-without focusing on or overemphasizing any one particular part or aspect. It started to become popular in the middle of the 70s (Boring, 2002). Huot (1990) pointed out that the holistic scoring method is a technique in which raters are asked to evaluate individual responses as a whole by their first impression without going to specific possible subdomains of the trait being tested. Klein et al. (1998, p.122) stated that this approach [holistic scoring method] is usually most appropriate when the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, that is when scores need to be sensitive to general features of answer quality, such as organization, style, and persuasiveness. In recent year, the holistic scoring method has become even mor e popular, especially with large scale assessments. In Malaysian secondary schools, this method is widely used. Besides that, many researchers have also tried to define holistic scoring approach. White (1984, 1985) defined holistic scoring as a global approach to texts, reflecting the idea that a written text is a single entity. White (1984, 1985) maintained that holistic scoring is preferable because it more closely simulates the impression a reader the meaning of the text as a whole rather than focus on individual features of the writing, such as grammar. White (1985), Weigle (2002), and Hyland (2002) describe holistic scoring as involving carefully selected and experienced raters who use their skilled impressions to give a paper a single, integrated score that is supposed to represent the writers overall writing ability. Powills, Bowers, and Conlan (1979) explained that this holistic approach to scoring essays is an attempt to evaluate wholes rather than parts so that performance on one facet does not determine the judgment of performance on the whole. Different researchers have identified different reasons for the increase of the holistic scoring methods popularity. Some think that it is because the holistic scoring method is the most direct assessment technique (Cooper, 1997); while others think that the reason is that the holistic scoring method is the most economical, flexible and applicable assessment (Huot, 1990; Veal Hudson, 1983). As for White (2004), he pointed out that despite disagreements that arise about the scorings of some papers; this has become the standard way of scoring gatekeeping writing tests in large-scale writing assessments. Findings by Coffman (1968), Freedman (1979), and Breland and Jones (1984) supported that holistic scoring helps focus raters on meaning, showing that holistic raters of essay writing ability seem to attend more to content features than to mechanics and sentence structure. One potential advantage of holistic scoring methods in the assessment of second language writing ability is that they are more practical. Godshalk, Swineford, and Coffman, (1966), Alloway (1978), and Powills, Bowers, and Conlan (1979) all found holistic scoring methods to be more efficient than analytic scoring methods, particularly for large-scale exams, noting the advantages of such an approach in saving time and money. Furthermore, Smith, Winters-Edys, Quellmalz, and Baker (1980) estimated that holistic scoring takes approximately two-thirds the time of analytic scoring. Although holistic scoring method is widely accepted as the most appropriate tool for this purpose, many writing practitioners and administrators reportedly view the holistic technique with reservation (Enginarlar, 1991, p. 39). Hamp-Lyons (1996, p. 234) objects to the single point score resulting from holistic grading, which she claims obscures a pattern of consistent overemphasis or underemphasis on basic language control. Another claim is that a higher share of midlevel papers seem to end up with split scores-scores 2 points apart that must be resolved by a third grader-so holistic scoring may be less effective for evaluating midlevel performances than an analytic method might be (Elbow, 1996b). According to East (2009), the strength of holistic scoring lies in its practicality, which in large-scale testing contexts is an important consideration. Besides that, Vaughan (1991) argues that researchers looking at holistic assessment have often assumed that given a scale that describes the characteristics of an essay at each level, trained raters will assess the essays in the same way every time (p.112). Despite all the strength of holistic scoring, Prior research has established that there are some problems with holistic scoring method. Charney (1984) speculates that scores in holistic readings are based on superficial features, such as handwriting, essay length, word choice and spelling errors. This is in accord with Stewart and Grobe (1979), who concluded that raters were primarily influenced by essay length and freedom from simple mechanical errors (p. 214). Diederich, French, and Carlton (1961) found that judgments made by essay raters under holistic scoring conditions were unreliable. They recommended that considerable effort should be done to establish and maintain reliable ratings. Diederich (1974) claimed that until holistic scoring procedures were refined, the score an essay received could depend more on who the rater was than on any qualities of the text itself. Charney (1984), Gere (1980), and Odell and Cooper (1980) also questioned the premises on which certain conclusions about the reliability of holistic scoring have been based. Charney observed that the way holistic raters read texts may create an unnatural reading environment in which scores might only reflect agreement on salient but superficial features of writing, such as the quality of the handwriting or the presence of spelling errors. According to Hamp-Lyons (1995), English as Second Language writers have a special need for scoring procedures that go beyond just the assign of a single score because one score does not allow raters to distinguish between various aspects of writing, such as language control, range of vocabulary, or organizational control. Hamp-Lyons also pointed out that it is problematic for second language (L2) writers since different aspects of writing ability seem to develop at different rates for different writers. Some writers may be strong in expressing content and organization, but limited in grammatical accuracy; others may have excellent language control at the sentence level, but be unable to organize their writing. All the aspects mentioned by Hamp-Lyons should be taken into consideration when teachers of English in Malaysian secondary schools score an essay. Additionally, holistic scores are not easy to interpret because raters do not necessarily use the same criteria to arrive at the same scores. One rater may assign a score to a writing sample based on content and organization, while another rater assigns the same score on the basis of language control (grammar) and vocabulary. Charney (1984) noted that time constraints affect raters depth of processing. When spending only two minutes on a paper, a rater may assign a score that only reflects agreement on salient but superficial features of writing, such as the quality of the handwriting or the presence of spelling errors (p. 78). In another study, Arthur (1979) found that the holistic rankings of second language learners (L2) essays written by lower-intermediate adult learners were related to frequency of spelling and grammar errors, and that the best predictor of rating was the length of composition. In addition, Raforth and Rubin (1984) found that college instructors perceptions of composition quality were most influenced by mechanics. A single holistic score assigned to a writing sample may thus represent different aspects of writing ability for different raters. In holistic rating of L2 writing samples, a significantly larger amount of inconsistent textual information must be processed in a limited amount of time, which may affect the ratings. Several studies have suggested that a quick holistic read of an L2 writing sample may not allow the rater the time necessary to accurately assess the writing performance. Huot (1993) noted that when the rater is required to read a text so quickly for a limited set of criteria outlined in a scoring rubric, the need for agreement may hinder a rich, personal response to the text, thus affecting the consistency of the scores. Hamp- Lyons (2003) has cautioned that it is difficult to accurately capture the criteria used by raters during the quick read of a holistic scoring. Apart from that, Grobe (1981) concluded from an analysis of essays and correlation with holistically obtained scores that teachers see good writing as being closely associated with vocabulary diversity (p. 85). Sakyi (2001) supports Grobes view that raters decisions on awarding scores are significantly influenced by vocabulary diversity and the extent of grammatical error, but also by the range and sophistication of syntax and the style or format of the writing. Sakyi also notes from his own research that for raters who made a conscious effort to follow the scoring guide, the restrictions imposed on them to assign a single score at the end caused them to depend mostly on only one or two particular features to distinguish between different levels of ability (p. 129). Analytic Scoring Method The analytic scoring method was introduced at the same time as the holistic scoring method (Boring, 2002). Hunter (1996) explained that for the analytic scoring method, the domain being tested is subdivided to smaller subdomains. Each of these subdomains is then evaluated by itself. The sum of these subdomains would, by default, reproduce the whole. Proponents of analytic scoring methods (Jacobs, Zinkgraf, Wormuth, Hartfiel, Hughey, 1981; Hamp-Lyons, 1990; Huot, 1993; Weigle, 1999) have found several advantages to this method of scoring. One of the advantages is with multiple scores; analytic scoring schemes provide more information about a test takers performance than holistic scoring schemes and permit a profile of the areas of writing ability. Analytic scoring methods can provide specific feedback, which is needed in measuring achievement, predicting future success, and accurately placing students (Shaw, 2002; Bacha 2001), as well as providing useful diagnostic feedback on writing performance (Jacobs, et al., 1981; Hamp-Lyons, 1991; Cohen, 1994). In the assessment of L2 writing ability, analytic scales are very useful if a students writing ability is developing at differing rates for situation such as when vocabulary is good, but organizational control is lacking. Hamp-Lyons (1991), Huot (1996) and Weigle (2002) have suggested that analytic-type scales are generally more reliable than holistic-type scales since each candidate gets more than one score, and multiple scores contribute to reliability. Regarding intra-rater reliability, some research has suggested that analytic scoring is more useful than holistic in training inexperienced raters. It is argued that the raters can more easily interpret and apply the scoring criteria in separate domains than the criteria as described in one holistic rubric (Francis, 1977, and Adams, 1981, both cited in Weir (1990); Hartog, Rhodes, Burt, 1936; Cast, 1939; Bauer, 1981; and Weigle, 1998). Cumming (1990) suggested that an analytical scale tends to reflect what raters do when rating samples of writing or other language performance that is consider the individual features of writing one by one. According to Vacc (1989), the analytic technique is preferred over the holistic scoring method when detailed feedback is needed, especially with classroom assessments. Another reason to use analytic scoring method is that it has been argued that training raters to use analytic scoring rubrics is relatively easier than training them to use holistic scoring rubrics (Cohen, 1994; McNamara, 1996). According to Boring (2002), one advantage of the analytic scoring method over the holistic scoring method is that with the analytic technique, it is possible to give various weights to different subdomains based on their theoretical importance. In addition, Kroll (1990) described that it can help meet the need that many ESL learners who fail writing tests have, for feedback on both the deficiencies and the qualities in their writing (Kroll, 1990). There are, however, a number of disadvantages to using an analytic scoring scheme for the assessment of direct writing samples. The primary concern regarding analytic scoring is practicality. As Weigle (2002) pointed out, it generally takes longer to score a writing sample using an analytic rubric since the rater must make multiple decisions for each writing sample and thus must read the sample multiple times. Some critics doubt whether writing ability can be measured by a composite score based on different aspects of writing. White (1985) argued that writing is more than the sum of its parts, and that the use of an analytic scoring scheme may in effect divert attention from overall essay effect. Weigle (1999) noted information is lost when raters revise their scores on the different scales once they consider the single composite score. Raters may also tend to rate holistically rather than analytically so that the rater ends up assigning a writing sample the same score in every domain (Cohen, 1994). An additional problem with analytic scoring and rater bias surfaced in Cummings (1990) descriptive analysis of raters comments. Cumming (1990) also found that both novice and expert raters tended to analytically evaluate ESL compositions on both language control and writing ability, implicitly attributing separate values to each of these domains. Hamp-Lyons (1989) noted another potential problem in the reliability of analytic scoring schemes in that an analytic scoring method may favor essays where performance criteria are easily and quickly extracted from the writing sample. While an analytic scoring method offers the potential of additional information regarding the students L2 writing ability, there are potential problems of reliability and validity derived from the scoring procedures. Conclusion All the researches had shown that the method used by teachers in assessing students essay will definitely have an impact on students writing skills and ability. It is very vital to use the correct method so that students will improve their performance. From all the researches also, it can be concluded that most of them focus on the reliability, validity and practicality of the two scoring methods from many perspective. There is very few or none research is done on the teachers point of view on the two methods. In this research paper, the teachers opinions will be concern as much as possible. 2.2 Definition of terms Holistic scoring method is a method which teachers use to evaluate a piece of students writing for its overall quality. It is a method used in essay scoring whereby a single mark is awarded to an essay from a range of marks categorized in different performance bands in which each band is characterized by descriptors based on the total impression of the essay as a whole. It is widely used in Malaysian schools to mark essays in school-based and public examinations. Analytic scoring method is a method that teachers use to assess students written works more specifically and in detail. It is usually based on a well structured rubric where all the components that need to be assessed are stated out clearly and in detail. This method views an essay in as technical a manner as possible. It is not a common method used in Malaysian secondary schools. CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY 3.1 Introduction The first purpose of this study is to investigate the use of holistic scoring method and analytic rubrics in essay scoring among teachers of Malaysian secondary schools. This study is also aimed at discovering the relationship between the two methods. Another goal of this study is to find out how analytic scoring method can be applied in Malaysian secondary school. As for the research questions in this study, the first one is how holistic scoring method is used in marking students essays. The second question is how analytic scoring rubrics are used in marking students essays. The third question is why holistic scoring method is mostly used in school. The fourth question is why analytic scoring rubric is rarely used in marking school essays. The last question is how possible is it for analytic scoring rubric to be integrated in the curriculum of Malaysian secondary school. To fulfill the purpose and research questions for this study, only one method is used. Fifty survey questionnaires were distributed. 3.2 Population and sampling The population chosen for this study was teachers of English from Malaysian secondary schools. The population was selected randomly. There was no distinction between gender and races. Fifty teachers from different schools were given the questionnaire. Six schools were chosen to answer the questionnaires. All the teachers chosen to answer questionnaire were teachers of English. All the schools chosen are selected randomly to ensure that there is no bias. 3.3 Instrumentation The instrument used was a questionnaire consisting of 5 sections. The survey is constructed in 5 sections to answer all the research questions. A copy of the survey is attached to appendix A. 3.4 Procedure and time frame This research took about 6 weeks to complete. It started during the 6th week and ended in the 12th week of the semester. During this period of time, the researcher went to six Malaysian secondary schools to give out the questionnaire. First of all, the researcher identified the schools that are suitable for the study. Schools that have at least 8 teachers of English were selected. Secondly, the researcher went to the schools and met with the principal of each school. The researcher asked permission from the principal to give out the questionnaires. Almost all the schools asked the researcher to leave the questionnaires there for collection the next week. The researcher left the questionnaires there according to the number of teachers of English in each school. Thirdly, the researcher went back to each school the next week and collected all the completed questionnaires. Some questionnaires were not collected mainly because teachers were busy with examinations. After collecting all the questionnaires, data were analyzed. 3.5 Analysis plan All the data collected from the survey will be analyzed according to research questions. The first and second sections of the questionnaire are to answer the first two research questions on analytic and holistic scoring. These two sections consist of characteristics on both analytic and holistic scoring. The answers respondents have chosen will reveal their scoring method accurately. Item A1 to A3 will be on analytic marking method, while A4 to A6 will be on holistic marking method. The following graph will present the result for each item. Figure 3.1 . The outline of the presentation of result for section A of the questionnaire Where: A1 I use analytic marking method (mark according to specific criterion) A2 I concentrate on one criterion at a time and read the response specifically for that criterion. A3 I read the response and mark errors in spelling, sentence structure and coherence A4 I use holistic marking method (mark essay as a whole) A5 I read the response and give a mark as a whole A6 After the first reading I assign one band score to the response and confirm this after subsequent readings. Another graph will be for section B. The following graph is to summarize the percentage for section B. Figure 3.2. The outline of the presentation of result for section B of the questionnaire Where: B1 Is the marking scheme holistic guide? B2 Is the marking scheme analytic guide? B3 Do you find the marking scheme easy to interpret? B4 Do you find the marking scheme easy to apply? B5 Do you feel the assessment criteria in the marking scheme provide an accurate and fair assessment? B6 Do you think it is necessary to change the current marking scheme? The third section answers the third research question on holistic scoring. This section is to explore the reasons of teachers who use holistic scoring. The fourth section answered the fourth research question on analytic scoring. This section is to explore the reasons of teachers who use analytic scoring. 7 reasons presented in the questionnaires were according to literature review. This is to find out why teachers like to use holistic or analytic scoring. Two graphs as follow will be used to summarize the result. Figure 3.3. The outline of the presentation of result for section C of the questionnaire Where: C1 I like to use it. C2 It is more convenient. C3 It costs less. C4 It saves time. C5 It is reliable. C6 It provides good feedback for students. C7 It is fair. Figure 3.4. The outline of the presentation of result for section D of the questionnaire Where: D1 I like to use it. D2 It is more convenient. D3 It costs less. D4 It saves time. D5 It is reliable. D6 It provides good feedback for students. D7 It is fair. The last section is to examine the possibility of using analytic scoring in Malaysian secondary context. This answered the last research question. This section is on curriculum of Malaysian secondary school and the use of analytic scoring. If teachers are more positive towards using analytic scoring, it suggests that it is possible to use. The graph used to analyze the result is as follows. Figure 3.5. The outline of the presentation of result for section E of the questionnaire Where: E1 It is possible to mark students essays based on specific features and criterion in school E2 I think that teachers are willing to use analytic scoring rubric in school E3 Analytic scoring rubric is suita