Promote Communication Essay

1. Understand why effective communication is important in the work setting 1.1 Identify the different reasons people communicate The communication is part of the human life, most of the people are communicate with others all the time in a conscious way or without intention to build a kind of relationship, basically in two forms verbal where we use words to present ideas or non-verbal expressing ideas and opinions without talking using our body language, facial expressions, gestures, tone of voice, touch or contact, signs, symbols, pictures, etc. Read more:  Identify the different reasons why people communicate  essay The people communicate one each other for many different reasons depending the personal relation between the people such as family/friend, workplace, commercial place, etc Those reasons can be: To express our needs and wishes To create/build a relationship with others To share information To explain different aspect of the life To help or receive help To show and express our feelings In particular, in our work environment exist some specific different groups of people that we need to communicate for different reasons The children and young people The communication with them is constant and fluid, we know their needs, problems, like and dislike, conflict with other peers, we share and explain the daily activities, we discuss the place setting rules, etc. The communication is general informal, and the verbal and non-verbal language should be according with the ages of the children. The practitioners With the colleagues we interact day by day, most of the time in an informal way share ideas and thoughts, relevant information about the children, the setting planning, activities, different situation that can affect the normal day in the work place as well as depended of the kind of relationship with the colleagues, it is possible share personal information and aspect of our life which do not have direct influence in the job. The manager / director The communication is similar than the colleagues, but it is express in a more formal way according of the kind of information that we need to communicate, sometime may include written communication by filling accident / incident form, meeting notes, discuss policies revision, etc . Parents/ carers The communication in this case can be informal and formal depending of the relationship between the people and the level of important of the information. We need to listen their concern about the children, setting activities, etc and for ours side giving to them feedback about the children progress, newsletter, any type of important information, etc. 1.2 Explain how communication affects relationships in the work setting The communication is once of the more important interpersonal skills in ours work-setting, and it can affect in a positive or negative way on the day to day interaction with the different groups described above . Exist some possible barrier which can interfere in the communication, which can affect directly the relation between you and the people in the work place in a negative form like: Different language or different non-verbal communication interpretation. Speak with a lot of technical or slang language can create misunderstand or wrong message Ã… ¸Cultural and background differences can make that the same thing means different thing between the people, it can difficult the communication. Ã… ¸Personal and emotional situation like distress, upset, etc may make that someone not listen properly therefore misinterpret or do not understand what is being said Ã… ¸People with any kind of special needs to speak, listen, move, hard to concentrate, etc. However, There are many communication skills that we may consider to make that relationship in the setting affect in a positive way such as In verbal communication: Speak calm and clear Using listening skills to check understanding Understanding the communication cycle Knowing how to ask questions effectively Adapt the way of the communication so that the child or adult is able to understand. Understand and respect confidentiality In non-verbal communication: Understand body language messages Use a welcome body language and a positive attitude to communicate Have good empathic skills Show a calm posture If we can have a positive communication with all the people who is part of the work place community, we can build a good teamwork, share information effetely, establishing new relationships, helping children and young people with their problems and conflicts, etc.

Myth of Model Family

Myth of the Model Family The image of the model family is breathtaking, a housewife-mother, a breadwinner father, a couple of kids and a pet or two. This is the dream of most Americans but at the same time is a cliche. â€Å"The â€Å"traditional† family†¦ has existed for little more than two hundred years† (18). This idea has been so widely accepted due to the attention that it has received in the media. Like Gary Soto in â€Å"Looking for Work† the perfect family misleads people into thinking what is truth and what is fiction.Of course the truth is that there is no such thing as the â€Å"perfect† family. One family cannot represent all the variation of families all around the world. The universal nuclear family is the same with the stay-at-home mother, the breadwinner father, a couple of children and maybe a pet or two. Preferably, people would like to see what a family should be or act like, but not everyone is the same. Each and every culture is different, with each of them having there own definition or idea of what the model family is like.In Soto’s â€Å"Looking for Work† the story is about a child's expectance of a family life filled with love and comforts, which is contrast with his real working class family life. In the story Soto, back at the age of nine, dreams to live is a life where his family is straightforward in there routine. Soto lived in a working class family that had only a breadwinner mother and three children. There was no mention of a father. Over the years there has been the question of who has the authority in an American family. It used to be the male of the family who had the most authority.Over the years, that has slowly changed. As in Soto’s story he lives with his mom and no mention of a dad. Today there are families that have two fathers or two mothers or only one of each and not the other. The idea of the â€Å"perfect† model family is so widely accepted, due to the attention that it receives in the media. So the idea of two fathers, or two mothers, is a rare thing to see on a television show. But who in the media decides what a family is? The media has a lot of influence over what we think a family is.For example, Soto’s idea of his family being perfect came from him watching Father Knows Best. It gave him the idea that there is a certain way a family should act that he â€Å"so much wanted to imitate it† (26). Every one has his or hers own definition of what a family is. Soto’s idea of a family, was given by the media, not his own idea. In Soto’s family there was a difference between the American family and other families. Soto’s family ate â€Å"beans and tortillas in the stifling heat of [the] kitchen† (27). A perfect family would have turkey for dinner and apple pie for desert. Related essay: â€Å"Realism and Expressionism in Death of a Salesman†Like Soto we often see other people’s families differently than we see our own. In other words people can be â€Å"blinded† to the truth of a family. People have said that a person deprived of sight â€Å"see† what the naked eye can’t. Yet they may not have the physical sight but have another kind of vision. The vision of seeing what they want to see. Many Americans only see what they want to see and not what is really there. This in turn goes back to the media who gives us this picture of what is and what should be rather than what really is.In conclusion the perfect family is nothing other than a dream that Americans have. The dream if not having to worry about the image that they give off or the way they act. Ultimately there are many myths about the perfect family, but it is up to the person to choose whether to follow some ones vision of a family, or to follow their own views of a family. One way or another a family is a family, no matter the family members because each family is special or â€Å"perfect† in their own way.

Critically Assess Geert Hofstede’s Use of Cultural Dimensions

ABSTRACT: Along with the trend toward globalization, communication across cultural and national boundaries has a significant effect on business. The Dutch management researcher Geert Hofstede’s work of culture dimensions is regarded as an approach to measure inter-cultural differences to business for scholars and practitioners. However, such a significant work does not escape criticism. Even though his theory consummates to six dimensions based on varies datum and is widely applied by many academics, McSweedney and many specialists assert his work as an absolute assumption.INTRODUCTION: Nowadays, the country boundaries are shaped by the spread of global communication networks and the development of transportation. Because of globalization, countries are tied closer than ever before. Since the beginning of 1970s, scholars such as Geert Hofstede started to notice the importance of cultural differences for many aspects of business life, in particular, when business related to com municate between people with different cultures. Hofstede (http://geert-hofstede. com/dimensions. html) claimed that â€Å"Culture is more often a source of conflict than of synergy.Cultural differences are a nuisance at best and often a disaster. † Such conflicts are determined by the people’s perception which is partly the product of culture. Therefore, in order to avoid the conflict caused by culture, it is important to recognise cultural differences under global business environment. Hofstede’s cultural framework provides a guideline to recognize the differences between cultures and may improve the inter-cultural communication in business area. However, his work is critiqued by scholars and researchers as an unreliable framework.This essay firstly outline Hofstede’s cultural framework briefly and then apply his theory into practical situation to access whether it can improves the inter-cultural communication in the workplace. Afterwards, it will criti que the limitations based on the literatures opposite to Hofstede’s viewpoint. HOFSTEDE’S MODEL: Geert Hofstede’s work is ground-breaking and he himself is considered as the pioneer and pathfinder in inter-cultural study(Bond, 2002 and Sondergaard 1994). He described his significant research result based IBM employees’ attitudes and work-related values around the world.In the past 30 years, he persists to refine his theory from the previous four to six dimensions: Power distance, Individualism versus Collectivism, Masculinity versus Femininity, Uncertainty avoidance and Long-term orientation, and Indulgence versus Restraint (Hofstede et al, 2010). In his book, each country is evaluated by scores on every dimension, thus people can take an insight into the cultural differences by comparing countries’ scores. Power distance (PDI) is defined as that, to what degree people can perceive the unequal power distribution in a society.PDI scores, deriving fr om value of the less powerful people, indicate the level to which members accept power inequality. A low score demonstrates that members of the society prefer equality; whereas a country has a high PDI score means that people accept large power differences. Individualism versus Collectivism (IDV) is the dimension relating to how people ties to others within the community. Individualism pertains to societies whose members tie loosely and concern about themselves and their immediate family. On the contrary, in collectivistic countries people belong to strong and cohesive group.Masculinity versus Femininity (MAS) refers to whether emotional gender roles are distinct or overlap. In masculine societies men are supposed to behave ‘assertive, competitive and tough’, on the contrary, women are supposed to be ‘modest, tender, and concerned with the quality of life’ (Hofstede, 2010: 140). Uncertainty avoidance (UAI) related to extent to which members handle anxiety w ith ambiguous and unknown situations. Strong UAI Countries maintain â€Å"rigid codes of belief and behaviour and are intolerant of unorthodox behaviour and ideas†.Countries exhibiting weak UAI encourage practice than principles with a more relaxed attitude. Long-term versus Short-term orientation (LTO) deals with which kind of value is fostered. This dimension is based on Bond’s World Values Survey on â€Å"Confucian dynamism†. Long-term oriented countries foster virtues such as perseverance and thrift for future rewards, whereas short-term orientation focuses on rewards in the present and the past, which means particularly ‘respect for tradition, preservation of ‘face’, and fulfilling social obligations’ (Hofstede, 2010: 239).Indulgence versus Restrain is linked to happiness. An indulgent society permits ‘relatively free gratification of basic and natural human drives related to enjoying life and having fun’ (http://geert -hofstede. com/dimensions. html). On the contrary, restraint countries use strict social norms to control gratification of needs and regulates. Application As the world becomes globalized, to remain competitive and minimize conflicts which are the result of ignoring cultural differences, companies should not adopt an ethnocentric management mode to different cultural staff.To minimize these conflicts, many scholars and practitioners utilize Hofstede’s work of cultural dimensions as a means to narrow the cultural gap in business. One reason why his framework is widely adopted is that his data are collected from varies companies and the fifth dimension is based on ‘Confucian dynamism’. Thus, to access its practical applicability to decrease the negative aspect of cultural differences and to elevate cross-cultural communication level, it is important to apply Hofstede’s work into real cases.Since the late 2009, the famous Japanese auto-maker Toyota struggled into an unprecedented crisis due to pedal quality problems which led Toyota to its historical largest recall in the world. The Economist (Feb. 6, 2010) commented that safety recall is a common issue in vehicle manufacture but Toyota changed the order. In the process of managing crisis, Toyota acted according to Japanese culture without taking the American cultural values into account. It can be said that one reason deteriorates the normal recall cars to a crisis is the ignorance of cultural differences.Some literatures analyse the cultural aspect affecting the crisis and group them into two main points (Feng, 2010, Huang, 2010). Firstly, the Japanese management mode and organizational behaviour is different from American. As a result of the Japanese organizational culture, Toyota responded slowly after the accident. It is reported that on American time 28th August 2009, a Lexus ES 350 caused a fatal crash due to the gas pedal was stuck and the car was out of control (Los Angeles Tim es, Oct. 25, 2009). Yet Toyota did not respond to the accident immediately.US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said that documents show that Toyota knew of the problem in late September but did not give response until late January, moreover, â€Å"they knowingly hid a dangerous defect for months from US officials and did not take action to protect millions of drivers and their families† (Thomas, 2010). The second reason is the different communication behaviours between Japan and the U. S. A. In the American hearing and variety interviews, Akio Toyota, the president of Toyota Motor Corporation, spoke implicative, tactful and modest with a large number of modest words without any directly answers (Huang, 2010).In addition, Akio Toyota’s behaviours are understood as hiding the truth by American people. According to Hofstede’s framework, Western culture, represented by the U. S. A. , and such Japanese Eastern culture have significantly differences. The magnitude of the differences has been directly described in ways. See from the figure 1. 1. Figure 1. 1 Japan and the U. S. A It is obvious that there exist large differences between Japan and the United States. One of the most telling to explain the crisis can be the collectivist versus individualist dimension.The fundamental issue related to IDV is the extent of connection between individuals and the group (Hofstede, 1980). From the data provided by Hofstede, Japan, at a score of 46 on a scale of 1 to 100, is a collectivist society, whose group allegiances are strong, cohesive and invoke higher authority. The individuals adhere to the entity and preserve harmony. Thus the Toyota North American office was been called a â€Å"little safety deaf† by LaHood (CBC news, Feb, 2010). The North American office need invoked by the highest authority to handle the accident and the applicable proposal must pass through the whole company.Nevertheless, this system is not adaptable in handling probl ems in America. According to Hofstede, Toyota needs to handle the problem immediately rather than make a long-term agreement. Meanwhile, the high power distance (Japan 54) can be used to analysis the slow response. Japan is a more centralized decision country, and it is therefore all the command should be endorsed by the president of Toyota Motor Corporation, Akio Toyoda. Because only the CEO can respond to the allegations, the response to the event was hauled in respect to the stakeholders living in a country that has only 40 in the index.As mentioned before, the official recall and apologize came four months later after the car accident has been reported. Yet the stakeholders demanded immediate response to the accident from Toyota regardless from the CEO or other representative. Moreover, during the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing, in response to why Toyota responded so slow, Toyoda claimed that do not answered directly but reiterates his plan to set up a g lobal commission to address complains more quickly (CNN Politics, Feb. 24, 2010).This phenomenon can adopt Hofstede’s fifth dimension, long- term versus short-term orientation to demonstrate the inevitability of this divergence. Hofstede himself defines long-term orientation as ‘the fostering of virtues oriented towards future rewards' (Hofstede 2010: 239), which means that high long-orientation scores countries (Japan 80) pay more attention to the things that will benefit the future whereas low score countries tend to focus on nearby benefits or rewards. Jealous writes, â€Å"In America, we ultimately judge people on what they are doing today for tomorrow, not for what they did yesterday. (CNN Politics, Feb. 24, 2010). In the hearing, American part were expected that Toyota undertake their obligations by providing continuous plans to the stakeholders. Akio did not account for this and responded indirectly to the solution to the current accident therefore caused Americ ans the disgusted and suspected feeling. Consequently, if Toyota can notice the cultural differences and adopt Hofstede's theory to handle the problem in their American market in the bud, the common recall would not exacerbate American people and became a crisis which will threaten its reputation. CRITIQUE:Culture is deeply rooted in many aspects of business life when people must interact with the people such as suppliers, buyers, employees or stakeholders. The case of Toyota crisis demonstrates that Hofstede’s framework of cultural dimensions is practical to uncover these conflicts in cross-cultural communication. If people could realize the cultural differences concluded by Hofstede and take proper communication style and management mode, the fate of Toyota might be changed. However, the framework cannot act as a textbook to interpret the whole cultural gap even in the case of Toyota crisis.Many intercultural researchers criticized Hofstede’s theory for not providing valuable guiding intelligence or regard it as absolute assumptions. Hofstede did not mention the impact of linguistic on the communication. Different languages and contents have objectively impact on the understanding of the conversation. Take the US-based 3M Company as an example. The company earns $7 billion per year in their overseas market, it become the â€Å"forefront of language instruction by sponsoring an in-house Language Society that provides linguistic and cultural support† to 3M (Frey-Ridgway, 1997).Freivalds (1995) said that the French firm Bull adopted the 3M model to train its employees in the competition of global marketplace and still in success. Language plays an irreplaceable position in the inter-cultural communication. Different types of body languages cause misunderstanding as well. In japan, apology needs humility, in order to be forgiven, Japanese usually avoid eye contact stands for rudeness, offend and provocation, but it would be decoded as disint erest, dishonesty and cunning in western countries (Huang, 2010, Dahl, 2004).Gudykunst and Nishida (1994:2) said that misunderstanding between Japan and American people often â€Å"stem from not knowing the norms and rules guiding each other’s communication†. In hofstede’s model, the data come from the English-speaking company IBM and it is aim to evaluate work attitude and value, this led his theory ignore linguistic and body language difference. Moreover, in the process of communication among Akio Toyoda and the American interlocutor, the stakeholders, the Congress representatives or the media people, misunderstanding occurred continually.As mentioned above, Toyota responded euphemistic to the problem (Huang, 2010). Akio repeated the apology several times and declined to give pithy answers to undertake the obligation and to interpret the information and plan for the stakeholders in the hearing (Clark ; McCurry, 2010). The answer type can be derived from the pa tterns of Japanese communication. Lincoln (1995) studied Japanese and found that due to the politeness cultural they reluctance to say â€Å"no† directly. Hall (1976) separated communication into High-context and low-context.The United States is a typical low-context communication country while Japan belongs to high-context communication. Low-context communication refers to the patterns of communication use explicit verbal to convey meanings, whereas high-context pattern draw heavily on context. This cultural difference is raised by Hall instead of Hofstede. Michael (1997) claim that literatures are lack of specific details and are concluded in broad behavioral terms. Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner (1997) classified cultures has seven value orientations which is more than Hofstede’s six dimensions and has somewhat different perspectives.Additionally, Dahl (2004) criticizes the theory is the result of very little data, especially from specific companies with limited num bers of questions. This indicates that culture can be separated into more dimensions and those national scores and ranks are not the exclusive guide to improve inter-cultural communications. From Hofstede’s (1980) research, Japan ranks in the middle level of Individualism versus collectivism dimension. Yet Japan is widely stereotyped as a harmonious society.Woodring (2010 cited in Jandt, 1995: 163) used the original Hofstede’s questionnaire to study Japanese students and found that students scored lower on power distance whereas higher on individualism comparing with Hofstede’s original sample. Woodring explained that the different scores might be the result of age; that is means, students may praise more on individualism and equality than the whole Japanese society. About 1990, youths 25 years old and under were named as shin jin rui (literally â€Å"new human beings†), who were described as â€Å"selfish, self-centered, and disrespectful of elders and tradition† by older Japanese.In the description from Hofstede suggested that the Japan is a group oriented and hierarchical country. However, there are evidences to show that the young generation seeks for egalitarian and individualism. This demonstrates that Hofstede’s research can lead to stereotype and this ought to be avoided. Furthermore, this study shows that cultural value is dynamic. Holden (2002) criticizes the â€Å"relative reliance† on Hofstede’s paradigm in the workplace. He points out that the data is outdated as it was collected before 30 years.Hofstede attempts to set a certain form of culture for people to understand specific cultures and he (Hofstede, 2010: 34) states that â€Å"cutlures, especially national cultures, are extremely stable over time†. This has been criticized as â€Å"functionalist ambition of measuring largely unquantifiable phenomena† (Gray and Maloory, 1998: 57). Hostede himself stated, â€Å"There is no such thing as objectivity in the study of social reality: we will too often to be subjective, but we may at least try to be ‘inter subjective’. As His data are come from the questionnaire made by a group of western people, as a result of this, the question are tend to reflect western culture which means Hofstede’s theory has its cultural bias. Meanwhile, there is a debate about what level of analysis is practical for the term â€Å"culture† to be a viable tool. McSweeney (2000) questions the classification of culture in Hofstede’s theory. Hofstede (2010: 10) stated that people are shaped by â€Å"certain cultural trains† from the same country. Although general cultural dimensions can be established at a cultural level, ndividuals may not necessarily reflect the national culture they belong to. Hofstede (1980, 1991) admits that using data from the level of country to analyze the individuals is not appropriate, and labeled it â€Å"ecological fallacy†. He (1991:253) affirms that national cultural level reflects â€Å"central tendencies (†¦) for the country†, it is, not practical to analyze and predict specific individual behaviors or events. Conclusion: Generally overview the assessment, Geert Hofstede’s use of cultural dimensions provides a measurable paradigm to attract people’s attention to cultural differences and contribute to the inter-cultural study.For those people who are involved in international commerce, culture is important for many aspects of business life, thus, if people go into another country to communicate with local company, changing the management process and practices to meet their values is essential. Concluding from the case analysis of Toyota crisis, Hofstede's cultural model indeed provides an effective reference to support better cross-cultural communication as it uncover the reasons of cultural conflict for people to apply appropriate method to minimize its nega tive influence.However, cultural dimension theory functions limited in small space as it is not perfect. It regards culture as a fixed concept and separates it by national boundaries is improper. The data is collected in several decades years before even it has been updated in recent years based on questionnaire in a specific group in international companies from a perspective of western people. Moreover, it narrows culture into six dimensions may potentially disturb the derived value prediction as certain context influences on the individual respondents.The inter-cultural communication conflicts exist no matter how much understanding goes both ways. In conclusion, Hofstede’s work of cultural dimensions is a supplement for supporting better inter-cultural communication, the bilateral respect of culture and positive attitude are the core to successful inter-cultural communication. Bibliography: Bond, M. H. (2002). â€Å"Reclaiming the Individual from Hofstede's Ecological Ana lysis- A 20-Year Odyssey: Comment on Oyserman et al. † Psychological Bulletin, 128 (1): 73-77 CBC news (Feb 2, 2010), â€Å"Toyota slow o react: LaHood- US Transportation Secretary criticizes automaker†. Available at (13 May, 2012) Clark, A. & McCurry, J. (2010). â€Å"Toyota boss offers ‘sincere regrets' for faulty accelerators†, The Guardian, Thursday 25 February 2010. Available at < http://www. guardian. co. uk/business/2010/feb/25/toyota-akio-toyoda-congress? INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487> (13 May, 2012) CNN Politics (Feb 24, 2010). â€Å"Toyota president testifies before Congress†. Available at < http://articles. cnn. com/2010-02-24/politics/toyota. earing. updates_1_toyoda-inaba-national-press-club? _s=PM:POLITICS > (13 May, 2012) Dahl, S. (2004). â€Å"Intercultural Research: The Current State of Knowledge†. Middlesex University Discussion Paper No. 26. Available at < http://papers. ssrn. com/sol3/papers. cfm? abstract_id=658202 > (13 May, 2012 ) Feng, Y. (2010). â€Å"Toyota crisis: management ignorance? – a swedish case of consumers perceptions†. Available at < http://hh. diva-portal. org/smash/record. jsf? pid=diva2:349746> (13 May, 2012) Freivalds, J. (1995). â€Å"Learning languages†. Communication World, December: 24-7.Frey-Ridgway, S. (1997). â€Å"The cultural dimension of international business†. Collection Building, 16(1): 12 – 23 Gudykunst, W. & Nishida, T. (1994), Bridging Japanese-North American Differences, Communicating Effectively in Multicultural Contexts Series, Thousand Oaks: Sage, p. 2 Hofstede’s website, available at < http://geert-hofstede. com/dimensions. html > (13 May, 2012) Hofstede, G. (1980) Culture’s Consequences:International Differences in Work-related Values Beverly Hills, CA: Sage. Hofstede, G. (1991). Cultures and Organizations: software of the mind, 2nd Ed.New York: McGraw-Hill Hofstede, G. , Hofstede, G. J. & Minkov, M. (2010). Cultures an d Organizations: software of the mind, 3rd Ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Holden, N. (2002). Cross-cultural management: a knowledge management perspective. Harlow: Financial Times Prentice Hall Huang, Z. (2010). â€Å" —— â€Å" â€Å" † (From the perspective of inter-cutlural communication to see Japan-America cultural differeces—analysis Toyota â€Å"recall†). Journal of Huaihua University,29 (6) Jandt, F. E. (2009). An Introduction to Intercultural Communication: Identities in a Global

Dell, Inc Recalls Laptop Batteries Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Dell, Inc Recalls Laptop Batteries - Essay Example From its establishment, Dell gains worldwide recognition of being one of the most successful information technology companies. The company holds a large market share in all their product lines. Last August, Dell recalls its lithium-ion batteries powering its laptops after pictures of its laptop exploding in a conference in Japan floods the internet. It should be noted that recall involves 4.1 laptop batteries and is the largest made in the consumer electronics industry. The recalled batteries include 2.1 million lithium-ion batteries installed in laptops sold in the United States and another 1.4 million sold overseas from April 2004 to July 2006. Dell does this in order to ward off potential fire hazards which can cause more damage to the customers and the company's brand image (Blakely 1-6). Currently, the cause of the explosion remains unknown. Experts are expressing their concerns over the new battery technologies which make gadgets susceptible to "thermal runaway." Thermal runaway refers to a condition where a faulty battery hits a certain level of temperature and continues to heat up by itself until it finally explodes.

Art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 15

Art - Essay Example This statue was curved for the purposes of Pharaoh Khafre’s remembrance. Initially, the statue was kept in the Pharaoh’s valley temple near the Great Sphinx. The statue was presented as part of necropolis funeral city used in most important funeral rituals. This research paper explains the Khafre Enthroned funerary statue, from Gizeh, Egypt. The Khafre old kingdom artistic statue was designed putting into considerations a lot of symbolism in it. Firstly, the statue had an important function in Egyptian tombs. This statue overly acts as a sub-statue abode for the Pharaoh’s Ka. Ka in Egyptian cultural beliefs is the life that accompanies the righteous persons with a kind of other self. After death, the Ka leaves the individual body and soul into the afterlife (Gardner et al. 111). The statue embodiment therefore remains contemporarily to show a peace to rest; to the dead souls. The Khafre enthroned sculpture was designed in spiral form. This statue shows his majesty Khafre seated. This was one of the famous statue designs with a basic formulaic types used in the old kingdoms to show the human figure. Art speaks and through Khafre Enthroned statue, his figure in the seat is greatly shown. This artistic work if was to go by; would easily explain the kind of a ruler king Khafre was. This Egyptian statue design was inf luenced by mummification in Egypt (Gardners Art through the Ages: The Western Perspective 121). Mummification played a major role in the Egyptian culture in the ancient civilization era. This process involved a 70-day purification of pharaoh’s body to ensure immortality for Pharaoh. Beginning in the third millennium BCE, mummification became impossible in Egypt. This process was hectic and cumbersome hence there was need for finding a better way to remember the Pharaoh’s of Egypt. If the Pharaoh’s mummy was damaged, ART Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 5 ART - Essay Example he High Renaissance meant paint that was created by mixing pigment with egg yolk to create a thick colored liquid that could then be applied with brushes to any surface. The egg yolk was the binding agent and artists would often also mix in other liquids such as honey, water or milk to vary the consistency or increase opacity. One of the main properties of this type of paint is that it dries quickly, which is beneficial when one wishes to paint over specific areas but can be problematic when one is trying to blend shades together on the canvas. This type of paint can’t be applied in heavy layers, though, and is generally not as bright or saturated as other forms of paint. What perhaps wasn’t known by the artists of the Renaissance, though, is that tempura maintains its original colors over time rather than darkening as many oil paints tend to do. Frescoes are somewhat different from tempera paints or oils in that they utilize the material of the receiving surface as the binding agent for the pigments rather than an internal ingredient. In fresco painting, painters would mix pigment with water and then apply these colors to the still wet plaster wall where the painting was to be. The water would absorb into the wall and evaporate, leaving the pigment trapped within the plaster itself. Preparation of the wall had to take place at least a week in advance to allow the underlayer of plaster to dry first. Then only enough top layer of plaster was applied that the artist could reasonably paint in a given day, meaning about eight or nine hours of work, before the plaster hardened to the point where no more paint would be absorbed. This painting in segments makes it possible to still trace what the artist did from one day to the next. Another problem with frescoes was that there could be no mistakes or the entire segment would have t o be removed and started from the beginning. Oil painting eventually emerged as the most preferred form of paint because of its

Comparison Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 3

Comparison - Essay Example Charles Cunningham uses articles from the Life magazine to buttress his arguments regarding the belittling of white trash and African Negroes. The article by Tom Delph-Janiurek examines the link between gender and sexuality in spaces with regards to voice and its impact in the teaching environment in England. Tom Delph-Januirek also evaluates the power interpretation of voices and its contribution to class differences. The article by Charles Cunningham pertains to the derogatory and untrue portrayal of rural poor, especially in connection to the white trash and the African Americans in the twentieth century, during the time of the great depression in the United States of America. The article by Tom Delph-Janiurek examines the link between gender and sexuality in spaces with regards to voice and its impact in the teaching environment in England. At first there arises apprehension on any possible link between two such disparate articles in different environments over different periods of time. An in depth analysis of the two articles however, provides the scope for the comparison. Charles Cunningham provides examples of the speech of African Americans in his arguments to bolster the derogatory and racial prejudice against the African Americans. Drawing support from the works of experts in the field of language Tom Delph-Janiurek claims that voice very frequently conveys with clarity, information reg arding the bodies from which they originate. In addition to Tom Delph-Janiurek, voices are interpreted by listeners and â€Å"voices are shaped by interconnected discursive relating to gender, sexuality, class, and race†, (2, p.258). According to Charles Cunningham the African American was portrayed as the scum of the earth. Poor white trash and African Americans were taken as not worth any consideration by the urban middle and rich classes, as they were not deserving of it. Yet, between the two the African American was given a much lower status irrespective

Louis Pasteur Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Louis Pasteur - Essay Example To understand the process better we may think of, the old fashioned idea of home canning process where we use heat united with combined given temperatures’ to kill the harmful germs. Most foods may be pasteurized examples includes milk, and most form of cooked foods such as the cooked vegetables. Louis Pasteur discovered the process, when summoned by alcohol manufacturing company to determine the cause of beetroot alcohol to sour. During that time, many scientists thought that the fermentation was a merely chemical process. He did research into fermentation, which led him to find out that it was yeast, one of the living organisms that crooked the beet to alcohol. Yeast was plump and round under the microscope, after being spoiled by the alcohol, it contained another different microbe that looked like a rode-shaped. He speculated that the different rod shaped known as the Mycoderma acetic, frequently used to create vinegar, caused the wine to be spoiled (Fandel, Wilson, Ramos & Barnett, 2007). His pasteurization discovery formed the germ of Pasteur or the germ theory of fermentation. He could apply the same notion to the genesis of diseases making to have the greatest contribution in medicine and science. This made Emperor Napoleon III of France enlisted him to save France industries of wine from the diseases. His main role was to establish exact temperature, and time that would take to destroy the harmful microorganisms found in the wine without transforming the taste of the wine. He untested the process and named it pasteurization (Fandel, Wilson, Ramos & Barnett, 2007). With time, the process was incorporated in making vinegar and beer. He came up with a practical technique for the curb of beer fermentation; he provided a rational methodology for the brewing industry. Besides these he devised a technique used in the manufacturing of beer, which

Ethics & Social Responsability in Strategic Management Essay

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Paper that assesses the legal problems of genuineness of assent and Essay

Paper that assesses the legal problems of genuineness of assent and what condition must prevail in order for a contractual offer to be null and void relative to absense of genuineness - Essay Example Agreements or promises made must be consented to in order to bind all the parties to a contract. Essentially, the contracting process has to be genuine. If the genuineness of assent is questionable, the underlying contract(s) might fail to be legally binding. However, there are legal challenges involved relative to proving lack of genuineness of assent in a contract context. The enforceability of a contract is subject to genuineness of assent (Miller, 2012). Contracts are effectively and efficiently performed where genuineness of assent is not questionable. When genuineness of assent is characterized by doubt or lack of it altogether, legal provisions applicable to the contract context take their course. In this respect, the primary legal problems and challenges that surround genuineness of assent include mistake, misrepresentation, undue influence, or duress (Miller, 2012). The occurrence of these factors in a contract jeopardizes voluntary consent. Mistakes in contracting can be made by one or more parties. In most cases, mistakes in contracting are either factual or value-based. On its part, misrepresentation encompasses fraudulent and non-fraudulent practices that could be perpetrated by one, more than one, or all the contracting parties. Where a contracting party’s free will is overcome by the influence of another party resulting in contract consent that is not driven by free will, undue influence is realized (Miller, 2012). Moreover, an agreement or promise made under threats or force is not genuine; an aspect referred to as duress. All these issues constitute legal problems involved in contracting as far as genuineness of assent is concerned. For a contractual offer to be null and void relative to absence of genuineness, there are conditions that must be satisfied relative to mistake, misrepresentation, undue influence, or duress in contracting (Miller, 2012). Whether the mistake is unilateral or

Sears Goes Swingy for Tweens and Teens Term Paper

Sears Goes Swingy for Tweens and Teens - Term Paper Example A balanced market price was formed as a result of the implementation of the various strategies into use. Sears has invented diverse strategies to control shopping tendencies. It included rewards and grants into its system. It created a self image through various strategies, like the use of social net, leading to dynamic relationships within the society through partnership with other companies. Sears is an example of the firm that incorporates successful marketing activities into its operation. The company is working towards becoming an investment boulevard because of the high level of retail target it makes compared to other retail stores. Introduction Consumer behavior is an issue of concern amongst consumers and relevant authorities. Sears is the company that is constantly changing its advertising techniques to gratify the requirements of clients. The company targeted markets are teens, and the promotion systems the company uses are online and social network scenes. These technique s create awareness of the needed products that the firm offers to its targeted clients. This unit examines the images, commodities, and the marketing strategies used by Sears in the achievement of its objectives. 1 The image of the company immensely determines how a business is perceived amongst various concerned stakeholders. Stakeholders of a company comprise of individuals contributing the start-up capital, the purchasers of end products, and individuals affected by the company’s actions. Company’s image is what attracts clients to choose a business over other existing businesses providing the same products or services. â€Å"Do not Just Go Back. Arrive,† Arrive Lounge is an attractive site commonly associated with the teens. Sears had noticed a decrease in the purchasing trends of the products it produces, therefore, having invented the strategy â€Å"Don’t just Go Back. Arrive, â€Å"to help in augmenting the sales of its products by enticing the c lients to purchase from their departmental stores (Nickels, 1980). The partnership between Sears and social networking cites was aimed at improving the company’s image and increasing product sales of the company. Social network scenes serve as effective channels for reaching targeted markets in scenarios where the targeted market is composed of teens and tweens. The scenes also serve as interactive forums where a significant number of teenagers spend their time searching for new information or interacting with friends online. The choice by Sears to reach its targeted market via the social network scenes is of immense benefit to the company because it easily identifies with the client’s needs. The identification with the clients creates for the company an upstanding image leading to the development of brand loyalty by consumers (Hadden & Luce, 1923). 2 Sears offers diverse fashionable clothes to clients and to the wider targeted market. Consumer behavior in the purchase of the clothes is different amongst clients because of demographic features present in the society. Families prefer shopping for Sears’ clothes to other clothes produced by other companies. This because it offers descent clothes like maternity clothes that are relatively affordable and are designed according to an individual’s taste. Secondly, the company presents a range of clothes to Christmas shoppers. Families round the globe highly uphold festivities period, and Sears provides clothing solutions during these periods. The designs for

Simulation of Sales Promotions towards Buying Behavior Essay Example for Free

Simulation of Sales Promotions towards Buying Behavior Essay Abstract The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of sales promotion on buying behavior among university students. Specifically, Kongunadu Arts and Science College was chosen as study location. The research data was collected from 171 respondents. The data were collected using self-administrated questionnaires. This study found that there was no significant difference between gender and buying behavior (t = -1.003, p 0.05). There were significant relationship between attitude towards price discounts (r = 0. 372, p 0.01), coupons (r = 0.270, p 0.01), free samples (r = 0.256, p 0.01) and buy-one-get-one-free (r = 0.338, p 0.01) with buying behavior. Results of Hierarchical Multiple Regression found that of the four variables, price discount (ß = 0.256) was more influential that of buy-one-get-one free (ß = 0.183), coupon discounts (ß = 0.014) and free samples (ß = 0.040). The findings of this study would help marketers to understand the types of promotion that significantly influence buying behaviour of the respondents. Hence, this could help marketers in their marketing planning to become more competitive and gain profit. Keywords: Sales promotion. Buying behavior. University students 1. Background of Study Many purchase situations are so habitual that consumers conduct very little cognitive activity (Wathieu Murre, 2007). In such cases, it is hard to motivate behaviors such as brand svwtching or increases in the number of units purchased. One of the advantages of promotions is that they can stimulate consumers to think and evaluate brands and purchase possibilities when they otherwise may not have. Therefore, many marketers and retailers utilize different kinds of promotion tools and strategies in order to understand the preference of consumers and boost their sales. Normally, sales may attract more customers spend their money, make consumption and purchase the products they wish during this super save period as the they believed that during the sales promotion, prices of all products are cheaper than usual. This phenomenon shows that some of the consumers are easily tempted when they see the word of sales promotion. Other than price reductions, coupon or rebate given by the retailer and other promotional tools like free sample, bonus pack and buy one get one free were found to be inducing consumer buy more than they expect (Gilbert, 1999). What are more crucial now are consumers themselves not aware the influence of sales promotion on their buying behaviour and especially little is understood about their responds to the various promotional strategies practice by marketers. This will eventually lead to over-consuming and buy the products which are not necessary and useless. 2. Purpose and Significant of Study Research on marketing tools is indeed important to understand the most influencing tools to compete with competitors. Through this information, marketers and retailers could well plan their resources to gain the maxiirium profit. Thus this study aim to investigate the preference of consumer on different promotional tools, marketers and retailers will able to aware of the consumer behavior so that they can utilize the right and th most effective promotion technique to attract customers. From the consumer perspective, this study will reveal the consumer attitude toward sales promotion and thus raise the awareness of consumers about their behavior that influenced by sales promotion. It also presents better understanding and information to consumers where their purchase behavior will be affected differently due to different type of promotional tools. 3. Literature Review Promotion is one of the techniques to attract consumers to purchase more or try a product or service. Severe outcomes of promotion included sales increased, quantify of stock used and attract new consumers. For example, price promotion refers to temporary price reduction which offers to consumers. The characteristic is the retailer would label a specific percentage or cash saving for the products or services. Previous studies indicated that a sudden increase of sales would experience by retailers because of price-conscious of consumers (Banks Moorthy, 1999; Kopalle Mela, 1999; Smith Sinha, 2000; Gilbert Jackaria, 2002). According to Blackwell, Miniard and Engel (2001), price discounts played significant roles in influencing consumer product trial behavior by which indirectly attract new consumer. In term of coupon promotions, those consumers obtained coupon are entitled to get discount of the products at its brighial price (Ndubisi Chew, 2006). Previous study found that coupon promotions do not have significant effect on volume of product purchase by consumer (Gilbert Jackarias, 2002). Later, a study conducted by Ndubisi and Chew (2006) at Malaysia has re-affirmed the statement by Gilbert and Jackarias (2002). They also reported that coupon promotion was among the least used and unpopular promotional tools by consumers. However, the results in Dotsons (2001) research proved that women report being more likely to use only coupons than men (p 0.05) and the youngest age group (less than 25 years old) reports a higher possibilify of taking advantage of bonus packs (p 0.05), price deals (p 0.05) and samples (p 0.05) than the age group of 35 to 54 respectively. According to Kardes (1999), marketing managers aware of product trial related to behavioral experience of consumers towards a product. Thus, sending free sample take place in promotional tools. Free samples refers to consumers are giving a free small sample of the product so that consumers have the chance to try and use the product. Shimp (2003) reported that a free sample had influence on consumers buying behavior while Gilbert and Jackaria (2002) have shown otherwise. Free sample was positively related to immediate sales of that particular (Lammers, 1991). Promotion technique of buy-one-get-one-free is one of the types of bonus packs in which the consumers are offered the additional product at the ordinary price but are in an enhanced package. Consumer would be easily persuaded to buy products as there is no extra cost need and more valuable perceived by consumers (Sinha Smith, 2000). Besides, this promotion technique would beneficial to retailers in speed up the stock clearance compared to price promotions (Li, Sun Wang, 2007). Relating with buying behavior, consumers usually have endless demand to ftilfiU their needs and satisfaction to obtain something new or better as every individual has their own behavior, attitude and thought while choosing products, services and making purchase decision. Consequently, there is a large body of literattire, which has examined consumers buying behavior and the studies have reported that many factor would infiuence consumer behavior whether buy or not to buy a product. According to Smelser and Baltes (2001), most of the daily life activities dominated by buying goods behavior and also experience which gained from the place such as shopping centers, cify centre, shops, recreational park, tourism centre and so on, where some stimulation radius can be stimulated. William (2002) revealed that social class has significant determination on purchase evaluation criteria. Attitude formation, motivation, value orientation, income, socialization during childhood and education levels will influence ones social class. According to Yip (2003), social class of an individual indirectly shows that low income would cause limited choice when making purchase decisions. High purchasing power, sales person and sales circumstances was among three key factors which influenced impulsive clothes buying practice among women consumer (Naimah Tan, 1999). 4. Methodology For the convinence of the researchers Kongunadu College of Arts and Science was selected as location of study. The data collection process was conducted among the students with prior permission from the department. Even though this small sample might not able to representative of all the population, it is considered as appropriate sampling because of using a relatively homogeneous group and this is helpful to minimize random error that might occur in using a heterogeneous sample such as the general public (Calder, Philips Tybout, 1981). Pilot study had been done before the actual study take place. The purpose of pilot study was to assess the reliability of the instruments that used in actual study. For this research, the pilot test had involved a total of 25 students in order to ensure that the question were understandable by the actual respondents. In addition, pre-test allowed the researcher to improve confidence and to make sure that the items that existed in questionnaire was suiting the studys requirement. 4.1 Instrumentation The present study used the questionnaire as the instrument of the study. The questionnaire was divided into three parts that were background of the respondents, the respondents attitude and perception with regards to different promotional tools and buying behaviour of respondents. In first part of questionnaire, each respondent was asked to answer both open-ended and close-ended questions. Open-ended questions allowed respondents to generate an answer without limitations such as age and family monthly income. On the other hand, close-ended questions required respondents to select from a set of answer already provided such as gender and race. Second part of the questionnaire was consisted of thirty two items where each different promotional tool was measured using eight items. The items developed to determine respondents attitude towards different promotional tools. There were four different promotional tools tested (i.e., price discounts, coupons, free samples and buy-one-get-one-fre e). Respondents were required to give a respond on a four point ordinal scale (strongly disagree, disagree, agree, strongly agree). The last of the questionnaire was also used four points ordinal scale (strongly disagree, disagree, agree, strongly agree) where there were thirteen items measuring the consumers buying behaviour, adopted from Bakeweà ¼ and Mitchell study. In the addition, the responses are given from one point in one end to four points in the other end. The Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 16.0 was used to analyze data. For analytical purposes, each scale of the total attitude score (price discounts, coupon discount, free samples and buy-one-get-one-free approach) were categorized into two categorized, solely based on the mean score of each measurement. The reliability for attitude towards price discounts scale was 0.752 while the reliabiliy of attitude towards coupons scale was 0.827. Furthermore, the reliability for attitude towards free samples scale was 0.862 and the reliabiliy for attitude towards buy-one-get-one-free scale was 0.806. Buying behaviour scale had achieved reliability of 0.680. These five instruments had achieved acceptable reliability for business and social science research. 5. Research Finding and Discussion 5.1 Attitude towards Price Discounts Table 1 demonstrates that more than half of the respondents agree that they prefer brands which offer price discounts, but more than half of the respondents prefer their favourite brands than brands which offer price discounts. This study also interested in indentifying about the category of attitude towards price discounts. The scale of the total attitude towards price discounts was then categorized into two equal groups. Respondents who scored above the mean scale (2.56 points) were categorized as having favourable attitude towards price discounts and respondents who scored below of the mean scale were categorized as having unfavourable attitude towards price discounts. Table 1 showed that less than half of the respondents (40.4%) had unfavourable attitude towards price discounts, where as there were 69.0% of the respondents have favourable attitude towards price discounts. 5.2 Attitude towards Coupons Table 1 indicated that the first statement was agreed by most of the respondents which were 53.2%. They acknowledged that a brand offers coupon would be a reason for them to buy. The respondents feel that a brand which offers coupon doesn’t give them a good buy (56.1%). Respondents do not give priority for the brands which offers coupon and they prefer their regular and favourite brands more. The data in Table 3 showed that the score of total attitude towards coupons of the respondents in range of lower than 2.44 points which were 49.7% of the respondents have unfavourable attitude towards coupons. On the other hand, there was 50.3% of the respondents have favourable attitude towards coupons. This indicated that exactly half of the respondents have positive attitude towards coupons promotion in this research. 5.3 Attitude towards Free Samples According to Table 1, exactly half of the respondents agreed that when they buy a brand that offers free samples, they feel they are getting a good buy (51.4%) and free sample has allowed them to buy more quantities of the same product. Moreover, half of the respondents prefer to buy the same brand even if they have free samples on other brands. However, Shimp (2003) reported that free sample had influence on consumers buying behaviour. As presented by Table 3, the scale of the total attitude towards free samples score cut point for two equal groups was 2.46 points which mean the group who scored higher than the mean scale of 2.46 has favourable attitude towards free samples and respondents who scored below of the mean scale were classified as having unfavourable attitude towards free samples. Based on Table 3, it proved that majority of the respondents (55.6%) have favourable attitude towards free samples while there were 44.4% of the respondents have unfavourable attitude towards free samples. This showed that there were 95 respondents (55.6%) out of the 171 respondents willing to consume more during the sales promotion with free samples technique. 5.4 Attitude towards Buy-One-Get-One-Free Table 1 illustrated the respondents in this study have agreed perception on all of the eight statements related to buy-one-get-one-free promotion tool. It showed that the percentage of the respondents who agreed on the statements was more or higher than respondents who disagreed on it. For example, 62.6 of the respondents agreed that a brand offers buy-one-get-one-free could be a reason for them to buy. Based on Table 1, it presented the scale of the attitude towards buy-one-get-one-free cut point for two equal groups were 2.6 points. Respondents who scored below the mean scale ( 2.6 points) of the attitude towards buy-one-get-one-free were categorized as having unfavourable attitude where as respondents who scored above the mean scale (2.6 points) were categorized as having favourable attitude towards buy-one-get-one-free. In Table 3, there were 48% of the respondents who have unfavourable attitude towards buy-one-get-one-free while 52% of the respondents have favourable attitude to wards buy-one get-one-free. 5.5 Respondents Buying Behaviour According to Brown (2007), buying behaviour refers to the decision processes and acts of people involved in buying and using products. There were total of 13 statements used to examine the respondents buying behaviour. The responses were scored by four point ordinal scale. Table 2 indicated the descriptive analysis of each question for buying behaviour. The analysis had been divided into two levels of buying behaviour: agree and disagree. From Table 2, it showed that majority of the respondents (80.7%) agreed in general, they try to get the best overall quality and 81.8% of them agreed they look very carefully to find the best value for money. More to the point, there were 71.9% of respondents agreed once they find the product they like, they will buy it regularly and 81.3% of them would carefully watch how much they spend. Among the 13 statements, the statement of I normally shop quickly, buying the first product or brand I find that seems good enough agreed by most least respondent s which were 56.8% of respondents. The results of buying behaviour level as shown in Table 3. Equal range was used to categorize the buying behaviour that is low and high level Respondents who under 2.87 points and above were categorized as having high levels of buying behaviour and vice versa. There were 49.7% of respondents in category of low level buying behaviour and 50.3% of respondents have high level of buying behaviour. The respondents, who have high level of buying behaviour normally, have high level of involvement where they are paying more attention towards sales promotion (Raaij et al, 2001). The result of Independent Samples T-test showed that there was no significant difference between buying behaviour and gender (t = -1.003, p 0.05). It was consistent with previous study by Chu (2006). However, the mean score of buying behaviour of male (M = 2.8390) respondents is slightly lower than female respondents (M =2.9059). 5.6 The relationship between the selected variables and buying behaviour The result of Pearson Correlation test revealed that there was a significant relationship between attitude towards price discounts and buying behaviour among respondents (r = 0.372, p ≠¤ 0.001) (refer to Table 4). The results of this study reaffirmed that findings of previous study by. Blackwell, Miniard and Engel (2001) that price discounts play significant roles in influencing consumers purchase trial behaviour, and Smith and Sinha (2000), price promotions can induced consumers buying behaviour and result in a short term increases in sales. There was a significant relationship between attitude towards coupons and buying behaviour (r = 0.270, p≠¤ 0.001). The result of this study was inconsistent with previous study in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia which found that coupons have no significant relationship on product trial ptu-chase (Ndubisi Chew, 2006). This may caused by locality difference. This study also found that, there was a significant relationship between attitude towards free samples and buying behaviour (r = 0.256, p ≠¤ 0.001). The result is consistent with Shimp (2003) that a free sample had influence on consumers buying behaviour. Besides, Lammers (1991) also verified that free samples did have a positive impact on immediate sales of the product. Lastly, there was a significant relationship between attitude towards buy-one-get-one-free and buying behaviour (r = 0.338, p ≠¤ 0.001). It showed that the promotion tools with buy-one-get-one-free did attract and induce consumers favourable attitude on buying behaviour. Table 5 summarizes results of a multiple regression analyses of the buying behaviour. All the four selected variables namely: price discounts, coupons, free samples and buy-one-get-one-free which significantly related to buying behaviour was regressed using hierarchical method. Model 1 was used to in interpreting the buying behaviour of the respondents. Of the four variables, price discount (ß = 0.256) was more influential that of buy-one-get-one free (ß = 0.183), coupon discounts (ß = 0.014) and free samples (ß = 0.040). 6. Implications, Recommendations and Conclusions 6.1 Implications Every consumer has their own personal characteristic especially in choosing and making purchase decision. With the growing number of sales promotion, it is important to determine the consumers perception towards their buying behaviour. Besides, this study also examines several factors which included socio-demographic background (gender) and attitude towards four different promotional tools on buying behaviour. From the findings, it was noticed that consumers respond positively to the various promotional tools that is promoted by the marketers. It is because consumers are believed that during the sales promotion, prices of all products are cheaper than usual and they felt they are getting a good buy. It meant that the more positive or favourable the attitude towards promotional tools, the more increasing possibility consumers make purchase decision during sales promotion. Gender was found to have no significant difference on buying behaviour. The results of this study have several implications that would be beneficial to marketers, consumers and future research. From the marketers perspective, they can have a better understanding of UPM students buying behaviour so that they can better predict the wants and needs of potential consumers. The information derived from this research enable marketers to aware of the consumer behaviour. It will help them utilize the right and the most effective promotion technique to attract customers. Moreover, the study from Ndubisi and Chew (2006) also supported that by offering the right promotional tools, it can help organizations carefully plan their promotional strategies by giving preference to the more effective tools. It is vital because the precise marketing strategies decision assists the company to minimize cost and maximize their profit. In addition, the current research made consumers more aware of their easily influence behaviour to sales promotion because it present better understanding and information to consumers where they respond differently due to different type of promotional tools. The research also created consumer awareness to make careful analysis before they decide to buy products and services. Hence, the consumers will realize the importance of understanding the changing environment and update themselves from time to time (Hang, 2008). Finally, consumers were benefited through this study and becoming smarter day by day. This study was also useful to academicians where current study could serve as a reference and may provide some guides for researchers who would like to study about the same topic. 6.2 Recommendations Although this research has taken vital steps to identify the factors that influence buying behaviour, it also has certain limitations. Firstly, the limitation of the data prevents further exploration of the study. There was an age limit and only 171 respondents have been participated in this study. The respondents were almost homogenous for age types because there were between 18 to 24 years old and represent early adulthood only. Different stages of life cycles of respondents would yield different results. Therefore, future researchers are suggested to increase the sample size variety especially in respondents age to decrease the error for the purpose of the generalizing result to a wider population. They can do comparison among early, middle and late adolescents in regards to buying behaviour. Secondly, future researchers may further scope to duplicate the study in different environment and different geographical locations. Different environment played a significant factor that influence respondents behaviour specifically workplace, supermarkets and shopping complexes or malls. Working individuals could behave in a different manner compared with this sample. Besides, the individuals who do not have occupation such as housewife and retired person may also behave differently because the understanding and experience of respondents towards the questions might influence their answers. Since this study was conducted in Kongunadu Arts and Science College, Coimbatore, it could not represent other people in urban or rural areas where the quality of life is different. Thirdly, future researchers are suggested to use interview technique in doing research especially at the place here transactions happen. This will enable the researchers obtain an accurate information based on the respondents fresh memory; Last but not least, this research has only examines four promotional tools that influence buying behaviour. Future researchers are suggested to determine other promotional tools such as rebates, sweeptakes, in pack premiums and so forth. Besides, the study can also specify in category of products or services to have more focus information. However, for more meaningful findings the different promotional tools can be investigated together rather than separately so that the interactions among them can be better understand. As a result, it can assist marketers and consumers understand other promotional tools that may influence the buying behaviour. 6.3 Conclusions Sales promotions play an important role in the marketing programs of marketers and retailers. A large percentage of marketers sales are made on promotion. This situation is becoming apparently when the financial crisis and economic downtime happened in 2008. The marketers are rather use variety of promotional tools to offers consumers an extra inducement to buy their products than advertising in classic media. It is supported by the research from Curzon (2009) who stated that sales promotions are not only effective in attaining short-term sales as they are also more cost-effective compared to other integrated marketing communications tools such as advertising. In conclusion, the consumers attitude towards different promotional tools on buying behaviour is favourable. It showed that sales promotion tools are supplementary or complementary to existing business as an additional marketing strategy. This research demonstrated that consumers buying behaviour were motivated by multiple types of factors, including socio-demography, promotional tools such as price discounts, coupons, free samples and buy-one-get-one-free. In addition, the framework provides new insights into the understanding of how students respond to various promotional tools offered by marketers and the impacts on their buying behaviour, which may be essential for marketers in order to utilize accurate marketing strategies to promote products.

Electric Scooter Market in China- Market Competition & Opportunities Essay Example for Free

Electric Scooter Market in China- Market Competition Opportunities Essay Research and Forecast of China Electric Scooter Industry, 2014-2018 mainly conducts in-depth market research on Electric Scooter market in the following aspects: market scale, supply and demand, market competition and business performance of major enterprises, meanwhile it makes a prediction about electric scooter industry and provides decision-making references for investors. In 2013, the demand volume of electric scooters in China reached 1. 05 million units, an increase of 31. 25% year-on-year. In current electric scooter market, the products mainly serve for the elderly, the disabled and home women; with the deepened population aging degree and the increased consumption level, the demand for electric scooter is also growing increasingly. Complete Report @ http://www. marketreportschina. com/research-and-forecast-of-china-electric-scooter-industry-2014-2018 . Inquire Before Buying @ http://www. marketreportschina. com/contacts/inquire-before-buy? rname=4357 . Table Of Contents 1. Overview of Chinas Electric Scooter Products 1. 1 Product Brief Introduction 1. 1. 1 Brief Introduction 1. 1. 2 Composition 1. 1. 3 Advantages 1. 2 Classification 2. Electric Scooter Situation in Foreign Countries and Taiwan 2. 1 Foreign Countries 2. 2 Taiwan 3. Environment of Chinas Electric Scooter Industry 3. 1 Economic Environment 3. 2 Industry Relevant Policies, Standards, Laws and Regulations 4. Characteristics of Electric Scooter Industry 4. 1 Concentration Ratio 4. 2 SWOT 4. 3 Industry Chain 4. 4 Competitive Landscape 5. Supply and Demand in Chinas Electric Scooter Market 5. 1 Supply Situation 5. 1. 1 Supply Situation 5. 1. 2 Main Brands 5. 2 Demand Situation 5. 3 Demand Factors 5. 4 Price Situation 5. 4. 1 Price 5. 4. 2 Factors Affecting the Price 5. 4. 3 Price Trend 6. Overview of Chinas Low Speed Electric Vehicle 6. 1 Brief Introduction 6. 1. 1 Product Introduction 6. 1. 2 Main Products and the Introduction 6. 2 Development Situation in China 6. 3 Overview of Chinas Main Manufacturers 6. 4 Market Situation of Four-wheel Low Speed Electric Vehicle Market and the Forecast 6. 4. 1 Current Application Situation. 6. 4. 2 Domestic Market 6. 4. 3 International Market 7. Import and Export of Chinas Electric Scooters 7. 1 Import and Export 7. 2 Sources of Import and Destinations of Export 8. Technological Development of Electric Scooter Products 8. 1 Technological Development Situation 8. 1. 1 Relevant Domestic Patents 8. 1. 2 Research Situation 8. 2 Technological Development Direction 8. 2. 1 Technological Maturity in China and Technological Difference between China and Foreign Countries 8. 2. 2 Technological Development Direction 9. Main Enterprises and Competitive Landscape in Chinas Electric Scooter Industry 9. 1 Feishen Group Co. , Ltd. 9. 1. 1 Company Profile 9. 1. 2 Company Strength 9. 1. 3 Independent RD Situation 9. 1. 4 Business Performance 9. 2 Jinhua ACEME Electric Co. , Ltd. 9. 2. 1 Company Profile 9. 2. 2 Company Strength 9. 2. 3 Development Trend 9. 2. 4 Business Performance 9. 3 Zhejiang Ripu Electronic Science and Technology Co. , Ltd. 9. 3. 1 Company Profile 9. 3. 2 Company Strength 9. 3. 3 Business Performance 9. 4 Wisking Electromechanical Product Co. , Ltd. 9. 4. 1 Company Profile 9. 4. 2 Company Strength 9. 4. 3 Business Performance 9. 5 Xuzhou Maston Mobility Co. , Ltd. 9. 5. 1 Company Profile 9. 5. 2 Company Strength 9. 5. 3 Business Performance 9. 5. 4 Development Strategy 10. Development Forecast and Investment Prospect of Chinas Electric Scooter Industry 10. 1 Forecast of Supply, 2014-2018 10. 2 Forecast of Demand, 2014-2018 10. 3 Main Development Direction 11. Investment Suggestions and Opinions from the Experts 11. 1 Investment Opportunity 11. 1. 1 Market Space 11. 1. 2 Industry Development Trend. 11. 2 Investment Risk 11. 2. 1 Horizontal Competition Risk 11. 2. 2 Market Trade Risk 11. 2. 3 Influence of Industry Policy Changes 11. 3 Risk Precautionary Measure and Industry Coping Strategy 11. 3. 1 Precautionary Measure for Horizontal Competition Risk 11. 3. 2 Actively Develop Upstream Sellers and Downstream Consumers to Reduce Market Risk 11. 3. 3 Coping Strategy of Enterprises Request Discount @ http://www. marketreportschina. com/contacts/discount? rname=4357 . Buy Report @ http://www. marketreportschina. com/contacts/purchase? rname=4357.

Skills And Competencies To Be A Change Leader Management Essay

Skills And Competencies To Be A Change Leader Management Essay For the past two decades, the amount of significant change that the organizations faced in order to survive has tremendously increased, and many of the researchers argued that this situation will continue and demand more of future leaders (Wren Dulewicz, 2005; Senge et al., 2002). Leadership is such a crucial component for undergoing these changes, and identifying the key components of leadership is important for the success of these transformation efforts (Beer Nohria, 2000). Kotter (1996) considered that, leadership is the key to creating and sustaining the successful organization, because it helps the organization to shape its future and sustain its growth. To succeed consistently, good leaders need to be skilled not just in evaluating people but also in evaluating the abilities and disabilities of their firm as a whole. In addition, leadership competencies are also essential to lead the change processes in an effective way (Christensen Overdorf, 2000). According to Sanchez et al., (1996), leadership competencies have a cognitive aspect, with regard to knowledge and skills the leader possesses, and an action aspect that enables a leader to deploy their competencies in a coordinated manner. Leaders competencies and skills will influence the actions, structures and processes that enhance the change and it further strengthen the effectiveness in implementing change (Gilley et al., 2009). This essay will critically analyse whether anyone can adapt these leadership skills and competencies which is necessary to be a successful change leader. The analysis will be done based on the references of academic research that has been already conducted in this field. Necessary Skills and Competencies to be a change leader Leadership is different from management; leadership complements management but it does not replace it. Because management is about coping with complexity but the leadership is about coping with change (Kotter, 1990). The leadership-skill requirements will vary based on the leaders positions and their levels. The most important skills where the leaders need to be possessed are cognitive skills, business skills, strategic skills and interpersonal skills. Across all the leadership levels cognitive skills are founded to be more important. In addition, interpersonal skills are required for a leader in greater degree than business or strategic skills (Sparks Gentry, 2008). For example) during the group work on simulation game, the leaders of the successful teams had contributed a great part by understanding the views of the team members and through the organization of team meeting. This helped the team to bring out fruitful ideas and plans uniquely and also it helped the group leaders to emphasize their cognitive and interpersonal skills effectively. Compared to other skills, the significance of business and strategic skills is more required for the leaders in managerial level (Sparks Gentry, 2008). Possessing these leadership skills in change management has been linked to bringing about effective and successful organization change. Although, some of the factors are considered as the barriers for the success of the change, they are lack of understanding of change implementation techniques and the inability to alter ones leadership style or organization functions (Bossidy Charan, 2002; Gilley, 2005). The other barriers identified by the analysis include the inability of the leaders to motivate others to change, poor communication skills, and failure to reward or recognize the individuals who make the effort to change (Kotter, 1996). Hence the ability to understand and manage the change processes is valued as a necessary capability of change leaders. Many of the scholars defined this ability as a social intelligence skill, which is the ability to understand ones own and others feelings, behaviours and thoughts in interpersonal situations and to respond appropriately, which includ es emotional ability (Burke, 2002). Finally, leaders thoughts and skills are manifested through the actions of implementing change across the organization. In this stage, the leaders need to be aware about avoiding coordination issues when the different functional groups in an organization work on a common task. Because lack of coordination will raise conflicts in implementing change and it reduce its success (Kuhl et al., 2005). For example, while working for the multi-product task, the lack of coordination across the leaders from different departments affected the implementation of change. There were lot of conflicts aroused in allocating the budget across each department of the organization and hence it led to the ineffective change implementation. As per Zaccaro (2002), effective leadership requires social reasoning skills to understand, judge and diagnose social situations accurately, and relational competencies to respond to the change and manage them successfully. Since change implementation involves the understanding of multiple level of people (i.e., individual, group and organizational), social-emotional competency is regarded to have a direct impact on the capacity to lead change. It acts as a greater predictor of leading change than managing complexity. Social-emotional competency includes observing the employees views, providing constructive feedback, encouraging the cooperation among team members, maintaining effective interpersonal relationships with others and treating others with respect regardless of their position or rank (Mathew, 2009). For example) while working for the simulation game, in some of the groups, there was a long debate happened among the team members about the implementation of change strategies with different views and hence conflicts aroused. The leaders of those teams were also failed to maintain cooperation within the team. This led them to choose inappropriate change strategies and directed towards failure to reach their target. But while enquiring the teams who reached the target, I came to knew that the team leader had delegated the roles to each team members based on their knowledge about the game and by providing constructive feedback on their views. This helped them to maintain a good cooperation within the team without giving the ways for any conflicts and also it provided a way to reach their target within the time limit and budget. Within a change specific context Higgs and Rowland (2000, 2001) indicated a cluster of change leadership competencies associated with coaching and developing others. In addition Giglio et al. (1998) also emphasized the importance of leaders coaching role in the change process. Because a good leader should motivate their employees in order to make them aware of the change process. This will be done by providing appropriate coaching to them. According to Hudson (1999), coaching skills enable leaders to approach situations from new perspectives and to question the status quo. Moreover, the leaders who coach their employees can enhance their renewal capacity and resilience, which has significant influence on organizational success. Finally and more importantly it allows others to make and learn from mistakes. Huq (2006) argued that the leadership competencies can help to create the six sigma cadre in an organization. He argued that the personal and corporate competencies play a vital role in creating this six sigma cadre. Personal competencies include the technical knowledge and charisma of the leader. Whilst the corporate competencies include the combinations of skills and knowledge or experience that enable a leader to implement the change program successfully. But the available evidence shows that, even the experienced leaders were deviated from these competencies in some circumstances. The most recent examples of sudden corporate implosions (Enron, Lehman Brothers) have apparently raised concerns about the nature and influence of bad leadership. Higgs (2009) have identified that the causes of this leadership failure were due to combination of personal flaws and performance shortfalls. While exploring this concept, he also identified a range of causal factors for these implosions which are skill deficiencies, being insensitive to others, betraying trust, arrogance and being overly ambitious. He argued that the personal flaws were more vital than skill deficiencies as drivers of derailment.

Casablanca :: essays research papers

Casablanca   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Epstein brothers created Casablanca, a romantic adventure, like no other of its time. There are few movies that are loved by men and women alike. Casablanca is one such movie. It successfully combines action, adventure, love and romance into a film loved by all.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  What makes this film a favorite of women? Lets take a closer look at the film and find out. Casablanca is set in the exotic land of Morocco where refuges wait for passage to America, the Promised Land. In a popular American cafà ©, Rick, the cafà © owner, hides from the memories of a lost love. Rick is a mysterious, masculine hero who hides behind a hard outer shell but is really thoughtful and unpredictable. Rick soon runs into the girl he loves, Ilsa. Ilsa Lund is a beautiful woman who is torn between two lovers. Thus begins the tender love story that women cannot turn away from.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ilsa comes into Rick’s club with her husband Victor Laszlo, a Czech freedom fighter wanted by the Germans. From the beginning, women love Rick far more than they love Victor because of his mysterious masculinity. Victor Laszlo is a hero yet, not nearly as loveable as Rick. Rick holds the only two letters of transit that can guarantee Victor and Ilsa’s escape. We are left wondering and waiting to see if Rick will do the right thing and give Ilsa the papers.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Another important part of the movie that women love is the music. The song â€Å"As Time Goes By† is the song that belongs to the true lovers and is played over and over by Rick’s devoted friend, Sam. Women enjoy the lasting relationship between Sam and Rick and the compassion of Sam for both Rick and Ilsa.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When Rick is forced with the decision of what to do with the letters of transit Rick speaks with Ilsa and Ilsa asks Rick to think for both of them and make the decision. In the end, Rick sacrifices himself for the happiness of Ilsa and Victor as well as the war against Germany. He risks his own life for others even though he is quoted as saying, â€Å"I stick my neck out for nobody† and, â€Å"I’m the only cause I’m interested in.† This is an endearing quality. Women want to be Ilsa, and dream of loving a man like Rick.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Now to try and find out why such a romantic love story is a favorite of men.

Cannibalism Essay -- essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Cannibalism; dating earliest back to the British colonies, was saw as a form of war tactic, or a practice of religion (Arson 1). Though as a form of religion, it was a punishment tribal religions would use for the deepest sinners and atheists (Arson 1). Cannibalism was also a means for survival among slaves and peasants (Wikipedia 2). Though never really accepted as a â€Å"normal† thing in society, cannibalism is very apparent in a not so distant past (Wikipedia 2). Cannibalism is not a lawful or ethical form of practice for any religion or society.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Cannibalism in its rarest form was once a practice of religion. Cannibalism has been detected in the early religious writings of the Egyptians, Greeks and Catholics. In a funeral ritual it would be proper to eat the remains of a respected member of a clan to assume the life-spirit and to insure immortality. Also cannibalism was portrayed in many stories related to religion. It was used as a form of â€Å"scare-tactic† to insure the following of many people. It was also shown as a form of war tactic among gods to slaughter the demons that threaten them.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Cannibalism is apparent in religion in as a form of punishment of non-worshipers. Cannibalism is very present in the Bible. Cannibalism is apparent in the old testament of Deuteronomy 28:53-57, God punishes the Hebrews who fail to worship him by making their enemies overtake them, leaving the Hebre...

Insider Trading Essay example -- Business, Investment

Insider trading relates the investment behavior of corporate insiders with their own stock. Insider trading topic not only attracts finance literature (see, e.g., Lorie and Niederhoffer 1968, Jaffe 1974, Seyhun 1986, 1998, Rozeff and Zaman 1988, Lin and Howe 1990, and Lakonishok and Lee 2001), but also attracts law and economics literature (see, e.g., Manna 1966, Georgeakopoulos 1993, and Carlton and Fischel 1983). The finance literature on insider trading had started with an examination of the strong market efficiency hypothesis. Subsequently, researchers gave their attention towards the determinations of insider trades’ profitability. Furthermore, another set of researcher also gave an attempt to find the information contents of insider trading to outsiders, which is an application to test the semi-strong market efficiency hypothesis. The third group of researchers measured insider trading activities around the corporate announcements, for example, merger and acquisitions, dividend announcements. In the following section, we will summarize studies that focus on the information content (abnormal return) of insider trading. Finnerty (1974) measured the strong market efficiency hypothesis condition on insider trading. The period of his study was from January 1969 to December 1972. He considered only open market trade for NYSE firms. To measure the strong market efficiency hypothesis, he formed two portfolios- buy and sale for each month; the buy (sale) portfolio for month t comprised of those firms for which any insiders were buyer (seller). Thereafter, he calculated portfolio returns for the portfolio formation month and subsequent eleven months. Using the CAPM to calculate abnormal return to insider trades, Finnerty (1974) ... ...ir timely disclosure of insider trades from 10 days after the month in which the trade had occurred regime to 2 days regime on August 29, 2002. He stated that if the information content of insider trades is relevant to outsiders, the timeliness announcement of insider trades will improve the information content of insider trades. And he found that the abnormal return (CAAR=1%) of pre-amendment associated with announcement of insider buys was lower than the abnormal return (CAAR=2.3%) of post-amendment. However, he did not find similar results for insider sales, hence; he again reinvestigated insider sales after taking litigation risk into consideration. And he concluded that insiders of firms those are associated with more litigation risk more likely to refrain from sales on private information than insiders of firms those are associated with low litigation risk.

Law Self Reflection for Mgt388 Module

Self-Reflection I didn’t think that management and law were important to me before I came to the UK. I did accounting in my high school but it was all just about getting high marks. This is because I have always been studying scientific things and I didn’t think that the lack of knowledge about law and finance would affect or bother me. This was until I moved into a house, and the landlord refused to pay me back my deposit as we only had an oral agreement; no contract was made. Furthermore, I started a business on eBay. I discovered I managed my business poorly as I didn’t keep any records.From that moment, I felt that I needed to improve my ability to manage my money and be professional with my future jobs. MGT388, this module gave me a chance to study something that I indeed wanted to learn. Learning: This module gave me a chance to learn things in another field I haven’t touched before. I felt challenged, but I was excited. I attended every lecture and most of the tutorials in the 10 weeks, and studied hard by reading extra information as I knew the importance of this module related to my present and my future career. I found out that taking notes in colourful pens and doing mind maps helps me a lot in learning.Experience: I enjoyed the law tutorials. We discussed with the tutor based on real scenarios. It was not the traditional learning pattern, it was more interactive. We had a chance to say what we thought and judge the colleagues' opinion too. The tutor in my tutorial is a really nice lady, she is very patient and explains things really clearly. Reflection: The coursework and the online tests are the best reflections from the module. The team coursework not only revised what we have studied, it also improved my leadership and communication skill.It helped me develop more understanding about company management and contract. I found that the four management accounting tests were really helpful; I did each test two times so that I understand where I went wrong. I always improved on the second test as I read the comment of the question and reconsidered the situation in the question. Abstraction: From MGT388, I learnt many new things that I think would help me a lot for my career in the future. The module is an overview of management and law, but the topics in the module are carefully chosen for engineering students.This changes my viewpoint about engineering. Sometimes engineering is not only about calculations and designs. Sometimes, costs and avenues are important too for a company to survive. Learning: In the future, I will apply the knowledge I learnt from this module to my eBay business, and try to get a better management experience from my small business. This is a small practise before I go to a real company for work. Maybe I am going to make mistakes, but I think this module gives me the ability to study and review more information and knowledge.

Borders and Amazon Business Approach Essay

Describe the history and core business of each company. Traditional book stores have been around for ages. Evidently, public libraries and private stores like Barnes and Nobles, Waldenbooks, and of course Borders are often the main places where people go to purchase or borrow their books. Nowadays, with the rise of technology, many more options are available to readers. For instance, we now have the choice to go online to look for volumes we might want to read or buy; thus, one of the leading companies captivating the attention of many is Amazon which alone with Borders constituted two of the most prolific book organization in America. According to research, Borders started in as a small used bookstore in Ann Arbor, Michigan by Tom and Louis Borders who initially intended to help supplied academically the University of Michigan (Borders Group Inc., 97). Over the years, after several movements and stores being opened, the company was acquired in 1992 by K-Mart which happened to own the chain of Waldenbooks as well. Unfortunately, the relationship did not last long because three years later Borders book became 100% publicly owned and still conducting business that way (Borders Group Inc., 97). Meanwhile, propel by electronic commerce, Amazon which started in 1995 is considered the pioneer of online book selling (Press, 2004). Being the first internet retailer securing one million customers, Amazon, kept on progressing as the years go by. It got into the music and video business in 1998 and acquired some companies in England and Germany that same year; started to sell toys, electronic tools, and hardware in 1999; and finally, made some profit in 2001 (Press, 2004). 2- Compare and contrast the management approach each took to Internet marketing and sales. Most people would agree that a company’s success or failure has a lot to do with the way they conduct their business from top to bottom. For instance Henri Fayol, a managing director of a large steel company stated the following, â€Å"The success of an enterprise generally depends much more on the administrative ability of its leaders than on their technical ability (Williams, 2010).† In this regard, it is important to try to understand the management approach of Borders and Amazon.com. The principle surrounding Borders’ success is due to its roots as an independent company focusing on strong educational values. First and foremost, Borders target a wide and complete variety of books and titles appealing to real readers and buyers (Borders Group Inc., 97). In addition to the comfortable setting allowing readers to enjoy their visit, its customers would find actively marketed document allowing them to always have an upgraded view of things. Secondly, the company shows its flexibility by trying to accommodate its environment (Borders Group Inc., 97). For instance, the setting of a store located near colleges may not be the same as that of an elderly neighborhood because of the fact that their interests are totally different. Lastly but not least, servicing the customer to the utmost has been the company’s motto. Thus, being proactive and responsive propels Borders’ management to be very successful despite the company’s previous set back. On the other hand, Amazon.com started its business online meaning their initial approach is to reach everyone. Despite not being profitable for more than five years, the company continued to invest in infrastructures. For instance, over $750 million were spent in state-of-the –art material in order to handle many new distribution facilities’ systems in the United States with similar investment to come in Europe (Amazon.com inc., 2000). Evidently, this is an approach of spending money in order to make more (Amazon.com inc., 2000). Also Amazon.com believes in personalizing its online stores to be exclusively set to meet each customer’s need. With that in mind, each customer is able to create his or her own virtual store according to interests, and needs. As far as solving certain problems like recommendation, the company uses the following algorithm approach: traditional collaborative filtering, cluster models, and search-based methods (Linden, Smith, & York, 2003). 3- Analyze 3 reasons for Amazon’s success despite not turning a profit for the first five to six (5-6) years. Successful companies often use similar strategy to captivate and maintain their customers. Thus, major online companies like Amazon.com provide their clients the type of products and services envision by many. Amazon.com remains attractive despite the lack of profit for more than half of a decade. Its user friendly website is one of the reasons for such success where customers don’t need to beat themselves up in order reaching their destination (Hogan, 2011). Furthermore, the search engine allows customers to sort their request accordingly and find what they are looking for quickly. Another reason for such success would be attributive to the payment system used by Amazon (Hogan, 2011). Users are enchanted to know that most form of electronic payments are accepted on the company’s site and can easily be cancelled (Hogan, 2011). Being a thriving organization may not easy; however, with good work ethic, great method, and dedication, it is hard not flourish even in today’s economy. 4- Discuss 3 reasons Borders, although initially successful and profitable, ended up in Chapter 11. The current world economy has affected many businesses. Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy code would be viewed as a way for a company to restructure itself by having some kind of agreement with its creditors which is monitored by a court (Moran Law group, 2008). The series of events causing the reorganization of Borders started back in 2001 when the company decided to enter a partnership with Amazon.com. In quest of an effective business online, Borders decided to allow its customers to purchase books from amazon.com which basically controlled everything (Norris, 2011). The relationship escalated internationally where Borders and Books teamed up this time with amazon.co.uk in 2004 (Norris, 2011). Unfortunately for Borders, Amazon had the control of both its customers and Borders’ (Norris, 2011). Therefore, there was no reason for Amazon to encourage or promote relationships for Borders. Also, the company despite having a free membership could not compete with the like of Barnes and Nobles and Amazon.com. Even tough, those other two companies charged $25 and $79 for their respective memberships, customers felt that they were well taken care of and they could get whatever they need contrarily to Borders’ (Norris, 2011). Lastly but not least, Borders’ Sony reader was not well connected with the customers (Norris, 2011). The association with its manufacturers was never in sink. Comparatively to the Nook released in 2009 by Barnes and Nobles, the Sony reader has been around since 2006 with limited knowledge of the e-book business. That is the reason why, the device did not look appealing to many (Norris, 2011). 5- Discuss the extent to which the management of each company adapted to changing market conditions. Change may be extremely challenging for any company in pursuit of prosperity. Evidently, management needs to be very proactive by considering all the factors or obstacles surrounding the existence of a business. Certain things like economic set backs, technological advancement, are inevitable. With the globalization of business, it is imperative for an organization to show its strength pertaining to adapting with new ways of life. Research states, â€Å"The purpose of adaptive strategies is to choose an industry-level strategy that is best suited to changes in the organization’s external environment (Williams, 2010).† As far as Borders is concerned, its management team was not ready for the 21st century. It took them too long to establish the online presence with Amazon.com which may not even make a difference considering the fact that Borders had no shot at building relationship with its customers. The e-commerce world was apparently too much for Borders and the competition was already a few steps ahead. According to research, â€Å"Borders was slow to adapt to the changing industry and lost book, music, and video sales to the internet and other competition (Msnbc.com staff and news service reports, 2011).† Meanwhile, being an already establish online company made easier for Amazon to remain competitive. Indeed, its management just had to keep being vigilant and practical by continuing to achieve both the awareness and the loyalty of its customers. Contrarily to Borders, Amazon always remains positive and innovative. For example, Amazon is building for the future by spending a lot of money in creating new infrastructure for a better future (Amazon.com inc., 2000). 6- Recommend 3 ways a company should build in flexibility to back up its decision-making process so as to adapt to changing market conditions. The importance of building flexibility to back up a company’s decision-making is extremely vital to its existence. An organization is often measured by its competitiveness, its dynamicity, its turbulence, and its complexity (Brown, 2011). Often time, a decision may not be the right one for a company; therefore, adjustments must be made in order to fix the problem even when it may pertain to bend a little the company’s policy and procedures (Noble, 2007). For instance, if a company’s policy is not to smoke in its premises causing lost business. It would not be a bad idea to create a smoking section for those who wish to do so. In addition, exceptional measures can be taken on a case by case basis to fulfill the necessary (Noble, 2007). Finally, an organization must always allow itself to create new ways of being operational (Noble, 2007). Such initiative would often show positive results. References Amazon.com inc. (2000, May). The frontline poll. Amazon.com’s spending on infrastructure; Approach to financial managagment , 1 (5), p. 8. Borders Group Inc. (97). The bookstore in America: Borders. Review of contemporary fiction , 17 (2), pp. 216, 35p, 3. Brown, S. P. (2011). Forces and trends in business. Retrieved November 1, 2011, from Ezine@articles: http://ezinearticles.com/?Forces-and-Trends-in-Business&id=708724 Hogan, G. C. (2011). Why Amazon is such a successful ecommerce site. Retrieved October 31, 2011, from Ezine@articles: http://ezinearticles.com/?why-amazon-is-such-a-successful-ecommerce-site&id Linden, G., Smith, B., & York, J. (2003, January/February). Internet computing, IEEE. Retrieved October 31, 2011, from ieeexplore digital library: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/freeabs_all.jsp?arnumber=1167344 Moran Law group. (2008, September 16). Bankruptcy in brief. Retrieved November 1, 2011, from MoranLaw.net: http://www.moranlaw.net/chapter11.htm Msnbc.com staff a nd news service reports. (2011, July 18). Final chapter: Borders to close remaining stores. Retrieved November 1, 2011, from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43797505/ns/business-retail Noble, K. (2007). Building a culture of flexibility. Retrieved November 1, 2011, from Work Span: http://www.wfd.com/PDFS/Culture%20of%20Flexibility Norris, M. (2011). Borders: A case study of bookselling gone wrong. Book rublishing report , 37 (2), 1-9. Press, J. (2004). Company histories and profile. Retrieved October 30, 2011, from Fundinguniverse: http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Amazoncom-Inc-Company-History.html Williams, C. (2010). Management (Custom ed.). (M. Staudt, & M. Stranz, Eds.) Mason, Ohio, USA: Cengage Learning.