I can mention thousands of successful Iranian women in all over the world in the highest positions of the international organizations like Anousheh Ansari (the co-founder, chairwoman, and CEO of Prodea systems and the first woman that fly to the international space station) , Shirin Ebadi ( founder of Defenders of human rights center in Iran and awarded the Nobel peace prize in 2003 and she listed as one of the most powerful women in the world) and lots of strong and powerful Iranian women . However, they make up about half of the population and more than 60% of the university entrances are women so why we have just 2% of them in the workplaces especially governmental enterprises.

Before  the revolution of Iran, there was an upward trend in the participation of women. Unfortunately, after that, because the government’s constitution is based on the religion so it makes lots of strict rules which it leads to restriction for women. For instance, wearing hijab is one of the restrictions which prevent them from working in lots of places and splitting up the males and females in the organizations .The males and females in Iran don’t have equal rights . As we know , diversity is one of the crucial points in a company in terms of genders , cultures , ages . In my point of view, One of the main reason is because we are engaged in our traditional and inherent attitudes. Most of the people are not believing the presence of women in a number of jobs like to be a bus driver or being president. These ways of thoughts and attitudes gradually influenced the women as well so they don’t have the enough self-confidence to express their real power and their skills, especially where the co-workers or clients are predominantly men. At first, this problem must be solved which is the self-esteem of the women from themselves, Unfortunately, the current government persists with policies against the regular attendance of women in the society. Therefore , they are trying to persuade them that they are better in managing their family and growing children and it is an instrumental view of women . Females bring lots of advantages in the workplaces such as diversity and multidimensional interest, stronger ethics, great management and analyzing skills and team spirit and so on and so forth . Furthermore, women are great in attracting and persuading consumers so they have better communication skills.
So, I feel sorrowful as we are not able to benefit from the maximum capacity of women’s talents and skills in my country.
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• Motevalli, Golnar. “Women in Iran Are Ready to Show They Mean Business.” Bloomberg.com. Bloomberg, 01 Oct. 2015. Web. 05 Feb. 2017. <https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-01/women-in-iran-are-ready-to-show-they-mean-business>.

• ”The Overlooked Potential of Iran’s Women Entrepreneurs.” Bourse & Bazaar. N.p., 22 Aug. 1970. Web. 05 Feb. 2017. <http://www.bourseandbazaar.com/articles/2016/8/21/irans-overlooked-women-entrepreneurs>.

• “University Of Tehran Iran.” University Of Tehran Iran.web : 938000 Résultats 3/20 Exit.ws. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Feb. 2017. <http://exit.ws/recherche/University::Of::Tehran::Iran/web/3>.

• Reddy, Krishna. “Top 12 Advantages Women Bring to the Workplace.” WiseStep. N.p., 08 June 2016. Web. 05 Feb. 2017. <http://content.wisestep.com/top-advantages-women-bring-to-the-workplace/>.

• Digital image. Https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSWLBL52bBPfJ_xlCmSLDZj_UVY1IVnrKLkSseoMIz2YL8iKxd_. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Feb. 2017.

• Digital image. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Feb. 2017. <http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2003/ebadi-photo.html>.

When I thinking about a company with successful motivation strategies for the employees always Starbucks come in my mind because I am one of the loyal customers so that is very interesting for me to know as much as I can about my favorite brand.
The most important point in a retail coffee shop is their employees because most of them have a direct relationship with the customers and can easily convey their feelings to the costumers. As Adair (1990, p. 26) stated: fifty percent of motivation comes from the person and fifty percent from his environment.The company refers its employees as “partners” because they believe them as a part of their business.
Health and life insurance are one of the crucial points for a company that Starbucks provides it for both full-time and part-time employees and providing dental and vision insurances as well.
Starbucks takes advantage of extrinsic awards like a bonus that the effectiveness of these performance bonuses is very high. Discounted stock purchase plan and future savings included in the various types of variable – pay programs.
Intrinsic rewards are as essential as or more than extrinsic rewards because Starbucks maintains to inspire and nurture the human spirit by their products. Therefore, leaders should manage plans to inspire employees in the first step.
Each week, The company grants you one box of coffee pods or tea or brew packets which are a great motivation for Starbucks lovers. Starbucks claims that is a healthy brand so to improve this attitude, they designed programs to help partners have an active and fresh lifestyle.
The most outstanding award from them which really impressed me as a student is paying a significant portion of the tuition of the employees who works full and part time and students can choose between a wide range of online programs that sometimes costs more that 2000$ each. This award indicates the importance of education to them and their effort to promote education among people.
Starbucks is popular globally for its acceptance of various cultures and diversified employees. Not only increase creativity and creating unique qualities for the company in comparison with other competitors also attract and motivate different people to be a partner and to be a family member of Starbucks.

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Citations:

• ”These Are the All the Awesome Benefits Starbucks Baristas Get.” Time. Time, n.d. Web. 05 Feb. 2017. <http://time.com/2885743/starbucks-benefits/>.

• “Employee Motivation Starbucks Corporation.” UKEssays. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Feb. 2017. <https://www.ukessays.com/essays/business/employee-motivation-starbucks-

• ”Starbucks – The Best Coffee and Espresso Drinks.” Starbucks Coffee Company. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Feb. 2017. <https://www.starbucks.com/>.

• “Career Center.” Starbucks Coffee Company. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Feb. 2017. <https://www.starbucks.com/careers>.

• Digital image. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Feb. 2017. <2. https://news.starbucks.com/uploads/images/Ferguson_Store_Partners_low_res.JPG>.

• Digital image. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Feb. 2017. <3. http://www.smobserved.com/home/cms_data/dfault/photos/stories/id/2/9/1829/.TEMP/s_bottomTEMP-9056.jpeg>.

As a person from the Middle East , I already informed about high demand for luxury products in this part of a world. These days, big companies try to take advantage of different marketing strategies to attract consumers to buy their special and high qualified products. One of the biggest differentiation in Middle East countries is the passion for jewelry and women’s clothing because most of the women wearing hijab in most of these countries. That’s why lots of designers improve their understanding of the local consumers need to make a profit by creating special lines to get loyal customers.The important aspect about the luxury brands is the emotional marketing strategies that should give the powerful feeling of uniqueness to consumers and not any more comparison with other competitors. Normally the consumers of these brands, especially, in the Middle East feel that they are too rich and fashion followers. So, if these brands offer products that not every people can have them and make accessing to them hard so the consumers feel that having them boost their status in the society. In the region’s culture, the 90% of nationals saying that they shopping regularly and that is a huge number that indicates the passion of shopping in this part ’[Chalhoub Group, Youth, and Luxury, 2010].

Furthermore, the teenagers in Dubai spend about 100$ per month on clothes that are six times more than the other parts of a world . Hence, these young people can be loyal customers and that can be a future growth for these luxury brands.

Versace is one of the brands that is very popular in the Middle East and has plenty of loyal customers and recently increase its sales by 50 percent and they hope to double their revenue.Versace hotel in Dubai indicates the combination of Arabian architecture and Versace design that shows the strong relationship between the brand and the Middle East consumers and promote their lifestyle products.

Roberto Cavalli ( an Italian brand) also designs lots of costumes which are suitable for women with hijab and using favorite colors of these region leads to make a high profit from this part. Moreover, having some branches of Cavalli café in Dubai helps the company’s brand image to be popular.

To sum up, luxury brands have to consider the great opportunity in the Middle East but considering with different consumer behavior and culture . So , brands are going to have more diversified workplace as well which can increase more creative and unique products and be more famous.

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Citation

• “Welcome to Palazzo Versace Dubai.” One of the Leading 5 Star Hotels in Dubai | Palazzo Versace Dubai. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Jan. 2017.

• East:, Luxury In The Middle, and An Easy Sell. An Easy Sell?Index (n.d.): n. pag. Web. 8 Jan. 2017.

•  Bastien, Vincent. “Marketing To A High-End Consumer, Using The Luxury Strategy.”Entrepreneur. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Jan. 2017.

• “Fashion Business and Promotional Strategies in the Middle East.” Fashion Business Intelligence. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Jan. 2017.

• “Versace CEO’s Billion-dollar Plan.” Arabian Business. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Jan. 2017.

• “22 Gucci | Brand | Luxury Goods.” Scribd. Scribd, n.d. Web. 08 Jan. 2017.

• Digital image. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Jan. 2017. <https://3indubai.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Facilities_rendering.jpg>.

• Digital image. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Jan. 2017. <http://7606-presscdn-0-74.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Shopping-in-Dubai.jpg>.

Every year , from mid/July to mid/September, we are surrounded by stores with lots of back-to-school promotions that it is the second biggest shopping event of the year in the US and Canada and it reached to $68 billion in 2015 .Thus, it makes a competitive market between brands and it can lead to a profitable period for every company  with appropriate ways of marketing.

Francesca’s blog mentioned different  marketing opportunities that companies can use to leverage their sales and have examples of brands that using these methods.One of the great points that we have to consider and she also mentioned is that back-to-school time is not just related to school staffs.Generally, it is about new beginning  of the life or changing.For instance, back-to-school for an apparel store means time to present new dresses to motivate consumers to work.The companies have to show their points of differences by offering their new promotions like Apple company that offering a free beat with purchasing a Macbook and I think it is a great marketing strategy because they offer a popular brand for free that can attract lots of people and also it is unique and other brands do not have this offer.the 3 goals of back-to-school promotions: 1)attract customers  2)build a  relationship with customers  3)alter relationships into sales.

The other aspect that Francesca also insists on it is e-commerce and digital marketing because the main target is teenagers, students and kids and most of them using laptops,smartphones, and tablets to find their products and that is why companies have to update in terms of e-commerce and they should be prepared for the surge of online shopping.Around 74 percent  people using social media to find promotions so companies should have  powerful advertisements on that and can combine our marketing of products with the latest trends like Snapchat or Pokemon game.

Moreover, boosting  distribution channels and creating omnichannel are very crucial for retailers during back-to-school time.According to Baynote , 84% of customers are encouraged to shop online it the shipping is free.Customers use all of the choices that offered to them in a multichannel environment.Hence,with increasing competition,the retailers just have a smaller margin for error and just the companies that understand their customer segment and preferences , steady deliveries and promotional attempts(generally appropriate business model canvas) have an advantage among other competitors.

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Citations:

• “Back-To-School Spend Trends: Sales, Social Media And Starting Early.” Back-To-School Spend Trends: Sales, Social Media And Starting Early. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2016.
• “Ace Back-To-School Season.” NFI Industries. N.p., 2016. Web. 13 Nov. 2016.
• “2016 Back-to-school Spending Survey Results | Deloitte US.” Deloitte United States. N.p., 2016. Web. 13 Nov. 2016.
• “5 Brands with the Best Back to School Marketing Campaigns.” ROI Factor Blog. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2016.
• Http://cdn.macrumors.com/article-new/2015/08/applebacktoschool-800×652.jpg. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Jpg.
• @fragrancetalk. “Epic Back to School Promotion Ideas for Your Brand.” Strutta Blog. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2016.
• Nicasio, Francesca. “Back to School Marketing: 7 Ways to Encourage Parents and Students to Buy From You – Vend Retail Blog.” Vend Retail Blog. N.p., 2016. Web. 13 Nov. 2016.

Regarding Adi Rosenkrantz’s Blog , that focused on the emotional branding of the Coca Cola’s company. Lots of big companies using this marketing strategy to build customer loyalty like Nike that is very successful on this strategy . The Nike logo even without the name of the company is one of the most popular and recognizable images in the world. Their logo it’s not only just an effective in design but also related to a meaningful concept by “Just do it” slogan. Nike gained most of their success by using sponsorship agreement with famous athletes like Michael Jordan to use their products and promote their design. This way of marketing is also used by other companies like Beats by Dre . Another important aspect of their marketing strategy is their clever commercials and advertisings. As we can see in Nike advertisings , the main message is about believing ourselves . So, whether you are the fat man that plays golf or an urban woman in America or a Muslim woman that wears hijab, you can feel these messages because you think you are smart and believe yourself and that is why their commercials are successful and can influence you.

In most of their advertisement they followed the same routine: first ,showing a challenge that people preparing themselves to be ready for being In the zone. Then, pointing the difficulties and toughness in this challenge and finally gaining a victory . This kind of marketing is helpful because that tells a universal story. Furthermore, the company does not just focus on the celebrities , also they show an ordinary people and even people who suffered from obesity because they are also can be successful for themselves and with this way, Nike can increase their customer segments and target everyone with different conditions. That’s why if you go to a nowhere in Africa or between kids from 5 years old , you can see the logo of Nike. The other reason that Nike wants to show these pictures because as Mainwaring said: “when you have an emotional impact on your customers , it will be in a direct proportion to the social impact and that lead to success in your business.”

Therefore , Nike does it to focus on sustainability and the marketing with aspects of CSR. The other feature in terms of doing sustainability is innovation that Nike is really successful in these part also by new technologies from 1971 like Nike Air, Tech Pack and fly knit and so on. They are introducing new technologies every year. With these combinations I think, Nike is a good example of a company with a successful marketing strategy.

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Citation:

• “Nike Brand Strategy: Emotional Branding Using the Story of Heroism.” 602 Communications RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2016.
• Sato, Kai. “3 Nike Marketing Tactics You Should Be Using.” Inc.com. N.p., 28 May 2015. Web. 30 Oct. 2016.
• “What Is Nike’s Marketing Strategy?” – Quora. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2016.
• @TravelKindly. “10 Ways Today’s Purpose-Driven Brands Can Bring Their Core Values To Life.” Co.Exist. N.p., 14 Oct. 2013. Web. 30 Oct. 2016.
• “Coca Cola’s Marketing Strategy: Bringing People Together | Adi Rosenkrantz’s Blog.” Adi Rosenkrantzs Blog. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2016.
• Digital image. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2016. <https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/49/aa/b5/49aab59db8548b466eef5a1fd8735fff.jpg>.
• Digital image. N.p., n.d. Web. <http://www.unionroom.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/pacquiao.jpg>.

Http://www.cityofdreamsmacau.com/uploads/images/COD/Dining/starbuck/Starbucks_image4_cr.jpg. N.p., n.d. Web.

As I think about Starbucks , I just remembered the great smell of coffee and friendly atmosphere with free wifi that I enjoyed whenever I went there . As one of the loyal customers of Starbucks and Prakruti blog , In this blog, I want to focus on Starbucks brand positioning and their eCommerce . That is about how much is the brand powerful in customer’s mind. In the U.S, coffee is a pillar of the everyday life and they get used to consumption caffeine and sugar and It’s about 102 billion cups of coffee consumed every year in America so that means they target one of the popular products among people. I think the 3 major reasons that people choose Starbucks are :the coffee, the warm and friendly sellers and the experiences in the stores.Their target is people that want to get the best in quality and taste , Also Starbucks don’t just focus on the coffee they have different tea and cold drinks like Frappuccino that attracts children as well. In terms of points of parity, I can mention reliability that providing high quality and reliable products can affect the market share and about their points of difference I can mention their quality, experience , brand image and their new marketing decision in delivery system at end of 2015. In my point of view, that is a great endeavor for them but it is risky too because we want our coffee hot . The Green Apron is the first delivery system by Starbucks that it is just in New York now with 12000 employees .It is a good start if they can be on time in delivery it’s going to be a new generation in drink retailing system . They also provide a mobile app that with creating an account on it . You can order your products and pick up from the store and you can save lots of time . Furthermore, you can get points on every purchase and after getting points , they offer discounts and free drinks by these ways Starbucks can getting closer to the customers and make a more friendly relationship with them. Starbucks has valuable steps in terms of a new era of digital marketing . All of the companies should prepare themselves for shifting to eCommerce.

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Citation:

• “Prakruti’s Blog | Just Another UBC Blogs Site.” Prakrutis Blog. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Oct. 2016.
• @growwithtrellis. “The Future for Starbucks ECommerce Coffee Drinkers.”Trellis. N.p., 22 July 2016. Web. 16 Oct. 2016.
• By Excelling in These Three Areas and Improving Operations Management, Starbucks Can Regain Its Market Share, and Improve Productivity and Profitability. “International Journal of Engineering, Science and Technology.” Product Quality, Service Reliability and Management of Operations at Starbucks. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Oct. 2016.
• Tee Dashner, I Work Here Phonedoctors.com Follow. “Starbucks Positioning.”Starbucks Positioning. N.p., 03 Sept. 2014. Web. 16 Oct. 2016.

Zara is a Spanish fashion chain stores ,   which is one of the largest international fashion brands of Inditex . Nowadays buyers want to see a new trends quickly . Therefore , the strategy of “fast fashion” make Zara successful and their operation management and supply chain are their competitive advantages. In that case, Zara have to manage 3 criteria : 1)decreasing inventory 2) increasing resource that we used 3) time overtaking. Their supply chain consists of 4 stages: First, the company buys fabrics in 4 different colors and then they can order what they need from suppliers that are very close to the factory. In next step, Clothes are ironed and packed. Finally the items are ready to delivered. The vertical integration of their production system enables Zara to have new items in all of the stores just between two or three weeks. In terms of managing inventory, the company figures out the quantity that should be delivered to one retail store. So, it allows Zara to deliver more but in small amounts. It means if a product does not sell well , these small number has been shipped and replaced with new ones. Delivery time influences the company image .with twice a week supply to stores , Zara is the best in fast fashion and just-in-time strategy. Another aspect that Zara consider is responding fast to the changeable demands and all possible variables like sales forecasting and weather conditions and so on. Zara’s distribution is quite expensive than other retailors and mainly works by planes and trucks and that is why they can delivered items in just 48 hours to stores so that can be their strength to have the newest models in comparison with other competitors and obviously it would be going to the first choice for customers . As the average spend per customer online was higher than stores , the company should focus more on E- commerce and its added value to Zara because enables customers to the new line of Zara products.

Zara proved a powerful supply chain in fast fashion industry and that shows by a close communication between designers and customers and their high speed in delivering items. In my point of view, Zara is successful by that speed and fast fashion and obtained lots of benefits such as increasing market opportunity and reduce all of the risks associated with forecasting and decreasing total costs.

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Citation:
• Http://independent.academia.edu/WilbertMakori. “Zara’s Operations Strategy.” Academia.edu. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Oct. 2016.
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• “Grupo Inditex.” Products. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Oct. 2016.
• Stevenson, Seth. “Zara Gets Fresh Styles To Stores Insanely Fast. How Do They Do It?” Slate Magazine. N.p., 2012. Web. 02 Oct. 2016.
• “Zara’s Fast-Fashion Edge.” Bloomberg Business Week. Bloomberg, n.d. Web. 02 Oct. 2016.
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Garc, Ana. “Zara Parent Inditex’s Shares up on Ecommerce Hopes.” MarketWatch. N.p., 09 Mar. 2016. Web. 02 Oct. 2016.
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• By Obtaining These Materials You Agree to Abide by the Terms Herein, by Our Terms of Service as Posted on the Website and Any and All Alterations, Revisions and Amendments Thereto. “Zara: Information Technology For Fast Fashion :: Problem, Solution, Case Study.” Zara: Information Technology For Fast Fashion :: Problem, Solution, Case Study. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Oct. 2016.

• “Zara Looks to Online Growth as It Cuts Store Sales Forecast.” Fortune Comments. N.p., 08 Mar. 2016. Web. 02 Oct. 2016.
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