Case studies 1 & 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Case studies 1 & 2 - Essay Example However the company is faced with the ethical issue of being environment conscious and pro-green operations while having to dump the sewer waste in the Chavon River. This poses as a major issue for the company. Legally there exist no laws that the company would be breaking if it decides to continue on the suggestion provided by Teltec and dump its sewer waste in the Chavon River. However the increasing interest in environment protection including protecting Earth's water resources can lead to a law suit in the future by the Dominican Republic or the community living near the river against the company for dumping its waste in the Chavon River. Moreover consumer action groups can take action against the company for not upholding its social corporate responsibility by polluting its regions of operation in Dominican with the dumping of sewer waste in the Chavon River. In Economic terms the company would be better off dumping its waste in the river as the company would not have to deal with the extensive costs of setting up a treatment plant, and treating the waste before it gets dumped into the river. In the short term this is going to be economically feasible and profitable for the company. However with the passage of time the amount of pollution being driven into the river is going to increase while increasing the pollution levels and concentration as well. At this position it would not be economically suitable or viable for the company to continue dumping untreated sewage into the river as counter lawsuits and legal action can raise fines for the company that would have to be met and alternatives to dumping would have to be developed at additional costs. From the ethical perspective the issue that the Clean Power Company would be facing pertains to the ethical dilemma of not acting upon ones own vision and strategy for business. The company manufactures energy efficient products with the vision of increasing awareness amongst the consumers for environment sustainability while still earning profits form the sale of the energy regulators. However with the practice of dumping the sewerage and the waste directly into the river the company would be not acting on its own beliefs leading to tarnished image for the company. The company is also philanthropic in the manner it wants to develop the local region of operations in the Dominican Republic by building infrastructure to provide support to the local community while establishing programs for their education and development. However if the company takes to dumping sewerage and waste directly into the river, it would create a contradiction of ideology as the action would lead to the pollut ing of the regional environment that goes against the philanthropic viewpoint and perspective of the company. Question B: Stakeholder Management - Write a minimum of 2 pages in APA format addressing the questions below regarding the following stakeholders: the

Community Service for Students Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Community Service for Students - Essay Example This means that these services are meant for students who want to contribute to the betterment of the society. Community services can take a number of dimensions from school-directed service learning to individual assistive interactions with one’s society or large scale learning volunteering initiatives (Ferrari & Chapman, 1999). This paper, therefore, provides an argument that all students should participate in community services as it provides a platform upon which they develop new skills, experiences and ideologies. Community service can take numerous forms that include aiding in a nursing home, serving food at orphanages, teaching special-need children, cleaning parks, streams, and fields, volunteering at the local fire station, providing food for needy families, clerical duty for the red-cross organization, and volunteering to work for the Boy- or girl-scout (Reeb, 2006). Participation in community work can either be done individually or in groups. Examples of these organ izations include community service groups (involved in serving community members), organizations of students governments (serving students), and organizations that protect and serve the environment (Reeb, 2006). All these organizations are aimed at helping students acquire social skills, and organizational and leadership skills. Many students from high school level and above are required to undertake a certain number of community services as a requirement for graduation. The number of hours and type of community service accomplished by high school students usually make them highly recruited by universities and colleges (Rhoads, 1997). Unlike high school students, college students usually spend most of their free time participating in community services, and develop volunteer experiences to include in their resumes. Most university and college students are involved in community services, where they work as mentors and tutors to other students from local schools within that community. This helps students develop both academic and social skills, and influence children’s lives positively (Poplau, 2004). In most curriculums, community service is thematically required to maintain a student’s active membership in the community. Students’ participation in a wider number of community services under sufficient supervision, often help them develop appropriate skills required for developmental activities (Ferrari & Chapman, 1999). Tutors and supervisors should always ensure that the type of community services chosen by students is not harmful. Students should appropriately be supervised within their scopes of abilities, and giving them room to exercise and expand their skills and knowledge. They should also be allowed to perform some vital roles in the community, by allowing them interact physically with some chosen members from that community. In every society, there are several voluntary services that are available for a wide range of ages and capab ilities (Dunlap, 2000). Students also have limitless benefits to participating in community service projects. Although these are non-loan rewarding activities, the benefits they have for students are things that money cannot buy. The following are some of the benefits that make community services valuable for students; Participation in community serv

Product â€Amazon Kindle Fire Essay Example for Free

Product –Amazon Kindle Fire Essay Products are not only the physical goods that we typically think of them; they also include services – sometimes as a different product and many a times as an extension of the product itself. At the heart of every product (or service) is providing value to consumers and getting value in return from them in the form of profits. With virtually every attractive market flooded with numerous competitors, service as an extension of the product offered sometimes becomes the point of differentiation (Zappos. com) and some other times becomes the USP of a product (Dell computers and Southwest Airlines). This extension of the concept of a product which strives to add value to the core product benefit encompasses what we can call as an ‘augmented product’. The concept of the augmented product can be better illustrated with the diagram shown in Appendix 1. Even while competing with hordes of similar products, the Kindle Fire is much more than just another ‘Me too’ tablet. It is a media device, not a substitute for the ipad or the PC. It is simply a device you can use to read books, watch videos, listen to music, play simple games and connect to the web. It is a platform to make Amazon products and services easily accessible. Amazon is a global online retail behemoth which I feel it can leverage very well to spur the growth of a host of its product offerings placed on its Kindle Fire platform. Thus, it really is a bundle of a variety of products and this combination makes it an interesting concept. However, will this strategic move really have any effect on Amazon’s bottom line is still to be seen. Interestingly, the sales numbers of the device don’t say anything about the success of the strategy, the effect of these sales on the bottom line (if people spend on the website services) will hold the key for the company. There are mainly 2 types of Kindle Fire devices available – advertising subsidized and the one without advertising on it. Amazon is, like many other tech players, interested in controlling the underlying system – end-to-end customer interaction. Reports say that the advertising subsidized versions are doing much better sales than the premium version. Pricing The real beauty of the product is its pricing when compared to similar products by Apple, Samsung and Google. The pricier tablets out in the market do offer sometimes larger memories, better picture quality, better screen resolutions, cellular capabilities; the Kindle fire still provides the biggest bang for the buck. The additional features like profile sharing capabilities with innovative content filtering capabilities coupled with Amazon’s huge collection of books, music, movies, games and other such applications make this product well worth its cost. Amazon is trying a revolutionary new strategy on its kindle products – it is selling the hardware at cost to drive its sales of online media products (which enjoy higher profit margins) through their hardware platforms. This is notably different from Apple and Google who make money on every product they sell (Apple even boasts of such a value added services based eco-system). Amazon’s strategy has historically been customer-centric and the Kindle Fire fits perfectly into their strategy going forward. With cheap hardware, it retains present customers and attracts thousands of new ones every day. Place Place is one of the factors that can work both in favor and against Amazon. Amazon wants to sell the Kindle Fire in the countries it can and already does sell its online services. It makes absolutely no money on the devices sold unless people respond to their ads and spend on their website. Currently, the device will be up-for-sale in the US, a few European countries, The major location for sale of the devices is the website itself which saves overhead costs but limits customer reach to a certain extent. Many customers like to see, compare and play with their products to convince themselves of its value. This makes it tougher for the Kindle Fire to compete with other tablet products that have wide physical presence in the market. This can be turned to say that Amazon controls its product strategy and the message it wants to reach the public. Promotion Kindle Fire is being portrayed as a device the whole family can share and use. The new Kindle FreeTime feature enables a parent to filter content available to kids and kids can enjoy an interface and appearance more appealing to them. Amazon, like many other tech companies, does not really appreciate the use of ‘Marketing’ terminologies internally but acknowledges the importance of the marketing tools of consumer-centric approach and a unified strategic approach to all of its products. Amazon thinks of itself as an innovative technology company and does not like to allocate too many resources to the traditional mediums of marketing – like the print or TV ads. Word of mouth is a big positive factor for Amazon’s products. Mr. Jeff bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon has himself said that they make no money on the hardware but expect to make money on the services (Razor and blades strategy). This is a very bold new approach and is yet to be proven successful or otherwise. This created a media buzz which reached the public (which is the end goal – to reach the mass). Mr. Bezos has appeared on some other shows and has been present at press conferences to address questions, to derive as much promotion from every public event as possible. Kindle has also been placed in visual and spoken product placements multiple times in popular TV series like ‘The Big Bang Theory’ and even featured on the Oprah Winfrey show (with Jeff Bezos himself) and her website (a short tutorial video featuring Jeff Bezos again). Present status Customers began receiving their Kindle Fires on November 15, 2011, and in the following December, customers purchased over 1 million Kindle devices per week. International Data Corporation (IDC) estimated that the Kindle Fire sold about 4.7 million units during the fourth quarter of 2011. Recently, the Amazon Kindle Fire helped the company beat their 2012 first quarter estimates. As of October 2012, the Kindle Fire is the second-best-selling tablet after Apples iPad, with about 7 million units sold according to estimates by Forrester Research.

The Effects Of Brand Perception: Consumer Buying Behaviour

The Effects Of Brand Perception: Consumer Buying Behaviour In this topic, I will talk about the The effects of brand perception on the consumers buying behaviour in the Indian Laptop Market. As India is a developing country, and there is a growth in the industries and people need new products and services. Here one of such industries is the Computer Hardware industry. Companies have been seeing unprecedented growth. Companies like Hewlett Packard, Apple, Dell, Sony viao, Lenovo and Acer have been giving tremendous importance to Indian markets launching products in the western markets and India. At the same time the personal disposable income of Individual has been on a rise which is leading to the Laptops increasing sale in India. Here the customers are satisfied about the product even when there is a cut throat competition. Today, every company is trying to get a share of the great Indian market space and a share of the consumers mind space and it has been only difficult for companies to achieve such a feat. In order to achieve the same, companies have to realize the importance of brand perception towards their products in order to get information regarding problems faced by them while using the laptop such that they can rectify the same in their future products. It is at this kind of scenario that this proposal, The effects of brand perception on the consumers buying behaviour in the Indian Laptop Market comes to the spotlight. This proposal is an attempt to study the level of consumers buying behaviour towards laptops; reasons for choosing a Laptop market is because India is one of the most populated country in the world, there are people living with different culture, languages and from different geographical locations. So consumers look into the brands level of quality, reliability and efficiency in a laptop. 1.4 Statement of problem: As India is a developing country, there is a lot of growth in the IT Industry and their is a competition in the market. There are a lot of players in the market the leading PC manufacture in the world and one of the leading manufactures in India, Likewise Dell falls in the second and Lenovo in the third position and the market stands with maintaining the leads with 17.2 %, 14.4 % and 6.8 %. There are other competitors like Toshiba, Acer, Sony, Apple etc.. (Ogg Erica 2007) Which are there in the market and looking for market share in a country like India for its growing PC users here, I will be finding out the perception of the consumer buying and the after affects of buying a branded laptop. Since the consumers want better performance and rich experience from their PCs and better design programs which will ensure that PC users have a added level of information to make a better choice. 1.5 Research Questions: In this proposal, The effects of brand perception on the consumers buying behaviour in the Indian Laptop Market will be discussed. Therefore the question to this key research is how consumers in India look into the preference of brand while buying a Laptop and how the Consumer buying behaviour affects the purchase of brands? 1.5.1 Aims Objectives: As discussed, the brands can affect the behaviour of the consumers in the way they buy the product according to the standard of life and hierarchical need of the consumer. The Aim of this proposal is to find out the perception of the brand and how it affects of buying behaviour and decision in the Indian Market. To identify the demanded and owned laptop brands in the Indian market To identify the factors affecting the consumers perception and the buying behaviour in purchasing the laptop. Finding out the perception of the laptop users to their brand to the others by comparing the market. To find out the relation between the brand perception and the consumer buying behaviour in India. 1.5.2 Research Hypothesis: H1: Indian consumers prefer the top three brands over the other brands or assembled laptop. I will be conducting a hypothesis based on the result of the feedback I get from the consumers buying behavior questionnaire I have depicted these results in term of Pai chart or Bar Chart. 2. Literature Review: According to the Indian Brand Equity Foundation (2009) Indian economy has been witnessing a phenomenal growth since the last decade, the country is still holding its ground in the midst of the current global financial crisis. Even in the world economy is beginning to recover from the one of the worst economic downturns in decades. According to Ministry of finance (2009) The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increased by 7.5 per cent, 9.4 per cent and 9.6 percent in first three years, with an average growth rate of 8.8 per cent, The drivers of growth continue to be services and manufacturing which are estimated to grow at 10.7 per cent and 9.4 per cent respectively in 2008-09. While the sector-wise growth of GDP in agriculture, forestry and fishing was at 2.6 per cent in 2008-09, industry witnessed growth to 7.5 per cent of the GDP in 2008-09. It tells us about the GDP growth of the country, thus the average personal in India has a disposable income, where he is looking for the better style of leaving in the country. Here technology also comes into the role of a human being, and since the growth of the country the industrial sector has seen a lot of change and the IT hub. They are in need of better laptops as an industry to carry a brand which is more known in the global market. According to Aspalter C, On 2000 India showed itself to be the worlds second demographic billionaire. If current situation or trends continue, India may overtake china in 2045 to become the most populous country in the world Even though they have mentioned poor state of the Indian Economy has said the people who are poor will remain the same and the rich one become richer and richer. Even in such a situation the Indian market is not dropped in its sales of laptop, this show the stability of the country. Even in a global issue the laptops have been started as a green Laptop. According to John Brandon (2007) In most cases, a laptop also complies with European regulations on lead-free computing, such as the RoHS (Restrictions of Hazardous Substances) and WEEE (Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment), which is a mandated disposal code in Europe. Lead is used primarily in soldering parts together on a computer, but RoHS and WEEE encourage companies to use other means for building a PC. In this there are four brands which have come up with Green Laptops like Apple, HP, Sony and Gateway. The gradual trend towards liberalization of the Indian economy during the past decade has served as a major factor in its progressive shift towards a global economy and the entry of foreign brands from Europe and US into this market. In fact the 1990s decade and beyond have been characterized by major structural changes in the Indian consumer markets evolution, including those of increased competition, product availability in terms of both quality and quantity, as well as increased levels of awareness and propensity to consume. A large and rapidly growing urban middle and upper class consumer market made up of 300 million, which approximates one-third of its present population, constitutes the market for branded consumer goods, with the latter estimated to be growing at 8 percent per annum (Indian Market Demographics Report, 2002). A recent increase in the number of middle class families with higher household income has led to a rise in disposable income (Business India Intelligence, 2005). The rapidly expanding middle class consumers of India, with their increasing purchasing power, constitute the primary market for branded foreign goods (Bharadwaj et al., 2005). The increase in consumer spending is evidenced by the current growth of the Indian retail industry, in addition to the expected growth to a $500 billion industry by the year 2010 (Field Anne, 2005). Since the economy of the country started growing the lot more MNCs started coming to the Indian market, which lead to the growth of many brands in Indian market. Likewise even the basic necessary thing of the human also changed thats when Brand came into the market. A brand is a name, term, symbol or a design or a combination of them which is intent to identify the goods or services of one seller or group or sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors (Kotler, 1991, p. 442). Branding is the process of finding and fixing the means of identification. It is nothing but naming the product. According to Motameni. R and Shahrokhi. M (1998:275) Brand names and trademarks usually tells, you about the products bearing the marks whether it will be of offering quality. Branding also enables a producer to obtain the same benefits of offering products to the consumers an unique or superior quality and provide an opportunity to transfer this identifiable relationship to other products or service. Building a brand driven culture is a life time commitment in the minds of the customers. It takes a lot of time and planning to produce a intangible output where there is a higher customer satisfaction , price sensitivity, with the higher no of repeated business (Bhimrao M. Ghodeswar 2008:4) According to Chernatony and McDonald, (1998). A successful brand is identified as a product, service, person or place, it is augmented in a way that the user or buyer of perceives relevant, unique added values these are some of the needs which mostly matches closely According to Vittamsetty (2009:6), A brand can convey the consumers through six levels as shown below: Attributes Benefits Values Culture Personality User Brand Conveying the Consumer Attributes: Brand Attribute is a bundle of features that highlight the physical and personality aspects of the brand. Benefits: Creating distinctive and durable perceptions in the minds of consumers. Values: the brand tells about values which says same thing about the product values. Culture: the brand represents a different culture. Personality: a brand project a personality which can be person, animal or object. User: the brand suggests its own target audience to use the product. Brand promise is the benefits both functional and emotional benefits are arrived from the essence of that customers can expect to receive from experiencing a brands products and services, which reflects the heart, soul, and spirit of the brand of the product (Knapp, 2000). As the market for brand increased the human basic needs changed for e.g. from the Desktop to the Laptop. Thats when the market for laptop increased. Before only the executive used to carry the laptops now a common man uses a laptop, (Image 1). According to Raja Simhan T.E. (2006) the laptop, also known as a notebook PC, Laptop is no longer a luxury item as against the `wow effect it was a few years ago. Much like other products, it is being displayed on the shelves of big supermarkets and retail shops, moving from the exclusive confines of exotic showrooms. Before, when the word `laptop was uttered, one could think of visualizing only executives carrying it. Today all segments, including students and households, are buying these `notebooks/laptops. These products are for the people who on the laptop have become an indispensable tool. What with overcrowded roads and traffic snarls, the average travelling time in metros such as Mumbai and Bangalore has only gone up, here and now days t he laptop is a cool tool that helps professionals to keep working and thus save time. The Growth of India is so much there are companies who are ready to manufactures laptops for rupees 500 that is $ 10 which is the target price but when it comes to the manufacturing of large quaintly the price may reduce even more. According to Sakshat Many bloggers and foreign newspapers are understandably skeptical. Atanu Dey, a blogger, wrote that if the Indian government was successful in pulling off this technological miracle, it would imply that either other global computer manufacturers and industries are either incompetent, or else they are a part of a scam, producing stuff at low prices and selling them at a huge margin. According to the Industrial News (2008) India As laptops become is become more affordable and to the consumer preference as compared, laptop sales in India has hit a 114 per year-on-year growth rate in 2008 with 1.8 million nos. This growth rate will exceeds to the desktop PCs, which is predicted to soon be overtaken by laptop units in a very less time. According to Indias Manufacturers Association for Information Technology (MAIT), laptops have 25 percent of the total PC market in 2007-2008; will be shooting up from less than 3 percent in 2004. The current ratio of laptops to desktops in the country is 20:80; where to the competition of the market and it is predicted to reach 50:50 in the next few years. Laptops have become competitive in the price there is a war against desktops due to the appreciation of Indian currency rupee, which made imports cheaper than we had taught. Also propelling the soaring the demand of laptops are increasing in the market for their sleek designs, enhanced security functions and various built-in accessories. The laptop enterprise particularly favours faster processors, increased portability and connectivity, according to industry analysts. 3. Methods of analysis: 3.1 Research Methodology: The research undertaken is determined by the approach used by the researcher (Aaker, 2000). According to Carl (2004) marketing research is the function where it links the consumers and the marketers with an exchange of information .By conducting a market research we will be able to revile the problems and the opportunities in that market, this helps us in understanding the performance of the industry. This research involves collecting data of the market research problems, designing the methods of the data collection process, analysing and finding the report of the data collected in the research for their implication. 3.1.1Type of Study: The Research will be of inductive in nature. Since I will be collecting data from questionnaire, I would be conducting a primary research. It is a survey method. The objective is to study the brand perception on the consumer buying behaviour with reference to laptop market in India. A structured questionnaire is designed to collect the primary data. Based on the data collected table are drawn and inferences are made. 3.4 Type of Data: Data will be obtained and collected from a structured questionnaire and other published sources. 3.4.1 Sources of Data: The Dissertation will be compiled using facts, figures, information and analysis by the researcher. The information of Laptop industry will be collected and taken from two sources. The two sources will be: Primary source Secondary source. 3.4.2 Tools of Data Collection: Tools used for collection of data can be classified into two major categories: Primary data: The structured questionnaires will be made and distributed to all the users of the laptops. By using Internet-mediated questionnaires will be sent through the mail across India, and will also be sending questionnaires by post, e-mail, or directly talking to the users of the Laptop. Secondary data: Data will be obtained and collected from the various sources via: through books, database websites, online articles, journals and publications on the internet. And all the report that will be collected for the laptop companies will also be considered as the secondary data. 3.5 Sampling Design: This questionnaire will be sent to the number of laptop users leaving in different parts of the country India, for finding out the consumers perception of different laptop brands. In the same time will also do a face to face interview with the Indian community who are residing in Bangor University, the information which is collected from different views of the people which are reliable and convenient to present on behalf of the whole India. 1) Sampling unit: The sampling unit is limited to the users of laptop computers within the country India and students of Indian who are studying in Bangor University. 2) Sampling size: Number of respondents will be taken into consideration it could vary depending upon the data i get from the secondary resources the primary research sample size would be in the region of 200 to 400. 3) Sampling technique: The Sampling technique which I will be using might be convenience technique. 3.6 Ethical considerations: Respondents were either vague or incomplete at times which makes the interpretation little difficult. The research will be considered in a right way. Conclusion: Brand perception is difficult to be comprehended in the Indian laptop market, sine the market of the consumers keeps changing rapidly. So the products or the services keep changing according to the market to attract the consumers behavior towards their product service. So this research can give an edge to the brand affects their buying behavior and the perception of the experienced consumers. It also tells you about the buying behavior of the consumers responsible for the increase and decrease of the brand sales. Timescale/plan: Appendix 1 The Questioner: Appendix 2 Reference: Aaker, D.A., Joachimsthaler, E. (2000), Brand Leadership Aspalter, Christian (forthcoming), The Welfare State System in India, In C. Aspalter (ed.), The Welfare State in Emerging-Market Economies: With Case Studies from Latin America, Central Europe,and Asia, Casa Verde Publishing: Taipei. (Online) Available at http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/viewPDF.jsp?contentType=ArticleFilename=html/Output/Published/EmeraldAbstractOnlyArticle/Pdf/0310221102.pdf (Accessed on 1rd Dec 2009) Bhimrao M. Ghodeswar (2008). Building brand identity in competitive markets: a conceptual model. Journal of Product Brand Management. 17 (1) p 4 (Online) Available at http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/viewPDF.jsp?contentType=ArticleFilename=html/Output/Published/EmeraldFullTextArticle/Pdf/0960170101.pdf (Accessed on 3rd Dec 2009) Bharadwaj, V.T., Swaroop, G.M. and Vittal, I. (2005), Winning the Indian consumer, McKinsey Quarterly, Special edition, pp. 42-51. Business India Intelligence (2005), Spreading their sales, Business India Intelligence, Vol. 12 No. 6, pp. 1-2. Chernatony, L. and McDonald, M. (1998), Creating Powerful Brands, 2nd ed., Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford. Field, Anne. (2005), Passage to India, available at: http://retailtrafficmag.com/ India Market Demographics Report (2002), National Council of Applied Economic Research, New Delhi.MIP 24,126 where in Neelam Kinra (2006) The effect of country-of-origin on foreign brand names in the Indian market: Marketing Intelligence Planning 24 (1) p. 16 (Online) Available at http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/viewPDF.jsp?contentType=ArticleFilename=html/Output/Published/EmeraldFullTextArticle/Pdf/0200240102.pdf (Accessed on 3rd Dec 2009) Indian Economy Overview (2009), Indian Brand Equity Foundation. P 1 (Online) Available at http://www.ibef.org/economy/economyoverview.aspx (Accessed on 2nd Dec 2009) Industry News (2008), Laptop sales growth overtake that of desktops in India. Journal of Trade Media Holdings, (Online) Available at http://www.globalsources.com/gsol/I/Laptop/a/9000000098983.htm (Accessed on 3rd Dec 2009) John Brandon (2007) PC Today: Green Laptops Choose A Notebook That Is Environmentally Friendly Long On Charge. 5(6) pp 22-23 (Online) Available at http://www.pctoday.com/Editorial/article.asp?article=articles/2007/t0506/05t06/05t06.aspguid= (Accessed on 3rd Dec 2009) Knapp, D.E. (2000), The Brand Mindset, McGraw-Hill, New York, NY, pp. 33, 36, 103. Where in Bhimrao M. Ghodeswar (2008) Building brand identity in competitive markets: a conceptual model in Journal of Product Brand Management. 17 (1) p 4 (Online) Available at http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/viewPDF.jsp?contentType=ArticleFilename=html/Output/Published/EmeraldFullTextArticle/Pdf/0960170101.pdf (Accessed on 3rd Dec 2009) Kotler, P (1991), Marketing Management, 7th ed, Prentice-Hall, Inc, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, . Lou Pelton (2009). Indian consumers purchase behaviour toward US versus local brands. By International Journal of Retail Distribution Management 37 (6) p. 510 (Online) Available at: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/viewPDF.jsp?contentType=ArticleFilename=html/Output/Published/EmeraldFullTextArticle/Pdf/0890370603.pdf (Accessed on 3rd Dec 2009) Ministry of finance. (2008-09). Union Budget. Available: http://indiabudget.nic.in/ub2008-09/bh/bh1.pdf. Last accessed 3 March 2010. Motameni. R and Shahrokhi. M (1998), Brand equity valuation: a global perspective. Journal of Product and Brand management. 7 (4) p 275 (Online) Available at http___www.emeraldinsight.com_Insight_ViewContentServlet_contentType=ArticleFilename=_published_emeraldfulltextarticle_pdf_0960070401 (Accessed on 2nd Dec 2009) Raja Simhan T.E. (2006), Business Line. Journal of The Hindu Business Line. (Online) Available at http://www.blonnet.com/ew/2006/01/30/stories/2006013000090100.htm (Accessed on 3rd Dec 2009) Sakshat (2009), Dance with Shadows. (Online) Available at http://www.dancewithshadows.com/tech/the-rs-500-10-computer-has-a-name-sakshat/ (Accessed on 3rd Dec 2009) Vittamsetty. (2009). Brand awareness of airtel. Available: http://www.scribd.com/doc/23427572/Brand-awareness-of-airtel. Last accessed 8 March 2010. Ogg Erica. (2007). Acer aces out Lenovo as worlds third-largest PC maker. Available: http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9726089-7.html. Last accessed 4 March 2010. Appendix 1: Questionnaire: Dear Sir / Madam, I, Mayukha Devangi M, am a student of Bangor University, Wales, UK doing my MBA in Management. As a part of my curriculum, I am conducting a research to identify the brand perception and consumer buying behaviour in relation to Indian laptop market. It would be appreciated if you gave your precious time and cooperation to complete this questionnaire. General Information 1. Do you own a Laptop? Yes No 5. Factors which affect your decision making process while purchasing your personal laptop. Please Circle the preference as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 1 = Very important, 2 = Important, 3 = Not sure, 4 = Not important, 5 = Not at all important. Brand perception 1 2 3 4 5 Processing Speed 1 2 3 4 5 Sound 1 2 3 4 5 Quality 1 2 3 4 5 Style Appearance 1 2 3 4 5 Price 1 2 3 4 5 Graphic Option 1 2 3 4 5 Battery Backup 1 2 3 4 5 Weight 1 2 3 4 5 3. Gender Male Female 2. Which company Laptop do you own? HP Acer Lenovo Dell Apple Sony Vaio Other ________ 4. Your age lies between (in years)? 18 ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­..24 25..30 31..35 Above 36 6. Are you a permanent resident of India? Yes No 12. What is your annual total income (In Indian Rupees)? Less than 100,000 Between 100,000 300,000 Between 300,000 500,000 Between 500,000 800,000 Above 1,000,000 11. If you were using another brand earlier, why did you shift to the present laptop? Better Brand Better Price Better Quality Not satisfied with laptop Quality / Efficiency Other ____________________ 10. If yes, which brand of computer were you using? HP Acer Lenovo Dell Apple Sony Vaio Other ________ 9. Before buying a laptop, have you owned any other laptop? Yes No 8. How are you motivated to purchase a particular brand of laptop? Highly motivated Not at all motivated Motivated Not sure Not motivated Word of mouth (friends / Family) 1 2 3 4 5 Advertisement 1 2 3 4 5 Store communication (Customer Service) 1 2 3 4 5 Reputation of the brand 1 2 3 4 5 I prefer my own choice, needs 1 2 3 4 5 7. What has attracted you to buy this brand of laptop? Price Offers Service Free Gifts Brand Name Other__________ mayau 13. Which of the laptop is best within the following Price (In Indian Rupess)? HP, Acer, Lenovo, Dell, Apple, Sony Vaio, Toshiba, Other Plz specify___________________________ Below Rs 30,000 ______________, Rs 30,000 40,000________________, Rs 40,000 50,000 ____________, Rs 50,000 80,000 _____________, Above 80,000 _________ 14. If someone asks you to help suggest a new laptop, which one would you suggest? HP Acer Lenovo Dell Apple Sony Vaio Other _______ 15. If you are asked to place the following four Laptop manufacturing companies in the diagram below; where you will place them? HP HP Apple A Lenovo L Dell D Sony Vaio SV Low Price Poor quality Good quality High Price Thank you Appendix 2: Image 1:

The Good Mother †A Passive Life :: Good Mother

The Good Mother – A Passive Life  Ã‚   "We live in a world...where the decisive deed may invite the holocaust." --John Updike An interesting question that emerges while reading The Good Mother is: Why did Anna let it happen? Of course, this question must be included among many others, most of which elicit ambiguous answers: What really happened? Was there fault to be assigned? If so, who was at fault? What is a good mother? Can a woman be a good lover and a good mother? Where must sexual boundaries be drawn between children and couples in a household? Regardless of what it is, the answer to the question Why did Anna let it happen is that she was rendered almost powerless by her gender, class, and social and family background to do anything but let it happen. She spent her life letting things happen. Anna Dunlap, recently freed from a boring marriage and involved in a sexual awakening with an unconventional man, probably thought of herself as liberated in a very literal way before and during her affair with Leo Cutter. "I had a sense, a drunken irresponsible sense, of being about to begin my life, of moving beyond the claims of my own family, of Brian, into a passionate experiment, a claim on myself." (p. 10) As events played out, however, it became obvious that Anna had not escaped her history and that her "liberation" was just an illusion. Anna grew up in the shadow of her wealthy, domineering grandfather, her emotionally absent father and her cold, achievement-oriented mother. Her mother ran her life, pushing Anna to practice piano in the hopes she would become a professional musician one day. Anna was learning that she was not in control of her life; she was forced to let life (through her mother's ambitions for her) happen to her. When she visited her grandparents' summer home in Maine, Anna witnessed her grandfather's overwhelming dominance and saw her grandmother, mother and aunts engaged in interesting but meaningless (in Anna's view) "women's" conversations. When Anna was fourteen, her mother, realizing Anna was not a musical genius, loosened her grip on her daughter and, in fact, ceased to praise her for anything. As Anna's body changed and she became attractive to boys, she tried to define herself through sex, which she found empty and unsatisfying. Once again, Anna was not in control; she let it happen.

History of Punishment Essays -- Code of Hummurabi

The history of punishment began around the time of when the Code of Hammurabi was written. The death penalty was awarded for crimes of kidnapping, thievery, selling or taking stolen goods, etc. There are many punishments that were used in the world which have been abolished. For example, many nations have abolished capital punishment which follows all around anything dealing with the death penalty. Michigan was the first state to abolish the death penalty later followed by Rhode Island and Wisconsin. In the 2nd century during the Qin Dynasty of China rules were changed by enforcing strict laws. For punishment they used the nine familial extermination as punishment. The nine familial extermination was one of the most brutal and cruelest execution method used in China. It was basically when nine people from the accused’s family were executed. By the end of the 2nd century tenants of Jewish laws had 3 purposes. One of them was to make sure the criminal was punished for his actions. Punishments such as banishment, fines and imprisonment were given at this time. In the third century a punishment called Damnatio ad bestias was further introduced. Damnatio bestias was a punishment used for entertainment. â€Æ' In the 5th century the Roman law of the Twelve Tables contained the death penalty. Most people were executed by hanging or beheading for crimes against the church. Crucifixion was a punishment used in 6th century BCE, but was later abolished in the Roman Empire in 337 CE. It was when your arms were tied or nailed to a cross while the cross was tied and nailed to a pole. The person’s feet were a block of wood so their hands wouldn’t tear. Their feet were nailed to the cross. This is also known as Jesus Christ’s death. .. ... circumstances in 1998. Moving on to the 21st century, in 2001 there were 3048 prisoners executed in 31 countries. Most of them took place in Iran, Saudi Arabia, U.S. and China. China executes more people than any other country on Earth. In 2004, the death penalty was restored as a punishment. Later in the U.S. the death penalty support which was at 65% used to be at 74%. Also, it is said that 51% believe the death penalty isn’t used often enough. The history of punishment has been changed many times throughout the centuries. Capital punishment is trying to be banished today. Cruel and illegal executions are still going on just to get confessions before sentences were passed. Works Cited †¢ http://www.wcprg.org/History.pdf †¢ http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/timeline.htm †¢ http://www.smashinglists.com/unusual-methods-of-capital-punishment/2/

Meme Analysis: Rage Comics Essay

Many people may always say a picture is worth a thousand words; well the information held within the rage comics represents much more and exemplifies the perfect example of this saying. The Rage comic meme is about a series of comics that can be made by anyone using the common rages faces, which are also memes. These comics are web-based and usually describe real life scenarios from the rage comic creator. The first amateur Rage Comic originated in 2007 on an image board site named 4chan consisting of four panes. The first comic starred the ffffuuuu guy, which is the first ever created rage face. The Rage Comics started to spread a few years after the first rage comic was created. The rage comics gained its popularity on the internet forum Reddit. In January of 2009, a subreddit was launched by Reddit which became more popular than expected. This subredditt was widely known as f7u12 and was called â€Å"FFFFUUUUU†, the rage guy. This rage guy represented serious disappointment, exasperation, or displeasure in any situation within a comic. The subreddit f7u12 allowed users of Reddit to create their own comics, which led to the creation of many other rage faces and characters in the rage comics. As the Rage Comics transformed, many characters became popular, while others didn’t. A few of the most popular rage faces is the Okay guy, the cereal guy, the forever alone guy, and the Y U NO guy. When these faces are seen in a comic, most Rage Comic readers already know what the face stands for. For example, the forever alone guy represents disappointment and loneliness in life and may be used in a comic where a person goes through a break up. The cultural reference in these Rage Comics is used to make fun of society resulting in humor. In normal life one person may do something and expect a certain response, well in the rage comics it is similar. The responses are displayed through the rage faces and rage characters. Usually at the end of a comic there is a punch line (rage face) that represents an emotion because of the situation that just occurred. One known cultural reference that the rage comics represent is the me gusta guy. This shows a cultural difference because you do not need to know Spanish to know what me gusta mean. This character is usually used in a situation responding to an awkward or disgusting event. This meme in my opinion has made its own statement because it has certain words that are used in the comics that mean certain things. For example, in almost every comic there is going to be some form of derp or herp. In actuality derp is used to represent stupidity, but in the rage comics it is used as expression to represent unimportant dialogue, just as blah blah is used. Using derp or herp in the rage comics is also a form humor showing social indifference by not caring. The rage comics use a different language tied in with the cultural norms that we all understand to create humor. The original context of the meme, Rage Comics was to humor others with your ridiculous stories that may or may not have happened to you. In some cases the rage comics’ mutations fit well into new context, and then on the other hand some are taking way out of proportion. For example, there are quite a few rage faces and when making rage comics you are expected to use the correct rage face or chara cter that will fit your scenario. Also people have taken it out of hand because when you think of a comic you think of something simple with few words. Some people don’t grasp the concept of the rage comics so when the comics are sometimes mutated it’s been for the worse and not for the better. The comics that are mutated for the better represent great new context because the more rage faces the better you can describe your scenario in a comic with few words. To conclude, Rage comics are used to take serious moments and put them into a comic to make it not so serious and funny. Rage Comics have came a long way, too long of a way that it is losing its social meaning. When the Rage Comics first started to spread and become popular is when it had its greatest cultural impact, although it still has an impact today. The Rage Comic has a great affect on all cultures because the different rage makers give people something to get into to express feeling in a different way. In the end from its origin, even though the punch lines at the end are called rage faces, they all are not meant to represent rage. It just kept its name from the first â€Å"ffffuuuu† guy. You can pretty much find rage comics anywhere on the internet if you search Google, but here are a few sites that have them. http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/rage-comics http://memebase.cheezburger.com/ragecomics/page/3 http://ragecollection.com/