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    1. Sources of Competitive Advantage in the Airlines Industry
    Superior market knowledge is not only an important source of competitive advantage but it also results in happier higher volume of and more loyal customers. Thus the systematic development of market knowledge is a critically important activity in any organization.*
    *Reference:From Chapter 6Take-Awaysin Mullins J. Walker O. & Boyd H. (2013).Marketing management: A strategic decision-making approach. (8th ed.) New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin.
    In this discussion address the following:
    2. Singapore International Airlines: Strategy with a Smile (Ramaswamy 2001)
    Case Study Review
    Access and read the following Harvard Business Review case study:
    This business strategy case will help you to develop a framework for conceptualizing differentiation-based competitive advantage. Specifically it illustrates how an organization implementing a strategy of differentiation needs to design its entire value chain with the intent to be outstanding in every value activity that it performs. Thus it identifies the critical resource commitments that a differentiation strategy would require. This discussion is closely intertwined with an examination of country-specific (Singapore in this case) sources of competitive advantage.
    Case Study Analysis
    Prepare your response addressing the following items:
    3. Part 1: Review Questions
    Part 2:Sales Forecasting in the Airlines Industry
    As a marketing manager for a major airline you are faced with strategic planning decisions of growing sales and increasing market share in the leisure travel market. Your boss walks into your office and requests an analysis of past sales in the leisure travel market using regression analysis (Tip:Review videoForecasting in Excel Using Simple Linear Regressionin Activity 4.2). Using the Excel data file linked belowcreate a regression analysis with a graphthat you can present to your boss for a meeting next week. Include asummaryof your findings that:
    Data File
    Download the following file by right-clicking on the file link selectingSave Target (or Link) As…and saving to your computer.
    4. Changing Personality The Psychoanalytic vs the Behaviorist Perspective
    One of the most common questions that is asked of personality psychologists is Can personality be changed? In general personality is considered to be a pervasive set of characteristic and/or behaviors that remain stable over time. However different theoretical perspectives approach the question of behavioral change quite differently.
    As we have seen the Psychoanalytic and Behaviorist theories differ widely in their perspectives on the origin development and behavioral expressions of personality. Likewise they view the likelihood and process of change very differently.
    Read the Changing Personality box in Chapter 6 Section 6.2 in your textbook for a summary and example of how Behaviorists approach personality change.
    Below is a reprint of Table 6.1 found in Chapter 6 Section 6.4 in your textbook. It compares Psychoanalytic/Neo-Analytic concepts to their Behaviorist reinterpretations.
    Psychoanalytic/Neo-Analytic Concept
    Behaviorist Reinterpretation
    Freuds notion of theidas the instinctual energies that form the undifferentiated core of the personality.
    Skinner asserted that this is simply humans innate susceptibility to reinforcement which is the product of evolution.
    The internal personality structure termed theegoor I which responds to the world according to the reality principle.
    The learned responses to the practical contingencies of everyday life; there are different behavioral repertoires for different environmental contingencies.
    Thesuperegoor over-I that internalizes societal rules and helps protect the ego from overwhelming id impulses.
    Behavior is learned from the punitive practices of society controlling behavior not allowed by parents and society; unconscious simply means that people are not taught to observe it and talk about it.
    The ego defense mechanism ofrepression that pushes threatening thoughts and motives back into the unconscious.
    We learn to avoid behavior that is punished and by not engaging in it we avoid conditioned aversive stimulation.
    Jungs notion ofarchetypes(universal emotional symbols) and thecollective unconsciousof deep universal emotional symbols.
    Skinner says that this is the evolution of certain universal characteristics of the human species and the parallel cultural evolution of useful behaviors; there is thus a sameness or universality of things that are reinforcing and a commonality of behaviors that societies need to control.
    Guidelines
    Submit a 400-600 word paper that compares and contrasts these approaches to changing personality. In your paper address these issues:
    5. Addiction
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    Overview
    As with all human behaviors the Behaviorist and Learning theories emphasize patterns of learned associations and reinforcementas the underlying cause ofdrug abuse and addiction. As such according to these theorists the same principles operate with regard to the development of as well as treatment for the dysfunctional behavior patterns.
    Watch
    Watch the following Ted Talk regarding addiction. Also be sure to read the overview at the same linkbefore watching the video.
    Johann Hari: Everything you think you know about addiction is wrong(Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
    Discuss
    After watchingthis Ted Talkpost a thoughtful answer to the following questions. Be sure to answerall parts of thequestion:

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