netrashetty
Netra Shetty
Brookdale Senior Living (NYSE: BKD) is a company that operates senior's residences, established in 1978. It is a New York Stock Exchange listed company. Brookdale is the largest owner and operator of senior living communities throughout the United States", operating over 570 senior or retirement communities in the US. They have 35,000 staff and 55,000 residents.[1]
The company also offers Independent living, Personalized Assisted living, Alzheimer’s and dementia care, rehabilitation and skilled nursing. One whole-owned subsidiary company, Innovative Senior Care (ISC), offers rehabilitation, fitness and educational programming, and health services.
The Origins of Brookdale started in the late 1970s with the focus of Large Upscale Urban Retirement communities located in large cities Like Chicago, New York, and Miami. These early models replicated large full service Five Star hotels like the Hyatt, Marriott's and Hilton of the modern era. As the industry evolved into the late nineties and early 2000s, Brookdales major shareholder became Fortress Investments with approximately 51% holdings. Throughout the late nineties and early to mid 2000s Brookdale developed several more communities that resembled earlier models but also reflected the ever changing climate including Large Continuous Care Retirement Communities (CCRC) which house all brands of the aging process including Skilled Nursing, Assisted Living, Independent Living, and Memory Care facilities.
By early 2005 the company had grown to approximately 90 stand alone properties. During this times Fortress Investments had acquired the recently bankrupt Alterra Corporation (formerly Alternative Living Services) A Milwaukee WI based company who had developed and opened more than 500 stand alone Assisted Living and Memory Care properties throughout the USA between 1993 and 2003. At one Point Alterra was the largest provider of Assisted Living and Memory Care services within the United States catapulting ahead of the Industry Benchmark for Senior Living "Sunrise Senior Living of Virginia". Rapid growth proved costly and detrimental to the Alterra Corporation and that organization filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2004. They managed to sell off a third of their assets and bring their facility total down to approximately 300. During the bankruptcy Fortress purchased Alterra and pondered whether to sell the company to Emeritus Senior Living, which was hired on to manage Alterra through the bankruptcy phase. By the time the management agreement with Emeritus was about to expire the remaining Alterra portfolio was thriving due to an aggressive push by corporate and divisional leaders to prove the company was not "dead" and was a valuable asset. Fortress at the 11th hour put together a merger that would bring their Successful Brookdale Portfolio together with their now rising Alterra Portfolio. This was approved and completed in early 2005 bringing the Brookdale property total to 390. From late 2005 to early 2007
Amicably, according to such data implying that Hong Kong's residential property market has experienced significant changes from the year 1997 up to the present as such prices fell by about 50 percent and had moved sideways during the past months. Ideally, prices have become much affordable to many families as such forecasts show that supply is ample and demand for residential home purchase has been weaker as the perceived investment value of property has reduced considerably. Thus, with such conditions as entirely diverse, the supply of public sector flats for example, the Home Ownership Scheme is competing with the private sector for customers and is threatening the stability of property market. (Cited from, Standard Chartered in Kong Trade Development Council, 2000) Aside, due to Asian financial crisis, such demand and supply conditions particularly, involving prices of private residential property had adjusted downwards drastically as shown in figure one (see, figure one).
Moreover, while the existing level of property prices in Hong Kong remains high in comparison with major cities around the world, the drastic fall in prices has made residential property, affordable for many families in Hong Kong. The glut of HOS flats happens at a time when the private sector market is also suffering from insufficient demand (Cited from, Standard Chartered in Kong Trade Development Council, 2000). The newest figures released by the Rating and Valuation Department show that supply in recent years has risen but, the demand has not recovered so that the vacancy rate has risen in the past years (see, figure two).
Figure Two
Source: Hong Kong Trade Development Council (April 2000). Time to Review Hong Kong's Housing Strategy: Economic Forum, content provided by Standard Chartered. Copyright 2000-2008
There can be such projected level of supply during the year 2000 and 2001 respectively and the prospects that interest rates are then to rise in coming year, it looks likely that supply will continue to exceed demand in private sector market in coming months and after. Thus, recent indications are that prices of residential property in the market have undergone softening and such confidence in prospects of property market is fading slowly. (Cited from, Standard Chartered in Kong Trade Development Council, 2000) In order to minimize the disruptions of large supply of public sector flats on the functioning of private sector market, one possible solution is to turn as much as possible the HOS flats into public rental flats as this can possibly help reduce the waiting time for those families who are in need of public rental housing. (Cited from, Standard Chartered in Kong Trade Development Council, 2000)
2) Projected situation on supply and demand of residential housing in the following 5 years of Hong Kong as a whole plus a blow-up of the same in the area adjoining the project (Aberdeen and the southern part of the HK Island).
There can be investigation regarding such development conditions in such residential housing supply for the next 5 years specifically in, Aberdeen and the southern part of HK Island as in a way, there can be such effect from within Hong Kong's supply of residential housing as such the need for Hong Kong government to positively conduct continuous studies on housing demand. Thus, focus on examining the supply side of private housing in Hong Kong by giving overview of Hong Kong's housing supply situation to understand Hong Kong's land tenure system as well as global synopsis of literature relating to the effects of governmental land regulation, development control and restricted land supply on the housing market. (Cited from, HK Property Review, 2006)
There can be such realization and application of certain development scheme in such approaches such as:
The first approach would enable comprehensive development scheme to be undertaken and envisaged that this could provide an exciting opportunity to develop a sound residential homes that can be surrounded by vibrant retail, cafe and commercial development. Thus, such residential development could increase the viability of the scheme and increase the likelihood of attracting better developer. The success of the scheme will depend upon such factors such as better access to high streets but can suffer high vacancy rates that might deter prestigious development which would be most suitable for the site. The land can be within separate ownerships, not all have been revealed to the District Council as the site may cover some commercial enterprises which are to come forward. (Cited from, Ho, 2001; Hui, Chan, Wong, Wong and Leung, 2000) The scheme can be intended to be private-sector and could only be implemented if it is residentially as well as commercially viable as much as possible. It should be noted that no approaches have been made to landowners to test their reaction to the scheme although all residents and businesses around the brief area were made aware of the proposals and invited to comment. In order to achieve adequate and affordable housing in future, the government can adjust its planning control by restricting uses, the densities, areas and approval rates of the developments. (Cited from, Ho, 2001; Hui, Chan, Wong, Wong and Leung, 2000)
Hong Kong government should focus on its planning policy so as to achieve a stable housing market in long term. The government should be aware of the impact of existing planning policy on the existing and future housing market. For example, if the government foresees demand for housing, it can streamline its planning application procedure, increase the residential zoning areas and increase the allowable development density in order to meet the future demand as having sufficient housing supply can the policy of adequate and affordable housing be met. (Cited from, Hui and Lui, in press 2002) Then, usually planning policies do not take immediate effects on housing market as developers require substantial time to develop the site into high-rise residential buildings. The government may consider providing some incentives for the developers to convert the existing use of land when there is need, the government should allow flexibility in its planning policy so as to adjust to the changing economic and demographic environment. (Cited from, Ho, 2001; Hui, Chan, Wong, Wong and Leung, 2000)
Furthermore, it can be ideal that such residential gross floor area of planning applications will be checked case to case basis as there indicates concept of development density control. The more the residential gross floor area approved, the more the relaxation is on development density. The increase in area of residential zoning will relax constraints on housing supply as well as increase in open space zonings will further constrain the housing supply amiably. Therefore, there should be policy of providing adequate and affordable housing against shortage of housing supply as well as land use regulations for control on residential development.
Led by Fern Schapiro, the Custom Marketing Research team at InsightExpress is a group of seasoned researchers dedicated to providing industry expertise along with powerful, innovative marketing research services to a diverse range of premiere clients and brands. Founded upon time tested marketing research principles, InsightExpress' extensive portfolio of digital research solutions offers the answers clients need to move their business forward.
Jill Colt: Director
In her new role as Director, Colt will be responsible for developing the company's presence within the West Coast.
An InsightExpress veteran, Colt was originally hired by the company in May of 2004 and most recently held the title of Senior Account Executive. In this role, she was responsible for cultivating strong client relationships within the company's Financial Services practice. Colt returns to the company after two years during which time she held titles at both PerTrac Financial Solutions, a financial services software company, and WealthEngine. Colt is a graduate of Towson University and currently resides in Los Angeles, CA.
John Dickerson and Kevin Dobrosky: Account Executives
In their new roles as Account Executives, Dickerson and Dobrosky will be responsible for developing and strengthening client relationships by understanding their business issues and providing thoughtful consultation on research design.
Dickerson joins InsightExpress from Marketing Management Analytics (MMA) where he held the title of Project Manager, Client Service Analytics. There, he was responsible for project and client management, working with leading retail and financial services firms. Prior to MMA, Dickerson held positions at The NPD Group and ORC Guideline, Inc. Dickerson holds both his M.B.A and M.S from Syracuse University and his B.A. from Skidmore College. He currently resides in New Canaan, CT with his wife, Amy, and his daughter, Sarah.
Dobrosky joins InsightExpress from Infogroup/ORC (Opinion Research Corp.), where as an Account Director he worked with advertising, media and PR agencies to provide primary and secondary research services. Before joining Infogroup/ORC, Dobrosky held positions at TargetCast tcm and M. Shanken Communications, Inc., the publisher of Cigar Aficionado and Wine Spectator. Dobrosky, who currently resides in New York, NY, received his B.A. from The University of South Florida.
onsultant, international business development, Amoco Oil Company, and Joseph M. Kamen, an independent marketing and research consultant specializing in industrial and commercial research in international markets.
Marketing is most important when customers -- a term that includes buyers, decision makers, influencers and users -- have a choice. For those who grew up in an age where competition for the customer's time, effort, and money was limited, and a planned economy accepted as a natural phenomenon, the very concept of choice is difficult to understand.
Less than 10 years ago, China started to accept, if not welcome, foreign investment and influence -- but mainly on producing for export. Inevitably, the growth of the export-oriented companies increased consumer income and raised aspirations and expectations. Fantasies became reality. Consumers started to think about product-choice and brand-choice mixes and purchase criteria.
The need for marketing research arose to deal with two types of demand stimulation: primary demand stimulation, demand for a product category or type such as computers, dishwashing liquids or disposable diapers; and selective demand stimulation, demand for a specific vendor or brand within a product category.
Existing Chinese institutions were inadequate to fulfill the information needs. A few organizations attempted to "go commercial," but they generally lacked professional marketing research backgrounds. They tended to equate marketing research with public opinion polling, which itself was not highly developed. Several were originally non-profit organizations that couldn't or wouldn't make the leap into the commercial world. Examples: China Social Survey Institute in Beijing and Soft-Science Company, established by the Guangzhou Social Science Academy in 1985.
China's first professional marketing research service, Guangzhou Marketing Research (GMR) was founded in 1988. Many followed. South China Marketing Research (SCMR) was started in 1990. In 1993, Far-East and SRH launched what is now called Survey Research Group (SRG) China, the first joint venture.
Procter & Gamble (P&G) supported the start and development of China's marketing research industry. P&G provided, and continues to provide, training and funding of research projects to such respected marketing research firms as Guangzhou Marketing Research Company and East Marketing Research Institute (EMR) in Guangzhou and All-China Marketing Research Company (ACMR) in Beijing.
The marketing research industry experienced a growth spurt since 1993. Now, approximately 100 marketing research companies exist. However, the pioneering companies remain busy and are concentrated in three cities: Guangzhou, Beijing, and Shanghai.
Types of marketing research organizations
Chinese marketing research organizations are classified into three categories:
(a) State-owned organizations that are outgrowths of government science research departments, statistical bureaus, and universities.
(b) Joint ventures between foreign and Chinese companies. Examples are Survey Research Group and Gallup's branches in Guangzhou, Beijing and Shanghai.
(c) Indigenous marketing research organizations such as EMR.
Joint venture firms tend to be better capitalized, can cover larger geographic areas with consistent methodologies, and have access to superior hardware and software.
Indigenous marketing research organizations are usually better able to conduct business-to-business research, customize research, continuously exercise quality controls, and adapt the research to local and regional economic, social and cultural environments. They also have lower fees.
As the volume of business grows, these marketing research organizations tend to build their own networks of branches in other cities. No more than 10 are able to cover the larger cities throughout China.
Individual organizations have become more interested in considering merging or forming alliances in order to meet clients' demands for broader coverage, particularly for large scale projects.
The company also offers Independent living, Personalized Assisted living, Alzheimer’s and dementia care, rehabilitation and skilled nursing. One whole-owned subsidiary company, Innovative Senior Care (ISC), offers rehabilitation, fitness and educational programming, and health services.
The Origins of Brookdale started in the late 1970s with the focus of Large Upscale Urban Retirement communities located in large cities Like Chicago, New York, and Miami. These early models replicated large full service Five Star hotels like the Hyatt, Marriott's and Hilton of the modern era. As the industry evolved into the late nineties and early 2000s, Brookdales major shareholder became Fortress Investments with approximately 51% holdings. Throughout the late nineties and early to mid 2000s Brookdale developed several more communities that resembled earlier models but also reflected the ever changing climate including Large Continuous Care Retirement Communities (CCRC) which house all brands of the aging process including Skilled Nursing, Assisted Living, Independent Living, and Memory Care facilities.
By early 2005 the company had grown to approximately 90 stand alone properties. During this times Fortress Investments had acquired the recently bankrupt Alterra Corporation (formerly Alternative Living Services) A Milwaukee WI based company who had developed and opened more than 500 stand alone Assisted Living and Memory Care properties throughout the USA between 1993 and 2003. At one Point Alterra was the largest provider of Assisted Living and Memory Care services within the United States catapulting ahead of the Industry Benchmark for Senior Living "Sunrise Senior Living of Virginia". Rapid growth proved costly and detrimental to the Alterra Corporation and that organization filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2004. They managed to sell off a third of their assets and bring their facility total down to approximately 300. During the bankruptcy Fortress purchased Alterra and pondered whether to sell the company to Emeritus Senior Living, which was hired on to manage Alterra through the bankruptcy phase. By the time the management agreement with Emeritus was about to expire the remaining Alterra portfolio was thriving due to an aggressive push by corporate and divisional leaders to prove the company was not "dead" and was a valuable asset. Fortress at the 11th hour put together a merger that would bring their Successful Brookdale Portfolio together with their now rising Alterra Portfolio. This was approved and completed in early 2005 bringing the Brookdale property total to 390. From late 2005 to early 2007
Amicably, according to such data implying that Hong Kong's residential property market has experienced significant changes from the year 1997 up to the present as such prices fell by about 50 percent and had moved sideways during the past months. Ideally, prices have become much affordable to many families as such forecasts show that supply is ample and demand for residential home purchase has been weaker as the perceived investment value of property has reduced considerably. Thus, with such conditions as entirely diverse, the supply of public sector flats for example, the Home Ownership Scheme is competing with the private sector for customers and is threatening the stability of property market. (Cited from, Standard Chartered in Kong Trade Development Council, 2000) Aside, due to Asian financial crisis, such demand and supply conditions particularly, involving prices of private residential property had adjusted downwards drastically as shown in figure one (see, figure one).
Moreover, while the existing level of property prices in Hong Kong remains high in comparison with major cities around the world, the drastic fall in prices has made residential property, affordable for many families in Hong Kong. The glut of HOS flats happens at a time when the private sector market is also suffering from insufficient demand (Cited from, Standard Chartered in Kong Trade Development Council, 2000). The newest figures released by the Rating and Valuation Department show that supply in recent years has risen but, the demand has not recovered so that the vacancy rate has risen in the past years (see, figure two).
Figure Two
Source: Hong Kong Trade Development Council (April 2000). Time to Review Hong Kong's Housing Strategy: Economic Forum, content provided by Standard Chartered. Copyright 2000-2008
There can be such projected level of supply during the year 2000 and 2001 respectively and the prospects that interest rates are then to rise in coming year, it looks likely that supply will continue to exceed demand in private sector market in coming months and after. Thus, recent indications are that prices of residential property in the market have undergone softening and such confidence in prospects of property market is fading slowly. (Cited from, Standard Chartered in Kong Trade Development Council, 2000) In order to minimize the disruptions of large supply of public sector flats on the functioning of private sector market, one possible solution is to turn as much as possible the HOS flats into public rental flats as this can possibly help reduce the waiting time for those families who are in need of public rental housing. (Cited from, Standard Chartered in Kong Trade Development Council, 2000)
2) Projected situation on supply and demand of residential housing in the following 5 years of Hong Kong as a whole plus a blow-up of the same in the area adjoining the project (Aberdeen and the southern part of the HK Island).
There can be investigation regarding such development conditions in such residential housing supply for the next 5 years specifically in, Aberdeen and the southern part of HK Island as in a way, there can be such effect from within Hong Kong's supply of residential housing as such the need for Hong Kong government to positively conduct continuous studies on housing demand. Thus, focus on examining the supply side of private housing in Hong Kong by giving overview of Hong Kong's housing supply situation to understand Hong Kong's land tenure system as well as global synopsis of literature relating to the effects of governmental land regulation, development control and restricted land supply on the housing market. (Cited from, HK Property Review, 2006)
There can be such realization and application of certain development scheme in such approaches such as:
The first approach would enable comprehensive development scheme to be undertaken and envisaged that this could provide an exciting opportunity to develop a sound residential homes that can be surrounded by vibrant retail, cafe and commercial development. Thus, such residential development could increase the viability of the scheme and increase the likelihood of attracting better developer. The success of the scheme will depend upon such factors such as better access to high streets but can suffer high vacancy rates that might deter prestigious development which would be most suitable for the site. The land can be within separate ownerships, not all have been revealed to the District Council as the site may cover some commercial enterprises which are to come forward. (Cited from, Ho, 2001; Hui, Chan, Wong, Wong and Leung, 2000) The scheme can be intended to be private-sector and could only be implemented if it is residentially as well as commercially viable as much as possible. It should be noted that no approaches have been made to landowners to test their reaction to the scheme although all residents and businesses around the brief area were made aware of the proposals and invited to comment. In order to achieve adequate and affordable housing in future, the government can adjust its planning control by restricting uses, the densities, areas and approval rates of the developments. (Cited from, Ho, 2001; Hui, Chan, Wong, Wong and Leung, 2000)
Hong Kong government should focus on its planning policy so as to achieve a stable housing market in long term. The government should be aware of the impact of existing planning policy on the existing and future housing market. For example, if the government foresees demand for housing, it can streamline its planning application procedure, increase the residential zoning areas and increase the allowable development density in order to meet the future demand as having sufficient housing supply can the policy of adequate and affordable housing be met. (Cited from, Hui and Lui, in press 2002) Then, usually planning policies do not take immediate effects on housing market as developers require substantial time to develop the site into high-rise residential buildings. The government may consider providing some incentives for the developers to convert the existing use of land when there is need, the government should allow flexibility in its planning policy so as to adjust to the changing economic and demographic environment. (Cited from, Ho, 2001; Hui, Chan, Wong, Wong and Leung, 2000)
Furthermore, it can be ideal that such residential gross floor area of planning applications will be checked case to case basis as there indicates concept of development density control. The more the residential gross floor area approved, the more the relaxation is on development density. The increase in area of residential zoning will relax constraints on housing supply as well as increase in open space zonings will further constrain the housing supply amiably. Therefore, there should be policy of providing adequate and affordable housing against shortage of housing supply as well as land use regulations for control on residential development.
Led by Fern Schapiro, the Custom Marketing Research team at InsightExpress is a group of seasoned researchers dedicated to providing industry expertise along with powerful, innovative marketing research services to a diverse range of premiere clients and brands. Founded upon time tested marketing research principles, InsightExpress' extensive portfolio of digital research solutions offers the answers clients need to move their business forward.
Jill Colt: Director
In her new role as Director, Colt will be responsible for developing the company's presence within the West Coast.
An InsightExpress veteran, Colt was originally hired by the company in May of 2004 and most recently held the title of Senior Account Executive. In this role, she was responsible for cultivating strong client relationships within the company's Financial Services practice. Colt returns to the company after two years during which time she held titles at both PerTrac Financial Solutions, a financial services software company, and WealthEngine. Colt is a graduate of Towson University and currently resides in Los Angeles, CA.
John Dickerson and Kevin Dobrosky: Account Executives
In their new roles as Account Executives, Dickerson and Dobrosky will be responsible for developing and strengthening client relationships by understanding their business issues and providing thoughtful consultation on research design.
Dickerson joins InsightExpress from Marketing Management Analytics (MMA) where he held the title of Project Manager, Client Service Analytics. There, he was responsible for project and client management, working with leading retail and financial services firms. Prior to MMA, Dickerson held positions at The NPD Group and ORC Guideline, Inc. Dickerson holds both his M.B.A and M.S from Syracuse University and his B.A. from Skidmore College. He currently resides in New Canaan, CT with his wife, Amy, and his daughter, Sarah.
Dobrosky joins InsightExpress from Infogroup/ORC (Opinion Research Corp.), where as an Account Director he worked with advertising, media and PR agencies to provide primary and secondary research services. Before joining Infogroup/ORC, Dobrosky held positions at TargetCast tcm and M. Shanken Communications, Inc., the publisher of Cigar Aficionado and Wine Spectator. Dobrosky, who currently resides in New York, NY, received his B.A. from The University of South Florida.
onsultant, international business development, Amoco Oil Company, and Joseph M. Kamen, an independent marketing and research consultant specializing in industrial and commercial research in international markets.
Marketing is most important when customers -- a term that includes buyers, decision makers, influencers and users -- have a choice. For those who grew up in an age where competition for the customer's time, effort, and money was limited, and a planned economy accepted as a natural phenomenon, the very concept of choice is difficult to understand.
Less than 10 years ago, China started to accept, if not welcome, foreign investment and influence -- but mainly on producing for export. Inevitably, the growth of the export-oriented companies increased consumer income and raised aspirations and expectations. Fantasies became reality. Consumers started to think about product-choice and brand-choice mixes and purchase criteria.
The need for marketing research arose to deal with two types of demand stimulation: primary demand stimulation, demand for a product category or type such as computers, dishwashing liquids or disposable diapers; and selective demand stimulation, demand for a specific vendor or brand within a product category.
Existing Chinese institutions were inadequate to fulfill the information needs. A few organizations attempted to "go commercial," but they generally lacked professional marketing research backgrounds. They tended to equate marketing research with public opinion polling, which itself was not highly developed. Several were originally non-profit organizations that couldn't or wouldn't make the leap into the commercial world. Examples: China Social Survey Institute in Beijing and Soft-Science Company, established by the Guangzhou Social Science Academy in 1985.
China's first professional marketing research service, Guangzhou Marketing Research (GMR) was founded in 1988. Many followed. South China Marketing Research (SCMR) was started in 1990. In 1993, Far-East and SRH launched what is now called Survey Research Group (SRG) China, the first joint venture.
Procter & Gamble (P&G) supported the start and development of China's marketing research industry. P&G provided, and continues to provide, training and funding of research projects to such respected marketing research firms as Guangzhou Marketing Research Company and East Marketing Research Institute (EMR) in Guangzhou and All-China Marketing Research Company (ACMR) in Beijing.
The marketing research industry experienced a growth spurt since 1993. Now, approximately 100 marketing research companies exist. However, the pioneering companies remain busy and are concentrated in three cities: Guangzhou, Beijing, and Shanghai.
Types of marketing research organizations
Chinese marketing research organizations are classified into three categories:
(a) State-owned organizations that are outgrowths of government science research departments, statistical bureaus, and universities.
(b) Joint ventures between foreign and Chinese companies. Examples are Survey Research Group and Gallup's branches in Guangzhou, Beijing and Shanghai.
(c) Indigenous marketing research organizations such as EMR.
Joint venture firms tend to be better capitalized, can cover larger geographic areas with consistent methodologies, and have access to superior hardware and software.
Indigenous marketing research organizations are usually better able to conduct business-to-business research, customize research, continuously exercise quality controls, and adapt the research to local and regional economic, social and cultural environments. They also have lower fees.
As the volume of business grows, these marketing research organizations tend to build their own networks of branches in other cities. No more than 10 are able to cover the larger cities throughout China.
Individual organizations have become more interested in considering merging or forming alliances in order to meet clients' demands for broader coverage, particularly for large scale projects.
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