Modern Society and Breakfasts

Breakfast is identified as the most important meal of the day. It is also the meal which people often skip despite having health benefits such as helping in weight management, better energy and concentration, as well as better problem-solving skills (The Importance of Breakfast). From context, the word breakfast means breaking the fasting which lasted throughout the sleep. People prefer different meals for breakfast. Some go for cereals; some go for bread, some for rice, pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausages etc.Whatever kind of breakfast a person eats, as a habit, it is still related to a certain culture but modern culture has resulted in breakfast being neglected. From the data gathered from an interview, the Western style breakfast consists mostly one or more of the following: pancakes or waffles, cereals, bread, eggs, bacon, ham, sausages with milk, coffee, juice or tea. The interviewees said that they usually have breakfast as a family before but changing times resulted in not having to eat breakfast with other family members.Some can still manage to eat with their family. Many now prepare their own breakfast and treat it as an individual activity. Due to a fast-paced life especially in the city, many people no longer have breakfast at home. They usually get breakfast on their way to work or school. In a modern society, people consider breakfast as an individual affair and very few people regard breakfast as a ritual, thus, family members have breakfast at different times. Many people have also been known to skip breakfast (Prevos, 2004).The importance of eating breakfast cannot be denied. I study indicated that children who ate breakfast showed better performance in school. They have better test scores, have better behaviour and are less hyperactive (Jegtvig, 2008). Breakfast in an important meal but modern cultural influences have resulted in breakfast becoming an individual activity instead of being a group activity like it was considered before. More and mor e people are also skipping breakfast. Interviews: Person 1 †¢ Eats pancakes, waffles or cereals, milk, fruit juice for breakfast.†¢ Breakfast is a group activity with family members †¢ Pancakes and waffles go with maple syrup with milk or fruit juice for drinks. Eats breakfasts with family since all family members go to work or school early Person 2 †¢ Eats eggs, cereal, bacon, ham, rice, milk or coffee for breakfast. †¢ Breakfast is an individual activity. Family members wake up at different times but breakfast is served by mother. †¢ Sometimes have breakfast on the way to work. Person 3 †¢ Eats toasted bread, eggs, sausages, fruit juice or coffee for breakfast.†¢ Breakfast is an individual activity. †¢ Cooks own breakfasts or have breakfast on the way to work. Person 4 †¢ Does not eat breakfast. References Jegtvig, S. 20 August 2008. Eating Healthy Food Aids Learning. About. com. Retrieved August 26, 2008, from http://nutrition. ab out. com/od/ nutritionforchildren/a/dietandlearning. htm Prevos, P. 15 August 2004. Breakfast and Culture. Retrieved August 26, 2008, from http://prevos. net/ola/breakfast. pdf The Importance of Breakfast. Retrieved August 26, 2008, from http://www. bellybytes. com/articles/breakfast2. shtml

Network Infrastructure Planning

Course number CIS 408, Network Infrastructure Planning, addresses the issue of network design in both peered-network and client/server environments. The topics emphasized in this course are network topology, routing, IP addressing, name resolution, virtual private networks (VPNs), remote access and telephony. I believe that my training and experience as a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) fully encompasses the topics included in this course, and I should receive work-life credit for this course. I gained the skills and knowledge included in this course through a number of training courses for exams leading up to my MCSE certification. The main exam in this series for network infrastructure planning was Exam 70-219, Designing a Microsoft Windows 2000 Network Infrastructure, which I took in 2001. Related article: Advantage Energy Technology Data Center Migration In addition to the associated training, work experience consisting of one or more year’s experience designing network infrastructure in an environment with greater than 200 users, at least 5 physical locations, all typical network services including file and print servers, proxy servers and/or firewalls, messaging servers, desktop clients and remote dial-in or VPN servers, and remote connectivity requirements including remote offices and individual users, as well as connection of corporate intranet services to the Internet. Some facets of the topics covered in this course were also covered in Exam 70-296, Planning, Implementing and Maintaining a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment for MCSE Certified on Windows 2000, which I took in 2005 while gaining my Microsoft Certified System Administrator (MCSA) certification. Requirements for this exam included the MCSE certification I had gained previously, as well as experience in network infrastructure planning and user support. Network topology planning was covered in Exam 70-219. This included considerations such as physical layout of the proposed network, LAN topology requirements, physical connectivity requirements and business case analysis for the network proposal. Current hardware availability as well as planned network growth, upgrades and user growth were discussed. Network security, both software-based and physical, was taken into consideration. I learned to both design a network topology from scratch as well as to modify an existing topology for new requirements. Routing requirements using both TCP/IP and DHCP were also covered in these training sessions. Designing TCP/IP subnetting, implementation and optimizing TCP/IP routing strategies, as well as integrating existing systems with newly designed systems were discussed and practiced. Name resolution using such protocols as DNS and WINS were covered in detail. I learned to create a number of different DNS designs, including a basic design, a highly-available design, security-enhanced designs. I also learned how to optimize DNS designs, performance measurement for DNS and how to efficiently deploy a new DNS system. WINS was also discussed; design strategies, optimization and performance measurement, and deployment were covered exhaustively. Multi-protocol strategies for maximum interconnectivity and flexibility were also discussed. Design of remote access, telephony and external access strategies, including WAN (wide-area network) and VPN strategies as well as Internet connectivity, were a further topic of these training sessions and the subsequent exam. WAN design was covered from the standpoint of both dial-in and VPN access.   Dial-in remote access security was emphasized, with design considerations including Routing and Remote Access protocols and authentication with RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial-in User Service). VPN (virtual private network) access was discussed, with Routing and Remote Access being emphasized as well as a demand-dial strategy. The training also encompassed telephony system design considerations, including traditional telephony switchboard-based services as well as Voice over IP (VoIP) services. Connectivity to external Internet was also a focus of the training; design considerations included inbound connection control, firewalling and proxy servers and other security requirements unique to the corporation. My training and experience as a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer has thoroughly prepared me in the subject matter offered in this course. Formal training as well as six years experience in network infrastructure planning, including such designs as network topology, protocol configuration and monitoring, integration of telephony, remote access and outside connectivity services as well as attention to business requirements, has given me a depth of knowledge and experience in network infrastructure planning equal to or greater than the knowledge I would gain from CIS 408. I feel I am very well qualified to receive work-life credit for this course.         

Unnatural Killers Summary

The story is about a young couple that attempts murder twice, committing it once. The story is told by a lawyer that works in a small town in Mississippi. He meets a devout Christian and solid citizen, Mr. Savage. On March 7th, 1995, Sarah and Ben, a young couple on a road trip, entered Mr. Savage’s office and shot and killed Mr. Savage. They took his credit cards and cash. There were no witnesses. The couple made their way down to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. Running low on cash, Sarah entered a convenience store and shot the 35 year old mother that was working that night. She then took the money from the register. The clerk survived but was completely paralyzed. An anonymous informant identified Sarah from the video from the convenience store. Sarah and Ben were sent to trial. Sarah blamed Ben. She said that the movie Natural Born Killers brainwashed them and lead them to work out their â€Å"demons†. She said she didn’t see a 35 year old mother. She said she saw a demon so she shot her. Sarah is likely seeing a life sentence and Ben may see a death sentence. The lawyer from the Mississippi town believes that the maker of the movie is to blame for these crimes. There have been other murders that were linked to people watching the movie. The voice of Grisham is shown towards the end of the story where he calls for the writer of the movie to be tried in court.

Draft Leadership Critique Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Draft Leadership Critique - Assignment Example One of the theories on leadership is by James Burns known as transformational theory of leadership. This theory is based on the belief that leaders and their followers work mutually in order to grow each other to higher levels of morality and motivation. It mostly involves engaging the minds and hearts of the employees (Ray, 2013, 59). It is beneficial in ensuring that everyone in the organization eventually reaches a higher sense of motivation, satisfaction with their work and a greater sense of achievement. In order for this kind of leadership to be successful, there is a need for a certain level of trust and concern rather than having control over the employees. This theory implies that leaders can only make employees follow in their footsteps of they also follow what they preach. Some of the main criticism of this theory is that it is too enlist and places too much emphasis on heroic aspects of leadership. The expected end result of this is that the followers are bound to be oppressed in a certain way. Transformational leaders rule under the notion that they have some sort of special abilities that their employees have no access to. Consequently, the destiny of their followers is tightly linked to the ambitions of their leaders. Secondly, in this kind of leadership, there is a likelihood that followers by be manipulated by their leaders and eventually end up losing more than they gain (Lussier & Achua, 2010, 39). Transactional theory of leadership, on the other hand, is based on the idea that the relationship that exists between leaders and their employees develops from the exchange of some form of reward (Bertocci, 2009, 56). The reward could be in terms of salary, praise, recognition or performance ratings. The main limitation of this form of leadership is that it implies that leaders will only reward employees when their

Text Analysis of William Shakespeare's All the worlds a stage Essay

Text Analysis of William Shakespeare's All the worlds a stage - Essay Example The higher order in this case may be the playwright himself or God. Consequently, Jaques muses on the levels of human development from childhood to old age. There is a different interpretation of ‘stage’ that, however, is comparable to scenes in the play. The self-reflective speech reflects not only the scenes and scenery shifts in the play itself, but also the main protagonist’s concern with the implication of life. This concern gives a rationale behind Jaques decision at the end of the play to join Duke Frederick as he conducts his religious contemplation to explore the theme further. In addition, the poetic speech draws individual focus in the manner of action and present people differently when interacting with a wide range of groups that define the audience dynamics. The speech is reflected in Rosalind’s disguising herself to be Ganymede so that the forest community accepts her. A close analysis of the speech reveals the ability to change as a central theme. Evidently, the definition of man is in his capability to transform. Most of the characters in the entire play undergo physical, emotional, political, or spiritual transformation. These changes come out easily and as such, Shakespeare establishes that man’s ability to transform determines his strengths and decisions in life. Individual change also results to political change in the play since Duke Frederick’s transformation of the heart causes a renewal in leadership at the court. The reader can attribute some of the changes to the magical aspect of the forest but man’s capability to change himself is also under advocacy. The character in the poem undergoes seven stages of life that are in a sardonic expression as opposed to being a bitter tone. The first stage is the infancy stage. In this stage, Shakespeare depicts the man as a helpless baby and understands very little about life. The baby succeeds in getting attention

Students with Vision Impairments, another for Physical and Health Research Paper

Students with Vision Impairments, another for Physical and Health Disabilities & Severe Disabilities - Research Paper Example This is also agreed upon by Support Services Office of Tyler Junior College in Tyler, Texas mentions that it is important to provide accommodations for students with disabilities since it is a part of providing equal opportunities for education without being held back by disabilities (Support Services Office, 2010). In reading the rationale for giving accommodations for students with disabilities, I have learned that they are also capable of learning just like normal people, and as such it is of utmost importance that their conditions be understood so that they can show others that they can learn and be productive despite their disabilities. There are different classroom accommodations suitable for the students’ needs and depending on the kind of disability that they have. In Texas A&M University, students with visual impairments are allowed accommodations such as recorded lectures either by the instructor or by the students since they could repeat the lessons as needed and not have to rely on their limited sight. Another of the school’s accommodation but for students with physical and health disabilities is allowing assignments to be submitted in electronic formats. This can greatly assist students unable to make handwritten assignments (physical disability) or are frequently absent due to chronic medical conditions. Meanwhile, Tyler Junior college allows students with severe disabilities extended time accommodations, especially during exams since these students usually take longer time to finish activities compared to other students. Such procedures are given to measure a student’s knowledge objec tively without being hindered by the disability (Support Services Office, Tyler Junior College, 2010). Having facilities and other forms of assistance available for students with different kinds of disabilities as well as listing other additional strategies to support their education while on campus makes both the Department of Disability Services of the

Efficient Market Hypothesis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Efficient Market Hypothesis - Essay Example The efficient market theory assumes that there are no transaction costs, money market is not segmented and it is easy to enter the money markets. Efficient market hypothesis is explained in three ways. First, there is weak form efficiency. Weak form efficiency stipulates that all past information that is available in public domain is a reflection of stock prices. The prices are considered unbiased and best estimation of security value. It presumes that it is impossible to predict future prices using past information through technical analysis (Pompian, 2006). Therefore, an investor cannot use technical analysis to predict future prices that are likely to give excess profits (returns). Secondly, there is Semi-strong form efficiency. This form of efficiency stipulates that all publicly available information reflects prices of stock. It further states that prices adjust instantly as new information is made available. Fundamental analysis cannot be relied upon to generate excess returns to the investor. Thirdly, there is strong form efficiency. According to this form of efficiency, prices are reflected by both private (insider) and public information. This means that all investors irrespective of whether they have insider information or not, make equal profits on their investments. It further assumes that insider trading laws are usually enforced. This means that uninformed investors who purchase a diversified portfolio are likely to make same profits as those made by industry experts. Efficient market hypothesis is associated with ‘random walk’. Therefore, if information flow is not hampered and travels immediately in any investment especially stock pricing, the current price reflects current news (Boatright, 2010). Therefore, current prices depend on current news and not yesterday’s news. However, news is usually unpredictable and thus price changes of investments are also likely to be unpredictable and random. According to the efficient marke t hypothesis, news spread quickly and new information is quickly incorporated into the prices of investment in stocks without delay. This shows that there is no need for technical analysis from past price movements to predict movement of prices. Lee (2009) explained that efficient market hypothesis presumes that large number of profit maximizing investors exists. It also provides that new information must enter the market randomly and independently over time. Efficient market hypothesis has been challenged by economists who believe that there are psychological and behavioral factors that predict returns on investment. According to Malkiel (2003), the new breed of financial economists believes that prices are wholly or partially predictable based on behavioral patterns of individual investors and fundamental valuation metrics. They also argued that predictability of future stock prices enable investors to earn excess profits on their investments. A number of economists, statisticians and other experts have stated that Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) is to blame for the global financial crisis that occurred in 2007-2010. This is because of a number of reasons advanced by number of people. First, according to Jeremy Grantham, people had a lot of faith in efficient market hypothesis. This made them to throw caution in the air and underestimate the risk of assets bubbles because they believed that asset market was able to adjust itself accordingly (Nocera, 2009). The investors,

Research Proposal Assignment Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Research Proposal Assignment - Dissertation Example Crime prevention is an important part of responsibilities of law enforcement agencies particularly police. To do this, Police not only take active measures but also uses intelligence gathering and data related to reported crime to draw out crime prevention strategies. Traditionally, police has used data that it has gathered during reporting and investigations of crime, however, police and other law enforcement agencies have always been resource limited and therefore the question of efficiently utilizing this data has always remained. Fortunately, however, the advancement of computer technologies has led to the development of various solutions that can be used by the police and other law enforcement for much more efficient utilization of intelligence and other data in order to develop effective crime fighting strategies. One of such solution is the use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) for crime analysis (Chainey and Ratcliffe, 2005). The use of GIS allows for seamless and eff ective incorporation of police data along with location information, demographics data and infrastructure thus transforming information into actionable intelligence (ESRI, 2010). Statement of the Problem While Abu Dhabi police has been actively updating itself in the past decade or so in terms of its equipment and tactics, it has also paid attention to the use of information technology in fighting crime and other ills that occur in the society. While GIS have already been introduced in the police centres in order to make the police more location aware, however, its effect on crime fighting and prevention has yet to be explored. GIS based crime fighting has already been used successfully in the developed countries; however, its effectiveness for Abu Dhabi police has yet to be demonstrated. The problem that this project will attempt to solve is lack of demonstration of effectiveness of GIS in crime analysis that can significantly improve Abu Dhabi police capability to reduce crimes in the area even more. The Purpose of the Study The purpose of this project is to show how GIS based crime analysis can be used to fight crime in Abu Dhabi by the police. This project also seeks to demonstrate the effectiveness of using GIS in crime analysis. The project will involve using satellite images and other data available from independent and UAE based sources to perform hotspot analysis in order to identify current trouble spots and recommendations on how this information can be used to fight crime and formulate crime prevention strategies. Literature Review Crime Analysis Crime analysis involves a systematic analysis by law enforcement agencies in order to identify the trends and patterns in occurrence of crime. This can help law enforcement agencies in using it resources, which are often limited, in a much more effective manner while also providing a way to develop solutions to crime problems and enhance crime prevention strategies. A crime analysis can be performed on tac tical, operational or strategic level. Crime data is used by crime analysts for quick identification of new or existing patterns of crime. This phenomenon is analysed for related factors and then used to predict future occurrences of crimes which they then convey to their agencies. These patterns and prediction information is then used to develop

IMPROVING PRODUCTIVITY THROUGH PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS (CPM, ASPA, Research Paper

IMPROVING PRODUCTIVITY THROUGH PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS (CPM, ASPA, TCMA, IG, ETC.) - Research Paper Example Increasing productivity does not merely mean to give the output or product in the industry in a very minute time rather it is the collection of number of quantitative and qualitative determinants which ensure the productivity. The first determinant to measure the productivity is the quality of the product that is produced by the work force. If the requirements of the customers are being met in the optimal way and the satisfaction graph of the client is increasing then definitely the work force, machinery and managerial group of that organization will be called as productive (Bradford, 1997). Increasing productivity through professional organization has been an emerging phenomenon of the present time as every organization cannot sort out the way to ensure the increase of productivity within or outside the premises of the work place. There are certain factors which have to be analyzed prior to the start of the process of increasing and augmenting productivity. The Professional associat ions make sure that the productivity factors are increased according to the demand and needs of the customers and the peculiar requirement analysis is done in order to fulfill the requirements of the organization and individuals (Alchian & Demsetz, 1972). The productivity factor largely depends upon the input given at the start. The input can be in the form of hired workforce, raw materials and hardware. The professional associations make sure that the productivity is increase by taking the perspective of the ratio and proportion of the input and output terms so that the efficiency also remain the focus of the organization. For example if the firm will produce the output of a very good quality within very less time then no doubt the productivity will said to be greater in the acute terms but the fact of the matter is that the efficiency is lessened because there is not inculcation of the cost effectiveness of the company and the company will shut down within a very less time frame. The productivity has to incur the production cost and the budgeting factors of the locality. The professional associations take all the stakeholders on board in order to make sure that no party is outside the hierarchical structure so that the productivity can be increase in a very effective and nominal way. There is a diverse choice of productivity increasing options in the modern world because the professional organizations are being deployed by almost every organization of good repute. One of the most acclaimed and renowned professional associations that are known for their great performance in helping to increase productivity of organizations and individuals are American society of administrative professionals (ASAP). This association helps the individuals and organization to work on different aspect of the professional and social life to increase and improve the productivity. As far as the professional services are concerned they conduct different training programs, webinars, w orkshops and seminars in order to educate people about nurturing their skills and building interpersonal relationships so that the

Sweeney Todd Analysis Essay Example for Free

Sweeney Todd Analysis Essay The stage was quite large with a multi-level set. B) The set was dimly lit before the show and eerie music was playing to create a spooky atmosphere. C) Before the show, I could tell that there was going to be a lot of shady actions taking place due to the appearance of the dingy street setting. D) Sweeney Todd took place on a proscenium stage, where the audience was looking in upon the scene as if a wall were missing. E) The space seemed to have adequately met the needs for the production, because the set was very tall and involved several methods of moving from level to level. SCENERY: A) The set consisted of several run-down store fronts with very dim lighting and an early 20th century London feel. The top level of the set held the barber shop near stage right, and a bedroom balcony at stage left. The bottom level housed the bakery and the basement of the bakery, which included a glowing fire oven. B) The age and nature of the buildings hinted at the setting and time of the story. The implied shadiness of the set foreshadowed about the nature of the characters. C) The colors of the set involved many shades of grey and brown, with the inclusion of red lighting at times. D) The designer was very successful in the set design, because it was easy to visualize the intended setting due to the use of area lighting. When a portion of the set was not involved in the scene, it was blacked out making it easier to focus on the scene at hand. E) I felt that the bright red lighting shining from the oven was very symbolic, in that it went hand-in-hand with a shrill sound effect that was played every time a character was killed. The lighting and the sounds symbolized Sweeney Todd’s revenge. COSTUMES: A) The beggar woman’s costume portrayed that she was homeless due to the dirty rags that made up her dress. The style of clothing (length and material of the dress) hinted at the time as well. Pirelli’s costume was very flamboyant which matched his over confident and swindling personality. His personality was often only skin deep, and his costume played perfectly with the front he was putting on. B) The dingy colors of the beggar woman’s clothes fit the homeless role well and also played well with the concept of keeping her identity secret until the end of the show. Her clothes did not make her stand out on stage. Pirelli, on the other hand, wore bright red with ruffles, making him seem bright and villainous at the same time. C) The designer did very well with the costumes, because they fit the characters’ personalities. For example, Mrs. Lovett was a very bold and outspoken woman, therefore her large, fluffy dress represented her well. LIGHTING: A) The lighting was kept seemingly dim throughout the show, which upheld the dreary, somber atmosphere in the scenes. B) The lighting seemed to portray night more often than day, as it only seemed to brighten when the focus was on Johanna. Red lighting was used to show when a character was killed and dumped into the oven. C) The most obvious use of lighting to portray emotion was the red, fire-like light that would emerge from the oven when a character was killed. Also, when Sweeney Todd was intended to appear as a man thirsty for revenge, he was encompassed in fog and the light created shadows on his face. ACTING: A-B) Sweeney Todd was excellent in my opinion. He wore a grey shirt with brown pants and suspenders. His body language was high-strung and motivated but also haggard and aged at the same time. The beggar woman was played with great success as well. The show progressed without much attention being brought upon her until her identity was revealed to Todd and the audience. She wore a bonnet and a dirty dress, and she was usually somewhat crouched to make her seem unimportant. Both of these characters performed well in singing their musical numbers as well. C) The scene where Anthony was serenading Johanna as she sat on the balcony served as an impressive portrayal of the connection between them. Johanna’s singing was very high-pitched. Needless to say it was hard not to notice the significance of this scene. I also enjoyed the murder scenes, simply because of the operational barber’s chair that doubled as a trap door leading to the downstairs oven. D) Every actor gave stellar performances in my opinion. E) The whole team had great chemistry and the show progressed without a hitch. The opening scene involved most, if not all, of the characters singing and moving in unison, and it was virtually seamless. DIRECTING: A) The director was trying to show the audience how revenge can drive a person to do some very crazy things, and the result was a success. B) Everything about the show conglomerated together successfully to create the setting and the emotional atmosphere. The overall uneasy, creepiness was constructed and supported well by the lighting, costumes, and scenery. C) Only the love scenes between Anthony and Johanna strayed away from the eeriness of the story, but even then the audience could sense possible turmoil to come. D) The movement and timing was excellent throughout the show. With bodies dropping down trap doors and synchronized group movements, the blocking was much without flaw. TEXT: A-B) The plot is out of chronological order because it starts with the townspeople burying Todd. He then arises to tell his tale, which consists of the judge ruining his life by exiling him. The plot of Todd’s story involves him meeting Mrs. Lovett and working to seek revenge on the judge and anybody else who stands in the way. The playwright is emphasizing the power that the motivation of revenge can have on a person. C) The conflict entails the judge having custody of Todd’s daughter, Johanna, and Todd’s efforts to retrieve her and kill the judge. D) Sweeney Todd eventually kills the judge, the beggar woman, and Mrs. Lovett, and then he is killed by Toby. This leaves Johanna to be with Anthony. E) As an editor, the only thing I would change about the show would be the length of the musical numbers throughout the show. They seemed longer than necessary and I felt as though some important information was unnecessarily presented in lyrics instead of straight dialogue.

Drivers Of Business Internet Adoption Information Technology Essay

Drivers Of Business Internet Adoption Information Technology Essay E-business has introduced new opportunities within recent years for small and large organization to compete successfully in the global marketplace. Many speculators have noted that among the newest changes introduced by electronic communications is the approach of transforming and transmitting information for gaining competitive advantage by organizations in the market place. The internet has provided significant space of opportunities for many small businesses to move and build closer relationships with their new or existing customers and suppliers online to achieve customer attraction and retention. With the use of online, e-business services to both customers and suppliers has significantly reduce costs while providing new convenient ways and channel for purchase of goods and services. Through providing high-quality online services to customers, business can build and create a long lasting relationship with all stakeholders involved (chaffey, 2009) Drivers of Business internet adoption At a relatively early point in e-business adoption, a government report (DTI, 2000) identified two main categories of drivers, which is prevalent and relevant today: Cost/efficiency drivers Increasing speed with which supplies can be obtained Increasing speed with which goods can be dispatched Reduced sales and purchasing costs. Competitiveness drivers Customer demand Improving the range and quality of services offered Avoiding losing market share to businesses already using e-commerce (Chaffey, 2009). Perrott (2005) identifies four key areas driving performance, which are cost-benefits, competitive pressures, market advantage and value adding, for example improving customer satisfaction while building strong and long lasting relationship. The main business drivers for introducing e-commerce and e-business are opportunities for increased revenues and reducing costs, but many other benefits can be identified that improve customer service and corporate image (Chaffey 2009). Chaffey review the potential benefits use in identifying both tangible and intangible benefits (cost hard to calculate). Figure Tangible and intangible benefits from e-commerce and e-business (Chaffey, 2009) E-COMMERCE AND DIGITAL OPPORTUNITITES IN AFRICA Internet edition of the 2004 report on E-Commerce and Development published by United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The Report was intended to provide practitioners and policy-makers with information and analysis to better assess and understand the impact of the growing role of ICTs in economic development. From the report foreword by past UN Secretary General  Kofi Annan: Information and communications technologies have considerable potential to promote development and economic growth. They can foster innovation and improve productivity.  They can reduce transaction costs and make available, in mere seconds, the rich store of global knowledge. In the hands of developing countries, and especially small- and medium-sized enterprises, the use of ICTs can bring impressive gains in employment, gender equality and standards of living (ITU) (OVERVIEW OF THE ICT LANDSCAPE IN AFRICA) The latest evaluations of immerse digital opportunity across the continent of Africa is shown below. The  Digital Opportunity Index  assesses countries on eleven different indicators, organized into three clusters of Opportunity, Infrastructure and Utilization. Measurements of digital opportunity for Africa show that, in 2005, only three countries had a DOI score in excess of 0.40 (Seychelles, Mauritius and Morocco), while in 2006, seven countries had DOI scores greater than 0.40 countries includes Egypt, Algeria, South Africa and Tunisia joined with a DOI score of above 0.40 (ITU). http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/newslog/content/binary/Africa_WISR07-blog1.jpg Figure Digital opportunities index (ITU, 2007) Analysis of the DOI results shows that, in Africa, digital opportunity is without a doubt mobile. Mobile lines outnumber fixed lines by 5 to 1, the ratio is even higher in sub-Saharan Africa, where 9 out of 10 subscribers use mobile.   Mobile penetration in Africa increased from 6.5 per 100 inhabitants to 13.1 per 100 inhabitants from 2003 to 2005. Africas mobile market region was considered the fastest-growing market  in the world, with averaging of 50% growth per year since 2000; fortunate growth rates that strategic investors like Orascom, Celtel,  MTN and Vodacom are profiting from (ITU) The digital penetration of Africa is going to encourage local business to embrace the opportunities of e-business and attract foreign investors to invest in Africa regions. The important of digital technology in Africa cannot be over exaggerated neither can it be underscored. SUBSAHARA AFRICA 11 African countries have Internet Exchange Points (IXPs). At least around  eleven African  countries, including Nigeria, Ghana and  South Africa, presently now have Internet Exchange Points (IXPs). These countries  now benefit from effective and efficient peering arrangements among themselves and very cheaper international connectivity and bandwidth. Nigerian Internet Exchange (NIXP)  Chief Executive Officer (CEO) said that eleven sub-Saharan  African countries presently have international Internet Exchange Points (IXPs), following the commissioning of Nigerias Internet exchange in late 2006, at about 30 million naira cost. Rudman observed, that until now, all ISPs within Nigeria have been connected to overseas countries, Which means that Africa was paying foreign carriers to exchange local [continental] traffic on their behalf. This was very costly and inefficient.  Rudman estimated costs of over US$100 million each year in Nigeria for use of unnecessary international transit or international bandwidth for national data. Rudman noted, peering with other ISPs at the exchange point, means all local internet traffic will remain local within the seven ISPs connection to NIXP and Starcomms was the first public telecom operator to connect to it (ITU). African countries with Internet exchanges include:   Botswana, Angola,  Congo DR,  Ghana,  Egypt, Kenya,  Ã‚  Nigeria,  Mozambique, Rwanda,  Tanzania, South Africa,  Uganda  and Zimbabwe. Evaluation of the digital divide In 2007 World Information Society Report, ITU included the very  latest statistics monitoring the evolution of the digital divide, with the use of a variety of statistical  techniques. The digital divide narrowed most rapidly in mobile telephony, with 1 in 2 people in the world projected to have access to a mobile phone by end of 2007. Low-income countries was found having important gains in mobile telephony (figure below), with mobile phones outnumbering fixed lines by 7 to 1 in LDCs and by as much as 9 to 1 in Sub-Saharan Africa. http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/newslog/content/binary/major-ICTs-small123.jpg Figure Distribution of ICT by income group of economies (ITU, 2007) The digital divide was also found narrowing in terms of Internet usage.   In 1997, almost three-quarters of worlds population living in low-income economies and lower-middle income economies was around 5% of worlds total Internet users.  In 2005, they accounted for around 32.5% or nearly about third  of all Internet users. The digital divide has evolved and gaps in access in the high-speed broadband technologies that matters most in today information economy are more marked low-income economies accounted for about 1% of total broadband subscribers worldwide, while lower-middle income economies accounted for around 20% or one fifth of the global total.   The digital is taking on new aspects in terms of speed, efficiency and the quality of access (ITU) http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/newslog/content/binary/africa-graph.gif Figure Growth in Speed WISD, 17 May 2007 (ITU, 2006) SERVICE PROVIDERS CELTEL AFRICA Celtel mobile phone service provider  has expanded its roaming service offer to customers in 12 African countries. Without incurring extra costs, enabling around  half of all Africans mobile phone users to communicate across national borders Celtel roaming service is available in Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Burkina Faso, Sudan and Malawi, as well as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo, Gabon, Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda. Celtels roaming service extend services to a population of over 400 million people, the populations are living in an area twice as large as Western Europe.Anna Othoro, the marketing director at Celtel said. This is a feat that not even European firms have achieved .Although Celtel has not yet announces upgrade to 3G services like its major competitor Safaricom (ITU) MTN In third quarter of 2007 results, MTN Group serves over 54.1 million customers in 21 countries, making it the largest operator in the Middle East and Africa, and with over 64,000 new customers a day. MTNs South African network is the keystone of its activities, with subscribers increase of 3% to 14 million. Nigeria is other source of income for MTN, with 14.9 million customers and each spending an average of $17 a month. This represents about 7% increase in customers, as well as a healthy more than 4% rise in their spending. MTN is improving in fractures and investing heavily in Nigeria to cope with the growing demand. Middle East and North Africa region of MTN saw 36% growth in customers, with its new Iranian network winning more than 1.7 million more users. Irancell is serving over 3.7 million people and each is spending an average of $11 a month (ITU) E-business Challenges (Risk and Barriers to business adoption) E-business opportunities must be balanced against the risks of introducing e-business services, which varies from strategic risk to practical risk. An organization can make a wrong investment in e-business, which is considered strategic risk. Most business have realized the opportunity and made investment in e-business and gain a competitive advantage, but while others have invested, so much in e-business without returns (profits) either because of wrong strategic planning or wrong approach to the market. Negative attitude of the managing directors and CEOs to the business benefits of information and communication technology (Chaffey, 2009). The perception of the risks involved has limited adoption of e-business in many organizations. Figure Usage of different e-business services in European countries (Chaffey, 2009). A DTI (2002) Study evaluated some of the barriers to B2B e-commerce, which remain valid today. Reason for cost was the most important factors. This suggests the importance of managers assessing e-business to develop costs and the ongoing costs that form the total cost of ownership (TCO) against the value created from the tangible and intangible benefits (Chaffey, 2009). Figure Barriers to development of online technologies (Chaffey, 2009) BARRIERS TO ADOPTION OF E-BUSINESS IN AFRICA KENYA Natural limit to the mobile market in Kenya Celtel Kenya, CEO Mr David Murray, is suggesting the possibility natural limit to the mobile market size in Kenya. Telecommunication is the fastest growing market in the world with the highest in Mobile communications segment especially Africa,but Mr. Murray warns that, in spite of the growth, Kenyas economy will not be able to accommodate more than three operators. Mobile market in Kenya is divided between Safaricom and Celtel Kenya, France Telecoms and Econet Wireless recently acquired the controlling stake in  Telkom Kenya  and about to start operations in the country. With a population of 34 million, mobile Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) is less than $10 per month (ITU) Mr Murray reckons that survival of the operators will be determined by creativity and efficiency on the marketing front, network reliability and product development. For example,  International One Network service from Celtel, the first-ever international borderless mobile network without roaming call surcharges or additional payment to receive incoming calls.   One Network service  was recently been extended to cover more twelve countries, an area equivalent twice the size of the European Union (ITU). UGADA High taxes threaten growth in Uganda An excellent study by Eria Hisali, consisting of data and statistics, researcher at Makerere University, concludes that Ugandas telecom markets high taxes threaten to choke growth. Recent study published by the  Uganda Communications Commission,  shows that recent mobile market in Ugandan is slow. Usage tax on mobile pre-paid services in Uganda is 30% (18% VAT and 12% excise duty), this is the second-highest level of  service taxes on mobile communication use  internationally, as claimed by the report.  Telecoms accounted for about 4% of  Ugandas total VAT revenues in 2000-2001, and 6.5% of VAT revenues in 2005-2006. Although,  Uganda Communications Commission latest statistics released, shows that the number of mobile subscribers is in increase, the report finds that, interestingly minutes of use is reduced significantly in both fixed line and mobile use.   More people are using mobiles, but less often and for a shorter period. Tax as a proportion of revenues for the telephone sub-sector  rose from 5.7% in 2001  to 19.6 or nearly a fifth in 2005. The Report suggests that high taxes may result in a slowdown in growth of the telecommunication industry by reducing investment in the sector. It also suggests that uniform tax rates may mean that poorer households bear a higher burden than higher-income households. The Report concludes that, if market growth  is  to continue, there is urgent need to change the current tax policy on telecommunications sector (ITU). BOWSTNA Botswana Telecommunication Authority and Orange High Court of Appeal in Botswana ruled recently that the Botswana Telecommunications Authority (BTA) should stop receiving tax revenues thier mobile phone operators from sale of voucher cards and free airtime operators offers their customers. Orange and Mascom, Botswanas two private mobile operators, have paid 3% of net turnover on quarterly basis from 2002, the beginning of private cellular phone operation in Botswana. However, the company had appealed the payment of tax on freebies or free airtime Orange occasionally offers to its customers, on the basis that it was free airtime, without profit. The High Court of Appeal ruled that Free airtime given by Orange to its customers is not an amount invoiced nor does it otherwise accrue to Orange for purposes of computation of net turnover. BTA stand a chance of refunds and  stands to lose a substantial amount of future  revenue (ITU). NIGERIA Security Nigeria has set up a movement (Nigeria Anti-Scam Network) composed of concern youths of Nigeria fighting cybercrime and spam. The Nigeria professional are interested in change to redeem Nigeria image from the bad reputation of online crime. The Network realizes that;  throughout the world, cyber crime is a very serious topic and a very contentious one at that. Many countries are losing a lot of money due to the activities of cyber 419s. Nigeria has been touted as the major breeding ground for most of these online frauds. Nigerias ranking in the corruption index have been very discouraging for the past three years and we know that this is not only as a result of Government officials corruptness, but also as a result of activities of online scammers. To be better prepared to fight these menace and bring back our lost reputation, some young Nigerian professionals started the Nigerian Anti-Scam network and have been doing extensive research on the activities of these scammers and ways of salvaging the countrys image (ITU). E-business Strategy Assessment of an organizations existing e-businesses capabilities is a starting point for the future development of their e-business strategy. The future direction and action of any company approach to achieve some specific objectives most be defined. Chaffey (2009) Defined E-business as the approach by which applications of internal and external electronic communications can support and influence corporate strategy. Google Africa As Google has become global, and it isnt neglecting Africa. Google is betting on the powerful impart the internet will bring to improve and transform business and society on the continent, even if the region remains one of the world least connected parts. Anyone in Ghana interested in buying a goat, computer, an iPad or Hummer 2011 model can now  go to Google site   and set up a link to sellers and buyers who have internet connection and SMS messages. Recently, Google hired Ory Okolloh, as its Policy Manager for Africa in a clear sign of its ambitions. In 2010, Google launched  Baraza, an interactive online space where Africans can be able to ask questions and also post answers to others. The goal of Baraza is to facilitate knowledge sharing within and outside Africa about locally relevant issues. According to Aneto Okonkwo Product Manager. Questions include everything from What is the economic impact of the tax increases in the Ghana 2011 budget? to Is it safe to take charcoal tablets during pregnancy? and Where do grasshoppers come from? Google senior official Nelson Mattos noted that any company that most succeed in Africa would have to do a good job by providing content relevant to the local market (Reuter). Google started earlier in Uganda before launching its trade service in Ghana.  Ã‚  Though internet penetration rates is very low in sub Saharan Africa, the recent launch of undersea fiber optic cables in Western Africa and East could significantly improve connectivity. The spread of mobile phones and SMS messaging motivated Google offering in Africa. It is important in raising the Bar and bringing together governments, international organizations, business, experts and civil society in focusing on leveraging Africas potential e-commerce strategic role in the global arena. It should feature innovative partnerships to sustain growth and addressing the human and infrastructure capacity constraints Africa is face with, and assessing strategies with opportunities for improving Africa investment climate.   The overviews of the ICT landscape in Africa, considers the relationship existing between ICTs and competitiveness. With reference to the latest researches, examining the changing regulatory policy in Africa landscape, providing the latest  summary statistics on service providers (operators) and markets information on various planned infrastructure initiatives shows the rate at which the private sector is forging ahead with the introduction and improvements of new technologies to grow the broadband  and mobile markets in Africa.  African  rise of strategic investors such as Celtel, Vodacom and Orascom to boast e-commerce  growth  is very impressive. Africa subscribers (WiMAX) WiMAX Counts.Com  by the end of 2007 reported that WiMAX has expanded rapidly in Africa over 2006-2007. Beginning of 2006, WiMAX subscribers numbered just a few thousand. However, by the end of 2007, Africa subscribers accounted for more than 20,000. Business was mostly customers, with 10s or 100s of internal users, in contrast to personal use. Over the years, subscriber numbers increased at an average rate of 28% per quarter, and in 2007 of 36% growth from Q2 to Q3 alone. Several new deployments took place during the second half of 2007, about 15 commercial deployments of BWA/WiMAX to the region, with a further 10 WiMAX network operators trailing and evaluating the implementation (ITU). Unavailability of traditional fixed line telecom infrastructure in Africa opened the door for big opportunities for WiMAX which provided broadband Internet rural and underserved areas that that is not possible with wired technologies. African operators are on the edge to spread the benefits of WiMAX. There is low penetration of broadband subscribers in Africa. From the 922 million inhabitants at 2006, only about 43.6 million were Internet users and around 1 million had a broadband connection. The  Digital Opportunity Index (DOI), is one of the two indices officially endorsed by the  World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)  (Geneva 2003-Tunis 2005),  can be used as a practical tool to track the changing dynamics driving the Information Society worldwide. 2005 DOI scores are sharply differentiated according to region. The region with the poorest countries in the world is Africa and it is greatly impacted by the digital divide. Americas, Europe and Asia have average DOI scores of more than 0.37 world average, while Africa has 0.20 average DOI score, mainly because of fixed line infrastructure and limited Utilization. When compared with other regions, Africa with an average regional DOI score ranked last with barely one-third that of Europe (0.55). African strong-performers regions are the Seychelles, Mauritius and North African countries (Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco and Egypt). The DOI map of Africa indicates high scores among the North African economies regions (Algeria, Morocco, Egypt, Libya and Tunisia). Egypt was in only country in the Top 15 gainers in the DOI, having a 32% in digital opportunity  from 2000-2005. In contrast, economies with low ranking are mostly inland, in Sub-Saharan including economies likes, Eritrea, Chad, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone and Niger (ITU) Many African countries are showing impart and making progress in reducing their internal gaps. Africa as a region has the highest growth rate in mobile cellular subscribers a 66% growth rate in 2005, with Egypt, Algeria, South Africa and Nigeria accounting for about 60% of the new mobile subscribers in the region. Nigeria In 2005, alone added 9.7 million subscribers; this represents about 7% of its total population. Three-quarters of all phone connections in 19 countries in Africa are mobile phones. This shows the tendency of e-commerce and e-business development in developing countries. From the perspective of telecommunication policy, high-ranking countries have illustrated the influence of liberalization, competition in promoting opportunity for infrastructure deployment. Most North African countries, as well as South Africa and Senegal, opened their fixed mobile markets to competition and creating rapidly increasing high-speed network deployment. Competition is reducing tariffs and introducing new service packages that responded efficiently to the needs of the people. For example, In Algeria the presences of a third wireless cellular provider successfully triggered new strategies for prepaid services that was not previously offered by the incumbents providers. http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/newslog/content/binary/Africa11.png Figure DOI of Africa World Information Society Report 2006 (ITU, 2005)

Consumer Behaviour Towards Milk Products

Consumer Behaviour Towards Milk Products Consumer behavior is the study of when, why, how, and where people do or do not buy products. It blends elements from psychology, sociology, social anthropology and economics. It attempts to understand the buyer decision making process, both individually and in groups. It studies characteristics of individual consumers such as demographics and behavioral variables in an attempt to understand peoples wants. It also tries to assess influences on the consumer from groups such as family, friends, reference groups, and society in general. Consumer behavior is influenced by: demographics, psychographics (lifestyle), personality, perceptions, motivation, knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and feelings. Consumer behavior concern with consumer need consumer actions in the direction of satisfying needs leads to his behavior of every individual depend on thinking process. Consumers with similar incomes and socio-demographic characteristic, facing similar relative prices, and equipped with similar information, tend to choose similar baskets of goods ( Connor, 1991). There is much research on dairy products that show that socio-economic factors and consumers demographic factors have a major impact on their consumption of dairy products (e.g. Bogue and Ritson, 2006; Armstrong et al., 2005; Valli and Traill, 2005; Tendero and Bernabeu, 2005; Vermeir and Verbeke, 2006; Viaene and Gellynck, 1997; Kotler, 1997). In addition, cultural diversity may have an important influence on consumption (Valli and Traill, 2005). There are large differences in the quality of life indicators between urban and rural areas (Sengul and Sengul, 2006). Also there are differences among the urban and rural populations in terms of their socio-economic and demographic characteristics. Customer behavior study is based on consumer buying behavior, with the customer playing the three distinct roles of user, payer and buyer. Relationship marketing is an influential asset for customer behavior analysis as it has a keen interest in the re-discovery of the true meaning of marketing through the re-affirmation of the importance of the customer or buyer. A greater importance is also placed on consumer retention, customer relationship management, personalization, customization and one-to-one marketing. Social functions can be categorized into social choice and welfare functions. The idea that customers prefer one product or one service over another is not new. The ability to identify and measure the elements of such preference decisions with any accuracy and reliability has only recently become available. Research into this area of consumer behavior has brought understanding to some of the major issues with standard customer satisfaction research. Most importantly, we have come to realize that high customer satisfaction does not assure continued customer preference. CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR CULTURAL FACTORS: Culture Sub-Culture Social Class SOCIAL FACTORS: Reference Group Family Role and Status PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS: Motivation Perception Learning Attitudes Beliefs PERSONAL FACTORS: Age and Life-Cycle Occupation Economic Situation Lifestyle Personality Figure 1.2 Factors affecting Consumer Behavior Consumer behavior is defined ad the mental and emotional process along with the physical activities of the people who purchase/consume goods and services to satisfy their particular needs and wants. Consumer is the most important person to the marketer because the marketer takes in to consideration on the liking and disliking of the consumer and he produces the goods and services accordingly. Consumer behavior is important for the three persons. For consumer: As a consumer most of the time will spend time in the market and a lot on decision making that what to buy and how to buy and meeting and conferencing with different types of peoples and friends with different types of good and services. For producer: Consumer behavior is also important for producer because producer design and manufacture different types of product and services keeping in view the wants and needs of consumer. For scientist: The knowledge of consumer behavior is also important for scientists, whether the scientist is working for profitable organization or non profitable organization. One of the advantages of consumer behavior can be seen when looking at advertisers and how they advertise by keeping the consumers in mind. Advertisers spend a lot of money to keep individuals and groups of individuals (markets) interested in their products. To succeed, they need to understand what makes potential customers behave the way they do. The advertisers goal is to get enough relevant market data to develop accurate profiles of buyers that is basically to find the common ground and symbols for communication. This involves the study of consumer behavior, the mental and emotional process and the physical activities of the people who purchase and use goods and services to satisfy particular needs and wants. Along side the behavior of organizational buyers (the people who purchase the products and services for use in business and government). The primary mission of advertising is to reach prospective customers and influence their awareness, attitudes and buying behavior. This can be done successfully only through knowing the consumer preferences, behavior towards various stimuli i.e. consumer behavior. 1.2 CONSUMER PERCEPTIONS, ATTITUDES AND MOTIVES TOWARDS MILK PRODUCT 1.2.1 Consumer Perceptions As a consumer, decision making is a very important factor as good decision making will see the Prosper but poor decision making could cost it a lot. In the fact, consumer perceptions influence all the decision of consumer. Perception is a process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment. The perception is important in the study of consumer behavior because people or consumer behavior is based on their perception of what reality is, not on reality itself. A number of factors operate to shape and sometimes distort perception. These factors can reside in the perceiver, in the object or target being perceived, or in the context of the situation in which the perception is made. Factor in the perceiver: Attitudes Motives Interests Experience Expectations Factor in the situation: Time Work setting Social setting Factors in the target: Novelty Motion Sounds Size Background Proximity Similarity PERCEPTIONS Figure 1.3 Factors that influence perceptions. Perceptions and Individual Decision Making, Organization Behavior (Fifth Edition) When an individual looks at a target and attempts to interpret what he or she sees, that interpretation is heavily influenced by the personal characteristic of the individual perceiver. Personal characteristic that affect perception include a persons attitudes, personality, motives, interests past experiences and expectations. Characteristic of the target being observed can affect what is perceived. Loud people are more likely to be noticed in a group than the quiet ones. For example of the milk product is the milk product with more benefit and promotion are more likely to be noticed in consumer mind than the low promotions. So, too, are extremely attractive or unattractive individuals. Because targets are not looked at in isolation, the relationship of a target to its background also influences perceptions. Based on study by Grunert et al. (2000) mentioned that consumer perception of dairy product quality was characterized by four major dimensions, hedonic, health-related, convenience related and process related. The information of the product itself rather than the physiological properties of the product influenced consumer acceptance of dairy product. Watanabe et al. (1997) classified consumer characteristics of milk consumption and indicated that men, middle-aged people, and people with no calcium concerns preferred soda and alcoholic beverages. People with relatively stronger health concerns consumed more milk products. Hsu and Kao (2001) evaluated product attributes and demographic factors that influenced purchases of fluid milk products in Taiwan using consumer survey data. Their result revealed that larger households purchases more fluid milk products. Households with higher income and household shoppers with higher educational levels tended to reduce purchases of flavoured milk products. 1.2.2 Consumer Attitudes As a consumer, each of us has a vast number of attitudes towards products, services, advertisements, direct mail, the internet, and retail stores. Within the context of consumer behavior, an appreciation of prevailing attitudes has considerable strategic merit. To get at the heart of what is driving consumers behavior; attitude research has been used to study a wide range of strategic marketing questions. For example, attitude research is frequently undertaken to determine whether consumers will accept a proposed new-product idea, to gauge why a firms target audience has not reacted more favorably to its new promotional theme, or to learn how target customers are likely to react to a proposed change in the firms packaging design. 1.2.1.1 The Attitude-Toward-Object Model The attitude towards object model is especially suitable for measuring attitudes towards a product or service category or specific brands. According to this model, the consumers attitude toward a product or specific brands of a product is a function of the presence and evaluation of certain product-specific beliefs and attributes. In other words, consumers generally have favorable attitudes towards those brands that they believe have an adequate level of attributes that they evaluate as positive, and they have unfavorable attitudes towards those brands they feel do not have an adequate level of desired attributes or have too many negative or undesired attributes. Conducting consumer attitude research with children, especially gauging their attitudes towards products and brands is an ongoing challenge. What are needed are new and effective measurement approaches that allow children to express their attitudes toward brands. 1.2.1.2 The Attitudes-Toward-Behavior Model The attitude toward behavior model is the individuals attitude toward behaving or acting with respect to an object rather than the attitude toward the object itself. The appeal of the attitude toward behavior model is that it seems to correspond somewhat more closely to actual behavior than does the attitude toward object model. 1.2.1.3 Theory of Reasoned Action Model The theory of reasoned action represents a comprehensive integration of the attitude components which is the consumer in this case, that ultimately are the building blocks of preference on multinational milk brand. The model is designed to provide a better understanding of how consumer preference is formed and, correspondingly, to provide the means to accurately predict consumer preference behavior. Figure 1.3 provides an overview of customer preference formation from the theory of reasoned action point of view. In order to understand preference it is need to determine the functional or performance demands involved in the purchase, the desired emotive outcomes, and the subjective norms consumers use to determine their desire for one milk product or brand over another. The primary assumption of the model is that individuals make considered purchases. In some cases the consideration may be minimal and the purchase behavior almost habitual. In another the period of consideration (incubation) may be extensive and each element of the consideration process carefully examined. Belief that the behavior leads to certain outcomes Attitude toward The behavior Evaluation of the Outcomes Preference Behavior Intention to buy milk Beliefs that specific referents think I should or should not perform the behavior Subjective comparison norm Motivation to comply with the specific referents Figure 1.3 Basic Structural Model of Customer Preference Formation Source: Adapted from Icek Ajzen and Martin Fishbein, Understanding Attitudes and Predicting Social Behavior (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1980), 84. The important contribution of the reasoned action model is the realization that consumers utilize the model in all purchase experiences of milk to a lesser or greater extent. Of equal importance is the realization that the components used to make a preference decision are also the ones employed by a consumer to evaluate the performance success of the milk product or service purchased and the company responsible for them. Therefore, as the components of preference on milk brand change, the elements influencing satisfaction change accordingly. The relationship is dynamic and fluid therefore static or predetermined satisfaction analytic packages often miss the most important elements of preference and can create a false sense of security on the part of companies who think that since their customer satisfaction scores are high they must in turn have relatively loyal customers. The theory of reasoned action assumes a consequence for the action taken. People prefer some product, someone, or some service because they determined the object was best aligned with companys performance and emotive requirements as judged through our comparative norms. People evaluate the performance in light of how well the product, person or service meets their preference expectations. (www.icrsurvey.com//Customer%20Preference%20Formation_1205.doc) 1.2.3 Consumer Motivation Motivation is one of the important factors that can influence the consumer behavior. Motivation is the processes that account for an individuals intensity, direction and persistence of effort towards attaining a goal. The famous theory in the development of motivation concepts is the Abraham Maslows hierarchy of needs. HIRARCHY OF NEEDS THEORY It is probably safe to say that the most well-known theory of motivation is Abraham Maslows hierarchy of needs. The hypothesized that within every human being there exists a hierarchy of five needs. These needs are: Physiological: includes hunger, thirst, shelter, sex and other bodily needs. Safety: includes security and protection from physical and emotional harm. Social: includes affection, belongingness, acceptance and friendship. Esteem: includes internal esteem factors such as self-respect, autonomy and achievement and external esteem factors such as status, recognition and attention. Self- actualization: the drive to become what one is capable of becoming: includes growth, achieving ones potential and self-fulfillment. Need 3: Social Need Need 1: Physiological Need Need 2: Safety Need Need 4: Esteem Need Need 5: Self Actualization Figure 1.2.3 Maslow Hierarchy of Needs Model As each of these needs becomes substantially satisfied, the next need becomes dominant. In terms of the figure 1.2.3, the individual moves up the steps of the hierarchy. From the standpoint of motivation, the theory would say that although no need is ever fully gratified, a substantially satisfied need no longer motivates. So, if the consumer wants to motivate someone, according to Maslow, the consumer need to understand what level of the hierarchy that consumer is currently on and focus on satisfying the needs at or above that level. While customers have different motivations for consuming the things they do, all consumers have motivations that guide them to want, and purchase certain goods or services. Some motivations for consumption could include the need for status, social acceptance, security or individuality while other motivations are unconscious and can be utilized by marketers to hook consumers into buying a product they never knew they always wanted. Beyond more emotional appeals there is the very real and tangible model of needs proposed by Abraham Maslow in his Hierarchy of Needs pyramid. Maslows theory indicates that most consumer motivations can be attributed to where they fall on the pyramid of needs he developed. The lower level on Maslows pyramid begins with basic physiological needs (dinking fluids, eating, sleeping, etc.), and climbs all the way to the highest level on the pyramid to the need for beauty (as cited in Lindquist Sirgy, 2003, p. 250-251). Maslow believed that a person moved through each level of need sequentially. In other words, once the needs in one category were met completely, a person would move up to the next most immediate category, and his or her purchasing motivations would change as a result of the new category to which he or she would become a part of (as cited in Lindquist Sirgy, 2003, p. 250-251). Maslow separated the five needs into higher and lower orders. Physiological and safety needs were described as lower order needs and social, esteem and self-actualization as higher-order needs. The differentiation between the two orders was made on the premise that higher-order needs are satisfied internally (within the person), whereas lower-order needs are predominantly satisfied externally (by things such as pay, union contracts and tenure). Unfulfilled Needs, Wants, and Desires Tension Learning Drive Behavior Goal or Need Fulfillment Cognitive Processes Tension Reduction Figure 1.4 Model of Motivation Process Source: From Jeffrey F. Dugree et al. Observations: Translating Values into Product Wants, Journal of Advertising Research, 36, 6, (November 1996) The figure above is presents a model of the motivational process. It portrays motivation as a state of need-induced tension that drives the individual to engage in behavior that he or she believes will satisfy the need and thus reduce the tension. Whether gratification is actually achieved depends on the course of action pursued. The specific goals that consumers wish to achieve and the source of action they take to attain these goals are selected on the basis of their thinking processes (cognition) and previous learning. Therefore, marketers must view motivation as the force that induces consumption and through consumption experiences, the process of consumer learning. 1.3 RESEARCH PROPOSAL 1.3.1 The Factors Affecting Consumer Behavior towards Milk Product Consumer purchases are strongly influenced by cultural, social, personal and psychological characteristics. It is difficult for marketers to control such as factors but they should take these into account because it does provide marketers with a guideline. 1.3.1.1 Cultural Factors Cultural factors have a significant impact on customer behavior: 1. Culture Culture is the most basic cause of a persons wants and behavior. Growing up, children learn basic values, perception and wants from the family and other important groups. Marketing are always trying to spot cultural shifts which might point to new products that might be wanted by customers or to increased demand. For example, among this particular family was believed that fresh milk has the highest nutritious value among all types of milk and fitness has created opportunities (and now industries) servicing customers who wish to buy: Low calorie foods Health club membership Exercise equipment Activity or health-related holiday etc 2. Subculture Each culture contains sub-cultures groups of people with share values. Sub-cultures can include nationalities, religions, racial groups, or groups of people sharing the same geographical location. Sometimes a sub-culture will create a substantial and distinctive market segment of its own. For example, people from one country only accept one flavor of milk, it is plain milk. So the people will only buy plain milk and do not want to choose other milk flavor. 3. Social class These are relatively permanent and ordered divisions in a society whose members share similar values, interests and behaviors. For example, high class people who really very concern about their health especially their body shape will only buy low fat milk instead of other types of milk. Cultural factors exert a broad and deep influence on consumer behavior. The marketer needs to understand the role played by the buyers culture, subculture and social class. http://tutor2u.net/business/marketing/buying_cultural_factors.asp 1.3.1.2 Social Factors A consumers behavior is also influenced by social factors, such as the consumers small groups, family, and social roles and status. Because these social factors can strongly affect consumer responses, companies must take them into account when designing their marketing strategies. 1. Reference Groups Groups are a persons behavior is influenced by many small groups. Groups which have a direct influence and to which a person belongs are called membership groups. References groups are groups that serve as direct or indirect points of comparison or reference in the forming of a persons attitudes or behavior. Marketers try to identify the reference groups of their target markets. The importance of group influence varies across products and brands, but it tends to be strongest for conspicuous purchases. For example, an individual may choose a selected milk brand based on their group reference. References by the group can also known as mouth to mouth advertising. The reference group may validate the experience faced by the customer. 2. Family Family family members can strongly influence buyer behavior. We can distinguish between two families in the buyers life. The buyers parents make up the family of orientation. From parents a person acquires an orientation toward religion, politics, and economics and a sense of personal ambition, self-worth, and love. The family of procreation-the buyers spouse and children-exerts a more direct influence on everyday buying behavior. The family is the most important consumer buying organization in society, and it has been researched extensively. Marketers are interested in the roles and relative influence of the husband, wife, and children on the purchase of a large variety of products and services. Consumers are also affected and influenced by the presence of a family member. For example, the parents normally decide what milk product they want to purchase but the children can decide what the flavor is. 3. Role and status Roles and Status a person belongs to many groups-families, clubs, organizations. The persons position in each group can be defined in terms of both role and status. Role consists of the activities people are expected to perform according to the people around them. Status reflects the general respects given to role by the society. People often choose products that show their status in the society. Apart from that, consumers are also affected by their role they play and the status they hold in the society. For example, a general managers role and status will definitely differ from the role and status of a clerk. Bearing this in mind, the needs of customers also change. 1.3.1.3 Personal Factors A buyers decisions are also influenced by personal characteristics such as the buyers age and life-cycle stage, occupation, economic situation, life style, and personality and self-concept. These factors are divided into: 1. Age and life cycle Age and Life-Cycle State people change the goods and services they buy over their lifetimes. The types of milk people buy change during their lifetimes. As people grow older and mature, their desires change. The make up of family cycle also change their behavior. For example, when one person was a kid, he always drinks chocolate milk. But as he grows older, his preference in chocolate milk change becomes low fat plain milk or yogurt. Marketers often define their target markets in terms of life-cycle stage and develop appropriate products and marketing plans. 2. Occupation Occupation a persons occupation affects the goods and services bought. Marketers try to identify the occupational groups that have an above-average interest in their products and services. A company can even specialize in making products needed by a given occupational group. For instance, blue collar workers would buy cheaper milk brand whereas executives will prefer to buy more expensive brand. 3. Economic Situation Economic Situation a persons economic situation will greatly affect product choice. A person with higher purchasing power will be more willing to spend on famous cheese whereby, someone with middle income will choose local cheese, which offer better values. Marketers of income-sensitive goods closely watch trends in personal income, savings, and interest rates. If economic indicators point to a recession, marketers can take steps to redesign, reposition, and re-price their products. 4. Lifestyle Life Style people coming from the same subculture, social class, and even occupation may have quite different life styles. Life style is a persons pattern of living as expressed in his or her activities, interests, and opinions. Life style captures something more than the persons social class or personality. The life-style concept, when used carefully, can help the marketer gain an understanding of changing consumer values and how they affect buying behavior. People who always consume and wear branded stuff might always want to consume only famous milk brand comparing to people who consume milk despite their famous brand. 5. Personality and self concepts (self-image) Personality and Self-Concept each persons distinct personality will influence his or her buying behavior. Personality refers to the unique psychological characteristics that lead to relatively consistent and lasting responses to ones own environment. Many marketers use a concept related to personality-a persons self-concept. 1.3.1.4 Psychological Factors A persons buying choices are also influenced by four major psychological factors motivation, perception, learning, and beliefs and attitudes. Motivation Motivation a person has many needs at any given time. A need becomes a motive when it aroused to a sufficient lever of intensity. A motive is a need that is sufficiently pressing to direct the person to seek satisfaction. Motivation is based on Maslows hierarchy of Needs. According to Maslow, a person tries to satisfy the most important need first, which is known as the survival needs or the psychological needs. When the important need is satisfied, it ceases to act as a motivator and the person will subsequently try to satisfy the next important need, known as safety needs. Base on Maslow theory, it is stated that a person should meet their basic and physiological needs like food, shelter, and clothes. It can be applied to milk as well whereby a person with low income will think how to eat food which can fulfill their body need such as rice before they consume milk which is nutritious but can not satisfy their hunger. Perception Perception a motivated person is ready to act. How the person acts is influenced by his or her perception of the situation. Two people with the same motivation and in the same situation may act quite differently because they perceive the situation differently. Perception is the process by which people select, organize, and interpret information to form a meaningful picture of the world. Learning when people act, they learn. Learning Learning is the reinforcement process, which an individual gained through the experiences. The practical significance of learning theory of marketers is that they can build demand for a product by associating it with strong drives, using motivating cues, and to the same drives as competitors and providing similar cues because buyers are more likely to transfer loyalty to similar brands then to dissimilar ones. Or it may design its brand to appeal to a different set of drives and offer strong cue inducements to switch (discrimination). Belief and Attitudes Beliefs and Attitudes through acting and learning, people acquire their beliefs and attitudes. These in turn influence their buying behavior. A belief is a descriptive thought that a person has about something. Marketers are interested in the beliefs that people formulate about specific products and services. If some of the beliefs are wrong and prevent purchase, the marketer will want to launch a campaign to correct them. People have attitudes regarding religion, politics, clothes, music, food, and almost everything else. An attitude describes a persons relatively consistent evaluations, feelings, and tendencies toward an object or idea. Attitudes put people into a frame of mind of liking or disliking things, moving toward or away from them. Based on study (Morrison, 2002) attitude describes a persons relatively consistent evaluations consistent evaluations, feelings and tendencies toward and object or an idea. (Morrison, Alastair M, Ph.D., Hospitality and Travel Marketing, 3rd Edition, Thompson Learning, United States) SUMMARY Markets must be understood before marketing strategies can be developed. The consumer market buys goods and services for personal consumption. Consumers vary tremendously in age, income, education, tastes and other factors. Marketers must understand how consumers transform marketing and other inputs into buying responses. Consumer behavior is influenced by the buyers characteristics and by the buyers decision process. Buyer characteristics include four major factors: cultural, social, personal, and psychological. A persons buying behavior is the result of the complex interplay of all these cultural, social, personal, and psychological factors. Many of these factors cannot be controlled by marketers, but they are useful in identifying and understanding the consumers that marketers are trying to influence.

Roman City Planning Essay -- Rome History Roman Historical Essays

Roman City Planning   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The design and structure of a city is as important as the people who dwell within her walls. The placement of streets and the structures built there are carefully plotted for optimal use. Foot and cart traffic, fire hazard, and access to water were all key factors in city planning. Eventually the Romans had fine tuned their design principals in such an advantageous way that they molded all of their city states similarly.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Rome developed from the combination of small farming communities around a hilltop fortification. The city, which was founded before regularized city planning, consisted of a confusing maze of crooked and gnarled streets. The focal point of which was the city’s forum, the main meeting place and site of the many religious and civic buildings such as the Senate house, records office, and basilica. (Rich, 20) Augustan Rome, with a population estimated at between 700,000 and one million, was the only megalopolis in the West. Rome’s street plan, which at its greatest extent had 85 km of road, was an irregular maze. Most streets were footpaths or could accommodate only one cart at a time. The central city had only two viea (streets on which two carts could pass each other), on opposing sides of the main forum. (Nicholas, 6) A law passed under Julius Caesar, which was still in force well after his death, stated that carriages were forbidden to use these streets by day, since it was found that there was not room in them both for wheeled vehicles and pedestrians. Public streets would be decorated with marble and stone, some houses, as they decayed, have revealed alleyways and passages that existed before reconstruction. (Bowra, 34) Main streets were often designed carefully to accentuate the housing and monuments that would appear on any given street. Side streets would often be no more than passages, with flights of steps, and sometimes scarcely broad enough for two people to pass in comfort. Many streets were colonnaded; a Roman technique intended to bring shape to shadow and direct light through the streets. Earlier centuries used the stoa, or free-standing portico, to give effects of light and shade to their constructions. It is suggested that the colonnaded street developed out of the stoa; and partly also, perhaps, out of the thrifty use of available space, with the upper stories of houses jutting forw... ...ordinated plan of the city. The main streets led directly from the center of town to the gates, and the pomerial road ran around the city immediately inside the walls. (owens, 150) Rome was a living organism constantly changing and evolving as all cities do. However, the design and structure of Rome was born out of knotted roots. The placement of streets and the structures grew from dirt roads to paved passage ways meant to convey movement and beauty. Key factors in city planning revolved around the citizens and their needs. The Roman design principals forged a template by which all of their city states were similarly molded. Works Cited Bowra, Maurice Et. Al. Golden Ages of the Great Cities. London, England: Thames and Hudson, 1951. Morris, AE. History of Urban Form. London, England: George Godwin LTD, 1972 Nicholas, David. The Growth of Medieval City: From late Antiquity to Early Fourteenth Century. New York, NY: Longman Publishing, 1997. Owens, E. J. The City in the Greek and Roman World. London, England: Routledge Publishing, 1991. Rich, John & Wallace-Hadrill, Andrew. City and the Country in the Ancient World. London, England: Routledge Publishing, 1991.

Principles of Persuasion in Commercials Essay -- Advertising Marketing

Principles of Persuasion "higher involvement with a publication leads to more favorable perceptions of embedded ads, and higher levels of advertising persuasion" (Tipps 2000) Every day, consumers are exposed to no less than 1000 commercial messages (Meyers-Levy & Malaviya 1999). Of all the different techniques and strategies that try to make an advertisement most effective there is an underlying principle – persuasion. The whole point of any marketing ploy is to get the audiences attention and then change the mind to believe that their product or service is the best. There are a variety of different mediums in which consumers are exposed to advertisements: television, radio, magazines, newspapers, billboards, and public transportation. In all types of media, persuasion is used; yet there is not one theory that can establish a single hypothesis as to the direct route a message takes to make a favourable judgement. In order to have a holistic knowledge about the psychology behind persuasion, seven main theories of persuasion will be examined. The Cognitive-Response Model explains that the persuasion process takes place when a person reflects on the content of the message and has cognitive responses to the message. Cognitive responses are thoughts that develop while the process of elaborating on the message occur. Cognitive responses can be relating the message, to other messages previously exposed to or already existing knowledge of that product of service that is trying to be sold (Meyers-Levy & Malaviya 1999). This suggests then that persuasion happens when cognitive responses are favourable to the message. The proposition of the Dual-Process Model is that there is more than one means... ...signing Persuasive Messages: Deductions from the Resource Matching Hypothesis. Cognitive and Affective Responses to Advertising, 135-59. Gilbert, Daniel T. (1991) How Mental Systems Believe. American Psychologist, 46, 107-19. Gresko, Kennedy, Lesniak. (2000) Social Psychological Factors Underlying the Impact of Advertising. "www.csa.com/htbin/ids52/pocskel.cgi". Krugman, et al. (1994). Advertising: It's Role in Modern Marketing. United States of America: The Dryden Press. Meyers-Levy, J., Malaviya, P. (1999). Consumers' Processing of Persuasive Advertisements: An Integrative Framework of Persuasion Theories. Journal of Marketing Special Issues, 63, 45-60. Tipps, Steven W. (2000). Dissertation Abstracts International Section A: Humanities & Social Sciences, 60, 3737. Principles of Persuasion in Commercials Essay -- Advertising Marketing Principles of Persuasion "higher involvement with a publication leads to more favorable perceptions of embedded ads, and higher levels of advertising persuasion" (Tipps 2000) Every day, consumers are exposed to no less than 1000 commercial messages (Meyers-Levy & Malaviya 1999). Of all the different techniques and strategies that try to make an advertisement most effective there is an underlying principle – persuasion. The whole point of any marketing ploy is to get the audiences attention and then change the mind to believe that their product or service is the best. There are a variety of different mediums in which consumers are exposed to advertisements: television, radio, magazines, newspapers, billboards, and public transportation. In all types of media, persuasion is used; yet there is not one theory that can establish a single hypothesis as to the direct route a message takes to make a favourable judgement. In order to have a holistic knowledge about the psychology behind persuasion, seven main theories of persuasion will be examined. The Cognitive-Response Model explains that the persuasion process takes place when a person reflects on the content of the message and has cognitive responses to the message. Cognitive responses are thoughts that develop while the process of elaborating on the message occur. Cognitive responses can be relating the message, to other messages previously exposed to or already existing knowledge of that product of service that is trying to be sold (Meyers-Levy & Malaviya 1999). This suggests then that persuasion happens when cognitive responses are favourable to the message. The proposition of the Dual-Process Model is that there is more than one means... ...signing Persuasive Messages: Deductions from the Resource Matching Hypothesis. Cognitive and Affective Responses to Advertising, 135-59. Gilbert, Daniel T. (1991) How Mental Systems Believe. American Psychologist, 46, 107-19. Gresko, Kennedy, Lesniak. (2000) Social Psychological Factors Underlying the Impact of Advertising. "www.csa.com/htbin/ids52/pocskel.cgi". Krugman, et al. (1994). Advertising: It's Role in Modern Marketing. United States of America: The Dryden Press. Meyers-Levy, J., Malaviya, P. (1999). Consumers' Processing of Persuasive Advertisements: An Integrative Framework of Persuasion Theories. Journal of Marketing Special Issues, 63, 45-60. Tipps, Steven W. (2000). Dissertation Abstracts International Section A: Humanities & Social Sciences, 60, 3737.