Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Advantages and Disadvantages to Society Essay

Humans have become so dependent on electricity and society’s evolution to a great extent has been based on it. In the absence of lights, computers, most methods of transportation and communication, the last hundred years of advancement could be set back. With these things considered, electricity could clearly be regarded as man’s greatest discovery. However, in as much as electricity has played a major role in the progress of humankind, it has also contributed widely into the sluggish destruction of society. Therefore, electricity has both an advantageous and disadvantageous effects on society. Electricity is an invisible form of energy created by the movement of charged particles, a phenomenon that is a result of the existence of electrical charge. It flows into our homes along wires and can be easily converted into other energy forms, such as heat and light. It can be stored in batteries or sent along wires to make electric trains, computers, light bulbs and other devices work. The comprehension of electricity has directed to the invention of generators, computers and nuclear-energy systems, X-ray devices, motors, telephones, radio and television. (Grolier Encyclopedia of Knowledge, 2002) Everything in the world, including humans and the air they breathe, is made of atoms. Each of these tiny particles has a positively charged center, named as nucleus, with smaller, negatively charged electrons whizzing around it. Electricity is created when one of the electrons jump to another atom. This can be caused by the magnetic field in a generator, by chemicals in a battery, or by friction (rubbing materials together). Early History The breakthrough discovery that an electric charge could be created by rubbing two materials together was first made by the Greek Philosopher Thales around 600 BC. He found that if he rubbed the fossilized tree sap, amber, with silk, it attracted small light objects such as feathers and dust. However, the first realistic device for the generation of electrical energy was not invented until 1800 when the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta constructed the first crude battery. For centuries, this strange, puzzling property was thought to be limited to amber. Two thousand years later, in the 16th century, William Gilbert provided evidence that many other substances are electric. He gave these substances the Latin name electrica, originating from the Greek word elektron (which means â€Å"amber†). According to the 2008 Encyclopedia Americana, the word magnet, comes from the Greek name for the black stones from Magnesia in Asia Minor. Sir Thomas Browne, an English writer and physician, first used the word electricity in 1646. Relationships between electricity and magnetism were devised in 1820 by the Danish physicist H. C. Oersted and the French physicist D. F. J. Arago from studies of the effects of a current-carrying conductor on a compass needle or iron filings. That same year, the French physicist Andre Ampere showed that an electric current flowing through a wire created a magnetic field similar to that of a permanent magnet. In 1831, the English physicist Michael Faraday conceived a device for converting mechanical energy to electrical energy. Faraday’s machine, the first dynamo (DC generator), was made up of a copper disk rotating between the poles of a permanent magnet. A year later, Hippolyte Pixii of France, built both an AC generator and a DC generator, the latter being fitted with a commutator. Such primeval generators were widely used for experimental purposes. Nonetheless, they could not generate a great deal of power because the field strength of their permanent magnets was slight. In 1866, the German inventor Werner von Siemens initiated the use of electromagnets instead of permanent magnets for the field poles of a DC generator. In 1870, the Belgian inventor Zenobe Gramme further improved the performance of DC generators by using armatures of iron wound with rings of insulated copper wire. Powered by counteracting steam engines, Gramme’s generators were used to supply current for arc lamps in lighthouses and factories. Electric arc street lamps were installed in Paris in 1879, in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1879, and in New York City in 1880. However, the carbon filament incandescent lamp invented by Thomas Edison and Joseph Swan in 1880 provided a far better and more suitable source of light than arc lamps did. This invention created a great demand for electric power as it marked the beginning of the electric power industry. Electricity was a mystifying force. It did not seem to occur naturally at initial appearance, except in the frightening form of lightning. Researchers had to do an atypical thing to study electricity; they had to manufacture the phenomenon before they could analyze it. We have come to realize that electricity is everywhere and that all matter is electrical in nature. Many innovators in the study of magnetism and electricity become known between the late 1700s and the early 1800s, many of whom left their names on several electrical units. These scientists include Charles Augustin de Coulomb (the unit of charge), Andre Ampere (current), George Ohm (resistance), James Watt (electrical power), and James Joule (energy). Luigi Galvani gave us the galvanometer, a device for measuring currents, while Alessandro Volta gave us the volt, a unit of potential, or electromotive force. Similarly C. F. Gauss, Hans Christian Oersted, and W. E. Weber all made their mark and established their names on electrical engineering. Only Benjamin Franklin failed to leave his name on any electrical unit, despite his noteworthy contributions. All of the afore-mentioned scientists contributed to the study of electricity. However, the two real giants in the field were 19th century Englishmen, Michael Faraday and James Clerk Maxwell. The widespread use of electricity as a source of power is largely due to the work of pioneering American engineers and inventors such as Nikola Tesla, and Charles Proteus Steinmetz during the late 19th and early 20th centuries (Microsoft Encarta Reference Library 2002). One of the most well-known perhaps is Thomas Alva Edison, most famous for his development of the first commercially practical incandescent lamp. He was one of the most prolific inventors of the late 19th century and his greatest contribution is the development of the world’s first central-electric-light-power-station. By the time he died in West Orange, New Jersey, he had patented over 1000 inventions. (Jenkins, R. 2000) II. BODY Electrical activity takes place constantly everywhere in the universe. Electrical forces hold molecules together. The nervous systems of animals work by way of weak electric signals transmitted between nerve cells called neurons. Electricity is generated, transmitted, and converted into other forms of energy such as heat, light and motion through natural processes, as well as by devices built by people. Over the period from 1950 to 1999, the most recent year for which data are available, annual world electric power production and consumption rose from slightly less than 1,000 billion kilowatt hours to 14,028 billion kwh. A change also took place in the type of power generation. In 1950, about 2/3 of the electricity came from thermal or steam-generating sources and about 1/3 from hydroelectric sources. In 1998, thermal sources produced sixty-three percent of the power, but hydropower had declined to nineteen percent, and nuclear power accounted for seventeen percent of the total. The growth in nuclear power slowed in some countries, markedly the United States, in reaction to concerns about safety. Nuclear plants generated twenty percent of U. S. electricity in 1999; in France, the world leader, the figure was 76 percent.

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Happy Loman’s Significance In Arthur Miller’s “Death Of A Salesman” Essay

The definition of the American Dream is an important theme that is woven throughout the attitudes and actions of Arthur Miller’s characters in his play The Death of A Salesman. Happy Loman, a character dominated by his material greed and desire to crush anyone standing between him and the almighty dollar, represents a skewed perspective of that Dream, a perspective shared by an increasingly large amount of Americans. Through his insatiable appetite for power, lust, and wealth, Happy Loman embodies the modern capitalist American Dream. And through his never-ending discontent and incessant feeling of unfulfillment, Happy also embodies the fallacy and shortcomings of that Dream. One could consider Happy Loman to be a success. He may not be the president of his company (in fact he is one of two assistants to an assistant buyer), but at roughly thirty years of age, he has a steady job and a place of his own. And he’s moving up in the world, he’s getting somewhere. And there’s nothing wrong with this. American society and capitalism in general is based on the Puritan individualist work ethic, which states that hard work breeds success and happiness. But Happy isn’t succeeding because he works hard, because he’s well liked, or because he’s exceptionally good at what he does. He’s succeeding through the neo-American shortcut to happiness, the modern American Dream, which encourages cut-throat competition at every level. Happy, much like millions of other Americans, is moving up in the world by defeating his competition, by destroying all of those in his way. On page 23 and 24, he says, â€Å"All I can do now is wait for the merchandise manager to die†Ã‚ ¦He’s a good friend of mine.† Happy desires more money, more power, and more responsibility strongly enough that he is willing to lose a good friend of his, just to get his job. His job. Not a job. Another reason why Happy symbolizes the new American Dream is his obsession with ruining the lives of others in order to better himself. â€Å"I don’t know what gets into me, maybe I just have an overdeveloped sense of competition or something†Ã‚ ¦Ã¢â‚¬  he says on page 25. Happy can get any woman he wants. Yet he deliberately chooses to sleep with the wives and  fiancÃÆ' ©es of his co-workers and bosses as a way of defeating them in some nonexistent competition for power. Therefore, despite the fact that they may be ahead of him in the business world, Happy can find solace in the fact that he â€Å"went and ruined† his bosses’ spouses. â€Å"Isn’t that a crummy characteristic?† he asks Biff. Of course it is, but it doesn’t stop Happy from doing it over and over. Happy may represent the quintessential American in the aspects mentioned above, but what truly cements his position as the epitome of the neo-capitalist is his pervading feelings of unhappiness and discontent. When Happy speaks of possibly becoming the new merchandise manager, he says that he would do the same thing that the old merchandise manager did: build a mansion of a house for himself, then sell in in two months. He says on page 23, â€Å"It’s crazy†Ã‚ ¦it’s what I always wanted. My own apartment, a car, and plenty of women.† Yet when Biff asks if he is content, Happy retorts, â€Å"Hell no!†. When speaking of women, whom Happy appears to be incredibly fond of, he says, â€Å"I keep knockin’ em over, and it doesn’t mean anything.† And why is Happy discontent? Because he defined the American Dream, his American Dream, in terms of money and power, instead of happiness and self-actualization. He will never be content, and nei ther will anyone else who shares his Dream. When goals are determined in denominations of currency, then they can never be reached, because no one can possess all the money that exists in the world. What’s better than a Toyota? A Lexus. What’s better than a Lexus? A Ferrari. What’s better than a Ferrari? A hovercraft? A yacht? 2 yachts? A goddamn jumbo jet? It never ends. And thus, the American Dream can be crushed under the weight of a dollar bill when it is improperly defined. The Dream becomes farce, a crock, a hoax, an old wives’ tale, an urban legend, an orange that consists of nothing but the peel, a person whose soul, whose brains have been sucked out of his nose by little aliens wearing wing-tipped shoes, carrying attachÃÆ' © cases, and driving hovercrafts with the future wives of their bosses in the passenger seat. But it doesn’t have to.

Monday, July 29, 2019

Innovation management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Innovation management - Essay Example Therefore, the following discussion is an analytical approach to denote the various business attributes that ensure that the company ranks as the third most successful company through evaluation of its business strategies and organizational structure to acquire competence, profitability, and clientele value perceptions in the industry. Rationale for the choice of the company Since the early years of the founding, the company has been adapting to the best approaches to ensure the development and strategic production of vehicles that fit different purposes of the consumer rather than the company’s ideology to produce automotive in accordance to its forecasts of the models that will likely sell effectively. The main reasons to choosing Toyota as the best option for the study reflects on accurate execution of strategies to ensure global leadership in production and delivery to the clientele (Rosen, 2007:4). Mainly, perceptions are that the fast company operates a private market se gment on a global platform, and that it is a monopoly, however, the presence of other similar competitors producing cheap priced vehicles for developing economies and the majority middle class of the global society eradicates the notion of monopoly and implements the ideal presence of oligopoly in the market (Azar, Maurer, and Beck, 2010:4). The company establishes long-range plans and strategies and ensures that all the performances in the organization aim at achieving the established framework of executing duties in accordance to the set framework and adapting to the Just-in-time phenomenon, which aims at ascertaining and ensuring continuity in production of at a profitable rate against the competitors (Rafinejad, 2007:125). All departments in the company adapt to performance of duties in accordance to the company’s plans and the idea of motivation serves as intrinsic in stimulating growth as the unified teams engage in positive competence to ensure a continued rate of inno vation and new product development in the company (Hu?Lsmann, and Pfeffermann, 2011:45). Further, Toyota produces almost all-time cheap priced cars but exceeds Ford, which currents survives a $12.5 billion deficit, as GM stocks lag behind at a 10:1 ration in the global stock markets. Other companies like Chrysler, Peugeot, Bavaria Motor Works (BMW) suffer a similar fate of incompetence in execution of their obligations against those of the Toyota Company. Critical analysis Techniques Mainly, Toyota ensures that all the workers understand the importance of undertaking performances that reflect on the company’s long-range objectives and the fact that quality by design and specification is of the essence and poses as a necessity in the multinational corporation. The plans and motivational approaches of the company serve as intrinsic approaches to engaging the personnel into unstoppable performance and worker flexibility. Incorporation of technology serves as the integral in prod uction as the Andon devices regulates and signals employees on faulty production and ensures corrective measures are adapted precisely. The techniques applied in relation to workers to ensure that all jobs are undertaken promptly and in accordance to the specifications, also Toyota regulates approaches to ensure that a

Sunday, July 28, 2019

WK1_Public Leadership Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

WK1_Public Leadership Paper - Essay Example Adopting better management principles by public leaders forms crucial part of establishing efficient public institutions. The public sector needs to engage in good governance that embraces acceptable ethics. Discipline within the public sector should begin with the top cadre dropping down. As a result, there exists efficient integration of human resources. Public servants, in the lower cadre models what happens at the top. The approach may involve centralized or decentralized leadership. However, whether leadership embraces a centralized or decentralized approach, good governance is essential. In this respect, public leaders should instill the necessary principles and values that promote prudent governance within the society (Birney et al., 2010). Further, public leadership entails working towards facilitating sustainable development. The leadership features in the public sector require, a demonstration of commitment regarding the advocacy for development policies. The role of the pu blic sector involves ensuring its citizens access a sustainable development and future. In this sense, good governance is important in not compromising the livelihood of citizens. In addition, public leadership entails resources reaching all citizens of a nation. This includes dealing with issues such as bureaucracy that impedes on better management of public institutions, and delay in service delivery to citizens. ... Public leadership does not involve polarizing the population for personal gains, but helping the population to embrace a sustainable future. (Birney et al., 2010). The leadership in the public sector concentrates on ensuring citizens gets proper health care, housing facilities, education, security and appropriate infrastructure. Public leadership also entails creating employment and investment opportunities for the citizens. Public leaders are in office purposely to aid the improvement of its citizen’s living standards. To promote favorable environment for development, safety of citizens is crucial. Where there is a proper established public leadership, the establishment can improve on institution necessary to promote civility within a country or nation. Leadership in the public sector means readiness to work for all regardless of other circumstances known or unknown. Public leaders act as an example to the rest of the citizens. The key responsibility required among leaders in volves service delivery to the population. In this regard, public leadership requires a discard of malpractices such as corruption, nepotism and high handedness. Governing ethics within the public sector is vital in setting up principles that promotes good governance. This entails maintaining a high level of integrity, required to safeguard the public interest. Good governance requires a benchmark to measure the values of public leaders. This ensures that those in public office specifically work for the betterment of the entire population and not personal gains. Most countries across the globe fail because of poor governance by not vetted public leaders. In general terms, public leadership entails upholding high level of

Saturday, July 27, 2019

Report on marine engineering industry in the uk Coursework

Report on marine engineering industry in the uk - Coursework Example million and total employees exceeding 410,000, it is the leading marine sector across Europe; it outshines aerospace, automotive and agricultural sectors (Stem Choices 2010). This report explores the marine engineering sector of United Kingdom covering industry trends, development opportunities, development constraints and main players. Marine sector encompasses numerous activities ranging from sub-se technology to shipping, aquaculture to ports, commercial fishing to royal navy; and leisure to maritime financial and legal services (Smith, H. & Lalwani 1999: 398). These activities can be divided into four subsectors relative to marine engineering activities namely marine resource-based, marine-related equipment and service, marine operations and shipping and marine system design and construction. Marine resource-based sub-sector involves activities for recovery of marine resources such as seabed mining and oil and gas exploration (Taylor 2013). Marine-related equipment and service sub-sector involves manufacture of equipment and provision of supportive services for marine activities; they include machinery, marine electronics, software development and instrumentation (Tooley 2012: 2-7). Marine operations and shipping sub-sector involves activities such as waste disposal and dredging whereas marine system design and construction involve coastal and offshore engineering and design, construction and design of ships (Tooley 2012: 2-7). UK is among the major countries leading in boat building sector across the globe. There has been a shift in preference in the market from sailing yachts to motor yachts hence booming of the powerboat sector of which UK holds a significant share; some UK motor boat builders recoded a minimum of 90% of their production (SEEDA 2007). Also, demand from China and Russia have driven high the demand of superyacht. Further, marine equipment industry boasts a good share of the world market (Highley et al. 2007); however, it faces stiff

Deterrence and containment during Cold War Essay

Deterrence and containment during Cold War - Essay Example It should be noted that in the beginning of the 15th century, there were limited number of pigments that were allowing the painters to capture the inner beliefs as stated in the religious guidance. Therefore that was an avid need of pigments that can create fixtures of paintings as well as the texture surface. This need was felt by Tibetans as well as Kashmiri. However, the fact remains that these painters were not able to understand as to what changes were important to be added initially. In order to fully practice Menri style (with sharp streaks of textures, and swirl form of drawing paint) Tibetans developed new philosophy and image building for deities as explained by Indian Pundits3. Exemplary Thangka Paintings: The most profound innovation or development within the Thangka painting was noted during the era of 1500s. Choying Gysto is said to be the master of pigments that redefined the religious figures in a completely new manner. It was much needed because a lot of contribution was not able to make a specific change in the style of painting4. Figure 2 Menri style painting (Gerd-Wolfgang 1989) The core style, which is evident from the painting of Gysto is Menri. Other famous names of the era include Namka Tashi who actually able to bring a new thought in the painting of Thangka. However, he was very strict in the context of making fixed proportions. It has often been said that Namka was able to bring innovation in the style of painting because he actually saw the revelation of Dorjey’s (Chinese emperor) in the full moon. That is why he drew him with strong faith. Specifically, the three obvious styles which can be noted in the painting of Namka were Karma Gadri, Chinese... The most profound innovation or development within the Thangka painting was noted during the era of 1500s. Choying Gysto is said to be the master of pigments that redefined the religious figures in a completely new manner. It was much needed because a lot of contribution was not able to make a specific change in the style of painting . The core style, which is evident from the painting of Gysto is Menri. Other famous names of the era include Namka Tashi who actually able to bring a new thought in the painting of Thangka. However, he was very strict in the context of making fixed proportions. It has often been said that Namka was able to bring innovation in the style of painting because he actually saw the revelation of Dorjey’s (Chinese emperor) in the full moon. That is why he drew him with strong faith. Specifically, the three obvious styles which can be noted in the painting of Namka were Karma Gadri, Chinese form with rich texture and Indian form of strokes. It will not be incorrect to state that he made use of Mensar style in his paintings as well . Following painting can help us understanding the style of Namka.

Friday, July 26, 2019

The Contemporaty Middle East is the class The paper is the development Essay

The Contemporaty Middle East is the class The paper is the development of Israel and Palestine - Essay Example However, the wider aspect of the demarcations in monetary matters remains, to a magnanimous extent, an overt situation (Silverburg 16). For instance, during last year in the globalization context, the new tend of the debate was acknowledged between the Nobel Prize winner in monetary issues who staged for cautioning the eradication of economic borders worldwide. However, his opponents represented the opposite notion in their purported Washington consensus. Observably, with regard to the Israeli-Palestinian clash, and most notably throughout the 90’s arbitrations, the diverse positions on the merits and demerits of the monetary or economic demarcations served an overtly consummate role. Moreover, the being of the Oslo process, which was primarily, based on momentary and gradualism plans, called off the issue of the demarcations, inclusive of the monetary ones, to a later time. Additionally, this was nevertheless an oversight but more of a part and parcel of what made the Oslo process executable in the eyes of its designers, a component with ambiguity. Moreover, the Shahar committee, nominated by the Rabin’s administration in February 1993, in preparation of monetary negotiations with the Palestinians, found its recommendations on the presupposition a demarcation, inclusive of an economic one, would not possibly subsist between the sides in the course of an interim level (Silverburg 9). Thus, this presupposition, founded and motivated by political aspects and purportedly by a prospect of a lasting monetary integration, dictated most of the committee’s conclusions and led, in April 1994, to the effective affirmation of the Protocol surrounding monetary relations among the administration of the nations and the PLO, which resultantly represented the Palestinian inhabitants, better referred to as the Protocol of Paris. One of the exhilarating aspects of the Paris Protocol (PP) is its close congruence to the arrangements that the

Thursday, July 25, 2019

Morals and Ethics in Organisations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Morals and Ethics in Organisations - Essay Example So, the system actually discourages proper ethics in business. Further complications are found in the hierarchical structure of businesses, the availability of corporate deniability and the tendency for corporation members to conform to established behaviour. Even if we could establish a flawless definition for ethical behaviour, and create a useful method for measurement, some way to harmonize business needs and ethical needs would have to be developed, and the rules would have to be agreed upon by all those in power. Perhaps the most practical method for encouraging ethical behaviour by organizations would be to make everything transparent. It was posed that the ,†The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits†, in Contemporary Moral Problems, (White 2000 233-238) but this attitude is becoming less and less popular as corporations are being held accountable for their actions. In times past the damage done by business was more localized and much less wi dely known. In today’s world mass media spreads the knowledge of wrongdoing like a brushfire. More than this, the damage, as in the housing crisis in the US, can impact business and government globally. Not only were the companies involved behaving unethically, but their bonus systems promoted such behaviour, since sales increased bonuses without regard to whether or not the buyer was able to pay. When too many were unable to pay, the US government guarantor organizations, Fanny May and Freddie Mac, were unable to cope with the volume. They had to be rescued by a government emergency program, and the effects were not localized at all, but were felt around the world (Gjerstad and Smith 2013, 437). The resulting US recession had echoes in all the major markets, including China, the UK, and the EU (Holt and Greenwood 2012, 363). The resulting foreclosures in the US damaged local neighbourhoods, depressed prices and increased crime (RW.ERROR - Unable to find reference:10926). Une mployment rose, causing more people to be unable to pay their mortgages and able buyers decreased further. Growth in housing markets around the world ended abruptly following the US crisis and global markets were profoundly negatively impacted (Scanlon, Lunde, and Whitehead 2011, 23). Because people around the world are so interconnected now and global markets and political and economic ties between nations are massive and deep, and all of these react almost instantly to each other, it has become critically important that organizations should behave ethically, both for their own good and that of the people of the world. Historically, business has not been very moral and management was based solely upon profit and rewarded by that standard, making it actually counterproductive individually for managers to behave ethically (Scott 2002, 33). Even if organizations continue to view ethics as being based upon what is good for the corporation, it is shown now that the corporate good is muc h more closely tied to the good of the whole range of stakeholders (Donaldson & Freeman 1994; Calton & Lad 1995). More transparency might be the way to develop ethical businesses without resorting to laws or prohibitions. If it affects the bottom line businesses will make change. All stakeholders should be involved, as each group has a different agenda and the bottom line is not

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Evaluate costa customers service approach through observation and a Assignment

Evaluate costa customers service approach through observation and a Mystery shop (report ) - Assignment Example The report outlines the â€Å"push and pull† theory as a method of addressing customer concerns; it further evaluates the validity of this approach in handling customer issues in modern day business environment that is getting increasingly competitive. This theory is applied in supporting my arguments that place customer care as a vital component of business processes. The relationship between good customer relationships and business success is explored with an aim of giving you the justifications for adopting a customer oriented strategy that contributes to overall business sustainability over time. Customer service training is vital in making the employees responsive to customer needs and in establishing it as part of the firm’s culture. If a firm owner wants to be successful in achieving the objectives set forth, then customer service is of paramount importance because positive responses increase client numbers. In Adam Smith’s basic theory of competition, he says that businesses need to be very involved in this initiative to satisfy individual customer needs. Clients treated in a humane way and in a respectful manner have a high chance of coming back to the premises. Costa Coffee is a business outlet in the hospitality industry; this is a highly competitive field with new shops opening at city corners every day (Brody, 2009)1. In order to remain competitive in this growing field, customer relationship building initiatives is therefore of vital importance to keep them coming. This is enhanced by offering them the best services at a reasonable cost and maintaining a feedback mechanism that ensures their specific needs are met. For instance, coffee is available in a variety of grades and types; we have the Arabica and Robusta coffee varieties which also have different tastes. Giving clients these brew options provides a one stop shop where different taste needs are met. We used

Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Short essay answers Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Short essay answers - Assignment Example He also posits that once technology is universal, rational changes would be initiated and implemented. Surely, technology, if rationally used, does make processes move easier and quicker, thus supporting change and progress. According to Volti, society will only benefit from technology if it is considered in its larger social context. In fact, technology, as defined by Volti, is humans’ ability to design and develop the systems by which they survive by the use of organizational forms, knowledge, and physical objects to realize specific objectives (Volti, P. 8). Progress is connected to technology because technology is primarily cumulative, optimistic, and progressive and requires incessant perfection in its internal mechanisms. Rational world view of technology is thus important in establishing the interactions between technology and society. This rational view is that the assumption that the world can be controlled, more so by addressing problems with technological solutions. There is also a causative connection between technology and economic progress. The connection between technology and economic progress has its consequences, some positive and others negative. In fact, some of the benefits of technology could be harmful to others (Volti, P. 19). The interrelationship between scientific and industrial revolution is a rather apparent one. In fact, the Industrial Revolution was caused by the many scientific inventions of the 16th and 17th century. The industrial revolution refers to the 1750-1850 period during which many changes occurred in the agriculture, technology manufacturing, mining, and transportation sectors, leading to far-reaching improvements on the social, economic and cultural conditions of life during this period (Henderson & Yount, P. 142). In fact, every aspect of life changed during the industrial revolution, which begun in the United Kingdom and spread

Monday, July 22, 2019

Portlend Cancer Center Case Essay Example for Free

Portlend Cancer Center Case Essay The model calculates the NAL (or NPV) and IRR of the lease for both parties on the basis of relevant input data. The invoice price and lease rental payments must be the same for both parties, but the other input variables may be different for each party. The model also examines the differential profitability to the lessee between conventional and per procedure leases. The model consists of a complete base case analysisno changes need to be made to the existing MODEL-GENERATED DATA section. However, all values in the student version INPUT DATA section have been replaced with zeros. Thus, students must determine the appropriate input values and enter them into the model. These cells are colored red. When this is done, any error cells will be corrected and the base case solution will appear. Note that the model does not contain any risk analyses, so students will have to create their own if required by the case. Furthermore, students must create their own graphics (charts) as needed to present their results. Both instructor and student versions contains a sheet (Figure 1) that plots lessees NAL, lessors NPV, and total contract value versus the size of the lease payment.

Food safety Essay Example for Free

Food safety Essay Food safety is a very essential aspect of maintaining healthy and productive relationships between human beings and the entire environment. It is because it plays a basic role in enhancing good health which is vital in influencing sustainable human activities. Fundamentally, human activities influence their relationships and interactions with the environment. It can be acknowledged that maintaining food safety at all levels ensures good health which in turn guarantees healthy relationships between man and his environment. Human activities have various implications on the entire environment. In deed, they affect the economic, social, environmental and political aspects of the environment. Food safety that is fundamental for good health enables man to relate well with all these aspects of his environment. Food safety: Health To begin with good health enables human beings to work hard and be able to provide for their economic needs. According to Last (1998), when both mentally and physically healthy, individuals tend to be more productive. Increased productivity leads to healthy societies as individuals can be able to cater for their needs and wants. This is made possible by individuals earning enough to attain financial stability. Thus they can be able to pay their bills, spare some for recreation and also be able to save for the future. This is made possible if their health is assured through ensuring food safety. Bronfenbrenner (1979) indicates that excellent health also determines good interpersonal relationships and hence enables populations to acquire social cohesion. In this respect, he argues that healthy individuals are unlikely to be social misfits because they are able to think straight and are also conscious of the societal values which they uphold. Also, health enables one to work and earn an honest living as well as provide enough for his or her family. As such, people become more responsible and dedicated to their lives and this enhances one’s self esteem and personal satisfaction. Generally, Last (1998) asserts that healthy people are able to maintain healthy relationships than their counterparts. Again, this healthy status can only be achieved if the they food they consume is handled in a hygienic manner. With regard to the environment, Ebi, et al. (2005) argues that good health enables individuals to cater for their environment. According to him, healthy individuals are usually able to take timely measures to avoid environmental deterioration in their own simple ways. For instance, they can be able to plant trees, dispose of their wastes in a proper way and perform other functions that enhance environmental conservation. These actions may seem simple yet their contribution to environmental conservation is very significant. In addition, since these individuals have financial stability, they can contribute to environmental conservation missions by donating money (Ebi et al. , 2005). Furthermore, healthy individuals are in position to take sound decisions with regard to environmental conservation. The political stability of a country is also dependent on the health of the individuals. To this end, Bronfenbrenner (1979) argues that healthy and active individuals are less likely to engage in politically unsound behavior. It is worth noting that good health throughout a person’s life also implies that the person’s education and thinking process is rational. Therefore, such individuals are able to make informed, autonomous and democratic decisions with regard to politics. This enables a country to have visionary leaders that are politically mature and therefore enforce policies that are beneficial to the locals. This status can be achieved if food safety is maintained all through a person’s life. Indeed, food safety is a very vital component of our day to day living because of the role it plays in maintaining our health. Without this good health, life can be difficult for most individuals because diseases will be prevalent. Despite this realization, food handling in the US continues to be a major problem and the frequency of food poisoning and food borne illness continues to rise significantly (Last, 1998). This implies that the Food and Drug administration has failed in its duty to protect the health of the citizens. This can also be attributed to the money oriented attitude that our society has assumed. For instance, Andrew (2006) indicates that some butchery workers would rather keep their jobs than identify a slip up in the meat processing process. Further, he asserts that the urge to get food on the markets in a timely manner in order to make huge profits has made business persons overlook the minor but most important aspects of food safety. Therefore, there is need for consumers to take up the responsibility of maintaining good health by practicing the following critical steps that are very important in enhancing food safety and improved health. At a personal level, consumers should be extremely wary of sale offers. If the deal seems too good, it is always recommended to think twice. In most instances, business owners place on sale products that are defective (Andrew, 2006). Therefore, instead of making purchases blindly, consumers should spare time to check the packages properly and even identify the odor of the food. If the odor is bad, Loken (1995) ascertains that such food is not suitable for human consumption. In addition, consumers should put in to consideration the packaging of the food. Usually, food can look very appealing yet if not packed well, the probability that it is infected is so high. According to Watson (2001), well packaged food has a higher probability of being germ free. When purchasing fruits and vegetables, consumers should only buy those that are fresh looking (Loken, 1995). They should avoid fruits or vegetables that have spots or look unhealthy as this is a clear indication of infection. Andrew (2006) notes that hepatitis A is spread through poor handling of fruits and vegetables, specifically by washing the same with contaminated water before they reach the market. He suggests that it is important that consumers keep themselves well informed about any outbreaks and take precaution in a timely manner by adjusting their menu accordingly. According to him, it could be safer to avoid any fruits or vegetables involved in the outbreak than endanger one’s health by consuming contaminated food. At home, fruits and vegetables should be washed thoroughly and under running water in order to remove all dirt. In cases where fruit and vegetable washers are used, it is essential to adhere to the directions of the manufacturer in order to avoid any possible contamination. When shopping for dry foods, Watson (2001) argues that consumers should check the packaging material to ensure that it is in order. In particular, he explains that the nylon papers used for packaging as well as boxes should be well inspected to ensure that they do not have holes or openings. This is an indication that food is not contaminated as holes or other openings could serve as entrances of insects and generally germs. In addition, consumers should avoid buying dry foods that are infested by insects like weevils. These transmit diseases that are dangerous to human health. In the case of canned foods, Loken (1995) explains that care should be taken to avoid buying any cans that are defective in any way. Specifically, those with punctures or dents should be avoided at all costs as this is an indication that the food is contaminated. Consuming infected canned food can be very fatal as it may contain botulin toxin (Watson, 2001). This has a severe and fatal impact on human health as it causes paralysis. It is also important to check the cans properly on arrival at home as dents can occur during transportation. In such incidents, Andrew (2006) explains that it is better to discard them as this could be an indication of punctures which imply infection. In the home environment, Andrew (2006) points out that it is advisable to clean all surfaces used in food preparation and the kitchen as a whole after the activity. This should be done with an antibacterial cleaner in order to kill all disease causing micro organisms. In addition, the surfaces should be kept dry as wet surfaces, coupled with a warm kitchen environment provides the best conditions for micro organism breeding (Andrew, 2006). When handling meats, Loken (1995) indicates that it is advisable to freeze any that would not be consumed in a few days time. According to him, this goes a long way in avoiding chances of poisoning. In addition, he explains that before cooking any meats, it is important to inspect them fully after thawing in order to identify any signs of spoiling. Further, when cooking meats, the right temperatures should be used in order to kill any existing infectious micro organisms. Failure to do this could lead to fatal poisoning caused by the existing micro organisms (Loken, 1995). After meals, any remaining food should be frozen rather than left open even if it is meant to be used in the next meal. In many cases, persons prefer to leave the left over food from the previous meals intended to be used in the next meal in an open place. It is assumed that the period between meals is short and therefore possibility of contamination is low. However, Watson (2001) indicates that contamination can still occur within any period. The surfaces used when preparing food before cooking should also be easy to clean appropriately. It is notable that most people prefer wooden boards for chopping food and vegetables. However, these are not hygienic enough as they keep germs between the chips. It can be very difficult to clean them appropriately. Therefore, other options found on the market should be used. In cases where a dish washer is available, it should be utilized for washing utensils. Dishwashers have proved to be very effective in killing germs due to their ability to withstand very hot water. Andrew (2006) affirms that in deed, hot water is the cheapest way of killing germs and consequently, dishes washed in very hot water are likely to be germ free. In instances where one opts to dine in the restaurants, the first thing to do should be to choose a decent place. Then, when inside the restaurant, one should take note of the conduct of the staff when serving food as this often gives an insight on the general hygiene of the restaurant. If this is not satisfactory, Last (1998) explains that it is better to avoid eating in the place than risk infection. Particularly, care should be taken before consuming vegetable and fruit salads as they are the most susceptible to contamination. Restaurants on their part should ensure that any food bought is well tested before it is cooked. This is important as it helps avoid chances of cooking infected food. In addition, hospitals should also take the same precautions. Above all, Watson (2001) argues that Agricultural production in itself should be sustainable to avoid contamination at the farm level. According to him, this can be achieved if the chemicals used are suitable for Agricultural production. Harsh chemicals that are risky for human consumption should be avoided at all costs. This will help avoid the incidences of heavy metals in the vegetables and fruits. Traces of heavy metals in food have been known to cause terminal illnesses like cancer (Watson, 2001). This can be avoided if more healthy Agricultural practices are adopted. Conclusion In conclusion, all these safety measures if put in to consideration can have a positive effect on the healthcare of individuals and the society a large. Specifically, these measures are fundamental in avoiding infection as a result of consuming contaminated food. If infection is completely eliminated from food preparation and processing, then the food eaten will be safe and this has a positive impact on the health of individuals. Eating safe foods significantly reduces the incidences of disease and deaths. Since diseases cause a major setback on people’s health, elimination of the same in the society will aid in creating holistic and productive societies.

Sunday, July 21, 2019

Impact of Advertising Campaigns on Consumer Behaviour

Impact of Advertising Campaigns on Consumer Behaviour Chapter.1 Introduction 1.1 Introduction and Background The hypermarket plays an important role in Asian countries, such as South Korea, China, Thailand, and Taiwan, the numbers of hypermarkets are rising because of the dense population. Nowadays, Taiwan has experienced rapid economic expansion and a notable increase in consuming capacity. With an increasing demand for better products and services, the concept of using modern retail channels such as convenience stores and hypermarkets for daily purchases of household necessities has been adapted widely by consumers. In a survey of the role of hypermarkets in Taiwanese peoples daily lives quoted by Taiwan Today (2009) from Chinese-language China Times founded that over than eighty-four percent of 1,870 participants said they had shopped at a hypermarket. Obviously, the hypermarket became the main store format for Taiwanese people when they purchased household necessities and foods. According to Nielsen Company (2009) market research conducted in 2006, Taiwan had the second highest density of hypermarkets in Asia region. In this survey, they pointed out the population in Taiwan around 23 million and each hypermarket serves around 210,000 people. They also founded that Taiwan is significantly more developed than other Asias countries, with 90 percent of grocery sales going through the modern trade. Therefore, retailing industry became competitively so retailers must put effort into increasing various products, better service or developing various sales promotions in order to tempt customers, and the results of the poll reveal that which strategies are effective. As Dibb et al. pointed out the role of promotion in a company is to communicate with customers, with the aim of directly or indirectly facilitating exchange by informing and persuading one or more audiences to accept the companys products (Dibb et al., 2006: p.511). In addition, the resource in a company is not infinite therefore company should maximum the efficiency of resource and focus on useful marketing strategies. For that reason, we understand the promotion became a crucial issue for company which want to utilize the tools to increase communicate with customers then incentive customers purchase companys product. Meanwhile, by providing good services and products surpass customer expectation then get higher custom er satisfaction. Finally, the company can keep higher customer retention and earn more profit. This research takes Carrefour for example and discusses the effectiveness of sales promotion operations for Carrefour. Besides, this research tries to understand how promotion campaigns to impact customer relationships and behaviours and how to use sales promotion to help company get more revenue and keep high customer retention. 1.2 Aims and Objectives Aims In the past, the manufacturers and retailers focus on how product more products and how to use the marketing strategies to sell the products, they also stand on supply-based side to sell products. However, in the twenty first century, the domestic and global competition is increasingly intense; the marketplace provides more options to the customers, and the whole value chain of retailing had already became the customer orientated situation and retailers seek for best ways to increase the profit. Objectives The purpose of this research is aimed at examine the effects of sales promotion and marketing strategy on consumers behaviours. Let the stores to understand the customers needs by distinguishing the effectiveness of individual sales promotion, then provides the new marketing strategy for fit in with the market. Therefore, there are four objectives in this study: 1) Identify the effects of individual sales promotion tools on perceived values. 2) Find out the impact of different sales promotion tools on consumer purchase intention. 3) Find out whether there is a positive correlation between sales promotion and purchasing intention. 4) Identify the demographic of consumers and behaviour response. 1.3 Research Structure This research includes five chapters, and the outline of each chapter is as follows: Chapter one introduces the research background, research aims and objectives, and research structure. Chapter two reviews the existing literature relevant to this research. It consists of definition of hypermarket, sales promotion, consumer behaviour. Chapter three illustrates the experiment design, data collection, sample selection, measurement, and pre-test. Chapter four tests the hypotheses and shows the statistical results of the research. The data analysis methods contain Reliability Analysis, Factor Analysis, ANOVA, Independent-Sample T Test, and Simple Regression. Thus some findings could be explained through this information. Chapter five discusses the results and implications of the study, describes limitations, and provides suggestions for future research. The research flow is as follows: Chapter 2. Review of the Literature Introduction There exist numerous theories about how an individual consumer perceives the values of products based on several elements. In this chapter, an extensive review of literature is to be presented. Basically, three sections are included in this chapter. The first section discusses the definition of Hypermarket. In the second section, the definition and classification of sales promotion are to be provided. Then, the third section reviews the theories of consumer buying behavior. 2.1. Hypermarket 2.1.1 Definition of hypermarket According to URPI (1988), the hypermarket is an extension of the supermarket. Normally, the average supermarket covers up to 2500 m, a superstore is between 2500 and 5000 m and the hypermarket is anything over 5000 m in business size. It offers variety of choices and depth of range but usually centers mainly around groceries. Kitchen and Proctor (2001) found that, hypermarket usually over 50000 square feet, typically on one level and selling a wide range of food and non-foods products. Moreover, hypermarkets are usually built on the edge of town or near retail parks. A number of definitions have been coined for a hypermarket. The most widely used definition of a hypermarket is a large commercial establishment which comprises of departmental stores and supermarket which offer a wide range of grocery and a chain of merchandise goods at discounted prices. 2.1.2 Hypermarket in Taiwan 2.1.2.1 History In Taiwan, the hypermarket has developed for 20 years. The first hypermarket called Makro, which were introduced to Taiwan in 1989. At same time, the French company Carrefour established a joint-venture with President Group in Taiwan. Furthermore, local brands such as Geant and RT-MART and international brands like Costco quickly join hypermarket industry. They provide with a variety of commodity and low price. At that time, Makro quickly became the biggest retail sales system in market, and set a new customer shopping trend in Taiwan. Those are self-service, low price, and get all you need in one store. Meanwhile, during 90s Taiwans government comprehensively pushed commercial and service industry development, and eagerly anticipated the industry to become prosperity, globalization, internationalization and alliance. In last twenty years, hypermarkets dramatically grew under the government policy guidance. 2.1.2.2 Current situation Recently, hypermarkets in Taiwan became already the main places that the consumers purchase household necessities for daily lives. In spite of during the global recession, the leading-brand hypermarkets still to expand their new stores every year. In Taiwan, There are 106 hypermarkets at the end of the year 2008. Table 1 shows that the largest chain of hypermarkets is Carrefour (58 stores), followed by RT-MART (24 stores) and Geant (14 stores). It is clearly that the variations and competitions between the hypermarkets in Taiwan are very fiercely. Therefore, hypermarket should find other marketing strategies to keep their market share and profit. Table.1 Source: Collected by different hypermarkets official website in Taiwan 2. 2 Sales Promotion 2.2.1 Definition of Sales Promotion The word promotion originates from a Latin word meaning to move forward. Later, the meaning has been narrowed with reference communication undertaken to convince others to accept ideas, concepts or things. Many previous studies and researches have defined of sales promotion. Each definition has its own elaboration according to the promotional methods applied. Hence, the techniques of sales promotion are diverse and widely used. Strang (1976) had given a more simplistic definition on sales promotion where they are short-term incentives to encourage purchase or sales of a product or service. Twenty years later, Kotler and Armstrong (1996: pp.200-250) reemphasized that sales promotion consists of short-term incentives to encourage purchase or sales of a product or service. Sales promotions include a wide variety of promotion tools such as coupons, contests, cents off deals, and others are designed to stimulate earlier or stronger market response and this includes consumer promotion, trade promotion and sales force promotion. They also defined sales promotions as invite and reward quick response from consumers whereas advertising and personal selling offer reasons to buy a product or service. Later, McDonald and Christopher (2003: pp.120-140) noted that sales promotion is not a face-to-face activity concerned with the promotion of sales. Sales promotion can be an activity for saving problem designed to stimulat e customers to behave more in line with the economic interests of the company, and bring forward their decisions to buy. The design of promotion is to increase sales of product or service by encouraging consumers to try and even purchase the product. This activity provides incentives to consumer within specific time in order to help them make decision on a variety of commodities available in the market. Brassington and Pettitt (2006:pp727) also concluded that sales promotion covered a wide variety of objectives, all of which fall into three broad categories as show in Figure 1. : communication, incentive and invitation. Figure 1 Sales Promotion objectives Despite sales promotion have different forms or definitions offered by several credible institutes and scholars, but all sales promotion instruments would be have the common typical objectives: 1) Encourage intermediaries do more sales efforts 2) Increase shelf space for products 3) Help intermediaries stock levels increasing 4) Get more support for in-store displays or other promotions 5) Gain access to new outlets 6) Counteract pressure from sales downturns or competitor actions 7) Improve communication with, or education of, intermediaries For every marketers or producers, it is essentially important for them to understand, which promotion techniques can attract and induce consumers to purchase their products respectively. In order to create better analysis of the effects of promotions, some researchers classify the sales promotion into different framing forms. Campbell and Diamond (1990) classified the sales promotion into two main types, monetary promotion and non-monetary promotion. Monetary promotions are inducement activities made through the price mechanism and comparable with product selling price such as discount and coupons. On the other hand, non-monetary promotions are inducement activities that exclude pricing element and not comparable with product selling price, i.e., free gift or premiums. Their study concluded that non-monetary promotions are theorized to be considered as gains while monetary promotions are viewed as reduced losses in terms of value perception. Experimental results showed that monetary promotions have smaller but noticeable differences than nonmonetary promotions in value. However, non-monetary promotions had broader latitudes of acceptance than monetary promotions. Because of their relatively small noticeable difference, monetary promotions may be particularly effective for transactions with limited amount of money involved. Meanwhile non-monetary promotions, which have broader latitude of acceptance, would be better for transactions that are more expensive. No matter how the sales promotion is classified, there are several ways of hypothesizing whether a particular promotion will be considered as a gain or a reduced loss in value perception. One of Thalers (1985) assumptions was that the physical or temporal separation of a rebate (monetary promotion) check from the price quotation leads to the consideration of the rebate as a gain, but he did not test that hypothesis. Price-off promotions, a monetary promotion tool, are most likely to be viewed as reduced losses in value perception and non-monetary promotions, are most likely to be framed as gains in value perception (Sawyer and Dickson, 1984). Most analytical and econometric models of sales promotions simply assume that monetary savings are the only benefit motivating consumers to respond to sales promotions (Blattberg and Neslin,1990: pp.30-100). Therefore, the determination of value perception of gains or reduced losses is depending upon which form of sales promotion would produce t he most happiness for the subject (McDonald and Christopher, 2003). 2.2.2 Sales Promotion Activities Money-off Money-off are the most recognized use of sales promotions. Money-off offers are usually designed as short-term expedient but some brands appear to run one price reduction after another, creating clear impression and expectation in peoples mind. Bonus packs Bonus packs include an extra quantity of product in the pack for no extra price increase. Banded packs These are multi-packs of the same product, or more than one product, banded together for inclusive price. Couponing Coupons are extensively used in a variety if forms and are associated with other elements of sales promotions such as money-off offers and contests. Premiums Premiums are merchandise items or services. They include free goods and services such as a free extra item of the product being purchased, a free item of some other product or free service such as entry into a leisure park. Sampling Standard or trial-sized samples of the brand are provided free or at a reduced price to encourage trial. Contests Competitions of a variety of forms are a popular sales promotional tool. Contests encourage individual customer rivals others for prizes according to their analytical or creative skills. Sweepstake Sweepstake is a method of stimulating sales in which consumer submit their names for inclusion in a draw for prizes. Sweepstakes are usually used to stimulate sales contests, and sometimes sweepstakes will combine with other sales promotion tools. Tie-in sales promotions Tie-in sales are where multiple products are involved in sales promotions. The products may be from the same company or different companies. Merchandising/ point- of sale displays/ demonstrations Those promotions are anything that entices customers to buy or take action through display and atmospherics. It includes window displays, shelf and aisle displays, the use of video, and other appeals to any of the five senses. Frequent user incentives Frequent user incentives to reward customers who take part in repeat purchases. Basically, frequent user incentives include loyalty card and trading stamps. The loyalty provides discounts or free merchandise to regular customers. Information leaflets/ packs and catalogues The primary purpose of those trade items is to be informative in explaining the range products available, and give pricing and ordering procedures. 2.3 Customer behaviour 2.3.1 Theory of Consumer Buying Behavior It is very difficult to identify the causes of consumer behaviors. People make their buying decision based on many reasons. The analysis of consumer behaviors as those acts of individual directly involved in obtaining, using, and disposing of economic goods and services, including the decision processes that precede and determine the acts. People make buying decision based on different factors. Knowledge of consumer behavior is a vital input to sales promotion activities (Blackwell et al., 2001). Between 1950 and 1960, the field of economics was the main contributor in explaining consumer behavior and economists were the first to propose a formal theory of consumer behavior (Karin, 2003). However, marketers only borrowed rather indiscriminately from social psychology, sociology or any other fields of inquiry that might relate to consumer behavior in some way. One of the outstanding models underlies the consumer behavior, Stimulus response model (Bagozzi, 1986), has been widely applied by marketing managers. According to Teunter (2002), most marketing managers find the economic model particularly lacking in its ability to suggest specific actions for influencing consumption or for anticipating specific demands of consumers (unless resulting from price actions). Most marketers or producers need guidelines that will indicate how their actions, especially the marketing mix, might actually influence consumers perception and in turn purchasing behaviors. In the stimulus-response model (Fig. 2) suggests that marketing and other stimuli enter the consumers black box and produce certain responses (Bagozzi, 1986). Hence, the challenge for marketers is to find out how the responses are generated in the black box. Notice that the marketing mix variables are not the only stimuli producing responses on the consumers but also external environmental fact ors. The stimulus-response approach is quite appealing because marketers can discover the reactions of consumers to sales promotion stimuli. Under this approach, people are represented as being buffeted by stimuli rather than freely discovering their needs and choosing among alternatives. Stimulus Buyer Black Box Consumer Response Marketing Mix Psychological Variables Reactions Product Purchase Price Activities Place Consumption Promotion Patterns External Environmental Economic, Technological, Political, Cultural Fig. 2. Stimulus-Response Model Source: Bagozzi, 1986. The central idea of the stimuli-response model is to employ marketing stimuli to influence perceived value as they affect buyer decision and intention to purchase. Sales promotion is one of the elements of marketing stimuli, this model could be very useful in explaining how and why sales promotions affect consumer behaviors through the perceived value. Usually consumers make purchase decision toward which they have a positive attitude, and avoid those, which they have, negative perception. Therefore, to make better prediction about consumers behaviors will need a better understanding about the formation of consumers perceived values (Teunter, 2002). Consumer value is very important to marketers (Fredericks and Salter,1995; Vantrappen, 1992), especially under the fierce competition in newmillennium. The concept of perceived value has recently gained its importance in the business environment as it could affect consumer behaviors, and therefore it helps provide the basis for building strategies for the marketers/producers to gain a better competitive position in a market. However, despite its strategic importance for marketing, perceived value did not receive enough investigation in the literature in agribusiness. Although the conceptualization of perceived value launched in the late 1970s, researchers just begin to give reasonable attention to its operationalization (Sweeney et al., 1997). Given the previous studies, perceived benefits, perceived price, monetary price, psychological price, and behavioral price are all associated with conceptualization of perceived value. Hence, the concept of perceived value is a multi-dimensional (Kotler and Armstrong, 1996). Studying the perceived value has become quite popular recently. There are several conceptual models on perceived value, and basically they can be grouped into two categories according to the different conceptual values. First category consists of transaction utility theory and concept theory of Grewal et al. (1998a), where they define the perceived value as two dimensions-transaction value and acquisition value. Meanwhile the second category only reviews the perceived value as a whole unit without clearly segregating the value into transaction value and acquisition value. Transaction utility theory was developed by Thaler (1985) it focuses on how people build mental code combinations of events that are assumed to make themselves as happy as possible. This principle is used to explain consumers purchase behaviors related to their preferences and the evaluation of transactions involves the acquisition utility and the transaction utility. Conceptually, the acquisition utility is a measu re of the value of the goods relative to its price, which is similar to the economic concept of consumer surplus. Transaction utility is defined as the difference between the amount paid and the internal reference price for the goods that the consumer expects to pay for. This theory leads to the evaluation of consumers tangible gains to their losses when they are offered with promotion, then the perceptions of value and purchase intention would be formed. During the purchase evaluation stage, consumer will makes the purchase decision based on the maximum perceived value or utility received from individual promotions. Thaler (1985), argues powerfully that promotions may frame as gains or losses in the value assessment. The transaction utility theory already becomes a fundamental base for many researches on the psychology of persuasion (Lichtenstein and Bearder, 1989). Grewal et al. (1998a) focused on the perceived product value and customers choice behaviors in the pre-purchase phase. They have successfully identified the value into two aspects, perceived acquisition value and perceived transaction value. Perceived acquisition value is the perceived net gains associated with the products or services acquired. That is, the perceived acquisition value of a product will be positively influenced by the benefits they are getting from acquiring and using the product. However, it will be negatively influenced by the amount of money given up to acquire the product, i.e., the sales price. On the other hand, the perceived transaction value is the perception of psychological satisfaction or pleasure obtained from taking advantage of the financial terms of the price deal. In addition, they discovered that the influence of perceived transaction value on behavioral intentions is mediated by perceived acquisition value. The perceived transaction value could enha nce consumers perceived acquisition value if the internal reference prices (the mental price scale by which a buyer judges the fairness of an actual price) are greater than the selling price. The likelihood that the buyer intends to purchase the product is positively related to overall perceptions of value. Their findings also reaffirmed the common belief that perceived quality is an important part of the value equation. Zeithaml (1988) developed a means-end model, which specified quality and value not differentiated from one another. Quality can be defined as a consumers judgment about a product or service. Zeithaml (1988) found that perceived value is defined as the consumers overall assessment of the utility of a product according to perceptions of what is received and what is given. The study stated that perceived customer value can be captured in one overall definition: value is low price, value is whatever one wants in a product, value is the quality that the consumer receives for the price paid, and value is what the consumer gets (quality) for what they give (price) respectively. The moderating variables of perceived value in this model include perceived sacrificed, the effort required to purchase, extrinsic and intrinsic attributes, and high-level abstractions. The perceived sacrificed include elements of perceived monetary price and perceived non-monetary price. Perceived monetary price is the price of a product as encoded by the consumer. Meanwhile the perceived non-monetary price is defined as the price of obtaining a product that includes the time and effort used to search for it. Both intrinsic attributes (how the product/service makes you feel) and extrinsic attributes (the reputation of the product/service) are positively related to perceived quality, while perceived monetary price is affected by objective price (actual price paid) and negatively related to the perceived quality. The result showed consumers perceptions of quality, price and value are interrelated and it will influence the willingness to purchase. In 1990, Monroe developed a framework and suggested a ratio specification, which implied that the perceived value is judged to be quality at unit price in a consumers mind. This is the outcome of the trade off between perceived benefit and perceived sacrifice. The ratio specification is defined as: Perceived value = Perceived benefit / Perceived price sacrificed The equation above, identify that perceived value, perceived benefits are positively related, and perceived price sacrificed is negatively related to perceived value. The relationship between actual price and perceived quality are positively related and negatively linked with perceived price sacrificed. The concept developed by Monroe, stated that buyers perceptions of value represents a tradeoff between the quality and benefits, they perceive in the product relative to the sacrifice they perceive by paying the price. One can reduce a products perceived monetary sacrifice by offering a price reduction on the product. Therefore, by keeping the benefits received by consumers constant, different ways of communicating promotion will lead to a purchase decision. According to Grewal et al. (1998b), integrative framework identify price, product brand and store name could influence buyers perceptions of quality, and extend to their perceived value. They identified that price discounts are likely to have a negative influence on perceptions of quality. If a consumer purchases a discounted product, they often attribute the fact that it was on discount because of poor quality, which is similar to the finding of other scholars (Blattberg and Neslin, 1990:pp.30-100). They suggested that internal reference price is influenced by price discounts, brands perceived quality and brand name. In addition, their finding supports the conclusion of other scholars that the essential components of the formation of the value perception included price, promotion and quality perception. Indeed, they also suggested the perceived quality be positively related with value perceptions. As a result, purchase intention is positively associated with perceived value as the p urchase intentions is an antecedent of the consequent purchase. Alford and Engelland (2000) applied the social judgment theory to develop the concept of value perception. Their main finding suggested that the variables influencing the formation of consumers internal reference prices be consumer perceived value and search intention. Consumer internal reference price formation is influenced by the advertised sales price (Alford and Ellgelland, 2000). They illustrated that the comparison between the advertised sales price and internal reference price is to attract consumer attention and enhance consumers value perception as well. Consumers define internal reference price as a fair price, the expected average market price, the average of recent purchase price, or the lowest acceptable price. In this sense, it would be more reasonable to view it as a range of prices. In their framework, the price range is appropriately associated with the social judgment theory developed by Sherif et al. (1973), which suggested that individuals develop latitudes of ac ceptance, rejection and non-commitment as a guideline for value evaluation. Moreover, they also realized that consumers would perceive a smaller degree of benefits of search when exposed to a plausible advertised reference price as opposed to an implausible advertised reference price. This implies that the level of purchase intention would be higher for the appropriate promotion employed. Among the studies mentioned above, only Thalers transaction utility theory (1985) and framework of Grewal et al. (1998a) have segregated the perception into two dimensions acquisition value and transaction value and defined both dimensions are inter-related. Nonetheless, most of the scholars (Zeithaml, 1988; Monroe, 1990; Grewal et al., 1998b) concept does not identify the value as two dimensions acquisition value and transaction value. The findings from previous studies suggested that perceived value is a function of perceived quality and perceived price. That is, value increases monotonically (and positively) Impact of Advertising Campaigns on Consumer Behaviour Impact of Advertising Campaigns on Consumer Behaviour Chapter.1 Introduction 1.1 Introduction and Background The hypermarket plays an important role in Asian countries, such as South Korea, China, Thailand, and Taiwan, the numbers of hypermarkets are rising because of the dense population. Nowadays, Taiwan has experienced rapid economic expansion and a notable increase in consuming capacity. With an increasing demand for better products and services, the concept of using modern retail channels such as convenience stores and hypermarkets for daily purchases of household necessities has been adapted widely by consumers. In a survey of the role of hypermarkets in Taiwanese peoples daily lives quoted by Taiwan Today (2009) from Chinese-language China Times founded that over than eighty-four percent of 1,870 participants said they had shopped at a hypermarket. Obviously, the hypermarket became the main store format for Taiwanese people when they purchased household necessities and foods. According to Nielsen Company (2009) market research conducted in 2006, Taiwan had the second highest density of hypermarkets in Asia region. In this survey, they pointed out the population in Taiwan around 23 million and each hypermarket serves around 210,000 people. They also founded that Taiwan is significantly more developed than other Asias countries, with 90 percent of grocery sales going through the modern trade. Therefore, retailing industry became competitively so retailers must put effort into increasing various products, better service or developing various sales promotions in order to tempt customers, and the results of the poll reveal that which strategies are effective. As Dibb et al. pointed out the role of promotion in a company is to communicate with customers, with the aim of directly or indirectly facilitating exchange by informing and persuading one or more audiences to accept the companys products (Dibb et al., 2006: p.511). In addition, the resource in a company is not infinite therefore company should maximum the efficiency of resource and focus on useful marketing strategies. For that reason, we understand the promotion became a crucial issue for company which want to utilize the tools to increase communicate with customers then incentive customers purchase companys product. Meanwhile, by providing good services and products surpass customer expectation then get higher custom er satisfaction. Finally, the company can keep higher customer retention and earn more profit. This research takes Carrefour for example and discusses the effectiveness of sales promotion operations for Carrefour. Besides, this research tries to understand how promotion campaigns to impact customer relationships and behaviours and how to use sales promotion to help company get more revenue and keep high customer retention. 1.2 Aims and Objectives Aims In the past, the manufacturers and retailers focus on how product more products and how to use the marketing strategies to sell the products, they also stand on supply-based side to sell products. However, in the twenty first century, the domestic and global competition is increasingly intense; the marketplace provides more options to the customers, and the whole value chain of retailing had already became the customer orientated situation and retailers seek for best ways to increase the profit. Objectives The purpose of this research is aimed at examine the effects of sales promotion and marketing strategy on consumers behaviours. Let the stores to understand the customers needs by distinguishing the effectiveness of individual sales promotion, then provides the new marketing strategy for fit in with the market. Therefore, there are four objectives in this study: 1) Identify the effects of individual sales promotion tools on perceived values. 2) Find out the impact of different sales promotion tools on consumer purchase intention. 3) Find out whether there is a positive correlation between sales promotion and purchasing intention. 4) Identify the demographic of consumers and behaviour response. 1.3 Research Structure This research includes five chapters, and the outline of each chapter is as follows: Chapter one introduces the research background, research aims and objectives, and research structure. Chapter two reviews the existing literature relevant to this research. It consists of definition of hypermarket, sales promotion, consumer behaviour. Chapter three illustrates the experiment design, data collection, sample selection, measurement, and pre-test. Chapter four tests the hypotheses and shows the statistical results of the research. The data analysis methods contain Reliability Analysis, Factor Analysis, ANOVA, Independent-Sample T Test, and Simple Regression. Thus some findings could be explained through this information. Chapter five discusses the results and implications of the study, describes limitations, and provides suggestions for future research. The research flow is as follows: Chapter 2. Review of the Literature Introduction There exist numerous theories about how an individual consumer perceives the values of products based on several elements. In this chapter, an extensive review of literature is to be presented. Basically, three sections are included in this chapter. The first section discusses the definition of Hypermarket. In the second section, the definition and classification of sales promotion are to be provided. Then, the third section reviews the theories of consumer buying behavior. 2.1. Hypermarket 2.1.1 Definition of hypermarket According to URPI (1988), the hypermarket is an extension of the supermarket. Normally, the average supermarket covers up to 2500 m, a superstore is between 2500 and 5000 m and the hypermarket is anything over 5000 m in business size. It offers variety of choices and depth of range but usually centers mainly around groceries. Kitchen and Proctor (2001) found that, hypermarket usually over 50000 square feet, typically on one level and selling a wide range of food and non-foods products. Moreover, hypermarkets are usually built on the edge of town or near retail parks. A number of definitions have been coined for a hypermarket. The most widely used definition of a hypermarket is a large commercial establishment which comprises of departmental stores and supermarket which offer a wide range of grocery and a chain of merchandise goods at discounted prices. 2.1.2 Hypermarket in Taiwan 2.1.2.1 History In Taiwan, the hypermarket has developed for 20 years. The first hypermarket called Makro, which were introduced to Taiwan in 1989. At same time, the French company Carrefour established a joint-venture with President Group in Taiwan. Furthermore, local brands such as Geant and RT-MART and international brands like Costco quickly join hypermarket industry. They provide with a variety of commodity and low price. At that time, Makro quickly became the biggest retail sales system in market, and set a new customer shopping trend in Taiwan. Those are self-service, low price, and get all you need in one store. Meanwhile, during 90s Taiwans government comprehensively pushed commercial and service industry development, and eagerly anticipated the industry to become prosperity, globalization, internationalization and alliance. In last twenty years, hypermarkets dramatically grew under the government policy guidance. 2.1.2.2 Current situation Recently, hypermarkets in Taiwan became already the main places that the consumers purchase household necessities for daily lives. In spite of during the global recession, the leading-brand hypermarkets still to expand their new stores every year. In Taiwan, There are 106 hypermarkets at the end of the year 2008. Table 1 shows that the largest chain of hypermarkets is Carrefour (58 stores), followed by RT-MART (24 stores) and Geant (14 stores). It is clearly that the variations and competitions between the hypermarkets in Taiwan are very fiercely. Therefore, hypermarket should find other marketing strategies to keep their market share and profit. Table.1 Source: Collected by different hypermarkets official website in Taiwan 2. 2 Sales Promotion 2.2.1 Definition of Sales Promotion The word promotion originates from a Latin word meaning to move forward. Later, the meaning has been narrowed with reference communication undertaken to convince others to accept ideas, concepts or things. Many previous studies and researches have defined of sales promotion. Each definition has its own elaboration according to the promotional methods applied. Hence, the techniques of sales promotion are diverse and widely used. Strang (1976) had given a more simplistic definition on sales promotion where they are short-term incentives to encourage purchase or sales of a product or service. Twenty years later, Kotler and Armstrong (1996: pp.200-250) reemphasized that sales promotion consists of short-term incentives to encourage purchase or sales of a product or service. Sales promotions include a wide variety of promotion tools such as coupons, contests, cents off deals, and others are designed to stimulate earlier or stronger market response and this includes consumer promotion, trade promotion and sales force promotion. They also defined sales promotions as invite and reward quick response from consumers whereas advertising and personal selling offer reasons to buy a product or service. Later, McDonald and Christopher (2003: pp.120-140) noted that sales promotion is not a face-to-face activity concerned with the promotion of sales. Sales promotion can be an activity for saving problem designed to stimulat e customers to behave more in line with the economic interests of the company, and bring forward their decisions to buy. The design of promotion is to increase sales of product or service by encouraging consumers to try and even purchase the product. This activity provides incentives to consumer within specific time in order to help them make decision on a variety of commodities available in the market. Brassington and Pettitt (2006:pp727) also concluded that sales promotion covered a wide variety of objectives, all of which fall into three broad categories as show in Figure 1. : communication, incentive and invitation. Figure 1 Sales Promotion objectives Despite sales promotion have different forms or definitions offered by several credible institutes and scholars, but all sales promotion instruments would be have the common typical objectives: 1) Encourage intermediaries do more sales efforts 2) Increase shelf space for products 3) Help intermediaries stock levels increasing 4) Get more support for in-store displays or other promotions 5) Gain access to new outlets 6) Counteract pressure from sales downturns or competitor actions 7) Improve communication with, or education of, intermediaries For every marketers or producers, it is essentially important for them to understand, which promotion techniques can attract and induce consumers to purchase their products respectively. In order to create better analysis of the effects of promotions, some researchers classify the sales promotion into different framing forms. Campbell and Diamond (1990) classified the sales promotion into two main types, monetary promotion and non-monetary promotion. Monetary promotions are inducement activities made through the price mechanism and comparable with product selling price such as discount and coupons. On the other hand, non-monetary promotions are inducement activities that exclude pricing element and not comparable with product selling price, i.e., free gift or premiums. Their study concluded that non-monetary promotions are theorized to be considered as gains while monetary promotions are viewed as reduced losses in terms of value perception. Experimental results showed that monetary promotions have smaller but noticeable differences than nonmonetary promotions in value. However, non-monetary promotions had broader latitudes of acceptance than monetary promotions. Because of their relatively small noticeable difference, monetary promotions may be particularly effective for transactions with limited amount of money involved. Meanwhile non-monetary promotions, which have broader latitude of acceptance, would be better for transactions that are more expensive. No matter how the sales promotion is classified, there are several ways of hypothesizing whether a particular promotion will be considered as a gain or a reduced loss in value perception. One of Thalers (1985) assumptions was that the physical or temporal separation of a rebate (monetary promotion) check from the price quotation leads to the consideration of the rebate as a gain, but he did not test that hypothesis. Price-off promotions, a monetary promotion tool, are most likely to be viewed as reduced losses in value perception and non-monetary promotions, are most likely to be framed as gains in value perception (Sawyer and Dickson, 1984). Most analytical and econometric models of sales promotions simply assume that monetary savings are the only benefit motivating consumers to respond to sales promotions (Blattberg and Neslin,1990: pp.30-100). Therefore, the determination of value perception of gains or reduced losses is depending upon which form of sales promotion would produce t he most happiness for the subject (McDonald and Christopher, 2003). 2.2.2 Sales Promotion Activities Money-off Money-off are the most recognized use of sales promotions. Money-off offers are usually designed as short-term expedient but some brands appear to run one price reduction after another, creating clear impression and expectation in peoples mind. Bonus packs Bonus packs include an extra quantity of product in the pack for no extra price increase. Banded packs These are multi-packs of the same product, or more than one product, banded together for inclusive price. Couponing Coupons are extensively used in a variety if forms and are associated with other elements of sales promotions such as money-off offers and contests. Premiums Premiums are merchandise items or services. They include free goods and services such as a free extra item of the product being purchased, a free item of some other product or free service such as entry into a leisure park. Sampling Standard or trial-sized samples of the brand are provided free or at a reduced price to encourage trial. Contests Competitions of a variety of forms are a popular sales promotional tool. Contests encourage individual customer rivals others for prizes according to their analytical or creative skills. Sweepstake Sweepstake is a method of stimulating sales in which consumer submit their names for inclusion in a draw for prizes. Sweepstakes are usually used to stimulate sales contests, and sometimes sweepstakes will combine with other sales promotion tools. Tie-in sales promotions Tie-in sales are where multiple products are involved in sales promotions. The products may be from the same company or different companies. Merchandising/ point- of sale displays/ demonstrations Those promotions are anything that entices customers to buy or take action through display and atmospherics. It includes window displays, shelf and aisle displays, the use of video, and other appeals to any of the five senses. Frequent user incentives Frequent user incentives to reward customers who take part in repeat purchases. Basically, frequent user incentives include loyalty card and trading stamps. The loyalty provides discounts or free merchandise to regular customers. Information leaflets/ packs and catalogues The primary purpose of those trade items is to be informative in explaining the range products available, and give pricing and ordering procedures. 2.3 Customer behaviour 2.3.1 Theory of Consumer Buying Behavior It is very difficult to identify the causes of consumer behaviors. People make their buying decision based on many reasons. The analysis of consumer behaviors as those acts of individual directly involved in obtaining, using, and disposing of economic goods and services, including the decision processes that precede and determine the acts. People make buying decision based on different factors. Knowledge of consumer behavior is a vital input to sales promotion activities (Blackwell et al., 2001). Between 1950 and 1960, the field of economics was the main contributor in explaining consumer behavior and economists were the first to propose a formal theory of consumer behavior (Karin, 2003). However, marketers only borrowed rather indiscriminately from social psychology, sociology or any other fields of inquiry that might relate to consumer behavior in some way. One of the outstanding models underlies the consumer behavior, Stimulus response model (Bagozzi, 1986), has been widely applied by marketing managers. According to Teunter (2002), most marketing managers find the economic model particularly lacking in its ability to suggest specific actions for influencing consumption or for anticipating specific demands of consumers (unless resulting from price actions). Most marketers or producers need guidelines that will indicate how their actions, especially the marketing mix, might actually influence consumers perception and in turn purchasing behaviors. In the stimulus-response model (Fig. 2) suggests that marketing and other stimuli enter the consumers black box and produce certain responses (Bagozzi, 1986). Hence, the challenge for marketers is to find out how the responses are generated in the black box. Notice that the marketing mix variables are not the only stimuli producing responses on the consumers but also external environmental fact ors. The stimulus-response approach is quite appealing because marketers can discover the reactions of consumers to sales promotion stimuli. Under this approach, people are represented as being buffeted by stimuli rather than freely discovering their needs and choosing among alternatives. Stimulus Buyer Black Box Consumer Response Marketing Mix Psychological Variables Reactions Product Purchase Price Activities Place Consumption Promotion Patterns External Environmental Economic, Technological, Political, Cultural Fig. 2. Stimulus-Response Model Source: Bagozzi, 1986. The central idea of the stimuli-response model is to employ marketing stimuli to influence perceived value as they affect buyer decision and intention to purchase. Sales promotion is one of the elements of marketing stimuli, this model could be very useful in explaining how and why sales promotions affect consumer behaviors through the perceived value. Usually consumers make purchase decision toward which they have a positive attitude, and avoid those, which they have, negative perception. Therefore, to make better prediction about consumers behaviors will need a better understanding about the formation of consumers perceived values (Teunter, 2002). Consumer value is very important to marketers (Fredericks and Salter,1995; Vantrappen, 1992), especially under the fierce competition in newmillennium. The concept of perceived value has recently gained its importance in the business environment as it could affect consumer behaviors, and therefore it helps provide the basis for building strategies for the marketers/producers to gain a better competitive position in a market. However, despite its strategic importance for marketing, perceived value did not receive enough investigation in the literature in agribusiness. Although the conceptualization of perceived value launched in the late 1970s, researchers just begin to give reasonable attention to its operationalization (Sweeney et al., 1997). Given the previous studies, perceived benefits, perceived price, monetary price, psychological price, and behavioral price are all associated with conceptualization of perceived value. Hence, the concept of perceived value is a multi-dimensional (Kotler and Armstrong, 1996). Studying the perceived value has become quite popular recently. There are several conceptual models on perceived value, and basically they can be grouped into two categories according to the different conceptual values. First category consists of transaction utility theory and concept theory of Grewal et al. (1998a), where they define the perceived value as two dimensions-transaction value and acquisition value. Meanwhile the second category only reviews the perceived value as a whole unit without clearly segregating the value into transaction value and acquisition value. Transaction utility theory was developed by Thaler (1985) it focuses on how people build mental code combinations of events that are assumed to make themselves as happy as possible. This principle is used to explain consumers purchase behaviors related to their preferences and the evaluation of transactions involves the acquisition utility and the transaction utility. Conceptually, the acquisition utility is a measu re of the value of the goods relative to its price, which is similar to the economic concept of consumer surplus. Transaction utility is defined as the difference between the amount paid and the internal reference price for the goods that the consumer expects to pay for. This theory leads to the evaluation of consumers tangible gains to their losses when they are offered with promotion, then the perceptions of value and purchase intention would be formed. During the purchase evaluation stage, consumer will makes the purchase decision based on the maximum perceived value or utility received from individual promotions. Thaler (1985), argues powerfully that promotions may frame as gains or losses in the value assessment. The transaction utility theory already becomes a fundamental base for many researches on the psychology of persuasion (Lichtenstein and Bearder, 1989). Grewal et al. (1998a) focused on the perceived product value and customers choice behaviors in the pre-purchase phase. They have successfully identified the value into two aspects, perceived acquisition value and perceived transaction value. Perceived acquisition value is the perceived net gains associated with the products or services acquired. That is, the perceived acquisition value of a product will be positively influenced by the benefits they are getting from acquiring and using the product. However, it will be negatively influenced by the amount of money given up to acquire the product, i.e., the sales price. On the other hand, the perceived transaction value is the perception of psychological satisfaction or pleasure obtained from taking advantage of the financial terms of the price deal. In addition, they discovered that the influence of perceived transaction value on behavioral intentions is mediated by perceived acquisition value. The perceived transaction value could enha nce consumers perceived acquisition value if the internal reference prices (the mental price scale by which a buyer judges the fairness of an actual price) are greater than the selling price. The likelihood that the buyer intends to purchase the product is positively related to overall perceptions of value. Their findings also reaffirmed the common belief that perceived quality is an important part of the value equation. Zeithaml (1988) developed a means-end model, which specified quality and value not differentiated from one another. Quality can be defined as a consumers judgment about a product or service. Zeithaml (1988) found that perceived value is defined as the consumers overall assessment of the utility of a product according to perceptions of what is received and what is given. The study stated that perceived customer value can be captured in one overall definition: value is low price, value is whatever one wants in a product, value is the quality that the consumer receives for the price paid, and value is what the consumer gets (quality) for what they give (price) respectively. The moderating variables of perceived value in this model include perceived sacrificed, the effort required to purchase, extrinsic and intrinsic attributes, and high-level abstractions. The perceived sacrificed include elements of perceived monetary price and perceived non-monetary price. Perceived monetary price is the price of a product as encoded by the consumer. Meanwhile the perceived non-monetary price is defined as the price of obtaining a product that includes the time and effort used to search for it. Both intrinsic attributes (how the product/service makes you feel) and extrinsic attributes (the reputation of the product/service) are positively related to perceived quality, while perceived monetary price is affected by objective price (actual price paid) and negatively related to the perceived quality. The result showed consumers perceptions of quality, price and value are interrelated and it will influence the willingness to purchase. In 1990, Monroe developed a framework and suggested a ratio specification, which implied that the perceived value is judged to be quality at unit price in a consumers mind. This is the outcome of the trade off between perceived benefit and perceived sacrifice. The ratio specification is defined as: Perceived value = Perceived benefit / Perceived price sacrificed The equation above, identify that perceived value, perceived benefits are positively related, and perceived price sacrificed is negatively related to perceived value. The relationship between actual price and perceived quality are positively related and negatively linked with perceived price sacrificed. The concept developed by Monroe, stated that buyers perceptions of value represents a tradeoff between the quality and benefits, they perceive in the product relative to the sacrifice they perceive by paying the price. One can reduce a products perceived monetary sacrifice by offering a price reduction on the product. Therefore, by keeping the benefits received by consumers constant, different ways of communicating promotion will lead to a purchase decision. According to Grewal et al. (1998b), integrative framework identify price, product brand and store name could influence buyers perceptions of quality, and extend to their perceived value. They identified that price discounts are likely to have a negative influence on perceptions of quality. If a consumer purchases a discounted product, they often attribute the fact that it was on discount because of poor quality, which is similar to the finding of other scholars (Blattberg and Neslin, 1990:pp.30-100). They suggested that internal reference price is influenced by price discounts, brands perceived quality and brand name. In addition, their finding supports the conclusion of other scholars that the essential components of the formation of the value perception included price, promotion and quality perception. Indeed, they also suggested the perceived quality be positively related with value perceptions. As a result, purchase intention is positively associated with perceived value as the p urchase intentions is an antecedent of the consequent purchase. Alford and Engelland (2000) applied the social judgment theory to develop the concept of value perception. Their main finding suggested that the variables influencing the formation of consumers internal reference prices be consumer perceived value and search intention. Consumer internal reference price formation is influenced by the advertised sales price (Alford and Ellgelland, 2000). They illustrated that the comparison between the advertised sales price and internal reference price is to attract consumer attention and enhance consumers value perception as well. Consumers define internal reference price as a fair price, the expected average market price, the average of recent purchase price, or the lowest acceptable price. In this sense, it would be more reasonable to view it as a range of prices. In their framework, the price range is appropriately associated with the social judgment theory developed by Sherif et al. (1973), which suggested that individuals develop latitudes of ac ceptance, rejection and non-commitment as a guideline for value evaluation. Moreover, they also realized that consumers would perceive a smaller degree of benefits of search when exposed to a plausible advertised reference price as opposed to an implausible advertised reference price. This implies that the level of purchase intention would be higher for the appropriate promotion employed. Among the studies mentioned above, only Thalers transaction utility theory (1985) and framework of Grewal et al. (1998a) have segregated the perception into two dimensions acquisition value and transaction value and defined both dimensions are inter-related. Nonetheless, most of the scholars (Zeithaml, 1988; Monroe, 1990; Grewal et al., 1998b) concept does not identify the value as two dimensions acquisition value and transaction value. The findings from previous studies suggested that perceived value is a function of perceived quality and perceived price. That is, value increases monotonically (and positively)

Innocence Lost by Nathaniel Hawthorne Essay -- Nathaniel Hawthorne Inn

Honesty Lost by Nathaniel Hawthorne My Kinsman, Major Molineux and Young Goodman Brown present Nathaniel Hawthorne’s confidence in...