A Swot Analysis Of American Airlines Tourism Essay

A Swot Analysis Of American Airlines Tourism Essay INTRODUCTION: American Airlines was the U.S.s largest carrier in 1992. It had a fleet of 622 jet aircraft, flying 2,450 flights daily to 182 locations. It also had innovative technology and programs. They were the first to introduce a computerized airline reservation system called Sabre, Super Saver fares and frequent- flier programs. Despite these innovations, American Airlines and the airline industry as a whole was still not operating as profitably or providing customer satisfaction the way it should in 1992. There were two main reasons. First, the airline industry was suffering from the economic downturns in 1990 and 1991. In 1991 alone, the industrys cumulative losses were $1.87 billion, which exceeded the total amount of profits the industry had ever earned throughout its 60-year history. American Airlines itself reported losses of $77 million in 1990 and $165 million in 1991. In terms of customers flying, the dollar volume of pleasure travel grew only 8% in the 1989-91 period compared to 19 % for 1987-89. The comparable figures for business travel were a 9% increase for 1989-91 in contrast to 28% growth experiences in 1987-89. April 9th, 1992 American Airlines announced that their yields were too low and they were going to bring value back to air travel through a new pricing strategy termed, Value Pricing. SWOT ANALYSIS: Strengths Market leader: American Airlines is the largest U.S. airline in 1992 with a 19.15 market share in 2001. Strong Innovation Technology: American Airlines created the first and largest Computer Reservation Service, SABRE, which was a valuable resource for yield management and extra profits. It was such an effective technological innovation that in 1992, 92% of domestic reservations were made through Computer Reservation Systems in the United States. Marketing Promotions: American Airlines were the first to create a frequent flier program aimed to increase brand loyalty with business customers in 1981. Distribution: The use of hubs meant replacing non-stop flights with a set of connecting flights, and this benefited both carriers and consumers. Airlines could serve more locations with fewer planes. American Airlines benefited by having six hubs in 1992, two of which are ranked as the largest airports in America: Chicago and Dallas. Market Growth: Between 1981 and 1991, passenger volume grew by almost   80%, the equivalent   of a compound annual growth rate of 6%. There are still opportunity gaps to further increase demand. Strong Brand Image: A survey that generated the ratings of domestic airlines on service quality, American Airlines had the joint highest satisfaction index of 76. This implies that American Airlines has a stronger image of high quality service, relative to competitors. Problems: There are high risks of delays and inbound flight delays of even a few will inevitably delay connecting flights and then affect large portions of the network thereafter. Enormous transaction costs from the extreme complexity of capacity planning, crew roistering, flight scheduling, ground handling and fare structures. High risk of missed connections and lost luggage with connecting flights Opportunity Increase the demand for air travel through reaching more customers and increasing the frequency of travel per customer: There is already a growing percentage of Americans is using air travel. In 1991, 76% of American Adults reported that they had flown at some time in their lives and 32% had flown in the past year. The increase in American air travel can be seen in the table below: Percentage of American adults who have: 1981 1989 1990 1991 ever flown? 65% 78% 74% 76% flown in the last 12 months 24% 34% 31% 32% The table implies that Americans are increasingly adapting to air travel and this means that their is an opportunity for American Airlines to continue their expansion. Price discrimination models: Price discrimination models provide an opportunity for American Airlines to capture the two main customer segments, business and pleasure travelers in the most profitable way. Using price discrimination models provides an increasing opportunity. Percent of American Adults traveling on: 1989 1990 1999 2001 Business 52 51 42 41 Pleasure 47 49 53 57 This provides an opportunity for American Airlines because the two segments have different demand fluctuations and buying characteristics and if American Airlines can capture both markets through different pricing fares then it will increase their yield per customer, smooth out overall demand fluctuations and achieve profit maximization. The differences can be distinguished by demand and buying values. Buying differences: Business travelers are more loyal to one particular airline because they have the ability to build up frequent flier miles. They are less pricing sensitive due to being more time sensitive. On the other hand, leisure travelers are less loyal, more price sensitive and more flexible in terms of time, date etc. Online Reservations: Like low cost airlines and adopt online reservations, which mean less need for travel agents, no paper tickets and convenient booking. American Airlines currently only serves 80 destinations worldwide, compared to 182 locations in the U.S. mainland and Hawaii. Therefore, there is a strong opportunity to focus on increasing long haul, international flights as opposed to short haul flights. Threats: After the deregulation of the airline, industry competition intensified as national and regional airlines grew or merged and became fixated on profit maximization. American Airlines major domestic competitors are United Airlines and Delta Airlines as they both operate with similar scope and service to American. American Airlines main competition from regional airlines includes US Air, America West, Southwest, TWA, Northwest and Continental. US Air serves primarily eastern and southwestern markets. American West and Southwest are discount carriers serving the Southwest and California areas. TWA that offered primarily coast-to-coast service, Northwest that served the Northern tier of the U.S. and Continental that served the southern tier. Furthermore, mergers meant that the combined market share of the four largest airlines rose from 54.2% in 1982 to 64.8% in 1987. Growth of low cost airlines: Low cost airlines are expanding rapidly. Southwest in particular is successfully promoting its bargain fares, low cost and no-frills approach to service and are the seventh largest U.S. carrier, though only operating in 15 states for local, and short haul markets. The low cost airlines are able to charge extremely low discount prices because: Distribution costs are reduced using direct selling through the internet or call centers and having no tickets Pricing segmentation only occurs on two variables: the date of booking and the effective demand of that specific flight so there are less complex fares and less restrictions imposed to increase customer satisfaction The operating expenditure passenger and their operating margin are also significantly higher. American Airlines does not have the ability to compete directly through matching such low prices because they could never achieve such low costs, nor does the brand image of American Airlines compliment this strategy. Airline Industry is vulnerable to price wars: Industries that have extra capacity, high fixed costs, and low differentiation and are price elastic are the most vulnerable to price wars. High Fixed costs and extra capacity are profit-damaging combinations because it means that airlines must have high yields through yield management in order to maintain profitability, which is very complex. Low Differentiation means customers see airline travel as a commodity- like business. In general, they simply want to get from one city to another in the shortest amount of time, at a convenient time that fits their schedule, and at a reasonable price. High Price Elasticity: Due to the combination of the above, airline travel is typically price elastic. Therefore, airline companies are becoming more inclined to lower prices in order to stimulate demand. Sensitive to economic downturns due to high fixed costs structure, for example in 1991 the industrys cumulative losses were $2.67 billion The dominant distribution channel is the travel agent. Therefore, the cooperation of travel agents with the Airline is necessary. Airlines get the agents cooperation through giving them commissions from ticket sales. Key Issues Develop a pricing strategy that will increase the demand of air travel and the long term profitability of the airline industry. Identify and evaluate alternatives by considering competitors reactions, customer impact on yield, costs and long term profitability. 1. Value Pricing The main objective of this pricing strategy was to provide simplicity, equity, and value for air travel, compared to the existing system with a multitude of ever changing fares and discounts. Value Pricing: Segmented Pricing: On any given flight, there would be only four different fares: First Class, Regular Coach, Discount Coach (booked seven days in advance) and Discount Coach (booked twenty-one days in advance). Each fare had different restrictions and offerings. E.g., Discount coach involved Saturday night stay over, advanced purchases (21 days), not refundable but they could be re-issued for another flight and priced 49% below the regular coach fares. New fares will be 38% below the levels of comparable existing fares and will be the same for everyone, meaning no need for special deals. Advertising: American Airlines would spend $20 million on media time and space over two weeks. They anticipated that revenue would increase additionally by $300-350 million annually and cost savings of $25 million per year. Pros  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Business travelers will benefit from value pricing. The advantages for business travelers is that, they  no longer need to worry about inflexible restrictions attached to reduced fares, forcing them to pay higher prices. Now they can get the advantage of being able to book at short notice but ensuring that they will still receive the same 38% off full Coach with no restrictions with any time fares. Furthermore, if they can book in advance they can pay even less. Reduced Costs: American Airlines forecasts cost savings of $25 million per year through the reduction in the number of fares offered, as it will reduce its CRS from 500,000 to only 70,000. Secondly, as all flights will be priced based on the distance of the flight path, so the variable costs actually determine the prices, in theory providing higher revenue. Cons Price elasticity: Air travel has quite high price elasticity as a review found that the majority of estimates were between the range of -.8 and -.2, with the elasticity for business travel generally being less than unity, while that for pleasure travel typically exceeding unity. Therefore, leisure travel demand changes with changes in price more than business travel because of a price change. American Airlines, the price sensitive customers will be highly dissatisfied by the new value pricing and they will be encouraged to switch to low cost airlines. American Airlines will no longer benefit from the business travelers that were typically price insensitive but time sensitive and so prepared to pay the higher costs. This will have incremental affects on yield and profitability as the high fixed costs of airlines previously depended upon business travelers to buy higher priced tickets. Competitors Reactions: For air travel demand, which in turn creates the lack of customer brand loyalty to airlines, a 38% reduction in American Airline prices in theory would cause customers to switch to American Airlines. However, American Airlines has failed to consider competitors reactions in their value pricing. Lower their prices to match American Airline prices to guarantee the consumer the lowest fare without committing to a lower price but ultimately keeping their customers and sending the message to American Airlines that they should increase their prices. In turn, this will reduce the profitability of the Airline industry, as airlines will need to keep lowering prices in order to remain competitive, leading to a decrease in profit margins and economic growth. Competitors reactions will ultimately prevent American Airlines from reaching their forecasted revenue for 1992. Promotion problems: The travel agents are less likely to promote this reduced fare platform and the CEO only plans a one-time $20 million advertising effort. High Fixed Costs of Airlines: American Airlines has a high cost structure and as a result, they rely on high-yield and high traffic.   Therefore, it is not feasible and it will be disastrous for them to lower costs in the long term without reducing their fixed costs. They expect market share to increase by an additional one-half of 1% of the total  U.S.  market. They believe that in the second quarter of 1992, revenues could decrease by $100 million, but that revenues will increase by $300- £350 million for the entire year. They assume that the demand for air travel as a method of transportation will increase by 3-4% with the new pricing structure. American Airlines yield and revenue assumptions are flawed because the value pricing is assuming that all present factors in the industry will remain the same but in reality competitors will match prices and travel agents will not be so cooperative. Break Even changes: American Airlines would need to increase their sales dramatically in order to break even, which will be very difficult. Regular Coach 1990 1992 1992 Route: New York- Chicago Old New New (including $20m advertising) Selling Price $854 $500 $500 Total Revenue (assume sell 1000) $854000 $500000 500000% Variable Cost as a percentage of the total costs 3.60% 3.60% 3.60% Variable Costs per person $40 $40 $40 Total Variable Costs $40000 $40000 $40000 Unit Contribution= selling price- variable cost $814 $460 $460 Fixed Costs   as a percentage of the total costs 96.40% 96.40%   96.4% +    £20m Fixed Costs ( 96.4/3.6=26.77740000= 1071111.111) 1071111.111 1071111.111 21071111.11 Break Even=   fixed cost/ unit contribution 1315.861316 $2328.502415 45806.76328 Break Even sales change 1012.641099 44490.90196 Break Even Point % sales change 176% 3481%   Pros Product Differentiation will be valued: On long haul flights added frills are valued because passengers are on the plane for longer so they will require more services in order to feel comfortable. There are a range of services and products that American Airlines has the opportunity to offer customers to differentiate their fare prices.. Reduce the risk of a price war. Through concentrating on long haul flights and maintaining low but profitable prices, competitors will be less likely to reduce their costs because American Airlines is the market leader and every competitor wants to have profit maximization. Furthermore, it will increase the long-term profitability of the industry as demand and profitability will increase. Increase customer brand loyalty: American Airlines are differentiating their products from competitors and if these differences are valued then customers will be encouraged to be loyal to American Airlines, as they will receive the extra benefits from the products on top of their frequent flier program. Opportunity gap in the market: Expanding into new markets will increase their customer base and market share as long haul flights e.g. 15-18 hour will become more and more popular through increasing international business communications. It is impossible for American Airlines to match the leading low cost airline fares while at the same time operating at a profit due to their higher cost per seat mile. The current brand is image of a high quality service airline. Simplifies pricing without the need to price too low and curbs demand, so customers will be willing to pay more and also they will better maximize flight capacity through curbing demand and so they will not suffer from opportunity costs found in value pricing. Cons Increasing the number of services will increase their variable costs per customer. Fixed costs will rise dramatically from initial expansion. Risk of International Business Problems: As American Airlines expand they must ensure that they maintain good communication or else their costs could increase Foreign markets will bring more challenges when facing new competitors Currency differences American Airlines does not react to the growing number of low cost airlines by matching their low prices then they will expand further, increase their market share within America with price sensitive customers and decrease American Airlines competitive advantage. This could reduce the profitability of the U.S. air travel industry in the long term. Require heavy investment, funding, planning and advertising in order to implement and communicate the difference of services between flight fares to customers and get customers to value these differences. Recommendation:   Recommended that Value Pricing be adjusted and combined with alternative three, to focus on long haul flights and segmented pricing through service differentiation as despite Value Pricing being a very innovative pricing strategy it has many shortcomings. The value pricing must be embedded in a broader and consistent marketing strategy. The value pricing aim to simplify fares through offering four fare structures should be implemented as this will reduce CRS costs and increase customer understanding of fare prices. However, the restrictions imposed should be reduced on the discount fares, otherwise customers will go to low cost airlines. Instead, it is recommended that fences be built between the different fares to prevent customers from switching from higher fares to discount fares through service differentiation, not just the transportation and a few marginal restrictions. Furthermore, American Airlines should focus on long haul flights as opposed to short-medium haul flights within America because it is within these flights that service differentiation is highly valued. In addition, if American Airlines can expand into more markets it will increase their market share and long-term profitability. This will also prevent the erosion of profitability in the airline industry because it will prevent a price war.

Consequentialism: Morality and Charitable Donations Essay

What are the moral consequences of consequentialism? Consequentialism is defined as of all the things a person might do at any given moment; the morally right action is the one with the best overall consequences. Peter Singer who is a philosopher expresses his views on animal rights, abortion, euthanasia, infanticide, and bestiality. According to William Crawley’s interview with Singer, Singer’s opinions on these topics provoke a great deal of controversy because there are really no concrete answers and the proposed solutions to these views are debatable. One of the most controversial issues is abortion, in the interview and article â€Å"Peter Singer: Abortion, the dividing lines,† Singer passionately speaks about his pro-abortion view and how to minimize the pain of the fetus when it is about to be murdered. The article can be related to the interview because Singer tells us what makes a person to be a person and what is a person of being a rational substance. In the interview he uses this example where if a baby was born with only a brain stem and nothing else in the brain. The child would never recognize his or her parents, have any emotions, communicate or do anything either, Singer argues based on determining whether or not this child is a rational substance, and rational substance is what defines a person to be a person. He said this child may be born by human parents, but it is not a rational substance nor will it ever be rational. A chimpanzee was also mentioned in the interview, where the chimpanzee is far more self aware, rational, capable of connecting and loving other species. The chimpanzee is rational and is just as prestigious as a humans. The child’s life will be completely up to the parents and doctors whether or not they are capable supporting the child and other factors involved. Singer does not think that murdering the child is immoral because that child is not a rational substance and never will be. I completely agree with Singer in this example, if there was a glimpse of hope where the child can progress I would believe it is wrong to let the child die, but in this scenario it is bringing emotional pain and to parents to see that their child can never recognize or communicate with them. There would not be much difference if the child dies naturally or put to death by parents and doctors, I agree the child is breathing and is alive, but he or she is not living life, not experiencing nor can ever experience the point of living. The point of living in life is to progress, learn, experience all types of hardships and happiness. I am not agreeing that we should let parents decide on whether or not putting to death on every abnormal child’s life, just under certain circumstances where as to speak of a child not being a rational substance or not capable of experience life. As for the article, Singer argued that abortion does not deal with any moral issues, how it is wrong to ask â€Å"When does a human life begin?† and address of potentiality of a fetus becoming a person. He first point out that having and keeping a child is severe hardship. On the first 20 weeks of pregnancy, the brain is not developed to the point where it is conscience. He further discuses how even in the last stages of pregnancy the fetus is not self-aware, and have the capacity to feel pain but it is not capable of doing anything right or wrong. Singer also points out how the opponent’s argues that the fetus have potentiality of becoming a person, or even the next Albert Einstein. He believes this argument is absurd, because billions of human cells can potentially become persons, and with our advance technology today we can make that happen. Singer concluded that the fine line of abortion to draw is at birth. I think that consequentialism in abortion depends significantly on the parents. I am a pro-choice to begin with, and I strongly concur with Singer on his views. I don’t think it even matters when the fetus forms into a human. I believe that parents are the only ones who can decide whether or not to abort the child because they are the one who have to take responsibility of the child after birth and their life will change significantly because of a child. Parents have to determine whether or not they actually want this child, and check if they are financially stable and emotionally ready. If abortions were abolished there would be dangerous abortions, more children in orphanages, child abuses and etc. Also the child’s health and wellness could jeopardize, because they were not brought to this world by choice. If it is immoral to abort a child, the risk of immorality of their life after birth is far more greater, and frightening. I think the fine line to draw is at the fifth or sixth month of pregnancy because abortion after a certain period would put the mother and child’s life at risk and if the parents were strongly negative about having a child abortion would occur on the earliest stages of pregnancy. Another controversial issue I want to discuss is derived from the interview and article â€Å"Why we should give away 25% of our pay?† where Singer discusses his views on how â€Å"murder is neglect.† and gives suggestions to help the world. In the interview, he shows understanding that everyone have normal obligations in contributing their income to their family and there should be a limit to that. Singer brings up statistic examples of how much children and adults die in a day and it can be preventable. He suggest that we can give up some of our luxury we own including restaurant meals, vacation, drinking tap water instead of bottled and etc. Singer also included that we can easily give up 10% of our income to organizations and can still live comfortably. The article is quite similar to his interview, and tries to emphasize this point â€Å"sorry, you have the same duty in both situations: to prevent poverty and death, simply because you can.† He started off with two examples showing the choices people make over their ethical duty to provide help to others. Singer also discusses the reason why people does not bother helping, it is because the person in need of help is not physically near us we do not feel the need or temptation to help. He continues to show the effort people need to put in, and the drastic changes it make. I strongly disagree with Singer, I believe charity is a choice rather than our moral obligation. I do feel that it is important to make charitable donations, and I do applaud and support people who are already donating a portion of their income to their local organization. I strongly disagree with Singer’s first example in the article, I would not care about a pair of new shoes over saving a friend’s life. That is not a comparable example to the rest of the ideas Singer expresses. I do not think we need to give up luxury in order to donate. Celebrating our success in restaurants and vacations is a reward to ourselves for the hard work and sacrifices we made to get where we are. It’s comparable to celebrating our independence day on July 4th, we can donate all the money spent on fireworks every year to charity. It goes as far as birthdays, christmas and all these other holidays. Celebrations are occasional rewards we give ourselves, its not like everyone gets a pr omotion or raise everyday. I am sure that we can defiantly save a huge sum from luxury spendings, however we will no longer be motivated to work as hard knowing that getting a promotion or raise is not a big deal and we end up donating them to charity. As to drinking bottle water instead of tap water, some people believe that tap water is filthy and not as clean as bottle. Some people uses luxury and money to benefit themselves in some way as their drive to work hard. People sometimes prefer certain luxury brands over cheap ones, because the quality is better and the life span of the product is longer. I agree with Singer that if we do not see the person who is in need physically, the chance of us donating is nearly zero. I think that people make charitable donations to achieve some kind of happiness, and moral fulfillment, but if we do not actually see how the donations actually help, people do not feel like as if they actually helped others in need. I agree that everyone can make a difference in people’s lives, however poverty and death is inevitable, and are everywhere. I believe people can make charitable donations after they care for their own health and wellness first, then care for their families and friends. Interview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMZvIZEO1E0 Article 1: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/opinion/peter-singer-abortion-the-dividing-lines/story-e6frfifo-1111114264781 Article 2: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/world/why-we-all-should-give-away-25-of-our-pay/2007/06/08/1181089326370.html

The Chronicles of Definitional Argument Essay Topics

The Chronicles of Definitional Argument Essay Topics Argumentative essays look at an idea or a problem and present each side when building a case for a single side specifically. Occasionally a claim can look as a definition claim, but nonetheless, it actually expresses a fact as an alternative to a stand on a single side of an argument. You ought to understand the term before you're able to define it for others. If you need assistance with a definition essay, or just do not have sufficient time to write it all on your own, no worries! Making up a topic by yourself is quite mind-torturing. As you probably know, simply because you've got a definition essay topic and a couple examples doesn't indicate you've got an essay. To begin with, if you're writing definition essay you will need to pick a topic which will be interesting. To generate the topics you merely have to choose definition essay in the sort of essay and set some keywords when you have any on your mind. Obviously, here, you'll discover a wide scope of topics and essay ideas. Research can and should nevertheless be utilized in a personal argumentative essay in order to create the major argument more compelling. Therefore, the above told six position essay topics can help you compose a superior piece to position essay, but be sure whatever topic you're selecting is not hard to understand and on which you get a good understanding, otherwise you won't be in a position to create sturdy arguments. Quite frequently, the very best topic is one which you truly care about, but you also will need to get well prepared to research it. Definitional Argument Essay Topics Ideas There are a number of ways to define a term. Don't forget that most nouns aren't our finest friends here. You must keep in mind that most physical object has definitions that are similar for most people, and so you will write about something, that usually don't have another opinion. Apparently, it can't be something s imple, something which takes just a couple of different words to describe. Definitional Argument Essay Topics and Definitional Argument Essay Topics - The Perfect Combination Researching the historical part of a given word will not just offer excess inspiration but in addition make your paper more credible. Don't forget that a definition paper is rather different from several other essays and you have to balance objective strategy, professional terms and a personalized approach to demonstrate that you're not just able to collect information but can also allow it to be interesting for the audience. A definition essay outline will change in length depending on the term one is describing. Your outline is going to be a skeleton of the upcoming essay, so be certain it is always somewhere nearby. If you're also trying hard to finish the undertaking, try using a definition essay example and you'll observe how much simpler the task will get! In a definition essay, there are a few fundamental guidelines that you will have to follow. There are an endless number of words which can be defined in the period of an essay. Identify three conditions that you believe meet the definition. The 30-Second Trick for Definitional Argument Essay Topics After picking your subject, you should have the five varieties of arguments at the rear of your head throughout your writing. Instead, you should select a notion that connects with your intended audience. Even when you're stating your viewpoint, make sure you do not come off as biased. Rephrase the principal portions of the definition and make certain you summed up everything you planned on saying. What You Need to Do About Definitional Argument Essay Topics Additionally, learning what separates a great argument from a bad one is going to enhance your critical thinking abilities and allow you to resist bad arguments you might find in the media, at school, or in daily life. In the modern modern twenty first century world also, there are lots of components of the planet where women continue to be under male member of her family since they have hardly any rights in comparison to men. Each piece has certain characteristics and belongs in a given place to create the entire picture. The rest is going to be achieved by the site. Facts, Fiction and Definitional Argument Essay Topics It's important to pick the word which provides you enough to research and write about. You may find that there are a few normal tactics to utilize in elaborating a term. Define by just what the term doesn't mean. There are four unique methods for defining a term based on the matter. Ruthless Definitional Argument Essay Topics Strategies Exploited Attempt to pick a definition, which isn't widely used or which has various interpreta tions. Should you do, paraphrase the offered definition to prevent difficulties with plagiarism. From the above it looks like very uncomplicated. 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Constructed Dialogue Definition and Examples

Constructed dialogue is a term used in conversation analysis to describe a re-creation or representation of actual, internal, or imagined speech  in storytelling or conversation. The term constructed dialogue was  coined by linguist Deborah Tannen (1986) as a more accurate alternative to the traditional term  reported speech. Tannen has identified 10 different types of constructed dialogue, including summarizing dialogue, choral dialogue, dialogue as inner speech, dialogue constructed by a listener, and the dialogue of non-human speakers. Examples and Observations Jeff got up on the platform and made a little spiel. He  said in effect,  I am a hobo, and I am running a hobo cabaret. A hobo is a man who always works for his living but has wanderlust and loves to travel. A tramp is lazy and would rather have a handout than work, and a bum is a guy who is even lower than a tramp. I dont want any tramps or bums.(Ed Lowry,  My Life in Vaudeville, ed. by Paul M. Levitt. Southern Illinois University Press, 2011)The executioner was whistling and  swinging his axe idly, because at the moment he had nothing to do. In spite of his business, he really seemed to be a very pleasant man.â€Å"The King says you must chop off my head, said Bartholomew.Oh, Id hate to, said the executioner, looking at him with a friendly smile. You seem like such a nice boy.Well . . . the king says you have to,  said Bartholomew, so please get it over with.All right, sighed the executioner, but first youve got to take off your hat.(Dr. Seuss,  The 500 Hats of Barthol omew Cubbins. Vanguard, 1938)Dialogue of Nonhuman SpeakersIn the morning [the child] woke and took the waterpot, and went to the river; she sat down and wept. As she was crying, there came out a great frog, and said, Why are you crying? She said, I am in trouble.  The frog said, What is troubling you? She replied, It is said that I am to become the wife of my brother.  The frog said, Go and take your beautiful things, which you love, and bring them here.†(The Frog and Umdhlubu, from  African Folktales, ed. by  Paul Radin. Princeton University Press, 1970)Choral DialogueMost  people seem to be saying, I expect the average gambler to lose money, but not me!Dialogue as Inner SpeechWeve got one microphone stuffed right in the speaker,  and Im going, No, with years of training, one would know that just wont work.Deborah Tannen on Constructed DialogueThe term reported speech is a misnomer. Examination of the lines of dialogue represented in storytelling or conversation, and consideration of the powers of human memory, indicate that most of those lines were probably not actually spoken. What is commonly referred to as reported speech or direct quotation in conversation is constructed dialogue, just as surely as is the dialogue created by fiction writers and playwrights. A difference is that in fiction and plays, the characters and actions are also constructed, whereas in personal narrative, they are based on actual characters and events. . . .[C]onstructed dialogue in conversation and in fiction is a means by which experience surpasses story to become drama. Moreover, the creation of drama from personal experience and hearsay is made possible by and simultaneously creates interpersonal involvement among speaker or writer and audience.(Deborah Tannen, Introducing Constructed Dialogue in Greek and American Conversational Literary Narrative. Direct and Indirect Speech, ed. by Florian Coulmas. Walter de Gruyter, 1986)Constructed Dialogue as a Discourse Event[Deborah Tannen] argues that lines of dialogue in conversation, owing to characteristics of human memory, are probably not exactly the same as those that were actually spoken. Thus, the lines of speech are not actually reported verbatim but rather are constructed by speakers based on real people and events.Further evidence for the notion that dialogue is constructed is based on the fact that some lines of dialogue in stories are the thoughts of the participants in the stories, or are interjected by listeners. . . . Constructed dialogue can occur between hypothetical persons or animals. . . .Lines of dialogue can also appear in lectures, as a type of discourse event. . . . [Constructed dialogue can] serve the function of making lectures interesting or vivid.(Cynthia B. Roy, Features of Discourse in an American Sign Language Lecture. The Sociolinguistics of the Deaf Community, ed. by Ceil Lucas. Academic Press, 1989VentriloquizingIn my analysis of family discourse, I identify and examine a particular type of constructed dialogue, which I call ventriloquizing. I use this term to refer to instances in which a family member speaks in the voice of another who is present, such as a nonverbal child or pet.(Deborah Tannen, Talking Voices: Repetition, Dialogue, and Imagery in Conversational Discourse. Cambridge Univ. Press, 2007)