Auditing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Auditing - Essay Example However, globalisation is also associated with different business and financial risks. Globalisation can have varied effects on different economies in the world. Various forces like investors, borrowers, financial institutions, etc. are having an impounding effect on increased levels of financial globalisation (Schmukler, Zoido & Halac, n.d., p.1). With globalisation and associated risks, accounting and auditing procedures are also encountering significant changes worldwide. In this report the effects of globalisation on auditing mechanisms and various developments of auditing procedures have been studied. Globalisation Globalisation can be defined as the process of increasing association of the markets worldwide and the interdependence between the business processes followed by different organisations all over the world. Recent years have encountered a rapid increase in such phenomenon. Globalisation describes the spread and interconnectivities of new advanced technologies, communic ation systems and production all over the world (Smith & Doyle, 2002). The two important driving factors towards globalisation are: a) Advancements in infrastructure of telecommunications and b) the increasing use and advancement of internet. The economies of the world are getting connected and resulting in increased opportunities for business concerns as well as rising competitions amongst themselves. There is a development of sharing of international cultures as well. The expansion of trade worldwide and globalisation have brought about significant benefits for different economies all over the world. However the recent Global Financial Crisis has somewhat put a hold on the globalisation process (International Monetary Fund, n.d.). Various benefits to citizens of a country as a result of globalisation includes admittance to increased varieties of products and services at lower costs, increased number of job opportunities, higher standard of living, etc (International Monetary Fund, February 2008). Effects of Globalisation on Accounting and Auditing The number of business organisations operating globally is vast and it is increasing at an increasing rate. This puts emphasis on the development of accounting language which is common to all the countries in the world. Globalisation has brought about significant changes in the accounting and auditing procedures all over the world. There had been profound changes in reporting standards of financial statements of organisations as a result of globalisation. This is quite evident from instances like the convergence agreement that has been signed between International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) in the year 2002 and the adoption of International Accounting Standards (IAS) or International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) by the European Union (EU) in the year 2005 (Ding, Jeanjean & Stolowy, 2008, p.145). Globalisation is having a significant effect on the accoun ting profession itself. With the advancement of information technology and internet web based financial reporting systems are becoming more common and also mandatory for most of the business concerns. The accounting models used by different business organisations have changed. Globalisation has also brought about changes regarding the systems of communicating financial

Chelsea Training Facility Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Chelsea Training Facility - Assignment Example In addition to these, the club's first team comprising of 27 players will also be playing here. Currently they practice in Harlington on all days except when they have a match. This has to be transferred to the new site once created, to Hazelwood. Chelsea football club proposes to convert the existing golf course in Hazelwood borough into a football training academy. The academy will be the training ground for the 27 first team players in the Chelsea club. In addition to these players, the academy will embark on training youth and children from the neighbourhood schools to build them up into professional footballers. The Chelsea Football Academy will have 12 senior and grass sided grass pitches with one floodlit pitch, one all weather floodlit pitch, ancillary training areas, parking place and required landscaping. An L shaped building will also be created out of the existing one. This will provide seating for 150 spectators on the top floor and also provide for quarters for two staff in the roof space. The first team, comprising of team players aged over 21 years will be using the pitches for their continuous training. There will be a reserve team of 12 players who are in the 19 and 21 years age group. The Academy will also train a youth team comprising of youth in the ages between 17 and 19 years. ... There will also be Saturday morning training in addition to week day training in the evenings on Tuesday and Thursday. This will number to approximately 120 boys. Once Hazelwood training starts, wards undergoing training in Harlington alone will be transferred to Hazelwood for training. On Sunday mornings, there are regular U9 to U16 matches. These are currently conducted at Cobham and this would continue even after starting training at Hazelwood. There are also the Ladies teams having about 60 senior players and 50 junior players. They train generally in the Feltham Community College and in the Raynes Park High School. Matches are normally played at the Sycob Football Club in Beaconsfield. At the time of making this proposal, the Ladies teams do not have any plans of using the Hazelwood club grounds for this purpose. Factors for the Proposal The following points are observed in favour of the proposal during the analysis of the document: 1. Chelsea FC needs an academy to train and continuously build professional footballers for it. This is line with the Football Association and Football League joint statement issued, reinforcing the idea of creating academies for every professional and Football league club. 2. The Football Academies would be special development centres that will have the best of the facilities and would have to meet very high standards in terms of facilities for both players and well as staff. The centres should be capable of producing students who are not just have technical capability but would be an all round professional. The academies shall have the best coaches and the support of other professionals, viz., physiotherapists, doctors and teachers. 3. These academies shall cater to the

The Effect Of Internet Piracy

The Effect Of Internet Piracy Both the music and gaming industry claim to suffer from major financial losses due to internet piracy. In 2002, Software publishers claimed that, the worldwide piracy rate for PC business software was 39%, which translated into a $13.08 billion loss in revenue. The music industry also recorded losses of up to $4.6 billion as a result of 1.8 billion illegal downloads. (International Planning and Research Corporation 2003). All these figures indicate significant losses to the relevant copyright owners. (Hui, Kai-Lung, and I.P.L. Png (2003)) Many analysts believe it is due to peer-to-peer (P2P) technologies which lead to the illegal downloading. This type of piracy is known as End-user piracy, which differs greatly from For-profit piracy. End-user piracy seems to be a lot more difficult to control. The music/game industry and policy makers address this issue by reinforcing copyright laws and implementing technological protection and also targeting the developers and users of P2P networks. The ongoing Eircom vs. The Pirate Bay debate is an example of this preventative action. But many believe downloading is a form of sampling and also leads to the exposure effect, leading people to find and try new music in order to make more informed purchases which in turn can lead to an increase in CD sales around the world. (Peitz and Waelbroeck (2003)) The harm caused by piracy also depends on publishers pricing strategies. When it seems more beneficial for potential shoppers to resort to private copying, publishers could raise the price of the legitimate item to extract the increased consumer surplus. If this happens, directly treating all pirated copies as lost sales would overstate the harm caused by piracy. However, similarly, if publishers deliberately set low prices to discourage copying, then the number of copies would understate the lost revenue (Kai-Lung et al (2003)) There are two ways of copying non-authorized digital products; by obtaining original material from family or friends, or by downloading it directly from the internet. The process of copying music, film or software is very easy, all someone needs is the product and a storage device like a hard-drive or cd-recorder. Digital goods also copy across perfectly when coming direct from the source. On the other hand, downloading from P2P file-sharing websites has a number of considerable disadvantages. Lower quality copies are generally produced and users can spend hours looking for the right download file. Also, frequently, due to the lack of install guides for software and lack of song lyrics, this effort can lead to wasted time. Lastly, files such as music and video files can be badly compressed or incomplete. (Martin Peitz et al (2003)) Literature Review To illegally copy or distribute unauthorized or counterfeit music, video or software of any type is known as internet piracy. Software is now one of the most heavily distributed products on the internet (Microsoft.com, 2010). This, now a criminal offence, includes the illegal reproduction and duplication of copyrighted computer software, music and films (Hohn, Muftic, Wolf, (2006)). However the biggest problem in this digital time we live in, as stated by Lysonski Durvasula, (2008), is the undoubtable fact that the process of downloading music over the internet is reasonably easy. With just a few clicks of a button you can download an artists entire discography, and with the speed of internet access these days it is on your computer in a matter of minutes. Piracy is most rampant in young people. As seen in the survey conducted by Gallup Poll (2003), 83% of the young people said that downloading of music for free was totally acceptable. In another survey conducted by Freestone and Mitchell (2004) evidence was found to suggest that downloading music was seen as least wrong of other criminal internet acts, because they felt no harm was being done to others. It was also found the majority of college students said that downloading music and films was neither an offence or illegal. (T. Ramayah, Noor Hazlina Ahmad, Lau Guek Chin, May-Chiun, Lo (2009)) This is mostly because of the creation of these P2P networks like Bit-comet the Pirate Bay and the total digitalisation of music, video and software. It is my belief that because of this process of digitalisation the sale of CDs around the world has declined. Most reports seem to suggest that P2P networks have a direct negative impact on the digital industry, be it music or games. Essentially, there are four communication channels that can be used for Internet piracy: The World Wide Web, a normalised set of standards for storing, getting and displaying information in a client/server environment. FTP (File Transport Protocol) a protocol for getting and sending files from a remote computer. Peer to Peer computing (P2P), a form of distributed processing that links computers via the Internet or pirate networks so that they can share processing tasks. Electronic Mail (e-mail), used for the computer-to-computer exchange of messages and usually the pirated files are sent as attachments, limited to 25mb using Googles Gmail. (T. Ramayah et al (2009)) Such huge losses dilute the incentive for development of information product. However, the losses claimed by the computer software and recorded music industries may be excessive. If piracy could be prevented, many of those who used pirated products might not switch to buying the legitimate item. Instead, they might simply not use the product. With no reduction in price, it is not likely for all the illegal users to switch to the legitimate item. (Kai-Lung et al (2003) Here in Table 1 which was conducted by Kai-Lung et al (2003), reports a very descriptive set of statistics. Consumption of music CDs per capita were a little more than one unit per year, while around 12% owned CD players. The standard deviation of personal disposable income and CD player ownership were large (Table 1) this indicted that the countries in question had different demographic characteristics and income. Worldwide MTV subscription was low per capita, but over the years has started to grow steadily. This leads us into Table 2 which reports the music CD average price and per capita consumption of pirated and legitimate CDs over a range of countries around the world. As seen in (table 2) the demand for both legitimate and pirated CDs varied across the countries with India having the lowest per capita purchase of legitimate music CDs and the United States having the highest. The consumption of pirated CDs was this time, highest in both Singapore and Hong Kong with the United Stated being the lowest. With a few exceptions (e.g., India and Japan), the average price of music CDs varied moderately across the countries. Kai-Lung et al (2003) Hui, Kai-Lung, and I.P.L. Png (2003) Piracy and the Legitimate Demand for Recorded Music, Contributions to Economic Analysis Policy. Peitz and Waelbroeck 2003 The Effect of Internet Piracy on Music Sales: Cross-Section Evidence, Review of Economic Research on Copyright Issues, 2004 Hohn, D. A., Muftic,L. R., Wolf, K. 2006. Swashbuckling Students: An Exploratory Study of Internet Piracy. Lysonski, S., Durvasula, S. 2008. Digital piracy of MP3: Consumer and ethical predispositions. Journal of Consumer Marketing. T. Ramayah, Noor Hazlina Ahmad, Lau Guek Chin, May-Chiun, Lo 2009 Testing a Causal Model of Internet Piracy Behavior Among University Students Gallup Poll. 2003. Moral Acceptability of Downloading Music for Free. Gallup Youth Survey. Freestone, O., Mitchell, W. 2004. Generation Y Attitudes towards E-ethics and Internetrelated Misbehaviours. Journal of Business Ethics

BLOOD AND BELONGING :: essays research papers fc

This is a critique of the book, Blood and Belonging, by Michael Ignatieff. This paper will explain the subject of the book and its relevance, discuss Michael Ignatieff's methods and conclusions on the subject and finally include a personal critique of the book by the author of this paper. The author of the book travels on what he terms "the six journeys." On these "journeys" he encounters different cultures, as he travels to six different coinciding areas of the world. He examines the unique expression of nationalism that each populace displays by interviewing various members of that particular society. The six areas that he travels to are specifically chosen for the clarity which nationalism is expressed in society. Nationalism is a factor contributing toward both present possible future instability in these areas. These areas are former Yugoslavia (specifically Croatia and Serbia), Germany, Ukraine, Quebec, Kurdistan and Northern Ireland. According to Ignatieff, in Croatia and Serbia there is a desire for a separate identity between the two nations. The fear of losing one's national identity has caused ethnic hatred. A terror so strong and historically persistent, it has driven people to a desperate state to do anything. This is a large contributor to the reasons for the extreme violence present there today. The author states, "A Croat, thus, is someone who is not a Serb. A Serb is someone who is not a Croat." This quotation profoundly expresses the short-sighted mentality present in their conflict. In his travels in Germany, the author points out an important question. Does the nation make the state, or the state the nation? This question by far does not stop here, especially when Germany is the subject. The essence of the German people is seen by some as aggressive and offensive, thus the existence of the German problem. If the nation makes the state then Germany will always be a threat. If the state makes the nation, then the aggressive nature of the German nation, which lead the world into two global wars, can be harnessed and redirected. The question has its roots and answers in the recent reunification of Germany. The Ukraine is concerned with not being Russian. It is here Ignatieff receives a complete vision of what nationalism is. He states, "I understand what nationalism really is: the dream that a whole nation could be like a congregation; singing the same hymns, listening to the

Marketing Mix and the Brand Reputation of Nokia

Market Forces April 2008 Vol. 4 No. MARKETING MIX & BRAND RESEARCH MARKETING MIX AND THE BRAND REPUTATION OF NOKIA SYED EHTESHAM ALI College of Management Sciences PAF-Karachi Institute of Economics and Technology E-mail: [email  protected] com Abstract Pakistan’s mobile phone market is growing very fast. The most selling brand in the market is Nokia. A hypothesis was developed that the reputation of a brand is a source of demand and the competitively superior quality image justifies a premium price. In this survey we assessed the reasons for preference of this brand based on established parameters of marketing mix (the 4 Ps). The objective of this study was to measure the extent of preference of these parameters. For this purpose a questionnaire was developed and administered to 240 respondents. The alternate hypothesis that at least one of the predictor variables would have a linear relationship with the dependent variable brand reputation was accepted. R? is 0. 53, which indicates that about 53% of the variation on the dependent variable is explained by the predictor variable, which is significantly moderate. Among all the independent variables the slope for the product quality and promotion (advertising & communication) were higher than the rest. Regression coefficients for product quality and promotion (advertising & communication) were 0. 95 and 0. 85 respectively. This means that an increase in one rating (on the scale of five to one) of product quality and promotion (advertising & communication) would cause brand reputation to increase by 0. 95 and 0. 85 rating respectively. 1. 0. 0 OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to measure how elements of marketing mix and their relationship affect the brand reputation of Nokia mobile phone. Though the marketing mix concept such as product, price, place and promotion are very important in analyzing the marketing strategy, the scope of the study was mainly MARKET FORCES APRIL-2008 15 MARKETING MIX & BRAND RESEARCH focused on one aspect of brand equity i. e. brand reputation, the ultimate reflection of the correct blend of all marketing mix. 1. 1. 0 LITERATURE SURVEY 1. 1. 0 Brand Branding has an ancient history. It could be traced back to the times when the ancient Egypt brick makers used to stamped symbols on the bricks for identification and distinction purposes (Farghuhar 1990). Nilson (1998) on the other hand found that ancient farmers used to put symbols on the cattle with the help of hot iron, which meant burning. The word brand has been derived from the Scandinavian word â€Å"branna† that means to burn. In Swedish language the word â€Å"brand†, means fire. Thus when a producer put some marks or symbols on their product it will come in the category of branding (Nilson 1998). One of the advantages of strong brand name is that its helps in penetrating in a new market or a new market category. Globalization has created tremendous brand awareness and this awareness is not dependent on the availability of the products. Czinkota & Ronkainen 2001). For example in Pakistan, brands such as such as McDonald, Pizza Hut and KFC had very strong awareness even before they opened their franchises in Pakistan. 1. 2. 0 Brand Equity Brand equity is a relationship between customers and brands resulting in a profit to be realized at a future date (Wood 2000). Kotler and Armstrong (1996) were of the opinion that measuring brand equity is a tedious job. Nevertheless a powerful brand means high brand equity that helps in achieving ‘higher brand loyalty, name awareness, perceived quality, and strong brand associations’. Some of the major benefits of brand equity are brand awareness and consumer loyalty which helps in reducing marketing costs. Brand is an important equity; therefore, it should be carefully preserved by adopting strategies that would help in maintaining or improving brand awareness, perceived brand quality and positive associations. (Kotler & Armstrong 1996) Ambler and Styles (1997) are of the opinion that brand equity could be measured from two perspectives. One is â€Å"financial evaluation approach† and the other is â€Å"consumer-based approach†. The financial evaluation approach is related to the monetary value of the brand, and the consumer-based approach focuses on the brand itself that is how much value the consumers give to the brand. Brand equity is also considered as an accumulated profit that could be realized at a future date. The brand equity concept can also cause confusion, because of difficulty in measuring it (Ambler & Styles 1997). MARKET FORCES APRIL-2008 16 MARKETING MIX & BRAND RESEARCH Importance of brand equity demands need for more practical experience and comparative research to judge and validate the usefulness of brand evaluation methods (Farquhar 1990). The recent merger and acquisition trend has also increased the importance of measuring brand equity (Tauber 1988). The role of brands is now far beyond product differentiation or competing for market share. They are accumulated annuities which the firm can acquire from its balance sheet (Tauber 1998). Firms could have a strong competitive edge over competitors if they could create brand equity ‘through building awareness, image, and linking associations’ (Keller 1998). A stronger brand would always have a better understanding of needs, wants, and preferences of consumers than the brands that are not competitive. Thus stronger brands would help in creating effective marketing programs that could go beyond consumer expectations. (Keller 1998). Brand equity since last one decade has remained popular for attracting new market segments (Pitta & Katsanis, 1995). This phenomenon of brand equity has coincided with the newly emerged but equally popular phenomenon of brand extension (Ambler & Styles 1997). Research shows a two way relationship between brand equity and extension. A brand's equity could influence the success of extensions, and extensions could positively influence brand's equity. The result is that highly valued brand extensions are more successful. Consumers tend to choose those brands that have strong brand equity. This creates strong brand loyalty, and would make it difficult for the customers to switch to the competitors. Brand position of a firm is strongly dependent on the positive image of brands. Strong brands are a major source of differentiation and extending the same towards a specific product category is easier. Successful brand allows firms to demand high prices and are a source of barrier which makes it difficult for consumers to switch to other brands (Pitta & Katsanis 1995. 1. 3. 0 BRAND REPUTATION: According to Aaker (1991, 1996) and Kapferer (1997) both companies and consumers are watchful over the brand reputation of what they sell or buy. Every brand represents distinct values, creates a distinct profile in the minds of the customers in respect to what it stands for. For example in beverage industry Coca-cola stands for â€Å"refreshingâ €  and in car industry Volvo brand is perceived for â€Å"safety and comfort†. Similarly in the mobile industry Sony Ericsson is poised as â€Å"music and entertainment† etc. Globalization and advanced technology have made the market more competitive, thus firms, now, are more brand sensitive. They have observed that the consumer preferences have become homogenous because of globalization and the spread of technology. Thus, both the sellers MARKET FORCES APRIL-2008 17 MARKETING MIX & BRAND RESEARCH and buyers are paying attention to the brand reputation in terms of what they are buying and selling. A consumer during his lifetime undergoes a series of ever changing circumstances and situations. As a result his brand preference shifts with his changing needs. The brand attributes or features must fit to consumers’ need to maintain an ongoing permanent relationship with the brand. The consumers need to have a trust in their preferred brands for continued offering of the desired benefits. According to Browne (1998), if companies fail to ensure a trustworthy, stable brand reputation, the brand’s growth and market share will be affected. Thus a brand reputation is the image of superior quality and added value, which justify a premium price. A reputable brand is a strong asset, which benefits from a high degree of loyalty and stability for future sales (Kapferer 1997). Ultimate goals of highly reputed brands should be to strengthen their image. Low selling brands with low reputation should focus on tailoring their marketing mix and fixing the overall image problem (Baldinger & Rubinson 1996). Firms dealing with mobile handset are also concerned with the reputation of their brands, and how this would affect their international market share. Competition among the mobile companies has forced them to create a brand reputation in customers’ minds. The mobile telephone industry is comprised of mostly multinationals and has financial advantages in their cost structure. This advantage is not available to their purely domestic counterparts (Kapferer, 1997). Brand reputation in the mobile telephone industry is becoming crucial for consumers’ purchasing behaviors. Temporal and Lee (2001) argue that powerful brands are the ones that are built on reputation and this will not change, but would gain more importance in the future. Up Shaw (1995), agrees and claims that branding is the art of trust creation and therefore it is imperative for companies to build a reputable identity in order to maintain trust with their consumers. A highly reputed brand name is considered as a favorable and publicly recognized name that reflects merit, achievement, and reliability. According to Paul and John (1997), the attribute reputation is an estimation of the consistency, over a period of time for an entity. This estimation is based on the entity's willingness and ability to perform an activity repeatedly in a similar fashion and an attribute is some specific part of the entity – price, quality, promotion, distribution and other marketing skills. A brand is a relationship between reputation and promise. Moreover, reputation is a set of expectations. A brand is a combination of tangible and intangible attributes, symbolized in a trademark. If properly managed, brand creates influences and generates value. Temporal and Lee (2000) also define the brand MARKET FORCES APRIL-2008 18 MARKETING MIX & BRAND RESEARCH as a promise to the consumer of what the product, service, or company stands for, and for the kind of experience they can get from it. If the promise is delivered, customers will be satisfied and this will keep them coming back to a company’s product. Kotler (1999) defines three clear advantages, which brands offer to the consumers. Firstly, brands inform the consumer about the product quality. Buyers, who consistently purchase the same brand, are aware that they will get the same quality each time they purchase the product. Secondly, brand names simplify shopping for consumers, by enhancing their ability to find the products that match their wants and needs, as opposed to generic branding. Lastly, brand names allow consumers attention to be drawn to new products that are beneficial to them, since the brand is the first form of recognition. To become successful and hence profitable, brands must develop a positive reputation. A reputable brand is strong assets, which benefits from a high degree of loyalty and thus forms stability of future sales. (Rogerson 1983). Brand reputation involves a continuum ranging from an uncertain feeling that the brand is recognized at the market place, to a belief that it is the number one in the product class by customer (Aaker 1991). This continuum can be represented by different degree of brand reputation known on the market. The brand reputation can be good or bad, strong or weak. It crystallizes how people feel about the reputation based on whatever information they have about the brand. Some companies have not built any brand at all. We can say for the â€Å"unknown brand† that, for it, no reputation exists and it does not affect consumer-buying behavior on the market. 1. 2. 0 MARKETING MIX. 1. 2. 1 PRODUCT (Quality): (Quality): Product quality is an important determinant for the customers for choosing a brand that helps in the development of brand reputation. Quality belongs to the product perspective of a brand’s identity whereas perceived quality is how a brand’s quality is seen by the consumers. It is one of the key dimensions in Aaker’s brand equity model. A higher price is a sign of high quality to the consumers. Perceived quality is a source of consumer satisfaction it makes them to repurchase the product, which leads to loyalty. (Uggla 2001). MARKET FORCES APRIL-2008 19 MARKETING MIX & BRAND RESEARCH 1. 2. 2 PRICE (Affordability): (Affordability): Price influences the brand choice in two ways: (1) Seek the lowest price to avoid financial risk or (2) Seeks the higher price to gain product quality (Macdonald & Sharp 2000). For some consumers, the price is vital particularly when they are purchasing everyday products. Some consumer may choose a brand just because it has the lowest price, while other consumers may choose a brand just because it has the highest perceived price inferring that it is of high quality. 1. 2. 3 PROMOTION (Advertising & Communication): Communication): How can a company build its brand reputation through promotion? A promotion that provides incentives to try a new flavor or new use will be more effective if the brand is familiar and there is no need to combat a consumer skeptical of brand reputation (Pringle & Thompson 1999). Advertising acts as a major tool to enhance brand reputation. The purpose of advertising is to make the consumers to purchase their brands. Advertising is one of the most visible forms of communication. It creates a set of associations the consumers want to have about a brand. If advertising, promotion and packaging support a constant positioning strategy over time, the brand is likely to be strong (Aaker 1991). 1. 2. 4 PLACE (Availability): Firms rarely work alone in creating value for customers and building positive brand reputation. Consistency of supply and availability at convenient locations are vital for brand reputation. Any disagreement between marketing channel members on goals and roles may create channel conflict, which eventually could hamper overall reputation of the specific brand (Kotler, 2006). Reputation is a historical notion based on the sum of the past behaviors. It is prone to change over time and is a function of time. 2. 0. 0 RESEARCH QUESTION: The following research question has been formed in the light of the literature review. How do the mobile phone buyers perceive the brand reputation of Nokia in terms of marketing mix? 3. 0. 0 METHODOLOGY: MARKET FORCES APRIL-2008 20 MARKETING MIX & BRAND RESEARCH Based on the literature survey and the above-identified independent and dependent variables, a close-ended questionnaire was developed. Questionnaire was based on a total of 14 questions; seven were related to personal data and the rest were related to the subject study that is measuring brand reputation in terms of marketing mix. The sample size for the study was 240 and it was chosen non-randomly and was personally administered by my students. The analysis was inclusive of the measures of central tendencies and the measure of dispersion. The hypothesis was tested through multiple regressions. 4. SURVEY FINDINGS: 4. 1 MEASURES OF CENTRAL TENDENCIES & DISPERSION: The respondents’ opinions on the determinants of marketing mix and brand reputation were obtained. The determinants for marketing mix were product (quality), price (affordability), promotion (advertising and communication) and place (availability). The determinants for brand reputation were favorability, public recogn ition, reliability and consistency. The summarized results related to the measures of the central tendencies and dispersion are presented below: Table Number One Measure of Central Tendencies Product (Quality) Mean St. Error Median Mode St. Dev. S. Var. Kurtosis Skew ness Range Minimum Maximum Sum Count 4. 74 0. 03 5. 00 5. 00 1. 13 0. 19 -0. 77 -0. 98 1. 00 4. 00 5. 00 1138 240 Price (Affordability) 3. 82 0. 03 5. 00 5. 00 0. 81 0. 18 -0. 39 0. 08 1. 00 4. 00 5. 00 1144 240 Promotion (Adv. & Communication) 4. 45 0. 03 5. 00 5. 00 1. 08 0. 29 -0. 18 -0. 82 2. 00 3. 00 5. 00 1107 240 Place (Availability) 4. 02 0. 03 4. 00 4. 00 1. 04 0. 23 1. 23 -0. 74 3. 00 2. 00 5. 00 1017 240 Brand Reputation 4. 89 0. 05 5. 00 5. 00 1. 16 0. 49 3. 69 -1. 09 3. 00 2. 00 5. 00 1117 240 MARKET FORCES APRIL-2008 21 MARKETING MIX & BRAND RESEARCH M ark e ting M ix viz. Brand Re putation 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Product Price Promotion Place Brand Reputatioon 4. 74 3. 82 4. 45 4. 89 4. 02 The respondents’ opinions on dependent variable brand reputation was the highest with a mean of 4. 89, whereas the rating on product (quality) ranked second with a mean of 4. 79 and the price (affordability) was the lowest with a mean of 3. 82. The standard deviation of respondents’ opinion on independent dimensions â€Å"price (affordability)† was the least (0. 1) as compare to the other dimensions. This indicates that there is less polarization and difference in the respondents’ opinion on the dimension â€Å"price (affordability)†. The standard deviation of respondents’ opinion on dimension â€Å"product (quality)† was the highest i. e1. 13 as compared to the other dimensions. This indicates that there is a high polarization of respondents†™ opinions on the â€Å"product (quality)† dimension. Skewness for all the determinants of brand reputation was negative except price (affordability)† with the value of 0. 08. The negative skewness indicates that the majority of the respondents’ opinions on the respective determinants were below the average level and the distribution curve is negatively skewed. 4. 2. 0 BRAND REPUTATION The respondents’ opinions were obtained in terms of favorability, recognizably, reliability, and consistency. The summarized results are presented below: TABLE NUMBER-2 REPUTATION OF NOKIA Most favorable Most Publicity Most Reliable Most Consistent MARKET FORCES APRIL-2008 22 MARKETING MIX & BRAND Recognized 4. 01 4 3. 1 RESEARCH 3. 63 4. 5 4 3. 5 3 2. 5 2 1. 5 1 0. 5 0 4. 01 4 3. 1 3. 63 Most f avorable Most Publicity Recognized MostReliable Most Consisten The level of favorability and recognize ability of Nokia brand was the highest with a mean of 4. 04 and 4. 0. The perception on the consistency and reliability were found to be on the lower side with a mean of 3. 1 and 3. 63 respectively. 4. 1. 2 HYPOTHESIS TESTING: Literature survey suggests that, buyers perceive or build brand reputation of mobile phones in terms of (1) product (quality), (2) price (affordability), (3) promotion (adv. & communication) and (4) place (availability). Based on the theoretical framework, the following hypotheses were developed. H1o: Sufficient evidence exists to conclude that no linear relationship exists between Nokia’s dependent variable â€Å"brand reputation† and independent variables such as product, price, promotion, and place. H1A: At least one of the predictor variables has a linear relationship with the dependent variable â€Å"brand reputation†. STATISTICAL REPRESENTATION: The statistical representation of the above hypothesis is presented below. H1O: ? 1= ? 2= ? 3= ? 4=0 H1A: ? 1? ?2? ?3? ?4? 0 The above hypothesis was tested through multiple regressions for brand NOKIA and the summarized results are presented below. MARKET FORCES APRIL-2008 23 MARKETING MIX & BRAND TABLE NUMBER-2 MULTIPLE REGRESSIONS Regression Statistics Multiple R R Square Adjusted R Sqr. Standard Error Observations RESEARCH 0. 69 0. 53 0. 52 0. 44 240. 00 Df Regression Residual Total 4. 00 234. 00 240. 00 Coefficients Intercept Product(quality) Price(affordability) Promotion(Adv. & Comm. ) Place(Availability) 0. 72 0. 95 0. 27 0. 85 0. 34 SS 12. 01 13. 05 25. 06 Std. Error 0. 49 0. 09 0. 03 0. 03 0. 02 MS 3. 00 0. 06 F 53. 82 Significance F 0. 00 t Stat 1. 48 2. 61 7. 57 6. 83 7. 41 Pvalue 0. 14 0. 02 0. 00 0. 01 0. 00 Lower 95% -0. 24 0. 06 0. 16 0. 15 0. 13 Upper 95% 1. 68 0. 42 0. 27 0. 27 0. 22 R? or the brand NOKIA is 0. 53, which indicates that about 53% of the variation on the dependent variable is explained by the predictor variable which is significantly strong. Among all the independent variables the slope for the product and promotion are the highest, this means that as compared to other independent variables, product and promotion of Nokia b rand cell phone has stronger relationships with the dependent variable â€Å"brand reputation†. Regression coefficient for product and promotion are 0. 95 and 0. 85 respectively. This means that an increase in one rating (on the scale of five to one) of product (quality) and promotion (adv. communication) will cause brand reputation to increase by 0. 95 and 0. 85 rating respectively. The F-value is high and falls in the critical region that means variations of independent variables are unequal; this indicates that the results are not biased. Except for the coefficient of product and promotion, no other coefficient is statistically significant. 5. 0 CONCLUSION: CONCLUSION: MARKET FORCES APRIL-2008 24 MARKETING MIX & BRAND RESEARCH Based on the survey findings the following conclusions have been drawn: †¢ According to the respondents’ opinion the rating on dependent variable brand reputation was highest with the mean of 4. 9, whereas the rating on product (quality) was the second highest with a mean of 4. 79 and the rating on price (affordability) was lowest with a mean of 3. 82. The standard deviation of respondents’ opinion on independent dimensions â€Å"price (affordability)† was the least (0. 81) as compared to the other dimensions. This indicates that there is less polarization in the respondents’ opinion on the dimension â€Å"price (affordability)†. The standard deviation of respondents’ opinion on dimension â€Å"product (quality)† was the highest 1. 13. This indicates that there is high polarization of respondents’ opinion on the â€Å"product (quality)† dimension. Skewness for all the determinants of brand reputation were negative except for â€Å"price (affordability)† with the value of 0. 08. The negative skewness indicates that the majority of the respondents’ opinions on the respective determinants were below the average level and the distribution curve is negatively skewed. The alternate hypothesis that at least one of the predictor variables would have a linear relationship with the dependent variable brand reputation was accepted. R? is 0. 53, which indicates that about 53% of the variation on the dependent variable is explained by the predictor variable, which is significantly strong. The slope for product’s (quality) and promotion (advertising & communication) were the highest; this means that as compared to other independent variables, product (quality) and promotion (advertising & communication) of the Nokia brand cell phone have stronger relationships with the dependent variable brand reputation. Regression coefficient for product (quality) and promotion (advertising & communication) were 0. 95 and 0. 85 respectively. This means that an increase in one rating (on the scale of five to one) of product (quality) and promotion (advertising & communication) will cause brand reputation to increase by 0. 5 and 0. 85 rating respectively. †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ ANNEXURE 1 Q1) Age: (in years) 15 – 25 QUESTIONNAIRE (DEMOGRAPHIC DATA) 26 – 35 36 – 45 46– above MARKET FORCES APRIL-2008 25 MARKETING MIX & BRAND Q2) Qualification: ? Matriculation Others —-Q3) Gender: ? Male Q4) Marital Status: ? Single Q5) Profession: Market ing Teacher Q6) Income: Up to 20,000 above RESEARCH ?Intermediate ?Graduation Masters ?Female Married Banking Engineering Other(s) please specify†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 21,000 – 30,000 31,000 – 40,000 Doctor 41,000 and Q7) Please mark the area of your residence Sadder Defence Clifton Gulshan F. B. Area Nazimabad PECHS Other(s) — Rate the following statements in terms of your answer (5 being highly agreed and 1 being highly disagreed) MARKETING MIX Q8) Rate the brand reputation of Nokia brands in terms of â€Å"Product† i. e quality. 5 4 3 2 1 Q9) Rate the brand reputation of Nokia brands in terms of â€Å"Price† i. e. affordability 5 4 3 2 1 Q10) Rate the brand reputation of Nokia brands in terms of â€Å"Promotion† i. e. Advertising & Communication. 5 4 3 2 1 Q11) Rate the brand reputation of Nokia brands in terms of â€Å"Place† i. e. Convenience in availability. 5 4 3 2 BRAND REPUTATION Q12) I consider Nokia as most favorable brand in terms of brand reputation. 4 3 2 1 Q13) I consider Nokia as most publicly recognized brand in terms of brand reputation. 5 4 3 2 1 Q14) I consider Nokia as most reliable brand in terms of brand reputation. MARKET FORCES APRIL-2008 26 1 MARKETING MIX & BRAND RESEARCH 5 4 3 2 1 Q15) I consider Nokia as most consistent brand in terms of brand reputat ion. 5 4 3 2 1 ANNEXURE 2 REFERENCES Aaker, D. A. , 1991. , Managing Brand Equity: Capitalizing on the Value of the Brand Name. NewYork: The Free press. Aaker, D. A. , 1996. , Building Strong Brands. New York: The Free Press. Aaker, D. A, 2004. Brand Portfolio Strategy, New York: Free Press. MARKET FORCES APRIL-2008 27 MARKETING MIX & BRAND RESEARCH Ambler, T. , & Styles, C. , 1997. Brand development versus new product development: toward a process model of extension decisions. Journal of Product & Brand Management, 6(4), p. 222-234. Browne, K. , 1999. Nokia’s Brilliant Branding. Finance Week – South Africa. Vol. (22), p. 12-26. Baldinger, A & Rubinson, J. , 1996. , Brand Loyalty: the Link between Attitude and Behavior. Journal of Advertising research, Vol. (2), p. 84-97. Czinkota, M. & Ronkainen, M. , 2001. , International Business (6th ed. ). Fort Worth: Harcourt College. Farquhar, P. , 1990. Managing brand equity. Journal of Advertising Research, August/September) 30, RC 7 – RC 12. Keller, K. L. , 2003. Strategic brand management, Building Measuring and Managing Brand Equity, 2nd Ed. , Upper Sadle River. . Kotler, P, & Armstrong, G. , 1996. Principles of Marketing. (7th ed.. USA: Prentice Hall, Inc. Pringle, H. Thompson, M. , 1999. Brand Spirit: how cause related marketing builds brands. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Jean, N. K, 1997. Strategic Brand Management, Princeton: University Press Princeton. Kapferer, J. N. ,1997. Strategic Brand Management. 2nd. London:Hove. Kotler, P. & Armstrong, G. & Saubers, J. & Wong, V. , 1999. Principles of marketing. 2nd ed. England: Prentice Hall press. Kotler, P. & Keller, K. L, 2006. Marketing Management 12th ed. Indiana: Indiana University Press. Macdonald, E. K. & Sharp, B. M. 2000. Brand awareness effects on consumer decision-making for a common, repeat purchase product: A replication: Journal of Business Research, Vol. (48), p5-15. Nilson, H. T. , 1998. Competitive Branding-Winning the Marketplace with Value Added Brands. Chichester: Wiley,cop. Paul, H. & John, M. , 1997. Pricing Strategy & Practice. Bradford: 5(1),p. 25. MARKET FORCES APRIL-2008 28 MARKETING MIX & BRAND RESEARCH Pringle, H. & Thompson, M. , 1999. Brand Spirit: how cause related marketing builds brands: Journal of Marketing, Vol. (21), p. 61-78. Pitta, A. & Katsanis, P. L. 1996. Understanding Brand Equity for Sucessful Brand Extension. Journal of Consumer Marketing. 12(4),51-64. Rogerson, W. P, 1983. Reputation and Product Quality, The Bell Journal of economics, Vol. (2), p. 508-516. Tauber, E. , 1988. Brand leverage: Strategy for growth in a cost- control world. Journal of Advertising Research, ( August/September). 8, 26-30. Temporal, P & Lee, K. C. 2001. Hi-Touch Branding, Creating Brand Power in the Age of technology. Journal of Information & technology, 94(2), p. 67-86. Uggla, H. , 2001. What makes winning brands different: The hidden method behind the world’s most successful brands. The journal of marketing, 18(3), p. 24-41. Upshaw, L. B. 1995. .Building Brand Identity: A strategy for success in a hos tile marketplace. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Wood, L. , 2000. Brands and brand equity: definition and management. Management Decision, 38(9), 662-669. MARKET FORCES APRIL-2008 29

The Return: Nightfall Chapter 16

Stefan was surprised to find Mrs. Flowers waiting for them when they returned from their picnic. And, also unusually, she had something to say that didn't involve her gardens. â€Å"There is a message for you upstairs,† she said, jerking her head toward the narrow staircase. â€Å"It came from a dark young fellow – he looked somewhat like you. He wouldn't leave a word with me. Just asked where to leave a message.† â€Å"Dark fellow? Damon?† Elena asked. Stefan shook his head. â€Å"What would he want to be leaving me messages for?† He left Elena with Mrs. Flowers and hastened up the crazy, zigzagging stairs. At the top he found a piece of paper stuffed under the door. It was a Thinking of You card, sans envelope. Stefan, who knew his brother, doubted that it had been paid for – with money, at least. Inside, in heavy black felt-tipped pen, were the words: DON'T NEED THIS. THOUGHT ST. STEFAN MIGHT. MEET ME TONIGHT AT THE TREE WHERE THE HUMANS CRASHED. NO LATER THAN 4:30A.M . I'LL GIVE YOU THE SCOOP. D. That was all†¦except for a Web address. Stefan was about to throw the note in the wastebasket when curiosity assailed him. He turned on the computer, directed it to the proper website, and watched. For a while, nothing happened. Then very dark gray letters on a black screen appeared. To a human, it would have appeared to be a completely blank screen. To vampires, with their higher visual acuity, the gray on black was faint but clear. Tired of that lapis lazuli? Want to take a vacation in Hawaii? Sick of that same old liquid cuisine? Come and visit Shi no Shi. Stefan started to close the page, but something stopped him. He sat and stared at the inconspicuous little ad beneath the poem until he heard Elena at the door. He quickly closed the computer and went to take the picnic basket from her. He said nothing about the note or what he'd seen on the computer screen. But as the night went on, he thought more and more. â€Å"Oh! Stefan, you'll break my ribs! You squeezed all my breath out!† â€Å"I'm sorry. I just need to hold you.† â€Å"Well, I need to hold you, too.† â€Å"Thank you, angel.† Everything was quiet in the room with the high ceiling. One window was open, letting the moonlight through. In the sky, even the moon seemed to creep stealthily along, and the shaft of moonlight followed it on the hardwood floor. Damon smiled. He had had a long, restful day and now he meant to have an interesting night. Getting through the window wasn't quite as easy as he'd expected. When he arrived as a huge, glossy black crow, he was expecting to balance on the windowsill and change to human form to open the window. But the window had a trap on it – it was linked by Power to one of the sleepers inside. Damon puzzled over it, preening himself viciously, afraid to put any tension on that thin link, when something arrived beside him in a flutter of wings. It looked like no respectable crow ever registered in the sighting book of any ornithologist. It was sleek enough, but its wings were tipped with scarlet, and it had golden, shining eyes. Shinichi?Damon asked. Who else?came the reply as a golden eye fixed on him.I see you have a problem. But it can be fixed. I'll deepen their sleep so that you can cut the link. Don't!Damon said reflexively.If you so much as touch either of them, Stefan will – The answer came in soothing tones.Stefan's just a boy, remember? Trust me. You do trust me, don't you? And it worked out exactly as the demonically colored bird said it would. The sleepers inside slept more deeply, and then more deeply still. A moment later the window opened, and Damon changed form and was inside. His brother and†¦and she†¦the one he alwayshad to watch†¦shewas lying asleep, her golden hair lying across the pillow and lying across his brother's body. Damon tore his eyes away. There was a medium-sized, slightly outdated computer on the desk in the corner. He went over to it and without the slightest hesitation turned it on. The two on the bed never stirred. Files†¦aha.Diary. How original a name. Damon opened it and examined the contents. Dear Diary, I woke up this morning and – marvel of marvels – I'mmeagain. I walk, talk, drink, wet the bed (well, I haven't yet, but I'm sure I could if I tried). I'm back. It's been one hell of a journey. I died, dearest Diary, I really died. And then I died as a vampire. And don't expect me to describe what happened either time – believe me; you had to be there. The important thing is that I was gone, but now I'm back again – and, oh, dear patient friend who has been keeping my secrets since kindergarten†¦I am so glad to be back. On the debit side, I can never live with Aunt Judith or Margaret again. They think I'm â€Å"resting in peace† with the angels. On the credit side, I can live with Stefan. This is the compensation for all I've been through – I don't know how to compensate those who went to the very gates of Hell forme. Oh, I'm tired and – might as well say it – eager for a night with my darling. I'm very happy. We had a fine day, laughing and loving, and watching each of my friends' faces as they saw mealive! (And notinsane, which I gather is how I have been acting the past few days. Honestly, you'd think Great Spirits Inna Sky could have dropped me off with my marbles all in order. Oh, well.) Love ya, Elena Damon's eyes skimmed over these lines impatiently. He was looking for something quite different. Ah. Yes. This was more like it: My dearest Elena, I knew you would look here sooner or later. I hope you never have to see it at all. If you're reading this, then Damon is a traitor, or something else has gone terribly wrong. A traitor? That seemed a little strong, Damon thought, hurt, but also burning with an intense desire to get on with his task. I'm going out to the woods to talk to him tonight – if I don't come back, you'll know where to start asking questions. The truth is that I don't exactly understand the situation. Earlier today, Damon sent me a card with a Web address on it. I've put the card under your pillow, love. Oh damn, thought Damon. It was going to be hard to get that card without waking her. But he had to do it. Elena, follow this Web link. You'll have to dither with the brightness controls because it's been created for vampire eyes only. What the link seems to be saying is that there is a place calledShi no Shi – literally translated, it says, asthe Death of Death, where they can remove this curse which has haunted me for almost half a millennium. They use magic and science in combination to restore former vampires to simple men and women, boys and girls. If they truly can do this, Elena, we can be together for as long as ordinary people live. That's all I ask of life. I want it. I want to have the chance to stand before you as an ordinary breathing, eating human. But don't worry.I'm just going to talk with Damon about this. You don't need to command me to stay. I would never leave you with all the goings-on in Fell's Church right now. It's too dangerous for you, especially with your new blood and your new aura. I realize that I'm trusting Damon more than I probably should. But of one thing I am certain:he would never harm you.He loves you. How can he help it? Still, I have to meet with him at least, on his terms, alone at a particular location in the wood. Then we'll see what we see. As I said before, if you're reading this letter, it means that something has gone drastically wrong. Defend yourself, love. Don't be afraid. Trust yourself. And trust your friends. They can all help you. I trust Matt's instinctive protectiveness for you, Meredith's judgment, and Bonnie's intuition. Tell them to remember that. I'm hoping that you never have to read this, with all my love, my heart, my soul, Stefan P.S. Just in case, there is $20,000 in hundred-dollar bills under the second floorboard from the wall, across from the bed. Right now the rocking chair is over it. You'll see the crack easily if you move the chair. Carefully, Damon deleted the words in this file. Then, with one corner of his mouth quirked up, he carefully, silently typed in new words with a rather different meaning. He read them over. He smiled brilliantly. He'd always fancied himself a writer; no formal training of course, but he felt he had an instinctive flair for it. And that was Step One accomplished, Damon thought, saving the file with his words instead of Stefan's. Then, noiselessly, he walked to where Elena was sleeping, spooned behind Stefan on the narrow bed. Now for Step Two. Slowly, very slowly, Damon slipped his fingers under the pillow on which Elena's head rested. He could feel Elena's hair where it spilled on her pillow in the moonlight, and the ache that it awoke was more in his chest than in his canines. Inching his fingers under the pillow, he searched for something smooth. Elena murmured in her sleep and suddenly turned over. Damon almost jumped back into the shadows, but Elena's eyes were shut, her lashes a thick inky crescent on her cheeks. She was facing him now, but strangely Damon didn't find himself tracing the blue veins in her fair, smooth skin. He found himself staring hungrily at her slightly parted lips. They were†¦almost impossible to resist. Even in sleep they were the color of rose petals, slightly moist, and parted that way†¦. I could do it very lightly. She would never know. I could, I know I could. I feel invincible tonight. As he bent toward her his fingers touched cardboard. It seemed to jerk him out of a dream world. What had he been thinking? Risking everything, all his plans, for akiss ? There would be plenty of time for kisses – and other, much more important things – later. He slipped the little card out from under the pillow and put it in his pocket. Then he became a crow and vanished from the windowsill. Stefan had long ago perfected the art of sleeping only until a certain moment, then awakening. He did this now, glancing at the clock on the mantelpiece to confirm that it was fourA.M . exactly. He didn't want to awaken Elena. He dressed soundlessly and exited the window by the same route his brother had – only as a hawk. Somewhere, he was sure Damon was being made a fool by someone using malachs to make him their puppet. And Stefan, still pumped up with Elena's blood, felt that he had a duty to stop them. The note Damon had delivered had directed him to the tree where the humans had crashed. Damon would also want to continually revisit that tree until he'd traced the malach puppets to their puppeteer. He swooped, drifted, and once almost gave a mouse a heart attack by stooping down on it suddenly before rocketing skyward again. And then, in midair, as he saw evidence of a car hitting a tree, he changed from a glorious hawk to a young man with dark hair, a pale face, and intensely green eyes. He drifted, light as a snowflake, down to the ground and gazed in each direction, using all his vampire senses to test the area. He could feel nothing of a trap; no animosity, just the unmistakable signs of the trees' violent fight. He stayed human to climb the tree that bore the psychic imprint of his brother. He wasn't chilly as he climbed the oak his brother had been lounging in when the accident had taken place at his feet. He had too much of Elena's blood running through him to feel the cold. But he was aware that this area of the forest was particularly cold; that something was keeping it that way. Why? He'd already claimed the rivers and forests that ran through Fell's Church, so why take up lodging here without telling him? Whatever it was, it would have to present itself before him eventually, if it wanted to stay in Fell's Church. Why wait? he wondered, as he squatted on the branch. He felt Damon's presence coming at him long before his senses would have noticed it in the days before Elena's transformation, and he kept himself from flinching. Instead he turned with his back to the trunk of the tree and looked outward. He could feel Damon speeding toward him, faster and faster, stronger and stronger – and then Damon should have been there, standing before him, but he wasn't. Stefan frowned. â€Å"It always pays to look up, little brother,† advised a charming voice above him, and then Damon, who had been clinging to the tree like a lizard, did a forward flip and landed on Stefan's branch. Stefan said nothing, merely examining his older brother. At last he said, â€Å"You're in good spirits.† â€Å"I've had a sumptuous day,† Damon said. â€Å"Shall I name them off to you? There was the greeting-card shop girl†¦Elizabeth, and my dear friend Damaris, whose husband works in Bronston, and little young Teresa who volunteers at the library, and†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Stefan sighed. â€Å"Sometimes I think you could remember the name of every girl you've bled in your life, but you forget my name on a regular basis,† he said. â€Å"Nonsense†¦little brother. Now, since Elena has undoubtedly explained to you just what happened when I tried to rescue your miniature witch – Bonnie – I feel I'm due an apology.† â€Å"And sinceyou sent me a note that I can only construe as provocative, I really feelI'm due an explanation.† â€Å"Apology first,† Damon rapped out. And then, in long-suffering tones, â€Å"I'm sure you think it's bad enough, having promised Elena when she was dying that you would look after me – forever. But you never seem to realize that I had to promise the same thing, and I'm not exactly the caretaking type. Now that she's not dead anymore, maybe we should just forget it.† Stefan sighed again. â€Å"All right, all right. I apologize. I was wrong. I shouldn't have thrown you out. Is that enough?† â€Å"I'm not sure you really mean it. Try it once more, with feel – â€Å" â€Å"Damon, what in God's name was the website about?† â€Å"Oh. I thought it was rather clever: they got the colors so close that only vampires or witches or such could read it, whereas humans would just see a blank screen.† â€Å"But how did you find out about it?† â€Å"I'll tell you in a moment. But just think of it, little brother. You and Elena, on the perfect little honeymoon, just two more humans in a world of humans. The sooner you go, the sooner you can sing ;;Ding Dong, the Corpse Is Dead'!† â€Å"I still want to know how youjust happened to come across this website.† â€Å"All right. I admit it: I've been suckered into the age of technology at last. I have my own website. And a very helpful young man contacted me just to see whether I really meant the things I said on it or if I was just a frustrated idealist. I figured that description fit you.† â€Å"You – a website? I don't believe – â€Å" Damon ignored him. â€Å"I passed the message along because I'd already heard of the place, theShi no Shi .† â€Å"TheDeath of Death , it said.† â€Å"That's how it was translated to me.† Damon turned a thousand-kilowatt smile on Stefan, boring into him, until finally Stefan turned away, feeling as if he'd been exposed to the sun without his lapis ring. â€Å"As a matter of fact,† Damon went on chattily, â€Å"I've invited the fellow himself to come and to explain it to you.† â€Å"You didwhich ?† â€Å"He should be here at 4:44 exactly. Don't blame me for the timing; it's something special to him.† And then with very little fuss, and certainly no Power at all that Stefan could discern, something landed in the tree above them and dropped down to their branch, changing as it did. It was, indeed, a young man, with fire-tipped black hair and serene golden eyes. As Stefan swung toward him, he held up both hands in a gesture of helplessness and surrender. â€Å"Who the hell are you?† â€Å"I'm the hell Shinichi,† the young man said easily. â€Å"But, as I told your brother, most people call me just Shinichi. Of course, it's up to you.† â€Å"And you know all about the Shi no Shi.† â€Å"Nobody knows all about it. It's a place – and an organization. I'm a little partial to it because† – Shinichi looked shy – â€Å"well, I guess I just like to help people.† â€Å"And now you want to help me.† â€Å"If you truly want to become human†¦I know a way.† â€Å"I'll just leave the two of you to talk about it, shall I?† said Damon. â€Å"Three's a crowd, especially on this branch.† Stefan looked at him sharply. â€Å"If you have any slightest thought of stopping by the boardinghouse†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"With Damaris already waiting for me? Honestly, little brother.† And Damon changed to crow form before Stefan could ask him to give his sworn word. Elena turned over in bed, reaching automatically for a warm body next to her. What her fingers found, however, was a cool, Stefan-shaped hollow. Her eyes opened. â€Å"Stefan?† The darling. They were so in tune that it was like being one person – he always knew when she was about to wake up. He'd probably gone down to get her breakfast – Mrs. Flowers always had it steaming hot for him when he went down (further proof that she was a witch of the white variety) – and Stefan brought up the tray. â€Å"Elena,† she said, testing her old-new voice just to hear herself talk. â€Å"Elena Gilbert, girl, you have had too many breakfasts in bed.† She patted her stomach. Yes, definitely in need of exercise. â€Å"All right, then,† she said, still aloud. â€Å"Start with limbering up and breathing. Then some mild stretching.† All of which, she thought, could be put aside when Stefan showed up. But Stefan didn't show up, even when she lay exhausted from a full hour's routine. And he wasn't coming up the stairs, bringing up a cup of tea, either. Where was he? Elena looked out their one-view window and caught a glimpse of Mrs. Flowers below. Elena's heart had begun beating hard during her aerobic exercise and had never really slowed down properly. Though it was likely impossible to start a conversation with Mrs. Flowers this way she shouted down, â€Å"Mrs. Flowers?† And, wonder of wonders, the lady stopped pinning a sheet on the clothesline and looked up. â€Å"Yes, Elena dear?† â€Å"Where's Stefan?† The sheet billowed around Mrs. Flowers and made her disappear. When the billow straightened out, she was gone. But Elena had her eyes on the laundry basket. It was still there. She shouted, â€Å"Don't go away!† and hastened to put on jeans and her new blue top. Then, hopping down the stairs as she buttoned, she burst out into the back garden. â€Å"Mrs. Flowers!† â€Å"Yes, Elena dear?† Elena could just see her between billowing yards of white fabric. â€Å"Have you seen Stefan?† â€Å"Not this morning, dear.† â€Å"Not atall ?† â€Å"I get up with the dawn, regular. His car was gone then, and it hasn't come back.† Now Elena's heart was pounding in good earnest. She'd always been afraid of something like this. She took one deep breath and ran back up the staircase without pausing. Note, note†¦ He'd never leave her without a note. And there was no note on his pillow. Then she thought ofher pillow. Her hands scrabbled frantically under it, and then under his pillow. At first she didn't turn the pillows over, because she wanted so badly for the note to be there – and because she was so afraid of what it might say. At last, when it was clear that there was nothing under those pillows but the bed sheet, she flipped them and stared at the empty white blankness for a long time. Then she pulled the bed away from the wall, in case the note had fallen down behind it. Somehow she felt that if she just kept looking, she must find it. In the end she'd shaken out all the bedding and ended up staring at the white sheets again, accusingly, ever so often running her hands over them. And that ought to be good, because it meant Stefan hadn'tgone somewhere – except that she'd left the closet door open and she could see, without even meaning to, a bunch of empty hangers. He'd taken all his clothes. And emptiness on the bottom of the closet. He'd taken every pair of shoes. Not that he had ever owned much. But everything that he needed to make a trip away was gone – and he was gone. Why? Where? Howcould he? Even if it turned out that he'd left in order to scout them out a new place to live, howcould he? He'd get the fight of his life when he came back – – if he came back. Chilled to the bone, aware that tears were running unmeant and almost unnoticed down her cheeks, she was about to call up Meredith and Bonnie when she thought of something. Her diary.

Customer Relationship Management In Hospitality Industry Importance Tourism Essay Essay Example

Customer Relationship Management In Hospitality Industry Importance Tourism Essay Essay Example Customer Relationship Management In Hospitality Industry Importance Tourism Essay Essay Customer Relationship Management In Hospitality Industry Importance Tourism Essay Essay CRM entails all facets of interaction a company has with its client, whether it is gross revenues or service related. It even uses engineering to streamline procedures that impact client trueness, service bringing and quality direction. Today, concerns are confronting an aggressive competition and they have to do Attempts to last in a competitory and unsure market topographic point. Peoples have realized that pull offing Customer relationships is a really of import factor for their success. Customer relationship direction ( CRM ) is a scheme that can assist them to construct durable relationships with their clients and increase their net incomes through the right direction system and the application of customer-focused schemes. ( Berry,1983 ) Customer is the most of import individual for a concern. He is non an break to our work but the intent of it. He is non an foreigner ; he is a portion of it. We are non making him a favor, he is making us a favor by giving us an chance to function him. ( By Mahatma Gandhi ) It has grown mainstream and is being implemented in a broad scope of companies and organisations such as fabrication, fiscal services, transit and distribution, Though the activity looks to be a simple one, but tools and work flows which are involved in the procedure can be rather complex, particularly for big concern. Previously the tools were by and large limited to happen out basic information s like companies contact history with the clients or clients, monitoring and entering interactions and communications. ( Parasuraman, et all 1985 ) Background [ P1 ] : The ground of me to take this peculiar research is really simple. As I have worked in cordial reception industry and had a opportunity to cognize the twenty-four hours to twenty-four hours operations from a close point, I wanted to happen out more ways to research about how the improved invitee service and trueness creates a bond between a peculiar organisation and the clients. In this epoch of globalisation where Customer is the King , client outlooks are traveling up which is doing the state of affairs more and more competitory. As the merchandise is going generic in nature, the hotel industry can no longer rely on the traditional selling schemes to retain the clients. Customer Relationship Management is one of the key tools to contend this cut pharynx competition and stand out as a superior trade name Research inquiry ( s ) [ P2 ] : RQ1 ) How effectual is the usage of Customer Relations Management ( CRM ) in retaining clients in cordial reception? RQ2 ) What are the new selling attacks in hotel industry? RQ3 ) How will CRM aid to retain clients in hotel industry? Hypothesis [ P2 ] : H0: CRM has no important consequence in retaining client in Hospitality Industry. H1: CRM has a important consequence in retaining client in Hospitality Industry. H0: CRM do non assist to retain client in hotel industry. H1: CRM do assist to retain client in hotel industry. Research Aims A ; Objectives [ P4 ] : Purpose: The survey aims to understand the importance of CRM in the success of administration in a cordial reception industry. Furthermore, it seeks to find the effectivity of the new selling attacks in retaining clients in a cordial reception industry. The survey is to make an extended research on the importance of CRM in Hospitality Industry, so gather relevant documents to back up the survey a study will be conducted and informations will be gathered from study and from these informations decision will be drawn. Aims: To be able arrive to the desired reply, the undermentioned stairss should be done: Gather relevant yesteryear and current informations related to the survey Design research inquiries for study Conduct a study Gather the relevant information from the study Make a tabular array or graph Verify informations Draw decision Literature Review [ P5 ] : Customer Relationship Management ( CRM ) is one of those brilliant constructs that swept the concern universe in the 1990 s with the promise of forever altering the manner concerns little and big interacted with their client bases. In the short term, nevertheless, it proved to be an unmanageable procedure that was better in theory than in pattern for a assortment of grounds. First among these was that it was merely so hard and expensive to track and maintain the high volume of records needed accurately and invariably update them. ( Payne,2000 ) In today s competitory concern environment, a successful CRM scheme can non be implemented by merely put ining and incorporating a package bundle designed to back up CRM procedures. A holistic attack to CRM is critical for an effectual and efficient CRM policy. This attack includes preparation of employees, a alteration of concern procedures based on clients demands and an acceptance of relevant IT-systems ( including soft- and possibly hardware ) and/or use of IT-Services that enable the organisation or company to follow its CRM scheme. CRM-Services can even redundant the acquisition of extra hardware or CRM software- licences. ( Reichheld et all,1990 ) Let us now look for the replies of the inquiries we were carry oning the research for with regard to a unrecorded hotel. ITC MAURYA SHERATON Defines CRM as Customer Relationship Management is a procedure of pull offing client dealingss in an organized manner . They aim at pull offing each Moment Of Truth that is experienced by the client. Q11 How will CRM aid to retain clients in hotel industry There are assorted contact points where the hotel comes in direct contact with the client which are known as Touch points in the CRM linguistic communication. These touch points are considered of import as there is direct interaction with the client and they provide valuable input to the hotel. The input provided by the client has to be captured in such a manner that it becomes information and can be used by assorted procedures within the hotel. This can be done with the aid of engineering and the purpose is that whenever there is a client interface with any of those procedures they are able to utilize that information in serving the invitee in a most efficient mode. ( Sheth,1998 ) Loyalty Plans Second vehicle for CRM identified by Maurya Sheraton are the Loyalty Programs. These plans are designed to honor the loyal invitees of the hotel. Every clip a invitee cheques in the hotel at his every touch point or interface with the hotel, every clip he spends on a service provided by the hotel ( usage of Room, Restaurant, Laundry, Telephones etc. ) , the dealing is recorded at each single point and is added to the concluding measure presented to the invitee at the terminal of the stay. There are certain points attached to the figure of rupees spent by the invitee. Therefore higher the sum of the measure, the higher will be the figure of points attained by the invitee. These points are credited to the history of each invitee with the aid of engineering. These are called Loyalty points. These histories holding the trueness points are alone to every invitee. Therefore, whenever after the first clip that guest cheques into the hotels, the guest history besides affects the trueness poi nts. The higher the figure of points, more loyal is the invitee. The points can be redeemed by the invitee for either free corsets at the hotel or free gifts as listed by the hotel or free repasts depending upon the figure of points accumulated. Distribution Points/ Central Reservation System A client can merely do a call at the reserve Centre to do a engagement with the hotel. It sounds simple but it could acquire complex in instance he does non have the expected or the coveted response. Therefore, Maurya Sheraton sees this distribution point as an chance to set up CRM as the respondents at the reserve Centre could turn a prospective client into a sale or could allow travel off the chance to make so by non being polite plenty or non giving out the information as desired by the invitee. The information sing all guest reserves is managed through computing machine package, hence, when a client brand calls to question about a reserve, all his hotel usage history pops up in the system which gives a opportunity to the executive at the reserves to immediately acknowledge the client and reference him by his name. This minute of truth is experienced by the client with a feeling of acknowledgment and feels it as good service at the first touch point itself. The input or direction received from the client at the phase is recorded in the reserve system for farther mention by the hotel operations. Therefore the wheel does non acquire reinvented every clip a standard direction is to be followed. This leads to removal of an thorn and that finally leads to a satisfied client willing to return. ( Sheth and Parvatiyar,1995 ) Welcome Award Honoring Relationships Welcome Award has earned the differentiation of being India s premier and most powerful frequent invitee programme. The Welcome Award programme recognizes client as a concern traveller and through its strategic confederations with travel spouses enterprises to construct a rewarding relationship client. As a Welcome Award member clients can gain Stars on every facet of their concern tripaˆÂ ¦hotel corsets, concern amusement, Car leases and even air travel. Welcome Link- Bring place the wagess Welcome Link, India s most popular programme for cardinal professionals offers many value-added benefits. It is designed to assist members in doing reserves for their company executives. For every materialized room dark booked by a member at ITC-Welcome group Hotel, points are earned that can be redeemed for a broad scope of wagess. With Welcome Link, the member can look frontward to many exciting publicities and awards coming their manner plus an exciting scope of wagess complimentary dining, free vacations, air tickets, auto leases and privilege shopping with Credit Card Gift Vouchers countrywide. Sheraton Plus- The art of all right dining with a particular border Welcome group Sheraton Plus brings the pleasances of the roof of the mouth, in a genuinely rewarding mode. As a member, clients can taste the finest in culinary art runing from reliable Indian, Mughlai and Chinese fortes to Continental menu in a choice of over 30 ITC-Welcome group eating houses. From a 24-hour java stores called Pavilion to the forte eating houses such as Dum-Pukht, Bukhara, Dakshin and West View. Q3 How CRM can be efficaciously administered Customer relationship direction ( CRM ) is more than the pattern of roll uping guest-centric informations. It s the art of utilizing historical, personal and experiential information to personalise a invitee s stay while bring forthing incremental gross chances. Knowing a traveler is an devouring athleticss fan creates the chance to market tickets to a game. Industry surveys show that invitees are less likely to return if they experience a job during their stay. Recording and hive awaying of relevant database of guest history and information s and analysis of those provides with the information to extinguish repeating jobs and maintain invitees coming back, so to take down operating costs and increase guest satisfaction at the same clip. So the most of import factor is how good it needs to be handled and administrated. There has to be a dedicated squad and a suited user friendly package to assist the squad with the elaborate records of the client picks and penchants and all possible information s which may necessitate to be kept in head ever and the most of import measure in this has to be the changeless updating of inside informations with each minute inside informations with each visit or contact of the invitee with the hotel. Another of import portion of smooth handling and disposal of CRM procedure would be to maintain everyone updated and informed about the aggregation of information s of each single picks and penchants so in every point of contact the invitee feels at place. ( Sheth et all,2000 ) Rationale [ P6 ] : One can deduce the present scenario of the patterns and plans being followed by the taking participants in this sector and the stairss being followed by them to heighten client keeping, client satisfaction and in bend, taking to heighten net incomes and trade name image in the heads of the clients. Contemplations [ P6 ] : In the true spirit of believing outside of the box, experts at the Gartner Group believe the most successful organisations will be those who, through invention and concentrate on concern effectivity instead than simply efficiency, manage to interrupt the cast of traditional concern thought . Being effectual is paramount. The terminal end of better helping clients and enabling a high per centum of client keeping can non be met with out originative thought and effectual planning and actions. The undertaking of honing the relationship between concern and client is ever on traveling and requires particular dedication and invention as the commercialism markets. Scope and Limitations [ P6 ] : Scope To analyze Customer Relationship Management in the Hotel Industry. The other aims would be to analyze the plans and patterns of CRM employed by the taking hotels in India and to analyze the steps to construct a better relationship between the customer/guest and the cordial reception unit. Finally to reason the findings and suggest any recommendations sing the hereafter growing chances. Restrictions of the Study aˆ?Due to the handiness of chiefly secondary informations, hallmark of the same is non certain. aˆ?Since the hallmark of the information is non certain, the consequence of the undertaking may non be precise. aˆ?Customer relationship direction is in itself a complex subject, hence, there may be certain errors in the premise Action program [ D2 ] : WEEKS- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 12 13 14 Topic A ; Title Abstract A ; Keywords Introduction Background Research inquiry ( s ) Hypothesis Research Aims A ; Aims Literature Review Rationale Contemplations Scope and Restrictions Action program Ethical consideration Theoretical Framework / Methodology Research design Analysis and treatment Execution of Research undertaking Execution of Research undertaking Decisions Recommendations and future work

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote The Clutter family and how they serve as an example to the All American family The Clutter family is a symbol of the uppermost honesty of family life. Their decency is associated with the strength of their relations. They lead a thriving and admirable life. They are also famous and valued by neighborhood members (Capote 4). Moreover, they lead a regimented, but enjoyable and well-provided life. Advertising We will write a custom book review sample on In Cold Blood by Truman Capote specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In my opinion, the family is a good example to the American family because it was a disciplined one. For instance, the time the girls got home was by ten during weekdays, and by twelve on Saturdays (Capote 7). In addition, Clutter is known by the neighbors in the surroundings to be a kind boss who ensured that his employees were responsible; hence, they served a good example to the Americans (Capote 10). Would justice have be en served if Smith and Dick had been tried and sentenced separately? The initial idea of robbing the Clutters came from Dick (Capote15). Despite Smith wanting to back off when they failed to find the safe they had gone for, Dick urged him to hang about and pursue through. He lied to him that there were no witnesses, making him to commit the murders (Capote15). Smith did not intend to commit the crime. However, due to the hardships and frustrations he had come across in life, he found himself seeking for revenge. To my mind, Dick was more responsible than Smith was; hence, he deserved a harsher punishment. This would surely lead to justice. Comparison between Dick and Smith Smith was inventive, insightful, considerate, and smart. However, he comes from a distressed family (Capote 37). His reserved, insightful character contrasts Dick’s pretentious behavior. Dick is a self-confident, eloquent little criminal, who constantly conniving to make quick cash (Capote37). According t o me, Dick is the worst of the two. This is because he had so many advantages in life, which he could have used in order to make his life better. Because of being financially irresponsible, he leads his life away from a firm childhood to a life of insignificant faults. In addition, being the initiator of the robbery at Clutters, he backs off when the time for murder comes. Hence, he avoids being the murderer and lays the blame on Smith. Hypocrisy Rarely do both Smith and Dick endure traditional religion. Dick was never induced by a conception of God, and regardless of Smith being temporarily influenced by the religious Willie- Jay, he could not find in his heart to pardon the nuns hypocrisy (Capote107). In the novel, religion is considered as a convenient tool of the wealthy and influential, and its account of decency excludes people like Smith and Dick. Advertising Looking for book review on american literature? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OF F Learn More Hypocrisy can be seen in the sense that the two robbers are malformed from being cruel menaces and merciless individuals, whose dealings seem to disobey human judgment to burdened, sorry, completely civilized persons. The crime is made to look as a fundamental and literally reasonable set of emotional reactions. The novel seems to assert that criminality and wickedness are not different, but usual individual reactions. Lessons learnt It is clear that the American dream is delicate, and it only functions if trivial citizens are absent. For instance, Herb Clutter’s American view would not have been crushed if it were not for Smith and Dick. In addition, Smith’s character would not have changed if his mother were taking care of him well. I would advocate for our courts to be more reasoning and hold everyone responsible for their own actions. For instance, Smith did not deserve to die because of a crime initiated by Dick. In addition, I would advocate for change in the Child welfare department because, if at all they had been keen on the happenings, Smith would not have been raised by a drunkard mother and would not have been raised in orphanages where he was constantly mistreated, hence killing his vision in life. By doing this, the American dream cannot be shattered by some minor details like security and the aptitude to find out one’s own fate. Fox’s letter Fox’s letter marks the onset of killers. A letter from Mr. Fox portrays a request for forgiveness of the murderous acts. The fact that Perry had shared with Dick the act of killing a black man makes me doubt his allegations, because he ended up killing a dog. Additionally, the letter contains no truth in it because Cluter, who is so close to Mr. Fox, come from a background that does not uphold murder. However, there is a high possibility for the murderer to be a member of the house since the murderer knew the arrangement of the house. Therefor e, this letter creates a gap between writings in the letter and the person’s own culture. This strikes us as naà ¯ve, has freshness of information, and a social interest that may prove difficult for us to share. Capote, Truman. In Cold Blood: A True Account of a Multiple Murder and Its Consequences. New York: Random House, 1966. Print.

Downloading German Songs from iTunes

Downloading German Songs from iTunes iTunes auf Deutsch! Downloading German music- legally Would you like to explore the world of modern German music? Would you like to download rock, pop, or rap songs in German? How about watching a German music video online? Well, I just did all that, and boy was it fun! Apple must have been listening to the complaints of U.S. fans of German music, who for a long time could only get a tantalizing look at, and even listen to, songs and albums by German (and Austrian) artists, but could not buy any of it from Apples American iTunes Music Store. This frustration has now lessened for Mac and Windows users, but not entirely. A recent visit to the U.S. iTunes Music Store was a pleasant surprise. I found music and songs in German by many contemporary and traditional bands and artists from Austria, Germany, and German Switzerland. And I could buy what I saw/heard! There were albums and songs by DIE PRINZEN, FALCO, HERBERT GRÃâ€"NEMEYER, the PUHDYS, MÃÅ"NCHNER FREIHEIT, and even HEINO. (Youll also find audiobooks in German, language courses, and German comedy recordings available for download.) I discovered just about every type of music in German- from classical to rap, from Christmas to country-western- ready for listening and purchase. Soon I had downloaded (and paid for) an eclectic mix ranging from Deutschland by DIE PRINZEN to Ring aus Feuer (think Johnny Cash) by the Austrian WOLFGANG AMBROS. As I type these words, my computer is playing music by RAMMSTEIN (Amerika), UDO LINDENBERG (Ich habe noch einen Koffer in Berlin), and the interesting Belgian group SCALA KOLACNY BROTHERS (Schrei nach Liebe)- all downloaded from the American iTunes Music Store. Mac or Windows users can then create CDs with the downloaded German songs or any mix they want. If I had an iPod, I could also transfer these songs to it and listen anywhere I go. A Few More Surprises - Good and BadAlthough residents of Germany and Austria can download iTunes music from just about any German recording artist there is, we U.S. residents have to be content with slimmer pickings. If you want to download songs by Die Fantastischen Vier, Rosenstolz, or Die Ärzte, (Die beste Band der Welt) youll have to be in Germany. You can easily switch to the German iTunes Music Store and listen to songs by those artists, but when you try to download a song or album, U.S. residents get this unwelcome message: Your account is only valid for songs from the U.S. iTunes Store. But at least you can listen to 30-second samples of the German songs. Even for artists in German that are found in the U.S. store, not all of the albums or songs by that artist may be offered. Some albums are partial, with only a few selected songs available from iTunes, but that is also true of the normal American or British recording artists. However, what IS there is a lot better than what was available earlier (pretty much nothing). There is no German Songs menu section in the U.S. iTunes store (there is a German Pop category, but youll need help finding it; see Tips Part 2), so I started with a search by the artists name or a song title. Sometimes I just typed in a common German word (liebe, freiheit) to see what results would pop up. As I explored the German offerings with this method in the U.S. store, I stumbled onto interesting things I may not have found otherwise. Schrei nach Liebe is a good example. Turns out the iTunes version I downloaded is a cover version by a Belgian girls choir of that Ärzte song, and the Germans are raving about how the ladies took a metallic song (they also did Engel by Rammstein) and turned it into something very different but still cool. After downloading Amerika by Rammstein, I discovered that its in the German Top 10 charts (Oct. 2004) and that iTunes has a music video version! (Free and in stunning quality with a high-speed connection!) Tips and TricksIn the next section Ill offer some tips and tricks for finding German songs at the U.S. iTunes Music Store, with screen shots, artists lists, links, and other neat stuff- including music videos in German. Note: iTunes also works great for subscribing and listening to podcasts in German!

BUSINESS ETHICS ASSIGNMENT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

BUSINESS ETHICS ASSIGNMENT - Essay Example ny name, Kenneth Lay was made the Chief Executive Officer and he wanted to expand Enron’s market share as well as the type of markets Enron was in since he had a very different vision for the new shape of the company (Welch, 2005). Houston Natural Gas had previously been in the business of making their money from junk bonds which were also used in the formation of Enron. At the same time, Kenneth Lay wanted to become the biggest player in the energy sector through successful trade earnings from futures contracts (NPR, 2006). To his advantage, Spectrum 7, an oil-well concern welcomed a partnership with Enron a year after its creation. Spectrum 7 was headed by George W. Bush, son of the then-Vice President George H. W. Bush. With falling gas prices in the mid 1980’s, Enron and other gas firms vigorously lobbied for deregulation to get benefits for themselves (Thomas, 2002). It has been known for many years that ethically dubious political connections can help a business but such situations often come to light if the business is unsuccessful (Medawar, 1976). The deregulation action came into effect when buyers switched to the fuel oil as the cheaper alternative. Fluctuating gas prices allowed Enron to start marketing gas futures; securing gas prices at a later date promised to their stakeholders. Similarly, the company lobbied once again for electricity just before selling electric power futures contracts (NPR, 2006). From then on, Enron was aggressive in expanding its services in other sectors such as the water utility sector by creating a company named Azurix which partly collapsed on the NYSE in 1999 and finally shut down operations in 2001 (Thomas, 2002). Concurrently, Jeffery Skilling who had been hired in 1990 to lead the financial side of Enron’s operation became a major personality of the energy trading businesses and became the president and COO for Enron. He built wealth reserves for the company by trading in thirty different industries and was

American Neo Conservatism and the World Order Essay

American Neo Conservatism and the World Order - Essay Example American Neo Conservatism and the World Order Backed by an American nuclear arsenal and war machine, Bush tossed the words "freedom" and "democracy" about, making them sound like cheap and meaningless words. Taking advantage of the fact that Americans were distracted with the aftermath of September 11, Bush addressed the world saying, "Since America's emergence as a world power roughly a century ago, we have made many errors, but we have been the greatest force for good among the nations of the earth. A diminution of American power or influence bodes ill for our country, our friends, and our principles." Later, the question would be asked whether or not the terrorists behind the events of September 11 had awakened a sleeping giant,1 or whether the giant had in fact been waiting in the wings waiting for his cue to come on stage. When George Bush made his announcement to Americans that they would respond to the events of 9/11 with an armed assault against the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, he did not share with his fellow Americans that already talk had been going on in the White House of a plan to invade Iraq. In November, 2001, ". . . Bush asked his defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, to revise the U.S. war plan for Iraq and publicly called for the return of UN arms inspectors to the country.† While a response of moving militarily against Afghanistan as the threshold of operations for the terrorists who had attacked the United States on September 11, 2001 went unquestioned by most Americans.; neo conservative plans of pre-emptive defense tactics against Iraq left many Americans scratching their heads in contemplation of the rhetoric coming out of the White House. It was the notion of a "pre-emptive" strike against a perceived threat to America that caused many, amongst them Democrats, who had pr eviously supported the administration in its response to the 9/11 terrorists in Afghanistan to now jump off the band wagon and put enough distance between themselves and the Bush administration so as to regain perspective of what actions were going on that were clearly being driven the neo conservatives who gained momentum following the events of 9/11. Amongst those who attempted to distance themselves from the Bush administration during the talk of pre-emptive invasion of Iraq period, were world leaders, some of whom seemed taken aback by Bush's pre-emptive rhetoric. "Our closest allies have spoken out against an invasion of Iraq. Gerhard Schroder, leading a usually complaisant Germany but locked in a tough re-election fight, has gone so far as to label this possibility an "'adventure,'" sparking a protest from our ambassador (Galston 2002, 1)." Bush administration officials were accused of ignoring and disregarding the thoughts of those world leaders with whom the United States had close ties (1). The idea of a long term military engagement in the Middle East gave rise to concerns that America was embarking on yet another disastrous course of military occupation and conflict, just as they had during the Viet Nam era; provoking comment from former secretary of state, Henry Kissinger (1). Kissinger weighed in saying, "Regime chang e as a goal for military intervention challenges the

Civil rights Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Civil rights - Essay Example Not until the 1960s did a considerable significant number of youth of America join and add their efforts to the movement. The scholarly works of Lawson and Payne have led them to contradictory opinions of the riotous years from 1945 to 1968. However both provide a gleaming, deviously nuance summary of the period. Charles Payne has thoroughly worked on the definitive study of the civil rights movement in the Delta. Payne divulges the bravery, infatuation, absurdity, and perseverance of thousands of black women and men who worked, against irresistible odds, to take charge of their destiny through his outstanding use of verbal interviews of past. This is the most ample and enlightening study of organizing on the grass-roots echelon that we have, and will be of importance to scholars, students, and activists alike. Lawson captures what is said "the view from the nation," in conflict that "it was the federal government ... that played an indispensable role in shaping the fortunes of the civil rights revolution. It is impossible to understand how Blacks achieved first-class citizenship ... in the South without concentrating on what national leaders ... did to influence the course of events" (p. 3). Explanation of Lawson argues that still after Birmingham and the March on Washington the nation had not been stimulated to crack the "legislative logjam" (p. 29) over an all-inclusive bill of civil rights. Lyndon B. Johnson's congressional wizardry and ethical dedication made it happened. It was as functional as the Selma demonstrations were in getting passage of Voting Rights Act 1965, Lyndon B. Johnson had inculcated the Justice Department to set up the bill "even before the Selma campaign had begun" (p. 32). "Throughout the history of the civil rights struggle, the national state played a key role in determining its outcome" (p. 40). Payne is piercingly critical of the "top-down" (p. 109) theory, asserting that top down approach falls short to value and understand the function ordinary people performed in changing the state, spotlights approximately exclusively on large-scale spectacular events to the disadvantage of "the real and authentic social infrastructure that continued the struggle on daily basis," and highlights only legislative modifications at the cost of perceiving the civil rights movement "as a changing experience for persons" (p. 110). Above all, conceivably, in Payne's opinion, the top-down elucidation promotes a triumphalism that marks off black fundamentals as a fringe anthology of ingrates, overlooking that by the end of their lives, "the gap between Martin Luther King's thoughts" and that of Malcolm X was "less than one might imagine" (p. 133). Payne's logical admiration for great organizers like Ella Baker guides him to view with evident commiseration their diverse feelings about "relatively short-term public events" (p. 125) like Birmingham and Selma that were highly influential in the civil rights revolution. Steven F. Lawson and Charles Payne scrutinize the persons who made the movement an achievement, both at the uppermost level of government and in the grassroots channels. Designed exclusively for college and university courses in American history, this is the best elucidation about the glory and agony of these