Short Story - 1172 Words

Obviously the comment about his neighbor’s choice of font offended him in some way. The next week’s worth of messages come printed in increasingly gaudy colours and bizarre fonts that make Comic Sans look tame and normal. I can’t even read that. Is that even a real font? Did you scribble something onto a piece of paper and scan it in? Honestly. A few hours later his printer hums to life and he glances up from his sketchbook. Screw you, I have beautiful handwriting. Jihoon can only assume it was a cat drawn underneath the message. He snorts- that’s the most awful looking cat he’s ever seen, which is impressive considering he’s seen Hoshi’s attempts at drawing. I’m going to go with the current theme and assume this is a cat. Of†¦show more content†¦Jihoon raises an eyebrow at him,I heard you talking to your fish last time I visited. You have no room to comment. Whatever you say, Jinnie. — Some days he doesn’t say much. Those days used to be filled with a kind of foggy muck in his mind. On those days his mind felt too big, his apartment too small, his skin too tight. But lately, even on the days he falls silent, his apartment doesn’t shrink. He doesn’t try to claw his way out of his own skin. On those days he collects pieces of paper. Paper, with increasingly crappy poems and ridiculous pictures. Then he wonders if there’s a market out there for this kind of sappy yet somehow endearing stuff. The printer hums and rattles its shelf. Roses are red This dino is blue You’re not talking today Is something wrong with you? There is a gruesome sketch of a dinosaur in blue pen with a bunch of hearts and question marks around it, and he tries not to let it get to him. But despite the slow throb in his brain and the general weariness in his bones, he finds himself talking. About his afternoon. About the kids in the summer programs his colleagues roped into teaching. About Hoshi and their high school volleyball team and dozens of other random things. The haze is still floating around his brain when he crawls into bed that night. But this time he doesn’t feel quite as afloat as he usually does when it happens. Three days later, the knocking at the door pounds in sync with the drums in his head.Show MoreRelatedshort story1018 Words   |  5 Pagesï » ¿Short Stories:  Ã‚  Characteristics †¢Short  - Can usually be read in one sitting. †¢Concise:  Ã‚  Information offered in the story is relevant to the tale being told.  Ã‚  This is unlike a novel, where the story can diverge from the main plot †¢Usually tries to leave behind a  single impression  or effect.  Ã‚  Usually, though not always built around one character, place, idea, or act. †¢Because they are concise, writers depend on the reader bringing  personal experiences  and  prior knowledge  to the story. Four MajorRead MoreThe Short Stories Ideas For Writing A Short Story Essay1097 Words   |  5 Pageswriting a short story. Many a time, writers run out of these short story ideas upon exhausting their sources of short story ideas. If you are one of these writers, who have run out of short story ideas, and the deadline you have for coming up with a short story is running out, the short story writing prompts below will surely help you. Additionally, if you are being tormented by the blank Microsoft Word document staring at you because you are not able to come up with the best short story idea, youRead MoreShort Story1804 Words   |  8 PagesShort story: Definition and History. A  short story  like any other term does not have only one definition, it has many definitions, but all of them are similar in a general idea. According to The World Book Encyclopedia (1994, Vol. 12, L-354), â€Å"the short story is a short work of fiction that usually centers around a single incident. Because of its shorter length, the characters and situations are fewer and less complicated than those of a novel.† In the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s DictionaryRead MoreShort Stories648 Words   |  3 Pageswhat the title to the short story is. The short story theme I am going conduct on is â€Å"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty’ by James Thurber (1973). In this short story the literary elements being used is plot and symbols and the theme being full of distractions and disruption. The narrator is giving a third person point of view in sharing the thoughts of the characters. Walter Mitty the daydreamer is very humorous in the different plots of his dr ifting off. In the start of the story the plot, symbols,Read MoreShort Stories1125 Words   |  5 PagesThe themes of short stories are often relevant to real life? To what extent do you agree with this view? In the short stories â€Å"Miss Brill† and â€Å"Frau Brechenmacher attends a wedding† written by Katherine Mansfield, the themes which are relevant to real life in Miss Brill are isolation and appearance versus reality. Likewise Frau Brechenmacher suffers through isolation throughout the story and also male dominance is one of the major themes that are highlighted in the story. These themes areRead MoreShort Story and People1473 Words   |  6 Pagesï » ¿Title: Story Of An Hour Author: Kate Chopin I. On The Elements / Literary Concepts The short story Story Of An Hour is all about the series of emotions that the protagonist, Mrs. Mallard showed to the readers. With the kind of plot of this short story, it actually refers to the moments that Mrs. Mallard knew that all this time, her husband was alive. For the symbol, I like the title of this short story because it actually symbolizes the time where Mrs. Mallard died with joy. And with thatRead MoreShort Story Essay1294 Words   |  6 PagesA short story concentrates on creating a single dynamic effect and is limited in character and situation. It is a language of maximum yet economical effect. Every word must do a job, sometimes several jobs. Short stories are filled with numerous language and sound devices. These language and sound devices create a stronger image of the scenario or the characters within the text, which contribute to the overall pre-designed effect.As it is shown in the metaphor lipstick bleeding gently in CinnamonRead MoreRacism in the Short Stor ies1837 Words   |  7 PagesOften we read stories that tell stories of mixing the grouping may not always be what is legal or what people consider moral at the time. The things that you can learn from someone who is not like you is amazing if people took the time to consider this before judging someone the world as we know it would be a completely different place. The notion to overlook someone because they are not the same race, gender, creed, religion seems to be the way of the world for a long time. Racism is so prevalentRead MoreThe Idol Short Story1728 Words   |  7 PagesThe short stories â€Å"The Idol† by Adolfo Bioy Casares and â€Å"Axolotl† by Julio Cortà ¡zar address the notion of obsession, and the resulting harm that can come from it. Like all addictions, obsession makes one feel overwhelmed, as a single thought comes to continuously intruding our mind, causing the individual to not be able to ignore these thoughts. In â€Å"Axolotl†, the narr ator is drawn upon the axolotls at the Jardin des Plantes aquarium and his fascination towards the axolotls becomes an obsession. InRead MoreGothic Short Story1447 Words   |  6 Pages The End. In the short story, â€Å"Emma Barrett,† the reader follows a search party group searching for a missing girl named Emma deep in a forest in Oregon. The story follows through first person narration by a group member named Holden. This story would be considered a gothic short story because of its use of setting, theme, symbolism, and literary devices used to portray the horror of a missing six-year-old girl. Plot is the literal chronological development of the story, the sequence of events

Cats and Humans 12,000-Year-Old Commensal Relationship

The modern cat (Felis silvestris catus) is descended from one or more of four or five separate wild cats: the Sardinian wildcat (Felis silvestris lybica), the European wildcat (F. s. silvestris), the Central Asian wildcat (F.s. ornata), the sub-Saharan African wildcat (F.s. cafra), and (perhaps) the Chinese desert cat (F.s. bieti). Each of these species is a distinctive subspecies of F. silvestris, but F.s. lybica was ultimately domesticated and is an ancestor of all modern domesticated cats. Genetic analysis suggests that all domestic cats derive from at least five founder cats from the Fertile Crescent region, from where they (or rather their descendants) were transported around the world. Researchers analyzing cat mitochondrial DNA  have identified evidence that F.s. lybica was distributed across Anatolia from the early Holocene (ca. 11,600 years ago) at the latest. The cats found their way into southeastern Europe before the onset of farming in the Neolithic. They suggest that cat domestication was a complex long-term process, because people took cats with them on overland and ship-board trade facilitating admixture events between geographically separated F.s. lybica and other wild subspecies like F.S. ornata at different times. How Do You Make a Domestic Cat? There are two difficulties inherent in determining when and how cats were domesticated: one is that domesticated cats can and do interbreed with their feral cousins; the other is that the primary indicator of cat domestication is their sociability or docility, traits not easily identified in the archaeological record. Instead, archaeologists rely on the size of animal bones found in archaeological sites (domesticated cats are smaller than feral cats), by their presence outside of their normal range, if they are given burials or have collars or the like, and if there is evidence that they have established a commensal relationship with the humans. Commensal Relationships Commensal behavior is the scientific name for hanging around with humans: the word commensal comes from Latin com meaning sharing and mensa meaning table. As applied to different animal species, true commensals live entirely in houses with us, occasional commensals move between houses and outdoor habitats, and obligate commensals are those that can only survive in an area because of their ability to occupy houses. Not all commensal relationships are friendly ones: some consume crops, steal food, or harbor disease. Further, commensal does not necessarily mean invited in: microscopic pathogens and bacteria, insects, and rats have commensal relationships with humans. Black rats in northern Europe are obligate commensals, which is one of the reasons the medieval bubonic plague was so effective at killing people. Cat History and Archaeology The oldest archaeological evidence for cats living with humans is from the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, where several animal species including cats were introduced by 7500 B.C. The earliest known purposeful cat burial is at the Neolithic site of Shillourokambos. This burial was of a cat buried next to a human between 9500-9200 years ago. The archaeological deposits of Shillourokambos also included the sculpted head of what looks like a combined human-cat being. There are a few ceramic figurines found in the 6th millennium B.C. site of Haà §ilar, Turkey, in the shape of women carrying cats or catlike figures in their arms, but there is some debate about the identification of these creatures as cats. The first unquestioned evidence of cats smaller in size than the wildcat is from Tell Sheikh Hassan al Rai, an Uruk period (5500-5000 calendar years ago [cal BP]) Mesopotamian site in Lebanon. Cats in Egypt Up until very recently, most sources believed that domesticated cats became widespread only after the Egyptian civilization took its part in the domestication process. Several strands of data indicate that cats were present in Egypt as early as the predynastic period, nearly 6,000 years ago. A cat skeleton discovered in a predynastic tomb (ca. 3700 BC) at Hierakonpolis may be evidence for commensalism. The cat, apparently a young male, had a broken left humerus and right femur, both of which had healed prior to the cats death and burial. Reanalysis of this cat has identified the species as the jungle or reed cat (Felis chaus), rather than F. silvestris, but the commensal nature of the relation is unquestioned. Continued excavations at the same cemetery at Hierakonpolis (Van Neer and colleagues) have found a simultaneous burial of six cats, an adult male and female and four kittens belonging to two different litters. The adults are F. silvestris  and fall within or near the size ranges for domesticated cats. They were buried during the Naqada IC-IIB period (ca. 5800–5600 cal BP). The first illustration of a cat with a collar appears on an Egyptian tomb in Saqqara, dated to the 5th dynasty Old Kingdom, ca 2500-2350 BC. By the 12th dynasty (Middle Kingdom, ca 1976-1793 BC), cats are definitely domesticated, and the animals are frequently illustrated in Egyptian art paintings and as mummies. Cats are the most frequently mummified animal in Egypt.   The feline goddesses Mafdet, Mehit, and Bastet all appear in the Egyptian pantheon by the Early Dynastic period—although Bastet is not associated with domesticated cats until later. Cats in China In 2014, Hu and colleagues reported evidence for early cat-human interactions during the Middle-Late Yangshao (early Neolithic, 7,000-5,000 cal BP) period at the site of Quanhucun, in Shaanxi province, China. Eight F. silvestris cat bones were recovered from three ashy pits containing animal bones, pottery sherds, bone and stone tools. Two of the cat jaw bones were radiocarbon dated between 5560-5280 cal BP. The size range of these cats falls within that of modern domesticated cats. The archaeological site of Wuzhuangguoliang contained a nearly complete felid skeleton laid on its left side and dated to 5267-4871 cal BP; and a third site, Xiawanggang, contained cat bones as well. All of these cats were from Shaanxi province, and all were originally identified as F. silvestris. The presence of F. silvestris in Neolithic China supports the growing evidence of complex trade and exchange routes connecting western Asia to northern China perhaps as long ago as 5,000 years. However, Vigne et al. (2016) examined the evidence and believe that all the Chinese Neolithic period cats are not F. silvestris but rather leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis). Vigne et al. suggest that the leopard cat became a commensal species beginning in the mid-sixth millennium BP, evidence of a separate cat domestication event. Breeds and Varieties and Tabbies Today there are between 40 and 50 recognized cat breeds, which humans created by artificial selection for aesthetic traits they preferred, such as body and facial forms, beginning about 150 years ago. The traits selected by cat breeders include coat color, behavior, and morphology—and many of those traits are shared across breeds, meaning they were descended from the same cats. Some of the traits are also associated with deleterious genetic traits such as osteochondrodysplasia affecting the development of cartilage in Scottish Fold cats and taillessness in Manx cats. The Persian or Longhair cat has an extremely short muzzle with large round eyes and small ears, a long, dense coat, and a round body. Bertolini and colleagues recently found that candidate genes for the facial morphology may be associated with behavioral disorders, susceptibility to infections, and breathing issues. Wildcats exhibit a striped coat coloration pattern referred to as mackerel, which in many cats appears to have been modified to the blotched pattern known as tabby. Tabby colorations are common in many different modern domestic breeds. Ottoni and colleagues note that striped cats are commonly illustrated from the Egyptian New Kingdom through the Middle Ages. By the 18th century AD, the blotched tabby markings were common enough for Linnaeus to include them with his descriptions of the domestic cat. Scottish Wildcat The Scottish wildcat is a large tabby cat with a bushy black ringed tail that is native to Scotland. There are only about 400 left and are thus among the most endangered species in the United Kingdom. As with other endangered species, threats to the wildcats survival include habitat fragmentation and loss, illegal killing, and the presence of feral domestic cats in wild Scottish landscapes. This last leads to interbreeding and natural selection resulting in the loss of some of the characteristics which define the species. Species-based conservation of the Scottish wildcat has included removing them from the wild and placing them into zoos and wildlife sanctuaries for captive breeding, as well as the targeted destruction of feral domestic and hybrid cats in the wild. But that reduces the number of wild animals even further. Fredriksen )2016) has argued that the pursuit of native Scottish biodiversity by attempting to stamp out non-native feral cats and the hybrids reduces the benefits of natural selection. It may be that the best chance the Scottish wildcat has of surviving in the face of a changing environment is to breed with domestic cats who are better adapted to it. Sources Bar-Oz G, Weissbrod L, and Tsahar E. 2014. Cats in recent Chinese study on cat domestication are commensal, not domesticated. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 111(10):E876.Bertolini F, Gandolfi B, Kim ES, Haase B, Lyons LA, and Rothschild MF. 2016. Evidence of selection signatures that shape the Persian cat breed. Mammalian Genome 27(3):144-155.Dodson J, and Dong G. 2016. What do we know about domestication in eastern Asia? Quaternary International in press.Fredriksen A. 2016. Of wildcats and wild cats: Troubling species-based conservation in the Anthropocene. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 34(4):689-705.Galvan M, and Vonk J. 2016. Man’s other best friend: domestic cats (F. silvestris catus) and their discrimination of human emotion cues. Animal Cognition 19(1):193-205. Hu Y, Hu S, Wang W, Wu X, Marshall FB, Chen X, Hou L, and Wang C. 2014. Earliest evidence for commensal processes of cat domestication. Proceedings of the National Academy of Scien ces 111(1):116-120.Hulme-Beaman A, Dobney K, Cucchi T, and Searle JB. 2016. An Ecological and Evolutionary Framework for Commensalism in Anthropogenic Environments. Trends in Ecology Evolution 31(8):633-645.Kurushima JD, Ikram S, Knudsen J, Bleiberg E, Grahn RA, and Lyons LA. 2012. Cats of the pharaohs: genetic comparison of Egyptian cat mummies to their feline contemporaries. Journal of Archaeological Science 39(10):3217-3223.Li G, Hillier LW, Grahn RA, Zimin AV, David VA, Menotti-Raymond M, Middleton R, Hannah S, Hendrickson S, Makunin A et al. 2016. A High-Resolution SNP Array-Based Linkage Map Anchors a New Domestic Cat Draft Genome Assembly and Provides Detailed Patterns of Recombination. G3: Genes Genomes Genetics 6(6):1607-1616.Mattucci F, Oliveira R, Lyons LA, Alves PC, and Randi E. 2016. European wildcat populations are subdivided into five main biogeographic groups: consequences of Pleistocene climate changes or recent anthropogenic fragmentation? Ecology and Evolution 6( 1):3-22.Montague MJ, Li G, Gandolfi B, Khan R, Aken BL, Searle SMJ, Minx P, Hillier LW, Koboldt DC, Davis BW et al. 2014. Comparative analysis of the domestic cat genome reveals genetic signatures underlying feline biology and domestication. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 111(48):17230-17235.Ottoni C, van Neer W, De Cupere B, Daligault J, Guimaraes S, Peters J, Spassov N, Pendergast ME, Boivin N, Morales-Muniz A et al. 2016. Of cats and men: the paleogenetic history of the dispersal of cats in the ancient world. bioRxiv 10.1101/080028. Owens JL, Olsen M, Fontaine A, Kloth C, Kershenbaum A, and Waller S. 2016. Visual classification of feral cat Felis silvestris catus vocalizations. Current Zoology. doi: 10.1093/cz/zox013Platz S, Hertwig ST, Jetschke G, Krà ¼ger M, and Fischer MS. 2011. Comparative morphometric study of the Slovakian wildcat population (Felis silvestris silvestris): Evidence for a low rate of introgression? Mammalian Biology - Zeitschrift fà ¼r Sà ¤ugetierkunde 76(2):222-233.Van Neer W, Linseele V, Friedman R, and De Cupere B. 2014. More evidence for cat taming at the Predynastic elite cemetery of Hierakonpolis (Upper Egypt). Journal of Archaeological Science 45:103-111.Vigne J-D, Evin A, Cucchi T, Dai L, Yu C, Hu S, Soulages N, Wang W, Sun Z, Gao J et al. 2016. Earliest â€Å"Domestic† Cats in China Identified as Leopard Cat ( PLoS ONE 11(1):e0147295.Prionailurus bengalensis).

Writing Narrative Free Essays

IMPLEMENTING PICTURE SERIES TO IMPROVE TENTH GRADE STUDENTS’ ABILITY IN WRITING NARRATIVE TEXTS AT MABI PROGRAM OF MAN 3 MALANG A Thesis by Fifin Naili Rizkiyah (Nim 20622140128) State University of Malang, Faculty of Letters, English Department, July 2010 Nowadays, English is becoming more and more important. English is a global language which many people all over the world speak English as first or second languages. Many countries include English as the subject taught in educational institution. We will write a custom essay sample on Writing Narrative or any similar topic only for you Order Now English is a key to open the door of science, technology, economics and culture. In Indonesia, our government has made a policy on the school curriculum that English is taught as a compulsory subject. As stated in Pusat Pembinaan amp; Pengembangan Bahasa in 1984 (in Marhum, 2009:3), on December 12, 1967, the Minister of Education issued Decree No 096/1967, stipulating English as the first foreign language to be taught in Indonesian schools. Based on KTSP (Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan= School Based Curriculum), the instructional objective of English is that the mastery of four language skills; they are listening, reading, speaking, and writing. Language skills are classified into receptive and productive skills. Receptive skill includes listening and reading while productive skill includes speaking and writing. Productive skills are obviously more difficult than the receptive. Widiati and Cahyono (2006:139) state that writing is the most complex skill compared to the other three skills. Some students often complained about how difficult it is to write in a foreign language, even Blanchard and Root (2003:1) state that writing can be difficult even in your language. In a new language, writing can be even more difficult. Students often got stuck in expressing their ideas into written texts. They also had problems with the language use. Those problems are faced by students of 10th MABI program MAN 3 Malang which is the subject in this study. To solve the students’ problem in writing, the researcher decided to conduct a classroom action research applying picture series as a strategy to improve the students’ ability in writing narrative texts. The study is to find out how picture series strategy is implemented in improving 10th grade students’ ability in writing narrative text. The writing activities were to giving a model of how to write a paragraph of narratives including teaching students generic structures of narrative and training students to write a paragraph of narrative by using picture series. As the warm-up activity, the researcher did brainstorming in order to raise the students’ readiness and eagerness to write. Then the researcher comes to training stage, which is the process of writing. And the students’ final products are assessed based on the scoring rubrics made. The procedures of implementing picture series in teaching writing are as follows: 1. Brainstorming (asking some questions related to the topic to be discussed to elicit the students’ ideas) 2. Discussing flow-chart text containing communicative purpose, rhetorical structure, and grammatical pattern of the text 3. Distributing the pictures series 4. Prewriting (listing topics, identifying objects and action verbs in the pictures) 5. Outlining (making outline; making sentences representing every picture in the picture series) 6. Drafting 7. Polishing (revising and editing) The research design was a collaborative action research which consisted of two cycles, in where cycle 1 consisted of two meetings and cycle 2 consisted of four meetings. A cycle consisted of four steps namely: planning the action, acting on the plan, observing the action and reflecting on the observation. The subject of the study was the 21 students of X MABI MAN 3 Malang in the academic year of 2009/2010. The instruments used to collect data were observation checklist, field notes, questionnaires, scoring rubrics and the students’ writings. The data from the observation, scoring rubrics and questionnaires were analyzed and the results are presented in the form of tables and description, while the data gained from the field notes and the students’ writings were analyzed and reported descriptively. The result of the study showed that the picture series effectively improved the students’ ability in writing narrative texts. All students had reached the minimum score of 3 in all aspects; organization, diction, and language use. Moreover, the majority of the students gave positive responses towards the implementation of picture series, in the case that 70% of the students showed excitement. Furthermore, they found that picture series is interesting, easy to understand, moreover, it helped them to organize paragraphs and develop ideas in writing narrative texts. Here are the mean scores of the students’ writings in each category. Cycle 2 collaborative Cycle 2 individual Cycle 1 Preliminary study In conclusion, picture series can be implemented to improve the students’ ability in writing narrative text at MABI program of MAN 3 Malang. Picture series was very helpful to develop the students’ ideas and creativity. The students enjoyed the writing activity implementing picture series because it was interesting, fun, and not boring. It is suggested that the teacher use the picture series in teaching writing since it can solve students’ problems in writing. It is also suggested that other researchers conduct other researches that apply picture series in other skills and genres. How to cite Writing Narrative, Essays

Banking and Emerging Multidisciplinary Processes †Free Samples

Question: Discuss about the Banking and Emerging Multidisciplinary Processes. Answer: Introduction Bank Muscat is the provider of financial services in the Oman Sultanate. The company has a strong presence in the section of corporate banking with most of the corporate organizations having accounts in Bank Muscat. The bank also has a presence in retail banking, investment banking, treasury, private banking and management of the asset. The bank is estimated to be worth US $15 billion, the bank has over 130 branches across the country. Bank Muscat was voted the best bank in Oman for seven continuous years by The Banker, FT London. This report analyzes the marketing strategies that the bank uses to market itself to new and existing customers. The products offered by the bank include; money deposit, loans for SME`s offering financial advice services, Card services, Banking channels, Insurance, Payment services, money transfer and remittances(International, 2009). The report contains an environmental analysis to determine the competitive environment and the other internal and external f actors that may affect the operations and the strategies and tactics that the company will use to compete in the market (Ian, 2014). This marketing plan aims at developing marketing strategies and tactics that Bank Muscat will apply in order to retain its market position and to achieve its vision of better customer services. The marketing plan will seek to establish ways in which the bank can improve its relations with customers and also improve its already big market share in the industry. This section involves an analysis of the external environment in which Bank Muscat is operating. The analysis of the external environment is important in designing strategy for the organization since it will help to identify opportunities and threats in the external environment. Opportunities can be utilized to profit the company more. The weaknesses identified can help the company to make decisions that reduce the risk of the business. The environment will be accessed using the PESTEL analysis method. Political environment The political environment in which Bank Muscat is operating is favorable to the organization. The sultanate is peaceful since the political activities in the country are not as violent as those of other middle East environment (Academy of Marketing Science In Crittenden, 2015). The Sultanate also makes policies that favor growth and expansion of banking sector and this has ensured that Bank Muscat is operating in a very stable political environment. The economy of Oman is vibrant and growing at an impressive rate. There are also major in infrastructural projects going on currently in Oman and this contributes hugely to the growth of the economy and the banking sector at large. The interest rates in the country are controlled by free market forces and this ensures that demand and supply determine the cost of credit. One challenge in the economic environment in Oman is that the fluctuations in prices of oil have a major hit on the economy of the company hence making it difficult to predict the future with certainty. The consumption patterns of consumers in the banking sector are affected by social factors. Since Oman is a majority Muslim country, there are a slot of social factors at play. The religion of Islam does according to Sharia law does not allow lending at an interest commonly referred to as riba. The products and services offered by Bank Muscat, therefore, has to consider the religion factor in order to accommodate most of its customers. Some of the technological factors affecting the banking industry not only in Oman but also globally include the mobile phone banking, mobile phone money transfer and online customer services as well as electronic banking (Molyneux, Lloyd-Williams Thornton,2015). These factors have a huge impact on banking because they contribute to efficiency as well as increased customer satisfaction. Environmental factors The Bank of Muscat is committed to ensuring environmental sustainability in all its operations and activities. The bank obeys and fulfills all the environmental regulations that are put in place by the Sultanate. The banking industry in Oman is regulated by the central bank. The players in this industry are required to adhere to all the legislation regarding lending, money deposits, money laundering laws and all other laws that are meant to prevent financial crime in the banking sector. The following is a SWOT analysis of Bank Muscat. The SWOT analysis is used to make investment decisions and to strengthen the company further in other aspects. Bank Muscat is the largest financial institution with large presence in all the areas of the country. The bank has a customer base exceeding 1.79 million customers and more than 3,500 employees. This means that has an advantage due to its strong network and its huge scope of operation Bank Muscat also enjoys the strong financial position. The bank maintains a capital adequacy ratio of about 16% for the last 4-5 years which is very healthy. The company has net profit ratios of 16.5% and its still growing(Rama, 2017). This has given the bank a competitive advantage over its rivals. Another strength is that the bank has implemented successfully Islamic banking policies which have helped the bank to enjoy huge client base. Investment in technology by the company has been borne fruits and the bank has been able to achieve its efficiency goals and objectives. The bank raises very little revenue from fees they charge for services such as credit services, asset management, private banking, and investment banking. This has contributed to declining organizations revenue levels. Oman strategy of building a diversified economy through vision 2010 provides the bank with a great opportunity to lend to corporate organizations especially those winning big government contracts and tenders. Another opportunity for Bank Muscat is that the demographic factors of the country favor further growth in the retail banking sector. Statistics indicate that about half of the countries` population is composed of persons below the age of 25. the youth are more vibrant than the old people and therefore the bank can benefit a lot by focusing on these customers and fulfilling their financial needs(Bank al-Markazi.2010) Fluctuations in prices of oil which is the major source of income for the country makes the economy venerable and this factor affects the banking sector a lot hence making it planning difficult. Another threat of Bank Muscat is the political turmoil in the neighboring countries like Syria, Yemen, and Lebanon. These conflicts have spillover effects which end up affecting the banking sector of Oman. Bank Muscat market segmentation The company segments its market using various techniques. The main technique is based on demographic factors. Demographic factors include factors like age, gender, population and education levels. The bank segments its market depending on the age of customers. The bank that designs products which are aimed at attracting the youth and products designed for the older generation. This helps the company to carry out target marketing efficiently. The bank also segments its marketing depending on income levels of consumers. Consumers of higher income are offered products that are tailor made to suit their specific needs. Another important factor in market segmentation by the bank is population (Academy of Marketing Science In Bahn, 2015). In this, geographical segmentation is carried out depending on the population of the areas in which the bank is operating. The bank offers priority to densely populated areas which have more complex customer needs. The objective of this marketing plan is to increase the market share of Bank Muscat by 6% by the end of the next financial year. This objective is based on the opportunities of growth especially by targeting the youth. Another objective of this marketing plan is to improve the customer satisfaction by focusing on service provision and more personalized banking. The positive customer feedback messages should increase by 4% so as to measure the extent to which the customer satisfaction objective has been achieved. Designing of more products specially tailored to cater for the needs of customers through technological advancement. The bank should develop at least three products in the next two years which are focused on fulfilling customer needs. By the fourth year, the bank should have come up with at least 7 products that help to promote effective interaction between the bank and its customers. Marketing mix strategy recommendations The marketing mix of Bank Muscat should be designed in such a way that all the aspects are able to work harmoniously to achieve the objectives of the organization. The following is the recommended marketing mix of Bank Muscat. The products that Bank Muscat currently offers its consumers include accounts and deposits, loans and mortgages, insurance, card services and priority banking. In the new products strategy to help cater for the needs of consumers, the bank should introduce products and services that are more consumer oriented and unique. Such products include mobile money transfer, mobile banking, and customer self-service portal and localized banking where shops and small groceries act as agents of the bank. The introduction of these products and services will increase the product portfolio of the bank and hence providing more value to consumers. These products will also contribute to increased efficiency within the organization as well as offer consumers convenience. Bank Muscat distributes its products and services mainly through its branches. The bank has over 130 branches distributed in all areas across the country. This ensures that services reach all potential customers conveniently. There are shortcomings in the current distribution strategy of the company. The following strategies should be implemented in order to improve the distribution system of the bank. The first strategy is opening up more branches especially in the rural areas so as to increase customer satisfaction and needs since customers in the areas will no longer have to travel for long distances to access banking services. Another strategy is opening local banking agents which will ensure that a customer can carry out transactions in a shop next door (Sarlak Hastiani,2017). The use of mobile technology in banking will also go a long way in improving the distribution system of Bank Muscat. The price of Bank Muscat`s products and services is currently fair and very competitive. The prices charged by the bank especially as services fee are the lowest in the region. This aspect of marketing has been important in attracting customers. The bank can achieve increased revenues and consumer satisfaction through price by setting prices that are lower compared to competitors. Lower cost will be achieved through increased efficiency in the organization. Care should be taken to make sure that quality is not compromised as a result of low prices. Promotion is a very crucial aspect of marketing. For Bank Muscat to achieve its marketing objectives as stated above, it has to improve its promotion and advertising. The first strategy that the company should adopt is increase the use of social media advertising. This will be very effective for the company since the population of the Sultanate is mainly composed of young people who constitute the majority of social media users. This will ensure that the bank reaches as many customers as possible through this method. The bank should also invest more in mainstream media advertising such as TV ads and newspaper advertisement (Krishnamacharyulu Ramakrishnan, 2012). This strategy will contribute to increased customer satisfaction since the customers will be able to get timely updates and communication on new products and services. Evaluation and control To monitor the implementation of the marketing plan, the bank will appoint an implementation and monitoring committee which will keep track of the progress in the marketing plan. The committee will monitor to determine factors that may be hindering the achievement of objectives stated in the marketing plan. They will work closely with the management of the Bank. Item Estimated budget US$ Social media marketing 12,000 Administration of social media and online accounts 7,500 Product development and research 34,900 Advertising budget 23,450 Customer call center 17,600 TOTAL 95, 450 Conclusion To achieve the objective of increased customer value and satisfaction, Bank Muscat should implement the marketing plan to the letter. The recommendations stated in the plan should be implemented .The monitoring of the marketing plan will be important to ensure that the bank does not veer off the path of achieving the predetermined objectives. The report contains an environmental analysis to determine the factors that influence strategies in the banking industry in Oman. The analysis is done using both SWOT analysis and PESTEL analysis. The report clearly highlights and discusses the strategies that Bank Muscat will implement in order to achieve its strategies. These strategies include increased use of social media and technological innovations in the company. References Academy of Marketing Science., In Crittenden, V. L. (2015). Proceedings of the 1992 Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) Annual Conference. Academy of Marketing Science., In Bahn, K. D. (2015). Proceedings of the 1988 Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) Annual Conference, Montreal, Canada, April 27-May 1, 1988. Ian, S. 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