Philosophy assignment one Essay Example for Free

Philosophy assignment one Essay Aristotle begins the study of politics with the household and its parts as the parts of the whole, the city, is composed. His discussion of the family gives three kinds of rule that is found in the household, master over slave, husband over wife and father over child. Aristotle provides an intellectual and rational means to the good life and the best society, or politics is autonomous and self-sufficient, that is, it is an activity independent of other spheres of human endeavor, and thus a sphere possessing knowledge and a technique independent of other forms of knowledge. To Aristotle community is based on reason. So, to Aristotle the polis and the logos are inextricably interwoven. The expansion or acquisition of property could be said to be internal dissension and internal strife, which deems salutary to the power and growth of Rome while laments the strife and factionalism that was a direct cause contributing to the fall of the republic. This stress on strife and conflict is significant in that is shows that the internal conflict over acquisition is transformed into an external conflict for acquisition. Aristotle’s view of society called the substantial form or the soul of the human body was conceived in such a way that the human being was seen to depend on the community for the satisfaction of its needs. Natural law forms the basis of all positive law, and whenever a positive legal stipulation contradicts this natural law, it loses its legal validity. It is possible to deduce objective natural law, valid for humanity as a whole, from teleological ethical basic principle. Aristotle defends politics by considering whether human beings are natural slaves and by repelling the economic view that all nature is the property of man. With property and money in Aristotle’s opinion, nature does require and permit property, but she does not require humans to acquire many possessions for the sake of their economic wellbeing. She may, however, require and permit the pursuit of another kind of wealth in virtually unlimited quantities. The tools, or wealth, that human beings use are secured by the art of moneymaking. But how human beings use wealth and therefore to some extent how much they use would seem to be determined by the household manager. So it is somewhat unclear whether moneymaking is properly the same as, a part of, or a subsidiary of household management. Both the household and the city are properly concerned with the perfect preservation of human beings and their rulers presumably acquire and use all things for that end. Nature has made all things for the use of human beings. We need as much of what moneymaking provides us as is necessary for life and for the good life secured in the household and the city. If the things that human beings can possess or use are of great variety, as indeed they seem to be and if it is the task of moneymaking to contemplate where useful things and property come from, then moneymaking must contemplate virtually all of visible nature and seek its cause or causes. However useful to economics and politics moneymaking may be, the study of nature or natural philosophy, to which moneymaking gives rise might return to its beginnings in economics. Human beings can use their skills to acquire nourishment and the store of things useful for life and the good life in various ways, nature seems to facilitate their consumption of her resources. Humans and other animals are said to be able to procure nourishment with ease and even according to their choice. Humans can combine various nourishments and the means of procuring them in order to live more pleasantly. Among the perfectly acceptable mans are robbery, the use of all inferior beings in nature, and even war against intransigent inferiors. These means are not contrary to nature and do not amount to expropriation from a hostile nature. Nature seems to sanction these means as necessary. When nature’s selfishness becomes all too apparent a second kind of acquisition comes into being. Nature’s failure to guarantee the self-sufficiency of each individual necessitates exchange. Although not by nature, exchange is according to nature, fir it serves her end of preservation. True moneymaking emerges reasonably from exchange or barter but becomes something different. Exchange, especially with foreigners is facilitated by the invention of money. Once its value has been agreed upon and signified by an impression on its face, money becomes the measure and standard for the value of the necessary things traded. Money and all other things come to be used to make more money and the generation of money from money, or interest, becomes comparable to natural genesis. Moneymaking and devotion to money, it appears, are as limitless as the natural human desires for life and pleasure. Money assumes central importance because it is thought to ensure satisfaction of the original desire for preservation carried to its logical conclusion, the desire for immortal happiness. Aristotle acknowledges that the culmination of moneymaking in usury is hated, but he himself does not condemn the unlimited form of moneymaking. He even teaches the art of trade, a form of moneymaking. He does, however, contend that it is an error to equate money with true wealth. Locke contends that there is a natural law derived from reason regulating the relations of individuals in the natural condition. The law of nature contains three distinct but interrelated commands. Locke claims that the power to execute the natural law is every mans, whereby each individual has the right to punish anyone who violates the natural law by threatening one’s self-preservation or harming another in their life, liberty or possessions. In regards to private property it involves both the explicit renunciation of property claims and implicit recognition of the equality of the private party to agreements. Locke may mean no more than that any explicit agreement with another regarding one matter includes implicit recognition of the property integrity of the various parties. Locke may intend a more expansive construction of the meaning of implicit recognition such that any explicit assertion of property integrity by one state produces an implicitly renunciation by that state of any property claim against any other. Locke assumes that every individual must have property of its own.

Factors Affecting Purchase Of A Smart Phone

Factors Affecting Purchase Of A Smart Phone In this chapter, there are 4 independent variable and dependent variable. These variables are important to examine this research. These variables include brand name, features, price and quality. Besides, this chapter will be including the reading materials which are based on the topic of this research. The materials that included will be extracting from online journals, articles and magazines. The researcher gets the genuine journals from online databases, such as Emerald Intelligent, ScienceDirect , ProQuest Digital Dissertation Abstract and Google Scholar. The purpose of doing this research is to study the factors that affecting consumers to purchase Smartphone in Malaysia. Smartphone is getting attention from all segments of consumer today, but there must be some factor that will affect their behaviour before buying it rather than purchasing the normal basic cell-phone. According to Khasawneh and Hasouneh (2010), the products brand name will influence consumers evaluation and then perceive different products offering which as a result will affect on consumers behaviour when purchasing products and understanding consumers behaviour is a decisive factor in the companies success around the world. Therefore, this research is to determine whether or not brand name will affect the Malaysian consumers when they are making their purchasing on a Smartphone. Feature has the strong ability to induce consumers purchasing decision. This explains that when consumers are purchasing any products, consumers will tend to make us of the products feature as a basis for evaluating a product (Puth, Mostert and Ewing, 1999). Features for Smartphone is not only one two three, it will depends on the users preference on what are their needs. Build-in camera is getting more focus from the consumer nowadays, mobile phone manufacturer tend to improve the camera and speaker in order to fulfil customers needs. Therefore, this research will have the intentions to find out if feature is the major persuasive factor that affecting consumer behaviour towards purchasing a Smartphone. Almost every advertisement accentuates on price, 90 percent of retailers in this market screen the prices of their competitors on a regular basis (Kenning, Evanschitzky, Voegl and Ahlert (2007). Kunal and Yoo (2010) shows that price has a positive impact on behavioral intentions. In other words, consumer will tend to have more purchasing intentions if the price is consumers perception and vice-versa. For that reason, this research will find out whether or not price will influence consumer heavily when they come to buying a Smartphone. According to Khanna, Vat, Shankar, Sahay and Gautam (2003), stated that none of the writers disagree that quality is one of the most crucial critical success factors in order for organizations to achieve competitiveness among competitors. They further interpret that quality had make the Japaneses automobile industry overtook the USAs during 1980s and become the biggest in the world though Japans automobile industry started several decades behind the USAs. In other words, quality is an important factor that consumer will put into consideration before making any purchasing decision, therefore, this independent variables is to find out whether or not it will have the same effect towards consumers in Malaysia when purchasing a Smartphone. All these variables are important because they are main factors that have positive related to the dependent variable. In this research, independent variables that would be focused on are brand name, features, price and quality. In excess of 1.3 billion people are using cell phone worldwide today while the year of 2003, an estimated number of 1,340,667 cell phone subscribers were being perceive worldwide, an increment from approximately 91million in the year of 1995 and 1.158 billion in the year 2002 of 53.49% of total telephone subscribers (Goggin, 2005). Besides, it was also supported by Gart-ner and Ahonen (2010), stating that more than 1.3 billion mobile phone handsets are being sold each year, and in the year of 2010, Smartphones made up almost 20% of that total (Gart-ner and Ahonen, 2010). Sales of Smartphones are escalating almost 100% per year, and is expected in the year of 2012 the total global sales volume is expected to surpass the sales of PCs (Gartner, 2010). C:UsersUserDesktop01.jpg Figure 2.1: Worldwide Smartphone Sales for the year of 2008. Source: Andreas Jakl, 2009. In the year of 2008, the highest worldwide Smartphone sales belongs to Nokia, 43.7% from the worldwide Smartphone sales in 2008 belongs to Nokia. In order for Nokia to be the leader of the market, there must be some reason behind. Regardless what the brand is, consumer will look at various points before making any decision. ). According to Kupiec and Revell (2001) the intention to purchase a product will be more depending on the scale to which consumers expect the product to reach their satisfaction level when they consume it. According to Yu and Tan (2005), in July 2001, the Ministry of Information Industry (MII) of the Peoples Republic of China publicize d that the figure of its mobile phone users has achieved 120.6 million, which makes China the major mobile communication market in the world. This was supported by Bell (2006), the worlds current largest cell phone market belongs to the Peoples Republic of China. In Asia, the usage ratio of mobile phones in Hong Kong is slightly higher as contrasted with other Asian countries (Chan, and Chan 2008). Mobile phone penetration rate is ranked as the second highest in Asia Pacific (International Telecommunication Union, 2004). The consumer desirous for Smartphone is increasing dramatically and will move forwards annual sales wide-reaching from 131 million units in 2008 to over 300 million by 2013, according to market research company Parks Associates (Cellular-News, 2009). http://img.cellular-news.com/story/38286/Global_sales_of_smartphones_to_reach_310_million_units_in_2013_1.png Figure 2.2: The global Smartphone sales units (2008 2009) and predicted sales units (2010 -2013) The occurrence of economic recession in recent years does not seriously infected the industry, a report by Berridge (2010) stated that the industry was not really suffered that critically during the recession seeing that the sales for 2009 were down a bit at 1.15 billion units but that was not that far down from the 1.2 billion handsets whipped in year 2008. The constructive impact of communication is experience by more Nigerians in the past four years than they what they came across in the first three decades of self-government (Adomi, 2005). According to Myers and Shocker (1981), factors can be pigeonholed in many ways which comprises extrinsic and intrinsic. The extrinsic aspects that include physical prompt such as features and brand name (Olson and Jacob, 1972). On the other hand the aspect that did not consider as part of the physical of product includes price and quality (Olson, 1977). The mobile phone has become an indispensable tool that is found in all doctors pockets with the advancement of technologies, the phones have become more stylish over time, especially with the introduction of third generation technology in 2001(Dala-Ali, Lloyd and Al-Abed, 2011). This has immensely increased both the storage and also the speed of mobile phones. There are many third generation phones obtainable from the market; among the most well accepted are the Blackberry and the iPhone, given that the iPhone is a smartphone produced by Apple Inc. and was launched in the USA in June 2007 and since then over 33 million phones have been sold worldwide and the number of European iPhone users rose by 161% in the year running up to April 2010 (Dala-Ali, Lloyd and Al-Abed, 2011). 2.1 History of telecommunication If histories of media have their difficulties, there are uncharacteristic trials and description in seeking to devise histories of the newer media (Flichy, 2002). Mobile telecommunication technologies have matured in consecutive generations (Dunnewijk and Hulten, 2007). According to Goggin (2005) the mobile phone has been in development for at least fifty years regardless of the mobile phone relatively recent commercial availability and consumer adoption from the early 1980s onwards. It also recursively adopts and reconstructs lifestyle, anticipations, and cultural forms from two other technologies central to modernity, to be exact the telegraph and telephone (Goggin, 2005). The history of mobile telephone goes back to experiments in the US in the 1920s with radio telephony (Kargman, 1978 and Agar, 2003). The first mobile phones were usually car-bound and ATT launched in 1947 a highway service between Boston and New York after the success of first mobile telephone network in St. Louis (Agar, 2003). Eventually radiotelephony became so crammed full, in New York particularly, that the network operators used waiting lists while candidate customers waited hoping to be so lucky to get a mobile phone connection (Agar, 2003). By the year of 1950 there were still only fifty million telephones in use in the world (Goodman, 2003). Goodman (2003) also further stated that Japan was the first to adopt fixed line phone which is in the 1970s, the number was go beyond by mobile phone somewhere in year 2002, International Telecommunications Union (ITU) predicts that the figure will almost one in three in the year of 2005. In the year of 1996, Nokia introduced the Communicator, a GSM mobile phone and handheld computer which had a QWERTY keyboard and built in word processing and calendar programs that allows besides sending and receiving faxes, the 9000 could check e-mail and access the internet in a limited way (Farley, 2005). Whereas the first generation (1G) appeared in the 1950s, while the second generation (2G) or GSM technology is used extremely wide, but challenged globally by the subsequently (third) generation (3G) technologies. This sequence of generations is characterised by increasing capacity (higher transmission speeds) and richer content of the message. Further penetration of 3G depends critically on the integration of telecommunication services and multimedia services, which turned out to be more complicated than most experts predicted (Dunnewijk and Hulten, 2007). The fruition of Chinas mobile telecom industry since its inauguration in the year of 1987 and appears to be a multistage industrial development process with policy intrusion and market competition. (Siau and Shen, 2003, Maitland, Bauer and Westerveld, 2002, Barnes and Corbitt, 2003). The number of mobile subscribers in China had twofold each year from year 1994 to 2001, by the Q4 of 2002; China had 206.3 million mobile telecommunications subscribers and had become one of the most attractive spots for the international and domestic telecom operators, equipment and phone manufacturers (Yu and Tan, 2005). In addition, Bell (2006), stated that the worlds current largest cell phone market belongs to the Peoples Republic of China. In the mobile telecommunications circles, systemic improvement examples are the successive generations of first generation (1G), second generation (2G) and third generation (3G) systems and this revolution will affect not only our daily lives and the way business is accomplished (Siau and Shen, 2003, Maitland, Bauer and Westerveld, 2002, Barnes and Corbitt, 2003). Table 1: List of best selling brand, year of founded and homepage. Brand of Phone Year of Founded Homepage Nokia 1865 http://www.nokia.com/ Motorola 1928 http://www.motorola.com/Consumers/XP-EN/Consumer-Products-and-Services/Mobile-Phones/ Samsung Mobile 1938 http://my.samsungmobile.com/index.jsp LG mobile 1958 http://www.lg.com/my/mobile-phones/index.jsp Palm 1996 http://www.palm.com/us/ HTC 1997 http://www.htc.com/sea/ Blackberry 1999 http://worldwide.blackberry.com/landing.jsp?regionId=22 Sony Ericsson 2001 (Joint Venture of Sony Corporation and Ericsson) http://www.sonyericsson.com/cws/cws/home?cc=mylc=en Apple iPhone 2007 http://www.apple.com/iphone/ 2.2 Variables 2.2.1 Consumer Behavior Consumer behaviour can be defined as the acquisition, consumption and disposition of products, services, time and ideas by decision making units. While consumer decision making can be defined as a mental orientation characterizing a consumers approach to making choices (Lysonski, Durvasula and Zotos 1996). Value is created when a consumer is offered useful information and gains understanding, reassurance and/or hedonic fulfilment in the process (Grant, Clarke and Kyriazis, 2007). The value creation relies on an analysis of online consumer behaviour to determine which information sources and formats are most likely to meet their needs at a given point in time (Grant, Clarke and Kyriazis, 2010). #To make the decision of purchasing, consumers take into account criteria such as reliability, quality, price and convenience of the product (Sanlier and Karakus, 2010). In contrast to simple or routine purchases, complex consumer behaviour may involve an extended process with a range of activities, each of which presents different challenges for a consumer (Assael, Pope, Brennan and Voges, 2007).Analysis of consumer purchasing decisions is not uncommon and a body of knowledge has developed (Watson, Howard and Patrick, 2002).There are several models and theories which describe consumer behaviour from a specific perspective (Estri, Hassangholipour, Yazdani, Nejad and Rayej 2010). Among all these models, the purchase decision model helps to understand the relation between consumer behaviour variables better than the other models. According to Kim, Forsythe, Gu and Moon (2002), is been an ongoing marketing challenges for retailing in competitive global markets towards marketers to meet the changes of customer needs by providing the right products and services. A consumers decision-making style has been defined as a patterned, mental, cognitive orientation towards shopping and purchasing, which constantly dominates the consumers choices (Safirk Mokhlis and Hayatul Safrah Salleh, 2009). It is common knowledge that price influences a customers buying decision (Monroe, 1973). Intention to purchase depends on the degree to which consumers expect the product to satisfy them when they consume it (Kupiec and Revell ,2001). When a consumer wanted to make the purchase decision, they will pass through the process through recognition, search information, evaluation, purchase, feedback (Blackwell, Miniard, and Engel, 1995). Therefore, the consumer will choose a product or brand to consume from various choice can get in the market. According to Bettman, Johnson and Payne (2000), different situation will be affect by different factors. Information overload also increase the complexity of the consumer behaviour towards purchasing a product (Bettman, Johnson and Payne, 2000). The information can be obtained by advertisement, display, brochures and etc. A study by Lynch and Srull (1982) suggested that decision-making can be categorized in 3 categories which are stimulus-based, memory-based and mixed. When consumer affect by the external information or factor can be category in stimulus-based. When consumer makes decision based on their memory or internal perception can be category in memory-based. The combination of this two is mixed. Consumer has different tastes, needs, motivation and lifestyle when they want to purchase a product (Chisnall, 1985). Some of them preferred high quality and willing to pay high price, some of them are not (Monroe, 2003). Furthermore, the consumer behaviour towards purchasing a product can be investigating through the consumer characteristics. It include Brand conscious, price conscious, quality conscious, recreation conscious, innovation conscious, confused by over choice, impulsive and brand (Leo, Bennett, and Hartel, 2005). Therefore, it is important to find out the relationship between those characteristics and the consumer purxhasing behaviour. 2.2.2 Brand Name In todays changing global environment, many businesses are facing increasing competition that forces them to seek for competitive advantage, efficiency and profitable ways to differentiate among them (Mei, Dean and White, 1999). Brand names are valuable assets that help correspond quality and suggest precise knowledge structures which related to the brand (Srinivasan and Till, 2002). Researchers have distinguished that brand name as an important tool in improving a products value (Dodds, Monroe and Grewal, 1991). According to Rotfled (2009), brand name is an exclusive and is to indicate product itself to the market. Besides according to the American Marketing Association, defined the brand as name, term, symbol, or design, or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competition (Khasawneh and Hasouneh, 2010). Haigh (2007) has proposed three definitions: trademark is a logo with associat ed visual elements, brand is a trademark with associated intellectual property rights, and branded business covers the whole organization. According to Rao and Ruekert (1994), stated that one of the major objectives of a brand name is to provide information on the quality of a product. The value of a brand name adds to the product is named as brand equity (Farquhar, 1989). Developing brand equity is thought to be an important component of brand building (Keller, 1998). Brand equity is assumed to convey several benefits to a firm (Pappu, Quester and Cooksey, 2005). Brands might develop sustainable competitive advantage for firms (Aaker, 1989). As a result, if consumers perceive a particular brand favourably, then the firm may have a competitive advantage (Pappu, et. al, 2005). Brand name is lack of possibilities to establish in short term, in other words, is needed to develop in long term. More and more companies realized that one of their most priceless assets is the brand names that related with their products or services (Cornelis, 2010). In recent aggressive competitive market place, the most critical success element for companies is the brand name that were being used by a product, and further stated that the brand names are consider as the last source of differentiation for the companies products and services (Lim and OCass, 2001). According to Khasawneh and Hasouneh (2010), the products brand name will influence consumers evaluation and then perceive different products offering which as a result will affect on consumers behaviour when purchasing products and understanding consumers behaviour is a decisive factor in the companies success around the world. Brand managers face a complex and multifaceted task in managing the meaning of brands on a global scale (Andrews and Kim, 2007). Why do companies develop their own brands? According to Thanasuta, Patoomsuwan, Chaimahawong and Chiaravutthi (2009), the presence of brands were to identify and differentiate the products or services between the companies or organizations. It was further stated that brand name can lend a hand to the brand itself to pass on the information and communicate to the market (Hoyer and Brown, 1990). Also pointed by researchers, consumer have an unlikely similar perception towards different brand and also have a diverse perception of the products attribute and quality (Srinivasan and till, 2002). Indeed technology is no longer a matter of haves and have-nots but of basic services versus advanced ones but as technologies mature and product features become more similar, consumers are often unable or unwilling to differentiate between brands on rational attributes alone (Temporal and Lee, 2001). According to Forsythe (1995), brand name will be the vital indications or an extrinsic cue (Olson a nd Jacob, 1972) that will lead consumer to make their purchasing decision when they are trapped in a dilemma whereby they need to choose between two products. When the intrinsic indicator recognition of the product such as price is missing, consumers will tend to recognize it based on the brand name of the products or services (Ahmed and dAstous, 1996). Since consumers will have the knowledge on the brand which will cause consumers to create a perception on the brand, therefore they are able to measure the level of preferences whether or not the brand is pleasing their requirement (Urbany, Dickson, and Wilkie, 1989). To endeavour with this situation, some precise and adequate knowledge on the brand itself is a pre-requisite for consumers (Ratneshwar, Shocker and stewart, 1987). According to Baltas and Saridakis (2009), usually those who are more particular on the products quality will be more expose to the affection of brand name. Brand extension is a strategy that many companies follow with the aim of benefiting from the brand knowledge achieved in the current markets (Aaker and Keller, 1990).When a new product is marketed under a well-known brand name, failure rates and marketing costs are reduced (Martinez and Pina, 2010). Benefits of a great brand include a short-term gain on recognition to long-term competitive advantage on loyalty, which are ultimately translated into revenues and profits. 2.2.3 Price Price has been observed as an important element affecting the diffusion of new products and services, but pricing of a new product or service is particularly difficult (Munnukka, 2005). Nagle and Holden (2002) stated that price can play a role as a monetary value whereby the consumers to trade it with the services or products that were being sold by the sellers. Price will always be the key concern of consumers before making any purchasing decision (Smith and Carsky, 1996). Price equality is a psychological aspect which is persuasive towards consumers reactions to price (Campbell, 1999). Prices are perceived to be inequitable; consumers respond unenthusiastically by stay away from transactions, contacts with the provider or even engage in penalizing actions such as boycotts (Homburg, Hoyers and koschate, 2005). If a transaction or a price is perceive as unfair by consumers, they will engage in disciplinary actions (Antje and Mark, 2010). They will avoid the transaction and do not buy at all. Besides, there is a positive relationship between individuals perception of fairness and their level of expenditures, and that consumers tend to spend more money with specific providers if transactions are considered fair (Daskalopoulou and Petrou, 2006).Oh (2003) found that buyers comparison of actual price against their internally held reference price seems to affect their subsequent judgments about price, quality, and value. Kunal and Yoo (2010) shows that price has a positive impact on behavioral intentions. Price is one tangible cue from which consumers form expectations. As a result, the elements of marketing play a more important role in services since consumers are more sensitive to cues such as price (Bitner, 1990). Voss, Parasuraman and Grewal (1998) suggested that the link between price and satisfaction. When the consumers are satisfied with the price, they will purchase the product. Furthermore, should be noted that consumers buy high priced brands (typically luxury goods), driven by either social adjunctive attitudes that seek design, image, or social status or value-expression attitudes that seek product durability or quality (Wilcox, Kim and Sankar, 2009). Conspicuousness (willingness to spend a great amount of money to demonstrate their social status) also plays an important role on brand purchases (Kunal et al., 2010). Wilcox et al. (2009) find that high-priced brands are highly related to consumer conspicuousness. Consumers looking for quality, status, self expression, and image will gravitate toward high-priced brands to fulfill their goals, the achievement of which can be signaled through promotional messages of conspicuousness and exclusivity (Kunal et al., 2010). The level of price is found to positively affect behavioral intentions mainly because price establishes image of the brand in the eyes of the consumers (Aaker, 1991). In a consumers heuristics, a high (low) price connotes a high (low) quality and image. For a conceptual convenience, there are two types of products by price: high-priced brands and low priced brands (Kunal et al., 2010). High-priced brands are brands on the market whose image is seen as the key factor. Consumers of these brands often purchase them mainly for image and are willing to pay a premium price for their perceived high quality and status, which make them price-inelastic (Bolton, 1989). Low-priced brands tend to be purchased for utilitarian value, with the consumer relying on the perceived value for price. Consumers would typically look for low prices of these brands or substitutes to get the best value (Kunal et al., 2010). Consumers tend to interpret higher prices with higher quality, and low prices are percei ved as an indication of inferior quality (Rao and Monroe, 1988) According to Thaler (1985), there is more than couple of brand of mobile phone that consumer will find in todays market, this will most likely influence the consumers indicator on the pricing that being sold. Price is no longer an element that can be ignore for investigation whether or not it is an crucial factor that affects consumers behaviour in products and services. Given an example, a customer is choosing either a offline and a online book store for books, the distance of the store will be the first consideration and then followed by the time needed for delivery and lastly the price of it (Karlsson, Kuttainen, Pitt and Spyropoulou, 2005). As seen, price is a vital issue that the consumers need count into consideration. Recently, most of the consumers are pursuing a high quality services, though service is an important factor, yet the unwillingness of consumers to pay for obtaining a higher level of service by sacrificing an extra amount can still be seen (Tse, 2001). On the oth er hand, price might not be part of their considerations especially when dealing with web shopping, which the major concern falls on convenience, security and store offer (So, Wong and Sculli, 2005). In addition, there is a positive relationship between price and quality (Etgar and Malhotra, 1981). It explains that most of the consumers will regard high price goods and services equals to high quality. Thus, if the price level is at a peak but the quality or features are comply with the consumers expectation; they might perceive as fair and are more willing to pay a at a higher price to owns a better quality goods or services (Monroe, 2003). Due to the price of a product has a key authority on the consumers buying decision (Evanschitzky, Kenning and Vogel, 2004), it is normal to concentrate on it. As a precondition to valuing a price as low, the consumer must have at least a vague idea of the normal price. Only if that idea of normal price is present consumers can assess whether or not the offer is a bargain. The marketing-mix instrument of price is currently used excessively to attract consumers to a particular product or store. According to Kenning, Evanschitzky, Voegl and Ahlert (2007) nearly, every advertisement emphasizes price that over 90 percent of retailers in this market screen the prices of their competitors on a regular basis. Price knowledge is a psychological construct that relevant to retailer success, since it influences both a consumers buying decision and the sales margin. At the same time, it can help the retailer to exploit consumer willingness to pay. The price of a product is one of the most important marketing-mix tools which are currently used excessively to attract consumers to a certain product or store (Evanschitzky, Kenning and Vogel, 2004). Price knowledge is a psychological construct that is relevant to the success of the retailer, since it influences a consumers buying decision. At the same time, it can help the retailer to exploit the consumers willingness to pay by using information about price knowledge for the pricing of products.

Environmental Issues for the Amazon and Murray River

Environmental Issues for the Amazon and Murray River Environmental Change Management  Rivers Rachel Cunningham All life on earth depends on water. Trees and plants need water to grow, and water helps shape the earth and its islands, continents and countries. About 71% of the earth is covered in water by oceans, rivers and lakes. Almost all river water comes from rain or melted snow. Rivers are large streams of water flowing downwards to the sea along channels they have cut. Some rivers flow into lakes and some join other rivers. A river ends when it flows into another river, ocean or lake. When a smaller river flows into a larger one, the smaller one is called a tributary. This is commonly referred to as the mouth. Commonly, rivers start (the start is known as headwaters) as small streams on high grounds, gradually increasing in volume. Rivers have played an important part in the development of civilisation. Rivers are one of the main ways in which rainwater returns to the sea in the water cycle. On their way to the sea, rivers help shape the land through erosion. A river is the main part of a river system, which also includes smaller streams that supply water to the river. The second largest river in the world is called the Amazon River, located in South America. The Amazon is 6,436 kilometres long, and carries more water than any other river in the world. The chief river of Australia, the Murray, flows 2,589 kilometres from the Snowy Mountains to the Great Australian Bight at the entrance to the Indian Ocean. It rises near Mount Kosciuszko in south-eastern New South Wales and flows north-westward to form the border between Victoria and New South Wales. Rivers can be influenced by human actions, sometimes with a positive result and sometimes with a negative result. In both the Murray and the Amazon, humans have cleared the land surrounding the river, constructed dams and weirs and created a hazardous environment for many animal species neighbouring this environment. Pollution is also a major cause for some of the environmental issues that these rivers face. Indigenous people in the Murray and Amazon regions have cared for and maintained the rivers over a long period of time. They have achieved this by taking from the river what it can sustain and by not polluting it excessively. The greatest river of South America, the Amazon, is the worlds largest river in water volume and the area of its drainage basin, together with its tributaries the river drains an area of 7,050,000 square kilometres—roughly one third of the continent. It empties into the Atlantic Ocean at a rate of about 220,000 cubic meters per second. The Amazon region is covered by dense tropical rainforest. This has one of the highest rates of rainfall in the world. Agriculture only has a potential on 2% of the floodplain, and the whole Amazon basin supports a population of only four million, of whom 75 000 are native Indians. The Murray River is the longest permanently flowing river in Australia. It is an important source for irrigation and industry. The Murray River system includes the Darling, Lachlan, and Murrumbidgee rivers, and it drains an area larger then that of France and Spain combined. The Murray rises in the Australian Alps near the eastern boundary between Victoria and New South Wales. It then crosses eastern South Australia and flows into Encounter Bay, south of Adelaide. The Murray River is 2,589 kilometres long. Along the Murray, wheat, sheep and cattle are a main source of income for farmers. However, this is becoming a problem because chemical run off from the crops pollute the river. In the Amazon, subsistence farming, practised since before the Portuguese settlers arrived in Brazil in the 16th century, remained the major money making activity until the 19th century. Indigenous groups such as the Yanomamo and Kayapo have been living in the Amazon for thousands of years. The first human settlements in the Amazon had populations’ approx 35,000 years ago. Since that time, Amazon people have developed lifestyles that are well incorporated with the benefits and restrictions of rainforests and the Amazon River. Normally, daily meals included wildlife found close to rivers, such as fish, turtles, capybara and crocodiles. Until recently, blowguns, arrows tipped with poison and spears were an everyday tool used to hunt down the wildlife for the daily meals. Unfortunately, these prehistoric weapons have been replaced with guns. The guns cause more damage to the river because they are more accurate, and they kill quicker. Hunter-gatherer groups were once generally nomadic, living in small temporary settlements for 4-5 years until all natural resources had diminished. Due to land colonisation by non-indigenous people, many local (indigenous) groups were forced into inactive lifestyles causing them to become peasants. This started to degrade the river bec ause they weren’t using it in a traditional way. Such changes not only destroyed traditional lifestyles but also caused the local peopleto lose control over their territory and for the river to lose many of its traditional protections. Whilst the new settlers treated the river without concern for its well being. There are many environmental issues along the Murray. Many of these problems are caused by drought. Some of the problems are so serious that despite two years of rain (2000 – 2002), areas of the river are yet to recover. The Murray mouth closed in 2002, only the second time recorded in history. This was because of the lack of water in the basin. In April 2009 in the Lower Lakes region, 20,000 hectares of acid sulphate soils were exposed and fresh water levels fell dramatically, to more than one metre below sea level. Ecosystems were also affected by this, because of the increase in salinity and exposure of acid sulphate. It also threatened the water supplies for people and livestock. Low water levels also caused some sections of the riverbank to dry out, crack, and eventually give way. There were more than 160 incidents of river bank collapse along the Murray. Many turtles were affected by the rising salt table, and became sick, and finally died.[1] The salinity problem in the Murray serves as a predicament for all Australians. Salinity is an issue when an excessive quantity of salt in the water and soil causes problems with the use of water and land. Due to land logging, land reproduction and land colonisation, the salt table of the Murray is rising. Water stored in the dams and weirs is mainly used for irrigation, causing the salination problem. Some salt flows naturally into the Murray – Darling, but irrigation, land clearing, dams and weirs have all forced increased amounts of salt up from deep underground. Unfortunately, most of this salt eventually ends up in the rivers which increases the river’s salt content. Every year, three million tonnes of salt flow down the Murray River. Another issue that the Murray faces is stagnentation. Parts of the river, especially the lower Murray, are now more like a series of still lakes rather than a flowing river, resulting in some significant changes. The water is cloudier and contains less oxygen, encouraging the growth of algae and making it difficult for some fish species to survive. The Sand and silt are slowly building up on the river beds behind the dams. Because of the build-up of sand and silt, the fish cannot move from one part of the river to another or from oceans to lakes. This disturbs the food chain by creating over population of some species and lack of others. The major environmental issue for the Amazon River is deforestation, in the greater Amazon basin. The main sources of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest are human settlement and development of the land. In nine years from 1991 – 2000, the total area of Amazon rainforest cleared rose from 415,000 to 587,000 square kilometres. Most of this lost forest has been replaced with pastures for cattle. Because of this, the salt table has risen dramatically. Deforestation of the Amazon rainforest can be recognised by many different factors. The rainforest is mainly seen as a resource for cattle pasture, hardwoods, housing space, farming space, roads and medicines. The deforestation rate in the Amazon region increased from 1990 to 2003 by 70%. As a result of deforestation, the river effectively dies. The tree roots are no longer present to hold the bank in, therefore the rivers walls collapse. As a consequence of this, the silt builds up. This causes the river to flow slower. Since approximately 2005, inhabitants along the Amazon have become aware of the need to conserve the river. This has led to conversation with governments regarding management of the river. Before Europeans arrived, the land surrounding the Murray was occupied by Australian aborigines. The Murray River has been home to the Aboriginal people for thousands of years. This river was commonly known to the indigenous as Milewa or Tongala. The land surrounding, and the river have always been imperative to the indigenous. Near the river, there were once many swamps and billabongs. These were flooded each spring when the melting of the winter snow in the spring, flowed into the Murray. Indigenous people caught much of their food using nets and dams. The nets were for catching fish, animals and birds. They made them from fibres of rushes that grew beside the creeks. The rushes were chewed and then twisted by rubbing them on the thigh. Aborigines also caught fish by making dams across the narrow creeks. First they pushed the stakes into the creek bed. Then they wove branches through the row of stakes. At flood time the fish swam into the shallow creeks and billabongs. As the flood waters went down, thousands (not the 10’s of 1000’s like the fisherman of today) of fish were trapped behind the dams. Women gathered all the plant food. They dug for bulrush roots and rushes and collected pigface berries. The indigenous also ate bulrush roots with every mean, just as white people ate bread. In the river the women caught crayfish and yabbies and spent much of their time diving for mussels. They carried the food back to the camp in net bags and baskets. The riv er itself can replenish itself after this sort of gathering. However, the river cannot replenish itself after a bulldozer digs out plants by their roots. Fish and shellfish were the main food of the indigenous people. Men did the hunting with spears or nets as well as dams. Flocks of ducks, pelicans, black swans and other water birds trapped in the nets that they strung across the creeks. They made stronger nets and staked them out between trees. These were catching emus and kangaroos. The cords of these nets were as thick as your finger. To hide from animals they hinted, men made screens of branches woven with grass. They would creep up on the emus and kangaroos until they were close enough to speak to them. The men also made rods to snare waterbirds. For camouflage they put braches through the reeds. They snared them around the neck one by one. The current environmental issues that the Murray and the Amazon face are primarily caused by modern man. Some of the issues that the Murray faces include rising salt table, water pollution and decreased water flow. The Amazon also faces a major concern deforestation. These environmental factors have only surfaced since the areas have developed. Indigenous people were conservative and only took from the land what it could sustain. We can learn from these traditions and ensure that rivers remain a sustainable environment in the future. Bibliography: Encyclopaedia Deforestation of the Amazon Rainforest, {Online accessed 13 February 2014} URL:http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deforestation_of_the_Amazon_Rainforest Impacts of Deforestation on the Amazon, {Online accessed 26 February 2014} URL:http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/news-andblogs/news/impacts-of-deforestation-on-the-Amazon The Achuar of Peru, {Online accessed 13 February 2014} URL:http://www.amazonwatch.org/work/achuar Murray River Aboriginals {Online accessed 26 February 2014} URL:http://www.murrayriver.com.au/about-the-murray/indigenous-culture/ [1] URL:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_issues_of_the_Murray_River

Essay example --

Our world is growing! Growing in population that is, but the resources are staying the same. To help with the growing of the population that will be happening in the 21st century, science and agriculture need to work hand-in-hand. They need to stand together to make a break through together, to insure that everyone will have food on their plate. We need to work to have larger yields with the land we have. Some people say that humans need to change their diet, and others say that we should destroy hundreds of acres of wild land. According to Feed Nine Billion website, people feel that the only way things will be improving, is if everyone becomes a vegetarian. But others disagree. The people who think that this is the only way do have a good point. Grains and vegetables do produce so much faster than animal production. Then again, you can’t just assume that everyone will follow, and turn to becoming a vegetarian. Besides think of all the farmers that would be out of a job! These farmers could have been family business, just like a dairy farm that is located outside of our town. R&D dairy farm has been handed down generation after generation. Funding has to become an essential in today’s society for this new advance in technology that will be needed. We aren’t only having problems worrying about feeding the next generation; we should be concerned now. Did you know, that in the last 11 years, six of those years the population has consumed more than what was produced? The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations website, just this year the cereal production has gone up eight percent. Imagine what will be expected in the 21st century. People are demanding more food now, than they ever have. Scientists say that far... ...t too expensive for the farmers. The second step is that broader awareness is required. According to Sarah Alexander, â€Å"different farmers trust different sources, such as vendors, crop consultants, and university extension services.† Farmers are going to need to be open minded to new things, in order to feed the human race. The last step is farmers need the right incentives. Farmers want to know about the good that they are doing. Farmer’s want to know how they are saving the environment, and how they are producing more food, and feeding more people than they were before. If we all work together, feeding the nine will be possible, and even likely. Farmers need to know how much they are needed, for this process and know that new ways of farming will help in the long run. People don’t have to change their diets so everyone can be fed. Together, we can feed the world.

The Blue Jean as Cultural Metaophor :: Exploratory Essays Research Papers

The Blue Jean as Cultural Metaophor It may seem odd to consider items of clothing critical components of ‘popular culture’. Contemporary clothing is a key element in the construction of personal identity; it is used to denote an individual ‘style’ and a personality unique to its wearer. Yet from the corset to miniskirt, such items serve not only as practical coverings, but also as indicators for the current values and belief systems of a society. Thus I wish to examine what has become a most popular article of clothing – the ‘blue jean’1 [1] - in an attempt to unearth some of the socio-cultural phenomenon that is ‘popular culture’. According to Raymond Williams’ definition, the ‘blue jean’ qualifies as an object of popular culture due to its (a) wide-spread accessibility, (b) popularity, and (c) construction as an object intended to be popular.2 [2] But perhaps the ‘blue jean’ is not only a product, a piece of commercialism. I assert, rather, that this cultural icon has become a gauge of changing interpretations of masculinity in mainstream American culture. The ‘blue jean’, symbolically, is the white, middle-class, ‘All-American’ man. I would like to examine what, specifically, makes the ‘blue jean’ stereotypically ‘masculine’. Historically, fashion has upheld socially constructed notions of gender: the corset, for example, helped contain a woman’s ‘uncontrollable’ body, while the suspender maintained coverage of a man’s ‘unmentionables’. Similarly, from its design as a durable work pant for working men and laborers (farmers, railroad men, gold and coal miners, etc.), 3[3] the blue jean is closely associated with a muscular, super-virile ‘He-Man’.4 [4] First made wildly popular by the Western films of the 1930s, jeans became identified as a standard item of apparel worn by the ‘cowboy’.5 [5] Even mainstream advertising for these durable denim pants featured ‘manly’ rangers, taming their horses and lassoing the competition (image 1a). The concept of a heroic, blue-jeaned ‘Lone-Ranger’-esque cowboy seems to have remained in popular American psyche, as it is nostalgically associated with a notion of ‘old-fashioned’, well-mannered, moral man (image 1b). Authentic cowboys wearing Levi’s at this time were elevated to mythic status, and the pant was now associated more with a rugged American, symbolized by John Wayne. 6[6] (Wayne, for example, always seemed ‘ready for action’ with a holster comfortably around his jeans [image 1c]).

Business and People Management Test

All of the following are examples of downward communication flows except managers pointing out problems that need attention employees completing attitude surveys managers telling employees to work more quickly managers informing employees of procedures managers assigning goals 2 points Question 2 are indicators of a strong organizational culture. Widely shared values Completely horizontal organizational charts Weak managers Narrowly defined roles Question 3 1 .Consequences of stress can surface as physiological behavioral psychological all of the above none of the above Question 4 symptoms. 1 . All of the following are characteristics of the organic model except employee empowerment arrow spans of control cross-functional teams cross-hierarchical teams flatness Question 5 1 . A plant manager who organizes the plant by separating engineering, accounting, manufacturing, personnel, and purchasing into departments is practicing differentiations. Reduce functional geographic graphic targe t customer Question 6 1 . The traditional view of conflict is the belief that conflict is neutral necessary situational-dependent natural harmful Question 7 1 . According to the Ohio State studies, the extent to which a leader's behavior is erected toward getting the Job done is called minimization consideration path-goal initiating structure Question 8 1 . Which tactic for overcoming resistance to change basically assumes that the source of resistance lies in misinformation? Caching and advancement education and communication occupation and manipulation training and development facilitation and support Question 9 1 . The approach to evaluation that uses feedback from those who have daily contact with an employee (everyone from mailbox personnel to customers to bosses to peers) is termed 360-degree evaluation radical incidents M BAA BARS Question 10 1. Research indicates that poor of interpersonal conflict. Communication motivation training hygiene leadership Question 11 is probably the most frequently cited source 1 .Honesty is absolutely essential to leadership. True False Question 12 1 . Which one of the following is not one of the primary ways to group Jobs? Process personality customer function Question 13 1 . Angelina feels that her cubicle neighbor talks too loudly on the phone, but in other ways she is a great neighbor. Angelina gets annoyed every time her neighbor's phone inns, but she has decided it's simply not worth the trouble to talk to her neighbor. Angelica's conflict intention is called resisting competing avoiding collaborating compromising Question 14 1 .Legitimate power is based on positive rewards expert knowledge interpersonal trust structural position respect and admiration Question 15 1 . The step in the action research process where information is gathered about prognosis evaluation diagnosis feedback action Question 16 1 . The text implies that the type of leader likely to have the most profound effect on his or her followers is the r eenactments educational transformational transactional actuarial Question 17 leader. 1 .Transformational leadership is built on top of transactional leadership. Question 18 1. A leader high in initiating structure would do which of the following? Assign group members to particular tasks seek consensus empower employees to make their own decisions exhibit laissez-fairer type of leadership Question 19 1 . All of the following are factors that serve to sustain organizational cultures except colonization top management selection frugality orientation Question 20 1 .Diversity training programs are generally intended to provide a vehicle for socializing otherwise unmanageable employees balancing work/life conflicts increasing awareness and examining stereotypes eliminating group learning Question 21 1. The unstructured interview is typically biased often only modestly related to future Job performance usually made up of random questions Question 22 1 . Who developed a three-step model for change that included unfreezing, movement, and refreezing? David McClellan John Cotter Lawrence Summers Douglas Usurer Kurt Lenin Question 23 .Electronic mail is the ideal method for conveying messages that might evoke emotional responses. True Question 24 1 . When a manager is evaluated on the degree to which he or she â€Å"has a good attitude,† the evaluation criterion being used is behaviors. True Question 25 1 . According to the Ohio State studies, the extent to which a leader is likely to have job relationships characterized by mutual trust and respect for his/her employees is consensus-building matrix LAP Question 26 conflict hinders group performance. Formal Functional Reactive Informal Dysfunctional

Gender Roles Intro Essay

Historically and sexist speaking, women are discriminated because of gender. And issues arose because of this. Even in the beginning 1990’s there was a big gender gap in American history. It still goes on even today. Women get paid lower in income, suffraged in elections, and are abused domestically. Money wise, job amounts of payments are not getting distributed proportionally. There’s a big difference within a male’s annual income and a women’s annual income. When battles strike, back in the days during World War I and II, women were being used more for labor and mass production. They were faced with difficult tasks to take care of children, and also learning how to make weapons to equip their husbands who were soldiers at that time being. On top of that, women didn’t really have much of a say in things politically. Differing in men, majority of them didn’t even have the right to vote. Not until the nineteeth amendment was approved and valid in law, this kind of situation still continues because today, not a lot of people are willing to support a woman as a possible president. Previously in the 1990’s, a famous woman known very much for bravery to step up onto to the plate was a well known lady named Rosie, the riveter. She was qualified as someone with lots of spirit, and moved with an ambitious aura. In the past decades, women were already discriminated again for their lack of manliness and whoever was identified not as a male with a spot in masculine gender. If you were clearly a female, many privileges would be lost or not offered. The background behind gender gaps dated all the way to the beginning of mankind. In the making of history, women however gained more and more rights. Still progressing and building fortitude, valiancy to be bold is still expanding. Women equality in all subjects is being raised to a higher power. This starting point as a preceding base bought more new resources and gave something to work on more. To give women the same qualifications and providing assistance to those not capable of receiving the same policies as men was one of the main concerns. Availability to be useful to females was introduced in many different movements and targeted great objectives to accomplish more for the ladies. Transitioning into more details in the next section, anyone can see, the depths of sexuality that distinguish representations of certain values and beliefs not only physically but mentally very popular that construct much of today’s controversial debates.