Argumentative Essay Essay

Every body loves the triple bacon cheeseburger from Wendy’s, extra bacon. Or the brand new Iphone that has just been released and you suddenly feel that daunting desire to be holding it in your hands. America is all about living for excess. People live for what is easily accessible no matter the cost. In reading of a Buy Nothing Day implemented and imposed on Canada, to increase the awareness of excessive consumerism, we must ask would this be beneficial to the United States? I must agree that it would be beneficial to some in raising awareness. Though I agree, I must also strongly negate the idea of a â€Å"Buy Nothing Day† due to the low participation amongst our society in America, and the difficulty in implicated such a day. First, I agree with the idea that our nation could use a â€Å"Buy Nothing Day† and it could be very beneficial in raising the awareness of our excessive consuming. Having the opportunity to travel to a poverished country myself, I have found myself with an increasing awareness of my consumerism. I distinctly remember walking out of the â€Å"Barra Payan† sandwich shop with a grin on my face, excited to devour the sandwich I had spent no more than 3 dollars on. As I continued to walk out, a young boy approached me, and in his broken English asked if I would give him just a bite of my sandwich. He had no shoes on, a shirt that had been worn to the seams and swim suit meant for a toddler, though he managed a crooked little smile as he asked. The disparage on his face was eminent though, and he wavered my heart. Haphazardly, I preceded to hand him my entire sandwich. Hugging me, he ran off devour the sandwich I had just bought. Being down in the Dominican Republic for a week, I found myself aware of my extensive consumerism I display on a day to day basis, while people can hardly have enough food to survive. Though having a singular day in America may not be to this extreme, I strongly feel that it would be an important way of helping raising the awareness of this problem in America today. Though on one hand I feel it would be a positive idea to establish an annual â€Å"Buy Nothing Day†, I must negate the idea of it. As is, America is nothing but nation living for excess and ease. No matter where we drive, or wherever we may go, there is that unsaid rule that you must aim for the best. I am sure you have had that memorable experience of driving by the cherry red Ferrari and with a little jealousy you envy to have that car. Or you go into Five Guys to get a burger and you see the guy in front of you ask for every topping on his burger. So you say to hell with it, I am doing what I want, and all those toppings will be on my burger. I have seen this countless times. In a nation where we squander countless hours shopping and impulse buying, there is no way a vast amount of people would participate in a day such as purposed. With that stated, I must strongly negate the idea of an annual â€Å"Buy Nothing Day†, simply due to the fact of it is nothing our culture is accustomed to. Correspondingly, we as Americans are extremely narrow minded and would not be willing to integrate such a day. Consequently, I must negate the idea of integrating a day such as this due to how consumer dependent our society is. You can hardly drive a mile these days without seeing something you can buy. I live in a town by the name of Castle Rock Colorado, and in our town we have a Home Depot, and a Lowes just a mile down the road. Why our town needs two home improvement stores is beyond me. Maybe it is the completion between each company, or possible which has more inventories. This is a classic example of what our culture is here in America. Same goes for gas stations. There is one intersection with 3 gas stations. All of which, trying to entice you with slightly lower gas prices, or the world’s best selection of junk food. Competition is what drives our economy and in pushing to try to encourage a day to not buy anything, completely degrades the idea of our moral values as Americans whether I agree with them or not. Since our society singularly runs mostly on big business, the idea of this day exalts the things we hold so dearly as Americans. Alongside this, the first time trying to implement such a day is near impossible, and would be strenuous to all people who live in America. In looking deeply into imposing a â€Å"Buy Nothing Day† in America, I strongly agree with the fact that for some it may raise some awareness temporarily. Though I agree, I must also negate the implementation of this day because it would be hard to gain participation as well as the strenuous tasks of difficulty in integrating a day such as this due to how consumer dependent our society is.

Life in correctional facilities Essay

Prisons are used as correctional facilities which are meant to influence the criminal to be a positively charged individual and accepted by the society. The rehabilitation process should be able to benefit the criminal in his life in and after prison. There are certain factors that make one to become a criminal and adapt to the criminal way of life. Correctional facilities should not be brutal but should guide the imprisoned positively and motivate them to become law abiding citizens. The community should accept the prisoner once he is released and treat him like a citizen and accept that he can change and interact freely with them. Life in prison Prison life can prove to be hard if the correctional facility uses correctional means which are torturous. Prisons are institutions where criminals or those who have gone against the law are kept. They are meant to bring an individual to positive life at the end of their sentence and be able to contribute positively to the community. However, this has not been the case in these institutions. In this paper, we take a look at the effects of what prison life is and how one can be able to adapt while imprisoned. We take a look at some correctional policies that can be introduced in prison and what makes one to become a criminal (Crag 1992). In the past years, prison was based on punishing the inmate by inflicting pain on his body; this has however changed as prison is seen as a form of rehabilitation to the inmate. Prisons have positive and negatives effects to the prisoner. There is the safekeeping of inmates where they are provided with the basic needs of food, shelter and clothing. Prisons are used as correctional facilities which maintain and improve the inmates physically and psychologically through counseling and physical exercise. The safekeeping of inmates includes locking them in a confined environment and allowing room for the isolation of welfare activities which satisfy their needs through recreation and education. It however makes them feel dehumanized and rejected by the society and this could lead to mental depression. Timetables are used in this institutions play a major factor in rehabilitation through procedures. They know where to be at the right time because it indicates time for shower, meals, labor time, recreational activities schedule and what time to go to bed. This method turns the criminal into a hard worker and changes his psychology by restoring responsibilities in him. He knows he has a duty to fulfill at a particular time. When a criminal is imprisoned for twenty years and follow the same routine, he is unable to think of what to do with his time as his psychology is already used to one specific routine (Crag 1992). Use of uniforms in correctional facilities destroys the individual’s personal identity and makes them feel part of a group. They are able to associate with each other easily and all feel are on the same level and no one is more special than the rest. The physical condition of the prisons the thick walls, the barbed wires and the constant supervision they gat from guards shape the criminal’s psychology and think positively in order to be accepted by the society. Being surrounded by walls and the supervision makes the prisoner know he did wrong and for him to be free from the walls, he has to change his behavior in order to be accepted by the society. A prisoner can also be undermined in prison. There have been cases of rape and victimization which caused the affected to commit suicide or be damaged psychologically (Sham 1970). Policies that assist an inmate to adapt to prison life. Having a psychologist to assist the prisoners adapt to the changes they are experiencing as they try to adopt in prison life. A psychologist should help in the emotional changes by making them understand that prison is a correctional facility and not punishment. An inmate should be provided with better medical facilities when they get sick . This will make the inmate develop well socially and emotionally (Sham 1970). Activities like sports, debates and singing should be introduced this occupies their minds and makes them live and develop socially and are used to each other. Holding regular competitions will lead to positive spirits and harmony among the inmates. The use of timetables is seen as a way which assists an inmate to adapt to prison life by knowing where to be and what to do at a certain time. A newcomer adapts easily to daily routine and feels part of the group by following what they should be doing at particular time. This also makes the inmates feel they are all part of the system because no one is treated in a special way. Dividing of tasks among the inmates also assists them to adapt to the environment as they communicate with the other inmates and are oriented to the tasks which are carried out (Sham 1970). The inmates need constant motivational and uplifting seminars which aid them in proper development. Spiritual uplifting gives them hope and make them develop in the right direction. They should also be given guidance and know there is life after prison. The prison authorities should invite guests who will motivate and uplift the prisoners (Sheldon 1982). Prison is intended to assist the criminal to change positively and bring no harm to the society once they are released. Prison should be used to correct the mistakes and uplift them to be acceptable citizens. Many correctional facilities use brutal methods to correct the prisoners like, physical beatings having one meal a day, no free time and lots of labor. This type of treatment damages the inmate physically and emotionally and does not bring any change to the prisoner. The prisons should give less labor to the inmates and time for rest. They should also introduce a system where they earn from their labor. For instance, if they work more hard, they get rewards lie TV, gym, football. This way they will be more motivated to get the work finished because there is a reward at the end of it. More time should also be put to educate the prisoners. The library should be open to all prisoners who feel free to advance their knowledge. Holding competitions like football and debates makes them grow and are able to respect each other. Creating more time with family and friends gives them the assurance that people still care for them and will need to change to be accepted by their families. Having visitations like once a month will enable them to gather confidence in themselves. These methods lead the prisoner know there is more to life than punishment and they can live a good life by causing no harm to the community. Motivating them will make them start businesses once they get out of prison (Crag 1992). There are many reasons which make one become a criminal. One of the many beliefs is when one was abused and depressed as a child or fell into bad company when they were growing up. These changes their psychology as they grow up and they are filled with hate and revenge and will want to cause harm and that is the only way they will feel god about themselves. The environment where one grew up contributes to who they will be in future. If one lives in a neighborhood where people make a living by stealing, selling drugs and kidnapping, they will adopt to this methods slowly without realizing (Sham 1970). A person can also be labeled by society as a criminal and will adapt to that name. The lack of self control, hate and poor socialization skills make people to live with hatred and wanting to cause harm to individuals. Being in prison and seeing how other criminals behave and how they organize their criminal gangs also contribute to making one a criminal as soon as they get out of prison because they will have experience first hand training from experienced criminals. While in prison, most inmates gather hope and confidence that they will be free one day. They should be encouraged to stay out of trouble while in prison and to develop in a way which will be acceptable by the society. A prisoner should not be excommunicated from the society and needs to be embraced in order to move in the right direction. The correctional institution should be seen as correctional centers whose main aim will be to assist the prisoners grow in the positive direction and should not be perceived as a torture chamber. Once out of prison, the prisoner should use the skills acquired and bring positive development to the society and stay out of danger. However, the society will need to accept the imprisoned and treat him in a good way that will not hurt his psychology. References Crag, W. (1992). The practice of punishment. London: Rutledge Press. Sham, S. (1970). The inmate social code. New York: Wiley & Sons Sheldon, M & GreTosh, J. (1982). The pains of imprisonment. California: Sage Publications.

Macbeth and Animal Farm Essay

Both Shakespeare and Orwell present rivals as threats to their leaders’ power. Shakespeare introduces this threat through the Witches in Act 1, scene 3 when the third witch announces that Banquo ‘shall get kings’. In Macbeth’s soliloquy in Act 3, scene 2, the audience is reminded that he is predisposed with maintaining his power, now that he has become king, and illustrates that Banquo was announced as a ‘father to a line of kings’. The audience assumes that Macbeth is infertile as he feels he is unable to produce an heir as he expresses his ‘fruitless crown’ and his ‘barren sceptre’ and seems quite indignant that Banquo’s will profit from ‘the  gracious Duncan’ that he has murdered. It appears that Shakespeare is justifying Macbeth’s ruthless ambition and want to maintain power, which puts Macbeth into darker depths by having Banquo and Fleance murdered, by his lack of an heir. Similarly, the audience is provided by Snowball as the rival to Napoleon’s absolute power in his introduction to the character in Chapter 2. Orwell tells the reader he ‘was a more vivacious pig than Napoleon’, setting him up immediately in competition His description goes on to describe him as ‘quicker in speech and more inventive ‘. This is proven when he emerges later in Chapter 4 as the brave hero of the Battle of the Cowshed after which we see him awarded with the military decoration of ‘Animal Hero First Class’ while the reader realizes Napoleon seems to be conspicuous in his absence. Moreover, Snowball invents plans for the windmill and Orwell outlines all his creative ideas in his committees and therefore Napoleon clearly makes plans to expel him from the farm. The key difference between Shakespeare and Orwell’s presentations is that we witness Macbeth’s thought processes and plans while Orwell keeps the reader in the dark yet offers them clues that Napoleon is not to be trusted. It comes as no surprise to the reader in Chapter 5 when Napoleon unleashes his personally educated dogs, who represent Stalin’s secret police, on Snowball. Both leaders maintain power by eradicating any competition. http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/compare-contrast-impact-conflict-napoleon-macbeth-372660 http://www.gradesaver.com/animal-farm/q-and-a/explore-the-ways-george-orwell-and-william-shakespeare-present-conflict-in-animal-farm-macbeth-51453/ http://prezi.com/f41ewhbheqdv/animal-farm-vs-macbeth/ Comparisons between characters: Lady Macbeth, Macbeth and Napoleon all use others to further themselves. Lady Macbeth takes advantage over Macbeth by persuading him to kill Duncan so she can have more power. Napoleon uses Squealer to take advantage of the other animals by making them their slaves and being made to believe all Napoleon’s decisions are best for the farm. Both Napoleon and Macbeth become power hungry which turns into a negative effect, both use violence to gain power by installing fear into people Macbeth’s hunger for power causes him to  murder many innocent people and eventually leads to him downfall. Napoleon’s hunger for power causes him to use excessive force and make the animals do slave labor. -both Napoleon and Macbeth represent Stalin Differences: One is a play, one is a novel M written in 1606 when James 1 was in power in England (birth of the Stuart regime) AF was published in August 1945 after the Russian Revolution of 1917 + predicted the Cold War. Throughout both ‘Macbeth’ and ‘Animal Farm’ the audience can see a large amount of deceit, treachery and a lack of trust between the leaders’ and their followers. Shakespeare shows this deceit in Macbeth’s relationship with other characters where he hides his true feelings and ‘is here in double trust’. However, the audience is privy to the true thoughts of Macbeth and his wife due to their plotting in Act 1, scene 5 where Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth to ‘look like th’innocent flower/ But be the serpent under’t’ and which creates dramatic irony during the play. Similarly, Orwell’s novella ‘Animal Farm’ uses dramatic irony as the audience can see that the pigs are manipulating the animals into slave labor and although the audience is not made privy to Napoleon’s innermost thoughts, we can still see past the animals’ lack of intelligence to see the pigs are re-writing the 7 C ommandments.

Use of Formal Assessment Tools for Patients Spiritual Needs Essay

Use of Formal Assessment Tools for Patients Spiritual Needs - Essay Example From this essay it is clear that  the spiritual needs of the patients are less tangible compared to physical, because they are often difficult to measure, complex, and abstract hence, given lower priority than other needs especially physical needs. Spiritual needs are defined as factors that are needed to diminish the spiritual deficits or enhance spiritual strengths of a person. These needs are concerned with person’s relationship and meaning of things that transcends the material things.This paper outlines that to achieve much effectiveness and efficiency, formal assessment tools should take less time, be flexible, and be easy to use. The words used during assessment should encourage the patient to participate in the process. It should be conducted in a manner that is non- judgemental and non-threatening. There are three major formal assessment tools namely: FICA Model, Howden’s Spirituality Assessment Scale, and Jarel Spiritual Well-Being Scale.  The scale focuse s on four main areas namely: transcendence, inner resources, meaning and purpose in life, and unifying interconnectedness. Lastly, Jarel Spiritual Well-Being Scale is an assessment tool used by health professionals and is based on assessing spiritual needs of older adults. The tool is based on 21 statements which are rated according to a scale of â€Å"strongly agree† - â€Å"strongly disagree†.  These formal assessment tools are the best way for a health professional to ensure that assessment and care of patient’s spiritual needs are met.

The US Presidential Candidates on Foreign Policy Essay

The US Presidential Candidates on Foreign Policy - Essay Example Our relations with Iran and North Korea are at center stage. Our plan for the war in Iraq and an international consensus may be vital to our success there. Almost every issue from banking to human rights requires some degree of foreign policy expertise. While McCain's years as a Senator qualifies him as the most experienced candidate, what Obama lacks in experience he makes up for in expertise. In today's world, Obama's plans and approaches to foreign policy are a better fit with the international community and the growing globalization. One of the critical differences is in the approach and style that the men bring to the table. While McCain's years of experience have given him significant exposure to foreign events and crisis, many of his methods arise from his experiences and are anchored in the past. For example, his comment during the debate of 'walk softly and carry a big stick' may have been effective in dealing with the 20th century banana republics, but is not relevant to 21st century Iran. In addition, he has recently contended that Iran's Ahmadinejad was responsible for their nuclear policy when in fact it is the Ayatollah Kahmenei and Iran's National Security Council. When questioned he simply replied, "any average American thought of Ahmadinejad as the Iranian leader, and so he would, too" (Frick). However, we would not expect the average American to run our foreign policy. While Obama may lack the direct experience, he has a lifetime of studied thought and a personal interest in foreign affairs that gi ves him a historical perspective and an expertise that McCain lacks. This ability to think and examine is shown by the candidates' difference in their approach to Iran. McCain steadfastly argues that we should never negotiate with terrorists and refuses to talk to the Iranians. This approach is a continuation of the Bush policy that has been responsible for the election of the extremist government in Iran. While Iran is a rather moderate and modern country, they have elected a hard line government in response to the Bush right wing rhetoric of the early 2000s. However, Obama contends that we should be talking to the Iranians. Note that Obama understands the difference between negotiating and talking, which offers no guarantees, makes no promises, and has no pre-conditions (Fang). While we may come away from the table with nothing, it may thaw out an icy relationship and create a first step to a diplomatic process. Here again, Obama favors the reasonable avenue of diplomacy with war as a last resort, while McCain favors the pre-emptive strike policies (a reckless and dangerous approach) that have been pursued by the current administration. These same shortsighted policies will be pursued by McCain in North Korea, while Obama will favor constructive diplomacy to defuse the situation. The most immediate foreign policy dilemma that will face the next president will be the plan for Iraq. The critical difference between the candidates is their steadiness and commitment to a goal. Obama has supported a phased withdrawal with a timetable to extract the US presence in Iraq since the war began. McCain had been adamantly opposed to a timetable arguing that it would simply motivate the enemy to wait for our exit. Meckler reports that, "After months of ridiculing opponents who want to set a timetable for withdrawal in Iraq, today John

Issues in Learning and Teaching Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Issues in Learning and Teaching - Essay Example Looking at marginalized ideologies of knowledge and learning also creates a deeper understanding of what it means to receive an education. The main concept of recognition of education is one that is formed by perception of what it means to have information and knowledge. In the Western form of knowledge, there is a perception that knowledge comes from a textbook, school system and the ability to move through this system with points or grades. This one method for achieving knowledge in the culture is what determines what an individual does and how they associate with society. Furthermore, it changes the information that one decides to live their life from, as opposed to create their own career or belief system about knowledge. The consciousness that is given from the school system then becomes what forms an individual, their interpretations and the perceptions that they hold for a life time. The result is a sense of understanding and maintaining the environment according to the school system and the conscious beliefs that have formed from the information and knowledge one has received from this particular institution (Davis, Sumara, Kapler, 2007). The concept of perception for education and information becomes complex because of others that have not received the same format for education or which come from a different cultural context. For instance, indigenous cultures that aren’t brought through the system have a perception of the institution as one which limits the way in which one thinks. The natural beliefs that one has who has received a formal education, as opposed to a culture that believes and lives in an alternative way then transforms and changes the approach which one has in relation to information. The basis of this comes from contextuality, which is what shapes the individual’s life, specifically through mental and social beliefs as well as assumptions and desires that are formed from this. The context created with cultural affiliation s, school systems and information is what leads one to believe that something is normal or expected. Outside of this is a transformation that has to occur to create the right approach. This belief then forms the state of nature. For one that has been through a school system is a state of nature that comes from the ideas learned in this format. For one who has experienced the indigenous culture is a different state of nature that forms and creates the necessary perceptions. The importance of this concept is based on the gap which forms between the two cultures in relating to the informational aspects when working with a specific group (Henderson, 2000). There is an important notice in the concept of information and learning that occurs between the systems and cultural differences which occur. When looking at this perspective from a specific viewpoint, one can note that there is the inability to relate to different cultures and not to understand what the other is going through. The pe rsonal experience of going through a school system causes definitions and beliefs to form around an indigenous culture. If there is an unawareness that this is occurring, then it may lead to other problems with how one interacts with

See below Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 3

See below - Essay Example the experiences of the six year old protagonist, ‘Scout’ who learns the harsh facts of the life and comes out a winner because they teach her the fundamental lesson that life is not always easy to understand and all people, irrespective of color, race or social status have the right to live with dignity. She learnt that â€Å"you never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view..† (Atticus, 30). The book has been a reflection of the experiences of the author who had seen the destructive and irredeemable harms of the racial discriminatory practices that were deliberately inflicted on the less privileged segment of the society. It is true that early twentieth century did see some constitutional reforms regarding racial discrimination but unfortunately till 1960s, little efforts were made to implement them. The book has explored the crucial issue of racial prejudices in a manner that has managed to stir the sensitivity of the masses provoking them to question the legitimacy of such practices in the times when America was advocating for democratic values and equal rights. Its has aptly been titled in the light of the prevailing social paradigms that supported the oppressions of the black and believed them to be inferior. The book revolves around the family of the protagonist, Scout, her brother Jem and their father Atticus Finch, a well respected lawyer, who is against any racial or class prejudice and instills the same values in his two children. They live in a southern Alabama in Maycomb where the impact of great depression is visible in its class division. â€Å"People moved slowly then†¦ nothing to buy, and no money to buy it with..† (Scout, 11).  The father teaches the important values through examples and says "..but before I can live with other folks Ive got to live with myself.   The one thing that doesnt abide by majority rule is a persons conscience" (Atticus, 114). He employs a colored woman, Calpurnia as his

Planning Law & Ethics in Michigan Avenue Corridor Assignment - 1

Planning Law & Ethics in Michigan Avenue Corridor - Assignment Example The council also aspires to maintain activities that are environmentally friendly to the Red Cedar River. For the purpose of tackling and solving the urban decay in an effective way, redevelopment will assume diverse forms in order to facilitate its redesign. The redevelopment project will put into consideration factors such as the conditions of the building and conditions of living ­. The redevelopment project must, however, put into consideration the regulations of Renewal Authority Ordinance (URA) that help structure owners go through both complicated and technical processes. This process of redevelopment aims at restructuring dilapidated and old buildings whose living conditions are poor. The process will replan and rebuild the Avenue sites to accomplish clear environmental as well as social benefits (Brandon 297). In addition, redevelopment plan also targets the available open spaces and facilities of the community. The URA will, in addition, carry out assembly of larger areas of land for comprehensive planning. The comprehensive planning would create room for the restructuring of open space, transport network and local roads. Consequently, the company will achieve proper and better utilization of land resources as well as improving overall Michigan district environment. Planning efforts has a purpose of engaging the Lancing region to define a unified vision for Michigan Avenue, also known as Grand Avenue Corridor. The project aspires to extend eastwards to the town of Webberville. The Red Cedar project has an estimation of $200 million dollars slated for both residential developments and business to revitalize former Red Cedar Golf Club. The process will also create great renovation along the Lansing and East Lansing Michigan Avenue in the area around US 127. The redevelopment project set to break ground will be an establishment across the street from Frandor.  

Goldman Sachs Group Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Goldman Sachs Group - Essay Example Goldman Sachs emerged in 1869 when founder Marcus Goldman founded the company; his son-in-law Samuel Sachs would join the organization in 1885, giving the company its modern moniker. In this early incarnation, the company primarily functioned as a commercial paper manufacturer for entrepreneurs. They were highly successful and joined the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in 1896 (Lindskoog). In the early 20th century the company moved into the financial market, a path that would come to characterize the organization. Their first substantial contributions to this market were in terms of managing initial public offerings (IPOs). For instance, they managed the Sears, Roebuck and Company IPO in 1906 (Lindskoog). At the time this was the largest market IPO that had occurred on the NYSE. The next great shift in the company occurred in 1930 when Stanley Weinberg joined the organization. Weinberg’s major contribution was shifting the company emphasis from trading and more into the field of investment banking. While Goldman had suffered a hit in reputation during the 1929 stock market crash, Weinberg had worked to restore much of the company’s brand. One considers a similar parallel with the 2008 economic recession (Lindskoog). ... In 1990 future Treasury Secretary under the Clinton administration Robert Rubin joined the firm. In 1994 he would leave and Jon Corzine would assume leadership; Corzine was proceeded by Henry Paulson, another former Treasury Secretary (Lindskoog). In 1999 the company issued its own IPO, releasing 48% of its stock publicly. Still, the most notable elements of the company occurred in the 2007-2008 subprime mortgage crisis. During this period the company profited on the collapse in subprime mortgages by short-selling subprime mortgage backed securities; this garnered significant questions of ethics (McGee). Still, the company experienced significant financial hardship during the recession and received over $10 billion in government bailout (McGee). The company has a large variety of financial products and services. In its contemporary incarnation the company has three main divisions: investment banking, asset management and securities services, and trading and principal investments (Coh an). The investment banking division involves financial advising; such practices include mergers and acquisitions, restructuring, and avoiding hostile. They also participate in underwriting public offering and private placements of equity. Another division is asset management and securities service. The asset management division offers investment advice and financial planning (Cohan). The securities service includes clearing, financing, custody, and securities lending. The third division is the trading and principal investment division. This is understood as the most developed of the organization’s divisions and operates as the organization’s greatest source of profit (Cohan). This division is divided into the further subsections of fixed income, currency,

Environment and Climate Change Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Environment and Climate Change - Essay Example This programme will focus on all the issues related to the environmental concerns such as resource management, energy conservation, pollution etc. The complete duration of the programme will be five years i.e. from 2011 to 2015. The activities involved in this programme will be divided into different phases. Each phase will be followed after a period of six months from the preceding phase. This phase will start from January 2011 and the first six months will be directed towards the awareness as well as the implementation of the activity. In this phase, the management will encourage the use of recycle bins throughout the university. It can be possible by placing more and more recycle bins around the campus as it will help reduce and recycle the organic waste. It will also create a habit of recycling the wastes in the minds of the individuals. This phase will introduce the ‘green transport’ idea with the collaboration of the transport companies and will be introduced by July 2011. The idea is to discourage the use of private cars and single occupancy car journeys. It encourages walking, cycling and the use of public transport for travelling purposes. This can be done by offering cheaper bus rates to the students as well as the faculty and other staff members. The third phase will begin from January 2012. In this phase, the university will support the students in bringing their own cutlery for tea/ coffee etc. This will help in reducing the number of disposable cups available in the canteen as well as in minimizing the costs involved in the purchase of the disposable items. This phase will start from July 2012. In the fourth phase, the individuals will be asked to bring their own reusable bags for shopping and other purposes to promote an eco-friendly environment. It will not only save a large amount of money used for

Irony Literary Analysis Essay Example for Free

Irony Literary Analysis Essay Tragedy is a dramatic form that was first developed in ancient Greece. A  tragedy usually has these characteristics: The main character is involved in a struggle that ends in disaster. This character, often called the tragic hero, is a person of high rank who has the respect of the community.  The tragic heros downfall is usually the result of some combination of fate, an error in judgment, and a personality weakness often called a tragic flaw. Once the tragedy is in motion, the downfall is usually inevitable. The tragic hero gains wisdom or insight by the plays end. Tragedy arouses feelings of pity and fear in the audience. Spectators pity the plight of the main character and fear that a similar fate might befall them. A tragic drama may also suggest that the human spirit is capable of remarkable nobility even in the midst of great suffering. An allegory is a story with more than one layer of meaning: a literal meaning and one or more symbolic meanings. The characters, settings, and themes in an allegory are symbols of ideas and qualities that exist outside the story. The Crucible is an allegory, because Miller uses one his ­ torical period and setting (seventeenth-century New England) to comment on another (1950s America). The tragedy that occurs in Salem is an allego ­ ry for the anti-Communist hysteria that gripped the United States during the 1950s. As you read, notice how the events in Salem echo the events surrounding the McCarthy hearings to tragic effect.

Social Inequality Within a Society Essay Example for Free

Social Inequality Within a Society Essay Throughout history, social classification has been a basis of economic and social stability. Social classification was introduced to even the predecessors of human civilization, the Mesopotamian civilization. But, due to natural flaws within the structure of the social classification system, this system concluded in becoming biased towards the upper class and unrighteous toward the lower class. Because social classification consistently had flaws which made the system more prejudiced to the lower class, throughout historical times, social classification primarily affected a society in a negative manner. Provided the idea of social inequality through the means of social classification, numerous ancient civilizations including the civilization of Athens, practiced a rigid social classing structure. In the ancient civilization of Athens, the social classing structure was extremely rigid. The upper class of Athens citizens was permitted only to pure blooded male Athenians who were born into their class. The social structure in Athens was very misogynistic toward females. Women were considered vile and loathsome. They were often treated as outcasts and even slaves. According to Bridges, â€Å"Women were rarely seen outside the home and had no rights in the Athenian democracy. † Due to the rigid social class structure of Athens, women were denied all rights. Even though the principles of democracy state that everyone be treated equally under the rule of law, because of the social class structure of Athens, women were completely denied any rights in a democracy. This form of class structure did not only prevail in European civilizations. But, this rigid classification system also prevailed in Middle Eastern and Indian civilizations as well. Indus River Valley civilization practiced an inexorable and rigid form of social classification. One had to inherit their social class by being born into the class. Mobility between classes was impossible. According to Kogl And Moore, â€Å"People were born into social classes that could not be changed. There were 4 Social classes, which were Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishiyas, and Shudras. † Due to the immobile class structure of Indus valley civilization, the citizens were locked in a single class forever. There were four classes which were practiced in Indus Valley Civilization. The Shudras class was considered the lowest class and this class primarily consisted of peasants and serfs. The Shudras were treated as feculence and were also denied natural rights and justice such as freedom to liberty and property. Due to the rigid social class structure in civilizations such as Athens and the Indus River Valley, many classes were predilected upon while the other classes were denied of their social and natural rights. In addition to the historical examples of social inequality and class struggle, many novels also base the idea of social inequality as their major theme. One of such novels is To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Since To Kill A Mockingbird was written in 1954, this novel circulates around the idea of social inequality due to racism. Since Africans were viewed as slaves in the 1950s, these foreigners were denied many of the basic rights which were guaranteed to the Caucasians by the Constitution. In this novel, the central conflict revolves around the Tom Robinson case. Tom Robinson is falsely accused of raping white woman, Mayella Ewell. When Dr. Atticus Finch, the protagonist’s father accepts to continue the case on behalf of Tom, he is severely criticized and dishonored to the point where the people of Maycomb agree severely injure Dr. Atticus Finch. According to a character named Bob Ewell in the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, ‘â€Å" Too proud to fight, you nigger-lovin bastard? †Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ (Lee 118). The discrimination due to social class is still prevalent during the time Lee wrote this novel. The major antagonist, Bob Ewell uses the above quotation while trying to murder Dr. Atticus Finch. Bob Ewell is extremely enraged because Dr. Atticus Finch fought against his sister, Mayella just to protect a â€Å"nigger. † This novel conveys a meaning of class struggle and its relative consequences. Because Atticus accepted to protect an innocent African – American man, he upset the entire Maycomb town and almost got assassinated. Multiple classic novels such as To Kill A Mockingbird, transmit an idea of social inequality, and class struggle to overcome the social inequality. They also communicate relative consequences for class struggle. One such novel which conveys a meaning of social inequality and a rigid class structure is the novel, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. In this novel, citizens are predestined to be in one class while in their embryonic stage. While the Alpha embryos are conditioned to excel in academics, the Epsilon embryos are poisoned with alcohol in order to diminish all forms of independent thought processes from their brains. Though the citizens of the Brave New World are in a constant state of confinement, they are educated to become and stay appeased with their servitude. Even though the lower classes in this novel are content with their position, this does not excuse the fact that the lower classes were conditioned to become satisfied with their servitude and that their free will was completely ignored. According to the character named Mustafa Mond in the novel, Brave New World, ‘â€Å"Liberty to be inefficient and miserable. Freedom to be a round peg in a square hole†Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ (Huxley 138). Liberty was considered by the world controllers to be dissatisfying and depressing. Liberty, in the eyes of the world controllers, was unrelated to science and could potentially cause chaos. The world controller, Mustafa Mond is ridiculing the idea of gaining content and satisfaction through the means of liberty. He also uses a metaphor of freedom being a round peg in a square hole, which was happiness and content. He describes through the metaphor that freedom and happiness are completely unrelated and in order to gain happiness, one must sacrifice his freedom. Not only is the ideology of rigid classing structure used in historical times, but this ideology is also used as one of the major themes in novels such as To Kill A Mockingbird and Brave New World in order to persuade the reader about negative effects of social classing structure on humans. Although social classing primarily affected a society in a negative manner, there have been multiple occasions where social class system has affected a society in a positive manner. One of the positive aspects of social classing system is that the classing system eliminates uneducated classes such as the lowest classes of serfs and peasants from making decisions which are grave enough to impact an entire society. Any society would profit from decisions made by educated and wealthy upper classes, rather than uneducated decisions made by an uneducated and poor class. Because the lower classes receive bare minimum to absolutely no education at all, they are likely to make a decision that would be detrimental to the entire society and also to their own class. According to Girard, â€Å"Those who possess a lower socioeconomic status, should not be allowed to make decisions impacting a group. † Due to the lower socioeconomic status of a class of people, they were not properly exposed to in-depth education in order to make educated decisions for their group. This would mean that if there are extremely educated and wealthy classes to make educated decisions for a society, there is no reason to jeopardize the prosperity of a nation by letting lower socioeconomic classes vote. Even though there have been rare circumstances where social classing is proved beneficial, social classing primarily affects any society in a negative manner. In ancient Meso America, several tribes including the Aztecs, have used a rigid and inescapable class structure in order to not only maintain social control, but to also maintain a strong belief in their gods. The aztecs lived their lives in belief that the ancient war God, Huitzilopochtli fought off the vile and inhuman demons in order to make the sun rise again. The Aztecs also believed that God Huitzilopochtli grew extremely feeble and defenseless by battling the darkness and that he required ample amounts of human blood in order to replenish his strength. So, while the upper class of nobles ruled the tribe, they used the commoners as a source of nourishment for the war god. According to Pfeil, â€Å"Huitzilopochtli is first in rank, no one is like unto him. Not vainly do I sing coming forth in the garb of our ancestors, I shine; I glitter. † This ancient Aztec hymm was sung by every victim before he or she was cruelly massacred and had his or her heart gouged out. The Aztecs would sacrifice any commoners including women, children, disaled and the elderly. The social classing structure in tribes such as the Aztecs, was not only injust, but the classing system was also inhumane and deadly. This religious practice was one of the major detriments for the downfall of the Aztecs. Eventhough there have been extremely rare occasions where a society has benefitted from a social class, primarily the social classing structure have always been a negative aspect of a society. The idea of social classing is still prevalent within the modern society. Many countries practice different social classing systems such as Marxism. Marxism is the ideology that the upper class of the society is appropriated a surplus of social product. This simply means that by inheriting or transferring to an upper class, one receives multiple socio-economic benefits. These benefits include unpaid surplus labor. This type of social classification also manifests itself to the society as a negative aspect of social classification. According to Werner, â€Å"This deduction theory of the income of the lower class is thus a factor of debate. † Due to the upper class receiving the surplus amount of socio-economic product, Marxism has caused many riots in countries. But, due to the socio-economic stability, many countries still continue to utilize it. Regardless, this modern form of social classification impacts the society negatively. In finalization to the ideology and structure of the rigid social classification system, the idea is very obvious that the social classification system impacts any society in a negative manner. Numerous ancient civilizations including the civilization of Athens and the Indus River Valley civilization practiced a rigid social classing structure. In addition to the historical examples of social inequality and class struggle, many novels such as Brave New World and To Kill A Mockingbird, also base the idea of social inequality as their major theme. Throughout historical times, Social classification primarily affected a society in a negative manner.

What is penal welfarism? Garlands theory.

What is penal welfarism? Garlands theory. What is penal welfarism? Evaluate the impact it has had on juvenile justice reform in the UK from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present. In order to evaluate the impact of penal welfarism upon juvenile justice reform, the concept will be defined with reference to Garland (2001). The contributing societal factors to the emergence of penal welfarism in juvenile justice reform will then be assessed. The practical and legal achievements of penal welfarism in the juvenile justice system will be identified. Challenges to penal welfarism will be outlined, with particular reference to alternate conceptions of youth justice and criminality. The demise of the penal welfarism approach will be assessed, with specific reference to the motivating societal factors and comparison between the Welsh, English and Scottish juvenile justice systems. Penal welfarism as defined by Garland (2001) as a structural response to crime that is composed of two ideological standpoints. Due process and proportionate punishment, with their inherent liberal ideologies, ensure that all the rights of the juvenile offender are respected. The punishment is fitting to the crime and the circumstances of the juvenile offender. Rehabilitation and offender welfare are approached from a correctionalist viewpoint. This entails that the punishment served by the offender maintains a focus upon the rehabilitation of the offender, as does the approach of professionals who work with the offender during the punishment period. In short, penal welfarism suggests that rehabilitation will be most effective if the offender is provided with positive motivation while in the care of the penal reform system. The logic behind the practice is that if the offender is provided with the opportunity to progress in the penal institution, they will wish to continue to do so w hen released back into society. The notion of penal welfarism is derived from applying the practicalities of the welfarism ideology to the penal system. The welfarism concept asserts that policy requires evaluation in terms of its consequences (Kaplow Shavell, 2002). This assessment is most frequently made using a utilitarian approach, i.e. the usefulness of the approach in question. The logical application of this concept to the penal system dictates that policy regarding offender treatment should be assessed in terms of offender rehabilitation, i.e. the offender will not repeatedly offend upon release and as a result society will be safer. The focus is upon the usefulness of the punishment, i.e. its resulting benefit to society and improvement of personal conditions. Therefore penal welfarism maintains a focus on respecting the rights of the individual and maintaining a rehabilitative approach as this is deemed to be the most beneficial approach for both the offender and for society. The formation and application of penal welfarism to juvenile justice reform is interrelated with the emergence of a welfare state at the turn of the 20th century (Garland, 2002). The welfare state was implemented by the Liberal government in order to meet demands to negate social insecurity while protecting free trade and a capitalist economy (Daunton, 2007). The emergence of free trade had resulted in increased unemployment and harsher social conditions for those at the lower end of the pay spectrum. However, free trade and capitalism were deemed as models that required protection. Therefore pensions, health services and other such welfare services were centralized and nationalized to ensure that these individuals would be protected in the capitalist state. Garland (2002) identifies these welfare systems as being rooted in ideologies of protection and integration, so that even the most disadvantaged members of society are protected by the welfare state. Out of this ideology was born penal welfarism for juvenile justice. As these social and economical reforms based taxation upon the basis of the individual workers rather than according to the class system (Leonard, 2003), each member of society was treated upon the basis of individual circumstance, in theory dispelling the class system. Therefore, within the penal system for juvenile justice, individualism arose where the rights and rehabilitation of each offender was considered. The main legal and practical development in respect to penal welfarism was the separation of individuals under the age of 21 from adults in the justice system. In light of the requirement to individualize and respect the rights of each juvenile offender, juvenile courts were officially established by the Children Act 1908 (Goldson Muncie, 2008). In addition to this, corrective Borstals were created for juveniles under the age of 21. Individuals could be sentenced to a period in such an institution for between one and three years. It was considered that these institutions were to focus on rehabilitation of the juvenile, and the training of the juvenile to be re-integrated with society upon their release (Muncie, 2006). The role of the juvenile justice system was further defined by the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 (Ikin, 1933). This Act entailed the reorganization of reform schools so that they provided education to offenders; and training so that they may find employment upon completion of their sentence. Furthermore capital punishment for any offender below the age of 18 was abolished by the Act. Issues of anonymity were also covered (Ikin, 1933). The media were and are able to report the name of an adult offender if it was deemed to serve public interests. However, the identity of juvenile offenders was protected by the law. The penal welfarism approach to juvenile justice was criticized on both economical and ideological grounds. Economically, this system, and the welfare system in general, was criticized as being born out of fear of free trade and the emergence of corporations as the dominant financial players in society (Platt, 2002). Increased spending on the welfare system and individualist taxation were contributing factors to this. Ideologically, the concept has been challenged with reference to the societal conception of crime reformation and with reference to the individual in the system. In terms of the latter, it is the goal of reformation that is problematic. For example, Hudson (2002) outlines institutional sexism that was apparent in the penal welfarism definitions of rehabilitation. Discrepancies in the social moral code that must be adhered to by males and females highlighted unfairness in the treatment of females in this system. While rehabilitation of the male juvenile offender focused on the criminal act, female rehabilitation focused much more strongly on personal and sexual behaviour within society. In terms of societal conceptions of crime, it has been argued that viewing the juvenile as on a linear path through deviance (diversion) may be more effective in terms of negating re-offending (Austin Krisberg, 2002). Furthermore, re-defining what is considered a criminal act, for example, the redefinition of drug use as a social as opposed to a criminal problem; may result in a more effective approach to the problem in comparison to penal welfarism (Austin Krisberg, 2002). After a period of a Labour government working to enhance the ideology of care for the juvenile offender in the 1960s; the penal welfarism approach began to decline when the Conservatives came to power in the 1970 General Election (Smith, 2007). It was considered that the judicial and welfare aspects had become disjointed, and the focus began to grow upon the judicial proceedings of the system. This is evident by the significant increase in the number of juveniles receiving custodial sentences in the 1970s (Rutter Giller, 1983). The ideology increasingly narrowed onto punishment and control (Geisthorpe Morris, 2002) throughout the 1980s, especially in England and Wales. The issue of juvenile crime was focused onto the victims, with the criminals perpetrated as depraved (Jones, 1994). Echoes of this can be seen in present day society where hooded teenagers are feared by adult society (for an example of this see MacLean, 2008). Importantly, the Criminal Justice Act 1991 brought in a s eparation of systems, one to deal with juveniles requiring judicial attention, and one for those in need of welfare provision (Geisthorpe Morris, 2002). While England and Wales fully segregated these two systems, Scottish practices of juvenile justice policies maintained a higher level of communication between the two approaches. However, societal moral panics regarding serious youth crime and repeat offending has created a concern that juvenile offenders are not aware of the impact of their actions (Jones, 1994). This could possibly be related to the breakdown of community. These concerns have paved the way for a juvenile justice ideology that is based upon restorative justice as set out by the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 (Geisthorpe Morris, 2002). Penal welfarism refers to a system that presents positive motivations for juvenile offenders to develop while in the penal system. The concept arose with the birth of the welfare state. Penal welfarism resulted in the segregation of juveniles from adults in the judicial process, the eradication of capital punishment for juveniles and anonymity of juvenile offenders from the media. As a concept, it was challenged for the welfare state’s impact upon free trade. It was also challenged by its characterisation of the juvenile offender; diversion and decriminalisation were offered as alternate ideologies. The concept demised with the segregation of welfare and judicial proceedings for adolescents. Societal factors for this include a fear of the juvenile offender. This has led to a focus on restorative justice which is implemented in juvenile reform today. References Austin, J., Krisberg, B. (2002). Wider, stronger and different nets: the dialects of criminal justice reform. In J. Muncie, G., Hughes E. McLaughlin (Eds.), Youth Justice: Critical Readings, London: Sage Publications Ltd. Daunton, M. (2007). Wealth and Welfare: An Economic and Social History of Britain 1851-1951). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Garland, D. (2001). The Culture of Control: Crime and Social Order in Contemporary Society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Garland, D. (2002). Penal strategies in a welfare state. In J. Muncie, G., Hughes E. McLaughlin (Eds.), Youth Justice: Critical Readings, London: Sage Publications Ltd. Geisthorpe, L., Morris, A. (2002). Restorative Youth Justice: the last vestiges of welfare? In J. Muncie, G., Hughes E. McLaughlin (Eds.), Youth Justice: Critical Readings, London: Sage Publications Ltd. Goldson, B., Muncie, J. (2008). Youth Crime and Juvenile Justice. London: Sage Publications Ltd. Hudson, A. (2002). ‘Troublesome girls’: Towards alternative definitions and policies. In J. Muncie, G., Hughes E. McLaughlin (Eds.), Youth Justice: Critical Readings, London: Sage Publications Ltd. Ikin, A.E. (1933). Children and Young Persons Act, 1933: Being the Text of the Statute together with Explanatory Notes. London: Sir I. Pitman and Sons. Jones, M. (1994). Images and reality: Juvenile crime, youth violence and public policy. London: National Council on Crime and Delinquency. Kaplow, L., Shavell, S. (2002). Fairness versus Welfare.Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Leonard, M. (2003). Promoting Welfare? Government Information Policy and Social Citizenship. Bristol: Policy Press. MacLean, D. (2008). New hoodies are a yob’s dream. The Shields Gazette, 9th August. Muncie, J. (2006). From Borstal to YOI. In Y. Jewkes H. Johnston (Eds.) Prison Readings. Devon: Willan Publishing. Platt, A. (2002). The triumph of benevolence: the origins of the juvenile system in the United States. In J. Muncie, G., Hughes E. McLaughlin (Eds.), Youth Justice: Critical Readings, London: Sage Publications Ltd. Rutter, M., Giller, H. (1983). Juvenile Delinquency: Trends and Perspectives. New York: Guilford Publications. Smith, R. (2007). Youth Justice: Ideas, Policy, Practice. Devon: Willan Publishing.

Sun Angel :: Free Essay Writer

Sun Angel â€Å"Sun Angel† by Chris Fisher is a collection of short stories, each one portraying a different character that grew up in the small town of Dolguard. Each story is written from someone else’s point of view, therefore giving us a closer look into the town. We get to see the full picture, and see how the characters shape the way we view life in a small town. The characters in these short stories were all very unique. They ranged from children, young kids just out of college, drunks, and farmers trying to make ends meet. It was interesting to see how each character was tied to the town. Even after moving away to a large city, Muriel, always thought of Dolguard as her true home. When Greg, a young college student, wants to run for mayor, an old farmer named Dick sums up the ways of the town by saying, â€Å"It’s town stuff. It’s working together stuff. It’s Dolguard, and now some young bucks want to tear it apart.†. As i read that it occurred to me that this might also be how some people in Dalmeny feel when they see us young kids trying to organize dances, have parties, or start up a recreation center. It helped me to understand a little where they were coming from. Some characters in these stories were rather shady. In one story there was an Uncle Matt, who seemed rather nice in the beginning. But as the story went on it was evident that he was raping his niece. In the end, she ends up seeking revenge and killing him. As you can see, this small town does have some dark secrets. I liked how this book was written. It may have been a collection of short stories, but since some characters were mentioned in more than one story, it linked it all together nicely. Chris Fisher does a wonderful job of showing the roots of a small town, and how the characters shape this community. Often the stories are told in first person narration, so you can see how the character feels and what they think. It takes it to a more personal level, making it easier to relate to the different characters. The one thing that bothered me about the novel was how certain things weren’t said. For example, in the story of Uncle Matt, it wasn’t directly said that he raped his niece, or that she killed him.

Music Essay -- essays papers

Music Hip-Hop Getting a Bad Rap Among many problems in society today, rap music is being blamed for the confusion of America's youths. One key problem is the way a child is raised. Not having a positive role model can have a powerful effect on a child. The other dilemma is the type of rap music. Gangster rapper's lyrics seem to corrupt and have a negative image on a youth's mind. Two possible steps to taking the blame away from rap music is by placing the spotlight on other influences such as friends and even the family as the source of confusion. The other by promoting rap artists whose lyrics has a positive message. The nation's youth are experiencing pain and confusion; and they need someone to look up to. In today's society, this figure is often a rapper, a gangster rapper. Gangster rappers feel they have something to say; and unfortunately some young, impressionable minds are listening. Gangster rappers Snoop Doggy Dogg's song "Serial Killa" and N.W.A.'s song "F--- Tha Police" have extremely explicit lyrics promoting violence. Snoop Doggy Dogg and Eazy-E (formerly a member of N.W.A.) are known for their affiliation with gangs from the West Coast. Snoop Doggy Dogg is known for his association with the Long Beach Insane Crips; and Eazy-E is a member of the Kelly Park Crips (Net). This violence along with the degrading of women is what gives rap a bad name. The majority of gangster rap songs have some form of degrading lyrics. Take the song "B-----s Ain't S-...

Is Google Evil? Essay -- Legal Case Monopoly

Google has proposed an agreement with representatives of authors and publishers to host a massive digital library. This library will consist of mostly books published in the United States. Google will make digitally available new and old books. This catalog will include books that are no longer in print and â€Å"orphan† texts (books where the copyright owner is unknown or contact information is unavailable).5 The texts will be available through search engines, for individual sale as electronic-books, and with database subscriptions. If the Google agreement is approved by the Justice Department, ethical issues would come into question. The issues addressed in this paper include whether the agreement creates a â€Å"legally sanctioned cartel for digital book rights†4 and if the public benefits outweigh the monopoly consequences. Google has the network, storage, man power and funding to make this digital library a possibility, yet is this justification enough to give one company so much concentrated power over information access? Using the utilitarian approach, arguments both for and against the Google library agreement can be supported. First the audience should be established. Authors and publishers could be financially affected by this agreement. They are represented as a whole by the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers. Both groups are working together to ensure that writers are not under compensated by Google and that publishing prices do not become too high. The Google company and its competitors are directly affected by the outcome of the agreement. Google will take on a huge expense in hopes to gain a reasonable profit. Competitors with equivalent capabilities, such as Microsoft and Amazon, have not expressed ... ...t there is no immediate need to settle for the current agreement. The Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers should take time to incorporate preventative measures in the agreement. Given the substantial impact the digital library would make time should be taken to re-discuss terms of usage, include amendments and restrictions. References 1. E. HARRIS and R. JAMES, ENGR 482 Class Notes, Texas A&M University (Fall 2009). 2. HARRIS,PRITCHARD, RABINS, â€Å"Engineering Ethics†, Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, Belmont (2009) 3. J. E. VASCELLARO and J. A. TRACHTENBERG, â€Å"Digital-Rights Signatories Revisit Google’s deal† , Wall Street Journal; wsj.com (October 29,2009) 4. S. SHANKLAND, â€Å"Google’s Digital-book Future Hangs in the Balance†, News.cnet.com (October 2009) 5. P. SCHRANK, â€Å"Google’s Big Book Case†, The Economist print edition (September 3rd 2009)

Tactical Transparency In The Public Relations Commerce Essay

In the post-Enron, blog-ridden universe we live in, transparence is a construct push on public dealingss practicians. Our stakeholders accept genuineness as the edifice block of organization-public relationships. As the first line of defence for any organisation, it is the occupation of these professionals to construct an appropriate transparence scheme. If communications professionals are portion of council chamber discourse, the tools of transparence will match to the company ‘s doctrine. Some choose to encompass transparence as the most ethical scheme while others remain opaque to retain competitory advantage. The purpose of this survey is to specify what transparence means in the new media millenary, address the execution of transparence at all degrees and types of organisations, and contribute to the on-going scholarly argument. The information provided will show the power and efficaciousness of tactical transparence when embedded into a company ‘s civilization. Transparency can non better corporate repute when practiced by merely a few representatives. It will non bolster public sentiment if adopted merely during crises.Specifying â€Å" Tactical Transparency †Tactical transparence is non every bit ethic-centric as it is based in practicality. The changing grade to which a company portions its leaders, employees, values, civilization, concern patterns, and concern schemes determines its degree of transparence.[ 1 ]Specifying transparence is frequently a contested point for practicians during the strategic planning procedure and among public dealingss bookmans, because none of the elements listed supra is sensible in every concern state of affairs. Accessibility is of import to consumers but some sensitive topics are non appropriate to portion with stakeholders. Sharing merchandise safety information is indispensable to making ethical concern, but let go ofing merchandise development information could turn out dearly-won. Scholars tend to place two types of transparence: fiscal and administration. Fiscal transparence is frequently associated with public companies and includes net incomes and net incomes describing. Governance transparence involves sharing regulations, procedures, and executive construction with populaces. Although these categorizations are so applicable to the concern environment, public dealingss professional are more concerned with openness as it applies to corporate repute. Scholars tend to hold on what transparence is non ; it is non full revelation. Holtz and Havens defined the four features of transparence as objectiveness, intent, esteem, and pilotage.[ 2 ]To stay unfastened, employers should ideally utilize changing grades of each in times of crisis or an attempt to avoid such crises by showing a willingness to portion and unwrap information. Honesty and unity are cardinal to objectiveness. Using multiple channels, informal and formal tactics, and advanced schemes will gain good will from populaces, but genuineness and objectiveness will ever win out. Transparency must ever hold a intent ; it should be accompanied by an action or follow-through. Recovering consumer trust is of class vital to the bottom line, but reconstructing a trade name requires consistence and length of service. Former JetBlue Airways laminitis and CEO, David Neeleman offered a YouTube apology for his air hose ‘s cancellation of multiple flights on Valentine ‘s Day 2007.[ 3 ]But in add-on to the apology, Neeleman helped his direction squad development and implement a Customer Bill of Rights, authorising stakeholders to go more involved. Proposing that intent is the key to transparency attempts, Neeleman subsequently wrote, â€Å" Talk is cheap-action is the lone thing that truly builds your repute, non merely as a individual, but as a com pany. †[ 4 ]Regardless of the communications attempts a company employs before and after crises, its past path record will most likely find the regard in which the company is held. Esteem is based on corporate duty ( charitable activites, employee intervention ) and corporate values. Finally, the manner a company navigates crises will assist find future state of affairss necessitating transparence. Methods that have worked in the yesteryear can be applied rapidly and honestly and better duologue with populaces.Transparency in the Internet AgeThe challenges confronting public dealingss professionals in today ‘s market place involve what Holtz and Havens ( 2009 ) define as a â€Å" convergence of two separate and distinguishable tendencies: worsening trust in concern and increased public examination † both are a consequence in portion of societal media tendencies and the handiness of real-time duologue.[ 5 ]Worsening consumer trust is both a Post-industrialist world and a current legitimate public fright ensuing from closed-door concern patterns that were exposed in recent headlines. New statute law now forces unfastened trades and consumer outlooks have risen to run into new ethical criterions. What is good and ethical nevertheless will ever be a contested point ; the fuel behind much of this argument. Organizations can do usage of public coaction to research stakeholder outlooks and ethical demands while reacting to unfavorable judgment with hastiness. If we view transparence from purely the consumer position, it is evident that corporate duty, which encompasses transparence, has become far more of import in a tough economic system. Harmonizing to a study completed by Landor Associates, Penn Schoen Berland and Burson-Marsteller, 75 % of consumers felt societal duty was of import and 55 % reported taking cause-related merchandises over those that do n't.[ 6 ]A 2008 Harris survey of authorities repute and transparence found â€Å" deep dissatisfaction among the American populace with both the handiness of authorities fiscal information and the manner it is delivered to the people. †[ 7 ]CBS ‘s hit telecasting show, Undercover Boss thrives on transparence, giving viewing audiences the unadulterated interior scoop through CEO lens as he/she discovers the existent inner-workings.[ 8 ]Consumers have reacted to the slightly hazardous exposure ; some companies featured have reported stock additions and record gross revenues.[ 9 ]This suggests that transparence is an effectual public dealingss scheme. The easiness and handiness of online webcasts has created an ambiance of â€Å" de facto real-time openness, † in which companies ‘ crises attempts are expected to be acknowledged outright.[ 10 ]BP ‘s 2010 oil spill proved that with greater visibleness, comes greater answerability. Following the calamity, it is likely that market forces will enforce transparence ordinance for other energy companies working in sensitive ecological environments. Assorted stakeholders will demand supervising abilities similar to that BP posted on its web site. The mile-deep unrecorded video-feed satisfied stakeholder wonders but it besides set a new criterion for â€Å" strategic transparence. † If we can watch oil spiting from a busted wellspring ( the crisis itself ) and the submerged vehicles trying to seal the leak ( the crisis response ) , so what else is possible? Could we watch the car mechanic naming a broken vehicle, the preschool instructor administrating medical specialty to a kid, or the kitchen staff fixing nutrient? Michael Schrage of the Harvard Business Review identifies revelation as the â€Å" twentieth Century mistiming of a paper-based age. †[ 11 ]From this incident, Schrage speculates that tactical transparence will go on to â€Å" have an tremendous proficient and conceptual encouragement. †[ 12 ] Supporters of transparence in the workplace place many elements that could profit from greater public transparence. Analyzing organisational procedures, meeting schemes, office locations, and concern maps may uncover net streaming handinesss or more accessible avenues. In some instances, making so may even back up the organisation ‘s selling schemes. In this sense greater visibleness and transparence is another chance to earn media attending and develop a trade name. If positive public dealingss are a consequence of tactical transparence, so its perceived absence could bring forth negative promotion. A referee mistake in a recent World Cup game between the US and Slovenia caused a firestorm of public reaction. FIFA ordinances prevented the referee from explicating the questionable call, but FIFA ‘s president offered a tweet following the game directing witnesss to a old statement he ‘d made sing video rematch. A Time.com observer wrote, â€Å" [ C ] ould n't he hold offered more transparence about this specific incident than a tweet? Particularly a tweet that links a boiler home base web page from March? †[ 13 ]Literature ReviewCrisiss such as the FIFA opinion and the BP oil spill, by definition threaten to damage the repute of an organisation.[ 14 ]Benoit explored organisational efforts to reconstruct reputes after crisis-damaging events and developed the image Restoration theory. Benoit ‘s image Restoration schemes incl uded denial, equivocation of duty, cut downing offensive of the act, disciplinary action, and chagrin ( an artless apology ) .[ 15 ]Denial is the most defensive of the Acts of the Apostless and involves a complete refusal to accept duty while equivocation of duty badly limits engagement but does acknowledge some sum. Reducing odiousness is a specific signifier of strategic equivocation that focuses on minimising the consequence of the act on public sentiment. Corrective action has deductions in the immediate and future responses of the organisation ; chagrin is an immediate and sincere apology for incorrect making, the most crystalline attack. Image Restoration schemes and the appropriate discourse are chosen, altered, and arranged for the specific crisis or stakeholders.[ 16 ]Benoit ‘s research finds that a corporation best serves itself when it takes full duty, apologizes, and Acts of the Apostless with hastiness consequently.[ 17 ] Transparency can happen in many state of affairss and contexts. Hood refers to four separate applications of openness including event transparence ( unfastened information in response to crises ) , process transparence ( unfastened information about concern maps and operations that affect crises ) , and real-time transparence ( information released instantly ) , and retrospective transparence ( information released a considerable sum of clip after an issue arises ) .[ 18 ]Drew and Nyerges found that the most effectual transparence determinations were integrated, accessible to stakeholders, clear and concise, logical and rational, true, and accountable.[ 19 ] Arguments for Transparency in Public Relations. Transparency serves to protect single rights and organisational engagement.[ 20 ]Transparency ensures better behaviour on the portion of concerns while assisting to measure public presentation, both critical to organisational answerability.[ 21 ]The public values transparence and as mentioned earlier, expects it in the digital age. In relation to political transparence, Koppell writes that the â€Å" openness of authorities to regular review is so steadfastly ingrained in our corporate consciousness that transparence has unconditioned value. †[ 22 ]One survey found that organisations committed to transparence, besides experiences heightened occupation satisfaction and continuances, innovativeness and accomplishment.[ 23 ]Transparent determinations lead to more informed determinations, because transparence â€Å" promotes improved entree to information as a manner to construct public assurance in the determination procedure and s trengthen credibleness. †[ 24 ] Internal transparence has been studied every bit extensively as transparence for corporate repute intents. Harmonizing to a survey sponsored by the public dealingss house Fleishman Hillard, 27 per centum of the study pool assessed corporate duty based on the organisation ‘s intervention and wellbeing of its employees. In fact, merely three per centum of respondents associated corporate duty with public service and outreach.[ 25 ] Transparency is linked to other corporate issues including efficiency and long-run cost nest eggs. For case, transparence can cut down the demand for doubling attempts, the likeliness that determinations will hold to be revised ( at potentially immense cost ) , and the hazard of possible fiscal punishments. Constructing a sense of battle and engagement among employees goes requires more than compensation. Companies will effectual communications sections strategically inform employees of just wage constructions to keep enthusiasm and committedness internally and make positive perceptual experiences with external stakeholders.[ 26 ]In a universe of examination and instantaneous communicating it is in the best involvement of an organisation to handle its workers good. Arguments Against Transparency in Public Relations. The chief challenge confronting public dealingss professionals in the new media millenary is the legitimacy of information provided through transparence schemes. For case, corporate web site must non be the lone medium for unwraping of import information. Handiness to the Internet is still a job confronting developing states and destitute populaces. Those that have entree may be overwhelmed with excessively much information if the web site is non well-designed. Increased promotion and transparence may besides hold an unsought effect-increased negative imperativeness. All of these possible effects could sabotage legitimacy and make public misgiving.[ 27 ] Another job arises when tactical transparence schemes are combined with bureaucratic or political petitions. In these fortunes, sensitive information may go more creatively controlled, ensuing in an equivocation of duty to the organisation ‘s populaces.[ 28 ]On the other manus, transparence may take to full revelation when â€Å" herd inherent aptitudes take over market determinations. †[ 29 ]Meetings and corporate assemblages, including those webcast may take participants to dissent based on group treatment. This may do group members to take the most popular determinations or concerns, ignoring via media or dialogue. The concluding apprehensiveness noted in transparence literature related to answerability. While transparence does open up the organisations to public reappraisal and unfavorable judgment, it does n't ever do these organisations more accountable.[ 30 ]Critics argue that the ascertained organisations will reorient the information to fit the demands of transp arence without really unwraping organisational worlds.[ 31 ] Traditionally opaque organisations and their leading pose the most concerns about following tactical transparence schemes. For these companies, get the better ofing expostulations is hard because they have benefitted from keep backing information from the populace. Typically these expostulations fall into one of four classs: legal and regulative ( transparence might do it easy to go against internal and external ordinance ) , competitory ( the organisation may lose its competitory advantage by sharing valuable information ) , proficient ( deficiency of resources and to pull off transparence enterprises ) , and investing ( deficiency of clip, money, or substructure ) .[ 32 ] Legal concerns are paramount in our litigious society. It is the function of corporate council to minimise possible legal hazards. Public dealingss practicians working for pharmaceutical companies may be most untalkative in implementing tactical transparence due to the figure of modulating establishments including the Food and Drug Administration ( FDA ) .[ 33 ]A web log, for case could open drug companies to publicity of off-label indexs ; a ordinance against doing drug recommendations for anything other than FDA-approved conditions would punish the companies and sully corporate reputes.[ 34 ]Competitive concerns, frequently voiced by members of the leading squad, are frequently related to the possible utilizations of information by rivals. In other words, if practicians expose the inner-workings of the organisation, how might the competition usage this information against them?[ 35 ]Technical concerns are frequently voiced by information engineering ( IT ) representatives, because their duties include seting the substructure in topographic point and supervising the web and web sites after building. In order to present societal networking sites, web logs, and video-casts to the intranet, clip and disbursals are spent to prove the applications against the bing substructure.[ 36 ]There is besides a hazard of virus infection whenever employees have entree to networking sites on the Internet.[ 37 ]Cost is a dwindling concern because most societal networking sites require really small capital, but some major corporations still have prohibitions on open-source package applications.[ 38 ]These organisations argue that the benefits do non outweigh the costs of enterprise-level societal media tools.[ 39 ]Case StudiesTransparency as the Right Choice. Every iPod proprietor recognizes Steve Jobs as the face of Apple, Inc. After his rejoinder to Apple, Jobs donned a black polo-neck and bluish denims and reestablished Apple as the industry leader in design and invention. Ap ple ‘s thaumaturgy is portion design and portion strategic secretiveness. Tonss of online fans discuss what new engineerings Apple will let go of and when they will hit the market, so much that sites such as iLounge.net, MacRumors.com, everythingiCafe.com are forums dedicated to these treatments.[ 40 ]However, in September of 2007 when Apple lowered its monetary value of the iPhone from $ 599 to $ 399 to spur holiday gross revenues, on-line recoil from early iPhone purchasers caused a manic tumult.[ 41 ]The â€Å" stupid revenue enhancement, † as the online community nicknamed it, became the act of purchasing early at a higher monetary value, something loyal Apple clients had been making to be the first with the newest engineerings.[ 42 ] Steve Jobs ‘ response was non overtly excusatory, but did turn to the discontent on the portion of loyal clients and even offered a $ 100 recognition at Apple retail and on-line mercantile establishments to iPhone proprietors.[ 43 ]The apology offered in an unfastened missive to Apple clients read: Even though we are doing the right determination to take down the monetary value of iPhone, and even though the engineering route is rough, we need to make a better occupation taking attention of our early iPhone clients as we sharply go after new 1s with a lower monetary value. Our early clients trusted us, and we must populate up to that trust with our actions in minutes like these.[ 44 ] Jobs evidently realized that in this instance, tactical transparence would keep Apple accountable but non unwrap every minutia of concern grounds for dropping the monetary value. For a company who employs transparence as a selling maneuver and for competitory grounds, this really crystalline action was successful because it was good though out. He apologized for the badness of the monetary value bead, provided minimal inside informations about the decision-making procedure, and offered shop credits, showing that follow-through was an of import portion of the apology. The company ‘s repute beforehand ( held in high regard ) provides for an appropriate application of transparence tactics. Finally, Jobs as the CEO was able to implement the recognition procedure before the vacation season and hence retained his extremely valued consumer base.[ 45 ] In the blogosphere, crystalline organisations are being heralded on a day-to-day footing for implementing unfastened tactics. GiveWell.org follows charitable organisations and NGOs with ethical models, including those strategic coverage methods.[ 46 ]One web log entry called Against Malaria Foundation the â€Å" most crystalline developing-world assistance organisation † they ‘d of all time seen.[ 47 ]The organisation, which distributes mosquito cyberspaces in the quest to contend malaria in developing states, is alone in its publication of undertaking inside informations. Many organisations supposedly distribute donated cyberspaces without followup in the parts they service, taking citizens to utilize the mosquito cyberspaces for intents such as catching fish in local Waterss.[ 48 ]There is besides concern about the cost-effectiveness of bringing methods, purchase monetary value, and fund allotment. But the AMF lists all of its plans, by part, day of the month, givers, and position. Website visitants can see to the full elaborate proposals, post-project studies, and transportation records. Donors ‘ gifts correspond to funded, large-scale undertakings.[ 49 ] Many organisations are utilizing micro-blogging services such as Twitter to allow people cognize what they are making. The ability to supervise public conversations and respond about instantly has given organisations an ability to infix themselves into duologue as it occurs, before populaces have the opportunity to go angered or alarm the media. Although these tactics have been perceived as Large Brother actions on juncture, largely populaces are excited that organisations are unfastened to dialoging, listening and responding to concerns in an reliable mode.[ 50 ] When popular film manager Kevin Smith was kicked off of a Southwest Flight because the captain made the call that he was excessively heavy to busy a individual place, Smith told his side of the narrative to his 1.5 million Twitter followings in real-time.[ 51 ]Southwest had already implemented both a company web log and Twitter history and was able to utilize both beginnings to react to the â€Å" Twitter-induced media storm, † what some considered a public dealingss incubus for Southwest.[ 52 ]Southwest acknowledged the event and issued an apology to Smith himself followed by an apology on its web log, Nuts About Southwest. In a web log station titled â€Å" Not So Silent Bob, † a public dealingss representative noted that it was non a customary Southwest method of Customer Relations to work publicly through the ailment procedure, but that the Tweeting call had called for a more crystalline attack.[ 53 ]The station defended the company ‘s initial response, adverting the personal apology it had issued to Smith via Twitter and a phone call instantly after the issue occurred. It besides noted that the flight Smith boarded from Oakland to Burbank was technically standby and that typically Smith purchased two seats on Southwest flights. The most crystalline characteristic of the station was the specificity of the information provided about Southwest ‘s Customer Size policy: Southwest instituted our Customer of Size policy more than 25 old ages ago. The policy requires riders that can non suit safely and comfortably in one place to buy an extra place while going. This policy is non alone to Southwest Airlines and it is non a gross generator. Most, if non all, bearers have similar policies, but alone to Southwest is the refunding of the 2nd place purchased ( if the flight does non oversell ) which is greater than any gross made ( full policy can be found here ) .[ 54 ] JetBlue Airways corporate communications director Morgan Johnston uses Twitter and societal media tools to interact with clients every bit good. When asked why JetBlue follows flyers on Twitter, Johnston responded: With any of the microblogging tools available, people are able to air what they ‘re traveling through at the minute. If you can tap into and observe those types of activities while they ‘re go oning, you can assist them much more instantly. Before they have a opportunity to travel place and fret about it, you can assist them while they ‘re in the thick of the state of affairs. Is n't that better than seeking to retrieve a state of affairs afterwards?[ 55 ] Transparency as the Wrong Choice. In some instances, the truth wo n't put organisations free. Alternatively, it may do greater public misgiving and unfavorable judgment. Amy Jussel, laminitis of ShapingYouth.org, a web log devoted to the impact of marketing on kids, late voiced concerns to Target about an advertisement run picturing a adult female splayed across the celebrated mark form, the dark lantern at her fork. In response, a Target public dealingss representative wrote, â€Å" Unfortunately we are unable to react to your enquiry because Target does non take part with untraditional media mercantile establishments. This pattern is in topographic point to let us to concentrate on publications that reach our nucleus invitee. †[ 56 ] The message that societal media does n't number as a Target policy surely was n't received good by its devoted client base. Target, whose image as a hip and modern-day, low-cost retail mercantile establishment was admiting indifference of web logs, the hip and modern-day, free media channel.[ 57 ]When interviewed for a New York Times article titled â€Å" Target Tells a Blogger to Travel Away, † Amy von Walter, a Target spokeswoman maintained, â€Å" We do non work with bloggers presently. But we have made exclusions and we are reexamining the policy and may set it. †[ 58 ]Target ‘s current policy is to concentrate limited resources and the little public dealingss squad attempts on the large media mercantile establishments, corroborating its prioritization of selling over relationship and repute direction. Target did non draw the ad in response to Jussel ‘s concerns or the blogosphere tumult that followed.[ 59 ]It may hold been smarter to hold to a short int erview with Jussel, a representative of it largest consumer, female parents, alternatively of estranging loyal clients and ignoring societal media mercantile establishments. Lack of Transparency as a Pitfall. Social media crisis response tactics have non been studied to full, but will probably go a major sub-specialization in public dealingss scholarship. Spuring this country of survey are force per unit areas from on-line militant communities and populaces. In the spring of 2010, Nestle was under fire from Greenpeace for purchasing palm oil and utilizing it in merchandises. Greenpeace ‘s Facebook page and YouTube videos depicted Nestle as a protagonist of deforestation and the cause of Orangutan extinction.[ 60 ]Nestle tried to hold one picture associating the Kit Kat saloon to Orangutan extinction removed, claiming the picture violated their hallmark.[ 61 ]This prompted Greenpeace members to post angry comments on Nestle ‘s Facebook page. To protect its page and the company ‘s legal security, Nestle removed the remarks. Although the issue was likely a major corporate concern, Nestle kept its internal deliberation lull which translated into a deficiency of transparence and unconcern.[ 62 ]In this instance its silence spoke volumes about its contempt for the Greenpeace motion. If Nestle had kept its stakeholder populace ( which included militants ) informed of its attempts toward replacing the non-environmentally-conscious merchandises, there might hold been a positive societal media response. Publishing imperativeness released one time a hebdomad may hold worked in the past, but with today ‘s instantaneous information flow, there is no alibi for silence. Although Nestle ‘s stock monetary value did non look to be effected in anyhow, the corporation must still go on to run into Greenpeace criterions and if it falls back on these promises, will probably confront a public dealingss firestorm hard to get the better of.[ 63 ]This is one of the first documented instances of successful environmental activism which took topographic point about wholly in the societal media kingdom.[ 64 ]A Astroturfing is a term used in the public dealingss industry to mention to strategic runs designed to look as self-generated grassroots attempts.[ 65 ]Edelman, the universe ‘s largest independent public dealingss house late practiced astroturfing in a popular web log for Wal-Mart titled, â€Å" walmartingacrossamerica.com † The stations chronicled the cross-country escapade of a couple sing Wal-Mart shops and talking to clients about their shopping experiences. Jim and Laura ‘s first web log station meekly stated: â€Å" We are non bloggers, but since our lives have ever been more journey than finish we are adventurers at heartaˆÂ ¦ . We figured we ‘d give it a spell. †[ 66 ]Laura and Jim ‘s brushs included run intoing Wal-Mart employees, from shop clerks to photogenic executives, who all reported loving their employer and work environment. Critics questioned the genuineness of the run early on. â€Å" Anyone familiar with Wal-Mart and its repute for being quite stingy with rewards and benefits will turn over their eyes at such a rose-colored image, † wrote one Business Week editorialist about the astroturfing world.[ 67 ] The fact that the venture was funded by Working Families for Wal-Mart ( WFWM ) was non publicly disclosed. In this instance, merely saying the fact that the twosome was paid would hold likely saved the traditionally crystalline Edelman from contention.[ 68 ]

Reseach on Shampoo

Study the buying behavior of consumers regarding branded shampoos in Ludhiana Research Project Report Masters in Business Administration By Jasdeep kaur Table of Contents |Chapter No. |Particulars |Page no. |1 |Introduction |8-16 | |2 |Research Methodology |17-20 | |3 |Data Analysis and Interpretation |21-33 | |4 |Results and Findings |34,35 | |5 |Conclusion and Summary |36 | |6 |Appendix |37-40 | |7 |Bibliography |41 | List of tables |S. No. |Particulars |Page No. | |1 |Number of respondents using branded shampoos |21 | |2 |Frequency of using Shampoo in a week |22 | |3 |Awareness level of espondents regarding various brands of shampoos |23 | |4 |Source of information regarding Branded shampoos |24 | |5 |Most important factor of consumer preference |25 | |6 |Preference of brands of shampoos |26 | |7 |Importance level of factors considered by respondents while purchasing |27 | | |Shampoos | | |8 |Brand Switch if particular brand is not available |28 | |9 |Brand Loyalty among consu mers |29 | |10 |Reasons that made respondents stick to one particular brand of shampoo |29 | |11 |Response in regard to intention to stick to the current brand of |30 | | |shampoo being used | | |12 |Satisfaction level of consumers towards their preferred shampoo brand |31 | |13 |Demographic profile of respondents |33 | List of Figures |S. No. |Particulars |Page No. | |1 |Number of respondents using branded shampoos |21 | |2 |Frequency of using Shampoo in a week |22 | |3 |Awareness level of respondents regarding various brands of |23 | | |shampoos | | |4 Source of information regarding Branded shampoos |24 | |5 |Most important factor of consumer preference |25 | |6 |Preference of brands of shampoos |26 | |7 |Importance level of factors considered by respondents while |27 | | |purchasing Shampoos | | |8 |Brand Switch if particular brand is not available |28 | |9 |Brand Loyalty among consumers |29 | |10 |Reasons that made respondents stick to one particular brand of |30 | | |shampoo | | |11 |Response in regard to intention to stick to the current brand of|31 | | |shampoo being used | | |12 |Satisfaction level of consumers towards their preferred shampoo |31 | | |brand | | Chapter I Introduction 1. 1 Shampoo Shampoo is a common hair care product used for the removal of oils, dirt, skin particles, environmental pollutants and other contaminant particles that gradually build up in hair. The goal is to remove the unwanted build-up without stripping out so much as to make hair unmanageable. Shampoo formulations seek to maximize the following qualities: Easy rinsing Good finish after washing hair Minimal skin/eye irritation No damage to hair Feels thick and/or creamy Pleasant fragrance Low toxicity Good biodegradability 1. 2 Evolution The word shampoo in english usage dates back to 1762, with the meaning â€Å"to massage†. The word was a loan from Anglo-Indian shampoo, in turn from Hindi champoo, ie â€Å"to smear, knead the muscles, massage†. It itself comes from Sanskrit/Hindi word â€Å"champa† , the flowers of the plant Michelia champaca which have traditionally been used to make fragrant hair-oil. The term and service was introduced by a Sake Dean Mahomed, who opened a shampooing bath known as Mahomed's Indian Vapour Baths in Brighton in 1759. His baths were like Turkish baths where clients received an Indian treatment of champi (shampooing) or therapeutic massage. During the early stages of shampoo, English hair stylists boiled shaved soap in water and added herbs to give the hair shine and fragrance. Kasey Hebert was the first known maker of shampoo, and the origin is currently attributed to him. During the early stages of shampoo, English hair stylists boiled shaved soap in water and added herbs to give the hair shine and fragrance. Kasey Hebert was the first known maker of shampoo, and the origin is currently attributed to him. 1. 3 Segmentation: Shampoo market is segmented on benefit platforms †¢Cosmetic (shine, health, strength) †¢Anti – Dandruff (AD) †¢Herbal 20% of the total shampoo market is accounted by the AD shampoos. The AD segment is the fastest growing segment, growing at 10% to 12 % every year Usage: The frequency of shampoo usage is very low in India. Most consumers use shampoo only once or twice in a week. In many cases, these products are used on special occasions such as weddings, parties etc. About 50% of consumers use ordinary toilet soaps to wash their hair. About 15% of consumers use toilet soaps as well as shampoo for cleaning their hair. Also 70% of the total shampoo sales are through sachet sales. HLL has higher stakes in the rural market with an 80% share. The bottle sales are popular in the northern region where 50% of the shampoo bottles are sold After a sober growth in 2004 due to the downturn of the FMCG sector, shampoo sector saw strong growth in the next two years due to the introduction of sachets and a surge in rural demand. The overall shampoo market, which sees annual volume sales of approximately 63,000 tonnes, saw rural off take grow by 40% last year, while urban demand grew half that at 21%. From a penetration level of 13% in 2000, now almost a third of the country's rural population uses shampoo with penetration levels zooming to 32% in 2005. While the north and west zones have tripled in penetration, the south and east zones have doubled Urban – 40 % Rural – 10 % Targeted customers: Shampoos are mainly target at Upper middle class, Middle class housewives and upper rural class. However the main segment is Teenagers. 1. 4 Opportunity Penetration of shampoo is very low in India. The average per-capita consumption of shampoo in India is very low at approximately 13 ml and many people in rural India still use toilet soaps. People still perceive shampoo as high end product in the rural areas. This provides a huge opportunity to the players. The huge size of the untapped market leads to a great potential for the existing players. India is and will remain for some time one of the youngest countries in the world. Currently there is a population of 163 m teen in India. Approximately half of the 1 bn plus population is under the age of 20, which is one of the largest consumers of hair care products. This provides huge market for the shampoo players. Also, with the increasing income levels of the middle class population, the usage of shampoos has increased. Despite its undisputed potential, the rapid expansion of the shampoo market was interrupted in 1999. Overall growth rates in the market slowed to 1. 7% in 1999, from 16% the previous year. Lack of innovation was the major reason for slowdown. The perception that shampoos contain harsh hemicals that could damage hair, high price and the view that the shampoo is more of a glamour product rather than a hygiene product led to lower sales. The players came out with the idea of smaller packs, which were a success. Also, products like anti dandruff started getting att ention and became the fastest growing category. Players like Dabur and Ayush came up with herbal shampoos. 1. 5 The top Shampoo brands Normal Shampoos †¢Clinic Plus †¢Sunsilk †¢Chik Anti Dandruff Shampoos †¢Clinic All Clear †¢Head and Shoulders †¢Dabur Vatika AD Premium Products †¢Shehnaz Hussain †¢Revlon Flex †¢L'Oreal 1. 6 Market Scenario of shampoo industry The India shampoo industry is estimated at Rs 14 bn and is growing at an average rate of 20% per annum. According to AC Nielsen, shampoo is one of the fastest growing categories within FMCG sector and is expected to grow at 25% per annum in the coming years. Major Players of Indian shampoo industry [pic] HLL By all accounts, the UNILEVER group is India's foremost multinational . The group has been operating in India for over 60 years. Being first it has being given the market leadership position in many product categories. Lever's have a sprawling distribution coverage which in the case of HLL extends to 3,200 stockists and 600,000 shops directly serviced by the company. HLL is today a multi-product, multi-unit organization addressing various public health challenges facing humanity. HLL is the undisputed leader from the early 1990s with brands like Sunsilk, Clinic All Clear and Clinic Plus. Sunsilk is the name of a brand of hair care products for women produced by the Unilever group. It was launched in 1954 in the United Kingdom and by 1959 it was available in 18 different countries world-wide. Currently, Sunsilk products are being marketed in over 50 countries throughout Asia, Latin America, The Middle East and North Africa. The Sunsilk brand is intended to demonstrate a perceptive and sympathetic understanding of women, communicate the idea of capturing the â€Å"emotional drama† in a girl’s life, and to provide a source of expert beauty care for women. P & G In US-the world’s largest market place in terms of effective demand-the Cincinnati (Ohio)-based household and personal care products colossus P & G Co. is a renowned company. Over the past 157 years (1837-1994) since William Proctor and James GambIe entered into partnership to manufacture candles and soap in Cincinnati, P & G has conceptualized, manufactured and effectively marketed a stream of consumer products, which have contributed significantly to American consumers Currently P & G employs l lakh people globally and has subsidiaries in over 60 countries including India. On 1st April 1988, the Bombay based Richardson Hindustan Ltd. commenced doing business as Proctor and Gamble India Ltd. The strategies and methodologies that the company has innovated to facilitate its inexorable growth have won it a place of honor in virtually every country. Yet to categories P & G as merely an excellent marketing company is to do it an injustice. It is an excellent marketing and product research company while its R & D, manufacturing strategies and operations are its major strengths. P & G entered India in Nov 1995, with the world’s largest selling brand – Pantene. It also launched Head , which is the leading AD shampoo Head & Shoulders is a famous brand of anti-dandruff shampoo produced by Procter & Gamble. Head & Shoulders was first introduced to the U. S. market in November 1961, as a blue-green shampoo formula. Unlike other shampoos, Head & Shoulders had relatively few variations until the late 1990s and early 2000s, and there are now in excess of ten different kinds of shampoo for different hair types under the Head & Shoulders banner. It has since then grown into a billion dollar brand. The people responsible for this were Robert Jongstra (Procter & Gamble General Manager) and Olga Barr (Saatchi & Saatchi Global Creative Director). Pantene is a brand of hair care products owned by Procter & Gamble. The brand's best-known product is the conditioning shampoo Pantene Pro V. CavinKare CavinKare was founded by Ranganathan in 1983, with a modest capital investment of Rs 15,000 and with a single product. The company was called Chik India Pvt. Ltd. , and its product was Chik shampoo. The company targeted the local market and within a few years emerged as a leading regional player in the shampoo market in South India. In 1998, the company adopted its present name, CavinKare Pvt. Ltd. , to signify its change from a single-product company to a broader FMCG company, encompassing various market segments such as hair, skin and personal care. According to company sources, ‘Cavin' is a literary word in Tamil meaning Beauty and Grace, while ‘Care' was modified to start with the letter ‘K' instead of ‘C' as a tribute to Rang Nathan’s father, ‘Chinni Krishnan. ‘†¦. L’Oreal Group [pic][pic]L’Oreal Group headquartered in the Paris suburb of Clichy, France, is the world's largest cosmetics and beauty company. L’Oreal has developed activities in the field of cosmetics, concentrating on hair color, skin care, sun protection, make-up, perfumes and hair care. L’Oreal is active in the dermatological and pharmaceutical fields. L’Oreal is also the top nanotechnology patent-holder in the United States. THe CEO of L'Oreal SA in France is Jean-Paul Agon. L'Oreal is a listed company, but the founder's daughter Liliane Bettencourt who is one of the richest people in the world, and the Swiss food company Nestleeach control over a quarter of the shares and voting rights. L’Oreal markets its range of specialized hair care products exclusively through salons and beauty parlors. It is the only company in the market that has a hair colour range tailored exclusively for parlors. The company was also the first to introduce modern shampoo-based hair dyes for the Indian market Garnier is a company producing hair care products, including the Fructis line, and most recently, skin care products under the name, Nutritioniste, that are sold around the world. It is a brand of L'Oreal. One of their key ingredients is a fruit concentrate used in all their products. It is a combination of fruit acids, vitamin B3 and B6, fructose and glucose 1. 7 Consumer Behavior The term consumer behavior may be defined as the decision process and physical activities in which individuals engage them while evaluating, acquiring, using or disposing off goods and services. The study of consumer behavior is the study of how individuals make decisions to spend their available resources on consumption of related items. Buying behavior is an attempt to understand and predict human actions in the buying role. The issues that dealt within the discipline of consumers’ buying behavior are: ? What products and services do the consumers buy? ? How do they buy? ? Why do they buy? ? From where do they buy? ? When do they buy? Consumer behavior provides a sound basis for identifying and understanding consumer needs. It is the act of the individuals directly involved in obtaining and using economic goods and services. The study of consumer behavior is an essential component of marketing. The adoption of marketing concept by the marketers provides the impetus for the study of consumer behavior. In case of New Product Introduction in the market, there is a risk of product failure. To increase the chances of success of new products, better information of the consumer behavior is required. Their desires, tastes and preferences are to be taken care of. So from all these aspects the study of consumer behavior is important. 1. 8 Objectives of the study †¢ To study the consumer awareness regarding branded shampoos. †¢ To study the source of information regarding awareness of brands †¢ To study the factors influencing choice of consumers towards branded shampoos. †¢ To study the reasons for consistency /change in regard to brands of shampoos. CHAPTER 2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Research Methodology deals with the method of study i. e. how the study was carried out and what were the various techniques used. It is careful investigation or enquiry in a systematic manner in order to find a solution to problem in research. It consists of defining and redefining problems, formulating hypothesis or suggested solution, collecting and evaluating data, making deduction and reaching calculation etc and at last care fully testing the conclusions to determine whether they fit the formulated hypothesis or not. It includes the scope of the study, research design, collection of data, analysis of data and limitations of the study. 2. 1 Scope of the study The scope of the study is to get the knowledge about the buying behavior of consumers towards the branded shampoos in Ludhiana. The scope is restricted to study consumer’s awareness regarding branded shampoos and the factors influencing choice of consumers towards branded shampoos in ludhiana. This is done to avoid perceptual bias and for providing objectivity to the study. 2. 2 Research Design The research design is an arrangement of condition for collection and analysis of data in manner that aims to combine relevance to the research purpose with economy in procedure. The research problem in clear-cut terms helps the researches to prepare a research design. It constitutes the blueprint for the collection, measurement and analysis of data. It is the strategy for a study and the plan by which the strategy is to be carried out. The research carried down is descriptive in nature because it describes the consumer buying behavior regarding branded shampoos. 2. 3 Data Collection 2. 3. 1 Primary Data Primary data is that data which is collected for the first time. It is original in nature in the shape of raw material. For the purpose of collection of primary data, a well-structured questionnaire was given to the respondents and they were personally interviewed to fulfill the objectives of the study. The questionnaire comprises of close ended as well as open-ended questions. In close ended questions dichotomous, ranking, likert’s scale, checklist questions and multiple choice questions are used. 2. 3. Secondary Data Secondary data is the data which is already collected by someone. They are secondary in nature and are in shape of finished product. Secondary data was collected so as to have accurate results and the required data was collected from various magazines, newspapers, journals and internet to gathe r relevant information about the shampoo industry and the leading brands of shampoos. 2. 4 Sampling Design Sampling refers to selecting some of the elements in a population by which one can draw conclusions about the entire population. 2. 4. 1Universe Universe is the infinite number of elements that the researcher is targeting in his study. Here the universe for the study consists of all the people who use branded shampoos. 2. 4. 2 Population Population is finite number of elements that the researcher is going to target in particular area. People throughout Ludhiana who use branded shampoos constitute the population of my research. 2. 4. 2. A) Element- Consumers i. e people using branded shampoos 2. 4. 2. B) Sampling Unit-A single consumer using Branded shampoo 2. 4. 2. C) Extent- Ludhiana city 2. 4. 2 D) Time of Study- Six months 2. 4. 3 Sampling Technique In my research I have used non-probability technique for drawing a sample from the population. In non-probability technique I have preferred ‘Convenience sampling’ method because population of my research is huge and due to the time constraint I will be catering to 100 people according to my convenience. The selection of the respondents was done on the basis of convenience based on the non-probability method of sampling. Convenience sampling was basically used due to money, time as well as distance constraints. 2. 4. 4 Sample size Sample size is the size of sample drawn from the population which is the true representative of the research. The number of respondents included in the study was 100 for convenience in evaluating and analyzing the data and because of time constraint. Business |18 | |Service |24 | |Professional |5 | |Student |40 | |Housewife |13 | |Total |100 | 5. Data Analysis and Interpretation For the purpose of analyzing, raw data was summarized in a master table and from this table the results have been carried out. The questions having alternati ve choices were analyzed by taking percentages. In the case of questions on Likert’s point scale, the mean scores and percentages were calculated. In case of ranking questions the total score has been added and final ranking is given. The questions to which there were specific answers the ranges were clubbed and percentages were calculated. In case of explanatory questions, the general suggestions were summarized. 2. 6 Limitations of the study Sincere efforts have been made to collect authentic and reliable information from respondents, however the report is subject to following limitations: 1. The study was limited to Ludhiana city only. Wider coverage would have made the study more reliable and representative. 2. Sample was drawn by convenience sampling, so possibility of sampling error cannot be ruled out. 3. Responses of respondents were biased based on their personal preferences. 4. Due to time and cost constraints, study could not be carried out on a large scale 5. Sample may not be the true representative of the universe CHAPTER 3 ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION The present chapter deals with analysis of data collected from the consumers regarding their awareness level regarding branded shampoos, Factors considered by them while purchasing branded shampoos and to check their brand loyalty. A total of 100 consumers were personally interviewed with help of structured questionnaires. Results of the study: Table 3. 1 Number of respondents using branded shampoos |Response |No. f respondents |Percentage(%) | |Yes |88 |88 | |No |12 |12 | |Total |100 |100 | Figure 3. 1 [pic] Interpretation: From the above table, we can conclude that out of 100, 88% respondents use branded shampoos and 12% don’t use branded shampoos. So branded shampoos are very commonly used in Ludhiana. Table 3. 2 Fr equency of using Shampoo in a week |Frequency |No. f Respondents |Percentage (%) | |1-3 times |48 |48 | |3-5 times |33 |33 | |Daily |19 |19 | |Total |100 |100 | Figure 3. 2 [pic] Interpretation: From the above table, it is clear that 48% respondents use shampoos 1-3 times in a week, 33% respondents use shampoos 3-5 times in a week and rest of the respondents use shampoos daily. Table 3. 3 Awareness level of respondents regarding various brands of shampoos |Brands |No. of responses |Average Scores | |Garnier |80 |0. 16 | |L’Oreal |73 |0. 14 | |Sunsilk |92 |0. 9 | |Pantene |83 |0. 17 | |Clinic |77 |0. 16 | |Head & Shoulders |84 |0. 17 | Figure 3. 3 Interpretation: From the above table and graph it is clear that out of 100 respondents, 92% are aware of Sunsilk, followed by Head & Shoulders, Pantene, Garnier, Clinic and least are aware of L’Oreal. Table 3. 4 Source of information regarding Branded shampoos |Sources |No. f responses |Average Scores | |Newspaper |51 |0. 22 | |Television |81 |0. 35 | |Magazine |49 |0. 21 | |Salesman |4 |0. 02 | |Friends/Relative |27 |0. 8 | |Internet |18 |0. 08 | Figure 3. 4 Interpretation: From above table it is clear that television is the most important source of information followed by Newspaper, Magazine, information from friends/relative, Internet and least important source of information is from salesman. 3. 5 Most preferred shampoo brand among consumers is Sunsilk followed by Head and Shoulders, Pantene, Garnier, Clinic and least preferred is L’Oreal. However some respondents also prefer chik shampoo because of its price and some other medicated shampoos or herbal shampoos. Table 3. Most important factor of consumer preference |Factors |No. of responses |Avg scores | |Price |27 |0. 15 | |Brand |35 |0. 20 | |Quality |76 |0. 43 | |Schemes(discount offers) |9 |0. 5 | |Packaging |10 |0. 06 | |Quantity/Package |6 |0. 03 | |Advertisement |15 |0. 08 | Figure 3. 6 [pic] Interpretation: From the above table, it can be concluded that quality is the most important factor while considering the preference of shampoos followed by brand and price factor. And the least important factor while buying the shampoo is Quantity/Package after Packaging. Table 3. 7 Preference of brands of shampoos Brands |Total Score |Rank | |L’Oreal |379 |6 | |Head & Shoulders |332 |3 | |Pantene |324 |2 | |Clinic |378 |5 | |Sunsilk |312 |1 | |Garnier |377 |4 | Figure 3. 7 [pic] Interpretation: In the above table 1 is given to the most preferred and 5 to the least preferred to rank the shampoo brands. Most preferred shampoo brand among consumers is Sunsilk followed by Pantene, Head and Shoulders, Clinic, Garnier and least preferred is L’Oreal . Table 3. 8 Importance level of factors considered by respondents while purchasing Shampoos |Factors |Strongly Disagree (-2)|Disagree |Neutral |Agree |Strongly Agree |Mean Score | | | |(-1) |(0) |(1) |(2) |. |Price |7 |26 |23 |23 |21 |0. 28 | |Brand |3 |19 |21 |33 |24 |0. 63 | |Quality |2 |10 |19 |39 |30 |0. 96 | |Schemes |36 |17 |22 |16 |7 |-0. 67 | |Packaging |12 |26 |31 |24 |6 |-0. 5 | |Quantity/Package |31 |28 |18 |19 |3 |-0. 73 | |Advertiseme nts |12 |4 |34 |20 |30 |0. 54 | Figure 3. 8 [pic] Interpretation: In above table, 2 is the weightage given to Strongly Agree, 1 to Agree, 0 to Neutral, -1 to Disagree and -2 to Strongly Disagree; the mean (0. 96) of quality being calculated lies between 0 to 1 so it is very near to strongly agree therefore from the above table we can conclude that respondents feel that quality is the most important factor while considering the preference of shampoos followed by brand, advertisement and price factor. And the least important factor while buying the shampoo is Quantity/Package after Schemes available as their mean scores are coming in negative. Table 3. 9 Brand Switch if particular brand is not available |Response |No. of respondents |Percentage (%) | |Yes |62 |70 | |No |26 |30 | |Total |88 |100 | Figure 3. 9 [pic] Interpretation: From above table, it is clear that 70% of the respondents buy another brand if a particular brand is not available. 3. 10 The most preferred alternate brand is Clinic, followed by Head & Shoulder, Clinic, L’Oeal, Pantene and the least preferred brand as an alternate is Garnier. Table 3. 11 Brand Loyalty among consumers |Response |No. Of respondents |Percentage (%) | |Yes |58 |65. 91 | |No |30 |34. 9 | |Total |88 |100 | Figure 3. 11 [pic] Interpretation: It is clear from the table that 65. 91% of the respondents are not brand loyal and does switch over the brand Table 3. 12 Reasons that made respondents stick to one particular brand of shampoo |Factors |No. of respondents |Avg Scores | |Price |18 |0. 23 | |Brand |18 |0. 3 | |Quality |26 |0. 33 | |Schemes(discount offers) |4 |0. 05 | |Packaging |3 |0. 04 | |Quantity/Package |4 |0. 05 | |Advertisement |6 |0. 08 | Figure 3. 12 [pic] Interpretation: It is clear from above that quality is the main reason that made respondents stick to one particular brand as it is having the highest mean score. Price and brand are having equal mean scores and are the second most important factors. 3. 13(a) The most common reason that made respondents switch over to another brand of shampoo is that they like changing brands. Other important reasons are quality and schemes that made respondents switch over to another brand of shampoo. Table 3. 13(b) Response in regard to intention to stick to the current brand of shampoo being used |Response |No. Of respondents |Percentage (%) | |Less than one month |19 |28. 35 | |1-3 months |23 |34. 32 | |3-5 months |13 |19. 40 | |More than 5 months |12 |17. 93 | |Total |67 |100 | Figure 3. 13(b) [pic] Interpretation: From above figure it is clear that out of 67 respondents who did not stick to one particular brand, 19 have intention of sticking to current brand for 1 to 3 months, 19 for lass tan 1 month, 13 for 3-5 months and 12 for more than 5 months. Table No. 3. 14 Satisfaction level of consumers towards their preferred shampoo brand |Very Bad |Bad |Average |Good |Very good |Mean Score | |(-2) |(-1) |(0) |(1) |(2) | | |-20(10) |-4(4) |0(10) |29(29) |70(35) |0. 85 | Figure 3. 14 [pic] Interpretation: In above table, 2 is the weightage given to very good, 1 to Good, , 0 to average and -1 to Bad and –2 to Very Bad; the mean (0. 5) being calculated lies between 0 to 1 so it is more near to Very Good therefore from the above table we can conclude that respondents are satisfied with their currently using brand. Demographic profile of respondents Sex Wise |Sex |No. of respondents |Percentage (%) | |Male |41 |41 | |Female |59 |59 | |Total |100 |100 | Age Wise |Age |No. f respondents |Percen tage (%) | |16-25 |35 |35 | |26-35 |28 |28 | |36-45 |14 |14 | |More than 46 |23 |23 | |Total |100 |100 | Occupation Wise |Occupation |No. f respondents |Percentage (%) | |Business |18 |18 | |Service |24 |24 | |Professional |5 |5 | |Student |40 |40 | |Housewife |13 |13 | |Total |100 |100 | Chapter IV Results and Findings Findings from the study: †¢ From the research it was found that 88% respondents use branded shampoos. †¢ As far as frequency of using shampoos in a week is concerned, 48% respondents use shampoos 1-3 times in a week, 33% respondents use shampoos 3-5 times in a week and rest of the respondents use shampoos daily. Television (81%) is the most important source of information followed by Newspaper (51%), Magazine (49%), information from friends/relative (27%), internet (18%) and least important source of information is from salesman (4%). †¢ Most preferred shampoo brand among consumers is Sunsilk followed by Pantene, Head and Shoulders, Cli nic, Garnier and least preferred is L’Oreal . †¢ The most important factor considered by respondents while purchasing shampoo is quality as it has mean score of 0. 96, followed by brand (0. 63) and advertisement (0. 54) †¢ Out of 100 respondents, only 37% respondents stick to one particular brand and out of respondents who stick to one particular brand consider quality being the most important factor for it Out of 67% respondents who switch to other brand, majority of them quoted the reason â€Å"I like changing Brands† for shifting to other brands. †¢ As far as the intentions of 67 respondents for sticking to current brand used by them is concerned, very less have intention of switching over the brand and are satisfied with the current brand they are using. †¢ Out of 67 respondents who did not stick to one particular brand, 19 have intention of sticking to current brand for 1 to 3 months, 19 for lass tan 1 month, 13 for 3-5 months and 12 for more t han 5 months. †¢ Mostly all the respondents are satisfied with their currently using brand. †¢ The suggestions which are given for their currently used brand are: Consumers of L’oreal want its price to be lesser. Consumers of Pantene want to have more hair specific like Sunsilk. No suggestion has been recommended by consumers of Sunsilk Chapter 5 Conclusion and Summary The results reflected the perception of users in Ludhiana of branded shampoos. The results of the study indicate that though the price of shampoos is perceived to be on the higher side of users, the quality offered by these products compensates for their dissatisfaction. The Ludhiana users accept that high quality comes at a price. Since the study was restricted to the Ludhiana city so there is need to study more in other cities to get the clear view of the findings. Scope for further study Many companies are coming up with the shampoos with enough variety as it’s the fastest growing FMCG product now days. There is a huge potential market in India and better scope. To survive in such an environment, all the companies will have to undertake bold efforts towards their products in such a way so as to meet the requirements and expectations of the consumers. It therefore calls for a continuous research in this field as consumer preferences keep changing with time and so does their buying behavior. Hence it provides basis of a scope for further research. Appendix Questionnaire 1. Do you use branded shampoo? Yes No 2. How many times do you use shampoo in a week? a. 1-3 times _____________ b. 3-5 times _____________ c. Daily _____________ 3. Which of the following brands are you aware of? a. Garnier _____________ b. L’Oreal _____________ c. Sunsilk _____________ d. Pantene _____________ e. Clinic _____________ f. Head & Shoulders_____________ 4. What is your source of information for this? a. Newspaper _____________ b. Television _____________ c. Magazine _____________ d. Salesman _____________ e. Friends/Relative _____________ f. Internet _____________ 5. Which brand are you currently using? _____________ 6. Why do you use this particular brand? ? Price ? Brand ? Quality ? Schemes (discount offers) ? Packaging ? Quantity/Package ?Advertisements If any other please tell 7. Please rank the following brands of shampoos on the basis of your preference (a-most preferable and f-least preferable) a. L’Oreal _____________ b. Head & Shoulders _____________ c. Pantene _____________ d. Clinic _____________ e. Sunsilk _____________ f. Garnier _____________ 8. While making a purchase decision, rate the following factors that affect your decision. Factors |Strongly Disagree |Disagree |Neutral |Agree |Strongly | | | | | | |Agree | |Price | | | | | | |Brand | | | | | | |Quality | | | | | | |Schemes | | | | | | |(Discount offers) | | | | | | |Packaging | | | | | | |Quantity/Package | | | | | | |Advertisements | | | | | | 9. If your preferred brand is not available, do you purchase another brand? Yes No If yes go to Q No 10,if no go to Q No 11 10. Which brand you are ready to purchase if your prefe rred brand is not available? _____________ 11. Do you switch over a particular brand? Yes No If yes go to Q No 13,if no go to Q No 12 12. Why do you stick to a particular brand? a. Price _____________ b. Brand _____________ c. Quality _____________ d. Schemes (discount offers) _____________ e. Packaging _____________ f. Quantity/Package _____________ g. Advertisements _____________ 13. a) Why did you switch over the brand? b) For how long you intend to stick to current brand? a. Less than 1 month _____________ b. 1-3 months _____________ c. 3-5 months _____________ d. More than 5 months_____________ 14. What do you think about the current brand you are using? Very Bad Bad Average Good Very Good ———-I————–I————–I————–I————–I————– Any suggestions Personal Details: Name: _______________________ Age: _______________________ Gender: _______________________ Occupation: _______________________ Address: Contact No: _______________________ Bibliography Prasad , â€Å"Use of advertising and their impact on the consumer behavior†, Indian Journal of Management, Volume XXXIII, Number 4, April 2003, Page 3-5 Moorthi YLR, Brand Management(The Indian Context),2003,Edition V,Page 16-25 Kotler Philip, Principles of Mrketing, 2004,Prentice Hall, New Delhi, Pg 204-209 Bearden, William O. and Michael J. Etzel, â€Å"Reference group influence on Product and Brand Purchase Decisions†, Journal of Consumer Research, September 1982,Pg 183-194. Websites: – http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Pantene http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Shampoo http://www. diplomatist. com/dipo1st06/story_12. htm http://inhome. rediff. com/money/2003/jul/19spec. htm http://www. indiantelevision. com/tamadex/y2k4/june/tam63. htm http://www. equitymaster. com/research-it/sector-info/consprds/consprds-products. html http://www. domain-b. com/companies/companies_p/procter_gamble_india/20040129_wars. htm ———————– [pic] [pic]