Problems of Cultural Development in Kazakhstan Could Be Solved

Problems of cultural development in Kazakhstan could be solved Outline Title: Problems of cultural development in Kazakhstan could be solved IIntroduction Thesis statement: Due to decline of the cultural development in Kazakhstan the government and the society should take definite and urgent measures to improve the situation. II Background of the Problem A. History 1. Legacy of ancestors 2. Some achievements of Kazakhstan III The first possible solution is to raise the intellectual development. A. Advantages: 1. Young people’s background knowledge 2.Educating achievements in domestic and world culture 3. Receiving modern educational equipment. B. Disadvantages: 1. Financial difficulties 2. Organizational problems IV The second possible solution is to increase cultural valuables and saving cultural heritage for future generations. A. Advantages: 1. Discovering new talents 2. Support from government B. Disadvantages: 1. Cost 2. Commercialization V The third possible solution is to creating conditions for receiving general and special education. A. Advantages 1. More possibilities 2. More educated children B. Disadvantages 1. Costly 2.Time VI Conclusion-Recommendation Even though the government has to invest money in educational process, the last solution is the best because it has the advantages of the other alternatives without major disadvantages. Therefore, I recommend that the Kazakh society should keep in mind that the important strategic objective is to preserve the traditions of the Kazakh culture for future generations and increasing the cultural values of the city. In the meantime, I suggest the government immediately take the measures by supporting the society and creating new opportunities to develop the ulture of Kazakhstan. By being responsive to the citizens, government in essence would try to unite with them for the success of their purpose to raise the cultural development of the country. The total well being and lifestyle potential of pop ulation in many cases determined by stage to train and learning and social stage of people, their background knowledge and perspective growth, and by available opportunity to receive and use required information. These factors determine whether city community is involved in local, national and international process of civil growth.Ways to train and learning, ethical concepts and useful accessibility are the main features of religious and possible development. Thus, development of viewpoint system to train and learning, social and useful growth are the most important in growth of country. Due to decline of the cultural development in Kazakhstan the government and the society should take definite and urgent measures to improve the situation. â€Å"One of the main success of the period of freedom is rebirth and further growth of the Kazakh lifestyle and the societies and customs of social categories existing in Kazakhstan.The growth of the Kazakh lifestyle promote socio-cultural and e thical regrowth of community as a whole, as well as growth of social categories located in Kazakhstan, the building up of worldwide interaction. In the years of freedom have created a multitude of cultural and social facilities, art groups.. †(Kornilov,2011). Exclusive lifestyle and unique spirit of understanding and information of life which were provided to us as a heritage of this wide area of Kazakhstan by our ancestors. This sense of independence and valor of the steppe was not lost on different periods of history, it andled to keep by the past generation, who have been through tragic obstacles. And hundreds of years of desires and ambitions of our forefathers came real. Kazakh community believes that, Kazakhstan becoming a birthplace of many projects in the area of lifestyle and artistry. â€Å"For example, learners of Almaty Choreographic University confirmed their abilities in the United States and Switzerland, the Korean National Music and Drama Theatre took part in an worldwide ethnic event in the Republic of Korea, and numerous activities were organized in other countries, devoted to the performs ofAbai. †(Kornilov,2011). Although â€Å"Kazakhstan finalized the contracts on cooperation in the area of lifestyle from 49 nations of the near and far overseas. †(Kornilov, 2011). However, Kazakhstan has many issues to fix, especially worried social growth. Despite that fact that while preserving kazakh heritage, Republic of Kazakhstan shows keeping with the speed of contemporary high culture and to kazakh art employees praised most of all judges all over the world, the present younger people only just taking the first actions to achieve success praising their native country in the future.The first possible solution is to raise the intellectual development by advertising the books, articles, journals etc. , if to be exact-to make them fashionable. The main way of upbringing the population, particularly children, adolescents and young pe ople, striving for intellectual development is the formation of a unified and accessible to every citizen of the educational space of the city, providing technological, logistical and financial resources, promoting libraries and book stores creating conditions for the citizens of modern education in accordance with their needs. The greatest advantage of his solution is that young people’s background knowledge may become improved and wide because of new technologies and free access area created.Another advantage of raising the intellectual development is mastering achievements in domestic and world culture. By this, I mean that citizens of Kazakhstan seem to pay more attention on what have been reached on cultural level, especially domestic. The last advantage of this solution is that young people of Republic of Kazakhstan could receive modern educational equipment like hi-tech libraries, free access internet resources etc. These ducational tools are likely to help young gener ation achieve more success in their studies. The greatest disadvantage of the first solution would be financial difficulties that government or Kazakh society could ever face. Another disadvantage have occurred because of the difficulties of the organizational process, to be exact, the establishing the cultural events and hiring workforce. One of the suggested solutions is to increase cultural valuables and saving cultural heritage for future generations. For example, observe the monuments and memorials, decrease the price of tickets for theatre and museum visiting.All these method should definitely help with governmental support. Reducing the level of culture, dangerous in itself, because it creates spiritual lack and causes the loss of completeness and quality of life, it is unacceptable for the transition to sustainable development, since it violates the principles. Therefore, an important strategic objective is to preserve the traditions of Kazakh culture for future generations and increasing the cultural values of the city. One of the main advantages of the solution is discovering new talents. There are many ways to ind talented people like annual competitions among school children and youth on the best research on the cultural history of the city, systematically lead the campaign to restore the historic, cultural and moral traditions in Kazakhstan, establish a fund supporting young talents. Moreover, there is definitely should be governmental support which may lead to better comprehension between society and administration.However, there are still disadvantages are included unfortunately, one of them is cost because the cultural heritage has to be protected and saved, and there simply should be finances to rovide the expenses. Another disadvantage is that intrusion into the cultural market economy has led to a noticeable decrease in the quality of commercialization and cultural life, in which the rule passed to popular culture. Free profit in culture dr amatically reduced intellectual and moral standards of its mass perception, put the property in line with consumer goods are. There was a dominance of low-grade and low-grade commercial foreign films on television advocating violence, corruption, lack of spirituality, the book market appeared dubious literature, from the repertoire of theaters as washed out and a real classic domestic drama, in art the main place was kitsch.Thus, the culture fully experienced the negative effects of the economic crisis, social and political instability, activation of destructive forces in society. Finally, the third possible solution is to creating conditions for receiving general and special education. Young people and the city's population as a whole has recognized the importance of education for progress and success in life. Young generation desire to find a prestigious profession, noted the desire to develop their personality, to find ositions in society, to gain the respect of folks. The greate st advantage of this solution is that not only in Kazakhstan, but mostly in all countries, general and special education happen to be very beneficial, because those people who have received general and special education become more or less educated, they have fundamental knowledge. Another advantage is that children likely to be more educated because of new educational environment and new interests in study that adolescents would be excited.The greatest disadvantage would be still the financial part, because for each sphere of ducation should be allocated some amount of money for providing better educational system. But allocation of money still cannot be done appropriately because of many factors such as corruption, negligence etc. Also, the creating of new conditions for receiving general and special education would may take some time because creating includes innovations in educational system, new buildings, more equipment and so on. According to John Heywood (n. d. ) â€Å"Rome wasn’t build in a day†. Although the increasing the cultural valuables and saving the cultural heritage would be he most convenient, the solution of creating conditions for receiving general and special education is the most feasible. Even though the government has to invest money in educational process, the last solution is the best because it has the advantages of the other alternatives without major disadvantages.Therefore, I recommend that the Kazakh society should keep in mind that the important strategic objective is to preserve the traditions of the Kazakh culture for future generations and increasing the cultural values of the city. In the meantime, I uggest the government immediately take the measures by supporting the society and creating new opportunities to develop the culture of Kazakhstan. By being responsive to the citizens, government in essence would try to unite with them for the success of their purpose to raise the cultural development of the count ry.Reference list: Kornilov I. (2011) â€Å"Developing the culture of the modern Kazakhstan† Retrieved November 6, 2012 from http:// kv. ucoz. kz Heywood J. (n. d. ) â€Å"Rome wasn’t built in a day† Retrieved November 8, 2012 from http://www. quotationspage. com

Dumas’ The Count of Monte Cristo Essay

Alexander Dumas’ The Count of Monte Cristo is founded upon historical events and political intrigue. He not only uses historical facts to help the reader understand, he also weaves such details into the story to make it possible for his reader to have an understanding of the current events that were taking place in France, during that time (from approx. 1815 through 1838). Dumas would want his readers to be familiar with French history, and to have it in their mind as they read his beloved tale. In the 1800’s Marseilles was one of the largest ports in the south of France with a â€Å"population between 93,000 and 110,000†, thus trade flourished and it was home to many merchants, and businesses (Marseilles). This is where our story of revenge begins. Marseilles was the hometown of Edmond who we meet as a naà ¯ve sailor who is later to become imprisoned as a political criminal, and altered for life. Marseilles was also the home to both Edmond’s father who dies of hunger soon after his son was imprisoned, and Edmonds beautiful, and noble fiancà © Mercedes who was a poor, Catalan. After Dantes’ imprisonment Mercedes cared for his father until he passed. She lost faith of Dantes ever being released from prison and back by her side, there for she felt she had no choice but to marry Fernand Mondego when he asked for her hand in marriage. Fernand Mondego was the jealous fisherman who also betrayed Dantes because he too was in love with Mercedes. Mondego saw, and seized the opportunity to thwart their love for one another. Military success brought Mondego a fortune, which allowed him to change his name to Count de Morcef, making Mercedes the Countess. The Morrel family (the owners of the ship, Pharaon), were also residents of Marseilles. Mr. Morrel felt a great deal of compassion for Dantes’ family which compelled him to not only invest with great effort, his time and money in an attempt to keep Dantes from an un-warranted life in prison but, he also paid for Dantes’ father’s burial. The cards were stacked against Dantes, and even with the assistance of M. Morrel, his future was written. Once Edmond escaped from prison he visited M. Morrel who was in the depths of despair, and contemplating thoughts of suicide because he could no longer support him self financially. Dantes seeing him as a righteous man who had once gone to great lengths, and knowing the efforts taken by Morrel in attempt to save him from prison, Dantes felt compelled, and anonymously made a financial contribution to Morrel, which, saved him from ruin. While Dantes never revealed himself as the contributor Morrel suspected that it was he, and on his deathbed Morrel explains to his family that he believes that their finical savior was indeed Edmond Dantes. The prosecutor of Marseilles, who was ultimately responsible for Dantes’ incarceration, was Monsieur de Vellefort. Vellefort’s father was a known Bonapartist. Vellefort who disagreed with his father’s stance, and as the prosecutor decidedly took an extremely harsh stance on his policy in dealing with Bonapartist conspirators. Vellefort sought to protect his own name by placing Edmond in prison as a political conspirator because he knew, and feared the letter Dantes carried could be traced back to his (Vellef ort’s) father so, he used his power in a misguided manor to which he would later suffer at the hands of Dantes. Danglars was a man driven by non-other than jealousy who also lived in Marseilles at the time. He despised that Dantes had been advanced to Captain of the Pharaon instead of him, and sought out a plot in which Dantes could be caught with the letter to tarnish his name, leaving Danglar’s the only choice to fill his role as captain. After Edmond’s imprisonment Danglars indeed became the captain and eventually graduated his position to a banker. As a banker he was able to acquire an incredible fortune where he then became a Baron. In the end Monte Cristo destroyed Danglars by destroying his fortune. Dumas purposely created each of these characters to have beginning in a position of poverty, showing us how they were either villainous in their rise to fortune, and would ultimately be ruined by Dantes’revenge. Or, Dumas showed the character to be virtuous with their fortune, and power eventually to be saved, or spared by our protagonist. He also showed us these characters progression from the bottom of the socioeconomic structure, eventually prospering into wealth, their bye showing us, [the reader] there were no misgivings of old money or new during these times in France. Each of these characters rose in the echelons, and were afforded the ability to acquire a title and were able re-create themselves within society in a manner to which they deemed worthy of their amassed fortunes. This ability for one to somewhat procure a title gives us a great sense of the changes that were taking place during that time, it was no longer about being of royal blood that gave you credibility, or worthiness, but about how hard one worked to further themselves and gain their fortune. In the opening scenes of the story Danglars, who is the ships â€Å"supercargo† reports to the ships owner once they docked in Marseilles, that Edmond, acting on what was the last dying wish of his captain, had stopped at the island of Elba to retrieve a letter that was addressed to Noirtier (Dumas 5). In fulfilling his captains last dyeing wish, Edmond’s unknowingly retrieved a letter from Napoleon personally, making it appear as though he was conspiring with the then exiled Napolean, and that he himself was a Bonapartist. Napoleon had been a soldier and then went on to become Emperor of France in the early 1800’s. It was after the French Revolution that Napoleon was elected First consul of France. Napoleon made many great changes for his country. He brought much needed structure back to France. He began by implementing better education, paying off France’s debt, and changing the structure of his army. He allowed not only the affluent to rise within the ranks, but affording the impoverished the same opportunity of growth within the ranks as they proved their worth, and showcased their talents. Napolean’s army was no longer based upon economic stature, but one that afforded an equal playing field to every man (as long as they were anglo). Napoleon also applied this same thought process into the civilian realm of France as well. In an attempt to expand France’s territory he invaded Russia. This invasion turned out to be one of Napoleon’s greatest defeats. During this great siege Napoleon was out maneuvered by Russia’s Alexander I, this resulted in a defeat, and a loss of almost 500,000 French troops. Soon after he stepped down as consul and was banished to the island of Elba. During this time, there were citizens who still loved and supported what he had done for France; these people were considered to be Bonapartist’s. There were also members of the French nobility (and much of Europe’s) who despised Napoleon, they wanted nothing more than to see him removed; they called themselves royalists. Dumas wanted this clearly defined so the reader would feel the internal power struggle between Bonapartist and Royalists. One of these royalists was a man named Villefort. He happened to be the prosecutor Edmonds faced in Marseilles. Villefort knew full well that Edmond was an innocent man, and not a Bonapartist, but made a calculated decision to protect his own ambitions, because it was his (Villefort’s) fathers name that was mentioned in the letter that Edmonds had carried back from Napoleon. His father was a known Bonapartist, so in an effort to show support to the royalists, and put a damper on the Bonapartist efforts, Villefort secretly sentenced Edmond to the political prison of Chateau d’if. Dantes was thrown into Chateau d’ if, and forgotten for fourteen years. During the first few years of his imprisonment Dantes’ father died of starvation, and Mercedes married Fernand; both of which he is completely unaware of. As time passed he became more and more delusional, and even began to contemplate suicide. All the while, his former employer Morrel made efforts to locate Dontes in an attempt to try to have him released, but was unable to find his location. The Chateau d’if, where our fictional character Dantes was imprisoned, was in fact an actual prison fortress. It was â€Å"built by the French King Francis I in 1524† on an island in the bay approximately one mile off the coast of Marseille (Chateau d’if). It’s was originally designed and was intended to be a defense mechanism against would be attackers of Marseille, but soon became the home to, â€Å"3,500 Huguenots (French Protestants) who earned their keep as galley slaves†(Marseille-Provence). This rocky, beach front setting is where Edmond Dantes was doomed to carry out his unwarranted sentence, and spent fourteen long years of his life; just a stone throw away from Marseille, yet no one could locate him. Many of the chateau’s actual guests seem to have had the common theme of being unwarranted prisoners. It was not unusual during the time for individuals to be â€Å"imprisoned without trial under so-called lettres de cachet, supposedly signed by the King, for minor misdemeanors (a popular ploy used by moneyed families to get rid of unruly offspring without causing a public scandal)†(Marseille-Provence). Funnily enough, one of Napoleons Civil Codes warranted it legal for a father to imprison a child for up to 1 month. Many of the Chateau’s inhabitants were lost in the shuffle, and locked up for as long as the family desired. This island for misfits, and unwanted relatives is also the location where Dantes befriends Abbe Faria, who was also a political prisoner. The two prisoners meet when the Abbe was attempting to tunnel his way to freedom; however, a miscalculation brought him directly into Dantes’ cell, instead of out to the freedom he had desired. The two newly found friends spent the next few years passing their time. Abbe dedicated himself to the task of educating Dantes in science, literature languages. He also helps Dantes figure out whom it was that played key parts, and were ultimate responsibility lie for his incarceration. At some point Abbe began to think of Dantes as the son he never had, and confided in Dantes the location to the hidden fortune. Together the two began planning their daring escape, knowing all the while that any escape plan would be difficult, if not impossible due to the fact that the prison is completely surrounded by water, and much of the island had vertical cliff walls that would raise the likelihood of injury if not death, while escaping. Fortunately for the pair, they had nothing but time. During this era in France, prisoners with wealth and title (like the Abbe) could request certain items to make their stay a bit more comfortable. The Abbe used this to their advantage, and was able to order some tools and trinkets for his cell. The same reason Abbe was able to order trinkets is the reason Edmond had none; he was penniless, and unable to purchase items. This was also quite indicative of the times; if you were higher up in society, you were able to purchase more benefits in prison, as well as in life. The Abbe died before the two were able to act out their escape plan. Thinking quickly on his feet, Dantes was able to replace his own body in the Abbe’s body bag, solidifying his own escape. The hopes Dantes held onto, and that drove him to be victorious in his escape were gone. When he did finally gain his freedom he was faced with the fact that his loved ones were either dead, or had moved on, and it was no longer a possibility to be a part of their life, or the one that he had left behind. He was a man who must decide what it was he was going to become, and do with the life that he regained. During this time it is made clear that Dantes was struggling with his purpose in life, and felt lost. It was said that he felt, â€Å"that he belongs to no country, no land, even to the point where he feels more at ease while on the ocean† (D’Ammassa). While contemplating what he was to become and what to do with his life, now that he was a free man Dantes spent some time onboard a ship as a smuggler in the Mediterranean. Where he could confront his feelings, and decide what is was he wanted to do. During one such smuggling trip Dantes had the opportunity to go to the Island of Monte Cristo where he resigned his position a smuggler and proceeded to find the treasure Abbe entrusted him with. The Island of Monte Cristo is indeed an actual island. It is located in the â€Å"Archipelago Toscano National Park† but, is not accessible to people and is now an animal refuge (Montercristo Island). It is presumed that Dumas had visited this remote island in 1842 and thought it perfect for the use as the setting in one of his novels; however, the actual island bears little resemblance to the one portrayed in his tale. In the story Edmond finds the treasure that Abbe Faria entrusted to him, on this island. The resources from the treasure will eventually allow him the opportunity to manifest himself into a count, and begin his ascent into righting the wrongs done unto him. Once his visit to the island of Monte Cristo has ended he proceeds to Rome where he stays for a while rejuvenating himself in upscale hotels, and taking beautiful women to the opera. During his stay there Dantes met Valentine, Villefort’s daughter; this act strikes a chord deep within Dantes and spurs his retribution into action. Dantes also meets Albert de Morcerf in Rome, where he aides in Alberts release from kidnappers. To return this life saving favor Dantes asks Albert to familiarize him with the Parisian aristocrats. For those of us with an appetite for a great revenge novel, this is where you can feel the plot begin to thicken, and Dumas has you flipping through the pages. With Albert as his guide, Dantes makes his way to Paris where the intrigue intensifies as Dantes began to pick off his prey one by one. During the time when Dumas’ tail was released, Paris was the metropolitan center of France, 600,000 people lived there. It was the mecca for European culture, and sciences, and also where many of Dumas’ readers would have been located making Paris an obvious choice to set such a tale; the sale of his writings to readers in the city were booming. Paris was left in shambles until Napoleon became first consul. At which time he began to re-model the city, giving it qualities you might have seen in a more up to date Rome. He added sewers, sidewalks bridges, and wharves. These additions not only brought about a better economy, but better living conditions for many. This city full of Parisian culture was also where the Villefort, the Morcerf, and the Danglars families had all settled. These families migrated to Paris, and with their newly acquired wealth began lavishing them selves in a life of luxury. Once in Paris, and with help the Count finds his way into the midst of each of the families, becoming a most welcome guest. It is from this calculated position that Dantes is able to initiate his plan and ultimately unravel the successes, and happiness of each of the men who had at one time or another plotted against him. Dumas, was able to give his reader an understanding of the setting in The Count of Monte Cristo with ease, he simply embellished upon of the historical occasions that were taking place before his eyes. Dumas expertly tied together the political struggle between Napoleon and the Royalists. By expounding upon well-known, and heavily populated cities such as Marseille, he was able to bestow a bit of history, and expand his reader’s minds, while also adventuring with them to isolated, dangerous places like the Chateau d’if or even Monte Cristo Island. He solidifies the intrigue, danger, and of course revenge in his literary work of art, which is sure to continue to captivate readers for many generations to come. Works Cited â€Å"Chateau d’If†. Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica. Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. 21 Nov. 2012 This article describes Chateau d’if the small Mediterranean island off the port of Marseille. I hope to be able to give a more accurate development of the scene where Dumas’ main character spent a great portion time. This article came from the Encyclopedia Britannica online. D’Ammassa, Don. â€Å"The Count of Monte Cristo.† Encyclopedia of Adventure Fiction. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2008. Bloom’s Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. 15

3 Factors That Influence the Rate of Return Essay

Any bondholder, or any investor for that matter, will allow three factors to influence his or her required rate of return. The three factors are the following: real (pure) rate of return, inflation, and risk premium. These three factors equal the risk free rate which is the rate of return of an investment with no risk of financial loss. This is also the rate that investors would expect from an absolutely risk-free investment over a period of time. Inflation is the constant and progressive increase in the prices of goods and services. If the total rate of return was below the actual economic interest rates then this would cause the lender (investor) to pay the borrower for use of his or her funds. So instead of creating mass chaos in our economic system, the inflation premium of interest rates results from lenders compensating for expected inflation by pushing interest rates higher. An example that can derive from taking the inflation premium into account is that when inflation is high, or expected to decline, look for long-term fixed rate bonds to â€Å"lock in† high market values. The real rate of return and the inflation premium determine the risk free rate of return. As an example, if the real rate of return were 2 percent and the inflation premium 3 percent, then we can say that the risk free rate of return is 5 percent. The real rate of return is described by our Corporate Finance book as the financial â€Å"rent† the investor charges for using his or her funds for one year. For example, if you make a $10,000 investment that earns 8% in one year, you would end the year with $10,800. So, you earn an extra $800, however, if inflation is at 3% for the year, your $10,800 is only worth $10,500. Your real rate of return is only 5%. Investors depending on dividends or interest from bonds are most affected by the costs of inflation. Stocks can be a little safer because companies can pass the higher cost of inflation to customers. Lastly, the risk premium is the premium associated with the special risks of a given investment. In other words, is the risk you take on an investment worth the reward? The risk relates to a firm’s inability to meet its debt obligations as they come due. For example, bonds possess a contractual obligation for the firm to pay interest to bondholders; they are considered less risky that common stock where no such obligation occurs. Treasury Bonds are backed by the â€Å"full faith and credit† of the U.S. government, whereas stocks are not. If you earn a risk free return from bonds at 3%, that becomes your baseline. Now, if any investment with risk must return more than 5%. The amount the investment returns over 3%is known as the risk premium. For example, if you are looking at a stock with an expected return of 12%, the risk premium is 9%.

Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 6000 words

Assignment Example name infringes on the use of the trademark name, a person other than the owner of the trademark should be able to continue to use the domain name.†1 In addition to this, The Domestic Trademark Law allows users to register domain names that resemble a specific trademark, on condition that the goods and the services provided are different, which is the case of Canadian Crafts Connexion Inc. Moreover, the Canterbury Crafts Connection Company has a registered United Kingdom trademark for CanCraftsConnexCo., not for Cancraftsconnex. Even if the English company would try to combat this argument with the fact that these two trademarks seem confusingly similar, CCC has the possibility to argue this by mentioning that for the purposes of the UDRP confusion is not of great importance. Another element that the Canterbury Crafts Connection Company must prove in order to force CCC to hand over their domain name is the lack of rights or legitimate reasons of the defendant in the challenged domain name. In this case, I would advise CCC to demonstrate this interest by appealing to the entire name of the company – Canadian Crafts Connexion Inc. and explaining the necessity of using the shortened name for the website. Therefore, CCC has a legitimate reason in this domain name, which allows it, under the law provisions, to preserve this name. Regarding the first request, the defamatory character of the painting must be established in order to understand whether it is defamatory or not. There is no exact legislation in Canada that would clarify this question; therefore, it is necessary to make analogies between the internet communications and the communications made via media. Publication or dissemination to a third party is essential to proving defamation. Posting the painting online means making it available and communicating the picture’s message to everybody. This raises the following legal issue: does the internet communication fall under the provisions of the Libel and

Unit 18 Advertising and Promotions - Level 4 Advertising and Assignment

Unit 18 Advertising and Promotions - Level 4 Advertising and Promotions - Nandos Loyalty Card HND Business - Assignment Example One of the firms that have undertaken extensive communication strategies to attract more customers is Nando’s. The section below discusses the communication process and how the communication process relates to the Nando’s advertisement process. As indicated by transmission model that was developed by Shannon and Weaver (1949), communication process consists of six major steps. The first one is the formulation of the idea in the mind of the sender. During this stage, an individual who want to send the message, comes up with something that he or she want to relate to another person. The second step is encoding the message. This implies that putting the information in a language that suits the recipient. For example, the sender who wishes to send a message to a child must encode it differently from that of professional colleague. The third step is transmitting the message. This involves using various avenues such as speaking, writing or using emails among others. The fourth step is receiving the message that has been sent by the sender. As a receiver, one should read or listen to the message. The fifth stage is decoding the message. This entails processing the message in such a way that it makes sense to the receiver. The six th stage according to the transmission model is understanding the message (Barnlund, 2008). It is worth to note that a message may be sent, read or listened to but understanding the message is the most paramount thing. In the Nando’s advertising process, communication process has been effectively utilised. For example, before the launching of Nando’s Loyalty Card, the firm came up with the communication idea that depicted the use of a card that cannot be used in libraries, night clubs or coffee shops but only in Nando’s. Similarly, the business has used various channels of communicating with

The Natural Environment Stakeholders And Policy Essay

The Natural Environment Stakeholders And Policy - Essay Example Population increase and other social issues have been associated with the current over-reliance on natural resources in some geographical areas. Some scholars have as well linked environmental degradation with increased social and political inequality. The competition for the available natural resources between powerful people and poor people in the society has increased the level of environmental degradation and social inequality. Therefore, powerful people use the wealth and power to eliminating poor people from using the available natural resources thus increasing social inequality. Based on the available statistical information, it is clear that, environmental degradation have resulted to detrimental social effects thus destroying public spirit and social fabric (Yearley 2005, p. 93). Based on the available statistical information and research findings, I am on the perspective that environmental sustainability in modern society has resulted to social inequality. This therefore me ans that, there is close relationship between environmental sustainability and social inequality. Environmental degradation and lack of effective measures to sustain the environment has caused inequality in human development both between countries and within a country. On the other hand, some scholars have as well argued that, inequality in the society have advanced modern environmental unsustainabilty. This therefore means that, there is vicious circle between environmental sustainability and inequality where one scenario may result to another. Professionals and organisation that are concerned with human inequality should therefore consider environment unsustainabilty in their policy formulation and implementation. On the other hand, since there is a bi-directional link between environmental sustainability and inequality, to realise the best from their policies, environmentalists should as well consider the impact of social and economic inequality to the environment (Stead & Stead 2009, p. 37). Over years, the issue of global environmental sustainability have attracted wide recognition and debate from global leaders, teachers, scientists, university students, citizens, and journalists. The biosphere has as well placed a very significant burden to humankind that is aimed at ensuring that the environment is effectively protected in order to eliminate social and economic inequality. The issues of environmental sustainability have therefore led to the formation of global organisations such as UNEP that are mandated with the responsibility of introducing effective means of dealing with modern environmental challenges. Global leaders have as well organised numerous global conferences to design policy that will ensure global environmental sustainability (Sutton 2007, p. 67). As defined, environmental sustainability is the ability to identify and maintain aspects and quality that are valued in physical environment. In most cases, the issue of sustainability emerges w hen valued objects, processes, systems, and attributes are under threat of extinction. Facilitating society members to do things that can satisfy their economic and social needs is one of the most essential aspects that define human development. Therefore, inequality is defined as lack of freedom and capability of attaining one’s social, economic, and political needs and demands. The subsequent essay will therefore address the issue of environmental sustainability and inequality in contemporary society Description of Environment Unsustainabilty and Social Inequality The issues of the relationship between environmental unsustainabilty and modern social and econom

Market research report on Exxon Mobil Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

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IT privacy protection, first mover and follower advantages Essay

IT privacy protection, first mover and follower advantages - Essay Example s of privacy policies, after selecting the websites it will discuss privacy policy features of those websites, than it will analyse the availability of those privacy features and will rank them accordingly, and, in the end, the study will provide a brief conclusion. Privacy protection utility is a privacy feature which removes the track of your move. Everything you do leaves tracks behind, it includes each and every activity such as browsing on the web, watching video, and shopping online. Privacy protection utility removes all tracks, in this way the user is safe and the browser stability and performance are increased. By default, on websites such as on social network websites, user’s information such as user’s id, username, networks, profile picture, and gender are publically available to the applications and advertisements; this option allows the user to control the information share setting with applications and advertisements. This safety option allows the user to clean up all the browsing data on the website; it increases the browser stability and allows the user to stay away from all the misuse of browsing records. Everything you browse on a specific websites leaves tracks; option allows the user to clean all the history. When you visit a website for a purchase, watching video, or just browsing, websites store user’s basic information and purchase or browsing behaviors in a cookie on the user PC and personalize website experiences for the visitors to make the website more attractive for users and to increase the website visits. This may be harmful as there is a risk of interruption and modification by other users which may result in wrong use of information and can create a source of tension and loss for the user. Most browsers accept all cookies by default. Cookie manager is a safety feature which allows the user to control the cookie settings (Alwang, 2001). Email is exposed to electronic dangers when it passes through different Internet

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WEEK 1 DISCUSSION PART 1 - Assignment Example Its forward supply chain involves transfer of products to consumers while reverse supply chain involves transfer of products from consumers to the organization for recycling or as return inwards. The forward supply chain involves ordering of products via mail or electronic methods. A first in first out inventory management follows in processing and delivery of the orders, though the organization observers some flexibility. In cases of lack of inventory, a supplier is sought through an online system. The supply chain involves â€Å"postponement,† and â€Å"modularity† (Kumar and Graig, 2007, p. 200, 201). The organization’s suppliers and consumers who determine the volumes of required inventory manage inventory, and products are transported through shipments. The supply chain also involves a series of partnerships with â€Å"suppliers, service providers, shipping companies, and customers† (Kumar and Graig, 2007, p. 203). I could redesign the company’s supply chain through application of the six-sigma approach. The new design would involve a monitoring and evaluation department that would identify ideal supply chain processes and actual deviations from the ideals. The department would also explore periodic changes in supply chain processes and identify significance of those changes with respect to consumers’ expectations in order to eliminate inefficiencies and facilitate cohesion among involved processes and stakeholders. The design will also evaluate suppliers’ efficiency levels to identify the most reliable suppliers for long-term partnerships, contrary to the current short-term partnership approach. This is because long-term partnerships increase commitments towards efficiencies. Inputs and outputs will however remain the same since they are determined by demand (Bandyopadhyay and Jenicke, 2007). The design will involve both domestic and global operations. The need for global operations will extend the analytical approach to the corporation’s

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Vertical Crest Equations - Thesis Example Current road network systems require proper and detailed construction to ensure they last long and also handle different vehicles using the road. There are different types of roads. These include stone paved roads, timber track ways, and brick paved roads, tarmac roads among other types of roads. Tarmac roads are most the most common types of roads in the modern world. Road construction is normally controlled by the public sector. Road building is a capital intensive exercise and most roads are accessible to the general public. Road construction involves the making of a continuous path with low grade of stone to allow for passage of vehicles and humans on foot. it begins with removal of vegetation, followed by digging or rock excavations for areas with rocks. The pavement material is then laid. Proper optimization must be done to ensure minimum cut and fill. Road building process encompasses the removal of the top layer of unwanted soil by excavations. Filling the excavated trench with hardcore stones, compacting the stones, lying of tarmac and finally compaction of the tarmac. During road construction several environmental aspects have to taken into consideration. First roads generate considerable air pollution due to cars emissions. Secondly the urban rainfall cumulates to form runoff that flow along the hard surface collecting chemical and meta ls which end up in /major water bodies. Noise pollution is also common to people living near major highways. During road construction, there are number of geographical obstacles experienced by the engineers and the design engineer has to figure out how to overcome these obstacles in the most effective and economic way. One common problem is when designing a road in hilly areas or in areas with sharp decent and ascent. Care must be taken to ensure that the driver can see ahead especially during the night Vertical curves In the design of highways, there are various fundamental transition elements. These include the horizontal and the vertical curves. The vertical curve is important as it provides the transition between two roadways. This allows the vehicle to negotiate the elevation gradually rather than a sharp cut. These vertical curves are used to connect roadways with inclined sections and provide transitions between two grades. They are easy to design as the only requirement is to determine the length of the curve that will accommodate the required sight distance. Type's of vertical curves According to the Department of transportation, There are two main types of curves, the sag curve and the crest curve ,crest curves are applied when the change in grade is positive for example when ascending valleys while sag vertical curves are used when descending on planes and there is a negative change in grade. Properties of vertical curves Regardless of whether it is a sag curve or a crest curve these curves have three points. These points are: PVC: this is also called the point of vertical curve. It represents the start point of the curve PVT : stands for the point of vertical tangency and is the endpoint of the curve PVI: stands for pint of vertical intersection Fig 1 showing the properties of vertical curves For equal tangent curves, half of the length of the curve is positioned before PVI and the other half after. This forms a uniform curve

The Hunger Games (2012) Essay Example for Free

The Hunger Games (2012) Essay The nation of Panem, formed from a post-apocalyptic North America, is a country that consists of a wealthy Capitol region surrounded by 12 poorer districts. Early in its history, a rebellion led by a 13th district against the Capitol resulted in its destruction and the creation of an annual televised event known as the Hunger Games. In punishment, and as a reminder of the power and grace of the Capitol, each district must yield one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 through a lottery system to participate in the games. The tributes are chosen during the annual Reaping and are forced to fight to the death, leaving only one survivor to claim victory. Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) is a 16 year-old girl from District 12, a coal-mining region and the poorest of the districts. This year is the 74th Hunger Games and during the Reaping, Katniss younger sister, Primrose, is chosen as a tribute. Refusing to let her sister be taken, Katniss volunteers herself instead, becoming District 12s female tribute. The male tribute chosen is a bakers son named Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) who is later seen giving bread to Katniss to prevent her family from starving. Despite the threat of the games, Katniss dreams of making a new life for herself and her family outside the fence with her friend, Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworth). She tells him that she never wants children. Before she leaves, Katniss comforts her mother (Paula Malcomson) and tells her to stay strong for Primrose. Katniss and Peeta are taken from their district by the gaudily dressed Effie Trinket (Elizabeth Banks) and travel to the Capitol. En route, they are fed rich food and treats but are disgusted by the amount of luxuries given to them and the occupants of the train while their families starve at home. They are introduced to their mentor and a former winner of the Hunger Games, Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson) who appears to be a pessimistic alcoholic. Haymitch grabs a drink and food before leaving their train car. Katniss and Peeta later reunite with Haymitch in another car and he tells them that the key to survival is ensuring they are well liked by the public so that they may get sponsored. By having sponsors they will have more access to survival tools such as matches, knives, or even water. When they arrive in the gleaming city of the Capitol, the train is greeted by a cheering crowd. Peeta waves to the residents but Katniss refuses to show herself. Haymitch warns her that she better hold on to her knife and that Peeta actually knows what he is doing by feeding the crowd. Katniss meets her stylist, Cinna (Lenny Kravitz), who tells her that, as tributes, they need to make an impression on the audience so theyre remembered, especially by the sponsors. Cinna proclaims that someone as brave as Katniss should have a great costume for the Gala Entry Parade in which each pair of tributes wears an outfit reflecting their districts trade. Katniss and Peeta wear black costumes with actual fire to symbolize the coal-mining district they reside from. As Cinna hoped, they make a great impression on the audience. Peeta takes Katniss hand and raises it into the air during the parade for more effect. After the parade the pair go to their penthouse. The tributes under-go basic weaponry and combat training including the use of knives, swords, and bows. In spite of this training their trainer stresses that survival skills should not be underestimated as exposure and infection can kill just as effectively as any sword. One tribute named Cato (Alexander Ludwig) is hot-headed and imposing, proving to be possibly serious threat. Later, over a meal, Haymitch tells Peeta and Katniss about the Careers district from which Cato comes from. All of the possible tributes train until theyre 18 before openly volunteering to participate in the Hunger Games. Haymitch warns them that they win almost every year due to that fact before asking about Katniss bow and arrow skills. Katniss refocuses on Peeta, describing his impressive strength, but he rebuffs her compliments and confesses that his own mother (Raiko Bowman) thought Katniss to be the superior tribute. When Peeta is bullied by the other tributes during training, Katniss suggests he show off his strength by throwing a large weight across the room. Peeta manages to perform the feat successfully and gains a small amount of respect from the tributes. Later, in succession, each tribute is instructed to show off to the game makers, including Seneca Crane (Wes Bentley). When its Katniss turn, she decides to show off her archery skills. However, she misses her first shot badly and loses what little attention she had from the game makers. Despite her perfect second shot, she doesnt regain their respect. Angered and disgusted by the game makers attitude towards her, Katniss fires an arrow straight through an apple in a roasted pigs mouth, just inside the makers room. Katniss sarcastically thanks them for their consideration and leaves. The game makers display their scores of the tributes on a television screen, ranking from 0 to 12. Many tributes achieve high scores of 9 to 10, including the Careers Cato and his partner Clove (Isabelle Fuhrman). Peeta receives an 8 while Katniss scores an 11, the highest of all the tributes. The President of the Capitol, Snow (Donald Sutherland) addresses Seneca and tells him that the Hunger Games is about giving the districts hope, but that too much hope can actually be dangerous. During another meal, Haymitch tells Katniss about Peetas decision to go without his help because of the fact that there can only be one winner. On the extravagant Hunger Games TV chat show, each tribute is introduced individually and interviewed by the flamboyant host, Caesar Flickerman (Stanley Tucci). Katniss elicits laughs from the audience during the interview and impresses them by showing off her dress which displays real fire. Ceasar gives her the nickname girl on fire. During his interview, Peeta eats the audience up, garnering some laughs himself. It is then that he announces his crush on Katniss, something which angers her intensely. Backstage Katniss pins Peeta to the wall, demanding answers for his behavior. Haymitch separates the two and explains that he could sell the pair as star-crossed lovers which might gain them sponsorship support during the games. Just before the games, Haymitch warns Katniss to avoid the bloodbath at the beginning by heading to the high ground in search of water despite having to leave her bow and arrow behind. Katniss says goodbye to Cinna who tells her if he was allowed to bet, he would bet on her winning. The tributes are all injected with a tracking device in their arms as they travel via helicopter to the outdoor arena. The tributes are deposited into a meadow containing a cornucopia of weapons and backpacks. As the horn sounds, the tributes rush for the weapons, brutally attacking and killing each other. Katniss manages to grab a pack and barely escapes Clove, who embeds a knife in her backpack. Once at a safe distance, Katniss finds a rope, an empty canteen, and a coat inside the backpack. She takes Haymitchs advice and locates water in a nearby stream before she ties herself high up in a tree for the night and attempts to get some sleep. Loud bangs from a cannon indicate the deaths of tributes and we learn that thirteen were killed within the first 8 hours. Caesar announces that an alliance has been formed during the games and Katniss sees that Peeta has formed this alliance with the Careers during the night. He appears to be trying to lead them to Katniss location. While exploring the next day, Katniss gets too close to the outer regions of the arena. The game controllers decide to start a forest fire to lure her further in to the center. She barely manages to escape but does receive a nasty burn on her thigh, causing her to limp. She is then spotted by Cato and 4 other tributes, including Clove and Glimmer (Leven Rambin) who have banded together. We learn that, apparently, the Careers come, collectively, from Districts 1, 2, and 4 who are trained illegally before volunteering to fight; this group of 4 from two districts chases Katniss who eventually escapes by climbing a tree. Cato attempts to follow her up but is unsuccessful. Peeta suggests that the group wait for Katniss to eventually come down for food and water. The group settles for the night beneath the tree and Katniss ties herself to the tree to sleep. She is woken later that night by a parachute containing much needed medicine for her leg wound, sent by Haymitch. She applies the medicine to her burns and they disappear as if nothing happened. Her attention is then caught by a young 12 year old girl named Rue (Amandla Stenberg) from District 11. Rue, however, is friendly to Katniss and points out a large trackerjacker nest just above Katniss and dangling over the Career group below. We learn that trackerjackers are genetically engineering wasps whose stings are highly venomous and can cause powerful hallucinations. With enough stings, they can even kill. Katniss climbs up the tree towards the nest and begins sawing at the branch holding it up. The trackerjackers become irritated and start stinging her but, eventually, the branch snaps and the nest falls to the ground, exploding in a wave of wasps. The Careers group flees but Glimmer is s tung too many times and succumbs to the venom. Katniss manages to climb down the tree and, despite beginning to hallucinate, grabs a bow and escapes with Peetas help. After a night of hallucinations and nightmares, some involving her father (Phillip Troy Linger), Katniss awakens beneath a tree trunk covered in stings. Unclear as to who exactly helped her, Katniss stumbles around, thinking it must have been Peeta. Rue appears and tells her that she was out cold for 2 days and that shes been the one taking care of her. The two girls decide to team up and go on the offensive. They form a plan to destroy a mountain of food and supplies located in the starting meadow that the Career group is guarding; Rue is to start off small fires to distract the remaining Careers while Katniss detonates the booby-trapped mines around the mound. They agree to use the sounds of mockingjays to signal to each other. The plan works. The Careers become distracted by the smoke of the fires while one tribute, a boy from District 3 (Ian Nelson), remains at the cornucopia, standing guard. Katniss then notices a female tribute unseen by the others. Foxface (Jacqueline Emerson) from District 5 sprints towards the pyramid of food and supplies, unnoticed by the guard, picking her way through the unexploded mines and steals a backpack before making it to the forest, showcasing her cunning. Katniss then shoots at a bag of apples on top of the pile which causes them to cascade down and detonate the mines. The pyramid explodes, sending food and supplies everywhere. Katniss watches, triumphant, as the Career group rushes back to the clearing. Infuriated, Cato demands to know how such a thing could have happened if the guard was doing his job. The tribute from District 3 is equally confused but Catos anger makes him murderous and he snaps the boys neck. Katniss leaves, disturbed by Catos ease to kill. Katniss uses the bird call system to find Rue but receives no response until she hears a scared voice calling to her. Katniss finds Rue trapped under a net and releases her just before theyre attacked by Marvel (Jack Quaid), a tribute from District 1. Marvel throws a spear but Katniss dodges the attack and shoots an arrow into his chest, killing him. However, when she turns to Rue, she sees that Marvels spear has gone through her chest. Distraught, Katniss tries to calm Rue and sings to her peacefully as Rue dies. Katniss then gathers flowers from the forest and spreads them over Rue before her body taken back to her district via hovercraft. Meanwhile, Rues father is horrified and angered by his daughters death and starts a riot against the Hunger Games. His district follows his rebellious example and they destroy the stage showing the games. As Katniss makes a peace gesture to the camera, the Peace Keepers of District 11 arrive and shoot Rues father dead. President snow is enraged by the rebellion in District 11 and wants to change the games rules and circumstances to ensure that Katniss is killed. Haymitch pleads with Seneca to keep Katniss alive, issuing a ploy of teen romance as a main reason. Seneca then announces that the rules of the game have been changed; two winners instead of just one will be allotted so long as they belong to the same district. With this knowledge, and having just overheard the remaining Careers mention leaving Peeta for dead by the river, Katniss sets out in search of him. She finds a trail of blood near the river and follows it to where Peeta has camouflaged himself in the rocks. Katniss helps move him to a nearby cave where they are well hidden. Katniss attempts to heal Peetas sword wound but realizes he has blood poisoning, something that can only be cured with a special medicine. Katniss despairs as there could be no way Haymitch could send some since it would be too expensive at this point. However, as if by magic, an announcement rings out that there will be a feast at the cornucopia for all the tributes but, instead of food, there will be something each tribute desperately needs. Peeta begs Katniss not to leave him and risk her life trying to save him. He asks her to stay and Katniss reluctantly agrees, though she knows there may very well be medicine at the cornucopia that could save his life. The two share a brief kiss, partly as a way to gain more sponsors. However, this hits a nerve with Gale watching back home who is clearly smitten with Katniss. Katniss waits until Peeta has fallen asleep before leaving for the cornucopia. When she arrives, she sees Foxface sprinting towards the supplies, surprising the other tributes with her speed and escaping without much incident. Katniss decides to mimic Foxfaces moves and sprints out to grab the medicine but is thrown off guard when she is hit with a knife launched by Clove. The two wrestle and fight before Clove manages to get the upper hand and presses a knife to Katniss throat. She teases her with bloodlust and mocks her for teaming up with the little monster from District 11; Rue. Before Clove can slit Katniss throat, she is lifted by Thresh (Dayo Okeniyi), the male tribute from District 11, and thrown against the cornucopia wall. Thresh tells Katniss that she gets this one chance since she helped Rue but, after this, everything is fair game. He proceeds to smash Clove to death against the wall as Katniss escapes. She returns to the cave with the medicine and administers it to Peeta and herself, healing their wounds. In a more genuine romantic moment, the two fall asleep in each others arms. The next day, they split up to find food. During her hunt, Katniss hears a cannon signaling another tribute death. Panicked, she runs back to where she last saw Peeta. She finds him near a berry bush, standing bewildered with a handful of berries near the corpse of Foxface, also with berries in her hand. In a mix of anger and relief, Katniss slaps Peeta, telling him that the berries are Nightlock and extremely poisonous. The pair wonder if Cato would ever fall for the same trap that Foxface did before they notice that the sun is going down at mid-day. Unsure of whats to happen, they freeze and ready themselves for an impending attack. In the distance, they hear Thresh cry out followed by the sound of the cannon, signaling his death. They pause for a moment before a giant mutated dog leaps out at them, vicious and the size of a polar bear but with much more speed and agility. Katniss and Peeta sprint through the forest as two more of the dogs begin to pursue them. They are chased to the cornucopia where Peeta helps Katniss climb on top of it, barely making it up himself. They sit back in relief thinking the dogs will kill the last survivor, Cato, and they will be crowned the victors. Cato, however, is also on top of the cornucopia and attacks Katniss, attempting to throw her to the dogs. The three fight each other and Cato grabs Katniss by the throat, holding her near the edge of the structure before Peeta manages to fight him off her. Cato gets the upper hand and gets Peeta in a choke hold to either break his neck, as seen before, or throw him to the mutant dogs. Katniss unsheathes an arrow and points it at him, uncertain whether to shoot or not. Cato, dripping blood, laughs sadistically telling her that he knows what the games are about now. The tributes arent just entertainment, theyre all weapons designed to make the spectacle of death as painful and unnecessary as possible. Peeta, who is still being choked, appears to try and tell Katniss something while Cato talks. Cato asks if she shoots him, then her lover boy goes down with him. Katniss shoots his hand, forcing him to let go of Peeta. Peeta then pushes Cato off the edge to be mauled by the dogs. Katniss and Peeta watch a moment as Cato is savagely attacked before Katniss shoots an arrow into him, ending his misery. The last cannon goes off and Katniss and Peeta realize theyve won the Hunger Games. They embrace and wait for a helicopter to come take them home. No helicopter comes. An announcement then states that the rules which allow two winners has been revoked, meaning only one shall remain. Katniss contemplates shooting Peeta, but decides against it. Peeta, however, begs her to kill him so that she may win, but she takes out her hand and holds out some Nightlock berries. She takes some for herself and gives the rest to Peeta, hinting that shed rather the Capitol have no winners instead of one. Before they can commit suicide, a speaker pleads them to stop and announces that they are both winners. They are brought back to the Capitol where Haymitch tells them how foolish they are to have defied the Capitol like that and instructs them to play up the star-crossed couple routine at their final interview. They oblige but Haymitch relents that it will never be enough for the Capitol. We see Seneca Crane being led into a finely polished room. The door is locked behind him while a goblet is set on a pedestal in front of him, containing Nightlock. Although we do not see it, we are led to believe that he sacrifices himself. Peeta and Katniss travel back to District 12 by train. Although they are met with a heros welcome, Haymitch warns Katniss that she is now a political enemy after such a public defiance against the societys leaders. They are greeted by a crowd of cheering residents including Primrose, Katniss mother and Gale. Peeta realizes that Katniss may have been playing up the star-crossed lovers theme just for the audience. He takes her hand and holds it up in the air. President Snow watches the District 12 welcome from the Capitol. Walking away, he wonders what to do about the two victors and the feelings of rebellion they may have created in the Districts. Bottom of Form In the future, the world is split into districts. Each district is responsible for something: District 12, for example, handles coal and mining. All these districts are controlled by the Capitol, where lives the president who is always very, very cruel. The Capitol, to show the Districts how weak they are and how little control they have, hosts the Hunger Games. Two tributes are selected from each district to participate in a game. An arena is set up that looks like a natural surrounding {a jungle, rain forest, desert, etc..) Here, the tributes have to try to survive and kill each other off. The one who is the last standing wins and earns food and gifts for their District, and also can never be selected for the Games. Once chosen, you cant get out of it unless someone else offers to go for you, which no one is entirely willing to do. To get chosen, your name is written on a piece of paper and put into a small bowl, and is chosen at random. Only children are put once {I believe youre safe at the age of 18}, but poorer families are forced to add their childrens name multiple times because the more you put your name in, the more grain you get for your family. Of course, this means youre even more prone to be selected. Hunger Games is about Katniss Everdeen, a young girl who lives in District 12. Her father died at a young age, and from then on she had to take care of her younger sister Prim and her shocked mother. She snuck out under the electric fence that borders the District, and hunted for food using her bow and arrow. At the Reaping, which is the time of day where they select the tributes, Katnisss sister is chosen to be in the Games. Knowing that Prim knows nothing of survival, and Katniss is more skilled in hunting, Katniss offers to take her place. The rest of the book is about Katniss preparing for the Hunger Games and the Hunger Games itself.

Impact of Brand Name on Consumer Decision Making

Impact of Brand Name on Consumer Decision Making Brand Name Consumer Todays generation follows the pattern of capitalism where human values are measured by, ‘you are known by what you have not by what you are’. This naturally leads to a social structure where everyone seeks uniqueness by possessing things which sets them apart from everybody else. Nowadays, brands not only represent the symbol of a company or product but also define the daily life of a person to a large extent . Products used by a person often reflect the persons tastes, status in society, and economic background. When customers purchase products, the consumer’s choice is frequently affected by brand name. Some customers purchase specific brand products only due to brand name. The purpose of this thesis is to create a deeper consideration about how brand name affects consumers when they gor for purchasing a car. Moreover the author wants to identify if there is any connection between brand name and consumer decision making. The research method involved a critically analysed review on secondary research upon the subject. It provides the reader with an understanding of the relation between companies and consumers in terms of brand equity, emotional branding, consumer behaviour, and consumer decision making. From the secondary research, the basis for primary research was created. The use of a questionnaire allowed the author to identify individual feelings when people go for purchasing car. All of the respondents answered every question upon which quantitative data and findings were produced. The findings and analysis of the research conducted, concluded that brand name is the most important aspect when people go for purchasing a car. Furthermore, the results show that most people prefer brand products which signify consumer status and social status. The paper concludes with an evaluation of the study, limitations, and recommendations for further research. Reasons for choice of topic Every brand differs in names or symbols like logo, trade mark, design and packing. A brand name is a signal to protect the customer from similar brands and protect the producer from the competitors (Aaker, 1991). Brand names present many things about a product and give number of information about it to the customers and also tell the customer or potential buyer what the product means to them (Hansen Christensen, 2003). Brand names affect consumers purchasing behaviour enormously. It is important for companies to find out customer’s decision process and pinpoint the criteria, which customers apply while making decision (Cravens Piercy, 2006). In today’s business environment, companies must work harder than ever before to achieve some degree of differentiation in their products. Many companies have sought to achieve this differentiation by branding their products, simply putting the company’s name on a product (Aaker, 1991). The author has chosen the topic to try to gain further knowledge about the subject of how brand name affects consumer decision in car choice. The reasons for attempting to gain further knowledge are simply based upon the author‟s great interest towards the car industry and consumer behaviour. The author is particularly interested in why customers prefer brand products in case of brand cars. Also the effect of brand name on consumer decision making will be of great curiosity to the author. Academic objectives of dissertation This study attempts to highlight and tackle the extent to how brand name affects consumer decision in car choice. This is to allow a greater understanding of the relation between companies and consumers in terms of brand equity, emotional branding, consumer behaviour, and consumer decision making. In order to achieve this main aim, the following objectives have been produced: To discover any assets and liabilities of brand equity in case of adding or subtracting value for customers. To understand why emotional branding creates feelings and what kind of feelings. To explore how individuals select, purchase, and use or dispose products to satisfy their needs and desires. To investigate consumer decision making and the way of information search when customers go for purchasing a car. Outline of chapters As the introduction is chapter one, the surplus of this study is organised and structured as followed: Chapter Two- This chapter is to set the scene for the study. It presents the background of the current situation of the car industry and the influence of brands in society. Chapter Three This chapter is a review of earlier research and literature on brand name and the effect it has on the consumers purchase decision. In this chapter the earlier literature is critically analysed upon its relevance and importance to the study. Chapter Four The methodology of the study is addressed in this chapter. It involves a description of the research undertaken for the study and a justification of why. The approaches and methods of research are detailed here and justified. Chapter Five This chapter is the findings and analysis of primary research as well as secondary research undertaken towards the study. The findings from the primary research are analysed against the earlier literature and research from chapter three. Chapter Six- This chapter is a conclusion, commenting on the initial objectives of the study. The limitations and recommendations for further research are also discussed in this chapter. Car Industry Background The European Union is the worlds largest car manufacturing region and the worlds biggest market, not only in size terms, but also due to the intensity of competition (Lung, 2003). Europe constitutes a true â€Å"automobile space†, inasmuch as the routing and regulation of the supply and demand for automobile products here has mainly taken place at a regional level (Carrillo, Lung, van Tulder, 2004). We can therefore say that we are in the presence of what can be called a European automobile system (Lung, 2001). From the perspective of car manufacturers the competitive pressure is increasing and their established role is threatened (Selz Klein, 1998). Franchising dominates automobile distribution because of the need to decentralize pricing and control of decisions (Vazquez, 2004). The sales and distribution sector is set to experience considerable change (Eurofund, 2004). The aim of the Commission regulation is to promote competition and a better deal for consumers. It separates new car sales, repair and parts supply, and gives more autonomy to dealers and repairers (Eurofund, 2004). The idea is that such liberalization will promote intrabrand competition, that is, competition between dealers of the same brand (Verboven, 2006). Furthermore, cars of different manufactures look increasingly similar. Product differences are reduced to design aspects, and thus require new branding concepts. At the same time, we move away from the simple durable good car to a complex bundle, incorporating diverse s and after-sales s (Dudenhà ¶ffer, 1997). When a company is deciding which new products to add to its line, it should consider two key factors: First, which new product contenders best fit its distribution system, and second, whether the distribution system will add value to the product in the eyes of the end user (Fites, 1996). Brands in Society Todays generation follows the pattern of capitalism where human values are measured by, ‘you are known by what you have not by what you are’. This naturally leads to a social structure where everyone seeks uniqueness by possessing things which sets them apart from everybody else. Brands not only represent the symbol of the company or product but to a larger extent define the general life of a person. Brand is a combination of name, symbol and design. Brands represent customer perceptions about the performance of a product. A powerful brand is which resides in the mind of the consumer. Brands differ in the amount of power and worth they have in the market place. Brands with high awareness have a high level of acceptability and customers do not refuse to buy such brands as they enjoy the brand performance (Kotler et al., 2005). The history of branding goes back when people utilized burned mark on cattle in order to identify quality (Bengtsson, 2002). Brands differ in name or symbol, trade mark, design and packing. Products are recognized through these elements and thus make it possible to differentiate one product from the other. A brand is a signal to protect the customer from similar brand names and protect the producer from the competitors (Aaker, 1991). Usually people do not buy certain brands because of design and requirements, but also in an attempt to enhance their self esteem in society (De Chernatory McDonald, 1992). Brand names present many things about products and give a number of information to customers. When customers consider to purchase they evaluate the product immediately by reconstructing the product from memory (Hansen Christensen, 2003). In today’s business environment, companies must work harder than ever before to achieve some degree of product differentiation. Many companies have sought to achieve this differentiation by branding their products, simply putting the company’s name on a product (Aaker, 1991). In this respect companies offer different packages to customers in this competition war for raising awareness among the customers about the branded product. Brand and Consumer Perceptions In every industry corporate executives are finding that to be competitive they must increase the communication and contact between their company and their customers (Girsky, 2003). Automotive is no exception: car manufacturers face mounting pressures related to acquiring and retaining customers. While many dealers have assumed that customers make decisions primarily on a rational, fact-driven basis, the truth is that most purchase decisions also involve emotion, intuition and impulse (Zaltmann, 2003). The reason customers buy cars is more connected to the overall experience of the purchase and ownership of an automobile than it is to any traditional impetus such as brand loyalty, price, or personal relationship with the dealer (Bolton, 2002). In this environment, competitive advantage will shift to the player whose value net is most tightly linked and built around the customer: To attract new customers, and sell more to each of them over a lifetime, manufacturers need to move away from their traditional build it and they will come approach to capture customer wallet share (IBM, 2003). To facilitate increased revenue capture over the customer lifecycle, dealers should work to create a collaborative business environment. Increased collaboration will help dealers manage customer touchpoints more efficiently and effectively, increase personalization and establish emotional bonds between themselves and their customers (IBM, 2003).Seeing, touching, and driving the product are still cruc ial to the purchase decision for most consumers (Helper, 2000). The evolution of customer needs advances continually (IBM, 2003). Successful marketing requires understanding how customers relationships with an organization change over time. Todays interactive generation demands products that are valuable to them and that enhance and enable their lifestyle as well. In this environment, quality and price are no longer enough, customers want to make purchases that improve their quality of life – and their buying power will go to the companies that offer them the best (IBM, 2003). Product differentiation is no longer adequate to ensure profits. Traditional customer-focused marketing to determine the needs and wants of target markets is still largely product, rather than customer, focused. Even customer satisfaction itself is no longer enough (IBM, 2003). Customer Touchpoints A car companys marketing instruments have different effects on customer behavior and ultimately on customer lifetime value (Bolton, 2002). Customer lifetime value is characterized by the length, depth and breadth of each customer’s relationship with a dealer in terms of the customers purchase behavior (Verhoef 2001). Length and depth are also reflected in upgrading behavior, which is the purchasing of premium higher margin products instead of low cost variants (Bolton, 2002). Loyal customers are sometimes assumed to be willing to pay higher prices (Reichheld 1996a; Reichheld 1996b) but in some markets loyal customers pay lower prices due to discounts. The breadth of a relationship primarily concerns â€Å"cross- buying† or â€Å"add-on buying† that is, the number of additional (different) products purchased from a company over time (Blattberg, Getz and Thomas 2001). In addition to purchase behavior, customer lifetime value is influenced by non-purchase behaviors, such as word-ofmouth behavior and the provision of new product ideas that may be more difficult to observe and predict (Bettencourt 1997). It is important to know how each of these categories of marketing instruments differentially influence relationship duration, customer usage and cross-buying of products. These marketing activities generate revenues via their effect on individual customer behavior (Bolton, 2002). Satisfaction and Quality Management Marketers typically assume that satisfied customers are more loyal (Szymanski and Hise 2001). However, studies of actual customer behavior have established that the effect of satisfaction on relationship length is complex. Bolton (1998) argues that satisfaction is an indicator of the subjective expected, and finds a positive effect of satisfaction on relationship length that is enhanced by relationship age. Mittal and Kamakura (2001) show that demographics, such as age and gender, moderate the effect of satisfaction on relationship length. Negative discrepancies between a customer’s satisfaction with of a product provider and its competitor (i.e., competitor performs better than company) influence customer retention, whereas positive discrepancies do not (Kumar 2002). A positive link between satisfaction and usage has been documented by Bolton and Lemon (1999). The underlying rationale for this link is that higher satisfaction scores reflect a higher utility of the provided product. This higher utility will be reflected in higher future usage rates. However, a customers’ experience with a particular product will not necessarily transfer to additional products offered by the same organization (Verhoef, Franses and Hoekstra (2001). Relationship Management In direct marketing it is distinguished between marketing instruments that directly stimulate product sales, and those that focus on the maintenance and development of customer relationships (McDonald 1998). Marketing instruments can also be classified based upon whether they provide economic gains or social benefits to the customer (Bhattacharya and Bolton 2000). But these effects of relationship marketing variables have not been extensively investigated (Jain and Singh 2002). Since direct marketing focuses on creating immediate sales, direct marketing is not expected to influence the length of the customer-firm relationship. However, in the case of successful direct marketing policies, direct marketing may positively affect the depth and/or breadth of the relationship (Bolton, 2002). A key objective of concentrating on loyalty is to enhance relationship depth, although it is also intended to increase customer-firm relationship length (Bolton, 2002). Although there is considerable anecdotal evidence that loyalty programs strengthen social bonds between customers and product providers (Sharp and Sharp 1997). In existing relationships, direct marketing is an important tool to sell additionals (Roberts and Berger 1999). Direct marketing often offers attractive propositions to customers, such as economic benefits (Bolton, 2002). Brand Equity Most observers define the brand equity in term of marketing impact that exceptionally attribute to a brand. Brand equity relates to the information that usually gets different results from marketing of a product (Keller, 2003). Brand equity is a set of brand assets and liabilities linked to a brand, its name and symbol that add to or subtract from value provided by a product to a company and/or to the companies customers (Aaker, 1991). Brand awareness, brand loyalty, perceived quality and brand association are the core assets for the brand equity. These are important assets for building strong brand equity helps in increasing the brand awareness in the market. The perceived quality and its association with the brand name can effect the customer’s satisfaction and gives him the reason to purchase. This results in the high brand loyalty among the customer and greater share in market (Chen, 2001). A power full brand enjoys a high level of customer brand awareness and loyalty. Company can have a competitive advantage through high brand equity (Kotler et al., 2005). Brand equity provides a great value for customers; brand equity assets help the customers to capture and process the brand and store large number of information about it. Brand equity can help to attract new customers and/or to maintain the loyalty and faith of old customers (Aaker, 1991). Customer based brand equity arises when customers are well acquainted with the brand name and keeps some favorable, strong and unique about brand association in memory (Keller, 2003). Brand equity also involves the value added by a product through customer relations and perceptions about a specific brand name (Wood, 2000). Brand equity supports the company in facing the competition. If a brand has a strong position in the segment, another brand will find a very difficult to compete in the same segment as they already correlate various characteristics with the recognised brand (Papanastassiu Rouhani, 2006). Brand Loyalty Brand loyalty shows customer preferences to purchase a particular brand; customers believe that the brand offers the enjoyable features, images, or standard of quality at the right price. Initially customers will purchase a brand for trial, after being satisfied, customers will keep on buying the product from the certain brand (Bolton, 2002). Brand loyalty represents an encouraging approach towards a brand resulting in regular purchase of the brand over time (Tuominen, 1992). Brand Loyalty reflects the ratio of regular buyers to satisfied buyers who like the product This is more useful in marketing the product to existing customers because of good brand loyalty it will cost less effort and money, than to attract new ones (Tuominen, 1992). When loyal customers see any lack to a brand attribute, then they immediately transfer to other brand products that offer a better deal. The reason for buying a same product from a familiar brand saves time and reduces risks (Bloemer Kasper, 1995). Perceived Quality and Brand Association Perceived quality defines a customer’s perception about product superioty. Perceived quality provides fundamental reasons to purchase. Perceived quality provides greater beneficial opportunity of charging a premium price. Perceived quality enables a strong brand to extend on a large scale (Hoyer Brown, 1990). Mostly customers prefer to buy products from a well-known and familiar brand, rather than opting for unknown or new brands (Rust et al, 1999). Perceived quality of a brand influences decision making of consumers. This influence is important when customers are unable to analysis the quality of a product (Aaker, 1991). All customers are conscious about product quality. The majority of people prefer to go for well-known brands which have high reputation in the market. Favorability, strength, and uniqueness of brand associations are the dimensions distinguishing brand knowledge that play an important role in determing responses that makes up brand equity, especially in high involvement decision settings (Chen, 2001). There are values of a brand that are not as visible as other brands. These values can be based on brand association with certain factors that provide confidence and credibility among customers. Companies try to associate certain attributes to their brand, which makes it harder for the new brands to enter the market (Aaker, 1991). Brand Name Awareness Brand name awareness plays an important role in consumer decision making; if a customer has already heard a brand name, the customer would feel more comfortable at the time of decision making. Customers do not prefer to buy unknown brands. Therefore companies’ strong brand name is a wining track as customers choose brand products (Aaker, 1991). People generally tend to buy brands that they are familiar with and in which they have confidence. Brand awareness is responsible for loyal customers, for which unknown brands have to face tough competition (Hoyer Brown, 1990). However, well-known brands are always more likely to be recognized and therefore it is more likely that customers prefere brand products. Emotional Branding At present, successful companies have built relationships with consumers by attractively engaging them in a personal communication which responds to their needs. Marketers have done so by connecting with customers and creating strong emotional bonds with their brands (Brand Week, 2001). When companies want to know what consumers feel about them, they have to build a personal communication with them. This is the good way for a company to consider itself because customer perceptions are very important for companies. However a company can learn a lot by listing to its customers views (Daryi, 2000). For companies it is essential that its brand corresponds with its products to create emotion; thereby products become connected with a brands image in the customer’s mind (Papanastassiu Rouhani, 2006). Emotional branding is the fine approach that clarifies the values of a company to its customers (Marken, 2003). Pricing Strategies The effect of price on customer behavior in their relationships with companies do not focus only on actual prices. They also focus on price perceptions, such as price fairness or payment equity (Bolton and Lemon 1999). Higher absolute prices lead to lower perceptions of price fairness, but price fairness is also be affected by competitors’ pricing policies (Rust, Zeithaml and Lemon 2000). Negative changes in price perceptions over time (e.g., price fairness decreases), will probably have a larger influence than positive changes (Tversky and Kahneman 1991). Furthermore, differences between the price perception of the dealer and its competitors can lead to regret (Tsiros and Mittal 2000). Positive price perceptions relative to competitors have a large effect on customer retention, and negative price perceptions relative to competitors have a small effect (Bolton, Kannan and Bramlett 2000). Price plays an important role in the acquisition of new customers. In contrast, after the relationship has been established, the role of price tends to become less prominent and experiential aspects of the relationship, such as quality, become more important (Zahorik and Keiningham 1995). Brand Name The name of a brand is the fundamental indicator of the brand. The name of the brand is the basis for raising awareness of the brand and communication efforts. Often even more important is the fact that it can generate association which serves to describe the brand (Aaker, 1991). Brand name is a significant choice because sometimes it captures the central theme or key association of a product in a condensed and reasonable fashion. Brand names can be extremely successful means of communication (Keller, 2003). Some companies assign their products with a brand name that in reality has nothing to do with the emotional experience but is catchy and a name that people can easily memorize. The core base of naming a brand is that it should be unique, that it can be easily differenciated from other names, that is easy to remember, and that it is attractive for customers (Papanastassiu Rouhani, 2006). Symbol and Logo Symbols have a long history which shows brand identification of the company. Logos and symbols are an easy way to recognize a product. It is a greater success if symbol and logos became a linked in memory to corresponding brand name and product to increase brand recall. Customers may perhaps identify definite symbols but be unable to link them any particular brand or product (Keller, 2003). Logos helps companies to develop the brand equity through raised brand identification and brand loyalty. Logos are very important assets, companies spend enormous time and money to promote brand logos and symbols (Hem Iversen, 2003). Experience All brands create feelings; some brands are designed to give customers more experience in the true sense of the word than other brands. The most powerful brand goes beyond the traditional means to steal customers’ heart away and take on special meaning to customers through their product. With time and experience, consumers learn about the brands, they find out which brands satisfy their needs and which ones do not (Daryi, 2000). Customers have used a same branded car for many years, because customers have good experience company brands product. Self esteem Usually people have some pre-conceptions about themselves, which is the image of ideal self and also reflects the person’s desire how he would like to be. When the person tries to think about himself he tries to compare it to the people who are well known in society and have high image in the society. It is a very basic and natural tendency of a human being to look into his self esteem and personality by comparing it to others (Solomon, 2005). Self-esteem refers to person’s self-concept. When people have a bad self-esteem it shows that they will not perform well and they think that when they will do a certain work and they might be rejected or fail (Solomon, 2005). When self esteem advertising is done, there are attempts to change product attribute by motivating a positive feeling about the self. One approach of doing this is to challenge the customer self esteem and then it shows a product with a linkage of that can provide a solution (Solomon, 2005). Consumer Behaviour The Consumer behaviour study involves how an individual or groups select, purchase, use or dispose of products, s ideas, or experience to satisfy their need and desires (Solomon, 2005). The consumer environment influences how the consumers feel, consider and act. The environmental features are, for instance, comments taken from other customers, advertising, packing, price, and product appearance etc (Peter Olson, 2005). Consumer behaviour is related to the physical action of a consumer, which can be measured directly. Frequency of visiting stores or shopping malls can be measured. To select a specific store then to go there is very difficult to choose and observe directly. Where different types of behaviour can be measured including a shopping pattern in stores. This kind of measurement is very hard. The behaviour can be analyzed in different ways, by offering lower price, better and good quality (Papanastassiu Rouhani, 2006). Consumer behavior mainly sheds light on how consumers decides to spend their various resources like time, money etc. on various products so as to meet their needs and requirement. Consumer behavior encompasses study of what, when, why and where the consumers will buy their products. It also focuses on how often the consumers use the products. Furthermore, it also sheds light on how the consumers evaluate the products after the purchase and the effect of evaluations on their future purchases (Schiffmann, 2004). Consumer Decision Making The consumer decision making process defines different steps when a consumer goes through to purchase a product. If customer wants to make a purchase he or she takes a sequence of steps in order to do complete this purchase. Problem recognition includes when consumer feel a significant difference between the current state and ideal so consumer thinks there is some problem to be solved. The problem may be small or big. In the second step, the consumer seeks information about the product. The extent of information search relies on the level of consumer involvement. In case of expensive products, the level of involvement is high. Conversely, in case of relatively cheap products the level of involvement is usually low. In the third step, the consumer evaluates the different attributes of the brands. Consumer may consider the product attributes and compare brand products. In the final step consumer makes his choice about a product (Solomon, 2005). It’s true that a consumer may not necessarily go through all the decision making steps for every purchase he or she makes. At times, consumer makes his or her decision automatically and the decision may be based on heuristics or mental shortcuts. Other times, in case of highinvolvement products consumer may take a long time before reaching a final purchase decision. It depends on consumers’ importance of the products like purchase of a car or home (Solomon, 2005). More over consumers try to make an estimated brand universe on the basis of available information about the brands, and to make an estimated the utility function on the basis of past consumption experience (Davies, 1986). Decision Rules Consumers apply decision rules to attributes and alternatives chosen. A decision rule can be explained as a strategy used by the consumer when selecting from the alternatives. If a purchase decision is habitual, a simplistic decision rule is likely to be applied. The consumer may simply decide to buy the same brand as last time. The complexity of the decision rule depends much on the level of involvement and the perceived importance of the outcome of the purchase decision. There is clear division between more complex rules, which are compensatory and non compensatory (Solomon, 2005). Social Class Social class is an invisible stratification of the inhabitants of the society into different groups based on some traits of the people. Inhabitants in a society can be divided into different social classes according to their income level, occupation, education and so forth (Hawkins, 2004). Social class of a person is determined by a wide variety of set of variables including income, family background and occupation (Solomon, 2005). People of a certain social class will also have different choices and preferences for different products. Members of a specific class will also vary in taste. People form higher social class will have preferences for reputed branded products as they buy products not only to satisfy their needs but also to say who they are through the products (Schiffmann, 2004). Purchase Intention The purchase intention shows customers preference to purchase the product, whose image is very close to customer. Moreover customers are well aware of certain brand name through advertising, from their past experience or information form their friends and relatives (Solomon, 2005). The intention of a consumer to purchase a particular